A Personal Note from the FLOTUS

Ron --

When you hear about the new health reform law these days, too much talk is focused on the political.

What I've found is that most Americans just want to know how this new law helps their families stay healthy -- and how it reduces their costs.

The first thing I tell people who ask about the Affordable Care Act is that, for moms like me, it makes our lives easier. It gives families control over their own care. And it gives us the comfort of knowing that our insurance will be there when we need it most -- especially if we get sick. Then I tell them that it gets better, but there's a lot to know. To help, this administration has set up HealthCare.gov, where folks can see customized information about how care will improve for their families.

So much of what makes this law great is its emphasis on preventive care -- right now, too many people aren't getting the check-ups or the screenings they need to stay healthy. Twelve percent of kids haven't seen a doctor in the past year. And 59 million adults -- and 11 million children -- depend on an insurance plan that does not cover basic immunizations.

Health reform is changing that. Under this new law, all new private plans will provide basic preventive services -- things like childhood immunizations and checkups, mammograms, colonoscopies, cervical screenings, and treatment for high blood pressure -- absolutely free of charge. No copay. No deductible. No co-insurance needed.

And, on HealthCare.gov, you can not only learn what preventive steps will help keep your family healthy, but also what insurance coverage options are available based on your needs.

A focus on prevention will help us to combat diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure -- chronic illnesses that right now lead to seven of ten deaths in the United States and 75 percent of our national health care costs.

And it will help us tackle an issue that is dear to my heart -- childhood obesity. As some of you know one of my top priorities as First Lady is the Let's Move! campaign, where we have made it our goal to put a stop to the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, so children who are born today grow up at a healthy weight.

Each of us needs to take responsibility for our own health and the health of our families, and the new health reform law can help. That's why I'm writing today -- to make sure you and Americans across the country know how their health plans are getting better day by day under reform.

Please visit HealthCare.gov and find out more about your care:

www.healthcare.gov

Thank you,

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama Target of Religious Right

The Religious Right’s Uppity Woman Strategy
Christine Wicker, HuffPost

A core 5 percent to 7 percent of Religious Righters are Republican theocrats, heart and soul. They will vote for McCain, even though they can hardly stomach him; they have no one else to vote for this year. For the McCain campaign the challenge is how to rouse them.
Republicans have been playing the race card every presidential election since Nixon made it his Southern Strategy. It worked then and it has worked ever since. Usually they pair it with fear of crime. They'll do it again.
But this election, the theocrats have a twofer. Michelle Obama. Racism and sexism. What a combination. Although fundamentalists once did a good job of using the Bible to support racism (children of Cain and all), they can't use God to support that kind of bias anymore. Too much backlash.
But they can make a case that God hates uppity women.
They're already working on it.
A professor of Christian theology from Louisville's Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the Southern Baptist Convention's flagship seminaries, showed the way at a Texas Bible Church a week ago. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the country and a powerful voice for evangelicals.
One reason men abuse their wives is that women rebel against their husband's God-given authority, said Professor Bruce Ware. Women are sinners who want their own way instead of desiring to submit to their husbands..
"And husbands on their parts, because they're sinners, now respond to that threat to their authority either by being abusive, which is of course one of the ways men can respond when their authority is challenged--or, more commonly, to become passive, acquiescent, and simply not asserting the leadership they ought to as men in their homes and in churches," Ware said from the pulpit of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas," wrote Rob Allen.
Here is a summation of Professor Ware's 10 reasons that God gave men power over women from Denny R. Burk, an assistant professor of New Testament at Criswell College in Dallas.
1. The order of creation, with the man created first, indicates God's design of male headship in the male/female relationship (Gen 2; 1 Tim 2:13).
2. The means of the woman's creation as "out of" or "from" the man bears testimony also to the headship of the male in the relationship (Gen 2:23; 1 Cor 11:8).
3. While both man and woman are fully the image of God (Gen 1:26-28), yet the woman's humanity as "image of God" is established as she comes from the man. Adam names her "isha" (woman) because she was "taken out of ish (man)" (Gen 2:23; cf. 5:3).
4. The woman was created for the man's sake or to be Adam's helper (Gen 2:18, 20).
5. Man (not woman) was given God's moral commandment in the garden; and woman learned God's moral command from the man (Gen 2:16-17).
6. Man named the woman both before and after the entrance of sin (Gen 2:19-20, 23; 3:20).
7. Satan approached the woman (not the man) in the temptation, usurping God's design of male-headship (Gen 3; 1 Tim 2:14).
8. Although the woman sinned first, God comes to the man first, holding him (not her) primarily responsible for their sin (Gen 3:8-9; Rom 5:12-19; 1 Cor 15:22).
9. The curses on the man and woman indicate the fundamental purposes for which each was created, respectively (Gen 3:16-19).
10. The Trinity's equality and distinction of Persons is mirrored in male-female equality and distinction (1 Cor 11:3).
To anyone not indoctrinated into fundamentalist thinking, Ware's reasoning may seem laughable. But not to Professor Burk. He's impressed that Professor Ware used verses from Genesis and the New Testament.
Sure Jesus brought Good News, but women didn't get released from the curse. No, sir. Not them. Professor Ware showed good Biblical grounding in making that point clear.
Ware's reasoning is weak gruel, but the many quotations from the Bible floating around in it make it good, solid food to a lot of Religious Right evangelicals. Remember Ware isn't some yahoo pontificating during coffee break. He's a respected Biblical scholar, an expert in Christian theology, standing in a pulpit. He'll have plenty of yahoos ready to repeat his reasoning.
You can see how it will play out.
Michelle Obama is nobody's little woman, keeping quiet, searching her husband's face to know what she ought to say, as God intended her to be. So she can't be a godly woman..
As for Barack Obama, there are only two options for a man who doesn't control his wife.
Even the fundamentalists aren't likely to say that Obama beats her. So he must be a wimp.
Who wants a wimp for president?

