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We woke up with the children before the sun came up. Quickly dressing we rushed to our polling place two blocks away. We arrived at 6:02 am, and the line already stretched to the end of the block. At 6:40, my daughter in the booth next to me, we pulled our lever for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. I could barely see through my tears as we walked out to the room crowded with overlapping and uniquely shaped faces and bodies, like the multicolored tiles of a great mosaic.
All the polling places in our neighborhood have lines around the block now. I feel like we live in a Democracy again, breathless for hope.
I have that anxious feeling in my stomach. I am both working hard on this campaign - phone calls and phone calls - and sometimes just sitting still, terrified almost.
I keep one thought in my mind as we move forward. It's a favorite childhood book, The Little Train that Could, reminding,"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." This time, however, its "Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can."
In my childhood life, the story of a circus that couldn't come to town seemed tragic. As an adult, with children of her own, I feel the circus came, stayed too long, and turned into a nightmare. We are on cusp of historic change. This election will define the story, the narrative, of my country's future, the one my children will inherit as their ordinary real life. Will this country embrace a bleak, rigid, fundamentalist and restrictive view of human freedom and potential that regulates our poulation into two stark categories of good and bad? Or will we choose a riskier, open, flexible and expansive view of human freedom and potential that integrates our population into a complex fabric that is one America?
No one of us can make this decision for our country. We can however choose to work on behalf of our choice - and let the couarge and passion of our conviction be a light that others can follow.
Call. Knock on doors. Donate if you can. Call. Support and encourage other voters. Most importantly, VOTE! "I think we can, I think we can, I think we can . . . "
I am an American Israeli, originally from Detroit and living on a kibbutz in Israel for many years.I was in the Detroit area for three weeks during the height of the US financial crisis and during a very complex and stormy time in the Presidential campaign. I want to add another strong plea to all of those who are still thinking to vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Being in Michigan during these distressful times in the US and in the world, I was privledged to see 2 Presidential debates, one Vice Presidential debate and daily chronic news items concerning the candidates and the election momentum.
My experience strengthened my convinction about the crucial necessity of voting Obama-Biden into the White House. I say this as a proud and loving American citizen, a committed Jewish person and an Israeli. In connection with all of these aspects of my identity I feel deeply that Obama and Biden can lead and guide the American people to rejeuvenating all the best in US politics, culture, society and economics. In order to be able to stand by and help Israel, the US first needs to be able to heal itself and reclaim its rightful place in the world as the leader and example of a vital democratic country which offers real opportunities to all.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden display wisdom, compassion, understanding, initiative and dignity in impressive quantities and appropriate connections to the issues at hand.
I think this is a very important election and everyone needs to get out and vote and I think voting for Obama-Biden will bring Tikkun-Olam and renewal to all of us everywhere.
Donna Ron
Speaking as a psychologist, when I hear the angry gossip about Barack Obama's muslim, terrorist, marxist, socialist takeover of the real America, I am reminded of the people with whom I work. Their parents might have died when they were very young, or they might have been forced from their homes or countries by poverty, genocide or environmental calamities. They are ordinary Americans who have been traumatized by some of life's most unfortunate events. These are people who become experts at predicting dark outcomes in order to avoid ever feeling loss, hurt or disappoint again.
Many of my generation witnessed the assassinations of inspirational leaders. John F. Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963. Aren't the tears and fears of that day still part of us? On April 4, 1968, didn't the shot that fell Martin Luther King tear into all of our hearts? Most of us were just beginning to believe that his mountaintop could be all of our homeplates. And who didn't love Bobby Kennedy? Just two months later, he was assassinated on June 5, 1968. He led with the promise that no matter who we were and what were facing in the tumult of the times framed by an increasingly painful Vietnam war, we could all end up in that better world for which we all hoped.
Have we recovered from traumas some forty years old? I don't think so. We buried our pain and learned to expect less from ourselves and others. We got used to a kind of dull apathy. It just didn't make sense to have too many expectations. My generation has been haunted by the ghosts who aggressed upon our idealism. We became calculating, pragmatic and cold - a quite cynical group used to the abuses of living in a country perched high upon aggressive materialism.
