Tomorrow, we will no longer hold the shame of a country judging a person by the color of their skin. Tomorrow, we will no longer hold the shame of a country that relies only on social status.

Tomorrow we elect a man, who "in the unlikely story that is America" rolled up his sleeves and worked for where he is today to become our leader.

Tomorrow we elect a man, who was raised in a broken home by a devoted mother- who is from many different cultures rolled into a single simple whole.

Tomorrow we elect a person who loves his wife, adores his daughters and has a vested interest in womens rights- including the right to choose what is best for our bodies.

We elect a man who thinks all should not just be equal in word, but in deed. A man who believes in the freedom to love who you wish, as openly and as strongly as you wish no matter what gender your heart desires.

Tomorrow we raise a family, and place them as the role model for our children. A family that is solid and sure, and is a constant reminder that we can all have open hearts.

Tomorrow we will raise our voices and shout NO MORE with such resounding thunder the very mountains of this continent will shake.

Tomorrow, yes ...tomorrow we will all cry, laugh, dance, sing and embrace both emotionally across digital distances and physically in our living rooms.

Tomorrow our future begins again.

(Edited to change title- was obscure)

If we forget the Devastation- we are bound to repeat it.


Dear Senator, Japan is a country separate from the nearby continent by a body of water- therefore much of the devastation was contained.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki-


Hiroshima, after the first atomic bomb explosion. This view was taken from the Red Cross Hospital Building about one mile from the bomb burst. (Photo from U.S. National Archives, Still Pictures Branch, Subject Files, "Atomic Bomb")


Ground view of Nagasaki before and after the bombing; 1,000 foot circles are shown. (Photo from U.S. National Archives, RG 77-MDH)

These are not from a hack website- These are from the National Security Archive.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB...

And this Dear Senator, is the exact type of victim that you would cause us to have.

Une enfant de Nagasaki tenant en main une pelotte de riz. Plutôt que la couleur du sang, l'odeur de la poussière et de la mort, une seule image en noir et blanc résume tout le désespoir d'un peuple. Qui entend son appel ? Document de Yosuki Yamahata. http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/histoire...

(Translation by babel- A child of Nagasaki holding in hand a rice pelotte. Rather than the color of blood, the odor of dust and death, only one image in black and white summarize all the despair of people. Who hears his call? Document of Yosuki Yamahata.)

Launching those WMD's against civilians is one of the greatest shames in our countries history, and you blithely state you would have no reservations at "Obliterating" a country.

I have no words to express how I'm feeling Senator, only my deep and heartfelt wish that you never are permitted into a position that will allow you to act in such a way.

juggernaut



Main Entry: jug·ger·naut
Pronunciation: \ˈjə-gər-ˌnȯt, -ˌnät\
Function: noun
Etymology: Hindi Jagannāth, literally, lord of the world, title of Vishnu
Date: 1841
1chiefly British : a large heavy truck
2: a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path <an advertising juggernaut> <a political juggernaut>

A juggernaut isn't inevitable, it is simply a force. Like an avalanche that goes unchecked. It can be slow like the grand canyon, or as fast as a rip tide.

Our country has come to a stage of critical mass, a chain reaction that started when we as a people truly began questioning the reasoning behind the highest office. When we as a PEOPLE, not a party or affiliation, decided to shake off our apathy.

This primary season we have seen record turnout in voters of all walks of life, we are talking about everything people have been AFRAID to talk about. Blasting apart stereotypes and prejudgments.

The idea of change has become a reality, a true Juggernaut. Knowing our votes are going to make a difference in the choices we have as a people, as a nation, will unite us like never before.

I have no fear of FL or MI not being heard, they must be- there is no alternative. It's only the "How" of it that is up for debate at this time.

Hillary staying in will have no effect on if Obama gets the nomination, only the "when". I can see this as a good thing. With how tenacious our candidates have been, everyone will KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that our nominee deserves it. Everyone will know without a doubt, that it was a true contest and not a "give me" like the Republican side. Even if the improbable happens, and HRC does get the nomination- can anyone doubt that she didn't fight for every inch of it?

There will always be competition, sometimes vicious, sometimes civil. However, I have faith in us that when the time comes- BECAUSE we were able to raise our voices and BECAUSE we were able to have a say we will rally with a strength that will leave the others gasping for air.

I've seen so many terrible things written in the last few days, I wanted to write something positive. When you are typing our your posts after this, all I ask is that you remember we are in a fluid time. The person you may be angry with today, may end up being a stalwart supporter after the nomination.

My son turns 18 in the beginning of October, we were talking and I had a bit of surprise.

I refuse to push my political views on my children, I believe in freedom of thought and choice even if I don't agree with them. I'm just as firmly for that freedom as I am for religious belief freedoms.

My son looked at me with very thoughtful eyes and stated "Mama, Obama is going to be our next president."

I may not agree with his thought process, but I can understand where he gets it, my son doesn't feel drawn to any one party affiliation...in his words "I believe what I believe, not some party line"

I asked him why he thought that Obama would be President...

