Sherraye Speaks -- What About The Children?

She said she couldn't breathe. I thought she just wanted to get out of washing the dishes. Later that night, she got worse. I put her in the car and headed to the emergency room. As I was about to hit the entrance ramp to I-95, I thought about the bill. Money was already tight and because I was in the middle of a career transition, I didn't have health insurance. I told my daughter that I would just stop by CVS and get some anti nausea medicine. I thought she just had a stomach flu. She stopped vomiting, but something worse was looming.

The next day, when I got home from work, my daughter was lying in a pool of urine, she was breathing laboriously, and she was non responsive. Still, I thought she was just really, really dehydrated and needed to get some fluids in her system. I called 911, they took her to the ER, I got there a few minutes later and a doctor escorted me to a private area. "Your daughter has diabetes," he announced. "She is in a coma."

I was in shock.

He explained that they were giving her insulin to bring her blood sugar down. I felt so bad and the gravity of the situation had not sunk in. But it was about to.

A chaplain came in to pray with me. That's when I knew something was wrong. I summoned the doctor and asked him why I needed a chaplain. He told me that normal blood sugar is around 140. Your daughter's is 1200. He said that he didn't expect her to make it through the night. She was transferred to Nemours and the prognosis was no better over there. They told me she had 4 maybe 5 hours to live. If she lived, she would be a vegetable because of the swelling of her brain.

It had come to this.

I didn't get her to the Emergency Room sooner because I was worried about the bill. My child almost died because I was worried about how I was going to pay the bill.

Those of you who claim to be Christians but oppose universal healthcare, let me ask you a question. What would Jesus Do? Didn't he say, suffer the little children to come unto me? Doesn't the Bible that you claim to believe in say they who give to the poor lendeth to the Lord? Or did you skip that part? Some of you need to check yourself. You say you are a Christian but you have no compassion for the less fortunate and you have none of the attributes of Jesus. There is no fruit blossoming in your life. You are cold, heartless, and devoid of love. You're not a Christian because you are nothing like Christ.

I looked that doctor in his eyes after he told me my child, my first born, had 5 hours to live and I said to him, "She will be fine." And she was, thanks to the prayers of REAL Christians and the compassion of those wonderful nurses and doctors. My baby is a walking miracle. But you know what? She shouldn't have needed a miracle. I should have been able to take her to the doctor before the crisis hit. In a country as rich as ours, the fact that any man, woman, boy, or girl has died or may die because of lack of finances is ridiculous. If we can spend a billion dollars a month fighting a war then so what if we spend 900 billion dollars to give every American access to quality health care.

So I support MY president in his efforts to provide health care to every American regardless to their financial prowess or socioeconomic status. No one should die or go broke because they can't afford healthcare. If you don't feel the same, then shame on you. Take that cross from around your neck and throw your Bible in the garbage. You obviously don't believe in it.

Dems Say No to Publicly Funded Abortions

Five centrist Democrats --Reps. Tim Ryan, (OH), Dale Kildee (Mich.), James Langevin (R.I.), Artur Davis (Ala.) and Kendrick Meek (Fla.) -- have written a letter to Nancy Pelosi urging that health reform maintain the "status quo" on federal abortion funding. Here is their proposal:

...we believe that a common ground solution is to include language in the final legislation that makes clear that no insurance company will be required to pay for an abortion except in extraordinary circumstances -- nor will they be prohibited from paying for an abortion, so long as health insurance plans offered in the exchange that choose to provide abortion coverage pay for those services with funds that are separate and distinct from any federal subsidies.

This solution maintains the current status quo in the private market – where insurance companies can choose whether to include this coverage in their plans and individuals can choose which plan (and what sort of coverage) fits their individual needs and values while ensuring that no federal funds are used to pay for abortions.

Lastly, we believe that health reform legislation should not preempt constitutionally permissible state laws that establish pre-requisites that a patient must satisfy before obtaining an abortion, such as parental consent and waiting period laws.

The letter contains no mention of the public plan. But by opposing "federal subsidies" for abortion, these Democrats align themselves with Republican abortion opponents, whose goal is to prevent abortion coverage under any new public insurance options, just as the Hyde Amendment currently prevents Medicaid from funding abortion for poor women.

None of the health reform bills in Congress would repeal Hyde, meaning that as Medicaid is expanded to cover all Americans within 133 percent of the poverty line, the poorest women will still need to pay out-of-pocket for abortion. (A first-trimester abortion costs between $300 and $400.) What reproductive rights advocates are hoping for from health reform is that the new public insurance option will offer some abortion coverage, just as most private insurance plans currently do. But with increasing numbers of Democrats allowing abortion opponents to frame the health reform debate, little short of an intervention from the White House can slow the roll of the abortion grandstanding. So far the administration has shied away from the issue. Here's hoping that in his televised speech tonight, President Obama indicates that he won't allow anti-family planning ideologues to delay reform.

