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Sing for Change About Us Sing for Change was a confluence of hard work, good will, and shared vision. Inspired by ideas raised at a grassroots Obama fundraiser, a music teacher, Kathy Sawada, and the children composed and rehearsed the songs in less than two weeks. Several musicians heard of the effort and volunteered to accompany the children. Parents and older siblings designed and provided the T-Shirts and the banner. There’s a first for everything, but rarely do so many firsts come together at once: for the children and their parents, this is their first performance, first video, first banner,...

PATROL BASE STONE — Sixty students graduated from the fourth and final Village of Hope training center rotation during a ceremony at Patrol Base Stone Sept. 25. “The Village of Hope was part of a civil service corps program that took Sons of Iraq (SoI) members from checkpoints and taught them useable trades that they can make a living with,” said Capt. Michael Askegren, 557th Expeditionary Red Horse Squadron officer-in-charge of Village of Hope. “Not every SoI is going to make it into the Iraqi security forces, so the Village of Hope gives them an option to make a good...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Sept. 15, 2008 – Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Afghanistan and the U.S. Agency for International Development have been working hand in hand with the local government in the Khas Oruzgan district of southern Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province on a number of developmental projects. A newly repaired mosque in the Khas Oruzgan district southern Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province stands ready for worshipers. The renovations were completed by Afghan villagers supported by U.S. Special Forces and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The team has a close relationship with the...

ASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military conceded it was not winning the fight against an increasingly deadly insurgency in Afghanistan and said on Wednesday it would revise its strategy to combat militant safe havens in Pakistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee success in Afghanistan would require more civilian effort beyond the military fight. "Frankly, we're running out of time," Mullen said.

9/8/2008 - HAWR RAJAB, Iraq (AFPN) -- Six months ago, the town of Hawr Rajab was a mere shell of its former self. Local shops were closed, their windows boarded up. The streets were abandoned. Homes were badly damaged. The town was once an al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold where violence and intimidation forced residents to flee their homes. But today Hawr Rajab is a different place. Capt. Michael Askegren, Patrol Base Stone site officer in charge, had an eyewitness view of the city's gradual transformation. "It's a recovering city. You can see the progress," Captain Askegren said. "At 10 in...

HAWR RAJAB — Six months ago, the town of Hawr Rajab was a mere shell of its former self. Local shops were closed, their windows boarded up. The streets were abandoned. Homes were badly damaged. The town was once an al Qaida in Iraq (AQI) stronghold where violence and intimidation forced residents to flee their homes. But today Hawr Rajab is a different place. Air Force Capt. Michael Askegren, Patrol Base Stone site officer in charge, is deployed from Hurlburt Field, Fla. He had an eye-witness view of the city’s gradual transformation. “It’s a recovering city. You can see the...

I was begining to feel frustrated (and angry) with the constant media barrage of this poor girl (Bristol). Looks like decency still reigns in America. Should voters care that Gov. Sarah Palin's unwed teen daughter is pregnant? Yes 33% 66035 No 61% 121771 No opinion 6% 12327 Total Votes: 200133 Freep the poll, if you'd like.

You heard it here first: The Democratic Convention in Denver will go down as a disaster the likes of which have not been seen since Patrick Buchanan's 1992 speech to Republicans in Houston. It's hard to know what Senator Obama was thinking. After returning from speaking to a large outdoor rally in Germany, he headed to Hawaii for a vacation. Meanwhile, the candidate of "change" somehow managed to allow the first night of his convention to be dominated by Senator Kennedy, who ran for president in 1980 and who has been in the Senate since 1962.

Sen. Barack Obama has a problem. And it lives in a hut. His name is George Hussein Onyango Obama, and he is the 26-year-old half brother of Mr. Obama, the multimillionaire autobiographer who neglected to write that his paternal sibling lives on less than a dollar a month in the outer slums of Nairobi, Kenya. They have met twice. Unearthed by Italian Vanity Fair and virtually ignored by the American press, the inconvenient George Obama could emerge as a compelling character in the freshman senator's carefully edited road-to-the-White-House narrative - especially now that his campaign has unleashed a personal attack...

