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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

Sen Risch R-Iowa complained about the wording on a page dealing with mamograms but his head is in the sand if he does not vote to discuss it on the floor!

Lillene Ebanks — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:56:49 EST

Pretenders!

Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Nebraska Ann Dunham the mother of President Barack was raised in Nebraska!

Lillene Ebanks — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:32:34 EST

As Governor your want to balance the budget ! _ninsured people use expensive emergency care which is costlier than giving them Medicade!

Sen. 0Bob Corker R-Tennesee complained 1d million people will be covered by Medicade ; took the Stimulus Money Like the Other States to Balance the Budget! Hilly Billies from Tenesee back woods like Arkansa need that coverage!

Lillene Ebanks — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:10:53 EST

Tennesse Blue grass back woods will benefit from the efforts of democrats like Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Lincoln of Arkansa who stood up for freedom of speech as this vote is only to discuss itB did you just want tax dollars to pay you to sit and look pretty without talking about healthcare!

OFA ===> Host or Attend a Health Reform Phone Booth

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:43:57 EDT

From Organizing for America Deputy Director, Jeremy Bird:

Last week the President laid out his health reform plan and challenged Congress to act. OFA volunteers leapt into action, generating hundreds of thousands of signatures and calls to show grassroots support. Now we need to reach out in our communities, spread the facts about the President's plan, and bring new voices of support into Washington.

If you can spare your lunch hour (or a couple of hours whenever you're free), you can help make it happen. Here's how: Organize or attend a "Health Reform Phone Booth."

It's simple: Just join up with other supporters in a public area where people will pass by, distribute fact sheets about the President's plan, and help folks call their members of Congress on the spot to voice their support.
You can search online to see if there's a booth already set up near you. But if not, just host your own! We'll give you all the materials, phone numbers, and step-by-step instructions you need to make it a success -- and when you register your Phone Booth online, other OFA volunteers can join you to lend a hand:

http://my.barackobama.com/SeptPhoneBooth

Passing health reform won't be easy -- they've been talking about it in Washington for almost a century. But we know that when ordinary people who believe in change reach out, spread the facts, and help folks from all walks of life make their voices heard, we can make history.

Thanks for making it happen,

Jeremy

Jeremy Bird
Deputy Director
Organizing for America

P.S. -- In August we asked a few OFA volunteers to test out running a Health Reform Phone Booth in their area, and we got great reports -- even from folks who were pretty nervous before they began. Here are just a couple:
I will confess that I questioned my decision to host an event the instant I hit the send button. I imagined myself on a street corner, handing out fliers like the guys hand out restaurant flyers. Relief struck when the first volunteer signed up with me. Imagine how thrilled I was when 15 had signed up!... We distributed 300 phone booth sheets and 600 info sheets... The best part, one of our volunteers was 79 1/2 years old. She was remarkable. Thank you for this opportunity. I am very glad I did it, no matter how nervous I was.
-- Mark P. from New York, New York
We had two veterans tell us that they were very happy with the VA system, and one vowed to write a letter to the editor to dispel the myths that that system doesn't work. Many people thanked us for having a booth and for trying to dispel the lies being spread by opponents of reform.
-- Mike O. from Bozeman, Montana

House On Fire!

MI 2020 -T Man — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:40:36 EDT

GOP senators have it wrong again....more pressure on Iran from U.S. government about Iran's Presidential election...are you serious? Was there any foreign intervention in the questionable 2000 U.S. Presidential election? Popular vote overturned by court decision and manipulation through the election night voter count/cover-up occured in the U.S. in the year 2000, the world observed, but did not interfere.
The President has voiced his opinion on the Iran matter and that is sufficient.
This nation is now paying its own price for voter deception from the 2000 election, so IF Iran has committed voter fraud, then that's for Iran to handle...Let's try this, help get the U.S. ECONOMY BACK ON TRACK, reform the healthcare system, remedy massive job loss, foreclosures, exit the 2 mega-costing wars, etc. because you stood around these past 9 years playing fiddles as (Rome) burned from the very fire you help set......put this national fire out before you point at smoke from another house....

The self sabotaging and self shooting themselves in the foot , Senate Democrats have too much free time on their hands.

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:21:48 EDT

111th CONGRESS 1st Session

S. CON. RES. 26

Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 11, 2009

Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BOND, and Mr. COCHRAN) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was ordered held at the desk.

One Question: Why Now??????????

Senate Democrats, Why are You not following the President's Agenda?.

President Barack Obama asked the Senate for Health Care/Public Option and etc., Yet the Senate refused.

Please go back and study and learn President Obama Race Speech and then MOVE ON...

Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union' (Full Speech)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo

The American People Are on the same page, and We all want better lives, healthcare, peace prosperity, and security. The American people are unified and are walking in complete solidarity when it comes to the Great People of the United States of America Advancing to greatness and prominence.

This waterdowned resolution is unwarrented and unnesessary.

To the Writers of this resoultion:You are out of Touch with the American People.

The Resounding answer and reaction to this resolution(in my community) has been Noooo and No Thank You!!!!!

Shocker: Even President Bush gets a shot out in this one.

What in the World Is going on With The Senate.

The Senate Democrats can't even close gitmo and yet they have the audacity to gloss over and gitmo the African-American People ith three measly little paragraphs.

Please drop this motion and please take up the President's Mandate and Call and stop disrespecting him by watering down his plans for The American People, and Stop voting against His Agenda. He Won and You Didn't. The American People trust Him and want his Policies and Resolutions, Not Yours!!!!!!

Senate Deomcrats, In Your Own Minds, You may be sincere, but you are sincerly WRONG.

Thank You President Barack Obama for being a beacon set alight on a Hill!!!

Thank You President Obama for teaching principles and wisdom!!!!

Thank You President Barack Obama for not marginalizing the black and white community!!!

Thank You President Barack Obama for finding your purpose and destiny in life!!!!

Thank You President Barack Obama for not using us (black, white, asian, hispanic, jewish, christian, muslim, hindu, believers, non-believers), nor allowing any of us to be used as bargining chips by the Senate and Congress.

May God Continue to Bless America and May He Continue to Always Bless the United States of America.

President Obama on Expanding Job Training Opportunities for the Unemployed

Fri, 08 May 2009 23:43:48 EDT

President Obama announced a new program today, designed to help unemployed Americans who want to go back to school. The president explained:

In a 21st century economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, education is the single best bet we can make -- not just for our individual success, but for the success of the nation as a whole. The average college graduate earns 80 percent more than those who stopped after high school. So if we want to help people not only get back on their feet today but prosper tomorrow, we need to take a rigorous new approach to higher education and technical training. And that starts by changing senseless rules that discourage displaced workers from getting the education and training they need to find and fill the jobs of the future.

So today I'm announcing new steps we are taking to do exactly that -- to give people across America who have lost their jobs the chance to go back to school today to get retrained for the jobs and industries of tomorrow.

Under President Obama's plan, colleges will be encouraged to increase financial aid packages for the unemployed so they can enroll in educational and training programs while keeping their unemployment benefits. CNN reported:

Under Obama's initiative, colleges would consider a person's current financial situation to make it possible for them to receive Pell grants, which are available for low-income students. The unemployed person would not lose any unemployment benefits and the maximum Pell grant would be increased in July by $500 to $5,350.

Current unemployment rules create a Catch-22: In most cases, if you are receiving unemployment compensation, you have to be actively looking for a job.

If you want to get more education or training, you have to give up unemployment benefits. But if you return to school, you don't qualify for federal education grants since, in most cases, your qualification is based on the previous year's income.

The TroJan Horses.

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:23:18 EDT

Reposted from Dianne's Post:

Time for everyone to call or email or both:

KENT CONRAD, Senate Budget Committee Chairman

Washington: (202) 224-2043

email: conrad.senate.gov/contact

This guy is bragging about all the millions he's secured for military spending through ARRA. And, is lobbying congress for more spending, but a Chairman of the Budget Committee joins the BLUE DOGS?

He's also behind the militarization of the Canada/USA border with predator drones.

He's not only a DOG, he's a HAWK!

Also from Dianne's Post:

EVAN BAYH GANG OF 16

Leaders:

Evan Bayh IN
Blanche Lincoln AK
Tom Carper DE
Kent Conrad ND, Senate Budget Commitee Chairman

Michael Bennett, CO
Mark Begich, AK
Kay Hagan, NC
Herb Kohl, WI
Mary Landrieu, LA
Joe Lieberman, CT
Claire McCaskill, MO
Ben Nelson, NE
Bill Nelson, FL
Jeanne Shaheen, NH
Mark Udall, CO
Mark Warner, VA

Please email, call and write to these Trojan horses and tell them to support Our President.

The Action Americans Need by Our President!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:36:13 EST

By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

So we have a choice to make. We can once again let Washington's bad habits stand in the way of progress. Or we can pull together and say that in America, our destiny isn't written for us but by us. We can place good ideas ahead of old ideological battles, and a sense of purpose above the same narrow partisanship. We can act boldly to turn crisis into opportunity and, together, write the next great chapter in our history and meet the test of our time.

The writer is president of the United States. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020403174.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Think Diffrently!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:39:35 EST

Harry Reid...Change this Bill and Add more $$$$ for Infrastructure, and Jobs

We really need this bill to be at least 50% Infrastructure/Job Related.

Please add $$$$ and please delete and cut the pork.

Members of http://www.gather.com give their thoughts about President Barack Obama

BayAreaForBarackObama — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:52:05 EST

The President has a presence on http://www.gather.com. He may be found here:

http://www.barackobama.gather.com

Back in June, 2007, I joined Gather -- an adult social networking site to promote Barack. Recently, I asked the Gather members to share their thoughts about the Inauguaration, and about President Obama.

They link is here:

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?memberId=364433&articleId=281474977569131&nav=Namespace

I have written a number of other posts about the President. Feel free to peruse them by looking at the posts here:

http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=364433&nav=Namespace

After November 4, 2008, I thought my work was done on this site. The President and Vice President has advised that we are just getting started, aren't we.

YES, WE CAN!

YES, WE DID!

YES, WE SHALL KEEP ON KEEPING ON!

Website transition from winning election to political action

Rob Gordon — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:23:41 EST

Hi - this site seems to be doing a rather poor job of transitioning from winning the election to political action. That is not a criticism, it is an observation. The "MyObama" page for my account still has this notice:

"Help Barack get to the finish line by calling voters!

Call Pennsylvania!
Call Florida!
Call Ohio! "

I had a policy idea today I wanted to communicate and found it to be somwhat ackward. Who are the developers of this site? Will this be one of the primary sites for polical and community action - or will that be done elsewhere?

I have experience in the design of business and social networks. For example see the member section of the California Trade Network: www.caltrade.com/members . Please let me know if I can help.

Rob Gordon

San Diego, CA

Translators for Obama's Christmas message

Michael Novak — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:55:02 EST

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas,

Well, we're doing Obama's Christmas message into as many languages as possible. So far we have people working on Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, Japanese, and Tagalog versions. If anyone out there would like to do another language, please let us know. In particular Malay (and any other language spoken in indonesia) and Arabic are wanted.

We're also looking for corporate sponsorship to do this on a weekly basis for the next 8 years, so if a company is interested, please contact us. They would receive acknowledgement in the subtitle. So this might turn into a paid thing if that is successful.

The results will be posted to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/captionedforobama shortly, with subtitles added as they become available. Also posted at our main site (www.captionedmediaforobama.com)

Michael Novak

mnovak@tertia.us

www.captionedmediaforobama.com

Cool ===> Cooler ==> Coolest.

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:04:08 EST

The American People have Spoken, There is no turning back. We Now have a President Who Will Fight for For US All. I Love how President -Elect(using that elect add on term for 35 more plus days) is Working on Our Behalf. Mr. President Obama is Cool and First Lady Michelle is Cooler, but I have got to give all of the props to their kids Malia and Sasha because they are the coolest.

May God Continue to bless Barack Obama and His Family, and May God Continue to Prosper and keep all of The People of the Unitd States of America.

President Barack Obama Inauguration Day 2009 - Washington, DC Group!!! 10

Carol Maric — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:51:18 EST

An open invitation to join : President Barack Obama Inauguration Day 2009 - Washington, DC Group!!!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/InaugurationDay2009

Make plans to be in DC on this historical day!

Make plans to be tuned in with TV and/or the Internet.

Be out in public with friends and fellow citizens.

A Grand and Wonderful Celebration!

Ten Online Ideas for Obama in Government

Steven from Minneapolis, MN — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:34:03 EST

Here are ten quick ideas for the coming Obama administration. The GSA commissioned this article last year. A PDF version and looong version with international examples is available.

Ten Practical Online Steps for Government Support of Democracy

By Steven Clift
Chair, E-Democracy.Org and Ashoka Fellow

This article will appear in the upcoming Intergovernmental Solutions newsletter of the U.S. federal
General Services Administration: http://tinyurl.com/2dhl9s

Does e-government have anything to do with democracy and citizen participation? Let's get
straight to the point - not yet.

Should it?

Yes. Government should be leading a charge into the increasingly and fundamentally interactive
web.

Information access, considered the safe starting point for government accountability online now
mostly presents the public a daunting needle in a huge haystack. This system is so complicated
that the valuable and substantive information that government produces is often ignored in the
increasingly interactive public lives of active citizens. . The lack of real and effective online access
to governance will substantially increase cynicism about and distrust in government among a
public that demands a more participatory representative democracy.

A bit of context: I coordinated e-government for the State of Minnesota in its early days. As a
citizen, I independently started E-Democracy.Org which created the world’s first election
information and discussion website in 1994. When “services first, democracy later” enveloped
most e-government projects, I went independent in late 1997. Since then, I've spoken and
consulted across 26 countries on "e-democracy.”

Here are the 10 things I would do in government at every level to help rescue our democracy in
the information age.

1. Timely, personalized access to information that matters.

Government decision-making information is not really public or relevant if people cannot act on it
when it still matters. Give people tools like personalized e-mail alerts based on keywords,
location, etc. and eliminate the "nobody told me" backlash government often receives due to
poor public outreach. Every government needs a “what’s new” democracy portal or a thematic
section covering all democratic processes as part of their main website.

2. Help elected officials receive and sort, then better understand and respond to email.

E-mail overload is the number one complaint I hear from elected officials around the world. Most
want to respond effectively, but simply aren't being provided the tools they need. If there ever
was an opportunity for open source collaboration among governments, this is it. In general, our
representatives and representative institutions must start to invest in the online infrastructure
they need to connect directly with the public they represent.

3. Dedicate at least 10% of new e-government developments to democracy.

Let’s define democracy starting with public input. In an e-service initiative, the 10% should start
with citizen focus groups to guide the design of the service, usability testing and studies to
generate user input and accountability, and post-transaction user surveys. If the investment is a
new content management system for information access, then use the 10% to add
personalization and survey input features or democratized navigation (those nifty menus that
show you the top ten articles viewed that day or week).

4. Announce all government public meetings on the Internet in a uniform manner.

All public meeting notices, agendas, handouts, and digital recordings must be online. The system
should be standards-based and tie state-by-state systems into a national network covering
federal, state, and local government public meetings. This is the only way for people to ask to be
pro-actively notified of any government public meetings within a certain geographic area
addressing specific topics that interest them.

5. Allow citizens to look-up all of their elected officials from the very local to national
in one search.

Along with the ability to look-up all public meetings, Americans should have the right to easily
determine who all the elected and appointed officials are who represent them currently. Just
before elected and appointed officials assume office, every government unit should be required
to submit contact information for those officials into a national database.

6. Host online public hearings and dialogues (or “e-consultations” as they are known
outside the U.S.)

As in-person public meetings begin to incorporate live online features, envision more deliberate
online exchanges to improve the outcomes of the decision-making process. If your government
agency hosts three public hearings across the country or your state, host the fourth hearing
online over a week or two and improve the format in the process. In 10 years, the legislatures,
commissions and city councils not holding hearings online will be in the minority.

