It is just the right time to do so. Yes, as we as a Nation step up to that upward spiral of change, it is indeed just about time for each of us to also do so, bring in the much needed reformation, play a part in this drama of hauling ourselves individually and as a whole out of this hole...
Where do we start? Well it has already started, and in fact we may be late if we are still not able to identify ourselves in the bigger cause and purpose, so let's jump in and ride the waves together.
As health care reforms are gradually but surely put into place, a reformed system, structure and a whole new approach to reaping benefits, let's step up and ride the waves by cutting costs where we can, treating ourselves and be ready to start working on the projects in future with a healthy "US" in place and with a renewed sense of spirit.
As easy as it is to bring to memory the old proverbial phrase, it seems to be all the more relevant in today's situation to relate to it.....
When wealth is lost, nothing much may be lost...
When health is lost, something is indeed lost,
And when character is lost, there could be a lot at stake?
As fiscal structure is formulated, a new system, may be simple norms to start with and continued ongoing plans put back into place, the cleaning up of our wrongs and the bad decisions of our predecessors, and as we step up to take on the new reins of the sytem, let us commit ourselves to our part yet once again. And as much as we can hold the Govenment to be open, accountable and subject to continuous audit, it is also true that we each own that responsibility to ourselves, we are the ones to audit our own ethical selves, for a system is only as good as the people who play their part in it.
To simply put it,
A sound healthy system = Good sound policies, laws and plans + correct usage of which by the people
One can't function or substitute the other. We will hold our elected officials to play their part that has been promised to provide us that sound system. But in return, there also lies a huge implied responsibility on our part, who ultimately use it to ensure it is optimally and correctly used to bring about success.
Greed begets greed...
Give and it shall be given unto you....
Wealth in the hands of a few is no good....
And so on....., we can recall proverbial phrases, hold adages to memory, but how much of it are we embrassing, following in our day to day lives is just another question to ask ourselves....
To take responsibility toward our families, society, and the community that we live in...What in all this big picture is my part, my role? Is there something that I can do, to give out, to the people who aren't as fortunate as I am or have been? How often do we jump in to offer help withour expectations? Just to play the part because it makes my day, makes me feel good, makes me a better person if at all to myself, generates the Good Karma in me?
We are so keen to attend workshops , seminars, educate ourselves on that faraway distant, nebulous thing called "Good Karma", positive chi, positive energy, soul satisfaction, spiritual happiness. But may be all along we know and are aware that it may just reside within ourselves. How do we open ourselves this way, channel the energy, to trudge along the positive side of the number line, if it can in some way be quantifiable.....just being more aware and conscious of ourselves, our family needs and commitments, our communal harmony, our social obligations and finally to justify the claim that we are the most superior species inhabiting the planet.
It needs and has to be earned and as much as good deeds always hold you in good stead, help bring in that harmony and peace within ourselves, and as much as we all know, we are never able to totally satisfy all of our ever going string of wants and desires, there always seems to be a new one replacing the one that just got done, that was appeased. So then what could be the comprehensive need and effect of our core beings, the fulcrum within ourselves that we fall back to anchor upon, the center that reinstates over and over again the balance and the strength?
Maslow's need hierarchy holds good even in today's 21st century World!! How often do we want to visit and make do with the fourth and fifth level needs?
Let us step up, enjoy the ride, ride the waves just a little bit more, and see the light in one another as we guide out of this gloom to a bigger, brighter future...God Bless!
You know that feeling you get after a rain storm, when the sun peeks out from behind the clouds, the sky turns blue, and the air is fresh and clean? For me, that's what Obama's election has felt like.
This has been an amazing experience. I enjoyed meeting and working with members of my community over the past few months. Thanks to the Obama campaign and volunteers for your intelligence, dedication and enthusiasm. You are a true reflection of the man in charge!
OH I have a lot on my mind today. . . .
BIDEN’s MESSAGE: I received a short notice from Biden, he calls it a “Reality Check” like all other Obama Supporters, that Obama has established the largest field operation of any candidate, and I agree as a member of that 25th Congressional District field team (Note: Would love to meet the guy one day). Biden reminds us that Gore was 20 points ahead of Bush in 2004 and it didn’t stop Bush from marching all over Gore’s “people win” in the end. Well these aren’t exactly the words he chose, but it does conjure up Greg Palast’s claim that Florida was planned and there is reason to believe that Ohio was preselected as one of the swing last time and “let’s create a mess of voter registration state. Lord knows what the next state or states will be McCain seems so desperate to me.
I mean, did you take the time to watch the final debate last night. I swear someone was orchestrating McCain in the ear. He came on the set like he was “rapid” and determined to break Obama’s spirit. He would have been so much better off just saying to the American people, this is what I am going to do for you with the economy being in the shape that it is in. Come up with some samples of proof, and not sound like a character out of the grumpy old men movie series. I heard one commentator saying he reminded him of “Mr. Wilson” in Dennis the Menace. Boy did I get a hardy laugh out of that one.
