We can change

We have changed.

"Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America."

-- Barack Obama Presidential Announcement Speech in Springfield, IL
February 10 ,2007

The Obama-Biden Technology Plan
change.gov

Barack Obama and Joe Biden understand the immense transformative power of technology and innovation and how they can improve the lives of Americans. They will work to ensure the full and free exchange of information through an open Internet and use technology to create a more transparent and connected democracy. They will encourage the deployment of modern communications infrastructure to improve America's competitiveness and employ technology to solve our nation's most pressing problems -- including improving clean energy, healthcare costs, and public safety.

Ensure the Full and Free Exchange of Ideas through an Open Internet and Diverse Media Outlets

• Protect the Openness of the Internet: Support the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet.
• Encourage Diversity in Media Ownership: Encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum.
• Protect Our Children While Preserving the First Amendment: Give parents the tools and information they need to control what their children see on television and the Internet in ways fully consistent with the First Amendment. Support tough penalties, increase enforcement resources and forensic tools for law enforcement, and encourage collaboration between law enforcement and the private sector to identify and prosecute people who try to exploit children online.
• Safeguard our Right to Privacy: Strengthen privacy protections for the digital age and harness the power of technology to hold government and business accountable for violations of personal privacy.

Create a Transparent and Connected Democracy

• Open Up Government to its Citizens: Use cutting-edge technologies to create a new level of transparency, accountability, and participation for America's citizens.
• Bring Government into the 21st Century: Use technology to reform government and improve the exchange of information between the federal government and citizens while ensuring the security of our networks. Appoint the nation's first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure the safety of our networks and lead an interagency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices.

Deploy a Modern Communications Infrastructure

Deploy Next-Generation Broadband: Work towards true broadband in every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation's wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives. America should lead the world in broadband penetration and Internet access.

Improve America's Competitiveness

• Promote American Businesses Abroad: Support a trade policy that ensures our goods and services are treated fairly in foreign markets. Fight for fair treatment of our companies abroad.
• Invest in the Sciences: Double federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government to one that embraces science and technology.
• Invest in University-Based Research: Expand research initiatives at American colleges and universities. Provide new research grants to the most outstanding early-career researchers in the country.
• Make the R&D Tax Credit Permanent: Invest in a skilled research and development workforce and technology infrastructure. Make the Research and Development tax credit permanent so that firms can rely on it when making decisions to invest in domestic R&D over multi-year timeframes.
• Ensure Competitive Markets: Foster a business and regulatory landscape in which entrepreneurs and small businesses can thrive, start-ups can launch, and all enterprises can compete effectively while investors and consumers are protected against bad actors that cross the line. Reinvigorate antitrust enforcement to ensure that capitalism works for consumers.
• Protect American Intellectual Property Abroad: Work to ensure intellectual property is protected in foreign markets, and promote greater cooperation on international standards that allow our technologies to compete everywhere.
• Protect American Intellectual Property at Home: Update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation, and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated.
• Reform the Patent System: Ensure that our patent laws protect legitimate rights while not stifling innovation and collaboration. Give the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) the resources to improve patent quality and open up the patent process to citizen review to help foster an environment that encourages innovation. Reduce uncertainty and wasteful litigation that is currently a significant drag on innovation.
• Restore Scientific Integrity to the White House: Restore the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best-available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on ideological predispositions.

Prepare All our Children for the 21st Century Economy

• Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. Work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.
• Improve and Prioritize Science Assessments: Work with governors and educators to ensure that state assessments measure higher order thinking skills including inference, logic and data analysis, not just rote memorization of facts.
• Address the Dropout Crisis: Provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school -- strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time.
• Pinpoint College Aid for Math and Science Students: Launch an online database to give potential future scientists access to information about financial aid opportunities available in science and technology fields through the federal government and public or private resources.
• Increase Science and Math Graduates: Improve science and math education in K through 12 to prepare more students for these studies in college. Work to increase our number of science and engineering graduates and encourage undergraduates studying math and science to pursue graduate studies. Increase the representation of minorities and women in the science and technology pipeline, tapping the diversity of America to meet the increasing demand for a skilled workforce.

Prepare Adults for a Changing Economy

• Lifelong Retraining: Reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, and increase resources for community colleges and lifelong learning initiatives to ensure our citizens can continue to gain new skills throughout their lifetimes. Modernize and expand the existing system of trade adjustment assistance to include service sector workers hurt by changing trade patterns. Create flexible education accounts that workers can use to retrain.
• Build a Reliable Safety Net: Through their proposals on portable health care and retirement savings accounts and expanding unemployment insurance, Obama and Biden will work for programs that will help Americans facing job transitions in a fierce global economy.

