President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 23, 2013 (Video/Transcript)

Weekly Address: Helping Protect Our Kids by Reducing Gun Violence

It has now been three months since the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut. Three months since we lost 20 innocent children and six dedicated adults who had so much left to give. Three months since we, as Americans, began asking ourselves if we’re really doing enough to protect our communities and keep our children safe.

For the families who lost a loved one on that terrible day, three months doesn’t even begin to ease the pain they’re feeling right now. It doesn’t come close to mending the wounds that may never fully heal.

But as a nation, the last three months have changed us. They’ve forced us to answer some difficult questions about what we can do – what we must do – to prevent the kinds of massacres we’ve seen in Newtown and Aurora and Oak Creek, as well as the everyday tragedies that happen far too often in big cities and small towns all across America.

Today there is still genuine disagreement among well-meaning people about what steps we should take to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in this country. But you – the American people – have spoken. You’ve made it clear that it’s time to do something. And over the last few weeks, Senators here in Washington have listened and taken some big steps forward.

Two weeks ago, the Senate advanced a bill that would make it harder for criminals and people with a severe mental illness from getting their hands on a gun – an idea supported by nine out of ten Americans, including a majority of gun owners.

The Senate also made progress on a bill that would crack down on anyone who buys a gun as part of a scheme to funnel it to criminals – reducing violent crime and protecting our law enforcement officers.

Finally, the Senate took steps to reinstate and strengthen a ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons, set a 10-round limit for magazines, and make our schools safer places for kids to learn and grow.

These ideas shouldn’t be controversial – they’re common sense. They’re supported by a majority of the American people. And I urge the Senate and the House to give each of them a vote.

As I’ve said before, we may not be able to prevent every act of violence in this country. But together, we have an obligation to try. We have an obligation to do what we can.
Right now, we have a real chance to reduce gun violence in America, and prevent the very worst violence. We have a unique opportunity to reaffirm our tradition of responsible gun ownership, and also do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals or people with a severe mental illness.

We’ve made progress over the last three months, but we’re not there yet. And in the weeks ahead, I hope Members of Congress will join me in finishing the job – for our communities and, most importantly, for our kids.

Thanks.

For Fukushima Workers, Cancer Isn’t the Only Health Threat (video)

Source: FRONTLINE 
by Sarah Childress

Two years after the earthquake and tsunami that damaged reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, questions remain about the health of the workers who desperately battled to save the plant.

But their cancer risks may be lower than anticipated. A World Health Organization report, released last month (pdf), found that radiation exposure remained low. But the report also flagged another major concern: psychological trauma.

A 2012 study found that it was common for workers who were at Daiichi that day to suffer from mental trauma and even post-traumatic stress.

The Fukushima 50, as they are known, were actually hundreds of workers who braved the dangers of radiation exposure to try to control the damage.

Nearly half of the workers at Daiichi were found to suffer from psychological distress, worsened in part by the evacuation from the tsunami and major property losses. About 30 percent were found to have post-traumatic stress, a figure on par with American veterans from the Iraq war.

The trauma has been exacerbated for some workers, who have suffered from discrimination and slurs, the study found. Landlords have refused to rent apartments to them, and people have shouted insults and thrown things at them.

That’s because many Japanese consider the workers, employed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which managed the reactors, to be partially responsible for what happened. TEPCO came under heavy criticism for its handling of the incident.

To better understand what they experienced that day, watch FRONTLINE’s Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown, which re-airs tonight on many PBS stations (check local listings). Hear the story of what it was like for those workers on March 11, 2011 in their own words. As one of the employees, who gave his name as Ono, told FRONTLINE, “We knew that the huge tsunami was coming, but we still could not guess what kind of devastation would be caused by it afterwards.”

He added: “Something beyond the scope of our assumptions occurred.”

You can also watch the full film online, anytime.

Watch Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Argentina's Bad Seeds (video)

The country's soya industry is booming, but what is the impact on Argentinians andtheir land?

Source: Al Jazeera

Filmmakers: Glenn Ellis and Guido Bilbao
For much of the past decade Argentina has seen a commodities-driven export boom, built largely on genetically-modified soy bean crops and the aggressive use of pesticides.

Argentina's leaders say it has turned the country's economy around, while others say the consequences are a dramatic surge in cancer rates, birth defects and land theft.

People & Power investigates if Argentina's booming soy industry is a disaster in the making.

By Glenn Ellis

As I flew in to Buenos Aires to make this film, all the talk was of President Cristina Kirchner’s latest gambit. Her foreign minister had pulled out of a meeting with the British foreign secretary to discuss the Falklands (or the Malvinas depending on your outlook). And for the people I rubbed up against in Argentina’s smart and chic capital, on discovering I was English, this, along with Maradona’s ‘hand of god’ moment, was the topic on everybody’s lips. "We won the war", they would say. "After the fighting we got rid of our dictators but you had another 10 years of Thatcher."
When I explained I was in the country to cover the soya boom, which has given Argentina the fastest growth rate in South America, but also allegedly caused devastating malformations in children, there was a look of disbelief. "Here, in Argentina? Why haven’t we heard about it?"

A good question: why had not anyone heard about it? And when I ventured a little further explaining I also wanted to cover what is best described as a dirty war in the North of the country where campesinos are being driven off their land, and sometimes killed, to make way for soya plantations - the bemusement increased. “That’s historical" people would say, "it’s been going on since the time of the conquistadores." So when I arrived with my crew at Argentina’s second city, Cordoba, 700 kilometres North West of the capital, to meet Alternative Nobel Laureate Professor Raul Montenegro, I was not quite sure what to expect.

Montenegro, a world-renowned biologist, looked the part of a pioneer, in khaki shirt and jungle boots. "I have pesticide in me", he said, almost as soon as he opened the door. "Here we all have pesticide in our bodies because the land is saturated with it. And it is a huge problem. In Argentina biodiversity is diminishing. Even in national parks, because pesticides don’t recognise the limit of the park." Montenegro is a man in a hurry. "You must see for yourself", he said pointing to his Land Rover and taking us a short drive out of Cordoba to a slight rise in the vast plain which surrounds the city. Here, as far as the eye can see, endless acres of soya stretched to the horizon. "More than 18 million hectares are covered by this GMO soya but it’s not solely a matter of soya because over this plant on this huge surface more than 300 million litres of pesticide are used."

A soy republic

Not so long ago Argentina topped the world for meat production, but here there was not a cow in sight. It is a picture replicated across the country. The transformation has taken little more than a decade and the vast majority of soya seed in Argentina is provided by US chemical giant Monsanto.
The company’s genetically-modified seed was designed to withstand their glyphosate-based pesticide, Round-up, which is routinely used in huge quantities across the country. But - according to numerous medical experts - in the process of using such pesticides everything else is being poisoned, including people. The doctors and scientists claim that babies are being born with crippling birth malformations and that in recent years the incidence of childhood cancer has soared. It is a phenomenon, they say, that has coincided with the introduction of Monsanto's seed.

