Guns at rallies, Attacks, Using the N word, calling Obama a Nazi, chanting Nazi slogans and even attempting to attack elected officials as they try to moderate the Health Care town halls, it seems the press is moving very slowly to understand who the FEW, the Minority, screamers, racists and right wing nut job, home grown terrorists really are.
Just reported: the SEIU obtained a Tea Party startegy via a Right Wing mobilization conf call.
The summary: Just destroy Obama's plan at any cost....No reasons....just be the party of NO
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/seius-notes-on-a-tea-party-strategy-conference-call/
We all helped Obama in our own way: some phone-banked; others knocked on doors. Because of my busy schedule, I couldn't do any of that.So I decided to become a voluntee internet strategist for Obama's campaign. I launched my own "50 State Strategy" - essentially a massive e-mail campaign, where I micro-targeted voters. I sent out over 100,000 e-mails on his behalf the past 9 months to people from the 50 states.It was a great deal of fun. I spent two hours a day mining the internet for e-mails specific to region, race, ethnicity, etc. And this worked beautifully. For example, when Obama was endorsed by the Asian-American PAC (the 80-20 Initiative) I sent an e-mail out that same day to over 500 members of Asian-American fraternities and sororities. And when Obama had a surprisingly rocky start with a Latina member of Congress in June (the start of the general election), I went into overdrive, e-mailing over 2000 Latinos across the country for a whole week straight about his commitment to concerns Latinos hold dear.Moreover, when I e-mailed states like MT, ND, WY, ID, WV, and NE, I played up his eye-popping appeal among white voters. However, when I e-mailed NM, CO, OR, CA, FL or WA (more cosmopolitan, and racially/ethnically diverse states) I simply showed how he was winning and what his positions were.So in four years when we're all working to get Obama re-elected, let's not forget about the internet. Its powerful. And it was largely responsible for him getting elected.
And when he announces his bid to run for re-election, I'm determined to have 600,000 e-mails I can send his info to. I'm growing my list, which currently is over 200,000...we have to keep the momentum going!
2morrowknight is an internet strategist and community organizer who blogs at 2morrowknight.blogspot.com, and is author of a forthcoming children's book. You can follow him at Twitter.com/2morrowknight and friend him at Myspace.com/2morrowknight.
It's really cool to see that this website is on going and continuing to be a place for connecting the people to activities and events... continuing support for the vision of change as proposed by President-elect Barack Obama.
Sunday, December 14th- I attended a community house meeting whereby we discussed issues that concern us, and planning of things we can do within our community to make a difference for the better. We came up with some things that we can take action on immediately, such as helping out at a shelter/safe house for battered women and children. We'll be participating in expanding the facility so that a few more families can get off the waiting list and into a safe environment.
Some of the members of the group are acquaintances of senators and other congressional reps. These group members have now written to these acquaintances regarding such issues as
Hi, Lets make sure we talk to family and friends about the issues. I have spoke with several people who were confused about prop 8. Of course let's make sure we get to the polling sites and cat our votes for Obama and Biden. We can not get so content with having a lead in the polls that we leave it up to others to vote in our absence. Like Obama says we don't have to Boo the opposition just Vote. Obama Biden 08. History will be made in two days. On November 4, 2008 America will elect it's first African American President not to mention the most qualified candidate in a while.
Barack Obama is a formidable candidate for President. And he’s our candidate: a Democrat, a liberal, and a progressive; intelligent and mature with a Chicago-style political savvy.
He’s teamed up with professional politicos who are running an awesome campaign to capture enough votes to become the 44th President of the United States.
Without a doubt, he is emerging as the strongest and most attractive candidate of the 2008 Presidential race. He has been able, during this time of financial upheaval and national uncertainty, to show America a true consensus persona, highlighted by calmness, thoughtfulness, and reliability. A persona which outshines and outmaneuvers his grandstanding opponent.
Read more:
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/10/07/barack-obama-as-american-as-apple-pie/#comment-6999
The McCain-Palin ticket is exactly what is fundamentally wrong in this country. Institutioanal racism and overt propaganda is the platform used to perpetuate racism in this country. Look at the way this ticket is attacking Barack Obama.
Propaganda: Obama supports domestic terrorist
Propaganda: Making issue of his middle name
Propaganda: Making issue that Obama and his supporters are not like 'us', white americans
Propaganda: Obama-Biden and their supporters are un-American and un-Patriotic
The McCain-Palin ticket have taken a page out of the old cold-war black list book, as well as a page out of communistic propaganda machines.
