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"I realize that passing this budget won’t be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington. I know that the insurance industry won’t like the idea that they’ll have to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that’s how we’ll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs for American families. I know that banks and big student lenders won’t like the idea that we’re ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that’s how we’ll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable. I know that oil and gas companies won’t like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that’s how we’ll help fund a renewable energy economy that will create new jobs and new industries. I know these steps won’t sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they’re gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this:
If you must wait until the polls open, then get there early!
If you are voting by mail then please get it in the mail NOW or better yet, take it to your local elections office.
Protect your right to vote. We have included some useful information below. The following is taken from a diary at DailyKos.
Time Off to Vote for Employees — A State by State Survey
Most states require employers to provide time for employees to vote on election day. While these laws vary in each state, they generally require employers to give employees time off to vote if the polls aren’t open two or three hours outside of the employee’s regular shift.
Often when you see great images and speeches that pull at your heart, they are laced with words and images that speak to a scary form nationalism and militarism.
With Barack Obama you feel the pride of being an American and fighting for what is right and good about this country but you also feel the pride of being a citizen of this planet.
Do we really want to continue down the path of 4 more years of George Bush and Dick Cheney?
More of the Same?
John McCain is proud of voting with George Bush over 90% of the time. No.. really, these are his words. See and hear him speak them in the video above.
I know we are not even close to being the first, but I wanted to make sure that we mentioned Barack Obama's choice for VP. It is Joe Biden.
I think this is a good choice, there are others that I would have chosen over Joe Biden but after giving it some thought, I think Barack Obama made a good and wise choice.
Washington Woman will have more to say on this later.
This is one of the funniest and scariest diaries I have read in some time. His experiences with his conservative/republican friends and family are just amazing. I wonder how many of you have had the same experiences?
It amazes me how dense people can be about the truths that stare them in the face. How ill informed so many people in the country are. What dittoheads and lock steppers the republican base is. It is like they do not have a original, true and genuine thought in their head.
I will give you a taste of "johnny venom's" diary, but for the full experiance, you must visit A cookout with some bastards at MyDD.
Every year I attend a BBQ held by a friend of the family. Her name is Deborah and sadly is a big-time Republican, though oddly enough not so much a conservative (well socially at least). Now her late father and my father go way back, fought together in North Africa in WW2, so these people are practically family. Well, as mentioned, she holds an Independence Day BBQ cook out every year, and my father goes out of respect... and a free meal. Outside of me, sometimes, he's the only other non-Republican at these things.
Now, since 2000, since I started finding myself parting ever farther from Republican politics, my appearances at this cook out have been on and off. The reason being was that many of the folks there are die hard conservatives, and arguments tended to be twenty to one. You can probably guess who was that 'one.' Its a real turn about, considering, that Debbie was the person that got me into politics (particularly the GOP) when I was a young Johnny Venom. The folks at the BBQ were my political kin for a long time, and when I turned the other way, it came to them as a shock. You'd be amazed, once you change parties, how fast your "friends" can quickly become your enemies. Well, it's not like they wish me ill will, well most of them don't, just that they find it much better if I weren't voting ... .....
Now conversations ebb and flow on all sorts of things. So, instead, I'm just gonna break them down by topics. You don't really have to know their names, they're conservatives. And, for the most part, you've probably already got an idea on what they are going say for the most part. Still, allow me to irritate your senses a bit just to show you what kind of assholes we're dealing with who want more power or at least keep what they got ... .....
"Barack Obama"
Deborah finally came to our table. She saw my Obama button (fuck it, I wear that everywhere!) and she gave a sour face to me. Suddenly, she rubbed her forearm and then pointed at my button.
Deborah: You see this John? Whit skin. You think he likes that? No way. I wouldn't vote for an anti-Semite, he hates Jews John. You know he's really a Muslim, don't you?
Me: Deb, that's a bunch of crap, and you know it. There is no way in hell I'm going to believe all that. Besides, the man's half white, for crying out loud!
Female Plastics Lady: But still a Muslim.
Me: No, he's not!
Deborah: How do you know? The media? They want a black person in so they can feel better about themselves.
Me: Because he isn't. And as for the media...huh?
Old Male Conservative Engineer: And how about that reverend? You telling me, for twenty years he didn't know what kind of church that was.
Me: Wait a minute, if you're admitting he went to church, then you are in agreement he isn't a Muslim?
Old Male Conservative Engineer: No, because they can hide their faith very well.
Me: I think you're crazier than Janis (Middle Age Female Conservative)!
............
This is just a taste, so please give yourself a treat and a headache and read the rest for yourself.
I have been thinking about the fall out of the long Democratic primary race. Has this primary harmed the Democratic party and our primary system or has it helped.
I looked at this through many different angles, I talked to others in person and online, I read what others had to say and what others screamed about. Some thought Hillary Clinton was "destroying the party" by continuing in this primary long after they and some in the media thought she should drop out. Others came to the same conclusion that I did, they thought it was a good thing for the Democratic party and for politics in general in this country.
The Democratic primary, for all of its faults--such as the use of the undemocratic and under representing caucuses and the infamous super-delegates--has finally brought out two of the Democratic parties biggest base of supporters in large and vocal numbers. Women and African-Americans have finally broken into the top tier of presidential politics because of two worthy and credible candidates in Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. These two candidates have done more to energize, educate and activate the citizens of the United States to become involved in the politics of choosing the president. They have allowed more people to understand that their voice and their collective voices can and will be heard. For this, they are both winners in my book.
[snip]
These two candidates have brought out over 17 million people each to vote for them, for a combined total of over 35 million and rising. Every state that has voted in this primary cycle, has had record turnouts in activism, at rallies and on voting day. The numbers of people that have joined the democratic party is one of the highest ever if not the highest ever, with more joining the party and the process every day. The amount of money that has been raised by small donors, for each candidate, is staggering and historical. Even tho many would like to see money and its influence taken out of politics, the fact that the Democrats have been able to out raise the Republicans at all levels, is simply a huge show of support by the American people for these two candidates and the Democratic party
[snip]
... This presidential primary has reinvigorated the people and the process for the better. I believe this change will last for decades.
Thank you Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and all of their supporters. You have brought back my faith in the American people to do what is right.
After last Tuesdays (6-2-08) final primary elections, some thought Hillary Clinton should have conceded right then, I disagreed. That was not the time or the place to properly thank her thousands of volunteers and millions of supporters. It also would not have done justice to her upcoming endorsement of Barack Obama (come on, we all knew she would). She had also won one of the two states that night.
So that Saturday (6-7-08) she gave the speech and the endorsement that I knew she would give.
Hillary Clinton showed that she is an American first, a Democrat second and always a fighter for what is just and right! In that speech she showed why this primary needed to happen. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama brought out the fight and the spirit that has been lacking in this country for much too long. We owe them our thanks and our votes!
Having been a John Edwards supporter first, I believe that it was he who first showed both Obama and Clinton that they must fight. That fight, is for the people and for our constitution.
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