At 12:00 p.m., Eastern Time (ET), September 8, 2009, President Barack Obama will deliver a national address to the students of America. (Please note that this is a change from the originally scheduled time.) During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.
The U.S. Department of Education invites students of all ages, teachers, and administrators to participate in this historic moment by watching the president deliver the address, which will be broadcast live on the White House Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/) and on C-SPAN at 12:00 p.m., ET. We also encourage educators to use this moment to help students get focused and inspired to begin the new academic year. The Department of Education offers educators a menu of classroom activities—created by its teachers-in-residence, the Teaching Ambassador Fellows—to help engage students in the address and stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education.
The indictment of the first female mayor of Baltimore City in Maryland has unfortunately exposes the inimical and detrimental aspect of the law that constitute nothing short of using the same law and the power to be to aggressively and diabolically pursue an egocentric agenda that is only self serving and does not in any way constitute any kind of veritable opportunity to help move the city forward.
While it may not be in my position to exonerate the mayor, I am however appalled and at the same time disappointed by the outcome of the so called investigation and the indictment that was handled to her only as a result of the fear that the days of the state prosecutors were to expire a day after. In order words, it may be wise to say did the prosecutors indict the mayor because their days were to expire the following day or as a result of concrete evidence beyond reasonable doubts?
It is also important to point out that in recent times the state prosecutors have ransacked the house of the mayor and as of today nothing has been said and no credit has been given to her in that regard; that a mayor of a major city like Baltimore City was humiliated by the power that be and we are all watching with helplessly like sheep without Sheppard.
What an amazing time in which to live! I am truly hopeful for my country and genuinely feel like I belong here for the first time. What's more - the whole world is as elated as we. Let's keep our enthusiasm for OBAMA 2012!!!!
HOLAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
If the election were to be held today and based on pundits and the opinions of majority of Americans Sen. Obama will have a landslide victory over Sen. McCain. However this in my opinion is not even the most imperative development in the current political dispensation when compared to the fact that America is pragmatically on the path that may as well essentially lead to the process of reclamation, renovation and reconstruction of the fundamentalism and idealism of the nation.
What is most appealing given the massive and unquantifiable gravitation of the majority of Americans at home and overseas to the movement of hope and change in the country as enunciated by Sen. Obama is the fact that many of these diverse populations can emphatically relate with every part of his speech, ideas, articulations and manifesto. White, Blacks and Brown alike have seen their commonalities magnified and the concept of unity in diversity simplified beyond the racial rhetoric of the minority of Americans.
It is in fact an exceedingly gratifying feeling and with total sense of belonging and commitment to see, feels and watches how Obama has electrified the political landscape with his authentic, pragmatic and honest conviction that if we are ready to work with him this country can once again see better days. Never has any candidate in recent times inspired the people and help them fashion their destiny for the common good of the country in the fashion that Obama has brought into the current dispensation.
Retrospectively watching the 30 minutes info- commercial in which some pundits have tagged as the closing remark by Sen. Obama in his quest for the White House, I am left speechless and at the same time exceedingly satisfied with his handling of the current presidential campaign, coupled with the inevitable, ups and downs and in large part the campaign of acrimony, denigration and distortions perpetuated by Sen. McCain’s campaign.
The fact that Obama is an epitome of the America idealism of unity in diversity, the dogma of ‘be your brothers and sisters keeper’ and above all the exponential recognition of the indispensability of the necessity to promote humanity and at every time and opportunity defend the later was adequately and conspicuously demonstrated in the TV commercial yesterday being October 29th 2008.
I did listen to the lame, dogmatic, myopic and pathetic attack that Sen. McCain raised on the commercial trying relentlessly to claim that Obama chose to forgo public financing otherwise it could not have been possible for his campaign and in short the movement for hope and change in the country to sermon the capacity to run the advertisement on about seven different network which later cut into the live campaign broadcast from Florida. This is a historic event and must be complemented irrespective of party affiliation.
One unique aspect of the campaign for hope and change in the country is its fundamentalism in invoking and substantiating the necessity and indispensability of a united country with a united goal and for a united solutions and supports that is capable of bringing about a pragmatic turn around which will usher in a new era in the United States of America and by implication a new world order globally.
It is no longer news that Gen. Collin Powell a friend of Sen. McCain and one who has served this country in various capacities has endorsed Sen. Obama for president, however what I will continue to emphasize about his endorsement is the reasons given by him and which if carefully and objectively permutated is within the horizon of realism very imperative and crucial for all those who love this country to analyze irrespective of party affiliation.
