Toll-free traveling is an added benefit for people who work for the Illinois Tollway.
Nearly 1,400 tollway employees don’t have to pay tolls when they’re driving to and from work.
Also, 55 of the agency’s top executives also get free round-the-clock use of a tollway-owned vehicle for commuting and work-related activities.
These two perks cost the tollway hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
Read the original article from FOX Chicago News.
Apple’s .itms links are either the scourge of the universe, or a very handy little shortcut to getting at iTunes content, depending on who you ask and what mood they happen to be in. My personal policy is always to give people fair warning (warning: this Pastebot link opens iTunes) when I’m linking to the iTunes store, to prevent unexpected program launches when they might not be most convenient.
Recently, Apple introduced preview launch pages for its iTunes musical content. The new pages, which replace the boring “iTunes is launching, please wait” dialog that used to appear, provide basically a snapshot of what you’ll find when that iTunes icon eventually stops bouncing and you’re taken to the relevant page on the iTunes store. And now iPhone apps have received the same treatment.
The launch page you now receive when you click App Store links looks pretty much exactly like what you’ll see in iTunes itself. Product description, recommended apps, screenshots and user reviews — it’s all there. Apple also benefits by providing you with the Apple web site’s top navigation bar, so that customers clicking through are now also potentially rerouted towards the company’s other products and offerings.
Is the web preview a good idea? I guess so, especially for Apple’s new customers, who might be confused or put off by links that just open an application on their computer with little or no explanation. And it’s good for Apple, as I’ve just mentioned, since it acts as a kind of light up-selling tool. But as an experienced user who doesn’t appreciate being sold to when I’m already trying to buy something, I see little point in the entire iTunes Preview concept.
Not that it’s completely without merit. In fact, there’s a very simple way to make the whole thing extremely useful and get rid of the annoyance that some feel when inadvertently clicking .itms links. I’m talking about just using iTunes Previews, without the simultaneous opening of iTunes itself. This is one of the few times I will actually advise the implementation of a user interface element that actually adds a step instead of taking one away, but in this case it just makes sense.
The launch pad tells you everything you need to know, since it literally contains all the information available on the item’s iTunes store page. Let us as customers pause there, reflect, perhaps preview songs, etc. and click through to other app previews, and then provide a link to open iTunes. I suspect even just the sense of agency this will allow consumers will help boost actual purchase numbers. And Apple still gets the chance to up sell using the navigation bar. Everybody wins.
By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now
This weekend, while fans get ready for the New Orleans Saints face off against the Indianapolis Colts at Sun Life Stadium for Super Bowl XLIV, the National Football League will be running some of its own green plays.
The NFL will donate all leftover food from Super Bowl events to local agencies under the leadership of Daily Bread Food Bank. Over 65,000 pounds of leftover prepared food was donated after last year’s Super Bowl.
Also on the donation list will be decorative materials from all venues, building materials, office supplies or equipment from NFL Headquarters, and non-perishable food and beverages. The materials will stay in the South Florida community to be reused by local non-profit organizations such as the United Way.
The NFL, in partnership with the Miami Dolphins, the Miami-Dade NFL Youth Education Town (YET) Center, the Boys and Girls Clubs and several local school districts, encouraged children to re-use by giving back. The Super Kids-Super Sharing Sports Equipment and Book Donation project worked to collect used sports equipment and books from local kids for donation throughout the month of January. All items will be donated to under-served schools throughout the South Florida area.
The NFL also is partnering with NextEra Energy Resources to provide clean energy to this year’s Super Bowl. NextEra Energy Resources, the largest wind and solar producer in North America, will supply Green-e certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) through its EarthEra initiative. This is the fourth year that the NFL will use renewable energy, via RECs, to power the Super Bowl and its related events.
“Leading companies and organizations, such as the NFL, are actively addressing the environmental impacts of their activities and taking steps to make a difference for future generations,” said Nate Hanson, vice president of NextEra Energy Resources. “Through our EarthEra initiative, we partner with leading organizations to mitigate their impacts on climate change, promote sustainability initiatives and provide them the ability to join us in building a clean energy future.”
Football fans can also show their green spirit by going online to learn how to minimize their carbon footprint.
Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media
While this photo may appear to be that of a lush meadow in the foreground of a big city, it is actually a vegetated rooftop on a 9-story building in downtown Denver. When EPA Region 8’s office moved to a new “green” office building in Lower Downtown Denver, I did not know what to expect. I had never worked in a green building before. I really did not think it would be that different from a regular building. Was I wrong… Not only was the building very beautiful, it was the most comfortable building I have ever been in. From the lighting to the indoor air quality, I knew we were in a top quality and healthy working environment.
