BRAINSTORM FOR CHANGE 21 December 2008
The main purpose of the meeting was to clarify the direction of the food drive service project.
We also established a group name and mission statement:
Neighbors For Change
– People creating change
We are a grassroots organization reflecting the principles of the Obama administration. We seek to develop and further the national agenda from the local level. We are Non-Partisan and have intention to reach out to political, civic, education, media and religious organizations once we are better established.
Everyone has an assignment to support the service project and/or develop the team and will report progress at the next meeting 28 Dec 08 6PM
1. Contact the Manna food bank to establish need and help strategy. (Bob, Dawn and Joyce)
2. Press Release rough draft – Allen and Dawn
3. Logo Design – Frances and Luke
4. Web Design – Luke
5. Electronic communication modalities and ideas - Luke
6. Pensacola News Journal contact – Luke
7. Contact other local Obama groups – Anthony
8. Contact American Legion of Navarre for meeting space – Anthony
9. Potential Food box placement locations:
Baptist Hospital Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, SGI Buddhist Center, Unity Church –Anthony
Childcare center- Joyce
Winn Dixie - James
Sacred Heart – Brian
We have prevailed. But this is not the end. It is only the beginning. It is important to me however, that I heartily congratulate President Elect Barack Hussein Obama, Mr. David Plouffe and David Axelrod for the magnificent jobs they have each done throughout this Presidential Campaign.
President Obama will need all of our Prayers our Patience and our Understanding in order to govern with Wisdom and Effectiveness. We as his fervent supporters must also reach out to communicate with everyone that we come into contact with our confidence and assurance in his Divine Appointment and Ability to successfully complete the task that are arrayed before him. I personally believe that God has called him “for such a time as this”.
We must not relent or relax neither our commitment nor our belief in the principles that have brought us to this place of “Victory” over every obstruction and impediment.
Be Blessed and at Peace,
Frank E. Anderson
Battleground Florida, The Fight for Pensacola
Porches to Sidewalks
By William J. Hamilton, III
Pensacola, Fl.- By the time this is published it is hoped America will know who it's next president is. I am in Pensacola where that issue may be decided, working as an Attorney volunteer with the Obama campaign.
Pensacola is famous for having the whitest beaches in America, but I have not seen them. Phil Hall, the attorney volunteer for Escambia County grabbed me at the airport Saturday morning and deposited me in a parking lot outside the Library where early voting was adding over 6000 ballots to those scanned here since voting started on October 20. By day's end, over half the expected turnout of 85% had marked their ballots and seen them scanned through the tabulator.
Unlike South Carolina's touch screen voting system, Escambia county has a "paper trail." The ballots are filled out like the SAT or another standardized test. They're marked with a number two pencil by the voter and then fed into a scanner about the size of a trash compactor. The tabulator/scanner checks for "overvoting" where someone marks too many candidates, such as voting for both McCain and Obama. Those kick back to the voter for correction. "Undervoting" where no one is marked doesn't cause a ballot to kickback. It's presumed you didn't like any of your choices. Valid ballots are scanned and tabulated, but the results won't be known until all the votes are counted. The marked paper ballots are preserved for a possible recount.
Hanging and pregnant chads are a thing of the past in Florida.
The system has has clear advantages over Charleston County's touch screen system. In regular voting, ballots can be marked and accumulated even if the machines break down. There is something solid to check when it's all over. Each scanner can handle 180 ballots per hour. The volume of expensive hardware per voter is reduced. All the voter really needes is an inexpensive plastic booth to mark their ballot in and a sheet of paper.
Over 150 Democratic Lawyers are working in Escambia County. Some polling places will have four Democratic attorney's assigned. We outnumber the McCain campaign's force 3 to 1. Fooling with the machines appears to be likely. However the people running the elections here work for an Elected supervisor who is a Republican. It's hard to say who has the advantage in this wrestling match.
We didn't have many problems Saturday. Everyone entering the polling place met myself or a lady Attorney from Chicago before they voted and were informed of their rights. Inside Phil Hall monitored the voting. We made the same promises to everyone, Republican or Democrat, as the law and Obama campaign require. It was wierd to commit to protect the voting rights of someone wearing a McCain Palin T-shirt. Thankfully, the Obama campain will not be challenging voters, therefore it's almost impossible I'll be helping push a vote for the opposition through the scanner.
In Florida you can correct your name or change your address right at the polling place if your registration doesn't match. Some voters Saturday weren't offered that opportunity. One disappointed voter was denied a ballot and emerged looking for legal help. He chose the lady Attorney from Chicago. Our "inside lawyer" was away doing training. It appeared things were about to go downhill.
