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Barack Obama

Pingas1987 — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:41:22 CDT

Barack Obama, junior Senator from Illinois, is the Democratic candidate for President. His running mate is Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.

Sen. Obama's Senate Web page

Campaign Web site Issues, events, and much more

Campaign social networking site Regional and topical discussion groups

Wikipedia article

OBAMA IS A DUMB BLACK ******

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Truth about Obama

Pingas1987 — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:39:27 CDT

Truth

Barack Obama is a "secret Muslim", and so is Rev. Wright.
Barack Obama "Pals around with terrorists", particularly William Ayers.
Michelle Obama said, "Whitey" in a (non-existent) video.
Barack Obama will raise taxes on the middle class, including taxing water.
Barack Obama does not have a US birth certificate.
Barack Obama has Fannie Mae officials as campaign advisers.
More

Truthful People

John McCain ads, press releases, interviews, debates, and campaign speeches
Sarah Palin debates, interviews, and campaign speeches
Fox News regular shows and specials
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, according to Minnesota Senatorial candidate Al Franken
Sean Hannity, Fox News
Bill O'Reilly, Fox News
527s (Swift Boaters and others) Ayers
Andy Martin "secret Muslim"
Jerome Corsi
Ken Blackwell Republican voter-suppression guru in his dual role as Ohio Secretary of State and chair of George Bush’s Ohio campaign in 2004

Page for Barack Obama Supporters

Pingas1987 — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:37:34 CDT

Welcome Obama Supporters

This page seeks to help YOU help Obama.

ATTENTION
OBAMA SUCKS COCKS
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OBAMA SUCKS COCKS

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REGISTER TO VOTE

Through the Campaign

Visit ObamaDelegates.org to get in touch with your local Obama delegates.

Outside the Campaign

Obamapedia

Elsewhere

Other Websites for Obama Activism

Fun Stuff

THIS PAGE IS NEVER COMPLETE. PLEASE ADD MORE.

Go here to find out more:http://www.barackopedia.org/

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Barack Obama on Health Care

KeithWahl — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 11:36:18 CDT

“We now face an opportunity — and an obligation — to turn the page on the failed politics of yesterday's health care debates… My plan begins by covering every American. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less. If you are one of the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance, you will have it after this plan becomes law. No one will be turned away because of a preexisting condition or illness.” — Barack Obama, Speech in Iowa City, IA, May 29, 2007
The Problem
Millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured because of rising medical costs: 47 million Americans — including nearly 9 million children — lack health insurance with no signs of this trend slowing down. Health care costs are skyrocketing: : Health insurance premiums have risen 4 times faster than wages over the past 6 years. Too little is spent on prevention and public health: The nation faces epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases as well as new threats of pandemic flu and bioterrorism. Yet despite all of this less than 4 cents of every health care dollar is spent on prevention and public health.
Barack Obama's Plan
Quality, Affordable and Portable Coverage for All

Obama's Plan to Cover Uninsured Americans: Obama will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. The Obama plan will have the following features:

Guaranteed eligibility. No American will be turned away from any insurance plan because of illness or pre-existing conditions.
Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the plan members of Congress have. The plan will cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
Subsidies. Individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need financial assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.
Simplified paperwork and reined in health costs.
Easy enrollment. The new public plan will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
Portability and choice. Participants in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (see below) will be able to move from job to job without changing or jeopardizing their health care coverage.
Quality and efficiency. Participating insurance companies in the new public program will be required to report data to ensure that standards for quality, health information technology and administration are being met.

National Health Insurance Exchange: The Obama plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase a private insurance plan. The Exchange will act as a watchdog group and help reform the private insurance market by creating rules and standards for participating insurance plans to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy, and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and have the same standards for quality and efficiency. The Exchange would evaluate plans and make the differences among the plans, including cost of services, public.
Employer Contribution: Employers that do not offer or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan. Small employers that meet certain revenue thresholds will be exempt.
Mandatory Coverage of Children: Obama will require that all children have health care coverage. Obama will expand the number of options for young adults to get coverage, including allowing young people up to age 25 to continue coverage through their parents' plans.
Expansion Of Medicaid and SCHIP: Obama will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve their critical safety net function.
Flexibility for State Plans: Due to federal inaction, some states have taken the lead in health care reform. The Obama plan builds on these efforts and does not replace what states are doing. States can continue to experiment, provided they meet the minimum standards of the national plan.
Lower Costs by Modernizing The U.S. Health Care System

Reducing Costs of Catastrophic Illnesses for Employers and Their Employees: Catastrophic health expenditures account for a high percentage of medical expenses for private insurers. The Obama plan would reimburse employer health plans for a portion of the catastrophic costs they incur above a threshold if they guarantee such savings are used to reduce the cost of workers' premiums.
Helping Patients:

Support disease management programs. Seventy five percent of total health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Obama will require that providers that participate in the new public plan, Medicare or the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) utilize proven disease management programs. This will improve quality of care, give doctors better information and lower costs.
Coordinate and integrate care. Over 133 million Americans have at least one chronic disease and these chronic conditions cost a staggering $1.7 trillion yearly. Obama will support implementation of programs and encourage team care that will improve coordination and integration of care of those with chronic conditions.
Require full transparency about quality and costs. Obama will require hospitals and providers to collect and publicly report measures of health care costs and quality, including data on preventable medical errors, nurse staffing ratios, hospital-acquired infections, and disparities in care. Health plans will also be required to disclose the percentage of premiums that go to patient care as opposed to administrative costs.

