Illinois for Obama

OFA Volunteers Take Part in DNC Video Shoot Downtown at the Pegasus

Matthew Elias — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:49:50 EST

Earlier this evening a small group of Organizing for America Illinois volunteers gathered at the Pegasus Restaurant on S. Halsted in Chicago to take part in a video shoot for an upcoming Democratic National Committee project.

Everyone involved had a great time - Stephanos, the owner of Pegasus, was more then accommodating, and the lunch we had prior to the shoot was absolutely delicious.Here are some "behind the scenes" pictures from the days event.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find an OFA Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Organizing for America National Training Weekend: Hyde Park

Matthew Elias — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:59:15 EST

This weekend, Organizing for America held more than 200 trainings with volunteers and community organizers across the country. Here in Illinois there were multiple training events, held on both Saturday and Sunday.

Here is an overview of the Hyde Park training event by the event's host, and Organizing for America Illinois Community Organizer Camille Mitchell:

"Saturday’s training was a huge success! Attendees really showed up with a great attitude, and had positive reactions to just about everything from the volunteer packets to the slide show we had running. They were really excited and impressed with the “break-out” sessions.

One of the trainees had participated in the Indiana campaign effort one week prior to the election, where they conducted phone banks and other door knocking activities right before the National Election of (now) President Obama. During one of our “break-out” sessions, as she recanted memories of those days running up to the election, she got emotional, but was quick to assure everyone that they were 'happy' tears. Needless to say everyone in the room was genuinely moved by her story.

Its now been 13 months since President Obama was elected into office and the one thing I notice among the majority of trainees was the pride they took in their President, as well as a new found sense of enthusiasm to get involved and help the President bring some much needed change to this great country.

This is truly a wonderful time in history to be a part of this movement, this thing we call Organizing for America."

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Organizing for America National Training Weekend: Rogers Park

Matthew Elias — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:49:48 EST

Saturday was a busy day for everyone involved with Organizing for America Illinois. The Organizing for America Illinois office in Rogers Park served as headquarters for one of the many training sessions running across the state.

Brian Gorman, an OFA Illinois regional field organizer, hosted this event and provided us with a summary of what the group was able to get accomplished:

"Saturday's training was an excellent blend of community organizers, neighborhood team leaders and new volunteers to OFA Illinois. If I had to choose one word to sum up the day’s events it would have to be productive. We as a group have a full two months of activities planned, taking us through January and we made sure to place a hard emphasis on recruiting and developing new volunteers. The goal is to find new folks to lead yet unplanned events throughout the month of February. This group really gets the long term view of OFA and I'm really excited to see what we can do."

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Organizing for America Illinois"Supporter Sound-off"

Matthew Elias — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:38:28 EST

This past weekend, OFA Illinois hosted training events across the state as part of the National Training Weekend being conducted by Organizing for America. In the end, over 100 attendees successfully completed the session and are ready to hit the field running, with many of the attendees having already planning their first phone banks, canvasses and organizational meetings.

Organizing for America National Training "Supporter Sound-off" is a collection of highlights from the attendees in their own words.

"The camaraderie that we the participants developed during the training session was amazing and refreshing. All of the personal stories were very inspiring and educational as well."
-Gwendolyn, 12/05/09, attended the Hyde Park training event.

"I've never felt more hopeful of contributing positive, constructive change to America- OFA has once again given me hope! Many thanks to OFA and the memory of the great Ted Kennedy!"
-Bob, 12/05/09, attended the Brighton Park training event.

"I really enjoyed the personal story section of the training, as well as learning how one's personal story is a strong building block for making connections with people in the community."
-Leroy, 12/05/09, attended the Homewood training event.

"The event was absolutely tremendous! There was a great deal of positive reactions to the materials shown and the format of the training. People were really excited and impressed with the individual “break-out” sessions."
-OFA Illinois Community Organizer Camille, 12/05/09, hosted the Hyde Park training event.

"Being a Vietnam veteran, I am really excited to create a stronger connection between Homeless and Disabled Veterans. The training taught me that many of our wounded warriors may benefit from the grass root level where door knocks can and will make a difference. I am looking forward to making sure veterans like me keep voting for change."
-Virgil, 12/05/09, attended the Brighton Park training event.

"Sharing war stories from the campaign with other volunteers was great fun -- almost as fun as discussing ways to beat back health care opponents!"
-Michael, 12/06/09, attended the West Loop training event.

"We had a compact but mighty group at the OFA Greenleaf office on Saturday! The networking was brilliant, we outlined some exciting events already on the calendar for 2010"
-Janet, 12/05/09, attended the Roscoe Park training event.

We would like to also take a second to thank the Organizing for America regional field directors, community organizers and neighborhood team leaders who worked tirelessly to make sure this weekend was nothing short of a glowing success. Without these dedicated folks, our organizational growth would be impossible.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Wednesday "Snapshot": 12/02/2009

Matthew Elias — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:41:21 EST

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

OFA Illinois Volunteers Serve Families for Thanksgiving at the Holy Family Food Pantry

Matthew Elias — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:01:06 EST

On Tuesday, November 24 the Organizing for America Illinois Springfield team spent time with the Holy Family Pantry at their Thanksgiving Food Bank. Holy Family Food Pantry is an organization that provides food, clothing, shelter and resources to the homeless and low-income families.

Holy Family Food Pantry is a community outreach program that provides food basics for meal preparation to an average of 800 families per month to those in need, their soup kitchen is a community outreach program that provides a meal for 165 families per night, four nights per week to those in need in the surrounding area. October marked a record month for Holy Family Food Pantry as they served a total of 964 families.

Joshua Blessman, an Organizing for America Illinois Community Organizer who works out of the Springfield area writes about the teams volunteer efforts:

"The OFA Springfield Team donated food and helped to serve families in the community for Thanksgiving. Thirteen Team Members volunteered to donate food and serve at the Holy Family Pantry. The team and the pantry staff bonded well. Camaraderie was luminous; some team members served, while other others were dropping off food items for the Thanksgiving baskets. Enthusiastically performing designated duties; the team shared the activities of sorting and serving an assortment of Thanksgiving foods. While cars were pulling up the team members proudly wheeled out baskets brimming with Thanksgiving trimmings and the spirit of the helping hands permeated throughout the holy pantry."

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Prayer for the Obama's and the United States of America

Jim "Hussein" — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:01:27 EST

Prayer

Our Father, Who is in Heaven,
Holy is Your Name.

Your Kingdom be strengthened in Noah, #
In the earth, among your Chosen,
In the 144, 000,
In Barack and Michelle Obama,
Sasha and Malia,*
Tonya and Runako, #
Chicago,
And the United States of America
As it is in Heaven.

Give us this day
Our daily bread
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from all evil,

For yours is the Kingdom
Of the Heavens
And the earth,
And the Power,
And the Glory,
Forever, and ever.

Amen. (OM)

*Members of the Obama Family
#Members of the Khalim (Robinson) Family

Wednesday "Snapshot": 11/25/2009

Matthew Elias — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:50:12 EST

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

RSVP for an Organizing for America Illinois Training Session Near You

Matthew Elias — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:44:37 EST

On December 5th and 6th OFA Illinois will be holding multiple training sessions across the state. These trainings are a great chance to learn how to make the biggest impact in your community, ask questions, and learn specific skills such as how to talk with your neighbors about health reform and use OFA's technology to organize most effectively.

During the election last year, we learned that when we build a dedicated community of volunteer leaders, we can bring about powerful change.

RSVP now to reserve your spot in an OFA National Training event near you.

This training is part of building our momentum on the ground -- strengthening our community in every part of the country by bringing volunteers together, learning and sharing best practices, and refining our plan to move forward with our vision for the future.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Snapshot of the Week: 11/12/2009

Matthew Elias — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:45:14 EST

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Rep. Debbie Halvorson: The 11th District; Health Insurance Reform

Matthew Elias — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:01:19 EST

After countless meetings with constituents, and hearing their health insurance horror stories, (D-11th) Rep. Debbie Halvorson's mind was made up - change was needed.

Organizing for America Illinois would like to thank Rep. Debbie Halvorson for her strong support of health insurance reform, and share a brief video put together by Rep. Halvorson and her staff that relays some of the health care stories from the Illinois' 11th Congressional District.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Rep. Don Burton in your critism of democrats listing a 12 percent unemployment in Pres. Carter's administration: Pres! Clinton balanced the budget and passed this secret formula to the first woman President Hillary Clinton!

Lillene Ebanks — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:22:52 EST

Can you name a republican president who balanced the budget before so do not misrepresent your insults of democrats! Did you forfet. A GOP on your team wasted all the trillions President Clinton gave us and ammased wealth for his Vice President through contracts!

"By the People: The Election of Barack Obama" West Loop Watch Party

Matthew Elias — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:00:47 EST

Organizing for America Illinois vounteer, and long time Obama supporter Jeremy Cohen held "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama" watch party earlier this evening in Chicago with a group of 15 friends and fellow supporters. Here are some of the event highlights that Jeremy provided for us:

A group of fifteen of us gathered tonight (November 4, 2009) in the West Loop of downtown Chicago for a watch party of the documentary "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama." Prior to viewing the film, we reminisced over the events of the past year. While November 4, 2008 at Grant Park seemed like an eternity ago, we realized the great strides Organizing for America, the President, and our country has gone through. At the same time, we all realized the hard work that still needs to be done to achieve the change we need. The attendees had a real upbeat attitude on health care reform. While the specifics still need ironing out, we all plan on continuing to voice our support of reform to our elected representatives until it is signed into law.

After our discussion, we began the documentary. The film brought back emotionally powerful memories of the entire 2008 presidential campaign. Whether it was the Iowa primary or the announcement of Barack Obama becoming President-elect on election night, all of the memories from one-year ago came back to the surface. The watch party had members who worked the voting stations, campaigned on the President's behalf, and/or were in Grant Park one-year ago to the day. For that reason, the memories were particularly strong and personal. Overall, we all greatly enjoyed the film. It rekindled warm memories from the past, but also re-focused the need to create the change we voted for going into the future.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Wednesday Evening "Snapshot": Election Anniversary Edition

Matthew Elias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:27:02 EST

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Election Day Memories: Tiffany S.

Matthew Elias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:33:53 EST

Organizing for America Illinois volunteer Tiffany reflects on her 2008 Election Day experience:

"November 4th 2008 starter as usual, I headed in to the OFA office located in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago where a large groups of volunteers myself gathered for the final push of the campaign. As the day began we had a steady stream of people of all ages come into the office we were working out of asking if they could help.

Throughout the day we focused mainly on phone banking into neighboring states such as Indiana and Wisconsin. I will never forget watching all of the kids who had come into the office looking to help, and wondering if they realized the historic nature of what they were taking part in."

As they day progressed on groups of people left and began their journey to Grant Park where the post election festivities were going to take place. A handful of us decided to instead stay back in the office and make last minute phone calls to make sure everyone had made it to the polls. I spoke with a few people who wanted to get out and vote, but needed a ride to the polls due to their age and lack of transportation Needless to say; we managed to get them to their polling place in time to cast their votes.

"By this time we had a feeling our hard work had paid off, and let me tell you – it was a feeling I cannot really describe other then saying it is something I will never forget. We had done it – our new leader was President Barack Obama."

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Election Day Memories: Juan

Matthew Elias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:11:20 EST

University of Chicago student and Organizing for America Illinois intern Juan, recants his 2008 election day experience:

"Throughout 2008, I had some odd, subconscious feeling that Barack Obama was going to win. So as then Senator Obama cleared each major obstacle, I had a sense that events were flowing in the path of least historical resistance. This of course culminated on Election Day, which I was lucky enough to be in Chicago for.”

"As I arrived at Grant Park, I began the trek past the winding mile of security checkpoints. It was during this time that screen confirmed President Obama’s victory – and needless to say crowd erupted in cheers.

"As the atmospherics cooled and the crowds scattered, I caught a glimpse of the distant stage: a blurry miniature in a blue suit, taller than the others and even then, the Obama presidency still hadn’t sunk in.”

"Since the election, I haven't experienced that single, overpowering moment of being struck by the magnitude of the event. Its meaning has come gradually, in quieter guises in various forms such as the outright reasonableness of much of foreign policy. Its instances like this that make me realize how nice it is to have a President like Barack Obama.”

“ I feel as though the tide has turned - that there is finally the possibility of addressing the mounting challenges that burden this country, and I look forward to the passing of health insurance reform legislation. The historical achievement that bill will represent may be the only thing comparable to what so many of us felt one year ago on Election Day."

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Election Day Memories: Cathy F.

Matthew Elias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:45:48 EST

Cathy Foster has been involved with Organizing for America Illinois since day one. Below she talks about her 2008 Election Day experience:

"On Nov. 4, 2008, I voted early. I was on pins and needles all day. I felt like Obama was going to win, but I hardly dared believe it. I had a ticket to Grant Park, but it was already jam-packed when I got there. I will never forget that night. Shoulder to shoulder with people who had fought, worked, prayed and hoped for Obama's victory just as I had. We cheered as election results from CNN showed state after state going to Obama.

At 10 p.m., I saw the words "Barack Obama elected president" beamed on the jumbo screens. It was real. We had done it. Tears started trickling down my face. Was anybody NOT crying? The jubilation, the euphoria, the electricity was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. But Obama's quiet, low-key, almost somber address helped underscore the enormity of the task that lay before him and us.

I'm 53 years old and I've never been moved to get involved in a campaign before or follow the issues as closely as I do now. I write letters to the editor that have been published and call and write my legislators. I'm always exhorting my friends and family to do the same. I've gone to rallies for health care. I hosted my first call party on Oct. 20. It's not much compared to what others are doing, I know. But this is Obama's true gift that he inspires people like me, people who never bothered to do anything at all before. I have taken to heart his words:

"I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington. I'm asking you to believe in yours."

On the one-year anniversary of Obama's election, I renew my commitment to working for the change that only we can help make possible--Obama can't do it without us.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

"By the People: The Election of Barack Obama" Watch Party

Matthew Elias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:17:25 EST

Organizing for America Illinois Sarah Frankiewicz shares some of highlights from last night's event "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama" which took place at the Clarion Inn, in South Holland, IL:

Sheena Patton, the OFA Field Director and I started out planning for the November 3rd Watch Party of the documentary By the People expecting a decent turnout, weeks ago. We began building for this event by inviting former election volunteers and supporters, as well as current Organizing for America Illinois volunteers from all across Chicago.

People began to arrive at 7:00pm, there was plenty of food and drink, all of which was donated by local area businesses and the volunteers themselves. I was amazed at how many people showed up to the event and the level of excitement they had over what they were about to watch. Former election volunteers spent a good chunk of time before and after the film getting reacquainted with one another, rehashing campaign stories, and updating each other on their post election life.

Eventually the film began, and the reactions of those in attendance were priceless. There were tons of laughs when the film gave a glimpse into President Obama's candid side, one of the attendees even said that it made her feel like she was more like the President then she thought. "He is a real man, with real issues, like every-one else, family, bills, and life." She also commented that the film reaffirmed for her that the President had her best interests at heart, as he serves the greater community. There were a few teary eyed moments, one in particular came when candidate Barack Obama addressed a crowd of people and mentioned the passing of his dear grandmother. All attendees said the really connected with the film, and they felt it truly embodied the electoral experience.

Leaving that night I have to admit, I felt good – really good about the outcome. Everyone was charged up and ready to go forward in volunteering for Organizing for America.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Election Day Memories: Camille M.

Matthew Elias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:30:08 EST

Organizing for America Illinois Community Organizer Camille Mitchell talks about last year’s election, and everything that has changed in her life happened since:

“I guess it started around November 3rd - I have to admit I was skeptical - not of Barack’s ability but of his chances with the American public. Then it was the big day - November 4th. I woke up and immediately ran out to vote and then returned back home with buzzing with excitement. Some of us in the neighborhood (and yes, unfortunately this included me too) still thought that this couldn’t happen -- THANK GOD I WAS WRONG!!!!!

As the day turned to night I decided that my daughter Jolie and I had to get downtown. By some stroke of luck we managed to find an AMAZING spot and began to watch as history was being made. The atmosphere in Grant Park was electric, and even with the crowd as large as it was I did not see any arguing or fighting what so ever - and that my friend is A LOT to say about any large crowd in Chicago.

Once the Grant Park celebration began winding down Jolie and I decided to head over to one of my friend’s house to immerse ourselves in more of the news. As my friend and I watched, we both began crying and jumping around singing “Obama…Obama…Obama…Obama”.

I have to admit that my volunteer numbers weren’t all they could have been. I had an 8 year old and was working full time in the financial district downtown - I guess you could say that I was even somewhat apathetic. However on that night, I vowed to myself that I would do more - serve more, and not ask for anything in return.

This past July I was became a Community Organizer with Organizing for America Illinois and have treated it as though it was a full time job. While there has been rough times for me and my daughter over the past year, I have to admit that this ride, and working within my community – from working food banks, to organizing my neighborhood – has really changed my life and now that light at the end of the tunnel, no longer looks too far away. And for that thank you Mr. President, Organizing for America – you have changed my life forever.”

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Election Day Memories: Kathy G.

Matthew Elias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:34:52 EST

Organizing for America Illinois volunteer Kathy G looks back at last year’s historic election and shares her November 4th memories:

“Many of us volunteers brought cameras to the office and throughout the day photos were taken. We also exchanged hugs. We all wanted the campaign to end but many of us did not want the experience to end. I think you can understand what I mean.

We wanted Sen. Obama to be elected, and we wanted the negativity to end. We didn't want to lose the spirit and the relationships we volunteers had developed. We spent some of the time reminiscing of the experiences we had shared over the last 18 months.”

"We watched the results for each state and cheered as one by one they were called for Sen. I don't remember exactly when MSNBC and CNN called Pennsylvania for Sen. Obama, what I do remember is that we suddenly heard a cheer from the room next door and within a minute Pennsylvania was called for Sen. Obama. What was next door? The people who were monitoring the exit polls and precinct totals, which was a really big moment because we felt we were on the way to a win."

"Shortly thereafter one of the staffers started a cheer. He said, "Whose house?" The response to this is "our house." He then said "what house?" We then responded the "White House." The first time I'd heard this cheer was the night of the Iowa caucuses, needless to say I got chills."

"About 8:30 Katy called and we were able to meet nearby and head to the rally at Grant Park. We walked through the crowd across the bridge to the south and were able to find the entrance for people with tickets and got in. As the electoral vote count rose for Sen. Obama, it became clear that 10:00 would be the magical moment, and the crowd was very anticipatory. The roar from the crowd when his election was announced was electric. I shed a few tears with a smile on my face. We cheered and hugged and took photos."

Civility was the order of the day; strangers talked to and hugged strangers. Entrepreneurial vendors were selling new t-shirts and buttons. On the way out they were half price. The streets were awash with people, moving like lemmings to the sea but with smiles on their faces. People stopped and sat on the medians on Michigan Avenue. People danced; people sang. I had a feeling that the country had somehow changed in one evening. AMAZING."

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Please leave Afganastan and inforce Immigration.

Kenny Sommer — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:20:05 EST

Dear President Obama,

Please use diplomacy, the Navy and Air Force in Afganastan. We need to isolate them. They hate us but this is not worth so many American lives. Maybe destroy all the popey fields, the production went up from 14% to 90% of the worlds supply during the Bush era. Please do not send more troops, bring most of them home. Vice President Bidens ideas on this are correct. Please support the Iranian revolution, the green party as much as you can. Please help are inner cities. Please inforce immigration policies. We are becoming an older country, we need to be one, we need to be America. You have done a great job in turning the economy around, the number 1 issue in the election. I can't think of 1 good reason we need troops on the ground in Afganastan. We must protect and build our homeland, and our trade safety. We need to focus on making sure the terrorists don't get in the USA, or if they are in we stop them. If you need to read my emails, or listen to me talk I don't mind if thats what it takes. lets focus on America, and who is an American? Let freedom ring and the right to persue happyness. If you are Gay, you should have equal rights. If you hunt you should be able to hunt, but the right to bear arms doesn't include assult riffles and hand guns. We need to educate, build great roads, trains, bridges,ect. We need health reform but America wants to here about other serious issues. Thanks, don't let me down. Game of 1 on 1?!!

Thank you Speaker Pelosi for protecting the weakest and most vunerable amoung us and not yielding to greed and contributions of the pharmacutical like the Republicans who sold us down the tube!

Lillene Ebanks — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:26:44 EDT

Thank you from the people who elected you to protect us! Getting a Bill ready to vote is an achievement.

Thank you Speaker Pelosi for protcting the weakest and most vunerable amoung us and not yielding to greed and contributions of the pharmacutical like the Repuvlicans who sold us down the tube!

Lillene Ebanks — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:41:23 EDT

Thank you from the people who elected you to protect us! Getting a Bill ready to vote is an achievement.

Wednesday Evening "Snapshot": 10/27/2009

Matthew Elias — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:46:34 EDT

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Wednesday Evening "Snapshot": 10/21/2009

Matthew Elias — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:14:14 EDT

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Time to Deliver in Illinois: Ladies Night Call Party

Matthew Elias — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:36:41 EDT

Last night was ladies night in the Organizing for America Illinois Homewood office as groups of women gathered for a Time to Deliver call party. Below is an overview of the event courtesy of OFA intern Sarah Frankiewicz:

“Ladies night phone bank in Homewood was a huge success. From 4-8 pm volunteers streamed in and made calls urging others in their neighborhood to support the President’s plan for health insurance reform.

When the clock hit 7 pm we took a break from calling and watched the President’s address to volunteers on the web. It was a moment of solidarity as we realize that across the country groups like us were coming together to make real positive change.

We are all connected; - small efforts become a bigger as we collaborate together. We can constructively get work done without screaming like brutes at open forums, or distorting the truth in an attempt to grab some short term gain. Yes we can. We ARE part of the change that needs to happen!!! We can, and we are making our voices heard.”

Over 330,000 calls! Check out the call count meter: CLICK HERE
Watch this special message from the President CLICK HERE

Time to Deliver in Illinois: Albany Park Health Reform Now Call Party

Matthew Elias — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:48:56 EDT

Albany Park volunteers did their part and helped continue the trend of successful Time to Deliver call parties. Here's a quick rundown courtesy of the events host Terrie Albano:

"What a great night. Five of us Organizing for America ladies made 200 calls from a home in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago and the response we received was overwhelmingly supportive. We got total of 43 new people to commit to call their members of Congress and urge them to support the President's plan for health insurance reform, and 11 new volunteers for Organizing For America Illinois. Along with the pizza, cookies and tea, we celebrated being part of this movement for change."