Our next appointment was to see the man in charge of the Children’s Hospital in Cordoba, Doctor Medardo Vasquez. "I'm a neonatal specialist," he told me as we stood in a busy corridor of the hospital. "I see new-born infants, many of who are malformed. I have to tell parents that their children are dying because of these agricultural methods. In some areas in Argentina the primary cause of death for children less than one year old are malformations."
The doctor suggested we head north to see his colleague Doctor Seveso in Saenz Pena, Chaco Province, but not before visiting the village of Malvinas Argentinas, some 20 miles away. Malvinas Argentinas is surrounded by soya plantations and Medardo told me that here during the spraying season rainwater was often contaminated with Glyphosate, one reason for a rate of miscarriage 100 times the national average. To make matters worse, he says, Monsanto had chosen the village for the site of a new factory.
We met Matias Mazzei, a teacher at a school a stone’s throw from where the factory is planned. He and many others are desperate to stop it. "There'll be 240 silos full of corn that has been chemically treated," he says. "The corn rubs together and produces dust. We know the silos are ventilated, despite Monsanto’s denials, because the planning application says that, if there's no ventilation, the silos will explode. When the fans are switched on, a cloud of chemical dust from 240 silos will swamp the village."

But Matias and his friends know they have a real battle on their hands: Cristina Kirchner, the president of Argentina, is one of Monsanto’s strongest advocates. Last year, in an unguarded moment, she was caught on live television with a Monsanto brochure in her hand extolling the company’s virtues. "I want to show you Monsanto's prospectus." she said, "It makes me very proud. Their commitment to investing here is enshrined in this prospectus."

As we left Malvinas Argentinas a torrential thunderstorm dumped acres of water on the inhabitants. I watched some children playing in the puddles and wondered what the future held for them.

'An epidemic of birth malformations’

Next morning we set off at daybreak on the punishing 12-hour drive to Chaco where a diminutive but fiery lady in her sixties, Doctor Maria Del Carmen Seveso, had agreed to take us to see just a few of the children she believes have been affected by the soya boom.

Adolfo Luque, a delightful and inquisitive five year old boy, lives with his family in the village of Avia Terai which is surrounded by soya fields. He is tiny for a boy of his age, partially paralysed and will never walk. One of many children similarly afflicted in the neighbourhood. His mother, Zulema, has no doubt as to what is behind her son’s illness. "I spent all my pregnancy here. After the plane fumigated the crops with pesticide everything was covered white with poison," she told us. "When Adolfo was three, we went to Resistencia and the doctors told me that the fumigation was the problem. It's what I expected to hear, when he was born, the local doctor already told me."

Then we met Nadia Perez, a delightful little girl with a winning smile, who is confined to a wheel chair. She suffers from adversely evolving encephalopathy. Sadly her condition is progressive. Viviana, her mother is desperate. "There's no treatment, but the doctor says, 'Don't give up hope.' Maybe they'll develop a new treatment, if not in Argentina, then abroad. I don't care if it's abroad, I just want a treatment: A treatment, a drug, anything."

We were to meet many such children before returning to the doctor’s surgery that evening. Here she showed me a computer chart containing two steeply climbing graphs. One represented the increase in soya plantations over the last 15 years while the other illustrated the rise in the number of birth malformations across the province during the same time. It was startling; virtually a mirror image. "I have practiced medicine here for 30 years," she told me, "20 years ago we never saw malformations."

Doctor Seveso’s assertion that glyphosate based pesticide was responsible for what she referred to as ‘an epidemic of birth malformations’ is supported by Argentina’s leading embryologist, Professor Andres Carrasco, who runs the Molecular Embryology Laboratory at the University of Buenos Aires. Carrasco observed a link between glyphosate and malformations under laboratory conditions some two years ago.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Monsanto completely disagrees – or at least as far as their chemicals are concerned. Although the company declined to be interviewed on camera, it did give us a written statement in which it said:

“Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides have a long history of safe use when used according to label directions in more than 100 countries around the world. Comprehensive toxicological studies have demonstrated that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® branded agricultural herbicides, does not cause birth defects or reproductive problems.”

Perhaps a conclusive answer to these competing arguments might one day emerge but one thing is clear, the soya boom continues unabated and the number of people whose lives have been changed by it grows year on year. And they are not all medical victims. The vast amounts of money that can be made by growing soya are attracting a new breed of land-grabbers, wanting to displace villages with plantations. We spent the next few days driving deeper into the interior where we heard a succession of horror stories of how campesinos and Amerindians were being violently driven from their land.

We met torture victims, saw various stretches of farmland set ablaze and visited a small village whose only water source had been poisoned. In one community we interviewed Mirta, the mother of Cristian Ferreira who was murdered for refusing to move – shot point blank in the leg by gunmen working for a local land owner. His mother heard the news from Ferreira’s wife. "I went with her, and found my son. His leg had been severed. There was a pool of blood. My son was dying," she told us, fighting back the tears. "They shot him as a warning, to tell him to stop making trouble, and to show him that they and the investors had guns and meant business."

With no help from the state, villagers have no choice but to defend the land themselves. Mocase is an organisation made up of thousands of peasants and Amerindians that have come together to support communities under attack. Maria de los Angeles Gonçalves, a spokesperson for Mocase agreed to meet us. "They pay private security firms who burn down huge areas, and if there are farms or houses in the way, they destroy them too. And then they sow soya, and then the planes arrive spraying agrochemicals and the cycle starts again."

Maria painted a bleak picture of the situation in Northern Argentina. But there was steel in her voice and I could not help being impressed. "Our movement's first task was to make the peasants aware of their rights and dignity, and to persuade them that they have every right to fight for justice. That has been our most important task. Next, we fought to stop the evictions, recover the land and organise its defence. That means protecting biodiversity - flora, fauna, soil, water - and defending the way of life of the people who live there."

Unquestioning the government

When I arrived back in the capital the carnival was in full swing and the mood upbeat. The soya boom has helped Argentina buck the trend of the global downturn and through the economy still takes the occasional dip, the prevalent feeling here is one of optimism. Buenos Aires is hundreds of miles from the suffering in the north of the country and the national media, based in the capitol, have remained silent on the issue, for once, unquestioning of the government, whose assertion that there are no health problems arising from soya goes unchallenged.

It was time to talk to Norberto Yahuar, the minister of agriculture, at his grand colonial headquarters in downtown Buenos Aires. We were ushered into an enormous wood panelled boardroom replete with Argentinian flag and standard issue presidential photograph. The minister’s press secretary came in asked where the minister would sit for the interview and then immediately put the photograph of President Cristina Kirchner in the most prominent position. The minister arrived and then on tip toes, balanced precariously on his swivel seat, he spent some time straightening the photograph before I could explain that it would probably not appear in shot anyway.

"We do not place our own population at risk," the minister assured me, "Argentina has some of the world's most stringent environmental safeguards thanks to strict restrictions on fertilizers and pesticides." And as for the killings and torture in the north of the country, "We are making great efforts to issue title deeds for as much land as possible to the original inhabitants. Misunderstandings have occurred in some provinces where soya or maize production has increased the value of the land and a number of indigenous people have been displaced."

