On This Day: President Obama greets members of the audience following a ceremony honoring the 2012 BCS National Champion University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team on their 15th championship, on the South Lawn of the White House, April 15, 2013 (Photo by Pete Souza)
Good morning. Hope all is well with everyone. We’re living in total chaos while we wait for the flooring people to arrive. At the end of the day, will come the ginormous task of putting everything back. Still, I guess you have to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet. Hope the omelet is worth it.
Gooooooood morning Jackie! Oh, my heart goes out to ya, things are nightmarishly chaotic here too, there’s virtually a traffic jam of workmen coming and going and a painter who is the slowest I have ever seen! Why did I start?
That’s the question I keep asking myself–why did I start? I’m not patient with messes and last night I had to dig my way to the bed through countless boxes. My husband keeps saying it will be worth it in the end, but where’s one’s fairy godmother with the magic wand when you need her? Maybe you can take a long walk and leave the workmen and the painter to it. What you don’t see hurts less is my theory.
Good morning. I’ve been where both of you are. I am NOT patient with messes either, LOOOOOONG way from it. I survived it and y’all will too. 🙂 Remember what my mother said: “You have to mess up to fix up.” Hard to swallow, but it is true. It will be worth it.
On another topic: It’s been all over CBS this morning: “The President caved.” They’ve all used that word over and over. Makes me want to throw something at the TV. Idiots!!!
TN, it’s above the heads of the media. They don’t understand complex concepts or nuances. It’s win or lose, beat ’em over the head or cave. It really is asking too much of these simpletons to actually read bills or get what’s really going on.
Ooooh, how exciting jackieg! Think of the transformation that’s coming! My mom recently had carpets replaced her den,living room and foyer with hardwoods and it feels like a new house, even though the rest of the decor hasn’t changed a bit. I’m inspired to do something new in my place. Maybe not the floors, but definitely wanna change wall color and art. Time for a fresh start! It’s Springtime! 😀
Good morning Chips,
I wasn’t able to watch the “Gospel at the White House Concert” live so thanks so much for posting it. Wow, they were all beautiful and powerful performances but I was blown away by that preacher who sang – that was incredible. And I love, love, love Emmy Lou Harris. I sent the link to a bunch of my friends this morning.
On another topic quite unlike gospel music, here’s an interesting read on the admin’s view of the Corker bill that seems to make sense.
Why the Administration is Perfectly Pleased with the #Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act http://t.co/BODHwYI6SZ
GM JackieG…GM MsChipssss..and all who come here for solace and info…welcome….
the ObamaDiary has been like family to me…sharing the joy of new grandbabies….giving comfort to those who suffer losses or who are going thru difficult times…We have share the euphoria of the Presidents accomplishments…and the fears…the anxiety…and anger at those who have tried to bring him down ….
With the coming of 2016…we know that the President’s time in office will end…and that holds a special kind of bitter sweetness…….i do not know what will happen here at the obamadiary…but i know that i will always cherish…the friendships and memories…and i feel esp grateful for having wondered into the diary in 2010…
May the Creator Bless each of you….i wish you a fantastic day….and i look forward to the next 1/1/2 yrs…as we document the remainder of the President’s time in office…..
Hi, Pf. TOD has sustained all of us through a lot of joy, sorrow, triumph and frustration. Can’t think how we’ll all cope without this family to come to each day.
The Florida doctor charged in a political corruption case along with New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez was indicted Tuesday in a 76-count Medicare fraud scheme that prosecutors said attempted to bilk the health care program out of as much as $190 million.
Miami U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said Dr. Salomon Melgen, 60, was charged with 46 counts of health care fraud as well as additional charges of filing false claims and making false statements. Melgen is an ophthalmologist with offices in Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties.
The indictment charges that he operated the fraud scheme between 2004 and 2013, a time frame during which Melgen billed Medicare for more than $190 million and was paid more than $105 million. In 2012 alone, health official say he billed Medicare more than any other doctor in the nation at $21 million.
