Ben Harper's A Better Way honouring Sen. Barack Obama. Even the U.S. press pundits who deliberately have spun the race - to create news where none existed - now believe Sen. Obama will be the Democratic presidential nominee. "And no one is going to dispute it." The math doesn't lie.
Guillame Apollinaire's poem about May, handwritten in French at a spring exhibition at Les Passages in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Endless blue skies and an historic church set behind a town hall, currently under renovation near Le Bon Marche, Paris.
Grey skies more typical of spring in Paris. Construction continues on an underground parking garage and park in my neighbourhood. The work began in 2006 and is scheduled for completion later this year.
Bright pink hortensia softens the urban environment on Ile Saint Louis.
Pimentos - red and green - at a local supermarket.
A brass-and-enamel bed frame at a recent brocante. Remember the old Bob Dylan song, "Lay lady, lay - lay across my big brass bed?"
A vintage foosball game for sale at a brocante. An excellent antiquites brocante at Place de Bastille, Paris begins later this week.
Filling station replicas, Danish modern chairs and a mannequin.
Hats and theatre props. And speaking of props, Europeans and Americans alike are amused by Hillary Clinton's new "guns" mailing.
Plus, that little gas tax holiday stunt Clinton keeps pushing - even though economists oppose it and both she and her husband were against it in 2000 - has earned her the rebuke of a senior member of Congress. An excerpt of George Miller's statement: "“The call by Sens. Clinton and McCain to temporarily suspend the federal tax on gasoline is a short-sighted stunt that will hurt consumers and do nothing to reduce the price of gas. American consumers and our economy need a real solution to the energy crisis, not an empty trick. You can run cars on a lot of different fuels, but snake oil isn’t one of them."
A tattooed rock at Le Carrefour des Cascades in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris.
Signs of love.
Natural rock formations. Notice the bird hiding at right.
Tranquility at the base of the waterfall.
A view of the waterfall's base from behind a heart-shaped rock formation.
Water cascades down the sides of the rocks.
In many parts of this world water is scarce and precious.
People sometimes have to walk a great distance
then carry heavy jugs upon their heads.
Because of our wisdom, we will travel far for love.
All movement is a sign of Thirst.
Most speaking really says, "I am hungry to know you."
Every desire of your body is holy;
every desire of your body is Holy.
Dear one, why wait until you are dying
to discover that divine Truth?
Hafiz poem from the book "The Subject Tonight is Love" translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
This afternoon while walking my usual route around Hippodrome de Longchamp, an unexpected treat: two French guys playing bagpipes! Speaking of treats, if you're an "Empire Strikes Back" fan, you may appreciate this amusing video.
White flowering trees, high grass and wildflowers are part of the natural beauty of the Bois de Boulogne on the Western edge of Paris.
A cyclist goes past a pink flowering tree opposite rugby grounds in the Bois.
Two trees with entwined branches near one of the many ponds that dot the Bois.
A big pink flowering tree near the outer perimeter of Hippodrome de Longchamp, Europe's biggest flat-racing course.
Flowering branches reflected in the water of a small canal.
Thick white blossoms accent several trees in the Bois.
A lone cypress was a gift from the State of Louisiana in 1983. The tree, located near Le Carrefour des Cascades waterfall, originated from the Gulf of Mexico.
Part of the Longchamp racecourse, viewed from Allee de Longchamp.
A tower for television cameras to record races at Longchamp.
Scaffolding props up the facade of a 19th-century building on Oxford Street, London. Behind the facade, construction is underway on a new space, which will retain the historical facade. In the building at left, a flag is reflected in the window's glass.
A jumble of cooking wares caught in a fisherman's net at Divertimenti in Knightsbridge, London. The Brompton Oratory is reflected in the glass.
The spring-themed window in an upscale charity shop on Brompton Road.
A giant lipstick tube - Heatherette for M.A.C. Cosmetics - in a window display at Selfridges on Oxford Street.
Banners advertising an ongoing exhibition at the Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road.
Children and their parents line up for tickets to the giant maze and butterfly house at the Natural History Museum.
Boxed plants suspended from iron railings outside buildings on Cromwell Road.
Oh and he's still refusing to denounce an endorsement from the right-wing Rev. John Hagee, who this week reiterated his 2006 claim that Hurricane Katrina was punishment for the sins of New Orleans residents.