We pulled a folding chair up to our picnic table under a Magnolia tree and opened the law office, completely surrounded with Republican campaign workers with whom we had been spending a friendly day.
They apparently don't teach charm classes at Law School in Chicago. She forcefully informed the voter of his rights and assured him we would be with him until his record was corrected and he was allowed to vote. As the Republicans around us listened, I assured him we could have the entire legal team down at the polling place in twenty minutes, including lots of Florida lawyers able to work inside. Inspired by the Chicago Attorney's example, I told everone around that if they wanted the rest of the day to be hard, we would be happy to arrange it. He went back in to try again.
Twenty minutes later he walked out smiling, his registration updated, having seen his ballot glide through the tabulator. It was a victory for American democracy. We never asked him who he was voting for.
Since then I've helped drop 200 yard signs with another community organizer, Derek Stromas, spoken to a rally of 1500 people on behalf of the voting rights project, seen Claudia Brown Curry, a Pentacostal evangelist and candidate for School Superintendent sing her campaign speech to the audience with a forty voice choir and terrified the opposition, who keeps hearing rumors about a noisy, overweight lawyer from South Carolina.
Tip O'Neil once said all politics is local. True, but after three months of work in the Lowcountry it's been a huge amount of fun to meet a new team in a new field in the same cause. Everyone weary of politics should give it a try. Do an election away from home. There are 200 thousand members of the "Obama Army" in Florida today and about 100 thousand working for McCain. You would think we would be standing on top of each other, but there is a lot of room for democracy in Florida.
We'll need it all, because tomarrow's election is the most important one held in our lifetimes. We don't know how it will turn out as I write this, but America is worth fighting for in battleground Florida.
William Hamilton (www.wjhamilton.com) is an attorney who lives in I'On Village. You can read this and other opinion published in the Moultrie News and comment on it at www.moultrienews.com.
By the time I return to the Lowcountry, the efforts to elect Obama and Ketner will be over. On Saturday, I travel to Florida to join the legion of Attorney’s attempting to protect people from a Republican conspiracy to deprive them of their right to vote. Some of the attorneys on my team in Pensacola, Florida have been working for voting rights since I was a child. I am eager to go where the Obama campaign says I’m needed most, a community where a determined group of progressive and minority voters is surrounded by an overwhelming plurality of arrogant, militaristic jingoists.
Most of the people in Pensacola are eager to perpetuate the culture of fear, war and the idolatry of victory that could lead to the destruction of the faith and freedom which has sustained the American journey. Florida will be close. We’ll be fighting to get every willing voter to the ballot box through a massive voter suppression effort. I go from one place where the candles of hope burn in a great darkness to another.
I will carry with me one message to all who will listen, that in our red state I have met an immense number of hard working people who have struggled, spent, worked and gathered for hope. The value of what they have accomplished may not be measured at the ballot box.
We may yet win in South Carolina. I know it is not impossible.
I have met dozens of Republicans in Mt. Pleasant who have quietly asked for an Obama button which they slip into their pocket. They ask me if Obama can win. They are sick of fear and tired of arrogance. They are afraid of their neighbors, their business associates and their relatives. They cannot put an Obama bumper sticker on their SUV. In a time of economic insecurity, they have to blend in, however they want to vote for Obama. They do not want to live in Sarah Palin’s America any more than we do. The John McCain they voted for seems to have disappeared. Joe the maybe Plumber makes them ill.
As for Ketner, we’ve met many, many hard core conservatives eager to vote for her. They see the weary failure of the spent Bubba in Brown’s politics. They understand a tired, corrupt congressman of declining influence will be irrelevant in the future Democratic congress which may be led by a Democratic President.
Brown would have been a fine Congressman for South Carolina in 1950 just as a Remington typewriter would have then been adequate office equipment. Brown is ridiculous today. The Lowcountry cannot survive such ineffective representation without slipping even further behind the rest of the nation. Per capita income in Brown’s district is far behind that found in the upstate. Family’s here earn thousands of dollars less per year and face a higher cost of living than households in Columbia or Greenville.
Digging the United States out of its current recession will require careful application of our diminished economic resources. Americans will work. We work harder and longer than the people of any civilized nation. However without transportation, communication and energy systems servicing a meaningful industrial capacity, there is nothing to work with or for. Much of the money to build that is going to have to come from our Federal Government over the short term. This has to work. It has to end before we destroy the value of our national faith and credit. Some of it should happen in this congressional district. How much of the two trillion dollars borrowed in the past six months has shown up in Charleston? How much of the last stimulus package flowed through Walmart directly to China?
