Approximately two years ago the city of Compton had a surplus. Today we face a thirty million dollar deficit. Would it surprise you to learn that millions of dollars are spent on concerts and entertainment while basic services go neglected?
On April 19th residents of Compton have the opportunity to make some changes in the city…starting with the city council. There are 6 candidates running against the incumbent for district 1… What does that tell you?
There is only 1 candidate running against the incumbent in district 4.
Sadly, we have a population well over 90,000 but it seems that less than 6,000 actually come out to vote in local elections. What does it take to get more people to vote and get more involved?
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I received this powerful email from my friend Erica which further expresses the importance of voting. Thanks for sharing Erica, this really hit home…. Never forget the price paid for where you stand today. Tell your children so they may never forget where we once were…
This was once our resumes…
None of us has had to experience the pain of separation or live with the disgrace and humiliation that comes with not being free.
When you cast your vote for who will run our country, never forget your history and keep this bill of sale in mind.
When we allow ourselves to forget our not so distant past, then we are destined to repeat these actions in our future.
Stand for those who came before us and those who could not stand up for themselves.
VOTE!
I encourage you to share this with everyone you know.
I got an email from my aunt April this morning as an effort to get out the vote. It certainly got my attention..it scared me actually. When I clicked the link in the email it said: Election Day Notice: The video you’re about to see portrays events that haven’t happened… yet.
It was prepared just for you. But if you go vote today you can make sure this joke doesn’t become a reality.
Mrs. Emily Hart Holifield (precinct captain/coordinator) opened with a word of prayer. She and her husband Benjamin Holifield were recognized for all of their hard work and dedication.
Dawn (Camp Obama Out of State Coordinator) and Kevin (Culver City OVCH) explained phone banking and the Drive for Change. Nevada is a battleground state so there will be bus trips to Nevada in addition to phone banking.
The next speaker, Martin, emphasized the importance of two major deadlines:
1. October 20th is the last day to register to vote in the state of California. (8 million Blacks that are eligible to vote, are not registered to vote. 5 million Latinos that are eligible to vote, are not registered to vote).
2. November 4th by 8pm go vote!
He made it clear that we all should make sure our family, friends, neighbors, co workers, church members etc..etc.. are not only registered to vote but that they actually go out and vote. He also informed us that homeless people can register to vote, former felons not on probation can register to vote, and that 17 year olds turning 18 by November 4th can register to vote.
The next speaker, 35 year old Troy Campbell, literally moved the crowd with his inspiring message. He broke down what “Yes I Can” really means to a person that has been told that they will never be anything. He explained that each of us already has within us, what it takes to win because we are all born to win. Troy Campbell said “other people’s opinions of you cannot become your eulogy…..you have the right to say Yes I Can!” And the crowd went wild….
Peter Matthews, a Political Science professor at Cypress College and write in candidate for Congress, explained why he supports Senator Barack Obama and the importance of Obama’s vision for America’s future. He ended with the quote “where there is no vision the people perish.”
From there the march from 1100 W. Compton Blvd to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial at Compton Boulevard Between Acacia Avenue and Willowbrook Avenue began.
It is difficult for me to to describe the energy and emotions I felt…what comes to mind is perhaps… what I imagine people felt during and after Civil Rights marches and rallies. I was excited, pumped up, fired up, and ready to go….I felt and still feel like I am an active participant in history…but something did bother me at Saturday’s rally.
My age group (30 something) was extremely under represented.According to Compton demographics,15.01% of the population in Compton are between the ages of 25 to 34 years old and 13.68% are between 35 to 44 years old! Where were we? At the nail shop? the barber shop? grocery store? work? at home? did we not know? did we have something better to do? was it just not a priority? What kept the 30 something crowd from showing up and showing out in full force?
I saw some presumably 30 somethings passing by, some stopped and joined, others honked their horns in support, many went to the headquarters to get yard signs and get information, while others seemed disinterested. I’m concerned with the disinterested…
One of the most important things said during the rally was by Kevin from the Culver City headquarters, he used the quote “Each One Teach One, Each One Reach One.”
Which brings me to the email I received below:
———————-
Think of all the people you know — your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors. What if every one of them voted on Election Day?
That’s a lot of votes.
But odds are, many of them aren’t registered — or aren’t sure if they are.