It was nearly time to leave Argentina but the minister’s office had arranged for us to meet the man regarded as the brains behind the soya boom: Gustavo Grobocopatel, the chief executive of Los Grobo, and the largest soya farmer in the world. Dubbed the Soyabean King, he is an advocate of genetically modified food. "We call this century, the genetic century,” he said. “Because we think the plants will be factories that will produce grains but not only for food but for fuels."

He went on, "A soya bean plant is like a factory, a new factory, that uses the solar energy and don’t produce CO2, it consumes CO2. This is a new paradigm for me; it’s a new industrial revolution, green." And as for pesticides: "People that are against pesticides are against poor people. The agricultural need a lot of pesticides to produce more. When you produce more you reduce the cost, you reduce the food price, and then a lot of poor people can eat."

From the viewpoint of his impressive apartment block in one of Buenos Aires most luxurious gated communities, it is easy to see how all those making a fortune from the soya bonanza are able to turn a blind eye to what many Argentineans think is an unfolding tragedy. But as they would point out, the world looks a little different when your child is born with a serious disability or your doctor has just diagnosed terminal cancer.

President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 16, 2013 (Video/Transcript)

 
Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address Lemont, Illinois March 16, 2013

Hi, everybody.  As a nation, our top priority is growing our economy and creating good middle class jobs.  That’s why this week I’m speaking to you from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, because few areas hold as much promise as what they’re focused on right here – harnessing American energy.

You see, after years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to take control of our energy future.  We produce more oil than we have in 15 years.  We import less oil than we have in 20 years.  We’ve doubled the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar – with tens of thousands of good jobs to show for it.  We’re producing more natural gas than ever before – with hundreds of thousands of good jobs to show for it.  We’ve supported the first new nuclear power plant since the 1970s.  And we’re sending less carbon pollution into the environment than we have in nearly 20 years.

So we’re making real progress.  But over the past few weeks, we got a reminder that we need to do more.  We went through another spike in gas prices, just like last year, and the year before that.  It happens every year.  It’s a serious blow to your budget – like getting hit with a new tax coming right out of your pocket.

Over the past four years, as part of our all-of-the-above energy strategy, we’ve taken steps to soften that blow by making sure our cars use less gas.  We’ve put in place the toughest fuel economy standards in our history so that by the middle of the next decade, our cars will go twice as far on a gallon of gas.  Over the life of a new car, the average family will save more than $8,000 at the pump.

But the only way we’re going to break this cycle of spiking gas prices for good is to shift our cars and trucks off of oil for good.  That’s why, in my State of the Union Address, I called on Congress to set up an Energy Security Trust to fund research into new technologies that will help us reach that goal.

Here’s how it would work.  Much of our energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together.  So I’m proposing that we take some of our oil and gas revenues from public lands and put it towards research that will benefit the public, so that we can support American ingenuity without adding a dime to our deficit.  We can support scientists who are designing new engines that are more energy efficient; developing cheaper batteries that go farther on a single charge; and devising new ways to fuel our cars and trucks with new sources of clean energy – like advanced biofuels and natural gas – so drivers can one day go coast-to-coast without using a drop of oil.

Now, this idea isn’t mine.  It’s actually built off a proposal put forward by a non-partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals.  So let’s take their advice and free our families and our businesses from painful spikes in gas prices once and for all.

And in the meantime, let’s keep moving forward on an all-of-the-above energy strategy.  A strategy where we produce more oil and gas here at home, but also more biofuels and fuel-efficient vehicles; more solar power and wind power.  A strategy where we put more people to work building cars, homes and businesses that waste less energy.  We can do this.  We’re Americans.  And when we commit ourselves to something, there’s no telling how far we’ll go.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

In This Room (video)

How one homeless US family, trapped by diminished economic opportunities, is navigating through the daily challenges.

Source: Al Jazeera 
Filmmakers: Tod Lending and Won Bae

The economic downturn that hit the US economy has left many families struggling. For those who were already living on the edge of economic security the impact of the downturn has been a devastating tipping point.

" The first day being in a homeless shelter, I couldn't imagine being there. And to actually being there I was just mad. Its like prison, you can't bring food up to your room, you can't talk to nobody ... it's just all wrong , its hard. "
- Lamont, a 17-year-old high school student

In This Room is a personal look at how one Chicago family, forced into living in a homeless shelter, is navigating through this turmoil.

We see this journey through Derrell Gray, a father of four, trying to find a job and restore his family's dignity.

He says: "We became homeless when we were evicted from our apartment, the sheriff knocks on the door on the day, and I am very grateful that it was not as traumatic as evictions can be. Not one piece of our belonging was out out on the street. As man and as a father, as a husband to have to say to my wife: We now have nowhere to live."

We will also go through this experience with 17-year-old Lamont, who is striving to be seen as just another kid in high school despite his family's homelessness.

"I really don't know how we ended up here, the sheriff came to our apartment and we had to pack our bags and leave. The first day being in a homeless shelter, I couldn't imagine being there. And to actually being there I was just mad. It's like prison, you can't bring food up to your room, you can't talk to nobody ... it's just all wrong, its hard," Lamont says.

Moreover, we look at the issue of homelessness and evictions from the perspective of young Malachi, who is caught up in the chaos with little grasp of why this happening to the people he loves.

He says: "Sometimes I just feel uncomfortable like a whole world full of people, but I feel safe here because there is no shooting, nothing. Where I used to live was a sad place with bad things going all around ... like shooting, then we came to this place, the shelter."

An alternative to the worlds Education System (video)

I have noticed that education around the world has become more and more only a tool for the industry to produce a productive workforce but not free thinking human beings.

Are our children inspired to learn or only forced to learn?

This reminded me that there has been an alternative called Montessori Education.

Montessori education is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development, as well as technological advancements in society. Montessori education is an education that creates independent, happy people.

Are Obama's cabinet choices right for the US?

We examine the president's latest cabinet nominations and ask what these say about the direction of his second term.

Source:Al Jazeera 
This Week, US Republican Rand Paul addressed the Senate for thirteen hours - a mammoth attempt - ostensibly, to block the approval of President Barack Obama's pick to head the CIA.

In the end though, John Brennan, was comfortably approved by the Senate, despite persistent concerns over the secrecy and conduct of the US drone programme that he has largely overseen. It is estimated to have killed thousands in countries like Pakistan and Yemen. 

Now several other appointments will have to be considered by Congress.

"It's clear that the Obama administration is strongly in favor of developing natural gas through hydrofracking. They are working with the industry, they are trying to put a sort of an environmental face on it."
- Rick Piltz, founder of Climate Science Watch

After weeks of speculation, this week Barack Obama named Gina McCarthy to lead the US environmental Protection Ageny. She is the former director's trusted deputy. McCarthy has made climate change a priority.

She has been praised by those who worked with her, especially on developing the US Environmental Protection Agency's mercury standards, which are estimated to prevent 11,000 premature deaths from poor air quality.

Obama has nominated MIT professor Ernest Moniz to run the Department of Energy. Moniz concluded that hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, is a "bridge to a low carbon future", after he led a study funded by oil and gas companies.

And Mary Jo White is the president's choice for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is supposed to reign in the excesses of Wall Street.
But as a million-dollar corporate lawyer, she has been on the other side of the table for many years, defending JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. Her husband currently counts three big banks among his clients.

