Where’s the Outrage?

James Taylor is “Goin’ to Carolina” for Obama

Music Legend to Campaign for Change Across the State

**Details provided below**

RALEIGH - Music legend James Taylor will tour the state in support of Senator Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change Sunday, October 19 through Tuesday, October 21. He will hold concerts in Charlotte, Asheville, Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Wilmington.

Taylor will help spread Senator Obama’s message of change to Tar Heel voters and encourage Obama supporters to get out and vote early.

North Carolina is a battleground state this year because residents cannot afford four more years of the same Bush policies that John McCain is offering. Senator Barack Obama is the only candidate that will bring the change North Carolina needs to create jobs and help our economy recover.

Taylor was raised in Chapel Hill, where his father was the Dean of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Over the course of his long career, he has earned 40 gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards and five Grammy Awards. He has been inducted into both the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and the prestigious Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and has sold some 40 million albums throughout his career.

Below are details for the venues and ticket distribution for the free concerts:

Sunday, October 19^th

Charlotte Concert for Change

Ovens Auditorium

2700 E. Independence Avenue

Doors Open 1:30pm

Charlotte Ticket Distribution Locations

South County Regional Library

5801 Rea Road

Friday Oct.17^th

11am-7pm

Plaza Midwood Regional Library

1623 Central Avenue

Friday Oct.17^th

11am-7pm

University City Library

301 E. W.T. Harris Boulevard

Friday Oct.17^th

11am-7pm

Sunday October 19^th

Asheville Concert for Change

Martin Luther King Park

50 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive

Doors Open 6:30pm

Asheville Ticket Distribution Locations:

UNC Asheville, Zeis Building

1 University Heights

Friday Oct.17^th and Saturday Oct.18^th

10am-6pm

West Asheville Library

942 Haywood Road

Friday Oct.17^th and Saturday Oct.18^th

10am-6pm

Asheville Senior Opportunity Center

36 Grove Street

Friday Oct.17^th and Saturday Oct.18^th

10am-6pm

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For Immediate Release

October 16, 2008

Contact: Paul Cox; North Carolina Press Secretary; (919) 604-7171

For James Taylor contact:

Allison Elbl, IDPR, 323.822.4851, aelbl@id-pr.com

Tags: Election 2008, Music by ecthompson
1 Comment »

Die-hard conservatives who have won just about everything over the last 27 years are now feeling very, very desperate. This is why we’ve felt the tone of the McCain campaign turn away from the issues and focus on personal attacks. Some conservatives are despondent; others are mad. There are those who believe the country will go down the tubes if a Democrat gets elected president.

Short of chaos breaking out in every street in every town, how can the country be further down the tubes? We have over $10 trillion worth of debt. The Republicans have doubled our debt over the last eight years. We are bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, spending over $10 billion a month and really have nothing to show for our efforts. The median income of Americans, adjusted for inflation, has yet to rise to the level seen in the year 2000.

Almost every major initiative that George W. Bush and the rest of the neo-conservatives have inflicted on America over the last eight years has been a complete failure. No Child Left Behind, George W. Bush’s grand education proposal, is a disaster on multiple levels. It is a poorly funded state mandate. The basic premise of the idea that testing equals knowledge has never been proven. In my opinion, No Child Left Behind was a ruse to dismantle the American education system. An under-educated populace is easier to control. This is just my cynical opinion, of course, but the bottom line is that there is no evidence that our children are learning more.

The environment is considerably worse off now than it was eight years ago. The president’s initiative Healthy Forests was designed to aid the logging community. His Clear Skies initiative has increased our air pollution and not decreased it. The Environmental Protection Agency has become a joke. The Superfund was designed to benefit tax polluters. Those funds, which were supposed to be used for major clean-ups, are utterly depleted. See what happens when you don’t enforce the laws and there are no fines?

Under President Bush, North Korea has been allowed to develop four to eight times the number of nuclear weapons that they had under President Clinton. Iran, which had little or no nuclear weapons program is now clearly moving towards developing nuclear weapons. The one thing that we can say is that Saddam Hussein is no longer a threat to the United States or to his neighbors. In hindsight, Saddam Hussein was adequately controlled under UN inspections and by our no-fly zones. Saddam Hussein was no threat to the United States and was little or no threat to his neighbors. The sanctions worked.

Every single segment of Americans, excluding the most wealthy, is worse off now than they were eight years ago. Unfettered Republican policies have decimated this country. Yet conservatives hold on to the notion that the Republican party has the solution to this disaster and that Democrats are going to destroy the country. All I can say is when this country is better off in four years (not fixed, but at least improved), I hope that these Republicans will be big enough to stand up and say, “We were wrong.” That’s all I ask.

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson
3 Comments »

I guess the question is how a presidential debate is won. There is no referee other than the American populace and the moderator does not stand up and call a time-out every time a candidate stretches the truth. So how do you win?

I guess the answer is to look presidential, (whatever that is). You need to look calm, cool and in complete command of the subject.

The tasks at the beginning of this debate were completely different for each candidate. Sen. John McCain needed to convince the American people that he has a viable plan to fix our economy. He needed to persuade the American people that he is on their side. He also needed to let them know that he is not only different than George W. Bush, but better. Finally, John McCain must convince us that all of the flailing around that we saw with the economy over the last several weeks has been merely an illusion. McCain had to prove to us that he knows what he is doing.

Sen. Barack Obama, on the other hand, needed only to continue doing what he’s been doing. He needed to continue to show that he understands the economy and that his plan is better for the middle class. He also needed to combat the negative attacks and to get out of this debate without screaming, “I’m a terrorist.”

Unfortunately for the Republican ticket, John McCain had a nearly impossible task, whereas Barack Obama had a task that was easily within his grasp. John McCain looked angry, even frustrated at times. Barack Obama continued to look as if he is in charge and understands the issues. John McCain was not able to distance himself from George W. Bush. He stated that he was not George W. Bush, but never clearly articulated how his economic plan was different than something Bush would propose. Barack Obama skillfully disarmed the Bill Ayers issue. The ACORN allegations were never completely explained by John McCain. Once again, Barack Obama successfully articulated that his campaign has nothing to do with ACORN.

There were multiple times when Barack Obama had an opportunity to go for the jugular and he didn’t…not once. I think Barack Obama and his advisers decided that going directly after John McCain or Sarah Palin would make him appear petty. Maybe they did focus groups. I don’t know. But I do know that Barack Obama took the high road at every opportunity. At the same time, he did not cower from John McCain. He stood up for himself and his proposals. This may be why he won all three debates.

 

Tags: Domestic Issues, Election 2008, Energy by ecthompson
3 Comments »