Obama Name Banned on Bus

WannaBeBlue has heard that this is not isolated to Mississippi & may have occurred right here in Grayson County after election day. If you have any direct knowledge of this occurring in the school your children attend please contact the School District's Superintendent and let him or her know who is promoting these racist smears.

Read more: Can't say Obama name? ACLU opens investigation more:

Like we said it is not just in Mississippi.

Helping the Unemployed in this Recession

Texas unemployment continues to grow daily and the prospect of new jobs are slim to done here as more business fail in this economic mess we find ourselves in. TEXAS ranks 20th at 5.1% & the unemployment rate for the Sherman-Denison area is 5.3% up 1%since April of 2008. Congress is considering an extension to the unemployment benefits as part of the economic recovery plan aka the bailout. This bill would provide 20 more weeks of unemployment insurance benefits to those who exhausted their benefits within the past year and are still unemployed.The House passed the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008 on October 3, 2008. Even our Republican Congressman R. Hall voted for it.Now the bill heads to the senate. Please send an email to Senators Hutchinson & Cornyn and urge them to vote for this needed help for the unemployed in this economic recession. Just send a quick email to them like the one below.

Unemployment is spiraling out of control in our State. Please support an extension of unemployment benefits to those who are unable to find work in this economy. It appears that more layoffs are on the way so it makes perfect sense to extend this benefit for 20 additional weeks.

TEXAN OF THE YEAR

It's that time of the year when The Dallas Morning News names a Texan of the Year. They will consider your recomendations my sending a quick email to TOY@dallasnews.com

Here is their criteria for a recomendation:
"A Texan who has had uncommon impact; who exemplifies Texas traits of trailblazing, independence and staring down adversity; and who has affected or influenced lives." And we like to point out that this isn't a lifetime achievement award and should be for accomplishments in the past year. We bestow this distinction for "better or worse."

Here are the past winners since 2003 we can do better this year.
2003: George W. Bush
A president who took the nation to war to change the world.
2004: Karl Rove
The political maestro who orchestrated a second term for the president.
2005: The city of Houston
For a historic relief effort for waves of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
2006: Roy Velez
A father who exemplified strength after losing two sons in war zones
2007 The Illegal Immigrant credited with bringing us prosperity and blamed for abusing our resources.

WannaBeBlue has recommended the following indivual as Texan of the Year for 2008.

Dallas County's DA Craig Watkins fits your requirements in every respect. Not to mention the fact that if not for him there would still be the injustice handed out by previous DA's by their convict everyone mentality even if they knew the individual was innocent, thereby incarcerating the innocent. Mr. Watson uncommon impact was to provide a true representation of what a District Attorney should be about, to see that Justice is done. Craig Watson exemplifies, Texas traits of trailblazing, independence, staring down adversity; and one who has affected & influenced lives.

Please join us and send a quick email to TOY@dallasnews.com and recomend Mr. Watson as Texan of the Year.

A New Weekly Feature on WannaBeBlue.com

Remarks of President-elect Barack Obama

November 15, 2008

Today, the leaders of the G-20 countries -- a group that includes the world's largest economies -- are gathering in Washington to seek solutions to the ongoing turmoil in our financial markets. I'm glad President Bush has initiated this process -- because our global economic crisis requires a coordinated global response.

And yet, as we act in concert with other nations, we must also act immediately here at home to address America's own economic crisis. This week, amid continued volatility in our markets, we learned that unemployment insurance claims rose to their highest levels since September 11, 2001. We've lost jobs for ten straight months -- nearly 1.2 million jobs this year, many of them in our struggling auto industry. And millions of our fellow citizens lie awake each night wondering how they're going to pay their bills, stay in their homes, and save for retirement.

Make no mistake: this is the greatest economic challenge of our time. And while the road ahead will be long, and the work will be hard, I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis -- because here in America we always rise to the moment, no matter how hard. And I am more hopeful than ever before that America will rise once again.

But we must act right now. Next week, Congress will meet to address the spreading impact of the economic crisis. I urge them to pass at least a down-payment on a rescue plan that will create jobs, relieve the squeeze on families, and help get the economy growing again. In particular, we cannot afford to delay providing help for the more than one million Americans who will have exhausted their unemployment insurance by the end of this year. If Congress does not pass an immediate plan that gives the economy the boost it needs, I will make it my first order of business as President.

