Latest News

Harmonizing with Humanity

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:54pm

Get the song that’s opening hearts…

Grammy award nominee Karen Taylor-Good unveils “Special Needs” song debuted for Harmonizing with Humanity launch.  Proceeds to benefit schools and organizations that depend on funding from private sponsers.

Click Here to Purchase!

Categories: Latest News

2009 emPower Posi Awards

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:49pm

The deadline has been extended to 12:01 AM (est) on April 2!  Go here to submit your song today!

The Posi (Positive) Awards, introduced in 2005, honor the songwriters and artists who are spreading an emPowering message through music. Each year, the winners of the Posi Awards are announced at a gala awards ceremony featuring the powerful music and extraordinary artists who are transforming lives and helping to achieve peace on our planet.

Now in its fifth year, the Posi Awards accepts submissions in five categories.

• Inspirational
• Personal Transformation
• Most Uniting
• Group Chant
• Spiritual Social Action

Categories: Latest News

Music License Made Simple!

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:41pm

Unarguably the most heated and discussed topic in our churches and the topic we get the most calls on from week to week is that of copyright compliance in our churches. Enter emPower Music Rights, a licensing service created by emPower Music & Arts, tailored to the needs and the music that is used in most Unity and New Thought churches. More information on our exciting emPower Music Rights program is available here!

Categories: Latest News

Petition calls for Secretary of the Arts

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:40pm

In an interview with WNYC’s Soundcheck, Quincy Jones said, “The next conversation I have with President [-elect Barack] Obama is to beg for a secretary of the arts.” Jaime Austria, who plays bass for the New York City Opera and the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, has taken up the banner and started a petition calling for President Obama to create this position. Already thousands have responded.

Join your fellow emPower members in support of the arts by going here and then following the link in the article.

Categories: Latest News

5 Quick and Easy Steps to the SEE-ing Power of 2

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:09pm

By Mary Robinson Reynolds, MasterMinding Maven, Author and Creator of Movies

We have all heard by now about the power of visualization. We see extraordinary results occur for the athletes that are known to utilize their seeing power before every major event that they are competing for. We are also becoming knowledgeable about how visualizing affects the physiology of the body in curing disease.

If I told you to spend a few minutes every morning visualizing yourself getting sick, would you do it? No, of course not, because you do in fact know the power of visualization. This is a time tested truth, and yet we continue to practice seeing worst case scenarios unfolding in our lives.

Whether it’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, or seeing, believing and expecting our desires to be difficult to attain, we are literally and methodically using the power of visualization to shape our experiences in any and all areas of our lives.

Many of us have a learned expectation that things will be worse than they may need to be. We do this by focusing our attention, and the momentum it will build, toward what could go wrong. And the interesting thing is that the key to creating new solutions is completely dependent on where you decide to direct and focus your attention, what you decide to see. This means you must be willing to tune into your current visual expectations and no longer allow what’s been your reality to render you powerless for one more second. We all have habits of thought, beliefs about what we’ve experienced and have come to believe as the only reality and the only way that things can happen.

You know that the performance of athletes improves dramatically with the power of visualization. Now, here’s the big insight: not only is the athlete visualizing the results they seek, they also have a coach, a parent, a friend believing in them, seeing for them and with them. This is the seeing power of two or more minds coming together in the spirit of harmony and agreement for a definite objective or purpose. The energetic power of two or more people visualizing preferred outcomes, can literally move any mountain in your life.

5 Steps to the SEE-ing Power of 2

This is NOT about brainstorming, accountability, blaming or giving advice.  This about the SEE-ing Power of 2.

Step One: Decide who you would like to do this with. It needs to be someone who is like-minded and open to possibilities. You will be seeing for them and they for you. Anything goes. Take your most impossible situation, and dare to see something different with the help of your partner’s vision. See the end results you prefer and refuse to see anything less than that. Together you will hold a rigorous vision of the future you are wanting to create.

Step Two: Decide when you are going to meet or talk on the phone. Make it a date and pen it in on your calendar, i.e., every Monday at noon for fifteen minutes.