So what do these latest nominations say about President Obama's future policies?

Inside Story Americas, with presenter Shihab Rattansi, discusses with guests:  Rick Piltz, the founder of Climate Science Watch and a former US official in the government's Climate Science program under George W Bush; and Ryan Grim, the Washington bureau chief for the Huffington Post.

Chavez: A talented pitcher?

Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan president, may have been a staunch critic of US policies but when it came to America's favorite past time - baseball - he could not get enough. He loved the sport, in fact, he was a talented pitcher and is said to have dreamed in his youth of playing for the San Francisco Giants.

If Chavez's life had taken a completely different path, he would not have been alone. Last year, 58 Venezuelans were members of US Major League Baseball teams, second only to the Dominican Republic.

US baseball teams have long seen the two countries as a cheap source of labor and talent. But critics complained that the system was exploitative with young players not treated as well as their US counterparts.

And it was this system that Hugo Chavez challenged when he became president. He forced US teams to follow Venezuelan labor regulations. As a result, many simply moved their operations to countries without such protections. 

President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 09, 2013 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
March 9, 2013

Hi, everybody.  My top priority as President is making sure we do everything we can to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth – a rising, thriving middle class.  

Yesterday, we received some welcome news on that front.  We learned that our businesses added nearly 250,000 new jobs last month.  The unemployment rate fell to 7.7% – still too high, but now lower than it was when I took office. 

Our businesses have created jobs every month for three years straight – nearly 6.4 million new jobs in all.  Our manufacturers are bringing jobs back to America.  Our stock market has rebounded.  New homes are being built and sold at a faster pace.  And we need to do everything we can to keep that momentum going. 

 

That means asking ourselves three questions every day: How do we make America a magnet for new jobs?  How do we equip more of our people with the skills those jobs require?  And how do we make sure that your hard work leads to a decent living?

That has to be our driving focus – our North Star.  And at a time when our businesses are gaining a little more traction, the last thing we should do is allow Washington politics to get in the way.  You deserve better than the same political gridlock and refusal to compromise that has too often passed for serious debate over the last few years.

That’s why I’ve been reaching out to Republicans and Democrats to see if we can untangle some of the gridlock.  Earlier this week, I met with some Republican Senators to see if there were smarter ways to grow our economy and reduce our deficits than the arbitrary cuts and the so-called “sequester” that recently went into place.  We had an open and honest conversation about critical issues like immigration reform and gun violence, and other areas where we can work together to move this country forward.  And next week, I’ll attend both the Democratic and Republican party meetings in the Capitol to continue those discussions.

The fact is, America is a nation of different beliefs and different points of view.  That’s what makes us strong, and frankly, makes our democratic debates messy and often frustrating.  But ultimately what makes us special is when we summon the ability to see past those differences, and come together around the belief that what binds us together will always be more powerful than what drives us apart. 

As Democrats and Republicans, we may disagree on the best way to achieve our goals, but I’m confident we can agree on what those goals should be.  A strong and vibrant middle class.  An economy that allows businesses to grow and thrive.  An education system that gives more Americans the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future.  An immigration system that actually works for families and businesses.  Stronger communities and safer streets for our children.

Making progress on these issues won’t be easy.  In the months ahead, there will be more contentious debate and honest disagreement between principled people who want what’s best for this country.  But I still believe that compromise is possible.  I still believe we can come together to do big things.  And I know there are leaders on the other side who share that belief. 

So I’ll keep fighting to solve the real challenges facing middle-class families.  And I’ll enlist anyone who is willing to help.  That’s what this country needs now – and that’s what you deserve.

Thanks.

Vatican Inc.

People & Power examines the secretive world of the Vatican's bank. 

Source:Al Jazeera
 

Pope Benedict's resignation shocked the Catholic Church and left the Vatican in disarray. His successor will face many challenges, from recurrent sexual scandals to concerns about financial impropriety at the Vatican's own bank.

In 2011, we investigated allegations that bank had been involved in money laundering and examined Pope Benedict's plans for cleaning up the secretive system. But with many of the reforms having fallen short and the Vatican's finances still under a cloud, the next pope will have to introduce new rules to clean up the financial system.

At the heart of the Vatican, the sovereign papal state at the heart of Rome, is the Vatican's own bank, the Institute of Religious Works (IOR).

Until now the IOR has operated with few of the regulations that govern the activities of banks in the wider world, with sometimes disturbing results.

In the 1980s it became involved in an infamous fraud scandal the Banco Ambrosiano affair which made global headlines when its chief, Roberrto Calvi, was found hanging from a bridge in London, a murder that has never been solved.

More recently Italian state prosecutors have been investigating allegations of money laundering at the IOR, freezing some accounts, seizing funds and putting its president under formal scrutiny.

Filmmakers Alessandro Righi and Emanuele Piano have been examining this latest chapter in the history of a notoriously secretive organization.

Dawkins on religion

An interview with renowned atheist Richard Dawkins on whether religion is a force for good or evil.

Source:Al Jazeera
Fanaticism, fundamentalism, superstition and ignorance. Religion is getting a bad press these days. Much of the conflict in the world, from the Middle East to Nigeria and Myanmar, is often blamed on religion.

But how are things from a different perspective? Defenders of religion claim Adolf Hitler was an atheist. Communism under Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot or Mao Zedong banned religion, but also massacred millions. And science brought incredible and amazing advances, but also pollution and the atomic bomb.

A critic of religious dogmatism, Professor Richard Dawkins revolutionised genetics in 1976 with the publication of The Selfish Gene, which explained how evolution takes place at the genetic level. He has since written 12 more bestsellers, including The God Delusion which sold millions of copies, was translated into more than 30 languages, and catapulted him to the position of the world's foremost atheist.

Mehdi Hasan interviews evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins at the Oxford Union and asks: Is religion a force for good or evil? Can it co-exist with science? Is science the new religion? And why if god does not exist, is religion so persistent?

President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 02, 2013 (Video/Transcript)

Weekly Address: Congress Must Compromise to Stop the Impact of the Sequester

Hi, everybody. On Friday, I met with leaders of both parties in Congress to try and find a way forward in light of the severe budget cuts – known in Washington as “the sequester” – that have already started to inflict pain on communities across the country.

These cuts are not smart. They will hurt our economy and cost us jobs. And Congress can turn them off at any time – as soon as both sides are willing to compromise.

As a nation, we’ve already fought back from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, and we’ll get through this, too. But at a time when our businesses are finally gaining some traction, hiring new workers, bringing jobs back to America – the last thing Washington should do is to get in their way. That’s what these cuts to education, research, and defense will do. It’s unnecessary. And at a time when too many of our friends and neighbors are still looking for work, it’s inexcusable.

Now, it’s important to understand that, while not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away, the pain will be real. Many middle-class families will have their lives disrupted in a significant way.

Beginning this week, businesses that work with the military will have to lay folks off. Communities near military bases will take a serious blow. Hundreds of thousands of Americans who serve their country – Border Patrol agents, FBI agents, civilians who work for the Defense Department – will see their wages cut and their hours reduced.

