he biggest challenges are still ahead, and meeting them will require all of us working together. That's why the President is depending on Organizing for America and people just like you to overcome the critics and the naysayers and to bring lasting change to America. So stay tuned for more ways to get involved -- this is only the beginning.
Please watch the President's remarks, and share the video with friends:
http://my.barackobama.com/100DaysVideo
Thanks for making this moment possible, and for all the victories yet to come.
Mitch
Mitch StewartDirectorOrganizing for America
We are looking for people with Campaign Experience... We are trying to cause change in Harlem, and we need people who know how to organize and mobilize... Please let me know if you are interested in joing our cause...
Thank you.
Taking Obama's advice and sharing my story----- I went to my mailbox today and in there was a letter from Joe Biden asking me to donate $100 dollars to help Hillary Clinton retire her debt. First of all I did not make any pledge to Hillary Clinton. Earlier this year I donated during Obama’s "one in a million" promotion and I never got my "one in a million" t-shirt. I have been campaigning January for this movement, I have phone banked and gone to two states. I purchased three copies of Obamas books. I did canvassing knocking on hundred of doors, and entered countless data into votebuilder, and made signs. I have been to two rallies and fundraisers, convinced friends and co-workers to vote for the ticket ObamaBiden. I have personally donated almost $1500 that does not include the money I spent traveling and renting hotel rooms and cars. At the end of the campaign I donated $30 to get my "one voice" t-shirt and here it is over one month later and no t-shirt, and personally I don't think I am going to get one. Friends brag about how they receive t-shirts and autographed pictures from Obama and Michelle, did I receive anything of the sort--no.
So imagine how pissed off I am to open my email and see a letter from the Obama campaign telling me about the pledge they made and asking me for my money. Listen you made the pledge you give her the money. Hillary Clinton and her husband are worth over $100 million I might be worth $65 thousand dollars, who should be helping whom. Obama is making enormous amounts of money from his books he can afford to help Hillary.Hillary decided to run for president, she knew what was involved and did not plan for it. Even though she was losing and her campaign was running out of money she continued the effort. She claims she loaned her campaign money, personally I don’t know how someone lends themselves money. She was investing in herself and unfortunately it didn't pay off, that's how it is sometimes. When my investments fail, no one bails me out, the losses I took when trying to start a small business. She poorly managed her campaign and now I am being asked to reward her, how will she learn the lessons there. She should have suspended her campaign when it became mathematically impossible for her to win. This debt is her responsibility alone. I think it is appalling that a millionaire is asking "common" folk to help them with a debt. How insulting to the hardworking people who donated to this movement, some of us having to endure the insults and injuries Clinton caused with her tactics.
Yes, I know the campaign is over, but I never thought Hillary would be a good president, that's why I did not support her candidacy and I am not going to fund her debt. I think the fact that she is nominated for Secretary of State is enough sacrifice for me, did you promise her that during the campaign too Obama? I don't know how she will do considering her record on healthcare and this recent campaign. If I look at those two incidents as her resume I would say she doesn't manage money well, and she doesn't have an ability to lead. I think she is good at carrying out a task and I am hoping that's the reason Obama is nominating her. I think it is nice that Hillary now has to work for him considering all the mess she talked about Obama not being ready to lead. He did tell her during the campaign that he was looking forward to her working for him, so we did see some type of appointment coming.
I am not sure I trust Hillary yet and she has to show me more than just being a good campaigner, all of this makes me think she was just campaigning because she had the promise of being Secretary of State. Yes, I understand there are valid reasons for choosing her and they have been cited by the campaign and I agree those reasons are all pros for Hillary, and since she has been trusted with such a delicate and high profile position (not a bad conciliation prize) now she can really prove herself by carrying out Obamas agenda. I think it's a good idea to have her in a situation where Obama has control, in the senate she would be his nemesis. Now is the time for her to prove she is a person of integrity and morals by paying off her own debt. This should be a growing process for her; I have a problem with people who crave the spotlight because they are often part of the problem. I am looking forward to the Obama administration and wait to see how it will rise to the many challenges that are dominating the headlines, and those that are not: like education and poverty, racial tension and profiling, the lack of community centers and outreach programs in impoverished neighborhoods. This is what I care about, not some millionaires debt that she brought on herself.
I am sorry Obama, forgiving is good, working together is good, but I also believing in standing for what I believe in. I understand diplomacy and the need for everyone to get along but I have to draw the line here. Maybe you could show me your word is bond by sending my autographed pictures and t-shirt first.