Our building is environmentally friendly and provides daily opportunities for us to practice stewardship. Some features of our building that help us decrease our impact include:
However, it is not enough to simply build a green building; a big part of the equation is how the building is operated and the behavior of the occupants. Region 8’s Environmental Management System helps us improve our performance by quantifying and managing the impacts of our operations (e.g., electricity and water use, waste generation and transportation) and taking actions to reduce those impacts.
The green design, construction, operation and maintenance of 1595 Wynkoop, combined with close attention to our collective actions, help EPA in our efforts to practice what we preach.
Working in a green building is the only way to work in my mind. I have more energy throughout the day which I attribute to the environmentally healthy aspects of our building. I have the pleasure of knowing my work day has also been less of an impact to the environment. You can find out more, hear an audio tour and see lots of pictures of our green building at: http://www.epa.gov/region8/building/index.html
About the author: Wendy Dew has been with EPA for 11 years and is the Environmental Education and Outreach Coordinator for Region 8.
Naperville police are searching for a man they believe stole a Severe Macaw bird valued at $1,600 from the Petland store at 720 S. Route 59.
The theft occurred between Jan. 19 and 29 and was captured on surveillance video at the store.
The suspect is described as a white male in his 30s wearing blue jeans, a dark outer coat, white sweatshirt and a red T-shirt.
Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Call 630-420-6006. Callers may remain anonymous.
Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.
Playing with a roster depleted by injuries, Coach Mark Smith relied on 5 players to carry his team to a 62-50 victory over visiting Rock Valley College.
The starting 5 of Peggie Parhas, Siobhan Cerney, Norren Davis, Anna Kirchoff and Nina Montero would play the game’s first 38 minutes before Kirchoff would foul out and a gutsy Vicky Mikszta would take the court despite an injured knee.
The Lady Hawks were led by Davis with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals, Parhas added 19 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, and Noreen Davis tossed in 16 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and had 2 steals.
For the season, the Lady Hawks are 16-8 overall and 7-3 in conference play. Next up will be the final home game of the season when Wright College visits Harper College on February, 9th with tip off set for 5:00 PM
Tata Motors is analyzing the possibility to bring the second batch of Nanos to the customers at an earlier date than initially scheduled.
According to media reports, the automaker will probably start to accept bookings for the car in the following three to six months.
When the Nano was launched, Tata Group warned that the car’s $2160 (approximate value) retail price will only apply to the first batch of customers, with future clients having to pay more for the vehicle.
Tata’s rescheduli… (read more)
China responded furiously when the US announced a new arms sales to Taiwan, last week.
But they remained silent today, as Taiwan announced a deal to buy 20 military helicopters from Europe, according to Reuters.
Hours after the deal was announced, state-owned newspaper China Daily had not updated its optimistic headline: “‘No Consensus’ to lift EU arms ban yet.”
China Daily also suggests that the arms deal may signify “a total warming for Sino-European ties.”
But it’s hard to see a second arms deal as anything but an affront to China. As the growing economic superpower can’t afford embargoes against both Europe and the U.S., Beijing may have to eat the insult, for now.
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There has been a lot of development and commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell forklifts over the past couple of years. I’ve talked about FCV forklifts in the U. S. food industry, including Coca-Cola and FCV forklifts for Walmart. Outside the U. S. I’ve talked about fuel cell forklifts in Scandinavia and Germany.
This past summer I had talked about the H2 Mobility plan for Germany in which eight large companies had signed onto in order to rollout enough H2 fueling stations for the commercialization of hydrogen vehicles by 2015.
One of the companies that had signed on to this agreement for Germany to become a hydrogen transportation corridor is Daimler which is producing 200 FCVs in the next couple of years with aims at commercialization by 2015.
Another of these eight companies is Linde, which is not only a major supplier of hydrogen gas in Germany but is also now in the business of building H2 forklifts. The forklifts or “trucks” as they are being called are replacing two diesel forklifts at the Linde plant.
The fuel cell forklifts are being used to haul compressed gas tanks between warehouses and trucking points. Now, granted, hydrogen fuel cell forklifts may not be as sexy as hydrogen cars, but they are practical, economical, environmentally friendly and being commercialized now.
Here is some interesting tidbit we found on the next-generation of General Motors’ performance vehicles that the Detroit automaker would prefer hadn’t gone public. During a presentation to the Automotive Press Association on global platforms Thursday afternoon, Grant Thornton LLP’s director James Ricci outlined GM’s rear-wheel-drive model plans.
Ricci said that GM’s Alpha platform will replace the Sigma platform under the Cadillac CTS sedan in 2013 and will also find its way under the next-generation Chevrolet Camaro due out in 2014 as a 2015 model. He said that GM would discontinue the Cadillac CTS Coupe and CTS Sport Wagon at that time.
