Greg Jones'

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

Certainly would be nice if a Gov't Works Program was implemented which would create jobs for literally millions of the unemployed. ABSOLUTE SHAME that the Right....particularly the 'domestic terrorist' Tea Bagger Congresspeople would rather see America collapse than vote to fund such a much needed program. And again.....all we had to do was VOTE in strong numbers this past midterm election instead of sitting on our hands and just whining.....LITERALLY handing The Power....to the Evil Doers.

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FACT SHEET:

COMPLETE BREAKDOWN OF THE NEW DEBT DEAL

BIPARTISAN DEBT DEAL: A WIN FOR THE ECONOMY AND BUDGET DISCIPLINE

The debt deal announced today is a victory for bipartisan compromise, for the economy and for the American people. The agreement:

· Removes the cloud of uncertainty over our economy at this critical time, by ensuring that no one will be able to use the threat of the nation’s first default now, or in only a few months, for political gain;

· Locks in a down payment on significant deficit reduction, with savings from both domestic and Pentagon spending, and is designed to protect crucial investments like aid for college students;

· Establishes a bipartisan process to seek a balanced approach to larger deficit reduction through entitlement and tax reform;

· Deploys an enforcement mechanism that gives all sides an incentive to reach bipartisan compromise on historic deficit reduction, while protecting Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries and low-income programs;

· Stays true to the President’s commitment to shared sacrifice by preventing the middle class, seniors and those who are most vulnerable from shouldering the burden of deficit reduction. The President did not agree to any entitlement reforms outside of the context of a bipartisan committee process where tax reform will be on the table and the President will insist on shared sacrifice from the most well-off and those with the most indefensible tax breaks.

Mechanics of the Debt Deal

· Immediately enacted 10-year discretionary spending caps generating nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction; balanced between defense and non-defense spending.

· President authorized to increase the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion, eliminating the need for further increases until 2013.

· Bipartisan committee process tasked with identifying an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, including from entitlement and tax reform. Committee is required to report legislation by November 23, 2011, which receives fast-track protections. Congress is required to vote on Committee recommendations by December 23, 2011.

· Enforcement mechanism established to force all parties – Republican and Democrat – to agree to balanced deficit reduction. If Committee fails, enforcement mechanism will trigger spending reductions beginning in 2013 – split 50/50 between domestic and defense spending. Enforcement protects Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries, and low-income programs from any cuts.

1. REMOVING UNCERTAINTY TO SUPPORT THE AMERICAN ECONOMY

· Deal Removes Cloud of Uncertainty Until 2013, Eliminating Key Headwind on the Economy: Independent analysts, economists, and ratings agencies have all made clear that a short-term debt limit increase would create unacceptable economic uncertainty by risking default again within only a matter of months and as S&P stated, increase the chance of a downgrade. By ensuring a debt limit increase of at least $2.1 trillion, this deal removes the specter of default, providing important certainty to our economy at a fragile moment.

· Mechanism to Ensure Further Deficit Reduction is Designed to Phase-In Beginning in 2013 to Avoid Harming the Recovery: The deal includes a mechanism to ensure additional deficit reduction, consistent with the economic recovery. The enforcement mechanism would not be made effective until 2013, avoiding any immediate contraction that could harm the recovery. And savings from the down payment will be enacted over 10 years, consistent with supporting the economic recovery.

2. A DOWNPAYMENT ON DEFICIT REDUCTION BY LOCKING IN HISTORIC SPENDING DISCIPLINE – BALANCED BETWEEN DOMESTIC AND PENTAGON SPENDING

· More than $900 Billion in Savings over 10 Years By Capping Discretionary Spending: The deal includes caps on discretionary spending that will produce more than $900 billion in savings over the next 10 years compared to the CBO March baseline, even as it protects core investments from deep and economically damaging cuts.

· Includes Savings of $350 Billion from the Base Defense Budget – the First Defense Cut Since the 1990s: The deal puts us on track to cut $350 billion from the defense budget over 10 years. These reductions will be implemented based on the outcome of a review of our missions, roles, and capabilities that will reflect the President’s commitment to protecting our national security.

· Reduces Domestic Discretionary Spending to the Lowest Level Since Eisenhower: These discretionary caps will put us on track to reduce non-defense discretionary spending to its lowest level since Dwight Eisenhower was President.

