Posts with the tag chicago

Ghent Film Festival, IEBA Honors Chubby Checker, Content and Communications World, Viennale 2009, ShowEast, Highlight October Media and Entertainment Industry Networking Events

Paul — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:41:50 EDT

MIPCOM, in Cannes through October 9, is the global content event for creating, co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content across all platforms, that provides the key decision-makers in the TV, film, digital and audiovisual content, production and distribution industry with a market conference and networking forum to discover future trends and trade content rights on a global level. The New School Office of Career Development in conjunction with The Office of Alumni Relations, New School for Drama, New School for Jazz and Contemporary Studies, Mannes College and others, presents "Careers in Performing Arts," an Alumni Panel and networking event, at its campus in Greenwich Village, on October 6. The Ghent Film Festival (Flanders International Film Festival-Ghent) in Ghent, first established in 1974 as a student's festival, is now recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (IFFPA) as a competitive festival primarily geared towards the "impact of music on film". The festival organizes film music concerts, giving composers of film scores a platform to showcase from. The official CD Release Party for Kyoko Oyobe (www.myspace.com/kyokooyobe) Jazz Trio, recorded live at Smalls Jazz Club, happens October 8 in New York, and features Kyoko Oyobe, piano Michael O'Brien, bass Clifford Barbaro, drums, Saul Rubin, guitar. A subsequent jazz recital happens at Fat Cat Jazz Club, in Greenwich Village, on October 15.

The Chicago International Film Festival, October 8-21, will have an opening night cocktail reception with hors d'oeuvres, and after the festival starts you can listen to experienced film composers, musicians, and directors break down the process of finding collaborators, sourcing new and existing music, and producing the perfect harmony between sound and image at the panel "Score! Music on Film". ` International Entertainment Buyers Association, founded in 1970 as a non-profit trade organization for talent buyers, concert promoters, agents, managers, artists and other related entertainment professionals, starts its 2009 conference in Downtown Nashville, October 11-13. Among slated events IEBA will honor the iconic Chubby Checker who had the number 1 song of the sixties, “The Twist,” which topped the charts at number1 twice. Content and Communications World is the fall conference and exhibition for media and communications technology, opening in New York for two days on October 14. CCW features three events in one location – HD World, SATCON, and IP Media Expo. The Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) was started with a mandate for the advancement of understanding and cultural exchange among the peoples of Asia, the Pacific and North America through the medium of film, and at this year's event in Honolulu will host an all day event to honor award winning TV program LOST, which is shot on the island of Oahu with the Vision in Film Award. BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2009, October 15-17 in Las Vegas, is for any Blogger, Podcaster, Vlogger, Internet TV or Radio Broadcaster, Social Media expert or producer of any other form of new media content to attend and extend their expertise with strategies, tools and techniques.

Film, Stage and ShowBiz Expo happens this year in Los Angeles for one day, on October 17. On site at the Expo, Disney Theatrical Group and Telsey + Company will be holding casting calls for major Broadway musical productions. During this year's 2009 Digital Hollywood Fall, October 19-22 in Santa Monica, some special events will include: Executive Round Table and Cocktail Event; VIP Content Rights Dinner; Digital Hollywood Finance Dinner; a VIP Breakfast Briefing; and End-of-Day Poolside Reception. During Vienna based Viennale 2009, running October 22 through November 4, directors and actors will join the celebratory opening in the Gartenbaukino, with a number of other film guests, such as Tilda Swinton, to whom the Viennale dedicates a Tribute this year. The festival will close with the Austrian premier of the latest film of the brothers Ethan and Joel Coen: A Serious Man. Cinema exhibition professionals come to Nielsen Film Group's ShowEast in Orlando, October 26-29, for film screenings of major studio and independent feature films slated for holiday release, as well as product reel presentations, special events with Hollywood actors, educational seminars and to find the latest products, services and technologies at the trade show. The Urban Individualists (www.theurbanindividualists.org) close out their year of art showcases with two shows in the month, first with a Brooklyn opening October 23 of 'Heaven and Hell', showing works exploring theological themes by male members of the collective, including Paul Deo (www.myspace.com/pauldeo). They open again on October 31 in Manhattan's upper west side with 'Masquerade - False Faces' a multimedia exhibition which includes masks and other art works. Both events feature live music, poetry readings, refreshments, and are free and open to the public.

The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the "Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events" page at actorschecklist.com/news.html. Video and podcast versions of this news summary are also available at popular video sites around the Web like MySpace, YouTube, Daily Motion, as well as on The Actor's Checklist podcast blog at actorschecklist.com/loudblog. Follow the posting of the news summary on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/actorschecklist. This month on the video news summary you will again see a dynamic array of artists in performance of film and music. Last month featured German pop (with a little hip hop) performer, Lando van Herzog (www.lando-van-herzog.com); Urban Rap artist Guerilla X (www.guerrillax.exploretalent.com) in his new film, 'Kiss of a Bullet'; comedy in the form of parody rap skits from Filmhawk (www.myspace.com/filmhawkcomedy). These videos are now available on the Free Home Video Showcase at http://www.actorschecklist.com/video which now serves as an archive for all past video presentations but without the audio news narration. The Actor's Checklist is proud announce the return of the photo gallery which you can visit at http://actorschecklist.com/coppermine to upload valuable head shots or other photos of your choice, create profiles, and use your pictures or others found on the gallery as ecards which you can email to friends and associates with messages.

2016 Olympic Games

"Voice for Humanity" — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:15:45 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

Heartfelt Congratulations! To the world famous Mardi Gras city, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for the spectacular victory in their bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Although, all contestants’ promotional bidding was exceptional, the Brazilian presentation was compelling and befitting the outcome. The IOC decision was fair and appropriate considering the other bidders had hosted the international event before and in the case of the United States on numerous occasions within the Olympics diversifications, i.e. Summer, Winter and Para Olympics in several venues, making the USA a prominent host of the most Olympics.

It’s a phenomenal feat for the South American nation, a rising economy and an international champion in the world-renowned sport, ‘football.’ Brazil also honored to host the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and now the Summer Olympics in 2016, an extraordinary achievement for the rising star.

Please refer to http://www.padminiarhant.com for the remaining content.

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

What A Shame

nothing but news — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:01:20 EDT

As you all probably know,

Barack Obama and family have recently joined the competition to host the 2016 summer Olympics. Sadly we are disappointed that we have been eliminated from the competition. The presidential family was planning on hosting this big event in Chicago, Illinois. Michelle Obama says "Chicago is such a great place with wonderful people". Now we will watch the Olympics of 2016 take place in either Madrid, or Rio DeGinario!

Your Friend,

Erin

What about the people

Frances L — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:27:54 EDT

President Obama will advocate for the Olympics in Chicago, and that is good as long as he make some effort to insure that any financial assistance that the federal government offers, is counter balanced with some benefit to the people Daley is disadvantaging in the process.

The proposed site whichDaley hopes to transform into a world class location, is in the footprint of a concrete jungle gym in which he sowed the seeds of discouragement in the neighborhood children by tolerating poor quality education, lack of opportunity and maintaining social isolation in exchange for his fiefdom. He recently dispersed this dysfunction like a plague throughout the greater south side of Chicago where the fruits of his labor results in murders of school children. It is ironic to me that Daley wants the Olympics, the epitome of athletic achievement yet for 20 years has been party to starving the south side of Chicago of recreational facilities where children could develop their athletic skill, maintain health, learn discipline, be safe, have fun, and most of all be children.

HCAN Rally for Health Care at the Federal Plaza in Chicago

Leo Robert Klein — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:11:14 EDT

I just wanted to say that the HCAN people put together a great rally with several hundred people in the Federal Plaza.

ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA - Have You Seen This Video Yet?

Steve Sulkin — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:17:10 EDT

Organizing for America - Have you seen This Video Yet? More then ever, you need it now to re-kindle the spirit that lived in us all prior to the election.

We need to get this video out in the public eye in a big way to re-kindle the spirit of optimism that existed prior to the election of President Obama.

Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) that is what we need to understand.

Post the inaugural, post the election, post the optimism fading, post the Republican's battle of the wills, it's sad to see our country slowly slipping back to the bad ol' days when the President is simply a news curiosity, just some guy in the White House. Barack Obama is more then that. He is the change we all voted for.

When I get pessimistic that such talk as the above is simply the talk of a dreamer, I hear President Obama speak. For instance, his speech at Notre Dame. It was historic, incredible, inspiring. it reminded me why I was so filled with hope on November 4th, 2008. When I hear him speak, I still get uplifted and remember who is in the White House.

But let us not forget the obvious, he's a human being, he can't correct everything at once, he has information now as President about our country we will never know and he is, I am confident, desperately trying to balance it all. I have not agreed with every move, espeically preventitive detention, but should we need or expect to agree with everything that anyone does? I agree with most and that's good enough for me to be a great supporter of his. I speak out when I don't agree with President Obama or anyone, but that doesn't mean I don't ardently support President Obama. In the past, I agreed with very little our Presidents have done, so this is an extremely refreshing change, especially at a time in our history which is unparalleled in it's complexity and danger to our society, our country and our world.

My only personal regret is that the video I directed and produced to keep the dreams alive, Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) has not been endorsed by Organizing for America and posted on its home page (or endorsed by Oprah or some such celebrity that can bring instant distribution to this cause, this quest to make optimsm and involvement the norm). This video should be endorsed by someone or some organization of such stature. It should be the rallying cry that we all remember to say to ourselves every day, that "YES WE CAN CHANGE OUR DESTINY." If we realize that simple truth, that we are in control of our destinies, we will work hard for change. We will become involved. Pessimism occurs when we believe we aren't in control, when we believe that hope is lost, when we believe that we can't make a difference. But the election proved how much we can change the world, how much we can accomplish when we act in unity with hope and optimism, when our world collectively believes that YES WE CAN CHANGE OUR DESTINY.

I have tried to move on, to concentrate on other causes, problems and issues in our world and my life, to not continue to push so actively to get this video "out there" more. But every time I lose hope and become pessimistic about our world, I listen to my own words in that video and I realize that Yes I can Change My Destiny and the world's destiny, that I can be part of that, that I'm not just a weak individual without a voice. I'm just as capable of changing our world as anyone. Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Mother Theresea, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Maria Montessori, Jonas Salk, Orville & Wilbur Wright, Barack Obama, yes, these are great people, but they are people, regular individuals that began with simply a dream, to change our world. When you look back through history, it's not countries or corporations that created transformative change, it was individuals. The power of the individual is stunning.

If anyone out there in the administration of Organizing for America listening please take a moment to watch this video. It's only 5 minutes. I'm a professional filmmaker, I promise you, it will be worth your time. This video was made as my service to America. But with "only" 130,000 + views (which is teeny tiny in the world of YouTube) which occurred mostly around January 20, 2008, this video is not inspiring anyone anymore. It could be inspiring millions right now to stand up and be part of the solution, not the problem, to realize one's own civic opportunity and responsibility, if Organizing for America would simply endorse this video and place it on their home page as a permanent fixture of inspiration.

Do not think I do this for any fame. I don't even want credit for this film. This project was entirely pro-bono and continues to be so. I simply want to help before my time on this Earth is over.

If you want to see more of what I do with film to try to help, please visit my "political activist" site (e.g. where i try to make a difference) My "MBMPRO" YouTube Channel

and the YouTube channel for My Production Company, MBM Productions International

Sincerely,

Steve Sulkin - Director & Activist...simply trying to make a difference

CEO, MBM PRODUCTIONS INT'L

ALL FOOTAGE IN THIS VIDEO WAS EITHER CREATED BY MYSELF AND MY PRODUCTION COMPANY, MBM, OR, AS IN THE CASE OF THE BARACK OBAMA FOOTAGE, WAS LICENSED THROUGH A STOCK HOUSE AND I HAVE FULL RIGHTS TO USE IT IN PERPETUITY.

BLACK YOUTH AND CRIME

scorpi2000 — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:37:58 EDT

PLEASE COPY AND SEND THIS TO EVERYBODY

IF I HAD A BILLION DOLLARS I,D BUY CNN AND FORCE THEM TO READ THIS OVER THE AIR

HAVE WE ALL FORGOTEN THAT GANGSTER RAP WAS EMBRACED BY THE MEDIA, AND IN TURN EMBRACED BY OUR CHILDREN, THEN ACCEPTED AS A TREND .THEN OK'ED BY PARENTS. LOOKED UP TO AND PROMOTED AS STARS, GLORIFIED AS BEING A WAY OF LIFE THAT MANY YOUTH TRY TO BE LIKE. WITH CLOTHING TO MATCH, MARKETED AND SOLD. BOUGHT BY PARENTS WHO WANT THEIR KIDS TO KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST TRENDS IN CLOTHING,, BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING PRESSURED BY THEIR KIDS WHO WANT TO BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE...MUSIC PLAYED ON THE RADIO ,TV, MTV, MUSIC AWARDS ETC. NOW ITS MANIFESTING IN MANY BLACK CHILDREN LIVING OUT THIS FAD IN REALITY, AND EVERYBODIES WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED, AND ASKING THE POLICE TO SAVE US FROM OURSELVES... ARE WE THAT SCREWED UP AS A SOCIETY ?

NEED I SAY ANY MORE... WHY ARE ALL THESE SO CALLED EDUCATED PEOPLE SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS AND SAYING DUUH ...I DONT KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENING..START FROM THE BEGINNING ..UNDUE THE FAD THAT HAS MANIFESTED THIS REACTION

THE POLICE CANT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM ITS AN ENVIRNMENTAL ISSUE.

YES LARRY KING LIFE IS CAUSE AND EFFECT!

SORRY GANGSTER RAPPERS WE DONT WANT YOUR PRODUCT!

A FEW OF YOU HAVE MADE MILLIONS BUT MANY OF YOUR FOLLOWERS ARE LEFT AT DEAD ENDS.

First of all im a nieghbor, of the mother of Blair Holt.We grew up together in the same nieborhood. I am not a perfect person . No one is. BUTThier are too many of our children being killed by other children. Why does this happen? It happens because many of our children have been infuenced by a fad culture that has glorified and lagitimized a gang culture, which has had a very destructive effect on our niebohoods here in Chicago and many other places in the U.S. Do you know how hard it is for a child to go against a popular trend with most of thier peers. In order to survive most parents are at work.Even if they wanted to, they would have to risk thier jobs to stay at home or devote enough time and energy to offset the influence of popular culture.These trends are established and reinforced by companies who make a lot of money creating and selling the latest trend.The parents of these young kids who are in gangs, have missed the oportunity to stop thier children from growing up accepting a destructive trend that makes money for a few and leaves the victoms lifes in turmoil. with hate in thier hearts, and the lack of respect for anothers life. Parents are Too busy at work, in poverty, fathers not there, gangs took over, I did the best I could, can no longer be an excuse. Me, you, us, them, we,the parents are the only ones that can stop this circle of violence. Check your children when they are young and they wont grow up killing other children. Watch what they are being influenced by. Watch who they are being influenced by. Know who the friends are they hang with. use your influence, to influence thier friends and other children. Know what your child is up to and who they are hanging with when they are not at home Dont let children raise children. Work together as a group when they are young, sacrifice if you have too, because the next child that is killed might be your own,killed by your nieghbors child. Or youll be explaining why your child killed someone else.Stop depending on the police or govt. to do our jobs after the fact.We as parents are always responsible for how our children turn out.

BUT WHAT IF ITS AN ENVIRNMENTAL ISSUE?.

OUR ENVIRNMENT INCLUDES THE MEDIA TV, RADIO, MARKETING, FASHOIN ETC.

THANKSSCORPI2000

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-52245#

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-254315#

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-221708#

http://www.myspace.com/scorpi2000radicalroots

Chicago Cares Serve-A-Thon, June 13!

Seminarians for Change — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:55:00 EDT

President Obama has called on all of us to help support our local communities through service and here's an opportunity for you to get together with some of your former Obama Campaign HQ call/correspondence center colleagues and help our city.

Organizing for America is inviting you to join in service at the 16th Annual Chicago Cares Serve-a-thon on Saturday, June 13. We are among the 8,000 volunteers who have committed to making Chicago a better place by painting, planting, building and beautifying schools across the city.

Together, Serve-a-thon volunteers will help 30,000 Chicago students succeed by transforming their schools into vibrant places to learn and grow. Volunteering is always more fun when we do it together, and as Team Captains, we are trying to recruit as many former campaign colleagues as we can to assist in this effort.

Please join one of our teams today and volunteer to make Chicago a better place!

The registration deadline is Monday, June 8 (or whenever the event reaches capacity) so visit www.chicagocares.org to register today. Be sure to select "Join a Team" and search for one of our teams when you do so:

Organizing for America1 (Team Captain, Kathy Gallo)

Organizing for America2 (Team Captain, Susan Gottlieb)

Organizing for America3 (Team Captain, Janet Taylor)

Organizing for America4 (Team Captain, Caryl Steinberg)

Here is some additional information:

There is a $30 fee per participant.

Participants must be 12 years old on June 13, 2009, and until age 17 they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

If you have any questions, please contact one of us or visit www.chicagocares.org.

We hope to see you on June 13.

Yes, We Can - Fix Health Care This Year

DrXyzzy — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:51:14 EDT

Yesterday, March 19, President Obama said he believes we can get health care done in 2009, but we will have to work hard to do it. This is a historic opportunity, opening the door for a reform as profound as the civil rights movement of the mid 20th century. But it is up to all of us to make the most of the moment.

Let's Go To Work: Local Plan of Action for Stimulus Package

Seminarians for Change — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:49:48 EDT

It's time for us to go to work!

Your leadership team has worked hard to think through the concerns of those who attended our first gathering in November. The majority said they want action and not just another town hall meeting. We heard you and we invite you to join us at two upcoming plan of action forums.

Saturday, March 28 and Saturday, April 25.

March 28: Local Plan of Action for Stimulus Package, 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

April 25: Local Plan of Action on Health Care, Time TBA. Updates on this event forthcoming.

We have invited expert panelists who will inform us on these issues and how we are impacted on a local level. The panelists will invite questions from the group and we will go into break out sessions to develop a plan of action on the topics of health care, energy, environment, and employment.

The action plans developed will be implemented with the support of the group. We need your passion, creativity, wisdom, and your experience to carry out the work at hand.

Seminarians for Change will also be actively involved with Organizing for America, inviting other organizations around Chicago and Illinois to help us, partner with us as we do the same for them.

The bottom line is, this is your organization and your community.

We're ready to go to work and we need you!

Miami International Film Festival, Cable Congress '09, Leadership Music Digital Summit, South Beach International Animation Film Festival, Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo, Highlight March Media and Entertainment Industry Networking Events

Paul — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:07:32 EST

The Durango Independent Film Festival, happening in Durango, will have an array of festival events including late night parties for filmmakers and VIPs running through March 8. The annual Chicago International Movies and Music Festival brings together movies and music, showcasing films about music, movie scores and soundtracks, and other syntheses of moving images and musical performance such as the world premiere of musician Martin Atkins' directorial debut about his foray into the Chinese musical underground, '16 Days In China', during the festival's run March 5-8. Interactive discussion panels planned for the Puerto Rico Music Business Conference enable its participants to receive strategies, recommendations and true-life tales, applicable to any music genre, from experts currently shaping industry events. The Miami International Film Festival whose program is international in scope, but with a special emphasis on Ibero-American cinema, hosts over 350 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry representatives from around the world, during it's run, March 6-15. Entertainment industry career guidance group urnetworkalliance is hosting a series of power breakfast sessions on Saturdays during the month of March. At the opening session Lelia Shearer, Casting Associate of Elissa Myers Casting, currently casting a mini series for PBS, will be in attendance. Joining the sessions is possible through the group's Meetup page (www.meetup.com/urnetworkalliance/calendar/9613814/) or email to: info@urnetworkalliance.info

The Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences holds its annual Career Day Seminar on March 14, for college students interested in television as a career and for young professionals looking to advance in their profession. Certainly on the cutting edge, U.K. based group Crossover Play explores new forms of entertainment for digital media: the relationship between play and narrative, formats dependent on user contributions, mobile or location based entertainment with a broadcast component. It engages all this at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, March 15-20, and the group has presence on Facebook and Myspace as well. At Cable Congress '09 in Berlin, view tomorrow's technology and discover the latest content available at the exhibition, in addition to panels featuring top executives from Europe and the world's leading cable, technology and media companies. Then meet your peers at the exclusive Gala Dinner, Lounge Bar, buffet lunches or coffee breaks, all taking place March 18-20. The United States Institute for Theatre Technology Annual Conference & Stage Expo offers over 175 sessions featuring design, technology, costume, sound, architecture, management, engineering, and production. With over 150 exhibitors the Stage Expo provides conference attendees with the opportunity to see the newest products and services on the market today, when it runs March 18-21 in Cincinnati. Chicago Filmmakers Open Screening is back in operation, and it gets going again with a March 21 start date showing practically anything of a 20 minute duration that comes through the door, except of course, for X-rated material.