7. Embrace the rule of law by mandating the most democratically empowering online
services and rights across the whole of government.

Technology itself is not forcing real institutional democratic change. I estimate that 90% of the
democratic innovations online that really share power are based on a political tradition or law
that existed before the Internet arrived. If we want all citizens to benefit universally from a more
wired democracy, then now is time to update our legal requirements and fund core online
democracy services.

8. Promote dissemination through access to raw data from decision-making
information systems.

Let’s explode decision-making data, like Congressional information and rulemaking related
content into bits via XML and open standards and make it easy to re-use public government data
from many sources to create views and searches that provide insight, understanding, and
accountability. Think “Web 2.0” interactivity built on top of government data by those outside of
government.

9. Fund Open Source sharing internationally across e-government.

Sharing and supporting open source software takes resources – a consortium of national
governments need to step up with collaborative funding. The new and less cluttered area of eparticipation tools are an ideal starting point within e-government to reduce technology costs and
build systems for use by multiple governments.. Efforts to place modules and customizations out
for community use will be key. Government and its vendors must contribute code back for the
wheels of reciprocal value to start turning.

10. Local up – a strategic approach to building local democracy online.

To build e-participation momentum, citizens need to experience results they can see and touch.
By investing in transferable local models and tools, more people will use the Internet as a tool to
strength their communities, protect and enrich their families and neighborhoods, and be heard in
a meaningful way. Every community needs an “online town hall,” E-Democracy.Org calls them
Issues Forums, for agenda-setting discussion of public issues. Comparative evaluation of access
and participation related online service and content indicators will introduce efforts for an online
"Democracy Tune-up." This same tune-up concept should be applied at the state and federal
level as well.

Conclusion

In the early days, folks thought the Internet was inherently democratic. Parts of it are, but that
mistaken sense of technological determinisms has not carried over to make constitutional and
legally-ground representative processes more open and responsive. Today, “politics as usual”
online may actually make things worse. Civically conceived e-participation efforts need to counter
such negative trends rather than being viewed as an extra option. Ultimately, each generation
needs to rebuild democracy with the special tools of their time. Our tools are online and our
democracy needs us.

Steven Clift leads the “Online Consultation and E-Participation” online community of practice at
DoWire.Org and shares numerous articles on e-democracy from Publicus.Net. An extended
version of this article with specific examples is available from that site.

WE MADE IT!!!

Tess — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:00:59 EST

Well... here we are! President Obama. Can those words be any sweeter to say? As i sit here typing completely filled with pride, excitement and overwhelmed with emotion. The SECRET works people!! Apply it to your lives and apply it to help our new President get us back on track!! YES WE CAN and YES WE WILL!!!

Proudest Vote of My Life...

Vermonter — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:14:59 EST

If This Thing Is Stolen

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:59:22 EDT

A lot of Democrats, like me, are nervous. Our candidate is in great shape. He's run the best, noblest campaign in decades. He's flush with money and is using it like a bludgeon. His opponent is broke. McCain's arguments have lost all credibility, and his running-mate is an embarrassment. While McCain's supporters are filled with dread; Obama's are wildly energized.

We're filled with optimism and anxiety. Because, for two Presidential elections in a row, we know the Presidency has been stolen from us, and we're afraid it will happen again. And let me be clear, if Obama isn't the next President, it will be because it was stolen (in my not-so-humble opinion).

My.BarackObama.com locked up on 10/29

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:08:36 EDT

Last night, I was all set to phonebank after Obama's infomercial, as requested by the campaign. I logged in at 7:45 to familiarize myself with the script then logged out. No problem. At 8:30, I tried to log-in again but couldn't. I tried for over 10 minutes but couldn't reach my dashboard.

Phonebanking in Toronto?

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:45:25 EDT

Anyone know of any phone banks set up in Toronto on Nov. 4 (or earlier)? Skype and/or Vonage offers cheap ways to call the US.

Streaming the 30-minute message?

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:38:51 EDT

I'm all signed up and set to make calls for the campaign tonight after the half-hour message. However, I don't have a TV. Is there any place on the web that will be streaming the message at the same time?

The Democratic Super Majority of Americans

MoorAmerican — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:31:32 EDT

The Central Intelligence Agency describes our government type as “Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition.”

The Executive branch consists of a President and Vice President, but, the President is both the Chief of State and Head of Government. There is a bicameral Congress consisting of the Senate (100 seats, 2 members are elected from each state by popular vote to serve six-year terms; one-third [33 seats] are elected every two years) and the House of Representatives (435 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve two-year terms).

The election results from November 7, 2006 were as follows: Senate - seats by party - Democratic Party 49, Republican Party 49, independent 2; House of Representatives - seats by party - Democratic Party 233, Republican Party 202…

They produced the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (Pub.L. 110-81, 121 Stat. 735, enacted September 14, 2007) is a law of the United States federal government that amended parts of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. It strengthens public disclosure requirements concerning lobbying activity and funding, places more restrictions on gifts for members of Congress and their staff, and provides for mandatory disclosure of earmarks in expenditure bills.

Both 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain introduced and sponsored amendments to the act, although neither were official cosponsors of the final act. The uncontroversial bill passed easily by an 83-14 margin, with Obama voting for and McCain voting against.

Only Republicans are opposed to Honest Leadership and Open Government… Bennett (R-UT), Burr (R-NC), Coburn (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS), Cornyn (R-TX), Craig (R-ID), Crapo (R-ID), DeMint (R-SC), Ensign (R-NV), Graham (R-SC), Inhofe (R-OK),
Kyl (R-AZ), Lott (R-MS), Senator John McCain (R-AZ) [the Not-See Republican leader of the trickette ticket to the same failed policies of the war-time criminal administration of George W. Bush].

If the approval rating of Congress is lower than the President’s who along with the Vice President and the rest of the administration for the executive branch are conducting a criminal war-time enterprise that has ruined the global economy as well as our own, there is little argument that suggests Americans should not vote for a Democratic super majority of Americans in the senate and house of representatives in this election cycle.

The Not-See Republican leader, John McCain was erratic, feisty, and flustered in his exclusive interview on Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw [October 26, 2008]. I did not hear any questions that questioned his voting record on Honest Leadership and Open Government? What’s the fussy old man concerned about?

Fact of the matter is the American electorate has the responsibility in each election cycle to remove the Not-See’s from government; fire and hire honest trustworthy Americans; competent professionals from all backgrounds to serve the public good.

If it takes putting in a Democratic super majority of Americans that will not compromise or corrupt the office they are elected to serve, let’s do it… We need change and the Republicans are opposed. They did not even make a good case to keep them in power four more years.

The Not-See Republicans voting record has made the case why the electorate must replace them with a Democratic Senate majority of 60 seats. Veto proof the agenda that needs to get passed and neutralize the partisan politics of the Republican Party.

Whatever the argument is for or against a super majority by one party or the other, we have to trust the Democratic Party this election cycle. Democrats are the Americans that have won the trust of the people. The Republicans are the cause of the social economic problems of the American people.

The Democrats are united for the cause of the American people – the working class; not the Republicans, who are divided and misguided; out of touch with middle class America.

One word stands out more than any other to describe the Democratic coalition – “mastermind”… the coordination of knowledge and effort in the spirit of harmony between two or more people to attain a definite purpose.

That’s what the 44th Presidency of the United States of America in Congress Assembled must be to confront the challenges facing the nation. It must be a Democratic super majority of Americans committed to working together; for the working class with working families in middle class communities all across America.

That’s what this election cycle is about; finishing the work started by the American electorate in 2006; the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007!

The Republicans have not been totally honest with the American people. Even the die hard party faithful know it and have said so. There are a host of very influential Americans of the Republican brand that make it their cause to speak publicly about how far from the core principles and values the party has shifted. They blame their own leadership. American people must hold them accountable… They must be removed from office. FIRED without any apologies!

Now is our time… November 4, 2008 – Election Day… That is the moment for the American people to turn the page on the Not-See Republican trickettes; hand them the defeat they deserve and take back our government with a Democratic super majority in the senate and house to do the work that needs to be done… YES WE CAN!

Trick or Treat? Character Issues Are Decisive Factors In A Change Election

MoorAmerican — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:05:06 EDT

CHANGE WE NEED: The 44th Presidency in Congress Assembled Is Sprinting To 350 Electoral College Votes To Finish Strong On Election Day!

Despite the repugnant nefarious comments of Congresswoman Michelle Bachman on Friday October 17, 2008; a record crowd of over 100,000 folks (confirmed by the St. Louis Police Department) gathered on Saturday October 18, 2008; a beautiful fall day alongside the Mississippi river, under the Gateway Arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis -- the biggest rally Senator Barack Obama has held in the United States to date. September fundraising was in excess of $150 MILLION!

Michele Bachmann was elected to represent Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District in 2006, making her the first Republican woman to represent Minnesota in the House of Representatives. Strong grassroots support and an agenda of tax relief, responsible government, and Minnesota values propelled Michele to an 8-point victory despite being outspent by Washington special interests 2 to 1.

Missouri is an important battleground state, having voted for the winning president in every election since 1960. It makes me proud to know that Americans in Minnesota will vote to remove Michelle Bachman and all others of her Republican Nazi Cult in the great state of Minnesota. There is no place for her kind in the American body politic of 513,000 offices… It’s people like her that produced a “TORTURING DEMOCRACY” (see video @ www.torturingdemocracy.org)... It’s people like her that are creating a divisive culture of hate, discrimination, and TERRORIZING DEMOCRACY [the investigative documentary that will be released soon as a follow-up... ].

October 16th, 2008 - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s campaign released poll numbers from an October 12-13th poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, showing that she maintains a strong 11-point lead against her DFL opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg. A poll of 400 likely voters across the district with a margin of error of 4.9% shows her leading her opponents by a healthy margin: 44% Bachmann (R); 33% Tinklenberg (DFL); 8% Anderson (IP).

Bachmann's comments came in a 13-minute interview on MSNBC by Chris Matthews. She asserted the talking points scripted by Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, who Andrea Mitchell, also from MSNBC, reported from reliable sources that “Newt Gingrich is running for President in 2012!”… Newt Gingrich is the founder of a non-partisan 527 group -- “Real Change Requires Real Change” called American Solutions for Winning the Future. Newt Gingrich is the General Chairman of the 527 group, but also serves as an advisor and pundit for the Republican Nazi Clones of the GOP brand along with Karl Rove, a Fox News Channel contributor for the Trickette ticket of Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska and the very old U.S. Senator from Arizona, John McCain.

Karl Rove is no myth when it comes to scurrilous tactics to win the General Election for President – he is a columnist for Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. The gang of Rove lobbyists that are running the Trickette ticket are leased from the Bush administration. Rove was not only a political strategist, but played a major policy roll in the Bush White House as a leading expert when WAR CRIMES were committed by the Bush Administration. Rove is intimately involved with the CIA leak case, Jack Abramoff government corruption, the firing of Federal prosecutors connected to Voter Fraud and Voter Suppression in battleground states like Ohio and Nevada.

Michelle Bachman however is a chickenhead Trickette ticket supporter appointed by Newt Gingrich to be character assassin of Senator Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Harry Reid [code named “RePO”] to pave the way for his 2012 Presidential campaign… Bachmann asserts Obama has a close connection to 1960s radical William Ayers, a theme of the phone calls and recent remarks by McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin. “Barack Obama didn't have a mild association with Bill Ayers," Bachmann, a Republican, said. "He had a very strong association with Bill Ayers." Later, when asked by Chris Matthews whether she believes that Obama may have anti-American views, Bachmann replied, "Absolutely. I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views." Bachmann also said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both Democrats, have "far-leftist views." When asked whether she considered members of Congress anti-American, she said, "The news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America or anti-America."

On Friday, Bachmann's DFL opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, said Bachmann's comments "undermines our political process. Instead of being able to disagree respectfully, it turns into this kind of vilification. You're just not disagreeing. The other person is un-American." The controversy arose on a day when Palin was quoted by Time magazine online saying, "I don't question at all Barack Obama's love for the great country."

“So!”, what’s the fuss? Senator John McCain is endorsed by War Criminals! His voting record along with verbal debates in the United States Senate and the overall conduct of his presidential campaign makes him suspect of at least Criminal Negligence [eating birthday cake with President George W. Bush after Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast States in August 2005]. McCain and numerous Republican Congressional members in the Senate and the House who sponsored and voted for the Military Commissions Act of 2006 are probably involved in numerous acts of Criminal Corruption and could be charged with being an accessory after the fact to commit War Crimes the violate Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.

The Republican Party at large, are persons of interest pertaining to War Crimes. Criminal charges on behalf of 255 or more detainees will be forth coming against the Bush administration because American military officers, intelligence officials, or law enforcement officials violated Geneva Convention rules relating to field conduct, detention conduct or interrogation of detainees.

Therefore, the American people must diligently inquire over the next few days before the General Election on November 4th about Senator John McCain’s authenticity, judgment, temperament, character, honesty, and core values. It is inferred by investigative journalists that he and numerous Republicans were intimately involved in criminal activities which includes using the United States Justice Department to suppress voters in key battleground States on Election Day. All Trickettes of the Republican Party must Cease and Desist the scurrilous tactics used to TERRORIZE DEMOCRACY and fully cooperate with Federal prosecutors and law enforcement authorities.

The American people should be forth coming to fully cooperate with U.S. Government authorities investigating all 513,000 or more offices of our great nation’s body politic, criminally corrupted by the Bush Administration, Karl Rove, the Republican National Committee, Senator John McCain, Speaker Newt Gingrich, and American Solutions for Winning the Future… CHANGE We Need Requires Real Change ! “Eight Years Is ENOUGH!”

Bailout Main Street NOT Wall Street

mary4change — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:14:30 EDT

I am totally opposed to the bailout. Why should we spend our money to prop up faulty institutions rather than create real solutions. Our economy is sick to the foundation. We need to face this.

If Bush and his cronies are right and not bailing these institutions out will lead to job loss, loss of retirement funds, etc., then let it happen so we aren't just covering up the problem once more.

If that happens, take the same money and bailout the people who lose jobs and whose retirement funds are ruined, etc. Create jobs for alternative energy solutions, for example, and employ those people. Then start to focus on the deeper problems.

