Clint Eastwood's disrepectful 'comedy' routine performed at the Republican convention

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Republican National Convention--Clint Eastwood's  Saturday Night Live skit was not comedy, even though it was supposed to be. He hurled rehearsed insults at President Obama, hoping to get the audience roaring with laughter. 

Being ill-mannered, cynical, rude and crude towards this first African American president has become Republicans stock and trade. I have never witnessed anything like it. Republicans, when caught, as does the media, resort to the excuse, “Democrats do it to Republicans.” 

On the Internet blatant contempt of President Obama reads like a poorly written how-to-book of talking points on how to successfully embarrass the President. An example is the billboard on display (above) in Boston, Massachusetts. It works because Obama critics allow this kind of gobbledygook to enter their heads and steal what sense of right and wrong, they have left.

What Eastwood did on stage at the convention Friday night was surprising. Everyone watching him thought he was going to highlight the virtues of presidential candidate Mitt Romney and  his VP of choice, Paul Ryan. Instead, Eastwood leaped into a "bad Obama presidency" tirade. 

I got the point about the empty chair used as a prop, but I, like everyone watching him, did not know where Eastwood was heading with his one-man comedy routine. It did not take long to realize that he was implying that the White House is occupied by an empty suit, a 2008 meme popularized by the media and Republicans.

Self-directing himself, Eastwood, 82, began a rambling his near schizophrenic routine, a smirk on his face. He observed the audience, and then the empty chair. His ridiculous routine lasted about 12 to 15 minutes. He was supposed to be on stage for five minutes.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Save a little for Mitt," he said to the applause. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, what’s a movie tradesman doing out here? You know they are all left wingers out there, left of Lenin. 

At least that is what people think. That is not really the case. There are a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by the nature of the word itself play it closer to the vest. They do not go around hot dogging it.

So -- but they are there, believe me, they are there. I just think, in fact, some of them around town, I saw John Voigt, a lot of people around. John’s here, an academy award winner. A terrific guy. These people are all like-minded, like all of us.

So I -- so I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he’s -- I was going to ask him a couple of questions. But -- you know about -- I remember three and a half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election. And though I was not a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles.

They were saying, I just thought, this was great. Everybody is crying, Oprah was crying. I was even crying. And then finally -- and I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there is 23 million unemployed people in this country. Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven’t done enough, obviously -- this administration hasn’t done enough to cure that. Whenever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.

Eastwood stepped over the boundary of decency when he decided he could, even in jest, talk down to President Obama like he was a student who had disrupted the classroom, and he had to be verbally reprimanded in front of the whole class. Eastwood commenced chiding the imaginary President of the United States in front of America.

To further embarrass himself, Eastwood put words in President Obama's mouth. He has never been disdainful towards those who take personal swipes at him, his wife and his family. President Obama has never, in his three-and-a-half years in office cursed at anyone, yelled at anyone, let alone angrily tells an adversary to go and "fuck himself", or "shut up".  Granted this is what the media and Republicans want to see him do, but that is not the President Obama's personality.

Eastwood continued his disjointed comedy routine: So, Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle them? I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just -- you know -- I know -- people were wondering -- you don’t -- handle that OK. Well, I know even people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn’t close Gitmo. And I thought, well closing Gitmo -- why close that, we spent so much money on it. But I thought maybe as an excuse -- what do you mean shut up?

OK, I thought maybe it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City. I’ve got to. . . to hand it to you. I have to give credit where credit is due. You did finally overrule that finally. And that’s -- now we are moving onward. I know you were against the war in Iraq, and that’s okay. But you thought the war in Afghanistan was OK. You know, I mean -- you thought that was something worth doing. We didn’t check with the Russians to see how did it -- they did there for 10 years.

But we did it, and it is something to be thought about, and I think that, when we get to
maybe -- I think you’ve mentioned something about having a target date for bringing everybody home. You gave that target date, and I think Mr. Romney asked the only sensible question, you know, he says, “Why are you giving the date out now? Why don’t you just bring them home tomorrow morning?

And I thought -- I thought, yeah -- I am not going to shut up, it is my turn. So anyway, we’re going to have -- we’re going to have to have a little chat about that. And then, I just wondered, all these promises -- I wondered about when the -- what do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that. I can’t tell him to do that to himself.

You’re crazy, you’re absolutely crazy. You’re getting as bad as Biden. Of course, we all now Biden is the intellect of the Democratic party. But I just think that there is so much to be done, and I think that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are two guys that can come along. See, I never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to the president, anyway.

I think attorneys are so busy -- you know they’re always taught to argue everything, and always weight everything -- weigh both sides. They are always devil’s advocating this and bifurcating this and bifurcating that. You know all that stuff. But I think it is maybe time -- what do you think -- for maybe a businessman. How about that? A stellar businessman. Quote, unquote, 'a stellar businessman.

And I think it’s that time. And I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane. Though maybe a smaller one. Not that big gas guzzler you are going around to colleges and talking about student loans and stuff like that. You are an -- an ecological man. Why would you want to drive that around? OK, well anyway. All right, I’m sorry. I can’t do that to myself either. I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that you, we -- we own this country. We -- we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

And -- so -- they are just going to come around and beg for votes every few years. It is the same old deal. But I just think it is important that you realize, that you’re the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you’re libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

Okay, just remember that. And I’m speaking out for everybody out there. It doesn’t hurt, we don’t have to be . . . . I do not say that word anymore. Well, maybe one last time. We don’t have to be -- what I’m saying, we do not have to be metal masochists and vote for somebody that we don’t really even want in office just because they seem to be nice guys or maybe not so nice guys, if you look at some of the recent ads going out there, I don’t know. But OK. You want to make my day? All right. I started, you finish it. Go ahead. Audience: Make my day Eastwood: Thank you. Thank you very much.

I love Clint Eastwood movies. I have a collection of them. At the Republican Convention he was a buck wild rabbit--bizarre and pathetic. Because he is a highly acclaimed actor, director and Hollywood icon, Eastwood told himself that he was entitled to belittle an “invisible” President Obama in front of the world. Hey! He's Clint "Make My Day" Eastwood. Who is not going to laugh with him? The delegates and politicians at the convention laughed and giggled at his every word. Clint was on a roll!

