Posts with the tag VOTER

VIllaraigosa Hiding Swine Flu Cases

Poppen Report — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:38:40 EDT

BECAUSE VILLARAIGOSA , I HAVE BEEN GETTING REPORTS ALL OVER THE COUNTY FROM PEOPLE ON THE STREETS, INSIDE SUBWAY STATIONS , AND OTHER PUBLIC PLACES THAT THEY ARE UPSET WITH VILLARAIGOSA DENYING THAT THEY ARE SICK CITIZENS OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
THEN MY 8 MILLION FANS OF MY SHOW- POPPEN REPORT, HAVE CALLED IN AND INFORMED THAT ALL THEIR STATES ARE INFECTED AND KNOW THAT WE AS CALIFORNIA HAVE THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF TWO THINGS 1. PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY ARE THE LARGEST NUMBER, ASIDE FROM THE FACT LARGEST STATE OF PEOPLE AS TOTAL CENSUS POPULATION.
2.IMMIGRANTS ENTER THE UNITED STATES EVERYDAY FROM SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA TO HEAD FOR LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA TO GET THE THINGS NEEDED TO SURVIVE FAKE IDS, ETC. AND THEN DISPERSE TO TEXAS OR OTHER STATES IF THEY CHOOSE NOT TO STAY IN CALIFORNIA.
3. IF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA HAS RELEASED CASES OF ACTUAL DATA , OF THOSE WHO CONTRACTED SWINE FLU VIRUS IN ALL OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, AND VILLARAIGOSA SAYS EVERYBODY IS 0 AND DOESNT HAVE SWINE FLU.

WHEN ALL COUNTIES SURROUNDING LOS ANGELES COUNTY, HAVE HAD TO SHUT DOWN THEIR SCHOOLS NOT FOR A FEW DAYS BUT MONTHS AS ORDERED BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.

THEN VILLAIROGOSA'S ISSUE OF IGNORING THE FACTS AND REALITY IN JUST RELEASING THE ACTUAL NUMBER DATA, TO BECOME GOVERNOR AS I HAVE HEARD ACROSS THE STATE FROM BOTH MY VIEWERS AND PEOPLE ON THE STREETS.

VILLARAIGOSA NEEDS YOU TO CALL HIM AND TELL HIM DON'T LIE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ONLY REPUBLICANS DO THAT STUFF OR BAD POLITICIANS WITH ULTERIOR MOTIVES.

ITS ALL IN THE NUMBER AS REPORTED BY U.S. CENSUS BUREAU OF THE TOTAL POPULATION IN LOS ANGELS COUNTY AS A WHOLE DOCUMENTED VS. THOSE IN THE ENTIRE STATE.
HERES HIS INFO FOR CONTACT-

200 North Spring Street, Room 303
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Phone: (213) 978-0600
Fax: (213) 978-0750

CALL HIM TODAY AND DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH FORGETTING WHO ELECTED HIM.

POPPEN REPORT
www.ustream.tv/channel/poppen-report

Terrorizing the Terrorists

Don — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:34:58 EDT

How do you deter an enemy who is willing to kill himself in order to kill you? You strike at something more important to him than his own life. Defining that will be easy for me. The next question is can America be as ruthless as our enemies?

The time has come to end the fruitless and unsustainable effort to search and destroy every cave in Afghanistan and bomb every campground in bordering Pakistan. It’s counterproductive anyway.

What will put the fear of America into terrorist masterminds and those who would follow their orders is simple and radical revenge. Masterminds have families: Cousins, brothers and fathers. Eliminate them. All at once, or one at a time, it works just as well. The ones who survive an initial “hunt” will go into hiding. Having some adult male relatives killed and the rest hiding out in caves will demoralize masterminds and their loved ones. You cannot work and support your women like that. You can’t make more baby masterminds that way. You cannot continue the blood line. The women and children will pressure them to stop their plotting and bombing.

People want to leave a familial legacy, and they can’t do that under those circumstances over the long term.

Should America do that? Yes. Do we have the “intestinal fortitude” and sustainable motivation? I don’t think so. But we should, and it shouldn’t take another terrorist attack to get us there.

For the last seven years the CIA has been kidnapping people from other nations and torturing them. Why not just go in there and quietly shoot them to death?

Frankly, by not killing women or children the way those terrorists routinely do, we can even claim the moral high ground.

The Real Abominations Against God and Jesus

Don — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:04:47 EDT

The fact that Americans vote in favoring of paying our farmers to produce LESS milk in order to keep the gallon price of milk HIGHER than a gallon of gasoline while millions of American babies' parents can't afford milk is an abomination against God.People who, in the name of Jesus, vote to DENY medicine and treatment for babies in nations where it is otherwise not available suffering from AIDS because adults delivering help condone use of condoms to staunch the spread of AIDS are committing an abomination against God.People who vote against public sponsored healthcare for babies and children who cannot otherwise obtain it are committing an abomination against God.People who allow others to go hungry, homeless and sick, thus disobeying Jesus AND God himself, find the energy to rail against adults who behind closed doors have sex with other consenting adults are committing an abomination against God. They spend money, cast votes and change constitutions to deny those people rights to get divorced like 50% of the self-righteous people do every day.People who blatantly ignore the commands of Jesus and stated in all the gospels to care for the sick, the hungry and the homeless, and “judge not lest you be judged” while trumpeting an obscure sentence fragment from the Old Testament taken out of context while calling themselves Christians are an abomination against God and Jesus. Theirs is the greatest of blasphemy imaginable.When the mere idea that a person would not CHOOSE to be reviled, persecuted, fired from the military, and in some cases savagely beaten to death -- in other words, be gay -- is met by 'conservative Republicans' with such rabid, savage hostility, then one could reasonably believe that their position and their associated rage is intended merely as a distraction from their own actions which are immoral, inhumane and even criminal (refer to first five paragraphs).

The George W Bush Recession and Depression

Don — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:13:08 EST

We need to give credit where credit is deserved: NAME this economic crisis after the man most responsible for it's creation.

$10 trillion deficit is what we had at the end of the Bush administration. In eight years, Bush more than DOUBLED all the indebtedness America had accrued in more than 200 years.

This is more than a talking point, this is a necessary reminder that should be made every day, so that the notoriously SHORT memories of Americans shall be stimulated on a regular basis.

Bankers CAN be heroes -- No 'vetting' required

Don — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:01:53 EST

Senator Dodd went rogue and inserted some crazy stuff into the new law, so the President will need to be creative. Perhaps we are looking for HEROES to run our troubled banks. A lot of wealthy patriots have made great financial sacrifices to serve in the Obama Administration. Like-minded people who don’t want to go through the vetting process and insane pubic humiliation of being outed on every little tax related or other embarrassment can now serve their country without becoming federal employees but while still consenting to be paid wages not all that far above that.

Gregg: Is This Petty Partisan Politics

Don — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:47:23 EST

I see nothing different Obama has said or done since 2004 and today -- perhaps Gregg's understanding of it morphed overnight between the time he was begging for the job and yesterday, when it came time to vote on the stimulus plan. Gregg seems to claim otherwise.

Obama should have known Gregg either hasn't the courage of his convictions or , far more likely, hasn't got any deeply held beliefs other than politics. We demand omniscience! How DARE the President not realize a man like Gregg would say anything to further his own personal ambitions?

There's something wrong with a vetting process that cannot discern that a politically savvy adult who somehow got himself repeatedly elected to the US Senate would claim to have turned his back on Petty Partisan Politics but actually lack the moral fortitude to stand by his decision.

Democrats Lose Senate Majority (circa 2010)

Don — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:38:40 EST

(Can I say 'circa' if it's in the future?)

Democrats won't be controlling the Senate after 2010.

They rushed like lemmings to declare they'd never accept Blago's appointee.

A little time and forethought should have enabled them to reason that in order to create the illusion of innocence Blagojevich would be likely to find someone eminently qualified, of stellar reputation and far removed from the (alleged) illegal activities.

That would only be in his own best interests. And if there is one thing we have learned about Blago, it is that his own best interests are his first and last consideration in decision-making.

Senate Democrats have now pitted themselves against the Chicago Democratic Machine. Despite that Dick Durbin has lost touch with reality and thrown in with them, this is a battle Senate Democrats cannot and will not win. In this, there is no winning, only degrees of losing.

Should he be denied, Burris can run against any Illinois Democrat, including Durbin, and win.

As for that silly mausoleum? All politicians are narcissists. He's just 'concrete' about it.

Remember Republican Senator Ted Stevens who actually looked jurors in the eyes and told them he didn't notice people stuffing hundreds of thousands of dollars into his pockets. I dare say Bill Gates would notice if you stuffed a few hundred thousand dollars into his pockets. Ted Stevens,... now THAT'S a big ego!

It is also necessary to remember that this is the same US Senate that gave a seven-time convicted federal felon -- Ted Stevens -- a two-minute standing ovation, and two hours of praise-filled testimonials. And they are claiming to be observing their PRINCIPLES???

Republican and Democratic Senators must think we are stupid, stupid, stupid.

GOP needs America to fail (Democrats helping them)

Don — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:51:49 EST

Imagine what would happen if the immediate and long-term success, and even viability, of the Republican Party depended on Barack Obama failing to pull America back into PROSPERITY. Oh, wait, we don't have to IMAGINE that because it happens to be the current condition.

While refusing to offer any better ideas, Republicans stand in adamant opposition to everything the President-Elect suggests, even without knowing any details. I have to admit, he's been somewhat vague.

History suggests that America's realization of a sense of success by spring of 2012 will mean the GOP will be broadly out of power for one to two generations.

Every month that another 600,000 Americans lose their jobs is the direct result of Republicans acting on what they see is their own best political interests. While one of their many changing SLOGANS last year was "America First", in truth it is plain that they hold the Republican Party's interests above those of America and our people.

Every day that our children continue to suffer from a declining educational system in which mediocrity is celebrated; every day that more taxpayers lose high wage jobs only to go on welfare food stamps and unemployment; every day that more and more Americans are forced to sign up to work at the country's largest employer WalMart whose own accidentally leaked internally study said 43% of their full-time employees are on welfare and food stamps; every day that we lose what little remains of our manufacturing base so that when we next need to really go to war like in WW2 we won't have car factories to swiftly convert to making fighter jets and tanks so we'll have to order them from CHINA which the most likely enemy in a real war; remember that Republicans see that as MERELY another day closer to the time when they regain power over the White House, Senate and House -- which if not for the horrendous disaster they have created over the last eight years might not be so terrifying.

America stopped keeping up with the demands for maintenance of our infrastructure with the Reagan administration. We were told that things like that "the free market" would take care of things like that, but tell that now to New Orleans and their crumbling levees, or Minnesota with their collapsed interstate bridge, or Kentucky with their billion gallons of toxic sludge that spilled out of a mine containment area.

America's best defense against precisely the current financial system collapse, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, enacted not coincidentally in the wake of the financial collapse of 1929, was REPEALED on the demands of deregulating Republicans -- with help from Bill Clinton in 1999. That law alone prevented financial institutions from becoming "too big to fail". That is, it kept each of the insurance, banking and real estate conglomerates within their own area. They could still become behemoths, but it's when they get into all three of those industries and start making up new ones that are totally unregulated like 'derivatives' that the failure of one company can bring down the American economy, even the world economic system.

The only thing the President-Elect can do to get us out of this disaster is to go back the way we came in, by resurrecting modern-day Glass-Steagall style regulations and stimulating the middle class segment of the system while taking back the giveaway tax cuts from the wealthiest 1% that over the last eight years gave money to people who already had more money than they knew how to spend. They squirreled it away someplace, or bought yachts built in Greece. Republicans love to claim that tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy leads to the creation of small businesses. In reality, it's Steve Jobs and Bill Gates when they had nothing who created small businesses that became leading world companies. Billionaires DON'T start small businesses, they BUY huge corporations then fire 50,000 or 100,000 employees to increase productivity and thus profits for themselves and large bonuses for the three to five top executives of each company. Oh, and they CUT wages of the few employees they do have to keep on.

That doesn't grow anything but unemployment and declining wages. Less taxpayers and more people surviving on public assistance.

If we don't stand up to these self-serving Republicans very few of us will have jobs in 2012, and they will be at WalMart. There won't be any real taxpayers to support the public assistance people need to get back into good paying jobs.

I'll get to the CRAZY DEMOCRATS on another post. I'll give you a hint that after 2012 Democrats will no longer be in control of the Senate.

3 Moves In 3 Weeks -- Way to Relocate

Don — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:26:33 EST

“A President must be able to do more than one thing at a time,” said then-candidate and now President-Elect Barack Obama, a few months ago when McCain was trying to weasel out of the big debate.

Evidently, President-Elect Obama CAN do far more than one thing at a time. He and his family are MOVING three times in three weeks! This, the weekend of 4 January 2009, he moves from his Chicago home to DC’s Hay-Adams Hotel. On the 15th, they move to Blair House, then on the 20th, they move into the White House. Yes he can! For most of us, the dreaded process of a single relocation is more stressful than death and taxes. But Superman is tripling-down on it.

At the same time, the President-Elect Obama is interviewing and hiring a government, from cabinet members, agency administrators, secretaries and ambassadors. He’s working feverishly on the economic crisis, the transition and inauguration, as well as homeland security and two wars. Throw in taxes, healthcare, unemployment, social security, Medicare and the crisis of the Big 3 automakers, plus Iran, Cuba, Russia, China, the Palestinians and Israel, plus all those special interest groups here at home, such as the disabled, veterans, senior citizens and gays, and you’ve got an enormous inbox.

After those daily national security briefings in which the President-Elect Obama is beginning to learn just how badly Bush has screwed things up for us around the world, it’s a wonder the President-Elect Obama can sleep at night. He needs all the rest he can get.

Enjoy your vacation, sir, you need all the recharging your batteries can get.

What Page of The Bible?

Don — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:07:57 EST

There are only two reasonable choices.

To evoke the vision of the world economy rising from the ashes of the torched-earth strategy of the Bush-Cheney-Rove administration, BHO should open the Bible to the gospel account of Jesus’ rising from death. Not only will it give us hope, but it will reinforce our knowledge of BHO’s Christianity, helping put aside the invocation guy.

Times are so serious that BHO should keep the Bible closed and put his hand on the whole thing – we’re gonna need ALL of it right now, and it underscores BHO’s whole ‘inclusiveness’ thing.

Welcoming the Ministry of Hatred and Scapegoating

Don — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:08:01 EST

There are always those who make their fortunes playing to the fears and insecurities of people frustrated with their own lives who need someone to blame, someone to hate, and it's easy for them to agree on certain groups to focus on.

Obama is moving America toward the point where those people will realize that if they don't have a good job, they have too little money, too much debt, their kids are in and out of jail and/or on drugs, or failing in school, it's not the fault of some group of "OTHERS". Not the gays, the jews, the blacks, or even those pesky illegal aliens, to name just a few.

It's time for a new era of Personal Responsibility in which we all take charge of our own lives while working together for all of us to achieve the American dream while making government do what it can to enable us.

Rick Warren is just an updated version of the same old Ministry Of Hatred represented by Falwell and Robertson (and so many others).

The coming of that new era is a direct threat to Rick Warren, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and all the other leaders of the Ministry of Hate. Just like the Republicans did during the long two year campaign, they will go down kicking and screaming all the way.

Crisis Briefings: Lies Like Iraq War Pretenses: Bushiness

Don — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:18:41 EST

The President who told at least a dozen lies to get us to go to war in Iraq has conjured up more than a dozen lies to set up President Obama for failure? The most miserable failure of an excuse for a President is leaving directions for the next President?

If it weren’t so serious, it would be funny! If your memory is longer than that of 99% of Americans you know that’s not a line I made up, and you may even know who did. Details.

I’m just saying, George Bush should be planning out where he’s going to hide to keep from being arrested and delivered to the Hague for trial in the World Court for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.

We didn’t let Hitler’s assistants off the hook, and neither can we afford to let Bush’s (the New Hitler’s) people go Scot-free.

We all know that all these recent attempts by Bush to rewrite history are mere hopes that America doesn’t do what’s right. If we intend to restore any sense of moral authority or regain any worldwide respect, we must follow our own laws and those international laws we largely wrote and have been demanding everyone else follow for decades until “W” took office.

If we don’t want our soldiers tortured when they in the future are captured, we must deliver to justice George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, their generals and other high officers who ordered torture and passed on those illegal and immoral orders.

America is a chief signatory to the Geneva Conventions. In fact, before 2001, we liked to claim we largely WROTE it. What good is international law if those who claim to have written it are the worst violators?

America has long had laws against torture of prisoners of war. We cannot allow one power-mad egomaniac (or moron, depending on who is providing the facts, and there are plenty on both sides) to cause us to abandon our Constitution, or it won’t be worth anything, ever.

To put it simply, we cannot defeat terrorism by becoming the worst terrorists on earth. Long before we got to that point, any real President would have caught himself and found a better way. Why? Because Bush’s route could be seen even by people as unworldly as me to be a fool’s plot.

It started with Bush’s WAR-PRAYER-MEETING, right after 9/11. That was disturbing to me THEN, because, as a Christian and an American I wondered if Jesus would say that we should “turn the other cheek”.

What? “Turn the other cheek”. I know. I certainly wasn’t in the mood for that. But that’s what Jesus would have us do – according to the Bible. Those so-called religious Republicans have still never mentioned that, and they would castrate me for mentioning it if they could. (They don’t have the balls for it, so they’ll try to get you to do it, just like the Romans, according to the Bible, were forced to murder Jesus. Just reading it objectively and making no assumptions. NO benefit to me which side you take).

Strange, but when you think about the things that really were surprises, you can’t find any that Bush created that much cohesion to in that short a time. Can you? I can’t.

Almost makes you wonder WHEN Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush KNEW 9/11 was going to happen, doesn’t it? Naaaaaaah. Certainly not. I don’t really know. Do I???

It WAS amazing that five seconds after the first jet crashed into the World Trade Center, Bush’s officials declared they knew it was Osama Bin Laden! Before the first tower collapsed, the Bush administration told us who to blame. I wondered why they didn’t PREVENT it since they obviously knew so much about it in advance.

Worse yet is the fact that for all of 2000, Bush campaigned claiming “America’s military is not ready!” Yet, during all of 2001, he did NOTHING to get our military ready. Why would you TELL our enemies that our military isn’t ready? Then, once in power, why would you fail to GET it ready/ Bush should spend the rest of his days in Guantanamo for that alone.

I always think you can know who caused something to happen by figuring out who BENEFITTED from whatever happened.

But I’ve already gone LONG, so I’ll have to finish the facts later. In the meantime, don’t read into what I’ve typed, anything you imagine I said. You may end up looking foolish by the time I tie it all together.

What To Do About It

Don — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:07:18 EST

Previously, I argued the likely consequences of the collapse of the Detroit automakers. And already my predictions are beginning to bear out in facts. Today, the Wall Street Journal reported, “Toyota will delay production at its new $300 million plant in Mississippi, citing a steep decline in the auto market.” What could we do about preventing it?Rather than pumping cash into them over the long term, what we COULD do is just take over something like 60% of the healthcare burden of only the pre-2007 retirees of the Detroit automakers.What? That would fundamentally lower the per-car cost while requiring them to bear their own burden of current and future labor costs. They will still have to make reasonable pay agreements going forward, but they won’t have to fire tens of thousands of workers who actually are cranking out cars that are of competitive quality. We CAN and should require that they immediately begin moving at an accelerated pace to make their entire fleet of cars meet California’s progressive fuel-economy standards.Why? Because that’s a smaller hit to the national economy than letting those people go on welfare, food stamps and unemployment and disability insurance. It helps keep those people paying taxes based on good wages. If those companies collapse, Medicare and Medicaid WILL be forced to take on 100% of all of those retirees from every decade. The few of us who still have jobs or own businesses will pay for that.Remember, according to THEIR OWN study, 43% of full-time WalMart workers are on food stamps and welfare. 43%. They are the largest employer in America. We cannot afford to doom another class of workers to that, because it’s costing us dearly.I don’t know if “60%” is exactly the right percentage, or if “pre-2007” is exactly the right year, but that can be worked out soon and by more knowledgeable people. What I do believe is that we can find a way to take on a much smaller share of the burden than the 100% we will inherit if those companies go down. What I know is that the rest of us will be better off with those people working and paying taxes alongside the rest of us than not.Rather than stirring up jealousy among people about UAW wages and demanding they take pay cuts, Republican conservatives ought to be working to get the pay other OTHER Americans increased so that more of us will be paying taxes at that higher rate, thus decreasing the burden on each taxpayer.Walmart workers, who continue to work full-time while having to also collect food stamps and welfare, are a major burden to all American Taxpayers. We need more high-wage jobs, not less. All that money spent at Walmart goes on a long trip, making a brief stopover in Bentonville Arkansas before flying directly to China to create more factory jobs – in China. If they have their way, conservative Republicans will have all Americans working seven days a week in 12 hour shifts making 90 cents a month like the Chinese.

