Organizing for America | Utah for Obama

Utah for Obama

Grassroots supporters of Barack Obama, organizing to spread the message of Hope across the state of Utah. Photos from our events can be found at http://www.flickr.com/groups/utahforobama/ and anyone can join the group and post their own photos to it. Join us on MySpace.

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I DEMAND CHANGE NOW

By Sydney Rhees - Jun 27th, 2009 at 5:50 am EDT

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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-

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HAITI: Fanmi Lavalas Banned, Voter Apprehension Widespread

By Jacob François - Apr 17th, 2009 at 5:51 pm EDT

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HAITI: Fanmi Lavalas Banned, Voter Apprehension Widespread
By Jeb Sprague*

NEW YORK, Apr 17 (IPS) - Weekend senatorial elections in Haiti are mired in controversy as Fanmi Lavalas (FL), the political party widely backed by the poor majority, has been disqualified.

As the global financial crisis unfolds, U.N. officials in New York City and Port-au-Prince are struggling to defend a troubled electoral process while gathering donor aid.

Meanwhile, a recent study by the Florida-based advocacy organisation Haiti Priorities Project (HPP) has found widespread popular apprehension and disaffection among Haitians ahead of the upcoming senatorial elections.

During eight days in early April, seventy HPP volunteers, 10 from the United States and 60 from Haiti, dispersed across the country. Their goal was to survey how people viewed the upcoming election.

"Only 5 percent of potential voters nationwide say they are ready to go to the polls in order to elect 12 senators for the upcoming elections on April of this year," said the group in a press release. Many of the respondents had never heard of the candidates fielded in the election.

Jacob François of the HPP explained to IPS, "We organised our census primarily through town hall meetings, where organisers spoke to people in groups and individually. From this we tallied the opinions of what was estimated to be 65,000 people out of a population of 8 million."

In February it was announced that Haiti’s Conseil électoral provisoire (CEP) would not recognise candidates from FL in the upcoming senatorial elections. The reason given was that the candidates - listed in two different slates - did not have the signature of the party’s head, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted by the George W. Bush administration in 2004.

FL is in a process of reorganisation that even sympathetic observers have termed "disarray." After the initial failure of the two separate FL slates to gain CEP approval, the factions came together agreeing upon a unified slate. The slate was signed by Emmanuel Cantave - keeper of the party's seals - who has approved FL slates for the past 13 years.

Still, the CEP rejected the list. Its stated objection was that the list lacked Aristide’s signature; giving just days notice, it requested a non-fascimilied signature from Aristide, exiled in Pretoria, South Africa.

U.N. officials initially urged the CEP to include all parties.

Praising the efforts of FL to be included within the electoral process, the U.N. representative for a Security Council delegation, Jorge Urbina, stated that they "were glad to hear from (Lavalas) that they are using every legal instrument in their power to reverse this decision."

In a press release, the secretary general of the Organisation of American States, José Miguel Insulza, stated, "I cannot help but express my concern about the possibility that an important group of Haitian citizens might feel that they are not being represented in this process."

By early March, Haitian Judge Jean-Claude Douyon had ruled that the CEP could not disqualify the FL candidates. Concluding that "[t]he political rights of the Lavalas have been violated," he ordered the "reintegration of candidates of that party, if they each individually meet the legal standards."

However, not long after, Judge Douyon was mysteriously removed from his post, and the CEP disregarded his ruling.

In recent weeks, following a visit from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a consensus cemented among government elites to go forward with elections without FL. Criticism of the exclusion ceased.

In late March, U.N. press agencies reported that 100 tonnes of election equipment had arrived in the country, divided into 12,000 voting kits.

CEP and U.N. officials now lay blame at the feet of ousted President Aristide. The U.N.'s Urbina says that FL's exclusion was due to Aristide’s unwillingness to sign.

Some proponents say Aristide, who has been kept from returning to the country, does not wish to give his support to elections under which holdovers from the U.N.-backed dictatorship of 2004-2006 remain and the potential for fraud and vote rigging are high.

Top leaders of his movement have been systematically targeted, in part explaining FL’s internal dissension. The highest former office holder of FL, Yvon Neptune, spent two years in jail, and has a case hanging over his head despite it being ordered dismissed two years ago by a Haitian appeals court, and almost a year since the Inter-American Court of Human Rights told Haiti to halt the case. Another FL leader, Father Gérard Jean-Juste, who spent seven months in jail with untreated cancer, is sick in a hospital in Florida.

