Original Title: Change This! My Wish List for Accomplishing the Changes We Need By Gramma Willi
Note: I am re-posting this because someone deleted the old one.
It is wonderful to have a chance to reach you. I am known in some circles as a legendary activist. This means that many of you will not have heard of me; to those who have, I pray that you find good ways to share truths, good analysis and facts with the next generation of legendary activists.
Here's my wish list for accomplishing the changes we need:
1. Find a way to value the contributions of legendary activists. It is not enough to solicit our ideas and opinions and simply run away with them, to apply without the benefit of proper context and analysis. Activists are not enemies - they tend to be wise, giving and in need of a thank you every so often... a nice contract now and again would be even better.
2. Place the long term health of the people and the natural environment that we depend on at the top of all priority lists. Long term means the next 7 generations.
3. Always plan for peace - including economic plans. We have to get away from war economies.
4. Move away from reliance on fulltime staff as decision makers for social institutions. They poison social programs because their main priority becomes their personal financial health and not the success of the programs. The best staff will include putting themselves out of a job as their main priority, because this will mean that the goals have been accomplished. The best staff will never undermine volunteer Boards of Directors or Citizen Task Forces.
5. Fire the architects of the failed economic system and their cronies. Replace them with the people who have been predicting the collapse and offer well-thought out constructs for designing our emerging social economy.
6. Find ways to value legendary activists - you will find the best friends of humanity among their number.
All My Relations, Gramma Willi
Hello everyone,
I'm a Canadian and though this website may not really be my 'rightful place', I nonetheless very much appreciate the fact you (and myself) are herewith abled to voice our opinions and ideas in this format - How incredibly refreshing!! How genial! A collection of ideas!! A massive Brainstorm! I love it, I absolutely do! I find this brilliant!
I just wanted to voice my thoughts about a few things your fine new President uttered, during his inauguration, last January (2009)...
President Obama spoke of Change, encouraging ALL to participate, to bring forth their bravest ideas... I just wanted to add the following words to his brilliant speech:
One doesn't have to be Mother Theresa or a millionnaire or necessarily anyone in power in order to participate to actual Change.
In a sense, Change is very much like a raging forest fire, where all that is required to start an unstoppable and quite contagious fever is but a single spark!
EACH OF YOU has this power to ignite, to enrapture, to actually be at the very beginning of an enormous - and long-overdue - movement!
Take your pick! What would YOU like to see change in YOUR world?
Make a list!
Seriously, make one and just post THAT somewhere here and wait for someone to come up with an idea, if you don't currently have one!
In doing so, YOU could be that very Spark! The one that ignites a passionate and quite determined fire, so to speak.
You could be the initiator, the Pioneer (and this, without even having tried to do anything at all), of some radical and way overdue change in our world.
Though I would prefer you add your ideas here, where your Fantastic Leader will be able to see these, I would also much appreciate it if you could also come on over to my Facebook page (Here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=546186670&ref=name#/group.php?gid=11023222663) and copy your ideas there as well, be it only to fuel others into doing the same there, as well for, the USA is not the ONLY country requiring Change...
We could ALL, globally, come to benefit from American ideas and ideals.
Awaiting your valuable Input and with warm regards, I leave you with the 4 L's:
Life, Light, Laughter and Love
xox
AbsoluTILLY
What is “Democracy”? The literature postulates that ancient Athens, Magna Carta, The English Bill of Rights, The Mayflower Compact, and John Locke are the sources of the US constitution. Moreover, the British philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704), among other notables, has postulate that people are the driving force of nations, not the rulers. He contended that people are born with inalienable rights, such as “life, liberty and property.” How is it then that government and others are allowed to oppose or challenge said rights of consensual beings? Although I object to the comparison of humanity (i.e., Slavery or The Holocaust, and the right that all people exist in equality of other beings), the rights of consensual adults to choose their mates is simply that…their right to do so. Don’t we have pressing issues to tend to in our Nation???? Let’s pursuit the “Change” our nation so desperately needs with a vengeance, and stay out of the bedrooms and lives of others. -The Grassroots Democracy Group - Vera
I agree with this Bloomberg article, so far Obama is bringing on board many of the exact same people who either created the financial crisis or have been involved some kind of corporate fraud or another. This is NOT the change we want. There are plenty of good, innovative candidates for Treasury and other financial posts - Luis Zingales at Chicago GSB, Nassim Taleb, Nouriel Roubini, Janet Tavakoli, for example. Why are the people who foresaw and understand the financial crisis being ignored in favor of those who either created it, or failed to foresee it and still don't understand it??? C'mon Obama, we didn't work so hard the past 2yrs to get you elected for this, we expect better.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aNCFKvAMUQ6w&refer=home
Commentary by Jonathan Weil
Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- It's hard to believe Barack Obama would even think of calling this change.