The Alpha platform will also underpin Cadillac’s 3-Series rival, internally known as the ATS. The model will be slotted below the CTS in price. GM is already working on a coupe prototype of the ATS and rumor has it that there will possibly be a wagon version in the works as well.
The Cadillac ATS is due out in 2014, same time as the next Chevrolet Camaro.
Click here to check your Auto Credit Score.
– By: Kap Shah
Source: WOT
From Green Right Now Reports
Photo: SunEdison.com
Residents in Davidson County, N.C. will be getting more of their power from the sun after SunEdison activated the first phase of a 16-megawatt solar farm there.
The initial phase is comprised of 14,000 solar panels designed to produce four megawatts of generation capacity. Over six million kilowatt hours of electricity are expected in the first year of operation.
Duke Energy is buying the farm’s entire output with a 20-year contract. Over the length of the agreement, the farm is expected to generate 115 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power 10,000 average homes for a year. That production should offset more than 225 million pounds of carbon dioxide that otherwise would have been introduced into the environment by a traditional coal-burning plant.
“This first phase represents a major milestone in our overall plan to develop 16 megawatts of solar energy at this site,” said SunEdison President Carlos Domenech. “Having financed and completed this initial installation, we have mobilized resources for the next phase of the solar farm.”
The farm is one of several North American utility-scale power plants that SunEdison has financed and developed, and now operates. In all, the company lists 322 operational sites in the U.S., mostly in California and on the East Coast.
Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media
The beta might’ve closed now, but ModNation Racers will return as a full game not just for the PS3, but for the PSP as well. Word comes from Jeff Rubenstein of the PlayStation Blog, letting out the
Strand Consulting has taken an objective look at iPhone owners and have come to the same conclusion many of us have. They are not very well, psychologically speaking of course.
Noting that iPhone owners would go to extra-ordinary lengths to defend the failings of their device, Strand Consulting diagnosed this aberrant behaviour as a form of Stockholm Syndrome – where hostages identify with their captors and would actually defend them and resist being released.
They make special mention of many ways the iPhone has historically been inferior, and the arguments their fans use to justify where the features are in fact not just unnecessary, but would hinder their use of the phone. Amusingly when Apple finally does provide the feature iPhone owners often feel only Apple could have implemented it right, making Apple’s version the one now anointed as “the right way to do it.
Strand’s lengthy list of examples include:
1. The first iPhone was not a 3G phone: What do you need 3G for? You can easily use the iPhone without using a 3G network and anyway, 3G is not particularly widespread, so this is not a problem.
2. The phone cannot send MMS: There is no need to send MMSs, hardly anybody sends MMSs.
3. You cannot forward a SMS: This is a function that hardly anybody uses and was therefore not included in the first iPhones.
4. The phone has a poor camera: The built-in camera is perfectly adequate and the iPhone takes fantastic photos with its camera.
5. It is not a real Smartphone, it cannot multitask: The phone has all the necessary functions and the OS is technically superior compared to other Smartphone OSs currently on the mobile market.
6. The iPhone cannot multitask, resulting in a great number of applications being unusable: The absence of multitasking is a deliberate design decision resulting in a faster UI.
7. You can not change battery on the iPhone: How many customers run around with spare batteries? None or very few.
8. Apple decides which applications you can install on the phone: This is good, because Apple thereby ensures that you do not get inferior programs on your phone.
9. The app store is a closed universe: Apple knows what is best for end users, which is good for the many iPhone users.
10. The phone does not support Java, so games need to be developed especially for the iPhone: Java is slow and not properly integrated with mobile phones, games for the iPhone are much better because they are directly developed for the iPhone.
11. The app store contains numerous small trivial commercial programs: The app store’s large selection gives users the freedom of choice and the many small programs help make the end users daily lives more fun.
12. It is difficult to use the touchscreen for fast SMS messaging: The touchscreen makes the phone easier to use and you quickly get used to it.
13. The iPhone is a low technology phone packaged in a sleek design: Apple has taken the combination of the design and UI to the next level, therefore the technological specifications don’t really matter.
14. The quality of the phone is poor, calls are often interrupted and network coverage is poor: It is a good phone, these problems are due to the operators’ networks and not the phone.
15. You can only purchase the iPhone from operators chosen by Apple: Apple has spent a great deal of time and energy selecting the best operators for customers.
16. The iPhone is targeted at a niche segment and will not be able to develop further: Apple has succeeded in designing a phone for people that appreciate design and user friendliness.
17. The iPhone does not support memory cards: Iphones already offer the necessary memory people require and end users can choose between two models, one with a little memory and one with a great deal of memory.
18. You can not install your own browser: The browser Apple has designed is so superior that you do not need any other browser on your phone.