· Includes Funding to Protect the President’s Historic Investment in Pell Grants: Since taking office, the President has increased the maximum Pell award by $819 to a maximum award $5,550, helping over 9 million students pay for college tuition bills. The deal provides specific protection in the discretionary budget to ensure that the there will be sufficient funding for the President’s historic investment in Pell Grants without undermining other critical investments.

3. ESTABLISHING A BIPARTISAN PROCESS TO ACHIEVE $1.5 TRILLION IN ADDITIONAL BALANCED DEFICIT REDUCTION BY THE END OF 2011

· The Deal Locks in a Process to Enact $1.5 Trillion in Additional Deficit Reduction Through a Bipartisan, Bicameral Congressional Committee: The deal creates a bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Committee that is charged with enacting $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction by the end of the year. This Committee will work without the looming specter of default, ensuring time to carefully consider essential reforms without the disruption and brinksmanship of the past few months.

· This Committee is Empowered Beyond Previous Bipartisan Attempts at Deficit Reduction: Any recommendation of the Committee would be given fast-track privilege in the House and Senate, assuring it of an up or down vote and preventing some from using procedural gimmicks to block action.

· To Meet This Target, the Committee Will Consider Responsible Entitlement and Tax Reform. This means putting all the priorities of both parties on the table – including both entitlement reform and revenue-raising tax reform.

4. A STRONG ENFORCEMENT MECHANISM TO MAKE ALL SIDES COME TOGETHER

· The Deal Includes An Automatic Sequester to Ensure That At Least $1.2 Trillion in Deficit Reduction Is Achieved By 2013 Beyond the Discretionary Caps: The deal includes an automatic sequester on certain spending programs to ensure that—between the Committee and the trigger—we at least put in place an additional $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by 2013.

· Consistent With Past Practice, Sequester Would Be Divided Equally Between Defense and Non-Defense Programs and Exempt Social Security, Medicaid, and Low-Income Programs: Consistent with the bipartisan precedents established in the 1980s and 1990s, the sequester would be divided equally between defense and non-defense program, and it would exempt Social Security, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, programs for low-income families, and civilian and military retirement. Likewise, any cuts to Medicare would be capped and limited to the provider side.

· Sequester Would Provide a Strong Incentive for Both Sides to Come to the Table: If the fiscal committee took no action, the deal would automatically add nearly $500 billion in defense cuts on top of cuts already made, and, at the same time, it would cut critical programs like infrastructure or education. That outcome would be unacceptable to many Republicans and Democrats alike – creating pressure for a bipartisan agreement without requiring the threat of a default with unthinkable consequences for our economy.

5. A BALANCED DEAL CONSISTENT WITH THE PRESIDENT’S COMMITMENT TO SHARED SACRIFICE

· The Deal Sets the Stage for Balanced Deficit Reduction, Consistent with the President’s Values: The deal is designed to achieve balanced deficit reduction, consistent with the values the President articulated in his April Fiscal Framework. The discretionary savings are spread between both domestic and defense spending. And the President will demand that the Committee pursue a balanced deficit reduction package, where any entitlement reforms are coupled with revenue-raising tax reform that asks for the most fortunate Americans to sacrifice.

· The Enforcement Mechanism Complements the Forcing Event Already In Law – the Expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts – To Create Pressure for a Balanced Deal: The Bush tax cuts expire as of 1/1/2013, the same date that the spending sequester would go into effect. These two events together will force balanced deficit reduction. Absent a balanced deal, it would enable the President to use his veto pen to ensure nearly $1 trillion in additional deficit reduction by not extending the high-income tax cuts.

· In Securing this Bipartisan Deal, the President Rejected Proposals that Would Have Placed the Sole Burden of Deficit Reduction on Low-Income or Middle-Class Families: The President stood firmly against proposals that would have placed the sole burden of deficit reduction on lower-income and middle-class families. This includes not only proposals in the House Republican Budget that would have undermined the core commitments of Medicare to our seniors and forced tens of millions of low-income Americans to go without health insurance, but also enforcement mechanisms that would have forced automatic cuts to low-income programs. The enforcement mechanism in the deal exempts Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare benefits, unemployment insurance, programs for low-income families, and civilian and military retirement.

B4B NOTE: Absolute SHAME what The President has to do/give up to convince the Right not to literally DESTROY AMERICA !

