Organizing for America | Posts with the tag women

Posts with the tag women

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Assault on women's reproductive rights continues with a vengeance

By Connie from Gainesville, FL - Nov 9th, 2009 at 5:25 pm EST

Also listed in: Florida Women for Obama - Campaign for Change | Gators for Obama

The assault on women's reproductive rights continues with a vengeance. As Congress struggled to pass health care reform to improve the lives of America's families, anti-choice forces took advantage of the situation to mount yet another assault on abortion. They were willing to sacrifice health care reform -- even though millions of people would now be able to receive coverage, even though the bill would finally begin to lower health care costs, even though lives would be saved -- to enact anti-abortion provisions to take away reproductive rights from millions of women.

The effect of the Stupak/Pitts Amendment would be to deny the millions of women who get covered through the exchanges access to comprehensive reproductive health care that includes abortion services. These women would be denied coverage available today in private health plans. The Amendment effectively bans private insurance companies that participate in insurance exchanges from providing coverage of abortion. It tries to camouflage the impact by providing an "abortion rider" that women could choose to pay extra for to cover costs if they have an abortion.

How gullible do they think we are? Women don't expect to have an unintended pregnancy or a dangerous pregnancy that jeopardizes their health. And few if any insurance plans would actually choose to provide such a rider. Five states now have provisions to provide abortion riders. But folks have been trying to find a plan that actually provides one -- and they're still looking.

Make no mistake about it: the Stupak Amendment will deny millions of women access to safe, affordable reproductive health care. It puts an expensive price tag on women's ability to act on their reproductive rights. This outrageous provision must be stricken from the legislation before health care reform becomes law.

In 2008 the country elected a pro-choice Congress and a pro-choice President. The President has repeatedly told the country that health care reform would not take away benefits from those who currently have insurance. Now it's up to the President and the Congress to make certain that women do not lose their benefits or rights as a result of health care reform. There's no point in passing a health care reform bill that makes women less healthy, less safe and less able to exercise their constitutional rights

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Three Grammy Award Women on Health Care

By RFLTV for Obama - Oct 15th, 2009 at 2:10 am EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

Kelly Price, Debra Cox and Tamia Hill talk to Tracy Tluv on RFLTV about Health Care and their new humanitarian project called "The Queen Project". Please support and see how you can help me continue to get many fellow celebrities involved with their voice that can make a difference. Thank You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da046hYtj1I Read More »

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Do You Speak Matriarch? 2 Films By Women about Women

By Madama Ambi - Sep 10th, 2009 at 12:47 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg, film about the life and work of Gertrude Berg, who spoke Matriarch to a nation before the advent of I Love Lucy.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell, film about the women's peace movement in Liberia, led by Leymah Gbowee, who remembered her mother-tongue and used it.

This morning, during my usual twirl around the femisphere, I got news of Mark Dorlester's HuffingtonPost piece about the 31st article of the Iraqi Constitution. Says Dorlester, the George W. Bush administration hammered universal health care, single payer, into the Iraqi Constitution. Yes, he says, American government was assertive in placing universal single-payer health care into Iraq's new democracy, while here in the U.S.A. the idea of such a system has pushed the alarm buttons of right-wingers with rifles, young women comparing Obama to Hitler, older women wanting their country back, older people up in arms about death panels, and if you've tuned into the asylum only one time in the last month, you took the temperature of blowhards whipping up a firestorm. It's hard to put out a fire in a group brain if you don't have leaders with integrity.

On my way to the fact-check, I realized I had already entered matriarchal mode, fired up and fearless about calling out the bullshit. Somebody needs to do some 'splainin here! Tonight is the big deal speech President Obama is giving on his vision for health care reform and already I'm under-impressed. I'm not holding Barack Obama alone responsible for the lies and the bullshit and powerful people making themselves rich at the expense of nameless, faceless sick people like those Wendell Potter met at a "health fair" he stumbled upon. He got shocked into shame-with-his-name on it. Deserved shame. Shame. Shame. Good for Mr. Potter that he owned up and that he's speaking out. But what will the President do tonight? What can he do?

This is where he needs to call in Molly Goldberg to teach him to put his hands on his hips (maybe that's the problem? he ain't got none?) and stand his ground, aiming a double-beam taser gun of motherly "What the hell were you thinking? Were you thinking? Do you even have a thought process?" President Obama and Congress need to tag along behind General Leymah Gwobee, who led a women's peace movement in Liberia. They need to apprentice themselves to a woman drawing on ancient mother-right, down in the veins of necessity, down deep in the geo-sphere of universal human resources.

Why do we not see more women with hands on their wide hips, planted in the paths of tyrants, liars, thieves and war criminals? Go see Pray the Devil Back to Hell and you will understand why not. Women in too many parts of this world are running for cover every day, every day from out-of-control warlords and warlord-wanna-be's who have scorched the earth so massively a mother can't give her child the illusion of a meal. She has nothing. She cowers in her shack or her tent in terror of being raped or worse. And yes, there is worse in Liberia. No road is safe. No one is safe. Children are conscripted into war at young ages; the air is violent.