19. You cannot use the iPhone as a modem for your portable PC: People that have an iPhone do not need their portable when on the move.
20. There is no radio in the phone: You do not need a radio in your iPhone because the iPhone supports iTunes that offers almost unlimited music.
Of course Strand Consulting notes that any company would be ecstatic to have such a fanatical fan base, but at WMPU we can only recommend that iFans seek some help.
Read more at Strand Consulting here.
A car that plunged down the side of Mulholland Drive on Friday morning is owned by actor Charlie Sheen, who reported the vehicle stolen, authorities said.
Sheen called police about 5:15 a.m. to report a possible burglar on the premises of his Sherman Oaks home, said Los Angeles police Officer Bruce Borihanh.
“That’s a hot prowl — as in, ‘I think there’s someone in my garage,’” Borihanh said.
The car, a Mercedes four-door sedan, was found 300 feet to 400 feet down near the 13300 block of Mulholland Drive in Beverly Crest, said LAPD Det. Bill Bustos.
Police and fire crews found the car badly damaged just after 4 a.m., but no one was found in or around it. A search was ongoing.
Nothing else from Sheen’s home was reported stolen, Borihanh said. The Mercedes was likely taken before the burglary was reported, Borihanh said.
[Updated at 8:17 a.m.: A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation says that based on a preliminary review, it appears Sheen’s car was stolen after the actor left it in the open garage with the keys inside.]
— Amina Khan
RELATED:
Other homes in Charlie Sheen’s gated community also burglarized, police say
Photo: Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s urban search and rescue team work on Mulholland Drive in Studio City, where a Mercedes-Benz belonging to actor Charlie Sheen went down a steep ravine. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
More breaking news in L.A. Now:
Charges in Michael Jackson case remain in doubt amid squabbles
New rainstorm expected to arrive this morning
A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall – the police are looking into it. There is also a hole in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s budget, and the city is considering filing Chapter 9 bankruptcy. (The capital of PA, with a population of 47,000, has $68 million in debt service payments this year due to the construction of a waste incinerator, which is four times more than what the city expects to raise through property taxes and $4 million more than the city’s entire proposed operating budget!)
Yesterday’s stock market drop dominated the financial news. And a slowing economy helps rates and mortgage loan agents, right? (It’s a two-edged sword.) So the markets did not pay much attention to Non-Farm Productivity increasing over 6% during the fourth quarter of 2009. Efficiency in the last nine months of 2009 soared at the fastest pace since 1966 as companies cut worker hours even after sales stabilized. And Factory Orders for November were up 1%, better than expected. But the focus, and one of the reasons given for stocks taking a beating, was on Jobless Claims which hit a 7-week high.
There is certainly a lot to be nervous about. There is the concern that around-the-world budget deficits will need to be financed by issuing more debt.. California, with the 8th largest economy in the world, is continuing to have budget problems. On top of all that, oil prices declined over 5% while gold prices also fell, down over 4%. The dollar was weaker to the yen, but firmer to the euro as the risk aversion trade returned, and this helped Treasuries and mortgage security prices, dropping rates to December levels.
Forecasts for today’s Non-Farm Payroll number centered on a gain of 15,000, although the ADP number from Wednesday showed that the private sector lost 22,000 jobs, so the difference will be in the government arena. As it turned out, Non-Farm Payrolls fell 20,000 in January, and the December numbers were revised downward from -85k to -150k (Nov’s went from +4 to +64k). Conversely the Unemployment Rate dropped to 9.7%, once again highlighting the fact that a sharp increase in the number of people giving up looking for work helped to depress the jobless rate. After this news, the 10-yr is at 3.64% and mortgage prices (and the 5-yr Treasury) are worse by about .125.
Does volatility in bonds or stocks help or hurt the markets? Although volatility has little lasting impact on markets, in the long run volatility makes ordinary investors less inclined to trust markets. And aversion to risk makes capital more expensive, as we are seeing now, and in turn the economy can become less dynamic. On the flip side, traders love volatility, although they tend to overestimate their knowledge of finance and the accuracy of their predictions. And overconfidence can encourage excess trading, and in a down market this can lead to “chasing losses” – if you’ve lost some, it is tempting to make big bets in an attempt to get your money back.
Steady as she goes. For the week ending yesterday, the Federal Reserve’s MBS program was a net buyer of $12 billion agency MBS ($17.6 billion gross), which was the same as the previous week. The bulk of the purchases were 4.5% securities, which are mostly comprised of 4.75-5.125% 30-yr conventional mortgages. Program-to-date now stands at $1.173 trillion.
A high school referee from Arlington Heights was charged with aggravated child pornography after more than 100 inappropriate images were found on his computer, authorities said.