Sgt. Paul Watkins, military police team leader, 340th Military Police Company, talks with citizens of Amin at the Amin local Iraqi police station build site, Aug. 8. The station is scheduled to be completed in the upcoming months to provide added security to the people of Amin located in the Rasheed District of Baghdad. Photo by Sgt. Daniel Blottenberger. BAGHDAD — “You shouldn’t build a station here, it will probably get blown up,� said an Amin resident to a U.S. military policeman while conducting police transition team operations at the Amin station build site recently. The Amin area, in Baghdad’s...

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A prominent Los Angeles-based Muslim activist has been jailed for four years after pleading guilty to attempting to bribe a witness, prosecutors said Tuesday. Najee Ali, who heads the community group Project Islamic HOPE (Helping Oppressed People Everywhere), was sentenced on Monday after he admitted an attempt to interfere with a witness in a court case involving his daughter. A spokeswoman for Los Angeles County District Attorney said in normal circumstances Ali would have received a two-year sentence but saw his term doubled because he had a prior conviction for armed robbery in 1992.

Henry is a man in deep existential angst. Luke Wilson plays the role brilliantly with a face, demeanor and carriage which is literally, as they say, “right out of central casting”. Later in the film we will learn that Henry has received a terminal medical diagnosis which sent him into the latest downturn. However his hopelessness and despair have been growing inside of him for years, draining away the life. He, like so many people, is a member of the walking wounded, dragging the pain of unresolved childhood hurt and trauma like a ball and chain behind him. The chip...

Obama urges voters to go for changeBy James Q. Lynch The Gazette Updated August 01. 2008 6:42PM CEDAR RAPIDS - Barack Obama challenged a Cedar Rapids audience to follow their gut and "take a chance on change" when they vote for president this fall. "Most Americans know in their gut that we've got to change," the presumptive Democratic nominee said at Coe College on Thursday. Billed as an economic security town hall meeting, Obama spent most of his time talking about energy and chiding John McCain and Republicans for a paucity of ideas. Even McCain knows change is necessary, Obama...

It’s not the audacity of hope. It’s just plain audacity. This Barack Obama fellow acts as if he is someone important, as if he has ideas that we should hear. Now that is audacious, as is everything he does. That’s why I call him “The Audacious O,” a nickname I’ve decided to popularize. Earlier this month, for example, the Audacious O said he thought it was admirable that when Europeans come to this country, they can speak our language plus one or two others. When Americans travel to France, the Audacious O said, all we can say is, “Merci beaucoup,”...

”I feel blessed to be working on this important project,” said Ryan Hartwig, construction representative with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Basrah Children’s Hospital Office “Each time we go, we see more progress. I can look at the place now and actually visualize patients using this facility,” he continued. “It’s just very satisfying being part of this effort that will no doubt save or change the lives of so many Iraqi children.” Several key partners are involved in the project including Project Hope (a nongovernment organization), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, explained...

Obama's War Change: Hope for Iraq?by Austin Bay July 9, 2008 We've now seen enough of Barack Obama's campaign to get an idea of his remarkably agile strategic plan. Obama bills himself as the candidate of "change and hope" -- and change is a key component in his plan, if by change we mean radical political flexibility characterized by dramatic shifts in fundamental policy, or quickly substituting today's iron-clad principles for last week's rusting certainties, or adroitly morphing his eternal verity of Old Testament May into a revised piety befitting New Age July. Obama's change isn't simply the expedient replacement...

I had given the speech and was taking questions from the audience - always easier than giving a speech. A man asked me if I had any ideas about how to achieve a rational system of gun control in this country. My answer surprised me. "No," I told him. "I've given up on gun control. That battle is over. We've lost. I no longer think it's an achievable goal and if I were a politician I wouldn't lose an election over it." The audience, a liberal group, was properly aghast. That answer was so unlike me. I've been writing a...

"CHRIST OUR HOPE." Pastor F. E. Marsh (Of Sunderland) (At the Nottingham Conference, May, 1894) As a key-text, will you turn to the first epistle of Paul to Timothy, 1st chapter, 1st verse: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our Hope" now, wherever we have hope in the objective in the word of God, it always refers to the Lord Jesus Christ coming for His people. Christ is coming in power to put down every opposing force before He can set up his kingdom on earth. He...