Ensuring Providers Deliver Quality Care:

Promote patient safety. Obama will require providers to report preventable medical errors and support hospital and physician practice improvement to prevent future occurrences.
Align incentives for excellence. Both public and private insurers tend to pay providers based on the volume of services provided, rather than the quality or effectiveness of care. Providers who see patients enrolled in the new public plan, the National Health Insurance Exchange, Medicare and FEHBP will be rewarded for achieving performance thresholds on outcome measures.
Comparative effectiveness research. Obama will establish an independent institute to guide reviews and research on comparative effectiveness, so that Americans and their doctors will have the accurate and objective information they need to make the best decisions for their health and well-being.
Tackle disparities in health care. Obama will tackle the root causes of health disparities by addressing differences in access to health coverage and promoting prevention and public health, both of which play a major role in addressing disparities. He will also challenge the medical system to eliminate inequities in health care through quality measurement and reporting, implementation of effective interventions such as patient navigation programs, and diversification of the health workforce.
Insurance reform. Obama will strengthen antitrust laws to prevent insurers from overcharging physicians for their malpractice insurance and will promote new models for addressing errors that improve patient safety, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and reduce the need for malpractice suits.

Lowering Costs Through Investment in Electronic Health Information Technology Systems: Most medical records are still stored on paper, which makes it hard to coordinate care, measure quality or reduce medical errors and which costs twice as much as electronic claims. Obama will invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records, and will phase in requirements for full implementation of health IT. Obama will ensure that patients' privacy is protected.
Lowering Costs by Increasing Competition in the Insurance and Drug Markets: The insurance business today is dominated by a small group of large companies that has been gobbling up their rivals. There have been over 400 health care mergers in the last 10 years, and just two companies dominate a full third of the national market. These changes were supposed to make the industry more efficient, but instead premiums have skyrocketed by over 87 percent.

Barack Obama will prevent companies from abusing their monopoly power through unjustified price increases. His plan will force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care instead of keeping exorbitant amounts for profits and administration. His new National Health Exchange will help increase competition by insurers.
Lower prescription drug costs. The second-fastest growing type of health expenses is prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are selling the exact same drugs in Europe and Canada but charging Americans more than double the price. Obama will allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S. Obama will also repeal the ban that prevents the government from negotiating with drug companies, which could result in savings as high as $30 billion. Finally, Obama will work to increase the use of generic drugs in Medicare, Medicaid, and FEHBP and prohibit big name drug companies from keeping generics out of markets.
Fight for New Initiatives

Advance the Biomedical Research Field: As a result of biomedical research the prevention, early detection and treatment of diseases such as cancer and heart disease is better today than any other time in history. Barack Obama has consistently supported funding for the national institutes of health and the national science foundation. Obama strongly supports investments in biomedical research, as well as medical education and training in health-related fields, because it provides the foundation for new therapies and diagnostics. Obama has been a champion of research in cancer, mental health, health disparities, global health, women and children's health, and veterans' health. As president, Obama will strengthen funding for biomedical research, and better improve the efficiency of that research by improving coordination both within government and across government/private/non-profit partnerships. An Obama administration will ensure that we translate scientific progress into improved approaches to disease prevention, early detection and therapy that is available for all Americans.
Fight AIDS Worldwide. There are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS. As president, Obama will continue to be a global leader in the fight against AIDS. Obama believes in working across party lines to combat this epidemic and recently joined Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) at a large California evangelical church to promote greater investment in the global AIDS battle.
Support Americans with Disabilities: As a former civil rights lawyer, Barack Obama knows firsthand the importance of strong protections for minority communities in our society. Obama is committed to strengthening and better enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) so that future generations of Americans with disabilities have equal rights and opportunities. Obama believes we must restore the original legislative intent of the ADA in the wake of court decisions that have restricted the interpretation of this landmark legislation.

Barack Obama is also committed to ensuring that disabled Americans receive Medicaid and Medicare benefits in a low-cost, effective and timely manner. Recognizing that many individuals with disabilities rely on Medicare, Obama worked with Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) to urge the department of health and human services to provide clear and reliable information on the Medicare prescription drug benefit and to ensure that the Medicare recipients were protected from fraudulent claims by marketers and drug plan agents.
Improve Mental Health Care. Mental illness affects approximately one in five American families. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that untreated mental illnesses cost the U.S. more than $100 billion per year. As president, Obama will support mental health parity so that coverage for serious mental illnesses are provided on the same terms and conditions as other illnesses and diseases.
Protect Our Children from Lead Poisoning. More than 430,000 American children have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood. Lead can cause irreversible brain damage, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death. As president, Obama will protect children from lead poisoning by requiring that child care facilities be lead-safe within five years.
Reduce Risks of Mercury Pollution. More than five million women of childbearing age have high levels of toxic mercury in their blood, and approximately 630,000 newborns are born at risk every year. Barack Obama has a plan to significantly reduce the amount of mercury that is deposited in oceans, lakes, and rivers, which in turn would reduce the amount of mercury in fish.
Support Americans with Autism. More than one million Americans have autism, a complex neurobiological condition that has a range of impacts on thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others. As diagnostic criteria broaden and awareness increases, more cases of autism have been recognized across the country. Barack Obama believes that we can do more to help autistic Americans and their families understand and live with autism. He has been a strong supporter of more than $1 billion in federal funding for autism research on the root causes and treatments, and he believes that we should increase funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to truly ensure that no child is left behind.

