109-Year-Old Slave Descendant Votes for Obama

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I ignore most of the polls and take nothing for granted. If the supporters of your candidate of choice do not come out and vote in droves next Tuesday, then your candidate WILL NOT WIN. Both McCain and Obama understand this. If you intend to vote, don't bore me with any excuses come Nov. 5 about why you did not get it done.

Mrs. Amanda Jones, who is a 109 year old daughter of a slave, has cast her vote for Barack Obama.

According to The Austin American Statesman:

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee. ...

Mrs. Jones has voted consistently throughout her life - even when it was difficult or dangerous for her to do so.
Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said.

Amanda Jones' father urged her to exercise her right to vote, despite discriminatory practices at the polls and poll taxes meant to keep black and poor people from voting. Those practices were outlawed for federal elections with the 24th Amendment in 1964, but not for state and local races in Texas until 1966.

Amanda Jones says she cast her first presidential vote for Franklin Roosevelt, but she doesn't recall which of his four terms that was. When she did vote, she paid a poll tax, her daughters said. That she is able, for the first time, to vote for a black presidential nominee for free fills her with joy, Jones said.

VOTE! And take five friends with you.

Hat Tip Daily Kos

 

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Posted under Featured News by carhub on Wednesday 29 October 2008 at 4:00 pm

When Should Palin Go On Oprah?

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The inimitable Oprah Winfrey kicked up quite a dust storm by deciding that she would only have Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin on for an interview after the election.

Oprah's since been called a "racist", "biased" and "finished" by some of her white female viewers who have decided that Palin is the ideal guest.

Conservative blogger Matt Drudge instigated this tempest by printing an unsubstantiated rumor that a "battle" was raging behind the scenes of Oprah's show about whether to have Palin on or not. It certainly seems possible that a heated disagreement would exist, but Oprah denied it all. ...

The item in today's Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show. At the beginning of this Presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.

That seems like a reasonable decision to me. And this whole rumor sound just like other recent Republican attacks on the media. Although Oprah has declared support for Barack Obama's presidential bid, he has not been a guest since announcing his candidacy. Further, am I the only one who remembers that Oprah had George W. Bush on and greeted him with a hug and a kiss?

Still, Oprah's firm stance supporting Obama is a stark contrast to her "all things to all people" kind of easy going and comforting persona she has spent much of her career cultivating. Some of her viewers are feeling jolted.

With almost 1,000 comments on her community message board dedicated to a possible Palin interview, Winfrey is already garnering strong reaction among her fans -- both those who are pleased with her decision and those who are not, such as Grossman-Green.

"I'm actually pretty angry with her right now because of this," she said. "I don't think I will be a gung-ho supporter right now.

"I'd think twice about switching her on or even buying her magazine."
So what do YOU think?

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Posted under Featured News by carhub on Monday 8 September 2008 at 5:00 pm

Biden challenges Palin to take questions

Biden says McCain campaign is sequestering its vice presidential nominee; repeats previous view that "life begins at the moment of conception."
Posted under Featured News by carhub on Sunday 7 September 2008 at 2:10 pm

Obama takes first hard hit at Palin

He takes his first direct swipe at the Republican vice presidential nominee.
Posted under Featured News by carhub on Saturday 6 September 2008 at 5:40 pm

Political Theater - Palin’s Red Meat Obama Roast

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"Red Meat" is a term political insiders use to describe a speech intended primarily to fire up a party's already committed supporters. Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, served up the "red meat" bloody and in big slabs during her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. She started off straightforward enough:

Sarah PalinI accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

But Sarah Palin soon slipped into partisan political theater with attacks on Barack Obama's integrity, record of achievement, readiness for the position of Commander-in-Chief using divisive zingers written by President Bush's former speechwriters.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?
[ ... ]
My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.

Noticeably absent was any specific declaration of Palin's views on the environment, Palin's views on healthcare reform or Palin's views of how exactly we should define and measure victory in Iraq. Not a peep. Read the speech for yourself. You won't find a word about that.

And it's funny. I always think of our founding fathers as "community organizers" in the purest, proudest sense of the words. If not for those men, organizing their community, the 13 not yet colonies could not have found their way to stand up and fight against British tyranny.

Republicans can't have it both ways. Either you value individual citizens getting involved in fixing problems and accelerating positive change or you don't. Sarah Palin's divisive speech is exactly why Cindy McCain's entreaty to "put on our American hats" on Monday night rang so hollow.


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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Posted under Featured News by carhub on Thursday 4 September 2008 at 1:00 am

Palin is thrown into media major league

The Republican vice-presidential nominee discovers that everything’s fair game — even her family.
Posted under Featured News by carhub on Tuesday 2 September 2008 at 8:45 am

Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter is pregnant

The 17-year-old unmarried daughter of GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is pregnant, according to a statement from the campaign.

Posted under Featured News by carhub on Monday 1 September 2008 at 4:50 pm

History

Barack Obama made history last night when he accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president and became the first African American presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party.

Posted under Featured News by carhub on Friday 29 August 2008 at 3:00 pm

Obama Heads To The Mountaintop

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On this day, the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, Barack Obama assured his place in history as the first African American presidential nominee of a major political party.

Obama's acceptance speech was delivered at Mile High Stadium. The doors were thrown open seven hours before he was scheduled to appear. The lines snaked for blocks, across railroad tracks and under a bridge. After a 45-minute wait for the light rail, it took me nearly an hour to get into the stadium.

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The neoclassical stage at the 50-yard line stood out like a holding penalty. To me, it evoked the Lincoln Memorial. For some, the stage resembled an ancient Greek temple.

The atmosphere was more like a rock concert than a national political convention. To while away the time, Obama supporters did the wave, text-messaged and enjoyed performances by will.i.am, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald and Stevie Wonder who sang "Signed, Sealed, Delivered."

Rep. John Lewis led a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At an earlier commemoration, Lewis recounted:
Dr. King said that he has a dream that's deeply rooted in the American Dream. We're here in Denver making a down payment on that dream.
Indeed, Obama took the stage and stepped into the history books:
With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.
Obama's speech was entitled "The American Promise." Like Dr. King 45 years ago, he appealed to the better angels of our nature:
America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.
Obama offered the hope of a new "promissory note":
We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage, whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma.

We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of go down $2,000, like it has under George Bush.
There was never any doubt that Obama would give a good speech. His supporters left Invesco Field "fired up, ready to go!" But as I sat in the stadium, I wondered whether undecided voters who were watching were turned off by the spectacle of 85,000 foot-stomping supporters chanting, "Yes, we can."

Obama's convention bounce will measure whether his acceptance speech was good enough to convince undecided voters that he shares their values and is ready to lead.

 

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Posted under Featured News by carhub on Friday 29 August 2008 at 12:00 am