What exactly does 'change' mean? Change means that we need to move toward a future that is free of violence and free of hate. Actress *Jennifer Hudson's* mother, brother, and nephew were *killed last Friday.*
The following is a comment left on someone's blog in response to these murders:
‘Two less Obama voters….’
By Jay Bookman | Sunday, October 26, 2008, 01:27 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m sure the person who posts as “Dagny and John’s Love Child” won’t be bothered if I do this. His comment from the thread below is such a perfect distillation of a certain attitude that it just had to be highlighted where all could admire it.
“One good thing about Jennifer Hudson’s family tragedy - two less Obama voters.”
A 57-year old grandmother is killed in her home, as is her 29-year-old son. A seven-year-old child is missing and there is every reason to fear for his survival as well.
And “Dagny and John’s Love Child” expresses pleasure that two Obama voters are now gone. Presumably, the possibility that seven-year-old Julian King is also dead is also cause for pleasure, because he too might have grown up to be an Obama voter.
I’m thinking Love Child ought to come back on line and apologize, or be banned from this blog. Any comments?
yep, you should ban me - we all know that freedom of speech is for the left only - I just enjoy stirring the poo a bit, and getting your goat - and upsetting your golf game enough to have you make this special post just for me - proves that I was able to do so.
Maybe you should ban anyone who is not an Obama supporter now and avoid the rush later…
Apologize for what, stating that even amidst tragedy there can be a little good news? And, the seven year old would be too young to vote for Obama - unless he gets the term limits over turned - or if Acorn can get to him and sign him up, he might be able to vote at 11….
Don’t worry about the ban, I won’t be back
To this, the Editor of Obama IS America! responds:
WHAT
THE
F*&%?!!??
How are there people out there in the world that can justify the murder of other human beings by saying it means that there are two less voters in the world for Obama, or for anyone? How can you ever justify murder--including war?? The statements made by the person above are so cruel and cold--the Editor of OIA! is having a hard time understanding how someone could possibly say something like that, and then try to JUSTIFY those hateful comments.
It is exactly this mentality that needs to CHANGE, and needs to CHANGE NOW:
The change that needs to come to this world is the end of ignorance and hate such as this. The change that needs to come to this world is true openness and solidarity amongst ALL human beings. We cannot keep justifying brutal murder, excusing the murderers, blaming the victims, and thinking that there will be no repercussions.
WHY ARE WE STILL KILLING EACH OTHER?
Change is not just going to come from Obama, or from some other person out there in the world.
It will only come from each and every one of us ALL working to be peaceful in our own lives and together. If each and everyone of us embodied peace, then there would be no violence. A future free of violence is the only future that will allow us to survive as a human species.
Obama is empowering millions of people around this country to reach out to everyone in their community. Whether or not he wins, he has already changed America. He has already changed the way that people here at home and around the world think about America and who Americans are. These are the first steps to creating an inclusive community--other people are not outsiders to our worlds, but instead are part of our lives, causing us to value them and them to value us. We need to see EVERYONE around us as members of our community. It doesn't matter where you were born, how you came to be here, what color your skin is, what language you speak, who your mother is, what you do, etc.
The only thing that matters is that we are all different yet the same. We are all human beings, but we are all unique beings on this planet because of our different cultures, experiences, lives, personalities, and thought processes. The sooner we all realize this and ACCEPT IT, the sooner we will start to value each other, and the sooner the violence will end. If you value someone or something, you will cherish it, take care of it, love it, and protect it from harm. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we all valued each other?
THE TIME HAS COME FOR HATE TO STOP
THE TIME HAS COME FOR LOVE TO REIGN SUPREME ON THIS PLANET
THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO ALL PUT DOWN OUR WEAPONS, WHETHER THEY ARE WORDS PHYSICAL WEAPONS
THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO GROW UP AND ACT LIKE ADULTS AND START CARING FOR ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE AROUND US
Obama IS America! sends a huge collective prayer to the family of Jennifer Hudson, and to the families of all the people around the world who suffer and have suffered from tragedy. We also send out a prayer to everyone out there in the world and urge you to start truly opening your minds and hearts to others around you.