The upcoming Film/TV Production & Finance Summit taking place in Los Angeles, March 23-24, tackles current challenges attached to financing a film, television or online content in the current economy, as well as to address international co-ventures between the U.S. and Canada, how to make money through branding products with your content, online distribution, as well as, how to get the Film/TV production distributed and financed by studios. The Leadership Music Digital Summit, produced by Leadership Music, an educational 501(c)(3) focused on cultivating an educated, issue-oriented music community, conducts the Summit, March 23-25 in Nashville to identify and explore new technology opportunities, innovations, and challenges, and to foster a knowledgeable, issue-oriented, vibrant community of music professionals. At this year's 2009 Game Developers Conference, happening March 23-27 in San Francisco, some of the party and networking functions will include: Playstation Interactive Lounge; Intel Visual Adrenaline Lounge; Game Connection Reception; IGDA Members-Only Party; ISM Charity Poker Tournament; GDC World Mixer; Booth Crawl. NXT STAGE Online & Mobile Entertainment Conference & Market, is a market conference and networking forum to discover future trends and digital content, March 24-25 in Hollywood. This years IPTV World Forum 2009 in London will continue to address the key strategic issues for telcos deploying IPTV, and will also focus on the challenges facing satellite and internet broadcasters, when it runs March 25-27. This year's South Beach International Animation Film Festival, running March 26 - April 5, offers screenings, parties and special events taking place at a variety of venues around Miami and the Beaches, along with art exhibits, hands-on demonstrations, seminars, and workshops about the newest technology and creative software. Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo will take place March 31 in New York, and will highlight some of the following areas: film festival, designer's showcase, focus groups, round table meetings for networking, movie reel showcase, original music showcase, headshot lane, live audition recording, and much more.

The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the "Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events" page at actorschecklist.com/news.html. Video and podcast versions of this news summary are also available at popular video sites around the Web like MySpace, YouTube, Daily Motion, as well as on The Actor's Checklist podcast blog at actorschecklist.com/loudblog, a great place to get your iPhone, ipod or Apple TV download from. The Free Home Video Showcase at www.actorschecklist.com/video now serves as an archive for all past video presentations. This month on video you will again see an interesting array of performing artists from the indie sector on video, in a lineup that will be announced. The Actor's Checklist continues to build it's archive of high quality digital video. All past video uploads of the monthly news summary are now archived without the audio news narration to the Free Home Video Showcase.

Letter to the President from Army of Dude, Very Important

Annette Sousley — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:35:55 EST

This is for Alex, a young veteran of the Iraq War. I have linked to his blog before, in the B A D list, when the Weblog Awards were going on and I have talked about it at other times.

Well, this morning I noticed there was a new post, so I went to read it. I have been touched deeply by Alex's posts before, but this one really, really touched my heart. So, I am asking you to read this post, I am putting here, I will also link to his blog, he is a very talented writer, and you can follow your heart, but I think you will see where he and I are coming from. I hope you will write to Pres. Obama as I am and ask that he spare Alex's friend and all the others who are caught up in this back door draft that the Bushies got us into. Because that's how it is. So, read this and see what you think. Then if you want, go here to "http://armyofdude.blogspot.com/ and read more.

More after the fold

The OBAMA Generation

Monika — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:58:34 EST

Generation "O" Main Blog & Unique "O" Wear/Gear @ Generation O on Zazzle

Hi, I'm new here...wish I had found this site sooner, but better late than never.

Looking for possible ways to get more involved in the process of making our world a better place alongside people in my community...ya know, to get in where I fit in.

Still learning my way around this site...

Read y'all later,

Monika

Homeless, Due To A Conspiracy To Violate Civil Rights, Obstruct Justice And Harass

VERNON BALMER JR. — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:28:35 EST

I am submitting this to various individuals, agencies, and institutions, in hopes that it will get to someone that can and will do something to bring justice to this matter.

Change Has Come

Doreen from Chicago, IL — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:11:19 EST

Change Has Come

In the 60's Sam Cooke sang so eloquently about a change comin,’

Dr. Martin Luther King visualized it and kept everyone drummin.’

In the 80's, Rev. Jesse Jackson personified it and started runnin’!

In 2008, Sen. Barack Obama exemplified it and got the voters hummin,’

It was an arduous 2 year uphill battle an all encompassing task,

He skillfully debated Sen. Clinton and McCain and he still didn’t bask--

Because he is a community organizer at heart but now just on a larger scale.

Who has beautiful women behind him like Sasha, Malia, Marian and Michelle!

In 2009, he took the oath and his platform of unity, hard work, family first and sacrifice,

To the White House with the mantra of YES WE CAN which should surely suffice-

For a country divided by everything underneath the sun,

From the war in Iraq, to women’s rights to the control of guns.

But thank goodness we have a well versed intellectual as the first in command,

Who wants all of us to get in on ground zero, roll up our sleeves and use our hands--

To rebuild this great nation and fulfill the promises that our forefathers spoke of.

Because first and foremost he is a family man, and his ideals are rooted in love.

On that note, I will close, and say a prayer for our 44th president,

Who has more than a clue and more than a hint

On how to get this country back on track,

For everyone not just the poor or the rich or white or black.

It's The Economy, Friend!

Janice C. from Chicago, IL — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:04:24 EST

The Committee For Economic Development, Obama for America, Chicago-Hyde Park endorses the “I House at a Time Project” (see below) as a national green community service model for reducing carbon footprint, saving energy, rebuilding low-income communities, helping families save money, and creating green jobs. Our committee also endorses piloting this model in Hyde Park, Chicago and surrounding communities.

Nuclear Energy: A Boon To The Environment, Economy, And National Security And How To Make It Safer

Janice C. from Chicago, IL — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:26:28 EST

According to recent polls, voters believe that solving our energy problem is the nation's second-highest priority. Eighty-two percent think it is “very important.” Only the financial crisis ranks higher in voter concern.

At present, of course, we are highly dependent for energy on imported oil whose price we cannot control. To pay for it, we send vast sums to nations that are not our friends.
Even though, the price of oil is relatively low at present,it cannot stay that way, because the world is exhausting the “easy” sources of oil. More oil is available, but in locations and forms that will be increasingly difficult and expensive to obtain.

Why I'm Running

Tom Geoghegan for Congress — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:31:48 EST

I’m running for Congress in the Fifth District of Illinois. As a Chicago lawyer for thirty years I have fought for working people in this District and throughout the city. I have represented unions as well as people with no unions to protect them. In plant closings I have helped them recover health and pension benefits. I obtained health care for the uninsured. I’ve been pressing the State of Illinois to crack down on payday lenders.

In my life as a lawyer I have lived out a commitment to one cause above all – to bring economic security to working Americans, in our District, in our country. That’s the same commitment I will bring to Congress. We’re deep in an economic crisis unlike any other we’ve known. It may last years. We need new and creative ways to protect working Americans, especially our older working people who have no real pensions to live on.

For years we’ve heard the doomsayers: “We can’t afford Social Security.” “We can’t afford ‘single payer’ national health.” One thing we all learned from the $700 billion bailout: We’ve got the money to do all of this and more. At the moment, the Federal Reserve is literally printing money, to give not billions but trillions to banks and financial firms. To the people of this District, the banks and others have gotten their money. Now it’s your turn. Here’s the bailout I will go to Congress to get:

First, I want to expand Social Security, our public pension system, to replace, not overnight but in stages, the private pension system which has collapsed. Social Security now pays about 38 to 39 percent of your working income. In other developed countries, it averages 65 percent. That’s where our fiscal stimulus should be: a commitment to reach this goal, a public pension that ordinary working people can live on.

Second we have to move to single payer health care program, at least in phases: we might begin with extending Medicare to children, but the government should ultimately be the single payer for all. That’s not because single payer is the only ethical and efficient way to protect us all. No, it’s also because it is crucial to making us competitive globally. Through single payer and expanded Social Security, the goal is to pick up the “non-wage” labor costs that employers now have to pay. That’s already how other countries out-compete us: they have the government and not the private employer pick up these non-wage health and pension costs.

Unless we have government pick up the costs of pensions and health care, our companies can’t compete, and we’ll go on piling up huge trade deficits. We’ll have debacles like GM, which has collapsed in part because of the health and pension costs that the federal government should have been paying all along.

For years, the conservatives have said: “We can’t do this. The money isn’t there.” Well, the money is there. It was there for the Iraq war, a colossal waste of money, and for the bailout, the first half of which has been a colossal waste as well. And if we now have the government pick up non-wage labor costs with the use of general revenues, we will in fact make it cheaper and easier for our companies to hire. This is in fact the best and most realistic approach for a long term recovery.

Finally we have to put limits on returns to financial firms. We should re-enact the usury laws, the interest-rate caps that were in place in America up till the 1970s. We need to stop the rates of 30 to 35 percent, the hidden fees, the hundreds of ways that banks pull our money out of industry and into gambling and speculation.

In my campaign, I will have a single minded focus on the economic security to working Americans, that’s why I so strongly support the Employee Free Choice Act and other changes in our labor laws. And that’s why I support policies that will reduce the debt of working Americans. Overall, the plan I am setting out here will help make our country more competitive.

I’m a strong supporter of President Obama. Yes, I strongly support his program to repair our infrastructure. Even so, we don’t have to pave the streets with gold. If not the meltdown then the bail out should have opened our eyes. The real fiscal stimulus has to be the kind that brings financial security to the middle class. The message of this campaign is: We’re moving beyond the bailout. Now it’s your turn.

www.tom09.com

Burris Appointment

rwordplay — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:39:26 EST

I believe the Senate's treatment of Roland Burris is not only disgraceful but illegal. And, considering the questionable relationships and choices of many Senators from Harry Reid to Hillary Clinton, it stinks of hypocrisy. I am increasingly ashamed of the behavior demonstrated by the the Democratic Party leadership and hope desperately Obama can push through the petty tyranny of small men and women like Reid.

RABBI ARNOLD JACOB WOLF

WEBMASTER — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:03:40 EST

Letter from President-Elect Barack Obama
Funeral of Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf
December 26, 2008
Chicago, Illinois

I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, who was not just our neighbor, but a dear friend to Michelle and me. We are joined in this time of grief by the entire Hyde Park community, the American Jewish Community, and all those who shared Rabbi Wolf's passion for learning and profound commitment to serving others. Today we bid farewell to a titan of moral strength and a champion of social justice.

Rabbi Wolf always remained true to the meaning of being a rabbi: he was a teacher. He took great pleasure in delving into Judaism's ancient texts, drawing out lessons about right and wrong, and inspiring young people to engage the world and strive to improve it. He transformed the historic tradition into a catalyst for Tikkun Olam - the sacred pursuit of repairing a broken world in our own time He taught us by example that we must pray not just with words, but with deeds - and that we must truly live the meaning of "love thy neighbor as thyself."

In the great Rabbinical tradition, Rabbi Wolf was passionate and provocative in this work - and my conversations with him were always lively. You knew that if he disagreed with you, he would let you know in no uncertain terms - especially if he thought you were overlooking the moral dimensions of an issue, or rationalizing your own failure to live up to the highest moral principles. But he did it with kindness, and often with a smile or a laugh to let you know that even though you were just plain wrong, and had no idea what you were talking about, he still loved you.

Rabbi Wolf's commitment to justice started early in life. As a young rabbi serving at a turbulent time for our nation, he was determined to fight discrimination of any kind, and his involvement in the Civil Rights movement alongside Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel helped strengthen the bonds between the Jewish and African-American communities.

Rabbi Wolf embarked on an historic experiment with the founding of Congregation Solel on Chicago's North Shore. Solel, which means "trailblazer," describes him well. He was proud to have Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an honored guest speaker. He was among the first to introduce to Chicago the writings of Elie Wiesel and Holocaust studies. And he never shied away from controversy or challenge when he saw an opportunity to advance the cause of freedom throughout Chicago and in Jewish homes and classrooms across our country, Rabbi Wolf's name is synonymous with service, social action, and the possibility of change. He will be remembered as a loving husband and father, an engaging teacher, a kindhearted shepherd for the K.A.M. Isaiah community, and a tireless advocate of peace for the United States, Israel and the world.

And I will always be personally grateful for the support he showed me as I embarked on my own journey. In a piece Rabbi Wolf wrote on my behalf months ago, he wrote that he was proud to be my neighbor and that he hoped to someday visit me in the White House. In the end, however, the honor was all mine. And while he may not have lived to pay that visit to the Oval Office, I hope that his spirit of love, his love of learning, and his deep dedication to serving others will live on in the work I do each day. May his memory be a blessing and a comfort to us all and an inspiration for the generations to come.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

WEBMASTER — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:26:14 EST

The Pickens Plan: For those who would like to become an active participant in a solution for our nations energy needs I urge you to join with T.Boone Pickens in his quest for a cleaner planet through alternative energy.

Also see Green Wave Energy: Green Wave was founded by Mark Holmes and was formulated for viable alternative energy solutions. Green Wave Energy is promoting state-of-the-art energy-saving products and services throughout the country.

Green Wave Energy understands alternative energy technology will become “main stream” when

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

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

Alternative Energy
Source: David Apperson

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

An e-mail from my tva dva ladyfriend from up East.

Janet Sue Gagliardi — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:55:07 EST

We elected the coolest president in the world
By Garrison Keillor, Syndicated Columnist (and narrator of Praire Home Companion on NPR)

Published Thursday, November 13, 2008 8:13 PM

Be happy, dear hearts, and allow yourselves a few more weeks of
quiet exultation. It isn't gloating, it's satisfaction at a job
well done. He was a superb candidate, serious, professorial but
with a flashing grin and a buoyancy that comes from working out
in the gym every morning. He spoke in a genuine voice, not
senatorial at all. He accepted adulation gracefully. He
brandished his sword against his opponents without mocking or
belittling them. He was elegant, unaffected, utterly American,
and now (Wow) suddenly America is cool. Chicago is cool.
Chicago !!!
We threw the dice and we won the jackpot and elected a black guy
with a Harvard degree, the middle name Hussein and a sense of
humor — he said, "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac,
and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." The
French junior minister for human rights said, "On this morning,
we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream
unfolding before our eyes." When was the last time you heard
someone from France say they wanted to be American and take a
bite of something of ours? Ponder that for a moment.
The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos and instead we have
us a 47-year-old prince from the prairie who cheerfully ran the
race, and when his opponents threw sand at him, he just smiled
back. He loves his classy wife and his sweet little daughters.
He looks good in the kitchen. He can cook Indian or Chinese but
for his girls he will do mac and cheese. At the same time, he
knows pop music, American lit and constitutional law. I just
can't imagine anybody cooler. Look at a photo of the latest
pooh-bah conference — the hausfrau Merkel, the big glum
Scotsman, that goofball Berlusconi, Putin with his B-movie
bad-boy scowl, and Sarkozy, who looks like a district manager
for Avis — you put Barack in that bunch and he will shine.
It feels good to be cool and all of us can share i n that, even
sour old right-wingers and embittered blottoheads. Next time you
fly to Heathrow and hand your passport to the man with the
badge, he's going to see " United States of America " and look
up and grin. Even if you worship in the church of Fox , everyone
you meet overseas is going to ask you about Obama and you may as
well say you voted for him because he is your line of credit
over there.
And the coolest thing about him is the fact that back in the
early '90s, given a book contract after the hoo-ha about his
becoming the First Black Editor of the Harvard Law Review,
instead of writing the basic exploitation book he could've
written, he put his head down and worked hard and wrote a good
book, an honest one, which, since his rise in politics, has
earned the Obamas enough to buy a nice house and put money in
the bank. A successful American entrepreneur.
Our hero who galloped to victory has inherited a gigantic mess.
The country is sunk in debt. The Treasury announced it must
borr ow $550-billion to get the government through the fourth
quarter, more than the entire deficit for 2008, so he will have
to raise taxes and not only on bankers and lumber barons. His
promise never to raise the retirement age is not a good idea.
Whatever he promised the Iowa farmers about subsidizing ethanol
is best forgotten at this point. We may not be getting our
National Health Service cards anytime soon. And so on.
So enjoy the afterglow of the election awhile longer. We all
walk taller this fall. People in Copenhagen and Stockholm are
sending congratulatory e-mails — imagine! We are being admired
by Danes and Swedes! And Chicago becomes The First City. Step
aside, San Francisco . Shut up, New York . The Midwest is cool
now. The mind reels. Have a good day.

Be Apart of History - 3million 4 Obama

David from Washington, NC — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:37:08 EST

This is a beging of a new chapter in American and World History. For the first time. World has its new leader. Leader of Change, Leader of Principle, Leader Character, Leader to Bring the world to Peace, and realize the ability to have for all people around the world to help each other to better help bring the world closer to Unity.

Join
http://groups.blackplanet.com/3million4obama

Tell ur friend. We have Bus Tickets very affordable. Just join my group. Please Pass it on and dont be left out on history!

To Purchase bus tickets click the link below or type in at the top.
http://WWW.GET2THEEVENT.EVENTBRITE.COM

Question please email 3million4obama@gmail.com

Disclaimer: Purpose of this blog is to bring notice for those interested in attending the presidential inauguration 2009 at an affordable price. Also, to gain membership to my "3million4obama" facebook, myspace, and blackplanet group. This is private not affilaited in anyway with the Democratic Party of President elect Obama or staff.

OBAMA FOR ILLINOIS

WEBMASTER — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:26:49 EST

Addison * Algonquin * Alsip * Alton * Antioch * Arlington Heights * Aurora * Barrington * Bartlett * Bartonville * Batavia * Beach Park * Belleville * Bellwood * Belvidere * Bensenville * Benton * Berwyn * Bethalto * Bloomingdale * Bloomington * Blue Island * Bolingbrook * Boulder Hill * Bourbonnais * Bradley * Bridgeview * Broadview * Brookfield * Buffalo Grove * Burbank * Burr Ridge * Cahokia * Calumet City * Calumet Park * Canton * Carbondale * Carol Stream * Carpentersville * Cary * Centralia * Champaign * Channahon * Charleston * Chatham * Chicago * Chicago Heights * Chicago Ridge * Cicero * Clarendon Hills * Clinton * Collinsville * Columbia * Country Club Hills * Crest Hill * Crestwood * Crete * Crystal Lake * Danville * Darien * DeKalb * Decatur * Deerfield * Des Plaines * Dixon * Dolton * Downers Grove * Du Quoin * East Alton * East Moline * East Peoria * East St Louis * Edwardsville * Effingham * Elgin * Elk Grove Village * Elmhurst * Elmwood Park * Evanston * Evergreen Park * Fairview Heights * Flossmoor * Forest Park * Fox Lake * Frankfort * Frankfort Square * Franklin Park * Freeport * Gages Lake * Galesburg * Geneseo * Geneva * Glen Carbon * Glen Ellyn * Glencoe * Glendale Heights * Glenview * Glenwood * Godfrey * Goodings Grove * Granite City * Grayslake * Greenville * Gurnee * Hanover Park * Harrisburg * Harvard * Harvey * Harwood Heights * Hawthorn Woods * Hazel Crest * Herrin * Hickory Hills * Highland * Highland Park * Hillside * Hinsdale * Hoffman Estates * Homewood * Inverness * Island Lake * Itasca * Jacksonville * Jerseyville * Joliet * Justice * Kankakee * Kewanee * La Grange * La Grange Park * La Salle * Lake Bluff * Lake Forest * Lake Zurich * Lake in the Hills * Lansing * Lemont * Libertyville * Lincoln * Lincolnshire * Lincolnwood * Lindenhurst

Inauguration Song-Change We Can Believe In

Patricia Tyson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:21:20 EST

I am so excited to present a song that I composed, "Change We Can Believe In"! It was inspired by President-Elect Barack Obama's campaign theme, and will be sung at the Inauguration Choral Festival in Washington, DC in January 2009. I have taught it to 2 high school choirs in Chicago, IL: Morgan Park HS (who is invited to the Inauguration Choral Festival), and to King College Prep (my alma mater-class of 1974). What a privilege it is to give back to the community, and my hope is that this song will encourage the singers, as well as the listeners, to pursue a more excellent way.

Here is the link to Morgan Park choir: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=755vrFw4vSo They are singing to the cd instrumental track.

There is a live version, with me on the piano, as sung by King College Prep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S3XLqKAJh8

Election Day - Sights and Sounds

Elidyl — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:49:57 EST

Election Day in Chicago and Indiana ...

The day began early with a call from the Obama campaign and a special request to help get out the vote in Indiana. I called my good friend Chris, a native Hoosier from Bloomington, and we headed out to Merrillville to canvass for voters and hang door knockers. A flood of early support, and many volunteers finished up their routes by noon. Nearly all of the people on our canvassing route voted when the polls opened at 6 a.m. One voter in his 80s said he only missed one vote, when he was serving overseas in WWII. He didn't tell us who he supported, but he was happy to see us out talking to voters on election day. It was a gorgeous and beautiful day, warm weather, and plenty of sun.

At the end of our route, at one of our last houses, we met Sonny, an elderly African American man who didn't have a ride to the polls. He had surgery scheduled for the next day and was struggling with cancer. His polling station was 25 minutes away, and we got to hear much of his story. He worked 30 years in the steel mills, fought in Vietnam, missed the primary because he was in the hospital, and is receiving a stem cell treatment for his cancer. He wore a bright yellow Obama tee shirt, and fought valiantly to maintain his strength during the trip. Some of his friends and neighbors worked at the polling station. They rushed out with assistance (we had to cover his Obama tee shirt), and there was a huge outpouring of support for his effort. There were tears, and lots of hugs. Everyone gave us their prayers, and about 30 poll workers applauded as we drove him back to his home. An astounding and courageous moment.

In Chicago, too many impressions and feelings. We joined the gathering of volunteers and supporters in Grant Park. It was all anybody could talk about on the train. "They called Ohio," one person said. "What is the news on Indiana," asked another. It was a carnival atmosphere. At the main event, surrounded by video monitors and people sending text messages that read "wow" and "amazing," everything was happening so quickly. A ripple came over the crowd and we reacted immediately to the news. Was this really happening. Pandemonium and joy, respect and awe, hope and exaltation, and so much more. We have a lot to be thankful for. November 04 was a day for all of us. I have some photos and videos to share from the event (please see below). This is my postcard (and one person's story) from Chicago.

Photos:

Grant Park: Election Day 2008

My Videos:

Celebration!!!

DocForBarack — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:53:46 EST

The mood in Chicago was ecstatic on Tuesday night, morphing into a sort of sublime sense of relaxed excitement over the rest of the week. Today, strangers on the street still catch your eye and smile, especially if you're wearing an Obama button or T-shirt.

