Two outstanding people presented themselves with class and dignity. There were good points from each candidate. They left their ugly at home. When we look back at tonight's debate we will see that for the first time in our recent history that we cannot lose with either candidate. I think I will shut the TV off. Wake me up Wednesday morning. Get the duct tape and let's each cover a reporter's mouth. This was an actual debate. We all won.
So Hillary got almost a million votes in a race that doesn't count. Barack's total vote count for every election collectively thus far does not match that total. Remember when we thought our votes counted? I have seen almost every Talking Head diminish her victory while frothing at the mouth over McCain's huge victory there. He only got a few hundred thousand fewer votes than she did. Keith Oberman interviewed Hillary last night and was a smug, rude, pig. One of my former favorite News Commentators has now become someone I despise. He smirked and said to Chris Matthews "So much for not campaigning in Florida" because thousands of Hillary supporters were cheering and waving signs. You could hear car horns beeping very loudly in the background of well wishers driving by. He then pointed out all the signs and said "Did they hand paint those signs"? He was implying that for a race that doesn't count she was sure making a big thing over this election. How did they get all these signs? It is the fourth most populated state in the US and she has campaign headquarters all over, as does Obama. If he would have been even close you can bet he would have been there with fans waving banners and signs. He was noticeably absent. Oh, he came out and said that it was agreed ahead of time that this election didn't count so why was she claiming a victory. Because it was one. It was HUGE. The biggest so far. Not with all the little smoke screens and mirrors and political bullshit but by the people who actually participated in the process and voted. Millions of them. Millions. Mitt Romney got more individual votes than Barack so he got fewer votes than the second place Republican. Electability? Is it getting clearer?
John Edwards withdrew from the race and it had to do with so many things. During the last election he won the Primary in South Carolina but four years later the people voted along racial lines and voted for an outsider who has never taken up for them before. His wife is ill. His money for campaigning from pure sources only. So will he endorse anybody? It depends on who you ask. You would think that because on Monday of last week when he jumped all over Obama for his 130 "maybe" votes and leaving 16 million people out of the Health-care plan, or when Barack made fun of Edwards for his remarks about his "biggest mistake" comment from the previous debate calling it disingenuous and false it would seem clear who he might back. Or the fact that his Presidential Running Mate endorsed Barack over him there might be some animosity towards that side. However, if you turn on the TV about 90% of the pundits are claiming an endorsement of Obama. So when Edwards won the debate just before the election in South Carolina why did the press cover nothing he said?
Keith Oberman is on now driveling on about an endorsement from Rupert Murdoch, who he has smeared nightly on Countdown for years. But now it's an important endorsement? At least MSNBC has taken the picture of Barack off all their commercial teasers. It was of him in profile with his sleeves rolled up and was shown hundred of times a day. Now he's talking about people being turned away from Barack's rally in Denver but he never mentioned the several thousand that were turned away from the Clinton rally I attended here. Oh, and by the way, Barack will not be campaigning in Tennessee. She is very far ahead here but he isn't "conceding", just not campaigning. This is the deep south and very conservative yet more people are voting for Hillary than the Republican candidate. You know, the home of Fred Thompson, Bill Frist (former head of the Republican Congress) and Al Gore. But politics don't count here. Our newspaper said that there are not enough black voters to make it worth his while. Yet both Bill and Hillary in back to back rally's at two of the major black colleges in America thought there was a different story to be told. On one of Barack's fan sites they reported that there were hardly any black people at the rally I attended. Kevin posted the link to my photo album from that rally and there were clearly about 65% African American attending with Thelma Harper, the single biggest Representative in Tennesssee who is African American introducing "her idol" Senator, and the next President of the United States Hillary Clinton.