This will cause a ripple effect across the economy. Businesses will suffer because customers will have less money to spend. The longer these cuts remain in place, the greater the damage. Economists estimate they could eventually cost us more than 750,000 jobs and slow our economy by over one-half of one percent.

Here’s the thing: none of this is necessary. It’s happening because Republicans in Congress chose this outcome over closing a single wasteful tax loophole that helps reduce the deficit. Just this week, they decided that protecting special interest tax breaks for the well-off and well-connected is more important than protecting our military and middle-class families from these cuts.

I still believe we can and must replace these cuts with a balanced approach – one that combines smart spending cuts with entitlement reform and changes to our tax code that make it more fair for families and businesses without raising anyone’s tax rates. That’s how we can reduce our deficit without laying off workers, or forcing parents and students to pay the price. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. It’s the kind of approach I’ve proposed for two years now. A majority of the American people agree with me on this approach – including a majority of Republicans. We just need Republicans in Congress to catch up with their own party and the rest of the country.

Now, I know there are Republicans in Congress who would actually rather see tax loopholes closed than let these cuts go through. And I know there are Democrats who’d rather do smart entitlement reform than let these cuts go through. There’s a caucus of common sense. And I’m going to keep reaching out to them to fix this for good.

Because the American people are weary of perpetual partisanship and brinksmanship. This is America, and in America, we don’t careen from one manufactured crisis to another. We make smart choices. We plan. We prioritize. So I’m going to push through this paralysis and keep fighting for the real challenges facing middle-class families. I’m going to keep pushing for high-quality preschool for every family that wants it, and make sure the minimum wage becomes a wage you can live on. I’m going to keep pushing to fix our immigration system, repair our transportation system, and keep our children safe from gun violence.

That’s the work you elected me to do. That’s what I’m focused on every single day.
Thanks.

America's fiscal turbulence

Can US politicians strike a deal to avoid the sequester which would trigger $85bn in cuts this week?

Source:Al Jazeera 
Just two months on from the last major political showdown over the US's budget deficit, Washington's politicos are arguing over the potential impact of automatic budget cuts which could hit this week.

The sequester was originally devised in 2011 to force Democrats and Republicans to strike a deal to cut the US deficit.

But both sides seem to be poles apart with Republicans keen to reduce spending while Democrats want to raise revenue by ending tax breaks for the wealthy.

"There are deep, deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans on these issues, and the fact of the matter is when they cut the deal back in 2011 there was a political underpinning for it. Both sides presumed that they would eventually win a clear majority, a clear governing position, in the 2012 election. So effectively they each decided to stand down and wait to see how the election played out, and then whoever was in charge would be able to sort things out."
- John Nichols, The Nation magazine

President Barack Obama has been warning that the approximately $85bn in automatic cuts would put thousands out of work and cause damage to the US economy. Obama said:

"The last thing you want to see is Washington get in the way of progress. Unfortunately, in just four days, Congress is poised to allow a series of arbitrary, automatic budget cuts to kick in that will slow our economy, eliminate good jobs, and leave a lot of folks who are already pretty thinly stretched scrambling to figure out what to do.

"Thousands of teachers and educators will be laid off. Tens of thousands of parents will have to deal with finding child care for their children. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose access to primary care and preventive care like flu vaccinations and cancer screenings.

Tomorrow, for example, I’ll be in the Tidewater region of Virginia, where workers will sit idle when they should be repairing ships, and a carrier sits idle when it should be deploying to the Persian Gulf.

"Now, these impacts will not all be felt on day one. But rest assured the uncertainty is already having an effect. Companies are preparing layoff notices. Families are preparing to cut back on expenses. And the longer these cuts are in place, the bigger the impact will become."
The impending cuts date back to 2011, when they were passed as part of the Budget Control Act that year.

They were intended to be incentive for a dedicated Congressional committee to come up with a deal to cut at least $1,2tn from the budget over 10 years; but that did not happen.

"We have two stark philosophies, and [this] is a far superior way to govern than to have open warfare; it is a far superior way to govern than almost any other - it's a lousy way to govern, but it's better than anything else - and the fact of the matter is the only time you get to compromise in a divided government is when you have a deadline, and sometimes these deadlines precipitate crisis."
- John Feehery, a Republican strategist

The cuts were then supposed to come into effect at the beginning of 2013.  But together with the expiration of some tax cuts, their impact on the economy would likely have thrown the US into recession. At the last minute, Congress reached a deal to push the sequester cuts to March 1.

If Congress does not act, the $85bn in cuts for the rest of 2013 will take place on Friday; and most parts of government will be affected.

Half the cuts - just over $42bn - will be to defence, which will mean reduced maintenance on ships, aircraft, and buildings; and which defence contractors say will force them to lay off thousands of workers.

The other half will be to domestic programmes. Food inspections, programmes for the mentally ill, education programmes, and transportation will be affected.

The Federal Aviation Authority says it is facing $600m in cuts, which will affect the number of air traffic controllers and maintenance staff it will have at airports, and cause delays in flight times.

Some 70,000 children will also lose access to Head Start, an early learning programme for low-income children.

And if Congress does not reach a deal, automatic spending cuts of some $1tn over the next 10 years will go into effect, meaning even deeper cuts to both defence and domestic programmes.
Inside Story Americas, with presenter Kimberly Halkett, spoke to Jo Comerford, the executive director of the National Priorities Project, about the practical effects the cuts could have on the US and its citizens.

To discuss the US's fiscal turbulence, we are also joined by guests: John Feehery, a Republican strategist; and John Nichols, the Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine.

"For [the Obama administration] to suggest that this will result in the hollowing out of the military and interruptions of food inspections and it will result in folks not getting critical health services is again preposterous. I think it is up to the president to show leadership, to go to Congress and show how he can achieve these reductions by making prioritised reductions protecting critical services. I think the American people know there's at least 3 percent of wasteful spending in the federal government, that these kinds of reductions can be made without jeopardising national security, these kinds of reductions can be made without jeopardising food inspections or critical health care services."
Bobby Jindal, US Republican Governor, Louisiana

Old white guys

Many Republicans preach morality but do the opposite, as the latest scandal underscores.

Follow him on Twitter: @CliffSchecter
Source:Al Jazeera 
 
Who knew that seeming double-centenerian Pete Domenici was such a player? None of us, it turns out, until this week, when the former longtime Senator of New Mexico admitted to an extra-marital affair with a colleague's [Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada] daughter, which produced a now-thirty-something son.

Domenici is certainly not the first politician to suffer from "Strom Thurmond's Disease". You may remember the late Senator Thurmond, he of the presidential campaign in 1948 based on the segregation of the races - something he couldn't personally accomplish with the hired help in his own household (let's call it an Early Schwarzenegger). Just two weeks ago, at the age of 87, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, his bi-racial child who could not acknowledge her father publicly until his death in 2003, passed away herself. Just another sad story of conservative hypocrisy, and in Thurmond's case, one of many dalliances with women not his wife for the "family values"-spouting, Lost Cause romantic.