Man Up, Michael Steele

Over the weekend, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric "incendiary" and "ugly" and insisted that he, not Limbaugh, is in charge of the GOP.

Steele rejected the idea, saying, "I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party."

"Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment," Steele told CNN. "Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly."

Um huh...and today he apologized to Rush like a big sissy. Michael Steele makes me sick. Man up, Mike. Seriously.

Kilpatrick sentenced

Calling him "arrogant and defiant," a Wayne County Circuit Judge on Tuesday sentenced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to four months in jail with no early release under the terms of a plea deal.

Kilpatrick pleaded guilty last month to two felony obstruction of justice charges stemming from his efforts to cover up an extramarital affair. He also pleaded no contest to charges of assaulting a police officer attempting to serve a subpoena on a Kilpatrick friend in that case.

In imposing the sentence, Judge David Groner harshly criticized Kilpatrick for his conduct, particularly for a televised speech that aired hours after he entered his pleas.

"That night, the community expected to hear a message of humility, remorse and apology," Groner said. "Instead, we heard an arrogant and defiant man who accused the governor, among others, for his downfall." Watch the judge issue the sentence »

While a presentencing report submitted to the court said Kilpatrick accepts responsibility for his actions, Groner said he questioned the former mayor's sincerity.

"Many defendants have stood before this court. However, this case is different, and you are not the typical defendant," the judge said. "... You were expected to lead from the front and set an example."

Kilpatrick was accused of blocking a criminal investigation into his office and firing a police deputy to cover up an affair with his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty. When that deputy, Gary Brown, filed a whistle-blower suit last summer, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied under oath that an affair had taken place.

Groner noted that after a jury found in Brown's favor, Kilpatrick publicly vowed to appeal, only to do a "180-degree" turn after he found out the plaintiffs were in possession of text messages that gave evidence of the affair. Brown then urged the City Council to approve settlements, which cost the city $8.4 million -- closer to $9 million after legal costs.

In January, the Detroit Free Press revealed the text messages that contradicted Kilpatrick's and Beatty's testimony.

After the text messages were made public, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Kilpatrick and Beatty with multiple counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. The most serious charges would have carried a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison upon conviction.

Beatty resigned her post after the text messages were made public, but the case against her remains pending, Worthy said. The Free Press reported Beatty has rejected several plea deal offers, the last of which would have required her to serve 150 days in jail.

Worthy told reporters after Kilpatrick's hearing that she was satisfied with the result, but could not comment extensively on Kilpatrick's case. "We have another defendant to try," she said. "I don't want to step over that line."

Kilpatrick must also pay the city of Detroit $1 million in restitution, Groner ordered, and forfeit any future pension.

He initially refused to resign, and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm had called a hearing on whether she should remove him from office at the request of the Detroit City Council. Granholm adjourned those hearings after Kilpatrick pleaded guilty and agreed to resign.

In the speech after he pleaded guilty September 4, Kilpatrick told reporters Granholm and city officials should work for the people of Detroit as hard as they did to get him out of office.

He told the crowd his marriage is better than ever, and kissed his wife to resounding applause when he concluded his remarks. He said he decided to step down so the city could move forward.

Groner also ordered Kilpatrick to sign an order of revocation regarding his law license. Because of a pending complaint against Kilpatrick, he could not surrender the license, but instead had to agree to revocation -- something his defense attorneys argued vehemently against. Groner told them the issue could be raised on appeal if necessary.

Read the rest here.

He so stupid. I am so disgusted and disappointed in his dumb behind. I used to love me some Kwame. Lawd...

Gov. Palin to Obama: This Isn't Over Yet

Lakeland, FL: "Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had a pointed message Sunday for Barack Obama: This thing isn't over yet."

Palin said the Democratic presidential nominee was acting as if he's already won the election and had already written his inaugural address.

"Barack Obama and I both have spent quite some time on the basketball court," Palin told a raucous crowd of more than 5,000 at the Tampa Convention enter. "But where I come from, you have to win the game before you start cutting down the net."

Nine days before the election, Palin was making another push to sway voters in the battleground state of Florida, where polls show Republican nominee John McCain trails Obama in the fight for the state's 27 electoral votes. The Interstate 4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando, where Palin was concentrating her efforts Sunday, is where most of the state's undecided voters live. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency.

"You kinda get the feeling that the Obama campaign thinks this whole election process is just a formality," she said. "They've overlooked, though, the minor detail of earning your confidence and your trust and winning your vote.