An Obama Presidency alone will not end violence or make the world a perfect place. He seems like a peaceful fellow who will work hard to create clean and environmentally friendly energy technologies, and seems like the kind of person who will use diplomacy to heal and communicate instead of to kill and to mutilate. But, at the end of the day, the only way anything will change on a systemic level is by each and every one of us TRULY WORKING TOGETHER and working ON OURSELVES AS INDIVIDUALS to be better people. This will take us a long way towards healing ourselves and making this world a little closer to perfect.
Last thought of this entry is that we need to chill out, relax, and enjoy our time on this planet and enjoy each other. We've got to brush the dirt off our shoulders and keep a smile on our face. And on that note, this post concludes with the following video:
A friend of Obama IS America! sent this email out as a mass email. We felt that it was appropriate and important to repost, so we are including it on this blog. Please read below.
Subject: A good reminder--Why We Should Vote
It's a privilege AND a right.
WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTEThis is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.
(Lucy Burns) And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head, and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
(Dora Lewis) They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting, and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
(Alice Paul) When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies, and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum.
I want it shown on Bunco and Bingo night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democrat, republican, or independent--remember to vote.History is being made.
While this blog is intended for a national and international audience, the site is being built out of Los Angeles, California, a state facing some major issues on the ballot this coming November 4. One major issue is Proposition 8, where the people of California will vote on whether marriage should be defined in the CA constitution as just between one man and one woman--overturning the decision of the CA Supreme Court ruling that the ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.
This blog entry contains three videos and the arguments on both sides about why you should vote yes or no on Proposition 8. If you are receiving this blog post as an email, please click *here* to link to the main Obama IS America! blog. Type No on 8 in the search to find this blog entry.
Below the videos you can find an article from *The California Majority* about the huge role being played by the Mormon church in trying to pass this Prop, including reader commentary. Below that, you can find information from *Mormons for Marriage*, which is a group of Mormons who support gay marriage and oppose Prop 8.
Thank you.
Yes on 8:
Yes vs. No on Proposition 8:
NO ON 8!!!
DONALD LATHBURY
Prop 8: Mormon Influence on Yes Campaign Now a National Story
October 23, 2008 @ 3:11 PM
The Atlantic Monthly's Andrew Sullivan picked up on the staggering influence the Church of Latter Day Saints has had on the Yes on Prop 8 campaign in his piece, "Mormons v. Civil Rights".
"People may be unaware that the top leadership of the LDS church has made banning gay couples from having any legal rights in California a supreme issue, part of a determined political campaign of unprecedented ferocity and organization," he writes.
Indeed, while figures on Mormon giving vary from around 40 percent to 80 percent, whatever the exact number, the influence clearly goes far beyond their actual population in California, which hovers below two percent.
Why are out-of-state members of a minority religion very familiar with state-sponsored discrimination so interested in spreading the wealth to California's gay and lesbian populations? Sullivan has a theory:
"This is about consolidating the Mormon church into the wider Christianist movement. If the Mormons can prove their anti-gay mettle, they will be less subject to suspicion from evanglicals."
With Senator John McCain's imploded presidential campaign leaving many Republicans scratching their heads wondering what could have been done differently to save the sinking GOP ship, perhaps there's some forward thinking involved in favor of Mitt "Almost the First Mormon President in U.S. History" Romney. Or maybe they, like the Christianist Alliance Defense Fund and Focus on the Family, just want to impose their religious dogmas on those with different faiths. Why should the Episcopalian, United Church of Christ, and Unitarian Universalist denominations, which all back marriage equality, be denied the ability to wed the couples of their choosing? Because James Dobson and Mormon Elders said so? To dozens of faith communities, that's not sufficient.
Whatever the LDS chuch's motivation, it's a moot question. Their dollars and volunteers are here, and evangelical churches that not too long ago considered them fringe heretics have called at least a temporary cease fire. It's up to all Californians who oppose writing specific religious doctrines into our state constitution, friendly LDS members included, to fight back against this alarming blurring of church-state separation.
Comments on Prop 8: Mormon Influence on Yes Campaign Now a National Story
Posted by: Jed Merrill on October 23, 2008
I am very proud to stand with the Church on this issue. In my mind it is the gay movement that is seeking to blur the line between civil rights and morality.
The Church has every right to speak on moral issues.
I am disappointed that in this article you pit one Church against another. I very much doubt that every Unitarian, Episcopalian, and member of the United Church of Christ is proud of gay marriage. It is a significant deviation from basic morality. I refuse to have my conscience dulled and that of my children, let alone the definition of marriage as established by God, to make a few people happy.