285,928 calls and counting! To follow the current call count meter: CLICK HERE
Check out the Organizing for America blog for Time to Deliver updates from across the country: CLICK HERE

Time to Deliver Illinois: 32nd Ward Democrats Call Party

Matthew Elias — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:37:41 EDT

The 32nd Ward Democrats incorporated food and friends into their Time to Deliver call party in Roscoe Village earlier this evening:

The outdoor patio at the Village Tap, a neighborhood bar in Roscoe Village, was filled with the hum of Organizing for America Illinois volunteers making calls encouraging their neighbors to get behind the President's plan for health insurance reform. Two dozen folks from all walks of life settled down with food and drink and enlisted the President's supporters to join in the push to for real change. The President's web cast was displayed on a big screen TV located in pubs main dining room. Everyone crowded around, and watched as the President spoke -- one lady was overheard saying "we really are helping make this happen!"

285,928 calls and counting! To follow the current call count meter: CLICK HERE
Check out the Organizing for America blog for Time to Deliver updates from across the country: CLICK HERE

Time to Deliver Illinois: Smilin' and Dialin' in Chicago

Matthew Elias — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:12:38 EDT

Organizing for America Illinois intern Juan Velez fills us in on yet another Time to Deliver success story:

Ten volunteers spread around Susan Kytola's cozy apartment on Damen St., calling supporters of health care reform and encouraging them to voice their support to Congressmen Shock, Durbin and Burris. Susan's friends and relatives made up half of the motivated callers, three others found the event through OFA IL. After crowding around a laptop for President Obama's address, the group toyed with the idea of making "grab a mop!" shirts.

Faminta Zamen, a psychologist, spoke about her reasons for getting involved: "A lot of the populations I work with are uninsured, such as refugees and the homeless. I've had first hand experience seeing what happens when people can't get medicine... how much they suffer, especially their mental health."

At around 8:45, everyone crowded around the dinner table while the results where tallied: 165 commitments in two hours!

200,000 calls and counting! To follow the current call count meter: CLICK HERE
Check out the Organizing for America blog for Time to Deliver updates from across the country: CLICK HERE

Time to Deliver Illinois: Democrat Party of Oak Park Call Party

Matthew Elias — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:25:30 EDT

Another Time to Deliver call party success in Illinois. Event host Jerry Delaney provides us with highlights:

"The phone bankers at the Democratic Party of Oak Park filled each other with hope tonight! We had almost 30 volunteers show up to make calls for health reform! It was an overflow group with some volunteers having to make calls from chairs in a parking lot.

We had overwhelming positive responses from those we called with some of them thanking us for doing this important work. One person called us back to let us know that when he called Congressman Danny Davis he actually talked to the Congressman!"

285,928 calls and counting! To follow the current call count meter: CLICK HERE
Check out the Organizing for America blog for Time to Deliver updates from across the country: CLICK HERE

Time to Deliver in Illinois: Homewood Seniors are Ready for Their Voices to be Heard

Matthew Elias — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:50:38 EDT

Volunteers across the state of Illinois are taking part in a national day of action to support President Obama’s plan for health reform, calling on their neighbors to ask them to tell their representatives that it's time to deliver on health reform.

At this event in Homewood, Illinois, senior citizens got together and made calls to fellow seniors in the area urging support for the President's plan. Needless to say, the response they received was great, and this group of seniors are ready for their voices to be heard!

200,000 calls and counting! To follow the current call count meter: CLICK HERE
Check out the Organizing for America blog for Time to Deliver updates from across the country: CLICK HERE

Illinois Physicians for Health Insurance Reform Press Conference

Matthew Elias — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:07:00 EDT

Last week, as he stood side by side with doctors from all 50 states on The White House lawn, President Barack Obama said:

"When you cut through all the noise and all the distractions that are out there, I think what most telling is that some of the people who are most supportive of reform are the very medical professional who know the health care system best -- the doctors and nurses of America."

"These men and women here would not be supporting health insurance reform if they really believed that it would lead to government bureaucrats making decisions that are best left to doctors. They wouldn't be here today if they believed that reform in any way would damage the very critical and sacred doctor-patient relationship. Instead, the reason these doctors are here is because they have seen firsthand what's broken about our health care system."

This was the sentiment yesterday when a group of physicians held a press conference outside Cook County Hospital to declare their unwavering support for health insurance reform. Accompanied by Organizing for America Illinois State Director David Seman, Doctors Dan Felten, Suneel Udani, Philip Verhoef and Badewa Fatunde shared stories of patients who couldn't get the care they needed because their coverage had been severely attenuated, stories of patients who failed to receive regular screenings or checkups because their insurance would not cover the cost, The same sentiment was shared by all; the system currently in place needs to be fixed.

They have seen firsthand what's broken in our health care system and that's why they have decided to join the President in pushing for health insurance reform now. You can help them by signing up for our day of action events. We've come a long way, but we can't stop now. As health reform legislation moves to the full House and Senate, we need your help now more than ever.

Sign up for a "Time to Deliver" Call Party in Your Neighborhood: CLICK HERE
Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Care Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Organizing for America Illinois "Volunteer Spotlight"

Matthew Elias — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:30:45 EDT

This week’s "Volunteer Spotlight” is focused on Organizing for America Illinois community organizer Tom O'Connor. Having been involved with OFA throughout the primaries and general election, community organizing is nothing new to O'Connor, who credits the sense of fulfillment he feels when working with people on a grassroots level as being the key motivation behind his continued work with Organizing for America.

When then Senator Obama announced his candidacy for President I knew right away that I was going to do all in my power to get him into the White House. Shortly after I traveled to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana to canvass during the primaries, and when I couldn’t travel to other primary states, I phone banked from my home.

I spent the last three weeks of the general election in Indiana, which turned blue for the first time since 1964. This made me especially proud.Since the summer of 2009 I've been concentrating on health insurance reform just like everyone else.

I am ready to continue with whatever the next issue happens to be, whether it is Education, Energy, or bringing reform to the financial sector.I truly believe that the 2008 election was just the start of a transformation in our country, and I am happy to be a part of it through my work with Organizing for America.

1) How long have you been involved with OFA?
I first volunteered for the Presidential campaign back in 2007, prior to the Iowa caucus. I began volunteering with Organizing for America Illinois as soon as the state staff hit the ground in early 2009.

2) What got you involved with Organizing for America?
Sheena Patton, an Organizing for America Field Organizer, whom I worked with throughout the campaign, called me around the time that the health insurance reform opponents began receiving a lot of attention in the news. Then, when I found out that Organizing for America was focused on building support for health reform at a grassroots level - block by block - I signed on to help.

3) What have you found to be effective in getting new volunteers mobilized?
It's gotten to the point where opponents of health insurance reform have given us a motivational gift as their behavior and outright lies have been so over the top that people are itching to do something to counter them. Turning the anger we feel toward those tactics into positive action requires almost a counseling type approach.Most of the people I talk to at first blow off a lot of steam and anger at the opposition. Their initial notion is usually to fight fire with fire, but after a conversation about the tactics that put Barack Obama in the White House – inclusion instead of rejection and calm over chaos - they tend to come around and begin focusing their energy on making calls, knocking on doors and letting their representatives know that they support the President.

4) What's been the highlight of your time with Organizing for America?
In September I had a chance to spend a few hours helping to train some of OFA's interns. I was really impressed by their enthusiasm and desire to improve this country and our world. It gives me great comfort knowing that we have great leadership on the horizon.

5) What issue/issues matters most to you and why?
I am one of the millions of Americans without any health coverage, so health insurance reform strikes a very personal note for me. Energy and environmental policy are also very important to me and I look forward to working on those issues with the same vigor.I know that powerful interests are invested in the status quo, so folks like us are going to have to be activists from now until 2012, then until 2016 and on to our next president and for the sake of our country. President Obama helped get me interested in politics but it is important now to remember that we all have a stake in our country’s future. I hope you will join me in helping out with Organizing for America in Illinois.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Health Reform: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Care Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Avon Township (Grayslake area) Democrats

MarcFeld — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:21:43 EDT

Hello everyone,

I would like to invite you to attend the Avon Township Democrats Open Meeting on October 17, 2009 at 10am at the Round Lake Beach Village Hall. Candidates, public officials, and other progressives will be meeting to discuss what issues are being considered at the county, state, and/or federal level as well as what SHOULD Be worked on.

We are a grass-roots, progressive organization that is small but growing and committed to giving back to our community. We meet monthly at the Round Lake Beach Village Hall and are ALWAYS looking for new members.

For more information, please contact me:

Marc Feldstein - Avon Township Democrats Chair Marc.Feldstein@tds.net

President Obama Won Nobel Peace Prize Because he ATTEMPTED What Others Would Not

Steve Sulkin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:46:49 EDT

I sometimes believe that if President Obama wiped out all disease, brought peace to our planet, created unlimited energy sources and solved world hunger, I'd see an iReport question asking, "Does Obama Really Care or is he Just Showing Off?"

No matter how much good this man does, no matter how many accolades, he gets slammed by one half of the United States, the half that doesn't just want him to not be President but seems to despise his very existence.

Images accompanying articles about President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, such as the one of a black peace dove with an olive branch in his mouth (an actual graphic in a Spanish newspaper) are shocking, but also revealing. Loaded questions from "iReport" on CNN asked, "Does Obama Deserve it?" and articles like "Now Obama Needs to Earn It" (and that was written by a supporter) shows just how deeply divided our world is about this man, for reasons of envy and racism.

Doesn't the world understand, President Obama was awarded this prize for to setting the tone for world peace, for TRYING to bring the world together to ultimately then accomplish levels of peace heretofore not known. It is in the act of TRYING that we are measured, not accomplishing. What have you done, lately, ask yourself, to TRY to bring peace to this world?

If the Nobel Peace Prize was only awarded for when people actually brought peace to this planet (as was seriously suggested by one person who said Obama should give the prize back until he's accomplished world peace), no one would ever win such a prize.

We need to encourage every individual who has the tenacity and the vision to stand up and say we won't take it anymore, we won't accept the status quo of hatred and war. President Obama is just such a person and that's why he was awarded this prize. This award is not based on what he might do in the future, it's based on what he has done, set the stage for our world to respect one another, the first prelude to peace. He's tried to bring our world together. And the resistance to that only proves how noble the trying is.

Let's give him a chance now to make the dream of a more peaceful world a reality and let us for a moment, put aside our hate, because by doing so, it is our only chance at peace.

Organizing for America /Democratic Party of Evanston/Organizing for America Phone Bank for Health Insurance Reform

Matthew Elias — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:29:46 EDT

There was a packed house at the Evanston Democratic Party Headquarters last night.as Volunteers with phones and laptops in hand went to work talking to citizens all over the state, enlisting them to join the fight for Health Insurance Reform.

Organizing for America and the Democratic Party of Evanston have transformed Wednesday nights into one of the most productive, phone banks in the state. Each week, the number of volunteers in attendance grows in size as the debate for health insurance reform continues on. The focus has been on contacting voters outside of Cook County, and build Organizing for America into an even larger statewide force.

Wednesday nights with Organizing for America Illinois and the Democratic Party of Evanston is the perfect time for anyone who has been thinking about, or waiting for the right opportunity to get involved with the push towards health insurance reform.

For details including the location, time, and dates of the Wednesday night phone banks for health insurance reform click HERE.

Join the OFA Illinois Facebook Page: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Reform: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow OFA Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Wednesday Evening "Snapshot": 10/08/2009

Matthew Elias — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:30:21 EDT

Join the OFA Illinois Facebook Page: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Reform: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow OFA Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Health Insurance Reform Phone Bank at The Village Tap in Roscoe Village

Matthew Elias — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:03:41 EDT

Supporters gathered at the Village Tap in Roscoe Village for what has become a weekly Organizing for America phone bank.

Volunteers called through local constituents in Roscoe Village and spoke to them about the President's plan for health reform, encouraging them to voice their support for the President's plan to their member of Congress, Rep. Danny Davis.

While Rep. Davis is an unwavering supporter of health insurance reform, Organizing for America wants to encourage members of Congress who support health reform to maintain the momentum on the debate as the legislative process takes its course.

Phone banks are a key part of the grassroots effort that is helping to finally make health insurance reform, and the rest of President Obama's agenda, a reality.

If you or anyone you know are interested in joining us at next weeks Organizing for America phone bank at the The Village Tap, or if you want to check out the event details please go ahead and CLICK HERE. Hope to see you there!

Join the OFA Illinois Facebook Page: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Reform: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow OFA Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

"Walk/Run/Roll for Health Insurance Reform" in Grant Park a Huge Success

Matthew Elias — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:14:20 EDT

Content contributed by Illinois Campaign for Better Health Care

This past Saturday, the Campaign for Better Health Care (CBHC) organized 55 individuals to take part in the "Walk/Run/Roll for Health Insurance Reform," part of the Chicago AIDS Run/Walk. CBHC runners and walkers gathered in Grant Park in downtown Chicago for the event and carried signs calling for the choice of a strong public health insurance plan.

At the CBHC tent, team members also distributed literature calling for a strong public option. Response was overwhelmingly positive, and participants left ready to keep racing for reform.

This serves as another example of how the Illinois Campaign for Better Health Care and Organizing for America volunteers are committed to serving their communities and directly involving themselves in the process.

Join the OFA Illinois Facebook Page: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Health Reform: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Weekly Address: Health Reform Urgent for the Economy

Matthew Elias — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:25:14 EDT

The President discusses ongoing efforts to spur job creation. He also explains why health insurance reform is needed not just for long-term economic stability, but in the immediate future, discussing statistics on how costs will continue to skyrocket and hurt small businesses even next year. October 3, 2009.

Join the OFA Illinois Facebook Page: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Health Reform: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Care Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Rep. Jan Schakowsky & Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn Hold a Heath Care Update Forum in Lakeview

Matthew Elias — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:06:37 EDT

Content contributed by Juan-Pablo Velez

Over 300 people packed in to the Holiday Club in Lakeview this past Saturday to hear Governor Pat Quinn and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky give an update on the current status of health care reform. Governor Quinn took the microphone first and spoke at length about the current push to get health care reform through Congress. Quinn, who walked across Illinois in support of health care reform in 2001, re-emphasized the importance of health care reform:

"When you're talking about the Land of Lincoln, we understand that everybody should be covered," Quinn said. "This is not something that is an option. This is something that is a fundamental right."

Up next was Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, who promised that strong legislation would be on the President's desk by the end of the year. Congresswoman Schanakowsky went on to describe the mindset of Democratic lawmakers as they returned to Capitol Hill from their town care hall filled summer recess:

"Some members came back from recess even more determined," she said. "You know, when you're hanged in effigy it kind of makes you mad!"

Also speaking at the event were a half dozen local Democratic candidates, including State Senators Greg Harris and Heather Steans.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE

Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Health Reform: CLICK HERE

Find a Health Care Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE

Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Organizing for America Illinois "Volunteer Spotlight"

Matthew Elias — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:25:54 EDT

This weeks Volunteer Spotlight shines on Chicago's own Antonia Ruth. This tireless south-sider has been involved with OFA since the Democratic Primaries last year. President Obama's election was just the beginning of Antonia Ruth's relationship with OFA - whose involvement over the past eight months has been nothing short of awe-inspiring.

When discussing who would be subject to this weeks Volunteer Spotlight, everyone involved was in full agreement that Antonia Ruth was long over due, and had to be this weeks recipient. So with that said, here is her story:

Antonia M Ruth joined the campaign out of a duty to honor her grandmothers, Elizabeth Palmer and Mary Alice Ruth. Both of her grandmothers were active in their communities, advocated for human rights and frequently campaigned for their person of choice.

Since either is no longer with us, she decided to do the work on their behalf. With every call, trip to Indianapolis, and engaging my neighbor in the dialogue of change, it was to honor them. Once the election was over yes the duty ended, however, the seed of change that she helped to plant in many took root in her. The first House Party request went out in December; Antonia was waiting to see if someone else would plan an event. When no such invitation came, she decided to host the Change is Coming House Party.

To prepare for the event, she took a bus stop poll asking people if they knew who their elected officials were. About two-thirds did not. She decided to create an informational booklet that each attendee could use for reference. Once the meeting concluded, she was asked “when are you going to have another meeting?” Since then with every call to action for phone bank, canvass, community service or house meeting, Antonia answers.

By day, Antonia is an Office Manager for Headstrong Inc. As soon as the clock strikes 5:00, she becomes the Community Organizer for the 2nd Congressional District City. There are 2 listening tours scheduled for September 30th, a forum on October 10th, and an adult education expo soft dated for October 24th. She expects that once the soil has been cultivated, the seed for real change in Washington will take root and bloom on the South Side of Chicago.

When asked why she has committed herself to Organizing for America, she simply states:

“I believe in the President’s agenda and his ability to facilitate real change in Washington. My grandmothers helped the leaders of their time to bring about the change that I freely enjoy. It is my responsibility to help my president to invoke and invite change so that my nieces, nephews along with their friends can have an even brighter future.”

Here’s to positive energy, growth and the reinforcement needed to assist the President in his endeavors. South Side, are you ready

How long have you been volunteering with OFA?
My journey with the Obama campaign began the morning after the New Hampshire Primary.

Why did you get involved volunteering with OFA?
When I saw President Obama’s quote “I am asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change to Washington…I am asking you to believe in yours” was when I decided to carry the legacy my grandmothers left me forward. Those 2 activists helped the leaders of their time to bring about a change that I freely enjoy. I now have the fiduciary responsibility to help my president, to invoke and invite change so that my nieces and nephews can have an even brighter future.

What are some of the more effective practices you have found that work in getting people mobilized with OFA?
Two words…”follow up.” It pays to send a personalized email to all who have confirmed for an event. Sometimes people just forget a need to be reminded. If they have provided you with a phone number or go the extra step and get their phone numbers from VAN. Most people do appreciate the phone call. At the event, there are those who are so passionate that they would attempt to dominate the conversation. I make sure that all voices are heard and all issues are addressed. The smaller the attendance, the more personable you can become with the volunteer thereby building a relationship.

If you had to choose, what would you say has been the highlight of your time volunteering with OFA?
Two things: 1) Watching the faces of the people while the President was speaking. It showed me that hope will prevail. 2) I was able to share the podium with the President at the July 09 POTUS event in Chicago. What an awesome moment for me! I wished my grandmothers were alive to witness the moment with me.

What issue/issues matters most to you and why?
Health Care and Education are issues that matter to me most. I have insurance but each year, the insurance companies trim coverage. This should not be. I have come across people who have no coverage or poor benefits. I have seen oxygen rationed to a patient. Oxygen! The thing we take for granted someone has to use sparingly, and forbid the day if he decided to have a productive life. Education should be fair and equitable for all. I eagerly await the opportunity to engage in the full discussion on education reform.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Health Reform: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Care Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

The President's Plan

Matthew Elias — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:57:36 EDT

The "Obama Plan in Four Minutes" video outlines the basic principles of President Obama's health insurance reform plan as presented to the joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009.

Read the full transcript of the President's remarks.
Watch the full video of the President's remarks.
Read the full plan for health insurance reform.
Download a concise, printable version (pdf)

The President's Weekly Address: Progress in the Global Economy

Matthew Elias — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:44:35 EDT

President Obama goes over the progress in stemming a global economic crisis, discusses the impact of the Recovery Act, and pledges that lobbyists for big Wall Street banks will not prevent real reform for the future, including a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Representative to Support President Obama's Plan for Health Reform: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Care Reform Event Near You: CLICK HERE
Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Fired Up, Ready To Go!

Matthew Elias — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:42:33 EDT

Obama School Speech Conclusion post Banning, Lincolnshire, IL

Steve Sulkin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:50:47 EDT

MY CONCLUDING RESPONSE TO THE CONTINUED STANCE OF OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT THEY DID NOT AIR PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH DUE TO CURRICULA CONCERNS (SEE THEIR LETTER BELOW MINE).

Dear Dr. Fleming,

The basic thrust of your follow up letter sent on September 11, 2009, explaining why you chose to not air President Obama's speech, was that it was a curricula and timing issue, that you looked at it, as you said, "from an educational perspective."

I respect your school, I respect you, so I say this with all due respect, that I feel that politics and pressure from your constituents was the major determining factor, not educational relevance.

Your previous letters regarding this matter indicated that you had received impassioned views on both sides of the political spectrum. This clearly influenced your and the board's decision. This is where I think the board erred. Politics should not dictate allowing children to listen to a speech from our President (any president Republican or Democrat). There is a respect that is granted to a sitting President when they decide to give a public speech. In 1991, when George H.W. Bush spoke to school children, some controversy existed, but it was minor, aimed at costs that the White House incurred, but it did not have any effect on the President's speech being carried by schools. And it did not devolve into the type of anger and even paranoia that we all observed this time around. Concerns that our children would be "brainwashed" by our President speaking are simply absurd and the school board has unwittingly supported those concerns by choosing to not air the speech. To do the norm, would have been the only way for the school district to remain neutral. And the norm is to carry such speeches. This is not a new concept, a President speaking to children at schools. It's been going on as long as their have been children and politicians.

I've reviewed the school board minutes of September and October, 1991 and I see no mention of the George H.W. Bush speech, so I can only assume that there was no controversy in the school system regarding carrying the speech. I would assume the same happened in the 80's when President Reagan spoke, that the school board supported the speech being aired. While I do not have direct evidence (though I would appreciate you sharing it with me if you do) that the board did or did not "turn on the TV's" in the schools and carry those speeches, I'm making the assumption they did, as school districts all over the U.S. did in those eras. There is nothing different about this President's speech, except that it was this President. And that's the last thing we should be teaching our children.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I'm still hoping (and desiring) that the school board reconsider their position, that they reverse there decision (especially now that the speech's eloquence is so well known) and that they create a day in the future to inspire our children through our President's words. I'd suggest President's Day 2010. To simply make the speech available ad hoc misses the point. The idea of the speech is to create an event where the entire school comes together in an auditorium to inspire our children that education is the most important aspect of one's life. As President Obama said in his speech, "And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it."

I hope our children will in the future hear that message from our President.

