I noticed that the more we go deep in President Obama agenda, the more we do encounter a stronger resistance, not only from pure Republican machine, but also from some Democrats who still not understand the message of change. We should fight and achieve our objectives in Healthcare, Education, Energy, and keep the economy going. The more we demonstrate our focus, all our opponents will finally believe in our commitment, and it will be difficult to continue their resistance movement.
Nyagatare
We are proud to report that folks in six states participated in our Memorial Day weekend Progressives Call to Action - Spare Change for Change event in support of President Obama and his agenda for change.
Our event had five main goals:
Believing that now is the perfect time to put our spare change to work in bringing a new day to America, for the Memorial Day weekend we called on progressives to raid their personal penny jars, turning the dust-collecting coinage into budget-supporting and/or deficit-reducing dollars. In our event listing we provided the U.S. Treasury's mailing address where they accept gifts to the United States and asked all participants to send in a check or money order obtained with their spare change, along with a note in support of President Obama. We further asked the event participants to talk to their friends, family and neighbors and ask that they, too, participate in turning their spare change into change.
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In his Memorial Day remarks, President Obama called upon all Americans to take a moment at 3:00 PM on that day to honor our nation's military heroes. He also asked that we do something lasting for our country - so it was at precisely that time that Mom and I obtained the money order and made it payable to the U.S. Treasury for our Spare Change for Change effort, totalling $27.52 - See photo below:
Author's Memorial Day Event Proceeds (Photo by K. A. Worth)
Great thanks to all the participants in the Progressives Call to Action - Spare Change for Change Memorial Day event. Knowing that a lot of people each doing a little can add up to alot - we look forward to repeating the spare change effort for the 4th of July - when we hope to add participants in at least six more states!
Patriotically yours,
K. A. Worth
If you would like to participate in bringing change to America ahead of the 4th of July - please send your check or money order payable to the United States Treasury and mail addressed as follows:
Gifts to the United States... U.S. Department of the Treasury... Credit Accounting Branch... 3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D... Hyattsville, MD 20782. Please be sure to enclose a note in support of President Obama!
Soon as we got a Democrat in the White House, a bunch of Senators claiming to be Democrats rushed to show how independent they are, declaring they won’t necessarily vote in support of the President’s agenda that he was elected to enact. As a Hoosier, I’ll put Indiana’s Evan Bayh (pronounced “Bye” or “Buy”) at the top of the list.
Mr. Obama is right to allow politicians to vote their “consciences” (oxymoron is obvious). Where he’s wrong is in promising to raise money for them. I won’t give one penny to support ANY Senator who fails to toe the line and earnestly help the President do what he promised. Many promises were made. If they’re not kept because Democrats in the Senate support powerful banks and other lobbies against the people who support Mr. Obama’s agenda, then Bayh-Bayh to them come the primary.
If self-described Democrats in the Senate refuse to push through the President’s agenda, then it’s up to us to FIND SOMEONE WHO WILL. I won’t give money to or raise money for Evan Bayh or Arlen Spector or any of the approximately eight others who have declared themselves “independent” of this cause.
They want our money and votes only to betray us to the powerful lobbyists who own them. We need to start work right now finding better people to run against them in the primaries and start raising the money they’ll need to win.
We kept McCain and Palin out of the White House. We certain can put Bayh, Specter and those other eight “independent” Democrats OUT of the Senate. CHANGE is coming to America.
I've been trying to find the "what and where" President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden are going to be stopping in Baltimore.
As of yesterday I was unable to find out.
I could sure use some help in finding their itinerary for Baltimore. I'll be in Baltimore that day and really don't want to miss it.
DC is going to be a little crowded. I've got the "heads up" on the Jumbo Screen on the west side of the Washington Memorial and its more than likely that's where I'll be.
I was really counting on Baltimore.
Thanks much!
Turning Red to Blue
The Pickens Plan: For those who would like to become an active participant in a solution for our nations energy needs I urge you to join with T.Boone Pickens in his quest for a cleaner planet through alternative energy.
