Happy 16th Birthday to First Daughter Malia Ann Obama!!

Today is the 16th Birthday of the President's Eldest Daughter - Malia Ann Obama.

Happy Birthday to someone who is blossoming into a beautiful young woman right before our eyes.

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Happy 50th Birthday to our wonderful First Lady: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama!

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama was born 50 years ago today!

She makes 50 look fabulous!!

Thank you Mrs. Obama. You are a wonderful First Lady and represent our country so well. You will never know how deep you are in our hearts, and how much they swell everytime you step into the spotlight. We are blessed to have you and for you to be the bedrock of our wonderful First Family.

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Obama: Income inequality is defining challenge for the U.S.

Published on Dec 4, 2013

Speaking at an event sponsored by the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, President Barack Obama said the income gap between America's rich and poor is a "defining challenge of our time."Income inequality has jeopardized the nation's middle class, he added.The president is also urging Washington to take steps to ensure that the economy benefits everyone.

Happy Anniversary to the First Couple: President Barack Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama

They were married October 3, 1992 at Trinity UCC in Chicago, Illinois.

Many blessings for a continued long and happy and loving marriage.

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Obamacare Exchange Enrollment Opens Today: Know the FACTS

President Obama, Vice President Biden, and senior staff applaud in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, as the House passes the health care reform bill, March 21, 2010

----Photo by Pete Souza

In March 2010, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), into law.

Every Democratic President, since Harry Truman, has wanted to do healthcare.

But, it took Barack Obama to get the ACA through and into law.

Remember, Truman failed at it because of racism and Jim Crow - because the Southerners feared de-segregated hospitals. If there was Universal Healthcare, that healthcare was a RIGHT, then they couldn't keep up American Apartheid.

Today is the first day where millions of Americans can sign up for medical health insurance at the Medical Healthcare Exchanges.

I can't begin to tell you the simmering rage that has been building within me, as I have watched the GOP posture and threaten not only a government shutdown, but the possibility of default on the full faith and credit of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA because of Obamacare.

And, from here on out, I will call it OBAMACARE.

Because, I will take what the GOP began as a slur and turn it around on them.

I want those dumb, ignorant hicks from RedStateLand, who are quoted in their local papers about how great their new state exchange is, to know, contrary to their IGNORANCE, that state exchange and all of it's benefits are OBAMACARE.

That's right.

When you are sitting at your doctor's appointment for the first time in years because you finally have insurance - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When your prescriptions don't cost you an arm and a leg because you finally have insurance - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When your wife, mother, sister, grandmother, aunt, daughter, goes for their mammogram and they have no co-pay - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When your wife, sister, granddaughter, niece, doesn't have to worry about contraception and how she's going to pay for it - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When your grandmother and grandfather now go for their wellness checkups with Medicare and have no co-pay -SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When the family members that have some sort of pre-existing condition can finally get health insurance - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

The President said last week that he doesn't care what they call it, as long as people get the benefits.

He might not, but I do. I and millions like me, who understand the monumental accomplishment of what he did, and our utter resentment of the assholes that have spent over a HALF BILLION DOLLARS, first to try and defeat the bill, and then to spread LIES about it.

That's why I have no tolerance for incompetent supposed 'journalists' like college dropout Chuck Todd at MSNBC who actually had the never to say last week that it wasn't his job to point out the GOP's LIES about Obamacare.

It wasn't his job?

If it's not YOUR JOB to tell the truth about obvious LIES told about a program that will benefit MILLIONS OF AMERICANS - then that the hell is your job?

The bottom line is that the GOP legislators - ALL OF WHOM ENJOY TAXPAYER FUNDED TOP OF THE LINE HEALTHCARE

Are working overtime - they have voted 43 times to repeal Obamacare....

They are willing to shut down the government, so that 30 MILLION AMERICANS will be denied healthcare.

THAT is their goal.

Mull on that.

How transformational is what President Barack Obama achieved?

Think about this.....healthcare is the final part of the social safety net that every other industrialized country enjoys..and, it took a Black man, Barack Obama, to ensure that, unlike with Social Security and Medicare, THIS part of the social safety net will BEGIN not excluding huge chunks of the American populace. Remember, when Social Security began, FDR excluded professions that ' coincidentally' had large numbers of Blacks employed in them (this was snark - wasn't no coincidence). Same thing for Medicare....65 was chosen as the age, because GUESS WHO had a shorter life expectancy when it was designed....yeah, you know the answer.

But, not OBAMACARE. From the beginning, it will help the broadest swath of Americans possible.

Where to begin with the Obamacare Exchanges?

Here's a video.



