By Donna Perdue
Earlier today, I listened to Michael Baisden's show on the local urban contemporary station here in Cleveland and I was appalled when he played some recorded voices from interviews conducted after a McCain rally in rural St Clairsville, Ohio, (the farming/factory community is 25 mins from where I lived in Tuscarawas County 2 years ago--oh, and they have an abortion clinic that gets PLENTY of business). Baisden was looking for listeners' comments, curious about how this sentiment is going to "play out" during the next 14 days.
It really gets me that our own media is unwilling to obtain/report substance of this caliber...afraid of the backlash. Yet, a foreign Islam-based media outlet, Aljazeerah, comes and wipes our nasty trash on the bathroom walls! I am embarrassed at how Americans are acting. Shame on them! John McCain simply cannot, I pray, accept this. Is this the America he wants the world to know? Separate, afraid, ignorant, uncompassionate, intolerant, RACIST?!?!?!
How ugly is it going to get? I'm afraid to acknowledge reality. I love my country. I pray racism is gracefully laid to rest in the pastures of a peaceful awakening to end ignorance.
Watch for yourself... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRqcfqiXCX0.
For the last 10 almost 11 months I have worked diligently for the Obama Campaign here in Akron, Ohio. After being made a PTL (Precinct Team Leader); which requires you to organize your neighborhood volunteers to go door to door and/or making calls, it has been very eye opening. Within the last 7 days, I have noticed a shift in attitudes and allegiance to the Democratic party. Individuals who have always been faithful democrats are now saying, they won't vote for Barack because (here we go again) he's a Muslim. Honestly, Palin's constantly mentioning his middle name and McCain calling him "That One", is chipping away at some people. But you have to look at where it's chipping away. These individuals were looking for a reason to say why they weren't going to vote for Barack to justify why they didn't. The biggest issue I am having with all the negativity is, the hate that's being insighted. When has it been OK to yell "Kill Him" about a Presidential Nominee? How come this is being permitted? How come these individuals haven't been taken in for questioning? How come Sarah Palin didn't say "this kind of ranting will not be tolerated"? Because, she thinks it's okay, because she obviously hasn't been told (or has she) what not to say and when to step in. Honestly, I have found it hard to even sleep these last few days. At the end of the day people need to think about how they are suffering; how they're losing their homes, losing their jobs, can't go to the doctor because they have no medical coverage and how their parents (or even themselves) will end up being a Wal-Mart greeter at 70 years old (and not by choice), just to pay bills. People need to vote their pocketbook, instead of worrying about if someone has the "blood line" of a terrorist, which is so asinine. In closing, does that mean if you have German in your blood, you are one in the same as Hitler? AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP! WE NEED TO MAKE SURE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US VOTE, AND MAKE SURE THOSE AROUND YOU GO AND VOTE AS WELL!
Tara L. Samples
Precinct 19
Ever since McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, I’ve been battling with my intuition and the fight or flight reflex. My first thought was, “McCain’s desperate and is pulling all the stops.” I wanted to curse her, smash McCain’s face into a brick wall, and throw a temper tantrum of huge proportions. But eventually I calmed down.
I have to say, I'm a woman, and I kinda like this woman. She's got style and she’s cute (and a redhead to boot). She's smart. She's got balls (to say and do half of what she does takes big ones). She can shoot a gun (I really like that!). But, (and there’s always a but), she's like most of us...not perfect [here's where you consider her positions on abortion, oil drilling, racism, the war in Iraq, etc.]!
I'd honestly love to see a woman in the White House. I remember how excited I was with Hillary's campaign...and how disappointed after she "lost." But as much as I like Sarah Palin (excluding her politics), she isn't big enough for the job and simply can't sweeten McCain's platform enough for me to forgive his shortcomings. His is just too big a pill to swallow.
That's what the Democrats should be touting! By attacking her, we fuel the fire and give her more air time. Neither Republican nominee is worthy of our energy.
According to various polls, this race is getting a little dicey. Republicans are throwing kidney punches and trying everything they can. Sad thing is, as it relates to some of the less informed, this is a successful tactic. Many average voters buy into the sensational, salacious, homespun, rhetorical musings and get riled up about the silliest things they feel are powerful points. It truly speaks to the power of a biased media.