No Tony Rezko on TV. He just got re-arrested and jailed for not complying with his previous bail agreement. There was a short snippet on MSNBC's website stating that Barack donated $70,000 dirty dollars from Tony Rezko to charity. He already gave $60,000. and claims that he only received $40,000. Must be the new math. I am growing increasingly tired of the Obama all star pundit review 24/7 on every major channel. So I turned on Fox and as God is my witness for the first time in their existance they were telling the truth. They talked about how important Hillary's endorsement by The Nurses Union is, Maxine Waters, one of the most powerful members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and all three of Bobby Kennedy's children. You don't see that on any other channel. It isn't at all what I was expecting. It is what I would have expected from MSNBC since I was watching them almost exclusively. CNN is even doing better than they are. Not all of them, but they are still being Journalists and not simply slanting everything towards one candidate over the other. If you go to MSNBC's message boards you will see that about 90 percent of the posts are about how unfair and slanted they are being in favor of Barack. Even with all that she still kicked ass in Florida. "That was only because of early voting" was the claim. They would have changed their minds if they knew Teddy Kennedy endorsed Barack. The exit polls asked "Did his endorsement affect your vote"? Not positively or negatively, just did it affect your vote so their assumption was that it was in his favor. I don't know a single person who respects him, admire him, or feel anything good about him.
So the anti-establishment candidate has the backing of Teddy, John Kerry, and Patrick Leahy. Two of them lost Presidential bids. These fossils do not represent change to me. The clean candidate is tied to organized crime in Chicago, shady business deals, and campaign improprieties and hasn't shown much of a record given 130 votes he passed on and 6 he pushed the wrong button so he could pay off favors and say he made a mistake. He slams Wal-Mart and then we find out they were his wife's biggest client.
So, John Edwards, when you decide who you are backing remember that Hillary donated more than 2 million dollars to pay for healthcare for poor children. Her total royalty payment for her award winning book "It Takes a Village". Barack was making sweet deals buying a 1.3 million dollar mansion in a posh neighborhood in Chicago. Many of his endorsers are "Legacy Building" based on his coattails and not visa versa.
The change I am looking for is a change from Bush policies and his economic legacy. I did just fine during the Clinton years. They were the best years of my life. That's the change everybody is looking for.
So, here, in the Buckle of the Bible Belt, perhaps one of the three most conservative states in America I heard Hillary answer this question: "What do you feel about the seperation of church and state"? She gave a truthful answer, not pandering to the fundies in the audience. She said plainly and clearly that the two do not belong in the same dialogue. Churches should not interfere in politics any more than politics should interfere with churches. I gasped. I thought "Oh, no. Here comes booing". Ten thousand people jumped to their feet and cheered for five minutes and on their feet. In Nashville, Tennessee. A mile from the Gideon Bible plant and Lifeway Ministries. The holiest place in America. Cheers. There was no pandering. There was great risk in her honesty. The day after South Carolina Barack let Teddy Kennedy say "Gay" outloud. He did not mention it once in South Carolina. That would have cut his throat.
So when Barack spent 6 million dollars on cable TV ads in Florida and then came out and said it didn't matter he just proved to me how poor his judgement is. So spending that on something that doesn't count isn't campaigning? It is fucking stupid and he's not spending my money that way. Bush has done that for 7 years. Just another poor move on his part. He called it a beauty contest and I laughed. Isn't that what his entire campaign is? Rockstar? Puhhhhhleeeez Barack. That is your biggest attribute.
But I'll watch the debate tomorrow/tonight and see what they have to say. I still want the best candidate. He has every chance to win my vote. He just has a really long way to go to get it.
Look on your twenty dollar bill and you'll see Andrew Jackson. He is from Nashville, Tennessee, home of the famous Woolworth's civil rights sit in and the first integrated public school system in the country. But Barack doesn't feel we need to hear from him ourselves. You will regret that because you stood the chance of getting two votes in this house. I would have given you the chance to change my mind. I'm a flip flopper after all. But he will be in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Coincidentally they are the three states with the heaviest populations of African Americans. Who's playing the race card Barack? Seems like you hand is showing.
Measure Would Bar Gay Pride In Jerusalem
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 29, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
(Jerusalem) A member of Israel's religious Shas Party told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that homosexuality is an epidemic and should be dealt with like the Health Ministry deals with bird flu.
Nissim Ze'ev was speaking in support of a bill that would give the city of Jerusalem the power to ban public events that "insult religious values and public feelings."
He said that gays should be forced into "rehabilitation" in the same way as drug addicts and alcoholics.
"It wasn't a coincidence that the bible compared homosexual relations with bestiality and sentenced to death those who were caught performing it," Ze'ev said.