You can begin at HEALTHCARE.GOV

Before I begin to drop links, I want to bring your attention to an absolutely fabulous post by zizi2 over at The Obama Diary from last week. The entire post is wonderful, but here's the core of why the GOP is fighting this. Here is the reason they despise President Barack Obama so much:

GOP hates Obamacare Cuz Pres Obama snatched Ayn Rand’s wig

With the exception of religious cultists who abdicate control over their own being, we as INDIVIDUALS instinctively strive for SELF-PRESERVATION especially when our life is threatened. It’s an existential article of faith. And nothing crystalizes this fact more readily than when we NEED healthcare to prevent or cure illness.

..................................

In the perverse Ayn Randian philosophy that the likes of the Koch brothers espouse, there’s talk of pursuing one’s own interests only. But in actuality what they have told their rubes is that they must sacrifice their economic interests in service of ideology. In other words 1%ers preach cultural adherence and ideological purity to their followers while they themselves siphon every public asset and good to themselves. It’s a faith-based heist of the commonweal.

****

President Obama co-opted Ayn Rand’s idea of rational self-interest, turned it on its head, and the Republican Kochsters HATE him for it. The ACA challenges the ability of the Bircher puppetmasters and their corporate ilk to control their rubes over the single most important and intimate aspect of their lives; healthcare. But worse for them it has electoral implications, at least in the near term. Kochsters know it, we know it, and ordinary Americans will soon know it too. As VP Biden said, it’s a BFD, positively for ordinary Americans, and negatively for the Kochsters.

****

Healthcare is ground zero. It’s a singular necessity of life in which no one can live vicariously through another person’s. In an airplane emergency if your oxygen mask IS working you hold on to yours for dear life regardless of whether the passenger in seat 53G’s mask is working or not. That’s Rational Self-Interest. You can’t bullshit people about what they are getting or not getting. Healthcare is personal. Too intimate. No one ever forgets what that experience is like or costs. The impact is visceral. The numbers don’t lie. People know that they paid $1500 out of pocket last year for an MRI and now it is covered under ACA.

..................

President Obama snatched Ayn Rand’s wig in that he is redefining those functions that Libertarians allow government to perform, most notably DEFENCE. He is rudely substituting Healthcare for that without an iota of apology. In PBO’s redefinition a strong nation state is one filled with HEALTHY people maximizing their potential in pursuit of their rational interests, not fancy munitions. Secondly whereas Rand’s binary thinking led her to see “community” as anathema to individual interests, PBO sees it instead as both lifeblood and dynamic marketplace that enables said individual to achieve anything at all. Healthcare is the test ground for his cooptation of Randian self-interest.

.............................

The ACA also breaks the stranglehold of employers on workers, who until now have hung onto miserable jobs for dear life cuz of healthcare, and have traded real wages for “benefit packages” whose worth start depreciating the very moment you start clocking into work. Paltry salaries will be revealed for what they truly are.

The boon will be for those raring to strike out on their own but have dared not take the risk because of healthcare security their employer provides, and the fear of illness bankrupting them should they leave.

The entire piece was wonderful, but this last part that I bolded, is the heart of why they hate this President.

How many people know someone who is at a job THEY HATE because of healthcare?

How many people know someone that has the years to retire, but are too young for Medicare, so they don't, because of healthcare expenses?

How many people know someone who took a job they really didn't want because of healthcare benefits?

How many people know someone young who wants to take a certain job, that maybe doesn't pay a lot, because of benefits?

How many people know someone who wants to be an entrepreneur, but they have a family, and didn't because they couldn't think of leaving their family vulnerable without health insurance?

Don't we all know SOMEONE in one of these categories above?

OBAMACARE has the potential to change ALLL of that.

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A Comment About the Times We Live In

From Pragmatic Obots Unite:

aleth

Interesting to watch these terrorist and their enabling media in action, but you know they white so it's all right. Go Koch brothers!!! POC gonna be fine but should interesting to see how the white left and right deal with a shut down. The GOP conduct is to ensure America never votes for a person of color ever again because America will be scared of going through this again. GOP will suffer no consequences as a result of gerrymandered districts, media cover up and an ignorant citizenry. GOP feel empowered because the fact remains that more than 60% of white folk voted for Romney..let that sink in. Their racial interest outweighed their economic interest and the GOP is a party that believes only the majority voice should win. How dare this black man upset the social order or disrupt the Washington Anglo Saxon consensus.

Yes, the whole thing from 2009 has been deliberate supported by corporations and the propaganda networks they own. The Romney loss was the last straw. They don't see America as theirs anymore since the "others" are now visible so they want to let it burn to the ground. They count on the fact that the President loves this country and the people that he negotiates with them to make sure the people don't suffer. However, the forget that he also has a last straw and a game plan. He like every other black folk know white people more than they know themselves because we watch you while you define us through your stereotypes. So shut it down and let even the old folk suffer so they know the consequence of electing radical Koch and Alec owned representatives.