As we left Grant Park Tuesday around midnight, waves of elation swept through the crowd, with spontaneous cheers coursing down Columbus Avenue. This was a mob teeming, literally overflowing, with joy, but perhaps not in the way you'd think if you weren't there.

It wasn't at all like the mood during a really good concert, for example. I've been to quite a few great concerts, but I've never been in such a large crowd of people who were so happy about something they so clearly thought really mattered.

I suspect this is something like what if felt like to live through VE Day. This was Victory for America day!

There was relief, and disbelief, and gratitude, and awe ... but the sense of pure joy was not tempered by these other emotions - it was heightened by them.

I know these feelings don't last forever, but I can't help but believe that something very profound changed in our nation this week.

There is more work to be done - much more. But for these few days, I hope that you, too, have appreciated the chance to celebrate for our nation.

A Letter from Bryan Long

Bryan Long — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:48:17 EST

Nov 5th, 2008

Hello family and friends,

I have to admit that it took last night's historic event to make me realize the true power of change as well as the presence of that power in America. You see, while I have always felt privileged to be an American, today I can honestly say that for the first time since America came together in the wake of the horrible 9/11 attacks, I am proud to be American.

I began to understand the change that materialized yesterday when I spoke with my 78 year-old grandmother, just minutes after she voted. Both her and my grandfather have been staunch republicans for most of their lives, and given that fact I wasn't the least bit surprised to hear that my grandfather voted for John McCain. But when I looked over to my grandmother I noticed that she had quietly scuttled out of the room, avoiding confrontation. It wasn't until later that she approached me, whispering, "Bryan, I had to lie to Grandpa. I told him that I voted for McCain when I really voted for Obama... I had to do what I thought was right." Last night, Americans performed their civic duties, acting on what they thought was right. The outcome of that action finally showed me that Americans are willing to work towards positive change.

While I don't believe that Obama has all the answers to America's problems or that he will be able to bring about all the change we need, I am confident that America will finally be led down the right track. While the change that is the focus of political campaigns is important: putting the economy back together, ending the war in Iraq responsibly, and fixing our abysmal education and health care systems, other underlying change needs to occur if we are ever going to truly progress as a nation. The change that I am talking about is in the way we live our lives.

I am fortunate enough to have spent half of the past seven years living outside of America, learning from cultures different than our own. One of the things I have learned is that Americans are great at shifting the blame onto others. We love to stuff our faces with super sized value meals while criticizing a fast-food-culture. We are experts at hiding behind our gated communities while pretending the illegal immigrant workforce that propels our economy doesn't exist. We demand higher production, more efficiency, and lower prices even if it means shipping jobs overseas. We allow ourselves to be overcome by rampant consumerism and cut-throat capitalism. The result of these actions has been the unnecessary spreading of fear, expanding exponentially like some recursive virus throughout the American psyche.

Obama has shown us the effectiveness of grass-roots action, of community based change. Let's not allow the lessons we learned during his campaign to fall on deaf ears. Let's stop blaming others and start leading by example. Let's not demand change from government without being willing to change our own actions! While I am currently trying to plan the next steps of my life, I have decided to concentrate my future endeavors here in America. Although I was recently diagnosed with Reiter's arthritis, I am optimistic that whatever changes I make in my lifestyle will now be enveloped in hope; in the hope I saw take form last night in Grant Park as a quarter million people came together to support change.

If we stop letting fear dictate our decision making process, begin acting as global citizens, and treat others with simple compassion, brighter days will be ahead. When we begin to achieve this, we will see the change that was simply an idea in the previous days, months, and years come to fruition at last.

I hope this letter finds everyone well, and regardless of the candidate you supported on Election Day, you are now ready to work together to create positive change.

-Bryan

LIKE 10'S OF MILLIONS OF OTHERS

Steve Sulkin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:44:59 EST

Like 10's of thousands of others who spent the evening at Grant Park and 10's of millions that watched on television around the world, I'm still trying to comprehend the enormity of the election of President Barack Obama. When I first entered Grant Park last night, I was so very grateful to follow the signs that said "Ticket Holder." I was humbled to be one of the chosen few who would witness this epic event live, not yet realizing what the impact of being there would truly mean to me.

Add to that, that just a week earlier, while I was waiting in line to vote, a sweet faced, beautiful black woman was directly behind me in line and said, "Steve?" After a moment, recognition hit me, it was an old and dear friend, Linna, from college. I had not seen Linna for 30 years, yet she lived in my polling precinct all of that time. On that day, by crazy happenstance, me, a white man and a black lady, old friends who hadn’t seen each other in decades, were both standing in line waiting to vote for who would become the first African American President of the United States. The coincidence of standing in line to vote for our first African American President, with my old dear friend whose journey in our world as a black women in America I can only begin to comprehend, was unfathomable to me. My friend and I, then and there, vowed to spend the evening together in Grant Park, along with our spouses, waiting to see if Barack Obama, "the most improbable candidate" would become the 44th President of the United States. If I believed in such things, I’d say it was meant to be.

Fast forward to the Grant Park event, walking onto the wet grass, the “Jumbotron” screens dominating the landscape, CNN projecting each state as they went increasingly for Barack Obama. State by state, we gasped when McCain won and cheered when Barack did. We couldn't believe it when Pennsylvania went big for Barack. But when Barack won Ohio, I cautiously began to think that maybe dreams can come true. I fought back the urge to get my hopes up. Then, when we thought Florida was about to be projected, we held our breath, and were overwhelmed when instead, we saw on the screens in huge letters, "Barack Obama, Projected Winner, 44th President of the United States.” We screamed and cried and hugged strangers, 10's of thousands of people, black, white, old, young, gay, lesbian, straight, disabled and not (as Barack likes to say), all in unity.

A long fought battle was won of good over evil, tolerance over bigotry, vision over pettiness and enlightenment over closed mindedness. It was hard to believe, but the good guys came in first this time. Years of racism seemed to melt away. Our terrible past of enslaving a people dissolved into a collective distant memory. Fear dissipated. Hope for a better tomorrow filled everyone’s heart and spread around the globe in an instant, uniting our world in a new and profound way. I found myself filled with utter satisfaction that dreams can come true.

It is a moment I will tell my great grandchildren about, where I was when America took a bold step towards a new way of life., when our world truly became a gentler kinder place.

Thank you President Elect Barack Obama for allowing me the privilege of helping you become our next President. And thank you, everyone in the ether who donated to my.barackobama.com, who endured my emails, my blogs, wrote back, canvassed with me and inspired me to go on this quest to do my tiny part to help make our world a better place.

-Steve Sulkin

Why the notion of valuing true diversity is a false and uncomfortable one!

Ms CYPRAH — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:53:43 EST

Many people who know me and my pioneering equality work in the UK will find this post, in particular, rather strange, and might, in fact, fall off their chairs in some surprise! But that is the beauty of evolving in life from one stage to another. If we are learning, we are always developing and always changing perspectives. If we are entrenched in what we believe and have closed minds, we've stopped learning and are in danger of solidifying into fossilised rocks of dubious certainty. It has to be far more exciting to learn!

Being on a holiday in Chicago by myself has allowed for a lot of free thinking time and I believe the most profound thought I might have had on the whole trip was triggered by a comment from a member of an online diversity group I had joined. Some members had not taken kindly to comments by two other French members and had blasted them somewhat for their views. One member, in particular was so upset by this, she wrote:

"I am very disenchanted with a group entitled Diversity for Obama that does not welcome diverse comments from its members and does not stop to think that everyone may not be familiar with email etiquette."

She had made an excellent point which immediately gave me a new insight into my own work, as I had spent the last 15 years advocating diversity in very strong terms. Retired from it now, it was easier to see the wood from the trees and appreciate that accepting true diversity, not the cosmetic form like our recent 'Black History Month' etc., actually comes with a cost for each group/individual.

Congratulations

Dinah from Chicago, IL — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:26:05 EST

CONGRATULATIONS! SENATOR BARACK OBAMA AS OUR ELECTED PRESIDENT Healthy Southeast Chicago Coalition of over 200 members and partners congratulate you as our elected president. You have been an inspiration from the beginning and we are so grateful that you had the courage and determination for this journey. The south side of Chicago will never be the same and your election has given our youth and residents the hope that they can be and do anything. And aspire for the American dream. There is such a sense of citizenship through community service that has been awaken and we plan to welcome them into our public health campaign to eliminate health disparities in our communities. Gracias! YES WE DID! Dinah Ramirez RN Executive Director, Healthy Southeast Chicago

Obama and Me (An Epiphany)

Ricky Fico — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:25:39 EST

Barack Obama came from Hawaii to Chicago to begin his life while I was leaving Chicago for Hawaii to end mine.

Epiphany

It was September 11 when God Himself, came down and saved me. It was a drastic measure, but one necessary to prevent me from walking into the mighty Pacific without looking back. It was my way, the only way.

Oh, beautiful Kauai, my heaven on earth! It would be there where I'd take my last glass of wine, my final shot of scotch and my last breath. I had planned it so well, I thought. I had booked a flight from Chicago to arrive Kauai on September 12, 1992 - the day before my final birthday - September 13. I wanted to perform my "dead man walking" on my birthday. You all know the story, "Leaving Las Vegas," right?

That is the movie where the character played by Nicolas Cage goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. Well, I was "Leaving Kauai" and why, you may ask. Because I had grown tired of witnessing all the pain and suffering in this world, the cruelty, the disregard for each other. Also, I had enough of my own struggles, the constant battles fighting my alcoholism, the harsh memories of finding my father dead after he had died about three days before I had gone to visit him. I also had enough of the past, my past where every turn seemed to take me to another dead end.

But something happened, something so powerful that I was stopped from performing my final dance upon the shorelines of Kauai. I must believe, this time, it took God Himself to stop me.

On the evening of September 11, 1992, the night before my flight I was sitting in Tony's Tavern, saying my goodbyes, downing my scotch when suddenly the news broke. A Special Report on the television: "A fierce hurricane had hit Kauai head on." Half drunk, I thought maybe I was not really hearing right. I got up off my stool, moved closer to the television. Through the smoke and the haze I focused on it as much as my half-drunkenness would allow. Projected to me on the blurry screen were the twisted palm trees, the over-turned homes, the upended boats. I recognized what once was the idyllic shoreline of Poipu, now in twisted disarray. I cried, cried some more. Now what am I going to do? All ports would surely be closed now, I thought.

I immediately went to the phone booth and called United Airlines. It was confirmed. My flight tomorrow to Kauai was canceled. Now what? I went back to my stool, and with tears running down my cheeks, I faced the truth. I was probably better off alive.

I took the last gulp of my drink and left the tavern and walked to the neighborhood park, where I sat and thought and cried. I asked myself over and over, Why? How could this possibly have happened? Why was I stopped from going to Kauai to kill myself? Am I really better off alive?

*******************************************************

This was a new beginning. I was reborn and finally I was able to quit the drinking, and with a new zest for life, I began the process of healing.

For the next year I had sat down every morning and relived my life through writing. I relived the pain, the tears, the sometime laughter and put it all down, black on white. It was my catharsis. Finally, I was freed from the chains that had bound me all my adult life. And I was finally able to forgive. Hurricane Iniki, I am sorry for your destruction. But I am forever grateful to you for saving my life . . .

And then, September 11, 2001, now living in Las Vegas, I was intent on celebrating the anniversary of my rebirth. I hopped in my car and was on my way to breakfast when the news broke through the song I was listening to, "Silent Lucidity." At first, I thought it was a practical joke, reminding me of that old Orson Welle's Halloween prank, the one broadcast on the radio: "We're being invaded by Martians" which ultimately caused pandemonium and mass hysteria throughout the land.

I quickly turned to another radio station. Same thing. This can’t be happening, there’s no way. This has to be some kind of cruel joke. Another Station: "Both World Trade Center Buildings are on fire!" I kept driving, my heart pounding, the palms of my hands gripping the steering wheel, trying desperately to retain control. "A passenger jet had slammed into the Pentagon." No, this can’t be real!

I turned on another station. "News just in from Pennsylvania - a plane had crashed in a field." What the hell is going on? Is this the end of the world? I arrived at the restaurant, and with my own two eyes, witnessed on their television, the horrific events. I really had not the stomach for egg omelets or pancakes. Not now. "Miss Waitress, just bring me a large glass of cranberry juice."

I sat and slowly drank the juice, tears falling down my cheeks. Patrons all around, also staring intently at the television in disbelief, their own faces reddened from sadness. I knew I had to get home. Pass McCarran International airport I drove. There was not a plane in the sky, neither coming in nor taking off. All was quiet now except the beating of my heart. Many questions arose and struck hard at my conscience but still I drove on, aiming for home.

Coincidence? See also Hurricane Fico

Note: I truly believe Barack Obama's commitment to the middle class, and yes, the disenfranchised and those who suffered injustices. On this level, I can relate to him very much. I know that he truly cares and he has been in touch with "real" people throughout his entire life - from the streets of Indonesia to the streets of Chicago. Me? From the streets of Chicago to the streets of Thailand and beyond. And I, too, know firsthand the injustices, the inequalities and understand the sometime disappointment of the hard-working whose rug had been taken away from under them. Oh, I know!

One Voice

It takes just one voice – the voice within,
And one choice, for a new day to begin
We are together; they say no man an island
Oh, how I’ve always known this truth
And it is the mountain that keeps me climbin’
…climbin’ since the days of my youth
It takes just one voice – the voice within
my eyes getting moist, my face with a grin

Ricky J. Fico

Addendum:

It's not socialism, it's not at all communism, it's realism. Simple at that!

As Barack Obama has iterated throughout this campaign, it is not about hand-outs. It's about providing opportunity. Those who worked all their lives, on the front lines - in the steel mills, the auto factories - those jobs were lost and at the same time, in the name of profits and stockholders equity, the fatter got fatter - bigger houses, more houses, while the hard-working were reduced to losing their homes, their dreams.

So simple! Reduce the taxes of the multi-millionaire Corporate CEO who laid off thousands of dedicated, hard-working Americans, only to manufacture in low wage countries, all in the name of increasing the bottom line - padding the pockets of the wealthiest.

I've seen those with calloused hands and broken dreams, now living in squalor and not because they are lazy or don't want to work, because they do, but the jobs that they worked all their lives are gone, long gone and their house taken away. At the same time the CEO has just bought his 5th house - a little 10,000 square foot cabin in Aspen.

Give me a frickin' break! It's time!

Oh, and a good thing too, that the richest man in the world has endorsed Obama - the down-to-earth and practical Warren Buffet. Says a lot right there. Oh, and guess what - he's leaving the majority of his wealth to the Bill Gates Foundation - to help millions of people around the world. Practical use of the monies that were earned in a capitalistic countrysuch as the United States. What's that called - redistributing the wealth? You betcha. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, redistributing the wealth. Too bad, Palin didn't pick up on that. She could have used that fact in her stump speeches!

The richest man in the world and he still drives his own car and lives in the same house he bought in the 50's. Building up his nest, what a practical man. He has no need to prove how big a man he is with 20 homes and a fleet of million dollar automobiles. Smart man is he! A wise man. No wonder he has endorsed Obama. "Birds of a feather flock together."

Ah, so simple.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffet -Geniuses! Not only geniuses but geniuses with souls. That is what I look at!

Now, it's time to look in the rear-view mirror and see where I am at again, been too busy as of late. Oh, yeah, I am in Chicago-- the middle of the universe.

Blessings, Ricky J. Fico

Former (London) Times Editor Harold Evans Smears the US Media in an Article in the UK Guardian

mathpol — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:22:33 EST

“Mad about The One. The US media have been captivated by Obama, at the expense of their curiosity and scepticism.”

This is the title of an article by Harold Evans in The Guardian on November 1, 2008. He resorts to the bias he decries in his one-sided column. I have reproduced it below in its entirety, along with my annotations {…} . Phrases that I comment upon are in boldface.

It's fitting that the cynicism "vote early and vote often" is commonly attributed to Chicago's Democratic boss, mayor Richard Daley, who famously voted the graveyards in 1960 to help put John Kennedy in the White House. In this 2008 race, it's the American media that have voted very early and often. They long ago elected the star graduate of Chicago's Democratic machine, Barack Obama. {Obama is a hardly a “graduate“ of the machine. What about Harvard Law, Columbia, etc.?}

I am not talking of editorials in newspapers, though Obama has the preponderance of the endorsements over John McCain. Obama certainly deserves the credit for recruiting impressive advisers and running a more efficient campaign machine than any one in the US's political history.

What's troubling to anyone old-fashioned enough to care about standards in journalism is the news coverage in mainstream media. Forget the old notions of objectivity, fairness, thoroughness, and so on. The nastiest rumours on both sides haven't been published, but the coverage has been slavishly on the side of "the one". {“Slavish”? Evans’s description.}

Well. I've jumped in and did It.

Mackey — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:34:11 EST

My spiffy t-shirt is on it's way!

I hope that I will win the ticket to the Grant Park-a-palooza / Obamacon. But then my awesome friend who I promised I would go with would feel very unhappy... I dunno. I think it would rock. Front row seats!!!

Anyway, I can't wait for my t-shirt. I hope the size S wasn't an adult Small, but we'll see. Maybe I can make it shrink a lot...

Also, fivethirtyeight.com says that Obama has a 93.7% chance of winning. I guess there is a 93.7% chance I will go to school on Wednesday and not wear black.

Dear God, I hope there isn't a crazy voting scandal like the last two elections.

I watched a great video featured on boingboing.net about how if one controls who votes, then one controls who wins an election. So true. I think it was for videothevote.com? I dunno. But I do know that I am going to skip out on orchestra practice on Tuesday so I can plunk down and watch CNN for 7 hours straight. =D

Signing off, Ms. A

Vote for Change -- The Song

Adrienne's Rants — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:22:13 EST

Barack Obama asked us to create something creative. When I'm stressed or have back insomnia I either write, read, create or sing. I'm doing all in this video! Sorry, about the pitch of my voice, I just couldn't get it when the key of the music.

Vocals/Lyrics by: Adrienne Williams

Music by Jimmy Vaughan:

Vote For Change

Deaf Community Hears "Change" Message

Adrienne's Rants — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:24:49 EDT

CHICAGO -- One of my many reasons why I celebrated when I voted for Sen. Barack Obama two weeks ago -- stems from my social service passion in areas of mental healthcare, homelessness and communities where things are not equal in the best of circumstances. As Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin stump speech began to move into the realm of referencing Sen. Barack Obama as a socialist and other unmentionables, I am traveling and meeting folks all over Chicago interviewing for the Huffington Post -- which is my goal to showcase unique social communities that somehow gets overlooked, when daily tracking polls are being taken. Meet a group of deaf co-workers whom have very strong viewpoints on why Sen. Barack Obama would make a better President for the whole country.

To read more of my blogs, please go to Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrienne-williams/

Deaf Community Hears "Change" Message

Ticket to Event in Chicago

Coonsey — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:26:00 EDT

Is there ANY WAY to still get a ticket to the event in Chicago on Tuesday? Please?????

Turn Indiana Blue

Joyrexus — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:51:20 EDT

Below is a quick bullet-point overview describing the current state of the race in Indiana (with links to more info). Potentially useful to send to friends thinking about participating in the final GOTV drive.

Note that Obama himself is speaking in Lake County tomorrow night (details here).

Indiana is one of the closest races in the country right now. It is considered tip-able by a good GOTV effort given the number of newly registered voters. (State profile here.)

What will really ensure Indiana's chances for turning blue is high voter turnout in the Democratic strongholds: Northwest Indiana, Indianapolis, and Bloomington.

Early voting is proving to be popular in Lake County, Indiana. So popular that election officials are giving people more time. (Short audio clip here)

Early voting sites in Lake County will be open Saturday and Sunday until 5 p.m. and until noon on Monday.

The county GOP is suing to stop early voting at the satellite centers because of “the potential for fraud.”

The case is on appeal after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled against the GOP last week.

(For more on the vote dispute and voter suppression efforts, see this recent story.)

The nearest Obama field offices are in Hammond and Gary (map here), a short Metra ride away.
You can sign up for the final GOTV drive here.

From fivethirtyeight.com:

Many criticized the Obama effort, arguing that Indiana couldn't possibly go blue, and that working the ground here is a waste of resources. Instead, we have a race that, in Dan Rather-speak, is as tight as a tick. Recent polls have showed the race within the margin of error, and the Obama campaign is confident that in a coin flip race -- a better ground game can make the difference.

Still, Democrats have to be considered the underdog here. Indiana hasn't gone blue since 1964 in LBJ's landslide year, and Republicans won by roughly 510,000 votes in 2004. Still, if we apply our 80-20 split on the self-selecting new Obama registrants (80% Obama registrants, 20% McCain) and a 75% turnout rate (newly registered voters vote in higher rates than regularly registered voters), then Obama just added approximately 318,000 votes in Indiana. Now the challenge is to get about 100,000 existingly-registered Bush voters to switch to Obama, approximately 4% of the roughly 2.5 million Indiana voters from 2004.

We'll be back in Indiana before the end, we suspect, as this could be one of Election night's great dramatic stories. Locals in Lake County predicted a long night, especially as Republicans have resisted early voting centers in Gary and Hammond, Democratic strongholds and the 5th and 6th biggest Indiana cities.

From Chicago to Cincinnati Thurs 10/30 and return Mon 11/03

Paul from Cary, IL — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:11:06 EDT

Looking for a ride from Chicago on Thursday 10/30 ideally after 3 pm to Cincinnati and a return Monday evening 11/03. Can be flexible on the dates. Can take Metra to meet you if you're in the suburbs.

If you are interested, can offer free housing in Cincinnati. Close friend is a Deputy Field Organizer there and am staying with his family.

