Greetings Friends and Supporters;
As a major financial supporter of this President as well as organizer of such events as the Utah for Obama Convention Party and the Official Election Night Celebration I find it difficult to write such blunt blog regarding the failure of our President to fullfill many of the promises he made during the campaign.
While President Obama has made many positive changes to Washington and the way our government serves her people, he has failed to deliver on a few vital issues.
In recent days, I have noticed the President waiver on his commitment to provide a public option for the American People. We were promised affordable healthcare for all Americans and our President appears to be lacking in his conviction to provide this.
In addition to failing to muster up the audacidy to cash in political capital and challenge the "party of no" the President has failed to address the issue "Don't Ask Don't Tell."
If the President fails to protect the public option and shys away from his responsibility to equality for all Americans I will actively finance, support, and work to elect leaders from a different party. While living to see Barack Obama become President of the United States was my proudest moment, especially after all the hard work, I refuse to stop in my demanding for equality and justice for all Americans. No leader who fails to provide basic rights and freedoms to their people deserves to remain in office.
I demand the change we worked so hard to obtain. We the people of Utah, and of these United States deserve more from our President. If he is unwilling to FIGHT for our rights we must rise up and demand them for ourselves.
Oh Captain My Captain... it is my sincere hope that you will fullfill the cause to which we have empowered you.
Sydney Rhees-
Utah Inauguration Night Ball Tuesday, January 20, 2009 @ 7:00 pm Location: The Depot 13 N 400 W, Salt Lake City (The Depot is a private club - must be 21 or older to attend) Entertainment includes 2008 State Senate candidate
John Rendell's band - Mean Phoenix Marc Buckley - former Salt Lake KZQQ Radio DJ
I appreciate your patients in waiting for this email. I hope the Holiday’s have been kind to you all.
This is a follow up as well as a thank you for signing up and/or attending the “Change is Coming” meeting(s) at the Salt Lake City Public Library. There were a total of 3 meetings (2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday) held at the Library by Marc Buckley and up to 12 others throughout Utah and somewhere close to 2,400 around the nation. We received local news coverage in the Deseret News and on Fox 13 Utah as well as a call from the headquarters in Illinois in order to be placed on a national press release. So believe it or not our voice was heard and there was notice taken.
I am very upset with the choice of a homophobic, bigoted, fear mongering, preacher to say the prayer at the Inauguration. I feel that President-Elect Obama owes us a bit more respect than to allow someone who preaches such hatred to participate in this way. If this man taught hatred towards African Americans this would not even be a possibility. I am disappointed and call on our President-Elect to choose someone who is not a messenger of hate. With the recent passing of Prop 8, with overwhelming support of the African American community, I feel this could further drive animosity between the gay community and the African American community. So sad that at a moment of great progress in this nation we still find ourselves ok with discrimination and hate! Please encourage Barack to choose someone else. I am hoping that if the people who got him elected are outraged he might pay attention to our concerns!
Sydney Rhees
Utah for Obama Steering Committee
Change is Coming - Utah and Utahn's working together to get our country back on track.
Description:
Saturday, December 13th 9:30 and 11:30 am
Sunday, December 14th 1:30 pm
Time: Saturday, 9:30 am and 11:30 am and Sunday, 1:30pm
(Same event hosted 3 different times)
Location: Salt Lake City Public Library 210 East 400 South Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Direct from the Office of the President Elect Barack Obama we will be showing the DVD "Change is Coming."
We will also take time to discuss the issues that are most important to you, what you can do to support President Elect Barack's agenda, and how you can continue to make an impact in your community.
This event will be fun and personal. We will give everyone a chance to participate should they be so inclined. Now is the time to put aside partisanship and politics, find common ground, and work together.
This meeting is open to the Public those who might not have been involved in the Presidential campaign, even those who might have supported someone other than President Elect Barack Obama. The challenges we face demand we be as inclusive as possible. It'll take the whole country working together to get our country back on track. We will also discuss and plan a Obama Inauguration party with dinner and dancing. Come and be part of the move for change.
Obama took a walk through his old Hawaiian neighborhood today.
Please get out and vote early! Early voting in Utah starts Tuesday, October 21st and runs through Friday, October 31st.