Why did Gertrude Berg (aka Molly Goldberg in her TV show), empress of a media empire, mother-figure to a nation, disappear from TV, film, and the American mantle of desperately loved stars keeping it together for everybody? When you watch Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg, you'll learn that it was the Lucy-wife who knocked the Molly-mother off the mantle. Unless you grew up in the 1950's watching I Love Lucy every day, you may not remember the scene (scenes?) of Ricky turning Lucy over his knee, administering a fatherly spanking. Lucy off the set was known to be a brilliant comedian, a tough negotiator and a creative genius, but Lucy in the show was uncorked, ungrounded, childish as well as childlike, impulsive, compulsive, and if she wasn't on the trail looking for trouble, was just too much the space-cadet to size up a stampede.

It's comedy, right? Somebody's got to play the fool, and that was Lucy's gift. Sure, sure, sure. Just go see Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg (it's in theatres now, and the New York Times gives it a star, so go!), and tell me if you can even imagine Mr. Goldberg turning Molly tush-side up and whacking her a few "bad girls" while Molly flutters her legs, bleating like a goat sold at market. Don't get me wrong--if consenting adults want to spank each other (do it in private, huh?...it's great that you're cool with your bondage thing, but I don't want to parade down Castro Street next to whole contingents of people getting spanked and whipped...I mean, you know, I didn't consent to that violence, so keep it to yourself...), I don't care as long as it's safe. NU?

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a powerful film, but I was disappointed not to see the one scene I was waiting for, the moment when Leymah (that's General Gwobee to you), can only convey the force of her outrage and her uncontainable fury by standing on the tracks to stop the train. We learn by her narration, after-the-fact, that she broke through the madness when she warned the soldiers and bureaucrats ringing her, that she was ready to take it on Liberia-style. She would show them the inversion of morality they'd caused. Leymah, herself, in her naked body, was ready to render visible the shame, the sorrow and the pity, created by war-crazed soldiers and insurgents.

In Liberia, it's a shaman's curse for a mother to remove her clothes in repudiation of men who deserve the lashing of her mother-scorn. She calls down a power that is understood and that holds up the earth. When she announces her intention to rip off her dress, warning them of the imminent, inevitable ripping she is powerless to prevent--by her own hand stripping off her dress, shoulders back, holding her brazen pelvis out for war-boys and war-men to behold--the curtain of shame drops. It's over. Nobody doubts that she will do it. Nobody doubts that a curse will ensue. Nobody shrugs off the meaning of mother-shame. Nobody misunderstands that tone of voice. Nobody can escape the flashback to complete dependence on his mother and the memory of owing her your life.

The appropriate use of shame, incarnated in the universal mother who gives life and protects life, began a women's peace movement, led by General Leymah Gwobee of Liberia. There was much more to the successful waging of peace--many other tactics, many other brave women. Without the standoff between the lost war-boys and the protectress of life, what was at stake could not have been made visible. General Leymah called on her mother-tongue.

Go see these two films and, if you can arrange it, see them back-to-back. You will see two very different, equally inspiring women, one rich, one poor, one Jewish-American, one Liberian, one white, one black. I see them side-by-side, glorious glints of a lost language.

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What I Wrote to Rachel Maddow

By Madama Ambi - Jul 24th, 2009 at 12:14 am EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

Dear Rachel--Please cover the bill reintroduced (originally put forward in 2007) in Ohio to give "fathers" the final authority over a woman's right to have an abortion. You have to read the bill to believe how invasive and repugnant the thinking is behind this latest maneuver to control women, women's sexuality, and women's rights.

You're it, Rachel. You are the only journalist who can unpack the full meaning of this legislation. Although I'm not sure I can trace the shortest line between these two dots, I'm betting that the zeitgeist operating here is linked to the reason Ohio is a "surrogate-friendly" state when other states have proscribed surrogacy either entirely or robustly. You have the staff and the smarts to get this story right, Rachel. Please cover it ad nauseum! We women need you to get the facts, smack the facts in the public's face, and then wind it all up with your signature "skewer with a smile."

Rachel!!!!! We need you!!!!

I should tell you that I'm not the pleading type. I'm the leading type and I started this group, Feminist Advisory Board for Obama. But lately I find that I'm writing to high-profile women practically begging them to speak for women because the mainstream media will only listen to a measly quota of notables from the female sex. On the boob tube, on primetime, on almost every night, you're it, Rachel. You're the only person with the chops, intelligence, historicity, fact-finding staff and nifty graphics get-up to do what needs to be done here.

http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=128_HB_252

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Holding Her Fire--Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings

By Madama Ambi - Jul 16th, 2009 at 1:01 am EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

I've been watching the Sotomayor hearings and have found it painful to watch Judge Sotomayor eat so much crow and show so much deference to men who are behaving badly. Yesterday I wrote a rant about Lindsey Graham but hesitated to post it because I wasn't sure if I would respect myself in the morning. Funny, I do respect myself upon re-reading, but the rant seems already out-of-date, yesterday's news. Or maybe posting a rant feels completely disproportionate to the racism, sexism and pure condescension displayed by the Republicans. What I mean is that I have lived my life as an intelligent woman who has also had to suck it up when white men condescended to me. I just kept thinking about the contradiction between the characterization of her as a "bully on the bench" and this warm, gracious, generous, deferential, patient woman answering to a pack of assholes. I can only surmise, but there's got to be a connection here...and I'm guessing that when one comes from the projects and grows up Latina and has intelligence and ambition, that sucking it up becomes simply survival. After all, all of us live in a pecking order at some time in our lives. And so, with all of that stored up ducking and smiling when what she really wants to do is verbally eviscerate these smug senators, I can see how she would be unleashed on the bench and show her firepower. I want to see her firepower very much, and I hope that TV will be allowed into the Supreme Court. It will be an education for the whole country, and I don't mean just a course in jurisprudence. Women and men need to see, on a regular basis, a highly intelligent woman in a position of real power. They need to learn appropriate deference and respect for women in power.