Now there’s an easy way to learn your status and get registered. Our new one-stop voter registration site, VoteForChange.com, lets you do it all: check your registration status, register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and find your early voting site or polling location.
Take a minute today to check out VoteForChange.com, and encourage your friends and family to do the same:
In just the past few weeks, 200,000 people have used VoteForChange.com to register to vote. That’s a remarkable accomplishment, and we’re well on our way to our goal — 1,000,000 people using VoteForChange.com to register to vote before the election.
We’re counting on all of our supporters to help reach this goal by forwarding this email to friends and family.
This election is going to be incredibly close, and we need every single vote we can get to win. But almost everywhere in the country, there are only a couple of weeks left before your registration deadline.
VoteForChange.com makes it easier than ever to confirm your registration. Instead of tracking down the right forms, all you need to do is answer a few basic questions and you’ll be ready to vote.
If you’re not sure if you’re registered or if you have any questions, take a minute to visit the site and make your voice heard on Election Day:
Together, we can turn the tide of the past eight years and bring about the real change this country needs.
But we all need to vote — and first, we all need to be registered.
Jon Carson
National Field Director Obama for America
P.S. — There are lots of ways to get this important information out there. Help spread the word by adding www.VoteForChange.com to your email footer, or share it with friends on online social networks.
Getting as many people as possible registered to vote, and then making sure they go to the polls, is going to take all of us working together. Thanks.
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 better.
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’m not “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 cityBaltimore. 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 in 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, Hillary 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 is 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.
“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don’t vote.” – William E. Simon
“The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
My grandmother grew up during the Jim Crow days in Louisiana, back when Black people had to pass a math test in order to vote. My grandfather grew up in South Carolina where poll taxes were imposed upon Blacks.
The Civil Rights Movement put an official end to Jim Crow Laws that prevented Black people from voting… yet still, there are millions of Black people that are not registered to vote. Why is that?
Do people just take voting for granted?
Contrary to what many think, it wasn’t that long ago that voting was a white male privilege. Blacks folks couldn’t vote! Women couldn’t vote. People died for the right to vote, people marched, got hosed down, attacked by dogs, endured beatings, and made many sacrifices. To snub voting is unacceptable.
This election is probably the most important election of our life time. We cannot afford for anyone to not vote based on unproven theories or hood fables! Every vote counts. If you are unhappy with the current direction our country is taking, you must vote.
You cannot complain or voice concerns about the economy or politics in general if you refuse to participate in the process.
If you are already registered to vote, encourage others to register to vote. We live in a democracy…. but it only works if we all actually participate by voting.
1. government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
2. a state having such a form of government: The United States and Canada are democracies.
3. a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.
4. political or social equality; democratic spirit.
5. the common people of a community as distinguished from any privileged class; the common people with respect to their political power.
What Are the Qualifications to Vote?
You must be a citizen of the United States by birth or naturalization.
You must be eighteen years of age or older on the date of the next ensuing election.
There is some confusion as to if convicted felons can vote….It depends on the state, but in many cases, such as in California, if you are off parole you can vote.
Many believe that their vote does not or will not count, especially after the 2000 election. VOTE ANYWAY! Voting is your right and your civic duty. Do It!
“History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” – David C. McCullough
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” – Maya Angelou
“A man without history is like a tree without roots.” – Marcus Garvey
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana
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.,
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
Nort h 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?
It’s unbelievable that victims of rape would have to pay for a rape examination… It’s even worse that John McCain voted against a law that would make the rape exams free.
“Biden’s legislation required that state, local, and Indian governments provide the rape exams to victims free of charge as a condition of receiving federal funds under the Violence Against Women Act.” (read the rest)
Omg! Like everyone else, I’ve been watching the Democratic National Convention. Last night Michelle Obama brought tears to my eyes and tonight Hillary Clinton had me on the edge of my seat!
All week I’ve been hearing about these so called angry Hillary supporters planning to vote for John McCain. Its a free country and people can vote for who ever they choose but it just didn’t make sense to me that Hillary Clinton supporters would rather vote for John McCain than Barack Obama….
Call me sensitive, but to me…thats yet another indication that for some people….this is more about race than about the political issues at stake. The way I take it is: those particular people would rather have 4 more years of the last 8 years, than vote for an African American man. Why else would a democrat and Clinton supporter vote for John McCain?
