Organizing for America | Vietnam Veterans for Obama

Vietnam Veterans for Obama

This group should be designed realizing the unique needs of the Vietnam Veteran, along with discussion and presentation to Barack Obama the group will support the campaign of Mr. Obama and offer opinion, dialogue, and needs as suggestions for the Obama campaign with respect to the Vietnam Era Veteran.

By Danielle Clarke USA Vietnam Vet - May 26th, 2007 at 10:16 am EDT

Also listed in: 8 groups

"When we change presidents, it is understood to mean that the voters are ordering a change in national policy. Since 1945, three different Republicans have occupied the White House for 16 years, and four democrats have held this most powerful post for 17 years. With the exception of the first seven years of the Eisenhower administration, there has been no appreciable change in foreign or domestic policy. There has been a great turnover in personnel, but no change in policy. Example: during the Nixon years, Henry Kissinger, a council member and Nelson Rockefeller protégé, was in charge of foreign policy. When Jimmy Carter was elected, Kissinger was replaced by Zbigniew Brzezinski, a council member and David Rockefeller protégé.

BILDERBERG CANIDATES

Link

"The legislatures, unfortunately, mostly appointed their delegates [Founding Fathers] from among their local wealthy elite. The delegates then ensconced themselves in secret session and proceeded to betray the charter under which they had been assembled. They discarded the Articles, and began debating and drafting a wholly new document, one that transferred sovereignty to a relatively strong central government. The delegates reneged on the States that had sent them, and took it upon themselves to speak directly for "We the People". Thus begins the preamble to their Constitution. In effect they accomplished a coup d'etat. They managed to design a system that would enable existing elites to continue to run the affairs of the new nation, as they had before under the Crown, under a Constitution that for all the world seems to embody sound democratic principles. The system was consciously designed to facilitate elite rule and that is how it has functioned ever since."

In the early 20th century, President George W. Bush's great grandfather, Samuel Bush, owned a steel factory producing rail-car parts. His son, Prescot Bush, attended the prestigious Yale University where in his final year in 1917, he was inducted into the secret society known as "The Order of Skull and Bones". To this day a mere fifteen young men of "good birth" are pre-selected each year to Skull and Bones from the entire 11, 250 student population of Yale. Rockefellers were also members of Skull and Bones.Skull and Bones has its roots in the teachings of German philosopher, George Hegel. The Nazis loved Hegel's philosophy and Hitler used it, along with Nietzsche and others, to begin creating his "New World Order." In the US in the 1920s, Hegelian philosophy was supported by John D. Rockefeller, who funded the notorious Eugenics Records Office, with its idea of mass sterilisation of blacks and other "inferiors" as a means of social control.Prescot Bush was a member of Skull and Bones with his friend, Roland "Bunny" Harriman, son of the massively wealthy Harriman family. This Harriman - Bush connection is discussed in George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography, [5] "The Harrimans would become the sponsors of the Bushes, to lift them onto the stage of world history."

Link resigned the Presidency after the Watergate affair blew up. (Numerous commentators now suggest that he had no involvement with the break in at Democratic Party offices and believe that Watergate was nothing more than a contrivance designed by the elite (Rockefeller) to be found and to point the blame at Nixon and bring him down.) Gerald Ford was installed as President of the United States without ever having faced the electorate. He chose Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President. Two unelected individuals were now running the country with Rockefeller now a mere heartbeat away from the position he so coveted. During his time as President, Ford survived two assassination attempts.

1972

Richard Nixon Spiro Agnew Republican

George McGovern R. Sargent Shriver Democratic

Jimmy Carter (Democrat) followed Gerald Ford from 1977-81, then Ronald Reagan (Republican) from 1981-89. Prescot Bush's son, George W. H. Bush, a Yale Skull and Bones man, followed Reagan from 1989 until '93.

"The Trilateral Commission even selects and elevates its candidates to positions of political power. David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski found Jimmy Carter to be an ideal candidate, for example. They helped him to win the Democratic nomination and the Presidency [1977]. To accomplish their purpose, they mobilized the money power of the Wall Street bankers, the intellectual influence of the academic community - which is subservient to the wealthy of the great tax-free foundations - and the media controllers represented in the membership of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. It was no accident that Brzezinski and Rockefeller invited Carter to join the commission in 1973. But they weren't ready to bet all their chips on Carter. They made him a founding member of the commission but to keep their options open they also brought in Walter Mondale and Elliot Richardson, a highly visible Republican member of the Nixon administration, and they looked at other potential nominees."

1976

James Carter Walter Mondale Democratic

Gerald Ford Robert Dole Republican

The elite inner-circle members of the Bilderberg club, Council on Foreign Relations and Trilateral Commission, conspire to politically, and economically, dominate the entire world under their New World Order, or Globalisation as they now prefer to name it.Since the Second World War, Rockefeller's Council on Foreign Relations has filled key positions in virtually every administration. Since Eisenhower, every man who has won the nomination for either party (except Goldwater in 1964) has been directly sponsored by Rockefeller's CFR.Before defining the characteristics of fascism, we should look at the neo-conservatives who run the US government on behalf of the elite. In her book, Leo Strauss and the American Right, [13] Shadia Drury, professor of political theory at the University of Calgary, Canada, names current politicians, political advisers, administration and Supreme Court officials, who were followers of the teachings of the fascist Leo Strauss.

1980
Ronald Reagan George Bush Republican

James Carter
Walter Mondale Democratic
According to Jeffery Steinberg in Executive Intelligence review [14]: "A review of Leo Strauss' career reveals why the label 'Straussian' carries some very filthy implications. Although nominally a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany (he actually left for a better position abroad, on the warm recommendation of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt), Strauss was an unabashed proponent of the three most notorious shapers of the Nazi philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, and Carl Schmitt. Recent biographies have revealed the depth of Heidegger's enthusiasm for Hitler and Nazism."The hallmark of Strauss's approach to philosophy was his hatred of the modern world, his belief in a totalitarian system, run by 'philosophers' who rejected all universal principles of natural law, but saw their mission as absolute rulers, who lied and deceived a foolish 'populist' mass, and used both religion and politics as a means of disseminating myths that kept the general population in clueless servitude."

1984
Ronald Reagan George Bush Republican

Walter Mondale Geraldine Ferraro Democratic
Prescot Bush's son, George W. H. Bush, a Yale Skull and Bones member like his father, was an insider and member of the Nixon administration. Bush, who had his own off-shore oil company in the Gulf of Mexico, was made director of the CIA.

