Damn straight Oliver! Great stuff. This is just what is needed – not a return to cynicism and defeatism that so many are apt to fall into. If all you do is point fingers and play Monday morning quarterback – you’re part of the problem. If you have ideas – lay your cards on the table. I’m eliminating from my reading list the obvious whiners who thrive off of negativity and do nothingness. Get involved.

Dear Karl,

I want to thank you personally for what you did in the election — you rewrote the book on grassroots politics, taking control of campaigns away from big donors. No campaign will ever be the same.

You moved voters, helped hold George Bush accountable, and countered the attacks from big news organizations such as Fox, Sinclair Broadcasting, and conservative talk radio.

And your efforts count now more than ever. Despite the words of cooperation and moderate sounding promises, this administration is planning a right wing assault on values and ideals we hold most deeply. Healthy debate and diverse opinion are being eliminated from the State Department and CIA, and the cabinet is being remade to rubber stamp policies that will undermine Social Security, balloon the deficit, avoid real reforms in health care and education, weaken homeland security, and walk away from critical allies around the world.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all the votes are counted — and they will be counted — we will continue to challenge this administration. This is not a time for Democrats to retreat and accommodate extremists on critical principles — it is a time to stand firm.

I will fight for a national standard for federal elections that has both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It’s unacceptable in the United States that people still don’t have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process.

I ask you to join me in this cause.

And we must fight not only against George Bush’s extreme policies — we must also uphold our own values. This is why on the first day Congress is in session next year, I will introduce a bill to provide every child in America with health insurance. And, with your help, that legislation will be accompanied by the support of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

There are more than eight million uninsured children in our nation.

That’s eight million reasons for us to stay together and fight for a new direction. It is a disgrace that in the wealthiest nation on earth, eight million children go without health insurance.

Normally, a member of the Senate will first approach other senators and ask them to co-sponsor a bill before it is introduced — instead, I am turning to you. Imagine the power of a bill co-sponsored by hundreds of thousands of Americans being presented on the floor of the United States Senate. You can make it happen. Sign our “Every Child Protected” pledge today and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors:

http://johnkerry.com/EveryChild

This is the beginning of a second term effort to hold the Bush administration accountable and to stand up and fight for our principles and our values. They want you to disappear; they are counting on that. I’m confident you will prove them wrong, and you will rewrite history again.

Here is what I want you to know. I understand the strength, commitment, and passion that are at the core of what we built together — and I am determined to make our collective energy and organization a force to be reckoned with in the weeks and months ahead.

Let’s roll up our sleeves and get back to work for our country.

Thank you,
John Kerry

John Kerry email to supporters: 11/19/2004

Me and thousands of others got this email today. I gotta tell ya – I am very, very excited that Kerry isn’t going to let the enthusiasm of so many volunteers fall by the way side. It’s one very big email list of people that want to make a change for the better. Sign the petition folks. Sign your name and take a stand.

BTW – Even if the video is word for-word a reading of the email above, it’s great to see.

Happy Birthday to you.

…does the FCC have the legal status necessary to regulate digital TV or not? Susan Crawford has been following this, and posted the brief (PDF) that was filed by the FCC in response to this question, along with her thoughts on the implications of the FCC’s increased bravado:

The FCC’s brief, filed in response to PK’s challenge to FCC’s jurisdiction in the flag matter, is breathtaking. FCC’s position is that its Act gives it regulatory power over all instrumentalities, facilities, and apparatus “associated with the overall circuit of messages sent and received” via all interstate radio and wire communication. That’s quite a claim.

The scope of such a claim is immense, reaching people’s PCs and any other conceivable digital television consumption device. Unfortunately, it’s evident that much of the FCC’s latest legislation (and hubris) comes at the behest of the larger players in the content production industry, which doesn’t bode well for consumers. The trifecta of increasingly draconian copyright restriction, combined with the new ability (via the DMCA) of private entities to effectively set their own copyright rules outside scope of the law, and an FCC that thinks it controls as much as it does, create a harsh environment for smaller companies and consumers. Indeed, the FCC’s dismissal of 70 years of procedures reflects the potential problems we could face in near future

arstechnica: FCC clarifies that they do, in fact, control everything: 11/15/2004

I wonder when they will tell me my blog, mailing lists, or email is indecent?

As Jeff Jarvis pointed out – it is far too easy for just a few people to suppress the free speech of the many by using the FCC. He filed a Freedom of Information Act request to research a $1.2 million dollar fine the FCC levied against Fox for the suggestion of sex on one of its shows. What he found was disturbing. You should read it.

Now these “Selective Constitutionists” are up in arms over the Monday Night Football opening Desperate Housewives advertisement, featuring Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan. Gimme a break. It was a soap opera spoof piece! If you really want to sanitize sports advertisements, lets start with all those damn Viagra or beer commercials. I just hate hypocracy. I just hate it.

Notice my use of the phrase “Selective Constitutionists”. We need a word or phrase, with as much omph as ‘politically correct liberals’ to label those who decide to support only part of the Constitution, part of the time. I don’t know what that word or phrase is, but I do know it’s important to find.

This was removed from the university website, but I think you should read it:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

The media tells us that you have received the largest number of popular votes of any president in America’s history. Congratulations!

In your re-election, God has graciously granted America?though she doesn’t deserve it?a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly.

Don’t equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you.

Had your opponent won, I would have still given thanks, because the Bible says I must (I Thessalonians 5:18). It would have been hard, but because the Lord lifts up whom He will and pulls down whom He will, I would have done it. It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term. Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. You have four years?a brief time only?to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God.

Christ said, ?If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my father honour? (John 12:26).

The student body, faculty, and staff at Bob Jones University commit ourselves to pray for you?that you would do right and honor the Savior. Pull out all the stops and make a difference. If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them. Conservative Americans would love to see one president who doesn’t care whether he is liked, but cares infinitely that he does right.

Best wishes.

Sincerely your friend,

Bob Jones III
President

BJIII:lw

Letter to President Bush from Dr. Bob Jones III

BTW – you can’t associate these folks with Catholics like myself since they claim we are a ‘satanic counterfeit’ (yes, you read that right) :

…A Catholic may be saved in spite of his church. He will never be saved because of it.

Romanism is a pagan counterfeit of the Christian religion, ancient paganism and idolatry, claiming to be the church which Christ founded. While the other groups and denominations have differed historically on questions of scriptural interpretation, their common origin is biblical. Romanism is a religion of works. Protestantism is a religion of free grace. The Roman Church is not another Christian denomination. It is a satanic counterfeit, an ecclesiastic tyranny over the souls of men, not to bring them to salvation but to hold them bound in sin and to hurl them into eternal damnation. It is the old harlot of the book of the Revelation?”the Mother of Harlots.”

Bob Jones University: Romanism and the Charismatic Movement

They have since backed away from such a hard line against Catholics – and against interracial marriage (within the past for years), and it’s old news that George Bush visited the university during his 2000 run for President. What is news is that the school wants payback for its support during the campaign.