Unfortunately, my ride just canceled on me today. If you need a ride and are without a car, contact me anyway. I may rent a car if you just want to share gas. It would be cheaper or the same for me as a round trip bus ticket & I would have a car to offer the campaign too.

Editorial Page Victories Clarify: Obama will win 2-1 in Electoral College! 4 part compendium: Endorsements at OpEdNews: Washington Post, Houston, Detroit, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Salt Lake,Philadelphia, Portland, Bangor, Sacram

Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor New Mexico Sun News — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 12:56:46 EDT

OpEdNews has been the site of choice to post the growing list of major and minor newspaper endorsements for Obama. The Editorials are quoted generally in full, with interspliced commentaries from major editors and commentators, explaining what is behind the Editorials.

Part I Obama's Editorial Endorsements: including Washington Post, Fidel Castro, Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel, & more!

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-s-Endorsements-The-by-Stephen-Fox-081016-633.html

*******

Part II Editorial Page Endorsements of Obama Denver Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francsico Chronicle, Los Angeles Times

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Editorial-Page-Endorsement-by-Stephen-Fox-081017-544.html

********

Part III New Endorsements: Salt Lake City Tribune, Bangor and Brunswick, Maine, Philadelphia, Miami, Portland, Kansas City

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Endorsements-Salt-Lake-Ci-by-Stephen-Fox-081018-476.html

********

More Obama Endorsements IV: Sacramento, Katie Couric, Malaysia, Houston Chronicle, Detroit, Waco Tx (sort of)

http://www.opednews.com/articles/More-Obama-Endorsements-IV-by-Stephen-Fox-081019-492.html

The "Chicago Lick"

GoyitoMKE — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:23:36 EDT

About 10 years ago, while on summer break from the University of Minnesota, my son worked as a lifeguard at a water park in Wisconsin Dells, one of the largest in the country. Having worked as a lifeguard at the public pools in Milwaukee for a couple of seasons while in high school, and having made three or four water rescues, he was well prepared for the job… or so he thought. He had little idea that he would make 87 “jumps” from his lifeguard stand before the season ended.

What he hadn’t counted on was that the water park is one of the biggest seasonal sellers of beer in the sate of Wisconsin, said to be second only to the baseball stadium that is home to our beloved Milwaukee Brewers. Unfortunately, on a hot summer day, many of the water park patrons overindulge in the suds and end up intoxicated, presenting a serious danger to themselves and others.

One afternoon, a senior manager of the water park came around for a visit. As he was chatting with my son’s supervisor, a man fell off of a zip line and splashed into the water. Obviously inebriated and unable to swim, the man began flailing around and screaming for help. My son dived off his lifeguard stand into the 16 feet deep pool to save the man’s life. Terrified and clueless about what to do, in desperation the drunk grabbed my son around the neck, dragging the both of them under water in the process. My son kicked to the surface and as he grabbed a lung full of air, punched the man as hard as he could in the solar plexus. The drowning man let go, and my son swam him over to safety, rescuing him from death. The man was embarrassed, but gave my son nothing but thanks for saving him.

The water park manager came over to congratulate my son on a job well done, and joked, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that particular move before.” My son quipped, “No? Well, we call that move the ‘Milwaukee lick’.”

At 3:30 yesterday morning, the day of the final debate in the 2008 presidential election, I woke up thinking about my son’s rescue of the terrified, clueless, desperate and inebriated man. I was also thinking of Senator Obama, McCain, and their campaigns. And while I admit that I miss the talk of hope and unity, I sure am glad that Barack Obama has fought back, and fought back hard, against the nasty rhetoric and outright lies that his opponents continue to spew.

Like the drunk at the water park in their desperation, John McCain and Sarah Palin along with their friends Bush and Cheney have grabbed us Americans by our collective throats. Terrified and clueless, they cling for dear life while threatening to drown us all.

Fortunately, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is no stranger to the McCain campaign’s dirty tactics. In last night’s debate he gave the McCain campaign a good, solid, “Chicago lick”, and he’ll keep it up through November 4th. In the end, they and the rest of America are going to thank him for rescuing us from the McCain-Bush-Cheney gang’s many screwed up messes.

But we can’t rest on Obama’s apparent lead. Turnout is key to winning. I’m taking Election Day off from work to work for the campaign. If you haven’t already signed up to do so, I encourage you to do so as well.

Cwrdd a Obama/Meet Obama - Bilingual Welsh & English

Welsh Dave — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:40:56 EDT

Welsh/Cymraeg

Cwrdd a Obama

Gafodd Barack Obama ei eni yn Hawaii yn mis Awst 4, 1961, i Ann Dunham, yn wreiddiol o Kansas a Barack Obama,Sr,yn wreiddiol o Kenya. Ar ol raddio o Prifysgol Columbia, symudodd Barack i Chicago, ble weithiodd gyda Asiant Eglwysig i gwella bywyda ardaloedd tlawd Chicago a gafodd ei chwalu a'r ol cau lawr nifer o Gweithdai Haearn yn yr ardal.

A'r ol ychydig o blynyddoedd fe wnaeth Barack i Ysgol Gyfraith Harvard, a daeth yn Affrican American gyntaf i fod yn Arlywydd y "Harvard Law Review". Wedyn aeth yn nol i Chicago, I weithio fel Cyfreithwr hawliau dynol, darlitho yn gyfraith cyfansoddiado a dechrewyd ymdrech i rhestru 100,000 o pleidleiswyr newydd. Yn ystod y cyfnod yma fe wnaeth cwrdd a Michelle ei wraig. Mae nhw rwan efo dwy ferch: Malia 9, a Sasha, 6.

Dilyn ei waith eiriolaeth gafodd ei ethol i Senedd talaith Illinois, ble roedd yn gwasanethu yr pobol am 8 mlynedd. Yn ystod y blynyddoedd yma daeth y Democratiad a Gwerinaethwyr at ei gilydd i ffurfio llywodraeth a fydd yn gwella bywydau teuluoedd Illinois. Fe paswyd $100 milliwn mewn toriadau trethi i teuleuoedd gweithiol. Wthiodd tyfiant mewn rhaglenni addysg plant oed babanod. a gallu ehangu y system iechyd i dros 150,000 mwy o blant a oedolion. Fe newidiodd system cosb eithaf a oedd wedi lladd 13 o pobol di euog. Hefyd gweithiodd gyda y ddwy blaid i gwthio trwadd newidiau yn y maes moeseg mewn 25 o flynyddoedd.

Yn 2003, fe wnaeth Barack rhedeg am sedd yn y Senedd, ble roedd yn sefyll arwahan o holl ymgeiswyr eraill yn erbyn y rhyfel yn Iraq.

Yn yr senedd, fe Wnaeth Barack Obama rhoi y sialens ymlaen o dod a syniadau newydd i Wleidyddiaeth a ddim derbyn canlyniadau siomedig traddodiadol y Senedd. Daeth yn canolbwint o fiown ei blaid i dod a newidiadau moeseg mwya ers digwyddiad Watergate. a cyd weithio gyda Seneddwr Gwerinaethol Dick Lugar cadeirydd y pwyllgor perthynas Tramor i pasio gyfraith a fydda atal rhai o arfau mwya beryglus y byd i disgyn i dwylo terfysgwyr. Yn y maes tlodi a gafodd dipyn o sylw a'r ol Katrina neu yr hil-laddiad yn Dafur, neu y role mewn ffydd mewn gwleidyddiaeth, Mae Barack Obama yn cario ymlaen i siarad a'r materion llosg a fydd yn dylanwadu a'r America yn yr 21 ganrhif, credwr fod angen newid yr wlad a'r gwleidyddiaeth. Mae'n rhaid i ni dod at ein gilydd fel Americanwyr i ymateb i'r holl problemau sydd ein wynebu.

Ewch i BarackObama.com am mwy o wybodaeth!

Ewch i My.BarackObama.com i cysylltu efo cefnogwyr agos i chi. Os fydda chi hoffi mwy o wybodaeth am Seneddwr Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, neu syniadau yr Seneddwr ond ddim efo gallu mynd a'r y we, ffoniwch 866-675-2008

English/Saesneg

Meet Obama

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961, to Ann Dunham, originally of Kansas, and Barack Obama, Sr., originally of Kenya. After graduating from Columbia University, Barack moved to Chicago, where he worked with a church-based organization to improve living conditions in Chicago neighborhoods that had been devastated by steel plant closings. After a few years, Barack went to Harvard Law School, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. He then returned to Chicago, where he practiced as a civil rights lawyer, lectured on constitutional law, and started a voter registration drive that registered 100,000 new voters. During this time, he met and married his wife, Michelle. They now have two daughters: Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6.

Barack's advocacy work culminated in his election to the Illinois State Senate, where he served for 8 years. During these years, Barack brought Democrats and Republicans together to make government work for Illinois families. He passed $100 million dollars in tax cuts for working families. He pushed through an expansion of early childhood education programs, and was able to expand health care coverage to 150,000 more children and parents. He reformed a death penalty system that had sent 13 innocent people to death row. And he worked with both parties to pass the first major ethics reform in twenty-five years.

In 2003, Barack launched his improbable race for the U.S. Senate, where he stood alone among all the candidates in opposing the invasion of Iraq.

In the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama has focused on tackling our challenges with fresh thinking and a new kind of politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. He was his party's point person on passing the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate, and he's worked with Republican Senator Dick Lugar, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, to pass a law that will prevent some of the world's most deadly weapons from falling into terrorist hands.Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century, believing that in order to change our country and our politics, we must come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.

Visit BarackObama.com for more information.

Log on to My.BarackObama.com to connect with supporters near you. If you would like more information about Senator Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, or the Senator's ideas but don't have internet access, call us at 866-675-2008.

The Ayers Connection...

DJ4Obama — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:04:32 EDT

Greetings:

I am at work today and it's a little slow, so I wanted to issue a statement regarding the Ayers topic that keeps on coming up. I have grown very tired of this "last ditch effort" by the McCain campaign to revisit old topics. In an effort to cast doubt and fear in the hearts of voters and Americans in general, McCain and his team are posing inane questions about Obama's character. First of all, this whole Ayers connection was already brought up during primary. It was explained and researched. This is obviously a rather transparent attempt to use fear to win votes or at least take them away from Obama.

First of all, Obama has made it very clear that he does not agree with past the exploits of Mr. Ayers and does not hold the same beliefs or radical ideals. When his career was "launched" in Ayers living room, he was not aware of his past. I know I couldn't tell you what my mom or any other grown-up was up to when I was 8. He was more likely aware of his work for education and reform in Chicago communities . I think Obama has been very clear but McCain is hoping by repeating the same questions over and over again it will lend some sort of credibility to them. In other words if he asks the same questions enough they will magically turn into fact. What IS relevant is... that if McCain thought this was SUCH an important question then why did he wait until the LAST weeks of the campaign to make it a central issue? Obviously he too understands that this question has no actual relevance to anything except boosting his election numbers. It's a sad day when any politician will simply use fear and doubt as a tool to win. If he would do this to Obama and to voters, why wouldn't he do it for any and everything in his administration? He wants to raise judgment questions but not really speak of his own (Keating 5). On that note, what is the point of questioning that either? It happened a long time ago and people learn and gain in wisdom through poor judgment. As long as they are not exercising poor judgment now, what's the issue? Has anyone's judgment been right on from day one? I know mine hasn't (i.e. my vote for Bush first term).

All things said, I think the mere fact that Obama has been consistent with his approach throughout says more than anything. Leave it to the Republican candidate to switch up tactics and approach day after day to match the need to win versus the need of the American people to hear what he intends to do to right this country which has been on the wrong course for a while now.

I read an interesting article regarding Obama's Chicago ties to Ayers here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/790/

Don't let fear and irrelevant questioning sway you. Vote for HOPE this November. Vote for the candidate who has shown political consistency in his approach and direction. Vote for the candidate that has the vision to move forward rather than stay mired in the policies of the past.

Sincerely,

David Jackson - Plano Texas

Ayers Issue Put to Rest...

Nia "Hussein" J. — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:02:39 EDT

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/790/

For most of the election, Sen. John McCain's campaign has been somewhat subtle about trying to tie Sen. Barack Obama to the former '60s radical William Ayers.

No longer. A 90-second Web ad released Oct. 8, 2008, features sinister music, side-by-side photographs of Obama and Ayers, and a series of dubious allegations about their past connections, including this one:

"Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation together."

Ayers was a founding member of the militant Vietnam-era anti-war group the Weathermen. He was investigated for his role in a series of domestic bombings, but the charges were dropped in 1974 due to prosecutorial misconduct. He is now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and actively engaged in the city's civic life.

The McCain campaign said the "radical education foundation" to which they were referring is the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a charity endowed by publishing magnate Walter Annenberg that funded public-school programs in Chicago from 1995 to 2001.

We'll look at whether the foundation was radical. But first we have to grapple with whether Obama and Ayers ran it.

Obama served on the foundation's volunteer board from its inception in 1995 through its dissolution in 2001, and was chair for the first four years. So an argument can be made that he ran it, though an executive director handled day-to-day operations.

Ayers, who received his doctorate in education from Columbia University in 1987 and is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was active in getting the foundation up and running. He and two other activists led the effort to secure the grant from Annenberg, and he worked without pay in the early months of 1995, prior to the board's hiring of an executive director, to help the foundation get incorporated and formulate its bylaws, said Ken Rolling, who was the foundation's only executive director. Ayers went on to become a member of the "collaborative," an advisory group that advised the board of directors and the staff.

However, Ayers "was never on the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge," and he "never made a decision programmatically or had a vote," Rolling said.

"He (Ayers) was at board meetings — which, by the way, were open — as a guest," Rolling said. "That is not anything near Bill Ayers and Barack Obama running the Chicago Annenberg Challenge."

Now, was the foundation radical?

The McCain campaign cited several pieces of evidence for that allegation, including a 1995 invitation from the foundation for applications from schools "that want to make radical changes in the way teachers teach and students learn." The campaign appears to have confused two different definitions of the word "radical." Clearly the invitation referred to "a considerable departure from the usual or traditional," rather than "advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs."

The campaign also cited two projects the foundation funded, one having to do with a United Nations-themed Peace School and another that focused on African-American studies.

"That is radical in the eye of this campaign and we imagine in the eyes of most Americans," said Michael Goldfarb, a spokesman for McCain. "It is a subjective thing, and there are going to be people in Berkeley and Chicago who think that is totally legitimate."

Teaching about the United Nations and African-American studies may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's hardly "radical" in the same way Ayers' Vietnam-era activities were. Moreover, most of the projects the foundation funded (more on that below) were not remotely controversial.

The McCain campaign also cited an opinion piece by conservative commentator Stanley Kurtz in the Sept. 23, 2008, Wall Street Journal as evidence of the foundation's radicalism. Kurtz wrote that Ayers was the "guiding spirit" of the foundation, and it "translated Mr. Ayers's radicalism into practice."

But Ayers' views on education, though certainly reform-oriented and left-of-center, are not considered anywhere near as radical as his Vietnam-era views on war. And even if they were, there was a long list of individuals involved with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge whose positions provided them far more authority over its direction than Ayers' advisory role gave him.

Let's look at a few, starting with the funder. Annenberg was a lifelong Republican and former ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Richard Nixon. His widow, Leonore, has endorsed McCain. Kurtz might just as plausibly have accused Obama and the foundation of "translating Annenberg's conservatism into practice."

Among the other board members who served with Obama were: Stanley Ikenberry, former president of the University of Illinois; Arnold Weber, former president of Northwestern University and assistant secretary of labor in the Nixon administration; Scott Smith, then publisher of the Chicago Tribune; venture capitalist Edward Bottum; John McCarter, president of the Field Museum; Patricia Albjerg Graham, former dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and a host of other mainstream folks.

"The whole idea of it being radical when it was this tie of blue-chip, white-collar, CEOs and civic leaders is just ridiculous," said the foundation's former development director, Marianne Philbin.

The foundation gave money to groups of public schools – usually three to 10 – who partnered with some sort of outside organization to improve their students' achievement.

In his opinion piece, Kurtz puts a sinister spin on this: "Instead of funding schools directly, it required schools to affiliate with 'external partners,' which actually got the money...CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or ACORN)."

Rollings said the foundation tried to fund the schools directly, but doing so proved to be a "bureaucratic nightmare." But any external group that received money had to have created a program in partnership with a network of public schools.

And though ACORN is considered a liberal organization, the vast majority of the foundation's external partners were not remotely controversial. Here are a few examples: the Chicago Symphony, the University of Chicago, Loyola University, Northwestern University, the Chicago Children's Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.

Had Kurtz chosen to accuse Obama of carrying water for the conservative Annenberg, he might have written: "CAC disbursed money to various business-friendly entities, such as the Museum of Science and Industry and the Commercial Club of Chicago."

See how easy it is?

The programs the foundation funded were designed to allow individuals from the "external partners" – whether the musicians in the symphony or the business leaders in the commercial club – to help improve student achievement. They were along the lines of mentoring by artists, literacy instruction, professional development for teachers and administrators, and training for parents in everything from computer skills to helping their children with homework to advocating for their children at school.

This last activity – something suburban parents practice with zeal – is also suspect in Kurtz's view: "CAC records show that board member Arnold Weber was concerned that parents 'organized' by community groups might be viewed by school principals 'as a political threat.'" That is typical of Kurtz's essay – relatively innocuous facts cast in the worst possible light. That's appropriate for an opinion piece, perhaps, but hardly grounds for a purportedly factual political ad accusing the group of radicalism.

We could go on and on with evidence that the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a rather vanilla charitable group. For example, under the deal with Annenberg every dollar from him had to be matched by two from elsewhere. The co-funders were a host of respected, mainstream institutions, such as the National Science Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Chicago Public Schools.

In short, this was a mainstream foundation funded by a mainstream, Republican business leader and led by an overwhelmingly mainstream, civic-minded group of individuals. Ayers' involvement in its inception and on an advisory committee do not make it radical – nor does the funding of programs involving the United Nations and African-American studies.

This attack is false, but it's more than that – it's malicious. It unfairly tars not just Obama, but all the other prominent, well-respected Chicagoans who also volunteered their time to the foundation. They came from all walks of life and all political backgrounds, and there's ample evidence their mission was nothing more than improving ailing public schools in Chicago. Yet in the heat of a political campaign they have been accused of financing radicalism. That's Pants on Fire wrong.

Fact check: Ayers

Henry M — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:01:18 EDT

10 things to know about Bill Ayers
1. Was Ayers the leader of a terrorist group?
The FBI labeled the Weather Underground "a domestic terrorist group" whose members took credit for bombings of the U.S. Capitol, Pentagon and other government buildings. The bombings were designed to cause property damage, not hurt people. Ayers never has been accused of killing anybody.
But three Weather Underground members accidentally killed themselves while making bombs in New York City in 1970. In 1981, two police officers and a security guard were killed when other members of the group committed an armed robbery.
2. How long was Ayers "underground"?
Ayers and his wife, Weather Underground member Bernardine Dohrn, were on the lam 10 years before surrendering in 1980.
3. Were they ever convicted of "terrorism" charges?
No. Ayers faced federal riot and bombing-conspiracy charges, but those charges were dropped because of illegal wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions by authorities. Dohrn served less than a year behind bars for non-bombing activities tied to the group.
4. How are Ayers and Dohrn viewed now?
At least before this campaign, they were mainly seen as respected college professors. After getting his doctorate in education at Columbia University, Ayers joined the University of Illinois, where he gained a national reputation pushing innovative -- some say controversial -- approaches to educating at-risk youth. Dohrn has a national reputation for pushing reforms of the juvenile justice system. Ayers has published 15 books. He sits on civic boards with Mayor Daley, who in 1997 awarded Ayers the city's "Citizen of the Year" award. Ayers and Dohrn live in Hyde Park, not far from the Obamas.
5. So how well do Ayers and Obama know each other?
Ayers and Obama served on separate boards associated with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an education-reform group that Obama began chairing in March 1995 and continued to work with through 2000. Ayers served on the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, which made recommendations to the board on grant awards during those years. Ayers and Obama occasionally would see each other in those roles.
Also, Ayers served alongside Obama between December 1999 and December 2002 on the board of the not-for-profit Woods Fund of Chicago. That board met four times a year, and members would see each other at dinners the group hosted.
The RNC's statement that "Obama's first campaign was launched at a gathering at Mr. Ayers' home" stems from a 1995 "meet-and-greet" coffee that Ayers and Dohrn held for Obama at their home when Obama was making his first run for the Illinois Senate. Obama's presidential campaign has described the event as an opportunity for Ayers and Dohrn to introduce Obama to their neighbors.
In 2001, Ayers gave $200 to Obama's campaign. A year ago, the two met walking through the neighborhood where they both live.
6. How does Ayers respond to the Republicans' charges?
He doesn't. He has declined to comment to the Sun-Times or any other media since Sen. Hillary Clinton first raised him as a potential problem for Obama in April during the Democratic primary.
7. What does Obama say about Ayers?
During a primary debate, Obama underplayed his relationship with Ayers: "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know, and who I have not received some official endorsement from," Obama said. "He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. The notion that somehow, as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense."
8. Is it fair for McCain to criticize Obama on this issue?
Factcheck.org has this take: "Voters may differ in how they see Ayers, or how they see Obama's interactions with him. We're making no judgment calls on those matters. What we object to are the McCain-Palin campaign's attempts to sway voters -- in ads and on the stump -- with false and misleading statements about the relationship, which was never very close. And Ayers is more than a former 'terrorist,' he's also a well-known figure in the field of education."
9. Has Ayers ever apologized for what he did with the Weather Underground?
Not exactly. In 2001, Ayers told the Sun-Times he regretted that "people were hurt, that three of my dear friends were killed, that we were stupid, immature, intolerant and unwise. I regret that I hurt people's feelings." He did not regret "throwing myself as wholeheartedly as I could figure out into opposition to war and to the system of racial injustice."
A review of Ayers' memoir Fugitive Days that appeared in the New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, quoted Ayers saying, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." Three days after the terrorist attacks, Ayers clarified: "My memoir is, from start to finish, a condemnation of terrorism . . ."
10. Are all former alleged terrorists/radicals shunned?
No. Former IRA bomber Gerry Adams is welcomed at the White House as a peacemaker. Former PLO leader Yasser Arafat was too. Former Students for a Democratic Society member and Ayers friend Tom Hayden was elected to the California State Assembly. Former Black Panther Bobby Rush is a congressman representing Chicago, as is former Puerto Rican independence activist Luis Gutierrez.

