“I believe it was divine intervention -- it was in medical school when I realized there was nothing else I'd rather do with my life than to be a doctor. I had never seen a black doctor before I went to college, so I did not have an idea that I wanted to be one. I never thought I that I couldn't, but I never really thought about it at all.”
According to a 1997 article in Ebony, Benjamin said she applied to Yale University School of Law before she attended college. “They sent me a reply politely telling me that I needed my undergraduate degree first."
To pay for college, she turned to the National Health Service Corps, which gave her a tuition reimbursement in exchange for committing to work in areas where there was a shortage of doctors. That agreement took her to Bayou La Batre where she was the only doctor for 2,500 people, most of whom lived below the poverty line and spoke no English.
Benjamin was named the Person of the Week on ABC News’ World News Tonight in 1995 and conveyed the challenges of servicing poor patients.
“The people are real, genuine, hardworking. They're proud people. They make a living the best they can on shrimp boats. They, unfortunately, are too poor to pay their medical bills at times,” she told ABC News’ Peter Jennings. “Sometimes it's very frustrating. Sometimes I can do everything that the textbooks taught me and school taught me and then patients can't buy their medicine. And it's all for nothing."
Benjamin will appear in the Rose Garden today as the president makes the nomination formal.
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Ten years ago The New York Times called Dr. Benjamin
Discusses Jobs, Recovery, 'Rescuing Our Economy from Disaster', Health Care and More
CLICK HERE if video does not appear through server B4B
Friday, July 10, 2009
Obama's Arrive In Ghana !
(The Longest Journey)
By Todd Pitman (Canadian Press)
CAPE COAST, Ghana — From the rampart of a whitewashed fort once used to ship countless slaves from Africa to the Americas, Cheryl Hardin gazed through watery eyes at the route forcibly taken across the sea by her ancestors centuries before.
"It never gets any easier," the 48-year-old pediatrician said, wiping away tears on her fourth trip to Ghana's Cape Coast Castle in two decades. "It feels the same as when I first visited - painful, incomprehensible."
On Saturday, Barack Obama and his family will follow in the footsteps of countless African-Americans who have tried to reconnect with their past on these shores. Though Obama was not descended from slaves - his father was Kenyan - he will carry the legacy of the African-American experience with him as America's first black president.
For many, the trip will be steeped in symbolism.
"The world's least powerful people were shipped off from here as slaves," Hardin said Tuesday, looking past a row of cannons pointing toward the Atlantic Ocean. "Now Obama, an African-American, the most powerful person in the world, is going to be standing here. For us it will be a full-circle experience."
Built in the 1600s, Cape Coast Castle served as Britain's West Africa headquarters for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which saw European powers and African chiefs export millions in shackles to Europe and the Americas.
The slave trade ended here in 1833, and visitors can now trek through the fort's dungeons, dark rooms once crammed with more than 1,000 men and women at a time who slept in their own excrement. The dank air inside still stings the eyes.
Visiting for the first time, Hardin's 47-year-old sister Wanda Milian said the dungeons felt "like burial tombs."
"It felt suffocating. It felt still," said Milian, who like her sister lives in Houston, Texas. "I don't know what I expected. I didn't expect to experience the sense of loss, the sense of hopelessness and desolation."
Those who rebelled were packed into similar rooms with hardly enough air to breath, left to die without food or water. Their faint scratch marks are still visible on walls.
Down by the shore is the fort's so-called "Door of No Return," the last glimpse of Africa the slaves would ever see before they were loaded into canoes that took them to ships that crossed the ocean.
Today, the door opens onto a different world: a gentle shore where boys freely kick a white soccer ball through the surf, where grey-bearded men sit in beached canoes fixing lime-green fishing nets, where women sell maize meal from plates on their heads.
Behind them is Africa's poverty: smoke from cooking fires rises from a maze of thin wooden shacks, their rusted corrugated aluminum roofs held down by rocks. Children bathe naked in a tiny dirt courtyard.
"I just can't wrap my mind around this," said Milian, who works at a Methodist church. "If it weren't for all this" - for slavery - "I wouldn't be standing here today. I wouldn't be who I am. I wouldn't have the opportunities I do. I wouldn't practice the religion I do."
Milian also grappled with the irony that fort housed a church while the trade went on, and that African chiefs and merchants made it all possible, brutally capturing millions and marching them from the continent's interior to be sold in exchange for guns, iron and rum.
"It's mixed up," Milian said. "It's not an easy puzzle to put together."