At the same time, FL political prisoners, such as Ronald Daulphin, remain in jail after five years without being tried. A justice process for thousands imprisoned and killed under the interim government remains out of sight.

Even so, since Aristide's ouster, a few senators have, without Aristide's endorsement, run in elections claiming to represent FL without any objection made by the CEP. Only in recent months, with violence decreased, has FL come together nationally to participate in elections.

François of the HPP, discussing the U.N. and Haitian government's actions, explains, "They just do not learn. They can’t exclude a major party in Haiti from an election, that's total exclusion. It will undermine the entire process. In addition, the CEP has no business going into the internal affairs of Lavalas."

The tenuous political alliance between Haiti’s President René Préval and FL has collapsed.

Elected in 2006, Préval had the support of the impoverished majority who hoped, through his candidacy, for a return to normality and an end to post-coup repression that left thousands dead.

Once elected, critics say, Préval's administration imposed the priorities of foreign donors and elites. The emphasis today is on garment exportation.

Thousands of Lavalas activists have mobilised against the disqualification, more demonstrations are planned for the weekend.

With the credibility of the upcoming elections badly damaged, foreign donors have attempted to smooth things over with a hastily organised conference pledging aid disbursement.

Speaking to donors and NGOs, whose influence in Haiti is colossal, U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon explained, "Haiti is at a turning moment...by acting now, we will protect the considerable investment and progress we have made so far."

Meanwhile, grassroots Haitian activists, such as a Ronique, a member of a women’s collective in Cité Soleil, condemn what they claim has been a thwarting of democracy led by Préval, the CEP and the U.N.

"In the matter of elections, basically what you have is a decision to explode Fanmi Lavalas, that is the way we in Haiti see it, that this was a decision by the international community with the complicity of President René Préval to get rid of and exclude Lavalas from the election because everyone knows FL is the majority party in the country," she said in a radio interview.

She added, "People are not enthused, it is a complete silence around this election. You don't see candidates going through the neighbourhoods where the people are suffering. Nobody is interested because they don't see themselves participating in this process."

With sadness in her voice she mentions Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, one of the most internationally recognised FL leaders. He was abducted in late 2007, just after announcing his intention to run in senatorial elections, and remains missing. A leading human rights activist, he worked tirelessly to bring former death squad leaders to justice.

IPS has found that one death squad leader has been living in a luxurious hotel overlooking Port-au-Prince. Louis Jodel Chamblain, a founder of the infamous FRAPH death squad that murdered and raped thousands during the early 1990s, was interviewed by IPS a year ago at the Ibo Lele Hotel. Within earshot, U.N. officials and NGO dignitaries dined and slept.

*Wadner Pierre in Miami contributed to this story.

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USA SERVICE ON FACEBOOK

By WEBMASTER - Jan 24th, 2009 at 1:18 pm EST

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see http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58917909520

Every time our nation faces crisis, our national experience has shown Americans rise to the challenge. While government has an important role to play in helping rekindle our economy and addressing the problems of a distressed nation, President-elect Obama believes each of us, as Americans, have a responsibility to do what we can for our communities and fellow citizens. We are one nation.

The United States is once again at a crossroads and that is why the President-elect hopes to use the occasion of his Inauguration to rally our nation to commit to service in our communities. We are asking for your participation in meeting this challenge.

In 1994, Congress transformed the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday into a national day of community service to further commemorate a man who lived his life in service to others. As a tribute to that legacy and the very real needs of our nation, the President-elect and Vice President-elect have launched a national organizing effort on the eve of their Inauguration to engage Americans in service. This national day of service will fall on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 19, 2009 and, unlike past calls to service, President-elect Obama is calling on all Americans to do more than just offer a single day of service to their cities, towns and neighborhoods. He is asking all of us to make an ongoing commitment to our communities. Never has it been more important to come together in shared purpose to tackle the common challenges we face.

This website is designed to help promote these events and for Americans to make their commitments, build communities, find opportunities to serve and share their results. These can be events that engage people in direct service, or bring people together to reflect on Dr. King's legacy and how they can commit to becoming more engaged citizens. Please create an event or sign up to volunteer today.

source: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1460623847

UPDATE: Watch Obama Blogfest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOb4ZOnoK2Y

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The Great Recession

By Walt - Jan 19th, 2009 at 10:20 am EST

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If we are very lucky, and Barack is very skillful, history will look back at this time and call it the Great Recession. If we are not, it may be labeled the Great Depression 2. FDR had to wait 3.5 years before he could begin to address the results of the Crash of 1929. Barack gets his chance about six months after credit froze due to toxic mortgages. FDR only had the Great Depression to deal with. Barack must deal with the economy, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, global warming, OPEC, health care reform and many other issues, all at the same time.