“Medical professionals who violate their oath by failing to attend to the health of their patients and who submit falsified billing statements for their own personal gain jeopardize the viability of government benefit programs,” Ferrer said in a statement.
“People who defraud Medicare indirectly increase the cost of health care for everyone,” added George L. Piro, FBI special agent in charge of the Miami field office.
Melgen has already pleaded not guilty in the New Jersey corruption case, in which he is accused½a0} of funneling nearly $1 million in gifts and campaign donations to Menendez in exchange for political favors. Menendez, a Democrat, has also pleaded not guilty, and he is not implicated in the Medicare fraud case.
Republicans…. They’ve discovered, belatedly, that income inequality is a problem, and they’re no longer proposing to give tax breaks to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Now they are proposing to give tax breaks to the wealthiest two-tenths of 1 percent of Americans.
On Tuesday afternoon, the House Rules Committee took up H.R. 1105, the “Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015,” with plans to bring it to a vote on the chamber floor Wednesday — Tax Day. It is an extraordinarily candid expression of the majority’s priorities: A tax cut costing the treasury $269 billion over a decade that would exclusively benefit individuals with wealth of more than $5.4 million and couples with wealth of more than $10.9 million.
That’s a tax break for only the 5,500 wealthiest households in the country each year, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Of those, the 318 wealthiest estates each year — those worth $50 million or more — would see an average windfall of $20 million each, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
GOP leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) have begun to recognize that the vast gap between rich and poor is detrimental — and to blame the problem on President Obama. Their solution, so far, has been to propose cuts of hundreds of billions of dollars from food stamps, Pell grants, Medicaid and other programs for those without means — and, on Tax Day, to give $269 billion to the few who already have the most….
Good Morning Dudette, Chips and TOD. What a wonderful article.
I so love our First Family. That last paragraph brought me to tears.
“And when the president’s plane landed back at Joint Base Andrews, the first lady invited Jarvis to exit at the front of the plane with the family. “As we walked down the steps, FLOTUS was holding my hand,” Jarvis said softly”.
Have a great day everyone. I work in accounting and it’s Tax Day so back to work for me….!!!!!
Around this time every year, Joseph Bankman, a professor of tax law at Stanford Law School and a longtime advocate of using technology to simplify tax filing, gets on the phone with reporters to explain what is wrong with how we do our taxes in the United States. Every year he says pretty much the same thing: No other industrialized country asks its citizens to jump through as many hoops to calculate their taxes as ours.
It isn’t just lawmakers or the hapless-seeming Internal Revenue Service that is perpetuating the annoyance of tax time, he adds. Instead it is the private sector — specifically, the software company Intuit, which makes TurboTax, the most popular tax program in the country.
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING EVERYONE….MUCH TO DO TODAY AND I DO HOPE ARETHA HAD A COMFORTING SLEEP AFTER GIVING IT ALL LAST NIGHT…UNFORGETTABLE!…WILL CHECK BACK LATER…I HAVE LOTS TO DO TODAY!
Prettyfoot, I agree with you that the reckless GOP are not going to confirm Loretta Lynch for US AG. Repubs really hate President Obama and will do anything to obstruct him.
Remember, on the newly elected POTUS inauguration night Jan-20-2009, 15 US congressional elected officials, plotted to obstruction and destroy President Obama, thus USA during the onset of the worst financial crisis since the “great depression”. You think the give a-shit-now?!
Good morning, TOD.
I am late to the party but am very happy to see that nobody here is buying the laughable spin on the Senate interference .
Remember, the NY Times is a paid cheerleader for the Military Industrilal Complex who lied us into the Iraq war.
Hence, their incomplete reporting today by Chief Hatchetman Peter Baker is no surprise and should be given the respect it deserves—none.
The witheld fact that is most important is one pointed out by President Obama himself. The President said that if the US fails to lift their part of the sanctions, the rest of the world will go ahead anyway.
