Obama to be Sworn in as 44th US President

Obama Signs Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

President Obama has signed his first piece of legislation into law, reversing a Supreme Court ruling that blocked women from filing pay discrimination lawsuits. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is named for a female employee of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company who was paid 40 percent less than male colleagues doing the same job. Ledbetter lost her suit against Goodyear after the court ruled she did not file a complaint on time.

President Obama: ?This is only the beginning. I know that if we stay focused, as Lilly did, and keep standing for what?s right, as Lilly did, we will close that pay gap, and we will make sure that our daughters have the same rights, the same chances and the same freedoms to pursue their dreams as our sons."

Obama Denounces ?Shameful? Wall Street Bonuses
Meanwhile, President Obama has criticized Wall Street following news financial executives received an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses last year. The average payout amounted to $112,000.

President Obama: ?When I saw an article today indicating that Wall Street bankers had given themselves $20 billion worth of bonuses, the same amount of bonuses as they gave themselves in 2004, at a time when most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking for taxpayers to help sustain them, and when taxpayers find themselves in the difficult position that if they don?t provide help, that the entire system could come down on top of our heads, that is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful."

Although bonuses declined from 2007, the $18.4 billion equaled the same amount paid in 2004



( Obama Denounces ?Shameful? Wall Street Bonuses )

Meanwhile, President Obama has criticized Wall Street following news financial executives received an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses last year. The average payout amounted to $112,000.

President Obama: ?When I saw an article today indicating that Wall Street bankers had given themselves $20 billion worth of bonuses, the same amount of bonuses as they gave themselves in 2004, at a time when most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking for taxpayers to help sustain them, and when taxpayers find themselves in the difficult position that if they don?t provide help, that the entire system could come down on top of our heads, that is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful."

Although bonuses declined from 2007, the $18.4 billion equaled the same amount paid in 2004.


( Senate Backs Child Healthcare Expansion )

The Senate has passed a measure expanding government health insurance for low-income children. The $33 billion State Children?s Health Insurance Program measure would be funded in part by a tax increase on cigarette packs. The House passed its version of the SCHIP expansion earlier this month. Former President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar measures, but President Obama has vowed to sign it into law.


( President Obama: )


Soon my Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, will announce a new strategy for reviving our financial system that gets credit flowing to businesses and families. We?ll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs. We?ll ensure that CEOs are not draining funds that should be advancing our recovery. And we will insist on unprecedented transparency, rigorous oversight and clear accountability, so taxpayers know how their money is being spent and whether it is achieving results.?

McCaskill on Corporate Executives? Pay: ?These People Are Idiots?
On Capitol Hill, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri has proposed new pay limits for Wall Street executives. McCaskill wants any company taking federal bailout money to limit compensation for all employees to $400,000 a year, the same salary as President Obama. McCaskill made the proposal after it was revealed Wall Street firms had given themselves $18 billion in bonuses last year.

Sen. McCaskill: ?We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer? These financial institutions, on the brink of extinction, come to the American taxpayer for hundreds and billions of dollars. At the very same time, they think they?re going to buy a $50 million corporate jet. They?re going to pay out $18 billion in bonuses. They paid an average of $2.6 million to every executive at the first 116 banks that got taxpayer money under TARP.?

Despite Economic Crisis, States Shrink Welfare Rolls
New questions are being raised over how the welfare system is helping people affected by the economic crisis. A report by the New York Times has found that the number of people receiving cash assistance through welfare programs is at or near the lowest in more than forty years despite soaring unemployment. Eighteen states cut their welfare rolls last year. Many of the states hardest hit by the economic crisis have made drastic cuts. Michigan cut its rolls by 13 percent. Rhode Island had the nation?s largest welfare decline of 17 percent.



( Senators Seek Stimulus Cuts as Obama Warns of Economic ?Catastrophe? )

Senators Seek Stimulus Cuts as Obama Warns of Economic ?Catastrophe?
A bipartisan group of senators is seeking to cut at least $80 billion from President Obama?s $900 billion economic stimulus plan. Most of the cuts would come to education spending, including $40 billion for state programs. President Obama, meanwhile, has intensified his push for Senate approval. Speaking before Energy Department employees, Obama warned of ?catastrophe? if the stimulus bill isn?t passed.

President Obama: ?If we do not move swiftly to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe. This is not my assessment. This is not Nancy Pelosi?s assessment. This is the assessment of the best economists in the country."