Though slavery in the U.S. ended after the Civil War in 1865, its legacy has lived on. The U.S. Senate on June 18 unanimously passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and racial segregation.
"This is part of our history," said Hardin, who first visited Ghana in the late 1980s and later married a Ghanaian engineer she met in the U.S.
Her 15-year-old son was along for the first time. "I want him to understand what his liberty really means, who he really is," Hardin said.
But racism, both sisters agreed, would not end with Obama's visit.
"Let's not be naive. When your skin is darker, you are still going to be treated differently," Hardin said. But Obama's trip "will be a turning point, not just for America but for the world."
Milian said Obama's journey would also bear a message to those who organized the trade.
"It will say they failed, it all failed," she said. "The human mind is capable of horrible things, but the fact that we're standing here, the fact Obama will be standing here, proves we are also capable of great resilience."
VIDEO: Ghana Prepares for President Obama
CLICK HERE if video does not appear through server
Single-payer health care is a term used in the United States to describe the payment of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers from a single fund. It differs from typical private health insurance where, through pricing and other measures taken by the insurer, the level of risks carried by multiple insurance pools as well as the coverage can vary and the pricing has to be varied according to the contribution of risk added to the pool. It is often mentioned as one way to deliver universal health care. The administrator of the fund could be the government but it could also be a publicly owned agency regulated by law. Australia's Medicare, Canada's Medicare, and healthcare in Taiwan are examples of single-payer universal health care systems.
An approach to health care financing with only one source of money for paying health care providers. The scope may be national, like the Canadian system, state-wide, or community-based. The payer may be a governmental unit or other entity such as an insurance company. The proposed advantages include administrative simplicity for patients and providers, and resulting significant savings in overhead costs.[1]
Single-payer health care does not necessarily mean that the government or some government agency delivers or controls health care services. It may pay for health professionals and services that are delivered in either private or public sector settings according to the needs and wishes of the patient and his or her doctor.
Single-payer is one alternative proposed for health care reform in the United States, and as such, has been the subject of active political debate for decades. A national health insurance system, though not necessarily a single payer system, is the reform proposal that has the greatest level of support amongst medical professionals[2] and the general public,[3] though some in Congress and the health insurance industry have tried to deflect calls for such reform by insisting that the U.S. should adopt a "uniquely American solution"[4] that would protect the profits of private insurers, thus ruling out a single-payer system.
***
B4B Note: The health insurance industry is blatantly and disgustingly spending millions of dollars to lobby (bribe) politicians against single-payer. Even sadder is the fact that our politicians are taking the bribe money and agreeing to doing everything they can to block this much needed health care reform (and basically everything else President Obama proposes). It is not surprising that the 'Just Say No' Republicans are dedicated to blocking progress for We The People, but what is pitiful is the so-called 49 member 'Blue Dog DEMOCRATS' or DINO's (Democrats In Name Only) who will do whatever it takes to get a chunk of the bribe money...in exchange for turning their backs and voting against We The People.
As a concession (which Presidents are forced to do at times), President Obama has opted for what is now called a Public Option which will be a combination of a form of Single-payer 'competing' against health insurance companies. Although this plan is far from the effectiveness of Single-payer it does serve as an incremental improvement of our current health care system. Problem is, many Blue Dogs want to block even that ! (because health insurance companies don't want any competition) Click 'Public Option' above to view President Obama's Health Care Townhall or read text in which he explains why he favors Public Option.
It is of vital importance that we know who these Blue Dogs are...contact them to let them know that we are watching their every move...and send them the message in record numbers that if they vote against us...they will not be voted in again.
WHO ARE THE BLUE DOG DEMS ?
CLICK HERE: For a list of the congressional members of the Blue Dog Coalition and the total (bribe money) they've received to their leadership PAC and candidate committees from the employees and PACs of various health-related industries and the health sector overall since 1989:
DailyMail (UK) Her father had just won agreement from the Russians to cut back on the world's stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
And Barack Obama's eldest daughter was obviously keen to make her own statement on the issue - even if it was merely a fashion statement.
Just 48 hours after the U.S. President signed agreements with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to reduce weapon stores, 11-year-old Malia Obama was spotted wearing not one, but two T-shirts with an anti-nuclear message.
She wore the tops emblazoned with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's famous logo as her father prepared for three days of G8 talks in Italy.
First there was a grey T-shirt bearing the CND logo to visit the Colosseum in Rome with her mother Michelle and seven-year-old sister Sasha. Then during the visit she swapped it for a mottled white and grey top also bearing the logo.
The symbol, designed for the CND in 1958, is now widely used to signify peace and is also an international sign for anti-war protesters.
