I'm disappointed that President Obama isn't going for single payer coverage. It seems the fix is in: Working people are screwed again; the rich are rewarded again.
Ought I to support the president on his three principles?
Would a reform be better than no change at all? Or would reform block the way to the complete overhaul of the system by the implementation of a single-payer system that the country so badly needs? Those 3 principles are quite vague, and it seems to me we've been promised them before. What people need is guaranteed healthcare, when they need it even with no coverage and regardless of ability to pay. It's like they're focusing on how much it costs if you already have insurance.
See, I am someone with no healthcare coverage at all. I'm unemployed and struggling to keep up with paying the mortgage and bills. My healthcare plan amounts to: Don't get sick or injured and God help you if you do. Due to losing my job through no fault of my own, my credit has problems now, which has already disqualified me from getting a new job I applied for. Whatever problems my credit has now can probably be repaired if I find enough part-time work here and there. But with no coverage, all it takes is one hospitalization to fuck up my credit beyond all recognition.
What has any of these politicians got to offer someone in my situation? Or the many millions of Americans in my predicament? America deserves better. Whatever happened to "Yes we can," President Obama?
But back to the cited column and diary ... Mr. Obama seems to have made a mistake beyond, and far more important than, appointing Mr. Dashele as Secretary of HHS. As more information comes out about his economic team, that team is beginning to take on the appearance of the foxes guarding the hen house, and the economic recovery (and we) are the hens. Why do I say this? See below.
I am not a good blogger to keep up to date, but I have been to Winchester, VA several saturdays and now here thru election. on Tuesday I will be an 'outside' attorney at a precinct where the local registrar denied 500 university students, so Tuesday should be busy (and long)
last night about 140 volunteers met to plan the last 48 hours while the McSame HQs was dark. the only thing staying Red out here will be the Maple trees.
Fired up ready to go
Jason and Alexandra are our GREAT STaffers here!!!
If you plan to volunteer on election day, please make sure you vote absentee.If you haven't done so yet, print out the form: http://www.elections.state.md.us/pdf/2008_Absentee_Ballot_Application.pdfPrint out the form, fill it in, and then take it to your board of elections office TODAY. To find the office in your county, check here: http://www.elections.state.md.us/about/county_boards.htmlYou can also pick the form at the office and fill it there.After you get the ballot, please make sure your ballot gets back to the board of election before the ellection day.
Helping the Post Maintain "Journalistic Integrity" in a Country Trending Towards Obama A couple of days back I read how the Ombudsman of the Washington Post tried to handle the endless cries of: "Your paper's in the tank" and "there's no attempt at fairness or independent thought." All the Post prints, according to detractors, are more and more articles and pictures about Obama. And these last few days the only good news they print is about Obama.... Then I read today's paper:
Obama Widens Lead in 4 States
Poll | Obama holds double-digit margins in three key battleground states, 9-point lead in one other.
Wow! Someone has to help the Post out. We've got to couple this with some McCain - Palin Good news. So, from the scores of discrete events to pick from, I propose we make amends for the Post’s past sins with balance from these uplifting pieces:
McCain’s Plane Lands Safely in Fargo
A hand-picked crowd of spirited white Evangelicals cheer with Senator John McCain while he explains in detail his economic theory behind why last week’s 13 point lead in North Dakota is more significant than this week’s only slightly less rosy poll results. "We are tied here now but as in Iraq we won't stop until we win and return home with dignity," McCain announced. (See: Obama Leads in ND, http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=218215§ion=news.)
McCain showed strength to counter the cross border incursions from Minnesota residents, some of whom he stated have been proven to have enhanced their careers in Chicago. Receiving a deafening applause from the crowd of 270, McCain declared confidently, "My friends, we know how to win North Dakota convincingly, and we will do it." As a sign of his commitment, McCain said he is diverting forces from South Florida to ensure the "Real Americans in Fargo are supported.” McCain empathized with the crowd weary of the influx of Obama supporters from the North. "My friends, I'm from Arizona. I know a thing or two about international terrorists seeking to gain entry to our great country, and if you elect me, this will stop."