And then Barack Obama showed up, asking us to believe again. "Yes, we can," he said. "Yes we can."
Some of the gossip and anxious sputtering about the two kinds of America and and the symbolic use of a radical student from 1968 remind me of what happens to trauma victims when they have a chance to recover and to live again. They resist. They make excuses. They conjure up old imagery to keep from taking the risk of trust. Nobody in the real or not-real America wants to feel pain again.
When a people experiences great losses it is easier to subdue living. And most of us have become the widows of our dreams. We have a chance on November 4th to risk falling in love again with our faith, values and highest estimations of our own humanity. It will hurt, and it won't be easy. But there is life on the other side.
HI Friendsand Neighbors,
It’s yourweekly phone bank reminder.
We will becalling swing states SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.
Come be an integral part of this historic election.
There areonly 11 days left until the election. The phone calls we are making this weekend are allintended to “get out the vote” in early voting states.
If you are shy, or worried aboutgettting angry people on the line, don’t be. We are calling to give people valuable information ofhow and where to vote this weekend and most of them appreciate it.
The food isgood, the energy is wonderful and it’s worth a couple hours of your time.
If callingisn’t your thing. Bring some food. Bring some theater tickets to raffle to callers, do on-lineresearch to answer the questions that are raised on the phones. There are a lotof way you can help.
Thisweekends opportunites to call are as follows
SECONDSTREET PHONE BANK
Saturday10-6pm, Sunday 11-6pm
1221 2ndStreet, fourth floor, Santa Monica, CA 90401
(parkingin the city structure next door to office)
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/lastcallforchange/gshkjh
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs5bkd
Don’tforget your cell phones and chargers.
There isalways food to eat and something to do.
Thiselection is too important to sit out.
Hope to seeyou ALL there.
Stephen
PLEASE JOIN US WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY 12PM-6PM TO CALL A SWING STATE
Dear Obama Supporter,
This week we are running two special WEEKDAY PHONE BANKS.
Wednesday October 22nd and Thursday October 23rd. Noon to 6pm.
At our Swank Downtown Santa Monica Phone bank:
1221 2nd Street Fourth Floor
Santa Monica, CA 90401a
Come for lunch or after work or for the whole day.
We’ll have some good food, in a great environment for an essential cause.
Make a difference in these last two weeks before election day.
Bring a friend, a cell phone and a phone charger. If you cant make calls, drop off some food or help us gather callers from around santa monica during the bank hours.
(Wednesday we’ll raffle off 2 fifth row tickets to that evenings Clippers preseason game)
for more information or to rsvp click here:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpr2q9
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
My heart is pounding. We may lose this race. Obama has been recognized by liberals and conservatives as the better candidate, and voted more successful in each of the debates. Many people are very concerned about a McCain presidency - for reasons of his health, weakness on the economy, choice of vice-presidental candidate, and campaign management style. Yet, the race is tightening.
What do do?
Don't get anxious, get active. If the Republican are fighting with smears and attacks, fight back with confidence, ethusiasm and respect. Believe. Make calls, knock on doors, contribute, write, gather with others - anything to spread the legitimate words about an Obama presidency.
We are deciding what kind of an America we want. Don't let Republican aggression paralyze you. Do what you you know. Trust your truth. Get out there and fight for your values.
Yes, we can.
Everybody's talking about "Joe, the plumber." How about "Joe or Josy, the parent." Let's talk about what it is like to raise children and the worries of this great country's parents. On one extreme some parents, often mostly mothers, make just enough to get the rent paid, and what is leftover gets split between clothes, food, and medical care. These parents work long hours and don't have the luxury of taking time off from the job to be there for their kids' school play or sports event. And they also have to choose between time off from work and taking care of a sick child. And it isn't just the money. Most employers don't consider time off for fami;y reasons an acceptable fulfillment of responsibility.
Mothers and fathers have to choose between how much parenting they will neglect, or how much of their professional development they will ignore. Women's health, especially, is always affected by the stress of keeping too many balls in the air - dishes, mops, school lunches, office paperwork, the sick cat, and the calender with last week's missed orthodontist appointment. We sharpen our kids homework pencils with one hand and check work messages with the other. We try and instill good values at home and at work and find ourselves cheating in the corners because we are just so tired.