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###

House Democratic Leaders to President:

Use The 14th Amendment

(HuffPo) WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders emerged from a Wednesday Caucus meeting with a message for President Barack Obama: Invoke the Constitution to resolve the debt standoff.

If Congress can't reach a deal on a long-term debt limit increase by August 2, Obama should "sign an executive order invoking the 14th Amendment," said Assistant Minority Leader James Cyburn (D-S.C.).

"I am convinced that whatever discussions about the legality of that can continue," Clyburn said. "But I believe that something like this will bring calm to the American people and will bring needed stability to our financial markets."

House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) acknowledged that Obama has previously expressed doubts about his legal authority to unilaterally raise the debt limit. But circumstances have changed, Larson said, and "we just want to let him know that his Caucus is prepared to stand behind him" if Congress fails to pass a long-term deal.

"We have to have a fail-safe mechanism," Larson said. "We believe that fail-safe mechanism is the 14th Amendment and the president of the United States."

Section 4 of the 14th Amendment states: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” Essentially, Democrats are arguing that since the "public debt" cannot be questioned, then the debt ceiling itself is unconstitutional.

Democratic Senators have been eying this option since late June. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), an attorney, predicted at that time the the constitutional option may get "a pretty strong second look as a way of saying, 'Is there some way to save us from ourselves?' (read rest of article)

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WATCH:
President Addresses Nation
Regarding Debt Ceiling StalemateWith eight days until our nation faces an unprecedented financial crisis, the President addressed the nation on the consequences the stalemate in Congress could have on the stability of our economy.

Here are some key passages from his remarks

The debate right now isn’t about whether we need to make tough choices. Democrats and Republicans agree on the amount of deficit reduction we need. The debate is about how it should be done. Most Americans, regardless of political party, don’t understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask a corporate jet owner or the oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don’t get. How can we ask a student to pay more for college before we ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries? How can we slash funding for education and clean energy before we ask people like me to give up tax breaks we don’t need and didn’t ask for?

He also warned that we could be facing a "deep economic crisis"

Republican House members have essentially said that the only way they’ll vote to prevent America’s first-ever default is if the rest of us agree to their deep, spending cuts-only approach.

If that happens, and we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills – bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses.

For the first time in history, our country’s Triple A credit rating would be downgraded, leaving investors around the world to wonder whether the United States is still a good bet. Interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, on mortgages and on car loans, which amounts to a huge tax hike on the American people. We would risk sparking a deep economic crisis – this one caused almost entirely by Washington.

The President stressed the need for a bipartisan solution and reminded Washington that compromise is not "a dirty word." He spoke to the frustrations ordinary Americans feel with the political process.

They’re fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word. They work all day long, many of them scraping by, just to put food on the table. And when these Americans come home at night, bone-tired, and turn on the news, all they see is the same partisan three-ring circus here in Washington. They see leaders who can’t seem to come together and do what it takes to make life just a little bit better for ordinary Americans. They are offended by that. And they should be.

He also reminded Americans that history celebrates leaders who "put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union."

We remember the Americans who put country above self, and set personal grievances aside for the greater good. We remember the Americans who held this country together during its most difficult hours; who put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union.

That’s who we remember. That’s who we need to be right now. The entire world is watching. So let’s seize this moment to show why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on Earth – not just because we can still keep our word and meet our obligations, but because we can still come together as one nation.

WATCH: President Addresses Nation

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President Obama Stresses Debt Urgency

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Friday Congress has a "unique opportunity to do something big" and stabilize the U.S. economy for decades by cutting deficits even as it raises the national debt limit ahead of a critical Aug. 2 deadline. But, he declared, "We're running out of time."

Obama said he was ready to make tough decisions — such as on Medicare costs — and challenged Republicans to do the same. He attempted to turn the Republicans' opposition to any tax increases back against them, warning starkly that failure to raise the debt ceiling would mean "effectively a tax increase for everybody" if the government defaults, sending up interest rates.

Still, Obama said that "it's hard to do a big package" in deadlocked Washington, acknowledging Republicans are opposed to any new tax revenue as part of a deficit-cutting deal.

"If they show me a serious plan I'm ready to move," he said.

The president spoke at the White House Friday after five days straight of meetings with congressional leaders failed to yield compromise, and amid increasingly urgent warnings from credit agencies and the financial sector about the risks of failing to raise the government's borrowing limit.