Most times I have a great sense of humor, but my humor did not laugh or smile at Eastwood’s comedy routine.I did not appreciate his scornful histrionics.

Romney’s top adviser did not ask Eastwood in advance what he was going to say or do, nor was Eastwood given a list of talking point to incorporate into his speech. Putting a light spin on the theatrical disaster, a top Romney adviser said they had no problem with the routine.  He said Romney was backstage laughing. During an interview on Friday, Ann Romney said Eastwood was “unique.” Unique like in bullshit has no smell. Josh Billings, 19th century humorists, once said: "Most everyone seems willing to be a fool himself, but he can't bear to have everyone else be one."

Republican Bud Johnson, a Northeast Austin resident in Austin, Texas "lynched" a folding chair, with a good old red, white and blue flag attached to it, symbolizing a lynching of President Obama. 

Johnson hanged the chair on a front yard tree after Eastwood's soapbox production. When the hanging chair gained media attention, along with excessive traffic to the mixed neighborhood, Johnson was seen on TV cutting down the chair. It seems strangers were coming to the neighborhood to take pictures of the lynched chair. 

Asked by a local station KEYE-TV news reporter why he displayed lynched folding chair in his front yard, Johnson, who walks with a cane, said it was "the only place I had to put the damn thing." An African American vet who owns a home in the neighborhood, said he did a double take after observing the chair hanging from the tree. He was not a happy with what he saw in his neighbor.

Double murder of 2 White girls in a small town divided by race and railroad tracks

George Stinney, Jr; a copy of his fingerprints 

UPDATE: December 2014: After 70 years George Junis Stinney, Jr has been exonerated for the double murders of  June Binnicker and Mary Emma Thames, two White girls, in 1944 in Clarendon Alcolu, South Carolina. 

Judge Carmen Mullen of Beaufort, vacated the conviction against Stinney on Wednesday, December 17. In January, a judge agreed to hear new testimony and arguments in the case. 

Mullen made no finding of whether Stinney was guilty or innocent in the death of two White girls he was accused of killing. Segregation and intimidation of African Americans were rummaging across South Carolina, and  African Americans were at the mercy of angry White people in Clarendon County.

Third Circuit Solicitor Ernest Finney 111,  “ . . . praised Mullen who took nearly a year to write her 28-page opinion for doing a fine job of deliberating over some very novel issues that had to be addressed. As I understand it, this is not an exoneration of the young man, but it is a statement that due process was not complied with in the way it should have been.

"Mullens found numerous errors: Stinney's confession was likely coerced; the all-White jury was not a jury of his peers and his court appointed lawyer did little or nothing to defend him. There was no appeal of the case. Today juveniles cannot be executed. Less than two months passed between the trial and the execution." (The State, South Carolina's Homepage) 

On October 25, 2013, a 27-page motion was filed by lawyers to grant George Stinney, Jr. a new trial in hopes of posthumously clearing his name. Steve McKenzie, the lead attorney in the case, said they are confident that they can present enough evidence, so the judge will look at "this from the standards of today and say, 'this was not justice that was served back in 1944,'" said McKenzie.

According to another recent article in the Grio, " . . . the motion also includes two sworn statements from Stinney's two siblings, who say George was with family completing chores at the time of the murders and could not have committed the crime." 

 

The Grio interviewed Wilford 'Johnny' Hunter, who was jailed for car theft in 1944. He said he was in the cell with George Stinney. Hunter said they became friends, and the teenager told him that he did not kill the two girls. 

He said, ''Johnny  I didn't do it. Why would they want to kill me for something I didn't do? For years . . .I used to have dreams," Hunter said, "About [Stinney] and the electric chair."  

A few months ago I watched a true-life 2005 documentary titled The Trials of  Darryl Hunt. 

The documentary was about a young African American male, 19, born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Hunt was convicted to raping and murdering Deborah Sykes, 25, in 1984. She was a White woman employed at the Sentinel as a newspaper copy editor. This documentary got my attention, because it reminded me of other similar stories I had read about about Black males and young Black boys. They were always guilty before they were considered innocent.

The Sentinel reported that Sykes was stabbed 16 times. She was raped and sodomized on the morning of August 10, 1984. Reportedly, she was on her way to work.

14-year-old George Stinney, Jr. and another prisoner are escorted into the death chamber with another Black male as two jailers standby at the South Carolina State Penitentiary in Columbia.

Police did not find any physical evidence connecting Hunt to the crime. Nevertheless, he was convicted by a jury composed of one African American female and 11 Whites. Hunt was sentenced to life in prison, but was eventually freed by DNA evidence. 

In 2003 Willard E. Brown, an African American, and career criminal, confessed to the rape/murder of Deborah Sykes. DNA evidence confirmed that Brown was the killer. Hunt, who proclaimed his innocence throughout his imprisonment, served 19.5 years in prison. He was awarded $1, 650,000 million after filing a lawsuit against the state of North Carolina.

This brief journey into history is not only about Darryl Hunt. As I said in the first paragraph, his story reminded me of other similar stories. Hunt's story reminded of a baby faced 14-year old boy name George Stinney, Jr., an African American teenager, who was born in Alcolu, in Clarendon County, South Carolina, October 21, 1929.

I wish I could write that Stinney’s story was a rarity in 1944, but I cannot. None of these "guilty until proven guiltier" cases were peculiar to the kinfolk of hanged and executed African Americans. Speedy trials and even faster sentences of death have never been rare in Black communities throughout the United States. A White woman could scream "rape" and most assuredly the accused, regardless of his proclaims of innocence, would be sentenced to death. Kangaroo trials were disguised as actual trials. All White jurors did not pretend to deliberate in jury rooms.

Recently, several authors and journalists have written about the forgotten story of George  Stinney, Jr.; a true tale of a double murder in a small town. In the articles Alcolu is described as a small, working class town, where Blacks and Whites were separated by railroad tracks and race. Ironically, there is still a railroad tracks separation of Blacks and Whites in states all across America.