Steve Sulkin

CONCLUDING LETTER FROM THE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PARENTS

Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103

Administration Offices

1370 Riverwoods Road • Lincolnshire, Il 60069

847/295-4030 • FAX 847/295-9196

http://www.district103.k12.il.us

September 11, 2009

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We want to acknowledge and thank the 100+ parents who contacted District administrators, teachers and Board of Education members regarding President Obama's speech on Tuesday to American schoolchildren. Many who contacted us felt strongly that the District should not air the speech at all, and many others felt equally strongly that the District should air the speech

live. Please know that the Board of Education and District 103 staff respect all opinions expressed to us by our constituency.

As you know from my prior letter, we looked at the situation from an educational perspective. Consistent with District 103’s instructional guidelines, our staff previews all instructional materials to determine appropriateness of content for our elementary school children and to determine which materials best support our curriculum. In this case, the U.S. Department

of Education's late notification to schools on the date, time, purpose and content of President Obama's speech did not allow adequate time for us to review the speech and discuss its curricular use in the classroom prior to the date of the speech itself. That lack of time for reflection was magnified by the controversy swirling around the speech in the last few days before its live

airing. Under the circumstances, we felt and continue to feel that the proper approach was neither to ignore the speech nor to force a live classroom viewing, but instead to record the speech so that our teachers could review it and thoughtfully determine how it best fits with our curriculum and, where appropriate, how it could best be incorporated in the classroom.

During the last couple of days, our teachers have, in fact, been reviewing the speech and discussing its potential classroom use with one another. Based on that review and those discussions, over the next few weeks, teachers may show the speech to their classes and discuss it in connection with broader curricular themes. Given the broad range of viewpoints expressed about the President's speech, any District 103 teacher planning to use it in part or in whole as an instructional tool will notify parents in writing in advance of its use. If you prefer that your child not view the President’s speech, you may contact the teacher and an alternative activity will be provided.

For those parents and guardians who would like to first view and discuss the speech with your children at home, the District has provided a link to a video of the President's speech on the District website. You may also access the President's prepared remarks at http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/.

Thank you again for your interest in this issue and in your children’s education. Your Board of Education and District 103 staff encourage continuing communication so that our District’s educational goals are consistent with the expectations and needs of the community.

Sincerely,

Larry K. Fleming, Ed.D., Superintendent

South Shore Democrats Gather to Watch President Obama's Speech on Health Care Reform

Matthew Elias — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:50:29 EDT

A group of South Shore Democrats gathered to watch President Barack Obama's address to Congress about the his plan for health care reform. Prior to the speech, the group discussed health care reform and what they as a group planned to do support the President.

Pictures provided by Melvin Adams of Have Faith Productions

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Members of Congress to Support President Obama's Plan for Health Reform: CLICK HERE
Learn More About the President's Plan for Health Care Reform: CLICK HERE

The President's Health Care Address Watch Party in Roscoe Village

Matthew Elias — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:25:09 EDT

Last night Organizing for America Illinois and the 32nd ward Democrats hosted a watch party for President Obama's Health Care Address to Congress at The Village Tap, in the Roscoe Village. Over 100 supporters, both young and old, were in attendance to watch the President address Congress on his plan for health care reform.

To say the crowd liked what they heard would be something of an understatement, in fact, one gentleman was overheard saying "I hope is that there's much cheering in here on Sunday for the Bears game as there was tonight during the speech."

Pictures from the Roscoe Village Watch Party:

Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Tell Your Members of Congress to Support President Obama's Plan for Health Reform: CLICK HERE
Learn More About the President's Plan for Health Care Reform: CLICK HERE

After Mulling Over The Obama School Speech Debate...

Steve Sulkin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:38:02 EDT

It's always important to mull things over. Now that I've done that, I conclude three overarching concerns re my school district's (103 Lincolnshire) opinion to not air President Obama's speech:
1. In the Lincolnshire Review article about this subject matter (article posted in my blog) it said, "Even after the White House released the speech's text before its delivery, Fleming said he still had no certainty of what Obama would say live." That, I cannot reconcile. How can anyone seriously believe the fear mongers that are espousing that Obama would release the text and then suddenly change it on us? That is simply an extreme and unreasonable suspicion of other people and their motives - the very definition of paranoia. And it's fueled by extremists, exploited by the press and then works its way into our school system affecting their decision.
2. The district clearly caved to politically motivated pressure from constituents re this decision and that is not how this is supposed to work.
3. The district simply did not value this event enough. If they did, they would have embraced it as they have in the past when other president's gave similar speeches. Considering the inspiration of this event and all it could accomplish, the district made a poor choice. They say they've acted in the best interest of the children. I do not believe keeping this speech from our students and not embracing it is in the best interest of the children. The opposite would have been.

Speech Ban Draws Crowd at Board Meeting

Steve Sulkin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:09:16 EDT

Speech Ban Draws Crowd at Board Meeting

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32750708/ns/local_news-delaware_valley_panj/

One mention in local press re my concern over Obama school ban

Steve Sulkin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:58:07 EDT

"Schools Differ Over Obama Speech" article in local press

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/buffalogrove/news/1760446,bg-obamaspeech-090909-s1.article

Now That I've Heard President Obama's Speech to Schoolchildren...

Steve Sulkin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:26:05 EDT

Now that I've heard President Obama's speech to schoolchildren,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iqsxCWjCvI

I'm even more disappointed in the furor that caused school districts (including my own) to not air it live. Why? Because it was more inspiring than I thought it would be. Interestingly enough, it was a speech any conservative, any Republican president, would have been proud to give. It was about personal responsibility. It gave compelling reasons why school is relevant. And it was clearly effective. How much more could one ask from a speech?

In my quest to continue to understand why my school district did not air this speech on September 8th, I've researched precedent and spoke to those in my school district who were willing to speak about this, a total of one person. All of the letters I wrote, the inquiries I made, only one person from the school called me and it wasn't even the individual who wrote the letter to the parents announcing the banning of the speech.

Because I don't want to publicly express who that person was who did call me, because I did not indicate to them that I would be publicizing their comments, I will use that shadowy press term I've always wanted to use: It was "a very highly placed source." Oooooohhhhhhh.

My source indicated that they could not yet give an official response to my letter I sent to the superintendent, because apparently, there is going to be some official more general reiteration of the district's stance down the road. This confused me a bit in that I thought they already had a stance iterated.

My source did want to assure me that "the District's decision to not air the President's speech live was not politically motivated", though their own letter explaining why they would not air the speech said, "the airing of this speech has already become a very politically charged topic in the press and a significant concern for many of our parents."

I explained that I never made a claim that the board itself was casting a political statement by not airing the speech, but instead, bowing to pressure from constituents who had a political or personal agenda against the President of the United States. Furthermore, I explained, as I explained in my letter, that there were a whole host of other reasons this was poor judgement to not air the speech. Not the least of which is that it would be good for children to hear and not airing it broke with precedent as many other presidents made similar speeches in the past to much less resistance.

While there was some typical partisan dissent in the past, it never elevated itself to the wackyness of the current fervor (child indoctrination claims, brainwashing) nor the wholesale deletion of the event from school agendas. Though to that point, I challenge my board: I cannot definitively find record of my school district airing the Reagan and the George H.W. speeches, but I find no record they didn't either. I would be interested in a public statement from the board indicating what did happen on October 1, 1991 when George H.W. Bush gave the speech and in the 1980's when Ronald Reagan gave his speech. It might prove enlightening, it could even make their case that this is precedent for this school district to not air such speeches (precedent I would still disagree with).

My source also interestingly said that the superintendent had final power re this decision and that the board supported it. Really? The superintendent has final say? Now, I'm no expert here, but I thought in most municipalities that the board is elected and the board had hiring and firing power over the superintendent. Doesn't that give the board final say? How could the person being hired have final say over the person hiring them?

So I looked up some past cases. Here's an excerpt from a legal case in Harrisburg, PA concerning a curricula decision regarding "intelligent design."

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The school board, not teachers, should decide what belongs in the public-school curriculum, said the assistant superintendent of a school district being sued over whether "intelligent design" belongs in science classes.

The Dover Area School Board decided in October 2004 to require students to hear a statement about intelligent design before ninth-grade biology lessons on evolution. Teachers were opposed to the statement, which says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps," and which refers students to the textbook "Of Pandas and People" for more information.

The board has final say on such curriculum decisions, Michael Baksa, the assistant superintendent, testified Thursday during the landmark federal trial. "Once the board makes a decision, whether you agree with the decision or not, it's your responsibility to implement it," he said.

Well, that's interesting. If Illinois law re school boards is like Pennsylvania law, then the board should have made the decision about whether to air this speech, not the superintendent.

My source also indicated that the "grade level" of this speech (apparently graded by Microsoft according to my source, who I wasn't aware was in the grading of speeches business) was at "7th grade" and therefore inappropriate (or not understandable) for other grades (below I assume). I tried to wrap my head around this and carry it to it's logical conclusion. One would have to either have the sitting president create 12 different speeches to accommodate each of the grades and in addition, due to curricula concerns my source had, also coordinate with the board (or the superintendent) to correlate the speech to existing curricula mapping of our school district or not give the speech.

Clearly, when one tries to carry this to it's logical conclusion, it simply isn't logical. This speech cannot be measured as though it's part of standard curricula. It's not meant to be and it cannot be judged in that way. It's an historic event. It's an inspirational speech given by our President to help our children and our society. It's simply much ado about nothing to be against airing it live or otherwise. To somehow say that down the road the board (or the superintendent?) will review the speech and then they might air pieces of it "not live"is simply missing the point, besides smacking of censorship. Airing the speech preferentially later would be like airing the moon landing only after review. Yes, I hear the criticism already, "this is not the moon landing." But the speech was historic (first black president, remember?). It's also helpful for our educational system. The point, quite simply, is that it should not have been "banned" because t was meant to inspire kids and who could argue with that?

And there was another issue the source had with my argument. They said the speech wasn't "banned" but they didn't offer an alternative adjective. Then what was it? Temporarily banned? Forbidden but not really? Ban means to forbid something. If you later then allow it, you lift the ban. This is simply semantics to say it wasn't banned. It was clearly forbidden to be aired live. So the live broadcast was banned. Simple as that. This argument over minutia is one of the issues, as it's trying to create rationale through loophole. When things are wrong, we tend to use fine print to make them seem right and that is wrong.

So what did I do with my six-year old that evening of the speech? We watched the speech in bed as his bedtime story. Contrary to concerns about this being above my son's ability to comprehend, he understood quite a bit of the speech thank you. My son, to be fair, wandered at points, he asked questions, he did all of the things we all do when listening to speeches (or reading long blogs). But he got a lot out of it. Though not as much as he would have, had he been with the entire school sitting together in an auditorium. There's a reason we have movie theaters. There's simply something more important about an event when it's shared.

I would hope that the world sees that sharing, tolerance and togetherness, is what we need more of, and divisiveness, hatred and prejudice, is what we need less of.

Organizing for America Illinois "Volunteer Spotlight"

Matthew Elias — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:30:25 EDT

Organizing for America Illinois is proud to announce the kickoff of our brand new feature entitled; Illinois "Volunteer Spotlight". Each week we'll profile a volunteer from across the state who has gone above and beyond what was asked of them.

The inaugural OFA Illinois volunteer profile will focus on Matt Flamm, a lawyer and a dad from Palatine, Illinois whose dedication to both OFA and his surrounding community are second to none.

Volunteer Profile:

Matt Flamm, a 55-year old resident of Palatine, is married and the proud father of two daughters. Flamm, an attorney by profession became active in Democratic politics in the northwest suburbs back in 2001 when he volunteered for local Congresswoman Melissa Bean’s campaign. From that point on Flamm was hooked – and has has since become the Vice President of the Palatine Township Democratic Organization.

Back in February of 2007, Flamm attended Barack Obama’s Springfield announcement which he announced his entry into the Democratic Presidential primaries. Later that month, Flamm joined the NW Suburbs of Chicago for Obama and later became the head Administrator of the group - which currently has more than 700 active members. After being approached by Field Organizers in the area, Flamm became an organizer for the Obama campaign focused on the 8th Congressional District in August 2007.

Matt organized dozens of trips to Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; as well as phone banks focused on contacting voters in battleground states. Given his legal prowess, Flamm also served as a voter protection attorney for the Obama campaign in rural South Carolina and in urban Milwaukee and Cleveland and was an active volunteer during the Democratic National Convention in Colorado. To top it off, a well deserving Matt Flamm and his wife, Betty, were in attendance at both the election-night celebration in Grant Park and the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C.

Matt Flamm remains an active volunteer with Organizing for America and has been working closely with Health Care for America Now (HCAN) in organizing phone banks and other action events aimed and bringing new folks on board in supporting the President's health care reform proposals. Some of the action events have included several parades, calling and meeting with Representatives in Congress and door to door canvases in and around their neighborhoods.

5 Questions:

1) How long have you been volunteering with OFA?
Since my first trip to Iowa back in August of 2007.

2) Why did you get involved volunteering with OFA?
I wanted to identify other progressive residents of the northwest suburbs of Chicago (a traditionally conservative area). I had heard Barack Obama’s call for concerned citizens to become part of the process. And I believed that he represented the best chance for progressive change in our country.

3) What are some of the more effective practices you have found that work in getting people mobilized with OFA?
The OFA website is a great tool. We’ve posted many events and people have signed up, many of whom had never been involved before. The NW Suburbs of Chicago for Obama has become a very effective organization. An email sent to the group brings forth many volunteers. And encouraging other volunteers to take responsibility for events and activities multiplies what we can do and carries out our goal to get people involved in the process.

4) What's been the highlight of your time volunteering with OFA?
There are two highlights. The first was the Iowa caucus, which I spent in a town of 500 people. We won the caucus in Lamont by two votes in a tight three-way race. The second was our “Unite for Change” party in my backyard in June 2008. The party was attended by 140 people, including people who had supported Clinton, Edwards, and Dodd.

5) What issue/issues matters most to you and why?
Health care reform is a critical issue. Too many lives have been ruined because people weren’t able to afford proper medical treatment. I also believe that we need to restore President Kennedy’s philosophy of “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” For too long, people have been focused on what’s good for them or their families. We need to refocus people on what’s best for all of us.

Become a part of Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
Find a Health Insurance Reform Now event near you: CLICK HERE
Pictures & stories from Health Insurance Reform Now events from across the country: CLICK HERE

How do I Tell My Child His School is Banning President Obama's Speech?

Steve Sulkin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 05:07:34 EDT

Larry K. Fleming, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103

Administration Offices

1370 Riverwoods Road

Lincolnshire, IL 60069

Dear Superintendent Fleming,

Because I felt it was my parental obligation, I tried to explain to my son why he won’t be hearing President Obama speak to his class this Tuesday and I found myself at a loss for words. No matter how I tried to explain “why” to him, being as objective and sensitive as I could, it just felt wrong. That in itself should be a litmus test of not only this, but any action: Can you explain it to a child and feel good about yourself? I would think that a school district, more than anyone else would have realized that their actions are unexplainable to a child and therefore probably not the correct judgment to make.

I don’t envy you and other school administrators being put in the middle of a political debate. Not the debate about the speech President Obama will give to school children, but being put in the middle of the more fundamental debate, between those who “like” and “do not like” President Obama. Because that’s what this controversy of President Obama’s speech to school children is really about. Not about the speech itself. The contents of the speech are not even known, so how could it be about the speech? It’s about the mere fact that President Obama is going to give a speech to schoolchildren. Most everyone, especially well educated people as yourself, understand, from the synopsis given by the White House, that the speech is well intentioned at best and innocuous at worst. I do not believe any rational individual actually believes the speech is an attempt to “indoctrinate our children” as has been incredulously stated by some mainstream politicians and media, or that the speech is “something you’d expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq”, which Oklahoma Republican State Senator Steve Russell actually said. What this is really about, is an indication of the polarization of our society and probably more likely about racism, hatred, fear and paranoia.

But political ideology is not supposed to be your fight. Educational decisions should not be made because opponents or proponents of a particular ideology apply pressure to a school district. But unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening by school district 103 caving in to what can only be considered “mob politics”, thus taking marching orders from the squeakiest wheels. Never before have I heard of the President of the United States effectively being censored by a school district. I didn’t see any such censorship when Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush spoke to schoolchildren, or whenever any President, or for that matter any politician or community spokesperson came to speak at a school. And that’s all this really is, the President is coming to speak at your school, except in this case, he’s speaking virtually and not live.

If President Obama had chosen Sprague or Stevenson School in district 103 to speak at live, would your office have refused him as well? Denied his request to give a speech to encourage our children to stay in school? I doubt it. Then why is the “virtual presence” of our President being denied? Because we live in the Internet age when the President can visit schools all at once and “indoctrinate them?” That can’t be it either, because politicians broadcasting speeches from schools (from kindergarten to commencements) have been going on since the advent of radio and no such school district censorship that I’m aware of has ever existed before. So why are we asking this president to drink from another water fountain?

The mission statement of district 103 is “to provide innovative learning experiences which empower each student to excel and make a difference in a diverse and interconnected world.” Are we empowering each student to excel and to make a difference in a diverse and interconnected world by caving to political pressure and denying them access to an historical event such as this, when the first black president in the history of the United States is going to make his first speech to our country’s children?

The mission statement of Sprague says,“Sprague School is dedicated to the development of lifelong learners. We encourage creativity through experimentation, problem solving, and reflection, while acknowledging and welcoming individual differences. We foster collaboration among staff, parents, and children to create an environment that is best for our students.”

Are we “welcoming individual differences” or are we censoring them by this action of not allowing our children to see this speech? Is this any different then when school districts and libraries around our country tried (and succeeded) in banning books such as Catch-22 and even Gone With the Wind?

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, this last Friday, defended Obama's plan to address students. He said "The bottom line is we need the president of the United States of America to use his bully pulpit to talk to kids about the importance of education and to help inspire kids,"

If President Obama was using his “bully pulpit” to preach doctrine, as Ronald Reagan did in 1988 when during that speech to school children he actually incredulously preached about the importance of cutting taxes, then I’d have a problem with President Obama’s speech. But that is not what this speech is proposed to be about. And that’s the other point of all of this. District 103, as I have indicated above, has made an opinion about not carrying this speech before they even know it’s content. Is that a lesson we want our children to learn, to judge books by their cover?

And we actually even have a very good idea of what will be said in President Obama’s speech so we don’t have to judge a book by it’s cover. When one reads the official notice that came from the White House, it’s simply impossible to reconcile those words with the paranoia about this speech. The White House’s official letter to educators said, “ During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation's children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. The U.S. Department of Education invites students of all ages, teachers, and administrators to participate in this historic moment by watching the president deliver the address, which will be broadcast live on the White House Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/) and on C-SPAN at 12:00 p.m., ET. We also encourage educators to use this moment to help students get focused and inspired to begin the new academic year. The Department of Education offers educators a menu of classroom activities—created by its teachers-in-residence, the Teaching Ambassador Fellows—to help engage students in the address and stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education.

Some call all of this paranoia “Obamaphobia”, the irrational fear, which some say stems from a black man running our country. If that’s what is really at the root of all of this hatred, what are we teaching our children by intentionally or unintentionally supporting such behavior? There are those in our society that openly don’t believe that Barack Obama is legitimately the President of the United States, trying to delegitimize him by being disrespectful, by questioning the location of his birth against all logic and proof and by many other means. I’m not sure if the roots of that are racism, or other hatred, or actual belief, but anyone who believes in this country, knows that education is the only route up to success. President Obama, with all he has to do, I truly believe, is simply trying to make a difference in our country and in our world by attempting to inspire our children to stay in school and work hard. When one simply listens to that stated goal and then reflects on the controversy surrounding such a well intentioned and innocent news moment, it’s simply hard to believe this nonsensical debate even exists. But we live in the world of the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle where minutia rises to the level of importance. The difference here is that school districts are reacting to the chatter rather than rising above it.

When one looks at this from other viewpoints, from simply the viewpoint of respect, the district’s censorship of this speech doesn’t pass muster. If a local firehouse wanted fireman to give a speech about virtually anything, the district would welcome the visit. Schools respect what fireman stand for, they save lives. Where is the respect for the President of the United Sates? What are we teaching our children about our country and about respect for authority or simply stature? Politicians do not deserve deference to the point of submission simply because of their title, for sure, but respect is a different matter altogether and the district’s actions are simply disrespectful to anyone, let alone the President of the United States.

To me, there is an irony and a contradiction in the way we treat other forms of respect for our nation, in our nation’s schools.

Illinois law mandates that “The Pledge of Allegiance shall be recited each school day by pupils in elementary and secondary educational institutions supported or maintained in whole or in part by public funds. 105 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/27-3 (2005). The statute says each student must recite the Pledge each day — with no exception for those who do not wish to do so. However, in a federal lawsuit that was filed, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the statute did not violate the students’ rights, so long as students were free not to participate in the recitation of the Pledge. Sherman v. Community Consol. School Dist. 21 of Wheeling Tp., 980 F.2d 437 (7th Cir. 1992).”

The State of Illinois mandates the pledge of allegiance but also allows children to not say it if they choose. District 103, as an entity representing all children of our district, has made a unilateral decision that no school child should listen to the President’s speech. How does that reconcile with the mandate to take part in the pledge of allegiance, but also the freedom to dissent? Because he is the President of the United States, shouldn’t listening to the President’s speech on Tuesday be the default, just like general respect for our flag is? We teach that. But because this is a great nation, if one doesn’t want to listen to the President, they can do that. They can do what those against this speech are espousing, they can stay home from school or simply not attend the event and the school can honor and respect that as well. But why does the district get to restrict all children from hearing this speech and by doing so, take a political stand? Carrying the speech is taking much less of a political stand because that is the norm, that is precedent. District 103’s decision to censor the speech is unprecedented. On the night of 9/11, I was at Stevenson High School as they broadcast George W. Bush’s speech to the nation. Why did the school not censor that? Why did they carry it at Stevenson? Because it was the President speaking about an historic newsworthy event. While this speech is far less critical or dramatic, it’s still historic and newsworthy. It isn’t only news if it’s bad news. So why is the district not carrying good historic news?

The answer again must be pressure. That’s why this speech is not being carried. When mainstream media label this speech as “brainwashing, ala Hitler Youth”, when commentators such as Glen Beck say this is more evidence of the "indoctrination of your children” it’s clear that they are then influencing those who I’m sure wrote you angry letters. Fox commentator Malkin linked the President’s Tuesday speech, prior to hearing it, with "Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers' pedagogical philosophy.” She went on to say that “The left has always used kids as guinea pigs and as junior lobbyists for their social liberal agenda.” Given these incredibly broad, distorted remarks fueled by hatred, how could the district not give the impression of agreeing with these fringe attitudes by bowing to pressure from a particular segment of our society?

