The Inquisitr » obama

Venn diagram: Obama vs. Bob the Builder

Kim LaCapria — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:20:12 +0000

Dora and Boots unavailable for comment.

Obama Announces $3.4 Billion To Upgrade Energy Grid

AHN — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:30:24 +0000

Arcadia, FL (AHN) – Standing in 180 acres of mirror-like solar panels, President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced $3.4 billion in grants to upgrade the nation’s electricity transmission network with “smart grid” technology.

Funding for the $400,000 to $200 million federal grants comes from the $787 billion economic stimulus package passed by Congress in February.

The announcement was made at the Next Generation Solar Energy Center in this rural central Florida community about 90 miles southeast of Tampa. The center’s builders, Florida Power & Light Co. expects to generate enough power to supply the electrical needs of 3,000 homes.

Some 49 states will receive 100 grants, which will be matched by private investment totaling $4.7 billon. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., owned by Constellation Energy Group, will get $200 million to provide 1.1 million households with new electric meters that will allow customers to adjust their usage during peak times.

The president remarked here that he expects the grants to generate tens of thousands of new jobs.

The Florida facility is the largest in the country capable of making electricity from the sun.

David Cross claims he snorted coke “40ft from Obama”

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:40:50 +0000

A comment made by comedian David Cross at a stand-up gig this week has been widely re-posted across the blogosphere due to an outrageous claim he made about snorting coke at the White House Correspondents’ Association, about 40 feet away from the President.

Cross wrapped up a set Wednesday night with the controversial brag, apparently part of an ongoing competition with a friend. Cross “got to go because (his) girlfriend is a fancy Hollywood actress,” and he decided to use the opportunity to get the upper hand over a friend who’d done blow in the now-defunct DEA museum on a trip there with Cross. Cross said:

“But it’s crazy and there’s security, Secret Service is standing there,” said Cross. “I’ve got photos of all this. … I’m there and the president is right here and with all these people at the table” Cross snorted some coke, he said. “Maybe 40 feet from the president of the United States!”

Cross said he texted his friend to say, “No way you can ever top that.”

Cross could very well be joking, but it hasn’t stopped many right-wing blogs from blaming the incident on Obama. No comment from girlfriend Amber Tamblyn (of the squeaky-clean chick flick series Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants) on the veracity of her fella’s story.

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SNL on Obama accomplishments: “jack” and “squat”

Kim LaCapria — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:22:22 +0000

SNL skewered the left and the right with an parody Obama speech, highlighting the challenges Hopey’s had since his inauguration in January.

Well Cash for Clunkers really stimulated the economy. Unfortunately, it was the economy of Japan. And hey, homeboy isn’t Oprah.

President Obama And Wife Celebrate 17th Wedding Anniversary At D.C. Restaurant

AHN — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:46:03 +0000

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – Even a president dealing with huge national and international problems has to make time to take his wife out to dinner on their wedding anniversary.

So it was that President Barack Obama took first lady Michelle Obama out to eat Saturday night at a nearby D.C. restaurant, according to pool press reports.

The Obamas chose the Blue Duck Tavern to celebrate their 17th anniversary.

The restaurant, in West End between Dupont and Georgetown serves American cuisine.

Obama’s motorcade rolled out of the White House under a full moon at about 7:28 p.m. with the president in a dark suit and his wife in a little black dress, the pool reporter said.

According to the Internet, the Blue Duck is known for its crabcakes, individual apple pies, hand-crank ice cream. Along with its beef, poultry, pork, fish and shellfish, the restaurant has vegetarian entrees and an extensive list of vegetable side dishes, according to the restaurant’s Website.

White House Deputy National Security Adviser Mark Lippert Returning To Navy

AHN — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:55:56 +0000

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – The White House Deputy National Security Adviser Mark Lippert is returning to active duty in the Navy.

Lippert, who has been with President Barack Obama for the past five years, is leaving his role as chief of staff to National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones to Denis McDonough, who was head of the NSC’s strategic communications. White House speechwriter Ben Rhodes will assume the post of McDonough, while Nate Tibbits will serve as executive secretary of the NSC.

