That is the question I am asking myself. Watching little snipets of the news( I don't watch the news anymore, I read it online) , I'm worried. Town hall "tea baggers" who carry loaded guns outside of presidential events, shout "Death To Obama" and other degradations all because President Obama wants to change health care for the better. There are also the "birthers" who want to deny President Obama's US citizenship because they still cannot believe that an African American man is president of this country. And the frosting on the right-wing backlash cake, manipulating the American public, scaring them into thinking that Obama is a socialist, Sarah Palin's "death panels," etc.

We all know who is running this whole backlash, the Republican Party. Here's the proof: Rupert Murdoch has a monopoly on American mainstream news media, and every cable news station is either connected to him through mutual CEO friendships/funds. What Murdoch thinks is broadcast on every network in every shape or form. Murdoch is a registered Republican. To add to that, investors in these networks who are politically conservatives have the last say in what narratives and perspectives get put on screens. Why is Dobbs, Beck, and Cramer still on the networks when they screwed up so much and scare people to death? Think certain Arabian leaders who fund al-Queda and you have another form of domestic terrorism. Republican Congressmen and women are ordered by Steele to do whatever means possible to prevent universal health care from happening in this country "by any means necessary." Tap on Murdoch's shoulder, and we have our population scared shitless and left even more ignorant and uneducated on how Obama's health care will help us. Who is running this operation? G-O-P, who want to run this country from the backseat. Old strategies indeed. The GOP won in 1994, they shouldn't win in 2009.
Another aspect of the GOP's desire to lynch President Obama is inherent racism. With everything Obama does, he is inspected and thought of differently because of the color of his skin. Former president Bush made this country so close to fascism, yet everyone is viewing his efforts as light and favorable. Now, an African American man is president and they are giving him the Malcolm X treatment. Talk about a double standard! Not to mention, if anything, this health care thing and people's misunderstandings on it have wakened the sleeping dragon, of racism. All this is hype and fear, what is this? The Bush Administration?!

If anything, people just need to educate themselves or at least someone should start a bumper sticker campaign, "Eight Years We Lived With An Idiot, Time To Start Thinking Again." I don't want to see President Obama hanging from a noose outside of the White House.

Matt Nisenoff will be running for Democrats Abroad JApan exec board in the next ten days. If you or someone you know would like to be a member before the vote please go to https://www.democratsabroad.org/user/register thank you and hope I can earn your vote.   Read More »

Amidst the foreign policy failures of George W. Bush, North Korea has got to be one of them. Throughout the Bush Administration, all Bush did was warn against North Korea and use weak diplomacy regarding them. This is another previous administration leftover that President Obama is dealing with.

Obama needs to send a diplomatic team over there just to show that Obama is not Bush, that seems to be why Kim Jong-Il is testing him by threatening a nuclear attack on Hawaii. We can work this out people, because I don't want the worst to happen. I don't think anyone wants the worst to happen. I do not want to feel afraid anymore, like I was with George W. Bush, who went in and out of his way to scare the shit out of me.

Obama is not Bush, he'll do the right thing. Strong diplomacy, which we now have, is our way out of this mess.

A while ago, President Obama said that he would like the world to no longer have and use nuclear weapons. Obviously, it is easier said than done.
In the wake of North Korea's attitude, however, I feel like as busy as we are with reviving our strong diplomacy, we need to use that again towards North Korea and use our resources properly to prevent any immature actions from taking place.
As someone who just experienced eight years of weak diplomacy and a man who only knew how to exploit them for his and an exclusive fews benefit, it is VERY important to stress that we need to use our diplomacy and not ending up prematurely exhausting it just to prove who's the man here. It is time to make peace a priority. We don't have to lead nations through conservative imperialism, we can lead by example. If we make peace a priority, we can energize our diplomats to encourage the same thing.
In the past, America has gone through a Cold War whose leftovers we still have in the refrigerator of our collective minds, and Bush did set up a Reaganite international standard before leaving his presidency. This American does not want 20th century reruns to determine the course of action for the next 4-8 years. If we make peace a priority, and actually work towards achieving that, then we can not deal with unfriendly countries and their nuclear experiments. Personally, I think Kim Jong-Il is bluffing when it comes to the whole "let's test nuclear arms on Hawaii so I can be taken seriously," but the mentality I have applies not only to him in this circumstance. Any male world leader who is trying to prove his masculinity through nuclear arms is not a man, but a coward with ammunition. George W. Bush was a coward with ammunition by trying to prove his masculinity through invading Iraq. I think President Obama is saying one thing and working out ways of preventing the worst from happening, which is good. It's pragmatic. We need pragmatism.