Step Three: Decide what you prefer them to see for you. You can ask them to see you accomplishing something that has been difficult with ease and efficiency. Whatever you ask them to see for you, you will want to indicate your new intention that it be easier than you’ve ever known it to be. Use the language, “What I’d prefer to see is _______,” “See me ___________” or “See for me that _____”

Examples:

See me opening the doors of my industry with creative, rich  ideas to create financial freedom.
See me easily and effortlessly closing this big honkin’ deal.
See me easily and effortlessly adjusting my image of myself to health and ease in all I do.
See me fully and completely restoring my health and maintaining a naturally healthy, lite mentality.
See my child now performing happily and successfully in school.
See for me that my teenager now drives with the utmost mindfulness and carefulness.
See my partner now experiencing great joy, fulfillment and success in their work.
See for me that my partner and I are in alignment and re-ignite our love and enjoyment of each  other.
See our family harmonious, aligned and totally having fun and love being together!

If you have an emergency, you can always call in a “quickie” visualization to your partner. Let’s say you are walking into a pivotal meeting and you are greeted by new, negative or contradictory information or a hostile, authoritarian figure. Quickly call your partner and, even if you get their voice mail, say what you want them to see for you. Be definitive and commanding of the end result you intend to see coming from this meeting. You will feel the energy, and the language you need, arrive for you during this meeting.

Step Four: Each time you meet, start your conversations with your most recent successes. How you felt your partners’ seeing power enveloping you and moving you energetically toward the things you asked them to see for you. Next you will discuss whatever is problematic, and finally you will simply decide what you prefer that your partner to see for you instead. You partner then repeats back for you what they are now agreeing to see for you. This seeing power of two then moves new energy, creative ideas and confidence through you.

Step Five: As each of you takes your turn in determining what you want the other to see, you will begin to feel the energy come through you. Because you have now elected to become deliberate about what you prefer to have as your experience, have put voice to it and have had someone else not only listen fully to you, but agree to see that it can in fact happen for you, you will instantly feel the confidence and the energy to go out there and have life unfold as you have been wanting it to all along.

The seeing power of two or more people in agreement has tremendous energetic power that you will feel coming in immediately. By the mere act of having someone listening fully to what you are deliberately deciding for, and asking them to join with you in visualizing, you have accessed the power that literally moves mountains.

The “Master Mind” may be defined as: “coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people for the attainment of a definite purpose.”

You will feel it, you will know it, and you will experience life differently every time you join with two or more people to utilize your seeing power. And just so you know, you have just experienced the true and full out power of MasterMinding.

Mary Robinson Reynolds, M.S., The MasterMinding Maven™, is an educational psychologist, master trainer, and the author of six books: MasterMinding for a Rich Life, MasterMinding 101™: 12 Sessions to a Rich Life Online Course, Stay Married™: Make More Love & Less Conflict Online Course, Attitude Alignment: The Art of Getting What You Want!, Make A Difference with the Power of Compassion and Make A Difference with the Power of Connection. Learn more about Mary’s MasterMinding system and print out her “7 Steps to MasterMind Connection™” FREE at www.makeadifference.com/7steps.htm#print

Mary shows you how to defuse any failure mechanism and to fuel achievement easier than ever before. In all of her works she explores the powerful relevance of user-friendly Quantum physics as it relates to brain/mind technology, physiology of the mind/body and spirituality. MasterMinding works for the person who doesn’t know if they can make it one more day, as well as for the person wanting to achieve a Rich Life. We’ve all just been making this far too difficult!

Send an e-mail to Mary at: Mary@MakeADifference.com

Categories: Latest News

emPowered Blogging: Using your Blog for Promotion, Marketing and More

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:09pm

by Lori Zwermann

Most of us view a blog as a simple diary or journal. The fact is, the potential of blogging is too often overlooked, downplayed or simply misunderstood - especially by artists. This five part series will explore using your blog at emPowerMA.com as a marketing tool.

In this first article we will cover the basics. Defining what a blog is, how to set it up, make entries and then show it off!

Blog is the contraction of the term “web log.” Essentially, it is a website. Most often blogs are used as a journal, a place to publicly post opinions or events in the writer’s life. So it can be a diary you use to keep in touch with family, friends, or even fans.  For artists, however, there is more potential in blogging. (Blogging being the practice of writing in a blog - yes, it is both a noun and a verb.) Beyond the diary, a blog can be used to promote your work and offer you an opportunity to market yourself.

