Washingtonians for Obama 2008!

New Obama Group Forming 'AmericaNOchange'

Al Boek — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:42:29 EST

Fellow President Obama Supporters and Former Ones"

AS the founder of the Obama Group named YESWECANSOLVEIT...

I have taken the liberty of forming still another group called

AmericaNOchange. I doubt this one gets approved.

Thought I'd better hurry and write this and send it to all groups that

I am still a member of before I am banned here forever. Why would

that happen? you ask. Because I just formed a new group with a little

kid yelling "Hey You" while flipping off the viewer. Hope the president

and his staff gets the message.

The esculation of the war in Aftganistan is the last straw. Three strikes

your out!

First, he keeps the same people on the payroll that got us into this

financial disaster. He let's Bush and Cheney walk scot-free. He continues

to bail out the banks, "all too big to fail" why they screw us in every way.

And tonight on national tv he will try to convience us all that the way to

end the war in Aftganistan is to exculate it. This did not work in Vietnam,

I know, because I volunteered to go there, and it will not work in Aftganistan.

To add insult to injury. The powers that be, the ones backing McCain in

my city in Northern California, are all meeting to determine what the same

good ole boys get to do with local stimulus funds...So my question is?

WHAT THE HELL HAS CHANGED IN AMERICAN PRESIDENT OBAMA?

I am so damned mad right now, I swear, if I could afford it, I'd trade in

my next presidential ballot for a passport.

Al Boek, Ex-Supporter of a One-Term President

earlallenboek@yahoo.com

530-549-4315

Redding, California

Fault

PengPotter — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:11:21 EST

Here's my smell novel I am only a student of China，please give me some instructions,thank you!

Fault
"Sir,the enemy is going towards our north,It's dangerous!"
"Sir,our ammunitior is exhausting !"
"Sir,250 soldiers were wonded ,we need replacement!"
After hearing these news ,Gen.Peter throw himself back into chair,with his mouth open,seeming to say something but was blocked somehow.A sudden sound of

explode outside break the slience,"Never never never give up!""Yes,sir!"
Gen.peter was sitting there alone and lonely,he was ordered to prevent the enemy from country B headed by Gen. Lurry---they were trying to attract the

capital of country A as the first step of occupying the whole country.Realizing how heavy the duty he held was,Gen. Peter has been staying up for several

days,yet now they were put into trouble,he was even wondering whether he could survive the battle.
A hullabaloo arose outside ,the invaders started assaulting again,.he standed up and walked out towards thesrtillery battalion,he wanna rely on the

artillery battalion---the most powerful part of his army.
"Commander!""Here!what's up,sir?""How many long-range bomb do we have now?""Uh....Omly one.""Only one?!......Ok,Now listen Delly,you ,as the most

experienced gunner here,should bombard the command post of the bastard Gen.Lurry tomorrow,we must kill him or we'll be killed by him,No fault!do you

understang?""Yes I do""Remember, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people!"
Next day ,Delly---the battalion commander,squated beside the carriaje,adjusting the angle,"Ready?"Gen.Peter asked,"Yes,we can!Fire!"The bomb was launched

,but even a greenhorn could see that it was s big fault,the bomb took a wrong path,instead of went towards the command post it flew to a mountainous

area."Fuck,you made a unforgivable fault!"Suddenly Jen.Peter drew out his gun and shot Delly.....
After several seconds,he recived a huge tremble of the land which lasted for about 5 minutes,'What 's up?'no one answered,a soldier came

there,saying"Sir,Commander Delly just hit the enemy's backdoor ammunition depot" "What?oh my god,it's ,it's my fault..."
Several hours later the enemy attracted again.but it was odd that they only attracted the south district which was defended by artillery battalion,though

it lost commander Delly,but it was also a powerful battalionand now was headed by a new commander." Foolishly you have sought your own demise,let's teach

they a lesson!"then him dispatched all the gunners and bombs to surround the enemy and appointed a troop laying in ambush in a hill.
After a long fierce fighting,Gen.Peter achieved a complete triumph and what is more,they seized Gen.Lurry!At a courtroom,Gen.Lurry was squating at the

corner,when Peter arrived in ,a soldier came up to him and hand him a letter,"Sir,we got it from his pocket"
The letter says :Dear Gen. Lurry,I am ordered to bombard your command post to kill you,and I'll fire it into a mountainous area,it must be no harm of

you,is't it?Be sure to attract the south district,we'll wait for you. Yours Delly.......

You Are Bringing About Historic Change

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 04:52:39 EDT

Summer's gone, school's back in. Holidays are around the bend. Yet change is on its inexorable path, waiting for no one. You've made an enormous impact, and the finish line for one historic change, health care reform, is in sight! Can you help make it the change you want to see?

You've all made thousands of calls, gotten your neighbors to sign tens of thousands declarations, you've sent thousands of emails. What did you achieve? For one, Sen. Maria Cantwell went from "no comment" on the public option, to public support for the public option. Sen. Patty Murray and many of our Representatives are also on board. Four of five committees have voted on a bill - and that has never, ever happened before.

Do you want to make sure they stand strong? The biggest hurdle is right up ahead. We expect the final of five committees, the Finance Committee, to vote on Tuesday. It could take a little longer - that seems to happen pretty often, right? But next is the full Senate and full House, then they have to reconcile their bills, then it's the final vote to send it to President Obama to sign.

You can imagine the bill you want will be signed. Go ahead. Imagine.

Health care for EVERYONE...

Yakima County Democrats — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:30:32 EDT

Watch this video. Please.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20091007_keith_olbermann_saving_american_lives/

Then send this link out to everyone you know. Please.

China Birthday!

PengPotter — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:44:50 EDT

今天是你的生日我的祖国
Today is your birthday my motherland,China!

ONLY A FEW volunteer spots left RSVP your time NOW...

Yakima County Democrats — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:43:03 EDT

We need volunteers to help out at our Central Washington state fair booth in Yakima, Washington especially September 25 to October 2, 2009. The times available change very quickly but they will be between 11 am to 10 or 11 pm. You and your friend will each receive a FREE fair pass for each four hours volunteer time. So go to http://tinyurl.com/VOLUNTEErforYakimaDemocrats and click on the evens like to RSVP you and your friend NOW... Yakima County Democrats are now on Twitter at http;//www.twitter.com/ycdemocratsSo come follow us for all kind of fun information that you just can not live without.

Thanks Randall (509.654.9740 or 509.210.2701) or questions e-mail: ycdemocrats@q.com

President Obama's Speech ; Rudness was paid for.

uppeopleforobama — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:20:37 EDT

I would like to thank the guests that showed up at our humble home last night, bringing gifts, food, plum wine and plum grappa...YUM! Stephanie Shellabarger, Lois and Steve Webster, Nicola Yarbrough, Joan Rosati , Daniel Herman who rushed home from work and my son Sean O'Brien who even managed to do his homework. We had a blast and the speech was amazing. Put it simply...I love my president and everything he is willing and does stand for. Namely we the people. On facebook, Traci Kelly of Equal Time Radio posted a Link about Rep Joe Wilson who heckled President Obama:

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/10/obama-speech-disrupter-a-health-industry-darling/

Were we all not shocked by that? President Obama is always such a cool cucumber that is it very surprising when people are rude and even obnoxious about him. It is such a strange thing. My husband who is very quiet and humble himself said about Wilson "how do we fire that guy?" we need to get him out. At the time it felt like what he was doing was not only rude but illegal...

We sat through many speech of President Bush and he was not heckled. Democrats I believe as a rule are more polite.

The link that Traci submitted on Facebook points out that Rep Joe Wilson was paid thousands and thousands of dollars by the insurance industry as well as others. It is simply sickening. We see him as a "purchased" disrupter. Bought and paid for by the industries and not the people he is elected to help and protect. It makes us sick, except we cannot get sick because we cannot afford our health insurance premiums as a small contractor, self-employed.

Go Barack!

We know some progressives are upset because we will not have single payor option and immediately...but we recognize we want evolution and not revolution and President Obama is making headway, especially we hope into the hearts of middle America who have been the victims of fear mongering by people like Representative Joe Wilson.

Keeping Americans well and healthy should be considered a patriotic duty. A healthy and well America is a strong America. Please spread the word about Joe Wilson.

Public option off the table NO!

eric HUSSEIN graff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:00:37 EDT

Call backsliding Dem & Republican leaners & POLITELY asking for their support the PULIC OPTION which is one of the FEW ways we'll be able to control costs as reform moves forward examples include Sen Arlin Specter D-PA 202-224-4254, Max Baucus D-MT 202-224-2651, Susan M Collins R-ME 202-224-2623, Olympia J Snowe R-ME OR YOUR SENATOR! We need to MOVE FAST ON THIS and BOMBARD these folks!

ONLY A FEW volunteer spots left RSVP your time NOW...

Yakima County Democrats — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:01:45 EDT

Thanks Randall (509.654.9740 or 509.210.2701) or questions e-mail: ycdemocrats@q.com

Volunteer spot are quickly filling up for the fair booth...

Yakima County Democrats — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:39:08 EDT

We need volunteers to help out at our Central Washington state fair booth in Yakima, Washington especially September 25 to October 2, 2009. The times available change very quickly but they will be between 11 am to 10 or 11 pm. You and your friend will each receive a FREE fair pass for each four hours volunteer time. So go to www.barackobama.com and click on the evens like to RSVP you and your friend NOW... Yakima County Democrats are now on Twitter at http;//www.twitter.com/ycdemocrats So come follow us for all kind of fun information that you just can not live without. Thanks Randall (509.654.9740 or 509.210.2701) or questions e-mail: ycdemocrats@q.com

Were are all the volunteers...

Yakima County Democrats — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:21:02 EDT

We need your help to staff this years Central Washington fair booth between September 25 to October 4, 2009. We will be selling raffle tickets, t-shirts, and buttons to all fair vistors. For a little extra fun will will have a big screen TV and a Wii game set up for fair vistors to play. The fair opens at 11am and closes at 10 or 11 pm. Plus you will receive a FREE all day fair pass for the days you volunteer. To see the FREE fair entertainment that is going on each day go to www.fairfun.com Click on the event link to see which volunteer times are still available for you and bring a friend and have some fun at the 2009 CENTRAL WASHINGTON STATE FAIR.

Volunteers for Central Washington fair booth needed..

Yakima County Democrats — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:22:57 EDT

NO PUBLIC OPTION = BILLION-DOLLAR TAXPAYER GIVEAWAY TO PRIVATE INSURERS

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:51:39 EDT

If we do not get a public option, we will pay billions of dollars in subsidies to private insurers only. 80% of people with no health insurance work, and rightfully, they will get subsidies.

Wrongfully, all that subsidy money paid with your taxes will go to private insurers, and pay for not only health care, but also for:

- Salaries of $20-$25 million for private insurance CEOs

- Perks like private jets, bonuses, and stock shares often worth over $100 million for those CEOs

No government employee gets millions of dollars a year, and perks and stock shares worth over $100 million.

. Your firefighter, police, highway patrol do not make $25 million a year.

. Your congressmen don’t make $25 million a year.

. Your President of the United States does not make $25 million/year.

. Your Medicare, VA and Medicaid bureaucrats do not make $25 million/year.

Canvas Bremerton: Sat. Aug. 22nd, Evergreen Park

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:27:33 EDT

Bremerton for Health Care Reform:

Time to talk to neighbors, 1-to-1 again! Gather the troops and meet us Saturday, August 22nd at 10 a.m. to canvas the area around Evergreen Park. We will have a script, homemade clipboards, and a list of Independent voters. We’ll start with a quick training/review, and walk the neighborhood in pairs, to gather from 50-100 signed declarations from voters in favor of health care reform with a strong public option.

RSVP here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpfcdf

Remember, we are the change we’ve been waiting for. The anti-health reform lobby is going strong, even though it is still a minority. It’s time we help demonstrate what most voters really want: reform, now, with a strong public option! Bring comfortable shoes, bottled water, a smile and a friend!

a letter to senator john mccain

nelson — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:07:31 EDT

August 15, 2009

Dear Senator John McCain,

My name is Nelson Monastrial. I am a veteran who served in the Navy for 20 years. Thanks to the assistance from Veterans Administration, I am now a registered nurse and have been practicing for almost four years. I am originally from the Philippines.

I do not reside in Arizona but I am an American and that is why I am writing to you. You were my presidential candidate in 2000. I was at your rally one cold, drizzly evening in Bremerton in 2000. Unfortunately, a better candidate lost in that primary, and America and the American people suffered the consequence. However, in 2008, I supported and voted for Senator Obama. I believe, this time, the better candidate won.

I am getting very concerned with the lack of serious and meaningful engagement from the Republican Party. Of course, either the vacuum in the leadership or the current undefined leadership structure contributes to this. While the subject line says health care, the main purpose of my letter is to appeal to you to once again, with determined fervor, assume that leadership post, and be the rational voice of the Republican Party.

It is understandable for commentators to spin and misinform. But it is very frustrating, and dangerous in my opinion, when Mr. Grassley, a senior ranking Republican senator, makes remark like “pulling the plug on grandma.” Senator McCain, I hope that you agree that we need a healthcare reform. I hope that you can direct the Republican Party engage in a meaningful discussion regarding this issue.

I subscribe to your campaign slogan “Country First,” and I also hope that you mean it. Lastly, I applaud your daughter Meghan for standing up to the extremists in your party.

Sincerely yours,

Nelson Monastrial

Shri Krishna Janmasthami of Festivel

give information of reading problem for all country — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:57:02 EDT

To,
        President- Barack Obama Sir & Vice Prasident - Joe Biden Sir
        White House 101
        Washington DC

**************************************************************************************
Congratulations - Grate Festivel Shri Krishna Janmasthami ***** God Bliss You****
**************************************************************************************

Dear Madam,
Hearty congratulations from Sumant Prasad and his family. Vice President & President honeble & your family are give grate festivel Shri Krishna Janmasthami of congratulations. Today grate festivel Shri Krishna Janmasthami in India.
I hope me future in life to successfully with I pray to god for your success in upcoming future.

Thanks & Regarding

SUMANT PRASAD
Sociological
Uttar Pradesh, INDIA
ID: sumantmeera@yahoo.co.in

Health Insurance Reform

Jane Anne Jeffries Johnson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:40:57 EDT

I retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District in February. I felt it was my civic duty to give up my job and live on my retirement, since the economy is struggling. I moved to Friday Harbor, Washington, where the economy is doing better than in California. I am able to keep abreast of the changes President Obama is making toward a more viable society and economy. I urge everyone who voted for him to continue to support him now. The sharks are swarming, and there is blood in the water. It's time to come together as a force for change.

healthcare and race

nelson — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:13:17 EDT

if i may, a rebuttal. it feels like the election again . . .

this is how liberals paint big corporations--evil! yes, i believe in reform as i do pay insurance premiums for my families healthcare. but the way this administration is trying to rush through this legislation is wrong. consider the way these politicians rushed through the stimulus/spending bill without even reading all the writings on the bill was just plain stupid. the democrats and very few republicans who signed in to this won't accept the truth that the billions of dollars were just plain reckless spending that won't stimulate the economy. i have an open mind and i see when people are just blindly obedient to this president. they think that what he says is commandment from up high. economics 101 says if you don't have the money, don't spend beyond your means. this is what this administration is doing. yes, we can print more money but they don't have any value. my youngest child who has not earned a penny from working is already indebted because of what this administration is doing. the old talking point "i inherited the deficit" is getting old. every presidency had caused deficits to rise during his term. the point is, let's control it before it becomes unmanageable. trim the fat. stop these porks each politicians put in the bills.

after the great depression, regulatory safety checks were put in place to prevent another financial disaster. those checks were weakened overtime, and under george bush admistration, corporations were basically allowed to run amuck. well, maybe a little exaggerated. well, guess what? but of course, there are some who deny that we are in an economic crisis. now, obama is in a really difficult spot, there are these companies that are too big to fail; people who were responsible for the economic collapse need to stay and fix it because they are the one who understand it; to stimulate the economy, he needs to spend money the country does not have, but if he does not do anything, the economy is guaranteed to sink further; and things like that. of course, he can always cut tax for the rich, and i can wait for the trickle down. realize though that this is what we've already done. go to war and cut tax, brilliant! don't you think that that is worst than spending money that you don't have?

obama took over the presidency but didn't just inherited a deficit. he inherited a really f#&cked up country. obama hasn't been in office a year, bush had eight years to screw the country up, and i have news for you, he sure did a good job. one way to reduce the defict is to cook the book. if we don't include the iraq war expenses or don't fund medicare prescription drug, sure, we can have a somewhat balanced budget or a smaller deficit. it's like magic.

sure, we can talk about pork barrel spending or earmark but corporate welfare is a much bigger fish.

i agree that if we don't do anything to improve our current healtcare system (including denying healthcare to illegal aliens), we are maintaining the status quo. however, completely overhauling it to socialized it is again in the word of obama, would be "acting stupidly." should i pay into this "new" system that will include federal money going to abortion on demand? no way! i want obama to succeed because this is my country as well. but if his "change" is pushing this country to become a socialist/nanny state where the government will run my life and decisions and freedom, then i will speak out and criticize the actions. i won't sit idle and say he is doing the right thing for this country.

watching this so-called grassroot movement that is disrupting townhall meetings, there's a lot of them who look like medicare eligible. i wonder if they are willing to give up that socialized healthcare benefit? and those members of congress who oppose government-run healthcare, you think they'll be willing to give up their socialized healthcare benefit? makes me wonder even more, if it's good enough for them, why can't it be good enough for me? oh, i have to disclose, i'm under another socialized healthcare system. i'm a veteran.

heck, our constitution i swore to protect and defend is slowly being destroyed by the liberals. the constitution was founded with the idea of limited government so that big daddy won't infringe on our individual liberties. now, the government has its hands on about everything with the new plan to socialize medicine after taking over car businesses, insurance and banks. when is this going to stop? only if we, reasonable people, start speaking out. let's us remove our loyalty to pary or politics. we should take the power back to us. these politicians in washington think we are a bunch of ignorant people. they have become arrogant. they have forgotten they work for us and not the other way around. those who don't deserve to be representing us must be remove from their thrones and put there people who truly care about America and Americans. We are all Americans. Neither whites, black, asians, latinos, etc. i hate it when certain ethnic groups still use the race card. why do they use racial profiling as an excuse? none of these people living today have experienced slavery and yet when they speak as if they were there some centuries before.

i'm assuming that this is in reference to the recent arrest of a black harvard professor by a white police officer. the professor overreacted. the office acted stupidly. but funny you mentioned the constitution, i hope that when i start yelling in my own house that i don't get arrested. oh, did i mention that the officer filed a false police report? by the way, i'm pretty sure that george bush was the one who raped our constitution. here are some subtle clues, torture, due process and wiretaps.

in the beginning of the primary, obama wasn't my candidate because i felt that america is not ready for a black president. but what a pleasant surprise. i completely agree with you that there are some who exploit and over use the victim card. obama's speeches on race actually calls them out, and he stresses personal accountability and responsibility.

with all the commotion against obama, i'm not saying that you are, or am i talking in general term, but there is a big segment of the republicans/conservatives in which race is a factor. you would be very naive if you don't see it. i talked to one who flatly said that she doesn't like obama because he's black. and that is one too many.

one more thing, i think that there are still some people who are still alive today who lived through the civil right struggle and segregation, that wasn't some centuries ago. i, myself had some unpleasant experiences because of my race. amazing, isn't it? i applied to university of washington's nursing school in mid 1990. i was not accepted but was offered to apply again as a minority. i didn't. i felt that if i'm not good enough as a regular applicant, then i'm not. but i'm one of the fortunate ones, i'm thriving, just like you and the obama's, and the millions of others. and that's what makes america great, in spite of the sometimes uneven playing field, opportunity and the occasional overcompensation for past sins abound.

take care. god bless us.

man from space

nelson — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:45:13 EDT

let's say i'm from outer space, from the planet reason. landed on earth, just randomly. don't know anything about earth, don't know anything about humans, no clue what is going on here. then i was exposed to multiple gatherings, discussions, and debates regarding healthcare reform, and was asked to take sides. i don't have any idea what healthcare reform is. so i'm just going to base whom i'm siding with by how people on both sides behave. who do you think i'm siding with? remember, i'm from the planet reason.

and now, i bring you keith olbermann - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32277034. he's back with a vengeance. don't miss the other segments, it'll give you the whole picture. then i challenge you to be that person from outer space.

i saw the episode yesterday just before going to work. and i can't wait to get home this morning so i can share this with you.

take care. god bless us.

healthcare and illegal immigrants

nelson — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:38:27 EDT

i agree that illegal immigration is a problem. actually, a big and complicated problem, and as you mentioned, 12 million illegal immigrants. i really don't know how to address the issue but one thing i know is that erecting a fence is not the solution. yes, there are illegal immigrants who are able to get government benefits which is not fair to those of us who are working very hard and contributing to the system.

i don't really know the specifics in the reform bill, i guess one can read it in its entirety. but here's what i know, our healthcare system is broke. ideally, we'll find a perfect solution to fix it. but realistically, a perfect solution might be very difficult to find. now, are we going to let change/progress be the victim of perfection? because doing nothing is not an option. doing nothing is a lose-lose situation. well, i'll take that back, insurance industry is the winner if we don't do anything.

i don't think that illegal immigrants have been included in any of the equation as far as coverage or benefits, but i'm sure that they'll find a way to take advantage of the system, they're doing it now. also, we are already paying for the uninsured, illegal immigrant or not.

i mentioned that the insurance industry wins if we don't do anything, some don't even acknowledge that there is a problem, of course. but what is the insurance industry afraid of about public option. what is a little competition? that is what capitalism is all about in the first place, right?

i just think that there are things that shouldn't be for profit, and healthcare is one of them. but sure, we can still make money in healthcare but if we are spending outrageous amount and a good chunk of that is not healthcare related, and fraud and waste, there is something seriously wrong, and is not sustainable.

it's not only the repulican legislatures opposing the reform bill but a good number of democrats, it's politics as usual. but for you and me, and a great majority of americans, politics as usual is not, and is never, good enough. we need healthcare reform.

take care. god bless us.

-----Original Message-----

Subject: RE: This What MEDICARE Has Come To?

I fully understood your message. However, what I cannot understand is why undocumented aliens were and are able to get benefits from medicare. Now this administration is inclined to give health insurance coverage to this people that makes the premium so expensive that is no longer affordable to ordinary working Americans.

Ever since I came to America I've paid my taxes due to the gov't all these years but never depended on the gov't for any benefits. I've worked hard (double jobs) to earn an honest and decent income; whereas most of these people work on under-the-table-pay and never pay taxes. I've always believe that people recieved benefits because they have contributed to the system... not sucking the law-abiding Americans bone-dry. This is really unfair to Americans who have lost their jobs, lost their homes through foreclosures, and whose families are now out of health insurance coverage, too, because they've lost their jobs.

I have not fully read the contents of the pending Bill yet, but it is all over broadcast and print media that this Obama Administration is inclined to providing health coverage to ALL twelve million illegal aliens. Other people, too, have other concerns of interest...coverage for Baby Boomers (including me) and Seniors. I just hope we will not be drag into our graveyard thru euthanasia, because we've been deprived, curtailed, controlled and/or reduced of health coverage to accommodate these illegal aliens.