More than anything, autism remains a profound mystery with a broad spectrum of effects on autistic individuals, their families, loved ones, the community, and education and health care systems. Obama believes that the government and our communities should work together to provide a helping hand to autistic individuals and their families.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

Does Barack Obama have enough experience to be president?

Obamian — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:45:12 CST

Newt Gingrich, commenting on Barack Obama's experience: "Well, Abraham Lincoln served two years in the U.S.House, and seemed to do all right." (Meet The Press 12/17)

Related Obama Information:

Following George W. Bush, who only served six years as the Governor of Texas before his presidency and hasn't been that well-received, to put it lightly, the American people should make sure they vote for a qualified candidate. And in their never ending coverage of Obama, the American media loves to repeat the "experience question." Barack, a political unknown until his Democratic National Convention Speech in 2004, has been portrayed as "green", the implication being that if he's elected president, he would somehow not be ready to handle the task of the presidency, or at least not as well as his political opponents.

He has ten years experience in public office, more than the two other leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton (six-plus years as Senator from New York) and John Edwards (six years as Senator from North Carolina). Barack's first eight years spent in the Illinois senate before his two years (and counting) of service in the U.S. Senate, should not be forgotten. Far away from the Washington spotlight, he introduced, voted on and passed bills, debated with his colleagues—something that was missing in Washington, where everything is settled in the backroom—and arduously worked to satisfy his constituents. Most important of all, he learned that how to work across the aisle, and get stuff done.

"When you come in, especially as a freshman, and work on something like ethics reform, it's not necessarily a way to endear yourself to some of the veteran members of the Illinois General Assembly," said state Sen. Kirk W. Dillard, a Republican who became a friend. "And working on issues like racial profiling was contentious, but Barack had a way both intellectually and in demeanor that defused skeptics." Washington Post

Illinois State Senate

"In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases." Link
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United States Senate

He has continued this inclusive and productive style of work in the U.S. Senate: "In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars are spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.

Foreign Policy

Obama's foreign policy experience includes graduating from Columbia University with a degree in political science with an emphasis on international relations. In the U.S. Senate Obama is unique among Senators in that he serves on three of the four Senate Committees dealing with foreign policy issues including the Foreign Relations; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and Veterans' Affairs committees and is the Chair of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Relations which is responsible fore U.S. relations with European countries, the European Union, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (i.e., NATO). When comparing Obama's foreign policy experience with other candidates for President you have Democrat Joseph Biden who is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Democrat Hillary Clinton who is a member of the Armed Services Committee and John McCain who is the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee yet there is no Senator except for Barack Obama who serves on three of the four committees that deal with foreign policy.

Foreign Relations Committee

Obama service on the Foreign Relations committee has placed him in an unique position in that he is the Chair of the Subcommittee on European Relations and serves on the Subcommittees on African Affairs; East Asia and Pacific Affairs; and International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection. This cross-section of subcommittees places Obama in a unique position of having knowledge about Asian, African and European issues. The only other member of the Foreign Relations committee who is running for President is Democrat Joseph Biden who is Chairman of the full Foreign Relations Committee yet unlike Obama he does not serve on any of the other foreign policy committees and his experience is limited to foreign policy issues covered by the Foreign Relations Committee.

Obama has also traveled extensively in his capacity as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and has visited Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan in Asia; Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, and the Palestinian Territories in the Middle East; and Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa in Africa. Obama has also co-sponsored the "Lugar-Obama Act" with Republican Senator Richard Lugar who was Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations at the time. This act was a bi-partisan effort to increase U.S. security in terms of the elimination of conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. This legislation came out of Obama's trip with Senator Richard Lugar to Russia, the Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

Obama has also sponsored legislation such as the "Democratic Republic of Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act" which was signed into law by President Bush on December 22, 2006. Obama has co-sponsored immigration related bills related to his service on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee including the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. His extensive foreign policy experience exceeds that of every other Presidential candidate including his trips abroad in the performance of his official duties as a member of committees dealing with foreign relation issues.

While some have criticized Obama's foreign travel claiming that he is the most traveled freshman Senator in doing so they often fail to mention that as a result of his extensive trips abroad is legislation such as the Lugar-Obama Act instead preferring to make the political connection between his travels abroad to his run for President yet others will recognize the experience he has gained as a result of his foreign trips and recognize that as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he is expected to travel extensively and that his travels often were with the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Among the three top freshman who have received attention along with Obama in terms of foreign travel you have Barack Obama who serves on three committees dealing with foreign policy, Republican Richard Burr who serves on the Select Committee on Intelligence and Republican Tom Coburn who serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and it must be noted that such travel was part of an official delegation and was approved and paid for by the Senate.