Electing tired, arrogant men like Henry Brown assures the loss of everything we love about our Lowcountry. Our children will not be able to afford or want to stay here. The retired people who settle here will find themselves out of money years from now and needing services they would oppose government providing today, but will demand later. Charleston is not as good a tourism value as Disneyworld. An economy based on real estate development, retirement and tourism won’t compete or survive.
We have never replaced the volume of high paying jobs lost when the Navy Base closed. It is far past time to develop an employment economy for Charleston which matches its high cost of living. We will never do that if we miss out on the opportunities for economic development and infrastructure investment the Federal Government is about to fund. It will be a limited, critical program and may be the last such opportunity for a very long time.
There are plenty of people who understand these things. Most of them will vote for Linda Ketner.
As I pack for Florida, I want to thank everyone who came and sang with my family in the rain on October 11, who biked the voter registrations across the bridge, who made phone calls from our dining room without counting the minutes they were racking up on their cell phones, who invited us to your bar-b-ques, parties and rallies and who patiently welcomed Jackson to your campaign Headquarters to learn and grow. We feel blessed to have been invited to share this struggle with you. Regardless of what happens on Tuesday, we feel lucky and honored.
By rejecting the fear, prejudice and selfishness which surrounds you, you have already won. We cannot be responsible for the culture which surrounds us. We are always responsible for the people we choose to be. You’ve made the right choice. You’ve worked long and hard.
That is what I plan to tell them when I get to battleground Florida.
I’m all fired up and ready to go.
It is a sad fact of life that you can manipulate a Christian the same way you manipulate anyone else.
The first thing you do is find out what that person’s deep seated concerns are. In other words you ask the question: “What” (if anything) is really important to this person? Then you ask “What” is “Most” important to this person?
Now I will ask you, the reader, “What” is more important to “You” than questions concerning “Life” and/or “Death”?
Let’s go even further and ask if “Any Life” is more important than that of an innocent that does not deserve to die?
Once it is known by the manipulator what is most important to you they can then either "Support It", "Threaten It" (in order to cause you to fear) or "They can take a stand against It". Any or all of these actions will illicit a certain predictable response from “You” because these are the things that you value most.
During the “Reagan Revolution” it was discovered that when prompted by the right stimulus “Evangelical Christians” would reasonably respond by voting against their own “Economic Interest” in order to protect what they perceived as the “Sanctity of Life”. This is the Christian way. The strong must bear the infirmities of the weak.
Carl Rove observed these phenomena and quickly determined that it could easily be manipulated to produce a predictable outcome among “Evangelical Voters” and hence he got George W. Bush elected.
It is important to note here that these are valid Christian concerns that demand a Christian response. I along with many other well meaning Christians have voted to protect innocent life over and over and over again to no perceivable consequence. We have been given promise after promise after promise that things would change when they got into office and they never have changed. As a matter of fact Abortion on Demand has become more and more entrenched within the landscape of our society even to the extent that it has become more of the law of the land today than it ever had been before they were elected. Yet it has been continually used election after election to cause well meaning “Christians” to vote against their own “Economic Interest” and promote "The Welfare of the Rich" aristocratic class in America (“The Upper Crust”) and to press forward their agenda.
This is the “Emotional” and “Psychological” equivalent of holding a “Gun” to the collective heads of societies “Infant” class and saying “If you don’t vote for us the killing of the babies will continue”. In Senator Obama’s case it gives many an excuse “Not to Vote for Him” who really “Do Not” want to vote for him anyway. I am “Now taking away that excuse”.
There is “No intention” among the “Fiscal Conservative” class to press for and end to “Abortion on Demand”. Why should they? It has become the greatest tool ever devised for manipulating the predictable outcome of a voting block within this nation’s history.
It would further stand to reason that if the economic situations of your “Wives”, “Mothers” and “Daughters” were more “Financially Secure” many of the babies that are currently being aborted would be instead allowed to live and thrive. But then we really don’t want to support that kind of life. You know what I mean the life outside the womb. Heck! They might not even be “Good People” like us.
"For God's Sake" (No) "For Your Sake" Cut through the Crap
Those hoping to see President George W. Bush received a two hour beating in Oliver Stone’s new motion picture “W.” will be disappointed. Our national failure of the last eight years cannot be lodged in the Whitehouse.
The 7 p.m. showing of “W.” on Saturday at Cinebar in Mount Pleasant was full. So were the Friday night screenings there, and at the James Island Cinemas.It’s also screening at the Palmetto Grande.
Early Voting for the entire state of Florida has just been extended.
Every Early Vote location in Florida will now be every day from 7am-7pm up through November 2.
Please pass along this great news to everyone you know who will be voting in Florida. Click here to find your nearest early vote location.
