Senator Barack Obama released the following statement today on International Women's Day:
This International Women's Day is a chance to reflect on the status of women in our societies, honor the extraordinary women whose courage and determination have shaped our lives, and rededicate ourselves to the ongoing challenges facing girls and women everywhere.
This day is particularly meaningful to me because I've been shaped by the women in my life – by a single mother who raised me across two continents, and a grandmother who instilled in me her own Midwestern values; by my sister Maya who grew up in Asia and multi-ethnic Hawaii, and my sister Auma who has lived her life in Africa and Europe; by a paternal grandmother who still lives in rural Kenya without electricity and running water; and by my extraordinary wife Michelle, who continues to make me a better man.
We have to do more for the women in our lives – because there is no longer any doubt that equality and opportunity remain out of reach for too many women around the world.
There is no longer any doubt that most girls and women around the world are uneducated or illiterate. A good education is the best way to help ensure that children are healthy and successful, and to strengthen developing economies, which is why we need to invest at least $2 billion a year in a Global Education Fund.
There is no longer any doubt that women do most of the work that goes on in the world, and yet mostly live in poverty and own only a small fraction of the world's property. To help ensure that women are reaping the rewards of economic growth and prosperity, I will double our current spending on foreign aid by the end of my first term as President.
There is no longer any doubt that HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases disproportionately affect women in many parts of the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. This pandemic is a global threat and when I'm President, we'll spend $50 billion over five years to combat it. And I will help launch Health Infrastructure 2020 – a global effort to improve global health care and to train health care professionals to serve in the developing world.
There is no longer any doubt that whether it's rape or assault or girls being treated like property and trafficked across borders – women are abused in most societies. It's cruel, and it has to stop. That is why I passed legislation in Illinois to protect victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, and it's why I've fought in the Senate to reduce sexual violence and the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The United States must lead the world to end these inequities and injustices, and when I'm President, we will. Every night I'm home, Michelle and I tuck two little girls into bed. And the reason I'm in this race is to help build a world where our Sasha and Malia and every girl is loved and safe from violence; where every woman is empowered; and where every person has the chance to reach for his or her dreams.
Barack Obama
Please go to Women.BarackObama.com for more statements of support from women around the country, inclluding Caroline Kennedy, Toni Morrison, Kathleen Sebelius, Janet Napolitano, Alice Walker and many, many more.
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Obama?
by Anonymous4now on Sun Mar 09, 2008 01:04 PM PDT"It can be a year of inspiration and hope, and it will be a year of concern, of quiet and sober reassessment of our nation’s character and purpose. It has already been a year when voters have confounded the experts. And I guarantee you that it will be the year when we give the government of this country back to the people of this country.
There is a new mood in America. We have been shaken by a tragic war abroad and by scandals and broken promises at home. Our people are searching for new voices and new ideas and new leaders.
Although government has its limits and cannot solve all our problems, we Americans reject the view that we must be reconciled to failures and mediocrity, or to an inferior quality of life. For I believe that we can come through this time of trouble stronger than ever. Like troops who have been in combat, we have been tempered in the fire; we have been disciplined, and we have been educated.
Guided by lasting and simple moral values, we have emerged idealists without illusions, realists who still know the old dreams of justice and liberty, of country and of community.
This year we have had thirty state primaries--more than ever before—making it possible to take our campaign directly to the people of America: to homes and shopping centers, to factory shift lines and colleges, to beauty parlors and barbershops, to farmers’ markets and union halls.
This has been a long and personal campaign—a humbling experience, reminding us that ultimate political influence rests not with the power brokers but with the people. This has been a time of tough debate on the important issues facing our country. This kind of debate is part of our tradition, and as Democrats we are heirs to a great tradition."
Obama? Not really. That was an excerpt form Jimmy Carter's acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, in 1976.
Can the world afford 4 more years of inexperience and naiveté?
//www.4president.org/speeches/carter1976acceptance.htm
Obama is inexperienced and
by vcx (not verified) on Sun Mar 09, 2008 08:04 AM PDTObama is inexperienced and hates America. If you hate America, you will vote for him. He would be worst than Jimmy Carter.
America is at war with Islamic terror
by Babk56 (not verified) on Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:00 AM PSTThe last thing they need is a Muslim president or used to be Muslim according to his classmates..can you imagine that?
I wonder how much IRI has given him?