Veterans' Affairs Committee

As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars."Link

Ethics
"Obama has made ethics reform a central part of his political career. Two years into his first term in the U.S. Senate, he has had limited opportunities to leave a mark at the federal level, especially as a member of the minority party. But he has worked with Republicans on new good-government laws. He co-sponsored one, signed in September, that will create a federal spending database so Web users can track all grants, loans and awards greater than $25,000. He also pushed to limit the Federal Emergency Management Agency's authority to award open-ended, no-bid contracts in the wake of major disasters — a reaction to post-Katrina abuses. More to the point, last year Senate Democrats tapped Obama as the chief negotiator for their caucus in talks over post-Abramoff ethics reforms, though those negotiations faltered. Ethics reform was one of Obama's signature issues in Springfield, as well. Beyond the Gift Ban Act, he helped push Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich's 2003 ethics reforms. The gift ban law, the first broad ethics reform in Illinois since the Watergate era, prohibited politicians from using campaign funds for personal use, barred fundraising on state property, established ethics commissions, curtailed fundraisers in Springfield during legislative sessions and mandated online reporting of campaign finances. The 2003 ethics package created independent inspectors general with subpoena powers to look into abuses by legislators, statewide officeholders and their employees. It further clamped down on the types of gifts lawmakers can receive and prohibited lobbyists and their spouses from sitting on state boards and commissions. Obama also touted publicly financed judicial campaigns, an idea that was approved by the Illinois Senate but languished in the House."Link

Read more about Obama's work in the U.S. Senate on Obsidian Wings

Life Experience

This experience in public office is just a taste of what makes Obama ready for the presidency. He has had a goulash of a life. He was born to white a woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya in Hawaii, then moved to Indonesia for five years with his step-father from ages six to ten.

After returning to Hawaii for middle and high school, he went Occidental College, a liberal arts school in L.A. After a couple years at Occidental, he transferred to Columbia University, where he majored in political science with a specialization in International Relations.

After graduating, he went to work as a community organizer in Chicago. Following three years of helping some of Chicago's poorest residents recover from a steel mill closing through job training programs, he went to Harvard Law. There, he became the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. Instead of seeking a high paying job upon graduating from Harvard, he returned to Chicago and went back to the neighborhood communities by organizing and helping to register 150,000 voters. He then began working at a civil rights firm and went on to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He did all of this before his career in politics began.

His ability to understand and earn respect from political opponents while being a genuine progressive; his success in the classroom and on the street; and his unparalleled background have helped him become the intelligent, fair, and courageous leader he is today.

Before the war in Iraq in 2002, he exclaimed: "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.... 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...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 U.S. 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." Link

For a short overview of his years in the Illinois State Legislature check out his wikipedia page or our building collection of transcripts from the Illinois State Senate.

Despite any charges of inexperience, Senator Obama clearly showed good judgment in assessing the Iraq situation in the fall of 2002.

Here's an interview with Obama from 2002:

While his opponents were voting us into Iraq, Barack made quite an inexperienced statement.

Discuss how to improve this article on the message board

For More: See Why should I vote for Barack Obama in 2008?

Also, see here for more Barack Obama Myths.

Key Websites for Obama Activism

sam03h — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:40:35 CDT

Places to Get Involved:

OFFICIAL
Barack's Official Website: http://www.barackobama.com
Barack as Senator: http://obama.senate.gov

Obama Corps and the Grassroots Thinktank ("GrassTank")
http://www.obamacorps.com/
Students for Obama http://studentsforbarackobama.com/Blog/
Barack the Youth Vote: http://www.baracktheyouthvote.com
Draft Obama: http://www.draftobama.org
Obama4America: http://www.obama4america.com
Barack Obama is my homeboy http://www.barackobamaismyhomeboy.com
Obama Works (uniting public service and political action) - www.whyobamaworks.com
I Thank Obama - www.ithankobama.com

POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS (for Obama)
Independents: http://independents.forobama.org
Republicans: http://www.republicansforobama.org

ISSUE SPECIFIC WBSITES
Environment: http://www.envirobama.com

BLOGS:

ObamaRama: http://obamarama.org
Run Obama: http://www.runobama.com/petition
The Spirit of Barack Obama: http://www.barack-obama.tv
KC for Obama
Think on These Things: http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/
One Million Strong: http://www.onemillionstrong.us/
Jack and Jill Politics: http://www.jackandjillpolitics.blogspot.com/
Curtis McLaurin: http://curtismclaurin.com/

FACEBOOK
One Million Strong: http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2231653698
Students for Barack Obama: http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204780384

FUND RAISING CAMPAIGNS
Green Matters: http://www.envirobama.com/greenmatters

Good Sources of Info:

