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ForLiberty-RonPaul
09-07-2009, 12:53 PM
[paragraph numbering was added by me]

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[1] The President: "Hello everyone -- how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I'm glad you all could join us today.

[2] I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could've stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

[3] I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday -- at 4:30 in the morning.

[4] Now I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

[5] So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.

[6] Now I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked a lot about responsibility.

[7] I've talked about your teachers' responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

[8] I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

[9] I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working where students aren't getting the opportunities they deserve.

[10] But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world --and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

[11] And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

[12] Maybe you could be a good writer -- maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper --but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor -- maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine -- but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

[13] And no matter what you want to do with your life -- I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

[14] And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

[15] You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

[16] We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that -- if you quit on school -- you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.

[17] Now I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

[18] I get it. I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in.

[20] So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

[21] But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

[22] Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

[23] But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home -- that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying.

[24] Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

[25] That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

[26] Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

[27] I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer -- hundreds of extra hours -- to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he's headed to college this fall.

[28] And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

[29] Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

[30] That's why today, I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education -- and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you'll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

[31] Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

[32] I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you're not going to be any of those things.

[33] But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

[34] That's OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

[35] These people succeeded because they understand that you can't let your failures define you --you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

[36] No one's born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. It's the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.

[37] Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust -- a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor -- and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

[38] And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you -- don't ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

[39] The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

[40] It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

[41] So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

[42] Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down -- don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America."

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http://www.click2houston.com/education/20776168/detail.html

StudentForPaul08
09-07-2009, 01:00 PM
I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down -- don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

YES COMRADE OBAMA

this shit scares me. It's like 1984.

"Im working hard to fix up your classrooms..." Yeah Mr. Obama IS working hard trying to take the money from people who ACTUALLY work hard. GO back to sleep children. Your government is here.

ForLiberty-RonPaul
09-07-2009, 01:02 PM
it's seems the main theme is do you schoolwork well for your country. He says this 3 times.

ShowMeLiberty
09-07-2009, 01:24 PM
I didn't read every word but one thing I know - if this is meant for kids, it is MUCH too long! How many second graders are going to sit still for all that? It's even pushing the attention span of high school kids.

I feel sorry for his daughters if they are subjected to lectures of this length whenever they do something wrong.

devil21
09-07-2009, 01:26 PM
Eh seems pretty much harmless, especially given that kid's attention spans are pretty short. Only things that stood out to me was that all of his examples of "success stories" (other than MJ's) are medical field related and appear to be all minorities. Subliminal messages?



[26] Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

[27] I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer -- hundreds of extra hours -- to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he's headed to college this fall.

[28] And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Why all the health references? Any why are all the examples minorities?

FreeTraveler
09-07-2009, 02:03 PM
Oh, FFS. I can't stand the Obaminator either, but if you can read a socialist plot into that speech, you've got more problems than who's in the White House.

I have no doubt this may not have been his original speech, but this was as innocuous as white bread.

KramerDSP
09-07-2009, 02:15 PM
Oh, FFS. I can't stand the Obaminator either, but if you can read a socialist plot into that speech, you've got more problems than who's in the White House.

I have no doubt this may not have been his original speech, but this was as innocuous as white bread.

This.

We have to choose our battles. I'd rather expend my efforts on focusing on the hypocrisy espoused by the politicians from BOTH parties, as well as from the supporters from both parties. In a perfect world, I'd prefer that the President stay out of the schools, but am I going to go overboard when the general theme of the speech is for students to work hard and strive to be successful?

The saying is we trap more flies with honey than vinegar, isn't it? The conservative media posts articles on stuff like Birth Certificates, President speaking to schools, and so forth, and the people run wild with these stories. It's all part of the charade, and it makes it that much easier for them to pick us off one by one. The people on the "left" will read the speech and be further emboldened that the people on the "right" are being extreme in their views of Obama speaking to school children.

I just think we need to keep focusing on two things: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The Fed may be another area. Those are bi-partisan efforts that supporters of both parties are likely to support.

I feel that stuff like the birth certificate and Obama speaking to school children just helps make the divide bigger and bigger, and makes it harder for us to appeal to the reason and common sense of those on the "left".

TCE
09-07-2009, 02:28 PM
This.

We have to choose our battles. I'd rather expend my efforts on focusing on the hypocrisy espoused by the politicians from BOTH parties, as well as from the supporters from both parties. In a perfect world, I'd prefer that the President stay out of the schools, but am I going to go overboard when the general theme of the speech is for students to work hard and strive to be successful?

The saying is we trap more flies with honey than vinegar, isn't it? The conservative media posts articles on stuff like Birth Certificates, President speaking to schools, and so forth, and the people run wild with these stories. It's all part of the charade, and it makes it that much easier for them to pick us off one by one. The people on the "left" will read the speech and be further emboldened that the people on the "right" are being extreme in their views of Obama speaking to school children.

I just think we need to keep focusing on two things: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The Fed may be another area. Those are bi-partisan efforts that supporters of both parties are likely to support.