Here's the release:
GOVERNOR CRIST EXTENDS EARLY VOTING HOURS ~~ ~Ensures maximum number of Floridians can exercise right to vote~ ~~October 28, 2008Contact:GOVERNOR'S PRESS OFFICE(850) 488-5394TALLAHASSEE - Governor Charlie Crist today signed Executive Order 08-217, extending the hours for early voting during the current General Election. Effective immediately, early voting sites will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., through Friday, October 31, 2008, and for a total of 12 hours between 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2008. "I have spoken with the Secretary of State and members of the Florida Legislature and have concluded that it is always the right thing to do to give voters every opportunity to cast a ballot," Governor Crist said. "I have a responsibility to the voters of our state to ensure that the maximum number of citizens can participate in the electoral process, and that every person can exercise the right to vote." Prior to the 2008 General Election, Florida has seen historic numbers of Floridians registering to vote for the first time. In addition, record numbers of voters have chosen to cast a ballot during early voting. Early voting began on October 20 and runs through November 2. Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours per day on each weekday, and for a total of eight hours during both weekends during the early voting period. Floridians can contact their county's Supervisor of Elections for dates, times and locations of early voting. Florida voters can also request absentee ballots to be mailed to them until October 29. Please see the attached Executive Order 08-217. STATE OF FLORIDA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 08-217 WHEREAS, early voting is scheduled to end November 2, 2008; and WHEREAS, early voting turnout has already reached record levels and is forecast to continue with record turnout. There are only 267 early voting sites throughout the state and long lines have formed at many of the early voting sites; and WHEREAS, a historic number of Floridians have registered to vote for the first time in this election; and WHEREAS, new voting equipment is being used in 15 Florida counties; WHEREAS, as a result of this unique combination of circumstances resulting from the historic voter turnout in this election, there is a possibility that election officials will be unable to conduct an orderly election, and thus residents in our state could be deprived of a meaningful opportunity to vote; andWHEREAS, because of the existing and continuing possibility of an emergency occurring before or during the regularly scheduled election, and in order to ensure maximum citizen participation in the electoral process, and provide a safe and orderly procedure for persons seeking to exercise their right to vote;NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHARLIE CRIST, as Governor of Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Article IV, Section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution, by the Florida Elections Emergency Act, and by all other applicable laws, issue the following Executive Order, to take immediate effect:I hereby declare that, based on the above-described conditions, a state of emergency exists. It is hereby found and declared to be necessary to extend the voting hours during early voting. Accordingly, I order the Supervisors of Elections to open early voting sites from 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. through October 31, 2008 and open early voting sites for a total of twelve (12) hours between 7 a.m. November 1, 2008 and 7 p.m. November 2, 2008.IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Florida to be affixed, at Tallahassee, the Capitol, this 28th day of October, 2008. GOVERNORATTEST:SECRETARY OF STATE
GOVERNOR CRIST EXTENDS EARLY VOTING HOURS
~~ ~Ensures maximum number of Floridians can exercise right to vote~ ~~
October 28, 2008
Contact:
GOVERNOR'S PRESS OFFICE(850) 488-5394
TALLAHASSEE - Governor Charlie Crist today signed Executive Order 08-217, extending the hours for early voting during the current General Election. Effective immediately, early voting sites will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., through Friday, October 31, 2008, and for a total of 12 hours between 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2008.
"I have spoken with the Secretary of State and members of the Florida Legislature and have concluded that it is always the right thing to do to give voters every opportunity to cast a ballot," Governor Crist said. "I have a responsibility to the voters of our state to ensure that the maximum number of citizens can participate in the electoral process, and that every person can exercise the right to vote."
Prior to the 2008 General Election, Florida has seen historic numbers of Floridians registering to vote for the first time. In addition, record numbers of voters have chosen to cast a ballot during early voting.
Early voting began on October 20 and runs through November 2. Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours per day on each weekday, and for a total of eight hours during both weekends during the early voting period. Floridians can contact their county's Supervisor of Elections for dates, times and locations of early voting.
Florida voters can also request absentee ballots to be mailed to them until October 29.
Please see the attached Executive Order 08-217.