1988
George Bush J. Danforth Quayle Republican

Michael Dukakis Lloyd Bentsen Democratic
Ron Paul Andre Marrou Libertarian
Bill Clinton, Democrat, followed Bush from 1993 to 2001 and he too filled his cabinet with the elite's place-men. Clinton was taught in the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, by his favourite historian, Professor Carroll Quigley. In 1966, Quigley had written a book [7] on the elite's control of world affairs which had caused them a considerable degree of anxiety. While Quigley's book was entirely sympathetic to their aims of world domination, the elite were extremely upset that it allowed ordinary people a forbidden glimpse of the workings of the matrix:

1992
William Clinton Albert Gore Jr. Democratic

George Bush J. Danforth Quayle Republican

H. Ross Perot James Stockdale Independent
Professor Shadia Drury [15] provides a fascinating glimpse into the mindset of the neocons "Leo Strauss was a great believer in the efficacy and usefulness of lies in politics. Public support for the Iraq war rested on lies about Iraq posing an imminent threat to the United States - the business about weapons of mass destruction and a fictitious alliance between al-Qaeda and the Iraq regime. Now that the lies have been exposed, Paul Wolfowitz [Straussian] and others in the war party are denying that these were the real reasons for the war."The idea that Strauss was a great defender of liberal democracy is laughable. I suppose that Strauss's disciples consider it a noble lie. Yet many in the media have been gullible enough to believe it. The ancient philosophers whom Strauss most cherished believed that the unwashed masses were not fit for either truth or liberty, and that giving them these sublime treasures would be like throwing pearls before swine A second fundamental of Strauss's ancients has to do with their insistence on the need for secrecy and the necessity of lies. In his book Persecution and the Art of Writing, Strauss outlines why secrecy is necessary. He argues that the wise must conceal their views for two reasons - to spare the people's feelings and to protect the elite from possible reprisals. The people will not be happy to learn that there is only one natural right - the right of the superior to rule over the inferior, the master over the slave and the wise few over the vulgar many.

1996
William Clinton Albert Gore Jr. Democratic

Robert Dole Jack Kemp Republican

H. Ross Perot Pat Choate Reform

Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke Green
Following two-term Clinton, came the grandson of Prescott Bush (and son of President George H. W. Bush); Skull and Bones member George Walker Bush. Four years later, Bush became a second term president when he defeated Democrat Senator John F. Kerry. Kerry, almost unbelievably, is yet another member of Skull and Bones.
In the US Presidential elections it matters little to the elite if the successful candidate is Democrat or Republican; indeed it is all part of their absurd deception and pretence of democracy since they control both. The deception does not come cheap; during the most recent presidential primary season, $360 million of elite money went to George W. Bush, and $318 million elite money to John Kerry. (Each received a further $74.6 million from the public purse.) A candidate independent of the elite has no chance whatsoever of reaching the White House. Ralph Nader in 2004, for example, had the relatively paltry sum of $4 million dollars to launch and conduct his campaign.
"According to his own public estimate and boast before the American Enterprise Institute, President Bush Jr. hired about 20 Straussians to occupy key positions in his administration Just recently the University of Chicago officially celebrated its Bush Jr. Straussian cabal. Only the University of Chicago would have the Orwellian gall to publicly claim that Strauss and Bloom [a Strauss protégé] cared one whit about democracy let alone comprehend the 'ideals of democracy'."Do not send your children to the University of Chicago where they will grow up to become warmongers like Wolfowitz or totalitarians like Ashcroft! The neo-con cabal, currently ruling America and in charge of pursuing the New World Order agenda is, according to Professors Drury and Boyle, "a tyranny of warmongers and unscrupulous elites from an intellectual and moral cesspool."

2000
George W. Bush Richard Cheney Republican

Albert Gore Jr. Joseph Lieberman Democratic

Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke Green
Interesting though the background of each of the individual millionaire US Presidents might be, the real power in America lies with the Rockefeller dynasty and the three organisations it controls: The Council on Foreign Relations, which helped build the Nazi war machine in the 1930s - Chairman emeritus; David Rockefeller. The Trilateral Commission, founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller. The Bilderberg club formed in 1954 - most active member, David Rockefeller.These three organisations are interlinked and, in 'red pill' reality, work in tandem to achieve world domination by the elite. Members of each have been listed by Robert Gaylon Ross in his book, Who's Who of the Elite [8]. He writes: "They occupy key positions in government, the mass media, financial institutions, multinational corporations, the military, and the national security apparatus." The two families who are really in charge are the Rockefellers and, in the UK and Western Europe, the House of Rothschild. In 1998 Rockefeller was reputedly worth $11.5 trillion and Rothschild over $100 trillion.The Bilderberg club (named after the hotel in which its first meeting was held) is the high chamber of the high priests of capitalism. Every member pledges absolute secrecy on what has been discussed at annual meetings. The online Asia Times, 2003, provides a very rare glimpse into the Bilderberg club in a column headed "The Masters of the Universe" [9]: "Expert strategists attend to polish and reinforce a virtual consensus; an illusion that globalization, defined under their terms - that what's good for banking and big business is good for everybody else - is inevitable and for the greater good of humankind. Bill Clinton in 1991 and Tony Blair in 1993 were invited to attend and duly 'approved' by the club before they took office.

2004
George W. Bush Richard Cheney Republican

John Kerry John Edwards Democratic

Ralph Nader Peter Camejo Independent
What are the implications of this "New World Order", or "Globalization" as it is now called? Richard K. Moore [17] writes: "The course of world events, for the first time in history, is now largely controlled by a centralised global regime. This regime has been consolidating power ever since World War II and is now formalising that power into a collection of centralised institutions and a new system of international 'order'. Top western political leaders are participants in this global regime, and the strong Western nation state is rapidly being dismantled and destabilised. The global regime serves elite corporate interests exclusively. It has no particular regard for human rights, democracy, human welfare, or the health of the environment. The only god of this regime is the god of wealth accumulation."In two centuries the Western world has come full circle from tyranny to tyranny. The tyranny of monarchs was overthrown in the Enlightenment and semi-democratic republics were established. Two centuries later those republics are being destabilised and a new tyranny is assuming power - a global tyranny of anonymous corporate elites. This anonymous regime has no qualms about creating poverty, destroying nations, and engaging in genocide.