How We Save America By Saving American Autoworker Jobs

Don — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:53:57 EST

Previously, I argued why all Americans, of all political persuasions, will suffer from the collapse the Detroit automakers. What can we do about the problem?I am far from being an apologist for the UAW or Detroit. There have to be consequences for this mess. But right now, we face bigger problems than that.American Taxpayers should consider carefully the consequences of letting another huge block of Taxpayers be forced to become dependent on welfare, food stamps and unemployment. It’s a double-whammy heaped upon the rest of us. Not only will they no longer be bearing their fair share by paying taxes and Social Security alongside those of us who still have jobs, but they also will be draining vast amounts of Taxpayer-funded money and other resources. What other resources? It takes more government employees, thus money, to hand out and track all those handouts. Can you guess who gets to pay for that?I am scared to death at the prospect of both taking on the burden of another half-million or so workers who will lose their jobs every month – like last month – but also paying much less in taxes myself due to the fact that I won’t be making nearly as much money once most of my customers are out of work. Come hell or high water, those people need to keep paying federal taxes just like me, and they can only do that if we keep them working.If you look at recently published studies on Appalachia – basically W. Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and northeastern Mississippi – the only place those unemployed people who will be living primarily on government assistance will be spending money is at WalMart* . All that money goes straight to China to create more jobs – in China. (Although it does pass through Bentonville Arkansas on the way.)As a direct consequence, many more jobs will be lost, though probably in northern states among people who tend to vote for Democrats. At least, that must be what Senator Shelby and the other conservative Republicans and southerners who subsidize those Japanese auto-plants down there must be thinking. But there are a lot of Republicans up here too. I voted straight GOP all my life, until November when I had to take an Independent stand. My non-auto-related small business will be killed, as will many others, and lots of individuals. Plus, many of those “plumbers” and others who work for small and large businesses that are not directly linked to Detroit will be financially killed. During the campaign Republicans swore they cared about them more than anything.People like that don’t go out and replace our Lexus or Toyota or other Japanese car or truck with next year’s model no matter where it’s built – even in the south. Moreover, people like that don’t switch parties and start voting with the GOP. People like that, including myself, don’t return to the Republican Party. People like that might not even REMAIN in the GOP. Republicans always campaign about being for plumbers and other workers and small businesses. Once the votes are all counted, the GOP kicks us right in our ‘bleepin’ behinds.From what I have seen, once out of work, those high-dollar hourly workers don’t take lower-paying jobs flipping burgers. Unemployed autoworkers sit at home and live off the Taxpayers, even by resorting to disability payments by making claims, not all of which are legitimate**. Those payments cost money, as do the investigators required to catch some unknown percentage of those making bogus claims. It costs more money to house them in jail, plus they never seem to get caught holding enough money to reimburse the Taxpayers for what they fleeced us out of.The bottom line is that we have to work hard to keep people working – especially those making good wages, thus paying more in taxes than those working at WalMart and McDonalds. We have to CREATE more high-paying jobs like that rather than focus on cutting their pay until they make the 9 cents a month they pay in China. To underline a point I’ve been arguing for quite a while, the Wall Street Journal reported today that “Toyota will delay production at its new $300 million plant in Mississippi, citing a steep decline in the auto market.” *To be fair, the studies show, the Appalachians also spend a great of money on liquor and guns. Those are available at WalMart too, but mostly not made in China. They also tend to spend a lot of time and money in church. These observations are in no way offered as commentary on lifestyles. This is all about where our money goes.**This is a concern based on studies which were not based on large sample groups, so they in no way can be asserted to reflect a majority of the group. Yet, any substantial percentage of this group engaged in this behavior would have a significant effect on an already severely depressed economy. Moreover, autoworkers were only a subset of the skilled workers discussed in the studies in general. No lifestyle judgments are implied.

Keep UAW workers paying taxes, not on welfare

Don — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:17:53 EST

Wall Street Journal: Toyota will delay production at its new $300 million plant in Mississippi, citing a steep decline in the auto market. The company says jobs in the state are "secure."

This is the beginning of proof of what I've been saying all along.

The most important detail not understood by southern voters and conservative Republicans is that they, too, will suffer by causing the collapse of the Detroit auto industry.

It's not only northerners whose non-auto industry jobs will be lost in the fallout. Those millions of former taxpayers on welfare, food stamps and unemployment and those around the country, including even the south, who will be dragged down with them, WILL NOT be buying those Japanese cars and trucks being manufactured in those taxpayer-subsidized southern plants.

People won't have the money, won't be able to obtain credit, and won't have the consumer confidence that enable such major purchases.

So all those high-paid UAW people Republican conservatives want to destroy will be merely the BEGINNING of the calamity.

We cannot afford at this time to have high-wage people lose taxpaying jobs while America’s largest employer, Walmart, according to their own internal report, pays wages so low that 43% of their full-time workers are on welfare and food stamps.

Blagojevich? Emanuel? Is that anything?

Don — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:42:47 EST

Blagojevich? Emanuel? Is that anything?

The FBI tapes may end up proving that Emanuel’s talks with Blagojevich only related that the President-Elect would offer the governor nothing more than “appreciation” for nominating one of then-Senator Obama’s “acceptable” candidates. Unless Emanuel “went rogue”. All stay together, and all hang together -- that's how they play it in the big leagues. Over the weekend, Mr. Emanuel apparently sent out his personal operatives – his ‘emissaries' – to put out his own SPIN on his alleged contacts with governor Rod. That would seem to point out that he’s the “weak link” – the person who screws up, then tries to protect himself at the expense of the team. His refusal to go to work last week was suspicious enough.

Innocent people don’t have to BREAK RANKS with their fellow patriots, shun the office so they don’t have to look into the eyes of their colleagues, or hide from the press, rather than just smile at the cameras and say “the Team will have something to say at the appropriate time”.

In addition to that, I do not understand why – if news reports and his statements are true – Mr. Emanuel would be getting threatened, or by whom. Regardless whether he is honest or dishonest, I don’t understand that at all – it seems illogical. Was he lying when he said that? Was the reporter lying about him having said that? I’d like some information on that.

You may not appreciate my questions, especially regarding the alleged claim of alleged threats, but I am someone who has been paying attention. Also, I have a very long memory, especially of politics.

I was just a kid more or less during the 80’s, but right then I was asking why we were crazy enough to be capitulating to the Japanese automakers. I seemed to be the only one in the 80’s who articulated that it was absurd for American automakers to keep making rounds of layoffs of tens of thousands of American autoworkers and then wonder WHY their sales continued to fall. “Who do they think are buying their cars?”, I asked. “The workers who build the cars are their best customers” I argued, “With their wages, they are the ones best able to afford them.”

More than twenty years ago, I could see that you can’t keep putting tens of thousands of your best customers out of work and then wondering why your sales keep declining. If a mere kid could see that over twenty years ago, why can’t beyond-middle-aged voters understand that now? American voters in general have very short memories.

There’s a reason they used to say “what’s good for GM is good for America!” Those workers made good wages. They paid equally large TAXES. They bought only American cars. They spent money only at American businesses that sold only American-made goods and services. One dollar spent on an American-made car meant eight-teen dollars (give or take a dollar) spent in America, to other Americans who paid TAXES in America. It pumped up the economy and created jobs for many AMERICANS.

Right now, we are at best buying cars made at plants in the south owned by Japanese companies that pay LOW wages, sending ALL the money we spend to Japan. Those low-wage workers spend all their meager income at WalMart. That money goes straight to China, where it creates more jobs – in China. Those workers reportedly make 9 cents a month. Do we want to “catch up” with them?

WORSE, when all those high-paid Detroit autoworkers lose their jobs, they will go right onto welfare, unemployment and food stamps. The rest of us will be paying ALL the taxes to support them.

I am terrified at the prospects of MY income decreasing due to the lack of customers directly and indrirectly linked to the Detroit autoworker economy. I am horrified that I will make LESS money but have to PAY MORE to support the government assistance to those people who should have been able to keep their jobs and PAY TAXES alongside the rest of us.

Rather than CUT the wages of union workers, Republican politicians should be RAISING the wages of the rest of American taxpayers, and NOT putting Americans out of work.

Southerners Don't See They Will Go Down With Us, Eventually

Don — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:59:26 EST

What's the most important detail not understood by southern voters and conservative Republicans?
That they, too, will suffer by causing the collapse of the Detroit auto industry.
It's not only northerners whose non-auto industry jobs will be lost in the fallout. Those millions of former taxpayers on welfare, food stamps and unemployment and those around the country, including even the south, who will be dragged down with them, WILL NOT be buying those Japanese cars and trucks being manufactured in those taxpayer-subsidized southern plants.
People won't have the money, won't be able to obtain credit, and won't have the consumer confidence that enable such major purchases.
So all those high-paid UAW people Republican conservatives want to destroy will be merely the BEGINNING of the calamity.
Moreover, those newly unemployed UAW members will have to head south, where, with their experience and new-found openness to accept lower wages, they will be the first to get hired at those soon to open Japanese plants if and when they do open. Even those openings in the works will be substantially delayed by the ongoing economic crisis.
But when those UAW people get down there and get the chance to vote, they won't forget which party is to blame for what they will be continuing to go through.
They will continue to vote for Democrats. That will increase the trend toward Red states turning into Blue states that start in 2008.
That, along with Republican tactics, will further ensure that the GOP becomes, for two generations, the party of Appalachia, Utah and Texas -- completely insignificant within the current Electoral College system.
Having just left the GOP last month to become an Obamican, or Independent in 8 years, that's a chance I'm willing to take.
Rather than trying to cut the pay of people who tend to vote for Democrats, those Republican politicians ought to be working to increase the pay of the rest of us. That's the only way we will BE ABLE to buy those Japanese cars over the next five years -- including two federal election cycles.

Blackberry Problem Solved -- Seriously

Don — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:03:05 EST

The President-Elect's communications are recorded and published, so he can't chat candidly on his own, but he can still keep in touch.

He has a close friend who is his new personal assistant. He can chat privately with his assistant, who can chat on his own personal Blackberry, which is private. What Obama's friends tell his assistant -- who is their mutual friend -- also is private. Use of such a go-between renders all that back and forth as mere gossiping, which, if not done on the President's phone or computer are entirely private.

The President's personal, in-person talks with friends can no more be public than the particulars of the bedtime stories he reads to his children. If some word of that got around "through the grape vine" through private channels, that's not the Peoples' business. Likewise, if information somehow gets back to him through a friend when that person just happens to be in the presence of the President, that, too, is his personal business.

President Obama can even sign a rule making it illegal for White House staff and also administration officials to profit from revealing what they learned during their work.

Federal Agent Insults All Illinois Citizens

Don — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:33:06 EST

99.9% of Illinoisans are law-abiding citizens. People who work hard and pay taxes should not be labeled corrupt by federal law enforcment officials, as was done in the announcement of the charges against the governor. Since that official has such a low opinion of Illinois and such a disdain for the citizens he should RELOCATE. At the very least, he should apologize and be fired.

Republcan Senator Ted Stevens is a seven-time convicted federal felon. Republican Senator Norm Coleman is a common criminal who merely hasn't been charged yet but has committed the crimes Rod has been charged with conspiring to committ. Are Alaska and Minnesota "corrupt" states? Should all their citizens be tarred because they've sent a few bad apples into elected office?

Admittedly, Alaska nearly re-elected Stevens, so virtually half of them actually ARE corrupt, one could argue.

Madigan's Blagojevich Blunder

Don — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:23:31 EST

Too bad Madigan didn't take a little time to think through her "evil plan" before acting.
She and other legislators could have drafted some legislation to be passed upon the Governor's temporary removal, and reach an agreement with the deputy governor on who would be appointed to the Senate once Rod's out of the way. Those could be acted on by the deputy governor immediately upon taking over, since it's likely that an appeal by Blagojevich would quickly see him back in his office holding things up once again.
If this wasn't just about furthering Madigan's chances of being elected governor, she would have done that and more. But like Rod's actions, Madigan isn't putting Illinois first because she's too busy looking out for herself.
Beyond that, even a layman can see that the Illinois Supreme Court would be as crazy as Blagojevich to jump into this mess this early in the game. It might set a precedent so that in the future any unpopular governor could have his tenure ended by his politic opponents filing a lawsuit, which is all Madigan has done.
He's not physically disabled, and though it appears so there is no scientific evidence that he is psychologically unfit. There is an unprecedented but good argument that under the circumstances he can't function because his most important business is appointing a Senator and the Senate is unlikely to seat his appointee, but she should have gotten affidavits from 51 Senators attesting to that -- 41 if you want to consider a filibuster. Because of the other claims in the complaint, his other actions, especially finance related, might be considered to be furthering a "crime spree". The weakness in the "inability to function" argument is that the fool keeps going to the office, apparently completing at least minor functions of his office.
Bottom line: I want him out of office, but even I can see Madigan didn't take time to plan this out. The court is likely to decline to take up the case. If they do hear it, there is a chance they could find in favor of the governor, which would further add to the perception that Illinois is lax on crooks in office.

How to roll back Bush's last minute law changes

Don — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:49:59 EST

While President Obama won’t be able to simply undo every one of the midnight hour presidential signings President Bush is using to change American laws, there is a way to render them meaningless. I would suggest that Obama can simply “amend” Bush’s rules by signing new rulings that create laws or rules contradictory to those made by the previous administration.

Example: Bush says agencies can decide for themselves when to consider endangered species in their decisions on construction and other matters. Obama then states that after an agency makes it’s determination it must then submit that finding to the same body it used to have to go through for the same review process as before.

As for the sale of lands and oil drilling rights, it may be true that the federal government would have to buy back those contracts. However, what Obama could do is sign an order rescinding the sales. That way, the process is quicker and the owners don’t get to negotiate a higher price than what they paid.

Congress would have to legislate to overrule Bush’s changes, and right now Republicans can filibuster in the Senate. Yet, the same is true for Obama’s rule changes. The incoming Congress of Democrats won’t overrule changes that render meaningless the rules made by Bush, and even future Republican Senates can be filibustered by Democrats – in fact, there are some Republicans who don’t want oil companies to rape the land.

Senator Vitter the whoremonger claims moral high ground?

Don — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:14:19 EST

David Vitter the Republican Senator who confessed to being a regular patron of a whorehouse, is trying to claim he's on the moral highground by taking a stand against the workers. The Republicans have once again campaigned saying they are for working people, only to turn against workers right after the election. Those autoworkers are American taxpayers and it's far better for the country for them to keep working and paying taxes than to be unemployed and on welfare, food stamps and unemployment. Because they tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats (I wonder why) the Republicans are trying to financially kill them -- but this will take the rest of America down along with them. More petty politics. Republicans didn't learn anything from their losses in 2006 and 2008 elections.

Republicans Play Politics While America Burns!

Don — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:52:51 EST

Or was that "Nero fiddles while Rome burns"? Well, whatever.

So much for "Joe, the Guy Who Works for a Living".

As has been the case all my life, as soon as the election is over the Republican party screws the people it promised to work for during the campaign. That's been no surprise to me for a long time now.

What still confounds me is that there are still tens of millions of people possessing the right to vote in American presidential elections who don't have enough working brain cells to understand that. They fall for it every time.

Fortunately, this time there are enough of us -- people who think for ourselves, rather than rely on Fox Noise to tell us what to believe -- that we overruled the zombies.

Even now, the party in power when the government spent $13 trillion more than it took in now claims that the Detroit automakers don't know how to manage money.

Highest unemployment rate since 1982 -- when Ron Reagan was president!

Even as America is showing them out the door, Republican politicians are nutty enough to be 'warning' the President-Elect about what he should and should not do with respect to the economy.

As they lick their wounds after spending $13 trillion dollars more than they took in, they now are stammering on about being for fiscal responsibility.
It would be funny, if it weren't so serious.

McCain says Bush, Rumsfeld committed war crimes

Don — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:10:46 EST

Senators John McCain and Carl Levin -- after the election -- published a finding cited in a Washington Post article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121101969.html?hpid=topnews

They stated unequivocably that the orders to tortune prisoners of war were issued from the top of the Bush administration, beginning with an order Bush signed in February 2002.

Next year, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their chief assistants should be arrested and turned over to the World Court at The Hague, where they should stand trial for crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention.

Their actions have made it a certainty that American soldiers captured in future conflicts by enemies WILL be tortured. Unless decisive action is taken by the appropriate authorities, the world will ignore our cries of outrage.

Americans cannot afford failing to repudiate the lawlessness of the Bush administration, which according to Republican Senator John McCain, has "strengthened the hand of our enemies".

As I have always said, we cannot succeed in our fight against terrorism by BECOMING terrorists. George Bush's conduct goes directly against everything Americans stand for -- at least "Real Americans".

By issuing those illegal orders to our soldiers, while writing decrees declaring those orders to be legal, Bush has made himself a criminal of unprecedented notoriety around the world. Only by delivering him to justice in an unprecedented manner can America restore claims of being a land where justice prevails.

The minds of American children have been damaged by the impact of Bush's immorality. How can we teach them that America is ruled by the Constitution and that we abide by the international treaties we sign, while tolerating Bush's blatant violations of the Constitution and the Geneva Convention, of which we are a signatory?

Lastly, every officer who obeyed and passed on those illegal and immoral orders must be court-martialed, as required by the United States Code of Military Justice. We didn't excuse the conduct of Nazi officers who claimed they were "just following orders", and neither can we afford to do so with our own.

Mr. Bush's two terms have been sad days for America. He has destroyed our economy. Let us not allow him to destroy our Constitution, our Justice System, and our military as well.

Even Richard Milhouse Nixon didn't believe he was THIS far above the law.

Blagojevich's state of mind

Don — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:02:25 EST

The President--Elect could open his remarks today by saying, "Look,... how was I supposed to know Blagojevich was crazy? And by "crazy" I don't mean mentally ill. I mean CRAZY. Only a crazy man would do what he is alleged to have done."

Then promise to have more to say about the matter tomorrow and leave the room.

Barack Obama has nothing to explain. The governor called him a "motherf@#$er" who "won't give (the govenor) anything but (his) f@#$ing appreciation", then said "f@#$ (him)".

Before Obama enters the room his aides should pass out a copy of that part of the criminal complaint to put his remarks in perspective.

He has absolutely nothing to explain. The guy who apparently did something said on FBI tape that Obama didn't do anything. Until something different happens, he doesn't need to do anything but remind everyone of that fact.

Just like in the last months of the campaign whe Obama kept saying, "McCain said that 'if we keep talking about the economy, we'll lose',... that's why I keep talking about the economy."