STATE OF FLORIDA
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 08-217
WHEREAS, early voting is scheduled to end November 2, 2008; and
WHEREAS, early voting turnout has already reached record levels and is forecast to continue with record turnout. There are only 267 early voting sites throughout the state and long lines have formed at many of the early voting sites; and
WHEREAS, a historic number of Floridians have registered to vote for the first time in this election; and
WHEREAS, new voting equipment is being used in 15 Florida counties;
WHEREAS, as a result of this unique combination of circumstances resulting from the historic voter turnout in this election, there is a possibility that election officials will be unable to conduct an orderly election, and thus residents in our state could be deprived of a meaningful opportunity to vote; and
WHEREAS, because of the existing and continuing possibility of an emergency occurring before or during the regularly scheduled election, and in order to ensure maximum citizen participation in the electoral process, and provide a safe and orderly procedure for persons seeking to exercise their right to vote;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHARLIE CRIST, as Governor of Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Article IV, Section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution, by the Florida Elections Emergency Act, and by all other applicable laws, issue the following Executive Order, to take immediate effect:
I hereby declare that, based on the above-described conditions, a state of emergency exists. It is hereby found and declared to be necessary to extend the voting hours during early voting. Accordingly, I order the Supervisors of Elections to open early voting sites from 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. through October 31, 2008 and open early voting sites for a total of twelve (12) hours between 7 a.m. November 1, 2008 and 7 p.m. November 2, 2008.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Florida to be affixed, at Tallahassee, the Capitol, this 28th day of October, 2008.
GOVERNOR
ATTEST:
SECRETARY OF STATE
In a wierd now twist, my newspaper column in the Moultrie News wasn't printed this week due to a lack of space. They went ahead and put it online anyway even though it will be in next week's edition. I'm putting this on the group blog of Pensacola, FL where I'll bw working as a visiting attorney for the Election.
http://www.moultrienews.com/porches/hamilton-10-22
Take a look and comment. It shows someone reads the column Thanks are due to the other Democrats who attended and gave me their thoughts.
Mike Santillo has another column about the Republicans ant the new lows they've reached with this campaign as well. It's also online.
I've just learned that I've been assigned to your area as a visiting out of state attorney doing voter protection. I've been fairly active in the campaign here in the SC Lowcountry where the Redneck Right is just waking up to the possiblity that they're in trouble. The number of single finger salutes per hour we've been getting has doubled in two weeks. Even if our chances of victory in SC aren't huge, we're keeping our Republicans busy at home and out of Florida.
I'm a 48 year old Divorce attorney active in politics since 1980. I worked as a campaign treasurer, speech writer and event coordinator. I was precinct captian of Charleston #2 in Historic Downtown Charleston for 4 years. I've worked as a poll manager for Charleston County.
For the last eight years I've written a weekly column for the Moultrie News, a suburban weekly in predominately Republican Mt. Pleasant, SC. It's a sometime lonely, but never quiet progressive witness. You can read those columns on the newspaper website at www.moultrienews.com
I'm looking forward to visiting your area. I've never been there. The neighborhood I live in in Mt. Pleasant, I'On was modeled after Seaside Florida and is a hotbed of Democratic activity.
I live in Mt. Pleasant, SC with my wife and 16 year old son, Jackson.
I expect to arrive Saturday and be there through to Wednesday.
One of the things that Americans found to be glaringly apparent during the Democratic Primaries was that Barack Obama held a significant portion of the white male vote and that he was continuously gaining ground with respect to that particular demographic. Well how can we deal with something so grievous as a black man receiving white votes. What follows is an accurate assessment of the “Jim Crow” mentality we now see in this Presidential Campaign.
1. Make the Negro offensive and socially repugnant call him something like “Uppity”, "Liar", "Dishonest", from "Foreign Sources", "Arab" and "Muslim".
2. He will then be relegated to something less than equal footing and will be easier to deal with later on. He has also now been assigned (psychologically) to a lower social status in polite society . This opens the door for all kinds of good stuff later.
3. Objectify and dehumanize him with inflammatory rhetoric so that anything that we choose to accuse him of will sound reasonable and be readily acceptable to the general public.
4. Once he is seen as an object rather than a person we can attaché the most vile and objectionable labels to him and they will stick to him.
5. It is always best to have this done by a youthful, pleasingly looking, defenseless looking, and in need of protection looking daughter of the revolution.
6. Every white male in existence (worth his salt) will respond to the subtle low pitched call of the clan and come to the defense of the damsel in distress. They will disregard their own economic interest. They will disregard their own personal safety. They will disregard any sense of “Right” or “Wrong” and heed the call and rally to the cause. The will leave wife, family and children in order to enter the fray (battle).
7. She must capitulate to the full and take this cause to the ultimate level where the mob will see none other than Adolf Hitler himself in the person of this Negro. We must use terms like “Socialist”, “Communist” and “Terrorist” and “Treason” to their best advantage knowing all the time all the men really hear is the one word “Rape”. Until they yell “Kill Him”, “Crucify Him” or “Lynch Him” whichever is most convenient.