If God didn't make the pattern of marriage clear enough when he married Adam and Eve, he certainly displayed his distaste for a gay society when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Historians also contend that the downfall of the Greek and Roman Empires started with a similar decline in morality.
I think the Church is concerned, among other things, that eventually the laws of the United States might require Mormons to allows gays to marry in their temples, which would make a complete mockery of God's plan and promises.
I am proud to stand for something that I value above nearly all else, the preservation of traditional marriage.
Finally, why do gay people demand to be given rights as a separate class when they already have the rights that matter as part of the human class?
I would sooner take away the right of judges to marry (which is questionable) than give gay people alternative marriage that dilutes the entire institution.
Prop 8: Mormon Influence on Yes Campaign Now a National Story
Posted by: Mbicus on October 24, 2008
I really don't think most gay couples have any interest in being married in a LDS Temple. Anyway, not even all LDS members can be married in their temples. Only certain members who meet specific criteria. They certainly never marry, or "seal", non-LDS members in their temple. I've never heard of complaints. Many churches only marry members of their church. It's fairly typical.
The thing is, everyone has a different definition of morality. Look how many versions of it you get just from the Jews, or the Christians. So, instead of changing the Constitution to capitulate to the LDS church, how about we focus on the civil rights issues, and let the churches govern themselves, and marry whom they like ? Prop 8 doesn't change churches tax exempt status or their exemptions from discrimination laws. They can marry whomever them like.
Separation of church and state
Posted by: david_t on October 24, 2008
The claim that Prop 8 could somehow lead to churches being forced to marry same-sex couples is utterly bogus. The civil law does not and cannot control church law, including who a church will recognize as married. It only deals with who the state will recognize as married under civil law.
The civil law has recognized interracial couples for many years, and yet there is no civil legal requirement that churches *must* marry interracial couples, or recognize them as married under church law. Nor could there be, because we have separation of church and state. (Most churches do recognize interracial couples; but that is their own choice, not something that the civil law has forced upon them.)
For more videos of LDS church members’ opinions of California’s Proposition 8, see this post.
Why We as LDS Church Members Support Marriage Equality
For all its failings in particular cases, and for all the stress it has borne lately, marriage isthe great civilizing institution. No other institution has the power to turn narcissism into partnership, lust into devotion, strangers into kin. What other force can bond across clans and countries and continents and even cultures? In Romeo and Juliet, it was not the youths’ love which their warring and insular clans feared; it was their marriage. (Jonathan Rauch, Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America)
The days when homosexual unions - marital or nonmarital - were invisible are gone, and gone for good. If you can never accept same-sex marriage as just or moral, I ask you nonetheless to consider: If gay marriage is outlawed, what will come in its place? The world is changing, and marriage, like it or not, is changing, too. (Jonathan Rauch, Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America)
.
With these ideas in mind, here are some of the reasons we support marriage equality:
to my family, friends, aquaintances, etc in California
Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 5:55pm
i urge you guys to vote NO on proposition 8, the proposition that would ban gay marriage in california.
if you didnt plan on voting for this, please do, its a close one.
if you were gonna vote yes because double negatives confuse you, remember, vote NO on PROP 8.
if you were gonna vote yes b/c you think marriage needs protection, let me remind you that the only thing heterosexual marriage needs protection from is divorce.
Also, theres no quota on marriage, were not running out.
those of you who have a religious problem with this, allow me to remind you that gay people dont want to come to your church and get married there, they simply want the rights that should be afforded to them as HUMANS. the right to be notified if a loved one is in the hospital, the right to visit them and know whats wrong.
TO MY FILIPINO/MIXED RACE FAMILY, especially my young cousins and any other interracial couple reading this let me remind, or inform you for the first time, that just 60 years ago interracial marriage was also illegal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation#Anti-miscegenation_laws_repealed_1948-1967
if these laws were still in place I wouldnt exist. if these law were in place many of you wouldnt exist, many of you wouldnt be allowed to be married to your current spouses and have the beautiful mixed babies that youve had and will have. we look back on this law now and scoff at the ignorance.
so why continue to let other people decide who we are allowed to love?