If you appreciated this message, then please have a look at the rest of my blog, http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu and if you appreciate my blog, then please donate to the campaign: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/henrymu/gGgFDD

Henry M

Breaking news....this Anthem is getting Amazing feedback!

Big Hit Buda — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:44:02 EDT

Here's a short video for you that's been getting amazing
feedback! Don't take our word for it though, please read the comments and who they were left by.

This video: "Elect Obama (remix)" was filmed mostly in Chicago and the rest was shot at the Biden VP announcement rally in Springfield, IL. When viewing, please click "watch in high quality" to see it in High Definition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83lum1XcOug

If for some reason the link doesn't work, go to YouTube and type Elect Obama remix
Please help spread it to Undecided voters and fellow Obama supporters! Digg it, forward it, SHOUT it in a Republican's ear... Let's ELECT OBAMA!!!

Get informed!

Jay Williams — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:19:34 EDT

So here is my first post for my new blog. Welcome. Hopefully you find some info here that makes you think.

So why "No Talking Points"?

Well, while I believe in the Obama mission, and the Democratic Party's causes - I still think people need to think for themselves and not just follow the leader because they said it was so.

Palin has either lost her mind and/or this is Karl Rove at work! Palin says Obama 'palling around' with terrorists

Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor New Mexico Sun News — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:39:10 EDT

By JIM KUHNHENN,
Associated Press Writer
13 minutes ago

CARSON, Calif., - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin
on Saturday accused Democrat Barack Obama of "palling around with
terrorists" because of an association with a former '60s radical,
stepping up an effort to portray Obama as unacceptable to American
voters.

Palin's reference was to Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the group the Weather Underground. Its members took credit for bombings,
including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol,
during the Vietnam War era. Obama, who was a child when the group was active, has denounced Ayers' radical views and activities.

In 1970, the group was blamed for a pipe bomb in San Francisco that
killed a police officer and injured another. Three members of the
group were killed in 1970 in an accidental explosion of a bomb in
their Greenwich Village basement.

While it is known that Obama and Ayers live in the same Chicago
neighborhood, served on a charity board together and had a fleeting
political connection, no one has provided evidence to say the pair
ever palled around. And it's simply wrong to suggest that they were
associated while Ayers was committing terrorist acts.

Nonetheless, Palin made the comments at two appearances in separate
states.

"Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal
around with terrorists who targeted their own country," Palin told a
rally of about 10,000 gathered at a tennis stadium in Carson, a
suburb of Los Angeles.

That echoed comments she made earlier in the day to donors at a
private airport in Englewood, Colo.: "Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own
country."

Falling behind Obama in polls, the Republican campaign plans to make
attacks on Obama's character a centerpiece of candidate John McCain's message in the final weeks of the presidential race. Coming late in the campaign, Palin's remark could be particularly incendiary, however, and could knock Obama off his focus on the troubled economy.

The campaign was clearly prepared to raise the Ayers' connection to
Obama. In addition to Palin's comments at her appearances Saturday,
the McCain campaign distributed Palin's comments to reporters.

"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America,"
Palin said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see
an America of exceptionalism."

The Obama campaign called Palin's remarks offensive but not
surprising in light of news stories detailing the campaign's come-
from-behind offensive.

"What's clear is that John McCain and Sarah Palin would rather spend
their time tearing down Barack Obama than laying out a plan to build
up our economy," Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan said in a
statement.

Palin's remarks come as e-mails circulate on the Internet with
suggestions that the Democratic candidate is secretly a radical,
foreign-born Muslim with designs against the U.S. Obama is a native
of Hawaii who lived in Indonesia as boy. He is a Christian.

Palin, Alaska's governor, said that donors on a greeting line had
encouraged her and McCain to get tougher on Obama. She said an aide
then advised her, "Sarah, the gloves are off, the heels are on, go
get to them."

The escalated effort to attack Obama's character dovetails with TV
ads by outside groups questioning Obama's ties to Ayers, convicted
former Obama fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Obama's former
pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He and Obama live in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood and served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based charity that develops community groups to help the poor. Obama left the board in December 2002.

Obama was the first chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a
school-reform group of which Ayers was a founder. Ayers also held a
meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when Obama first ran
for office in the mid-1990s.

In an interview with CBS News earlier in the week, Palin didn't name
any newspapers or magazines that shaped her view of the world. On
Saturday, she cited a New York Times story that detailed Obama's
relationship with Ayers.

Summing up its findings, the Times wrote: "A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.'"

Earlier Saturday, Palin spent 35 minutes at a diner in Greenwood
Village where she met with Blue Star Moms, a support group of
families whose sons or daughters are serving in the armed forces.
Reporters were allowed in the diner for less than five minutes before being ushered out by the campaign.

Palin, whose 19-year-old son, Track, deployed last month as a private with an Army combat team, was overheard at one point commiserating with one of the mothers: "Any time I ask my son how he's doing, he says, 'Mom, I'm in the Army now.'"

Cubs in October, Obama in November

Christine from Los Angeles, CA — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:05:12 EDT

Who is more hopeful than an Obama supporter? A Cubs fan!!! And I happen to be both! So, I'm wearing my hopes on my (short)sleeve and have created this t-shirt.... hoping others will too. Cubs in October, Obama in November.

Please check out my t-shirt... maybe even order one. I appreciate any help in promoting my t-shirts. Of course a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Obama's campaign!!

Go Cubbies! Go Obama!

http://thejacksonian.bigcartel.com/

Christine

My Story - Remi Aregbesola (Madison, WI)

Young and Powerful - Madison — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:41:51 EDT

Young and Powerful for Obama

I never expected to be involved in the political process of America. For a long time, I thought it would be better to just organize in my community so I wouldn’t have to deal with all of the backstabbing, smearing, and party dueling of politics while making a positive impact in society. No, it is not that I’m not cut out for it. I felt that it was a waste of time, and a part of me still feels that it is. I am an individual who has overcome many obstacles--big & small. I was born and grew up on the South side of Chicago with two parents who emigrated from Nigeria. Most of my child-hood friends are still poor, have been killed due to violence, or sell drugs. I recently graduated from UW-Madison, one of the top universities in the county, via a POSSE full-tuition scholarship. I have a started my career in Finance and organize in the community as President of the alumni chapter of my fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha. I organize because always thought it was best to keep the common touch and politicians usually lack that. But one day I decided to organize for a candidate. His name is Senator Barack Obama.

One of my frat brothers, Jarvis Houston, was visiting from DC and crashed at my place while attending a political training in Madison, WI. Later that day, we were helping another brother of ours move out who recently graduated from medical school and Jarvis began to talk to me about Young & Powerful for Obama (YP for Obama) and the fundraisers they hosted in the past year. He stated that YP for Obama has one final fundraiser left which would occur in six cities (Madison being the seventh) on the same day. We rambled back and forth and I was really reluctant because I had a lot on my plate with the alumni chapter, new job, and new life as a “grown up.” Senator Barack Obama was someone I was familiar with—politically and I was going to vote for him in the election. And even though I really like him as a candidate, I still didn’t want to get involved. Jarvis left after his training was over and told me to think about it. What made me change my mind was all of the training and organizing I experienced in school, in the frat, and in the community. I knew that my involvement should not go in vain and if I were ever going to get involved with real politics this would be the time. YP for Obama was founded by young professionals who were leaders and organizers in college, and now, as young professionals, are still involved only part-time. Besides the issues, the more I learned about Obama’s personal life, my life, and how the other city chairmen’s background intertwined, I was almost certain this was the right route to take. Months after, when Senator Obama gave his nomination acceptance speech, my mother called me as soon as Senator Barack was done. She started screaming with her still “fresh” Nigerian accent, “Remi going to be President, Remi going to be President.” I don’t honestly think she believes I’m going to be President one day, but that Senator Barack Obama was giving her and me inspiration. I never heard her speak like this about anyone. I can tell, she doesn’t have to actually utter the words, but his message and actions epitomize the true principles of America. For me, there is no turning back. YES WE CAN.

Remi Aregbesola
City Chair
Young and Powerful for Obama - Madison,WI
YP4OBAMA.COM

:::::::::
Young & Powerful for Obama Fundraiser September 25th
BE SEEN...BE HEARD...BE POWERFUL! Networking::Music::Social::PoliticalDonate/RSVP Today @ http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpg3qwMADISON, WI
WASHINGTON, D.C.
CHICAGO
LOS ANGELES
NEW YORK
ATLANTA
DETROIT

7 cities...1 day...1 goal! YP4OBAMA.com
youngandpowerfulmadison@gmail.com
:::::::::

Compelled

Anthony — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:41:38 EDT

Today, I sent the following email to many friends and family. I would like to share it here too.

Hello Friends and Family,

Only one other time in my life have I felt as certain about a decision as my decision to vote for Senator Barack Obama as the next president of the United States, and that was the decision to ask and marry Brenda.

I cannot tell you how to vote, but I can tell you why I'm voting for Barack Obama, and why I think you should consider doing the same. This might get lengthy, but please indulge me a bit and read on. If you do not want to read what I've written, please peruse the attachments that I've provided, which I think will help give you further information than just taking my word. Some of you have also made your minds up already and agree with me. Whether you do or do not agree with me, I'd love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and opinions. My story begins...

As most of you know, I grew up in a small town. Most of the people I knew led pretty comfortable lives--I never knew anyone who was particularly wealthy, but I never ran into extreme poverty either. We were all squarely middle of the road, and that was basically true for our politics as well. People wanted the best and sometimes better for their families, but isn't that true for all of us?

For the last three years I have lived in Chicago. I have witnessed folks who are in abject poverty, who fight to feed their families and have never had the luxury of a steady job. They don't live from paycheck to paycheck as others I've known have; they live by whatever means they can. And why, because they want better for their families as well. Senator Obama has also seen this plight, he and Mrs. Obama have worked directly with such individuals. Additionally, they understand what it means to form and be part of a community.

One of the largest problems that I see in this country is the inability to create bridges. We have lost our respect for the wisdom of the generations ahead of us as well as the respect for those who are coming up. We have so much to learn from one another, and we are allowing those opportunities to slip away. We can no longer believe that we can make it alone; we can only do it together. This is what Barack Obama is talking about when he says we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. We've got to watch one another's backs and lift one another up. These are the principles upon which the gospel is built; it is what we've all been called to do.

I think you know why I'm voting for Barack Obama. He recognizes wisdom, and appreciates energy to make a difference. I hear this plea, and I'm responding by casting my vote because I too believe that together, we can and must make a difference.

Many blessings on all of you, wherever you may be.

Peace and love,

Tony

Maybe some of you will have comments as well. I have begun receiving comments, and have at least motivated folks to be serious and get in gear around the issues. Maybe others would like to try it too.

My story: Young and Powerful for Obama by Remi Aregbesola

Young and Powerful - Madison — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:09:15 EDT

Young and Powerful for Obama

Remi Aregbesola
City Chair
Young and Powerful for Obama - Madison,WI
YP4OBAMA.COM

:::::::::
Young & Powerful for Obama Fundraiser September 25th
BE SEEN...BE HEARD...BE POWERFUL! Networking::Music::Social::PoliticalDonate/RSVP Today @ http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpg3qwMADISON, WI
WASHINGTON, D.C.
CHICAGO
LOS ANGELES
NEW YORK
ATLANTA
DETROIT

7 cities...1 day...1 goal! YP4OBAMA.com
youngandpowerfulmadison@gmail.com
:::::::::

Joe Biden Speaks to National HQ Staff and Volunteers

Shayne Adamski — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:49:10 EDT

Joe Biden recently visited the national Headquarters office in Chicago and spoke with the staff.

He talked about how excited he is to be a part of the team, and what a great organizational structure we've built to win this election.

Watch the video and share it with your friends....

The DNC, Illinois, and Group Empathy; a theory

Ella Mae — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:26:45 EDT

The following is meant to be more in the nature of a sociological essay than a political one. It is primarily about my unique (I think) point of view of the situation, and due to my current (and probably unhealthy) obsession with everything election related. Comments are welcome.

Approximately nine years ago I had the good fortune to hear Barack Obama give a talk at a small youth conference I attended when I had just started counseling teenagers. He was a state senator then, and though I didn’t pay much attention to what his role was I did notice that the way he was introduced was as if he were someone very special. He spoke about youth – particularly inner city youth, as was appropriate – with knowledge and empathy. Not knowing his background I assumed he had been raised on the South Side of Chicago. One of the things that really stuck with me was how he discussed the (false) viewpoint that African American boys don’t read, and that it’s not considered cool by their peers to be a reader. This was one of those vague concepts I think I knew but had never heard anyone speak out loud.

Moving Beyond Just a Sign in the Yard

Paul Walerow — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:27:45 EDT

Change is needed. This election is too important to be left to chance. With the election so apparently close between the two candidates, I feel that I need to do more to help elect the person I truly believe in. Tomorrow I begin that journey.

Barack on Letterman Sept. 10 -- watch the video clip

Captain in Chicago — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:53:53 EDT

My favorite CTA performer (and new bud), Albert Griffith/GQ/Tha Teacha, told me about Barack Obama's appearance on Letterman on Sept. 10. I missed it on TV, but found a video clip on the CBS web site. Here's the link to Letterman -- click on the picture of Dave and Barack to play the clip.

Also on Sept. 10, NPR played audio clips of John McCain and a host of other politicians using the good ol' "lipstick on a pig" phrase. McCain himself used it during the primary season to criticize Hillary Clinton's heath care initiative. Listen here to NPR clips. (Ugh, I can't believe even I am posting about this stupid non-issue.)

Thanks for the tip, Albert!
Albert on this site: http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/grQfx
Albert on TPM: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/profile/gq

Democracy is not a spectator sport
Obama needs your help to win
Click on Events at the right side of this page --------- >
Volunteer for the campaign today

Talk with your heart...not with your head!

Conrad from Chicago, IL — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:53:54 EDT

Barack; you're doing the same thing Kerry did...nothing!!! I've been a lifelong Democrat but the last 3 presidential elections and this current presidential campaign have left me very angry..no very Goddammed angry. How do you expect to convince the country that you can be a forceful leader, a forceful protecter, a forceful president when you let mccain/palin slap you in the face time after time with your continued whimpy, passionless responses? I want a president who, though is capable of restraint, but will not let his restraint allow himself to become a whipping boy. Look, I too am an intellectual. I have 3 undergraduate degrees and one masters but I will not let someone slander me interminably without picking up the gauntlet and slapping the SOB hard across the face. Yes, you do not want to alienate voters who you fear would cringe at such a response but let me tell you they will not. I live in Chicago, which as you know is a town of Democrats but everyone I talk to is, like me, very angry to see their Presidential aspirant being interminably slapped around and want you to start slapping back and slapping back hard. There is so much "truthful" information out there to slap back with its ridiculous to continue with intellectual retorts. Also, stop holding the independent political groups that want to start slapping back and punching when you're punched. I find it outrageous that you have reined them in. Let them do what they will. If I had a 527 under my rein I would not listen to you if you tried to stop me...you couldn't HELL NO! When someone I respect and care about is attacked the SOB that's attacking will regret the day he merely fantasized about his first attack. How can you expect the American people vote you to become president if they can't see you have the balls to attack back when attacked by people for whom diplomacy is a whimpy option. I saw your speech at the 2004 Democratic convention and you inspired me and millions of others because you had the guts, no more than guts, the balls to say what had to be said and I keep waiting for you to show the same courage and passion you showed then. Hell, the whole country is waiting for you to show that same passion and courage!!! Stop letting your head dictate your responses...start using your heart. Come on guy, you've got the balls...start using them, again.
Conrad

Diversey/Halsted, Tues., Sept. 9 -- join us!

Captain in Chicago — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:19:55 EDT

Sept. 8, ETA: Event is now closed -- we're at capacity!

Greetings, neighbors!

On Tuesday evening, Sept. 9, I'm going to a GOTV (Get Out the Vote) training session near Diversey and Halsted. Can you come? I hope you will -- just send me a friend invite via this site and mention the GOTV event, and I'll reply with a link to more information about it. I'd love to meet some more people from the neighborhood and this group! There will be snacks and you can meet others who are committed to helping get Obama in the White House. It doesn't matter one iota if you've never done anything like this before -- that's what the training is for.

I believe that if each of us volunteers even just a couple of hours a week, we can put Obama in the White House. (Plus, once you volunteer an hour or two a week, I bet you will want to do more.)

Congrats on the success of your party at Joe's. Now let's guarantee success for the Democratic Party!

~~Please join us (bring a friend if you can) -- it'll be fun an~~d you'll feel great for helping to get our country back on track and focusing on the issues we care about.

Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport.

Today + yesterday: Made 21 calls.

America "Frees" Cuba, Saturday at 6PM

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:21:24 EDT

The Free Cuba Film Series creates global unity.

The American public continues to speak out, wanting to see Cuba.

10 New screening locations in one week and growing fast!

Premiering tomorrow, Saturday, September 6th at 6PM in

Beverly Hills, CA - Fine Arts Theatre -

Journalist and other members of the media are speaking out for Max Lesnik,

the focus of the documentary "The Man of Two Havana's" in the Free Cuba Films Series.

Mr. Lesnik had lived his journalistic career with death threats, political warfare

and multiple bombing against his Magazine, family and his life.

All simply because he spoke/speaks out for America uniting with Cuba verse avoiding our neighbors.

"It's overwhelming clear the majority of the American population wants to unite with Cuba."

Filmmaker Luis Moro.

The first film in the series is, Cuba's Love and Suicide, a true love story set in Havana;

the second film, Havana KidZ, is the kid's version of Buena Vista Social Club;

the third film, The Man of Two Havana's, delivers true accounts of the direct family relationship between

U.S. politicians, Cuban-American terrorist and Fidel Castro.

The evening is an entertaining, uplifting and an educationally revealing experience.

The films bring audiences into the real Cuba with their own eyes.

Don't just complain, join the campaign!

Captain in Chicago — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:33:07 EDT

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 28 hours of TV each week. If you haven't yet volunteered to help the campaign, can you find one hour a week to help Obama win this election? C'mon, just one hour a week?

You can use this web site to locate volunteer opportunities and activities.

How about writing a short letter to the editor of your newspaper? Reference one of their recent articles on the campaign or a candidate, and tell the editor what you think of it. You can do this from home in 20 minutes.

You could take a friend or family member and spend a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon helping register voters. It's fun and rewarding.

Not working? Sign up to be a Nov. 4 election judge in a local precinct.

Two evenings a week, spend 30 minutes making phone calls for the campaign.

Get involved through MoveOn.org. I've volunteered with them on two previous elections. They are very well organized.

Attend a rally or potluck for Obama with other people in your area.

Think of what is at stake here. There are tons of different ways you can help. So come on, pick one and just do it. Every single volunteer makes a difference, and together we can change this country for the better by putting Barack Obama in the White House.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. With your help, Yes We Can win this election!

Obama Tees

obamafoyomama — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:15:43 EDT

Support Obama buy purchasing a top from our store. Make sure that his face is seen EVERYWHERE in style! A percentage of the money will go to his campaign.

Men $15.40

Women- $14.40

Juniors- $21.90

Children- $11.40

Toddlers- $10.90

Babies- $14.90

HATRED OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS

Muhammad from Lancaster, PA — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:36:26 EDT

Somewhere between Alaska and a parrallel universe the Republican national convention decided to attack the very foundation of American democracy,the community organizer. Well I guess they didn't remember the lesson Newt Gingrich learned GOING AFTER PUBLIC BOARDCASTING

"NEVER ATTACK PEOPLE THAT CAN DEFEND THEMSELVES"

We will show them why Medger Evers, Susan B. Antoney, The Coal Workers, Erin Brockavich, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King etc.. The many hard working Americans thoughout this country that work to organize their communites, build baseball fields and child care centers. They clean streets and sometimes build free nations while fighting injustice. THEY SHOULD NEVER be belittled,teased and ridiculed.

ENOUGH

NO THIRD TERM

PASS IT ON

Experience? POW!

Henry M — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:32:11 EDT

Here's a non-partisan (it isn't kind to Kerry) video on McCain's POW credentials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXjWguoFbpI&feature=related. Show it to your friends who are buying into the McCampaign's ads that imply that McCain's veteran/POW status is a qualification for presidency. And if they need any more convincing, show them these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjsEs46C70 and http://tinyurl.com/mccainnotahero .

Yes, this election is about experience and values, and Obama and Biden win on both counts! Other than being a former congressional (Keating Five) "maverick," McCain's only "experience" is his bottom of his West Point class/POW military experience! Since his military experience that ended 27 years ago when he divorced his crippled wife and married wealth, younger Cindy, whose money he used to finance his political ambitions. Palin's only experience has been as a mother of five (still is! does she have time to be both mother and VP? values?), mayor of a town that's smaller than most people's high school graduating class, and then as a governor ready to turn over her sparsely populated state's natural resources to the large oil companies.