Also see Green Wave Energy: Green Wave was founded by Mark Holmes and was formulated for viable alternative energy solutions. Green Wave Energy is promoting state-of-the-art energy-saving products and services throughout the country.
Green Wave Energy understands alternative energy technology will become “main stream” when
Call 949.645.1701 for information on how Green Wave Energy can help you save the planet.
Alternative EnergySource: David Apperson
url: http://veterans.barackobama.com/page/community/tag/alternative-energy
Greetings all and thank you for reading this blog. At this time we are creating an event we hope many will come to participate in. We have been fortunate enough to secure a facility for 150 people to have seats but we can squeeze a few extra into the space if needed. We have noticed many of the small gatherings can facilitate perhaps 20 persons, and they have been turning people away. Now we have the space for meaningful numbers, so if you are in the Portland area, then come on and sign up for the event.
As our soon to be President said, we have the person in the White House to facilitate change, but we still need the people to make it happen. He cannot do it himself, and we all know how Congress and the Senate are rife with special interests and agendas for the status quo. Change HAS to come from US. We have to be prepared to voice our desire for change from the grass roots level. We HAVE to participate in this change, instead of leaving it for others to do for us. We have to be ready to let the career politicians who would stand for the ststus quo, know that we will not stand for obstruction to the plan we are developing here in the trenches of our neighborhoods.
News reporters keep saying that America is a ‘center-right’ country and that the Democratic Congress should not pursue an aggressive agenda. Please don’t listen to them! These lies are being told by conservatives and being generously broadcast by the corporate media who don’t want liberal legislation.
Barack Obama ran on a progressive platform and the American people voted for him overwhelmingly! This is a clear mandate that voters want a progressive change in America.
We The People want an economic plan that creates new jobs and puts more money in the pockets of the middle class. No more bailouts for the people at the top who created this mess! (I personally think the Fed should be nationalized and we should go back to a tariff system. No more bad free trade deals!)
We The People want universal healthcare. (I personally support HR 676)
We The People want a sustainable energy plan. (If we would have just stuck to Jimmy Carter’s plan…)
We The People want a quick end to the Iraq war. (Let’s spend that money at home instead)
We The People want equality in America. (Repeal DOMA!)
We The People want our civil rights back. (Fix FISA!)
Let’s keep the pressure on! If we don’t act right away, the hope and excitement in America will turn to disappointment. If this happens, we may lose seats in 2010 and it will be downhill again from there.
December 2nd!!!! Mark your calendar! Vote for Martin. Help support President (Elect) Obama's agenda!!! December 2nd-Tuesday.
Several years ago the people of NYC including the survivors of the 9/11 disaster and labor organizations demanded a 9/11 Health Czar to be the liason between the people that lived through the disaster and begin to develop illnesses and the government. We were given Dr. John Howard of the CDC. He has been instrumental to us in paving the way for NIOSH to set up and fund the monitoring and treatment programs we have today. Albeit, they are not perfect, but a work in progress, it was Dr. Howard that oversaw the funding, program implementation and modifications that needed to be made over the last 6 years.
Dr. Julie Gerberding of the CDC and the Bush Administration should be ashamed of themselves for removing this man from this title and leaving us once again in the dark. It is not just New Yorkers that are ill, Good samaritans from all over the country came to our side to help us dig out our brothers and sisters and get NY back on its feet. Upon their return home, they too developed the same sicknesses we did. Our own retired members, most on disability moved to other states and they too need care.
While 9/11 effected 3 states, this is a national healthcare problem, and will be again if we are ever attacked in the future. We need this to be an issue to be addressed by the candidates.
Barack, we need you to address this, and tell the Bush Administration that Dr. Howard should be reinstated, and you need to meet with us about this issue. Several of my friends died post 9/11, and many more are ill and suffering. My organization is supporting these members, but we need you by our side.
