President Barack Obama & Robert Kennedy Jr - 21st Century Heroes

If our President's name was Joseph Smith and he was white (republican or democrat) and he had accomplished all that President Barack Obama has accomplished in his first 18 months with the imminent threat of an economic collapse at home, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, facing more immediate and far-reaching crises than any president since Franklin Roosevelt... who would be attacking him?

Actions and Results:

• Detroit carmakers bail out and passage of $862 billion economic stimulus bill that poured money into transportation systems, energy projects and education programs.
• Set tougher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and launched a $4.3 billion education initiative challenging schools to improve their performance.
• Appointed the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court, Justice Sonya Sotomayor, and nominated another woman, Elena Kagan, to the bench.
• Signed a deal with Russia to reduce stockpiles of strategic nuclear warheads.
• Passage of the $940 billion, 10-year health care bill in March.
• Pushed through more substantial domestic-policy initiatives in 15 months than most presidents do during their entire tenures.
• Moving the Senate toward passage of the most sweeping financial regulatory change since the aftermath of the Great Depression, a bill that holds Wall Streets feet to the fire after risk-taking that fed the meltdown in 2008.
• Reshaped the American landscape in fundamental ways: imposing stricter rules on credit card companies, designating more than 2 million acres of public land as protected wilderness, expanding equal-pay protection for women.

There seems to be more hate, racial bias, and ignorance dictating the political conscience of our country these days then I can remember in decades past. Where is our pride in our country, our president, our freedoms, our contributions to community, society and the world as a whole?

Take a step back... close your eyes if necessary, but see the reality of our President's successes and stand behind him to accomplish even more.

He's got your back isn't it time you had his?

www.My.BarackObama.com

^{"President Obama's years of public service are based around his unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose. In the Illinois State Senate, he passed the first major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working families, and expanded health care for children and their parents. As a United States Senator, he reached across the aisle to pass groundbreaking lobbying reform, lock up the world's most dangerous weapons, and bring transparency to government by putting federal spending online."}

^{Stay in touch with The White House and the transparency of issues that are not fiction-based, but fact-based... http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama}

The New York Times - Europe May 29, 2009

Obama Most Popular Leader, Poll Finds

President Barack Obama remains by far the most popular world leader among people in major Western nations and is the one political figure on whom people consistently pin their hopes in the economic crisis, according to new polls conducted for the International Herald Tribune. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/world/europe/29iht-poll.html?ref=world

Obama Most Popular World Leader

Sunday April 25, 2010

This according to ... those polled by Harris Interactive in Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the U.S. So not too surprising.

"Obama won 77 percent backing, one percentage point higher than in November, in the poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France24 and Radio France-Internationale.

The [Dalai Lama] was at second place at 75 percent, followed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 62 percent. http://worldnews.about.com/b/2010/04/25/obama-most-popular-world-leader.htm

The New York Times - Politics

In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice

"Another of Mr. Obama’s techniques relied on his seemingly limitless appetite for hearing the opinions of others, no matter how redundant or extreme." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=bed3d00e987394c2&ex=1327640400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Making Barack Obama in my mind, one of the most thoughtful, insightful, open and honest men in politics.

The Harvard Crimson

Tribe Recalls Obama At HLS

“There are those in whom challenge stirs greatness, those who rise to challenge rather than letting it break their stride or spin their compass,” said Tribe about Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, whom he called “the most impressive and talented of the thousands of students I have been privileged to teach in nearly 40 years on the Harvard faculty.”

On the eve of (2008) presidential election, Professor Laurence H. Tribe ’62 spoke fondly once more of his former student Barack Obama and his “audacity of hope” for the country in his morning prayers in Memorial Church’s Appleton Chapel.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/11/4/tribe-recalls-obama-at-hls-on/

http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/alumni-pursuits/obama-2008.html

http://harvardmagazine.com/alumni-in-the-news/barack-obama-of-harvard-law-school

President Barack Obama gave the leaders of an independent commission investigating the Gulf oil spill marching orders. "They have my full support to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor," Obama said.

As hurricane season gets its official start Tuesday the outlook for residents in Louisiana and the neighboring states of Alabama and Mississippi worsens, with a widespread fishing ban in place and tourists numbers down. The slick has spread over 100 miles of Louisiana's coast... 29 dead dolphins and 227 sea turtles had been collected in the southern states an above average count for this time of year -- with at least one of each species having visible signs of oil.

"The deaths of dolphins and sea turtles are particularly tragic, because we know we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg with those that have been washed up onshore and tested," said Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation.

Between 19.7 million and 43 million gallons of crude have poured into the Gulf — affecting beaches, wildlife and the local economy and making it the worst spill in U.S. history. BP announced Saturday that its latest attempt to stop the oil, known as a "top kill," had failed. BP will try again Wednesday to put a containment cap on the leaking well so oil can be siphoned to the surface.

Politicol News - Tuesday June 1st, 2010 - Robert Kennedy Jr Files Law Suit Against BP Oil

"The best practices of a corporation also would have BP Oil claim that the US government did not require oil rigs to have a safety shut off valve although other European countries do make that required by their laws. The US under the Bush administration did a favor for his oil friends and dropped the requirements. However, this does not mean that BP oil could not be intelligent enough to not lose its own oil -and put a shut off valve on the rig or the oil rig owner Deepwater Horizon Company."

There are so many voices out there crying for less government and it seems less is not more when it comes to the greed of corporations and individuals. It would not have taken billions of dollars to install a blow out preventer and this would have saved the oil from spilling into the ocean, but someone made the decision to save money... and with thousands of oil rigs in the Gulf it may have seemed like a good idea at the time.

When corporations lose sight of the community they serve and concern themselves only with shareholders and bonuses... all of mankind suffers.

When will the greed stop - when these tragedies hit the bottom line...

Who isn't a movie critic? Sharing favorite movies with friends is standard conversation around the fire-pit after a great barbecue while the beers are still cold and tiki torches still burning.

I have found the easiest way to get back shared movies is to place a return address stamp on each DVD jacket... the ones the insurance company sends you twice a year. How many envelopes do we really mail these days?

My favorite list today: Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice , any Johnny Depp especially Chocolat , any Robert Downey Jr especially Ironman , any Leonardo DiCaprio especially What's Eating Gilbert Grape , and Viggo Mortenson Hidalgo.

I love movies and my list could easily be a hundred favorites... send me your favorites and if I haven't seen them I will... also, watch for my breakthrough into films as I am sreenwriting full-time now.

Whether cooking up a vat of vegetarian chile or barbecuing the smokiest, country ribs and chicken with his homemade, sweet 'n spicy sauce that brings tears to the eyes of grown men Chef Charlie's last minute neighborhood Barbecues are notorious fare.

Standing room only and no reservations needed... if we ask nicely (and supply the beer), he might share some of his secret recipes with us. Stay tuned for OPERATION RECIPE.