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THE ONGOING SUFFER OF WOMEN IN THE WORLD... ANOTHER EXAMPLE IN IRAN

By Alp Icoz, M.A. @ JOURNALTA - Jun 23rd, 2009 at 12:53 am EDT

Also listed in: Environmentalists for Obama

"In religiously conservative countries, the situation of women is really bad. In fact, most of the women are in similar conditions and suffer from the torturing life style that the men enforce in their countries. It is really sad to see how the men-created regimes based on religion affect the lives of women, children and youth... Why do women as the creatures of a secondary gender (!) need rights and equality that men have? There are millions of dangerously narrow minded men and ignorantly victimized women who still ask this question and cannot understand the concept of 'female' who has mutual rights of co-existing genders that were divinely created. What a double standard of an egoist mentality!!! The problems of women in the conservatively governed and male-centered countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey (partially), and more ---no matter what religion their demagogy, narrow mindedness and poor judgment is serving ... The suffer of women and children all around the world is still the bleeding wound of mankind in the 21st century..."

Alp Icoz, M.A.

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Dear Barbara Boxer: YOU'RE IT

By Madama Ambi - Jun 12th, 2009 at 3:41 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

Dear Senator Boxer:

I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan not only for your stance on issues impacting women and girls, but also because you're courageous and know how to handle your colleagues and the press with sechel! (I hope I've spelled that correctly.)

I used to live in the Bay Area but am now retired in Phoenix. I am a longtime feminist now getting very vocal in "cyberfeminism." Although there are many capable leaders in women's movement, none of them have the moxie you do, or the leverage. I'm writing to tell you that YOU'RE IT!

Yes, dear Senator, You Are It. You are the obvious person to step forward and speak for women when current events focus worldwide attention on issues that disproportionately affect women and girls. In my review of the landscape, there is no one else who can take the podium or the microphone or the spotlight and do it as skillfully, as eloquently, and as powerfully as you can.

I'm going to mount a campaign to put this idea out to online feminists, and I'll update you on where I'm posting and who else is weighing in on the issue. If you think that other members of Congress should take the podium with you, like Maxine Waters or another woman of color, I hope you will recruit them. If you think that there are men in Congress who should stand with you, please recruit them. Speak for women, Senator Boxer. You're it.

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Lukashenko explained why Belarus is developing relations with the West

By Unknown user - May 22nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm EDT

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that now the benefits of integration with Russia is doubtful, therefore, accounted for Belarus to develop relations with the West and to participate in the European program for the Eastern Partnership.

In the breakdown of the agreements reached within the framework of the Union State, Alexander Lukashenko, accused the Russian government. According to him, "everything we agree on the highest level, is blocked, is not executed."

Also, Lukashenko criticized the Russian leadership for the reluctance to "put us on their market, but did not specify what specific prohibitions meant.

Note, May 28, should be a meeting of Ministers of the Union State, which is expected to be attended by the head of the Russian government Vladimir Putin. Perhaps, during this meeting, the parties will be able to discuss problems that have accumulated in the bilateral relations.

Recall the fall of 2008, Russia agreed to grant Belarus stabilization loan of $ 2 billion of that money to $ 1 billion in Minsk have already received.

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D.C. Awakening--Jen Nedeau, FAB member

By Madama Ambi - May 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

D.C. Awakening--my interview with Jen Nedeau, Women's Rights blogger at Change.org.

Jen Nedeau blogs about Women's Rights at Change.org. She's not a seasoned feminist who has it all figured out; in fact, her feminist awakening began only a year ago. But she understands that women of her generation have grown up with a "dangerous sense of equality" that does not sync with real-world politics. This interview was recorded in March of 2009.

Get it at iTunes.

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FORM: Being Advisors to the Obama Administration

By Madama Ambi - May 16th, 2009 at 5:29 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

The idea behind Feminist Advisory Board for Obama has always been to find ways to make visible and audible the voices of the people who can speak about their lives and their needs directly to the ones who make policy. Since I formed FAB (November 2008), the landscape has changed, not radically, but we know a little more of how the Obama administration is comporting itself. I know more about some members of this group and I know more about the femisphere. Some of my ideas about women's needs have grown into huge ideas (needia), and other of my projects have taken a back seat while I've been roaming the femisphere like Lewis and Clark on an epic journey.

Which brings me to my subject today: form. Form is important, structure can be determinative. Which comes first, the what, the who, the where, the how or the when? Where is the why?

WHERE Member Jon Pincus feels that a wiki is the best place to support group communication. I don't agree, but I'm interested in hearing from other group members. What OFA gives us is this listserve, and each of us has an OFA blog that feeds into the blog for FAB. So, for instance, in addition to sending you this email, I could post this to my blog on OFA and then cross-post it to FAB and other groups within OFA, and anyone who is a member of MyBO/OFA can read and comment. Furthermore, what gets blogged at MyBO/OFA gets crawled by Google, so our blog posts will show up in public searches. We also have 157 members on FAB/Facebook, where anyone can post to the wall or to the discussion board. Also, the FAB/FB group is open, so even non-members can participate and read what is posted.

