From Nicole Derse, the OFA National Training Director:
I wanted to invite you to a special OFA National Training we're holding for some of our top volunteers in early December.The training is a great chance to learn how to make the biggest impact in your community, ask questions, and learn specific skills such as how to talk with your neighbors about health reform and use OFA's technology to organize most effectively.RSVP now to reserve your spot in an OFA National Training event near you:During the election last year, we learned that when we build a dedicated community of volunteer leaders, we can bring about powerful change. This training is part of building our momentum on the ground -- strengthening our community in every part of the country by bringing volunteers together, learning and sharing best practices, and refining our plan to move forward with our vision for the future.I hope you can make it,NicoleNicole DerseNational Training DirectorOrganizing for America
I wanted to invite you to a special OFA National Training we're holding for some of our top volunteers in early December.The training is a great chance to learn how to make the biggest impact in your community, ask questions, and learn specific skills such as how to talk with your neighbors about health reform and use OFA's technology to organize most effectively.RSVP now to reserve your spot in an OFA National Training event near you:
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For more information, visit WH.gov/CEQ
Health Care Advocates Call on Voinovich to Support Affordable Health Care for All
Wednesday, health care advocates gathered from around the state concerned that the affordability standards in the U.S.
Senate Finance passed version of health care reform do not go far enough. On the heels of the Senate Finance
Committee's historic vote, advocates delivered their message and hundreds of signatures on postcards to U.S. Sen.
George Voinovich urging his support of affordable health care for all.
At a Statehouse press conference and rally prior to a meeting with Voinovich, Cathy Levine highlighted the historic
importance of the Senate action on health care reform.
"No issue before Congress could be more important than ensuring that cancer survivors, those with chronic conditions,
and those whose wages are stretched to pay for food and shelter have access to the richest health care system in the
world," said Levine, co-chair of Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage (OCHC). "We ask Sen. Voinovich to support health
care reform that gives all Ohioans access to high quality, affordable health care."
Joining the rally and meeting with Voinovich were health care advocates from across the state, many motivated by their
own personal experiences. Anne Creech, a two-time cancer survivor, traveled from Toledo to share her story. After
dropping her employer-based insurance at her employer's request, Creech struggled to find affordable coverage in Ohio's
individual market as a cancer survivor.
"I pay $500 each month for a high deductible insurance plan that excludes coverage for cancer screenings and other tests
I need," said Creech. "I am putting off important preventive screenings because I cannot afford to pay for them out of
pocket."
The issue of affordability is especially important to the age group just below Medicare eligibility, advocates pointed out.
Those aged 50 to 64 often face coverage exclusions or higher premiums because of pre-existing conditions and
age. "That is a key reason why 13 percent of adults age 50-64, or 7.1 million adults, were uninsured in 2007 - a figure
that is growing rapidly in our current difficult economy. Even those with insurance often struggle with high premiums and
cost sharing obligations that can make health care unaffordable."
George Sonnichsen, an AARP volunteer, called for fair treatment for older Americans: "We must prevent insurers from
denying coverage or charging higher rates based on age or health status and subsidies must ensure that coverage -
including both premiums and co-pays and deductibles - is affordable for everyone."
Health care reform is also an important issue to the faith community. The United Methodist Book of Discipline calls health
care "a basic human right," and states that it is a "governmental responsibility to provide all citizens with health care."
Alicia Rivers, a commissioned deacon in the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church and a member of the
leadership team of Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage spoke to the faith community's responsibility in the health care
reform debate.
"Health care for all is not an option from a faith perspective, but rather a necessity. We are called to care for persons as
God cares for them, providing out of abundance rather than scarcity. Access to care is not a privilege but a right for all,"
explained Rivers. She continued, "We call on Sen. Voinovich, who is known as a man of faith, to make affordable health
care for all Ohioans - and all Americans - his legacy."
According to OCHC, the Senate Finance passed bill includes the some safeguards for consumers but the coalition wants
the Senate to adopt affordability provisions that go further to protect consumers - such as those which provide premium
credits on a sliding scale basis to individuals and families with incomes up to 400 percent Federal Poverty Level.
Ron
Oct 12, 12:52 PM EDT
Seniors lobby challenges health insurance report
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supporters of President Barack Obama's drive to remake health care are pushing back against a dire report from the insurance industry warning of hefty new costs for consumers from the latest legislation.
