would we still be dieing day after day

could we even handle the immortal power of the human race?

Or would we just fall like the Roman empire?

What if Jesus never died for our sins?

would we find him curing the sick and feeding the poor?

If our deadly sins were never forgiven, would we find the same people in heaven

Or would they be burning in hell for all eternity

What if we never came to America?

would the Indians be the only ones walking the land?

inventing new things

never dieing from the disease the Europeans bought to them

could we still be found here today?

what if Lincoln never freed the slaves?

would we still be in shackles being transported into the hell its self

our sweat staining the ground with every steamy drop of pain

or would we still be kings and queens in Africa?

What if Dr. King never gave his speech?

would we still be drinking from different water fountains going to different schools

Still getting beat on for looking to hard or for speaking when we weren’t being spoken to

Not being treated like a human

But an unwanted hair in a women’s eyebrow

just get plucked one by one from the rest of the world and be forgotten

Could we handle the split world?

What if Bush was never elected?

would we treat Gore and Karry the same

blaming them for someones selfless actions

can we ever realize that he is still human

and didn’t make all of the decisions that were made for this country

But yet all we can think about is the president and not the other people behind the closed doors

What if we never went to Iraq?

would we be fighting on U.S. soil

would their even be a war

innocent people dieing because of the insecurities of some man that blew up buildings

The men and women dieing day after day

not knowing if this breath would be their last

could we handle any more bloodshed?

What if Obama never won?

would black people still be so involved

coming together as one

yet a couple of months earlier were going to kill one another

Are we hypocrites for preaching change and doing good by one another

Are we really coming together as one?

Or just using his name as an excuse to do foolish things

and make idiotic songs that don’t have a meaning

but we sing along because they mention our black president

would we still listen if he was never mentioned?

What if none of this ever happened?

would we still be the world we have come to be?

would you eat think and breath the same?

Or would you change like your hand does when you flip it to the other side?

Jazmin Potts

–
rednecks4obama.com

It was brave for Aunt CC to take me to the train station. I gotta love her for that. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“No, no I insist” she says.

People don’t get enough credit for the minor acts of heroism that happen every day.

Allow me to recap:

Some years ago Aunt CC was rear- ended while teaching her oldest daughter how to drive a stick shift. She was in the car with her two children Angela up front and Brian in the backseat.

A short aside about Angela:

Angela is a true American patriot.

Those who love their country serve it.

And this country’s greatest servants are its greatest assets. She is a constant reminder of the fundamental decency and love of the homeland that true citizens possess.

She is one of those assets.

Angela has done three tours of duty in Iraq. She came back and got a nursing degree and is working as a triage nurse. In what off hours she has she’s taking the MCAT’s to get into medical school.

She inspires me more than she could ever know.

But this isn’t her story.

This is the story of her mother.

So there she is at a full stop and some guy is barreling towards her from the rear. Brian is in the back seat saying this guy is coming fast and doesn’t look like he’s going to stop. She talks at him more to quiet him down than actually listen and continues on with her lesson plan.

The next thing she knows he’s in her trunk.

Literally.

And she’s got a rod in her spine and all kinds of pins and screws. Little do I know she’s been to the doctor’s office and had two cortisone shots; one on the left and one on the right side of her neck between vertebrae 3 and 4.

She opens the door to her apartment to let me in. Her voice is shaky and her eyes are welled up with tears. She begins explaining that she had just gotten off the phone with a friend of hers from some years ago.

I thought someone had died.

I notice that her neck is really stiff. She asks if I want anything. I tell her no, but thank you. I tell her that she doesn’t look well and that I can grab the laptop my father left me and come visit her another time.

“I didn’t know that he was going to shoot me twice. Nobody told me about that,” she says.

She takes a good look at me.

“Freddy could have coughed Christopher up and spit him out,” she goes on.

“I never had a cortisone shot. I didn’t know it was a three shot thing,” she laments.

She tells me that she had surgery 20 weeks ago on August the 27th. She puts a period on this last statement by pulling down her collar to show me a jagged surgery scar. The purpose of the shot was to address the arthritis pain she had been feeling up and down the vertebrae.

“The nurse warned me by the time I got home the anaesthesia would wear off,” Aunt CC says.

“She was riiighhhht”, she says in almost a hoarse whisper.

She asked me when was the last time I talked to my father. I said back in DC before I got on the Metro to Pentagon City. She told me that she had gotten off the phone with him not fifteen minutes before I walked into her apartment. He had told her to turn the radio on because they might be interviewing Rhonda on the Michael Baisden show.

I pulled it off the top shelf and plugged the radio in.

“I’m ready to go back to New York,” she quips.

I told her I liked DC, but it was definitely not NYC. I said that she better stay where she was with a good job that had benefits at least until the Recession was over.

I wish that would hurry up and happen already.

The conversation swiched gears onto the subject of pain.

I said it was a good thing that women had the honor of bearing children. If men had to do it there wouldn’t be any children. Not because men couldn’t deal with the physical agony of childbirth, but there’s no way we would consent to the nine month process of swelling, body disfigurement, hot flashes, cramps, morning sickness, etc.