At home our kids are frightened by environmental stress. They fear that the earth will no longer exist as they know it. They worry that the planet is going to implode. They ask about their parents' jobs, and can't be sure that their mother or father will keep working. They want to know what the Great depression is. School is everything to our kids, but only some of them really get the best of what education has to offer. Mostly they are upper-income and largely white, and even then, the most important things that any child could learn about citizenry, responsibility, the arts, humanities and the higher principles of science are overshadowed by the trivialization of humanity on televsion, computer games, all the other electronic media that has made a brisk walk in the woods something extraordinary and wierd.
Sarah Palin can shoot all the wolves she wants and the pregnant teenager of a governor will likely have her medical, food and rent bills paid and a job to go to when she wants it. John McCain can air quote women's health endlessly but it doesn't change the reality that women's bodies can be worn down by all the laboring and loving of childrearing in a manner no man will ever understand.
The truth is that somebody has to raise the children who are our next generation. We can't outsource this job. We don't want to outsource this job. Forget Joe the Plumber and his whining about having to possibly pay new taxes on his $250,00 business.
What about our children? What about making sure that they have an earth upon which to live, and education that will prepapre them to prosper in the generations to come as well as an economy that can stimulate new technologies and create jobs for everyone?
Barack Obama has a good plan for people who wish to parent. He supports legislation that takes care of parents so they can care for the children who are this amazing country's future. Joe Biden knows about taking care of kids because he took care of his boys after his wife and daughter died. Barack Obama knows because he was raised by a single, struggling mom. Joe the Plumber also knows about parenting because he is raising a child of his own. But --- instead of focusing on the reality of how difficult it is to parent and what we may be up against as our economy worsens, McCain picked another unvetted campaign partner to rile up Americans about his tax problem. Joe the Plumber's problems are nothing compared to what awaits our children's destiny if we don't change this country's failed polices - now.
COME HELP US BUILD OUR TWO SANTA MONICA SUPER PHONE BANKS. BRING YOUR FRIENDS, MAKE CALLS TO KEY SWING STATES, GET SOME GOOD FOOD, MEET PEOPLE.
THIS WEEKEND BARACK OBAMA NEEDS YOU. BE A PART OF THE BIGGEST ELECTION IN OUR HISTORY BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. ONLY 20 DAYS LEFT.
BRING YOUR CELL PHONES AND CHARGERS AND IF YOU CAN, CLICK ON THE LINKS AND RSVP.
IF YOU WANT TO HELP US GET THE WORD OUT WITH FLYERS AND TALKING TO YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS PLEASE EMAIL DAMON AT damonlmoore@hotmail.com
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE -
SANTA MONICA SUPERBANK @ 2nd STREET
1221 Second Street, Santa Monica CA 90401
SATURDAY OCT 18th
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gshkwh
SUNDAY OCT 19th http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/phonebank/gshk9p
SWING STATE SUPERBANK @ LA FARM
3000 West Olympic Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90401
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/lastcallforchange/gs5bkf
SUNDAY OCT 19th
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/lastcallforchange/gs5bkk
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-roth/trust-in-the-economy-and_b_133704.html
On the Thursday of Yom Kippur we fasted and commited ourselves to living with a higher spiritual purpose. On Friday we woke up around dawn and started baking. By 12:00 we had over 400 molasses, sugar-cinnamon, and chocolate chip cookies. We set up our table in front of an unoccupied storefront on Amsterdam Avenue between 78th and 79th Street in New York City's Upper West Side. My kids then put up their Kids for Obama-Biden sign complete with the flag in a circle logo. My eight year old daughter quickly added the prices, "anything you want to give but at least fifty cents per cookie!" My son wrote up a document about why he is supporting Obama, an eleven year old's understanding of the three "E's": Environment, Education and Economy. One of his friend's arrived with a pan of biscotti and the lemonade, and I drifted onto a nearby stoop close enough to remain available in case of trouble, far enough away to let them do their own work for Obama.
