Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: deficit, Health Care, Obama, Press, stimulus
8:04: What’s in this for me? Obama is going to answer those questions.
8:06: Health insurance will be paid for. 2/3 of the cost will be reallocation, including subsidies that aren’t working. “working through proposals” to cover the other 1/3. But I promise, it won’t add to the deficit and we won’t tax the middle class. Translate: rich people, you are screwed.
8:08: This isn’t about me. This about YOU, America. Americans want this and we can’t let them down. (Are polls saying that these days?)
8:11: The cost of health care. How are we going to pay for it? 2/3 is deficit neutral by tax dollars already spent. The other 1/3? There are a number of different ways: limit the deductions for the wealthiest Americans. Wealthy Americans taking the same percentage deduction as middle class, that will pay for it. But I’m open to new ideas.
8:15: Obama is selling health care the way he sold the stimulus. We need to do this. If we don’t do it we’re in big trouble.
8:18: Why the rush on health care? We’re rushing because it’s urgent. People are writing me letters. If you don’t set deadlines things don’t happen. (Is Obama afraid he will never be as popular as he is now and that’s the only way this can happen?)
8:22: Is there a mandate? Unless you have a single payer system you’re not going to reach everyone; you can’t always reach that guy that’s going to get hit by a bus. Our plan will cover 97-98% of America.
8:25: I’m happy with the republicans that support my plan. Maybe they won’t vote health care, but we want their ideas.
8:28: Will Americans have to give anything up? YES, they will have to give up things that won’t make them healthier. (Smoking? or a broken health care system?)
8:30: Blue pills and red pills: Are we in the matrix?
8:32: Back to the deficit and the stimulus…we lost trillions…bye bye money. Obama is doing a step by step recap of his first seven months in office.
8:34: We inherited this deficit, we have not reduced it as much as we need to but health care reform won’t add to that deficit, in fact, it will lower it.
8:38: Are you fulfilling the promise on transparency? The kick-off was on cspan; well now we have all kinds of meetings, if they want them on cspan they can do it. We’re much better on transparency than we were.
8:40: A harder line on Wall Street? Fees on risky lending practices? Obama retells the story of his first seven months of presidency. Hey, we’re not going to fall off a cliff anymore. Now that the financial system has “bounced back” the banks are profitable and are paying the tarp money back…and that’s good…but we haven’t seen the change in behavior that got us into the mess in the first place. What should we do? We need financial regulatory reform. If we don’t pass the reform then we’ll have the same problem we had before. Same reasoning for stimulus and health care. If we don’t do it we’re in trouble.
8:46: Obama’s poll numbers are low in Ohio, question from the Cleveland Plain dealer.
8:50: Obama is clearly not a physician. This is where Howard Dean would come in handy. Shoutout to Cleveland Clinic.
8:52: Henry Louis Gates question…Obama is at his most comfortable when he can make jokes.
I ran across this column today, but more specifically, this image (which unfortunately won’t embed).
I’m no prude, and I tend to, as many people do, make jokes that probably shouldn’t be made. But there is something about making a joke, and then taking that joke and turning it into an image, whether a sign or a t-shirt, that crosses a line for me. There’s something deliberate, and certainly more overt about that. And even if you really don’t see yourself as homophobic, and maybe you’re even a strong supporter of gay rights, but to wear something like that, it becomes an emblem of something that is actually pretty inappropriate, and irresponsible.
Imagine being the 13 year old kid at the Sox/Cubs game last weekend secretly dealing with his own confusing sexuality. Even if his parents are the most supportive people in the world, in that moment the world confirms to him that he will, for as long as anyone can tell, be thought of as little more than a punch line. And a bad one at that.
ADDED: Katie Rogers alerted me to many more homophobic, racist, and anti-disability t-shirts from this company. I wouldn’t give their site the traffic, but hopefully people on the North and the South sides can come together to consciously boycott this company.
I’ll talk to people at HRC and see if we can get some field people in Chicago to get involved. I’ll keep you posted.
It has been 40 years since Stonewall…and we’re still fighting.
Gay Americans aren’t just another political special interest group. They are Americans who are actively discriminated against by federal laws. If the president is to properly honor the memory of Stonewall, he should get up to speed on what happened there 40 years ago, when courageous kids who had nothing, not even a public acknowledgment of their existence, stood up to make history happen in the least likely of places.
That’s the buzz around the HRC office…
ADDED: Here’s the text of the proclamation:
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.
LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country’s response to the HIV pandemic.
Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration — in both the White House and the Federal agencies — openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.
The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.
My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.
These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
BARACK OBAMA
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: California Supreme Court, gay marriage, Prop. 8
says the LA TIMES.
As expected…
Here is our position over at the HRC:
“We are confident that Judge Sotomayor has a demonstrated understanding and commitment to protecting the liberty and equality of all Americans,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: democrats, Frank Rich, gay rights, MLK, Obama
Frank Rich wonders why they haven’t…
He argues that it’s because democrats lack “a towering national figure to make the moral case” for gay rights. Rich doesn’t think it will be Obama himself that will do it a la LBJ in the ’60s.
Rich reminds us of Dr. King’s words, “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait.’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ ”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: censorship, education, free speech, Harvey Milk
According to one school district…
From CNN.com