Governor Palin Continues to Prepare for Final Debate
Morgantown, WV -- Alaska Governor Sara Palin doesn't blink before exclaiming "you betcha!" She'd be willing to step in at this week’s debate if John McCain felt she could help out. "I’m not one of those who would shy away from a tough situation,” Palin explained, “no follow-up questions guys.” “Ya’ see,” she continued, “someone has to stand up to those people who don't think about our country like we do" she told an ecstatic, largely homogeneous, crowd bussed in from down state past a student protest held "in her honor."
Palin dismissed rumors about copyright infringement charges from Mark Penn for her repeated use of the phrase: "We have two Americans who love our country" explaining that she has since amended the riff inserting the word "Mavericks."
Denying that she was resoundingly booed as she dropped the puck last weekend as the ceremonial "First Hockey Mom" in Philly, Palin explained, "No, that's just not true. Most of the people there probably had vacationed in places like Cancun or the neighboring France, so we know their position on matters like these, after all it's about health care, and who can really shake things up there in Washington."
Responding to a shouted question from a reporter who has since been uninvited to fly on Palin's plane, the Governor jointly dismissed recent state polling and the organized students across the street suffering from a tear gas exposure as "aberrant" and stated, "with all due respect to our current President, and we all know Texas is big" she said with a wink, "but I am the Governor of the Biggest State in the Union... that also, may I remind you, has a narrow maritime border with the Soviet Union." This last comment clearly shows that Palin has gained a commanding grasp of the rich history of international relations, evidenced by her correctly naming Alaska's neighbor in the 1980s. (See: American Research Group West Virginia Poll, http://americanresearchgroup.com/pres2008/WV08.html.)
--Walt Ellis, IV
Washington, DC
October 14, 2008
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Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler has agreed to be the headliner for our LGBT fundraiser to benefit the Obama Campaign.
This event will be held on Wednesday, October 15th in Baltimore
We have many details including location and selling tickets to the event to plan.
PLEASE JOIN US ON THIS PLANNING CONFERENCE CALL!!!
4 PM on Monday, September 29th
Conference Dial-in Number: (308) 344-6400
Participant Access Code: 805536#
Please invite anyone you feel can help us. Ted
Along with blaming Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae for all of the economic failures of today (hoping that some of their brain-dead Neocon audience will remember John McCain frequently linking Obama to Freddy & Fanny), Libby Dole sat at the Senate Hearing today grinding that point into the ground all the while patting herself on the back so hard she should have walked out holding a pen. Another righteous Republican, who didn't have a damn thing to do with this economic shambles, she being a tried and true deregulator, in the John McCain mold. Once again black is white and white is black. Obama speaks to someone for less than an hour and he is "involved" and responsible for this mess with Freddy and Fanny. McCain says so...even though McCain's campaign is ripe with lobbyists, former Wall Street scoundrels and the like, a few of McCain's key people were so deep into Freddy and Fanny, the government could probably just write one of the bailout checks directly to them.
Also, wanted to alert my Obama family to the new "talking point" that is being used by the United Republican Bigots of American. Now the new whine is, that this mess it isn't Wall Street's fault, it isn't the Mortgage Brokers' fault, it is the underqualified buyers. I actually heard some ass say that these underqualified buyers were usually BLACK (on CSPAN Tues. AM)--WOW a new low. So, the new Republican line may turn out to be one that would get full support and endorsement from one of their own kind--Jesse Helms must be giving a BIG thumbs up from down below in the eternal coal furnace. Is this going to be the new scapegoat tactic? If so, we've got to call them on it immediately. Anyone who wasn't qualified, shouldn't have been given a loan, wasn't this the job of...hmmmm....THE LOAN OFFICER, THE MORTGAGE BROKER???? The idiot in the White House ENCOURAGED EVERYONE to buy, buy, buy...home sales are up, he boasted just a little while ago. It is total bullsh*t to once again hear nasty racial slurs instead of blaming the true culprits (one being John McCain). Also, I'm sure that this little whispering campaign will a thinly veiled attempt to throw the borderline whites (and I'm Jewish white person, so don't even think I'M race baiting) over to McCain. Pretty digusting, huh...let's see how much lower they go. I'm sure it may even surpass good old boy Helms who now probably exists in the eternal coal furnace in the basement!
Recently LGBT newspaper The Washington Blade submitted a series of questions to Senator Obama regarding his potential Administration and the LGBT Community. Below are a few excerpts.