Perhaps that’s what Hillary was getting at in her speech, when she asked her supporters if they were in it for her or the marine, the mother, or the young boy…
I think that Hillary’s speech bridged gaps between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton supporters.
Hearing her refer to herself as a “proud supporter of Barack Obama” and declaring that “it’s time to unite as a single party with a single purpose” sent a wave of excitement through my vains… Did her awesome speech have the same impact on her supporters planning to vote for McCain? I don’t know but I hope so. No Way, No How, No McCain!
Hillary Clinton’s Speech at the Democratic National Convention:
I am honored to be here tonight. A proud mother. A proud Democrat. A proud American. And a proud supporter of Barack Obama.
My friends, it is time to take back the country we love.
Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines.
This is a fight for the future. And it’s a fight we must win.
I haven’t spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.
And you haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.
No way. No how. No McCain.
Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President.
Tonight we need to remember what a Presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you — the American people, your lives, and your children’s futures.
For me, it’s been a privilege to meet you in your homes, your workplaces, and your communities. Your stories reminded me everyday that America’s greatness is bound up in the lives of the American people — your hard work, your devotion to duty, your love for your children, and your determination to keep going, often in the face of enormous obstacles.
You taught me so much, you made me laugh, and . . . you even made me cry. You allowed me to become part of your lives. And you became part of mine.
I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism, didn’t have health insurance and discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head painted with my name on it and asked me to fight for health care.
I will always remember the young man in a Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said to me: “Take care of my buddies; a lot of them are still over there….and then will you please help take care of me?”
I will always remember the boy who told me his mom worked for the minimum wage and that her employer had cut her hours. He said he just didn’t know what his family was going to do.
I will always be grateful to everyone from all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind by the Bush Administrtation.
To my supporters, my champions — my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits – from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.
You never gave in. You never gave up. And together we made history.
Along the way, America lost two great Democratic champions who would have been here with us tonight. One of our finest young leaders, Arkansas Democratic Party Chair, Bill Gwatney, who believed with all his heart that America and the South could be and should be Democratic from top to bottom.
And Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a dear friend to many of us, a loving mother and courageous leader who never gave up her quest to make America fairer and smarter, stronger and better. Steadfast in her beliefs, a fighter of uncommon grace, she was an inspiration to me and to us all.
Our heart goes out to Stephanie’s son, Mervyn, Jr, and Bill’s wife, Rebecca, who traveled to Denver to join us at our convention.
Bill and Stephanie knew that after eight years of George Bush, people are hurting at home, and our standing has eroded around the world. We have a lot of work ahead.
Jobs lost, houses gone, falling wages, rising prices. The Supreme Court in a right-wing headlock and our government in partisan gridlock. The biggest deficit in our nation’s history. Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis.
Putin and Georgia, Iraq and Iran.
I ran for President to renew the promise of America. To rebuild the middle class and sustain the American Dream, to provide the opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford the gas and groceries and still have a little left over each month.
To promote a clean energy economy that will create millions of green collar jobs.
To create a health care system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so that parents no longer have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead end jobs simply to keep their insurance.
To create a world class education system and make college affordable again.
To fight for an America defined by deep and meaningful equality – from civil rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families. To help every child live up to his or her God-given potential.
To make America once again a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.
To bring fiscal sanity back to Washington and make our government an instrument of the public good, not of private plunder.
To restore America’s standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq, bring our troops home and honor their service by caring for our veterans.
And to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges, from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.
Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years.
Those are the reasons I ran for President. Those are the reasons I support Barack Obama. And those are the reasons you should too.
I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
We need leaders once again who can tap into that special blend of American confidence and optimism that has enabled generations before us to meet our toughest challenges. Leaders who can help us show ourselves and the world that with our ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit, there are no limits to what is possible in America.
This won’t be easy. Progress never is. But it will be impossible if we don’t fight to put a Democrat in the White House.
We need to elect Barack Obama because we need a President who understands that America can’t compete in a global economy by padding the pockets of energy speculators, while ignoring the workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas. We need a President who understands that we can’t solve the problems of global warming by giving windfall profits to the oil companies while ignoring opportunities to invest in new technologies that will build a green economy.
We need a President who understands that the genius of America has always depended on the strength and vitality of the middle class.
