Living Life Abundantly

Wow I didn’t know people still watched Fox News lol, I’m an MSNBC girl. I received this interesting email forward from my friend Leslie, calling for people to sign a petition to stop Fox from smearing Barack Obama and polluting the air waves with fear and racism. Check it out…

Subject: Update: FOX smears Obama

More than 428,000 people signed a petition telling FOX to stop their
racist and hate-filled smears against Barack Obama-thanks for signing! If
we hit half-a-million signatures, we can draw media attention and put
pressure on FOX’s advertisers.

Can you help us reach half-a-million by forwarding this email to 5 friends
today?

They can sign the petition-and watch a new video about FOX’s smears:by clicking here to Sign the petition

Dear MoveOn member,

Last week, we kicked off a campaign to stop FOX from launching racist and
hate-filled smears against Barack and Michelle Obama.

Good news: Over 428,000 people have signed a message protesting FOX.
That’s unprecedented-thanks for signing! Early next week, our partners at
ColorOfChange.org will hold a major event to deliver boxes and boxes of
petition signatures to FOX’s headquarters.

Other media outlets will be invited to cover this event. If we can deliver
half-a-million signatures, this becomes a much more powerful media story.
And when that happens, FOX’s advertisers will get the hint that it’s not a
good idea to associate their products with FOX’s hate-speech.

Can you help us get to half-a-million signatures by the time of the big
delivery next week by forwarding this message to 5 friends today? They can
just click here to sign:

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/foxsmears.html?rc=sn

The petition reads:

“FOX must stop injecting racism, prejudice, and fear
into our political dialogue. We intend to hold FOX, its advertisers, and
its personalities accountable for FOX’s attempts to smear the Obamas.”

You can let your friends know that FOX is shameless: In the last several
weeks alone, they’ve “confused” Obama’s name with Osama’s, referred to
Michelle as “Obama’s Baby Mama,” and called an affectionate fist bump by
Barack and Michelle a “terrorist fist jab.”1

This morning, Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films launched a short video
called “FOX Attacks: Michelle Obama” showing some of the latest FOX smears
on the Obama family. You can see it on our petition page. Greenwald’s
previous videos documenting FOX’s smears on Barack Obama and the black
community have been seen millions of times on YouTube.2

If we reach half-a-million signatures, we can generate media coverage that
sends a message to FOX that their racist and hate-filled smears go over
the line-and put the heat on FOX advertisers as well. Can you help us
reach that goal by forwarding this email to 5 friends today? They can just
click here to sign the petition:

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/foxsmears.html?rc=sn

Thanks for all you do.

-Adam G., Peter, Anna, Justin, and the rest of the team

P.S. Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) has a new book out, and we thought
you might be interested. The Nation called Wexler the country’s “Most
Valuable Congressman,” and he’s stood with MoveOn on numerous causes, from
ending the war to stopping warrantless wiretapping in FISA. Now he’s
written Fire Breathing Liberal, a fascinating account of life as an
outspoken progressive in the House of Representatives. Says comedian
Stephen Colbert, “I enjoyed Congressman Wexler’s book even more than I
enjoy cocaine and prostitutes.”

You can check it out here:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3906&id=13182-7701928-2k0Eidx&t=1

You can also sign up for Wexler’s email list here:
http://www.wexlerforcongress.com/join.asp

Sources:

1. “Fox News Jokes About Killing Obama,” YouTube video posted May 25, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjYpkvcmog0

“Fox News’ E.D. Hill teased discussion of Obama dap: “A fist bump? A
pound? A terrorist fist jab?” Media Matters, June 6, 2008
http://mediamatters.org/items/200806060007?f=h_clips

“Fox News in trouble again over Obama smear: ‘baby mama,’” Los Angeles
Times, June 12, 2008

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3855&id=13182-7701928-2k0Eidx&t=2

2. “Fox Attacks: Obama,” Brave New Films at FoxAttacks.com, February 2007
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/573-fox-attacks-obama

“Fox Attacks: Black America,” Brave New Films at FoxAttacks.com, June 2007
http://foxattacks.com/blog/572-fox-attacks-black-america

“Fox Attacks: Obama, Part 2,” Brave New Films at FoxAttacks.com, March 2008 http://foxattacks.com/blog/32376-fox-attacks-obama-part-2

Want to support our work? We’re entirely funded by our 3.2 million
members-no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny
staff ensures that small contributions go a long way.
Chip in here.

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Update July 24th 2008: Fox Gets the Message

Big news! Your petition signature telling FOX to stop their racist smears against the Obamas had a really exciting day on Wednesday. Here’s what happened:

1:00 p.m. Your signature was printed off at a New York City Kinko’s along with 620,126 others—filling 19 big boxes.

2:00 p.m. The signatures were piled in front of FOX’s national headquarters at 6th Avenue and 48th Street.

