Obama links food systems, our country's health, energy policy and the built environment

"I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollen about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it's creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they're contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That's just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board. For us to say we are just going to completely revamp how we use energy in a way that deals with climate change, deals with national security and drives our economy, that's going to be my number one priority when I get into office, assuming, obviously, that we have done enough to just stabilize the immediate economic situation."

Swampland - TIME.com � Blog Archive The Full Obama Interview �

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN'T REST EASY

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They're whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.

4. Those who forget history... In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.

If you agree that we shouldn't rest easy, please sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office by clicking HERE.

Gandhi

I just finished watching the epic moving Gandhi. It was my first real history lesson in this saint's life. There are a few morals and values from it that I will always remember:
- Non violence works. Tyrants ultimately fail. The focus should not be WHEN they will fail; rather that they WILL FAIL. An individual's life is only a short part of the history of good and evil in the world. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. We must not preach revenge.
- Patience is a virtue. I often try to get things done quickly. (My mother taught me this.) But, true change takes patience. I will strive for more of it.
- True change requires collaboration with all. A great person can be effective. But a great person can have an even greater impact if he collaborates and joins with others.
- Religion can be great, if we realize that no religion is better than another. We are all Hindu, Jews, Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian.
- A free media is probably one of the most important parts of democracy. Any restriction on media should be dealt with in a serious (non-violent) way.
- Humor is a good trait of a great man.
- Hollywood is important because they make great movies.

I vow to try to work all of these into my daily life, in honor of Gandhi.