The bill before the Knesset's Legislative Committee would allow city officials in Jerusalem to ban gay pride. The Orthodox Shas Party has tried for several years to get pride marches blocked.
Knesset member Gal-On said the remarks by Ze'ev showed "great ignorance".
The Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders - AGUDAH - said that if the bill passes it would turn the city into "the international capital of darkness."
Last June, moments before the gay pride march was to begin in Jerusalem police arrested a man carrying a homemade bomb. Police said the 32 year old said he planned to detonate it near the parade route to scare people away. (story)
The arrest was one of nearly 200 as members of the haredi, an ultra-Orthodox sect, rioted for several days leading up to the parade. Garbage cans were set on fire and stones thrown at police. Twenty-two officers were reportedly injured.
Some 7000 police - many brought in from other cities - were stationed along the gay pride parade route, far outnumbering the the marchers estimated at about 1000.
At one point police routed about 500 haredim armed with eggs and bags of excrement. At another point on the parade route, only a few blocks long, protestors tried to pour cooking oil on the road so marchers would slip and fall.
The 2006 pride march was cancelled following a week of rioting in Jerusalem by the haredi.
Thousands of sect members took to the streets for a week, setting fires and injuring more than a dozen people.
Instead of holding a march Open House held a pride concert and celebration at Hebrew University where anyone entering the grounds was checked by police. (story) There were no incidents.
In 2005 the parade was marred by violence. More than a than a dozen protestors were arrested and three people were stabbed.
Almost 1,000 protestors lined the parade route. Bottles of urine and bags containing feces were hurled at marchers.
Shortly after the parade began Shai Schlissel, a haredi member, rushed into the marchers on Ben Yehuda Street stabbing a man and a woman.
Others in the parade attempted to subdue him. The third victim was a marcher who went to the aid of the other two victims. (story) Schlissel is in prison for the attack.
©365Gay.com 2008
Leaders and followers shitting in bags, making bombs, throwing rocks at police. Thank you for your moral high ground. God is so very proud of you.
Union workers at the Treehouse Foods Inc. soup and infant foods plant on Pittsburgh's North Side rejected a second contract offer from the company, but the union said Tuesday no strike was authorized. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 325 rejected the contract, 255-215, in mail-in ballots counted yesterday, said Robert E. Timmons Jr., president of Local 325. There is no authorization to strike at the former H.J. Heinz Co. plant because the contract was opposed by fewer than two-thirds of the members, the union said. Treehouse Foods of Westchester, Ill., said it was disappointed the offer was rejected. The employees have been working since May under a contract extension.
John Kerry's wife owned HJ Heinz if I'm not mistaken. Michelle Obama sat on Treehouse's board and resigned in May when Barack decided to seriously run for President. So forget that their biggest customer is Wal-Mart, Barack's favorite Company to bash, forget that the Union is on strike (even though he is Mr. Pro-labor) but isn't it just fantastically interesting that Mrs. Obama works for a company that bought Mr. John Kerry's wife's business.
It may or may not mean anything.
But............................................................
If I can find this out just imagine what is coming!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, it's time for CHANGE!
I am still trying to figure out how this became a racial Presidential election so I just watched about 15 videos from various media sources to see what I could find out.
What is an African American? Seems like a simple answer doesn't it? It really isn't that simple if you take a look at it from a different perspective. I have an African American woman named Marian who works for me. She also happens to be black. She is from Ghana and her parents were Diplomats in Berlin. She is very African looking. Her features immediately identify her as somebody from Africa and many people can even guess what part of Africa she is from. I have a driver from Eretria named Gabe, also from Africa. He happens to be black also. He is fair skinned and has a heavy accent and everybody calls him Jamaican. When I was in California I had three African people working for me with dual citizenship. They were from Johanesburg and happened to be white. So are they African Americans? Are they "white"? I had a black girl working for me in LA from Zaire. She wasn't African. She wasn't American. She was Mimi Esperanza Gnagnu. She fled Africa because of political persecution but had not made up her mind where she would settle. She sought political asylum and hadn't decided where she would end up.She renounced her African citizenship. I have a black girl working for me who is from Canada. She is not a dual citizen. Is she African Canadian? She doesn't call herself that. She is black. She calls herself Canadian, not African Canadian. My friend Allen is black but is from Belize. He is Belizian but everyone calls him African American. My friend Mustafa is black but is of Arabic descent. He is Arab if you ask him but considered African American on official paperwork. So are all black people African Americans? If I go to Africa are black people Africans or black. Are black people Americans, African Americans, or are they just black?