Go here to find your early voting location: http://www.voteforchange.com/index_obama.php.
I actually HAVE written a blog! I wrote a blog all about why I've decided to Host an Event - a Bake Sale this Saturday, October 18 from noon until people stop coming. But, for some reason, my blog didn't post! Basically though, you can view my event here:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs5gfz
So! This week I am (while on vacation in St. George) devoting my time to planning for this event. My parents have agreed to let me use their lawn and some fold-out tables, and I would like to advertise in both the Salt Lake Tribue and The Deseret News. So far there will be sugar cookies, chocolate chip/peanut butter chip cookies, the most delicious Vegan Cupcakes you can imagine, quality coffee, and various juices. I would love to tie Blue and White balloons to the mailbox, and I have supplies to make home-made Obama-Biden signs.
I would be most obliged to any helpers in the area (or elsewhere!) for any donations to this cause - I think that we can lure in many, many community members with Fresh-Baked Goodies on a Saturday morning, so I am hoping that this event will bring in a great amount of funds for the Obama-Biden campaign. If anyone could offer me aid in advertising in the paper, bringing balloons or signs, or other baked goods to donate, please give me a call at (801) 654 - 7614 or email me at elaineballfr@gmail.com. There's going to be an Information Table to staff! I'd like to talk to as many people as come about questions they have about Barack Obama, and to talk to people about all the important issues this campaign and how Obama will offer the Change we need.
Wish me luck in Suburbia, Utah!
ACORN Obama Campaign RESPONSE
(Please copy this message and post it everywhere. Send to media. Blog it. Post it.)
(This is a reply from watchdog@barackobama.com ~Neil)
Thanks for sending in the email about ACORN. This smear has been gaining popularity lately as people look for explanations for our economic crisis -- and smear artists looking to destroy Barack see an opening. Every word of it is dishonest and manipulative.
Email smears like this are part of a broader, shadowy strategy to scare people who aren't very familiar with Barack by spreading false information.
Here are the facts:
Barack Obama was never an ACORN community organizer.Barack was never an ACORN trainer and was never an employee of ACORN.ACORN was not part of Project Vote, the successful voter registration drive Barack led in 1992.As an attorney, Barack worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to represent ACORN and other voter's rights groups in a lawsuit to enforce the widely praised federal Motor Voter Law in Illinois.The Huffington Post has laid out the evidence showing the truth about Barack, ACORN, and these smears. See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/smears-contradicted-obama_n_132098.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/03/obama-camp-debunks-voter_n_131686.html
Barack Obama was never an ACORN community organizer.
Barack was never an ACORN trainer and was never an employee of ACORN.
ACORN was not part of Project Vote, the successful voter registration drive Barack led in 1992.
As an attorney, Barack worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to represent ACORN and other voter's rights groups in a lawsuit to enforce the widely praised federal Motor Voter Law in Illinois.
The Huffington Post has laid out the evidence showing the truth about Barack, ACORN, and these smears. See:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/smears-contradicted-obama_n_132098.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/03/obama-camp-debunks-voter_n_131686.html
There's no way to stop these dangerous, misleading viral emails one-by-one, but together we can take the political process back from the cynical politics of deception. We can all start by spreading the truth about Barack Obama.