"And judging from the media coverage, it does seem the coronation is already set," Palin said.
Obama's campaign said the claim that he has written an inaugural address is "completely false." Spokesman Bill Burton said the reference to an address came from a New York Times report Saturday that former White House chief of staff John D. Podesta had written a draft inaugural speech for Obama and included it in a recent book. Burton said Podesta wrote it as a sample address, not for Obama but for whoever became the nominee.

Palin also addressed recent reports that the Republican Party spent $150,000 on clothes and accessories on her for the campaign.

"This whole thing with the wardrobe, I try to just ignore it because it's so ridiculous," Palin said.
"Those clothes, they are not my property, just like the lighting and the staging and everything else the RNC purchased," she said. "I'm not taking them with me. I'm back to wearing my old clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska."

Palin talked about her accessories Sunday: earrings that were a gift from her husband's Yup'ik Eskimo mother, and "a $35 wedding ring from Hawaii that I bought myself. Because with my ring, I always thought, it's not what it's made of, it's what it represents."

Palin continued her criticism of an Obama economic plan that she says amounts to socialism, characterizing him as "Barack the wealth-spreader." She vowed that McCain would allow people to keep more of their money, and accused Obama of not telling the whole truth about what she said are his plans to redistribute wealth.

Later at a rally in Kissimmee, Palin said: "Florida, you have a choice between a politician who puts his faith in government and a leader who puts his faith in you. There's only one man in this race who's always fought for you, and that's John McCain."

The Heffa Lied...

Republican campaign worker who told police she was assaulted by a man angered by a John McCain sticker on her car admitted she made up the report, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, assistant police chief said Friday.

Ashley Todd, 20, of College Station, Texas, has been charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor, and may face more charges, said Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard at a news conference.

Todd is incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail but had not been arraigned Friday night.

Todd was a volunteer for a John McCain phone bank in Pittsburgh, the campaign said.

"This has wasted so much time. ... It's just a lot of wasted man hours," Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant said at the same briefing.

The woman told investigators a man approached her Wednesday night at an ATM in Pittsburgh's East End, put a blade to her neck and demanded money, Richard said.

Police said they found "several inconsistencies" in Todd's statement and she was not seen in surveillance videos taken at the ATM. She was asked to take a polygraph test Friday morning, Richard said. The results were not made public.

Later, Todd came to the police station to help work on a composite sketch of the alleged attacker. When she arrived, Todd "told them she just wanted to tell the truth" -- that she was not robbed, and there was no attacker, Bryant said.

Todd originally told police a man "punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground, and he continued to punch and kick her while threatening to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter," according to a police statement.

The woman also told police her attacker "called her a lot of names and stated that 'You are going to be a Barack supporter,' at which time she states he sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees, and scratched into her face a backward letter 'B' on the right side of her face using what she believed to be a very dull knife."

Bryant described Todd as "very cordial, polite, cooperating," and said the woman was surprised by all the media attention. Asked whether the false report was politically motivated, Bryant replied, "It's difficult to say."

"She is stating that she was in her vehicle driving around, and she came up with this idea," she said. "She said she has prior mental problems and doesn't know how the backward letter 'B' got on her face."

However, Todd was the only one in the vehicle, and "when she saw the 'B' she thought she must have been the one who did it," Bryant said.

"We're talking with the district attorney's office and conferring on just how we're going to handle it," she said. "It's been different stories through the night and this morning."

She said there was no indication that anyone else was involved.

Richard said the woman had described her alleged attacker as an African-American, 6 feet 4 inches tall with a medium build and short dark hair, wearing dark clothing and shiny shoes.

Before the revelation that the report was false, McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said that McCain and running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "spoke to the victim and her family after learning about the incident."

The Obama campaign also had issued a statement wishing the woman a "speedy recovery."

Ugly election incidents show lingering U.S. racism

Two weeks before an election that could install the first black U.S. president, scattered ugly incidents have reflected a deep residue of racism among some segments of white America.

A cardboard likeness of Barack Obama was found strung from fishing wire at a university, the Democratic presidential nominee's face was depicted on mock food stamps, the body of a black bear was left at another university with Obama posters attached to it.

Though the incidents are sporadic and apparently isolated, they stirred up memories of the violent racial past of a country where segregation and lynchings only ended within the last 50 years.

And some feared that Obama could be a target for people who reject him on racial grounds alone. The Illinois senator leads Republican rival John McCain in polls ahead of the November 4 election and has a big following in many sections of Americans, from liberals to conservatives, black and white, poor and wealthy.

"Many whites feel they are losing their country right before their eyes," said Mark Potok, who directs the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitors hate groups. "What we are seeing at this moment is the beginning of a real backlash."

Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said the incidents were disappointing but he said there were fewer than some had predicted.

"We've always acknowledged that race is not something that's been eradicated from our politics," said Axelrod. "But we've never felt that it would be an insuperable barrier and I don't think that it will be."

