Obama Care: Apr 8, 2013

Monday, April 8, 2013

President Honors Late PFLAG Founder With Citizens Medal

Today, President Obama awarded the Presidential Citizens Medals to several recipients, among whom was the late Jeanne Manford, who publicly defended her gay son and founded Parents, Friends, & Family of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to advocate for other gay sons. Here is what Obama said about her in his remarks:

When Jeanne Manford learned that her son Morty had been badly beaten up at a gay rights demonstration, nobody would have faulted her for bringing him home, holding him close, just focusing on her child. This was back in 1972. There was a lot of hate, a lot of vitriol towards gays and lesbians and anyone who supported them. But instead, she wrote to the local newspaper and took to the streets with a simple message: No matter who her son was — no matter who he loved –- she loved him, and wouldn’t put up with this kind of nonsense. And in that simple act, she inspired a movement and gave rise to a national organization that has given so much support to parents and families and friends, and helped to change this country. We lost Jeanne last month, but her legacy carries on, every day, in the countless lives that she touched. [...]
Accepting on behalf of Jeanne Manford, her daughter Suzanne Swan. (Applause.) In an era when peaceful protests were met with violence and coming out was a radical act, Jeanne Manford knew she had to stand by her son, Morty. Side-by-side, they marched proudly down the streets of New York on Stonewall’s anniversary, calling upon other parents of gay and lesbian Americans to show their children the same love and acceptance. Jeanne’s courage lives on in progress she fought for and in PFLAG, the organization she founded, which today claims more than 200,000 members and supporters in over 350 chapters. For insisting that equality knows no bounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, the United States honors Jeanne Manford. (Applause.)

The Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest civilian award, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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’2016: Obama’s America’ Mailed To Every Member Of Congress

Disgraced former college president and conservative pseudointellectual Dinesh D’Souza would very much like to be relevant again:

While President Barack Obama was finishing up the State of the Union address during a nationally televised speech Tuesday night, hundreds of copies of a DVD featuring an interview with his impoverished half-brother were being mailed to senators, congressmen, the governors of all 50 states and the nine Supreme Court justices.
One copy of the movie, 2016: Obama’s America, also was mailed to the president at his White House address and another went to Vice President Joe Biden. The film tries to make the point that Obama’s agenda is bad for America and that the rationale for his policies stems from a hard-left ideology that was instilled in him by the example set by his absentee father.

2016: Obama’s America is the second best-performing political documentary of all time. But just because it drew a paranoid sector of the electorate to the box office doesn’t mean it’s an effective political advocacy tool. Congress already has a terrifying number of members who believe that President Obama is a socialist whose birthplace remains in question, and who probably aren’t going to make time to watch a movie that reaffirms their convictions. And I doubt that Nancy Pelosi is going to settle in for movie night with some popcorn and end the evening shaken, dash her oversized pearl necklaces to the floor, and hustle off to brunch with Michele Bachmann to discuss how they can work together. In both cases, no matter what members of Congress (and Joe Biden) think of the president and his ideological motivations, the fact remains that Barack Obama was reelected. That he is president and has the power to push for legislation and make executive orders and decisions is a fact, and not something that you can wish away.

Besides, if you’re going to entertain Congress with insane conspiracy theories about President Obama, the actual documentary to watch is Dreams From My Real Father. A truly uproarious piece of cinema, the movie uses old pin-up photos to argue that Obama’s actual father is the left labor activist, publisher, and deeply pretentious poet Frank Marshall Davis, and suggests that Obama had a nose job so he’d look less like his real father. The movie never explains why it would have been better for Stanley Ann Dunham to have become pregnant by a Kenyan PhD candidate than a semi-wacky American. But its self-seriousness is at least really, really funny. And it’s a truly delightful illustration of how deranged Obama’s made people. This movement isn’t just about deligitimizing his claim to the presidency. It’s about running permanently down rabbit holes.

