Hello
Happy, happy Thursday mishmash to follow.
First, Student Loan reform just makes me so giddy. This is such a classic Democratic Party thing to do. It's just a beautiful, beautiful thing. Or as John Kerry said: To paraphrase Vice President Biden, this is a big freaking deal:
By delivering all student loans through the direct student loan program – instead of subsidizing banks through the more costly Federal Family Educational Loan program – this bill will save taxpayers money that will be reinvested in education. Pell Grants will reach a historic $40 billion in funding nationwide, additional funding for grants to community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Serving Institutions will be increased, the application process for student loans will be simplified and the American Opportunity Tax Credit will be increased.
"To paraphrase Vice President Biden, this is a big freaking deal. Nearly two-thirds of Massachusetts students graduate with over $23,000 in student loan debt. This bill will make college more affordable for everyone and put it within reach for many who can’t shoulder the bills today. We’re talking about almost 8,500 more students in Massachusetts who will go to college on Pell Grants. That’s a huge difference," said Senator Kerry.
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11 points bump for president Obama in a week
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Initial jobless claims fell to the lowest level in six weeks
March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Initial jobless claims fell to the lowest level in six weeks as the rebound in the U.S. economy encourages companies to make fewer cuts in payrolls.
First-time jobless applications declined 14,000 in the week ended March 20 to 442,000, lower than anticipated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance decreased, and those getting extended benefits also fell.
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Joe Klein
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On the day before the historic health care reform vote, Barack Obama made his final argument in favor of the bill to the Democratic members of Congress. "I am not bound to win," he began, quoting Abraham Lincoln, "but I am bound to be true." The next 45 minutes provided a rare, true, almost private glimpse of American politics. Some said they had never seen the President so passionate — although Obama's version of passion is much calmer than most. He did many of the things expected in a pep talk. He made the substantive case for the bill. He jabbed the hyperbolic Republicans. But then, in the final 10 minutes, his tone became more intimate...
...It was a perfect balm, after a season of unrelenting scorn and derision. The caucus was frightened and exhausted. The President emphasized a common humanity with his peers, normally an afterthought in the performance art of politics. He appealed to the battered sense of honor and idealism that still resided beneath their scar tissue. He was seeking not only to inspire his colleagues, but to comfort them. I don't think I've ever seen a President do that before.
...He was now a President who didn't back down, who could herd cats, who was not merely intellectual and idealistic but tough enough to force his way. This is bound to change the landscape of American politics.
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Cuban dissidents praise Obama
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuban dissidents applauded U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday for denouncing their ill treatment by the Cuban government and said it had helped their cause.
They praised him for standing by them in what appeared to be a new, tougher turn for the president who has said he wanted to improve U.S.-Cuba relations that went bad after Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution and installed a communist system.
The Cuban government, which views dissidents as U.S.-employed subversives, has said nothing about Obama's statement, issued on Wednesday in Washington.
....Dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas, in a telephone interview from his hospital bed in the central city of Santa Clara, said Obama's declaration would not have an immediate effect, but would help isolate the Cuban government.
"That is very important, given that with a dictatorial, totalitarian government as exists here, one must not negotiate. You have to condemn and isolate dictatorships," he said.
Farinas, 48, was in the 29th day of a hunger strike seeking the release of 26 ailing political prisoners. He has vowed to die for his cause if necessary.
Obama called Cuba's human rights situation "deeply disturbing," citing the recent death of dissident hunger striker Orlando Zapata Tamayo and the "repression" of the dissident group Ladies in White last week during marches protesting the 2003 imprisonment of 75 government opponents.
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Onion Awesomeness (Go read it all!):
...I take pride in who I am. Always have, always will. I've worked hard my whole life and have never taken anyone's charity, and I'm not about to start now, no matter what. I'm telling you, there's no way I'm going to sit back and let some black president of the United States try to devise a structure to help me pay for the dialysis treatment I so desperately need to survive.
Not over my dead body.
Just who does this Afro-American occupant of the highest office in the land think he is, anyway? Look, I've got nothing against black people, but some of them act like the whole world owes them something. For example, important government subsidies on my dialysis...
...Seriously, when Obama's done drumming up support for legislation that might allow me to see my daughter graduate from college and prevent me from dying before my 50th birthday, what's next on the agenda? Will he try to keep my life's savings from evaporating in a stock market that operates free of serious governmental oversight? Is there any aspect of capitalism run amok that this guy won't tamper with? Really, Obama, thanks but no thanks. The last person I need help from is some black leader of the federal government in a position to perhaps improve my quality of life.
The worst part is that I'll have to put up with this guy being a black president for at least three more years. I guess all I can do is try to hold out for the 2012 election. Maybe then we'll get a white president back in office. Maybe he'll have the common decency to let me suffer in peace.
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HEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
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Here is green candidate Barack Obama in Iowa, three years ago:
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And here is president Obama today, back in Iowa, three years later, celebrating a promise well kept (Photos by Getty, AP)
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Finally, say Hello to four-year-old Barack Stroud from Iowa City:
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