For blogging, the first thing you need is a home for your blog. While you could program your own website and set up the space yourself, for most of us it is far easier to use a “hosted blogging platform.” Basically, this is a service that provides you with the tools to set up your blog and the space to store your entries online. Some services offer their members opportunities to interact with each other and build online communities. These social networks have become very popular in recent years, and for good reason. They are an easy way to keep in touch with people you know and build relationships with people who have similar interests.

The set up process for most hosting sites and social networks is usually quite easy. Before you begin, I’d suggest deciding on a user name. This will be the name of your blog, and most importantly, the name that the search engines know. Think of it as a form of branding.

If you haven’t signed up for a membership at emPowerMA.com, you can follow this link now and be ready to blog in the time it takes you to finish reading this article.  After picking your user name and providing your contact information, you simply verify your email address by clicking on the link emPower sends to your email box. It’s that simple.

The next step is writing a bio for your profile. This forum post has instructions on how to do that at emPowerma.com Your bio is how you let your readers know who you are. Some people prefer to give the barest of details, letting their blog posts speak for themselves. This isn’t the best choice if you are looking to promote yourself through your blog.  You don’t need a full biography, but providing too little information won’t give your audience the connection with you that a longer bio will.

Like most social networks, emPower offers you the space to upload an image, also known as an avatar, to represent who you are. You could skip this step, but remember that a visual will provide an additional level in your online relationships.  The avatar can be anything from a personal portrait, to an album cover or image that has some meaning for you.

Once you have your space established, it’s time to fill it. Posts to your blog are displayed in chronological order, newest entries first with a title line linking to the body of your post.  Each entry will have a unique url, online address, so you can share it with people.

To make a post at emPowerMA.com, just click the “create content” tab and chose “blog entry.” The title of your entry should give your readers an idea of what your post is about. The text for your entry is typed into the “body” box and there is a preview button for you to review your writing before it is published. While this isn’t professional writing, you want your words to be the best possible representation of you. It is always good idea to compose your post in a word processing client so you can spellcheck before entering it.  Once you are satisfied, click save and that’s it.

Congratulations, you are now a blogger. In the next article we will cover tips to make your blog shine. Compelling writing doesn’t have to be difficult and invites your fans to participate in your blog. By giving fans a connection to you and your work, you are tapping into one of the most powerful marketing tools at your disposal. And best of all, it is free publicity.

Categories: Latest News

New Homes for a New Year

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:09pm

In 2006, Brad Pitt created the Make It Right Foundation New Orleans and gathered a group of housing professionals together in the Hurricane Katrina-stricken city with the goal of financing and constructing 150 new houses in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. The houses are being designed with an emphasis on sustainability and affordability, with the hope that the project can and will be replicated throughout the city, with the assistance of Global Green USA, a national environmental organization. Thirteen architectural firms are involved in the project, many of which are donating their services. Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bing have each committed to matching $5 million in donations.

Now those homes are coming into view.  In early December 2008 Pitt visited the New Orleans neighborhood where families are moving into six homes built by his charity following Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s amazing,“ said the actor as he met the new homeowners. “This place that suffered such injustice and so much death can become one of the primary examples of a high-performance neighborhood. It really is amazing.”

Through Make It Right, the actor has helped to fund the construction of six new houses, with more to come.

“You’re going to see 100 homes here, mark my words,“ he said. “It’s nice to see a few, but I’m anxious to see 100, 150, 1,000. I’m really happy for the families that are going to be here, but I can’t help but think about the families that aren’t. It’s a push-pull for me. The excitement is that it’s being proven, that it’s working. The frustration is that we have a long way to go.“

One of the residents, 71-year-old Inez Converse, told the BBC that she is pleased to have returned to the neighborhood where she lived for 35 years, and thanked Pitt in person.

“He didn’t have to do this. I’m just grateful that he is,” she said.

This isn’t his first charitable act. In past years he has done other charity work, not just here in America but around the world. He has also been highly involved in politics.

In 2004, Pitt visited the University of Missouri campus to encourage students to vote in the 2004 US presidential election, in which he supported John Kerry. Also in 2004, he publicly spoke for funding tax-free embryonic stem-cell research. Saying, “We have to make sure that we open up these avenues so that our best and our brightest can go find these cures that they believe they will find.” He also supported California’s ballot initiative, Proposition 71, where federal government provide funding for research that use different types of stem cells, including adult and embryonic stem cells.