Slinging mud to hide the real dirt: John McCain's attacks on Barack Obama are designed to distract from his plans to cut social security and healthcare benefits

Lani in Dublin, CA — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:48:13 EDT

So it takes Dean Baker, a columnist from England's Guardian, to actually point out the obvious: McCain/Palin's current campaign of lies is meant to purposefully keep Obama off-track from talking about the REALLY important issue: The dismantling of healthcare and Social Security as we know it:

Dean Baker
guardian.co.uk,
Monday September 15 2008 17:00 BST

The McCain-Palin ticket has developed an interesting campaign strategy. They don't want the public to see their plans to dismantle social security, Medicare and the system of employer-provided healthcare. To distract people from these policies that will directly affect their lives they are taking politics to new lows.
Among the highlights for the cesspool two is the nonsense that Barack Obama was calling Sarah Palin a barnyard animal when he used the old expression "putting lipstick on a pig". Then John McCain told us that he approved of an ad calling Obama a sexual pervert.
These two are happy to throw out any sort of vile lie because the more time the media and the public spend focusing on this garbage, the less time they will have to notice that McCain wants to privatise and cut their social security. McCain thinks that America's workers have it too easy when they retire. He wants them to retire later and have less money when they do.
In addition to cutting social security, he is also likely to cut Medicare benefits. He has railed about "entitlements" in the past, and because of our broken healthcare system, Medicare is the most rapidly growing entitlement. McCain has also supported measures that increase the cost of Medicare by subsidising private insurers that take part in the programme. In other words, McCain is likely to reduce Medicare benefits in order to increase the profits of private insurers.
McCain has also explicitly targeted the system of employer-based health insurance through which most non-elderly people get their coverage. McCain proposes to take away the tax deduction for employer-provided insurance, a seeming violation of his no-tax-increase pledge. (McCain would provide a $2,500 tax credit for buying insurance.)
Under McCain's plan, the money that employers pay for health insurance would be taxed in the same way as money paid in wages. That means that workers would pay taxes on money that they never see in their paycheques. When insurers increase their premiums, employers would have to pull more money out of workers paycheques for taxes, even if they covered the full cost of the premium hike. This means that workers see their take-home pay cut every time insurers raise premiums.
As an employer, I can guarantee that this will create a big headache and no doubt lead many employers to just drop health insurance coverage. Dealing with insurance companies is bad enough. Having to constantly explain to your workers why their pay is falling is too much.
McCain's plan will soon destroy the system of employer-based insurance, which is undoubtedly its intention. Before long, the vast majority of people will have to shop individually for their healthcare. This will lead to enormous waste of time as tens of millions of families will have to ask questions like: "Do you want the plan that's good on cancer but bad on heart disease, or the plan that's bad on cancer but good on heart disease?"
Even worse, the people who have serious health problems and most need insurance will find it extremely expensive, if not impossible, to get insurance coverage. See, insurance companies don't like to insure sick people. They lose money on them. They have no choice if they get an employer-based pool that includes mostly healthy people, but also some with health problems.
If insurers get to choose their customers individually, as they would under McCain's plan, then they can either refuse coverage or set exorbitant premiums for anyone with a serious health condition. In other words, McCain's system of individual insurance is just great for anyone who doesn't really need insurance.
Anyhow, if the McCain-Palin ticket hadn't dragged this campaign into the gutter, then we would be having a serious debate right now over their plans to eliminate employer-provided healthcare. We would also have a debate over their plans for Medicare and social security. We might hear more about their budget plans, including their intention to extend President Bush's tax cuts to the richest people in the country.
But the McCain-Palin positions on these issues are not popular. If the public clearly understood what they are proposing, they would lose in a landslide.
Therefore, they are running a cesspool campaign to distract the public.

Here is the original article at the Guardian. America needs to wake up--we need to get the word out that a McCain presidency means we will lose what healthcare we have! Spread the word!

How we are winning this election...

mary4change — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:29:17 EDT

I write this today in part to get myself back into the swing of things. Life happens. I haven't been so involved in the campaign since we won the primary, though obsessively watching what's going on.

The polls aren't so encouraging at the moment, and the say-anything-just-to-win (regardless of facts) tactics of the McCain campaign are frustrating to say the least. BUT what I realized is the polls are missing a large force in our campaign -- the vote of the youth who are our future and who don't want their future to look like our past. They're not there with landline phones ready to answer the pollsters. They're on their cells, they're texting... Not only has the new technology left McCain behind, so has the new way of thinking. My biggest hope is in those younger than I who grew up in a whole different world and we will win this election largely thanks to them.

The other way we are winning this election is people to people. Real conversations with real people are much more powerful than any ad. Facts can be presented, perspectives shared, and talking points revealed for what they are -- propaganda. Let's focus our time and efforts where they really count -- person to person. I fear sometimes all of our blog comments and digging are either preaching to the choir or trying to argue with those who are so entrenched in their views that there's no moving them. There are open-minded people out there trying to sift through things are learn which choice will most benefit their lives and the country. Let's reach out to them. They can really make the difference!

As I said, I'm talking to me today, pumping myself up. If someone else gets inspired along the way -- great!

Go Obama-Biden! Go America!

MySpace Democrats Announcement...

Beth for Obama'08 in Skokie, IL — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:22:13 EDT

----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: DNC
Date: Sep 7, 2008 2:47 AM

Sometime in the next few days, MySpace Democrats and our allies on MySpace will roll out a major push to support Barack Obama.

We're going to need your help to show just how much MySpace Democrats supports Barack Obama.

We will need you to repost our bulletins, blog about the campaign when it launches and take action your self to help us elect Barack Obama

Stay tuned for more...

Join MySpace Democrats - http://groups. myspace. com/myspacedems

Subscribe - http://blog. myspace. com/myspacedemocrats

Add - http://www. myspace. com/myspacedemocrats

Top 10 My.BarackObama.com groups by per capita donations

Jonathan Kamens — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:47:56 EDT

There are currently 747 groups on My.BarackObama.com which have donation thermometers showing $1 or more in donations.

Here are the top 10 when ranked by per-capita donations:

Cleantech and Green Business Leaders for Obama — 34 members, $111,255 total donations, $3,272 per capita donations

Friends of the Subset of Amherst B10+ for Obama — 14 members, $4,550 total donations, $325 per capita donations

QUILTERS FOR OBAMA — 86 members, $10,140 total donations, $118 per capita donations

Northern California Physicians for Obama — 1 members, $100 total donations, $100 per capita donations

Barack's Friday — 49 members, $4,700 total donations, $96 per capita donations

Dental Hygienists for Barack Obama — 3 members, $250 total donations, $83 per capita donations

Wharton4Obama — 4 members, $250 total donations, $63 per capita donations

Texas Lawyers for Obama — 84 members, $5,125 total donations, $61 per capita donations

City Name For Obama — 1099 members, $50,829 total donations, $46 per capita donations

Bay Park for Barack Obama — 25 members, $1,140 total donations, $46 per capita donations

Top 10 My.BarackObama.com groups by total donations

Jonathan Kamens — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:37:30 EDT

There are currently 747 groups on My.BarackObama.com which have donation thermometers showing $1 or more in donations.

Here are the top 10:

Cleantech and Green Business Leaders for Obama — 34 members, $111,255 total donations, $3,272 per capita donations
City Name For Obama — 1099 members, $50,829 total donations, $46 per capita donations
Silicon Valley for Obama - http://www.sv4obama.com — 343 members, $14,061 total donations, $41 per capita donations
Loudoun County for Obama — 357 members, $12,545 total donations, $35 per capita donations
Ravelry Knitters for Obama — 274 members, $10,443 total donations, $38 per capita donations
QUILTERS FOR OBAMA — 86 members, $10,140 total donations, $118 per capita donations
Knitters for Obama — 294 members, $8,505 total donations, $29 per capita donations
Jews for Obama — 1203 members, $5,838 total donations, $5 per capita donations
Texas Lawyers for Obama — 84 members, $5,125 total donations, $61 per capita donations
DC for Obama — 1296 members, $4,965 total donations, $4 per capita donations

Web Page for Bay Area Obama Field Offices

Dem Pilafian — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:39:26 EDT

We get a ton of questions at BayAreaForObama.com requesting information about the location of local Obama offices. Some people are looking to volunteer but most simply want to pick up Obama gear.

So, we put together a web page listing local Obama offices at:
http://www.bayareaforobama.com/offices.html

Let us know if you see any errors. And especially let us know if we omitted any local offices.

Obama '08!

- Dem

Strange....

Lace; Yes We Did — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:38:51 EDT

My activity index just dropped from a ten to a one!!!! No idea why!!!

anyway....

Raise The Roof Fundraising

Carey from Kentucky — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:27:20 EDT

Join me and the Quilters the week of August 25th through the 28th, anytown, USA can participate in the biggest fundraising week ever for the Obama campaign. I am asking all to bombard the campaign with our dollars for this historical week. With Barack Obama being the first African American to formally accept the democratic nomination for President and on Dr. King's 45th anniversary of I Have a Dream speech and on the day Hillary Clinton is to speak, August 26th, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification of women's voting rights 88 years ago to that date. Be a part of history in the making. Together, we can change America.My FR page: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/ReRe Quilters FR page: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/maingroup/QUILTERSFOROBAMA

What are you doing to help the campaign?

Carey from Kentucky — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:02:02 EDT

1. Register voters - Please be aware of all the rules and regulations when registering voters.
2. Canvass - Contact your local Obama office or your local democratic party office to see how you can volunteer to canvass neighborhoods.
3. Make phone calls - You can call Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado. Be aware of their voting rules as well. Remember to stress Unity because Hillary supporters are now on our list. The campaign is need of those who speak fluent Spanish to make calls and register voters. If you know of anyone who can and are willing to help, have them sign up here and volunteer. Here's the link to the phonemap:Link If you are not comfortable making calls, find a blogger who will make them for you for a small donation to the FR pages.
4. Host an event - These are great events for undecideds and republicans turned Obamacans. With the convention coming up, this is a great way to celebrate history and make new friends.
5. Don't forget to fight the email smears with our site fightthesmears.com and factcheck.org. These are great debunking sites.
6. Don't forget to email MSM. This email campaign has worked wonders.
7. If you answered yes to most of the above suggestions, keep up the good work. If you answered no, I have laid out some of the things you can do to help in your own community.
8. Take November 4th off. Volunteer to be a precinct captain or poll watcher. If you are an attorney or know someone who is an Obama supporter, please have them sign up. Here's the link for the attorney's. http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/vpcintro

9. Last but not least. Don't forget to donate. Donate here and the DNC. You can buy gear as well and it counts as a donation.

If you have more suggestions please add them as suggestions to the post.

Website Folks, You Are Awesome!!

Prosy — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:51:27 EDT

My profound gratitude to the IT folks maintaining this website. Thank you very much for listening, for constructing solutions and your enormous dedication to make this tool work.

Aside from the ease of navigating this as a social network tool, it is quite easy to blog. After writing the blog, it allows me to preview what I wrote, edit it and a keystroke later, publish the blog. It could not be any simpler.
My only wish is that it allows me to paste digital photos that I take of events. Is there a tutorial for this for those of us who live in the dinosaur age, meaning I did not live with computers all my life so it is not intuitive for me to experiment with the website. It takes awhile for me to discover what the website offers. Will a site map help? I am not sure. Will a tutorial help, not sure?

What I am sure is that I am able to navigate this website, study the issues, read enough blogs to be inspired, and read enough news items from all over the US and the world, and I feel updated again. So, I just want to say my thanks for all the hard work you do, Obama IT website folks!

Announcing the MyBO Activity Tracker

Chris Hughes — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:26:36 EDT

Nearly a full year ago, we unrolled a new points system in My.BarackObama with a pretty simple goal: to make it easier for supporters to measure their impact on the campaign. The more you did on My.BarackObama.com, the more points you would accrue. A phone call got you three points. Hosting an event got you 15.

From the start, the emphasis was on quantifying an activist’s contribution to the campaign – not on encouraging people to rack up points for the sake of racking up points. For some people, that wasn’t always clear.

Today, we’re proud to roll out an updated points system called the Activity Tracker. The basic idea is the same: the Activity Tracker helps Obama supporters measure the work they’re doing on behalf of the campaign. Whereas before, the points system tried to measure lots of different activities down to a “point value,” the new Activity Tracker simply displays up front exactly what activity users have been engaged in.

The second major change is how the system formulates a total number to gauge activity. The previous Points system consolidated all activity into a single cumulative metric, but now, the new Activity Index is time sensitive. The more work you’ve done recently, the higher the number will be.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, the source of a given user’s points is now visible to everyone in the My.BarackObama community. Before, all a user could see when looking at another person’s dashboard was a total point value. Now, the full extent of the person’s campaign-related activity is available for other activists to see.

And that information is not just displayed on individuals’ dashboard pages – it also displays on groups pages. So within a couple clicks, you can check out your favorite My.BarackObama group and immediately know how active the members are.

The new Activity Tracker is just the beginning of some important new additions to the site that are coming up in the next few weeks. We’d love to hear your thoughts on how it works and how it can be improved.

** NOTE: The bug incorrectly calculating activity over the past seven days has been corrected.

"Making a Difference" not accurate

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:06:31 EDT

Perhaps the new Activity Index is still undergoing fine tuning, but right now for me, it doesn't accurately indicate my activity level. The number of calls made and amount of money raised are wrong.

Fundraising Events Cancelled

swimmer — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:36:14 EDT

I have just received information from another mybo friend that her Barack birthdya fundraiser was also cancelled yesterday at the last minute. She had raised $150.00 for the campaign. I had raised over $200.00 for the campaign. Now none of those pldges will be able to be fulfiled unless they had been prior to yesterday. I will not be able to thank those people for their efforts.

Is someone trying to sabbotage this campaign's fundraising events on mybo.com? It appears that way to us.

Rectifying Bush's Failures: Global Warming & Katrina

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:15:44 EDT

Yesterday, Obama gave a speech describing his energy plan; here's how we can work toward those goals now. A project called, Geothermal Power for Low-Income Home Owners, is up for consideration at American Express' Members Project. You can see it here: http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/CJSUUF.

How Obama is About to Lose

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:01:47 EDT

Forty years ago, the Right created their "think tanks" and enlisted their talkshow propagandists to frame the political debate in our country. We all know their sad tropes, because they were so wildly successful--The poor are lazy, Government is the problem, Responsibility rests on the least powerful not the most powerful, and Without discussion, the United States is the greatest country in the world.

Them or Us

Don Leich — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:21:55 EDT

No we can't (stay awake)

Yes we can!

Concern Re Environmentalists Group

mquintus-Mark of Baltimore — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:06:11 EDT

One of the largest groups on myBO is the Environmentalists for Obama Group. Unfortunately, something's wrong here - no blog posted, or listserve ever processed, and the listed administrators do not respond to emails.

Would someone please investigate who "owns" this group and why they have shut it down?

FYI I am a physicist, former Chairman of the Energy Committee of the National Security Industrial Association, Chairman of the Energy Advisory Committee for my governor, author of the Solar Energy-Environmental R&D Act of 1975, energy advisor to the Carter White House, president of Maryland Common Cause ... you get the picture.

I smell a rat.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

WEB Events

Allison Ruby Reid-Cunningham — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:12:57 EDT

I had the terrible experience today of having one of my events removed from myBO.com without warning.

I had created a web event called "Blogging for Obama" in which people pledge to post 10 positive and honest blog posts about Obama in the next 10 weeks. The outpouring of interest and support I received was overwhelming, with over 70+ bloggers in 30+ states (and Canada) signing up to blog for Obama. (see the bloggers at http://rubycrushonobama.blogspot.com)

The event was removed from myBO.com because it doesn't have a distinct "date/time" and now I have no way to communicate with all those Obama supporters who want to organize together and participate in this web event from all over the United States. I have emailed repeatedly with no response from the campaign ... maybe someone here knows whom I should contact?

Even before this happened, I thought it would be a good idea to create an event category that would be for "Web events" or "ongoing actions" for Obama. I have participated in (and sponsored) several very successful web events, from getting 26 people to invite their friends to join myBO.com to getting about 30 people to send the link for an inspiring youtube video about Barack.

These web-based and ongoing events are essential to the success of Barack Obama's campaign: they provide a way for people who could never meet in person to collaborate and organize for Barack's presidential campaign. These events are based in the principles of community organizing and seeking common goals between people who might seem at odds: for example, we have Mormons, Republicans, and Hillary supporters blogging for Obama. We;ve had at least 15 first-time bloggers set up their first blog JUST to participate in this event--Barack's campaign is all about listening to the voices of people who have previously been silenced or marginalized...

How can this kind of collective action happen without a way to invite people to participate in ongoing or online events??

I'd love to hear what others have to say, so please comment on this post or feel free to email me (or "barackobama-friend" me) at rubymsw@gmail.com

(or email me if you want to join blogging for Obama--we're not stopping the event--just not posting it on myBO.com)

Hope you are well!!

Listserv problems?

Anne — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:38:42 EDT

I have not received an email from ORR for more than 15+ hours. Is anyone else not receiving emails?

Thanks!

CHAOS is no match for HOPE

Allison Ruby Reid-Cunningham — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:18:50 EDT

Some of you may remember "Operation CHAOS" as the secret CIA operation to spy on Americans in order to "unmask possible foreign influences on the student antiwar movement." It targetted groups like Students for a Democratic Society with surveillance and moles, and Operation CHAOS was disbanded after the Watergate scandal. I wish it had ended there, but a new revival of the term "Operation Chaos" invokes a related mockery of the Constitution and the democratic process.

