Zed two days in a row? Nah.

Morning Christie, Hope all is well with you – Is today the day your FIL moves in?

Last night I was phone banking at Obama HQ. Sunday I have got to go to training to be a poll watcher on Nov4.

Can I just say that I loved this picture?!? Morning SD!

OK..I’m going to put my mark on this speech right now: This is Obama’s “Ask not” speech. This it the moment. I’m at work and I’m dabbing my eyes. Jeeze. What did McCain say, “Ask not what I can do for the country – ask what telecom companies can do for ME”?

Yep, the hubby and FIL will be home late this evening. Thank goodness — The Peanut is about to explode from missing her daddy. It’s been a long week of totally rearranging the house…but, mercifully, things are fairly settled now and it’s just a matter of finishing the last minute details.

How has the phone banking been going for you?

Thanks for this, Christy.
I heard it last night and am grateful that we have a good chance of having a president who seems to grasp some of the larger important issues.
Can I hear an amen, brothers and sisters?
(I’m practicing.)

Oh, and good morning, Christy – hope all is well Chez Reddhead. It’s chilly, gloomy and overcast in Upstate New York.

Morning Christy. Nice to have some inspiration in the morning.

McCain’s speech was actually pretty good, to — they both had some incredibly funny lines. This is normally just a laugh riot kind of evening. But Obama closed with this and it was such a profound moment that I had to point it out for everyone. I thought this was incredibly well done. You can see big portions of both McCain and Obama’s speeches at the “transcribed from video” link above — the NYTimes has the full MSNBC clip up.

Mornin’, Christy. I was quite taken by it myself.

I am an absolute believer that all of us are called to give based upon whatever talents or benefits we’ve received. I knew that as a young child. That was the central message of my college. It certainly rang true for me when JFK called on us in his famous words, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

McFraud appeals to the worst impulses, anger and greed.

Obama appeals to our better natures.

Bring it, sister!!

You know, the reason I think this portion of the speech popped out for me so much was that we have so rarely heard something like this the last few years.

May I ask what McSFB stands for? I have noticed it in your comments but cannot figure it out. Even teh google fails me.

LOL. McShitForBrains. I got tired of typing it out.

Mcpalin can have joe the plunger; *we’ve* got kids like this. That is some fiiiine photo work!

Phone polling is going OK. Calling mostly undecideds but also Rs that are in homes w/ D or U mates. Lots of answering machines (Obama campaign shows up on caller ID) so it is hard to tell getting more and more people saying they have mailed in their ballots. Recent polls have shown Obama down 2 pts in this county. Tons of kids have been coming in from out of town to help with final push.

Excellent! Thank you.

These words were spoken by someone worthy of being the President of the United States of America!

My 17 for you

I was on a conference call last night with Sen. Hillary Clinton and she also said something very profound that I thought showed her excellent understanding of the need for participation outside the Beltway, and for a call to folks to DO something rather than just be sheeple in their own little bubbles like we have been in this country for far too long. She was talking about progressive bloggers, and how important having a progressive voice has been in terms of holding both the media and elected officials to account for their actions. Because it keeps them on their toes and forces a thought process from our side of the argument to be sharper.

One of the main reasons that I started blogging way back was that there weren’t nearly enough voices making these sorts of arguments, especially for the folks who had no voices in the process like children and the poor. One of the things that Sen. Clinton has always done that I have so admired through the years is her work on women’s issues and especially on children’s rights issues. It isn’t a glamour argument, it doesn’t win you donations or power seating, but she has quietly been pushing these issues her entire professional life and working very hard at them. Same with Joe Biden and his work on VAWA, and John Kerry’s work on having victim’s advocates grants for prosecutor’s offices and Ted Kennedy’s lifetime of work for equality.

When you look around at some of the work that has been accomplished — and you stop to think about how much more could get done if we all pulled together to work on issues that lift the least of these up toward a better life? I have been hoping that we could push these issues forward…and this speech really hit me, I think, because it called to that same “better angels of our nature” core that I tend to come from as well.

Not counting my chickens at all — but it’s nice to see this highlighted at a high-profile event, nonetheless.