This is not to say this kind of thing doesn't happen on the Democratic/liberal side. I have two words for you. John and Edwards. Yet, the difference is that like most Republicans, Domenici was abundantly concerned what was going on in our private lives if we were gay, a woman, or a President being impeached in the 1990s over an affair. He was a moral exemplar, you see, who was so pristine and pure you'd think he brought the Ten Commandments down from the Sandia Mountain Range just outside his birthplace of Albuquerque. He could deign to lecture us all, including then President Bill Clinton.

For kicks, here was his statement at the time, dripping with enough irony to quench even Marco Rubio's thirst. It's the kind that makes people hate politicians the world over, particularly those who aren't satisfied just ruining their own personal lives, but have some compulsion to stick their heads, gopher-hole style, into our bedrooms:

Truthfulness is the first pillar of good character in the Character Counts program of which I have been part of establishing in New Mexico... Guess which one of these pillars comes first? Trustworthiness. Trustworthiness... So what do I say to the children in my state when they ask, "Didn't the President lie? Doesn't that mean he isn't trustworthy? Then, Senator, why didn't the Senate punish him?"

Ooh, I have an answer! How about you tell the children of your state that if character counts, your life adds up to a goose egg? Or you tell them how you were a federally deputised Peeping Tom, so arrogant as to open his mouth on issues of "moral character" while hiding the existence of a son, because you had the self-control of Marco Rubio at an Evian bottling plant? (sorry, just can't resist).

Frankly, the most important part of this affair is that it's another reminder of why the troupe of old men playing pajama dress up, known as the "Tea Party", are so perpetually angry. This is the way the world is supposed to exist, Mad Men style, as it had in the past. Old white guys thumping Bibles on weekends while warning us all of impending "human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!", and doing the very things they warned us to avoid.
No longer do they get to just live in this world of white, male privilege, and it's a serious bummer. It's why you see Ted Nugent doing performance art for dementia, and more famous white guys from David Mamet to Rick Warren striking out with articles or tweets that make no sense in the real world. And let's not even get started on Pope Benedict.

These guys have to actually answer today for the ultimate form of elitism: their white male privilege of being able to tell us all how to behave while blithely ignoring the very same dictates. But single women, Latinos, well-educated whites, gays and lesbians, African-Americans and others they used to dominate by custom or sheer numbers aren't listening anymore. We've looked at the world they made, the one catyclysm every two years of the Bush Administration, and have realised we know better. And we have the numbers at polling booths, and it's driving them bonkers.

So thanks Pete Domenici for reminding us of your world, the one we're leaving behind. And by the way, if you want real family values, not the ones of Republican preachers, spend time with your family. Read them great books with real values, like my friend Adam Roth's Checking Up On Daddy. Don't waste another moment listening to the corn-friend hucksterism of the Domenicis of this world.

President Barack Obama Weekly Address February 23, 2013 (Video/Transcript)

 
Remarks of President Barack Obama As Prepared for Delivery The White House February 23, 2013

Hi, everybody.  Our top priority as a country right now should be doing everything we can to grow our economy and create good, middle class jobs.

And yet, less than one week from now, Congress is poised to allow a series of arbitrary, automatic budget cuts that will do the exact opposite.  They will slow our economy.  They will eliminate good jobs.  They will leave many families who are already stretched to the limit scrambling to figure out what to do.

But here’s the thing: these cuts don’t have to happen.  Congress can turn them off anytime with just a little compromise.  They can pass a balanced plan for deficit reduction.  They can cut spending in a smart way, and close wasteful tax loopholes for the well-off and well-connected.

Unfortunately, it appears that Republicans in Congress have decided that instead of compromising – instead of asking anything of the wealthiest Americans – they would rather let these cuts fall squarely on the middle class.

Here’s what that choice means.  Once these cuts take effect, thousands of teachers and educators will be laid off, and tens of thousands of parents will have to scramble to find child care for their kids.  Air traffic controllers and airport security will see cutbacks, causing delays across the country.  Even President Bush’s director of the National Institutes of Health says these cuts will set back medical science for a generation.

Already, the threat of these cuts has forced the Navy to delay the deployment of an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf – affecting our ability to respond to threats in an unstable part of the world.  And just this week, the Pentagon announced that if these cuts go through, almost 800,000 defense employees – the equivalent of every person in Miami and Cleveland combined – will be forced to take unpaid leave.

That’s what this choice means.  Are Republicans in Congress really willing to let these cuts fall on our kids’ schools and mental health care just to protect tax loopholes for corporate jet owners?  Are they really willing to slash military health care and the border patrol just because they refuse to eliminate tax breaks for big oil companies?  Are they seriously prepared to inflict more pain on the middle class because they refuse to ask anything more of those at the very top?

These are the questions Republicans in Congress need to ask themselves.  And I’m hopeful they’ll change their minds.  Because the American people have worked too hard for too long to see everything they’ve built undone by partisan recklessness in Washington.

I believe we should work together to build on the more than $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction we’ve already achieved.  But I believe we should do it in a balanced way – with smart spending cuts, entitlement reform, and tax reform. That’s my plan.  It's got tough cuts, tough reforms, and asks more of the wealthiest Americans. It's on the White House website for everyone to see.  And it requires Democrats and Republicans to meet half way to resolve the problem.  That’s what the American people expect. And that’s what you deserve.

We just need Republicans in Washington to come around.  Because we need their help to finish the job of reducing our deficit in a smart way that doesn’t hurt our economy or our people.  After all, as we learned in the 1990s, nothing shrinks the deficit faster than a growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs.  That has to be our driving focus.  That has to be our North Star.  Making America a magnet for good jobs.  Equipping our people with the skills required to fill those jobs.  Making sure your hard work leads to a decent living.  That’s what this city should be focused on like a laser.  And I’m going to keep pushing folks here to remember that.
Thanks.

President Obama's Bilateral Meeting with Prime Minister Abe of Japan (video/transcript)

The two Governments confirm that should Japan participate in the TPP negotiations, all goods would be subject to negotiation, and Japan would join others in achieving a comprehensive, high-standard agreement, as described in the Outlines of the TPP Agreement announced by TPP Leaders on November 12, 2011.

Recognizing that both countries have bilateral trade sensitivities, such as certain agricultural products for Japan and certain manufactured products for the United States, the two Governments confirm that, as the final outcome will be determined during the negotiations, it is not required to make a prior commitment to unilaterally eliminate all tariffs upon joining the TPP negotiations.

The two Governments will continue their bilateral consultations with respect to Japan’s possible interest in joining the TPP.  While progress has been made in these consultations, more work remains to be done, including addressing outstanding concerns with respect to the automotive and insurance sectors, addressing other non-tariff measures, and completing work regarding meeting the high TPP standards.

US: A nation of inmates?

We examine the impact of America's high incarceration rate on its penal system and on poor and minority communities.

 

Source:Al Jazeera

There are more prisoners in the US than any other nation in the world.

The country makes up five percent of the world's population, but accounts for 25 percent of its prison population. And over the last three decades the number held in US federal prisons has jumped by nearly 80 percent.

