What Has Obama Done? Check the List

If you are still undecided on the election, or, have chosen Romney, please review this film clip of what Republicans have to say about Mitt Romney.  It is not good.  A leader of a country should not be nick-named “flip flop” BY HIS OWN PARTY.

To all the undecided who want to know just what the President has done in his four years, please review the list below.  If this is the type of leadership you want for your children, there is only one clear choice for President: Obama.  Obama represents the best hope of America stabilizing over the long term back into a functioning economy and society that is fair and just for everyone.

1. The first bill President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to help women fight back when they don’t get equal pay for equal work.
2. The Recovery Act supported millions of jobs and helped to stave off a second Great Depression.
3. He pushed for and won middle-class tax cuts that benefitted every American worker, and saved the typical family $3,600 in taxes over the last four years.
4. President Obama rescued the auto industry, and now GM and Chrysler are healthier than they’ve ever been. The American auto industry has added nearly a quarter of a million jobs since June 2009 — and they most likely wouldn’t exist right now without President Obama’s leadership. And they won’t be sending Jeep jobs to China.
5. He doubled funding for Pell Grants, helping to make college more affordable for nearly 10 million families in need of education for the current economy.
6. His student loan reform ended billions in subsidies to banks serving as middlemen and reinvested those savings directly into students.
7. The President established the American Opportunity Tax Credit, worth up to $10,000 over four years of college.
8. His Race to the Top Initiative helped spur nearly every state to raise academic standards.
9. His tax cuts, social-welfare programs, and economic policies lifted nearly 7 million Americans above the federal poverty line in 2010.
10. President Obama has signed 18 tax cuts for small businesses since taking office.
11. We’ve seen 5.2 million new private-sector jobs over the last 31 months.
12. The unemployment rate is at the lowest level since President Obama took office and continues to drop.
13. Health care reform — passed after decades of failed attempts by every previous President — provides affordable health coverage to every American and will lower premiums by an average of $2,000 per family by 2019.
14. Obamacare expanded access to lifesaving preventive care such as cancer screenings and immunizations with no out-of-pocket costs for 54 million Americans.
15. Obamacare ends insurance discrimination against the 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.
16. Because of Obamacare, over 3 million more young adults have health insurance today than would if the new law hadn’t passed.
17. The parents of over 17 million children with pre-existing conditions no longer have to worry that their children will be denied coverage.
18. President Obama has ordered the overhaul of federal government regulations to make them smarter, practical, and more efficient. Just a fraction of these commonsense initiatives will help save businesses $10 billion in the next five years alone.
19. His historic investments in clean energy have helped more than double the amount of electricity we obtain from wind and solar sources and helped increase biofuel production to its highest level in history.
20. President Obama is doubling fuel efficiency standards, which will save drivers more than $8,000 at the gas pump, not to mention lessen the impact of automobiles on our environment.
21. President Obama has taken unprecedented action to address climate change, reaching historic international agreements to curb carbon emissions, and taking action here at home to reduce carbon pollution from our vehicles and promote clean energy production.
22. He has taken historic action to protect our environment — signing one of the largest expansions of protected wilderness in a generation and putting in place standards to reduce toxic air pollution that will save thousands of lives.
23. President Obama fought for and won landmark Wall Street reform that reins in the abuses that led to the financial crisis and ends the era of taxpayer bailouts for irresponsible corporate greed.
24. Wall Street reform created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the nation’s first federal agency focused solely on consumer financial protection — and the Bureau is already protecting families from unfair and abusive financial practices from Wall Street banks and shadowy corners of the financial industry.
25. As part of President Obama’s commitment to transparency, the White House has posted its visitor records online for the first time ever.
26. President Obama’s all-of-the-above approach to energy has helped cut the United States’ dependence on foreign oil to its lowest level in 20 years.
27. President Obama responsibly ended the war in Iraq.
28. He announced a plan to end the war in Afghanistan and transition security responsibility to the Afghan people.
29. President Obama sent the largest security assistance package to Israel in history and funded the Iron Dome system, which is protecting Israeli homes and schools from rocket attacks.
30. President Obama rallied the international community to implement the toughest sanctions on Iran in history.
31. Through the President’s historic increases in Veterans Affairs funding, he has expanded and improved healthcare and job training access for our returning veterans.
32. President Obama negotiated the New START Treaty with Russia to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in both countries. At the same time, he also secured commitments from dozens of other countries to lock down nuclear materials.
33. His administration naturalized 11,146 military service members as U.S. citizens in 2010; more than in any year since 1955.
34. President Obama set a bold new plan for the future of NASA space exploration, using the skill and ability of the private sector for short trips to the International Space Station, while building a new vehicle for exploration of distant space, and doing everything in his power to support the economy on Florida’s Space Coast.
35. President Obama recognizes that tourism is one of America’s largest economic engines; he’s worked to encourage international visitors to come here, maintaining our security while keeping millions of Americans in good, paying jobs.
36. He has affirmed his personal support of marriage equality, directed the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in federal courts, and took the practical and compassionate step of extending hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners.
37. He fought for and won the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, allowing gay and lesbian members of the military to serve openly for the first time in history.
38. When Congress failed to fix our broken immigration system, his administration did everything in its power to improve it, streamlining the legal immigration process and announcing a policy that lifts the shadow of deportation from hard working young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
39. Oh, and he gave the order to send troops in after Osama Bin Laden — and has decimated al-Qaeda’s senior leadership.

