Politics. On Point.

   You now have less than two days to get health insurance coverage. With the deadline to sign up for health care looming, many Americans are scrambling to find a plan that is both affordable and acceptable.     Even Republicans.    Republicans have tried to repeal, and 'replace', the Affordable Care Act, all without coming up with a viable alternative.     Read the below story of how at least one Republican (we suspect there are many more) who not only doesn't have an issue with the ACA, but rather embraces it.   From the White House:   Good afternoon,   I am a staunch Republican, a self-proclaimed Fox News addict, and I didn't vote for the President. And I'm here to tell you that Obamacare works. I'm living proof.   I'm a chemotherapy patient, and was previously paying $428 a month for my health coverage. I was not thrilled when it was cancelled. ...

  Howard University earns top spot after becoming first-ever HBCU to appear on Peace Corps’ national college rankings   The Peace Corps today announced its 2014 rankings of the top volunteer-producing Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). For the third consecutive year, Howard University in Washington, D.C., claimed the top spot among HBCUs with 18 undergraduate alumni currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers. Howard made Peace Corps history earlier this year as the first-ever HBCU to appear on the agency’s national list of top volunteer-producing colleges and universities, ranking No. 16 among medium-sized undergraduate schools. Since 1961, 213 Howard alumni have served with the Peace Corps. For the first time, Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Va., made this year’s list, ranking No. 3 among HBCUs with five alumni currently serving abroad. Spelman College in Atlanta took second place behind Howard with six currently serving alumni. “We are thr...

The following is a list of recipients for today's 2014 presidential Medal of Honor Awards: The following recipients received the Medal : Specialist Four Santiago J. Erevia Staff Sergeant Melvin Morris Sergeant First Class Jose Rodela The following men received the Medal on behalf of the recipient listed below : Lenora Alvarado, accepted on behalf of her father, Specialist Four Leonard L. Alvarado Richard Conde, accepted on behalf of his father, Staff Sergeant Felix M. Conde-Falcon Shyrell Jean Copas, accepted on behalf of her father, Specialist Four Ardie R. Copas Tina Duran-Ruvalcaba, accepted on behalf of her father, Specialist Four Jesus S. Duran Command Sergeant Major Michael Grinston, accepted on behalf of Sergeant Candelario Garcia Charles Baldonado, accepted on behalf of his brother, Corporal Joe R. Baldonado Tyronne Espinoza, accepted on behalf of his father, Corporal Victor H. Espinoza Pete Corrall, accepted on behalf of his uncle, Se...

How long is DC Mayor, Vincent Gray, going to deny that there is no wrong doing within his administration? Are you tired yet of hearing rumor , upon rumor , upon accusation of misconduct within the Gray governing body? It's been four years since Gray was elected mayor to the District of Columbia and we're still hearing about wrongdoings dating back to his 2011 election campaign. The latest involves an alleged 'Shadow Campaign' constructed to pay off one Jeffrey Thompson , a former campaign constituent. USA Today reports , "Thompson admitted to setting up a $668,000 slush fund to aid Gray's 2010 campaign when Gray defeated then-Mayor Adrian Fenty by 10 percentage points. The existence of the "shadow campaign," as prosecutors called it, was no revelation — but Thompson went further, by telling prosecutors that Gray knew about the illegal funding and personally requested $425,000 to pay for get-out-the-vote efforts." In 2011, former mayoral...

Vice President Biden will be in Poland the week of March 17-19, the White House is reporting.  He will also travel to Lithuania where he will  meet with regional partners to discuss events in Ukraine and other regional issues.  I n Warsaw and Vilnius, the Vice President will meet with the President and Prime Minister of Poland and the Presidents of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  During his meetings, the Vice President will consult on steps to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and affirm our collective defense commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty and our enduring support for all of our allies and partners in Europe.

