Obama gives the A-OK for offshore "expansion" or drilling

Is anyone surprised at this? I am not. This is all about continuing to bring the Republicans into the fold, to work with them, etc. And it may work, because John McCain tweeted, "Drill Baby Drill, where is Pelosi and Reid on this?"

I hope President Obama gets Republican support, he wants it badly, but after the health care debacle which the Republicans were allowed last summer to destroy what the bill would do for the individual American, does anyone expect them to show good faith on ANYTHING going forward? I don't. And Obama, again, giving the Republicans their largest bone, "OFF SHORE DRILLING". Just as he gave them good cuts in the health insurance bill, but he still did not get ONE VOTE. just sayin'.....

President Obama will announce new plans to drill for oil and natural gas off America's coasts Wednesday but will rule out drilling off California, Oregon and Washington state through 2017, administration officials say.

Obama's plans will include opening new areas of coastal Virginia and other parts of the mid-Atlantic region, Alaska and the eastern Gulf of Mexico for drilling. But officials say the president will block drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay, where the George W. Bush administration's drilling plans in 2007 angered environmentalists.

According to administration officials, the plan would:

* Eventually open two-thirds of the eastern Gulf's oil and gas resources for drilling.

* Proceed with drilling off Virginia, provided the project clears environmental and military reviews.

* Study the viability of drilling off the mid- and southern Atlantic coasts.

* Study the viability of drilling in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas -- areas hotly defended by environmentalists -- but issue no new drilling leases in either sea before 2013.

The eastern Gulf of Mexico leases hinge on Congress lifting a moratorium on drilling there. Even if that happens, administration officials said, Obama's plan included no drilling within 125 miles of the Florida coastline.

The announcement, scheduled for an energy security event at Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility, will be Obama's first major policy step into the politically charged area of offshore drilling.

The president's drilling plans run through 2017. The likely scope and details of the proposals represent compromises that risk angering energy companies and environmentalists alike. read more here....

Also, read a comprehensive diary on this with pictures of the possible drilling sites, here.

Oh, and don't forget what candidate Obama said about drilling for oil and how it would not help anyone. Yes, such a long time ago.



and the President's announcement today on the off shore drilling expansion, a decision he has not taken lightly....



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Presidents Obama, Sarkozy press conference at the White House (Video)

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President Obama's interview with Matt Lauer from NBC's Today Show (Video)

Health Care Law:



Tea Party and the Political Divide:



Afghanistan:



Faith and Family:



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Obama kicks the banking industry out of the student loan business (Video)

The banking industry is one of the most irresponsible industries out here right now, they NEVER should have gotten into the student loan game. Their interest rates on many students were and are outrageous, they were allowed to take over this industry totally, under the Bush Administration. That will be NO MORE. It has become those who have money, rich, wealthy are the ones who are allowed access to higher education. The middle class in this country have been constantly squeezed out. Now, if we can do something about college tuition and its continuing to escalate in cost, that would be mighty helpful to many families out here. Read more here on the student loan, pell grant program.


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Dr. Jill Biden

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President Obama's surprise visit to Afghanistan

The President speaks to the troops at Bagram Air Force Base during a surprise trip to Afghanistan. March 28, 2010.


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President Obama's Weekly Address, March 27, 2010

The President looks back on a week that saw the passage of two major sets of reforms: one putting Americans in control of their own health care, and one ensuring student loans work for students and families, not as subsidies for bankers and middlemen.


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Vimeo Video

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President Obama in Iowa City, IA daring the Republicans to run on repealing the new health insurance bill (Video)

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President Obama announces new nuclear arms treaty with Russia

President Barack Obama delivers brief remarks about the new START Treaty during a news conference with (L-R) Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the White House March 26, 2010 in Washington, DC. Gates, Clinton and Mullen answered reporters' questions about the new treaty with Russia.

President Obama finalized a new arms control treaty with Russia on Friday that will pare back the still-formidable cold war nuclear arsenals of each country. The agreement brings to fruition one of the president’s signature foreign policy objectives, just days after he signed into law the most expansive domestic program in decades.