8. When the process is concluded we can get what we really want “His Wife”, “His House”, “His Land”, “His Life” or maybe even “The Presidency of the United States of America". Anything is possible when “The Mob” is aroused.
It would seem at this particular point in time that any person that Barack Hussein Obama has ever shaken hands with during his travels in democratic circles is considered “Fair Game” for the purpose of negative associations. It is remarkable that all of these scary people were inconsequential and not guilty of any prosecutable crimes and may even have had meetings with and sat on boards with many “Republicans” and “No One” even cared.
The seeds have been sown into fertile ground within the Republican and Conservative Community. Conservative talk show host have by no means let this call go unanswered. I have heard Michael Savage and Rick Roberts compare Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. These ideas represent “Racism” at its “Finest”.
This was pure genius. "No One" could have done this job better than Sarah Palin.
Signed "A Viet Nam Vet" for Obama
Tuesday afternoon I was pleased to see an Obama sign at the corner of Pine Forest Road and Longleaf. I absently wondered how long it would stay there. Hmmm...I'd say less than 12 hours. The very next day there was no sign of the sign. It wasn't knocked down. It wasn't lying there torn in half. It was just gone.
Amazing!
However, there is a speckle of McCain/Palin signs and stickers. Just a speckle. And I hardly see any Obama signs at all. This makes me believe that there are a lot of private Obama supporters in our clay dirt town. I just don't think they want to advertise it.
What do you think?
When i began bloggin about my feelings/opining concerning the Obama campaign, I would have never foreseen the economic collapse being such a catalyst in the election. The Palin announcement I thought had stole the mojo from the long primary with Hillary.
Then Saturday Night Live, Jon Stewart, and Katie Couric all conspired to effectively deflate Palin, while simultaneously the collapse of the credit system worldwide would skewer any chances McCain had of even "Pretending to be Relevant". Of course we, as Americans, are in shock, we are all uncertain about what the future will bring. The notion of a Depression is real, and it's not good to shout "fire" in a crowded theater, but if the whole system collapsed, then shout anything you want.
The upshot of all the recent activity makes the SNARKY side of McPain and Failin just resonate with a pathetic twang. While we reel with the news of the day, they ostrich themselves into an unwinnable corner and play politics as usual. Don't they see this is different! Have some self-respect Mr. McCain! Don't lower yourself as a senator with a distinguished career by statement like "That One". Don't you see that we know what you mean when you do that? The thinly veiled racist side of you has just come out. Give him the respect he deserves. I don't care if you lose an lose badly, the country is in a great need of togetherness coming out of this election, and you need to lift up Barack as the great leader he will be, because--- "BELIEVE ME, YOU WILL BE THANKFUL YOU DON'T HAVE THE JOB".
We are at an uneasy juncture in our History. Timing is indeed everything. You would have been better than Bush after 9/11 but your own party sabotaged your momentum in that primary against John Kerry. We have memories. I will give you credit for the type of politician you were then, but for the challenges that call today, you are not up to the task. That doesn't mean you should not portend to hold yourself to have dignity and self-respect. Allow the fact that you will lose to set in, and just chill. Unite ahead of your losing for the betterment of the country. After all, you are the one constantly reminding us slogan-like, "Country First".
Please lead by example.
And Barack, even people that aren't used to it, will learn to pray for your ability to remain strong and true while leading our nation back to a place where we don't all worry day-to-day. You have keep your composure all the way through this trial, and one day, History will look extremely favorably upon you and both your intelligence, faith in yourself, and your ability to lead our nation. But that doesn't mean we envy the job you have in front of you.
Peace
Drew
Tonight's CBS Evening News finally covered what may well be the November Surprise that we've been trying to warn about for months here at The BRAD BLOG: Massive voter roll purges being done in secret, with little or no oversight, and often under federal Justice Department cover, in states and counties around the country.
And the Democrats, who likely have the most to lose via such secret purges, are doing little or nothing about it.
The CBS story, posted below (appx 2 mins) starts with an elderly New Jersey voter who was suddenly removed from the voting rolls after thirty years, for apparently no reason whatsoever, before launching into findings from a new non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice study on "Voter Purges".
We've yet to read this Brennan report, but the brief coverage from tonight's Evening News notes 10,000 voters purged in Mississippi, 21,000 in Louisiana and "to top it off, another new study discovered 19 states are ignoring federal law (the National Voter Registration Act), banning systematic purges within 90 days of a federal election."
Among those 19, are a number of battleground states. The report lists: Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Masachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington, as places where massive purges have recently taken place.
CBS ends by noting that their New Jersey voter has now been restored to the rolls, but they warn, "come Election Day, don't count on thousands of others being as fortunate"...