Obama's Senate Site
http://obama.senate.gov/

Obama's Official Podcast
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/

Obama Versus Hillary Clinton
http://www.barack-obama-president.com

RSS Feed of News Aggregated from Yahoo, Microsoft Live News, and Google News on Obama

Obama in Hawaii--How Hawaii Shaped Barack Obama
http://www.obamasneighborhood.com/

OTHER
Chicago Tribune, On the Campaign Trail: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/open/chi-barack-obama-gallery2,0,2268908.htmlstory

Obama4Change.com - Faces of the campaign 2008
A photo and message gallery for Barack Obama supporters: http://www.Obama4Change.com

Code Words

echerlin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:11:27 CDT

Much of political discourse is conducted in a code designed to express a particular point of view to supporters, while being able to deny that implication to the rest of society. This is the definition of Orwellian Newspeak, as described in the novel 1984. The key code words in the novel were

Peace: War
Freedom: Slavery
Strength: Ignorance

Any resemblance to any actual political regime is purely intentional.

Talking in code has been called dog-whistle politics, after the high-pitched whistles that dogs can hear but not people. This is itself Liberal/Progressive code for Racist: Dog, i.e. non-human. The following is a partial list of Republican code words.

Due to political correctness, it is impossible to give the actual translation for racist code in some cases, such as calling a spade a damned N-----. There are a multitude of not-quite-so offensive terms, including the aforementioned spade, coon, Mau-mau, jungle bunny, and many more for blacks, plus kike, spic, wop, dago, frog, kraut, paddy, bohunk, chink, gook, slope, pineapple, raghead, and on the other side, goy, haole, honkey/honky/ honkie, buckra, and so on.

Abstinence-only sex education: Get AIDS and die, sinners.
Accountability: Sovereign immunity
Actionable Intelligence: Groupthink
Affirmative action: Organized discrimination against Whites
Balanced budget: Trillions for war, but not one penny for social programs
Balance of powers: Meaningless impediments to proper government
Bipartisanship: "Date rape"--Grover Norquist
Big government: Social programs for the poor and minorities
Big tent: You can come in, but you have to stand over there and cheer whenever we give the signal
Clash of civilizations: Anti-Muslim Crusade
Class war: The oppression of the rich by the poor
Communist: Black
Compassionate Conservatism: Rank hypocrisy
Competition: Subsidies and other government favors
Consensus: What we say we think
Conservative: Greedy, racist, or Christian Dominionist
Controversial: We said No!
Corruption: Acting in the public interest, rather than staying bought by corporations
Culture war: "This is a Christian country! How dare you quote Thomas Jefferson?"; The oppression of the Christian Right by atheists (everybody else, including other Christians)
Commentator: Propagandist
Defense Department: War Department
Democracy: Oligarchy; rule by our sort
Diplomacy: Shoot first and refuse to answer questions later
Domestic terrorist: The ACLU, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Due process: The rules that apply only to Real Americans
Economics: Fairy tales, "Voodoo", Market Fundamentalism, Reaganomics, pie in the sky
Education: Indoctrination
Empathy: Palling around with the riff-raff
Enhanced interrogation: Torture
Elitism: Wanting everybody to get a real education
Equal rights: More equal for us
Evidence: Lousy Liberal-biased facts
Family values: Our families, not yours
Fascist: Black
Fiscal responsibility: Cutting social programs for the poor and minorities
Free and fair election: One that our candidate won
Free markets, Free trade: Free for corporations, not for natural persons
Freedom of religion: You can go to Hell.
Freedom of speech, and of the press: When I want to hear your opinion, I'll tell it to you.
Grassroots organization: Subsidiary of lobbying firm
Human rights: Property rights. Well, guns, too.
Immorality: Sex education
Judicial activist: One who holds that Constitutional protections apply to the riff-raff
Law and order: Keeping the riff-raff down
Legal technicalities: Constitutional protections
Liberal: Richard M. Nixon, the tree-hugging (EPA), Socialist (guaranteed income), Peacenik (ended Vietnam War) appeaser (trip to China); Barry Goldwater, the anti-Christian-Right supporter of gays in the military
Liberal bias: Any concern for facts
Liberal Media: Those biased by facts; Mainstream media
Liberty: Property rights, gun rights, no regulation of business, no enforcement of civil rights for the poor and for minorities
Loony Left: Moderate Republicans
Mainstream of American thought: American exceptionalism; White Supremacy; unfettered corporate greed
Mainstream media: Right-wing media
National security: Keeping the world safe for kleptocracy
Nazi: Black
News: What it says in our press releases
Obama is Hitler, Stalin, the AntiChrist, not a US citizen, etc.: He's Black, which is worse.
Ordinary citizen: Lobbyist
Original intent: In Constitutional law, slavery and exclusion of women and the poor from voting
Ownership society: Way more for us with a few crumbs for you, if you vote for us
Patriot: Scoundrel
Person: Corporation; White male
Personal responsibility: Do as I say, not as I do
Pork: Social programs for the poor and minorities
Principles, Conservative : "All for us and nothing for other people"--Adam Smith
The Public Interest: The interests of corporations
Public works: Pork
Quotas: Organized discrimination against Whites
Racism: Alleged Black and Hispanic hatred of Whites
Real Americans: White male Republican Christians
Reporter: Advocate
Republic: Oligarchy; rule by our sort, as described by Plato
Right to life: Rights of the unborn, but not of anybody else. In extreme cases, Death to abortionists!
Rule of law: What I say goes
Science: Creationism
Small government: No social programs for the poor and minorities
Socialist: Black
Southern Strategy: The South will rise again!
Special interests: The public interest
Starve the beast: No social programs for the poor
States' rights: The right to oppress their own people
Statesman: Naked opportunist
Strict constructionist: One who upholds slavery and exclusion of women and the poor from voting; one who maintains that the 14th Amendment protections for ex-slaves are primarily meant to protect corporations
Support the troops: Support the war
Tax protest: He's Black.
Terrorist: Democrat
Thoughtful: Unprincipled
Traitor: Democrat
Trickle-down: Gusher up
Truth: What we say today, no matter what we said last year.
Tyranny: Enforcement of civil rights legislation and regulation of business
Tyrant: Elected Black Democrat
Unamerican: American
Unitary executive: King; theocrat
Unsound: Principled
Uppity: Thinking that equality applies to you
Voter Fraud: Anything that lets more poor people and minorities vote
War on drugs: War on Black society
Waste, fraud, and abuse: Government spending on the poor and minorities