The latest incident occurred on Monday when the body of bear cub was found on the campus of Western Carolina University in North Carolina. Obama campaign signs were placed around the dead animal's head. School officials said it was a prank.

Earlier a cardboard likeness of Obama was strung up with fishing wire from a tree at a university in Oregon and an Ohio man hung a figure bearing an Obama sign from a tree in his yard. The man told local media he didn't want to see an African-American running the country.

ANGRY INDIVIDUALS

Potok said the displays of racism did not appear orchestrated as part of a campaign of racial intimidation, but were rather the acts of angry individuals. Their voices are often heard in radio call-back shows or letters to editors.

Many Americans "see the rise of minority rights, gay rights, women's rights as a threat to the world they grew up in and that their parents grew up in. They see huge demographic changes," he said.

"They see jobs disappearing to other countries, and now they see a man who is African American and who will very likely become president of the United States. For some of those people that symbolizes the end of the world as they know it."

He estimated there were as many as 800 white supremacy or nationalist groups in the United States, with at least 100,000 as "an inner core" of membership and many more on the fringes.

One such group, the League of American Patriots, last month distributed literature about why a "black ruler" would destroy the country.

Michigan State University professor Ronald Hall, writing in his new book "Racism in the 21st Century," said racism remains one of the most pressing U.S. social problems, though it now takes forms that are more subtle than the lynchings and mob violence seen decades ago in some parts of the country.

Some groups tagged with racist acts deny the charge.

In California, a Republican group said it intended no racial overtone when its October newsletter depicted a fake food stamp bearing a likeness of Obama's head on a donkey's body surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and other images evoking insulting stereotypes about African-Americans.

Some acts have targeted not Obama's black heritage -- his father was Kenyan and his white mother was from Kansas -- but the false notion that he is a Muslim.

A derogatory billboard in West Plains, Mo., went up last month showing a caricature of Obama wearing a turban.

"There are a lot of Republicans and McCain supporters who find it hard to believe that a black guy whose middle name is Hussein is going to be the next president of the United States," said David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

David Wolff, a 52-year-old white Pennsylvania voter who plans to cast his ballot for Obama, said he commonly hears racist comments and thinks such sentiments are deeply rooted across America.

"One thing that could speed up the eradication of racism would be to have a charismatic, inspirational, transformational, generational black president," he said.

Colin Powell endorses Obama

Colin Powell, a Republican who was President Bush's first secretary of state, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president Sunday and criticized the tone of Republican John McCain's campaign.

The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said either candidate, both of them senators, is qualified to be commander in chief. But he said Obama is better suited to handle the nation's economic problems as well as help improve its standing in the world.

"It isn't easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that," Powell, interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press," said of his longtime friend, the Arizona senator.

But, he added: "I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that's why I'm supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Sen. John McCain."

Powell's endorsement has been much anticipated because he is a Republican with impressive foreign policy credentials, a subject on which Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, is weak. Powell is a Republican centrist who is popular among moderate voters.

At the same time, Powell is a black man and Obama would be the nation's first black president. Powell said he was cognizant of the racial aspect of his endorsement, but said that was not the dominant factor in his decision. If it was, he said, he would have made the endorsement months ago.

Powell expressed disappointment in the negative tone of McCain's campaign, his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate and McCain's and Palin's decision to focus in the closing weeks of the contest on Obama's ties to 1960s-era radical William Ayers. A co-founder of the Weather Underground, which claimed responsibility for nonfatal bombings during the Vietnam War-era, Ayers is now a college professor who lives in Obama's Chicago neighborhood. He and Obama also served together on civic boards in Chicago.

"This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign," Powell said. "But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him?"

Powell said McCain's choice of Palin raised questions about judgment.

"I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States," Powell said.

McCain seemed dismissive of Powell's endorsement, saying he had support from four other former secretaries of state, all veterans of Republican administrations: Henry Kissinger, James A. Baker III, Lawrence Eagleburger and Alexander Haig.

"Well, I've always admired and respected Gen. Powell. We're longtime friends. This doesn't come as a surprise," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Asked whether Powell's endorsement would undercut his campaign's assertion that Obama is not ready to lead, McCain said: "Well, again, we have a very, we have a respectful disagreement, and I think the American people will pay close attention to our message for the future and keeping America secure."

Obama called Powell to thank him for the endorsement, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

"I am beyond honored and deeply humbled to have the support of Gen. Colin Powell," Obama said in remarks prepared for a rally in Fayetteville, N.C. "Gen. Powell has defended this nation bravely, and he has embodied our highest ideals through his long and distinguished public service. ...And he knows, as we do, that this is a moment where we all need to come together as one nation — young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Republican and Democrat."

