Wake up America

Obama Opposing Slavery Reparations Posted: 02 Aug 2008 12:56 PM CDT Reports are coming out that Barack Obama is publicly opposing a proposal to offer reparations for descendants of slaves. This is a position he has taken since 2004. Putting Barack Obama on the opposing side of many black groups and leaders, he has again stated his opposition to offering reparations to descendants of slaves. This has been his position since 2004 when he was running for the Senate and in fact on a questionnaire for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) he stated "I fear that reparations would be an excuse for some to say, 'We've paid our debt,' and to avoid the much harder work." Obama was not opposed to the U.S. Congress' vote to apologize for slavery but he states that he believes that reparations are not the answer to helping, but that providing good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed, are the best type of reparations lawmakers could provide. This puts Obama on the opposing side of this issue of the NAACP and the large union of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, as well as cities around the country, including his home, the city of Chicago, who have all endorsed the idea of reparations. A law professor at the University of Dayton, Vernellia Randall, who is a proponent of reparations declares that she thinks Obama is "dead wrong", saying "People say he can't run and get elected if he says those kinds of things. I'm like, well does that mean we're really not ready for a black president?" When Obama was pressed for answers, he said he was more interested in helping people get by and he concluded by saying, "If we have a program, for example, of universal health care, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because they're disproportionately uninsured. If we've got an agenda that says every child in America should get — should be able to go to college, regardless of income, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because it's oftentimes our children who can't afford to go to college." Since the House has voted on the resolution to apologize for slavery, some two dozen members of Congress have co-sponsored legislation that wold create a commission to study reparations, which would be payments and programs to make up for the damage done by slavery. .

IE7 and Sitemeter, 'Operation Aborted’ Error Posted: 02 Aug 2008 11:50 AM CDT There is a widespread problem throughout the blogging world with those that that use the popular free sitemeter service and accessing those sites for people using Internet Explorer 7. Last night dozens of emails hit my email box telling me that my site could not be accessed by readers. When the situation was delved into a little more it seemed that those using Firefox/Mozilla or Safari could access the site perfectly but those using Internet Explorer 7 were receiving an error saying "Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site (URL for site) Operation aborted". I also found it was not just my site, but throughout the Internet, bloggers and websites that use the popular SiteMeter page counting site, were having the same problem. SiteMeter is a real time website tracking and counter tools that give users instant access to vital information and data about your sites audience. As of this moment, there hasn't been any official statement from SiteMeter via their blog nor by their support personnel regarding the outage, but their main site still functions smoothly. Still, for all sites running the JavaScript based counter, when users come to the site using Internet Explorer 7, the page attempts to load, and then pops up a dialog box that says "Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site . Operation aborted." According to Mashable, some very popular blogs as well as smaller blogs' readers started having the same problem and it isn't just limited to IE7 users, some IE6.x are similarly affected. As of now there is no word from SiteMeter, via their blog and users affected can contact them via their contact page to report the issue. Many I have spoken to about this problem simply deactivated or disabled their SiteMeter temporarily in order to allow the appropriate actions to be taken to correct the problem. By doing a google search, keywords IE and SiteMeter, one can see that the problem hit fast and hard and is affecting blogs of all sizes and popularity. More from LGF. .