"There has been in this country over the last 30 years a relentless upward climb in the incarcerated population and disturbing as the situation is with the federal prison system, that is really only the tip of the iceberg because the federal prison system is only about 10 percent of the total number of people incarcerated in this country. On any given day, we have about 2.3 million people behind bars in federal, state and local facilities."
- David Fathi, ACLU National Prison Project

The number of inmates in US federal prisons has increased from about 25,000 in 1980 to 219,000 in 2012, according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service.

The report says the federal prison system was 39 percent over its capacity in 2011. And the situation is worse for high and medium security male facilities.

High-security prisons were overcrowded by 51 percent, while medium security prisons were overcrowded by 55 percent in 2011.

According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, overcrowding has contributed to worse safety and security conditions for both inmates and staff.

The overcrowded facilities have contributed to a multibillion dollar demand for private prisons. The industry argues it is helping the government save money. But others argue that for-profit prisons only increase the incentive to incarcerate more people.

Almost half of those incarcerated in federal prisons are drug offenders. Another 16 percent of inmates are in prison for offences related to weapons, explosives and arson. Those convicted of immigration violations make up 12 percent of the federal prison population.

"Policy makers have come to the realisation, on a state and federal level, that you can't necessarily build yourself out of a crime situation, that we just can't continue at these numbers to incarcerate people, and the impact on state budgets and the money spent on a federal level to deal with mass incarceration has just left us in a lot of ways unprotected in other areas."
- Matthew Mangino, a former DA in Pennsylvania

So, what is the impact of the high incarceration rate on the US penal system and on poor communities?

To discuss this, Inside Story Americas with presenter Shihab Rattansi is joined by guests: David Fathi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project; Matthew Mangino, a former district attorney in Pennsylvania; and Marc Mauer, the executive director of The Sentencing Project, and author of the book Race to Incarcerate.

THE US PRISON INDUSTRY

• It is increasingly more expensive to maintain the federal prison system 
• Per capita prisoner costs rose from $19,571 in 2000 to $26,094 in 2011 
• Bureau of prisons has backlog of 154 modernisation and repair projects 
• More offences subject to mandatory minimum sentences since the 1980s 
• Mandatory sentences have pushed up inmate numbers for drug offences 
• More crimes have been made federal offences since early 1980s 
• Crime rates in the US have been falling since the early 1990s 
• Sentencing project: prisoners in US declined by about 1.5 percent in 2011 
• Some US states have moved to reduce overcrowding in prisons 
• Supreme court ordered California to reduce prison overcrowding in 2011 
• Budget crises have prompted states to reduce overcrowding in prisons 
• For-profit companies control 18 percent of US federal prisoners 
• For-profit companies control 6.7 percent of all US state prisoners 
• Most new prisons built between 2000 and 2005 are privately run 
• Corrections corporation of America is largest private prison operator

President Barack Obama Weekly Address February 16, 2013 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
The White House
February 16, 2013

Hi, everybody.  This week, I’ve been traveling across the country – from North Carolina to Georgia to here at Hyde Park Academy in my hometown of Chicago – talking with folks about the important task I laid out in my State of the Union Address: reigniting the true engine of America’s economic growth – a rising, thriving middle class.

Every day, we should ask ourselves three questions:  How do we bring good jobs to America?  How do we equip people with the skills those jobs require?  And how do we make sure your hard work leads to a decent living?

I believe all that starts by making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.  After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three.  What we need to do now is simple.  We need to accelerate that trend.  We need to launch manufacturing hubs across the country that will transform hard-hit regions into global centers of high-tech jobs and manufacturing.  We need to make our tax code more competitive, ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and rewarding companies that create jobs here at home.  And we need to invest in the research and technology that will allow us to harness more of our own energy and put more people back to work repairing our crumbling roads and bridges. 

These steps will help our businesses expand and create new jobs.  But we also need to provide every American with the skills and training they need to fill those jobs.  Let’s start in the earliest years by offering high-quality preschool to every child in America, because we know kids in these programs do better throughout their lives.  Let’s redesign our high schools so that our students graduate with skills that employers are looking for right now.  And because taxpayers can’t continue to subsidize the soaring cost of higher education, I’ve called on Congress to take affordability and value into account when determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid. 

So those are steps we can take today to help bring good jobs to America and equip our people with the skills those jobs require.  And that brings us to the third question – how do we make sure hard work leads to a decent living?

No one in America should work full-time and raise their children in poverty.  So let’s raise the minimum wage so that it’s a wage you can live on.  And it’s time to harness the talents and ingenuity of hardworking immigrants by finally passing comprehensive immigration reform – securing our borders, establishing a responsible path to earned citizenship, and attracting the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs. 

These steps will help grow our economy and rebuild a rising, thriving middle class.  And we can do it while shrinking our deficits.  We don’t have to choose between the two – we just have to make smart choices. 

Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion – which puts us more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.  Now we need to finish the job. 

But I disagree with Republicans who think we should do that by making even bigger cuts to things like education and job training; Medicare and Social Security benefits.  That would force our senior citizens and working families to bear the burden of deficit reduction while the wealthiest are asked to do nothing more.  That won’t work.  We can’t just cut our way to prosperity. 

Instead, I’ve proposed a balanced approach; one that makes responsible reforms to bring down the cost of health care and saves hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and well-connected.  And we should finally pursue bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit.

So we know what we need to do.  All the steps I’ve mentioned are commonsense.  And, together, they will help us grow our economy and strengthen our middle class. 

In the coming weeks and months, our work won’t be easy, and we won’t agree on everything.  But America only moves forward when we do so together – when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations.  That’s the American story.  And that is how we will write the next great chapter – together.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

President Obama on Early Childhood Education (video/transcrip)

Decatur Community Recreation Center
Decatur, Georgia

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  (Applause.)  Well, it is great to be in Georgia!  (Applause.)  Great to be in Decatur!  (Applause.)

I can’t imagine a more romantic way to spend Valentine’s Day -- (laughter) -- than with all of you, with all the press here.  Actually, Michelle says hello.  (Applause.)  She made me promise to get back in time for our date tonight.  (Laughter.)  That's important.  That's important.  I've already got a gift, got the flowers.  (Applause.)  I was telling folks the flowers are a little easier, though, because I've got this Rose Garden.  (Laughter.)  Lot of people keeping flowers around.
I want to acknowledge a few people who are here -- first of all, Congressman Hank Johnson is here.  Where’s Hank?  (Applause.)  Your Mayor, Jim Baskett, is here.  (Applause.)  Another Mayor you may know -- Kasim Reed snuck in here.  (Applause.)  I want to acknowledge the Decatur School Board, who I had a chance to meet and has helped to do so much great work around here.  (Applause.)  Folks right here.

And of course, I want to thank Mary for the wonderful introduction and for teaching me how to count earlier today.  (Laughter.)  I've got to tell you it was wonderful to be there.  I want to thank all the teachers and the parents and the administrators of Decatur City Schools, because behind every child who is doing great there is a great teacher, and I’m proud of every single one of you for the work that you do here today.  (Applause.)

Now, on Tuesday, I delivered my State of the Union address.  And I laid out a plan for reigniting what I believe is the true engine of America’s economic growth, and that is a thriving, growing, rising middle class.  And that also means ladders for people to get into the middle class.  And the plan I put forward says we need to make smart choices as a country -- both to grow our economy, shrink our deficits in a balanced way by cutting what we don’t need but then investing in the things that we do need to make sure that everybody has a chance to get ahead in life.

