A number of folks noticed this afternoon that both the Manifest Obama video (I posted it last week here) and website had disappeared. I’d received a nice note about the video from Lauren Rosenfeld, one of its creators (see comments), so I e-mailed Lauren and her husband, James, to find out what happened.

Here’s their response:

Anne,

Thank you so much for your kind support of Manifest Obama.  We took it down because it was no longer serving its intended purpose of watering the seeds of peace and positive focus amongst supporters.
We were at 23,000 views around dinnertime last night, and things had been going well – lots of very nice, very positive feedback from supporters.  But then we started noticing a huge spike in traffic (an additional 20,000 views by this morning) and experienced an overwhelming number of very troubled & troubling comments, both on the video and on outside blogs.  When we learned this morning that Glenn Beck had mentioned the project in a negative light on his show, we realized that we were catalyzing & provoking exactly the opposite of what we wanted.  So we pulled the plug swiftly.

Though it was perhaps a disappointing ending, we feel the project served its purpose.  Everything is impermanent!    We were so happy and grateful for your comments and other comments from similar supporters.  We will all continue to stay positive and proactive, continue to focus on bringing peace & prosperity to everyone in this nation & the world.  We will continue to recognize and transform the suffering we see around us, even & especially in those who disagree with us.  We will continue to work towards the day when Obama, an exceptional and inspiring leader, takes the oath of office.  Thank you for all your support!!

Many blessings,
James & Lauren

Thank you, James and Lauren, for providing hope in a positive manner. As I mention in my post below, I often attract haters as well, and I know how icky it feels. At least on this blog, I can moderate comments and refuse to post anything that I think is rude, bitter, inappropriate, or worse. I guess y’all had no such recourse on YouTube, which is unfortunate. I think, regardless of controversy, you’ve got to keep putting your truth out there. Perhaps we’ll get to see the Manifest Obama video back up on November 5th.

Although I was in the press pen, somehow I missed Maveah. Edgy Mama sends love, girlfriend!

Click here to view the embedded video.

From Julie at Bruisin’ Ales’ mom:

A brilliant idea for $10, or even $5 — Instead of (in addition to?) us all sending around more emails about how horrible Palin is, let’s all make a donation to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin’s name.

And here’s the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they’ll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor.

Here’s the link to the Planned Parenthood website.

Be sure sure you use that link above or choose the pull down of Donate–Honorary or Memorial Donations, not the regular “Donate Online” or the card won’t be sent!

You’ll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send the “in Sarah Palin’s honor” card. I suggest you use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters, which is:

Sarah Palin
c/o McCain for President
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington, VA 22202

Here’s the news item that caught our eye recently:

Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million Sunday to anyone who could provide proof of an illicit sexual encounter with a high-ranking government official.
In a full-page advertisement in The Washington Post, Flynt asked for “documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with a Congressperson, Senator or other prominent officeholder.” He said he would pay up to $1 million for material that could be verified and published in Hustler.
Flynt ran a similar ad in October 1998, during the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to the impeachment of President Clinton.
The publisher took credit for the demise of Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., who admitted he had had extramarital affairs after word got out that Flynt was investigating him. Livingston announced his resignation in December 1998, days before he had been expected to become speaker of the House.

We think Flynt knows there’s something going down, or someone going down, and he’s trying to ferret out the information. Stay tuned.