Call to Service: Join the Obamas on Jan 19th

Michelle Obama recorded a short video to tell you more about an important effort on Monday, January 19th in anticipation of the Inauguration of America's 44th President, Barack H. Obama. Please take a minute to watch it and sign up to host or attend a service event near you.

People like you are committing to renew America together, one community at a time. Volunteer part of your day on the eve of the Inaugural - you'll never forget it.

Whatever service activity you organize or take part in -- cleaning up a park, giving blood, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or mentoring an at-risk youth -- you can help start this important journey. But this is about more than just a single day of service, it's the beginning of ongoing commitment to your community.

Monday, January 19th, is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dr. King taught us to live a life of service, and he led by example. He once said:

"If you want to be important -- wonderful. If you want to be recognized -- wonderful. If you want to be great -- wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness."

Ordinary citizens working together with a common purpose can get this country back on track. Join the Obama's national day of service as your next step. Whatever service activity you organize or take part in -- cleaning up a park, giving blood, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or mentoring an at-risk youth -- you can help start this important journey. Click below to find a service opportunity in your area or to organize one yourself.

Find an Event
Plan an Event

Barack Obama Collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian Comics - Fun Facts About Barack

Ok.  So you're wondering what President-Elect Obama's weird and little known likes and interests are? Here's a list just presented by Denise Hawkins on the Obama listserv:

He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at  basketball

• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili

• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir,  Dreams

   From My Father

• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be  left-handed

• He has read every Harry Potter book

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and  now

   can't stand ice cream

• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars

• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while  living in

   Indonesia

• He can speak Spanish

• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had  sports

   channels on instead

• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea

• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for  president –

   he didn't

• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be  addressed

   by his full name

• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his

   half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived

• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy

• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year,  with

   much coming from sales of his books

• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the  Cuckoo's Nest  

• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet  belonging

   to a soldier in Iraq for good luck

• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at  Harvard, but was

   rejected by the all-female committee.

• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and  The Fugees

• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing  on their

   first date

• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker

• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol

• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician

• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine

• His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress

   (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)

• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the  backside

• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing  his book deal

• His house in Chicago has four fire places

• Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita

• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry

• He uses an Apple Mac laptop

• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling  Chrysler

   300 SUV

• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits

• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes

• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff,  who charges

   $21 (£13)

• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The  Wire

• He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service  handlers

• He was nicknamed "Bear" by his late grandmother

• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House  grounds

• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso

• His speciality as a cook is chilli

• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street  urchins"

• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg,  a Kenyan

   symbol of the fragility of life

• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan  government

Blue Stars for Obama

Blue Stars for Obama is an organizing site for military families to take action in the presidential campaign. The campaign will both seek feedback from military families and publish endorsements.

Blue Star members may have the opportunity to get invitations to Michelle Obama’s round-table discussions with military families held near bases around the country.

The Blue Star Flag was designed in the early 1900s by Robert L. Queissner of the 5th Ohio Infantry, who had two sons serving in the military. It has become a widely recognized unofficial symbol of families with a child in military service.

Started by Army and Marine Corps spouses, members believe supporting Senator Obama's candidacy exhibits and reinforces support of their loved ones serving in the military. The initiative borrows the symbolism of the blue star flag which immediate family members of active duty service members in times of war may fly, but it is not in any way affiliated with the Service Flag or the Blue Star Mothers organization. Accordingly, the group has adopted the logo below, omitting the traditional red border of the original symbol.

Even if you belong to another military family site join Blue Stars, too. Blue Stars for Obama is “Pro Military, Pro Obama.” The commitment to the country made by all who join the military is echoed in Barack Obama’s unyielding personal commitment to public service. His dedication to make America safer by increasing the prestige of the US around the world is in total harmony with the decisions made by those in our military, and the families who support them.

Courage, Commitment, Honor...

Senator Obama’s candidacy parallels and reflects the values of courage, commitment, honor, loyalty and selfless service ~ values needed in the White House just as they are in the military. Now Michelle Obama is helping family members have a greater voice by becoming a “Blue Star for Obama.”

Blue Stars for Obama is open to any who have a family member serving in the military ~ that includes: spouse, child, parent, grandchild, niece, nephew, etc. For more information on Blue Stars for Obama and updates on Michelle Obama’s activities, check out the blog at MyBarackObama.com

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New Yorker's Cartoon Of Barack And Michelle Obama An Outrage

If you've not seen this cartoon for the New Yorker,then here it is in all of its glory. It shows Barack and Michelle Obama in all of the stereotypical garb and poses that bigots and racists -- same thing -- have complained about. It has Michelle as a terrorist doing the "fist pump" and Barack in radical muslim garb.

Why?

What's the point of this?