To help him, we must be interested, active and informed. In the past, we trusted our democracy and our economy to political hacks. Never again. We must demand the information we need from the news media. They are there to help us make wise decisions, not to increase profits through news that generates ad revenue.

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Fear

By Walt - Jan 18th, 2009 at 10:08 am EST

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"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Fear is the sand in the gears of our economy. People fear for the loss of their jobs and they fear debt that will overwhelm them. In England in the days of Charles Dickens, people went to prison for debt. Now in 21st century America, we imprison people for debt, sometimes for life, but we let them move about in society, earning wages which they must remit to the banks and other lenders. Some debtors are imprudent and others are unlucky. Many are the victims of medical debt.

A few years ago, the large lenders persuaded Congress to amend the bankruptcy laws to make personal bankruptcy more difficult. We are seeing the effects of that law now as people are afraid to spend on credit at the same time that large lenders are receiving massive, taxpayer paid, government aid. And don't believe anyone who says the "loans" will ever be repaid.

How to overcome the fear and restore the economy? Barack must lead by reducing or eliminating the causes of our fears. Confidence in his leadership is a big first step. Revision of the personal bankruptcy laws followed by health care reform to eliminate medical bill bankruptcy are two essential steps. If you have additional ideas of what Barack should do, I suggest you send your thoughts to him at http://change.gov

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Advise and Consent

By Walt - Jan 17th, 2009 at 10:23 am EST

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Advise and Consent by Allen Drury is a novel about how Washington really works. It was a bestseller in 1959 when I read it as a callow youth. Now re-reading it as a mature adult, I can relate more fully to the details. Electing Barack was only the beginning. I recommend this book to any and all who intend to continue in the struggle to bring needed change to this nation.

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Barack Hussein Obama

By Walt - Jan 17th, 2009 at 10:21 am EST

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Barack means blessed. Hussein means good. Please keep that in mind on January 20 when he is sworn in as president.

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JEWISH ANTI-SEMITISM

By WEBMASTER - Jan 15th, 2009 at 2:32 pm EST

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Amid anti-Semitic storm, Europe’s Jews stand for Israel
By Dinah Spritzer · 13 January 2009

see http://jta.org/news/article/2009/01/13/1002216/amid-anti-semitic-storm-europes-jews-stand-for-israel

PRAGUE (JTA) -- Confronting a rising storm of anti-Semitism as the conflict in Gaza intensifies, European Jews are grappling with the best way to express their support for Israel's fight against Hamas.

Recent assaults on Jews in European capitals range from the beating of a Jewish teenager in a Paris suburb by assailants who vowed she would “pay for Israel's acts” to the compilation on an Islamist Web site of a hit list of prominent British Jews. Jewish monuments in France and Sweden have been firebombed. And in Italy, a workers’ political party called for a boycott of Jewish stores.

While Jews have taken to the streets in the hundreds or thousands to demonstrate for peace and Israel’s right to defend itself, they are dwarfed by the tens and hundreds of thousands participating in protests against Israel. In many cases, top European political figures have supported the protests. Sometimes the rallies have turned violent.

The 27-country European Union has approximately 1.8 million Jews and 17 million Muslims, and that difference is keenly visible in the size of events relating to the war in Gaza and southern Israel.

After some 1,000 Jews turned out last week for a rally in Brussels in support of Israel -- held opposite the Embassy of Iran, which funds Hamas -- tens of thousands showed up Sunday for a march against what they called Israel's “massacre in Gaza.” The pro-Palestinian rally was organized by three of the four main political parities in the French-speaking part of Belgium, along with some 100 or so nongovernmental organizations.

Chanting “Death to Jews!” in Arabic, the crowd burned Israeli flags and carried signs calling Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni “Hitler's wife.”

“In a way, Jews feel alone,” said Joel Rubinfeld, the president of the umbrella group of French-speaking Jews in Belgium, known by the acronym CCOJB. “But lots of non-Jews are disgusted, too” with the anti-Semitic messages, he added.

