Hello
A lot of this and that...
ETA: Few photos from the taping of The View this afternoon.
Troops came home from Iraq today to a vice presidential welcome
(CNN) -- Iraq veterans from the Army's 10th Mountain Division came home to Fort Drum, New York, Wednesday for a welcome that included Vice President Joe Biden.
"I've been looking forward to this day for a long time," Biden told members of the division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team. "I was looking forward to the day when I could stand with you as your mission came to an end.
"I say on behalf of the president of the United States of America: thank you, we owe you, we are indebted to you...welcome home."
Biden said that the welcome-home ceremony is one of the first of many, as the U.S. prepares to end its combat mission in Iraq in August.
"By August 31, more than 145,000 troops on the ground when this administration took office will be 50,000 troops on the ground -- a total of 95,000 home," Biden said.
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Obama Cancels Offshore Oil Lease Sales in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico
SAN FRANCISCO - July 27 - The Center for Biological Diversity praised the Obama administration's announcement today that it is cancelling two offshore oil and gas lease sales: one in the Atlantic off the coast of Virginia and another in the Gulf of Mexico. The Atlantic lease sale was part of a controversial area that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved for expanded offshore oil development after the Bush administration lifted the moratorium on drilling in the Atlantic. The Gulf of Mexico lease sale was scheduled to take place in mid-August.
"Obama's decision to cancel these lease sales recognizes that risky offshore drilling needs reform," said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center. "Halting controversial lease sales is among the most proactive steps that Obama has taken toward the Gulf disaster."
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Gibbs: Obama backs letting tax cuts on rich expire
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama remains committed to extending Bush-era tax cuts for middle class Americans but wants to see those for the wealthy expire on time at the end of 2010, the White House said on Tuesday.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama made this argument to a bipartisan meeting of congressional leaders earlier on Tuesday, where he stressed the country could not afford to keep in place tax cuts for the rich.
Christina Romer: Extending High-Income Tax Cuts is the Wrong Answer
"President Obama has made it clear that he favors extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for middle-income families, but letting those for high-income earners expire as called for in current law. Recently, some have argued that extending the high-income cuts is necessary for the economy. This is simply wrong".
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Big Three on track to give profit checks for their hourly workers
It's too soon to know for sure, but Detroit's automakers, led by Ford Motor Co., are on track to deliver a welcome jolt to the beleaguered Michigan economy: annual profit-sharing checks for their hourly workers.
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The net effect would be that Michigan's economy, in recession or nearly so since 2001, could get a badly needed boost early next year, when the automakers dole out bonus checks to salaried employees and profit-sharing payouts to hourly employees, despite historically low sales volumes and slow economic growth.
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July car sales head for strongest month since '09 clunkers program
Sales of cars and trucks in July are on track to reach their best pace since last August when vehicle sales were boosted by the federal government’s cash-for-clunkers incentive program.
Dealers and analysts say consumers appear to be returning to dealerships even though overall economic trends remain mixed and manufacturers only modestly increased incentives.
"Business is up," said Jack Fitzgerald, owner of Fitzgerald Auto Malls in Kensington, Md. Fitzgerald said sales increased at most of his 27 dealerships in July, including both domestic and import brands.
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Study: The Government response staved off new Great Depression
In a new paper, two economists argue that without the Wall Street bailout, the bank stress tests, the emergency lending and asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, and the Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus program, the nation’s gross domestic product would be about 6.5 percent lower this year.
In addition, there would be about 8.5 million fewer jobs, on top of the more than 8 million already lost; and the economy would be experiencing deflation, instead of low inflation.
The paper, by Alan S. Blinder, a Princeton professor and former vice chairman of the Fed, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, represents a first stab at comprehensively estimating the effects of the economic policy responses of the last few years.
"While the effectiveness of any individual element certainly can be debated, there is little doubt that in total, the policy response was highly effective," they write.
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Benen:
....Meanwhile, the Republican Party defends massive tax breaks for the wealthy while blocking aid to the unemployed, fights bitterly against regulations designed to prevent a repeat of the Wall Street meltdown, blocks legislation that would at least require corporate and special interests to identify themselves when they invest in elections and does all that while proclaiming itself to be the party of the little people.
