Darfur Rally on Sunday April 29th, 2007 at 1:00pm - Cheesman Park

Wow, you can totally tell it's the end of the semester. I haven't had time to remember to tie my shoes, let alone blog on my blog site. Depressing. But the silver lining is that there are only two more weeks left in the semester, and I'll be free to blog for the whole four weeks until I go to summer shcool.

:)

Right now, four weeks sounds like a gloriously long vacation away from thinking. All joking aside, even though this semester was a tough one, I really will miss some of my classes like Flash and Photoshop. Some classes were a whole lot of fun to attend. Others were more like getting your teeth drilled at a really mean dentists office. The teachers were great, it was the subject matter -- mostly programming -- that kept kicking me from behind when I wasn't looking!

But to the actual heart of the message here.... There is a rally for Darfur in Denver on Sunday. Come if you can!

This message was sent to you by the host of the "Global Days for
Darfur- Denver" event.

You can see the details of this event by going to:

http://www.savedarfur.org/page/event/detail/wrf

---

This Sunday, April 29th is our opportunity to show our concern and commitment to the people of Darfur. We will be joining with people from 30 countries. This couldn't happen at a more important time because time is running out for the people of Darfur. Four years of genocidal violence has left over 400,000 dead, 2.5 million innocent civilians displaced, and 4 million men, women, and children completely reliant on international aid for survival.

Your participation on Sunday is critical. Please remember that the Rally is being held at Cheesman Park in Denver at 1:00 pm. That is at Franklin and 8th Ave. If you are driving please give yourself plenty of time to find parking. If parking is difficult, come to the pavilion and look for a volunteer to direct you to open spaces.

In addition, there are many buses that go through the park or very close to it. The number 10 bus goes through the park with the 12, 24 and even the 15 close to the park. Here is a map of the buses in the area http://putstuff.putfile.com/73038/9588860

Finally, you may want to bring a blanket to sit on the grass. While the day is expected to be beautiful (sunny and warm) the grass might still be a bit damp.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday. Please bring as many friends, neighbors and family members as possible. We encourage car pooling.

Bush Refuses To Set Timetable For Withdrawal Of Head From White House Banister | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Bush Refuses To Set Timetable For Withdrawal Of Head From White House Banister | The Onion - America's Finest News Source



OK, this is so funny, I'm going to post the whole Onion article below.....


April 2, 2007 | Issue 43•14

The Onion
Bush Refuses To Set Timetable For Withdrawal Of Head From White House Banister



WASHINGTON, DC—Though critics have argued that he does not understand the futility of his current situation, President Bush announced today that he has no plans to remove his head from its current position: wedged painfully between two balusters on a White House staircase.



Bush has refused to budge from his position.

"Setting a timetable for withdrawal of my head would send mixed messages about why I put my head here in the first place," Bush said at a press conference on the Grand Staircase. "I am going to finish what I set out to accomplish here, no matter how unpopular my decision may be, or how much my head hurts while stuck between these immovable stairway posts."

Democrats, emboldened by electoral victories that gave them control of both houses of Congress, are calling for Bush to begin withdrawing his head from the banister immediately.

"Why does the president refuse to pull his head out of that banister?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a speech yesterday. "Hasn't he had his head in there long enough? We'd all like to know just how the American people are being served by him keeping his head in that banister."

Entering its fifth day, the president's incursion into the banister is now widely considered a quagmire. Bush initially told the nation that he was going to stick his head through the banister in order to secure stockpiles of cashews on the other side. Though intelligence reports cited by the president seemed to indicate the presence of these cashews, a comprehensive probe by White House personnel revealed that no such nuts existed.

"If the president truly believed there were cashews, why didn't he ask a staffer to go around to the other side of the staircase and check for cashews first?" Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) said. "Or even just look through the banister before slamming his head in there in such a way that it can't be extricated."

Many Republicans who supported Bush early this week are now publicly criticizing the president for the way he got into the banister.

"I stood by the commander-in-chief's decision to stick his head in this banister from the beginning," said Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE). "But now I'm beginning to think he may have rushed into this without thinking through all the consequences of his actions."

Voters are also voicing concerns about this latest predicament. Chicago resident Peter Colby, 41, who recently took part in a tour of the White House, said he thought Bush's actions were hurting the country's image abroad.

"It's embarrassing to see the president of the United States with his head stuck in a banister," Colby said. "He just looks stupid."

The few supporters Bush has left are privately concerned that he will go down in history as the president who wedged his head through a banister and refused to take it out despite widespread negative public sentiment and political pressure for him to do so.

For his part, Bush has scoffed at such suggestions and accused his critics of exploiting the issue without providing any viable alternatives.

