By Padmini Arhant
Heartfelt Congratulations! To the world famous Mardi Gras city, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for the spectacular victory in their bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
Although, all contestants’ promotional bidding was exceptional, the Brazilian presentation was compelling and befitting the outcome. The IOC decision was fair and appropriate considering the other bidders had hosted the international event before and in the case of the United States on numerous occasions within the Olympics diversifications, i.e. Summer, Winter and Para Olympics in several venues, making the USA a prominent host of the most Olympics.
It’s a phenomenal feat for the South American nation, a rising economy and an international champion in the world-renowned sport, ‘football.’ Brazil also honored to host the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and now the Summer Olympics in 2016, an extraordinary achievement for the rising star.
Please refer to http://www.padminiarhant.com for the remaining content.
Thank you.
Padmini Arhant
As you all probably know,
Barack Obama and family have recently joined the competition to host the 2016 summer Olympics. Sadly we are disappointed that we have been eliminated from the competition. The presidential family was planning on hosting this big event in Chicago, Illinois. Michelle Obama says "Chicago is such a great place with wonderful people". Now we will watch the Olympics of 2016 take place in either Madrid, or Rio DeGinario!
Your Friend,
Erin
President Obama will advocate for the Olympics in Chicago, and that is good as long as he make some effort to insure that any financial assistance that the federal government offers, is counter balanced with some benefit to the people Daley is disadvantaging in the process.
The proposed site whichDaley hopes to transform into a world class location, is in the footprint of a concrete jungle gym in which he sowed the seeds of discouragement in the neighborhood children by tolerating poor quality education, lack of opportunity and maintaining social isolation in exchange for his fiefdom. He recently dispersed this dysfunction like a plague throughout the greater south side of Chicago where the fruits of his labor results in murders of school children. It is ironic to me that Daley wants the Olympics, the epitome of athletic achievement yet for 20 years has been party to starving the south side of Chicago of recreational facilities where children could develop their athletic skill, maintain health, learn discipline, be safe, have fun, and most of all be children.
Organizing for America - Have you seen This Video Yet? More then ever, you need it now to re-kindle the spirit that lived in us all prior to the election.
We need to get this video out in the public eye in a big way to re-kindle the spirit of optimism that existed prior to the election of President Obama.
Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) that is what we need to understand.
Post the inaugural, post the election, post the optimism fading, post the Republican's battle of the wills, it's sad to see our country slowly slipping back to the bad ol' days when the President is simply a news curiosity, just some guy in the White House. Barack Obama is more then that. He is the change we all voted for.
When I get pessimistic that such talk as the above is simply the talk of a dreamer, I hear President Obama speak. For instance, his speech at Notre Dame. It was historic, incredible, inspiring. it reminded me why I was so filled with hope on November 4th, 2008. When I hear him speak, I still get uplifted and remember who is in the White House.
But let us not forget the obvious, he's a human being, he can't correct everything at once, he has information now as President about our country we will never know and he is, I am confident, desperately trying to balance it all. I have not agreed with every move, espeically preventitive detention, but should we need or expect to agree with everything that anyone does? I agree with most and that's good enough for me to be a great supporter of his. I speak out when I don't agree with President Obama or anyone, but that doesn't mean I don't ardently support President Obama. In the past, I agreed with very little our Presidents have done, so this is an extremely refreshing change, especially at a time in our history which is unparalleled in it's complexity and danger to our society, our country and our world.
My only personal regret is that the video I directed and produced to keep the dreams alive, Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) has not been endorsed by Organizing for America and posted on its home page (or endorsed by Oprah or some such celebrity that can bring instant distribution to this cause, this quest to make optimsm and involvement the norm). This video should be endorsed by someone or some organization of such stature. It should be the rallying cry that we all remember to say to ourselves every day, that "YES WE CAN CHANGE OUR DESTINY." If we realize that simple truth, that we are in control of our destinies, we will work hard for change. We will become involved. Pessimism occurs when we believe we aren't in control, when we believe that hope is lost, when we believe that we can't make a difference. But the election proved how much we can change the world, how much we can accomplish when we act in unity with hope and optimism, when our world collectively believes that YES WE CAN CHANGE OUR DESTINY.
I have tried to move on, to concentrate on other causes, problems and issues in our world and my life, to not continue to push so actively to get this video "out there" more. But every time I lose hope and become pessimistic about our world, I listen to my own words in that video and I realize that Yes I can Change My Destiny and the world's destiny, that I can be part of that, that I'm not just a weak individual without a voice. I'm just as capable of changing our world as anyone. Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Mother Theresea, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Maria Montessori, Jonas Salk, Orville & Wilbur Wright, Barack Obama, yes, these are great people, but they are people, regular individuals that began with simply a dream, to change our world. When you look back through history, it's not countries or corporations that created transformative change, it was individuals. The power of the individual is stunning.