It is sad that even in NJ folk gonna elect Chris Christie while he fucks us from behind and disrespects civics/ citizenry. The folks in NC are learning the hardway but I'm sure some think it will only publish the "colored" folk. But I will say one thing, an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

Between the domestic games to the international games especially seeing the Arabian pennisular v. Persian geopolitics, it's an interesting time to be alive. Let's see what Saudi arabia ( don't forget they are funding the rebels as they are majority Sunni- if u want to know why president Obama is weary of SA and rebels seed his anti war speech to get his view of SA royalty) and israel plan to destabilize and ensure diplomacy does not work with IRan. Never forget Yemen, Syria,Afghanistan,Iraq have been proxy wars between these two ideology of a widened Arabian pen v Persia. THe fight over the sphere of influence in that region that's been going on since the fall of the ottoman empire. The current us foreign policy does not see the Saudi Arabia- israel alliance as beneficial to us strategic interest, rather it sees it has creating more cost for the US ala Iraq war. What we are seeing is US taking care of US first I.e. if you say a nuclear Iran is dangerous for the region, then let's neutralize it because we will not be putting our troops there. If you say Syria is cray cray well Russia u don't want us to do anything, then take care of your buyer.

But as we can see, this is not what the players in the region want. They have no desire to see a competitive and open iran. Let's see how the hard lines with these two act and let's see how Russia reacts to Iran moving away from its strangle hold. Pssssss...Iran saw Putin drop the dice on Syria for self protection that it reconsidered its relationship along with the effect of the sanctions. There was already a strain the relationship with the 2010 sanction vote from russia. It should all be interesting watching US play both side, tell hard truths and shift course to the pacific. Oh BRazil...watch ur self as Russia has no loyalty to anyone.

It is an interesting time to be alive. Go Susan Rice, Hagel,KErry and the whole team Obama. I do not believe HIllary was good at her job as she was more interested in self promotion than performing at the will of the president. These people get it.

The Affordable Care Act is here to stay

Speaking from Largo, Md. Thursday morning, President Barack Obama promoted the benefits of his health care law before new insurance exchanges open for business next week.

President Obama Addresses the United Nations

President Obama and former President Clinton discuss Obamacare

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton met in New York at the Clinton Global Initiative to discuss the Affordable Care Act's implementation, the opposition to the law, and the future of health care.

About that Putin Op-Ed in the New York Times

I haven’t really commented on the NYTimes publishing the Op-Ed, because to be honest, I was just absorbing it.

Since January 20, 2009, I thought that I had seen all the ways that this President could be disrespected, but time after time, I have been proven wrong.

If anyone would tell me that any major newspaper, would publish an Op-Ed from the former head of the KBG who goes around the world murdering his opponents in plain sight, and allow him to lecture the United States, ABOUT ANYTHING, I just would have never believed it.

White folks are something.

They have lost their fucking minds.

Since the moment Barack Obama was elected President, they have lost their fucking minds.

They can’t stand it – neither the left or the right.

That this smart as hell, brilliant man and politician is President of the United States.

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50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington

President Obama talks with Yolanda Renee King, 5, granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr., her mother Andrea Waters, and Martin Luther King III

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President Obama Speaks about Trayvon Martin

The First Family Continues in Tanzania

Many thanks to The Obama Diary:

The First Family Continues their trip to Africa in Tanzania.



President Barack Obama and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete walk in front of First Lady Michelle Obama and Tanzanian First Lady Salma Kikwete greeting the cheering crowd as they arrive at the State House in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Monday, July 1, 2013.

----AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, Pool

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President Obama Delivers Remarks at University of Cape Town

hat tip-The Obama Diary



The First Family Arrives in Capetown

President Obama speaking to the students and citizens at University of Cape Town. Watch it live here. We'll post full video and photos when available.

President Obama speech Cape Town South Africa-Audio

The First Family Visits Robben Island

President Obama visits the Robben Island prison cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment.













From left, First Lady Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, Ahmed Kathrada, former prisoner with Nelson Mandela guiding the tour, U.S. President Back Obama, Marian Robinson and Leslie Robinson, look out over the courtyard of the prison on Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Former South African president Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his 27-year prison term on the island locked up by the former apartheid government.

---AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster



US President Barack Obama (R), and First Lady Michelle Obama (2L) listen to former prisoner Ahmed Kathrada with Michelle Obama's mother Marian Robinson (L) as they tour the limestone quarry where prisoners worked on Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa on June 30, 2013. President Barack Obama was "deeply humbled" by a visit to the cell where Nelson Mandela spent years as a prisoner, in a solemn homage Sunday to the critically ill hero he was unable to see in Pretoria.

---SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images



U.S. President Barack Obama, second from left, and the first family tour a rock quarry where Robben Island prisoners once worked near Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Robben Island is an historic Apartheid-era prison that held black political prisoners including former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela. From left, tour guide Ahmed Kathrada, Obama, daughter Sasha, First Lady Michelle Obama, and daughter Malia.

---AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Robben Island Jail Obama Visits Mandela Cell







President Barack Obama and his family listen to Robben Island prison guide Ahmed Kathrada, who was an inmate with Nelson Mandela

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The First Family is in Ireland

hat tip-The Obama Diary:

The First Daughters are out of school...so, they're traveling with the parents....yeah...

[caption id="attachment_45964" align="alignnone" width="545"] President Obama, the First Lady and their daughters Sasha and Malia are greeted by Joan Christie, the Queen’s official representative in Northern Ireland, upon their arrival at Belfast International Airport[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_45965" align="alignnone" width="540"] President Obama and his wife Michelle, pictured with First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness[/caption]



It never gets old...watching the First Family come out of Air Force One.





[caption id="attachment_45971" align="alignnone" width="545"] Belfast airport[/caption]



   

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The President Celebrates Father's Day at the White House

hat tip-The Obama Diary:

President Obama Celebrates Father's Day at The White House







President Barack Obama attends a Father’s Day luncheon to celebrate the importance of strong families and mentoring in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on June 14 , 2013. Fathers and their children as well as students and leaders from the Becoming a Man (BAM) program at Hyde Park Academy in Chicago attended the event.

---UPI/Olivier Douliery/Pool

Obama Celebrates Father's Day Early

The president hosted a White House luncheon with Chicago at-risk teens.

BY Joyce Jones

For young men who’s fathers aren’t around or very engaged in their lives, having the president of the United States as a periodic substitute is probably a pretty big deal. And when he invites you to the White House for lunch, that’s an even bigger deal.

Students and leaders from the Becoming a Man program at Hyde Park Academy in Chicago were among the guests President Obama hosted at a luncheon in the State Dining Room on Friday. The event also was an opportunity for him to continue a national conversation he began in his first term about how important fathers are in nurturing their families and communities.

“It is good to see all of you here, so many young people, so many outstanding dads — a few moms chaperoning,” Obama said. “Obviously, this is a great way for us to celebrate Father’s Day and just to remind ourselves, those of us who are fathers, how lucky we are."

Being a dad, the president said, "is the best job I've got."

Earlier this year, the president spoke at Hyde Park Academy about the economic proposals outlined in his State of the Union address. He also met with 16 students enrolled in the BAM program in a private session during which they shared with him the personal challenges they face and are working to overcome.

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President Obama Makes 3 Nominations to the DC Court of Appeals

From The New York Times

Obama to Nominate 3 to Fill Posts on Key Appeals Court

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

Published: June 3, 2013



From left: Cornelia Pillard, Patricia Millett and Robert L. Wilkins

President Obama will nominate a slate of three candidates on Tuesday to fill the remaining vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a White House official said Monday.

The president will name Cornelia T. L. Pillard, a law professor; Patricia Ann Millett, an appellate lawyer; and Robert L. Wilkins, a federal district judge, to fill out the appeals court, which is often described as the second most powerful court in the country because it decides major cases and often serves as a launching pad for future Supreme Court justices.

By making his choices in a group, the president and his strategists are hoping to put pressure on Senate Republicans to confirm them.

Mr. Obama is expected to announce the nominations at a Rose Garden ceremony on Tuesday morning, said the White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the nominations had not been announced.

The president’s choices for the 11-member court had been expected by legal experts, who had pushed Mr. Obama to fill the vacancies in an effort to bring ideological balance to the court. The court currently has four Democratic appointees and four Republican appointees. But of the six additional senior judges, who previously served full time on the court and still regularly hear cases, five were appointed by a Republican president, giving the court a strongly conservative flavor.

Mr. Obama’s nominees are likely to become part of a larger fight with Republicans over the president’s judicial nominees and Republican attempts to use the filibuster to block his picks.

 

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The 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll

hat tips-The Obama Diary, 3CHICS:

The 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll





US President Barack Obama attends the White House Easter Egg Roll alongside the Easter Bunny on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, April 1, 2013. Obama hosts the annual event, featuring live music, sports courts, cooking stations, storytelling and Easter egg rolling.

----AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB/AFP/Getty Images







First Lady Michelle Obama embraces Neil Heslin, father of 6-yr-old Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis

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