“I will miss Mark and his counsel, his excellent work at the NSC, and his good cheer,” the President said in a statement. “I was not surprised when he came and told me he had stepped forward for another mobilization, as Mark is passionate about the Navy.”

” I support his decision,” Obama added. “He is a close friend, and I admire and respect his devotion to our country and answering the call to active duty service. He will always have a senior foreign policy position in this White House, when he chooses to return to civilian life.”

There is some speculation that the staff reorganization stems from Lippert’s performance of his role as deputy national security advisor. But the White House echoed the President’s statement, saying Lippert’s return to the military had been expected.

“Mark was activated some time in the spring of 2007,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. “I remember when Mark told me he was going to Iraq … he wanted to tell me before he told Senator Obama, because he wanted to see — he said to me, ‘I don’t want him to think I’m letting you guys down’ — somebody who was going to serve our country in Iraq… Mark has wanted for a long time to return to service. He and I had a discussion before the end of the campaign… He talked to the President about that before he made a decision to come here.”

Obama Travels To Copenhagen; Makes Push For 2016 Olympics In Chicago

AHN — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:18:34 +0000

President Barack Obama has decided to accompany his wife and First Lady Michelle Obama to Copenhagen.

The first couple is representing the United States as the International Olympic Committee decides on a site for the 2016 games.

They’re appearing in an attempt to bring the Olympics to Chicago, IL.

President Obama will travel Thursday night and return following the IOC’s Friday meeting.

The First Lady will travel Tuesday.

They’ll both make presentations to the IOC during Friday’s session.

They’ll discuss the city that pushed President Obama to prominence and how the United States is eager to bring the world together through the Olympic games.

It’s big news in Denmark, however, some reports say the President may only be there for about five hours.

The president and first lady also plan to meet with Queen Margrethe II and His Royal Highness, the Prince Consort.

President Obama also plans to meet with Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

The White House is planning to hold a press conference to make an official announcement.

Chicago is competing with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo for the 2016 summer games.

Different era – same shit

Steven Hodson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:00:41 +0000

Who says Obama is the only one to have to deal with the wingnut brigade …..

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Video: President Obama Calls Kanye West a Jackass

Duncan Riley — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:13:42 +0000

Off the record seems to have become on the record if it involves celebrity commentary in Washington, with video being published showing US President Barack Obama calling Kanye West a jackass.

The comment from Obama was first reported yesterday after an ABC News reporter tweeted the news despite the comment being made off the record as the President prepared for interviews in the White House. The video was shown on CNN today.

In the video, Obama is asked about the Kanye West Taylor Swift incident and responds ” You know, it was like, she’s getting an award and what are you butting in? … The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person, she’s getting her award and what’s he doing up there? He’s a jackass.”

The President Obama calls Kanye West a jackass video as follows:

Video: Kanye West interrupts Obama’s speech

Kim LaCapria — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:22:46 +0000

Nancy Pelosi: clearly not a Single Ladies fan. Video:

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Obama Administration to launch cloud computing initiative….at NASA

Duncan Riley — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:45:15 +0000

The Obama Administration will launch a “cloud computing initiative” next week and they’ve picked an appropriate place to make the announcement: NASA.

According to a release from NASA today, Vivek Kundra, White House federal chief information officer will “outline his vision for a new federal government cloud computing initiative” at a press conference at NASA’s NASA’s Ames Research Center Tuesday September 15.

Details on what the announcement will be aren’t available at this stage, but NASA promises that in addition to NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, “top Silicon Valley information technology leaders are scheduled to attend the news conference.”

For those who love cloud computing, the conference takes place at 10am Tuesday, with the event being simulcast on NASA TV.

