Small Business relating to Health Reform

President talked about health insurance as for small business today.  Before he went to health care he touched on the economic growth that we have seen in the third quarter, growing 3.5%.  He applauded that we have had the most growth in 2 years, but did say that we still have a long recovery ahead.  He went on to say that this is not a great indicator of growth but what is are the jobs that are being created, and that is what he came to talk about.  He then talked about the cruciality of small business in the American economy.  He related health reform and health insurance to small business and touched on the difficulty of starting a small business with health care being so crucial and expensive.  The president gave the points we have all heard time and again, how nothing will change if we do have insurance, it will just be cheaper (I still don’t understand how that will work), and it will be more stable.  Overall it was another push for health care on the small business stand point.

Hate Crime Bill

Yesterday, President Obama signed a Hate Crimes Bill into law.  The current bill protected hate crimes under religion, race, color or national origin.  This bill expands federal hate crimes to sexual orientation.  President Obama had this to say, “Prosecutors will have new tools to work with states in order to prosecute to the fullest those who would perpetrate such crimes.  Because no one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love.”  He went on to say that our Constitution protects everyone and that it fails if we fail to protect everyone. 

This is great.  I cannot believe that sexual orientation was not in the hate crimes bill before.

Edward Norton movie on President Obama’s Campaign

Yesterday on The View, Edward Norton, a television actor, went on the show to talk about the movie he directed looking behind the scenes at President Obama’s campaign.  Edward Norton said the family had no reservations about anything on the movie and they were free to do in an indepth no boundrie documentary.  By the People: The Election of Barack Obama will premire on November 3rd on HBO.

I am personally very excited to see this movie.  I think it will be great for the American people to get an inside, indepth look at a very successful Presidental campaign.  I will be definitly be setting my TIVO to this one!

Read This

I read this and completely understood and agreed with her.  She is giving America a voice, a HONEST and TRUE voice.

GLENN BECK: I got a letter from a woman in  Arizona . She writes an open letter to our nation’s leadership:


“I am a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in  Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me.   Instead, we are burdened with Congressional Dukes and Duchesses who think they know better than the citizens they are supposed to represent.
 
There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you’re willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now.

You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut-job am I? Well, these briefly are the views and issues for which I seek representation:

Emergency Declaration of N1H1 Flu

President Obama signed the Emergency Declaration of N1H1 Flu which allows healthcare facilities to quickly implement disaster plans.   It allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services  to have regulatory requirements to healthcare facilities in the case of emergency.  In order for this to occur two things have to happen 1. The Secretary must declare a public health emergency and 2. the President but declare a national emergency through a Stafford Act Declaration or National Emergencies Act Declaration.  Then and only when both of these have been met can a healthcare facility petition for 1135 waivers.  To read the whole declaration click here

Family Picture

Annie Leibovitz, via the White House

The Obama family portrait, released by the White House.

On Friday the White House released a Obama family portrait. It is the first official portrait of the Obama Family.

And Dick Says It All

Former Vice President Dick Cheney tears into President Obama’s lack of decision and command in Afghanistan, and missile defenses.  Here are some key parts:

 

Obama another Ronald Reagan?

According to CNN.com this could be true. Since April President Obama’s disagreement rating has gone up 10 points to 51. But his approval rating is still in the mid 50s. This could be because of the recent huge push in healthcare reform. Or his delay in making a decision on Afghanistan. (but really he hasn’t done anything…) CNN contributor Paul Begala said, “It’s awfully early yet, but this president might be shaping up to be a little like Ronald Reagan, where people actually didn’t often agree with Ronald Reagan’s ideas, but they loved the guy.”  I do agree with Mr. Begala.  Obama is perceived as this fun, hip good guy, but he may be going a bit too far in trying to be the cool President. For the full article click here.

Obama addresses Nation on Heathcare

This morning President Obama has made his weekly address to focus on healthcare.  This week has been a huge success for the President because the Senate Finance Committee did pass a bill.  In his address he continued to push healthcare and said we need this now. 

What I did not like about his speech is criticism on insurance companies.  Does he want these companies to go out of business in order for a government socialized insurance policy to kick in??

I just saw the President!

It was not too exciting…. just his motorcade and he waved at us! But still pretty cool! I went around to the protests and was very surprised.  Congrats Ags ya’ll stayed classy! I have a couple of pictures and the video of the motorcade that i will put up later when I figure out how.  I raced home and watched the end of speech, but what I saw was very cool.  The speech was about Points of Light.  He talked about how much we have improved in our dedication to service and how important it is to have service in our lifes.  He said that we should have service in our everyday life.  Overall great publicity for Texas A&M.  Whoop!