President George H.W. Bush delivered a nationally televised speech to students from a Washington D.C. school in the fall of 1991, encouraging them to say no to drugs and work hard.

All that is different in President Obama’s speech is that it’s President Obama.

There is a known tactic in the world of social opinion called FAD: fear, uncertainty and doubt. The idea is to plant the seeds of fear and it will propagate. District 103 is an unwitting partner in that mission and for that I’m very sad. Charles Saylors, president of the national Parent Teacher Association, felt that same emotion when he said the uproar over Obama's speech is "sad." He went on to say, "The president of the United States, regardless of political affiliation, should be able to have a presentation and have a pep talk, if you will, to America's students," he told CNN.

I’m an ardent supporter of school district 103 and have been for 20 years. My eldest child is a doctoral student and my youngest is two, all have been or are slated to be in school district 103, because I’ve always been proud of the quality of education provided. But today, I’m less proud.

At its broadest, the district’s decision smacks of an era in our history when “un-American activities” were defined as liking a particular ideology that other’s didn’t, in this case, oddly, the as of yet unspoken words of our President. It’s even odd to describe.

I leave to the end of this response, the specific reasons given in the district’s letter as to why they are not allowing our students to see the President’s speech as it is given:

The district’s letter says,

“The airing of this speech has already become a very politically charged topic in the press”

That should be irrelevant.

The district’s letter goes on to say,

“and a significant concern for many of our parents.”

Not to me and I would believe, not to many people. The letter offers no specifics as to how many people have contacted their offices one way or the other. It simply says “many.” If “many” parents believed that a fireman shouldn’t speak at school, would or should that affect the district having the fireman speak? I would think not.

The district’s letter says,

“The U.S. Department of Education has sent out suggested classroom activities and promoted a student video contest with $1,000 prizes”

The district’s letter doesn’t at all quote the substance of the proposed speech; it simply gives this one random (rather parenthetical) comment, which does not even explain what the speech’s intentions are, to inspire children about their schooling.

The district’s letter then says,

“We have a responsibility as educators to determine what information will be included in our curriculum.”

Fair enough, the district creates curricula. But the district determined in this case “what information will be included” and they felt that it should not include a speech from the President of the United States, which clearly is simply about inspiring school children to excel. I take great exception with that. I think this sort of speech is exactly what should be included in my child’s curricula, inspiration about staying in school. And I think even more importantly the words are important if they are the words of the elected leader of our country. I would feel no different if it was George W. Bush speaking. I would defend, to death, as the oft- quoted phrase says, his right to say it even if I disapproved of it.

The district’s letter then concludes,

“Since we have not had an opportunity to review the text of President Obama’s speech to determine age appropriateness, ties to our curriculum, and usefulness as an instructional tool, we will not be showing President Obama’s speech in classrooms on September 8.”

The district has “not had an opportunity to review the text” and yet they are making a decision about it? Based on what? That it’s coming from Brack Obama? What sense does that make?

Additionally the district will have an opportunity to review the text on Monday, so why not wait till then? Because it’s a holiday? I don’t think any teacher at school would accept from a student that they didn’t do homework because it was given over the holidays.

The district then makes claims that they can’t determine if this will tie to curriculum or be useful “as an instructional tool.” Is it really practical to think that a sitting president can be involved with each school district’s curricula mapping which took place years ago and then create speeches that coordinate? This is a news event, simply meant to inspire children. It’s a well-intentioned Department of Education initiative no different then “Just Say No to Drugs” (which incidentally most all school districts endorsed even though it’s naïve statement was considered ineffectual).

The district letter then caps the above statement in bold, saying that the district will not be showing President Obama’s speech. In bold? To be clear or to be forceful?

The letter then says,

“We will record the speech for teachers so that they have an opportunity to review the content to determine potential usefulness of the speech, or portions of it, as an educational tool.”

That phrase feels like the familiar words of censors through the ages.

And the letter concludes,

“This approach will also give you, as a parent, the opportunity to make the decision on whether or not to have your child view the speech with you at home.”

The wording makes it seem as though the letter is talking about our decision for our child to view something controversial. Out of context, one would think the subject matter is sex or drugs. But instead, the subject matter is the President of the United States attempting to inspire our children to love school.

I’m completely perplexed about this entire matter and why district 103 would even give those that pressure them the time of day, let alone, allow them to dictate school policy.

I respectfully ask that you reverse your decision and simply state that “it is not the school district’s policy to be involved in or take political sides” and since this is an “approved event from the federal Department of Education” you will air it. One could even add, “if any parent has a personal objection, their child is not at all forced to watch the event and may leave or not attend school.”

Best Regards,

Steve Sulkin

School District 103 Bans President Obama's School Speech

Steve Sulkin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:59:18 EDT

This was received from my local school district. See next post for my response.

Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103

Administration Offices

1370 Riverwoods Road • Lincolnshire, Il 60069

847/295-4030 • FAX 847/295-9196

http://www.district103.k12.il.us

September 4, 2009

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As you may know, President Obama plans to present a White House address

directly to children on September 8, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. Central Standard Time, which

is during our regular school day. The airing of this speech has already become a very

politically charged topic in the press and a significant concern for many of our parents.

The U.S. Department of Education has sent out suggested classroom activities and

promoted a student video contest with $1,000 prizes.

We have a responsibility as educators to determine what information will be

included in our curriculum. Since we have not had an opportunity to review the text of

President Obama’s speech to determine age appropriateness, ties to our curriculum,

and usefulness as an instructional tool, we will not be showing President Obama’s

speech in classrooms on September 8. We will record the speech for teachers so

that they have an opportunity to review the content to determine potential usefulness of

the speech, or portions of it, as an educational tool.

This approach will also give you, as a parent, the opportunity to make the

decision on whether or not to have your child view the speech with you at home.

Sincerely,

Larry Fleming, Ed.D.

Superintendent

Larry K. Fleming, Ed.D.

Superintendent

HAVE YOU FINALLY "HAD IT" WITH ALL OF THE LIES?

Steve Sulkin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:48:48 EDT

Have you finally had it with all of the absolutely unbelievable political maneuverings by the fringe right, the lies, the distortions, the twisting of facts, the outright hatred towards our President simply because a minority (yes it's a minority, remember they lost) of our society are unhappy he is our President?

If so, it's time to do something about it.

Remember, when we were "all one" working hard for the would-be-President, to get him elected because we felt for once we had an intelligent person who was running? Well, we were right. He was the best person running. He is the best President we've had in a long time and we're lucky such an honest, caring individual with vision for our future is in office. Given our world situation, we need him now more than ever. Our future depends on him.

But we are no longer supporting him with the fervor as we did, nor are the same numbers of people supporting him.

Can you believe, his poll numbers are dropping? Yes I understand, post the honeymoon period numbers drop. But to this degree and while he's saving our country, maybe our world? The man that inherited the worst our country has ever seen in terms of war, finance, enviornment and more, who is helping us drag ourselves out of this recession and fight two wars he didn't even want - his poll numbers are dropping? The man who has accomplished more in months than others before him accomplished in lifetimes, his poll numbers are dropping? It's ludicrous. It's like Lincoln's or Roosevelt's poll numbers dropping as they were saving our country. But I must remember, we live in a world where Lincoln was assassinated.

I wear my Obama hat and my wife at times tells me to "take it off Steve, you might anger people" Wow, what a world. I might anger people that I support our President. That is the times of our current times, little by little, it's less acceptable to support our President because the fringe right has made it seem so.

As we fall off in numbers, the extreme fringe right takes advantage by spreading hatred and lies. And there seems to be no limit to how crazy of a story that can be spewed and believed by those who want to believe it and spew it. If I wrote such stories in a screenplay, I'd be told to modify my words because it would be unrealistic that the public would believe such nonsense. But apparently, the public's benchmark for naivety knows no bounds when fueled by hatred.

For instance (one tiny example) think about the outrage (yes outrage) regarding President Obama speaking to school children this Tuesday (as though that's a new idea).

President Obama is the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. He is the mentor of our country the image of our country to the world. He is doing what millions have done before him, speaking to school children. He was elected to lead our country. Get over it fringe right, he gets to lead. You lost.

The cynicism and hatred that drives those who dislike President Obama so much, so as to try to make speaking to school children seem as anything more than what it is, an attempt to inspire and lead our children, is beyond my understanding.

People say, is President Obama's speech to children "political?" Well, he is a politician, he is the President of the United States and yes he will weigh the pros and cons of his every action (as will the world), so I guess he'll weigh the politics of his actions, but that doesn't mean that everything he does, because it's weighed, is a sham or diabolical as some are actually seriously suggesting.

The fringe right who are the strategic architects of the nonsense we hear every day on so called "news" have lost all credibility to argue against anything. Even if they had a legitimate complaint, it's lost in the shuffle of their ludicrous positions and lies.

So, let's start writing, talking, doing - not taking this anymore.

And by the way, I hate to say, "I told you so", but my video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4srDYEPoqo

"Yes We Can (Change our Destiny), which I produced for the inaugural, was written because I feared that we'd lose the spirit of optimism, that phenomenon of involvement that occurred during the election. To some degree, we have. So be re-inspired. Pass the link on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4srDYEPoqo

and get others re-inspired.

Don't take this anymore, because as the famous phrase says,

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky's Town Hall Meeting in Skokie, IL

Matthew Elias — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:19:52 EDT

Last night Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky held her highly anticipated town hall meeting at the at Niles West High School Auditorium in Skokie, Illinois. The health care reform supporters made up a heavy majority of both the 1,300 plus people who made it into the meeting as well as the 600 plus who remained outside the auditorium due to the building reaching maximum capacity.

The loudest cheers erupted from the packed auditorium when Congresswoman Schakowsky declared; "I believe by the end of 2009 we will have affordable, quality health care for all Americans".

Here are some images from last nights event in Skokie.

To see images from Health Insurance Reform Now events taking place around the country, or to find a HIRN event in your area, please click here.

The town hall riots have nearly killed the public option

Steve Sulkin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:28:58 EDT

To prove further my point made in my last blog that town hall rioters' actions are working, the public option for health care insurance is no longer in the Senate bill, but only in the House bill and it's likely that this option will never be in the final bill. Why? Its exceedingly simple to understand - insurance companies don't want more competition, especially less expensive competition. The public option one can think of as simply another form of medicare or medicaid, which most people consider a basic and important source of government help.

What is so amazing is that a good percentage of the very people who are rioting against healthcare reform more than likely have medicare or medicaid. Amazing, they don't even understand that this benefit they receive is a "social program" e.g. a form of socialism, because we are not simply a democracy, we are a hybrid socialized government and democracy. That is how the U.S. was designed. Of course we have social programs, that is all that "socialism" in it's "pop" use, means, that there are programs for the good of the people provided by the government.

One can nit pick all day about what socialism really means, what a "pure" socialistic society is, but that is a waste of one's time. The government is "of the people, for the people and by the people" and since WE are the people, we get government programs. Simple as that. To be against that is simply not understanding how our government works.

To be for insurance companies as the only option which leaves 48 million people uninsured is not understanding that uninsured individuals drain our society's resources. Imagine if there was no medicare or medicaid and what that would do to our society, not only financially, but how we would be viewed morally?

We must take care of our citizens. The public option must stay in the bill. Write the president, write your local representatives. Don't let uninformed rioters (who want nothing more than simply to hurt our president, that is their real agenda because they are so against him for a whole host of reasons including race) win against intelligence.

President Obama, Bring Your Eloquence to the Table of Hatred

Steve Sulkin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:51:31 EDT

It is time for those that hate, not only healthcare reform, but also democracy and freedom, to stop inciting riots by spreading lies. The most despicable lie about the new health care bill regards a simple provision that a physician can be reimbursed if a patient wants to have a discussion about how they wish to be cared for if they become extremely ill.

That discussion could be that the patient wants to remain hooked to a machine that keeps them alive indefinitely, or the decision could be that the patient wishes to be unhooked from such a machine if they are brain dead, or the decision could be that the patients wants their spouse, parent or child to make such a decision. The common denominator is that this is a patient decision. The provision in the bill simply allows physicians to be reimbursed when they listen to patient’s decisions.

It’s a compassionate clause. It allows for us to have a conversation with our physician, as we do with our attorneys when we create our will. Lawyers get paid for making wills. This bill simply says that physicians will get paid for helping us during such difficult times. It’s about reimbursement, nothing more.

But horrific organizers against health care reform are causing people to wrongly believe that the bill somehow states that the government will kill you, that the government will mandate euthanasia. That is so preposterous that had I in advance seen that the strategies of these protestors would rely on such a nonsensical plan, I would have not even been concerned that such a far-fetched idea could have a chance of working, that anyone would ever believe such nonsense, such a distorted reversal of the actual facts. But incredibly, fear is a great lever. People actually believe that in the bill, there are provisions allowing the government to kill citizens through health care. And this lie is gaining traction, a lot of traction. The lie is working.

It’s time for intelligent people to say enough.

Enough fear mongering.

Enough distortion.

Enough bringing up Hitler and comparing that horrific individual to our President.

Enough.

President Obama, it’s time to make a significant speech about fear mongering, about the psychology of the lynch mob and why as a decent society we should abhor such insidious tactics. We cannot sit idly by and watch our society devolve into such horrors as we have seen in the past when lynch mobs, rather then the rule of law, governed our land.

President Obama, please bring your eloquence to the table of hatred and help stop this madness.

HCAN Rally for Health Care at the Federal Plaza in Chicago

Leo Robert Klein — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:11:14 EDT

I just wanted to say that the HCAN people put together a great rally with several hundred people in the Federal Plaza.

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Jacob Fran�ois — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:24:43 EDT

Mr. Obama, by divine ordination, you were destined to be the President of the United States. At this juncture in international affairs and in this very important position, you have the opportunity to address the ills of your country. Subsequently you can influence the destiny of America from the grip of the economic tsunami created by the socio-economic indiscretions and irrational mismanagement of power by both father and son of the Bush family.

It is precisely as a first agent of this predatory empire that we send you this correspondence. From July 28, 1915 to July 28 2009 marked exactly 94 years since an apocalyptic event occurred in Haiti. Under false pretenses, foreigners have invaded Haiti and carried out a pre-programmed upheaval rippling throughout society there.            To This day, the sacred land of our ancestors still bears the indelible signs of four centuries of wild European colonization. It has been 94 years since the beginning of the United States of America’s onslaught of irreparable harm against our people. This nation has successfully trampled on the sovereignty of Haiti and the sacred rights of its people to self-determination.
        At this sad time, we in the Kolektif Pou Aksyon Defann Anplwaye Viktim (KADAV) have seen fit to send you this vibrant plea for all people who are victims of blatant injustices of all kinds of violence and destructive war.
            We believe that it would be beneficial for both nations to take the time to inquire about the relevance of our demands for social justice, and that restitution and reparation are provided to the Haitian people which suffer irreparable harm at the hand of the strongest empire on earth namely the Unites States of America.
            On May 18, 2009, you made mention of Haiti in a public interview. If you did not know that our ancestors have also actively participated in the Battle of Savannah in 1798, I want to remind you of this matter of fact. Their bloodshed for American freedom still is claiming reciprocity from the most powerful country on earth.              You should be aware of the dire situation in Haiti. The atmosphere is so catastrophic to the point that our compatriots flee in desperation from Haiti. Our citizens continue to attempt to defy the perils of the shark-infested waters to reach the safety of U.S. soil…only to be deported. Why has the issue of granting TPS been delayed for so long? It can be granted in tandem with your efforts as comprehensive immigration reform continues. Why is it that Haitians have to be treated at this point as last class citizens when other countries with far fewer problems than Haiti, have been afforded TPS? President Obama, you know that this is a necessary step. Please put all politics aside and make this humanitarian gesture.
             More than two centuries after the declaration of independence of Haiti, our dignity as a people continues to languish under the soles of powerful nations, smeared with the blood of our people from an ugly occupation. More than 10,000 international gendarmes housed under the banner of MINUSTAH since 2004 insult the sacred land of Dessalines.
            These hired killers by profession are lawless. They are trying to stabilize the masses in this rut of infra-human misery and poverty. They are assured of absolute impunity. These mercenaries are on a daily basis guilty of violence and of demeaning and unspeakable insults to our people.
            They violate our teenagers as they see fit, killing pregnant women, the elderly and infants. They are all under discriminatory assumptions and being called expletives such as, Bandits, Voyous, Rat Pa Kaka or Kokorat. For thousands of our brothers and sisters― peasants who were killed by the marines, we demand justice and reparation.
                 Mr. President, this correspondence is to decry the pain of each of our sisters mercilessly deflowered by the U.S. military during this abhorrent occupation. And it is obvious that we are demanding justice for these 19 years of interminable rape (1915 to 1934). 94 years after the marines pillaged our gold reserves at the Bank of the Republic under the auspice of Citibank, we loudly demand a refund.
It is our hope that as a man who suffered the same treatments that we are decrying at this time, ample attention will be given to our demands. These are fair and noble claims based on facts. Notwithstanding, the Haitian people will continue to demand from the United States Restitution and Compensation for the plundering of its resources for 19 years of occupation (1915-1934).
                Change, yes we can. This was the slogan that you brilliantly used during your campaign for the White House. We yearned for the same change that you call for and valiantly deserve it. Change will remain a dream if the cores of oppressive institutions are not shaken.               These constraints can give you no prerogative to change according to your fantasies of vectors of change, if only a tiny part of a note. Sure, you've promised to change and this profusion gratis ti cheri. So you're in the absolute obligation scrupulously to honor your commitments. For us in Haiti, an old adage states that: “TiPwomès se Gwo dèt” Little promises have a tendency of becoming big debts if not taking care of.
               You have a historic opportunity to change the partitions of abuse, injustice and abuse of blood violence, destructive wars written in the secret books of the establishment. Without losing the exchange in dialectical jargons, we send you our demands in a clear and precise language.
               Mr. President of the United States in the grip of this terrible economic collapse, you have promised change. So, give us so. Since the martyrs and the oppressed people of Haiti have so much need. Long before we express our demands, we give you the firm guarantee that we have enough arguments to support our vibrant plea:

The physical immediate return of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, since a plane from your country kidnapped him. Since being the victim of a coup kidnapping on 29 February 2004, the people never ceased to request his return. Because of his global vision of class struggle and the tools necessary for the emergence of the masses, he must return to accompany the people in their fight for self-determination.
Return of all gold and other resources removed by U.S. marines during the first occupation 1915-1934.
Grant TPS to our people while you are working on comprehensive immigration reforms.
Justice and compensation for thousands of our brothers and Cacos Peasants crapulously killed by the marines.
The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of violators of human rights— Minustha— that benefit from the mask of "stabilizer" for the crimes of rape, murder and countless other unspeakable atrocities.
Withdrawal of Mr. Bill Clinton appointed by Ban Ki Moon from the US, as the new governor of Haiti. Our country has no need of proconsul, but political stability in order to achieve a level of development for the benefit of the weakest population.
Immediate repatriation of NGOs and other organizations destabilizing Haiti. In the balance of the international mafia, they are mainly used to realize the ambitions of great destabilizing powers. These structures benefit from the mafia pandemic of misery they are constantly fed to make enormous profits. As long as they operate on our territory, Haiti will know neither peace nor stability to see sustainable socio-economic progress.
End the economic strangulation of Cuba our brother country that is rotting from a criminal embargo for more than half a century simply for claiming the right to self-determination.
Put an immediate end to the destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan as promised during your campaign. Do not make the same mistakes that Bush was making this so-called fight against "bad" terrorists.
Put on hold the new accredited ambassador to Haiti. Ensure that he is not to use his position to plan the destabilization of the country as did Bourik Chaje in 1991, and James Foley in 2004.

http://fanmilavalasblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/lettre-ouverte-au-president-obama.html

WWW.FANMILAVALAS.NET

For the Committee KADAV:

J. Fatal Piard
Coordinator

Health Care Reform Needs to Deny Insurance Claims Deniers!

Pat Hanrahan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:36:53 EDT

How can we make sure that health care reform includes ending insurance companies' abuse of denying claims (millions of claim denials a year)?

My son was just refused reimbursement for $1,300 for physical therapy for a serious knee injury. His physical therapy was recommended by his doctor to prevent the need for surgery. He was told he could be covered for PT only after he had surgery. How stupid and short-sighted is that! But I bet that, if he has to have surgery , insurance will find another reason to deny the claim. Just think about it. Our insurance premiums pay for insurance staff to find excuses to deny our benefits!
Multiply this problem by millions a year.

Access to affordable health insurance is a key starting point, but reform needs to include correction of these bogus claim denials and continued oversight. Universal and continuous access to a public option would also help a lot to keep private insurance honest and give people like my son a chance to vote with his feet and walk out on ripoff private insurers.

Created a Community Haven. Gymboree Play & Music Learning Center, America's Grandest Gymboree

Steve Sulkin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:37:15 EDT

My goal is to try to do good for our world, and sometimes that means starting with one's community. Phase 1 of my goal to help the youngest members of my community (children from newborn to six years old). I built one is being dubbed as "America's Grandest Gymboree", a learning center for children. Art, Music, Play, School Skills, Baby Signs, we have hundreds of classes for little ones and their parents (drop off is for 3+). It's a great place, we are very proud of it. Please check us out. And in the future, look for our Montessory Academy we'll be building, "The Vernon Hills Montessori Academy."

Check out this video on YouTube. It's prety cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP_tfntb40E

Organizing for Health Care Reform

Pat Hanrahan — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:44:10 EDT

I just finished my first post-election conference call with Organizing For America (OFA). During the election I’ve been on several conference calls for volunteers, but this is the first time I’ve heard “This is the operator from Air Force One, please hold for the President.” After graciously thanking us for our efforts, President Obama talked to us about the importance of working together for health care reform now, and answered questions from volunteers. Clearly the great organization built during the campaign is fired up, and ready to go to work for change. OFA staff – Jeremy Bird, Mitch Stewart, Natalie Foster and David Plouffe - did their usual excellent job of running the call and letting us know about events – June 6th house parties for health care reform – and online organizing tools – event tool, call tool. Now it’s up to us.