I had hoped that this unfortunately named and misguided practice would have faded by now, but is doesn't seem to be going away... so I'd like to take a few minutes to introduce you to the contemporary "Operation Chaos."

As some of you may know, Rush Limbaugh has encouraged his "followers" to subscribe to "Operation Chaos," which intends to sabotage Barack Obama's candidacy for the US Presidency.

During the first phase, Rush encouraged Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries (to drag out the races and stick it to Obama). It seems as though this may have had an impact in some states:

For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show. (quote from Talking Points Memo).

Rush sent this via email to the SF Chronicle:

''I'm extremely proud of the Operation Chaos volunteers. I never doubted they would triumph in Indiana and I think it is a hoot the Obama campaign is crediting Op Chaos for giving Hillary a 7-point bump. It sounds like they are jealous I out-organized them.''

''I think it was a couple days after the PA primary, I said on air that if the Obama campaign wanted to end Operation Chaos, all they had to do was acknowledge it and say that the Hillary vote was tainted by voters who have no intention of voting for her in November.''
''Tonight, they followed my advice.''

Then why didn't "Operation Chaos" stop??

On his show, Rush gloated about the "success" of Operation Chaos:

And I would also say that McCain would have never have done this and the Republican National Committee, Republican Party would have never done this, which is why we did it.

We needed Obama bloodied up politically.

A "proud liberal blogger" posted this content originally from Democratic Underground.com about the underlying attitude of "Operation Chaos":

'

Operation Chaos' seems to have been the Republican approach to dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

'Operation Chaos' seems to have been the Republican approach to the occupation of Iraq.

And 'Operation Chaos' seems to have been the Republican approach to the economy.

In fact, 'Operation Chaos' seems to have been the Republican approach to governing in general."

One blogger responded to Hillary Clinton's extremely close win in Indiana (where Operation Chaos has been identified by some as a pivotal factor) with this:

Rush Limbaugh and Operation Chaos have almost extinguished my candle of faith in America. However, Obama has said that there is no false hope in America.

And that is what I keep my mind set on.

Apparently there was some talk about indicting Rush for his role in messing with the democratic process in Ohio, but as far as I know, nothing has come of it except Rush joking about it on his show, even calling for the indictment of Obama and Clinton if Limbaugh himself were indicted.

The grounds for indictment: Hillary and Barack were courting Republican voters to vote for them in the Democratic primaries, so Rush felt they were really doing the same thing... Of course the difference is that Hillary and Barack are courting voters who might actually want to vote for them; Rush is tampering with the electoral process by encouraging voters to vote for a candidate they don't want in order to wrangle the outcome of the Presidential election.

Limbaugh's meddling is the epitome of "voter fraud", according to Michael Slater of Project Vote, a nonpartisan group that designs voter registration drives for low-income people:

"GOP meddling in the Ohio Democratic Primary was a clear-cut example of fraudulent voting.... Here we have a real instance of spurring people on to engage in illegal election activities with a real intent to affect the outcome...

"That is voter fraud. People were encouraged to break the law. They had to declare allegiance to a political party and sign a document under penalty of perjury.

Intent is what matters in voter fraud."

Seriously, Rush Limbaugh should be prosecuted for election fraud. In case you're interested, here is some more info about what is not legal about what Rush is doing ("Electoral Fraud"):

Coercing votes from persons who would normally vote for another candidate or would not vote at all, but who are nevertheless eligible to vote.

And what was illegal about the Republican voters who took part in this travesty of democracy:

Changing parties: Voters (in elections for party leader) who change membership of parties in order to elect a weaker candidate to run against the leader of their original party.

Since clearly there was no response to hold Rush and his croonies responsible for this travesty of justice and hijacking of democracy, Rush is charging on ahead with further plans for more chaos.

Rush just announced the second phase of "Operation Chaos" which continues this unconscionable attack on the democratic process.

"Limbaugh, who is now referring to the presumptive Democratic nominee as "the Most Merciful Messiah, Lord Obama," urged his audience to attend open meetings at which the Democratic platform will be discussed."

Rush wants his supporters to infiltrate the meetings in which Obama supporters will collaborate to define the issues in the Democratic platform and create chaos. This to me is despicable!

"Trolls" have also been all over Barack Obama's official campaign website, posting nasty comments and even posing as disheartened former Obama supporters in order to drag down the energy of the movement. This is all very sad and pathetic. When I look at John McCaint's campaign website, 90% of the content is negative crap about Obama and cheap (often untrue or falsely based) attacks with lots of ridiculous photoshopped pics. But Barack Obama's campaign website features the positive message of the Senator from Illinois and hardly even mentions his opponent.

One Republican for Obama expressed frustration with the Operation Chaos activity on barackobama.com:

I am so sick of the FAKE Obama supporters posting their negativity on the site.... I am sick of hearing the news that even Obama supporters are against him. The fact is the true Obama supporters are not against him.

We have a bunch of FAKE supporters on this site, logging on just so they can say ... "I used to like Obama, but he didn't wear a white shirt today ... so I don't like him anymore."
This is absolutely ridiculous ... face it people ... you have two choices for President ... Obama or McCain ... so get over your petty nonsense. Obama has to appeal to more people than just you.

Here is one (very smart) supporter's post on Republicans for Obama blog:

I've noticed a trend lately. McCain supporters have been hopping onto the [mybarackobama.com] lists, posing as Obama supporters, and posting something along the lines of, "I was an Obama supporter until Obama xxxxxx."
Usually it's emotional and divisive issues, like the FISA Bill, abortion, separation of church and state, etc. Unfortunately, Obama supporters respond to these trolls with defensive and emotional responses. The troll wins and the group members lose. This success emboldens the trolls, creating a downward spiral. Then, when a true Obama supporter expresses an opinion that someone else disagrees with, people respond negatively due to the highly charged emotions caused by the conflicts.

I have developed a mantra to repeat when you see this happening:

I do not have to respond to every post I disagree with.
I am not personally responsible for defending Barack Obama against every attack.
The campaign will be fine even with people disagreeing in this or any group.
I will not let someone else's emotional post force me into an emotional response.
I like the Delete key.
I am one with the Delete key.
What Would Obama Do?
Try it, it works! Get the "What Would Obama Do?" wrist band if you need help - you can even snap it as a physical reminder when you mess up, as we all do from time to time. It's a few bucks, net proceeds go to the campaign, and your heart will thank you for it!

I say we take our message from our leader:
Meet Chaos with HOPE!

Let's launch "OPERATION HOPE" in living rooms, streets, schools, and all over America!

Let's put our positive message out there, and let's accept any "trolls" or "Operation Chaos infiltrators" with open arms. They aren't really "trolls" after all--they're people just like us who are doing what they feel is right.

Dear Operation Chaos:

There is a place for you at our table.
There is enough HOPE and CHANGE for you.

Everyone is valued here,
and disagreements are natural.

We can still work together.

Obama's campaign put out a set of simple guidelines for supporters who encounter "Operation Chaos" folks in their platform meetings, events, or online (I found this on a blog post, which you can access here).

Discussion and Decisions: Everyone's Voice Counts

Make sure that everyone's voice is heard.
Respect everyone's point of view.
You can disagree agreeably.
Do NOT get into heated arguments with people, even if you think they are outrageous or out of bounds.
Debate can be cordial and respectful.

Don't Get Mad -- Stay Focused

We're not here to get goaded or baited.
Always take the high road.
Disagreeable people will be asked to leave, politely.
You can be passionate about a policy. We want you to care.
Just respect the rights of others to be equally passionate in their viewpoints, however different.

*** Remember every Republican or Independent may NOT be part of "Operation Chaos."

Don't alienate.

Obama Rocks the WORLD!

Allison Ruby Reid-Cunningham — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:46:20 EDT

Obama is the world's candidate! Here is a link to a 5-minute video from ABC news about the world's reaction to Obama's presidential campaign. Here is an LA Times article about Obama's initial reception in Afghanistan and an overview of the destinations on this historic trip to Europe and the Middle East. Here's a Herald Tribune article about the trip. Reuters reported that Germans are very excited about Obama's upcoming trip, but authorities are concerned about the logistical problems invoked when possibly hundreds of thousands of people show up to the main event at the Siegessäule in Berlin's Tiergarten.

AFP reports that Obama's reception in the Middle East may be more tentative than the excitement that the candidate may anticipate in Europe.

"While Barack Obama can expect to be feted as a hero as "Obamamania" strikes Europe, he faces a more uncertain welcome on the Middle East leg of his international campaign swing this week.
The presumptive Democratic White House nominee is less popular in Israel than his Republican rival John McCain, and his offer of direct talks with Iranian leaders has caused some consternation in the Jewish state.
Obama also crossed swords with the Palestinian leadership, after vowing in June that "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided," a comment which seemed to prejudge final status peace talks.... Obama has however hinted at a return to a fully engaged US role in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, which President George W. Bush avoided until late in his second term....
Obama... is expected to arrive in Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II on Monday, after making crucial war zone visits to Afghanistan Sunday, and an expected onward journey to Iraq. Jordanian sources said King Abdullah would take the opportunity to stress the importance of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.....
Obama will then move to Israel for talks with the full spectrum of top officials, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and opposition Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli government officials will be delighted to meet Obama and "exchange ideas" with him, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.... In a poll by Israel's Mutagim survey institute in June, Israeli Jews favored McCain over Obama 36 to 27 percent."

Barack Obama attended a ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem today (July 23, 2008).

There is more on Barack and Israel from AP. You may be interested to read how TIME covered Barack's trip to Israel:

Obama's last stop of the day was at the embattled Prime Minister's residence. "I'm very happy that you found the time to come and visit with us in the tradition of all the great friends of the state of Israel and I know how friendly you are and how much you care for us," Ehud Olmert told Obama in the courtyard.

As they say in diplomacy and politics, everyone was right on message.

Barack Obama has also been called upon to revisit his comment that he would meet with world leaders of nations such as Iran, Syria, and other nations with whom American Presidents have recently boycotted meeting (preferring to bully these nations without direct contact). He defended and expanded upon his original statement, and you can read more (CNN coverage) here.

John McCain has complained that the networks are sending their best news anchors and devoting a lot of airtime to Obama's trip, and McCain is arguing for fair time. He's also mad that the NY Times rejected his essay. I was thinking maybe he should do something (or write something) newsworthy rather than complaining, "it's not fair!" Then I heard rumors about a possible VP announcement from the Repubs this week. interesting...

His friends aren't afraid to stick up for him either:

Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post published the article on Tuesday and carried an editorial accusing the New York Times of bias: “The New York Times is showing its true colour again (i.e. cobalt blue): just days after running an essay by Barack Obama slamming John McCain’s Iraq policy proposals, the paper summarily nixed the Arizona senator’s rejoinder.” — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

So that's all the "fair time" John McCain is going to get on my blog...

Back to Obama... the world loves him!

How to embed those fundraising thermometers

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:57:25 EDT

When I created my personal fundraising page, I was looking forward to embedding that fundraising thermometer into the margin of my personal blog. Unfortunately, the final result didn't offer the embed option.

So, I looked at the source code for my fundraising page and quickly saw it'd be easy to include the thermometer in my blog. Here's the code if you'd like to do the same:

Problem with the listserv

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:32:09 EDT

I do the daily digest of the listserv. For several days my daily digest has had nothing in the content, just a subject line. That's it. Is anyone else experiencing this? Any ideas on what's going on?

A Word to the Site Admin

Francis Hussein — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:22:21 EDT

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

With this site now making National Media and with, Im sure, thousands of hits a day, I think that it is absolutely critical that we have an active and more aggressive monitering of this Site's content, especially on the Blogs.

Ever since the general Election campaign started, we have had an influx of trolls and spammers to the blogs and it is making the stay here at MyBarackObama very tiredsome and unwelcoming. We as supporters welcome debate, but what we as supporters do not welcome is deliberate bashing of someone we support to be the Next President of the United States.

Admin, I advise you to have a Site Moderator that would quickly erase all troll postings and a Moderator that would alleviate the burden of coming to the Blogs. Please ensure that this site remains as active and as fun to come to as it was when it first started---without the trolls.

We would appreciate that!

MyBO: Campaign Tool or Liberal Myspace?

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:11:32 EDT

Lately I've gotten friend requests from people I've never heard of; I suppose that's a natural by-product of a social networking tool. So I looked at their profiles, and something struck me. These people were members of dozens, maybe hundreds, of groups, had thousands of "friends," and had very high point totals. It became clear to me that most, if not all, of their activity was devoted to point accumulation via the social tools and not actual campaigning for Barack Obama.

Walk for Barack on July 4th

Sheila — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:01:53 EDT

I signed up for the Walk for Barack Obama on July 4th event today. I arrived at the designated meeting location and filled out the sign up sheet that I was actually there. I couldn't see any Obama signs but found one for Mark Warner, who is running for U.S. Senator in Virginia. I was embarassed because I confused him, who was at one time Democratic governor in Virginia, with John Warner who retired as the Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia. Silly me I asked if this was the meeting place for the Obama supporters and they said it was.

After talking to some of the other parade walkers I found out what happened to all the Obama signs in Prince William County. They were in big demand and all were snatched up so quickly so now there are no signs left and they need to get some more. McCain still had plenty of spare signs around because they are not so popular and not in great demand, at least in Prince William County. So that's good news for all of us who want to see Virginia go blue (Democratic in November).

After being reinforced with a Mark Warner tee shirt (which they said I could keep after the parade was over with) and a small appropriate sign which I strongly agree with, I was ready to march in the Dale City Independence Day Parade, touted by parade organizers as the largest July 4th parade in Virginia. The sign I was carrying was for Mark Warner on one side and the other side read something to the effect that Virginia should go blue in 2008 meaning vote Democratic.

We walked by Mark Warner, who campaigned with us throughout the entire parade route shaking hands and doing what all politicians usually do. At the end of the parade route he was very sweaty because he was wearing a long sleeved blue shirt. He should have been wearing one of the tee shirts with his name on it and then maybe he wouldn't have perspired so much. Our group was in position number 20 and there was a large contingent of Democratic supporters for local candidates as well as Barak Obama. There was another large Democratic group for Obama who also marched in position number 109.

Because there were no professional Obama campaign signs left some of the more creative ones made their own Barack Obama signs and carried them. As we passed by the parade spectators we shouted various campaign slogans for Mark Waner and Obama. I thank our own TIBU Rickya for teaching me Si Se Puede because I shouted that along with Yes We Can! Many of the marchers weren't too familiar with the Si Se Puede so more just shouted Yes We Can. All of us shouted that we wanted Virginia to go blue in 08. There were many more Democratic marchers and supporters in the parade than there were Republicans. I was encouraged by this because we represented more Democratic votes in Virginia. Virginia has been a Republican stronghold since 1964.

I had a lot of fun and met many new people who I didn't know before. I learned where the Democratic Headquarters is in Dale City and found out where Barack Obama is opening up his new office in Prince William County. Both locations are not far from my home. I met one of his national campaign staffers who will be working full-time in the office throughout the summer and fall and told her I was interested in volunteering on the Barack Obama campaign in the 2008 general election. As a former Hillary Clinton supporter, I felt welcomed with open arms and am looking forward to working on a united campaign effort to help Barack Obama and the other Democratic candidates reach their goal of a blue Virginia in 2008.

Happy Birthday America!

First Post From Boston

lhl — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:53:15 EDT

Today ends my first week at Blue State Digital (I'm in Boston until November working on BarackObama.com related projects). It's been a crazy week, and there's certainly no shortage of things to do.

For hopefully obvious reasons, I won't be doing much public blogging here (not much about either internal details, and definitely not anything politically sensitive [which I suppose in for something like this is just about everything]), but you will probably see fairly frequent posts as I dogfood the myBO system, and I did want to let friends know that while I can't make promises, people can drop comments if they have specific site feedback.