Gen. Colin Powell raised the concern about Alaska governor and Sen. McCain running mate and this indeed is a very legitimate concern and does not in any way seem synonymous to the stature of Sen. Obama at all as the Republican Party and their surrogates may want the American people to believe. Nevertheless it is a necessity for this country and its leaders to rise above partisanship and make room for objective, authentic and articulate judgment and decision that will not in any way miniaturize, dehumanize or denigrate the office of the Vice President and as a matter of fact any public office for that matter.
The fact that Sen. McCain all of a sudden is trying to distant himself from the incumbent simply because he wants to be the next commander in chief is tantamount to fabrication, betrayal and machination of the worst kind.
Within the horizon of realism Sen. McCain and President George Bush are in fact the same on issues that confront the people of this country and not on the bases of their personalities, genetic and or phenotypic composition. In other words, McCain is not the twin brother of Bush in context of biological offspring, but nevertheless an extension of the later policies and articulations.
On taxes the both have the mentality that helping to make the American people live at least a life without much discomfort and burden of paying excruciating taxes to the government is absolutely uncalled for when dealing with the poor and middle class Americans. On the contrary they both favor tax breaks for their campaign financers and oil corporations that are too wealthy for comfort and in some cases at the detriment of the people.
I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that, the prevailing advantage that Obama has will grow with time, as more Americans come to grasp with the very inimical and abysmal economic maladies manifesting on a daily basis.
Retrospectively, I am very impressed with Obama and irrespective of McCain referring to Obama as “that one”, the essentiality of the debate has been met in that the people should be able to solidify on their support for either candidate and begin to once and for all imagine who among the two is the true compassionate, understanding, wise, well informed and has the capacity to transform the country for good.
While Obama is attune to the 21st century convictions on the necessity for peace and prosperity through the vehicle of diplomacy and authentic engagement, McCain is still stuck in the 20th century doctrine of militarism and pathetic modification of his unilateralism mentality that woefully fail to persuade my constituency into believing that he is indeed the change candidate.
God bless USA
God bless Obama & Biden
Without an iota of doubt, the McCain articulations that its campaign must do all within its power to dehumanize, denigrate, distort and perpetuate the campaign of melancholy and acrimony coupled with character assassinations and defamation may as well be the final straw that breaks the camel back!
Given the contemporary realism of the present political dispensation, we have all witness how the McCain’s campaign and its surrogates have relentlessly and aggressively sort to, but unfortunately in a very myopic fashion attempt to paint Obama as different from “us.” This unfortunate, unpatriotic and mischievous connotation has no place in the America society of the 21st century and McCain did not yet get it.
Mr. Maverick has manifested to the majority of American people and the world at large as to how mentally and physically unstable he can be under pressure especially in the context of lagging behind in the recently published polls. It is regrettable that rather than fashion the polls, the later has had a tremendous effect on his countenance to the extend that he is willing to return to the status quo of the kind of campaign tactics that he rejected and vehemently criticized President George Bush of running against him during the year 2000 Republican Party primary.
It is indeed astonishing that after the initial consent by Gov. Palin who as a matter of introduction is the running mate of Sen. McCain and happens to govern a state that has the highest level of forcible rape in the country (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5844710&page=1) to allow the state of Alaska to go ahead and investigate what is now known as the Troopergate, the same governor is now conspicuously attempting by any means possible to have the same investigation halted and with the support of Sen. ‘Maverick’ in spite of the media propaganda that her action was objective and unquestionably without any element of personal vendetta.
According to earlier report she has claimed that her termination of her public safety officer or commissioner was not in any way related to the later decision not to fire a former brother in law of the governor who was involved in a bitter divorce with her sister and what we are now hearing from Alaska as far as the governor defense is concern is that her action was sequel to the “rogue mentality” of officer Monegan whom her administration claimed was bucking her.
If this was the only reason for her action, why is her administration, lawyers and the McCain campaign relentlessly and aggressively canvassing for the halting of the investigation and furthermore why are those subpoena including her administration public officers and her husband not allowed in testifying in order to defend her stand?
The socio-economic maladies plaguing the country took a turn for the worse when on Black Monday September 15th Walls street experienced a new collapse as have never been envisage or deliberately get away from the Americans until filing of bankruptcy by Lehman Brothers Inc. and the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by the Bank of America Corp.
