Posts with the tag White House

“Neither a Democrat nor a Republican Endeavor, but a Noble Endeavor for all Americans”

Uly — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:00:22 EST

Last night, I had a meeting with Organizing for America and helped with the phone bank, calling people across the nation about the importance of passing the healthcare reform bill in the senate. It was a fulfilling experience, a humble endeavor to make a difference. A few days ago, a U.S. senator noted that blending multiple healthcare reform amendments is not as easy as making a milk shake. In this light and while some of the elected leaders continue the hesitation to blend the healthcare reform amendments into one strong effective policy -CDC has developed and integrated the principles of program evaluation framework to achieve measurable health outcomes. The combined influence of CDC’s programs through collaboration will stimulate innovations toward collective improvement of community health, eventually improving the health index of the population, and through prevention-a healthy world as a whole. The ever complex process of passing a single U.S. healthcare policy that works, at least government organization like CDC has established a framework that make the complex transition in public health more efficient. The task of evaluating the effects of public health actions became more complex since the targets of public health actions have expanded beyond infectious diseases. It expanded to include chronic diseases, violence, emerging pathogens, threats of bioterrorism, and the social contexts that influence health disparities. Timely detection of the effects of public health actions is very important in order to enhance CDC’s ability to translate findings into practice. Clearer and more logical steps and standards will lead to the evolution of new and innovative program planning. Integrated information systems will amplify efficiency and success, supporting more systematic measurement. Information collected from evaluations will then be used more effectively to guide changes in public health strategies.

Uly Labilles
Follow me on Twitter @InnoMD

http://innomd.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/%e2%80%9cneither-a-democrat-nor-a-republican-endeavor-but-a-noble-endeavor-for-all-americans%e2%80%9d/

March for Change we VOTED for and Still Believe In

Jlgrounds — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:33:30 EST

On January 15th, 2010, Americans will gather, peacably, on the DC Mall to show our continued support for the progressive agenda our POTUS campaigned on. We voted for President Obama b/c we hoped for more from our government: more compassion, more diplomacy, more honesty, more protection, and more equality.

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=206771574224
You tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsyU0Rzw2LI&feature=related

On January 15th, 2010, we will stand in opposition to the voices of fear, ignorance, and hate that have, thus far, garnered virtually all the attention of the main stream media and skewed the debate over issues that are far to important to ALL Americans.

We've written and phoned our Representatives in the House and Senate.

We've remained a diligent, anonymous, but silent majority.

Now, is the time for America to see our faces and hear our voices again. We want this to be like Denver or inaugeration day. We want to show the GOP, and the pundits that we support our President AND his agenda.

Would love to have you there!

Response to Vice President Al Gore and DCCC Chairman Rep. Chris Van Hollen

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:53:09 EST

By Padmini Arhant

Dear Mr. Vice President and Rep. Van Hollen,

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your request. However, the required information sent on priority basis should be available prior to the deadline.

Enclosed please find the contribution and the survey completed with specific targets vital for immediate economic recovery and national progress.

I appreciate your kind remarks and the invitation to participate in the legislative affairs. I pledge my support to defend the policies benefiting the people of the United States of America as well as the global citizens.

Furthermore, I consider it’s really important for the incumbent and the prospective legislators to make a firm commitment to serve the people electing them to office and not become the proxies for the special interests. I reiterate the fact that despite millions of dollars in investments towards any political campaigns, the ultimate power lies with the electorate in a democracy.

Remaining content available @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

BULLETS SENT TO THE PRESIDENT via WHITE HOUSE WEB SITE (14Nov2009)

Toasty in Tennessee — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:24:25 EST

Get out of Afghanistan, pass meaningful healthcare and if it fails, move on.

Regulate financial industries. Jobs, Jobs, and Jobs.

Stop building unwanted bridges and schools in Afghanistan. We need them at home.

The terrorist are not warriors. They have no army to blow up. We give them creditability calling their gang an army.

The FBI and CIA can chase them. Use the law to prosecute them, jails to hold them and the electric chair to kill them.

Stop spending our precious resources outside of the country and spend it at home.

Don't become "Bushed!"

Stand by the progressives, discipline the blue dogs and bring bills to the floor. If they don't pass it is OUR job (not yours alone) to fix it.

Oh, most important to you. You're not only slipping in the polls, you are losing your base. I love ya, but sometimes action is better than wimpy results!!

Stop enjoying yourself soo.... much. We are living hard lives and are trying to get through tough times.

Where is the "OLD" Barack? Bring him back and if bills go up or down, we will at least have a great time trying.

Good Luck, I am still in your camp for now. I don't think I can afford to give any more money. At least not until things change.

Thank You, Veterans

Kevin Agnese — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:07:41 EST

Today, on Veterans Day, we thank and honor those who served and continue to serve our nation.

Follow the link below to watch President Obama's address to America's veterans at Arlington National Cemetery.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/11/president-veterans-day

Thank You Reps. Michaud and Pingree

Kevin Agnese — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:42:09 EST

We thank U.S. Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree for their continued support of health insurance reform.

The House voted late Saturday evening to move the process of health insurance reform forward, a step President Obama called “courageous.”

The president also asked the Senate to “take up the baton and bring this effort to the
finish line.”

Rep. Michaud issued a statement prior to Saturday’s vote, saying in part, “This work is too important to fail, and I could not in good conscience let the perfect be the enemy of the possible.”

Speaking on the floor of the House of the Representatives, Saturday, Rep. Pingree made her feelings clear, saying, “There can be no more delay.”

I am black, arabian, and poor.

I am black, arabian, and poor. — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:40:32 EST

I am black, arabian, and poor.

The White House and to President Barack Obama You will also disciver a gigantic plan for a new american saga shown at the White House and to President Barack Obama and mrs Nancy pelosi, the president of the United States House of Representatives à Washington DC.

In this new saga, you will discover a science-fiction movie dealing with the disappearance of Dinosaurs and with worldwide nuclear power.

The movie is entitled Jurassic Oort MN4 will be a combination of palaeontology and astronomy with great action scenes.

To listen to the trailer, surf on my site : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEttx9D2j7E

SITE OFICIELLE : WWW.RMISTE.COM

Health Care Legislation

"Voice for Humanity" — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:20:20 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

The Congress is engaged in the Medicare payments to doctors as part of the broader aspect of the health care legislation. Despite the opposition’s insinuations against the government run successful Medicare program, it’s imperative for the lawmakers to sustain the viability of the Medicare and the Medicaid by honoring the providers’ legitimate request for payments increase that would substantially reduce the health care costs currently incurred by the taxpayers through payments to private insurers.

As stated earlier, the conservative and the moderate Democrats’ unwillingness to support the public option is contributing to the stalemate in the health care legislation. Even though, the recent Washington Post/ABC Poll confirmed that an impressive 57 percent of the American population is overwhelmingly in favor of the ‘public option’ plan, some Democratic legislators’ reluctance to join the majority on this issue is disappointing and deserve a valid explanation for their position that is detrimental to the national interest.

Remaining content available@www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

SOS - Save the Arctic

"Voice for Humanity" — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:42:38 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

Mother Nature has never been more vulnerable than now with the human power in industries and government targeting every available land on planet earth for profits. With the active space exploration for possible inhabitation on Mars and the Moon, earth’s natural resources depleted to the ultimate under the guise of ‘Clean Energy Act,’ by the yet another indomitable force in the corporate world, the ‘Energy Cartel.’

Should they trail behind in the Herculean contest of crushing democracy and the people it represents?

‘Profit’ revered more than the “Prophet” spares none in its sinister cannibalism revealed in the legislative matters concerning health, housing, finance, wars and even the planet they exist. It is no longer the Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ with a subtle hope for efforts to survive if not thrive in the sharks-infested waters.

Please follow the rest @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Dear Mr. President

Derrick from Philadelphia, PA — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:30:09 EDT

Why America will not advance to the future because we need a new way of thinking and we need our President to change his agenda with the advisers who are not in his best interest. America has a history and its shortly going to damage and ruin it's self. Why war is not an answer and controlling other nations is a way to tear down the walls history and changing our way and your ways as well we all need some changes.

