• So much to do, so little time!
• Jewish Voices for Obama
  • Janet Goldstein Gets Out the Vote
  • Gayle Greco Meets Michelle
• It's Not Over Yet. Please Help!
• Israel's Generals Speak
• Stop the Smears
  • Rashid Khalidi and the Los Angeles Times
  • Jesse Jackson speaks for Jesse Jackson, not Barack Obama
• McCain Transition Chief Aided Saddam in Lobbying Effort
• “Kitchen-Sink Attacks” on Obama Multiply
• Nobel Laureates Endorse Obama
• Country First: Prominent Americans Say “Yes!” to Increasing Their Own Taxes Under Obama
• “Ain't Funny”

Obama Information Overload! (original image: DiscoverySchool.com)

We had planned for this issue to be our last. However, we didn't take into account (silly us!) that the volume of new information would increase dramatically as November 4 approached. With four days left until E-Day, we're left with enough amazing, can't-be-missed material to fill three newsletters!

We did our best to winnow it down to one issue, but we just couldn't do it — there's simply too much great stuff. Therefore, we beg your indulgence as we share with you not one final issue, but three: one today, another on Sunday, and a third on Monday, all of them filled with informative, useful and inspirational content.

Onward to victory!

Barack Obama is truly an inspirational figure, but just as inspirational are the stories of the normal, everyday people who have made his campaign a success. We would like to share some of them with you in this and our upcoming issues.

Janet Goldstein Gets Out the Vote

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Janet Goldstein

Janet Goldstein, of Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, shared this story with us.

I couldn't vote early, but today I helped two senior citizens vote early for Barack!

As a member of “Delaware County Senior Volunteers for Obama,” I've been making calls to folks in [mostly Republican] retirement communities. Today I was able to obtain absentee ballots for two Obama supporters, Dorothy and John, aged 93 and 94. They'd applied (or thought they had) six weeks ago and hadn't gotten their ballots yet, and they were desperate.

After getting affadavits (permitting me to act as their agent) faxed to me by the Delco Election Board, I drove to Dorothy and John's apartment, had them fill in the affadavits and absentee ballot applications, drove back to the Board of Elections, obtained the absentee ballots, took them back to D&J for their votes and signatures, and then returned the ballots to the Board of Elections.

This took a total of three hours.

Dorothy — whom I had not met until today — is very sharp, “with it,” and well informed about the issues. Physically, however, she is not at all well; she is very frail and can hardly walk. She'd told me on the phone that she and her husband, who's paralyzed from the waist down, are both “hanging on by a thread”, but they simply had to vote in this election, because life in a country run by McCain and Palin was “unthinkable.”

As I sat beside Dorothy in her living room, helping her fill out her application (no simple task), I saw her write her birthdate as 3/8/15, and I gasped, because I was born on 3/8, also. Clearly, this encounter was meant to happen!

And then when I returned later with the actual absentee ballots, and she filled hers in and let me assist her husband to do the same, together we got two votes “signed, sealed, and delivered” for Barack. She was so incredulously grateful that I'd taken the time to do this wonderful thing for her and her husband. In fact, she promised to bake me a birthday cake next March!

I was crying all the way home — tears of joy — for Dorothy and John; for my own parents, who didn't live to see this incredible election; for all Obama supporters everywhere.

That's my ‘early voting’ story... and it has a happy ending.

P.S. On my way out, I had to pass through the public areas ... lobby, etc. Walking toward me, on his way to dinner, was a gentleman wearing a blue “Veterans for Obama” button on his shirt. So I stopped him, introduced myself, and asked if I'd spoken with him when I was making phone calls. I hadn't. He said there is more support for Obama at his retirement community than we would ever dream. Quite a few registered Republicans there are going to vote Democratic this time. He wears his button all the time and starts conversations about Obama, hoping to change even more minds. I had taken off my new blue Obama–Biden button, with their photos, and put it in my purse so that it wouldn't interfere with my absentee-ballot quest at the election board. I pulled it out and asked him if he'd like to wear it. He asked me to pin it on his shirt, on the other side. “Now I have headlights,” he said, “and I'm going to shine some light on these folks.”

Gayle Greco Meets Michelle

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Michelle Obama

Gayle Greco, from Los Angeles, shared with us her story of how she became inspired to support Barack Obama after meeting Michelle.