In other words, what Corker and Co. “won” is the right to do very little damage and look impotent while doing so.
The Obama Diary 
Good morning. Hope all is well with everyone. We’re living in total chaos while we wait for the flooring people to arrive. At the end of the day, will come the ginormous task of putting everything back. Still, I guess you have to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet. Hope the omelet is worth it.
Gooooooood morning Jackie! Oh, my heart goes out to ya, things are nightmarishly chaotic here too, there’s virtually a traffic jam of workmen coming and going and a painter who is the slowest I have ever seen! Why did I start?
That’s the question I keep asking myself–why did I start? I’m not patient with messes and last night I had to dig my way to the bed through countless boxes. My husband keeps saying it will be worth it in the end, but where’s one’s fairy godmother with the magic wand when you need her? Maybe you can take a long walk and leave the workmen and the painter to it. What you don’t see hurts less is my theory.
Oooooooh, wouldn’t a magic wand to do it all be a bit nice? It better be worth it for both of us, otherwise there’ll be hell to pay!
Good morning. I’ve been where both of you are. I am NOT patient with messes either, LOOOOOONG way from it. I survived it and y’all will too. 🙂 Remember what my mother said: “You have to mess up to fix up.” Hard to swallow, but it is true. It will be worth it.
On another topic: It’s been all over CBS this morning: “The President caved.” They’ve all used that word over and over. Makes me want to throw something at the TV. Idiots!!!
“The President caved.” ….translation…he got what he wanted…..they have no ability to stop the deal.
Yep. Months and years from now, we’ll be laughing at how dumb the MSM was in their characterizations of the President’s continuing legacy of success.
TN, it’s above the heads of the media. They don’t understand complex concepts or nuances. It’s win or lose, beat ’em over the head or cave. It really is asking too much of these simpletons to actually read bills or get what’s really going on.
We’ve been living through this particular hell for months and we’re hopefully finally seeing the end in sight.
Ooooh, how exciting jackieg! Think of the transformation that’s coming! My mom recently had carpets replaced her den,living room and foyer with hardwoods and it feels like a new house, even though the rest of the decor hasn’t changed a bit. I’m inspired to do something new in my place. Maybe not the floors, but definitely wanna change wall color and art. Time for a fresh start! It’s Springtime! 😀
So WP keeps eating my comments. Why? Oh Chips, don’t forget that today’s Arapaho’s birthday.
Oh thanks for the reminder! 🙂
Thanks for BD tweet, Dudette, you sweet thing!
Glad to see your regular posts on such a wide array of topics, but especially like the nature ones. 🙂
Did you see this?
Hey thanks! I missed that! Cool!
A doff of my hat to you, JackieG. Thanks for remembering, and for the glad tidings.
Hope your domestic chaos comes to an end soon, so you’ll be able to enjoy YOUR b-day in leisurely style.
Your floors will be so gorgeous, a few days of effort and disarray will be worth it. You’ve got a jump on Spring cleaning, too!
Grr, the spam thing is acting up again, eating up lots of comments – panic not, when I find them I’ll free them!
Good West Coast morning Chipsticks & TOD family.
Gooooooooooooood morning GGail!!
Goooooooal morning Chips. I really enjoyed the Gospel concert last night. I even played it again before going to bed. Thanks so much!
It was pure bliss GGail, loved how PBO and the First Lady enjoyed it so much, what a lovely escape from the madness!
Gooooood Morning You Crazy Cats! 😀
Goooooooooood morning Dame Delightful!
Great Greetings Your Majesty! A morning welcome from you outshines a thousand suns! My spirit is lifted, my day is made! 😀
Good morning Chips,
I wasn’t able to watch the “Gospel at the White House Concert” live so thanks so much for posting it. Wow, they were all beautiful and powerful performances but I was blown away by that preacher who sang – that was incredible. And I love, love, love Emmy Lou Harris. I sent the link to a bunch of my friends this morning.