Americans are not stupid and are quite frankly sickened and tired of this type of mentality. It is this mentality that has the world view of America damaged. We must all work to once and for all rid this type of overt racism in this country. Yes, racism is alive and well, but this is not the face of America we want. This part of our legacy should be buried once and for all and the way to begin this process is to be a part of the change.
Please forward this to as many as possible!
I have reasons to stay confident that economic issues will propel Democrat Barack Obama formidably faster to the White House. All he needs to do is tell the true-to-life stories of the average American about how they reel down from the prevailing economic crisis.
There is no question about US financial institutions foundering and credit tightening. From the Atlantic to the Pacific side of the country, Americans are rediscovering thrift as they shop more wisely, hang on to their little savings, forego holidays, and do barter in shops to live within their means.
The crunch is felt nationwide and among poor voters the hardship runs deep. Mothers don't drive out with their car unless they have to for darn good reason. When they do go out they plan the route to do away with fuel-draining, costly double backs. In most states people took to reel themselves in their personal spending.
The worst that you can see are Americans barter in clothing shops in some parts of the Midwest. In other village and city sections the poor in America wore tatty trousers, ragged shirts, socks that have holes in them.
While the rest of the country hope for economic bailout from Congress's $700 billion rescue package, people wait with bated breath how each one could get a breather. One month into election day, and two months into the Christmas season Americans feel that they're not in a good time to be spending money.
In schools and among company cafeterias, workers are wishing someone else would pay for his coffee. Traditional, easy-go-lucky wish lists had been undone and thrown away. Those that often go on leisure cruises are nowadays thinking twice.
In some homes, where moms don't drive but have teenage son who do, they ask for gas contribution in when they give their girlfriends a lift somewhere else.
Some grandmothers across America may have to forego buying something special for grandchildren, as they usually do at Christmas, and are unsure if they will be able to bake Christmas cookies. Along with everything else the price of baking ingredients has gune up and hit the fan.
If you say that thrift-spending is good, think again. Economic analysts say that when the economy plummets into recession, everyone goes back to frugal ways, and could be fueling a more serious downturn. Tightening the economic belts too much, along with every conceivable act of penny pinching, will only lead the nation deep into the quagmire. Thrift-spending is counter-productive for the country and destructive for every body else. Service shos will fold up and unemployment follows.
There are a lot of stories that Democrat Barack Obama can tell to drive home his points on the economic issues and endear him more to the heart of America. He know where he came from and he's a good storyteller.
As a PR practitioner I believe with certainty that all Obama needs to have is honesty and certainty in telling stories and in telling people straight from the heart that he knows what he's doing when he wins the presidency.
This is a link to the complete interview der Spiegel did with Iraqi PB al-Maliki who supports Senator Obama's 16 month plan for the withdrawal of our troops. It will be interesting to see how Bush McCain parse their words.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566852,00.html
Can someone tell me why I am receiving letters signed by "Obama" asking me to become "a supporter of Obama for America." Not just one two-page letter, complete with four-color brochure but three different mailings.
I sent back the second mailing with a letter explaining that my wife and I made our first contribution to the campaign in November 07, and that we subsequently have contributed and raised almost $2,000 for the campaign. I have also made calls to Kansas and, I believe Indiana. I have this blog. And, to date, have not had the courtesy of a response to my note.
Can someone tell me why this campaign can not refine its mailing list, and is probably wasting tens-of-thousands of dollars sending mailings that treat supporters as if they have never heard of Obama, let alone supported his candidacy.
Why can't the candidate, who I described in an article by David Wallis, in SLATE, in December 2006, as "representative of the 21st Century," run a 21th Century fund-raising operation. I am tempted not to give or to raise another penny, should I receive yet another impersonal, machine-generated request for money.
I understand that campaigning consumes dollars like Americans burn fossil fuels, but I am beginning to abhor the waste—paper, postage, people's time, the arrogance underlying the practice—and, yes, the fact that the Obama campaign doesn't have a clue who I am, or what I have committed to the campaign.
This message from the AFL-CIO Working Families Network is worth copying and sending to your family and friends.
