LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!
I'm waiting for the debate to start. McCain is writing crap down already. I like McCain's tie and suit. He barely acknowledged Obama- bastard. Wow, McCain can't stop blinking!!!!! John says he's trying to stay awake. Obama just laughed ad McCain. That's right, we need to spread the wealth around. Obama will fight for the middle class. McCain is in denial. How are we supposed to pay for the bailout, war, infrastructure, etc. McCain. Oh I know, cut medicare. Oh so McCain is siding with Hilary now? Oh god, he's still talking about across the board spending freeze. talk about a disaster. forget funding education. yeah right, he's not telling you he wants to cut medicare. we're already heard this crap mccain. OHHHHHH mccain snapped at Obama.I have to admit , that was classic saying, "Senator Obama, you're not running again Bush, if you wanted to, you should have run against him 4 years ago."
Oh, bring it on. does mccain have the shakes? how does his dirty campaign relate to obama not having other debates with him. oh here we go. that's bull. that's because Obama has the money to spend. that's right. screw your hurt feelings McCain. that's because your healthcare plan sucks. oh, mccain you just pissed off your base with the stem cell research funding. some of the people at mccain's rally are not worthy of praise. what have folks at obama's rally said that was out of line?
oh god, he wants to talk about ayers. forget the issues. mr. ayers is the center piece of mccain's campaign. I LOVE IT!! Mccain is killing himself. bullshit. oh now you want get to the economy mccain, going forward.
I have gotten to know palin and I don't like what I know. oh goodness, they are still talking about that nonexistent pipeline in alaska. give me a break. NO not partner, what about when you're dead.
good one Obama!!! a cross the board freeze will hurt special needs funding.
cockamamy. who says that anymore these days?
what an asshole. mccain just had to correct the moderator.
oh yeah, mccain thinks we can prevent foreign oil imports by drilling. he never answered the question. Columbia has some of the worse human rights abuses in the world.
mccain is starting to look bitter. HELLOOOOO , we're already in a depression thanks to good ole bush and the rest of the repubs.
You're wrong Mccain. sowwwyyyy. that's integrity, continue telling blatant lies to millions of viewers. well, mccain if you're so against the government plan for healthcare, then YOU opt out of your own plan. you have the same government plan that you think is bad for americans.
oh siilky silky now. get him!!!!! choose your words carefully. Now we know how mccain feels about women's rights.
all schools need to be good schools,
Full of emotion
I'm so excited! I'm having a glass of champaign and anxiously awaiting Obama's acceptance speech. I'm also pissed about folks that still think of Obama as arrogant or elitist. Elitist because he started at the bottom and worked his way up and went to a prestigious law school? I don't get it. This country should reward, honor and respect academic achievement!!!! The arrogance factor? that I don't get either. Just because Obama speaks confidently, carries himself with grace and has the audacity to run for president is not arrogant. I guess folks expect and would feel more comfortable if Obama acted like a thug.
Here is some insight into how some of the money was raised early on during Obama's primary campaign:
August 29, 2008
Top Black Donors See Obama’s Rise as Their Own
By MICHAEL LUO
DENVER — When Gordon Davis, a top fund-raiser for Senator Barack Obama, made partner at his white-shoe law firm in New York in 1983, it was a vastly different world for aspiring black professionals like him.
At the time, there were just five black partners at major law firms in New York, Mr. Davis recalled. That group had a tradition of taking each new partner out to an intimate congratulatory lunch. Today, more than 200 take part in the ritual at the Harvard Club.
The change over just a few decades offers a glance at the advances that have enabled a cadre of black elites like Mr. Davis to emerge as a force in the most successful fund-raising operation in presidential campaign history.
Mr. Obama’s acceptance of his party’s nomination on Thursday, on the 45th anniversary of the speech by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington, signifies a powerful moment of arrival for blacks. But the milestone is especially telling for this upper-crust group, which has mobilized like never before to raise mountains of cash to power his campaign.