Take a good look at some of the 17 people our nation's president-elect chose last week for his Transition Economic Advisory Board. And then try saying with a straight face that these are the leaders who should be advising him on how to navigate through the worst financial crisis in modern history.
First, there's former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Not only was he chairman of Citigroup Inc.'s executive committee when the bank pushedbogus analyst research, helped Enron Corp. cook its books, and got caught baking its own. He was a director from 2000 to 2006 at Ford Motor Co., which also committed accounting fouls and now is begging Uncle Sam for Citigroup- style bailout cash.
Two other Citigroup directors received spots on the Obama board: Xerox Corp. Chief Executive Officer Anne Mulcahy and Time Warner Inc. ChairmanRichard Parsons. Xerox and Time Warner got pinched years ago by the Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting frauds that occurred while Mulcahy and Parsons held lesser executive posts at their respective companies.
Mulcahy and Parsons also once were directors at Fannie Mae when that company was breaking accounting rules. So was another member of Obama's new economic board, former Commerce Secretary William Daley. He's now a member of the executive committee at JPMorgan Chase & Co., which, like Citigroup, is among the nine large banks that just got $125 billion of Treasury's bailout budget.
There's More
Obama's economic crew might as well be called the Bailout Bunch. Another slot went to former White House economic adviser Laura Tyson. She's been a director for about a decade at Morgan Stanley, which in 2004 got slapped for accounting violations by the SEC and a month ago got $10 billion from Treasury.
That's not all. There's Penny Pritzker, the Obama campaign's national finance chairwoman. She was on the board of the holding company for subprime lender Superior Bank FSB. The Chicago-area thrift, in which her family held a 50 percent stake, was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2001. The thrift's owners agreed to pay the government $460 million over 15 years to help cover the FDIC's losses.
Even some of the brighter lights on Obama's board, like Warren Buffettand former SEC Chairman William Donaldson, come with asterisks. Buffett was on the audit committee of Coca-Cola Co.'s board when the SEC found the soft-drink maker had misled investors about its earnings. Donaldson was on the audit committee from 1998 to 2001 at a provider of free e-mail services called Mail.com Inc. Just before he left the SEC, in 2005, the agency disciplined the company over accounting violations that had occurred on his watch.
Telling Stories
So, by my tally, almost half the people on Obama's economic advisory board have held fiduciary positions at companies that, to one degree or another, either fried their financial statements, helped send the world into an economic tailspin, or both. Do you think any of that came up in the vetting?
Let's say we give Buffett a pass -- smart move he made, skipping the group photo-op last week in Chicago. What about the rest of them? Donaldson, for one, was chairman when the SEC voted in 2004 to let the big Wall Street banks, including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos., lever up their balance sheets like drunks. Talk about blowing it.
And whom did Obama tap for White House chief of staff? Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman who was a director at Freddie Mac in 2000 and 2001 while it was committing accounting fraud.
Ideally, this job would go to someone who can't be easily fooled. Think about it: Of all the people Obama could have chosen as his chief of staff, couldn't he have found someone who wasn't once on the board of Freddie Mac?
Renewed Confidence
The president-elect needs some new advisers -- fast. We are in a crisis of confidence in American capitalism. These aren't the right people to re-instill its sense of honor.
Many of them should be getting subpoenas as material witnesses right about now, not places in Obama's inner circle. Did Obama learn nothing from the ill-fated choice of James Johnson, the former Fannie Mae boss, to lead his vice- presidential search committee?
Does he think people like Robert Rubin or Richard Parsons will offer any helpful advice on how to stop crooked bankers or sleep-walking directors from sinking our economy? Or that they won't mistake the nation's needs for their own corporate interests? Or that the people who helped get us into our long financial nightmare have any clue how to get us out?
Obama has created hope that our nation can stand for all that is good in the world again. It's not too late to change course.
Start by scrapping this board.
