Posts with the tag women

Assault on women's reproductive rights continues with a vengeance

Connie from Gainesville, FL — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:25:44 EST

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

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

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

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

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

Three Grammy Award Women on Health Care

RFLTV for Obama — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:10:36 EDT

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

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

Do You Speak Matriarch? 2 Films By Women about Women

Madama Ambi — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:47:29 EDT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What I Wrote to Rachel Maddow

Madama Ambi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:14:48 EDT

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

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

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

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

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

Holding Her Fire--Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings

Madama Ambi — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:01:01 EDT

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

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

Alp Icoz, M.A. @ JOURNALTA — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:53:37 EDT

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

Alp Icoz, M.A.

Dear Barbara Boxer: YOU'RE IT

Madama Ambi — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:41:33 EDT

Dear Senator Boxer:

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

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

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

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

Lukashenko explained why Belarus is developing relations with the West

Unknown user — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:49:12 EDT

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

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

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

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

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

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

Madama Ambi — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:03:21 EDT

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

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

Get it at iTunes.

FORM: Being Advisors to the Obama Administration

Madama Ambi — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:29:58 EDT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tribal Law Still Alive and Legally Sanctioned in Afghanistan

Henry M — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:47:05 EDT

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

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

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

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

Henry M

5 Awesome Women in Obama's Administration

2morrowKnight — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:05:14 EDT

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

(1) VALERIE JARRETT, Senior White House Adviser

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

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

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

(3) SUSAN RICE, Ambassador to the United Nations

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

(4) DESIREE ROGERS, White House Social Secretary

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

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

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

2morrowknight is an internet strategist and community organizer who blogs at 2morrowknight.blogspot.com, and is author of a forthcoming children's book. You can follow him at Twitter.com/2morrowknight and friend him at Myspace.com/2morrowknight.

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

Henry M — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:53:32 EDT

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

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

Henry M

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To be an Obamacrat

2morrowKnight — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:50:24 EST

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

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

Allow me to explain.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2morrowKnight — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:28:01 EST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ladies, President Obama just signed you a love letter.

Inauguration Day is finally here!!!

Tiffany A — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:34:43 EST

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

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

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

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

Change is possible.
Yes. We. Can.

PEACE IN JERUSALEM

WEBMASTER — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:53:22 EST

Jewish and Arab Neighbors Hold Hands for Peace

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

barackobama.com sources:

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

Also see Spirit of Reconciliation

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

Women-Eye For Change — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:09:58 EST

Is Barack Obama another Martin Luther King, Jr?

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

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

Alex Karoub — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:14:47 EST

Contact: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Caregiver's Unite!

Melissa Rowley — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 09:16:40 EST

I am one of the 50 million caregivers in the United States who want to see the new administration give more credence to the necessary changes for us. We need support for tax credits to taxpayers who incur caregiving expenses for their parents or grandparents who do NOT live with them, services such as adult day care centers, expand treatment services for Alzheimer's patients, provide income tax credits, additional long term care tax relief, establish a family and medical leave insurance program for employees. Yet I am just 1 of 50 million, and we need to unite so that our voices in Washington are heard. Caregiver's Unite!

email to Marla Turner, Nations for Change

Madama Ambi — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:29:33 EST

hi Marla--I am now linked with so many different groups I need a program to help me keep track of them! I just joined your organization, Nations for Change, and wanted to drop you a line about what I'm doing and how I see myself interacting with many, many different groups.

My natural group is not my state or my Congressional District or my neighborhood. I've lived too many places to identify with where I happened to retire because I need sun & warmth & swimming; nice people in my neighborhood, but not my political group...

Here's what I'm doing: organizing with feminists. I have my own ideas of a web I'm weaving and what that could lead to, but my web depends on participating in many other organizations and their webs. I see myself as a cross-pollinator, a leader, a thinker, a writer, someone who has public-speaking and workshop-leading experience, and has recently added some podcasting & digital art skills in order to help me communicate.

So, I'm not signing on to any groups as a team member or even a team leader, because my plate is full as I realize my own imperatives; however, there is a lot of opportunity to share knowledge, resources, and whatever else the moment requires. I'm currently working on what I can contribute to another organization's conference in April (EngageHer, headed by Mable Yee), because although our goals are slightly different, we are both aiming for much the same population. My population is women, and in particular, women who are invisible and girls in high school or college.

I would love to be a feminist at-large member of your organization; it's critical that feminists expand their base and do a better job of explaining their goals, and I also think that other activist organizations really need the feminists--we've been organizing for a long time! We're natural radicals. We're out-there thinkers.

I'd be happy to discuss this with you more, or, maybe the best way to get where I'm coming from is just to nose around my blogs. You've already joined the FAB group on Facebook, I think, haven't you? That's great. I'd love to interview you for ROADTRIP. That might be a good way to get to know one another!!!

looking forward to working with you & getting to know you better

yours
Madama

Women Soldiers Serving in (and Barely Surviving) the Israeli Army

John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:26:43 EST

Tamar Yorum's "To See If I'm Smiling Women Soldiers Serving in (and Barely Surviving) the Israeli Army

By LARRY PORTIS @ counterpunch.org

Tamar Yorum is a young Israeli woman who represents an important phenomenon in her country: the transfer of allegiance of the Israeli intelligentsia from support of established ideas and institutions to an alternative vision of social existence. To criticize service in the Israeli army, no matter how implicitly, is to question the very foundations of the Israeli state.

Her documentary film on women’s obligatory military service in Israel uses clandestine footage from human rights groups such as B’Tselem and, especially, filmed interviews of young Israeli women recounting their experiences as soldiers in the famed Israeli Defense Forces, the IDF — “Tsahal”.

Tsahal? Yes. As Michel Warshawsky (director of the Alternative Information Center in Jerusalem) has exclaimed: “We have the only army in the world called by a nickname!” This is appropriate, and clever, for military service in Israel is an intimate affair in this militarized society, where soldiers of both sexes as well as civilians walk the streets, sit in cafés and ride public transportation carrying automatic weapons as if they were handbags or umbrellas. One enters the army at age 18, two years for girls, three for boys and for them annual reserve training and service for another thirty years or more. Military service in Israel is, it is explained, a necessary civic activity of little adverse personal consequence. On the contrary, it builds character.

But what kind of character? And can the Israeli state continue indefinitely to keep its non-Jewish population in a condition of second-class citizenship, steal the land and resources (especially the water) of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and brutalize, impoverish and otherwise prepare this population for eventual expulsion? Are democratic ideals and institutions compatible with the arrogance of power, racist ideas or inclinations, or the kind of psychic denial necessary for the brutality of military occupation? Tamar Yorum’s film does not directly answer these questions, but we see that, beyond knee jerk nationalism, “Tsahal” is composed of soldiers like those of any super power bent on using its “cannon fodder” regardless of the price they must pay........

ENTIRE ARTICLE - http://www.counterpunch.org/portis11212008.html

Women’s Studies in the 2008 Presidential Election

Ethan — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:35:45 EST

Two conservative women's groups represent a paradigm shift in organized women's thinking in America. The Concerned Women for America and Independent Women's Forum play out on a platform against socially liberal women's interests and nationally organized feminist groups. These conservative women's groups, rather confusingly, don't support equal women's rights. Forming in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, they do not want women to leave the capacity to stay at home, rear children and be homemakers and stay-at-home moms. They do not want women to serve in the military and oppose assistance in the form of child day care for single or working women. Women's right to reproductive privacy and gay's women's right to civil unions are opposed. Civil rights equality for women is a challenge to God's will in their view. In their stance against abortion, they use disputed and false data to make claims linking abortive procedures, contraceptives, or other family planning to causing breast cancer. They dispute the federal drug agency's proven safety and efficacy of the oral contraceptive pill. Opposing the feminist agenda is their ardent stance. They see feminism to have permeated all walks of American life and resulted in negative effects on women's lives. Women would be better off not trying to achieve greatness at the expense of family pursuits, it is believed. A career incompatible or at odds with having a family is said to largely lead to unhappiness in women. In the recent political arena, these groups have been courted by the Republican leadership, leading some to label them as pawns of men. However, Republicans and the conservative media have successfully utilized feminist arguments to right (no pun intended) the conservative women's faith and political support. For example, Fox news has accused socially liberal women of being hypocrites for not supporting conservative women, such as Sarah Palin. They have used feminist arguments against sexism, "No one would ask a man that," to their credit. The conservative women's movement claims, rather incorrectly, that the majority of women are conservative. Feminists are said to be a radical minority of women. The latest TIME magazine (Oct. 20, 2008) poll reports single women (rating 30 out of 100) and all women (44/100) rate McCain/Palin the lowest of all cohorts while the opposite is true for Obama/Biden, 78/100 and 62/100 respectively. Conservative women's groups are blaming evil college professors in the fields of women's studies for the brain washing of women to stand up for their rights. Women who demand equal rights are thought to be of a cult coming from college campuses primarily. Educating those women, gosh-darnit. We should have know better. While feelings on both sides are strong, it remains to be determined how elections will be swayed by the conflict between the socially liberal and conservative women's propaganda campaigns, taking place on college campuses and in the 2008 presidential election. Feminists will continue to empower women to stand up for their equal rights, while conservative will push to right feminists.

a conversation with other O-activists

Madama Ambi — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:46:45 EST

Hi Paul, Wade, Roma and all O-activists:

I've been paying attention to your organizing ideas, and have had some productive email exchanges with Wade & Roma. Although I've been a member of SF for Obama throughout the campaign, I no longer live there and wasn't able to attend the Post-Election workshop.

As I've discussed with Roma & Wade, I am organizing with my Feminist community, and I'd like to find mechanisms for networking such that what feminists are doing to continue the O-movement are included in the big picture. I'd like to see Feminists included in the long list of political groups mentioned by Paul in his email, below. I'd like to see explicit mention of an already organized online Feminist Community which will have a voice in all progressive alliances and movements.

I'm not asking that you sign on to a particular feminist agenda--just as it is in any political/consciousness movement, diversity exists to keep the conversation going, and push the ideas to be truly alive, creative and responsive to people who need help now.

I'm organizing a Feminist Advisory Board for Obama and I've been writing about my ideas on Facebook, on my various blogs, on Twitter, and soon I'll be podcasting and vlogging about what I envision. My goal is to make feminism accessible to women and girls who don't identify as feminist, and to use existing online platforms for the invisibles of our country to speak about their needs "up close and personal." This is all about narrative, connection, identification, and what I'm calling subversonance...

I don't speak for all feminists, nor do I want to. I'm speaking as a feminist who thinks that what the Obama campaign has set in motion is completely in sync with what feminists have already been doing and continue to do. I'm in the mix as just one of many feminists, but since I happen to feel a particular simpatico with O-activists, I'm comfortable communicating with all of you. Many feminists are still learning to love Obama, but I was on board while Hillary was still in the race, and I think Obama really gets what women's lives are like. Hurrah!

So, here's what I'm asking of you, my O-sisters and O-brothers: will you have a seat at your table for Feminists? Will you open up your agendas so that you actually look to Feminists for leadership?

I'm eager to hear your replies.

yours
Madama

Hi Madama -

Do you have a group on MyBO where others can join?

If not, please take that step and start one up.

CAN is all inclusive.

I am sure all welcome such participation, with the caviat that we are Obama first, and within that, all interest and affinity groups tend to seek out and self organize.

I am running on memory here: My recollection is that 60,000 groups formed on MyBO. 30,000 formed in the last 30 days of the general. I may be wrong on this, as others hold to different accounts. I tend to tune to Micah at TechPresident.com

CAN will become a network of local teams of real people meeting face to face as real Neighborhood Teams. The focus of "within zip codes" makes action possible that has not been imagined before.

I believe there is a huge need for feminist interest groups to form - and work cross-group to reach into all local teams to promote participation, education, and advocacy.

Does this make sense to you?

Please sign up, and list "0" attendants
coming to 11/29/2008, and that will help me keep you in the loop!

All the very best to you!

Paul Currier
San Francisco

hi Paul--thanks for your reply. Although I've had a group on MyBo (ArtistsWriters4ZeitgeistObama/Interview4Obama) and have been active within Feminists for Obama, I just put in for a new group that better expresses my vision. The new group is Feminist Advisory Board for Obama, but it hasn't been approved yet.

One of the things about the feminists is that we have already been doing the face-to-face for decades! The agenda has been feminist. The agenda will continue to be what women need, but as I've been fleshing out in my many writings on this issue, what's good for women is good for everyone.

So, when I say that there is already leadership in the feminist community, I mean a huge network of activists that existed well before Obama came on scene. The task I'm setting for myself is to communicate with all of the groups and develop a mechanism whereby the face of feminism becomes better known, because imo, it is misunderstood.

For instance, on Facebook I've started the group Feminist Advisory Board for Obama, and one of the members is a leader in the group Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, which sponsors activities on campuses. I am now networked with that group in a meaninful way, not only because Ebony Jackson is on board in my group and vice versa, but because we have chatted online and will do a phone interview that I will podcast. This level of netlinkage needs to co-exist with what I call shoe-leather activism, and they will both belong to a system that will sprout circuits. My ultimate goal is to penetrate into groups of women who are traditionally underserved in all ways, and with that in mind, I am now in communication with other feminists who have already been working on these issues.

The key to all of this is visibility. I know how to network, how to interview, how to make a video, how to podcast, and other ways to bring people together in a meaningful group process, but in order to influence public opinion, we will need eyeballs. That's why I think it's so important that all activists stay in communication. However, we don't all have to have the same agenda. I envision a time when, for instance, you will need "votes" or "voices" on a particular issue, put out the call, and all linked activists will put out the call to their networks, and regardless of where we live, we can deliver a highly visible base of support for an issue.

We really need each other. Feminists need support from Obama activists in order to expand their base, and Obama activists need feminists in order to penetrate existing, powerful networks of activist women who can bring in more women.

Frankly, Paul, I think I'm describing something that already exists and that will happen whether or not we agree on every dot and dash! This movement is already moving. I've been calling it subversonance. People are bouncing off of walls with excitement and energy, and I am so busy connecting with people that I'm feeling over-connected! But there's no time to stop! This thing is rollin', rollin', rollin' and I'm typing as fast as I can think to keep up with the demand for authentic communication, new directions, new solutions. I also visited O-supporters in my neighborhood (an almost completely red town) and we are now linked...and will get together for Thanksgiving...and so it goes...

I'm very excited about the future and happy to be among all of you O-activists! The Feminist Advisory Board for Obama on Facebook is open to anyone, and as soon as the group on BO is approved, they will be linked. I'm also signed up on techpresident, which looks great...and communitycounts.com...and velvetrevolution...and the list goes on...

onward
Madama

GENERATION O

WEBMASTER — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:59:08 EST

The continuous expansion of HOPE THROUGH GENERATION O rest on the continuous support of active participants. Obama 'Generation O' members include –

AFRICAN AMERICANS for Justice
AMERICANS OVERSEAS
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
ARAB AMERICANS for Freedom
ASIAN AMERICANS for Human Rights
COLLEGE STUDENTS for Education
CONSERVATION Groups
FAITH, FAMILY AND FELLOWSHIP Assemblies
GENERATION O for Opportunity
JEWISH AMERICANS for Civil Rights
GOP For Obama
LABOR UNIONS for Better Pay
LATINOS for Fairness
NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES
OBAMA KIDS for a Better World
OBAMA FARMERS for a Better System
OBAMA SENIORS for Social Security
OBAMA VETERANS for Peace
OBAMA WOMEN for Women
WORLD STUDY BIBLE
and the ANGELS MESSAGE

GENERATION OBAMANATION SEARCH QUERIES
Altavista | Google | Lycos | MSN | Yahoo

How to Reduce Abortions

Ethan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:42:12 EST

The adoption system is so broken in America that people would rather enter the foreign adoption system and risk medical difficulties in the child rather than stay domestic. The domestic system has a high probability of failed adoption, legal difficulties, or failed placement. It can cost anywhere from a median price of $22,000 up to $50,000 to adopt a child domestically in this country with high failed adoption rates of up to 30%. The federal government has created a $10,000 adoption tax credit as a lame attempt to reduce cost. Most failed adoptions result in the would-be parents losing all or most of their adoption agency fees and no child. The foreign adoption system is similarly priced with dramatically lower failure rates, but increased likelihood of sickness in the child. The domestic adoption system has become a market place where the highest paid would-be parents receive the largest agency fees and provide the most welfare to biological mothers. Biological mothers are wooed to agencies that promise money for housing, food, healthcare, and additional spending money. The basic problem in our domestic adoption system is the pollution of altruism by the influence of money. While money can not be used to buy the child directly, the excessive fees amount to payment, bribery of the mother, trafficking of human commodities. This ultimately lessens the pure joy for everyone involved to be part of a beautiful successful adoption.