WHAT Two members of this group have asked if we have a Mission Statement, and I answered that I have ideas about one and then I invited each of these members to head up the committee or the wiki or whatever you want to call it to develop a Mission Statement. This is how I lead--I ask people to take responsibility for the projects they bring to the group. I can't do it all and I don't want to do it all. I want to contribute where I have skills, expertise or leadership energy, and I want members to do the same.

HOW Taking a page from National Organization for Women's organizational model, I have some ideas about creating something on the order of "Officers" within FAB. I will spell this out in a separate posting. If you have ideas about organizational models, please step up to the plate. You don't need permission from me to be a leader in this group. Got an idea? Go for it.

WHEN Along with my idea for appointing "Officers" (a term I'm not crazy about, actually. I prefer "Advisors..."), I'd like to see this group produce a monthly or a quarterly Advice Memo that we would then submit to appropriate government officials. Because I called this group Feminist Advisory Board for Obama, some people have assumed that I have an insider track to the White House. I don't. True, I supported Obama for president and know many people who did the same, and some who went on to have jobs in the administration. Still, I am NOT an insider. My activism will always be as an outsider because I happen to believe that once you get on the inside, you find yourself preserving the status quo. In my view, you cannot be an activist, an agitator, a critic or a change-agent from the inside. This is just my opinion, and I welcome yours.

WHO It's just us. We are the change we've been waiting for.

WHY I think we all know why. If you didn't already have a sense of why, you wouldn't have joined this group...I think...

Please post your feedback, your thoughts, your ideas, your criticisms, to this list and/or to your OFA blog and FAB's OFA blog. Or post to FAB/FB and cross-post to OFA. If you don't understand how that works, first go nose around OFA and see if you can figure it out. If you can't, post your questions to the group list.

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Tribal Law Still Alive and Legally Sanctioned in Afghanistan

By Henry M - Apr 7th, 2009 at 9:47 am EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

Afghanistan 'rape' law puts women's rights front and center

Obama called the law abhorrent. Would Bush have? Obama appears to be trying to change things in Afghanistan? Was Bush, really?

If you're a feminist, you can't sanction the cultural relativism that says that "it's part of their tradition, so who are we to say that it's wrong."

Misogyny was part of many societies’ history, including most religions and regions. Women only started to gain rights in the USA 100 years ago. Until then, and for many, even now, their disenfranchisement was traditional and believed to be dictated by their god. If that change was good, and helping women worldwide is required of a nation with the global power/influence of the USA, then the academic posturing of cultural relativism is deservedly dead.

Henry M

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5 Awesome Women in Obama's Administration

By 2morrowKnight - Mar 22nd, 2009 at 9:05 am EDT

Below are five more women - women who have been selected for great positions in the Obama Administration, and will help make Obama's vision for transformational change a solid reality for this country. They are:

(1) VALERIE JARRETT, Senior White House Adviser

WHY SHE ROCKS: She's known Barack and Michelle for almost 20 years, and will be an authentic voice that Barack knows he can trust. Vogue Magazine's great story on her is right here.

(2) LISA JACKSON, Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

WHY SHE ROCKS: She will likely strengthen environmental regulations, which were slightly weakened under the Bush Administration. She would be the first African-American to head the EPA. Furthermore, she'll be in a position to advise President Obama on the development of millions of Green Jobs that will be a major component of the new frontier of American job creation. Check out more on Lisa Jackson right here.

(3) SUSAN RICE, Ambassador to the United Nations

WHY SHE ROCKS: She brings some serious muscle to Obama's Foreign Policy Team. She is an expert on underdeveloped countries, the implications of global poverty and transnational security threats. Her former position as assistant secretary of state for African Affairs (under Bill Clinton) puts her in a position to advise President Obama on African issues like genocide in Darfur. Check out more on Susan Rice right here.

(4) DESIREE ROGERS, White House Social Secretary

WHY SHE ROCKS: She will be responsible for planning, coordinating and executing social events at The White House. This means she'll be planning state visits and state dinners. Ms. Rogers will also plan activities at The White House designed to connect strongly with the greater DC community. She has the personality and track-record to be one of the best to ever hold the position. Check out more on this Renaissance woman right here.

(5) MELODY BARNES, Director of the Domestic Policy Council

WHY SHE ROCKS: She will be working with the likely HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to bring about comprehensive health care reform - something that should help the 40 million plus American with no health care coverage, and millions more who can barely afford their coverage. She will also work on issues such as education, immigration, and criminal justice. She's an impressive woman who has been named one of the 10 best-dressed women in Washington DC - click here. See more about her career by clicking here.

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.

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RNC Chairman Steele All-over-the-place, Particularly on Abortion

By Henry M - Mar 12th, 2009 at 9:53 am EDT

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Trying to retain the old Republican base while recruiting new members, Steele's double-talk on abortion may just alienate everyone.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/12/abortion-a-choice-steele-tells-gq/
In remarks sure to cause consternation among the pro-life Republican base, party Chairman Michael S. Steele called abortion "an individual choice" during a GQ magazine interview, though he also said the Supreme Court "wrongly decided" the 1973 case that struck down state limits on abortion and made it an individual right.
In an exchange with reporter Lisa de Paulo, transcribed and posted Wednesday night on the GQ Web site, the new Republican National Committee chairman described his background as an adopted child as showing him "the power of life ... and the power of choice."
"The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other," Mr. Steele said.
The exchange then went as follows, starting with GQ: "Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?" "Yeah. I mean, again, I think that's an individual choice." "You do?" "Yeah. Absolutely."
Mr. Steele then elaborated that he thought "Roe v. Wade — as a legal matter, Roe v. Wade was a wrongly decided matter," which prompted Miss DePaulo to ask: "But if you overturn Roe v. Wade, how do women have the choice you just said they should have?"
Mr. Steele responded. "The states should make that choice. That's what the choice is. The individual choice rests in the states. Let them decide."

