This could not have been a better day! Now tomorrow as I hang the American flag out along with the MIA/POW flag I will grin about Palin dropping her job with Alaska.
Some well needed good news.
Bizarre behaviour aside this woman was an embarresment to all of us. Come on! We need women who have a brain to lead the states. What was Alaska thinking putting her in charge anyway??
After just watching our intelligent President speak I must admit I am still surprised....at how sharp he is, at how he explains and takes the time to answer fully a question and at how proud I am to have voted for such a man.
After baby Bush anything would have seemed better, the difference from 5th grade papers to senior year in high school papers, but we have zoomed to the top of the heap.
Knowing that President Obama is actually working in the White House, working for me for you and for our country lets me sleep better, rest easy. Things are hard! for us and others
but the future is here and forming- this is not a President who takes vacations every other week.
Good Job, Mr. President
Make no mistake - good decent people who make it to our nations' capitol soon learn it is a pool of sharks. The sharks(no offense to the creature in nature, please) Do not want change....things going along as "normal" with corruption, greed and mis-management is how the folks want it to stay.
President Obama does not say "pretty things" for votes! He has jumped into the politics of Chicago so he must know and does know how difficult change for the better is.
Our job is to support him and organize any way we can.
I do not look back on my life and wish I was younger, still healthy-that is silly and unproductive...but how, dear friends, I do wish I still had the kick ass in me that my life was lived by.
Now it is to you younger people. Get organized and do someting locally to change the "norm".
Any fight worth fighting is hard, takes time and effort and you must keep your head above the petty meaness
Remember! everyone has a boss-go, if you must, over their heads. Local change is most certainly easier than diving into a new place that is already set in their ways.
I have a brain and am willing to e-mail anyone who needs help for research or ideas.
I have been reading through so many questions on Change.gov, and I have noticed so many questions that I look at and wonder...what was this person thinking.
So here are some thoughts I would like to express...
One...so many have asked the question "why do I have to pay for individuals who did things wrong, when I did everything right?" My question is why, because someone is caught up in this economic downturn, do you automatically assume that the person has done something wrong? What about the people who did everything right, but because of others greed, they are in trouble...why do you assume the people asking for help do not fall into that category?
My second thought...Maybe we should all take a step back and understand what a President can truely do. I understand, and partake in the excitement of a President who promises change from the same old politics, but all of the questions requesting things completely out of the control of a President does nothing to advance the cooperation that will be needed between the Government and the communities they serve. I understand that everyone has the right to ask what they choose, but questions that request the President to do things beyond his control are not productive.
Common questions I have come across...and my thoughts on them...Please give me your input...these are meant to get ideas going, so that we can be more proactive in our Government...
I have come across several questions that have had to do with legalizing Marijauna and taxing it the same way we tax cigarettes and alcohol. The common argument is that this would give an instant boost to the economy, both by the tax revenue this would raise and also by the billions of tax dollars saved in law enforcement costs each year. I personally see the argument, whether or not I believe in the cause, as a plausible way to stimulate the economy. What are your thoughts on this?
The next question that I have seen over and over is in regards to U.S. stimulus...Why not give a stimulus check to each American adult...the amount varries based on the questioner, but range from $30,000 each to 1 million each...included in the stimulus package to be voted on later this month. The arguement...That giving that much would allow those who have been hit hard to pay their mortgage payments and get bills caught up, and will then continue to stimulate the economy by spending, saving, or investing the rest. What are your thoughts on this?
The last question I am going to address here is whether or not we should abolish the current tax system and go to a sales tax instead of income tax system? I would like to hear all your ideas on this subjects as I am still trying to weigh the pros and cons of each. What are your thoughts on this?
The great part about this is that you can vote on which questions you want the Obama team to answer...with the questions that get the most votes being the ones they answer...if you have time you should stop by change.gov and answer a few...
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared thedestiny of a nation. Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trailtoward freedom through the darkest of nights. Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores andpioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness. Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for theballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity andprosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair thisworld. Yes we can." (from Barack Obama's famous "Yes We Can" Speech)
In my work as an interfaith lay Chaplain, I have studied the sacred texts of many cultures and religions. Unlike President George Bush, Barack Obama never claimed to speak with G-d personally, nor to be anything other than a human being with human flaws. However, like other great leaders in history (Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., the Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Moses, etc.), his words may be divinely inspired from his reading of the great sacred texts, and in them, we may all find a higher purpose.