I remember celebrating all night and the next day after Bill Clinton won the White House. I believed great change would be brought to America and the world. I followed Hillary's involvement in his tenure as well. I was proud of her bright mind and dedication to women's and children's issues.

When it came time for the primary, I voted for Hillary. As a mother of two daughters, I felt here was a role model — a woman who could break the glass ceiling and make it to the top. When Hillary did not win, I turned my attention to Obama. I had read The Audacity of Hope and was impressed by his thoughts about the American “condition”. I knew he was of mixed race, raised by a single mother, attended the finest colleges, editor of the Harvard Law Review, community organizer, state senator... things that attested to his intellect and political acumen.

As a life-long Democrat, I knew he had my vote, but would I spend my time and money supporting him? My answer came after I had the distinct pleasure and honor to meet Michelle Obama at a private party in Los Angeles. She told heart-warming stories about her two girls, Malia and Sasha, and their interaction with their father. She also spoke about her love for her husband and his mission — to help all Americans achieve their dreams, go to college, get a job, and receive the rewards they had worked hard for during their lifetimes. Her eloquent words brought tears to my eyes. After our hug and kiss, I told her I would work hard for her and Barak — Baruch — may he be a blessing to his family and to all Americans. And may change and hope once again reign in this country!

Now is not the time to rest. The election is Obama's to lose, but he can lose it if we don't keep doing everything we can right up until the polls close on Election Day. Here's what you can do to help:

• Vote! For goodness sake, vote! Visit voteforchange.com to find out where your polling place is. Call the campaign at (866) 675-2008 if you need help getting to the polls.
• Keep talking to your friends and family. Visit. Call. Send email. Forward this newsletter. Rebut the smears. Continue the conversation. People change their minds, sometimes even in the voting booth. They may feel like they need “permission” to vote for Obama, and you can give it.
• Make get-out-the-vote calls for the campaign. Visit the Web site for details. If you'd like to make GOTV calls specifically to Jewish voters and don't see those campaigns listed, contact JewishOutreach@barackobama.com for assistance (but while you're waiting for a response, make calls in the campaigns you can see — there's no time to waste!).
• Canvass on Sunday and Monday. Visit your state's campaign page to find canvassing efforts to participate in.
• Drive for Change. Help people get to the polls on election day. Click here for more information.
• Protect the vote. If you've encountered a problem with voting in your area, even on election day itself, report it to the campaign immediately. If you're willing to help protect the vote on Election Day, especially if you're a lawyer, volunteer for the Obama Voter Protection Program.
• Donate, donate, donate. Obama has spent the most money of any candidate in history. It's hugely expensive to combat a well-orchestrated campaign of lies, smears, and loony conspiracy theories, because we humans are hard-wired to absorb negative messages more than positive ones. Now, Obama is ramping up the biggest GOTV and anti-election-fraud operations in history, and that costs a lot of money. Donate now to help make it happen.

“Most probably Barack Obama will be a better president for Israel than Mr. McCain.” — Ret. Brig. General Shlomo Brom

“Obama's strength with regard to Iran is that he wants to talk to Iran... I think Obama is correct in saying, let's drop conditions.” — Former Mossad Senior Officer Yossi Alpher Officer

“I think that Obama is the better person, according to his declarations and intentions, to open a new page in the relationship both with the Arab world and Israel, by reaching agreements that will bring stability to the region, and will serve the interests of both sides and of the US.” — Ret. Brig. General Shaul Arieli

“It is crucial that our closest ally, the US, be more involved. I have a feeling that Obama, as a new actor in the American foreign relations, will achieve this goal.” — Ret. General Amram Mitzna

“I personally would vote for Obama to help the State of Israel.” — Ret. Brig. General Giora Inbar

“Listening to Obama, watching Obama on different speeches in the states, especially here in Israel and in front of AIPAC, I trust him.” — Ret. General Amnon Lipkin-Shahak

1. An oldie but a goodie — a resurrection of earlier attempts to link Obama to Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidi, and, at the same time, to portray Khalidi as a terrorist.
2. Some stupid, ill-informed comments by Jesse Jackson, which some have attempted to link to Obama despite the fact that Jackson has no connection to Obama's campaign.