3 things he COULD have said about Blagojevich

Don — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:02:49 EST

Why didn't Barack Obama just say something less 'conventional' when asked about the arrested governor?
I wish he had said: "I want to thank the governor for his kind words... not the ones where he called me an unspeakable name, but the ones where he said I didn't participate in his schemes"
Or: "No one has ever been so happy to have been insulted than I am after hearing the governor's words."
Or: "I've never been so glad to NOT know about something."
When they play the soundbites that's funnier and more dismissive of the entire matter. After reading the quotes in the actual complaint -- yes, I read the entire complaint -- that's really all the President-elect needed to do. There was nothing left for him to confirm or deny.

The Fox Noise political operatives who tell the fascists who have hijacked the Republican party what to believe would not be able to so easily twist any of those quotes the way they have what he actually said. For people who don't think for themselves -- the Faux News watching zombies -- it's not what Obama says, but what the political operatives CLAIM he said that counts. He has to think about their likely talking points before making sound bites.

On the other hand, if he'd followed all my advice, he never would have gotten elected. For example, after those remarks by Rev. Wrong (Wright) I thought it was over. After the election, for the first time I viewed Obama's speech on race, on youtube, because I had to see what on earth he possibly could have said to get himself out of a jam like that. Turns out the truth was all it took.

THE CRISIS IN DETROIT

Don — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:50:00 EST

No car czar named by the same man who appointed those who drove our economy into the New Great Depression. When the first Great Depression occurred, America was not in two wars and was not buried beneath $13 trillion dollars in debt (counting the trillion Bush gave to Wall Street). A "Bush-named car czar is a non-starter".

Those who have run the big car companies into the ground deserve to face consequences -- so, too, do those who ran Wall Street into the ground, including the Bush administration and the Republican party deregulators. Bush and those who helped him rape the American economy are not the ones who should decide what those consequences are -- they are only trying to take the spotlight off their own failures and Mr. Obama needs to do what he did during the campaign -- point out their smokescreen.

The big banks we gave all that money to should be strongly asked by President-Elect Barack Obama to go in and try hard to work out a deal to loan the automakers the money they need, at least for three months until Obama is inaugurated and has time to find a long term solution. Obama should suggest that those bankers "will be sorry" if they don't try very hard to work out reasonable terms. Maybe the free market can ease the transition, especially after we gave Goldman Sachs $10 billion and they turned around and passed out $6.5 billion in "bonuses". Bonuses for what? Going bankrupt. After we gave Citigroup $50 billion then they turned around and fired 75,000 workers right before Christmas.

Mr. Obama should publicly excoriate the Republican senators for playing politics with America's future by refusing to bail out the autoworkers for purely political reasons. Republicans campaigned on the false claim that they were all about helping "Joe the Plumber", but now they are working hard to financially ruin "Joe the autoworker because: 1. they are union workers who tend to vote for Democrats (and now we see why), and 2. southern Republicans believe that if Detroit goes out of business Japanese automakers will build more plants down south.

Republicans are again betraying ALL Americans who work for a living, right after rushing to pump nearly $1 trillion directly into the pockets of the wealthiest 1%. They forced us into giving $12 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% before that. Now they are killing "Joe the guy who MANUFACTURES things, which America does far too little of already.

Further, it would take the better part of a decade before any cars come out of any new southern auto plants. The Japanese will take two years to THINK before deciding to build more plants here or anywhere in this economy (or any economy, that's how they operate). They will take another two years milking tax abatements and other subsidies from American taxpayers by letting southern states "compete" for the plants, one plant at a time. It takes two to three years to BUILD a plant once that's all agreed to. As much as a year to dry run things, making sure the process works by building test cars before pumping out any cars for sale to the public. That's seven to eight years of absolute misery for all Americans while the southern Republicans get their non-union workers.

Mr. Obama should lobby hard for legislation prohibiting ANY tax abatements or other subsidies by any state or local governments for businesses. Why? Those subsidies directly hurt taxpayers and the overall economy by: 1. Paying corporations to move from one town to another, which is of no benefit to the overall economy. If they want to relocate, they should do it with their own money, then they will only do it if it makes sense to their operations. Taxpayers should not be forking out money to shift existing jobs from one American town to another American town. 2. Foreign comanies who decide to build plants in America should not be subsidized. They want to manufacture their products here because it is of financial benefit to them -- they avoid currency exchange costs. Why PAY them for doing something they already NEED to do? Giving them taxpayer money to entice them to build plants in one American town rather than another is of no benefit to the overall American economy, and it directly takes money out of the pockets of American taxpayers who must make up for the losses in government tax revenue. Don't pay foreign companies to do what's already in their best interests -- let them pay their own way.

Tax abatements to corporations are un-American and they harm local, state and national economies. Rather than subsidize individual companies, LOWER taxes for ALL taxpayers, or keep rates where they are -- isn't lowering taxes what those Republicans claim to be for?

KEEP ALL THOSE CAMPAIGN PROMISES

Don — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:48:36 EST

Now is the time for bold and decisive action -- not a rethinking of Obama's priorities. America thought over Obama's priorities for two very long years and now is the time to ACT.

The economy was crashing before and during the election and America elected Mr. Obama, so the bad economy is NO EXCUSE for failing to fulfill Obama's promises. The worst thing Obama can do for the economy is be reluctant to do everything he said he'd do -- he must do it all, and be quick about it.

Work to do everything Mr. Obama pledged to do right away -- in the first 60 days of his term. Why? America somehow elected Barack Obama AFTER two years of Republicans and rival Democrats arguing that we shouldn't let him do what he said he'd do. Obama won, by a landslide of electoral votes -- he has both a mandate and an obligation to carry through on his promises. He didn't get elected on some Nixonian "secret plan". American took two long years coming to terms with Obama's proposals, and we bought into it. I didn't really like some of Mr. Obama's promises, but after a lifetime of voting Republican I voted for Obama -- and all his policies.

One good example is cutting taxes for 95% percent of working Americans AND repealing the Republican tax giveaway to the wealthiest 1% -- those who don't work at all. Republicans will argue that "raising taxes during a recession is the worst thing we can do." Then, when Obama turns things around and gets the economy going again, Republicans will argue that "raising taxes during a soaring economy is the worst thing we can do." It's the same tired old Republican disingenuous argument that America finally rejected in November 2008. Should Mr. Obama fail to immediately strike while the iron is HOT -- while he has this resounding mandate that's fresh in the minds of all Americans -- Obama will lose this opportunity forever.

This is the only moment ever where Barack Obama can do the things he promised to do, and he probably won't be reelected if he doesn't manage to get the job done. Right now, we will have two or three years for things to shake out and level off before the next election cycle. This is the time to take those very bold steps, before Congression Democrats lose what little resolve they have.

Obama will probably have to publicly tell Democrats that they will either vote like Democrats or else when they need money for reelection campaigns they need not line up at the Obama money trough. If they want to show the voters how "independent" they are, they way congresspeople like Marcy Kaptur did right after Clinton took office, they should expect that some NEW candidate will be receiving money from me and others who donated money to the Obama phenomena when it comes time for them to run for reelection.

We need to pick out five or six week Republican senators and fund a recall drive against them. If they have to essentially run for reelection in the middle of their term they and others won't be so quick to do what they always do -- vote against America as represented by a Democratic President merely for the sake of petty politics.

Economy and the opposition

Don — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:47:03 EST

President Obama should not accept ANY advice on the economy from Mr. Bush and the Republicans whom America has convicted in November of destroying the economy by creating the current crisis.

That Republicans are "warning" Obama on their way out the door as to what he can or cannot do is LAUGHABLE, and Obama should publicly castigate them on that issue. They are seeking to rerun the election they lost, and if they want to continue to play politics Obama must call them on that every day in press conferences. Obama WON the election and if Republicans want to continue arguing that they have any authority on economic matters then that is precisely the fight Obama should take them up on. He won that fight and it's the perfect battle to keep in the forefront of American politics during the transition and pretty much his whole first term -- especially while he's using his mandate to keep all those promises he made.

Republicans spent two years losing that war and if they want to spend eight more years losing then they only rational thing for Obama to do is to let them. Help them.

It's how the political office is used that's really important

Don — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:22:24 EST

The Office of Political Affairs is like any other tool -- it's value or detriment depends on whose hands control it. Reagan and Bush used the office with bad intentions, using heinous tactics, and to literally evil ends.
Now the Office of Political Affairs will be used properly, for the benefit of the American people in the Obama Administration. We have seen in Obama a man who behaves differently from other politicians. He doesn't operate out of the small-minded, abusive motivations of Bush, Rove, Reagan and Rollins.
We mustn't let our memories of the past abuses of the Office of Political Affairs by the Republicans color our perceptions of the future uses of the office.

Way to get beyond the "Clinton Problem"

Don — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:02:31 EST

The Clintons are not in talks with Obama's team because the Clintons are not team players. They have, from the beginning, made every effort to steamroll their way into the position of Secretary of State through leaks of false information to the press that supports her goal while undermining Obama.
The President-Elect needs to bite the proverbial bullet and flat out say that ALL "candidates" for the position must submit to the same vetting process and that the process evidently is too rigorous for the Clintons and that the country's need to get the process completed quickly means he must name someone else immediately.
With the Clintons causing this much trouble now, Obama must realize that should he name her, he will have absolutely NO control over anything related to foreign policy, plus she WILL leak defense and homeland security information to advance their interests.
It's time to wrap this thing up and call it the mistake it has been. Every President makes some mistakes, and life goes on if they don't let them grow and fester.

Mandate For Change

Don — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:42:10 EST

In the context of the current transition process, I am advocating for a more forceful attitude from Barack Obama on pushing through his agenda. Our agenda.

How should he do it? What will stand in his way? What can WE do about it?

I examine the real reasons we arrived at this point and what it means.

Don’t VOTE For Turn Coat

KHATPATI — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:38:37 EST

Politics is ever afloat
Symbol will be bomb or boat
Finally they are a turn coat
This species we cannot dote

Like an actor they emote
Party in a jiffy they float
They milk people like goat
They lie, make false hote

Fake friends to known and ignote
Prior elections, will eat jocote
Their speeches will be keynote
In rallies, they stand as a lote

Opposition they tear to mote
They want power, pelf and note
They only eat honey and oat
Vested interests, they promote

Like devil, scriptures they quote
They control all by remote
Before elections, they are sote
After elections, they slit throat

They will quote and unquote
At any cost, they want VOTE
Fair weather friends, they wrote
They only take, never exogenote

In their talk, they try to yote
They are truly a zopilote

Late Bloomer

Ken — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:18:24 EDT

My grandma always said I was a late bloomer.

This has been true in many areas of my life, and now true in my late blog posting here at barackobama.com.

Here we are with 3 days left in the campaign, and I feel like I need to do more. I've made a bunch of calls today, have donated much more money than we can actually afford, and am fairly anxious about this election.

I want to believe that we can turn it around this time and get our country on a different track. I feel like half of us were hoodwinked in 2000, maybe in 2004, and with such an historic candidate, I want to believe that America is ready... or at least enough of us are ready to elect a candidate for us!

I hope to make some more posts here in the last few days. But I doubt many folks will be reading this, so I'll probably be making more phone calls.

Diary of a Mad Florida Voter - New Process Discourages Voting

Brian M Ross — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:11:28 EDT

Early voting rolled out today in Florida, and, if the West Delray Beach Library, where I voted this afternoon, is any indicator, the new paper/scan voting system will cause extreme delays, is easily subject to error, and throws the privacy of the secret ballot right out of the window.

TIME TO RUN UP THE SCORE!!

White Woman Voter - Ranga — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:17:43 EDT

Obama needs a BIG win - He needs to RUN UP THE SCORE as Gergen said on CNN tonight.

The BIGGER THE BETTER. FYI - Voter Fraud Hotline - 1-877-GOCNN08 or 1-877-462-6608.

GET OUT THE VOTE!! That's all that is left to do. Enough talk - time to ACT - VOTE!!

The Fight Against Voter Supression

Kelson Philo — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:59:08 EDT

I was skimming other sources out there in bloggoland when i came across an excellent summary on voter registration fraud. Commenter "lightning" had this to say:

84. lightning on 15 Oct 2008 at 10:27 pm

We have several kinds of "fraud" here.

1. Registration fraud. Pay registrars by the signature, and you'll get a lot of "Mickey Mouse" registrations. Effect on elections: nil, unless Mr. Mouse shows up to vote.

2. Voter fraud. "Mickey Mouse" actually votes. Effect: slight, except in a very tight race or a wildly corrupt district. Think of the organization that you'd need to get, say, 1000 fake voters. Remember, each fake vote is a felony.

Investigate ACORN Allegations, Find Which Individuals Responsible, Affirm Allegiance to 100% Transparent, Legitimate Process

Joseph — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:51:31 EDT

The GOP is hammering the organizing group ACORN, in part because it wants to create the imrpession that Sen. Obama is somehow a propagator of manipulations and shady dealings. It is a vital part of the Republican psychological fabric to make sure that somehow, no matter how dishonest or sinister in essence or intent, the Republican zeal must be directed like a lightning strike at something its adherents believe is morally degenerate, irresponsible and against all decency.

They will do anything to be able to tell lies with that sharp tone of condescension in their voices, in order to convince voters that they can vote their bias, vote their ignorance, and take shelter in the fabrications of the Republican party. This may sound exagerrated, but it is a consistent pattern and it is visible in every single election where Republicans feel it will not be an easy win. The ACORN issue is also part of the Republican strategy to accuse voters of defrauding the electoral system, when in fact it is a top-down organizational manipulation that they have been working to carry out in every presidential election since 1968.

We need to take this challenge seriously. They will not relent, and they will become increasingly vicious with every passing day. The more shocking their tactics, the more press they will get. If individuals working with ACORN falsified registration forms, there needs to be transparency, the group needs to take action against those individuals, and the Obama campaign needs to be clear about its absolute opposition to any such tactics.

But, we must also keep in mind that legitimate voter-registration drives are absolutely essential to our campaign, to the message of hope, renewal and change, and to the integrity of our democracy, as such. The Republican party counts in most elections on insuring that fewer citizens vote. That is not democracy, it is voter suppression, it is Bolshevik. We need to make this point and make it stick. Democrats, Barack Obama and community organizing groups that help register voters, want our democracy to work, want everybody to have a voice.

The issue here is ACORN was defrauded by volunteers or paid contractors. Someone for some reason decided to forge registration forms. It is likely that there is a trumped up Justice probe going on (this has been part of several corruption scandals for years, including the firing of US attorneys), and that ACORN is being blamed for individual actions, but we need to separate the wheat from the chaff and tell the truth to the American people. Government officials involved in pursuing false or trumped up prosections should be prosecuted, and now.

But the central note we need to strike is: election fraud of any kind is wrong; we need absolute transparency on all related issues, including the misuse of prosecutorial powers, the intimidation of voters, voter profiling for "challenges" and insecure electronic machines, plus links between the corrupt bosses of certain manufacturers and the GOP. Do with this what's been done on Keating: get the resources together, get the story ready, and if they try to use this to smear Obama or to suppress the vote, get the message out on what is known about these other issues.

Vote for Change!

Pat Barrett — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:14:55 EDT

Registration deadlines are approaching fast; help me spread the word!

Visit www.voteforchange.com | Download this image as desktop wallpaper and as high-res PDFs in color and black & white (via yousendit.com)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

Plan To Steal Election Through Voting Machines

raoulroach — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:16:54 EDT

SPOONAMORE REVEALS THE PLAN TO STEAL THE NEXT ELECTION Here, in this shattering new interview, Stephen Spoonamore goes into harrowing detail about the Bush regime's election fraud, past, present and--if we don't spread the word right now--to come. Since he's the only whistle-blower out there who knows the perps themselves, and how they operate, we have to send this new piece far and wide.
Here Spoon tells us that McBush's team--i.e., Karl Rove and his henchpersons-- have their plan in place to steal this next election: by 51.2% of the popular vote, and three electoral votes.
He also talks about the major role played by the Christianist far right in the electronic rigging of the vote.
And he defines our electronic voting system as a major threat to US national security, calling for it to be junked ASAP, in favor of hand-counted paper ballots.
Since Spoon is a Republican and erstwhile McCain supporter, as well as a noted specialist in nosing out computer fraud, his testimony is essential--not only for its expertise, but, no less, for the impact that his views will surely have on those Republicans who have been loath to see what Bush & Co. has done to our election system.

That whole story's just about to break. In fact, tomorrow there will be a number of articles appearing, on a recent breakthrough in the lawsuit that Spoon's testimony has enabled, and on other aspects of that all-important case.
MCM
9/26/08: New Spoonamore Interview - E-voting Machines are a National Security Threat
Last week, VR interviewed GOP Cyber security expert Stephen Spoonamore about the upcoming election and his testimony in the new Ohio litigation to take depositions of Karl Rove and others.

The video is posted in full below with ten short clips for You Tube viewing. This interview is so important and explosive that we urge everyone to watch it.
Spoonamore says that the GOP wanted e-voting to steal elections but now foreign governments will be hacking and the winner will be determined by the best hackers. He says that if the GOP wins the hacking competition, McCain will win 51.2 percent with three electoral votes over Obama, and it will be a stolen election.
Spoon also makes a crucial point about the people who have been implicated in much of the election theft: "They are religious extremists." He names those who know about stolen elections, and he insists that the only way to protect this election is with paper ballots, hand-counted.

Check out this extraordinary interview here.
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/prosecute_rove/images/SpoonIntvw3.wmvhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyByZx5GEaw It's a network, people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YadsHqxid8I Electronic voting machines are a national security threat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbxuXC4QlMk The genie is out of the bottleŠ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOHkY7sJ4ZI Fifty ways to steal an election.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1--KHOo8tkM Mike Connell: Bush IT Guru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJHmuG8d2bQ The Rapp Family: Ohio election cover-up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z7DK3LgiOA Evangelicals and voting machines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WTe8ppEIic Paper ballots please.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lrFkRHrRDI McCain/Palin will win by theft.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s07oi2G_K4c People should doubt the vote, it's being stolen.

A Call to Action

Tom Lloyd — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:33:51 EDT

It is a very busy time right now in the political arena, and it is about to get a lot busier. Accordingly, I feel it an appropriate time to reach out and jot down a few thoughts on the status of GO-IDAHO, the hopes we have for November, and, most importantly, why it is imperative that we all start working harder than ever to elect Barack Obama. Some of you will be reading this in an email, others on myspace, and still others on facebook. No matter how you have found us, connected with us, and/or kept up with us, I want to again welcome you to our movement. We've got a unique opportunity this election, and I am confident in Idaho's youth to turn some heads on November 4th.

We are less than two months from the day that our country will decide who will be the next president of these United States. I doubt that I am preaching to anyone but the choir here, but I feel it necessary to reiterate the importance of this election. The position of the Obama campaign from the very beginning (I've been with the movement for over a year now) has been to stay "above the fray" of the negative campaigning of the past. Doing so has often been very hard, as we've made our way through a very trying primary cycle into an even nastier general race. And when you consider how the past eight years have brought out the worst in our country, the challenge of remaining positive becomes even harder to master.

But what we have to remember is that all of that cynicism, negativity, and partisan bickering CAN be defeated in 2008. We, as the youngest people to go to the polls this year and as the future leaders of the state of Idaho and the United States of America, have a duty to each other, to our own kids, to our brothers and sisters, and to our elders, to make the statement that we demand CHANGE in the way politics and government are run in this country.

Many of you may be curious as to who I am, as the director of our GO-IDAHO group. As I said above, I have now been involved with the Obama campaign for a little over a year. I was initially approached by some old friends back in D.C. who asked if I'd head up an Idaho chapter of a group called Young Lawyers for Obama. After some careful thought and some heavy research into the candidate, I found myself being called by that same idea that Barack frequently attributes to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "The fierce urgency of now." I accepted the invitation, and soon integrated my efforts into the overall grassroots movement to elect Sen. Obama.