Employ Science, Technology and Innovation to Solve Our Nation's Most Pressing Problems

21st-century technology and telecommunications have flattened communications and labor markets and have contributed to a period of unprecedented innovation, making us more productive, connected global citizens. By maximizing the power of technology, we can strengthen the quality and affordability of our health care, advance climate-friendly energy development and deployment, improve education throughout the country, and ensure that America remains the world's leader in technology. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will:

• Lower Health Care Costs by Investing in Electronic Information Technology Systems: Use health information technology to lower the cost of health care. Invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records.
• Invest in Climate-Friendly Energy Development and Deployment: Invest $150 billion over the next ten years to enable American engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid. This investment will transform the economy and create 5 million new jobs.
• Modernize Public Safety Networks: Spur the development and deployment of new technologies to promote interoperability, broadband access, and more effective communications among first responders and emergency response systems.
• Advance the Biomedical Research Field: Support investments in biomedical research, as well as medical education and training in health-related fields. Fund biomedical research, and make it more efficient by improving coordination both within government and across government/private/non-profit partnerships.
• Advance Stem Cell Research: Support increased stem cell research. Allow greater federal government funding on a wider array of stem cell lines.

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama Labor, Transportation, USTR, SBA Announcements

Congresswoman Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor

Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk as United States Trade Representative. Karen Mills as Administrator of the Small Business Administration

former Congressman Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation

___________________________________________________________

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama
Labor, Transportation, USTR, SBA Announcements
Friday, December 19, 2008
Chicago, Illinois

Good afternoon.

Before we begin, I’d like to say a few words about the necessary step taken today to help avoid a collapse in our auto industry that would have devastating consequences for our economy and our workers. With the short-term assistance provided by this package, the auto companies must bring all their stakeholders together – including labor, dealers, creditors and suppliers – to make the hard choices necessary to achieve long-term viability. The auto companies must not squander this chance to reform bad management practices and begin the long-term restructuring that is absolutely necessary to save this critical industry and the millions of American jobs that depend on it, while also creating the fuel-efficient cars of the future.

Whenever I have been asked how I measure the strength of the American economy, my answer is simple: jobs and wages. I know we will be headed in the right direction again when we are creating jobs, instead of losing them, and when Americans are gaining ground in terms of their incomes, instead of treading water or falling behind. In recent weeks, I’ve announced members of my economic team who will help us make progress in these areas.

Today, I’m announcing several other appointees who will play an integral role in our efforts to turn our economy around: Congresswoman Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor; former Congressman Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation; Karen Mills as Administrator of the Small Business Administration; and Mayor Ron Kirk as United States Trade Representative.

Together with the appointees I’ve already announced, these leaders will help craft a 21st Century Economic Recovery Plan, with the goal of creating two and a half million new jobs and strengthening our economy for the future.

If jobs and incomes are our yardsticks, then the success of the American worker is key to the success of the American economy. For the past eight years, the Department of Labor has not lived up to its role either as an advocate for hardworking families or as an arbiter of fairness in relations between labor and management. That will change when Hilda Solis is Secretary of Labor. Under her leadership, I am confident that the Department of Labor will once again stand up for working families.

Hilda has always been an advocate for everyday people. When she received an award several years ago, she said, “Fighting for what is just is not always popular, but it is necessary.” And that is exactly what she has done throughout her career, blazing new trails every step of the way. Whether it’s creating green jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced or expanding access to affordable health care or raising the minimum wage in California, Hilda has been a champion of our middle class. And I know that Hilda will show the same kind of leadership as Secretary of Labor that she showed in California and on the Education and Labor Committee by protecting workers’ rights – from organizing to collective bargaining, from keeping our workplaces safe to making our unions strong.

Standing up for our workers means putting them back to work and fueling economic growth. Our economy boomed in the 20th Century when President Eisenhower remade the American landscape by building the interstate highway system. Now we need to remake our transportation system for the 21st Century. Doing so will not only help us meet our energy challenge by building more efficient cars, buses, and subways or make Americans safer by rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges – it will create millions of new jobs in the process.