Because I for one, could live in a world without nuclear arms.

Frank Lynch hereby calls upon President Barack Obama to make it illegal to wear burkas in America.

We must immediately stop issuing drivers licenses, passports, immigration papers of any sort, or any government identification or registration instruments to any person who even partially covers their face.

Further, under the hate crime laws, it should be a felony punishable by five years imprisonment at hard labor to refuse to shake hands because a person is a woman.

It is time for our government to stop all this ridiculous political correctness of not wanting to offend muslims. We must grow a spine and stand up to extremists. All people are equal, and we cannot and must not tolerate any practices that demean women in any way.

I am disappointed in our President that European countries are taking action to recognize the sanctity of womanhood before our own President does.

President Obama, please exercise leadership in banning the burka, banning the refusal to shake hands with women, and all other extremist traditions that demean women.

Further, all non-profits must be required to ban burkas from their officers, employees, Boards of Directors or Trustees.

Eveery educational institution, from preschool through graduate school, must ban burkas from their premises.

President Nicolas Sarkozydeclared Monday that the Islamic burqa is not welcome in France, branding the face-covering, body-length gown as a symbol of subservience that suppresses women's identities and turns them into "prisoners behind a screen."

But there was a mixed message in the tough words: an admission that the country's long-held principle of ethnic assimilation -- which insists that newcomers shed their traditions and adapt to French culture -- is failing because it doesn't give immigrants and their French-born children a fair chance.

In a high-profile speech to lawmakers in the historic chateau at Versailles, Sarkozy said the head-to-toe Muslim body coverings were in disaccord with French values -- some of the strongest language against burqas from a European leader at a time when some Western officials have been seeking to ease tensions with the Muslim world.

"In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy said to extended applause of the lawmakers gathered where French kings once held court.

"The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement -- I want to say it solemnly," he said. "It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."

The Netherlands is about to ban burkas. The country's hardline Integration Minister, Rita Verdonk, known as the Iron Lady for her series of tough anti-immigration measures, told Parliament that she was going to investigate where and when the burka should be banned. The burka, traditional clothing in some Islamic societies, covers a woman's face and body, leaving only a strip of gauze for the eyes.

Mrs Verdonk gave warning that the "time of cosy tea-drinking" with Muslim groups had passed and that natives and immigrants should have the courage to be critical of each other.

She recently cancelled a meeting with Muslim leaders who refused to shake her hand because she was a woman. Great lady!

Although Netherlands has the same inane freedom of expression laws passed in America, she plans to make it a matter of public safety.

I was watching Wall Street last night, the Oilver Stone movie, and it suddenly hit me that the past 8 years, with Bush in office has been like a Ronald Reagan wet dream in regards to the three fundamentals of government.

Economically, it was all about spending money, giving tax breaks to the better off, corporate tax breaks, and flushing our money down the drain into a guaranteed quagmire of foreign policy excrement(Iraq).With the rich getting richer and being allowed to break the rules for personal gain, we had an economic culture of Gordon Gekkos running around.

How this transpired into our foreign policy is this: Bush's Iraq was Reagan's Iran-Contra realized. By invading a country and using an unjustified,invalidated excuse(Reagan-communism; bush-terrorism), Bush was able to sponge benefits from Halliburton and disguise it as "bringing democracy to the world" but in effect giving communists in Nicaragua the same juice of support the way Bush the same ideological juice to support their activities through this distraction. By making sure Nicaraguan Communists got weapons from Iran with US taxpayer money, in the end it would supposedly make America come on top, the same way by making sure Americans originally believed the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and thus, flushing our money down the drain with the support of top CEO bigwigs in our economy to "make the world safe for democracy." With weak diplomacy and overseas investments, the American economy was bound to get into a recession sooner or later. But, unlike Reagan, who totally fixed it so that his number 5 would get the blame(Oliver North) and not him, Bush just pressed away and faded out, thus making it safe to give Obama all the problems he is currently trying to solve.