Administration officials and private economists say that if the U.S. fails to raise its borrowing limit and begins to stop paying its bills as a result, the fragile U.S. economy could be cast into a crisis that would reverberate around the globe. Democratic and Republican congressional leaders agree on the need to avert that outcome, but that hasn't been enough to get Republicans to agree to the tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy sought by Obama — or to convince Obama and Democrats to sign onto the steep entitlement cuts without new revenue that Republicans favor.

The president spoke at his third news conference in two weeks on an issue that is increasingly consuming Washington and his presidency.

The president said he was ready to make tough decisions such as restructuring Medicare so that very wealthy recipients would have to pay slightly more. He said he had stressed to Republicans that anything they looked at should not affect current beneficiaries, and he said providers such as drug companies could be targeted for cuts.

On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans in the House emerged from closed-door meetings to reiterate their hardened stances. Republicans announced plans to call a vote next week on a balanced budget constitutional amendment that would force the government to balance its books.

Obama dismissed the idea, saying, "We don't need a constitutional amendment to do that. What we need to do is do our jobs."

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Obama Administration Launches

" Strong Cities, Strong Communities "

New Initiative to Support Local Economic Growth

By Althea Dixon

Blacks4Barack Org.

White House Correspondent

Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes said that after listening to the feedback from leaders across the country, the Administration came up with a plan to partner with the leaders to build Strong Cities, Strong Communities!

This is an innovative pilot project designed to help stimulate and strengthen economic growth on the local level by eliminating red tape and the usual barriers with a more effective use of federal resources.

Communities around the nation will be eligible to compete for grant monies that are designed to perk up local community economic planning that will be innovative in stimulating empowerment, vision and participation of citizens in the well fare and development of the areas where they live.

Strong Cities Strong Communities (SC2) channels the resources of the federal government to help empower cities with their local aspirations to strengthen their neighborhoods by using these strategic methods:

Providing assistance and support – working with local communities to find ground up, not top down solutions:

Providing on the ground technical assistance and planning resources tailored to local governments’ needs and helping them use the federal funds they already receive more efficiently and effectively; and Partnering for growth:

Developing critical partnerships with key local and regional stakeholders that encompass not only municipal and state governments, but also new partnerships with the business community, non-profits, anchor institutions, faith-based institutions, and other public, private, and philanthropic leaders.

There are four components to the SC2 Pilot: Community assistance teams that will work directly with cities to support mayors in selected cities around the nation. SC2 Fellowship Program will train, select and place those that will assist with implementation. SC2 Planning Challenge to help additional cities develop economic blueprints to be able to take advantage of the grant competition opportunities.

SC2 pilot cities were selected on the basis of economic need, strong local leadership and collaboration, potential for economic growth, geographic diversity, and the ability to test the SC2 model across a range of environments. Federal assessment teams spent time on the ground working directly with mayors and other local officials to determine needs, opportunities and gather input for the pilot initiative.

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Time to remind the Repubs of their midterm promise by asking loudly....

" WHERE'S THE JOBS ? "

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President Extends Foreclosure

Programs for Unemployed

From Bloomberg:

Unemployed homeowners with mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration or participating in a federal foreclosure prevention program will be given up to a year of forbearance on mortgage payments, the Obama Administration announced today.

Banks must increase the amount of time delinquent homeowners who are looking for work can gain relief from paying their mortgage from three or four months to at least 12 months, U.S. housing regulators said. Unemployment is a top reason borrowers fall into arrears.

A few months is “inadequate for the majority of unemployed borrowers,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said. Sixty percent of the unemployed have been out of work for more than three months and 45 percent have been out of work for more than six, he said in a written statement.

The new rules apply to lenders who sell FHA-guaranteed mortgages and servicers participating in the administration’s Making Home Affordable foreclosure-prevention program.

The unpaid payments are added to the cost of the loan and must be repaid with interest.

Donovan said he hoped the announcement would prompt all loan servicers, including government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to extend longer forbearance to the unemployed. “Our hope is that this will have broader effects,” Donovan said in a conference call.

“What we’re trying to do here is set the right standard,” Treasury Assistant Secretary Tim Massad said on the call.

President Barack Obama yesterday said the administration is putting pressure on banks to modify more loans.

“The continuing decline in the housing market is something that hasn’t bottomed out as quickly as we expected, and so that’s continued to be a big drag on the economy,” Obama said during a Twitter town hall forum.