“It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense. I don’t have anything additional to say. It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, I don’t have anything more to say….it’s nonsense. I reject that categorically,” McCain told reporters.
And speaking of nonsense, Rush Limbaugh has called for race riots in Denver! Where is the Federal Communications Commission - allowing a talk show host to incite listeners to riot??!!
Meanwhile Hillary Clinton is telling more tall tales about her knowledge of her husband's pardon of two domestic terrorists. No doubt the Republicans will have a field day with this one!
A form of bungee jumping deemed safe for children at Hippodrome de Longchamp, Paris.
To one
Who smells the sun,
Eyes shut and tastes that rain is sweet;
Who hears
Music, but fears
Its presence in empty gardens; or, discreet,
Only observes
The nerves
And fibers of a painting - shade, technique;
What is
Beyond analysis
Is perilous: we must not wish to seek
And cry
'This is what I
Love, what I cherish!' Instead, be wary of such
Intensity
That we
May never be hurt or happy or anything too
much.
Poem from the novel Beginner's Greek by James Collins. For those who are sitting on the fence, afraid to take a leap forward, I encourage you to be brave. Take a risk. Dare to open your heart. Truly LIVE your life in capital letters!
Last night I listened to the Democratic presidential debate live via radio. I was going to write about what a complete travesty it was, with stupid, inane questions pandering to the lowest common denominator of society - a penchant for gossip, mud-slinging and name-calling. Issues of substance such as torture, Iraq, China, Tibet and the economy largely were ignored. I was going to write that the moderators did a terrible job and ask what has happened to ABC News? No doubt the late Peter Jennings wouldn't have asked such lightweight questions - he would have focused on the substantive issues that affect us all.
I was going to write that it's hard to single out the most ridiculous question, as the majority were so idiotic. But the one asking Sen. Barack Obama if he respected the American flag was probably the dumbest and most inflammatory. Sen. Obama patiently responded and - unlike the moderators - kept trying to turn the subject back to real issues, saying Americans didn't want to waste time talking about manufactured ones.
I was going to write that people who think those who don't wrap themselves in the American flag, wear flag lapel pins - just in case you forget you're an American - and believe that wearing such a pin equates being patriotic - deserve the government they get. And that those people probably should be reading books and blogs and newspapers and learning about the issues, rather than questioning someone else's patriotism. Because wearing a flag pin has zip nada NOTHING to do with patriotism!
I was going to write that patriotism does not require wearing a silly cheap plastic flag pin bought from Wal-Mart and made in China. I don't care if you drape your front lawn in flags and wear a flag pin every waking moment, if you aren't doing something to establish a dialogue and change the downwards spiral in America, you're part of the problem.
Patriotism is questioning what's happening in our country. Patriotism is being a soldier trying to stay alive amidst terrible conditions in a war fought under false pretenses. Patriotism involves the families who struggle to pay bills while their husband or wife is in Iraq or returning soldiers who have serious injuries, yet must fight to get the proper medical care they need. Patriotism is those who fight for the underdog and try to protect the Constitution and our civil liberties. Patriotism is shining attention on critical issues affecting us all, such as global warming and human rights. Patriotism is helping insure a better future for our children and their children, by keeping informed and involved with issues that impact our lives. Patriotism is thinking for ourselves. It is not accepting blindly what someone else tells us to do - that's fascism.
I was going to write, please spare us any further presidential debates if they are going to insult the viewers and listeners' intelligence. Why can't the media raise substantive issues that really matter, rather than lazily catering to fabricated nonsense? I was going to ask are we really such an entertainment-lite culture that we have forgotten how to think for ourselves and question our leaders and potential future president?
All this I was going to write... then I saw the Hafiz poem Out of the Mouths of a Thousand Birds, a simple, yet powerful reminder of what's important in the grand scheme of things:
Listen
Listen more carefully to what is around you
Right now.
...There is an astonishing vastness
of movement and Life
Emanating sound and light
from my folded hands
And my even quieter simple being and heart.
My dear
Is it true that your mind
is sometimes like a battering
Ram
Running all through the city,
Shouting so madly inside and out
About the ten thousand things
That do not matter?
...Oh listen
Listen more carefully
to what is inside of you right now.
In my world
All that remains is the wondrous call to
Dance and prayer
Rising up like a thousand suns
out of the mouth of a
Single bird.