Payments in the domestic adoption system bring up to a similar debate surrounding the organ transplant system. On one side, people argue that organ donations would increase dramatically if the US allowed purchase of organs, similar to other countries. The opposing view, which I support, is that organs must never be a commodity. How could we live in a society where people might be forced to sell their organ during bankruptcy before they could keep their home? What would it be like to have your father-in-law say, "Have you sold your kidney yet?" It is a poor proposition that we don't have tighter regulation on the undue influence of money in the domestic adoption process. The transfer of the child must always be a gift, not purchase. I propose that compensation to the biological mother be limited to the cost of health insurance premiums for 9 months at the lowest contractual price. Anything more is bribery and is responsible for the mood of extreme unwillingness to adopt domestically in this country. Private adoption agencies have tendencies to offer huge benefits to the biological mother at the expense of would-be parents. For-profit adoption is in effect commoditizing the child and making pregnancy a service industry with no fee refund policy. Reform of the domestic adoption system will collaterally aim to reduce abortions, and adoption is the best means to do so. No case will be challenging Roe v. Wade anytime soon in the wake of several failed abortion ban state ballot initiatives. Failed adoption policy has contributed to the rock bottom demand for domestic adoption, largely due to skyrocketing costs.

As an estimate for reformed costs of domestic adoption, private health insurance can be obtained for about $300/month. The would-be parents should be allowed to compensate the biological mother for the basic need of health coverage as they would do if the child was their own. That could put the price at about $3000 for the duration of the pregnancy: a doctor for prenatal care, labor, and delivery. The biological mother would have to make the co-payments, but a federal or state income tax credit for the biological mother could be offered, say $1000 to incentivize her to keep working and keep earned income instead of having an abortion at the cost of about $300. If the price of domestic adoption could be lowered to $3000, the altruistic nature of both biological mother and would-be parents would be restored. The flood of want for unwanted babies would pressure women to more often consider adoption, largely reducing their likelihood to have an abortion.

Reform laws and regulation must be put on public and private adoption agencies on what they can or can't charge would-be parents. Excessive vetting of would-be parents overlooks the simple fact that any would-be parents want an unwanted baby. Any payment beyond healthcare would make the biological mother a vender instead of a donor. Children must be gifted. This will reduce the incentives for biological mothers enter adoptions contracts maliciously and change their minds upon dramatically improved financial conditions due to the welfare provided by the would-be parents. Would-be parents will be less likely to evade the domestic adoption system for fear of huge financial loss without receiving a child. Reformed public adoption agencies may have to lead the way to push unfair private agencies out by competition. Much needed reform is needed to ultimately increase demand in the domestic adoption system and decrease US abortion rates.

Lastly, improved comprehensive sexual education would decrease abortions. This can mainly be accomplished through information about contraceptive use, family planning, abstinence, and adoption. Every abortion is preventable through age appropriate sexual public education, culminating in junior high education about reproductive prophylactic measures.

Michelle Obama will be an amazing First Woman

Madama Ambi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:02:17 EST

Hello Group! I just got invited to join by my new friend Mary Nickum...I love and adore Michelle and I don't use that kind of language in my everyday life...I can't wait to see how she transforms the "First Female" thing...I expect she will play it very, very safe for at least her first term...still, whatever she does will be amazing because that's just who she is...

I also am kind of in love with Sasha & Malia, but I hope Michelle keeps the press out of their lives as much as possible...it will be better for them not to be hounded...

Madama

America - Together (post election)

Alex Karoub — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:44:40 EST

..... Contact: http://Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

WHO IS THAT GUY BARACK OBAMA? HE IS US.

We have made historic headway by together pointing our nation in the right directions. After decades, we have America focused on the issues of fundamental importance. Now, each of us acting in concert can together move our country to lead the world to the fruitfulness of moral goodness. I have no doubts about my abilities and the abilities of fellow Americans to work smart and hard to achieve these goals.

Barack Obama has the visions, leadership, and integrity for us to correct and redirect our country to once again lead the world for the fruitions of good. Let's closely listen, learn, and move forward based on that which we know deep inside is good and which we can validate with our hearts.

I hope that those who had but a few reasons to support Obama, look further into the other issues more deeply. I found the more I explored, studied, and listened to Obama the more I found us in agreement. The couple of issues that I did not have depth of knowledge of, quickly became obvious in need. This was unusual for me since I have always refused to be any kind of a follower, and still am not. I find Obama to be a deep thinker who is articulate and inspirational; and, of most fundamental importance, Obama makes excellent moral sense.

Hopefully, our country has learned lessons from the past of mistakenly following leadership blindly, as was done with Nixon and Bush. There are leaders who are simply in it for themselves and will cater to individuals or groups in order to grab for their own benefit. Corrupt and bad leaders hide at all levels. This is especially true in city government as well as county and state government. The corrupt deals of politicians need to be exposed, and those responsible need to be weeded out in the coming local elections. Others need to be investigated by law enforcement and be prosecuted for illegal dealings; for deals they often make for their hidden personal agendas. Let’s look at the bad experiences of the past as bitter medicines, let’s eliminate the need for such bad medicine in the future. Let us use what we know is good to go forward.

I believe we have chosen wisely, not by greed and not by misguided retaliatory anger. I believe this time our country has chosen with open eyes, with each of us listening and examining our choice of leadership closely, driven and validated by our hearts.

I hope we can continue to make our efforts even more inclusive (in many more ways than I touch on here). Far right republicans will be stubborn to change, but we will need to include them to change if we are to succeed. Sure a few more will leave our country, but that is not the American way. No, we really don't need their false fronts of power, money, insider knowledge, or other trappings that they have taught many to 'respect?'. Let's recruit as many as we can, that's the American way, evolving and changing together as one nation. Try to be understanding as we move forward; by better understanding each as individuals and people with various desires and needs we will find ways to reach out with friendship and have them join our causes of good.

Be on the lookout, and root out bad leadership in government and business. Do not be intimidated by those who use the false fronts of power and give a false sense of security in order to lead. Be extra leery of those who say or imply ‘Trust me’; those who give a sense that they somehow omnipotently know better. No longer will Americans be dazzled by phony displays of brilliance or baffled by baloney. There are government aristocrats and business leaders who still believe in the old adage of: “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle em with bullshit”. We can embrace complexity by demanding true, fundamental, and understandable explanations. We can root out falsehoods by not accepting double speak. We as Americans know how to grow ourselves by first believing in ourselves. Don’t be a follower. Don’t be a follower of followers.

However, when we find leaders who are good; a leader that thinks, speaks, and acts from their heart; one that is honest, has integrity, and leads by sincere examples; then we need to in a big way, join them, support them, and promote their causes of good. From much research, investigation, and scrutiny, I believe Barack Obama is such a person. I hope we search for and find many more who are similar, who we can add to service at all levels of government. We need to add/replace leaders in business with ones that have honesty, integrity, and show quality in leadership. We need more people in leadership roles who are moral, like Barack Obama.

Remember, we are not fighting a battle, we are the artisans and sculptors of the future for ourselves and generations to come. Rarely do societies have opportunities to make such dramatic moves forward as we now have in this opportunity of today. Take pride and practice in being inclusive as we stride forward. In moving forward, create opportunity not only for yourself, but also for all. Hope is a wonderful thing to behold; but without opportunity, hope can become but a dream never achievable. We can, will, and must, create opportunity.

In the coming year I hope that we do not lose our spiritedness, but instead continue to build and make headway. I hope we all continue our campaign for change in government and business. We will succeed in moving forward once again, it will take much effort and good oversight on the part of each of us. We will make great strides in the months and years ahead in order to achieve the fruitions of good. Let's keep our enthusiasm progressing through these coming toughest of times. Let us use the light of goodness and love to motivate us with historic momentum.

I have chosen Barack Obama because he best represents my deepest beliefs in America. Please take time to read the issues that Barack Obama has published on this website. Also, give your attention to see how he leads us to move our nation forward in the time ahead. Most importantly, be part of America's great future, participate in the greatness that together we will make. Participate!

We will each and all flourish, if we think, speak, and act, by using the love in our hearts.

Your reply is welcome. Contact: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

Blogging For Change

Dawn from Akron, OH — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:56:11 EDT

There are some great things we can do to support Barack Obama between now and Tuesday.

Here are some cool widgets and social networks you can reference: http://arunaurl.com/2ka6

Other things you can do to support Obama in the coming days:

Participate and share ideas on how to get out the vote on Smart People For Barack Obama on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17287706918
At the corner by a busy Summit County mall, a group of folks dressed in red, white and blue are giving out bumperstickers, with a life size Obama and signs that say "honk if you love Obama" and folks are cheering AND honkin in here in OH.
Donate and share with other professional women you know, "Women for Obama" between now and Tuesday!
Help everyone you know find their voting information at VoteForChange.com.
Fight back against rumors and political attacks, and have your friends do the same on FightTheSmears.com.
Share the latest campaign videos, emails and blog posts.
Inform your friends, family and neighbors about Barack's policy stances.
Create your own Personal Fundraising Page.
Reference your Polling Place. Enter your address and receive by email your polling place.
Get Out the Vote Calling-- in campaign headquarters, in a "home party" or in the convenience of your own home. Its easier than ever to make a difference with even limited experience.
Call your local Democratic heaquarters and offer to help, ask what they need, and be availableto help!!

We can make a difference, your caring, and our collective efforts WILL make a difference.

Dawn

http://linkedin.com/in/dmular

109 Year Old Lady of Hope - A Story You Can't Miss!!!

Dena "Robin" — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:32:23 EDT

At her father's urging, Amanda Jones said she has voted for decades despite discriminatory poll practices. The 109 year old Democrat recently mailed in a vote for Sen. Barack Obama.

Daughter of slave votes for Obama

109 year old Austin, TX woman casts her vote by mail.
By Joshunda Sanders
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, October 27, 2008

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.

The middle child of 13, Jones is part of a family that has lived in Republican-leaning Bastrop County for five generations. The family has remained a fixture in Cedar Creek and other parts of the county, even when its members had to eat at segregated barbecue dives and walk through the back door while white customers walked through the front, said Amanda Jones' 68-year-old daughter, Joyce Jones.

For at least a decade, Amanda Jones worked as a maid for $20 a month, Joyce Jones said. She was a housewife for 72 years and helped her now-deceased husband, C.L. Jones, manage a store.

Amanda Jones, a delicate, thin woman wearing golden-rimmed glasses, giggled as the family discussed this year's presidential election. She is too weak to go the polls, so two of her 10
children, Eloise Baker, 75, and Joyce Jones, helped her fill out a mail-in ballot for Barack Obama, Baker said. "I feel good about voting for him," Amanda Jones said.

Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was

freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born
right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said.

Amanda Jones' father urged her to exercise her right to vote, despite discriminatory practices at the polls and poll taxes meant to keep black and poor people from voting. Those practices were outlawed for federal elections with the 24th Amendment in 1964, but not for state and local races in Texas until 1966.

Amanda Jones says she cast her first presidential vote or Franklin Roosevelt, but she doesn't recall which of his four terms that was. When she did vote, she paid a poll tax, her daughters said. That she is able, for the first time, to vote for a black presidential nominee for free fills her with joy, Jones said.

One of Amanda Jones' 33 grandchildren, Brenda Baker, 44, said the family is moved by the election's significance to the matriarch. "It's awesome to me that we have such a pillar of our family
still with us," Baker said. "It's awesome to see what she's done, and all her hard work, and to see that she may be able to see the results of all that hard work" if Obama is elected, she said.

Jones lives in a small gray house with white trim just off Texas 21. These days, a curious white kitten and a sleepy old black dog guard the house. Inside are photographs and relics of a long, full
life, including a letter from then-Gov. George Bush in 1998 commemorating her 100th birthday. A black-and-white picture of her in a long flapper-style dress was taken between 1912 and 1918, no one can remember the exact year, Baker said with a chuckle.

Jones is part of a small percentage of active voters above the age of 100 in the state and the country. Sister Cecilia Gaudette, a 106-year-old nun born in New Hampshire but living in Rome,
made recent national headlines as the nation's oldest voter. But if Texas records are any indication, that's hard to validate.

Secretary of State spokeswoman Ashley Burton said Texas can't confirm whether Jones is the state's oldest active voter because there is too much voter information to sort through. At the county level, there are other challenges. An election official in Hays County said its records are not searchable by age, and Bastrop County elections administrator Nora Cano said that some counties automatically list voters who were born before the turn of the 20th century with birth dates of January 1900.

The oldest active voter in Travis County is 105, officials said, and in Williamson County the oldest is 106, making Jones the oldest-known active voter in Central Texas.

Making it to see the election results on Nov. 5 is important, but Jones is resting up for another milestone: her 110th birthday in December. "God has been good to me," she said.

barackthebeach08.com

Cory — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:15:55 EDT

Surfer's Unite. View web site http://barackthebeach08.com for updates.

Join us, surf with us.

Ride the tide to Victory!

It's A New Day

Patrice from Williamsburg, VA — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:22:03 EDT

The dawning of a new day is here, both for America as a whole and for those who call ourselves "compassionate conservatives," a code name for politically active Christians.

It's a time when our nation has the opportunity to break from the tradition of the past--from racial and class division, from partisan politics, from us against them--and to ride into a bright, new future of unified effort for the good of all Americans, truly non-partisan policy making and cooperation in Washington.

The undeclared but clearly evident leader of this new effort is Barack Obama, an American of mixed racial background (half white, and half black), and of mixed socio-economic background, a recent graduate from the struggling middle class to the echelons of upper class America. He is the leader we need right now not just because of superior intellect, highly effective communication skills, and his high level of educational attainment, but also because of the character and the temperament with which he has been divinely blessed. Character he has demonstrated in this election in quite distinct contrast to his Republican contender, John McCain.

It is for this reason that I, a social activist at heart for the poor and for the good of all men, and a Christian conservative as it relates to the two most pivotal moral issues of our time--abortion and homosexuality--have decided to vote for Senator Barack Obama to become the next president of the United States.

Though the Republican party may attempt to portray it--God is not the God of one political party. He is not more concerned about small government than he is about helping those in need. He did not only send His Son to die for upper class and upper middle class whites. He does not want us to lock-up first time, young non-violent offenders for most of their young adult lives and throw away the keys. He does not want us to ignore the social causes of crime. He does want his people involved with both parties so that both parties ultimately represent His interests, which are the best interests of us all.

This is our opportunity. In this election, we have the ability to show the rest of America that "conservative Christians" can make a balanced, intellectual, and still spiritual choice for President. We can choose to vote for Barack Obama, not because we agree with him on every issue, but because we agree with him on many. And we can make our voices heard during his administration to affect the way he governs on issues with which we do disagree.

Make the change. Take the leap. Make a new choice, and encourage other like minded people to make this choice as well--praying all the way for Christ to grant Sen. Obama the wisdom to make the right decisions at the right time, not swayed by what's popular, but based on the right foundation--God's Word--at "such a time as this" in our nation's and the world's history.

--Pat Perry

Sure, Sarah Palin is an everywoman...

HeinousJ — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:49:14 EDT

Every woman's nightmare, that is!

No matter how much $$$ the RNC and/or the McCain campaign spends on her external image, she is tarnished from within. All the haute couture in the world can't hide that kind of ugliness.

A better investment for her image -- and the McCain campaign -- would have been a ball gag!

ROFLMAO

Cautiously Optimistic as a Small Business Owner

Courtney — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:56:29 EDT

In the last 2 elections, I was given the finger in my car for my bumper sticker, left nasty notes in my mailbox saying really vile things, had my yard sign stolen so many times I had to hang it from the second floor of my house, etc.