The Labor Department today reported that initial jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 418,000 in the week ended July 2.

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Tom Joyner Finally Realizes Tavis Smiley and Cornell West are Nothing But OBAMA HATERS !

My New D-Word for Tavis and Cornel

By: Tom Joyner

Before I get to Mark Halperin, let me give you a little background.

They say that if you’re angry with someone, you should write a letter, get all the mean stuff out, and then tear it up or delete it. When you’re a little more calm, you write another letter or confront the person face to face.

About a month ago, I wrote a blog about Tavis Smiley and decided to table it because I said some things I didn’t want to publish. You’re probably thinking I went too hard him, but no. In reality, I hadn’t gone hard enough - and I knew it. I said I

’d wait until something pissed me off so bad that I would have the words harsh enough to express what I was really feeling about him and his side piece - I mean side kick - Cornel West.

Well, yesterday, when Mark Halperin - a well-respected journalist, employed by a well-respected magazine and a contributor to a well-respected news network - had the audacity to call the president of the United States a dick, that was all I needed.

While I am appalled at Halperin’s statement, I hav

e no expectations of him as a man and know nothing about his character. I am appalled, however, that as editor-at-large of Time magazine, he is responsible for among other things, deciding what stories will be covered in that publication. As the person in charge of political content, it is upsetting to know that he probably has not been objective in his dealings with material I and so many people look forward to (until now) reading each week. Needless to say, I’ve cancelled my subscription to Time magazine and hope you will too.

But I’m even more disgusted with Smiley and West, two brothers who I did have expectations of - and thought I knew. These two have done much worse than what Halperin has done because they set the tone for it, opened the door to it, and must take much of the blame for creating a climate that would make a white, professional journalist feel comfortable verbally and vulgarly attacking the first black president of the United States.

When you think you know a person, when you’ve given a person a forum to present his views, when you’ve had a hand in a person’s success, you want to believe that he is the same person he always was.

Remember THAT Tavis - the one who could take any complicated political story that had an impact on black America and “break it down” for us every Tuesday and Thursday in less than five minutes. The one who coined the phrase "radio advocacy" and alerted us any time anyone - from a private business owner to a politician to a corporate giant - even thought about doing black folks wrong. The Tavis that loved black people so much that he would sometimes, during his commentaries, be moved to tears. Where is that guy? You know, the guy that would have been telling me, "Fly Jock, Halperin has got to go." For a while, I thought he was still with us, even though people around me (and many of you) tried to convince me otherwise. “Tavis is a hater." "Tavis is only about himself." "Tavis is jealous of the president." I wouldn’t believe any of it. I had so much respect for him before his primary goal became selling books, and, later, selling out.

As we approach the Fourth of July weekend, one that celebrates our freedoms, including freedom of speech, I wish someone would use that as a defense of what Tavis, Cornel and Mark Halperin have said against our president. When dangerous words incite and brew up hatred and violence, there is a line. And these three crossed it.


In case you believe I think Tavis and Cornel called the president an offensive name, I don’t. I think they did something even worse. Any black people with any sense know that racists on the job, at school, at church or on the bus wait for opportunities to feel comfortable enough to spew their evil thoughts. If a black person tells a racist joke in front of a racist or laughs at one, it won’t be long before the racist begins to fire off a couple of his own. Mark Halperin and others are no different. They hate the president because he is black, and Tavis and Cornel, by not having the sense to not give them the opening they waited for, went all in. And this is what we get.


So, yes, MSNBC, fire Mark Halperin. I hope he never works again. I’ve already fired Tavis and Cornel. There’s nothing either can ever do for me or with me again.


I’ve got a new D-word for the two of them: Done.

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President to Hold First

Twitter Town Hall July 6th

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

July 1, 2011

President Obama to Participate in the First Ever Twitter Town Hall at the White House

WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama will participate in the first ever Twitter Town Hall at the White House on Wednesday, July 6 in the East Room. Twitter co-founder and Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey will moderate a conversation between President Obama and Americans across the country about the economy and jobs.

Twitter users can submit questions using the hashtag #AskObama. More information from Twitter can be found at the event’s homepage: http://askobama.twitter.com.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2011

2:00 PM ET

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WATCH:
President Outlines Way Forward
in Afghanistan

President Obama addressed the nation from the East Room of the White House about the way forward in Afghanistan and his plan to remove 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and a total of 33,000 by next summer.