I believe Barack Obama's words have inspired a generation of people all over the world to find a higher purpose... to use their own sacred texts to find their way, to unite this country, and to bring peace to this fractured world.
I honor the Withrow family for recognizing these spiritual words where they found them, and to accept a call for a more noble and honorable life. I honor them for sharing their spiritual truth, in their own personal way as a family, and by exercising their first amendment rights to express their own spirituality during the holiday season.
As a sign of my support for, and solidarity with, the Withrow family and with people who have heard the Call for Change, I will find a holiday ornament of my own, paint on it the words, "Yes We Can" and place it in my front yard for all the world to see.
Happy Holidays. G-d, please Bless America. YES WE CAN.
~ Nancy Cronk
www.InterfaithOfficiants.com
Gratitude and Thanksgiving
Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live. --Jackie Windspear
Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. --Estonian Proverb
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?" --William A. Ward
O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! -- William Shakespeare
Gratitude consists of being more aware of what you have, than what you don’t. –Unknown
We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. --Cynthia Ozick
To know the value of generosity, it is necessary to have suffered from the cold indifference of others. --Eugene Cloutier
How wonderful it would be if we could help our children and grandchildren to learn thanksgiving at an early age. Thanksgiving opens the doors. It changes a child's personality. A child is resentful, negative—or thankful. Thankful children want to give, they radiate happiness, they draw people. -- Sir John Templeton
Gratitude ... goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy. --Henri J. M. Nouwen
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. --Thornton Wilder
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it --William Arthur Ward
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. --Melody Beattie
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. -- Aesop Fables
The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. --H.U. Westermayer
When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? --George Canning
Some complain that roses have thorns—others rejoice that thorns have roses! --Unknown
Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world: It is not he who prays most or fasts most, it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it. --William Law
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. --John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. --W.T. Purkiser
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. -- Cicero
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.
--President-Elect Barack Obama
Daily Trust (Abuja)
Camelot in Arthurian legend was the seat of King Arthur's court. It was a term used for John Kennedy when he won the American Presidency in 1961 which was seen then as the renewal of America and the promise of all possibilities and great things to come.
I am investing Barack Obama with the same legend. For what he has wrought in American politics, he is a black Camelot with all its glittering magical enchantments. Obama is Arthur who having conquered all opposition drew Excalibur, the sword from the stone in which it is buried for centuries and thereafter mounted his stallion and galloped off to make a date with History. And what a history!
Barack Obama as president -elect has given expressions to many time-worn notions. His achievement is nothing if not an exquisite dramatization of the idea of "from the log cabin to the White House". White House, symbolizing power and privilege that can be attained if worked hard for. In Barack's case it holds a greater resonance because it is the first time an African American would be achieving such a feat and boy, it did not come easily. Surely, on inauguration day the ghosts of Rev. Martin Luther King along with other Black dignitaries now gone, would be standing a little away from the gathering, they will wear a smile on their faces and chuckle to themselves that thank God we have got there at last. They can now say a final good bye.
Barack personifies America as the melting pot, a mélange of all nationalities gathered in one place, a fact noticeable always from the ever surging multi-racial crowd that gather to listen to him speak. Anyone who can do this, who can appeal to and win the allegiance of people from multi-racial backgrounds and ride on the wave they provide to power must have an innate quality special only to him. He has given expression to the quest of this motley crowd of peoples to forge a nation out of the cleavages of race, privilege and the bigotry and brutalities they spurned in the days of yore. His victory signals the defeat of the stubborn attempt to maintain and sustain them.
President elect Barack Obama as a citizen of America and the world holds so much goodwill and prospect, we are waiting with bated breath for them to bear fruits.
Happy are those who have seen what many generations past have desired but never opportune to see.
Happy are we that have live in this generation and witness the tearing down of the wall of inimical and detrimental dogmatism that have plague us and make us suspicious of one another.
Happy are those of us who have lived to be part and parcel of this historic moment in the annals of the United States of America.
