My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.

The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.

And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort – even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Join us on Feel The Dream where we celebrate the inspiration of Obama & this big step in the realization of Dr Martin Luther King’s Speech,

Happy Martin Luther King Day to America from the world.
In celebration of the hope and change starting over the next couple of days, Feel The Dream has launched a special project where you can add your voice to Dr King’s famous words. Just listen to the video on our front page and yell the climactic words “Free At Last, Free At Last, Thank God Almighty We Are Free At Last”. Record it & send your MP3 to feelit@feelthedream.org & we will add it to a very special mix. Include the names of all those taking part, we promise the first 100 will be typed in gold lettering & all of you will be included in the role call as pioneers when we send it to the ‘Highest Office’ (we think you know where we’re going here;)
You can all do it, it’s easy…. everyone can sing in the shower (or with a few Jack Daniels), so take your laptop into the washroom or share something nice with your friends If you’re not shy you can send us a picture or better yet a video.

Enjoy this ‘Cause for Celebration’. Enjoy it friends and enjoy it with your friends wherever they are. Make music, have a party, dance… whatever. Just yell ‘Free At Last’ as we leave an era bent on conflict rather than resolution. Let’s celebrate & celebrate ‘On Purpose!’

This project starts today & will culminate on the anniversary of the speech on August the 28th this year.

Bring in your friends, DJ’s & Artists from all over the world. Collaboration is the key, celebration is the goal, working together & with people such as Amnesty is the way.

Please support them… they are continually at the rock-face defending people who’s lives we cannot imagine, let’s not forget that it’s due to work by people such as them that we are made aware of injustice, whether it be to individuals or indeed whole nations.

It is your group, it’s our world.

Let Freedom Ring!

That was the strap-line they were putting on the anti Obama advert I saw as I was watching ‘Larry King Live’ on the in-flight TV channel from Memphis to San Francisco, I saw it several times too as I whisked in & out of my hotel rooms …. if you wanna get some idea of what an aggressive political advertising campaign is just check this out, McCain Anti Obama Campaign Ad.

Or why not give this one a go ….. Too Radical, Too Risky!

And it was these aggressive smear campaigns that… to my European eyes & from what I heard in general talk on a day to day basis,  very much proved McCain’s undoing, prompting further ads in defence & defiance of these blatant infamatory below the belt attacks… like this one McCain False Claims. But for me the moment this negative campaining blew up in his face, was this glorious bit of television… hey….you might ‘All be Joe The Plumbers’ out there… (who as I’m sure you’re aware didn’t turn up for McCain’s call to arms…. he has now got an agent & has stopped plumbing to launch a career as a country singer)…. but when you spit into the wind, sometime it’s bound to blow back in your face …. as this wonderful old lady proves to such a degree that McCain has to grab back the mike from her …and damned quick…. & actually jump to Obama’s defence

Well it just gives you some idea of the bare knuckle fighting that was going on… and… on …. and ongoing day in day out. For me it only served to heighten Obama’s stature, the claims were widely accepted as blatant distortion & the subject of much negative press for McCain as, consistently Obama just kept his cool & kept rolling confidently ahead.

It reminded me of why I decided to put the phrase ‘Obama, A Cause for Celebration’ right in the centre of the Feel The Dream website, a site dedicated to celebrating freedom and to dancing to the prolific use of Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech in Club Culture.

The sea change for me was another Larry King Live show, this time one that I had seen weeks earlier in a hotel in Germany. He was interviewing Michelle Obama and centering on the verbal assaults & accusations made against her…. she had after all said that ‘for the first time in her adult life, she was proud to be American’… booo hiss, what about this time Michelle, what about that? The phrase was turned around to make her seem fundamentally un-patriotic.

She didn’t miss a step…. not once retorting or throwing back a corresponding accusation in her defence. All she would say was that that these people were just doing their job, she saw them frequently, talked on good terms with them & that she & Barack felt no reason for animosity, there were too many other much more important things at hand.

That was the moment I decided to rescind on my decision never to have a political bias on the site and realised that if these principles had a chance of coming into power, we would truly have a ‘Cause for Celebration’. For the first time I started to see our all too familier confrontational ‘politics’ moving in another direction, which… on reflection I can only refer to as leadership.

By the time I got home from Germany I got the site hastily modified & started seriously thinking about getting out there to see it all for myself.