2008
McCAIN   ???? REPUBLICAN
GORE   CLINTON   DEMOCRAT
Bottom line, are the neo-cons driving this agenda neo-fascist? Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, published research on fascism [18] in which he examined the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each fascist State:1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.2. Disdain for the recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarceration of prisoners, etc.3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists; terrorists, etc.4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military are glamorized.5. Rampant sexism - The government of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.7. Obsession with National security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.8. Religion and Government are intertwined - Government in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation are often the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.10. Labor Power is suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or are severely restricted.11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassinations of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
2008
BARACK OBAMA    DEMOCRAT
Abraham Lincoln stated, "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me, and causes me to tremble for the safety of our country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed."The small, but ruthless, group of men, the "money power" described by Lincoln, has stolen democracy from the American people. An ever-growing number of informed Americans, however, are fighting a brave, but desperate rear-guard action to retrieve that democracy. Will we give them our total support now, or simply sit back and watch as the entire planet is taken back to the dark ages? "The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."
THE TOTAL WRITINGS BELOW BUT YOU CAN SEE THE PROGRESSION OF CONTROL BY THE ROCKEFELLAR AND HIS TRILATERAL COMMISION
Link
Neo-fascism in America by Jim Macgregor

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I MAY NOT UNDERSTAND THE STAFFERS FOR THE CAMPAIGN BUT I DEFINATELY UNDERSTAND BARACK OBAMA - CHICAGO COLUMNIST ATTACKS BARACK OBAMA

By Danielle Clarke USA Vietnam Vet - May 24th, 2007 at 10:21 am EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

THE FOLLOWING STORY IS SUPPOSE TO BE A PUT DOWN OF
BARACK OBAMA.. IF THIS IS THE BEST THEY CAN DO ..I
WANT TO SAY KEEP EM COMING, BECAUSE THEY ARE MAKING
BARACK OBAMA LOOK LIKE THE SMARTEST KINDEST MOST
CARING MAN ALIVE.

................ ................ ...............

This story was sent to you by: SOMEONE WHO ISN'T SURE
ABOUT BARACK OBAMA (THIER NAME WAS REMOVED BY ME)

this is the article i was talking about from the
times.

--------------------
Careful steps, looking ahead
--------------------

After arriving in Springfield, Barack Obama proved
cautious, but it was
clear to many he had ambitions beyond the state Senate

OK THATS SMART AND HE IS SMART

By Rick Pearson and Ray Long
Tribune staff reporters

May 3, 2007

SPRINGFIELD -- Sen. Barack Obama calls himself a
strong defender of
abortion rights, and the presidential contender
quickly condemned the
recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a ban on a
controversial
late-term procedure. The decision, he feared, "will
embolden state
legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a
woman's right to choose."

YES BARACK KNOWS LAW AND HE IS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW
MOST AMERICANS DON'T LIKE LATE TERM ABORTIONS AND I AM
ONE OF THEM BUT HE IS ALSO SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT
THE SUPREME COURT RULING COULD TAKE AWAY ALL WOMENS
RIGHTS TO ABORTION.

But this is how Obama voted in 1997 when he was new to
the Illinois
legislature and got a chance to take a stand against
bills to impose a
similar statewide ban on what critics call
partial-birth abortion:

"Present," the political equivalent of taking a pass.

THIS IS SMART. HE DIDN'T HAVE THE VOTES TO CHANGE
ANYTHING SO HE SMARTLY VOTED PRESENT. VERY SMART.

Obama's short time in Washington offers a limited
guide to his
political views and methods, but he spent nearly eight
years in the Illinois
Senate. "It was that experience in the legislature
that convinced me that
politics can be a noble calling," he said in a recent
campaign
appearance.

I BELIEVE THIS TO BE HIS TRUE NATURE. BEING NOBLE THAT
IS.

If Springfield is the measure of Obama the politician,
a review of his
tenure is a study in complexity, caution and
calculation. In the
minority party for all but his final two years in the
Statehouse, he tempered
a progressive agenda with a cold dash of realism,
often forging
consensus with conservative Republicans when other
liberals wanted to crusade.

AGAIN VERY SMART. HE DIDN'T JUST JOIN A BUNCH OF
RADICAL DEMOCRATS WHO WANTED TO DIVIDE US. VERY SMART
I THINK.

The insular world of Springfield also served as a
prelude to some of
the challenges confronting Obama on the presidential
campaign trail.
While some African-American colleagues in the state
capital viewed him as a
dynamic leader, others were put off by the pedigree of
a
Harvard-educated lawyer raised in exotic places far
from Chicago's West and South
Sides. Some in the Senate Black Caucus went out of
their way to haze him.

THAT IS FOOLISH OF THOSE BLACK LEADERS WHO SEEM TO BE
PREJUDICE OF HIS EDUCATION.

At the same time Obama, who is biracial, bonded with a
trio of white
colleagues from the suburbs and Downstate. They became
some of his
closest friends, poker-playing buddies and sounding
boards.

NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING FRIENDS OF ALL COLORS.

He took leadership roles on reform measures dealing
with the death
penalty, racial profiling, tax credits for the working
poor and ethics,
issues that earned him praise from Democratic
supporters and even some
Republicans.

AGAIN HERE BARACK SHOWS THAT HE HAS A CARING HEART.

But Obama wasn't above playing the political angles.

He pushed to get state-run pension funds to open more
investment
opportunities for minority money managers who donated
to his campaign. During
his 2004 U.S. Senate primary bid, Obama sent a
newsletter to
constituents at taxpayer expense that touted his
accomplishments. It went out
just days before the effective date of a ban on such
practices close to
election time -- part of a reform package he had
championed.

NOTHING WRONG HERE ABOUT BARACK TOUTING HIS HELPING
MINORITIES GET AHEAD. WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM
DOING THAT AND HELPING TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD OF
LIFE.

Perhaps nothing illustrated Obama's calculating style
more than his
approach to abortion. The state Senate voted 14 times
on various abortion
restrictions during his tenure. Half the time, Obama
voted "present."

AGAIN HERE HE IS SMART. NO SENSE FIGHTING A LOSING
BATTLE WITH THE REPUBLICANS IN CONTROL.

He said it was a strategy agreed to by abortion-rights
advocates to
insulate Democrats from political backlash in more
conservative areas. But
Obama's Hyde Park district was one of the state's most
liberal.

HE LISTENED TO THE ABORTION RIGHT ADVOCATES. SMART
AGAIN. THEY SURELY KNOW MORE THAN THIS WRITER.

From the moment he arrived in the Illinois Senate, it
was clear to many
that Obama didn't plan to stay. Just months into
office, he approached
then-Senate Democratic Chief of Staff Mike Hoffman and
offered to buy
him a beer. The two adjourned to a hotel bar.

Talk turned to how Obama's name might play with
Downstate voters in a
statewide race, Hoffman recalled recently. "We talked
about in a
campaign, if you have a strange name, you could have
some fun with it."

No specific office came up, Hoffman said, but the
legislative
freshman's message was clear. Obama "wanted me to know
that he had other
ambitions."

AND A SMART MAN LIKE BARACK SHOULD THINK AHEAD SO AS
TO MAKE CHANGES IN THE WORLD. VERY SMART AND LOOKING
AHEAD ATITUDE.

'Hollywood' and the upstart

Obama arrived in Springfield with an important ally.
Emil Jones, then
the minority leader of the chamber and later its
president, fancied
himself a mentor to Obama. To Jones, Obama represented
"the future,"
someone who "embodies all that I dream and work for."

HE DOES THE SAME FOR ME AS WELL.