Mr Obama spent two days in Moscow this week meeting president Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister and former president Vladimir Putin.
There the American and Russian leaders agreed a landmark deal to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
SaraCuda Resigns ! Palin Stepping Down as Governor
I really thought I was done talking about Sarah Palin, or at least hoped so, but today on the 4th of July eve we were hit with the bombshell that Governor Sarah Palin has chosen to step down from her 2 1/2 year Governor seat within a few weeks. Absolutely incredible ! In a news conference today in which she seemed totally spasmic, she explained that 'the media' had just been too hard on her.
Rumors of an "iceberg scandal" have been circulating.
Resignation is certainly out of character for Sarah Palin. Senator Mark Begich had a meeting with Sarah Palin two days ago with no mention of her leaving office. Palin's press secretary, David Murrow had posted on his Facebook page Wednesday, "David Murrow is considering life's ironies." He was hired less than a month ago. Yesterday he wrote, "There's gonna be some fireworks this weekend!"
Palin's father, Chuck Heath, told Fox News that he thought her resignation was due to the negativity from the media. According to Heath, the governor was unable to be effective while she was constantly having to defend herself against ethics complaints and the media.
You betcha!
The Alaska Report reports the following:Big dirty scandal about to hit the Palin universe Evidenced by Palin's announcement that she's stepping down today. Stay tuned...
UPDATE: Here's a link that breaks down her upcoming 'iceberg scandal':CLICK HERE
Will be fun to watch the right-wing pundits spin this total collapse as a brilliant move leading toward a victoriously glorious outcome....Yea right. What A Group !
Statement by the President on Health Care Reform Bill
Released by Senate HELP Committee Today
For decades, Washington has failed to act as health care costs continued to rise, crushing businesses, families and placing an unsustainable burden on governments. Today the Senate HELP committee has produced legislation that lowers costs, protects choice of doctors and plans and assures quality and affordable health care for Americans. The Congressional Budget Office has now issued a more complete review of this bill, concluding that it will cost less and cover more Americans than originally estimated. It also contains provisions that will protect the coverage Americans get at work. When merged with the Senate Finance Committee's companion pieces, the Senate will be prepared to vote for health reform legislation that does not add to the deficit, reduces health care costs and covers 97% of Americans.
The HELP Committee legislation reflects many of the principles I've laid out, such as reforms that will prohibit insurance companies from refusing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and the concept of insurance exchanges where individuals can find affordable coverage if they lose their jobs, move or get sick. Such a marketplace would allow families and some small businesses the benefit of one-stop-shopping for their health care coverage and enable them to compare price and quality and pick the plan that best suits their needs.
Among the choices that would be available in the exchange would be a public health insurance option. The public option would make health care affordable by increasing competition, providing more choices and keeping the insurance companies honest.
The legislation also improves the quality of patient care, improves safety for patients and strengthens the commitment to preventive health care and preventing people from getting sick in the first place.
I thank chairman Kennedy, Senator Dodd, and all the members of the HELP Committee for their hard work on health reform.
Iraq Celebrates U.S. Troop Departure Declares June 30 National Holiday: Their 'Independence Day'
BAGHDAD, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Iraqis prepared for a massive celebration in Baghdad on Monday as Iraqi security forces tightened security measures in Baghdad and others cities a day before the deadline of U.S. troops' withdrawal from cities and towns.
Baghdad mayoralty announced in a statement that a public party would be held at 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) at Baghdad's Zawraa Park, the biggest in the capital, to mark the "Day of National Sovereignty", as Iraqis named the June 30 date by which the U.S. troops would completely pull back from urban areas.
The celebration will be under the auspices of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the statement said, adding that singers and poets well-known to Iraqis, along with music groups will take the stage.
The June 30 date is seen as a milestone for the country's march toward sovereignty six years after U.S.-led invasion that toppled the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003.
However, a spate of bombings in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities last week claimed the lives of hundreds of Iraqis, casting doubt on the ability of Iraqi security forces to take over from U.S. troops in controlling security and defeat insurgency of both Shiite and Sunni militant groups in the war-torn country.
On Monday, security was tightened across Baghdad with the Iraqi Army and police were closing roads and carefully searching cars at dozens of checkpoints that spread across the capital.
"All of our troops are on high alert. There will be no days off. They are at their full strength across the country," said Maj. Gen. Abdul-Kareem Khalaf, spokesman for the interior ministry.
A few days ago, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki described the day of U.S. troops' pull back a "great victory" and called on Iraqi people to celebrate the event.