I just watched the entire Obama economic speech from Golden, Colorado yesterday (OMG, it was fabulous!), but his comments and the recent interviews I've been watching with McCain and Palin inspired the following message...
Obama's economic plan referenced in the video is clear, detailed, well thought-out, and most importantly, strategic. And, of course, this brings to mind what I consider to be a fundamental difference between Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin.McCain and Palin continually say that they never hestitate, never blink, and react with force. Sure, that sounds brave, but what about smart? When choosing a president, I certainly prefer someone who watches trends and reacts before things hit rock bottom, someone who thinks before they speak (or act, or declare war... HELLO?!) instead of going with any random a knee-jerk reaction and then defending those actions (right or wrong) until the bitter end.I feel like McCain has gotten swept away in this campaign - and I'm not talking in votes or polls. I feel like he came in with some decent goals. The battle between Obama and Clinton forced both of them to put more thought into their strategies and tactics, while McCain was able to just keep trotting around the country, talking up generalities and throwing the occasional barb the democrat's way. His campaign has changed course so many times throughout this election cycle -- having to respond to the Clinton/Obama battle, rally the republicans, react to current events and disasters, to the selection of Obama as his running mate--that he doesn't know which way is up, he doesn't know what policies are really the best. Right now, I think he's just running on knee-jerk reactions in order to figure out what will get him elected and the rest can be figured out (or conveniently forgotten) if/when he gets there. He clearly has great campain strategists (read the Sep. 15th issue of New York magazine if you don't believe me), but I don't feel like he has a team surrounding him that knows how to run a country, or even to think before they act.
I feel like it's the McCain campaign team running against Obama at this point, and not John McCain the man. And if you're not man enough to keep solid footing during a campaign, there is no way you can maintain that footing as a president.
McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, speaking in Colorado Springs, Colo., said Fannie and Freddie had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, however, aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization.
The first post here is just introduce my... My name is Adam and i am 17 years of age. I am, well without a dout, an Obama supporter. I am also an intern/volunteer in the ohio area for the campaign.
idk thats about it really....
but anywho...introduce yourself
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he's doing this. I mean, afterall, the Bush presidency, for the past 8 years, has been full of "create-it-as-we-go" government antics. This presidency has foolishly deceived the American people in ways I once thought only capable of the corrupt governments in the emerging African nations! I think I'd be more surprised if Former White House Advisor Karl Rove HAD shown up this morning! Talk about audacity!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25622771
As a nation, we have begun to make headway to reach across partisan lines and build something for which we can be proud. Unfortunately, there are these little people like Rove with whom we must contend. Just what should WE do with them? Should we gamble and let the cards fall as they may?
It's amusing, one must laugh to avoid the anger, that the case may not be resolved before Bush's term ends in January. How convenient! Executive privilege, my butt! Frankly, I'm quite tired of government saying/arguing that internal administration communications are confidential and that Congress cannot compel officials to testify. Says who? This is OUR government! We are the PEOPLE! WE pay the TAXES! We vote the laws! WE run this ship! Obama and all Democrats have their/our work cut out!!
We have got to take the helm from those who would otherwise turn us into a form of totalitarian government. We may have invaded Iraq to bring in democracy and bring down a totalitarian regime, but in the process our own system may be moving closer to the latter and further weakening the former.We are often referred to as a "superpower" which accurately symbolizes the projection of American power abroad, but it obscures internal consequences. Just imagine how odd it would be if we were to refer to the "Constitution of the American Democracy superpower." We know that "constitution" refers to the limitations of power, while "democracy" addresses the active involvement of citizens in government and how the government responds to its people. To even consider ourselves a "superpower," we'd be recognizing the surpassing of constitutional limitations and actual dwarfing of our citizenry. Is that what we've allowed Bush's presidency to do to our nation?
Consider this...The increasing power of the state and the declining power of institutions intended to control it has been in the making for some time. The party system is a notorious example. The Republicans have emerged as a unique phenomenon in American history of a fervently doctrinal party, zealous, ruthless, antidemocratic and boasting a near majority--till now (and Democrats haven't been able to really flex their majority muscles as we'd hoped). As Republicans have become more ideologically intolerant, the Democrats have shrugged off the liberal label and their critical reform-minded constituencies to embrace centrism and footnote the end of ideology. In ceasing to be a genuine opposition party the Democrats have smoothed the road to power of a party more than eager to use it to promote empire abroad and corporate power at home. Bear in mind that a ruthless, ideologically driven party with a mass base was a crucial element in all of the twentieth-century regimes seeking total power.