With experience like those, they're going to have a hard time justifying their attacks on Obama's experience. Senator Obama was a constitutional scholar and professor, and worked in Chicago, the largest city by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest, a dominant center of finance, industry and culture in the region, and the third-most populous city in the United States. Unlike McCain, Neither Biden or Obama have ever been credibly associated with any scandalous behavior, public or private. It's that simple!

Personality is also a factor; it's amazing that the McCampaign has their followers believing that Obama's likeability is a bad thing and excusing and even applauding McCain's crotchety-old-man volatilty and weak memory!

Get the word out, and please contribute and get out the vote for Obama. Help America help itself before it's too late: four more years of McSame would irreperably damage our country!

Henry M

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/PListe4Obama

BIDEN/OBAMA 6th degrees of Separation with ME

B James — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:56:30 EDT

Just for you information Barack OBAMA is a University of Chicago guy who sends his kids to The U of C Lab School where I teach. I had Malia in class last year for swimming. She is actually a pretty good swimmer. Joe Biden is from SCRANTON, PA. and went to Holy Rosary Church in North Scranton. I grew up in SCRANTON also and went to HOLY ROSARY CHURCH TOO. I then left PA as did Joe Biden and wound up in ILLINOIS. I am a supporter of OBAMA/BIDEN and have come full circle to get to this place I am at. By the way, Hillary is from SCRANTON too! I have also been a big CLINTON supporter although have been with Barack this whole process. I made two predictions to my wife Cindy. The first one was after coming home from U HIgh graduation in 2004 after hearing Barack Obama speak at our graduation in Rockefeller Chapel. I said " I may have just heard a future president speak" Later that summer I heard him speak again and I said " I think that he will be our next prsidential candidate after this election " meaning in 2008. 2 for 2 so far and I think I will be correct with the whole prediction come November! So that is my story of how there is a 6 degrees of separation with the whole story! Interesting!

It's His Party

Chinni — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:54:02 EDT

It's His Party

Dana Goldstein and Ezra Klein | August 18, 2008

..Most outsider candidates for the presidency recruit an outsider team to deliver it. Bill Clinton's main strategists in 1992 were the little-known Paul Begala and James Carville. His first chief of staff was Mack McLarty, a childhood friend who had risen to become chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party. It was a team untainted by Washington but also unschooled in how Washington worked. The Obama campaign and Senate staff, by contrast, are full of Daschle and Gephardt veterans--an unexpected rebirth of the power bases and reputations of two politicians who had long been written off..
..Before Clinton could build a new image of the party, however, he had to get elected. That meant not strengthening the party but holding it at arm's length, except as a useful vehicle for fundraising..
..In sharp contrast to the early 1990s, it is Republicans who now have a nominee best known for his apostasies against his own party. Democrats don't have to run from their party anymore. And so Obama hasn't. Rather, he has run against polarization, against legislative gridlock, against special interests. This is why he could bring the DNC to Chicago: The problem isn't Democrats. It's the atmosphere and working relationships that impede their work in Washington..
..His rhetoric has often signaled an appetite for compromise that has left some wondering about what, exactly, Obama's core policy commitments would be in office. But less attention was given to what Obama seemed to think would attract folks from across the aisle: real policy-making, which Obama's campaign believes requires a Democratic Party infrastructure strong enough to pass the president's priorities. In other words, strong parties aren't the problem; they're the solution. And now that he has one of his own, Obama is determined to prove it.

Johnny Go Get Your Drill

John Corrigan, 42nd Ward Democratic Committeeman — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:30:45 EDT

What’s all this talk from John McCain about using oil drilling to solve our nation’s current energy crisis? That solution will take us ten years to implement and only save us – if we’re extremely lucky – three percent at the gas pump. Now maybe when you’re almost 80 years old and having spent 30 of those years inside the Beltway in Washington, DC, ten years seems like a short period of time and a few pennies seems like a lot of money, but I think that the American public deserves a solution that will come faster and result in larger savings. Obama’s comprehensive energy plan does exactly that and that’s one reason it’s absolutely critical that Senator Obama is elected our next President.

Johnny Go Get Your Drill

John Corrigan, 42nd Ward Democratic Committeeman — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:05:31 EDT

Obama 08 MVP Team Baseball Shirts Online

Don 4 Obama — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:54:33 EDT

Hey all, my t-shirts are available for sale on-line now as well! Check them out at:

http://www.coolchirts.etsy.com

Or on Ebay.com, just search 'Obama MVP' !

Happy Birthday Barack Baby

Madama Ambi — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:23:43 EDT

A very special card from MadamaAmbi...

Women for Obama Luncheon in Chicago (reprint)

Jill 4 Obama — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:48:46 EDT

Women For Obama Luncheon By Amanda Scott - Jul 28th, 2008 at 7:33 pm EDT Comments | Mail to a Friend | Report Objectionable Content

Over 800 women came together for a luncheon with Michelle Obama in Chicago earlier today. The Women for Obama community celebrated the introduction of Barack's new Plan to Strengthen Working Women and Families.

Judith, Mary and Susan were excited to join the Women for Obama community today. Judith is a working mother of three children. She and her husband both juggle working full-time and maintaining a family. She says that she understands the difficulties of balancing work and family life.

I go to work with a sinking feeling in my heart about having to leave my kids. And I know other mothers feel that too. My neighbors and I talk about it a lot.

She is excited about the health care and educational aspects of Barack's agenda. She said that "we need to give the next generation a good start."

Leslie drove down from Wisconsin this morning to learn more about Barack's plan. She knows firsthand the struggles that women are facing in today's economy.

I know women that are working one or two jobs and more then 40 hours a week. And even with that, they feel like they are treading water. They're losing their homes and they can't afford to pay for health care for their children. Some have health care through the state, but it doesn't cover much. It doesn't give them any options.

She plans to take her copy of the booklet back to her community and is excited to share it with other women.

Kathy, Rhonda, Beth, Jacqueline and Dana were quick to start talking about taking action after the luncheon ended.

We're going to get Kathy's mom on board. She was a Hillary supporter, and it's encouraging to be here today and see how many women from her campaign have joined. Our first step is to talk to our friends and make sure they know that Barack will fight for women's issues.

Do you know women voters who are undecided or want more information? Tell them about Barack's Plan for America's Working Women and Families. And if you aren't already a member of the Women for Obama community, you can join now and help reach out to women in your community.

Show 421 Reader Comments

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Women for Obama Luncheon in Chicago (reprint)

Jill 4 Obama — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:19:14 EDT

Women For Obama Luncheon By Amanda Scott - Jul 28th, 2008 at 7:33 pm EDT Comments | Mail to a Friend | Report Objectionable Content

I go to work with a sinking feeling in my heart about having to leave my kids. And I know other mothers feel that too. My neighbors and I talk about it a lot.

She is excited about the health care and educational aspects of Barack's agenda. She said that "we need to give the next generation a good start."

Leslie drove down from Wisconsin this morning to learn more about Barack's plan. She knows firsthand the struggles that women are facing in today's economy.

I know women that are working one or two jobs and more then 40 hours a week. And even with that, they feel like they are treading water. They're losing their homes and they can't afford to pay for health care for their children. Some have health care through the state, but it doesn't cover much. It doesn't give them any options.

She plans to take her copy of the booklet back to her community and is excited to share it with other women.

Kathy, Rhonda, Beth, Jacqueline and Dana were quick to start talking about taking action after the luncheon ended.

We're going to get Kathy's mom on board. She was a Hillary supporter, and it's encouraging to be here today and see how many women from her campaign have joined. Our first step is to talk to our friends and make sure they know that Barack will fight for women's issues.

Show 421 Reader Comments

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barack in berlin

maya escobar — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:10:12 EDT

When I was in Berlin last summer, working on my MFA thesis project Berlin's Eruv, I had the opportunity of hearing Barack Obama speak at the Tiergarten for a crowd of over 200,000 people.

Marcello Saponaro, Andrea Mollica, Maya Escobar, Giuseppe Civati

People came from all over the world to see Obama!!! Here I am with 3 Italian friends I made who came to Berlin just for the rally. (giuseppe was my camera relief when my arms could no longer bear the weight...)

SocialDevCamp Chicago - Finding the Future of Social

SusanM — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:36:59 EDT

SocialDevCamp Chicago! This will be an unconference for individuals passionate about social networks, web applications, platform development, new media, and any of the exciting (but messy) topics between.

http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb#/event.php?eid=20586291919

"Join some of the brightest minds in the Midwest (ha, I didn't write that) for a day of fun, learning, and coding. Discussions will surround topics including Google App Engine, Data Portability, Online Trust, and mobile application development."

Date:Saturday, August 9, 2008Time:8:30am - 6:00pmLocation:Illinois Institute of Technology; McCormick Tribune Campus CenterStreet:3201 South State StreetCity/Town:Chicago, IL

Wind power? Is it right for your home?

SusanM — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:25:39 EDT

Sorry for the short notice, but an interesting green tech event is taking place on Thursday, July 16, 2008 at the Chicago Center for Green Technology.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=23079602095

Join George Sullivan, Principal of Eco Smart Building and Syneregy Viridis, as he reviews the potential options for wind energy generation at your site. George will walk through the Urban Wind Study Protocols for Vertical Wind Turbines and review the current state of the art wind generation systems, including those which offer a hybrid option for single unit mounting. We will model system cost, return on investment, and Cradle to Cradle options.

If you're in Chicago, you know the truth. It's not called the Windy City just because of the politicians. This meeting may help us understand the possibilities for wind-powered generators for urban residences. You are very welcome to join us!

Thursday, July 17, 2008Time:5:30pm - 8:30pmLocation:Chicago Center for Green TechnologyStreet:445 N Sacramento BlvdCity/Town:Chicago, IL

LAY OFF OBAMA!

Nia "Hussein" J. — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:44:52 EDT

Lay off Obama, Don't take November for granted by dawnt

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/2/164430/9517/585/545554

Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 02:27:05 PM PDT

I've been reading with dismay the messages on the newest, fastest-growing MyBO group, SenatorObama-PleaseVoteAgainstFISA. Many (not all) of those people are really taking things too far. They are withdrawing all support from Obama and even asking for refunds for all previous donations made to the Obama campaign.

I am appalled. Who in their right mind would rather see a President McCain who would strengthen and expand spying programs and invade more and more of our privacy. There are many ways to put pressure on Obama, but threatening to put in office someone who is much, much worse on the very issue you are upset about... well, that's just stupidity.

Let's get real here, people. Obama is supporting a compromise. You know you've got a compromise when people on both sides are unhappy... and, well, that's what we've got. People on both sides are definitely unhappy. I'm unhappy, a lot of people on this site are unhappy, conservatives are unhappy. Meanwhile, McCain is laughing and loving this.

Obama's central platform has always been compromise versus gridlock. He has told us over and over that he will compromise rather than allow gridlock to rule the day. Did these people not listen? Or did they just choose to ignore that. Obama has told us over and over that the pursuit of perfection is the enemy of improvement. Entrenchment is the enemy of progress.

This bill is a first step, not the end game. It's up to us to ensure that we keep moving forward on this issue. Now, I'm not saying that I like this compromise, but I am saying that moving forward an inch by electing Obama is much better than moving backwards by a mile by electing McCain.

I think the reason we're seeing so much opposition is because Democrats are feeling too comfortable about November. People are taking it for granted that Obama is doing so well now that he is a shoo-in (as a matter of fact, many of the FISA activists are saying so explicitly). But he is not a shoo-in. This race will be much closer than it appears now. Remember the Republican primary when everyone thought McCain's candidacy was dead? Heck, remember when everyone thought that Hillary was inevitable? Remember 2004 when everyone thought that the hatred for Bush was so wide and so deep that he had to lose???

Many presidential candidates have been considered inevitable and then lost. Many times a candidate has been way ahead and then America had buyers remorse close to the election. Many things could also change between now and then to make Americans more fearful, more willing to accept a war-monger like McCain. We need to be building a lead, a cushion of support, if you will -- not taking it for granted that we can do whatever we want right now and still win in November.

If Obama gets into office, I believe we will see movement in the direction we want on this issue. But I also believe with all of my heart that if McCain gets into office, we're going to see movement in the opposite direction. Do we really need to be reminded of all of the things that are different about Obama and McCain, including FISA?

Obama is in a no win situation right now, and it is unreasonable supporters who have put him there. If he did not compromise on FISA, he would have lost support from Independents and moderates who he needs to win in November. At the same time, he is being treated by some purity trolls as a traitor (or worse) for compromising.

The best way to get support for the position we want on FISA is to change public opinion. Obama made the compromise he made because public opinion is what it is. You can have an opinion, but so can the rest of America. And guess what... numbers matter most!

So, the bottom line... do what Obama has asked of you all along: Get out there and work to make change, don't expect him to do all of the heavy lifting without support and involvement from the grassroots. How many times has Obama said he can't do it without us? Did you really understand what that meant? Give it some thought. Much of the work and support he was talking about was about changing public opinion and putting pressure on other elected officials to support these very positions.

Obama told us what he needs us to do so that he can accomplish the goals we set forth. Instead of doing that, some people have chosen to attack him instead, even asking for donations to be refunded from months and months back.

Well, I will be donating as much as I can scrape together this month to make up for those who are resorting to such nonsense. Who's with me?

* My words*

Have we become so imature, selfish and politicaly unethical that if we don't get what we want we vote outside of everything we believe in? Remove our support and donations? How is it "a win" if your losing big time? That being the case self distruct on your own. Don't try and bring Obama down with you. In my eyes you were never truly for his vision, positins or policies to begin with. Real Obama supporters, please stand up against those looking to destroy us from within for thier own selfish short sited agendas!

I'm utterly appauled by adults who act like children and refuse to compromise on an issue that isn't even on the list most effecting Americans today. Is this FISA bill going to put gas in my car, food on the table, keep me employed, bring down the cost of health care, bring home our troops? NO! Has anyone even read it in full or is everyone just jumpin on the "I hate Obama because he isn't doing what "I" want him to do toaday" band wagon?!

While you guys are throwing meaningless hissy fits McCain is chummin in up in Colombia with known terrorist sypothysers, deafulting on taxes he hasn't paid in three years on one of seven properties he owns, while doing another one of his famous flip flops on his ability to know somethig about how to run an economy; let alone managing his wife's hundreds of thousdand dollar spending sprees. I think your frustration is way off base. Get back on message and take your drama to your local congressman...it's their fault...oh wait they are on vacation...

Meeting with DLC

Lee — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:17:35 EDT

My candidate was too busy to meet a group close to my heart-

Keep the White House White

Nila from Chicago, IL — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:21:12 EDT

My purpose here is to provide a context for the fear mongering that will predictably occur in the 2008 US presidential election. That context is the 1983 Chicago mayoral election. There are a number of interesting parallels between these electoral contests. It is by no means a coincidence that the Chicago election was a significant inspiration for Barack Obama’s current run for president.

"Keep Chicago Wild"

Mason Dixon — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:09:29 EDT

In response to: the recent city council battle over a "Promoter License" and the rare solidarity it created + the overly economic "Land of Opportunity" advertising by Bank of America + "wild cougar" shootings...

============================

"Keep Chicago Wild"

__Why now?

If Obama gets elected & we get the Olympic bid; there is going to be a flood of money into this town, at a time when the rest of the country is seriously hurting.  This whirlwind will make Chicago unbearable; unless we create new & sandbag existing mechanisms to preserve this city's favorable environment for creatives and experimentation.

__What is Wild?

Nearly anyone that has lived in Chicago for a time will remember the PBS show "Wild Chicago."  The Wild-ness of the show painted a picture of the city as a haven for diverse and extreme interests.  The shows segments illustrated how the city contained niche pockets that seemed bazaar to a more mainstream audience.  This kind of wild-ness requires exactly the same laws and enablers which artists and creatives require, without being industry-specific or alienating more family-focused or financially-focused citizens.

__How it will spread

The term "Keep Chicago Wild" heralds diversity.  No matter how well you know this city, it always has the ability to surprise and amaze.  Anytime you see something here that you have never seen before, you can again assert that Chicago is still Wild.  The phrase is both a celebration of the existing wildness and a call to action to keep those things which allow city residents the freedom to explore our lives in unique and stunning ways.

2008-1968? With Obama it is different

Steven — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:58:40 EDT

Recently I was invited to give a talk in Vienna, Austria about 1968 in the United States (and Britain) in historical perspective. It got me thinking about how the current electoral campaign relates to the torrid events of forty years ago. I am not alone in this, obviously. Just a few days ago, Evan Thomas published a review of Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland and made a point about the presence of Obama and Clinton as the Democrats’ candidates proving that the events of the Sixties--aka “1968”—were not totally without their positive side. But I think we can go a lot further than that. I have mulled over the ways in which 2008 looks in light of the consequences of 1968, and how the current Democratic candidates have responded to those consequences, and have modeled themselves in their light. I have concluded that one of the best things that the Obama campaign represents, and can potentially do, is bring a resolution to the divisions and the crisis that “1968” unleashed, and that the Right, since Nixon, has so expertly and cynically exploited.

To understand the brilliant prospects that Obama has made possible for the progressive Left’s agenda, the agenda that “1968” symbolizes, and to which the actual events of 1968 also dealt such a harsh blow, we need to go back to the Sixties and look at what was really going on then. As Mark Hamilton Lytle delineates in his readable and comprehensive introduction to the Sixties, America’s Uncivil Wars (Oxford, 2006), the original moving power for the various liberation movements came from the Civil Rights movement, centered on the goal of achieving real equality, real citizenship, for African-Americans, especially in the segregated Deep South. White liberals (with a considerable Jewish component) and African-American activists joined together to advance the egalitarian and emancipatory agenda of people like Martin Luther King Jr. This movement achieved notable successes, such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

By the later Sixties, however, this Civil Rights movement had been joined, complicated, and fractured by other movements of liberation, such as the student’s Free Speech movement, the anti-Vietnam-War movement, the New Left plans for social change among members of the SDS, Women’s liberation (feminism), liberation movements in the Hispanic/Latino community and among Native Americans, and the more anarchic fringe movements such as Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman’s Yippies. This spirit of liberation had begun to enter the mainstream of American life, as expressed in more liberal sexual mores and the ubiquity of “rock” music, along with a much wider usage of “recreational” drugs; at the same time, even before 1968, the original emancipatory, egalitarian and inclusive impetus of the Civil Rights movement, as well as of these other movements, had begun to shear off into much more exclusive movements of group-assertion, such as Black Nationalism, or indeed more radical forms of Feminism. Moreover, the initial emphasis on civil disobedience and non-violence had been replaced in many circles by a much more combative approach, that considered violence against “the System” and “the Man” increasingly legitimate.

There was more than enough cause for this turn to violence and pugnacity. The forces arrayed against the liberation movements, especially in the Deep South, were the ones with the power and a virtual monopoly of force, and they were not afraid to use it. There were, of course the Ku Klux Klan and other “citizens’ groups” that launched attacks on Civil Rightists, most notably during the Freedom Rides. And many of these attacks on Civil Rights activists, we need to remember, ended up in murder.

A very considerable amount of the violence targeted at the “movement” came from the established political and institutional structures, and it should be recalled that most of the politicians, mayors and police chiefs involved in the clashes against the Civil Rights activists were Southern Democrats, Dixiecrats, defending their white, segregationist privileges against interfering Northerners and rebellious Blacks, as they saw it. The opposition to the war, which most Civil Rights activists, King included, shared, also meant that the federal (Democrat-led) government and its state-level and municipal-level allies also came to oppose the “movement” with force that often brimmed over into quite shocking violence. Then there was the fact that the de facto segregation and racial inequality in inner cities in the West and North, where police forces were still virtually all-white, and African-Americans, despite being an increasingly large segment of the population, were shut out from most public jobs, also fuelled deep resentment that exploded in the inner city riots of the 1960s.

Yet we need to acknowledge that the turn to violence, no matter how understandable, was also one approved of by many leaders in the various liberation movements, and this was, in retrospect, a tragic mistake. Whether as a response to the violence of the oppressors, or out of some more ideological, pseudo-Nietzschean belief in violence as a form of anarchic, creative destruction, the readiness to turn to violence among the liberation movements was a deeply counter-productive aspect of “1968”.

We also need to remember that 1968 was a disastrous year for the Left and progressives in the United States. In Europe, perhaps, 1968 can be looked back on with a certain whimsical nostalgia by those on the Left. Not so for 1968 in the USA. In April Martin Luther King was assassinated; in June Robert Kennedy was assassinated. The progressive domestic policy agenda of the Democratic administration of Lyndon Johnson was being subsumed by a war in Vietnam that was not going well. Riots in the wake of King’s assassination in Washington DC and other cities left considerable areas of urban America a wasteland that was to take decades to reclaim. In August the Democratic convention was an unmitigated disaster, with party feuds, anti-war demonstrations and massive street violence (largely on the part, admittedly, of Chicago Democratic Mayor Daley’s police force). The end result was that in November Richard M. Nixon was elected president, bringing an end to only eight years of progressive Democratic government. That was not the end of the “uncivil wars”, not by any means, indeed they became more vitriolic and violent with Nixon in the White House, but not to the benefit of the forces of progress and liberation. Far from it—Nixon was reelected easily in 1972. Admittedly, Watergate gave this portion of the story an apparently happy ending for liberals, but even so the discordant and adversarial nature of “the movement”, and its tendency to violent expression, so evidently on display in 1968, had severely compromised the progressive cause, and left openings to the reactionary Right that figures such as Ronald Reagan and Lee Atwater were fully to exploit in the following years.