I remained an active volunteer throughout the primary season, and proudly shared some truly awe-inspiring moments on the journey. When we got news that Barack Obama would ACTUALLY be visiting Boise, the excitement was almost uncontrollable. Because of my consistent volunteer efforts, I had the distinct honor of being selected to drive in the motorcade that brought Obama and his staff from the airport to the Grove Hotel the night before his speech. While I did not drive the Senator, I did have three of his top advisors. I remember driving down Broadway (we took an interesting route) and being asked by one of the three gentlemen how many people I expected to show up. Having grown up in eastern Idaho and, therefore, having a healthy skepticism about the willingness of Democrats to show their faces in public, I answered, "I think we'll have a good four or five thousand." Without needing to go into much more detail, I'll only say that I shared in the profound disbelief when over 14,000 showed up the next morning. All I can remember thinking is, "We've done something here... we have changed Idaho politics forever."

Just a few days later we made history with (1) record attendance (2) at a caucus in every county in Idaho for the first time in history, (3) resulting in a larger percentage win for Barack Obama here than in any other state. Needless to say, this has been a very exciting time to be involved in politics in Idaho and to be involved in the Idaho Democratic Party. (Kudos must go to Kassie Cerami, TJ Thomson, Katie Whittier, Shelly Landry, Randy Johnson, and all other Idahoans that made caucuses appear in every county.)

When the general election began to heat up again, I knew that I had to reprise my role in the campaign, because I believe too strongly in the opportunity placed before us. I believe too strongly in the need for CHANGE in the direction of our country on so many fronts - from the economy, to our place in the international arena, to the irresponsible use of our brave men and women in the armed forces, to the future of energy production and use, to the risks confronting our beautiful environment in the next several years... need I continue? So when we all started to get underway, the campaign staff asked me to expand the Young Lawyers group to become a chapter of the GO movement. Again, after careful consideration about various factors in my own life, I accepted the challenge.

What a lot of people don't know, however, is that this isn't my job. I do what I can during my lunch hours, my evenings, and my weekends. I still have a 40+ hour/week job as a practicing attorney at a firm in downtown Boise. For something this important, it isn't about having time; it is about MAKING time.

And the success of our campaign is entirely dependent upon volunteer contributions of time, energy, and ideas. Not that this message isn't long enough already, I want to share two brief stories. Just the other day, we were doing voter registration drives at the Saturday Market and at Art in the Park in Boise. During the morning Market session, I had a new volunteer show up, Anna, who had been convinced to come along by another volunteer, Kelsey. Doing what we do can be intimidating, so I let the two of them pair up to add a bit of comfort for Anna in the new experience. By the end of the drive, Anna was completely into it and loving it. It's things like Anna's smile after two and a half hours of voter registration that reassure me we're doing the right thing here.

Just a couple of hours later, we'd moved our drive to the outskirts of the Art in the Park festival, and we were seeing some more great success. After about an hour or two, I had a gentleman come up to me because he'd been told by some other volunteers that I was the one in charge. He introduced himself as Jim and asked what he could do to help out. I interpreted that as a general question about volunteering overall, and began to give him my standard answer about coming into the office, joining our myspace pages, etc. Recognizing that I'd misunderstood his question, Jim cut me off saying, "No no no... I mean NOW. How can I help you right now?" Shocked, and inspired, I handed him a clipboard with voter registration cards and he went to work. Jim stayed that day for over two hours, having just happened to have been passing us on the street.

I tell these stories to emphasize that volunteering for this campaign is not something you should be afraid of doing; everyone... EVERYONE... has skills that we can utilize, but we need you to step up. We can't find the volunteer power on our own to turn this state and country around, but together WE CAN.

So I've asked before, but I want to encourage you to reach out to me to let me know how you think you can help in your community. Since this isn't a real job for me, I am somewhat bound to the Boise area. I can't travel around the state organizing younger volunteers because I like my paycheck! But if you're in Pocatello, or Moscow, or Idaho Falls, or Twin Falls, or Couer D'Alene, or Salmon, or McCall, or Lewiston, or Rigby, or Challis, or Rexburg... OR ANYWHERE and you think you can host some events (debate watching parties, etc.), organize some voter registration drives (at your local tailgate party for example), or just get a few volunteers to dawn some Obama gear and head out to do some community service, please let me know! And if you don't know where to start, but want to be involved, I will always be here as your resource. We have some really good ideas, we just need people who are willing to step up to make them happen. (Oh, and we also have a lot of fun, even though I haven't made that a real emphasis of this call to action. I should still say it!)

I've now made this message a bit longer than perhaps originally intended, but I want you to recognize that we want, need, and deeply appreciate your involvement. To conclude, in case you haven't seen or really considered it, I'm including the GO-IDAHO Mission Statement:

As the next generation of civic, political, and social leaders in Idaho, we between the ages of 18 and 35 have the unique responsibility of framing the future of our remarkable state. The mission of the Idaho chapter of Generation Obama (GO-IDAHO) is to harness the enthusiasm and awareness that Barack Obama has brought to the young people of Idaho, and to translate that passion into active engagement of our peers, service to our community, and new voter turnout in November. Although we are often dismissed by our predecessors as being uninvolved, apathetic, and inexperienced idealists, the truth is that we wield an awe-inspiring power to effect real change throughout Idaho. GO-IDAHO intends to impact the 2008 election with a youth and new voter turnout that has not been seen before during our lifetimes, and to do so by demonstrating that our generation will no longer acquiesce to the negative politics of the past several decades. We will work positively and with all of the vigor and energy of our youth to ensure that Barack Obama is elected the next President of the United States of America.

Take care everyone, and I hope to hear from you very soon! In the meantime, I've got a few upcoming events I'll be posting in the next day or so.

Best,

Tom

Vanishing Voters: Why Registered Voters Drop Off the Rolls

Julia G. — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:19:02 EDT

Well, I discovered why I was dropped from the Ventura County voter rolls… It was “believed” that I had moved out of the precinct because I changed my home telephone number to a new, unlisted number on July 31.

It’s funny though that over the past 25+ years that I have been voting, through all of my many moves and telephone number changes, even a party affiliation change, I have NEVER been dropped from the voter rolls until this election.

I’m not a black helicopter, conspiracy theorist by any means, but as my father used to say, this just seems a little hinkey.

Yes, I have reregistered, but I also went out and found more information about this on the U.S.PIRG web site at http://tinyurl.com/vanishingvoters:

[highlighted and underlined items in article are mine]
-----
Vanishing Voters: Why Registered Voters Drop Off the Rolls
09/24/2008

Executive Summary

In 1993, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Its primary purpose was to open up the voter registration process and enhance democratic participation. The law had several aims, but among them was protecting Americans from being carelessly or purposefully excluded from voting by being improperly dropped from voting rolls.

Specifically, the NVRA established two clear and simple directives regarding the maintenance of voter rolls:

1. Election administrators may systematically remove ineligible voters from voter rolls at any time except within 90 days of a federal election.

2. Election administrators must notify voters that they will be dropped from the rolls if the administrators believe that the voters have moved to another precinct.

Fifteen years after enactment of the NVRA, however, many states continue to appear unaware of the federal rules regarding voter roll purges. A survey of state laws and election officials shows that, on the eve of the 2008 general election, voters across the country do not appear to enjoy the important voter protection provisions afforded by the NVRA.

Many states seem unaware of the federal rules against systematic voter list maintenance within 90 days of a federal election as evidenced by the following three findings:

1. Nineteen states do not have laws, regulations or systems in place to properly implement the NVRA's 90-day ban on voter list maintenance. There is no apparent pattern to the states that lack these protections, and they cross both political and geographic boundaries.

2. Nine states claim that there is no deadline beyond which voters cannot be systematically dropped from the rolls, a direct contradiction of the terms of the NVRA.

3. Four states have their own deadlines written into state law -- all of which are less than the federally mandated 90 days.

In addition, we found that 11 states do not have the proper systems in place for notifying voters who have been removed from the rolls if they are believed* to have moved out of the precinct.
-----
*believed: They don’t need ACTUAL PROOF. They just need to “believe” that you have moved out of the precinct. Oh, and I was never notified that I was dropped from the rolls.

So again, I ask all of you to verify your voter registration status, and be sure to tell your family and friends to do the same.

Do a Google search on: how can I find out if I am registered to vote in [insert your state here]

Or go to:

National:
http://www.voteforchange.com

Ventura County, California voters go here:
http://recorder.countyofventura.org/elections.htm

California voters go here for your county:
http://www.calvoter.org/voter/government/ceo.html

Julia.

Stealing Vote

Breezenwaves — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:00:19 EDT

I saw an video clipping and would like to share it with you all.

Bush and Rove had stolen votes in 2004 and they are planning to do the same.

http://www.truthout.org/video/greg-palast-rove-has-already-fixed-2008-election

Please spread this msg to all.

http://www.truthout.org/article/rfk-jr-and-mike-papantonio-is-your-vote-safe

PEOPLE !!! BE AWARE !!!

THANKS

Re-Cap: Forest Whitaker - Active Obama Supporter & Youth Motivator!

Delores Chamblin — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:28:51 EDT

On Saturday September 27th, I decided to leave a little early from Lakeland Farmers and Flea Market to attend the Obama Rally and Voter Registration Drive at Lake Bonny Park in Lakeland Florida where Forest Whitaker was the celebrity guest speaker. In addition to displaying Obama flyers on the issues and providing useful information regarding early voting etc for local residents, I have been doing fundraising for Obama for America on saturdays at the market by requesting donations for my crocheted Obama hats, caps and other handmade creations.

Last Saturday September 20th, I also decided to leave the market a little earlier than normal and teamed up with another person to do three hours of door to door canvassing of unregistered voters in Lakeland. That allowed me to reach another group of people in another proactive way.

Similarly, attending the Obama Rally and Voter Registration Drive also gave me the opportunity to reach another segment of the population. By attending this event I was able to observe a younger and energetic crowd! The weather was beautiful and the youths were fired up. They were very enthusiastic!

Before heading to the stage where he made a significant but brief speech, Forest Whitaker stopped by the table where I had some of my handmade crocheted Obama hats and caps displayed. He commented that he liked them and had not seen any other hats or caps like those elsewhere. In a quick response, I mentioned that they are my own creations and I do them for fundraising for Obama for America. After leaving the rally, a young man who came to the event and was walking alongside Mr Whitaker in the entourage returned from the parking lot to the table and stated Forest Whitaker wanted to purchase one of the hats, but did not have time to do so earlier. I did not have any large sizes left, so the young man picked a small medium size crocheted Obama cap for Forest Whitaker.

I tip my hat to Forest Whitaker for all his great accomplishments on and off screen and for taking the time out to speak to the youths. They are the future.

Below is a link to an article from the Lakeland Ledger about the event. It is encouraging to see young people are interested and involved in this campaign.

Forest Whitaker Draws Crowd for Political Rally in Lakeland
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080927/NEWS/809270251#

Delores
Black Designers Crafters and Artists for Obama
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/BlackDesignersCraftersandArtistsforObama

Fundraising Page
http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/Afri

Voter's Registration Drive & Know Your Rights Campaign

ShaBranddon from Cedar Hill, TX — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:49:11 EDT

CHi CHi Sports and Entertainment & Dallas Black Coalition of Democrats
Hosts
The Final Push Voters Registration Drive & Know Your Rights Campaign

CALLING ALL YOUNG, FIRST time voters and EX-FELONS. Come out and exercise your RIGHTS. There will be music, food and drinks., prizes and much more... This is YOUR opportunity to be a part of HISTORY and make a DIFFERENCE on November 4th

Volunteers needed(even if you are not old enough to vote but want to help) for both shifts 12pm to 3pm and 3pm to 6pm to assist with registering voters, helping with voters rights information, attracting participants etc...

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY Contact us for more information

Time: Saturday, September 27 at 12:00 PM Duration: 6 hours Host: Sha Branddon Johnson/Dontania Bradford
Contact Phone: 214-566-6352 Location: Clipso Sports Bar & Grill (Dallas, TX) 7307 S Westmoreland Road
Dallas, TX 75237

Directions: call (866) 756-1026 for directions or visit http://clipsosportsgrill.com/ This is YOUR opportunity to be a part of HISTORY and make a DIFFERENCE on November 4th

- Bring 1 per. - Free Starbucks cpn
- Bring 3 ppl - Free manicure/
Free haircut
- Bring 4 ppl - Obama Tee/Free food cpn
- Bring 8 ppl - Free KC Oils Gift Card
- Bring 10 ppl - Free GSU/PV ticket
- Bring 15ppl - Ppd T-Mobile phone/ Free hair wash & Style
And much much more ….

Volunteers needed(even if you are not old enough to vote but want to help) for both shifts 12pm to 3pm and 3pm to 6pm to assist with registering voters, helping with voters rights information, attracting participants etc...

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY Contact us for more information 214 - 566 - 6352

Voter Information from Maureen - Thanks

Crystal — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:39:12 EDT

Some of this information is universal, if in doubt go on this web site and find your state's rules and regulations. If you do not need this information, please forward it to someone who might. This may eliminate some of the rumors floating around or you can verify things for yourself. Just get your friends, family, co-workers out to register and vote your whomever your candidate is.

http://www.longdistancevoter.org/

Information from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, INC (LDF)

The concern for college students registration, students who consider their Maryland school address to be their "official" or "permanent" home may register to vote in Maryland,even though their Maryland school address may be different from their temporary address. However, verify whether changing their residency will impact their eligibility for financial aid that they may receive from another state or jurisdiction. They can file a absentee ballot and have it sent to the school address.

People in jail who are awaiting trail and have not been charged, can't make bail, or serving sentences for non felony misdemeanors are still eligible to vote by absentee ballots also. If convicted of a felony, have completed serving a court ordered sentence of imprisonment, including any terms of parole or probation for conviction, you are eligible. If any one needs more information in this area go to this handy website. Form and laws for all states.

http://www.longdistancevoter.org/

If you are a first time voter, talk picture ID or bill with name and address.

New rumor just in- 3:10 PM, 09/24/08 - McCain is trying to cancell the debate. And the beat goes on.

The situation about the foreclosures if you do not still live in your house and have no fixed address to receive mail, you still have a problem. Your residence is some where you receive mail, and or pay bills.
Maryland State Board of Elections Rumor Control

Rumor: If my home is in foreclosure, will I be allowed to vote?

Fact: Maryland’s Constitution (Art. I, § 1) guarantees each citizen who is 18 years old and a resident of the State the right to vote. The fact that your home is in foreclosure has no bearing on your right to vote. It may, however, effect where you vote. If you have left your home and taken up a new residence, you will need to update your voter registration (by October 14, 2008) and vote in the election district and precinct for your new residence.

Rumor: If I wear a campaign button or t-shirt into the polling place, will I be allowed to vote?

Fact: A voter may wear campaign paraphernalia (buttons, t-shirts, or stickers) into the polling place while he or she is there to vote (the voter may not linger in the polling place after voting). However, an election judge, challenger and watcher, or other person stationed inside the polling place or within 100 feet of the polling place may not wear or display campaign materials.

Source: http://www.elections.state.md.us/

http://www.elections.state.md.us/documents/Electioneering.pdf

Don't get angry about the false rumors! Do something! Volunteer for and Donate to help Barack Obama get Elected.

VOTER SUPPRESSION IS REAL

American Mom — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:01:20 EDT

WE MUST ALL BE SMART OUT THERE. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE VALID STATE ID THAT MATCHES YOUR CURRENT IN-STATE ADDRESS AND MATCHES THE ADDRESS ON YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION!

WHEN YOU HEAR THE DOGS, KEEP GOING!!!!!

Jim Crow -- The Remix The Republican plan to steal the election and how we can stop it. TheRoot.com Updated: 4:09 PM ET Sep 17, 2008 Sept. 18, 2008--The Republican Party has finally found the outer edge of political cynicism; it's located in Macomb County, Mich. Operatives there have figured out an upside to the foreclosure crisis roiling black neighborhoods: It enables mass voter-registration challenges and thereby offers a powerful opportunity to suppress the vote in Democrat-leaning districts. An enterprising journalist for the independent-media site Michigan Messenger exposed the party's plan to exploit foreclosures last week, prompting local leaders to feign outrage, claim to have been misquoted and threaten a libel suit. Those denials notwithstanding, the Obama campaign has asked a federal court to issue an injunction against any use of foreclosure filings in registration challenges, just in case. As general counsel Bob Bauer put it, "They can tell it to the judge."But while the details of the Michigan plot may be uniquely noxious, the broader tactic-known as voter "caging"-is a 50-year-old Republican dirty trick that is rooted in century-old voting laws designed to skirt the 15th Amendment. A series of legal challenges had finally driven voter caging into remission by the 1990s. But in 2004, desperate Republican operatives facing a huge Democratic turnout revived it with great success. And they're redeploying it widely in 2008.The scam is as convoluted as it is craven. It starts with a list of potentially ineligible voters. The Macomb County gang planned to create its list from recent foreclosure filings, according to the Messenger, based on the notion that people who have lost their homes are likely to be registered under incorrect addresses. The more traditional route is to simply flood largely non-white districts with mailers marked "do not forward," then compile the names that are returned undeliverable. Most states maintain stunningly broad rules governing registration challenges, so this sort of flimsy evidence is enough to make sweeping claims of voter fraud. Armed with their lists, Republican operatives file mass challenges to thousands of registrations, charging that the listed residents are cheating the system by polling in the wrong precinct. At the polls, they then challenge individual voters, which often means those voters only get a provisional ballot.The challenge itself isn't the point, however. A 2007 Project Vote study outlines voter caging's history and notes that most mass registration challenges are filed just under the deadline and are rarely pursued meaningfully. Rather, the goal is to gum up the democratic process by creating chaos, both at the point of registration and on Election Day. By holding a breathless press conference trumpeting widespread voter fraud, Republicans busy election boards with responding to nonsense rather than serving voters and, worse, justify sending ranks of operatives to polling stations to harass voters in the name of "monitoring." Each Election Day challenge occupies a poll worker, creating long lines and disorder that discourages all would-be voters. And if they're lucky, they scare new voters away from showing up at all.The tactic has been so wildly successful that Republicans have solidified the myth of voter fraud in both the popular mind and the law. This spring, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law that requires voters to show a state-issued ID at the poll. The court ruled that the specter of voter fraud justified the imposition on democracy. It ignored research showing voter fraud to be extraordinarily rare and dismissed evidence that blacks, youth and low-income people are all far less likely to have state IDs.Republican operatives set the stage for that ruling in 2004. They challenged half a million voters in targeted campaigns across nine politically strategic states, according to Project Vote. Prior to the election, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio all made voter challenges even easier than they had already been; all three states had Republican-controlled legislatures. In Ohio's Cuyahoga County-which includes Cleveland and is reliably Democrat-Republicans flooded polling stations with operatives to challenge 14,000 voters; 45 percent of them lived in majority black communities. They hit 31,000 voters statewide.And as registration deadlines approach this fall, the same process is gearing up all over the country. In Wisconsin, Republican Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen filed suit last week-a month before the registration deadline-demanding election officials check individual records of thousands of voters who registered before the state's new voter ID system went into effect. In Madison, City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl complained that the last-minute demand will make other necessary preparations for the largest-expected voter turnout impossible. "It will disenfranchise voters," she told Wisconsin's Capital Times.In Louisiana, the secretary of state is busy purging thousands of "inactive" voters from the rolls. According to the Louisiana Justice Institute, the only way you'd know you're on the inactive list is if you saw the state's ad in a newspaper, which thousands of still-displaced Orleans Parish residents couldn't do. The Justice Institute has published a searchable database of the names here, to help displaced residents who want to vote in their hometown make sure they stay registered.Meanwhile, at least one Virginia county has targeted college students with plain scare tactics. In Montgomery County, home to Virginia Tech, the registrar warned Virginia Tech students that listing their campus address for voter registration could jeopardize everything from their parents' tax returns to their own driver's licenses. "If you have a scholarship attached to your former residence, you could lose this funding," the ominous but vague memo declared, according to Inside Higher Ed. And Michigan's not the only place where losing your home could mean also losing your vote. The Columbus Dispatch reported this summer on state election officials' concerns that Ohio's new voter ID law will collide with foreclosures to create chaos at the polls. Voters who are registered at their old homes but have new addresses on their IDs, for instance, will be turned away. Ditto in several other states with both new voter ID laws and waves of foreclosure.None of this is new. Republicans first used the myth of voter fraud to justify vote-suppression tactics in an Arkansas race in 1958, deliberately exploiting Reconstruction-era laws that made voter challenges easy enough to keep newly franchised blacks out of the process. It worked so well in '58 that in 1964 they launched "Operation Eagle Eye," which targeted 1.8 million voters nationally. The game proceeded with impunity until 1981, when the Democrats sued over a voter-caging campaign in New Jersey, arguing that the effort deliberately disenfranchised minority voters. That case, along with a subsequent one in 1986, generated a consent order that barred the national party from launching mass voter challenges without getting court approval. The order, however, does not bind state party officials.Nor can we count on the network of federal law enforcement that mobilized to block just this sort of chicanery in the Jim Crow days. The Bush administration's politicized firings of U.S. attorneys were, in no small part, driven by its effort to stymie the protection of voter rights Three of the eight U.S. attorney firings being investigated by Congress involved officials who refused to go after supposed voter-fraud cases in the run-up to the 2006 congressional elections.Which leaves it to us to protect ourselves from this cynical but deeply effective manufactured chaos. A growing number of watchdog groups are trying to mobilize citizens to do the Justice Department's job. This week, a coalition under the banner Election Protection launched a Web site and a hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE) where voters can learn how to make sure their own registration is secure and report problems in their districts. The Advancement Project has set up a similar site here. Jurisdictions facing registration irregularities, backlogs and confusion now will certainly face the same on Nov. 4. Neither situation will be accidental, and the best tool left for identifying them in advance is through would-be voters. An ounce of prevention, watchdogs stress, is worth a pound of post-election litigation and outrage.Kai Wright is a regular contributor to The Root. Also on The Root:Kai Wright calls out the homewreckers. Jimi Izrael gives credit to the pookie vote.Return to The Root Homepage URL: http://www.theroot.com/id/48123 © TheRoot.com

Voter Registration

Kat — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:16:51 EDT

Today I volunteered to register voters. We had a table set up at the Irvine Spectrum. I was there from 4:00 to 6:30, and many other volunteers staffed the booth starting at 12:00 noon all the way until 10:00 p.m. Lots of new voters were registered today. Thanks to Jomari for setting up the event! :)

This was a really enjoyable experience; I will definitely return to help out more as we near the Oct. 20 voter registration deadline. It was great to get to know the other volunteers, and also to speak with many people who were excited to be registering Democrat and supporting Obama. Awesome!