On another topic quite unlike gospel music, here’s an interesting read on the admin’s view of the Corker bill that seems to make sense.
very good read
Excellent article, forus. I hope everybody reads it.
Great analysis and helpful in understanding what happened, supports what Spandan said in his article.
GM JackieG…GM MsChipssss..and all who come here for solace and info…welcome….
the ObamaDiary has been like family to me…sharing the joy of new grandbabies….giving comfort to those who suffer losses or who are going thru difficult times…We have share the euphoria of the Presidents accomplishments…and the fears…the anxiety…and anger at those who have tried to bring him down ….
With the coming of 2016…we know that the President’s time in office will end…and that holds a special kind of bitter sweetness…….i do not know what will happen here at the obamadiary…but i know that i will always cherish…the friendships and memories…and i feel esp grateful for having wondered into the diary in 2010…
May the Creator Bless each of you….i wish you a fantastic day….and i look forward to the next 1/1/2 yrs…as we document the remainder of the President’s time in office…..
YES WE WILL!
Hi, Pf. TOD has sustained all of us through a lot of joy, sorrow, triumph and frustration. Can’t think how we’ll all cope without this family to come to each day.
yes that is so…but i will enjoy it all in the interim..smilin
I second, third, fourth, fifth………..that. How will we make it through each day??????
That was beautiful pf! I share you sentiment about our wonderful TOD home! Love you dear! Hope your Wednesday is as beautiful as you are!
ohhh thank you so much…((huggs))….smiling a big smile
I am pretty confident that did not happen.
G’morning Chips & TOD! Happy Wednesday everyone. 🙂
Morning everyone!! Happy Wednesday:)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150415/us–menendez_probe-doctor-fc7683b0c7.html
The Florida doctor charged in a political corruption case along with New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez was indicted Tuesday in a 76-count Medicare fraud scheme that prosecutors said attempted to bilk the health care program out of as much as $190 million.
Miami U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said Dr. Salomon Melgen, 60, was charged with 46 counts of health care fraud as well as additional charges of filing false claims and making false statements. Melgen is an ophthalmologist with offices in Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties.
The indictment charges that he operated the fraud scheme between 2004 and 2013, a time frame during which Melgen billed Medicare for more than $190 million and was paid more than $105 million. In 2012 alone, health official say he billed Medicare more than any other doctor in the nation at $21 million.
“Medical professionals who violate their oath by failing to attend to the health of their patients and who submit falsified billing statements for their own personal gain jeopardize the viability of government benefit programs,” Ferrer said in a statement.
“People who defraud Medicare indirectly increase the cost of health care for everyone,” added George L. Piro, FBI special agent in charge of the Miami field office.
Melgen has already pleaded not guilty in the New Jersey corruption case, in which he is accused½a0} of funneling nearly $1 million in gifts and campaign donations to Menendez in exchange for political favors. Menendez, a Democrat, has also pleaded not guilty, and he is not implicated in the Medicare fraud case.
Help! WP ate my comment!
bad, WP! Bad, WP! Did the spanking help?
HA!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-push-for-a-permanent-aristocracy/2015/04/14/aa434f82-e2e5-11e4-81ea-0649268f729e_story.html?hpid=z2
Republicans…. They’ve discovered, belatedly, that income inequality is a problem, and they’re no longer proposing to give tax breaks to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Now they are proposing to give tax breaks to the wealthiest two-tenths of 1 percent of Americans.
On Tuesday afternoon, the House Rules Committee took up H.R. 1105, the “Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015,” with plans to bring it to a vote on the chamber floor Wednesday — Tax Day. It is an extraordinarily candid expression of the majority’s priorities: A tax cut costing the treasury $269 billion over a decade that would exclusively benefit individuals with wealth of more than $5.4 million and couples with wealth of more than $10.9 million.