One of the things I'd like to do is to encourage more official interaction and presence in terms of discussions specifically related to improving site functionality. Hopefully, my prodding can serve as encouragement rather than the opposite.

Emotional Tender, the New Currency

Isle of Smiles from St. Maarten — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:29:26 EDT

Last night’s BET awards painted a fiery picture of black America’s fervor for Obama. Communal aspiration of this intensity will not be denied. The black spirit is an exultation of music, dance and emotion propelled by a primal bond with the divine. Lil’ Wayne, the new creative genie, reminded me of Jimi Hendrix way back when. Through tracks like ‘A Milli’, he is recognized as the innovator, perpetuating the promise of fresh sounds. This hypnotic tune also comes full circle towards the mind meld power of Tibetan chants. In the grand scheme of the physics of emotion, the impact of black culture and now politics reverberates straight through the universe.

Lil’ Wayne ‘A Milli’: http://youtube.com/watch?v=s4_Dei5srfM

Tibetan ‘Lotus Chant’: http://youtube.com/watch?v=r364h19dXio&feature=related

On the weather front, waves of insecurity are still elevating the river. Now that Obama and Hillary are admiring each others’ speeches, I hope a great welcoming ceremony is in the works for Bill.

And…why did the town of Unity spell the BIG sign at the rally ‘UNTTY’? Is this a cosmic play on words blending uncle and aunty? At the very least it is certainly a sign of mind boggling negligence; the culprits can’t spell the name of their own town. Why didn’t a single campaign organizer think to have the first T switched upside down to look like an ‘I’ from the top? And why did the cameras insist on rubbing our noses in it so many times? I am still mystified at this faux-pas, which no one else seemed to notice.

The obama campaign OR ITS AFFILIATES SHOULD not call people asking for donations and so the campaign needs to make sure this isn't happening and causing people to give their credit info over the phone to scammers. THE CAMPAIGN SHOULD ASK PEOPLE TO CALL A

Danielle Clarke USA Vietnam Vet — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:46:04 EDT

The obama campaign OR ITS AFFILIATES SHOULD not call people asking for donations

and so the campaign needs to make sure this isn't happening and causing people to give their credit info over the phone to scammers.

THE CAMPAIGN SHOULD ASK PEOPLE TO CALL A 1-800- NUMBER FOR PEOPLE WANTING TO DONATE.

IF THIS CONTINUES NEW HILLARY SUPPORTERS WILL GET SCAMMED BY THOSE WHO HAVE THEIR NUMBERS. THIS WILL HURT OUR CAMPAIGN BADLY.

PLEASE MAKE A FIXED POST ON THE OBAMA HOMEPAGE EDUCATING ALL TO THIS NEW PRECEDURE THAT I RECOMMEND YOU TO MAKE ASAP.

VP: an opportunity to show unity.

Isle of Smiles from St. Maarten — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:03:10 EDT

This morning Zbigniew Brezinski was on Morning Joe. He thinks that Hillary should not be on the ticket for two reasons; first she does not represent change, and secondly there will be a government waiting to accede to power in the vice presidential office. Zbigniew is seeing the situation from divisive eyes. From her activist youth, Hillary has always intended to be the agent of change. Secondly, is she or is she not a decent human being? That is the question regarding warnings of 'food tasters for Obama'. I maintain that she is not just another Bill Clinton, and would make a fine vice president... now that she can stand by the right man.

The Real Reason Hillary Should Not Be Veep

A New & Better Day! — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:25:31 EDT

Pamela Gerloff: The Real Reason Hillary Should Not Be Veep

With all the talk of Hillary Clinton becoming Barack Obama's running mate, let's pause for a moment to push out the brain fog. The sane truth is: It should not happen. Here's why:

Of course there are all the usual arguments against it, e.g., Hillary's Iraq war vote; her assassination comment; her old-style politics in a year when the presidential nominee will be running as the candidate of change; her party-ripping, politics-of-destruction campaign strategy in the primary; her "most hated politician" ranking in the polls; all of the past Clinton scandals waiting to be dragged out of the closet, her husband's loose cannon-unpredictability, etc. Despite the advantages touted by Clinton supporters (If you don't pick her, we're going to make you lose the November election!), Hillary's baggage would end up being a distraction to the Obama campaign. In the end, Hillary in the VP slot on the ticket would do Obama and the Democratic Party more harm than good.

But all that aside, the real reason not to put Hillary in the VP position is that Obama has steadily and repeatedly shown that he is a dignitarian -- defined as someone who values and chooses to live by principles of dignity for all -- and he aims to run his campaign and his administration on such principles. Clinton, in contrast, has shown the opposite; what, in the parlance of dignity, would be termed rankist. Rankism is abuse of the power that comes with rank. It includes a wide range of behavior, such as: common snobbery, bullying, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, using political status for personal gain, segregation, torture, or pressuring smaller nations to serve the best interests of a larger nation. It is also the "ism" that encompasses all other "isms" -- including racism, sexism, classism, and ageism, all of which have been present in this year's primary campaigns. Rankism is currently so pervasive in our culture -- and so unrecognized as a concept -- that it goes largely unnoticed. The way to unify the party and the country is to target rankism, thereby simultaneously addressing the other "isms" currently at play on the political scene.

One of the best ways to begin eradicating rankism, and build party and national unity, is to build a strong ethos of dignitarianism -- respect for the dignity of all. This happens through our use of language, through aligning our own actions with principles of respect and dignity, and through the policies we implement in our institutions and governmental bodies.

Refusing to blame or label others; articulating a vision of dignity for all; and passing laws and policies that respect the rights and dignity of everyone, regardless of race, gender, economic class, social status, or political viewpoint, are all ways to build a culture of dignity.

I would suggest that of all the major presidential candidates this season, Obama has done these things most consistently. While all of us at times exhibit rankist attitudes, language, and behavior, some of us do it more than others. For those committed to dignity, there is a concerted effort to maintain higher standards, even in the rough and tumble of politics. Obama has demonstrated this commitment, many times refusing to retaliate with character assassination and personal attack when he easily could have, repeatedly lifting the discourse to encourage people to reach toward a dignitarian potential, and proposing policies that promise to honor the dignity of everyone by providing fair and just access to resources, from health care to college education to housing.

Senator Clinton, though well-intentioned and no doubt also concerned about dignity for the larger population, is nonetheless steeped in the politics of rankism. Old-style politics is built on rankist principles: "Old Boys'(or Girls') networks; you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours; if you do that I'll retaliate, and your political career will be ruined; destroy your enemies; win at all costs; use attack ads if it works; keep the powerful happy because you're likely to need them; don't worry about the truth, say what the people want to hear.

That's how old-style politics works. It is also the root of Hillary's willingness to engage in rankist behavior on the campaign trail. Just a few examples: "going negative" with campaign advertising and verbal innuendo that played on the primal fears of the populace; tearing down her opponent, instead of focusing on establishing meaningful differences in approach (which would have simultaneously preserved the unity of the party and helped build a reputation for herself as a dignitarian); blaming others for her own errors; changing the rules of engagement when they suited her purposes (now we should count the Florida and Michigan votes, even though I, my opponent, and the DNC all agreed not to; now we shouldn't count caucus states when calculating popular vote totals); playing loose with the truth (e.g., her Bosnia adventures and the probable impact of the gas tax).

Rankist behavior occurs routinely in politics, and old-guard politicians such as the Clintons are adept at it. The primary error in advocating Hillary for the VP slot is that it overlooks and excuses Hillary's rankist behavior during the primary and during her many years of experience playing insider, old-style, rankist politics. And that is to miss the point of what the voters' deep hunger for change is fundamentally about. Voters this season are hungry for dignity. Voters recognize in Obama someone who is fundamentally respectful of the dignity of all people. To put Hillary on the ticket with him seriously undermines that stance. Whatever other qualities Obama's VP may need to have to "balance the ticket," rankist behavior is not one of them. The VP candidate must subscribe to dignitarian principles and must have a record of living by them, even in the world of politics. There can be no compromise on this point, because that is the fundamental change the Obama voters are seeking--and, in the end, it will be the change that will return Clinton supporters to the fold and unite the Democratic Party and the nation.

Pamela Gerloff is co-author, with Robert W. Fuller, of Dignity for All: How to Create a World without Rankism (forthcoming, June 2008, Berrett-Koehler Publishers).

CIOZone.com on MyBO

David F. Carr — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:30:37 EDT

My article for CIOZone.com on the Obama campaign's use of the web has just been published here:

http://www.ciozone.com/index.php/Case-Studies/The-Barackobama.com-Difference.html

Spiritual Crossways

Isle of Smiles from St. Maarten — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:13:23 EDT

It is symbolic of the times that Barack and Michelle are searching for a new pastor. So many people are going through the same experience, whether they are looking for a church or simply doing some soul searching on a personal level. From a Christian perspective, Joel Osteen is a popular positive thinker and unifying force. He would fit the bill, along with an African American pastor with the same values. I think you can have more than one, right?

Personally, I have reflected on many religions, and settled on a personal path inspired by the philosophy of Buddhism. In essence, no matter what the religion or spiritual leaning, people who believe all have something in common. It's the empathic feeling of understanding that there is something more within, something deep and fascinating. Most religious people are basically on this high, and I can relate to that.

If you don't believe in God, you are underestimating yourself.

Video of Obama celebration in St. Maarten carnaval

Isle of Smiles from St. Maarten — Sat, 24 May 2008 11:38:40 EDT

Feathers were flying in St.Maarten's carnaval grand parade. Check out the excitement in this year's blockbuster road march by the Impakt Band, in a fun video homage to Obama:

See it on Youtube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6qV6cqxyWn8

Obama Campaign: Please don't lobby the Superdelegates

Beth for Obama'08 in Skokie, IL — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:33:38 EDT

I wrote this in an email reply because some people are still lobbying Pelosi to say what she has already said and telling others to lobby superdelegates for Obama - a no-no as far as the Obama campaign is concerned.

At this point, the only people lobbying the superdelgates for Obama are Clinton, McCain, Nader and Ron Paul people hoping to make the supers so outraged by the mountains of Obama emails they receive they simply vote Clinton who the emailers fantasize they can beat or wil win. Please don't lobby the supers according to the Obama campaign itself.

Just a reminder Pelosi has made very public her view that the superdelegates should follow the will of the pledged delegates however some supers have endorsed Obama even though pledged dels in their state did not - most recently Robert Byrd of West Virginia and then notably and in the past Kennedy and Kerry endorsed Obama in Mass which he lost. Others most likely

The Obama campaign has specifically asked that we not lobby superdelegates and that doing so does more harm than good because they are swamped with emails. Please don't lobby the supers.

The solution to this absurd system of superdictatorship is to bann the superdelegate system and rely only on pledged delegates which is the only democratic thing to do as far as I am concerned. In the event of an election where the popular will was questionable due to mass passion I think it is a fantasy that the 800 supers could stop the uprising. That is wha we have a military for. And I think a mass hysteria election is a very far fetched and implausible argument just like building secret concentration camps to house refugees in case of biologic/nucleawarfare in South America is entirely bad science fiction. The only contemporary place in history a mass hysteria election due to a Third Reich like so called patriotic uprising could possibly be said to have occured happened in the Republican Party with Reagan and The Democrat's supers could not stop that in any case. As for concentration camps that may have been built it is not worth the hysteria and crap Ron Paul has advertised in his propaganda campaign nor is Carter's Cold War Executive Order worth the paper it is written on today content wise (please note that in democracy the majority rules and that Ron Paul loses and loses again, and again all the time just like the anti reformer (works out to be anti reformer because he is just a saboteur of the possibility of real change in the government as evidenced by the fact he receives most of his campaign funding from Republicans seeking to stop the Democrats circa 2004 - yes again!) Nader.

Obama / Clinton ticket.

ATW — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:12:32 EDT

As much as I like Barack, I think he is the model for public service, and have worked to get him where he is. I will have serious concerns over Clinton being on our ticket. She is exactly the type of politician that I have real problems with. If Barack agrees to her being his substitute leader of the free World, I will have a real problem.

The longer we have gotten to know HRC in this nominating process, the uglier her tactics have become. Who knows what this woman is capable of. Some of the families in AR know all too well. Selecting her as VP would be a risk I am simply not comfortable with. Also, a risk we do not need to take...

John Edwards
Bill Richardson
Joe Biden
Kathy Sebelus
Chris Dodd

More than anybody Tom Daschle for VP

Beth for Obama'08 in Skokie, IL — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:14:44 EDT

Daschle should be Obama's VP. He had the vision to support Obama notwithstanding Daschle's position then in political wilderness. No one could be a finer more prepared, and courageous Vice President at this defining moment in our history. I just love the idea of Daschle having the tie breaker vote in the Senate too. Please join with me in supporting Daschle for VP.

The Power of the Vote

Montana — Sun, 11 May 2008 23:59:33 EDT

My Blog Post from May 11, 2008:

Today,filling out my ballot..I am not making this up...my hand shook! I was so afraid of making an error, I was so intent on how significant and historic and meaningful this vote is for me. So many of us have never donated or worked on a campaign before and now we are. I am humbled by this experience; I am in awe of US and of the power Barack has awakened in us. We are the very definition of HOPE-this immeasurable, intangible quality that has us working so diligently for this campaign. Thanks, Barack, for your inspiration and your belief in the power of millions of voices calling for change.

Here are some responses to that original posting (it was on Mother's Day, hence the references):

Exactly how I felt when I voted for Barack on Super Tuesday! I had never shook before.
Me too! It was a very emotional day for me...the drive to my polling place, my vote, the realization of what I had just done... vote for the next President of the United States. It was the only vote in my 48 years that mattered.
Yup! My 57 years. And, I took my 20-year-old daughter with me who also blacked her circle for Obama!
Sweet... I was so happy on Feb 12th when I touched the screen for Obama - I know how you feel!
I sure can relate, I did an absentee ballot here in Ohio, and asked them if i fold does that discount it, if i lick the envelop does that discount it, I just kept asking them, every question that i could think of, I could tell they were all hillary people working, so i was sure they were looking for any reason. Obama'08
:)) I am hand-delivering this ballot--I don't even trust the US mail with it (no offense to the US mail!) It just is too precious a commodity and I cannot take the chance of it getting lost!
Wow, I'll never know if my hand will shake until November, because I went to my first caucus and was able to walk into a corner of a room without visibly shaking...lol But, I was very giddy!
Thank you for sharing your story. Every blogger and supporter knows exactly the sentiment that you're expressing. His actions, his words, his beliefs, his values, together all not only inspiring for us but will be inspiring to future supporters. I am very proud of my candidate and I am very proud of being an American! Happy Mother's Day to those ObamaMama, even the Hillary ones :)
Good story. I can't wait to vote for him in the general election.
Another thought I can just imagine how Obama's Mom would be feeling today. Wow, the emotion and thought is overwhelming. She would be so so proud. A special Happy Mother's Day to her. Thank you for instilling in your son the values and beliefs that has made him the man he is today who inpsires so many of us. Re: Filled out my absentee/vote early ballot
I KNOW!!! I did mine today too! there are many around the world who are hoping we get this right...we are truly blessed, living here in the US.
It took me more than 5 minutes to fill out mine. We had a sudden "ballot change" in our County of Los Angeles that required us to "double bubble." I could NOT find that second bubble -- and I was so concerned that if I couldn't find out, so many others wouldn't be able to find it. AND then all of a sudden, I saw that second bubble hiding at the top of the ballot (in plain sight). I filled my bubbles in carefully and completely, checked it twice, thrice and then again and finally let it go into the box. And then a few weeks later I heard that 58,000 independent ballots were THROWN away in my County UNREAD because people did not double bubble. 58,000 would not have given Senator Obama a win in California -- but that still makes me angry. They changed that ballot right before our election and they did NOT change the ballot anywhere else in the state (and nobody else had any trouble counting independent ballots).
Montana, I understand that feeling! On January 3rd when the delegate number was announced at our precinct, I cried--tears of joy, relief, exhilaration knowing that our team of co-precinct captains made a difference and helped change the course of history in our little corner of Des Moines. That my husband and I were co-captains for the campaign leaves me with such joyful memories for as long as I live. Thank you for filling out your ballot for Barack Obama and being a part of history too!
wonderful! wonderful!

