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
I'm from Indiana, though I have lived in California for many years. It has been very exciting for me to see Indiana in play for the Democrats this year. In California, people tend to think of folks in those midwestern states as dopes who act against their own self interest and "don't get it." But I know Indiana is a great place, Indianapolis is a cool city, and Hoosiers are just like the rest of us, especially the young people. They want a world that works.
Indiana Is Going Blue! My video diary from the morning of 10-23-08. Headed to the Obama Rally at American Legion Mall in Indianapolis, IN.
copy and paste this YouTube URL into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv39oiy6_p4
After i got back from the rally at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, even after stopping off for lunch with my girlfriend, i was still just so filled up with emotion and excitement that i decided to write a letter to one of my oldest friends who was too ill to go to the rally that day. I really wanted to describe as best possible what i experienced that day. Below you can find the pictures and video from our experience, plus the email sent to my friend.
Pictures and video from our day at the rally:
Motorcade: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2925520300_ddd13948a7.jpg
Codi and I: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2925521044_0f35553731.jpg
Obama speaking: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2925519746_17de53b0ce.jpg
Obama: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/2924707777_f51da975e1.jpg
Wide Shot of Grandstands: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3126/2924666371_514021ca8a.jpg
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzO6cTv2Nr0
Okay, i don't have a blog or anything cool to post this too, maybe i'll myspace it. But below is my Oct 8th Obama Rally experience, i'm just so filled with stuff to say about today that i gotta type it all out and i know you can read fast so here goes....
wow that was awesome.my twitter www.twitter.com/djadamjay is littered with pics and comments, codi and i took more close up pics with her actual camera. and some video too.The line to get into the grandstand was huge, from the northwest parking lot, all the way up to 38th street, wrapping around a few buildings, and then into the grandstand. The line was like a giant snake that went through the various fairgrounds buildings. Lots of places along the line to buy Obama/Biden stuff (some legit, some not) and lots of folks signing up more volunteers. Just before the security checkpoint there were a bunch of pro-lifers holding up signs but everyone ignored them and the line just kept moving. It took us about 20 minutes to get from our car to our seat which wasn't that bad at all.
I look forward to voting for Barack Obama for President of the United States with a greater sense of anticipation than I've ever looked forward to anything, with the possible exception of every Christmas Eve before I turned 11 or so, and started getting more clothes than toys.
I know that Senator Obama’s campaign has been a beacon of hope for lots of other ordinary Americans, too, because I’ve been honored to serve it on the ground as a volunteer in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Oregon, and South Dakota, and I’ve seen reflections of the hope Barack Obama has sparked in, literally, thousands of pairs of eyes as I’ve walked—again, literally—hundreds of miles, canvassing, door to door.
And even though it isn’t easy to convey a sense of all the wonders I’ve witnessed and lessons I’ve learned working on the campaign—walking one precinct after another, talking with voters about what our nation can and will be again—one conversation still stands out in my memory. Maybe it symbolizes the shiny, new gift under the tree (or beside the menorah) that Barack Obama’s “improbable” candidacy represents to us all. Or maybe it was just a special moment for me. You decide.
It began on April 23rd, around five o’clock, a warm spring afternoon in south-suburban Indianapolis. I’d just arrived in Indy from Pittsburgh earlier that day and I was excited to be on the ground again, knocking on doors and ringing doorbells, making the case for Senator Obama as best I could. As I started my walk, I crossed paths with two women—mother and daughter, Jane and Christina—walking in the opposite direction. After introducing myself, I asked if they planned on supporting Senator Obama in the May 5 Indiana primary.They both scrunched up their faces and Jane shrugged. “We still haven’t made up our minds,” she replied. “We lean toward Hillary one day and the next day we lean toward Obama.”I smiled and replied as I often did, “We do have two good candidates this time around.”It was my basic stock reply to a response I’d gotten from voters almost every day I’d spent canvassing since the primary in my home state of Arizona on February 5. Except this time, I pushed my observations a step further and added: “But we only have one great candidate.”Jane asked why I felt that way, and I replied that Obama had the courage to oppose, and speak out against, the war in Iraq when it was potentially a form of political suicide to do so. I remarked that, despite all the campaign hoopla and hype about 3 a.m. phone calls, sometimes the “call” a prospective commander-in-chief gets doesn’t come at three in the morning, at all, but at three in the afternoon, and it doesn’t take the form of a phone call, but a roll call vote on the floor of the United States Senate.