To host or attend a health care organizing kickoff, link to:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hckickoff

ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA - Have You Seen This Video Yet?

Steve Sulkin — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:17:10 EDT

Organizing for America - Have you seen This Video Yet? More then ever, you need it now to re-kindle the spirit that lived in us all prior to the election.

We need to get this video out in the public eye in a big way to re-kindle the spirit of optimism that existed prior to the election of President Obama.

Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) that is what we need to understand.

Post the inaugural, post the election, post the optimism fading, post the Republican's battle of the wills, it's sad to see our country slowly slipping back to the bad ol' days when the President is simply a news curiosity, just some guy in the White House. Barack Obama is more then that. He is the change we all voted for.

When I get pessimistic that such talk as the above is simply the talk of a dreamer, I hear President Obama speak. For instance, his speech at Notre Dame. It was historic, incredible, inspiring. it reminded me why I was so filled with hope on November 4th, 2008. When I hear him speak, I still get uplifted and remember who is in the White House.

But let us not forget the obvious, he's a human being, he can't correct everything at once, he has information now as President about our country we will never know and he is, I am confident, desperately trying to balance it all. I have not agreed with every move, espeically preventitive detention, but should we need or expect to agree with everything that anyone does? I agree with most and that's good enough for me to be a great supporter of his. I speak out when I don't agree with President Obama or anyone, but that doesn't mean I don't ardently support President Obama. In the past, I agreed with very little our Presidents have done, so this is an extremely refreshing change, especially at a time in our history which is unparalleled in it's complexity and danger to our society, our country and our world.

My only personal regret is that the video I directed and produced to keep the dreams alive, Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) has not been endorsed by Organizing for America and posted on its home page (or endorsed by Oprah or some such celebrity that can bring instant distribution to this cause, this quest to make optimsm and involvement the norm). This video should be endorsed by someone or some organization of such stature. It should be the rallying cry that we all remember to say to ourselves every day, that "YES WE CAN CHANGE OUR DESTINY." If we realize that simple truth, that we are in control of our destinies, we will work hard for change. We will become involved. Pessimism occurs when we believe we aren't in control, when we believe that hope is lost, when we believe that we can't make a difference. But the election proved how much we can change the world, how much we can accomplish when we act in unity with hope and optimism, when our world collectively believes that YES WE CAN CHANGE OUR DESTINY.

I have tried to move on, to concentrate on other causes, problems and issues in our world and my life, to not continue to push so actively to get this video "out there" more. But every time I lose hope and become pessimistic about our world, I listen to my own words in that video and I realize that Yes I can Change My Destiny and the world's destiny, that I can be part of that, that I'm not just a weak individual without a voice. I'm just as capable of changing our world as anyone. Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Mother Theresea, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Maria Montessori, Jonas Salk, Orville & Wilbur Wright, Barack Obama, yes, these are great people, but they are people, regular individuals that began with simply a dream, to change our world. When you look back through history, it's not countries or corporations that created transformative change, it was individuals. The power of the individual is stunning.

If anyone out there in the administration of Organizing for America listening please take a moment to watch this video. It's only 5 minutes. I'm a professional filmmaker, I promise you, it will be worth your time. This video was made as my service to America. But with "only" 130,000 + views (which is teeny tiny in the world of YouTube) which occurred mostly around January 20, 2008, this video is not inspiring anyone anymore. It could be inspiring millions right now to stand up and be part of the solution, not the problem, to realize one's own civic opportunity and responsibility, if Organizing for America would simply endorse this video and place it on their home page as a permanent fixture of inspiration.

Do not think I do this for any fame. I don't even want credit for this film. This project was entirely pro-bono and continues to be so. I simply want to help before my time on this Earth is over.

If you want to see more of what I do with film to try to help, please visit my "political activist" site (e.g. where i try to make a difference) My "MBMPRO" YouTube Channel

and the YouTube channel for My Production Company, MBM Productions International

Sincerely,

Steve Sulkin - Director & Activist...simply trying to make a difference

CEO, MBM PRODUCTIONS INT'L

ALL FOOTAGE IN THIS VIDEO WAS EITHER CREATED BY MYSELF AND MY PRODUCTION COMPANY, MBM, OR, AS IN THE CASE OF THE BARACK OBAMA FOOTAGE, WAS LICENSED THROUGH A STOCK HOUSE AND I HAVE FULL RIGHTS TO USE IT IN PERPETUITY.

It's been a long time....

Together We Stand for Change! formerly K. Bell — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:14:45 EDT

I have a confession to make. A confession that I'm ashamed of and that I know, if it weren't for the spirit and drive of my fellow Americans, a confession that may have ruined our journey, our promise, and our nation.

My confession? Is simply this, I've been on vacation since the election, and I see now that I couldn't afford to take one. The fate of this country, the state of the economy, and fighting the opposition to change is too important for any of us to take a vacation.

I am so proud of those of you who have not. Those of you who realized that in order for President Obama's agenda for change to come to pass, he needs all of us and he has needed all of us. Yes, I've signed petitions to senators to vote "yes" on the last two budgets, but through a simple email. I've read the reports and debated with friends, but there was so much more I could have done. Attended meetings, or made calls, send emails, and knock or doors, but thank God for the statement that President Obama uttered on more than one occassion, "I am my brother's keeper." All of you have kept me and helped to keep our promise, and now I'm back to join you and replace those others that may make the mistake as I have in thinking that our job is done. YES WE CAN!

Popular Initiative calls for removal of Bush appointee in Haiti

Jacob Fran�ois — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:25:14 EDT

Popular Initiative calls for removal of Bush appointee in Haiti

by Kevin Pina

HIP - A spokesperson for grassroots organizations aligned with Haiti's Fanmi Lavalas party demanded the Obama administration remove current US Ambassador Janet Sanderson. Reached by telephone in the capital of Port-au-Prince a leader of a group calling itself the Popular Initiative stated, "She is lying about last Sunday's elections by not acknowledging it was our boycott that kept voters away." He continued, "She claims it was because this was not a regular election year and that people may be tired of the political process. The only voter fatigue we have in Haiti is with undemocratic elections. Allow Fanmi Lavalas to participate and we'll show you the voters have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for an authentic democratic process. She is out of touch with reality in Haiti."
Haiti held controversial Senate elections last week that were boycotted by Fanmi Lavalas after all of their candidates were excluded on procedural grounds. Voters mostly stayed at home on election day after Lavalas launched a campaign called Operation Closed Door. The Obama administration is widely seen as having green lighted the contested elections after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Haiti three days prior to the ballot.
The Popular Initiative has also called for a re-evaluation of US policy in Haiti by the Obama administration claiming that its current direction is a holdover from the Bush administration. A second spokesperson in the conference call declared, "It is time for a real change in Haiti and that can only come by breaking with the past which means the policies of the Bush administration. A good place to start is with the removal of Ambassador Sanderson who was put in place by the Bush government."

They also blamed Ambassador Janet Sanderson for pressuring the Preval administration to issue arrest warrants for 42 of the organizers of the election boycott including five hunger strikers who were forced out of the parliament building by police earlier on Monday. "She made remarks on the radio that the organizers should be investigated. Since then several of our people have been forced into hiding including Rene Civil and Nawoon Marcellus. They have invented a new and bizarre charge, obstruction of democracy," concluded the spokesperson.
At a press conference yesterday, the Popular Initiative and other groups aligned with Lavalas announced they would step up the pressure for the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from exile in the Republic of South Africa. They declared May and June months of mass mobilization against elections that exclude Lavalas and to fight what they call the "growing misery and poverty as a result of the removal of our democratically elected president on Feb. 29, 2004."

ONLY 5% OF THE POPULATION IS READY TO CAST THEIR BALLOTS IN HAITI, REVEALS A SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE HAITIAN PRIORITIES PROJECT. IF FANMI LAVALAS WAS ADMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTIONS ON APRIL 19 2009, THE PARTICIPATION RATE WOULD BE AT 85%

Jacob Fran�ois — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:34:02 EDT

Monday, April 13, 2009
According to a survey conducted by Haitian Priorities Project, 70 members were allocated in ten departments within Haiti monitoring the progress of the electoral contests for April 19 2009. Based on the findings, only 5% 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. Two Consecutive lists were presented, one with the allowed names accepted by the Electoral College (CEP), and the other with the names of the candidates admitted by the CEP including those 12 candidates of Fanmi Lavalas. A great percentage of candidates admitted by the CEP, that the population is not familiar with, being aware of their names or presence in the upcoming elections in April. In the Nippes department, the majority who participated in the survey intend to stay home due to the inconsistency exhibited by the administration of President Préval and the international community wanting to practice exclusion, a system in which the people have been rejected since the fall of Duvalier 1986. The word of caution is that there cannot be credible elections with the exclusion of Lavalas. According to the statements received from individuals interviewed, hunger is rampant in the country, especially in Grand Anse, Central, North East, North West, South, West, Artibonite, and the Northwest of Haiti. In the West, no trend was developed on the ground in order to identify who is the likely winner for the April elections. Among 26,000 voters interviewed in the West Department, 95% find these elections were an aberration and a slap in the face of the people who took to the streets in order to elect Rene Preval President. Those voters interviewed did not understand why President Preval would want to have an election which excludes the most popular party in Haiti, Fanmi Lavalas. They reiterate the fact that they cannot endorse these elections if based on exclusions. The right to vote is a sacred issue due to the fact that countless numbers of people risked their lives to ensure that people can elect their own leader.

It is also noteworthy to mention that the people interviewed were able to differentiate between Lavalas and the Hope Party (LESPWA) of President Preval. According to data received, the incumbent Hope Party does not exist as a political party or grouping, but is only a leech living off Lavalas’ legacy at this time. People can tell the difference they said.
In the Grand Anse, frustration is increasing due to poor conditions of the roads; they emphatically stated that these elections are not a priority for them. They therefore promised to block any attempt by the government of President Preval to practice exclusion.
In the South, many have argued their concerns that Preval has promised to initiate an agricultural program in the area during his election campaign, and to this date, nothing has been done to alleviate the suffering of the poor in the area.
They believe the Center department is not given priorities in his governmental policies. The inhabitants of the Center have declared that they will not condone an unfair election; such violation could lead to their own demise. In the North, most people promise to stay at home, and it sound as if despite the large sum of money released for Moises Jean-Charles by Mr. Preval administration that, voters will this time take action so that no one ignore that Fanmi Lavalas is the undeniable force in the political arena in Haiti.

In the north-east and north-west, the candidates are not well known with the exception of Luke Fleurinord of the Party MIRN.

In the south-east, there was a fierce crackdown against the population. Lots of money was also distributed in order to buy the population votes from the incumbent party Lespwa. We at Haitian Priorities Project are currently cataloging incidents and or crimes committed by supporters and members of the party Lespwa in order to insure that these incidents never happen again. The survey was conducted by Haitian Priorities Project (HPP), from April 1 through 8 of this year among a sample of 65,000 people across the country. A margin of error was estimated at +or-3% in the national sample was noted.

www.hpp4haiti.com

Islamic Pirates & Jihad - Terror Connection

Maria from New York, NY — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 03:49:13 EDT

Islamic Pirates & Jihad - Terror ConnectionSomalia Standoff Generates US Policy Debate
Voice of America - ‎Apr 10, 2009‎
US officials said the group, which controls parts of Somalia, poses a dilemma. They point to its rapid expansion, ties between its leaders and the al-Qaida ...
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-11-voa12.cfmThe Pirates Challenge Obama's Pre-9/11 Mentality
Wall Street Journal - ‎Apr 10, 2009‎
As the eminent military historian Sir Michael Howard argued shortly after 9/11, the status of al Qaeda terrorists is to be found in a distinction first made ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123940383654409651.htmlSomali Pirates Tied to Jihad
Intellectual Conservative - ‎Apr 8, 2009‎
Since 2003, Somalia has witnessed the growth of a brutal network of Jihad with strong ties to Al-Qaeda. In fact, when the US forces faced a bloody battle in ...
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2009/04/08/somali-pirates-tied-to-jihad/---Commentary: Take fight to the pirates
CNN - ‎Apr 9, 2009‎
It is time to change strategy and take the fight to the pirates, as our military predecessors did with great success more than 200 years ago.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/09/wilkerson.pirates/Harper's Magazine - ‎Apr 9, 2009‎
Unconventional warfare, against an unconventional enemy. What a novel idea. We handled things better 200 years ago!
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/hbc-90004751Lessons From the Barbary Pirate Wars
New York Times - ‎April 10, 2009‎
We’re talking about the Barbary Wars, about 200 years ago, when pirates from the Barbary Coast (today’s Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya) hijacked ...http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/weekinreview/12gettleman.html?ref=africaSomalia: Direct connections about Somali pirates and Islamic extremists
Djibouti (HAN) April 10th, 2009 - Unied states regional based military officials and the Somalia Minister for Fisheries Professor Abdulrahman Ibbi, have found no direct ties between the Somalia Coast pirates and the International Islamic terrorist groups, such as Al-qa'ida or Al-Shabab, but continue to search for signs of links between the two factions in the wake of the Indian Ocean hostage incident; that is close of the Somali city of Kismayo, run by Al-Shabab and Al-Itihad groups. It was not clear whether officials were specifically scrutinizing the Somali pirates who boarded the Maersk Alabama on Tuesday and fled in a lifeboat after taking hostage the cargo ship's captain.
http://www.geeskaafrika.com/somalia_10apr09.htmSOMALIA: Why The Pirates Are Immune From Attack
Strategy Page - ‎Apr 9, 2009‎
There are over a thousand gunmen attached to pirate gangs in the north, although the group operating off the east coast pay "taxes" to al Shabaab for the ...
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/somalia/articles/20090409.aspx---October 02, 2008
al Qaida + Pirates = Jihad on the High Seas
Al Qaida has claimed responsibility for the increased pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia this year. So far this year there have been around 60 attacks against cargo ships in the Gulf of Aden, in 2007 there was 13. The islamic pirates are currently holding up to 300 crewmen hostage and 14 cargo ships for ransom.
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/194284.phpSomali pirates: Islamist insurgents demand weapons from hijacked ...Oct 6, 2008 ... The Islamist gunmen from the al Shabaab group opposing Somalia's weak ... British tourists narrowly avoid being captured by Somali pirates ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/somalia/3140884/Somali-pirates-Islamist-insurgents-demand-weapons-from-hijacked-ship.html

The US/Britain 200 Years war against Islamic pirates - terrorists

Maria from New York, NY — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:36:20 EDT

The US/Britain 200 Years war against Islamic pirates - terrorists

For young Somalis, piracy offers power, prosperity

The Associated Press

There are several known pirate groups in Somalia. One is based in the southern port town of Kismayo, which is controlled by Islamic insurgents. …
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iR9XICoYi0CQt77GJUw5lNAPpG_AD97EGS200

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Somali pirates seize American ship, crew … by Ed Morrissey Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates …one cannot get around what Jefferson heard when he went with John Adams to wait upon Tripoli’s ambassador to London in March 1785. When they inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American shipping … So here was an early instance of the “heads I win, tails you lose” dilemma, in which the United States is faced with corrupt regimes, on the one hand, and Islamic militants, on the other—or indeed a collusion between them. …
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/04/08/somali-pirates-seize-american-ship-crew/

A look back at history

Britain’s 200-year jihad (and US facing them)

Britain’s 200-year jihad There are many similarities between the stateless jihad of the 1700’s and ….. The pirate ships set sail for Algeria later that day, with the captives on …
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/008320.php

America’s Earliest Terrorists

Lessons from America’s first war against Islamic terror.

December 16, 2005, 9:55 a.m.

By Joshua E. London

At the dawn of a new century, a newly elected United States president was forced to confront a grave threat to the nation — an escalating series of unprovoked attacks on Americans by Muslim terrorists. Worse still, these Islamic partisans operated under the protection and sponsorship of rogue Arab states ruled by ruthless and cunning dictators.

Sluggish in recognizing the full nature of the threat, America entered the war well after the enemy’s call to arms. Poorly planned and feebly executed, the American effort proceeded badly and at great expense — resulting in a hastily negotiated peace and an equally hasty declaration of victory.

As timely and familiar as these events may seem, they occurred more than two centuries ago. The president was Thomas Jefferson, and the terrorists were the Barbary pirates. Unfortunately, many of the easy lessons to be plucked from this experience have yet to be fully learned.

The Barbary states, modern-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, are collectively known to the Arab world as the Maghrib (”Land of Sunset”), denoting Islam’s territorial holdings west of Egypt. With the advance of Mohammed’s armies into the Christian Levant in the seventh century, the Mediterranean was slowly transformed into the backwater frontier of the battles between crescent and cross. Battles raged on both land and sea, and religious piracy flourished.

The Maghrib served as a staging ground for Muslim piracy throughout the Mediterranean, and even parts of the Atlantic. America’s struggle with the terror of Muslim piracy from the Barbary states began soon after the 13 colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776, and continued for roughly four decades, finally ending in 1815.

Although there is much in the history of America’s wars with the Barbary pirates that is of direct relevance to the current “war on terror,” one aspect seems particularly instructive to informing our understanding of contemporary Islamic terrorists. Very simply put, the Barbary pirates were committed, militant Muslims who meant to do exactly what they said.

Take, for example, the 1786 meeting in London of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Tripolitan ambassador to Britain. As American ambassadors to France and Britain respectively, Jefferson and Adams met with Ambassador Adja to negotiate a peace treaty and protect the United States from the threat of Barbary piracy.

These future United States presidents questioned the ambassador as to why his government was so hostile to the new American republic even though America had done nothing to provoke any such animosity. Ambassador Adja answered them, as they reported to the Continental Congress, “that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

Sound familiar?

The candor of that Tripolitan ambassador is admirable in its way, but it certainly foreshadows the equally forthright declarations of, say, the Shiite Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the 1980s and the Sunni Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, not to mention the many pronouncements of their various minions, admirers, and followers. Note that America’s Barbary experience took place well before colonialism entered the lands of Islam, before there were any oil interests dragging the U.S. into the fray, and long before the founding of the state of Israel.

America became entangled in the Islamic world and was dragged into a war with the Barbary states simply because of the religious obligation within Islam to bring belief to those who do not share it. This is not something limited to “radical” or “fundamentalist” Muslims.

Which is not to say that such obligations lead inevitably to physical conflict, at least not in principle. After all peaceful proselytizing among various religious groups continues apace throughout the world, but within the teachings of Islam, and the history of Muslims, this is a well-established militant thread.

The Islamic basis for piracy in the Mediterranean was an old doctrine relating to the physical or armed jihad, or struggle.

To Muslims in the heyday of Barbary piracy, there were, at least in principle, only two forces at play in the world: the Dar al-Islam, or House of Islam, and the Dar al-Harb, or House of War. The House of Islam meant Muslim governance and the unrivaled authority of the sharia, Islam’s complex system of holy law. The House of War was simply everything that fell outside of the House of Islam — that area of the globe not under Muslim authority, where the infidel ruled. For Muslims, these two houses were perpetually at war — at least until mankind should finally embrace Allah and his teachings as revealed through his prophet, Mohammed.

The point of jihad is not to convert by force, but to remove the obstacles to the infidels’ conversion so that they shall either convert or become a dhimmi (a non-Muslim who accepts Islamic dominion) and pay the jizya, or poll tax. The goal is to bring all of the Dar al-Harb into the peace of the Dar al-Islam, and to eradicate unbelief. The Koran also promises rewards to those who fight in the jihad, plunder and glory in this world and the delights of paradise in the next.

Although the piratical activities of Barbary genuinely degenerated over the centuries from pure considerations of the glory of jihad to less grandiose visions of booty and state revenues, it is important to remember that the religious foundations of the institution of piracy remained central.

Even after it became commonplace for the pirate captains or their crew to be renegade Europeans, it was essential that these former Christians “turn Turk” and convert to Islam before they could be accorded the honor of engagement in al-jihad fil-bahr, the holy war at sea.

In fact, the peoples of Barbary continued to consider the pirates as holy warriors even after the Barbary rulers began to allow non-religious commitments to command their strategic use of piracy. The changes that the religious institution of piracy underwent were natural, if pathological. Just as the concept of jihad is invoked by Muslim terrorists today to legitimize suicide bombings of noncombatants for political gain, so too al-jihad fil-bahr, the holy war at sea, served as the cornerstone of the Barbary states’ interaction with Christendom.

In times of conflict, America tends to focus on personalities over ideas or movements, trying to play the man, not the board — as if capturing or killing Osama bin Laden, for example, would instantly end the present conflict. But such thinking loses sight of the fact that ideas have consequences. If one believes that God commands something, this belief is not likely to dissipate just because the person who elucidated it has been silenced. Islam, as a faith, is as essential a feature of the terrorist threat today as it was of the Barbary piracy over two centuries ago.

The Barbary pirates were not a “radical” or “fundamentalist” sect that had twisted religious doctrine for power and politics, or that came to recast aspects of their faith out of some form of insanity. They were simply a North African warrior caste involved in an armed jihad — a mainstream Muslim doctrine. This is how the Muslims understood Barbary piracy and armed jihad at the time, and, indeed, how the physical jihad has been understood since Mohammed revealed it as the prophecy of Allah.

Obviously, and thankfully, not every Muslim is obligated, or even really inclined, to take up this jihad. Indeed, many Muslims are loath to personally embrace this physical struggle. But that does not mean they are all opposed to such a struggle any more than the choice of many Westerners not to join the police force or the armed services means they do not support those institutions.

Whether “insurgents” are fighting in Iraq or “rebels” and “militants” are skirmishing in Chechnya or Hamas “activists” are detonating themselves in Israel, Westerners seem unwilling to bring attention to the most salient feature of all these groups: They claim to be acting in the name of Islam.

It is very easy to chalk it all up to regional squabbles, economic depression, racism, or post-colonial nationalistic self-determinism. Such explanations undoubtedly enter into part of the equation — they are already part of the propaganda that clouds contemporary analysis. But as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams came to learn back in 1786, the situation becomes a lot clearer when you listen to the stated intentions and motivations of the terrorists and take them at face value.