Few understand our infrastructure challenge better than the outstanding public servant I am asking to lead the Department of Transportation – Ray LaHood. As a Congressman from Illinois, Ray served six years on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, leading efforts to modernize our aviation system by renewing our aging airports and ensuring that air traffic controllers were using cutting edge technology. Throughout his career, Ray has fought to improve mass transit and invest in our highways. But he has not only helped rebuild our landscape, he has helped beautify it by creating opportunities for bikers and runners to enjoy our great outdoors. When I began this appointment process, I said I was committed to finding the best person for the job, regardless of party. Ray’s appointment reflects that bipartisan spirit – a spirit we need to reclaim in this country to make progress for the American people.

To strengthen our economy, we must also strengthen the small businesses that are its backbone. I can think of no one better to lead this effort as Administrator of the Small Business Administration than Karen Mills. With Karen at the helm, America’s small businesses will have a partner in Washington, helping them create jobs and spur growth in communities across this country. A venture capitalist who invests in small businesses, Karen understands the challenges faced by both small business owners and the workers they employ. With a background in the private sector and experience helping Maine’s governor promote growth across the state, I am confident that Karen will lead an SBA that will not only help small business owners realize their dreams, but help our nation rebuild our economy.

We also know that the success of American businesses, small and large, depends on their ability to sell their products across the globe. That is why we must engage in strong, robust trade and open doors for American products. In our global economy, we must compete and win if we are going to strengthen our middle class and forge bonds with other nations that can contribute to peace and stability around the world. But I also believe that any trade agreement we sign must be written not just with the interests of big corporations in mind, but with the interests of our whole nation and our workers at heart.

Ron Kirk understands this better than just about anyone. As Mayor of Dallas, Ron helped steer one of the world’s largest economies. He has seen the promise of trade, but also its pitfalls. And he knows there is nothing inconsistent about standing up for free trade and standing up for American workers. During his tenure as Mayor, Ron brought different groups together to create jobs, invest in the community, and spur economic growth. As a leader, negotiator, and principled proponent of trade, Ron will help make sure that any agreements I sign as President protect the rights of all workers, promote the interests of all Americans, and preserve the planet we all share.

With these outstanding appointees, I have filled out our economic team, and done so at an earlier point than any President in history, because we face challenges unlike any we have faced in generations.

Daunting as the challenges we are inheriting may be, I’m convinced that our team and the American people are prepared to meet them. It will take longer than any of us would like – years, and not months. It will get worse before it gets better. But it will get better – if we’re willing to act boldly and swiftly. And that is what we will do when I am President of the United States.

100 years of Taxes - 1909 to 2009: The Peoples Open Source Tax Code at Work 2009 through 2109, an open source development proposal for Cincinnati.

Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

– Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist

Cincinnati Change plans to create a financial instrument capable of financing a revolutionary health care prototype infrastructure for Ohio, based on established technology. It will be capable of supporting people nationwide with best practice health care and open source economic development tied to a comprehensive housing program that Erases the Digital Divide by embedding technology into homes that reduces their long term operating cost and improve the lives of residents.

We are a government of citizens in the midst of historic change. Over the next 4 years, the 44th president will be able to set policy for the next 100 years, like another President did, 100 years ago.

In Cincinnati, we will raise funds to create the vehicle to buy 20,000 troubled and/or foreclosed mortgages in Southern Ohio as part of our solution to erase the Development Divide. This will be done in conjunction with property owned by investors who are willing to work with Cincinnati Change and its partners, negotiating the restructuring existing debt will have the option of exercising subscription rights to new debt.

We plan to issue new debt instruments that will be used to put people to work. We will use our open Web 2.0 study of the current tax code to maximize a program that puts people to work in Southern Ohio. We will concentrate principally in infrastructure with a focus on MSD [through 2029], health care, education, technology, energy and reconstruction in Southern Ohio through tax increment financing and other revisions to the tax code through Open Source Solutions to Erasing the Development Divide and American financial crisis.

Cincinnati Change will appeal to all levels of government and use in its application US government programs that can be executed by the public/private alliance Cincinnati Change is assembling.

To implement this, our attorneys will be required to develop, under OMB A-76 Authority, an order that will support export growth based on a 4 year plan to service people around the world starting with the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone with its 50,000 residents and 68,000 employees working for over 3,000 employers.

Our offerings will be centered around digital services in support of economic development, career support, social [L.I.S.W.] services, human [The NET Video] and health care [OneCommunity] that supports a super set of International Standards Organization [ISO] 26000.

This Cincinnati Change Chairwoman, Wanda J Lloyd Daniels, will work with Unions while the AEC/GM team will be led by Fred Hargrove Sr. PE, MBA [who is also a licensed master plumber] and the contracted HUD and Tax Code programs will be directed Dr. Robert Day.