Christy – I can’t help thinking that one of the message weapons that the Repubs use against Obama is that through his tax policies, he’s ‘taking something away’. People fail to notice how much has been ‘taken away’ already over the past 8 years. Some of it is in plain hard earned dollars and cents – but most of it has been extracted from all of us in terms of loss of Constitutional Rights, loss of personal privacy, through the application of large amounts of fear.

You’re welcome.

New at commenting? If so, don’t be a stranger. Only the trolls bite but we try to keep them on the edge of the Lake, where the depth of the water matches their intellect.

Dean Baker had an econ article recently that talked about the transfer of wealth to the top tier over the course of the Bush Administration that, when you walked through how much of a seachange it’s been, was quite profound. Ian has written a lot about that as well.

It’s the “I’ve got mine! Screw you!” approach to life. And that sort of selfishness is utter and complete crap.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

No war but class war. Now!

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

wow! I was completely unaware Senator Obama made these remarks – I perceive this as a subtle change in his campaign, the next phase . . .getting the electorate ready to slog though with him – and as I said to Mr Podesta the other day, it is the only thing that will get him through

Christy – hope the day goes smooth for ya – I remember those oh so sweet Daddy homecomings

Service to one’s community is a small part of class warfare. And it’s fun. Coming home from feeding the homeless or some other worthy activity feels better than any monetary reward.

It will be fun — The Peanut has been counting down the days. *g*

On top of getting the house ready, I’m also throwing together a couple of bags of food donation for the local food pantry. They are desperate for donations at the moment, and are doing a food drive in our community with a pick-up for tomorrow. And I want to rummage through my cabinets and pull out some things they can use.

It is surprising how many of these megachurches have sprung up to condone and bless this despicable greed. I guess it helps in reducing their reliance on sleeping aids.

Yeah, the answering machine calls are pretty frequent for everyone, I think. It’s so hard to gauge when that’s the bulk of what you are getting, isn’t it?

Obama’s message last night was truly moving. But ever since this economic storm hit the headlines, my husband and I have been trying to come up with a way to help someone else in our community, but we haven’t lived here long and hardly know anyone. We donate to food banks, but are moved to do more.

Our finances are in good shape now, but we both were “poor” kids growing up. We know the angst of coming to school with no lunch money or lab fees or field trip funds. (Not to mention the hand-me-down clothes, but that’s another story! I’m grateful not to have ever been a slave to fashion!)

So my latest idea is to go down to our local middle school and find a teacher who will select a needy family and let me anonymously pay these funds for the year. I taught in a middle school back home so I know that teachers are aware of who needs help.

I’m not sure this will work but it is how I’m moved to help.

Was reading something just yesterday talking about a survey that had been done for various religious groups by a non-partisan research center, that found that Obama has substantially close if not overcome the “God gap” in voting preferences this year. Thought that was very interesting, and hopefully shows that perhaps we’ve turned a corner on religious voters looking at the whole of the picture and not cherry-picking single issues that have been so shoved on them by folks like Rove and Ralph Reed and James Dobson and their ilk. Religion should not be politicized, in my opinion, and if folks are moving away from that, then that’s wonderful.

New library built in the town where my house is. Tomorrow there’s going to be a “bucket brigade” to move the books from the old building to the new one. Going to show up to help in the morning before my weekend guest arrives in the afternoon.

If folks wouldn’t mind giving this a digg, I’d certainly love to get these words a wider read.

What’s the connection with “these megachurchs” to Christy’s comment. I must be missing something.

Jesus smiles on greed don’t you know but only if you belong to the right church and donate alot.

That sounds like some tough, yet fun, work for the morning.

our selise posted this the other day – carrumba ! where have I been and why wasn’t I reading Chris Floyd all along ?!?!?

The God That Failed – The 30 Year Lie About The Market Cult

ooh, but in linking, I see he’s written a great companion piece to LooseheadProp’s Ab-Fab post from yesterday

Not Enough Money in the World: The Real Monster in the Meltdown Closet

so many wonks…so little time :D

I coordinated a community effort to build a homeless shelter and large dining facility to feed and shelter. Many of the community churches took responsibility for one or two days a month. Was a great experience.