Passers-by were drawn to the table. "Why do you want Obama?" one asked.
"Because he is about change, and McCain is more of the same," my son replied.
From the stoop I watched the delighted smiles of deliverymen, workers with lamps attached to their heads, the suited business people, and parents or nannies pushing baby carriages. There was no one group that defined the customers of this inspired outdoor bakeshop. People of all ages, every race, gender, economic status and religion were all interested in the same baked goods. Everybody loves a cup of homemade lemonade and a chocolate chip cookie. And many people seemingly love Barcack Obama and Joe Biden.
Soon another friend arrived with a pan full of Blondies, and then another with a bag full of brownies, and even more chocolate cookies. Two more arrived to help staff the table. Then their friend, the McCain supporter, arrived. They joked a little about his button, so different than all of theirs. "Yeah," he said. "My family is Republican and we are strong on defense . . . so McCain would have my vote if I voted." His friends tried to argue him out of it, but then he paid for some cookies and relaxed with his friends under the warm sunshine and pleasant breeze.
"Hey, I know you," a young girl customer blurted out a little later . "You kids go to the school where my dad teaches."
"Oh yeah," the kids rejoined. "You are the gym teacher's daughter."
A black man wearing fashionable shoes, an elegant hazel shirt and a soft suit handed the kids $20.00. A grandmother tucked another $20.00 into the cash box, "the last thing I need are the calories but I really want to support you". A large ruddy white guy with long cheeks bought 10 cookies for $5.00, excited to be able to provide his family with a good dessert
Not everyone was for Obama. One apparent McCain supporter walked up and said, "You don't know what you are getting into with that Barack Obama."
Another oferred, "You should really look into the news about Barack Obama."
A fellow parent joined me on the stoop after dropping off his daughter to participate in the bake sale. The market was down over 800 points at that point, but another crowd gathered at the table. Then a family walked by and shouted their words of support, "We are from Illinois and we found him first!" A gentleman acknolwedged them and added, "Your state has produced some good presidents!" They all bought cookies. Several customers took pictures.
"Can you imagine? Kids for Obama!", one lady exclaimed.
I could imagine. My kids and their friends love Barack Obama. A favorite past time is to go on web sites where they can manipulate the electoral map to figure out all the ways that he can win. I think that is because he speaks the language of their hearts. For young people we are still one America, one people, one large human race. We are still related to the animals they love, and are a part of the planet that nurtures them with rain, and sun and stars and a moon that have guided them from high in the sky for as long as they can remember. This earth is one of their most important relationships,and they all understand school and education while worrying about their parents' jobs.
I could hear my son in the background. "Don't eat the profits," he admonished. "Every cookie is more money for Obama."
The high noon sun gently arched the sky and began to settle behind a tall tree reflecting in the windows of the building across the busy street. People kept coming and coming, making small talk and enjoying the energy of young people who really still believe that "Yes, we can."
No one wanted the last molasses cookie, until one rather elderly but sprightly woman bought it for $1.00 when she realized that it was a dollar for Obama. "I never thought I would see the day when kids cared again about who would be President."
The trust and hope of these kids was like the hope and trust of kids through the ages. It was like the hope and trust I used to have before the dreamers and believers of my generation kept getting shot. On Friday while the market was erratic and dangerous a group of school children kept alive the enduring promise of Democracy's participatory constitution. They raised $606.00 for Barack Obama.
My son and I spent last Sunday going door-to-door in Hazleton, PA. I was born there, and my parents grew up in the area. I spent a good portion of my childhood in this ruggedly rural and industrial spate of coal mining and steel mill towns. Long ago, however, I discovered college (Wesleyan University), New York City and a dream of my own that was far broader than than the expanse of slag heaps that once lined the perimeter of my horizon. Although I have come home many times over the years, this time I came with a purpose. I came to talk with my relatives and their neighbors about voting for Joe Biden and Barack Obama. I brought my eleven year old son with me to make the circle complete - bringing the voice of the future into dialogue with voices of the past.