Powell said he remains a Republican, even though he sees the party moving too far to the right. Powell supports abortion rights and affirmative action, and said McCain and Palin, both opponents of abortion, could put two more conservative justices on the Supreme Court.

"I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd be looking at in a McCain administration," Powell said.

Powell, 71, gained popularity while serving as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation's top military commander, during the first Gulf war under President George H.W. Bush. After retiring from the military, speculation mounted that he would run for president in 1996 — perhaps becoming the nation's first black president — but Powell opted against it.

As secretary of state, he helped make the case before the United Nations for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, launched in March 2003.

Powell said the nation's economic crisis provided a "final exam" of sorts for both Obama and McCain.

"In the case of Mr. McCain I found that he was a little unsure as to how to deal with the economic problems that we were having," Powell said. "Almost everyday there was a different approach to the problem and that concerned me, sensing that he doesn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had."

In contrast, Powell said Obama "displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this. ..."

"I think that he has a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well," Powell said.

Powell said he does not plan to campaign for Obama.

Blacks Against Obama

Democratic U.S. Presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign rally in Coral Gables, Florida on Friday was interrupted by a group of African-American protesters, calling themselves “Blacks Against Obama”.

The “Blacks Against Obama” group, consisted of about 10 African-Americans that showed up at the Obama rally in Florida. The protesters held signs saying, ”Obama was for gay marriage and abortion, and said his candidacy was “endorsed by the KKK.” Another sign said, “Jesse Jackson hates Obama.”

Obama was going to allow the protesters to stay at the rally, but they kept on shouting and interrupting the rally, and had to be escorted out.

He better than me.

Hold The Hallelujahs

Thoough they state different reasons, this Time article discusses how well Evangelical Christians will really receive Sarah Palin.

McCain and his aides may not want to say hallelujah just yet. While Palin is inspiring rhapsodies from the lions of the Christian right, her appeal to more moderate and younger Evangelicals — as well as independent swing voters — may be limited.

There is no doubt that Palin will help calm the doubts of that core Evangelical base and leadership. While many pundits have wondered whether social conservatives will recoil from the news that Palin's 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant, they're clearly not grasping the mores of that community. If Bristol Palin were the daughter of Democratic parents, she would undoubtedly be held up as an example of the failures of a liberal, permissive culture. Instead, she is viewed — as are the majority of teenage mothers in Evangelical churches — as a Christian who sinned, is forgiven, and needs to be embraced and supported.

The revelation about her daughter's pregnancy, and the fact that Palin herself chose to give birth to a baby with Down Syndrome, are just another part of the compelling picture Palin can paint of her faith. She was baptized in the Catholic Church and for most of her life belonged to an Assemblies of God congregation — a Pentecostal denomination. In high school, Palin was the local leader of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and most recently she moved her family to a nondenominational Evangelical church in her hometown.

That move away from the Pentecostal Church, which took place in 2002 when Palin first ran for lieutenant governor in Alaska, is the only potential sign she has given that her religious beliefs might be a political liability. Her spokeswoman now says that Palin does not identify herself as a Pentecostal. Historically Pentecostals and other Evangelical Protestants haven't always gotten along, largely because of theological differences. Pentecostal theology elevates the role of the Holy Spirit and includes belief in spiritual gifts, such as healing and speaking in tongues. But the groups have often been able to set aside their doctrinal disagreements for political purposes. Pat Robertson, a Pentecostal, and the late Jerry Falwell, a Fundamentalist, famously had bitter theological disputes but still joined forces as leading figures of the Christian right. (See photos of Jerry Falwell here.)

Palin's red-meat conservatism and Evangelicalism will almost certainly play well with those party faithful who attended the Republican National Convention this week. But with fewer than 60 days until Election Day (and a month before the start of early voting in many states), the McCain campaign's continued courting of the more traditional base spells trouble for any efforts to expand his appeal to independent voters and less conservative Evangelicals. If so, McCain may find himself quoting a bowdlerized verse of Scripture in November: What does it profit a man to gain the Christian right and lose the White House?

Read more of the article.

Florida Republican group to boycott Oprah?

The Florida Federation of Republican Women made the decision to boycott the Oprah Winfrey Show Saturday, after the media mogul refused to have Gov. Sarah Palin as a guest on her show until after the election wraps up.

"Women in Florida helped build Oprah into the icon she is today," Linda Ivell, President of the FFRW said in a statement. "We are deeply disappointed in Ms. Winfrey's decision to sit out the greatest political moment in the history of women since suffrage."

The talk show host denied accusations Friday, that she was even considering the vice presidential nominee as a guest.

"At the beginning of this presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a plat for any of the candidates," Winfrey wrote in a statement, responding to a story from The Drudge report claiming her staff was "sharply divided" on whether they should book the Alaska Governor.