There is a strain of the megachurch community that promotes a “God gives you wealth because you are worthy. If you aren’t wealthy, then you aren’t worthy.” sort of thought process. (And I’m grossly oversimplifying there…it’s not quite that crass, but it’s awfully close.)

I’m a talented book mover. I’ve always owned a lot of books (bibliomaniac) and I moved a lot in the years following college.

Predestination. I’ve always wanted someone to ask W at a presser if he believes in predestination.

Thanks for the photo. I love it! Tiled it on my desktop. Awesome!

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

I’m sure he does. Nothing like being born into a good family to give him that head start in life that he so clearly deserved, eh? *g*

Thanks for the link. I would like to see some “Dispatches to the beltway” *g*

Here’s a larger version

Surely. I’m just curious if he would admit it.

So, I managed to miss the Bush speech to the Chamber of Commerce breakfast this morning. Did anyone catch it and was there anything particularly noteworthy about it?

Thanks! That one looks even better!

My 45 to your 32

I suppose I’ve heard that, but didn’t give them much credit for being “godly”. I’ve always been skeptical of believers who are cherry picking and taking advantage of only that which reinforces their greedy needs.
The few churches I have been involved with have been small and poor (financially) ones. And, those have been very involved with community needs.

HOpe it doesn’t rain…

He is predestined to go to Paraguay when he leaves the White House.

Many of these churches tend to legitimize the accumulation of wealth as a blessed event that justifies whatever it takes.

I see the New York Times editorial hits back at McCain over the ACORN tiffle.

I caught most of it. Same old shit. Finding the bullying pulpit doesn’t seem to work so well anymore. Peppered the last thread with several quotes that seem like snarks in this environment. Sez the govt programs are gonna do the trick but it will take awhile, that capitalism rocks, not nationalizing the banks, govt gonna collect dividends on shares of financial corps (if financial corps don’t eliminate the dividend during this crisis they should be taken out and shot). You get the picture.

Because it was a speech, he managed to string about 20 sentences together vs. his other crisis pronouncement quota of 3 or 4 sentences.

OT Nancy Pelosi was on Charlie Rose last night for the hour. I could only listen to it in bits and pieces. Most of time was devoted to discussing the economy. It is both difficult and disheartening to describe how clueless she is on this and worse, I don’t think any of the Democratic leadership is any better. It’s not like she doesn’t know to throw out standard phrases and terminology but it’s clear that she has no overall understanding of the meltdown and her approach to it is the standard schlock of a stimulus package and some unspecified regulatory reform. It might almost sound reasonable if you weren’t paying attention to the crisis.

The biggest tell that this was all BS was Pelosi’s tale about how Congress was just minding its own business when the economic meltdown burst upon it. They were suddenly given the Paulson plan but despite this and realizing in typical politicalese that it wasn’t the “last word” the Congress was able to improve it, etc. Not a word about how it was this same Congress that was responsible for passing legislation which deregulated markets and caused the meltdown, or how Congress did really nothing to head off a meltdown after the housing bubble burst in August of 2007.

Nothing about the bubble bursting or the meltdown has been a surprise. It has all proceeded with an inexorable logic. What needed to be done was crystal clear at each point. It is just that our political and business classes are so paralyzed and in denial that they will pay almost any amount of the public’s money not to address the problem or do what needs to be done.

Gotcha. But, let’s not forget, God Doesn’t Like Ugly. My guess is that eventually they will reap what they are sowing.

Well, there goes whatever market gain we managed to cobble together for today, then. *g* (Doesn’t it seem like every time he speaks, the market tanks? Can’t they just send him out on his bike for the day?)

Christy
I’m sure your family will have a wonderful family reunion tonight. I adore moving furniture and all around the house. So much so that it’s a joke with my family. It’s a new day for you, isn’t it?
I bet your girl enjoyed helping too? She’s part of making your home a new one for grampa and all of you.
I’m off to get ready to drive a long way to make a few bucks. And, I’m grateful for the opportunity.
Later Pups. Smiles and Hugs to all.