A number of outraged Obama supporters have flooded the listservs on this matter, and one person John Hay of TellingThoughts.com took up an email conversation with the cartoonist Barry Blitt:

t appears as though “The New Yorker” is now running for cover over their outrageous and highly defamatory Obama magazine front cover. Possibly grounds for a costly New Yorker payout after Senator Obama gets the election out of the way.

Below is the New Yorker cartoonist’s response to an emailed complaint over the cover. It was posted early today by an Obama supporter MK, on one of the Obama site threads.



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

New Yorker Cover Artist’s Response to My E-mail | Report to Admin

By MK Today at 2:52 am EDT

Here is Barry Blitt’s response to my e-mail expressing my hurt and distress at his New Yorker Cover…

I am distressed to receive your email. All I can tell you is it was my intention to depict the
hideous innuendo and scare tactics circulated in the media as the ridiculous lies that they are.

My drawing was intended to appear preposterous and ridiculous. That it is being taken at
face value is very upsetting, and directly opposite to its intention. I am sorry for the hurt
it has caused. I cannot actually believe this cartoon, which was meant to mock the bigots
and xenophobes who spread lies, will actually give them license.

I hoped the image would get people talking about the falsehoods being spread about the Obamas.
I still hope that will be the case.

I am sorry once again.

Barry Blitt

But this is like Jesse Jackson all over again. You do something you know is going to upset people, but then turn around and appologize for it. This is happening all too often.

What about the New Yorker's editors? They're the ones who decided to run the damn thing.

Can this be right? McCain UNDER 75,000 donors?

When you visit the link to donate to the McCain campaign, he invites you to join "over 74,000" other donors. Senator Obama's campaign has over 1,700,000 individual donors. That's a ratio of almost 23 to 1 in favor of Obama.

Can that be right?

At this rate, when McCain finally reaches 100,000 donors, and you've got to assume he will, Barack Obama will be pushing 2,300,000 individual contributors. It's no wonder McCain has flip-flopped to pander to large donors, it's just a shame that the media is too busy covering James Dobson, Michelle Malkin, and terrorist fist jabs while making money selling ads to McCain and the RNC to report on this stuff. Of course, reporting on how they make their own money is not a high priority for the media.

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Demand Fox stop race baiting and fear mongering

I'm a little late to the party on this one, but head over to colorofchange.org and sign this petition: Demand Fox stop race baiting and fear mongering . Here are the details:

After Senator Obama won the Democratic nomination, he and his wife gave each other a "pound" in front of the cameras—a Fox anchor called it a "terrorist fist jab." Then last week, a Fox News on-screen graphic referred to Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby mama"—an attempt to associate the Obamas with racist stereotypes.

Tell Fox News chief Roger Ailes to stop racism before it hits the airwaves, and make it clear that you'll take action when another racist smear happens.

What would a hope monger do?

Imagine a hope-monger came across the following in a search log:

"michelle obama" promiscuous

So obviously somebody is looking for dirt. All a hope monger has to do is describe the tactic in a blog entry, and include a few keywords, and suddenly there is both more awareness -- good press -- and just "more to sort through" for those who seek to attack the Obamas.

And the word promiscuous can have little or nothing to do with sexuality, obviously.

Promiscuous, for instance, is a song recorded by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland for Furtado's third album, Loose, in 2006.

It can also mean consisting of diverse, unrelated parts or individuals, even confused, as in: "Throngs promiscuous strew the level green" (Alexander Pope)

Sometimes there's the looser meaning, "not selective" of a single class or person, as in: "Clinton was criticized for his promiscuous solicitation of campaign money." which was obviously intended to echo the crisis near the end of Bill Clinton's Presidency while discussing an unrelated topic.

Now... folks are obviously "panning the stream" to find evidence of deviance, or perversity, or anything of a sexual nature to use to cast aspersions on Michelle Obama.

This is your chance to be a hope monger, and add to the degree of difficulty for the smear mongers and those who seek to use divide and conquer political tactics a la Karl Rove. The more these words appear, the more the power of the search engines is diluted, and the more time the folks taking that approach spend reading what amazing people Senator Barack and Michelle Obama are.

Michelle Obama's revelation on THE VIEW: not so elite

Forget what you've heard about Barack and arugula (even though it makes a good story.)

The Obamas are not your garden-variety urban co-op food snobs no matter who tries to paint them that way - they've developed an appreciation of diverse foods, but they come from simple roots... The truth about Obama breakfasts came out today on THE VIEW, and it's shocking.

You may have missed it, somehow, but Michelle Obama has co-hosted The View. If you want the whole video, it’s elsewhere here on Zennie's Zeitgeist and I urge you to learn more by watching. In fact, watch for the terrorist fist jabs — but here’s Michelle's shocker:

Sure, she also eats toast and fruit...