After a two-month investigation, Larry Moser, 57, of the 600 block of West Burning Tree Lane, was arrested after he turned himself in to the Cook County Sheriff’s Police on Wednesday, said Lisa Gordon of the sheriff’s police press office.
Many of the images found on Moser’s computer showed children under the age of 13, and many were of graphic sexual acts involving those young children, according to a sheriff’s department release.
Moser, who identified himself to investigators as an executive in the insurance industry, is also an Illinois High School Association referee, according to the police release. Moser was suspended immediately, the IHSA stated in a release.
“Proper protocol has been followed in this situation,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman.
“The individual who was suspended today had not been charged with any crimes until Thursday and was not a registered sex offender, nor did he have any previous record. The IHSA has never received any complaints concerning his conduct while acting as an IHSA official. He was suspended immediately after we were alerted by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department. We appreciate the Cook County Sheriff’s Department rapid response in communicating this information to our office and member schools.”
When confronted with the evidence against him, Moser told investigators he now wants to become a “crusader against child pornography,” according to the police release.
Moser appeared in Rolling Meadows bond court on Thursday and received a $100,000 bond.
His next court date will be March 25.
Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.
Google Earth can be a great tool to explore places you may not be able to get to otherwise. But few people know that it can also be a great tool for exploring times we’re certainly not able to ‘go to’ in any other way. Google Earth has a great feature called ‘historical imagery’ which enables you to see the imagery from a previous timeline if available for the regi… (read more)
WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:
Richard M. Lobo, Director, International Broadcasting BureauLowell Junkins, Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Agricultural Mortgage CorporationSara L. Faivre-Davis, Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation President Obama said, “I am happy that these outstanding individuals have agreed to serve in my Administration as we work to address the challenges facing our Nation. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”
President Obama announced today his intent to nominate the following individuals:
Richard M. Lobo, Nominee for Director, International Broadcasting Bureau
Richard M. Lobo is currently serving as chairman of the Florida Public Broadcasting Service Inc. Mr. Lobo is president and chief executive officer of WEDU (PBS)Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota. He previously was president and general manager of WTVJ in Miami, station manager for WNBC-TV in New York, and vice president and general manager of NBC stations in Chicago and Cleveland. Early in his TV career his interview subjects included Fidel Castro, Robert Kennedy, Mickey Mantle, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Barbra Streisand and The Beatles. He also served as Director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting in the United States Information Agency from 1994-1995. A graduate of the University of Miami, Mr. Lobo is a member of the Tampa Bay chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists and the Leadership Council of the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay. He is on the board of the Florida Association of Broadcasters and a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Suncoast chapter. He earned the Leadership Award from the Chicago Latino Committee on the Media. He will be inducted into the Tampa Bay Business Hall of Fame in March. Mr. Lobo is a Captain (Retired) in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Lowell Junkins, Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
Lowell Junkins is the current Acting Chairman of the Board of FarmerMac. Mr. Junkins has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation since June 13, 1996, Vice Chairman of the Board since December 5, 2002 and Acting Chairman of the Board since September 15, 2008. He serves as Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee and the Executive Committee and is a member of the Compensation Committee and the Public Policy Committee. Mr. Junkins works as a public affairs consultant for his companies Integrated Energy of Montrose, Iowa and Lowell Junkins & Associates in Des Moines, Iowa. From 1974 through 1986, Mr. Junkins served as an Iowa State Senator, including as Minority Leader from 1981 to 1983 and Majority Leader from 1983 to 1985. He owns and operates Hillcrest Farms in Montrose, Iowa, where he served as Mayor from 1971 to 1972.
Sara L. Faivre-Davis, Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
Since 2005, Sara L. Faivre-Davis has been Owner and Managing Partner at Wild Type Ranch, a purebred cattle ranch and direct-sale Natural Angus Beef program. From 2006-2008, Dr. Faivre-Davis was a Board Member of the Texas Red Angus Association. Before starting Wild Type Ranch, Dr. Faivre-Davis founded ViaGen, Inc, a livestock genetic improvement company, where she served in several capacities, including President, from 2001-2006. During that time, Dr.. Faivre-Davis also sat on the Scientific Review Board of Exeter Life Sciences, a human, plant, and animal biotech investment holding company. Dr. Faivre-Davis was Vice President of Bioinformatics and Vice President of Swine Business Development at GenomicFX, a livestock genomics company from 2000-2001. Prior to 2000, Dr. Faivre-Davis was an academic in genetics and animal science. She holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in Agricultural Business and Animal Science from Iowa State University.
WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key administration post:
Myles Watts, Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Agricultural Mortgage CorporationPresident Obama announced today his intent to nominate the following individuals:
Myles Watts, Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
Myles Watts is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics at Montana State University. After receiving a Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska, he joined the Montana State faculty in 1978. He served as Department Head for 17 years, and his current responsibilities include classroom teaching, research, and outreach education. Dr. Watts has served in various editorial capacities for the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. He has also received multiple honors and awards from professional associations including the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Western Agricultural Economics Association. His family still owns and operates the cattle and wheat ranch where he was raised in southeastern Montana.
February 4, 2010
8:05 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Thank you! Thank you! Please, everybody, have a seat. Especially Tom McMullen and Dikembe Mutombo. (Laughter.) Every time I stand next to them I look like a little kid. (Laughter.)
I want to thank three people who are just extraordinarily important to the project of rebuilding our country and have just been great friends of mine, great friends of the Democratic Party. You already heard from one — please give it up for Governor Tim Kaine. (Applause.) Our DNC finance chair, Jane Stetson, who’s racking up a lot of frequent flier miles. (Applause.) And Andy Tobias, our DNC treasurer — hey, Andy. (Applause.)
It is great to see all of you here tonight, wonderful to see so many good friends, many of you who were there from the beginning of this campaign. And I want you to all know that I appreciate everything that you’ve done — not just for the campaign, but also what you’ve done for the country and what you’ve done for the party.
Many of you were invested in this campaign at the very beginning when nobody could pronounce my name. (Laughter.) And you’d tell your friends, there’s this young guy, I really think he’s got something. "What’s his name?" Barack Obama? (Laughter.) Yeah. So you had to confront a lot of skepticism, a lot of confusion. Some of you were involved in a campaign for the first time, and some of you got involved for the very first time in a very long time -– because you believed that we were in a defining moment in our history and that your voice could make a difference.
Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about all the time and the energy, the money, the commitment, the unyielding faith that you put into our campaign — because it wasn’t just about winning an election; it was about changing a country.
Last year, we asked you to take on something new. We asked you to help us keep the promises that we made in the campaign — help to bring about the changes that we had talked about together. And a lot of you have worked hard to do that. You’ve continued to be engaged in education policy, in foreign policy, and helping us at a grassroots level, and continuing to finance our ability to get our message out. And it matters. It’s made the successes of the last year possible.
Sometimes I think we got so many things done so quick that people forgot. But let’s just think about this. We upheld the principle of equal pay for equal work. (Applause.) We lifted the ban on stem cell research and restored science to its rightful place in America. (Applause.) We provided health care to 4 million children who now have it who didn’t have it before. (Applause.) We passed the strongest veterans budget in decades. We protected families from getting ripped off by credit card companies, and children from being targeted by big tobacco, and helped consumers deal with the twin plagues of mortgage fraud and predatory lending.
We appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. (Applause.) We passed a service bill named for Ted Kennedy that’s giving young and old a chance to serve their country and their communities. (Applause.) We’re working with Congress to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. (Applause.)
Oh, and by the way, and in the meantime, we prevented the worst financial crisis from getting even worse — (applause) — turned the economy from contraction to expansion; made the largest investment in clean energy in history; the largest investment in education in decades. (Applause.) Expanded the Pell Grant program; dealt with a H1N1 virus on the side.
That’s what your support has helped us do at home. Abroad, we’ve begun a new era of engagement. We’re working with our partners to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, seeking a world free of them. We’re working with other nations to confront climate change. We are now a leader and not a follower in that critical mission. (Applause.) We banned torture. We’re rebuilding our military. We’re reaffirming our alliances. We’ve begun to leave Iraq to its own people, as I committed to doing in the campaign. (Applause.) And we’ve charted a new way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’re making progress every single day in taking the fight to al Qaeda and across the globe.
And I went to Cairo on behalf of the American people to begin a new dialogue with the Muslim world. (Applause.) We’re living up to our obligations as a wealthy nation, helping to promote food security around the world, helping to deal with diseases around the world. We’re living up to a moment that demands American leadership by standing with the people of Haiti as we speak. (Applause.)
So in ways large and small, we’ve begun to deliver on the change that we talked about, the change that you believed in and that you campaigned hard for. But the reason that you and I are here tonight is because we’re not done. We’ve got a lot more work to do.
As I said, the day we took office we confronted a financial system on the verge of collapse; we were losing 700,000 jobs per month; a $1.3 trillion deficit; two wars that, frankly, had not been paid for and were costly in every sense of the word. A lot of the solutions we proposed, the decisions we took, they weren’t quick, they weren’t easy, and they weren’t popular. But we decided we were going to go govern. We were going to put politicking on hold to get this country out of the mess it was in.
