IHOP DAY

TODAY was rather busy for me. I'm working on adjusting to waking up at an earlier time frame than normal. I really wish I had my old schedule...those of you who drive from Antioch know my pain...TRAFFIC! I get so sick of driving to and from work in traffic. Sometimes I wish I was a character in Grand Theft Auto and I could hit the people who are driving like they have no where to be bright and early in the morning. Due to bumper to bumper traffic today..I was late to work :( ... which means one of two things 1. I will have to get up even earlier to make it to work on time 2. People can't DRIVE IN THE MORNING!! ...I'm leaning towards 2! lol.. Ne how I did my time at work, and was excited to fulfill my taste buds with IHOP TONIGHT! You see tonight IHOP has a special where you get a free stack of pancakes and you get to give back by donating to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

I got to kill 2 birds in one stone..GOOD MEAL AND HELP OTHERS! I MUST SAY THANK YOU to my friend Ebony.. because I would have never known about the special. Well I know I missed you guys last night.. but I'm ready for action!

PRESIDENT OBAMA RELEASES EXCERPTS OF HIS SPEECH HE WILL DELIVER TONIGHT...

We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.

Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.

Now is the time to act boldly and wisely -- to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jump-start job creation, re-start lending and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that's what I'd like to talk to you about tonight.

.....

The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we're taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America's economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren't preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.

In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America -- as a blueprint for our future.

My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we've inherited -- a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.

Given these realities, everyone in this chamber -- Democrats and Republicans -- will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.

Don't Miss
Obama to mix optimism with realism, aides say
Poll: Expectations high for speech
Gov. Bobby Jindal gives GOP response
But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.

....

Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we're starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified $2 trillion in savings over the next decade.

In this budget, we will end education programs that don't work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them. We'll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we're not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don't use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn't make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.

....

I know that we haven't agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.

....

But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary.

I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn't tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself."

I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community -- how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. "The tragedy was terrible," said one of the men who helped them rebuild. "But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity."

And I think about Ty'Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina -- a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters."




TV RATINGS ON THE RISE

Did you know that we are watching more TV these days? I wonder why that is... well I found a story on CNN that says Nielson rating are at an all time high. In the report, it was revealed the average American TV viewer watches more than 151 hours of TV a month..that's scary huh? What types of shows are you watching at home..it seems like all there is is reality TV out there these days...



A SPECIAL 9 YEAR OLD WEDDING





Today was FAT TUESDAY for Mardi Gras, to bad I wasn't in the Big Easy..I hear that they get today off and get paid for it..FUN TIMES! I still want to make it for a visit to the NO. CHECK THIS OUT...






AUDRINA FROM THE HILLS GOT ROBBED?!!! OKAY SO AUDRINA HAS HER OWN BLOG AS WELL AND RECENTLY SHE POSTED THE SURVILLENCE OF THE MAN AND WOMAN WHO BROKE IN ...CHECK IT CLICK HERE




THAT'S MY TIME FOR TONIGHT...TAKE CARE!

blog counter

homepage