Saturday, August 30, 2008

Honestly, what, in God's name, have we let our country become?

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When the people fear their government, there is tyranny;
when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
~Thomas Jefferson.
It's not Bush's fault, It's not McCain's fault. It's my fault. It's your fault. We let this happen. Take accountability. We've let each other down. It's time to undo those failings. Pick up the banner for Obama by volunteering in your neighborhood. Get involved. DO something before it's too late.

Honestly, it's the Least we can do.

Wake up People. The situation is serious.

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.
~John Donne

Friday, August 29, 2008

I Feel Like I'm Taking Crazy Pills.

Cafferty: McCain V.P. pick younger, less experienced than Obama

"All we have heard from John McCain for months is, “Barack Obama is too young. Barack Obama is too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. Who do you want answering the phone in the White House at three a.m.? Blah, blah, blah.”

So what does McCain do? He picks someone to be his running mate who is even younger than Barack Obama and has less experience.

Sara Palin is 44 – Obama is 47. Sara Palin is in her first term as governor of Alaska, a state that has 13 people and some caribou. Obama is a member of the United States Senate from Illinois.

It’s not a big deal, except for this: If McCain wins, he will be the oldest person ever inaugurated for a first term at 72. He has a history of health problems that include bouts of melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer. It is reasonable to consider that McCain’s running mate could be called upon to be our president.

Meanwhile, some may see this as a move for McCain to attract disaffected women who voted for Hillary Clinton and aren’t yet behind Obama. But that might not work for a few reasons: Palin, like McCain, is pro-life. Also, she might be a woman, but she’s no Hillary Clinton."

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Personally, I think this pick is laughable at best and is a true unforgiveable insult to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's historical candidacies, to the democratic process and to every former VP in US history.

Well done John McCain. Well done.

Seriously, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Someone, anyone, please make sense of this....

On a side note: Does this remind any one of the moment in a thriller movie when the bad guy does something that no one can make sense of right before he blows up an old folks' home? Yeah, me too.

The Trouble with Polls...

I've been hearing a lot of- "well McCain and Obama are in a dead heat according to the polls" "I wonder if Obama has a chance" etc.
I don't blame people for thinking this- most polls do say its a close tie. BUT- consider this:

1. Barack is ahead in almost all the polls.
2. Due to the nature of polling- and due to the fact that they only poll those who have voted in the past two elections- The polls can never be trusted.
3. They especially can't be trusted this election because of all the new, first time young voters who will overwhelmingly vote Obama.

SO, in conclusion, don't be fooled by the polls and don't let the media tell you what to believe.

Change is coming- the ground is stirring- the majority of Americans want Change. And they'll have it.
Have HOPE- Believe in Barack and Believe in yourselves. :)
Obama Can't Lose.

The Trouble With Polls- TIME Article

"Take polling, please. The vast majority of Americans--as many as 90%, pollsters have told me privately--refuse to answer questions when the wizard calls (although the number is marginally better this hot election year). People who use cell phones exclusively, mostly younger voters, are unreachable. The wizards say they can correct for these things, by "weighting" their polls--that is, giving disproportionate weight to members of underrepresented groups like young people. But surely that makes polling less scientific and more speculative. It means polls should be trusted only to verify broad shifts Bush moved ahead in the presidential race after the Republican Convention rather than specific point spreads."

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Here is the only Poll data worth reading- It's from RealClearPolitics.com, they take the average of all the polls. Currently Barack is up 3.8 points.

But just to reiterate- take polls for what they are- SPECULATION.

"8 Is Enough"

Favorite Quote of The Night: "I don't know what sort of lives John McCain thinks celebrities lead - but this has been mine."



You Go and Save the Best For Last:

"You know, this country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit, that American promise, that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night and a promise that you make to yours, a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west, a promise that led workers to picket lines and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that, 45 years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustrations of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead -- people of every creed and color, from every walk of life -- is that, in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one.

"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

America, we cannot turn back...