The two met on a street corner years earlier when
Obama's South Side
community group coincidentally convened an outdoor
meeting just doors
from Jones' house. They have been close ever since.

WHICH SHOWS WHERE HE CAME FROM AND WHAT HE DID TO EARN
HIS PLACE TODAY.

Obama needed a powerful friend. He had breezed to
election in 1996 by
forcing all his Democratic opponents off the ballot,
including a popular
member of the Senate Black Caucus, incumbent Alice
Palmer. That bit of
hardball didn't endear him to many in the caucus.

WELL IF THE BLACK CAUCUS ONLY WANTED TO GET OR KEEP
WELFARE FOR THEIR PEOPLE THAT DOESN'T SEEM SMART FOR
THEM AS BARACK GETTING THEM AN EDUCATION AND JOBS WILL
HELP THEM FAR MORE. LIKE HE SAID IN SELMA GET OFF THE
COUCH UNCLE SO AND SO.

Before taking office, Obama sought advice from Rep.
Art Turner, a
veteran West Side Democrat. Turner warned him not to
"come in the door
looking like you're all-knowing" and to "realize that
some aren't ready for
reform or changes."

WELL ITS HARD FOR A MAN LIKE BARACK WHO HAS SUCH
NATURAL KNOW EVERYTHING MENTALITY SO I DON'T SEE
ANYTHING WRONG HERE EITHER.

Obama also reached out to former state Rep. Paul
Williams, a longtime
lobbyist who once served as legislative aide to Harold
Washington when
the former Chicago mayor was in the General Assembly.
Williams found
himself healing relations between Obama and senior
lawmakers.

"Let's face it," Williams said in a recent interview.
"There's certain
African-Americans that the world is more likely to
fall [for] than
others. Barack fits all of that stuff: educated,
smart, good-looking, lean,
all of these kind of things."

WELL I DON'T THINK I WOULD CALL BARACKS ONLY ASSETS
HIS LOOKS. HE SURELY HAS SMARTS. I THINK MR WILLIAMS
MAY BE JELOUS.

Obama was just months into his first term when Jones
began doling out
assignments to him befitting a more senior lawmaker.
For instance, Jones
made Obama the lead Democratic negotiator on a
landmark welfare-to-work
package Republicans were pushing.

AGAIN A GOOD THING FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR SO THEY CAN GET
OUT OF THE WELFARE TRAP. YES SOME NEED IT AND I AM
SURE BARACK WEIGHED THAT TOO.

His rise caused friction in the Senate's Black Caucus.
Some caucus
veterans thought Obama hadn't paid his dues and were
resentful of the
attention Jones was lavishing on someone they
considered an Ivy League
upstart.

WELL THATS PLAIN JELOUSY AND NOT VERY UNDERSTANDING OF
SOMEONE WHO KNOWS VERSUS SOMEONE WITH TIME IN. MANY
TIMES IN LIFE PEOPLE TOLD ME THE SAME THING. I ONCE
MADE 3 TIMES MORE THAN MECHANICS WHO HAD FAMILIES TO
FEED AND I WAS 12 YRS OLD. HOWEVER, I DIDN'T WASTE IT
OR FLAUNT IT.

Among the most put out was Sen. Rickey Hendon, a
streetwise West Sider
nicknamed "Hollywood" who once hoped to be a movie
producer. Another
lawmaker giving Obama a hard time was Sen. Donne
Trotter, the Democratic
point man on budget issues. In 2000, Trotter and Obama
vied to unseat
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, but didn't come close to
toppling the South Side
congressman.

In Springfield, Hendon and Trotter would "just give
Barack hell" and
disparage him as a know-it-all, said Sen. Kimberly
Lightford (D-Maywood),
who was chairwoman of the chamber's Black Caucus.

WELL AGAIN IT SOUNDS LIKE JELOUSY AND JUST BECAUSE
THEY ARE STREET SMART DOESN'T MEAN THEY ARE
POLITICALLY SMART.

In a recent interview, Obama said the tension was
particularly intense
during his push for ethics reforms. "The general
perception was,
'Here's the new guy coming in and he is acting holier
than thou,'
" he recalled.

WELL BARACK MAY APPEAR THAT WAY TO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T
KNOW HOLY.

Once, Obama and Hendon nearly came to blows. Obama had
voted for budget
cuts that eliminated a child welfare office in
Hendon's district. On
the Senate floor, Hendon said Obama had "a lot of
nerve to talk about
being responsible" to those in need and then voting to
cut services to the
poor.

WELL MAYBE MR HENDON SHOULD THINK TWICE ABOUT KEEPING
HIS CONSTITUENTS ON WELFARE AND GETTING ELECTED FOR
DOING SO. IT SEEMS TO ME BARACK KNEW THE BIGGER
PICTURE AND DIDN'T WANT TO BUY VOTES BY KEEPING A
WELFARE OFFICE. THATS HONESTY.

Saying he didn't realize he was voting for the cuts,
Obama added: "I
would appreciate that next time my dear colleague,
Sen. Hendon, ask me
about a vote before he names me on the floor."

IT SEEMS MR HENDON GOT CAUGHT IN HIS OWN KARMA AND
BARACK WAS BLAMED. SHAME ON MR HENDON.

Microphones off, the two headed to the back of the
Senate chamber where
Obama tried to put his hand on Hendon's shoulder.
Hendon slapped it
away.

WELL BARACK ONLY DID AND HONEST THING AND TRIED TO
BEFRIEND HIS FRIEND AS HE SAID HE DIDN'T KNOW HE HURT
ANYONE BY HIS ACTIONS. MR HENDON DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A
MAN WITH AN OPEN MIND BUT AS SOMEONE WITH A CHIP ON
HIS SHOULDER.

Asked about the incident recently, Hendon said, "My
memory is foggy on
that issue. It's going to remain foggy."

THATS GOOD THAT HE CAN LEAVE IT BEHIND HIM. THAT IS
SEEING THAT IT WAS HIS OWN KARMA THAT HAD BARACK MAKE
THE ACTIONS THAT RESULTED IN MR HENDON NOT GETTING
WHAT HE WANTED. WHICH WAS PROBABLY FOR THE BEST
ANYWAY.

The politics of poker

In many ways, Obama's relations with fellow
legislators in Springfield
reflected his lifelong efforts to straddle different
worlds, a
political challenge that continues to this day.

While his dealings with some top black legislators
were icy, he often
seemed most comfortable among other Democrats. Obama
formed tight
friendships with three white Senate colleagues whose
backgrounds and
personalities couldn't have been more different from
his.

OK SO THE BLACK LEADERS WHO HAD ALL THEIR PEOPLE
CONTROLLED DIDN'T LIKE A SMART MANY LIKE BARACK SO
BARACK DIDN'T LET IT HURT HIM HE WENT AND FOUND NEW
FRIENDS.

