Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The audacity of hope

Lest anyone accuse me of plagiarism, I am borrowing the title of this post from Barack Obama's book. Watching the campaign closely I have seen a trend in Hillary's attacks steadily downward. Most recently she has stooped to the new low of childishly parodying his soaring rhetoric, calling it in essence naive. She scoffs at his lofty goals of reaching across the isle, working past the gridlock, and finding real answers. Is it true? Is it his lack of experience that makes his aims so high? Or is it a vision of a better tomorrow that makes his goals so lofty?

What is so wrong with giving the American people hope? Why is it we must settle for politics as usual? Why admit defeat before beginning to fight? It is this very attitude that has created the political climate in which we live. Why not aim higher? Why not strive for great things? A wise man once told me, "It is better to aim for the stars and land in the trees than aim for the trees and land in the mud." To quote another wise man, "In the unlikely story that is America, there is never anything false about hope."

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Witnessing History

Friday I went to the Barack Obama Rally for Change in Corpus Christi. My super cool photographer friend Connie, also known as Mini Mija (because she is who I would be if I were a 5'2" hispanic girl), and I went down with our awesome cameras to document the time when the first black man with a real shot at the presidency came to Corpus Christi. Here was our journey.

The crowd lining up was so huge there was no good way to really reflect that in a single photo. Imagine a crowd 6-7 times what you see here. It was absolutely crazy.

There were people from every walk of life, including the obligatory protestors.



Seriously, I remember 9/11. I remember it was led by a Saudi man and pulled off by a mix of Saudis, Syrians, and Afghanistani terrorists. Not one Iraqi. Not one. There were no terrorists in Iraq until we overturned the dictator that was keeping them out. Are the Iraqis better off for our overturning their dictator? Only time will tell. Even a homicidal dictator is better than Sharia Law.


Seriously, no matter what your stance on abortion, I am pro-choice, there is NEVER going to be a Supreme Court that would overturn it. Period. Move on.
The Rally itself was worth the few hours waiting outside and standing around. Barack was in top form. I will leave you with a couple of the best photos of the day.


Saturday, February 16, 2008

Raging against injustice

Today, as I watch CNN, I saw a story that I had to record and watch twice just to make sure I heard it correctly. I then searched online to find an article with more detail. On the BBC website was where I found the most detailed story. There is a woman in Saudi Arabia. A poor illiterate woman who has been the victim of abuse, torture, and will soon be executed by beheading. Her crime? Witchcraft. This in the 21st century in one of the most advanced and wealthy nations in the Middle East. She was detained in 2005 by religious police. These are the same police who arrested a married American business woman for sitting in a Starbucks with a male co-worker.

These people have all the technology in the world available to them, every piece of information in the human understanding at their fingertips and yet they live like they did in the 1400's. Sharia law is the culprit. Every year, millions of innocent women are beaten, raped, and killed under Sharia law. While mainstream Islam is at least progressing towards women's rights, under Sharia law women are seen as unclean pieces of property. A woman getting raped can land her, not her attacker, in prison. School girls were left to burn alive in a school by the religious police because they weren't dressed to be in public. We in the civilized world must speak up. We must not allow Sharia law or any Wahhabist interpretation of Islam to spread further.

As a society we must not allow the shield of faith to stand. Simply because it masquerades as religion should not make it untouchable. This particular religion could very well get us all killed.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Inspiration

Watch this and if your aren't inspired by this man, you need your head examined:

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Exposing a lie

There have been some emails floating around for a few months now about Barack Obama being an anti-American Muslim who refuses to say the pledge and put his hand over his heart for the pledge. Here he is addressing these lies directly.



Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Petersburg Times, Slate, The L.A. Times, and a myriad of other news sources have all referred to these emails as "scurrilous lies" and "false and vile". Before you believe another email sent about Barrack, or any other candidate, consider the source and do some research. Most of the time these lies are generated by the supporters of opponents. Huckabee supporters pulled the same dirty tricks with Romney, phoning potential voters and spreading insane lies about Mormonism. To see other myths about Obama exposed go to http://factcheck.barackobama.com/

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Backing a candidate

I have watched this race for a while now, listened to the candidates and for the first time in my voting life, I have found a politician that isn't just settling for the lesser of 2 evils.  Barack Obama is the first politician ever to truly inspire me.  He is the only one talking about reaching across the isle and forging a coalition for change.  Too long have those who label themselves "conservative" or "liberal" fought it out, never enacting change.  We need a leader who can reach across borders, a leader who can bridge divides and enact change.  Watch the videos at his website.  If you aren't inspired by this man, check your pulse, you are probably dead.