During each program, “A Muslim Journey to Hope” presents the true stories of people who have had a life-changing experience. Each story is true, and each story is different. Yet they are as different as the lives of each person: Women and men. Young and old. Rich and poor. From many countries in the world. But each story tells how each of these people has found hope. Link is to Testimony #47 at muslimjourneytohope dot com by a man simply identified as “Afshin”. body of comment An Authentic Encounter with Jesus

The article itself is sort of a mediocre exposé on Senator Obama's record and rhetoric. Nothing special here; just some blogger trying to be "evenhanded" and "objective" in discussing the most liberal and least experienced major-party presidential candidate in several generations. The comments, though, are very interesting. That is what I would really like FReepers to take a look at. There is a borderline-spam comment from a Hillary shill, some semi-literate ramblings from a black nationalist, and a bunch of progressives talking about how wonderful they think Obama is, and what horrible human beings his detractors are. There is a...

As the presidential campaign drones on, Barack Obama and the Democrats are fleshing out the promise of "change" with some specific, big-government policy proposals. Many are familiar, perhaps because they already have been tried – in Argentina. That country has gone from South American breadbasket to world-class basket case. For the long version of how it happened and why Americans might not want to try it, hop on a flight to Buenos Aires.

“That’s not a man–take it away.” Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, with regard to Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill Someone who runs or hides from an obligation instead of standing behind his principles is a coward. Someone who says one thing and then does the opposite is a liar. Barack Obama’s recent treatment of Muslim-American voters, in conjunction with his own broken promise from The Audacity of Hope, proves him a coward and a liar....Barack Obama promised, in writing, to stand with Muslim-Americans should the political winds shift in an ugly direction. He acted by saying that it is a “smear” to...

HABBANIYAH — Two years ago, al-Anbar was said to be the most violent province in Iraq. It was a place where the insurgency in Iraq had begun and where the bloodiest battles took place. Today, thanks to the hard work and sacrifices made by the Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen who served in the area, it has become a model for the rest of Iraq. Marines of 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, have put in countless hours and have risked their lives every day to ensure their area of operations within al-Anbar Province stays that way...

This “education to hope and freedom” is the antidote for a Western culture that has become diseased, drunk and debauched on what John Paul II called a “counterfeit notion of freedom”. This culture is losing its hope because it has, in the words of Benedict XVI “...Put God in Parentheses”. This culture has hidden the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the first home of the whole human race, the womb, behind the language of “freedom of choice”... This culture gives legal protection to the commercial trade in pornographic images that turns the bodies of women and men...

BuildASign.com has an offer where, if you send them your old Hillary Clinton campaign sign, they’ll give you a free Barack Obama sign. Now, questions about legality aside (is this an in-kind donation to the Obama campaign?) because I think most campaign laws are stupid, there is some fine to be made here because the website also lets you design your own Obama campaign signs for online-use free. Just select one of the options in step 1, then select one of the customizable signs from below. Once you’ve made a sign with a pithy slogan, click the “View Larger Proof”...

Why McCain Would Make a Better President by Aaron Goldstein McCain knows what government can and cannot do. More importantly, he knows what government should and should not do. Should Barack Obama be elected President of the United States this November his chances for a successful term in office are slim to none. As the candidate who extols the virtue of hope and change and whose audience chants in unison, "Yes we can!," Obama has set expectations so high that he is bound to fall short of lofty expectations. After all, Obama has said this election is not so much...

LONDON - Here's all Barack Obama has to do to meet the world's expectations if he's elected president of the United States: End an unpopular war in Iraq, heal misery in nations hit by the global food crisis and stop global warming in addition to building bridges to Muslim countries and reverse the unilateralist approach of the Bush administration. The euphoria that has swept much of the world at the sight of a young and idealistic black politician seizing the Democratic nomination has generated waves of anticipation. Yet Obama, precisely because of his lofty yet undefined message of hope and...

The Candidate of Change Come to think of it, some of the people with whom Obama surrounds himself don't like Jews or people of the wrong skin color either.