But of course that was only one side of the Sixties. During the Chicago Convention whose events were to destroy so many progressive hopes the Beatles released their single “Revolution”. Its lyrics convey vividly, I think, what the other side of the Sixties thought of the politically activist side evident at Chicago:

“You say you want a revolution

Well you know

we all want to change the world

You tell me that it’s evolution

Well you know

We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction

Don’t you know that you can count me out

Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright…

You say you got a real solution

Well you know

We’d all love to see the plan

You ask me for a contribution

Well you know

We’re doing what we can

But when you want money for people with minds that hate

All I can tell you is brother you have to wait

Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright….

You say you’ll change the constitution

Well you know

we all want to change your head

You tell me it’s the institution

Well you know

You better free your mind instead

But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao

You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow

Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright

Alright Alright” (Lennon/McCartney,1968)

My contention is that these song lyrics are about as good and accurate a commentary of where the 1968ers went wrong in America, and that of the two contenders for the Democratic nomination only one has really understood the lessons to be learned here, and that the other is still stuck in the negative spiral that the progressive Left has still not gotten out of in this country. Things have changed dramatically since 1968, of course, and the sort of violence (and revolutionary, messianic hopes for society) that accompanied political events then, are highly unlikely to occur in the context of the 2008 campaign. Nevertheless, the approaches of the two candidates do show parallels with those of 1968, and much to the benefit of one over the other.

Hillary Clinton is the candidate who is still stuck in the political past and is still fighting the wars of the Sixties, still trapped in the adversarial thought patterns of that era. This is, perhaps, to be expected, as the sixty-year old grew up and became politically active in precisely these years. She came from a well-to-do background, and was initially a Republican before her experience at Wellesley made her an activist and a feminist. (The fact that she now portrays Obama as the elitist and herself as the straight-talkin’ triboon of the people is quite ironic given her actual background.) Clinton has always had many of the combative instincts of the ‘68ers. One can argue that the antagonism she has evoked from the “vast right-wing conspiracy” and other right-wing Republicans was and is based very much on the Right’s—correct—sense that Hillary is still fighting the wars of the Sixties.

Ironically, she combines this combative, quasi-populist attitude with relying on the top-down approach of the Democratic political machine, which, when one thinks about it, was another problem with the progressive Left of the Sixties, whether in the Johnson administration or opposed to it—everything was for the people, very little was expected to come from the people. There is something truly elitist about the big-state solutions of the Great Society programs, and this is precisely what Clinton’s policies would seek to emulate today: top-down, “we know what is good for you” programs where the citizen has little input. It is a machine-client, interest-based model that is traditional and it is perhaps this that appeals to the less educated, and more traditionally “Democratic” blue-collar white voters that are her main base (especially in Appalachia). Clinton’s comment about Johnson being as or more important than King in getting Civil Rights legislation passed may or may not have been dabbling with the race card, but it most certainly revealed this top-down faith in the political establishment as opposed to the politics of the grass roots.

Clinton seems also to have retained the tendency to divisiveness and sectarianism of the 68ers. One might argue that it was Mark Penn’s proclivity to see the American electorate as only a series of discrete voting blocks that gives this impression of a segmented view of American society. Yet comments by Clinton since Penn’s departure suggest the reason she was so reliant on Penn in the first place is that she shares his dissectory view of demography. The comment about “hardworking white people” very much fit this view of American society being just a collection of constituent groups, without any commonality to speak of. Her recent accusations about misogyny in the media, suggesting that the failure of her campaign has been due to the sexism of American society (when the Democratic electorate who has not voted for her has been in a very large majority a female one) also point to the fact that she has not gotten beyond the identity politics and competing categorizations of the Sixties and its aftermath.

What I think such comments reveal is that her picture of the world is still one in which society is composed of a series of competing groups engaged in a zero-sum game in which the aim must always be to obtain 51% support in order to get your side, your constituents and your interests represented, and dominant, at the table of public goods. The world, and American society, remain a dangerous, Hobbesian place, where the hopes of the more idealistic 68ers are revealed to be pipedreams, ignorant of the divisions, racial, sexual, cultural, economic, which have governed human action, now govern human action, and will ever do so. In an odd way, Revd. Jeremiah Wright, a closer contemporary to Clinton than Obama, is more spiritually akin to the Senator from New York than the one from Illinois. For Wright too sees a society that has not fundamentally changed, and cannot fundamentally change, in which the opportunities for black people, or in Clinton’s case women, remain compromised and curtailed, with only incremental progress possible, if at all. Hillary Clinton, like Wright, continues to put faith in the same old adversarial politics of the past, because she believes, as a disillusioned 68er, that that is the only kind possible. Change, fundamental change in attitudes, is an illusion as far as she is concerned. Hers is, despite the superficial can-do nature of the program and the “fighter” image, at base a very pessimistic message, which has learnt, if anything, only the negative lessons of 68’s failure.

Barack Obama’s relation to ’68 and its lessons, whether consciously realized or not, offers a stark study in contrasts to the Clintonian approach.

To begin with, probably out of necessity but possibly by design as well, Obama’s team has used his outsider/newcomer status to build a campaign very much structured from the grass roots up. Building on Howard Dean’s pioneering use of the Internet for fundraising and campaign creation, the Obama campaign has used the new possibilities of IT to create the most broad-based political campaign this country has yet seen, as exemplified in its phenomenal fund-raising achievements, not only in terms of money, but also in the sheer numbers of donors (over 1.5 million). This is admittedly a rather armchair sort of grass roots campaign, with people vicariously “participating” by staring at computer screens, but even so there has also been a remarkable outpouring of more traditional participation, as in the floods of canvassers and phone bankers that have been mobilized in pursuit of Obama’s nomination, especially among students (and ex-students). Most crucially, there has been a huge turnout of people voting, a key goal of the Sixties idealists who looked to participatory democracy not only as a means to but also as an end of the Good Society. It is worth noting that much of this grass roots emphasis, and the whole tenor of Obama’s campaign, is directly traceable to Obama’s own theoretical and practical knowledge of the community organization advocated by Saul Alinsky, from the 1930s onward, that was such an inspiration of radicals back in the Sixties.

Following on from this Alinskian heritage, Obama’s campaign is very much marked by an emphasis on inclusion, not exclusion. While Obama has yet to be as successful as he wanted to in attracting the full spectrum of America’s diversity to his cause, with much work yet to do with the Hispanic community, Jews, women (for obvious, Clinton-related reasons) and the by now well-known Appalachian blue collar working class, his message and approach has been consistently to include all parts of the American nation. Not to exclude anyone. And this is more than just rhetoric—it is fundamental to the sort of logic that the community organizing movement has followed. America, in this image, is not a set of discrete client-groups with separate, mutually exclusive interests—as the Pennian model that Clinton adhered to so long suggests—but rather a collection of diverse individuals and groups that, for all their differences, share fundamentally similar goals, interests and values. For Obama’s campaign, at least in theory, getting 51% of the vote can not be the goal, because the aim is to get as many Americans on board, no matter their background, color, beliefs or culture, anyone indeed whose deepest conviction is that America and Americans can only succeed if they reject the things that divide them and concentrate on what unites them, for only by coming together, by listening to each other, by connecting with each other, by forming once again a true community, can Americans solve the problems that confront them.

It is this emphasis on connection and inclusion, on seeing society as a connected whole, that is, I think, behind Obama’s attraction for usually conservative columnists such as David Brooks. Instead of approaching American politics as an exercise in slice-and-dice demographics, with the aim only to satisfy one’s client base, Obama has tapped into what is really a very conservative, even patriotic notion of “not red-states America or blue-states America, but the United States of America”, which is a mightily attractive theme for what in Britain is called “one nation” conservatism. Similarly, if ironically given voting patterns in the primaries, this view of society as a web of interconnection, in which individuals can only achieve their goals and realize themselves within the context of others, and with their help, in which no one is an island and all are—ultimately--reliant on his or her neighbor, should be most attractive to Catholics, for it parallels the socially based, even corporatist approach of that religious heritage. Moreover, Obama’s emphasis on communication, co-operation and inclusiveness, rather than divisiveness, competitiveness, and “winning at all costs”, would seem to be tailor-made to what many, including many feminists, have seen as the “feminine” approach to society and politics.

At its core, Obama’s campaign is one based on the idea of its candidate as a uniter not a fighter. (Were it not for the prevalent, macho political culture of this land, one could even dust off the old Sixties phrase of being “a lover not a fighter”.) Instead of going the way of disuniting the progressive forces in the country, the path of divisiveness and exclusive identity politics that undermined the mission of 68, the Obama campaign has very consciously set about connecting groups, bringing them together under the mantle of the campaign. This does not deny difference or diversity, but it does strive to find commonality and emphasize what unites rather than divides. It is not too difficult to see where the inspiration of this aspect of the campaign comes from. The whole of Obama’s book, Dreams from my Father, is in essence a journey of realization that the “problem” of Obama’s multi-racial and multi-cultural background is not so much a problem of “divided identity” but a massive opportunity for connecting and uniting diverse values, diverse experiences, and diverse heritages, in one person, and, by extension, in one campaign and, by a further extension, one nation. Obama, in that sense, is the embodiment of what his whole campaign, and the Obama movement, stands for.

This diversity within unity at times appears a very “post-modern” concept, but it really goes back to the best sort of thinking of the Sixties, or even before, the liberal pluralism of someone such as Isaiah Berlin, acknowledging and embracing the existence of difference, while still asserting a fundamental unity in the human experience that many subsequent, “post-modern” versions of multi-culturalism unwisely abandoned. In this sense, “Obamaism” is a return to a Sixties optimism about the human condition that disillusioned 68er radicals rejected in their pessimistic reaction to the events of the last decades.

This optimism is not a naïve one. As Obama has constantly repeated, “hope” in his understanding is not pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking, but rather a commitment, almost an existential commitment, to belief in the “better angels of our nature” despite our full realization of the many challenges to any worthy cause, and the many imperfections of our own nature that we have yet to overcome. Yet the driving force of the Obama campaign is the belief that, if we do come together, a dynamic solution to our problems is indeed possible. Change is thus not just a slogan, but fundamental to the campaign’s premiss. It is only if we can change (in the Sixties we might have said “revolutionize”) the way we do politics, the way we approach each other, and other societies, only if we can replace the adversarial, zero-sum game, “gotcha” politics that has perverted and made stagnant the American political process these last decades, that we can really start with truly solving our many problems. In that sense the one thing that Obama and his campaign really is up to fighting against is the old politics where fighting is the be all and end all of the process.

From the start, and still now, the position of the Obama campaign has been that they are beyond all that, that they are in the business of transcending the old divisions and divisiveness of the American political scene. In this they show themselves to be both a movement emanating from a new generation (Obama at 46 is a post-babyboomer), and aimed at an even newer generation (the students, and youth generally, who have been such a central and vital part of Obama’s success). Their aim is not to settle old scores, but to get beyond all that, not get locked in the past but—having taken full note of it--transcend it. It is at times a strangely self-conscious movement, one in which spontaneity sometimes looks as though it comes pre-packaged, as with so much in our self-referential, post-modern age. Yet its yearning to look forward, and its willingness to have confidence in the future, to have the confidence to move beyond the inadequate political structures of the present to something more positive, more affirmative, and more suited to the future challenges that await us, remains deeply attractive. And it is, I think, a potential new synthesis that will, if the road is indeed taken, bring us beyond the conflicted heritage of 68.

Obama is, in the end, the one candidate in this election, who is a candidate of 2008, not some previous era. For those who, to paraphrase Lennon and McCartney, do “want to change the world”, he is the one candidate who can finally bring the demons that were unleashed forty or more years ago not to rest but to a more positive, beneficial and benevolent situation. The final irony is, given Obama’s African and American heritage, his election could well be the most fitting way to bring full circle an era in American history that began with a Civil Rights movement for African-American liberation and equality. Or perhaps it is that, in transcending the conflicts of the Sixties, Obama’s success will finally be enabling the best impulses of that era to achieve the goals that events and the internal logic of the movement then so cruelly frustrated? In overcoming 68, Obama will be realizing 68. Ann Dunham would be extremely proud of her son if that were the case.

Hillary's senior thesis - on community organizing

Benjamin Vos, Nashville — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:19:14 EDT

To understand Hillary Clinton's vision for change, you need to read her senior thesis, written while she was at the all-women's school of Wellesley College. She wrote about community organizing, particularly the methods of Saul Alinsky, a Chicago-area boss who worked as a union agitator, organizer, and radical.

http://www.gopublius.com/HCT/HillaryClintonThesis.pdf

Here are some key quotes:

The organizer plays a significant role in precipitating and directing a community's conflict pattern. As Alinsky views this role, the organizer is

"...dedicated to changing the character of life of a particular community [and] has an initial function of serving as an abrasive agent to rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; to fan latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expressions...to provide a channel into which they can pour their frustration of the past; to create a mechanism which can drain off underlying guilt for having accepted the previous situation for so long a time. When those who represent the status quo label you [i.e. the community organizer] as an 'agitator' they are completely correct, for that is, in one word, your function--to agitate to the point of conflict."

Later, she quotes Alinsky again:

"There are two roads to everything--a low road and a high one. The high road is the easiest. You just talk principles and be angelic regarding things you don't practice. The low road is the harder. It is the task of making one's self-interest behavior moral behavior. We have behaved morally in the world in the past few years because we want the people of the world on our side. When you get a good moral position, look behind it to see what is self-interest."

Hillary Rodham summarized it this way:

The Alinsky method of community organizing has two distinct elements. One, the 'Alinsky-type protest' is 'an explosive mixture of rigid discipline, brilliant showmanship, and a street fighter's instinct for ruthlessly exploiting his enemy's weakness.' The second, modeled after trade union organization methods, involves the hard work of recognizing interests, seeking out indigenous leaders, and building an organization whose power is viewed as legitimate by the larger community. It is difficult to discuss these two components separately because they are woven into the organizational pattern according to situational necessity. Some organizational situations need the polarizing effect of "rubbing raw the sores of discontent" while others with well-defined resentments need leaders. Another distinctive feature of the Alinsky method as mentioned in the previous chapter is the use of military language.

An inside view of Obama's Campaign from the top

Albert "Hussein" Pucio - Precinct Co-Capt. for 488 & SD17 Delegate to State — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:03:22 EDT

I enjoyed reading this and I hope you will too.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136440

I usually do most of my political reading off of blogs or from news aggregators, but sometimes the MSM puts out some really nice gems.

Cheers,

Albert

Is Rev. Wright the last 'distraction'?

ObamaBob NSB — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:55:55 EDT

Rev. Wright now is the very 'distraction' from Barack Obama's authentic discussion of issues and policies of our time that need to be re-thought and re-developed for our country to re-invent the solutions we so desperatly need.

We WILL have mcbush or hillary if the Rev's personal glory trail (the question and answers at the National Press Club) is continued with the backhanded aid and abetting of the inflamatory cable diatribe.

It's not the place of either Sen. Obama or the campaign to get a resolution here. I'm hoping there are some influential Chicago'ans and associates of Rev. Wright who blog with us to bring some sense of balance and resolution to this situation.

Otherwise, it's, YES HE CAN, bring us down.

Father Phleger, Catholic Priest in Chicago talks to FOX News about Rev. Wright

A Goner — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:35:08 EDT

Check out Father Phleger's interview with FOX defending Rev. Wright.

FWD to me:

Father Pleger takes on FOX News: Send to all of your friends and Undecided Voters even if they are not Catholic. This is a great man who won't let FOX twist his words. I wish the whole world could see this.Watch a highly respected Catholic Priest, Father Michael Pleger of St. Sabina in Chicago harassed - I mean interviewed by FOX NEWS. You decide who is RIGHT.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0wvQMqSzTMBest of Hillary Clinton...quotes I have never heard before:http://youtube.com/watch?v=-jFmmXfExhgThis is hysterical.....Barack Obama is a Finalist in TIME'S 100 Most Influential People.If you want to vote for Time Magazine's most influential persons, follow the link. I voted 100 points for Senator Obama of course. You can vote as many times as you like!

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1725112_1723512,00.html

My comments:

I attended Father Phleger's church as a parent when my children attended Little Flower Catholic School which he pastored. I walked with him through the neighborhood on Friday nights to "Stop the Violence" and attended Mass although I am a Protestant. He is real, genuine, and very caring about the community. St. Sabina Catholic School has offered a first class education to many African Americans on the southside of Chicago. I also attended Rev. Wright's church as a visitor although I didn't hear any fiery sermon that day. Many members of his church are upstanding community leaders and he is very well respected in Chicago. I agree with Father Phleger that much of what Rev. Wright has been taken out of context and I have heard fiery speeches condemning America's sins from Rev. Billy Graham, Rev. Roy Parsley, Rev. Hagee and some outrageous comments from Pat Robertson about assassinating President Chavez which he had to apologize for. The Pope condemned the invasion in Iraq and God does not bless ugly and is no respecter of persons. If we have a foreign policy that is ungodly, perhaps 9/11 was a wake-up call, and Katrina, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. As Zora Neale Hurston put in her book title "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

Even the Christian Prophet, Edgar Cayce warned the establishment that if they kept up their racist policies and militarism with unfair policies towards other nations that in the millenium we would witness drastic weather changes and other events occurring if our nation does not CHANGE. As for me, "My arms are too short to box with God!" (title of play) Let the ministers do their job which is what we boast about in this country - freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. If the press wants to corrupt its reporting, they are playing with God when they mess with his messengers, not that ministers are above scrutiny. Many pr people are hired to scandalize leaders and bamboozle the public have paid the price.. brain tumors, etc. Don't forget Lee Atwater's phone calls and apologies before his death. I repeat, my arms are too short to box with God! As for Cheney and Bush, "What does it profit a man if he gain the world and lose his soul?", Jesus. I pray God will have mercy on ALL OF US, Bush and Cheney included.BTW, Rev. Wright isn't the only one who believes AIDS isn't only transmitted by monkey bites... Didn't Khadafy in Libya just sue some Belgians administering vaccines in his nation to children he believed were contaminated with the AIDS virus and WIN! The Belgians blamed it on dirty hospital conditions, where was the green monkey in Libya? Let's not forget how African Americans were used as guinea pigs for syphillis research for 40 years at Tuskegee Institute... for what nefarious ends? Things that make you go... uhmmm!

From the Ghettos of Chicago to Wall Street

Derwin from Lithonia, GA — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:35:56 EDT

Location: Maywood, IL, Proviso East, Class of 1984 – Twenty Year High School Reunion

Speaker: "Many of you may not remember me from high school, because I was not popular, but rather an unpopular teenager. I was not handsome, but rather a skinny frail kid with a bad “Jeri Curl.” I was not on the basketball or football team, but was a member of the tennis and diving team. But the main reason you do not remember me, is because I was never really socially involved. You see my dad use to beat me, so I ran away from home. I was homeless in the later half of my high school career and that may come as a shock to those of you who knew me.

Globalisation for the Common Good Annual International Conference: Loyola University, Chicago, 2009

Hope4Unity — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:51:17 EDT

The 8th Globalisation for the Common Good Annual International Conference will take place in June 2009 and will be supported by and hosted at Loyola Univeristy, Chicago, IL.

http://www.globalisationforthecommongood.info/

The 7th Annual International Conference for 2008 will be held in Melbourne, Australia:

"From the Middle East to Asia Pacific: Arc of Conflict or Dialogue of Cultures and Religions?"

Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Australia -- June 30 - July 4, 2008 http://www.gcgmelbourne2008.info

Past conferences: Oxford, 2002; St. Petersburg, 2003; Dubai, 2004; Kenya, 2005; Hawaii, 2006, and Istanbul, 2007.

Please visit the GCG web site for updates and other excellent information. I hope President Obama will be able to attend this unique and extremely important conference.

Now is the time for a "surge in diplomacy" and for working together to "bend the arc toward justice" ...for the common good.

Michelle Obama, Vice President

Angela for Obama '08 — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:49:15 EDT

With all the talk about Vice Presidential nominations, here's an overlooked (but unlikely to run) candidate for Vice President: Michelle Obama

I met and briefly (really really briefly) spoke to Michelle Obama in March 2008. I told her I'd vote for her in eight years, a comment I regret because I don't want to compare her in any way to HR Clinton. However, she does appear presidential, queen-like even. Villanova University's campus was graced with the presence of Mrs. Michelle Obama last month. As a resident of Philadelphia and a serious Obama supporter and volunteer, I made my way to the University I once attended in order to get a glimpse of the woman who reminds many of Jackie O. I didn't understand the reminiscence until I looked her in the eye and spoke directly to her. Aside from hearing her well-addressed and seemingly unscripted, oratory about why her husband is the better choice for President of the United States, Mrs. Obama's countenance exudes first lady charm.

Ironically, now two weeks before I vote for Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania Primary (April 22nd), I am working at a client's site in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm even more excited to see her now than I was when I was in Villanova, so exited that I went yesterday, the day before she was scheduled to speak at NCSU. As the saying goes: "Cost of one erroneous voyage to hear an icon, $60; Cost of a book I already own, $20.00. Cost of the do-over taxi ride to hear her speak yet again, priceless. Unshaken and unstirred, I will take the same trek, via taxi, again tonight to hear what will possibly be the same message she spoke while at Villanova.

Mrs. Obama graciously signed my copy of her husband's book (Audacity) after her speech in Villanova. Though I have a softcopy of his previous book (Dreams), I bought the hard copy to take with me tonight, hoping to have her sign that as well. However, I've begun to do research on Mrs. Obama because I would really like her to sign a book she wrote. What I found in the research is that Mrs. Obama has a wealth of achievements in her own right.

Here's a portion of an announcement of her [Vice] Presidential appointment in a May 9, 2005 press release:

Michelle Obama has been appointed vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Obama, who was previously the executive director for community affairs at the Hospitals, will be responsible for all programs and initiatives that involve the relationship between the Hospitals and the community. She will also take over management of the Hospitals' business diversity program.