If anyone out there in the administration of Organizing for America listening please take a moment to watch this video. It's only 5 minutes. I'm a professional filmmaker, I promise you, it will be worth your time. This video was made as my service to America. But with "only" 130,000 + views (which is teeny tiny in the world of YouTube) which occurred mostly around January 20, 2008, this video is not inspiring anyone anymore. It could be inspiring millions right now to stand up and be part of the solution, not the problem, to realize one's own civic opportunity and responsibility, if Organizing for America would simply endorse this video and place it on their home page as a permanent fixture of inspiration.
Do not think I do this for any fame. I don't even want credit for this film. This project was entirely pro-bono and continues to be so. I simply want to help before my time on this Earth is over.
If you want to see more of what I do with film to try to help, please visit my "political activist" site (e.g. where i try to make a difference) My "MBMPRO" YouTube Channel
and the YouTube channel for My Production Company, MBM Productions International
Sincerely,
Steve Sulkin - Director & Activist...simply trying to make a difference
CEO, MBM PRODUCTIONS INT'L
ALL FOOTAGE IN THIS VIDEO WAS EITHER CREATED BY MYSELF AND MY PRODUCTION COMPANY, MBM, OR, AS IN THE CASE OF THE BARACK OBAMA FOOTAGE, WAS LICENSED THROUGH A STOCK HOUSE AND I HAVE FULL RIGHTS TO USE IT IN PERPETUITY.
PLEASE COPY AND SEND THIS TO EVERYBODY
IF I HAD A BILLION DOLLARS I,D BUY CNN AND FORCE THEM TO READ THIS OVER THE AIR
HAVE WE ALL FORGOTEN THAT GANGSTER RAP WAS EMBRACED BY THE MEDIA, AND IN TURN EMBRACED BY OUR CHILDREN, THEN ACCEPTED AS A TREND .THEN OK'ED BY PARENTS. LOOKED UP TO AND PROMOTED AS STARS, GLORIFIED AS BEING A WAY OF LIFE THAT MANY YOUTH TRY TO BE LIKE. WITH CLOTHING TO MATCH, MARKETED AND SOLD. BOUGHT BY PARENTS WHO WANT THEIR KIDS TO KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST TRENDS IN CLOTHING,, BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING PRESSURED BY THEIR KIDS WHO WANT TO BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE...MUSIC PLAYED ON THE RADIO ,TV, MTV, MUSIC AWARDS ETC. NOW ITS MANIFESTING IN MANY BLACK CHILDREN LIVING OUT THIS FAD IN REALITY, AND EVERYBODIES WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED, AND ASKING THE POLICE TO SAVE US FROM OURSELVES... ARE WE THAT SCREWED UP AS A SOCIETY ?
NEED I SAY ANY MORE... WHY ARE ALL THESE SO CALLED EDUCATED PEOPLE SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS AND SAYING DUUH ...I DONT KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENING..START FROM THE BEGINNING ..UNDUE THE FAD THAT HAS MANIFESTED THIS REACTION
THE POLICE CANT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM ITS AN ENVIRNMENTAL ISSUE.
YES LARRY KING LIFE IS CAUSE AND EFFECT!
SORRY GANGSTER RAPPERS WE DONT WANT YOUR PRODUCT!
A FEW OF YOU HAVE MADE MILLIONS BUT MANY OF YOUR FOLLOWERS ARE LEFT AT DEAD ENDS.
First of all im a nieghbor, of the mother of Blair Holt.We grew up together in the same nieborhood. I am not a perfect person . No one is. BUTThier are too many of our children being killed by other children. Why does this happen? It happens because many of our children have been infuenced by a fad culture that has glorified and lagitimized a gang culture, which has had a very destructive effect on our niebohoods here in Chicago and many other places in the U.S. Do you know how hard it is for a child to go against a popular trend with most of thier peers. In order to survive most parents are at work.Even if they wanted to, they would have to risk thier jobs to stay at home or devote enough time and energy to offset the influence of popular culture.These trends are established and reinforced by companies who make a lot of money creating and selling the latest trend.The parents of these young kids who are in gangs, have missed the oportunity to stop thier children from growing up accepting a destructive trend that makes money for a few and leaves the victoms lifes in turmoil. with hate in thier hearts, and the lack of respect for anothers life. Parents are Too busy at work, in poverty, fathers not there, gangs took over, I did the best I could, can no longer be an excuse. Me, you, us, them, we,the parents are the only ones that can stop this circle of violence. Check your children when they are young and they wont grow up killing other children. Watch what they are being influenced by. Watch who they are being influenced by. Know who the friends are they hang with. use your influence, to influence thier friends and other children. Know what your child is up to and who they are hanging with when they are not at home Dont let children raise children. Work together as a group when they are young, sacrifice if you have too, because the next child that is killed might be your own,killed by your nieghbors child. Or youll be explaining why your child killed someone else.Stop depending on the police or govt. to do our jobs after the fact.We as parents are always responsible for how our children turn out.