Ending a year of sometimes topsy-turvy negotiations, Mr. Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia sealed the deal in a morning telephone call, confirming resolution of the last outstanding details. They then announced they will fly to Prague to sign the treaty on April 8 in a ceremony designed to showcase improved relations between the two countries.

“With this agreement, the United States and Russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, also send a clear signal that we intend to lead,” Mr. Obama said, appearing in front of reporters at the White House to announce the agreement. “By upholding our own commitments under the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities.”

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The "Tea-Klux-Klan" in full tilt boogie, listen to this hate towards Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

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GOP, control your "Tea-Klux-Klan members", America don't like ugly (Video)

What will it take? Someone getting killed by these nut cases and the deafening silence of the Republican Party for their leadership to reign their people in?

From Dylan Ratigan:



From Hardball:





From The Ed Show:

Video coming.....

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What is the point in financial reform, when there is NONE?

As long as the Democrats, Republicans remain beholded to Wall Street and the "too big to fail banks", there will never be any financial reform. And when the banks and Wall Street fuck up again, they will be running to Washington, D.C. again to bail them out. And guess what? They will continue to do so.

This reform by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank is a joke.

For all the proposals stuffed into its 1,336 pages, the financial reform bill that's headed to the full Senate soon will change very little for the banks that brought us the most dire financial system crisis since the Great Depression, critics say.

When proposed a year ago by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 held enormous promise. The bill was supposed to unify a patchwork of rules and agencies, regulate a “shadow” banking system that hid the riskiest bets, protect taxpayers from picking up the tab for another bank bailout and create a new agency to protect consumers from predatory lending.

On Tuesday, Dodd repeated his commitment to get full Senate approval of tough new measures to address those issues.

"What I'm determined to do is get a strong bill," he told reporters at a news conference with Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

But Dodd faces an uphill battle. After a year of debate, the bill that emerged from the Banking Committee Monday was riddled with loopholes, compromises and watered-down provisions that undermined the proposals’ principal goals, critics say.

"It doesn't do any significant reform of the system that got us into this problem," said William Isaac, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. during the Reagan administration. "All it does is shuffle the same powers around among the same agencies in a little different way. It really hasn't changed anything."

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President Obama signs the Health Insurance Reform Bill to law (Video, Transcript)

This morning the President made it official: things are going to change a bit between Americans and their health insurance companies. The President signed health reform into law, with a package of fixes not far behind, and in the process created a future for the country in which Americans and small businesses are in control of their own health care, not the insurance industry.


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President Barack Obama's statement on Health Care Insurance Reform bill passage (Video)

This truly was Speaker Nancy Pelosi's moment and she deserves getting this bill through.....



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Must see: David Plouffe vs Karl Rove from ABC's "This Week"

From ABC's This Week:

Part One



Part Two



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The "N Word" from Tea Party folk, is anyone surprised?

Again, these people hide under a tag but many are racists, plain and simple. Now this in Washington, DC. Is anyone surprised? Not me.

Abusive, derogatory and even racist behavior directed at House Democrats by Tea Party protesters on Saturday left several lawmakers in shock.

Preceding the president's speech to a gathering of House Democrats, thousands of protesters descended around the Capitol to protest the passage of health care reform. The gathering quickly turned into abusive heckling, as members of Congress passing through Longworth House office building were subjected to epithets and even mild physical abuse.

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a 'ni--er.' And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a "faggot," as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president's speech, shrugged off the incident.

But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

"It was absolutely shocking to me," Clyburn said, in response to a question from the Huffington Post. "Last Monday, this past Monday, I stayed home to meet on the campus of Claflin University where fifty years ago as of last Monday... I led the first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins... And quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus."

"It doesn't make me nervous as all," the congressman said, when asked how the mob-like atmosphere made him feel. "In fact, as I said to one heckler, I am the hardest person in the world to intimidate, so they better go somewhere else." read more here....

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David Frum has a point on the Republicans and their "Waterloo" (Video)

Finally, an interesting take by a former Bush speech writer. We don't know how this health insurance bill will turn out, but November will be very interesting. It will be about campaigning for health insurance reform vs. keeping the status quo. We will see which message will win.



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