Pensive oil and mixed media on panel by Randall LaGro. Photo courtesy of Blue Rain Gallery, Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
A prototype for a light wing aircraft is among the many salvage items on these barges. Currently, the vessels are floating next to peniches or houseboats along the River Seine.
Speaking of salvage, certain officials are determined to save France's reputation. Some government officials are outraged about the French entry's English lyrics in the upcoming Eurovision song contest. Quel horreur!
And the six Somali pirates who seized a French yacht and held the crew hostage for a week have arrived in Paris for police questioning.
The French parliament has banned websites and magazines that promote anorexia among teenage girls. The French blog, Be Perfect, Be Pro Ana, encourages teenage girls to refuse food, make themselves sick and take laxatives to emulate the body shape of their "thinspirations" such as Nicole Richie and Victoria Beckham.
Government figures suggest between 30,000 and 40,000 people in France suffer from anorexia. Most are female aged 12 -19. French advertisers, model agencies and fashion houses have agreed to sign a government charter to "refuse to publish images, especially of young people, which could promote an ideal of extreme thinness."
Obviously this problem is not limited to France.
Headed towards victory at Hippodrome de Longchamp, Paris.
A view of part of the course, pre-race. I live across the street and walk or bike around the exterior of Longchamp nearly every day.
Another view of the course with the lucky horseshoe finish line. If you look closely, you'll notice the Eiffel Tower peeking out above the trees of the Bois du Boulogne.
The pre-race parade rink and winner's circle.
Before the race...
The winner's circle
Anticipation: Jockeys wait for their mounts.
Headed towards the course.
A pony for the children to ride. The next races at Longchamp begin at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 13.
And here is some hope and inspiration for Americans who are struggling.
Vintage glove lasts at the recent brocante at Chatou, France. It appears that Sen. John McCain needs a helping hand with history and geography lessons when it comes to Iraq and inter-Arab conflict in the Middle East.
Ok, now this just gives me a headache. This is a man who claims to be an "expert" on Iraq - yet still can't get the key players straight? Pity the nation, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti says.
Ten things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than George W. Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports McCain and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander-in-chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any presidential candidate.
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."
10. The Arizona senator positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
So please consider the facts before making any rash decisions about voting for a man who so closely follows in George W. Bush's non-reality-based footsteps. McCain may be an American hero for his service in Vietnam, but that doesn't make him qualified to serve as president - and he's proving that more and more with each day that passes.
Practically everywhere you look in Paris, there's something beautiful or interesting to behold. At Printemps, even the construction scaffolding - painted with a trompe l'oeil finish - has style.
This large billboard covers much of the exterior of the future Roberto Cavelli store on rue Cambon, currently under construction. The current Cavelli boutique is on rue de Rivoli.
Up-to-the-minute fashion at Chanel on rue Cambon. Bicycles are reflected in the vitrine.
A new twist on ropes of pearls at Chanel.
More elaborate costume jewelery featuring rhinestone moon-and-stars accent the latest Chanel designs.
Beneath this unbuttoned coatdress at Chanel, the mannequin is wearing hotpants - remember those?
Chanel's upscale version of cut-off shorts.
A mid-calf-length sheath dress, with kicky pleats near the hemline.
1940s-inspired platforms at Chanel.
A bling-bling handbag, designed with gold and silver leather traditional interlocking "Cs."
Orange upside-down flowers being buffeted by high winds on Monday. Reader Jacky Petrie in Canada tells me these flowers are "Fritillaria imperialis rubra maxima."
You know what the song says about April in Paris - but it simply isn't true, at least weather-wise. Last night, the city was covered in a soft blanket of snow. I spent a few minutes between 2 and 3 a.m. staring out the window, watching the snowfall. The plan was to photograph it, before the morning sunshine melted every trace. But by 10 a.m., both the snow and sunshine had given way to rain and cold winds - all these dramatic shifts within the space of about 12 hours.
Meanwhile the Olympic torch ceremony in Paris was marred not only by bad weather, but by numerous protests, just as in London on Sunday. The torch was doused three times before finally being carried by bus to Stade Charlety. Bernard Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, cancelled a ceremony honouring the torch relay after Green Party activists hung a Tibetan flag and Reporters sans Frontieres hung a banner depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs from the Hotel de Ville. Tibetan flags or protest banners were also draped from other Paris landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.
And news today that mobile phones will be allowed in European airspace. Not sure that's a good thing! Under the best of circumstances, it's difficult to find any peace and quiet on a crowded airplane - now we'll be forced to overhear other people's conversations?