Congrats, even my 80 year old mother in Indiana voted for you which was no small feat. I am a college professor in Fort Lauderdale and I made sure all my students went out and voted but I want to tell you, I admire your managerial skills, more than anything. One of the main things is getting people involved, when a person believes what they are doing is their idea or benefit to them, they always perform much better. Never before have I seen this applied enmasse as you did with our volunteers and donaters, which brings me to my point.As a professor, I have noted that you already have a majority of the young people in college with you and now feeling part of our success. They are involved in your presidency and a year ago they did not even know who the vice president was. It is a entire new attitude from the young people, I love it. I have never seen this in 25 years of teaching.
My suggestion.. .offer a scholarship competition for the best energy efficient vehicle design,energy use in building and interior design, new energy sources and so on and so forth. Allow it developed at the university level in team effort so cross over skills in various programs can be utilized. Whenever ideas are exchanged between different majors thats when innovative new ideas occur Have a top 3-5 winner range,reward all members of the TEAM , faculty involved and school and do it annually. You have a fired up base, students as well as educators. The minds are here to help America solve our energy crisis, competition always leads to perfection,drive and purpose. The reward increases all of these.I am working in holographic technology we have already took 200 dollars worth of equipment and a couple months ago made a HD TV display the objects as holographs in front of you. This technology would decrease the need to travel by virtually putting someone in a conference room with complete interactivity without being there. If you watched CNN on election night they did this with an alternative method of broadcasting a live person.
This is here and it is available now.
Anyway, all America needs is a push in the educational system to develop it cheaply and enmasse.
If new jobs and new energy is what we need, we need new inovations and lets put our young minds in this manhanttan project and become the technology leaders of the world.
October 30, 2008
http://www.gallup.com/video/111628/Campaign-Finance-Americans-Radar.aspx
While I support Barack and his success, I do not believe we need nor we should support the change Barack chose to bring to his campaign last July. Do you remember his announcement that he was "declaring indepencence" from his past support for accepting matching funds from tax payers who chose to allocate on their IRS 1040 form $3. to go the presidential campaign fund. I'm hoping to believe that you and I can influence fellow tax payers to check that box on their federal income tax form to contribute to the public pool of campaign funds. This money is clean of special influences, available to willing and qualifying candidates for president, and limits the (excessive) spending of participating presidential candidates.
Vote for Barack, check that box on your 1040, and tell future pres. candidates (including Barack) you expect them to take that public money and spending limits!
We kept repeating the same mistakes and believing in the same lame excuses. It seems like we are prone to repeat our failings and although we know that we are headed over a cliff, we walk like proverbial lemmings. Then, a once in a life time opportunity is before us in the likeness of a giant mirror, reflecting an image of ourselves that if foreign to us. Barack Obama shows us how we can see our future selves. He teaches a politic of change and makes clear the Change We Need.
Change We Need
Caught in a war that never should be
Having multiple strains on our economy
And the last 8 years lost in direction
Now Wall Street has the country facing depression
Government corruption with misdirected loyalty
Ear marks and pork barrel spending on frivolities
Washington owned by big business
Every decision controlled by the lobbyist
Now we have this great opportunity
Election Day we can control our destiny
Exercise your part and vote, a single deed
Democrat Barack will ensure the Change We Need!
Yesterday, Iron Range gave the type of hometown welcome its famous for when nearly 5000 people welcomed Senator Hillary Clinton to Hibbing.
Folks started lining up as early as 3 o'clock for their chance to hear Hillary outline Barack's vision for the kind of change Minnesota needs.
As Hillary looked out at the audience in the Hibbing Memorial Arena, she noted that the folks gathered there were "people who have been at the core of making America safe and making America work."
Just as the iron ore that made the steel enabled us to win these conflicts, Minnesota's Iron Range casts the votes that made the difference in statewide campaigns that elected John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale. You have given more than your iron ore, your steel, and your votes. You have sacrificed for America... Northeastern Minnesota had the highest per capita enlistment rate in WWII, one of the highest in other conflicts after the Great War, and many of you, your children, and loved ones have served and proudly serve today. Our nation owes you a great gratitude. The working men and women of Northeastern Minnesota--the miners, the loggers, the building trades, the steelworkers, the teachers, the laborers--people who have worked for yourselves and your family, your community, and your country. And you deserve better than what you've been delivered the last eight years by the Republican leadership in Washington.
Just as the iron ore that made the steel enabled us to win these conflicts, Minnesota's Iron Range casts the votes that made the difference in statewide campaigns that elected John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale.
