World War II, or the Second World War was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945 which involved most of the world’s nations, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilised. In a state of “total war“, the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant action against civilians, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it was the deadliest conflict in human history, and it has been estimated that it resulted in fifty million to over seventy million fatalities.
The war is generally accepted to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. China and Japan were already at war by this date, whereas other countries that were not initially involved joined the war later in response to events such as the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the Japanese attacks on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and on British overseas colonies, which triggered declarations of war on Japan by the United States, the British Commonwealth, and the Netherlands.
The war ended with the disintegration of the German war effort and the unconditional surrender of the Empire of Japan by 1945. World War II left the political alignment and social structure of the world significantly altered. While the United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent future conflicts, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which would last for the next forty-six years. Meanwhile, the United States’ strong advocacy of the principle of self-determination accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Western Europe began moving toward economic recovery and increased political integration.
- Atlas of the World Battle Fronts
- Battles (list)
- Effects of World War II
- List of World War II military operations
- Declaration of war by the United Kingdom
- Declaration of war by the United States
- World War II Military Situation Maps 1944-1945
Military history of the United States during World War II.
Source Wikipedia
The Veterans Administration http://www.va.gov/
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Saturday, August 14 2010
All Times ET
9:30 am
The First Family departs the White House
South Lawn
Open Press
(Pre-set 9:00AM – Final Gather 9:15AM – North Doors of the Palm Room)
9:45 am
The First Family departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Panama City, Florida
Andrews Air Force Base
Travel Pool Coverage
(Call Time 8:30AM – Virginia Gate, Andrews Air Force Base)
11:50 am
The First Family arrives in Panama City, Florida
Local Event Time:10:50 AM CDT
Tyndall Air Force Base
Open Press
12:20 pm
The President and the First Lady participate in a roundtable discussion with locals
Local Event Time:
11:20 PM CDT
Coast Guard Station Panama City, Florida, Panama City Beach
Travel Pool Coverage
1:05 pm
The President delivers a statement to the press on Gulf Coast Recovery
Local Event Time: 12:05 PM CDT
Coast Guard Station Panama City, Florida, Panama City Beach
Open Press
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945 which involved most of the world’s nations, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilised. In a state of “total war”, the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant action against civilians, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it was the deadliest conflict in human history, and it has been estimated that it resulted in fifty million to over seventy million fatalities.
The war is generally accepted to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. China and Japan were already at war by this date, whereas other countries that were not initially involved joined the war later in response to events such as the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the Japanese attacks on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and on British overseas colonies, which triggered declarations of war on Japan by the United States, the British Commonwealth, and the Netherlands.
The war ended with the total victory of the Allies over Germany and Japan in 1945. World War II left the political alignment and social structure of the world significantly altered. While the United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent future conflicts, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which would last for the next forty-six years. Meanwhile, the United States’ strong advocacy of the principle of self-determination accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Western Europe began moving toward economic recovery and increased political integration.
For the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wwii
Obama’s great-uncle recalls liberating Nazi camp
7/22/08 By Carla K. Johnson – AP
CHICAGO—Charles T. Payne was 20 years old and, like any good Midwesterner, he knew how to listen.
He was making conversation, in pieced-together English and German, with a freed prisoner of Ohrdruf, the Nazi work camp Payne’s infantry division had just liberated at the end of World War II.
“With great difficulty we conversed and, if I got what it was he was telling me about, it was that the Germans had killed a million Jews and that the world didn’t really know this yet,” Payne, 83, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday as, on the other side of the world, his great-nephew, Barack Obama, prepared to visit the Yad Vashem national Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.
Helping liberate Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, in April 1945 was Payne’s first close brush with history.
He is enjoying, for the most part, a second brush as the great-uncle of the Democratic presidential candidate.
In May, Obama mentioned “Uncle Charlie” at a meeting with veterans but mistakenly said Payne had helped liberate Auschwitz, when he should have said Buchenwald. Bloggers seized on the error and the Republican Party demanded an explanation.
Obama’s campaign corrected the mistake the next day. Soviet forces liberated Auschwitz as they marched across Poland in January 1945.
For the entire article: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/22/obamas_great_uncle_recalls_liberating_nazi_camp/
Congress debates top honor for Montford Marines
10/24/11 y Julie Watson – The Associated Press
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Oscar Culp does not like to remember. His mind has erased the harshest details. But the pain still stings for the 87-year-old World War II veteran, who endured boot camp in a snake-infested North Carolina swampland as one of the first blacks admitted to the Marine Corps.
He wipes a tear. Black Marines were barred from being stationed with whites at nearby Camp Lejeune. But what hurt worse, he says, was returning from the battlefield to a homeland that ordered him to sit at the back of the bus and drink out of separate fountains from the white Americans he had just put his life on the line to protect.
“Excuse me,” he says, pulling out a handkerchief. “Sometimes we get a little emotional about it.”
The story of the first black Marines is a part of history few Americans — and even few Marines — have learned. Unlike the Army’s Buffalo Soldiers or the Army Air Corps’ Tuskegee Airmen, the Montford Point Marines have never been featured in popular songs or Hollywood films, or recognized nationally.
The Corps’ new commandant intends to change that.
Nearly 70 years after the Marine Corps became the last military branch to accept blacks under orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, Congress will vote Tuesday on whether to grant the Montford Point Marines the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
The Corps up until now has not actively broadcast the painful chapter in the 235-year-old history of an institution that still is largely white, especially in the higher ranks where less than 5 percent of officers are black.
But Commandant Gen. James Amos — whose own 2010 appointment made him the first Marine aviator named to the Corps’ top job — has made diversifying the staunchly traditional branch a top priority. Amos has ordered commanders to be more aggressive in recommending qualified black Marines for officer positions. The Corps this summer named the first black general, Maj. Gen. Ronald Bailey, to lead its storied 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
The Marine Corps also plans to teach all Marines next year about Montford Point, the base near the coastal town of Jacksonville, N.C., that the Corps set up for blacks to keep them separate from white Marines. It operated from 1942 to 1949.
“Every Marine — from private to general — will know the history of those men who crossed the threshold to fight not only the enemy they were soon to know overseas, but the enemy of racism and segregation in their own country,” Amos said.
For the entire article: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2011/10/ap-corps-to-teach-history-of-first-black-marines-102411/
Asian Americans Military in WWII
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans in the Hawaii National Guard were called to duty to guard the beaches, clear rubble, donate blood and aid the wounded but three days later their weapons were taken away because of their ancestry. The next day however their weapons were given back to them but an uneasy tension lasted until June 5, 1942. As this uneasy tension was going on Japanese Americans who were originally a part of the ROTC program at the University of Hawaii and had enlisted Hawaii National Guard were discharged on January 19, 1942 also because of their ancestry but would soon come together to form the Varsity Victory Volunteers. It wouldn’t be until June 5, 1942 when 1,400 Nisei of the Hawaii National Guard would ship out from Hawaii and eventually form the 100th Infantry Battalion on June 12, 1942 when they docked in Oakland.
It wouldn’t be for another eight months until there would be a call for an all Nisei Regiment, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a year until the 442nd would begin training, and fourteen months until the 100th would ship out to Europe. While the 442nd was training in the United States, the 100th in the meantime would sustain heavy losses eventually earning the title the “Purple Heart Battalion.” On June 26, 1944, two weeks after the 442nd arrive in Europe, the two Nisei units combine together to form one single unit but those that were a part of the 100th wanted to keep their 100th Infantry Battalion title. The other members of the 442nd RCT were Japanese Americans from the continental United States and mostly White officers. Keeping with the policy at the time, the unit was a segregated one. The combat chronicle of the regiment became a highly storied one, leading it to be one of the most decorated units in the European Theater, including the liberation of the Dachau. Additionally the Military Intelligence Service made a huge contribution to the war effort as it consisted of Japanese Americans who served in the Pacific Front and helped with the rebuilding of occupied Japan and the decoding of Japanese intelligence. The second of two Asian Americans to be awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II was PFC Sadao Munemori, who was posthumously awarded for actions in Italy. In 2000, after a review of other medals awarded to the 442nd, 21 were elevated to Medals of Honor. One of those 21 were former Captain, Hawaiʻi Senator Daniel K. Inouye.
For the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Asian_Americans
Holocaust survivors reunite with liberator
March 6, 2010 By Travis Loller – AP
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nearly 65 years ago a group of American soldiers advancing through Germany came upon a train loaded with 2,500 starving Jewish prisoners.
For Frank Towers, who was serving as the liaison officer in the 30th Infantry Division, the day he organized a convoy to take those people to freedom was just another day in the war. But several years ago, some of the Holocaust survivors, who were only children at the time, began contacting their liberators through the Internet.
That was the beginning of a new focus at the 30th Infantry Division’s annual reunion, with survivors joining the veterans and telling their stories.
At this year’s reunion in Nashville, Towers is reuniting with four of the people he rescued from that train.
“We had read in Stars and Stripes about Jewish slave labor camps, but this was the first group we encountered,” the 92-year-old said in an interview at the reunion on Friday. “It was really beyond our imagination that any sector of the human race could do to these people what had happened.”
Micha Tomkiewicz is now 70 and a professor of Physics and Environmental Studies at Brooklyn College in New York City. He was only five on April 13, 1945, when he was liberated. His memories of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he had been held until the Nazis tried to evacuate him and the others to prevent their liberation, are few. One memory is of the rats, he said, and the time he woke up the whole barracks screaming that they were eating him.
Although he knew he had been liberated by the American Army, he said, “throughout my life, they were always an abstract concept. Now suddenly they’ve got shape, voice, life.”
“I just wanted to find the opportunity to really, really thank these guys,” he said.
George Somjen, now 80 and a retired professor of Neurophysiology at Duke University, was 15 at the liberation, and remembers it better.
“We were, of course, terribly happy,” he said, “but in that extremely emaciated state (I had lost 30 to 40 percent of my body weight), one has a very limited emotional scale. One doesn’t feel much except, ‘I am hungry.’ ‘I am thirsty.’ ‘I hurt.’”
“For many years I never thought about this,” he said. Then, a few years ago he read a newspaper article that featured a fellow survivor and came to hear of the reunions.
For the entire article: http://www.stripes.com/news/holocaust-survivors-reunite-with-liberator-1.99741
The attack on Pearl Harbor (called the Hawaii Operation or Operation Z by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and the Battle of Pearl Harbor by some Americans) was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. The next day the United States declared war on Japan resulting in their entry into World War II. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from influencing the war that the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia, against Britain and the Netherlands, as well as the U.S. in the Philippines. The base was attacked by Japanese aircraft (a total of 353, in two waves) launched from six aircraft carriers.
Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk (two of which were raised and returned to service later in the war) and all of the four other battleships present were damaged. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, 2,402 personnel were killed[9] and 1,282 were wounded. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light, with 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded. One Japanese sailor was captured.
The attack was a major engagement of World War II and came as a profound shock to the American people. Domestic support for isolationism, which had been strong, disappeared. Germany’s ill-considered declaration of war on the U.S., which was not required by any treaty commitment, moved the U.S. from clandestine support of Britain (for example the Neutrality Patrol) into active alliance and full participation in the European Theater. Despite numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action, the lack of any formal warning by Japan, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led to President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaiming December 7 “a date which will live in infamy”.
For the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor
WWII Pacific Theater Documentary
Secretary-General’s remarks at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony
6 August 2010 – Hiroshima, Japan
Hiroshima no minasama konichiwa. Ohayo gozaimasu.
We are here, on hallowed ground, to see, to feel, to absorb and reflect.
I am honored to be the first UN Secretary-General to take part in this Peace Memorial Ceremony on the 65th anniversary of this tragic day. And I am deeply moved.
When the atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I was one year old. Only later in life, could I begin to understand the full dimension of all that happened here. As a young boy, I lived through the Korean War. One of my earliest memories is marching along a muddy road into the mountains, my village burning behind me. All those lives lost, families destroyed — so much sadness. Ever since, I have devoted my life to peace. It has brought me here today.
Watakushiwa sekai heiwa no tameni Hiroshima ni mairimashita.
We gather to pay our solemn respects to those who perished, sixty-five years ago, and to the many more whose lives forever changed. Life is short, but memory is long.
For many of you, that day endures, as vivid as the white light that seared the sky, as dark as the black rains that followed. To you, I offer a message of hope. To all of you, I offer my message of peace. A more peaceful world can be ours. You are helping to make it happen. You, the survivors, who inspired us with your courage and fortitude. You, the next generations, the young generation, striving for a better day.
Together, you have made Hiroshima an epicentre of peace. Together, we are on a journey from ground zero to Global Zero ? a world free of weapons of mass destruction. That is the only sane path to a safer world. For as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will live under a nuclear shadow.
And that is why I have made nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation a top priority for the United Nations – and put forward a five-point plan.
Our moment has come. Everywhere, we find new friends and allies. We see new leadership from the most powerful nations. We see new engagement in the UN Security Council. We see new energy from civil society. Russia and the United States have a new START treaty. We made important progress at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington last April, which we will build upon in Korea.
We must keep up the momentum. In September, I will convene a high-level meeting in support of the work of the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations. We will push for negotiations towards nuclear disarmament. A Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. A Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty. Disarmament education in our schools — including translating the testimonies of the survivors in the world’s major languages. We must teach an elemental truth: that status and prestige belong not to those who possess nuclear weapons, but to those who reject them.