The President reflected on the difficult decision he made in December of 2009 to order 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan, and keeping his commitment to begin the drawdown of troops this summer:

WATCH: President's Afghan Speech

To put this important decision in a larger context, Vice President Joe Biden took a few minutes to share his thoughts about the promises this Administration has made – and kept – when it comes to the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, and our commitment to defeat al Qaeda:

WATCH: V.P. Biden Discusses Promises Kept re: Afghanistan


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First Lady and First Daughters
Meet Nelson Mandela

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Darlene Superville,

JOHANNESBURG – A healthy-looking Nelson Mandela met with Michelle Obama and her daughters on Tuesday, an unexpected encounter between the first lady and the former South African president and anti-apartheid icon who has largely retired from public life.

A photo provided by the Nelson Mandela Foundation showed the 92-year-old Mandela sitting on a couch next to Mrs. Obama, pen in hand to sign an advance copy of his new book, "Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorized Quotations Book." Mandela was wearing one of his trademark shirts, richly patterned and buttoned at the neck.

Mrs. Obama, daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 10, and her mother, Marian Robinson, were viewing some of Mandela's personal papers at his foundation when he sent word that he wanted to meet them at his home in a leafy Johannesburg neighborhood. It was the first meeting between America's first black first lady and the political prisoner who later became his country's first black president

Mrs. Obama's family spent about 20 minutes with Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel, who is a former first lady of Mozambique.

Mrs. Obama's niece and nephew, Leslie Robinson, 15, and Avery Robinson, 19, who are traveling with her, were also invited to meet Mandela.

White House officials had no immediate comment on the meeting. No aides were present for the meeting, except for one photographer each from the foundation and the White House who were allowed in to take photos at the beginning.

Mandela, who stepped down in 1999 after serving one term as president, is rarely seen in public anymore. At age 92, he is in fragile health and was briefly hospitalized in January with an acute respiratory infection. His condition has been steadily improving and he apparently felt well enough Tuesday to invite the Obama family to visit.

Mrs. Obama is traveling without President Barack Obama, who met Mandela in Washington in 2005 when he was a U.S. senator. Obama and Mandela have spoken by telephone several times since Obama took office, most recently last June, the White House said. The president also wrote a foreword for Mandela's book, "Conversations with Myself."

Mandela spent 27 years in prison for his role in the movement against apartheid, South Africa's now-abolished system of racial separation.

Mrs. Obama began a weeklong goodwill visit to South Africa and Botswana on Monday.

Earlier Tuesday, the first lady met with Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, a wife of South African President Jacob Zuma, who has three of them. She and her family also read Dr. Seuss' "The Cat in the Hat" and danced with youngsters at a day care center in a Johannesburg shantytown before ending the day with a largely private tour of the Apartheid Museum.

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THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION
GOING INTO THE 2012 ELECTION !!!


aka...How President Obama Will LOSE
if We Don't WAKE UP !

B4B NOTE: It is of vital importance that we are all aware of the need to win key states in order to secure the re-election of President Obama. Below is an article that explains the importance of various states which is information for all to be aware of. If we Dems do not Unite and get Fired Up NOW....based on the Electoral College Map....even Rush Limbaugh could defeat President Obama. The Time is NOW...to Wake Up....Unite....and Get Fired Up !!!

CHICAGO -- Republicans hope voters' fears about jobs and the economy will help them reclaim a handful of Mountain West and Southern states that were crucial to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential win.

Obama's campaign appears just as determined to hold those states next year and force Republicans to spend precious resources defending places they'd like to consider safe.

Every four years, political operatives fixate on the dozen or so states that always decide close presidential elections.

This time, Obama hopes to play on as big an Electoral College map as possible, and his team insists it will compete for the first time in traditionally solid Republican states like Georgia and Arizona. Republicans, conversely, want a compact map, hoping for wins in big, always-contested states such as Florida and Ohio, which were key to George W. Bush's victories in 2000 and 2004.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the White House.

Obama won it in 2008 partly by prevailing in states such as Virginia and Indiana that had not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee in decades.

But with unemployment now at 9.1 percent, and the economic recovery slowed, many Republicans argue that Obama's chances are notably worse in those states, as well as others in the vote-rich, economically struggling Midwest. They say they can win some, if not all, of three crucial battleground states – Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania – along with some smaller states that Obama carried, including New Mexico, Nevada and Iowa. Republicans thrived in all those states in the 2010 midterm elections, and GOP strategists hope the momentum will carry into next year, thwarting Obama.

