This is an Open Thread . . .

More: continued here

You can read the full text of the speech, as well as the details of Barack’s economic plan.

More: continued here

Today, I am proud to announce that our presidential campaign will be the first in a generation to deploy and maintain staff in every single state.

The network of volunteers and the infrastructure built up during the historic primary season — on behalf of all the Democratic campaigns — have given us an enormous and unprecedented opportunity in the general election.

We need to register new voters and bring people back into the political process. We need to reach out to Independents and Republicans who know that our country cannot afford another four years of George W. Bush’s disastrous policies.

And we need to overcome the three-month head start that John McCain has had to raise money and build support.

Your past support has brought us to the Democratic nomination. But we need to expand our base in order to build this 50-state organization. You can do that by encouraging a fellow supporter to step up and own a piece of this campaign.

Will you promise to match the gift of a first-time donor and double their impact? You can even exchange a note with them about why you are supporting this movement for change.

Help reach our goal of 30,000 new donors by making a matching donation now.

As in every presidential election, some states will be more competitive than others, and we will scale our resources accordingly.

But unprecedented grassroots energy during the primary means that the list of competitive states will be longer than ever before — and it will include states like Virginia and Montana that aren’t traditionally within reach for a Democratic presidential candidate.

And in every single state, our staff will build volunteer capacity that will provide help where we need it and impact races up and down the ballot this November.

Every day counts — voters head to the polls in less than five months. This is your opportunity to shape the election by helping to launch our unprecedented 50-state campaign now.

Last month, John McCain and the Republican National Committee raised nearly $45 million.

It’s going to take a lot of hard work to compete with those numbers. But we’re going to compete the right way.

Unlike John McCain and the RNC, this campaign has never taken donations from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. And Barack has directed the Democratic National Committee to make the same commitment.

We’re going to build our organization the way we have since the beginning — by relying on ordinary people like you giving only what you can afford.

Will you help take our campaign for change to every part of the country by making a matching donation today?

Thanks to your support, Barack Obama is now the presumptive Democratic nominee.

But he cannot determine the outcome of this election on his own.

It will all come down to what you are willing to do.

It’s time to answer the call.

Thank you,

Steve

Steve Hildebrand
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America 

More: continued here

More: continued here

I live in Charleston, West Virginia. And I voted for Barack Obama today.

So did my wife. And my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my Presbyterian pastor and his wife, my friend the retired Episcopalian priest and his wife, my bank teller, my boss, my co-worker, the lady who runs the business on the second floor of our building and her husband, the waitress at my favorite restaurant, at least two dozen of my neighbors, my State Senator, my United States Senator, my company’s tech guy, my college Sociology professor, a couple who runs a bed and breakfast in Sutton, WV and several of their staff, several first time voters from my church’s youth group, several more church members, the cooks at The Purple Fiddle in Thomas, WV, a local Municipal Judge and his wife, and the older lady who exited the polling place alongside my wife and I this morning.

These folks represent black and white, rich and middle class, young and old, religious and not… just like every other town in America. As Barack says, we are not as divided as our politics suggest. That being said…

Yes West Virginia Can!

More: continued here

Apparently, airlines can be fined up to $25,000 if passengers don’t get off the phone, and passengers themselves can be fined as well. The passenger could not be reached for comment by the AP, but a business associate said that Mr. Jones’ father was having a heart attack and and he was on the phone with the hospital.

“He expresses regret for the inconvenience that it caused the airline and its passengers, but he felt compelled because of the life and death nature of it to make that call,” Clayton said in a story for Monday’s online edition of the Austin American-Statesman.

Southwest passenger cited for refusing to get off cell phone [Houston Chronicle]
(Photo: Zonaphoto)

More: continued here

More: continued here
Powered by SmartRSS

FN FiveseveN Warning [FivesevenForum]

More: continued here

On Saturday, May 10, severe storms and tornadoes ripped across the central U.S., destroying homes in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia. Media reports indicated that twenty-three people were killed by the storms, and at least 150 more were injured.

And on Monday, May 12, at 2.28 p.m. Beijing time, a major earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, jolted southwestern China’s Sichuan Province. Several lower-scale earthquakes and aftershocks followed in the same area. According to the latest reports, more than 12,000 people have died and many more have been injured or are missing. Many schools were destroyed, including one that had at least 900 students in it. As authorities reach more remote areas, these numbers are expected to rise.

Throughout this campaign, we have seen time and again that when ordinary people reach out and act together, they can make a difference. Right now, your donations can help the Red Cross and its humanitarian partners provide shelter, supplies and access to clean drinking water to survivors in Myanmar and China, as well as families in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia.

Visit RedCross.org to find out how you can help.    

More: continued here

More: continued here