At the time Stinney was accused of committing these two brutal murders he was 5'1" tall and weighed between 90 and 95 pounds. When angry eyes zeroed squarely on him, pointing accusatory fingers at the youngster, there was no abject reasoning, or process of elimination among the White citizens in Alcolu. They wanted revenge for the killing of two White girls.

Over the span of 24 hours or less, local police officers arrested 14-year-old Stinney, charging him with brutally killing of Betty June Binnicker, 11, and Mary Emma Thames, 8.  According to limited accounts regarding this tragedy on March 23, 1944, the girls rode their bicycles across the railroad tracks into the Black community. It's said they were looking for maypops, a yellow edible fruit flower.

George Stinney's brother, Rev. Charles Stinney, in an interview with WEBEALL Radio,  said the police "rounded up several Black boys in the neighborhood." Alcolu police said Stinney used a railroad spike to beat the girls to death. They surmised that he dragged their bodies, along with their bicycles, down to a nearby creek. This murderous rampage occurred in broad daylight. None of Stinney’s neighbors came forward to say they had witnessed the beating deaths. None of his neighbors came forward to say they witnessed Stinney dragging the girls' lifeless bodies down to a nearby creek. Their bodies were found the next day by a White man, who later testified for the prosecution.

Quick (personal) analysis: Stinney was light in weight. He supposedly beat the two girls to death a with railroad spike, then dragged the two dead girls--both dead weight--down to a creek, along with their bicycles. There were no reported screams from the girls. It was still daylight. Stinney would have to make at least four trips to the creek without stopping. Surely someone in the neighborhood would have seen him dragging the dead girls to the creek.  A grown man couldn't have pulled this off this bloody feat without someone seeing him. And, he had the frame of mind to clean up the crime scene, making sure there were no footprints in the crime area. He weighed 95 pounds.

Stinney's weight eliminates the possibility of him being a muscular teenager, physically capable of committing two beating deaths. There was no mention of bloody clothes found in his home. No mention of a bloody crime scene. No bloody railroad spike was ever found. No White males in Alcolu were suspected or questioned. It takes strength to beat someone to death. One has to assume that one girl stood by still in panic, and watched her friend getting beat to death before she was finally beaten.

 A story about George Stinney was written in the Grio, September 28, 2011, by Zerlina Maxwell. The headline asked:  Was one of the youngest ever executed innocent?  Maxwell's article drew national attention to the 67-year-old story. According to Maxwell, “George Junis Stinney was even part of the search crew and told a bystander simply that he had seen the girls earlier that day. This claim was enough probable cause for the South Carolina police to arrest Stinney for the double murder, even though, the idea of him being strong enough to kill not one but two girls is a stretch.

"Despite this fact, the police hauled Stinney into the station for hours of intense interrogation, without the presence of either of his parents. Reports claim the police offered Stinney ice cream if he confessed to them that he committed the double murder. Stinney confessed. There is no written record of his confession in the archives. There is no physical evidence linking Stinney to the murder. There is no paper record of Stinney’s conviction,” writes Maxwell.  “This was South Carolina in 1944, with a Black male defendant, two young White female victims, and an all White, male jury. Stinney never stood a chance.”

Following Stinney’s arrest his family was given an ultimatum: leave town immediately or stay in Alcolu and face an angry mob. Stinney's father, who worked at Alderman Lumber Mill, was fired and forced out of their rental house owned by the company he worked for. Charles Stinney said they were not given time to pack their personal belongings. They left Alcolu the same evening Stinney was arrested. They go out of town with nothing but the clothes on their backs.  The Stinney family was forced to leave a son and brother behind to face his trial and predictable fate, alone and scared.

Stinney was represented by Charles Plowden, 31, a tax commissioner, who had political ambitions. It is not clear if he was an attorney who worked as tax commissioner. He was appointed by the court to represent Stinney. Plowden did not protest or object to the testimonies of the police officers, all claiming that Stinney freely confessed to the double killings of Binnicker and Thames. No written confession was available to exhibit during the rushed trial. The prosecution called three other witnesses, all White men. Not one of them was cross examined by Plowden. What these three witness testified to is puzzling, given there were no witnesses to the daylight murders of the two girls. What could they testify to?

Young Stinney could not look around the packed courtroom and see a friend. He could not search out the faces of his relatives to send him a comforting smile. He was surrounded by a courtroom of White Alcolu citizens that wanted him found guilty for the crime he was accused of committing. His court appointed lawyer made it easy for the jury to return a guilty verdict.

Prior to the trial a mob of White vigilantes went to the jail where the teenager was being held, intent on lynching him without a trial. Unbeknownst to them, the police had secreted Stinney to another jail 40 miles away in Charleston. In the meanwhile, a speedy trial was in the works. An all-White jury of 12 males was quickly selected. The trial lasted all of two-and-a-half hours. An estimated 1,000 people crowded the small courtroom. It took the jury 10 minutes to find the Stinney guilty. Fourteen year old George Stinney, Jr. was sentenced to die in the electric chair. To date, he is the youngest person to be “legally” executed in the United States.

Author David Stout wrote in his book Carolina Skeletons, “After a lunch break the case was heard before Judge Stoll. Plowden did not cross-examine any of the prosecuting witnesses. His defense consisted of claiming that Stinney was too young by law to be held responsible for the crimes. In response, the prosecution presented Stinney's birth certificate stating that he was born on October 21, 1959, which made him 14 years and five months old. Under South Carolina law in 1944 an adult was anyone over the age of 14.”

Stout further wrote about the execution (he was not an eyewitness): “June 16, 1944. At 7:30 p.m., George Stinney, Jr. was fitted into the electric chair. It had been designed for grown men, not children. He was five feet, one inch tall and weighed ninety pounds. The guards had a hard time strapping him into the seat. The mask over his face did not fit properly. When the switch was thrown, the force of the electricity jerked the too-large mask from his face and for the final four minutes of his life, spectators in the gallery had a full view of Stinney's horrified face as he was executed.

"Stinney's sister, Katherine Stinney Robinson, was interviewed on the fiftieth anniversary of her brother's execution and said, 'He was like my idol, you know. He was very smart in school, very artistic. He could draw all kinds of things. We had a good family. Small house, but there was a lot of love. It took my mother a long time to get over it. And maybe she never got over it,'” Stout wrote.