Winfrey agreed Palin would be a "fantastic interview," but wouldn't invite her on until after the November elections.

The Florida Federation of Republican Women, the "largest political organization in Florida," celebrating the groups 58 year anniversary is also encouraging members to cancel subscriptions to O Magazine, Ivell said.

"We find it to be an abuse of her power -gained on the backs of our patronage of her advertising empire - to use her program to so blatantly support Obama in the face of this historic moment. So, we are tuning out and canceling our subscriptions to O Magazine and encourage other women to do the same," Ms Ivell said.

Winfrey came under fire from some of her supporters in December after campaigning with the Democratic nominee in South Carolina.

Ivell did not say the Florida Republicans would be tuning out indefinitely, but at least until 'after the election.' Adding, she and her members respect the decision to support Obama, "as every American is entitled to their personal opinion and vote."

My response:

Ummm...Oprah don't care. They better be glad I'm trying to be saved; otherwise, I'd say some real ugly words. The FFRW don't tell nobody what to do. Kick rocks.

Kilpatrick Shows No Remorse

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has plead guilty to two felony charges, will resign his office and pay a one million dollar fine.

The plea deal was announced during a court hearing and brings to an end a seven-month-long sex scandal that led to felony charges against Kilpatrick and plunged the city, region and state into political chaos.

My response:

I watched the proceedings and I was just...disgusted. Kilpatrick was cocky, he was arrogant, he was smiling, he was defiant. And to a certain extent, I understand...I do. He's trying to send the message that he is undeterred and unbroken. But that's the wrong message to send. He needs to be broken. He needs to be remorseful and contrite. That's why he's in this mess in the first place. His arrogance and need to be hard is why he has brought black folks to an open shame. He makes me sick. Dumb. Just dumb.

Read more of the story here.

Sherraye Speaks: On Sarah Palin...Barack Is In Trouble

You know, I hate to admit this but I’m listening to Sarah Palin – and I’m impressed. She is ticking me off because she is taking pot shots at Barack but I gotta tell you, if Barack wasn’t my candidate, I’d be a McCain supporter right now. I don’t want to, but I like her. She’s tough, she’s confident, she’s articulate – she’s a threat.

So what I am counting on are the Evangelicals because I know them. And what I know is that despite this feigned enthusiasm for the first female Republican VP candidate, the Evangelicals don’t like it and they will stay home. Because what I know about them is that they are more sexist than racist and, yes, they would rather see a black man in office than a white woman. And they hate her husband. That picture of him sitting there holding the baby and sitting with the kids while she is giving her grand speech ticks them off.

“Weakling!” they’re thinking.

I guarantee you, they think he’s a wimp. They won’t vote for Barack, but they won’t vote for McCain either.

Ut oh, she wants to fight the oil companies. McCain just lost.

Now, she’s talking about Barack again. I guess I shouldn’t get mad with her because I know she didn’t write this speech.

I’m looking at these white men…they have phony smiles plastered on their face. They don’t like her either. For once, the men get to fake it.

Obama Is In It To Win It

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is laying out his plan to lead the country into an era of change after what he called eight years of failed policies.

Obama was greeted by tens of thousands of cheering supporters chanting "yes we can."

He emphasized his humble roots and the example of his grandparents' service to the nation and their family.

"I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine," he said. "These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the United States."

He brushed aside critiques from his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, accusing him of being out of touch.

"It's not because John McCain doesn't care. it's because John McCain doesn't get it," he said of economic problems facing the country.

Point by point, he compared McCain's policies on the Iraq war, the economy, offshore drilling and health care, accusing him of pursuing the same policies as the Bush administration.

"Next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third," Obama said. "On November 4, we must stand up and say, 'eight is enough.' "

My response:

Let the haters say what they will, but Barack brought it tonight. I am impressed. The two things that impressed me the most is his plan to cut taxes and his plan to push Univeral healthcare. Now, I know my fellow Republicans have a problem with that but on that issue they can kick rocks. If they have ever been without health insurance and really needed it they'd switch parties faster than O.J. will jump on a white woman.

But, I know what it's like to be sick and have to grin and bear it. I know what it's like to watch your child suffer for two days because you are thinking to yourself, "I can't afford to take her to the ER just for them to tell me she has a stomach flu." So for two days I just kept giving my daughter gatorade and anti nausea medicine thinking she would get over it. But when I came home and found her in a coma, I had no choice but to go to the ER. I still thought it was a stomach flu -- a real bad one. When I got to the hospital, the doctor and the chaplain were waiting on me. They told me my child may not make it through the night. She didn't have a stomach flu. She had diabetes. My child almost died because I was worried about an emergency room bill. If I had taken her earlier she would not have gone into such a crisis. Normal blood sugar is around 120 to 140. Hers was 1200. Prayer is what kept her alive.