Representative institutions no longer represent voters. Instead, they have been short-circuited, steadily corrupted by an institutionalized system of bribery that renders them responsive to powerful interest groups whose constituencies are the major corporations and wealthiest Americans. The courts, in turn, when they are not increasingly handmaidens of corporate power, are consistently deferential to the claims of national security. Elections have become heavily subsidized non-events that typically attract at best merely half of an electorate whose information about foreign and domestic politics is filtered through corporate-dominated media. Citizens are manipulated into a nervous state by the media's reports of rampant crime and terrorist networks, by thinly veiled threats of the Attorney General and by their own fears about unemployment. What is crucially important here is not only the expansion of governmental power but the inevitable discrediting of constitutional limitations and institutional processes that discourages the citizenry and leaves them politically apathetic.
In the United States it is with the people where democracy is most alive--while the real danger lies with an increasingly unbridled government. The basic elements are in place: a weak legislative body, a legal system that is both compliant and repressive, a party system in which one party, whether in opposition or in the majority, is bent upon reconstituting the existing system so as to permanently favor a ruling class of the wealthy, the well-connected and the corporate, while leaving the poorer citizens with a sense of helplessness and political despair, and, at the same time, keeping the middle classes dangling between fear of unemployment and expectations of fantastic rewards once the new economy recovers.
What's more, the whole scheme is fueled by an increasingly concentrated media and a well-funded, conservative propaganda machine. If we're not careful, our current tolerably free society will transform to something reminiscent of the extreme regimes of the past century. Are we ready for that? Are we going to hold Karl Rove's feet to the fire? Bush's? Our own? Are we going to take our government back? Or, are we simply going to fold our cards and cash in our chips already!
CHANGE WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR
My sense is that the Clinton campaign has decided to make this campaign about race. I’ve already seen Howard Fineman and others indicate that these tactics could be helpful in Pennsylvania in April. There are six weeks between tonight’s win and this next contest. And, the Obama campaign has to decide how to respond to this heinous strategy.
Well, Florida and Michigan have sure become messy, and it is a mess that is not likely to go away. I am not here to debate who is to blame, and I am not here to question whether there should be a new vote--in the coming weeks I think it will become necessary, particularly with Gov. Dean now saying that the party would like a new vote. The question is, "What should Senator Obama do now?"
I think the answer is very simple. Senator Obama needs to come out hard and fast in favor of a recount. He needs to come out hard and fast, and he needs to volunteer for his campaign to fund half of it. It will play extremely well in those states, it will put financial pressure on the Clinton campaign, and it will generate even more fundraising for Senator Obama. Most importantly, it will allow him to recapture positive headlines and momentum without going negative.
However, it needs to be Senator Obama's idea. If it is the media's idea, he'll be seen as caving and weak. It it is Senator Clinton's idea, she will be selfless and--more importantly--she will be seen as fearless in possibly (though unlikely if she takes the initiative) risking votes she has received.
Senator, volunteer to fund half and do it now. Please.
