Register to vote, and send Voltage to play at the Democratic National Convention.  We have songs that are perfect for the event already written, and I am already the number one democrat at the DNC.

Every election cycle we see candidates moving towards the middle.  Some call this ‘flip flopping’. 

In the past 40 years Democrats have won the White House three times.  Two out of three times was by Bill Clinton.  Bill Clinton was a master at moving towards the middle.  Many now say that Obama is following Clintons’ lead.  All our Democratic nominees would have followed Bill Clintons lead and moved towards the middle to win the GE.  This is what CNN has to say about the ‘flip flop’ GE:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/07/03/schneider.flip.flop.primary.cnn

We do have one politician that no matter what the polls say, no matter what the people want…he stays the course.  I say, “Flip flop Mr. Bush.  The majority of the country does not agree with you.”  Even Jesse Helms who was one of the most conservative in Congress worked with Madeline Albright on AIDS in Africa.  He ‘flip flopped’.

Am I disappointed in some of the stands Obama has on the issues?  Of course I am.  Do I know that Obama will not be with me on 100% of the issues?  Of course I do. 

I received an email today from a friend who attended some of the Unity Parties this past weekend.  I would like you to read some exerts.

 "I'm less than a year older than Obama and he has the amazing ability to elicit a sense of pride in nearly everyone who sees him.  If you're someone's mother, most of us find a baffling desire to mother him, college students want to be like him, the young girls are sorry he's already married.  There really has never been a candidate like him in our lifetimes.

"J.F.K., Martin Luther King, Jr., R.F.K. and Bruce Springsteen wrapped into one very bright person."

 "My impression of Senator Obama was that he was highly intelligent and was probably the calmest person I've ever seen.  The patience with which he listens and answers questions is truly amazing.  That he would come to a city that houses the Bristol Motor Speedway, the Country Music Museum and a lot of forgotten mountain people was in itself inspiring.  In the county I live in, we Obama supporters are outnumbered 2,000 to one.  (Yes, that's two thousand to one.)"

Thanks for checking out the site.I now have the video for my song "Obama,Yes We Can" complete with captions for the hearing impared.It will soon be caption in ither languages so that all Obama supporters may join in.Thank you again for all the support. Lets get the man elected and take our country back.Save America and you save the world. obamarocks08.com

I haven't been able to sleep much latley and have been thinking a lot.  I have put  these thoughts down. With he 4th of July coming..I thought it was relevent. 

We’ve come a long way?

I have been giving this a lot of thought.  With the Fourth of July approaching I think this may be good time for this post.

I grew up in much different times.  Things were much simpler..And better in so many ways. 

We had disease.  My sister went out to play with us one morning and could only crawl up the back porch stairs for lunch.  Yes, polio hit that fast.   I remember standing in long lines to receive my ‘sugar cube’ laced with the polio vaccine at the local school. 

Family time was ‘forced’ upon us, in a way.  Sundays there were only ‘emergency drug stores’ open a few bowling alleys.  So, every Saturday night we would take turns sleeping at our grandparents.  The night began with rolling back the rug in the living room and being forced to learn how to polka with Lawrence Welk on the television in the background.  Then baths with a bar of Fells Napta to wash even our hair.  We awoke to a pair of little white gloves for each of us and a dime to put in the collection basket at the 6:00 Mass my grandparents took us to.  By the way, not a word of English at the Mass as they were in Latin.  We were learning a third language and didn’t know it.  We already knew Slovak and a little German.  English was our primary language. We were Americans and ever so proud of it.

I never knew this until I was adult, but my grandmother could never read.  She put on such a good show no one would have known.  She came to the US at 15 years of age.  She worked in a factory in St. Louis and saved until she had earned enough for the passage for her parents and brothers and sisters to follow. 

My parents sent all 9 of us to Catholic School.  The government was helping parents with this until I was a teenager.  Then it stopped abruptly.  We walked almost 2 miles every day to school in Cleveland weather.  Two miles was the threshold for busses.  We missed it.  We were sure never to cut through the ‘beer joint’ as it was forbidden by my parents. 

We never questioned authority.  The worst thing that could have happened was an adult call our parents to complain about our behavior.  Back then parents believed adults and asked questions later.