Massive anti-Israel demonstrations last weekend in France, Brussels and Madrid have included anti-Semitic chants such as “Jews to the gas” and swastikas paired with the Star of David.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry, the European Jewish Congress, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League have implored European officials to acknowledge and combat the importing of the Middle East conflict to Europe and the scapegoating of Jews.

Countries with large Muslims populations, including France, Belgium and Britain, have seen the largest number of anti-Semitic incidents.

Britain's Community Security Trust, which monitors Jewish security issues, recorded a huge surge in anti-Semitic attacks -- 80 in total -- since Israel began bombing Hamas targets in Gaza on Dec. 27.

Undeterred, British Jews staged the largest European demonstration in support of Israel's right to security in this conflict. Sunday's demonstration, which also expressed sympathy for Palestinian civilians, drew 17,000 people to London's Trafalgar Square.

“I decided to do something after watching too much television and seeing the huge coverage of the anti-Israel demonstrations,” said one Jewish Londoner, Matt Freelander, who participated in a pro-Israel rally last week.

In France, Nicole Yardeni, the president of the CRIF Jewish umbrella group in Toulouse, decided not to hold a pro-Israel rally in the region after a car filled with Molotov cocktails rammed into the front gate of a synagogue Jan. 5.

“It's not that we are afraid,” she said of the community of approximately 20,000. But faced with consistent pro-Palestinian rallies that outnumber Toulouse Jews, Yardeni said the community “could not hold its own on the street” and thus could not have a “successful” protest.

In recent days, the CRIF held pro-Israel rallies in Paris, Marseilles and near Lyon.

The Marseilles rally was unusual in that every major local politician joined the crowd of about 4,000. The Paris rally did not have the same political backing. Many attendees said they left family and friends behind because they were afraid of publicly supporting Israel after seeing the violence and virulent anti-Zionism in a pro-Palestinian protest a day earlier.

"Once again, when in trouble, we've found ourselves alone," Patrick Gaubert, the president of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, wrote in a letter published Jan. 8 in a French Jewish weekly.

In Italy, whose prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has been honored by Jewish groups for being pro-Israel, pro-Israel rallies drew government officials.

In Germany, anti-Israel marches were relatively calm, but some marchers carried signs reading “Out with Jews” or "Israelis are child murderers.”

German Jews have turned out for pro-Israel rallies, too, albeit in small numbers. A rally in Frankfurt drew 2,000, while one in Berlin had 1,500 participants.

“When people see our small group,” said Sharon Adler, who co-organized the Berlin rally on Sunday, "perhaps they will understand that Israel is also a much smaller country than all the Arab countries around it, and that Jews in Germany are also a small minority."

In Stockholm, where the Jewish community numbers 5,000, a peace event in support of Israel held Saturday night at a church drew 800 people -- about half of whom were not Jewish, according to Lena Posner, the president of the Swedish Jewish community.

“There were about 100 people outside the church shouting insults against Israel,” Posner said. “The police had to close off the whole area around the church and we were escorted back to our cars in groups of 15.”

Earlier in the day, 8,000 protesters chanting anti-Israel slogans gathered for a mostly Muslim demonstration in Stockholm that included the head of the Swedish Socialist Party and the country’s former foreign minister. A Liberal Party legislator attended the pro-Israel event.

Elsewhere in the country, a burial chapel in the Jewish cemetery in central Malmo was firebombed for the third time since Israel began its operation in Gaza.

In Spain, violent incidents have been minimal, although an anti-Israel rally there on Saturday was Europe’s biggest such rally thus far, with crowd estimates ranging from 50,000 to 250,000.

Representatives of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his ruling Socialist Party were among those who participated. Some participants called for jihad, or holy war, praised Hezbollah and cursed Israel. The Israeli Embassy in Madrid took the rare step of openly chastising the prime minister for fueling anti-Israel anger.

“There was hate speech definitely, and a few marched to the Israeli Embassy and threw stones and the police had to intervene,” said Derek Wise, the general manager of Madrid’s Jewish community. “Our prime minister incited what was going on.''

Wise said Spanish Friends of Israel was planning a public pro-Israel event for Jan. 18.

“I understand there might be people afraid to come," he said, "but we want to show it is not only Jews, it's normal Spaniards who also understand that a democratic state like Israel has a right to defend itself.”