- AE
When did Hillary Clinton deliver health-care reform or demonstrate her economic wisdom and foresight while Alan Greenspan was warning of irrational exuberance as the subprime housing loans were created and pandered during her husband's administration and her husband supported China's entry into the World Trade Organization without any conditions such as protecting the environment or labor and property rights to levels that are comparable to western standards?Today China is not only a leading contributor to environmental pollution and global warming (thank you very much Mr. Nobel Laureate, Al Gore), it's also pushing up oil and other commodity prices, taking our jobs and stealing our intellectual property.If experience, wisdom and judgment may be relied upon to judge a presidential candidate's abilities to solve problems, then let's look at the records of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.2005 - While Barack Obama promoted a restoration of balance between work and wealth and criticizing special interests for distorting U.S. tax codes, Hillary Clinton and her husband liquidated their blind trust of the nearly $50 million amassed during their years in public office. 2002 - While Barack cautioned that without clear rationale an invasion of Iraq would encourage the worst impluses of the Arab world and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda, Hillary told Larry King she didn't regret her vote on the Iraq war resolution because like the Bush administration, the Clinton administration viewed Saddam Hussein as a threat to the international community.1999 - While Barack secured bipartisan support for health-care reform and passage of low-income tax credits and child care subsidies in the Illinois legislature, Hillary supported her husband's Iraq "regime change" policy in order to divert public attention from the president's marital, legal and ethical infidelities.1989 - While Barack Obama served as the Harvard Law Review's first black president, Hillary Clinton then wife of the Arkansas governor received payments from a law firm that was doing the state's business and received board of director payments from Wal-Mart where she remained silent about Wal-Mart's anti-labor union practices.1979 - While Barack Obama was actively involved in the South African divestment movement to end apartheid, Hillary reaped profits of almost 10,000% in the futures markets and left taxpayers with her real-estate losses in the Savings & Loan bailout.In Hillary's eight (8) years in the Senate, the Congressional Record (www.thomas.gov ) shows she "sponsored" only two (2) pieces of legislation that were presented to the president for signature. The first piece of legislation (S. 1241) was to establish a historic site in New York state, the second (S. 3613) was to name a U.S. Postal Service building.At 3:00 AM who is Hillary gonna call in a national crisis? GHOSTBUSTERS? Without any attachment to a position and no leadership qualities or principles to guide her in a time of national crisis, Hillary like her husband, would need to first conduct a poll to determine what is in her political interest before committing to any national decision.It's refreshingly nice to see the better angels of America's character prevailing as voters reject the racial, religious and ethnic slurs being spewed by the divisive supporters of Clinton, Limbaugh and Hannity.
There are all kind of accusations going around about Barack (of course less than 24 hours before the Primary). America is fed up and want change; and even if that's a black man that's going to bring it; that's what they demand, yet other walks of life seem to hold on to his race, and a name that would not have meant NOTHING if people would have never heard of Saddem Husein or Osama Bin Laden...Yet if they would have been great men, instead of terrorist dictators; people would love him to death!! So if my name is Shenquia, does that mean I'm ghetto and have not education??? People need to buy a vowel and get a clue on life; real life.
BARACK OBAMA 08'
For Barack Obama, it is an ember that he has doused time and again, only to see it flicker anew: links to Islam fanned by false rumors, innuendo and association. Obama and his campaign reacted strongly this week when a photo of him in Kenyan tribal garb began spreading on the Internet. And the praise he received Sunday from Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan prompted pointed questions — during Tuesday night’s presidential debate and also in a private meeting over the weekend with Jewish leaders in Cleveland. During the debate, Obama repeated his denunciation of Farrakhan’s views, which have included numerous anti-Semitic comments. And, after being pressed, he rejected Farrakhan’s support in the presidential race. The Democratic candidate says repeatedly that he’s a Christian who took the oath of office on a family Bible. Yet on the Internet and on talk radio — and in a campaign introduction for John McCain this week — he is often depicted, falsely, as a Muslim with shadowy ties and his middle name, Hussein, is emphasized as a reminder of Iraq’s former leader. “If anyone is still puzzled about the facts, in fact I have never been a Muslim,” he told the Jewish leaders in Cleveland, according to a transcript of the private session. The photo of Obama wearing Kenyan tribal raiments — taken by an Associated Press photographer during his visit in 2006 to the country where his father was born — resurfaced on the Internet amid unsubstantiated claims that it was being circulated by members of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign. Clinton and her aides said they had nothing to do with it. The Obama campaign accused them of “shameful, offensive fear-mongering.” On Tuesday Republican candidate McCain denounced the introduction he got in Cincinnati that criticized Obama in vivid terms. Talk-show host Bill Cunningham referred to Obama three times as “Barack Hussein Obama” and called him a “hack, Chicago-style” politician during the introduction of McCain. The Obama campaign is closely attuned to the rumors and insinuations. Information on Obama’s Christian faith is prominently available on the “Know the facts” page of his Web site. The campaign has distributed flyers to churches in states with presidential contests. And it encourages supporters to flag any attack that may make its way into cyberspace. If there is confusion — and opportunity for political mischief — it derives at least in part from Obama’s rich cultural background. His mother was a white woman from Kansas, his father was Kenyan and he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, a largely Muslim country.
Article from the Washington AP
TONIGHT (FEBRUARY 27, 2008) AT NORTH HIGH SCHOOL! DOORS OPEN AT 5:00PM