Meanwhile, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that the Iraqi government decided to hold a celebration on Monday, while on Tuesday, the day of June 30 itself, will be a public holiday.
As part of a security pact signed between Baghdad and Washington last year, U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraq's cities, towns and villages by June 30, 2009 to their bases, and will leave the country by Dec. 31, 2011.
Watch: WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Calls Energy Bill Passage Critical to Stronger American Economy
WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama praised the House of Representatives for passing the energy bill on Friday evening. This historic piece of legislation will not just lessen our dependence on foreign oil, but also spark a clean energy transformation in our economy that will create millions of new American jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced. Clean energy and the jobs it creates are critical to building a new foundation for our economy.
CLICK HERE if video does not appear through server
As a Veteran, a former State Director of Veterans Affairs and now as Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs I understand the urgent need to address homelessness. Last week’s meeting of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness with Secretary Shinseki, and his counterparts at HUD, Labor and HHS, took an important step in coordinating our efforts to eliminate homelessness in our country. The VA estimates that one-third of homeless Americans served in the military, so this partnership is central to our efforts to help these brave soldiers.
One important outcome of the meeting was the announcement of an additional $75 million in housing vouchers. This new money will provide shelter for an additional 10,000 homeless Veterans and their families. These resources offer vital support to a community in need.
For state and local Veterans’ agencies, these funds come at a time when many local budgets are being squeezed by the current economic situation. While the VA works hard to offer support services and case management to eligible homeless veterans, local agencies play a crucial role in the care of these individuals.
Our nation's Veterans placed the good of the nation before their own and we are all dishonored when even a single Veteran sleeps on the street. I am proud of this administration’s commitment to fulfilling our nation’s promise to these brave soldiers. I look forward to working with my colleagues throughout government and the private sector to continue to fight this problem and make sure that no Veteran or American has to face the harsh reality of being homeless.
Tammy Duckworth is the Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
[Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.]
[Updated at 2:46 p.m.: Jackson is in a coma and his family is arriving at his bedside, a law enforcement source told The Times.
Jackson was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center this afternoon by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics.
Fire Capt. Steve Ruda said paramedics responded to a call at Jackson's home at 12:26 p.m. He was not breathing when they arrived. The paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and took him to the hospital, Ruda told The Times.
[Updated at 2:12 p.m.: Paramedics were called to a home in the 100 block of Carolwood Drive off Sunset Boulevard. Jackson had rented the Bel-Air home for $100,000 a month. It was described as a French chateau estate built in 2002 with seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces and a theater.
The home is about 2 1/2 miles, about a six-minute drive, from UCLA Medical Center. An earlier version of this post incorrectly described the time to travel between the home and hospital as two minutes.]
The news comes as Jackson, 50, was attempting a comeback after years of tabloid headlines, most notably his trial and acquittal on child molestation charges.
In May, The Times reported that Jackson had rented the Bel-Air residence and was rehearsing for a series of 50 sold-out shows in London's O2 Arena. Jackson had won the backing of two billionaires to get the so-called "King of Pop" back on stage.
His backers envision the shows at AEG's O2 as an audition for a career rebirth that could ultimately encompass a three-year world tour, a new album, movies, a Graceland-like museum, musical revues in Las Vegas and Macau, and even a "Thriller" casino. Such a rebound could wipe out Jackson's massive debt.
Ohio Governor Strickland Plans Will CLOSE PUBLIC LIBRARIES !
B4B NOTE: TIME IS RUNNING OUT ! Ohio legislators to vote on library budget cuts to close Ohio libraries TOMORROW (Saturday). We must bombard them with phone calls/emails TODAY !
It is absolutely unbelievable that MY Governor would literally CLOSE many of the public libraries possibly as soon as July 1, 2009 ! This is a travesty. We need your help. Even if you don't live in Ohio please call the Media (see media contact list on our site) to help expose this, as well as Governor Strickland and other legislator's offices (see numbers below) to say "Vote NO On Public Library Budget Cuts" .
At a news conference on Friday, June 19, the Governor proposed a cut to state funding for public libraries of $227.3 million in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 as part of his plan to fill the $3.2 billion gap in the budget that must be balanced by the Ohio General Assembly's Conference Committee by June 30.
The proposal amounts to a 30% cut in funding for Ohio's public libraries. This cut is in addition to the 20% reduction in funding that libraries are already facing, because their funding comes from 2.22% of the state's declining General Revenue Fund.