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Remarks by President Obama and President Napolitano Before Bilateral Meeting

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Oval Office

10:10 A.M. EST

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I want to extend the warmest greetings to my good friend, President Napolitano, on a return visit to the White House. I think it’s entirely appropriate the day after Valentine’s Day, since we know that St. Valentine was associated with Italy, that we had a chance to express our love for the Italian people and my high regard for President Napolitano.

He has been an extraordinary leader not just in Italy but also in Europe. We’ve had occasion to meet many times in which we have expressed again and again the importance of the transatlantic relationship, and the deep and abiding friendship and connection and bond between the Italian people and the American people.

And obviously, we have constantly talked about the extraordinary connection that derives from the tradition of Italian-Americans making enormous contributions to the United States. President Napolitano has been so gracious in talking about his memories of the role that America played in liberating Europe and instituting the kinds of democratic practices and traditions that have served both sides of the Atlantic so well for so many years.

I want to thank the people of Italy for their enormous contributions to the NATO Alliance. Italy is one of our biggest contributors in Afghanistan, and makes enormous sacrifices. They welcome and host our troops on Italian soil. The economic bonds between our two countries are very significant. And in all this, President Napolitano has shown himself to be a visionary leader who has helped to guide and steer Europe towards greater unification, but always with a strong transatlantic relationship in mind.

The last point I would make is that President Napolitano has also just been a good personal friend, a tremendous host to my family when they visited Italy. You should know, Mr. President, that one of the few things that my daughters asked me after I was reelected was, does this mean we can go back to Italy again? (Laughter.) So I confirmed to them that any excuse we can find to visit Italy, we shall return hopefully.

And this will give us an opportunity to not only visit but also to talk about some important issues, including the world economy. I announced at the State of the Union this week my interest and intention in pursuing a U.S.-European Union free trade agreement, which I know is something of great interest to the President. I’ll be interested in hearing from him how he anticipates the elections and government formation in Italy and what implications that has for the larger European project. And I’m sure we’ll have a chance to talk about some national security issues as well.

But my main message is to say thank you for your extraordinary service, and I’m so glad that we had an opportunity to visit once again before you move onto even better things -- I assume they’re at least having more fun than politics.

PRESIDENT NAPOLITANO: Thank you very much. I don’t need to say how deeply touched I am by the generous appreciation we just had of my long public service in the interest of Italy, of our alliance, of our common goals. And I am grateful to President Obama for inviting me to pay a farewell visit at the White House, and for giving me the opportunity of an exchange of ideas before I complete my presidential mandate.

I am sure that we will be able today to express a common sense of confidence in the future of Italy and of U.S.-Italy relations; more generally speaking, in the future of our joint commitment to advance global peace, democracy, and human rights.

Italy has made remarkable progress in the past 14 months -- the Italian government, with parliamentary support of different and even opposite political forces, and with the comprehension of different social groups and of all citizens. While this progress must and will continue and be developed because Italy needs it, Europe needs it, and I think the world as a whole needs it.

The announcement which has been made -- just made in Brussels and in Washington was significant because I was impressed by the words we, the leaders of the European Union and of the United States towards a beautiful incipit. And as well, I think that trade -- the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, which will be realized -- now we are the opening talks -- but I am sure about also the conclusion can represent a relevant contribution for promoting a new wave of development of technologic advancement of social justice on both shores of the Atlantic. And I think it can represent even something more. It is to say a new historic stage in relations between Europe and the United States -- not only economically, but also from a political and moral point of view.

My conviction is that the effect that a shift has been taking place in the center of gravity of the world development of international relations doesn’t cancel at all the crucial importance of transatlantic alliance, of transatlantic relations. On the contrary -- it represents a new stimulus for us to make such a framework of relation more active, more competitive. It is absolutely necessary for a better world to have our common heritage of values and experiences be a decisive factor also in the course of globalization in the next future.

It is the spirit in which I adhere to testify once more my personal friendship and my admiration for President Obama, only deploring that the visit of the President and his family in Rome was so short, and expecting a new visit also in my new capacity. I be in another palace, but I be there to welcome you.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: That’s great. Thank you.