Rejoice and be glad America and Americans for unto us have been given a reborn conscience and heart in which tolerance, objectivity, broadmindedness and above all love has triumphed over hatred and unity over division.
Rejoice and be glad all those who took the giant steps to forgo the past and instead help engineer by far the unthinkable and unimaginable by helping to elect Sen. Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.
Indeed, it suffice to note that Obama was handsomely rewarded by the youths of our time who saw in him the values that are fundamental to the basic idealism of the country and its foundation- unity in diversity, land of opportunity and the abode of hope and haven for humanity.
Mothers have come out massively to help tilt victory on his side, recognizing the necessity of our time and also appreciating the need for a new direction.
Words are not enough to comprehensively enumerate or describe how enormous this victory has been for America, Americans and the world at large. It will amount to a miniaturization of the reality and gravity of the 2008 presidential election outcome to claim that Obama’s victory is kudos to the African- American community! On the contrary and within the horizon of realism, what we are seeing today is a result of consensus building, the fierce urgency to work together as a people and above all the necessity of treasuring the values of our diversities and the potentials it brings to the nation.
I am dumbfounded, surprised astonished and yet to recover from the decision that majority of Americans have made in deciding who should lead as the commander in chief. We are surely on the path to a pragmatic healing, reconciliation and reclamation of the country we all love so much and willing to protect its corporate existence and integrity.
To God is the glory. Amen
God bless USA
God bless Obama & Biden
Reaching out to all I run into is about as far as my health will let me go - although I did ask if the local office would not open earlier and I would be there to do it. It is a tiny little place off downtown that does not open until 11 A.M. They only called me to make phone calls. Oh, well. Finally they got in signs and yesterday on my way to Safeway I stopped by, picking up three signs. Our property is on a hill, a fenced acre so one sign went at the top on the fence, one went on the deck that peeks at the street from an acre and 1/2 away and one at my bottom gate. This morning my neighbor was working on the west side of his home, I stopped to say "hi" and he asked "Where can I get one of those signs - I want one for the front yard". I left my truck where it was and walked back uphill, grabbed the one by the downhill gate and he had his sign. Yes! just that simple - talk with folks, start with the weather if you need an opening and just ask, mention, show concern. We can do this! Now vote!
After we all vote we will have the pleasure of seeing Obama lay his hand on the bible! And the world will have changed forever. Yes! We Can!
Hi Everyone!
Well, we are down to the final two weeks and our support now is crucial. Please do your best to get all the Obama supporters you know out to vote - even if you need to bring them to the polls yourself! Don't assume that your vote is not important - it is! It is up to you and me to make sure Barack Obama wins this election.
On another note, I understand Barack Obama's grandmother is very ill. I would like to ask you to send your positive thoughts and best wishes to Mr. Obama, his family and especially his grandmother during this difficult time. I will be including them in my prayers and hope you will as well.
Thank you.
The discrimination of Rush Limbam and the rest of the McCain/Palin Campaign entourage reached a new low today.
The hate they are spewing now is anti-American. They don’t understand that reverse discrimination is discrimination.
Their diatribe puts the United States back 50 to 100 years in civil rights, affirmative action and opens the door to increased hate crimes. When we degrade another, this approves and condones any disgraceful language and violence that lurks behind closed doors.
Personally, this brings me back to 1964 when my High School counselor told me that while he didn’t have a scholarship or grant for my college, it was ok because your people only get married and have babies. Today I would have ACLU on the phone after I called a personal lawyer. In those days, I was trained to be polite to my elders, so I said nothing. I most likely even thanked him before leaving his office. Odd that he bothered with my untold hours spent volunteering in his office over three years instead of taking a study hall.
I always dressed neatly. My clothes were always clean, color coordinated and pressed. It was important to be presentable while working in his office.
Inside I wasn’t even upset when the counselor killed my dreams for college. This is what happens when a person is told for years that ‘my people’ of Hispanic descent are ‘lazy, dirty and stupid.’ Years later, when I moved with my husband to his first Air Force assignment, my mom advised me to be sure and keep our home neat and presentable at all times. She reasoned that an untidy home would reflect those old attributes given when one is not white. I know she did me a favor as I would never want to hurt my Polish husband’s career.