God Bless AMERICA..!

beer summit

nelson — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:57:17 EDT

this is actually very funny. however, as a healthcare professional, in this particular fictional situation, the problem is not with medicare, but specific to st. agnes laboratory and to those who obtained and sent the specimens. and by the way, if testing for alzheimer's or hiv, your provider requires a biopsy, you may want to find another provider.

but let me address a valid issue here, would you like to pay for unnecessary duplicate expensive test? particularly, if you don't have health insurance and paying out of your own pocket. and if you have insurance, are you able to maintain your healthcare coverage that you need? not to mention being able to keep your insurance. and what happens when you lose your insurance?

i was actually in a get-together last night, and was talking to a retired nurse. she said that her husband had a hip replacement paid for by medicare, all $53,000. one interesting thing she said, and her husband was there and agreeable. she said that there should be some co-pay with that expense. one thing we wondered about, how much cheaper that procedure be if unrelated cost is eliminated?

congress is taking a summer break, our representatives will go back to their own respective districts and talk to their constituents about healthcare reform. please be informed! tv commercials don't count.

i am for healthcare reform. i am for universal coverage. i am for public option. i am for single payer. if we are spending six times more on healthcare than everybody else in the world, we expect to have the best healthcare system but we don't, and we're not even close to the top.

i believe that healthcare is a right, just like education. what else can be better for a country than smart and healthy citizens. sure, there are a lot of people concerned about obama extending the reach of government. and the bureaucracy, but i don't think it's about big or small government, it's about effective government. effective government can be an oxymoron, and i agree, particularly the previous administration. but i strongly believe that it's not politics as usual with obama, and as a result, we'll have a better and effective government.

if only america can have a beer summit. well, i'm not advocating for alcohol consumption.

take care. god bless us.

-----Original Message-----

Subject: This What MEDICARE Has Come To?

This medicare problem..... must be revamped and reformed. Hope husbands similarly situated can't find their way
home. Husbands, it's a big sacrifice..!!!

Medicare is no good..!!!

MEDICARE IN A NUTSHELL

The phone rings and the lady of the house answers, 'Hello.'
'Mrs. Sanders, please.'

'Speaking.'

'Mrs. Sanders, this is Doctor James at Saint Agnes Laboratory. When your husband's doctor sent his biopsy to the lab last week, a biopsy from another Mr.Sanders arrived as well. We are now uncertain which one belongs to your husband. Frankly, either way the results are not too good.'

'What do you mean?' Mrs. Sanders asks nervously.

'Well, one of the specimens tested positive for Alzheimer's and the other one tested positive for HIV. We can't tell which is which.'

'That's dreadful! Can you do the test again?' questioned Mrs.. Sanders.

'Normally we can, but Medicare will only pay for these expensive tests once and once only.'

'Well, what am I supposed to do now?'

'The folks at Medicare recommend that you drop your husband off somewhere in the middle of town. If he finds his way home, don't sleep with him.'

SENATOR KENNEDYS HEALTHCARE PETITION...

karenbenzer — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:46:24 EDT

I've seen our health care system up close over the past year.

I'm fortunate to have the finest medical care in the world. But I've seen far too many people unable to obtain the care they need because they can't afford it.

That's wrong. It's got to change, and it's about to change.

We're fighting for legislation in Congress to fix our broken health care system. Under President Obama's leadership, Republicans and Democrats are working together to write a bill that will guarantee good care at long last to everyone who needs it.

But we'll need strong nationwide support to produce the 60 Senate votes that will probably be required to avoid a filibuster and actually pass the bill. I need your support. Please sign our petition for quality, affordable health care for every American:

http://www.democraticmajority.com/healthcare

Our legislation includes five major provisions:
We give Americans better choices for health insurance. We follow a simple principle: If you like the coverage you have now, you can keep it. If you don't like your current coverage, our bill offers new and more affordable options. We'll negotiate with insurance companies to keep costs low, make it illegal for companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions, and give Americans the option to enroll in a public insurance program.

We reduce the cost of health care. We'll crack down on fraud and abuse, and we'll reduce red tape to keep costs down. We also make sure doctors use the most effective therapies to treat illnesses, so patients aren't paying extra for treatments that don't work.

We put new emphasis on prevention. The best way to treat a disease is to prevent it from ever striking, or to catch it at an early stage. By giving every American access to affordable health care, we'll enable millions of people to be screened for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and depression.

We bring more help to the elderly and the disabled. We make it easier for these Americans to live independently. We help pay for home upgrades such as wheelchair ramps, and for regular home care to enable people to live in their own homes, not nursing homes.

Finally, we develop a better health workforce, delivering modern and responsive care. We invest in doctors, nurses, and other health professionals to meet the needs of patients more effectively for years to come.
These changes won't be easy to enact -- but we can't afford to wait, and we can't afford to fail.

Show your support for health reform that will benefit all our citizens, reduce the financial burdens on our nation's people and businesses, and put our health care industry on a strong and sustainable basis for the future:

http://www.democraticmajority.com/healthcare

I'll be working hard to pass this bill in the weeks ahead, and I hope you'll be there with me.

Thank you so much for the very real difference you can make in achieving this great goal we share.

Sincerely,

Senator Edward M. Kennedy

World Children Labour Control Days

give information of reading problem for all country — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:49:46 EDT

World Children Labour Control Days

Dear Friends
Today is world children labour control days. I am happens in work to all state.
I pray to god for all state survyer success in upcoming future. all worker

Thanks & Regarding

SUMANT PRASAD
Sociological
ID: sumantmeera@yahoo.co.in

HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM... " THE OLD AND CRUSTY INFRASTUCTURE MUST BE BULLDOZED!

karenbenzer — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:12:41 EDT

President Obama implies that he does not want to risk the failure of getting a Healthcare Reform Bill at the expense of ideological purity. He states that if we were starting from scratch he understands that the Single Payer Healthcare insurance would be preferable and that given that healthcare is 1/6th of our economy that we probably could not make that drastic transition.

Can you imagine if Abraham Lincoln said..."The infrastructure, as it pertains to slavery reform, has already been set in place for the last 400 years...therefore slavery reform must include the infrastructure already in place. To follow up with, "Don't get me wrong, if the infrastructure wasn't already there and I could start from scratch...my slavery reform would include " THE COMPLETE ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY.

BUT INSTEAD: WE'LL WORK WITH THE CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE TO BETTER THE LIVES OF SLAVES...

WE'LL GIVE A TAX CREDIT FOR ALL SLAVEOWNERS WHO FOLLOW "THE SLAVERY KINDNESS ACT."

1. 2- 20 MINUTE BREAKS TO EAT...

2. ALLOWING PREGNANT WOMEN TO GIVE BIRTH IN THE BARN INSTEAD OF THE CUSTOMARY FIELD..

3. ALL SLAVEOWNERS WHO RAPE SLAVE WOMEN MUST GIVE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT TO THE OFFSPRING...IE. INSIDE WORK....LIMITED HUMAN RIGHTS ETC.

GET THE JIST?

SINGLE PAYER/PUBLIC HEALTHCARE IS THE ANSWER....

INFRASTRUCTURE/HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES/LOBBYISTS? "BULLDOOSE THEM!"

Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush should be put to justice NOW

Heinz Rainer — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:16:26 EDT

When I read the latest revelation, and we will hear more and more as the days go by,

I ask myself what kind of people these must be.

Taking a great nation such as this to a long ride, making us look like fools.

Are we going to allow them to get away with this ?

Finally President Obama, we ASK you to take action against these perpetrators of crima against humanity in no uncertain terms.

READ: WE NEED JUSTICE, WE CRY FOR JUSTICE in the name of those who were maltreated, raped, tortured, killed, and sodomized by animals who call themselves humans.

MORE here - at last the truth will come out.

Republican Senators: "A Wolf in dem's clothing ?"...

karenbenzer — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:03:11 EDT

DURING W'S REIGN THE REPUBS AND MANY DEM SENATORS VOTED IN ALL THE LOOPHOLES TO PROTECT CORPORATIONS, BOWED TO LOBBYIST AND DESTROYED THE LITTLE GUYS LIVELIHOOD...NOW THE DEMS OWN THE HOUSE, SENATE AND PRESIDENCY,YET, THE SENATE IS NOT VOTING FOR IT'S CONSTITUENTS...REPUBS ARE VERY CONSISTENT..THEY VOTE NO TO EVERYTHING THAT LEVELS THE PLAYING FIELD AND SAVES US JUST A LITTLE BIT FROM THE ECONOMIC WOES WE ARE ALL TOUGHING OUT... HR. 1106 "SAVING FAMILIES FROM FORECLOSURES"....WELL, THIS IS A TRULY BI-PARTISAN BILL... NOT ONLY DID ALL OF THE REPUBS VOTE THE BILL DOWN...BUT 10 DEMS VOTED IT DOWN TOO AND 2 DEMS REFUSED TO VOTE AT ALL... TRULY UNACCEPTABLE....

Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Bennet (D-CO), Nay
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Carper (D-DE), Nay
Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Nay
Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting
Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Lincoln (D-AR), Nay
Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Not Voting
Specter (D-PA), Nay
Tester (D-MT), Nay

KAREN

Senate Rejects Limit on Credit-Card Interest Rates
By CARL HULSE
Despite complaints that banks and credit card companies are gouging customers by charging outrageous interest rates, the Senate on Wednesday easily turned back an effort to cap interest rates at 15 percent.
The effort by Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, drew only 33 votes and needed 60, with a bipartisan group of 60 senators opposing it asthe Senate pushed its credit card overhaul toward the finish line. Some Democrats and consumer groups have said that an interest cap is needed to put real teeth into an otherwise solid bill.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/senate-rejects-limit-on-credit-card-interest-rates/?partner=rss&emc=rss

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 1st Session
as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the SenateVote Summary
Question: On the Motion (Motion to Waive CBA Sanders Amdt. No. 1062 )
Vote Number: 191 Vote Date: May 13, 2009, 04:24 PM
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Motion Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 1062 to S.Amdt. 1058 to H.R. 627 (Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009)
Statement of Purpose: To establish a national consumer credit usury rate.
21 democrats vote w/the repubs....5 dems refused to vote....

MORE WOLVES:

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Hagan (D-NC)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaufman (D-DE)

SENATORS AND LOBBYIST LAUGHING AT US...POLICE TAKE US AWAY...

karenbenzer — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:50:15 EDT

"Hardy-harrr-harrr-harrr...get the police" says the senators in the healthcare sub-

committee...single payer healthcare is not represented by anyone at the table...a few brave

Americans from the audience expose the taboo subject...probably because the folks are "TRYING

TO BE THE CHANGE THEY WANT TO SEE"...SINCE CREDIT CARD REFORM IS NOT ON OUR OFA

"PLEDGE CARD" AS A TOP 3 PRIORITY AND UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE IS..PRESIDENT OBAMA

SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CHANGE THE TOWN HALL MEETING IN NEW MEXICO TO RALLY THE

TROOPS AND ORGANIZE AGAINST THE INSURANCE LOBBYIST WHO CONTINUE TO USE THEIR

IMMENSE POWER TO DESTROY THE HOPE OF UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE/ SINGLE PAYER

INSURANCE.

MEMO TO CONGRESS: “IN THE NAME OF TRANSPARENCY” “SPEAK PLAINLY AND ACT HONORABLY”

karenbenzer — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:15:16 EDT

MEMO TO CONGRESS: “IN THE NAME OF TRANSPARENCY” “SPEAK PLAINLY AND ACT HONORABLY”

Since the US Constitution was entirely written on 6 pieces of paper, it surely cannot be in the best interest of the American people to submit a single bill like HR. 1106 THE “SAVING FAMILIES FROM FORECLOSURE BILL,” WHICH, IN IT’S SELF, CONSISTS OF 40 PAGES PLUS. Certainly, the excessive legal ease is used as a confusion tool for fellow members of congress and a “block wall” for the transparency our country now demands. Sure we have C-SPAN, but that’s false transparency …have you ever tried to follow the boring and mindless monotone dribble that spews out of congress? I was very interested in the PASSING of HR.1106, “THE MAINSTREET BAILOUT.” l learned the following:

1. 2007-2008 bill was named hr. 200 “SAVING FAMILIES FROM FORECLOSURE BILL”…

It never made it out of a house sub-committee. The bill died…AND MANY AMERICANS LOST THEIR HOMES AS THE GOVERNMENT FOCUSED ON “WALL STREETS” WANTS INSTEAD.

2. 2009 bill was named hr. 1106 “SAVING FAMILIES FROM FORECLOSURE BILL”

Made it out of subcommittee

Passed through the house

3. It was scheduled for vote in the Senate on April 20, 2009

4. It was scheduled to return to the House on April 21, 2009

5. It was buried in a companion bill “Mortgage Defraud Bill”

6. It was finally voted down on Friday, APRIL 30, 2009, with the help of 10 democratic Senators

7. Lobbying from BANKS AND THE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE NAILED THE COFFIN FOR “THE PEOPLE’S MAINSTREET BAILOUT”…

8. Like a thief in the night, with slippery delays and NO DIRECTION FROM OFA OR WHITEHOUSE.GOV…OR PRESIDENT OBAMA…WE WERE YET AGAIN DUPED!

9. I TOOK THE OFA PLEDGE…ECONOMY, HEALTHCARE AND GREEN ENERGY 1ST…”BUT, ISN’T PLUMMETING HOME PRICES, FORECLOSURE AND PREDATORY LENDING THE “EPICENTER” OF OUR ECONOMIC WOES? WHERE’S THE BEEF, WHERE’S THE REPRESENTATION?

By karenbenzer - Apr 13th, 2009 at 3:32 pm EDTAlso listed in: 10 groups Hi everyone... This is the chapter 13th bankruptcy bill that has the teeth to save our citizens from home foreclosure. This bill permits non-partial bankruptcy judges to modify loans by reducing interest rates, extending the loan repayment term and reducing home prices to market value. Therefore, it will make homes affordable again thus, stopping the growing homeless population. PS. BANKS HATE THE IDEA...THEY WANT ALL THE CONTROL OVER MAINSTREET. THIS LAW LEVELS THE PLAYING FIELD. CALL/WRITE YOUR CONGRESS. THIS LAW MUST BE PUSHED TO THE TOP OF OFA'S AGENDA. BILL H.R. 1105 GovTrack: H.R. 200: Text of Legislation, Reported in House http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-200 HR.. 1106 "SAVING FAMILIES FROM HOME FORECLOSURES" WAS VOTED DOWN IN THE SENATEBy karenbenzer - Apr 30th, 2009 at 8:34 pm EDT SO MUCH FOR MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF OUR COUNTRY BY HOW WE TREAT THE LEAST AMONGST US...THE LEAST AMONGST US, JUST LOST THE "AMERICAN DREAM"...OUR HOMES!WHERE WERE YOU MR. PRESIDENT? WHERE WAS THE CALL TO ARMS? THE PETITIONS? WHERE WAS THE TRANSPARENCY? THIS WAS OUR "MAINSTREET BAILOUT"...BANK LOBBYIST WON OUT...AND THE LEAST AMONGST US... ARE STILL THE LEAST AMONG US. 10 DEMOCRATS VOTED DOWN THE BILL….TWO DEMOCRATS DID NOT VOTE…SEE BELOW: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 1st Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate Vote Summary: Question: On the Amendment (Durbin Amdt. No. 1014 ) Vote Number: 174Vote Date: April 30, 2009, 02:47 PMRequired For Majority: 3/5Vote Result: Amendment RejectedAmendment Number: S.Amdt. 1014 to S. 896 (Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009) Statement of Purpose: To prevent mortgage foreclosures and preserve home values.Vote Counts:YEAs45 NAYs51 Not Voting3Vote SummaryBy Senator NameBy Vote PositionBy Home State Alphabetical by Senator Name Akaka (D-HI), Yea Alexander (R-TN), Nay Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Baucus (D-MT), Nay Bayh (D-IN), Yea Begich (D-AK), Yea Bennet (D-CO), Nay Bennett (R-UT), Nay Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Bond (R-MO), Nay Boxer (D-CA), Yea Brown (D-OH), Yea Brownback (R-KS), Nay Bunning (R-KY), Nay Burr (R-NC), Nay Burris (D-IL), Yea Byrd (D-WV), Nay Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Cardin (D-MD), Yea Carper (D-DE), Nay Casey (D-PA), Yea Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Coburn (R-OK), Nay Cochran (R-MS), Nay Collins (R-ME), Nay Conrad (D-ND), Yea Corker (R-TN), Nay Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Crapo (R-ID), Nay DeMint (R-SC), Nay Dodd (D-CT), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Nay Durbin (D-IL), Yea Ensign (R-NV), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay Feingold (D-WI), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea Graham (R-SC), Nay Grassley (R-IA), Nay Gregg (R-NH), Nay Hagan (D-NC), Yea Harkin (D-IA), Yea Hatch (R-UT), Nay Hutchison (R-TX), Nay Inhofe (R-OK), Nay Inouye (D-HI), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Nay Johanns (R-NE), Nay Johnson (D-SD), Nay Kaufman (D-DE), Yea Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting Kerry (D-MA), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea Kyl (R-AZ), Nay Landrieu (D-LA), Nay Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Leahy (D-VT), Yea Levin (D-MI), Yea Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea Lincoln (D-AR), Nay Lugar (R-IN), Nay Martinez (R-FL), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Nay McCaskill (D-MO), Yea McConnell (R-KY), Nay Menendez (D-NJ), Yea Merkley (D-OR), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Nay Murray (D-WA), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Nay Pryor (D-AR), Nay Reed (D-RI), Yea Reid (D-NV), Yea Risch (R-ID), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Nay Rockefeller (D-WV), Not Voting Sanders (I-VT), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea Sessions (R-AL), Not Voting Shaheen (D-NH), Yea Shelby (R-AL), Nay Snowe (R-ME), Nay Specter (D-PA), Nay Stabenow (D-MI), Yea Tester (D-MT), Nay Thune (R-SD), Nay Udall (D-CO), Yea Udall (D-NM), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Nay Voinovich (R-OH), Nay Warner (D-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Nay Wyden (D-OR), Yea

HR.. 1106 "SAVING FAMILIES FROM HOME FORECLOSURES" WAS VOTED DOWN IN THE SENATE

karenbenzer — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:34:49 EDT

SO MUCH FOR MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF OUR COUNTRY BY HOW WE TREAT THE LEAST AMONGST US...THE LEAST AMONGST US, JUST LOST THE "AMERICAN DREAM"...OUR HOMES!

WHERE WERE YOU MR. PRESIDENT? WHERE WAS THE CALL TO ARMS? THE PETITIONS? WHERE WAS THE TRANSPARENCY? THIS WAS OUR "MAINSTREET BAILOUT"...BANK LOBBYIST WON OUT...

AND THE LEAST AMONGST US... ARE STILL THE LEAST AMONG US.

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (Durbin Amdt. No. 1014 ) Vote Number: 174Vote Date: April 30, 2009, 02:47 PMRequired For Majority: 3/5Vote Result: Amendment RejectedAmendment Number: S.Amdt. 1014 to S. 896 (Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009) Statement of Purpose: To prevent mortgage foreclosures and preserve home values.Vote Counts:YEAs45 NAYs51 Not Voting3Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State

Alphabetical by Senator Name Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Begich (D-AK), Yea
Bennet (D-CO), Nay
Bennett (R-UT), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Nay
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Nay
Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Burris (D-IL), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Nay
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Nay
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Nay
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Feingold (D-WI), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Nay
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Nay
Hagan (D-NC), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Johanns (R-NE), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Nay
Kaufman (D-DE), Yea
Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Nay
Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Nay
Lugar (R-IN), Nay
Martinez (R-FL), Nay
McCain (R-AZ), Nay
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Merkley (D-OR), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Risch (R-ID), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Not Voting
Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Not Voting
Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Specter (D-PA), Nay
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Udall (D-CO), Yea
Udall (D-NM), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Voinovich (R-OH), Nay
Warner (D-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State

Grouped By Vote Position YEAs ---45Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Begich (D-AK)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
NAYs ---51Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (D-PA)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Wicker (R-MS)
Not Voting - 3Kennedy (D-MA)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sessions (R-AL)
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State

Grouped by Home State Alabama:Sessions (R-AL), Not VotingShelby (R-AL), NayAlaska:Begich (D-AK), YeaMurkowski (R-AK), NayArizona:Kyl (R-AZ), NayMcCain (R-AZ), NayArkansas:Lincoln (D-AR), NayPryor (D-AR), NayCalifornia:Boxer (D-CA), YeaFeinstein (D-CA), YeaColorado:Bennet (D-CO), NayUdall (D-CO), YeaConnecticut:Dodd (D-CT), YeaLieberman (ID-CT), YeaDelaware:Carper (D-DE), NayKaufman (D-DE), YeaFlorida:Martinez (R-FL), NayNelson (D-FL), YeaGeorgia:Chambliss (R-GA), NayIsakson (R-GA), NayHawaii:Akaka (D-HI), YeaInouye (D-HI), YeaIdaho:Crapo (R-ID), NayRisch (R-ID), NayIllinois:Burris (D-IL), YeaDurbin (D-IL), YeaIndiana:Bayh (D-IN), YeaLugar (R-IN), NayIowa:Grassley (R-IA), NayHarkin (D-IA), YeaKansas:Brownback (R-KS), NayRoberts (R-KS), NayKentucky:Bunning (R-KY), NayMcConnell (R-KY), NayLouisiana:Landrieu (D-LA), NayVitter (R-LA), NayMaine:Collins (R-ME), NaySnowe (R-ME), NayMaryland:Cardin (D-MD), YeaMikulski (D-MD), YeaMassachusetts:Kennedy (D-MA), Not VotingKerry (D-MA), YeaMichigan:Levin (D-MI), YeaStabenow (D-MI), YeaMinnesota:Klobuchar (D-MN), YeaMississippi:Cochran (R-MS), NayWicker (R-MS), NayMissouri:Bond (R-MO), NayMcCaskill (D-MO), YeaMontana:Baucus (D-MT), NayTester (D-MT), NayNebraska:Johanns (R-NE), NayNelson (D-NE), NayNevada:Ensign (R-NV), NayReid (D-NV), YeaNew Hampshire:Gregg (R-NH), NayShaheen (D-NH), YeaNew Jersey:Lautenberg (D-NJ), YeaMenendez (D-NJ), YeaNew Mexico:Bingaman (D-NM), YeaUdall (D-NM), YeaNew York:Gillibrand (D-NY), YeaSchumer (D-NY), YeaNorth Carolina:Burr (R-NC), NayHagan (D-NC), YeaNorth Dakota:Conrad (D-ND), YeaDorgan (D-ND), NayOhio:Brown (D-OH), YeaVoinovich (R-OH), NayOklahoma:Coburn (R-OK), NayInhofe (R-OK), NayOregon:Merkley (D-OR), YeaWyden (D-OR), YeaPennsylvania:Casey (D-PA), YeaSpecter (D-PA), NayRhode Island:Reed (D-RI), YeaWhitehouse (D-RI), YeaSouth Carolina:DeMint (R-SC), NayGraham (R-SC), NaySouth Dakota:Johnson (D-SD), NayThune (R-SD), NayTennessee:Alexander (R-TN), NayCorker (R-TN), NayTexas:Cornyn (R-TX), NayHutchison (R-TX), NayUtah:Bennett (R-UT), NayHatch (R-UT), NayVermont:Leahy (D-VT), YeaSanders (I-VT), YeaVirginia:Warner (D-VA), YeaWebb (D-VA), YeaWashington:Cantwell (D-WA), YeaMurray (D-WA), YeaWest Virginia:Byrd (D-WV), NayRockefeller (D-WV), Not VotingWisconsin:Feingold (D-WI), YeaKohl (D-WI), YeaWyoming:Barrasso (R-WY), NayEnzi (R-WY), Nay

I'm Mad As Hell About The Pro-Alcohol Media Bias And I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore!

guitar46phil — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:04:04 EDT

For the past two hours MSNBC has been running a sentence every minute or two along the bottom of their broadcast "study indicates moderate drinking with friends reduces risk of stroke and heart disease." Really? Is this news or just pro-alcohol lobbying? Is this such an important newsflash that it has to be run at the veiwing public, practically subliminally, every two minutes all morning long, or is this just an example of free advertising by a media giant for it's fellow rich corporate conglomerates? What kind of message does it send to kids watching a bit of the news before heading off to school? What message does it send to hard-core alcoholics, or moderate drinkers who are on their way to becoming alcoholics? It says "Drink Alcohol With Friends, It MIGHT be GOOD for YOU!" In a word, "bullcrap." But even if "drinking with friends" is good for some people, (so are DUI's) why is this news for MSNBC? My dad always said, "If you don't understand something, look where the money is." My guess, advertising revenue is down because all of the ripp-off mortgage brokers and financial swindlers have gone belly-up, and MSNBC is courting more money from beer, wine and hard alcohol producers, Maybe this free advertising is their form of a "bonus" for a lucrative advertising contract with an alcohol corporation. I like MSNBC, but it makes me mad as hell to see them giving free advertising to the Alcohol monopoly - while they treat marijuana as if it were evil and they ignore the harmful effects our nations prohibition of marijuana cause our nation and other nations. Marijuana is a much safer recreational drug choice than alcohol, it is less addictive, and yet, there is no advertising money in it. So much for the media as being an unbiased reporter of the "news."