That’s a tax break for only the 5,500 wealthiest households in the country each year, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Of those, the 318 wealthiest estates each year — those worth $50 million or more — would see an average windfall of $20 million each, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
GOP leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) have begun to recognize that the vast gap between rich and poor is detrimental — and to blame the problem on President Obama. Their solution, so far, has been to propose cuts of hundreds of billions of dollars from food stamps, Pell grants, Medicaid and other programs for those without means — and, on Tax Day, to give $269 billion to the few who already have the most….
Nice write-up on FLOTUS’ personal aide, Kristen Jarvis. 🙂
Good Morning Dudette, Chips and TOD. What a wonderful article.
I so love our First Family. That last paragraph brought me to tears.
“And when the president’s plane landed back at Joint Base Andrews, the first lady invited Jarvis to exit at the front of the plane with the family. “As we walked down the steps, FLOTUS was holding my hand,” Jarvis said softly”.
Have a great day everyone. I work in accounting and it’s Tax Day so back to work for me….!!!!!
❤
GM MP! ❤ you right back! 🙂
On Tax Day…very VERY interesting read:)
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/technology/personaltech/turbotax-or-irs-as-tax-preparer-intuit-has-a-favorite.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1
Around this time every year, Joseph Bankman, a professor of tax law at Stanford Law School and a longtime advocate of using technology to simplify tax filing, gets on the phone with reporters to explain what is wrong with how we do our taxes in the United States. Every year he says pretty much the same thing: No other industrialized country asks its citizens to jump through as many hoops to calculate their taxes as ours.
It isn’t just lawmakers or the hapless-seeming Internal Revenue Service that is perpetuating the annoyance of tax time, he adds. Instead it is the private sector — specifically, the software company Intuit, which makes TurboTax, the most popular tax program in the country.
Oh hell naw, I ain’t driving across that!
IN A NIGHTMARE! Are they kidding??!!
I thought the Pacific Coast Highway had treacherous sections – this is crazy!! Imagine driving this at night!
This is heart-breaking! Humans really are the most destructive species on the planet.
OMG. One away from EXTINCTION! Should bring it to a zoo for good health and safe keeping…
This is very sad.
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING EVERYONE….MUCH TO DO TODAY AND I DO HOPE ARETHA HAD A COMFORTING SLEEP AFTER GIVING IT ALL LAST NIGHT…UNFORGETTABLE!…WILL CHECK BACK LATER…I HAVE LOTS TO DO TODAY!
Heads up yaw! Pres Obama=s town hall will also be live on Cspan 2:35pm here is the link. http://www.c-span.org/video/?325396-2/president-obama-town-hall-meeting-charlotte-north-carolina
TY
ur welcome. bbl
I believe that she will not be confirmed…Reid made a tragic mistake by not confirming her when they could…not sure why he decided to wait…
Prettyfoot, I agree with you that the reckless GOP are not going to confirm Loretta Lynch for US AG. Repubs really hate President Obama and will do anything to obstruct him.
Remember, on the newly elected POTUS inauguration night Jan-20-2009, 15 US congressional elected officials, plotted to obstruction and destroy President Obama, thus USA during the onset of the worst financial crisis since the “great depression”. You think the give a-shit-now?!
R&S!
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/04/15/rise-and-shine-1042/
Sigh. they don’t get “subsidies”. They get what employers normally kick in.
Our biggest threat to the future of America is the Stupid that has been allowed to run government.
Good morning, TOD.
I am late to the party but am very happy to see that nobody here is buying the laughable spin on the Senate interference .
Remember, the NY Times is a paid cheerleader for the Military Industrilal Complex who lied us into the Iraq war.
Hence, their incomplete reporting today by Chief Hatchetman Peter Baker is no surprise and should be given the respect it deserves—none.
The witheld fact that is most important is one pointed out by President Obama himself. The President said that if the US fails to lift their part of the sanctions, the rest of the world will go ahead anyway.
In other words, what Corker and Co. “won” is the right to do very little damage and look impotent while doing so.