— Joshua E. London is the author of Victory in Tripoli: How America’s War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation (John Wiley & Sons, September 2005); for more about the book visit www.victoryintripoli.com.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/london200512160955.asp

Jihad in the Days of Jefferson
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961230585&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

When the Founding Fathers Faced Islamists May 27, 2008 … birth of US Naval power and the campaign against the Barbary pirates: …. that United States did not start the war with the Jihadists. …
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/when-the-founding-fathers-faced-islamists/

Sally Rovers incident, at the height of North African Arab Muslim pirates’ crimes against Christians, mainly British

Britain’s 200-year jihad

On my travels for the past few days, I have been reading a book which tells the story of a quite astonishing part of British history of which I was previously unaware. In ‘White Gold’, Giles Milton records the appalling details — gleaned,it appears, from a wealth of historical documents including diaries and letters — of a seaborne Islamic jihad against Britain which lasted for no less than two centuries.

From the early seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, thousands of British men women and children were kidnapped by Arab corsairs and sold into slavery in Morocco where they were kept in conditions of unspeakable barbarism. The astounding thing is that these British victims were not merely seized at sea where they ran the gauntlet of such pirates in places such as the Straits of Gibraltar. They were actually abducted from Britain itself.

Corsairs from a place in Morocco called Sale — who became known in Britain as the ‘Sally Rovers’ — sailed up the Cornish coast in July 1625, for example, came ashore dressed in djellabas and wielding damascene scimitars, burst into the parish church at Mount’s Bay and dragged out 60 men women and children whom they shipped off to Morocco. Thousands more Britons were seized from their villages or their ships and dispatched to the hell-holes of the Moroccan slave pens, from where they were forced to work all hours in appalling conditions building the vast palace of the monstrous and psychopathic Sultan, Moulay Ismail, who tortured and butchered them at whim. Most of them perished, but the book records the survival of a tenacious Cornish boy Thomas Pellow, who survived 23 years of this ordeal and whose descendant, Lord Exmouth, finally ended the white slave trade when he destroyed Algiers in 1816.

The book makes clear that this assault upon the British people (and upon Europeans and Americans who were similarly seized) was a jihad. The Sally Rovers, writes Milton, were called ‘al-ghuzat’– the term once used for the soldiers who fought with the Prophet — and were hailed as religious warriors engaged in a holy war against the infidel Christians who were pressurised to convert to Islam under threat of hideous punishment. What is even more striking was the response of the British crown. For almost two centuries, it made only the most ineffectual attempts to rescue its enslaved subjects. Those who had succumbed to the torture and inhumanity of the Sultan and converted to Islam were deemed to be no longer British and therefore outside the scope of any rescue. The pleas of Pellow’s parents were simply brushed aside. Popular outrage forced successive Kings to dispatch a series of feeble emissaries to try to get the Sultan to end this vile traffic and release the slaves, all to no avail.

But this went on for virtually two centuries. For almost 200 years the British state either sat on its hands or wrung them impotently while the Islamic jihad seized, enslaved and butchered its people. And then it appears, this staggering onslaught was all but airbrushed out of our history.

Food for disquieting thought.
http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/archives/001423.html

‘Pirates of Penzance’ redo? James Zumwalt

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Soon after winning independence from England, the United States faced another war. Muslim pirates operating off North Africa’s Barbary Coast were seizing U.S., as well as European, ships sailing in international waters, holding them for tribute payment or plunder.

In 1786, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, meeting in London with Tripoli’s Muslim ambassador to Britain, inquired as to the reason for such Arab hostility. Acknowledging their attacks were unprovoked, the Tripoli ambassador explained it was their right and duty under the Koran as faithful Muslim followers to plunder and enslave the unfaithful - with those Muslims dying in the process going to paradise. To stop the attacks, the United States initially agreed to pay the Barbary pirates tribute, equal to about 20 percent of government revenues. Only later did an indignant United States launch two wars against them, ending in victory in 1815 and no further payments. European nations, acting individually and collectively, suppressed pirate activity as well, with the French conquest of Algiers in 1830 providing the last nail in the Barbary Pirates’ coffin.

Today, Muslim pirates again sail the seas off Africa’s coast. Mostly Somalis, these pirates have already attacked more than 60 ships this year in the vicinity of the Gulf of Aden - almost 5 times more than occurred all last year. Pirates gain confidence as owners prove willing to pay ransoms for the safe return of ships and crews, much like the United States first did with the Barbary Pirates.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/02/pirates-of-penzance-redo/

New blog for Generation X-Y Democrats

Edward — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:23:40 EDT

Hi all. After working with many of you who are my age (late 20's) and have the same passion for politics, I felt inspired to start a blog from our point of view and a group where we can all relate. The blog is at http://www.generationxydemocrat.blogspot.com/ and I have also stated a Facebook group where we can all sound off at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=57528568002&ref=nf. I will comment and post all OFA activites on here as well. Please join the group, and also visit the blog to read and comment often. Thank you!

- Ed

Pledge Canvass - March 21, 2009

Edward — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:43:48 EDT

For those interested in participating in a pledge canvass on Saturday, visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gptbsq for details!

- Ed

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

WEBMASTER — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:16:23 EDT

Imagination Joined to Common Purpose

Message from The White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov

Dear David:

Thank you for your recent note, and for sharing your thoughts with me. Your kind words echo the messages of millions of Americans who have welcomed me and my family to the White House with an outpouring of goodwill.

On January 20th, Americans spoke with one voice, choosing hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. Our Nation faces serious challenges, but we will overcome them if our imagination is joined to common purpose.

Now is our time to work together, reaffirm our enduring spirit, and choose our better history. With your help, we will renew our Nation's promise to carry forth the great gift of freedom to future generations, as our forebears have delivered it to us.

Sincerely,
Barack Obama

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

Judy and Health Care

Ed Rafacz — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:18:10 EDT

I’m not going to talk about the fact that Judy Biggert voted against the Stimulus Package that is creating or saving around 3 million jobs. I’m not going to talk about how she voted lock step with Republicans whose Keynote address to CPAC was delivered Rush Limbaugh who stated he “Hoped America would fail” so he could be proved “Right.” I’m not even going to talk about how she is worth $6.73 MILLION and is in the top 20% of the Wealthiest Representatives in the United States. (Check out Sunday's Southtown Star page 21A) I am going to talk about the fact that she still pulls a pension… FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. This is a person voted to give herself a raise seven times in the last eight years. With the country in the worst financial shape since the Depression, why does she need to raise her salary in every year of the Bush Administration? Not to mention the fact that she is on the Committee On Financial Services which was in charge of protecting the Banking Industry. I guess what I am saying is I am fiscally conservative. I am responsible with my finances. I lost my pension and took a 40% pay cut. Why should you or I support politicians who still get pensions and health care and who have never walked a mile in the shoes of a working stiff like me.

I'm talking about Health Care. Judy, who is worth more than $6 Million gets FREE Health Care. FREE! And how much are you paying or Co-Paying, or giving to HMO's like United Health Care whose retirement package was worth $1.3 Billion. That's right, that was BILLION. And now you know where to payment increases are going. And Judy has done nothing about this for you or me. Maybe you would like to ask her why... in person.

The Democracy for America group have rallies on 18 Mar. Specifically--meetings w/Judy Biggert to express their dismay.

In the spirit of 'Pay it Forward,' I am going to give you the Top Ten List of Free Attractions in Chicago There are more Deals for you like this if you promise to tell your friends about this event. So please attend. It is March 18th,2009 from Noon to 1PM.

Chicago – Western Suburbs

Congresswoman Judy Biggert (13th)

6262 South Route 83

Willowbrook, IL 60527

To participate, contact Susan Hurley

at 312-913-9449 or shurley@cbhconline.org.

Chicago – Southside/South SuburbsCongressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (2nd)7121 S. Yates Blvd.Chicago, IL 60649 To participate, contact Knesha Rose, Healthcare Consortium of Illinois, at 708-841-9515 or krose@hcionline.org.

Metro EastCongressman John Shimkus (19th)240 Regency CentreCollinsville, IL 62234 To participate, contact Ken Aud, United Congregations of Metro East,at 618-451-1458 or kaud@hotmail.com.

Champaign-UrbanaCongressman Tim Johnson (15th)2004 Fox Drive Champaign, IL 61820 To participate, contact Josephine Kalipeni at 217-352-5600 or jkalipeni@cbhconline.org.SpringfieldCongressman John Shimkus (19th)3130 Chatham Road, Suite CSpringfield, Illinois 62704 To participate, contact Melissa Kane

at 217-352-5600 or mkane@cbhconline.org

WHAT: Join faith leaders and fellow constituents Out in Front of district offices and call on your representative to be Out in Front for health care reform! This respectful gathering will include interfaith reflection, local speakers and more! WHEN: Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 Noon – 1pm

So please tell everyone you know. Tell them it is Important. Tell them to Pay it Forward like these deals. Tell them how they can pay it forward is to pass this information along.Pay it forward for FREE.

Your Country needs you.

GOBAMA!

Similarities of dictators' tolalitarianism, Chavez & Islamofascists

Maria from New York, NY — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:26:59 EST

Similarities of dictators' tolalitarianism, Chavez & Islamofascists

'You better say I am "nice" or you are "out".'

__________

Dictator Chavez: "You better say I am "not" a dictator... or else.

Venezuela ousts EU politician for insulting Chavez
Story Highlights Venezuela ousts Spanish EU member Hugo Chavez's opposition had asked EU member to observe upcoming election Spaniard called Hugo Chavez a dictator Venezuelans to vote Sunday on whether to remove president's term limits CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) - Venezuela on Friday expelled a Spanish member of the European Parliament after he called President Hugo Chavez a dictator and criticized Chavez's handling of a referendum on term limits that the lawmaker had been set to observe.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/02/14/venezuela.chavez.expelled.dictator/

Islamofascism: "You better say Islam is 'peace', or else..."

Behead All Those Who Insult Islam by Michelle Malkin on National ..."Slay those who insult Islam. Butcher those who mock Islam."... They'll eventually pay lip service to The Religion of Peace

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MGI4MGU4NjUxZDRmZWQwOGEyMTA1NWM0NDcxYTcwYTQ=

Economic Recovery Meeting in Algonquin/LITH, Illinois

Edward — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:26:46 EST

In the hopes of being able to accomodate more attendees, I reserved a room at the local library to host an Economic Recovery Meeting on Saturday afternoon. I had used the room before when hosting a meeting to develop the Democratic Platform, and found that it served us well. The library allowed us to have a television in order to play the video created by Gov. Kaine.We had an attendance of 24 people, and all were involved. After watching the video, the group started asking questions that others were able to answer, and from this conversation we developed a host of ideas. The first idea was to develop a website for our area that would allow residents to view which companies were hiring as a result of government money received from the stimulus package. The group agreed that a "heads-up" on where people should be submitting applications may make the hiring process more accessible and more effecient. Everyone in attendance will be writing a letter voicing this idea, and these letters will be sent to the US Congressman for Illinois' 16th District, Donald Mazullo (R), along with every editor of every major newspaper in the area.The second idea was that the government should promote savings bonds so that the government may not have to borrow as much from overseas. If America is willing to borrow in order to invest in us, we should be willing to invest in America.After the meeting, several approached me and stated that we had to meet more often because "there is always a cause".I reminded myself that my county in Illinois, McHenry County, voted for a Democratic President for the first time since at least 1956 - that is as far back as the local paper, the Northwest Herald, had statistics for.It's good to know that the people here are still "Fired Up, Ready to Go".Edward RotchfordLITH for Obama group

Pay the Bill and Keep the CHANGE

Mark Wiznitzer — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 11:17:11 EST

Let’s be honest. We didn’t really expect Congress to come up with a "bold" stimulus plan, did we? But do we agree that NO action will only aggravate our current crisis?

The GOP surprised us when it failed to respond more constructively to the bipartisan overture from Barack Obama. I personally witnessed the precedent-setting bipartisan dinner for his defeated opponent (my photo of the President-elect at the dinner honoring McCain, January 19) and noted the subsequent meetings with Congressional Republicans. And what did we get in the way of proposals from the loyal opposition? More of the dogma-driven, supply-side ideology that contributed to our current mess: tax cuts!

On the other hand, GOP critics have a point: the bill that passed the House and was embraced by Obama essentially is an accumulation of favorite Democratic spending proposals.

What is missing is CHANGE. The CHANGE Obama advocated in his campaign for the Presidency. The CHANGE that won him a resounding mandate to govern for four years. The CHANGE from policies that have worked to benefit few and imperil many. Where are the first steps toward affordable health care, a sustainable green economy and alternative energy? And why are we not moving boldly to address the systemic failures that underlie the current crisis in credit markets?

Obama asked for ideas. And Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, among others, obliged. But what these brilliant men offer is predictable: rationales for orthodox Keynesian solutions and concern about labor market distortions, respectively. More is needed, not just in additional spending, but in fresh ideas that advance the President's policy agenda. So, if suggestions are still welcomed, here is my two-cents worth. And please do keep the CHANGE.

Health Care

Obama has promised the nation affordable health care similar to his own Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), to be available to all by the end of his first term. There is no need to back off this goal. Health care is one of the largest drags on our economy and the stimulus bill provides a real opportunity to begin managing its cost. In addition to the bill’s provisions to help state governments fund Medicare and work projects, I suggest that the federal government reimburse all state and local governments for their employer's share of health care for the rest of this year. In exchange, recipients may not fire government workers and must commit to integrating their health care plans with the existing FEHBP starting in 2010. That provides additional and immediate financial assistance to state and local governments, while paving the way for the establishment of a Public Employees Health Benefits Program. By January 2010, the federal government’s negotiated health care program would expand its base and economies of scale. The next step will be to apply the system to businesses, and subsequently to capture the un- and under-insured.

Energy Independence

Most honest leaders recognize that in due course government will have to produce the substantial additional revenue to pay for the stimulus. But good luck finding a politician willing to propose increasing taxes of any kind. So let me suggest instead a hefty tariff on imported oil to fund the “green economy.” A tariff of 50 percent or more on the landed cost of all imported energy (probably with some form of accommodation for our NAFTA partners) can be justified because of national security as well as the external costs to our environment inherent in the use of fossil fuels. And such a levy would promote conservation, subsidize domestic production, and help to fund and protect our investments in alternative energy. This is a measure that should be welcomed by Republicans who advocate "drill, baby, drill” as well as environmentalists interested in promoting clean energy. The windfall earned by American producers could be invested domestically or taxed as profits. And while there may be a marginal increase of fuel cost at the pump, it will pale in comparison with the amounts we forked over to foreign potentates rather than our own Treasury these past few years, when oil was effectively 200% greater than its current price.

Reestablish a ‘Risk-Free’ Investment Benchmark

Explanations for our current credit crisis and financial market meltdown abound, including the Washington Post's excellent series. But absent from all the expert analyses is any mention of the Treasury Department's October 2001 decision to discontinue issuing 30-year Bonds. That decision, on the heels of 9/11 and the cusp of Bush's costly war on terror, both lowered mortgage yields and prompted increased sales of bundled mortgages marketed as alternative 'risk-free' instruments, which in turn fueled the housing bubble and distorted both government and corporate credit point spreads. Treasury Bond auctions have resumed, but a clear provision to finance America’s recovery through borrowing would repair yield spreads – both between short and long term sovereign debt and in relation to all other debt instruments. Transparent budget financing will help re-establish more realistic risk pricing and global confidence in the US economy. But the 30-year Bond will not regain its position as a benchmark for 'risk-free' long-term investment if Fed meddling in the market, as it proposes to do with its planned purchase of Treasuries from troubled banks. In fact, this central-bankers-gone-wild approach will only create a greater Treasury bubble that will seriously aggravate our problems. Once markets are allowed to properly price the cost and risk of our recovery without Fed manipulation, global confidence in the US economy has a chance to be recover.

So Pay the Bill, and Keep the CHANGE

Barack Obama attended his last inaugural event, the Staff Ball, at the DC Armory on January 21. But he arrived after a performance by the opening act, Arcade Fire. So here are some insightful lysircs from their “Intervention”:

You say it's money that we need
As if we're only mouths to feed
I know no matter what you say
There are some debts you'll never pay

The message is relevant to the stimulus bill now before Congress.

We can act responsibly and cautiously if we:

Pay the Bill and Keep the CHANGE.

Silver Checkpoint Survivors – Many think It’s Just the Tunnel. They Have No Idea.

Steve Sulkin — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:25:13 EST

Sent to Senator Feinstein.

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein

United States Senate 331

Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 30510

January 22, 2009

Dear Senator Feinstein,

Re: Inaugural Event Mgt. Observations re Incidents at 56th Presidential Inaugural Ceremony

INTRODUCTION: THIS IS AN IMPORTANT LETTER REGARDING THE INAUGURAL CROWDS . I TRULY HOPE YOU PERSONALLY READ EVERY WORD OF IT AS I’M POSITIVE THAT INFORMATION CONTAINED HERE CAN SAVE LIVES IN THE FUTURE. IF OTHERS READ THIS FOR YOU, YOU WILL NOT GET THIS INFORMATION FIRST HAND. WHAT I SAW AT THE INAUGURAL WAS INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS. I FEEL A CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY TO PASS THIS ON TO YOU PERSONALLY AND ENSURE THAT THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.

If you do not see the entire report to Senator Feinstein you are on the "abbreviated" page of this blog. If so, please CLICK "READ MORE" below. Please pass on this post to everyone you know. We can all save lives. Thanks. Steve Sulkin

Organizing for America - Yes We Can (Change our Destiny)

Steve Sulkin — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:23:32 EST

My pro-bono organization can help millions want to work tirelessly for Organizing America. Pre inaugural, when I would say that, it was hard to distinguish my altruism from people who wanted to glom on to the presidency for self-aggrandizing. Distancing myself from them took effort. Now that the inaugural is over I hope my mission to help America will be more noticed.

Here’s background and what my pro-bono organization can do to help:

When I was in Grant Park and saw all the “Yes We Did” signs, I was concerned that the passion of involvement that existed during the election would fade to something much less post inaugural, when our world needs us.

I was so committed to not allowing that to happen, that I stepped down as CEO of my small, but successful family owned video production company in Chicago and created a pro-bono organization called "Yes We Can (Change our Destiny).”

Its simple mission is to “keep the passion of civic involvement alive.” I knew the administration would create structure for our involvement. But the President will be extremely distracted and will need us to proactively and independently work for change.

But we as human beings need rallying cries and inspiration to move us emotionally to want to get off our couch and work for our world.

My entire life I’ve created effective video that made my clients rich. I figure it’s about time I use my talents to help America. When I released our first 5-minute video days prior to the inaugural it became the #1 non-profit video on YouTube, 125,000 views in a couple of days, inspiring so many to keep the movement going. It was played at inaugural balls, covered by ABC, NBC and the papers. But it can inspire millions of people if the video was simply out there in a bigger way (such as on Organizing America’s website, on USAService.org. etc.).

I give this video (broadcast quality HD master tapes), free, to your organization, to the world, just for the asking. As President Obama said, we can “put our hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.” In other words, “Yes We Can (Change our Destiny).”

I’m confident you’ll be inspired. Please watch.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4srDYEPoqo

Contact me for the tapes if you desire them and /or my help

Steve.Sulkin@mbmproducdtions.com

224.588.0800 (cell)

FREE INAUGURAL TICKETS

WEBMASTER — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:16:17 EST

PIC Announces the Names of Ten Americans Invited to Receive a "Ticket to History"
More than 250,000 Individuals from All 50 States Submitted Essays

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced the full list of ten citizens who will travel to Washington DC with a "Ticket to History." More than a quarter-million Americans from all 50 states submitted essays for a chance to attend the Presidential Inauguration.

"This is an Inauguration for all Americans, and we wanted to include a group of people from across the country who otherwise might not have been able to join us," said PIC Communications Director Josh Earnest. "We're thrilled at the overwhelming response. It demonstrates the very real sense of excitement, unity and shared purpose Americans feel at this moment in our history."

In keeping with its goal to make this the most open and accessible inauguration ever, the PIC asked Americans across the country to submit short essays answering the question, "What does this Inauguration mean to you?" Based on the strength of their essays, these ten individuals will be flown to Washington, D.C. with one guest, accommodated in a local hotel, and invited to attend the Opening Celebration, the swearing-in ceremony, the Inaugural Parade, and the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball. The deadline to submit an essay was midnight on Thursday, January 8th.

Cynthia Russell, from Newberry, Florida, was previously announced as the first person invited to be part of the Inaugural festivities. Russell wrote of her dream that 2009 would be a better year for her homebuilding business. "Barack gives me hope," she wrote. "Hope that 2009 will truly bring change to Americans who find themselves in this mess with me."

The ten Americans traveling to the nation's capital next week include a firefighter who left his job in the financial sector to join the New York City Fire Department after September 11, a member of the United States Army whose husband is serving in Iraq, an inner-city school teacher in Baltimore, a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, and a small business owner from California.

The ten Americans invited to receive a "Ticket to History" include:

William Tandey (Price, UT)

Bill Ferguson (Baltimore, MD)

James Bryan (Loganville, GA)

Spirit Trickey-Rowan (Little Rock, AR)

Aleia Jones (Chicago, IL)

Christopher Cuneen (Bronx, NY)

Cynthia Russell (Newberry, FL)

Stacy Freiwald (Coronado, CA)

James Riviere (Arlington, VA)

Amelia Nuñez (Long Beach, CA)

The 56th Presidential Inauguration promises to be the most inclusive in history, and the PIC has planned a list of inaugural events that reflect that commitment:

The President-elect, Vice President-elect and their families will journey to the nation's capital via train on Saturday, January 17, holding events that are free and open to the public along the way. They will be joined by a group of everyday Americans they met along their road to the White House.

Sunday, January 18, an inaugural kick-off event at the Lincoln Memorial featuring the incoming First Family and special musical guests will be open to the public and broadcast live on HBO free of charge to all cable and satellite customers.

On January 19, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President-elect Obama will call on all Americans to make an ongoing commitment to serve their communities and their country. A new website, USAservice.org, makes it easy for Americans to organize service events or find existing events. To date, more than 10,000 events have been organized across the country.

Monday evening, January 19, Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, and their families will host a free "Kids' Inaugural" concert to honor military families, broadcast on the Disney Channel and Radio Disney.

For the first time in history, the entire length of the National Mall will be open to the public on Inauguration Day, January 20, so that more Americans than ever before can come together to witness the swearing-in of the President from a vantage point near the Capitol.

Local D.C. students have been given the chance to receive tickets for the Inaugural Parade for themselves and family members based on the best essays answering the question, "How can I contribute to my neighborhood through community service?"