END
10:18 A.M. EST

President Obama Welcomes Italian President Napolitano

The two leaders discussed the world economy and President Obama's plan to pursue a U.S.-European Union free trade agreement, which was mentioned in his State of the Union address earlier this week.

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

Cecilia Muñoz, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, answers questions from the public about immigration reform and President Obama's State of the Union Address in an “Open for Questions” session moderated by Elianne Ramos from LATISM.

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White House Announces 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll

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For Immediate Release February 15, 2013 White House Announces 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll

The President and First Lady announced today that this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll will be held on Monday, April 1st. The event will feature live music, sports courts, cooking stations, storytelling and, of course, Easter egg rolling. In support of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to ensure that all our children grow up healthy and reach their full potential, the activities will encourage children to lead healthy, active lives. The White House will open its South Lawn for children ages 13 years and younger and their families.

White House Easter Egg Roll tickets will be distributed through an online lottery system, allowing guests from across the United States to participate in a tradition that dates back to 1878. The lottery will open for entries on February 21st at 10:00 AM EST and close on February 25th at 10:00 AM EST. Tickets are free of charge and are non-transferable. Full ticketing details can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll.

To place your commemorative egg order, please visit www.recreation.gov, and follow the link to the online Easter egg store.

For the most up-to-date information on the Easter Egg Roll and other public events at the White House, please visit www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll or call the Visitors Office 24-hour information line at (202) 456-7041. Media details will be released in the coming weeks.

Blog posts on this issue February 15, 2013 6:41 PM ESTPresident Obama Welcomes Italian President Napolitano

The two leaders discussed the world economy and President Obama's plan to pursue a U.S.-European Union free trade agreement, which was mentioned in his State of the Union address earlier this week.

February 15, 2013 6:32 PM ESTWeekly Wrap Up: “We Don’t Give Up”

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

February 15, 2013 4:45 PM ESTOpen For Questions: The State of the Union and Immigration Reform

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The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America

The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America | The White House Skip to main content | Skip to footer site map The White House. President Barack Obama Get Email Updates Contact Us Go to homepage. The White House Blog Photos & Videos Photo Galleries Video Performances Live Streams Podcasts 2012: A Year in Photos

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Inside the White House Interactive Tour West Wing Tour Video Series Décor and Art Holidays Presidents First Ladies The Oval Office The Vice President's Residence & Office Eisenhower Executive Office Building Camp David Air Force One White House Fellows President’s Commission About the Fellowship Current Class Staff Bios News and Newsletters White House Internships About Program Presidential Department Descriptions Selection Process Internship Timeline & FAQs Tours & Events 2012 Easter Egg Roll Kitchen Garden Tours Mobile Apps Our Government The Executive Branch The Legislative Branch The Judicial Branch The Constitution Federal Agencies & Commissions Elections & Voting State & Local Government Resources /* Maximize height of menu features. */if(typeof(jQuery)!='undefined')jQuery.each($('#topnav'),function(i,v){var o=$(v),oh=o.height(),sh=o.siblings().height();if(oh Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House

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For Immediate Release February 12, 2013 The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America

The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America can be found HERE.

Blog posts on this issue February 13, 2013 6:39 PM ESTImproving the Security of the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure

President Obama issued an Executive Order directing federal departments and agencies to use their existing authorities to provide better cybersecurity for the Nation, efforts that will by necessity involve increased collaboration with the private sector.

February 13, 2013 5:15 PM ESTOpen for Questions: The State of the Union and the Economy

Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, answered questions from the public about President Obama's State of the Union Address in an “Open for Questions” session moderated by Yahoo! Finance. Check it out below.

February 13, 2013 4:55 PM ESTFirst Lady Michelle Obama hosts a “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Movie Workshop for Students

The stars of the Oscar-nominated drama joined Mrs. Obama to help teach students about the hard work required to create a beautiful movie.

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11 GOP Governors Still Need To Decide Whether Or Not To Deny Health Care To Low-Income Americans

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) announced on Wednesday that he will turn down Obamacare’s optional expansion of the Medicaid program, which makes him the thirteenth Republican leader to refuse to extend public health insurance to additional low-income Americans. Six GOP governors — in Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio and Nevada — have expressed support for expanding Medicaid, and the rest still need to decide what they want to do about that particular provision of the health reform law.