Forward this email to everyone else who received the ACORN smear, then head to Fight The Smears <http://www.fightthesmears.com> to get details about more smears and see what else you can do: Fight The Smears: http://www.fightthesmears.com
Here are a few facts about Barack Obama that people might be interested to learn: * Barack Obama is working for middle class Americans. The Obama-Biden tax plan includes a tax cut of $1,000 for more than 150 million working Americans. The plan will also eliminate income taxes altogether for more than 7 million senior citizens who make less than $50,000 per year. Finally, Obama's plan will provide an average of $500 to 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year. Learn more about the Obama-Biden tax plan: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#tax-relief http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?ID=411693* Barack Obama knows that the problems we're facing in this election are too serious to let the politics of manufactured controversy and fake outrage dominate. He wants to bring our troops home from Iraq, so we can focus on Afghanistan and track down the terrorists who attacked us. And he's proposed a detailed plan for using alternative energy sources to relieve America's dependence on foreign oil within 10 years and put millions of Americans to work.See more about Obama's plan for change here: See Barack's detailed plan for America: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/planforchange_ad/* After being raised by a single mother and by his grandparents in a modest household, Barack studied hard and won scholarships and loans to attend Columbia University and later Harvard Law School, where he became president of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, he returned to Chicago, where he helped disadvantaged citizens work for better jobs and better schools. Barack later went on to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago, helping to educate the community leaders of tomorrow. Read more about Barack Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php
Here are a few facts about Barack Obama that people might be interested to learn: * Barack Obama is working for middle class Americans. The Obama-Biden tax plan includes a tax cut of $1,000 for more than 150 million working Americans. The plan will also eliminate income taxes altogether for more than 7 million senior citizens who make less than $50,000 per year. Finally, Obama's plan will provide an average of $500 to 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year. Learn more about the Obama-Biden tax plan: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#tax-relief
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?ID=411693
* Barack Obama knows that the problems we're facing in this election are too serious to let the politics of manufactured controversy and fake outrage dominate. He wants to bring our troops home from Iraq, so we can focus on Afghanistan and track down the terrorists who attacked us. And he's proposed a detailed plan for using alternative energy sources to relieve America's dependence on foreign oil within 10 years and put millions of Americans to work.
See more about Obama's plan for change here: See Barack's detailed plan for America: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/planforchange_ad/
* After being raised by a single mother and by his grandparents in a modest household, Barack studied hard and won scholarships and loans to attend Columbia University and later Harvard Law School, where he became president of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, he returned to Chicago, where he helped disadvantaged citizens work for better jobs and better schools. Barack later went on to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago, helping to educate the community leaders of tomorrow. Read more about Barack Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php
Please forward this to anyone you know who has received this smear email about Barack. Together we can make sure these negative and divisive attacks don't affect this election.
Thanks for your help,
Obama for America
...by mail! WOW! What a wonderful feeling to finally vote for someone that is not "the lesser of the two evils" but for someone who I wholly believe in.
Last night I cleared my schedule so I could watch the debate. As with the previous debates I went in with an open mind. Well, as open as it could be knowing beforehand that I would not be swayed in my vote. Having said that I was open minded in the aspect that I was not going to jump on the ‘My team won, because it is my team’ band wagon.
1%, or 1 vote out of 100There have been 12 Presidential elections that were decided by less than a 1% margin; meaning if less than 1% of the voters in certain states had changed their mind to the other candidate the outcome of the entire election would have been different. More than half were decided by less than a 2% margin.
In 2004, 57,787 votes would have given us President Kerry.In 2000, 269 votes would have given us President GoreIn 1996, 575,515 votes would have given us President Dole.
From ABC News:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/scienceandsociety/2008/09/squeakers.html
=========="Squeakers"Ned PotterABC NewsSeptember 29, 2008How close have Presidential elections been? Closer, perhaps, than we ever guessed. Mike Sheppard, a grad student in statistics at Michigan State, has done a mathematical exercise that shows it.He ran a computer program to answer this question: "What is the smallest number of total votes that need to be switched from one candidate to another, and from which states, to affect the outcome of the election?"The answer: in some years, very, very few. Take a look at his analysis HERE. It shows the powerful interaction between the popular vote and the electoral college.[...]==========
Full article here:http://blogs.abcnews.com/scienceandsociety/2008/09/squeakers.html
Detailed analysis here, including colored maps:https://www.msu.edu/~sheppa28/elections.html-Mike Sheppard
INVITATION TO ALL MORMONS TO VOTE THEIR CONSCIENCE
LDS Church encourages member involvement in political process
By Carrie A. MooreDeseret News
Published: Monday, Sept. 22, 2008 12:28 a.m. MDT
While the LDS Church has long affirmed its political neutrality regarding political parties, platforms and candidates, it is reminding its members of their duty to vote and of the church's right to speak out on political and social issues.
In a letter sent to priesthood leaders dated Sept. 11 to be read from the pulpit in LDS congregations nationwide on Sunday, the church's First Presidency titled its message "Political participation, voting and the political neutrality of the Church."