I am sure if you all of the people who work in the White House do not speak on certain subjects because they do not want to get in trouble. Its always secrets and this is what makes fear and when people fear you they react and it never turns to a positive out come.

Capitalism alias Communism

"Voice for Humanity" — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:50:56 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

Throw a treat to the man’s best friend and he/she will do any tricks for you.

Not quite true, contrarily some canines unlike the ‘few’ in their masters’ species resist being the “Pavlov’s dog.” Besides loyalty, the canines’ discriminative power is unparallel to the particular voices on the airwaves and cable news network ever willing to perform on the note – ‘show me the bait and leave the trashing to…’

Lately, with the relevant media on vacation, the field is wide open and vulnerable for dumping wastes of all kind. As usual, the specific network presenting ideas and style taken right out of their targets’ page yet choosing to remain oblivious to’ plagiarism,’ do not refrain from permanent attack politics.

Rest available @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini

Howard Dean threatened with death, Nazi Symbol outside Town Hall: Can we please start organizing a national march or sit in...

Varun from Berkeley, CA — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:09:52 EDT

The Right Wingers are resulting to threats/violence and hate...We need to take charge and not stand there shocked....Take action....Yes, they are winning the attention war....We are losing the facts war because the legends that the RNC spins have become fact.....Thus, the myths become facts

Nazi Symbol AP News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090811/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_protests

Lou Dobbs threatens Dean:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/dobbs-apologizes-for-sayi_n_256728.html

I fear where this is going.....we need to stand up....National day of support....contact me people

varun22@yahoo.com

White House losing Health Care debate? Gee whiz....Mobilize....Stop playing Defense 24-7: Offense requested..Where's Rahm?

Varun from Berkeley, CA — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:51:50 EDT

.NYT article LINK

The New York Times reported today that the White House is quietly conceding that they are losing control of the Health Care Reform debate. So......in response......? A march? Rapid Fire TV ads? Formal debates moderated by NPR, PBS, ABC, NBC? Nope....a website.........That's it....a website..

The WH released a myth busters website.......What Obama should do is concede he needs a little help from his friends.....Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Howard Dean, Mike Bloomberg, Warren Buffet and other Business Leaders and even the Kennedys to get the word out and deal with the fires.

comment: varun22@yahoo.com

Intelligence Report on Town Hall (Hell) activities: New details leaked re Right Wing Plans

Varun from Berkeley, CA — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:22:28 EDT

Guns at rallies, Attacks, Using the N word, calling Obama a Nazi, chanting Nazi slogans and even attempting to attack elected officials as they try to moderate the Health Care town halls, it seems the press is moving very slowly to understand who the FEW, the Minority, screamers, racists and right wing nut job, home grown terrorists really are.

Just reported: the SEIU obtained a Tea Party startegy via a Right Wing mobilization conf call.

The summary: Just destroy Obama's plan at any cost....No reasons....just be the party of NO

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/seius-notes-on-a-tea-party-strategy-conference-call/

ATT Yahoo Places Whitehouse.gov In Spam Folder

Dave R — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:05:28 EDT

I could not believe it but ATT Yahoo placed whitehouse.gov in my spam folder. What a dirty trick that is. I know I did not put it there with the viagra spam. I hope the congress goes even more Democrat when it comes to a vote.

You want it done right...? Do it yourself..........

Varun from Berkeley, CA — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:54:17 EDT

A Mandate for them.......not for change

What if I told you that we have government funded healthcare/insurance for some key Americans who love and even utilize such a benefit, but don’t want you to have it? Would you be shocked? Would you be confused? Would you respond by asking me if I was talking about Medicare? No, though Medicare is a successful form of government funded and run care-coverage, I’m not talking about it. I’m not even talking about Vet Care….I’m talking about a health plan/benefit plan that’s complete with great coverage, coverage that covers all Federal workers, including US Senators, members of the House, etc. It’s a plan that even includes pensions and other benefits. Read a summary here: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congresspay.htm

Thus, I’ve never heard Mitch McConnell or the so called “Blue Dog” Democrats, or the usual talking head RNC mouthpieces in the Congress ever, ever, turn to the camera and say, “I will pay back what I took in health benefits...

White House Nominates Dan Rooney to Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Michael from Milton, MA — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:54:03 EDT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2009

NOMINATION SENT TO THE SENATE:

Daniel M. Rooney of Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Ireland.

Irish Americans for Obama Biden

WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Highlights Tough New Consumer Protections

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:54:10 EDT

THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, June 20, 2009

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, MR. PRESIDENT

Breeze Bryson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:48:22 EDT

Last night, I missed catching the complete coverage of the Radio and Television Correspondent's Association dinner and only saw clips chosen by CNN and MSNBC. So, today I went to good old C-SPAN to see if they had a video of the whole program and of course, they did.

I already knew that President Obama's and John Hodgman's speeches were worth watching in their entirety. What I didn't know was the program included some well-staged videos produced for the event by Onion and Jib Jab. Even more entertaining to me was the performance by Sweet Honey in the Rock of Bernice Johnson Reagon's "Ella's Song, " (We Who Believe in Freedom Can Not Rest) It was evident that Obama was taken with it, too.

On C-SPAN, I also watched several video's of Obama's activities related to Fathers Day. Whether it was about his visiting and speaking to a DC Youth Center, conducting a White House town hall on fatherhood, or entertaining fathers and potential fathers with a barbecue out on the lawn, he was never boring. He charms us with his humor and personality and inspires us with his wisdom and eloquence, no matter what the setting, wearing a tux or an apron!

I especially enjoyed his answers to two town hall questions about how he felt when he first became a father and the question from a very young attendee as to whether it was more fun to be president or to be a father.

I hope you get a chance to watch these videos while they are still on C-SPAN's website. Here are the links:http://www.cspan.org/Watch/Program/2009/06/19/HP/A/42689/Pres+Obama+Fathers+Day+Events.asp
AND http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/06/19/HP/R/20034/65th+RTCA+Dinner.aspx

There are two very lucky girls to have this man as their father. I suspect that Malia and Sasha have a surprise cooked up for him and can hardly wait for Sunday to give it to him.

Happy Father's Day, Mr. President!

Breeze Bryson

6/20/09

Did You Cry To See That Fly Die

Khaidji — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:25:16 EDT

There was a bug in the White House but President Barack Obama destroyed it with his own hands. This is one time that bug would have preferred to have just been a fly on the wall.

With great precision the President was able to take it out even with his less dominant right hand. Since then there was much talk, especially from PETA who have been very critical of what they consider a very inhumane show of the previously undisclosed side of the President.

Did You Cry To See That Fly Die

Dastardly act PETA say

Immoral show of humane decay

Destroying any life, how could he

You saw it, they showed it on TV

Outrageous and shameful

Uncaring and disgraceful

Catching the fly could’ve been done humanely

Rush! He could have shouted to his security

You didn’t have to see the cruelness

They could’ve stopped to get rid of the pest

Oops! Did I say pest when I should have said fly

Some didn’t think this harmless insect should die

Even though he tried to chase it away

Even though we all could hear him say

Things like, get of here! before he raise his hand

Hit it with precision like he was always in command

And with respect he took a tissue to remove the bug

Took it up before it dirtied the rug

Flying Little Insect Exterminated Swiftly

Like this President does all things accurately

Yet PETA finds something to say, why

Did You Cry To See That Fly Die

I wonder what if it were a tick, mosquito, a louse or a flea

Even these are animals too, so would PETA have screamed cruelty?