I mentioned this to a group I spoke to earlier. You know, pundits act surprised about the fact that we spent so much political capital. Well, you know, I didn’t get elected to play it safe. And I didn’t govern, and I don’t govern by checking the polls every few days. I know that’s the habit in Washington, but that’s not the obligation I owe the American people; that’s not the promise I made to you. And because we took bold and swift and coordinated action, we can stand here today and say we averted another depression. We broke the back of the recession. The economy is growing again.
So the worst of the storm has passed. But, as all of you know, the devastation remains. We’ve got 10 percent unemployment. Many of you watching at home, as you go around the country and your individual communities, you see the stores shuttered and the foreclosed businesses; friends and neighbors, family members who still can’t find work. This is on top of a decade that had been tough for middle-class families all across the country. They hadn’t seen their incomes go up in years. Their costs skyrocketing at the same time as their wages were stagnant.
For two years I heard stories, all across the country, everywhere I go. I heard stories about people trying their best to hold on; a family sitting around the kitchen table wondering if they were going to be able to retire on schedule; if they were going to be able to finance a college education for their kids; wondering when would health care costs stop climbing, when would their premiums start stabilizing. People started expressing doubts about whether the dream that generations built and defended — the American Dream — was slipping away.
That’s the reason I ran for President. That’s the reason you supported me. And that’s why we are going to continue to do everything we can to create an economy that hasn’t just recovered back to the status quo, but an economy where hard work is valued and responsibility is rewarded; and where businesses are hiring and wages are rising; and where our middle class is getting stronger and more secure.
Now, our most urgent task is job creation –- that was our number-one priority last year and our number-one priority this year. And the first task was to make sure the economy is growing. It is growing. But we’ve got to do more. So we’re going to give tax breaks and loans to small businesses to help them hire new workers, and raise wages, and invest in new plants and equipment. We’re going to put even more Americans to work on clean energy facilities and upgrading our infrastructure to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
We’re going to create incentives for consumers to make their homes more energy-efficient, creating jobs and saving families money. And we’re going to look at our tax code, because it’s time we ended practices like giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas instead of investing in companies that are creating jobs right here in the United States of America.
But the truth is, these steps alone won’t make up for 7 million jobs that have been lost over the last two years. They’re not going to, alone, provide the economic security that’s been dwindling for middle-class families over the last decade. The only way we do that is to lay a strong foundation for growth, over the long term. And the things that we talked about during the campaign are the things that still need to be done. They’ve been put off by Washington for too long.
And this is where change gets hard. Change is easy if you’re just talking about tinkering around the edges. Change is harder when you actually dig in and try to deal with the structural problems that have impeded our progress for too long. This is where we run headlong into the lobbyists and the special interests, and the bitterness and misinformation that characterizes so much of our politics — which means that some of you may be feeling discouraged, because it feels like things have taken longer than you might have expected.
Well, don’t be discouraged. I’m not discouraged. I knew this was going to take a long time, but I knew the fight was worth it. And we’ve got to keep up on this fight. The forces of the status quo, they may not give an inch, but I don’t give an inch either. And you shouldn’t give an inch either. (Applause.) We didn’t come this far to put things off, or to play it safe, or to take the easy road. That wasn’t why we were elected. We came here to solve problems — for the next generation, not for the next election.
That means opening up this government to the people. That’s why we post all our visitors online. That’s why we’ve excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs and seats on boards and commissions. That’s why I’ve called on Congress to put their earmark online so everybody can see what’s going on. That’s part of the change that we promised.
We’ve got to change the tone of government and politics here in Washington and all across America. I’m not going to give up on that either. You know, the American people are right to be frustrated about a Washington where every day is Election Day — and the basic theory is, "If you lose I win." Where we’re not measuring success by what we’re doing for the American people, but how we look in the latest Gallup. No wonder people are frustrated.
That’s why I went to the House Republican caucus the other day. We had a good discussion — (laughter) — about the challenges that are facing the American people, our ideas to solve them. That was good for the country. It’s good for our democracy. I had fun.
Now, there are some issues that Democrats and Republicans aren’t going to agree on, and that’s okay. Vigorous debate is healthy. We’re going to tussle from time to time. And you know what — there may be some issues that we do agree on, or at least we say we agree on. And we have to test whether or not people are serious. So I told my Republican friends I want to work together with them where I can — and I meant it. Because I don’t want to just score political points. I’ve got time to campaign down the road. In the meantime, there’s a lot of work that we’ve got to get done together. And we can get a lot done together.
And I told then I will also call them out if they say they want to work on something and then when I offer a hand I get nothing in return. The American people have to understand that. The old playbook of just blocking everything — I understand that’s easier than actually doing something, and sometimes it may be more politically effective. But that’s not what’s going to move our country forward.
