http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/c...

Some lucky students will get to go to Washington for the historic event, which is expected to draw an unprecedented number of young visitors.
By Carla Rivera
November 30, 2008

When Nasser Baker's mother received a call from his school this month and began jumping and screaming, he thought she had seen a spider. But when he learned that his South Los Angeles charter school had chosen him as one of 12 students headed to Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration, 10-year-old Nasser started jumping up and down too.

The event will provide a double dose of excitement, says Nasser, a fifth-grader at the KIPP Academy of Opportunity: "I've never been on an airplane before, and this is the inauguration . . . that is the most historical."

A huge crowd is expected to arrive in the nation's capital for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, though there will be only 240,000 tickets to the swearing-in ceremony Jan. 20. Many of the visitors are likely to be young students like Nasser, who are flocking to the inauguration in unprecedented numbers, according to educators and travel company officials.

<<<<snip>>>>

Gibb said her members were receiving five to 10 times more requests for this inauguration than previous ones. The travel association estimates that the number of students attending the 2009 festivities will be five times greater than those at President Bush's second inaugural, in 2005.

New Jersey-based Starr Tours, for instance, has 40 of its 50 buses booked for the Obama inauguration -- 30 of them with K-12 students. Five coaches were booked for the 2005 events

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States...

Thing is - could she win.

Poll Source Dates Administered John McCain (R) Janet Napolitano (D)
Research 2000 October 28-30, 2008 45% 53%
Public Policy Polling July 30-31, 2008 50% 43%

https://donate.barackobama.com/victory-shi...



Yeah, this is worth $30 to the DNC

http://mediamatters.org/items/200810280013

Cunningham: America's "so-called noble poor" don't use birth control so that "the mom can get more checks in the mail from the government"
Summary: Bill Cunningham claimed that "among the so-called noble poor in America ... birth control is not used so illegitimate children can be brought into the world, so the mom can get more checks in the mail from the government." Cunningham then added: "And then once the child is born, that is the key to financial riches in the poor communities -- white and black -- in America."

__________________________________________

Look asshole, there is a reason the poor don't use birth control and it has NOTHING to do with wanting to collect more welfare checks.

#1) First and foremost - reliable birth control is not cheap. You need to get a doctors appointment which will run you about $30 (with some form of insurance) to $200 (with none) just to get the prescription. Then you numnuts right-wingers make it impossible to get whatever prescription drug plans out there to cover the prescription so it makes it even that much more expensive for anyone including myself (and I have a job and insurance).

#2) You're teaching the wrong thing in schools - Seriously, I'm a white kid from a middle-income family and when I was ready to have sex it didn't matter what kind of bullcrap they told me about 'wait until you're married'. Teaching our kids 'Abstinence Only' is like teaching our kids how to drive after hosting a kegger for the group - It makes no sense, it serves no purpose and you won't get the desired results you want. If we're forcing the poor to rely on over-the-counter birth control then people need to know how to use it properly AND what to do if it fails (ie the condom broke). But we don't talk to our kids about that - we just tell them to say "NO" and assume that two kids getting hot & heavy are going to walk away because of some failed Abstinence program. It didn't work for Bristol Palin and it doesn't work for the rest of america either.

#3) Our hands are tied when it comes to Emergency Contraceptive. I bet many of these people do not realize there is an option when the condom rips but we don't talk about the availability of EC and we make it nearly impossible to get. EC is nothing more than a higher dosage of contraceptive that when taken soon after unprotected sex has a strong chance of preventing a pregnancy. And for many states you have to go thru a pharmacist (which could be a fundy nutjob not wanting to give this stuff out) or an Emergency Room (there's another couple hundred dollars down the drain) just to get access to EC. Why not make it over the counter (or at least tell fundies that you can't be a pharmacist and deny medicine to those who need it).

So in conclusion - you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't sit there and scream about the state of Welfare & other assistance to lower income ESPECIALLY bitch about "They just get pregnant so they can get more government money" and then then turn around and deny the necessary tools needed to keep one from getting pregnant regardless of class.