All of a sudden Americans can now turn their attentions from the nonentities and reality show of the McCain campaign and begin to ask themselves about the financial security of the country and the best way forward. Until now it has been much ado about inconsequentialities such as a careless and irresponsible selection of a sensational and media attention-grabbing running mate by McCain as opposed to his maverick mentality which was put in check by the Republican Party in making sure that he does not pick those potential candidates that could have boast his overall outlook and capacity to compete against the Obama- Biden candidacy.
McCain is hiding many things from the American people and yet we have some of the paid syndicated conservative inclined and influenced media propagating the mediocre information that McCain’s choice of a running mate have energized the nation while in reality it is only the conservative Republican Party base who could no longer stomach the lethargy and apathy for his campaign and its inclination of ad hoc mentality and orchestration.
When Sen. Obama came back to the country after his unique and exceptionally successful trip overseas and coupled with the way and manner that he handles the scenarios remaining calm in the face of interference and exuding in objectivity and zeal based on the energy that was emanating from the people all of the world that came to hear him speaks, we learnt from our organs of information dissemination that such an outstanding and pragmatically important visit does not have any positive impact on the opinions of Americans about him.
During the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Obama’s choice of Biden was informed as a result of the necessity of making sure that such a choice was based on reality and the essentiality of a complementary role which in modern politics is absolutely indispensable. Without engaging McCain on personal issues Obama and company went about their business of telling Americans what the issues are and how they hope to alleviate their suffering by making sure that they put in place modalities that can lead to hope and change in the country. Again the press and those who pay them say there was no net gain appreciation for an Obama- Biden ticket.
The comes the Republican Party convention in Minnesota and all hell was let loose, with those who favors the status quo orchestrating the worst pick in history as the best bet for a country that will soon be dealing with Russia, Venezuela, Pakistan, North Korea and the others in trying to either convince them or the committee of nations that the world need to be a better place to live. What a shame that even at the heart of those who propagate these anomalies, they are aware of the great disservice to the country and yet for the sake of money, egocentrism and myopia, they are not bothered about the lies and deceptions that may as well be the bane of the current dispensation.
Who could have imagined the turn of event especially within the Republican Party’s assumption that it is now on a level playing field and competition with the Democratic Party led by Obama and Biden, principally as a sequel to the addition of the Alaska governor as the running mate of McCain.
Taken for granted that this assumption is true, it does not however erase the essentiality of the arguments, articulations and convictions laid down by Obama and Biden in moving this nation forward after the worst and most disastrous eight years tenure ever by an incumbent in the modern era of the country.
Retrospectively, the Democratic Party once more came on top as the only veritable party that can galvanize the people of this country into helping it to transform and transition from the prevailing socio-economic squalor into that of prosperity and peaceful co-existence with its neighbors. On the contrary the Republican Party convention was literally an avenue for character assassinations, condemnations and defamation, as opposed to proffering solutions to the multi-complex abysmal and frankly inimical economic maladies that the people are facing.
Hi, I'm Lauren, a.k.a the Button Lady. I started selling Obama campaign buttons in mid-july, in Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard and PG Counties, because I couldn't find any at the campaign offices... and the ones on line are soooooooo cool! So, now I buy them on-line in bulk and sell them at events. If you want to see them, or have me come to an event, please just ask. I've even designed some myself. www.zazzle.com/qwlauren35aol
But actually, I want to talk about something more important. Grassroots campaigning. If you've never participated in a presidential campaign, then welcome. We were all new at some point. If you're an old hand, PLEASE share your knowledge. The thing is: all of us, as different as we are, are needed in order to reach enough voters to enable us to win the election. I think everyone knows that unless it's a 60-40 split, it will be manipulated out from under us. It cannot be close. And that's going to take work.
PLEASE. Be as visible in your support as you COMFORTABLY can. Buttons, shirts, car stickers, etc. Now, don't feel bad if "visibility" isn't you. Working behind the scenes is also important. Registering voters is important, and doesn't require that you proclaim your candidate from the rooftops. And making calls can be relatively anonymous.
In the end, though, whether we win or lose depends on how much ground each of us will break and how far out of our comfort zones we will go to get Obama elected. The biggest thing we need is for people to be able to talk about the aspects of Obama and his campaign that have the most meaning to them. When we have those one-on-one conversations, it's more powerful than any ad the McCain campaign can throw at us. If we do NOT have those conversations with people on the fence, as many as we can, then McCain will win, and no number of great speeches will make a difference.
I know why I'm supporting Obama. For me, it's 3 big things.