Why the guillotine is the best way to solve the financial crisis

Heinz Rainer — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:54:31 EDT

America and all the major economies have been plundered. This much one now should understand.

Major Banks around the world have all been robbed of Billions of Dollars; we should not underestimate the widespread frauds that have been committed in the Bush era .

Then the question remains : Where has all this money gone to ?

For: Trillions do not simply vanish.

Money ALWAYS changes ownership. It does never evaporate.

So who are some folks protecting ?

It is as simple as the ABC :

What is on the left side on the Balance sheet, must show up on the right side, somehow.

And this is what World authorities must investigate. Where these huge sums have gone to.

Globalization serves as a wonderful tool to shift Trillions around the globe, in disguise of

new investments.

This article was culled from the L.A. Times, and this will be the neck breaking attempt for the F.B.I. to find more culprits (as it has already been started elsewhere).

Quote from L.A.Times :

"From the Los Angeles Times:
7:50 PM PST,February 11, 2009
FBI expects number of major financial bailout fraud cases to rise
Investigations will focus on big-name companies and the cases are likely to be similar in scope and complexity to that of failed energy giant Enron, Deputy Director John Pistole tells a Senate panel.

By Josh Meyer
Reporting from Washington — Despite an expected wave of fraud in the trillion-dollar bailout that aims to stop the ongoing financial meltdown, federal law enforcement officials told Congress on Wednesday that they have nowhere near the level of resources to combat it.

Top FBI and Justice Department officials said they believed mortgage fraud and other types of corporate criminal behavior has contributed to the economic tailspin. And they said they already have more than 2,300 open investigations into suspected illegal financial activity -- including 38 probes specifically linked to the crisis. " .....

read on : FBI investigating

TOP SPOTS TRAVEL GROUP FACEBOOK

We care for America and Americans; THis is why we chose Barack Obama as President

Wipe out Corporate Fraud, White Collar Crime;

juana change

nelson — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:58:53 EDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Jh8Nzu7Zs

sometimes i wonder, am i back in the philippines? it's amazing how the greed for power in politics transcends race and culture, gender and religion, socio-economic status and educational background.

lapit mga kaibigan at makinig kayo
ako'y may dalang balita galing sa bayan ko
yaung ipamamahagi ang mga kuento
ng mga pangyayaring nagaganap
sa lupang pinangako

[translation]

come gather and listen
i brought news from my native land
i'll tell you what goes on
from the promised land

lives in the balance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiXvGNEn6YM&NR=1

take care. god bless us.

Bush - and why Americans tolerate his nonsense ..

Heinz Rainer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:43:00 EDT

G.W. came out and blabbered once again.

Call it whatever you want, the one who brought the biggest carnage on the world since Hitler has no right to utter his rubbish to Americans (yet there are those who give him a standing ovation, just imagine this !)

Read :

Bush nonsense

Don't throw it - beat it

Reforming the U.S Health Care System Relies On the IT and Prevention

Dr. Pathe Sambe — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:21:16 EDT

My ideas in reforming the U.S. health care system will relies, also, on the Information Technology (IT) and prevention as developed in my previous blog " Organizing Health Care System: Time is Ripe for Action". I will like to bring to your attention this report as following posted in consulting firm blog.

"Upon assuming office, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear that reforming healthcare is a top priority for his new administration. But unlike past attempts at healthcare reform that concentrated on the cost of coverage, it appears that today’s healthcare reform debate will revolve around the delivery of healthcare itself. Many experts in the field, such as Dr. Paul Grundy, director of healthcare transformation at IBM, believe this approach is ideal for tackling issues from the quality of care to the cost-effectiveness of medicine. “There is a real understanding this time that there needs to be an adult conversation around ‘what is it we buy,’” he says. “This is the first time we’ve really begun to focus on that issue as part of the reform.”

Technology provides the basis for sweeping reform
"Despite the current state of healthcare, Grundy is optimistic about the new administration’s emphasis on modernizing the field with technology, as he notes that developments in technology are poised to make reform economically attractive. Using IT to make healthcare smarter, he explains, may save billions for American businesses—and provide employees with a better quality of life. “We have huge issues around errors and medical errors, which are hugely expensive,” Grundy says. “In a system where you have something as simple as electronic prescribing, you see a 90 percent reduction in medical errors because you have a system in place that identifies, warns you, prevents you from having that error occur.”

"As an example, Grundy points to pilot programs such as the ActiveCare Network pharmaceutical program, which can lower the cost of drug therapies by up to 90 percent by ensuring that the right drug is used on the right patient at the right time. These kinds of programs, he says, are being closely examined by the Obama administration as models for how to prioritize healthcare. “We have the pyramid upside down,” he explains. “We take our money, and we spend it on heart transplants and MRIs until the money goes away—and it never reaches down to covering comprehensive, robust prevention and primary care.”

Click here to read the complete report

Thanks so much for your comments and attention on this blog.

ramblin' on

nelson — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:11:12 EST

. . . i'm finding myself doing this more frequently lately, wandering aimlessly. well, i guess it doesn't help being paranoid.

the convenience of being born-again fiscal conservative. who's gonna pay for all these government spendings the republican legislatures asked. we don't want to pass on this debt to our children and grandchildren, they added. the news cycle is going so fast that my head spins but i can still recall when i was asking this same question during george w. bush's spending spree. and just like madoff, he used some funny arithmetic. oh, let's not include the iraq war spending, the iraqi oil revenue will pay for it. sure it did!

if we just borrow the money from the chinese to buy oil from the middle east, we can cut taxes on the filthy rich. and when i leave office, they can figure out this whole sh*t. but to my beneficiaries, you're welcome.

and let's leave the private sector alone, they'll self-regulate. sure they did!

the damage that the george w. bush administration did to america and its citizens, to the world, to the environment, to our values, to our safety, to science, to our credibility, and to everything it touched, and it touched everything, is overwhelming. i'm not really sure why we haven't imploded yet. unless we are just in the process of slow annihilation.

and let me distinguish, to my conservative and republican brothers and sisters, look in the mirror and see what george w. bush did to your party. and unless you have something else to offer other than your de facto leader, and all the clowns jockeying for position, you are in a much quicker pace of implosion. actually, i think you already did. rush limbaugh?!! are you serious?

i don't know how all these things work. i don't have a clue on how to stimulate an economy. i don't agree on a consumer-based economy but is there anything else? insurance, in my opinion, is one of the biggest scam. but we're stuck. if aig is too big to fail, think about america.

so again, to my conservative and republican brothers and sisters, should we take the risk and let the market correct itself?

or get onboard the obama plan and hope that it works. because in the end, if i end up standing in line in a soup kitchen, i don't want to be thinking that i didn't at least try to do something. that would be too depressing that i might lose my appetite.

man, it's really difficult to have a coherent thought. i can't think straight. i'm even struggling to translate from my native dialect. oh, it's always been the case.

hope, faith, and the pursuit of greater good . . .

take care. god bless us.

Hello Out There!

TGirl71 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:29:09 EST

This is the first time I've checked back in a while (since Election night!). I am happy to see folks are still active here on the blogs. I look forward to participating more here as well as reading what others have to say, and we sure have plenty to "talk" about!! Warm regards, TGirl71

Obama will move towards legalization of marijuana.

guitar46phil — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:37:57 EST

As I read today about how bold and complicated his budget proposals are, it struck me how little information we have heard from the media on the choice of the new Drug Czar and the "drug war" under Obama in general. While the President has made it clear that he does not favor legalizing drugs, it has remained a very low priority issue.

My guess is that the last thing he wants is to be ridiculed ealry on (which is the conservative right-wing tactic regarding any pot discussion) for bringing this logical policy change into play while there are so many serious issues involved, the economy, health care, education, the wars etc...

Like a Texas Hold-em poker player with two aces he is waiting for the other players to bet and raise the "pot" and pull him into the 'war on drugs' debate, but when it is time to lay the cards out, it will be obvious to all that the drug war has to go, for the sake of the budget and the economy. His advisors will point out what Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman and conservative icon Willliam F. Buckley said - The war on drugs cannot be won and it is hugely damaging to our ECONOMY as well as to the safety and security of the citicizens of our country and other nations!

Obama is a brilliant tactician/politician as well as a great communicator, because frankly, I thought he would stop the war in Iraq first, and then stop the drug war, but it looks to me like he will take on the easiest "dumb war" we are in first.

From the time of the Big Bang Freedom is the natural state of things and Freedom can only be restrained by man's greedy desires and his artificial outside intervention. While man's collective efforts to restrain individuals from hurting other individuals or groups is a hallmark of our collective soul and civilization, that is not restraint of Freedom, it is restraint of evil. Restraint of the Freedom of an individual who is not harming others to pursue life, libery and happiness is wasted energy because the impulse and instinct for Freedom will always eventually outlast any efforts at artificial restraint. The human spirit's constant movement towards freedom and away from tyranical government will continue, as will our efforts to restrain evil. The devil is in the details of what is evil and what is just inconvenient for some.

The alcohol companies may need a bailout if pot is legalized. It is a lot cheaper to throw some seeds in the ground and watch the "weed" grow than to pay huge companies for your recreational high.

Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care

Dr. Pathe Sambe — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:21:19 EST

A awesome plan, and budget! As the main problems are the payments to hospitals, insurance companies and drug companies. Our health care system will be better if the federal government create a better administration and controling procedure by using a state of the art information technologies to manage our health care system in this digital age.

Following is the details of the article in New York Times dated February 26, 2009:

"President Obam's budget would make a down payment toward his goal of covering the uninsured, and he would pay for it in part by cutting federal payments to hospitals, insurance companies and drug companies.

He would also increase premiums charged to Medicare beneficiaries with higher incomes for prescription drug coverage.

Mr. Obama requested more than $6 billion for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health, up from $5.6 billion last year, and he announced a “multiyear plan to double cancer research.”

In addition, Mr. Obama said he would speed the approval of low-cost generic versions of expensive biotechnology drugs by establishing “a new regulatory pathway” at the Food and Drug Administration.

And he said he would increase access to family planning services for low-income women by expanding eligibility under Medicaid. A similar proposal was dropped from the recent economic stimulus bill after it provoked an outcry from Republicans.

Mr. Obama asked Congress to set aside $634 billion in a “reserve fund for health care reform.

He provided no new information about how to cover the uninsured, saying he would work out the details with Congress later this year. But he did propose specific changes to save money, and many of his ideas face opposition from Washington lobbyists and the interests they represent.

Mr. Obama would, for example, require drug companies to give bigger discounts, or rebates, to Medicaid, the health program for low-income people.

Drug makers now must provide Medicaid with a discount equal to at least 15.1 percent of the average manufacturer price for a brand-name product. Mr. Obama wants to require discounts of at least 22.1 percent. Pharmaceutical companies have resisted such proposals in the past.

Mr. Obama said he would save $176 billion over 10 years by cutting Medicare payments to health insurance companies that provide comprehensive care to more than 10 million of the 44 million Medicare beneficiaries.

Medicare pays private insurers an average of 14 percent more than it would cost to care for the same people in the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program. “It’s time to stop this waste,” the White House said.

Karen M. Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, denounced the proposal. It would, she said, require people in private Medicare Advantage plans to bear “a disproportionate share of the costs to reform the health care system.”

The president also proposed cutting Medicare payments to hospitals that re-admit a large proportion of patients within 30 days after they are discharged. Such re-admissions sometimes indicate that hospitals provided poor care or did not properly coordinate care.

Under the proposal, hospitals would receive “bundled payments” that cover not only their own services, but also any care provided by nursing homes and home health agencies in the month after patients left the hospital.

The White House said this proposal would save $26 billion over 10 years."

For more information on this report, please click here

Next Event

simonebars — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:43:14 EST

Dear Obama Friends,

For those of you who can, I'll meet you next Saturday in London (UK), at the Tottenham....

We wiil share our experiences and patos...

See you there,

Simone, your italian friend

A Reply to Obstructionists

Anne Miller — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:50:26 EST

Early February--I was so offended by this morning's message from our Republican Representative Cathy Mc. Rodgers (here on the eastside of Washington state), I felt inspired to fire back. Just wanted to share my response. She sent constituents the latestthe WSJ editorial to justify her obstructionism.

Dear Ms Rodgers:

With all due respect, I must inform you that I was unimpressed by your mailing in my inbox this morning with the Wall Street Journal's justification for obstructionism in Congress. I understand that you may feel you must vote in accordance with prevailing opinion in our District, but these tired talking points are offensive in their one-sidedness. Next time you oppose the President--who was elected overwhelmingly by Washington residents, as you know--I wish you would make your own case in your own words.

Do Democrats in national office have a "40-year wish list" for assisting average working Americans, whose income adjusted for inflation has flatlined over that same period? While millions more adults and children joined the ranks of the uninsured? I hope so! Someone needs to do something for our declining quality of life. Americans now work longer hours than ever before (and more hours per year than workers in any other country) just to keep body and soul together. The last 2 rounds of tax cuts--the Bush Administration's prime domestic policy--accomplished little for the lower brackets. Nonetheless, Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor claim that nothing is needed so badly as more tax cuts. Lo and behold--more tax cuts appeared in the Stimulus Bill. Please explain to me why Mr. Boehner then met with your caucus to instruct members to oppose the bill.

Medicaid coverage for contraception offended some sensibilities. As a woman, I think you should put yourself in the position of a wife whose husband loses his job AND coverage for her birth control pills. Is it a good time to grow their family, when they can't make ends meet? The WSJ editorial expresses contempt for child-care subsidies, a position that creates a serious double bind: I would like to know how families with children are supposed to keep working (and contributing to the economy) if they cannot pay these bills. But never mind the reasons such funding was included in the legislation--it was promptly removed to appease Republicans. To no avail. Is your party doing itself a favor by voting unanimously against a measure after all the outreach and accommodation? What reason will the majority party have to make such efforts next time?

It is well known that Republicans have a "wish list" of their own: to shrink the size of government until it can be drowned in a bathtub. Benefits of small government aside, Republicans do not seem to pursue this goal effectively when they hold the Presidency. As you know, the size of government and of federal deficits increased considerably under Mr. Bush. Nonetheless, a "wish list" is not a bad thing, in and of itself. I feel that your WSJ editorial strikes a needlessly negative tone in bewailing 40 years of deferred policies favored by the Democrats. Is it really so terrifying that the government might spend money on the average citizen?

Perhaps you saw the AP headline this morning--"Americans receiving jobless benefits hits record." Did those Americans deserve to get kicked out of work? Did they lose health insurance along with their jobs? Maybe that is why more funds for Medicaid are needed right now. Are they having trouble putting food on the table, including food for their children? Maybe that explains the need for Food Stamps. Do you condone the editorial's characterization of these life-saving programs as benefits for individuals "for doing nothing at all"? This attitude appeals to the old tired hatred of welfare recipients that Republicans used for years to shred our social safety-net. Do you find it helpful to drum up such hostility today, when our entire economy is contracting as people lose their homes and pensions?

How will the economy be helped if we wind up in tent cities and Hoovervilles, scrounging out of trash cans and riding the rails, like in my parents' day? Keeping people in their homes helps keep up the value of property--dwellings standing empty can ruin an entire town.

Speaking of rails, your editorialist strikes a belittling tone on this point, as well: "There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years." Someone should tell him that nowhere in the world does mass transportation "turn a profit." It is a public good that supports the economy because people need to go places, like to their jobs every day.

Personally, I wish we still had passenger rail service here in Pullman. I hope you read my recent email on this topic. Train travel reduces air pollution and associated climate change; it benefits the elderly and disabled, as well as anyone disinclined to drive. And when did car-driving ever "turn a profit"? Use and maintenance of a vehicle is one of the highest annual expenses for an average family. Oh, but how foolish of me--it makes lots of money for highway construction, the auto industry, and the oil companies. Of course, the latter enjoy heavy public subsidies, including defense of international oil fields in places like Iraq, so their profitability might be called into question.

Again with the old tired conservative lines, your editorial decries "$50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts." Did you miss the spot on NPR the other night, discussing how nearly 6 million Americans are employed in arts-based industries? This does not include part-timers who gain some of their income from craft fairs and sales, performance, and the like. Artists purchase materials, rent studios and theaters, hire other artists or assistants, and attract people to events, often in depressed neighborhoods, where goods and services are sold. How does all of that fail to stimulate the economy?

Instead of a broad vision, considering all aspects of how people contribute to a healthy economy, the editorial you chose to share this morning promotes a worn-out supply-side philosophy: Government should never do anything but cut taxes; aid to those who struggle is waste, because only the wealthy grow the economy as their investments trickle down to the rest of us.

These ideas have failed, and their day is past.

With thanks for your attention,

Anne Miller

The Bills That President Obama has Signed

Candace N. - V.O.B — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:25:08 EST

I am so happy to see President Obama move so quickly to fulfill his promises to the American people. He signed important bills that should have been signed by former president Bush. The SCHIP bill was imporatant as well as the Ledbetter bill. President Obama is proving that he wants to build the country from the bottom up. I hope the republicans will accept president Obama's hand of bipartisanship.

Organizing in Clarkston

Cat — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:32:11 EST

We'll be discussing some of our concerns about health care and resources for people who do not have insurance, as well as rising unenmployment in our community and state, and how we can help at our next meeting on February 15th at 1 PM. More information is available on our group website, as well as the event listing.

Additionally, we'll be coordinating online with one another to create a community service event with United Way. I'm in talks with a spokesperson for the organization in order to find a way that we, as a group, could volunteer on our own schedule. If anyone has any other ideas, please do let me know. If you'd like to be a part of the volunteer effort, e-mail me at sammyjo56@gmail.com or join the People for Change- LC Valley listserv in order to receive your updates.

I'd also like to point out that the more we educate ourselves about the economy, the TARP project, the second half of the money set aside for TARP, and the stimulus bill Obama has proposed, the more accurate information will be available to people who are misguided or unsure. A lot of the panic we feel as a nation is in our minimal understanding of the government and the ways in which they've handled and will continue to handle the economic recession. If we can learn, and then share what we've learned, we'll be doing a great service to our new administration and to each other.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me!

Organizing HealthCare System, Time is Ripe for Action

Dr. Pathe Sambe — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:03:37 EST

1. Problematic

Economically, with the baby boomers about to retire in growing number, the cost of America’s public- health and retirement programs, if left unchanged will rise from 8% of GDP now to 19% 2050.

The time is ripe for grand bargain that reforms the tax code, entitlements and healthcare simultaneously, boosting productivity, raising revenue, expanding healthcare coverage and putting the budget on the path of long-term balance.

2. Institutional Goals and Solutions

Our approach for this socio- economic crisis must be global with the full participation of everyone following their capacities and not their incapacities. With organization and method by helping any states with tangible policies, and more funding concerning the health care, special education and rehabilitative services issues, as following:

In every county, we must create a “ Social and Health District” with mission to coordinate the prevention, care and rehabilitative services in the framework of a   district area. This will permit to anyone residing in the district to have the opportunities to get all the basic services needed in the field of social, health care or rehabilitative issues.
In these districts, naturopathic and allopathic medicines will work together with other legally licensed professionals in the basic of conventions with the district. This global approach will have the merit to lower the costs and give people more choice for their health care and medical rehabilitative issues.
The Social and Health District will have the responsibilities to protect people and the prevention any diseases as a local public health authority. (The recent case of the   salmonella in a manufacturing plant of peanut is a important evidence for a better prevention with qualified investigators and equiped laboratory at the district level to save many innocent people of the salmonella)
The Social and Health District work with the School District concerning   students with disabilities for their full integration into their respective school at all level. This will permit the students with disabilities to benefit all the services needed for their full participation as a responsible citizen. The best school inclusive integration is the path for a better integration into the workforce.
For persons with disabilities, the local district will have a better control for the respect of the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are a lot of discriminations again people with disabilities in the workforce. It is time to change these discriminations, by tangible policies and controls for the full respect of the law. The local district will help to solve efficiently these problems
The present organization of the US health care system needs tangible reform, and because it is was not planned to serve everyone, but only for people with health insurance. This is a discrimination, as everyone have the right to a better health care based on the WHO rules.The prevention, health care and rehabilitative services issues must be administered and controlled at national level by the federal government and provided at local level by the Health and Social District for to serve the people and not the big insurances and other corporations. The urgent reform of the health care system is on the priority of the President Obama.

Thanks so much for your attention on this proposal and ideas

Economic Recovery House Meeting

Cat — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:25:43 EST

Due to prior obligations, I will be unable to host an Economic Recovery House Meeting. Because so many of us are interested in discussing the new economic stimulus bill, what effect it will have on our community, what we can do to lobby for and/or discuss with local officials their use of the funds, etc., I believe we should all watch the video and write down what we thought/want to discuss in reference, and bring it to our next meeting, scheduled February 15th at 1 PM. More details about the event, which has been classified as a Potluck, is available both on my personal profile and the People for Change-LC Valley profile.