For the entire article: http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=4712
Hiroshima to remember atomic bomb with US in attendance
8/5/10 Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura – AFP
TOKYO (AFP) – Sixty-five years after the destruction of Hiroshima in an atomic inferno, the United States will for the first time send an envoy on Friday to commemorate the bombing that rang in the nuclear age.
Its World War II allies Britain and France, both declared nuclear powers, will also send their first diplomats to the ceremony in the western Japanese city in a sign of support for the goal of nuclear disarmament.
Japan, the only country that has ever been attacked with atomic weapons — first on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima, and three days later in Nagasaki — has pushed for their abolition ever since.
US ambassador John Roos will attend the ceremony, which is held each year to remember the attack, reflecting US President Barack Obama’s push for a world without nuclear weapons.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will also attend, becoming the first UN chief to take part in the annual event at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.
“The only way to ensure that such weapons will never again be used is to eliminate them all,” Ban said on Thursday as he met elderly survivors, known as “hibakusha”, at the site of the Nagasaki blast.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony will begin at 8:00 am (2300 Thursday GMT) with the laying of wreaths by Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and government officials, as well as representatives of survivors.
Participants will observe a minute’s silence at 8:15 am, the time at which the nuclear bomb was dropped. This will be followed by a speech from Akiba and the release of 1,000 doves in a symbolic gesture for peace.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100805/wl_asia_afp/japannuclearuswwiihiroshima_20100805201228
Japanese-American internment was the forced relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residing along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called “War Relocation Camps,” in the wake of Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of Japanese Americans was applied unequally throughout the United States. Japanese Americans residing on the West Coast of the United States were all interned, whereas in Hawaii, where more than 150,000 Japanese Americans composed nearly a third of that territory’s population, 1,200 to 1,800 Japanese Americans were interned. Of those interned, 62% were American citizens.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized the internment with Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which allowed local military commanders to designate “military areas” as “exclusion zones,” from which “any or all persons may be excluded.” This power was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and most of Oregon and Washington, except for those in internment camps. In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the exclusion orders, while noting that the provisions that singled out people of Japanese ancestry were a separate issue outside the scope of the proceedings. The United States Census Bureau assisted the internment efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on Japanese Americans. The Bureau’s role was denied for decades but was finally proven in 2007.
In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation stated that government actions were based on “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership”. Over $1.6 billion in reparations were later disbursed by the U.S. government to Japanese Americans who had either suffered internment or were heirs of those who had suffered internment.
For the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_internment_camp
THE NATIONAL PARKS | Manzanar: “Never Again” | PBS
Japanese-American Nisei Linguists, World War II
The 442nd Infantry, formerly the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, was an Asian American unit composed of mostly Japanese Americans who fought in Europe during World War II.The families of many of its soldiers were subject to internment. The 442nd was a self-sufficient fighting force, and fought with uncommon distinction in Italy, southern France, and Germany. The unit became the most highly decorated regiment in the history of the United States Armed Forces, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients.
Most Japanese Americans who fought in WWII were Nisei, Japanese Americans born in the U.S. Nevertheless, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese American men were categorized as 4C (enemy alien) and therefore non-draftable. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing military authorities “to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion.” Although the order did not refer specifically to people of Japanese ancestry, it set the stage for the internment of people of Japanese descent. In March 1942, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command, issued the first of 108 military proclamations that resulted in the forced removal of more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast from their homes and placed in guarded concentration camps behind barbed wire, or (as the government euphemistically referred to them) relocation camps.
In Hawaii, martial law, complete with curfews and blackouts, was imposed. A large portion of the population was of Japanese descent (150,000 out of 400,000 people in 1937) and internment was deemed not practicable, mostly for economic reasons. When the War Department called for the removal of all soldiers of Japanese ancestry from active service in early 1942, General Delos C. Emmons, commander of the U.S. Army in Hawaii, decided to discharge those in the Hawaii Territorial Guard, which was composed mainly of ROTC students from the University of Hawaii. However, he kept the more than 1,300 Japanese American soldiers of the 298th and 299th Infantry regiments of the Hawaii National Guard. The discharged members of the Hawaii Territorial Guard petitioned General Emmons to allow them to assist in the war effort. The petition was granted and they formed a group called the Varsity Victory Volunteers, which performed various construction jobs for the military. General Emmons, worried about the loyalty of Japanese American soldiers in the event of a Japanese invasion, recommended to the War Department that those in the 298th and 299th regiments be organized into a “Hawaiian Provisional Battalion” and sent to the mainland. The move was authorized, and on June 5, 1942, the Hawaiian Provisional Battalion set sail for training. They landed at Oakland, California on June 10, 1942 and two days later were sent to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. On June 15, 1942, the battalion was designated the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate)—the “One Puka Puka”.
For the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Regimental_Combat_Team
Daniel Inouye, Internment, the 442nd and “The War”
White House Briefing for Japanese American Veterans
From: whitehouse | Nov 3, 2011
The White House Office of Public Engagement continued a series of community briefings by hosting Japanese American Veterans and their families to highlight the Administration’s initiatives to address the needs of veterans and wounded warriors, including First Lady Michelle Obama’s Joining Forces campaign, the creation of jobs for returning heroes through the American Jobs Act and additional actions that have been launched by the administration to address the needs of military families. November 3, 2011.
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviators in the United States armed forces. During World War II, African Americans in many U.S. states still were subject to Jim Crow laws. The American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal government. The Tuskegee Airmen were subject to racial discrimination, both within and outside the army. Despite these adversities, they flew with distinction. They were particularly successful in their missions as bomber escorts in Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen
African Americans in World War II: A Legacy of Patriotism and Valor – Part 1 of 6
African Americans in World War II: A Legacy of Patriotism and Valor – Part 2 0f 6
Alcan Highway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcan_highway
African Americans in World War II: A Legacy of Patriotism and Valor – Part 3 of 6
African Americans in World War II: A Legacy of Patriotism and Valor – Part 4 of 6
African Americans in World War II: A Legacy of Patriotism and Valor – Part 5 of 6
African Americans in World War II: A Legacy of Patriotism and Valor – Part 6 of 6
Hispanic Americans, also referred to as Latinos, fought in every major battle in the European Theatre of World War II in which the armed forces of the United States were involved, from North Africa to the Battle of the Bulge, and in the Pacific Theater of Operations, from Bataan to Okinawa. According to the National World War II Museum, between 250,000 and 500,000 Hispanic Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, out of a total of 12,000,000, constituting 2.3% to 4.7% of the U.S. Armed Forces. The exact number is unknown as, at the time, Hispanics were not tabulated separately, but were generally included in the general white population census count. Separate statistics were kept for African Americans and Asian Americans.
On December 7, 1941, when the United States officially entered the war, Hispanic Americans were among the many American citizens who joined the ranks of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps as volunteers or through the draft. Not only did Hispanics serve as active combatants in the European and Pacific Theatres of war, but they also served on the home front as civilians. Hundreds of Hispanic women joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) and Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), serving as nurses and in administrative positions. Many worked in traditionally male labor jobs in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and materiel, replacing men who were away at war.
When conscription was increased, some Puerto Ricans from the island were assigned as replacements to units in the Panama Canal Zone and British Caribbean islands, which were made up mostly of continental (United States mainland) soldiers. Most Puerto Ricans and Hispanics residing in Puerto Rico were assigned to the 65th Infantry Regiment or to the Puerto Rico National Guard. These were the only all-Hispanic units whose statistics were kept. More than 53,000 Puerto Ricans and Hispanics who resided on the island served in the war. According to Senator Robert Menendez, more than 9,000 Latinos died in the defense of the United States in World War II. Because of lack of separate documentation, the total number of Hispanic Americans who died in the conflict is unknown.
For the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_Americans_in_World_War_II
Native Words, Native Warriors
The National Museum of the American Indian honors American Indian Code Talkers. This is a companion website to the traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibition, Native Words, Native Warriors.
During World War I and World War II, hundreds of American Indians joined the United States armed forces and used words from their traditional tribal languages as weapons. The United States military asked them to develop secret battle communications based on their languages—and America’s enemies never deciphered the coded messages they sent. “Code Talkers,” as they came to be known after World War II, are twentieth-century American Indian warriors and heroes who significantly aided the victories of the United States and its allies.
Protecting the Homelands
American Indian nations have always fought to defend themselves. Anyone who threatened their families, cultures, and lands was their enemy, including the United States. As a result of wars with the United States, many tribes were forced off their lands, relocated, or confined to reservations where they endured poverty, racism, and attempts to erase their traditional cultures. Languages were particularly targeted in the government’s efforts to change the American Indians’ ways of life. Beginning in the late 1800s, Indian children were forbidden to speak their own languages and punished in government- and church-supported boarding schools if they did.
Most American Indians were not legally considered citizens of the United States until 1924. Even then, some states refused to let American Indians vote until as late as the 1950s.
Despite this tragic history, many American Indian men and women have served in all branches of the military. In many conflicts and wars, including World War I and World War II, American Indians honorably defended their homelands and the United States.
Native Words, Native Warriors website: http://www.nmai.si.edu/education/codetalkers/html/
First Person:Legacy Spar for Navajo Code Talkers
Navajo Code Talkers Honored in New York
“One Could Not Help But Be Touched”
7/9/09 Posted by COL Emma K. Coulson
Colonel Emma Coulson, US Army, is the Military Director of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues in the Services (DACOWITS). She is also the designee on the White House Council on Women and Girls from the Department of Defense. Col. Coulson was invited to the White House by the Council and asked to blog about her experience:
, one could not help but be touched by the excitement and unbelief of the grandmotherly-aged women, who represented the WASPs, for hundreds who have since passed on.
What a great day for our military Sisters in Blue last week. However, they were not singing the blues, but rather celebrating, with their ‘senior’ women pilot counterparts from WWII. Together, in the Oval Office, they looked over the shoulders of President Obama signing into law S. 614, a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). As one of the WWII pilots said “well, that only took 66 years”
Equally touching was our Commander in Chief’s gracious and respectful response to their shared stories and comments. From the Green side of the house, I was proud and privileged to both be witness to the ceremony, and witness to our Commander in Chief setting right a long overdue recognition. His actions lend strength to the understanding that honor, duty and selfless service to our Nation has nothing to do with gender, and neither does saying thank you.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/07/09/one-could-not-help-be-touched
JULY 1, 2009
President Obama Signs Bill Awarding Congressional Gold Medal to Women Airforce Service Pilots
First women to fly American military aircraft served courageously, blazed trails during WWII
WASHINGTON – President Obama today signed into law S. 614, a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). WASP was established during World War II with the primary mission of flying non-combat military missions in the United States thus freeing their male counterparts for combat missions. Its pilots were the first women ever to fly American military aircraft and flew almost every type of aircraft operated by the United States Army Air Force during World War II on a wide range of missions.
“The Women Airforce Service Pilots courageously answered their country’s call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much in service to this nation since,” said President Obama. “Every American should be grateful for their service, and I am honored to sign this bill to finally give them some of the hard-earned recognition they deserve.”
From 1942 to 1943, more than 1,000 women joined the WASP. 38 of them made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation in performing its mission. But their contribution went largely unrecognized for years, not even being acknowledged with veteran status until 1977.
The groundbreaking steps taken by the WASP paved the way for hundreds of United States servicewomen combat pilots who have flown fighter aircraft in recent conflicts.
The bipartisan effort in Congress to recognize the contributions of the WASP was led by Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Susan Davis (D-CA). At today’s signing, President Obama and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen were joined by three members of WASP as well as five active duty United States Air Force pilots who have followed in their footsteps.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-signs-bill-awarding-congressional-gold-medal-women-airforce-service
WASP Pilots Recognized
First Lady Michelle Obama Welcomes Military Women to the White House
11/18/09 Jesse Lee
This afternoon, the First Lady will celebrate women in the military—watch live as she welcomes approximately 130 WWII veterans, current servicewomen, and wounded warriors to the White House.
Also dropping by is Dr. Jill Biden, a lifelong and strong supporter of veterans, along with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and their wives, and other senior military and administration officials.
The First Lady Celebrates Women in the Military
Home front is the informal term commonly used to describe the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system of their military. In a domestic war-time discourse, a home front implies the imperative of effective militarisation of a society, and a necessity for social servitude to the needs of a military command during a time of war. The view that a society in wartime must function as a component of its executive branch is sometimes called a “teeth and tail” view.
In a modern industrial nation, the fighting “teeth” of combat soldiers, depends to a considerable degree on the “tail” of civilian support services — extending all the way to the factories that build the materiel.
Civilian populations were traditionally uninvolved in combat, except when the fighting happened to reach their dwelling places. However, the expanded destructive capabilities of modern warfare posed an increased direct threat to civilian populations. With the rapid increase of military technology, the term “military effort” has changed to include the “home front” as a reflection of both a civilian “sector” capacity to produce arms, as well as the structural or policy changes which deal with its vulnerability to direct attack.