Get an easy Download or a Hardcopy of
” Path To The White House”
Acrostic Poetry on Barack Obama
By Khaidji
The Bajan Poetry Society

President Obama Announces Appointments to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships

Samuel from Heath, MA — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:22:08 EDT

Washington, DC – Today, President Obama appointed 28 members to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. This accomplished group of citizens representing a broad range of backgrounds, interests, and professions are responsible for recommending a group of exceptional men and women to the President for selection as White House Fellows. The commission will be chaired by John Phillips, a partner at Phillips and Cohen Law Firm. Cheryl Dorsey, President of Echoing Green, will vice-chair the commission. A full list of commissioners and their biographies can be found below.

"The men and women of this commission embody what makes the White House Fellows program so special," said President Obama. "These leaders are diverse, non-partisan, and committed to mentoring our next generation of public servants. I'm confident that they will select a class of White House Fellows that demonstrate extraordinary leadership, strong character, and a deep commitment to serving their country."

The White House Fellowship is America’s most prestigious program for leadership and public service, providing young individuals with experience working at the highest levels of the federal government. Fellows also participate in an education program consisting of roundtable discussions with renowned leaders from the private and public sectors and complete service activities throughout the year. Alumni of this non-partisan program include former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, and author Doris Kearns Goodwin.

"The White House Fellows program is so important as it allows for a variety of perspectives to come together to offer expertise and experience on important policy issues and then these Fellows carry what they’ve learned back to their own communities to benefit Americans far outside the walls of the White House," said First Lady Michelle Obama.

The Commission will convene this week in Washington, DC to select the 2009-2010 class of White House Fellows. The Commission will select 11 to 19 fellows from among the 30 chosen as national finalists; more than one thousand people applied for the class.

Additional information about the program is available at www.whitehouse.gov/fellows.

2009-2010 President’s Commission on White House Fellowships

John R. Phillips (Chair)
John R. Phillips is a partner in the Washington, DC Law Firm of Phillips & Cohen, LLP. Mr. Phillips has a long history of involvement in public interest law, having founded the Center for Law in Public Interest in 1971 in Los Angeles, one of the first Ford Foundation funded "Public Interest Law Firms." He was its co-director for seventeen years, focusing on the environment, civil rights, corporate fraud and other issues. From 1984 to 1986, Mr. Phillips successfully worked with Congress to amend and modernize the dormant Civil War-era law – the Federal False Claims Act – to make it an effective tool to combat fraud against the government. After President Reagan signed the amendments into law in 1986, Mr. Phillips and his firm initiated law suits under the law against corporations that defrauded the government which has returned approximately $4 billion dollars to the government. For his efforts he has received numerous citations and life-time achievement awards. For the past decade, he has been included on the National Law Journals’ list of "100 Most Influential Lawyers in America". From 1988 to 1993, Mr. Phillips was an appointed member of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. In 1997, he was appointed by President Clinton to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. He graduated in 1966 from the University of Notre Dame and in 1969 from the University of California School of Law in Berkeley (Boalt Hall), where he was an editor of the California Law Review.

Cheryl Dorsey (Vice Chair)
Cheryl Lynn Dorsey is the President of Echoing Green, which provides funding and support to social entrepreneurs launching organizations globally. She was a previous White House Fellow from 1997-1998. Afterwards, Dr. Dorsey became the Special Assistant to the Director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau and then the Director of Public Health Initiatives for Danya International, Inc. She has received numerous other fellowships and awards including the Pforzheimer Foundation Fellowship from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the John Whitehead Social Enterprise Award from Harvard Business School. In addition, Dr. Dorsey is the co-author of Be Bold: Create a Career with Impact. She served as the American delegate to the Perspectives on Europe Conference as well as a facilitator of the Social Entrepreneur Summit hosted by the Schwab Foundation and World Economic Forum. Currently, she sits on the board of Freelancers Insurance Company, Donorschoose.org, City Year, Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, Action Tank for Social Entrepreneurs, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Visiting Committee. She received her B.A from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges, M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and M.P.P from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

John Berry
Mr. Berry serves as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. He began his federal career as a Legislative Director for U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), a major leader on all issues affecting the Civil Service. Mr. Berry was responsible for overseeing Hoyer's work on federal employees, and was the primary craftsman behind the locality pay reform, among many other issues affecting pay and benefits of employees and retirees. Mr. Berry began his management career at the Department of Treasury, where he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and acting Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement. Later during the Clinton administration, Mr. Berry was appointed Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, where he focused on employee partnerships, worklife issues for employees and reversing years of decline by achieving one of the largest budgetary increases in the Department's 150-year history. As Director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Mr. Berry worked with Interior Inspector General, Earl Devaney, to reconcile 20 years of financial records, establish sound management practices, while also conserving over 3 million acres of wildlife habitat through innovative public-private partnerships. Most recently, Mr. Berry served as Director of the National Zoo.

Tom Brokaw:
Tom Brokaw is a Special Correspondent for NBC News. During 2008, he served as the Interim Moderator on Meet the Press. From 1982 to 2004, he served as the White House correspondent, the Chief Correspondent for Today, and the NBC Nightly News anchor. He has reported on 23 NBC News documentaries and authored five books, including The Greatest Generation and Boom! Talking About the Sixties. Also, Mr. Brokaw has served as an overseer for the International Rescue committee, a public trustee for the Mayo Clinic, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Museum of Natural History.

General Wesley Clark:
Wesley K. Clark, General, US Army (retired), came home on a stretcher from Vietnam in 1970, where he was wounded in action as an infantry company commander. He stayed with the Army for another thirty years. In his last position, as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, he led NATO forces to victory in a 78-day air campaign which saved 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing. He now heads his own consulting firm and is active in the energy, banking and business services field. He is a noted author and TV commentator. He also teaches at UCLA's Burkle Center, and works with numerous not for profit efforts, including the International Crisis Group. He was a Democratic candidate for President of the United States in 2004. General Clark graduated first in his class from West Point and received his B.A. and M.A. as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. He was a 1975-76 White House Fellow and a Commissioner from 1993-2000. Among his awards are the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Silver Star, Purple Heart and honorary knighthoods from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and numerous honorary degrees.

Thomas Daschle:
Thomas Daschle is an advisor to the Alston & Bird law firm and a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is the only senator to have served twice as both Majority and Minority Leader. Senator Daschle served his home state, South Dakota, in the Senate from 1987 to 2005. In 1988, he became the first Co-Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. He was the National Co-Chair of Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign and continues to be a leading advocate for universal health care. In addition, Senator Daschle co-chaired ONE Vote ’08 initiative and co-founded the Bipartisan Policy Center. He is also the Vice Chair of the National Democratic Institute. He authored Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever and co-authored Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.

Nelson Diaz:
Mr. Diaz joined Cozen O'Connor Law Firm in May 2007 as Of Counsel in the Government Affairs and General Litigation Departments. Mr. Diaz served as a Judge for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas from 1981 through 1993, the first Latino and youngest to serve. He was also appointed administrative judge by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. During his distinguished career, Mr. Diaz also served as City Solicitor of Philadelphia and a partner at Blank Rome Law Firm for 10 years and was appointed by President Clinton to be the General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he focused on reforming public and mixed-use housing programs. Mr. Diaz is a member of the Board of Directors of Exelon Corporation, the Advisory Board of PNC, and the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Temple University, where he also served on the University’s Presidential Search Committee. He is a former chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Hispanic Caucus.