"The map is very difficult for him," said Rick Wiley, political director of the Republican National Committee.

Obama's campaign sees it differently.

"We are going to take the old map and expand it," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in an interview at his office in Chicago. He argues that demographic trends are moving in Democrats' direction in several states, which could help them hold Virginia and North Carolina and possibly win Georgia and Arizona.

"Changes in the composition of the electorate" make the states attractive, said David Axelrod, Obama's top political adviser.

The president carried North Carolina and Virginia in 2008 thanks largely to black voters, Latinos, college-educated workers and non-natives who are more open to Democrats than are many Southern-born whites. Those population groups are expanding in the two states, his backers say. The same is true in Georgia, a GOP-controlled state that hasn't been strongly contested in many years.

Obama insiders say he could have won Arizona in 2008 if John McCain, the state's senior senator, had not been the GOP nominee. They argue that with Arizona's Hispanic population still growing, Obama's chances are better this time because that group leans toward Democrats.

Many Republicans scoff at such talk. But they have their own problems, starting with the task of taking back most or all of the nine swing-voting states that Obama won in 2008 and that Democrat John Kerry lost in 2004: Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

"There are a million different maps," Wiley said. But the GOP's priorities start with those nine "top tier" states.

To oust Obama, the Republicans don't need to win all nine.

If Obama keeps his grip on the Western states of Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, and the Republican nominee wins the other six of the nine swing states, the GOP would reclaim the White House with 271 electoral votes. That's assuming other states vote the same as in 2008.

Obama's situation becomes more perilous if he loses a state that Democrats have won for several elections, although often narrowly. That might include Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin, a state that Democrats took by a whisker in 2000 and 2004. Obama handily won it in 2008.

Republican governors replaced Democrats last year in all those states, along with Iowa, New Mexico and Ohio.

In these battlegrounds with newly elected Republican governors, Wiley said, "you have that infrastructure that doesn't get dismantled, and it's a huge, huge advantage" to the 2012 GOP presidential nominee.

Not so, Democrats say.

New GOP governors such as Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio and Rick Scott in Florida have clashed bitterly with various groups, especially unions. The result could be a fired-up Democratic base turning out heavily for Obama.

Top Democrats say it's unlikely that Obama will lose Pennsylvania, which always draws huge attention but has voted Democratic in the last five presidential elections.

Privately, those close to Obama worry more about Ohio, which has 18 electoral votes. Its unemployment rate, 8.6 percent, is slightly below the national average. But its population growth is almost flat, and it doesn't have the large numbers of unregistered minorities and young adults that the Obama campaign is targeting in other states.

No Republican has been elected president without carrying Ohio.

Of the nine targeted states that Kerry lost, Obama needs to hold only Ohio and one small state – say, Nevada or Iowa – to win re-election, assuming the other states vote the same as in 2008.

Florida, with 29 electoral votes, is even more vital.

If Obama holds no other state but Florida among the top-tier nine, he wins a second term.

Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political scientist, said the Sunshine State seems destined to play its toss-up role again.

"The economy is still not doing well here," Jewett said, "and Obama is not very popular." But Scott, the new Republican governor, "is extremely unpopular right now," he said, and that could undo the GOP presidential nominee in a razor-thin race.

Finally, several plausible map scenarios would leave the 2012 presidential nominees in a 269-269 electoral tie. That would hand the decision to the U.S. House, where Republicans expect to hold their majority even if they suffer some losses.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER....

PASS IT ON !!!

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President Obama Presented Ideas to Accelerate Job Growth and America’s Competitiveness at Jobs Council Meeting

By Erin Lindsay

Today, President Obama traveled to Durham, NC to meet with the Jobs and Competitiveness Council at the corporate and U.S. manufacturing headquarters of Cree, a leading manufacturer of energy efficient LED lighting. While at Cree, the President toured the company’s LED lighting product assembly facility, met with the Jobs Council and delivered remarks to Cree employees, Jobs Council members, local business owners and representatives from nearby engineering colleges and universities.

The President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness is led by GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt and is composed of representatives from various sectors of the economy andleaders in diverse industries -- people running large and small companies that represent millions of Americans helping the economy run every single day. The Jobs Council held their first meeting at the White House on February 24, 2011. At that time the Council committed to holding their second meeting outside of Washington, DC. Cree’s facility, located in the heart of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park area, was selected to hold the second meeting.