3:15 p.m. Hip hop star Nas (whose new album had just risen to #1 on the Billboard charts hours earlier) joined over 100 activists and delivered the petitions to FOX on behalf of ColorOfChange, MoveOn, and Brave New Films.

3:30 p.m. FOX refused to accept the petitions. (Sometimes, the truth hurts.)

4:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m. News of FOX’s racism and the star-studded petition delivery made its way around the world—with stories in Rolling Stone, Billboard, USA Today, Associated Press, Reuters, India Express, Huffington Post, MTV, OpenLeft, and over 200 other places.

11:30 p.m. Stephen Colbert welcomed Nas as his guest on the Colbert Report and dedicated over half of his show to FOX’s racism. The boxes containing our signatures were stacked prominently on Colbert’s set in place of his normal interview table and chairs—and he conducted the entire interview surrounded by petitions! Then, Nas performed his new song “Sly Fox,” which is all about FOX’s racism.

12:00 a.m. Several MoveOn staffers, jaws dropped open, got on the phone and engaged in several rounds of, “Wow!”

Since then, the news has kept spreading around the world. You sent a message to FOX, and that message was very much received!

And the fight’s not over. Together, we’ve denied FOX the legitimacy that would come by hosting Democratic presidential debates, and we got a company to stop advertising on Bill O’Reilly. This week’s delivery made an impact, and we’ll continue to push back together against FOX’s racism and their smears against Obama.

But for now, enjoy the video of Wednesday’s petition delivery—led by our friends at ColorOfChange—and the video of Colbert. Both videos are at this link:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3980&id=13330-9519213-V4CTrdx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Adam G., Laura, Ilyse, Justin, and the rest of the team

P.S. You can listen to Nas’s new single “Sly Fox” on the Colbert video at the link above. If you like it and want to buy the full album, it’s available here:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3979&id=13330-9519213-V4CTrdx&t=6

Want to support our work? We’re entirely funded by our 3.2 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

The helicopters were in full effect last night. I don’t know the full scope of what happened last night in my neighborhood, but of course I heard that it was gang related. Its crazy… Like I said, I don’t know what really happened but I’m hopeful that gangsta’s in Compton and around the country will change their thinking and change their lives!

A gunman armed with a high-powered military-style assault rifle traded fire with sheriff’s deputies Tuesday night on a city street in Compton before fleeing on foot, authorities said……..

Compton, which had seen a downturn in violence over the last two years, has had six homicides since April 17, including the shooting deaths of a man in a wheelchair and the friend who was pushing him.

Instead of venting my frustration about what’s happening in my city I’ll meditate on this blast from the past. Believe it or not some gangsta’s read (I don’t know if they read my blog. They are all over Myspace and Youtube)…but if any happen to stop by here, maybe they’ll watch this video and introspect. Hope Springs Eternal.

Despite what you may have seen on the news we are still birthing a new Compton. The media hasn’t mentioned any of the good things happening here but is always quick to show up to report anything bad.

Just Her Luck, Lindsay Lohan faces a second DUI charge, driving with a suspended license, and felony possession of cocaine, but says she’s innocent.

Is there an unspoken battle going on among celebrity perpetual party girls, are they competing for The Ultimate Bad Girl Title?

Nicole Richie heads to court today on her second DUI. These young women are racking up charges like its the right thing to do.

Was nothing learned from Paris Hilton’s stint in jail?

Why are these young ladies who seem to have it all finding themselves in so much trouble with the law?

We have heard a plethora of reasons, explanations, and excuses. The media is eating it up exposing every little detail that can be dug up, but never really getting to the truth of the matter.

Yes, Lindsay, Paris, and Nicole are adults accountable and responsible for their own actions. However, is it also possible that the nature of their problems and behavior go deeper than their own bad decisions and irresponsibility?
In looking at the bigger picture, their issues speak volumes about our culture, values, and society.
In all honesty, what these high profile celebutantes are doing is not much different from what regular average folks are doing every day.

Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, and Paris Hilton just happen to be the newsworthy bad asses that seemingly the world can’t get enough of. Perhaps their celebrity status and legal battles will open our eyes to the much bigger picture and problem that affects us all.

I can only hope that these women learn life lessons from their experiences and that those of us on the outside looking in learn too.

DUI Statistics

Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 31 minutes and nonfatally injure someone every two minutes (NHTSA 2006).

• During 2005, 16,885 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 39% of all traffic-related deaths (NHTSA 2006).
  
• In 2005, nearly 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (Department of Justice 2005). That’s less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Quinlan et al. 2005).
  
• Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (Jones et al. 2003).
  
• More than half of the 414 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes during 2005 were riding with the drinking driver (NHTSA 2006).

• In 2005, 48 children age 14 years and younger who were killed as pedestrians or pedalcyclists were struck by impaired drivers (NHTSA 2006).