That’s why I’m here. That’s why you joined our campaign. That’s what you’ve helped deliver over the last year. That’s why I need your help now. That’s why Tim and everybody in the party needs your help now. Because you know as well as anyone that change doesn’t come without a fight. We’ve got some fights to wage. We’ve got some fights to make sure that we’re sparking innovation and igniting a clean energy sector where American workers are making solar panels and wind towers and cutting-edge batteries for the new plug-in hybrid, that leads on clean energy — because the economy that leads on clean energy I believe is going to lead the global economy. And I want America to be that nation. (Applause.)
We’re going to keep fighting to make sure that America has the best education possible for every child. And we’re going to reward success through our Race to the Top program. We want every child to meet their potential, and that’s why we’re going to make sure that young people all across America can afford college without going broke. (Applause.) That’s a priority. We can do that. And we can do it this year.
We’re going to keep fighting for common-sense rules of the road for Wall Street. I want to be clear — there’s a lot of talk about Wall Street, Main Street — we need a financial sector that works. That’s a priority. We need businesses that are thriving, and they’ve got to raise capital; that will help them hire workers. So there’s no separation between our financial system and the real economy. That’s part of what this crisis has reminded us. But we’ve got to ensure that our economy isn’t brought to its knees by outdated and antiquated financial rules and the irresponsibility of a few.
And that’s why I expect Democrats and Republicans to want to make sure that we don’t find ourselves in this same situation again. That’s why we have to have financial regulatory reform. And, yes, that is why we’re going to fix the health care system — (applause) — a health care system that too often works for insurance companies better than it does for individual Americans.
And again, I didn’t take this on because it was easy. I got David Axelrod — he does all the polls. He whispers in my ear, man, this health care thing is hard. (Laughter.) I am a amateur historian, so I know that seven Presidents starting with Teddy Roosevelt couldn’t get this done. We understood this was going to be hard.
But I took it on not for its political value; I took it on because families are dealing with skyrocketing premiums and skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs, and insurance companies that routinely deny coverage because of preexisting conditions -– or drop people altogether when they get sick. We took it on because the costs were killing small businesses, and creating an uneven playing field for our international companies, and it was eating into workers’ take-home pay and canceling raises. And we took it on because it’s the single best way — in fact, the only way — that we are actually going to get control of our federal budget.
So when I hear "deficit hawks" out there who say they want to control the federal budget and aren’t willing to do a darn thing about the skyrocketing costs of health care, I get a sense they’re not entirely on the level. Because our proposal for health care reform, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would bring it down by $1 trillion over the next two decades. And even in Washington that’s a lot of money. (Applause.)
I took it on because every single day, 15,000 Americans join the tens of millions who don’t have health insurance — and 18 million — 18,000 Americans die because of the lack of health insurance.
That’s what we campaigned on. That’s what we’re working to get it done -– with Democrats and with independents and with Republicans. We want to bring down costs and end the worst insurance practices, and finally give every American a chance to have the security of quality, affordable health care.
I am not going to walk away from those fights. And I don’t expect you will either. You’ve come this far. The odds were a lot less that I’d ever be standing here than they are that we can solve some of these big problems. I mean, think about it. Tim was — (applause) — when Tim endorsed me in Richmond, first endorsement I got outside of Illinois of any elected official — here he is, newly minted governor for the Commonwealth of Virginia — there was one thing that was clear, and that is he was term-limited. (Laughter.)
But don’t you guys — you remember this. Nobody gave us a chance. This campaign was declared dead — what — 10 times. (Laughter.) You know, the same folks who are now writing about what next, and what’s happened to the Obama — these are the same folks who were writing about how he doesn’t stand a chance; how after New Hampshire, that was it. After Pennsylvania, that was it. Right? We went through this. And they were saying your faith was misplaced and you set your sights to high, and your hope is naïve, and Washington won’t change. And now all of them are feeling like, see, we told you, Washington doesn’t change. And they’re feeling kind of self-satisfied about the fact that we haven’t yet gotten health care done.
Well, let me tell you something. You didn’t listen to those voices then. Your voice proved them wrong. You proved that nothing can stop the power of millions of people who want to see an America that’s living up to its values and its ideals. That’s what you did. And that’s what I’m asking you to do again. (Applause.)
This is an extraordinary moment. I want to remind you we don’t quit. And I don’t quit. (Applause.) And we are going to bring about the changes that you believe in and I believe in, and that ultimately will help our children and grandchildren believe as they grow up — an America in which everybody has got a decent shot at life; in which we’re leading in innovation; in which we’re proud of our foreign policy.
That’s what we were fighting for then. That’s what we’re fighting for now. We’ve taken some good steps. We got many miles to go on this journey. I hope you join me.
Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.)
END
8:27 P.M. EST