Libraries could close or face significant reductions in operations as a result of the Governor's proposal. With some 70% of the state's 251 public libraries relying solely on state funding to fund their operations, the reduction in funding will mean that many will close branches or drastically reduce hours and services.
The Governor's proposed funding cuts come at a time when Ohio's public libraries are experiencing unprecedented increases in demands for services. In every community throughout the state, Ohioans are turning to their public library for free high speed Internet access and help with employment searches, children and teens are beginning summer reading programs, and people of all ages are turning to the library as a lifeline during these difficult economic times. Ohio's public libraries offer CRITICAL services to those looking for jobs and operating small businesses. Public libraries are an integral part of education, which Governor Strickland says is critical to the state's economic recovery. But it is unlikely that many of Ohio's public library systems, especially those without local levies, can remain open with these proposed cuts.
About 30% of Ohio's public libraries have local property tax levies that supplement the state's funding. However, with the Governor's proposed drastic cuts in the state funding for libraries, even those libraries will face decisions regarding substantial reductions in hours of operation, materials, and staffing.
What can I do to help Save Ohio Libraries?
Contact the below listed legislators TODAY ! They are the ones who will vote yes or no on Saturday June 27, 2009 regarding massive budget cuts for Ohio's Public Libraries. Tell them THEY MUST VOTE NO ON LIBRARY BUDGET CUTS.
I’m writing to share a special video of Barack talking about fatherhood, but first I want to share some thoughts of my own.
My father, Frasier Robinson, was the rock of our family. Although he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his early thirties, he was our provider, our champion and our hero.
He worked tirelessly through good days and bad to make sure my brother and I had every opportunity he didn't -- to go to college and pursue our dreams. His example continues to guide me every day.
Barack didn't have my good fortune -- his father left when he was just two years old. But he has always been determined to give our daughters what he never had, and he values being a good father more than any other accomplishment in his life.
On Friday, Barack brought some men (and a bunch of kids!) to the White House to talk about fatherhood. Check out a video of the event:
We all know the remarkable impact fathers can have in our children's lives. So today, on this 100th anniversary of Father's Day, take a moment to celebrate responsible fatherhood and the men who've had the courage to step up, be there for our families, and provide our children with the guidance, love and support they need to fulfill their dreams.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. And let me, first of all, thank John and Joe and Juan Carlos and Etan and Mike for sharing their remarkable stories with us. And let me thank Mike Strautmanis for helping to guide us through this -- where did Mike go? There he is, over there.
A couple other people that I want to acknowledge -- first of all, our terrific Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is here in the house. (Applause.) A dear friend of mine, former colleague in the Senate, Senator Evan Bayh is here. (Applause.) Chicago's own, Congressman Danny Davis, from the West Side. Where's Danny? He was here a second ago. Give him a round of applause anyway. (Applause.)
And I want to thank kids from "Life Pieces to Master Pieces," and Foundry United Methodist Church. Thank you very much for your participation. (Applause.) I want to thank members of the Faith-Based Advisory Council's Subcommittee on Fatherhood that has helped us to organize these events today.
Good afternoon, everybody. It is wonderful to see you. I see some familiar faces in the house. Rev, how are you doing? It is great to have all of you here today as we gear up to celebrate Father’s Day and to recognize the vital role that fathers play in our communities and obviously in our families.
This town hall marks the beginning of a national conversation that we hope to start about fatherhood and personal responsibility -- about how fathers across America are meeting the challenges in their families and communities, and what government can do to support those who are having a difficult time. Today, you’ve had a chance to hear from five of those fathers, men who are doing an outstanding job of meeting their obligations in their own lives.
We all know the difference that a responsible, committed father like those five gentlemen can make in the life of a child. Fathers are our first teachers and coaches. They’re our mentors and they're our role models. They set an example of success and they push us to succeed; encourage us when we’re struggling; and they love us even when we disappoint them, and they stand by us when nobody else will.
And when fathers are absent -- when they abandon their responsibilities to their children -- we know the damage that that does to our families. Some of you know the statistics: Children who grow up without fathers are more likely to drop out of school and wind up in prison. They’re more likely to have substance abuse problems, run away from home, and become teenage parents themselves.
And I say this as someone who grew up without a father in my own life. I had a heroic mom and wonderful grandparents who helped raise me and my sister, and it's because of them that I'm able to stand here today. But despite all their extraordinary love and attention, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel my father's absence. That's something that leaves a hole in a child’s heart that a government can't fill.