This continuity of “military effort” from fighting soldier to manufacturing facility has profound effects for the concept of “total war.” By this logic, if factories and workers producing war materiel are part of the war effort, they become legitimate targets for attack, rather than protected noncombatants. Hence in practice, both sides in a conflict often commit atrocities against civilians, with the understanding that these are legitimate and lawful targets in war. This military view of civilian targets has profound effects on the equity of applied legal principles on which the prosecution of crimes against humanity are based.
The concept of civilians’ involvement in war also developed in connection with general development and change of the ideological attitude to the state. In Feudal society and also in Absolute Monarchy the state was perceived as essentially belonging to the Monarch and the aristocracy, ruling over a mass of passive commoners; wars were perceived of a contenst between rival rulers, conducted “above the head” of the commoners, who were expected to submit to the victor.
In contract, since the French Revolution the state was increasingly percived as belonging to “The People”, a perception shared – though in different forms – by Democracy, Communism, and Fascism. A logical conclusion was that war has become everybody’s business and that also those not taken into the armed forces must “do their part”, and “fight on the home front”.
For the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Front
KETC | Living St. Louis | Home Front Kids
June 5, 2009
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT D-DAY 65TH ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
Normandy, France
THE PRESIDENT: 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 65 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 a national leader: Bob Dole. (Applause.)
I’m not the first American President to come and mark this anniversary, and I likely will not be the last. This 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’s 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 the sands a few short steps from here that brings us back 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.
For the entire transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-D-Day-65th-Anniversary-Ceremony
President Obama Marks the 65th D-Day Anniversary
The World War II Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial is a war cemetery which lies in the village of Margraten six miles east of Maastricht, in the most southern part of The Netherlands. It is administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
The cemetery site has a rich historical background, lying near the famous Cologne-Boulogne highway, originally built by the Romans and used by Julius Caesar during his campaign in that area. The highway was also used by Charlemagne, Charles V, Napoleon, and Kaiser Wilhelm II. In May 1940, Hitler’s legions advanced over the route of the old Roman highway, overwhelming the Low Countries. In September 1944, German troops once more used the highway for the withdrawal from the countries occupied for four years.
The tall memorial tower can be seen before reaching the cemetery which covers 65.5 acres. From the cemetery entrance the visitor approaches through the Court of Honor with its pool reflecting the chapel tower. The visitors’ building is on the right and the museum with its three engraved operations maps describing the achievements of the American Armed Forces in the area during World War II is on the left. At the base of the tower facing the reflecting pool is a statue representing the grieving mother of her lost son.
The walls on either side of the Court of Honor contain the Tablets of the Missing on which are recorded the names of 1,722 American missing who gave their lives in the service of their country and who rest in unknown graves. Beyond the chapel and tower is the burial area which is divided into sixteen plots. Here rest 8,301 American dead, most of whom lost their lives nearby. Their headstones are set in long curves. A wide tree-lined mall leads to the flag staff which crowns the crest.
For the entire article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_American_Cemetery
Message from Bert Caris of the Netherlands who is one of the webmasters for the site
Fallen But Not Forgotten:
“The most precious words I treasure are from U.S.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert H. Jackson while he was the Chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials :
“The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.”
In my view President Obama personifies these words, he is also a man of reason, a true American.
Eventually it was Robert H. Jackson who paved the way for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and subsequently influenced many constitutions around the world.
One of the essences of Fallen But Not Forgotten is to give the WWII veterans who gave their all a face. I don’t want to impose anything on you and this is the first time ever that I ask this, but one of those WWII faces is of 1st Lt. Kenneth R. Robinson, whose grave I tend to. Kenny, like the U.S. relatives like me to call him, has become a part of my family and I would be really thrilled if you could highlight the story of Ken.
Attached you will find his story and a picture of his grave taken at Memorial Day 2010. Personally I always favor his childhood story, but you are absolutely free to use Kenny’s story or not, and if you do, what you will use.
Thank you very, very much for willing to do this, I am really honored.
Warmest Regards and aloha,
Bert Caris
(also on behalf of Terry Kenneth Robinson who is the nephew of 1st Lt. Kenneth R. Robinson as well as the WWII veterans of the 8th Armored Division)
http://www.fallennotforgotten.nl/
http://www.fallennotforgotten.nl/Story00001a.htm
Netherlands American Cemetery
Obama’s Memorial Day speech
5/31/10 By Stacy St. Clair, Tribune
A violent thunderstorm forced President Barack Obama to cancel his Memorial Day address Monday at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, where he took to a rain-soaked stage and urged thousands of spectators to seek shelter.
The president, black umbrella in hand, told the crowd he would try to wait out the storm even as the sky darkened and lightning flashed.
“We are a little bit concerned about lightning,” he said. “This may not be safe. I know that all of you are here to commemorate the fallen. … What we’d like to do is, if possible, have people move back to their cars, and if this passes in the next 15 to 20 minutes, I’ll stick around.”
The White House said the president made the decision to halt the event, an assertion supported by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Burleson, an Illinois National Guardsman who was sitting to Obama’s immediate left in a tent with other dignitaries. Burleson said that as the storm rolled in, Obama grew increasingly concerned.
When the president saw lightning flash in the sky, he told aides that the spectators needed to take cover, Burleson said.
“He was just really worried for the people sitting out there in an open field,” said Burleson, who also is a Waukegan firefighter. “He had reason to be.”
Obama took refuge in a nearby administration building, but gusting rains made it impossible to resume the event. Instead, the president climbed aboard two buses filled with families of fallen troops and thanked them for their sacrifice.
On the waterlogged cemetery fields, fierce winds toppled a large red-and-white wreath the president laid about a half-hour earlier. Some spectators sought cover from the storm under small tents and media scaffolding erected for Obama’s visit to Will County, while others waded through ankle-deep water to reach shuttle buses to take them to off-site parking lots.
In the sheltered VIP area where the president had sat minutes earlier, Burleson waited out the storm. The decorated Afghanistan war veteran had been invited to give a speech before introducing Obama, and he was disappointed that he wouldn’t have the chance.
“I wanted to tell everyone that if you truly want to honor those who have lost their lives, you should volunteer in your community,” he said. “Make the world a little better with the freedoms they provided us.”
And, heeding his own advice, Burleson ventured into the storm in his dress uniform and helped push wheelchair-using veterans through the muddy fields.
The president’s choice to commemorate the holiday in Illinois instead of Arlington National Cemetery riled some veterans groups, who saw the decision as a sign of disrespect from a commander in chief who has sent tens of thousands of troops into an escalating war in Afghanistan.
Tom Pahnke, of Manhattan, considers such criticism an insult to his son, Shawn, who was buried in the Elwood cemetery after being killed in Iraq in 2003.
“Our veterans and my son are just as important as those at Arlington,” he said. “To have the president here to honor them is very special.”
After leaving the cemetery, Obama visited a new suburban facility that provides housing for military families who want to stay close to their hospitalized loved ones. The president spent 30 minutes at the Fisher House at Hines VA Hospital near Maywood, talking with injured service members and their families, the White House said. The stop was closed to the media.
The president toured the facility and ate a bratwurst and some baked beans before heading back to his Kenwood home to pick up his family and head to the airport. The Obamas spent the long holiday weekend in Chicago, their first trip here in more than a year.
For the entire article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/ct-met-0601-obama-visit-20100531,0,504686.story
Honoring the Troops on Memorial Day
The Fisher House program is a unique private-public partnership that supports America’s military in their time of need. The program recognizes the special sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the hardships of military service by meeting a humanitarian need beyond that normally provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
Because members of the military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often travel great distances for specialized medical care, Fisher House Foundation donates “comfort homes,” built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times – during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.
There is at least one Fisher House at every major military medical center to assist families in need and to ensure that they are provided with the comforts of home in a supportive environment. Annually, the Fisher House program serves more than 11,000 families, and have made available nearly three million days of lodging to family members since the program originated in 1990. By law, there is no charge for any family to stay at a Fisher House operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Fisher House Foundation uses donations to reimburse the individual Fisher Houses operated by the Army, Navy, and Air Force. No family pays to stay at any Fisher House!
To donate to the Fisher House: http://www.fisherhouse.org/donate/index.html
CR, not only do I like this post, I congratulate you on a really spectacular gathering of current and historical information.
Thank you Kathleen! I HOPE that you have a good time with your relatives today! “See you” tomorrow.
whitehouse | August 13, 2010 -
The President hosts an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan in the State Dining Room.
Washington Post, August 13, 2010:
Transcript of the President’s remarks
…. Here at the White House, we have a tradition of hosting iftars that goes back several years, just as we host Christmas parties and seders and Diwali celebrations. And these events celebrate the role of faith in the lives of the American people. They remind us of the basic truth that we are all children of God, and we all draw strength and a sense of purpose from our beliefs.
These events are also an affirmation of who we are as Americans….
Indeed, over the course of our history, religion has flourished within our borders precisely because Americans have had the right to worship as they choose — including the right to believe in no religion at all….
Now, we must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of Lower Manhattan. The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country. And the pain and the experience of suffering by those who lost loved ones is just unimaginable. So I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. And Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground.
But let me be clear. As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the Founders must endure….
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/08/obamas-remarks-about-ground-ze.html?sid=ST2010081305974
Peoria Journal-Star, August 5, 2010:
Our View: Give peace a chance, even near Ground Zero
….It makes no more sense to lump America’s many law-abiding Muslim citizens in with al-Qaida than it does to hold all Irish-Catholics, or all decorated military veterans, or all Caucasian 20-somethings responsible for the Oklahoma City massacre, just because mass murderer Timothy McVeigh was all of those things. To be sure, we live in a country where many Americans hold even the president’s middle name against him, but that represents the worst of our natures, and we should resist it….
Perhaps we would hate each other less if we got to know each other better. In America, of all places, we should be willing to take that chance. In New York, they apparently are.
http://www.pjstar.com/opinions/x312167039/Our-View-Give-peace-a-chance-even-near-Ground-Zero
Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2010:
National World War II Museum in New Orleans salutes the Greatest Generation
by David Freed
…. No shrine to combat would be complete without displaying the kit and standard-issue weapons of front-line troops. Certainly, the National World War II Museum is no exception. Here, among three floors and 35,000 square feet of exhibit space, you will find a veritable armory of mortars, machine guns, small arms and uniforms of both Allied and Axis origin. There are halftracks, jeeps, a Sherman tank, a German 88-millimeter artillery piece and a fully restored C-47 transport plane. But what distinguishes this museum are the artifacts, from wristwatches to helmets with bullet holes, that convey a vividly personal insight into the horror of battle.
Among the relics I found most poignant was the equipment belt worn on D-day by Navy corpsman Leo H. Sheer, whose landing craft was sunk on its way to Omaha Beach. Forced to swim ashore, Sheer began collecting first-aid pouches from the bodies of dead soldiers to help save the wounded. He hung six of the dead men’s pouches on his belt. Look closely: You can still see what appear to be flecks of dried blood on some of them.
Also impressive is an exhibit depicting what it was like to be on the home front in World War II, when ordinary citizens went to extraordinary lengths to take the fight to the enemy by recycling items as diverse as tin cans and chicken fat. Who knew, for example, that 30,000 razor blades melted down could make 50 rounds of .30-caliber machine-gun ammunition, or that 2,300 pairs of women’s nylons were needed for one parachute?….
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-wwii-20100815,1,7037374.story
PMayerPR | July 14, 2010 -
The National World War II Museum in New Orleans continues its $300 million expansion by announcing the construction of the John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion, opening Summer 2011. Visitors can watch curators restore vintage WWII era artifacts such as a PT boat, a B-25, a Sherman Tank, and other important objects from the War That Changed the World.
Good Saturday Morning O’Team and what an excellent thread this is CR. You amaze me with the information that you are able to find for your threads.
I guess most folks are taking a little summer break right now but I sure hope they go back and read the last two days threads because there is a wealth of knowledge here.
Please join me in lighting a candle for the President, his family and the Nation.
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=pbo
Good morning and thank you Donna!
Good Morning back attcha CR
Mailbag Day! This West Wing Week the administration responds to the letters and emails sent in by you. Find out whether the President gets stamps in his passport, learn about pre-existing conditions and the Affordable Care Act from Secretary of Health and Human Services, Katleen Sebelius, and see who gets to keep the President’s bill signing pens.
I saw POTUS’ passport and for the birthplace it said “Hawaii”!!!
On the 75th anniversary of Social Security, President Obama promises to protect it from Republican leaders in Congress who have made privatization a key part of their agenda.
August 14, 2010
Weekly Address: President Obama Promises to Protect Social Security from Republican Plans to Privatize It
WASHINGTON – On the 75th anniversary of Social Security being signed into law, President Obama promised that he would protect it from the Republican leaders in Congress who have made privatization a key part of their agenda. Despite the financial crisis, they still believe that gambling Social Security on Wall Street is a good idea. This President will not let that happen. For several generations, Social Security has been a promise to America’s seniors – that they will have the chance to retire with dignity – and he will safeguard that promise.
Remarks of President Barack Obama
August 14, 2010
Washington, DC
Seventy-five years ago today, in the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law, laying a cornerstone in the foundation of America’s middle class, and assuring generations of America’s seniors that after a lifetime of hard work, they’d have a chance to retire with dignity. We have an obligation to keep that promise; to safeguard Social Security for our seniors, people with disabilities, and all Americans – today, tomorrow, and forever.