So, those are my reasons. And I can talk about them 24/7. Please have your reasons for supporting Obama handy at all times. It's not just because he is a great speaker, has a great smile, a nice family, an honest face, a fascinating personal history... hopefully it's not JUST because he's black (hint, Clarence Thomas is black...). There's got to be something about him, his message and his candidacy that's driving you. Please don't be afraid to let it show.
I've created a yahoo group where I can store a Maryland based flyer for canvassing. It's a double-sided tri-fold pamphlet with information about Obama, his stance on issues, how to get involved, and how to contact the local MD offices. The file is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mforo/files/ (you have to register w/Yahoo, but it's otherwise pretty painless.) I hope anyone who would like to distribute the flyers will download it.
It's late (12am), it's time for me to tuck in for the night. Tomorrow, I'll be back at work, earning a salary so that I can donate part of it to the campaign!!!! And in my spare time, I'll be thinking of ways to help this visionary man win the Presidential Election.
Fired up; ready to go.
Lauren F. Brooklyn, MD - qwlauren35@aol.com
We have seen it over and over again and heard it more than once that the current political dispensation race to the White House is too close to call! How I had wished Tim Russert was to be with us and give us a concrete, pragmatic and authentic evaluation, narration and postulation of the reality on ground.
Nevertheless, it is important to analyze how on earth one may realistically be bought over or rather confuse with the propagation of the dogmatic information that the Democratic Party is not faring better than the Republican Party going by the abysmal, detrimental and absolutely inimical socio-economic maladies that average Americans are going through in addition to the unforgettably disgraceful and pathetic foreign images that the country currently enjoy even from some of its allies.
I will like to challenge those including but not limited to the pundits, experts and even the Republicans to provide legitimate evidences that the candidacy of Obama and Biden will not win over that of McCain and Palin on the basis of the necessity for the country to transition and transform from the status quo to one which will help fulfill the aspirations of contemporary citizens and further repair the already damaged images of the country within and overseas.
The much anticipated roll call at the Denver National Democratic Convention will be yet another avenue to manifest to the doubting Thomas’s that in fact the Democratic Party is far more united than the pundits have either accepted or the syndicated media have adequately propagated.
While there is no doubt that difference did exist, how can anyone claim that two minds and hearts can reason synonymously without an element of divergence? Scientifically and otherwise it is not possible not even among the most loving couples to have the two think exclusively and inclusively in a fashion that nothing is innately different.
The ‘roll call’ in my opinion will help recognize those who have champion the course of the Democratic Party campaign especially during the primaries. Furthermore, like Harriet Tudman will imply, we must keep going, marching on and moving forward and not the opposite direction.
Sen. McCain challenged Sen. Obama to travel to Afghanistan and Iraq; indeed Obama has gone and come back with a pragmatism and realism that substantiate his earlier position and those made by informed Americans.
Now the same McCain who wanted Sen. Obama to undergo the trip is using the same trip to castigate the later! Did I hear someone say wonders shall never end? Well I think the appropriate statements should have been nonentities never end!
What does McCain wants in the current political dispensation, since obviously it is the people and not the special interest that shall determine the occupant of the White House! It amazes me that for mere political gains, McCain has resorted to the campaign of denigration, distortions and deceptions to the level unequal so far in the current dispensation. For instance, Sen. Obama just came back from the oversea trips that brought the world to a stand still, period!
Sen. Obama has nothing to loose by visiting our wounded soldiers in Germany, rather and on the contrary he has lots to gain by learning first hand about their treatment and how on earth the got themselves into this situation.
It does not come out as a logical argument on the part of the Pentagon that denying Obama the chance of meeting our wounded soldiers was based on the premise that such a visit may be considered political! Why was the Iraq visit not considered political, especially considering the fact that he was exposed to all sorts of harms including but not limited to the kind of sporadic attacks that Vice President Cheney witnessed first hand during one of his most recent visit to Afghanistan?
Many of you may not understand, nevertheless I have the sacrosanct responsibility to point out to all Americans that the action of President George Bush and the intended benefit he hopes will accrue to the McCain’s campaign is nothing short of executive power malapropism and misappropriation.
Such an ugly development is synonymous to the perpetual actions of a drowning incumbent that has made up his mind to select a successor at the detriment of the people, and in furtherance of his inimical and abysmal style of government.
It is the people that are at a loss, not President George Bush or Sen. McCain. In fact I have never seen an incumbent hell bent on making sure that the lives of ordinary Americans remain as retrogressive and unimpressive socio-economically as every of his actions has portrayed.
Nevertheless, I am not discouraged, since the Americans of today are better equipped than those in the year 2000 and hopefully the contemporary broadmindedness and tolerance will translate to the obvious affirmative actions and support for hope and change in the country.