I told Jane and Christina that—from my perspective, at least—Senator Clinton had already failed her own “commander-in-chief test” in October 2002, when she voted to authorize an unnecessary war—one that’s resulted in the deaths of 4,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and the squandering of hundreds of billions of dollars—money which could have been more wisely and profitably spent in this country, to eradicate poverty and provide health care and an improved quality of life for our own citizens.It was Barack’s early and continued opposition to the war that seemed to rivet all of Jane’s attention. She told me that both she and her daughter, and the rest of her family, are members of the Church of the Brethren, a Christian group so solemnly anti-war that its members had even refused to fight in World War Two.As we talked on, the three of us still standing at the side of that street in suburban Indianapolis, Jane and Christina seemed impressed, and only a little incredulous, that I’d come so far, at my own expense—taking an unpaid leave of absence from my “real” career—to walk unfamiliar streets in places I’d never been before, simply to promote the candidacy of Barack Obama.“But I’m not doing it for Barack Obama,” I told Jane as I nodded at her daughter. “I’m doing it for Christina, here, and my daughter, Sara, and for their kids, someday.”Then I paused, trying to find words to explain the improbable transformation that had begun to occur in my own life, after Sara and I listened to Senator Obama speak at a Phoenix rally in January, which led me to read—and my commitment to be ignited by—the simple truths in The Audacity of Hope.I told them that, for me, this campaign isn’t about Barack Obama, at all. It’s about the grassroots movement that he started building when he returned to Chicago from Harvard Law School and resumed his community organizing work with Project Vote.“Barack Obama made me remember something that I let myself forget, 40 years ago, when Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated: that this is our country and we’re responsible for what our leaders do in our name. And changing things isn’t just about getting people to vote. It’s about participation — participating in the process yourself, and inviting other people to participate until everyone remembers that we are the process.”Jane and Christina both nodded in agreement, and as we began our goodbyes, I finally found the words I’d been searching for earlier to express the depth of my gratitude and the extent of the honor I felt even to be representing Senator Obama as an unpaid volunteer on the streets of Indianapolis.
But the words weren’t mine; they were Barack Obama's. So, as a preamble, I just skipped all the way down to my own personal bottom line: “Besides, think of how great it will be again to have a president who’s a poet and a philosopher.”As proof, I cited Barack’s “Yes We Can” speech, the one that the Black-Eyed Peas’ will.i.am turned into such a moving music video. Neither Jane nor Christina were familiar with the speech or the video, so I began to recite it from memory, there on that quiet suburban street of Indianapolis:“It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes we can.“It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom: Yes we can.”Then, my eyes misted, my voice quavered, and I broke off the recitation, just considering the awful weight of that last stanza: That, fewer than 150 years ago, citizens of our nation believed themselves capable of owning other human beings, to do with as they pleased. It reminded me that we’ve come so far, in so many ways, and yet have so much further to go, to answer the call that Abraham Lincoln issued in his Gettysburg Address, to ensure “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”I brushed my hand across my eyes, to erase the trace of tears that had started to form, and was surprised when I looked at Jane, and noticed that tears were spilling out of her eyes, too.I decided that it wouldn’t do to part company, on so somber a note, with so elegant and sensitive a small assembly—a 50-something-year-old woman from Indianapolis, standing with her 18-year-old daughter (who would cast her first ballot in less than two weeks), alongside a 50-something-year-old man from Arizona, who had just invoked the memories of long-dead, but unforgotten, human beings who had repealed the horrors of slavery from our land a century and a half ago.So I smiled again and told Jane and Christina about the radiant faith and hope and joy I’d seen on the faces of hundreds of African-American kids I’d met the week before, canvassing the bleak, ex-urban ghettos of McKeesport, Pennsylvania for their candidate, my candidate, our candidate: Senator Barack Obama.I remembered a parting phrase that had seemed to form itself spontaneously—and managed to escape my lips without conscious thought, at all—that first or second day in McKeesport. And since it suddenly seemed to fit again, I told Jane and Christina how I’d ended so many conversations with voters—black and white, young and old—in Pennsylvania: “I love you, God loves you, and Barack Obama loves you.”The words always seemed to bring a smile when I delivered them in McKeesport, and they worked just as well to brighten things up that April day on the streets of Indianapolis.Then, as we said our goodbyes and resumed our separate walks—Jane and Christina heading for home, me off to knock on more doors and ring more bells for the next President of the United States of America—I couldn’t resist turning and calling out: “It’s true, you know. No matter who you vote for: I love you, God loves you, and Barack Obama loves you.”
