Barackbook.com is a mock-up of a Facebook profile with a picture of a frowning Obama in the corner of the page looking like an angry schoolboy. His status is set to: "Barack is hoping to settle on an Iraq policy before November."

The Fake Obama's FriendFeed is peopled by a string of colorful figures that the RNC has already trotted out to present the candidate as a man with questionable connections. They include Marilyn Katz, William Ayers and Antoin "Tony" Rezko. Each "friend" is linked to their own mock-Facebook profile with newspaper headlines and video excerpts documenting their checkered pasts.

~~~~~~~~~~

GOP Site 'Barackbook' Mocks Obama's Facebook Support

A different perspective with  Bill Cosby's speech    ç here


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama

(As prepared for delivery)

Apostolic Church of God

Sunday, June 15th, 2009

Chicago, IL

Good morning. It’s good to be home on this Father’s Day with my girls, and it’s an honor to spend some time with all of you today in the house of our Lord.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus closes by saying, “Whoever hears these words of mine, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man who built his house upon a rock: the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.” [Matthew 7: 24-25]

Here at Apostolic, you are blessed to worship in a house that has been founded on the rock of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. But it is also built on another rock, another foundation – and that rock is Bishop Arthur Brazier. In forty-eight years, he has built this congregation from just a few hundred to more than 20,000 strong – a congregation that, because of his leadership, has braved the fierce winds and heavy rains of violence and poverty; joblessness and hopelessness. Because of his work and his ministry, there are more graduates and fewer gang members in the neighborhoods surrounding this church. There are more homes and fewer homeless. There is more community and less chaos because Bishop Brazier continued the march for justice that he began by Dr. King’s side all those years ago. He is the reason this house has stood tall for half a century. And on this Father’s Day, it must make him proud to know that the man now charged with keeping its foundation strong is his son and your new pastor, Reverend Byron Brazier.

Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us toward it.

But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing – missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.

You and I know how true this is in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled – doubled – since we were children. We know the statistics – that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it.

How many times in the last year has this city lost a child at the hands of another child? How many times have our hearts stopped in the middle of the night with the sound of a gunshot or a siren? How many teenagers have we seen hanging around on street corners when they should be sitting in a classroom? How many are sitting in prison when they should be working, or at least looking for a job? How many in this generation are we willing to lose to poverty or violence or addiction? How many?

Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more afterschool programs for our children. Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities.

But we also need families to raise our children. We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child – it’s the courage to raise one.

We need to help all the mothers out there who are raising these kids by themselves; the mothers who drop them off at school, go to work, pick up them up in the afternoon, work another shift, get dinner, make lunches, pay the bills, fix the house, and all the other things it takes both parents to do. So many of these women are doing a heroic job, but they need support. They need another parent. Their children need another parent. That’s what keeps their foundation strong. It’s what keeps the foundation of our country strong.

I know what it means to have an absent father, although my circumstances weren’t as tough as they are for many young people today. Even though my father left us when I was two years old, and I only knew him from the letters he wrote and the stories that my family told, I was luckier than most. I grew up in Hawaii, and had two wonderful grandparents from Kansas who poured everything they had into helping my mother raise my sister and me – who worked with her to teach us about love and respect and the obligations we have to one another. I screwed up more often than I should’ve, but I got plenty of second chances. And even though we didn’t have a lot of money, scholarships gave me the opportunity to go to some of the best schools in the country. A lot of kids don’t get these chances today. There is no margin for error in their lives. So my own story is different in that way.

Still, I know the toll that being a single parent took on my mother – how she struggled at times to the pay bills; to give us the things that other kids had; to play all the roles that both parents are supposed to play. And I know the toll it took on me. So I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle – that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my girls; that if I could give them anything, I would give them that rock – that foundation – on which to build their lives. And that would be the greatest gift I could offer.

I say this knowing that I have been an imperfect father – knowing that I have made mistakes and will continue to make more; wishing that I could be home for my girls and my wife more than I am right now. I say this knowing all of these things because even as we are imperfect, even as we face difficult circumstances, there are still certain lessons we must strive to live and learn as fathers – whether we are black or white; rich or poor; from the South Side or the wealthiest suburb.

The first is setting an example of excellence for our children – because if we want to set high expectations for them, we’ve got to set high expectations for ourselves. It’s great if you have a job; it’s even better if you have a college degree. It’s a wonderful thing if you are married and living in a home with your children, but don’t just sit in the house and watch “SportsCenter” all weekend long. That’s why so many children are growing up in front of the television. As fathers and parents, we’ve got to spend more time with them, and help them with their homework, and replace the video game or the remote control with a book once in awhile. That’s how we build that foundation.

We know that education is everything to our children’s future. We know that they will no longer just compete for good jobs with children from Indiana, but children from India and China and all over the world. We know the work and the studying and the level of education that requires.