No freaking way.

She said that I was from a different generation of men. Men from her generation weren’t…(insert expletive)

She added that the doctor’s hoped they wouldn’t have to go back to Phase 2.

She explained that when the fusion took place the doctor could have used cadaver bone or plastic. However, the human body tends to reject foreign materials. She chose instead to have bone taken from her hip made into her new disk.

She grabbed a big medical book with colored pictures of the body. She turned the pages until she found the picture of the spine.

She points to the book.

“The fusion happened here on vertebrae 5, 6, and 7.”

But now she was having pain in vertebrae 3 and 4. The doctor had said that it wasn’t herniated, but there was arthritis in the disk.

The shots weren’t going to take effect for another three or four days.

“When I saw you the other day before the Inauguration I was faking it. I was in a lot of pain.”

She continues.

“If it doesn’t work it’s Phase 2 to fuse vertebrae 3 and 4,” she says this as her fingers point to these vertebrae in the book.

“The needle for the cortisone shots went in between vertebrae 3 and 4. I wish she had told me I’d have to turn left to do my right side.”

She closes the book and we begin talking about the new President.

“I thought he was going to be assassinated. I almost didn’t vote for him because I didn’t want his daughters to go without a father.”

“But the more I listened to him the more I liked him.” she finishes.

I like him too.

-Daimyo

…Thank You Jazmin! you took this photo just as the speech began ….

we look forward to more of the RoadTrip through your gifted ” Childs Eyes…

President Obama prepares to give the Inaugural Address

-

President Obama as he begins his speech.

here is the official white house link for the entire speech..

http://www.whitehouse.gov/videos/2009/January/20090120_inauguration.mp4

please copy and paste the URL above to view this wonderful speech…

-FredP-

.

Let me take you back to a really cool event…

PRT Fox35 Orlando interview with Shay Harris

………………………………………………………………………

I thought you might be interested in the story at MyFox Orlando | Family wins chance to watch history. You can view it at,

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/MYFOX/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=8244857&version=1&locale=EN-US

you can copy and paste the URL above to take you to the video.

A very warm THANK YOU to Shay Harris of Fox35 Orlando for making the PottsRoadTrip even more exciting with this piece….

PRT Fox35 interview video freeze frame of Rhonda..she still has that expression

-FredP-

PRT Gate LOcations & Guest Sections

_

PRT "Purple Ticket" (front)

PRT "Purple Ticket" (back)

Inaugural Program (cover)

PRT President Obama (signed)

Here are the actual items from the envelope received on Jan 14,2009 .

Rhonda and I picked up our “package” from the UCF offices of Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas.

We were amazed with its contents….

ENJOY

-FredP-

Gail Pennybacker & Marty with Rhonda

There were long lines on Capitol Hill Monday, as people arrived at House and Senate offices to pick up the much-coveted tickets to Obama’s swearing-in ceremony.

The pure joy of receiving tickets is a special moment for many inauguration attendees. “I worked very hard for these tickets… I got six of them,” said Yogi Walker, a Texas resident.

Walker, like the thousands who stood in line for their inaugural tickets, said waiting hours to witness history is part of the experience of a lifetime.

“I had a sense that it would be somewhat like this,” said Nathan Huerter. “But it’s bigger than I ever expected.”

One line even had the feel of a street party, but the real celebration came when the tickets were in hand.

The Potts family from Orlando, Fla. is literally mapping out every move they have made on this journey. Using the GPS in his phone, Fred Potts set up a Web page so anyone can see the family’s minute-by-minute progress, including standing in line for their tickets.

“Right now, they can see exactly where we are within 60 feet,” Fred Potts said.

His teenage daughters said they will do their best to describe an event that is difficult to put into words. “They can be here with us without actually being here,” said 16-year-old Kristina Potts. “We have pictures and stuff like that — it’s a connection we have with people all across the country.”

“I know it’s going to be all worth the waiting when I get there and I get to see him and just to see the beauty of the moment,” said 14-year-old Jazmine Potts.

to view the interview that aired Jan 19,2009 5pm broadcast click the link below

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0109/587026video.html?ref=newsstory

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0109/587026_video.html?ref=newsstory

-FredP-

“Brotherly Love. Brotherly Love. I just feel like hugging everybody.”

This is gonna be a great country.

-Daimyo

(Chapter XI Notes from Underground Dostoevsky)

I’m not looking for readers.

I’m looking for comrades.

I would like to say first and foremost that if all my writings ever do is entertain or fail to entertain, then I would consider myself an abject failure.

America needs people who do.

Not people who say.

Right now I’m departing Union Station on my way back to New York. The land of my birth.

But the hard work has just begun.

If I go back home and pick up that XBox controller and wax poetic about my journey back to the Big Apple that simply isn’t good enough. There are more journeys to come. There are more road trips to go on.

My search for Ithaca has just begun.