I voted for Barack Obama today and i feel like i did my country a service. I think that Obama will usher in a new day in terms of American foreign policy, energy independace, repairing our standing around the world, and ending a failed war in Iraq. This election was the first time that i got actively involved in a campaign and really through my support behind any candidate for president. I know that America has always been a place where individuals from around the world view as a becon of hope and asperation, this election proves that the American dream can be fullfiled if you work hard and also serve your community in a positive way. I can say that this election will be a shattering of a glass celling that has plagued the African American community and i am greatiful that i was able to be part of a political process that i though i would not see in my life time. Thank you Barack Obama, for being yourself and not falling victim to the negative advertising and attacks that were thrown your way. You make all Americans proud today and you have my support in all you decisions.
If the Republicans lose this election my guess would be that Gov. Palin would continue to work to separate Alaska from the United States for wealth and political purposes. Look at it this way; if successful she would be the President of Alaska.
May our thoughts and prayers go out to Barack Obama and his family for the loss of his grandmother. Let us continue on her spirit and make this happen. He MUST be the next President.
Let us know that she passed on knowing in her heart that things were going to be alright. She is at peace with her savior. She raised an outstanding man and should have been as proud as all of us as the man, the father, the husband, the leader that he is.
May God Bless Barack, Michelle & family.
ShaVonne
This is it!
We're coming down to the final stretch and Barack Obama needs your help now, more than ever before!
Please bring your cell phone, a charger and a few fun friends who care about change and join with thousands of your neighbors in the largest ever-attempted phone bank effort in New York state history. The Obama campaign is hosting several of these "mega call centers" all over New York, so invite your friends and family to make calls to voters in key battleground states and change America for years to come.
Visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/nylastcall to find a location near you.
Thanks to the group I belong to I was given the website to check my registration.My husband is there but not me! It's been 2 months. I am calling the Bronx Voting office tommorow, This is upsetting, see article below and check your status!! Up to their old tricks again?
Have you been purged from New York State’s database?
As I wrote about in my last blog, HAVA required substantial changes to the way voter registration lists are managed, requiring that all states maintain a single statewide database, and that voter registration records be purged of incorrect records. But depending on how database name matching is done, this can result in many legally registered voters being removed from the rolls or set to “Inactive” status, which means on Election Day their names will not be in the poll book, and they will not be able to vote.
But a question has remained, how many voter records have been purged from New York State’s voter rolls? Now we have an answer. I submitted a Freedom of Information Law request for all records in New York’s NYSVOTER voter registration database. Early in October, I received a copy of NYSVOTER records from September 23, 2008. I wrote a program to analyze the 12,010,045 voter records and can now report the number of voters who have had their status set to “Purged” or “Inactive” in the Empire state, and the reasons given for the change.
The data reveals that New York State has moved 1,661,244, or almost 14% of the voter records, from “Active” status to “Purged” or “Inactive”, meaning they will not be in the poll books on Election Day. Whether or not these changes are valid is anybody’s guess, and there’s no way to know for sure how many of these have been incorrectly removed from “Active” status. But I’ll wager that a significant number of these records are actually legally registered voters who should be allowed to vote on Election Day, but won’t be.
I’ve provided two spreadsheets which break out the analysis by individual New York State counties, totals for New York City(which includes the counties of New York (Manhattan), Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, and Richmond (Staten Island), and the state as a whole. The first sheet (Xl format here; PDF format here) shows the total number of records, the number of “Active” status voters, and the number set to “Purged” and “Inactive”, and the percentages these represent of the total. The second spreadsheet (Xl format here; PDF format here) breaks out the reasons given for each record set to “Purged” and “Inactive”.
This second spreadsheet reveals some interesting patterns. For instance we can see that the New York City Board of Elections has set over a half a million voter records to “Inactive” status because they did not respond to a letter from the Board saying they intended to cancel their registration (NYSVOTER lists this reason as “MAIL CHECK”). I guarantee that some percentage, likely very large, of these New York City voters are legally registered who never saw the Board’s letter. They’re going to show up on Election Day and be turned away from the polls.
We also find the top counties which have been removing voters from the rolls – Sullivan County (30%), Allegany County(24%), Tompkins County (23%), Westchester County (21%), Rensselaer (19%) and Erie (19%). We find that Erie, Cortland, Seneca, Sullivan and Lewis counties have all “Purged” over 7% of voter records. And Sullivan, Allegany, Tompkins, Westchester, Manhattan, Rensselaer and the Bronx have each set over 13% of their voter records to “Inactive” status.