Gordon
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Phil Gramm is the national co-chair of John McCain’s presidential campaign. When he called us a nation of “whiners” and said we’re in a “mental recession,” rather than a real recession, McCain tried to head off a media storm by distancing himself from Gramm. But the truth is, the former U.S. senator from Texas has been McCain’s chief economic adviser for many years and is on McCain’s short list for Treasury secretary.
Here’s part of what Gramm told the Washington Times this week:
"You’ve heard of mental depressions; this is a mental recession....We have sort of become a nation of whiners....You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline....We’ve never been more dominant; we’ve never had more natural advantages than we have today.... We have benefited greatly" from the globalization of the economy in the last 30 years.
In February, McCain told the Houston Chronicle: “He’s probably the smartest—not just economist, but politician—there is.” In January, McCain said in an interview with the New York Post, "I would rely on the circle I have developed over many years of people like Jack Kemp, Phil Gramm, Warren Rudman, Pete Peterson and the Concorde Group" (a right-wing think tank).
As soon as Gramm's comments hit the airwaves, blog world and headlines, McCain began backing away from Gramm faster than a falling Dow Jones stock. He claimed Gramm doesn't speak for him and said he didn't agree with the comments. But in an interview with Fox News in April, the candidate himself said he thinks the recession is all in our minds, "A lot of our problems today, as you know are psychological—the confidence, the trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, the ability to keep our home." Along with sharing a penchant for playing shrink to voters worried about the economy, the McCain-Gramm pair shares pretty much the same economic philosophy and love of deregulation, especially in the banking and energy industries. In April, the Washington Post credited Gramm with creating the legislative highway for the subprime lending crisis that is causing foreclosures on the home mortgages of more than 3 million working families:
“Gramm’s aggressive efforts when he was chairman of the Senate Banking Committee to deregulate the banking and financial services industry...culiminated in the passage in 1999 of a sweeping financial services law that tore down the Depression-era Glass-Steagall wall separating regulated commercial banks from largely unregulated investment banks....To many liberal economists, Gramm’s efforts set the stage for the current crisis.”
If, heaven forbid, McCain takes the White House, you can bet, because he's said so many times, that the McCain administration's economic policies will be straight of the Gramm playbook. Pretty scary, eh?
Help spread the word by forwarding this message to your family and co-workers. We've got to stop that from happening.
In solidarity,
Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
I came across this Obama blog entry this morning that pretty much expresses where I am at after Senator Obama's decision to support the FISA bill.
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Dissent at All Levels
From Bryan K. Long
I think it is fair to say that Senator Obama and most Obama supporters are
opposed to the Republican tactic of silencing dissent by calling it
unpatriotic. We recognize that it is the responsibility of every citizen to
speak out against our Government's actions when we think those actions are
against our nation's best interests. Similarly, it is the responsibility of
every Obama supporter to speak out when the Senator takes positions or
actions which we feel betray the best interests of the nation.
Accountability can not be delayed until after the election; we cannot afford
to sacrifice principles for political expediency and we must demand the same
from Senator Obama. It is true that we must not give up on him -- yesterday
I was ready to, but today with cooler head I know he is still much better
than the alternative. I disagree with Mr. Pitts only when he suggests that
many might just give up without speaking out: the truth is that the 23,000
who signed onto the Get FISA Right group are among the most informed and
ardent of Obama's supporters. Despite their anger, they will vote for him
anyway. But their ardor has been cooled, and they will be watching Senator
Obama with more dubious eyes.
Below is the response I received from Senator Obama regarding his FISA vote. Following that is the ACLU's wonderful action.
Dear Friend,Thank you for contacting us and sharing your strong feelings about this important issue. Please find a statement from Senator Obama below.We appreciate hearing from you.Sincerely,Obama for America,---Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is also little doubt that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of major telecommunications companies, has abused that authority and undermined the Constitution by intercepting the communications of innocent Americans without their knowledge or the required court orders.That is why last year I opposed the so-called Protect America Act, which expanded the surveillance powers of the government without sufficient independent oversight to protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans. I have also opposed the granting of retroactive immunity to those who were allegedly complicit in acts of illegal spying in the past.After months of negotiation, the House passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance - making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future. It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I voted in the Senate three times to remove this provision so that we could seek full accountability for past offenses. Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act. It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives - and the liberty - of the American people.