Helene Gayle:
Helene D. Gayle, President and CEO of CARE USA, is an internationally recognized expert on health, global development and humanitarian issues. Dr. Gayle spent 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control, focused primarily on combating HIV/AIDS. Dr. Gayle then directed the HIV, TB and Reproductive Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At CARE, she heads one of the world’s premier international humanitarian organizations, with programs in more than 70 countries to end poverty. Named one of Newsweek’s top 10 "Women in Leadership" in October 2008 and the Wall Street Journal’s "50 Women to Watch" in 2006, Dr. Gayle has published numerous scientific articles and has been featured in media outlets as diverse as the New York Times, Washington Post, Glamour, O magazine, Ebony, Essence, the Financial Times, National Public Radio and CNN. Dr. Gayle was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. She earned a B.A. in psychology at Barnard College, an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Gayle serves on several boards, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, ONE, the American Museum of Natural History, the Institute of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Vartan Gregorian:
Vartan Gregorian is President of Carnegie Corporation of New York, a position he assumed in June 1997. Previously, he served as President of Brown University from 1989-1997. From 1981-1989, he was President of The New York Public Library. Gregorian has taught European and Middle Eastern history at San Francisco State College, UCLA, and the University of Texas at Austin. In 1972, he joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty and was appointed Tarzian Professor of History and professor of South Asian history. In 1974, he became the founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania and four years later became its twenty-third provost. Gregorian is the author of The Road to Home: My Life and Times; Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith; and The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, 1880-1946. He is the recipient of numerous fellowships, including those from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council, and the American Philosophical Society. Currently, he serves on several boards including Brandeis University, The Hunter Foundation, National September 11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center, The American Academy in Berlin, Qatar Foundation, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, Central European University, Human Rights Watch, Museum of Modern Art, and The Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton. Among the many awards and honors Gregorian has received are the American Academy of the Institute of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Service to the Arts (1989), the National Humanities Medal (1998), and the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil award (2004). After majoring in history and the humanities, Gregorian graduated with honors from Stanford University in 1958 and was awarded a Ph.D. in history and humanities from Stanford in 1964.

Cynthia Hale:
Cynthia Hale is the founding and Senior Pastor of the Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia. Averaging 1,500 in worship each Sunday morning, Ray of Hope has been recognized as the Church of the Week by the 700 Club as well as in Excellent Protestant Congregations: The Guide to Best Places and Practice. She established Elah Pastoral Ministries, Inc., a mentorship program that assists in the development of pastors and para-church leaders, in 2004 and convened the first Women in Ministry Conference in 2005. She gave the opening invocation at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and was also a participant at the National Prayer Service for President Barack Obama’s inauguration and served as Co-Chair for Women in Ministry for Obama. As a member of numerous boards, she serves on the Board of Trustees at Hollins University, Secretary of the Board of Beulah Heights University, Chairperson of City of Hope Ministries, Inc, Co-Chair of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, and Chair of the 21st Century Vision Team Christian Church. As a recipient of numerous awards and honors, Dr. Hale received the Trumpet Awards’ Spiritual Enlightenment Award in 2005, the Sisters of African Descent’s Religious Leadership Award in 2006, and the Pinnacle Leadership Award in 2007 from the Fortitude Educational and Cultural Development Foundation, Inc. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Dr. Hale received her B.A. from Hollins College, M.Div from Duke University, and Doctorate of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

Deborah Harmon:
Deborah Harmon is the President of Harmon & Co. and a Principal of Caravel Management LLC, a firm established to manage the Caravel Fund International Ltd., an emerging markets long-only public equities fund. Ms. Harmon joined the J.E. Robert Companies, Inc. (JER) in 1991 as a founding principal of the Blackstone Robert Group, which was a joint venture of the Blackstone Group and the J.E. Robert Company. From 1996 through 2007, Deborah Harmon was President of JER and, in 2001, assumed the additional role of Chief Investment Officer. Prior to JER, Harmon was a Managing Director at Bankers Trust Company in New York City. From 1991 through 1999, she worked in both the corporate finance and real estate groups. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors for Women for Women International (WFW), a non-profit organization that supports women and children in war-torn countries. She also currently serves as Leadership Chair of the Washington, DC branch of WFW. Since 2002, Ms. Harmon has served on the Board of Trustees for Sidwell Friends School (SFS) in Washington, DC, and is Chairperson of Sidwell’s Investment Committee. In 1999, she served as a Regional Panelist for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.

Christy Haubegger:
Christy Haubegger is an executive at Creative Artists Agency where she provides insights and expertise on multicultural markets. In 1996, she founded Latina magazine, which showcases fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and empowerment for Hispanic women, serving as its publisher, president, and CEO until 2001. She continues to be a member on the board of Latina Media Ventures. In 2002, Ms. Haubegger expanded into the television and motion picture world, serving as the Associate Producer on Chasing Papi and Executive Producer of Spanglish. She is also the recipient of numerous awards including being one of Newsweek’s "Women of the New Century" in 2001 and Advertising Age’s "Women to Watch." In recognition of her advances made in raising the profile of the Hispanic market, Ms. Haubegger was the youngest inductee into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Achievement. Currently, she serves on the Board for Management Leadership for Tomorrow, which is dedicated to increasing the number of minority MBA candidates at the nation’s top business schools. Ms. Haubegger received a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from Stanford Law School.

Peter Henry:
Peter Henry is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Economics, the John and Cynthia Fry Gunn Faculty Scholar, and Associate Director of the Center for Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Henry has received numerous awards and honors including a National Science Foundation Faculty Early CAREER Development Award, a National Science Foundation Minority Graduate Fellowship, a Ford Foundation Graduate Fellowship, and the National Economic Association Dissertation Prize. He has published several articles in journals and books, including "Capital Account Liberalization, the Cost of Capital, and Economic Growth" in the American Economic Review and "Financial Instability" in Bjorn Lomborg’s Solutions for the World’s Biggest Problems: Costs and Benefits. After receiving his B.A. in Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, earning a B.A. in Mathematics. He received his PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John Hockenberry:
John Hockenberry is the host of the PRI distributed public radio program The Takeaway. The recipient of four Peabody Awards for broadcast journalism, he has conducted weekly public radio commentaries on The Infinite Mind for more than a decade. In his twelve year career in television for ABC and NBC, he won four Emmy awards. He is also the recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award and Casey Medal. Mr. Hockenberry launched, Hockenberry, a news interview program and the format breaking Edgewise at MSNBC , Talk of the Nation on National Public Radio and was a longtime contributor to public radio programs. In addition, he is the author of A River Out of Eden and Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence. He contributes articles to publications such as The New York Times, the New Yorker, Metropolis and The Washington Post.

Claudia Kennedy:
Claudia Kennedy retired as a Lieutenant General in the United States Army and was the first woman in the Army to be appointed to that rank. General Kennedy’s last position of her 32-year career was serving as the head of Army Intelligence, 1997-2000. Since retirement, she has served on boards of a number of non-profits, including Opportunity International (micro-finance), Population Action International and Neighborhood Outreach Connection (anti-poverty effort in Beaufort County, South Carolina). For the last three years, she has been a member of the Employment Practices Advisory Panel reporting to the Board of Walmart, Inc.

Maya Lin:
Maya Lin is an artist whose exhibition, Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes, is currently on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC through July 12. She is the designer for the Museum of Chinese in America in Manhattan’s Chinatown, opening June 26. In addition, she is working on her last memorial, entitled What is Missing?, which focuses on the issues of biodiversity and habitat loss. Her works include the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC and recent site-specific installations such as Storm King Wavefield at the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY, Where the Land Meets the Sea at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and Eleven Minute Line in Wanas, Sweden. Her architectural works include institutional and private commissions, from a chapel and library for the Children's Defense Fund to the Sculpture Center's space in Long Island City to Aveda's headquarters in downtown Manhattan to private residences throughout the country. Ms. Lin has addressed social issues in all of her memorials, which include the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, AL, the Women's Table at Yale University, and the Confluence Project, a multi-sited installation spanning the Columbia River system in the Pacific Northwest that focuses on the history of Lewis and Clark as well as the history of the Native American tribes in those regions. She has received numerous awards including the Presidential Design Award, a National Endowment for the Arts artist award, and the Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2005, Ms. Lin was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame. She received her Master of Architecture from Yale University in 1986.