President Barack Obama tours the manufacturing facilities at Cree, Inc., a leading manufacturer of energy efficient LED lighting, in Durham, N.C. June 13, 2011. With the Presient are: Chuck Swoboda, Chairman and CEO of Cree, Inc., left, and Matthew Rose, Chairman and CEO, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, right. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

In his remarks today, the President commended Cree for exemplifying the potential of American innovation, manufacturing and advanced technology:

Today the small business that a group of N.C. State engineering students founded almost 25 years ago is a global company. It’s got 5,000 employees. Next month, your new production line will begin running 24/7. And soon you’ll add another 400,000 square feet of space on a new site next door. So you’re helping to lead a clean energy revolution. You’re helping lead the comeback of American manufacturing. This is a company where the future will be won.

He also discussed the role of his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and detailed some of the recommendations to address short-term, medium-term and long term economic growth and job creation that they presented to him today:

And today, with the leadership of the Jobs Council, we’re announcing an all-hands-on-deck strategy to train 10,000 new American engineers every year. So -- and by the way, our Jobs Council, led by Jeff Immelt, they’re doing this not counting on a whole bunch of federal funding. Private sector companies are teaming up to help us promote STEM education, to offer students incentives to finish those degrees, and then to help universities fund those programs. They’re going to double their summer internship hiring.

We’re talking about companies like Intel, whose CEO Paul Otellini is here today. And Paul is heading up our task force for the Jobs Council in helping to figure this out, because he understands Intel’s survival depends on our ability to get a steady stream of engineers. I’ve been, by the way, to the Intel plant out in Oregon. It is unbelievable. It’s out of -- something out of science fiction. And I pretended like I understood what they were saying the whole time.

But that’s what’s going to drive our competitiveness in the future. We know that if we’re going to maintain our leadership in technology and innovation, our best companies need the world’s brightest workers –- American workers.

Now, that brings me to a second idea that we discussed backstage. At Cree, you’re putting people back to work in a field that has the potential to create an untold number of new jobs and new businesses right here in America -– and that’s clean energy. And my administration has invested heavily in clean energy manufacturing, because I want to see the LEDs and solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars of tomorrow made right here in the U.S of A. I want them made right here. (Read rest of article)

B4B NOTE: As President Obama works to accelerate Job Growth....Time to Ask the GOP....

WHERE'S THE JOBS YOU PROMISED !!!

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Vice President Biden to Take the Bite

Out of the Crime of Government Waste

By Althea Dixon
Blacks4Barack
WH Correspondent

As the New Sheriff in Town by Executive Order VP Joe Biden was appointed by President Barack H. Obama as Sheriff Joe! "President Obama asked me to head up the Campaign to Cut Waste—a new effort to root out wasteful spending at every agency and department in the Federal Government.

According to WH officials, Biden is assigned to hunt down miss-spent dollars, he will shine a light on fraud which accounts for billions of taxpayers dollars being wasted by government useless and unaccounted for over-spending everyday. "This kind of waste is just unacceptable. Particularly at a time when we’re facing tough decisions about reducing our deficit, it's a no-brainer to stop spending taxpayer dollars on things that benefit nobody. " said Biden.

Biden with the help of a new Government Accountability and Transparency Board, which by the way, will be a group composed of independent inspectors general and high-level agency officials who he will personally assign and whose primary duty is to help him root out waste, fraud and abuse across the government. Thus ensuring that the citizens tax dollars are being spent on things that matter, like investments in education, innovation and improving the country's infrastructure.

"So, folks, we’re changing the way your government does business (and spends your hard-earned tax dollars), and I think you’re going to like the results." ~Vice President "Sheriff" Joe Biden.

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WATCH: President's Weekly Address
Partnering with the Private Sector
to Spur Hiring


WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama spoke to the American people about how the government is partnering with the private sector to make sure workers have the skills and training they need in this economy. This past Wednesday, he announced commitments by the private sector, colleges, and the National Association of Manufacturers that will make it possible for half a million community college students to get a manufacturing credential that has the industry’s stamp of approval. And on Monday, he will travel to North Carolina to meet with his Jobs Council to work on the steps the government can take to spur private sector hiring in the short-term and ensure our workers have the skills and training they need.

WATCH:

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