Politics. On Point.

"Our Economy is the strongest in the world."  " . ..  Our economy is growing, but not without pain.  Liberty is under assault -- assault both here and abroad.  In recent days, there's been reason to think that this country is moving backward, that  freedom  is being reduced, that rights we assumed were protected are no longer.  A reminder that we remain in an ongoing battle for the soul of America, as we have for over 200 years.  4th of July photo courtesy of - the Internet. ADVERTISEMENT 10Fast, EZ, Healthy Smoothie Recipes ? I know it can be exhausting and unsettling.  But tonight, I want you to know we're going to get through all of this -- for all that we have faced, that we are going to get through this, and look how far we've come.    We're reclaiming our way of life in a pandemic.  Vaccines are nearly available to every American, restrictions lifted, the Fourth of July together again at the White House.    An...

Virginia Commonwealth University has been awarded a $62 million federal grant to oversee a national research consortium of universities, hospitals and clinics that will study what happens to service members and veterans who suffer mild traumatic brain injuries or concussions, the White House announced .   The concussions that will be studied include both combat injuries, such as those from blasts and bullets, and civilian injuries, such as those from car accidents, sports injuries and falls.   [Read Article HERE ]. “This is another significant milestone in VCU’s ascent as a national-caliber public research university,” said VCU President Michael Rao. “We recognize that an award of this magnitude only results from the research excellence that is fostered and encouraged across VCU.”   This is the second particularly large grant that VCU has received in recent years. In 2010, VCU received a $20 million grant – until now, the largest federal award in its hi...

On February 15, 2013 President Obama awarded average citizens, doing the extraordinary for country and community, with the highest honor that a president can bestow to a citizen. Among them was veteran Adam Burke .  Burke was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder after saving a comrade from a mortar blast in Iraq's Sunni Triangle - for which he received a Purple Heart. Said President Obama of Adam: " When Adam Burke returned from Iraq, he had more than earned the right to just focus on himself. He had served our nation with honor; a recipient of the Purple Heart for wounds he received while rescuing a comrade from enemy fire. Because of the shrapnel that tore through his head and his legs –- when Adam came home, he came home a wounded warrior, suffering from a traumatic brain injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. But a few years later, Adam found himself back on the family farm, and he noticed that working the land was therapeutic. ...

On the White House blog this week, three items became the central focus. White House press release. On the Budget/Buffet Rule How Many Millionaires Paid $0 in Taxes? Find Out for Yourself This week, the White House launched the official Federal Taxpayer Receipt for 2011 , an online tool that gives Americans the ability to calculate where their tax dollars are being spent. The President believes the American people deserve to know exactly how and where their tax dollars are being spent, that’s why he launched the first such receipt last year. President Barack Obama signs the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which includes key initiatives the President proposed last fall to help small businesses and startups grow and create jobs, in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 5, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) On the JOBS Act The JOBS Act: Encouraging Startups, Supporting Small Businesses President Obama recognizes the critical role these types ...

When he wasn't predicting (to a group of wound-up San Francisco 49er fans --- in San Francisco) that the New York Giants were going to the Super Bowl, or fighting wild fires in Reno , the VP still made time to visit wounded warriors and their families at Camp Pendleton. Our pool report comes from Elaine Sanchez, American Forces Press Service who informs us that: Biden, along with the second lady, Dr. Jill Biden, visited the 30,000-square-foot center opened in October 2011 to provide counseling, reconditioning and transitioning services for wounded and ill Marines, sailors and their families. The vice president said he and his wife visit service members and their families at every chance they get for one reason: “to say thank you.” “We only have one sacred obligation in the government,” he said. “We have a lot of obligations to the old, to the young, to educate, but we have only one sacred obligation and that is to equip those we send to war and care for those we bring home ...

Virginia Commonwealth University and The University of South Florida are just a couple of the 130 schools associated with the Association of American Medical Colleges ( AAMC ) and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine ( AACOM ) pledging to leverage their missions in education, research, and train the nation’s physicians to meet the unique health care needs of the military and veterans communities. Speaking at Virginia Commonwealth University today, the first lady said, "I’m inspired to see our nation’s medical schools step up to address this pressing need for our veterans and military families.  By directing some of our brightest minds, our most cutting-edge research, and our finest teaching institutions toward our military families, they’re ensuring that those who have served our country receive the first-rate care that they have earned,” says First Lady Michelle Obama. Together, the AAMC and AACOM are committing to improve the education in their ...

Our Quote of the Day (QOTD) comes from White House press secretary Jay Carney as he speaks to the press about today's visit between President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki. Said Carney, "This is a momentous visit..." President Obama shakes hands with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. AP photo. Here's a bit more of Carney at the top of today's briefing in the James Brady briefing room at the White House. As you know, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki is here to meet with the President.  You will be seeing them both fairly soon.  And if I could just note, this is a momentous visit because, as you know, the Iraq war -- a war that we've been engaged in for 8 and a half years -- is over.  And after eight and a half years of sacrifice, America's war in Iraq is coming to an end.  Since President Obama took office, nearly 150,000 U.S. troops have been removed from Iraq and hundreds of bases have been shut down.  In the next two weeks the ...