... not with so much work to be done; not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix, and cities to rebuild, and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.

America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone.

At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America."

~B. Obama

Thursday, August 28, 2008

World: Meet Barack Obama.

Barack @ Mile High to give Nomination Acceptance Speech:

"Barack Obama aims to weave the personal with the political Thursday night as he tells 75,000 supporters in a football stadium _ and millions more at home _ how as president he would make a difference in their lives."

(from AP article on Huff Po)

I predict Barack's speech will include a lot of emphasis on making differences from the bottom up. Barack is a firm believer that democracy works only if its citizens are involved. I am looking quite forward to this. He is not only a fine orator, but a fine citizen of the US and of the world.

Tonight's Full Schedule

Enjoy!

Beck is Back.

<--- Beck's new album, Modern Guilt, features singer Cat Power on several tracks and was co-produced by Danger Mouse.

The old stuff:

"I came out of playing in coffeehouses and bars, so really, just as a performer, that was kind of a survival mechanism," Beck says. "Because you had to be heard over a crowd, or playing in between the bands that people actually came to see. So the humor was something that just sort of helped me get people's attention, I guess.

The new:

His new material, however, has darker undercurrents. Lyrically, songs like "Volcano" and the title track can come off as depressed, apocalyptic, anxious.

For Beck, it isn't necessarily a conscious decision, though.

"The way a lot of my songs are written — I write the music first, and I record it, and then with a song like 'Modern Guilt,' I just get on the microphone and I write something really quick, sort of off the top of my head so I can remember the melody," he says. "And what happens a lot of times is that what I initially sing on there ends up being on the record. A lot of these things, I don't really get to spend too much time figuring out what it is."

Taken from NPR article.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

PASTE Goes Digital

Paste, My favorite magazine is now on-line!
(free)

Monday, August 25, 2008

Michelle Obama: Hope Not Fear



"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."

Friday, August 22, 2008

Barack Obama: Tees for the People, By the People.

You design a clever lil shirt, send it to Obama's site via a downloadable application, it goes on display and "The winning entry will be picked by a truly democratic process: your votes."


my favorite (and it was super hard to choose)

Caption possibility: "Barackman 5: It's time to clean House"

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Future of Food. The Curse that is Genetically Modified Seeds

"Nothing Vast Enters the Lives of Mortals w/o a Curse" - Sophocles.

Wheat Harvester in Saskatchewan, Canada.

"There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America -- a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat.

THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

Trailer

The real kicker is that those who should be monitoring this stuff, aka the FDA, Seed companies themselves, etc are doing NOTHING to investigate the ramifications of genetically modified foods. It is the not for profit groups that are doing all the work. You have to wonder where all our tax money is being spent???

Take Action! Millions Against Monsanto Campaign!

Get Educated!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Hemp: Magical Weed of the Future?



Hemp is the common name for plants of the entire family of Cannabis, although the term is often used to refer only to Cannabis strains cultivated for industrial (non-drug) use. There are so many uses for hemp (see below- and this isn't even all of them!) and it is relatively easy to grow. So why is it illegal to grow in the US? I know, I know- you're thinking- Drugs, Weed, ILLEGAL!

Well... "
Hemp contains THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient found in hashish and marijuana. While THC is present in all Cannabis plant varieties to some extent, industrial hemp does not contain an amount to produce any intoxicating effect, even in significant quantities. Industrial Hemp is produced in many countries around the world.

Major producers include Canada, France and China.
The United States is the only industrialized nation to continue to ban industrial hemp. While the Hemp is imported in the United States more than in any other country, the US Government does not distinguish between marijuana and non-psychoactive cannabis used for industrial and commercial purposes..." (wiki)

Of course, the US is behind (again)... Hmm, maybe the reason we're not growing hemp is the same reason we don't have solar power...

We need to start growing hemp!

To learn more visit this advocacy site. Get educated.
(Hemp: A New Crop with New Uses for North America)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Remember that day called Independence?