Resources

Frank Luntz is the principal architect of Republican code language. He has publicly praised the idea of Newspeak.

George Lakoff has written extensively on this subject, and gone into it much more deeply than we can here.

The language used to discuss this subject is often intemperate on all sides. Not all of the following sites are objective or reliable sources, but they demonstrate the nature of the controversy.

Health Care

echerlin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:02:41 CDT

It's happening! House Bill out of committee to Floor.

AMA endorses House bill.

Auto industry and Walmart on board.

Insurance industry lies.

No Single Payer, but a Public Option.

What's happening

echerlin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:57:56 CDT

Administration

Executive Orders: Guantanamo, ethics, transparency, no Gag Rule..., Stem cell research can receive Federal funds
Nominations and appointments

The Obama agenda and other issues

Economic policy
Foreign policy
Global Warming and energy independence
Torture and other war crimes prosecutions?
Education
Health Care

Bills

Stimulus package

Complaints

Progressives are fearful that Barack Obama isn't one of them, and that there are all sorts of ways in which he plans to betray them. Inviting Rick Warren to pray at the inauguration; taking too long to close Guantanamo but not closing the Baghram Air Force Base prison at all; opposing gay marriage; not abolishing Don't Ask, Don't Tell...There will inevitably be much more of this. It's a normal part of the political process.

From the Right, Obama is still a Socialist, a terrorist, a would-be dictator, a revolutionary, and other such tripe.

Opposition

First 100 Days

echerlin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:18:36 CDT

Pro

Obama at 100 days: By the numbers (MSNBC)
President Obama Prepares to Mark 'Hallmark Holiday' of First 100 Days (ABC)
Barack Obama's 100-day report card (BBC)
Barack Obama’s hundred days (OpenDemocracy.net)

Con

Critics on Obama's first hundred days (Radio Netherlands)
100 DAYS, 100 MISTAKES (New York Post: Glenn Beck, Joe Scarborough...)

Energy and Environment

echerlin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:55:12 CDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/energy_and_environment/

Welcome to Obamapedia

echerlin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:54:28 CDT

Anyone Can Edit
President Barack Hussein Obama!
White House Web site
Obama's First 100 Days

Get Involved Obama wants to hear your opinion on

Health Care
Education
Energy, Environment, and Security

What's happening

About

Blog

Education

echerlin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:51:15 CDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/education/

Sarah Palin

echerlin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:36:15 CDT

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was John McCain's controversial running mate.

Voting Records

echerlin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:35:43 CDT

This page is for links to the candidates' voting records, and to comparisons among them.

On The Issues

Remaining Senate Races

echerlin — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:47:23 CST

In the 2008 elections for the US Senate, the 3BlueDudes site counted the results as
Final Projection: DEMS: 58 GOP: 39 INDEP: 2 Runoff: 1

3BlueDudes called Alaska for Begich (D) and Minnesota for Franken (D). We had a mandatory recount in Minnesota, an extremely tight race in Alaska (won by the Democrat, Begich), and a runoff in Georgia, where the Republican, Saxby Chambliss, won. Lawyers and volunteers have gathered for legal challenges and observing recounts. With Minnesota decided for Franken, apart from inevitable lawsuits,
the final total is D57+I2, R41.

Replacements are needed for four Democratic Senators:

Barack Obama, Illinois, President-Elect: Roland Burris
Joe Biden, Deleware, Vice-President-Elect: Ted Kaufman
Hillary Clinton, New York, Secretary of State designate: Apparently Kirsten Gillibrand
Ken Salazar, Colorado, Secretary of the Interior designate: Michael Bennet

"In a mild surprise, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has reportedly chosen Denver schools superintendent Michael Bennet to replace Salazar."--FiveThirtyEight.com

"Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner on Monday named a longtime, close adviser to Vice President-elect Joe Biden to fill the senator's seat until a 2010 special election. Her selection of Ted Kaufman opens the possibility that Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden can run in 2010 for the seat his father fills in the Senate. Beau Biden is deploying to Iraq with his Delaware National Guard unit, and last week said he would carry out his military obligations and refuse any Senate appointment."--USA Today

New York is not determined, but Gov. Paterson was widely expected to name Caroline Kennedy to replace Hillary Clinton, who was confirmed as Secretary of State on 1/21/2009. The rumor that Kennedy withdrew from consideration has been denied but subsequently confirmed. State Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand is now expected to be the nominee.