Charles Stinney, George's brother, said when their mother saw her son after the execution, she said, "They didn't have to burn him up like that." Stinney was buried in an unmarked grave in South Carolina. Charles said he have never gone back to visit the grave site.

Currently, there is an effort underway to clear Stinney’s name. Supporters of the effort want the state of South Carolina to confess and admit that officials executed the wrong person for the double killings. Charles Stinney said the NAACP attempted to get the execution stopped to no avail. They even called on President Franklin Roosevelt for help but they did not hear from him.

Today, Attorney Steve McKenzie is spearheading the effort to get justice for the 14-year-old boy. Upstate.com writes that McKenzie said, "As an attorney, it just kind of haunted me, just the way the judicial system worked to this boy's disadvantage or disfavor. It did not protect him." McKenzie is preparing whatever documentation is necessary to ask that the case  reopened.

Zerlina Maxwell of Grio, reported that McKenzie said Stinney was suspected simply because he said he saw the girls earlier in the day. "[Stinney] was a convenient target,” says McKenzie, but the challenge now is ”[h]ow do you exonerate somebody where there is absolutely no evidence one way or the other? There was only a coerced confession. The confession was never written. It was an oral confession testified to two White officers and told to an all White male jury.”  

Fact sheet regarding the Affordable Care Act, outlining benefits the uninsured can expect

The U.S. Supreme Court Justices from left to right on front row: Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts (center), Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Gingsburg; standing in rear from left to right: Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Jr. and Elena Kagan.

The Supreme Court’s decision on the Patients Protection and Affordable Care Act came down to a vote of 5 to 4, with Justice John Roberts breaking from conservative justices. The media, Republicans and pundits seemed to forget that the justices--all of whom were called “activist justices” by the Bush administration--are sitting on the bench to adhere to the rule of law. The Justices job is not to make popular or political decisions, but to base their rulings strictly on the lawfulness of the U.S. Constitution. They are not elected to office; therefore, they do not have to worry about being popular with a critical populace.

And yet, that hasn't stopped conservatives from calling Justice Roberts a "traitor" who  committed  "treason" against the United States for ruling in favor of the Affordable Care Act. Angry conservatives, media and pundits accused him of ignoring the Constitution to give President Obama a victory. Never mind that uninsured Americans are the true winners.

Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said the uninsured "is not the issue." This is the same political miscreant who vowed to make President Obama a one term president.

Know-it-alls got it wrong from day one when newspapers began speculating which direction the Justices would go. They all said conservative Justices would break the legs of the bill, making sure it cannot stand on its own power. But the bill wound up standing tall. But the media and pundits cannot let go, neither can critics, who are questioning the mental health of Chief Justice John Roberts for not siding with his colleagues. 

The media and pundits, all of whom are against "The Patients Protection and Affordable Care Act", refuse to report the benefits the Act will offer, which will kick into full effect in 2014.  They insist that the majority of “American people” do not want affordable health care! They push slanted polls that suggest the majority of "American people" do not want the health insurance "forced on them" by the government. 

The media and pundits refuse to clearly explain that health care reform levels the playing field for millions of uninsured men, women, children and disabled citizens who have been discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions.  As it stands, pregnancy and being female are pre-existing conditions. Insurance companies can legally deny women and African Americans coverage or charge them a higher rate than White males. Women and African Americans have no way to protect themselves from insurers that discriminate against them.

As expected, Republican governors have geared up to deny their constituents affordable health care insurance, despite of it being paid for by the government the first three years. Thereafter, the government will pay a small percentage of the bill, leaving it up to people to pick the plan they can afford. The fact was not hidden from those wanting to participate in health care insurance.

The most vocal Republican governors--Rick Scott of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and Scott Walker of Wisconsin-- have declared that they absolutely will not cooperate. In Texas, my home state, where 25 percent (or 6.2 million) of its citizens are uninsured, Gov. Rick Perry said he will not allow the plan to take root in Texas. Brushing aside the big boy boasting, I am sure these governors will find a way to scam “big government” out of a share of the millions of dollars cooperating states will receive.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act ensures hard-working, middle class families will get the security they deserve and protects every American from the worst insurance company abuses.  This law was also specifically designed to give States the resources and flexibility they need to tailor their approach to their unique needs.  With the uncertainty about the Court’s decision behind us, it’s now time to focus on implementing this law in a smart and non-bureaucratic way that works for the middle class.

Benefits and Protections for the Middle Class: The Affordable Care Act includes numerous provisions to keep health care costs low, promote prevention, and hold insurance companies accountable.  If you’re one of the 250 million Americans who already have health care--whether through private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid --the Affordable Care Act is already making your coverage more secure.

Insurance companies no longer have unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny your child coverage due to a pre-existing condition, or charge women more than men. Over 86 million Americans have gained from coverage of preventive care free of charge, like mammograms for women and wellness visits for seniors.

    

Nearly 13 million Americans will receive a rebate this summer because their insurance company spent too much of their premium dollars on administrative costs or CEO bonuses. The law has already helped 5.3 million seniors and people with disabilities save an average of over $600 on prescription drugs in the “donut hole” in Medicare coverage.

The law’s provisions to strengthen and protect Medicare by fighting fraud will continue. The law has helped 6.6 million young adults who have been able to stay on their parents’ plans until the age of 26, including 3.1 million young people who are newly insured.

If you are one of the 30 million Americans who don’t yet have health insurance, starting in 2014 this law will offer you an array of quality, affordable, private health insurance plans to choose from.  If you need care, you will finally have the same opportunity to get quality, affordable coverage as everyone else.

Coverage for Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions: A major impact of the Court's decision is that 129 million people with pre-existing conditions will have the security of affordable health coverage.  Starting in 2014, insurance companies can no longer charge you more, carve out benefits, or deny you coverage altogether because you have cancer or diabetes or simply because you are a woman.  To make these protections affordable, people with and without pre-existing conditions should be insured, since everyone at some time needs health care.

Tax Credits for Middle Class Families and Small Businesses: Millions of Americans will soon be eligible for tax credits to ensure that their health insurance is affordable. Under today’s ruling, having health insurance is and will continue to be a choice.  If you can’t afford insurance or you’re a small business that wants to provide affordable insurance to your employees, you’ll get tax credits that make coverage affordable.  