Additionally, I'd like to say, "WELCOME!" to our new members, and give People for Change a pat on the back for getting up and running. Credit: Cam Hinman for group name. We're excited to be meeting, and are looking forward to new members joining us on February 15th. Our group web page on BarackObama.com is a step in the right direction, and will hopefully lead more people our way.

If there any ideas about discussion topics for our February meeting, please address them to either myself, Samantha Jo Hendricks, or Sarah Lachance. Contact information is available on the event page.

Town Hall February 3rd - Everyone Invited

Wayne — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:30:11 EST

Telephone Town Hall, Tuesday 2-3-09 9:30 pm EST
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/economicrecovery

Please join us for a Telephone Town Hall at 9:30 pm EST on Tuesday, February 3 with David Plouffe, Campaign Manager for Obama for America, and Mitch Stewart, Executive Director of Organizing for America. This call is for neighborhood team leaders and other key volunteers.

---
Host a House Meeting [February 6-8, 2009]
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/economicmeetings

President Obama and members of Congress have a plan to put nearly four million Americans back to work, but they need your help. The economic crisis can seem overwhelming and complex to many, but you can help the people you know connect the recovery plan to their lives and learn more about why it's so important by hosting a house meeting. A special video will outline details of the plan, how it will help your community, and impact working families.

Help Mr President !

simonebars — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:48:52 EST

Dear Obama Family,

please have a look at the new internet site of the White House (www.whitehouse.com)

Then, leave impression and suggestion to the new Us President, our beloved Obama.

He really needs our help!

Your italian friend,

Simone

Won't Be As Rewarding As Caucusing Last Year ...

Hussein The Hope Monger — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:35:45 EST

Rock fans head to Iowa to recall day music died

01/28/2009 6:00 AM, AP

It's been 50 years since a single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field, instantly killing three men whose names would become enshrined in the history of rock 'n' roll.

The passing decades haven't diminished fascination with that night on Feb. 2, 1959, when 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens performed in Clear Lake and then boarded the plane for a planned 300-mile flight that lasted only minutes.

Clear Lake is an unlikely spot for a rock 'n' roll pilgrimage — especially in winter. The resort town of about 8,000 borders its namesake lake, and on winter days the cold and wind make the community 100 miles north of Des Moines anything but a tourist destination.

All three musicians influenced rock and roll in their own way.

Holly's career was short, but his hiccup-vocal style, guitar play and songwriting talents had tremendous influence on later performers. The Beatles, who formed about the time of the crash, were among his early fans and fashioned their name after Holly's band, The Crickets. Holly's hit songs include "That'll Be The Day," "Peggy Sue" and "Maybe Baby."

Richardson, "The Big Bopper," is often credited with creating the first music video with his recorded performance of "Chantilly Lace" in 1958, decades before MTV.

And Valens was one of the first musicians to apply a Mexican influence to rock 'n' roll. He recorded his huge hit "La Bamba" only months before the accident.

The crash set off a wave of mourning among their passionate, mostly young fans across the country. Then 12 years later the crash was immortalized as "the day the music died" in McLean's 1971 song, "American Pie."

Washington.CAN - The Next Step

Wayne — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:15:34 EST

Hello Wonderfully Active People:

You're invited to join a group on My.BarackObama.com:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/WashingtonCAN

We are writing to invite everyone to please come out and join the President's Grassroots Team to support Barack as we roll out Government 2.0.
In his recent video (http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/thefuture) Barack Announces Organizing For America.  He mentioned that in a few days you would get instructions by email.  These are the instructions.

1.  We need you to find your State.CAN group in MyBO and join these two groups:

USA.CAN

Washington.CAN

2.  Each of you must update your Personal profile on MyBO with real contact information so we can interact accordingly.

3.  This is our team building nationwide project...to form ranks.  To give you a heads up, February 7th is when the call has been put out for all CAN groups to have their first meetings across the country.  We are asking all MyBO members who want to participate in Government 2.0 to reach out to all their MyBO groups and have them join their State.CAN group as well.  At your face to face meetings across your state and in each county you will elect officers, assign issue teams by individual interests, and make plans to work across CAN groups with all others who might share that issue focus in order to join forces and see solutions implemented.   This is the plan we make in support of President Barack Obama's upcoming legislation and programs.  All issues that we are focusing on to begin with are posted at www.whitehouse.gov.

4.  Overall mandate on what we are to do:

• Organize support for legislation at all levels of government.  This includes supporting President Obama's agenda as well as organizing around state and local laws/initiatives.
• Build grassroots electoral strength at all levels by training and developing grassroots leaders to organize and serve in their communities.
• Be an organ of two-way communication between the White House and the grassroots, so that each knows and responds to the priorities of the other.
• Launch a national, grassroots-driven renewal of civic engagement, again at both the local and national levels.

Lisa Lindo
National USA.CAN Group Administrator (Community Action Networks)
Associate Producer Vote For Change Campaign
Internet Community Organizer
Economic URL: IfTheBuckStopsHereShootIt.com
Vote For Change: http://obeygiant.com/voteforchange/

Trouble the Water Movie

Wayne — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:44:57 EST

From: Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (directors@troublethewaterfilm.com) Sent:Thu 1/22/09 1:10 PMTo: Wayne Severson (tukwilareign@hotmail.com)

Dear Wayne,

Wow. We received big news this morning and wanted you to be the first to know.

Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its nominations for the 81st Annual Academy Awards(R). We are thrilled to share the news that "Trouble the Water" has been nominated for best documentary feature!!

What an incredible week this has been. It began with the celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's life and legacy in Atlanta, where we screened "Trouble the Water" at the King Center's Freedom Hall with Kimberly and Scott Roberts and The Free Agents Brass Band of New Orleans.

Then we got word that "Trouble the Water" was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for outstanding documentary.

On Tuesday, the Obamas moved into the White House (and the Bushes moved out!).

And then this morning's Oscar(R) nomination for best documentary feature.

This is our time. If you haven't seen the movie yet, or have friends and family who are waiting to see it, there is something you can do.

Call your local movie theater and ask them to play "Trouble the Water." Theater managers (especially art-house theaters) take note of these requests, and it makes a difference. We've made it simple, and provided some helpful talking points, just click here to get started:

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/page/s/theatrical

We are so very honored that "Trouble the Water" has been recognized by the Academy along with these extraordinary films: "The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)"; "Encounters at the End of the World"; "The Garden"; and "Man on Wire."

And we are determined that the national and international exposure that this nomination will bring to "Trouble the Water" will also bring desperately needed attention to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and to so many communities throughout the country that are fighting for racial and economic justice.

A year ago this week, "Trouble the Water" premiered at Sundance. Since then, it has been released by Zeitgeist Films, in association with HBO Documentary Films, and has screened in more than 200 theaters nationally. But there are so many communities that have yet to see "Trouble the Water."

Click here to find out how to bring the film to your community:

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/page/s/theatrical

We have partnered with scores of community-based and national organizations working for change throughout the country. Follow this link if you would like to screen the film on your campus, in your community center, at your house of worship, or to organize a community event:

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/group

Together with Kimberly and Scott Roberts, executive producers Danny Glover and Joslyn Barnes of Louverture Films, co-producer and editor T. Woody Richman and the rest of the talented and dedicated team that has made "Trouble the Water" possible, we thank you for your support.

Our best,

Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

directors and producers of "Trouble the Water"

www.troublethewaterfilm.com

This email was sent to: tukwilareign@hotmail.com

To unsubscribe, go to: http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/unsubscribe

Dear Wayne,

Wow. We received big news this morning and wanted you to be the first to know.

Then we got word that "Trouble the Water" was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for outstanding documentary.

On Tuesday, the Obamas moved into the White House (and the Bushes moved out!).

And then this morning's Oscar(R) nomination for best documentary feature.

This is our time. If you haven't seen the movie yet, or have friends and family who are waiting to see it, there is something you can do.

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/page/s/theatrical

Click here to find out how to bring the film to your community:

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/page/s/theatrical

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/group

Our best,

Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

directors and producers of "Trouble the Water"

www.troublethewaterfilm.com

This email was sent to: tukwilareign@hotmail.com

To unsubscribe, go to: http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/unsubscribe

The People's Agenda

Dana — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:38:04 EST

After a frustrating few days using the Citizen's Briefing Book on change.gov - only to have them pull the plug - I've taken the initiative to launch an open-source, citizen-driven project to create its replacement: The People's Agenda ( http://www.99americans.org/ )

This is an invitation to any or all of you to come there and help me with this effort.

This was the best way I could think of to spend the last few working hours of this national day of service.

Inaugural Weekend 2009

Cultural Tones — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 10:29:40 EST

January 17, 2009

After two months of making and changing plans, I am ready to attend the Inaugural Ceremonies, however, subject to change at any time. From planning a day trip to Washington DC, to what is now a four day stay, I am excited and humbled about witnessing one of the most historic events in America, the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America,

Barack Obama.

My journey since February 2007 has been incredibly inspiring and an action packed experience. The lifetime friends I have made and the places in America where I have campaigned for change, as in Alaska and New Mexico, has so enriched my life, forever.

Some of the unexpected highlights that happened during these two months include being given a ticket to the Inaugural Ceremonies by Senator

Marie Cantwell (I retrieved the message from my cell phone on Christmas Eve), getting a ticket to one of the official Inaugural Balls at the last minute (I had to find a party dress for this), and this morning, signing up for the White House Open House, I am stunned. If Barack Obama did not open the doors of Democracy and if it were not for my many friends who think of me when they receive information about upcoming opportunities, I would have none of these privileges.

I am so proud of Barack Obama. His message is genuine and his actions are consistent. He has a natural ability to lead and an extraordinary instinct to inspire others to action for causes that contribute to society. As I celebrate this once in a lifetime event with millions of others, I salute America who carries the banner of liberty and justice for all.

Obama agrees to modest changes in proposed tax cuts after inviting critics to show him ideas

Candace N. - V.O.B — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:46:36 EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pushed by fellow Democrats, President-elect Barack Obama agreed to modest changes in his proposed tax cuts on Friday after inviting lawmakers to "just show me" ideas for fixing an economy shedding jobs at an alarming rate. Democratic congressional officials said that Obama aides came under pressure in closed-door talks to jettison or significantly alter a proposed tax credit for creating jobs.

Further, Democrats sought inclusion of relief for upper middle-class families hit by the alternative minimum tax. The so-called AMT was originally designed to make sure the very wealthy did not escape taxes, but it now hits many more people because of inflation, despite measures by Congress every year to prevent it from reaching tens of millions of middle-income families.

Congressional officials said aides to the president-elect had agreed to increase the $10 billion originally ticketed for energy tax breaks, although the final total remained unclear. Two officials said at least $20 billion would be reserved, but others indicated it could go higher.

Details were not available, but Obama has spoken in the past about increasing tax breaks for production of alternative energy sources such as wind power. The energy tax provisions make up a small part of a massive economic stimulus bill - expected to reach over $800 billion over two years - that congressional leaders hope to pass before mid-February.

With more than 11 million Americans out of work, Obama pressed Congress for urgent action and said the U.S. is undergoing "a devastating economic crisis that will become more difficult to contain with time." His warning was underscored by a government report showing that unemployment hit a 16-year high of 7.2 percent in December.

But congressional Democrats are making it clear they want to put their own stamp on the revival plan, despite the inevitable delays. Some Obama ideas, like a $3,000 job creation tax credit, might get scrapped.

Many Democrats aren't thrilled with Obama's business tax cut plans and are griping that there's not enough money in the measure for traditional infrastructure projects like road construction and water projects or for tax credits to promote renewable energy.

Beyond the emerging rifts - and the openness with which Democrats are pushing back against some of Obama's ideas - is the sheer enormity of crafting such a complex, controversial measure in just weeks. Lawmakers' insistence on making changes could delay the recovery plan beyond a mid-February deadline declared by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Obama, at a news conference, sought to play down the differences. "There's no disagreement that the economy is in dire straits," he said. "There's no disagreement that we need to create jobs."

Top Democrats affirmed there is far more agreement than disagreement on the major parts of the recovery plan: aid to cash-strapped state governments, $500-$1,000 tax cuts for most workers and working couples, and a huge spending package blending old fashioned public works projects with aid to the poor and unemployed and a variety of other initiatives.

Obama said he welcomed input from lawmakers in both parties.

"If members of Congress have good ideas, if they can identify a project for me that will create jobs in an efficient way that does not hamper our ability over the long term to get control of our deficit, that is good for the economy, then I'm going to accept it," the president-elect said.

"What we can't do is drag this out when we just saw a half-million jobs lost," Obama said.

"If you can show me that something is going to work, I will welcome it," he said.

A squadron of Obama officials came to the Capitol on Friday to brief House Democrats on the measure, and they again heard criticism of some of Obama's proposed tax cuts, particularly a $3,000 credit for job creation. Lawmakers pressed for more infrastructure spending and tax credits to promote renewable energy and said that more needs to be done to address the housing crisis.

"There's considerable expertise running around the halls of Congress, and this week represents the first, most significant opportunity to have good, constructive dialogue on how we build the best package," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D.

Obama is promising to ride herd.

"It is my job to make sure that Congress stays focused in the weeks to come and gets this done," he said.

The top Democrat in Congress is a cheerleader for the Obama plan.

"All of their priorities are ones that we share," Pelosi said. "We just want to make sure that those (ideas), when they're written in the bill, are ones that can be used immediately and can create jobs."

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., emphasized areas of broad agreement and the universal sentiment of a need to act.

"Please don't get the idea there was some sort of breakdown here," Boxer told reporters.

The details are closely held and subject to change - and the cost of various components seems to be bouncing around daily in the push and pull between the Obama transition team and congressional leaders.

"Spend more on infrastructure. That was a recommendation made in the caucus," Rep. Pomeroy said. Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said money will be added to have state and local governments buy up foreclosed homes.

Boxer said about 20 percent of the bill would provide aid to the cash-strapped states, with 40 percent, or about $300 billion for tax cuts for individuals and businesses. The remaining 40 percent would go to spending programs such as infrastructure, help for the unemployed and renewable energy.

One tax provision would provide a $500 tax cut for most workers and $1,000 for couples, at a cost of about $140 billion to $150 billion over two years. The individual tax cuts may be awarded by withholding less from worker paychecks, effectively making checks about $10 to $20 larger each week.

Surgeon General

Candace N. - V.O.B — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:39:34 EST

CNN just reported that Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been tapped to be the next surgeon general. There is no clear word whether he will accept or not but I don"t see him refusing.

Conf call #1: Get FISA Right in Round 2 of "Ideas for Change" (Meeting)

Wayne — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:05:58 EST

Jonathan Pincus' idea Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties finished #2 in the Criminal Justice category of change.org/MySpace’s Ideas for Change in America competition, and so has advanced to the second round. w00t, w00t!

Voting starts again on January 5, and lasts through the 15th. Please vote for it! Also, we'll need your help in getting the word out and signing up bloggers and non-profits as supporters. Details TBD ...

We're going to have a conference call Tuesday, January 6, at 5 p.m. Pacific time/8 p.m. Eastern time to kick things off ... you can register for this event at mybarackobama.com.

For more info, please see http://getfisaright.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/on-to-the-second-round-of-ideas-for-change-in-america/ on our new blog.Please watch http://getfisaright.wordpress.com for updates.

Position Paper Submitted to Daschle

Wayne — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:25:35 EST

Dear all,

Thank you all for the wonderful support in helping develop a 12 page position paper, which was submitted today to Sec. designate Tom Daschle.
Grassroots for Change is powered by each of you. Stay in touch with us by joining Grassroots for Change group or by visiting http://grassrootsforchange.org

Read the full submission online by clicking the link below:
hhs.grassrootsforchange.org

From the team that said - Yes We Can !

Strong Get Stronger

Wayne — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:08:40 EST

It’s not the state’s struggling financial institutions that are benefiting from the feds’ $700 billion bailout package.By Rick AndersonPublished on December 30, 2008 at 8:37pm

It's called a federal "bailout," a $700 billion relief program supposedly meant to aid America's needy financial institutions. Except: "We did not need nor require this capital," says Brian Vance, CEO of Heritage Financial, a $900 million holding company headquartered in Olympia whose net income for the first nine months of 2008 was $6.5 million. Yet last month, Heritage accepted $24 million in congressionally approved bailout cash.

David C. Wong

Likewise, Washington Federal of Seattle, which got $200 million under the program, "did not need the capital infusion," says spokesperson Cathy Cooper—but took it anyway.

The bailout fund is called TARP, the Troubled Assets Relief Program. But much of the money distributed so far has gone to banks with anything but troubled assets. "The public needs to understand," says Cooper, "that what once was a bailout has changed focus. Rather than buying out bad banks, it has become a program to help strong banks."

In other words, despite what you might read or hear, this is a "healthy bailout" if you're into oxymorons—or "corporate welfare" if you're not. A Treasury Department spokesperson says the department is now targeting healthy rather than ailing institutions, reviewing financial records to determine which institutions are in good shape before inviting them to apply for funds. The aim is to keep strong banks strong rather than to prop up weak banks likely to fail (as 24 U.S. banks have done this year).

Heritage and Washington Federal are two of seven Washington banks that have taken altogether $793 million in the 2008 financial bailout, according to a review of federal records. The biggest slice, $303 million, went to Sterling Financial Corporation in Spokane.

Nationwide, about $335 billion of the $700 billion bailout has been allocated so far, and 211 U.S. banks have been granted $199 billion of that, according to the Government Accountability Office and propublica.org, an investigative journalism Web site. But critics say the money comes with so few strings attached—for example, there's no enforceable edict on how the banks must use the funds—that the misnamed TARP program is a cash cow waiting to be milked.

As Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, chair of the government bailout oversight panel, put it in a recent MSNBC interview: "The principal strategy that the Treasury is using right now is 'Let's put billions of dollars more cash into banks that are already solvent.'...It just takes a little to try to understand how that's going to help families across the country."

The TARP funds are distributed through the Treasury's Capital Purchase Program (CPP). In return, banks hand over a corresponding amount in stock, which the government can redeem in later years; in the meantime, they agree to pay five percent stock dividends to the feds. But if CPP is an economic engine that strengthens strong institutions, as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says, that idea seems lost not only on the public but on some of the banks: Among the CPP recipients is Honolulu's Central Pacific Financial, which was near failure until it got $135 million through the program this month.

Such contradictions aside, money is mostly flowing to banks that don't seem to need it. Washington Federal CEO Roy M. Whitehead observed that his bank felt "complimented" to get $200 million in new equity to augment "our strong capital position." D. Michael Jones, CEO of Banner Corp. in Walla Walla, said the $124 million shot in the arm his bank got was "recognition of the strength and financial health of Banner." Melanie Dressel, CEO of Columbia Banking System in Tacoma, which got $76.9 million, said the money "further affirms both our financial strength and our successful business model." Also getting CPP bailouts were Cascade Financial of Everett ($39 million) and Washington Banking of Oak Harbor ($26.4 million).

Heritage CEO Vance did not respond to phone inquiries. But in a press release, he said the bailout money would increase Heritage's capacity to make loans and strengthen its ability to "proactively work with our borrowers in difficult times." Difficult for the borrowers, it seems, but not so much for the bank.

randerson@seattleweekly.com

Grassroots for Change Website - visit today!

Wayne — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:26:50 EST

Please take a moment to visit this website: http://grassrootsforchange.org and click on the link on the left - myBO- Collaboration. The content here will be published both at mybarackobama.com's Grassroots for Change group site and at this new website. Please remember to send invites to all those who feel they want to contribute, be involved and more importantly participate in the benefits from the economy subsidies that start as they relate to mortgage modifications, home purchasing, job creation and of course getting health care coverage.Please feel free to spread this link as work in progress so that more of us can stop worrying about turf battles and focus on getting Senator Daschle the input he needs.While you are at it, consider joining the Grassroots for Change group today!Thanks, Wayne

3 PERCENT MORTAGE RATE FIXED AVAILABLE FOR ONE YEAR!

karen benzer — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:13:13 EST

I tried to send this solution for a Main Street Bailout on Change.Gov but it is impossible to get through, so here it is Mainstream People...Reduce the mortgage rate to 3 perecent fixed for 20 years. It may sound drastic but, giving 700 billion to financial institutions with our tax money WAS WAY MORE DRASTIC! This 3 percent interest rate should be offered for one year to refinances and new loans...If you are in the position to refinance an existing rental property or to buy a new rental property you should be able to do so at the same 3 percent! However any rental properties given a 3 percent interest rate must pass on these savings to the renters. The investors would have to sign something to that affect during the loan process. If a homeowner ended up renting out their 3 perent property at some point, they too would have to pass on the savings to their renters, signed off during the loan process. This would make housing affordable again for everyone! Allow the payback of the bailout to be repaid at 3 percent fixed too.

Mainstreet would be dancing in the street and buying again! What a true bailout without needing to dole out charity...ANYONE BEHIND IN PAYMENTS OR IN FORECLOSURE WOULD BE QUALIFIED TO REFINANCE..

What do you think? If you like it..PLEASE PASS IT ON TO ALL GROUPS...LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN

Happy Holiday & The Obama Revolution & You

eric HUSSEIN graff — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:31:45 EST

Happy Holidays to all. We had a great year in 2008. As we transition to 2009 we find the Country in in a mess the likes of which none of us has seen in our lifetimes. Many issues are in the forefront, the economy, jobs, health care, the environment, ethics, equality to name just a few. We as a group need to pressure our elected officials to put petty and personal issues aside and focus on these real issues. It's upto you to lobby your own elected officials on issues that are importaint to you. This is not just a federal effort but State, County & local one as well, these other issues need as much attention as the big national ones. Get involved with the issues that matter to you. When contacting these officials please note your involvment in the Obama campaign. Call, write and email, demand answers & response. Watch the votes & note where they differ from yours and the area represented views. Call them out for their votes. As you know from the campaign you CAN make a difference.

Running for local office can give you a much greater voice in issues you care about. County Committee, municiple office, school boards, volunteer for your local recreation board, sanitation authority, library board whatever interests you. You can be someone whose voice is not just heard but listened to as a mover in your community. This is how the Reagan revolution started, locally. Is it easy? No. But NOTHING worthwhile ever is isn't it?

Well, happy Holidays & happy New Year to all and let's make 2009 the start of the Obama revolution. After all this is what Barack wants us to do! E Z Graff 12-24-08

Trouble the Water Movie

Wayne — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:55:20 EST

I wanted to take this opportunity to share with others about a very interesting documentary about Katrina. If you have the time I highly recommend you view the trailer or see the film at a theater near you. show dates are listed on the website.

“When hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf and the floodwaters rose and tore through New Orleans, it did not turn the region into a Third World country… it revealed one.” – Danny Glover

Trouble The Water takes audiences on a journey that is by turns heart stopping, infuriating, inspiring and empowering. People leave the theaters wanting and needing to do something – not only about the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, but about the underlying issues that remained when the floodwaters receded – failing public schools, record high levels of incarceration, poverty, lack of government accountability and structural racism.

The producers are creating partnerships with faith-based, advocacy and service-based groups working on racial and economic justice, sustainable and equitable development and youth empowerment who will harness the power of Trouble The Water, engaging people in dialogue and inspiring them to act, so critically important during this election year.