Henry M

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To be an Obamacrat

By 2morrowKnight - Feb 16th, 2009 at 5:50 am EST

Barack Obama: "Victory" Prints by hyperakt.

I was asked recently why I refer to myself as an “Obamacrat” when I’m a registered Democrat. And it’s a very good question. From 2000 to 2007, I was a registered independent. During that period, I continued voting for Democrats because I liked their agenda and issues, but I scoffed at the notion of belonging to a party. After all, “issue identification” has always been more important to me than “party affiliation”.

But President Obama really inspired me to change my party affiliation…and ultimately, to believe again. My belief in the concept of the politics of hope has always been strong, but now it's bigger than the boundaries of this planet we inhabit. It was just a matter of time before I knew the word Obamacrat fully applied to me. But it's more than a word, it's a bonafide movement.

Allow me to explain.

To be an Obamacrat is to acknowledge (not dismiss) the color-specific differences that make us unique, while also embracing the color-blind commonalities that bring us together. If you see it this way, then you’re happy that President Obama has assembled a rich, cosmopolitan group of smart people that will advance, improve, and transform lives while "visually reflecting" the diversity of America. In a country of shifting demographics, this is necessary. In fact, Obamacrats will be cheering loudly when President Obama names a Latino and an Asian American to The Supreme Court.

To be an Obamacrat is recognize that nothing, but nothing, trumps grass roots organizing. President Obama beat Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Primary season last year because of his simple community organizing philosophy: city-by-city; block-by-block; person-by-person. But he became the most popular person in the world when he grew his profile using the tools of The New Media: the MySpacing-YouTubing-Facebooking-texting-Twittering component. Obamacrats see this as the smartest way to market your message for a mass audience. And we appreciate how Barack Obama continues to use New Media tools to promote his presidential message.

Obamacrats crave diplomacy, you know, where our country talks to both its friends (like Great Britain and Israel) and its enemies (like North Korea and Iran). In a world that is more connected and inter-dependent than ever before, nations working together can reduce, if not obliterate, the child sex trade; female inequality; global warming; the AIDS epidemic; famine; and never-ending war.

Furthermore, Obamacrats also want a president who can bridge the cultural divide in this country, you know, someone with both BLUE STATE credentials and RED STATE credibility. Indeed, regardless of who voted for him on November 4th, President Obama now represents the evangelical farmer in Montana and the supply-side economist in Mississippi (who probably didn’t support him) as well as the small business owner in California and the union worker in Connecticut (who probably did).

To be an Obamacrat is to believe you can build something as majestic as The Great Pyramids or The Great Wall of China; to believe you can be as historic and life-affirming as P.B.S. Pinchback or Shirley Chisholm; or to believe that regardless of your cultural name (Gupta, Nguyen, Garcia, Omar or, Obama) you can be President of the United States. You know there are limits, but your strong, overpowering belief in the possibilities pushes you, and drives you.

Labeling myself an Obamacrat is a profoundly impressive honor that I take very seriously. I love the fact that President Obama is not only a great communicator, but also an intellectual stud. The Obama Family living in The White House, a building built by African-American slaves, is compelling. Truly earth shattering. But, even more compelling is the fact that slaves also dug foundations, hauled limestone, baked bricks, and cleared timber for The Capitol, where Obama was inaugurated, and for the massive area known as The National Mall, where 2 million people were packed in to witness his swearing in.

Like President Obama, we walk in the spirit of people who championed our rights, who spoke truth to power, and, who even envisioned this great moment in history. Let us all make the most of it.

To be an Obamacrat? Man, right now, nothing even compares to the feeling.

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President Obama's LOVE LETTER to American Women - Past and Present

By 2morrowKnight - Feb 8th, 2009 at 9:28 am EST

When President Obama signed The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act bill on January 29th, it was an unmistakable Love Letter to American Women - a love letter that ensures women across the country will receive equal pay for equal work. By signing that bill, he is helping to fulfill what millions of women have fought for. Women like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary Church Terrell, Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, and Anna Julia Cooper.

When Jeannette Rankin was elected to Congress in 1916 (four years before women had the right to vote), she had Equal Pay for Equal Work for women in mind. When Nannie H. Burroughs and Mary McLeod Bethune started The National Association of Wage Earners in the 1920s, they not only worked to improve living conditions for women, but also envisioned Equal Pay for Equal Pay for Women. When Fannie Lou Hamer fought 15 years for civil rights in The South (despite threats by the Klu Klux Klan and beatings by police), I’m sure she envisioned how her efforts would bring about, among other things, Equal Pay for Equal Work. These were brave, pioneering women.

Yet despite their awe-inspiring work, and the work of countless others, gender inequities have never been corrected. According to a study by The Center for American Progress, women may lose $434,000 in income, on average, due to the career wage gap. As it is stands right now, women in general earn 77 to every dollar a man makes for full time year round work. For a black woman it is 67 cents; for a Latina woman it is 58 cents. And as a policy specialist, President Obama is aware of these disturbing figures.