You know, sometimes I’ll go to an eighth-grade graduation and there’s all that pomp and circumstance and gowns and flowers. And I think to myself, it’s just eighth grade. To really compete, they need to graduate high school, and then they need to graduate college, and they probably need a graduate degree too. An eighth-grade education doesn’t cut it today. Let’s give them a handshake and tell them to get their butts back in the library!

It’s up to us – as fathers and parents – to instill this ethic of excellence in our children. It’s up to us to say to our daughters, don’t ever let images on TV tell you what you are worth, because I expect you to dream without limit and reach for those goals. It’s up to us to tell our sons, those songs on the radio may glorify violence, but in my house we live glory to achievement, self respect, and hard work. It’s up to us to set these high expectations. And that means meeting those expectations ourselves. That means setting examples of excellence in our own lives.

The second thing we need to do as fathers is pass along the value of empathy to our children. Not sympathy, but empathy – the ability to stand in somebody else’s shoes; to look at the world through their eyes. Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in “us,” that we forget about our obligations to one another. There’s a culture in our society that says remembering these obligations is somehow soft – that we can’t show weakness, and so therefore we can’t show kindness.

But our young boys and girls see that. They see when you are ignoring or mistreating your wife. They see when you are inconsiderate at home; or when you are distant; or when you are thinking only of yourself. And so it’s no surprise when we see that behavior in our schools or on our streets. That’s why we pass on the values of empathy and kindness to our children by living them. We need to show our kids that you’re not strong by putting other people down – you’re strong by lifting them up. That’s our responsibility as fathers.

And by the way – it’s a responsibility that also extends to Washington. Because if fathers are doing their part; if they’re taking our responsibilities seriously to be there for their children, and set high expectations for them, and instill in them a sense of excellence and empathy, then our government should meet them halfway.

We should be making it easier for fathers who make responsible choices and harder for those who avoid them. We should get rid of the financial penalties we impose on married couples right now, and start making sure that every dime of child support goes directly to helping children instead of some bureaucrat. We should reward fathers who pay that child support with job training and job opportunities and a larger Earned Income Tax Credit that can help them pay the bills. We should expand programs where registered nurses visit expectant and new mothers and help them learn how to care for themselves before the baby is born and what to do after – programs that have helped increase father involvement, women’s employment, and children’s readiness for school. We should help these new families care for their children by expanding maternity and paternity leave, and we should guarantee every worker more paid sick leave so they can stay home to take care of their child without losing their income.

We should take all of these steps to build a strong foundation for our children. But we should also know that even if we do; even if we meet our obligations as fathers and parents; even if Washington does its part too, we will still face difficult challenges in our lives. There will still be days of struggle and heartache. The rains will still come and the winds will still blow.

And that is why the final lesson we must learn as fathers is also the greatest gift we can pass on to our children – and that is the gift of hope.

I’m not talking about an idle hope that’s little more than blind optimism or willful ignorance of the problems we face. I’m talking about hope as that spirit inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting for us if we’re willing to work for it and fight for it. If we are willing to believe.

I was answering questions at a town hall meeting in Wisconsin the other day and a young man raised his hand, and I figured he’d ask about college tuition or energy or maybe the war in Iraq. But instead he looked at me very seriously and he asked, “What does life mean to you?”

Now, I have to admit that I wasn’t quite prepared for that one. I think I stammered for a little bit, but then I stopped and gave it some thought, and I said this:

When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me – how do I make my way in the world, and how do I become successful and how do I get the things that I want.

But now, my life revolves around my two little girls. And what I think about is what kind of world I’m leaving them. Are they living in a county where there’s a huge gap between a few who are wealthy and a whole bunch of people who are struggling every day? Are they living in a county that is still divided by race? A country where, because they’re girls, they don’t have as much opportunity as boys do? Are they living in a country where we are hated around the world because we don’t cooperate effectively with other nations? Are they living a world that is in grave danger because of what we’ve done to its climate?

And what I’ve realized is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re willing to do your small part to leave our children – all of our children – a better world. Even if it’s difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don’t get very far in our lifetime.

That is our ultimate responsibility as fathers and parents. We try. We hope. We do what we can to build our house upon the sturdiest rock. And when the winds come, and the rains fall, and they beat upon that house, we keep faith that our Father will be there to guide us, and watch over us, and protect us, and lead His children through the darkest of storms into light of a better day. That is my prayer for all of us on this Father’s Day, and that is my hope for this country in the years ahead. May God Bless you and your children. Thank you.

John McCain has now said he will appoint conservative Supreme Court Justices:

"McCain promised to appoint judges who, in the mold of Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, are likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

“They would serve as the model for my own nominees if that responsibility falls to me,” McCain said in his prepared speech."