use common sense babak56
by commonsense (not verified) on Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:48 PM PSTcommon sense is that if your post is longer than the article and is not even yours to put it in your own blog, than trash others
Anne Rice: Pro-Christ, Pro-Life, Pro-Hillary
by Babak56 (not verified) on Sat Mar 08, 2008 08:09 PM PSTStatement from Anne Rice:
Some time ago, I made an effort to remove from this website all political statements made by me in the past. Many of these statements were incomplete statements, and many were dated. And a good many of the emails I received about these statements indicated that they were confusing to my newer Christian readers. I felt, when I removed the material, that I was doing what was best for my personal vocation --- which is, to write books for Jesus Christ. My vocation at this time remains unchanged. I am committed to writing books for the Lord, and those books right now, are books about His life on Earth as God and Man. I hope my books will reach all Christians, regardless of denomination or background. This has become my life. However, I have come to feel that my Christian conscience requires of me a particular political statement at this time. I hope you will read this statement in a soft voice. It is meant to be spoken in a soft voice. Let me say first of all that I am devoutly committed to the separation of church and state in America. I believe that the separation of church and state has been good for all Christians in this country, and particularly good for Catholics who had a difficult time gaining acceptance as Americans before the presidential election of John F. Kennedy. The best book I can recommend right now on the separation of church and state is A SECULAR FAITH, Why Christianity Favors The Separation of Church and State, by Darryl Hart. However there are many other good books on the subject. Believing as I do that church and state should remain separate, I also believe that when one enters the voting booth, church and state become one for the voter. The voter must vote her conscience. He or she must vote for the party and candidate who best reflect all that the voter deeply believes. Conscience requires the Christian to vote as a Christian. Commitment to Christ is by its very nature absolute. My commitment and my vote, therefore, must reflect my deepest Christian convictions; and for me these convictions are based on the teachings of Christ in the Four Gospels. I am keenly aware as a Christian and as an American that the Gospels are subject to a great variety of interpretation. I am keenly aware that Christians disagree violently on what the Gospels say. I am also keenly aware that we have only two parties in this country. Only two. This point can not be emphasized enough. We do not have a slate of parties, including one which is purely Christian. We have two parties, and our system has worked with two parties for generations. This is what we have. I feel strongly that one should vote for one of these two parties in an election. I suspect that not voting is in fact a vote. I suspect that voting for a third party, when such parties develop, is in effect voting for one of the major parties whether one wants to believe this or not. To summarize, I believe in voting, I believe in voting for one of the two major parties, and I believe my vote must reflect my Christian beliefs. Bearing all this in mind, I want to say quietly that as of this date, I am a Democrat, and that I support Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. Though I deeply respect those who disagree with me, I believe, for a variety of reasons, that the Democratic Party best reflects the values I hold based on the Gospels. Those values are most intensely expressed for me in the Gospel of Matthew, but they are expressed in all the gospels. Those values involve feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, and above all, loving one’s neighbors and loving one’s enemies. A great deal more could be said on this subject, but I feel that this is enough. I want to add here that I am Pro-Life. I believe in the sanctity of the life of the unborn. Deeply respecting those who disagree with me, I feel that if we are to find a solution to the horror of abortion, it will be through the Democratic Party. I have heard many anti-abortion statements made by people who are not Democrats, but many of these statements do not strike me as constructive or convincing. I feel we can stop the horror of abortion. But I do not feel it can be done by rolling back Roe vs. Wade, or packing the Supreme Court with judges committed to doing this. As a student of history, I do not think that Americans will give up the legal right to abortion. Should Roe vs Wade be rolled back, Americans will pass other laws to support abortion, or they will find ways to have abortions using new legal and medical terms. And much as I am horrified by abortion, I am not sure -- as a student of history – that Americans should give up the right to abortion. I am also not convinced that all of those advocating anti-abortion positions in the public sphere are necessarily practical or sincere. I have not heard convincing arguments put forth by anti-abortion politicians as to how Americans could be forced to give birth to children that Americans do not want to bear. And more to the point, I have not heard convincing arguments from these anti-abortion politicians as to how we can prevent the horror of abortion right now, given the social situations we have. The solution to the horror of abortion can and must be found. Do I myself have a solution to the abortion problem? The answer is no. What I have are hopes and dreams and prayers --- that better education will help men and women make responsible reproductive choices, and that abortion will become a morally abhorrent option from which informed Americans will turn away. There is a great deal more to this question, as to how abortion became legal, as to why that happened, as to why there is so little talk of the men who father fetuses that are aborted, and as to the human rights of all individuals involved. I am not qualified as a student of history to fully discuss these issues in detail. I remain conscientiously curious and conscientiously concerned. But I am called to vote in this, our democracy, and I am called, as an American and a Christian, to put thought and commitment into that vote. Again, I believe the Democratic Party is the party that is most likely to help Americans make a transition away from the abortion crisis that we face today. Its values and its programs --- on a whole variety of issues --- most clearly reflect my values. Hillary Clinton is the candidate whom I most admire. I want to say something further. I am aware as a Christian writer that making a political statement like this is not a particularly wise marketing move. But my Christian conscience compels me to make this statement. My Christian conscience demands that I not lie in order to sell books. Lying to sell books, pandering to a Christian market --- these things would mean the deepest betrayal of my vocation to live for and write for Jesus Christ. I repeat: I won’t lie to sell books. I have felt a certain pressure of late to express my feelings here; that pressure is mounting. That pressure has come from watching political debate on church and state in the media, from private emails from strangers and friends concerning these issues, and from conversations, often heated, with my fellow Christians and Americans. My commitment to Christ compels me to respond to that pressure and to speak out on issues that I think are of crucial importance: whether or not we vote, and how we vote, and how our vote reflects our deepest moral concerns. I repeat: I am a Christian; I am a Democrat. I support Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. If I receive emails on this issue, I will do my best to answer them. Anne Rice August 10, 2007