“There’s a sense of not only pride but of a point in the culture we’re a part of, the society we’re a part of, that this is different,” said Mr. Davis, now a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf. “It’s a measure of how far we — and I don’t mean just black people — how far this country and the business world have come.”
There are 57 blacks out of the roughly 300 people on the Obama campaign’s national finance committee. Each member commits to collecting at least $250,000, a formidable task that typically requires deep business networks, something relatively few blacks had until fairly recently.
The list of top Obama bundlers includes John W. Rogers Jr., the founder of Ariel Investments, the country’s first black-owned money management firm; William E. Kennard, the first black chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; and Mr. Davis, who drove across the country 45 years ago as a newly minted college graduate to take part in the March on Washington, and went on to serve as the first black parks commissioner of New York City and the first black president of Lincoln Center.
Mr. Kennard and Mr. Rogers are among a half-dozen black bundlers who have raised more than $500,000 for Mr. Obama, putting them in a select group of just three dozen fund-raisers.
Most of Mr. Obama’s major black donors are new to big-money political fund-raising, but there are signs that at least some could go on to become players in Democratic circles. Some, for example, have already begun flexing their muscle by raising money for politicians who endorsed Mr. Obama early on.
At 67, Mr. Davis is something of an elder statesman for the group. Most are part of a younger generation that has benefited from the new vistas opened by the civil rights movement but had not participated directly in those struggles. Like Mr. Obama, they have learned to navigate white-dominated fields, climbing through the ranks by earning approval not among fellow blacks but among whites. Yet they remained keenly aware of the sanctums that were still inaccessible.
Now they have witnessed a breakthrough at the highest levels of the political realm, a culmination in many ways of the long struggle for acceptance that many of them have spent their professional lives waging.
“When you grow up living in a white corporate world, there’s always a part of you that thinks, ‘Gee, if I sold out,’ or ‘How can I do this and also stay true to myself and true to my own identity,’ ” said Jeh Johnson, another top fund-raiser and New York lawyer who today serves as the informal chairman of the group of black law partners.
Of Mr. Obama, Mr. Johnson said, “Here we have a guy who’s running for president and managed to do it in the political world and managed to do it so well.”
When Mr. Johnson became the first black partner in 1994 at his firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, he was part of a wave of blacks earning the same distinction at other major New York firms. What was happening in law was unfolding elsewhere in corporate America, on Wall Street and in other rarefied circles, with blacks finally penetrating the ranks of money and influence in increasing numbers.
“This is now a situation where many of us have arrived at a certain level — lawyers, doctors, professional people,” said Ralph Dawson, who is in charge of African-American donor outreach for the Democratic Party and is himself a black law partner. “And all of that is coming together around this very special individual.”
Valerie Jarrett, a close friend of Mr. Obama and one of his most trusted advisers, pointed out that her experience had been vastly different from that of parents’ generation. Her father, who was the first black medical resident at his Chicago hospital, was asked to enter through the back door on his first day of work, she said.
“There hasn’t been the kind of overt, in-your-face discrimination my parents experienced,” said Ms. Jarrett, who is now the chief executive of one of the country’s largest real estate firms.
Nevertheless, stories of slights, or a nagging sense of “otherness,” are prevalent even among this accomplished group.
Mr. Kennard, who was general counsel to the F.C.C. before he became chairman in the Clinton administration, recalled his first day on that job. He deliberately went in early to his new office. When he arrived, a secretary asked in a snippy voice whether she could help him.
“There was just a tone in her voice, ‘You’re really not supposed to be here for an appointment that early,’ ” said Mr. Kennard, who more recently became the first black partner at his private equity firm, the Carlyle Group, and who sits on the board of The New York Times Company. “I said, ‘Well, yes, I’m the new general counsel.’ Her jaw dropped and she said, ‘You’re the new general counsel?’ ”
Indeed, for all of the signs of progress, there remain feelings of frustration about what has not been accomplished.
Mr. Rogers, who was a crucial early supporter of Mr. Obama when he first ran for the Illinois Senate, and helped connect him to others in the black business community, said he looked around at his industry and still saw few black faces at the highest levels.