Prior to joining the Hospitals, Obama worked as an associate dean of student services for the University of Chicago where she developed the University's first office of community service. She came to the Hospitals in 2002 and quickly built up programs for community relations, neighborhood outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff diversity and minority contracting.

"We have been impressed with the care, imagination and energy that Michelle has brought to every project she has worked on since coming to the Hospitals," said Michael Riordan, president and CEO of the Hospitals. "We are excited to have her join the ranks of senior management. She brings to our team a new level of compassion, commitment and close connections to the community."

"My goal in this position," Obama said, "is to continue to broaden the Hospitals' relationships with our neighborhood and with our city." The University of Chicago Hospitals is one of the largest employers on the South Side and one of the most renowned medical institutions in Chicago and even the Midwest. "We have an obligation," she said, "to ensure that we use our resources on behalf of our neighborhood and our city. In this new role, my goal is to better integrate community engagement into the culture of this institution and to expand our partnerships with local organizations and institutions."

Obama, 41, the wife of United States Senator Barack Obama, was born in Chicago and attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. She graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a B.A. in sociology in 1985 and earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she met her husband, in 1988. Obama then worked as an associate at the law firm of Sidley & Austin in Chicago. After spending a few years in the private sector, Obama moved into the public sector working first as an assistant to the mayor and then as the assistant commissioner of planning and development for the City of Chicago.

She then turned her attention to the non-profit sector. In 1993, she became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago, an Americorps National Service Program. Through her work with Public Allies in Chicago, Obama was able to provide internship opportunities and leadership training to hundreds of young adults interested in pursuing careers in the public sector.

Obama serves on a variety of boards and commissions including the board of the Otho S.A. Sprague Memorial Institute, Facing History and Ourselves, and the Muntu Dance Company. She is a former member of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks." (Source: UC hospitals website http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2005/20050509-obama.html)

In addition to being a mother (one of the greatest opportunities for achievement we can have), while being an obviously supportive wife of one of this generation's greatest hero's, she tops it all of with being successful in her own career pursuits. Yep, I'd vote for her.

Barack Obama's Home at Trinity United Church

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:57:52 EDT

The truth is gradually being told about the goodness of Barack's church in Chicago, and more and more observers are beginning to understand why he chose that holy house...

Barack Obama's Home at Trinity United Church

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:57:52 EDT

The truth is gradually being told about the goodness of Barack's church in Chicago, and more and more observers are beginning to understand why he chose that holy house...

Finally! The RIGHT Wright Answer We’ve Been Waiting For From The AP!!!

Wayne — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:53:01 EDT

Here’s the link and the article. Spread it far. Spread it wide. Spread it fast!!!

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYL_ICCVB3g8UAtMxocStkw0uwOgD8VQEMF80

Another Clinton "Inaccuracy"

James Andre — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:31:35 EDT

Watch the former president of Chicago NOW talk about swithching support from Clinton to Obama because he is "100% honest."

Video.

Mental Shift

Mental Shift.news

Old Friends in New Places

Nance Cedar — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:48:36 EDT

I was doing one of my usual rambles through the internet, looking up an old friend, Bob Hercules, who is now a filmmaker at Media Process Group in Chicago. So I wander onto the company website, and what do I find, but Bob went to Africa with Barack to film his visit to his family! Wow! It's so cool to learn that someone I knew from college is so connected to the campaign. I'm going to try to contact Bob and hope he remembers me. I'm going to see if he's here as a supporter first, and, if not, I'll email him at his business site.

"One of the highlights of 2006 was a trip that Keith Walker and Bob Hercules took to Africa with Senator Barack Obama (for a documentary about the journey). There they filmed Obama’s momentous ‘homecoming’ in Kenya and his diplomatic stops in South Africa, Ethiopia and Chad."

http://www.mediaprocess.com/redesign/mpgloader.html

Info about the African Church Obama attends

Benjamin Vos, Nashville — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:39:03 EDT

Being a black church in a predominantly black part of Chicago is not a bad thing, and as Jane Fisler Hoffman said, it's very welcoming to white members as well.

Part of the "African identity" of Trinity UCC is a theological issue. It's very complicated, and since I've taken some graduate courses in theology, I hope I can fill you in. Over the course of history, the "western church" has dominated the spread of Christianity to Europe and the Americas. The church in Africa included the "desert fathers" who went into monastic life as a protest of the excesses of the Roman Empire after Constantine became a Christian and made Christianity a "state religion" of the Roman Empire.

African Christians protested the ways that the Roman church tried to distort the Christian gospel to suit their own political interests. This history is important, because when we think of "the Christian Church" we usually think of the Roman Church. It was the Roman church that led the Crusades. It was the Roman church that led the Spanish Inquisition and supported the enslavement of Africans in the early modern era. The Roman Church was also considered to be part of rampant anti-semitism in Europe that contributed to the Holocaust.

By staying close to African Christian history, Trinity UCC has followed the African thread of Christianity. This doesn't mean that they are racist. It means that they celebrate the identity of African Christians as full participants in history with their own unique perspective and story to tell.

What does this mean? It means that black people don't have to worship a blond haired, blue eyed Jesus. In fact, historians believe that Jesus was most likely a person of color, like many Arabs or Africans you'd see today. The African church celebrates the fact that God said, "out of Egypt I called my son," and that Jesus spent time in Egypt (Matthew 2) when the Roman empire tried to kill every boy under the age of 2, shortly after the time of Jesus' birth.

It is in that context that Wright said, "I'm so glad that I have a God who understands what it means to be a poor black man!"

Hope that helps. It doesn't excuse the inflammatory attacks on Hillary Clinton. It doesn't excuse the fact that Wright tried to win a political victory from the pulpit, of that the remarks offend or exclude people.

Letter to NY Times From Rev. Wright/Trinity UCC

James Andre — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:52:02 EDT

I received this email written by Rev. Wright (unverified):

March 11, 2007 Jodi Kantor The New York Times 9 West 43rd Street New York , New York 10036-3959

Dear Jodi:

Thank you for engaging in one of the biggest misrepresentations of the truth I have ever seen in sixty-five years (link). You sat and shared with me for two hours. You told me you were doing a "Spiritual Biography" of Senator Barack Obama. For two hours, I shared with you how I thought he was the most principled individual in public service that I have ever met.

For two hours, I talked with you about how idealistic he was. For two hours I shared with you what a genuine human being he was. I told you how incredible he was as a man who was an African American in public service, and as a man who refused to announce his candidacy for President until Carol Moseley Braun indicated one way or the other whether or not she was going to run. I told you what a dreamer he was. I told you how idealistic he was. We talked about how refreshing it would be for someone who knew about Islam to be in the Oval Office. Your own question to me was, Didn't I think it would be incredible to have somebody in the Oval Office who not only knew about Muslims, but had living and breathing Muslims in his own family?

I told you how important it would be to have a man who not only knew the difference between Shiites and Sunnis prior to 9/11/01 in the Oval Office, but also how important it would be to have a man who knew what Sufism was; a man who understood that there were different branches of Judaism; a man who knew the difference between Hasidic Jews, Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews and Reformed Jews; a nd a man who was a devout Christian, but who did not prejudge others because they believed something other than what he believed.

I talked about how rare it was to meet a man whose Christianity was not just "in word only."

I talked about Barack being a person who lived his faith and did not argue his faith. I talked about Barack as a person who did not draw doctrinal lines in the sand nor consign other people to hell if they did not believe what he believed.

Out of a two-hour conversation with you about Barack's spiritual journey and my protesting to you that I had not shaped him nor formed him, that I had not mentored him or made him the man he was, even though I would love to take that credit, you did not print any of that. When I told you, using one of your own Jewish stories from the Hebrew Bible as to how God asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?," that Barack was like that when I met him. Barack had it "in his hand." Barack had in his grasp a uniqueness in terms of his spiritual development that one is hard put to find in the 21st century, and you did not print that.

As I was just starting to say a moment ago, Jodi, out of two hours of conversation I spent approximately five to seven minutes on...

... Barack's taking advice from one of his trusted campaign people and deeming it unwise to make me the media spotlight on the day of his announcing his candidacy for the Presidency and what do you print?

You and your editor proceeded to present to the general public a snippet, a printed "sound byte" and a titillating and tantalizing article about his disinviting me to the Invocation on the day of his announcing his candidacy.

I have never been exposed to that kind of duplicitous behavior before, and I want to write you publicly to let you know that I do not approve of it and will not be party to any further smeari ng of the name, the reputation, the integrity or the character of perhaps this nation's first (and maybe even only) honest candidate offering himself for public service as the person to occupy the Oval Office.

Your editor is a sensationalist. For you to even mention that makes me doubt your credibility, and I am looking forward to see how you are going to butcher what else I had to say concerning Senator Obama's "Spiritual Biography."

Our Conference Minister, the Reverend Jane Fisler Hoffman, a white woman who belongs to a Black church that Hannity of "Hannity and Colmes" is trying to trash, set the record straight for you in terms of who I am and in terms of who we are as the church to which Barack has belonged for over twenty years.

The president of our denomination, the Reverend John Thomas, has offered to try to help you clarify in your confused head what Trinity Church is even though you spent the entire w eekend with us setting me up to interview me for what turned out to be a smear of the Senator; and yet The New York Times continues to roll on making the truth what it wants to be the truth.

I do not remember reading in your article that Barack had apologized for listening to that bad information and bad advice. Did I miss it? Or did your editor cut it out? Either way, you do not have to worry about hearing anything else from me for you to edit or "spin" because you are more interested in journalism than in truth.

Forgive me for having a momentary lapse. I forgot that The New York Times was leading the bandwagon in trumpeting why it is we should have gone into an illegal war. The New York Times became George Bush and the Republican Party's national "blog." The New York Times played a role in the outing of Valerie Plame. I do not know why I thought The New York Times had actually repented and was going to exhibit a diff erent kind of behavior. Maybe it was my faith in the Jewish Holy Day of Roshashana. Maybe it was my being caught up in the euphoria of the Season of Lent; but whatever it is or was, I was sadly mistaken. There is no repentance on the part of The New York Times. There is no integrity when it comes to The Times. You should do well with that paper, Jodi. You looked me straight in my face and told me a lie!

Sincerely and respectfully yours, Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. , Senior Pastor Trinity United Church of Christ

To Lead or Not To Lead ... No Question.

Rafiki — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:30:20 EDT

Dr. Jeremiah Wright. I know this man. I have met and talked with him personally. I and legions of others respect him as a TRUE leader, not just in the BLACK community, but moreover, in the human community.

He was one of the first ecumenical leaders to speak out and actively demand change to the RACIST, INHUMANE, VILE and WIDELY SUPPORTED policies of apartheid in South Africa.

Long before it was popular or politically correct, you would drive by his nicely appointed and manicured church on the South side of Chicago and note the prominently displayed sign. The sign read "FREE SOUTH AFRICA." He invited other local religious leaders to do the same ... NONE would. He not only spoke out about injustice and poverty in his own backyard and across the globe, he did much about it. He kept his church local and close to subsidized housing (where it was when he became pastor) when the membership rolls grew precipitously.

He does and did the unceremonious and usually NON-PC work that LEADERS do: He leads! It was and is his actions that define the word LEADER. He didin't wait on cues from societal elites, politcal dieties nor establishment-sanctioned "change-agents." He speaks and spoke TRUTH to power.

Go to a predominantly white church and the minister there will and should be addressing issues that are relevant to their congregation. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, is the Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Winnie Mandela and Steven Biko for thousands of Afrikans Born In Amerika (ABIA). The tough work is seldom pretty or appreciated by those that maliciously and wantonly wield their instruments of power while accruing the wealthy rewards of their vitriol and inhumanity.

Obama does not have to agree with every thought or concept put forth by this or any leader. He neither has to wait for the approval of the mainstream media or political structure to respect an estimable figure in the cause of justice and equality. He too, is a leader. It has always taken years for society to accept the worth and value of a person who speaks truth to power. It usually only comes after the demise and/or death of such a notable. Harriet Tubman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Carter G. Woodson, Nelson Mandela ... none were accepted or applauded during their crusades for justice. Now, we tell wonderful stories of their greatness. Imagine. Leadership. Now.

Bulls, Bears, and Obama

Bobbie Sue Grenerth *OFA* www.handsontiffin.net — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:26:34 EDT

Junior bulls and bears: School promotes financial literacy, gives kids money to invest

By DAVE CARPENTER , Associated Press

Last update: March 9, 2008 - 1:09 PM
http://www.startribune.com/business/16431301.html

CHICAGO - Like their peers elsewhere, the students at a one-of-a-kind public elementary school on the South Side of Chicago are dazzled by pop-culture stars — Beyonce and Common, Kanye West and Lil' Wayne, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Listen closely to the hallway chatter at Ariel Community Academy, though, and you may hear unexpected references to uncool dudes like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. After all, these kids have their portfolios to worry about.

The Ariel school is an experiment in financial literacy with real-life oomph: Each incoming first-grade class gets $20,000 that the children ultimately get to pick stocks for and manage. The goal is to add an I — investing — to the three R's, according John Rogers Jr., chairman and chief executive of Ariel Capital Management, the Chicago-based money management firm that established the school in 1996.

At a time when pensions are being phased out and people must rely more on their own investment smarts, Rogers thinks saving and investment should be an integral part of the curriculum at schools across the country.

"It's important to have all the reading and writing and arithmetic skill sets, but we can't think of anything else more important than to be able to be financially viable and competent as you start to build your working career," he said.

Experts say easy credit, aggressive marketing and the dizzying array of financial products and cashless spending options have led many American consumers astray, making it more essential than ever for kids to learn about money.

Iowa State University professor Tahira Hira, a member of the newly formed President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, is among those advocating that personal finance be required teaching at every elementary school.

"People who were brought up with some lesson in saving or borrowing act differently than those who weren't," Hira said. Opening bank accounts for children, buying them stock in a fast-food company or the company that makes their favorite toy, teaching them to spend some, save some and give some away when they receive cash as a gift — "our research shows that all those things do matter," she said.

The Ariel school's success can't be fully judged until its first graduates, now juniors in high school, make their own mark. But high math test scores give it a blue chip reputation and some cachet for its students in a mostly black, high-poverty area.

When eighth grader Victoria Bills talks about investments with her friends, for example, "They're like, 'Oh Victoria, that's like so cool!'" she said. "They're like, 'I want to go to that school.'"

That's music to the ears of the 49-year-old Rogers, who has long put a special emphasis on trying to encourage other African-Americans to save and invest more.

A South Side native, Rogers first got enthused about investing at age 12 when his father began buying him different stocks every birthday and Christmas.

After graduating from Princeton, where he was captain of the basketball team, he started Ariel when he was 24 with his own savings and investments begged from friends and family. Today, it has more than $13 billion under management in three mutual funds and separate accounts for 89 institutional clients. Rogers is also a close adviser to Sen. Barack Obama, who lives just five blocks down the street from the school in the Kenwood neighborhood.

Inspired by a symposium he attended on financial literacy in the mid-1990s, Rogers had Ariel team with fellow Chicago investment firm John Nuveen & Co. to fund the innovative school program.

The concept is simple: Ariel's experts manage a $20,000 portfolio for each class until sixth grade, briefing them regularly along the way, and then begin turning over the decisions to the children. Upon graduation from eighth grade, each class returns the initial investment amount to the school for another first-grade class and donates, invests or pockets the profits.

After giving half the gains to community charity programs or school initiatives, each student can then take the rest in cash or invest it in a Section 529 college savings plan, in which case they are given an additional $1,000. Last year, 80 percent of graduates invested their $150 shares in a 529.

The financial focus extends well beyond the portfolio at a school where hallways are named after Wall Street and other marketplaces, and students announce the latest business news twice daily over the PA system.

Financial concepts are woven into the curriculum, with first graders learning about core economic principles, for example, while eighth graders put together their own business plans. All 440 students are offered free tutoring from Ariel's professionals on Saturdays, and the older kids have the chance to hear analyst presentations and attend meetings at McDonald's Corp., where Rogers sits on the board of directors.

There's nothing dry about such schooling to these kids, according to Connie Moran, the school's director of financial education.

"When I say we're going to talk about money today, they don't go 'Eeeeewww' like some kids might," said Moran, a former bond analyst. "It's like saying we're going to recess — that's never a problem."

Moran said her students soak up financial information like sponges. Besides, she noted, "We don't wait until our students are 16 to teach them how to read. Why wait until they're 16 to teach them how to manage a bank account?"

Twice a week or so, junior boards of directors elected by the seventh and eighth grades gather around a table under a giant mural depicting a bull and bear to discuss their class holdings.

With the whack of a gavel one recent day, they were off and running. The lively discussion touched on everything from the merits of the maker of Ugg boots to their tendency to load up on tech stocks to whether they should profit from companies that make weapons used in the war in Iraq.

Student Jordan Lillybridge likes sitting in the boardroom.

"It gives me an opportunity to express my opinion on which stock we should pick — especially me and Sony, because I am a big fan of Sony," said Lillybridge, who is 12. "Also Panera Bread."

Bills, too, revels in the whole experience, keeping tabs on financial news and monitoring her class' stocks at home.

"When I go to this school I actually feel special, because I'm learning things that most kids probably wouldn't even learn," she said, adding that she hopes to make enough in the market to help her mom.

Rogers, whose company spends nearly $1 million a year on the school, would love to see it churn out future portfolio managers, accountants and investment bankers. But for now he finds it "absolutely thrilling" just to sit in on the children's discussions about stocks.

Nurturing their education and watching them grow up and have fun with the stock market, he said, is "one of the greatest feelings in the world."

___

On the Net:

Ariel Community Academy: http://www.arielmutualfunds.com/content/view/107/1067/

____

http://www.coopamerica.org/

Open Thread: Obama and the Rezko trial

Benjamin Vos, Nashville — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:30:24 EST

This is an open thread for information about the developing story on Tony Rezko's trial for corruption in Chicago. Rezko was an early supporter of Obama in the Illinois state senate and Obama has never been accused of any wrongdoing, even after extensive investigation by local newspapers. The Hillary Clinton campaign, led by its communications director Howard Wolfson, has attempted to push this issue into the news. He holds frequent conference calls where he uses the Rezko case as a way of deflecting responsibility for his own candidate's dishonesty and corruption.

Chicago Jewish Community's Support for Obama

Policybusters — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:46:14 EST

On Tuesday night after Tim Russert in the Debate lowered himself to the position of dredging up pig-slop produced by the right-wing Republican attack machine to try to smear Obama with antisemitism, I put out a call asking if anyone knew of postings of support for Obama from the Chicago Jewish community, since I thought such statements from the Jewish community that knew Obama best would provide the best counter to this kind of vicious nonsense.

Gidon Remba, a long-time peace activist (Peace Now) and author of the excellent Blog "Tough Dove Israel" responded with just the information I was looking for from the Chicago community--two web videos, which along with Obama's own beautiful response during the debate about bridging the divide between the Jewish and African-American communities, ought to be in every Obama supporter's personal toolbox for responding to any of these viciously idiotic attacks on Obama:

Obama's Debate response on UTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rOUOM9z3CY

Web Video 1: Chicago Jewish Community Leaders Defend Obama on Israel: Lee Rosenberg
http://tough-dove-israel.blogspot.com/2008/02/chicago-jewish-community-leaders-defend.html

Web Video 2: Chicago Jewish Community Leaders Defend Obama Against Smear Campaign-Rabbi Sam Gordon
http://tough-dove-israel.blogspot.com/2008/02/chicago-jewish-community-leaders-on.html

Gidon Remba's Blog posts these and many other resources for Obama supporters, and the entire Blog is a great resource for anyone with interest in learning more about how one can take a progressive "pro-Israel" stance that is also "pro-Palestinian." Check it out! (and all of Gidon's original response is copied below)--

Tough Dove Israel Blog
http://tough-dove-israel.blogspot.com/

The Untouchable

Mason Dixon — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:47:29 EST

Few are more Chicago than Elliot Ness. The so-called "untouchable", was a beacon of fidelity and justice. His undying commitment to rooting out corruption exemplified his devoted family values. Ness fought against odds and stereotypes to do the right thing.

Comparing Ness and Obama has some interesting corollaries. It's obvious that McCain has been put up by the republican party as a token candidate. His efforts to "clean up washington" have conspicuously overlooked the weapon's industry. As a veteran, he cant appear as anything other than pro-military and pro-war.
Weapons and Oil are clearly the root of corruption in washington. They have benefited most from the past 8 years, and mislead the country to do it. McCain can speak all he wants about campaign finance reform; but his voting record tells a story of dubious energy bills and war for oil.
Capone led by the sword. We need a president with a strong pen, and a strong stomach. Lets look at the Bush dynasty's tax records. Lets remember Haliburton.

The Untouchable

Mason Dixon — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:45:29 EST

CHICAGOPIXELS.NET FOR OBAMA

Gregory from Chicago, IL — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:07:06 EST

Having grown up in inner city Chicago, I was raised to have my own veiw, opinions and beliefs. I have always been a man on my own path, rarely taking anyones advice or direction. I certainly could never have been accused of being a follower. Also I have never been afraid to say what I feel is the truth or to tell the truth about myself. This is why I feel Barack Obama is a man we can trust. Now I will tell you how I came to this conclusion as of recent days. He did not win me over from day one by any means, normaly I would probably vote more conservative! This came with much thought and debating. I belive this, when a man can tell you things about himself that may be viewed as wrong or bad or even illegal and have overcome his short-comings, when it is time to tell the truth he will. Which currently is not to found in the White House. This quality also shows not only does he tell the truth when asked, but learns from past indiscresions or mistakes.

This is why Barack Obama has my support and I just registared to vote in the 2008 Election through his website. All this also inspired me to create a website to help support his campaign please view it here @http://chicagopixels.net/