He also had this to say regarding Obama's voting against John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice:

"Obama likes to talk up his image as someone who works with Republicans to get things done, McCain said.

Yet Obama “went right along with the partisan crowd, and was among the 22 senators to vote against this highly qualified nominee,” McCain said."

Another reason to vote for McCain.

I wouldn't even speculate who Obama would choose for the Supreme Court, or where he would begin to look.

That's a pretty scary thought.

Maybe Obama can give us some insight on that....

In the meantime, McCain can't let up on Obama.

Read the article from the Star Tribune


Republican McCain Criticizes Obama for Vote Against Supreme Court Chief Justice   Ã  here

GOP Uses Obama to Boost Republican Candidates    ÷ here

Oh, boy....

That open mic problem for politicians....

There have been a few political gaffes in history:

• At the height of the Cold War in 1984 U.S. President Ronald Reagan was about to appear on a radio interview and, as a soundcheck, said "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.
  
  
• In 1993 British Prime Minister John Major, after an interview with ITN political editor Michael Brunson, forgot about the recording equipment. He called members of his Cabinet "bastards" and promised to "crucify" them, and saying of recent revelations "I can't stop people sleeping with other people if they ought not to." He also called himself a "wimp" and said that he had no idea how to win an election.
  
  
• During his 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush called New York Times reporter Adam Clymer a "major league as*h*le" just before a campaign speech to Vice-President Dick Cheney, whose response ("big time") was also audible. The media reaction was intense, with news stations repeatedly broadcasting it and the New York Post running two pages about the incident.  Bush said of the incident: "I regret that a private comment I made to the vice-presidential candidate made it onto the public airwaves. I regret everybody heard what I said."
  
  
• During a televised debate between U.S. presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign, Gore's sighs (in response to some of Bush's statements) were heard through Gore's live microphone. In regards to the incident, Gore was quoted as saying "Both the governor and I have learned lessons about when the microphone is on, and when it's off."
  
  
• On 11 March 2004, following a satellite address to the AFL-CIO, U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry turned to one of the Union workers he was standing near and said "Oh yeah, don't worry man. We're going to keep pounding, let me tell you -- we're just beginning to fight here. These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group of people I've ever seen." Although being removed by an assistant at the time, Kerry's microphone was still live and captured his statement. His words were presumed to be directed at his political rivals, the U.S. Republican Party and U.S. President George W. Bush. Kerry spokesman David Wade later claimed that Kerry was indeed aware that his microphone was recording and was not referring to Republicans in general but to their use of "crooked, deceitful, personal attacks over the last four years."
  
  
• On 1 July 2006 a technician did not turn off the audio feed during a closed-door lunch between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov amongst others. Journalists, on listening to the 20 minute broadcast, referred to the conversation as "bickering" about the Iraqi aid programme.
  
  
  
• On 17 July 2006 a private conversation between U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg was picked up by a nearby microphone. Bush told Blair that if Syria would "stop Hezbollah doing this s**t" (referring to Syria's influence over and support of Hezbollah in the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon), the crisis would be over. He also revealed that Condoleezza Rice would visit the area.
  
   
• On 19 October 2006 during an official meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Moscow Russian President Vladimir Putin was overheard praising Israeli President Moshe Katsav for raping ten employees of his office.
  

(See Wikipedia for full article and references Microphone Gaffe)   Warning -  uncensored

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Yeah, yeah...we know you work in Harlem, Bill....

I bet some of your best friends work in Harlem.


"During an interview with [former] President Bill Clinton on April 21 2008, WHYY reporter Susan Phillips asked him to respond to the fact that some prominent Philadelphia African-American officials, who had originally supported Senator Clinton, went over to Obama after the former president's remarks in South Carolina about Jesse Jackson.

Clinton vehemently defended his record on racial issues."

Chelsea Clinton hits the gay bars in Philadelphia  í here

Felix Barrett / Revolution Newspaper

Tonight I had an opportunity to ask Barack Obama a question that is on the minds of many Americans, yet rarely rises to the surface in the great ruckus of the 2008 presidential race -- and that is whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.

Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted -- but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law."

The question was inspired by a recent report by ABC News, confirmed by the Associated Press, that high-level officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and former Cabinet secretaries Colin Powell, John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld, among others, met in the White House and discussed the use of waterboarding and other torture techniques on terrorism suspects.

And the complete article ê here

Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House  



Let's all remember, we've waterboarded a couple terrorists....and we haven't seen a terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9-11....


So, now back to the picture. 

Here we see a demonstration of waterboarding.

That got me a bit interested.

A "demonstration?"

Why do we need a demonstration of "torture?"

If waterboarding is indeed "torture," who in their right mind is going to demonstrate the procedure, especially if it is so bad?