Even then, I refrained from publicising the site on this basis, preferring it to stand simply as a marker for a historic time. It is NOT a political lobbyist site and soon it’ll regain it’s proper emphasis on freedom, celebration, dance & music. But should Obama win??? Martin Luther King will have won too, and…. over the weeks his words will have again regained new emphasis & vigour… now with an added flavour…. the tangible reality that his dream has come a massive way forward in its potential for realisation.

There’s more to tell you about what went though my mind on that eight hour flight & the subsequent build to the climactic celebrations. But this post has gone on long enough.

These diaries are a reflection on a week or two which have taken me some time to digest & I’m glad to be writing them now with hindsight… at the time it was all I could do to bang out the odd ‘Twitter’ message, keep my eyes on the road, my hands upon the wheel & my little Facebook family… you guessed it… ‘Obama, A Cause for Celebration’, growing day by day.

I was collecting souveniers of Dia De Los Muertos , Beale St, the home of the blues & the Stax & Sun recording studios in Memphis & sketching out the beginning of a little ‘Road Trip Remix’ that’s still in the can.

And I was on holiday. And I’ve got the skulls to prove it

P@x

Hey Guys!

The dream is feelin’ again. After a short lay-off due to errands & duties, the need to catch my breath & a particularly virulent virus which I can’t help but think was linked directly to the world’s imminent economic collapse…. (it started feeling a little ’sub-prime’, kicked in hard unexpectedly, pleaded pathetically for URGENT attention, knocked out the immune system like a deck of cards despite promising recovery after recovery, rallied occasionally between crises then completely exhausted all resources, going onto create a complete lack of confidence in the medical establishment which resorted in last ditch measures involving storing all it’s energy under a pillow!)

It was however eventually bailed out by a weird concoction of alternative old fashioned ‘common sense’ remedies thanks to Neal’s Yard Apothecary, restoring faith in long established ‘Golden Seal’ as the most reliable immune system on the market. Drug companies be damned!

Anyway, I’m back & with the increased imminance of the forthcoming US elections, HOPING that we might be ‘free at last’ from eight years of errr, let’s be polite, complete f*ckin’ international buffoonery. Such is my enthusiasm that, yesterday morning I boarded a flight to San Francisco, anticipating a party coming on…. & y’all know how much we at ‘Feel The Dream’ love a party

So keep tuned tuned & check out www.feelthedream.org in the meantime &, fingers crossed, you’ll see just where I’m coming from…..;)

As for now? it’s 8.20PM local time, but my watch still says 4:20 in the morning!

Jet lag is kicking in,…. do you know the way to San Jose?

Hey….it’s holiday time in the UK. So nice to have a day off, trying to get through to corporate institutions representing UK ‘name’ DJs & promotion companies…& what do I find ????… first events are rolling in….. grassroots, creative, spontaneous free thinkers, just like it should be. And so… up go our first events in the diary. Shouts out to all these guys…. go to their myspace sites, be their friends, they are upfront creative guys, badass free-stylers.

Had enough ‘devil’s advocacy’ for a lifetime this week, panic phone calls that the site doesn’t work, reminders of the short fuse. Take’s me back to that DJ holler… ‘Give It Up!’

So I did…. It’s your site guys….remember that !!!! Some people want explanations….. some people get it. Met Caroline yesterday at the Beachdown Festival in Brighton…’Course I get it, I’m free, I do what I want, when I want’…. she gets it!

And so do you guys, or you wouldn’t be here. Big shout to Saturna… she’s actually putting on a special night in Memphis.

Mad (wo)men…yep….Mavericks…definitely. Mediocre….nowhere in this site.

It’s small but perfectly formed, sorry bout teething probs, but in every day, in every way, it’s looking better & better….more news coming in… just waiting for emails & confirmation… Agents in Amsterdam & Ibiza…bring ‘em on! And just let me be a stuck record again, bring in your friends, join your local groups or form your own, bling up your pages, this is your space not myspace, get off yer Facebook & leave it to the Central Intelligence Agency.

This is Your House! And this is the best place to get the latest news, where it’s happening near you & what to expect Of course, if your not free…. as is too often the case…..well….. you should contact Amnesty International, they fight at the front line…..we’re free enough to support them at least!

L8rs

Feel The Dream