(JTA correspondents Devorah Lauter contributed to this story from Paris, Toby Axelrod from Berlin and Daphna Vardi from London.)

source: http://jewishamericans.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxbN2

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BARACK OBAMA INAUGURATION

By WEBMASTER - Jan 14th, 2009 at 10:42 am EST

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President-Elect Obama Discusses an Inauguration for All Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, with record crowds expected in the nation's capital for the 56th Presidential Inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama discussed his plans for open and accessible inaugural events designed to allow the participation of Americans across the country.

"Unprecedented numbers of Americans are planning to join us in Washington," said President-elect Obama. "That will mean long lines, a tough time getting around, and most of all, a lot of walking on what could be a very cold winter day. Fortunately, you don't have to brave the crowds and commotion in order to participate in this celebration, because we've made this Inauguration open and accessible to communities across our nation."

President-elect Obama also announced that anyone can text the word "open" to 56333 to receive official Inauguration news updates, transportation notices, and opportunities to participate, both in Washington and in communities across America.

The text of the address, as delivered, is below:

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Washington, D.C.

On Tuesday, with a simple oath that's marked the renewal of our nation's democracy for more than two centuries; I will take office as the forty-fourth President of the United States.

But this Inauguration isn't about me. It's about all of us. At this defining moment in our history, it serves as our opportunity to come together in common purpose, united in our resolve to renew the promise of this nation and meet the challenges of our time.

Now, you've probably heard the reports that unprecedented numbers of Americans are planning to join us in Washington. That will mean long lines, a tough time getting around, and most of all, a lot of walking on what could be a very cold winter day.

Fortunately, you don't have to brave the crowds and commotion in order to participate in this celebration - because we've made this Inauguration open and accessible to communities across our nation.

Just text the word "open" to 56333 for news, transportation updates, and ways you can participate.

We're kicking off inaugural week events on Sunday afternoon with a free celebration at the Lincoln Memorial that's open to the public. And to allow Americans across the country to join us, HBO will broadcast the event for free that evening.

Monday night, Michelle and Jill Biden are hosting a free Kids' Inaugural concert to honor the children of military families, which the Disney Channel will broadcast live on television and their radio network.

On the evening of the Inauguration, Michelle and I will attend the first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, and we want you to be right there with us - wherever your neighborhood is.

ABC will broadcast it on television, we'll webcast it on the Internet and post updates from the ballroom, and if you visit pic2009.org, you can even sign up to host your own neighborhood ball at home.

But that's just the beginning when it comes to ways you can get involved. I'm also asking for your active participation.

Next Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. And to honor the legacy of a man who lived his life as a servant to others, I will ask all Americans to make a renewed commitment to serving their communities and their country.

Dr. King once said, "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve." You don't have to wear a uniform. You don't have to be a community organizer. You don't even have to run for President. At a time when there is so much need, we are blessed with endless ways to contribute something to the life of this nation.

On Monday, my family and the Biden family will spend time volunteering in neighborhoods around Washington. I am asking you to join us in that same spirit of service to others - no matter where you live.

And we've unveiled a new tool to make it easy.

Just visit USAservice.org to find service projects in your community, or even organize your own around the causes you care about.

Log on and you'll see that thousands of events involving millions of Americans have already been set up across the country next Monday and beyond.

Because I'm not just asking you to take part in one day of service. I am asking you to make a lasting commitment to make better the lives of your fellow Americans - a commitment that must endure beyond one day, or even one presidency.

At this moment of great challenge and great change, I am asking you to play your part; to roll up your sleeves and join in the work of remaking this nation. And if you do, then I truly believe a new and better day is within our reach.

Thank you.

Barack Obama

source: http://women.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxbBh

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KIDS INAUGURAL CONCERT

By WEBMASTER - Jan 13th, 2009 at 3:17 pm EST

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Talent Lineup for Neighborhood Inaugural Ball and Kids' Inaugural Concert

Tuesday January 20
Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill, JAY-Z, Alicia Keys, Shakira and Stevie Wonder to perform, Nick Cannon to DJ at Neighborhood Inaugural Ball Airing Exclusively on ABC

Monday, January 19
Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Bow Wow to perform with Billy Ray Cyrus, Keke Palmer, Usher and Shaquille O'Neal scheduled to appear during Kids' Inaugural Concert Airing Exclusively on Disney Channe

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced today the producers and initial talent lineup for "The Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration," which will air live on ABC (8:00 - 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, Tuesday, January 20), and the "Kids' Inaugural: We Are The Future," a concert honoring military families airing on Disney Channel (8:00 - 9:30 p.m. ET/PT, Monday, January 19).