The workshop will be presented at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Site) from 12 to 4 on this Thursday and Friday, Dec.11th and 12th, 2008.

In war you can be killed only once. In politics, many times.

Said Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD FRS PC PC

Veterans Day 2008

One week after winning the presidential election, President Elect Obama took a brief break from his primary tasks of mapping out his administration and monitoring the economic crisis to mark Veterans Day at the bronze soldiers memorial between the Field Museum and Soldier Field in Chicago.

The Illinois Senator, who will inherit battles in Iraq and Afghanistan from President Bush, was accompanied by Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost her legs in combat. She is the Illinois governor's veterans affairs director and would make a great national Veterans Affairs Director

On a brisk autumn day, Obama moved a pre-positioned wreath a few feet closer to the front of the memorial that bore the phrase "dedicated to the defenders of our liberty." He and Duckworth bowed their heads briefly and then each saluted.

"Let us rededicate ourselves to keep a sacred trust with all who have worn the uniform of the United States of America: that America will serve you as well as you have served your country," Obama said in a statement. "As your next commander in chief, I promise to work every single day to keep that sacred trust with all who have served."

In his statement Obama praised "the extraordinary service and selfless sacrifice of our nation's veterans" who have "defended the American people and stood up for American values."

"Since 9/11, a new generation of American heroes has borne a heavy load in facing down the threats of the 21st century, and their families have been asked to bear the painful absence of a loved one. These Americans are the best and bravest among us, and they are all in our thoughts and prayers," he added.

May he prove worthy of the office as Commander in Chief tasked to him by the American people.

The 44th President of the United States of America and his wife.

Senator Obama, the President Elect, will in January 2009 be the 44th President of the United States said in winning the office, “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer”. Senator Obama was standing in front of a wood lectern on a huge wooden lectern, casting his eyes against a crowd that stretched far into the night.

“It’s been a long time coming. But tonight, because of what we did on this date, in this election, change has come to America.”

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama—as prepared for delivery
Election Night
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Chicago, Illinois

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation’s next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House. And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics – you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to – it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington – it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn’t do this just to win an election and I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor’s bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers – in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing – Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

We will plan to act on the six “principles” Senator Obama has outlined suggesting a more comprehensive infrastructure overhaul of the financial markets. In the past he has suggested that his administration would regulate investment banks, mortgage brokers and hedge funds much as commercial banks are. And he would streamline the overlapping regulatory agencies and create a commission to monitor threats to the financial system and report to the White House and Congress.

Weiji [Crisis] Management

Weiji, is probably best translated as "dangerous moment", a pretty good definition of "crisis".
We shall under the leadership of our consultant team take the essence of crisis management from the Chinese word Crisis. It is born of their age old wisdom came to recognize that even at the level that the idea that a crisis is nothing more than a difficult, precarious opening, a chance to take a risk.

VOTE IN OHIO NOW

Register NOW to Vote in Ohio NOW to Oct. 6, 2008

HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS
824 Broadway; 2nd Floor
Cincinnati
Mon--Fri: 8am- 4pm
Sat: 8am- noon
Mon., Oct 6: 8am-9pm

$700 Billion Bailout- "Warning Label"

$700 Billion Bailout- "Pomp & Circumstance"

NCRC Testifies Before Senate Subcommittee

NCRC Executive Vice President, David Berenbaum

NCRC Training Academy---Lloyd London

NCRC House Testimony Wrapup

Jim Carr- CNN's Lou Dobbs- 1/29/08

John Taylor- CNBC's Power Lunch- 9/11/07

Senator Clinton's Remarks on Subprime Lending to the NCRC

John Taylor- CNN's Glenn Beck- 6/25/08

Cincinnati Change's Universal Access Program

Cincinnati Change, an Ohio not for profit company established in 1998, believes that one of the prime causes of crime is poverty and that we can change the conditions from which crime takes root in Southern Ohio is creating with McGraw Daniels, LLC (MDi) as its minority partner and contractor.

Cincinnati Change, through MDi, is creating collaborative small business development program that uses universal broadband internet to address poverty through building technology into homes using a motivational support skill-set-training job creation initiative .

It is Cincinnati Change’s mission to change the conditions in which children live so that they can grow up and become productive adults in a nurturing and supportive community environment where they have equal access to the global digital world.

We plan of developing a county wide network using foreclosed and troubled homes as network access points in their reworked loans.