There was the blunt-talking Denny Jacobs from the Quad
Cities, and
Larry Walsh from Elwood, whose "aw-shucks" demeanor
belied deft political
skills.

NOT SURE WHO THEYR ARE BUT I AM SURE BARACK DID AND
WAS BEING FRIENDLY AND TRYING TO SEE ALL SIDES OF
POLITICS IN HIS REGION.

Closest to Obama was Terry Link of Waukegan, who also
was Lake County
Democratic chairman. Both entered the Senate the same
year, sat next to
each other on the floor and shared office space. "We
were just polar
opposites," said Link. "He won easy, I had a difficult
race. He was
Harvard Law, and I was lucky to get out of high
school. He was backed by the
independents and here I was, a party leader."

OH SO ANOTHER MAN (NOT SURE OF HIS RACE) SOUNDS JELOUS
TOO OF BARACKS HARD WORK AND EDUCATION. MAKES YOU
WONDER WHO IS IN CHARGE OF CHICAGO POLITICS? ALL
PEOPLE WITH STREET SMARTS OR WHAT?

Link served as a conduit to party insiders, coaching
Obama to pay heed
to the agendas of organized labor and other old-line
Democratic
pressure groups.

WHICH I AM SURE BARACK WAS PROBABLY SICK TO HIS
STOMACH THINKING WHAT ARE THE LIKES OF THESE KIND OF
PEOPLE RUNNING THE REGION. I KNOW I WOULD BE.

Nowhere was Obama's ability to navigate Springfield's
subcultures on
better display than at The Committee Meeting. That was
the code name for
Wednesday night poker games attended by about a dozen
lawmakers and
lobbyists.

Obama was a regular, and his stingy betting became a
running joke with
those at the table.

I DISLIKE GAMBLING TOO. WOW BARACK IS SO MUCH LIKE ME.
A STINGY PERSON WHEN IT COMES TO HAVING TO GAMBLE JUST
TO GET TO KNOW THE OLD TIME POLITICIANS. SHEESH

"You're a socialist with everybody's money but your
own," Sen. Bill
Brady (R-Bloomington) complained to Obama.

NO BARACK JUST ISN'T INTO THROWING HIS MONEY AROUND..
VERY SMART. I AM AGAIN JUST LIKE HIM. THE MORE I READ
THIS WRITERS STORY THE MORE I LOVE BARACK OBAMA.

Some in the legislature treat their long interludes in
Springfield as a
form of camp, a chance to get away from family
obligations and party it
up. Obama wasn't one of them. An early riser, he was a
regular in the
exercise room of his downtown hotel. Sometimes he
showed up at the local
YMCA for a dawn pickup basketball game.

AGAIN A WONDERFUL THING TO DO. HE WASN'T LIKE THE REST
OF CHICAGO POLITICIANS WHO SIT AND GAMBLE AND TALK
ABOUT HOW THEY ARE GOING TO RUN THE CITY. HMMM INSTEAD
BARACK TAKES THE HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE WOW I AM
IMPRESSED! :)

An exception to his disciplined routine was the poker
game held inside
the headquarters of the Illinois Manufacturers
Association, the big
business lobby whose legislative goals often were at
odds with those of
liberals like Obama.

OK SO BARACK GAMBLED A FEW DOLLARS AND THEY WANTED HIM
TO BE A BIG GAMBLER DRINKING OLD TIME POLITICIAN. GEEZ
THOSE POOR CHICAGO PEOPLE WHO ENDED UP WITH THE LIKES
OF THEM. THEN AGAIN I AM HERE IN PHILADELPHIA WITH A
FEW OF THEM. I SURE HOPE MR NUTTER BECOMES A BARACK
OBAMA.

Handed a cigar and cocktail on the way in, players
left a few hundred
dollars richer or poorer. Obama played liked he
legislated, "slowly,
deliberately, cautiously," recalled Jacobs.

WELL DUH BARACK IS NO FOOL.

Poker was a way to relax and schmooze out of the
polarizing glare under
the Capitol dome. To Obama, it was also a chance to
prove to colleagues
that he was a regular guy.

POOR BARACK I BET HE WISHED HE HAD SOME BETTER
EDUCATED POLITICIANS TO SPEND HIS TIME. I SURE WOULD
IF I WERE HIM.

"When it turned out that I could sit down at [a bar]
and have a beer
and watch a game or go out for a round of golf or get
a poker game
going," Obama said, "I probably confounded some of
their expectations."

OH MY BARACK HAD "A' BEER. BUT THEN AGAIN HE PLAYED
GOLF TO WORK IT OFF. SMART MAN.

A legislative diplomat

In his first campaign, Obama lashed out at incumbent
pols who cut
backroom deals to consolidate their power rather than
advance the common
good. But once in the Springfield mosh pit, Obama
crafted an image as a
bridge-builder.

THATS THE BARACK I KNOW AND THE MAN I WANT AS
PRESIDENT.

"He's not dogmatic, he's consensus building," said
Jones. He also was
practical. With Republicans controlling the Senate
until 2003, fighting
them wouldn't accomplish much.

VERY SMART. VERY VERY SMART.

In 1999, Obama spoke so passionately in favor of
affirmative action
that a Republican colleague shelved a resolution aimed
at undermining the
practice at public universities.

SURE BARACK WANTS PEOPLE OF COLOR TO BE ABLE TO HAVE
EDUCATIONS NOT WELFARE. GOSH I LOVE THIS MAN BARACK
OBAMA. AND THIS ARTICLE THAT WAS SENT TO ME IS SUPOSE
TO MAKE BARACK LOOK BAD?????? OH WELL ..

He had less success with another goal that he now is
pushing in his
presidential run: universal health care. He once
proposed a state
constitutional amendment to mandate it. In another
echo of criticism Obama has
faced in his presidential campaign, the proposal
lacked detail. He
later watered down his idea to simply call for a task
force to study the
issue.

OK SO HE DIDN'T DO EVERYTHING HE WANTED TO DO IN
ILLINOIS. HE REALIZED HE BETTER GO TO WASH DC WHERE HE
HAD MORE POWER AND ABILITY TO DO IT. AND HE IS STILL
LISTENING AS HE ASK FOR INPUT FROM EVERY DAY CITIZENS
ON HIS WEB SITE AT WWW.BARACKOBAMA.COM

A critic of the state's broken capital punishment
system, Obama spent
two years working with Republicans to broker a series
of reforms aimed
at making it more difficult for the innocent to face
execution. Still,
Obama found himself on various sides of the death
penalty debate.

SURE NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THE INNOCENT PUT TO DEATH.
BRAVO BRAVO BARACK!

Five months into office, he voted to expand the list
of capital crimes
to include the brutal murder of a senior citizen or a
disabled person.
Four years later he opposed adding murders that were
part of "gang
activity" to the list, saying the term was a
"mechanism to target
particular neighborhoods [and] particular
individuals."