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[CENTER]Here's the auto-updated list (for your reading-pleasure).

Granted, these legislative-efforts do include (what some would consider) "big words" (i.e. more that 5-letters), but.....when "conservatives" start screeching..."HE'S TAKING-ON TOO-MUCH!!!...No, No. No...HE'S NOT DOING ANYTHING!!"....you have the option to correct them....if that's at-all possible... [/CENTER]

The Word Game LOLOLOLOLOL

[CENTER]....And, it's beneficiaries!!!!

[/CENTER]

Oh Billy Bob = Beer Drinkinh Un- Educate @##$@@ Head

Obama Signs Child Health Insurance Expansion

Obama, meanwhile, has signed into law an expansion of government health insurance for low-income children, following congressional approval last month. The $33 billion expansion of the State Children?s Health Insurance Program will be funded in part by a tax increase on cigarette packs. Former President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar measures.


Senate Nears Stimulus Vote After Cutting Education Spending

The Senate is expected to vote to end debate today on a compromise version that will cut more than $100 billion from President Obama?s economic stimulus plan. The cuts include $35 billion for education, $5 billion for jobless workers? healthcare and $8 billion to refurbish federal buildings. A final Senate vote tomorrow would lead to negotiations with the House, which passed a larger version of the package last week.

Nearly 600,000 Jobs Lost in January
The vote follows Friday?s news that nearly 600,000 jobs were lost last month, bringing the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent?its highest in sixteen years. On Sunday, White House economic adviser Larry Summers urged congressional action on the stimulus bill.

White House economic adviser Larry Summers: ?The economy lost 600,000 jobs just in January, lost three million jobs last year. We?ve got to give this economy some help. The Senate bill, the House bill?the overlap is 90-plus percent. We?ve got to work through the differences, find the best bill we possibly can and get it in place as quickly as possible to contain what is a very damaging and potentially deflationary spiral."

President Obama is expected to fly to Indiana today to tout the stimulus plan in areas badly hit by the economic crisis. On Friday, Obama continued pressuring lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

President Obama: ?It is inexcusable and irresponsible for any of us to get bogged down in distraction, delay or politics as usual, while millions of Americans are being put out of work. Now is the time for Congress to act. It?s time to pass an Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan to get our economy moving.?

Loopholes Could Bypass Bailout Pay Caps
In other economic news, questions are growing around President Obama?s crackdown on executive pay at taxpayer-rescued firms. Last week, Obama announced a $500,000 salary cap at firms receiving future government bailouts. The move followed outcry over news Wall Street firms paid out more than $18 billion in bonuses last year. But the Wall Street Journal reports the curbs have several loopholes that could negate its impact. Firms could still pay out higher salaries by changing executives? titles, restructuring pay packages, or simply putting it to a shareholder vote. Executives and managers could also get more money, because the plan doesn?t limit awards of restricted stock. Critics have called on Obama to impose the plan retroactively so that it also applies to firms that have already received bailout money.

Bank Closures Bring 2009 Total to 9
Regulators have closed four banks in Georgia and California. The largest, County Bank of Merced, California, had $1.7 billion in assets and $1.3 billion in deposits. Nine banks have been shuttered so far this year.




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Obama Stresses Job Recovery in State of Union Address
President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address Wednesday night with a pledge to focus on the nation?s economic recovery. Vowing to help spur job creation, Obama unveiled his expected announcement to freeze government spending programs next year. Obama also addressed the logjam over healthcare reform, urging Democrats to continue trying to pass legislation.

President Obama: ?Do not walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people. let?s get it done.?

Obama also called for a repeal of ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell,? which bars openly gay servicemembers in the US military. But ignoring calls for an executive order, Obama urged Congress to enact the repeal.

Zelaya Leaves Honduras as New President Takes Office
Honduras is entering a new phase following the swearing-in of a new president and the departure of the now former president Manuel Zelaya. On Wednesday, President Porfirio Lobo was sworn into office. A wealthy landowner, Lobo was elected in a November race boycotted by Zelaya supporters. Hours after the ceremony, Zelaya ended his four-month stay in the Brazilian embassy and left Honduras for exile in the Dominican Republican. Just before boarding the plane, Zelaya told the assembled crowd, ?We?ll be back.? Just before Zelaya left Honduras, the Honduran Supreme Court dismissed all charges against six military commanders involved in the June 28th coup that removed him from office. The Obama administration says it?s not ready to restore aid to Honduras suspended following the coup. But Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela said he believes the new president, Lobo, is taking Honduras ?in the right direction.?

