Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama was Baracking the vote in full force last night, as he hosted a fund raising event at the Regent Beverly Wilshire with a live performance by Barbra Streisand. Boy, did he manage to raise funds. Tickets to the reception and dinner at the Greystone Mansion cost $28,500 apiece, with about 300 people in attendance, reports the Los Angeles Times. Gaining entry to the hotel event, which took place after dinner, cost $2,500, with about 800 people in the audience. You do the math. Ok, I’ll do it for you: that’s an estimated $9 million.

As Obama spoke to the crowd, filled with the likes of Jodie Foster, Will Ferrell and Leonardo DiCaprio, he gave attention to the concerns people might have about the election.

“I know that a lot of you, just in conversations while we were in the photo lines, had all sorts of suggestions,” he said.

But the crisis on Wall Street “has suddenly focused people’s attention, and it’s reminded people of what’s at stake. It’s reminded people that this is not a game. This is not a reality show, no offense to any of you,” Obama said as the crowd erupted in laughter. “This is not a sitcom.”

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This week’s Number # 1 Hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 is “When All Hope is Gone” by Slipknot. This New Wave Metal band has had seven Grammy nominations and one win,  Best Metal Performance 2006 for the song “Before I Forget.” After a month on the charts, “When All Hope is Gone” made it to number one from their fourth studio album [When All Hope is Gone]  comes a song that is heated and angry, as are most metal songs; but also filled with hints of political pissed-off-ness. Maybe not even hints, possibly downright outrage.

Metal, as genre, tends to contain themes of violence and demons in their lyrical content. This song mentions the devil and hell but ‘hints’ towards hell as the United States and the devil as a one Mister President Bush. Our country is in such disrepair that it seems like regardless of which political party we vote for, we’re screwed. It’s just a matter of whom we we want to be screwed over by more; a donkey or an elephant, ow! Slipknot refers to the nation burning because of a lack of a united front. United front = Corrupt Government, I think so! It seems like a catch-22 here, wanting to help and create a more just world by ruining the economy at home, killing our own men by sending them to fight and then going out and raping and killing people for well, their own good? HUH? “When All Hope is Gone” refers to the Bill of Rights as a bill of sale, as though America is only doing anything for personal, selfish and financial gain. That sums it up pretty well, don’t it?

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With all the Convention Chaos, you may be wondering which candidate your favorite celebrity is voting for. Or maybe you weren’t wondering that but now that you’re thinking about it, you have to admit that it’s pretty intriguing, right?  Who in the world would say Wilford Brimley want to lead our country? Hmmm…I know the answer to that! While not all celebrity politics are public knowledge, (nor should they be) some famous folks have come out to openly endorse their candidate of choice. Here’s a random sampling of 20 for each candidate:

Senator John McCain:

• Heidi Montag, reality star, singer?
• Shauna Sand, actress
• Burt Bacharach, composer
• Lorenzo Lamas, actor
• Jon Voight, actor
• John Elway, quarterback

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The media, TV journalists in particular, continue to leave some important questions lying dormant beneath the dusty cover of “conspiracy theory.” Why did W decide to invade Iraq while 15 of the 19 terrorists of 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia? Why is Saudi Arabia a cradle for such terrorists?

Years ago, when W still had some credibility, he and his Roving gang could ridicule anyone who spoke against his actions. Whenever brave souls dared to question the Divine Decider, he and his cronies dismissed the dissenters as nutcase conspiracy theorists. And they continue to do so even after the Iraq War has officially run its miserable course to disastrous guerrilla warfare and our economy whimpers.

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Take on the challenge now.

Ready or not, a change is going to come. The gaps that have previously separated the semi have’s from the ultimate have-not’s are closing, and Americans are being bonded by a sense of urgency to see immediate change. Our beloved country is drowning her members unable to swim in deep waters. Meanwhile the rest of us are barely treading water, and becoming increasingly tired doing so. The mantra of change Barack Obama is running his campaign on isn’t popular because it’s catchy or clever; we’ve clung to the slogan because we’ve been quietly mumbling it to ourselves at home, to our friends and family, for the past seven and a half years.

For much longer than reasonable, we’ve been pushed against a wall where the option to be all you can be is diminishing. [Sidebar: Just after I typed the last word of that sentence a commercial for the US Army came on. It's almost as if I wrote it into fruition. I'm not a superstitious gal, but to be sure... A check with the exact amount of money I'll need to pay off my bills and my graduate school tuition will be in my mailbox tomorrow.] Self-actualization is beginning to seem elusive, like a fantasy Maslow concocted to get one over on future psychology students.