I only hope that you believe it as much as I do. Because it is true, you know.
There is a grass root positive message spreading in Indianapolis. Over the past few months, the homicide rate has been horrible. To combat that and take back the city, a group has formed adding one person at a time to choose peace.
The web site is: http://www.decidetochoose.com . The idea is to choose peace for the inner city and spread the word of hope.
Barack Obama has been vocal in expressing his ideas to make change. Everyone who wants peace for their neighborhood could check this site out and join one at a time.
I am giving my Choose Peace Magnet and post cards to my new friends in Cincinnati. If I can sign up two people in Cincinnati it will be a start.
When Barack Obama is elected president, the Choose Peace movement will be started to help him bring change!
The place to be in the west side of Indianapolis yesterday was the Pike Township Democrat Club Picnic. Everyone is on cloud nine with our candidate for president Barack Obama!!
In Indidana our Democrat Club in Indianapolis has face lean years. The state is so 50/50. When I was in high school the state was 40/60. I remember the day Birch Bayh upset the long time Senator Homer Capehart. I can still sing the catchy little jingle to the tune "hey look me over" that people sang and helped him win.
I just googled Birch Bayh. I had forgotten all of the wonderful things he did in the senate. I also had forgotten that he was in the plane crash in 1964 with Ted Kennedy. The night Birch won his first election to the senate, I attended the celebration party in down town Indianapolis. I was a senior in high school.
Now wouldn't his son Birch Evans Bayh III make a great vice- president?
In his speech today in Indianapolis, Sen. Barack Obama proposed new ideas for the U.S.
Obama said his proposals were not "gimmicks" but real ideas to help Americans, referring to the gasoline tax holiday proposed by Hillary Clinton.
(Obama's proposals here).
Carole
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA IS IN INDIANAPOLIS !!!
See Barack TODAY AND TOMORROW!
He Hopes to Get to See All of You!
Some neat photo's of Barack and Michelle in Indianapolis this morning:
Hi folks,
My Step Father is here today, he was in Selma and much more before that. Rev. Karl Lutze began his civil rights work in 1945, organized many of the voter registration efforts in the south and did so many more things I can't list them. He still does.
Karl still lives across the street from Valpraiso University, still writes, still speaks and is still a part of all that legacy. It's always strange for me, because he is just Karl - the wonderful man who makes my mom and my children happy. But when we talk about all of this it is hard to imagine and hard to forget that he has bridged the gap between where we were and where we are.
When Karl Lutze arrived in Oklahoma in 1945, he stepped into another world. A newly ordained clergyman born in Wisconsin, he was a young white man assigned to minister among Muskogee’s African American community. He soon found that in the South, crosses were as likely to be burned as revered. His recollections of postwar Oklahoma provide a compelling testament to the era’s racial conflict and some steps taken toward its resolution. Awakening to Equality offers a unique perspective on an often-violent era that witnessed the gradual dismantling of segregation. Serving congregations in Muskogee and Tulsa, Lutze encountered a cross section of both communities—from the white and black power brokers to the most disempowered black and biracial families—and a stratified society buttressed by intimidation, cross burnings, and bombs. His activism in the Urban League and other local civil rights organizations gave him firsthand experience with forces moving toward change, as well as with the more entrenched forces resisting it. Blending personal anecdotes and recollections of key players in this unfolding drama, Lutze puts a human face on historical and journalistic accounts of social change during the crucial early years of the civil rights movement. He takes readers back to small-town and urban Oklahoma in a time when African Americans were beginning to challenge segregation in Muskogee’s public transportation and a handful of liberal whites were trying to move their communities toward desegregation. Throughout this rich memoir, we meet actual people creating a future—one that involved the very redefinition of America. More than a view of an earnest young clergyman trying to grow beyond the racial and social limitations of the church of his day, Awakening to Equality also depicts the struggles of Lutze’s own denomination to overcome its earlier accommodation of racism. Lutze’s success in his ministries made his achievements a model for mission work among African Americans and led to his appointment in 1959 first as field secretary and then shortly thereafter as executive director of the Lutheran Human Relations Association, a pioneering civil rights organization. Simultaneously, he taught classes as Associate Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University. Lutze not only witnessed important events but also participated in them and found that his entire career was shaped by the experience. Awakening to Equality is a moving story that captures the real-life education of a prominent clergyman during a critical period in American life.