Pitt, along with co-stars George Clooney and Matt Damon, supports One, a campaign fighting AIDS and poverty in Third World countries. He is the narrator of the public television series Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge, which discusses current important global health issues. In 2005, Pitt and Angelina Jolie visited Pakistan in November to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The following year, Pitt and Jolie flew to Haiti and visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean. In May 2007, Pitt and Jolie subsequently donated $1 million to three relief organizations in Chad and Darfur, affected by the crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region. He is behind Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities such as in Darfur, along with Clooney, Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub.

In September 2008, Pitt donated $100,000 to fight California’s November 2008 ballot, Proposition 8, initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. He stated, “Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8.

Categories: Latest News

Elton John’s Crystal iPods

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:08pm

Sir Elton John has launched a range of crystal adorned iPods to raise money for charity.

The 61-year-old star personally oversaw production of the 1000 iPods – to be retailed at £400  ($584 US) each – with proceeds to go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

“Elton does not usually put his name to a product but this is exactly he kind of thing he loves,“ said a spokesperson for Sir Elton. “It’s extravagant and glamorous just like him. And, as everyone knows, his AIDS charity is very close to his heart.”

As well as being encrusted with crystals – and available in 10 colors – the iPods also have Sir Elton’s signature engraved by laser on the back.

Sir Elton will also be hosting his annual Oscars Viewing Party on February 22 at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles to raise money for his Foundation.

John has long been associated with AIDS charities after the deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record the single “That’s What Friends Are For”, with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). In April 1990, John performed “Skyline Pigeon” at the funeral of White, a teenage hemophiliac he had befriended.

John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programs for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha pianos from his Las Vegas, Nevada show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.

To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On 28 June 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by Surf and Turf (filet mignon with Maine lobster tail) and a giant Knickerbocker Glory ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry. A Rolls Royce ‘Phantom’ drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin’s artwork both raised £800, 000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million. Later on in the event, John sang “Delilah” with Tom Jones and “Big Spender” with Shirley Bassey. Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.

Every year since 2004, he has opened a shop, selling his second hand clothes. Called “Elton’s Closet” the sale this year of 10,000 items was expected to raise $400,000

Categories: Latest News

Rock Legend with Heart

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:07pm

Bruce Springsteen’s great appeal is based on his common touch, which fans perceive as authentic. Through a remarkable string of albums that includes Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Nebraska ,and Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen turned an increasingly compassionate eye on society’s downtrodden and regular folk such as Vietnam veterans and blue-collar men and women. “The Boss,” as he is known to fans, also manages to balance his albums with songs that celebrate life’s simple joys.

But while Springsteen’s artistic sympathies are well known, relatively few are aware of his significant charitable works. His acts of compassion are managed, for the most part, without fanfare, and are steered directly to those in need. And he’s been helping people for a long time. As Marsh describes in Two Hearts, Springsteen used his new found fame and fortune during the 1984 Born in the U.S.A. tour to donate generously to food banks and pantries in the cities where he performed.

He has also performed in big charity concerts such as No Nukes, and at benefits for Amnesty International and for victims of 9/11.

In July 2008 Bruce announced that he was releasing a live EP that includes several highlights and guest appearances from his ongoing ‘Magic’ tour. ‘Magic Tour Highlights’ came out July 15 2008 via digital retailers. It included four tracks with accompanying videos including guest spots from Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Alejandro Escovedo and the E Street Band’s late keyboardist Danny Federici in his final performance with the band.  All net profits from sales of the EP will go to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund, as artists, record labels and iTunes store have agreed to waive their fees.

In November of 2008, Springsteen helped to raise over $100,000 for wounded war veterans when he threw his leather jacket in a charity auction. The legendary star took part in the New York Comedy Festival for the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which also saw appearances by funnyman Ricky Gervais, Regis Philbin and Saturday Night Live comic Darrell Hammond.  But Springsteen was the highlight of the show, riding onstage on his 1994 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which he was donating to the sale.

Guest auctioneer Whoopi Goldberg helped get proceedings underway, but when bidding on the powerful motorbike stalled at $40,000, kind-hearted Springsteen literally sold the clothes off his back - taking off the leather jacket he was wearing to boost the sale. The two items eventually sold for $70,000. But that wasn’t all Springsteen gave away - CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour handed over $50,000  for The Boss’ autographed guitar.