Gays? Gay men are Gay but Gay women are Lesbians. Does a gay man that goes through sexual reasignment become a Lesbian? If you are black and Gay are you an African American Faggot or are you just a faggot? You're just a faggot. See, Race isn't that hard to figure out if you just look at it from a gay perspective. It doesn't matter where you are from, what color your skin is. It doesn't even matter who is calling you it or what color their skin is. Even if it's the same color as yours you are still a faggot or a dyke.
Has this race lesson helped?
Is it okay for one group that has been persecuted to call another person by derogatory names? Is it okay to call me a faggot if you are black? Can I call you a N----r because we share a common history. I can call another gay guy a faggot and you can call another black guy a N----r and there isn't an issue. We just can't call each other those things. Notice I couldn't even type the word even as an example?
It's pretty funny when we see Richard Pryor do an impersonation of a white guy. Eddie Murphy does a pretty good one also. The gay parodies are equally funny. We see them all the time. I laugh. But if I saw a white guy do an impression of a black guy I would be offended. It's history. I have seen the hatred, the pain, the persecution. I would feel uncomfortable laughing about it or even being there while it was being done. I would probably leave.
Is it okay to be proud of your heritage? Kiss me I'm Irish. It's a black thing, you wouldn't understand. Italian Stallion.
I have heard many times from many different people that they find it odd that gay people have celebrations about who they have sex with. "Why are you proud that you're gay? We don't have Straight Pride Festivals". Here's a little clue. As people we can actually find common ground with people we have a struggle in common with. We are drawn to like minded people. We take comfort in the presence of people who have experienced similar things. We gather and group and we look out for our own because it just plain feels right. Christians gather together to worship. Jews attend Temple, Muslims in Mosques.
So when 80 percent of African Americans, black people, people with darker skin of African Ancestry, all came out to vote for Barack Obama I was thrilled for them to be able to support somebody that they shared this common ground with. I was beyond certain that many would. I would have expected nothing else. I was happy for him that people came out to support him despite the Halfrican American status people of mixed race get tagged with. So he is half white and half black. So he really isn't an African American actually. He isn't white or black. He is just a candidate running for President. Actually he is Hawaain. He was born in Hawaai.
When Jessie Jackson ran for President in the Primary in South Carolina he won twice. I wasn't shocked. I thought to myself "good for him". It is about recognition and if you can't get that from people you have common ground with then why would anybody vote for you? I was not remotely surprised when he won South Carolina. I would have been shocked if he hadn't. 20 percent of African Americnas felt they did not have common ground with him. 25 percent of white voters did. The world will never be one size fits all. So when Bill Clinton said exactly what I said he was called a racist and dirty. Oh, I thought he was just being honest. His wife also recognized this and decided to go on to be with people who would appreciate her and the common ground they share. I keep hearing about "code words" Bill Clinton used to send a message and I'm wondering who the message was being sent to. Was it to me? Is calling someone articulate sending code words. Hey, I've spent allot more time studying this guy genuinely and I didn't see it that way but what do I know. Are the 75 percent racists that didn't vote for Barack? Some might be. But like all people including white people some of us are just happy giving everybody a fair shot. I just heard a Newscaster say that Bill Clinton marginalized Barack by comparing him to Jessie Jackson. Isn't that marginalizing Jessie Jackson? He has done a heck of allot more than Barack for blacks and civil rights for them also and he's marginalizing Barack?
So let's all be proud of who we are. Let's enjoy the common ground we find with whomever we find it with. But don't point your finger when somebody points out the obvious. And when the fire comes from the other side let's give it all the attention we gave it to the words of Bill Clinton.