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FROM THE ACLU (which I'm a card carrying member of)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a landmark lawsuit today to stop the government from conducting surveillance under a new wiretapping law that gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls. The case was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labor, legal and media organizations whose ability to perform their work - which relies on confidential communications - will be greatly compromised by the new law.
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, passed by Congress on Wednesday and signed by President Bush today, not only legalizes the secret warrantless surveillance program the president approved in late 2001, it gives the government new spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications.
"Spying on Americans without warrants or judicial approval is an abuse of government power - and that's exactly what this law allows. The ACLU will not sit by and let this evisceration of the Fourth Amendment go unchallenged," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Electronic surveillance must be conducted in a constitutional manner that affords the greatest possible protection for individual privacy and free speech rights. The new wiretapping law fails to provide fundamental safeguards that the Constitution unambiguously requires."
In today's legal challenge, the ACLU argues that the new spying law violates Americans' rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The new law permits the government to conduct intrusive surveillance without ever telling a court who it intends to spy on, what phone lines and email addresses it intends to monitor, where its surveillance targets are located, why it's conducting the surveillance or whether it suspects any party to the communication of wrongdoing.
Plaintiffs in today's case are:
"As a journalist, my job requires communication with people in all parts of the world - from Iraq to Argentina. If the U.S. government is given unchecked surveillance power to monitor reporters' confidential sources, my ability to do this work will be seriously compromised," said Naomi Klein, an award-winning columnist and best-selling author who is a plaintiff in today's lawsuit. "I cannot in good conscience accept that my conversations with people who live outside the U.S. will put them in harm's way as a result of overzealous government spying. Privacy in my communications is not simply an expectation, it's a right."
The ACLU's legal challenge, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York today, seeks a court order declaring that the new law is unconstitutional and ordering its immediate and permanent halt.
In a separate filing, the ACLU asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to ensure that any proceedings relating to the scope, meaning or constitutionality of the new law be open to the public to the extent possible. The ACLU also asked the secret court to allow it to file a brief and participate in oral arguments, to order the government to file a public version of its briefs addressing the law's constitutionality, and to publish any judicial decision that is ultimately issued.
"The new law allows the mass acquisition of Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. "The administration has argued that the law is necessary to address the threat of terrorism, but the truth is that the law sweeps much more broadly and implicates all kinds of communications that have nothing to do with terrorism or criminal activity of any kind."
In 2006, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) to stop its illegal, warrantless spying program. A federal district court sided with the ACLU, ruling that warrantless wiretapping by the NSA violated Americans' rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, ran counter to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and violated the principle of separation of powers. The Bush administration appealed the ruling, and an appeals court panel dismissed the case. However, the court did not uphold the legality of the government's warrantless surveillance activity and the only judge to discuss the merits of the case clearly and unequivocally declared that the warrantless spying was unlawful. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case earlier this year.
"A democratic system depends on the rule of law, and not even the president or Congress can authorize a law that violates core constitutional principles," said Christopher Dunn, Associate Legal Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "The only thing compromised in this so-called 'compromise' law is the Constitution."
Attorneys on the lawsuit Amnesty v. McConnell are Jaffer, Melissa Goodman and L. Danielle Tully of the ACLU National Security Project and Dunn and Arthur Eisenberg of the NYCLU. Attorneys on the motion filed with the FISC are Jaffer, Goodman, Tully, as well as Arthur Spitzer of the ACLU of the National Capital Area.
More information, including today's complaint, a video discussing the ACLU's legal challenge, plaintiff statements in support of the lawsuit and the FISC motion, is available at: www .aclu.org/faa
MSNBC and CNN reported on June 6th that Gloria Steinem has endorsed Obama and pledges to work for his election.
This is significant. Hillary supporters who are hurt, angry and threatening to vote for John McCain need to think carefully about what a McCain presidency would mean to them.
There are three very important reasons why women need to support Senator Obama. Even if they forget everything else, these three reasons are why they should vote for Obama:
1. The Supreme Court
2. The Supreme Court
3. The Supreme Court!!!!
Justice John Paul Stevens is 90 and wants to retire. Ruther Bader Ginsberg wants to retire.
A McBush presidency will replace these two justices with right wing neo-cons and Roe V Wade will be overturned therefore making a woman's right to choose again illegal in America.
If you have friends, family members and co-workers who say they will vote for the McBush team for president, please remind them of the the fragile makeup of our Supreme Court and the importance of sending Obama to the White House to keep a woman's right to choose the law of the land.