I’d like to say a few thank you’s at this point:

First and foremost thank you Rhonda Leggins Potts. Your story in your words has yet to come and I eagerly await it. You tattooed your daughters and my beloved sisters with an experience that they will hold onto for the rest of their lives. God bless you for that. You gave my father an opportunity to hold his grandson. He would have done it eventually, but you expedited it. You helped to fill in some of the rifts in our family. I have a lot of love for you for that.

Thank You Frederick Raymond Potts. Not just for having me. Not just for giving me the joy and humbling responsibility of being the best example I can be for my siblings. Thank you for bringing me this computer and all the sweet spy equipment I know I’m going to get in the near future (binoculars that can take digital photos Sweeetttt!!!) Thank you for doing right by those two girls. You don’t know how much they need you. You made that whole drive possible and did all the driving with degenerative disk disease in your vertebrae. No one knows the pain you’re in like I do. And you never once complained because that’s the kind of samurai you are. You say that no one loves you like your Dad loves you. You say the only way I’ll understand is when I have my first child. Let me tell you that no one loves a father like his first son.

Thank you to my two sisters Kristina and Jazmin. I’m putting you together in one paragraph because If I picked either one of you before the other I’d never hear the end of it. Thank you two for being the two best sisters an older brother could have. You both love me more than I can possibly understand and everything I do is for you. If you’re willing to work for them; all your dreams can come true. All you need is a purpose, a plan, a mind closed against all negative influences, and an alliance of one or more people. We may not see each other that much but I pray for you both everyday.

How could I forget my new brother Kyle. Thanks for having a couch I can lay a wearied head on. I came down to celebrate and it ended up being work. Thank you for allowing me to establish a base camp so well stocked and supplied with provisions. I have no doubt that my journey will bring me back to DC soon. I need a re-up on that positive energy.

How could I forget my real brother Kyle. You and I don’t need a lot of words to say about each other. Take care of my nephew. It’s all for him. Give my regards to my other nieces and nephews ,your mother Judy Bear, and Bonnie. I didn’t get to see you this trip but my adventure to you is yet to come.

Thank you to my comrades Matt and Yung Soldier. When the moment to serve arose you linked up with a total stranger. You two know more than anyone else what true service, true patriot love, and duty to one’s country is all about. The work is only beginning. Our paths will cross again. But until then lead by example.

Thank you to everyone who has written comments. Your kind words were an inspiration to tired limbs that wanted to submit to the pleasures of sleep. You are the kindling that stokes my flame. I need you more than you can possibly know.

Thank you to Casazzism. The next time I come down let’s do some painting. I hope that poem I gave you inspires you to climb to the summit of Transcendence. I’d love a painting. Lend me some of your inspiration.

Thank you Billy. You’ve given me more than a vehicle. You’ve given me a loudspeaker to the world. You called me just as I was writing about you. The spirit is a marvelous thing. I’ll always admire that you are one of the realest people I know. You are you 100% of the time. Never change. We’ve got a lot more projects coming up Webmaster. Or maybe I should call you Spiderman?

Thank you Aunt C.C. You gave my family an opportunity to be a part of this. You gave them safe refuge and a tour guide for DC. You showed me the grit of strength and determination in the face of terrible physical pain. I will take you up on that offer to have a place to crash when I’m in town.  We have a lot of catching up to do.

Thank you Angela. You are an example of what true citizenship is all about. You inspire me more than you know. You shake complacence right out of me. You’re like plate tectonics.

Thank you Nooch. They needed your vehicle more than you know. You gave them the opportunity to make their adventure much more comfortable. Good luck with the Expo.

There’s so many more people to thank and if you feel I missed you sorry, but thanks all the same.

Most of all.

Thank You Barack Obama.

I could say some lofty things about the fire you sparked in my heart. But you’re not interested in my words.

You’re interested in my deeds.

AJ I’ll see you at St. Vincent’s tomorrow at noon.

We’ve got work to do.

-Daimyo

“Look man I need you to get an aircard. I don’t care what you have to do. I’ll give them my credit card number. Go out and get it done.”

So off I went. I got to the Verizon store and a cute sister named Dorry helped a brother out.

I told her I had a website. I snapped a quick pic on my PDA and wrote the URL on a white business card. I told her I was going to post her photo online, that it was a blog website and that I hoped she’d post a reply. Out the door I went.  2 blocks from the store I ran into a homeless man in a wheel chair with a sign that said:

HOMELESS

VIETNAM VET

IF YOU CARE

WILL YOU SHARE

I snapped two pics on my PDA and threw some change in his cup.

He said, “Thank you. I was pronounced dead at the hospital yesterday.”

I tapped him on the shoulder and replied, “Stay up.”

I walked back to the apartment. I called Dad aka J Jonah Jameson. He was in J C Penny’s. Here are excerpts from the conversation:

“Did the thing work?”

“I’m talking to you while I’m posting. Keep talking.”

“Did the thing work.”

“Dude I’m posting while you’re talking and it’s working fine.”

So the boss made me go out and get a USB727 Modem that allows one to get a internet signal anywhere.

You know what that means.

Look out world.

Daimyo will be reporting live and direct from anyplace he’s getting a signal.

And to you poor weak huddled masses yearning to be free:

I’m coming.

-Daimyo