Reagan and Bush had the religious right to back them up and expanding media conglomerates to convince the supposed uneducated masses that they were the big man in charge and that if you weren't okay with it, demonization and being called unpatriotic.L ike Reagan's Moral Majority's effect on the social climate of America, the values we stood behind we, as a country, were ready to trample on so long as the big man kept us scared shitless. Abortion, habeus corpus, Geneva Conventions, the Constitution, free election. We are currently experiencing what was literally leftover from the Bush administration.
and Bush made it safe to put all the blame on the guy fixing all the problems left behind: President Obama.After 8 years of unregulated economic activity, it makes sense why people are so uncomfortable and ready to play the fascist card because Obama is regulating again.

What Obama is doing is not as bad as people fear it to be. The companies he bought are only temporary buys until the company can independently function again, and some have recently graduated from that temporary fix. His plans of cutting off overshore accounts has to do with stimulating gross national product within the nation, the key to making America independently economically successful again. By limiting CEO's indulgent behavior, he is preventing another recession from happening in the next 25 years.and, another great thing, delegating the transference of national gross product from oil to alternative resources, which is sorely needed, because it will produce jobs and it will make the grass greener, so to speak. By universalizing health care with public and private options, Obama is creating healthy economic competition in the long run because with options come picking who has the best for you, etc. So far, amidst all this, his only competition is weak mass media propaganda paid for by the beneficiaries of the status quo and their affiliates and lobbyists who are dependent on their last financial fixes from oil and coal.

Just thought I'd share.

Okay, President Obama has been President for over 5 months, and I just wish that people would give the guy a freaking break! I mean, he inherited the mess left behind by George W. Bush and is doing his best to sort and organize this mess. Being the first African American president, his stakes are raised higher because our society because he is an African American man in a job that has been formally occupied by white men.

Also, he is doing the best he can to fulfill his campaign promises. Anyone with common sense and a sense of how long it takes for political change to happen in this country by D.C. standards should know by now that it takes time for these changes to occur. The most we can do is continue to stay informed, sign the petitions, and show our support. Also, it is important to know that a goal was to bring back respectable bipartisanship. The GOP is up to their old tricks and using their mass media conglomerates( since conservative Republicans own, invest in, and are more than likely to sponsor what news comes out of the boob tube than ever before) to misinform and scare the living daylights out of us and the people who cannot think for themselves.

In light of these things, I would like to commend President Obama for lifting the gag rule, trying to establish a timetable for leaving Iraq, developing a strong diplomacy team, improving our responsibility to the environment, and busting his ass to fix and stimulate our economy. He's doing the best he can, and hasn't lost sight of his principles that we voted for last November. The political right has done a lot to combat such progress, leaving some conservative Republicans to think that the way he is stimulating the economy and steering money back into the US "fascist." All he is doing is what the economy needs right now, basic regulation. Because of de-regulation dating all the way back to Reagan( not considering however Clinton's 8 years of successful economic prosperity and expansion, more on him later) and amplified by George W., not to mention our money being flushed down the toilet of Iraq and tax cuts for the rich 1% and tax breaks for corporations, we are in the current state that we are in. Our real problem is not with Obama, it is with our idea that a President can magically fix everything all at once like a magician while we sit back and do nothing about it. It is a time to do something about it. Clinton didn't fix Bush I's leftovers in the first 6 months of his presidency, and no one judged him harshly for it, we should do the same for President Obama.

One more thing, I am sad that California upheld its ruling against the equal right for people to marry of the same gender. But, there is a movement growing that will sure give whoever is behind these rulings, legal and otherwise, a run for their money.

Good night, and good luck!

-http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29493093/

Hey you all get voting-- The Repulsicans have already voted... Now it is our turn!!! Unfortunately there is is only an "A" not A+, so I had to settle for just an A...

Send this on,
Gretchen

What has happend to the DNC main blog?Who is in charge of maintaining it?There has been no new thread since friday!!!It seems no one cares about our blog anymore,trolls run wild,you can't see your posts half the time and it freezes up.

There are many things that have been screwed up over the last eight years by Cheney, Bush and their storm-troopers. Of this there can be doubt. The list would be long and unnecessary to write.

But the biggest problem that has to be addressed right now is to get this economy moving! The ONLY problems that I am having with the stimulus bills is EVERYTHING that has nothing to do with stimulating the economy! There will be other days for other fights over education, and condoms, and the like. THIS ISN'T THE TIME!