I’ve had positive experiences with every volunteer opportunity I’ve participated in for the Obama campaign. It really makes me proud and happy to see such a dedicated network of volunteers, and to see the great community response to these volunteers’ efforts. When I think of all the terrific Obama supporters I’ve met in my tiny corner of California, and multiply that by all the communities in this state, and multiply that by all 50 states -- that’s a huge number of very passionate people supporting a very important goal. We will be an unstoppable force come November.

Yes we can!

Abortion Issue Bigger Than We Thought

Change O'8 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:16:19 EDT

Every undecided voter I've spoken to likes Obama, but are repelled by his stance on abortion.

I think Obama's public discussion of abortion, so far, is inadequate. But Obama has left his view on abortion a little wiggle room, such as, when during the PA debate he said he was unsure about when life began. Then, during the Faith Forum, he said this difficult question was "above [his] pay grade."

I agree with Hillary's comment that abortion should be rare and safe. I think Obama should welcome a vote, once he becomes president, to overturn Roe vs. Wade to state law, and communicate this within the next 45 days to undecided voters.

Here's What I'm Doing

kopper — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:56:30 EDT

We need to get as many people registered to vote as humanly possible, and fast (since the deadline to register is only a couple of weeks away in many of the swing states). In some states like North Dakota and New Hampshire, this isn't really necessary. In North Dakota there is no voter registration. You simply go to the polls on election day and vote! In New Hampshire (and maybe a few other states as well) you can register *at* the polling place the day you go to vote. But sadly, in most states, this isn't the case. So we need to get the word out to as many potential UNregistered voters that they need to register. And then obviously the big trick after doing that will be to get them to actually VOTE on November 4. But first things first. I'm trying to get as many people to register as I can. One of my Myspace profiles has almost 12,000 friends. So, what I'm doing is this: I'm using a program that I got online called Spyder. It makes commenting on your Myspace friends' pages quick and easy. You can send out hundreds of comments a day, in fact (I try to keep mine under 400 because I believe Myspace might freeze your account if you do too many in one day). The comments are simple but (hopefully) effective "Register to Vote!" pleas that include Shepard Fairey's great "Rock the Vote" poster but that link to Barack Obama's "Vote for Change" website for voter registration/polling information. So far I have gone through all of my friends and have commented on those that live in such battleground states as Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Colorado and I still plan on doing many more. With an average of 200 or 300 friends in each state, I hope to get out the word to a few thousand people that they should register to vote and then hit them up one more time the week before the election with a follow-up graphic/comment. Online networking like this can work wonders in helping to get Obama elected if enough of us do it. Sites like Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning networks, etc. are designed to help people communicate and network, so use them for that at this time and for this purpose!

Thanks,

kopper

GaragePunk.com

What, exactly, is Barack Obama Asking You to Believe?

Zara Green — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:15:45 EDT

When was the last time voters were asked to play a part beyond an election? Are we prepared to answer Barack's call?

When you go to Barack Obama’s website you are met with this quote, “I’m Asking You to Believe...Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington. I’m asking you to believe in yours.”

How many people that are chanting “Yes We Can!” do you think have really thought about what this quote means? Maybe, you should pause for a moment and think about what it means to you.

If change is what you are after, getting Barack Obama in the White House is only part of the equation.

Change is defined (according to dictionary.com) as, “to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone: to change one's name; to change one's opinion; to change the course of history.”

If “change” to you is about seeing a black man in the white house, then you are only perceiving a small portion of change should Barack Obama win the Presidency.

If “change” to you is about seeing the gas prices decrease, then you are only perceiving a small portion of change should Barack Obama win the Presidency.

If “change” to you is about keeping us safe from terrorists, then you are only perceiving a small portion of change should Barack Obama win the Presidency.

If “change” to you is about every American having healthcare, then you are only perceiving a small portion of change should Barack Obama win the Presidency.

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” –Eric Hoffer

If you believe that the issues you are facing in your personal life are solely the fault of our government then your perception of both, this election and your world, is one dimensional and while chanting “Yes We Can” today to get Barack Obama elected, you will, likely, be the very one blaming him later if you don’t perceive, receive and willingly begin to perform your part of the “We” in the chant.

So, while, statistics are proving that Barack Obama is the leadership that many United States of America citizens believe our country needs right now, the balance to “Yes We Can” is that all of us – white, black, yellow, brown or green with purple polka-dots – must be willing to do the mental and emotional work to bring about real change, first individually which will position us to develop collectively.

This quote is a plea to the willing, “I’m Asking You to Believe...Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington. I’m asking you to believe in yours;” a plea to those who are willing to believe in his ability to lead for changes that are going to be for the good of all while in the Washington White House, but more importantly in each American’s belief in their own ability to bring about change in themselves to create collective changes in our worlds from the bottom up: individual, immediate family, extended family, community, city, and state.

We can not undo what is done - not in the world, our country, or our individual lives. Change has to begin with you, and in your own life...with the choices you make. Your personal choices are solely about you, but rarely do the decisions you make only affect you.

Barack’s plea is valid to every American. Believing in your own ability is refreshing and revives individual possibilities in the face of challenging times, and challenging times are always easier when you have a mentor who can inspire and lead you where you want to go.

We must, all, be willing to acknowledge where we are – our personal beliefs and whether they are for the greater good; be willing to learn more, and make better decisions that will, ultimately, produce the collective changes we need to raise our country up.

Can “WE?”

Voter Registration, Victorville,CA

Michael Olson — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:23:41 EDT

We will be registering voters from 9 a.m til 5 p.m Monday thru Friday at food 4 less location below and also at vallerta's grocery store during the same hours

Food4less 16266

Bear Valley Rd Victorville CA 92392

Store Phone: (760) 951-1140

Vallarta Supermarket #22 12351

Mariposa Rd Victorville, CA 92395

(760) 243-1246

A Little Background Information.

TJ Franklin — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:31:05 EDT

Politcally speaking, I am a centrist independent, though on my voter registration card I am still listed as a Republican. Once upon a time, before the neocons inherited the party, the Republicans stood for reform and often progressive views. Abraham Lincoln is one fine example of such thinkers. It was with the ideals of men like Lincoln that I stood with when I first registered to vote.

However, in the past 8 years, I find myself leaning more and more towards the progressive movement. Let's be honest, our nation has been stagnating for much longer than that, except for 8 good yars under President Clinton. Senator Obama at least promises to try to correct this. Whether he'll be able to succeed will only be answered once he gains the oval office, but I have faith that he will do his best to try. When I watched his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, I was moved, not just by his ideals, but by the genuine feeling that he truly believed in what he was saying. It was a speech that I might well have given, were I in his position.

Read on, because there's a lot more to my story, and to my views.

Need your imput on current voter registration idea

Cafetagirl26 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:16:28 EDT

I was thinking of hosting a voter registration pizza party in my neighborhood. I was thinking of creating fliers and putting them on peoples doors and inviting them to join me for free pizza and punch on a Saturday and register to vote. Would it be unethical to have Obama stickers at an adjacent table?

Congratulations Kurt and Volunteers!

ObamaBob NSB — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:59:26 EDT

Kurt and the army of Obama Volunteers got it done last weekend! Here's Kurt's note:

Dear SE Volusia Obama/Biden Volunteers,

We had a fabulous weekend in New Smyrna & Edgewater this weekend!

16,000+ doors were knocked on this weekend in Central Florida for Obama/Biden !

Our volunteers knocked on over 250 doors this weekend on the Westside of New Smyrna!
Gerrit, our canvass capt. trained eight new volunteers this weekend how to canvass and they loved it! 20 year old Ahman Washington in New Smyrna Beach, who serves in the Army, peeked out his front window and saw an Obama button. He quickly opened up his door and wanted to know what we were doing in his neighboorhood and quickly stated "are you really with the Obama Campaign? Ahman expressed his strong disillusionment with what has happened in the last few years as he kept his glazed eyes focused on the Obama button. As our volunteer walked away, he yelled, "hey, I want to vote for my first time, how do I do that". He is now registered to vote and assured that he would get his grandmother and other familiy members out to vote for the next President of the United States!

We registered over 30 new voters this weekend at the Green Fest & Ritters Ice Cream !
While registering voters Friday, Sue Jones helped two life long Republicans switch their party to Democrat! While...Trudy Duffy and her voter registration team ensured that everyone at the Green Fest saw Obama buttons and were asked to register to vote...at least two or three times! They were able to bring in over 16 registrations. Lynne Finnelli in Edgewater ensured that we were a presence at the grand opening of Ritters Ice Cream and reminded voters this is the one time in our history that we all need to vote!

Over 18 volunteers from the area contributed their efforts this weekend! We could double our efforts if you joined our team today!

On Tuesday, at our first formal phone bank, Pat Wilson and her phone bank team broke the record by making over 550 phone calls to SE Volusia voters!
Kara Walker, an intern from New Smyrna Beach High-school expressed how she loves to make phone calls and told us about several phone calls where voters expressed that having an office in New Smyrna Beach makes them feel just an arms lenght away from Obama! Meanwhile, Marcia Hudgins used her great communications skills to make over 112 phone calls and persuade a couple of Repubicans to go ahead and switch their parties-

56 Days Until Election Day!

Thanks to our volunteer captains for organizing a fantastic weekend!

Trudy Duffy- Voter Registration Capt. (NSB)
Gerrit Hamre- Canvass Capt. (NSB)
Eileen Taft-Data Capt. (NSB)
Pat Wilson- Phone Bank Capt. (NSB)
Mary Lou Schropp- Phone Bank Capt. (NSB)
Jennifer Booth-Shells- Resource Capt. (NSB)
Kelly Bradford- Data Capt. (Edgewater)
Lynne Fynnelli- Voter Registration Capt. (Edgewater)

** Interested in applying to be a captain? Call me: 352-256-0823

If you have not formally joined our volunteer team, wait no longer! Get on our schedule today once or twice a week!

Barack Obama is not just going to step into the White House by making great speeches every day...it is going to be volunteers like you in neighboorhoods persuading voters that THEY MUST NOT FALL FOR ANOTHER LIE from our opponents.

Our values and ethics are our strenght and we must not allow ourselves to drown in quicksand when our opponents attempt to intimidate, get agressive, and lie !

Let's move forward, be resilient, and have no doubt that you are going to sacrfice a few hours of your time for the next President of the United States!

FIRED UP! READY TO GO!

We have several events and activities coming up so contact me a.s.a.p. to become part of our formal Obama/Biden team!

South Daytona State Campus Voter Registration tomorrow at 11:00AM
Oak Hill Fle Market Voter Registration this Sunday
Canvassing this Saturday & Sunday in targeted areas of SE Volusia
Phone banking every day!

Kurt Sackerman
Obama Campaign for Change
Volusia County, FL
352-256-0823
ksackerman@floridaforchange.com
New Smyrna Beach / Edgewater / Oak Hill

YES WE WILL !

I did it!

HUGrad96 — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:35:44 EDT

I finally took a step toward helping to make a change in this country. I signed up to help the Virginia campaign. It may not seem like much, but I feel like I need to do what I can to strengthen the campain and go for a win! Now my only question is...what took me so long?!

Palin Interview: Letter senders needed. Please Help

BJ from Tallahassee, FL — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:23:44 EDT

We need to stand up and make our voices heard. I need for you to reach within your gut, and sent a message to the media that we respectfully ask for due diligence of Sarah Palin. Some of us have gotten together and have already send out the first round, but it is going to take a lot more of us to make a statement. We have to bombard the media with Facts. We have voter registrations across the country being cast aside by various states, particurlary with Republican run governors.

Are we going to sit silently and moan and not challenge reporters to fair and equitable coverage?

Are we defeatests or are we victors?

I believe, as well as Senators Obama and Biden, we are victors.

Please stand up with me and do the following:

1. You may sign letter enclosed below in its entiretly and send to the media individually, or you may call upon every supportive person you know to sign the email collectively by including them in the CC: address line when sending the letter

2. Copy the enclosed letter in it's entirety and draft a new email and replace my name with your own.

3. Add the following to the TO: address line:
nightline@abcnews.com, 2020@abc.com, netaudr@abc.com, thisweek@abc.com, abcboard@abc.virginia.gov, wnn@abcnews.com, support@abcnews.go.com; tblake@thepolitico.com, letters@newsweek.com, national@washpost.com, hardball@msnbc.com, thisweek@abc.com, scams@cbsnews.com, letters@msnbc.com, letters@time.com, 60M@cbsnews.com, newseditor@MAIL.CNN.COM, managing-editor@nytimes.com, missioncalendar@oprah.com, charlierose@pbs.org, public@nytimes.com, earlyshow@cbs.com, larry.king.live@cnn.com, NBC_MeetThePress_NewsMail@MSNBC.COM, Dateline@NBCUNI.com, joe@msnbc.com, crossfire@cnn.com, evening@cbsnews.com, steve.capus@nbc.com, thedailyshow@comedycentral.com, mailings@mail.cnn.com, FNS@foxnews.com, me@glennbeck.com, loudobbs@mail.cnn.com, 2020@abc.com, phil.griffin@nbc.com, situationroom@mail.cnn.com, letters@usnews.com, dsaunders@sfchronicle.com, readers.rep@latimes.com, wnt@abcnews.com, weekends@cbsnews.com, abcboard@abc.virginia.gov, HeraldEd@miamiherald.com, ftn@cbsnews.com, netaudr@abc.com, executive-editor@nytimes.com, larryking@mail.cnn.com, KAC@cbsnews.com, colmes@foxnews.com, ombudsman@washpost.com, Comments@foxnews.com, casey.wian@turner.com, nightline@abcnews.com, dabrooks@nytimes.com

4. Keep circulating this and ask supporting friendss to do the same.

PLEASE HURRY and SREAD THE NEWS ANYWHERE YOU CAN

THANKS!

BJ ALAN

______________________________________________________________________________________

RE: DUE DILIGENCE OF GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN, ALASKA

Dear ABC, Charlie Gibson, et al:

Since learning that Governor Sarah Palin has granted ABC's Charlie Gibson her first television interview since her VP nomination, we request, in good faith, that your constituents adhere to an objective, a fair and factual interview of Governor Palin.

For example, in ABC's April 16, 2008 coverage of the Clinton-Obama debate, Charlie Gibson defended his scrutiny of Senator Barack Obama's patriotism by stating: ""It comes up again and again when we talk to voters. And, as you may know, it is all over the Internet."

We commend ABC for listening to the voters on April 16, 2008, and now we ask that ABC listens to the voters today, September 8, 2008, and adequately ask Governor Palin---upon interview---precise, unadulterated questions while requiring that the Governor gives unambiguous, un-watered down, and non-deceptive answers to voters' concerns that come "up again and again" and that are "all over the internet".

Case in point: During Governor Palin's acceptance speech, she asserted:

"...I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress -- I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said we'd build it ourselves."

It is not the earmarks that upset voters the most; it is the deception, the disingenuousness, the documented lies about Palin's stance on earmarks as well as other issues, that infuriates us more, and it brings ethics and judgment to the forefront. Thus, we are counting on your wisdom and professional journalistic due diligence in this interview to keep voters informed.

We also enclosed a list of grave voter concerns as detailed on Think Progress' website for your review, and we ask that these issues are thoroughly addressed during this interview, and all others with the McCain campaign.

Thank you for your attention as we await what should be a fair and objective Palin interview on the matters mentioned below, without bias or partisan favor.