Missing You All At mybrackobama.com

Zax — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:36:53 EDT

Hi everybody. Sorry I've been out for a while. i've been very busy caring for my 24 year old son. He was critically injured in an accident on his job close to three years ago. A forklift he was driving tipped over onto him. He has been going through surgery after surgery since then. He just recently had another surgery and is schuled for another surgery yet in about a month. Hopefully this will be his last one. I haven't forgot about my blog here on Obama.com, I just haven't had the time or mind set to concentrate on my blog recently. I will attempt to post at lease one blog day for now. Thank you all who read my blog and/or wondered what may have happened to me.

Zax

sTAY iN pEACE

Test Your Obama IQ

Carol Porter — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:11:35 EDT

This is a fun quiz, especially if you've read Barack's books:

Test Your Obama IQ

Also, have you seen that Obama videos of speeches are being posted on iTunes, so that podcasts can be downloaded for free. This is great for "evangelists" such as me -- I'll be able to whip out meaningful Barack content anywhere I go with my iPod.

NC Voter Database Phishing Attack?

YesWeCan2008 — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:07:28 EDT

Folks,
I received the below email sent to InformationTechnology ProfessionalsForObama email listserv. This sounds like a phishing attack to me. What do you think?

Thank you,

John Lafferty

http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/InformationTechnologyProfessionalsforOba/listserv-message/qwgG5pjx
> Date: Mon, 05 May 2008 13:04:22 -0400
> From: SisObama08 <sisobama08@gmail.com>
> Subject: [InformationTechnologyProfessionalsforOba]
> URGENT: NC phonebank database!
> Message-ID:
> <5d6086be0805051004n3c2f1f0eq371489db9bd15d3e@mail.gmail.com>
>
*Can some contact or let me know who to contact ASAP regarding the database of only student numbers being used for NC phonebanking calls???*

It seems that the application is only supplying numbers in NC to students.
Most of the students have already left. This is at crisis mode because Bill
Clinton is making 10 stops today in NC to try to cause an upset in NC.
There are *more* delegates at stake in NC. *115 delegates in NC vs 72
delegates in Indiana.* Most importantly we have a shortage of volunteers
on the ground in NC. Please can somebody let HQ know of this so we can get
a database of older voters and voters in rural towns in NC on the phonebanking application ASAP!

Sis

Events Assistance Needed

swimmer — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:04:39 EDT

I have created several events on the site and have always posted to only 10 groups. I see other people have created events that are posted into numerous groups, way more than 10. Any advice on how that is accomplished? I would like to share a special event to more than 10 groups.

Thanks for your help!

RED STATES 2 BLUE

!Chris Gardner — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:10:50 EDT

HilLIARy (HRC) makes claims of Barack Obama not being able to WIN one LARGE STATE which is IMPORTANT in order to be able to win the Presidential Election. First, this is a LIE!!! OBAMA WON TEXAS – once all votes were tallied AND the caucuses concluded, he went away with MORE DELEGATES than she!!! It was 94 HRC to 99 OBAMA!!! Granted, it took a while for it to be decided but OBAMA WON! I am sure he has won other large delegate rich states, but I know about TX because I live here.

Next, HRC wants to MISLEAD (LIE) US in thinking; only SHE can win the most important states. She fails to view ALL states are important wins PLUS the states where HRC is winning ALWAYS VOTE DEMOCRAT!!! No matter what… these states not only trend BLUE but are so BLUE, nothing could turn them RED!!!

The trick is; to get the RED states to go BLUE – all of which OBAMA CAN AND IS DOING!!! He has won more states and nearly ALL RED states. HRC is TRYING to twist truth (LIE) by OMITTING; OBAMA leads in every category AND leads TWICE as many states - she discounts the states WORTH, something I find highly INSULTING. * Her discounting days she is skillful at because; she used to work for Wal-Mart corp. for years.

Please read these quotes:

Hillary Clinton said if Barack Obama does not win Pennsylvania despite his huge campaign war chest, people ought to ask the question, “Why can’t he close the deal?”… “With his extraordinary financial advantage, why can’t he win a state like this one if that’s the way it turns out?” Clinton asked. “Obviously we have a long way to go before people are finished voting and the votes are counted. This will be one more in a long line of big states, states that Democrats have to win.”(CBS News)

DO NOT BE FOOLED, OBAMA CAN and WILL win the RED as well as the BLUE and ALL STATES ARE IMPORTANT. Does anyone else feel HRC keeps INSULTING more and more people??? Does anyone else see a trend in HilLIARy’isms???

Hang in there, YES WE CAN!

Chris Gardner

WHEN WILL IT ALL END???

!Chris Gardner — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:16:33 EDT

To whom it concerns… I hope it concerns all who read this,

http://www.nytimes.com/2008...

In the site located above, please review what was written in the NYT and tell me, is it not time to take action??? Is it not time Gov. Howard Dean & associates, to end a fight where the outcome will NOT result in giving Hillary what she wants??? The numbers just aren't there and never will be!!!

This race MUST NOT go on to Denver! OUR PARTY IS DESTROYING OUR CHANCE TO WIN THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Wasn't "Super Delegates" created to fix an issue such as this (?) to END a "BITTER" drawn out battle? Clearly, there is but ONE winner here and it is the one who has the lead in delegates, populous and total number of states!!!

What more must happen before we have a DNC leader(s) who has the CODS to do what is right for our PARTY??? When the election slips out of our fingers yet again, it will be “too little too late”.

I HAD decided to vote straight ticket for Democrats... but this is getting stupid. I WAS going to vote for whomever the winner was - Obama OR HRC – I really was. Now, (*AFTER her negativity and LYING about something CLEARLY proven otherwise and NEVER APOLOGIZING TO ANYONE for her LIE **she took credit and admitted she got it wrong ***LIED, but no one saw an apology - a reminder of how the Clintons do business), I WILL NOT VOTE FOR HER, EVER!!!

NEXT PROBLEM = NUKES – Interview with Keith Olbermann http://youtube.com/watch?v=WbZ7qMGyEtI&feature=related

Please watch the above IF you are unaware of her comments of using NUCLEAR BOMBS!

She had her chance - SHE BLEW IT. SHE KEEPS BLOWING IT, using NUKES on IRAN??? This is what OUR PARTY decided to run AGAINST the REPUBLICANS and SHE BRINGS UP NUKES??? OH MY GOD! This is completely and totally against what our party CLEARLY uses as our platform, IN THIS ELECTION. CLEARLY AGAINST WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET THE U.S. AND THE WORLD TO SEE DIFFERENT ABOUT OUR PARTY and COUNTRY, yet she destroys it in ONE sentence, ONE interview. Gov. Dean, this goes AGAINST your OWN policies, practices and platform! WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT THIS???

EXTREMELY CONCERNED for OUR PARTY,

Chris Gardner

DNC Chairman - Howard Dean *website select “issues” and place your statement there

http://www.democrats.org/contact.htmlNancy Pelosi – Speaker of the House

http://www.speaker.gov/contact/

Harry Reid – Senate Majority Leaderhttp://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Time to Donate!

! ! ! ! ! Matthew McGovern !!!!! — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:42:00 EDT

Time to Donate!

It looks like we will fall short of the outright victory tonight. But we still have lost very little ground in our march to the White House. There is one thing we can be certain about when we hear the Clinton campaign try and make tonight the victory of all victories. She will tout the money she has raised overnight.
She needs to be able to tell the super delegates in the morning that she had received X amount of donations after her victory. She can only win with the help of the super delegates, and her fundraising is a big question on their minds. She has sent out a mass email asking for $5 donations, not just to get a cash influx, but also by asking for a small amount she will get more numbers when it comes to people donating. She needs a large number to flash the super delegates with.
We need to counter this ploy from the Hillary campaign. We need to show the same support for the good Sen. Obama, and donate tonight. We need numbers to counter whatever she has to say in the morning. If the super delegates see that even in defeat we are not defeated, then her win in Pennsylvania will be like her words; empty, shallow, and vain.
Do it now. Anything! 5, 10, 15, 20 25, 50, 100. Whatever the amount, we need to get our day after number up.
Think of it this way; can you, after 8 years of hearing the voice of George Bush, spend 4 years listening to the voice of a president Hillary Clinton?
Do it tonight! Donate Now!
Let us fight the good fight, and show the super delegates that we will not let the shillary continue.

Your comrade in thought and deed!
Matthew McGovern

An open letter to Party Officials and Super Delegates.

ATW — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:53:31 EDT

As a party we should all be concerned. With each day that passes our chances and probability of winning in Nov. diminishes. Issues like "bitter-gate" are a prime example. There is no reason that story deserved the attention it received. If every word that Hillary said in private were scrutinized th public would be appauled. What the Clinton campaign did by sensationalizing a non-story is reprehensable and should not go overlooked.

Like it or not, right now we are in the midst of an 'party civial war'. Barack Obama has won more states, more delegates, and more popular votes. Those facts are likly to stay the same through June 3rd. If I had to guess, but check with Vegas, the odds of HRC overtaking Barack in popular votes has to be less then 20%. She has exactly 0% chance of overtaking him in states won or democratic delegates.

So now I posit a question. Of the two candidates has a better chance of uniting the Party? Please consider, Hillary has burned bridges with one of the most influential voting blocks in the Party, Moveon.org. Still further nominating Hillary. in spite of trailing in states won, pledged delegates, and popular vote would create a tremendous dielema AKA the "perception" that party insiders stole the nomination from the only viable African American candidate in American History.

It's nice and good that this nominating process was longer then usual. It sharpened Barack's diverse cataloge of skill sets. He is a far better debater, particularly when a Clinton advisor is not moderating it. He is acustom to Republican-esk attacks, the Clintons have resorted to them since New Hampshire. At the end of the conversation, party infighting is increasingly diminishing our chances in Nov.

For the good of the party please endorse who you believe has the best chance and opportunity to unite The Democratic Party in the short 6 months we have untill Nov.

Thank you for reading this and please forward these sentiments.

Kindly,

Tim

~::~ Strange Things... Indeed ! ~::~

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:58:12 EDT

~::~ I am experiencing a bit of frustration.

I created a group when I joined this website...

but it has not even been *approved* yet.

I have sent in the request 3 times for my group

to be approved... *Nothing!*

The name of my group is 'All Green Enlightenment Beings For Obama.'

This group is for persons trying to live the wholistic green lifestyle,

animal rights, and persons who like meditation and

yoga towards becoming Enlightened... who support

Barack Obama! But, I am being completely ignored

by the Staff here. WHY are they discriminating against

me, and other like~hearted Barack Obama supporters? WHY???

There are many 'very unique' groups here for fans of specific TV shows and movies,

and cartoon characters, purple people, cats and dogs, marijuana, etc... and I am

glad that they are *approved groups*. But, WHY is my group not *Approved*???

I feel quite hurt... Should we create another way to organize, talk and share...

and perhaps create meaningful like~hearted friendships? Yahoo Group? ~::~

A Strange Occurrence

swimmer — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:54:44 EDT

I wrote a blog earlier today that has disappeared from my blogs and the 10 groups that it was posted into. I wonder if there is a spy in this site?

My blog was in report of how I encountered 2 different Hillary sites from within the Obama site. It happened as I tried to go to View All Blogs. Crazy? I even had my husband look at it and try to get in to view all blogs. We kept being directed to a Hillary supporter page and then another Hillary page from there. All I wanted to do was to see what the blogs were saying for today.

Just now I wanted to see if there were any comments and the entire blog is gone.

I hope someone out there can enlighten me as to what the heck is happening.

OBAMA can’t become our president soon enough!!!

!Chris Gardner — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:08:07 EDT

Is anyone out there old enough to remember the Carter days and what happened to our country when gas prices were so high? See, IF I am correct – I am seeing a pattern and know HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF… I am trying to get some answers. TRUCKERS ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE. IF truckers strike: stores have no food, gas pumps have no fuel, prices soar, gas is rationed, businesses go bust/bankrupt, bankers foreclose, MORE people lose jobs, unemployment skyrockets, welfare is flooded, people lose insurance, savings is cashed in, sickness rises due to people not able to afford medication… and one thing especially – back in those years, America was better equipped to feed themselves because most people grew their own food AND KNEW HOW! Canning is a thing of the past as well as gardening. Few remember these days. As times have changed, we are less equipped to have the tools and space to grow our own food.

Do you think I am negative in my thinking??? Well, I have begun the thought process of trying to grow some of my own food!!! Yes, it is still done, yet do I want to??? Pardon me, but HELL NO!!! My wife has been unemployed for six months. Her unemployment benefits are GONE. We have already cashed in 401k’s. Jobs are scarce and DAILY they are being outsourced. Gas is high, so Geographic’s has become VERY important. Perhaps I am not being negative at all! Perhaps I am being realistic and thinking logically!

MEDIA would have us to believe; lenders made BAD investments in giving “high risk people” loans. Not really. See, at the TIME - those people had jobs and income enough to make their bills OR they would have NEVER been allowed to get the loan! THEN they lost their jobs – outsourced to someplace else – soon, they no longer make enough to pay their mortgage they were assured they could afford!!! I know this because it nearly happened to me! Luckily, we have stayed ONE STEP ahead of what has been happening. Cars purchased when we BOTH had jobs are now paid for. Our home purchased at the same time, has NEVER been paid late. This past month, our mortgage went on a credit card… yes I know how BAD this is, yet what do you do???

I have had 2 spinal surgeries. I thought we would lose everything, only to make it through – never losing a thing. Now, our economy is in the toilet and we are faced with the SAME crisis! See, a MEDICAL CRISIS explains away some debt and late pays. Now, what can we call our CRISIS???

Reports show that people’s pension and savings are at a low, never seen since the great depression. ARE YOU HEARING ME??? Something must CHANGE. When looking at the candidates, two appear to be having problems with memory loss – even though they are probably old enough to remember some of the hardships of the depression. ONLY ONE CANDIDATE has witnessed the depths of despair. HE LIVED IT. Some members of his family (Grandmother) are living in a poverty stricken country. OBAMA FEELS OUR PAIN. He KNOWS where this country is at. Who do you think will give their ALL to give most people a better life???

We already have PROOF of the stockpile of the Clinton’s and McSame’s wealth. Their personal coffers are bursting at the seams! Yet, they say they are; being outspent by OBAMA by 3 to 1. They whine to supporters to send them more cash! Who will help people like you and I the most?

Although McCain appears to have a lousy dental plan, these Senators enjoy knowing they will always be able to afford healthcare, because it is automatically provided and PAID FOR BY US! Meanwhile, we lose our jobs and benefits.

OBAMA can’t become our president soon enough!!! WE NEED HIM NOW! He surely can not do it all by himself. Let us all agree to volunteer to give this man the support he needs. Will YOU volunteer? Will you send him support? Will you make a call on his behalf? The phone banks for OBAMA, are begging for help in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Come on everyone, if I can do it – so can you! If not, find SOME way of helping OBAMA.

TOGETHER – YES WE CAN!!!

I am serious about those old enough to remember history as it was happening… please messaging me/us with your story and tell us if this time we are living in reminds you of years past. History REPEATS itself. It is a PROVEN FACT. Let us not make the same mistakes.

Yours,

Chris Gardner

An open letter to uncommitted SuperDelegates.