Erase the Digital Divide (Universal Access Broadband) National Policy

The United States currently has no national broadband policy to offer every American access to affordable high-speed Internet connections. "Broadband will soon be an indispensable communication technology affecting the way we learn, the way we work, and the way we communicate," stated Charles Benton, chairman and CEO of the Benton Foundation. "However, at the dawn of this Digital Age, those who could benefit the most from this economically empowering technology are also those most likely to be left without access because of where they live or how much money they make." Roughly half of the country's households still lack broadband connections, and the United States continues to fall further behind with less than 79 million home out of the 120 million homes in the United States (US Census Data) connected to a broadband network. We will demonstrate for the next President a solution in Hamilton County that Eases the Digital Divide.

Cincinnati Change intends to partner to leverage financial instruments in Southern Ohio with Federal, State and local public funding and private capital building in Cincinnati under the Community Reinvestment Act. Cincinnati Change will use MDi and its partner OneCommunity to combine technology company investment and gifts together in support of Greater Cincinnati’s underserved communities while fostering best of class public service technology for all of Cincinnati’s residents. This technology can then be used on a day to day basis as a service bureau for other governmental agencies who can act as revenue anticipation stakeholders thereby reducing their capital expediters.

The business model we will utilized to foster the ability to acquire and/or repair existing buildings that will house technologies supporting the Cincinnati Change Universal Access Program, which will adopt the MDi & OneCommunity Universal Access Program for implementation in Southern Ohio. Under Cincinnati Change, each house in the City of Cincinnati will have fiber installed and a wireless network access point connected to an open source server and sensor package.

Cincinnati Change which has been a member of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) who since its inception in 1990 has spearheaded the economic justice movement. NCRC is the nation’s trade association for economic justice. Cincinnati Change has been a member since 2000. We have and will continue to draw on the expertise and experience of the board members and staff of NCRC in developing Cincinnati Change’s plans. Through NCRC, Cincinnati Change is associated with more than 600 community-based institutions (including public sector agencies and elected officials) that promote access to basic banking services, including credit and savings. Cincinnati Change’s goal, like NCRC’s, is to create and sustain affordable housing, job development and vibrant communities for America's working families.

NCRC’s mission dovetails with Cincinnati Change’s in building wealth in traditionally underserved communities in Greater Cincinnati and bringing low and or moderate-income people in Southern Ohio into the new financial mainstream being shaped daily. NCRC members have constituents in every state in both rural and urban areas. The organization has held ongoing meetings with major financial institutions and, on 9/21/08, with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve System Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve System’s Offices in Washington DC in regards to the current financial crisis.

Cincinnati Change believes that declining assets in the form of foreclosures are dragging down the economy Continued shortsighted attempts to provide liquidity to financial institutions will not resolve the issue unless Americans have equal relief.

Like Cincinnati Change, the Board of Directors of NCRC believe that before acting to shore up Wall Street, the government should first provide assistance to homeowners to avoid foreclosure, the core problem rocking the financial system, and then act to help Wall Street out of its current crisis.

Cincinnati Change is creating collaborative motivational support skill-set-training job creation initiative and small business development program to address poverty through remodeling and rebuilding 20,000 homes in Hamilton County. It is Cincinnati Change’s mission to change the conditions in which children live so that they can grow up and become productive adults in a nurturing and supportive community environment where they have equal access to the global digital world through this program. Cincinnati Change for operations will be carried out through a regional public private partnership called Lloyd Daniels Hargrove and Company which will supply the region with the following ongoing services:

(1) total knowledge management of audio recordings, video programs, game consoles & computer based games, digital entertainment and other knowledge products;

(2) internet services including mobile broadband while operating for southern Ohio a significant Intranet connected to over 1,000 public sector agencies and not for profit organizations;

(3) creation of audio, video, broadcast, communications & computing technology resale operation to be the supplier of services, sales and support for installation of technology into buildings,

(4) creation of a distance learning network that improves the overall economy of Ohio that has built into it collaborative motivational support skill-set-training and job creation programs that use technology to increase their usefulness to the user and cost effectiveness to the underwriter;

(5) creation of network operating centers (NOC) in Cincinnati, Portsmouth and Dayton that support a wireless broadband network cloud that will pass by 2 million Ohioans and 200,000 employers.

(6) operation of regulated domestic and global mobile virtual networks and unregulated wireless services that support a mobile network for public safety personnel, first responders, increased homeland security, improved eHealth and providing a mobile network for public personnel;

(7) fiber to the edge networks for sites in southern Ohio with an emphasis on health care provides and patients in need of remote telemetry for home health care;

(8) developing broadband wireless network access points built into buildings in southern Ohio;

(9) erasing the digital divide for those in need in southern Ohio on a means tested basis, and;.