So here is an article from the Washington Post following Barack Obama's victory in Iowa. It is with Jessie Jackson Junior. I am going to post the YouTube Video and then the article. Remember, he is a top campaign manager for Barack. Why? Because he is Jessie Jackson's son. Go ahead and tell me again about race. When Bill Clinton said Jessie Jackson ran a good race and won twice he was called a racist. Now tell me what you consider the following to be. When the press bring up the video of Bill Clinton saying that Jessie Jackson ran a good campaign and won twice try and figure out why you haven't seen this before. Hundreds of times.
And please don't be afraid to speak the truth. It only offends people who are incapable of telling it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010400117.html
Here is the actual interview. Should he be running the campaign of a serious contender for President of the United States. Tell me all about the racist Clinton's. I know of at least a few hundred million people in Africa, Sri Lanka, and South America who will tell you otherwise.
The allegations against Rezko that involve Obama are contained in one paragraph of a 78-page document filed last month in which prosecutors outline their corruption and fraud case against Rezko, who was also a key money man for Gov. Blagojevich and other politicians.
Rezko is set to go to trial Feb. 25. The revelation that Obama’s name could come up in court is a political headache he doesn’t need as he heads into a round of primaries that are likely to determine his party’s nomination for president.
Obama is not named in the Dec. 21 court document. But a source familiar with the case confirmed that Obama is the unnamed “political candidate” referred to in a section of the document that accuses Rezko of orchestrating a scheme in which a firm hired to handle state teacher pension investments first had to pay $250,000 in “sham” finder’s fees. From that money, $10,000 was donated to Obama’s successful run for the Senate in the name of a Rezko business associate, according to the court filing and the source.
Rezko, who was part of Obama’s senatorial finance committee, also is accused of directing “at least one other individual” to donate money to Obama and then reimbursing that individual — in possible violation of federal election law.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald declined to comment.
Obama — a state senator when he got the contributions in 2004 — has moved to distance himself from Rezko since his longtime friend and supporter was indicted in October 2006. After news reports that Obama had engaged in a real estate transaction with Rezko’s wife at a time Tony Rezko was known to be under investigation, the senator called the episode “boneheaded” and “a mistake.”
‘No way of knowing’
Obama campaign aides said Friday he was unaware Rezko was behind the contributions cited in last month’s court filing or that the document referred to the senator.
“We have no way of knowing he is the politician named here,” spokesman Bill Burton said, “but we returned this money months ago for other reasons.”
Obama donated more than $44,000 in Rezko-linked contributions to charity last year, including the $10,000 donation mentioned in the court filing.
That money was donated to Obama by Joseph Aramanda, a Glenview businessman and Rezko associate who, sources have said, is the “Individual D” prosecutors say received the $250,000 in finder’s fees demanded by Rezko. Individual D did nothing to earn those fees, according to prosecutors.
The $10,000 contribution to Obama was given in Aramanda’s name on March 5, 2004, records show. While Obama’s camp has said the senator did not know Aramanda, Obama’s office hired Aramanda’s son as an intern in 2005, at Rezko’s urging.
Repeated attempts to reach Aramanda, who was involved in pizza franchises Rezko owned, were unsuccessful. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
A longstanding relationship
Rezko is one of Obama’s earliest political patrons. Long known as a prolific fund-raiser, the Syrian-born businessman helped raise money for Obama’s political campaigns beginning in 1995, when Obama was running for the Illinois Senate. ( can you hear Republican claims of money being funnellled to terrorists?)
In 13 years in politics, Obama has gotten at least $168,000 in campaign donations from Rezko, his family and business associates. The Sun-Times reported that figure last June. Obama’s “best estimate” seven months earlier had been that Rezko had raised no more than $60,000 for him.
When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate, Rezko held a June 27, 2003, cocktail party in Rezko’s Wilmette mansion, picking up the tab for the lavish event. Obama’s campaign staff has said it has no records to show who attended that party, or how much it cost.
Obama’s relationship with Rezko dates to 1990, when Obama, then a Harvard law student, interviewed for a job with Rezko’s development company, Rezmar Corp. Obama turned down the job, instead going to work for a small Chicago law firm — Davis Miner Barnhill. That firm did work on more than a dozen low-income housing projects Rezmar rehabbed with government funds.