AGAIN BRAVO BRAVO BARACK FOR STICKING UP FOR THE
SENIOR CITIZENS AND DISABLED WHILE KNOWING THAT MANY
TIMES PEOPLE BORN IN BAD NEIGHBORHOODS NEVER HAD A
CHANCE TO KNOW THE RIGHT THING (PROBABLY BECAUSE MR
HENDON HAD THEM ALL ON WELFARE) AND THESE GANGS
MURDERERS NEVER KNEW RIGHT FROM WRONG. THEY DESERVED A
CHANCE IF THEY HADN'T KILLED A SENIOR OR A DISABLED
PERSON. AND MANY TIMES THEY WERE SET UP BY CROOKED
COPS IN THOSE AREAS RUN BY OLD TIME POLITICIANS. BRAVO
BRAVO BARACK OBAMA :) WOW YOU ARE THE MAN.

In 2003, with Democrats in control of the General
Assembly and Obama
readying his U.S. Senate run, he became a whirlwind of
legislative
activity. He secured passage of the nation's first law
to require police to
tape formal interviews and confessions of murder
suspects. He also won
passage of a law requiring police to record the race
of drivers they
stop for a study of racial profiling.

BRAVO BRAVO FOR LOOKING OUT FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE WHO
SUFFERED FOR MANY YRS UNDER LEADERS WHO KEPT THEM POOR
UNEDUCATED AND ON WELFARE.

The most awkward moment of Obama's legislative tenure
came in 1999.
Lawmakers in a special session considered restoring an
anti-gun violence
law struck down in court. The battle stalemated, and
Obama flew to
Hawaii for Christmas with his family.

Lawmakers were called back Dec. 29 to vote on a
compromise, but Obama
remained in Hawaii. The deal narrowly failed. Obama
later said his young
daughter had taken ill and he couldn't leave her, but
the incident
damaged his already-slim hopes of unseating Rush.

WELL AS WE WOULD ALL HOPE THAT OUR PARENTS WOULD LOOK
AFTER THEIR CHILDREN BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE BRAVO BRAVO
BRAVO. WHAT A FAMILY MAN :) :) :)

Legislators face an array of sensitive topics, but few
pack the
emotional and political wallop of abortion. Obama has
long publicly promoted
his support for abortion rights, but his voting record
in Springfield is
not simple to read.

Obama said he sought compromise with abortion
opponents, but they
balked. As a fallback, he said he worked out an
arrangement with
abortion-rights advocates to encourage Democrats to
vote "present" on some bills
if they feared a "no"would look insensitive and
endanger their
re-election.

WELL HE TRIED TO WORK WITH BOTH SIDES AND FOR THAT I
GIVE HIM THE UTMOST RESPECT. ABORTION IS A HARD TOPIC
AND MANY POLITICIANS WON'T EVEN TRY TO REACH OUT
ACROSS THE TABLE. BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO AND SO SENSATIVE
TOO .. WOW HE VOTED PRESENT TO BE CONSIDERATE OF THEIR
FEELINGS WOW I AM IN AWE WHAT A SWEET WONDERFUL MAN WE
HAVE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.

But few of the other Democrats who voted "present" on
abortion bills
recall such a strategy. And, like Obama, they weren't
politically
vulnerable.

SO BARACK WAS ABLE TO TALK THOSE POLITICIANS INTO
BEING SENSATIVE TOO WOW BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO BARACK

Obama's friend Link offered another reason for the
strategy: to protect
those with plans for higher office. A "present" vote
helped "if you
have aspirations of doing something else in politics,"
Link said, "and I
think [Obama] looked at it in that regard."

WELL OF COURSE MY LINK IS OF THE "OLD SCHOOL'
POLITICIANS.. EVERYTHING HE THINKS HAS TO HAVE AN
ULTERIOR MOTIVE TO IT I BET. SHAME SHAME SHAME ON
LINK.

Illinois has a rich legacy of government scandal, and
Obama's campaign
resume plays up his role in trying to do something to
stop it. Jones
early on tapped him as the Senate Democratic point man
on ethics reform,
an unenviable task for a rookie lawmaker given that
Springfield
veterans were reluctant to embrace change and dispense
with perks. Many
resented him.

THANK GOD AND THANK CHICAGO ER CHICAGO SHOULD THANK
GOD FOR BARACK OBAMA.

Trotter said Obama swooped in "as the knight on the
white horse" and
made it sound as though everybody in Springfield,
except him, was
corrupt. "It wasn't appreciated."

HE MAY BE BLACK BUT HE IS MY KNIGHT ON A WHITE HORSE
ER BLACK HORSE THEY ARE BOTH PRETTY COLORED HORSES AND
WELL I REMEMBER BLACK BEAUTY :) SO BARACK LETS MAKE
THAT YOUR MY NIGHT ON A SHINNING BLACK HORSE :)

The ethics bill, Obama said, "was not a favorite of my
colleagues."

SURE THEY HAD THEIR OLD SCHOOL WAYS.. I BET THEY HATED
BARACK FOR THAT ROFLMAO

Obama also was in the thick of negotiations on a 2003
ethics package
that led to restrictions on gifts from lobbyists and
the appointment of
new inspectors general to hunt corruption in a variety
of state
agencies.

It also banned lawmakers from sending taxpayer-funded
promotional
mailings in the weeks before an election, an attempt
to clamp down on an
all-too-common practice that critics said was
tantamount to having the
state help bankroll incumbents' campaigns.

Obama wasn't big on sending newsletters to
constituents. In his first
seven years in the Senate, he did it only twice. But
in early 2004, as
he was gearing up for his U.S. Senate run, Obama
ordered his largest
newsletter mailing -- 75,000 copies.

YEA I DOUBT IT WAS BARACK WHO DID IT. PROBABLY WAS THE
OLD TIME POLITICIANS WHO PERSUADED HIS SECRETARY TO DO
IT TO MAKE BARACK LOOK BAD. AND IF BARACK DID IT WELL
HE HADN'T DONE IT AS IS REPORTED HERE FOR A FEW YRS.
SO HE DESERVED ONE MAILING.

Records show they hit the post office Jan. 30, two
days before the ban
Obama helped write was to take effect.

Obama said the impact was "nominal" because the
mailings only went to
voters in his state legislative district. "We abided
by the rules," he
said.

I AM SURE YOU DID EVERYTHING LEGAL AND THIS WRITER IS
MAKING A WARM POT HOT ER HE IS BLOWING SMOKE ER HE IS
TRYING TO PULL EVERYONES LEG HERE BUT HE IS SO CORUPT
HIMSELF HE DOESN'T EVEN SEE HOW HOW THIS ARTICLE MAKES
YOU LOOK EVEN BETTER BARACK.