Musical performers scheduled for the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill, JAY-Z, Alicia Keys, Shakira and Stevie Wonder. Nick Cannon will DJ the event. Additional performers will be announced as they are confirmed.

Musical performances for the Kids' Inaugural event include the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Bow Wow. Billy Ray Cyrus, Keke Palmer, and Usher Raymond IV are also scheduled to appear. 13-year-old Perry Rubin, daughter of entertainment reporter Sam Rubin, will be the special backstage correspondent. Additional performers and guests will be announced as they are confirmed.

Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss/White Cherry Entertainment are Executive Producers of the Neighborhood Inaugural ball, with Glenn Weiss directing. White Cherry Entertainment is also executive producing the 2009 Super Bowl Halftime Show and the 2009 Tony Awards, with Weiss also serving as Director.

The Kids' Inaugural concert special is executive produced by Greg Sills. Sills previously produced The Concert for New York (post-9/11), the Kids Choice Awards, and the VH1 Rock Honors. Louis J. Horvitz is the director.

"We are honored and excited to have such top level talent performing and producing these events," said Emmett S. Beliveau, Executive Director of the PIC. "Working with ABC and Disney, we are bringing these exciting performances into the homes of millions of Americans to make this the most open and accessible inauguration celebration ever."

The PIC today also announced Ricky Kirshner is the Executive Producer for all PIC TV events and Lisa Geers is the Excecutive in charge of production for all PIC TV events.

In an effort to make this inaugural celebration open and accessible to all Americans, President-elect Barack Obama will host the first-ever "Neighborhood Inaugural Ball," the premier event of inauguration evening, on January 20th. To help bring this unique event to neighborhoods across the nation, ABC will broadcast "The Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration." The event will air live from the Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C.,TUESDAY, JANUARY 20 (8:00-10:00 p.m. ET).

On MONDAY, JANUARY 19 (8:00 - 9:30 p.m. ET) Disney Channel will present "Kids' Inaugural: We Are The Future," a concert celebration from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. honoring military families. This inaugural concert celebration will be hosted by Mrs. Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden and their families. The event will be simulcast on Radio Disney, and will be streamed on Disney.com immediately following the culmination of the telecast on Disney Channel.

Beginning January 16, Disney.com guests are invited to join the celebration on the Kids Inaugural pagewww.Disney.com/USA which will feature polls, games and videos on the concert performers and a component which allows guests to chat with friends and send "shout outs" by texting USA, their first name and message to DISNEY (347639). Standard carrier fees apply and a parent's permission is required if users are under age 18.

source: http://kids.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxFXf

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January 19, 2009

By Walt - Jan 11th, 2009 at 4:08 pm EST

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Barack has called for a national day of service on MLK day January 19. I have decided to clean up a stretch of trail/road in a nearby parcel of BLM land. I walked there today and it is a mess of trash and broken glass. Rather than organizing a cleanup group, I have decided to make it a personal goal to keep a portion of it clean. I urge you to consider a similar action.

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January 20, 2009 part 2

By Walt - Jan 7th, 2009 at 10:15 am EST

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The flag

* * * * * * * *   It will be a new day dawning
* * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * On January 20, 2009
* * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *   One presidency ending,
* * * * * * * * *
another beginning.   On January 20, 2009.

The challenges are many, the burdens heavy.

Barack will not fail us.   We must not fail him.

He will need our support and our prayers

On January 20, 2009 .........   and beyond.

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Utah Democrats Host Inaugural Party at "The DEPOT"

By Marc - "It's a New Day" - Jan 6th, 2009 at 3:58 pm EST

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EVENT: Utah Democratic Party Inaugural Ball

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

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Why Rick Warren?

By Walt - Jan 1st, 2009 at 10:41 am EST

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I have just finished reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren to try to understand the controversy surrounding his selection by Barack to participate in the inauguration. I did not find the answer in the book which is similar to many other religious books that I have read. I decided to look at the controversy from another angle and I think that I have found the answer.

In the Bush administration, dissent was discouraged. Barack intends to encourage varying viewpoints in his administration. Barack disagrees with some of Rick Warren's views but he will listen to him. Barack is drawing the attention of America and the world to the fact that this is a different administration in Washington, DC and he is highlighting that difference. If I am in the audience at the inauguration, I will not turn my back on Barack's choice nor will I put my hands over my ears in protest.