Now, we’ve been talking for a long time about how to do that; about how to make sure Social Security is healthy enough to cover the higher costs that are kicking in now that baby boomers are retiring. And I’m committed to working with anyone, Democrat or Republican, who wants to strengthen Social Security. I’m also encouraged by the reports of serious bipartisan work being done on this and other issues in the fiscal commission that I set up several months ago.
One thing we can’t afford to do though is privatize Social Security – an ill-conceived idea that would add trillions of dollars to our budget deficit while tying your benefits to the whims of Wall Street traders and the ups and downs of the stock market.
A few years ago, we had a debate about privatizing Social Security. And I’d have thought that debate would’ve been put to rest once and for all by the financial crisis we’ve just experienced. I’d have thought, after being reminded how quickly the stock market can tumble, after seeing the wealth people worked a lifetime to earn wiped out in a matter of days, that no one would want to place bets with Social Security on Wall Street; that everyone would understand why we need to be prudent about investing the retirement money of tens of millions of Americans.
But some Republican leaders in Congress don’t seem to have learned any lessons from the past few years. They’re pushing to make privatizing Social Security a key part of their legislative agenda if they win a majority in Congress this fall. It’s right up there on their to-do list with repealing some of the Medicare benefits and reforms that are adding at least a dozen years to the fiscal health of Medicare – the single longest extension in history.
That agenda is wrong for seniors, it’s wrong for America, and I won’t let it happen. Not while I’m President. I’ll fight with everything I’ve got to stop those who would gamble your Social Security on Wall Street. Because you shouldn’t be worried that a sudden downturn in the stock market will put all you’ve worked so hard for – all you’ve earned – at risk. You should have the peace of mind of knowing that after meeting your responsibilities and paying into the system all your lives, you’ll get the benefits you deserve.
For the entire transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/14/weekly-address-president-obama-promises-protect-social-security-republic
An American pilot from the first all-black flying unit, the Tuskegee Airmen from World War II, will attend Barack Obama’s inauguration as an honored guest.
Thank you Donna!
I found the six part video about the African American contribution to WWII absolutely fascinating! I highly recommend it!
I salute all the men and women in uniform who do so very much for Americans and the world!!
Karzai’s update
Obama and Petraeus check in
08/13/10 By MATT NEGRIN – POLITICO
President Obama and Gen. David Petraeus spoke with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan on Friday to discuss civilian deaths and the country’s fight against corruption, the White House announced.
The one-hour conversation took place over a video conference, with Petraeus and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry speaking from Kabul, the White House said.
“Both leaders agreed that the United States and Afghanistan should continue to work together to keep the pressure on the Taliban and to build Afghan capacity,” the White House said in a statement. “Both leaders also agreed to continue in our shared efforts to combat violent extremism, protect the Afghan people, improve governance, and deliver basic services, particularly at the local level.”
Here’s the full statement from the White House:
“President Obama spoke with President Karzai today via video teleconference. The two leaders spoke for one hour and discussed a number of topics, including the successful Kabul Conference, the upcoming Afghan parliamentary elections, renewal of the U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Declaration, anti-corruption efforts, civilian casualties, and regional relations. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and General David Petraeus also participated in the video teleconference from Kabul.
“Both leaders agreed that the United States and Afghanistan should continue to work together to keep the pressure on the Taliban and to build Afghan capacity. Both leaders also agreed to continue in our shared efforts to combat violent extremism, protect the Afghan people, improve governance, and deliver basic services, particularly at the local level. In closing, President Obama reaffirmed that the United States is committed to partnering with the Afghan people to ensure that Afghanistan is a stable, secure, and prosperous country.”
Advanced military satellite launches into orbit
8/14/10 AP
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – An Atlas 5 rocket carrying a national security communications satellite is in orbit after an early morning launch.
The rocket launched at 7:07 a.m. Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It took into space the first of a series of new satellites that will be used for advanced military data.
The Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite, made by Lockheed Martin, has 10 times more capacity and moves data six times more efficiently than the five Milstar II communications satellites currently in use. The higher data rates can send video, battlefield maps, targeting data and other communications in real time.
The program will put six satellites into orbit over the next decade at a cost of $12.4 billion.
Good morning guys
Let’s make sure that we ALL write to the president today, and let him know how much we’re behind him. Because we know that the crazy haters are going to bomb him over his stunningly-courageous speech last night.
Let’s write.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Hvae a good day everyone.
“Hvae”??? What the hell is “Hvae”????
Ah I have typos all the time but you just don’t see mine since I’m webmistress I can go back and edit my comments!
Good morning BWD!
Very good idea to let POTUS know that we appreciate all that he is doing during these really tough time. Pres Obama knew that it would not be easy and things would be tough but he is doing all that he possibly can to help out America.
Great Idea BWD. Will Do!
Relief well still needed despite plugging success, commander says
8/14/10 By Bettina Boxall – Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Although BP’s Gulf well appears to be plugged from the top and bottom, the federal spill commander said Friday that government and company officials have agreed a relief well should be completed to ensure a permanent seal.
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen on Thursday raised the possibility that last week’s “static kill” operation, in which the well’s inner casing was jammed with cement, might have made that final step unnecessary. A four-hour pressure test was conducted to figure out whether oil was still flowing freely from its deep reservoir into the outer ring of the well bore.
The readings indicated the flow had indeed been blocked by last week’s cementing. “We have sealed the well at this point,” Allen said Friday.
But engineers can’t tell whether that bottom plug of the outer ring, called the annulus, is good and solid, or thin and flimsy.
So they are not yet declaring victory over a well that created one of the world’s largest oil spills, shut down a third of the Gulf to fishing and wiped out much of the region’s summer tourist season.
“Everybody is in agreement we need to proceed with the relief well. The question is how to do that,” Allen said after consulting with the head of BP, as well as the secretaries of energy and the interior.
Paradoxically, the success of the static kill has complicated the final phase of the relief well maneuver. “We probably did too good a job,” Allen said.
Not only did the static kill stuff the well’s casing with dense mud and cement, it seems to have forced cement down into the oil reservoir and back up into the base of the annulus. That has trapped what BP estimates to be 1,000 barrels of oil between the bottom and the top cap.
Scientists are worried that when the relief well pours more mud and cement into the bottom to thoroughly seal it, the increased pressure could force the trapped oil upward, perhaps damaging the capping apparatus, or downward, breaking the bottom seal.
For the entire article: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/aug/14/relief-well-still-needed-despite-plugging-success-/
Obama will meet with business owners in Panama City
August 12, 2010 Posted by Alex Leary – tampabay.com
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, in Panama City Saturday, will hold a roundtable discussion with business owners, officials and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, the White House formally announced today.
Obama previously planned to spend the weekend in Panama City privately with his family. The White House said the roundtable will help generate ideas for the long-rang Gulf Coast Restoration Plan, which the president called for before the BP oil disaster. Afterward, he’ll address reporters.
BONUS SATURDAY SCHEDULE
Saturday, August 14, 2010
All Times Eastern
11:50 am
President Obama and Family arrive in Panama City, Florida
12:20 pm
President Obama and the First Lady participate in a roundtable discussion with locals
1:05 pm
President Obama delivers a statement to the press on Gulf Coast Recovery
Great find! Thank you Donna!
CSPAN coverage http://www.cspan.org/
You’re very welcome!
SUNDAY TALK SHOWS SCHEDULE
For those of you who watch this stuff:
Meet the Press: Gen. Petraeus from Afghanistan
Face the Nation: Tim Kaine, Gov. Rendell, Ed Gillespie, Ed Rollins, Karen Tumulty, John Harris
Fox News Sunday: Sens. Cornyn, Reed; Mark Zandi
State of the Union: Reps. McCarthy, Van Hollen
Ha! This does not surprise me one bit!
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news — with no more than 25% of Americans saying they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in either. These views have hardly budged since falling more than 10 percentage points from 2003-2007.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/142133/Confidence-Newspapers-News-Remains-Rarity.aspx
Ha!
HeHe..no wonder the media wants to turn everything into an episode of jerry springer
Hi Rock!
Happy saturday CR :0)
Billions earmarked for Bay Area transportation projects
8/14/10 Gary Richards “Mr. Road Show” -San Jose Mercury News
Recession? What recession?
Nearly $30 billion worth of major transportation projects are under way or about to begin in the Bay Area and adjoining counties — the biggest building boom in almost two decades.
Fueled by a combination of stimulus money, bond funds and low bids, an almost unprecedented explosion in big-ticket projects is happening across the region — from replacing Doyle Drive in San Francisco to extending BART toward the South Bay to building high-speed rail to adding a fourth bore in the Caldecott Tunnel.
All this comes as the region is suffering double-digit unemployment, gas tax revenues are declining and an alarming number of homes are in foreclosure.
“We have never had this many projects going at any one time,” said Andrew Chesley, executive director of the San Joaquin Council of Governments, which is about to embark on $1.1 billion in improvements to key roads that carry motorists to the Bay Area, including Interstate 5, I-205 and Highway 99.
“There has been little in the way of good news from this recession, but the great bid prices have meant a lot more projects are getting done.”
Desperate for work, construction companies are entering bids at 30 to 40 percent under projected cost. While that has saved state and local agencies about $4 billion since 2006, it is only part of the story.
Stimulus funds that must be allocated by the end of September have propelled work. Since 2006, voters have
approved two bonds totaling $30 billion for road and transit upgrades that must be under way by 2012. And bridge tolls have been raised four times in the past 10 years.
For the entire article: http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_15772313
Silicon Valley seeks a cure for health care
Firms try for medical breakthrough, thanks to a new $10 billion innovation fund.
8/14/10 Scott Duke Harris – San Jose Mercury News
America’s health care system might be likened to an out-of-shape, stressed-out, chronically ill, semi-coherent, underinsured relative whose medical bills keep going up, up, up — and threaten to bankrupt the family.
Silicon Valley has been working on cures for years. Today, five months after President Barack Obama signed landmark legislation intended to extend health coverage to nearly all Americans and bring rocketing costs under control, valley venture capital firms, startups and giants such as Intel are angling to apply tech know-how to an industry known for inefficiency and resistance to change.
Much like the cleantech firms that have scored Department of Energy grants and loan guarantees, many health-sector companies hope to tap into a new $10 billion innovation fund created by the law to test and promote technologies and ideas that can improve health care while reducing its cost.
The law, for all its complexity, provided investors and entrepreneurs with greater clarity about opportunities in an industry facing dramatic transformation. During the second quarter, investments totaling more than $2.2 billion surged into biotechnology, medical device and health-related information technology, about 66 percent more than the previous quarter. Funding into health-related information technology alone totaled more than $150 million during the quarter, nearly doubling the year-ago quarter.
Better IT, investors say, is critical to health reform because it can minimize waste and reduce errors by caregivers. Other promising innovations include diagnostic devices that detect maladies early, “telehealth” systems that help the chronically ill avoid hospitalization, and genomic advances that could lead to medicine tailored to a patient’s DNA.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will gradually phase in new regulations, taxes and incentives on the private sector in a bid to minimize waste, maximize efficiency and promote a healthier populace. While debate raged over the approach, few question the need to defuse what Obama has called “a ticking time bomb” that imperils the nation’s economy as it consumes a growing share of family, company and government budgets.
For the entire article: http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_15772966
Good Morning everyone! Hope you have a great saturday.
As usual CR great topic. Thanks Donna for the schedule.
Good morning and thank you Sandy!
Just had a little chuckle Chuck Todd just tweeted:
Btw, why isn’t there more coverage of the debacle that is the efforts to rebuild lower Manhattan.
Excuse who is the reporter here?
Doh!
Raining in Panama City see pic:
http://twitpic.com/2eo7cs
“Nobody’s on the beach because of the rain this morning in Panama City, FL. Wait’ll the Obamas show up, though.”
Ok everyone have a great Saturday. I’m off to run errands…
Later!
Now Streaming…
August 14, 2010
12:05 PM EDT
President Obama Speaks to the Press on Gulf Coast Recovery
WhiteHouse.gov (Audio Only) http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
The WhiteHouse.gov/live event with audio started at 1 pm.
CSPAN rebroadcast http://cs.pn/fQmSEq
Obama: Oil stopped, but Gulf job far from done
8/14/10 JULIE PACE, AP
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – President Barack Obama on Saturday promised Gulf Coast residents that the federal government won’t abandon them once efforts to stop the oil spill are finished.
“I’m here to tell you that our job is not finished and we are not going anywhere until it is,” Obama said at a Coast Guard Station in this Florida Panhandle city.
The president, first lady, daughter Sasha (sister Malia is at summer camp) and family dog Bo visited the Sunshine State for a brief weekend trip — part vacation, part sales pitch — as the president sought to boost a tourism industry reeling after the spill.
On a warm, muggy afternoon, Obama said he brought his family to Florida, “to let our fellow Americans know that they should come down here. It is spectacular. And not just to support the region, but also because it’s a beautiful place to visit.”
It was his fifth trip to the region since April 20 explosion on a deepwater rig that caused the spill. Obama said he knows Gulf Coast residents have been frustrated by the slow payment of claims from a $20 billion BP fund for those who have suffered damages as a result of the spill, and he pledged to rectify that.
“Any delays — by BP or by those managing the new fund — are unacceptable, and I will keep pushing to get these claims expedited,” Obama said.
