HOW CAN YOU ASSURE ONE TERM MORE FOR BARACK OBAMA? By Louise Annarino, August 24, 2012
Whenever I start to forget that every day most people in this country are working to create a better world for every one of their fellow citizens I shall watch this video. It reminds me that those who fear the future because they fear their fellow citizens are few. Yes, racism penetrates the fiber of each institution and person. Yet, most of us fight racism whenever and wherever it shows itself, even when it appears within ourselves. We Americans are basically good people. We believe in equality and freedom. We are made of stern stuff. We are strong enough to confront racism. Unfortunately, there is a small minority who live and breathe racism, for whom it has become second nature. Worse, there are those who use this bigotry, fear and loathing for their personal gain. Since the election of an African-American president there are political operatives and political leaders willing to use racist hate-mongering in a monumentally historic manner to gain the power of the presidency. It is such a painful thing to watch, that persons of good will can easily become so discouraged they start believing the propagandists of hate are stronger than they really are. We are stronger.
Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/48090310
The New York Times reported few days ago, “Doug Preisse, the influential Republican Party chairman of Franklin County, which includes the state capital, Columbus, was quoted in The Columbus Dispatch newspaper as saying, ‘I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter turnout machine’.” Did he know how racist this comment is? Should he have known? Voter suppression is particularly disgusting when applied to African-American voters who fought so hard for the right to vote; and treasure the right to vote so dearly. Today, Mitt Romney used this tactic when he “joked” about not needing to show his birth certificate. Did he know how racist this joke is? Should he have known? Jokes about African-Americans, women, and others-particularly racist birther jokes- are not funny; especially when used to foster distrust and hate, and to bolster the bully power of the jokester. Such a joke is more than unseemly. It is sickening. We cannot allow ourselves to believe our fellow citizens are such sickening creatures,even though a man chosen as the country’s possible leader is the jokester. When your stomach starts to churn, watch this video and calm your disgust long enough to believe in the positive power of the majority of our fellow citizens.
Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/48090310
There are days the when the racism and hate is so strong and so pervasive that I cannot write a word. My hands are fists, unable to open and strike a key. The racism and hate brings tears which blind me to the goodness of others. It blocks rational thought, and I fear the damage angry words would cause. It is not hopelessness which engulfs me, but pure frustration that after so many years, having come so far, we must yet address the crosses burning up the airwaves in political commercials, rolling off the tongues of politicians opposing an African-American president to the jeers and cheers of the lynch mobs. You think I exaggerate? You think it wrong to compare what we have seen, and what I expect to see at the Republican Convention to Jim Crow? I do not literally think the pols would engage in forming a lynch mob; but,I do not doubt there are those who would gladly join one. We must expect and we must demand that pols stop pandering to those supporters who would go to the center of town to watch a lynch mob, and those who would join the mob. How do we fight such hate-mongers? With peaceful protest and peaceful admonishment; never with hate. Those who made this video found one way.
Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/48090310
Each of us has some talent, some gift to offer,even if only the ability to walk up to a door and help register a voter, to put together and distribute a yard sign, to cradle a phone and remind a voter to vote for Barack Obama, to bring a casserole to an Obama campaign office to feed volunteers, to offer housing to a young volunteer, to write a letter to the editor challenging false claims and racist comments. Some of us can only pray, or raise money. But, we can all do something. We are many. We are strong. We are sure that Barack Obama must have one more term. When we start to falter we can watch this video and remember; then, we can act in whatever way we are able.
Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/48090310
Then act here: http://www.barackobama.com
annarino writes 
A SENSE OF HUMOR CAN SAVE THE WORLD
A sense of humor may save us all. One cannot grip a weapon of words or worsewhile laughing. Some of us actually fall down laughing as muscles relax beyond support of our frames, or our frame of mind. It is just too difficult to attack another while laughing, especially if one can laugh at one’s self. The serious-minded sometimes misunderstand such self-effacing laughs. They mistakenly believe one is laughing at them.
I love to laugh. It stops the fingers from reaching for weapons I carry in my mind’s pocket, the sharp words I can wield like a knife. Better I laugh aloud during an argument than pull out such words and attack.
This is one reason the entertainers I most respect are comedians. Court jesters who poke the kings and courts of the world to relieve the tensions in their realms allow peace to reign instead. Keep the world laughing and perhaps war will hold its breath.
My Dad was a comedian. Not as a profession, as a personal trait. His silly grin infected anyone who was within its view. Some of his best work was at funerals. I watched him charm the smiles from mourners, restore their joy and fond memories of the deceased. Quietly he worked the room, or the procession of cars halted on busy paths at the cemetery. Walking form car to car he would stop at each one. In moments the car was shaking and passengers’ shoulders chopping up the view with laughing. As soon as he started the laughter he would move on to the next car. Dad was a master of silliness.
Mom lived life as if it were an Italian opera, full of high drama. Dad was the court jester who brought his audience of children to their feet in glee. Mom learned to make that silly grin, too. We all did. We are a family of grinning fools. We learned to never take life’s difficulties seriously, and to seriously dismiss life’s accomplishments as a humorous surprise.
We were taught to laugh at ourselves. We were taught to admit our human frailty, and view it as a reason for laughter. What a gift from our parents. The gift of not fearing our mistakes, nor fearing to admit them. The ability to sincerely apologize. The ability welcome accountability. The ability to laugh and move on with forgiveness. The ability to openly admit defeat with a smile. The ability to fight our stubborn natures with humor.
I must admit, others often think our wry humorous response to our own mistakes is sarcasm, the lowest form of humor. Sometimes, when our pain is great, the lowest form is all we can muster. I must remind myself to raise the humor up a notch, or two or three. I will never be so good at this as my Dad was. I am too much like Mom and enjoy the Italian opera’s drama, the pull of its force which can mute the humor with tears. Balance is the most I can hope for, until the laughter destroys my balance and I fall laughing at your feet; knowing if I can make you laugh, too, you cannot stomp me into the dust.
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Tagged as comedians, court jester, humor, jokes, laughter, peace, war