By championing the right of working women to receive fair pay, the paychecks of millions and millions of women (particularly in low wage, non-unionized jobs) can now see a boost. But, with President Obama's love letter comes a strong challenge too. Before the signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, President Obama said: "So in signing this bill today, I intend to send a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone. That there are no second-class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal—but bad for business— to pay someone less because of their gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability."

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson understands President Obama's challenge. He recently signed an executive order requiring his state to study and report its own pay practices when it comes to gender and race, and it will require the same from private sector companies that want state contracts. Gov. Richardson's motivation is to overcome pay inequity in his state, and he created a task force to implement the necessary changes. Yes, this is awesome! Companies that want state contracts in New Mexico will have to show taxpayers (who are footing the bill) that their businesses pay its workers fairly. And don't you believe that by doing pay equity analyses, these companies will cut down on discrimination lawsuits because their statistics will be available to employees who will see they're not being shorted? I do.

More work has to be done though. In fact, I would like to see President Obama sign a similar executive order for companies that want federal contracts, and I e-mailed him at WHITEHOUSE.GOV to let him know. E-mail him yourself and let him know your ideas.

President Obama signed not only a love letter, but a declaration of justice and a commitment to fairness for the nameless, faceless, voiceless women who help hold up our economy but are not rewarded for it. So let us rejoice that we have a president who understands the economic realities of American working women, and who understands what needs to be done to boldly address the less than flattering aspects of those realities.

Ladies, President Obama just signed you a love letter.

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Inauguration Day is finally here!!!

By Tiffany A - Jan 20th, 2009 at 5:34 am EST

So here it is. The day so many have waited for, for so long. Today is the dawning of a new political, social & cultural era, not just in the United States but across the world.

I've blogged before about how excited & hopeful I am about an Obama Presidency, but I want to explain what it means to me on very personal level. Barack Obama is the only politician I have ever heard talking about disability & disabled people in such a positive way. This positivity in itself is not only refreshing but also very necessary. Politicians in the UK rarely talk about the subject & when they do it's usually in very negative or unhelpful terms regarding welfare & state benefits. This is not the way to inspire young disabled people to achieve their goals.

To many African Americans & also ethnic minorities around the world he is a symbol of the strides forward in recent decades & of positive change still to come. He's also given me hope as a young disabled woman.

Barack Obama has proved that anyone from any background can achieve great things. I now hope that one day I see someone like me, posing for the press outidside the famous door of 10 Downing Street & giving their first speech as Prime Minister of Great Britain. This may seem unlikely but then so did the prospect of an African American President before Obama started his campaign.

Change is possible.
Yes. We. Can.

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PEACE IN JERUSALEM

By WEBMASTER - Jan 15th, 2009 at 10:53 pm EST

Also listed in: 10 groups

Jewish and Arab Neighbors Hold Hands for Peace

Last Saturday 300 Jews and Arabs from the Wadi Ara region of Israel demonstrated against the harming of innocent civilians in Gaza and the surrounding Israeli region. The rally was organized by NIF grantee Awareness for You, which runs empowerment courses for Arab women in the village of Kfar Kara.

"I only expected about 90 people to attend the rally," explained Amna Ka'anana, "so I was surprised when we had 300 people all dressed in white and holding olive branches, about half and half Jews and Arabs. Many of the drivers who passed by, both Jews and Arabs, called out their support."

In addition to being a forum to voice concern over the conflict in Gaza, the rally was also an opportunity for the Jews and Arabs of Wadi Ara to come together. Among the many banners, one carried by an Arab read "Neighbors call for peace," while another carried by a Jew said "Jews and Arabs hand in hand."

Amna Ka'anana hosts Jewish neighbors in her home in Kfar Kara.

Ka'anana said: "We sent a message of peace and coexistence to all of Wadi Ara, to all of Israel and to the entire world."

Ka'anana, who is an Orthodox Muslim, received NIF's London-Yaari Scholarship in 2007 for her work in women's empowerment. Last year she received the Knesset Speaker's Prize for Quality of Life.

When the fighting erupted in Gaza last month, she feared that the tensions could spill over into violent conflicts between Jews and Arabs in Wadi Ara. She invited several dozen Jewish and Arab activists to her home to discuss the situation, and they hit upon the idea of the Shabbat rally.

"I have always wanted to initiate social activities that bring Jews and Arabs together," explained Ka'anana, "so that we can understand one another's culture. Now the war has taken matters in a different direction. At the end of last week's rally many people started crying and that started me crying."

The rally ended with Jewish and Muslim prayers. Awareness for You plans similar peaceful rallies, with increased expected turnout, every Shabbat while the fighting continues.

barackobama.com sources:

1. http://arabamericans.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxbx3
2. http://jewishamericans.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxbx3
3. http://faith.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxbx3

Also see Spirit of Reconciliation

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The questions most asked of me so I want to ask you

By Women-Eye For Change - Jan 12th, 2009 at 6:09 pm EST

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Is Barack Obama another Martin Luther King, Jr?

What would Dr. King say about the election of Obama?
Is the election of Obama as the first African-American president of the United States mean that Dr. King's dream has been fulfilled?
Did I ever think an African-American would become president of the United States 40 years after the death of Dr. King?
Does Obama's election indicate that racism for all practical purposes no longer exist in America?
Will Obama's election have any impact upon the number of African-American men incarcerated of the high percentage of out of wedlock births within the African-American community?