Protect Your Vote

If you are a woman or minority, your right to vote was purchased with bloodshed.  Whatever your party or preference, you should exercise your voting rights to honor those who sacrificed.  Now the Republicans are attempting to roll back your rights with underhanded legislation that effectively ensures you cannot vote in the elections.

Some states have eliminated voting on the Sunday prior to the election, 34 states have implemented photo ID requirements, 15 states are demanding proof of citizenship – birth certificate.  Nine states have implemented no early voting and no late voter registration.  These laws actually violate the Voter Registration Act, Section five.

The target demographics for these anti-American laws are African-Americans, Latinos, Women, Seniors and college students.  Most seniors do not have their birth certificates on hand, many minorities and women work hours which make it difficult to vote on a Tuesday and eliminating Sunday voting will effectively eliminate their votes.  Student IDs have been ruled as not sufficient for voting.

Arm yourself with information.  Brennan Center for Justice has a site that describes all of the new changes and how you can challenge them or keep your voting rights intact.  Alternatively, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) to find out all the new changes and how you can protect your rights.

Questions for the President; Intelligent Only Please

Tech-A-Break would like to post a disclaimer and apology.  WARNING; this post is not happy! If I sound angry and disgusted in this post, it is because I am.  Many decisions and people are culpable for the current global economic mess, but fixing it will require commitment, intelligence and moral balance from everyone.  I see none of these attributes in the public from current postings on the Internet.

After reading some of the questions for the President posed on http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/newsmakers/, I am convinced that many Americans walk around with their heads in a paper bag (or perhaps up their rectum).  Why would you spend valuable time asking the President if he is planning to run for office again when his re-election campaign has been in effect for over a year?  Why would you ask him why he won’t tax the top 10% of the population when he has been in the press for weeks being blasted for his “Buffett Tax” proposal?  Yes, these and other ignorant questions are being proposed to the President today.  It is clear that many responded to the opportunity to question our highest official with bigitory, ignorance and hatred.  Others were just stupid.

If you consider yourself qualified to question elected officials check first to see if you
1)voted and 2)bothered to educate yourself on the issues being discussed.

Clearly a large group does neither of these things, they simply log on to the Internet and spout out garbage from their personal bias with no real concern for the actual problems facing Americans.  Fair paying jobs to raise families.  Access to health care, affordable mortgages and cars.  Food and education for children.

No one should give a rat’s tush why the President has not visited Kenya.  If he wants to visit his father’s birthplace, fine.  If not fine.  It has no bearing on the American people’s ability to eat everyday.

WAKE UP America.  If you don’t stop playing victim and become part of the solution, you deserve to be a resident of a third-world country.

Can’t Find a Job? Make One.

By Charles Kemp

Creating your own job may seem daunting, but with today’s technology it is actually easier than ever.  Many young people fresh from college are doing this to keep out of the low-wage, long hour treadmill of bottom level jobs with no future the current economy is churning out.

One thing to keep in mind is that working for yourself requires discipline and long hours so choose something you are passionate about for a business.  If you can eat, sleep, dream and breath it, that’s probably your best choice.

Technology makes it possible to launch most businesses from home, keeping costs down.  Creativity can control other costs.  Use parts of your student funds to start collecting things you will need for your business.  Books can be used for research for your business and for papers in college.  Buy top of the line tech as you may not be able to replace it with business start up funds.

Partner with others or at least network to barter services and goods.  And above all, learn the best manners and business behavior and practice them. Treating customers and vendors in a professional manner can make or break a start up business.  Use all social networking available and develop profiles that are strictly professional.  Ditch the cute or cool e-mail addresses and profile names of college and polish up a business presence.

And above all, have fun.  If you don’t enjoy having you as a boss, no one else will.