This election cycle, I have people pulling up next to me in their cars and smiling at me...SMILING....in Warren County, Ohio. One of the reddest counties in the State of Ohio! I am nervous about hoping for the best, i.e., when I went to bed Al Gore was President but when I woke up it was the Supreme Court nightmare from hell, but I am beginning to feel the momentum and I am thinking this election night will be happy, from the evening through the next morning.

I actually went to the Barack Obama website to confirm what I heard on a talk radio program; that I would receive a 50% credit for health insurance on my employees. It seems too good to be true. I can hire 2 new employees in the business I own with my husband if that is the case. I have been literally distraught over the fact that I cannot pay for the health care of my employees. I feel that it is a moral imperative to help provide health care for our employees. And I am so thrilled that if Barack Obama is elected, I will once again be able to do that.

7 years ago, I provided health insurance paid by our shop for all of our full-time employees. 6 years ago that became too expensive and I began to have to require our employees to pay a larger and larger portion of the cost of the insurance. We employee young, healthy people for the most part but it didn't matter, we could not afford to provide what is an essential part of a citizens life, health insurance.

I am hopeful that Barack Obama will be elected our next President so that my husband and I can fulfill, what I feel, are our moral obligations to our employees by again providing them with health insurance.

Thank you Barack Obama, and my prayers go out to your grandmother for a full and speedy recovery.

Women and Sarah Palin

Angelina from Greensboro, NC — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:11:04 EDT

The National Organization for Women has endorsed the Obamba-Biden ticket for just the reasons listed below. They usually do not endorse, but in this case believed it was absolutely necessary to take a stand. if you agree, please pass this on.

Women and Sarah Palin

Friends,

We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech, gun control, the separation of church and state,and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-(and possibly first)-most-powerful person on the planet.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and altogether devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and from which we've so demonstrably benefited.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.

If you agree that Palin is an irresponsible, even dangerous, choice for VP, please consider participating in this drive. Gentlemen, send this to the women you know and care for. I know it's tough to understand the way this choice is impacting women, but I have never seen so many women so outraged, angry and distraught in my entire life. We'd like our voices heard. If you agree, PLEASE FORWARD 20 WIDELY! If you send this to 20 women in the next hour, you could be blessed with a country that takes your concerns? seriously. Stranger things have happened.

FeministsForObama.org launches - spread the word!

DorotheeRH — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:11:49 EDT

Sarah Palin is a woman, so she’s probably the best candidate for women, right? WAY wrong.

FEMINISTS FOR OBAMA
Feminist Majority Launches Online Videos Targeting McCain

If McCain and Palin win, Women Lose.

Eleanor Smeal, President of Feminist Majority, says, “Obama/Biden are running on the strongest platform for women’s rights of any major party in U.S. history”.

That’s why Feminist Majority launched www.FeministsForObama.org, a side-by-side comparison of the Democratic and Republican nominees on four major women’s issues: Violence Against Women, Abortion and Contraception, Women and Work, and Breast Cancer and Health Care.

To reach as many people as possible, Feminist Majority created three striking web videos that illuminate some of the grave truths about the McCain/Palin record on women’s issues.

One in Six
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fChyeoMJc3U
“John McCain voted against funding to fight violence against women.”

Unholy Trinity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RFrEzQAOvM
“McCain voted against a program funding breast cancer research.”

Violation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w7ZZ5huKMk
“John McCain and Sarah Palin are running on a platform that seeks to outlaw a woman's right to an abortion even in cases of rape and incest.”

McCain on Breast Cancer

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You deserve to know where the candidates stand: http://www.feministsforobama.org/Issues_breastcancer.htm

McCain voted against funding breast cancer research if it meant taking away from military funds. Breast cancer affects all women, even the 370,000 women currently serving in the US Armed Forces. Since breast cancer attacks 1 in 8 women, that means 46,250 members of the US military will deal with breast cancer. And John McCain voted NO. It is not a niche issue, it’s America’s issue.

He voted against a bill that changed the course of breast cancer research.

McCain on Violence Against Women

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. You deserve to know where the candidates stand: http://www.feministsforobama.org/Issues_domesticviolence.htm

Senators Obama and Biden have sponsored and supported legislation, including funding, to reduce violence against women and to assist women survivors of domestic abuse. Biden authored the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Obama cosponsored the reauthorization of VAWA and authored legislation on violence against women as an Illinois State Senator.

Not only did McCain vote NO on VAWA, but he also failed to co-sponsor VAWA reauthorization although many Republican and Conservative Senators did.

Quick Facts

Did you know Senator McCain voted against establishing the Army's Breast Cancer Research Program? This program, which started modestly, appropriated hundreds of millions to Breast Cancer research.

Did you know Senator McCain opposes the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act? The Act failed to pass in 2008 because of a Republican filibuster and would have restored a woman’s right to fight pay discrimination in federal court.

Did you know Senator McCain has ducked questions on contraceptive insurance discrimination as recently as July 2008?

Visit www.FeministsForObama.org to read more.

* * *

If you would like more information, or to schedule an interview, please contact Eleanor Smeal, President of Feminist Majority: (703) 522-2214

How to Decipher CHANGE to Undecided Voters. (Helpful for Phone Calls)

Amy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:31:02 EDT

Introduce voters to CHANGE.

Obama in this campaign offers change in its most absolute way: change from failed policies but also change in terms of opening a new page which will burry the racial divide in this country. That change, as exciting as it sounds, needs to be defined so it doesn't scare older and less informed people, into voting for Obama. Change should not be perceived as ‘the unknown’ but “the fundamental”

You guys need to emphasize the long terms effect of Change so they understand the impact their vote will have on their children and future generations.

In terms of communicating race, I think you need to confront racism in a very considerate way so people understand this is not about electing the first African American president in history but electing the one who has the judgement to lead us out of this financial turmoil.
(Insist on the numbers: over 600,000 jobs lost)

When someone tells you the only reason why they wouldn't support Barack Obama is because he is black, tell them “this is not about Obama, this is about you and your children”.

When someone tells you, I like Sarah Palin tell them, “I hate to break it to you but chances are you're never going to sit with her. Once these elections are over, whoever wins will be presiding from the White House, and what will strictly matter then on are the ways in which their policies are going to affect your life, your children. Children can't vote but the impact of your vote, will be part of the legacy you are going to leave them.”

Talk about the power of democracy. (Insist on everything they are going against by supporting the McCain Palin ticket)

If we have a democracy today where women can vote it is because:

Þ Democratic President Woodrow Wilson stood up for Change in 1918 in support of the 19th amendment which forbid any state to deny any woman a right to political expression.

Þ It is the Democratic Party that promulgated Hillary to almost becoming the first female president.

Þ Sarah Palin goes against every thing Hillary has ever fought for:

Þ she is on a ticket which rejects Equal Pay for women.

Þ Insist on the fact that there are 10.4 million single moms in the United States who live with children younger than 18, up from 3.4 million in 1970 and that today more than ever, we need to support those moms so they can have a decent lifestyle and give to their children a sense of education. You can't say you support those women if you stand against equal pay and you stand against raising the minimum wage.

Þ And make the case that if you support the McCain-Palin ticket, you are also denying those proud American citizens the right to a better existence.

The Democratic Party never stopped fighting for the women's rights.

Þ In 1994, President Clinton provided $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution of the violent crime perpetrated against women by signing the Violence Against Women Act, which John McCain firmly opposed.

Þ This VAWA was drafted by Joe Biden who now runs on the democratic ticket as VP

Þ It is thanks to Biden that domestic violence became a public health policy and human rights concern. (You need to insist on that)

Þ According the National Organization for Women, which stepped out of its usual neutrality to proudly endorse the Obama-Bide ticket, every day in America:

Þ Four women die as a result of domestic violence bringing the number to 1,400 women a year.

Þ two to four million women of all races and classes are battered each year, and 170,000 of those violent incidents are serious enough to require hospitalization

Thanks to Joe Biden, this has become a real human rights concern.

If Hillary Clinton chooses to put pride aside and step up for a "rally for change" it is because she understands the vital necessity to all be on the road for Barack Obama.

By helping each others, women pave the way for their daughters, granddaughters in ensuring that they won't be denied any fundamental human rights.

As you know, many of these women are affected by the economy crisis and for McCain to stand firm and say that he won't raise the minimum wage is simply unacceptable when he supports sending 10bn$ monthly in US taxpayers' money to a country which has an 80bn $ surplus.

Yes, the war in Iraq needs to end and it will end under the presidency of Barack Obama.

Painting the surge as having worked does not take away the fact that this war, which killed 4,152 (as of September 3rd 2008) and wounded 30,568 American soldiers should have never been authorized. Isn’t it fair to remind people that 600, 000 Iraqi civilians, who had absolutely nothing to do with September 11th, were also killed in this war, along with thousands of other soldiers and journalists.

Careless of all the critics Obama has heard on his experience and position against the war, "soldiers have donated more presidential campaign money to Democrat Barack Obama than to Republican John McCain, a reversal of previous campaigns in which military donations tended to favor GOP White House hopefuls, a nonpartisan group reported Thursday", according to USA Today. (8/14/2008)

Yes, soldiers are putting their trust in Obama and so should we when it comes to handling the economy and the foreign policy of this country.

So when John McCain says he is going to fight, ask yourself for what…or better yet, against what? Is he going to keep fighting against the elements so desperately needed for Change, like funding for education, funding for healthcare…?

John McCain doesn’t have a record to claim that he can bring real change. What has long years in Washington ever brought to a candidate? If it mattered so much why is Palin in a position which puts her heart bit away from the presidency, when more experienced Republican candidates are available? If he just wanted to rally the right wing base, he could have chosen Huckabee, if he cared about the economy, he would have appointed Romney but instead he opted for someone with absolutely O experience.

Are you ready to have Palin as President and take a 10% risk of having change? Well after all, McCain voted 90% of the time with Bush and a 100% in 2008.

If Obama wins, America wins and therefore you win.

You should have banners saying If Obama wins, America wins / If Obama wins, you win.

A Woman's Worth

Angelina from Greensboro, NC — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:52:59 EDT

A Woman's Worth

We've come a long way baby
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
By Goldie Taylor

I have been a mother all of my adult life. A single working mother. I put off dating, took menial jobs far beneath my qualifications and baked my share of ginger bread cookies for PTA Night, all so that three incredible children could have a better life. I chose their lives over mine. I don't have to tell you that it wasn't easy. Unfortunately, my story, our story, is not unique.

We slept in cars, bought groceries with food stamps and prayed for a better day. When that wasn't enough, I put myself through school at Emory University and took a part-time job as a staff writer at the Atlanta Journal Constitution. That was over a decade ago.

Along the way, things got better. I've been an executive at two Fortune 500 companies and a practice director at two multinational public relations firms. Today, I own an advertising agency and I've authored two novels. A third and fourth are on the way, God willing. All of this was possible because somebody laid a brick or two on the road for me.

A few weeks ago, I woke in tears. It was my 40th birthday and certainly not a time for sadness. Rather, I cried in joy because for the first time I realized and could embrace the value of the struggle. The bright little girl, who once cried in my arms because we didn't know where we were going to live, was headed off to Brown University . The small boy who had been the "man of the house" far too soon was now truly a man. And the tiny, angelic baby who had come to this world precious and innocent just 15 months after him was now a 16 year old girl headed out to her first job interview.

For all of this, maybe I should be proud of a woman like Sarah Palin. Maybe, just maybe, I should be rejoicing in John McCain's selected running mate.

But I'm not.

I am not a "bed wetting liberal" nor am I a "right-wing zealot." What I am is a working mother. And I cry foul.

I won't, for a moment, denigrate her experience or lob spit balls at her family. I will, though, take issue with what she knows. Or more succinctly, what she does not know. Living in Alaska , I'm not sure how much she knows about the people living in inner city Baltimore I don't know how much she cares about the 125 murders this summer in Chicago I have no idea what she believes about HIV/ AIDS and the havoc it wrecks on Black women or the cancer rates in East St. Louis . She hasn't said nary a word about Hurricane Katrina or the infant mortality rates in Appalachia .

I do know that she's a life-time member of the NRA, a proponent of individuals who wielded the very weapons that killed my father and brother. I do know that she "lives really close to Russia ," but I'm not so certain she is ready for Putin. I know she wanted to ban books for public libraries and sex education in schools, but that her 17 year old is pregnant and preparing for a shotgun wedding. I know that she loves her husband enough to allow him (and probably did herself) use her office to settle a personal score--one that the McCain campaign would now like to cover up under a blanket of Juneau snow. I know that the Alaska Independent Party, and its secessionist platform, was enticing enough for her to attend its conference (and for her husband to become a card carrying member). Does she love her country? I'm sure. Enough to support those who want to leave it.

But I have no earthly idea what she knows (or could possibly know) about national domestic policy or foreign diplomacy. For all of her working class values, she never once mentioned the Middle Class in her diatribe that mocked her opponent's experience. Having been the mayor of Wasilla (pop. 6,000 at the time) and governor of Alaska (a state a smaller than the county I live in) for a little over a year, she felt she was qualified to do that. And obviously, so did John McCain.

If she's qualified, then so am I.

But in this country I love, she has been afforded the ability to run. The very constitution she says doesn't apply to the men at Guantanamo says she can. But this is about more than that.

As Gloria Steinem said in a recent Los Angeles Times editorial, "Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie."

The good news is thanks to Shirley Chisholm, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Angela Davis, Condoleeza Rice, Anita Hill, Madeline Albright, Maxine Waters, Kathleen Sebelius, Hilary Rodham Clinton and a slew of others, there are 18 million proverbial cracks in the ceiling. Our collective political and economic power is due to the strides (and leaps) they, and others, took on my behalf.

I am grateful. I am deeply humbled to stand on the bricks they'd laid before me.

But, whatever our struggle was (and is) that last thing I want is to be patronized. Just as I cannot support just any African American who decides to offer themselves up for public service, I will not toss my vote to someone just because we share the same chromosome mix. To do so would dishonor the vow I made to my children, to myself. I did not vote for Al Sharpton, wasn't old enough (nor would I have) voted for Jesse Jackson and I certainly will not support Sarah Palin. Identity politics, especially in this case, are a sham of the worst order.

When I cast my vote, it will be for people who will lay more bricks for people like me. It will be for people who will put diplomacy before war, challenge us all to provide healthcare for the sick, help another child go to college, and check the special interests in Washington .

This fall, I'm not looking for a woman. I'm looking for a brick layer.

I could care less if that person hasn't spent "enough" time in Washington or can "properly field dress a moose". I could care less if that person likes hockey, soccer, football or table tennis. I could care less if they graduated from Harvard or the University of Iowa I'm a Christian, but I could care less if they are down with Deuteronomy, Leviticus or Numbers. I want them to uphold the Constitution.

So no, I will not sit idly by as they attempt to suspend habeas corpus at Guantanamo Bay, engage wiretaps on American citizens without a warrant, and hide behind executive privilege when they are caught firing attorney generals based on how well they tow the Republican line. I won't let them cost us $12 billion a month fighting a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged. Not while working people lose their homes to predatory lenders and watch as we bail out the financial institutions that created the housing crisis.

I will not, in the name of history, vote for a woman like Sarah Palin who does not share my values.

But here's what I will do.

I will continue raising money for Barack Obama. I will get on the phone again and call people in distant states I've never met. I will e-mail, call, and knock on doors until the final vote is cast. I do this, not because he shares my skin, but because I admire his principals and he shares my values. I do this because Barack Obama is more than a community organizer, he is a bricklayer. And he sees -- just as he sees the light in Michelle's eyes -- my struggle, my worth as a woman.

Change is Coming

Barbra — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:21:39 EDT

Yes, we can! (But we need your help.)

If ever there was a time to donate a couple of hours for a good cause, that time is NOW. We have a massive effort to hit the streets and talk with voters, and we need YOU (and your friends) to help meet our goals.

Please contact your local Obama Headquarters for volunteer shifts available in the next few weeks, and be sure to sign up.

Thank you on behalf of all the women who know if we win Stark County, we can win Ohio, and we can win this election!

- anti-Palin rally in Alaska

Obama Twin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:08:56 EDT

http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/rally.asp#photo7

Look at the photos.

snopes.com: Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally

Photographs show women at an anti-Palin rally held in Anchorage, Alaska.

The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the

lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made

signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that

Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men.