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THE AUTO INDUSTRY, A FEW OF MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES (INDUSTRIAL GREED):

By Alex Karoub - Jan 11th, 2009 at 9:14 pm EST

Contact: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

This post is a brief overview of the Automotive Industry which describes some of the fundamental problems that are rarely spoken of. In addition, you will learn of a few of my personal experiences growing up, an environment where I was surrounded by the industry; you will learn of a few perspectives that are shocking and that even only a few within the industry know of. At the end of the post, you will better understand what happened to American Manufacturing and where it stands.

The Auto Industry is at the heart of all of American Manufacturing. It is an industry that laid the groundwork for many other types of industries to follow, deemed at one point in history to be the highest of successes. But now, it sheds light on what can become warning signs for other businesses that mistakenly try to imitate it.

This months hot topic is whether to bailout/rescue the regressing American Auto Industry. The original owners and their successors abandoned that industry long ago. The auto industry was ravaged and plundered by the wealthiest Americans a half century ago and has been in decline ever since. Shortsighted greed from one generation to the next has been the culprit. Since autos were first mass-produced and America monopolized the world, it was only natural that the American percentage/share of the market would eventually be reduced. However, total growth was enormous and total size of the market continues to grow even through today. Therefore, American growth of exports should have continued to grow, but does not significantly due to pillage and poorly planted roots. In simpler terms, we originally owned the entire pie. The pie was split up. Since the entire pie has grown dramatically, our piece should have grown too. However, the Big 4, 3, 2, … have been loosing market dominance and lead since the end of World War Two. Here we are years later in crisis, and the real question remains whether or not to rescue the real victims of the auto industry, the workers. People were not retrained or re-educated; most were never afforded real education's to start. People are now in despair and hopelessness. From my vantage point now living in Colorado for the last two decades, I have seen the high tech industry follow the auto industry, but at a learned and accelerated rate. Other industries are also copying the auto industry and are laying similar foundations also headed for disaster. Going back to a brief history, the misguided roots show how the decay started and why it spread.

Although I did not grow-up during the inception of the Auto Industry, its roots surrounded me. I spoke with a few who were there in the earliest days, and spoke with many who were of the following generation. I absorbed its history by studying it while attending school in Motown (Motor Town), by natural osmosis, and in my earliest career dealing with the car makers.

Growing up as a kid I lived less than a mile from Henry Ford's first moving assembly line factory, with GM’s World Headquarters’ just three miles away, and with Chryslers World Headquarters at the end of our street. The first Ford plant (in Highland Park, a city now surrounded by Detroit) and the first of GM's plants were built on the importation of the next generation of former black slaves and white share crop workers from the south (whites similar to former slaves whose white necks were red from working in the sunny fields, hence the mean spirited term 'Redneck'). The joke that Henry Ford must have laughed at and that went around town was "each worker would get paid enough to buy a Ford" (Of course using infamous 'Ford Credit' which was a primary direct withdrawal from their pay checks.) Henry manipulated a built-in guaranteed customer base and tapped double profits, being profits on the cars and the profitable bonded interest. Those were scams that he copied from sharecropping. The remains of their wages were so low that they had to live in shacks; but after all Henry felt, they came from shacks near the fields in the south. So much bigotry and repeated methods from sharecrop economic slavery. Instead of updating and rebuilding the original plants and without regard for the people who were the workers, the emerging auto giants left to go further to the suburbs.

So, as they moved and grew they imported shipload after shipload of immigrant economic slaves from Poland (to Hamtramck, MI) and more economic slaves from the Middle East (to Dearborn, MI). There were other minorities imported as well, also imported for economic servitude to supporting industries such as mining, iron works, steel fabrication, glass works, textile, …. Astonishing how easily the game of 'divide and conquer' worked upon the variety of minorities; a game of keeping the workers pitted against each other using race and ethnicity; all to hold back the power of the people from truly uniting. WW2 caused the Automakers not only to retool but also to reevaluate their future directions.

Soon, after the victory of WW2, came the Auto Giants grand visions for economically conquering the world via expansion outside the U.S. They quietly boasted that that would leave mainly world headquarters executives, designers, and engineers in the U.S. with the prestigious white-collar jobs. It was felt then (and these are not my bigoted opinions, not from me, yikes) that after all even 'the weaker sex' could do factory labor jobs as seen during WW2 (i.e. Rosie the Riveter). So why not have the 'stupid foreign workers' do the labor outside the U.S. What also gave way to the idea that manufacturing could succeed outside the U.S. was Mexico; since Mexican workers were also imported, but only temporarily during WW2. (By the way, the temporary Mexican workers were never fully paid back as promised during WW2.) A tremendous wave of pride about white-collar jobs became very popular in Detroit and in other automotive communities during the 50's. That vision sat poised on the back burner, but a pre-planted seed was already in place, which was Canada (Windsor) just across the Detroit River.

Canada was a much-desired orchestrated precedence for the automakers; it set the stage for grace given by the government as an easily set up protocol for off-shoring jobs. Soon after, the automakers made a migration south to other states, then further south to Mexico, and finally overseas and on to economic slavery in China.

