So I am writing another paper for my English class about Barack, and it seems Microsoft Word has been listening to too much Rush Limbaugh.

-J

Last night on MSNBC, Chris Matthews asked Texas Democratic Senator and Barack Obama supporter (not a campaign rep) about whether he could name any of Barack Obama’s legislative accomplishments. The Senator could not come up with any accomplishments, much to the amusement of the Hillary supporter also on the show. This is a question that a lot of people like to ask of us who support Obama, so as an informed voter, I have compiled a list of some of Barack’s legislative accomplishments.

That is mostly a list of important legislation that he authored or co-authored. You can find his complete voting record in the United State Senate here.

In Illinois
-Helped created the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state.
-Of the over 800 bills he sponsored as part of the Illinois Senate, 233 were for Health Care and Public Health, and 125 were for poverty and public assistance.

In Washington
-Only the fifth African American Senator, and the only one currently serving. Was also the first African American President of the Harvard Law Review.
-Worked with Senator Lugar to introduce the American Fuels Act to increase domestic production, distribution, and end uses of biofuels
-Author of the Fuel Economy Reform Act
-Introduced the Oil Sense Act
-Authored the Sheltering All Veterans Everywhere Act (SAVE Act)
-Authored the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act
-Introduced legislation to help low-income children from Hurricane Katrina-affected areas by temporarily extending the Child Tax Credit to low-income parents in counties affected by the storm.
-He has a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his support of abortion rights, family planning services and health insurance coverage for female contraceptives.
-Again with Senator Lugar, they introduced the Cooperative Proliferation Detection, Interdiction Assistance, and Conventional Threat Reduction Act of 2006. Was passed into law as part of the Department of State Authorities Act of 2006 by President Bush in January 2007.

Also, for those of you who think has Barack has no substance: Stop only watching the mainstream news. One reason why so many Americans are uninformed when they vote is because they are only watching what is on CNN or Fox News, which is all spin and highlights. Do some research of your own (on all the candidates, no matter who you are voting for), and you will find a lot more information on how they stand on all the issues. The best place to start is their official websites. Barack has posted his “Blueprint for Change“, a 64 page PDF on his plan for America. There are also pages for each issue. How’s that for substance?

Oh yeah. 10 in a row baby. Hard as you try, can’t spin that kind of momentum.

-J

Today I had the great honoring of attending and participating in my first caucus here in Seattle, Washington. My precinct was 43-2115, and here is how it went, along with some photos.
At around 12:50, myself and two of my friends headed out to our caucus location, which was conveniently located two blocks from my dorm. As you will see in the pictures, there was a huge majority of Obama supporters. The first step was getting a registration form so I could change my voting address to my current address at the dorms (so that I could caucus there). After passing around my pen and searching high and low for forms, all three of us successfully updated our address, and proceeded into the packed (and very hot) caucus room for our precinct, 43-2115 (two other precincts shared the room aswell, which made it loud, crowded, and hot). The first order of business was everyone had to sign in, and indicate which candidate they were voting for. After we recited the pledge of allegiance (to a flag that was located across the street on top of a building, as there was not one in the room), we rearranged ourselves based on which candidate we wanted, or if we were undecided. I was confused at first and thought this was some kind of special “Obama only” caucus, because I did not see any Hillary supporters until after we rearranged ourselves. After tallying the votes, it was announced that there 8 delegates for Obama, 2 for Hillary (for the 6 Hillary supporters from our precinct), and 2 undecided. Next, supporters of each candidate had 1 minute to come up with a speech to convince the undecided voters to vote for our candidate (because they would be wasting their time if they did not choose a candidate), and then have one person deliver that speech. After hearing both of the speeches, the undecided had 10 minutes to decide who they were going to change their votes to. It only took about 5 minutes for them to change their delegates to Obama! That gave Obama a commanding 10-2 advantage to win the caucus! And he has gone on to win all the caucusing tonight, Washington, Nebraska, Lousiana, and the Virgin Islands! Awesome job to all the Obama supporters who came out today!
Here are some pictures from the caucus!

-J

My good friend Derek from the LPA showed me this amazing new music video. The song is written by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, and features Barack Obama’s moving “Yes We Can” speech (after his “loss” in New Hampshire). It has appearances from tons of celebrities and musicians, including John Legend, Scarlett Johannson, Common, and Nick Cannon (whos appearance surprises me the most, as Nick is a strong pro-life advocate), among many others. Check it out here!

If you are an eligible voter, please, PLEASE vote. Even if it’s not for Obama (which it should be…ha). There is no greater responsibly as a citizen of this great country than to participate in its democracy.

I have ripped the song into mp3, which can be downloaded here.

-J

So I was having a pretty boring day today (it rained, suprise), and then I navigated to Digg, and was greeted with the fantastic news that Barack Obama won today’s Iowa Caucuses! Here is his speech afterword (he is an amazing speaker):

I will write more about Barack later, but I will say this: if there is ever a time for change in this country, its now, and if there is a man to do it, it’s Barack. If you are not familiar with him, go to his website, BarackObama.com, and read up on his positions on all the issues. And please remember to vote in your state’s primaries: Participate in the democracy millions have died to defend.

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-J