GOOD – The Recession Issue

 

Now 80% Less (at least)

I got a little pamphlet from GOOD in the mail today. I love reading everything I can from them, so I looked at it right away. I thought the front page was clever, and then I opened it:  ”… in recessions, everything– like  paychecks and budgets and, now, GOOD– gets cut back.”  So, your magazine is now an eight-page pamphlet? Ooooo-K. They wrote that it is a “stopgap measure,” and that they will be back with my regular issue next time. “In the mean time, please visit www.good.is where we can publish as many stories as we want without paying through the nose to put it on paper and deliver it to your doorstep.”

OK, so I really just posted this as a means to let you know about GOOD. I am a big believer in their mission and their content, and apparently they need readers, subscribers, and donors! Won’t you check them out?

All Men Are Brothers

There is more here than passion in his beliefs, more than certainty that what he says is the Truth. It is clear to me that Alan Keyes hates Barack Obama. I do not use that word lightly. He literally believes that Obama is a baby-killing, “radical communist” whose policies will lead inevitably to the death of America as we know it. Think about that. How could anyone opposed to killing babies and to radical communism and to the death of America itself not take action to stop Obama by any means up to and including “chaos, confusion and civil war?” Keyes’ illiteration is clever, but these are ideas that are diametrically opposed to the fundamentals of American democracy. He is trying to silence debate, not to nourish it. I have an illiteration of my own: Cooperation, compromise, and civil debate. These are what we need now. I fear that we are stumbling blindly down the road to a place where we have stopped believing in eachother… a place where we can’t even recognize that all of us want the same things: peace, prosperity, justice, and a better world for our children.

Obama On His Way to D.C.

Today, President-elect Obama made a Whistle Stop Train Tour from Philadelphia, PA to Washington, D.C. leading up to the Inauguration on Tuesday.  He spoke before large crowds in Wilmington, DE and Baltimore, MD about the need to renew the promise of our democracy.  Here is an excerpt from the speech  he delivered in Philadelphia:

“…We should never forget that we are the heirs of that first band of patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all seemed so improbable; and who somehow believed that they had the power to make the world anew. That is the spirit that we must reclaim today.

For the American Revolution did not end when British guns fell silent. It was never something to be won only on a battlefield or fulfilled only in our founding documents. It was not simply a struggle to break free from empire and declare independence. The American Revolution was – and remains – an ongoing struggle “in the minds and hearts of the people” to live up to our founding creed.

Starting now, let’s take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union.

Let’s build a government that is responsible to the people, and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable. 

Let’s all of us do our part to rebuild this country.

Let’s make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning.

Join me in this effort. Join one another in this effort. And together, mindful of our proud history, hopeful for the future, let’s seek a better world in our time.“

“Aer OBAMA” Video

I think this is the coolest thing ever.  I just keep watching it over and over.  The people who created this are really talented!

O – B – A – M – A

Say it!

Inaugural History

History of the Presidential Swearing-In Ceremony

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
—Presidential oath of office, Article II, Section 1, United States Constitution

Participate in Our Inauguration

The President-Elect on how you can get involved in helping to inaugurate a new era of change in your community:

USAService.org

An Actual Seat for History

Okay, so, due to the incredible luck of my brother-in-law, Tom, we got three tickets for bleacher seats at the Inaugural Parade!!! The Presidential Inaugural Committee made 5000 tickets available on Ticketmaster, and they sold out in less than one minute! As if I were not already excited enough, the PIC has posted photos on its blog of the Inaugural Swearing-In Rehearsal and the Inaugural Parade Rehearsal.

Seat for History

So, this is a pretty cool subject to start off my new blog space: Only 11 more days until I, along with tomeppy and lantzilla, get to witness the inauguration of our 44th President in Washington, D.C.  Or at least we’ll be able to witness other people witnessing the inauguration. With the unprecedented interest and hope in this President-elect, I am not getting my hopes up that we will actually get to see much of anything. But I am excited for sure! It will be my first ever trip to “Our Nation’s Capital” as Forrest Gump calls it, and as someone who feels that he played a tiny but not insignificant part in electing Barack Obama, I just want to be there. Americans are so hungry for someone to lead them, someone to believe in them, and someone who knows…. English.