CBS' coverage doesn't even note that many states have now contracted the same private companies who did such a crappy job on their voting machines (companies like Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia) to manage, with the same lack of oversight, entire newly computerized state voting rolls. Names will be dropping from rolls this year by error or by evil...
This likely November Surprise may be just one of many. There is so much front-end voter suppression going on, at this point, it has all but obscured the massive problems that will occur with voting machines around the country when they break down, denying voters the ability to even cast a vote, much less have it counted accurately or verifiably. In Pennsylvania, for example, where almost the entire state votes on unverifiable touch-screen voting machines, the Democrats in charge of the state have recently declared that paper ballots needn't be given to voters until all voting machines in a particular precinct break down. Why isn't Obama and the DNC raising holy hell about that?
So CBS News has noticed. Where the hell are the Democrats, and why aren't they raising holy hell about all of this stuff everywhere. Instead, all we get when we inquire is the same old John Kerry/DNC line, "We'll have thousands of lawyers on call on Election Day, should anything go wrong, blah, blah, blah."
In the meantime, the Republicans are out with phony "reports" and lawsuits damned near every day --- and not just on Fox "News" --- declaring "evidence" of completely non-existant "voter fraud" by "Democrats". Yet, in the meantime, the Dems continue to bring a knife to a gunfight, and, as we've noted many times of late (most recently here and here) seem to have no clue that they are in a War on Democracy being waged by their GOP opponenents.
Once again we urge you --- even if you've voted in a recent primary election --- to check to make sure you are still registered! Here is a very handy link to do exactly that!
There was a message circulating some of our groups in Florida yesterday that spread incorrect information conerning the the ID needed to vote. We're going to clarify below.
A message from the Florida Campaign for Change chief election lawyer:
I am the Obama-Biden campaign’s chief election lawyer in Florida, and I have received the 'no match no vote' message from several sources. This message is categorically false. Our reading of the clear statutory language does NOT require that the address on the driver’s license (or other ID) that the voter presents at the polls match the voter’s address in the precinct register. Furthermore, this press release from the Florida Secretary of State definitively ccnfirms:http://www.dos.state.fl.us/news/communications/pressRelease/pressRelease.cfm?id=330 See the last bullet:· I.D. required and checked at the polls is used solely to confirm the voter’s identity. Not to verify the voter’s ID number or address. The photograph on the ID is compared to the person standing before the poll worker and the signature on the ID is compared to the signature on record.
I am the Obama-Biden campaign’s chief election lawyer in Florida, and I have received the 'no match no vote' message from several sources. This message is categorically false.
Our reading of the clear statutory language does NOT require that the address on the driver’s license (or other ID) that the voter presents at the polls match the voter’s address in the precinct register. Furthermore, this press release from the Florida Secretary of State definitively ccnfirms:http://www.dos.state.fl.us/news/communications/pressRelease/pressRelease.cfm?id=330
See the last bullet:
· I.D. required and checked at the polls is used solely to confirm the voter’s identity. Not to verify the voter’s ID number or address. The photograph on the ID is compared to the person standing before the poll worker and the signature on the ID is compared to the signature on record.
Please feel free to email florida@barackobama.com with any questions or concerns.
Most of the conspiracy theorist of the world are consistent and agree on a few basic ideas. One of those ideas is that the United States and the Federal Reserve are controlled and run by Three (3) groups. Those groups consist of The Council on Foreign Relations, The Tri-Lateral Commission, and The Bildebergers. It is even further stated in these theories that there has never been a President that was not a member of one or more of these groups. A club called Skull & Bones is rumored to be closely connected with at least two of these groups.
It is further agreed that at the helm of all of these groups that control the Federal Reserve and all US monetary policy is the Rothschild family and that they call all of the shots.
Rothschild said “Give me the power to control a nations currency and I care not who makes its laws”
Lynn Forester De Rothschild a woman who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hillary Clinton has switched her support to the Republican Party and John McCain.
If a Rothschild a member of the one family that has been renowned throughout the world for being the richest in history now supports John McCain what should that tell you.
If a descendent of the Baron De Rothschild supports anything it is more wealth for the “Fat Cats”.
On the second day of a couple of the largest consecutive market plummets in history and the collapse of some of our largest “Investment Banks’ Hillary Clinton can’t go to the UN for a pro Israel rally because Sarah Palin is scheduled to be there. One of her most fervent supporters and a profound fundraiser, Lynn Forester De Rothschild switches her party support and endorses (The Great Deregulator) candidate John McCain.
McCain threw up his “Fat Cat” left hand and reached across the aisle with his “Deregulatory” right hand aided by his financial manager and promoter Phil Graham and dealt a death blow to institutions that have endured intact for longer than a century.