HOW TO LOSE THE GAME
Here is one irrefutable law of nature we all have learned from our own experience.Every failure you and I have ever had has been based on us being clearer on what we didn't want to happen than we were on what we were trying to achieve. Think about your own life and you will see it is true. Every time you were clearer on what you were avoiding, you came up on the losing end.
Now think also about how this campaign started and where it is now and you will see how clearly it has lost its way. Today it is all about avoiding losing its lead. Back then, it was about Barack uniting people in a coalition of different stripes. It was about bold ideas of cooperation. It was about putting a new face on our international position and re establishing (or some might establishing) our international leadership.
Now, it is about "is he tough enough to fight back?" and "is he going to throw Wright under a bus?" and "does he defend is elitism or apologize for his remarks?". It is not about what Barack is STANDING for anymore, it is about what or who Barack is in COMPARISON to someone else or his REACTION to others' agendas (candidates, media, wright) and so on.
The real reason the Wright thing is even coming back and taking hold is because Barack is not leading the conversation anymore. Barack has been pretty silent, really, for about a month now, trying to "play it safe" and win.
He did not knock out Hillary in OHIO and TEXAS because he was spending useliess time pandering against NAFTA and all that crap instead of talking about what he was for and what he was actually going to do. During all this time since, there is no talk about Climate Change, or infrastructure investment, what the agenda of the first 100 days would be. It was about how he was "better" than Hillary (which becomes about him not being as bad as her which is her still defining it)
Pennsylvania was the same. Instead of reinforcing his very powerful and insightful comments about how people are distracted by ineffectual Washington and propagandized to vote on social issues, he laid low on the elitist tag. (Did anyone see what Jon Steward said about that tag? Tew funny). I mean, Obama elitist? He should have been ANGRY and POWERFUL in talking about what he stands for and what he meant ! That was some of the best stuff ever to come out of his mouth. But he didn't because he was playing it safe trying to "ride it out", get rid of Hillary and then face it up in the campaign. This is all now about what he is AVOIDING and not what he is going for. That is a true definition of a loser.
Campaigns are all about the "conversation" people. After all, most of us dont and won't ever meet the future president. He lives in video and speeches and what we (pundits, watchers and voters) SAY about him/her. He "lives" for us in conversation. Our conversation today is about what Barack is NOT. He is NOT Hillary. He is NOT like the other politicians. He is NOT like Wright and so on and so on.
WINNING IS NOT WINNING WITHOUT A MANDATE
We cannot win a thing this way. Even if Barack becomes president, he won't have a MANDATE this way and that is what he needs. He needs to go out and CONVERT EVERY REPUBLICAN to vote for him, every Democrat, and every Independant and every US citizen by making it clear that it has to work for all of us, this country. Moreover, he needs to go into Botswana and Berlin, as president of the United States, and show that the US understands that it has to work for all of humanity.
Global Warming alone, not to mention a total mindset change in military defense, global economic prosperity and social equality is going to require finding COMMON GROUND. That is what we were talking about in the beginning, common ground. That is what people responded to Senator. What you need to defend is not yourself, but your agenda.
Throw off the risk aversion. Pretend you don't care about winning unless you win what you are after, TRUE CHANGE, not personality change. If you give the "conversation" something else to talk about, you can set the agenda, you can inspire and motivate people again, and unite this country. Forget about "winning" by attrition. It ain't going to happen. If you keep playing that game, you have already lost even if you win.
Senator, get back to playing the real game.
I watched a fascinating program on Thomas Jefferson last night. The similarities in thought between our candidate and Jefferson are absolutely astounding. Jefferson wrote the Constitution at the behest of John Adams and the Continental Congress. Barack Obama is a constitutional law professor. They are both convinced of Americans' desire to govern themselves in an enlightened fashion, weary of taxation to benefit the entitled wealthy and have sacrificed their personal wealth to achieve a fair system of government.
To paraphrase President Jefferson; When in the course of human affairs it becomes necessary for a people to declare their inalienable right to liberty, privacy, fair taxation and security within their borders, we must revolt against the Special Interests, the Lobbyists, and the War on the Middle Class. Let the Second American Revolution begin!