"I really don't think it's worth the paper it's written on," AARP Executive Vice President John Rother told reporters Monday. "If anyone believes it, that's a problem."
The study commissioned by America's Health Insurance Plans put the White House, congressional Democrats and their allies on the defensive on the eve of a critical vote in the Senate Finance Committee.
It marked a shift in strategy by the health insurance industry, which had been working for months behind the scenes to help shape health care legislation. With the Finance Committee set to vote Tuesday on a sweeping bill the industry fears could result in a loss of revenue, the insurers suddenly went on the attack, in dramatic fashion.
Late Sunday, AHIP sent reporters and its member companies a new accounting firm study that projects the legislation would add $1,700 a year to the cost of family coverage in 2013, when most of the major provisions in the bill would be in effect.
Premiums for a single person would go up by $600 more than would be the case without the legislation, the PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis concluded in the study commissioned by the insurance group.
"Several major provisions in the current legislative proposal will cause health care costs to increase far faster and higher than they would under the current system," Karen Ignagni, the top industry lobbyist in Washington, wrote in a memo to insurance company CEOs.
The industry said the cost increases result from new taxes and a weakening of the penalties for failing to get insurance that would let Americans postpone getting coverage until they get sick.
Democrats and their allies criticized the report as biased. Health economist Len Nichols of the New America Foundation contended that, among other problems, the study failed to take into account the impact of subsidies that would help low- and middle-income people buy coverage. He said it also left out a key expected impact of a proposed new tax on high-value insurance plans, which is a reduction in the use of health services.
"It was paid for by people who are not interested in an objective analysis of the truth but are interested in a particular point of view being inserted into the political process right now," Nichols said.
Spokesmen for the White House and for Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., attacked the report along similar lines. "It's a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple," said Baucus spokesman Scott Mulhauser.
The Senate Finance Committee is slated to vote on its 10-year, $829 billion bill on Tuesday, but more important to the industry are the steps beyond the panel's decision.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will be merging the bill with a companion measure from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, with the goal of a sweeping, affordable bill. In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Democratic leaders have been pulling together legislation from three committees.
Unlike the 1990s, when it contributed to the failure of President Bill Clinton's health overhaul, the insurance industry has been attracted by the promise of millions of more people getting coverage. Translation: millions of new consumers buying policies.
The Baucus plan got a boost last week when the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would cover 94 percent of eligible Americans while reducing the federal deficit.
But the PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis attempted to get at a different issue - costs for privately insured individuals.
It concluded that a combination of factors in the bill - and decisions by lawmakers as they amended it - would raise costs.
The chief reason, said the report, is a decision by lawmakers to weaken proposed penalties for failing to get health insurance. The bill would require insurers to take all applicants, doing away with denials for pre-existing health problems. In return, all Americans would be required to carry coverage, either through an employer or a government program, or by buying it themselves.
But the CBO estimated that even with new federal subsidies, some 17 million Americans would still be unable to afford health insurance. Faced with that affordability problem, senators opted to ease the fines for going without coverage from the levels Baucus originally proposed. The industry says that will only let people postpone getting coverage until they get sick.
But the industry stopped short of signaling all-out opposition. "We will continue to work with policymakers in support of workable bipartisan reform," Ignagni said in her memo.
---
On the Net:
America's Health Insurance Plans: http://www.ahip.org/
Senate Finance Committee: http://finance.senate.gov/
"I want to speak directly to seniors for a moment, because Medicare is another issue that's been subjected to demagoguery and distortion during the course of this debate.
More than four decades ago, this nation stood up for the principle that after a lifetime of hard work, our seniors should not be left to struggle with a pile of medical bills in their later years. That's how Medicare was born. And it remains a sacred trust that must be passed down from one generation to the next. And that is why not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan.
The only thing this plan would eliminate is the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud, as well as unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies -- subsidies that do everything to pad their profits but don't improve the care of seniors. And we will also create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead.
Now, these steps will ensure that you -- America's seniors -- get the benefits you've been promised. They will ensure that Medicare is there for future generations. And we can use some of the savings to fill the gap in coverage that forces too many seniors to pay thousands of dollars a year out of their own pockets for prescription drugs. That's what this plan will do for you. So don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut, especially since some of the same folks who are spreading these tall tales have fought against Medicare in the past and just this year supported a budget that would essentially have turned Medicare into a privatized voucher program. That will not happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare."