BUT WHAT IF ITS AN ENVIRNMENTAL ISSUE?.
OUR ENVIRNMENT INCLUDES THE MEDIA TV, RADIO, MARKETING, FASHOIN ETC.
THANKSSCORPI2000
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-52245#
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-254315#
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-221708#
http://www.myspace.com/scorpi2000radicalroots
This is for Alex, a young veteran of the Iraq War. I have linked to his blog before, in the B A D list, when the Weblog Awards were going on and I have talked about it at other times.
Well, this morning I noticed there was a new post, so I went to read it. I have been touched deeply by Alex's posts before, but this one really, really touched my heart. So, I am asking you to read this post, I am putting here, I will also link to his blog, he is a very talented writer, and you can follow your heart, but I think you will see where he and I are coming from. I hope you will write to Pres. Obama as I am and ask that he spare Alex's friend and all the others who are caught up in this back door draft that the Bushies got us into. Because that's how it is. So, read this and see what you think. Then if you want, go here to "http://armyofdude.blogspot.com/ and read more.
More after the fold
Generation "O" Main Blog & Unique "O" Wear/Gear @ Generation O on Zazzle
Hi, I'm new here...wish I had found this site sooner, but better late than never.
Looking for possible ways to get more involved in the process of making our world a better place alongside people in my community...ya know, to get in where I fit in.
Still learning my way around this site...
Read y'all later,
Monika
Change Has Come
In the 60's Sam Cooke sang so eloquently about a change comin,’
Dr. Martin Luther King visualized it and kept everyone drummin.’
In the 80's, Rev. Jesse Jackson personified it and started runnin’!
In 2008, Sen. Barack Obama exemplified it and got the voters hummin,’
It was an arduous 2 year uphill battle an all encompassing task,
He skillfully debated Sen. Clinton and McCain and he still didn’t bask--
Because he is a community organizer at heart but now just on a larger scale.
Who has beautiful women behind him like Sasha, Malia, Marian and Michelle!
In 2009, he took the oath and his platform of unity, hard work, family first and sacrifice,
To the White House with the mantra of YES WE CAN which should surely suffice-
For a country divided by everything underneath the sun,
From the war in Iraq, to women’s rights to the control of guns.
But thank goodness we have a well versed intellectual as the first in command,
Who wants all of us to get in on ground zero, roll up our sleeves and use our hands--
To rebuild this great nation and fulfill the promises that our forefathers spoke of.
Because first and foremost he is a family man, and his ideals are rooted in love.
On that note, I will close, and say a prayer for our 44th president,
Who has more than a clue and more than a hint
On how to get this country back on track,
For everyone not just the poor or the rich or white or black.
According to recent polls, voters believe that solving our energy problem is the nation's second-highest priority. Eighty-two percent think it is “very important.” Only the financial crisis ranks higher in voter concern.
At present, of course, we are highly dependent for energy on imported oil whose price we cannot control. To pay for it, we send vast sums to nations that are not our friends. Even though, the price of oil is relatively low at present,it cannot stay that way, because the world is exhausting the “easy” sources of oil. More oil is available, but in locations and forms that will be increasingly difficult and expensive to obtain.
In my life as a lawyer I have lived out a commitment to one cause above all – to bring economic security to working Americans, in our District, in our country. That’s the same commitment I will bring to Congress. We’re deep in an economic crisis unlike any other we’ve known. It may last years. We need new and creative ways to protect working Americans, especially our older working people who have no real pensions to live on.
For years we’ve heard the doomsayers: “We can’t afford Social Security.” “We can’t afford ‘single payer’ national health.” One thing we all learned from the $700 billion bailout: We’ve got the money to do all of this and more. At the moment, the Federal Reserve is literally printing money, to give not billions but trillions to banks and financial firms. To the people of this District, the banks and others have gotten their money. Now it’s your turn. Here’s the bailout I will go to Congress to get:
First, I want to expand Social Security, our public pension system, to replace, not overnight but in stages, the private pension system which has collapsed. Social Security now pays about 38 to 39 percent of your working income. In other developed countries, it averages 65 percent. That’s where our fiscal stimulus should be: a commitment to reach this goal, a public pension that ordinary working people can live on.