I can remember the day JFK was shot as we were in school.  That is a day I will never forget.  People were crying everywhere you looked….. In the stores, the streets…everywhere…everyone.  We were all just ‘Americans’ back then.  Schools were closed the day of the funeral.  We sat in front of our televisions and watched…crying.

My father worked in a factory.  He drove cabs at night.  He began his career as a bolt makers’ helper.  He worked hard, and later took some college classes.  He rose from the bottom of the ladder to management with a 6 figure income and profit sharing.  He became management representation to negotiate with the Union for new contracts.  He did this fairly and always remembered where he came from.  Later he would travel abroad for the company.  That thriving plant that employed so many has been bought and sold in the last 10 years.  It has now moved and is no longer a Union shop. 

We didn’t have video games and didn’t watch much television.  Lucy and Desi slept in separate beds.  We spent our days swinging and singing on the swings in the back yard, playing baseball, hula hooping and sharing our pogo stick.  Dinner time was mandatory.  Period, no questions asked.  We discussed current events and how our days went.  And we talked about ‘the word’.  Everyday my mom would tape a new word on the fridge.  We were to use it 3 times during the day, because she said we would ‘own it’ if we did.  My mother never had to wash a dish because it was our job and we took turns.  No one complained.

Every summer I would spend 2 weeks at my other grandmothers.  She was a widow and lived on a farm.  My grandparents had ‘taken in’ a vagrant alcoholic that had no place to go and he stayed long after my grandpa died to help run the farm….free of his problem.  He was Uncle Bob to us.  There was little or no trash at grandmas.  She canned everything from meet to vegetables (all produced on the small family farm) and we just washed the jars to be used again.  Any leftover food was given to the pigs.  I still remember the crisp, clean smell of the sheets on the beds at grandma’s after they had hung to dry.

Vacations were seldom to far off places.  Driving was the only option because only ‘rich people’ flew.  We would and go to an amusement park one day; it was Tuesday ‘nickel’ day where the rides were only a nickel each.  One day was saved for swimming at East Harbor in Lake Erie.  Few swim in Lake Erie now.  It was cleaned up but now since the Great Lakes Act has been gutted; it is not safe to swim now.  The Walleye and Perch are abundant but caution is given as to how much you can eat due to high Mercury levels.

Then there was the Fourth of July.  Always the same, and always one of the best events of the year.  Family, neighbors and friends all barbecuing in the street and sharing.  We knew our neighbors by name up and down the street.  We knew about them as well.  Once a couple were divorced and moved away.  Divorce was not common them.  The event began after most went to the Parade.  It went on into the night to watch the fireworks.  The memories of the celebration are still vivid.  The unity of the neighborhood was pronounced.  No one close ever had a problem with more help then they needed from their neighbors.

I remember once when my father was ever so disappointed in me.  We were all watching the nightly news.  The news showed pictures of a local protest march against the Viet Nam War.  My father was upset and vehemently said so.  Then my face was shown on the television as one of the protestors.  His face turned white and he left the room.  Nothing was ever said.  In years to follow my father began to question government policy.  Many Americans came to the same realization and did the same.  

Last year I decided to stop by the home I grew up in.  It was once a rural suburb of Cleveland.  I laughed thinking how small the 3 bedroom house was.  I had not remembered it that way.  I just thought it was fun to share a full bed with two of my sisters.  The huge field that was in the back yard is not a parking lot full of cars for the Honda dealership that sits there.  The ditch that was a part of our front yard is gone as underground sewers and sidewalks take their place. 

I look back at it all now and I mourn for the loss of pride we had in America.  I miss the family as it was.  I realize how much smaller the world has become.  I see it every time I go to the grocery store or out to eat.  The variety we now have from all corners of the earth. 

I still think if we take back a little of the good from days gone by…. We could be a better country and better people. 

 After a lifetime voting for and working for Democratic candidates and
independents, I'm finally
going to make the switch and become a Republican.

The reasons are many, not the least of which is age. I turned 55 recently
and, having lived more
than half my life, I can't afford to worry anymore about the other guy. It's
time for me.

As a Republican, I can now proudly -- indeed, defiantly -- pledge to never
again vote for anyone
who raises taxes for any reason. To hell with roads, bridges, schools,
police and fire protection,
Medicare, Social Security and regulation of the airwaves.