Barack Obama began his career fighting for workers displaced by the global economy. He built his campaign on a fundamental belief that change in this country must start from the ground up, not the top down. He knows government must be about “We the people” not “We the favored few.”
And when Barack Obama is in the White House, he’ll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, President Clinton and the Democrats did it before. And President Obama and the Democrats will do it again.
He’ll transform our energy agenda by creating millions of green jobs and building a new, clean energy future. He’ll make sure that middle class families get the tax relief they deserve. And I can’t wait to watch Barack Obama sign a health care plan into law that covers every single American.
Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq responsibly and bring our troops home – a first step to repairing our alliances around the world.
And he will have with him a terrific partner in Michelle Obama. Anyone who saw Michelle’s speech last night knows she will be a great First Lady for America.
Americans are also fortunate that Joe Biden will be at Barack Obama’s side. He is a strong leader and a good man. He understands both the economic stresses here at home and the strategic challenges abroad. He is pragmatic, tough, and wise. And, of course, Joe will be supported by his wonderful wife, Jill.
They will be a great team for our country.
Now, John McCain is my colleague and my friend.
He has served our country with honor and courage.
But we don’t need four more years . . . of the last eight years.
More economic stagnation …and less affordable health care.
More high gas prices …and less alternative energy.
More jobs getting shipped overseas …and fewer jobs created here.
More skyrocketing debt …home foreclosures …and mounting bills that are crushing our middle class families.
More war . . . less diplomacy.
More of a government where the privileged come first …and everyone else comes last.
John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn’t think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it’s okay when women don’t earn equal pay for equal work.
With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.
America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to the challenge of every new time, changing to be faithful to our values of equal opportunity for all and the common good.
And I know what that can mean for every man, woman, and child in America. I’m a United States Senator because in 1848 a group of courageous women and a few brave men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights, to participate in the first convention on women’s rights in our history.
And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed down by mother to daughter to granddaughter – and a few sons and grandsons along the way.
These women and men looked into their daughters’ eyes, imagined a fairer and freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally and picket. To endure ridicule and harassment. To brave violence and jail.
And after so many decades – 88 years ago on this very day – the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote would be forever enshrined in our Constitution.
My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President.
This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.
How do we give this country back to them?
By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.
And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice.
If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they’re shouting after you, keep going.
Don’t ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.
Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.
I’ve seen it in you. I’ve seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women of our military – you always keep going.
We are Americans. We’re not big on quitting.
But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing Barack Obama president.
We don’t have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.
Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance.
I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come election day. And think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big impact on your life and on the life of our nation.
We’ve got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.
That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great – and no ceiling too high – for all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and in each other.
Thank you so much. God bless America and Godspeed to you all.
Did chills run down your spine as tears rolled down your cheeks while watching and listening to Michelle Obama? I was moved, touched, inspired, and empowered. What a First Lady!!!! Michelle Obama’s Speech at the Democratic National Convention:
As you might imagine, for Barack, running for president is nothing compared to that first game of basketball with my brother Craig.
I can’t tell you how much it means to have Craig and my mom here tonight. Like Craig, I can feel my dad looking down on us, just as I’ve felt his presence in every grace-filled moment of my life.
At six-foot-six, I’ve often felt like Craig was looking down on me too — literally. But the truth is, both when we were kids and today, he wasn’t looking down on me — he was watching over me.
And he’s been there for me every step of the way since that clear February day 19 months ago, when — with little more than our faith in each other and a hunger for change — we joined my husband, Barack Obama, on the improbable journey that’s brought us to this moment.
But each of us also comes here tonight by way of our own improbable journey.
I come here tonight as a sister, blessed with a brother who is my mentor, my protector and my lifelong friend.
I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president.
I come here as a Mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world — they’re the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night. Their future — and all our children’s future — is my stake in this election.
And I come here as a daughter — raised on the South Side of Chicago by a father who was a blue collar city worker, and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me. My mother’s love has always been a sustaining force for our family, and one of my greatest joys is seeing her integrity, her compassion, and her intelligence reflected in my own daughters.
My dad was our rock. Although he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his early thirties, he was our provider, our champion, our hero. As he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk, it took him longer to get dressed in the morning. But if he was in pain, he never let on. He never stopped smiling and laughing — even while struggling to button his shirt, even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my Mom a kiss. He just woke up a little earlier, and worked a little harder.