Shame on you - shame!

Let's face it, I'm a diehard Led Zeppelin fan and clearly my favorite has always been Robert Plant. But the shithead has been refusing to do a tour and personally the moment he said he wouldn't do one last tour I decided I won't spend one more penny on his solo stuff. (When he made that announcement last summer, it was about a week before tickets were to go on sale with his project with Allison Krauss - I backed out on going).

Look, I appreciate that the band retired after the death of John Bonham and this allowed Led Zeppelin legend to stay intact instead of dying a slow death like longtime hold-outs like Aerosmith and Rolling Stones. But geez, toss your fans a fricking bone and done one final tour. The money would be astoundingly amazing AND a joyous reward for us diehard fans who have been waiting for well over 26 years for this to happen.

But instead Plant is being a baby and won't tour. So what do the remaining 3 members do, well technically 2 with the son of a third - tour without him. Mind you, I've been vocally critical of the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour because personally I don't think anyone could replace Freddie Mercury. But it's not like Freddie Mercury had a choice whether or not to tour.

So Robert Plant is dead to me. Fuck him. He won't do the tour guess what, Led Zeppelin was a success for something more than just his voice (which has been replicated by many such as Chris Robinson and that look-alike Coverdale from White Snake). I'm sure dozens of singers would kill for the change to tour with amazing talents like Jimmy Page (who lets face it - wrote the bulk of that music), John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham.

I'm happy to say that when tickets are on sale I'll be the first in line to dole out the big bucks and I don't give a flying fuck who the lead singer is. Hell give me a perm, I'll do lead vocals.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2008...

The hesitation this causes many voters here, is the strongest argument of Sen. Biden's opponent, Republican Christine O'Donnell. Ms. O'Donnell has a good grasp of the issues, but has yet to hold an elected office that prepares her for one of this magnitude. Additionally, her partisan edge as an avowed conservative could stymie consensus building, something the new Congress will need with regard to the economy and the U.S. role as an equal, not a leader, in the global community.

Delaware deserves to have its senior U.S. Senate seat filled by someone with a reputation of substantive leadership that benefits residents, and who is valued for contributions to national and international priorities.

________________________

Poor Christine O'Donnell - pretty sad when the News Journal would rather pick 'whomever Minner appoints' over the other candidate that is running.

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/10/23/why-t... /

This is a story that would salvitate the greatest of right-wing screeds out there. I read your article and I'm glad to see you had the common sense to see the signs that this is a badly done hoax. I know the truth is yet to be revealed but I think you pretty much covered all the bases as to why this is a hoax.

I'm sure after this we'll still not see eye-to-eye on anything else you have shown that when something stinks, even if it would be a story that makes us liberals look bad, you'll call it for what it is.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cc-goldwater...

Why McCain Has Lost Our Vote

Being Barry Goldwater's granddaughter and living in Arizona, one would assume that I would be voting for our state's senator, John McCain. I am still struck by certain 'dyed in the wool' Republicans who are on the fence this election, as it seems like a no-brainer to me.

Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics. I learned a lot about my grandfather while producing the documentary, Mr. Conservative Goldwater on Goldwater. Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.

My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman's right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930's, a cause my grandfather supported. I'm not sure about how he would feel about marriage rights based on same-sex orientation. I think he would feel that love and respect for ones privacy is what matters most and not the intolerance and poor judgment displayed by McCain over the years. Paka respected our civil liberties and passed on the message that that we should conduct our lives standing up for the basic freedoms we hold so dear.

For a while, there were several candidates who aligned themselves with the Goldwater version of Conservative thought. My grandfather had undying respect for the U.S. Constitution, and an understanding of its true meanings.

<<<<< snip >>>>>>

http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/2110419...

http://www.koat.com/news/17766950/detail.h...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Some voters in New Mexico are running into problems.