Our government can build the best schools with the best teachers on Earth, but we still need fathers to ensure that the kids are coming home and doing their homework, and having a book instead of the TV remote every once in a while. Government can put more cops on the streets, but only fathers can make sure that those kids aren’t on the streets in the first place. Government can create good jobs, but we need fathers to train for these jobs and hold down these jobs and provide for their families.
If we want our children to succeed in life, we need fathers to step up. We need fathers to understand that their work doesn’t end with conception -- that what truly makes a man a father is the ability to raise a child and invest in that child.
We need fathers to be involved in their kids’ lives not just when it’s easy -- not just during the afternoons in the park or at the zoo, when it’s all fun and games -- but when it’s hard, when young people are struggling, and there aren’t any quick fixes or easy answers, and that's when young people need compassion and patience, as well as a little bit of tough love.
Now, this is a challenge even in good times. And it can be especially tough during times like these, when parents have a lot on their minds -- they're worrying about keeping their jobs, or keeping their homes or their health care, paying their bills, trying to give their children the same opportunities that they had. And so it's understandable that parents get concerned, some fathers who feel they can't support their families, get distracted. And even those who are more fortunate may be physically present, but emotionally absent.
I know that some of the young men who are here today might have their own concerns one day about being a dad. Some of you might be worried that if you didn’t have a father, then you don't know how to be one when your turn comes. Some of you might even use that as an excuse, and say, “Well, if my dad wasn’t around, why should I be?”
Let’s be clear: Just because your own father wasn’t there for you, that’s not an excuse for you to be absent also -- it’s all the more reason for you to be present. There’s no rule that says that you have to repeat your father’s mistakes. Just the opposite -- you have an obligation to break the cycle and to learn from those mistakes, and to rise up where your own fathers fell short and to do better than they did with your own children.
That’s what I’ve tried to do in my life. When my daughters were born, I made a pledge to them, and to myself, that I would do everything I could to give them some things I didn’t have. And I decided that if I could be one thing in life, it would be to be a good father.
I haven’t always known exactly how to do that. I’ve made my share of mistakes; I've had to ask a lot of questions. But I've also learned from men that I admire. And one good example is Michelle’s father, Frasier Robinson, who was a shining example of loving, responsible fatherhood. Here is a man who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was 30 years old, but he still got up every day, went to a blue-collar job. By the time I knew him he was using two crutches to get around, but he always was able to get to every dance recital, every ballgame of Michelle's brother. He was there constantly, and helped to shape extraordinary success for his children.
And that’s the standard that I strive for, though I don’t always meet it. And as I’ve said before, I've made mistakes as a parent, and I'm sure I will make plenty more. There have been days when the demands of work have taken me from my duties as a father and I’ve missed some moments in my daughters’ lives that I’ll never get back. So I’ve been far from perfect.
But in the end, it’s not about being perfect. It’s not always about succeeding; but it’s about always trying. And that's something everybody can do. It’s about showing up and sticking with it; and going back at it when you mess up; and letting your kids know -- not just with words, but with deeds -- that you love them and that you're always -- they're always your first priority.
And we need dads -- but also men who aren’t dads -- to make this kind of commitment not just in their own homes to their own families, but to the many young people out there who aren’t lucky enough to have responsible adults in their lives. We need committed, compassionate men to serve as mentors and tutors, and big brothers and foster parents. Even if it’s just for a couple hours a week of shooting hoops, or helping with homework, or just talking about what’s going on in that young person's life. Even the smallest moments can end up having an enormous impact, a lasting impact on a child’s life.
So I am grateful to many of the organizations that are here, that are working on these issues. Some are faith-based; some are not. Some are government funded; some are privately funded. But all of you have those same commitments to making sure that we are lifting up the importance of fatherhood in our communities.
This is not the end, this is the beginning, of what I hope is going to be a national dialogue. And we're going to have regional town hall meetings, as Mike may have mentioned, to make sure that participants all across the country are starting to have that positive effect in their communities.
And I especially want to thank the young people who are here today, because you're the ones who are going to have to carry -- (applause) -- this forward.
“I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.
“Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time.”
President Barack Obama
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The below video shows that white supremacist killer
B4B NOTE: Is this the type of person whom the right-wing hate radio/media is directing their code-phrase messages of incitement and deadly hate ?
WE SAY YES !
We need volunteers who will monitor as often as you can the right-wing radio/media 'messengers of hate' (CONTACT US IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHO). Please write down code phrase comment(s)...who said it...day/date...time. Send this information to Blacks4Barack. We will then compile this information and turn it over to proper authorities.