On Role Models
Blade: Do you have any role models who are openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender? Obama: A college professor of mine helped me to see the lives of LGBT people from a different perspective. He was the first openly gay professor that I had ever come in contact with, or openly gay person of authority that I had come in contact with. And he was just a terrific guy. His comfort in his own skin and the friendship we developed helped to educate me on a number of these issues.
Blade: Do you have any role models who are openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender?
Obama: A college professor of mine helped me to see the lives of LGBT people from a different perspective. He was the first openly gay professor that I had ever come in contact with, or openly gay person of authority that I had come in contact with. And he was just a terrific guy. His comfort in his own skin and the friendship we developed helped to educate me on a number of these issues.
On Executive Appointments
Blade: Would you resume the practice started by President Clinton but discontinued by President Bush of creating a high-level White House staff position serving as liaison to the GLBT community? Obama: I will make sure the voices of LGBT people are heard in the White House and I thought it was wrong that the Bush White House eliminated this position.
Blade: Would you resume the practice started by President Clinton but discontinued by President Bush of creating a high-level White House staff position serving as liaison to the GLBT community?
Obama: I will make sure the voices of LGBT people are heard in the White House and I thought it was wrong that the Bush White House eliminated this position.
On Judges
Blade: Would you decline to nominate a qualified Supreme Court justice or cabinet member who had a history of anti-gay rulings? Obama: I would have to consider the totality of the candidate’s record and qualifications. However, I think someone who has an established record of failing to support equal opportunities for all Americans would not fare well in an Obama-Biden administration.
Blade: Would you decline to nominate a qualified Supreme Court justice or cabinet member who had a history of anti-gay rulings?
Obama: I would have to consider the totality of the candidate’s record and qualifications. However, I think someone who has an established record of failing to support equal opportunities for all Americans would not fare well in an Obama-Biden administration.
Blade: President Bush has been praised for his AIDS relief efforts in Africa, but many domestic AIDS service providers say the U.S. focus on the epidemic abroad ignores growing infection rates here at home. How would your AIDS policies differ from President Bush’s and would you put a greater focus on the domestic problem? Obama: President Bush has done a good job with international AIDS programs, but I think we need to do more, especially domestically. If elected, during my first year in office, I will develop and implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. That strategy will reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. Congress should pass the JUSTICE Act to combat infection within our prison population. And, as President, I will continue to confront the stigma — too often tied to homophobia — that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.
Blade: President Bush has been praised for his AIDS relief efforts in Africa, but many domestic AIDS service providers say the U.S. focus on the epidemic abroad ignores growing infection rates here at home. How would your AIDS policies differ from President Bush’s and would you put a greater focus on the domestic problem?
Obama: President Bush has done a good job with international AIDS programs, but I think we need to do more, especially domestically. If elected, during my first year in office, I will develop and implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. That strategy will reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. Congress should pass the JUSTICE Act to combat infection within our prison population. And, as President, I will continue to confront the stigma — too often tied to homophobia — that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.
On DOMA
Blade: You have called for the full repeal of DOMA. If elected president, will you introduce legislation calling for its repeal during your first year in office? Obama: I have long been on record opposing DOMA, and an Obama-Biden administration will work hard to ensure that we can pass a repeal of that law as soon as possible.
Blade: You have called for the full repeal of DOMA. If elected president, will you introduce legislation calling for its repeal during your first year in office?
Obama: I have long been on record opposing DOMA, and an Obama-Biden administration will work hard to ensure that we can pass a repeal of that law as soon as possible.
On the passing of Del Martin
Blade: Del Martin died on Aug. 27 — she and Phyllis Lyon, her partner of 55 years, got married in the first legal gay union in California in June — affording Phyllis many of the basic protections and rights granted to married couples, such as hospital visitations and estate planning issues. Do you envision a time when all GLBT citizens will have similar basic rights? During your administration? Obama: Michelle and I were extremely saddened to learn about Del’s passing. Del committed her life to fighting discrimination and promoting equality. As I have said before, I’m running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all — a promise that certainly extends to the LGBT community. I do envision a time when we all enjoy that promise, but we have to work hard to get there. LGBT Americans deserve real change, and they deserve it now. Certainly as a nation we can all agree that discrimination has no place in our America. Same-sex couples face legal discrimination every day — that we can, and must, end — by repealing DOMA, providing federal rights and responsibilities to same-sex families, and supporting LGBT parents, to start. And we need to remember that it’s not just couples that need protection — we need to pass long overdue legislation that ends employment discrimination, enhances hate crimes protections, and repeals “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”
Blade: Del Martin died on Aug. 27 — she and Phyllis Lyon, her partner of 55 years, got married in the first legal gay union in California in June — affording Phyllis many of the basic protections and rights granted to married couples, such as hospital visitations and estate planning issues. Do you envision a time when all GLBT citizens will have similar basic rights? During your administration?