ATW — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:47:34 EDT

Dear Super,

Do the right thing for the Democratic party, endorse Barack Obama. Please consider, if Hillary somehow becomes the nominee while trailing in states/elections won, popular vote, and elected delegates, it would be the effective end of the Democratic Party. It would be Adams vs. Jackson all over again.

I have spoke with several members of the NAACP and the concencous is clear, no African American in their right mind would vote for HRC after “stealing” the nomination from Obama. Even if technically it's not "stealing", that's how it WILL be perceived by the NAACP and Aferican American community.

There is only one Democratic choice for President, the selection of the American people, Barack Obama.

Kind regards : )

Tim

Obama gaining on Clinton in Pennsylvania: poll?

RevSkull — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:53:04 EDT

The latest polling, push the skepicism button, from PA has Obama closing the gap on Clinton. http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0842272420080409?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews

As you read it, note that most of the breakdowns favor us but we still haven't made enough headway with women...according to the pollsters. The problem with most of these polls is that the questioning is so bad that they distort the views of the potential voters. Today's pollsters are no more accurate than the one's in 1948 who were sure that Dewey would beat Truman.

Folks were circulating polling information the past few days showing us to be AHEAD in PA but most people discounted those. What the best of the Talking Heads on TV are now saying is that Clinton has to win by 10 points or more to be able to claim a victory and by 20 points to gain any delegate advantage. Anything within 5 points could give her the popular vote win but give us the delegate win.

One thing is certain, after this campaign, the Democrats will have to reform and simplify their nominating process. I've heard from many of you how you wish it had been the simple "Winner-take-all" of the Republicans. That may well be the solution.

HILLARY ISSUES

!Chris Gardner — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:08:19 EDT

Hey Everyone,I realize every one of us have personal feelings about who we want as our next President (as we should). Yet I am receiving more and more emails about HILLARY than what BARACK OBAMA is saying. Are we losing sight of the REAL ISSUE – could our attentions be better served if we used our ENERGY in getting BARACK OBAMA elected??? As I have stated, everyone has a right to voice anything they deem worthy – it is Democratic – just so long as we not take our focus off of what we are TRYING so intently to accomplish; get BARACK OBAMA ELECTED.Do I see the worth of our discussion about HRC being on the ticket as V.P.??? YES I DO!!! I am TERRIFIED by the thought ONLY because I KNOW her and her husband’s history; they will do EVERYTHING/ANYTHING to achieve their goal. By “whatever means necessary” is exactly what they will do. Her being the next in line would be too tempting for “fate” to step in to lend a hand in seeing her to her TRUE goal – to be PRESIDENT. That is the history (PAST), present and the future of; how the Clintons do business, PERIOD. Frightening? YES! I assure you; it would NOT UNIFY our party. It could very well destroy it.However – that being said, could our HOURS of speculation, HOURS of pounding out email after email be better spent by not “PREACHING TO THE CHOIR” (those on the mailing list) but reaching out, persuading undecided/Independent voters to BARACK OBAMA’S side? All we have to do is make some calls/donate time to REACH people who WILL NOT BE REACHED OTHERWISE. See? How important is it if she is desperate for money? ARE WE LOSING SIGHT OF OUR OWN GOAL??? I am most HUMBLY and SINCERELY asking this question – NOT TO OFFEND – heavens NO! Simply to; challenge everyone to make it our FOCUS as; TIME WELL SPENT. THIS is the TIME to make a change… the seconds slip by, the clock is ticking and HRC knows this… she wants us to squander our time away debating amongst ourselves.Yours truly,Chris Gardner

Social SECURITY Card issues… WHY NOW???

!Chris Gardner — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:32:24 EDT

Social SECURITY Card issues… WHY NOW???

Listed below is a link about the proposal for a revised version of the Social SECURITY Card. This video is a capture of an actual town meeting where the proposal was being featured, possibly to see how "we the people" reacted so "they" can learn how to counter any of our fears/issues. This video should be watched by anyone who is truly concerned about our future - I am tired of being a minority (of always being from the wrong side of the tracks, being EVICTED from the middle class - having to train my replacement - have my job shipped over to a foriegn country) and have no need for another minority title being hoisted upon my shoulders. Big Government/BANKERS/LOBBYISTS have the intention to MAKE all U.S. citizens a minority (basically, they veiw us as stupid sheep willingly being led to SLAUGHTER - to DUMB to determine our own fate). NEWS FLASH - I am not sheep/DUMB. I am a leader and a fighter as most are on OBAMA's site.

How will YOU react to this email once you see the proof for yourself? Anyone wanting to watch the video from my previous blog... should take the time to do so. It WILL change your world, I think it is called a "paradigm shift" or an "epiphany".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrsJVZe41Dg

This is my response to "Restore the Republic"

I have a question... excuse my ignorance (first of all) but it serves my remembrance that; anyone under the age of 55 yrs old and under, WOULD NOT receive a penny from Social SECURITY Card (EVEN THOUGH we keep paying into it) basically we would HAVE to SECURE our OWN futures by investing (etc.)?!? It was to my understanding; the Social SECURITY Card will no longer supply security for MANY/MOST people!?!? So, WHY is this card up for CHANGE in the first place??? It is basically DEFUNCT for many/most U.S. citizens, or has become so since it was changed due to ill use of Social SECURITY Card funds. WHY is this even an issue??? OTHER THAN TO MONITOR THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, what other use will it have for us??? I was under the assumption; the Social SECURITY Card would really serve no purpose (after Congress and whomever) changed the law to reflect a cut off point where people would no longer/could no longer expect any help (or SECURITY) from the SOCIAL SECURITY CARD!?!? What has changed since then/now? Perhaps parts of this are being redundant, but I feel it important to understand in its INTIRETY… to let it sink in exactly what “we the people” are looking at.
Truly intrigued,Chris Gardner

Put to shame by an 8th Grader...

RevSkull — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:53:29 EDT

An 8th Grader in many of my groups has already hit his goal of raising $2,000 and is now going for $2,500. I have raised a big goose egg!

Barack Obama and I are committed to changing the political process by building a campaign built on a broad base of support from ordinary Americans. In my case, a disabled man who struggles, along with my wife, to just get by each month.

I've set my own personal fundraising goal for the campaign, which you can see in the thermometer to the right. I will do anything I can to raise funds via the internet.

Will you make a donation to help me reach my goal? Will you support Barack Obama's efforts to bring change?

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/RevSkull

I'd rather be discussing how close we seem to be getting in PA but raising money is still important and means more for North Carolina and Indiana.

Thanks,

RevSkull

Ed Rendell.

ATW — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:02:48 EDT

Ed Rendell has been a force in PA politics for over 3 decades now. He is someone who is far more familiar with how systems and elections are processed in this state then our campaign and campaign lawyers.

If we are serious about winning PA we need to be aware that highly unethical and illegal tactics will be employed in trying to secure HRC a 4-9% win here in PA and Ed Rendell a shot at the VP.

We need to alert all agencies and departments that could potentially influence PAs primary, that they are being documented and watched extraordinarily closely.

Unfortunately workers in these offices and departments are extremely loyal to Rendell and his cause, being that they are employed by his Gov't.

We need to be beyond vigilant in terms of insuring a fair and equitable election in PA. It's NOT going to simply happen that way. PA was recently ranked 3rd most susceptible to election tampering (blackboxvoting.org).

Ed Rendell has the potential to be the Katherine Harris of PA. Let’s do what we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Email Ed Rendell and demand a transparent process here in PA. Let him and all of his Gov't we, the people are watching very close.

Thanks,

Tim

PS -- If you watch Meet the Press from this week, it's creepy how sure PA he is that HRC will win by %4-9.

Ethics and Transparency.

ATW — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:46:01 EDT

Attention Obama community,

After 2 weeks of consistant canvassing, I am pleased to report we are making signifigant inroads against the Clinton Machine here. A substantial block of voters have moved from favoring Clinton to undecided, many leaning Obama or strong Obama backers after I speak with them.

I have found a highly effective tactic for communicating with the undecided demographic. Here it is, both candidates are very similar on the issues. There is however one issue where there is clear seperation, ethics and transparency. Now more then ever we need a role model for America, someone who young people can look up to and respect. Hillary Clinton simply is not that person. Take the past couple of weeks as a microcosm of her charactor, Bosnia, etc. HRC, American children all over the Country want to know the difference between misspeaking, and flatly lying.

If we make ethics and transparency the focal point of the campaign down the homestreth I believe we can win the state outright, that's a fact.

I sincerely hope this message gets conveyed to the proper channels. Thanks!

It is SHOCKING. It is REVOLTING. It is FRIGHTENING. It is the TRUTH

!Chris Gardner — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:54:00 EDT

Greetings!

OK everyone… I thought my days of writing to people were over… and then items keep being passed on to me. I CHOOSE to pass them on to you to do exactly what I tried to do in our Precinct (OBAMA) journey – to keep you INFORMED and PREPARED, to tell you the TRUTH as it has been told to me.

What I am attempting to encourage you to consider is to watch a video… that’s basically it. However, it is a lengthy video. It requires a bit of your time. Can you offer just a bit of time to view what is probably the most important thing I have ever viewed in my life?

When coming across this video, the thought to pass it by was there – but I CHOSE to listen to the very end. It is SHOCKING. It is REVOLTING. It is FRIGHTENING. It is the TRUTH. It is hosted by a (now) deceased producer, who believed so much in the founding of this country, he took a chance to be ridiculed - JUST to offer you and me the TRUTH. It deserves to be watched and listened with attentiveness. It is SERIOUS. If you haven’t already heard of the National ID card, it is the truth. IT IS LAW and anyone 55 and under (when Bush signed it into law) is supposed to adhere to getting one. Those older will have to do so as well, but for now they are trying to make all who are 55 and under. When listening to the video, it gives you pointers in how to get around (refusing) the card (if you so choose).

Here is the link to the video http://shootingsparks.blogspot.com/ when you get done watching it, send me a note to tell me what you think, K?

After the video, you have the ability to go to a website created for this cause. It is one of the last things you will see on the video and it is - freedomtofascism.com I thought I would place it here for your convenience. There are petitions you are able to sign, once you are logged in (free account). You can determine what info you give them. I didn’t put anything I felt uncomfortable with; I suggest you do the same.

Thanks,

Chris

Barack interview on HARDBALL on MSNBC (captioned) available!

Michael Novak — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:43:36 EDT

Today we posted Barack's interview with Chris Matthews on HARDBALL from West Chester University on the internet, with open, karaoke-style captions for the 30 million US residents with hearing difficulty and 60 million US ESL residents.

It's available on the Internet at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/captionedforobama on YouTube or
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=791B2F5285708FA2 as a separate playlist with the videos that are just captioned in English, and
http://www.captionedmediaforobama.com/media.html in higher quality, in iPhone, iPod, and general Quicktime format.

The sites have more (and more recent) videos with captioning than the official site, and many videos are multilingual. Tell your friends ESL and hearing impaired!

Regards,

Michael Novak

"The very best thing about Barack Obama" by Mark Morford

mary4change — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:17:52 EDT

Morford's a powerful writer, and he covers a lot of ground in his unique and powerful style...

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/

You can Digg this article here:
http://digg.com/political_opinion/The_Best_Thing_About_Barack_Obama/who

"4obama"

Phone banking basics -- help for callers.

mary4change — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:47:18 EDT

For the longest time I was making phone calls and when I'd reach someone who needed local follow-up (help to register or vote, for example), I didn't know how to direct them. This has been particularly true for people who do not have computers or go online. It finally dawned on me that you can get the numbers of various headquarters in states by visiting the individual state's web page. For example, in Indiana it's in.barackobama.com. Now I have numbers I can give people!

This may be obvious to most people, but in case there are others like me who haven't figured that out, I hope this helps bridge the gap between out of state callers and local action.

It would help if the caller tips included reference to what to do when you reach someone who doesn't have a computer or needs help locally.

Any other ideas or insights to make our calling more effective?

Need a Democrat to Lead April 19th Rally!

RevSkull — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:00:15 EDT

I'd love to participate in a Rally in Summerville, close to my home because I can't make it to a downtown Charleston Rally. I'm sure we could find enough South Carolina Obama supporters to have a decent turnout if we try.

I need a Democrat to head this up because nobody will take a Republican seriously. Time is now becoming a factor and I need someone to step up and say, "I'm a Democrat from Summerville and I'll lead a "Nation for Change Rally!" I'll put you in contact with the "Nation for Change" folks and help drum up support across the web.

This is important to me and I hope it is important to some of you!

We deserve a major speech too!

RevSkull — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:47:53 EDT

Barack has given a major speech on race, two covering foreign policy and the economy. It is time he tackled Disability issues head on and showed us we matter to him. We can help him win...not only the nomination but the general election. We are a huge voting block...hungry for a candidate who speaks to our needs.

A speech on Disability can, and should, still focus attention on the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because they are adding many veterans to our numbers. It can focus on Social Security Reform for Retirement as well as for Disability. It doesn't have to be only about us but we should be the focus and we should be in the title. It should be billed as a major speech on issues that affect the Disabled and all Americans.

Pardon Me, Senator Clinton

XO — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:10:30 EDT

I'm sorry Mrs. Clinton, I had no idea you were still in the race. I did the math with my calculator and realized that you can't catch Obama. Once I was told the the Super Voters will not go against us mortal voters, that pretty much sealed the deal right. I know you may be upset right now, but is it worth the destruction of the Democratic party. I mean, you have no one to blame but yourself. Since the beginning of the race you have been protected by the media and the establishment. The protection even extended to your daughter. People are acting like she's not almost 30 years old and make a whole lot of money working with Hedge Funds. From the beginning of the Race I was told that you were the next President. I was reminded after every debate that you won the debate, even when you didn't. I was shown by the Special Interest and the Lobbyist that they were putting all of their money on behind you. I even watched as you defended them in public. I could not find a news channel that did not show the national polls showing that you were ahead by double digits. I was told by the pundits that you were in General Election mode from the beginning of the race. I watched as you refused to be specific because you did not want to give the Republicans any ammunition against you. I laughed as you were caught numerous times flip-flopping but since you were the nominee the media tried not to dwell on it too much. I saw CNN give you aide by stacking the crowd with your supporters as the booed Edwards and Obama every time they challanged one of your flip-flops. I sat in amazement as CNN planted a question for you at the end. I scratched my head as

Wolf Blitzer allowed you to Flip-flop on drivers licnese without a follow up.

But then something weird happened. WE THE PEOPLE had our chance to speak. Once we started talking, the only person WE cared to speak about is Obama. During the race I witnessed three of the most qualified candidates, Bill Richardson, Joe Bidden, and Chris Dodd, drop out of the race because they could not beat you. I saw the Vice Presidential candidate of 04' drop out because he could not beat you. Yet your goons hit the airwaves crying out that you have it hard because you are a woman. The media always fail to point out that three of the four men were WHITE and the other one was a GOVERNOR. I continue to sit in amazement to see you run your campaign as if you are John McCain's Vice President. Huckabee decided to stay in the race as well but at least he had enough class and enough brains not to attack his parties nominee. But not you. You want to fight. You want to cry. You want to lie. You want to destroy. The only problem is that you are doing this to a member of your own party whom you can't catch. Obama is treated you with more care than Bill ever has. He could easily fight fire with fire but once he really goes after you, you are going to act as if he is beating on you to rally the woman vote. Your campaign is based on 100% emotion. Your supporters are too emotional to even ask you a real questton. Like how can you FREEZE mortgage rates for 5 years and what will that do to the economy. They don't care to hold your feet to the fire about social security. The are soo clueless they fail to realize that those who tried to Mandate Health Care suffered dearly. Just ask Massachusetts. They are still hoping someone will cover cover their 400 million dollar debt from the healthcare. They don't care that you constantly lie about your record. They don' t care to see proof of your true foreign policy record. Your word will do. If the party elders allow people to vote with their hearts and not their minds, you just might pull this off.