Today we see the results of the destructive path the industry has taken. Layoffs, instead of being temporary situations reserved for pauses during new model changeovers, eventually became the mark of permanent labor plant closures. Obvious abandonment of people soon became the name of the automakers game. Along the swathed trail are - Highland Park, Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, Marquette, Gary Indiana, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Cleveland, …, which became known in the early 80’s as 'The Rust Bowl’. Sort of a rape, pillage, and burn mentality, which continues to today.

Amazing how well the reasoning of "that's the way it's always been" persists and grows from one generation to the next. Excuse after excuse gave temporary reasoning to incremental geographic movements for global conquer. Temporary excuses ranged from the need to originally amass large workforces, to the hindrance of union pressures, to American workers are lazy, to 'over' government regulation, to …, all straw obstacles as to why the auto industry needed to move as it did.

No! Greed is not good. We see how those at the top of the industry have each come in, grabbed with their greed, and left. Now today, we see how greed has caused "what once was, no longer is". So in short, now we see the results of greed, poorly planted roots, and disregard, taking its toll on America. Equally, is the toll on the myriad of unrelated businesses, old and new, that have adopted the auto industries infectious habits of having little to no regard for individual people that make up the American workforce. People.

While being raised in the center of Detroit, I experienced many situations involving the Auto Industry; the following although early was not my earliest, and is an actual example.

Around 1963, when I was 11 years old, I remember George Romney visiting our house to exchange political favors. Our 23-room house was a rundown relic of a past era, but it cleaned up well as a phony front for wealth and pretentious power. I remember we kids had to pretend that we were Christian Protestants for the visiting Governor (former Chairman of AMC) who was doing his Christian Mormon tradition of visiting the homes of his new legislators. How ostentatious they both were with fraudulent humility of how they rose from their humble beginnings. But more to the point, I remember Romney sitting at our dinning room table and saying "The Big Four Automakers don't have to worry about giving the Unions what they want, as long as the benefits will not be due for decades. By that time the labor plants will be outside the U.S." That shocked my brother Jimmy and I, as we listened playing in the sunroom just off the dinning room. Later we were once again physically punished (beaten-up), this time for listening to adult talk. Jimmy a year older than I, and intellectually gifted, soon became a Page at the State Capital. The accounts he returned with were shocking as well. Growing up as we did would make your head spin and open your eyes to disgust. We continued living in those surroundings until we grew out of our teens. Then we moved on to make our own adult lives, creating better environments much different from what we were born and raised in.

Recalling back to my teens, I realized back then the Detroit riots were not only about race, but was also about economic oppression. It was the minorities who were oppressed the worst, most especially African-Americans. Bad however you measure it is bad. (For a better understanding of the decline of Detroit and to better understand the riots, take a look at my other post: “DETROIT RIOTS OF 1967, A RECOLLECTION OF THE TRUTH.” You will also better understand how very close we came to seeing a nationwide repeat of the riots in the coming Spring of 2009.)

Unions, workers, man-hours, laborers, …, are not people, they are burdens to be minimized and eliminated. While watching Lee Iacocca being interviewed on Charley Rose last year, I noticed Iacocca admit that he new all the way back during negotiations with the unions, in the early 80’s, that Chrysler would never have to pay off in full on long term commitments to the unions. As Iacocca danced around the issue he said "now the unions will have to face reality". And, as Rose went on to discuss it more, Iacocca was getting more uncomfortable, and eventually managed to change the subject away from discussing past union negotiations. Iacocca was a bit slicker than George Romney was, since Iacocca was on national TV. It made me ashamed that Chrysler World Headquarters was at the end of our street when I was a kid. And, that as a young adult I had so proudly in my early career returned while working for a couple of electronics companies to Chrysler's World Headquarters R&D operations. I thought it an honor to have paid Iacocca's in-house barbershop to cut my hair, even his same barber. Some honor.

Following Chrysler, I moved up to deal with GM, and was puzzled. I listened to upper executives at GM complain that they constantly had to bribe Mexican government officials and border guards for GM plants. I guess they also assumed I already new and accepted that the plants in the late 70's had already begun their exodus to Mexico and other countries. I have always looked at bribery as disgusting and wrong, it was not for me or those who I dealt with, that's among the many good things that a mentor named Jack Bazzy taught me as a young kid. By becoming acquainted with other mentors as an adult, I learned to seek out highly reputable employers and quality knowledgeable friends. I learned how to educate myself, and moved up very high in the scientific and technical industries, all of which I enjoyed.

Although I grew up in Highland Park / Detroit, that was not anywhere near my top focus in choosing Obama. But, it is a simple history for me to recall, amazing how many more details I can give, but the main points have been brought forward. In addition, from being a mutt of sorts myself, to being a self made man, be that what it may, I have no illusions of being great. What I do mean here is that I quickly recognize many of Obama's unique insights, although mine are different but a bit similar in nature. Like many Obama supporters, I have personal experiences on most issues Obama has raised. So, above is just one of many examples that I can personally give.

To better understand manufacturing in America, you can read my other blog:
WHAT SCREWED UP MANUFACTURING FOR AMERICA

Blog members can reply here, anyone is welcome to email me at: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

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ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

By WEBMASTER - Dec 13th, 2008 at 2:26 am EST

Also listed in: 9 groups

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

individuals and organizations understand that alternative energy technology exists and
when people see the economic benefits of using alternative energy technologies

Call 949.645.1701 for information on how Green Wave Energy can help you save the planet.

Alternative Energy
Source: David Apperson

url: http://veterans.barackobama.com/page/community/tag/alternative-energy

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