It is absolutely illegal to spew deadly innuendo via the media
Good afternoon.Thank you President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Brown, Prime Minister Harper, and Prince Charles for being here today.Thank you to our Secretary of Veterans Affairs, General Eric Shinseki for making the trip out here to join us.Thanks also to Susan Eisenhower, whose grandfather began this mission sixty-five years ago with a simple charge: “Ok, let’s go.”And to a World War II veteran who returned home from this war to serve a proud and distinguished career as a United States Senator and national leader:Bob Dole.
I am not the first American president to come and mark this anniversary, and I likely will not be the last.It is an event that has long brought to this coast both heads of state and grateful citizens; veterans and their loved ones; the liberated and their liberators. It has been written about and spoken of and depicted in countless books and films and speeches.And long after our time on this Earth has passed, one word will still bring forth the pride and awe of men and women who will never meet the heroes who sit before us:D-Day.
Why is this?Of all the battles in all the wars across the span of human history, why does this day hold such a revered place in our memory?What is it about the struggle that took place on these sands behind me that brings us back here to remember year after year after year?
Part of it, I think, is the size of the odds that weighed against success.For three centuries, no invader had ever been able to cross the English Channel into Normandy .And it had never been more difficult than in 1944.
That was the year that Hitler ordered his top field marshal to fortify the Atlantic Wall against a seaborne invasion.From the tip of Norway to southern France , the Nazis lined steep cliffs with machine guns and artillery.Low-lying areas were flooded to block passage.Sharpened poles awaited paratroopers.Mines were laid on the beaches and beneath the water.And by the time of the invasion, half a million Germans waited for the Allies along the coast between Holland and Northern France .
At dawn on June 6th, the Allies came.The best chance for victory had been for the British Royal Air Corps to take out the guns on the cliffs while airborne divisions parachuted behind enemy lines.But all did not go according to plan.Paratroopers landed miles from their mark, while the fog and the clouds prevented Allied planes from destroying the guns on the cliffs.So when the ships landed here at Omaha , an unimaginable hell rained down on the men inside.Many never made it out of the boats.
And yet, despite all of this, one by one, the Allied forces made their way to shore – here, and at Utah and Juno; Gold and Sword.They were American, British, and Canadian.Soon, the paratroopers found each other and fought their way back.The Rangers scaled the cliffs.And by the end of the day, against all odds, the ground on which we stand was free once more.
The sheer improbability of this victory is part of what makes D-Day so memorable.It also arises from the clarity of purpose with which this war was waged.
We live in a world of competing beliefs and claims about what is true.It is a world of varied religions and cultures and forms of government.In such a world, it is rare for a struggle to emerge that speaks to something universal about humanity.
The Second World War did that.No man who shed blood or lost a brother would say that war is good.But all know that this war was essential.For what we faced in Nazi totalitarianism was not just a battle of competing interests.It was a competing vision of humanity.Nazi ideology sought to subjugate, humiliate, and exterminate.It perpetrated murder on a massive scale, fueled by a hatred of those who were deemed different and therefore inferior. It was evil.
The nations and leaders that joined together to defeat Hitler’s Reich were not perfect.We had made our share of mistakes, and had not always agreed with one another on every issue.But whatever God we prayed to, whatever our differences, we knew that the evil we faced had to be stopped.Citizens of all faiths and no faith came to believe that we could not remain as bystanders to the savage perpetration of death and destruction.And so we joined and sent our sons to fight and often die so that men and women they never met might know what it is to be free.
In America , it was an endeavor that inspired a nation to action. A President who asked his country to pray on D-Day also asked its citizens to serve and sacrifice to make the invasion possible.On farms and in factories, millions of men and women worked three shifts a day, month after month, year after year.Trucks and tanks came from plants in Michigan and Indiana ; New York and Illinois .Bombers and fighter planes rolled off assembly lines in Ohio and Kansas , where my grandmother did her part as an inspector.Shipyards on both coasts produced the largest fleet in history, including the landing craft from New Orleans that eventually made it here to Omaha .
But despite all the years of planning and preparation; despite the inspiration of our leaders, the skill of our generals, the strength of our firepower and the unyielding support from our home front, the outcome of the entire struggle would ultimately rest on the success of one day in June.
Lyndon Johnson once said that there are certain moments when “…history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom.”
D-Day was such a moment.One newspaper noted that “we have come to the hour for which we were born.”Had the Allies failed here, Hitler’s occupation of this continent might have continued indefinitely.Instead, victory here secured a foothold in France .It opened a path to Berlin .And it made possible the achievements that followed the liberation of Europe :the Marshall Plan, the NATO alliance, and the shared prosperity and security that flowed from each.