(10) having a core competency in consulting and next generation Power Distribution, Communications and Computing Technology with an emphasis as a Architect, Engineering and Construction Management of health care facilities.

Either Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama will be President......and do what?

Joint Statement Of Senator John McCain And Senator Barack Obama

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, September 24, 2008 U.S. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama issued the following statement:

"The American people are facing a moment of economic crisis. No matter how this began, we all have a responsibility to work through it and restore confidence in our economy. The jobs, savings, and prosperity of the American people are at stake.

"Now is a time to come together -- Democrats and Republicans -- in a spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people. The plan that has been submitted to Congress by the Bush Administration is flawed, but the effort to protect the American economy must not fail.

"This is a time to rise above politics for the good of the country. We cannot risk an economic catastrophe. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country."

_______________________________________________________________________________

Okay Gentlemen, its on in the Nati, then the state of Ohio and we have less than 30 days to do it. We believe that if you can do it here, you can do it anywhere in the United States of America. We will take the point in developing a statewide plan to meet the needs of 200,000 Ohio households affected by foreclosure and financial ruin because of this crisis.

Cincinnati Change is going to ask on Monday both Senator McCain's and Obama's staff help us craft a solution that is as faith to main street as wall street.

Senators you are members of a exclusive club, show us your stuff and we say: Put America's Families First!!!

The Change is ON; who will be the Change Agent?

In this time of economic crisis, Senator Barack approached John McCain to suggest a joint statement of principles to guide a recovery plan. Senator McCain then announced he would suspend his campaign and requested a postponement of Friday’s debate.

We call on both camps to get the American public the best multi-year multi-trillion dollar deal for the public.

Like Cincinnati Change, the Board of Directors of NCRC believe that before acting to shore up Wall Street, the government should first provide assistance to homeowners to avoid foreclosure, the core problem rocking the financial system, and then act to help Wall Street out of its current crisis.

Our Call is to Change Cincinnati NOW

The Power is Back, and the President is in a another trillion dollar deal.

In this climate we are proceeding with our plans to Change Cincinnati NOW by:

(1) Creating a third frontier creative class southern Ohio health care infrastructure.

(2) Creating a Real Estate Investment Trust and managing 20,000 remodeled and or rebuilt homes that are made able to be qualified for designation as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design homes that are environmentally safe and smart.

(3) Wiring up 2 million Ohioans into a means tested broadband wireless network.

(4) Providing for the Public Safety by reducing crime through reducing poverty.

(5) Creating a C6ISR Global Network Operations Center in Cincinnati.

Facts: Stock markets around the world have endured a roller-coaster week as traders and investors fretted about the fall-out from the current credit crisis that the National Community Reinvestment Coalition has been talking about for years.

President Bush said swift, politically bipartisan action was needed to keep the US economy from grinding to a halt as problems sparked by the credit crisis had begun to spread through the entire financial system - leaving jobs, pensions and companies under threat.

"These are risks the US cannot afford to take. We must act now to protect economic health from serious risk," he added.

The US is facing "unprecedented challenges and we're responding with unprecedented action", he said.

Okay we are ready for that.

We stand ready to help create a Special Purpose Vehicle for Ohio with a pool of 200,000 homes; 20,000 managed from the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone.

On Monday September 22 2008 Cincinnati Change as member of NCRC will call on the organization to help us assemble it as a national demonstration project. It will start in Cincinnati with MDi and with the owners of the Federal Reserve.

Sept 11th 2001 - Revisited

We honor Sept. 11th 2001 this year by declaring our willingness to protecting our neighbors in Ohio. Cincinnati Change has assembled a team of experienced professionals to engineer, develop, deploy, maintain and sell the Cincinnati Change Universal Access Program for the state of Ohio.

We have plans a four tiered mixed broadband network utilizing wired and wireless technologies in order to (1) make available and promote the assets within a community to encourage and enable all residents to participate effectively in the democratic process, form ties to local institutions and strengthen relationships with one another through a Social network is a mission of Cincinnati Change; (2) support business, government, and education within the community, (3) provide Internet access at competitive and discounted rates on a means tested basis through us and partners, and (4) a special focus of our civic engagement will be on continuity of government within the plans at the federal National Infrastructure Protection Plan, starting with greater Cincinnati. The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) is a document, called for by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7, which aims to unify Critical Infrastructure and Key Resource protection efforts across the country. We will follow the NIPP structure to create partnerships between local stakeholders and the residents of Cincinnati through secure direct connection fiber links to all households in the city.