The Republicans are making this sound like it is the first time they have ever heard of individuals filling out federal or state forms in mass and in error. Didn’t the Democrats learn this from them? Didn’t sound to me that the culprits were that bright or they were even crafty in their pursuit. Where were their managers, OH yeah, this is coming on the wings of mortgage brokers, and real estate lenders, and banks approving bogus loans where it is now affecting the entire global market? Yes, the voter registration office has to work a lot harder to access the pattern, sounds like over time to me, but shouldn’t they have determined this months ago? I remember in 2000 when the same thing was done in Nevada but it was the republicans caught with their hands in the cookie jar and of course they fain they didn’t know the rules either. No doing this doesn’t make it right but if I recall correctly the world is going into a massive recession and we are talking about 2,000 fathom voters who haven’t voted!!
If we all just go a national two days weekend off with pay, with proper identification, to go to the polls and pull the lever, hit the switch, color the dot, x the scratch, or write in our choice maybe everyone would take the time to go to their local poll.
Other European countries do this, why can’t we? We get off for President’s day, we celebrate Valentine’s, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day and other commercial madness, why not “President and Vice President of the United States Day”.
Now Obama take this to you when you get in the White House. Let’s revise the manner that we vote as a nation. President Jimmy Carter has been raising Caine for years now on the ridiculousness and partiality of it all, even so much that The Carter Center said that international body of legal voting rights wouldn’t even approve what we are doing in the United States, so change this procedure immediately so we are practicing the democracy we crave and rave about. I’m sure we have a few geniuses at Harvard and Stanford that can figure this out.
We can’t be complacent and assume because of what the polls are saying that this race is the “slam dunk of the month”. I remember the Bradley factor too. I don’t want to sound pessimistic either but let’s not forget history or it will surface again. Precautionary steps should be made to go back to every Obama supporters that told us that they were going to Vote for Barack and make sure those that had early ballots turned them in. Remind them that leaving them in the out box of their desks will get it to the Registrar’s office. Then we need to check in the local community for those that may need rides to the polls. I’ll be working ours so I’ll know by noon who didn’t show up at our location. At lunch time, I’ll be making phone calls and nagging the mess out of folks that “promised”. Our local Democratic chapter is even asking ladies to make calls at various locations. Sometimes a little nag motivates and make people fill loved! I don’t know about you but I don’t want to see another newspaper come out in three hours announcing to me that there is a discrepancy as to who has won the Presidency. I don’t think my heart can stand the excitement again three times in a row.
I believe that ACORN is a distraction, if the person’s handwriting is that evident, pull all of the applications. But isn’t it a matter of who pulls the lever, punches the dot, scratches the dot and x the square that is the real determinant here, not who registered? Admonish the person or people who lied to get paid, and let’s move on. By the way, I don’t believe the guy filling out 73 forms to help the person get paid, could he really make up that many names? Someone had to have paid him under the table and beside, the number 73 doesn’t even ring true to me. And he said he didn’t know this was wrong, OK he got his 15 minutes of national radio and television. Give the rest of us a break!
The AP poll says the race has tightened within one percentage point. Here's the link to the article.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_poll_presidential_race
I've been writing postcards to voters for the past several weeks and will continue to do so through the weekend. With this kind of news, I'll be buying more cards!
Let's go! We've got less than two weeks to make a difference.
"I can't tell my husband, but I am 100% behind Obama," a voter from Nevada told me one night while phone banking. Our Ojai volunteer campaign office has placed more than 5,000 calls to Nevada and New Mexico and we are hearing similar stories from men, women, and children from these more conservative battleground states. Quite the opposite of the occasional news-line that "closet racism" may hurt Senator Obama's election bid, we are finding undecided voters to be overwhelming Obama supporters! Our office polls show Senator Obama ahead 3 to 1 amongst undecided voters in Nevada, even higher in New Mexico, and a 6 to 1 margin in our California calling. More and more, people are feeling the power that comes with making up your own mind for yourself and they are asking for yard signs, buttons, and tee shirts more than at any point in this campaign. The people who are not honest about their own beliefs and that harbor such feelings weren't going to vote Democrat anyway: they will not sway this election even a part of one point, so forget about 'em!
Let's stay positive, remain confident that we are on the brink of monumental progress in our great country, and push on through to November 4! Faith in our fellow citizens is a two way street: we get as we give. We know others will do the right thing as we ourselves are sure we will do the same for them! Keep it up and smile, smile, smile.
Thanks for listening.
David
Hello everyone,
After months of hosting events and calling friends and family members, we are proud to announce that we registered 152 people and raised $1005! This dollar amount is due to increase because a friend of ours will be giving us a check for $1000! He committed to matching our fundraising goal of $1000 and thanks to so many people who want CHANGE, we surpassed it by $5! :)
During many of our voter registration events, we encountered a lot of indifference which demoralized us, however, meeting people who share our passion immediately fired us up! We want to thank all the people who stepped up to the plate and inspired us to keep going. Such as the 93 year old man who became a US citizen and wanted to make sure that he could cast his vote for Senator Barack Obama! People like Josie and Mayra Juarez two young women from Los Angeles, CA who were first time volunteers and who became very excited to learn that we were sisters as well!