It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the twentieth century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only six miles long and two miles wide.
More particularly, it came down to the men who landed here – those who now rest in this place for eternity, and those who are with us today.Perhaps more than any other reason, you, the veterans of that landing, are why we still remember what happened on D-Day.You are why we come back.
For you remind us that in the end, human destiny is not determined by forces beyond our control.You remind us that our future is not shaped by mere chance or circumstance.Our history has always been the sum total of the choices made and the actions taken by each individual man or woman.It has always been up to us.
You could have done what Hitler believed you would do when you arrived here.In the face of a merciless assault from these cliffs, you could have idled the boats offshore. Amid a barrage of tracer bullets that lit the night sky, you could have stayed in those planes.You could have hid in the hedgerows or waited behind the sea wall.You could have done only what was necessary to ensure your own survival.
But that’s not what you did.That’s not the story you told on D-Day.Your story was written by men like Zane Schlemmer [SHLEM er] of the 82nd Airborne, who parachuted into a dark marsh, far from his objective and his men.Lost and alone, he still managed to fight his way through the gunfire and help liberate the town in which he landed – a town where a street now bears his name.
It’s a story written by men like Anthony Ruggiero [Ru gee AIR o], an Army Ranger who saw half the men on his landing craft drown when it was hit by shellfire just a thousand yards off this beach.He spent three hours in freezing water, and was one of only 90 Rangers to survive out of the 225 who were sent to scale the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc [Pwante-doo-ock]
And it’s a story written by so many who are no longer with us, like Carlton Barrett.Private Barrett was only supposed to serve as a guide for the 1st Infantry Division, but he instead became one of its heroes.After wading ashore in neck-deep water, he returned to the water again and again to save his wounded and drowning comrades.And under the heaviest possible enemy fire, he actually carried them to safety.He carried them in his own arms.
This is the story of the Allied victory.It is the legend of units like Easy Company and the All-American 82nd.It is the tale of the British people, whose courage during the Blitz forced Hitler to call off the invasion of England; the Canadians, who came even though they were never attacked; the Russians, who sustained some of the war’s heaviest casualties on the Eastern front; and all those French men and women who would rather have died resisting tyranny than lived within its grasp.
It is the memories that have been passed on to so many of us about the service or sacrifice of a friend or relative.For me, it is my grandfather, Stanley Dunham, who arrived on this beach six weeks after D-Day and marched across Europe in Patton’s Army.And it is my great uncle who was part of the first American division to reach and liberate a Nazi concentration camp.His name is Charles Payne, and I am so proud that he is here with us today.
I know this trip doesn’t get any easier as the years pass, but for those of you who make it, there’s nothing that could keep you away.One such veteran, a man named Jim Norene [Nor EEN], was a member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne.Last night, after visiting this cemetery for one last time, he passed away in his sleep.Jim was gravely ill when he left his home, and he knew that he might not return.But just as he did sixty-five years ago, he came anyway.May he now rest in peace with the boys he once bled with, and may his family always find solace in the heroism he showed here.
In the end, Jim Norene came back to Normandy for the same reason we all come back.He came for the reason articulated by Howard Huebner [HUBE ner], another former paratrooper who’s here with us today.When asked why he made the trip, Howard said, “It’s important that we tell our stories.It doesn’t have to be something big…just a little story about what happened – so people don’t forget.”
So people don’t forget.
Friends and veterans, what we cannot forget – what we must not forget – is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century.At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found it within themselves to do the extraordinary.They fought for their moms and sweethearts back home, for the fellow warriors they came to know as brothers. And they fought out of a simple sense of duty – a duty sustained by the same ideals for which their countrymen had fought and bled for over two centuries.
That is the story of Normandy – but also the story of America .Of the minutemen who gathered on a green in Lexington ; of the Union boys from Maine who repelled a charge at Gettysburg ; of the men who gave their last full measure at Inchon and Khe San; of all the young men and women whose valor and goodness still carry forward this legacy of service and sacrifice.It is a story that has never come easy, but one that always gives us hope.For as we face down the hardships and struggles of our time, and arrive at that hour for which we were born, we cannot help but draw strength from those moments in history when the best among us were somehow able to swallow their fears and secure a beachhead on an unforgiving shore.To those men who achieved that victory sixty-five years ago, I thank you for your service.May God Bless you, and may God Bless the memory of all those who rest here.
Related Article: Forgotten all-Black battalion that landed in Normandy, France on D-Day to be honored on anniversary of siege (hat-tip Jack & Jill Politics)
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