On the evening of Inauguration Day, the first ball President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend will be the first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball. The ball will be broadcast live on ABC and over the Internet, bringing together neighborhoods across the country in the spirit of unity and celebration.

The sum of these public events is an Inauguration that allows more Americans than ever before to come together as one nation and one people, united in our resolve to tackle our greatest common challenges and move this country forward together.

source: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxbNc

INAUGURAL BLEACHER TICKETS

WEBMASTER — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:07:25 EST

Public Tickets Available for Inaugural Parade
5,000 Bleacher Seats Lining Parade Route to Go On Sale

Washington, D.C. -- The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced today that 5,000 tickets for the 56th Inaugural Parade will go on sale to the public at 1:00 PM EST today for $25 each. Tickets will allow spectators access to bleachers along the historic parade route from the Capitol to the White House. Tickets will be available for sale at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at 202.397.7328, 410.547.7328 or 703.573.7328.

Tickets will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis.

"We are very pleased to make these tickets available to the public as part of our commitment to holding the most open and accessible Inauguration in history," said Presidential Inaugural Committee Executive Director Emmett S. Beliveau. "The Inaugural Parade is a celebration of America, and we are working to make sure that as many citizens as possible can take part in this historic tradition."

Thousands of spectators will line the 1.7 mile parade route as the new President and Vice President are escorted from the Capitol to the White House by over 13,000 parade participants. Over 90 music, cultural and community groups will join representatives from our Armed Forces in the historic parade, which concludes at the presidential reviewing stand, where the President and Vice President will watch the processional with their families.

Tickets are limited to four per person for purchase. Tickets are not required to view the parade, but the purchase of tickets will guarantee spectators a seated spot along the parade route. Ticket holders must be in their seats no later than 1:00 PM EST on January 20th. Standing room will be available along Pennsylvania Avenue on a first come, first serve basis.

Earlier this month the PIC announced that hundreds of free parade tickets were being made available to Washington, DC students and their families.

DC residents can visit www.pic2009.org/page/s/dcstudentessay for more information on how to obtain those tickets. For the latest information on the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, please visit www.pic2009.org.

Questions on Change.gov

Trisha — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:22:03 EST

I have been reading through so many questions on Change.gov, and I have noticed so many questions that I look at and wonder...what was this person thinking.

So here are some thoughts I would like to express...

One...so many have asked the question "why do I have to pay for individuals who did things wrong, when I did everything right?" My question is why, because someone is caught up in this economic downturn, do you automatically assume that the person has done something wrong? What about the people who did everything right, but because of others greed, they are in trouble...why do you assume the people asking for help do not fall into that category?

My second thought...Maybe we should all take a step back and understand what a President can truely do. I understand, and partake in the excitement of a President who promises change from the same old politics, but all of the questions requesting things completely out of the control of a President does nothing to advance the cooperation that will be needed between the Government and the communities they serve. I understand that everyone has the right to ask what they choose, but questions that request the President to do things beyond his control are not productive.

Common questions I have come across...and my thoughts on them...Please give me your input...these are meant to get ideas going, so that we can be more proactive in our Government...

I have come across several questions that have had to do with legalizing Marijauna and taxing it the same way we tax cigarettes and alcohol. The common argument is that this would give an instant boost to the economy, both by the tax revenue this would raise and also by the billions of tax dollars saved in law enforcement costs each year. I personally see the argument, whether or not I believe in the cause, as a plausible way to stimulate the economy. What are your thoughts on this?

The next question that I have seen over and over is in regards to U.S. stimulus...Why not give a stimulus check to each American adult...the amount varries based on the questioner, but range from $30,000 each to 1 million each...included in the stimulus package to be voted on later this month. The arguement...That giving that much would allow those who have been hit hard to pay their mortgage payments and get bills caught up, and will then continue to stimulate the economy by spending, saving, or investing the rest. What are your thoughts on this?

The last question I am going to address here is whether or not we should abolish the current tax system and go to a sales tax instead of income tax system? I would like to hear all your ideas on this subjects as I am still trying to weigh the pros and cons of each. What are your thoughts on this?

The great part about this is that you can vote on which questions you want the Obama team to answer...with the questions that get the most votes being the ones they answer...if you have time you should stop by change.gov and answer a few...

INAUGURAL COMMITTEE ADVISORY

WEBMASTER — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:28:21 EST

WASHINGTON, DC - In the remaining weeks before the 56th presidential inaugural, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) will be issuing a series of advisories to help people who plan to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

The following is a special alert for those people who will have tickets to the swearing-in, but may have questions about getting to and from the event that morning. Because of the large crowds and the potential for inclement weather, those people with special needs are advised to pay careful attention to these details.

Timing

While the actual swearing-in will take place shortly before noon, the formal program begins at 11:30 AM and the musical prelude and seating will begin much earlier.

Security checkpoints will open for ticketed guests at 8:00 AM, and the committee advises arriving no later than 9:00 AM to ensure that you are through the checkpoints by the time the program begins.

Screening will end when the program begins at 11:30 AM and late arrivals will not be able to enter the grounds.

Getting to the Swearing-In

Getting to the swearing-in ceremonies that morning will be very difficult because of the large crowds. In addition to the 240,000 ticketed guests, a million or more people are expected to view the inauguration from the National Mall between 4th Street and the Lincoln Memorial, along with hundreds of thousands of others who plan on watching the Inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

We recommend planning ahead, but also caution that any plans made in advance should be double-checked in the days and hours prior to the event in case of changes to transportation schedules, street and other closures, and other factors that may impact your travel plans.

We also recommend developing back-up plans in case your original travel plans need to be changed at the last minute.

The District of Columbia's inaugural website will have the most up-to-date information on road closures and other travel alerts. We recommend that guests bookmark the site,

http://www.inauguration.dc.gov/index.asp, and check it frequently for changing information.

A security perimeter will be established around the U.S. Capitol and the parade route on or before January 20, 2009. Subway stations, bus stops, and streets within that perimeter will be closed. Street closures throughout Washington, D.C., will make traveling by car or taxi very difficult. Bridges from Virginia crossing the Potomac River into Washington, D.C., as well as major roadways from Maryland into Washington, D.C., may be closed to all but bus traffic.

Following are recommendations on how to get to the swearing-in ceremony:

Within 2 Miles of the U.S. Capitol
For those people who will be staying within 2 Miles of the U.S. Capitol, walking to the swearing-in ceremony will be the most reliable method of reaching the ticketed seated and standing areas. Be sure to carefully plan your return trip as well - it won't be possible to cross the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route, except at designated points and Metro will be extremely crowded. For some people bicycling may be an option to get close to the U.S. Capitol. While bicycles will be prohibited within the security perimeter on January 20, 2009, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) is working on a plan with city officials to have bike valet stations available outside the security perimeter near the swearing-in ceremonies and parade route. More information is available at: http://www.waba.org/index.php.

Beyond 2 Miles of the U.S. Capitol
Use public transportation to get you as close as possible to the U.S. Capitol and walk from there.

D.C.'s subway system will be running "rush-hour" service all day, but is expecting "crush-level" crowds. Be prepared to wait for space on a train for long periods of time, during which you will have to stand in close proximity to several thousand people. Many Metro escalators will be closed due to crowding and individuals will need to climb Metro stairs or wait to utilize the small number of elevators at Metro stations.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) plans to run Metrobuses on Inauguration Day. Check its website, www.wmata.com, for information regarding routes and schedules. As with any other travel planning for January 20, please allow extra time and prepare a back-up plan.

AMTRAK, www.amtrak.com, and regional commuter trains, Virginia Railway Express (VRE), www.vre.org, and MARC (Maryland) Commuter Train, www.mtamaryland.com/services/marc/, will be operating reserved trains on special schedules and are expected to sell out well in advance of January 20. Please visit their websites for more information.

Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities

There will be no vehicular access or parking in the areas around the Capitol on January 20, 2009. This includes vehicles with special disability license plates or tags. While there will be locations outside the perimeter of the Capitol that will be designated as drop-off points for persons with disabilities, traffic conditions and restrictions may make reaching these drop-off locations extremely difficult.

As noted above, public transportation is expected to be running at "crush capacity" and WMATA has informed us that while Metro Access will operate for its regular customers, they do not expect to be able to provide pick-ups for people after events.

There will be designated areas for people with disabilities in each of the ticketed seating areas on the Capitol grounds, however these areas are limited in size and available on a first-come first-served basis.Persons in wheelchairs or utilizing walkers should be aware that they will need to move across bumpy surfaces, grassy areas, and possible icy areas (depending on the weather).

Other Important Considerations

The weather in Washington in January is usually quite cold and often rainy or snowy. Please think carefully about whether you can stand outside in cold weather in a large crowd for up to six hours, and whether you are ready for long delays getting home afterwards.

Regardless of the weather conditions, umbrellas will not be permitted in the ticketed areas. Other prohibited items include, but are not limited to: Firearms and ammunition (either real or simulated), Explosives of any kind (including fireworks), Knives, blades, or sharp objects (of any length), Mace and/or pepper spray, Sticks or poles, Pockets or hand tools, such as "Leatherman", Packages, Backpacks, Large bags, Duffel bags, Suitcases, Thermoses, Coolers, Strollers, Laser pointers, Signs, Posters, Animals (other than service animals), Alcoholic beverages, Other items that may pose a threat to the security of the event as determined by and at the discretion of the security screeners

Bring with you any medications that you need because there will be very long delays in getting to and from events.

Be aware that it may be difficult to talk or send pictures from your cell phone, according to wireless companies. Please use text messaging to send critical messages.

THE YES WE CAN (CHANGE OUR DESTINY) PROJECT

Steve Sulkin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:10:55 EST

Learn how you can help the BarackObama.com
Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) project

Either attend the PRESS EVENT, sign up for the event at:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/communityservice/gptc2c

OR

If you can’t make the event in Chicago, please read below and see how you can effect change with a single click:

CLICK BELOW. LISTEN. BE INSPIRED. PASS IT ON. SIMPLE.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwspAagg8uw

How this movement began:

53 year old Steven Miles Sulkin, Chicago producer and founder of the "Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) Project," was so encouraged by the phenomenon of the 10’s of millions of people who were inspired by President Elect Obama to bring about change to our world, that he has put aside nearly all of his responsibilities and has vowed to devote himself to help keep that potent force alive. He believes our world needs us now more then ever, to, as the famous quote says, "ask not what our country can do for us…"

The group's mission statement was inspired by what President Elect Obama said on November 4th at Grant Park:

We have an opportunity to put our hands “on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope for a better day.”

Project #1: Create a video that begins to bend the arc of our immediate future by inspiring millions to understand that if they act together as a group to help our world, that “Yes We Can (Change our Destiny).”

Spurred on by supporters and friends, self-funded with money he doesn't have and shouldn't have spent, Steven brought in 40 of the nation's top video artists, musicians and "philosophical confidants" and on December 7th at The Chicago Recording Company, created in a marathon 17 hour session, the "Yes We Can (Change our Destiny)" video.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwspAagg8uw

The film is so compelling that it is already becoming a visual and musical rallying cry for change post the election, much as Will.I.Am's video inspired a nation to bring about change before the election.

Steven is confident that this video along with other events in Washington D.C. during the inaugural will re-ignite the 4 million people coming to D.C., and that in turn will re-engage the country and the world to bring about real change our world so desperately needs.

Steven will be attending the inaugural in Washington D.C. He wants no fame or fortune. He just wants to make an impact on this world and feels that this project is his calling; that his entire life has been on a path for this moment.

PRESS EVENT: Yes We Can (Change our Destiny)
Thursday, January 8th, 2008
Chicago Recording Company
232 E. Ohio Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Studio 4
10:30am - 11:30am

Invited: The Chicago news media, both print and television, all musicians, artists, engineers, and friends involved in this project, Obama supporters from BarackObama.com, and all those who want to effect change in our world, are invited.

SPACE IS VERY LIMITED. Please R.S.V.P as soon as possible.

The purpose of the event is to officially launch the "Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) Project" which is dedicated to the belief that there are numerous destinies in our collective future and we, through our actions or inactions, choose a path for our lives.

Our goal is to re-ignite the passion inspired by President Elect Barack Obama to be actively involved in the shaping of our collective future.

Please R.S.V.P. to Steve.Sulkin@MBMProductions.com
Or on this website in the event section.

Thank you once again everyone for your incredible talent and dedication to this project and please continue to help the video go viral by forwarding it to everyone you know and asking them to do the same.

This is an official BarackObama.com event through the BarackObama.com website.

Watch the video. Pass it on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwspAagg8uw

Peace,

Steven Miles Sulkin

YES WE CAN (CHANGE OUR DESTINY) PROJECT - NEW VIDEO!

Steve Sulkin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:00:16 EST

There have been many "Yes We Can" songs and videos out there and most have not risen to the quality of will.i.am

But this NEW VIDEO, see link below to "Yes We Can (Change our Destiny)", has that same potential to inspire millions to act, to be involved, to re-engage.

Read on and help this video get to the inaugural to be played via videotape or live. I want no fame or fortune. I just want to make a difference and I know this song and video can. You'll see when you watch it.

The “Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) Project” was created to help ensure that the collective energy of 10’s of millions of people who were inspired by President Elect Barack Obama will be re-kindled on inauguration day to even greater heights (because our world needs us now more then ever).

Watch the Video and help Change Our Destiny. Be inspired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwspAagg8uw&feature=channel_page

Inspire millions more by passing this video on. Make it go viral. Help it be played at the inaugural.

This video is the output of a singularly special experience created on a single day in Chicago by a group of people who are as talented as they are inspired.

Inspiration is the most powerful force in the world. You can help re-ignite it. We’ve seen that simple actions multiplied by millions can create real change. Your one simple action of sending this video to everyone you know, and they in turn sending it to everyone they know, will once again, inspire millions.

As President Elect Obama said on November 4th at Grant Park, we have an opportunity to put our hands “on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope for a better day.”

Join the movement. Send the video to everyone you know and ask them to do the same.

Yes We Can.

Change our Destiny.

---

The Yes We Can Change Our Destiny song and video was written, produced, directed and performed by Steven Miles Sulkin and with nearly 40 of Chicago’s and the nation’s top musicians, filmmakers and engineers. It was recorded (interestingly, though accidentally) on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th, 2008 at The Chicago Recording Company and written on November 2nd, 2008. It is our hope (but a hope that can only be possible with your help) that this song will be played live or via video at the inaugural, so as to re-inspire 10’s of millions that “Yes We Can” wasn’t about winning an election, it was about winning back our world and shaping a new destiny.

(note: The President Elect Barack Obama footage from Grant Park is legally and fully licensed from a stock footage source).

Peace,

Steven Miles Sulkin

HELP THE “YES WE CAN (CHANGE OUR DESTINY)” PROJECT

Steve Sulkin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:15:31 EST

PLEASE HELP THE “YES WE CAN (CHANGE OUR DESTINY)” PROJECT

Please visit, rate and support the YouTube link at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubuLF4ZrTFg&feature=channel_page

Others have already begun to take this song and add pictures and inspiration, see this link below as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0UWZ7uO6SA&feature=channel_page

I hope you take a moment to read this blog to understand a very important project I’m working on that I need everyone’s help with.

Here’s some background…

When I left Grant Park after President Elect Obama’s victory, I was carrying with me a “victory” song that I wrote (I’m a video producer, head of a family owned production company based in Chicago and am a pianist / professional musician).

But as I walked up Michigan Avenue on the way back to the Obama Headquarters hotel at the Hyatt, the “Yes We Did” signs caused me concern, as I’m sure it caused many people concern. Because we know all too well that the real journey still lies before us. And that if we don’t inspire the electorate again, we cannot change our world (and our world I fear is on a precipice in great need of our collective help).

So I put away my victory song, as I did not want to infer to anyone that our mission was somehow complete.

Over the next few weeks I became even more deeply concerned that all the potential energy that was harnessed by Mr. Obama would be lost forever and most of it never rekindled.

I’m a 53 year-old cancer survivor and father of four beautiful children. My wife and I endured the loss of eight babies in utero as we tried to make our family. My father lived through the holocaust in WWII in Poland. I give you these examples to tell you that I know something about both joy and suffering. But I also know that if people band together, that we can, through hope mixed with hard work and powered by inspiration, dig our way out of even the worst circumstances.

So I vowed to do my part for our country and our world by re-writing my “victory” song so as to turn it into a forward looking piece entitled

“Yes We Can (Change our Destiny)”

I got together 30 of the country’s best musicians, arrangers, director’s of photography, lighting designers, engineers and more, and on December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day (interestingly enough) spent 17 straight grueling hours laying down the music tracks and filming the production at CRC (Chicago Recording Company). At 5am, we all rolled out of there tired, but inspired.

What came out of that session surprised even me. It was as though (and I don’t mean to sound too “out there”) I was a participant in my own writing, as though inspiration was writing for me. For example, I do not typically write gospel inspired music, it is not my background. But a Pop / Gospel inspirational piece poured out of me. It’s possibly the best work I’ve ever done. I’ve sent the audio tracks to thousands who were immediately inspired beyond words. It still inspires me each time I listen to it (and typically I can't even look at whatever I created for about a year)! It’s amazingly uplifting and I believe it has the potential of inspiring millions, causing them to understand that we must all help our society by staying passionately involved. Will.i.am inspired millions of people to vote. He's a famous guy and that helped his cause. I'm not a famous guy. I'm just a guy, but I want to inspire millions of people to do something even more difficult, to keep their passion alive over the long term.

If you would like an advance copy of the song as an MP3 simply email me at Steve.Sulkin@MBMProductions.com.

Please forward the MP3, forward my passion, my words, and if you like the song and you agree with my ideas, your passion as well, to everyone you know, and implore them to do the same. This is the only way this will get out there.

On December 19th, 2008, the video will be complete and I’ll then send you a link to it. I would like to ask you simply to email that link to everyone you know, to ignite the fire that is within all of us and ask them to do the same.

In closing, I would like to say that I’m sure there are still 10’s of thousands, if not 100’s of thousands of people who care and are working hard for the common good of man. But I fear only a small percentage of the involvement of what we saw prior to the election is currently taking place.

President Elect Barack Obama is relying on all of us to come out of the woodwork again. I suspect that a "what you can do for your country" type speech is what the President elect will give on January 20th. I want to help in my small way by getting this song out there to inspire us to ask not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country (and our world) as the President I grew up with, when I was just five years old, so many years ago, inspired me to realize. Barack Obama has now brought that President (and more) back for me. I'm lucky enough, to once again, take part in a great moment in history.

Join Me In Helping to Change our Destiny,

Steven Miles Sulkin

Songwriter, pianist, film producer and newly self-discovered political activist

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing"

Florida 4 Obama

freedom4u_n_me — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:30:43 EST

I just wanted to let all of you know that I'm in Florida for the winter!

I'll be involved here (looking for fellow supporters in the Daytona Beach area!) and I'll see you in the spring!

I know all of you will keep up the great work that you do and volunteer in your community this holiday season!

Gail/freedom4u_n_me

WE CAN FIX HEALTHCARE IF WE SIMPLY APPLY LOGIC

Steve Sulkin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:27:50 EST

To me the healthcare “mess” we are in is less complex of an issue then it is made out to be if one approaches it as a question of logic.

And that logic begins with the inspired simple question asked during the debate: Is healthcare a right or a privilege? President Elect Barack Obama answered with just the tiniest trace of hesitation (in my mind, maybe perceived) but came clearly down on the side of the position that it is a right. Period. By answering that way, he set into motion a set of logical conclusions that I believe he (and we) must all follow.

If is a right, it must be affordable for everyone. And the only way that can happen is that if it is

1. Regulated

2. Subsidized

My clients are mostly pharmaceutical companies (I’m the CEO of a meeting planning and AV production company in Chicago). I see pharma as a typical company fueled by profit, which is not of course, wrong. And I see like many other company’s executives, pharma executives getting enormous amounts of money due to stock options, sales bonuses and inflated pay (again, not wrong per se and not unique to healthcare).

While the drugs themselves cost a lot of money to research, develop and market which most people don’t realize, clearly, if the employees earned less, the drugs would cost less. But what motivation is there for that to happen? Profit is the end goal of capitalism.

No one is telling the manufacturers of other industries that owning their product is a right and therefore they should take less salary. It’s not a right to own a Porsche. One can simply buy a Toyota if they can’t afford a Porsche.

But the issue of course with healthcare is that one can’t choose to not own the best healthcare. If you don’t “own the best” in healthcare, you die. That’s why it’s a right. And that’s where government must step in. Just as we can’t have streets without stoplights, we can’t have a health (or a financial) system without control and subsidy. And we must all pay for that subsidy through taxes, “universally.”

But, of course, the control can’t squash capitalism, nor can it punish companies for making a, what is deemed by the regulators, to be a fair profit. It must simply enforce regulations and provide subsidizations so that affording health care isn’t a burden. And government should ensure that whether you live or die isn’t dependant on how much money you have. That is simply wrong. We all have an equal right to live.

I sense that Mr. Obama feels this same way and I entrust to him create a system that we can all afford. I own two small businesses and health care costs is driving one of my businesses out of business and the other one it is burdening.

We can blame pharmaceutical companies (though personally I’d blame insurance well prior to pharma), but the real blame is the lack of a healthcare model that works. Socialism isn’t a bad word. It just means the government will help us. So call it what you want, but I pay taxes and what I expect out of that is to get the same healthcare that the President of the United States will get. I’m confident, Mr. Obama, feels the same way.