My analysis program can only work the data that’s in the records, so I can’t determine how many of these voter records have been legitimately changed, and how many are legally registered voters whose status should be “Active” but is no longer. There’s only one way to know for sure – call your County Board of Elections and ask if you are registered to vote, if your status is “Active”, and if your name will appear in the poll books on Election Day. If it is not, there is still time, although not much, to correct the error.
By the way, if you find that you are not in the poll books on Election Day, you have the right to demand and receive a “provisional” ballot (called an ‘affidavit’ ballot in NYS), which you can vote on. Provisional ballots do not guarantee that your vote will be counted however, as the county must first conduct an investigation to see if you were indeed legally registered. Only then will the provisional ballot be counted. While this is better than not being able to vote at all, it’s a stop gap measure, and I urge you to call your county Board and check that you are registered and can vote on Election Day.
I too was appalled when hearing McCain demanding Obama repudiates John Lewis statements when he has yet to denounce anything said by himself or Palin, or his supporters. In fact he went on TV and defended those supporters, bringing up veterans, exploiting his military affiliation. Well I reject and denounce McCain’s comments. He has the nerve to say that John Lewis cannot have an opinion, this man was beaten and fought for freedom in the same sense that John McCain did and in John Lewis' case it was the country he loved that was doing the beating. John McCain was overseas so I think John Lewis has a better understanding of what that time was like in this country having been on the forefront.
When they ask us to reject people like Rev. Wright and Rep. John Lewis they are asking a portion of the population to deny what happened in this very country at the same time defending the right to Israel to exist and declaring never again. Now I only bring up the Israeli thing to say to whom should America be more responsible and defending to the death? Please do not interpret this as some rant against Israel it is just to drastically highlight the discrepancy. African Americans have been put in the corner that if they talk about the history of this country that included the tragic periods of slavery and Jim Crow and the civil rights movement they are perceived as complaining or playing the race card and won’t forget the past. The truth is white America played the race card, they decided that brown skin was not good enough; your skin had to be white in order to be considered human and a child of god. All the while African Americans must suffer through substandard standards in our school system, job discrimination, and terrible living conditions
read my full post on dailykos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/15/85831/443/567/630992
check out Pennsylvania rally pictures: http://www.thepollitikat.com/
http://ny.barackobama.com/NYlastcall
Senator John McCain has no respect for the senior population which is trifling. He is clearly out of touch with the issues and concerns that everyday Americans have. Seniors and every other American who understands that at one point we too will be elderly are concerned with how we are going to make it. Seniors should not have to revert to survival mode in their golden years. That is an American disgrace. As Senator Obama clarified – HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT and yes, even when faced with pre-existing conditions.
Senator McCain kept referring to viewers as his “friends”. Governor Palin in her RNC speech attempted to get people to identify with her stating that with her they would have a “friend” in the White House. Unless you are one of the chosen few that are living in a shatterproof glass house – the reality is that you are not their friend. It is time for people to be clear on the fact that not even “hockey mom’s or Joe six-packs” are their friends because they are ordinary people like you and me and in the world of McCain-Palin we simply don’t count. Obama is the change that we want and desperately need!
I know that everyone is getting excited about the Keating Five controversy but lets not lose our focus. Why it is relevant today, well let’s think back to early February when the New York Times released an article questioning John McCain’s claims of being ethical. Many focused on his relationship with the young lady (Vicki Iseman) as possibly a romantic one, but the important little facts about that relationship is that the young lady was a lobbyist and John McCain wrote letters to regulators on behalf of Vicki Iseman’s client list.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Learn about McCains relationship with Vicki and the relevance to the Keating Five and why it shows that John McCain is still unethical and has no character at all, he will continue to be corrupt and when he gets caught he tries to act magnanamus by quiting and then trashing his former associates. But as soon as things die down he goes right back to being the same corrupt, wreckless, immoral individual he has always been. This is a man that made a joke about a sitting presidents child, stood there and laughed when someone called Hillary Clinton a bitch, votes against veterans while declaring his love for them, screamed about experience and then selected Sarah Palin.
Guys we must write the media and make the connection because you know they will not do it without being pushed. They are going to sit right there at Keating Five and Ayers. Write to you local media and remind them of the New York Times story, because there is so much more there--there!!!