"I hear a lot of criticism from the other side of the aisle, but what is the Democrat plan for victory here?" Bush said. "Some suggest rapid withdrawal, but that will most likely hurt my ears by bending them the wrong way. Others have suggested turning my head from side to side and slowly working my way out, which we all know is a recipe for failure."

In recent days, the Bush administration has been attempting to sell a new plan based on a strong forward surge.

"The only way for the president to successfully remove himself from this situation is not to pull his head out of the banister, but to push his whole body through," White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten said. "We're asking Congress and the American people to give the commander-in-chief a chance to try this new plan, which involves forcing his shoulders, torso, arms, and legs through that banister."

Bush's perceived stubbornness and refusal to accept the intractable nature of the problem only further fanned the flames of opposition.

"This administration needs to face the reality that some places are simply too narrow for the president to jam his head into," Newsweek columnist Michael Isikoff said. "President Bush is acting like a small child who, even after doing something terribly ill-advised—namely putting his head in that banister—still refuses to admit any error."

"This whole thing's just incredibly fucking stupid," Isikoff added.

The March 18th Obama Event - Denver, CO

Barack Obama came to Denver for a quick rally on March 18th, 2007. It was his first official stop in Denver since announcing his candidacy for president in '08. The Obama event was such a wonderful experience. It marks my first official campaign volunteer event. I met a LOT of excited and motivated people, everyone was buzzing with a positive charge that Obama instills in people. It was such a thrill to be able to work the event and be a part of "something special".

I got to the Sherman Events Center downtown about an hour early (2:45 pm). The volunteer coordinator came out and brought us inside through the back. We had to check in, then met other Denver campaign staff members, and were divided into jobs for teams. I was in a group of about 3 or 4 ladies who were assigned to escorting the VIP's to their designated places. There was quite a lot of electricity and excitement running through everyone involved - the volunteers to every single person that came through those doors!

Unfortunately it did get kind of confusing as the time to let people in came closer. There were a handful of people who were all "in charge" of something and not necessarily a top down organization to who has the final word. So many people were getting orders from many different people, and trying to figure out whose orders superceeded anothers was a very tough thing. But, that didn't diminish the fact that we were all there to see that everything went off well for the Senator.

As I said before my job was to usher in the VIP's to the "Red Room" so that they could have their time with the Senator before the big speech. Well, the building manager (or one of the building staff) started to freak out about fire codes and stuff when he saw how massive the crowd was that was gathering outside the Events Center. He just started letting people rush in and all our "organized" handling of who goes where went out the window. He said he had to do that because it was a fire code violation to have them all out there. I don't know. It blew apart everything we had set up to do. With people rushing in like crazy, none of the VIP's were getting ushered anywhere of importance. So plans changed to an after-event VIP meeting with the Senator. My job then was pretty much a "Vanna White" thing -- pointing my fingers to the staircase and elevators and saying - "Upstairs to the 2nd Floor..... Upstairs to the 2nd Floor...... Upstairs...." (you get the idea).

One very cool thing did happen though. I did get to meet Pat Waak and usher her up to the event personally before the doors opened (she's the chair of the Colorado Democratic Party and basically one of the main reasons Denver is hosting the DNC in '08 - she is such a wonderful person!). So it was great to be able to meet her and talk to her briefly. Now whenever I see her I can say -- "Hi Pat, remember me? I met you at the March 18th Obama Event..." Wow, never thought I'd be able to say that to some like Pat Waak.... ha ha! I also saw Senator Terrence Carrol (recognized him from our day at the legislature when we sat in on the death penalty hearings -- he chaired that committee) and also think I saw Sen. Ken Gordon come in too (he's the one who co-sponsored the anti-war rally with our church's Peace, Liberty, and Justice Task Force in January).

We "ushered" in the massive crowd from 4 to after 5:30. We got to go upstairs once they shut the doors. I was in the very back of the auditorium (tried to get a shot of the Senator on the news cameras, but didn't get to see much). Being short has it's significant drawbacks! :)

Baracks speech was amazing!!!! He is so right on the target with issues -- health care, energy, education, Iraq, corruption in Washington (one of my favorite parts of his speech was when he said something to the effect of -- They say I may not have enough experience in Washington to be a good President. Well, I say I've been there long enough to know that things have got to change! I've been a community organizer long enough to know that ordinary people can do extra-ordinary things if they're given an opportunity. I've been a civil rights lawyer long enough to know that fairness, justice, and equality have to be fought for everyday and not taken for granted. I've been teaching Constitutional Law long enough to actually respect the constitution! --

Go Barack!

He makes you feel like you really do have the power to make a difference!