Church leaders each year read a statement of political neutrality from the pulpit and encourage members to get involved in the political process, but this year's letter differed from previous years in the urgency with which it encourages individual political participation.
"As citizens, we have the privilege and duty of electing office holders and influencing public policy. Participation in the political process affects our communities and nation today and in the future," the letter reads.
"Latter-day Saints as citizens are to seek out and then uphold leaders who will act with integrity and are wise, good, and honest. Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties."
"Therefore, in this election year, we urge you to register to vote, to study the issues and candidates carefully and prayerfully, and then to vote for and actively support those you believe will most nearly carry out your ideas of good government," the letter said.
As in the past, the letter affirms the church's "neutrality regarding political parties, platforms, and candidates. The Church also affirms its constitutional right of expression on political and social issues."
In June, the First Presidency sent a letter to church leaders in California — also to be read from the pulpit — asking church members to "do all you can" to uphold traditional marriage. The move came following a ruling earlier this year by the California Supreme Court that overturned a previous referendum outlawing gay marriage.
Voters there will decide in November whether to approve the proposed amendment, and opponents have grown increasingly vocal in their criticism of the church's stance and the political involvement of its members.
E-mail: carrie@desnews.com
-----
First Presidency Issues Letter on Political Participation
SALT LAKE CITY | 22 September 2008 | The following letter was issued by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on September 11, 2008, to be read to Church congregations throughout the United States: Political Participation, Voting, and the Political Neutrality of the Church As citizens we have the privilege and duty of electing office holders and influencing public policy. Participation in the political process affects our communities and nation today and in the future. Latter-day Saints as citizens are to seek out and then uphold leaders who will act with integrity and are wise, good, and honest. Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties. Therefore, in this election year, we urge you to register to vote, to study the issues and candidates carefully and prayerfully, and then to vote for and actively support those you believe will most nearly carry out your ideas of good government.The Church affirms its neutrality regarding political parties, platforms, and candidates. The Church also affirms its constitutional right of expression on political and social issues. Sincerely yours,
Thomas S. Monson Henry B. Eyring Dieter F. Uchtdorf The First Presidency
Greetings!LDS Members are invited to join Mormons for Obama!This is a group dedicated to bringing together members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormon) who support Barack Obama.We encourage all people to participate with their local Obama groups (i.e. Utah for Obama).Please read Obama's speech on faith.Also, please use the blog feature for discussions, and make announcements over the listserv. The listserv is now moderated.The Mormons for Obama email discussion group can be found here.Visit the Mormons for Obama Store!Some other Mormon groups for Obama:Oregon Mormons for Obama 08AZ Mormons for ObamaLatter Day Saints (Mormons) for ObamaDFW Mormons for Obama
Greetings!
LDS Members are invited to join Mormons for Obama!
This is a group dedicated to bringing together members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormon) who support Barack Obama.
We encourage all people to participate with their local Obama groups (i.e. Utah for Obama).
Please read Obama's speech on faith.
Also, please use the blog feature for discussions, and make announcements over the listserv. The listserv is now moderated.
The Mormons for Obama email discussion group can be found here.
Visit the Mormons for Obama Store!
Some other Mormon groups for Obama:
Oregon Mormons for Obama 08
AZ Mormons for Obama
Latter Day Saints (Mormons) for Obama
DFW Mormons for Obama
Hello colleagues. Yesterday I attended the X96 B.A.Sh. to get out and meet with people who have not yet registered to vote. It was a non-partisan effort to reach out to younger adults and help get them involved in the November election, and more importanly get them registered to vote! By all means, I believe it was a success, because just getting out there and adding registered voters to the rolls will mean alot for this Country, and will help them realize we do need their participation in the Electoral process.
As the deadline for registering nears, I encourage everyone to get out there and help friends, neighbors and co-workers to register, if they haven't already done so.
Where do we need to go from here to elect Obama/Biden? Let's start making calls to our neighbors in Colorado, and if you can, join me on a trip to Fort Collins later this month. I'm driving over with my dog for the weekend, and encourage you to come on out with me, I can seat two others in my car, of course the back seat is where my dog likes to sit, so I hope you're not allergic, lol!
Good luck with all your efforts and let's make Colorado Blue!