(Img: new snap from the Hubble Telescope c/- NASA)

Instant Poll Finds Obama’s Speech Swayed Moderates

AHN — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:30:50 +0000

After a speech to a joint session of Congress, more Americans support President Barack Obama’s plans to reform the healthcare system, according to an instant poll taken of voters who watched the televised address.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation nationwide poll surveyed 427 Americans who saw the entirety of Obama’s address to Congress on Wednesday evening.

A full 56 percent of Americans say their impressions of Obama’s speech were “very positive,” – overall, 77 percent say they had positive opinions about the speech.

Before the speech, 60% of Americans felt Obama’s healthcare plans would move the country in the right direction. Now, that number has jumped ten points to 70 percent. Similarly, only 53 percent of Americans favored Obama’s healthcare plans. After the speech, the poll found 67% now favor the Commander in Chief’s reform agenda.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation nationwide poll surveyed 427 Americans who saw the entirety of Obama’s address to Congress on Wednesday evening.

A full 56 percent of Americans say their impressions of Obama’s speech were “very positive,” – overall, 77 percent say they had positive opinions about the speech.

Congressman’s Heckling Of Obama Prompts Twitter Rage, Downs Official Website

AHN — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:39:31 +0000

A Republican congressman’s heckling of President Barack Obama as he addressed a joint session of Congress Wednesday night is making the healthcare debate even more acrimonious. Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-SC) “You lie!” outburst became a top topic on Twitter, and a deluge of visits has caused the Republican lawmaker’s official House Website to crash.

Obama was speaking about illegal immigration when Wilson shouted the phrase while pointing a finger at the President. The gesture was met by a stream of tweets condemning the congressman as a “jerk” and “bumbling idiot,” as well as supporting him for “speaking the truth.” Wilson’s Wikipedia entry was also suddenly locked “due to vandalism,” while his official Website inaccessible and “down for maintenance.”

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) had criticized Wilson’s action “shameful,” while Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had called for the congressman to apologize.

The chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, Carol Fowler, lamented, “Once again a South Carolina Republican has embarrassed our state,” referring to embattled Gov. Mark Sanford’s admission of an extramarital affair.

“Never has any member of Congress shown such disrespect for the president during a speech,” she added. “One would think that as a member of the military, Joe Wilson would have more respect and patriotism than he displayed tonight.”

The 62-year-old Wilson, a former state senator and U.S. Energy Department deputy general counsel during the Reagan administration, has released a statement saying he regrets for letting his emotions get the better of him.

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) had criticized Wilson’s action “shameful,” while Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had called for the congressman to apologize.

Obama Pays Tribute To Walter Cronkite In Memorial Service

AHN — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:50:13 +0000

New York, NY (AHN) – President Barack Obama joins other veteran CBS journalists and former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday in paying tribute to Walter Cronkite, an American broadcast legend who died in July at the age of 92.

Obama addresses the memorial service for him at Lincoln Center in New York City at 10:30 am ET. He previously issued a statement calling Cronkite, who was known in his heydey by the moniker “the most trusted man in America,” “was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day; a voice of certainty in an uncertain world.”

Also attending the service will be CBS President Leslie Moonves, former network president Howard Stringe, Apollo 11 lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Katie Couric, who became the first woman anchor of a weekday evening news program when she took the helm at CBS Evening News in 2006.

Cronkite died on July 17, after nearly two decades of giving the nightly news during a historic period in history when the nation brought a man to the moon, saw television broadcasts in color for the first time and suffered the assassination of a president and the resignation of another. He is best remembered for his coverage of the Apollo 11 and succeeding moon landings, as well as John F. Kennedy’s death.

A broadcast pioneer and the “Most Trusted Man in America” according to Gallup, Cronkite is credited with putting the network’s weekday news program at the top of ratings until his retirement on March 6, 1981.

Obama School Speech Video

Duncan Riley — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:49:21 +0000

US President Barack Obama followed in the footsteps of Reagan and George Bush 41 in an address to American school students today.

Coming into the speech, Obama was targeted by some elements of the Republican party who believed his speech was inappropriate, but that criticism fizzled when Obama delivered a solid speech which as since been praised by many, including the likes to Newt Gingrich, who said “I Recommend It To Everybody” and former first lady Laura Bush.