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Worst President

By Walt - Dec 30th, 2008 at 12:10 pm EST

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It is thought by many that the worst US president was James Buchanan. George W. Bush is a second candidate for that dubious honor. In recent interviews, both Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice have claimed that George W. Bush was a better president than that. To settle the matter once and for all, I am reading a biography of Buchanan and then I will offer my opinion as who was the worst US president. Please stay tuned.

Personally, I favor Bush but I will try to be fair to both contenders. In just four years, Buchanan gave us the Civil war. In eight years, Bush has given us Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina and the Great Recession. We will be very fortunate if the economy does not get much worse.

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Bankruptcy

By Walt - Dec 30th, 2008 at 12:06 pm EST

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The Cold War was a race to bankruptcy which we won when the USSR reached bankruptcy first. After restructuring and downsizing, the USSR is back as Russia and they did it without a bailout from the US Treasury. Now it is our turn to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy ourselves, with no one to bail us out.

The Bush administration is leaving the economy in a shambles with the incoming Obama administration facing all these crises around the world, either ignored or worsened by Bush policies:
Iraq war
Afghan war
Israel Hamas war
India Pakistan confrontation, the most dangerous because both are nuclear powers
Russia Georgia war
Darfur
Congo war
Zimbabwe disintegration

It will take a magician to follow the George W. Bush act. Let us pray that Barack is up to it.

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Follow up to “Change is Coming” meeting hosted by Marc Buckley.

By Marc - "It's a New Day" - Dec 28th, 2008 at 6:56 pm EST

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Happy Holiday’s!

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.

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Critical

By Walt - Dec 25th, 2008 at 5:36 pm EST

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Critical by former Senator Tom Daschle is his view on the health care crisis and his proposal for fixing it. On the front of the dust jacket, Barack is quoted, "Sen. Daschle brings fresh thinking to this problem." And on the back of the dust jacket, a longer quote from Barack: "The American health-care system is in crisis, and workable solutions have been blocked for years by deeply entrenched ideological divisions. Sen. Daschle brings fresh thinking to this problem, and his Federal Reserve for Health concept holds great promise for bridging this intellectual chasm and, at long last, giving this nation the health care it deserves."

Personally I support a single payer system. However, with our decades long use of an employer-employee system, it may not be possible to move to a single payer system in one step. Barack supports a mixed system that blends our present system with coverage mandated for all citizens and prevents exclusion from coverage for pre-existing conditions. When health care cost less and employers were willing to offer health insurance at reasonable cost to the employee, our present system worked reasonably well. However, with costs rising and longterm employment at many firms a thing of the past, the present system is not working. Many jobs do not offer health care insurance and those that do are raising the cost to the employee.

The country has been trying to reform health care insurance since the days of Harry Truman. In fact, FDR wanted to include it with Social Security but was persuaded that it was politically impossible. Barack will craft a proposal that should make it into law if we support it and him without picking the proposal to pieces. I am certain that there will be provisions we like and others that we do not. We cannot give the opponents of health care reform openings by splitting our ranks.

Speaking only for myself as a health care worker who has both employer coverage and Medicare, I would like to see a single payer system. My present coverage usually works well for me. Where it does not work well is when two insurers may have to pay and then each tries to make the other primarily responsible. I want to get out from between the two insurers sniping at each other.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in what our health care system may become. Barack has put Tom Daschle in charge of health care reform. If you want to express your views, go to http://change.gov and give Barack and Tom your views. Alternately, you could join a Barack sponsored discussion group in your community or start one yourself.

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Day One

By Walt - Dec 21st, 2008 at 11:52 pm EST

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Barack won the recent election because he had a great team and his team had a plan which they executed very well. Now we are watching Barack put together another team aimed at governing the nation while recovering from the Bush years. It is fascinating to watch and to speculate what it all means. Based on his election team results, we can be confident that he has a plan and will execute it with verve and poise with our support. It's inappropriate to start second guessing him even before the inauguration when we do not know what his plans are.

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Lame Ducks

By Walt - Dec 20th, 2008 at 11:04 am EST

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When the lame ducks in the White House and the Congress limp off the stage in Washington, DC, we will see if the new players are going to support the agenda of the Obama administration. If they do, we will recover in the next year or two. If they do not, we will have to clean House, and the Senate too, come November 2010. We should have a good indication of the Congress's willingness to cooperate by late January or early February.

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