The secret of making a profit is (mostly) to buy cheap and sell high. Well all these enormous firms are going to be selling millions of dollars in assets for pennies on the dollar if they are to survive at all. That means if you are one of those financial survivors still liquid (holding on to a little cash) you can participate in the buy of the century. If you buy the companies you also own the defaulted mortgages which in turn mean that you can own everything. Think about it AIG with holdings and assets in a130 nations. With the federal bailout you can slow roast the company while cherry picking and buying the most prime assets a little at a time.
All of this makes me ask one question what does Hillary Clinton and John McCain have in common that might appeal to a Rothschild. One thing that I am absolutely sure of is that it is “not” their stances on the issues. Maybe deregulation ya think.
It will also mean that energy cost along with food and commodities will continue to rise in price. Lastly, it will mean that all that you own will depreciate in value along with the purchasing power of your earnings.
The good news is that you will be able to buy houses cheap (if you have any money leftover).
During the past month it has been virtually impossible for me to blog due to a fight to the death between myself and two (2) “Trojan Horse Viruses” that attacked my computer network. That issue has been for the greater part resolved.
Now! We are engaged in a great civil war of ideas. These ideas must be addressed and absolutely refuted where appropriate. There exist a vast difference between Democrats and Republicans as individual people. One idea that has traditionally given Republicans an edge and by contrast is attributable to the lack luster performance of Democrats and their party in recent election politics has been the fact (in this writer’s opinion) that Republicans have been unashamedly convinced of their convictions and the Democrats did not have the appearance of being equally persuaded by their convictions.
The question that this statement brings sharply in to focus is “Why?”
There is a Litmus test that may help us analyze and understand the reason that this condition has prevailed in the recent past. This test is primarily based upon what I term as the “Fundamentals of Faith and Values”.
One case in point and most profoundly telling is the question of Abortion on Demand. Republicans have been absolutely convinced that they know exactly when, where and how life begins while the Democrats have either avoided the question or only stated emphatically that “We (heartily) disagree”. That sort of vagary is an option and a luxury that we can no longer (as intelligent people) afford.
As an individual the full understanding and the shift for me as a Christian occurred when a well meaning friend brought to my attention the fact that life was still just as important once it left the womb. This was an epiphany for me. Upon reflection I followed that idea to its logical conclusion. It showed me without reservation where the Republicans’ argument for life broke down and was indefensible.
They do not seem to care once the child is born whether or not that child: 1) lives in poverty 2) is hooked on drugs 3) becomes a drug dealer or a prostitute 4) spends an eternity in jail providing free labor for other Republican businesses 5) has the support of a well defined and functional family 6) has access to a sound educational foundation 7) has a family that earns a livable wage 8) dose not have to live in a ghetto 9) will make it to adulthood without being shot or killed 10) will have access to health care in order to preserve its life and the quality of that life.
This writer can truthfully say convinced of my convictions as a practicing Christian that the whole life is important and not just the first nine months in the womb. Regardless of when life begins the whole life is important not just a conveniently targeted part of it that orders the support of a political argument and preys upon the “Faith” and “Values” of others. Wake up “Christians”!
Now if you happen to be one of those phony and hypocritical people who pretend to be a "Christian" while still harboring feelings of racial prejudice and hatred presuming that you can fool God as you have (perhaps) fooled others please disregard this message. It does not apply to you. Please continue along your present course your reward awaits you.
I can speak boldly about my Faith and my support for Senator Obama to any Floridian or any person in the entire world concerning those same convictions. It is time to get up off of our sweet bye and bye and speak the truth with boldness to our neighbors and other Christians who may have erroneously accepted a different and ultimately catastrophic world view. Get on the ball people. The “Economy” no matter how bad is not enough. We need people who are totally, unreservedly and unashamedly convinced of their convictions and will “Not” waiver.
Even if the reader should choose not to believe in a “Living God” (like I do) hopefully that person will be convinced and convicted by at least those things they deem to be “Right”, “Fair” and “Proper”.
You may even find yourself the focus of unsolicited attention from “Law Enforcement” but if you are convinced of your convictions you will press on.
Hi, I just joined. I live in Point Clear, Alabama on Mobile Bay, just outside of Fairhope. I have been unable to locate an Obama Headquarters in Mobile - do you know if they have one?
If not, the Pensacola office is the closest to my home. What is the telephone number?
I am interested in purchasing a number of yard signs and magnets - thought I could save shipping charges if I could purchase them directly from an office as opposed to ordering through the main site. Is this an option?
I would appreciate any assistance. I am also interested in volunteering in some capacity.
Thank you for your help.
Jeri