Our Chairwoman met the man whose administration just got over 5 trillion dollars in assets over the weekend.

Current President of the United States and Cincinnati Change (Founding & Current) Chairwoman Ky. Col. Sister (IBEW) Wanda Daniels who is also founder of the Cincinnati Hamilton County Black Republican Forum and Lay Leader of Keys of the Kingdom UMC.

The President, another Methodist, just got administrative control of over 5 trillion dollars in Fannie and Freddie assets this weekend. Cincinnati Change is preparing a policy statement and implementation order based on Presidential Directives that support loans that last to 2050 to be made over the next two years to 200,000 Ohio households; starting with Cincinnati, Ohio.

Quote of the Day

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Are the Latest Casualties in the War on American Homes

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Are the Latest Casualties, But Not the Last, of Failure to Address Foreclosure Crisis

More financial institutions will fail if foreclosure crisis continues to be ignored.

Washington, DC - ­ The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) today said that the government¹s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was unavoidable as a direct result of the failure of Congress and the Administration to address the ongoing foreclosure crisis. Earlier intervention to stem the foreclosure crisis would have been a more efficient and equitable use of taxpayer dollars. In addition to avoiding the collapse of financial institutions, doing so would have allowed millions of working families to maintain their homes.

While the decision to avoid the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was critical to prevent potentially catastrophic consequences for the credit markets, doing so will not resolve the foreclosure crisis and its ongoing impact on the credit markets and the economy. The complexity and cost of shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ­ including putting the taxpayer at risk for hundreds of billions of dollars ­ will be far greater than would have been intervening to assist homeowners to stay in their homes.

While the intervention to rescue Fannie Mae and

Freddie Mac may temporarily help the credit markets,

the prospect for millions of additional foreclosure

leaves many more financial institutions vulnerable to

failure. The fact that continues to be ignored is that

financial institutions are failing because families are

losing their homes, said NCRC President & CEO John

Taylor.

Congress and the Administration should focus more attention on helping homeowners saddled with unfair and deceptive loan products.

In addition to failing to stem foreclosures, Congress and the Administration also have not enacted an anti-predatory lending law to ensure this debacle does not occur again.

Financial institutions had already acknowledged more than $470 billion dollars worth of losses even before the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, yet even these dramatic event shave not been sufficient to trigger legislation to protect the American public.

Reckless and irresponsible lending behavior is the cornerstone of the current market crisis,² said Taylor. He continued, If we¹re not dealing with the how we got here, then we¹ll surely get here again.

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Cincinnati Change is a member of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). NCRC is an association of more than 600 community-based organizations that promote access to basic banking services, including credit and savings, to create and sustain affordable housing, job development and vibrant communities for America's working families.

Quote of the Day

"Parents," Bertrand Russell observed, "tend to be fond of their children and do not want them made the objects of political schemes. The State cannot be expected to have the same attitude."

Morgan Stanley Hired Gun after the GSE's?

Henry Merritt "Hank" Paulson Jr. (born March 28, 1946) is the United States Treasury Secretary and member of the International Monetary Fund Board of Governors. He previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest and most successful investment banks.

To many Paulson distinguished himself from his two predecessors in the Bush administration by formally identifying the wide gap between the richest and poorest Americans as an issue on his list of the country's four major long-term economic issues to be addressed, highlighting the issue in one of his first public appearances as Secretary of Treasury.

He also helped to create the Hope Now Alliance to help struggling homeowners during the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis. The Hope Now Alliance is a cooperative effort between the US government, counselors, investors, and lenders to help homeowners who may not be able to pay their mortgages.

The main criticisms we have with the Alliance are based on the fact that it has not been effective at addressing the increasing problem of foreclosures in the United States, with recent figures indicating that the rate of foreclosures rising faster than the increase in homeowners helped.

WE ARE LOOKING AT 4 MILLION BAD LOANS THATS OVER 30 MILLION AFFECTED AMERICANS!!

It has also been noted that the majority of assistance provided by the Alliance has been to establish repayment plans, rather than actually modifying the terms of the mortgage. For this reason we support a modified National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) Homeowners Emergency Loan Program (or HELP Now) program for a million bad loans in 50 regions.

Fact: Today, as home prices decline and foreclosures mount, one of the big questions facing policymakers is what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which provide crucial funding for mortgage lenders.Together, they own or guarantee $5.3 trillion of mortgages and securities backed by mortgages out of a total market of a little over $12 trillion dollars.