If you work with a group that might want to screen Trouble The Water, please email us at TroubletheWater@gmail.com

Thanks, Wayne

Dear Wayne,

As you know, I'm Kimberly Rivers Roberts, otherwise known as Blackkoldmadina. I'm the star of the movie Trouble the Water. I've never written to you before, but I wanted to take the time to thank you for your support. It has meant so much to me and to my husband Scott.

Not just the support you've shown the movie, but for us and our friends and family who have moved back to New Orleans and are trying to rebuild.

Scott and I never dreamed that people would be responding to us in such a strong, joyful, positive way, really feeling us and understanding the journey that we've been on.

Trouble the Water shows what can happen if you stay positive no matter what environment you're forced to live in, or what negative influences you have to deal with, and expect better out of life than what you see. It shows that everyone makes mistakes and a mistake does not determine the future, you do.

I hope you'll share the Trouble the Water experience by sending the movie trailer to your friends, family, church groups, anyone that will help get the story out.

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/sharetrailer

On this new journey with Tia and Carl and the movie, I've been able to see life from a truly different perspective.

In the past few months, I've shook hands with the richest of the rich, and been introduced to the smartest and the brightest in their field and slept in the most comfortable beds that money can buy.

But no matter where I am, or who I meet, I can never forget where I come from, and the people I love. I go back to New Orleans and see the poverty, our neglected schools, our destroyed neighborhoods. Living in these conditions, you feel like this is the world, and there's nothing to lose.

Had it not been for this movie, I would not have known that a positive educational environment existed for me. I know now I can enjoy a better quality of life. But where I'm from, it's not given to us, we have to take it.

You might remember that I wrote a song called Trouble the Water that's in the movie. The song describes what happened before, during and after Katrina -- our attitude about survival and our pride in our community in spite of being forgotten about, underprivileged, and overlooked.

Please help support Trouble the Water the movie, Trouble the Water the album and Ya girl Blackkoldmadina, by sending the movie trailer to at least five of your friends. When you do that, you'll get a copy of my song.

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/sharetrailer

The song says that the people of New Orleans deserve more then a commemoration with a wreath -- we deserve the opportunity to be educated. We are productive citizens who care about each other and are passionate about our communities.

The song explains that with the right tools, we can have a positive effect on the world. But we need the tools.

In Trouble the Water I shared a big piece of me with you. I hope you'll do the same, and share this story with your friends, family, and everyone on your email list.

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/sharetrailer

Wishing you peace and love in the New Year,

Kimberly

PS: Let me know what you think about the song and the movie -- write to me at http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/contact_kimberly

This email was sent to: tukwilareign@hotmail.com

To unsubscribe, go to: http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/unsubscribe

Opinions on Obama from a student

PengPotter — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:32:11 EST

To begin with,please allow me to introduce myself,I'm a student of China ,and my ability to write in English is extremely common,In spite of this,I wanna speak out my opinions on the new-elected president,Obama.

As we all konw,Obama is the first black president of the USA,the moment I first knew him in the newspaper,I dont konw why,believe or not ,I'm sure that he will be the winner.and the first time I saw his picture ,oh!he is handsome too.

And now ,as I expected ,He won,but I also often recived these news that,a flood of people are against him for his skin-color,expecially many white people,I'm puzzled with these things that,the black people have been fighted against by the white since America built,I learned from my book that ,the USA is a country made up of emigrations from different counteies,so , America doesn't belong to the white ,it belongs to everyone built the United States of America and their offspring!No one has the right to oppose Obama for his color!

Recently,I have read a lot of news about Obama,and I learned that he is not only handsome,but easy,love,confident as well,I believe his abilty,I am sure he will be a great president,Yes ,he can!

The Ridiculous Protest Against Rick Warren

Candace N. - V.O.B — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:31:34 EST

First let me say that I don't care about anyone's sexual orientation. From my experiences, studies and personal opinion, I believe people are born gay. Anyway it is crazy that Barack's choice for pastor is an issue. People always have to make an issue where there is none. If the pastor was a person that is guilty of gay bashing then I could see the protest, but he just believes marriage should be between a man and a woman and that is his right just as it is everyone's right to their own sexual preference. So if you don't want people to criticize you for being gay don't criticize people for not sharing your beliefs (you can't have it both ways). And further more if you are so secure with your sexuality why does one man's opinion bother you? If one man can get under your skin for so little, then you are in need of therapy. When a group of people be it ethnic, pertaining to sexual orientation or others complain about every little thing, the population loses interests in their cause and when a real issue arises these groups don't get support because people feel "here they go crying again". So please in the future choose your battles more carefully because Barack's pastor choice for his inauguration is really a dumb thing to be complaining about. We are fighting a war, we have alot of homeless and hungry people, disease, our economy is in the toilet and we have a million other things to worry about and yet you are flipping out about pastor Warren? Come on give me a break !!!

Officials: Obama selects Vilsack for ag post

Candace N. - V.O.B — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:27:22 EST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama has selected former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack to become his agriculture secretary, according to Democratic officials familiar with the selection process.

Obama will announce the nomination of Vilsack on Wednesday, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the selection before the announcement. Obama also plans to announce his nomination of Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar as interior secretary at the same news conference, other Democratic officials said.

Vilsack will be the fourth former opponent of Obama in the campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination to join his new administration. Others include Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been tapped for secretary of state, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, selected to head the Commerce Department.

Vilsack announced his presidential candidacy in late 2006, positioning himself as a Washington outsider with heartland appeal, but he dropped out before the primaries because of an inability to raise money. He endorsed Clinton and campaigned actively for her in the long primary campaign against Obama. After Obama defeated Clinton, Vilsack endorsed him.

First elected governor in 1998, Vilsack, 58, carved out a reputation as a political centrist. He balanced Iowa's budget and resisted raising taxes, but he was willing to spend money on such priorities as education and health. He argued that pushing alternative energy sources was key to bolstering rural sections of the nation that are struggling economically and with vanishing populations.

Salazar will head a department that oversees oil and gas drilling on public lands and manages the nation's parks and wildlife refuges. Salazar is expected to try to balance the protection of natural resources while tapping the nation's energy potential - an approach Obama has said he wants.

Salazar co-sponsored a bill in Congress to create a new land conservation system under the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management for permanently protecting 26 million acres of national monuments, wilderness areas and wild and scenic rivers. The legislation died during the lame-duck session of Congress after the November election.

The Colorado senator opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and objected to the Bush administration's efforts to lease Western lands for oil shale development. It will be up to the Obama administration whether to go ahead with leasing.

If Salazar is confirmed as interior secretary, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, will select a replacement to fill the last two years of his Senate term. Before being elected to the Senate in 2004, Salazar was Colorado's attorney general. He also headed Colorado's Natural Resources Department from 1990 through 1994.

Source: Ill. gov nixed job for Jackson Jr.'s wife

Candace N. - V.O.B — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:21:04 EST

CHICAGO (AP) -- Shortly after his 2002 election, Gov. Rod Blagojevich told Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. he didn't appoint the congressman's wife as lottery director because he had refused him a $25,000 campaign donation, a person familiar with the conversation told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Blagojevich went out of his way to say, 'You know I was considering your wife for the lottery job and the $25,000 you didn't give me? That's why she's not getting the job,'" the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing federal investigation.

Jackson's name has played prominently ever since Blagojevich was arrested last week on corruption charges, including allegations that he tried to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat for personal gain.

Jackson has been identified as one of the candidates Blagojevich was considering for the seat, and a criminal complaint said his supporters were willing to raise $1.5 million for the governor if he picked the congressman.

The complaint quotes Blagojevich as saying on federal wiretaps that an associate of the candidate offered to raise money for him if he made the Jackson appointment happen.

Jackson spokesman Kenneth Edmonds declined to comment on the account of the exchange shortly after Blagojevich's 2002 election but said the congressman, the son of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, has approached federal investigators to discuss the governor and others for years.

"He has shared information with federal prosecutors about public corruption during the past several years, including information about Blagojevich and others," Edmonds said.

Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, declined to comment, as did Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero.

Jackson has openly sought the Senate position but denies initiating or authorizing anyone to promise anything to Blagojevich on his behalf. The congressman has said federal prosecutors told him he is not a target of their investigation.

The person did not know whether Jackson's wife, Sandi, who has since been elected to the Chicago City Council, had asked for the state lottery job. At the time, Blagojevich was the first incoming Democratic governor after years of Republican rule and had scores of state jobs to fill.

"The governor had kind of penciled Sandi in as lottery director and then asked for contributions from the congressman," the person said.

Sandi Jackson did not immediately return a call to her office seeking comment.

In April, the Chicago Tribune reported that an examination of campaign donations to Blagojevich showed that three in four donors who gave exactly $25,000 received administration favors such as state board appointments or contracts.

It's also the same amount of money that figured prominently in the testimony of a government witness in the political corruption trial this summer of political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

Ali Ata, the former executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, testified that Blagojevich spoke encouragingly about getting him a job in his administration after he personally brought him a $25,000 campaign contribution.

Rezko, who raised more than $1 million for Blagojevich's campaign fund, was convicted of shaking down companies seeking state business for campaign contributions.

The person familiar with Jackson's discussions also said Tuesday that Jackson has spoken with federal investigators about a 2006 meeting with Rezko at which the two discussed a proposed airport in Peotone, long considered a possible location for a third Chicago-area airport.

The person said Rezko told Jackson, a longtime proponent of the airport, that Blagojevich wanted to control the airport's board, but Jackson balked.

President Elect Obama's Cabinet Picks

Candace N. - V.O.B — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:09:52 EST

Some liberals are not to thrilled with President elect Obama's cabinet picks. I think he has made sound, diverse choices. Some previous administrations (especially the last one) were full of "yes" people that did not challenge the president. Barack has surrounded himself with people that will challenge him and give him a broad variety of ideas. Some say that a group of people with strong personalities will pose a problem for Barack, but I think he will listen to everyone and know exactly when and how to reign everyone in. He will take all ideas into consideration but when the final decision is made he will let everyone know that he is president and has the last word. I think a good cabinet should have liberals, moderates and conservatives. A good show that one is going to be bipartisan is by having a diverse group of people around.

Bodies pile up as Mugabe wages war on diamond miners

simonebars — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:51:55 EST

From my friends around the World ; live

Simone

Scores have been killed during a campaign of terror unleashed by Zimbabwe's rulers against illegal diggers in the east of the country

Chris McGreal in Mutare
The Guardian, Thursday December 11 2008
Article history

The young miner already recognised the sound of dogs as a terrifying harbinger of death but the dull thud of the helicopter blades was something new.

Minutes later a Zimbabwean air force helicopter swept over the hundreds of fleeing illegal diamond miners and mowed down dozens with machine-gun fire. After that the police arrived and unleashed the dogs that tore into the diggers, killing some and mutilating others. The police fired teargas to drive the miners out of their shallow tunnels and shot them down as they emerged.

How many died in the assault two weeks ago is not clear but the miners say it was at least scores. Some bodies remain unclaimed and unidentified in Mutare hospital mortuary.

"First we heard the helicopter and we knew it wouldn't be good but I thought it would just deliver soldiers," said the young miner, a former student who gave his name only as Hopewell.

"Then it came over us and started shooting. There was a man next to me, he had been digging near me, and the bullet went right through his head. Everyone was in panic. People ran but they didn't want to leave their finds behind so they were stopping to grab them and getting shot ... The police were waiting for us with the dogs. I was lucky. A dog ran for me but there was this woman, she was slower than me and it attacked her. I don't know what happened to her. I went back to my diggings a few days later but she hasn't come back."

The police and military have for weeks been conducting a bloody campaign, which Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has described as "resembling a war", to drive thousands of illegal miners out of a recently discovered diamond field that some in the industry believe might be the richest in years.

The miners say hundreds have died. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change says it has the names of 140 people killed although there is common agreement that many have been buried without a word.

Chris McGreal: 'Bodies have turned up riddled with bullets' Link to this audio

The diamond fields around Chiadzwa, about 20 miles north-west of the town of Mutare in Zimbabwe's eastern Manicaland province, are a collection of shallow tunnels and open gullies dug out after the discovery of gems close to the surface two years ago set off the rush.

Thousands of illegal diggers moved in - estimates run between 10,000 and 30,000 including foreigners from across southern Africa - spending days or even weeks to discover only tiny diamonds worth no more than a couple of hundred US dollars. But that is several months' pay for many Zimbabweans as their country collapses under the weight of hyperinflation.

Many of the miners are professionals, such as teachers and civil servants, who have abandoned jobs that do not pay enough to feed their families. Others are students who have dropped out of university in the hope of making a quick fortune and subsistence farmers whose land has not produced a crop in years. And some have got very rich.

Mutare, on the border with Mozambique, has taken on the air of a frontier town filled with brash young men touting US dollars and an air of menace. The hotels are filled with miners and dealers. Luxury cars prowl the streets. Shops have filled with imported goods sold for American dollars and South African rand. Spend any amount of time in a hotel bar and periodically someone will approach with diamonds for sale.

The governor of Zimbabwe's central bank, Gideon Gono, has estimated there are more than 500 syndicates handling more than $1bn a month in illegally dug diamonds that are swiftly smuggled out of the country.

Now Zimbabwe's government, or at least members of its discredited ruling elite, are apparently trying to take control. The military and police have moved in to try to drive the illegal diggers out of plots the miners say are claimed by Grace Mugabe, the president's wife, and Joice Mujuru, the vice-president. Both areas are now known by the women's names.

Legal and opposition political sources in Mutare say the prime mover behind the military assault is the Zimbabwean air force chief, Perence Shiri, the former commander of the notorious Fifth Brigade which massacred about 20,000 people in Matabeleland in the mid-80s.

Shiri oversaw the bloody military campaign of beatings and killings in Manicaland earlier this year that terrorised voters into supporting Robert Mugabe in June's presidential election.

He sent the helicopter gunships into the diamond fields three weeks ago. The police were already letting loose ferocious dogs, killing some miners and maiming others. One police tactic is to use teargas to drive them out of the tunnels, causing stampedes in which some have been crushed. The miners say that in some cases the police shoot down the men, blinded by teargas, as they flee.

One described how there is shooting nearly every day and particularly at night. "There were three of us mining together. In the night a policeman came and shot my friend, twice in the chest. We ran away but came back. He was still alive. We carried him to a hospital but he died," he said.

A policewoman working in Chiadzwa said she saw a pile of 50 bodies after one helicopter attack. "There were a lot of bodies. They were piled up. I don't know what happened to them. Some of the dead are just buried secretly," she said. "Miners are killed every day. The orders to the police are to shoot them if they find them digging but many of the police do not want to carry out those orders. These are ordinary people like us."

The situation has got so bad that some miners are now arming themselves and fighting back. The state-run press has reported that several police officers have been killed in shoot-outs.

But none of that deters the men who continue to work the diamond fields. "The risks are worth it," said Hopewell. "Some miners have run away but most of us don't leave for long. We hear stories of giant diamonds. I've already sold enough to make more money than I have made in five years. I have bought food for my mother and father. I have bought a television and a DVD from South Africa. Next I will buy a car. If they don't kill me," he says, and laughs.

A De Beers subsidiary held the exploitation rights to the fields but let them expire in 2006 because, according to industry sources, it believed the diamonds to be of poor quality. A British firm, African Consolidated Resources, bought the rights but it was ousted by the government when large quantities of high quality diamonds were discovered a short dig under the surface. Theoretically the diamond fields were then taken over by the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation but the illegal diggers moved in so fast it was unable to assert control.

Some economists speculate that Zimbabwe's rulers look on the diamond fields as a new source of US dollars now that the country's foreign reserves have largely been spent and the collapse of agriculture, industry and tourism means there is little new money coming in. But given the bitter experience of recent years Zimbabweans have little reason to believe that if the ruling elite gets control of the diamond fields, the revenues will be used to rescue the country.

One Last Thought About Palin

Candace N. - V.O.B — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:04:30 EST

Many people in the news media say Palin will be the next republican star, I beg to differ. The smart republicans like Jindal, Crist and Romney are not going to support Palin again. They did not want to support her the first time and only did so out of party loyalty. This time around the republicans are going to have to nominate people with fresh ideas that have intelligence and Palin does not possess either. Also the next time a women is nominated for a high ranking office, I hope she does not follow the lead of the last two women that were in the public eye (no names need to be mention). The sexism cry has to be stopped. If the woman can't handle the heat then don't go near the flame. The women and their supporters cried sexism about any comment that was made. Look at what Barack got, he did not cry about the gutter attacks against him. He did not cry about race or play any other cards. He took it and responded when necessary. When women use their gender to avoid heat, it sets all women back. Sure Palin got a lot of heat but that was not because of her gender, she got heat because she is an idiot.

OBAMA FOR WASHINGTON

WEBMASTER — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:16:06 EST

Aberdeen * Alder * Allyn * Amanda Park * American River * Anacortes * Anatone * Arlington * Ashford * Auburn * Bangor * Baring * Battle Ground * Belfair * Bellevue * Bellingham * Benton City * Beverly * Bingen * Birch Bay * Blaine * Bonney Lake * Bothell * Bow * Bremerton * Bridgeport * Brinnon * Brownsville * Burley * Burlington * Camas * Carson * Cashmere * Castle Rock * Cathlamet * Central Park * Centralia * Chehalis * Chelan * Chewelah * Chico * Chinook * Clarkston * Cle Elum * Clinton * Coles Corner * Colfax * College Place * Colville * Concrete * Conconully * Cosmopolis * Cougar * Coulee City * Coulee Dam * Coupeville * Crystal Mountain * Darrington * Davenport * Dayton * Deer Park * Deming * Des Moines * Diablo * Discovery Bay * Dishman * Eatonville * Easton * Edmonds * Elbe * Eldon * Ellensburg * Elma * Enumclaw * Ephrata * Evans * Everett * Ferndale * Forks * Fortson * Fox Island * Freeland * Garfield * George * Gig Harbor * Glacier * Glenoma * Glenwood * Gold Bar * Goldendale * Gorst * Graham * Grand Coulee * Granger * Granite Falls * Grandview * Grapeview * Greenbank * Greenwater * Hansville * Hazel * Holly * Hoodsport * Hoquiam * Humptulips * Husum * Ilwaco * Index * Indianola * Ione * Issaquah * Kalaloch * Kalama * Kelso * Kennewick * Kent * Kettle Falls * Key Center * Keyport * Kingston * Kirkland * Kittitas * Klickitat * La Conner * La Push * Lake Stevens * Langley * Leavenworth * Liberty Lake * Lilliwaup * Little Boston * Long Beach * Longview * Lummi Island * Lynden * Lynnwood * Manchester * Manson * Marblemount * Marysville * Mattawa * McCleary * Mill Creek * Moxee City * Mazama * Metaline Falls * Methow * Mineral * Moclips * Monroe * Montesano * Morton * Moses Lake * Mossyrock * Mount Baker * Mount Vernon * Naches

Looking for funds? Cut the defense (offense) budget

Chinni — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:59:28 EST

"The inability to invest in healthcare, energy and infrastructure etc. in the current state of the economy" is a creation of Washington think tanks (the people paid to think by the makers of tanks - Naomi Klein). Cut the defense budget and fund everything else.

Smart Defense - Katrina Vanden Heuvel on 11/18/2008

Last month, Congressman Barney Frank called for a 25 percent cut in the defense budget--approximately $150 billion in annual spending--saying, "We don't need all these fancy new weapons. I think there needs to be additional review."..Even a senior Pentagon advisory group--the Defense Business Board --recently concluded that the current budget is "not sustainable."..
..Progressives are under no illusions as to the obstacles to making a real and meaningful shift in the way the US approaches the defense budget.. The Bush Administration's Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said of the scant resources devoted to the diplomatic corps as compared to military equipment, "Diplomacy simply does not have the built-in, domestic constituency of defense programs."..

Wars, Weapons, and Warnings - Plutonium Page on 11/9/2008

..The Obama transition team, according to a briefing paper prepared for the campaign's national security advisory team, may consider cuts to high-profile weapon systems, the paper states, naming three: national missile defense, the Airborne Laser and the Army's Future Combat Systems program..

In Praise of a Rocky Transition

Chinni — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:35:53 EST

In Praise of a Rocky Transition

by Naomi Klein - Nov 13 2008

..Despite all of this potential lawlessness, the Democrats are either openly defending the administration or refusing to intervene..
..I suspect that the real reason the Democrats are so far failing to act has less to do with presidential protocol than with fear: fear that the stock market, which has the temperament of an overindulged 2-year-old, will throw one of its world-shaking tantrums..
.."The Street" would cheer a Summers appointment for exactly the same reason the rest of us should fear it: because traders will assume that Summers, champion of financial deregulation under Clinton, will offer a transition from Henry Paulson so smooth we will barely know it happened. Someone like FDIC chair Sheila Bair, on the other hand, would spark fear on the Street--for all the right reasons..
..There is no way to reconcile the public's vote for change with the market's foot-stomping for more of the same. Any and all moves to change course will be met with short-term market shocks..
..When transferring power from a functional, trustworthy regime, everyone favors a smooth transition. When exiting an era marked by criminality and bankrupt ideology, a little rockiness at the start would be a very good sign.

The Hillary Possibility

Candace N. - V.O.B — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:24:19 EST

I don't know how I feel about Hillary as Secretary of State. I know I certainly did not want her as VP after her primary antics, but I am just unsure about this possible appointment. There is no doubt she can do the job. There is something about Kerry that does not have me convinced that he would be a wise choice, he put Obama into the spotlight but when it comes to such an important position, even if Obama thinks he owes Kerry something, that is not a position that should be used as a reward. Richardson should certaily have some kind of appointment, but I have to admit I think Hillary would do a better job. What do you think?

Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn on Democracy Now!

Chinni — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:23:53 EST

To change the future, know the history.. I'm glad people like Bill Ayers got a voice now (never mind the reasons). Though Obama can't fight for them, their voice in the media by itself is a great benefit to our democracy.

Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn on the Weather Underground, the McCain Campaign Attacks, President-Elect Obama and the Antiwar Movement Today - Part 1 (Nov 14 2008)

In the late stages of the presidential race, no other name was used more by the McCain-Palin campaign against Barack Obama than Bill Ayers. Ayers is a respected Chicago professor who was a member of the 1960s militant antiwar group the Weather Underground. In their first joint television interview, Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn discuss the McCain campaign attacks, President-elect Obama, the Weather Underground, the legacy of 1960s social justice movements, and more.

