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01/03/09: President-elect Obama’s Weekly Address

In this week’s weekly address, President-elect Barack Obama lays out the challenges that face us in the new year, and his plan for taking them on.

“We need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term,” he says. “And this plan must be designed in a new way—we can’t just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan—which is to create three million new jobs, more than eighty percent of them in the private sector.”

Watch the full address or read the text below:

Weekly Address
January 3, 2009

As the holiday season comes to end, we are thankful for family and friends and all the blessings that make life worth living. But as we mark the beginning of a new year, we also know that America faces great and growing challenges—challenges that threaten our nation’s economy and our dreams for the future. Nearly two million Americans have lost their jobs this past year—and millions more are working harder in jobs that pay less and come with fewer benefits. For too many families, this new year brings new unease and uncertainty as bills pile up, debts continue to mount and parents worry that their children won’t have the same opportunities they had.

However we got here, the problems we face today are not Democratic problems or Republican problems. The dreams of putting a child through college, or staying in your home, or retiring with dignity and security know no boundaries of party or ideology.

These are America’s problems, and we must come together as Americans to meet them with the urgency this moment demands. Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double digit unemployment and the American Dream slipping further and further out of reach.

That’s why we need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term. And this plan must be designed in a new way—we can’t just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan—which is to create three million new jobs, more than eighty percent of them in the private sector.

To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient. To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools. To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our health care system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year. To make America, and our children, a success in this new global economy, we will build 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries. And to put more money into the pockets of hardworking families, we will provide direct tax relief to 95 percent of American workers.

I look forward to meeting next week in Washington with leaders from both parties to discuss this plan. I am optimistic that if we come together to seek solutions that advance not the interests of any party, or the agenda of any one group, but the aspirations of all Americans, then we will meet the challenges of our time just as previous generations have met the challenges of theirs.

There is no reason we can’t do this. We are a people of boundless industry and ingenuity. We are innovators and entrepreneurs and have the most dedicated and productive workers in the world. And we have always triumphed in moments of trial by drawing on that great American spirit—that perseverance, determination and unyielding commitment to opportunity on which our nation was founded. And in this new year, let us resolve to do so once again. Thank you.

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Obama: ‘Person Of The Year’

Time Magazine has named U.S. President-elect Barack Obama as the 2008 “Person of the Year.” Micahael Elliot, editor of Time International, discusses the magazine’s decision. Time said Obama earned its award “for having the confidence to sketch an ambitious future in a gloomy hour.” He showed “the competence that makes Americans hopeful he might pull it off.”

The magazine named four runners-up: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson; French and current European Union President Nicholas Sarkozy; former Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; and Zhang Yimou, who organized the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Last year’s winner was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

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Obama “saddened” and “sobered” by Blagojevich

Complaint points to clash over Obama adviser

By: Alexander Bolton
Posted: 12/09/08 12:20 PM [ET]

President-elect Obama and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich clashed over whether to appoint a senior Obama adviser to replace him in the Senate, according to a criminal complaint filed with a federal district court.

The adviser at the center of the dispute appears to have been Valerie Jarrett, whom Obama has tapped to serve as White House senior adviser and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison.

Obama’s advisers declined to give in to Blagojevich’s demands, prompting angry outbursts from the Illinois governor behind the scenes.

Blagojevich in a conversation intercepted by federal agents calls Obama a “motherf—-r” and dismisses Obama’s unwillingness to strike a deal: “F—k him.”

Read the rest

Rod Blagojevich’s nightmare before Christmas is only just beginning

Not every political scandal has these moments caught on tape

Blagojevich’s Removal Sought As Top Aide Quits

Illinois plunged deeper into turmoil Gov. Rod Blagojevich

McCain scolds GOP for whacking Obama over the Illinois corruption scandal: We should try to be working constructively together

Democrats’ Dilemma in Illinois: To Appoint or to Elect?

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Obama Reveals HUD Cabinet Pick in Address

Barack Obama’s weekly address

By Christi Parsons December 14, 2008
Reporting from Washington — A Harvard-educated architect is Barack Obama’s choice to lead his housing agency, which the president-elect says will play a key role in tackling the mortgage crisis and helping families stay in their homes. Read the rest

President-elect Barack Obama used his weekly address to name New York City housing official Shaun Donovan as his secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (Dec. 13):

Good morning.

Earlier this week, we learned that the number of Americans filing their first claim for unemployment insurance rose to a nearly 30-year high. This news reflects the pain that’s been rippling across our entire economy. Jobs are being cut. Wages are being slashed. Credit is tight and people can’t get loans. In cities and towns all across this country, families enter a holiday season with unease and uncertainty. Read the rest

Watch the Video

Shaun Donovan had foreseen subprime crisis in ‘04

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Unemployed and Hungry in the US

Video from the Real News Independent Network:

www.TheRealNews.com

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12/06/08: President-Elect Obama’s Weekly Address

Barack Obama addresses the job loss that our nation continues to endure and offers solutions to the challenges we face. For more information, visit http://change.gov.