And even though most GOP leaders claim that expanding Medicaid would be too costly, they’re actually being lobbied by hospital companies, economists, and health care experts who all say the financial benefits — since the federal government will fully fund the first several years of expansion — are too good to turn down:

“It’s fascinating, because on the political level, it’s a classic clash between money and politics,” said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere health advisory company. He said he and his 170 advisers working with the health care industry are hearing plenty about expansion.
“It sets up a really difficult tension between the Republican governors and the hospitals, but there’s an increasing level of political cover being given to the governors to expand their programs,” Mendelson said. [...]
In Florida, a recent poll found that 60% of residents would like to see Medicaid expanded, Mendelson said. Several economic studies have found the states may benefit both by federal funds going into local economies, as well as taxes from those sales going back into the coffers of local government.

The significant federal funds allocated to states that choose to expand Medicaid led the hospital industry to wonder if governors were bluffing about rejecting the expansion. That quickly proved not to be the case, as stubborn GOP politicians in some of the states with the highest rates of uninsurance in the nation still refused to cooperate with the health care reform law.

Diverse coalitions across the country have partnered to pressure resistant lawmakers to expand their Medicaid programs. The growing list of GOP governors who have accepted the optional expansion over the past few weeks seemed to signal that political deadlock may soon give way to reality, but the remaining Republican leaders may buck that trend when they eventually announce their own decisions.

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NOM Claims Marriage Equality ‘Makes Fathers Irrelevant’

Jeremy Hooper noticed this audacious graphic the National Organization for Marriage is using to help promote its opposition to marriage equality:

Hooper’s own example that he and his husband have just been court-certified to adopt children is a compelling debunk in and of itself. That’s a family where fathers will be twice as relevant!

But it’s important to identify the distortion at root in NOM’s graphic. The first quote from President Obama refers to men who have children who they don’t support. The second quote refers to both men and women who have children they are raising as a family who deserve the same legal protections as all other families.

NOM believes it can make this claim because of studies that show children whose fathers have abandoned them do not fare as well as they grow up. Even though they do not ever even include same-sex parents, anti-equality groups conflate these “fatherless” studies to draw the same conclusions about lesbian couples (i.e. no “father”) who are raising children together. When ThinkProgress debunked such a usage, NOM’s own Ruth Institute attacked us, ultimately revealing another conflation: between “intact families” and “families with a mom and a dad.”

In other words, this graphic proves two distinct realities about NOM. First, the organization either has no real conception of what same-sex families look like, or they don’t care. Secondly, they are perfectly willing to lie, scapegoating the President in the process, to gin up support for their anti-gay positions.

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Dem lawmaker tweets college co-ed, then deletes messages

Rep. Steve Cohen repeatedly tweeted, and then deleted, messages to a woman on Twitter who his office is calling “the daughter of a longtime friend” and who has the same name as a Texas State University blonde bombshell featured in a college co-ed calendar.

In a Tuesday night message ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union address, a Twitter user named Victoria Brink tweeted to the Tennessee Democrat, “just saw you on tv!”

According to a tweet captured by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation’s Politiwoops site, Cohen replied to Brink, “pleased u r watching. Ilu” The tweet was deleted after three minutes.

Both Wikipedia and UrbanDictionary.com define “ilu” as Internet slang for either “I love you” or “I like you.”

In another message sent Wednesday morning, Cohen wrote again to Brink on Twitter: “nice to know you were watchin SOTU (state of the union.) Happy Valentines beautiful girl. Ilu.” That message was deleted within 15 minutes of being posted.

A biography of Victoria Brink on CollegeDozen.com says the 24-year-old, who is seen posing in a turquoise and pink bikini, plans on “moving back to Beverly Hills or Houston to pursue a career in the fashion industry and do modeling on the side,” following her graduation.