He and my mom poured everything they had into me and Craig. It was the greatest gift a child can receive: never doubting for a single minute that you’re loved, and cherished, and have a place in this world. And thanks to their faith and hard work, we both were able to go on to college. So I know firsthand from their lives — and mine — that the American dream endures.
And you know, what struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, even though he’d grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. Like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities they never had themselves. And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
And as our friendship grew, and I learned more about Barack, he introduced me to the work he’d done when he first moved to Chicago after college. Instead of heading to Wall Street, Barack had gone to work in neighborhoods devastated when steel plants shut down, and jobs dried up. And he’d been invited back to speak to people from those neighborhoods about how to rebuild their community.
The people gathered together that day were ordinary folks doing the best they could to build a good life. They were parents living paycheck to paycheck; grandparents trying to get by on a fixed income; men frustrated that they couldn’t support their families after their jobs disappeared. Those folks weren’t asking for a handout or a shortcut. They were ready to work — they wanted to contribute. They believed — like you and I believe — that America should be a place where you can make it if you try.
Barack stood up that day, and spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about “The world as it is” and “The world as it should be.” And he said that all too often, we accept the distance between the two, and settle for the world as it is — even when it doesn’t reflect our values and aspirations. But he reminded us that we know what our world should look like. We know what fairness and justice and opportunity look like. And he urged us to believe in ourselves — to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be. And isn’t that the great American story?
It’s the story of men and women gathered in churches and union halls, in town squares and high school gyms — people who stood up and marched and risked everything they had — refusing to settle, determined to mold our future into the shape of our ideals.
It is because of their will and determination that this week, we celebrate two anniversaries: the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, and the 45th anniversary of that hot summer day when Dr. King lifted our sights and our hearts with his dream for our nation.
I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history — knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me. All of them driven by the same conviction that drove my dad to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly dress himself for work. The same conviction that drives the men and women I’ve met all across this country:
People who work the day shift, kiss their kids goodnight, and head out for the night shift — without disappointment, without regret — that goodnight kiss a reminder of everything they’re working for.
The military families who say grace each night with an empty seat at the table. The servicemen and women who love this country so much, they leave those they love most to defend it.
The young people across America serving our communities — teaching children, cleaning up neighborhoods, caring for the least among us each and every day.
People like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, so that our daughters — and sons — can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher.
People like Joe Biden, who’s never forgotten where he came from, and never stopped fighting for folks who work long hours and face long odds and need someone on their side again.
All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won’t do — that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be.
That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack’s journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope.
That is why I love this country.
And in my own life, in my own small way, I’ve tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That’s why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us — no matter what our age or background or walk of life — each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.
It’s a belief Barack shares — a belief at the heart of his life’s work.
It’s what he did all those years ago, on the streets of Chicago, setting up job training to get people back to work and afterschool programs to keep kids safe — working block by block to help people lift up their families.
It’s what he did in the Illinois Senate, moving people from welfare to jobs, passing tax cuts for hard working families, and making sure women get equal pay for equal work.
It’s what he’s done in the United States Senate, fighting to ensure the men and women who serve this country are welcomed home not just with medals and parades, but with good jobs and benefits and health care — including mental health care.
That’s why he’s running — to end the war in Iraq responsibly, to build an economy that lifts every family, to make health care available for every American, and to make sure every child in this nation gets a world class education all the way from preschool to college. That’s what Barack Obama will do as President of the United States of America.
He’ll achieve these goals the same way he always has — by bringing us together and reminding us how much we share and how alike we really are. You see, Barack doesn’t care where you’re from, or what your background is, or what party — if any — you belong to. That’s not how he sees the world. He knows that thread that connects us — our belief in America’s promise, our commitment to our children’s future — is strong enough to hold us together as one nation even when we disagree.
It was strong enough to bring hope to those neighborhoods in Chicago.
It was strong enough to bring hope to the mother he met worried about her child in Iraq; hope to the man who’s unemployed, but can’t afford gas to find a job; hope to the student working nights to pay for her sister’s health care, sleeping just a few hours a day.
And it was strong enough to bring hope to people who came out on a cold Iowa night and became the first voices in this chorus for change that’s been echoed by millions of Americans from every corner of this nation.