Obama talked about responsibility, saying that “At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.”

“That’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself,” the President will also say. “Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.”

The Obama school speech video as follows:

Amid Controversy, Obama Begins School Year With National Address To Students

AHN — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:15:29 +0000

President Barack Obama marks the new school year on Tuesday with an address to students highlighting the importance of taking responsibility for one’s education. The White House says the address is not a policy speech, and has posted the remarks online amid controversy over material for classroom activities that asked children to write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the President.

Obama delivers his national address at noon from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia.

He plans to say, “At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.” “That’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself,” the President will also say. “Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.”

The Education Department has provided educators with material listing activities for school children to “stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education.”

One of the activities recommended for Pre-K – 6 has been changed by the White House after conservatives criticized Obama for “indoctrinat[ing] America’s children to his socialist agenda.”

The activity, listed under the after-remarks items, used to say, “Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.”

It now says, “Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short?term and long?term education goals. Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress.”

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer had issued a statement last week warning parents about the speech.

“As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology,” he said. “The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies… is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.”

But the President on Monday received the support from an unlikely quarter: former First Lady Laura Bush.

She told CNN, It’s “really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States… I think there is a place for the president … to talk to schoolchildren and encourage” them.

The same day, the Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, “It’s a sad, sad day that the political back and forth has intruded on anyone speaking to schoolchildren and teachers and parents about the responsibilities that they have as we enter a new school year. If one kid in one school hears one message and goes from being a D student to a C student, then the speech is worth it. If one kid decides not to drop out of school, then the speech is worth it. Right now nearly three in 10 kids in school will not walk across a stage and get a high school diploma… It’s a sad state of affairs that many in this country politically would rather start an ‘Animal House’ food fight rather than inspire kids to stay in school.”

The President aims for the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020, a goal he first announced during his address to the joint session of Congress a month after being sworn into office.

Obama delivers his national address at noon from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia.

The Education Department has provided educators with material listing activities for school children to “stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education.”

One of the activities recommended for Pre-K – 6 has been changed by the White House after conservatives criticized Obama for “indoctrinat[ing] America’s children to his socialist agenda.”

It now says, “Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress.”

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer had issued a statement last week warning parents about the speech.

But the President on Monday received the support from an unlikely quarter: former First Lady Laura Bush.

She told CNN, It’s “really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States… I think there is a place for the president … to talk to schoolchildren and encourage” them.

Text of Obama’s school speech released

Kim LaCapria — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:27:49 +0000

US President Barack Obama’s speech to American students has been the subject of much hand-wringing and drama as Americans argue as to whether the President speaking to our snowflakes is appropriate and encouraging, or an attempt to “indoctrinate” students into some kind of nebulous socialist plot.

Many parents are terrified, and one spoke to a CNN affiliate:

“Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me,” suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH. “I’m an American. They are Americans, and I don’t feel that’s OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now.”

Although some right-leaning parents are threatening to keep their kids out of school that day, the US President addressing schoolkids is hardly a modern development. Former POTUS and Republican demi-god Ronald Reagan had some much more partisan remarks to make twenty-one years ago:

In November 1988, President Reagan delivered more politically charged remarks that were made available to students nationwide. Among other things, Reagan called taxes “such a penalty on people that there’s no incentive for them to prosper … because they have to give so much to the government.”

CNN has a PDF of Reagan’s speech to students available on their site. Still on the fence about allowing your kids to go to school tomorrow? Below is the full text of President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren as prepared in its entirety, from the White House’s website:

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama

Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia

September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Would Lincoln or JFK have survived Beck’s America?

Steven Hodson — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:09:59 +0000

I don’t normally talk much about politics even though I spend a fair amount of time watching the American political scene. Much of that scene lately has been either direct attacks by Glenn Beck against the president by calling him a racist or to incite the latest campaign against the president’s choice to head a green jobs initiative – Van Jones.