There are only a few weeks left and we are very much committed to phone banking. As Senator Barack Obama said, we should not get cocky and we need to continue to work hard to reach out to undecided voters.
Yes We Can! Si Se Puede!
In solidarity,
Christina Torres
Patricia Torres
Moorpark, CA
Just a quick note about earmarks. While John McCain spends a lot of time asserting he has never asked for an earmark, the National Journal just published an article titled "Discovering McCain's Inner Oink" (http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20081011_6155.php) that refers to correspondence from McCain requesting that "I would like to ask your help in the vital effort to restore San Xavier del Bac, by earmarking $500,000 for that purpose in the FY 1990 appropriations bill." The McCain letter is available at http://www.nationaljournal.com/img/pdfs/mccain_letter.pdf
Where is that bright sunshiny day of spring and summer?
With the mellifluous flow of music and the sweet sounds of the birds-
As it flows from yonder and seeps into the soul,
Is it from the trumpet or the piano of the neighborhood choir?
Where are all those pretty and joyful children, laughing and singing,
And where are all those days of much merry making?
Silence with its dark and gloomy shroud is all that is drawn,
Over the souls and spirits of the once happy cheerful people.
Who shall be the torch bearer to let the good times in
Yes, let it in once again as the fresh rays of hope,
Fill and nourish and renew all lost hope -
Yes, let it in until all gloom and the darkest moments are bathed away,
Crown him the glorious one, the one who has brought us light,
That guiding ray of hope, cheer and prosperity once again,
And the one who has brought back the "Audacity" to hope so!
Check out this event. You can write postcards to voters in Ohio at anytime from the comfort of your own home or anywhere you choose. Only caveat is that they be done by October 15th.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/444zy
Do you live in the Greater Oxnard area?
Do you have spare time next sunday between 2pm and 5pm?
Do you want free food and free wifi?
I'm holding a phonebank in Oxnard on Sunday 28th from 2 to 5. Even if you don't feel comfortable making phone calls we'll find a way for you to help the campaign.
Hello All:
If you are not are regular NPR listen you might want to start. Today I happen to be listen to the program called." Here and Now". I am pasting the link in the blog. It is wonderful listening. The discussion is over the ecomony policy from Economicst. I have been emailing to all that I can and after you have listened I would suggest doing the same. You need to hear radio program; Here and now from NPRand pass it around below is link:http://www.here-now.org/Candidates Economic PlanWhich presidential candidate is more fiscally conservative and who would cut taxes more for middle class families? We speak with New York Times Economics Columnist David Leonhardt about the plans that Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have proposed for the economy.
You know something is wrong with our system when hospitals are privatized, being run for profit without care or concern for advancing health, and the banking, insurance, and securities industries are being socialized by the Bush Administration and law makers in Washington. How could this happen in America?
Most of us have been broke before. You know: rent due and no money at all. Along the way to that point there is a pattern. First you sell everything you own that you don't want anymore. Next, you sell things you wanted to keep. So on and so on, until you get to the last stage: you start asking for loans. Then you sink yourself in further, making it tougher to get out. Well, that's where the banks, AIG, and seemingly all the securities firms find themselves on this fair day. They took high risk with our money at the expense of society at large. The took advantage of little or no regulatory enforcement, even as they broke laws. And ethics? Ethics wasn't even a concern for those acting as capitalist in the "free market." But like Dylan sang, "Now you don't talk so loud. Now you don't seem so proud. About havin' to be scrounging your next meal."
But can we let AIG go under? They invest the retirement of every school teacher in California. Who let this happen? Look no farther than the White house, gambling the futures of America's teachers with thumb prints firmly embedded--one on the left and one on the right, while Rome burns.
The ironic twist in this tale, a former Miss Congeniality sitting on a throne made of oil, rises to fame selling airplanes on e-bay and singing: It's so fun to spend other people's money! However, she does have a new energy plan: it involves using books as a fuel source. Just toss 'em in the fire and save America :(
It is more important NOW than ever that we get out and do whatever we need to do to get Senator Obama in the White House. We are at a breaking point in this country and $50 billion + in handouts to the richest people in America is not the answer!
Happy Birthday (yesterday) to the U.S. Constitution. "We will survive!"
In friendship,
David Bush
BUSH FOR OBAMA!
I'm a small d democrat who wants real democratic political system in the U.S and in all countries and I will always vote for the viable candidate that most likely support that position.I strongly feel that the following conditions would go far to achieve this goal: 1.Political campaigns with 100% public funding,with emphasis on no holds bar debates,including all candidates,on Public Broadcasting stations.@.Election reforms would include national instant run-off voting law,so that no voter would have to vote forhis/her second choice in order to risk his/her worst choice winning.3.Pass a law prohibiting gerrymandering of districts.4.Pass a law that insures Public Broadcasting System be financially and politically independent.Since the airwaves were given to the commercial media,PBS should be financed by licensing tax by these entities.Currently I volunteer for Obama for President,Marta Jorgensen for Congress in the 24th district,and Hannah-Beth Jackson for California's 19th State Senate .I like to carpool whenever possible-my location is Ponderosa drive/Temple.
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.
___
Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report.