You have given more than your iron ore, your steel, and your votes. You have sacrificed for America... Northeastern Minnesota had the highest per capita enlistment rate in WWII, one of the highest in other conflicts after the Great War, and many of you, your children, and loved ones have served and proudly serve today. Our nation owes you a great gratitude. The working men and women of Northeastern Minnesota--the miners, the loggers, the building trades, the steelworkers, the teachers, the laborers--people who have worked for yourselves and your family, your community, and your country.
And you deserve better than what you've been delivered the last eight years by the Republican leadership in Washington.
Among the veterans in the crowd was retired U.S. Marine Breanna Osterhoudt, who wants to see change in the veterans benefits.
"We'll, I'm here because I'm a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton and Obama. I served four years in the United States Marine Corps, and I think we need a change.
Barack has a plan to help our veterans. The Obama-Biden plan will strengthen VA care by fully funding the VA and improving care for polytrauma vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging, and women's health. Learn more about the Obama-Biden plan for veterans here.
Hillary spoke of the important role the next thirteen days play in determining whether the country continues down the same course or charts a new course in a new direction:
In these next days, people will be reaching a decision that will impact America for years to come. This is truly a fight for the future and its a fight we must win, and its a fight we have waged and won before. Yes, times may be tough, but we're tougher than the times and you need to look no further than the hardworking, nation-serving, patriotic people of the Iron Range and Northern Minnesota.
In these next days, people will be reaching a decision that will impact America for years to come. This is truly a fight for the future and its a fight we must win, and its a fight we have waged and won before.
Yes, times may be tough, but we're tougher than the times and you need to look no further than the hardworking, nation-serving, patriotic people of the Iron Range and Northern Minnesota.
With such a short time left, we need everyone to get involved and make phone calls, and canvass as part of our grassroots campaign for change.
As Hillary said last night, "So my friends, this is our moment, this is our time... Let's go win the election and change America!"
Please join us Friday, October 17th, for a rally with Joe Biden in Mesilla:
The Historic Mesilla Plaza Calle de Guadeloupe and Calle de Parian Mesilla, NM
Friday, October 17th Doors Open: 11:30 a.m. Program Begins: 1:30 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public; tickets are not required but an RSVP is encouraged.
Preferred viewing tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at one of the ticket distribution locations listed below.
For security reasons, do not bring bags or umbrellas. Please limit personal belongings. No signs or banners permitted.
Limited Parking near site in public lots. Carpooling strongly encouraged.
Tickets will be available at the following locations Thursday, October 16th, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
“Retirees are more worried than ever,” said Alliance President George J. Kourpias, adding, “not only are they concerned about their own retirement security, but they worry about what lies ahead for their children and grandchildren.” Iowa Alliance members marked the endorsement with an event this morning in Des Moines. U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) was the featured speaker. “Barack Obama opposes Social Security privatization, because he knows that we can’t gamble away our savings on Wall Street. He will fix our health care mess, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and do away with income taxes for seniors earning less than $50,000. We are proud to support the Obama-Biden ticket,” Kourpias said. In contrast, Kourpias noted, John McCain fully embraces President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, having voted three times to take money out of the Social Security Trust Fund and create private accounts tied to the roulette wheel of the stock market. “George Bush and John McCain must be the only two people left who think Wall Street is good place for Social Security,” said Don Rowen, President of the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans, which represents 30,000 members. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Americans’ retirement accounts have lost up to $2 trillion in the past 15 months. Rowen said that retirees were “deeply offended” this summer when John McCain, who receives $23,000 in annual benefits, said it was “an absolute disgrace” that younger workers must pay for current Social Security beneficiaries. “Over 500,000 Iowa residents receive Social Security – they are our elderly, our widows and widowers, and our young children who have seen a parent die. Helping them is not a disgrace,” Rowen said. According to the October 6 Wall Street Journal, Senator McCain would pay for his health care plan by cutting $1.3 trillion in Medicare and Medicaid over ten years. Kourpias said the McCain health care plan, which would lead many companies to eliminate retiree health benefits, would be “paid for on the backs of millions of senior citizens.” Under our increasingly privatized Medicare program, Kourpias added, “many seniors are paying more and getting less” for their medical bills and prescription drugs. The 3.5 million member Alliance has paid staff and grassroots activists in key states and congressional districts. It is also running paid advertising to educate and mobilize retirees on Senator McCain’s record on Social Security.