Perhaps the most intriguing question of the Obamas’ 27-hour dash south was whether the president would take a dip in the Gulf.
The president and first lady were joined at a roundtable discussion by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a former Mississippi governor appointed by Obama to develop a long-term Gulf restoration plan; the mayors of Panama City and Panama City Beach; the general manager of a three-hotel chain that has had 1,000 room night cancellations due to the spill, translating into more than $191,000 in lost room revenue alone; the owner of a charter boat company; and the co-owner of a restaurant and two fishing boats.
Tourism officials say the region typically brings in 70 percent of its yearly income between June and August. Although only 16 of the 180 beaches in the western part of the Panhandle were affected by the spill, tourism officials say many potential visitors have stayed away, deterred by images of oil-slicked waters and tarball-strewn beaches in other parts of the region.
The head of the U.S. Travel Association has proposed that BP, responsible for the oil spill, set aside $500 million for a marketing campaign to help draw tourists to the Gulf states.
Alabama’s attorney general on Thursday sued BP and others companies associated with the spill, seeking unspecified economic and punitive damages. At least 300 federal lawsuits have been filed in 12 states against BP and the other three main companies involved in the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drill rig.
The White House scheduled the Obamas’ trip after facing criticism that the president wasn’t heeding his own advice that Americans vacation in the Gulf.
“This is still a place that’s open for business and welcoming so vacationers and people can have a wonderful holiday here,” Obama said during a June trip to Pensacola, Fla. — one of his four to the region before this weekend.
for the entire article: http://yhoo.it/gVuSBw
Photos: http://www.daylife.com/search?q=obama+tyndall
Obama supports ‘the right’ for ground zero mosque
8/14/10 AP
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says Muslims have the right to build a mosque near ground zero in New York, but he’s not saying whether he thinks it’s a good idea to do so.
Obama’s comment Saturday during a trip to Florida expanded on a statement he made at a White House dinner on Friday. At that event, he said Muslims have the same right to freedom of religion as everyone else in America.
Obama said Saturday that he didn’t comment on “the wisdom” of putting a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks — but rather was commenting on “the right” to build a mosque there.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After skirting the controversy for weeks, President Barack Obama is weighing in forcefully on the mosque near ground zero, saying a nation built on religious freedom must allow it.
“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,” Obama told an intently listening crowd gathered at the White House Friday evening to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”
For the entire article: http://yhoo.it/htROLH
Pres Obama was a Constiutional lawyer that is why he supports the freedom of religion for Americans as it is in our US Constitution.
The United States Constitution addresses the issue of religion in two places: in the First Amendment, and the Article VI prohibition on religious tests as a condition for holding public office. The First Amendment prohibits the federal government from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” This provision was later expanded to state and local governments, through the Incorporation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
POLITICO WHITEBOARD
8/14/10 POLITICO
ABOUT LAST NIGHT – With criticism mounting of his support for the construction of an Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan, President Obama on Saturday defended his decision to wade into the controversy the night before, but backed off from his previous stance.
“In this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion,” Obama said when asked about his remarks at a White House dinner Friday marking the start of Ramadan. He did, however, insist that his defense of the organizers’ right to build the mosque did not mean he endorsed the project.
“I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there,” Obama continued. “I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about. And I think it’s very important as difficult as some of these issues are that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about.”
Families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as prominent Republicans, have criticized Obama for saying Friday that he supports building a mosque near Ground Zero.
On Friday night Obama took a much sharper stance on the issue.
“Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground,” he said. “But let me be clear: as a citizen and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.” — CAROL E. LEE
White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton later emailed this statement to the pool:
“Just to be clear, the President is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night.
It is not his role as President to pass judgment on every local project.
“But it is his responsibility to stand up for the Constitutional principle of religious freedom and equal treatment for all Americans.
“What he said last night, and reaffirmed today, is that If a church, a synagogue or a Hindu temple can be built on a site, you simply cannot deny that right to those who want to build a Mosque.
“The World Trade Center site is hallowed ground, where 3000 Americans-Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims were the victims of a cold-blooded massacre. We are still at war with the small band of terrorists who planned and executed that attack.
“But that does not give government the right to deny law-abiding Americans of one faith the same rights you would accord anyone else.”
Hi guys
Here’s a new diary. Enjoy.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/14/892997/-A-President-with-brass-balls…One-of-the-finest-moments-of-Obamas-presidency
Hi BWD and thank you!
Another great diary BWD, thanks.
WWII U.S. Army trucker logged 3,000 miles
Jim Tuttle – PublicOpionOnLine.com
From Normandy to Berlin, Samuel Reed Sr. put about 3,000 hard miles on the army truck he practically lived in during World War II.
By the time he parked it for the last time, there were dozens of bullet holes in the truck to remind him of the dangers he had survived as a mechanic in Patton’s Third Army.
Now 92, the native Shippensburg resident remembers his wartime experience, during which time he accrued five battle stars and the rank of Technician, 5th Grade.
“I had a lot of bullets come close to me, but I never got hit with one,” he said.
Drafted and trained
When Reed, then a young man working at Letterkenny Army Depot, received his draft notice in the mail, he “thought nothing of it.”
From Normandy to Berlin, Samuel Reed Sr. put about 3,000 hard miles on the army truck he practically lived in during World War II.
By the time he parked it for the last time, there were dozens of bullet holes in the truck to remind him of the dangers he had survived as a mechanic in Patton’s Third Army.
Now 92, the native Shippensburg resident remembers his wartime experience, during which time he accrued five battle stars and the rank of Technician, 5th Grade.
“I had a lot of bullets come close to me, but I never got hit with one,” he said.
Drafted and trained
When Reed, then a young man working at Letterkenny Army Depot, received his draft notice in the mail, he “thought nothing of it.”
“I had to go, just like the rest of them. It was fighting for a cause. I left here with a whole group of Shippensburg people,” he said.
Reed was one man among six busloads of draftees to unload at the courthouse in Carlisle on the day he was inducted. He was outfitted with a uniform, then sent to Fort Lee in Virginia for basic training.
After crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a troop transport ship called the “Louis Pasteur,” Reed landed in Belfast, Ireland. In Europe, he received training in how to drive and maintain large trucks.
He was assigned to the 3882nd Quartermaster Truck Company as a mechanic. His duty involved driving a 5-ton wrecker truck loaded up with fresh tires, spark plugs, fan belts and other small parts to perform repairs as needed.
“I lived in that truck for a long time,” he said.
Reed and a few other men would be in charge of keeping 40 army trucks in working order during the course of the war, as they drove thousands of miles to deliver munitions and other supplies to the front lines.
For the entire article: http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_15774747?source=most_emailed
Picture of POTUS swimming in Gulf with Sacha – priceless.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/4891369859/
Thanks Sandy!
Let’s hope that pic will shut those idiotic pundits up. That’s all they were interested in asking about at Gibby’s presser on Friday!!!! “Was he going to go in the water?” I absolutely couldn’t believe that question.
Hope they’re happy.
Hi CanadaBarb!
Obama takes a swim
8/14/10 By CAROL E. LEE – POLITICO
Obama answered it within hours of his arrival in Panama City Beach, when he took his daughter Sasha, 9, out for a dip to prove to the nation’s skeptics that the Gulf of Mexico is safe and clean despite the millions of gallons of oil that flowed into it over the past four months.
It’s exactly the image Florida officials wanted. Except the president and his daughter were not swimming in the Gulf. They swam in Saint Andrew Bay, water off of Alligator Point near the restaurant where they ate lunch. The Gulf was closed to swimming in that area because of riptide.
Unfortunately for the reporters traveling with the president, the White House took control of the photograph of the outing.
A staff photographer snapped the image and the White House released it online, while photographers with the news agencies traveling with the president were holed up inside a banquet room in the hotel.
Earlier Saturday, after delivering remarks the US Coast Guard office in Panama City, Obama told reporters he planned to swim, but also said he’d be taking a dip away from their prying eyes.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41073.html
Isaac Asimov’s Super Quiz
King Features Syndicate
Published Thursday, August 12, 2010
Subject: U.S. PARTY TIME
Identify the “party.” (e.g., This movement is anti-stimulus and anti-deficit. Answer: Tea Party.)
FRESHMAN LEVEL
1. Barack Obama led it to victory.
Answer________
2. Abraham Lincoln’s party.
Answer________
3. This party took place on Dec. 16, 1773.
Answer________
GRADUATE LEVEL
4. It supported Ralph Nader’s run for president.
Answer________
5. It favors minimally regulated,
laissez-faire markets and strong civil liberties.
Answer________
6. George Lincoln Rockwell founded this party in 1959.
Answer________
PH.D. LEVEL
7. The second U.S. president was a member of this party.
Answer________
8. Founded by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in 1966.
Answer________
9. Ross Perot founded this party in 1995.
Answer________
———–
For the answers: http://superquiz.king-online.com/client_temps/startribune.php?pubdate=20100812
Hole in one! Obama’s daughter has lucky stroke
8/14/10 AP
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Sasha Obama is proving that the president isn’t the only golfer in the family.
On a family trip to a miniature golf course, 9-year-old Sasha hit a hole-in-one in front of the watchful eye of the media, and much to the delight of her father, an avid golfer. The president gave Sasha a high-five, and declared her stroke, “unbelievable.”
The president followed up by making par with his two shots on the first hole.
The Obamas are in the Florida Panhandle on a quick weekend trip that the president hopes will jump-start the region’s tourism industry, which has suffered following the Gulf oil spill.
Photos: http://www.daylife.com/search/photos/1/grid?q=obama+golf
Final plug on Gulf oil leak at least days away
8/14/10 HARRY R. WEBER and TOM BREEN, AP
NEW ORLEANS – The government official overseeing the Gulf oil spill response said Saturday he wants additional tests done before ordering BP to finish drilling a relief well that will help plug the runaway well for good.
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen told reporters it could be late Monday or early Tuesday before officials know the results of those tests, which will be designed to minimize any potential risks with the final plugging procedure.
If Allen gives his final order to proceed with the relief well then, it could be next weekend before the relief well intercepts the blown-out well. Once that happens, engineers will pump in mud and cement to plug the well from below, a process known as the bottom kill.
Before that happens, Allen wants to know if pressure inside the well has to be decreased. He has instructed BP to provide an analysis to determine if the bottom kill could risk damaging the well further without some kind of pressure relief.
BP began drilling its primary relief well in early May to permanently seal the ruptured well. But about two weeks ago, around the time the company had done a successful static kill pumping mud and cement into the top of the well, executives began signaling that the bottom kill procedure might not be done. In recent days, Allen suggested that was a possibility.
For the entire article: http://yhoo.it/hRC3Jl
Sunday, August 15 2010
All Times ET
2:40 pm
The First Family departs Panama City, Florida en route Andrews Air Force Base
Local Event Time:1:40 PM CDT
Tyndall Air Force Base
Open Press
4:35 pm
The First Family arrives at Andrews Air Force Base
Andrews Air Force Base
Travel Pool Coverage
4:50 pm
The First Family arrives at the White House
South Lawn
Open Press
(Pre-set 4:20PM – Final Gather 4:35PM – North Doors of the Palm Room)
Good Sunday Morning!
Wow our First Family are awesome. Little Miss Sasha is a fierce golf player just like her dad. I love watching her parents reaction to her hole-in-one.
These are some great pics of the first family.
http://www.daylife.com/search/photos/2/grid?q=obama+golf
Good Morning Donna,
thanks for the link!
Good morning Jocelyne!
Good morning Donna!
Please join me in lighting a candle for the President, his family and the Nation:
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=pbo
Candle lit Donna.
Thank you Donna!
Japan PM shuns shrine, apologizes at WWII ceremony
8/15/10 YURI KAGEYAMA, AP
Excerpts from the article:
TOKYO – Japan’s new liberal prime minister shunned a visit to a shrine that has outraged Asian neighbors for honoring war criminals, breaking from past governments’ tradition and instead apologizing Sunday for the suffering World War II caused.
“We caused great damage and suffering to many nations during the war, especially to the people of Asia,” Kan told a crowd of about 6,000 at an annual memorial service for the war dead at Budokan hall in Tokyo…..
.
“We feel a deep regret, and we offer our sincere feelings of condolence to those who suffered and their families,” he said. “We renew our promise to never wage war, and we promise to do our utmost to achieve eternal world peace and to never repeat again the mistake of war.”
Among those listening to Kan’s words were Emperor Akihito, whose father Hirohito announced the surrender 65 years ago in a radio broadcast — the first time the Japanese public had heard the real voice of the emperor, who had been revered as a living god to justify imperial expansion.
For the entire article: http://yhoo.it/dJ4TBx
Petraeus: Progress in Afghanistan will take time
8/15/10 ANNE FLAHERTY, AP
WASHINGTON – Progress in Afghanistan only began this spring and needs time to take root, Army Gen. David Petraeus said in comments broadcast Sunday that were aimed at shoring up American support for the war.
Petraeus, who’s been credited with a successful war strategy in Iraq and who took charge of U.S. and NATO military operations in Afghanistan in July, described an “up and down process” of seizing Taliban-controlled territory and creating “small pockets of progress” that he hoped will expand.
The goal, he told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” is to keep al-Qaida and other extremist groups at bay while the Afghan government has a chance to take control and earn the trust of the local population.