Even as we dig ourselves out of this recession, we must also recognize that out of this economic crisis comes an opportunity to create new jobs, strengthen our middle class, and keep our economy competitive in the 21st century.

That starts with the kinds of long-term investments that we've neglected for too long. That means putting two million Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools. It means investing $150 billion to build an American green energy economy that will create five million new jobs, while freeing our nation from the tyranny of foreign oil, and saving our planet for our children. It means making health care affordable for anyone who has it, accessible for anyone who wants it, and reducing costs for small businesses. And it also means giving every child the world-class education they need to compete with any worker, anywhere in the world.

Doing all this will require not just new policies, but a new spirit of service and sacrifice, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. If this financial crisis has taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers -- in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people. And that is how we will meet the challenges of our time -- together. Thank you.

It’s Your America: Share Your Ideas
Please visit this site and participate in President-elect Barack Obama Vision for America.

AND KNOW! FOR SOMETHING COMPLETLY DIFFERENT!

AND SOMETHING TO REALLY WORRY ABOUT

Please, at least read the summary &/or look at the pictures.

About 60% of the world’s population of 6000 million lives in Asia. The recent decades witnessed impressive economic development in the region. Fueled by growing population, globalization and the information technology revolution, this development has resulted in higher demands for energy, mobility and communications. The scope and magnitude of the environmental consequences of these demands are far reaching, especially with respect to air pollution at local and regional levels. The problem of air pollution is no longer confined only at local scale.
The new scenario encompasses complex inter linkages of several issues,including air pollution, haze, smog, ozone and global warming. The most visible impact of air pollution is the haze, a brownish layer of pollutants and particles from biomass burning and industrial emissions that pervades many regions in Asia

A Comment on "Oversight Explained?" Comments

First I want to thank you for making comments. This posting has elicited the most comments on WannaBeBlue to date & numbers 4 & 5 since the blogs creation.

We are subscribers to the Herald Democrat and read it every day, except Saturday of course, but we did not save the paper for the day the editorial appeared. I decided to speak out after readers of WannaBeBlue sent emails wondering why this "oversight” had occurred. I was reminded by Christina that when Governor Ann Richards passed away the paper decided to bury the story in the back pages while other papers and media outlet's reported her death as the lead story, as it deserved. I decided to write a blog posting about the editorial. Since I had no copy of the paper I went on line to their website and searched the archives for it. I could not find the editorial on the papers website archive. After I received a copy of the correct link I found the editorial online copied, pasted & sent replies to emails received earlier. While composing the complaint I went back to the papers website several times to make sure that I was not misreading it. I subsequently posted the blog on WannaBeBlue and sent a version as an email to Mr. White & Mr. Fredrick to complain. From past experience I knew that it would generate a response and hopefully bring our perception of media bias to the attention of the powers that be.

After reading comments about my post on WannaBeBlue I checked the link again, this time the article appeared & with a photo of Mr. Eldredge, which I had not seen previously & now the word not did appear in the online version, so that error was corrected in the meantime.

To many of us it does seem that the Herald Democrat has a bias against the Democratic point of view. We will continue to speak out and make our objections known to the media bias we see in the Herald Democrat or any news media.

We recognize that President-elect Barack Obama philosophy of compromise and conciliation in moving this country forward to that new day will be paramount. We also remember how the other side ran rough shod over the Democratic minority from 2000 - 2006 when they held the Executive, Legislative & Judicial branches of our government. We may forgive but we should never forget. Christina & I both plan to work hard in the coming months to help President-elect Barack Obama advance the Democratic agenda as much as we can. We will be active in making sure our Congressman & Senators know we expect compromise and conciliation from their side too.

Glen Johnstone

Oversight Explained?

The Herald Democrat of Sherman, Texas Editor, Don Eldridge published this editorial on Thursday to explain why there was no photo in the paper of President Elect Obama Wednesday the day after this Historical Election. What do you think about this explanation?