We were assigned a route that included the home of my maternal grandmother and uncle. The first door we knocked upon opened to a women who knew my great-uncle. She was trying to sell her home because she couldn't afford the mortgage. She worked two jobs but couldn't afford health care. She was worried and scared,and very alone, as her husband died some years ago. We met an elderly lady who was lonely, and scared but thrilled to have company. She would need someone to take her to the polls, she said. She once bought a used car from my grandfather. One man said that he hated politicians, was disappointed by all of them and would never register to vote, but then he did register because all he needed was to be heard and supported. Another man said he was always right wing, is right wing and will always be right wing and wished us better luck elsewhere. A young Latino man lost his job in NJ and had to relocate to PA for work. Recently he discovered NPR and Amy Goodman, and made the determination that he wasn't going to sit this election out. He was proud to show us his new rented home, meticulously decorated in warm vibrant colors that offset the grey exterior of the two family homes lining the dark streets. He introduced us to his wife, kids and mother who flashed shy but welcoming smiles. We met a woman who was registered but angry because her hours were cut back and she couldn't afford her mortgage or health care even with three jobs. But, she noted, she was registered. We met a Republican schoolteacher who decided to vote Obama because she witnessed the crisis of education firsthand as one student after another was denied the ability to even dream of college. She too had lost most of her resources.
When we knocked on my Grandmother's door, she was thrilled that her grandchild and great grandchild were volunteering for the Obama Campaign, even though she had planned to vote for McCain. By the end of lunch we had convinced her to do otherwise simply because we gave her permission to trust something new and different. My uncle, a Vietnam vet, couldn't be swayed. He has never forgotten, and still lives in that pain, and has to vote for McCain because McCain is a vote for a war that still rages in his mind.
At the end of our route my paternal grandmother and her sister came in from McAdoo joined us for coffee, tea and snacks at the Obama headquarters in Hazleton, PA. They have always been Democrats but, wary of difference, were not going to support an Obama ticket. My grandmother, hunched over from osteoarthritis, and her sister, mostly blind, came alive as soon as they sat down at the old wooden table where I completed my canvassing report. It reminded them of the old days when they had organized on behalf of having unions in the mines. That was the legacy of these tired, elderly but still hard-working folks - a proud legacy. They chatted on and on with Lindsay, one of the Obama interns. I could tell then that Obama-Biden was their ticket. Biden, after all, was from Scranton, "one of our own."
Door after door we encountered one story more sad than the other. I felt as guilty as I always have about leaving this home behind. My parents took a leap and didn't quite make it to the other side, but by even trying for a better and more enlarged life they gave me something to work toward. Look at me now . . . a New Yorker, from the Upper West Side. A professional with a family. My son and I knocked on almost forty doors and spoke with about twenty something people. We registered seven new Obama voters and discovered about fifteen new Obama supporters. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to keep taking take care of these people, this part of me.
I guess that is the value of participation, dialogue and knocking on any neighbor's door. We suddenly discover ourselves in the other. We are a part of each other. An election then is no longer about me. It is about us. We are so much stronger when we can all grow together.
From http://thebikeridein.blogspot.com/2008/10/mission-accomplished.html:
THE FOLLOWING IS A POST FROM DAVID SCHATSKY ON FACEBOOK:
To: Palin supporters and apologists--especially those right-leaning media elites and self-hating intellectuals (I'm talking to you David Brooks), if you want to quell the outrage and puncture the disbelief over the conceit of Sarah Palin as a legitimate presidential contender, just give us an example or two of a an intellectually mediocre person, an indifferent student, who is ideologically rigid and narrow minded, dismissive of science and disdainful of details, with negligible relevant experience, who was a successful leader who increased the public good.We cannot understand the orgy of excitement over someone whose character profile so mirrors that of our current president. We vainly hoped that -his- record had discredited forever the notion that knowledge, thoughtfulness, flexibility and reason were wussie accouterments and that a leader could be effective in the 21st Century, at a time of explosive change and dizzying complexity, with little more than an iron will and a gut instinct.Where is the recognition that this is a recipe for disaster? We tried that recipe, and we are eating that cake now.Show us we are wrong. Show us the -effective- leaders who make us snobs cringe because they don't read, mangle grammar, and show no evidence of actually thinking things through. Show us those leaders and maybe we'll reconsider.And while you're at it, please explain this: an "oil and gas regulator" who believes regulation is a bad thing; a person who believes government interferes with good people's lives who is aggressively pursuing increasingly important jobs in government.Go on. Explain those things and maybe you'll shut us up.