So, the Clintons want specifics? I say, give it to them! In fact, the sooner you get your ideas out into the media, the sooner they will not be able to come up with the same ideas! Now, the talking heads on CNBC are already saying that a Barack Presidency will be bad news for WallStreet. Yeah, after Wallstreet has been the only folks who have prospered under the Bush Presidency, I would say, GOOD! (But I know that you cannot say that.) I suggest that you hone-in your ideas about creating hundreds of billions of dollars in jobs. First, there are the inner-city youth. We need to pay attention to them again, because the more time and reason they have to get into mischief, the more they will fail in life. Put them to work! If you'll recall, back during Reagan's time, there was a program called "CETA" and I can personally attribute to it's effectiveness in keeping myself and my brother out of trouble in the summer time, while helping our single-mother out with the finances who was unable to work. Basically, what I am saying, is, yes, USE RONALD REAGAN'S NAME and use it OFTEN! Tie-in the good things he did with what you will do. The Reagan Democrats, aka., "Perot" Voters, like myself, are the ones in the middle that will ultimately decide the election. This is who you need on your-side as I think you well know.
By now everyone should know Hillary Clinton revealed her Science Policy. Ironically, she is also up in the Polls. No matter which way you look at it, she is taking a spin on the Rhetoric that Barack Obama has ignored: Science & Technology Platform Agenda Items and Issues.
I sure hope Team Obama wakes up soon and advises our candidate to draft some kind of Science and Technology Agenda and make it well known. Don't let Hillary Clinton completely steal all the thunder here (i.e. Q3 campaign funds, Polls, Science Policy, etc).
Let's not continue this pattern. I hope and pray someone somewhere at the campaign is working on something here...The media is having a field day with this "frontrunner" idea as if Obama has already lost the race and it hasn't even started yet!
This is our focused, yet flexible, agenda.
Phase I - Commences Today
Data Banking
Constructing the Message – He doesn't support gay marriage. Marriage is a religious term. He supports civil unions. The manner in which you phrase the message will reflect heavily in its reception.
Establishing and Sustaining Infrastructure
Networking With Other Groups - Houston, Texas, and National
Strengthening the Core
Building Numbers to 250 by End of May, beginning of June – San Antonio has a benchmark of 200. We can do more. At the very least, we should all get the contact information of individuals
Primary Voting/Caucuses/Delegates Workshop - Ken will have a workshop regarding the importance of primary voting and caucuses in regards to how our state votes. It's an important aspect to learn because it's how the system works – love it or hate, that's what we have do.
Ends with Large Informal Social Event at the End of May/Beginning of June – Most likely a comedy event at Rudz.
Phase II
Delivering the Message
Educating People About Obama
Attracting People to the Message
A) House Parties in the Suburbs
B) Happy Hours in Metro Houston
C) Sell T-Shirts, Stickers, Etc. - I was thinking "Republicans For Obama" stickers. A lot of Republicans say they like Obama and add, “And I'm a Republican.”
Letting Individuals Know Where They Can Go
Building the Group's Numbers to 500
Ends with Large Formal Social Event at the End of August/Beginning of September
Phase III - All of this relies on the efforts of Phases I and II. At this point, everything starts going into overdrive. Actually putting in a physical effort begins at this point
Feet on the Streets
Building numbers to 750
Cell Phone Banks
Placing Yard Signs
Fundraising
Ends the Thursday Before the February 5, 2008 Primary
Phase IV - GOTV
Knocking on Doors
Calling All Individuals to the Primary
Voting During the Primary
Ensuring Everyone Stays Around Afterwards for the Caucus – Elect Delegates
After Phase IV is irrelevant at this point, but the agenda and timeline does extend pass this point. Right now, this is our focus.
Photos On Flickr
Link above link contains photos taken at the Technology for Obama meeting on February 13, 2007. Thanks to everyone who came out in blizzard conditions early in the morning!
Meeting minutes and notes will be posted as soon as they become available.