McCain transition chief William Timmons and Saddam Hussein, on whose behalf he lobbied Washington

If McCain is so concerned about people with alleged “terrorist sympathies”, then how are we to explain the fact that he has named, as the head of his presidential transition team, a man who lobbied for Saddam Hussein? From The Huffington Post:

William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.

The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein's government.

During the same period beginning in 1992, Timmons worked closely with the two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, on a previously unreported prospective deal with the Iraqis in which they hoped to be awarded a contract to purchase and resell Iraqi oil. Timmons, Vincent, and Park stood to share at least $45 million if the business deal went through.

Timmons' activities occurred in the years following the first Gulf War, when Washington considered Iraq to be a rogue enemy state and a sponsor of terrorism. His dealings on behalf of the deceased Iraqi leader stand in stark contrast to the views his current employer held at the time.

Read more...

Many of these attacks are being executed under the radar, using robocalls, direct mail, and other techniques to quietly poison voters' information. The Obama campaign has launched a new Web site to track and reveal these hidden attacks. If you are the victim of a robocall, “push poll”, direct mailing, or other targeted anti-Obama attack, visit radar.barackobama.com to report it and help the campaign respond, as well as to find facts to rebut the smears.

Menachem Rosensaft, Founding Chairman of the International Network of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, writes about the most hateful attacks in “McCarthyism Redux: The McCain Campaign's Calumny Express”:

“Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism.”

While these words seem tailor made for the divisive rhetoric of the McCain campaign, they were actually spoken more than 58 years ago on the floor of the United States Senate by Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith from Maine in her historic repudiation of the vicious character assassinations hurled by Senator Joseph McCarthy against countless Americans. Speaking on behalf of herself and six other Republican Senators, she said that, “The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as ‘Communists’ or ‘Fascists’ by their opponents.”

The more popular epithets emanating from present-day Republican apparatchiks and the other flacks associated with the 2008 McCain campaign are “terrorist,” “Muslim,” and “anti-American,” but their intent is the same as the red scare labels used so effectively by their McCarthyite role models: to depict their political adversaries generally, and Barack Obama specifically, as somehow dangerous, subversive, even evil.

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Occasionally even the Republican trash machine realizes it has gone too far and they retreat a little. An email message from the Pennsylvania Republican Party's “Victory 2008” committee to Jewish voters in Pennsylvania that equated voting for Barack Obama with the “tragic mistake” of European Jews who “ignored the warning signs of the 1930s and 1940s” was repudiated by the state party, and the flack who had drafted the e-mail was fired because “he definitely went a little bit farther than the facts would support.” Whew. We finally know the GOP's line in the sand. Comparing Obama to Osama bin Laden is ok, but summoning up Hitler is beyond the pale. Thank you so much for enlightening us.

Click here to read more from Menachem Rosensaft, or here to read more about the “second Holocaust” email sent to Pennsylvania Jews.

To date, not a single science Laureate has publicly endorsed McCain.

Just as Jewish Americans have a disproportionate impact on the political process, we also have a disproportionate impact on the sciences. Of the 76 Laureates who have endorsed Obama, 38% are Jewish. Here's the list, with Jewish scientists shown in bold:

I will pay more taxes under the Obama administration, and like Warren Buffet and Adam Smith, I think that is not unreasonable. In return I get a country that: invests more in basic science research (which will grow the economy faster), understands the need for a transformative switch to a new energy economy (which gains jobs, decreases oil usage and alleviates climate problems), and regains respect on the world stage (bettering all of us in the USA, and all of us on earth). I call that a bargain. — Peter Norvig, Ph.D., Director of Research, Google, Palo Alto, CA

We have built up a business that grosses over six million dollars. Some years we are lucky enough to have enough profit that slides us into a higher income bracket. It's easy enough to distribute the profit among the people who work for the bookstore and avoid higher taxes, but I have always believed that paying taxes is patriotic. We are supporting our nation in collaboration with other Americans investing in the future, allowing all Americans to acheive a better life. Under President Obama I hope our taxes can be used to support improvements in education, health, and alternative energy. — Carla Cohen, Co-Owner of Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC

Read more...

Watch Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Garry Marshall, Carl Reiner, Valerie Harper, and Larry Gelbart as they tell us, as only they can, what makes this election so important, and why Barack Obama is the right man for the job.

Click here to watch if you can't see the video at left.