The same day one Bernalillo County woman was allowed to vote under the influence of alcohol another woman, who was completely sober, was turned away.

When she went to cast her ballot on Saturday, election workers took one look at her and asked her to leave

The woman said she didn't do anything most of us would think is against the law and it isn't, unless a voter is inside a polling place in New Mexico.

Getting to an early voting site was the easy part, Samantha Rasmussen said, but it was once she got inside that her trouble began.

"I think it does present an undue hardship," Rasmussen said.

When Rasmussen went in she said they took one look at her and told her she couldn't vote.

"I was shocked because I feel that's really unconstitutional," Rasmussen said.

It was all because of what she was wearing.

"I just happened to be wearing my Barack Obama T-shirt. It's pretty simple. I don't think in any way this shirt would incite violence," Rasmussen said.

On Saturday, almost 100K show up in St. Louis to watch Barack Obama speak:



Then the Dallas Cowboys LOSE bigtime to the St. Louis Rams.

This is proof positive that God wants Barack Obama to win.

...then let me school you on that.

I watched the video of her comments about the new Obama campaign where he points out that McCain has voted 90% of the time with Bush and Ms. Mitchell calls that add "extremely negative".

What is negative about the truth? There was no stretching of the imagination and they even showed John McCain bragging about how he's voted party-line.

Ms. Mitchell, a negative ad is one that takes the truth and distorts it in such a way that the truth is no longer recognizable and instead we have a massive distortion of what was once known as the truth. A perfect example of this was a Campaign ad against Barack Obama where it was 'implied' that Obama wanted to teach 5 year olds sex education. I think the sell phrase of that was "Barack wants to teach our kids about sex before they learn how to read" and a picture of Obama in a sloppy, wrinkled suit with a cheesy smirk on Obama's face was used during that voice-over. That, Ms Mitchell, is a negative ad. Obama was not the sponsor of that bill AND the bill in question wasn't about teaching sex to 5 year olds but providing education to our kids if they are touched inappropriately by an adult. God forbid we want to let our kids know that if 'uncle bob' wants to put his hand in a no-no place that our kids have the right to inform a safe adult about what was happening. But somehow the ad came out looking like Obama was 'uncle bob' with that cheap looking suit and smirky grin. THAT, Ms. Mitchell, was a very negative ad.

But a campaign ad that quotes the absolute truth, truth that was not distorted and can be verified thru multiple sources (such as McCain's voting record with Bush) is NOT a negative ad but simply letting the public know the truth. McCain has voted 90% of the time with Bush and there is even a clip of McCain bragging not only about voting 90% of the time with Bush but that he had a higher percentage than many other of his colleagues. A campaign ad that shows the facts in an undistorted manner is NOT a negative ad. I'm sorry Ms. Mitchell, that your nose is so far up the ass of George Bush to the point that the jaws of life would be needed to pull you out, but that still doesn't change the fact that the ad Obama created about McCain's voting record is THE TRUTH and nothing else.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Scarborough_...

When MSNBC host and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough appeared on the Colbert Report on Wednesday, Stephen Colbert immediately got him off balance by noting, "The last time you were here, you admitted that you took money from Jack Abramoff."

"What's with that!" yelled Scarborough. "This is all you have for me?"

"That was just the preamble of the question," Colbert explained. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to reveal anything about your relationship with William Ayers while you were here."

After Scarborough had denied having ever been involved in bomb-making, Colbert asked, more seriously, "No, but are you covering this whole thing, that Obama's buddy-buddy with Ayers?"

"We talked about it," Scarborough acknowledged, adding, "It is not relevant to where the story is right now."

"But that's why you talk about it, right?" asked Colbert. "You've got to talk about it even if it's not relevant."

"I don't think you understand," explained Scarborough. "We talk about it because it's not relevant."

"I've heard you guys say, like, 'We shouldn't be talking about this -- this is the McCain campaign making us connect the dots," insisted Colbert.