George Muñoz:
George Muñoz is a Principal and Co-founder of Muñoz Group Investment Banking, and a partner in the law firm of Tobin, Petkus & Muñoz. He has held Presidential Appointments before, including having served as the President and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) from 1997-2001. Mr. Muñoz was also an Assistant Secretary and the Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Treasury Department from 1993 to 1997. Prior to moving to Washington, DC, Mr. Muñoz was a partner in Stevenson, Colling, & Muñoz (1990-1993), an investment banking firm in Chicago, IL; and an Associate and Partner at Mayer Brown and Platt, a Chicago law firm (1980-1989). Currently, he is on the Board of Directors of Marriott International, Altria Group, and the National Geographic Society. Mr. Muñoz is a former President of the Chicago Board of Education (1984-86), Executive Vice-Chair of the CFO Council of the Federal Government (1994-97), a member of the Governing Board of the Certified Financial Planners Board of Standards (2003-2005), and has been listed in Hispanic Business’ "Top 100 Influential". He is a Certified Public Accountant and received his B.A. in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a Master’s degree of Law in Taxation from DePaul University, a M.A. in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and his JD from Harvard Law School.

Lloyd Newton:
Lloyd W. Newton is the Director of Goodrich Corporation’s Industrial Goods and Aerospace/Defense Products and Services Sector, Sonoco Products Company’s Consumer Goods and Paper & Paper Products Sector, and Torchmark Corporation’s Financial and Life Insurance Sector. He retired as a four-star General from the United States Air Force and was Commander, Air Education and Training Command, which consisted of 13 bases, 43,000 active duty personnel, and 14,000 civilians. General Newton was appointed by the President in 2005 to serve as a Commissioner on the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission. In 2000, he became the Vice President of Pratt & Whitney Military Engines and eventually became the Executive Vice President. Currently, he sits on the Board of Directors of Goodrich Corporation, Sonoco Products Company and Torchmark Corporation; and the Boards of the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, and the Air Force Association. He received a B.S. in Aviation Education from Tennessee State University and a M.A. in Public Administration from George Washington University.

Pierre Omidyar:
Pierre Omidyar is the founder of eBay, which today enables more than 85 million buyers and sellers worldwide to connect and prosper. Starting from the premise that people are basically good, Pierre created a platform that gave people equal access to information, opportunity, and tools to pursue their goals. In 2004, Pierre and his wife Pam founded Omidyar Network to invest in nonprofit and for-profit efforts that enable people around the world to improve their lives and make powerful contributions to their communities. Omidyar Network has funded organizations in areas such as microfinance, social media, and government transparency. As an extension of Omidyar Network's work in microfinance, Pierre and Pam gave $100 million to Tufts University to create the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, which aims to accelerate the growth of the microfinance industry. Today, Pierre serves as a trustee of Tufts University, Punahou School, and Santa Fe Institute, and as chairman of eBay

Roger Porter:
Roger B. Porter is the IBM Professor of Business and Government and the Master of Dunster House at Harvard University. He is also the Director of Harvard’s Center for Business and Government and a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Mr. Porter is a former White House Fellow (1974-75) and Commissioner. He has served in three White House administrations as Assistant to the President for Economic and Domestic Policy (1989-93), Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Policy Development (1981-85), and Special Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the President’s Economic Policy Board (1974-77). He also served as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury (1981-85). Mr. Porter joined the Harvard faculty in 1978. His teaching, research and writing focus on economic policy, strategic decision making, the relationship of business and government, and the American Presidency. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the White House Historical Association and was a member on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships (1976-81, 1982-93, 1994-2001, 2008-09). After graduating from Brigham Young University, Mr. Porter was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he received his B.Phil. He received his M.A.and PhD degrees from Harvard University

Paul Sarbanes:
Paul Sarbanes is the former United States Senator from Maryland. He was elected to three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1970, and then served the U.S. Senate from 1976 to 2007, becoming the longest-serving senator in Maryland history. As senator, he served on several financial and economic committees and sponsored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which reformed federal securities laws after the 2002 corporate accounting scandals. Mr. Sarbanes was a Rhodes Scholar and earned degrees from Princeton University, Oxford University, and Harvard Law School.

Ruth J. Simmons:
Ruth J. Simmons is the President of Brown University and also a professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of Africana Studies. She has served in various administrative positions at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College prior to becoming President of Smith College in 1995. At Smith, she was responsible for various initiatives including the first women’s college engineering program. Dr. Simmons has received numerous awards and fellowships including the Fulbright Fellowship, the 2001 President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund, the 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, and the 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal. In addition, Dr. Simmons has been featured as a speaker at the White House, the World Economic Forum, the National Press Club, the Association of American Universities, and the American Council on Education. Currently, she resides on a number of boards, including the Howard University Board of Trustees, Texas Instruments, and the Goldman Sachs Group. Dr. Simmons graduated from Dillard University and received her PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University.

Maya Soetoro-Ng:
Maya Soetoro-Ng, PhD. has taught and developed Humanities curriculum in public and private schools in New York and Hawaii for fifteen years. She also taught Multicultural Education and Educational Theory at the University of Hawaii’s College of Education. In 2007 and 2008, she campaigned across more than a dozen states for her brother, President Barack Obama. Her children’s book Ladder to the Moon will be published in the winter, and she is currently working on a book about high school Peace Education.

George Thibault:
George E. Thibault is the seventh president of the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. He has held several leadership and director positions at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Brockton/West Roxbury VA Medical Center, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Thibault was the Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Partners HealthCare System, Inc. from 1997 to 2007. He has served as the Daniel D. Federman Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at Harvard Medical School and was chosen as the first Director of The Academy for Harvard. In addition, he has served and chaired on the committees of national organizations including the Institute of Medicine, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the American College of Physicians. Dr. Thibault is also the recipient of various awards from both Georgetown University (Ryan Prize in Philosophy, Alumni Prize, and Cohongaroton Speaker) and Harvard University (Alpha Omega Alpha, Henry Asbury Christian Award and Society of Fellows). He graduated from Georgetown University and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Bryan Traubert:
Bryan Traubert is the Founder and Partner of Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago, which is a comprehensive ophthalmic group practice, since 1986. He received a Medical Ethics Fellowship in 2002 from the University of Chicago. Currently, he is the President of the Board of Marwen and resides on the Harvard School of Public Health Board of Visitors, the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago Board, National Public Radio Foundation Board, Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind Board, and Chicago Public Radio Board. In addition, he served as the President of the Renaissance Society at University of Chicago Board from 1998-2001, as well as the Founder and Board Chair of Chicago Run. He is also a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the Illinois Association of Ophthalmology. Dr. Traubert received his B.S. in Biology from the Citadel and his M.D. from the University of Illinois.

Laurence Tribe:
Laurence Tribe is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. Prior to this appointment, he was Harvard’s Ralph S. Tyler, Jr. Professor of Constitutional Law from 1982-2004 and has been a member of Harvard’s faculty since 1968. Mr. Tribe has argued 35 U.S. Supreme Court cases including Bowers v. Hardwick and Bush v. Gore. He was a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer and has authored over 110 scholarly articles and books including The Invisible Constitution and American Constitutional Law, the most frequently cited legal text since 1950. As the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and other awards, Mr. Tribe was appointed to deliver the Constitution Day Lecture for the National Archives of the United States in 2008 and received the American Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Scholar Award for 2009. He has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1980 and a member of the National Advisory Board for the American Civil Liberties Union since 1995. Mr. Tribe received his Bachelor’s degree in mathematics summa cum laude from Harvard College and his Law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Eleanor Kaye Wilson:
For over 35 years, Kaye Wilson has worked in a variety of positions in education institutions, government agencies, foundations and nonprofit organizations. As one of the first staff members of DePaul University’s School for New Learning, Ms. Wilson served as the Director and Assistant Dean. She has served as Executive Director of Urban Programs at Chicago City-Wide College, where she developed Project Choice, a welfare-to-work education and training program for General Assistance participants; and as founder of the Wells Prep School, which was a juvenile delinquency prevention demonstration program designed in an elementary school setting for public housing children in Chicago, Illinois. For the past twelve years, Ms. Wilson has been a nonprofit consultant in the metropolitan Chicago area. She is an active volunteer on numerous boards, committees, and taskforces. She is currently Vice Chair of two boards: Community Assistance Programs and the Rich Township District 227 Foundation.