So, yeah, I'm a Republican, but on this one...I'm with Barack and the Dixiecrats... I mean the Democrats. And if these Republicans tick me off I'm switchin' parties -- again.

Sherraye Speaks: On Bill Clinton's DNC Speech

I cheered when Kendrick Meek introduced him. I forgot I was mad at him. Then I saw the look on Michelle Obama’s face and I remembered. Oh, yeah, we mad at him. But dang it, it’s hard to stay mad at one of the greatest President’s in the history of our country. Despite how badly he behaved over the last few months. I still love him. And so now, I’m not angry at him anymore…I’m hurt. I would have expected a lot of the things he said to come out of some other politician’s mouth, but not his.

Michelle is smiling now and I’m so glad because I want this Obama/Clinton rift to heal. I want to love the Clinton’s again. I want Hillary to be President (in 2012) and I want her husband’s legacy to remain intact. I’m hanging on every word. I want him to make it right. Much like a woman who has been betrayed by her man. We just beg them to say something that will make it easier to do what we want to do any way. We want to forgive them because we love them. That’s how I feel about the Clinton’s right now. I want to forgive them because they have meant so much to African Americans over the years. I want to go back to a time when I was enamored by them and in awe of them. Back to a time when we knew they were on our side.

“Come on, Bill!” I’m thinking right now.

“Say something that makes me love you again. Say something that makes me believe in you again.”

He’s saying all the right things, but despite the claps and smiles, Michelle is looking like she ain’t buyin’ it. And frankly, I hate to say it, but I’m not either. His words seem forced, contrived, rehearsed. You know, like when he looked in the camera and adamantly declared,

“I did not have sex with that woman.”

Michelle is still smiling and now it’s even wider and even brighter. Maybe it will be okay after all. Maybe.

Dang. I guess I still love you, Bill, but I’m sorry…I’m just not sure if I believe you…not yet. Make me believe.

Michelle Obama Rocked It

Michelle Obama took center stage at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, stressing her love for the nation and making her case for why her husband should be the next president.

I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president," she said of her husband, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Michelle Obama -- who could be the nation's first African-American first lady -- pushed a theme of unity in light of controversial comments she made on the campaign trail that resulted in speculation about her patriotism.

"All of us are driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won't do -- that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be," she said, closing the first night of the convention.

"That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack's journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope.

"And you see, that is why I love this country," she said to a standing ovation.

Read the rest here.

Obama, Watch Your Back!

Newsmax.com – Hillary's Campaign Against Obama Continues:

By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann Article Font Size



"Every speech should contain a line [saying that] you were born in the middle of America to a middle class family in the middle of the last century."

On May 10, 2007, Time magazine reported that Hillary's stump speech included the lines: 'I was born into a middle class family in the middle of the country in the middle of the last century.'

After Penn's memos were released to the media this week, Hillary's people spread the word that she did not take Penn's advice. But it is evident that she did."

The strategy Penn recommended was ridiculous. He somehow thought that by stressing Hillary's normalcy, Obama's unusual name, race, origin, parents, and skin color would redound to his detriment. In fact, the exact opposite proved to be the case. It has been his very novelty that has underscored his appeal. Penn missed the point.

But the larger point in his memos is that Hillary sought, from the beginning of the 2008 campaign, to use race as an issue against Obama. Her early willingness to wrap herself in the flag and marginalize Obama as an outsider bespeaks her efforts to inject race into the campaign. As soon as Obama emerged as her chief opponent, Hillary and Bill Clinton tried to make the election about race and to contrast her American roots with Obama's otherness.

It would be a mistake to think that Hillary's campaign against Obama is over. She and Bill both realize that if McCain wins, she would be the likely Democratic nominee against him in 2012.

At the age of 76, McCain might make easy pickings. Hillary's argument to win the nomination would be simple: I told you so. Her warnings that Obama was unelectable would have proven to have been prescient, and Democrats are likely to feel chagrined that they rejected her in 2008.

How will the Clintons undermine Obama? Not by any overt statement. In public, they will appear to be his biggest fans. Hillary does not dare incurr the wrath of Democratic voters by abandoning her party's nominee in the general election. But the Clintons will do what they do best: They will hog the spotlight. By speaking on Tuesday and Wednesday, this former first couple will spread themselves over the convention, usurping media, taking face time, and making the convention appear, for its first three days, as a Hillary Clinton gathering.

Remember how in 2004, Bill Clinton timed the release of his memoir "My Life" to coincide with the start of the John Kerry campaign. His swings through the nation, attracting lines and crowds at bookstores drew attention away from Kerry. His strategy of distraction culminated when he scheduled a book signing in Boston during the Democratic Convention, drawing mobs and pulling the spotlight away from Kerry.