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

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

WEBMASTER — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:20:44 EST

Justices of the United States Supreme Court who witnessed an OBAMANATION of HOPE

Justice ANTHONY KENNEDY
Justice ANTONIN SCALIA
Justice DAVID SOUTER
Justice CLARENCE THOMAS
Chief Justice JOHN CLOVER ROBERTS
Justice RUTH BADER GINSBURG
Justice SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR - retired
Justice STEPHEN BREYER
Justice SAMUEL ALITO

American Novelist Talia Carner: "The Scandal In Our Own Backyard"

Indianashame Teardropsforkatelynn — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:41:27 EST

The Scandal in Our Own Backyard http://www.vibrantn ation.com/ interviews/ 2008/08/26/ the-scandal- in-our-own- backyard/ The scandal in our own backyard by Talia Carner Talia Carner, a novelist and an advocate for child victims of the legal system, is the author of Puppet Child, a legal drama about a mother trying to save her daughter from the legal system’s justice. Learn more by visiting her website, www.TaliaCarner. com. “There is something bad happening to our children in family courts today that is causing them more harm than drugs, more harm than crime and even more harm than child molestation,” said Judge Watson L. White from Cobb County, Georgia, Superior Court. In researching for my book, Puppet Child, I discovered that “something bad” to be the judges, especially when it comes to adjudicating allegations of child sexual abuse. In Clarke v. Cowles in California, eight-year-old Loren (not her real name) told her caseworker and later her psychological evaluator in graphic detail how her father had sexually molested her. The first report was suppressed by the judge, the latter was never presented at the trial. The father was awarded full custody while the mother received supervised visitations on the unproven assumption that she had brainwashed her daughter. Years later, after the girl wrote repeatedly to her caseworker about molestation, a judge refused to hear the evidence because the question of sexual abuse had been decided five years before. Loren is only one child out of thousands being handed to their abusers. According to The American Judges Foundation, in 70 percent of cases in which abusive men ask for custody, they succeed in gaining full or joint custody. This national scandal is made possible by the secrecy within the Family Court System and by public disbelief in the scope of the problem. The very system designed to safeguard helpless children has become a national disgrace as injustice has reached epidemic proportions. Whatever you have ever known about democracy becomes irrelevant at the gate to family court. There, one person is judge, jury and executioner. Paradoxically, a family court judge is the one professional in the courtroom who is not required to be trained in domestic violence and child abuse. As a result, wrapped in their own mix of prejudices, religious beliefs, or misguided assumptions, all too many judges are ignorant about the dynamics of family abuse, ignorant about the nature of child molestation, and ignorant about the ways in which an abuser manipulates the courtroom as the arena where he can hand a woman the final blow by taking her children away. Although studies such as the one by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Research in Denver—an organization which mothers’ groups claim is biased against women—shows that at least two thirds of sexual abuse allegations made by a child were proven to be substantiated (the one third unsubstantiated are not necessarily false.) Yet a study by the California Protective Parents Association found that 91 percent of fathers identified by their children as sexual predators received full or partial unsupervised custody—while in 54 percent of these same cases the non-abusing mother was placed on supervised visitations. How is that possible? Here are some of the more glaring errors the courts perpetuate: * Viewing children as property. When the crime of sexual abuse is committed upon a child who lives next door, the perpetrator is subject to harsh jail punishment. The same abuse committed upon one's own child is likely to result in a father getting sole custody. Behind this unfair ruling is the lingering feudal tradition that regards children as the property of their fathers. * Mistaking controlling men for loving fathers. Used to getting their way and given to expressions of anger, controlling men fight hard in the court they regard as a boxing ring. Having seen too many men walk away from their children, judges often mistake for love a father’s unwillingness to let go of the child who has become both a sexual object and a weapon against a mother trying to get away from her husband’s control. * Favoring the Parental Alienation Syndrome theory. PAS maintains that a child has been brainwashed to give false testimony. Not listed in the American Psychiatric Association manual, PAS is refuted and considered bogus theory by nationally recognized academic and clinical institutions— and by a 1999 Congressional act (VAWA). In fact, the lone advocate who coined the term, Richard Gardner, has also written that “pedophilia is natural.” Nevertheless, increasingly, legions of children are removed from their mothers’ care under the PAS theory. * Tolerance of child sexual abuse. A Tennessee judge granted visitation rights to Ralph Gonnella two weeks after he had been arrested for taking sexually explicit photographs of his seven-year-old son. In California, Manuel Saavedra, a convicted sex offender who had pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with a child was awarded custody of his two daughters. All across America, convicted pedophiles—a crime known for its high rate of recidivism —are given access to their children. * Refusing to stigmatize a man as a pedophile. A 1996 report by The American Psychological Association states, “women seldom make false reports of child abuse or battering.” Yet in case after case, when a father is found to be sexually abusive, judges suppress evidence. While many judges, many of whom are fathers, do not truly believe that sexual abuse exists, they also do not wish to venture into the criminal arena of pedophilia due to overlapping jurisdiction between civil and criminal courts. * Not following the law. In demanding burden of proof of sexual molestation that supercedes the required “preponderance of evidence” and instead seeking the criminal definition of “beyond a reasonable doubt,” judges often demand dates, times or witnesses that are impossible for a child to provide. Interestingly, the same judges demand no proof when speculating that at the roots of the sexual abuse complaint is the mother’s coaching the child. * Misogyny. In Virginia, Kathy Wade was told by the judge handing Kathy’s two-year-old daughter to the sexually abusive father, “This is what you get when you don’t have a lawyer.” In Florida, Judge Paul Marko told Marianne Price: "The singles' bars are full of guys… you go and find one.” In Michigan, Judge Gregory Pittman ordered a couple shackled together after the woman complained that her former husband had violated the order of protection. Routinely, American women are denied the right to due process, are subject to ex parte hearings, and are victims of perjury or illegal out-of-state jurisdictions. Through it all, children are at a disadvantage because they are dependent upon mothers with no or poor legal representation and who are short on financial resources to wage protracted legal battles and appeals. (Professionals in the field report increasing support for men from well-financed fathers’ groups.) Moreover, men, poised and collected and surrounded by a legal team, “look good” in court when compared with frightened, distraught mothers, whom judges often view as hysterical, paranoid and vindictive. Yet all across the nation, behind every case in which a woman’s constitutional rights are being ignored in family court there are children needing protection. Instead, they receive a life sentence without parole. Public disbelief guards the system from exposure. There are child services, therapists, and legal guardians who commit atrocious mistakes. But ultimately, the untrained judges are the ones responsible for saving the children. While I met compassionate family court judges, the shocking overall picture of injustice indicates that they are in the minority. Until the public grasps the scope of the scandal in our own backyard and holds judges accountable for the grand scale in which children are being removed from the custody of good mothers to be placed with pedophiles, we are facing a national shame of catastrophic proportions. Talia Carner, an advocate for child victims of the legal system, is the author of Puppet Child, a legal drama about a mother trying to save her daughter from the legal system’s justice. Visit Talia's site,www.TaliaCarne r.com. Learn more about child abuse issues on Talia's website Tags: abuse, abuses, child, civil, constitutional, discrimination, domestic, human, rights, violence

American U.S. Justice Department files 40 page brief Against American Murdered Abused Children Of American Battered Mother In International Human Rights Court...

Indianashame Teardropsforkatelynn — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:33:58 EST

Human Rights Court Say US Didn’t help Battered Mother & Murdered Abused Current mood: forgotten ..> IACHR-update; Jessica Gonzales v. U.S. - Favorable Admissibility Decision Below is an email from Carrie Bettinger-Lopez, our co-counsel on Jessica Gonzales' case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, with an update about recent developments. Sandra Park, Staff Attorney Women's Rights Project | American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10004 T: 212.519.7871 | F: 212.549.2580 | spark@aclu.org ________________________________ For those of you who have been following the case of Jessica Gonzales v. ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1>United States, before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, I am pleased to inform you that we received a favorable decision on Friday, October 5 declaring Jessica Lenahan's (formerly Gonzales) case admissible. This is the best decision we could have hoped for. The decision says that Ms. Lenahan (Gonzales) exhausted all domestic remedies (i.e. that she pursued every potential legal avenue available to her but had those doors closed to her). The decision also indicates that countries in the Americas, including the U.S., are responsible under the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man for protecting victims of domestic violence from private acts of violence. This is the first time that the Commission has ever made such a pronouncement. This admissibility decision is the first phase of a two-step process before the Commission. The next step is the merits phase, where the Commission will decide whether the US and the Castle Rock Police Department/Colorado violated Ms. Lenahan (Gonzales') and her children's human rights. (Specifically, the rights to life, non-discrimination, family life/unity, due process, petition the government, and the rights of domestic violence victims and their children to special protections ). For more information on the Gonzales case, and to view the Commission's admissibility decision, go to http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2007eng/USA1490.05eng.htm (Spanish version forthcoming). The decision is also available at https://www.law.columbia.edu/focusareas/clinics/humanrights97614 or http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/violence/32105lgl20071005.html . To view Ms. Gonzales' testimony before the Inter-American Commission in March 2007, see http://www.oas.org/OASpage/videosondemand/home_eng/videos_query.asp?sCodigo=07-0041or http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/violence/gonzalesvusa.html. Below is an article that came out today in the National Law Journal about the decision. Also, here is a link to a Channel 4 newscast from last night featuring Jessica. http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_281095916.html Several amicus briefs are currently being drafted on the following topics: the children's rights dimension of the case; the protections and limitations of VAWA and obstacles that DV survivors still face in obtaining government assistance and support; framing domestic violence as a form of torture. Please contact me and Araceli Martínez-Olguín (amartinez-olguin@aclu.org) if you or your organization are interested in signing on to those briefs. Further information on the case is below. Thanks for all your support. Apologies for cross-postings. All best, Carrie (on behalf of Jessica's legal team) Caroline Bettinger-López | Human Rights Fellow & Attorney Columbia Law School | Human Rights Institute & Human Rights Clinic 435 W. 116th Street, Box C-16 | New York, NY 10027 Phone: (212) 854-8364 | Fax: (212) 854-3554 | Email: c.lopez@law.columbia.edu Further information on the case is below. Rights panel to hear U.S. domestic violence case Marcia Coyle / Staff reporter October 15, 2007 .. Jessica Gonzales poses with a portrait of her three daughters, from left, Katheryn, Rebecca and Leslie. Image: Craig F. Walker / The Denver Post WASHINGTON - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has agreed to decide whether the United States violated the rights of a domestic violence victim whose three children were killed when local police failed to enforce a restraining order against her former husband. The complaint by Jessica Lenahan (formerly Jessica Gonzales) is the first brought by a domestic violence victim against the United States for international human rights violations. On Oct. 4, the commission ruled her complaint "admissible," which is akin to finding jurisdiction, after rejecting arguments by the U.S. Department of State, including that Lenahan had not exhausted available remedies, and, significantly, that the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man imposes no affirmative duty on states to actually prevent the crimes committed by Lenahan's former husband. Officials at the State Department were unavailable to comment because of the Oct. 8 federal holiday. Lenahan's legal odyssey began in 1999 when she filed a lawsuit against the Castle Rock, Colo., police department seeking to hold it liable for failing to respond to her repeated calls and appearances for help after her husband abducted her children. Her daughters were found dead in their father's pickup truck after he was killed in a shootout with police at police headquarters hours after their mother sought police assistance. A landmark case Her lawsuit attracted national and international attention when it was reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held in June 2005 that she had no constitutional right to police enforcement of her restraining order. That December, Lenahan filed her petition with the Inter-American Commission, charging that police inaction and the Supreme Court decision violated her human rights. "This case is not just about Jessica Gonzales, although it clearly is very important for her," said Caroline Bettinger-Lopez of Columbia Law School's Human Rights Clinic, who, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, represents Lenahan. It is important for victims of domestic violence and intimate-partner violence in the United States and throughout the world, she said, adding, "We've gotten calls from the United Nations and organizations around world who see this case as a landmark one on the duty of states to protect victims of domestic violence." The admissibility decision itself has "immediate importance," according to Bettinger-Lopez, because it is the first time the commission has recognized that the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man imposes affirmative obligations by countries in the Americas to protect individuals from private acts of violence. The commission was created in 1959 and is expressly authorized to investigate allegations of human rights violations by members of the Organization of American States (OAS), which includes the United States. 'Compulsory jurisdiction' The commission has jurisdiction to receive complaints against any OAS member state where it is upholding the rights set forth in the 1948 American declaration, said international law scholar Robert Goldman of American University Washington College of Law. "The commission is the only organization in the world that has compulsory jurisdiction over the United States," he said. "The only way to escape jurisdiction is to denounce the OAS charter." Having survived the "admissibility" phase, Lenahan's case moves into the merits phase, in which there will be additional briefing and possibly another hearing. The commission may attempt a "friendly settlement," noted Goldman, a former commission member. The United States does not have a good record of compliance with commission recommendations, said Goldman. But if Lenahan prevails, he added, it will not be a Pyrrhic victory. "The commission articulates standards with respect to very important rights," Goldman said. "What you'll find is a state that can't comply for a variety of reasons now might comply in the future." It also puts the United States, he added, in a very uncomfortable position. Congress mandates an annual human rights report that often points the finger at other countries' practices. "To the extent an authoritative body finds violations by the United States and it does not comply, it resonates," Goldman said. But for now, Bettinger-Lopez said, a "new legal avenue" has been established. "It opens a door for domestic violence victims in search of vindication, whose legal options have recently been limited by harsh court rulings in the United States." http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1191834195781 CASE SUMMARY In June 1999, Jessica Gonzales' estranged husband abducted her three daughters, in violation of a domestic violence restraining order. Ms. Gonzales called and met with the police repeatedly to report the abduction and restraining order violation. Unfortunately, her calls went unheeded. Ten hours after her first call to the police, Ms. Gonzales' estranged husband arrived at the police station and opened fire. The police immediately shot and killed Mr. Gonzales, and then discovered the bodies of the Gonzales children - Leslie, 7, Katheryn, 8, and Rebecca, 10 - in the back of his pickup truck. Ms. Gonzales filed a lawsuit against the police, but in June 2005, the Supreme Court found that she had no constitutional right to police enforcement of her restraining order. In December 2005, Ms. Gonzales filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that the police's actions and the Supreme Court's decision violated her human rights. This was the first individual complaint brought by a victim of domestic violence against the United States for human rights violations. On March 2, 2007, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights heard the case of Jessica Gonzales v. United States . Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales) provided testimony. This was the first time that she was afforded an opportunity to tell her story to a tribunal. Ms. Lenahan is represented by the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The Commission is expected to issue a decision before the year's end. To view or listen to the hearing, download the video or audio webcast at: http://www.oas.org/OASpage/videosondemand/home_eng/videos_query.asp?sCodigo=07-0041 (video) or http://www.cidh.org/Audiencias/Audios%20hearings%20127%20PS.htm (audio, 4th entry under March 2). Jessica Lenahan's statement (which she read at the hearing) can be found at: http://www.law.columbia.edu/null/Jessica+Statement+-+IACHR+hrg?exclusive=filemgr.download&file_id=1391&showthumb=0 or http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/violence/29338res20070302.html. More information on the Gonzales case (including the Petition submitted to the Inter-American Commission and additional briefing and exhibits) can be found at: http://www.law.columbia.edu/focusareas/clinics/humanrights97614 or http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/violence/gonzalesvusa.html..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O>

For Sale: American Murdered, Abused Children Of American Battered Mother In America

Indianashame Teardropsforkatelynn — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:31:56 EST

Internanational Human Rights Court Affirms A Failure TO Protect

Mother’s File International Complaint Against United States, violation human rights of abused www.StopFamilyViolence.org MOTHERS FILE INTERNATIONAL COMPLAINT AGAINST UNITED STATES Mother's day complaint claims United States courts violate human rights of abused women and children. NEW YORK, On May 11, just before Mother's Day weekend, ten mothers, one victimized child, now an adult, leading national and state organizations filed a complaint against the United States with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. The case claims that U.S. courts, by frequently awarding child custody to abusers and child molesters, has failed to protect the life, liberties, security and other human rights of abused mothers and their children. "For more than 30 years U.S. judges have given custody or unsupervised visitation of children to abusers and molesters putting the children directly at risk," says Dianne Post, an international attorney who authored the petition. "These horrendous human rights violations have been brought to the attention of family court systems, and state and federal governments, to no avail. We turn now to international courts to protect the rights and safety of US children." The complaint details several cases with ..ed medical evidence of child sexual abuse, yet in each instance the abusing father was given full custody of the children he abused. Several of the mothers were jailed by the courts because of their persistent efforts to protect their children from abuse, several were ordered not to speak of the abuse and not to report abuse to authorities. Every mother was denied contact with her child for some period of time though none was ever proven to have harmed them. "My life was completely shattered apart on that day and my childhood was destroyed," said Jeff Hoverson, the adult child petitioner, about the day a family court judge ordered sheriff deputies to deliver him into the custody of his abuser. "It was as if I was just kidnapped. I was torn from everything I knew....I was made into a possession rather than a child." Hoverson endured years of trauma and fear living in his father's home before escaping and returning to his mother at age 17. He is haunted by years of feeling helpless to prevent his father's night-time visits to his sisters' bedrooms. "The cases in this petition represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg," says Irene Weiser, executive director of the online organization Stop Family Violence. "We are contacted by an average of three protective mothers each week who have lost custody to child abusing fathers. This is a nationwide crisis of enormous proportion." "The lives of thousands of children and mothers have been irreparably harmed by family courts across our nation," says Joyanna Silberg, Ph.D., executive vice-president of The Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, another national organizations supporting the petition. "The years of trauma and psychological abuse because of the courts' failings result in lasting emotional damage to the children they are supposed to protect." Studies of gender bias in the courts, conducted in the 1980's and 90's, found disturbing trends of courts minimizing or excusing men's violence against women, and favoring the abusers. In 1990 the United States Congress passed a resolution recommending the prohibition of giving joint or sole custody to abusers. Seventeen years later, the practice continues unabated. Ten years ago today, leading national organizations were joined by members of Congress in a protest in Washington D.C. to again raise awareness about the problems in family courts. Today, petitioners say, the problem is systemic and widespread in family law courts across the nation. The petition seeks a finding from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the U.S. has violated the Declaration of the Rights and Responsibilities of Man and the Charter of the Organization of American States and a statement of the steps that the U.S. must take to comply with its human rights obligations in regards to battered women and children in child custody cases. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was created in 1959 and is expressly authorized to examine allegations of human rights violations by members of the Organization of American States, which include the United States. It also carries out on-site visits to observe the general human rights situations in all 35 member states of the Organization of American States and to investigate specific allegations of violations of Inter-American human rights treaties. Its charge is to promote the observance and the defense of human rights in the Americas. Dianne Post, a 1980 graduate of the University of Wisconsin law school, has worked on issues of gender based violence since 1976. In addition to private practice and legal aid, she has taught legal classes and been a consultant working or living in Russia, Cambodia, Hungary and some dozen other countries. She is currently in Vladivostok, Russia. In addition to The Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, other national organizations supporting the international lawsuit include: National Organization for Women and the NOW Foundation, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Justice For Children, National Family Court Watch Project, Legal Momentum, Family Violence Prevention Fund, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence Report, Sidran Traumatic Stress Institute, and the National Center on Sexual and Domestic Violence. The petition is supported by many state organizations as well. In December 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition against the United States with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights for their failure to protect Jessica Gonzales' three children from their abusive father, who murdered them. Their petition, the first of its kind, asserted that domestic violence victims have the right to be protected by the state from the violent acts of their abusers. For additional information, contact: Irene Weiser, Stop Family Violence iw@stopfamilyviolence.org 607-539-6856 The petition and supporting ..action is available on the Stop Family Violence website on: www.StopFamilyViolence.org View the petition at: http://www.StopFamilyViolence.org/468

American National Organization OF Women "Disorder In The Courts I"

Indianashame Teardropsforkatelynn — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:29:12 EST

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F m i l y L a w : D is o r d e r i n t h e C o u r t s

Introduction
By Helen Grieco, Rachel Allen and Jennifer Friedlin

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the country's largest and longest running women's rights organization. NOW is committed to fighting discrimination against women and girls, and ensuring their equality in every aspect of society. NOW is structured in chapters, and California NOW (CA NOW) is the largest chapter in the country, with 100,000 members and donors. Imagine this: A mother endures years ofabuse at the hands of her husband. One day, her husband strikes the children or gets caught in the act of sexually abusing one of the kids, and she decides she has got to break free. She files for custody, assuming she's got an open and shut custody case. But the family court judge fails to look at all the evidence and the professionals who are supposed to evaluate the family ignore all the signposts of abuse. Eventually, the mother loses custody. In order to see her children, the mother may have to pay for supervised visits or she may lose all rights to her kids. No, you say, this can't be. Well, think again. In the 1990s, CA NOW started getting call after call that fit this pattern. In fact, as then president of CA NOW, Helen Grieco received so many calls from desperate mothers that sheformed a statewide task force to strategize how to best address the startling trend. Under Grieco's leadership, CA NOW proposed legislation, lobbiedfor statewide reform, called for investigations of court funding and worked to get public attention on the injustices women faced in family courts. In an effort for CA NOW to ascertain how widespread the problems were, Grieco createdand posted a questionnaire on the CA NOW website to collect information on individual cases. Rachel Allen joined CA NOW as public relations director in 2001, and had worked on the family law issue as president of the Marin County NOW chapter for several years. In 2002, Allen and Grieco (along with Sue DiPaolo and Elena Perez) analyzed the findings of the hundreds of questionnaires submitted, and tried to answer the question of how and why so many women were being victimized by the courts. The end product was the "CA NOW Family Court Report, 2002,"which presented findings from analysis of over 300 mothers' cases. The report showed that perfectly fit mothers were regularly losing custody of their children to less-than-fit fathers, and put forth an explanation for why it was happening. Analysis of the data rendered stunning statistics. We found that 76 percent of respondents' cases involved allegations of some kind of abuse by the father and that in 69 percent of those cases the offender was given unsupervised contact or custody. Although conservative commentators and right-wing fathers' rights groups tried to discredit the research by saying that the sample was not representative of a larger problem, we knewthat the 300 cases we studied and their staggering similarities exposed trends that were impossible to ignore. This study and the calls we have continued to receive over the years from flabbergasted mothers have revealed that the courts are regularly ignoring evidence of child abuse and domestic violence when deciding contested custody cases. In addition, we have documented a common pattern of gender bias, denial of due process, corruption, fraud and reliance on unscientific labels to pathologize normal mothers. These women speak of judges who beratethem in court and dismiss crucial evidence; attorneys who bail on them midway through their case or who side with the father instead of representing the interests of the children; andevaluators who decide they are unfit parents for a whole slew of often contradictory reasons. Evaluators have been known to support denying awoman custody because she: is "too close" to her children; breastfed her children for too long; did not cooperate in giving unsupervised access to an abusive father; works outside the home; doesn't work outside the home. We hear from motherswho walked into the court as the primary caregiver and protector of their children and walked out unable to even send the kids a birthday cardor talk to them on the phone. These mothers often lose custody to men who have criminal records, histories of domestic violence and/or child abuse and substance abuse problems. Some of the men have never even met their children. How can this happen? One of the roots of the problem, we believe, stems from the activities and advocacy efforts of so-called Fathers' Rights groups. Connected to a larger right-wing ideology, the movement for "fathers' rights" rests on a belief in unquestioned patriarchy – some have even called for the overturning of the 19th amendment! They seek to abolish child support and to instate automatic joint custody. Although fathers' rights advocates refer to "equality," "equal access" and "shared parenting," they are not fighting for joint childcare responsibilities inside of marriage. Instead, the call from fathers' rights groups for equal parenting turns up only after divorce, a transparentploy to use rhetoric to reduce men's financial obligations to their children and their ex-wives and tomaintain control over their families, even after the marriage is legally dissolved.These groups have helped propagate bunk psychological syndromes like Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), which is based on the unfounded"theory" that mothers regularly brainwash their children to say that they have been abused by their fathers. PAS is then used as a legal strategy tojustify taking children from their mothers, while subverting evidence of abuse by fathers. Fathers' Rights groups claim that fathers are discriminated against in family courts, receiving custody of children only a small percentage of the time. The truth is, however, that when fathers fight for custody, they get it 50 to 70 percent of the time. Sadly, all too often they get custody even when it is not inthe best interest of the child. Meanwhile, the fathers' rights movement has been gaining strength and legitimacy. Fatherhood groups are well funded, well organized and publicly supported through conservative mouthpieces in the media. In addition, the Bush Administration supports the so-called "responsible fatherhood" agenda. Some organizations, such as the National Fatherhood Initiative receive millions of dollars from the federal government, much of which is not accounted for in direct programming. Some people suspect that a portion of the money may even be used to litigate custody cases on behalf of fathers. (For more about the history and activity of the fathers' rights movement, see the CA NOW Family Court Report at http://canow.org/famlaw_report/famlawreport.php.)