Judy Wise:
Judy Wise is the Senior Director of Facing History and Ourselves, a non-profit professional development organization for educators. She was the founder of the organization’s first regional office in Chicago and served as its Executive Director until 2002. In addition, Ms. Wise serves on Chicago’s Human Rights Watch committee and is a Board Member of Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, which recognized her as one of 40 Who Made a Difference in celebration of the organization’s 40th Anniversary. During Barack Obama’s campaign, she was on the National Finance Committee. She has also served as Executive Director of the Committee on Illinois Government prior to her involvement with Facing History and Ourselves. Ms. Wise received her B.A. from Washington University and M.A. in psychiatric social work from the University of Chicago.

Health care reform is an economic necessity

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:01:02 EDT

In this excellent op-ed piece, super-economist Christina Romer (one of President Obama's most trusted advisors) makes an impassionate plea for health care reform. She expalins the different options that could lead to the President's goal of universal health care, and helps the reader get a really goodunderstanding of what is really at stake. Too often, we hear that universal health care would be too costly and force the economy to suffer. That is a far right Republican talking point which has been discredited several times over, but which still survives and lives on because of the ignorance of many. This piece by Prof. Romer dispels all misunderstandings and makes the choice clear: health care reform would strengthen America's economy for the future, not hurt it...

FORM: Being Advisors to the Obama Administration

Madama Ambi — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:29:58 EDT

The idea behind Feminist Advisory Board for Obama has always been to find ways to make visible and audible the voices of the people who can speak about their lives and their needs directly to the ones who make policy. Since I formed FAB (November 2008), the landscape has changed, not radically, but we know a little more of how the Obama administration is comporting itself. I know more about some members of this group and I know more about the femisphere. Some of my ideas about women's needs have grown into huge ideas (needia), and other of my projects have taken a back seat while I've been roaming the femisphere like Lewis and Clark on an epic journey.

Which brings me to my subject today: form. Form is important, structure can be determinative. Which comes first, the what, the who, the where, the how or the when? Where is the why?

WHERE Member Jon Pincus feels that a wiki is the best place to support group communication. I don't agree, but I'm interested in hearing from other group members. What OFA gives us is this listserve, and each of us has an OFA blog that feeds into the blog for FAB. So, for instance, in addition to sending you this email, I could post this to my blog on OFA and then cross-post it to FAB and other groups within OFA, and anyone who is a member of MyBO/OFA can read and comment. Furthermore, what gets blogged at MyBO/OFA gets crawled by Google, so our blog posts will show up in public searches. We also have 157 members on FAB/Facebook, where anyone can post to the wall or to the discussion board. Also, the FAB/FB group is open, so even non-members can participate and read what is posted.

WHAT Two members of this group have asked if we have a Mission Statement, and I answered that I have ideas about one and then I invited each of these members to head up the committee or the wiki or whatever you want to call it to develop a Mission Statement. This is how I lead--I ask people to take responsibility for the projects they bring to the group. I can't do it all and I don't want to do it all. I want to contribute where I have skills, expertise or leadership energy, and I want members to do the same.

HOW Taking a page from National Organization for Women's organizational model, I have some ideas about creating something on the order of "Officers" within FAB. I will spell this out in a separate posting. If you have ideas about organizational models, please step up to the plate. You don't need permission from me to be a leader in this group. Got an idea? Go for it.

WHEN Along with my idea for appointing "Officers" (a term I'm not crazy about, actually. I prefer "Advisors..."), I'd like to see this group produce a monthly or a quarterly Advice Memo that we would then submit to appropriate government officials. Because I called this group Feminist Advisory Board for Obama, some people have assumed that I have an insider track to the White House. I don't. True, I supported Obama for president and know many people who did the same, and some who went on to have jobs in the administration. Still, I am NOT an insider. My activism will always be as an outsider because I happen to believe that once you get on the inside, you find yourself preserving the status quo. In my view, you cannot be an activist, an agitator, a critic or a change-agent from the inside. This is just my opinion, and I welcome yours.

WHO It's just us. We are the change we've been waiting for.

WHY I think we all know why. If you didn't already have a sense of why, you wouldn't have joined this group...I think...

Please post your feedback, your thoughts, your ideas, your criticisms, to this list and/or to your OFA blog and FAB's OFA blog. Or post to FAB/FB and cross-post to OFA. If you don't understand how that works, first go nose around OFA and see if you can figure it out. If you can't, post your questions to the group list.

Jon Stewart spoofs and doctors warn: avoid GMOs

Nj from Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:00:22 EDT

Last night on Comedy Central, Jon Stewart's brilliant mockery of genetically engineered wheat puts the only humorous twist on an otherwise serious health risk that now concerns the American Academy of Environmental Medicine: genetically modified foods.

On May 8th, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on “Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.” Their position paper stated, “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. AAEM states, “GM foods have not been properly tested” and “pose a serious health risk.” They conclude, “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation,” as defined by recognized scientific criteria. “The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies.” AAEM called for a moratorium, long-term independent studies, and labeling.

A second US medical association is currently drafting a similar resolution, and more and more doctors are already prescribing GM-free diets. “I strongly recommend patients eat strictly non-genetically modified foods,” says Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist. Ohio allergist John Boyles says “I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it.”

According to AAEM, “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation” as defined by recognized scientific criteria. “The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies.” Some experts go a step further. After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, world renowned biologist Pushpa. M. Bhargava concluded that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans.

Pregnant women and babies at great risk

Among the population, biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute warns that “children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems” related to GM foods. Similarly, the UK Royal Society recommends that GM foods be rigorously researched before being fed to pregnant or breast-feeding women and babies. Tragically, not a single human clinical trial has been published. Dr. Schubert says without adequate studies, the children become “the experimental animals.”

The experience of actual GM-fed experimental animals is scary. When GM soy was fed to female rats, most of their babies died within three weeks—compared to a 10% death rate among the control group fed natural soy. The GM-fed babies were also smaller, and later had problems getting pregnant.

When male rats were fed GM soy, their testicles actually changed color—from the normal pink to dark blue. Mice fed GM soy altered young sperm. Even the embryos of GM fed parent mice had significant changes in their DNA. Mice fed GM corn in an Austrian government study had fewer babies, which were also smaller normal.

Reproductive problems also plague livestock. Most of the Indian buffalos that ate GM cottonseed had complications such as premature deliveries, abortions, infertility, and prolapsed uteruses. Many calves died. In the US, about two dozen farmers reported thousands of pigs became sterile after consuming certain GM corn varieties. Some had false pregnancies; others gave birth to bags of water. Cows and bulls also became infertile when fed the same corn.

In the US population, the incidence of low birth weight babies, infertility, and infant mortality are all escalating.

Food designed to produce poison

GM corn and cotton are engineered to produce their own built-in pesticide in every cell. When bugs bite the plant, the poison splits open their stomach and kills them. Biotech companies claim that the pesticide, called Bt—produced from soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis—has a history of safe use, since organic farmers and others use Bt bacteria spray for natural insect control. Genetic engineers insert Bt genes into corn and cotton, so the plants do the killing.

The Bt-toxin produced in GM plants, however, is thousands of times more concentrated than natural Bt spray, is designed to be more toxic, has properties of an allergen, and unlike the spray, cannot be washed off the plant.

Moreover, studies confirm that even the less toxic natural bacterial spray is harmful. When dispersed by plane to kill gypsy moths in the Pacific Northwest, about 500 people reported allergy or flu-like symptoms. Some had to go to the emergency room.

The exact same symptoms are now being reported by farm workers throughout India, from handling Bt cotton. In 2008, based on medical records, the Sunday India reported, “Victims of itching have increased massively this year . . . related to BT cotton farming.”

GMOs provoke immune reactions

AAEM states, “Multiple animal studies show significant immune dysregulation,” including increase in cytokines, which are “associated with asthma, allergy, and inflammation”—all on the rise in the US.