Republicans gathered last week at the beautiful National Harbor Resort in National Harbor, Maryland for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference ( CPAC ), where conservative Republicans continued their divisive discord on American politics by use of their repetitive, and redundant, bashing of their U.S. president and his administration's policies. CPAC 2014 may go down in history as the gun toting, NSA bashing, Dr. Seuss reciting political conference of the decade. When Rand Paul spoke on the NSA "monitoring" American's cell phone calls, one can only ask - if that were true, why didn't they prevent Chris Christie's 'Bridge gate' after a cellphone text from a Christie staff member suggested shutting down the bridge?  Was it brilliant strategy, or the one cellphone text that got away? Here's a Wapo video clip highlighting a few of CPAC's 2014 speeches, including the Green Eggs and Ham parody, by Sarah Palin. For more, and w...

Last month President Obama signed legislation increasing the minimum wage of contract workers from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour.   "It's time to give Americans a raise", the president said in several addresses this year, as well as in this week's Weekly Address.  "No one who works forty hours a week should live in poverty." Many see $10.10 per hour as a step in the right direction towards helping hard working Americans take care of their families.    Yet many employees in the fast food and retail industries held protests and went on strike  in an effort to get the minimum wage even higher, to a living wage of  $15 per hour. How about a happy medium, we can all live with? One Republican conservative is suggesting that the minimum wage be raised to $12 an hour.  Ron Unz says raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour would keep workers off welfare and government assistance, and allow workers to provide a living wage for ...

Today, the President and First Lady announced the theme for this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll: “Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape.”  Part of the President and First Lady’s ongoing effort to open the White House to as many people as possible, the event will open its South Lawn for children ages 13 years and younger and their families.   In support of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to help kids grow up healthy and  have the opportunity to reach their full potential, the event will feature sports courts, cooking stations, and, of course, Easter egg rolling in addition to live music and storytelling.   The ticket lottery opens today, Friday, March 7, at 10:00 a.m. EST and will close on Monday, March 10 , at 10:00 a.m. EDT .  To enter the lottery, please go to www.recreation.gov .  Tickets are free of charge and cannot be sold.    The lottery results will be posted online at www.recreation.gov , and all lottery partic...

  Mrs. Obama to Visit the Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School on March 4   The First Lady will travel to China from March 19-26, 2014 . She will be visiting Beijing from March 20-23 , Xi’an on March 24, and Chengdu from March 25-26. During her trip, the First Lady will meet with Madame Peng, the spouse of China’s President Xi Jinping. She will also visit a university and a high school in Beijing, and a high school in Chengdu. Additional details about the First Lady’s trip will be announced in the coming weeks. Accompanying Mrs. Obama on this trip will be her mother, Mrs. Marian Robinson, and daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama.   During the trip to China, as on previous international trips to Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, the First Lady will be focusing on the power and importance of education, both in her own life and in the lives of young people in both countries.   She will also be visiting important historical and cultural sites in Chin...

With less than four weeks to go before the March 31, 2014 deadline to sign up for healthcare, the Obama Administration is working to ensure that Americans who need heath care, do so before then. A reported number of 4 million people have enrolled already, per the White House, and continued efforts to ensure that young people as well, continue to enroll. From the White House: Building on efforts over the past several months to encourage Americans to check out HealthCare.gov , where they can find quality health coverage, and likely get financial assistance to make monthly premiums even more affordable, this week, the President, First Lady, and Vice President will all publicly encourage the uninsured to enroll in health coverage and Senior Administration Officials will continue to urge Americans to enroll through radio interviews and events across the country.   On Thursday, March 6 , President Obama will participate in a historic Town Hall on Latinos and the Affordabl...

If not me, who?  If not now, when? President Obama unveiled his 'Brother's Keeper' initiative this week to direct more attention to the needs and plight of young African American males. It would be second time, on a national scale, that the president has addressed the plight of young, urban, African American men. You may recall the president speaking in the James Brady briefing room after the death of Trayvon Martin where he said, "we need to spend some time in thinking about how do we bolster and reinforce our African American boys. And this is something that Michelle and I talk a lot about. There are a lot of kids out there who need help who are getting a lot of negative reinforcement. And is there more that we can do to give them the sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them?" The president's My Brother's Keeper initiative is designed to give young people more choices, to help them overcome obs...