Second we have to move to single payer health care program, at least in phases: we might begin with extending Medicare to children, but the government should ultimately be the single payer for all. That’s not because single payer is the only ethical and efficient way to protect us all. No, it’s also because it is crucial to making us competitive globally. Through single payer and expanded Social Security, the goal is to pick up the “non-wage” labor costs that employers now have to pay. That’s already how other countries out-compete us: they have the government and not the private employer pick up these non-wage health and pension costs.
Unless we have government pick up the costs of pensions and health care, our companies can’t compete, and we’ll go on piling up huge trade deficits. We’ll have debacles like GM, which has collapsed in part because of the health and pension costs that the federal government should have been paying all along.
For years, the conservatives have said: “We can’t do this. The money isn’t there.” Well, the money is there. It was there for the Iraq war, a colossal waste of money, and for the bailout, the first half of which has been a colossal waste as well. And if we now have the government pick up non-wage labor costs with the use of general revenues, we will in fact make it cheaper and easier for our companies to hire. This is in fact the best and most realistic approach for a long term recovery.
Finally we have to put limits on returns to financial firms. We should re-enact the usury laws, the interest-rate caps that were in place in America up till the 1970s. We need to stop the rates of 30 to 35 percent, the hidden fees, the hundreds of ways that banks pull our money out of industry and into gambling and speculation.
In my campaign, I will have a single minded focus on the economic security to working Americans, that’s why I so strongly support the Employee Free Choice Act and other changes in our labor laws. And that’s why I support policies that will reduce the debt of working Americans. Overall, the plan I am setting out here will help make our country more competitive.
I’m a strong supporter of President Obama. Yes, I strongly support his program to repair our infrastructure. Even so, we don’t have to pave the streets with gold. If not the meltdown then the bail out should have opened our eyes. The real fiscal stimulus has to be the kind that brings financial security to the middle class. The message of this campaign is: We’re moving beyond the bailout. Now it’s your turn.
www.tom09.com
Letter from President-Elect Barack ObamaFuneral of Rabbi Arnold Jacob WolfDecember 26, 2008Chicago, IllinoisI am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, who was not just our neighbor, but a dear friend to Michelle and me. We are joined in this time of grief by the entire Hyde Park community, the American Jewish Community, and all those who shared Rabbi Wolf's passion for learning and profound commitment to serving others. Today we bid farewell to a titan of moral strength and a champion of social justice.Rabbi Wolf always remained true to the meaning of being a rabbi: he was a teacher. He took great pleasure in delving into Judaism's ancient texts, drawing out lessons about right and wrong, and inspiring young people to engage the world and strive to improve it. He transformed the historic tradition into a catalyst for Tikkun Olam - the sacred pursuit of repairing a broken world in our own time He taught us by example that we must pray not just with words, but with deeds - and that we must truly live the meaning of "love thy neighbor as thyself."In the great Rabbinical tradition, Rabbi Wolf was passionate and provocative in this work - and my conversations with him were always lively. You knew that if he disagreed with you, he would let you know in no uncertain terms - especially if he thought you were overlooking the moral dimensions of an issue, or rationalizing your own failure to live up to the highest moral principles. But he did it with kindness, and often with a smile or a laugh to let you know that even though you were just plain wrong, and had no idea what you were talking about, he still loved you.
Rabbi Wolf's commitment to justice started early in life. As a young rabbi serving at a turbulent time for our nation, he was determined to fight discrimination of any kind, and his involvement in the Civil Rights movement alongside Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel helped strengthen the bonds between the Jewish and African-American communities.Rabbi Wolf embarked on an historic experiment with the founding of Congregation Solel on Chicago's North Shore. Solel, which means "trailblazer," describes him well. He was proud to have Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an honored guest speaker. He was among the first to introduce to Chicago the writings of Elie Wiesel and Holocaust studies. And he never shied away from controversy or challenge when he saw an opportunity to advance the cause of freedom throughout Chicago and in Jewish homes and classrooms across our country, Rabbi Wolf's name is synonymous with service, social action, and the possibility of change. He will be remembered as a loving husband and father, an engaging teacher, a kindhearted shepherd for the K.A.M. Isaiah community, and a tireless advocate of peace for the United States, Israel and the world.And I will always be personally grateful for the support he showed me as I embarked on my own journey. In a piece Rabbi Wolf wrote on my behalf months ago, he wrote that he was proud to be my neighbor and that he hoped to someday visit me in the White House. In the end, however, the honor was all mine. And while he may not have lived to pay that visit to the Oval Office, I hope that his spirit of love, his love of learning, and his deep dedication to serving others will live on in the work I do each day. May his memory be a blessing and a comfort to us all and an inspiration for the generations to come.