When Karl Lutze arrived in Oklahoma in 1945, he stepped into another world. A newly ordained clergyman born in Wisconsin, he was a young white man assigned to minister among Muskogee’s African American community. He soon found that in the South, crosses were as likely to be burned as revered. His recollections of postwar Oklahoma provide a compelling testament to the era’s racial conflict and some steps taken toward its resolution.
Awakening to Equality offers a unique perspective on an often-violent era that witnessed the gradual dismantling of segregation. Serving congregations in Muskogee and Tulsa, Lutze encountered a cross section of both communities—from the white and black power brokers to the most disempowered black and biracial families—and a stratified society buttressed by intimidation, cross burnings, and bombs. His activism in the Urban League and other local civil rights organizations gave him firsthand experience with forces moving toward change, as well as with the more entrenched forces resisting it.
Blending personal anecdotes and recollections of key players in this unfolding drama, Lutze puts a human face on historical and journalistic accounts of social change during the crucial early years of the civil rights movement. He takes readers back to small-town and urban Oklahoma in a time when African Americans were beginning to challenge segregation in Muskogee’s public transportation and a handful of liberal whites were trying to move their communities toward desegregation. Throughout this rich memoir, we meet actual people creating a future—one that involved the very redefinition of America.
More than a view of an earnest young clergyman trying to grow beyond the racial and social limitations of the church of his day, Awakening to Equality also depicts the struggles of Lutze’s own denomination to overcome its earlier accommodation of racism. Lutze’s success in his ministries made his achievements a model for mission work among African Americans and led to his appointment in 1959 first as field secretary and then shortly thereafter as executive director of the Lutheran Human Relations Association, a pioneering civil rights organization. Simultaneously, he taught classes as Associate Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University.
Lutze not only witnessed important events but also participated in them and found that his entire career was shaped by the experience. Awakening to Equality is a moving story that captures the real-life education of a prominent clergyman during a critical period in American life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCg05pTYt0A Bobby Kennedy, April 4, 1968
Seeing that video sitting here in Key West, Karl sleeping upstairs, all the current foolishness being said in today's media, the amazing speech Senator Obama gave that I watched again with my brother last night... It's hard to comprehend the magnitude of where we have come from, hard sometimes to reconcile where we are, and impossible to allow us to not go to where this all leads.
Recently I do and say a lot of things because I want us to get there, and part of it is helping Barack Obama become president. Not because I care that he's black but because I don't care and I'd rather no-one else would, either. I don't want my children to even think about such things. He's an immensely qualified man and the fact that it is even mentioned shows that the ice hasn't melted entirely. Not just yet.
So if the price we pay today is a scrimish of words to chuff the last of the ice off the windshield it's so very worth it, and it's nothing at all to do.
It's nothing compared to the price Bobby paid, or his brother. Nothing compared to what Dr. King paid.
Sleep well, Karl. I've got the torch.
-chris
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/4/14316/24086/227/489961
I went to the Obama office opening today- what a blast! I wanted to go in the morning, when lots of people from the community were there, heading out to canvass, but I didn't feel well this morning. I can't canvass anyway right now, b/c I have a sore throat and sound silly when I talk. I called and made sure I could come in later to do office work, and assured that I could, I slept until I felt better, then headed to the office around 5 pm.
I was put to work doing data entry, which was fine with me. Easy, but not mind-numbingly boring. One of the best parts of volunteering on the Obama campaign has been making friends, meeting interesting people, and having great conversations, and today was no different. The staffers and volunteers at the Indiana headquarters are awesome! Everyone is positive and fun to be around. There are people of all ages, but the majority are right around my age. It may sound cliche, but it's inspiring to think that all of this important work is being done by my peers. We're making big things happen.