Ugh, sounds like I should be glad I missed that one…

Christy, do you think Carden will talk about the DOJ/FBI investigation of ACORN this afternoon?

Yes — the fact that this gets dragged out every freaking year by them, and gets smacked down as not having merit — but only after the election — is really getting tiresome. Didn’t David Iglesias, John McKay and the other fired USAttys teach us anything?

crikey! all of lhp’s posts are ab-fab – but this is the one I meant to link above

Consumer sentiment, U. of Michigan, 57.5 for fist half of October. Not quite an all time low. Record briefly touched about 52 when Carter said to put away your credit cards in 1980. But only one recession, 74-75, bottomed that low. In all other recessions, consumer sentiment on this measure bottomed at mid-60s or above.

Prediction: consumer sentiment will go lower.

It’s one of the things he wants to talk about, yes. It’s been a big concern for the entire Judiciary committee in terms of weighing out a proper investigation versus a politicized one — and the fact that it was leaked to the press in express violation of the DOJ ethics guidelines is a huge deal. So I’d expect him to talk about it, yes.

She was talking about progressive bloggers, and how important having a progressive voice has been in terms of holding both the media and elected officials to account for their actions.

I found this remark jarring because Clinton really went out of her way not to engage with the left blogosphere and progressives during her campaign. Seems strange that she has suddenly tumbled to our existence.

Christy, a great photograph and inspiring words by Obama. After his election, however, I hope that Republicans are held accountalbe for any and all crimes committed against the Constitution and the American people. It will not be the time to “bury the hatchet.” It will be time to use that hatchet to cut down the tree that was allowed to sprout and grow after Iran-Contra.

I’m not a bit surprised that the D leadership is clueless. Pelosi’s insistence that they stick to the minor battles that they campaigned on rather than adjust to reality was the first hint that they had no idea what they were doing. So glad I didn’t know she was on Rose. I might have been tempted to flip over, and my TV would not have survived.

Thanks for this post and sharing this comment. We all need to work at sharpening the voice of change regarding systemic concerns for at risk populations. The netroots will play a vital roll in the year to come.

Do you remember when Hilary did a drive-by at FDL? Breezed in, typed her talking points, and breezed out.

Actually, her staff was really good about getting back with me when I asked them about issues or for a response, for the most part. Truly. I think there’s a difference, though, between seeing the value of having someone pushing from farther left and having it be useful for you, personally, in terms of campaigning. The legislative benefit can be substantial in having that push because it gives leverage to start from further left on an issue — and hopefully that helps in terms of the end-product. Before the left blogosphere and pundits had any real voice, the only push was from the far right — and it showed.

It will take quite a while to see how and where we can all find a niche to be most efficacious in action and outcome, but the fact that there is recognition that there IS pressure is a good start, I thought.

In fairness, part of that was a technical issue — she had some difficulty getting logged in because of a snag in the system that the Senate uses. Jane was on the phone with one of her staffers trying to walk them through it — and her time that day was really limited because of floor votes in the Senate. It was the first huge deal presidential candidate chat we had done, and we got better at them as we went forward having learned lessons on checking out the log-in well before the chat with staff. *g*

He shouldn’t think he’s safe there. Israeli intelligence was able to track down Eichman 20 years after WWII and bring him to justice. I imagine a Navy Seal team could find him and turn him over to the Hague if so ordered.

the most impressive aspect of that visit was the “best behavior” exhibited by firedogs :D

in the Senator’s defense, it was in between votes and I liked hearing from her about equal pay

and let’s not forget Paraguay now has a democratically elected President

Thanks for reminding me. I picked up some hint of that at the time. Not sure how that kind of thing should be handled in the future. Since it left a sour taste in my mouth & I didn’t remember the technical/schedule problems, I’m tempted to say that it should be rescheduled (or canceled if it can’t be), rather than appear the way it did. But reasonable people could disagree.

I thought it was great that she came here at all, especially knowing about the glitches and her full schedule at the time.
This is our home and we love it, but this is only one site of the larger left blogisphere, don’t you thing?