Yeah, well that day is actually about more than fireworks, barbecues and "I Love America" at James River Assembly (which I'll never truly comprehend...) It's about a day in History which never should be forgotten.



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"The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing that the 13 American Colonies, then at war with Great Britain, were no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War." (Wikipedia)


I
N CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

(Subsequently, a list of the wrongs done to the Colonies follows here.)

...Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America...solemnly publish and declare... [our] support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

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Bleed American. :)
Viva la Revolucion.

The Federalist Papers- Man's Greatest Literary Work

The Federalist Papers"The Federalist Papers were written and published during the years 1787 and 1788 in several New York State newspapers to persuade New York voters to ratify the proposed constitution.

In total, the Federalist Papers consist of 85 essays outlining how this new government would operate and why this type of government was the best choice for the United States of America. All of the essays were signed "PUBLIUS" and the actual authors of some are under dispute, but the general consensus is that Alexander Hamilton wrote 52, James Madison wrote 28, and John Jay contributed the remaining five.

The Federalist Papers remain today as an excellent reference for anyone who wants to understand the U.S. Constitution. "

http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/


Bleed American.

The Color of Independence

Fed-up I am with the gridlocked, mud-slinging, issue-ignoring nightmare that is our legislative branch of government.

I would like to clarify what I feel being a card-carrying member of a 'purple' party means. You can be a member too, it's simple.
All you need to do is be a responsible and compassionate Citizen of the USofA.
Just pledge allegiance to the US Constitution. (You know, that little piece of paper which makes this great country what it is.)

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Preable- The majority of Americans feel the same way about the bulk of issues facing our country now and in the past. It is Devisive Politics- Red v Blue, Democrats v Republicans etc which have distracted us and which have veered us badly of course. In order to turn this Titanic that is the United States of America around, we'll have to all agree to disagree, shake hands, roll up our sleeves and get to work. We need to focus on the things that truly matter: the declining economy, job security, energy efficiency and our cultural existential crisis. (The last one I threw in. It's arguably the most important...Look forward to a blog about it soon.)

A great danger is lurking in the depths of our country- the danger of greed. The great pursuit of the almighty dollar which drives some to believe 'you can never have enough' and that all that matters is the bottom line. These are not the American ideals of Madison and Hamilton, of our Founding Fathers. I remember first learning about those great men very young- I listened, wide eyed, as my 4th grade teacher spoke of the Revolutionary War and of the ideas of liberty and justice for all, a government for the people and by the people, one that ensures all were created equal, and thus should be treated as such. That America still lives. I'm sure of it.

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The Purple Citizen's Decree

Article 1- A party shall exist which represents REAL issues which directly affect an individual's way of life.
Section 1- This party shall end bickering over issues so obviously a personal decision, such as abortion or gay marriage; most rational people understand infringing upon these rights is in direct violation with the US Constitution, and the fact we're still discussing them is laughable.

Article 2- States shall no longer be viewed as 'red' or 'blue' but as 'purple'.
Section 1- The majority of Americans believe women should vote, the right to carry is OK as long as its regulated, gays should have the same rights as everyone else and that gas should not cost 5$/gallon.
Section 2- We all just want to live happily in harmony with one another. A few greedy men are sewing the seeds of disharmony. We must fight back.
Section 3- It is the red and blue that divides us.
Section 4- We are tricked into thinking we're different just to sell newspapers and ad-space.

Article 3-
This party shall put an end to the unnecessary and time-wasting conflict between the democratic and republican parties.
Section 1- Evil thrives upon disharmony.
Section 2- The majority of Americans shall have an intermediate color by which to identify themselves.
Section 3- This party shall unite us all again, and the democracy our Founding Fathers dreamed of shall be renewed.

Article 4- The purple party shall represent:
Section 1- Having the freedom to feel whatever way you want. The freedom to express those feelings in a way which do not fringe upon the rights of others.
Section 2- The color of independence!

Over and out-
For Now.
Ashli.
(Thank you for your virtual time.)

"The night is darkest before the dawn"~Dark Knight