— President Barack Obama
Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Back to School EventArlington, Virginia September 8, 2009Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year. Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right. But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall. And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country? Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Back to School EventArlington, Virginia September 8, 2009
Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year. Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right. But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall. And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country? Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
(Baucus and crew) don't need a health care option plan because they already have their own personal version of Govt. Run Health care for themselves. The American People are being held Hostage by Max Baucus and he doesn't even care that the American People are suffering and dying because they don't have, nor can they afford the cost of Affordable Health Care.
It is a game called Delay, Delayed and THEN Denied. We the American People are not moved by their tactics or tricks!! Yeah It may have been stonewalled and delayed, but when we the American People start calling, emailing, and spamming them at least 20 to 30 times a day, they will change their minds and get on the Right-side of History and stop straggling the fence and carrying water for the the health insurance companies.
Last year, millions of Americans came together for a great purpose. Folks like you assembled a grassroots movement that shocked the political establishment and changed the course of our nation. When Washington insiders counted us out, we put it all on the line and changed our democracy from the bottom up. But that's not why we did it. The pundits told us it was impossible -- that the donations working people could afford and the hours volunteers could give would never loosen the vise grip of big money and powerful special interests. We proved them wrong. But as important as that was, that's not why we did it. Today, spiraling health care costs are pushing our families and businesses to the brink of ruin, while millions of Americans go without the care they desperately need. Fixing this broken system will be enormously difficult. But we can succeed. The chance to make fundamental change like this in people's daily lives -- that is why we did it. The campaign to pass real health care reform in 2009 is the biggest test of our movement since the election. Once again, victory is far from certain. Our opposition will be fierce, and they have been down this road before. To prevail, we must once more build a coast-to-coast operation ready to knock on doors, deploy volunteers, get out the facts, and show the world how real change happens in America. And just like before, I cannot do it without your support. So I'm asking you to remember all that you gave over the last two years to get us here -- all the time, resources, and faith you invested as a down payment to earn us our place at this crossroads in history. All that you've done has led up to this -- and whether or not our country takes the next crucial step depends on what you do right now. Will you donate whatever you can afford to support the campaign for real health care reform in 2009? It doesn't matter how much you can give, as long as you give what you can. Millions of families on the brink are counting on us to do just that. I know we can deliver. Thank you, so much, for getting us this far. And thank you for standing up once again to take us the rest of the way. Sincerely, President Barack Obama
Wherever you are today is a product of your old way of thinking and acting. Whatever result you have around you is a reflection, not just of your environment but also of your inner thoughts.
It goes without saying therefore that if you must move to a higher level and enter your wealthy place, your old way fo thinking has to be dropped for a new one. The quality of your thoughts and vision must be raised to the level where it can produce and handle the wealth...
When people meet you or interact with you there are conclusions they draw based on the wealth of what comes out of your mind. The strength to handle losses, the capacity to think broadly will be dependent on how your mind has been trained.
When (some) wealthy people with the right mindset lose wealth for example, they tend to gain it back because of the kind of habits and thought patterns they have formed. During a slow economic period in Asia, a gentlemen who had lost about 4 billion dollars as a result of having all of his stocks and shares wiped out, was seen a couple of days later playing golf. When asked why didn't he lose his mind and why was he playing golf, his remark/response was that he knew what he did to gain the wealth and he KNOWS what to do gain it back again.
-Matthew Ashimolowo
As A Man Thinks In HIS Heart... SO IS HE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here’s a great positive message video from three of our own supporting the passage of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act and thanking President Obama and the Congress for passing the bill. It was created in response to the CPAC commercial that used the "money spent since Jesus was born" timeline.
Please Digg it up!
http://digg.com/politics/The_American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act
Also on YouTube here: /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->
LINK
Thanks!
It's amazing that Google, which offers easy to use programs such as Picasa, can make imbedding an image from a web album into a forum post so difficult.
Many who participate in photography forums embed images from their online photo galleries into posts. Typically it's a relatively simple process: right-click an image, copy the url and pastes it into a thread. That's it!
Not so easy with photos displayed in Picasa web albums, at least not at the time of the writing (Sept 2007). So, if you use web albums, here's what to do:
Note: In some forums you'll need to place IMG tags around the cleaned up url:
[img]URL[/img]
http://www.digicamhelp.com/blogs/random-thoughts/embed.php
My Inauguration Experience: A Wonderful Experience In spite of the Cold I have always wondered what it was like when so many people saw Martin Luther King gave his ‘I have a Dream Speech’. On Jan 20, I was able to capture that feeling.