Eleven Rezmar buildings were in the state Senate district Obama represented between 1996 and 2004. Many of the buildings ended up in foreclosure, with tenants living in squalid conditions, the Sun-Times reported last year. In one instance, Rezko’s company left tenants without heat for five weeks. Obama said he was unaware of problems with the buildings and minimized the legal work he’d done. ( how do you define "slumlord"?)
Obama’s relationship with Rezko grew closer in June 2005, when Obama and Rezko’s wife bought adjoining real estate parcels from a doctor in the South Side Kenwood neighborhood. Obama paid $1.65 million for the doctor’s mansion, while Rezko’s wife paid $625,000 for the vacant lot next door. Obama’s purchase price was $300,000 below the asking price; Rezko’s wife paid full price.
Six months later, Obama paid Rita Rezko $104,500 for one-sixth of the vacant lot, which he bought to expand his yard. In November 2006, he expressed regret about the transaction.
“It was a mistake to have been engaged with him at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else,” Obama said, “to believe that he had done me a favor.”
FYI:
Hillary worked for Walmart when Sam Walton was still alive and prided himself in selling "Made in America" products. The company was growing in leaps and bounds and was considered the top US company and employed more people than just about any other, including all the businesses that benefitted from selling their products to the chain to be sold into the United States economy. It was many years later that it became the succubus that we know it as today.
So when Mr. Obama claimed that, yes, he knew Tony Rezko because he worked for 2 hours on a brief for a community project he forgot the other 19 years they spent as associates in business. Rezko is accused of using minority "set asides" by buying political favors and buying fast food locations including many prime spots that had been set aside for African American businesses, women, and Hispanics.
Another partner from the Law firm Mr. Obama worked for left and began working full time for Mr. Rezko as a real estate developer.. Michelle Obama and Mrs. Rezko were friends and went out to lunch together and held dinner parties.
Oh, it was appalling that nobody remembers that Mr. Obama fired the cheap shot into the face of Hillary Clinton and when she came back with the horrible truth about his shady dealings everybody moaned as though it was a cheap shot. No. It was a tiny slice of truth. The Republican Candidates are going to come out with the big guns. They are also going to scare the voting public by dragging up the fact that Tony Rezko is an Arab American who runs businesses all over the Mid-West and runs Arab based businesses. While that has absolutely nothing to do with anything I will guarantee that you will see Barack linked to Arabs yet again. It means nothing but you wait and see what it turns into. There is much to be revealed about Mr. Obama. Let's not forget what Chicago Politics is known for. It makes Washington seem like Choir practice. If he can't handle what she said, if the people of America will not research the truth, then don't be surprised when there is another Republican sitting in the White House. The "Elite" are backing Obama because he takes a different stand on Capital Gains taxes than do Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. They don't want the taxes on their wealth to increase. We don't look at those things because for many of us it is not an issue.
So, while he apologizes for his indiscretions, 130 "maybe" votes, 6 "ooops" votes, and everything else we will be learning about as the race heats up he will continue targetting the value of a great woman who has done huge things for all of us including donating her Royalties from her book sales to Children's Hospitals all over the US plus Safe Drinking water programs all over the world. Her husband has raised more money fighting Aids than any other person or organization by providing drugs for people all over Africa, the battle front in the raging war on this public health Pandemic. While they were doing that he was buying land from a dirty rotten scoundrel, accepting money from someone he says he doesn't know, yet employed his son as an intern while a State Senator and, I am sure, the best is yet to come. He is neither handling it well, nor legitimately defending his actions. Oooops and I'm sorry are going to put another Republican in office. As I have stated many times, his skeletons are yet to come out and when they do they will not be forgiven. They will be amplified and distorted by Rovian Republicans and the White House will be lost.
The Beauty Pageant needs to be turned back into a Presidential Election. If you think knowing how to "Play the Game" doesn't matter tell me all about it when President Romney is sworn into office.
I know many Obama supporters will be angry. You don't know what angry is. Try to inform yourselves with truth. Don't forget that Principles always come before Personalities.
Nashville loves Hillary Clinton. We attended her rally here tonight. I just got done putting my signs out in the front yard. I will be volunteering and delivering signs to anyone who wants one in their yard within a 50 mile radius.