Our Democratic leaders are giving......again......the Republicans the exact ammuntion that they need to pound us with in 2010. Not that I call 'pork' what the Republicans do. BUT to the MILLIONS that wanted change and NEEDED help......PERCEPTION is the key. If it isn't going to help them KEEP THEIR HOME, or help THEM keep THEIR JOB....it is going to be seen as PORK....at least in THIS bill!!

Pelosi and Reid need to step up and realize that we CANNOT fix everything in ONE BILL!

Pick your fights, Congressional Dems......pick them carefully and you shall be successful! Pick them poorly...like this....and you shall be looking for jobs before long and you will dooming President Obama's presidency to a single term.

DON'T GET GREEDY!! GET TO WORK FOR AMERICA!!!

That IS why you were put there, you know.

Attorney General Eric Holder, on his first day on the job, signaled a clean break with past policies of the Bush administration and promised to hold Wall Street accountable if any major financial institutions engaged in fraud that contributed to the global financial crisis.

I will remember the last 8 years of financial destruction here in the US and the bloodshed of millions of civilians on a global scale. most honest political and financial experts consider him the worst leader america has ever had and this is why.


Worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression
Lied about the war in Iraq
No WMD's found in Iraq
Vetoed health coverage for kids
Ignored law, allowed torture
Illegal wiretapping
Had enough info to stop 9/11 and didn't, hid that fact from the public
Lost Bin laden at Tora Bora
Crassly unconstitutional signing statements
Stripped resources from Afghanistan and sent them to Iraq
Didn't catch Bin Laden
Allowed Al Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan Afghan war out of control
Lied about reducing greenhouse emissions, ignored warming
Muzzled warming scientists in NASA and elsewhere
Political appointments to Department of Justice and political prosecutions
Cheney, Rove, and others in contempt of Congress -- refused to tell the American people the truth
Fooled public into believing Saddam was involved in 9/11 when he knew otherwise
Made light of inabilty to find WMD's


Please sign the petition to investigate Bush/Cheney for war crimes. Then pass it on to everyony you know that will sign it.

http://www.petitiononline.com/856798/petition.html

YIPPY-- Have waited 8 YEARS for this!!!
YIPPY!!

Political villains were rampant in 2008. It was impossible to give a single award for the injustices committed for solely political reasons this past year. For the first time ever, Democratic Talk Radio was unable to even narrow the infamous winners to just two. We have selected three “Villains of 2008” to share the award.

Our first choice is obvious. Fox News wins the first 2008 villain slot for their disinformation campaign against ACORN. The efforts of Fox News to provide political cover for Republican efforts at voter suppression during the 2008 elections were, in the opinion of Democratic Talk Radio, the lowest thing ever done by Fox News.

The second winner for 2008 political villain is George McGovern. Fans of Democratic Talk Radio may be surprised by this choice. Frankly, we never expected to be giving a former Democratic Presidential candidate a villain of the year award. However, McGovern has lent his name to the Right-Wing, corporate effort to undermine workers’ right to unionize. George McGovern has allied himself with the anti-worker efforts to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act. His TV commercials are frankly an open act on working Americans. McGovern has disgraced himself by joining with the most anti-working class political forces in America and misleading the American public on the nature of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Senate Republicans out to destroy the American auto industry and the United Auto Workers union are our third villainous winners. Senator Corker of Tennessee, Senator Shelby of Alabama, Senator McConnell of Kentucky, Senator Vitter of Louisiana and their fellow Senate Republicans put the interests of foreign corporations over the interests of the American economy. Since all were opposed by the United Auto Workers in previous elections because of their militantly anti-worker voting records, their efforts are obviously motivated by personal political considerations that directly undermine the national interest. These Senate Republicans have sided with foreign companies to drive down the wages and healthcare benefits of American workers.

The hero of the year selected by Democratic Talk Radio is Al Franken. The American nation should be delighted at his political courage and determination. By insisting that all the votes be counted in the 2008 Minnesota Senate race, Franken has set a good example for all candidates running for office and for American voters. American Democracy has been strengthened by his resolve.

Al Franken will be a great asset should he eventually prevail when all the votes are finally counted. Norm Coleman has been very aggressive in his attempts to undermine a free and fair counting of the ballots.



For more information, contact Stephen Crockett at 443-907-2367.