What we need is to make America a magnet for new jobs by investing in manufacturing, and energy, and better roads and bridges and schools.  We’ve got to make sure hard work is rewarded with a wage that you can live on and raise a family on.

We need to make sure that we've got shared responsibility for giving every American the chance to earn the skills and education that they need for a really competitive, global job market.

As I said on Tuesday night, that education has to start at the earliest possible age.  And that’s what you have realized here in Decatur.  (Applause.)  Study after study shows that the earlier a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road.  But here’s the thing:  We are not doing enough to give all of our kids that chance.  The kids we saw today that I had a chance to spend time with in Mary's classroom, they're some of the lucky ones -- because fewer than 3 in 10 four-year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program.

Most middle-class parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool.  And for the poor children who need it the most, the lack of access to a great preschool education can have an impact on their entire lives.  And we all pay a price for that.  And as I said, this is not speculation.  Study after study shows the achievement gap starts off very young.  Kids who, when they go into kindergarten, their first day, if they already have a lot fewer vocabulary words, they don’t know their numbers and their shapes and have the capacity for focus, they're going to be behind that first day.  And it's very hard for them to catch up over time.
And then, at a certain point -- I bet a lot of teachers have seen this -- kids aren't stupid.  They know they’re behind at a certain point, and then they start pulling back, and they act like they're disinterested in school because they're frustrated that they're not doing as well as they should, and then you may lose them.

And that’s why, on Tuesday night, I proposed working with states like Georgia to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America.  Every child.  (Applause.)

Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on -- boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, reducing violent crime.  In states like Georgia that have made it a priority to educate our youngest children, states like Oklahoma, students don’t just show up in kindergarten and first grade more prepared to learn, they're also more likely to grow up reading and doing math at grade level, graduating from high school, holding a job, even forming more stable families.

Hope is found in what works.  This works.  We know it works.  If you are looking for a good bang for your educational buck, this is it right here.  (Applause.)

That’s why, even in times of tight budgets, states like Georgia and Oklahoma have worked to make a preschool slot available for nearly every parent who is looking for one for their child.  And they're being staffed with folks like Mary -- qualified, highly educated teachers.  This is not babysitting.  This is teaching.  (Applause.)

So at the age that our children are just sponges soaking stuff in, their minds are growing fastest, what we saw in the classroom here today was kids are taught numbers, they’re taught shapes, but also how to answer questions, discover patterns, play well with others.  And the teachers who were in the classroom, they’ve got a coach who’s coming in and working with them on best practices and paying attention to how they can constantly improve what they’re doing.

And that whole playing well with others, by the way, is a trait we could use more in Washington.  (Applause.)  So maybe we need to bring the teachers up -- (applause) -- every once in a while have some quiet time.  (Laughter.)  Time out.  (Laughter.)

So at the College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center that I visited earlier today, nearly 200 little kids are spending full days learning in classrooms with highly qualified teachers.  (Applause.)  And so I was working with them to build towers and replicate sculptures and sing songs.  And, look, I’ve got to admit, I was not always the fastest guy on some of this stuff.  (Laughter.)  The kids were beating me to the punch.  But through this interactive learning, they’re learning math, writing, how to tell stories.

And one of the things that you’ve done here in Decatur that’s wonderful also is, is that you’ve combined kids from different income levels; you’ve got disabled kids all in the same classroom, so we’re all learning together.  (Applause.)  And what that means is, is that all the kids are being leveled up, and you’re not seeing some of that same stratification that you see that eventually leads to these massive achievement gaps.

So before you know it, these kids are going to be moving on to bigger and better things in kindergarten, and they’re going to be better prepared to succeed.  And what’s more, I don’t think you’ll find a working parent in America who wouldn’t appreciate the peace of mind that their child is in a safe, high-quality learning environment every single day.  (Applause.)

Michelle and I remember how tough it can be to find good childcare.  I remember how expensive it can be, too.  The size of your paycheck, though, shouldn’t determine your child’s future.  (Applause.)  So let’s fix this.  Let’s make sure none of our kids start out the race of life already a step behind.  Let’s make it a national priority to give every child access to a high-quality early education.  Let’s give our kids that chance.

Now, I do have to warn the parents who are here who still have young kids -- they grow up to be, like, 5’10” -- (laughter) -- and even if they’re still nice to you, they basically don’t have a lot of time for you during the weekends.  (Laughter.)  They have sleepovers and -- dates.  (Laughter.)  So all that early investment -- (laughter) -- just leads them to go away.  (Laughter.)
Now, what I also said on Tuesday night is that our commitment to our kids’ education has to continue throughout their academic lives.  So from the time our kids start grade school, we need to equip them with the skills they need to compete in a high-tech economy.  That’s why we’re working to recruit and train 100,000 new teachers in the fields of the future -- in science and technology, and engineering and math where we are most likely to fall behind.

We’ve got to redesign our high schools so that a diploma puts our kids on a path to a good job.  (Applause.)  We want to reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers, and create classes that focus on science and technology, and engineering and math -- all the things that can help our kids fill those jobs that are there right now but also in the future.

And obviously, once our kids graduate from high school, we’ve got to make sure that skyrocketing costs don’t price middle-class families out of a higher education -- (applause) -- or saddle them with unsustainable debt.  I mean, some of the younger teachers who are here, they’ve chosen a career path that is terrific, but let’s face it, you don't go into teaching to get rich.  (Laughter.)  And it is very important that we make sure that they can afford to get a great education and can choose to be a teacher, can choose to be in a teaching profession.  (Applause.)

So we’ve worked to make college more affordable for millions of students and families already through tax credits and grants and loans that go farther than before.  But taxpayers can’t keep subsidizing ever-escalating price tags for higher education.  At some point you run out of money.  So colleges have to do their part.  And colleges that don’t do enough to keep costs in check should get less federal support so that we’re incentivizing colleges to think about how to keep their costs down.

And just yesterday, we released what we’re calling a new “College Scorecard” that gives parents and students all the information they need to compare schools by value and affordability so that they can make the best choice.  And any interested parent, by the way, who’s out there can check it out at Whitehouse.gov.  (Applause.)

Now, in the end, that's what this is all about -- giving our kids the best possible shot at life; equipping them with the skills, education that a 21st century economy demands; giving them every chance to go as far as their hard work and God-given potential will take them.

That’s not just going to make sure that they do well; that will strengthen our economy and our country for all of us.  Because if their generation prospers, if they’ve got the skills they need to get a good job, that means businesses want to locate here.  And it also means, by the way, they’re well-equipped as citizens with the critical thinking skills that they need in order to help guide our democracy.  We’ll all prosper that way.  That’s what we’re fighting for.  They’re the ones who are going to write that next great chapter in the American story, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re providing that investment.

I am so proud of every single teacher who is here who has dedicated their lives to making sure those kids get a good start in life.  I want to make sure that I’m helping, and I want to make sure that the country is behind you every step of the way.

Thank you, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.)