...according to Michelle both Obamas are fond of good, old-fashioned American bacon.

Who knew that there'd be something to learn from an ABC mid-day filler program? Barack and Michelle both like to eat the same food that everybody likes. (Go ahead, ask your favorite vegan. They may not eat it any more, but they like bacon, trust me.)

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Michelle Obama's terrorist fist jabs on THE VIEW...

Here's another easy place to watch the video if the link in the story below is busy! Best bet is to scroll down, but we know it's a hot video.

Mrs. Obama doesn't seem to think that the fist jabs will hurt her popularity, or her husband's chances in the general election. Judging by the reactions, I think she's right. I could go on, but frankly the best thing for you to do is go watch it yourself as this eloquent, fascinating woman talks about a variety of issues, including Hillary Clinton...

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Michelle Obama On The View Today - Video

Michelle Obama appeared on The View today and to rave reviews. She didn't act abnormally and appeared comfortable on the show. This clip shows her artfully ducking the chance to respond to a controvesial statement by Whoopi Goldberg.

John McCain Says It's Hard To Be Proud Of America

Ok. Let's see Right-Wingers jump on this bit of news. Senator John McCain says that it's hard to be proud of America. Think about that one. Just, what, four days after his Iraq gaffe, we have a statement that would seem to be really the confirmation of what Michelle Obama said last year, but it's actually more cutting.

Michelle Obama had remarked that Barack's success was the first time she was proud to be an American. Now, anyone Black knew what she meant, but the White, Right-Wing Lunatic Fringe jumped all over her anyway. Then the mainstream media predicted that Michelle would be haunted by that statement.

No way.

McCain bailed her out.

My Mom's - Patricia Abraham Yerger- Thoughts About Tim Russert's Passing

My Mom, Patricia Abraham Yerger, 73, passed me this note:

For Tim Russert's Passing:

I am really saddened by this event the last statement I remember is "I would love to be teaching a history class now, meaning this moment of history where possibly a Black man could be president."

As a Black woman this meant the World to me. What this meant, this great man knew what effect this would have on American Youth. Plus, he was glad to see this, which makes me know that if some newscaster had his insight they would know what that event meant to America.

And that's why Michelle Obama made the statement she would make about being proud of the people of America.

This is the best country in the World. Look what it produced: a man like Tim Russert.

God Bless America!

Baby Mama? Malkin and Megyn slander Michelle Obama

It’s become fashionable for GOP surrogates to smear and try to irk Mrs. Obama, but with all the effort going in to finding mud to fling at her it’s stunning that FOX would support such an overt, transparent lie so close on the heels of the terrorist fist jab fiasco. Make no mistake, the network supported it as part of their ongoing hunt for ratings, which in turn determines how much you charge your advertisers.

But will SNUGGLE and other advertisers want to be affiliated with bashing married moms? Is that consistent with Snuggle's cuddly-bear image: funding slanderous attack ads? Tell SNUGGLE what you think; let them know you're going to use other products if they continue to advertise on a mean network that pretends to present fair and balanced news.

www.snuggle.com/data/registration/feedback.aspx

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Overt Racism and Sexism at Fox News

Want to be amazed at just how overtly racist and sexist Fox News can be? Go to Daily Kos and check out this post: Fox Smears Michelle Obama with Sexist/Racist Slur. You'll get the breakdown and the screenshot, which I won't reproduce here out of respect for their having it first. What I will do is share the caption they showed, with Michelle Malkin hosting, under Michelle Obama on screen:

"Outraged Liberals: Stop Picking On Obama's Baby Mama!"

Are you kidding me? Even for Fox Noise, this is dipping way deep into the racist and sexist pit. If you're as offended as I, write to Fox (yourcomments@foxnews.com) and to the FCC to register your disgust.

Michelle Obama Speaks For Me. I'm FINALLY PROUD OF AMERICA

Michelle Obama speaks for me. I'm finally proud to be in America and for anyone Afirican American, they feel the same way too. Look, after decades of racial discrimination, political lies with Watergate, Clinton scandals and all the rest, we've finally reached a point where we all can exhale, because we've been waiting too long to do so.

Michelle Obama speaks for me!

Michelle Obama Speaking In General Terms - Sun Times and AOL Being Evil

Someone over at CNN said to me that the media loves to make controversy of nothing. Here's an example. Michelle Obama was taking up a theme that the Senator himself started on Father's Day: the responsibility of men -- black men -- to their families. She's making a basic point that you have to have your family life in order if you're going to run the White House.

For anyone to spin that to a Clinton issue is just plain retarted. AOL's trying to do this, but then AOL's been trying to tear down Obama since he entered the race. So has the Sun Times, which has two reporters that do nothing but write stupid drivel aboout Senator Obama.