Respectfully,

BJ Alan,
Serving as Proxy to all emails included in the CC address, excluding media and politicians

CC: Media: tblake@thepolitico.com, situationroom@mail.cnn.com, missioncalendar@oprah.com, larryking@mail.cnn.com, thedailyshow@comedycentral.com, thisweek@abc.com, wnt@abcnews.com, larry.king.live@cnn.com, casey.wian@turner.com, loudobbs@mail.cnn.com, 60M@cbsnews.com, ftn@cbsnews.com, crossfire@cnn.com, letters@newsweek.com, letters@usnews.com, charlierose@pbs.org, colmes@foxnews.com, FNS@foxnews.com, letters@msnbc.com, abcboard@abc.virginia.gov, Dateline@NBCUNI.com, dabrooks@nytimes.com, phil.griffin@nbc.com, managing-editor@nytimes.com, executive-editor@nytimes.com, steve.capus@nbc.com, hardball@msnbc.com, readers.rep@latimes.com, earlyshow@cbs.com, Comments@foxnews.com,

CC: Politicians: barack_obama@obama.senate.gov, joseph_biden@biden.senate.gov

Enclosures:

As per http://thinkprogress.org/

ON FOREIGN POLICY

Palin Hasn’t Given The War In Iraq Much Thought. Palin told the Alaska Business Monthly, “I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place.” [Alaska Business Monthly, 3/1/07] Palin Has Never Been To Iraq. In her only trip overseas, Palin visited Al aska National Guard troops stationed in Kuwait and Germany in July 2007. [AP, 7/25/07] Palin Believes That The Iraq War Is A Task ‘From God.’ Speaking at the Wasilla Assembly of God church in June, Palin said that “our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God.” [Huffington Post, 9/2/08] Palin Believes The Iraq War Was Fought Over Oil. “We are a nation at war and in many [ways] the reasons for war are fights over energy sources,” Palin told BusinessWeek in an interview. [BusinessWeek, 8/29/08] Palin Didn’t Have A Passport Until 2007. Palin first obtained a passport in July 2007 for her trip to Kuwait and Germany to visit Alaska National Guard troops. Her only other trip outside of the United States was to Canada. A Palin spokeswoman had previously said that Palin had also been to Ireland, although it was actually just a “refueling stop” on her Germany/Kuwait trip. [New York Times, 8/29/08; Politico, 9/2/08] ON EARMARKS Palin Supported The Bridge To Nowhere. During her unveiling as McCain’s running mate, Palin claimed that she said, “Thanks, but no thanks” to federal funding for the Bridge to Nowhere. But in her 2006 campaign for governor, Palin repeatedly expressed support for the bridge project, saying Alaska should take advantage of earmarks “while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.” [Anchorage Daily News, 10/22/06; Ketchikan Daily News, 8/9/06, 11/21/06] Palin Obtained $27 Million In Earmarks As Mayor Of Wasilla. As mayor of Wasilla, AK, Palin “hired a private lobbyist to help the tiny town secure earmarks from [S en. Ted] Stevens.” “The town obtained 14 earmarks, totaling $27 million between 2000-2003.” [Associated Press, 9/3/08] ON THE ENVIRONMENT Palin Denies Man-Made Global Warming. When asked for her “take on global warming,” Palin replied, “A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.” [Newsmax, 08/29/08] Challenging ‘Uncertain Climate Models,’ Palin Is Suing To Lift Protected Status For Polar Bears. After a multi-year court battle, the Bush administration recognized in 2008 that polar bears are threatened with extinction by global warming. Announcing Alaska’s suit to block the listing, Palin said, “We believe that the listing was unwarranted and that it’s unprecedented to list a currently healthy population based on uncertain climate models.” [Reuters, 5/22/08] Palin Established Illegal Fly-By Wolf Hunting Bounty. In 2007, Palin illegally established “a $150 bounty to the state sanctioned airborne wolf hunters as an added incentive to increase their kills,” soon overturned by the Alaska State Court. [Alaska Wildlife Alliance; Anchorage Daily News, 3/31/07] ON ENERGY Palin Is A Top Arctic Wildlife Refuge Drilling Advocate. Palin said she thinks McCain is “going to evolve into, eventually, supporting ANWR opening also” and “I’d like the opportunity to get to change his mind about ANWR.” [Kudlow & Co., 6/25/08] Palin Opposes Lieberman’s Bill To Prevent Arctic Refuge Drilling. In a letter to Congress opposing the Arctic Wilderness Act (S. 2316), Palin wrote that “as a citizen of the United States” she believes “development [of the Refuge] should be authorized.” [Letter to Sen. Akaka, 11/9/07] Palin Dismisses Alternative Energy. Palin said that “Congress needs to lift the ban on drilling” because “alternative-energy solutions are far from imminent and would require more than 10 years to develop.” [Charleston Post and Courier, 8/16/08] Palin Believes It Is ‘God’s Will’ To Build A Natural Gas Pipeline. Speaking to the Wasilla Assembly of God church in June, Palin said, “I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,” referring to a $30 billion national gas pipeline project. [Huffington Post, 9/2/08] ON BIG OIL Palin’s First Statewide Campaign Was Fueled By Veco. “While mayor of Wasilla, Palin ran for lieutenant governor in 2002. She gathered $5,000 — or about 10 percent of her campaign fund — from Veco officials or their wives along the way.” [Anchorage Daily News, 9/6/06] Palin’s Inauguration Was Sponsored By BP. Beyond Petroleum Exploration Inc. is listed by the Alaska Inaugural Committee as a sponsor of Palin’s 2007 Governor’s Balls. [Alaska Inaugural Committee] ON SCIENCE Palin Supports Teaching Creationism In Public Schools. In a 2006 gubernatorial debate,=2 0Palin “said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state’s public classrooms.” [Anchorage Daily News, 10/27/06] ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS Palin Is A Member Of Anti-Abortion Group Feminists For Life. Palin is a member of an “anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life.” When running for governor in 2002, she “sent an e-mail to the anti-abortion Alaska Right to Life Board saying she was as ‘pro-life as any candidate can be’ and has ‘adamantly supported our cause since I first understood, as a child, the atrocity of abortion.’” [Anchorage Daily News, 8/6/08] Palin Opposes Abortion Even In Cases Of Rape Or Incest. In 2006, Palin said that even if her daughter were raped, “I would choose life.” She said that she would support abortion only if the mother’s life were in danger. [Anchorage Daily News, 11/3/06] Palin Slashed Funding To Help Teenage Mothers. Earlier this year, Palin used a line-item veto “to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers i n need of a place to live.” Funding for Covenant House Alaska, which provides transitional housing for teen mothers, was cut by 20 percent — from $5 million to $3.9 million. [Washington Post, 9/3/08] Palin Supports Abstinence-Only Policies. In 2006, the Eagle Forum Alaska asked Palin whether she would “support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education.” Palin replied, “Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.” [Politico, 9/1/08] Palin Supports Parental Consent Laws For Minors Seeking Abortions. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Palin was “disappointed lawmakers let a bill die requiring girls under 17 to get parental consent for an abortion. ‘My belief is parents have the right to know about the health and welfare of their children,’ she said.” [Anchorage Daily News, 8/14/08] ON ETHICS Palin’s Lobbyist Had ‘Close Ties’ To Don Young, Ted Stevens. “As mayor of Wasilla, however, Palin oversaw the hiring of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, an Anchorage-based law firm with close ties to Alaska’s mos t senior Republicans: Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts.” [9/2/08] Palin’s Lobbyist Was Part Of ‘Team Abramoff.’ Steven Silver, the lobbyist Palin hired as Wasilla Mayor, also listed Jack Abramoff’s lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, as a client. Silver lobbied on issues similar to those headed up by Abramoff, including “Indian/Native American policy” and “legislation relating to gaming issues.” [TPMmuckracker, 9/2/08; Washington Post, 9/2/08] Palin Served As Director Of ‘Ted Stevens Excellence In Public Service’ 527. Palin’s name was listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the “Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.,” a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. She also “served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state filings.” [Washington Post, 9/1/08] State Employee Charged Palin With Ethics Violation. A state employee filed an ethics complaint alleging Palin tried to secure a job for one of her supporters. The complaint accused Palin and her top staffers of “breaking executive ethics branch and hiring rules. It centers on the hiring of surveyor Tom Lamal, who once co-hosted a Palin fundraiser, for a state right-of-way agent job in Fairbanks.” [Anchorage Daily News, 9/7/08] Palin Forced Top Wasilla Employees To Resign As Loyalty Test. As Mayor of Wasilla in 1998, “asked all of the city’s top managers to resign in order to test their loyalty to her administration.”[Daily Sitka Sentenial, 10/28/06] Palin Fired Police Chief For Not Fully Supporting Her. After becoming Mayor of Wasilla, Palin fired the city’s police chief, Irl Stambaugh, writing, “I do not feel I have your full support in my efforts to govern the city of Wasilla. Therefore I intend to terminate your employment.” Stambaugh charged that Palin fired him “because he stepped on the toes of Palin’s campaign contributors, including bar owners and the National Rifle Association.” [Anchorage Daily News, 2/1/97; ABC News, 9/3/08] 0A Palin Used Mayoral Office Resources For Campaigning. During her 2002 campaign for lieutenant governor, Palin ordered campaign materials from City Hall, had them delivered there, and used city employees on city-aid time to arrange campaign events. According to the Anchorage Daily News, there was “no indication she repaid the city for the incidental expenses the city incurred.” [Anchorage Daily News, 7/21/06] ON TROOPERGATE Ousted Former State Official Accused Palin Of Pressuring Him To Fire Trooper. Palin allegedly “tried to get a state trooper fired and she then fired the trooper’s boss because he wouldn’t act on her request.” Palin’s sister was involved in a “bitter child custody battle” with the trooper. [Anchorage Daily News, 7/18/08] Palin’s Intial Denials Of Interference In Firing Were Proven False. Palin “previously said her administration didn’t exert pressure to get rid of trooper Mike Wooten,” but “an audio recording that shows an aide pressuring the Public Safety Department to fire a state trooper embroiled in a custody battle with her sister.” The McCain campaign now says Palin’s husband and members of her staff had made inquiries “about the appropriate Dep artment of Public Safety procedures for dealing with someone they considered a dangerous person and rogue trooper.” [Anchorage Daily News, 8/14/08, 9/02/08] Palin’s Lawyer In Investigation Is Also Her Personal Attorney. Thomas V. Van Flein, the lawyer Palin hired to defend her in the trooper investigation, is “representing Palin both personally and in her official capacity as governor.” The AP noted, “Depending on where the investigation leads, that could put him in a difficult situation if Palin’s interests and the interests of the public office diverge.” [AP, 9/02/08] Palin Has Refused To Release E-mails, Citing ‘Executive Privilege.’ Palin has refused to release e-mails requested by the state’s trooper union, citing executive privilege. Questions have been raised, however, as to whether these documents are actually related to official business, since her husband was copied on some of them. [KTUU, 8/6/08; TPMmuckraker, 9/1/08] ON THE RADICAL RIGHT Palin Cheered On the A laskan Independence Party. Six months ago, Palin “told members of the Alaskan Independence Party” — who advocate for a vote on secession from the union — to “keep up the good work” and “wished the party luck on what she called its ‘inspiring convention.’” Palin and her husband attended the party’s convention in 2000, and “for all but two months from 1995 to 2002, the governor’s husband was registered as an Alaskan Independence Party member.” George Clark, the vice chair of the party, claims that Palin was a member of the party “before she got the job as a mayor of a small town.” The McCain campaign denies the charge. [LA Times, 9/3/2008; ABC News, 9/1/2008] Palin Welcomed The Hard-Right Candidacy Of Pat Buchanan. Palin reportedly supported Pat Buchanan’s 1999 presidential bid. When Buchanan visited Alaska in 1999, “[a]mong those sporting Buchanan buttons were Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin and state Sen. Jerry Ward, R-Anchorage.” Buchanan said Palin “was a brigader in 1996 as was her husband, Chris, they were at a fundraiser for me.” The McCain campaign says Palin “never worked for any effort to elect” Buchanan. [The Nation, 8/29/08; ABC News, 8/30/08] Palin Characterized Ron Paul As ‘Cool.’ During an interview with MTV in February, Palin called Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), who ran against McCain in the primaries, “cool.” “He’s a good guy,” she added. “He’s so independent. He’s independent of the party machine. I’m like, ‘Right on, so am I.’ ” [MTV News, 8/29/2008] Palin Believes The Founding Fathers Wrote The Pledge Of Allegiance. In 2006, when asked by the Eagle Forum Alaska if she found the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance offensive, Palin replied, “Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me.” But the words “Under God” didn’t appear in the Pledge until 1954. The Pledge itself wasn’t written until 1892. [Huffington Post, 9/1/08; Slate, 6/28/02] ON CIVIL RIGHTS Palin Supports Denying Benefits To Same-Sex Couples. In 2006, Palin vetoed legislation denying benefits to same-sex couples, “based on a legal opinion from her new attorney general that the legislation was unconstitutional.” However, she said that she would support a constitutional amendment to deny same-sex couples the benefits. [Gay Republic Daily, 9/20/06; Anchorage Daily News, 12/21/06] Palin Opposed Expanding Hate Crime Laws. A 2006 Eagle Forum Alaska questionnaire asked, “Will you support an effort to expand hate crime laws?” Palin replied, “No, as I believe all heinous crime is based on hate.” [Washington Blade, 9/2/08] ON HEALTH CARE Palin Advocated Consumer-Driven Health Care. While running for governor, Palin attributed rising health care costs to “a lack of competition” and called for “flexibility in government regulation that allow competition in health care.” [On The Issues] Palin Introduced Health Care Transparency Act. Palin’s Alaska Health Care Transparency Act established “an Alaska health care information officeD to help consumers “make better-informed decisions about health care in the state.” The act also called for the repeal of Certificate of Need Laws, programs “aimed at restraining health care facility costs and allowing coordinated planning of new services and construction.” [Gov Tech, 1/28/2008; National Conference of State Legislatures, 8/21/2008] Palin Did Not Take A Position On Expanding SCHIP Funding. Palin did not advocate for greater federal funding of SCHIP. [Blagojevich Press Release, 2/23/07] Palin Signed Watered-Down SCHIP Bill. Palin signed legislation updating eligibility for Alaska’s SCHIP program, Denali KidCare, to maintain the eligibility level–which had dropped to an effective rate of almost 150 percent of the poverty line due to inflation. However, by limiting eligibility to families living below 175 percent of the poverty line, Alaska’s eligibility criteria are still among the lowest in the nation. Palin did not support legislation to expand eligibility to higher levels. [National Conference of State Legislatures, 6/2008; Kaiser Network, 5/22/2007; Anchorage Daily News,=2 04/15/2008] Palin Failed To Support A Bill To Cover All Alaskans. While governor, Palin “did not get behind the most significant piece of health legislation offered — a proposal to ensure that all residents have health insurance, without disrupting the coverage that many Alaskans already have.” [Anchorage Daily News, 5/17/2008] ON THE ECONOMY Palin Left Wasilla $20 Million In Debt. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin cut taxes while simultaneously expanding the town’s operating budget by almost $2 million. She ended her term in 2002 with Wasilla $20 million in debt. [Anchorage Daily News 10/23/06; the Politico, 8/29] Palin Instituted A Windfall Profits Tax On Oil Companies. In 2007, Palin raised taxes on oil company profits by $1.5 billion a year, enabling Alaska to double its oil revenue. However, in 2008 she said, “Windfall profits taxes alone prevent additional investment in domestic production.” [Bloomberg, 3/8; Seattle Times, 8/10; Go vernor’s Office Press Release] Palin Supported Flat Tax Advocate. Palin appeared in campaign commercials in support of Republican Senate candidate Mike Miller, who was advocating the Flat Tax. [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 4/24/04]

Voters Registration

Nibal and Pamela — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:42:41 EDT

We ( in Florida ) have until October 6 to get as many voters registered as we can. I hope someone knows how to have a posting like this go to all the groups in the united states. just imagine this:

all members of the group print 40 applications each ( in florida here is the link http://election.dos.state.fl.us/pdf/webappform.pdf )

Go and find 10 peoples and register them to vote

give each one of the 10 people you regirter 3 more application for anyone they might know.

I am posting this on 3 groups one of which has almost 21000 members. That is a potential of 84000 new voters. Do you know or can get 10 peoples to register? I am going to do my part .

"PRICELESS"

Wordman — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:08:29 EDT

The $500 shoes McCain sports as he campaigns in his wife's private jet
His response to the question of how many homes he owns--"I'm going to have to let my staff get back to you on that one"
Cindy McCain proudly showing off at last week's convention a $313,000 outfit whose value exceeded the average voter's current mortgage
The rich symbolism of how out-of-touch they are with the values and needs of the average citizen who McCain cynically purports to champion
"PRICELESS"

Dead People For Obama?

Nicky — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:41:33 EDT

My husband just died.... I miss him terribly. He was an amazing man, he wanted to get involved in local politics someday too....

Now I just realized that his vote won't count! Or can it?....

Voter Registration Forms

Marianne — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:14:21 EDT

You can get mail-in PDFs of voter registration forms for any state right here...

http://www.longdistancevoter.org/voter_forms

Get out the vote!!

Barack Obama Rocks!

Voters cancelled out of voter registration?

Mochinho — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:30:32 EDT

The journalist Greg Palast argues that voters were cancelled out of voter registration in the United States. Robert Kennedy Jr. supports Palast's campaign "Steal Back Your Vote". It is questionable whether this reproach is true. What do you know/think about this topic?

Breakin' it in

Jessica — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:37:14 EDT

This is the first time that I have ever written a blog, so it will take me a minute to get the hang of this. I am so excited that Barack Obama has given his supporters a chance to create blogs and express their opinions and points of view. I have been itching, in recent days, to create some sort of blog so that I may express the way I feel about issues I care about, and most important of all, how much the Republican party has upset me throughout this entire election process.

I am a first time voter, and an excited one at that thanks to Senator Barack Obama. I know I would not be this excited or "into" all the politics and the "drama" so to speak if it weren't for this man and his campaign for change. Senator Obama has inspired me, along with millions of other people like me, that we have the ability to change our country and that we do have a voice. He hears that voice.

Since this is my first blog, it will be my nicest one. It is practically impossible to have a blog, and manage to not fully express yourself. I wanted a blog so that I could express my full opinion on the issues that matter to me most. So for now I'm just "breakin' it in!" :)

this one's late...

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:46:00 EDT

3 new videos & an UPDATE ON OUR BALLOT RIGGING EXPERIMENT (below the video info)

ELECTION REALITY TV - "THE JEANNIE DEAN VIDEO" -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwovSqXWKQ8
Police dogs assigned, ballots in the dark, and the State of New Hampshire denies having any information about the K-9 Unit assignment. Officials changed their mind when this video hit YouTube, now say they are "looking for the records." Sarasota citizen Jeannie Dean provides graphic evidence about the state of your democracy right now. And if you still believe citizen sovereignty is intact, Google "Thomas Jefferson" and see if you still believe this is what the founders meant to create.

ELECTION REALITY TV - "9 MINUTES ON THE ROAD WITH BUTCH & HOPPY"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=710FyJkflDA
A dizzying trip following the New Hampshire ballot pickup van as "Butch & Hoppy" collected ballots for the 2008 recount of the presidential primary -- you decide: Evasive manuevers or can't find a map?

ELECTION REALITY TV - "FACE TO FACE WITH THE RECOUNT GUYS"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrdzXp3Zbmk
Bullitt County, Kentucky citizen Kathy Greenwell confronts the New Hampshire Secretary of State face to face; New Hampshire hires an investigator - he interrogates the citizens instead of investigating multiple violations of election law; and "Hoppy" speaks his mind.

* * * * *

No Hope for Working Class White Women

Genevive — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:51:55 EDT

My sister is exactly the working class woman who supported Hillary, but hasn't shifted her support to Mr. Obama. I want to tell you about her because she and others who are like her will influence this election.

She is 39, the mother of two daughters and works at a minimum wage job as a housekeeper in a hotel in Pocatello, Idaho. She barely makes enough money to cover her bills, and the rising energy and food prices are sending her into debt just to buy gas and groceries. She doesn't have time for much of anything after working a 10-hour shift, except for dinner with the kids and some urgent prayers. She hears news only from the local TV stations, which in her area are owned largely by the Mormon Church and reflect a strong Republican bias. She leans Democratic, but sees both parties as corrupt and uninterested in struggling people like her.

I called her a few days ago to see how she and the girls are doing, and the subject of politics came up. She's feeling the economic pinch so hard that she vented about why such an expensive war in Iraq is allowed to continue when poor people like her are too rich for food stamps but too poor to buy food. I asked her if she supports Mr. Obama.

She said, "No, sis, what I've heard on the news about him is that he is a rag head that won't salute the flag. I supported Hillary, but now I don't know what to do. Our country is all f-ed up." I did my best to persuade her those things are simply untrue and that Barack will be a great leader for our country.

But our conversation left me wondering about all the other hard working, poor women in this country and why Mr. Obama's campaign isn't reaching them. I realized that they are beyond the reach of a modern, tech-savy campaign: these women don't read, surf the net or text--no money for any of that. If a volunteer knocked on the door, she wouldn't be home to answer it. After a long day of working for a pittance, she watches TV to relax in a run down neighborhood far from ideological cities. Mr. Obama's message of hope isn't getting through.

Voter Registration Drive

ObamaBob NSB — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:48:05 EDT

Message from Kurt Sackerman: Hello New Smyrna Beach Obama Team!

Hope you all stayed flood free the last couple of days!

We need help today and this weekend registering voters to help Obama Win this election!
I would like to register 10 new voters today in New Smyrna Beach!

If you can help today, please call me on my cell phone so I can place you! What about tomorrow?

I will be at Seven Eleven registering voters the rest of the day! We need people at Dairy Queen for this evenings big rush...and a few other locations-

Also, we will be at the Art Walk tomorrow, etc...