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It’s time we stop voting based on perception and stick with reality.

The following is a direct quote from Harold Perrineau, better known as Michael from “Lost.” He was asked by Entertainment Weekly to list the top ten dance moments from the last 25 years of television for their 1000^th issue. Here is his number four moment.

“Barack Obama dances with Ellen on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It’s the first time you got to see him be human. I signed on then.”

Read that quote again. Ponder it, reflect on it. Soon you will realize what I did: Perrineau essentially states that it wasn’t until he saw Obama cut a rug with Ellen that he felt the candidate deserved his vote.

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It’s time we stop voting based on perception and stick with reality.

The following is a direct quote from Harold Perrineau, better known as Michael from “Lost.” He was asked by Entertainment Weekly to list the top ten dance moments from the last 25 years of television for their 1000^th issue. Here is his number four moment.

“Barack Obama dances with Ellen on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It’s the first time you got to see him be human. I signed on then.”

Read that quote again. Ponder it, reflect on it. Soon you will realize what I did: Perrineau essentially states that it wasn’t until he saw Obama cut a rug with Ellen that he felt the candidate deserved his vote.

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The Kentucky primary favored Senator Hillary Clinton by a wide margin while Senator Obama pulled ahead in Oregon’s primary. While the Democratic nomination is still up in the air and primaries are still being fought over, the message and tone of Obama’s campaign has changed in the last few days as he focuses on the general election in November. Yesterday’s results give Obama over half of all pledged delegates, 1,627 of 3,253 total, propelling his campaign to focus on bringing Democrats together to defeat McCain in the general election. Lately his messages have been on platforms widely shared with Clinton but he is highlighting differences with the Republican nominee.

Senator Clinton has not given up the fight, claiming that no one has officially reached the required number of delegates to secure the nomination. Her base of support that gave her victory in last week’s West Virginia primary gave her a large margin of votes in Kentucky with 65% of the vote. Clinton still argues that she has what it takes to defeat McCain and has a better change in the swing states needed in the November elections. Obama offsets Clinton’s claims by downplaying the idea his party will have trouble unifying in the fall.

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Institutionalized religion has almost always served as a political tool, but its jumbled dogmas befuddle our thinking. Democracy depends on rational thinking.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—share the same God and many of the same prophets give or take a holy man or two. We have to admit the benefits of religions. They have contributed to building civilization throughout history, spreading some level of moral consciousness and culture.

So, what’s all the fuss? Why do these portals to eternal life cause so much mayhem and destruction in the world today?

They’ve certainly served political purposes, unifying people under a similar belief and custom. The mega-religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—that surround us today, still benefit folks in some ways. They console and reassure us in times of trouble. Faced with confusing situations, we flock to religion for answers although usually simple and superficial, if not altogether illusionary.

Take the Lakewood Church in Huston, Texas, where Joel Osteen lifts people’s spirits by preaching a cheery version of the Bible, not an easy feat considering the Old Testament’s blood’n guts.

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I sat down with Michael Levine, founder of the public relations firm Levine Communications, to get some PR advice for the 2008 elections. Hollywood stars balance fame and fortune but not without the help of good pr that can cover up bad press and promote a star’s best qualities. The world of Hollywood glam and appeal seems to heavily mirror that of the modern political campaign: advertisement and a candidate’s character have a large impact on electability.

On the current Democratic nomination race, Levine doesn’t think the race is dragging on too long perhaps because he knows things can change at any minute in such a volatile industry. The Democrats have time to recover before November as long as there are no major incidents such as the recent Reverend Wright factor. Levine does note that an important factor in the elections will be experience which McCain and Clinton rely heavily on to boost support.

But from an outside public relations perspective he believes the experience factor will actually favor Senator Barack Obama and not the others.

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The Republican funded Freedom’s Watch, supposed to be a counterpart to the liberal Move On, is imploding, plagued by gridlock and infighting.  Sound familiar? Funded by casino mogul Samuel Adelson, Freedom’s Watch was supposed to be an important advocate of Republican issues in an election year. The problem was, they couldn’t agree on the issues, and when they did, Adelson didn’t want to fund them, showing rare sense for a billionaire, since their first idea was bad-mouthing Iran and pushing for a military strike against Tehran.

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