Good morning

Yesterday, we received another painful reminder of the serious economic challenge our country is facing when we learned that 533,000 jobs were lost in November alone, the single worst month of job loss in over three decades. That puts the total number of jobs lost in this recession at nearly 2 million.

But this isn’t about numbers. It’s about each of the families those numbers represent. It’s about the rising unease and frustration that so many of you are feeling during this holiday season. Will you be able to put your kids through college? Will you be able to afford health care? Will you be able to retire with dignity and security? Will your job or your husband’s job or your daughter’s or son’s job be the next one cut?

These are the questions that keep so many Americans awake at night. But it is not the first time these questions have been asked. We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands. And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again.

But we need action – and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs, while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars.

We won’t do it the old Washington way. We won’t just throw money at the problem. We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve — by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.

Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.

As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.

In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.

These are a few parts of the economic recovery plan that I will be rolling out in the coming weeks. When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately. We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least two and a half million jobs so that the nearly two million Americans who’ve lost them know that they have a future. And that’s exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States.

Thanks for listening.

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McCain: I pledged to him [Obama] tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us…

In defeat, McCain offers graceful end to rough campaign. McCain urged supporters not only to congratulate the president-elect, but to offer him help in getting the country over the massive economic problems it faces.

These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face. I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.”

Read the whole Senator John McCain’s Concession Speech Transcripts

Though we believe one should not kick a man when he is down, please read why as conservatives we honestly believe that we are better off with Obama

Why John McCain lost the White House?

A major reason McCain lost is his continuous association with the Bush administration

Why McCain lost. “No one deserves it. You got to earn it. And Obama earned it”

From Republican “crusader”:
Will God bless America again?
“Now that the election is over isn’t it time that we become “one” USA again. Elections are for us to decide what direction we as individuals want to see our country to go. My man didn’t win but I hope my country did, we won’t agree with all that our new president proposes regardless if we voted for him or not. We all hope that his decisions are for what’s best for our country. I am an old cow-puncher that has seen many presidents come and go and none of them destroyed our country or way of life so lets all come together and work for the good old USA. In battle I didn’t ask the man next to me if he was a democrat or republican, I was just happy that he had an M-1 and we were both defending our country. Lets stop all this rancor and get behind our president and if the majority of us don’t agree with him in four years we will again have the opportunity to get rid of him. God bless the USA”

GOOD IDEA, GIVE OUR PRESIDENT-ELECT A CHANCE!!
Barack Obama will be faced with some of the greatest challenges ever to face a president. He needs our support. If he fails, we all fail, and we cannot afford to fail.

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“We either keep our word or we don’t keep our word” John McCain

See post: would John McCain be good for our country?

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Georgia vs. Russia for Dummies!

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Truth about Georgia

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Imagine…

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A Girl in S Occetia

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One Year in 40 seconds

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What a Ribbon Can do…

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True love knows no limits!

This is the TRUE STORY of 2 men, and the love they shared with the lion they raised named Christian. It was touching to see the BOND that developed between them and the LOVE that had transcended all barriers. Christian was a remarkable lion, obviously very intelligent and loving, and gentle to everyone, both human and animal, but as Christian became too big, he had to be sent to Africa to live as a wild lion.. Would he recognize the two men after a whole year? How would he react having spent one year in the wilderness away from them? Can a bridge be built that encompasses all life?

MORE PICTURES AND THE FULL STORY

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Awesome!

XXVIII CIRCUS OF MONTE CARLO IN MONACO

ALEXIS BROTHERS Marco and Paolo from Portugal

BACKGROUND MUSIC: Vangelis - Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou -an electronic composer and musician born on March 29 1943 in Volos, Greece, wrote the music for “1492 Conquest of Paradise“, which was used as entry music by German Boxer Henry Maske & became a No. 1 Hit single in Germany.

In 1992 France bestowed upon him the Chevalier Order of Arts and Letters. In 2001 his album “Mythodea” was chosen as the Music for the NASA Mission: “Mars Odyssey”. There is a minor planet called Vangelis, named in his honor.

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Rhythmics is NOT easy!

and Putin’s chic, 24 year old Alina Kabaeva, knows how to do it well! At the 2004 Athens Olympics Alina Kabaeva won the medal, but later in October she retired from the sport and has been a member of the Russian parliament since 2007. Latest gossip tells us she is very pro-Putin but he denies he secretly divorced his wife to marry Alina…

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Beautiful!

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I Believe I Can Fly!

INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO

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The Secret

INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO: The Secret (first 20 min)

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More…

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Return to Innocence

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Is Just a Moment

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Unbelievable Sportmanship!

“It is a GREAT MOMENT when one has character to do the right thing at the right moment…”

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Unique Ability

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Hilarious Mr. Bean

MR. BEAN IS INDEED HILARIOUS…

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Penny Prank

THE ECONOMY IS SO BAD…

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My mama said I can!

HAVE A TASTE OF FRENCH HUMOR!

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Impressive…

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