Word picture from Wordle.

Click the image to see it larger.

Wordle made this word picture of Ghost Town Orange's current home page. Click here to go to my gallery page at Wordle where you will also find several word pictures created from this chunk of text from Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope:

Any strategy to reduce intergenerational poverty has to be centered on work, not welfare--not only because work provides independence and income but also because work provides order, structure, dignity, and opportunities for growth in people's lives.

But we also need to admit that work alone does not ensure that people can rise out of poverty. Across America, welfare reform has sharply reduced the number of people on the public dole; it has also swelled the ranks of the working poor, with women churning in and out of the labor market, locked into jobs that don't pay a living wage, forced every day to scramble for adequate child care, affordable housing, and accessible health care, only to find themselves at the end of each month wondering how they can stretch the last few dollars that they have left to cover the food bill, the gas bill, and the baby's new coat.

--Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, 2006

Obama vote for change radio ad transcript

This radio ad is playing frequently on a pop music station in Virginia:

Tim: My name is Tim. I registered to vote because I've never voted before.

Anthea: This is Anthea, and I went to voteforchange.com because the economy stinks.

Male voice: I'm registering because I want Social Security to be here when I retire.

Dominique: My name is Dominique, and I'm voting because I want to retire before I'm 90.

Male voice: I registered to vote because I only make 2 gallons of gas an out.

Female voice: I registered because the future won't run on oil.

Andy: This is Andy, and I'm voting to end the war.

James: My name is James, and I registered because when I need health care, I want to know that I can afford it.

Male voice: I went to voteforchange.com because it costs more to fill up my tank than my mom makes in a day.

Female voice: I went to voteforchange.com because we can't afford four more years.

Barack Obama: I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this message because, whatever your reason, you need to register in order to vote. Get everything that you need to register and vote at voteforchange.com .

Announcer: The deadline for registration is almost here. If you want to vote for change, you need to register now at voteforchange.com. That's voteforchange.com. Paid for by Obama for America.

At voteforchange.com, you can check your voter registration status, register to vote, request to vote absentee, and find your polling location.

For Virginia, the deadline for registering to vote for the November election is October 6th.
More info about voter registration in Virginia available from the Virginia State Board of Elections website.

Meanwhile, some folks are worrying about the lack of yard signs for Obama. If it's that important to you, make your own. But signs don't vote. People who are registered to vote do.

On the other hand, it would be nice to see more sign support for Obama in the more rural areas of this county, because there are plenty of Republican signs. People like to feel that they are not alone.

I am not suggesting that every progressive suddenly latch on to religious terminology or that we abandon the fight for institutional change in favor of "a thousand points of light." I recognize how often appeals to private virtue become excuses for inaction. Moreover, nothing is more transparent than inauthentic expressions of faith--such as the politician who shows up at a black church around election time and claps (off rhythm) to the gospel choir or sprinkles in a few biblical citations to spice up a thoroughly dry policy speech.
--Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope

Barack Obama, Racism, and Eliminationist Rhetoric

A letter to the editor in the September 17-23 issue of the North Fork Journal, Rockingham County, Virginia [no web presence]:

Recently, I and my wife noticed this sign in a field at Fulks Run. Painted over the Barack sign were the letters KKK.

My wife is from Puerto Rico (a U. S. territory) and has lived in central Florida for twelve years. She has seen the face of the KKK actively. She has also received death threats while running for local office. In nearby St. Cloud, a cafe was called the Koffee Kup Kafe.

The only head covering she expected to see here was that of the Mennonites, which would have been a good thing.

It is hard for our generation, in our community, to understand what those three letters mean. Ask an older person who is a minority, or anyone else who has really seen the face of hatred. Threats have been leveled at Barack, and by extension, his supporters. My wife is NOT the only minority in this community.

It is neither funny nor trivial. It is NOT what our community is about, and we need to stand against this hatred in the MOST VOCAL MANNER POSSIBLE! Our community needs to publicly stand against hatred and threats of violence! We need to organize and event to express this within our community.

Bruce Ritchie
Criders

Another recent letter in the Fort Worth Star Telegram notices the impact of racism on this election:

September 05, 2008
How racism works

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the "Keating 5"? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

— Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth
Fort Worth Star Telegram (hat tip to Andrew Tobias)

[The last sentence kind of muddles up Mr. LaFond's message, but the point he's making is obvious.]

Jesus' General has a handy spinner to help racists who claim their opposition to Obama is not because he's black.

Go check out the opening segment of Bill Moyers Journal for September 12, 2008. Right-wing talk show hosts seething with eliminationist rhetoric aimed at liberals. [Audio mp3 here. (no idea if this is a permanent link)]

Go check out David Neiwert's series "Eliminationism in America": Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX and X, and Appendix.

A recently opened exhibition for artist/illustrator Arthur Szyk [Bilder gegen Nationalsocialismus und Terror -- Deutsches Historisches Museum] has this pertinent image:

Vergib ihnen nicht, oh Herr, denn sie wissen, was sie tun!…
Do not forgive them, O Lord, for they do know what they do!
New Canaan, 1949

--'humble, earnest Christians' do not engage in armed rebellion against the government to protect chattel slavery...