The Spirit of Strength-Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Nina Calahan-James, Freelance Writer — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:16:30 EDT

We think of this story as the sprit of an Angel. This turned into a high profile case, not because of who I was. By far, I was viewed as a young high achiever, earning two degrees, a female preparing for her college graduation.

There were a few men in my family that stood up with warrior spears like they never stood before. My brother, my uncle and male cousins were like warriors, fighting to stop the violence directed at their sister, their niece their cousin, me. They took a gigantic leap into the battle to stop domestic violence; to stop the violence against women. Even when it was physically challenging for me to arrive to a court date, I made it! Always by my side, my Brother, triumphal fought like a king protecting his kingdom, for my father had passed away. It was all too much to bear.

At that time, some of the women in my family were passive by nature and very protective. For a variety of reasons, none of which I agreed with, some of the women wanted it to be kept Secret. My father always taught me to stand for what I believed in, even if I stood alone. Now he’s gone. I had to make a stand for what was right.

The negative thoughts, funny faces, frowns of despair, looks and sighs of embarrassment and regret, comments of just ignore it deal with it, get over it, it happens all the time, have plastic surgery and most of all DON'T Tell Anyone else! … this could all be overwhelmingly discouraging. NEVER not once, could I quit and give up. If I did stop speaking to people about it, I did not stop the fight for justice. God gave this life, to me. I believed and still believe, HE can do extraordinary things for us, far beyond what we are willing to even imagine.

I was determined to fight, I fought and fought. I was strong in my faith and I knew my God would stay with me even in the corners of my room as I cried and cried out to the Lord. I lost friends but I did not lose my LIFE! The army grew; warriors in their sleep arose to fight with me and for me. Eyewitnesses came and presented themselves. My own education was used against me…Something along the lines of ”A very bright, articulate and educated female should have seen the attack and the violence coming, someone studying psychology” Said the assailants’ attorney…

A good friend of mine from Taiwan, said, “I no prejudice person, I love her, she’s my American friend, but I now afraid of black men and I want to return to my country. I don’t understand American Government! Why tolerate and allow senseless crimes and violence on women. I no understand”. She stated clearly. I’ll never forget her words and how this malicious ordeal scared her and her views of American Black Men. I felt responsible for her leaving our great country, America. Enthusiastically she willingly came to America to become a cardiologist. She did not come to America to be a victim nor a witness to a violent crime against women.

I was compelled to help teach and educate others including the police; how NOT to victim blame; HOW To Approach a victim of this awful crime on SIGHT; What to say and what not to say

I recall thinking, Lord God, I’m supposed to be an educated female and I am struggling with what has happen to me and the criminal justice system. ; I thought how much harder could this be, especially for someone less fortunate, for someone who didn’t graduate from high school, for someone a girl who didn’t have a father in the house, or the absence of close male family, or for someone who was promiscuous, for someone who didn’t have a church family, or someone with no support system, someone with a criminal record, or someone who knew their assailant or just someone living in fear!

I thought, I have to make it, I have to fight I, have to win, and I have to help others!!!!

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, if you are or have been abused tell someone! Be your own best friend! Call a crisis hot line. Sometimes making the first call can be very difficult. Making the decision to place the call can become your lifeline! Call your local hotline or the U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233

If you like more information you can send an email to info@divasusa.org

Computer use can be monitored and is impossible to completely clear. If you are
afraid your Internet and/or computer usage might be monitored, please use a
computer at your local library or other location.

Or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233

Why It Is So URGENT and Essential That Women Excercise Their Right To Vote!

Bridget Petrella — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:00:24 EDT

I was sent the following passage in an e-mail with photos of these brave and unwavering women. PLEASE-- Send this passage along to each and every woman you know... NO MATTER HOW THEY INTEND TO VOTE! It does NOT matter if we agree or disagree on the issues at hand, what matters is that we vote! So many women before us have spilled blood for this... and... IT IS NOW OUR RIGHT TO HONOR THESE WOMEN! This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

Lucy Burns
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

Dora Lewis
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on November 15th, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food-- all of it colorless slop-- was infested with worms.

Alice Paul
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because-- why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining? Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was... with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/history/1776-1866.html

Download the Time Educational Kit and Learn More:
http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/pdf/student.pdf

I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order. It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.' Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Remember to vote.

FYI-- In Canada the women of Manitoba got the right to vote in 1916 thanks to the efforts of Nellie McClung and her colleagues. The rest of Canadian women were allowed to vote in federal elections when the Women's Franchise Act was passed in 1918. However, it was not until 1940 that the women of Quebec got the right to vote in provincial elections - the last province to accord them this right of suffrage

90% Dutch vote OBAMA, 87% Germans, 75 French and Spain, Chances for Women

Unico from Europe — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:55:24 EDT

Dear American friends,

Just to give you an overview on how the World perceives the Candidates. Every day we are informed of the way the candidates are doing. I already signalled to you that the Europeans (see comments made by Dutch Finance Minister, www.nos.nl ) are not satisfied with the US. The US is not taking the lead behind the window of rhetoric’s. And Europe is now going to speed up the process of securing its own financial institutions. America does not have the time to walk behind and must show leadership for the benefit of your people. You have to take this seriously, because time is running out for you.

Score card:

In the Netherlands 90% of my fellow Dutch countrymen (the inventors of the stock market!*) are voting for Obama. Congratulations. In a congress meeting the other day 87% voted also for Obama. We know quality when we see it! As you know we Dutch are double minded, on the one hand we are from the land of the referents, meaning being compassionate with the less fortunate and having a strong sell reflecting conscious. We know when we do wrong and we spent per inhabitant the most of all countries on projects aiming at strengthening peoples lives in third world countries. On the other hand we are keeping our hand on our money. We are not willing to spend a dime extra if needed. You have to go Dutch to understand the saying “go Dutch”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Dutch

The conclusion of all of this is that if the Dutch trust Obama, which means a strong sign of faith in the person. The Dutch believe that he can do better on the economy and ethnics in politics.

Our neighbouring country Germany has an overall vote of 85% in favour of Obama.
In comparison to the Netherlands Germany is more relaying on the industry and the forces of efficiency and production. Germany is the land of writers, poets and production.

In France and Spain 75% is in favour of Obama. I know a lot of people in Spain and they like Obama because he is jumping over party lines and can do also good for all people including the Latin-Americans. He is not excluding anybody!

• * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_History_of_the_Netherlands_(1500_-_1815)

Dutch website: http://www.verkiezingenusa.nl/index.html

Please continue and focus on what is really relevant for the American People.
My grandmother who was a referent in here life would like to see Obama to bring more peace and harmony to the world, focus more on the real issues at stake including the questions to be answered in the long run (how to deal with our world now, so that our children and grandchildren have the same opportunities in life).

Hope that Obama sets the example like great leaders before him also did (Mandela, Ghandi, Roosevelt, Alleta Jacobs*, Al Gore and Ms. Clinton and many more).

You know, the saddest thing about this election is the Palin pick of Mc Cain. Would he have picked a highly qualified woman, than women of over the world would have benefited from this. Now everybody knows that he did it out of opportunistic reasons and that is in and in sexist tic. I hope that Obama – when elected as President – will pick highly qualified women, because they are there, need it and deserve representation at the higest ranks because that will shine on all does ladies who seek for the same equality in life as they fought for too. And you know, were women are educated and are having changes in live they form the backbone of civilisation. Countries with high women education rates have higher rates on welth and democratic values as well. Personally, and being a man, I am very angry at Mc Cain that he disrespected the tough history of women fighting for equal rights. If you are listening to Ms. Palin from the perspective of a woman you would most probably feel very neglected, disrespected and abused.

• * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aletta_Jacobs

5 October 2008, telegraaf.nl

STUTTGART - Als Europa op 4 november naar de stembus mocht om de nieuwe Amerikaanse president te kiezen, dan zou de Democratische kandidaat Barack Obama winnen. Meer dan 90 procent van de Nederlanders zou op hem stemmen.
Dat blijkt uit een peiling onder lezers van het magazine Reader's Digest. Van de Duitsers prefereert 85 procent de Democraat boven Republikein John McCain. In Frankrijk en Spanje is driekwart van de bevolking Obama-fan.

In andere delen van de wereld heeft Obama ook de voorkeur. Hij zou winnen als de Russen (52 procent), Taiwanezen (94 procent), Indiërs of Zuid-Afrikanen (beide 74 procent) het voor het zeggen hadden.

NOW endorsement

Elise — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:32:30 EDT

I received the following from a family member who is a former board member of NOW, the National Organization of Women. I suspect it has been posted somewhere, but I have not yet seen it on the site despite being subscribed to 10 groups. So, at the risk of redundancy:

FYI: The National Organization for Women has endorsed the Obamba-Biden ticket for just the reasons listed below. They usually do not endorse, but in this case believed it was absolutely necessary to take a stand. If you agree, please pass this on.

Subject: Women and Sarah Palin

Friends:

We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible (?) decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech, gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears -- to say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-(and possibly first)-most-powerful person on the planet.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and altogether devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and from which we've so demonstrably benefited.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters.

We want to disagree, publicly. If you agree that Palin is an irresponsible, even dangerous, choice for VP, please consider participating in this drive. Gentlemen, send this to the women you know and care for. I know it's tough to understand the way this choice is impacting women, but I have never seen so many women so outraged, angry and distraught in my entire life. We'd like our voices heard.

If you agree, PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! If you send this to 20 women in the next hour, you could be blessed with a country that takes your concerns? Seriously. Stranger things have happened.

It's Official... She's Staying Through the Election!

Brady — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:25:41 EDT

I'm happy to report that Granny Gobama has decided to stay in Ohio through the election. She already sent her request to California for her absentee ballot and has changed her flight home. The project that we launched together - 85andchange.com - has been more popular than we could have imagined and after all our effort, we could not imagine being apart on Election Day. So my grandmother will be moving over to my house to stay for a few weeks.

Together we will focus more energy on her blog, and try to get her out to even more events. This will also allow her to have further face-to-face conversations with some of her older friends here in Ohio and tell them again why she is supporting Barack Obama. Maybe... just maybe... she'll be able to convince another voter, as she was able to convince her Florida voting Son!

Go Obama!!

Our Future: You Hold the Power!

Anne from Sausalito, CA — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:27:22 EDT

Don't just get mad, Organize!

Please help to raise awareness regarding the different worlds that would be created under the Obama vs. McCain administrations.

We are grateful for your participation:

1) Please Watch the video and post a comment on our blog --> http://www.youholdthepower08.com/

2. Please Spread the video to your networks of women --> http://www.youholdthepower08.com/

3) Moreover, Please engage in conversations with the women you know, especially in the battle ground states (Ohio, Penn, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada). We have attached 2 charts of talking points so you can feel well informed to engage in heart-full conversations about exactly what is at stake in this pivotal election.

In gratitude, Anne

From the view of ONE USA 39 year old female: a political lesson, 2008 (pass it or trash it)

Kimberly Smith — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:13:41 EDT

(from the journal of Kimberly Smith, Sept. 20, 2008)

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I am sending this to MOST of the people in my email list because:
I feel so strongly about it, and I am expressing myself and my personal views, exposing my thoughts and making myself vulnerable, I realize that.
I am not doing it to provoke angry thoughts towards myself.
I am doing it so that I am sure that I have done my part to make people THINK about their decisions. (Some of us have still NOT done that)

If you feel you want to respond, PLEASE DO. I INVITE THAT.
I am looking for answers to questions that bother me so.
I am not looking for an argument. Just a discussion and gathering of thoughts.

I know some of you vote Republican. This is NOT a letter made just to piss you off.
These are my true, sincere and heartfelt thoughts.
So give me a break, K?

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

Last Images of Unity

Iowa Supporter — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:00:45 EDT

Yes, suggestions from the gallery, or from the trenches. Here in Iowa, when I call voters at home, I still find quite a few former Hillary supporters. It is helpful to them to hear from other former Hillary supporters, and to compare Hillary and S. Palin: apples and oranges comparison!
To reach out to more former Hillary supporters, I suggest a GIRL POWER EVENT, in which 'girls with power' gather for a photo op or rally with Barack Obama. I think this might help show the strength of tthe Democratic party in terms of women's issues.

Secondly, I think an event which showcases Barack and Biden talking together, some kind of friendly conversing about the issues might help some voters remember the partnership between them. It seems crucial to highlight this when McCain-Palin highlight their partnership.

I know these are more PR issues than real issues, but in these last few weeks, these images may cement support from all Democrats.

Obama is Right on Healthcare!

ShaVonne — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:58:46 EDT

Every day, hundreds of thousands of Americans struggle to make ends meet. Some working two jobs at a time others who cannot even find work. It is unacceptable for McCain to determine that it is a responsibility and not a right to have healthcare. The vast majority of those who do not have coverage is due to the fact that they simply cannot afford it and the premium may be a choice between paying for rent, heat or food. Their daily struggles show their commitment to their responsibilities. Healthcare is a right that every American should have.

Wednesday: Michelle Obama Returns to New Hampshire

Brian - NH HQ — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:44:03 EDT

This Wednesday, October 8th, please join Michelle Obama for a rally in Keene, NH, where she will talk about Barack's vision for creating the kind of change we need.

Change We Need Rally
with Michelle Obama

Keene State College
L.P. Young Student Center
24 Madison Street
Keene, NH

Wednesday, October 8th
Gates open: 10:30 a.m.
Program begins: 11:30 a.m.

Tickets are not required but are encouraged.

For tickets, visit http://nh.barackobama.com/KeeneMO

The event is free and open to the public.

For security reasons, do not bring bags. Please limit personal items. No signs or banners permitted.

Debate or Pageant

ShaVonne — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:10:20 EDT

Having anxiously awaited the Vice Presidential Debate, I watched with an open mind ready to hear the positions of both candidates directly from their perspective. I never took for granted that Governor Palin would recover from the embarrassing collage of interviews leading up to the debate in which she proved that she is out of touch with not only mainstream politics but within her own perimeter as well.

As a woman I find myself incessantly offended by Gov. Palin’s demeanor which suggests that women should utilize female gender as a form of persuasion. Respectively both Senator Hilary Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, two women of stature, intelligence and power have not only earned respect but command it. Never have they appeared to step away from the politics and the issues at large to draw support based on congeniality.

The struggle for women’s rights is ongoing and should be taken seriously. Politics is not the place to gain undue personal spotlight in a way that is not flattering to Americans and to women. If there was any one thing that was proven in last night’s debate by Gov. Palin it was that she is uncomfortable in an arena that forces her to speak on issues for which she is not scripted. While she was a labeled as a shining star after her speech at the Republican National Convention, we must attribute that to her well prepared speech, inclusive of sarcasm, witty one-liners and mockery of critical members of society such as community organizers.

The role of the Vice President is not scripted. It is not a role that you audition for and are awarded the job if you read the “script” the best. Gov. Palin very slyly avoided answering Gwen Iffl’s questions when she did not have a scripted answer available to respond. She therefore kept swinging the dialogue back to the topic of energy in many cases, an area that she feels most comfortable. Even at one point rudely stating, "I may not answer the questions the way you want me to and the way the moderator might want, but I'm going to speak to the American people". I even found it odd that she referred to Gwen Iffl as “the moderator” and not by name.

Again, another form of disrespect not only to Gwen Iffl but to the millions of people looking on who needed to hear the answers to the question asked. Many undecided voters looked on trying to decide on who will be next to run our country. To be elusive in a public forum in today’s climate is simply irresponsible and disingenuous.

Smiling is natural and can be warming, but winking? I would expect to see excessive winking in a beauty pageant and even then is it acceptable? In my place of business, amongst my colleagues and even on the street – this is disrespectful and flirtatious behaviors are meant to change the nature of the interaction. It is also disrespectful to the media at large to refer to them as “pundits” which was repeated last night by Gov. Palin and was meant to be used in a derogatory manner against the mass media who in the recent weeks have revealed direct commentary from her in which she was unable to rely on knowledge and expertise even in areas that she should have basic if not executive level knowledge.

The Vice Presidency is not about “your” comfort zone but that of the American people that you strive to serve.

“Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future”, says Palin, however she never bothered to lay out any details of a formative plan for the future on any area including education when she made this statement.