Obama will need new leadership in Congress. New Majority Leader in the Senate and a new Speaker of the House. Reid and Pelosi have been ineffective and are really quite clueless. What is the proceedure for electing new leadership in Congress?

Hear, hear!

OK. Just stayed in for the consumer sentiment report. Off to chores. Another glorious autumn day.

Jane put something in the thread about it while we were scrambling to get the glitch fixed — so everyone knew about it at the time that was in the thread. Or should have, anyway. But we learned from it, which is why most of our chats go much more smoothly (with the exception of the Mark Penn book salon, which still cracks me up to think about it. *G* But that was his issue, not ours…)

I heartily agree. I’m working hard to bring my local public library into the modern area. Right now, 1 April looks to be the turnaround day, but it could be earlier. Without strong reading skills, it is hard to get a good job, keep it, and even think critically about the world around you. For me, this improvement process is a lot of extra effort and a ton of frustration, but the value down the road will be priceless.

I’ve said this before..wouldn’t the world be a boring place if we were all the same? I think it’s neat that we have so many diverse interests here. So many people with different favorite issues.
Cool Beans.

I agree. I just think that Clinton missed a real opportunity when she failed to engage. I never got the idea that she understood what we were all about or how to approach us.

Are you sure it was Hillary or could it have been a staffer?

You could be right about the missed opportunity.
But, what if she saw some of the mud slinging scream fests we had during the run up to the nomination? Know what I’m talking about?

eloquent dude. al smith didn’t break down the barrier he sought to break down and it took over 30 years before someone did. let’s hope the same fate doesn’t befall Barack. And the country.

Honestly, I think she’s learned quite a bit since that chat as well.

What might be beneficial to modify spotlight to include all congressional offices as well as update their contacts list.

SouthernDragon,
Not sure of where you are, but there should be a group in your community funded to coordinate assistance to those in need. Where I live it is called Rural Resources and they cover everything from finding jobs, assisting victims of domestic violence, and elder care. They can tell you which churches (pretty much all denominations in my county) give out food coupons and assist with rental needs. Not all, but many of the churches assist those outside the congregation and can easily help you effectively target those in need. Helping out with home heating for the winter is another way to stretch someone’s dollars and your local utility likely has such a program.

I doubt that was the reason. We can be demanding of guests but we are seldom rude to them.

The flame wars you are describing took place long after Clinton had written us off.

West Virginia is real,” said Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe.

Cool, Christy.

Honestly, I think she’s learned quite a bit since that chat as well.

Maybe you could consider inviting her back and establishing a dialogue, not a one off thing but something continuing.

I wasn’t really suggesting that was the reason. I was trying to make a different point.

If Obama is serious about ground up he will staff an office w/ people to stay in touch with the blogs on a regular basis.

Would love it — we have a pretty much open-ended invitation for any number of elected folks if they want to really come on and talk issues with everyone. The problem at the moment is that everyone is pushing flat out on the election, so getting folks to come on and talk issues is not the world’s easiest thing to do. (Although we do have Sen. Cardin coming on this afternoon to talk election issues — and I hope it’s a good chat. It will be his first foray online, and he’s been looking forward to it.)

Thank you for the ideas! I’m in Florida now, but when I lived up North I did assist with winter heating and a local program called Coats for Kids.

Now I’m just moved by the memory of watching my fifth grade teacher pull money out of her own wallet to pay my lunch money for the week, after I told her I had none.

We used to have a coats for kids program, actually for adults, too, but I don’t know what happened to it. Thought it was a wonderful idea.

Amazing how an act of kindness can be infectious

O moved down here fr. up north too. No Coats for Kids in FL.

“I” not “O” They’re right next to each other on ther keyboard ya know?

One in Denver is run by the cleaners.

I taught in a middle school and those kids are dealing with puberty, which can make every day feel like a crisis. Add a real crisis and you’ve got a child slipping between the cracks of the larger programs that aid families.

I thought all we had to do was shop to be considered a good American. Guess I was wrong.

yeah.