But starting in 2014, if you can afford insurance and you choose not to purchase it, the taxpayers will no longer subsidize your care for free.  The Court’s ruling today allows Congress to hold the projected 1% of Americans who will be able to afford health insurance but will choose not to buy it responsible for that choice.  Many small businesses are already receiving tax credits so they can afford to offer quality health care to their employees.  To date, 360,000 businesses that employ 2 million workers have already benefited from the small business tax cuts in the law.  And once the Affordable Care Act takes full effect, about 18 million individuals and families will get tax credits for health insurance coverage averaging about $4,000 apiece.

Support for State Implementation of Affordable Insurance Exchanges: With the uncertainty of the Court decision behind us, we will step up our work with States to implement Affordable Insurance Exchanges. Exchanges are new marketplaces, starting in 2014, that will allow individuals and small businesses to compare and choose private health plans.  Each State will take the lead in designing its own menu of options.  Already, 34 States including the District of Columbia have received 100 percent Federally funded grants to build Exchanges. The use of Exchange grants includes support for activities related to running Exchanges in their start-up year.

States can also implement their own brand of reform through Innovation Waivers starting in 2017.  If States can come up with even better ways of covering people at the same quality and low cost, this law allows them to do so.  The Administration supports bipartisan legislation to allow States to start such Waivers in 2014.

***This article was first published on my blog in 2012.

Maudy Whitt, a woman alone but not lonely

A shorty story 

by Dorothy Charles Banks

Maudy Whitt is as stubborn as the devil is in hell. But I like her.  She is talkative, adventurous and a loner. She carries a “cutting knife” tucked away in her small bosom. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a gun hidden on her somewhere. Laughing, more to herself than with me, Maudy said she only "packs a sharp knife. Used to pack a razor."

“My poppa taught all his children how to use a knife. My oldest brother can turn a man to a sifter before he knowed he been cut. I seen him do it. We don’t bother nobody, but we ain’t gonna let nobody bother us neither.”

Maudy, the liberator of her own soul long before the women’s liberation movement, expresses herself as colorfully as the ribbons in her hair. She says she does not mind ‘cutting a fool. I’ll cut a woman just as hard as I does a man. It's some tough talking, rough women out there. They'll cut a man or woman to pieces just as fast as they'll look at'em.”

Maudy does not believe in female helplessness. “It ain’t nothing but a show.” She says a woman can do whatever she wants to as well as any man. A woman got to make up her mind to do it. I never seen my mama back off nothing she had to do. That's one reason I packs a knife, and a mouth of bad words for anybody who think they gone treat me wrong. I ain’t letting no man knock me around. Not me. No sir. Not me. I never seen my poppa raise his hand to my mama. He knowed better. Mama took a frying pan to his head like greased lightening. He had a couple of knots, maybe three or four, on his head. He didn't try that no more.

“I think a man is a coward if he hits a woman. Real men don't hit women. Enough of that talk. You look the same as when I first met you two years ago.”

“I’m the same Maudy Whitt every time you sees me. No reason to change today. Ain’t no reason to change tomorrow. I leaves that to the weather. Don’t believe in flipping my ways. Folks don’t know how you gone act from one minute to the next.” 

Maudy told me that first time I met her. She was sitting at a bus stop, watching people watch her. We had talked to each other so openly and honestly, I felt like I had known her all my life.

I was impressed with her upbeat personality; her refusal to stay in anyone’s company who accepts depression and ineptitude as a way of life. She said back then, “If you ain’t cripple, you don’t need no crutches. If you crazy you need to be locked up in a nut house. If you broke you need to find a job.”

Maudy says depression is only a word waiting for somebody to pick it up. "People latch onto that mess for some kind of comfort.  Depression don't go round hooking itself to folk who don't want it. I don't want nothing to do with it. Ain't never been down in my mind a day in my life."

Some people looked at Maudy and immediately decided she’s homeless. That was my first impression, despite her being cleanly dressed. She was not panhandling. She asked me what time it was, and that’s how we began to talk.  “I can read and write some. No much. I know peoples with plenty education and they don’t seem to be doing no better than me, money wise. I don’t understand it. Don’t make good sense.”

Everywhere Maudy goes, she has two large pillow cases, sometimes two large shopping bags filled with everything she owns. “I travels light. When I eat my whole family done ate.” She carries in her mind, memories of her travels, the people she’s met.

Maudy won’t talk much about her family. She told me what she wanted me to know then said she was through with that part of her life.  Once in a while she broke her own rule. I learned quickly not to push her. About her age, she says: “I was roun' two years old when Noah was fetching animals for his Ark. My mama says we was neighbors,” she laughed.

Maudy is good at telling jokes. Dirty jokes. Few clean ones. She says if you can’t make people smile saying something nice, tell them a dirty joke.

“That’ll get they attention. Most everybody likes a dirty joke. Women folk, too. Don’t let no woman tell you she don‘t listen to’em cause she do. Even them stuck-up ones who think butter wont' melt in they mouths. I seen some of'em do some things worse than a dirty joke.”

Maudy says people laugh at her when she walks down the street, her whole life tucked under her arms. “I look straight in they eyes and throw they laughing right back at’em. Don’t never let peoples see they can get the best of you. They’ll ride your backside till you can’t stand straight. I don’t have to ask nobody for one thin dime. I don’t have to lay in nobody’s bed to sleep. I don't have to turn no tricks out here for a couple of dollars so I can eat. I don’t mind taking day work to keep money in my pocket. I can sleep in the house or outdoors. Don’t matter.”

A native of Oklahoma, Maudy’s salt and pepper hair, that hangs to the center of her back, is always adorned with colorful strips of ribbon intertwined into her long braid. The color offset her caramel complexion that still has a glow. Her small feet are housed in Indian moccasins and socks, sometimes matching, sometimes not.

 “My mama was half Indian. I don’t what tribe. She didn’t talk bout’em. I got some Indian in me, too. You can probably tell. We all of in the family got these cheeks. Peoples tell me all the time they likes my high cheeks. They just cheeks to me.”