Barack Obama Willing To Compromise On Offshore Drilling Posted: 02 Aug 2008 09:57 AM CDT John McCain adjusted his position on offshore drilling in response to high gas prices and public opinion showing the majority of voters are now in favor of offshore drilling. Barack Obama is now indicating that he too is willing to compromise. Recent polling from a variety of different polling organizations have shown that the American public, by a majority, is now in favor of Congress lifting it's ban against offshore drilling as the president has done with the presidential ban. The Democrats of the U.S. Congress left town for their 5 week vacation without allowing a vote on drilling to come to the House floor. The Republicans made a big show of staying to discuss it yesterday, after the Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats turned off the lights and microphones and headed out. The Republicans used Twitter, allow spectators in the gallery and generally, by all accounts did everything in their power to embarrass the House Democratic leadership for leaving town without dealing with an issue that is becoming an overwhelming priority for U.S. voters, which is gas prices. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said he was on a plane ready to take off for Texas when he heard his GOP colleagues were still on the floor. He headed back to the Capitol. "The word went out that the people's house is finally the people's house again," he said. Recently John McCain, who previously opposed offshore drilling, responded to the situation of the rising gas costs, by adjusting his position and coming out in favor of offshore drilling, in conjunction with other proposed solutions, all geared toward helping to lower the price of gas. McCain's words were "exploration is a step toward the longer-term goal." Reports coming out today show that Barack Obama, like McCain, is announcing that he too, is willing to compromise on the issue in order to get other energy solutions passed and that he would consider drilling as part of a comprehensive plan. Obama states, "If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done." Although the majority of the U.S. Public has shown they want offshore drilling approved and the Congressional ban lifted, Nancy Pelosi has refused to allow a vote to come to the floor because even some House Democrats have expressed that if it came to the floor, they would vote for it. Obama's adjusting his position, as McCain did previously, will put the Speaker of the House, Pelosi, in a very difficult position of either adjusting her methods, or opposing the presumptive nominee of her party. Either way, with the House on vacation for 5 weeks, people can only speculate how Pelosi will react to the news that Barack Obama has adjusted his stance on the issue. .

Blogger Having a "Spot' Of Trouble Posted: 02 Aug 2008 12:20 AM CDT [Update below] After quite a few emails telling me that some fellow blogspot blogs were having some trouble, with blogger locking them as suspected spam, I looked around and saw this seems to be a widespread problem with quite a few blogs, conservative and liberal, being hit. Hopefully blogger will have it fixed soon and I am holding my breath hoping it won't happen to mine. Confederate Yankee first thought it was possibly deliberate attempt to stifle free speech, but he also noticed others having the same problem A few weeks ago, a number of Hillary bloggers had the same problem and it is strange that so many conservative blogs are being hit, BUT, it isn't a conspiracy because liberal blogs are reporting the same problem. BlackFive has the names of a few miliblogs that have been hit and in the comments, others are naming theirs. Instapundit is also speaking about it. Those of us with blogs on blogger that are still working (so far) could probably arrange to help anyone having problems by posting guest posts for those that have been hit. Feel free to email at wakeupamerica.spree@gmail.com . [Update] The latest from Blogger Buzz for those that have had problems today: Spam Fridays August 1, 2008 — permalink While we wish that every post on this blog could be about cool features or other Blogger news, sometimes we have to step in and admit a mistake. We've noticed that a number of users have had their blogs mistakenly marked as spam, and wanted to sound off real quick to let you know that, despite it being Friday afternoon, we are working hard to sort this out. So to those folks who have received an email saying that your blog has been classified as spam and can't post right now, we offer our sincere apologies for the trouble. We hope to have this resolved shortly, and appreciate your patience as we work through the kinks. — Brett .