Fannie Mae was first chartered by the U.S. government in 1938 to help ensure a reliable and affordable supply of mortage funds throughout the country. Today it is a shareholder-owned company that operates under a congressional charter. Like Freddie Mac, safety and soundness oversight is assigned to OFHEO and mission oversight is assigned to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 as a private company to likewise help ensure a reliable and affordable supply of mortgage funds throughout the country. Today is is a shareholder-owned company that operates under a congressional charter. Like Fannie Mae, safety and soundness oversight is assigned to OFHEO and mission oversight is assigned to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Background: Analysts at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs since mid-August have issued reports saying the companies had plenty of capital to operate for the near term, and both companies have successfully rolled over debt on schedule in the meantime.

However, the major credit rating companies since August 22 all cut their ratings on preferred stock of the two GSEs on expectations that the share price declines had cut access to capital, increasing the need for emergency financial support.

The companies never lost their access to capital markets where they raise money to support the U.S. housing market, but the biggest buyers of the debt have grown more cautious.

Foreign central banks reduced their holdings of "federal agency" debt in custody at the Federal Reserve in the past week for the seventh week in a row, suggesting a growing aversion to the debt.

Bush Administration Action: Friday, the Treasury said it was "making progress on our work" with Morgan Stanley, the Fed and the companies regulator the Federal Housing Finance Agency and headed by Director James B. Lockhart III . The Treasury had hired Morgan Stanley

on August 5 to advise it on whether the companies were adequately capitalized and help it determine how it would use its new powers to support them.

"These entities are so big and they're so tied into the housing market that it's probably true that we have to take steps to make sure they dont just collapse," Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said at a rally in Terre Haute, Indiana. "Because the housing market, which is already weakened, would be in even worse shape it we didn't take some steps."

Paulson called Obama on Friday night to brief the Democratic candidate and Obama discussed the situation on Saturday with his economic advisers, including former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, a campaign official said.

Separately, an economic adviser to Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain said Paulson had briefed McCain on the situation over the phone on Saturday morning.

The adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said the Arizona senator would support a short-term solution that would keep any trouble at the two companies from spreading further to financial markets. "Over the long haul he believes we should downsize and privatize them so that they're not a risk to the American taxpayer," he said.

Major Great Society Programs

1964-1974

This was a time period when America was changed lets make 2008 the start of a another great change.

War on Poverty: forty programs that were intended to eliminate poverty by improving living conditions and enabling people to lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty.

Education: sixty separate bills that provided for new and better-equipped classrooms, minority scholarships, and low-interest student loans.

Medicare & Medicaid: guaranteed health care to every American over sixty-five.

The Environment: introduced measures to reclaim our heritage of clean air and water.

National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities : created with the philosophy that artists, performers, and writers were a priceless part of our heritage and deserve support.

Job Corps: provided enabling skills for young men and women.

Head Start: program for four- and five-year-old children from disadvantaged families that gave them a chance to start school on an even basis with other youngsters.

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Representative sampling of the laws passed during the Johnson administration to promote the Great Society.


HIGHER EDUCATION FACILITIES ACT OF 1963 - DEC. 16, 1963

PREVENTION & ABATEMENT OF AIR POLLUTION (THE CLEAN AIR ACT) - DEC. 17, 1963

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ACT OF 1963 - DEC. 18, 1963

INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK ACT - JAN. 22,1964

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 - JULY 2, 1964

URBAN MASS TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 1964 - JULY 9, 1964

FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY ACT OF 1964 - AUG. 13, 1964

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT OF 1964 - AUG. 20, 1964

FOOD STAMP ACT OF 1964 - AUG. 31, 1964

WILDERNESS ACT - SEPT. 3, 1964

NATIONAL ARTS CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1964 - SEPT. 3, 1964

MANPOWER ACT OF 1965 - APRIL 26, 1965

OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1965 - JULY 14, 1965

SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENTS OF 1965 - JULY 30, 1965

VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 - AUG. 6, 1965

HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1965 - AUG. 10, 1965

PUBLIC WORKS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1965 - AUG. 26, 1965

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACT - SEPT. 9, 1965

NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS & THE HUMANITIES ACT OF 1965 - SEPT. 29, 1965

AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT - OCT. 2, 1965

AMENDMENT TO THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT - OCT. 3, 1965

HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965 - NOV. 8, 1965

CHILD NUTRITION ACT OF 1966 - OCT. 11, 1966

CHILD PROTECTION ACT OF 1966 - NOV. 3, 1966

NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT - MAY 8, 1968