TAKE THE POLL ON DAILYKOS: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/6/74323/9819/5/621384
Michael Moore's Sicko, gives a detailed analysis of our healthcare system in comparison to other industrialized nations, and even some not so advanced countries. "Nationalized Healthcare" is the chant used by the opposition to keep the country skeptical of a modernized and socialized system, which is practiced in countries like Britain, Canada, France and even Cuba. Long lines and reduced services are the threats that are levied to scare us from doing something about this broken system and keep profiteers making money. I was at the doctor yesterday, and there was a long line, and I saw the doctor for about five minutes. This is a private doctor, and I have very good insurance but the potential for profit and greed causes doctors to overbook cheating the patient out of time and care, turning healthcare offices into factories.
The doctor gives me a hard time filling out paper work to ensure I get paid for the time I am out, yet they have signs up saying I have to pay the co-payment promptly after being seen, and this is in a well to do community. How rude is that, even though they are definitely going to get paid by our insurance they want to make sure they take some money right out of our pockets and some even say you won’t be seen without paying the co-pay, even though we have insurance. This is definitely a broken system. Although I don’t care for doctors, because I think they often over diagnose and medicate, I had to constantly remind one of my doctors that they work for me, and to listen to what I am saying, and don’t speak medical jargon to me, I am not a doctor.
A couple of weeks back I tried a new doctor and was not happy with their service, instead of listening to what I came there about they were annoyed that I had not come with my authorization number for the insurance. I walked out, the doctor wrote me a hand written letter threatening to sue for the $30 co-payment, I threatened them right back informing them I will write to medical board, better business, and I also I knew of several people who would testify for me, this doctor had a reputation. I let the doctor know that I did not appreciate the way I was spoken to and they needed to examine their bedside manner. I don’t want to hear about doctors and paper work we all have that with our jobs, but this doctor hand wrote me a letter, probably spending more time on the letter than I spent in the office.
My company, the ones who provide this wonderful healthcare, forces me to fill out a five page dossier every time I am out sick even if it’s just for one day. They feel because they pay me they have a right to know everything in my medical records, so I have lost some privacy and something that should be between me and my doctor is now a strange four-way between me, my company, the doctor, and everyone at the insurance company. The company wants me to use my vacation days when I'm sick, but then what do I use for vacatio, or family matters. My nineteen year old daughter was promtly dropped by my employer based insurance because she decided not to be a full time college student, but work and going to school part time. She is nineteen years old with a part time job she can’t afford to buy healthcare
This is why we need Obama, not only to assist the millions left out of the system but to also give relief to those of us caught in the bureaucracy of the current system. No one should have to go through these conditions when they are not well. No one should have to worry about losing their job, or not getting the care they need, or the time to care for themselves. The world is not really going anywhere and we are all in this together so why can’t we be a little more humane. We need to move in a new direction. We already pay a great deal of taxes. What services do we really get for that. A drivers lisence, dont we pay for that? A bridge or tunnel, don"t we pay a toll? The post office, don't we still pay for shipping and postage. What services do we get for all the taxes we pay. Politicians go to Washington every year saying they are going to make things better, but yet they always manage to stay the same.
The free market is good for electronics and clothing, but not for our healthcare or education. I consider medicine to be like teaching, your in it because you want to help people not get rich. I am not saying doctors shouldn't have a decent life, but why should their expectations be to live extravagantly. I agree with Obama, most diseases are lifestyle based so there absolutely needs to be a focus on preventive medicine. Gym memberships and nutritionists should be covered by our healthcare system. I you take yoga or some sort of destressor then that should be covered. Stress is the number one killer, the source of many diseases.
We also need to talk about our food and agriculture markets, the contaminants that are used when growing and processing our foods. There has to be a way to bring down the cost of organic foods, maybe if we demand everything is grown that way. Farmers should be subsidized by the government but that money should only go to hiring the employees needed to maintain the farm..the farmer is going to make a profit on their goods. Yes, I said it working on a farm should be a government job....they are providing a service to the country..maybe offering $10-12/hr, and healthcare--it is hard work, then farmers can pay a decent wage and eliminate the need for migrant workers.
I am not saying I have the answers or that even Barack does, but I know he will try his best to reform the healthcare system. He will find a solution that benefits the American worker because he is representing the people and not the insurance, and pharmaceutical companies. He is there to be our voices, not special interest. He is our lobbyist, and a darn good one. Using his campaign and previous achievements as the example I am confident he can handle the job and will be better at it than John McCain who has been in Washington for 26 years and hasn't accomplished one significant thing.