Would you demonstrate attaching electrical wires to someone and firing them up?

Mutilating someone?

I checked these photos out and found that this "demonstration" was at none other than UC Berkeley!

Well, go figure.

People want war crime trials against the former Bush administration -  Ashcroft, Rumsfeld and Powell - for discussing waterboarding?

How about these liberal Berkeley students demonstrating ...no, correction....actually performing waterboarding?

How about prosecuting these men for performing "torture" on a fellow U.S. citizen?


Let's check out the entire "demonstration" at Berkeley  ç here


Is there ever any police presence in Berkeley?

Oh, wait, I do recall seeing some when Code Pink was blocking the doors of the Marine recruiting center illegally.

They just let it go on.

So I guess the answer  is no, there really isn't any police presence in Berkeley

There are just liberals.

Bitter, huh?





Michelle Obama appears bitter.

She's always complaining about something.

About not having enough money.

About being an American.

About people being racist.

About people using the "fear bomb" regarding Barack's middle name.

Do as she says, not as she does.

But I guess Barack Obama doesn't see her as bitter.



So, once again, a statement made by Obama or an issue surrounding Obama is just expected to go away .

"I don't think any one comment is a silver bullet. Who knows what Hillary Clinton or John McCain will say tomorrow? They could say something equally dumb," Rothenberg said."

Well, maybe....


Remember this guy?

Howard Dean?



People thought he would go all the way ....

John McCain says he thinks we are in a recession?

"While McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said he thinks the country is in a recession, he noted that he is more worried about helping people who are facing “enormous challenges,” rather than figuring out what the technical definition of a recession is."

Read The Hill  ç  here

Well, "technically," that would mean we had two quarters of negative growth, wouldn't it?  And I really would like to stick to the definition, because putting the "R" label on what is going on right now doesn't make me feel any better.

I don't think anyone will argue we are going through some very tough times.

Housing, fuel, now food prices.

But what's up?

Has the definition of a recession changed? 

You know, like when we had to change the definition of "man" when Jane Goodall discovered chimps were using tools?

In the story I'll link you to next, from the Boston Globe, it's almost comical.

 "The United States has already slipped into a deep recession that could be the most serious since World War II."

Well, that's news to me....it must have happened while I was in the shower or something.

I'm not saying it will not happen, or can't happen, but there is a chance we can get out of this mess.

And the comical reference I was making...well, we're in this deep recession, but all through this article references are made to the economy growing slightly in the 4th quarter of 2007 and in January of 2008, and there was an increase in jobs in January, etc.

Recession is here, economist declares  ç  here


Come on!


Before we declare a recession...let's make sure we are actually in a recession. 

Why make it any more painful than it has to be.


I'll tell you what's changed.

The definition of candidate for President of the United States of America....and I'm talking about all of them.









 

"A Polk County judge has ordered Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro to stop using languages other than English in the state's official voter registration forms. District Judge Douglas Staskal ruled in favor of U.S. Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican who sued state officials last year, contending they were violating the state's English-language law. He brought the suit against Gov. Chet Culver, who previously served as secretary of state, and Mauro, contending they had placed illegal voting forms on the secretary of state's Web site."
The ruling could be taken as a sign against Spanish-speakers' inclusion in every facet of government, said Jorge Espejel, the Mexican consul in Omaha.

****************

"It's going to be affecting everything," Espejel said. "I think it's not a good decision for us. As you know, for the people who have become a U.S. citizen, it's better to know what they're signing in their own language. ... They are going to be afraid. It's not going to be easy for them."

*****************


Craig Halverson of Griswold, state director of the Iowa Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which opposes illegal immigration, said he was elated by the judge's decision.

"Our country has been English language all along. ... When I went to Greece, I learned how to speak Greek. But I am here, so I speak English. This shows that we still have some judges who will represent the American people," Halverson said.||

*******************

"It's better to know what they're signing in their own language.  They are going to be afraid?"

Give me a break!

And PLEASE don't vote if you can't understand English.

Read the article from the Des Moines Register

Judge Puts English Only On Voter Forms  É here

 
Presidential nominee, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona has refused to request Secret Service protection.

Is he being a hero?  Or does his desire to be more in touch with the people make him just naive in these times?

Not even these times.....How many years ago was it that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated on the campaign trail?  40?

I know McCain served during Vietnam, had close calls, and was a POW, but for him, or any of the candidates to not use Secret Service protection is ignorant.

He may have fought in combat, but he isn't carrying a weapon to defend himself right now.

He's a target...and what's worse is, now everybody knows it.

John McCain....don't be a hero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read the article from CBS News