Obama: Michelle and I were extremely saddened to learn about Del’s passing. Del committed her life to fighting discrimination and promoting equality.
As I have said before, I’m running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all — a promise that certainly extends to the LGBT community. I do envision a time when we all enjoy that promise, but we have to work hard to get there. LGBT Americans deserve real change, and they deserve it now. Certainly as a nation we can all agree that discrimination has no place in our America. Same-sex couples face legal discrimination every day — that we can, and must, end — by repealing DOMA, providing federal rights and responsibilities to same-sex families, and supporting LGBT parents, to start. And we need to remember that it’s not just couples that need protection — we need to pass long overdue legislation that ends employment discrimination, enhances hate crimes protections, and repeals “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”
Ok, people, let's get back on message.
The central point of this campaign is change, and a referendum on the past 8 years. Palin is a brilliant distraction that has disrupted the focus of both campaigns.
My idea for a new narrative: FOCUS ON THE ISSUES. Obama has been extremely clear and thorough when dealing with the issues. He and Biden should do a MEDIA BLITZ, appearing on shows in all networks, rotating a topic for discussion. They can tout their transparency and open-ness, as well as their focus. They can re-focus the issues on the PEOPLE, not a person (ie. Palin).
Day 1 can be healthcare, Day 2, economy, Day 3, Iraq, Day 4 Energy. Lay out a schedule and have tons of press coverage.
This will have two effects. 1) put them back in control in the most respectable way, by focusing on the issues, and they can tout, focusing on the people; a very populist message. 2) this will raise the bar for Palin to be more transparent and covered by the press.
This can be supplemented by : a string of commercials with real people suffering from an issue that has gotten worse over the past 8 years. Have them tell their story, like they did in the convention. Show their narrative, then superimpose McCain's stances or lack there of on the issue.
Obama Pride heads to the Convention!
Greetings from Denver, Colorado. The LGBT Vote team just landed and we are tired, but we are excited about joining thousands of other Democrats all working hard towards electing candidates who care about our issues!
Obama Pride will be participating on the convention floor, in caucus meetings and in events all over Denver. Check back often for daily updates from every corner of the 2008 Democratic National Convention!
The Advocate has spent the last month talking to personal friends and colleagues, all LGBT, of Barack's, as well as Illinois activists who know his work the best. The piece does a great job of reminding us of his great stances on our issues but also shines light on the important ways LGBT people have impacted Senator Obama's life. I strongly urge you to read the whole piece.
Barack Obama had just finished a long day of campaigning for the U.S. Senate in 2004 when he called his daughters on the cell phone to say good night. Then he sat back in the car, turned to an aide (who had also been a close friend for more than a decade), and asked, “So, Kevin—have you and Greg thought about having kids?” The aide, Kevin Thompson (who no longer works for the candidate), says Obama often asked questions about his life as a gay man: wondering how he and his partner made various decisions, why they didn’t want to get married, why they weren’t planning to have kids. And after Obama marched in a Chicago pride parade for the first time, Thompson says, questions again poured forth: “He wanted to know the history of Pride—how is it that every city has one, what was the origin of it, what was the whole story about Stonewall.” Obama had seen Thompson through ups and downs. They first met when Thompson worked with Michelle Obama in the Chicago mayor’s office in the early 1990s. At the time, Thompson was married to a woman, but in the difficult period when his marriage ended and he started coming out, he says, Michelle became one of his closest confidantes. “I knew that [my coming out] made a lot of people uncomfortable, no matter what they said. I never worried, never wondered for a second what Michelle and Barack thought of me. They were the kind of friends who I knew would always be with me.”
Barack Obama had just finished a long day of campaigning for the U.S. Senate in 2004 when he called his daughters on the cell phone to say good night. Then he sat back in the car, turned to an aide (who had also been a close friend for more than a decade), and asked, “So, Kevin—have you and Greg thought about having kids?”