The biggest problem with the success of the Obama-Biden ticket is that it infuriates Republicans. Everytime Obama or Biden demonstrate their competence, intelligence and credentials some new slew of attack ads emerge. The worse part of these attack ads is that they prey on a citizenry's deepest fears and emotionally manipulate people using very sophisticated psychological principles and techniques.
Get ready to feel frightened, hurt and vulnerable. You will notice that some ads will make Obama look darker and more menacing. Biden will be made to seem hypocritical and untrustworthy, or rambly and pompous. There will be an attempt to make activism seem bad, wrong and un-American. Be prepared for distortions of history and of association. Especially keep an eye out for Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright and Rezko. Remember that these ads are designed to link our passion for Obama to something dangerous and un-American. This is because the people's embrace of Obama-Biden is a rousing endorsement of democracy. Such populism is a direct challenge to the non-consultative authority that Bush-Cheny have made synonymous with the Republican party.
Remember this: Every attempt to cast Sarah Palin as main street or Joe six-pack and you as something else is a divisive manuveur. Every attempt to frame Obama as dark, or black, or foreign or muslim is a challenge to the civil rights that founded and unite this great country. Every criticism of education, experience, and intellect is a blatant attempt to undercut what enables us to reach the ideals of liberty and freedom. The Republicans will try to create the illusion that there is an us versus them. The idea of an us versus them is what helps dictators, and other rulers dominate populations.
We are a democracy, and this is a government of citizens. Trust your instincts, your intellect, and your own sense of right and wrong. Don't let yourself be manipulated. We are all vulnerable to these feelings . . . but we are all also underestimated. Every person brings the gift of their mind to their lived lives when given the opportunity. Whether or not you are from Harvard, or Howard, or Hometown USA - you have a mind that is alive and active and very capable of recognizing truth. No one should even attempt doubt the agency of the American mind and spirit. The citizens of this country - including me - are not apathetic or incompetent. We are bitter (and I do mean bitter), disappointed and angry about the condescending leadership and abuse of citizenry practiced by the current administration.
Counter the attack ads with the naturally ocurring love, competence and humanity of our minds and hearts!
SANTA MONICA PHONEBANKS 10/4, 10/5
HI friends and neighbors,
CD30 West is running two more phone banks on Saturday and Sunday. Last weekend these two banks rocked, making over 7500 calls. Those calls played a big part in today’s news that Nevada is in Obama’s favor for the first time.
Come be a part of history and make a couple hours worth of calls to Nevada, this increasingly important battleground state. These banks are spacious and comfortable. Bring a cell phone and a friend.
Be a part of the change.
Olympic Phone Bank
MARK GORDON CO. (LOS ANGELES, CA) (LOS ANGELES, CA)
12200 W. OLYMPIC BLVD., SUITE 250
1 BLK W OF OLYMPIC
LOS ANGELES, CA 90064
Saturday October 4th 11am – 6pm http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gshfkf
Sunday October 5th 11am – 6pm http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gshcl7
2nd Street / Downtown Santa Monica Phone Bank
2ND STREET SANTA MONICA PHONE BANK (SANTA MONICA, CA)
1221 2ND ST., SUITE 400
SANTA MONICA, CA 90401
Saturday October 4th 11am – 6pm http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/phonebank/gshkjh
Sunday October 5th 11am – 6pm http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/phonebank/gshk9g
It is a New Year, and a time of reflection. Right now the Senate is voting on the bailout bill. Earlier today, during Rosh Hashanah services, I caught sight of Jerry Nadler, congressman from New York City, praying with the weight of the world upon his shoulders and later talking with many congregants about the bailout plan - determined to do the right thing by the citizens he represents. Our public servants have been entrusted with a mighty mission in vowing to uphold and honor the contitution of the United States, and right now they are doing everything they can to salvage the economy that gives structure to our beliefs' possibilities.