Millions of Americans who know that Barack understands their dreams; that Barack will fight for people like them; and that Barack will finally bring the change we need.
And in the end, after all that’s happened these past 19 months, the Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago. He’s the same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital ten years ago this summer, inching along at a snail’s pace, peering anxiously at us in the rearview mirror, feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands, determined to give her everything he’d struggled so hard for himself, determined to give her what he never had: the affirming embrace of a father’s love.
And as I tuck that little girl and her little sister into bed at night, I think about how one day, they’ll have families of their own. And one day, they — and your sons and daughters — will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They’ll tell them how this time, we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, we decided to stop doubting and to start dreaming. How this time, in this great country — where a girl from the South Side of Chicago can go to college and law school, and the son of a single mother from Hawaii can go all the way to the White House — we committed ourselves to building the world as it should be.
So tonight, in honor of my father’s memory and my daughters’ future — out of gratitude to those whose triumphs we mark this week, and those whose everyday sacrifices have brought us to this moment — let us devote ourselves to finishing their work; let us work together to fulfill their hopes; and let us stand together to elect Barack Obama President of the United States of America.
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” —John F. Kennedy
“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.” —Thomas Jefferson
“Change is inevitable. Because it is driven by expanding knowledge and technology, it is accelerating at a speed never seen before. Your job is to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.” —Brian Tracy
“If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” —Charles Kettering
After 219 years and 43 United States presidents, there is a strong possibility that 2008 will go down in history with the the 44th president being the first African American or woman elected.
The word change has been used by all of the presidential candidates…however, only two truly represent change, and perhaps one more than the other.
Hillary Clinton represents change because she is a woman. However, her family and the Bush family have dominated the White house for the last twenty years! I don’t see how having her as president would equate to any real change. Hillary would make history as being the first female president but would the American people would get more of the same by electing her? Would it really be about her and Bill picking up where they left off?
When I think of change in America I think of new leadership… a fresh face in the White House with new ideas and a fresh perspective to lead the United States in a new direction. To affect change in this country we need a president that not only embraces change fearlessly but is the embodiment of change. Is having Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States change we can believe in?
Happy Super Tuesday!Get Out and Vote!
Here are a few details and rules that will help make the voting process run smoothly. Make sure to share these with your friends:
Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to at least 8:00 p.m. Anyone in line at the time the polls close is allowed to vote.
Voters have the right to cast a provisional ballot even if their name is not listed on the voting rolls. If a voter is at the wrong polling location and has time to get to the correct polling location before polls close at 8:00 p.m., they should go to the correct one and vote with a regular ballot instead of voting with a provisional ballot at the wrong location.
If you declined to select a political party when you registered to vote, you can still vote for Barack Obama if you request a Democratic ballot from the poll worker. Make sure you mark “Democratic” in the appropriate space or the vote might not be counted.
Voters have the right to return a completed vote-by-mail ballot to any precinct in their county.
After spending all week in bed (no thanks to the flu) I intend to be front and center at this rally to hear what these women have to say. In my 33 years, I have never attended a rally for any presidential candidate. After the 2000 election debacle I had really lost all hope and faith in the election process. What a difference 8 years makes. Yes, change is in the air!
Pauley Pavilion
UCLA
301 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Door Open at 11:30 a.m.
Sunday February 3rd
A friend needs your support in the “My Song My Way, Sing ACappella Contest” for a chance to sing at the Super Bowl. Yes this years super bowl! Her name is Elaine (she’s Hampton Alumni fyi for my HU folks). She has a great voice, listen and vote. She’s singing a gospel version of Some Where Over The Rainbow.
Here’s the link plus a pic below to make sure you vote for the right person smile:
Please show some love and support and vote for her, it takes less than 5min. Your vote means a lot and will be great appreciated.
Thanks Pass it On! My vote is in Lets send Elaine to the Super Bowl!
Special Message From Elaine:
THE CALL IS ON!!! I am now in 2nd place for the Burger King, My Song, My Way contest. I need EVERYONE to continue to vote for me. There are no stipulations in the rules and regulations about voting more than once.
Please vote as often as you can and forward this on to as many people as you can to tell them also. Voting ends on January 29th.
There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination, and wonder
Ronald Reagan