A planter box of assorted spring blossoms, unaffected by last night's snow.
Kodak advertising sign from a photo shop in southwest France, photographed recently at the brocante at Chatou.
Remember film? Amazing how quickly we have adapted to digital cameras, drastically reducing the market for film. For photos of today's Paris Marathon go here. Check back later for additional marathon photographs, as well as pictures from opening day at the races at Hippodrome de Longchamp.
Oh and all that talk about the French president - and various other officials around the world - calling for a boycott of the Olympic opening ceremonies? I don't believe politics and sports should mix. The athletes have trained long and hard and shouldn't be denied a chance to compete because of the host's abysmal human rights record - a key factor that the Olympic Committee should have considered when awarding host nation status to China.
The country has a well-documented history of human rights abuses, both in Tibet and within its own borders. So those advocating a boycott because of China's latest horrendous abuses and crackdown on protestors shouldn't be surprised; this is what the Chinese government does. They are serial abusers of human rights, no matter how hard they try to conceal their true nature when making lucrative business deals with the West. But let's not punish the athletes simply because the Olympic Committee exercised poor judgement.
Meanwhile, racism has reared its ugly head at France's largest World War I cemetery. Read the sad story here.
A jumble of industrial light fixtures at a brocante at Chatou, France.
Lucy Mair of Human Rights Watch writes from Jerusalem about land and housing rights violations in Israel's unrecognized Bedouin villages:
"We sat on the dusty ground outside a makeshift tent in the Bedouin village of Um Mitnan in April 2006, talking to some women whose homes had recently been destroyed by the government. One stared at the rubble and asked, "Why would they demolish such basic structures? You can hardly call them homes. We didn't even have electricity. It's not that we built palaces, it's just cement blocks on the sides and a tin roof."
"Even for seasoned human rights workers and international journalists, the poverty and desolation of Israel's unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev comes as a shock. Perhaps it is the constant threat of a bulldozer crashing into one's home; or the extreme contrast with some of Israel's wealthiest communities nearby; or perhaps the fact that the Bedouin are not refugees in a war-torn country, but rather full fledged citizens of one of the most prosperous countries in the Middle East. Bedouin serve in the Israeli army, practice law and medicine and work as professors in Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Yet when Bedouin return to a home in one of these unrecognized villages at the end of the day it is often to a ramshackle hut, with no electricity or running water, a home that state-owned bulldozers may demolish at any time.
"Many Israelis believe the country's Bedouin citizens deserve their lot; that they have trespassed onto land that wasn't theirs and willfully built without proper permits. Yet during months of research for Human Rights Watch I found the opposite to be true. Bedouin presence on this land in the Negev dates back generations. Some Bedouin have documents to show that their fathers and grandfathers bought land from other Bedouin or paid land taxes to the Ottoman and British authorities before the state of Israel was founded. Others showed Human Rights Watch the ruins of family homes and school buildings from decades ago, or graveyards where their ancestors were buried in the 1800s. And others showed us military orders asking Bedouin to "temporarily" leave their villages in the early 1950s.
"But these displaced Bedouin were never allowed to return to their ancestral villages. Israel passed a series of laws in the 1950s and 60s confiscating the land from which the Bedouin were displaced and registering it in the name of the state. In the 1960s, when Israel drew up its first master plan, planners purposefully ignored the Bedouin villages, rendering them illegal with a stroke of the pen, thus denying them access to building permits and basic services. These state actions are the root cause of the terrible conditions that tens of thousands of Israel's Bedouin citizens endure to this day.
"The land dispute between the state and the Bedouin is now before the Goldberg Commission. The Commission, appointed by the Ministry of Housing in October 2007 and headed by former state comptroller and retired Supreme Court Justice Eliezer Goldberg will present its findings and recommendations this June. The commission cannot afford to ignore Israel's basic human rights obligations. These include tackling pervasive discrimination in land allocation and planning policies in Israel and combating the unlawful way in which home demolitions are carried out in the Bedouin community.
"It does Israel no credit to deny secure tenure and adequate housing to a whole segment of its population and it undermines Israel's stated goal of developing the Negev. Redressing years of injustice is not easy, but some of Israel's allies, such as Canada and Australia, have embarked on legal and political processes to provide some modicum of land and housing rights to their indigenous populations.