President Bush has promised to give me more tax cuts even though our federal
government owes
trillions of dollars to its creditors. But that's someone else's problem,
not mine. Republicans
are about the here and now, and I'm here now.

As a Republican, I can favor exploiting the environment for everything she's
got. No need to worry
about quaint notions like posterity and natural legacy. There are plenty of
resources left for
everyone, and if we don't use them, someone else will.

I want a party that doesn't worry about things before we have to.
Republicans refuse to get
hog-tied by theories such as global warming, ozone depletion, fished-out
oceans and disappearing
wetlands. The real problems -- if there are any -- aren't forecast to take
hold for at least 50
years. So what do I care? I'll be dead.

As a Republican, I can swagger and clamor for war -- in Iraq, Afghanistan,
Colombia, wherever --
even though I've never fought in one or even been in the military. I can
claim that we're fighting
for Democracy, ignoring reports of torture at Abu Ghraib, Bagram Air Base
and Guantanamo Bay, and
a spreading gulag of secret detention centers around the world.

Freedom, as every American should know after spending $300 billion for wars
in Afghanistan and
Iraq, isn't free.

As a Republican, I can insist on strict moral values when it comes to sex
and ignore the growing
moral chasms in business, politics, sports, journalism and the leadership of
the Roman Catholic
Church.

A society that loses control of its sexual urges faces unwanted pregnancies,
socially transmitted
disease, broken families. Those overzealous about wealth, however, produce
only a higher GDP,
lifelong security for their family and more minimum wage jobs for the lower
classes. What's wrong
with that?

As a Republican, I can favor strict punishment of criminals, except for
those who happen to be my
friends or neighbors. Isn't that the very definition of community -- looking
out for friends and
family?

I will be pro-death penalty and anti-abortion, pro-child but anti-child
care, for education but
against funding of public schools. As a Republican, I'll have a better
chance of getting to spout
my opinions in the media, which for some reason seems convinced that since
Bush was re-elected
with the smallest electoral margin of any sitting president in history,
liberals are passe.

As a Republican, I'll say goodbye to "old Jesus" and hello to "new Jesus. "
Sure Christ started
out as a liberal Jew, and look where that got him. Compassion, love and
diatribes against the rich
only encourage the weak and punish the most successful among us. The Jesus
that Republicans
worship is a muscular, decisive, pro-war crusader hard at work cleansing the
world of evildoers,
not, God forbid, turning the other cheek.

My decision to become a Republican didn't come easily. For years I clung to
the idea that the
foundation of a democratic society was our implied social contract, each of
us committing some
level of personal sacrifice to the common good of all.

I regarded taxes as dues we pay for better roads and schools, safe
inspection of meat and dairy
products, maintenance of parks and protection of wilderness areas. I see now
that looking out for
the common good resulted in shortchanging the most important element in this
formula -- me.

Let Democrats continue promising the "greatest good for the greatest
number." Republicans clearly
have my number -- No. 1.

I'm sure a lot of my friends reading this will ask me, "How can you sleep?"
My answer will be,
"Who's got time? I'm busy earning money." While they're bellyaching about
rising deficits, the
outsourcing of jobs and casualties in Iraq, I'll be marveling at the march
of freedom in the
Middle East, upticks in the GDP and the president's plan to link Social
Security to the magic of
the marketplace.

As a Republican, I simply won't listen to bad news anymore. Bad news doesn't
get me or my family
anywhere. If you don't have anything good to say about somebody, don't say
anything at all --
unless it happens to be about a Democrat, of course.

By Jeff Gillenkirk was a speechwriter for former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo

Obama is soon to be attacked on many fronts by the likely chop shops. We need to tune up talking!

The NRA:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/30/nra-gathering-ammo-agains_n_110106.html

Black Republicans:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/30/black-republicans-launch_n_110042.html

Swiftboaters:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/30/mccain-uses-swift-boat-ve_n_110003.html

How is war a women's issue?