Barack Obama Chief Strategist Admits 'Dollar Bill' Remark Partially Referred To Ethnicity Posted: 01 Aug 2008 04:56 PM CDT There has been a tense back and forth going on between the John McCain campaign and the Barack Obama campaign about comments Obama made about not looking the same as other presidents on the dollar bill. Obama strategist now admits he did refer to race. Recent Background. In Springfield, Missouri, Barack Obama said, "So nobody really thinks that Bush or McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face, so what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all those other Presidents on those dollar bills, you know. He's risky. That's essentially the argument they're making." That comment started a firestorm of media reports with the campaigns accusing each other of "playing the race card". Almost immediately, the McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, sent a statement to reporters saying, "Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong." That drew heated denials from the Obama campaign on a couple of occasions, first being from his spokesman Robert Gibbs who denied that Obama was referring to race at all. He went on to assert, "There is nothing more to this than the fact that he was describing that he was new to the political scene. It is not about race." Another campaign spokesman for Obama, Bill Burton, confirmed that and claimed that Obama was not suggesting that McCain was using the race card, but that they were "using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign." Burton also maintains that the McCain campaign was "misinterpreting" both the "tenor and the meaning" of Obama's words. He concluded by stating, "I think they should probably be a little less paranoid about parsing every word we say and a little more focused on actually addressing the challenges that Americans expect the president of the United States to take on." John McCain then told CNN on Thursday that he thought his campaign manager, Davis, was accurate in his assessment and that the claim of Obama bringing the race issue into the spotlight was legitimate. McCain's exact words were, "I'm sorry to say that it is. It's legitimate. And there's no place in this campaign for that. There's no place for it and we shouldn't be doing it." When McCain was asked about the Obama campaign's denials, McCain answered, "I'll let the American people judge." Todays News. Today, ABC News points out that Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, appeared on Good Morning America this morning and acknowledged that Obama's "dollar" bill remark was, at least in part, a reference to his ethnic background. When pressed to explain the comment, Axelrod told "GMA" it meant, "He's not from central casting when it comes to candidates for president of the United States. He's new to Washington. Yes, he's African-American." Steve Schmidt, who is a McCain campaign aide explains why the McCain campaign jumped on that particular remark so fiercely by saying their goal is to pre-empt what they believe is Obama's effort to paint any conventional campaign attacks as race-based. Obama's aim, in the view of the McCain camp: "to delegitimize any line of attack against him," said McCain aide Steve Schmidt. He said he saw that potential trap being sprung when Obama predicted in Missouri Wednesday that the GOP nominee would attack the Democrat because he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills." "I don't [care] whether it helps or hurts us," Schmidt said. "A lie unresponded to becomes the truth." Howard Wolfson, Clinton confidante, weighs in by stating, "I think the McCain camp watched our primary on the Democratic side very carefully and they know that any accusation of racial divisiveness can be very, very harmful for a candidate's prospects They heard something that Senator Obama said and they felt they had to respond quickly to make sure that nobody got the impression that they were engaged in those kind of racial politics." There has been no word from the Obama campaign about the differences in Gibbs' answers and those that Axelrod spoke about this morning. Barack Obama has spoken up about it and once again, the comments from his chief strategists on "Good Morning America" are contradictory to Obama's own words on the subject: "I was in union, Missouri which is 98 percent white - a rural, conservative. and what I said was what I think everybody knows, which is that I don't look like I came out of central casting when it comes to presidential candidates. But that I think that what people are really concerned about, what they're looking for is fundamental change on the economy, things that are going to help their families live out the American dream. 'There was nobody there who thought at all that I was trying to inject race in this. What this has become I think is a typical pattern from the McCain campaign, whether it's Paris Hilton or Britney or this phoney allegation that I wouldn't visit troops. They seem to be focused on a negative campaign what I think our campaign wants to do is focus on the issues that matter to American families." It is quite possible that the different members of the campaign have simply gotten their wires crossed on what the official stance would be about the "dollar bill" comment. It wouldn't be the first time that has happened, it usually happens in all campaigns and has happened within the McCain campaign this election season as well. What the variety of links, to a slew of media outlets, and the constant barrage over the last few days has made abundantly clear to all I have seen discussing this issue, is this- Race is going to be a factor in this election whether it should be or should not be and that the Obama campaign seems to be the one that is trying to insert it at every opportunity. Previously related post: John McCain Campaign: Obama Has Played The Race Card .