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...And they're the party that's expected to do extremely well in November, all of these details notwithstanding.
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On Monday the White House marked the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. President Obama announced the signing of an Executive Order that will make the government a model employer for people with disabilities. He also announced the release of two new rules on the ADA that had not been updated since 1991, explaining that the rules will cover "more than 80,000 state and local government entities, and 7 million private businesses."
The president's tremendously moving speech starts around the 27:00 mark.
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Here's president Obama's private tutorial of healthcare.gov:
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I just LOVE this story. Go read it all.
Stefan Johnson sent off the letter in February, not expecting an answer.
After all, President Obama gets thousands of letters a day and responds personally to only 10.
Johnson, 18, had been elected student council president at Roman Catholic High, the first African American Catholic student to win the honor in the school's 120-year history.
"Thank you President Obama for inspiring me to do great things," Johnson wrote, describing for Obama the projects he had launched to improve the school. He described the president as more of an influence "than I can ask."
Johnson didn't give the letter much thought until three months later, when he received a large yellow envelope. Inside, he found a handwritten note:
"Stefan - Thanks for the letter. We are very proud of you, so keep it up," read the note, signed Barack Obama.
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Stefan was initially rejected by Roman in 2005 but was accepted after his mother appealed to the school. She kept him enrolled, paying tuition ahead of car payments when she lost her clerical job in 2008.
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Johnson had a "life-changing" experience in April 2008, when he attended an Obama rally at Independence Mall. He wanted to do what he could do to help people, and I think everyone felt it," Johnson said about Obama. "I then wanted to do what I could do to help the people at my school."
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Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program
The Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program, (IYLEP) funded by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and implemented by AED, a nonprofit organization working globally to improve education, health, social and economic development, enables 50 highly-motivated undergraduate students from Iraq to attend a six-week intensive academic summer program at a U.S. host university.
Recently, these students visited Washington, D.C., where they had the opportunity to meet with Macon Phillips, Special Assistant to the President and Director for New Media at the White House. Macon discussed the Obama administration’s use of blogs, social networking sites, and text messaging to increase transparency and public participation in governance. The students have shared some insights below from their program and how their worldview and personal view have changed as a direct result of the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program.
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DOE Announces $30 Million for Energy-Efficient Housing Partnerships
Washington - The U.S. Department of Energy today announced 15 research and deployment partnerships to help dramatically improve the energy efficiency of American homes. These highly-qualified, multidisciplinary teams will receive a total of up to $30 million for the initial eighteen months of the projects to deliver innovative energy efficiency strategies to the residential market and address barriers to bringing high-efficiency homes within reach for all Americans. A total of up to $20 million per year will also be made available for the partnerships for three potential one-year extensions. These research and deployment partnerships will provide technical assistance to retrofit projects and will leverage industry expertise and funding to support DOE's energy efficiency retrofit programs. This effort will support the Department's Retrofit Ramp-Up initiative, announced by Vice President Joe Biden in April, which brings communities, governments, private sector companies and non-profit organizations together to deliver energy-efficiency upgrades - or retrofits - to whole neighborhoods and cities.
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All these by AP:
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President Obama returns the "I Love You" sign as he greets audience members at an event marking the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 26, 2010.
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Nathaniel Anthony Ayers performs at the ADA event. Suffering from schizophrenia, Ayers went from Juilliard School in New York to living on the streets of Los Angeles playing his music for himself. He became the subject of newspapers columns that led to him being the inspiration for the movie The Soloist.
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Singer Patti LaBelle.
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Actress Marlee Matlin.
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A guest follows the remarks of speakers with the assistance of a sign language interpreter. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)
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Air Force Two, with Vice President Joe Biden aboard, left, takes off while Air Force One waits for President Barack Obama to arrive, Wednesday, July 28, 2010, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
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President Obama on The View:
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Andrieanne Foreman, center, of Edison, N.J., wears an American Flag as she cheers in a crowd waiting for the arrival of President Obama near the Tastee Sub Shop, Wednesday, July 28.
President Obama orders a sandwich before meeting with small business owners at the Tastee Sub Shop in Edison, New Jersey.
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And, If you want to join Michelle Obama in wishing the president a Happy Birthday...
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