THE PRESIDENTIAL candidate who promises to change Washington raced into Washington's arms right after the media crowned him as the presumptive Democratic nominee. more stories like this Insurance model follows American tradition Clinton goes from inevitable nominee to on the ropes Edwards: Clinton didn't choose words well on race Notable moments in Clinton's quest Obama outlines plans for race against McCain During a Thursday visit to the nation's Capitol, Barack Obama was fawned over by those he critiqued two days earlier: "Washington didn't give us much of a chance," he said during his North Carolina victory speech. Clearly, that's no...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — The Village of Hope graduated its first class of students May 8 in a ceremony held at Patrol Base Stone in Hawr Rajab, south of Baghdad. The 42 graduating students spent the past three months learning plumbing, electrical and construction skills at the Village of Hope training facility. The program is aimed at teaching local citizens valuable career skills, with the added benefit of rebuilding their community. The students, many of them former Sons of Iraq, will continue their training outside the classroom by renovating structures in the area. Hawr Rajab was devastated last year...

It appears that this is going to be yet another campaign with little or nothing in the way of real issues. Oh, there are "issues". Or rather, "Issues", with that opening capital definitely emphasized. Issues such as "Race", "the Environment", "the Economy", and so on, huge, shapeless near-abstractions whose connection to the world as it actually exists is tenuous, if not outright metaphysical. Take "Race", for instance. We're repeatedly informed that America has a problem with "Race" of crisis proportions. As evidence, we're told that Americans of African descent suffered under slavery, were considered constitutionally to comprise only three-fifths of...

The Wisconsin Association of FFA, formerly the Future Farmers of America, has collected and shipped 7,000 pairs of shoes to Iraq to help Iraqis in need. The idea for "Operation Stand Solid" came from Sgt. First Class Gary Olson, a Fort Atkinson agricultural teacher who served in Iraq as a member of the Wisconsin Army National Guard. During his first deployment to Iraq, Olson found that many Iraqi children lacked shoes. He suggested to state FFA officers the idea of starting a shoe collection program, so the 251 FFA chapters throughout the state started soliciting donations of new and like-new...

Another day, another excuse from Obama: Barack Obama made a new argument in trying to quell the fire that his remarks over "bitter" Pennsylvania voters have drawn: that hope and anger go hand and hand. Obama, who has run most of his candidacy under the message of hope, interwove that message with the message that has dusted up the controversy: that people are frustrated and have anger and bitterness because they feel the government is not listening to them. "Sometimes hope and anger go hand and hand," he said today at the Philadelphia City Committee's Jefferson-Jackson dinner. "People really are...

I remember when I would play GTA3 that there was an in-game talk radio station that ended up becoming one of my favorites. The station was called Chatterbox and Lazlow Jones played the role of the host (as himself). Like any other radio talk show (albeit scripted and pre-recorded), there were callers and commentary. One of the "calls" was from a local community activist who wanted to promote a political rally that touted "hope," "change," and "justice." Of course, when Lazlow presses the caller for specifics on what the rally is for, the caller won't answer. Does this sound familiar...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, April 7, 2008 – When an Air Force engineer first stepped foot in Hawr Rajab, it was an al-Qaida in Iraq safe haven. The thought that came to mind was a scene from an old western movie. Airmen from the 557th Expeditionary Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, or RED HORSE, Squadron teach masonry to Village of Hope students at Patrol Base Stone in Hawr Rajab, Iraq, April 2, 2008. Two hundred Hawr Rajab men, in four classes of 50, are scheduled to graduate from the vocational school. Courtesy photo   (Click photo...

ASSRIYA — The Soldiers of Battery A, 1st Battalion, 143rd Field Artillery, a California National Guard unit attached to the 1103rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, spend most of their nights conducting convoy security missions. Although they have a job that requires them to be nocturnal, a few of the Soldiers have chosen to use their daylight hours to work in a village located outside of Camp Taji. Since February, Soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Battery A, 1st Bn., 143rd FA, use their personal time between missions to deliver supplies and make repairs to schools in the village of...

The Washington Post March 30, 2008 6:00 AM Amongst the moss-draped live oaks of Charleston Collegiate School's 33-acre campus in Johns Island, S.C. - where children of all ethnicities, religions and abilities work and play together - the words of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright seem alien and hostile. His sometimes hate-filled rhetoric is weirdly out of sync with this quiet corner of the Old South, where ancestors of the school's African-American students worked as slaves, perhaps upon these very fields. The differences between this microcosm of a near-utopian community and the world that informs Wright are as stark as the...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryMarch 29, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: EconomyTHE PRESIDENT: Good morning. It's not every day that Americans look forward to hearing from the Internal Revenue Service, but over the past few weeks many Americans have received a letter from the IRS with some good news. The letters explain that millions of individuals and families will soon be receiving tax rebates, thanks to the economic growth package that Congress passed and I signed into law last month. Americans who are eligible for a rebate will get it automatically...

“I think the magic is over.” That’s what French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner recently said about the United States’ global reputation. It’s never been a great idea to rely on the assessments of French politicians, but the daily news coming out of the U.S.—in terms of our image overseas and beyond—does indeed seem bleak. Oil has climbed over $100 a barrel. Gas is nearing $4 a gallon. Gold is at $1,000 an ounce—a telltale sign the public is losing trust in paper money, stocks and bonds. Housing prices still slump. Foreclosures are on the rise. The huge Wall Street firm...

Obama’s speech is out at Drudge and reading it I find it lacking. Maybe in person it was not so bad, but most of us won’t be listening to it or seeing it. Most of will have to simply read it. The first problem is the history lesson on this great and imperfect nation. Obama comes of sounding like he is the only one on a journey to perfect the union, to move beyond the divisions and hate: "This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of...

As the Democrat primary unfolds, Republicans have more and more reason to be hopeful about our general election prospects this year. And where I once prayed for a Hillary nomination to improve our chances, I am now comfortable that we can beat either Madame Shrill and even the Messiah, himself. Frankly, I am even more hopeful about a win against Obama. Why you ask? Well, how many of you would elect your state senator to be president? This is ultimately what Barack Obama, whose tenure as an Illinois state senator far exceeds his national experience, is asking us to do....

As a result of Eliot Spitzer, the soon-to-be former governor of New York, having paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,500 for a 22-year-old prostitute named Kristen, I now know the name of the music that was used on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' every time Ed had on one of those plate spinners. Spitzer, or Client No. 9, was apparently using a high-priced call-girl service where the fees seem to be offered on a sliding scale. For example, I guess he could have hired somebody named, oh, I don't know, Ruth, for maybe $1,000 an hour. At around the $4,500...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, March 10, 2008 – After months of oppression from al Qaeda in Iraq, the southern Baghdad community of Hawr Rajab is coming back to life. U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Fernando Ginette teaches Hawr Rajab block makers how to install “batter boards” March 4, 2008, at the Village of Hope training site at Patrol Base Stone. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Coalition and Iraqi efforts now are focused on rebuilding the economy. One initiative garnered 50 students for classes at the “Village of Hope,” a vocational school designed to train Hawr...

101-year-old Buster Martin. Reuters - Mar 5, 1:45 pm EST Gallery LONDON - Already Britain’s oldest employee, 101-year-old Buster Martin now aims to become the world’s oldest marathon runner by completing the London Marathon and celebrating with a pint of beer and a cigarette. Sprightly and bearded, he completed a half marathon at the weekend in five hours 13 minutes. The former Army physical training instructor works three days a week for a London plumbing firm and says he has trained for the April 13th race in his spare time. “I’ve said I’ll attempt it,” he told Reuters by telephone...

Obama wants to make sure everyone in the campaign can properly make change, skillfully sling empty platitudes about hope--and to fully understand the latest attack: Rope-a-dope.

<p>I agree with Kim Morrison that Barack Obama would be a great president. I have hope that he can provide free health insurance for everyone.</p> <p>I have hope that he can bring our soldiers home and make the world a safer place. I have hope that he can protect Americans from poverty by printing more money at the mints.</p>

http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/02/27/obamas-empty-change-message/ Watch it through - especially where Chris Matthews (of all people) asks direct questions ...