'You're a very powerful guy'

Long before maverick Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald
decided not to
run for re-election in 2004, Obama approached his
mentor, Emil Jones, who
was preparing to lead a new Democratic majority in the
state Senate.

"You're a very powerful guy," Obama told Jones.

"I've got the power to do what?" Jones responded.

"You could help elect a U.S. senator," Obama said.

Jones asked his protege if he had anyone in mind.

"Yeah," Obama replied. "Me."

Obama's ambitions for higher office were an open
secret in Springfield,
but trying to make the leap to the U.S. Senate seemed
a long shot. He
was an unknown to most Chicago voters, let alone to
those in the rest of
the state. His loss to Rush was so lopsided even Obama
described it as
"a spanking."

He couldn't count on the support of some prominent
Black Caucus
members, including Hendon. In a recent interview, he
said Obama was so
ambitious that if the position were up for a vote,
Obama would run for "king
of the world."

LOL WOW IS HENDON JELOUS LOL LOL LOL

Obama formally announced his campaign in January 2003,
more than a year
ahead of the primary. Jones, of course, was there.
Link, Walsh and
Jacobs also attended, illustrating that his support
transcended the black
community.

Hendon and Trotter were a tougher sell. Jones
eventually got them to
endorse Obama. Hendon said it took "seven or eight"
talks with Jones
before he finally decided to go along. And, Hendon
said, he only did it out
of loyalty to Jones.

Obama wasn't expecting the endorsement of either
Trotter or Hendon. He
asked Jones how he pulled it off.

"I made them an offer," Jones recalled telling Obama.
"And you don't
want to know."

I AM SURE SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG AS SHE SOUNDS
LIKE THE SMARTEST MOST UNDERSTANDING FRIEND YOU HAD IN
CHICAGO POLITICS. THE REST SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF
HOLIGANS. BLESS YOU MISS JONES. :)

Tribune staff reporters Bob Secter and Monique Garcia
contributed to
this report.
WELL YOU TWO JUST MADE THE BIGGEST BLUNDER IN YOUR
LIVES AS SUPPORTING REPORTERS TO A STORY WRITTEN SO AS
TO TRY TO DISCREDIT BARACK OBAMA WHILE A SIMPLE
VIETNAM VETERAN LIVING ON DISABILITY CAN SEE HOW
WONDERFUL BARACK OBAMA IS IN THIS STORY.

RICK PETERSON AND RAY LONG SURELY ARE THE BIGGEST
GOOFBALLS IN WRITING HISTORY.
----------

rap30@aol.com

rlong@tribune.com

- - -

IN THE WEB EDITION

- Listen to Barack Obama debate issues ranging from
gun control to
abortion on the floor of the Illinois Senate at
chicagotribune.com/obama
audio

- Read the series at chicagotribune.com/obama
Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune

Life here on earth is but a dream of the true spiritual world from whence we came and to where we will return

For as you have cared for others so have you cared for me. Love Jesus

PS: HERE IS WHERE MY CAP LOCKS COME IN HANDY :)

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A resurgent example

By Yitzchak - Apr 21st, 2007 at 1:07 pm EDT

Also listed in: Veterans for Obama | Vietnam Veterans for Obama

To VietNam and all Veterans:
It has been over a month since I have been able to administrate or even post on the Obama website. I now finally have the time to do so, yet, the reason for this delay is one in which the importance of electing a responsive and progressive president such as Obama is so vital.

It is not surprise to all Veteran's that the VA has had a lot of problems in the past several months, primarily with the Walter Reed issue for returning Iraq Vets (Welcome Home !!), which, has lead to a revamping of many of the internal VA policies and processes. I , who am a regular patient of the VA system, found myself involved (without trying) in many of these changes. It has taken me this long to straighten myself and my psture with VA out. And I must report to all veteran's, that, in my case, VA has been receptive,responsive, humanistic and a blessing for me. However, it is important that the revamping of the VA process be made a primary concern for the next administration. Obama has made it clear that he supports such a need. In addition, Illinois which ranks quite low in Veteran response and related programs, is a ripe testing ground for these new and needed programs. I am comfortable in Mr. Obama's ability to bring these changes to the front and facilitate needed change.

Also important is to not forget the veteran's from past conflicts and wars. There are still a lot of us from Korea and VietNam and Thank God, even from WWII. We must remember to devise a system that remembers this fact. Herein lies the issue of this posting. With so much emphasis on the need to facilitate change to support the returning Iraq veteran, many of the VietNam veterans I know have fallen in a delayed staus on many issues they have with VA.This should not happen. All veterans have a need for these changes and processes that are "Veteran friendly and responsive positive" I think it is important that we, in an attempt to specifically know where Mr. Obama is on this issue (although we know he is very Veteran positive), we should compose and send a inquiry to him requesting some information on his posture on the current veteran's issues as well as his thoughts on how we will support, fund, and guarantee the continuation of the needed and, at once again, at least in my case, a very person positive VA.

I would therefore welcome input as to what we should include in this composition to Mr. Obama. I apologize for the length of this posting, but am passionate about this process as I hope many of you are also. Blessings and welcome home to all veteran's of all wars.

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Selection of MidWest Large Minded or Million Goal Groups including a Midwest Top 150! Join One Million MySpace Friends for Obama'08 here and on MySpace. See URLs below. Thanks!

By One Million MySpace Friends for Obama'08 in Illinois! - Apr 9th, 2007 at 11:19 am EDT

Also listed in: 293 groups

1.) My.BarackObama.com: Link (PLACE HOLDER)

2.) Official MySpace profile: Link (under construction)

3.) Official Group profile on MySpace: Link (PLACE HOLDER)

****************************************************************************************

PLEASE DONATE WHATEVER YOU CAN TO ONE MILLION MYSPACE FRIENDS FOR OBAMA'08'S MIDWEST $10,000 CAMPAIGN COFFER DRIVES!

****************************************************************************************

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<A href="Link Dakota!</A>

<A href="Link Dakota!</A>

<A href="Link />
<A href="Link />
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MIDWEST'S TOP 150! If you would like your group to be added or deleted from my list please let me know.
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Remember our troops; Bring them home alive

By David Kimmel - Apr 8th, 2007 at 12:35 pm EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

As our legislators debate spending money in support of the war in Iraq, some of us just want to see the killing come to an end. I stumbled onto this video this morning and I can't get it out of my head.
Link />
Please watch it all. Then forward it to whomever you think might benefit from it's viewing.
I'm a Viet Nam era veteran who was a war protester before the draft caught up with me. I wound up with a 23 year career in the Air Force/Air National Guard. I cannot take credit for the production but I can take credit for the feelings, it is me.

Respectfully submitted:

David Kimmel

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Obama Endorses Senator Durbin's Fair Elections Now Act!