Tennessee GOP Attacks Michelle Obama

The Tennessee GOP hasn't yet had their fill of Obama dirty tricks. A few months ago, they circulated a photo of Barack Obama in traditional Somali garb. Now, they are going after his wife.
Today they have circulated a video of Michelle's now-infamous 'proud' comments, which have been combined with shots of Tennessee voters describing why they are proud of their country:
The Obama camp fired back defending Michelle Obama:
This is a shameful attempt to attack a woman who has repeatedly said she wouldn't be here without the opportunities and blessings of this nation. The Republican Party's pathetic attempts to use the same smear tactics to win elections have failed in Mississippi, failed in Louisiana, and will fail in November because the American people are looking for a positive vision of real change. And if the Tennessee Republican Party has a problem with Senator Obama, maybe next time they'll have the courage to address him directly instead of attacking his family.

Is Barack's Cat a Communist?

By Steven Leser, Opednews.com

By now, you have probably heard that Obama's retired former pastor had some radical views and said some outlandish things. While it is shocking that an elderly African American clergy person might harbor some resentment after suffering decades of harsh discrimination, thorough research by the Clinton campaign with copious help from myself and other members of Democratic Underground have unearthed a plethora of unsavory characters and additional nefarious activities going on around Barack Obama and his campaign.

It turns out that Obama's barber is a Communist. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5071326 An unnamed Clinton campaign source is quoted as saying "He better explain his 20+ year association with his barber. Obviously, during the one hour every two weeks he spent with his barber, he listened to the subversive things the barber was saying. He must have agreed with the barber because he kept going there to get his hair cut. Obama needs to distance himself from his barber or lose the election."

Also, as shocking as it might seem, anonymous sources have learned that the Obama's pool boy is a closet Nazi. It's hard to see how the Obama's missed it. I've never before seen a pool guy that insists on wearing thigh high shiny black boots and has a proclivity for goose-stepping from one end of the pool to another. How can we trust the oval office to someone who would miss this?

Those are some of the reports that we have confirmed. There are additional rumours to the effect that the Obama's cat is a Castro supporter. Despite our normal vigorous efforts to find out the entire truth, we have not been able to ascertain whether the feline is a supporter of Raul or Fidel Castro. Additionally, this reporter can confirm that the Obama's dog has connections to the Taliban and has been working with them and the Russian mafia to import Afghan heroin into the US.

There is more, and Obama supporters are just going to have to steel themselves to the truth here. A Democratic Underground member under the pseudonym "Thurston Howell III" was able to uncover a nearly 1000 year old mystery and tie it to Obama. According to this post, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5071867 Obama was responsible for the 1066 invasion of England by William the Conqueror. In that same thread, a decendant of William I, who is recognized as England's first monarch, refused to deny the allegations. Calls to Buckingham Palace as well as Ten Downing street (Not to mention 221B Baker street) for additional verification went unanswered.

The Clinton campaign has promised that additional scrutiny of the people who surround Barack Obama's life will continue. Another unnamed Clinton staffer was quoted as saying "We have to know everything there is to know about Barack Obama. The people deserve to know who they are considering for the Democratic Nomination. If that means we have to dig into everything there is to know about the Obama family Veterinarian, Michele's manicurist and the guy who normally helps them out at Home Depot, we are going to do that."

Michelle Obama Touched Me

Finally, I share a very private thought with the illustrious Michelle Obama.

"For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country," she told a Milwaukee crowd today, "because it feels like hope is making a comeback."

Since I am old enough to be her father, I sensed the loss of hope in 1968. Forty years is a big hunk out of anyone’s life. The youngsters among us have never had a day of freedom.

The Ron Paul supporters also have hope given them by the candidate. This spirit is exactly what the public needs, whether or not they recognize this.