According to GM food safety expert Dr. Arpad Pusztai, changes in the immune status of GM animals are “a consistent feature of all the studies.” Even Monsanto’s own research showed significant immune system changes in rats fed Bt corn. A November 2008 by the Italian government also found that mice have an immune reaction to Bt corn.
GM soy and corn each contain two new proteins with allergenic properties, GM soy has up to seven times more trypsin inhibitor—a known soy allergen, and skin prick tests show some people react to GM, but not to non-GM soy. Soon after GM soy was introduced to the UK, soy allergies skyrocketed by 50%. Perhaps the US epidemic of food allergies and asthma is a casualty of genetic manipulation.

Animals dying in large numbers

In India, animals graze on cotton plants after harvest. But when shepherds let sheep graze on Bt cotton plants, thousands died. Post mortems showed severe irritation and black patches in both intestines and liver (as well as enlarged bile ducts). Investigators said preliminary evidence “strongly suggests that the sheep mortality was due to a toxin. . . . most probably Bt-toxin.” In a small follow-up feeding study, all sheep fed Bt cotton plants died within 30 days; those that grazed on natural cotton plants remained healthy.

In a small village in Andhra Pradesh, buffalo grazed on cotton plants for eight years without incident. On January 3rd, 2008, the buffalo grazed on Bt cotton plants for the first time. All 13 were sick the next day; all died within 3 days.

Bt corn was also implicated in the deaths of cows in Germany, and horses, water buffaloes, and chickens in The Philippines.

In lab studies, twice the number of chickens fed Liberty Link corn died; 7 of 20 rats fed a GM tomato developed bleeding stomachs; another 7 of 40 died within two weeks. Monsanto’s own study showed evidence of poisoning in major organs of rats fed Bt corn, according to top French toxicologist, G. E. Seralini.

Worst finding of all—GMOs remain inside of us

The only published human feeding study revealed what may be the most dangerous problem from GM foods. The gene inserted into GM soy transfers into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function. This means that long after we stop eating GMOs, we may still have potentially harmful GM proteins produced continuously inside of us. Put more plainly, eating a corn chip produced from Bt corn might transform our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories, possibly for the rest of our lives.

When evidence of gene transfer is reported at medical conferences around the US, doctors often respond by citing the huge increase of gastrointestinal problems among their patients over the last decade. GM foods might be colonizing the gut flora of North Americans.

Denials, attacks, and hijacked regulators

Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had warned about all these problems even in the early 1990s. According to documents released from a lawsuit, the scientific consensus at the agency was that GM foods were inherently dangerous, and might create hard-to-detect allergies, poisons, gene transfer to gut bacteria, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged their superiors to require rigorous long-term tests. But the White House had ordered the agency to promote biotechnology and the FDA responded by recruiting Michael Taylor, Monsanto’s former attorney, to head up the formation of GMO policy. That policy, which is in effect today, denies knowledge of scientists’ concerns and declares that no safety studies on GMOs are required. It is up to Monsanto and the other biotech companies to determine if their foods are safe. Mr. Taylor later became Monsanto’s vice president.

Dangerously few studies, untraceable diseases

A 2007 review of published scientific literature on the “potential toxic effects/health risks of GM plants” revealed “that experimental data are very scarce.” The author concludes his review by asking, “Where is the scientific evidence showing that GM plants/food are toxicologically safe, as assumed by the biotechnology companies?”

Famed Canadian geneticist David Suzuki answers, “The experiments simply haven’t been done and we now have become the guinea pigs.” He adds, “Anyone that says, ‘Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,’ I say is either unbelievably stupid or deliberately lying.”

Dr. Schubert points out, “If there are problems, we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.” If GMOs happen to cause immediate and acute symptoms with a unique signature, perhaps then we might have a chance to trace the cause.

This is precisely what happened during an epidemic in the US in the late 1980s. The disease was fast acting, deadly, and caused a unique measurable change in the blood—but it still took more than four years to identify that an epidemic was even occurring. By then it had killed about 100 Americans and caused 5,000-10,000 people to fall sick or become permanently disabled. It was caused by a genetically engineered brand of a food supplement called L-tryptophan.

If other GM foods are contributing to the rise of autism, obesity, diabetes, asthma, cancer, heart disease, allergies, reproductive problems, or any other common health problem now plaguing Americans, we may never know. In fact, since animals fed GMOs had such a wide variety of problems, susceptible people may react to GM food with multiple symptoms. It is therefore telling that in the first nine years after the largescale introduction of GM crops, the incidence of people with three or more chronic diseases nearly doubled, from 7% to 13%.

To help identify if GMOs are causing harm, the AAEM asks their “members, the medical community, and the independent scientific community to gather case studies potentially related to GM food consumption and health effects, begin epidemiological research to investigate the role of GM foods on human health, and conduct safe methods of determining the effect of GM foods on human health.”

Citizens shouldn’t wait for the results before acting responsibly. It’s time to take the doctors advice: Avoid GM foods. That principally means staying away from anything with soy or corn derivatives, cottonseed and canola oil, and sugar from GM sugar beets—unless it says organic or “non-GMO.” There is a pocket Non-GMO Shopping Guide, co-produced by the Institute for Responsible Technology and the Center for Food Safety, which is available as a download, in natural food stores, and in many doctors’ offices.

When even a small percentage of people conscientiously choose healthier non-GMO brands, the food industry will respond as they did in Europe—by removing all GM ingredients. Consumers are at the top of the food chain, and we can join the doctors by writing a prescription for change.

International bestselling author and independent filmmaker Jeffrey M. Smith is the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology and the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of GMOs. His first book, Seeds of Deception is the world’s bestselling book on the subject. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, identifies 65 risks of GMOs and demonstrates how superficial government approvals are not competent to find most of them. He invited the biotech industry to respond in writing with evidence to counter each risk, but correctly predicted that they would refuse, since they don’t have the data to show their products are safe.

Rush Limbaugh was the 20th Hijacker on 9-11 (Wanda Sikes)

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:07:26 EDT

What a funny way to tell the truth. Except it's so true it's no longer funny...

President Obama's Job Training Plan for the Unemployed

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:21:52 EDT

President Obama is doing the right thing to take care of people who have lost their jobs and still need an opportunity to update their skills for the new economy. Education and appropriate job training are essential elements of the future modern, global economy which we must embrace. The President's plan makes dreams possible for many Americans and their families...

National Security Act - Torture

"Voice for Humanity" — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:43:16 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

Courtesy: www.padminiarhant.com

Torture

The nation riddled with recent events pertaining to national security. In the past few weeks, there have been vigorous debates and discussions on the release of the torture memos describing the torture tactics applied on the speculative terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay and those held in Bagram Prison, Afghanistan.

There are polarizing views regarding the...

Further info @ http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Prayer Request for April 29, 2009

White House Prayer Team — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:34:52 EDT

This week our focus has been placed on addressing the ills of our economy. Even after the recent election, we view the economy, still, as our Issue #1.

Our Verse of the Day April 28, 2009 (http://www.whitehouseprayerteam.blogspot.com) was "Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?"— Psalm 85:6 (NIV) God is working to restore back to us all that which has been taken away from us. He knows our hearts and will work to perform what it is we seek Him for.

Monday-Wednesday (April 27-29, 2009) we are praying for those friends and family members we have enduring the woes of the housing crisis. Sub-prime loans, greed and corruption, not to mention financial irresponsibility has driven the nation into the slumps of a crisis that has not been known for over 50 years.

We don't accept this as finite. We don't see this the end all be all, however, we rest our hopes not in the White House, but instead in the Creator who sees and knows all. He loves us and rewards our good deeds.

Join in with us tomorrow and pray for those who are struggling to see the light at the end the tunnel. As you pray, believe that God is hearing you when you pray. Although we need faith to overcome those things that we see, we also must count on the actions we perform to act out our faith in what it is we do not yet see.