Illinois is indescribable. Indicted and impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich, currently on trial in the Illinois Senate, has nominated former Illinois Attorney-General Roland Burris to the Senate, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowed to reject any nomination by the Governor. It appears that Burris will be seated.

Georgia

Neither candidate reached 50% of the vote on Election Day, due to a third-party challenger. The resulting mandatory runoff between Democrat Jim Martin and Republican Saxby Chambliss was scheduled for Dec. 2. Chambliss won convincingly.

Chambliss is notorious for his smear campaign against Sen. Max Cleland, claiming that this Vietnam veteran and triple amputee is not patriotic. This time, with the Democrats clearly in the ascendant, Chambliss ran a much more centrist and moderately-toned campaign.

Alaska

Some (Guess who!) tried to call the election before all of the early and absentee ballots were counted, when Ted Stevens was ahead in the partial count. The later counting ran significantly toward Mark Begich, who took the lead.

Update: Begich has won, and top Republicans have called on Stevens to resign from the Senate.

Minnesota

Norm Coleman was ahead of Al Franken by the utterly miniscule margin of 206 votes in the initial count. The mandatory recount began on Wednesday Nov. 19. The Franken recount observer team and legal team are much better organized than the Coleman teams. Franken has won several important legal challenges.

On Dec. 2, the Franken team reported their estimate that Franken was only 50 votes behind. Someone discovered 171 uncounted ballots, giving Franken another 37. The rejected absentee ballots have still to be examined.

Update: Jan. 3, 2009: 900 absentee ballots have been counted. Franken is ahead by 225.

Franken will be seated, although lawsuits from Coleman will follow.

Transition Team

echerlin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:29:48 CST

1/20/2009
Transition's over, folks. Check out whitehouse.gov.

11/5/2008

President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden Today Announce Leadership For the Transition of Administrations
Chicago – For the past several months, a board of advisors has been informally planning for a possible presidential transition. Among the many projects undertaken by the transition board have been detailed analyses of previous transition efforts, policy statements made during the campaign, and the workings of federal government agencies, and priority positions that must be filled by the incoming administration.

With Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s election, this planning process will be now be formally organized as the Obama-Biden Transition Project, a 501(c)(4) organization to ensure a smooth transition from one administration to the next. The work of this entity will be overseen by three co-chairs:

John Podesta
Valerie Jarrett
Pete Rouse

The co-chairs will be assisted by an advisory board comprised of individuals with significant private and public sector experience: Carol Browner, William Daley, Christopher Edley, Michael Froman, Julius Genachowski, Donald Gips, Governor Janet Napolitano, Federico Peña, Susan Rice, Sonal Shah, Mark Gitenstein, and Ted Kaufman. Gitenstein and Kaufman will serve as co-chairs of Vice President-elect Biden’s transition team.

Supervising the day-to-day activities of the transition will be:

Transition Senior Staff:

Chris Lu – Executive Director
Dan Pfeiffer – Communications Director
Stephanie Cutter – Chief Spokesperson
Cassandra Butts – General Counsel
Jim Messina – Personnel Director
Patrick Gaspard – Associate Personnel Director
Christine Varney - Personnel Counsel
Melody Barnes – Co-Director of Agency Review
Lisa Brown – Co-Director of Agency Review
Phil Schiliro – Director of Congressional Relations
Michael Strautmanis – Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs
Katy Kale – Director of Operations
Brad Kiley – Director of Operations

The phone number for the transition headquarters is 202-540-3000. The official website for the transition will be live later today.

Rev. Rick Warren

echerlin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:12:43 CST

Rev. Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church, is a somewhat moderate Evangelical Christian who is trying to get Evangelicals and Progressives talking about various Christian issues such as global poverty, AIDS, human rights, and global warming ("stewardship" of the environment). He is anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage, but willing to talk to Barack Obama about these issues. Obama says that he opposes abortion and also opposes making it illegal; we must find ways to reduce unwanted pregnancy and thus the demand for abortion). Obama also says that he opposes gay marriage, but supports all other LBGT civil rights, such as ending "Don't Ask, don't tell" in the military.

Rev. Warren is scheduled to deliver the Invocation at the beginning of the Obama Inauguration. This has brought loud criticism from both the right and the left, forcing public discussion of these issues. One of the loudest Progressive critics in the media is Rachel Maddow, who has recently started her own show on MSNBC, following Keith Olbermann. Maddow is openly Lesbian. Although there is outrage against Warren from a segment of the Christian Right for accepting the invitation, most Evangelical leaders are cautiously optimistic or reserving judgment. Of course, there are some on both sides who praise Obama's decision to include Warren, but they don't make the headlines.