How about this comment, “… My brother, who I think is the best school teacher in the year, and here's a shout-out to all those third graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate”. How bias is that? If you are going to give a “shout out” per say, then why not to all of the hundreds of thousands of children out there whose parents sat with them watched and waiting to hear plans for relief and for change?

Also stated by Gov. Palin, “…your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and God bless her. Her reward is in heaven.” Is that appropriate? Is she speaking on behalf of God? More importantly is the issue that for many teachers in our country working in poor conditions, under paid and overextended, their reward stems from the premise of reaching one to teach one. The rewards are long overdue for many of our teachers, here and now.

I am not comfortable with the body language and verbiage of Gov. Palin as a Vice President hopeful or potential President. I am not seeking split personalities interacting with the American people one way and foreign leaders in another. I would therefore expect that what we see is what we get with her.

Bringing it full circle I must say that if Barack Obama as black man would have used terms such as “gosh”, “darn right”, “straight up” and/or doggone it, the public would have has a field day and characterized him as “uncouth” and probably even “ghetto” simply for having black roots. It would be made well known that his presence would be unwelcome on the forefront of handling this nation’s affairs. If Hilary Clinton was being evasive and winking, smiling and speaking casually about the nation’s position on critical issues, we as the people would see her as conceited and intellectually naïve.

Last I checked, the definition of a “maverick” was an independent person who has no allegiance to any party or group. Since they have coined this term as their motto, how does either McCain or Palin fit these criteria? Is this the true hypocrisy of their campaign?

Palin tripped on her soccer ball.

Tanya from Rochester, NY — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:44:35 EDT

When we want change in America, we want to hear about how you have made changes in business. How many jobs have you created? What are you going to do to help Middle Class America boost our economy? All Palin could say last night was that she would speak frankly to the American people and that she had an energy plan, oh and don't forget she's a soccer mom. Do they think women of America are stupid? We run our homes, we make our meager paycheck stretch until men think we are miracle workers. My husband told his finace professor he didn't need his class because I do a better job than he ever could. Women are multi-taskers and we are good at it, we have had to be. Palin is just a pretty face on bad policies. Well, this woman ain't buying her stuff.

Biden impressed me last night because he actually addressed the questions asked. Votes that are made are so full of pork extras, it's no wonder people can see both sides of any vote. If you vote against billions in spending but it was attached to a tax cut you are against the tax cut. I believe in Obama and I believe in Biden.

I am a convert, I was against this team at first. I like to be fairminded, though, so I got educated. I listened to debates, read policies and took a real look at big picture. Obama is right on the money, I won't say I agree 100% but he has what it takes to guide this country into real reform. Health care, energy, Iraq, and many others are all hot topics right now. No one is going to change it all overnight. We as Americans have to stay on top of what we want and demand the change. I am supporting the team that will push our country in a better direction. I am tired of being hated by the world because we live a good life.

We are AMERICANS and it's time we remember why we want to be here!

McCain hurting for Women

Math Princess — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:31:34 EDT

Just got off the phone with McCain's Centennial office. I asked about tickets for his Women ONLY Town Hall meeting, still available doors open in 4 hours and they still have tickets. I don't them that I'm already downtown and I didn't want to drive all the way down there for tickets... here's the kicker... "that's okay", "we'll have them at will call for you at 1:30". HAHAHAHAHHAH SAD!! 1,000 person venue and they can't even give them away! I didn't get the tickets because they asked for my name and I don't want to be on that list. Can't wait for the debate tonight! Hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did.

Field Blog #1: Barbara from Londonderry

Colin@NH HQ — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:14:10 EDT

Two weeks ago, Barbara from Londonderry responded to an e-mail about volunteer opportunities and ventured into the Derry office to see what she could do to help out. Excitedly, I showed Barbara around the office and told her about our efforts to reach out to undecided voters in her community. Despite my enthusiasm, Barbara was somewhat hesitant about jumping on the phone and talking to people she didn’t know. “What am I supposed to say?” she wondered. “Well, why are you here?” I asked her. After thinking for a second, this is what Barbara shared with me:

I am a grandmother and every time I look at my one year old grandson I know that this is his future. I don't know what I can do, but it makes me want to do something.

“Say that on the phone” I responded, “share with your neighbors why you know this election is so important.” Barbara then got on the phone and spoke with senior citizens in Londonderry about why she knows we need to elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden this November – to put our economy back on track, to save social security, to bring our troops home from Iraq and to ensure a better future for her grandson.

Barbara came back to the office the next day and has come back many times since. It is people like Barbara who are truly making the difference in Londonderry, in New Hampshire, and all across the country.

If YOU donn’t know where your Local Field Office is yet, click HERE. Whether it be calling some of your neighbors, going door to door, helping with data entry or bringing dinner down to the office – there is a way for you to help out. There are only 5 weeks left before New Hampshire voters go to the polls to cast their votes. I hope that you’ll join Barbara and the millions of volunteers across the country who are doing their part to bring the change we need to Washington!

This guest Field blog was written by Emily Rocheleau, Field Organizer for Londonderry and Derry.

Come visit Emily at the Derry office:
Derry
9 East Broadway
Derry, NH 03038
(603) 437-3538

Please call or if you have any questions, email NH@BarackObama.com.

No Nukes is Good Nukes In 2008 and Beyond

ProgressiveVoice — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:47:28 EDT

The overall Energy solutions within the Obama campaign are good aswell as the Green Energy Plan for America.

The only part of Obama Energy Plan that needs to be excluded are Drilling for Oil off Shore McCain wants it and its not only bad for the Environment but the oil return will take if anything 10-15 years if that to find some Oil.

Its a bad Idea Senator Obama don't fall for McCains Energy Plan its no good.

The other area that many are concerned about is Nuclear Power Plants .

Since the early days of the Anti Nuclear Movement which I would bet many of you were involved in over 35 years ago.

Seabrook New Hampshire for one back in the late 70's people protested in the streets against Nuclear because of the Radiation leaks and other major problems with these types of energy plants.

Just recently in an investigative report in the Valley Advocate talks about a Public move to finally shut Vermont Yankee down I suggest all Obama supporters and Obama's campaign staff on Energy Policy read this here is the link http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=8218

Here is a picture of a fire burning at the Planet in the front of this Nuclear Plant not good in 2007 .

Here is another picture of the same Nuclear Plant where they have used Duct tape on a leaking pipe.

Photographer Unknown Photo of area where the stop valve that malfunctioned at Vermont Yankee on August 30,2007

Here is the link to the editorial from again the Valley Advocate Newspapers

http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=3551

Remember Three Mile Island anyone i do .

I also have an excellent link which gives information on the dangers of Nuclear Power.

Go to this link aswell Senator Obama I know your concerned with the waste disposal of Nuclear Power Plants thats another reason we cannot build anymore Nukes in this Country.

Anyway here is the link http://www.nonukes.org/ .

Don't listen to the Oil Industry nor the Nuclear Industry they represent whats bad for America and the World we live in period.

Tell Mccain your for real Alternative Clean Energy not Nuclear Power Plants first Mccain said he wanted 100 new Nuclear Plants lastnights debate he said 45 new Nuclear Plants .

The bottomline is Nuclear is unhealthy for our Children and their Childrens ,Children .

Here is a youtube video about Fusion Energy which is not Radioactive as Fission Energy is Senator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn04nIby-gY

Here another good site http://www.generalfusion.com/

What I am basically suggesting Senator Obama is that you take Nuclear Power out of your Energy Plan and instead ad Fusion Power which is clean and safe.

I would like everyone on the grassroots to learn about this Alternative to Radioactive Plants aswell as the Obama Campaign Staff .

Thanks for listening Obama/Biden 08

No Bailout For Wall Street

ProgressiveVoice — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:02:38 EDT

Senator Obama as a Progressive Democrat and a supporter of your campaign I am asking you to vote in the Senate No to Bailing out CEO's and the mis managed Comapies they ran on Wall Street.

700 Billion dollars could feed every man women and child in American Build new Alternative Energy homes and help people get back on their feet who are now without a home on Main Street America.

Senator and the Senators Campaign Staff please remember Change needs to be Progresive .

We can nolong rush to the aid of Big corperations that with this Bailout the CEO's will walk ways with Millions in their Pockets while people who are lower and Middle Class Working people get nothing.

During Tax season The government gave people back 600 dollars or more depending if they were married or single because of the Economy remember that.

Govenment gives American Main street 600 dollars but will give Wall Street 700 Million.

I see alot of rich people getting very rich on this Bailout.

Senator Obama you need to call for Public Hearings before any vote yes or no is done by congress or the Senator.

If McCain wants to Bailout the Wall Street Companies let him make that big mistake.

The American people must be heard in Washington and this weekend no one shoud support a

quick Bailout .

In the end its going to make the Economy worse then it is now.

The Democratic Party should truly stand with the American Working Class and against this Bailout .

Does anyone in the Obama Campaign hear me on this Blog ?

I speak for many Americans on Main Street.

This is just a bad idea .

Something yes needs to be done but this is insanity and not the solution.

Listen to the American people Senator on this no one wants this Bill passed .

Thanks for listening

Obama/Biden 08 Lets Change Washington Now

E-Verify program @ the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security and it's effects on immigrants and refugees

Richard Owl Mirror — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:35:09 EDT

~@~ National Security Debate ~@~

There are many facets which make up National Security and Immigration, I would like to focus on the E-Verify program @ the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security and it's effects on immigrants and refugees.

E-Verify (formerly the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program) is an online system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration (SSA). Participating employers can check the work status of new hires online by comparing information from an employee's I-9 form against SSA and Department of Homeland Security databases. More than 69,000 employers are enrolled in the program, with over 4 million queries run so far in fiscal year 2008.

E-Verify is free and voluntary, and is the best means available for determining employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers.

~@~

Employment Eligibility Verification and Antidiscrimination Protections

NILC Advocacy and Services
Since 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) has been dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of low income immigrants and their family members. In the past 20 years, NILC has earned a national reputation as a leading expert on immigration, public benefits, and employment laws affecting immigrants and refugees. Our extensive knowledge of the complex interplay between immigrants' legal status and their rights under U.S. laws is an essential resource for legal aid programs, community groups, and social service agencies across the country.

WHAT WE DO
Policy Analysis & Advocacy.
Impact Litigation.
Building Coalitions & Capacity.
Technical Assistance.
Trainings and Conferences.
Publications.

NILC's Website.
Our website contains NILC memos and analyses, articles from our newsletters indexed by topic, community education materials, and links to key organizational and government web sites.

http://www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/ircaempverif/

~@~

http://www.cato.org/videohighlights/index.php?highlight_id=84

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10X7BO6uvPo
Fact-checking Glenn Beck

~@~

Immigration of individual human-beings across imaginary borders has occurred throughout mankind's existence. Hunters and Gatherers crosses into competitors fields and farms. Industrious human-beings create commerce opportunities, which in turn demands the employ of a workforce. I believe my description is an example of a basic human right.

This function within any society should not be impeded yet, it must be managed due to National Security concerns. It is obvious that the one requirement necessary to manage such a function is the ability to identify all individuals who are within our National borders. With the advent of technology, this task has become easier. The core problem with implementing such a program so it functions efficiently is cooperation by all parties.

I do not believe the millions of people who cross over our border, under extremely dangerous conditions are all criminals. It's simply the method of least resistance due to the rules for application of entry to our country is impossible for most to comply.

I have advocated that using technology such as an Identification card which can be produced as easily as we obtain our drivers licenses, preferably one-day service which would be valid for a 6-month employment stay could relieve this problem.

This identification card could also be used as the holders Employment ID card at their place of employment. As easily as an ATM card, the user slides it when they are clocking in and again when clocking out at the end of the day. This way, the government can verify constant employment and be alerted if the individual is not complying with the agreement for obtaining the entry card.

Most immigrants come to America to work as seasonal workers, therefore I believe a 6 month time-frame would be an agreement those seeking entry would voluntarily comply with. Cooperation is the key to success.

I believe granting honest, hard-working people the opportunity to purchase this entry card for $183 plus a background check, would relieve much of the problem of illegal immigration. Employers would be more able to be in 100% compliance with the Immigration laws because they need only opt-in to using the Immigration Time Clock system. Naturally there would be penalties for non-compliance yet, I believe companies would welcome such a solution as a safeguard against improperly being accused for hiring illegal workers. Perhaps we could also collect $1.00 for every hour worked by a migrant worker rather than them paying into Social Security. This money could be designated towards a specified program or budgetary need.

~@~

What have the candidates said about resolving the National Security implications of Immigration ?

http://www.barackobama.com/ vs. http://www.johnmccain.com

Let's be clear: John McCain is offering nothing of substance

Richard Owl Mirror — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:16:15 EDT

Senator Obama will strive to provide tax cuts for the middle class, affordable health care, and a new energy economy that creates millions of jobs. He will seek to end the war in Iraq responsibly, focus on defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban, and restore America's standing in the world.

Senator John McCain offered no solutions for the challenges Americans are facing in their daily lives. Nothing but more of the same failed Bush policies at home and abroad that he has supported more than 90% of the time in the Senate.

An example of how failed a Leadership role John McCain would bring to the Presidency is Obama's assertion that McCain "said the other day that he would not meet potentially with the prime minister of Spain, because he -- you know, he wasn't sure whether they were aligned with us," a reference to McCain's repeated refusal -- during an interview with Radio Caracol WSUA 1260 AM in Miami -- to say that as president, he would refuse to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. As evidence of the truth for this claim, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann reportedly wrote that "there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred" and that McCain in fact "refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview." Indeed, during the debate, McCain did not assert that he "misspoke" during the Radio Caracol interview, but rather responded to Obama by saying, "I'm not going to set the White House visitors schedule before I'm president of the United States."

Questions exist, whether McCain forgot which country Zapatero leads, got confused about Spain's geographic relationship to Latin America, or confused Zapatero with the Zapatista rebels from Mexico. In either instance, this incident reveals a danger of possible confrontation could explode due to his complete lack of understanding World Leaders and events.

During the debate Obama said, "Senator McCain mentioned Henry Kissinger, who's one of his advisers, who, along with five recent secretaries of state, just said that we should meet with Iran -- guess what -- without precondition. This is one of your own advisers," and, "When we talk about preconditions -- and Henry Kissinger did say we should have contacts without preconditions -- the idea is that we do not expect to solve every problem before we initiate talks." During the debate, McCain repeatedly purported to correct Obama by saying Kissinger would not support presidential-level talks with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Each time, Obama made clear that was not his contention -- that, instead, he was accurately saying Kissenger supported talks between the United States and Iran at levels below the president.

Was John McCain simply confused or was he attempting to provide a misdirection because Senator Obama clearly showed how Senator McCain doesn't even understand what his own Advisors are advising ?

Obama's comments during the debate accurately reflected Kissinger's comments during a September 15 forum. Kissinger said, "Well, I am in favor of negotiating with Iran. And one utility of negotiation is to put before Iran our vision of a Middle East, of a stable Middle East, and our notion on nuclear proliferation at a high enough level so that they have to study it. And, therefore, I actually preferred doing it at the secretary of state level so that we -- we know we're dealing with authentic -- with authentic proposals." Asked by CNN's Frank Sesno, "To put at a very high level right out of the box?" Kissinger responded:

Initially, yes. And I always believed that the best way to begin a negotiation is to tell the other side exactly what you have in mind and what you are -- what the outcome is that you're trying to achieve so that they have something that they can react to.
Now, the permanent members of the Security Council, plus Japan and Germany, have all said nuclear weapons in Iran are unacceptable. They've never explained what they mean by this. So if we go into a negotiation, we ought to have a clear understanding of what is it we're trying to prevent. What is it going to do if we can't achieve what we're talking about?
But I do not believe that we can make conditions for the opening of negotiations. We ought, however, to be very clear about the content of negotiations and work it out with other countries and with our own government.

One final observation I have regarding John McCain

McCain Suspends Campaign to Work on Wall St Plan

The Arizona senator announced he would suspend his campaign, pull television advertising, halt fundraising and return to Washington on Thursday to try to help negotiations over a stalled $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street.

"We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved," McCain said, urging Obama to join him.