“I think the good news is, once Barack is elected,” Mr. Rogers said, “he is going to be a beacon of hope for all of us.”
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
Thanks JT for turning me on to The Root.com
They have video clips from this show John and I watched a while back that was really good. It was about tracing the DNA of Black Americans back to Africa. It aired on PBS a couple of months ago. if you missed it, here are a few clips from interviews with famous people regarding their DNA testing. It's really interesting.
http://www.theroot.com/id/44162
My cousin traced our family's roots back to Africa. Going backwards, my roots travel for the most part, from Tampa to Bradenton, Florida to Jamestown, North Carolina and then to Guinea-Bissau. I believe we are from the Mandinga tribe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea-Bissau I'm really happy that my cousin took the initiative to do this.
AKA - http://www.theroot.com/id/47340
Although I was never one to aspire to be part of a group or sorority, I've always been intrigued by them. When I was younger, I fantasized about what it would be like to pledge and be part of a sorority. During the era of segregation, many believe it waas primarily the church that provided sanctuary and strength to Black Americans. What many don't realize is that the Black college fraternities and sororities played a huge role as well. For more info. about the Black fraternities/sororities known as "The Divine Nine", read this article http://www.newsnet5.com/news/10832978/detail.html
I can appreciate and be happy about AKA's 100th anniversary celebration. Here is an interesting article from theroot.com paying tribute. It's pretty interesting because it is widely known that in the beginning, in order to be an AKA, you had to pass the "brown paper bag" test. You will not however, find an AKA willing to admit it. There are some dark skinned members as well. Yes, there are racial politics within the black community as well.
http://www.theroot.com/id/47216
By the way, I just learned that Michelle Obama accepted and was just made an honorary member of AKA during their 100 year anniversary celebration this week. To many, it seems silly. To the Black community however, this is huge. It was nice to see Nancy Pelosi there paying tribute as well.
here are some nice photos from the past
http://www.theroot.com/id/47340
It's been a while I know
I've been doing fine. I'm back in school as of Monday night. The professor seems to be tolerable.
I had a crappy day today at work because my co-worker approached me and started bragging about how she was voting for McCain even though she wanted to vote for Hilary. She just thinks McCain is a better leader. Do you know how angry that made me? I was very short with her and said, " if you're not smart enough to know what the issues are then so be it....McCain's agenda is completely opposite from Hilary's so how could you be for one and then later the other?" It's completely irrational to me. Then, she had the nerve to say that she didn't think Bush was so bad. Need I say more? okay, I'll say more. She even had the nerve to mention McCain being on Saturday Night Live and being funny. HOW IS THAT RELEVANT TO ANYTHING? Yes, I wanted to slap her but instead, I choked back the tears of frustration that were fighting to come out.
Yes, Obama has not been around as long as McCain and many are concerned about his experience. Well, McCain's agenda is just as new as Obama's if you've followed him over the years. He has totally changed his stand on most issues since running for prez.
These days, it's really less about the president and more about their advisors. More importantly, it's about the democratic party versus the republican party's agenda that folks should be concerned about. Let's not forget about the future of the Supreme Court. In the primaries you vote for the person and in the national election, you vote for the party.
As experienced as John McCain is, he still has to rely on his advisors like Joe Lieberman who had to correct him (by politely whispering in his ear) on foreign policy blunders in front of the world. McCain is a war hawk but apparently, that does not bother many folks. McCain has admitted to the world that he doesn't understand how the economy works. so why support him? is he going to protect us by bombing the hell out of anyone he's told to bomb? Of course, he has to listen to the neocons. Yes, he's sold his soul to the devil. He's given up all of his integrity for the chance to be president. I'm disgusted.
Obama has been pissing me off to lately with his so called faith based initiative plan.....I'm not ready to go there tonight.
so I came home and decided to watch Food Network. Paula Dean was on and I immediately started to feel better. I love watching her cook. I have not tried her recipes and was not planning to cook tonight. Still, it's so soothing and comforting to me to watch Food Network for some odd reason. Rachel Rey however, is annoying. I can watch that channel, and have, all day long.