It had been a number of months since I last seen Maudy. I had been thinking about her, wondering if she was alright or still alive. One Sunday afternoon some friends and I were picnicking in City Park. To my surprise, Maudy walked up, frisky and talkative as ever.

“How y’all doing this fine Sunday afternoon?” she asked. “It’s a mighty good day to be alive. A mighty good day.”

“We’re doing okay,” the five of us said in unison.

“That’s good.” She sat her bags on the ground. “Y’all  young folk don't mind if I sit for a spell, does you?  I already walked five miles today if I walked one." Smiling, Maudy fanned her face with a frayed fan bearing a picture of Jesus.

"You want a beer or a soda, Miss Maudy?" Jerry asked, pushing both towards her.

“I’ll take the soda water, son. Too hot for a old woman to be drinking alcohol. I don’t want to fall out on the streets. Thank you anyhow.”

"You're welcome."

“Y’all celebrating? Ain’t no holiday is it? I don’t keep up with’em much. Once in a blue moon I celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyday I live is Christmas and Thanksgiving to me.”

"We're having a picnic. Nothing special," I said.

"Come on everybody! Let's play ball!" Fred said.  "You too, Miss Maudy," he invited.

“I'm staying to talk to Miss Whitt," I told them. “I’ll see y’all later.”

“Shucks, honey. Go on and play ball with your friends. You don’t have to sit here with me. Soon as I kill this bottle of soda water, I’ll be moving on. I can keep myself company. Go on and have some fun with your friends,” she urged me.

“I’d rather sit and talk to you. I haven’t seen you in a long time. I can play ball with them anytime. Besides, it’s too hot to play ball.”

“Know what you mean.  Thought I was gone faint before I got somewhere to sit. This  is the hottest summer I seen in a pretty good spell.”

"It'll probably get cooler later this afternoon. Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in while."

“Just got back from out West Texas. Show is hot and dusty out there. White people still don’t want colored people to come in they cafes. The more things change, the more they stay the same. My mama was right bout that.  Just before I come back here, a colored man got kicked in the tail on account he went in a White folks' cafe. They said he caused trouble. He was with a White woman. Reckon that the trouble he caused. Them White folk didn’t like it. All they wanted to do was eat. They looked like they was pretty hungry. 

"That colored man no more got it out his mouth before the owner kicked him and her out the door. Told'em not to come back less they wanted to wash dishes or sweep the floor. That White man knowed the colored man wasn’t gone call the law. They stick together out there. The colored cook that works there told me 'bout it. He a friend of mine. Shucks! He gotta eat in the kitchen! He can't even take his family there to eat with them White folk. I thought a law was passed where Negroes can eat where they wants to.”

“Desegregation was supposed to stop discrimination. Guess it hasn't. That was a terrible thing to happen to that man. People should be able to go where they want without getting kicked out of a business,” I said. “That’s why Martin Luther King led the civil rights marches.”

“I been round white folk long enough to know it's hard for’em to drop they old ways. I found some days work while I was out there. One of the White womens I worked for wanted to give me some clothes she didn’t want. I told her to giv’em to some poor White peoples. I said it in a nice way. You know what that cow called me? A uppity nigger! I told her to go straight to hell, and take them her old clothes with her. I didn’t go to her house begging for a hand-out. I was looking for work. I seen’em treat they dogs better than they treat they colored peoples.  Them old clothes she was trying to give me was too big anyhow. Fat cow!”

“I guess she didn’t see that you are a small woman."

“Reckon she didn’t. Anyhow I told her in the front so she won’t stick out behind! Sho’ did! Treating me like I'm a beggar!"

We laughed.

"How many cities have you been to, Miss Whitt. I’ve never been out of Texas.”

“I been bout everywhere you can go on a Greyhound bus. Rode a train a few times. You won’t see me getting in no airplane to go nowheres! I don’t never get in that big a hurry. Been thinking about going back to California or New York. I got some kin folks in both them places.”

“I envy you. I wish I had the nerve to travel like you. I’m scared to pack up and leave home. I want to know everything is going to be safe when I get where I’m going.”

“You can go if you wants to bad enough. You ain’t got but one life. Best thing to do is pack and go. Don’t sit round til you too old. If you do you’ll die thinking the world stopped you, when you stopped yourself. Let too much grass grow under your feet, you might start thinking you a tree. That’s the reason I stay on the move. I love my life. It ain’t much but it’s mine.”

“All of my friends are here. I don’t want to leave them.”

“I meet new folk all the time,” Maudy said, reaching for her purse, pulling out a wad of chewing tobacco. “I ain’t gonna offer you no chew. Young people today don’t chew tobacco. Been chewing since I was a young girl.”

“My mother caught me dipping snuff when I was younger. She almost beat me senseless. It made me dizzy and sick. After that, I swore I’d never dip snuff again.”

“You gotta get used to it. I dips and chew. Neither one don’t make me no difference.”

"No more for me. I don’t even smoke cigarettes."

“Does you smoke them funny smelling kind?”

“Miss Whitt, shame on you ! Why would you think that?” I asked, laughing.

“Just thinking out loud,” she said, a twinkle in her eyes. “When I was younger I tried it a couple times. Didn’t like it. Don't like alcohol either.”

“That’s a surprise,” I said, glad she answered the question before I asked.

“You hear about that fella what kilt hisself last week? Killing yourself is a sin. I read in the paper he was in love with this cheating gal, and they was to get married. She call if off cause she been sneaking round with his best friend. Goes to show you can’t trust n body. Not even your best friend.”

"I hate to think I can't trust my girlfriends. I don’t think my girlfriends would do that to me. They trust me. I trust them."

“I was in love one time. He was in the war. He hadn’t been gone long before he come up missing in action. His mama come to my house to tell me the news after the Army told her. I cried and carried on till I couldn’t squeeze another tear out my eyes. We was gone get married soon as the war was over. Loving somebody else didn’t cross my mind after that. Hurt too much to love somebody and then lose him.”

I turned my head so Maudy could wipe away the tears forming in her eyes. “I better get myself on where I’m going before I make a fool out myself, telling you all my business. Hope it don't be too long before I sees you again."

"Me too,” I said. I worry about you when I don’t see you. I enjoy talking to you.”