OBAMA FOR ILLINOIS

WEBMASTER — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:26:49 EST

Addison * Algonquin * Alsip * Alton * Antioch * Arlington Heights * Aurora * Barrington * Bartlett * Bartonville * Batavia * Beach Park * Belleville * Bellwood * Belvidere * Bensenville * Benton * Berwyn * Bethalto * Bloomingdale * Bloomington * Blue Island * Bolingbrook * Boulder Hill * Bourbonnais * Bradley * Bridgeview * Broadview * Brookfield * Buffalo Grove * Burbank * Burr Ridge * Cahokia * Calumet City * Calumet Park * Canton * Carbondale * Carol Stream * Carpentersville * Cary * Centralia * Champaign * Channahon * Charleston * Chatham * Chicago * Chicago Heights * Chicago Ridge * Cicero * Clarendon Hills * Clinton * Collinsville * Columbia * Country Club Hills * Crest Hill * Crestwood * Crete * Crystal Lake * Danville * Darien * DeKalb * Decatur * Deerfield * Des Plaines * Dixon * Dolton * Downers Grove * Du Quoin * East Alton * East Moline * East Peoria * East St Louis * Edwardsville * Effingham * Elgin * Elk Grove Village * Elmhurst * Elmwood Park * Evanston * Evergreen Park * Fairview Heights * Flossmoor * Forest Park * Fox Lake * Frankfort * Frankfort Square * Franklin Park * Freeport * Gages Lake * Galesburg * Geneseo * Geneva * Glen Carbon * Glen Ellyn * Glencoe * Glendale Heights * Glenview * Glenwood * Godfrey * Goodings Grove * Granite City * Grayslake * Greenville * Gurnee * Hanover Park * Harrisburg * Harvard * Harvey * Harwood Heights * Hawthorn Woods * Hazel Crest * Herrin * Hickory Hills * Highland * Highland Park * Hillside * Hinsdale * Hoffman Estates * Homewood * Inverness * Island Lake * Itasca * Jacksonville * Jerseyville * Joliet * Justice * Kankakee * Kewanee * La Grange * La Grange Park * La Salle * Lake Bluff * Lake Forest * Lake Zurich * Lake in the Hills * Lansing * Lemont * Libertyville * Lincoln * Lincolnshire * Lincolnwood * Lindenhurst

GENERATION O

WEBMASTER — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:59:08 EST

The continuous expansion of HOPE THROUGH GENERATION O rest on the continuous support of active participants. Obama 'Generation O' members include –

AFRICAN AMERICANS for Justice
AMERICANS OVERSEAS
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
ARAB AMERICANS for Freedom
ASIAN AMERICANS for Human Rights
COLLEGE STUDENTS for Education
CONSERVATION Groups
FAITH, FAMILY AND FELLOWSHIP Assemblies
GENERATION O for Opportunity
JEWISH AMERICANS for Civil Rights
GOP For Obama
LABOR UNIONS for Better Pay
LATINOS for Fairness
NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES
OBAMA KIDS for a Better World
OBAMA FARMERS for a Better System
OBAMA SENIORS for Social Security
OBAMA VETERANS for Peace
OBAMA WOMEN for Women
WORLD STUDY BIBLE
and the ANGELS MESSAGE

GENERATION OBAMANATION SEARCH QUERIES
Altavista | Google | Lycos | MSN | Yahoo

Offering to play the inauguration.

Bergevin Brothers — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:35:14 EST

Hello all,Congratulations on a job well done, getting Barack elected. It's been a huge effort and a lot of work, but we did it!We are the creators of the now very popular internet hit "Fired Up, Ready To Go". This summer, we went to Denver, were we released our Obama-inspired album 'Seven Songs For America & One For The World'. Since we've been to the convention, we have performed at the "Women For Obama - Band Together" fund raiser at the Museum of History And Industry and helped raise over $85,000 for Barack Obama's election. We also played for Governor Christine Gregoire at an event for the 48th district up at New Castle Golf Club. Patrinell Wright the leader for the Total Experience Gospel Choir just sang for Vice President Al Gore and the governor two weeks ago at a fund raiser for the governor downtown Seattle.Our music (and us) has been included in a new documentary already available in Block Buster stores Nationwide called "Barack Obama: Who is this guy?". Two weeks ago, we were given the opportunity to submit a new piece of epic American music for the same documentary that is now being repackaged for distribution in theaters nationwide by Universal Pictures with the name "Barack Obama: The man and his journey" for release this winter. The music is called "I Am An American". We poetically just finished the vocal (choir) work on election night (November 4th, 2008) and were in fact in the studio until 5:30AM on the night of the election with 75 voices from two choirs. The music features original composition by my brother and I and the arrangements for full band, brass and strings by me.I have just spoken with Patrinell Wright the leader for the Total Experience Gospel Choir. We are confident that our contribution to the democratic party and the election of Senator Barack Obama and Governor Christine Gregoire has been very substantial based on the internet hit "Fired Up, Ready To Go", our personal relationship with Miss Edith Childs (the women from South Carolina that started the 'Fired Up!' chant and appeared with Barack many times, our appearance at Key Arena in February for Barack's rally, our relationships we've developed with Obama HQ and other key players around the country, the inclusion of our music in two DVD's that the Obama Campaign has been selling called 'The Road To Change' our album being sold as a relief effort for Gulf Coast survivors, and being sold at the Obama HQ in Texas by Molly Hatchey the state director there and our inclusion in the documentary both in Blockbuster stores and soon in theaters around the country. We feel that the effort is worthy of proposing the idea of representing Washington State at the Inauguration celebration in Washington DC in January 2009. We feel that we embody the energy, passion and commitment that Barack spoke of last night in his history acceptance speech (that we viewed with 80+ people in the recording studio last night on a big screen TV to the sound of cheers and tears of joy) and would love to have the idea get posed in the right channels.

We'd like to play our music at the inauguration for Barack Obama and represent Washington State and it's creative music community at this historical event. The piece we did last night is fitting for the event. You can listen at www.BergevinBrothersMusic.com. Of course, we could always play "Fired Up, Ready To Go" for fun, since the country needs to stay fired up and ready to go. The entire group of people I work with are excited to participate and need help connecting with the group planning the event. Any help any of the readers of this letter can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Respectfully,Jon Bergevin
www.BergevinBrothersMusic.comemail me: jon@bergevinbrothersmusic.com206-818-2632

Thank you LORD God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:53:52 EST

President Elect Barack Obama achieved success because it was all in God's will. God had clearly earmarked him for the win and effectively gave him the success.

Praise be to God.

Amen and Amen!

LET US CONTINUE THIS WEBSITE FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE

Steve Sulkin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:58:39 EST

As President Elect Barack Obama has expressed in so many words, this is the beginning of a journey, not the end of one. I encourage all of you in the ether to continue blogging, raising awareness, fostering hope and creating change by giving your time and your money to good causes in our government and in the private sector of our world.

I fully expect President Obama to keep this site up and running, so that we, an army of supporters can be there to help at a moment's notice. Let us grow this army to 10's of millions of good people for change.

What it Means! Living Monumental Lives: Hope, Inspiration and Community!

Ricky Fico — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:57:37 EST

Living a Monumental Life Guarantees Monumental Rewards! Living Monumentally Enriches The World And An Enriched World Guarantees Us All The Greatest Rewards.

As a few of you who may know me well enough, perhaps you'd understand what I am trying to accomplish... Because of the bounty of circumstances in my life (a few that may be deemed inexplicable) I have sought answers. Not only to my mere existence but answers to the chain of events that led me to where I am today....

For those who had read some of my memoirs, such as The Bookcase you'd perhaps understand the reasons why I am more of an inspirational writer than anything else.

You see, my life was wrought with uncertainties, but for the longest time, I didn't understand the reasons why. But after looking clearly at my life and the myriad of events that defy convention or coincidence I have come to the conclusion as to why I am here.

No, I am not God, I am not Jesus.... What I am, though, is perhaps what I've always been --- a messenger! And to fulfill my role as messenger I had to waddle my way through one heck of an obstacle course. I know now the reasons why though -- to make me stronger, to provide me with a greater understanding, to provide me more compassion, to provide me the many tools that would help me fulfill my duties. Today's world is much more complex than it was then!

And let me clarify a point. For the longest time I was numbed to my existence by alcohol etc. and it really wasn't until September 11, 1992 that I was awakened although I had been presented many signs previously and I thought then merely coincidence or simple serendipity, ah, but we all have those special moments, don't we?

I know there are messengers on this planet, though a few of you may disagree, that is OK. Before the "soul-alerting chain of events" in my life and before I was provided greater awareness and greater understanding I, too, was skeptical. Before the many serendipitous encounters and parallel events in my life with those on the greater world stage I, too, wasn't sure of my purpose here.

We are on the threshold of what I deem "The Golden Renaissance" a time of rebirth, a time for us to utilize our God-given gifts, creativity and know-how to beautify this world, our world, our children's world. This requires dedication, hard work and belief in the common good. I, again, cannot stress enough the importance of community -- the joining of hands, hearts, souls to help maintain balance....

The idea of this very network was provided to me in a dream - a dream so vivid, so real that I soon realized that it wasn't a dream after all. This is reality, you are my reality, I am your reality and together we represent a great and monumental reality -- one that will bear witness to positive transformation and change.

Living a monumental life doesn't mean possession of financial fortune or living in the spotlight of public adoration and fame, what I think it means is that you act in accordance with your own identity while acting in ways that are positive and conducive to happiness, serenity and harmony. What I think it means is that you generate positive energies and in turn, your positive energies have a positive effect on others. Linkin' Monuments-- a positive chain of energy! Share your positivity with others. It is contagious.

Although I dealt with a lot of negative forces in my life and been burdened with many, many disappointments and met many dead-ends, I still retained a sense of optimism and a sense of purpose. Overcoming many challenges provides strength, provokes an amazing sense of accomplishment and being.

One of my favorite quotes that I penned most recently states: "You really shouldn't wonder so much what your life might have been but put into action what you want your life to become." Ah yes, for us who had rocky origins and detoured lives we mustn't look at that aspect in a negative light but instead, place it in a positive light and let it shine on us brightly today. Let's not begin our lives with yesterday: let us begin our lives with today.

Since I had been provided many, many signs as to what role I have on this planet it is incumbent on me to deliver to you what I've been given and it is my greatest hope that you'd do the same. Each one of us has so much to offer. I've aways known this but during the last 16 years, since September 11, 1992 it has been made so much clearer to me...

I am inspired by you as I hope, at times, you are inspired by me!

More On Inspiration:

Each one of us is inspired by forces beyond ourselves; each one of us finds inspiration through acts of others, through nature, through art, music - the list goes on. Inspiration is a catalyst of growth, success, happiness and without it, we would be nothing but mere entities, devoid of soul, devoid of substance...
*****

It is my philosophy that if we strive to live "monumental lives" we are, in essence, looking at those who had made such a positive impact in this world as exemplars, as inspirations.

Those such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Mother Theresa not only lived monumental lives but they, too, believed that each one of us could live monumentally as well. And why is that? Firstly, because they believed in equality. They believed in the human spirit. They believed in the "good of humankind." They not only believed in themselves but they believed in their brothers and sisters. If they didn't believe that each one of us was capable of exacting change then their efforts would've been futile and they'd turn their focus toward a lesser horizon.

To live a monumental life, all one has to do is look toward the greater horizon and use his or her God-given gifts to reach that horizon. And in doing so, perhaps inspire others to do the same.

My simple philosophy: "A foundation is but the base and it is the collection of building blocks that creates what many should strive to ascend."

Just like Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi and countless others, each one of us had been provided the foundation. It is up to us to build upon the foundation. And in doing so, maybe, just maybe, we offer hope to others as well. That is living a monumental life!

"The life you lead is the same one that you must follow."
Ricky J. Fico

Congratulations, Please Donate to a Worthy Cause Tax Deductible

Jacob Fran�ois — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:00:54 EST

We are currently mobilizing funds for our projects in Haiti, if you can, please make a donation. If not, forward our request to your lists on our behalf.

Project 2000 International, Inc. has its core service as education. We believe that if people are educated, opportunities will result. We have now began to grow beyond our core service by providing health services, agricultural education, micro-credit and training schools in order to develop a sustainable entrepreneurial revolution in Haiti. Please, help us in securing funding for our programs.

We are a 501c3 organization; your donations are tax deductible

http://www.project2000international.org/eng_agriculture.htm

http://www.project2000international.org/eng_credit.htm

Ripples

Ricky Fico — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:40:50 EST

You know, as a small child, an inquisitive child, one of the first books that I ever lifted before my eyes was "Yes, I Can" by Sammy Davis Junior. Not too long after, I had a chance to meet Sammy Davis. He wasn't black, he wasn't white, he was just like me- a human being with a conscience, with a heart. No different than my dear friend, Barack Obama, who by the way, will unequivocally lead this country in the right direction. It is time, it is our time!

The night before last, I saw a glimpse of the past
and beheld in my gaze the days of my youth
The night before last I gathered the dust
that had been swept beneath my bed
And held it in my hands

The night before last I grasped the filings
of days long ago forgotten
Tactile sediment laced with memories
of youthful endeavor
To have again in my hands the past
was like finding buried treasure

The night before last, I saw a child’s eyes
as bright as the light of the stars above
The night before last I saw myself looking
In the mirror of life
Through the haze of years gone by
I saw a child standing by the river

The night before last, I walked along the river’s edge
until I came upon a stone
I picked it up and held it in my hand
It was the same stone that I once held as a youth
I tossed it into the river and watched with delight
the ripples it caused.

Ricky J. Fico

CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!

Ravi — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:22:31 EST

FINALLY... THE DAY HAS ARRIVED !!!

LET'S EMBARK ON THE JOURNEY THAT BEGINS THE CHANGE... NOW!

Obama and Me (An Epiphany)

Ricky Fico — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:25:39 EST

Barack Obama came from Hawaii to Chicago to begin his life while I was leaving Chicago for Hawaii to end mine.

Epiphany

It was September 11 when God Himself, came down and saved me. It was a drastic measure, but one necessary to prevent me from walking into the mighty Pacific without looking back. It was my way, the only way.

Oh, beautiful Kauai, my heaven on earth! It would be there where I'd take my last glass of wine, my final shot of scotch and my last breath. I had planned it so well, I thought. I had booked a flight from Chicago to arrive Kauai on September 12, 1992 - the day before my final birthday - September 13. I wanted to perform my "dead man walking" on my birthday. You all know the story, "Leaving Las Vegas," right?

That is the movie where the character played by Nicolas Cage goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. Well, I was "Leaving Kauai" and why, you may ask. Because I had grown tired of witnessing all the pain and suffering in this world, the cruelty, the disregard for each other. Also, I had enough of my own struggles, the constant battles fighting my alcoholism, the harsh memories of finding my father dead after he had died about three days before I had gone to visit him. I also had enough of the past, my past where every turn seemed to take me to another dead end.

But something happened, something so powerful that I was stopped from performing my final dance upon the shorelines of Kauai. I must believe, this time, it took God Himself to stop me.

On the evening of September 11, 1992, the night before my flight I was sitting in Tony's Tavern, saying my goodbyes, downing my scotch when suddenly the news broke. A Special Report on the television: "A fierce hurricane had hit Kauai head on." Half drunk, I thought maybe I was not really hearing right. I got up off my stool, moved closer to the television. Through the smoke and the haze I focused on it as much as my half-drunkenness would allow. Projected to me on the blurry screen were the twisted palm trees, the over-turned homes, the upended boats. I recognized what once was the idyllic shoreline of Poipu, now in twisted disarray. I cried, cried some more. Now what am I going to do? All ports would surely be closed now, I thought.

I immediately went to the phone booth and called United Airlines. It was confirmed. My flight tomorrow to Kauai was canceled. Now what? I went back to my stool, and with tears running down my cheeks, I faced the truth. I was probably better off alive.

I took the last gulp of my drink and left the tavern and walked to the neighborhood park, where I sat and thought and cried. I asked myself over and over, Why? How could this possibly have happened? Why was I stopped from going to Kauai to kill myself? Am I really better off alive?

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

This was a new beginning. I was reborn and finally I was able to quit the drinking, and with a new zest for life, I began the process of healing.

For the next year I had sat down every morning and relived my life through writing. I relived the pain, the tears, the sometime laughter and put it all down, black on white. It was my catharsis. Finally, I was freed from the chains that had bound me all my adult life. And I was finally able to forgive. Hurricane Iniki, I am sorry for your destruction. But I am forever grateful to you for saving my life . . .

And then, September 11, 2001, now living in Las Vegas, I was intent on celebrating the anniversary of my rebirth. I hopped in my car and was on my way to breakfast when the news broke through the song I was listening to, "Silent Lucidity." At first, I thought it was a practical joke, reminding me of that old Orson Welle's Halloween prank, the one broadcast on the radio: "We're being invaded by Martians" which ultimately caused pandemonium and mass hysteria throughout the land.

I quickly turned to another radio station. Same thing. This can’t be happening, there’s no way. This has to be some kind of cruel joke. Another Station: "Both World Trade Center Buildings are on fire!" I kept driving, my heart pounding, the palms of my hands gripping the steering wheel, trying desperately to retain control. "A passenger jet had slammed into the Pentagon." No, this can’t be real!

I turned on another station. "News just in from Pennsylvania - a plane had crashed in a field." What the hell is going on? Is this the end of the world? I arrived at the restaurant, and with my own two eyes, witnessed on their television, the horrific events. I really had not the stomach for egg omelets or pancakes. Not now. "Miss Waitress, just bring me a large glass of cranberry juice."

I sat and slowly drank the juice, tears falling down my cheeks. Patrons all around, also staring intently at the television in disbelief, their own faces reddened from sadness. I knew I had to get home. Pass McCarran International airport I drove. There was not a plane in the sky, neither coming in nor taking off. All was quiet now except the beating of my heart. Many questions arose and struck hard at my conscience but still I drove on, aiming for home.

Coincidence? See also Hurricane Fico

Note: I truly believe Barack Obama's commitment to the middle class, and yes, the disenfranchised and those who suffered injustices. On this level, I can relate to him very much. I know that he truly cares and he has been in touch with "real" people throughout his entire life - from the streets of Indonesia to the streets of Chicago. Me? From the streets of Chicago to the streets of Thailand and beyond. And I, too, know firsthand the injustices, the inequalities and understand the sometime disappointment of the hard-working whose rug had been taken away from under them. Oh, I know!

One Voice

It takes just one voice – the voice within,
And one choice, for a new day to begin
We are together; they say no man an island
Oh, how I’ve always known this truth
And it is the mountain that keeps me climbin’
…climbin’ since the days of my youth
It takes just one voice – the voice within
my eyes getting moist, my face with a grin

Ricky J. Fico

Addendum:

It's not socialism, it's not at all communism, it's realism. Simple at that!

As Barack Obama has iterated throughout this campaign, it is not about hand-outs. It's about providing opportunity. Those who worked all their lives, on the front lines - in the steel mills, the auto factories - those jobs were lost and at the same time, in the name of profits and stockholders equity, the fatter got fatter - bigger houses, more houses, while the hard-working were reduced to losing their homes, their dreams.

So simple! Reduce the taxes of the multi-millionaire Corporate CEO who laid off thousands of dedicated, hard-working Americans, only to manufacture in low wage countries, all in the name of increasing the bottom line - padding the pockets of the wealthiest.

I've seen those with calloused hands and broken dreams, now living in squalor and not because they are lazy or don't want to work, because they do, but the jobs that they worked all their lives are gone, long gone and their house taken away. At the same time the CEO has just bought his 5th house - a little 10,000 square foot cabin in Aspen.

Give me a frickin' break! It's time!

Oh, and a good thing too, that the richest man in the world has endorsed Obama - the down-to-earth and practical Warren Buffet. Says a lot right there. Oh, and guess what - he's leaving the majority of his wealth to the Bill Gates Foundation - to help millions of people around the world. Practical use of the monies that were earned in a capitalistic countrysuch as the United States. What's that called - redistributing the wealth? You betcha. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, redistributing the wealth. Too bad, Palin didn't pick up on that. She could have used that fact in her stump speeches!

The richest man in the world and he still drives his own car and lives in the same house he bought in the 50's. Building up his nest, what a practical man. He has no need to prove how big a man he is with 20 homes and a fleet of million dollar automobiles. Smart man is he! A wise man. No wonder he has endorsed Obama. "Birds of a feather flock together."

Ah, so simple.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffet -Geniuses! Not only geniuses but geniuses with souls. That is what I look at!

Now, it's time to look in the rear-view mirror and see where I am at again, been too busy as of late. Oh, yeah, I am in Chicago-- the middle of the universe.

Blessings, Ricky J. Fico

Three Strikes and Mac's Out!

GoFuckYourself — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:39:33 EST

We hear a lot from John McCain about his experience. Well, if his experience is so valuable, then why did Barack whip him in three presidential areas since the start of the general election? First, Barack chose a VP who is qualified for the job. Mac didn't. Second, Barack handled the financial melt down with aplomb. Mac didn't. And third, Barack has managed a masterful campaign. Mac hasn't. Three strikes and Mac's out!

Obama Wins? Yes, 'Doonesbury' Calls the Election!

Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor New Mexico Sun News — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:40:13 EDT

from Washington Post today

Networks have long taken flak for calling elections early, but what are newspaper editors to do when a cartoonist "calls" an election several days in advance? That's the controversial question raised by next Wednesday's "Doonesbury," which Pulitzer-winning creator Garry Trudeau has already submitted and which has been sent to editors.

In the strip, Trudeau declares that Barack Obama has won the presidential election. (His syndicate, Universal Press Syndicate, says a replacement strip will be made available to newspapers who request it.)

Garry Trudeau calls the election for Obama in next Wednesday's "Doonesbury." (Universal Press Syndicate)Enlarge Comic

So what prompted the cartoonist to "call" the outcome of the election? Trudeau tells Comic Riffs today: "If I didn't call the election, I'd have no premise for the week and be forced to write about something else. I didn't want to write about something else. This is history."

Did Trudeau then create the strip with complete and utter confidence that Obama will win? "Nope, more like rational risk assessment," Trudeau explains. "Nate Silver at Fivethirtyeight.com is now giving McCain a 3.7% chance of winning -- pretty comfortable odds. ... Here's the way I look at it: If Obama wins, I'm in the flow and commenting on a phenomenon. If he loses, it'll be a massive upset, and the goofy misprediction of a comic strip will be pretty much lost in the uproar. I figure I can survive a little egg on my face."

But will the yolk also be on editors who run the strip? Says Trudeau: "We've supplied our clients with a week of reruns, just in case."

Trudeau adds: "My editor mentioned initial 'panic and anger' from some papers, but she said cooler heads are prevailing today."

Kathie Kerr, the syndicate's vice president for communications, tells Comic Riffs: "So far, there have been about a dozen calls and/or e-mails [from editors], but they are still coming in. ... They are all requesting the substitute strips; some of them haven't made a decision about running them, but they do want access to them."

Kerr adds: "Still, that's not a huge percentage considering the size of Garry 's client list," which is roughly 1,400 newspapers.

NOTE: The Washington Post and WashingtonPost.com plan to publish Trudeau's "prediction" strip.

see also:
http://www.truveo.com/Newspaper-Declares-Obama-Winner/id/2129501627