January 20 was a cold day. I arrived by bus. I was located far in the pack on the hill next to the Washington Monument. It was so cold my hands were numb; I guess I should have worn knit gloves rather than leather. I didn't notice when I dropped the hand warmer I paid 5 dollars for and I did not notice when I dropped the inaugural program I paid 10 dollars for from someone selling them in the mall.
I and so many others around me ended up being separated by the groups we came with. I turned around and saw my Aunt and cousin and in a few seconds of turning my head we were all separated. So looking around in despair I knew we could meet up at the bus, so I pushed further. As a matter of fact at that moment I ran into a block when an armor truck needed to inch through the crowd. As the crowd moved out of its way I like so many got behind it and inch through as it cleared a path to move forward through the crowd. That was how it was you were either moving along with a group of people are you were ducking and turning as you were following someone in military uniform or someone else who was able to dive and weave in and out through the crowd. What an adventure!
In spite of the cold it was a wonderful day. When I looked around me it was as if I stepped into another moment in time. I realized what it must have felt like during various times in history when people were able to embrace significant changes. The streets were similar to the ones you see in movies about wars. The people looked like they wore everything they owned to keep warm. You couldn't see the ground before you and the person in front of you had to tell you step up and step down. If there was a gate I often ran into because there were so many people you couldn't see that far ahead. People were climbing over fences just to get closer to the screens. Where I was on the hill was about a four ft climb up just to get closer to the screen. Oh I tried several routes to get to further screens up along the mall, but I kept running into a wall of people.I
think about all those people and I see the descendent of slaves, refuges, Jews, Christians, and any other group that were once oppressed because of just who they are. On that hill I thought I was in a forest, because there were so many of us up there. I did not notice the children playing on blankets on the ground until I was next to them. People were in trees and on the top of buildings (of course before the police told them to step down). This was a Pilgrimage in history for hope and change.
I'll never forget when a man said, he had to move because a Teenage girl in a wheel chair stood up on two broken legs. Of course people on the hill jokingly chimed ‘Barack Obama could heal the sick’, 'Barack could heal the lame'. I'll tell you something else that was funny; imagine my surprise when I arrived home my whole hair was frosted white. Immediately I sprayed some oil sheen on it. I love to gain wisdom but not like that. I guess it was just the cold air of Inauguration Day.
Greetings From Northern California:
Our local utility company will red tag your home and see that you and your family are thrown into the streets, if you do not pay your bill when it's due. Thier thinking is, It's unsafe for your family to live
in a Redding home without electric service from them. My God, wondered how or forefathers and thiers and thiers, ever survived without the help of Redding Electric Utility Company on the job.
So thier thinking here is...What if you light a candle to see at night..you could burn down your apartment, (most being red-tagged) or those of your neighbors. Your using a coleman, battery
powered light, well then, what if you use a gas oven to heat with. We care about you, have love
and concern for you, we don't want you do die or kill someone else..just because you cannot pay your bill.
So GTFO of your house, go live in the park, or your car, or take yours kids to the homeless shelter, were they can sleep amongst God knows who. We want you to be safe...BS.
Now, We read today in the local Record Searchlight...one of our local hospital filed for BK protection and stuck REU with a $300,000 bill. When it became past due...I guess they did not worry about
these people using candles to live and work by, in fact, they never attempted, I assume to cut off and kick these folks into the street. The result? The hospital has sold to another hospital holding and operational company. REU did not see that the bill was covered in the transfer of sale of the hospital and is now short $300,000 and a spokesperson for REU just issued a statement saying the loss will be added to my mom's, a widow now, utility bill. I call BS. No Way...No how.
This same city that owns it's on public utility, has a multi-million dollar income stream from it's
rate payers has been telling it's local customers, it will take up to 16 years to pay back a solar
investment. That was before now..Now this past month the same company has announced a
annual rate increase of about 7-8% meaning their average customers bill will increase and double
in about the next 5-7 years. So now solar is feasible. To bad they were telling them it wasn't
and not taking into consideration the increases, they had to have known were coming. Why did
they lie or misrepresent the facts to my fellow citizens?
Now this same city is laying off everyone, freezing the wages of many and stopping all projects
including a badly needed, recently approved local Police Station. They are preparing for failure.