~@~

I believe Senator John McCain made a strategic blunder in his forcefully and public move in going to Washington DC for discussions on the Financial crisis. John McCain used Bluster to place his actions into the limelight and boxed himself in to a retraction. I believe if he had true concerns as a servant of the people, he could have silently traveled of his own accord to Washington DC and offer his assistance toward solving a problem, then not having acheived his objective, simply call and cancel his participation in the debate at the last moment.

This shows me a lack of thoughtful planning and leads me to view his actions as reckless. It's akin to someone going out publically and making sure their neighbors see them praying to God or announcing they have performed good works, all the while seeking the approval of those witnesses alone.

A senior McCain adviser made clear McCain would not attend a Friday debate unless a congressional rescue deal was sealed.

"If the package is reached and the country is saved, there will be a debate," the aide said. "But if there's no deal, how can you get on a plane . . . for a debate?"

Is this the type of Leadership America wants or deserves ? I think not !

Let's be clear: John McCain is offering nothing of substance in his political rhetoric, same as his running to Washington even though he had nothing of substance to add in resolving the crisis.

He is what my Grandfather would call a Flim-Flam Man

LEHRER: Afghanistan, Senator McCain?

MCCAIN: First of all, I won't repeat the mistake that I regret enormously, and that is, after we were able to help the Afghan freedom fighters and drive the Russians out of Afghanistan, we basically washed our hands of the region.

And the result over time was the Taliban, al Qaeda, and a lot of the difficulties we are facing today. So we can't ignore those lessons of history.

The Geneva accords of 1988, which ultimately led to the withdrawal of the Soviet forces in early 1989, left the Afghan government in ruins.

Senator John McCain said he would not repeat the mistake made by Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush ? I thought both of these Leaders were his Hero's and mentors ?

Have you folks heard the latest news out of Alaska ?

September 26, 2008
Palin should step down, conservative commentator says

(CNN) – Prominent conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, an early supporter of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, said Friday recent interviews have shown the Alaska governor is "out of her league" and should leave the GOP presidential ticket for the good of the party.

The criticism in Parker's Friday column is the latest in a recent string of negative assessments toward the McCain-Palin candidacy from prominent conservatives.

It was fun while it lasted," Parker writes. "Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who is clearly out of her league."

~@~

McCains claim of taking out Bin Ladin

**Senator McCain said it most concisely in June.***

"Look," he said. "I know the area. I've been there. I know wars. I know how to win wars. And I know how to improve our capabilities so that we will capture Osama bin Laden. Or put it this way, bring him to justice. We will do it. I know how to do it." Sen. McCain seems to be quite serious, that he and he alone, not the CIA, nor the U.S. Military, nor the current President can capture bin Laden. Thus we must take him at his word that this is no mere ludicrous campaign boast. We must assume Sen. McCain truly believes he is capable of doing this, and has been capable of doing this, since last January. "We will capture Osama bin Laden. We will do it. I know how to do it."

If John McCain knows how to accomplish this task, why hasn't he told anyone how to implement his plan of action NOW rather than waiting until he is elected Commander in Chief ?
Does he simply want all the Glory and Praise for himself ?

It's time to get mad, become aware, and think outside of the box!

Destiny's Quest — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:46:11 EDT

This is an article where Republicans & Democrats can get on the same page and realize what they have in common instead of always talking about what they don't have in common. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue... this about the advantages that have always been in place for the wealthy and well connected...Republican and Democrats alike. This is why as Citizens we need to realize that together we can create more of what we want if we can speak with one Voice and not let the special interests (Corporations, Wall street....e.g. the Wealthy and Well Connected...again both Democrats and Republicans) make it appear as if it is the middle class & lower class Americans against each other and then side track the issue! It has gotten so out of control...this division. We have so much in common. We love our families, our children, our Religions, and want to have the freedom to live our lives without someone telling us what to be or do. That is a foundation that we ALL have in common but it is always used in a way to create division. Nothing will change in this Country if we don't start finding what we have in common and decide what it is together that we WANT....and not always engage in conversations about what we don't want! That will never resolve problems nor take us to a place where we can learn to respect differences and appreciate what we ALL have to offer. I don't know one Democrat who wants this bailout....nor do I know any Republican who wants it. The majority of the middle and lower class people who want this bailout are represented by both party's... and they have all bought into the fear that if we don't figure this out this minute.... the country will fall out from beneath their feet. ENOUGH everyone! We have got to stop being so afraid...that we continually make bad choices!This is about corporations and wall street and the wealthy trying to take a system abused and ultimately destroyed by them....finding a way to let the taxpayers bail them out so they can continue to stay wealthy as they deplete the middle class income again! And again...creating division between the middle and lower class as if it was a war between ourselves. Unfortunately....the wall street moguls and the corporate leaders play the politicians like puppets because they are in their back pockets. So....good luck to us all if we get a cent. Until we realized how manipulated we are by both sides...we will never own our own power and learn how to create the Country that we all visualize.We need to Stop the Division and Create the Unity...that will bring Integrity and Respect back to this Country and allow all of us to live the principals of our founding fathers. We ALL love this Country! A Country founded by the people...for the people...with equal rights for ALL! Diana~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimer: Not a political candidate, orator, journalist, just a pissed off citizens

NO BAIL OUT for Wall street hedgers, brokers, the same for mortgage lenders, bankers and CEO's of related companies...greed and the arrogant attitude of "I can't lose" is over.Take the 700 Billion bail out being proposed to help them out of the mess they created and GIVE it to the American people instead.If you divide this 700 Billion or even less to every legal citizen over the age of 18, they'd all be multi-millionaires and could pay off their mortgages, credit cards, IRS debt, property taxes etc. and could even buy all the nice things the other greed wizards spent money on without bankrupting everybody. There would be no need for credit; we wouldn't need it. (The 700 Billion will probably end up being in the Trillions anyway... we could spend some of that re-building infrastructures in every city in the US..) Why should we let this government fix them with our money? Make the corrupt operators of Wall Street, corporate American and the related financier's be responsible for ruining the stability of the American economy. We cannot reward them for making our country vulnerable and undermined in the global economy. Jail time = accountability or it will be repeated. So NO BAIL out for them. Give the money, they are so willing to spend to save our economy, back to the Americans who worked to put the money in.the coffers.These financial wizards and our government officials who knew the scoop gambled away our country's economic future. Americans, many were duped, bilked, promised it was owed to them, reassured "creative financing was normal", by bankers and lenders; and fed by hedgers, brokers and financial consultants and were agreed to by CEO's of these institutions and corporations. How can those involved and responsible not be held accountable? No severance deals; how about selling off their assets? American's savings, investment dollars, retirement funds were entrusted to these institutions and corporations. NOW we should bail them out......NO. Fix the American's assets put at risk.If anyone should be bailed out it is the American people.....give them this money to build back the economy......the housing market would return; rebuilding infrastructures would stimulate construction, transportation, their would be money to address the energy problems. Since everyone could own a home; more would be needed. More cars (efficient ones) would be necessary, everyone could afford health care, entrepreneurs would provide jobs ....the economy would grow again.......and the government of and for the people would be back.One more thing on the political scene......reform and change is the obvious agenda of both parties; hold them to it. Lobbyist should be eliminated as it serves special interests. A "Line Item Veto" is an instrument of and for the people and should be implemented. Research the information batted around by both parties and then VOTE.The average American, daily, has to be accountable for its' debts, holding a job and doing it to the best of our ability. When we fail, we learn the lesson and start again. We must expect the same from our government- who we hire. They must learn how to provide for our basic needs first; then branch out. When the funds are there... they should spend wisely... and when the funds are not; find ways to cut them....just like most families do. They must better set priorities based on how much money they have and not on how much money they can get from us (taxes) to spend it the way they think it should be spend. If government officials can't create a budget that works; or comes in on time....fire them. It would happen to you.So, damn it get mad, become aware, don't settle for them to make decisions for us that are not in our best interest. It will take all Americans to create a prosperous America again.

Women's Week Of Action Spotlight - Stoughton House Party/Phone Bank

Thomas Kelley — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:13:28 EDT

Stoughton - This week is Women's Week Of Action with the Campaign for Change here in Wisconsin. Beginning with Michelle Obama's Kickoff Rally's on Monday, the Camapign for Change has hosted a series of action events for women supporters of Barack Obama. In Stoughton, WI, Krista Westerberg hosted a Women to Women house party. The first half of the party was a discussion of women's issues which led into these women taking action by phone calling other women in order to spread the message of why Barack Obama is the candidate of choice on women's issues.

Whether it was his position in favor of Equal Pay versus John McCain's voting against last year's equal pay bill in Congress or his position in support of families through expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act, to Krista's crew Barack was clearly on the right side of every issue. Now, the work came in persuading undecided women to get on board with Obama.

As they listened to the concerns of women they reached out to, Krista's crew matched their concerns with the issues. Baracks stance in favor of expansion of Early Childhood Education, affordable non-mandated Health Care for all Americans and Equal Pay were all items that helped bring a few voters into the Obama column.

It is voices of change like Krista's crew in Stoughton that are growing the grassroots movement for change here in Wisconsin. Spreading the change we need this movement is fueled by volunteers taking action into their own hands in their own communities. Reclaiming our country is a tough task, but with examples like what happened in Stoughton the other night it got a little easier.

Check out these photos submitted by Nick Holder of the event:

Want to stand up for change? Find a Get The Facts House Party here.

Family Working for Change

Mid America Mom — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:08:59 EDT

Saturday I visited the KEYSTONE state... an electoral key to CHANGE. Loaded up the two kids and my husband in the car and drove. It was our first major trip since the BIG MOVE and here we were going back to the states! So what did we do? Canvass for this campaign.

For us this campaign is a family affair. My husband is also a supporter and though my girls are 2 and 4- they are campaign veterans. They have been to a caucus, kids for obama playdates, parade going... canvassing. When we got in the car this time they wished we were going to a parade but they were pleased we went canvassing. So 4 hours and a border crossing later we were in Erie- that place on the lake in upstate Western PA.

Great office. A former restaurant. It had plenty of decorated windows and light.

Outdoor music! They did an Obama mix on those speakers. Even some Obama inspired music-- A Reggae song from Coco Tea played. Inside I found plenty of space and well organized. And it was packed when we got there. We came to a Women for Obama rally! I estimate around 100- mainly women (many Moms!) were there.

Also a the local CBS TV station was taking footage. We listened to uplifting speeches and met some of the local leaders, and heard from those running for office. Included was a prep on how engage in conversation at someone's door.

Afterwards many stayed to work. Some went to the computers, others called people, and then yes some took packets to knock on doors, in pairs. I was interviewed by the tv crew -- here is the coverage (I am the one with bad hair at the end) LINK . I made my way to getting a walk list via a line! We were given a packet that seemed light at 36 doors. But it was just right for the kids.

Getting to the route is always a challenge but armed with a GPS and sent to an older part of town it was no issue. This area has seen better days. This working class neighborhood had some homes boarded up or vacant, few needed major repairs to the roof or siding, and the sidewalks were uneven and hard to walk on at times. It was hard pushing a stroller.

My two would help ring and knock. They also would place literature underneath front door mats.

This list was people who we did not yet know who they were voting for. And the response was great. Of who shared- 3 committed to Obama, 2 leaning, and 3 undecided. NONE leaned elsewhere. The best conversation was toward the end. We met a kid on their way out a door and their mother came out. She sat down on the porch while my kids picked her dandelions and my husband and I spoke to her. This stay at home soon to be grandma, Navy Veteran, was OBAMA all the way. Though we did not get her pinned down to a volunteer shift she did know where to go and knew someone that was. I left hopeful that she would.

What am I hearing? People have had ENOUGH. They want to trust in the promise of a better future and want something better than what we've got.

So was the 7 hour round trip to work for CHANGE worth it? My husband enjoyed the conversations and our girls had a nice time outside and loved working with the literature. We talked to 8 people that had not talked to our campaign before. Based on that one conversation with the Veteran I say YES.

And if you want to see just how much America needs CHANGE just knock on some doors! Change comes from the roots and it only happens when we rise up to the challenge.

Art on the wall of ERIE PA Obama office

No matter who you are

where you are

you can be the change.

Mid America Mom

Moms for Obama

Can we get real about Sarah Palin?

Mary O — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:32:57 EDT

I'm getting awfully tired of everyone saying how "gutsy" or "accomplished" or whatever about Sarah Palin just to be either politically correct or to take a left-handed swipe at Barack Obama. Okay she got elected governor of the State of Alaska, but that isn't even as big an accomplishment as being elected MAYOR of San Jose!! There are some high schools in this country nearly as big as Wasilla. Should their student body presidents or principals be considered qualified to be President of the United States?

She is a religious fanatic who uses "God's will" and "His forgiveness" both as a motivator and an excuse. Neither of these have a place in American government - remember the Constitution!? Her city's policy to make rape victims pay for their rape kits is nigh on to the complete total lack of rights rape victims have in many Islamic fundamentalist countries.

She is a woman who would deny the rights of all other women. Yes, everyone, we can criticize her even though she is a woman. Please say so and say so loudly!!!

Video: Michelle Obama In Madison Monday

Thomas Kelley — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:14:20 EDT

As we reported on last night, Michelle Obama was in Wisconsin on Monday. See her entire remarks at the Madison rally here:

This week is Women's Week Of Action with the Campaign for Change in Wisconsin.

Attend a Get The Facts House Party Today.

Who is qualified to lead this country?

Marie Yolaine — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:31:01 EDT

With America facing historic debt, multiple war fronts, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, skyrocketing Federal spending, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc. etc., this is an unusually critical election year.

Let's look at the educational background of the candidates and see what they bring to the job:

Obama:
Occidental College - Two years.
Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 out of 899!! Meaning that, like George Bush, McCain was at the bottom of his class!!!

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire to lead the most influential nation in the World?

MIchelle Obama Kick's off Women's Week Of Action In Wisconsin

Thomas Kelley — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:50:57 EDT

Yesterday while her husband was in Green Bay talking about reforming Washington, Michelle Obama was also in the Badger state. Kicking off the Campaign for Change's Women Week Of Action here in Wisconsin, Michelle held a rally outside Camp Randall in Madison before jetting to Wassau to host an economic forum and ultimately ending the day with another rally in West Allis. Her message was clear, Barack gets it and women get it done.

Check out these photos submitted by Ally Carragher and Stav Shtekel

Speaking about the movement for change and that "each of us has come to this movement through our own paths", Michelle talked about her path and family upbringing on the south side of Chicago and the example of hard work and faith her parents instilled in her. She spoke about the issues that worry her as they do many Americans, such as a broken education system and the need for better health care and how that will impact her daughters future. Yet, she stated it did not need to be that way. There is one candidate that gets it.

Michelle spoke about the one candidate who "instead of talking about family values...actually have policies that value families." She echoed that there was only one candidate "who has a health care plan that will cover all Americans and reduce costs. Even further Michelle stated there was only one candidate "whose built his economic plan around the middle class and will cut 95% of taxes for all working Americans." This candidate is her husband, Barack Obama.

Check out these photos from the West Allis rally as taken by Erin Nagy:

Yet, with only 41 days left until election day, Michelle was here to urge that we take action if we want to see the solutions to these issues become a reality. Urging women to get involved and take action at one of the many events the Campaign for Change is hosting this week, she reminded us there is not much time left but our time truly is now.

Get Involved with the Campaign for Change Women's Week of Action.

Attend a Get the Facts House Party or Phone Bank today.

Host or Attend A Debate Watch Party

Thomas Kelley — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:46:53 EDT

Friday night will mark the first debate in the Prseidential debate of the election season. The debate is scheduled for 8pm Central at The University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS and will focus on foreign policy issues. Earlier today, Michelle Obama sent out an email inviting supporters of the Campaign for Change here in Wisconsin to host or attend a debate watch party.

Thomas --

This Friday, we'll reach another milestone in this campaign -- the first debate of the general election, on September 26th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Millions of Americans will tune in to watch Barack debate John McCain about America's foreign policy and our role in the world.

Barack will share his plan to bring the change we need -- to restore our place in the world, ensure security at home and abroad, and reestablish the United States as the world's economic leader.

This is a great opportunity for you to learn more about the issues. And it's also a great opportunity for you to share Barack's message of change with your friends, family, and neighbors by attending or hosting a Debate Watch Party.

Watch the debate with friends and supporters, and talk about how you can get involved in this movement.