The aide, Kevin Thompson (who no longer works for the candidate), says Obama often asked questions about his life as a gay man: wondering how he and his partner made various decisions, why they didn’t want to get married, why they weren’t planning to have kids. And after Obama marched in a Chicago pride parade for the first time, Thompson says, questions again poured forth: “He wanted to know the history of Pride—how is it that every city has one, what was the origin of it, what was the whole story about Stonewall.”
Obama had seen Thompson through ups and downs. They first met when Thompson worked with Michelle Obama in the Chicago mayor’s office in the early 1990s. At the time, Thompson was married to a woman, but in the difficult period when his marriage ended and he started coming out, he says, Michelle became one of his closest confidantes. “I knew that [my coming out] made a lot of people uncomfortable, no matter what they said. I never worried, never wondered for a second what Michelle and Barack thought of me. They were the kind of friends who I knew would always be with me.”
Please take a minute to read the entire article here.
How crazy we are as people...
Everyone is talking about how wrong McCain is for attacking Barack but yet his number have gone up in surveys and polls...What the hell kind of democrazy is this??
maybe I need to wake up and realize that people are just not all going to embrace Barack but gosh does that suck as a thought...PEOPLE, do you realize McCain most likely hates you?
I can't understand why people are like I don't know about Barack, what other option do you have, unless you ARE trying to get your ass blown off in Iraq!!!!!!! literally....
If you don't like Barack, pick the lesser of 2 evils if you do then get others to like him too. We only have 60 more days to register voters...
Maybe this a rant or maybe this is to the poor, Black, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (all LGBTA), Muslim, non-Evangelist Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, lower middle class. If that's you then McCain DOESNOT like you and to the people around you remind them, some things just don't change.
Subhanallah Slms Chanel N.
Obama Pride,
I am blogging to you from booth #333 at Northalsted Market Days, the largest street festival in the Midwest and Chicago's most famous LGBT event. We are registering voters from all over and have registered or re-registered 800 people and counting! Check back tomorrow for our grand total. Do you need to register? Have you moved since you last registered and you need to re-register? CLICK HERE.
Senator Obama released the following statement on the Center for Disease Control's report about new cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States.
"We have now learned that 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in the United States in 2006, not 40,000 that had been previously cited. These new figures should bring new focus to our efforts to address AIDS and HIV here at home. "As president, I am committed to developing a National AIDS Strategy to decrease new HIV infections and improve health outcomes for Americans living with HIV/AIDS. Across the nation, we also need to prevent the spread of HIV and get people into treatment by expanding access to testing and comprehensive education programs. This report also demonstrates the need for more timely data about HIV transmission so that we can effectively evaluate prevention efforts. "Combating HIV/AIDS also demands closing the gaps in opportunity that exist in our society so that we can strengthen our public health. We must also overcome the stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDS – a stigma that is too often tied to homophobia. We need to encourage folks to get tested and accelerate HIV/AIDS research toward an effective cure because we have a moral obligation to join together to meet this challenge, and to do so with the urgency this epidemic demands."
"We have now learned that 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in the United States in 2006, not 40,000 that had been previously cited. These new figures should bring new focus to our efforts to address AIDS and HIV here at home.
"As president, I am committed to developing a National AIDS Strategy to decrease new HIV infections and improve health outcomes for Americans living with HIV/AIDS. Across the nation, we also need to prevent the spread of HIV and get people into treatment by expanding access to testing and comprehensive education programs. This report also demonstrates the need for more timely data about HIV transmission so that we can effectively evaluate prevention efforts.
"Combating HIV/AIDS also demands closing the gaps in opportunity that exist in our society so that we can strengthen our public health. We must also overcome the stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDS – a stigma that is too often tied to homophobia. We need to encourage folks to get tested and accelerate HIV/AIDS research toward an effective cure because we have a moral obligation to join together to meet this challenge, and to do so with the urgency this epidemic demands."
To read Senator Obama's plan for fighting HIV/AIDS world wide and at home, click HERE
Read details at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080716/ap_on_el_pr/obama_winning_the_south
The New Yorker described Barry Blitt's work as lampooning of "scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign.""The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said."But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree," Burton added.
I think the idea that the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic [let alone as terrorists] in certain sectors is preposterous. It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is.