The constitution is a great document filled with a new nation's hopes and promises. Lately, we have seen the betrayal of those hopes and promises. Iraq, global warming, global terrorism and now a global economic meltdown have seriously challenged the tenets we hold to be most sacred in our nation, the founding beliefs of our country, and the protected rights of each of its citizens. These are the things that you and I were raised to believe in as if they were a part of who we are as individuals.
We have gone very far astray from the intentionality of this country. I can only think that capitalism without humanism creates unfettered avarice. I believe that divorce of our economic system from our ethical belief system is at the heart of our national meltdown. We have allowed our economy to go on a free ride without accountability to the system of meanings and ideals that are the core of what we mean by the United States of America.
This is why I am so convinced by Barack Obama's and Joe Biden's candidacy for the presidency and vice presidency. Both of these individuals have brought a spirit back to this country that I haven't seen since I was a child. Afrer services, walking home down West End Avenue, we encountred two young eleven year old girls selling jewelry for Obama. One of them said, "I want Oama to win because he is all about meaning something."
Don't we all want our lives to be about meaning something? Both Obama and Biden contain in their experience and vision the rational reason of capitalism and the passion and vigor of humanism.
We all need to trust in this candidacy and do all that we can to bring ourselves into this candidacy - phone calls, canvassing, letters, debate parties. It is our talents, visions, ideals and energy that will infuse this election with spirit and once the collective spirit of our great nation comes to Washington, our economy and our humanism will once again work together in partnership. Then, we will begin the build the country and the change we can and once did believe in.
So, I have started the Jewish New Year by investing in the teachings of my faith.
Santa Monica phone banks
Sat 9/27 and Sun 9/28
(30 West calls to Swing States)
Come join us at one of our four Phone Bank locations this week as we reach out to TURN SOME SWING STATES BLUE
Check out our schedule below and sign up at the attached link or contact the coordinator directly.
Our Stewart Avenue location has been moved to Olympic and Bundy location listed below.
BRING A FRIEND, THIS ELECTION IS TOO IMPORTANT TO SIT OUT
Downtown Santa Monica phone bank Revelations Entertainment 1221 Second St. 4th Floor, Santa Monica, CA 90401
SAT 9/27 11AM-6PM http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/phonebank/gsxjrt
SUN 9/28 11AM-6PM http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/phonebank/gsxjt5
Volunteer Coordinator - Debra Skelton debraskelton@charter.net
Bundy and Olympic Phone Bank Mark Gordon Company 12200 W Olympic Blvd Ste 250 Los Angeles, CA 90064
SAT 9/27 11AM-6PM Voter Calls http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/phonebank/gs77xx
SUN 9/28 11AM-6PM Voter Calls http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/phonebank/gs757r
Volunteer Coordinator: Smitha Chandrabose santamonica4obama@gmail.com
First Obama was a wolf going after Palin. Then there was an ad depicting what the aerial hunting of wolves is really like, a past time Palin endorses and enjoys as family fun. Now, wolves are back in this campaign.
Remember the story about the little boy who cried wolf? I fear that Bush and the Republicans have injected fear and panic into our culture so often in order to push forward a conservative agenda that it is very hard to believe that things are actually as bad as they are. Remember the weapons of mass descruction? Code Orange? Does anyone tsill have the plastic wrapper to cover their windows in the event of biological warfare?
I know that this crisis is for real. Yet, I can't help believing that it is solvabale without a repeat of the Great Depression.
All the political posturing that is coming out of this isn't a solution.
The solution will be found when we all come together and agree as a nation to sacrifice and to collaborate rather than compete.
Will someone in the media please notice that all of the items that Barack Obama suggested helped bring about consensus on the bailout, while McCain's pseudo-intervention has stalled it?
The solution will be found when we all come together, authentically.
Wolves aren't really that dangerous. They are distractions, facts of nature, a life form. Lying, cynicism and calculated manipulation of the American people are, however, quite dangerous.
If I didn't believe so strongly in Obama-Biden, I would be discouarged.