Sometimes explaining an oversight is not enough. Such explanations have a false ring, no matter what the truth. There are times when we in the newspaper business get so caught up in an immediate destination that we fail to consider a large issue developing around us. Considering the historic nature of Tuesday's election, one would rightfully expect a photograph of the nation's first black president-elect to be a centerpiece of the Wednesday morning front page. The Herald Democrat, regretfully, did run a picture of Barack Obama. (more)

OK, if you say so, but I a little confused. The article reads "regretfully, did run a picture of Barack Obama." When there was none. This statement sounds like a Freudian slip, since later the editor wrote "there was never an order given or an inquiry made on photo coverage of the national election." Why else would this editorial "Oversight Explained" be needed in the first place if the paper DID run a picture? The editorial "Oversight Explained" is unclear, not sincere & not a reasonable explanation. What seems clear to me is that the paper continues to report or not report the news based on what is important to their political point of view. The fact that African Americans and white Americans in Grayson County, Texas might like to have a keepsake of such an important historic event never occurred to him? "We failed to realize what it would mean for readers to hold in their hands a printed, illustrated document of such an event." says Mr. Eldridge. It seems to me that the reason they failed to realize the importance of such documentation is another example of the Herald Democrat continued media bias against all things connected to the Democratic Party. This thing about "a newsroom is a classroom of sorts." is not an excuse for such an omission I dare say it would garner a failing grade in journalism 101 class.

Why on earth do you continue to use The Herald Democrat as your nameplate? It just doesn't ring true. Be honest and change the nameplate to The Herald Republican.

What are the Rebubicans Up To?

Barack Obama has not even been sworn in as our next president and the Republican party is already looking ahead to the 2012 election.
According to a Newsweek poll late last month, Republican voters chose one of three potential candidates for the 2012 primaries. Here are the results.

Pollster Date Romney Huckabee Palin
Newsweek 10/22-23 35 26 20

Romney came in second behind McCain this year and ran as the Conservative in the mode on Ronald Reagan. Huckabee was extremely popular in the South and among religious Conservatives. And Palin has the big name ID from being McCain's VP selection. The fact that she was dubbed a big contributing factor to McCain's loss will be what kills it for her if she tries to run in 2012. Besides, she is in third place right now despite all the media coverage she has had -- bad news. Even Joe Lieberman was the leading Democratic candidate in the polls in 2004 after being selected as Gore's running mate in 2000. And we all KNEW that would not last.
The Republican party is adding Bobby Jindal's name into the mix. He has been all over the news since Obama's victory. He's heading over to Iowa.

Yes We Can - Yes We Did - Yes We Will

What a wonderfully historic night. You worked hard and voted well. Thanks to all of you who phone banked, block walked, worked the polls, put up signs and everything you did. This is a beginning. We should be proud.
Now we look forward with excitement and anticipation to the opportunities ahead to fight for social justice. We have dedicated Democrats in Grayson County & we will work on efforts that will provide positive change for our communities, county, state & country.

Let us continue the fight to turn Grayson County blue. Please stay active & will keep working to get our local candidates elected. Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes we will.

Thanks for all your hard work!!

"Energy and persistence conquer all things" ~ Benjamin Franklin


Picasa Web Albums - Glen J. - 2008-11-05 Victory Watch Party

See President elect Obama's acceptance speech.

Nervous About the Results of the Election?

From Moveon.org

We all are. Seems like everyone I know is feeling some mixture of excitement, anxiety and anticipation. We're hoping, praying, we're checking the polls every five minutes—or trying to ignore them.

Here's the thing: Worrying won't help Obama win. But talking to voters will.

There are thousands of people in swing states who will only vote for Obama if someone calls them in the next 48 hours. You have the power to affect the outcome of this election—even if you only have an hour to give.

The Obama campaign has built an online tool that lets you call voters in swing states—and they urgently need help to call everyone on their list. All you need is a phone and a computer. Can you make some calls?

Yes, I'll make some calls!
No, I can't make calls
Until now, we've been calling every single MoveOn member in the swing states to get them out volunteering for Obama. That effort blew away our expectations! Together, we've recruited 150,000 new volunteers in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and other key states.

Now, with 36 hours left until the polls close, we're asking everyone in Texas to start calling voters directly.

There are millions of voters who still need a reminder about tomorrow. So make some calls today!

Please—for your country, for your family, or even just to stay sane until the polls close—do everything you can during the next 36 hours. Let's win this thing.

–Justin, Anna, Andrea, Ray, and the whole MoveOn team

P.S. Here's the link to sign up, in case it didn't come through above:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3459&id=14987-7053478-5ir3e7x&t=4