“We’re here so that Afghanistan does not once again become a sanctuary for transnational extremists the way it was when al-Qaida planned the 9/11 attacks in the Kandahar area,” Petraeus said in an interview taped in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Petraeus’ comments come as U.S. support for the 9-year war is slipping and the death toll is climbing. July was the deadliest month for U.S. forces, when 66 troops were killed.
Petraeus and other military officials have warned of more combat casualties as additional U.S. troops are sent to the fight. Last fall, President Barack Obama authorized 100,000 troops in Afghanistan — triple the level from 2008.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_afghanistan
Awesome.
Good morning and thank you BWD!
Obamas take a boat ride during Gulf Coast vacation
8/15/10 JULIE PACE, AP
By JULIE PACE, Associated Press Writer Julie Pace, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Catching a glimpse of porpoises, President Barack Obama and his family went boating Sunday as part of a weekend trip to the Gulf of Mexico that was designed to showcase the region’s attractions as well as the president’s concern for those affected by the BP oil spill.
Joining Obama aboard the 50-foot Bay Point Lady on a rainy, overcast morning were first lady Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha. The parents’ other daughter, Malia, is at summer camp. The vacationing threesome leaned over the side of the boat to see the porpoises as the boat cruised the calm waters of St. Andrews Bay near their Panama City Beach hotel.
The outing came as the first family moved toward wrapping up its 27-hour trip to the Florida Panhandle. The Obamas were expected to return to Washington by Sunday evening.
The White House scheduled the trip after facing criticism that Obama wasn’t heeding his own advice that Americans vacation in the Gulf. He vacationed in North Carolina this spring, Maine earlier this summer, and will head to Martha’s Vineyard, off the Massachusetts coast, later in August. Mrs. Obama also traveled to Spain this month with Sasha.
Although only 16 of the 180 beaches in the western part of the Florida Panhandle were affected by the spill, tourism officials say many potential visitors have stayed away, deterred by images of oil-slicked waters and tarball-strewn beaches in other parts of the region.
On Saturday, Obama took Sasha for a swim in St. Andrews Bay, a signal to other would-be Gulf vacationers that the water and the beaches are fine.
“Beaches all along the Gulf Coast are clean, they are safe, and they are open for business,” Obama said.
The president’s dip took place away from the news media. The White House released an official photo, but The Associated Press does not publish such handout images. According to the White House, the Obamas swam off Alligator Point, which is in Saint Andrews Bay, not the Gulf.
The first family spent much of Saturday at their beachfront hotel, venturing to Lime’s Bayside Bar & Grill, where they relaxed on an outdoor deck overlooking the water and ate a lunch of fish tacos, chicken tenders and burgers. They later headed into town for a round of miniature golf, where 9-year-old Sasha stole the show with a hole-in-one off the first tee.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_re_us/us_obama
Tim Wise was indeed given the most appropriate last name. This guy is right on point.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/15/893200/-Tim-Wise-on-CNN-to-discuss-Dr-Lauras-racist-rant-and-more…
Thank you Donna!
I tipped Mr. Wise and added this comment:
As far as words are concerned any word can be offensive, it depends on what the atmosphere is at the time and how people perceive the meaning of the word or “vibe” that the person saying the word is giving the listeners.
For example the word “gay” meant “happy” at one time and now it means “a person who is attracted sexually to people of their own gender”. Another example is that my husband told me that when his brothers and sisters were little they thought the word “underwear” was forbidden because it meant something “dirty” and when they were really mad at each other they would yell out “You underwear you!”
I feel that if one wants to be mature and civil with those around them that any word written or spoken that gives offense should not be used. Yes, we have the freedom of speech but should we not show respect to one another by showing that we are mature and civil enough to use restraint?
Some people just want to shock other people and be offensive this is what I think “Dr” Laura, Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, etc do. They are trying desperately to be drama queens to get people to pay attention to them and to increase their revenue. Personally I don’t ever watch or listen to these people.
Is there still racism, homophobia and tribalism? Yes. But in today’s integrated world where we have the to means to educate ourselves we should be trying to overcome these ancient and counterproductive notions of “if they are not like us then they do not rate”.
Well said CR and sorry but I am cracking up at the “You underwear You”.
Have a great Sunday. I’m off to service.
Good Morning CR, Donna, Jocelyne, BWD, and all O’friends.
CR that underwear cuss out had me going, kids say the funniest things.
Have a Blessed Sunday all. Blessed Assumption Day to my Catholic friends.
Good morning Sandy!
Happy Sunday and bonjour and aloha CR,Donna, Jocelyne, BWD, Sandy and all friends! I have missed you!
Our visiting family is back on the road after three days exploring mountains and beaches and many other points of interest and eating salmon and oysters and clams. We had a great time.
Now I am going to get caught up.
>^uu^< (tired cat with sleepy eyes)
Good morning Kathleen!
Hey Kat and Good morning/afternoon to the O family. Welcome back Kat. Missed ya.
Hi COS!
I turned to cnn live stream windows to see what was happening and they have a stream up for a handful of tea party folks rallying against immigration and running for congress. Shame, shame. Why is it that illegal immigration only target people from Mexico? I can’t beleive that all illegal immigrants are from Mexico.
Good morning COS!
Shame shame indeed!
I am off “to holo holo” (wander) and “kau kau” (eat) now.
I HOPE that you all have a good Sunday.
On a family trip to a miniature golf course, 9-year-old Sasha Obama hit a hole-in-one in front of the cameras, and much to the delight of her father.
Welcome back Kat. You were missed.
Here are some great photos for everyone’s enjoyment.
http://obamadiary.wordpress.com/
Have a great O’Sunday!
Hi Donna!
Great photos! I love our loving and demonstrative and emotionally healthy First Family!
Plus, I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! The President is doing his part to support the frozen dessert industry, so I’m going to tell husband it’s our patriotic duty to follow his example.
Tears, Tears, Tears! Need I say more?
Hi Barb!:)
I was in Canada yesterday. (The part you can reach at Peace Arch Park without going through the border crossing.)
A question, guys. I want to post this photo-diary with all those great pictures from the Gulf, but i’m not sure if the negative comments won’t do more harm than good. Not to me personally, i don’t really care, but you know, there’s a lot of hate towards PBO among his “supporters”.
What do you guys think?
BWD, the power of positive images cannot be overstated. Let me say it again. The power of positive images cannot be overstated.
The saying that a picture is worth 1,000 words is literally true. Our brains are wired to receive visual information more quickly than language, and what we see makes an impression at a deep emotional level. I am speaking from experience in educational psychology and instructional materials development. I will also give you a relevant illustration of what I mean.
Years ago somebody made a commercial or filmed report of some kind that really slammed then-President Reagan. They used many words to tear his policies to shreds.
But the video caused viewers to have a positive response to Reagan!
Why? Because accompanying all those hostile words were pictures of Reagan smiling, Reagan looking kind and friendly, Reagan looking loveable. The message of the pictures overwhelmed the message of the words.
The Reagan White House even contacted the makers of the piece to thank them!
Your positive diaries and the images they contain are e-mailed to a much wider world of genuine PBO supporters than is represented on Daily Kos. The haters are going to hate whether or not they see something nice about the President, because they are not coming from a rational place. Let them stew in their bile. They would feel mighty depressed if they knew how little impact they have in the real world. You are telling the truth to as much of the world as you can reach – as we all are in our own ways — and I believe truth is stronger than lies if enough people speak it. I applaud you for doing it.
Well, after such post, how could i not publish?
Thank you so much, my friend.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/15/893282/-The-first-family-in-the-Gulf-(gazillion-photos)
Tipped, rec’d, e-mailing as we speak…
Just like Sasha — you have hit a hole in one, BWD!
Thank you BWD!!
Well said Kat. Most of the time I don’t read the comments because I try to keep my blood pressure in check.
BWD, please don’t let stupid comments deter you from posting the great shots and videos of our First family. Some folks hang out on blogs all day just to post stupid and ugly comments. I say they have deep rooted problems within themselves.
That is exactly right, COS!
Hey guys! Hope everyone had a great weekend. I was in NYC for the weekend, one of my older brothers finally finished his Ph.D! I see I missed quite a bit with the “Mosque” statement and alleged walkback. It was all over the news in NYC, as you can imagine. They did paint it as him “supporting the mosque” but then said his statement was in support of religious freedom.
Hi Vero!
Congratulations to your brother!
Hi Vero! Congratulations to your brother!
Thanks you both! It took him 5 years. It’s amazing how relieved he looks now that he’s finished.
Guys, if you’re on Facebook, here’s a must “like” page:
http://www.facebook.com/ObamaAccomplishments?v=wall
Thanks BWD!
I am not on Facebook but I think that Donna and Rock are on it.
Great page. I sent it to some of my friends.
Obamas wrap up weekend vacation in Florida
8/15/10 AP
PANAMA CITY, Florida (AFP) – US President Barack Obama and his family ended Sunday a weekend trip to Florida aimed at showing support for tourism in a region still struggling due to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The First Family spent two days at Panama City Beach, with Obama and Sasha taking a dip in the Gulf of Mexico waters to reassure travelers that tourist havens remain pristine despite the massive spill.
On an overcast Sunday morning, Obama, his wife, Michelle, and Sasha — elder daughter Malia is away at summer camp — took a ride in a converted 50-foot (15-meter) Navy Launch called the “Bay Point Lady” around St. Andrews Bay, fronting Panama City.
At one point the Obamas leaned against a metal railing at the ship’s bow and saw a porpoise breaking the water a few yards from the boat.
After the boat ride, the Obamas headed for Air Force 1 for their flight back home, stopping at an ice cream stand along the way to indulge in large cups of ice cream — the president’s was mint chocolate chip.
Obama on Saturday told local officials and business leaders that “oil is no longer flowing into the Gulf… But I’m here to tell you that our job is not finished, and we are not going anywhere until it is.”
During the height of the spill, which began after a BP-leased rig explosion on April 20 and ended with a cap on the well in mid-July, Obama urged his fellow Americans to continue taking vacations in the region, famous for its sugar-white beaches, and heavily dependent on tourism.
The Obama’s trip to Florida comes after US officials announced that energy giant BP’s runaway well has been sealed, and that they are moving ahead with plans to make sure it’s truly “killed” by pumping cement in through a relief well under the Gulf of Mexico.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100815/ts_alt_afp/usoilenvironmentpollutionobama
Petraeus defends Karzai – POLITICO Live: Petraeus defends Karzai
August 15, 2010 James Hohmann- POLITICO
Gen. David Petraeus, playing the good cop, is defending Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in the face of renewed criticism by U.S. politicians during a television interview that aired Sunday.
“He is the president of a sovereign country, and we have to understand that,” the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan said in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported Sunday that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) will lecture Karzai on the need to tackle corruption during a trip to Kabul this week. The paper also reported that President Barack Obama raised the imperative to tackle corruption with Karzai during an hour-long videoconference on Friday, which followed weeks of back-and-forth between the two governments over Karzai’s efforts to control foreign-led corruption investigations.
Asked by NBC host David Gregory about the abundant corruption, Petraeus said Karzai “has been quite forthright about recognizing” what he needs to do to combat the problem.
The comments and public deference reflect how important the top military official in the country sees what he described as a “good” relationship with the increasingly controversial figure.
Petraeus downplayed reports of brewing tensions with Afghanistan’s government. He argued that it’s “natural” for two sovereign governments to “see things a little bit differently” sometimes, noting that the same thing happened when he was in Iraq with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
He said he talks with Karzai an average of once a day and described some of his complaints about the legal basis of the corruption investigations as “understandable.” He quickly added that the American government is still closely watching what happens next.
Petraeus said the Afghanistan government must “earn legitimacy” from its people for it to survive.
For the entire article: http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0810/Petraeus_defends_Karzai_.html?showall
Meet The Press – Gen. Petraeus’ media blitz to define “Progress” in Afghanistan
Thank you and God bless you Gen. Petraeus for stepping up to the plate even if you had to take a step down in rank so that you could make sure that the Afghanistan progress would go through.
Thank you Kathleen for bringing my attention to this video!
whitehouse | August 15, 2010 -
President Obama on the Recovery of the Gulf Coast
The President speaks from Panama City, FL on the efforts that succeeded in containing the BP oil spill and reminds Americans that beaches along the Gulf Coast are open and that Gulf seafood is being tested and confirmed to be safe to eat.
It’s 88 in the office and I must leave! See you later!
>^..^< !!!
Okay! Thank you Kathleen!
US bailouts prevented 1930s-style Great Depression say economists
New study by economists Mark Zandi and Alan Blinder says US economic stimulus averted a worse downturn
7/28/10 Andrew Clark – guardian.co.uk
To Washington conservatives they were egregious examples of “big government” overreach, but the White House’s economic stimulus and bailout policies have saved 8.5m jobs and averted a further slump of 6.5% in US economic output, according to a study by two influential economists.
An in-depth modelling exercise by Moody’s chief economist, Mark Zandi, and a Princeton University expert, Alan Blinder, paints a bleak scenario of a 1930s-style Great Depression if the US government had enacted none of its $1.7tn (£1.3tn) programmes to avert a financial meltdown.