Suspected Thief Burned And Had To Be Rescued From Utility Pole Posted: 01 Aug 2008 07:15 PM CDT A suspected thief was severely burned on a utility poll in Dallas, causing Fire-Rescue to have to rescue him. The incident caused more than $10,000 in damage. The man is suspected of being on the Dallas utility pole to steal the copper because he was not an employee of Oncor nor a contractor according to the company. Copper thefy has been a large problem in Northern Texas and the price of copper attracts thieves that want to make some quick money. If copper was 51 year-old James Buster McKay's goal, then he received far more than he expected. McKay is in Parkland Memorial Hospital in critical condition after being jolted by about 7,000 volts of electricity, possibly twice. He was burned so badly that his skin was burned onto the metal of the utility pole and his clothes were burned off or blown away. According to Dallas Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Sherrie Lopez, "There is no amount of copper that is worth the pain this man is going to have to endure." If it is proven that McKay was up on the pole to steal the copper, he will face a felony charge of criminal mischief. Police believe that after Oncor was notified early in the morning abut a power outage, they fixed it and restored power and they suspect that McKay grabbed a wire when power was being restored. When police arrived on the scene they found wires on the ground and Mckay stuck between the pole and transformers. Fire-rescue saved McKay before 7 am and transported him to the hospital with third-degree burns on approximately 50 percent of his body. Evidently from the report, the thefts have been very expensive for Oncor and local business. Oncor estimates that about $1 million in losses from such thefts last year and over $400,000 for this year already. Some local business owners have taken to sleeping at their stores and guarding their rooftops to prevent such thefts. In July, a business owner's son fatally shot a man on the roof of Bargain Town Variety & Furniture store in Garland. Police said thieves had targeted the store twice in two days before the shooting. During one incident about $6,000 worth of copper was stolen from the air-conditioning units. Third-degree burns of the type Mckay suffered are the most serious type of burns and they take the longest to heal. .

A Newt One Campaign: Air Pressure Gauges For Obama Posted: 01 Aug 2008 02:40 PM CDT ~Snooper~ The people of the A Newt One Blog have begun to spearhead a campaign in support of Sen Barack Hussein Obama (sarcasm, naturally). We are asking one and all to go to your nearest WalMart, KMart, convenience store or auto motive supply store and buy the cheapest air pressure gauge that you can find and send it to Sen Barack Hussein Obama. TO: Sen Barack Obama - 713 Hart Senate Building - Washington, DC - 20510 MOTTO: INFLATE THIS SENATOR OBAMA HOUSE REPUBLICANS REBEL!!! BREAKING HISTORICAL NEWS! HOUSE REPUBLICANS ARE TELLING THE DEMOCRATS TO COME BACK AND FIX THE HIGH COSTS OF FUELS THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE DEMANDING!! HERE HERE HERE RUSH LIMBAUGH IS COVERING DRUDGE REPORT IS COVERING MORE TO COME! THIS IS AN HISTORICAL EVENT! CONTACT THE LAME STREAM MEDIA AND ASK THEM WHY THEY ARE NOT THERE! CALL YOUR REPS AND TELL THEM TO GET BACK THERE!! JOHN CULBERSON STREAMING VIDEO HERE New Freeper Thread