Within the horizon of realism therefore it will be tantamount to fabrications on the part of the McCain’s camp to claim that Sen. Obama did not want to visit our wounded soldiers in Germany, after he has willingly exposed himself to the dangers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Furthermore, I am yet to hear when in the past the President has limited Sen. McCain’s trip itinerary, so why is Sen. Obama being subjected to this kind of treatment?
A word is enough for the wise.
God bless Obama
Study this website and use it to talk to your conservative friends (both of them)
www.republicansforobama.org
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: May 18, 2008
Pssst. Have you heard? I have. I heard that Barack Obama once said there has to be “an end” to the Israeli “occupation” of the West Bank “that began in 1967.” Yikes!
Pssst. Have you heard? I have. I heard that Barack Obama said that not only must Israel be secure, but that any peace agreement “must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people.” Yikes!
Pssst. Have you heard? I have. I heard that Barack Obama once said “the establishment of the state of Palestine is long overdue. The Palestinian people deserve it.” Yikes! Yikes! Yikes!
Those are the kind of rumors one can hear circulating among American Jews these days about whether Barack Obama harbors secret pro-Palestinian leanings. I confess: All of the above phrases are accurate. I did not make them up.
There’s just one thing: None of them were uttered by Barack Obama. They are all direct quotes from President George W. Bush in the last two years. Mr. Bush, long hailed as a true friend of Israel, said all those things.
What does that tell you? It tells me several things. The first is that America today has — rightly — a bipartisan approach to Arab-Israeli peace that is not going to change no matter who becomes our next president. America, whether under a Republican or Democratic administration, is now committed to a two-state solution in which the Palestinians get back the West Bank, Gaza and Arab parts of East Jerusalem, and Israel gives back most of the settlements in the West Bank, offsetting those it does not evacuate with land from Israel.
The notion that a President Barack Obama would have a desire or ability to walk away from this consensus American position is ludicrous. But given the simmering controversy over whether Mr. Obama is “good for Israel,” it’s worth exploring this question: What really makes a pro-Israel president?
Personally, as an American Jew, I don’t vote for president on the basis of who will be the strongest supporter of Israel. I vote for who will make America strongest. It’s not only because this is my country, first and always, but because the single greatest source of support and protection for Israel is an America that is financially and militarily strong, and globally respected. Nothing would imperil Israel more than an enfeebled, isolated America.
I don’t doubt for a second President Bush’s gut support for Israel, and I think it comes from his gut. He views Israel as a country that shares America’s core democratic and free-market values. That is not unimportant.
But what matters a lot more is that under Mr. Bush, America today is neither feared nor respected nor liked in the Middle East, and that his lack of an energy policy for seven years has left Israel’s enemies and America’s enemies — the petro-dictators and the terrorists they support — stronger than ever. The rise of Iran as a threat to Israel today is directly related to Mr. Bush’s failure to succeed in Iraq and to develop alternatives to oil.
Does that mean Mr. Obama would automatically do better? I don’t know. To me, U.S. presidents succeed or fail when it comes to Arab-Israeli diplomacy depending on two criteria that have little to do with what’s in their hearts.
The first, and most important, is the situation on the ground and the readiness of the parties themselves to take the lead, irrespective of what America is doing. Anwar Sadat’s heroic overture to Israel, and Menachem Begin’s response, made the Jimmy Carter-engineered Camp David peace treaty possible. The painful, post-1973 war stalemate between Israel and Egypt and Syria made Henry Kissinger’s disengagement agreements possible. The collapse of the Soviet Union and America’s defeat of Iraq in the first gulf war made possible James Baker’s success in putting the Madrid peace process together.
What all three of these U.S. statesmen had in common, though — and this is the second criterion — was that when history gave them an opening, they seized it, by being tough, cunning and fair with both sides.
I don’t want a president who is just going to lean on Israel and not get in the Arabs’ face too, or one who, as the former Mideast negotiator Aaron D. Miller puts it, “loves Israel to death” — by not drawing red lines when Israel does reckless things that are also not in America’s interest, like building settlements all over the West Bank.
It’s a tricky business. But if Israel is your voting priority, then at least ask the right questions about Mr. Obama. Knock off the churlish whispering campaign about what’s in his heart on Israel (what was in Richard Nixon’s heart?) and focus first on what kind of America you think he’d build and second on whether you believe that as president he’d have the smarts, steel and cunning to seize a historic opportunity if it arises.