To join thousands of other seniors across Iowa looking for the change we need, click here to join Iowa Seniors for Obama.
We wait and watch as our investments, our savings, our lives are being reduced to nothing. The election and transfer of power can not come fast enough! We are ready for a leader that protects the middle class and makes things right. We are hopeful the first thing to come from our new president Barack Obama is the removal of the 140 billion dollars in pork added to the bailout/rescue, followed by an absolute re-assesment of govt spending. There has always been a disproportionate line between rich and middle class that is now being redefined as extremely wealthy and poor. Barack will inherit the worse of our days and somehow needs to make it all better. It will not be a time for baby steps, real change needs to be implemented. Starting with equality and same sex partner rights. we need to be able to protect and share what little we have left, we need the tax breaks and other rights afforded to heterosexual married couples. We are not advocating marriage or the change in definition, we just want recognized national rights, we need them.
Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Senator Joe Biden will return to the Buckeye State on Wednesday to kick off a two-day bus trip across northern Ohio. The tour includes Change We Need Rallies in Maumee and Wooster on Wednesday, and in Canton on Thursday, with details of additional events in the Akron and Youngstown areas to be announced later.
Click the events below to RSVP online!
Wednesday, September 17
CHANGE WE NEED RALLY WITH JOE BIDENUptown Maumee at the 100 Block of West Wayne StreetBetween Conant and Allen StreetsMaumee, OHDoors Open: 7:30 AMEvent Begins: 9:30 AMTickets NOT required, but RSVP is strongly encouraged.
CHANGE WE NEED RALLY WITH JOE BIDENCollege of WoosterKauke Hall, South LawnPublic Entrance: Corner of East University and Beall Ave.Wooster, OHGates Open: 4:00 PMTickets ARE required--RSVP here and pick up tickets at the locations below:
Ticket Distribution Locations
Farmer Boy Restaurant2558 Cleveland RdWooster, OH 44691
Available: Tuesday from 7:00am - 9:00pm, and Wednesday from 7:00am - 3:00pm
Kropf, Wagner, Hohenberger & Lutz, L.L.P.100 N Vine StreetOrrville, OH 44667Available: Wednesday from 9:00am-3:00pm
Further details to be announced as they become available.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18CHANGE WE NEED RALLY WITH JOE BIDENPro Football Hall of Fame2121 George Halas Drive NWDoors Open: 8:00 AM Program Begins: 9:30 AMThe event is free and open to the public. There is no RSVP, but members of the public are invited to pick up their free tickets at the locations and times listed below.(For more information call the Canton Campaign for Change Office: 330-452-4746)
***Free tickets are available Tuesday, September 16, and Wednesday, September 17, between 9:00AM and 9:00PM on a first-come, first-serve basis ***
Canton Campaign for Change Office111 2nd St NWCanton, OH 44702
Canton Democratic Party Office(Corner of 2nd and Market - Enter on Market)4220 12th St. NWCanton, OH 44708
Massillon Campaign for Change Office35 Erie St NorthMassillon, OH 44646
Alliance Campaign for Change Office15 S. Arch Ave.Alliance, OH 44601
Minerva Campaign for Change Office 215 N. Market St.Minerva, OH 44657
United States Senator Barack Obama will be coming to New Hampshire this Friday and Saturday to rally Granite State voters and discuss the Obama/Biden blueprint for change.“We are excited to welcome back Senator Obama to discuss his commitment to helping working Granite Staters and bringing the change we need to Washington, D.C.,” said Sandra Abrevaya, New Hampshire Communications Director. “Senator Obama will deliver real change by ending the Bush policy of showering big corporations with tax giveaways and ending the politics that are rigged against working New Hampshire families.”FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12Concord, NH“Change We Need” Rally with Barack Obama New Hampshire Technical Institute Goldie Crocker Wellness Center 31 College Drive Concord, NH 03301Doors Open at 4:30pmProgram Begins at 6:00pmThis event is free and open to the public. Free tickets are available at the locations listed below. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.Ticket Distribution Locations:Distribution times: Thursday, September 11th 12pm-9pm Campaign for Change - Concord 4a Eagle Square Concord, NH 03301 (603) 223-0387 Campaign for Change - Manchester 359 Elm Street Manchester, NH 03101 (603) 668-2008***For security reasons, do not bring bags. Please limit personal items. No signs or banners allowed.***SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13Manchester, NHDetails TBA - Visit http://NH.barackobama.com for updates.