Commentary

Gay leaders furious with Obama
Obama Defends Rick Warren's Inauguration Invitation
Obama Tells Gay Community to Respect Choice of Warren at Inauguration
Inaugural Pastor Rick Warren Slammed Left and Right Warren peace offering The selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration is a welcome sign of nonpartisanship
Inaugural Pastor Rick Warren Slammed Left and Right but also supported. "Evangelical and conservative leaders across a broad spectrum who spoke with Newsmax came to Warren’s defense Thursday."
Suit filed to prevent invocation altogether.

Inauguration

echerlin — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:56:35 CST

Wikipedia article

Aftermath

echerlin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:10:46 CST

"The good news is, we won. The bad news is, we won."

Election Day is over, and President-Elect Barack Obama has won decisively, as shown on the polls page. But the elections are not all over, and we have to look at where we go from here.

Elections

We know that Obama won in a moderate landslide, but not all of the Electoral College votes had been decided at the end of Election Day.

Missouri, 11 votes, McCain
Nebraska, 1st district, 1 vote, Obama
North Carolina, 15 votes, Obama

The result of the first set of counts is Obama 365, McCain 173.

Even though results have been announced, they have not been certified, nor have they been accepted by the Congress as required under the Constitution. There are cases of vote suppression and other electoral crimes to be investigated. It remains possible that Obama's victory is even bigger than we have heard. Voting reform will be a significant issue for the new 111th Congress.

In the Senate, we still have some undecided seats.

AK, Mark Begich (D), Ted Stevens (R), too close to call on Election Day, with 40,000 ballots still to count. Update: Begich has won in the complete count, and top Republicans have called on Stevens to resign from the Senate.
GA, Jim Martin (D), Saxby Chambliss (R), mandatory runoff on Dec. 2. Chambliss won easily.
MN, Al Franken, (D), Norm Coleman (R), Dean Barkley (I), too close to call, mandatory recount. The first count put Coleman up by 215, but Franken has pulled slightly ahead.

Many House races, state and local races, and ballot propositions remain undecided, even if one side is claiming victory from an incomplete vote count. Some results are subject to legal challenge, such as the California Prop. 8 amendment to the state Constitution forbidding gay marriage. Check your local news sources for most of these. A few will make national news. Google News is your friend.

Transition

The transition team has to identify several thousand people to appoint to various positions in the Executive Branch.

Threats against Barack Obama's life and against his family started up during the campaign and have spiked since. There have been at least two cases resulting in arrests.

Transition

Obama Transition Web site

Cabinet

State Dept: Sen. Hillary Clinton
Defense: Up in the air
Treasury: Tim Geithner, currently head of New York Federal Reserve
Commerce: NM Gov. Bill Richardson
HHS: Former Sen. Tom Daschle
Attorney-General: Former Deputy AG Eric Holder
More

Economic Team

On Saturday 22 November 2008, Robert Reich blogged at Truthout.com, How Obama Is Already Taking Charge. His best information was that Obama would appoint

Tim Geithner at Treasury
Peter Orszag at the Office of Management and Budget
Jack Lew and Jason Furman at the National Economic Council
Austan Goolsbee at the Council of Economic Advisors

All are relatively young but experienced in government, and non-ideological.

White House Staff

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago) will be the new White House Chief of Staff.
Senior Obama campaign aide Robert Gibbs will be the White House press secretary.
Campaign strategist David Axelrod will be Senior Advisor.

What next?

Obama gave his first news conference as President-Elect on Friday, Nov. 7. He is now giving weekly addresses to the nation over broadcast media and YouTube, laying out his economic plan and other urgent measures.

W is a lame duck President who cannot get new legislation through a hostile Congress, but he still has authority to do a number of things for good or ill. He is negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement for Iraq with a timetable for withdrawal, exactly as Obama proposed. Republicans ridiculed the idea right up to the moment they did it. Watch for last-minute environmental deregulations and Presidential pardons, among other things.

What are the other big issues?

The economy, stupid. ^_^ Stimulus/infrastructure rebuilding package, rescuing homebuyers, re-regulating Wall Street, restoring competition and transparency to markets, undoing Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, letting workers and middle class have a share of economic growth,...
Trade. "Free Trade" for corporations but not for people doesn't count.
Environment. Renewable energy (to combat Global Warming, and for security), reregulate pollution,...
Immigration. A path to citizenship. Help countries so that their citizens will not have to flee from war, oppression, or dire poverty.
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Al Qaeda, Taleban
"Rogue states", failed states, civil wars: Iran, North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Sudan, Congo, Somalia,...
Foreign aid. Obama proposed doubling US foreign aid, including a $2 billion annual Global Education Fund.
Supreme Court. Obama could have the opportunity to appoint three Justices.
Lower courts. Obama will have to appoint about 50 Federal judges immediately.
The First Dog, promised to the Obama children as a reward for their good behavior during the campaign. It must be hypo-allergenic. They would have preferred to get a shelter dog, but Obama says, "most of them are mutts, like me."

Washington Post transition coverage