Using historical statistical relationships and a focus on the government’s impact on narrowing credit spreads, the pair found that the downturn would have continued into 2011, with unemployment peaking at 16.5% rather than last year’s actual high of 10.1%.
They believe US gross domestic product would have slumped by 7.4% in 2009 and by 3.7% in 2010, producing a “peak to trough” decline of 12%, rather than the anticipated 4%. Starved of demand, shops and employers would be cutting prices and wages.
“With outright deflation in prices and wages in 2009 to 2011, this dark scenario constitutes a 1930s-like depression,” says the study, entitled How the great recession was brought to an end”.
Thwarting stiff opposition from Republicans in Congress, the Obama administration introduced an economic stimulus package of more than $780bn last year, adding to giveaways of $170bn by the Bush administration in 2008 that included tax refunds to tens of millions of Americans. Adding in banking-bailout measures of $600bn and smaller programmes such as the “cash for clunkers” scheme and a rescue of insurer AIG, total commitments by the US government reach $1.7tn.
Zandi and Blinder say that although economic activity and job creation remain extremely sluggish, the US economy has made “enormous progress” since its nadir last year: “Maybe the country and the world were just lucky. But we take another view: the great recession gave way to recovery as quickly as it did largely because of the unprecedented responses by monetary and fiscal policymakers.”
The study’s authors are likely to have their findings hotly disputed by Republicans, who maintain that an unemployment rate stubbornly close to 10% means the government’s interventions were a failure, fuelling an out-of-control budget deficit.
Speaking earlier in the week, the Republicans’ senate leader, Mitch McConnell, insisted stimulus efforts had “little or no results”, and that such intervention “simply didn’t work”.
“Simply borrowing money from our grandchildren to send down to state governments is not going to jump start the economy,” McConnell told a newspaper in his home state of Kentucky. “The biggest way for the economy to recover is for the private sector to grow.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/28/us-bailouts-prevented-1930s-style-great-depression
Remarks of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
December 25, 2010
THE PRESIDENT: Merry Christmas, everybody. Michelle and I just wanted to take a moment today to send greetings from our family to yours.
THE FIRST LADY: This is one of our favorite times of year. And we’re so fortunate to be able to celebrate it together in this wonderful home.
This is the “People’s House.” So Barack and I try to open it to as many people as we can, especially during the holiday season.
This month, more than 100,000 Americans have passed through these halls. And the idea behind this year’s theme, “Simple Gifts,” is that the greatest blessings of all are the ones that don’t cost a thing – the comfort of spending time with loved ones…the freedoms we enjoy as Americans… and the joy we feel upon giving something of ourselves.
So in this time of family, friends, and good cheer; let’s also be sure to look out for those who are less fortunate, who’ve hit a run of bad luck, or who are hungry and alone this holiday season.
THE PRESIDENT: Because this is the season when we celebrate the simplest yet most profound gift of all: the birth of a child who devoted his life to a message of peace, love, and redemption. A message that says no matter who we are, we are called to love one another – we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper, our separate stories in this big and busy world are really one.
Today, we’re also thinking of those who can’t be home for the holidays – especially all our courageous countrymen serving overseas.
For the entire transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/25/weekly-address-president-and-first-lady-extend-christmas-greeting-and-ur
Tricare Young Adult Program Announced
January 13, 2011 defense.gov
The Department of Defense announced today its introduction of the premium-based Tricare Young Adult Program (TYAP) which extends medical coverage to eligible military family members to the age of 26. Expected to be in place later this spring, TYAP implements the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of fiscal 2011. Premium costs for TYAP are not yet finalized, but the NDAA specifies rates must cover the full cost of the program.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 required civilian health plans to offer coverage to adult children until age 26. Tricare previously met or exceeded key tenets of national health reform, including restrictions on annual limits, lifetime maximums, “high user” cancellations, or denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions – but did not include this expanded coverage for adult children. Dependent eligibility for Tricare previously ended at age 21 or age 23 for full-time college students.
The fiscal 2011 NDAA now gives the DoD the authority to offer similar benefits to young adults under Tricare.
“We’ve been working hard to make sure we could put Tricare Young Adult on a fast track,” said Tricare Deputy Director, Rear. Adm. Christine Hunter. “Fortunately for our beneficiaries concerned about health care coverage for their adult children, the law signed by the President includes opportunities for military families to elect this new premium-based plan retroactive to Jan.1.”
For the entire article: http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=14200
January 24, 2011
Presidential Initiative Supports Military Families
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Dr. Jill Biden put forward today nearly 50 commitments by Federal agencies responding to the President’s directive to establish a coordinated and comprehensive Federal approach to supporting military families. Strengthening Our Military Families: Meeting America’s Commitment is the result of an effort led by the National Security Staff and Domestic Policy Council responding to the Presidential Study Directive-9 calling on all Cabinet Secretaries and other agency heads to find better ways to provide our military families with the support they deserve. The result will be a unified Federal Government approach to help ensure:
* the U.S. military recruits and retains America’s best, allowing it to maintain the high standards which have become a hallmark of our armed forces.
* Service members can maintain both strong families and a high state of readiness;
* family members can live fulfilling lives while supporting their service member(s); and
* the American people better understand and appreciate the experience, strength, and commitment of those who serve and sacrifice on their behalf.
This document provides the Federal Government’s response to that challenge by identifying four strategic priorities that address the primary challenges facing our military families.
1. Enhance the well-being and psychological health of the military family.
1. Ensure excellence in military children’s education and their development.
2. Develop career and educational opportunities for military spouses.
3. Increase child care availability and quality for the Armed Forces.
These four priorities were identified with special attention to the feedback that the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, and Administration officials have received from the many service members and their families they have encountered over the past two years. They address the concerns and challenges of the families of Active Duty and Reserve Component Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard members; Veterans; and those who have fallen. Each Cabinet Secretary pledged to continue to communicate these priorities, share expertise, and establish sustainable solutions through leveraging partnerships.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/24/presidential-initiative-supports-military-families
January 24, 2011
Background on the President’s PSD Event Today with the First Lady and Dr. Biden
EAST ROOM
Today, the President, the First Lady, and Dr. Biden will deliver remarks at an event at the White House unveiling efforts to better coordinate and strengthen the Federal government’s support for military families. The President will publicly release the final report of the Presidential Study Directive-9 (PSD-9), Strengthening our Military Families: Meeting America’s Commitment (attached), a signature Administration deliverable for military families and the First Lady and Dr. Biden’s leadership on military family matters. The final report for PSD-9 includes nearly 50 commitments by and between Cabinet and other Federal agencies addressing some of the critical needs of military families. This report demonstrates the President’s commitment to mobilizing the entire Administration to support America’s troops, veterans and their families. The report’s release also marks nearly 2 years of leadership and advocacy by the First Lady and Dr. Biden. The event will be attended by Cabinet Members, Members of Congress, senior military officials, Veterans and Military Family Support Organizations, and military families.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/24/background-presidents-psd-event-today-first-lady-and-dr-biden
White House Unveils New Approach to Military Family Support
1/24/11 Elaine Wilson -American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2011 – White House officials released a report today that unveils a new, governmentwide approach to military family support and details a sweeping, interagency effort under way to strengthen families and enhance their well-being and quality of life.
President Barack Obama announced the results of a nearly yearlong review of military family support today in a White House ceremony attended by the Defense Department’s top brass, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, service chiefs and their spouses.
From child care to health care to spouse employment, the report — titled “Strengthening our Military Families: Meeting America’s Commitment” ( PSD-9) — identifies the key issues military families face and presents programs and resources government agencies plan to roll out in the coming months to address them.
“This document is the commitment to our military families not only of this government, but this nation in terms of their support, their care and their empowerment,” Robert L. Gordon III, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Pentagon’s office of military community and family policy, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service in a recent interview.
The report outlines four key areas that the governmentwide effort plans to address: enhancing military families’ well-being and psychological health, developing military spouse career and education opportunities, increasing child care availability and quality and ensuring excellence in military children’s education and development.
“We’re bringing together our agencies, our whole of government, with our whole of nation to focus on those four priority areas,” Gordon said. “The DOD can’t do this alone; it does take a whole-of-nation approach.”
For the entire article: http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62550&462550=20110124
January 24, 2011
Remarks by the President, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden on the Presidential Studies Directive: Strengthening Our Military Families
East Room
10:57 A.M. EST
DR. BIDEN: Good morning. And on behalf of the President and First Lady, the Vice President and myself, I want to welcome you and thank you for joining us here today at the White House.
I want to offer a special welcome to our service members and military families. Your presence here today honors us all.
I’m proud to stand here this morning as a military mom. My son is a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard and he recently spent a year in Iraq, so my husband and I know well the mixture of pride and concern that all military families share.
From our earliest times together, Michelle and I have had the privilege of meeting with military service members and their families all around the country — people and families like so many of you who are with us here today.
People like Jessica Sanders who I met at a deployment ceremony for members of the Delaware Army National Guard’s 126th Aviation Regiment. Jessica’s fiancé, Captain Mark Thomas, will deploy in the coming weeks to Afghanistan where he and his unit will provide medical evacuations for troops, allies and Afghan civilians. Captain Thomas’s parents are here today, too. Thank you for your service. (Applause.)
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/24/remarks-president-mrs-obama-and-dr-biden-presidential-studies-directive-
January 27, 2011
Remarks by the First Lady at Basic Training Graduation Ceremony
Hilton Field
Fort Jackson Army Training Center, South Carolina
1:26 P.M. EST
MRS OBAMA: Well, thank you so much. First, let me say thank you to Lieutenant Colonel Quincy Norman for that very kind introduction, as well as to Major General Mike Milano, Command Sergeant Major Brian Stall, and Command Sergeant Major Michael McIntosh. I want to thank you for all for setting up this visit and making my stay so nice. It’s exciting.
I also want to recognize Governor Nikki Haley and her husband, Michael, who’s an officer in the Army National Guard, for joining us today. Let’s give them a round of applause — (applause) — as well as Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, who’s here today. Let’s give him a round of applause. (Applause.) Thank you all for being here.
Let me tell you I am thrilled to be with all of you today. Thrilled. (Applause.) And I am especially thrilled to be back in South Carolina. I haven’t been back here in a while. This is what I consider to be my hometown in so many ways. It’s good to be back. (Applause.)
But I am especially thrilled to be with the extraordinary men and women who are graduating today, the members of the 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment! (Applause.)
In just ten short weeks, you’ve done so much. You’ve plowed through obstacle courses, you marched endless miles with heavier and heavier loads, you completed both Basic and Advanced Rifle Marksmanship. You conquered Victory Tower, you made it through Omaha Range, and you probably did more sessions of P.T. than any of you care to remember. (Laughter.) And you did all of this during what I understand was one of the coldest months on record here in South Carolina. (Applause.)
In fact, I understand that sometimes, you had to even break through the ice on the ground before you could start your training during the day.
So on behalf of myself and my husband and a grateful nation, I want to start off today by saying congratulations on all that you’ve achieved, and of course, “Hoo-ah!” (Laughter and applause.)
Now, I know that these past ten weeks haven’t been easy. And I call them short but I know that they haven’t felt short. I know it’s probably felt a little more like ten years rather than just ten weeks. I know that you all had plenty of moments when you wondered, what on Earth have I gotten myself into. (Laughter.)
Maybe it was that first wakeup call right before the sun was up, or maybe it was when you had to check to see what shade of blue your fingers had turned, or maybe it was when you were wondering how big the blisters on your feet had gotten. Maybe that was when.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/27/remarks-first-lady-basic-training-graduation-ceremony
Michelle Obama Interview
From: DODvClips | January 28, 2011 |
The Pentagon Channel’s SSgt Josh Hauser sits down with First Lady Michelle Obama to discuss the consequences of childhood obesity, poor childhood nutrition and lack of physical exercise in an exclusive one-on-one interview.
‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal Plan Progressing Quickly, Officials Say
1/28/11 By Karen Parris – American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2011 – The plan to end the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military is progressing quickly, senior Defense Department officials said here today.
Clifford L. Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to Pentagon reporters in the first of a series of briefings that will chart the department’s progress in implementing the repeal of the law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“My sense is [we have a] really good working relationship with the services as we do this, … not only the service chiefs, but the senior enlisted,” Stanley said. “You get good vibes about where we are in terms of cooperation [and] information coming forth.”
President Barack Obama signed the repeal into law Dec. 22, with provisions ensuring the repeal will not take place until 60 days after he, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, certify the military services are ready.
As part of today’s briefing, officials distributed copies of two memos containing the department’s guidance on repeal implementation. The first, signed by Gates, sets a planning deadline of Feb. 4. The second, which Stanley signed, outlines policy changes.
“Strong, engaged and informed leadership will be required at every level to implement the repeal … properly, effectively, and in a deliberate and careful manner,” Gates’ memo read in part.
“This is not, however, a change that should be done incrementally. The steps leading to certification and the actual repeal must be accomplished across the entire department at the same time,” the memo continued.
Gates’ guiding principles for implementation stress respect for individuals and common across-the-services standards, while prohibiting harassment, unlawful discrimination and policies based solely on sexual orientation.
Gates directed that a repeal implementation team lead the process to develop plans, update policies and train the force.
“What you’re going to see as we move forward, we have actually three tiers as we get to the training part,” Stanley said.