Today’s discriminatory messages from the Republican corner tell us that discrimination is just under the skin of some Americans. They may have done us a favor to bring this to our attention. Our journey is a work in progress.
Thank goodness that we have amazing, wonderful Americans like Senator Obama’s grandparents who loved him and raised him. The photo that is being shown today when the Senator was a teenager reflects a great love. The way his grandfather easily has his arm around his grandson is love in action as well as the smile on all their faces.
It is my sincere desire that Americans in 2008 show their humanity and elect a president based on the desire to have the most qualified person in the White House. Oophs, there’s that color again. The best message is that we keep making calls for the Obama/Biden campaign and volunteering to ensure that they are elected November 4th. Hope springs eternal.
During Hawaii’s September Primary, I met the most outstanding woman while I was working at a polling site. I thanked her for taking time to vote. She responded by telling an amazing story. She said that she waited 30 years to do this. This was her first time voting. Her husband told her that even after she became an American she shouldn’t vote. Now, she decided it’s important for her to vote. She was all smiles!! What a story!
How many more women don’t vote because their husbands tell them not to or it’s not important for them to vote? It hasn’t been 100 years since women were given the right to vote, finally. While we’ve come a long way, the journey isn’t over. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony wouldn’t stop and neither should we.
This is just one more example of why we need Obama in the White House. We need someone who understands the US Constitution and the rights of women, people of color, etc., etc.
Governor Linda Lingle says she has to end Hawaii’s universal child health care. (AP 10/18/08)
This latest news confirms that Lingle follows in President Bush’s footsteps. He’s already cut funds for child health care even though at the beginning of 2000, Bush came into office with a budget surplus. Two years ago, Lingle said Hawaii had a $700 Million Surplus.
Now, Hawaii's DOE budget was cut three times this year. This month, Lingle cut the entire state budget. She says there’s a state deficit in line with the $700 Million Surplus. Lingle did find funds for a $50 million pier that never had an EIS. What does this say about her priorities??
First, DOE was cut $69 million this October. Now, she has cut the children’s health care program.
We need a bumper sticker that says someday we’ll have a bake sale for bombs instead of books. Guess the time has come. In the meantime, we need bake sales for science books as well as child health care as long as a Republican is in office.
Our state and nation can’t afford anymore Republican budget abuse. Barack Obama's Health Care Policy would never leave the children without health care.
The Alumni of Punahou in Honolulu has done a super job of keeping us in Obama memorabilia. I have this wonderful black shirt with the front “Barack the Vote - Hawaii.” On the back, there’s a marvelous likeness of Obama. This way we get the public coming and going. I wear it with pride even though I don't like t-shirts. This shirt is special!
Tuesday was a bumper day for Obama t-shirt comments. As I was leaving Nordstrom’s, a man ran after me, asking where he could get a shirt like this. Of course, I gave him directions to headquarters.
This next experience will never fade away. A woman stopped me in the Navy Commissary. She commented on how much she liked my shirt and then asked where she could buy one for herself.
Just before this, I felt uncomfortable as I thought people were looking at me. While I like to stand out in a crowd, the thought that some military personnel might take exception to this amazing shirt was giving me an uncomfortable feeling. Thank goodness that this woman loved my shirt.
Right there in the military commissary we had a fantastic Obama rally! The woman told me a story that I will never forget. She said her husband took off her Obama button and threw it in a lake because he doesn’t like Obama. I told her that she deserves to buy herself a shirt. We laughed and then, we parted friends. I felt like crying as I walked away to think that a woman is treated so shabbily in her own family. We have so much work to do.
This story just reminds me why we are working so hard for Obama. Freedom of speech has taken far too many hits in the last eight years. We need to get back to the basics of being Americans. No more fear, no more arrogance and no more intimidation. Go, Obama/Biden, Go!!!
So AIG execs, get an 86 billion dollar bailout, then they take a little vacation. It only cost us $440,000 of our hard earned dollars. Maybe they should have thought about saving that money, maybe then they would not have to come back to us again for another 37.8 billion. Yes you heard me right...they want us to fork over an additional 40 billion so they can again stop themselves from going under. Here is the article, please dont let it get lost.
When Obama said they should pay the government back and be fired, I guess the execs at AIG thought that was double talk for we should give them more money.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081009/fed_aig.html