Now I don’t proclaim to know much about Van Jones but in the current climate of news organization partisanship it is highly unlikely that any truth about the man could be found at this point. It has all boiled down to a case of they said – he said from which finding any truth is next to impossible.

What is interesting to watch is how this news organization driven partisanship is being used increasingly to create even bigger dividing lines between the American people. It seems that in the current environment people like Glenn Beck have become less the journalists they laughably claim to be and more the lightening rod for a movement that seems bent on splitting the country even further apart.

Sure organizations like FOX News can hide behind the “he’s a commentator and therefore given the freedom to express his opinions” but that doesn’t change the fact that while news organizations like FOX are getting rich from this kind of so-called commentary they are also contributing to the split of the country.

With people like Beck at the helm of carefully worded incendiary comments that are spread around the world one has to wonder if people like Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy would ever have achieved all the great things that they did. After all they weren’t perfect people either and I am sure that people like Beck and the public pulpit provided by companies like FOX would have done everything they could have to tear those men down – just as they are try with Obama, and have done with Van Jones.

Rather than hide behind white hoods and a hangman’s noose people like Beck use the power of words to incite a society filled with fear to ignore their commonsense and become nothing more than attack dogs. In the process people like Beck make a shame and mockery of our news. They can couch those words all they like in terms of just being commentary in order to protect the companies that employee them with big paychecks; but in the end they are making a joke of the news and of the people who follow them like blind little sheep.

White House environmental adviser Van Jones resigns

Duncan Riley — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 07:31:09 +0000

White House environmental adviser Van Jones resigned early Sunday after serious questions were raised about his past activism, including questioning the official story about 9/11.

Jones said in a statement that “I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality, effective today.

“On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide….

“But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.”

Van Jones was called out for two previous past activities: as well as signing a petition that questioned whether Bush administration officials allowed 9/11 to happen as a pretext for war, he also is reported to have used a “crude term” to describe Republicans in a past speech.

The White House said in a statement that it thanked Jones “for his valuable contributions to the Council on Environmental Quality. Over the last six months he has been a strong voice for creating 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and utilize renewable resources. We appreciate his hard work and wish him the best moving forward.”

White House Reverses Bush Administration Policy On Visitor Logs

AHN — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:00:22 +0000

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – The Obama administration on Friday announced that it would open White House visitor logs to the public, reversing a policy of the Bush administration that it had adopted. The decision is part of an agreement to settle four lawsuits filed by a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, against both administrations.

In a statement, President Barack Obama said, “For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis. We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside. Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process.”

Logs from the past 90 to 120 days will be released every month by the administration online. Exempted from the disclosure is “a small group of appointments that cannot be disclosed because of national security imperatives or their necessarily confidential nature (such as a visit by a possible Supreme Court nominee),” the White House said.

CREW had made Freedom of Information Act requests asking the Obama administration to release records of healthcare and coal executives to find out how much influence these officials had on the government. Before that, the non-profit group had sought from the Bush administration information about how frequent nine conservative religious leaders, including James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, went on visits to the White House.

The group had filed a lawsuit questioning the validity of a 2006 memorandum of agreement between then-President George W. Bush and the Secret Service, which creates the logs, that said visitors to the White House compound were not to be publicly disclosed.

A week before Bush left office this year, a federal judge ruled in favor of CREW, rejecting arguments that invoked executive privilege, and that declared the logs exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

The Jan. 9 ruling also said the Secret Service had destroyed visitor records before 2004 upon orders of the Bush administration, in violation of the Federal Records Act.

The Obama administration has been pushing hard for Congress to pass healthcare reform and climate change legislation this year. It said it began reviewing the visitor log policy of previous administrations “during its first days in office,” and that CREW had participated in the development of the new policy.

CREW made clear that the current administration had “initially refused to turn over the records,” but added, “The Bush administration fought tooth and nail to keep secret the identities of those who visited the White House. In contrast, the Obama administration – by putting visitor records on the White House web site – will have the most open White House in history.”