Picking up her bags, Maudy Whitt was ready to go. “ That’s mighty good to hear.  Somebody in the world worrying bout me.  Thank you for the soda water. It hit the spot. I enjoyed talking to you. You learn to live and stop worrying. Don't be no tree. I know you heard this before, but ain’t nothing coming to a dreamer but a dream you might not want.”

“You’re right, Miss Maudy.  That’s something to think about. You be careful and take care of yourself. Who knows what might happen in  the future."

“You got to make your own future. That’s the only way I’ll live a long time. And I intend to be around for a long time!”

I hugged her. She looked startled. “I don’t get too many hugs,” she said, smiling.

“Good. That means my hug is special.” Still smiling, she walked toward downtown, where I first met her. Miss Maudy Whitt was a rose, but she wasn’t looking for perfection.

Where is the birth certificate, Obama? Or who let the birthers out of the insane asylum?

Yesterday I called the Texas Department of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics in Austin, Texas to ask if an individual is given his/her original birth certificate upon request. My curiosity was peeked when I read that Republican Rep. Judy Burges of Arizona is trying to get a birthers bill passed. The preliminary vote was 31-22. The bill will have to undergo a formal vote before it goes to the Senate. Florida and Oklahoma pulled this prank and met with complete failure.

Arizona legislatures want all future presidential candidates to produce birth certificates if they want to be on the ballot. You do not have to be a political mastermind to know this is about President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, and his right to be president. Tea Party nitwits, fruitcake politicians and copycat pundits are encouraging these legislators to conduct themselves like ill-informed yokels. They refuse to accept the President's birth certificate that's posted online.

I never saw or read about this kind of brouhaha regarding the birth places of other presidents. No White man running for president has ever showed his birth certificate or proof of his citizenship. If it happened I must have been in a Rip Van Winkle type sleep.

If presidential candidate Hillary Clinton did not uncover evidence that Barack Obama is not an American born citizens–then there is no campaign scandal waiting to be discovered. Clinton and her campaign looked under every rock, every bed, opened every closet. They did a more than thorough job. I am sure John McCain conducted the same kind of search.

I think this pending Arizona Birthers Bill is silly. It is a waste of valuable time. But then, Republicans are good at wasting time. I have to look at my calendar to remind myself that this is 2010, not 1810. In 1946 the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics designed a form for all states to utilize when recording a birth; however, states were not obligated to use it. Each state was free to design its own form.

Birth certificates are titled (a) Certificate of Birth; (b) Certificate of Live Birth or (c) Certificate of Birth Registration. I have my Certificate of Birth. Not the original, a copy. I could not get the original even if I went to court, demanding that Texas not deny me the original certificate. Is it not my right to have the original certificate if I want it? Allow me to answer my own question: A resounding No! I do not have a right to the original. If I lose my photocopied copy, I can always get another copy. If I had the original, and misplaced it, how would I make a copy? Life as I know it would complicated. When a state agency asks to see proof of my age, place of birth, if I am a citizen of the U.S., where is my proof? Word of mouth from friends and relatives won't cut it. I couldn't say: "Trust me. I am an American born citizen. I was born  . . ."

Before states were required to record births no official records were kept prior to 1914. If you have researched your family genealogy, you will likely discover that many of your ancestors' birth dates were not officially recorded. Where your ancestors were born, dates of their births and their ages becomes a guessing game. Not having this vital information complicates your search. So it makes sense that original birth certificates are not issued to individuals but remain in the files of state registrars.

To state it simply--the original birth certificate is the only tangible proof of where you were born, the hospital, the doctor, your parents, the time, family address, occupation of parents, their ages, mother’s maiden name (if married) and the state seal affixed on the certificate. Years ago in Austin a baby's birth was announced in the daily newspaper if the couple was married; the same as President Obama’s birth announcement. Parents cannot stage these announcements decades in advance, foreseeing their adult son or daughter might run president of the U.S.

An employee at Vital Statics told me that no one gets original records of any kind. The State of Texas is in charge of those records, but upon request the individual, or an authorized individual can obtain a copy of a birth certificate, marriage license, etc. She explained the kinds of paper the copy is printed on, which has the Texas seal. She said she could not speak for other states, but she was sure no one has ever been given an original birth certificate.

All this birthers trash talking is about an African American holding the highest office in the  United States. His victory was not supposed to happen. Only White males win the presidency in America. That is this country’s history, the reason Southern birthers are going insane. Needless to say, their propagandizing, hate talk and shrill punditry began long before the 2008 election. Baseless accusations against candidate Obama has always been wildly out of control. As of 2010, the lies have gotten bigger.

But, and that is a big hypothetical but, if muckrakers can prove Obama’s presidency is illegitimate due the birth question, that will assure the ankle kickers that their suspicions are justified. The next step will be to erase everything President Obama has done since he has been in office. That proof will be reason to dismantle all legislation with his signature on it. No repeal. Just nullify.

Obama antagonist want an excuse to delete the election and his presidency. That is what they are aiming for with blessings from the media. If this were to occur--the deletion of Obama's presidency--the unfolding event would be a hallelujah moment for the Kool-Aid drinkers. Alas, they will find their lost freedom (that was never left). A battered, disregarded Constitution will find new life.

Citizens who are not getting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or VA checks can hang onto their right not to purchase big government medical insurance. No more socialistic "Obamacare" and apologizing for America’s sins. Older citizens will be safe from government death panels and fatal pills. Health care law suits will vanish like a Houdini illusion. White presidential candidates won’t have to produce birth certificates. America will be true America again with the socialist black guy run out of office. Everything will return to "normal" when the next white guy is elected president. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be in America? You betcha!

From wearing a swin suit in Hawaii to a dressed up president in Washington

Dressed up in his swimsuit, a smile on his face, here stands the future 

president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama.

 

Born August 4, 1961, in Hawaii, presidential candidate Barack Obama won the 2008 election over his Republican opponent John McCain. He is the first African American to be elected president in the history of the United States. 

The announcement of Obama’s victory awakened a mountainside of emotions all over the world. His inauguration and swearing in  ceremony occurred January 20, 2009, on the steps of the Capital, at 12 noon. He is the 44^th president. Thousands upon thousands of spectators watched the historical event in chilling cold weather in Washington, DC. Millions watched while sitting in the warmth of their homes.