But against McCain, the heart is on his side. Five years in a box at a POW camp goes a long way. Especially when he had a choice to walk out free years earlier. In terms of the mind, he will prove that you were in fact the weakest candidate to ever run for president. Why, because he is not going to give subtle hints like asking for your tax records. He not even going to make fun of you making up stories about your foreign policy experience. Sorry Hillary, he's not going to bring up people like Peter Paul, Norman Hsu, and your Brothers. He's not going to focus on Paula Jones or Kathleen Wiley. He's not even going to bring up that your were actually caught lying in court, ( which is also known as perjury ) in the Travel-Gate scandal. McCain is going to bypass all of those facts. He is just going to keep it simple and take us all back to 1999.

Times were different back then. It was a time when, is it was hard out there for a terrorist, until they had something to offer. He is going to point out that you were Lobbied by Luis Falcon ( a report FALN leader ) to give clemency to 16 terrorist in exchange for political favors from the Puerto Rican Government/Communtiy. Yes 16 terrorist from the same FALN group responsible 146 bombings, 4 dead, and 60 injured. This was music to your ears since you needed them to run for the Senate in New York. It may also help since you are going to need them to catch up to Obama. But once McCain show that you and your husband cut every corner to release 16 terrorist against the advice of our FBI and against the wishes of Joe Connor who's father was blown away by one of their bombs, what human being is going to actually vote for you. Seeing that this happened in New York, will they want you to represent their state again. When the Republicans show that for the first time in History, clemency was given without ever being asked for by the prisoners, then what. What will the voters think when they learn that these terrorist were so proud of what they did they even declined the clemency at first. How will the democrats keep the House and the Senate when it is exposed that President Clinton claimed Executive Privilege to keep the congress from fully investigating the clemencies. How many times can you use the whole, I may have looked like I supported it but ask my friends, I was really against it." Will the paid media be on you side like they were during NAFTA-Gate. Will they choose continue to deceive americans by choosing not to report that it was your campaign that actually gave Canada the "wink and nod" NOT Obama's camp. Are you going to be able to claim ignorance to this one. Since you claimed your husband discussed everything with you just not this one.

How will you have Lenny Davis spin this lie. Will the Media continue to allow him to blow hot air for segments at a time while he filabusters the time from the opposition. Will he risk looking like a even bigger low life. What are you going to have your daughter tell the other college kids who will probably lose their future job thanks to one of the Hedge Funds that she helps out. Will MSNBC have Dee Dee Myers speak out on your behalf all while advertising her stupid book once the viewers know she not only has knowledge about this but also the Travel-Gate scandal. Will America want to see her face. Will you have Bob Johnson send letters to every American threatening to destroy our brains by showing BET on every channel if we don't vote for you. How will ABC help to cover this up. Will they be as successful as they were covering up Bill Clintons Role in letting Bin Laden get away in the 9/11 Documentary. What story will Fox News run with to change the subject. How many strippers will Bill O'Riely have on his show. How many Black preachers and Churches will Sean Hannity try to turn White America against.

Sorry Hillary, McCain treats women a lot differently than Obama. Ask his first wife. You will be nothing more than that long piece of paper in the way of the sprinter right before he crosses the finish line. No American worth their salt will vote for a politician that sold out their own country to Terrorist in exchange for political favor. It's bad enough you and your Husband chose not to kill Bin Laden, but adding this along with it will be too much. And guess what, not only will the facts destroy your campaign, but the when you try to spin this, the Republicans are to to ask you to do something that your Democrats Super Voters never had the heart not the integrity to do.... Release your records and prove them wrong. Sorry Hillary, this was 1 pardon too many. But at least we know who to go to if we ever get into trouble. As long as we could guarantee you a few votes, will be a free as a Corrupt Businessman on a Private Jet to the Hamptons.

Cheer up Mrs. Clinton. Even though your political career will be over, Bill will always be able to fly overseas and do more multi-millon dollar deals with corrupt dictators to pay the bills. You'll be alright, and once you are out of the race, So will America.

"Shelter in our time of Storm"

!Chris Gardner — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:15:05 EDT

My story begins several years ago and is probably similar to MANY American families yet, my support of Barrack Obama runs VERY DEEP and for many reasons. Being from a relatively poor, largely diverse family background (nine siblings) from Kentucky, my immediate family was mixed with halves, step and whole as well as a mixture of Native American blood. I know what it felt like to be a minority. See, although I am Caucasian, I was from the wrong side of the tracks. During my school years, I NEVER had a day in school where I wasn’t made fun of or bullied, never had a day where I missed crying in my pillow when I got home from school. Eventually, I overcame the stigma and jeers by getting involved with career and community; soon making many close clients and friends whom I love dearly (you know who you are). Many close friends are people of every color. I have slept at my African American friends homes as well as gone to their churches and ate at their tables. I see no difference on the inside save one… something called “soul”. You “feel” their “soul” in what they say and do, even in the food they prepare. When they give, they give their “soul”. When they cry, it seems to reach deeper because they know the very pits of despair. When they rejoice, they rejoice with fullness of soul and spirit. Because I learned from a young age the hardship of being out of place, my “soul” was developed to the point where I transcend color/race/religion. When I meet someone, I see their “soul”. Over the years, my family evolved. Firstly, my sister had a child in which in the beginning, I helped support. She was at a tender age and place in her life. Being unmarried and the mother of a bi-racial child, I assisted her in every way I could. Her child (whom from the depths of my soul, I call my son), bonded with me and my family and reminds me much of how Barack Obama grew up. The first years of Michael’s life was spent in his white grandparent’s home and being supported by said grandparents as well as an uncle (me) and his mother. Like with Barack, he had/has the same obstacles to overcome as well as advantages. We soon learned to “make a way when there was no way” (to quote Barack Obama). Moving to Texas to go to college, I met and married a - LEGAL immigrant from Mexico, so I am considered in a bi-racial marriage. One sibling married an Italian and is considered to a degree in a bi-racial marriage (if one considers Italian to be race). See, it all depends on how people decide to view things they are uncomfortable with. To date, my family must be considered a multi-cultural family – a family with many races and many faces, with many bi-racial nieces and nephews including African American on both my immediate and married family. Our “HUES” (quoted from Barack’s speech) covers many races as well as gender/creed/religious background. Mainly, I feel we must “level the playing field” for all minorities: give hope for the hopeless, shore up those who are ready to crumble, lend a shoulder to those losing support, comfort ALL members of our interracial family, feed those who are hungry and “shelter all in a time of storm”. Finally, Barack Obama has done all of the aforementioned things in the previous paragraph. When he speaks, he gives me hope in tomorrow; that fairness will finally be attempted as he reaches Presidency. His speeches embody the charisma and hope that people associate with President Ronald Reagan, whom was touted as “the great communicator”. Or former Texas Icon (now deceased) “Barbara Jordon”, who could overwhelm anyone within hearing distance with her words. Her tongue could surgically remove the tainted part of a mind and leave the best to be cultivated. And best of all, I hear the call of greatness resembling Martin Luther King, whose ideas were long overdue, yet America wasn’t ready – and still he prepared a road for ALL people to follow, to take “shelter in a time of storm”.

Put the myth to rest...Obama is not Muslim!

RevSkull — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:35:37 EDT

Help put the myth to rest...vote:

http://redblueamerica.com/truthornot/2008-02-13/barack-obama-secret-muslim-933

From Now On

jackb — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:04:57 EDT

Evolution of Youman!

All the things we do affect and effect our existence on this Earth. I plan to create a Theme Park to animate the Peril our Planet is in and show how we can or will curb the destruction we are doing. Inspired by Barack Obama’s success using grassroots, google and his heart.

I must try to publish my thoughts so as to garner support from the people in the many fields of art, engineering, software, hardware, construction, Solar, etc.Starting on the internet then expanding the process to real estate, architecture, and then the jolly folly of constructing a Theme Park.Imagine all I am imagining being created just as a DisneyPark. The theme will be a continuation of evolution, not from the past, but from now all the way into the future?. This will be of the human evolution, by humans, for humans and ultimately bygone humans(except for the few seeds that are sewn for salvation).

Initially I will need graphic artists and graphic designers to create the pictures on the internet to encourage people to get involved in the process. Web page designers and search engine experts, advertising folks to speed the process flow.

My background is an athelete, Computer repair on Wall St, Construction, U.S. Army guided Missiles, electronics automation, design of research labs for solar, research in Ultrasound, controls for L.A. subway, General Contractor.Then I covered my roof with Solar electric panels and have battery and/or generator backup installed. I love to see the electric meter go backwards every day. But the real reason I did it was because of the Joy in knowing it is the right thing for our Planet. We even catch rain water and morning dew water for our garden(no lawn, just vegetables and flowers in front). We feel this environment is so precious, so to show our gratitude and respect… Before we take a shower we collect the initial cold water in a large plastic bowl and put it into a bucket to use to flush the toilet. Another Joy, not a pain.

I woke up at 3 am. With these pictures scrolling in my mind of all the things people can do to help, with the alternative pictures showing if we do not take good care.

SC Lowcountry Obamacans...

RevSkull — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:51:07 EDT

Lowcountry Republicans for Obama SC Lowcountry Obamacans are Republicans who may support Lindsey Graham and the other GOP candidates in our state but support Barack Obama as the best person to lead our country. http://lowcountryobamacans.ning.com/

I am trying to get folks to not only come together for the April 19th but to keep working in the community to secure South Carolina for Obama in the Fall.

Community

MapleMama — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:59:30 EDT

As I type this post, the word "Community" is in the upper left corner of my blog window. It is something I had hoped to find on this site. And while I find most of the blogs very informative, the discussions and banter in the list-serve messages I receive, have left me wondering.

Can the democratic party come actually together in time to win the White House in November?

We are truly blessed. We have TWO qualified, dedicated public servants in our party looking to lead our nation. We can blog, debate and discuss these candidates freely. We can vote without fear in primaries, caucuses and elections. As imperfect as the process sometime seems, WE have the power to change that, or at least elect people who will.

My friend Dennis, from Kenya, was recently beaten during the post-election riots in his country. He was simply holding a camera at a gathering and was brutalized for it. Maybe his attackers knew he had been secretly smuggling families away from the violence outside their homes, or maybe he was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

But WE, my friends, are blessed to live in this country, at this time. WE have the power to come together and ensure a democrat is elected and helps pave the way to "a more perfect union."

Without a doubt, Senator Barack Obama should be the next U.S. President. But I will not stand by and listen to others tarnish his respectable campaign by slandering his worthwhile opponent. Our energy and passion would best be served by redirecting our words and actions toward advocating Senator Obama's positions on the issues and qualifications to be President.

In closing, a thought from Vermont...

Snowflakes are delicate and fragile: yet look what they can do when they stick together.

Clinton and McCain working together?

RevSkull — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:17:40 EDT

I think most conspiracy theortists are complete cranks but this is making its way into the mainstream media. The latest...within 24 hours of the McCain Camp stressing that Obama is "Too Liberal" for the country Clinton's Camp followed suit. This follows a whole string of similar joint attacks that go back to her whacky Commander-in-Chief test stuff.

Clinton knows she has to paint Obama as unelectable at all costs and it really isn't beyond her to work with the Republicans to do it. It is typical of her short-sighted approach to everything. One wonders if she is even giving a thought to what would happen if by some nasty trick she did steal the nomination and had to face McCain...how could she beat the man she has been saying Obama couldn't?

As I have been trumpeting from the rafters for weeks, we need to put her in our rearview mirror and focus on what lies ahead...John McCain and my friends in the GOP machine.

All the garbage coming out of her mouth is nothing compared to what will be done in the name of John McCain with his tacit, though never public, approval. Once again I refer you to the GOP site to keep track of what coming storm is brewing...http://revskull.gop.com/

Fundraising Letter from John McCain & the GOP

RevSkull — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:32:17 EDT

This is the full text of a letter I just got from John McCain's campaign...pay close attention to the part where he talks about Obama and/or Clington continuing fundraising in the general election.

This should put to bed the talk about accepting public financing...

"My Friends,
Next week, I will embark on a "Service to America" tour visiting numerous locations that have played a significant role in shaping who I am today; places where I have had the honor of serving our nation. This tour will take me through Mississippi, Virginia, Florida and my home state of Arizona. I look forward to visiting sites that have left an imprint on my life aboard my campaign bus, the Straight Talk Express.
My campaign has come up with an opportunity for a supporter to join me on the Straight Talk Express for a day of conversation and campaigning. As a token of my appreciation for your financial support, you will be entered to win this seat aboard the Straight Talk Express if you make a contribution before midnight on March 31st. I hope you'll consider joining me by making a donation today. If you can give $50 or more, not only will you be entered to win a ride on the Straight Talk Express, but you'll receive a commemorative Straight Talk Express ticket.
March 31, 2008 marks an important deadline for our campaign. We will file a report with the FEC outlining the amount of money we have raised during the past three months. I'm reaching out to you to ask for your support by following this link to make a donation of $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000 - anything you can contribute up to the legal limit of $2,300.
I have said many times before that this campaign will be the most expensive campaign in our history, and I have no doubt that both Senators Clinton and Obama will continue to report historic, record-breaking fundraising numbers. With your support today, my campaign will have the resources necessary to compete with either Senator Clinton or Obama in what will be a great contest come November.
I'm looking forward to traveling on the Straight Talk Express again next week, visiting directly with voters, hearing their concerns, offering my vision for the future and highlighting those among us who are serving our country and communities, dedicating themselves to causes greater than their own self interest. Your support makes this possible, and I am grateful for any assistance you are able to give.
Sincerely,

John McCain
P.S. You have an opportunity to join me aboard the Straight Talk Express by making a generous contribution before March 31st. With your donation of $50 or more, we will send you an exclusive, commemorative Straight Talk Express ticket as a symbol of your commitment to our campaign. Thank you."

I have many friends in the GOP who will call me a traitor but they would do the same thing FOR McCain.

PA4OBAMA: Voices for Change

ATW — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:11:21 EDT

In the true spirit of Barack Obama's grassroots candidacy for President, I am pleased to announce Voices for Change, as an official campaign event. Voices for Change is a concert and art show to raise awareness and funds for Obama's 2008 run for the White House. In light of the event being a formal fundraiser all FEC guidelines will be followed to the letter of the law. Please see the following link to RSVP and more importantly, be sure to select the "pledge online" option, not the "pledge onsite" option. Tickets are selling fast and wil likely be soldout soon, as there are only 350 available.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/fundraising/4r722

In addition to the music and art show, there will be a tent with Victory beer, a campaign information center, offiicial campaign merch, food, and limited edition event posters. As of now there are a couple of names being floated as MCs for the night, we will have this aspect solidifed by the end of the week. There will be auctioning off of services, including, a life coach, and a vacation. Please contact me if you'd like to donate services for the evening. We are still in need of "in kynd" contributions. Please contact Tim @ 6109090429 with interest.

Clinton Faces an Uphill Struggle

Army Veteran for Obama (Iraq War Vet, 20+ Years in Reserve, Republican) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:22:11 EDT

Click on link below to read CNN Article.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/20/schneider.look.ahead/index.html#cnnSTCText

Must See: iGoogle's Obama Tab!!!

RevSkull — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:53:05 EDT

You have to sign up for iGoogle which is Google's latest free homepage thingy. Then you'll see you have all sorts of tabs to choose for News, Sports, whatever...then there is an "Add Tab" Button and you can do a search. Type in "Obama" and click to get it...YOU WILL BE BLOWN AWAY!

I absolutely love it!!!

Remarkable Video: former National Security Advisor on Iraq and Candidates

mary4change — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:46:18 EDT

In this video, Former National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, is interviewed on MSNBC. This highly intelligent, perceptive man does a remarkable analysis of the Iraq war, past and future, and his perspective on the presidential candidates. Needless to say, he endorses Barack Obama. To view the view, click this link -----------

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23726367#23726367