I recorded a brief message about these parties. Please take a moment to watch the video and sign up to attend or host a Debate Watch Party in your community.

Many Americans are still learning about Barack and this movement for change.

They don't know about his plan to restore the middle class, cut taxes for 95 percent of American families, provide health care for every American, achieve energy independence, improve our schools, and responsibly end the war in Iraq.

Many people also don't know that John McCain has voted with George Bush more than 90 percent of the time -- including to continue Bush's failed Iraq policies, not investigating the government response to Katrina, not supporting children's health care, not supporting college benefits for returning veterans, and passing tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the middle class.

This debate is a chance for Americans to hear directly from Barack. And with just a few weeks left before Election Day, it's more important than ever that we bring people together and talk about the issues that matter in our communities.

I hope you'll watch my short message and sign up to attend or even host a Debate Watch Party:

http://my.barackobama.com/debate

Thank you for all that you're doing,

Michelle

Poetry by an Obama Mama

Tameca from Charlotte, NC — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:23:43 EDT

Ode to Obama

I’m just an American MOM with

A few things to say

You can call it venting

I just think it needs to be heard by Election Day.

First, I want to say

I think it's an absolute shame

This Trivial Pursuit of the white house

By Palin and McCain

I’m a mother of three

who is saddened to say

how this economy

Affects us in every way

We work hard, but from taxes to gas

our expenses go up every day

Not to mention were "proud" college parents

with hefty tuition bill to pay

Obama’s economic strategy is sound

And one thing is clear and plain

He has a plan

Unlike John Mccain

While the Republicans

Wage a war of words and not deeds

It becomes more apparent that Barack Obama

Is what America needs

Barack showed compassion

Even for Sarcastic sarah and her daughter’s plight

His Version of Love thy neighbor

A perfect example of his Christian life

I’m sick and tired of this Mccain/Palin ticket

Sick of the same speeches being said

“First Dude”?, was that the name of Beevis

Or was it Butthead

I don’t want to be trivial

Or labeled contrite

I just believe America needs a real change

And only Obama/Biden can do that right

We have just a month or so

Before America makes it known

We really do want change in Washington

So,Republicans please go home!

My last words for the Mccain crew

In case you’re little irate or mad

don’t take my words

And use in your next negative ad

Just remember the message was written

By an average American mama

It was not approved or endorsed

By Senator Obama!

THE ECONOMY IS STRONG so said McCain and Palin

Mary — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:15:34 EDT

Two weeks ago John McCain was saying our economy was strong. Well of course a man who owns 13 CARS and 7 HOUSES would believe and say something that out of touch! I have a full time job earning $900.00 to $1000.00 a month, a very small one bedroom apartment and one used car. Because I am a woman I earn 77 cents to every dollar a man earns (Thanks to votes like McCains against women earning equal pay). In January I was laid off from my job and I went job hunting and it took until May to find a job. In all my years it has NEVER taken that long to secure a job for myself. Unlike McCain, I can tell you that the economy isn't strong and that the average person is really suffering.

What gets me is this, why should the average person bail out these large corporations? They all have savings accounts that they could pull from if they are so in trouble. If it was any small owned business the irs would demand their payment or foreclose on that small business owner. If it was any one of us the government would refuse to bail us out of our financial problems, thumb their nose at us and blame us. So why do they give favors once again to those large WEALTHY businesses and put the weight of the financial burden on our already burdened backs????

McCain say's that it's "Washingtons" fault, well Washington IS John McCain. John McCain voted to de-regulate those large businesses that he claims that "Washington" voted to de-regulate! Basically, the Republican party has from day one voted against ANY regulation of large corporate wealthy Americans and allowed them TAX cuts even though they could afford to pay those taxes. If a woman who cannot earn equal pay to a man is expected to pay her income taxes then you cannot tell me that any large corporation can't afford to pay taxes. I thought this was America where EVERYONE is responsible to the country but apparently America is not a democracy and some people are above the constitution and laws.

The Republican party and John McCain/Sarah Palin's of America don't live in the heart of America, don't concern themselves with the daily struggles of America, don't expect equality in America when it comes to home, finance, and business. ANY little businessman would be crushed and lose their business if they were in the same situation as those large financial companies are and the Republican's would NOT bail them out! I see Republican supporters cheering McCain on in his recent proclaimations concerning all the financial crisis and somehow neglecting to notice that two weeks ago they were cheering him on when he said that the economy is strong. Which is it, hmm?

I can only tell you what I observe from my small little corner of the world being a working widow working an average labor job every day of my life. Every day in Tampa people are begging for jobs where I am employed. Every day people are making payments for things where I work with pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters and apologizing to me saying, "Hard times, you know..." Can you imagine daily seeing people who live in a housing development that has been considered the middle class neighborhood apologizing to me because they are pulling out their pocket change just to get by at the end of their paychecks?

Yeah a man who owns 13 CARS and 7 HOUSES will never know the pain, the humiliation, the fear, the suffering that most of us every day American's are seeing and dealing with. He will never know what it is like to fear losing his one and only home that he worked HARD for or his one and only car repossessed. He will NEVER understand, he has NEVER understood and if anyone thinks that if John McCain gets into the office of the President that he will have any amount of compassion, understanding or will help out the average working middle class or laboring american then they need to go back and look at his voting history on those issues. He has ALWAYS voted in favor of wealthy america. He voted for those same companies that he is now flaming. He lies, lies, lies and has no intention in changing his true nature in the long run. Why should he, since he is one of them and own's more houses and cars than any of us AVERAGE AMERICAN'S ever will own!

"Young women are the least likely to be registered and the least likely to vote."

KDenni, MPA — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:52:47 EDT

I was excited to see the following come across the Lansing for Obama mail list. Here's my two-cents:
Young women are the most likely eligible voters to be single heads of households, with jobs they can hardly afford to be away from, with children needing childcare, transportation and medical attention, to be enrolled in higher education so they may provide a better life for their kids. We must, as a nation, do all we can to offer to babysit, pick up the kids from school, cover their hours at work, take notes for them in class...do all we can to help them exercise their rights to vote. Who are you going to help out on November 4?

It is not enough to vote this year, it is not enough to register more voters than the opponent. We must commit ourselves, our time, our energy to helping others get out and vote. These young women in need are indeed the least likely to vote and most in need of the Hope and Changes that the Obama_Biden ticket will bring. Let's all do our part!

I tried following the links below and found no formal group heading up the registration drive for Ingham County including Lansing Community College, Cooley Law School and Michigan State University. The links provide contacts for other counties, and a link to the Secretary of State web site where voter registration forms can be downloaded. If someone knows of contacts in Ingham County working with areas with high populations of young women "potential" voters, this information should be passed along.

I'll be doing my part.

"Young women are the least likely to be registered and the least likely to vote." Change that: Time to GET OUT HER VOTE! http://www.feministcampus.org/vote/default.asp The Feminist Majority Foundation's massive Get Out HER Vote Campaign (GOHV) is the nation's only student voter education and registration initiative aimed at significantly increasing registration and voting by young women. GOHV legally targets young women and students of color because they are traditionally underrepresented Here's your chance to get involved!

The Feminist Majority Foundation has compiled an action Tool Kit and this website to help you launch a successful Get Out Her Vote (GOHV) campaign on your campus. With these materials on-hand, your FMLA/affiliate is empowered to get out the feminist vote. Remember - your national campus organizers are available and more than willing to help! Feel free to contact us with any questions! -- The Campus Team can also be reached via email at campusteam@feminist.org. Call the

East Coast Campus Organizers in the Washington D.C. office at 1-866-444-FMLA
West Coast Campus Organizers in the Los Angeles office at 1-866-471-FMLA

Granny Goes Viral - Viral Video, That Is!

Brady — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:36:18 EDT

Well - it's full steam ahead for my grandmother and her blog. She is consistently posting thoughts to her webiste at 85andchange.com, and her fan base keeps growing. She continues to receive great feedback from old and young. Everyone seems to be so appreciative that a senior citizen has spoken up and made it easier for other senior citizens to fall in line. As we saw in the numbers today - senior citizens are really starting to break for Barack Obama and Joe Biden! Others have said how they are so grateful that she has provided them a way to bridge a gap between grandparents and grandchildren and given them something to talk about with each other.

And if writing on her blog was not enough - she now has a video, too! You can find her video at her website (85andchange.com) or you can find it on You Tube! My smart, hip grandmother speaks up any chance she has and lets people know they are never to old - or young - for change!

Just this week, Granny Gobama met a couple influential people - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend & Alice Travis Germond - not to mention Heather Tom, as well! Meeting all of these women was a thrill for her. She found Kathleen Kennedy to be a thoughtful and inspiring speaker, and Alice Germond to be so enthusiastic and energetic.

Please take a moment to visit her site and pass the link on to anyone who may read (or watch) about why it is important for seniors, and everyone, to think long and hard about this important upcoming election - and why they should seriously consider voting for Barack Obama!

Have ovaries, will vote

Theresa — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:06:43 EDT

Since the appointment of Ms. Palin as the Republican Candidate for Vice President Women’s issues have been brought to the forefront of the race.

As many of you are probably aware, the NOW (National Organization for Women) have decided to support Obama/Biden for president.

http://www.now.org/press/09-08/09-16.html

Although this may seem contrary to a female rights organization to NOT back the ticket with a female candidate, they made the decision to back the ticket with the history of consistently advocating women’s rights. I think that this is a very important time for Gender Egalitarians. It shows that women are capable of seeing past gender in order to further equal rights and that men can be, and ARE, proponents of women’s rights.

As the web cast with Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton highlighted, Biden has a long history of civil and women’s’ rights behind his belt.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900881681/bclid900480414/bctid1801254871

Many worried that he was "old government" but the truth is, even though he has been in politics since the 1970s he has consistently shown compassion for his fellow Americans by supporting and writing laws that focused on equality. A particular act that speaks very dearly to my heart is his writing of and continual support of the VAWA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_Against_Women_Act

It is important to note that this act helps fund domestic violence shelters and create an environment where victims feel safe to turn to and to escape the trappings of abuse. As a survivor of such instances, and a witness to my own mother’s entrapment for years, this strikes a chord within me.

In the same vein, I am also struck by a news article I read on CNN today. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/21/palin.rape.exams/index.html

I am so sickened by this article. This coupled with her staunch stance against abortion in rape and incest cases disturb me to the very core.

How can I, a young mother, a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse stand by and let Senator Palin become the voice and face of American women? I can’t.

I want everyone to know. Senator Palin does not represent me. She may be an impressive woman with the strength to raise a large family and hold a high profile job, but she does not have the love and respect for women that is needed to claim to be our voice.

NYTimes, 20 Sep 08

Lizzy M. — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:03:55 EDT

"This is challenging--it's hard to get a woman of substance like Michelle or Hillary to go against a woman of illusion like Palin,"said Nina Johnston, an Obama supporter, as she waited for the campus rally to begin. "But our Democratic women leaders have to work the base--they've got to make clear what's at stake for women."

Political Memo, "With Elbows in Check", by Patrick Healy

That is a great phrase, which I will probably co-opt: Women of substance, against a woman of illusion.

What's Wrong With Sarah Palin?

To the left of liberals — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:34:48 EDT

Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and
activist best known for "The Vagina Monologues", wrote the following
about Sarah Palin.

Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she
was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the
claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have
a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness
or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I
have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact
that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the
polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life
trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence
against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the
Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people
who made this choice count on the goodne ss and solidarity of
Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical
to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving
the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls
options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence
and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous
choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those
candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in
so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally
disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the
world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have
seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the
presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor.
In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets
better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The
melting of the arctic , the storms that are destroying our cities, the
pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is
fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The
earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves
and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to
be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As
she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women
who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should
have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or
not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I
imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many
babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she
has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense
with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an
environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who coul d
and might very well be the next president of the United States. She
would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting
rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot
hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private
right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when
war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in
his name, t hat is the end of separation of church and state and the
undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this
election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the
future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine
whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever
uninh abitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards
dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence
through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether
we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in
alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It
will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or
whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine
whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of
fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your
power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the
hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of
teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of
destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises
that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis,
doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the
floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between
nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing
we call life?

Eve Ensler

www.ThisWomanVoter.com

Woman from Chicago, IL — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:38:01 EDT

Welcome to www.ThisWomanVoter.com, an objective clearing house and guide to help women voters during the 2008 Presidential election. My goal is to keep it simple and objective. Comments to blog postings are fair game.

This is a new blog and we hope to have relevant, objective stories to help women voters determine the best Presidential candidate to elect for 2008. Keep it real and share your stories.

We are looking for active writers to pen blog updates on the Presidential candidates, their VPs, policy issues, and voter resources.

NO TO MCCAIN! NO MORE OF THE SAME!

Rosa — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:59:06 EDT

John McCain is out of touch with everything that is wrong with America and will give us four more years of the same policies. Even with the current economic problems, he finds it easier to blame Obama than accept some accountability since he has been in the Senate longer and also offer possible solutions or things he would do differently if elected. He also insults women with the thought that he can lure us to the dark side with Sarah Palin.

This is a historical election year! Talk to everyone you know! Talk about the issues! Pull Republican and Undecided people back from the dark side with the information you provide them. We can do this. We can take America back. WOMEN can make a major difference in this year's election!

Barack Obama is the clear choice for the future of America and the American people. Barack understands the needs of the American people and will make the issues of the people a priority. Barack Obama promises a change we can believe in.

One Nation Under Obama

Jesse from North Fort Myers, FL — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:02:20 EDT

We are US

When Barack Obama addresses, "the American people", his voice is for all; rich, poor and everyone in between. He speaks for Americans of every background, religion, race, lifestyle, gender, age, creed and circumstance. When John McCain says, 'my friends", he refers only to those with the ability and tolerability to compete in a dog eat dog society, where force, trickery, money and power win. He speaks to a US, where might makes right and it is safe for every citizen to bear arms. He addresses an US where heterosexual, two parent families, are sacred and never rape, abuse or neglect their children. He speaks to a US where all good and worthy Americans, trust in a Christian or Jewish god. He sees only what he wants to see. He does not see clearly. He does not see US. John McCain is delusional, naive and uninformed.

Why else, does he promote war and give blanket support to the second amendment? Why else, does he resist allocating sufficient financial, social and health care resources to the poor, the elderly, the sick, the disabled and the unemployed so, that they, too may enjoy their constitutionally guaranteed rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Why else, does John McCain, support the big business health of health care at the expense of quality and affordable health care for all? Why else, does John McCain want to spend our money to kill abroad and let die at home?

Why else, would Jonh McCain give tax breaks to the wealthy, and leave corporations unrestrained and unaccountable to their employees and to their consumers? Why else, does he promise jobs that no longer exist? Jobs already outsourced, spent by corporate greed! Jobs exchanged for cheap, foreign, sweat labor, both here and abroad! Jobs sold for shoddy, poisoned goods, as consumer prices rise and our economy fails! Why else, does it take the downfall of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to gain John McCain's support for federal help, when multiple thousands of families have already lost their homes? If John McCain does not lose our country in a bloody, hate-filled war, surely he will sell or gamble it away!

Why else, does John McCain choose to annoint children of gay and lesbian parents, bastards by policy, by denying same sex parents equal rights, status and freedom to love openly, live freely and marry legally? Why else, does he deny teaching children age appropriate, protective and preventative, sex education at school? John McCain is right about one thing! Child sexual abuse is a family matter. It does most often happen at home! Why else, does John McCain want to force women to have children they are not prepared to parent? Why else, does he then, abandon those children and their parents? Why else, does he not see children, once born, consciously suffer and not infrequently die, at the hands, of troubled parents and caretakers? Why else, does he fail to see those children later, as parents, just like mom and dad; in another violent home, in prisons, jails, and mental facilities, or living on the streets? Why else, does John McCain choose to blame them, put them away or kill them by the hand and tools of government, then?

Barack Obama is not just a black man or a white man. He is a black man and he is a white man. He grew up in a non-traditional home with a mother and grandparents. He is Harvard Man, an attorney, a senator, an advocate, a community organizer, a husband, a father, a son. He has been many things, to many people, in many places. He knows what it is to belong and he knows what it is not to belong. He knows US. He will speak for all of US, by name. He will challenge John McCain's, Republican delusions, bigotry, haughtiness, self-RIGHTOUSNESS and indifference.