What could be done, as I've already mentioned at local city council and board of supervisor meetings, WE COULD EMBRACE THE NEW GREEN ECONOMY....We could have a super effect
on our own local economy, our state, the nation and our planet. Why don't they just get real
and get with the program? I wonder?
Al Boek, Founder
American Energy Conservation Group
Redding, CA 96003
530-549-4315
americanenergy@frontiernet.net
www.yeswecansolveit.blogspot.com
No Victim Groups, No Special Groups, No Ethnic Groups, and No Lobbying Groups, But Just ONE GROUP CALLED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
One CONSTITUENCY GROUP called THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
The American People is the only Group that We need to hear about, work for, and be the voice of, for the 8 Next Years.
I have been reading through so many questions on Change.gov, and I have noticed so many questions that I look at and wonder...what was this person thinking.
So here are some thoughts I would like to express...
One...so many have asked the question "why do I have to pay for individuals who did things wrong, when I did everything right?" My question is why, because someone is caught up in this economic downturn, do you automatically assume that the person has done something wrong? What about the people who did everything right, but because of others greed, they are in trouble...why do you assume the people asking for help do not fall into that category?
My second thought...Maybe we should all take a step back and understand what a President can truely do. I understand, and partake in the excitement of a President who promises change from the same old politics, but all of the questions requesting things completely out of the control of a President does nothing to advance the cooperation that will be needed between the Government and the communities they serve. I understand that everyone has the right to ask what they choose, but questions that request the President to do things beyond his control are not productive.
Common questions I have come across...and my thoughts on them...Please give me your input...these are meant to get ideas going, so that we can be more proactive in our Government...
I have come across several questions that have had to do with legalizing Marijauna and taxing it the same way we tax cigarettes and alcohol. The common argument is that this would give an instant boost to the economy, both by the tax revenue this would raise and also by the billions of tax dollars saved in law enforcement costs each year. I personally see the argument, whether or not I believe in the cause, as a plausible way to stimulate the economy. What are your thoughts on this?
The next question that I have seen over and over is in regards to U.S. stimulus...Why not give a stimulus check to each American adult...the amount varries based on the questioner, but range from $30,000 each to 1 million each...included in the stimulus package to be voted on later this month. The arguement...That giving that much would allow those who have been hit hard to pay their mortgage payments and get bills caught up, and will then continue to stimulate the economy by spending, saving, or investing the rest. What are your thoughts on this?
The last question I am going to address here is whether or not we should abolish the current tax system and go to a sales tax instead of income tax system? I would like to hear all your ideas on this subjects as I am still trying to weigh the pros and cons of each. What are your thoughts on this?
The great part about this is that you can vote on which questions you want the Obama team to answer...with the questions that get the most votes being the ones they answer...if you have time you should stop by change.gov and answer a few...
Ok, sportsfans. Bill Clinton has promised to cooperate fully with vetting, scale back his relationship with his foundation, disclose his clients, and other limits, "anything they want," to help Hillary land the Secretary of State position. So what could possibly go wrong?
The Constitution, that's what.
Specifically, Article I, Section 6, Clause 2, which provides that "No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; ...."
Emoluments? Yep. Pay raises, among other things. And, wouldn't you just know it, Congress approved a pay raise for for cabinet posts during Hillary's current senate term. The Huffington Post quotes the Washington post for this tidbit:
"In Clinton's case, during her current term in the Senate, which began in January 2007, cabinet salaries were increased from $186,600 to $191,300."
As Keith Olbermann would say, "Oops."
There is another solution, however, successfully employed once before in the "Saxbe Fix," which evidently involved repealing the pay raise for the duration of an unexpired Senate term so that Sen. Saxbe could be appointed attorney general in the Nixon Administration, even though he was a Senator when the Attorney General's salary had been raised. This little end-run dates back to the Taft administration, and U.S. Attorney Generals have sometimes allowed it and other times declared it not constitutionally permissible.
For more fun reading, see the full Huffpost article and a nifty online exerpt from The Heritage Guide to the Constitution:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/13/hillary-clinton-secretary_n_143735.html?page=29&show_comment_id=18149463#comment_18149463
http://books.google.com/books?id=-_8N3UeXeesC&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=Saxbe+Fix&source=web&ots=kYTyZxZMRN&sig=mQGRqI7568yqqURydEIExjExhtY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result