I encourage everyone who can to come to Indiana for a day, a weekend, a week- even the next 5 weeks until our primary! We'll give you a wild welcome and put you to work. :)
Based on the comments to my blog, the comments by Senator Obama's former -- retired -- pastor have upset quite a few people. I can't defend (or even analyze) these comments as I have not read the speeches from which they came. On the face, they are problematic. What I think is important is to see how Senator Obama responds and consider that in light of how Senator Clinton has responded in similar situations.
Below is the text of Senator Obama's speech yesterday where he addresses this issue. I encourage you to read it and the accompanying speech from Bobby Kennedy; then ask yourself: "Can we move past these divisions, heal some of the anger and is Senator Obama the best candidate to do that?"
I heard about the campaing rally at the last-minute on the news last night. This morning I was bummed to learn that the rally in Plainfiled is "sold out" and those without a ticket can't get in. I would love to attend one of Obama's rallys or Town Hall meetings. This coming Saturday would've been perfect for me since I have a rare Saturday off (those who work in retail like I do know how hard to come by weekends off are). I'm debating on whether or not to still go to the high school and hope that the speakers are loud enough that those who can't get in can still listen to him.
I also hope that he'll make return apperances to Indiana. It would be awesome if he came close to where I live. If he does, it would most likely be in Bloomington somewhere on the IU campus.
Ok, so for the first time in 40yrs my state has a chance to make a difference in the Presidential nominee. Hick town INDIANA. Naptown.
Yesterday the Obama Camp announced the Senator would be coming to Indiana. I was so excited. I called tons of people and got them on fire for this historic visit. I had planned to wait outside all night and do whatever I had to do to make sure I didn't miss this. The location was announced this morning. Plainfield High School, which only holds 1500-2000 folks. I thought Hmm, well ok; Maybe because the NCAA is in town and Conseco is occupied. No more than 45min. after the location was announced the tickets were GONE.
I was soo bummed. I've heard that this will be the Senator's only trip to Indianapolis, which is only 1hr away from Chicago by plane....That's a another story. If that's the case, wouldn't you want to reach MORE than 1500 people? We have the famous Martin Luther King Park, where Kennedy was giving a speech the day King was assasinated. Kennedy then broke the news to a stunned crowd and encouraged peace thru nonviolence. What better place to hold a public rally/town hall?
I hope that tons of people in my community don't get discouraged and think that the Senator didn't want to hear what the inner city community had say. The first thing I heard from everyday folks was how were they going to be able to get to Plainfield. For those not from Indy, Plainfield is a surburb that at least a 45 min/1hr drive from the city.
There could be some flack for the Obama Camp., if Hillary comes to Indy....to the Inner city and talks with everyday people who work 2 9 to 5 jobs to get ends to meet. By the way, these are the folks who can't afford to live in PLAINFIELD.
Barack Obama is coming to Indianapolis this Saturday...YEAH!
I heard the announcement yesterday on the news and contacted all my family and friends to give further encouragement for his presidency. Unfortunately, the details of the trip were unavailable. So I checked the local news sites and barackobama.com every couple hours to see if there's an update on the details.
Finally, I get a message in my Inbox about the event. I am so overjoyed since I've been a long-time supporter, activist and contributor to his campaign. I click on the great little "RSVP" button only to arrive at a page saying "Sorry, no tickets are available. You must have a ticket to attend the event." What?!?!
So I wrote a letter to the campaign, which responded with an auto-reply that it may take days or even weeks to respond due to correspondence volume. So I called the national campaign headquarters since I am still unable to find any information on an Obama office in Indiana. The national headquarters basically said, "Yes. It filled up in less than 30 minutes."
Well, first let me say...I'm really happy that the event sold out. But the venue is extremely small in a high school gymnasium and to turn away supporters and contributors that are working hard to advocate for this campaign is both disheartening and ostracizing an important aspect of the campaign particularly in light of Republican-dominated state such as Indiana. Why doesn't the campaign find other larger venues to accommodate larger audiences. Isn't the idea to win votes, delegates, states, popular vote, etc?!?!?
I'm keeping some faith that the campaign will respond and make this opportunity happen for me. Otherwise, I'll still go to the event, but I'll be the one with the sign that says, "Want My Vote??...Need a Ticket." My campaign spirit took a big setback today. I'm fired up and ready to go.