Hi,
I have started a group on facebook and myspace to encourage interation with the new administration. The facebook group has begun to build up and I would like to encourage a Democratic base in the group. May I ask that you take a moment to check it out and if it is interesting to you please consider joining?
It is a bottom up group and the membership that votes in the weekly votes will set the agenda for the group.
It might also require giving your opinions on the issues.

The group is called Political Interaction and can currently be found on facebook and at

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=58474123272

or myspace at

http://groups.myspace.com/PoliticalInteraction   Read More »

Sign this petition to support the legal effort to amend our tax laws such that the Mormon Church, and other transgressing churches, would lose tax-exempt status if they continue lobbying for state propositions.

http://www.mormonsstoleourrights.com/#petition

Sorry I did write about this before, the Obama euphoria was still alive and thriving when I heard and I have recently descended back from my previous state of mind, so here we go.

I support those seeking appeal to the ban on marriage between two people of the same sex who love each other so much they want to commit to life together.

I support the protests in California that are taking place. I would in all places California would be the LAST place to do this atrocity - since it has a strong, politically active GLBT population. For those of you in California who depend on others to motivate- from all the way in homophobic Ohio, GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR! I want to marry in California before I even consider getting married in Connecticut or Massachusetts( no offense, I love New England fall foliage).

The time is now to act.

Change may have come to America, but the same effort we put into electing Barack Obama should be put into protesting this bill and fighting for our equal rights.

It is a change we can all believe in.

I do apologize to all my friends here because I have been busy with school, work, life, and getting Barack Obama elected I have been unable to frequent much of this board as often. But I do have to tell you something.

I can't believe the reality around me. I'm not addicted to illusion, but I cannot believe that after 8 years, democracy came back full and strong and the man i busted my ass to get in office GOT IN!!! OMG! I could not jumping up and down, screaming, shouting, smiling, crying, etc. Somebody pinch me! I partied for 3 hours with one of my friends and we couldn't help ourselves. Yesterday, because I didn't want to jinx anything( because the last election I got so wired that I fell into a two month depression after hearing about the returns) so I tried being oblivious to politics. I voted absentee, followed my own advice to combat voter suppression, and next thing I know my state is finally BLUE!!! AND BARACK OBAMA IS THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best part about hearing this was the gratifying experience that I helped elect him. I blogged, I talked with people, I distributed campaign literature, I phonebanked, I volunteered and attended a debate, I voted in my first presidential election, and for the first time, I feel like a citizen of these great United States of America. It's a wonderful feeling. It really is. I lived history. I helped elect the first African-American president. I feel so good I want to cry! It's finally happened!

Today, in the spirit of President Obama, I did not gloat to my Republican friends. In the past couple elections, they have gloated, which prolonged the partisan bickering. But, no, I managed to successfully put aside my desire to gloat for the sake of the betterment of this country. It feels wonderful.

All this is starting to sink in, and I can say what I learned throughout this whole campaign is many. I am a believer in progress and equality, and I am proud to have racial consciousness.

Yes We Can? YES WE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I booked my tickets and hotel for January 19-25th-- Am taking my daughter! Would love to meet up with others from my PB "family"...

I knew it was going to be a LANDSLIDE!!! Now let us CELEBRATE!!!!

Not too long ago, for the first time I stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and looked out over the reflecting pool, thinking of what Dr. Martin Luther King must have been thinking as he told hundreds of thousands of Americans about his 'dream' for our country. I stood there completely engrossed in my thoughts, as I remembered listening to him and how inspiring he was. And there was never more of a 'son-of-the-Confereracy' than me. I am very proud of my ancestors sacrifices not only during The Civil War, but also during The American Revolution and The Texas Revolution.

But I have never been MORE proud than I am tonight. A little more than 140 years after the end of the Civil War, I watched an African-American become the 44th President of The United States of America. When I was growing up in the 1960's, nothing of this sort was even dared to be dreamed of.

But truly, it has been proven tonight that ANYONE REALLY CAN BECOME PRESIDENT. The election of Barack Obama to the presidency is not only an achievement for the African-American youth of this country....but for ALL of America's youth!

I was so wishing that Daddy had lived to see this. I have been sad when he wasn't around to see the Berlin Wall felled and the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union. But THIS? The man who made me into the Democrat AND the American that I am, would have loved to have seen this moment. But I also believe that he, Dr. King, LBJ, JFK and RFK, along with so many that have gone before, are looking down and smiling right now.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

And GOD BLESS BARACK OBAMA, 44th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!