I feel that stuff like the birth certificate and Obama speaking to school children just helps make the divide bigger and bigger, and makes it harder for us to appeal to the reason and common sense of those on the "left".

I doubt anyone is going to go to a town hall and spend 15 minutes talking about this speech. This is a fun side story to keep us smiling and entertained. If one tries hard enough, everything has a Socialist plot.

MelissaWV
09-07-2009, 02:36 PM
The speech is boring and yes, very whitebread (oh God why's the bread got to be white?!? Is wheat or rye inherently more interesting? I digress).

What I do notice is that it smells like desperation. It almost fits in more with the fact that so many children don't see a reason to study, so let's get the President to tell them so! It sounds very much like the old stuff good ole Dubya used to say... if you don't _____ then the terrorists win. Well, if you don't study, the nation loses! Dogs will sleep with cats!

And then of course he tells us how he had it tough so he knows what everyone's going through and stay in school and here's some people that made it and um... stay in school!

This is entirely too long, and that's just the bare bones text. If you add in what, from the "I Pledge" video's example, are likely to be a lot of waving flag graphics, music, etc., this is going to be a snore-fest.


[3] I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday -- at 4:30 in the morning.

This did catch my eye. It's not the first time he's used this story, but somehow I only now caught it in this context. Mom didn't have money to send him to a good school, so she taught him lessons herself! Home-schooling? I thought that was the devil! Of course, these were *extra* lessons. I wonder what would happen to a parent if someone complained they were waking their child up, Monday through Friday, at before 4:30am and then shipping them off to school? tsk tsk, people; that's just plain child abuse :rolleyes:

TCE
09-07-2009, 02:45 PM
This is a good thing on the whole. He shall now be known as "that boring guy from the first day of class."

Arnack
09-07-2009, 03:09 PM
Lots of people look up to the president- believe it or not. This could have positive influence on students.

Cowlesy
09-07-2009, 03:15 PM
I think the speech is fine. Once the message got out that he was going to give a speech in the first place, I knew he'd have to scrub it of any foolish messages as he knows he'd get publicly filleted for it in certain parts of the media as everyone was watching.

BuddyRey
09-07-2009, 04:15 PM
This makes me want to retch. Collectivist bull$h!t from top to bottom. You owe your life to the Fatherland! You must continue school so that your indoctrination can be completed! If you quit school out of selfish, individualistic desires, you can't learn about the wonders of Keynesianism at state colleges!!!

webstar
09-07-2009, 04:56 PM
The idea that an elected President of the USA is being attacked for wanting to deliver a speech to the school children of America is beyond absurd. Other US Presidents have done this without any problem of any kind. This is just silly.

specsaregood
09-07-2009, 05:00 PM
The idea that an elected President of the USA is being attacked for wanting to deliver a speech to the school children of America is beyond absurd. Other US Presidents have done this without any problem of any kind. This is just silly.

Actually when Pres. George Bush Sr. did it, it was the Democrats complaining. Same game, same teams, different era.

gb13
09-07-2009, 05:51 PM
Oh, FFS. I can't stand the Obaminator either, but if you can read a socialist plot into that speech, you've got more problems than who's in the White House.

I have no doubt this may not have been his original speech, but this was as innocuous as white bread.

Exactly.

I don't agree with everything he said, especially about him working to fix up the schools, etc. (mainly because I don't believe that is his job), but this speech was very, very tame. I actually found it uplifting, and almost entirely benign.

sratiug
09-07-2009, 06:10 PM
Don't defend this bullshit. It should have never been allowed the first time. Abolish the federal unconstitutional Department of Education.

Wulfslęd
09-07-2009, 06:58 PM
We can sit here and pick out the socialist comments all day, but the kids won't notice. We should be more concerned about the socialist and marxist teachers that are talking to our children every day than this one speech.

WCSedlak
09-07-2009, 07:25 PM
[paragraph numbering was added by me]

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Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America." BHO

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http://www.click2houston.com/education/20776168/detail.html

Click for my take on the situation (http://earlychristianamerica.com/blog/?p=276) or if you can't click that, click http://earlychristianamerica.com/blog/?p=276

He's a dialectition and we better get used to it.

Wayne Sedlak

amonasro
09-07-2009, 08:22 PM
We can sit here and pick out the socialist comments all day, but the kids won't notice. We should be more concerned about the socialist and marxist teachers that are talking to our children every day than this one speech.

True. It was a fine speech. Just fine enough for the left to scream at the right for making a big deal about it.

silverhawks
09-07-2009, 08:23 PM
Don't defend this bullshit. It should have never been allowed the first time. Abolish the federal unconstitutional Department of Education.

This. Any political figure or organisation specifically targeting the most impressionable demographic in the country at a time when the vast majority of parents will not be watching this with them should ring alarm bells, regardless of who does it.

And as innocent as the speech is, I object to the kinds of things that the Dept. of Education is backing it up with, such as:


"Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?"

Of course, we need to hang on the words of our politicians! Because they're not our employees, they're important.