This is some of what he said, I'll try to get it down as close as I can recall it:

Mama, you have to understand that you and people your age or older look at the world differently that we do. (Talking about young adults, or soon to be young adults) You remember the Berlin wall, the cold war, you were born in 70 and grew up with the aftermath of the vietnam war. You grew up when both parties actually stood for something, now we have all sorts of splinters coming off the old parties and there is no real line between left or right. NOW...we have centrists. Now, we have the Green Party, Libertarians...you name it.

We (the younger ones) aren't looking at all of that, what we see is how messed up our country is and how much we are being drained by trying to rule the world through threats, violence and sanctions. We see the promise of the American dream slipping through the fingers of our future, and immigrants ...who made this country, criminalized for wanting to live in a better place. We are all told that if you work hard, and get educated you will be a success. But with all our jobs going to people from overseas...that is a lie.

We are growing up watching the right and the left tear themselves apart, watching adults on television act like they are on Dawsons Creek. (I raised my eyebrows at that one)

(My son knows I support Edwards, even though his campaign is suspended)

He told me that he knows that Edwards would have done a fine job as president, and that he didn't want to offend me. He asked me "Mama, think about it. WHY do you think so many of these new voters are younger? WHY do you think all of the college students are coming out to vote for Obama?"

I couldn't answer him.

He told me that it's because he and the 20's crowd recognize that we need something bigger than right or left. That we need something/someone that can gather us all together and have us work with one another. That if we don't learn to work together, we'll start to die as a country. He mentioned Global warming, the spread of diseases, global economy.

Needless to say, I'm a little shocked and surprised.

I tried to shoot him a curve, and asked "Well...policy wise Edwards, Obama and Clinton really aren't that far apart."

He shot back "Maybe not policy wise, but right now...it's getting it DONE thats important. You could have the best plan ever created, but if you can't get people to work together it may as well be thrown out with the trash."

So I shot him the second curve ball, to see if he was listening to the parroting instead of thinking for himself "Well, don't you think that people are more attracted to his style instead of what he plans?" (I don't actually believe this, but TV rots your brain...so I tested him)

I got that wonderful teen and a heavy sigh for that one. I also got the Moooom (pause) c'mon!

He then went on to say that it's IMPORTANT we have a president that can inspire us, the more inspiration the better. The more riled up the people, the more likely any elected official will be to carry out what we as a people want. The more involved we as a people get, the less likely corrupt politicians will get re-elected. Even less likely someone like Bush will get elected for a long time.

All I could do was

I love my kids.

We will LOSE the election.

Yeah sure MAYBE this guys a troll,
MAYBE he's not a dem,
MAYBE he's trying to stir up chit.
Or..MAYBE he's genuinely concerned.

Ever hear of the saying "You catch more flies with honey than vinager"? No?
How about this one "Kill them with kindness"? No?
How about this one "Walk softly and carry a large stick"? Doesn't ring a bell? Talk nice and if he's a troll he'll get TS'ed...end of story.

To answer your question Gene, whichever of the candidates gets the nom- if they win the GE there will be challenges for each. Each has their own set of weaknesses and strengths. There are two schools of thought most times, you have Dem's who feel we should all unite together and reach out, and you have Dem's that feel that reaching out would be detrimental and shoot the Dem party in the foot.

BOTH schools of thought have reasoning behind them, some from personal experience...others from research. Both schools of thought are valid.

What both have in common, is a deep love for this country- and anger that things are going the way they are going.

YES the left is prepared to get in there and get their hands dirty, YES..the Dem party is ready to take a shovel and clean things out. YES...the dem party is able and willing to try and heal this country.

It's just that each candidate has a different way to go about it, and you need to do a little soul searching so that you can pick the right way for you, and the way you feel best for this country.

And for the record, 2006 was supposed to be our coupe de grace...and many are indeed angry. Rightfully so. When there is NO ANGER at injustice, there is APATHY...where there is Apathy...there is only demise.

Of Obamas plan besides his website? Is there a place where it's been reviewed by economists?


If there was a way to balance this with the payroll tax, that would be wonderful...

Right now my husband is having to work "Special Assignments" where he gets paid 50 dollars a night (for 3 hours work) So that we can make ends meet and I can continue to try to give my kids what I had, a stay at home Mom.

As it is, I was supposed to go back to school again in Oct for my Anat and Phys, and roll my medical hours over to an RN program from the EMS program...so that I could move from EMT-I to RN. I would have been done with my schooling by the time my youngest turned 14.

But with the college 30 mins away, there will be no way we can afford the gas...much less the tuition with the cost of everything else going up the way it is.

NC is a depressed area, so an additional 60 dollars a week would be a godsend. (We live out in one of the small 5k person towns)

I'm managing to pay all our bills by doing some serious juggling, and feed our family. (Thank you commissary) However, I'm concerned for everyone around us as well.

We went to the grocery store locally to pick up a few things, literally 3 of those small plastic bags of groceries cost us 87.00

The sad thing is, when I was working- I was only clearing enough to afford to go to work, not to help with bills.