Our First Lady, Michelle Obama, continues to stay busy.  In this episode of 'Keeping of With The First Lady' we've highlighted some of the activities she's participated this week, as well as give you a peek inside her upcoming schedule. For starters, the First Lady made a cameo appearance in an edition of Extreme Makeover : Home Edition that aired last evening. Next we find her looking fabulous at this year's Congressional Black Caucus Phoenix Awards Dinner on Saturday evening.    Read below for these events, and more. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition First Lady Michelle Obama traveled to Fayetteville, North Carolina to join Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as they build a dream home for an African American woman veteran, Barbara Marshall and her family. Barbara Marshal had a 15 year career in the Navy but her service to her country didn't stop there. Marshall went on to combat homelessness among female veterans and military families in the Fayetteville ...

First Lady Michelle Obama graces Sept/Oct, 2011 AARP magazine. As President Obama was on the brink of turning 50 eariler this month, he joked that he would soon be getting his AARP card.  "I’ve said that means testing on Medicare, meaning people like myself, I’m going to be turning 50 in a week -- so, I’m starting to think a little bit more about Medicare eligibility.   Yes, I’m going to get my AARP card soon -- and the discounts, the president said during a press conference in the East Room of the White House where he was asked questions about cutting the deficit and whether social services would be affected as a result. How ironic, however, that instead of the president gracing the September/October, 2011 issue of AARP/The Magazine, after having turned 50, and holding a tele-town hall on health care reform at AARP headquarters in July, we find First Lady Michelle Obama instead. Both The First Lady , and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden were intervie...

Bringing the Boys Home Two major announcements by the White House included the president's plan to deploy 10,000 troops from Afghanistan, beginning this summer. In keeping with his commitment to draw down U.S forces this July, President Obama addressed the nation last evening to explain: "Tonight, I can tell you that we are fulfilling that commitment. Thanks to our extraordinary men and women in uniform, our civilian personnel, and our many coalition partners, we are meeting our goals", the president said. "As a result, starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer, fully recovering the surge I announced at West Point. After this initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace as Afghan security forces move into the lead. Our mission will change from combat to support. By 2014, this process of transition will be com...

America lost the greatest social and political activist of our time, Gil Scott-Heron, last Friday, May 27.  He was 62. Such an icon is worth mentioning by the current Administration if only for Scott's brilliant poetry, genius, intelligence, insight, and lyrical ability to express through song what America's people have and still are, going through. In this piece, Did You Hear What They Said , Scott speaks to war and the men (in this case) who have died in the U.S. military. The images in the video production portray a very grim, but poignant reminder of the conditions of U.S. veterans returning home from war. "Did you hear what they said", sings Heron.   "They said another brother's dead.  They said he's dead, but he can't be buried.  They said he's dead, but he can't be buried. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.  This can't be real.  Did you hear about his mother and how she cried?  They said because her only son was dead." ...

Video of yesterday's White House event introducing the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden's Joining Forces initiative. Related Stanley McChrystal Joins Forces Military Child of the Year

 Joining Forces Gen Stanley McChrystal with wife Anne. Almost a year after Stanley McChrystal resigned (was given the boot) from his post as U.S. / NATO commander for his disparaging remarks about the President, he's getting the opportunity to rejoin his former Commander In Chief. No sooner had the president uttered these words last June in a Rose Garden ceremony: "... McChrystal's conduct does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general", McChrystal is set to join the president's wife, First Lady Obama, and Dr. Jill Biden in their efforts to support military families. "I'm so proud that General McChrystal will continue to serve our country through this critical effort to support our nation’s military families,” First Lady Michelle Obama said in a statement, “He will be a unique and powerful advocate for the millions of Americans who serve our country selflessly. This program will build upon our nation's great patrio...

The following op-ed, penned by Dr. Jill Biden, was published today in the Philadelphia Inquirer: Harnessing Community Colleges I have been a teacher for more than 30 years and a community college instructor for the last 18 of them. Every day in my classroom, I see the power of community colleges to change lives and put students on the path to opportunity and success. Community colleges are uniquely American institutions, in which anyone who walks through the door is one step closer to realizing the American dream. And they will play a vital role in the nation's economic recovery. President Obama understands the critical role community colleges will play in getting the economy back on track. They are the key to meeting his goal of making America's workforce the best educated and most competitive in the world by 2020. Last October, the president asked me to convene a summit of community college leaders at the White House, where students, faculty, administrators, and bu...

“Every American benefits from the profound sacrifices made by our military men and women. As a veteran, I was honored to attend the release of the Obama Administration’s report on support for military families. When a service member who has dedicated their life to protecting this country suffers from physical, mental health, or substance abuse problems, they do not suffer alone, and we owe these patriots and their families more than gratitude – we owe them our support. ONDCP is committed to providing that support through expanded access to drug treatment for active duty military and veterans, extending our support for veterans courts and through comprehensive efforts to reduce drug use and its consequences.”· According to a survey conducted by the Department of Defense, one in eight active duty military personnel are current users of illicit drugs . This is largely driven by prescription drug abuse, reported by one in nine service members—more than double the rate compared to the civ...