The President's Weekly Address: Finishing the Job on Wall Street Reform

From the White House blog:

With Congress having finalized a strong Wall Street reform bill, the President urges Congress to finish the job and send the bill to his desk. The legislation reflects 90% of what the President originally proposed, including the strongest consumer financial protections in history with an independent agency to enforce them. It ensures that the trading of derivatives, which helped trigger this crisis, will be brought into the light of day, and enacts the “Volcker Rule,” which will make sure banks protected by safety nets like the FDIC cannot engage in risky trades. It also creates a resolution authority to wind down firms whose collapse would threaten the entire financial system. Wall Street reform will end taxpayer funded bailouts and make sure Main Street is never again held responsible for Wall Street’s mistakes.

Hopefully this will get passed very soon. If the GOPers just don't filibuster this as well. We need this to be done. Does it address everything... NO... but it is a good bill all in all.

We have to stop this no regulation and no rules era we have been living in. It has caused more problems in this country than anything else we have in place.

Please, take a minute to write, call or somehow get in touch with your Congressperson and express your support for this.

Governor's of the Gulf Coast Not Using Nat. Guard

I just found this link from a commenter at BobCesca.com. This is just stupidity in action.

From the article at CBS.com:

Gov. Bobby Jindal's message has been loud and clear, using language such as "We will only be winning this war when we're actually deploying every resource," "They (the federal government) can provide more resources" and "It's clear the resources needed to protect our coast are still not here."

But nearly two months after the governor requested - and the Department of Defense approved the use of 6,000 Louisiana National Guard troops - only a fraction - 1,053 - have actually been deployed by Jindal to fight the spill.

-snip-

As of today, the federal government has authorized a total of 17,500 National Guard troops across four Gulf states, all to be paid for by BP.

But CBS News has learned that in addition to Louisiana's 1,053 troops of 6,000, Alabama has deployed 432 troops of 3,000 available. Even fewer have been deployed in Florida - 97 troops out of 2,500 - and Mississippi - 58 troops out of 6,000.

What is going on? These GOPer Governors are all saying the Federal Government needs to do more, yet the resources the President has given them are not being used.

It's believed officials in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi and are reluctant to use more troops because their presence could hurt tourism. In hardest-hit Louisiana, however, Jindal is pointing fingers.

"Actually we asked the White House to approve the initial 6,000," Jindal said. "What they came back and said is the Coast Guard and BP had to authorize individual tasks."

But Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander in charge of the government's response to the spill, said Jindal is just flat wrong.

"There is nothing standing in the governor's way from utilizing more National Guard troops," Allen said.

In fact, the Coast Guard says every request to use the National Guard has been approved, usually within a day. Now Jindal's office acknowledged to CBS News the governor has not specifically asked for more Guard troops to be deployed.

Whether it's simple confusion or the infusion of politics into the spill, the fact remains thousands of helping hands remain waiting to be used.

Why are they lying about the Guard when the Governor's are the ones responsible for utilizing them, after they have been approved by the Administration.

To me this is just another attempt to paint the President as not doing his job, at the expense of Gulf Coast residents... and politics. The GOPers want to point fingers at the President, yet here they are standing in the way of progress in cleaning up the oil.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Just politics as usual? Or something else keeping them from allowing the Guard to help.

the President's Weekly Address: Republicans Blocking Progress

From the White House blog:

The President calls on Republicans in Congress to put scoring political points aside, and instead to focus on solving the problems facing the nation. At the time of this address, the Republican leadership is blocking progress on a bill to boost the economy, retain jobs for teachers and cops, and help people buy their first home; another bill which would hold oil companies accountable for any disasters they cause by removing the current $75 million liability cap; and 136 highly qualified men and women who have been nominated to government positions.

Yes, the GOPers are blocking things.. there is nothing new about this. But I think the President should have mentioned the Democrats who are blocking these same things. They just can't seem to get the message we want them to act like Democrats not DINO's and block things we need and the President has asked for to get things moving.

I know we are proud of the fact we don't march in lock-step like the GOPers do... however once in a while it might be a good thing if we did.

The President's Weekly Address: Fair Pay for Doctors

From the White House blog:

With doctors facing deep cuts in their reimbursements from Medicare unless Congress acts to correct long-standing problems, the President calls on Senate Republicans to stop blocking the remedy and pledges to work toward a permanent solution. The cuts would potentially mean widespread trouble for seniors getting needed care.

I have been hearing and seeing an AD on the TeeVee Machine for the last couple of weeks about this from the AMA.. Once again, the Rethugs in Congress are being their obstructionist selves.

They were the ones crying about cutting Medicare and how badly the Health Reform was going to hurt doctors and seniors and now, they are the ones potentially hurting Doctors and Seniors.

It is all based on the premise if we obstruct enough, we will win again. That's the bottom line. Please call your Congress Critter and let them know how you feel. It is very important we protect our Seniors and the Doctors. They don't get paid much by Medicare and if this cut goes through, there will be more doctors not accepting Medicare. It is already hard to find a doctor who will take NEW Medicare patients. My doctor will not accept new ones.... just because of the pay rate and the paperwork involved with claims.

None of us are getting younger... and we will all need Medicare when we retire.... Think about that, and think about your parents and others who are getting ready to file for Medicare and will be unable to find a doctor, or will not be able to choose the doctor they want.

The President's Weekly Address: Speaking from Louisiana on the Oil Spill

From the White House blog:

Speaking from Grand Isle, Louisiana, the President discusses the hardships local residents and small business owners are facing as a result of the BP oil spill. He pledges to make sure those responsible do not shortchange them.

Learn more about the ongoing Administration-wide response.



This also comes from the post:

In his weekly address, President Barack Obama underscored his commitment to helping the people of the Gulf Coast recover and rebuild from the BP oil spill that has threatened their livelihoods. On Friday, the President heard from local residents and small business owners about the hardships that they are facing as a result of this catastrophe. The Administration has mobilized the largest response to an environmental disaster of this kind in the history of our country to clean up the BP oil spill. Additionally, the federal government is working to ensure that BP and other companies are held accountable for damages and that aggressive new standards are put into place to avoid a disaster in the future.

The only problem I have with this.... it is still being called a spill..... It's not a spill, it is a gusher.

I hope this will shut up the talking heads saying the President is too detached. They forget this president speaks from his heart and his mind and not his gut... He doesn't wear them on his sleeve.

I remember during the campaign this same thing was being said over and over... He can't win because he doesn't connect with the people. Well, he did win and I believe he does connect with people.

The administration is on the ground and has been since the rig blew... Now the National Guard has been deployed... which is what some have said they wanted. The pictures from the scene are devastating.

MSNBC has a page which shows lots of information and pictures if you want to look at them. I know most have seen them, but just to show again and again what this is doing, we need to look at them again. Please check them out...

This is a wake up call... We need clean energy. I urge each of you to contact your senators to get this done. If this doesn't do it.. I don't believe anything will.