Supreme Court Justice John G. Roberts administered the oath to Obama. Judge Roberts was either asleep at the wheel, or had a sudden brain freeze when he instructed Barack Obama to repeat the ceremonial words after him. Judge Roberts stumbled. Obama did as he was instructed. Criticism was immediate.

Taking oath a second time in White House

I watched the same swearing in ceremony as the rest of the world, but the media and the know-all gum bumpers (pundit) put their own spin on what happened. It was Obama who stumbled not Roberts they tooted.  

Roberts prompted: " . . . That I will execute the Office of President to the United States faithfully." Obama stopped at "execute" and waited for Roberts to correct himself. Roberts, after a false start, then followed Obama's "execute" with "faithfully", which resulted in "execute faithfully", also incorrect. Obama then repeated Roberts' initial, incorrect prompt, with the word "faithfully" after "United States."

Pres. Barack Obama

Obama, who taught Constitutional Law for 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School, had a puzzled look on his face as he repeated Robert’s confused words. The next day the newly minted president repeated the oath in a private ceremony January 21 in the White House. 

Once again, Roberts administered the oath. Correctly.  Good thing he did. The media hurriedly declared that Obama was “unofficial" as president because he flubbed the swearing in. The media could not accept that Judge Robert bungled the swearing in. Obama’s presidency began with Roberts screwing up, and a media seriously trying to create controversy.

Below is legislation the President signed into law immediately.

• January 29, 2009 President Barack Obama, signed his first piece of legislation: "The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act" of 2009. The bill eased the statue of limitation for equal pay lawsuits.

• February 3 President Obama signed the "Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIP)", increasing the number of children on CHIP from seven million to 11 million.

• February 17, 2009, in Denver, Colorado, the President signed into law the $787 billion "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" (ARRA). The bill was passed by the House and Senate, but mostly passed along party lines. No Republicans in the House voted for it. However, many House Republicans took credit when their states received funds. They took photos at groundbreaking ceremonies, displaying large checks with the amount their states received.  On TV they continually downgraded the financial helpfulness of ARRA.

• March 2009 President Obama reversed a Bush-era policy which limited funding of embryonic stem cell research. He pledged to develop strict guidelines on the research. Bush’s religion was instrumental in his decision.

• May 26, 2009, President Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his Presidency. Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by Obama to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter. She was confirmed on August 6, 2009, becoming the first Hispanic to as a Supreme Court Justice.

• 2009 President Obama turned around U.S. Auto Industry. His advisers didn’t have the faith and confidence he had that industry could rebound. Obama went with his intuition and invested $62 billion in federal money, in addition to the $13.4 billion the Bush administration had previously invested in GM and Chrysler, in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring.  Whereas Bush placed no other conditions on the funds, Barack Obama put strict guidelines and demands on the borrowers. Pop goes the weasel, the auto industry created a workable plan, and followed through on it. The auto industry added more than 100,000 jobs. By 2011 the industry gained their market share for the first time in two decades.

• March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the "Affordable Care Act" into law, putting in place comprehensive reforms that improve access to affordable health coverage for everyone and protect consumers from abusive insurance company practices. The law allows all Americans to make health insurance choices that work for them while guaranteeing access to care for our most vulnerable and provides new ways to bring down costs and improve quality of care.

• May 10, 2010 Elena Kagan was nominated by the President to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens. She was confirmed on August 5, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three, for the first time in American history.

• 2010 the President signed the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act". It is designed to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The legislation tightens the screws on capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions. Derivatives are required to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide living wills to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limit their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to put a choke hold on abusive lending products and companies. The Chase Bank scandal is good reason for the reform.

• 2010 President Obama tightened the noose around the neck of Iran, locking done on sanctions. The idea is to deter Iran’s goal to engage in the construction a nuclear weapon. He, along with a number of other countries, signed "The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act" of 2010. This act punishes firms and individual businesspeople willing to aid Iran via purchasing petroleum from the country.

• March 2011 was the year Muammar Gaddafi was sniffed out by angry Libyan rebels with a cause. The U.S. joined a coalition of European and Arab governments to execute military action, that included air strikes and naval blockade. Gaddafi was on the run, but he was finally cornered and shot to death by Libyans. That ended Gaddafi’s 42-year reign of terror and dictatorship. After eight months of bombing and on the ground fighting by Libyan rebels and citizens, Gaddafi was killed October 20, 2011. Not one American died.

• May 1, 2011, terrorist Osama bin Laden met his waterloo on this date due to a successful plan to take him out. Skilled Navy SEALS executed the plan without incidence. The SEALS raided bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the architect of 9/11 was shot to death. A treasure trove of documents was found and taken by the SEALS. The night before the killing of bin Laden, President Obama was telling jokes and being funny at the annual Correspondent Dinner. He told the world the next day that the #1 terrorist had been taken out. Though his advisers wanted the President to go the easier route–bombing the compound–he went the riskier route. He didn’t want bin Laden blown to smithereens, making it impossible to identify his body. The President’s hunch was correct. It was a brave call. Had it gone wrong the media would have destroyed his political career. As it stands, they are trying to destroy him anyway.

• June 2011 the President issued the order to initiate troop withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan, bringing home 101,000 troops. That reduced U.S. troops to 91,000, with 23,000 scheduled to head back to the U.S. by the end of summer in 2012. The mission is expected to end by 2014.  

• 2011, because President Obama understands the importance of a complete education in order to compete on a global scale, he initiated "Race to the Top". It is a federal program that provides grant money to improve and encourage interests in math and science. Schools had to follow three guidelines to apply for a share of allocated $4.35 billion.

All of the accomplishments that President Obama and his administration have achieved in three-in-a-half years are too numerous to list. That is why I am puzzled when presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Republicans, and Obama haters say he has no record to run on.  They claim he has achieved nothing since he became president. They refuse to acknowledge that he  out achieved Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and George Bush during this time period in their presidency.

Barack Obama (r), half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, mother Ann Durham, grandfather Stanley Durham. Photo taken in Hawaii.