Lest anyone reading this should draw the conclusion that we are simply interested in bashing men, we are not. We are well aware that thereare many loving, caring fathers who are deeply concerned about doing right by their children. We are also aware that these men rarely demand sole custody and the removal of the mother from the child's life. We have heard from many decentmen who are just as disturbed by the family court's treatment of women and children as we are. And, as you will see on the pages of this book, some of these men have become our allies in the fight for justice in the legal system. Theproblem we have been struggling with does not have to do with these men; it has to do with the abusive men who use the court system to continue terrorizing their families. After all, what better way to further abuse a mother than by taking her children from her? As CA NOW took up this issue, we found allies around the country who were just as concerned as we were. Although many media outlets shied away from this complicated topic, media stars like Dr. Phil were brave enough to speak out against what he called "America's silent epidemic."Feminist icons like Gloria Steinem have weighed in, too, calling the crisis in the family law courts an issue that "the women's movement,which provided leadership in past reforms and crucial struggles to make law more gender free, supportive of children and families, and economically just, must lead on." One of the most amazing outcomes of this horrific situation is the steely determination of the women who have been through the system to change it. After losing their children, women from Delaware to Alaska have fought back in an effort to change the system and to prevent the same thing from happening to other women. These women have written legislation, formed organizations,started court watch programs, built websites, held conferences, organized demonstrations and protests and worked to get media exposure. A couple of years ago, after researching an article about moms who turned their personal tragedies into political crusades, freelance journalist Jennifer Friedlin suggested a project that would highlight the work being done across the countryto change the way custody decisions involving allegations of abuse are made. This book is borne of our mutual desire to underscore and applaudthe achievements of the mothers and the various professionals who are working for justice. In this collection of essays, you will hear from experts – from psychologists and legal experts to journalists and moms – who have been fighting on the frontlines for mothers' rights. Karen Andersonturned her own personal struggle to protect her children from sexual abuse into a crusade onbehalf of all mothers. Dr. Lundy Bancroft has been a fierce supporter of battered moms and now calls on these women to spearhead a mothers' rightsmovement. Sharon Bass shares her insights on the issue of court appointed evaluators and their far reaching influence. Dr. Robert Geffner lends his expertise on child sexual abuse and the ways it is treated in the family law arena. Retired judge Sol Gothard gives his perspective on the family courts based on nearly fifty years of experience. Professor Mo Hannah explains her motivation for organizing the country's leading conference on the issue of battered women and custody. Karen Hartley-Nagle tells the story of her family law case andhow it inspired her to run for office on a family law platform. Paige Hodson turned her experience in the courtroom into a battle for protective legislation– and won! The legal team of Kristen, Diane and Charles Hofheimer offer advice to motherson how to present their cases in court. Filmmaker Dominique Lasseur explains his motivation for making the groundbreaking film, "Breaking theSilence." Professor Garland Waller advises people on ways to get media attention, and journalist Kristen Lombardi explains the difficulties of reporting onthese issues. Professor Geraldine Stahly allowed us to print her research on domestic violence and custody, and blogger Trish Wilson makes a powerful argument against assumed joint custody.This book will help explain how the courts work and give any mother going through thefamily court system some of the tools she will need to protect herself and her children. And,for mothers who may have lost their children, we hope these essays will provide you links toresources that may assist you in your effort to regain custody of your kids. This book will not replace good counsel and a strong support system,but we hope it will provide you a greater understanding the issues, and that is may inspire you to help join the movement for change. We have found that lawyers and domestic violence agencies are always looking for more information that can help them serve their clients,and we trust that this book will meet this need. We believe that this book will also inspire other women's rights organizations to take up this issue, and that it will give them the tools and information they need to get started. Mostly, we hope that this book will generate greater activism among people interested in righting the numerous wrongs of the family court system.We know that this book is just one step in the battle to reform the family court system. But CA NOW is committed to fighting for change until we win. Whether you are a parent, a psychologist, a lawyer, a judge, a journalist, an activist or a concerned citizen, we encourage you to get involved and to fight along side us aswe work to ensure that our family court system never again strips a fit parent of her parental rights in favor of an abuser.

In America 75% Rates At Which Batterers Get Custody Of The Children

Indianashame Teardropsforkatelynn — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:26:34 EST

Rates At Which Batterers Recieve Custody
by Joan Meier, Esq.

One statement in Breaking the Silence: Children's Voices that has provoked controversy was my statement that "the studies are showing" that up to 2/3 of accused or adjudicated batterers receive joint or sole custody in court. While no empirical study can definitively determine a universal statistical rate, the key point is that the research consistently shows that accused and adjudicated batterers receive joint or sole custody disturbingly often. This confirms the anecdotal experience of domestic violence attorneys and victims around the country. The following research supports this perspective.

I. A History of Domestic Violence is Common among Contested Custody Cases.

The remarkably consistent research on this issue is compiled in my previously-issued statement , Research Indicating that the majority of cases that go to court as 'high conflict' contested custody cases have a history of domestic violence (Nov. 9, 2005).

One good example is a study cited by Janet Johnston, a leading researcher of parental alienation, which found that, among custody litigants referred to mediation, "[p]hysical aggression had occurred between 75% and 70% of the parents . . . even though the couples had been separated. . . [for an average of 30-42 months]". Furthermore, [i]n 35% of the first sample and 48% of the second, [the violence] was denoted as severe and involved battering and threatening to use or using a weapon."
- Janet R. Johnston, "High-Conflict Divorce," The Future of Children, Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 1994, 165-182) citing Depner et al., "Building a uniform statistical reporting system: A snapshot of California Family Court Services," Family and ConciliationCourts Review (1992) 30: 185-206

II. Domestic Violence Perpetrators are More Likely to Contest Custody than Non- Abusers.

The American Psychological Association's Presidential Task Force on Violence in the Family, the leading review of the research as of 1996, found that men who abuse their partners contest custody at least twice as often as non-abusing fathers. They are even more likely to contest custody if the children are boys.
- American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence in the Family (1996) at p. 40.

III. Accused and Adjudicated Batterers Receive Joint or Sole Custody Surprisingly Often.

The research on this has only emerged in the past few years and most studies have been small and local. Nonetheless, they document disturbing trends, which surprised even me when I first discovered them.

A. Multiple studies have documented gender bias against women in custody litigation.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom that women are favored in custody litigation, both the experiences of battered women and the empirical research are showing that women who allege abuse are deeply disfavored in custody courts.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Gender Bias Task Force was one of the first states to document the gender bias against women in family courts. This court-initiated study expressly found that "our research contradicted [the] perception" that "there is a bias in favor of women in these decisions." Moreover, it found that "in determining custody and visitation, many judges and family service officers do not consider violence toward women relevant." The Court's study further found that "the courts are demanding more of mothers than fathers in custody disputes" and that "many courts put the needs of noncustodial fathers above those of custodial mothers and children."
- Gender Bias Study of the Court System in Massachusetts, 24 New Eng.L.Rev. 745, 747, 825, 846 (1990)

More recently, and since the evolution and widespread adoption of "parental alienation syndrome," a multi-year, four-phase study using qualitative and quantitative social science research methodologies by the Wellesley Centers for Women found "a consistent pattern of human rights abuses" by family courts, including failure to protect battered women and children from abuse, discriminating against and inflicting degrading treatment on battered women, and denying battered women due process. Histories of abuse of mother and children were routinely ignored or discounted.
- Wellesley Centers for Women Battered Mothers' Testimony Project, Battered Mothers Speak Out: A Human Rights Report on Domestic Violence and Child Custody in the Massachusetts Family Courts (Nov. 2002)(hereafter "BMTP"), Executive Summary at 2.

A comparable study by the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence found that most of the women surveyed felt the history of abuse was not taken seriously and that they were ignored, disrespected and discriminated against by court personnel.
- Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Battered Mothers' Testimony Project: A Human Rights Approach to Child Custody and Domestic Violence (June 2003), pp. 47, 49, 6.

A study of the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court conducted by the Philadephia Women's Law Project in cooperation with the court, found that litigants are often denied due process, and that applicable legal standards are "not always observed, particularly in the consideration of abuse in custody proceedings, leaving families at risk."
- Tracy, Fromson & Miller, Justice in the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court: A Report to the Community, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REPORT, Vol. 8, No. 6 (Aug/Sept. 2003), p. 94.

B. Studies show Accused and Adjudicated Batterers Receiving Sole or Joint Custody Surprisingly Often.

My own survey of the case law in 2001 identified 38 appellate state court decisions concerning custody and domestic violence. To my astonishment, 36 of the 38 trial courts had awarded joint or sole custody to alleged and adjudicated batterers. Two-thirds of these decisions were reversed on appeal.
- Meier, Domestic Violence, Child Custody, and Child Protection: Understanding Judicial Resistance and Imagining the Solutions, A.U. J. Gender, Soc. Pol. & the Law, 11:2 (2003), 657-731, p. 662, n. 19, and Appendix.

These cases included a case in which the perpetrator had been repeatedly convicted of domestic assault; in which a father was given sole custody of a16-month old despite his undisputed choking of the mother resulting in her hospitalization and his arrest; in which the father had broken the mother's collarbone; had committed "occasional incidents of violence"; and had committed two admitted assaults. More such instances can be found in Meier, supra.

The American Judges Association has found that approximately 70% of batterers succeed in convincing authorities that the victim is unfit for or undeserving of sole custody. Another way of saying this is that 70% of batterers obtain sole or joint custody.
- American Judges Association, "Domestic Violence and the Courtroom: Understanding the Problem . . . Knowing the Victim" http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/domviol/page5.html (at "Forms of Emotional Battering. . . Threats to Harm or Take Away Children")

A survey of battered women by the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence found that courts awarded joint or sole custody to the alleged batterers 56-74% of the time (depending on the county). Many of these cases involved documented child abuse or adult abuse.
- Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Battered Mothers' Testimony Project: A Human Rights Approach to Child Custody and Domestic Violence (June 2003), pp. 33-34, 47-49

A study of 300 cases over a 10-year period in which the mother sought to protect the child from sexual abuse, found that 70% resulted in unsupervised visitation or shared custody; in 20% of the cases the mothers completely lost custody, and many of these lost all visitation rights.
- Neustein & Goetting (1999), "Judicial Responses to the Protective Parent's Complaint of Child Sexual Abuse," Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 8 (4): 103-122.

The Wellesley Battered Mothers' Testimony Project found that 15 out of 40 cases resulted in sole or joint physical custody to the fathers, all of whom had abused both the mother and the children.
- BMTP, supra at Appendix A.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Gender Bias Task Force found that 94% of fathers who actively sought custody received sole or joint custody, regardless of whether there was a history of abuse. While fathers received primary physical custody 29% of the time, mothers received primary physical custody in only 7% of the contested cases. The Study also cited other research which similarly found that fathers who sought custody received primary physical custody 2/3 of the time, with mothers receiving it less than ¼ of the time; and another study which found that fathers seeking custody received joint or sole custody 79% of the time, with mothers receiving sole custody in only 15% of those cases (compared to fathers' sole custody in 41% of the cases).
- Gender Bias Study at 831-832 and citing Middlesex Divorce Research Group relitigation study and Phear et al., 1983.

While the Massachusetts study and those it cited were not able to identify what proportion of the contesting fathers were batterers, the studies cited in my other Statement indicate consistently that 75% of cases have a history of domestic violence, with a substantial proportion of severe violence. Hence, it is likely that a substantial proportion of the fathers receiving joint or primary physical custody in this study had committed domestic violence.
- Meier Statement, Research Indicating that the Majority of Cases that go to Court as 'High Conflict' Contested Custody Cases have a History of Domestic Violence (Nov. 9, 2005).
violence

Tragedy In Mexico On Happy U.S. Election Day

May and Grace — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:55:44 EST

It always makes me uncomfortable when I hear politicians say "My fellow Americans" when they mean "my fellow citizens." We tend to forget that everyone in all of the Americas from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America are all "Americans" too! Well while the world rejoiced Tuesday, our fellow Americans in Mexico suffered a tragedy.

I rejoiced on Tuesday when Barack Obama was elected. I never heard until three days later about the possible drug cartel related plane crash in Mexico, which killed 14 people on Tuesday in what appears may be a political assasination. Here are my thoughts:

Last Tuesday, on the same day glorious and historic day our nation elected Barack Obama as President, our neighbor and fellow American, Mexico, lost 14 people, nine in a plane and four on the ground, including the number two man in the Mexican government, the equivalent of Vice President of Mexico, their Interior Secretary Juan Comilo Mourino. The 37-year-old Mourino, one of President Felipe Calderon's closest confidants, was Mexico's equivalent of vice president and domestic security chief. Also on the plane was former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, who had been the target of at least one assassination attempt. Officials say they have few clues as to why the plane suddenly dropped from the evening sky. But they have been unusually open in publicizing details of the investigation, trying to discourage conspiracy theories that thrive in a country on edge from relentless news of drug-related shootings, kidnappings and beheadings. The violence has surged during a 2-year-old army and police offensive to wrest control from drug cartels.The crash occurred in clear weather, and in their last recorded radio conversation, the plane's flight crew calmly discussed radio frequencies and speed with controllers. The tape went silent just as radar lost the plane's altitude reading."Everything was normal on the flight, and a few seconds before the accident, something happened that significantly altered" the situation, said Gilberto Lopez, a pilot overseeing the probe. "At this moment, all the possibilities are potentially important."He said experts are following the normal lines of investigation for any crash, including possible human error, mechanical failures, maintenance problems or turbulence caused by other aircraft.Experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Britain's Civil Aviation Authority are in Mexico helping with the investigation.On Thursday, Calderon's office said that U.S. President-elect Obama had expressed his condolences for the deaths in a phone call with Calderon, who had called to congratulate Obama on his victory.In an editorial Thursday, El Universal newspaper urged people to wait for results of the investigation before jumping to conclusions. But it also noted that Mexico's "history is filled with assassinations that have never been cleared up or whose resolution does not deserve the trust of public opinion."This story - along with most information about the drug war in Mexico - is not even on the radar in the United states - but it is the prohibition of drugs, not the consumption by US citizens that is creating this violence. If drugs were legal there would be problems - just as alcohol creates problems in society - but the organized violence and criminal profits would disappear.It makes me wonder if alcohol companies profits are helping to keep drugs like marijuana and cocaine illegal, because alcohol companies are afraid their sales would suffer if other alternatives were available legally? Thomas Jefferson said that you cannot force a free person to act in a responsible way, you can only encourage them to do what’s best for themselves and their fellow citizens. Keeping drugs illegal is stupid, it hurts the economy and helps terrorists.

The future of this movement

Chinni — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:02:44 EST

I don't think Obama by himself can keep his promise of an open government. Are the people ready to step up to their non-election citizen responsibilities, demand stuff, and keep pushing him in the right direction so his job gets easier?

Barack on the future of this movement

April 30 2008

"One of the things that I'm really proud about this campaign, is that we've built a structure that can sustain itself after the campaign. It was because of volunteers, they built the campaign. We didn't originally have big plans for Idaho, but people made this structure.. ..I want to open up transparency in government, so that you guys know what is happening. I want to revamp our White House website.. I want people to be able to know, ..today President Obama talked about his proposal for $4000 student college tuition credits, it's going to be going into this congressional committee, these are the key leaders in the House and Senate that are going to be deciding on the bill, here are the groups that are involved that are supporting it, you should contact your Congressman. Just creating the situation that if people want to get involved, it's easy..That's how we are going to counteract the special interests."

Obama and the Future of US Foreign Policy

Chinni — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:36:12 EST

Obama and the Future of US Foreign Policy: A Discussion

Democracy Now! Nov 06 2008

John Pilger: ..Michael Moore had it right when he said the other day, let’s hope that Obama breaks all his election promises, as politicians generally do, because all his election promises, in terms of foreign policy, are a continuation of business as usual. And even if there is a return to what used to be called a multilateral world, I think there has to be critical analysis of the return to the pretensions of America as a peacemaker around the world. We had to endure this, and I mean endure it during the Clinton years, and I don’t think that we, in the rest of the world, ought to have to endure it now through the Obama years, so that we have a continuation, if you like, of liberalism as a divisive, almost war-making ideology, being used to destroy liberalism as a reality, because that has gone on under so-called liberal presidents, from Kennedy to Clinton, Democratic presidents. And President-elect Obama suggests to us, in his promises, that he is going to continue that, bombing Pakistan and Afghanistan..
Mahmood Mamdani: ..Will America recognize, as I believe South Africa has after the election of Mandela, that the election of Mandela was not change, but an opportunity to change? And whether that opportunity is realized and transformed into a program of social justice within the country and peace abroad will depend on the movement that pushes Obama and gives him the opportunity to respond to it..
Ali Abunimah: ..we should be setting the standard very high, not accepting slight hints that in a few years’ time an Obama administration might accept a Palestinian state or might talk about one. The days for that are over. The situation is urgent, and we really need to see radical change. It’s not going to come from Rahm Emanuel and Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk; it’s only going to come from a groundswell demanding that the promises of change be kept..
Tariq Ali: ..I mean, the British are already saying that sending in more troops isn’t going to help, because the war is lost. The United States intelligence agencies are already involved in panic discussions with the people they are fighting, the neo-Taliban, to try and persuade them to join the coalition, which they’re refusing to do as long as there are foreign troops there. So, escalating the war I don’t think is a serious option. And if he does it, it will be a very, very serious mistake, on the same level in scale as invading Iraq..
Mahmood Mamdani: ..there’s a remarkable difference between the youth movement of the ’60s, which mainly organized outside the system, and the youth movement which has brought Obama to power, because this movement has organized within the system to reform the system. Obama keeps on saying that this movement must not go away, that change hasn’t come, that this is the beginning of change. Now, will the candidate be able to tame the movement, or will the movement be able to stamp itself to some extent in the coming days?

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!

After the Campaign Trail

Cultural Tones — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:19:24 EST

On Election Day, after waving Obama signs with other commited Obamamaniacs during the morning rush hour in the rain, my husband and I made our way to the Red Lion Inn at the Park in Spokane, Washington where friends and other Obama supporters would meet to watch as the results of the nation's votes determined our next President of the United States.

At 4 p.m. I hosted, I expect, my last blogtalkradio.com internet showwith Ed and Eleanor King at my side. Sean Stimmel of Los Alamos, NewMexico; Susan Moyer and Nedra Bayne of Spokane; Washington; and Jay Cross of Wasilla, Alaska all joined on-line to share their grassroots activities of the day. Last minute campaign ctivites included making last minute calls to voters and preparing to help with polling centers. Dispite some connectivity issues, the show was fun.

Hundreds of voters attended the Election Watch Party. It was so wonderful to visit many other fellow Obama supporters I had met and worked with on the campaign trail.

As in many other places in the USA and in the world, cheers, hugs and tears were shed at the announcement of the win of Barack Obama and Joe Biden...the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect.

The speech deliverd by President-Elect Obama was sobering, yet full of hope. A sense of being safe in the arms of someone capable, caring and full of integrity and strength...yes, a true leader.

The road has been long...for me, since February 2007 when I first met Senator Obama in San Diego, California. The journey incredible has ended with pride and hope for our America the Beautiful.

Hope in Spokane, Washington

Yes, We Did

A Real Momma — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:03:06 EST

On September 30th I wrote "WE NEED HIM TO WIN! And imagine the message the world would receive if he won by a landslide???"

Along with billions of people around the world, I watched with tears of joy as Senator Barack Obama was announced President Elect of the United States of America, after sweeping the Electoral College.

It's been difficult these past weeks... I've been living on antacids and milk because my normally cast iron stomach had rusted through with stress from this election. This is not a diet I recommend, but it was effective; I lost 2 pant sizes in the past week. Still can't eat; my head and my heart know that he's won, but my stomach appears to be a slow learner.

Anyway, full speed ahead. I'm so proud of our candidate.

What do we do now? (aside from feeling relieved/thrilled/joyful beyond words?)

Yes, we can!

Patrick Frank — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:12:32 EST

This momentous event--Obama's landslide victory--brought tears to me and millions of others, in the United States, and around the world.

A media person asked "What will become" of Obama's army of grassroots workers. I'll tell you what I firmly believe will become of us: we will remain engaged in the political process in a way that has not been seen before in American history. We will strive for a full realization of our creative potential. Finally, we will rededicate ourselves to responsible participation in our families, community, state, and nation.

Thanks to Obama's inclusive vision, this campaign has always been about us. Now it is our turn to reach out to our fellow citizens in such a way that their quality of life is enhanced.

I believe that people from all walks of life and political persuasions will be drawn together in a unique way. And our nation will move toward a greater healing of the wounds of the past, stemming from slavery and other atrocities that have been committed on our soil.

All of this will come about because we adopted Obama inspirational imperative..."yes, we can!"

Patrick Frank
Box 1283
Kingstree, SC 29556
(843) 372-8851
patrickgfrank@yahoo.com

Bonnie and Bubba, We Elected a New President!

Susan in Spokane — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:13:55 EST

Leaving for our morning walk this morning, I told Bonnie and Bubba ("Bonnie and Bubba for Barack", per your votes back in June), "Guess what, you two? We elected Barack Obama President! I believe he's going to do great things for our country. You dogs are part of history now!"

Unfortunately, dogs being dogs, I had the impression that they were thinking, "OK, Mom, get over it. We just need to pee, thank you!"

But Mom isn't over it. In fact, it's just starting to sink in as I watch videos of Seattle's street celebration, and a news clip about Malia and Sasha starting life in the White House. So the tears that I expected to have flowing last night are coming this morning. Bonnie comes up beside me, tail wagging anxiously, nervous about the emotional release.

Hey, Bonnie! We elected a new President! And here's a quote from Yahoo news that your Mom loves: "What an inspiration. He is the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had," said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbuck's in Bangkok. "He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president."

Here's to a new America!

Susan

BELIEVE THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

WEBMASTER — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:45:52 EST

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, OF BARACK, of Samson, of Jephthah; and David also, Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.

Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had test of cruel mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover of chains and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were cut in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered around in goatskins and sheepskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; Of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered in deserts, in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, having obtained a good report through faith, did not receive the promise:
God having provided something better for us, that without us they would not be made perfect.

Text is available in 35 GLOBAL LANGUAGES

UPDATE: 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES and THE GOVERNMENT OF CHANGE

YES.WE.CAN Elect Obama Our New President!

Susan in Spokane — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:30:53 EST

Wooo-Hoooo! We did it! What a night! Myself and hundreds more gathered in a conference room at one of our local Red Lion hotels. Sponsored by the Spokane County Democrats, we had two large screen TVs tuned in to CNN to watch the results as they came in, and excellent finger food. With each state's results, we whooped for Obama -- and went wild when he was announced our next President.

Our Washington state Governor's race is close again, but I'll wait till tomorrow to check on that one. Governor Gregoire, our Democrat incumbent, is a staunch Obama supporter, and I don't doubt for a minute that she would help him as President in any way she could if she gets re-elected. Like Obama, she's an excellent speaker.

If this site stays up, I'll post a couple more blogs tomorrow -- one on this campaign "journey" (from the owner of a healing arts center called "Inner Journeys", no less!) and one of thanks for all those I've come in contact with through working in my small way for our next President of the United States.

YES.WE.DID, and yes, we will continue,

To all, a VERY GOOD NIGHT!

Susan

Election Day Live Blogging in Washington State

Eddie Lee, Obama Staff — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:50:49 EST

Update 14: 7:26pm PT Fremont Staging Location

Even though the polls are closed in many states, the volunteers at the Fremont staging location are still working hard to get out the vote. The room is buzzing as workers call Washington State voters, reminding them that there's still time to vote for Barack Obama, Chris Gregoire, and other local Democrats.

When I asked Michael Maddux why he's volunteering for the campaign, he responded, "As a former Hillary supporter, I think it's essential that we have a comprehensive health care plan. Senator Obama will make sure that everyone gets the care they deserve."

Volunteer Amy Klosterman says that she doesn't mind the long hours on the campaign. "I'm happy to work into the night because Governor Gregoire really needs our support in the final minutes. Even though polls are closed in other states, we have to continue our efforts to ensure that Barack Obama has a strong partner in Washington State."

Matteo Griffin is a regional organizer who has been working with the campaign since August. He said, "Obama speaks to me. What makes him different is that he truly wants to see a better world. He believes in change and is willing to do what it takes to put our country on the right course."

Polls are open until 8pm and Governor Gregoire and needs everyone to go to a polling location and make their voice heard. Remember, if you are in the parking lot by 8pm, you have the right to vote. Find your polling location now at voteforchange.com.

Update 13: 7pm PT – 25th Avenue Northeast

On our way back to the car after our visit to the Terry Hall polling location, we bumped into a passionate supporter braving the torrential Seattle rains to show her support for Senator Obama. “Come rain, come sleet, come anything Seattle can throw at me, I’m out here showing my support for Barack Obama. I know he’ll do anything for our country, so I’m willing to brave some weather to help him.”

The polls are open for another hour, so please encourage your friends and family to vote. It’s not too late to ensure victory in Washington State for Senator Obama and Governor Gregoire – go to voteforchange.com

Next, stop: Fremont staging location

Update 12: 4:45pm- Terry Hall Polling Location

University of Washington students are coming out in droves to vote at the Terry Hall polling location. For many students, this is their first time voting and they can't wait to cast their ballot for Senator Obama. The dorm windows above the polling place were full of Obama signs and many students proudly displayed buttons or t-shirts in support of Senator Obama. "I can't wait to finally be able to mark my ballot for Barack Obama," said UW Senior Janice J. "I've been volunteering since last spring and I'm so excited to see all the hard work pay off."

When asked what advice she has for fellow Obama supporters she urges, "Make sure you keep pushing your friends and family to go to the polls. They're open for 2.5 more hours and Senator Obama and Governor Gregoire need every vote!"

Make sure you follow Janice's advice and encourage your friends and family to get to the polls to vote for Senator Obama, Governor Gregoire, and Democrats up and down the ticket. Though polls are closing on the East Coast, make sure you and your friends go to the polls before 8pm! Remember, if you are in the parking lot by 8pm, you have the right to vote. If you experience any problems at the polls, call 877-WA-CHANGE.

Find your polling location at www.voteforchange.com.

Update 11: 4:15pm PT University of Washington Student Union
Before we reached the University of Washington polling location, we stopped by the cafe to get some coffee - after all, that's what Seattle is known for. We were greeted by Ashley who was wearing an Obama T-shirt. She saw our Obama gear and was sure to remind us to get to the polls. We told her we were headed over there.

Next stop: University of Washington Polling Location

Update 10: 3:55pm PT Red Square at the University of Washington
On route to the University of Washington Polling location, we were greeted by an interesting scene. We stopped by the University of Washington to interview students about why they support Barack Obama, so you can imagine our surprise when we bumped into a stroller holding two Obama-clad youngsters in the middle of Red Square. Sisters Robin Goodman and Nikkole Jennings brought their children to Red Square to help get out the vote on the UW campus. "My sister Robin has been involved in the campaign since the beginning so she convinced me to take the day off work to support Obama. I know the youth vote is essential, so we're out here doing what we can to remind students to vote and encourage them to vote Democrat," said Nikkole.

When I asked Robin why she's voting for Senator Obama she laughed and replied, "Why wouldn't you?"

"We're hopeful for change," she continued. "Through his actions, Senator Obama inspires us to do more ourselves."

To help get out the vote like Robin and Nikkole visit my.barackobama.com/novvolunteers.

Next Stop: University of Washington Polling Location

Update 9: 3:18pm PT Suzzallo Cafe, University of Washington
It is a commonly held belief that if students vote, then Democrats will win. In the next stop of our route, we've come to the University of Washington to document the work that students are doing to get out the vote. It takes just five minutes on this campus to see that these students are fired up and ready to go.

At the Suzzallo Cafe, dozens of students have put on their Obama shirts and charged their cell phones to help get out the vote amongst their fellow students. "I'm volunteering in this campaign because I can not stand eight more years of these policies. They've really underestimated the passion among students. We truly understand the importance of voting in this election," said UW student Jenny Revak.

UW Students for Obama founder Jed Bradley added, "I've been volunteering for over a year because I saw something in Barack Obama that I haven't seen in any other candidate. The student turnout has been phenomenal thus far, and I have full faith in students across this campus to go out and vote."

Check out these pictures of Students of doing visibility and phonebanking for Senator Obama:

Next Stop: University of Washington Polling Location

Update 8: 2:45pm PT - University of Washington Bookstore Parking Lot
Democratic pride can be found everywhere! While parking at the University of Washington Bookstore we ran into Nasar Ibrahim, a parking attendant who was proudly displaying his Obama/Gregoire button. He waited in line for 30 minutes early this morning to vote before heading to work. "I support Senator Obama and Governor Gregoire because they believe in the middle class. They know that working people like me are the backbone of America and our government should represent us, not the wealthy corporations."

Make sure your friends and family vote as well. Help them find their polling location by going to www.voteforchange.com

Next up: Suzallo Cafe at the University of Washington

Update 7: 2pm PT - Tell Us Your Story

Have you voted already? Did you volunteer for the campaign here in Washington State? Tell us about your experience and why you support Senator Obama!

Leave a comment below!

If you have any questions about voting or you want to report any problems that you are seeing at the polls, call 877-WA-CHANGE. Polls are open for another 7 hours. So help us get out the vote by going to http://my.barackobama.com/novvolunteers

We're on our way to the University of Washington now. Check in for updates!

Update 6: 12:29pm PT- Washington State Campaign for Change Headquarters

Volunteers are flooding the Washington State Campaign for Change Headquarters to help ensure a victory for Barack Obama and Chris Gregoire. The office is filled with supporters young and old, making calls to encourage their fellow Washingtonians to vote for change.

Ethan Schaffer is volunteering because he "wants to see a change in the government. I'm taking the day off work to make sure that we see a Gregoire/Obama victory." He adds with a smile, "90% of the people I've talked to are voting Obama."

Reena Koshy became involved in the campaign after spending the last two years working in New Zealand. "Living abroad, I could see that America was heading in the wrong direction. Respect for the US was faltering and it was clear that we needed to change course. When Senator Obama is elected he will make our country stronger and a more responsible member of the global community." When asked why she's volunteering today, Reena replied, "Why wouldn't I be? I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be."

Even though he's too young to vote, 14-year old Harry Page-Salisbury is spending the day volunteering at the Seattle Headquarters. "I agree with what Barack Obama says in his speeches. It's exciting to spread his message to other voters."

It's not too late to join this campaign for change. Head over to www.my.barackobama.com/novvolunteers to sign up to volunteer

Next up: we go back to college and visit the polling location on the University of Washington campus.

Update 5: 11:20am PT- South Lake Union Visibility Site

Even those too young to vote are showing their Election Day excitement. At the South Lake Union visibility site, dozens of elementary school children were participating in a real life Civics lesson by encouraging passersby to vote. Check out the pictures below to see these future statesmen in action!

Update 4: 11:05am PT Seattle Central Community College Polling Location

The Seattle Central Community College polling location was packed with students and community members casting their votes.

First time voters Jessica Placides and Brooke Williams were thrilled to participate in their first Election Day. Not wanting to stop at simply casting a vote, they stayed at the poll and encouraged people who walked by to stop in and submit their ballots. Both are Obama supporters and expressed excitement about getting to cast their first votes for Senator Obama. "He connects with people," stated Brooke Williams. "It's time for us to see change in this country and he's the candidate to bring it."

"He's really inspirational," said Jessica Placides. "I think he'll make life better for every American and I'm so excited to see him elected President in just a few hours!"

The sun may have ducked behind a few clouds but we've got some bright faces to perk up the day.

Next stop: Visibility location in South Lake Union

Update 3: 10:10am "The Baltic Room" Staging Location

A vibrant example of the grassroots nature of this campaign can be found here at "The Baltic Room" Staging Location. This hip, Capital Hill coffee shop has been transformed into a one-stop Obama shop, filled with volunteers. Many are preparing to canvass the surrounding neighborhood; others are signing up to drive voters to the polls. Dozens more are spread throughout the café– huddled in corner banquettes, at tables, or standing at the counter– cell phones in hand calling as many voters as possible.

New friendships are being created over cups of coffee and shared table space, as Obama supporters from all over the city convene to spread our message of change.

Julie Farago took the day off of work to volunteer for the first time because "If I was in the office I'd just be obsessively checking the news. I'm much more productive here." Her friend Kenny Wolf agrees, "I've volunteered and given money in the past but I wanted to know that I did everything I could to elect Senator Obama."

The sun has finally come out and The Baltic Room is bustling. Also, a new stock of oranges and bagels just came through the door. Join a staging location near you by going to: http://my.barackobama.com/novvolunteers

Check out the photos here:

Next up: Seattle Central Community College Polling Location.

Update 2: 8:58am Seattle Center Polling Location

The polling location in the Northwest Rooms at Seattle Center has been bustling since before dawn. When polls opened at 7:00am, there was already a line down the block with hundreds of voters waiting to make their voices heard. "This is a historic day," said one Obama supporter. "I've been waiting almost two years to cast my vote for Barack Obama. He's going to do so much for us when he's President, I'm glad I can do something for him by giving him my vote."

Sprits ran high as hundreds of voters cycled through the polling place, proudly displaying their "I voted" stickers as they walked out. Another Obama supporter enthused, "I can't stop grinning. This is my first election and to have the opportunity to vote for a candidate I believe in so strongly is a joy."

Even if you've already submitted your ballot, make sure you encourage your friends and family to vote for change. Help them find their polling place at www.voteforchange.com.

Next stop: Baltic Room Staging Location

Update 1: 7:45am Seattle HQ Office

Election Day has arrived. The Seattle office is filled with energy and excitement as hundreds of volunteers have flooded into campaign headquarters to ensure an Obama-Biden victory. They received walk packets to go out into neighborhoods and knock on doors.

“I can’t believe Election Day has arrived. I took the day off of work to make sure that Senator Obama is our next president. And I can guarantee, I’ll do whatever it takes to help him today,” said Jessica P.

There are many opportunities to help the campaign throughout the day. It is crucial that we have as many people on the ground as possible to help voters get to the polls and talk with those who are still undecided. Sign up to volunteer now at http://www.barackobama.com/splash/volunteer.html

Check in throughout the day to get more updates from the ground. It’s going to be an exciting day and we’ll be interviewing volunteers, canvassers, and local officials to give you the full story of this historic day.

Next Stop: Seattle Center Polling Place

GOTV!! Whatever It Takes - Republicans Do Know How To Win Elections..

Hussein The Hope Monger — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:47:54 EST

Call 3 friends to each take 3 friends, neighbors, strangers to the polls today.

Let's WIN this thing!!

Imagine - Obama for President

Natsuki the Neko: GO OBAMA-BIDEN GO! ^_^ — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:36:16 EST

This is simply wonderful. A must-read for what is to come. :)

IMAGINE

The year is 2016. You glance at the television one morning and see President Obama having another of his many press conferences. He has now been in office for almost 8 years. It has not been perfect, but things are much better than when he took office in January of 2009. You notice that his hair has whitened and he still has that winning smile and that take charge/positive energy that he had when he was campaigning back in 2008. You remember how concerned you were about whether or not he would win in 2008 and you feel deeply contented that he has been safely in office for such a long time. He, his advisors with Middle eastern leaders have worked together to bring peace to the region. Troops have been successfully and safely withdrawn from Iraq. They have stabilized the region and restored respectful, working relationships in the Middle East. He and his advisors have restored a thriving American economy that benefits all its citizens and contributes stability to the world. He and Congress have done much to address global warming, healthcare, development of alternative energy sources and a variety of other important matters to the country and the planet. Our citizens are cared for and needs are met. You feel deep gratitude for the past eight years and how things have unfolded. See it...Feel it...breathe it...Pass it on. Let us... remember... all of the wonderful reasons we appreciate this reality. THE CHALLENGE: Take 30 seconds right now. Close your eyes and imagine exactly what our country will feel like. Imagine how good it will feel. Imagine whatever it is about that future that you desire. Imagine your and your family contented, healthy, and prosperous with needs met so much so it's easy to share with others creating a ripple effect. Imagine successful diplomacy. Imagine peace and restored prosperity. Imagine the citizen groups, progressive populism, social justice, and the grassroots finding their voice. Imagine people of all ages, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, social and economic classes, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, educational backgrounds, and of all abilities fully included, participating in society, supported, accepted and valued. Imagine windmills and clean cars. Imagine schools thriving and neighborhoods rebuilding. Imagine healthy food nourishing our bodies. Imagine the earth being healed and revitalized. Imagine no fear. Imagine beauty. Imagine being very proud of your country and its leader. Imagine whatever it is that draws you to support change. Imagine what your life will look like. Just 30 seconds. Do it several times a day. We can shift and change the vibration of this country with positive visions just like this. Originally from: Sheila King Quantum Shift & Reiki House

Remembering Madelyn Dunham, the grandmother of Barack Obama

Natsuki the Neko: GO OBAMA-BIDEN GO! ^_^ — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:30:40 EST

My prayers go out to the Obama family following the announcement of the death of Mrs. Madelyn Dunham, the grandmother of Barack Obama, after a long battle with cancer. May her soul rest in perfect peace.

Go Obama-Biden Go!

Natsuki the Neko: GO OBAMA-BIDEN GO! ^_^ — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:26:44 EST

After watching the 30-minute Obama info-, or rather awesome-mercial, I was incredibly moved. I know that this man has what it takes to lead our country, and that he will bring about real change. He will put a stop to what has been getting us in economic troubles for the last 8 years. So, I pray, that tomorrow, November 4th, 2008, that not only do we get our first African-American president, but that change will happen. I will pray that Obama wins, for he will. VOTE OBAMA-BIDEN '08!

Announcement: Live Blogging Election Day

Eddie Lee, Obama Staff — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:00:34 EST

Election Day has finally come. Tune in all day on Tuesday as I will travel to staging locations, polling locations, visibility sites, and ultimately our election night headquarters to share with you stories from the ground. I will talk to voters about their stories, and shoot video of volunteers getting out the vote. So check out this blog all day to see what is going on. And be sure to leave us a comment to tell us your story as well!

Until then, watch this video of Washingtonians across the state getting out the vote:

Condolences and Congratualtions

darlene matthews — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:38:32 EST

DEAR SOON TO BE PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA,

LIFES IRONIES ABOUND

WHILE A GREAT MAN RISES PUBLICLY

LOSS TEMPERS THE MAN PRIVATELY.

WE SUPPORT YOU AND FEEL FOR YOU!

WITH LOVE ADMIRATION AND SYMPATHY,

YOUR TEAM.

PLEASE PASS IT ON.

BREAKING NEWS: Barack Obama says his grandmother died Monday.

Stay with ABC7NEWS.COM for more on this story:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/politics&id=6485855

Listen to Your Mama: "Mamas for Obama" Bring Change to Small-Town Washington

Eddie Lee, Obama Staff — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:19:42 EST

It’s a well-known fact that Mother knows best, and this old adage holds true when it comes to the presidential election. The “Mamas for Obama” are dispensing their motherly wisdom by rallying on the streets of Belfair, WA. “We are from a small town where a lot of people are still hesitant about change - but we are proud to be part of a large number of voters in Belfair that support Barack Obama. So proud that we have stood on one of the only sidewalks in Belfair on multiple occasions greeting motorists and enthusiastically spreading our joy and support for Obama,” says Kristina Atencio, one of the organizers of “Mamas for Obama” and the wife of an Iraq war veteran.

The “Mamas for Obama” are comprised of a group of local military wives and their families. “We are all so crazy about Obama and are just trying to encourage other young women, 'mamas', and military families to vote for Obama,” explains Kristina.

She describes the experience as “great. There were many people driving by and honking, giving us cheerful thumbs up signs, waving, or even dancing in their car, while driving, and cheering for Obama. Just down the sidewalk from us were about 5 McCain/Palin supporters who didn't get nearly as many honks and waves as we did!”

Military wife and “Mama for Obama” Shannon Walker supports Barack Obama “because I am middle class America. My husband is in Afghanistan right now and I know personally that McCain and Palin do not speak for all military families - this military family supports Barack Obama."

Stephanie Shumaker, another “Mama,” states, "Barack Obama is much more that just a political figure - he stands for something that our generation can believe in and support whole heartedly. He isn't supported by big business, insurance companies, and oil companies, he's supported by you and me - the people who REALLY need change."

Kristina Atencio supports Barack Obama “because now is the time for our generation to have a voice - to be heard - and to have an advocate in the White House. Obama stands for what we need right now: hope. He wasn't born into a long line of military officers or big money; he relied on his country and government aid to go to college– just like I did. He had to work hard every day to achieve what he has– just like I am. In Barack Obama I see real change and I see hope for myself. He is setting an example for all who are willing to watch and inspiring me to reach higher every day. We are all 'Mamas for Obama' and can't wait to see what our future holds with him in the White House.”

Listen to your mama and do your part to help Barack Obama win on November 4th! Please join our Get Out the Vote activities taking place from now through Election Day. It’s easy to do– no experience is required. Sign up here: http://www.barackobama.com/splash/volunteer.html .

Election Eve

Cultural Tones — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:56:30 EST

Since Alaska, my travels have taken me to Washington, Arizona and back to Washington where I am this Monday, November 3rd, 2008. During my travels, having the BarackObama.com site makes it easy to jump on-line, when I can, and make phone calls nationwide as part of the campaign nationl call team. Also, some of the Washington campaign call teams supply me with call lists...it's all good!

The internet radio show that a friend of mine and I started during the Democratic National Convention has continued, too. Although, call-ins are few, the show is fun and informative when there have been featured guests, i.e. from Wasilla, Anchorage, El Paso and Spokane. Tomorrow may be my final show for this election cycle.

It has been an incredible journey as a volunteer with the Barack Obama campaign. I have met incredibly dedicated people every place I have gone. The hope for a stronger and better democracy is what each of us wants for our country, it's what drives us to work at the grassroots level in ways we never imagined.

One of the most significant parts of this campaign for me, up to now, was Wednesday evening at the convention in Denver, when I signed my name on the ballot for Senator Barack Obama as the democratic nominee for President of the United States and when Senator Hillary Clinton pushed through a crowd of people to get to her podium, then asked for the nomination of of Barack Obama by acclaimation, it was seconded and voted on...that moment was full of emotion. Finally, the vote for which the precint, legislative and congressional district delegates had sent me was cast and all the hard work during the primary was rewarded.

Then, Invesco Field. Exhausted by Thursday of the convention, to have the privilege of sitting in the third row from center stage, I was overwhelmed with disbelief and humility. Watching the expressions on Senator Obama's face and hearing the roar of 70,000 supporters as he delivered his message of hope to the nation....I still cant' get over it!

My fellow Washington National Delegates made my experience complete. The caliber and diversity of individuals who made up the delegation was a source of pride for me. I will cherish my handbook of delegate biographies.

So, tonight, I as I reminisce, I hope for tomorrow's future that will be sealed by millions of precious votes.

Hope in Spokane, Washington

Election Day is Tomorrow!

Eddie Lee, Obama Staff — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:45:22 EST

The most common reason that people don’t vote is that no one asked them to. The second most common reason is that they don’t know how.

Here is what every registered voter in Washington state needs to knows about voting in this election:

Who can vote? All legal residents of Washington who were registered to vote by October 4 via mail or October 20 in person and are 18 years of age are eligible to vote.

How do we vote? All counties except for King and Pierce County vote by mail. Voters in King and Pierce County go to the polls or vote by mailing in absentee ballots.

Where do I vote or turn in ballots? Find your Washington State ballot drop or polling location here: http://www.voteforchange.com/

What is the deadline for vote by mail? If you live in a vote by mail county or if you vote absentee, ballots must be postmarked by November 4 before the last mail pickup.

When are the polls open? In King and Pierce County, polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. All voters in the parking lot of the polling location at 8:00 p.m. have the right to vote.

What should I bring to the polls? Voters voting at polling locations may be asked to provide identification. Approved forms of identification include: driver's license, state ID card, student ID card, tribal ID card, Voter registration card, Utility Bill, Bank statement, Paycheck, Government check, or another government document. If you do not have these documents, you can still vote by requesting a provisional ballot at your polling location.

What if I have problems at the polls? If you encounter problems with the polls or have any questions, please call 1-877-WA-CHANGE or seek out a Democratic Party voter protection attorney at the polls.

We’re almost there. Please help us spread the word on voting in Washington state and encourage your family, friends, and co-workers to get out there and vote.

Thank you so much for your all your support.

This is IT!

Jeth Rollins Odom — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:42:08 EST

OK "my friends",

It's been a long and wonderous year. I went to my local caucuses. I was a precinct delegate. I donated. I got people to donate. I attended meetings. I hosted meetings. I canvassed. I emailed. I blogged. I phonebanked, locally and out of state. I called my state representatives. I talked with my friends. I talked with my family. I gave out stickers. I attended rallies. I voted.

And you? There's still time to help bring CHANGE: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/actioncenter

We're almost there - YES WE CAN!

P.S. For all you've done, THANK YOU.