And then there's this:


"Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the President. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make the students accountable to their goals."

Which after objections was changed to:


"Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress."

Little bit different in intent, yes? The original is purely using peer pressure to force a child to keep to a political agenda.

As for some of the other comments in this speech, I'm fairly sure that they are just dropped in specifically to get reactions from the opposition, and distract us from wider issues, such as while we're all concentrating on President Obama, what is the rest of Congress doing that day?

Dianne
09-07-2009, 08:33 PM
My view is this is meant to give some type of respect for Obama. This dimwhit doesn't even know how many states are within the USA. My view is that he wants these kids to believe he is some type of authoratarian... the leader of the
"FREE?" world. Obama speaks... all kneel down. Well that's bs... Obama a piece of crap, just like George Bush and the devil himself... Dick Cheney.

Until Ron Paul or his son become President, I will have many sleepless nights.

angelatc
09-07-2009, 08:58 PM
The idea that an elected President of the USA is being attacked for wanting to deliver a speech to the school children of America is beyond absurd. Other US Presidents have done this without any problem of any kind. This is just silly.

Did the other Presidents spend millions to create study material to go along with their speech?

SimpleName
09-07-2009, 09:02 PM
Thank goodness this wasn't what it could have been. I doubt that Obama was going to give this particular speech originally though. After the media got their pants in a bunch, they seemed to pull back on the whole thing. How he possibly believes any kids in school could withstand his lecturing is beyond me. I mean, GET TO THE DAMN POINT! You want to brainwash children, we got it. Just say so. We all already know.

angelatc
09-07-2009, 09:03 PM
Click for my take on the situation (http://earlychristianamerica.com/blog/?p=276) or if you can't click that, click http://earlychristianamerica.com/blog/?p=276

He's a dialectition and we better get used to it.

Wayne Sedlak

I had to look that up and I'm still not sure what it means! But it's a great word!

pinkmandy
09-07-2009, 09:19 PM
It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation.

Well, that's just a lie. The people who fought for real freedom didn't attend government funded public schools laced with social programming and propaganda. They attended private schools, small community schools, had tutors, were homeschooled or some combination of all of those. Public schools were not created until the mid 1800's.

That sticking point aside, I don't care what he is saying or not as I think the whole thing was just a distraction event because it would have been very easy to release that speech last week knowing that it would cause a firestorm. I homeschool and the sooner more people realize what the schools are doing to our country and get their kids out of them the sooner the education machine will die from lack of funding and participation.

We have a country full of people who didn't understand what Ron Paul was saying and didn't care to learn. Instead most opted to vote for the snickering RINO and his soccer mom sidekick or 'change, yes we can'. We can thank public schools for creating that type of thinking and MSM for reinforcing it in the adults. They work hard to create the future after all.

webstar
09-08-2009, 04:56 AM
Actually when Pres. George Bush Sr. did it, it was the Democrats complaining. Same game, same teams, different era.

This is simply not the case. I have heard this sort of response at least twice now on TV from GOP spokespersons and both times they were challenged to document that claim. They could not. Can you?

On CNN a new person said they researched the issue and could find no organized opposition to a presidential speech to school kids.

This is absurd partisan silliness taken to a new and disgusting level.

moostraks
09-08-2009, 07:52 AM
This is simply not the case. I have heard this sort of response at least twice now on TV from GOP spokespersons and both times they were challenged to document that claim. They could not. Can you?

On CNN a new person said they researched the issue and could find no organized opposition to a presidential speech to school kids.

This is absurd partisan silliness taken to a new and disgusting level.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/03/2051165.aspx

Ten second google could have found this for you. Not real interested in wasting too much time on this issue. However, I agree with the sentiment that this is just more of the same games from Washington. Well said specsaregood.

Partisan silliness is undertaken by those who are pointing the finger at the supposed other party, not those who are seeing the problem being one party who plays the charade of being two.

webstar
09-16-2009, 12:31 PM
The link provided proves nothing. It is ridiculous on its face to compare this teeny tiny complaint by two - unnamed at that - Democrats in 1991 that money was improperly spent - to the rabid and huge outcry against the current President speaking to school children. This is not comparable in any way, shape or form and to allege that it is is disingenuous in the extreme.

dannno
09-16-2009, 01:20 PM
I cried.

It was a moving speech even to read.

He would be really convincing during a crisis, he could probably get the public to do anything if he thought it was the right thing to do.

Still haven't seen any evidence that he's actively working to destroy America by intention.

ForLiberty-RonPaul
09-16-2009, 01:24 PM
I cried.

It was a moving speech even to read.

He would be really convincing during a crisis, he could probably get the public to do anything if he thought it was the right thing to do.

Still haven't seen any evidence that he's actively working to destroy America by intention.

you too! I thought it was just me! We got baRACK oBAMA....!

dannno
09-16-2009, 01:54 PM
you too! I thought it was just me! We got baRACK oBAMA....!

I knew I should have taken the vaccine :(