So many people have contacted the prayer team by email at whitehouseprayer@live.com to be added to our prayer list and we would hope that you follow their steps as well. Others have also contacted us seeking to provide free consultations and advisement. (*All parties have been informed that any services provided must be at no cost). Add your email for that information as well.

Listen, we believe in God. He truly answers prayer! Join with us in prayer and we will ensure that our empowered time with Him raises those things we request pass the ceiling and into the welcome of His love.

This is our prayer-WHPT

Racism – The Durban II, Geneva Conference

"Voice for Humanity" — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:55:19 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

www.padminiarhant.com

Racism – The Durban II, Geneva Conference

The past week - April 20 -24, 2009, Geneva, Switzerland hosted ‘The Durban II conference’ on racism. The preceding event in 2001 held in Durban, South Africa marred by racial overtones and negative attacks against the state of Israel evidently led the United States and Western allies to boycott the recent U.N meeting.

It was a United Nations gathering to address the persisting contemporary discriminatory practices often transforming into persecution, oppression and even genocide in some parts of the world. According to the White House and media reports, the reason behind United States and allies’ absence at the symposium was the blue print content notably against Israel by the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, the United Nations’ assurance to eliminate any anti-Israeli inflammatory remarks from the Iranian President’s speech failed in convincing the United States, Israel and others to attend the world forum.

Meanwhile, predictably the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad’s rhetorical speech caused spectacle prompting other European diplomats to briefly abandon the summit. To the United Nations’ credit, the subsequent address by the Iranian President modified to reflect reality on the tragic holocaust previously denied by the political figure.

Whenever a consortium organized to deal with sensitive humanitarian issue of great magnitude, the stage is set for fireworks and doesn’t require more than a spark to ignite the flame into blazing fire. All those refuting the one nation’s contentious repetitive conduct, regrettably ignored the wide spectrum of humanitarian crises around the world. The objection against a particular nation’s demeanor effectively dismissed the urgency for unanimous solutions to global problems affecting humanity.
Further, such action conspicuously displayed hierarchy prevalent in the humanitarian priorities.

Every continent has nations with dark legacy and embarrassing episodes of human rights violation. In the new millennium, the global community challenged to empathize with those currently enduring incessant suffering due to lack of freedom, inequality, injustice including intolerance.

The Geneva conference was a great platform for the nations that boycotted the meeting exclusively the United States and Israel to express serious commitment in resolving the age-old Middle East conflict between Israel and Palestine. Any glimpse of hope in the two states solutions approved by vast majority of population on both sides with a free Palestine comprising West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem alongside the democratic Israel unequivocally accepted as a sovereign state in the entire region would have instantaneously gained credibility in the large presence of the United Nations.

Needlessly, as holocaust victims Israel was better qualified to condemn any crime against humanity and set an example by leading the world in the establishment of peace and democracy with its neighbor Palestine. Israel had a unique opportunity in Geneva to demonstrate solemn pledge and action to aid those, relevantly the Palestinians deserving similar liberty granted to Israel predominantly with the support and solidarity among the nations around the world. Israel’s unprecedented humanitarian gesture would have made it incumbent on the Arab nations at the conference to forge alliance in promoting regional unity and peace.

If the world would not have heeded to the humanitarian call for an Independent Israel, it could have resulted in the devastating annihilation of a specific human race. Likewise, South Africa proudly declaring results from a democratic election today would have succumbed to oppressive apartheid without the international community’s involvement in the freedom of that nation.

There is immense misery and extreme hardships in various parts of the world. People in these regions generally exposed to despair, depression and death at infancy consider themselves fortunate if they live beyond the short life expectancy because of poverty, disease, war and deprivation of basic human rights.

Geneva conference reached a broad based consensus against racial and gender discrimination, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia other than human rights abuses across the globe. An international assembly by governments from most parts of the world had the moment and venue to review pertinent matter concerning different nations and people. Unfortunately, the U.N committee presumably under intense pressure from nations prioritizing political agenda in their allegiance to a single ally, did not layout the importance of relieving humanity from the perpetual violence through war, invasion and occupation reminiscent of the twentieth century’s imperialism and colonialism .

Is there deficiency in related topics involving the remaining population on the planet seeking entitlement to the international representation, rescue and relief from burgeoning crimes against innocent civilians?

Only if rationality and utilitarianism prevailed over popular political dogma of individualism, the desirable goals for fairness and justice are attainable in human affairs.

Is the struggle for peace and independence by the population in Palestine, Burma, Tibet, and North Korea any less significant than the international feud between Israel and Iran?

What about the status quo of civil wars contributing to genocides in Rwanda, Darfur, Congo and other parts of Africa?

Should the world ignore the escalating ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka as an internal matter rather than an international moral issue?

Where was the denunciation of the pervasive Taliban abuse of women in Afghanistan now dangerously spreading to the Northwestern regions of Pakistan?

Why did the summit not extensively focus on the various abuses in Latin, Central and South America and China, notwithstanding the denial of equal status to women in the Middle East and other Islamic nations?

On the generic concept of racism, xenophobia - typically the fear of the unknown, homophobia - the overt hate crimes against gay and trans-gender community and other horrific incidents in human trafficking, child pornography and numerous offenses were excluded during the five-day long international meeting.

Apparently, the interpretation of ‘tolerance’ in the crimes against humanity is subject to the relationship among existing and emerging economic and political powers in the global society.

The protocol on protests, boycott and co-operation alike varies depending on the nations along with political and economic repercussions arising from such action.

For example, the Iranian President’s controversial stance against Israel held responsible for the Western nations’ boycott of the latest Geneva conference on racism while implying the other attendees’ motive questionable.

Nevertheless, the human rights activists’ plea to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics to draw attention towards the plight of the Tibetan population persecuted by the hour and suppression of the democracy movement in the People’s Republic of China rejected by the participating nations prominently those who recently boycotted the Geneva conference.

It is widespread knowledge that the emerging economic power China being the treasury and
Exchequer for the world economy, a nuclear nation possessing veto power routinely exercised against common benefit in the U.N. Security Council decisions, privileged with supreme diplomatic immunity in all things inhumane.

In the recent G-20 summit, call for globalization over protectionism dominated the theme for global economic revival. Synonymously, in the environmental matter and international security collective effort embraced as a successful strategy. Henceforth, collaborative action regarded imminent to resolve international crises.

Ironically, abstaining from leadership at the summit to formulate policies in the restoration of human rights, freedom and civil liberties, the fundamental requirements for peace, progress and prosperity, creates a vacuum rather than serving the real purpose.

History is testimony to the rise and fall of civilizations that fair well when guided by wisdom, compassion and courage for universal good.

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Prayer Request for April 21, 2009

White House Prayer Team — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:13:30 EDT

Today, the President will sign national service legislation passed by Congress a few weeks ago. Scheduled to attend that event are former President Bill Clinton and Senator Ted Kennedy, for whom the bill is named Let us pray for the health and well being of Senator Kennedy who is suffering from a form of brain cancer. We pray his strength in God. Surely, Senator Kennedy is of course a life long Catholic, yet we are all God's children and wish him and his family well during this fight.

King Abdullah of Jordan will also be visiting The White House today for a meeting with the President, God, be in the room. We thank you they are already friends who have come to share commonality with conversations about their families and the raising of their children under the microscope.

Amidst his complex schedule, remember to pray for this president and our nation.

*To submit prayer request on any topic, personal, employment, and etc, please for them to us at http://whitehouseprayerteam.blogspot.com/ We enjoy all the feedback! Enjoy your day today. This is the day that the Lord has made...rejoice and be glad!

Obama unveils high-speed passenger rail plan

Unknown user — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:12:09 EDT

The president's plan identifies 10 potential high-speed intercity corridors for federal funding, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England.

It also highlights potential improvements in the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor running from Washington to Boston, Massachusetts.

Each of the corridors identified by the president's report are between 100 and 600 miles long. The blueprint envisions some trains traveling at top speeds of over 150 mph.

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White House releases Obama, Biden tax returns

Mandot from Menard, TX — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:05:35 EDT