Right after the speech we were supposed to go back down to the Red Room to have our time to meet Sen. Obama. But when I got there I was the cutoff person ("You'll be the first of group 2" - the volunteer coordinator said). At that point, I just had a weird feeling that it wouldn't work out. But since I was right by the door it was my "job" to help another volunteer guard the door and not let anyone into the room -- period -- nothing. Crazy stuff started happening and some high dollar donors (like the ones we were originally supposed to usher in before the event) were complaining that they didn't get to go in and meet the Senator. There was a big mix up of who got in -- who didn't. There were some heated tempers -- but I did my job and didn't open the door. While people are arguing and trying to get into the room (I'm still guarding the door with one other volunteer)... an official campaign "dude" came out and said -- "Thanks for coming, thanks for all your help, but the Senator has already left and will not be meeting with any more people at this time."

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. But, in the wider scope of things, it's not about me.

I'm pretty sure that the local politicians got to meet him. And I'm pretty sure that about 10 volunteers and 10 high dollar donors got to meet him, but the other 20+ high dollar donors and the other 30 volunteers didn't get to. It was a little disappointing, but I just told myself that I would have volunteered anyway -- even if there wasn't a promise to meet him. It's not Barack's fault either. The event was thrown into a bit of disarray - which I'm told by others who had previous campaign experience, is the norm.

After all, I really just wanted to be part of the campaign. And it was such a good speech and such a great thing to see all that excitement and hope in one room! You should have seen the crowd. They were amazing! I didn't expect that many people. The paper said over 1500, the event guru (one of them anyway) said about 2000 people were let in! It was a crazy fun day. Can't wait to do it again :)

I did take a couple of pictures from the waaaaaay back place I was at. They aren't good but when I get a chance I'll share them here on the blog. There is video online of most of Obama's speech from that day too. Use the link at the top of this blog post (the title).

When you get to the Fox news page, click on the first small thumbnail under the Sidebar - Related Items - VIDEOS on the right hand side...

Enjoy!

Obama Campaign Aims To Turn Online Backers Into an Offline Force

BarackObama.com:

"'Change won't come from the top, I would say,' Obama wrote in his memoir, 'Dreams From My Father.' 'Change will come from a mobilized grass roots.'"

I was a bit hesitant at first when a volunteer from the Obama for America campaign called my house last Friday and asked if I would consider hosting my own "March 31st Kickoff Party" for the Obama campaign. I'd thought about it briefly a few weeks before. I've been emailing and talking about Barack Obama's presidential run for months and months now, and I honestly don't know who likes the mass amounts of info and who is just silently hitting delete when they see something from me come across thier email inbox. I figured that I'd host a party and only one or two people would trickle by for only half of the event and then I'd wish I had taken part in a bigger party downtown. So initially I decided to not host my own event and go to another event at a local community center.

But, when the campaign volunteer called me she explained that Barack was looking for a wide variety of parties and ways of connecting with people. She said, sometimes the big parties are great, but small get togethers with 2 or 3 or 4 people might make just as much of a difference if people all over the country are willing to host one of those small parties. So, she convinced me. I was on the way to having my own party.

And I am so glad I did. I had about 8 people signed up to come to my house the morning of the party. Two people had to cancel that day due to other things that popped up, and I started to panic again thinking -- did I do the right thing? I could have gone down to the "big" party downtown and met with a lot of folks who share in the excitement that this campaign is generating. Then, an hour before the party was to start, I started getting lots and lots of phone calls. There were people out there, whom I had never met before, who were looking for a kickoff party to attend. Either their original party had moved, or had been a private family function that they weren't allowed to come to after all, and these people were looking for a place to share in the excitement. So I said, "Sure -- come on by!"

It was the best "party" experience I've ever had! I had some of my close friends and family stop by, and I had about 4 wonderful people whom I had met for the first time that day come over too. They were the absolute nicest, fun, and entertaining people I've had the pleasure of chatting with in a long, long time. Everyone had a great time! We exchanged ideas, stories, theories, and ate munchies and sipped drinks. We had a great time, and I realized that this was the kind of experience that the campaign volunteer was talking about when she called me on the phone. I'm going to think back on meeting these people and sharig the excitement of the Obama campaign with a really warm and fuzzy memory. Sounds kinda silly? Well, think about it... What better way to spread the enthusiasm and sincerity of Barack's ideas then getting together in an intimate house party setting and just kicking back and sharing ideas?

By the end of the party everyone was very excited and anxious to get involved and start doing something. Others were going to go straight home and send the campaign a donation. Some skeptics (yes, there were some) may have left with wanting to know more about Obama, or at least willing to stay undecided for the moment. Which, all in all, is a good thing too.

This article (linked at the top) sheds a very good light on the difficulty of trying to turn online excitement (which Obama has a lot of) to actual votes in the next year and a half. I'm already seeing some good things. I'm seeing excitement that is not dying down and people are turning their passion of wanting change into action in actually doing something to see that change actually takes place.