Brink writes on the site that she has a 3.0 grade point average and some of her favorite activities include “floating the river at Dons, pool parties, beer-ritas at Chimy’s, and going out on the Square with my friends.”

The 63-year-old lawmaker is a longtime bachelor. He once told The Hill of his early years in the Tennessee state legislature, “Having been out there so long, I used to be on the most eligible bachelors list. I don’t think you get promoted to the emeritus level. I think you become ineligible.”

Cohen’s spokesman, Michael Pagan, tells ITK that his boss and Brink “are pretty much like family.” Adding, “There’s nothing going on there. He actually has a longtime girlfriend in Memphis.”

When ITK pressed Pagan why Cohen was writing “ilu” and wishing the Twitter user a happy Valentine’s Day, he responded, “That I do not know.”

The press secretary explained of the deleted tweets, “He meant to do it as a private message and then he realized he did it publicly.”

Pagan repeated, “There’s nothing inappropriate going on.”

Brink could not be reached for comment.

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House can no longer ignore violence against LGBT community

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House can no longer ignore violence against LGBT communityBy Sharon Stapel, executive director, New York City Anti-Violence Project-02/13/13 02:30 PM ET !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

On Tuesday, February 12th, the Senate passed S. 47, a bill that reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) by a 78-22 margin. VAWA is our nation’s response to domestic and sexual violence and provides the greatest source of programming and funding for survivors of domestic and sexual violence in the United States. The bill is inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), immigrant and Tribal survivors. These underserved communities were determined to be priorities of the more than 2,000 victim services advocates across the country who worked for the past two years to create a bill that reaches all victims.

VAWA will now be taken up in the House of Representatives. Many members of Congress have expressed their opposition to the inclusion of LGBT survivors of violence. Some have suggested that they don’t know if LGBT survivors of violence even need to be included in VAWA. These arguments suggest an inevitable impasse, conditions that we saw in the 112th Congress. But although much of the markings of this process seem the same, I think there is one critical difference between the 112th and 113th Congress: A CDC Report issued on January 28, 2013 just 25 days after the 113th Congress was sworn into office.

On this day the Centers for Disease Control released the first nationally representative prevalence estimates of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence among those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual in the United States and the results were stark. Lesbians, gay men and bisexual people experience sexual and intimate partner violence at the same or higher rates as heterosexual people. Nearly 44 percent of lesbians and 26 percent of gay men have been the victim of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner over the course of their lifetime. The CDC found the following prevalence for lifetime prevalence of intimate partner violence, including physical assault, rape or stalking: bisexual women (61 percent), lesbians (43.8 percent), bisexual men (37 percent), heterosexual women (35 percent), heterosexual men (29 percent), and gay men (26 percent). The CDC did not include transgender people, however, one study shows that transgender survivors of violence were almost 2 times as likely to report experiencing sexual violence and transgender people of color were almost 2 times as likely to report experiencing threats or intimidation from intimate partners.

This news is not new news but it is significant. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has reported on IPV for more than 15 years and found that intimate partner and sexual violence were epidemics in LGBT people's lives. But our studies were the work of advocates doing the front line work with survivors of violence and never meant to be representative of the prevalence throughout the United States. The CDC, with a mission to prevent violence and injuries, and reduce their consequences, does measure this prevalence and, more than that, is an 'official,” governmental word on this issue.

And now we know what we have always known really: this violence is real, it harms the LGBT communities and it can no longer be ignored. It is no longer theoretical – the U.S. government tells us the problem is real. So now that our country has defined the problem, our country now has an obligation to solve it. There is a way to address this problem through VAWA. Congress has been divided on this issue and much of the resistance to explicitly including LGBT survivors in VAWA have been predicated on the idea that we don't know there is a problem. Now we know. And with this knowledge we have an obligated to act. We also know the way in which we can address the issues.

Refusing to explicitly include LGBT people in VAWA is no longer defensible. We can no longer hide behind the idea that we don't know. We have always known but now those who must have 'unbiased proof' have it. And it’s time for the House to do the right thing for all survivors of violence.

Stapel is the executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP).

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