GOP On House Floor Demanding Action On Gas Prices, As Democrats Go On Vacation Posted: 01 Aug 2008 05:11 PM CDT Evidently there is chaos on the floor, the Democrats decided to take their vacation, turning out the lights and killing the microphones and the Republicans are staying, demanding that the Democrats deal with the drilling issue and do their job on gas prices putting it before their vacations. Rep. John Culberson is taping — and Twittering! — outside the chamber, says Hot Air!!! More Twitter from PeteHoekstra Malkin has word from GOP lawmakers, emails and such, go see. They are prepared to let the public know that the Democrats care more for their vacations than they do dealing with the gas price issue. Hot Air points us to The Politico's The Crypt, which shows that Democrats aren't happy: At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on, and the microphones were turned on shortly afterward. But C-SPAN, which has no control over the cameras in the chamber, has stopped broadcasting the House floor, meaning no one is witnessing this except the assembled Republicans, their aides, and one Democrat, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has now left. Only about a half-dozen Republicans were on the floor when this began, but the crowd has grown to about 20 now, according to Patrick O'Connor. "This is the people's House," Rep, Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) said. "This is not Pelosi's politiburo." Democratic aides were furious at the GOP stunt, and reporters were kicked out of the Speaker's Lobby, the space next to the House floor where they normally interview lawmakers. "You're not covering this, are you?" complaing one senior Democratic aide. Another called the Republicans "morons" for staying on the floor. Update - The Capitol Police are now trying to kick reporters out of the press gallery above the floor, meaning we can't watch the Republicans anymore. But Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is now in the gallery talking to reporters, so the cops have held off for a minute. Clearly, Democrats don't want Republicans getting any press for this episode. GOP leaders are trying to find other Republicans to rotate in for Blunt so reporters aren't kicked out. Representative John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) is having a gay old time, stating, "I love this. Congress can be so boring...This is a kick." I have to point out update 6 on The Crypt piece, because it is just too hilarious not to. Update 6 - Rep Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) just pretended to be a Democrat. He stood on the other side of the chaber and listed all of the GOP bills that the Dems killed. He then said "I am a Democrat and here is my energy plan" and he held up a picture of an old VW Bug with a sail attached to it. He paraded around he house floor with the sign while the crowd cheered. Remember to watch the updates on Twitter! More from A Newt One. More at Stop The ACLU as well. Others blogging this: Democrats Vacation While Republicans Continue Work on Energy Bill | Skeptics Global Warming Suitably Flip GOP Calls For President To Convene Congress The Wizard, fkap: Floor Revolt Babalu Blog House Republicans Want a Vote! « Axis of Right The Republicans are Staging a Revolt on the U.S. House Floor Looks like the GOP wants Bush to call a special session which would force the Democrats to come back and do their jobs!! MORE: CQ is reporting: Megaphones and Pizza The talk-in was more spontaneous than planned. Rep. Mike , R-Ind., said that as the House's regular session neared its end Friday morning he and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., were talking about staging more than 100 five-minute special order speeches when Price said that if the House adjourned, "We should just stay.'' Republican members were sent out a whip notice in early afternoon asking those still in town to come to the floor. With the microphones off on the House floor, the notice said, "If any member has a megaphone, please bring it to the floor.'' As their effort went on, GOP members escorted tourists onto the House floor to watch the highly unusual proceedings. "You probably came here expecting to be bored," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "We are disappointing you.'' A few members posted updates on Twitter from the floor, sending messages to friends and supporters around the country. From Capitol Briefing: UPDATE 2:40 PM: Capitol Briefing will admit to never having seen anything remotely like this in 10 years of covering Congress. As "The Phantom Session" continues, the chamber is packed with tourists, and the line to get in the galleries stretches down the stairs inside the Capitol. What appears to be an entire troop of Boy Scouts is sitting in the chamber. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) apparently went to the airport to go home but then turned around and came back. He walked into the House a few moments ago wheeling his suitcases behind him, prompting a huge round of applause and high-fives from his colleagues. Democrats face a dilemma here. The longer this goes on the more attention it will get. But the last thing they want to do is turn Republicans into martyrs by having the police force people to leave. The GOP would like nothing more than for tourists to be manhandled out of the chamber (especially those innocent Boy Scouts!) and for reporters to be told they have to leave the press gallery. So don't expect the majority to take the bait and kick everyone out anytime soon. At around 3 p.m., about 25 pizzas arrived for the Republicans. PIZZA PARTY!!!!! From Malkin's update: Update: Speaking of C-SPAN, they've linked up Rep. Culberson's Twitter page on their website, as well as his Qik video. [Update] According to Culberson's Twittering, Congressman Todd Platts was driving home, heard what was happening and turned back around and went back to join in. [Update] From The Crypt Part #2- Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), who was on a plane headed home, went back to the Capitol, walking on to the floor dragging his luggage. He got a standing ovation. Ok, as per memorandum, more blogging this to include: michellemalkin.com, Pajamas Media, www.redstate.com, TownHall Blog, Hot Air, Confederate Yankee, Riehl World View, NewsBusters.org, JammieWearingFool, The Raw Story, Gateway Pundit, Sweetness & Light and Patterico's Pontifications They have more...go look, I will keep updating. .

You are subscribed to email updates from Wake up America To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: Wake up America, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610