"As a first step, Israel should place an immediate moratorium on all demolitions and complement the work of the government-appointed Goldberg Commission by setting up an entirely independent body to investigate Bedouin complaints. This is the least the state can do to try and win back the hope and the trust of its Bedouin community."
Five ducks converge in a small manmade canal at Square des Batignolles, Paris.
Square des Batignolles, 17th arrondissement, Paris.
A sculpture of vultures in the middle of a pond.
Perhaps this is some French guy's subversive sense of humour or even a political statement - a naked and battered female doll suspended by her shoulders from bungee cords at the recent brocante at Ile de Chatou, France. Whatever impression the seller was trying to make, the rather disturbing doll certainly attracted attention - most of it negative - from passers-by.
Here's Johann Hari's insightful article in The Independent lamenting the demise of strong women as portrayed by both Hollywood and the media. I agree with the premise that society's dictates, particularly in Hollywood (and in politics) often undermine women and their talents and strengths. What do you think?
Spring fever
Have just come home absolutely drenched from a walk in the rain - the pouring-soak-through-your-shoes kind of rain that leaves puddles of water everywhere - but I am smiling, because it's spring, with all its accompanying joy and possibility.
Flowers are blooming, new chapters are being written and leaps of faith taken. The heady delirium of spring fever can't be diminished by a few rainshowers. And listening to this makes me happy. What is making you smile today? Whatever you're doing, hope you have a lovely weekend ahead!
Flowers at the park at Notre Dame, Paris.
It's not feeling much like spring here, with high winds whipping around corners and chilling us to the bone. Have been busy photographing Paris department store windows, then meeting a blogging friend Beth of The Salvage Studio and her husband Raoul for tea and a brief tour of Ile Saint Louis and environs. I took them to a little antique shop - one I'd never noticed before, on a side street on Ile Saint Louis. And who snapped up two remarkable treasures in five minutes flat? Not Beth. More about all that in an upcoming post.
Beth and her husband Raoul at Notre Dame.
And watching this makes me smile. Hope it brings some cheer to your day as well.
Vintage military-issue pith helmets at the recent brocante at Chatou, France.
This post is part of the March 19 Blogswarm against the Iraq War - a group of bloggers opposing the war in Iraq and calling for a full withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Five years. Over one million dead. To date, over $522 billion spent, with another $70 billion allocated for 2008 and hidden costs set to skyrocket up to $3 trillion, according to Columbia University economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes.
Perhaps the cruelest tragedy is that all this death, destruction and chaos is based on 935 deliberate lies. Here's my anti-war poem:
NO MORE WAR!
No more war
and senseless bloodshed
for the lies of a feckless government
and their greedy corporate friends.
No more horrific deaths
of soldiers and civilians alike,
innocents
caught up in relentless mayhem
of bombs and explosions.
No more journalists and aid workers
killed or kidnapped
while trying to help
heal the wounded beast:
a country whose complex history
suggests no easy solutions.
Insurgents seek to undermine
every opportunity for peace
while corrupt leaders
squabble like bickering children
and fail to govern,
relying on us.
No more children taught to hate
and trained to kill
to avenge their fathers
brothers and sisters.
No more vicious cycles
of violence and rage
fueled by extremists and fanatics,
who take advantage of the
rich man's thirst for oil
to suppress and stamp out
any semblance of peace and normalcy,
abusing power for their own ends.
No more war.
No more weeping into open graves
or risking life and limb to buy food.
No more no-bid contracts
awarded to Cheney's cronies
who grow fat and wealthy,
yet projects remain on hold
as the danger escalates.
No more tall tales
fed like pablum to the mainstream media,
then duly reported to a gullible public.
No more mothers' tears and fathers' sorrow
for children struck down
while walking home from school.
No more injured soldiers
flying home to no jobs
and post-traumatic stress,
then losing their homes
paying for urgent medical care.
No more lies
No more spin
Tell the truth
STOP THE WAR!
An excerpt from Senator Barack Obama's powerful speech "A More Perfect Union" this afternoon at Constitution Center in Philadelphia:
"In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another and let our politics reflect that spirit as well."For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division and conflict and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
"We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
"That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
"This time we want to talk about how the lines in the emergency room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
"This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
"This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together and fight together and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should have been authorized and never should have been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them and their families and giving them the benefits they have earned.
"I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election."
Read the full text of Sen. Obama's speech and watch the video here.