By hogging the publicity at the Democratic Convention and by keeping the spotlight away from Obama, the Clintons are going to do all they can to stop the Democrat from getting a bounce from his Convention appearance. How will they hurt Obama down the road? Bill will make off-handed comments, seemingly mistakes. A lose cannon, he will appear to be undisciplined as he follows a game plan to undermine the candidate. Hillary will do her best to avoid campaigning for Obama and will undercut him in any way she can without getting caught.

Obama: Watch your back!

My response:
I absolutely agree with this assessment of the Clinton's and their plan to derail Obama's efforts. I sincerely hope that Barack supporters would come out in droves and vote for him. But regardless of the outcome of this election, Hillary Clinton has "torn her drawers" with me. And y'all know I was pulling for her. I thought Barack was stepping into the ring before his time and he should wait his turn. After all, the Clinton's had been our allies. Child please. As soon as the race got tight, THEY pulled the race card showing their true colors. If she had bowed out gracefully then she perhaps could have run again in 2016. But she didn't bow out gracefully and as far as I'm concerned, she has ruined her political career. Boo to her and her horny husband.

Clinton Rallies Planned for Convention

Clinton Rallies Planned for Convention: "Supporters of Hillary Clinton are planning a number of rallies at the Democratic national convention in Denver to express their disappointment with the party’s presidential primary process.
The Denver Group, formed by two Clinton backers, has filmed a TV commercial and scheduled a large reception in Denver for August 26.
Another pro-Clinton group, 18 Million Voices, is organizing a march on that day in Denver “and nationwide to support Sen. Clinton and advocate for women’s rights worldwide,” according to its Web site.

Some of the Denver Group’s goals are at odds with those of the Democratic Party, The Hill newspaper reports. It wants an open convention, with Hillary’s name placed in nomination, as well as a genuine roll call vote with Clinton as a legitimate candidate instead of what it calls a “coronation” of Barack Obama.
Clinton backers in Denver will hold signs reading, “Denounce Nobama’s Coronation,” according to the Denver Post."

Heidi Li Feldman, co-founder of the Denver Group, said her organization has raised up to $40,000 and bought six print ads in addition to the TV commercial.

One print ad showed a picture of Franklin D. Roosevelt and asked, “Would Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi have kept his name off the ballot?”

The ad pointed out that Roosevelt went into the 1932 Democratic convention short of the necessary delegates to sew up the nomination and won on the fourth ballot.

Marc Rubin, the other co-founder of the Denver Group, said there is “palpable anger” at the Democratic National Committee.

Hillary recently declared that Democrats must unite behind Obama and disclosed that she is in talks with the Obama camp and the DNC about her role and the role of her delegates, according to The Hill, which added:

“Clinton and many of her backers believe that, if there is a strategy of recognizing the New York senator’s delegates at the convention, it would be a cathartic experience and lead to a more unified Democratic Party.”

My response: This is why I am not a Democrat. That's all I will say for now until I get some more information.

Hillary is staying put

Senator Hillary Clinton said she will NOT drop out of the Democratic presidential race. But she needs to.

"The more people get a chance to vote, the better it is for our democracy," the New York senator and former first lady told supporters at a rally in Indiana, which holds a May 6 primary.

Obama says she should stay in as long as she wants to.

My response:

I don't care what Hillary or Barack says, Hillary should pull out of the race and try again in eight years. Whether she wins the nomination or not, she will not be the next President. And if you've followed my blog at all then you know that I support Hillary and would rather see her win the nomination over Obama. But the majority of Democratic primary voters disagree with me. Hillary can not get enough delegates to overtake Barack and even though he can't get enough to get the necessary majority, he is in the lead. If the super delegates decide it in Hillary's favor, Obama supporters will be so ticked off that they will stay home or vote for McCain.

Read the rest here.

Condi says Obama speech is "important"

Sometimes touted as a contender for the Republican vice-presidential slot, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has aired her thoughts on race in the United States, a prominent issue in the presidential election campaign.

Rice, the top ranking African-American in President George W. Bush's cabinet, told The Washington Times she had watched Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama's major speech on race last week.

"I think it was important that he (Obama) gave it for a whole host of reasons," said Rice in a transcript of the interview released by the State Department on Friday.

Obama would be the first black U.S. president if he wins the Democratic nomination and beats Republican candidate John McCain in the November election to succeed Bush.

While saying repeatedly she did not want to talk about the election campaign -- "I don't do politics" -- and also reiterating her lack of interest in the vice presidential slot, Rice said the United States had a hard time dealing with racial issues.

Rice said her own father, grandmother and great-grandmother had endured "terrible humiliations" growing up in the segregated south and yet they still loved America.

Read the rest here.