"You get it backwards," replied Scarborough. "You see, what we do is we talk about it for a very long time, and then we reveal -- after the ratings come in and it helps us out -- that we shouldn't be talking about it."

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0580359 /

Was Conservative Comedy Sabotaged?

The producers of the liberal-bashing satire An American Carol claimed Tuesday that they had received reports of "ticket fraud," and suggested that it could be the reason why the film's weekend box-office figures were so low. On the film's official website, a notice asked those who attended the movie, "Please check your ticket. If you were in fact one of those people that were "mistakenly" sold a ticket for another movie please fill out the form below. Hold on to your ticket so we can have proof." The notice continued: "If you have noticed other irregularities with the theaters in your area please let us know in the comment section below. For instance, Rated R film rating (when in fact we are rated PG-13), posters not being up, not being listed on the marquee, image or focus problems, sound issues, etc." By today (Wednesday), the notice had been removed from the site but remained cached on Google


+++++++++++++++++++++++

So they think that
#1 People bought tickets for what they thought was An American Carol (AAC)but the kid making minimum wage at the movie theater conspired to give the person a different ticket.

Let's look at some numbers here.

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/boxoffice /

his Wk Last Wk Title Dist. Weekend Gross Cumulative
Gross Rlse
Wks # of
Theaters
1 Beverly Hills Chihuahua Buena Vista Pictures Distribution $29,300,465 $29,300,465 1 3215
2 Eagle Eye Paramount Pictures $17,709,817 $54,614,521 2 3516
3 Nick & Norah s Infinite Playlist Sony Pictures Releasing $11,311,751 $11,311,751 1 2421
4 Nights in Rodanthe Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution $7,368,259 $25,088,183 2 2702
5 Appaloosa Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution $5,050,310 $5,605,167 3 1045
6 Lakeview Terrace Sony Pictures Releasing $4,561,227 $32,201,255 3 2574
7 Burn After Reading Focus Features $4,120,129 $51,678,103 4 2397
8 Fireproof Samuel Goldwyn Films, Affirm Films $3,987,509 $12,410,216 2 852
9 American Carol Vivendi Entertainment $3,656,000 $3,656,000 1 1639
10 Religulous Lionsgate $3,409,643 $3,428,633 1 502
11 Flash of Genius Universal Pictures $2,251,075 $2,251,075 1 1098
12 Blindness Miramax Films $1,950,260 $1,950,260 1 1690

First - American Carol was NOT the only movie out there competiting for the right-wing movie goers. ALso out there was Fireproof, which was the Kirk Cameron movie, that was taking in some of the fundie crowds.


Now there is no way you could expect AAC to open as #1 in the theather, that would have meant (assuming tickets are $10 each average) that AAC would have had to attract 2.5million extra movie goers. But even breaking the top #5 would still require 140,000 tickets being misdirected to drive down numbers. That means every theater over the weekend had to misdirect at least 85 tickets - and you'd have to think that someone would have noticed. I know at my theater, when they rip the ticket they give me directions and if I ended up at the wrong room then I'd know right away I was misdirected.

And finally, that was numbers for last weekend. Even the numbers for Monday and Tuesday STILL have American Carol in 10th place, STILL being beat out by Fireproof, the other movie for right-wing movie enthusists.

But now the makers of the movie want people to track down their tickets and check for ticket swaps. What if they find 3 people does it prove they are right? Or perhaps they need to realize that this was just not a very funny movie and in tough economic times there are better options out there.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/20...

Foo Fighters tell McCain to stop using song

NEW YORK (AP) — Yet another band is complaining about John McCain's use of their song to promote his campaign. This time, it's the Foo Fighters.
The rockers sent out a missive telling the Republican presidential candidate to stop using My Hero. They said they learned it was being use through news reports.

"The saddest thing about this is that My Hero was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential," the band said in a statement. "To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song."

The band noted it's not the first time McCain has been told to stop using a song. John Mellencamp, Heart and Jackson Browne have also complained — Browne even filed a lawsuit.