352-256-0823

Motivational Note

Friends of President Barack Obama — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:19:02 EDT

Even though it may not look like it or feel like it, you are making progress.

Continue working towards progress instead of perfection.

Nothing or no no one is perfect.

Just keep taking steps.

Keep making those phone calls.

Continue following your plan.

Remain focused on your goal.

Do what you have to do right now to get to the next level.

Complete every task.

Keep every promise and commitment.

Don't look back.

Stay on track.

Let no one weaken your walk of faith and determination.

Remain teachable.

Place yourself in a blessing position by associating with people on-the-grow.

Talk with teachers.

Walk with winners.

Climb with champions.

Study successful people.

Something great is about to happen for you!

Start giving thanks right now before you can even see the outward manisfestation of your prayers and desires.

Everything you do from this day forward will take you further away or closer to your potential for successful living.

-by Dr. Jewel Diamond Taylor, Motivational Speaker & Author

Attended the Middlebury parade registration

Dan Watson — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:56:55 EDT

We registered 25 voters today! Woo Hoo!

Fired Up? Ready to go!

Dan

The 4 corners of Gunhill and Jeroem.

Niels G Petersen — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:10:54 EDT

Aug 3 was the date and it was a hot Sunday under a very blue sky.

My wife, son and I set out to do our first registration of voters.

I was actually a little nervous, my expectations were not all that high, personally I'm not the born salesman and don't like confronting people. If they confront me on the other hand I can sell anything.

To my surprise that's exactly what happened...

Greg Palast says Barack needs to start sweating....

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:13:23 EDT

Obama Doesn't Sweat. He should. just got this email from Greg Palast. He's the one that wrote that "little yellow book" the young man was tasared for talking about at the Kerry rally. He's the one who REALLY broke the story about fly-boy bush' history (or lack thereof) in the military. I have a couple of his DVDs and a couple of his books. This is serious business; take a read (i kept the email intact, but wanted to warn those in the states that are cited as well as all the rest of us!!) YOUR VOTE IS AT RISK!!!
by Greg Palast In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color. In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives - overwhelming Black voters. In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor. In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.

Low Information Voters...

Nia "Hussein" J. — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:50:42 EDT

As a supporter I know we have alot of work cut of for us over the next four months to inform people with just the basics. In emails, blogs and etc. I've called for OOIS (Operation Obama Information Saturation). Why? After reading the article below and experience talking to people, most of the American public loves being spoon fed information. And right now all of thier inromation is coming from unreliable sources. We have to do more to become the main source in order to win this election.

By Libby CopelandWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 24, 2008; Page C01

So a bunch of academics decides to revisit one of the defining books of modern American politics, a 1960 tome on the electorate. They spend years comparing interviews with voting-age Americans from 2000 and 2004 to what Americans said during elections in the 1950s. The academics' question: How much has the American voter changed over the past 50 years?

Their conclusion -- that the voter is pretty much the same dismally ill-informed creature he was back then -- continues a decades-long debate about whether Americans are as clueless as they sound.

Reader, before you send that outraged e-mail, consider that you may be an exception. You, of course, are endlessly fascinated by the debate over domestic wiretapping, but it's possible your neighbors think FISA is a hybrid vehicle. In fact, it's quite possible your neighbors are Republicans only because that's what their parents were, and ditto for the Democrats across the street. They couldn't even mumble a passable definition of "liberal" or "conservative."

"You could get depressed," says the University of Iowa's Michael Lewis-Beck, one of the political scientists who wrote "The American Voter Revisited," released last month and inspired by 1960's "The American Voter."

Or not. Talk to other academics and it's unclear if we should be depressed at all. Many political scientists agree that the American voter doesn't always present well. Asked directly about certain issues, like whether he prefers diplomacy to military action for resolving international conflicts, he may profess ignorance or use some phrase he heard on television. Or she might say, when asked why she likes a candidate, "Oh, I just like the way he talks."

The question that political scientists have pondered for decades is: If a person can't name the staples of liberal ideology, or can't talk coherently about foreign affairs, or cares only about a few issues, or changes his opinion in response to information that he can't remember later, might he still be able to make thoughtful choices in the voting booth?

How much credit do we give our most precious resource, the American brain? Is it half-empty or half-full?

Americans "don't sound the way the high priests of culture want them to sound," says Samuel L. Popkin, author of "The Reasoning Voter," who tends to give voters more credit rather than less. "They use their own language. They process a lot more than they can recall in interviews. They have a lot better sense of who's on their side and who isn't than they're often given credit for."

One thing that's certain is that Americans are consistent. They've had difficulty articulating their opinions in ways that satisfy political scientists for decades. When "The American Voter" was released almost 50 years ago, it caused quite a splash. (Subsequent political scientists began referring to its authors with awe as "the four horsemen.") "The American Voter" was thick with statistical tables and a wonky theory called the "funnel of causality," all revealing that Americans have what William G. Jacoby of Michigan State University calls "incoherent, inconsistent, disorganized positions on issues."

The New York Times wrote about the book's findings when it came out, noting the role that Dwight Eisenhower's "strong personal appeal" played in helping him win the presidency in 1952 and 1956. His Democratic opponent, Adlai Stevenson, spent a lot of time discussing issues of foreign policy, the paper wrote, but it turned out "the public was largely unaware of his positions."

Some academics criticized "The American Voter" for depicting voters as "fools," while others suggested the voters were not so much fools as, uh, "cognitive misers." (Aren't academic euphemisms the best?) The book spawned all sorts of follow-ups, like a rebuttal called "The Changing American Voter" and a rebuttal to the rebuttal called "The Unchanging American Voter."

Four years ago, Lewis-Beck and Jacoby and two other political scientists decided to take on "The American Voter" once more. They used the same methods to crunch the data and even organized the book the same way. (They had to eliminate the chapter on the agrarian vote, though, because there aren't enough farmers left anymore for a usable sample.)

"The American Voter Revisited" is chock-full of depressing conclusions, couched in academic understatement. In-depth interviews conducted with 1,500 people during the two most recent presidential elections revealed that the "majority of people don't have many issues in mind" when they discuss voting, Lewis-Beck says. Sometimes they say they're attracted to a candidate because "I just don't think we should change parties right now." They tend to inherit their party allegiance from their parents, and those beliefs tend to stay fixed throughout their lives, he says.

"For many people," the authors of "Revisited" write, "dealing with political issues is too much of a bother."

"If they know they're Republican and have been happy that way, they'll stay Republican," says another of the book's four authors, Herb Weisberg, who chairs the political science department at Ohio State University. Even for those voters who do rethink their allegiance to a given party -- because, say, the party in power has fouled things up -- "if times get better, they'll get back to where they were," Weisberg says. Their attachment to party is more emotional than intellectual, Lewis-Beck suggests, akin to their feelings for sports teams.

But wait, says Amy Gershkoff, who wrote her Princeton dissertation on issues and voting behavior and now advises left-of-center campaigns on how to target voters. She's got her own sports metaphor. Just as Beltway junkies know far more about policy issues than the average voter, baseball junkies know far more statistics than she does. But she still loves to watch the Yankees.

"Even though I can't rattle off the batting averages of every person on the team and every person on every other team doesn't mean that I can't derive pleasure from the game," she says.

In other words, Gershkoff says, she knows enough. Many Americans vote primarily because of one or two or three issues, she says. They might care a whole lot about health care or prayer in schools and not at all about foreign policy, and maybe that leaves them sounding dumb when they're asked about Iraq. But they know enough about the issues they care about, and that's what they vote on.

And how do they gather what they know? Popkin, whose own studies suggest that Americans' awareness of issues has been growing for decades, argues that voters use shortcuts to make judgments about the candidates, relying on things like endorsements, the advice of friends, and the candidate's party. So what if they forget much of what they've learned, so long as they absorb the lessons?

"If I say to you, 'What did the guy you didn't marry say to you in bed?' " and you can't remember, "does that mean you didn't enjoy it?" Popkin says.

Lewis-Beck says writing the book was a bracing experience for a political junkie. He's the kind of guy who tries to forecast elections the way fantasy baseball fans try to forecast players' performances. He writes papers with such titles as "Split-Ticket Voting: The Effects of Cognitive Madisonianism."

"A lot of people don't care about politics, okay?" he says. "They just don't care."

Or they care just enough.

ONE UNDECIDED VOTER AT A TIME

Late To The Party: Toni — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:25:32 EDT

Canvassing is one of the easiest ways to work for the Obama campaign. You can pull a list of the undecided voters in your neighborhood from the undecided voter tool and speak with them about their voting decisions. Many people do not fully understand how important it is for them to vote for change. A friendly conversation with informed volunteers may be all that is needed to bring them to the possibility of voting for Obama. The fact that many of these undecided voters will be within walking distance of your home is a definite plus. It eliminates most of the reasons that you have not to do a little bit of work. 1. It is too far. No, it is not. 2. I don’t know these people. Yes, you do. 3. I don’t want to go anywhere new. You don’t have to; you already live in the neighborhood. 4. It is not organized that way that I would organize it. OK, so organize it. 5. I do not have time. Yes, you do. 6. I will miss the deadline. No, you won’t because you can get an extension.

The list does not have to all be completed at one time in one long continuous walk. You could canvass five persons a day. Just five. A day. Just five a day. Or how about this, just two a day. Two a day. Just two a day. Still too many. OK, Ok I give, How about one a day? Like the vitamins. Just one person.ith your help, we are going to win. Just one undecided person a day in your own neighborhood. We are going to win. Just one vote at a time.

Wonderful Week!! Let's Get The Issues Correct and Spread The Word

Prissy Williams — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:22:38 EDT

I attended several Organizing Events over the past two weeks. I spent a worthwhile weekend attending the Center for Progressive Leadership Voter Mobilization Training at Oakland University, Rochester, MI.

I participated in the Advanced Tract that included: 1. Creating and Delivering a Compelling Progressive Message, 2. Developing your Campaign Plan, 3. Targeting Potential Supporters, 4. Communicating with Voters at the Door, 5. Communicating with Voters on the Phone, 6. Recruiting and Managing Volunteers. 7. Earned and Paid Media 8. Campaign Fundraising 9. Campaign Management and Leadership Development, 10. Innovations in Campaign Tactics, 11. GOTV and Election Day Operations 12. Protecting the Vote, 13. Resources.

This seminar forced me to realign my vision with the new challenges we face today as political activists. I soaked up every single drop of knowledge I could during this intensive and challenging seminar and I would do it all over again next weekend if given the opportunity. So important was this seminar to me, that I gave up attending a Beauty Pageant in which my grand daughter participated. This was the last time this year that the Training would be offered in Michigan, so I had to make the sacrifice.

The CPL is a organization of young, passionate, intelligent activists whose mission is to develop the next generation of progressive political leaders. Many of the young people who were facilitating the seminar reminded me of myself over 20 years ago when I was a young intellectual, active in many, many groups, causes and issues. I was truly a militant, often wondering, how and why I made it out of certain situations. Even now, I am still repulsed immensely at the realization of any kind of injustice. I just focus on more intellectual avenues to display my activism.

Once an activist, always an activist. The Mind Never Ceases To Envision What is Possible, If We Have The Audacity of Hope!

Obama supporters and volunteers - Let's keep sharp on the issues that are important to our candidate. If you attend or host a House Meeting, don't forget about the issues, nationally and in your community!

Stop by this site. You will be educated, informed, inspired and excited. Join the Group.

Links: www.progressiveleaders.org,

We're Changing the electorate

Harris — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:06:43 EDT

Here is a quick update: 17 local volunteers registered 108 voters on July 4th. Awesome thanks goes out to; Bob, Barb, Don, Margaret, Vicky, Maggie, Amanda, Cindy, Leslie, Matt, Ari, Joe, Britt, Josh, Jen, Dan, Joe and Alanna. It was an incredible day all around. Stay tuned for more info on how you can get involved to change this country!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Df2p6867_pw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

We just entered the backstretch folks it's time to take some action!

In hope and action,

Harris

Seemed like everybody in the...

Sweetzie1 — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:56:33 EDT

It seemed like everybody in the world was recycling yesterday on the 4th of July - not just ObamaCrats, but everybody else!!

A good day yesterday, except when my body went into crisis mode from walking in the heat. First Americans Uniting for Change, spearheaded by Victoria Manning-Davis, helped the DNC booth by walking two to three voter registration clipboards up and down the aisles during the Rancho Cordova parade yesterday. What fun the people were also. Everybody was patriotic everlastin :D

The band and fireworks capped the evening at around 10:00 p.m. The whole day was magnificence in motion, enjoyed thoroughly.

Why Obama?

Molly W. — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:58:22 EDT

Many people are neutral on the upcoming election. And they all ask why Obama? Why someone with so little experience to which I say; first off experience has nothing to do with it. Kennedy became our president when he had just over the experience Obama has. He is known as one of the best presidents this country ever had.

Secondly John McCain goes up there and supports George W. Bush. The man who drove this country into the ground. And those of you who believe he didn't I will say this, 7.7 trillion dollars(in DEBT). No the figure isn't even in the billions anymore it's now in the trillions. I didn't even know that trillion was an actual number because when it gets that high it's hard to tell which ones are actual numbers and which ones preschoolers made up for emphasis. On top of that he supports the war in Iraq. And when he gives us updates on the war he so blindly supports, he smiles. He can't even fake depression that we are in this war or he doesn't know what he's saying and that is pretty scary. Lastly, I still can't get over the fact that when told the towers were going down on September 11th, he stayed with the toddlers reading picture books. Don't believe me? There's VIDEOS of him sitting there being told and staying there after being told. And McCain still supports him and wants to keep Bush's morals at heart.

Next off, the war in Iraq. I read somewhere that the war has a 19% support rate. People are constantly protesting, and yet McCain goes up there with every intention to keep the war going in his own words and I quote, "make it 100 years", "that's fine with me." FINE. He didn't say that sounds logical, or practical, no that's fine. I'm sorry that just bugs me, it sounds like he was saying "cheese on my burger sounds just FINE thanks." Like he's just going with the flow and the fate of this country wouldn't be in his hands if he won.

Faith can't be used as a wedge nor patriotism a bludgeon in the words of Obama himself at the second rally in MN to which I attended. Faith cannot be used to deny the right of scientists to develop in their research. Nor can it be used to discriminate against gay people, and deny them the right to marry and get the same rights as others. Because that my friend is prejudice and when you are prejudice that means you are willing to go to cruel lengths to be sure that the chosen group doesn't get their rights.

Last but not least I would like to say that to anyone who has a problem with Obama swearing in on the Koran(though he did not and it was a rumor)go out and learn some respect for other religions, because people with other religions can in fact be trusted.

And for all the Obama supporters who can vote but aren't registered, please register. Go out and make a difference in the world( as Obama would say: I'm not asking you just to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours.)But on this note I would like to sign off with one of my favorite quotes and then I will say bye.
Quote:
"I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war".

Bye everyone (:

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING THE OBAMA '08 COMEDY NIGHT

BIG MIKE, COMEDIAN — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:41:01 EDT

I WANT TO THANK ALL THAT ATTENDED THE SHOW LAST NIGHT.I AM DOING MY BEST TO MAKE THE NEXT SHOW EVEN BETTER,FUNNIER AND MORE OBAMA! ALSO, A SPECIAL THANKS TO OBAMAWOOD FOR ALL OF THEIR HELP!

Overcoming my Fear

DMC — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:40:38 EDT

Last night I went to another Democratic event at the Arizona Democratic Headquarters to make phone calls for the party. Now before I get into the details, let me just say that there are a couple of things that give me anxiety and make me uncomfortable. The first is talking to people I don't know in new situations and the second is talking on the phone. In new situations I start to get anxiety of tightening in the chest, raised heart beats, and this sense of dread that I need to run for my life. So going out canvassing or volunteering for these types of events is a big deal for me. I am constantly fighting off my anxiety until I get comfortable in a situation.

Now while I can get comfortable in a new situation with the nice people who I have met who have talked to me and made me feel at ease in these events, the same cannot be said with my experience making phone calls. I have this irrational fear of talking to people on the phone who I cannot see and have to go by the inflections in their voice to see how I am coming across. Now it is one thing to do this with people you know, imagine doing this repetitively with people you don't know who don't want to be bothered with my interruptions.

Voter Registration Training scheduled for NSB

ObamaBob NSB — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:30:25 EDT

a new Voter Registration Training session has been set up in New Smyrna Beach this Friday, 6-27-08, from 3 to 4 PM.

A representative from Volusia County Supervisor of Elections office will conduct a training session for filling out, completing and filing new voter registration applications and absentee ballot requests. If you plan to conduct or participate in any voter registration drives, it's strongly recommended you attend a training session to learn the changes in the law and the process that must be followed.Here's the link to sign up for the event: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4g83q See you there! YES WE CAN!!

Last days to sign up for Voter Registration Training.

ObamaBob NSB — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:26:41 EDT

New Smyrna for Obama has 2 events scheduled to attend Volunteer training for Voter Registration and volunteer training.

The 1st event is scheduled for 10 AM in NSB. Sign up for the event at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4gsk7

The 2nd event is scheduled for 6 PM at DBCC in Daytona. Sign up at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4lc9

Anyone interested may attend and sign up if they are a registered Democrat in Volusia county and want to be sure Barack Obama is elected our next POTUS.

YES WE CAN!!

Why we have to listen to Professor George Lakoff to win in 08

Nathan from Oklahoma City, OK — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:56:38 EDT

I would encourage all Democrats to read the ideas of Professor George Lakoff. The right has spent Billions of dollars to frame the debate in their favor by defining and popularizing political terms that are force fed to the media. This language has been deliberately skewed with negative or misleading connotations that immediately give them a advantage in appealing to average Americans. Such terms are Traditional Marriage, Tax Relief, etc. Just type in George Lakoff and you can get a detailed accounting of the damage that has been done to our political speech and what we need to do to stop it. The Conservatives have spent 40 years and Billions of dollars to frame all debate in their favor. They have cast Americans ideas of government with their ideology putting Democrats on the defensive immediately. Instead of getting citizens to see taxes as dues paid to take part in our society and keep up our national infastructure, they have cast them as money paid to corrupt officials that give it away to undeserving parties through a semi socialist state. Thus they introduce the term "tax relief" to make it look like they are a saviour to the people when in fact they are only putting money that should be going to keeping up our country back into the pockets of wealthiest Americans who use the bulk of our infastructure, courts, etc to maintain and protect their assets. In this framed argument even the name of our ideology hurts us. Would you want to intrust your hard earned money to an ideology with the name of Liberal? or Conservative? hmmm...... That is why Professor Lakoff identifies not as a Liberal but as a Progressive. That is a great example of framing the argument in our direction. If we are Progressives, then of course the other side is stagnant at best, and more likely backwards.... When you start to think about it is mind boggling how just speech is so very important. We finally have a candidate who can articulate his ideology in a way that is inspiring to a huge group of people. He is well funded, and has the ability to reach out to American in a way that no Democrat has been able to do since JFK and RFK. We must seize the moment, rethink the way we speak and frame our speech in a way that puts the Republicans on the defensive. Mr. Obama must reach out to traditionally conservative voters especially in the midwest to win. This is the way to do that.

Ruy Teixeira: I'm Not Worried About Obama and Working-Class Voters in Fall

jgabriel — Sun, 25 May 2008 23:41:12 EDT

The Caucus has an interesting rebuttal to worries about Obama and working-class voters in the fall:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/us/politics/p26caucus.html

I still think it is important, however, that we make a special effort to attract working-class voters for the fall. As we have seen, they want to know specifics about what "change" means, and how it will benefit them and their families. But they may still be skeptical about Barack's ability to deliver, even after all that, partly because of his youth. This is why it will be important to choose a VP who resonates with Appalachian voters. I've heard Mark Warner's name come up several times, as well as Jim Webb. Maybe even Bob Casey of Pennsylvania?