"Fighting Pentagon war is a women's issue because it flows out of the inherent need of capital to expand its markets and its rate of exploitation in order to survive--and women's labor, paid and unpaid, is a foundation upon which this profit system rests.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that of the 50 million people uprooted by war around the world, 75 to 80 percent are women and children. Eighty percent of casualties caused by small arms in a war are women and children in the civilian population--outnumbering military casualties. (Refugees magazine, UNHCR)

In war zones, women work daily to obtain food, water and fuel, and to care for children and elders devastated by wartime disease and trauma. The loss of a father or husband brings extra economic burdens because of many women's economic dependence on men. ("War and Public Health," 1997)

In fact, as the United States prepares to launch an all-out war on Iraq, it is becoming more and more apparent that the Pentagon drive for global domination is really a class war--a war against the poor and oppressed of the world.

It is an international war against the women and girls who do two-thirds of the world's work, most of it unpaid and much of the rest at sweatshop wages that can only feed capitalist profits. (Global Women's Strike-UK)

The United States pours more that $450 billion a year into military spending. A mere 20 percent of that could provide the essentials of life for everyone on the planet--water, sanitation, basic health, nutrition, literacy and a minimum income. (Global Women's Strike-UK)

It is also a domestic war waged against women in the United States.

A recent study of industrialized countries found that the United States had the highest poverty rate for female-headed households of all countries studied: 30.9 percent compared to a 10.5 percent average. (Luxembourg Income Study Working Paper, Sept. 2000)

In fact, 60 percent of all poor adults in the United States are women. Recent census figures show that the sinking capitalist economy here is hurting women in disproportionate numbers. Working women are 40 percent more likely to be poor than working men, and families headed by a single woman are twice as likely to be poor as families headed by a single man. (NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund)

An estimated 20 percent of African American women and Latinas live below the poverty level. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, 2002)

As the U.S. government marches toward war, states are making budget cuts to deal with an estimated $50 billion shortfall. This means that in 2003 the situation of many women in this country will worsen, in a heartbreaking parallel to the lives of women in other parts of the world.

More women here will be evicted from their homes, have utilities disconnected, go hungry together with their children. They will spend more time trying to get medical care, and will still be turned away. And women of color will bear a disproportionate share of this overall burden.

Some women will be forced by the "economic draft" of racism, sexism, homophobia and low-paying or non-existent jobs into joining the U.S. military.

Still others will suffer at the hands of men returning from war--men programmed to kill by the military who end up killing their wives and lovers, as did veterans of the Fort Bragg Special Operations unit returning from Afghanistan last summer."

http://www.workers.org/ww/2003/womwar0123.php

With the drums beating for an attack on Iran and US coverts ops escalating there.... I have some faith this will not happen.  We won't be fooled again.  We all need to get busy and stop it now. 

Please take a moment to read Obama's anti-war speech in 2002.  Not only did he have the judgement to stand up and say, "No." when it was unpolular, but he projected what would be the result.  He was hit the nail on the head.

Remarks of Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama

Against Going to War with Iraq

Chicago, IL | October 2, 2002

Good afternoon. Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti-war

rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The

Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of

the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union, and drive

the scourge of slavery from our soil. I don't oppose all wars.

My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in

Patton's army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories

of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a

larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not

fight in vain. I don't oppose all wars.

After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears,

I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would

slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself

to prevent such tragedy from happening again. I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in

this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism.

What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am

opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other

armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas

down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from

a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract

us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month

since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war

based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear -

I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man

who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN

resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons,

and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be

better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or

to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of

its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be

contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of

undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that

an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will

only fan the flames of the middle east, and encourage the worst, rather than best,

impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not

opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a

clear message to the president today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the

fight with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a

shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security

program that involves more than color-coded warnings. You want a fight, President

Bush?

Let's fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work, and that we vigorously

enforce a non-proliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia

safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like

Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons in already in their possession, and that

the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across

the globe. You want a fight, President Bush?

Let's fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the

Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating

corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up

without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil,

through an energy policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil.

Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join.

The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair.

The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in

our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war.

But we ought not -- we will not -- travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we

allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the

full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.

I have created a group for people like myself who would like to be proactive in attempting to stop an a conflict with Iran. I am hoping we could exchange ideas on things we can do to stop this confict including making people aware that the battlefields are being readied for this war now.

 We will also be exchanging news and developments.

No moderation in this group. All are welcome.

 Let's do something before it's too late!

 http://www.democrats.org/page/group/StopaWarWithIran