We as a family have trimmed all the fat we could- we have ONE vehicle, the kids are on reduced lunches, basic cable, basic phone, basic internet. We reserve gas like no tomorrow, even though it means not visiting family. (All of them live 40+ mins away)

If we are starting to struggle like this, with my husband also retired from the Army...

How are other families faring? Especially ones that have to place kids in day care etc?

We have tricare, so aren't hit with the 650+ to pay each month to cover our family in addition to paying dental.

If he wasn't retired, we wouldn't be able to survive. Median Salary here is only 24k, I calculated it up- to feed a family of FOUR would cost 250 a WEEK shopping in areas where others shop. (Edited to add, thats feeding your kids healthy- not living off top ramen and skettios, hamburger helper etc)

That is half your monthly salary gone, before you even touch your bills at 24k a year.
Add to that medical...Family of four (not six like mine) Around 450 a month.
So basicly you have one person working for food and medical...the other working for bills and rent/house payment. Add to that child care, which is insanely costly...
That isn't even taking into account gas to get to and from work, food while being there, the fact that you can't get any form of assistance because you make too much, taxes taken out before you see your check, vehicle insurance for two vehicles and the relative car payments...
And now you have to work THREE jobs in a family that 20 years ago would have been able to have a parent work, and the other stay and raise the kids.

No wonder our country is falling apart.

I've read all these threads about people being up in arms over the Homeless Vet situation...

If you are concerned then DO something about it. Write your Representatives.

In our personal case...

My husband was in the Army for 22 years, before we met he was married to a woman who was with him for 10 years. Now, this woman went to college with the support of my husband, they had NO children together, and she made more money than he did. (Edited to add, she broke the marraige and was adulterous in the bargain)

Is it fair that the court awarded her over $500 dollars a month at his retirement...based on the time he served AFTER they divorced, the ranks he made AFTER the divorce...and that her amount awarded goes up each year automatically with his increases?

Is it fair that he's being given "Reduced pay for reduced services" and that in times of emergency or war he can be recalled? Yet, she continues to get paid with no risk to herself?

And the fact that she will be paid for LIFE!? She is remarried, in a banking position, and again...makes more money than he does.

Again...she will be paid for LIFE. If they both live till 85, she will get money into her account each month. That is 35 YEARS from now for my husband.

We can afford it, thank goodness...however many Veterans can NOT. Disabled vets are being required to pay after a Dear John letter, and end up on the streets. These are only some of the homeless Veterans that are being talked about, can't work...can't live...Former Mrs Smith remarried and still being paid.

The revisions wanted are very simple,
Payments not to exceed time of marriage. IE - Married ten years, get paid ten years.
Payments based on rank at time of divorce, so that the ex spouse doesn't get "windfall" on the back of the service member.
Payments ending at the time of remarriage (Edited to add this)

Do they deserve some compensation for having to be without a spouse on assignments, and moving all over the world...of course they do.

But not for life, the USFSPA is unconstitutional.

The military is the only place where you can find this unfairness.

For those of you who think this is a gender issue, it's not. This goes as far back as Rumsfield...and he claimed that he didn't even know it existed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ZZIP1Rl04

No matter how you feel about the war, our military needs our support. They are being used and abused from EVERY ANGLE

Please consider, and use those wonderful writing skills to send off some letters.

http://www.ulsg.org/index.htm

(Disclaimer- I am after all 37 years old...I turned 10 in October 1980 and was a teen when Madonna/MJ/BIG HAIR was all the rage...so my timelines might be a little off)


Singing "Eye of the Tiger" ROCKY!

RAMBO!

The Vietnam War Memorial being on the news, and how proud I was that "someday" I could go and trace my Uncles name with a pencil and paper.

Wanting to grow up and be Sally Ride

I remember sitting in horror and shock as Mr Hughes, my science teacher played the radio in highschool...and Challenger Exploded. How all of us looked at each other, and many cried.

Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America

MLK's birthday becomes a National Holiday

Miami Vice (Good lord)

I remember when Arnold was a pretty popular action star.

Geraldine Ferraro

New Coke

WWE and Rowdy Roddy Piper

Finding the Titanic

I remember Nuclear fallout assignments in Science, "You have 12 hours notice...what do you take and where do you go?" and watching "The day after" in class.

Chernobyl

The meetings and tensions between USSR and USA over ending the cold war.

Watching Oliver North with my family on TV

I am Alaskan, Exxon-Valdez (I just live in NC now)

The San Fransisco earthquake

I remember watching my friend Craig whither and die in front of me, and only a handful of people went to see him because of fear. I didn't care, I held his hand anyway.

I remember being the first class to actually have "condom education" due to the AIDS epidemic.

The Berlin Wall (Its strange, my husband now is 13 years my senior...and as a soldier was stationed in Berlin...it's odd to know the man you love is a part of history, even though it's a small part he played in it)




If you are wondering why I posted this...
It's because *MY* memories of the 80's come in bits and peices...the things that most affected me at the time.

They are the past, just as Reagan is past...and Clinton is past. Just as the Bushes will soon be the past.

Those memories are valuable, and helped shape who I am...but they aren't my future.

Lets look to the Future-
Another post supporting John Edwards.