TO MY LADIES let me remind you that this past August 26th we celebrated the 88th anniversary since women were finally given the right to vote.
and before this African-American people couldnt vote. and before that, as a country, we used PEOPLE as slaves...
though sexism and racism still permeate this society , we look back at the ignorance of our country in embarrassment and i hope someday we can also look back and laugh at the ignorance we have today towards same sex couples and remember that LOVE IS LOVE, and right about now we need as much as we can get.
stop letting old, small-minded, white men tell us what to believe how to live and who to love
they're the ones whose past beliefs and laws have been based in misunderstanding, fear, and hatred
A common misconception about Proposition 8 needs be cleared up. What Prop 8 will do if passed is write into the California Constitution (which is describes the basic legal rights of all Californians) that marriage is defined as between one man and one woman ONLY.
This means that gay marriage, which is already legal as determined by the decision of the California Supreme Court--will become illegal--but only if 8 passes. If it doesn't pass, nothing will change, because the changes that 8 wants to put into effect will be struck down, so the world will stay exactly as it is right now.
So if you vote Yes, you will not be voting to 'ban' gay marriage. You will be voting to TAKE AWAY RIGHTS THAT ALREADY EXIST for MILLIONS of your fellow Californians. That is totally wack on a fundamental level (which is the opinion of this blog Editor).
*Click here* to link to the No on 8 website run through the organization Equality for All.
Volunteer some call bank hours! Make signs and go out in the street and let people see you taking a stand and saying NO ON 8!
*Click here* to link to the donation site for No on 8
Proposition 8 is a MAJOR civil rights decision for California. It is discriminatory, and backwards, and does not face a necessaryreality:
People who are sexually open to other people of the same gender are real people. They exist. They are as normal as people who prefer someone of the opposite gender.
Being a good parent has nothing to do with sexual orientation and who you choose to love. It has to do with how good of a parent you are.
If it passes, California will truly be one of the most openminded places on Earth, and one of only 6 places that has legalized gay marriage. The *others* are South Africa, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Spain, and of course, Massachusetts.
So please, if you can, donate money to the cause, or EVEN BETTER: Tell, teach, explain to, educate, inform, help others understand what Prop 8 is really about and why they should vote NO.
A for-change but not-for-profit, organic (home-grown) organization working to find the truth/s of why the world and Universe are the way they are, while posing ideas on how to progress/move forward into a future that works for all humans and nature.
We post stuff to get you pumped up to fight for the betterment of our Planet and all its inhabitants. We post: blog contributions, articles, stories, opinion pieces, calls to action, music, links, interviews (that we conduct), etc.
The information we post is inspired by:
--Hope that the high energy and enthusiasm stemming from Obama’s campaign for change never dies.
--Hope that twenty years from now this world is literally a thousand times safer, cleaner, more peaceful, and more sustainable in every way imaginable for everyone.
--YOU, your thoughts and your ideas.
Obama cannot make change by himself. He needs us to be informed and proactive citizens.
Click here to link to an essay written when this blog was first created. This essay details the original blog purpose, our motivations for starting the blog in the first place, and our reasons for supporting and defending Obama.
NATIONAL AND GLOBAL movement for: Positive change Positive growth Smooth transition into The Future Visibility for the People Values Things that are Important -- To you, To those you love, and! For peace and equality Amongst us all! Let the conversation flow!!! And let it flow with Dignity!
Posts
I am very proud to stand with the Church on this issue. In my mind it is the gay movement that is seeking to blur the line between civil rights and morality.
The Church has every right to speak on moral issues.
I am disappointed that in this article you pit one Church against another. I very much doubt that every Unitarian, Episcopalian, and member of the United Church of Christ is proud of gay marriage. It is a significant deviation from basic morality. I refuse to have my conscience dulled and that of my children, let alone the definition of marriage as established by God, to make a few people happy.
If God didn't make the pattern of marriage clear enough when he married Adam and Eve, he certainly displayed his distaste for a gay society when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Historians also contend that the downfall of the Greek and Roman Empires started with a similar decline in morality.
I think the Church is concerned, among other things, that eventually the laws of the United States might require Mormons to allows gays to marry in their temples, which would make a complete mockery of God's plan and promises.
I am proud to stand for something that I value above nearly all else, the preservation of traditional marriage.
Finally, why do gay people demand to be given rights as a separate class when they already have the rights that matter as part of the human class?
I would sooner take away the right of judges to marry (which is questionable) than give gay people alternative marriage that dilutes the entire institution.