On another note, did you all read the text of Barack's speech before Wesleyan graduates today? I thought it was quite eloquent, and he seemed to be trying to flesh out his message of change a little bit more (the call to service, evoking Freedom Riders, etc.) Here's the text of that speech:

http://thepage.time.com/obamas-commencement-address-at-wesleyan-university/

Yes We Can! Si Se Puede!

POLICY -- Electoral Schmechtoral College and Delegate Embarassments

Andrew Tipton — Wed, 21 May 2008 11:35:28 EDT

In our pursuit of protection of the minority from the tyranny of the majority , we have wrestled with the inequities of the Electoral College ( negating a majority popular vote ) , the two seats / state in the Senate that can sometimes frustrate popular will, and the delegate fiasco we are currently experiencing ( which honestly should not be happening -- the Democratic Party should be mortified over this development ).

The simplest thing that occurs to me might actually circumvent a lot of these problems while preserving minority protections as they are expressed in the voting habits of the populace.

Why not institute a party statute , and eventually a constitutional amendment that awards delegate selections and electoral college votes not on the basis of total population, but rather on the basis of VOTING population in the previous major election years?

It would preserve the notion of popular VOTE being dominant, while also giving a measure of anti-bully protection to the smaller states ( and delegations ). In essence, you could bulk up as much as you wished.

Imagine the levels of voter participation we would finally begin to experience in this country. There would be incentive to vote for all factions. It would TRULY make their vote meaningful, even if their candidate lost. Are we ever embarrassed that the supposed bastion of democracy in this world exhibits the lowest voter turnout of all ?

It wouldn't hurt to make voting a 2-day, weekend holiday process as well ( as in many European countries ). God knows we could do without another questionable national holiday in favor of a voting one.

It is my hope that those responsible for this site and information dissemination in the campaign would respectfully forward these ideas directly to Barack Obama for immediate consideration.

Finis / Andrew Tipton

Our help is being requested!

Marie — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:40:02 EDT

From: Preston Harden

Date: 5/8/2008 10:27:07 PM

To:All FOR OBAMA '08

Subject: [ATLBLACKPROFESSIONALSFOROBAMA]

UPDATE: National Voter's Registration Drive on Saturday, May 10th (NO OBAMA GEAR)

Obama Family,

Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign is planning to unveil a "massive" voter registration drive, one that will reach all 50 states and seeks to boost confidence in him as a potential general election candidate.

Atlanta, Georgia will help the campaign by hosting our National Voter's Registration Drive on Saturday, May 10th from 10:30am EST to 8:00pmEST.

We need Deputies and Volunteers to help organize this important National Event.

Location:
World Congress Center (Exhibit Room A 406-407)
285 Andrew Young International Blvd., NW
Atlanta, GA 30313

* Training will take place prior to field deployment: 10:30amEST to 11:30amEST
* For Second Shift - training will take place from 2:00pmEST to 3:00pmEST

Available Field Shifts of Operation:
11:30amEST to 3:00pmEST
3:00pmEST to 7:00pmEST

Click here to Register:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4fpd

Our goal is to get as many people registered to vote for the upcoming elections in November. We need your help.

SPECIAL NOTE:
1. No Obama gear is allowed while registering people to vote. (including shirts, caps, buttons, etc)
2. If you can bring clipboards & pens please do.
3. Wear comfortable shoes, clothing & bottle water.
4. Invite a friend or family to get involved.

Accordi ng to Obama:
"That's why I'm so proud that today our campaign announced a massive volunteer-led voter registration drive in all 50 states to help ensure every single eligible voter takes part in this election so we can take back Washington for the American peop le."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-campaign_fri.1apr25,0,2850297.story

See you there...

YES WE CAN!!!

Preston L. Harden
(404) 376-6833

Thank you for your support,

Preston L. Harden,
Georgia's 7th Congressional
District Delegate
GO OBAMA!!!!! 2008
(404) 376-6833

I'm from Michigan and wanted to vote for Obama

M. Hazard — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:45:42 EDT

I had to choose undecided or throw away my vote.. oh wait that was already done for me. Will it happen in November too?

I want the change Mr. Obama is offering and I want it this year! I live on SSI disibility and didn't accept the economic money throw as I owe for student loans and it just seems like a waste of paper. I can't afford food or transportation. But I can sit on a sidewalk and hold a sign.

My only request of Mr. Obama is to consider selecting Republican Ron Paul as his running mate. The only republican with enough sense to know that throwing away Americas money on other countries is ethically wrong.

Ron Paul wants what most Americans want the constitution of the United States to be acknowledged and strived for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7d_e9lrcZ8 Our foriegn policies is why we were attacked on 9/11 and it can only get worse if there isnt a change.

Stop dwindling the dollar and paying the rich to starve the poor. Don't drill for more oil make better choices. Tax the oil companies on thier profits, instead of allowing them to manipulate the dollar. Put Congress back into the roll of government right now they are being bulldozed.

TALENT, OR FOR OBAMA - PICS

Oregon Artists 4 Obama '08 — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:23:23 EDT

More pics on Ringo:

These are from Sunday, April 13 - Voter registration, phone banking & canvassing in
Talent, Oregon.

www.ringo.com/profile/obama08.html

Check this page for more Southern Oregon *OBAMA* event photos & updates.

URGENT! Pennsylvania Voter Registration Lies!

Soldierette!! (CENSORED) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:19:16 EDT

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE! COPY/PASTE & PASS IT ON!!! GET THE WORD OUT TO PA!

Subject: PA Voter Registration Lies

My husband was told by the Montgomery County, PA Voter Registration Office that he would have to vote for a candidate in his previous party even though he submitted the change of party form atleast a week before the PA voter registration deadline and they have record of his party change. They told him that without the card he'd have to vote for candidates in his former party.

I learned today that this is not true while at my local Obama office and they contacted Obama attorneys. What the voter registration office should have told him was that since he sent his voter registration before the deadline, when he gets to our polling place he should do two things if his name is not in the Poll Book.

1. Ask the election workers to check the Supplemental List; and

2. If he is not on the Supp list, he should request a provisional ballot.

I mention this because my husband was blatantly lied to by our local voter registration office and I hope you all will help to get the truth out to PA voters.

Voters across PA may be getting false info. I no longer seem to be getting the PA Obama lists and while I can sign up again tonight I hope you all will help me get the word out to PA voters via Obama mailing lists and the PA media.

Oregon - Photos!

Oregon Artists 4 Obama '08 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:16:22 EDT

*Photos*

Voter registration at the Plaza - Ashland, OR
Sunday, April 13, 2008

It was a beautiful day - we had fun! Check this page for more Oregon pix.
http://www.ringo.com/profile/obama08.html

If you have event photos, send them to me & I'll create your album on the page. Enjoy!

NC registered voters: "There's no good choices this time."

Wayne — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 17:41:32 EDT

My wife and I spent the afternoon registering voters outside the WalMart in Morganton. We weren't allowed to wear buttons or show any campaign material, so shoppers didn't know for sure who we supported.

We did ok registering new voters (maybe 30 in 3 hours). But the problem was the unsolicited response we got from way too many registered voters: "There's no good choices this time."

To be fair, I had no idea what their party affiliation was, but my gut feeling was that this was code for "I won't vote for a woman or an African-American."

First question: Are other people getting this kind of reaction?

Second question: Is it widespread?

Third question: If the answers to the first 2 questions are "yes," then what on earth are we going to do about it?

NC Voter Registration

Della — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:26:45 EDT

There's still time to help North Carolina residents register to vote in the primary. April 11th is the last day and this is the last full weekend.
Go to your nearest Obama headquarters for forms and directions.
Thanks for your help!

The REAL Voter Disenfranchisement!

Mister Anderson — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:07:56 EDT

I promised that I would no longer attack the Clinton campaign, her supporters, and the mainstream media that is single-handedly keeping her campaign afloat after Senator Obama weathered the Reverend Wright storm according to the current polls.

BUT SHE MAKES IT SOOOOOOO TEMPTING!!!

Electoral votes should matter in a Democratic Primary? We are to believe that she will carry Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in the general election but Barack Obama will lose New York, California and Massachusetts?

The one thing that really gets under my skin is her argument that the 10 largest states in population are more important than the other 40 combined.

Fantastic Saturday for Indiana

Rosemary Rogers — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:28:18 EDT

Crowds of Obama volunteers were plentiful around Indiana on Saturday for the openings of the state HQs at 10AM. Attending the opening of the Indy HQ was a wonderful experience. Everyone huddled on the lawn at Fulton Street, had a certain spirit about them. You could really feel the excitement for Indiana as we entered the doors. Lines stretched throughout the building. Some folks were buying t-shirts, others were checking out the new diggs, and visiting with familiar faces. Everyone was smiling and boisterous. It was a diverse group representing every demographic.

We have become a sort of family. As each week passes, we meet in coffee houses, libraries, restaurants, and our homes with other supporters and volunteers. The Indiana Obama community is growing and as each of us meets one another, we become friends. We are friends who have found a reason to hope, to volunteer, and to vote. Most of us have never felt this type of interest for a presidential election before. We have never felt this urgency, to help register voters, to get to the polls, and to fix our own communities. There are many different stories why an individual may support Obama, but they all have the same truth. He is a candidate who can come in fresh to this job, look at what is wrong, and do his best to correct our problems. He won't have to answer to old Washington or big donors. He will instead answer to us, each of us. Our lives will change. From the moment he sits in the Oval office, this country will finally be on course. There will be no more misdirection. It will take time to accomplish the things that each of us need, but he is the only one to do it. Each of us believe in him and each of us has put ourselves in the action.

Members of the official campaign spoke a few words of encouragement and instruction for volunteers. The packets that were assembled for volunteers, with the highlighted streets, voter registrations and Obama campaign flyers disappeared in a hurry. Everyone paired up and headed to their chosen areas with a passion.

I left the Indy Headquarters and headed to my SCI group in Morgan County. Nine volunteers helped canvass neighborhoods with me. Hours passed before I realized I hadn't eaten that day or taken a break. Though I'd had plenty of coffee in the morning. Oops. Canvassing is always a thrill and I tend to get carried away. No matter who you meet, everyone in Indiana is looking forward to the primary. The occasional supporter for the other guy is usually very cordial and appreciative of the effort to register voters, no matter who they might choose on election day.

Finally, at 7:30 PM, I returned to the old IPS school building that houses the HQ. Outside, a dedicated campaign member was busy entering gathered supporter information into a computer. Inside volunteers and workers were all about the building, sorting stacks of registration forms and various volunteer collected papers. It appeared to be a successful day for Indy. As I handed SCI's stack of forms into the collection, I thought, how fantastic. This group has done so much to build a terrific grassroots effort and it truly is getting the job done. Thank you to every volunteer out there in Indiana who spent their weekend working to make Sen. Obama our nominee. We will continue this effort for the next week, please volunteer for another event. Whether you find one new voter or twenty, in this election every one counts. For the first time, EVERYONE counts.

Imagine

neat — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:29:13 EDT

I think it's important for voters to imagine what kind of presidency each Democratic candidate might have based on what we know of them as indicated by the way they have run their campaigns.

Senator Clinton's campaign has accepted funding from lobbyists and special interests but appears to be in fiscal chaos, spending huge sums on perks and running into debt. Some of her staff members have resigned due to disagreements with the candidate, her husband or other staff. The talk emanating from her campaign has been shown to be calculated: outright lies, crying, intimidation, exaggerations and fear mongering. There seems to be a sense of denial regarding the failure of these tactics as evidenced by their repeated use. The former president, her husband, is constantly meddling in her campaign, going off message and making outrageous statements.

Imagine them in the White House. Does she run things the way you think our country should be managed? Do you think "First Gentleman" Bill Clinton will stop meddling?

Senator Obama has taken his campaign directly to the people. His grassroots campaign has raised more funds than Senators Clinton's and McCain's combined! His staff has been solid, dedicated and devoted. His talks are focused on the issues, inspiring, educating, motivating and on message. He speaks truth to power, even though it is sometimes very difficult. His assessment of his winning campaign is realistic without being boastful. His wife, Michelle, is supportive, intelligent, and warm and outreaching to the voters. And she keeps him real!

Imagine them in the White House! Imagine how proud you will be to have them represent you on the world stage when they are meeting leaders of other countries. Imagine how comfortable you will be when you know he is using his skills and working to bring leaders, countries and people together to work on solutions for the growing problems that we all face. Imagine how secure you will feel to know he is working to solve the challenges that face our country and our people.

Imagine President and Mrs Barak Obama! Yes we Can!

Hillary Clinton a Karl Rove fan? I never would have guessed.

Leo — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:25:16 EDT

Hillary Clinton made a lasting impression on me today at the Texas Senatorial District Convention. I'd like to commend her on inspiring me to send my resume to the Obama campaign. I honestly cannot imagine supporting her in the future.

Obama weathers Wright storm ... (Reuters)

Glenn Lieding — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:17:57 EDT

(Source: Yahoo! News)

By Steve Holland Thu Mar 27, 4:24 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A controversy over Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's former pastor has not hurt Obama, a new poll found on Thursday, even as more potential trouble surfaced involving his church.

A poll by the Pew Research Center said videos of sermons by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Obama's subsequent speech on race in America last week have attracted more public attention than any events thus far in the 2008 presidential campaign.

The March 19-22 survey of 1,503 American adults found that despite the flap, Illinois Sen. Obama had maintained a 49 percent to 39 percent advantage over New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Commonality of Barack Obama and Marilyn Monroe....

Julie Hensley — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:22:50 EDT

Wow... Barack Obama and Marilyn Monroe? What COULD they have in common. Marilyn Monroe was born out of wedlock to a mother that died in an insane asylum while she was still young. Marily married several times, had abortions, never gave birth to a child, was white, female and heavily bleached blond. Even now, over 40 years after her death, she is still the first name mentioned when people are asked to name a sex symbol.

Obama, multi-racial married in a marriage to a mother, who with her parents would raise him with love and hope, was ultimately well connected to family members from the continents of Africa, Asia and North America. His career and marriage enjoy a notable lack of scandal. Sex appeal does not seem to be the secret of his success.

What do they have in common then? The source of their success.

Marilyn was not a star that the studio latched on. While her sex appeal may have been apparent, it would be too controversial and the studios relegated her to small bit parts along side major stars. Her ability was minimized, her potential underestimated because of her ability to play the dumb blonde. So where did her success originate? With the people, the grassroots, the audience at those movies who clamored to see more of this 'girl'. Who went to movies she was in and asked for more and more. Even Marily knew the source of her success. She realized the studios had not bet on her.

Barack Obama had to know the same thing coming into this race. Politicians may understand the need to be 'spotless' prior to entering a campaign but they also understand that it is impossible to have nothing above reproach or criticism in one's life. There is always something that someone will not agree with and when FOX (FAUX) News has their sites set on you - you can be sure that even YOU will be surprised at what your faults are and how numerous they truly are.

But he has put his faith... that WE, the people, the grassroots, the audience, the voters ... are able to propel him. Yes, MSM has many eyes and ears but unlike US, they do not have ALL the eyes and ears. Together we CAN contact every person unlike the news networks and negativists and racists and bigots whose reach is limited.

Let me thank you now for the part you will play in this outreach. Feel free to thank me and everyone else around you, as well.

Barack Obama and Marilyn Monroe.. like they say, politics makes for strange bedfellows.

Voter Info May Have Been Seen On The Web

Michael Kotyk — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:47:45 EDT

I read this today in the Courier-Times. It looks as if some voter registration information has been compromised on the Internet. The State has closed the online registration link but voters can still download a registration form and mail it in.

the most delegates wins

jonathan | cvg — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:04:41 EST

the most delegates wins. on monday, msnbc discussed the difficulty of reporting the "winner" in texas should what happened on tuesday happen.

clinton seized the popular vote by a small margin, largely resulting from erroneous scare tactics and the smear campaigns she fed during the days leading up to march 4. when you review the exit polls, her last efforts especially crippled obama in ohio. clinton gained majority of union and religious support. this is in spite of obama winning the key union endorsements impacting ohio and leading union endorsements nationwide. this is in spite continued reassurance that obama is a devout christian and an appearance of both candidates on 60 minutes. yet, even in her appearance on 60 minutes, when asked about obama being muslim, senator clinton responded, "there's nothing to base that on... at least not that i know."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYspjJCjgX8

however, this has been a delegate race since super tuesday. as it stands, obama has won the popular vote and delegate race nationally. tuesday was a wash for senator clinton thanks to vermont and texas who wisely gave obama the delegate lead.

it is now mathematically improbable for her to beat obama on popular vote and pledged delegates. remember poor huckabee? she would have to average more than a 20 point lead in every state henceforth.

"let's get real." as she says. even in new york she only beat obama by 17 points... and she obviously had the advantage in new york.

thanks to the caucus and the delegate map of the districts in texas, it currently appears that obama has won the most delegates in texas. with more than 50% of the results calculated, the networks have not yet declared a winner in the caucus. however, cnn.com breaks out the detail nicely if you visit their politics' page. obama's lead is significant... enough to counter the delegates she gained in popular vote from the more rural areas of texas.

~ j

I'm not really a speaker, but here's my speech.

EMK — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:13:38 EST

Barack Obama,

After 15 months of debates, caucuses, primaries, controversies, attacks, and advertisements, this campaign is nearly a draw with the Clintons.

I want you, as well as all of your staff, advisors, and supporters to get your hands off of the keyboard, stand up, bow your heads down and close your eyes. Immagine that you are not in the race for the nomination for any party, as none exists, but Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are running for President right now. Obama is tired, and is about to collapse while Hillary's cold eyes and cold smile are peering down at him, but then, he musters all of his courage to stand up and keep on campaigning in Pensylvania as he remembers this: As a Senatorial candiadate, when he began this run, he made a contract to all of his Illinois constituents to represent and stand up for their wants and needs, to ensure that every individual had his voice heard, and that the dreams of those constituents were not sacrified for some special interest group; and, every voter who voted for him to have this seat has cosigned with this saying that they trust him, and they will fight to ensure that this trust is not broken. Furthermore, as a Presidential candidate, he made the same contract, but this time with constituents from every state. Knowing that, he also knows that Hillary Clinton has made that same contract, but is betraying that contract with every action that she is taking!

With that, Barack Obama stands up and explains to the voters in Pennsylvania what he wants to accomplish, as well as how he wishes to accomplish that, and include the people in every aspect of the speech as to what and how they need to become their own activists, before, during, and after the election is over.

Now, open your eyes, and yes, we are in a primary campaign, with John McCain with only a few delegates shy of the nomination for the Republicans. Obama has just taken some blows by Hillary Clintons most recent attacks, but he still gets up.

Now, what is true is that contract that he has made, as Senator and as a Presidential Candidate. Hillary has also made that contract, but she has betrayed that trust.

Stand up. Tell the voters what he can do with foreign policy, beyond Iraq and Pakistan. Talk about Palestine, Darfur, Kosovo, China, Russia, Europe, and so on. Tell the voters what he can do about disasters like Katrina. Tell the voters about what he can do about the environment. Tell the voters what he can do about the economy. Demand that the voters become activists about foreign policy so that special interests will not bring the country into a state of financial and military ruin. Demand the voters be their activists for human rights so that they can push their Senators and Representatives to ignore the special interests and vote their conscience. Demand that the voters to be the innovators and advocates so special interests will not make profits at the expense of the environment or human life.

Stand up and show Hillary how she broke that contract. Own your errors and make sure that you remember that you signed that contract with the constituents when you began your campaign and that every vote for you is an acknowledgement of that contract.

EMK

ATTENTION TO THOSE WHO ARE CONCERNED ABOUT DISENFRANCHISEMENT!!!

EMK — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:25:34 EST

To the disenfranchised:

The Obama site has a link called the Voter Protection Center and Report A Problem (also in Spanish)! Also, if you feel that it is not enough go to blackboxvoting.org and report that there as well!

Sincerely,

EMK