Arturo Valenzuela: ?I thought the President?s speech was excellent. It was a speech of national reconciliation for all the people of Honduras.?



Democracy Now! .org

President Obama spoke this afternoon to the House Republican retreat in Baltimore, turning the occasion into a lively debate, on national television, between a sitting president and the entire House caucus of the opposition party.

Obama opened by thanking House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) for the invitation: "You know what they say, keep your friends close, but visit the Republican Caucus every few months."

During his speech, Obama went over themes from his State of the Union address this past Wednesday. At once, he simultaneously said that Democrats and Republicans can find common ground on issues such as a spending freeze and tax credits for small business, but he also went after the GOP for voting against the stimulus bill while attending ribbon-cuttings for projects in their districts, challenged them to work together on important issues, and called upon them to support his proposed fees on the bailed-out financial sector.

Then came the really interesting part. Obama began taking questions from Republican members of Congress, a sight that isn't normally seen on television in American politics.

There were some similarities to the British Parliamentary tradition of Prime Minister's Question Time -- minus the cheering and booing -- with a sense of political jousting between an incumbent president and the opposition, who for their part pitched one tough question after another.

One key moment came when Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), a potential presidential candidate for 2012, used his question to attack the stimulus plan as having failed to prevent double-digit unemployment, alleged that the Republican stimulus plan would have created more jobs with less money, and asked Obama if we would embrace across the board tax cuts.

Obama said that the economy turned out to be even worse than was initially thought when the original estimates were made, and that this was from before he took office -- a subtle jab at the prior Bush administration. "We had lost 650,000 jobs in December [2008] - I'm assuming your'e not faulting my policies for that," said Obama. "We had lost, it turns out, 700,000 jobs in January, the month I was sworn in - I'm assuming it wasn't my administration policies that accounted for that. We had lost another 650,000 jobs the subsequent month, before any of my policies had gone into effect,t so I'm assuming that wasn't as a consequence of our policies. That doesn't reflect the failure of the Recovery Act."

Obama also returned to his point of how the polls have shown that individual stimulus components are popular, but not the total plan itself -- pointing out directly how this relates to GOP members of Congress. "As I said a lot of you have gone to ribbon cuttings for the same projects that you voted against," said Obama. "I say all this not to re-litigate the past, but it's simply to state, the component parts of the recovery act are consistent with what many of you say are important things to do."

"I am not an ideologue. I'm not," Obama also said."It doesn't make sense if somebody could tell me you could do this cheaper and get increased results, that I wouldn't say 'great.' The problem is, I couldn't find credible economists that would back up the claims that you just made."

Later on, Obama also said how health care reform had been demonized by the right, despite support from a wide variety of people such as Republican former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Howard Baker, and former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. "Now you may not agree with Bob Dole and Howard Baker, and certainly you don't agree with Tom Daschle on much, but that's not a radical bunch," said Obama. "But if you were to listen to this debate, and frankly how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot -- (scattered laughter, stray applause) -- I mean, that's how you guys presented it."

Obama also said the Republicans had ruined their own legislative leverage, if they wanted to see their ideas incorporated into legislation, by being overly combative with the administration and agitating their own base.

"So all I'm saying is, we've gotta close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality. I'm not suggesting that we're gonna agree on everything, whether it's on health care or energy or what have you. But if the way these issues are being presented by the Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys don't have a lot of room to negotiate with me. The fact is that many of you, if you voted with the administration on something, are politically vulnerable with your own base in your own party. You've given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you've told your constituents is this guy is doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's gonna destroy America."

At one point, Obama was asked whether he had time for more questions. "You know, I'm having fun, this is great," Obama responded.

The combativeness continued, during a question with a very lengthy preface about spending, from Rep. Jeb Hensarling. Obama interrupted him during the preface, and also got his name wrong. "Jim (sic), I know there's a question in there somewhere," said Obama. "Because you're making a whole bunch of assertions in there, half of which I disagree with, and I'm having to sit here listening to it. At some point I know you're gonna let me answer it."

This became what could be the first publicly-held President's Question Time, and Obama was quick on his feet. Will something like this happen again?