By One Million MySpace Friends for Obama'08 in Illinois! - Apr 7th, 2007 at 12:00 pm EDT

Also listed in: 295 groups

Presidential Hopefuls on Public Financing and FENA
The three front-runners for the Democratic nomination for
President are on the record in support of public financing of
elections. John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama have
all come out strongly in favor of a change to the system. You
can see Edwards' endorsement here
Link and Clinton's here
Link. See this clip
Link of Obama's recent endorsement
of Senator Richard Durbin's Fair Elections Now Act, and
exhortation for public pressure on the issue here. Republican
presidential hopeful, John McCain, meanwhile has been less
supportive of public financing while on the campaign trail this
year, but has supported it strongly in the past
Link at the state level as well as
for the Presidential race. He has joined Obama in promising to
run under public financing in the general election if his
opponent agrees to do the same. It's encouraging to see
discussion of and support for this policy from the presidential
field; nobody knows better than the candidates racing to raise
the millions they'll need to get to the White House that
campaign financing needs an overhaul.

Speaking of the Fair Elections Now Act, it's been popping up in
the news left and right drawing positive editorials and LOTS of
attention on the letters to editor page
Link thanks to efforts of Public
Campaign Action Fund members. You can write your own letter to
the editor using our tool here
Link />
New Mexico Close to Judicial Public Financing
Great news! New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson plans to turn
his endorsement of public financing for judicial races into
action when he signs the bill recently passed out of the state
legislature in special session that would expand the state's
public financing program to include state Supreme and Appellate
court races: Link. He plans to
line-item veto the "poison pill" provision in the bill that
would require voters to amend the state constitution to
eliminate retention elections (making those judges run in
partisan races) before the public financing system could take
effect. New Mexico already has public financing available to
candidates for the state's Public Regulation Commission, and the
city of Albuquerque approved public financing for municipal
elections by ballot initiative in 2005. Many thanks to New
Mexico Common Cause and Public Campaign Board member Richard
Romero, for their efforts in passing this bill!

Maryland Campaign in Final Days
Thousands of emails, hundreds of calls, and a pair of lobby days
later we are in the last week of the Maryland legislative
session: the moment of truth for a Clean Elections win in the
state this year Link. In fact, the
Senate is schedule to vote today on the bill that would bring
full public financing for legislative elections in Maryland --
the state Assembly is already in support. Though Senate
President Mike Miller (D) is notoriously opposed to Clean
Elections, the gossip in Annapolis is that grassroots organizing
(all those emails, all those calls) and the tireless efforts of
Progressive Maryland, Maryland NAACP, Maryland Common Cause,
Maryland Sierra Club, and The Reform Institute, have really
boosted support among previously ambivalent legislators for
passing Clean Elections. It's going to be quite a showdown -- as
soon as we get the results of the vote we'll let you know!

April Showers?
Did Uncle Sam give you a refund on your federal tax return this
year? How about turning a little bit of that around with an
investment in winning Clean Elections through a gift to Public
Campaign Action Fund Link Your tax
dollars fund the policies of the country, what better way to
ensure they are spent responsibly than by establishing Clean
Elections systems that make elected officials accountable to
you?

VOICEing Support
Public Campaign staffers checked their inboxes a few weeks ago
and found an email from National Field Director Jeannette
Galanis: "I think we need to go to Iowa." Why? Because a
dedicated group of legislators and activists from Iowa Citizens
for Community Improvement and the Clean Elections Coalition had
advanced full public financing legislation, the Voter-Owned Iowa
Clean Elections (VOICE) Act, farther than they ever had in the
state: far enough to make a win this year a real possibility.

A pair of bills, HSB 105 championed by Representative Pam Jochum
(D-Dubuque) and SSB 1173 headed up by Senator Mike Connolly
(D-Dubuque) have passed out of their respective State Government
committees and are moving on to Appropriations, where they look
to face formidable opposition. We are gearing up for a full
court press grassroots field effort; getting calls in to
legislators in support of VOICE, getting the word out through
door-to-door canvassing and phone banking, and ramping up
lobbying efforts in Des Moines to win Clean Elections for Iowa!
You can find out more about the campaign here
Link />
Blog/News Roundup
Have you been reading Paid For By?, Public Campaign Action
Fund?s blog? In case you missed this week, check out the stories
we've been following on?

- New Jersey Governor John Corzine signing the bill continuing
his state's Clean Elections Pilot project
Link />- Presidential candidates raising money any way they can --
ethics? What ethics? Link
- Energy for change: watch Senator Durbin's passionate speech
Link introducing the Fair Elections
Now Act on the floor of the Senate here.

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Fox News Horrible Record Attacking Black People Ban The Presidential Debates Deal Sign Letter

By blueball2 - Mar 30th, 2007 at 6:54 pm EDT

Also listed in: 293 groups

Dear Friends,

Fox News has a horrible record of attacking Black people, politicians,
and cultural institutions. But, at this very moment, the Congressional
Black Caucus has agreed to partner with Fox News to host presidential
debates prior to the 2008 elections.

For the CBC Institute to partner with an organization like Fox
News--given its hostility to Black political interests--is
shameful. I've signed on with ColorOfChange.org to help prevent them
from making this serious mistake. Will you join us in calling on the
Institute to drop its talks with Fox?

Link Read More »

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Out of the closet

By David Kimmel - Feb 23rd, 2007 at 1:52 pm EST

Also listed in: 4 groups

Today I made the first steps to getting publicly involved with the Obama campaign. I've joined several groups and sent friends requests to the group admins. I've proclaimed my support and opened the door to (hopefully) a flood of information about the Senator and his campaign.
This is a really big step for me. My prior experience has been stopping in (just on a whim) at a local campaign headquarters and stuffing envelopes. I've been outspoken about getting out the vote but never really campaigned for any candidate.
To borrow an all too familiar phrase from my high school typing class, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country." It is time to get involved, it is time for a change. I know that I'm preaching to the choir here but it's important to me that I make these views known. It's the beginning of a commitment. It is the only way we can affect change in the political environment of this country.
I'm a Viet Nam era veteran and a retiree of the Air Force/Air National Guard/ DOD and proud to have served. Unfortunately, I have lost pride in our government and it's aggressive actions in the Middle East.
To quote Dennis Miller, "I rant, therefore I am." Stay tuned, I'm listening and I'll be ranting.

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Unique needs of many VietNam Veterans

By Yitzchak - Feb 13th, 2007 at 9:13 am EST

Also listed in: 4 groups

It has surely been a long time since a person so vibrant and caring has entered into the political arena with the energy, vision and tools to make change. Is Barack Obama one of these people

I think so and hope you do to.

Of special importance to me is the plight of so many of us, the VietNam veterans, who, at this point in our lives, are feeling renewed affects of a war we fought so many years ago.

Do you have the feelings too? If so please let us share our unique needs so we can make certain that this dynamic human being is able to understand and represent are needs as he creates the needed change in our country.

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Posts

Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign.