Hartsongs

Last night was amazing. Ryan and I were lucky enough to be able to get tickets and be in down town Chicago to celebrate Barack Obama's winning of the election. The energy in the city was contagious hours before we knew if Obama would win. Seeing the joy and enthusiasm in people of all ages and colors on the city streets was an overwhelming experience I will never forget.

Getting into Grant Park and learning right after the polls closed on the west coast that Obama had won was electrifying. The crowd was insane with unbelievable joy and happiness. We hugged, cried, hollered, jumped up and down and chanted. I can not really describe how amazing it was, I can only say it was one of the most profound events I have ever experienced and for personal highs it is right up there with the day I got married. I feel so grateful that I was able to witness history being made first hand and hear and see President Elect Barack Obama (gives me chills to write that) give his acceptance speech.
It was beautiful and I feel truly encouraged for the future of our country.

At the end of this email I have shared thoughts from my father, a 72 year old man, who expressed his perspective quite beautifully - it moved me to tears.

Much love,

Kelly

I was a Senior in law school at Loyola in 1960 when John Kennedy was inaugurated. I will never forget him standing in the bitter cold Washington winter without an overcoat giving a speech that moved me and my generation to tears and to the Peace Corps. And I will long remember an aged Robert Frost enunciating his inaugural poem, far from his best, but symbolizing the idealism and desire for a non-partisan United States to once again command the respect of the world not because of our military force, but because of our idealism, our integrity, our universal possibilities for all citizens, and our devotion to freedom.

Last night, for the first time since 1960, our President-elect moved me to tears. Not only because he is the first orator since JFK to be our President, but because his words reached out to every one of us to join together regardless of color, creed, party, economic standing, or any other differences to work to make this blessed country the United States of America.

I am reminded of the beautiful moment when Vice President Mondale of Minnesota went in the USA Gold Metal locker room after the Miracle on Ice victory over the Russians, the best hockey team in the world. Mondale asked, "Where are the Minnesota boys?" Coach Herb Brooks, whose brilliant leadership brought respect back to the USA-USA-USA said, "Mr. Vice-President, there are no Minnesota boys here. These boys are all Americans." I felt that way last night hearing Barack.

May God bless and protect him as he gives meaning to profound change in this great nation, a profound change in our domestic and economic lives and our international reputation. I am proud to be an American and, like you, I want to answer the noble call Jack Kennedy gave my generation in 1960: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

I ask my Republican friends to join with us in enriching this land of freedom. To those of you who may be prejudiced because life is a pluralistic society that can breed cynicism, I ask you to realize there is much more that binds us together than keeps us apart. We have lived to see history made.

The President-elect’s quoting of Abraham Lincoln is not only a tribute to Illinois, but a reflection of our enduring debt to one of our greatest Presidents who led us through a horrific Civil War and made this country the land of the free. May the courage and independence President Lincoln brought this nation in a time of great need serve President Obama as he embarks upon leading this country in another time of great need. Let us all put our shoulders together in working and sacrificing for a real United States of America. My words are nothing. What lies in our hearts today is everything. America is a place where all things are possible.

William J Martin

Labels: Barak Obama

Claiming you’re the ‘straight talk express’,
That you’re ‘honorable’ and true,
You spew lies with vindictiveness;
as the ‘Bushies’ did to you.

If you are truly the ‘Maverick’
That you keep saying you are,
You wouldn’t have to pull this trick-
Your insults have gone too far.

You say you want to have my vote,
That you’re the one that’s ‘the best’,
And yet, vehemently ‘Swift Boat’,
lying with a frenzied zest.

You continue the song and dance,
Continue to dig the hole-
For what it’s worth, lost any chance
of my support at the poll.

Local communities, by contrast, line up to help their neighbors.

At least seven tractor-trailer trucks will head Thursday from Renton to those flood-stricken areas, as well as others, so Salvation Army and local officials can give the items to those in need, news director Holly Gauntt said.

"The community has been unbelievable," she said, referring to donors. "This is part of us being problem solvers and working for our community."

As of Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., the station had received thousands of pounds in clothing, baby food, bottled water, blankets, shovels, rakes and cleaning supplies.

Area residents had donated more than $50,000 in cash, as well as gift cards.

People started dropping off items Wednesday morning at the IKEA store in Renton and collections were accepted through the station's 11 p.m. newscast, she added.

Teamsters and the Mayflower moving company provided the trucks, and donors often waited up to 30 minutes to contribute, Gauntt said. "It's been a trail of cars," she said.

Obama has declared his presidential intentions, but it is up to well-informed and energetic conservatives like you to spare our nation from the scourge of a far-left President Barack H. Obama."

Because of the very nature of the world as it is today our children receive in school a heavy load of scientific and analytic subjects, so it is in their reading for fun, for pleasure, that they must be guided into creativity. These are forces working in the world as never before in the history of mankind for standardization, for the regimentation of us all, or what I like to call making muffins of us, muffins all like every other muffin in the muffin tin.