The three levels of training begin with policy makers, chaplains, lawyers and counselors; continue with leaders including commanding officers, senior noncommissioned officers and senior civilians; and culminate with troops across the services.
For the entire article: http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62623
GI Bill Latest
From: DODvClips | Feb 23, 2011
Changes are coming as early as March 5th with the beginning of the new post-9/11 GI Bill.
USAA‘s 10 Best Places for Military Retirement
2/21/2011
1. Waco, Texas
2. Oklahoma City, Okla.
3. Austin/Round Rock, Texas
4. College Station/Bryan, Texas
5. Harrisburg/Carlisle, Pa.
6. San Angelo, Texas
7. Madison, Wis.
8. Pittsburgh, Pa.
9. New Orleans/Metairie/Kenner, La.
10. Syracuse, N.Y.
How soon can you retire?
USAA’s online tools can help you figure it out.
For the entire USAA article: https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/usaamag_best_retirement_places
May 20, 2011
Remarks of First Lady Michelle Obama at United States Military Academy Graduation Family Banquet
West Point, New York
May 20, 2011
AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY—
Hello everyone, and thank you for that wonderful welcome. I want to thank Lieutenant General Huntoon for that very kind introduction, as well as Secretary of the Army John McHugh, the Class of 1961 bar presenters, all of our distinguished guests, and all of the parents, families, and friends who are joining us tonight. And of course, I want to say thank you for inviting me here to the United States Military Academy.
This is my first visit to West Point and I am truly humbled to speak to you tonight on an evening that’s so special for all of you, for this Academy, and for this country. As I look around at the cadets in this room, it is very clear to me that you all reflect everything we hope to see in ourselves and our country – firmness of character and strength of heart, a strong body and a ferocious mind, a devotion to country and to family.
And I know that this weekend is the product of 47 months of extraordinary effort and endurance from R-Day to your last exam during TEE-week. For all of you, I know this has been a magnificent journey, a journey full of academic and athletic victories, a journey that has taken you across the country and around the world.
You’ve learned new skills and immersed yourself in new cultures, which will serve you well on today’s battlefields. You’ve also created a Bionic Foot, an Exoskeleton, and other robotics and cyber defense projects that will help troops in the field. In the area of sports, your football team had its first winning season in 14 years and its first bowl victory in 25. Your women’s rugby team just brought home the national championship last weekend. And with your help, West Point earned its first victory in the Sandhurst Competition in 18 years.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/20/remarks-first-lady-michelle-obama-united-states-military-academy-graduat
President Obama Lays a Wreath at Arlington National Cemetery
From: whitehouse | May 30, 2011
President Obama lays a wreath on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery.
May 30, 2011
Remarks by the President at a Memorial Day Service
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia
11:25 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please be seated.
Thank you, Secretary Gates, and thank you for your extraordinary service to our nation. I think that Bob Gates will go down as one of our finest Secretaries of Defense in our history, and it’s been an honor to serve with him. (Applause.)
I also want to say a word about Admiral Mullen. On a day when we are announcing his successor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as he looks forward to a well-deserved retirement later this year, Admiral Mullen, on behalf of all Americans, we want to say thank you for your four decades of service to this great country. (Applause.) We want to thank Deborah Mullen as well for her extraordinary service. To Major General Karl Horst, the commanding general of our Military District of Washington; Mrs. Nancy Horst; Mr. Patrick Hallinan, the superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, as well as his lovely wife Doreen. And to Chaplain Steve Berry, thank you for your extraordinary service. (Applause.)
It is a great privilege to return here to our national sanctuary, this most hallowed ground, to commemorate Memorial Day with all of you. With Americans who’ve come to pay their respects. With members of our military and their families. With veterans whose service we will never forget and always honor. And with Gold Star families whose loved ones rest all around us in eternal peace.
To those of you who mourn the loss of a loved one today, my heart breaks goes out to you. I love my daughters more than anything in the world, and I cannot imagine losing them. I can’t imagine losing a sister or brother or parent at war. The grief so many of you carry in your hearts is a grief I cannot fully know.
This day is about you, and the fallen heroes that you loved. And it’s a day that has meaning for all Americans, including me. It’s one of my highest honors, it is my most solemn responsibility as President, to serve as Commander-in-Chief of one of the finest fighting forces the world has ever known. (Applause.) And it’s a responsibility that carries a special weight on this day; that carries a special weight each time I meet with our Gold Star families and I see the pride in their eyes, but also the tears of pain that will never fully go away; each time I sit down at my desk and sign a condolence letter to the family of the fallen.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/30/remarks-president-memorial-day-service
Standing When the First Lady Pays a Call
May 31, 2011 DAVID W. DUNLAP – NYTimes
On Memorial Day, Michelle Obama made an unannounced trip to visit the wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Joao Silva of The New York Times was among those on whom she paid a call. “She came across as a kind and attentive person,” Mr. Silva said. She asked about the progress of his recovery and gave yo-yos, Frisbees and White House candies to his children, Isabel, 6, and Gabriel, 5.
Perhaps the most telling moment occurred before Mrs. Obama arrived. On learning of her pending visit, Mr. Silva made a point of putting on his prosthetic legs.
“I wanted to be able to greet her standing up,” he said.
June 22, 2011
Remarks by the President on the Way Forward in Afghanistan
East Room
8:01 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Nearly 10 years ago, America suffered the worst attack on our shores since Pearl Harbor. This mass murder was planned by Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network in Afghanistan, and signaled a new threat to our security –- one in which the targets were no longer soldiers on a battlefield, but innocent men, women and children going about their daily lives.
In the days that followed, our nation was united as we struck at al Qaeda and routed the Taliban in Afghanistan. Then, our focus shifted. A second war was launched in Iraq, and we spent enormous blood and treasure to support a new government there. By the time I took office, the war in Afghanistan had entered its seventh year. But al Qaeda’s leaders had escaped into Pakistan and were plotting new attacks, while the Taliban had regrouped and gone on the offensive. Without a new strategy and decisive action, our military commanders warned that we could face a resurgent al Qaeda and a Taliban taking over large parts of Afghanistan.
For this reason, in one of the most difficult decisions that I’ve made as President, I ordered an additional 30,000 American troops into Afghanistan. When I announced this surge at West Point, we set clear objectives: to refocus on al Qaeda, to reverse the Taliban’s momentum, and train Afghan security forces to defend their own country. I also made it clear that our commitment would not be open-ended, and that we would begin to draw down our forces this July.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/22/remarks-president-way-forward-afghanistan
Obama Tells VOA US Will Not Abandon Afghanistan, Despite Troop Cuts
6/23/11 VOANews
President Barack Obama has discussed the current situation in Afghanistan in an interview with the Voice of America.
The president says his decision to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan does not mean the U.S. is abandoning that country.
“Keep in mind that we’re talking about 10,000 troops by the end of this year, an additional 23,000 by the end of next summer – and we’ll still have 68,000 troops there, in addition to the coalition partner troops,” President Obama said. “So there is still going to be a substantial presence. But what it does signal is that Afghans are slowly taking more and more responsibility.”
Phased transition
The president says his decision is consistent with what he called a phased transition process.
“Already there are Afghans out there every day who are fighting the fight, Afghans who are dying on behalf of their country, and their freedom, and their dignity,” he noted. “And what we want to make sure of is that we continue to be a good partner with that process, but also want to send a signal to the Afghan people: this is your country ultimately and you are going to have responsibilities.”
For the entire article: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Obama-Focuses-on-Afghanistan-During-VOA-Interview-124416269.html
“We’re Keeping Our Promises”: Vice President Joe Biden on Afghanistan, Iraq, and Our Commitment to Defeat al Qaeda
Posted by Kori Schulman on June 23, 2011
Last night, President Obama addressed the nation on the way forward in Afghanistan and his plan to remove 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and a total of 33,000 by next summer.
To put this decision in a larger context, Vice President Biden took a few minutes to share his thoughts about the promises this Administration has made – and kept – when it comes to the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, and our commitment to defeat al Qaeda:
Partnership Links Military Spouses With Employers
June 23, 2011 By Terri Moon Cronk American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – The Defense Department is launching a new partnership next week that’s intended to expand job opportunities for military spouses by connecting them with employers actively seeking to hire them.
Microsoft, Home Depot, Starbucks and the Navy Federal Credit Union are just a few of the nearly 60 corporations and companies that have signed on with the DOD partnership, said Robert L. Gordon III, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy.
When the partnership is launched June 29 at the Chamber of Commerce here, Gordon expects 14 more companies will be added to the partnership’s roster.
“The design of this program is to bring together those spouses who want to work with a web portal where companies that would like to employ our military spouses can find them,” he said.
That web portal is Military OneSource — located athttp://www.militaryonesource.com — which also offers job-seeking resources such as resume building. People can call OneSource consultants at 1-800-342-9647.
The partnership is based on memoranda of agreement to hire military spouses, Gordon explained. Some 100 job fairs are scheduled, starting in Los Angeles on July 10, with 200 companies ready to offer jobs to spouses.
“Military spouses bring a lot to the table,” he said. “They’ve volunteered and lead different activities on and off our installations. They are skilled, diverse, and know how to operate in a team environment.”
For the entire article: http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=64438
June 29, 2011
REMARKS BY DR. JILL BIDEN AT THE LAUNCH OF THE MILITARY SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PARTNERSHIP, AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
United States Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
Good morning everyone.
Thank you, Andrea, for that kind introduction and for all you do for our country. I am thrilled to be here with all of you today as Second Lady, and also as a proud Blue Star mom.
I’d like to thank the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the senior enlisted advisors and their spouses for their outstanding leadership.
I’d also like to acknowledge Admiral and Deborah Mullen for their incredible commitment to our Nation’s military families. We are all grateful to you both – and Deborah, you are a wonderful example of our amazing military spouses around the globe.
And finally, I’d like to thank our guests of honor, the extraordinary military spouses and families who are here with us today.
All of us – the business representatives, the military leaders, and the officials from the Chamber of Commerce – all of us are here today because of you.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/29/remarks-dr-jill-biden-launch-military-spouse-employment-partnership-prep
June 30, 2011
Remarks by the First Lady at Vermont National Guard Joining Forces Rally
Army Aviation Support Facility, Vermont National Guard, Burlington, Vermont
3:40 P.M. EDT
MRS. OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) Oh, my goodness. (Applause.) Good job. Thank you so much. (Applause.) Oh, my goodness! (Applause.) Got to come to Vermont more often! (Applause.) Yes! (Applause.) Oh, my goodness, thank you so much. (Applause.)
Please, please rest yourselves. Oh, I am thrilled to be here with all of you today. Let me just say that when I found out I was coming to Vermont — I’m coming to do some other things, but I told my staff — I said I have got to do something with the Vermont Guard and my dear friend, Marcelle. So I am just thrilled to be here and that you all have taken the time to come and be here with me. We are proud, so very proud.
I want to start by thanking Marcelle for that very kind introduction and for all her hard work on behalf of our Guard and Reserve families. But I also want to personally thank her for being my big sister in the U.S. Senate. She told you that we met then, but the truth is, is that she’s my big sister. She was assigned to me to look after me as a new spouse, and she did that well then and she continues to do that. She is a truly wonderful woman who I consider a dear friend, and she has always had my back. So we have to give Marcelle Leahy a big round of applause. (Applause.)
And I also want to acknowledge someone who couldn’t be here today but who would have been here today. She’s been a phenomenal partner to me every day on this issue. She’s a military mom herself, a tireless champion for military families, and also my friend, Dr. Jill Biden. (Applause.)
And I want to recognize your wonderful governor, Governor Shumlin. And his daughter is here, as well. She’s gorgeous, having a great summer. Stay out of trouble. Listen to your parents. (Laughter.) Thanks so much. As well as General — Major General Dubie for his outstanding leadership. I had an opportunity to meet his wife, as well.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/30/remarks-first-lady-vermont-national-guard-joining-forces-rally
U.S. turns joint security stations over to Iraqis
June 29, 2011 Spc. Anthony T. Zane, 362nd MPAD – army.mil
BASRAH, Iraq, June 24, 2011 — Three joint security stations located in southern Iraq were signed over to the Iraqis June 19-22, 2011.
U.S. military officers met with Iraqi officials at Sifer and Al Sheeb in Maysan Province and Minden located in Basrah Province to sign over control of the three stations as the U.S. continues its responsible drawdown.
“The significance of these last three sites is that they were done with very little advanced notice,” said Lt. Col. Charles Schoening, division engineer and chief of transition, 36th Infantry Division, Austin, Texas. “We got approval to close Sheeb, Sifer and Minden June 1, which is right around three weeks, and prior to that no bases had been closed in that short a time period,” he added, emphasizing the efficiency of the drawdown.
Preparing each site for the transition included many steps to ensure that the bases were in proper order once returned to the government of Iraq.
“There is an exhaustive environmental process in order to ensure that when we return these bases, there is nothing hazardous or harmful to the environment left on the bases,” said Schoening. “We have a very good ongoing environmental program, so if there is an incident, say a fuel spill, we have a process for getting that cleaned up immediately,” he added.
The official turnover occurred not in a public forum, but in the privacy of small meeting rooms located at each station, including Sifer, located on the Iranian border.
For the entire article: http://www.army.mil/article/60792/U_S__turns_joint_security_stations_over_to_Iraqis/
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