Much of the direct help that Springsteen offers the needy is consistent with the criteria laid out by Acton Institute senior fellow Marvin Olasky. In “Effective Compassion: Seven Principles from a Century Ago,” Olasky wrote: “Before developing a foundation project or contributing to a private charity, we should ask: ‘Does it work through families, neighbors, and religious or community organizations, or does it supersede them?’”

Springsteen limited his giving in the early 1980s to communities on his itinerary that had reputable mechanisms for distributing food and necessities to individuals needing temporary assistance. Some of his charitable works have helped individuals and groups in his home state of New Jersey, the state that served as inspiration for many of his better-known songs. He financed the building of the Newark Community Food Bank in the 1980s, and donated a reported $50,000 to replace the roof when it collapsed. He donated another $80,000 to help out union workers laid off from the 3M factories in Freehold. In the late 1990s, he gave more than $350,000 to provide home improvements for the needy in Monmouth County. The Newark Star-Ledger reported that $9,500 of that sum went to repair the home of a retiree confined to a wheelchair.

Recognition of the inherent dignity of all human persons is a theme of many of Springsteen’s songs. That sympathy colors his private charitable acts. Rather than succumb totally to the impulse to donate his talents and fortune to high-profile causes run by abstract bureaucracies, Springsteen told Kurt Loder in the 1980s: “I want to try and just work more directly with people; try to find some way [to] tie into the communities we come into.” Aside from a body of pop music rivaled only by the Beatles and Bob Dylan, this may be his most worthwhile legacy.

Categories: Latest News

Presidential Pledge: “We Have to Do This”

Empowerzine - Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:06pm

Actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore along with over 50 of the biggest stars in Hollywood have recorded a “Presidential Pledge” in collaboration with MySpace and Katalyst Films to encourage Americans to get involved in community service via USAService.org. The move is part of an effort to answer President Barack Obama’s call to begin the “work of remaking America.”

During his inauguration speech on January 20th, President Obama asserted that despite all that “government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.”

“The price and promise of citizenship,” according to Obama, is that “we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world.”

It was this call to duty that inspired Kutcher and Moore to record the commercial. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kutcher explained that, “The truth is it’s going to take millions, hundreds of millions, of people for that [change in the world] to happen.”

“It’s going to be because of what all of us do. He’s the catalyst. It’s his inspiring message that asks us to be of service to each other. “

“Someone came into our office and had the idea of doing pledges for Obama, and instantly it was like, ‘We have to do this’,” he said.

The commercial was aired online and is viewable here. Reflecting Barack’s call for change, the film features some of Hollywood’s stars revealing how they plan to personally participate in keeping America strong, proud and green.  The pledges range from simple tasks (“I pledge to turn the lights off”) to grand endeavors (“I pledge to find a cure for Alzheimer’s”). Participants included famous faces such as George Lopez, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jason Bateman, Dakota Fanning, Nicole Richie, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Kevin Connolly, Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, and Molly Sims, amongst others.

In a statement, Kutcher emphasized the interactive nature of the PSA announcement, saying, “We are honored to be working with MySpace to rally the entertainment industry to answer President-elect Barack Obama’s call to service. The ‘Presidential Pledge’ is a platform for people across the nation and throughout the world to make a first-person commitment of service to our new president, articulating a specific intent or action to become an agent of positive change.”

“There’s an assumption that this one man is going to take on his new job full-time and somehow wave a magic wand of change, and I don’t believe that to be true,” Ashton tells Reuters. “I think that we have to be the leaders, and that’s not celebrities–I think that we as citizens have to be leaders of the movement that we want to create.”

Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address

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…

(APPLAUSE)

… 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 forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

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, 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.

(APPLAUSE)

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.

(APPLAUSE)

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 shortcuts 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 Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.

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.

(APPLAUSE)

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.

The state of our 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…

(APPLAUSE)

… and lower its costs.

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. 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.

MR. 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. The 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 the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

(APPLAUSE)

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Our founding fathers faced with perils that 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 we are ready to lead once more.

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Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the 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’ll begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard- earned peace in Afghanistan.

With old friends and former foes, we’ll 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.”

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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 nonbelievers. 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…

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.

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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 the 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, 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, honesty and hard work, 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 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

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So let us mark this day in 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.

Thank you. God bless you.

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And God bless the United States of America.

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