America is not John McCain’s Smelting Pot, where only conformity and sameness are right. America is a Melting Pot; a vibrant, hearty brew of human richness and diversity. The American Dream is not to be found in reckless pursuit of fame and fortune. The American Dream is not bought with money, nor is it won with power, influence, manipulation and force. Rather, the American Dream exists, inherently, in our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is the birthright, bequeathed to us by our fore founders, set forth indelibly, in our constitution. It proclaims to us, promise of equality, opportunity, freedom and justice for all. It elevates individual rights and embraces human worth, granting us freedom to be different, to determine our own lives, to pursue our own ambitions, to name our own families, to love from our own hearts and to believe in our own God or to choose not to believe at all. America is not free until we all are.

Barack Obama believes in US. Now, let it be known, to all, that we beleive in him.

Written by,

Jesse Whitewolf,

One, self declared, proud, patriotic, all American, “Obama Mama”.

Women join me! Declare yourself an “Obama Mama” now.! Let the country know that Barack Obama is our favorite son!

About Palin, White Privilege, and "Women"

Leslye J Allen of Atlanta, GA — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:44:08 EDT

When John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential running mate, I wondered if he had taken leave of his senses. Here was a woman who did not even own a passport until a year ago being chosen for the Republican vice-presidential slot at the very time the McCain camp was shouting about Barack Obama’s lack of foreign policy credentials.

Then there were rumblings from white women who would not vote for McCain because he was pandering to them. He picked an inexperienced woman to be his running mate because he assumed that women, white Democratic women that is, would come running in the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s losing the Democratic nomination for president. Then there were those white women who felt vindicated and decided to jump on the McCain bandwagon because there she was—a woman on a major party’s political ticket.

As the economy has taken a nose dive and Americans of all persuasions are anxious about their jobs, homes, and retirements, the allure of Palin is slowly fading. But we who support Obama need not rejoice so soon. We need to remember McCain and the Republican Party’s psychological, if not political, motivation for having chosen her for the V-P slot in the first place. It has to do with a little something called “privilege.”

The one thing at stake in this country right now is the "American Dream.” The other thing at stake is “white privilege.” White Americans do not like to hear that they escape a good deal of discrimination, annoyances, slights, and real dangers, by virtue of being white. “White privilege” is always a sore subject because to acknowledge it is to acknowledge that your problems and particular disadvantages might pale in comparison to other peoples of color. What does this have to do with Sarah Palin? Everything!!

As a woman I know that sexism does exist. Sexism is ugly, painful, ridiculous, and downright counterproductive. As a Black woman, however, I know that when most of the pundits on CNN or any other network say the word “women” or “women voters,” they are not talking about me or any other woman of color. “Woman” and “women” are synonyms for “white women.” Just like Obama being labeled by some political nitwits as an “elitist” is simply their way of calling him an “uppity n****r” without their being accused of using a racial slur against him.

Palin was chosen to fill a psychological void for many white women who feel that they have been cheated out of something—namely a potential woman president or vice-president. What they have not fully sorted out is whether they feel cheated because they are women or because they are white women. I rather suspect the latter, and so does McCain. We need only consider that back in 1972, Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the U. S. Congress, lost her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. I was a young girl back then, and no one expected Congresswoman Chisholm to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. But it was Chisholm who always insisted that she was “unbought and unbossed,” that she encountered more discrimination due to her gender than her race.

Is it not strange that Chisholm was never mentioned or even acknowledged by Hillary Clinton or any other woman during the primary season? She certainly will not be mentioned by Palin or any of her supporters. Chisholm spoke out against the Vietnam War, spoke out and up for Native Americans, Spanish-speaking Americans, Black Americans and yes, women. Her bold assertions about sexism—often in the face of opposition from some segments of her own black community—should have earned her a place among all women who believe that sexism is a stain on our nation’s character. Yet why has she been reduced to a footnote? If you can answer this question honestly, then you know that the battle to win the Whitehouse is not over until it is over.

We need not delude ourselves into believing that race doesn’t play a real factor for white women voters anymore than we need not acknowledge that the pundits often forget that some of us black folks are women.

Not Fooled by the Palin Pick - the Limits of Female Bonding

Irish Musician for Progressive Solutions — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:27:39 EDT

I found this article in the Boston Globe:

WHAT FINALLY sent her over the top was the poster. There was Sarah Palin as Rosie the Riveter, flexing her biceps under the motto: "We Can Do It!" The image was the same on the T-shirt my friend had left over from the primaries - but with a crucial difference.

"They've Photoshopped Sarah over Hillary. And women are falling for this!" she bellowed into my voicemail.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/19/bumping_up_against_the_limits_of_female_bonding/

The Beginning.

DominiqueJackson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:53:35 EDT

Hi all!

I just created my profile on my.BarackObama.com and I guess the next business at hand would be getting ACTIVE. For a while I have been interested in participating in this election somehow. I want to help out because I do NOT want the same thing that happend to Gore and Kerry to happen again. Honestly I was not as active in either of the two aforementioned campaigns as I could have aside from supporting them with my vote.

With the failure of both of those campaigns, and the very blatant criminal act against the American citizens when the Presidential role was given to to someone who not EARN it, I cannot be absent during this election. I agree that it will take every single person so support our candidate because he is being attacked and I won't let the past happen again.

I am very inspired by my acting coach Mimi. Mimi is very strong, hardworking, open-minded, and everything you would want a leader to be.

So here I am finally setting up my profile and slowly trying to figure out how I can help. There are many ways I see around me to help but yet I am still. I realize I must be a bit reluctant to not have taken action yet but I must recognize that my apprehension is only because this is something new and I have to get over that fear.

I think I will begin today with a donation. Hopefully soon I will step up and help out in other ways.

PEACE for ALL!!!

Let's look at the Women...

Kevin ":: g+s+ ::" Winterfield — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:33:45 EDT

US:
Lilly, Hillary, Michelle, Jill, Claire, Kathleen, Janet, Wasserman, Susan, Nancy, Geraldine and millions of other great women across the nation!

THEM:
Palin, Fiorina. Cindy. STOP.

'nuff said....

I am ashamed to say I have never voted before

Robin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:39:17 EDT

I am 35 year old female that was married to a US Army Soldier. I have never taken the opportunity to exercise my right to vote. I never thought it was important. I would think that because the people I acquainted myself with, liked the same candidate that I liked, that their vote would count for me some how. I always had the attitude that my one vote did not make a difference. Well I would like to say that this election has changed my point of view drastically. I have been watching and listening and I was terrified that my opinion was going to be out weighed and that the wrong person would become my president. I completely believe that Obama is here for change and I completely want my vote counted. I urge anyone that knows someone that has the "I don't care" attitude towards voting to talk to them. They will not listen at first but keep trying. Try to draw references to their opinions and things that matter in their life ! I never thought I would vote! I was very non-chalant about the whole thing and had no problem standing in a room full of Americans and stating "I do not vote and never have" ! I will now be standing in the middle of the room screaming at the top of my lungs "My opinion counts ! Obama - For President !!!!!"

(PAID HATERS & HECKLERS WITH SIGNS IN THE CROWD)

Backing Obama — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:28:47 EDT

Well as we saw today,there were a small group of childish fools in the crowd today at the Bank United Center in Coral Gables, Florida.Please,are they really serious?They were obviously $paid$,so were the ones before.Trick tactics once again,trying to stir up false talk and hope that the uneducated will somehow fall into the trap.It's plain to see.

Come on,one sign said-"Blacks against Obama"they wish,that's just plain ole'funny!!! Oh yeah and the KKK.That's the best they can do.Hey yall,I guess we are doing pretty damn good for those little leprechauns to pull one like that!They are doing so bad,they have to go and create an illusion,wow!

Next their going to pull a rabbit out of Sarah Palin's ---!Really folks,I wouldn't be surprised!!!We are not falling for that BS!I don't think many will.(Cheap shots,games & kiddie play,they will definitly be the ensnared ones in their own plot,and that is a guarantee!) Just you wait and see,mark my words!That my friends ,is exciting!

*(BARACK OBAMA & JOE BIDEN 2008)*

Michigan Women's Equal Pay for Equal Work Weekend of Action

Jenny Nathan — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:24:53 EDT

This weekend in Michigan, we are excited to show our strength as women and activists fighting for the change we need!

On Saturday The Campaign for Change will be holding 70 "Equal Pay for Equal Work" events to represent the 70 cents on the dollar that women make now.

On Sunday The Campaign for Change will hold 100 "Equal Pay for Equal Work" events to represent the 100 cents on the dollar that women will be making under the Obama Administration.

Click here to find an event near you!

We are so pleased to welcome three amazing women who will travel across the state motivating women to take action and get involved on the Obama Campaign. They will be talking about issues that matter to Michigan women, including equal pay, healthcare, jobs, and other crucial economic security issues.

Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY): A tireless advocate for international and domestic women’s rights, who worked tirelessly to help New York recover from 9/11 and authored one of the most important anti-rape bills of the twentieth century.

Judge Glenda Hatchett: The first African American to preside as judge of a state court in Georgia, and an active advocate for reforming the Juvenile Court System.

Susan Turnbull: Currently the Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee, and is widely regarded as an expert on women’s outreach and served as the chair of the DNC’s Women’s Leadership Forum from 2002-2005.

Michigan is going to be one of the most important swing states in this election, and women have the opportunity to decide the outcome. The facts are clear; Obama has fought for women’s rights throughout his career and will continue to do so as President.

We invite you to join us – and our special guests – for meetings and events across the state to mobilize women to work for change. Click here to find an event near you!

Clearly Republican's Don't Believe that Women and Women with Children Deserve A Better Life!

Mary — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:05:40 EDT

Congressional Legislation Details Paycheck Fairness Act
Bill # S.766

Summary:
A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies of victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes.

http://www.capwiz.com/now/webreturn/?url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.766

All Cosponsors and Non-Cosponsors from All States

Original Sponsor:
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

Cosponsor Total: 24
(last sponsor added 09/11/2008)
23 Democrats
1 Independents

Bill Name: Paycheck Fairness Act Bill Number: S.766 Cosponsor?Cosponsor NameCosponsor DateSend MailAlabamaRichard Shelby (R)---Jeff Sessions (R)---AlaskaTed Stevens (R)---Lisa Murkowski (R)---ArizonaJohn McCain (R)---Jon Kyl (R)---ArkansasBlanche Lincoln (D)---Mark Pryor (D)---CaliforniaDianne Feinstein (D)---Barbara Boxer (D)03/06/2007ColoradoKen Salazar (D)---Wayne Allard (R)---ConnecticutChristopher Dodd (D)03/06/2007 Joseph Lieberman (I)---DelawareJoseph Biden (D)03/07/2007 Thomas Carper (D)---FloridaBill Nelson (D)---Mel Martinez (R)---GeorgiaSaxby Chambliss (R)---Johnny Isakson (R)---HawaiiDaniel Inouye (D)---Daniel Akaka (D)---IdahoLarry Craig (R)---Mike Crapo (R)---IllinoisRichard Durbin (D)04/23/2007 Barack Obama (D)04/24/2007IndianaEvan Bayh (D)---Richard Lugar (R)---IowaTom Harkin (D)03/06/2007 Charles Grassley (R)---KansasSam Brownback (R)---Pat Roberts (R)---KentuckyMitch McConnell (R)---Jim Bunning (R)---LouisianaMary Landrieu (D)---David Vitter (R)---MaineOlympia Snowe (R)---Susan Collins (R)---MarylandBarbara Mikulski (D)03/06/2007 Benjamin Cardin (D)09/11/2008MassachusettsEdward Kennedy (D)03/06/2007 John Kerry (D)03/15/2007MichiganCarl Levin (D)04/26/2007 Debbie Stabenow (D)---MinnesotaAmy Klobuchar (D)03/06/2007 Norm Coleman (R)---MississippiThad Cochran (R)---Roger Wicker (R)---MissouriClaire McCaskill (D)---Christopher Bond (R)---MontanaMax Baucus (D)---Jon Tester (D)---NebraskaBen Nelson (D)---Chuck Hagel (R)---NevadaHarry Reid (D)03/06/2007 John Ensign (R)---New HampshireJudd Gregg (R)---John Sununu (R)---New JerseyFrank Lautenberg (D)03/07/2007 Robert Menendez (D)03/06/2007New MexicoJeff Bingaman (D)---Pete Domenici (R)---New YorkCharles Schumer (D)03/06/2007 Hillary Clinton (D)03/06/2007North CarolinaRichard Burr (R)---Elizabeth Dole (R)---North DakotaKent Conrad (D)---Byron Dorgan (D)---OhioSherrod Brown (D)04/10/2007 George Voinovich (R)---OklahomaJames Inhofe (R)---Tom Coburn (R)---OregonRon Wyden (D)---Gordon Smith (R)---PennsylvaniaRobert Casey (D)---Arlen Specter (R)---Rhode IslandJack Reed (D)03/06/2007 Sheldon Whitehouse (D)---South CarolinaLindsey Graham (R)---Jim DeMint (R)---South DakotaTim Johnson (D)---John Thune (R)---TennesseeLamar Alexander (R)---Bob Corker (R)---TexasKay Bailey Hutchison (R)---John Cornyn (R)---UtahOrrin Hatch (R)---Robert Bennett (R)---VermontPatrick Leahy (D)03/06/2007 Bernard Sanders (I)04/11/2007VirginiaJames Webb (D)---John Warner (R)---WashingtonPatty Murray (D)03/06/2007 Maria Cantwell (D)03/06/2007West VirginiaRobert Byrd (D)---John Rockefeller (D)---WisconsinHerbert Kohl (D)---Russ Feingold (D)03/06/2007WyomingMichael Enzi (R)---John Barrasso (R)---

Women's Week Events - SATURDAY: Rep. Jan Schakowsky and NARAL President Nancy Keenan

Brian - NH HQ — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:42:55 EDT

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY AND NARAL PRESIDENT NANCY KEENAN TO DISCUSS OBAMA’S COMMITMENT TO FIGHTING FOR WOMEN

MANCHESTER -- Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, IL-9) and NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan will be in New Hampshire this Saturday, September 20th to discuss the McCain-Palin record on choice and Senator Barack Obama’s commitment to protecting women’s rights with Granite State women in Keene, Peterborough, and Manchester.

“The stakes of this year’s election could not be higher for New Hampshire women and their families,” said Sandra Abrevaya, New Hampshire Communications Director. “This November, Granite State women will make a critical choice between the Obama- Biden ticket, which will fight for women’s issues on all fronts, and the McCain- Palin ticket, which wants to overturn Roe. V. Wade.”

Sen. Obama has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as president. John McCain, on the other hand, received a 0% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood, and has declared his support for a constitutional amendment to ban all abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest.

Rep. Schakowsky is a leading advocate for women's issues in Congress, sponsoring legislation that would prevent violence against immigrant women, establish transitional housing for women and children who are victims of abuse, and commemorate International Women's Day. During the 110th Congress, Rep. Schakowsky served as Democratic Vice Chair of the bipartisan Women's Caucus. Rep. Jan Schakowsky was elected to represent Illinois' 9th Congressional District on November 3, 1998, after serving for eight years in the Illinois State Assembly. She is in her fifth term.

Nancy Keenan began her tenure as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America in December 2004. Under Nancy's leadership, NARAL Pro-Choice America launched Prevention First, a values-based initiative encouraging lawmakers to focus on commonsense ways to prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the need for abortion. A Montana native, Keenan began her career as a teacher before serving as a state legislator and the statewide elected superintendent of schools.

Saturday, September 20th:
10:00 a.m. Canvass Kickoff at the Keene Campaign for Change Field Office
305 Park Avenue, Keene
RSVP to attend at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/officialevent/gs5hmf
11:00 a.m. Forum on Women’s Issues at Keene State College
Lloyd P. Young Student Center at Keene State College
Mountain View Room
RSVP to attend at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/womenforobama/gsx4fg
2:00p.m. Event on Women’s Issues
Aesop’s Table (inside Toadstool Bookstore)
12 Depot Street, Peterborough
RSVP to attend at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/womenforobama/gsx4cv