Conference Call with POTUS

Copied and pasted from Yahoo headlines (but they got it wrong... President Obama was heading TO California not HOME from California): WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama warned Thursday that if Congress doesn't deliver health care legislation by the end of the year, the opportunity will be lost, a plea to political supporters to pressure lawmakers to act. "If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done," Obama told supporters by phone as he flew home on Air Force One from a West Coast fundraising trip. Obama's political organization, Organizing for America, invited campaign volunteers to a midday conference call to describe a nationwide June 6 kickoff for its health care campaign. The president's message to his re-election campaign-in-waiting was simple: If volunteers don't pressure lawmakers to support the White House's goal on health care, Washington would drag its feet and nothing would change. "The election in November — that did not bring about change, it just gave us an opportunity for change," Obama said. "So now, we are really going to have to remobilize, we have all had a chance to catch our breath after election and we have gotten a lot of things done during our first four months. "But health care, that's a big push." The presidential plea came as lawmakers prepare for an aggressive schedule of work aimed at producing comprehensive health care overhaul bills in the House and Senate by August. Committee hearings — and soon thereafter votes — will start next week, as soon as lawmakers return to Washington from a weeklong recess. Many members of Congress spent the break holding town hall meetings and other forums with their constituents about health care, even as opponents and supporters of Obama's plans ramped up television and radio ads for and against. "I think the status quo is unacceptable and that we've got to get it done this year," Obama repeated, ginning up his supporters for a door-to-door and phone-to-phone canvass similar to his presidential campaign. Obama's top aides, including former campaign manager David Plouffe, told the supporters they have a challenge ahead of them. "If the country stands with the president and if the country is demanding health care reform then we'll get it done; Washington will not have any option but to follow us," Plouffe said on the call, which was not announced on the White House's official schedule. The president's conversation with his supporters was part pep talk and part a nod to political reality. Obama is looking to use his network of supporters to deliver a campaign promise, and if he seeks a second term in 2012 — an almost certainty — he hopes to keep many of those volunteers engaged in person and online. "This is our big chance to prove that the movement that you started during the campaign isn't over, we're just getting started," Obama said. The president said the costs of the nation's $2.5 trillion health care system are crushing families and businesses and pose the largest threat to the economy. The White House is leaving it to lawmakers to work out the details of a health care plan, but Obama has said it should ensure choice and lower costs, while extending coverage to the 50 million Americans now uninsured. The cost of accomplishing that has been estimated around $1.5 trillion, and figuring out how to pay is emerging as a major challenge for Congress and the White House. The Republican National Committee said Obama's approach was not the right path, arguing that Democrats are pushing for a government-run health care system that will take away individual choice. So I was on this conference call. Here is my email about the time of the call: Roberta --I want to remind you that you have signed up to join President Barack Obama and David Plouffe today, Thursday, May 28th, on a live conference call.The call will begin at at 12:45 p.m. Eastern Time (9:45 a.m. Pacific Time).Remember: You do not need to dial-in to this call. We'll call you.You'll receive a call at the number you registered with between 12:45 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time today. When you answer your phone, you'll instantly be connected to our nationwide call.Thanks,JeremyJeremy BirdDeputy DirectorOrganizing for America I got the email invitation Wednesday May 27th and responded that I was interested. Fortunately I have a flexible schedule and John was not expecting any conference calls so I responded YES sign me up. So the call did not come until about 1:03 but of course I already thought I had been forgotten. Mitch Stewart was talking when I joined the call. Then about 10 minutes later David Pflouffe came on and talked about helath care canvasing being critical now. He said something like this is the critical turning point we can look back 20-25 years from now and point to as the critical turning point for health care if we act now. Then a female voice said "Air Force 1 Operator" and Reggie answered. It was getting exciting. Then Barack Obama spoke. At first I did not believe it was him. At any rate he spoke about generally about need for health care reform includng "sense of fairness", "true to our ideals but also safe". Mentioned that we have started to make economic changes and that congress is getting the message starting from a bottoms up approach. He mentioned that cost are "crushing" and that too many Americans are spending more on health care than housing and food." He stated that in the long term this will be debilitating and make our country non-competitive. This is the year to make a difference. Then he took questions from 3 women: Mary Alice from Michigan : Her question What do we need to do? His response was saty involved, talk to your community, specifically get involved in June 6 House Party and mobilize your community this does impact the politicians. Bonnie from Portland: She has a son who recently graduated from college and can not afford health insurance and college loans. What can be done? POTUS - said he was familiar with this problem from personal experience and the recovery package does have financial aid for this issue. He also said there is a need to simplify student loan programs and eliminate the middle man. He said he is working on a program to cover students until the age of 25 specifically to address this problem. and Leann from Birmingham: her questions what can we do to be most effective. Response : keep organizing, expect Washington to take action and move. Lastly he wrapped it up by saying change comes from the bottom up. The way to be effective is to present the facts, read and get organized. He said people trust their friends and neighbors better than the "screaming talking heads on tv."

Mt Adams News Summer 2009 - Movies & the Pool

This morning after working out at Urban Active, John and I went to Koka as usual for breakfast. I saw the Mt Adams News Summer 2009 had arrived (resident delivery comes in the mail). Anyhow, as rumored, this was a particularly interesting edition. Particularly regarding: movie and pool news. I tried to scan this but it didn't copy well.

Cover Story: Mt Adams Goes Hollywood! (by Sue Zimmerman)

"This summer will be the inaugural season of Mt Adams Cinema in the City Summer Movies, a series of three "stroll-in" movie nights. The planned showings will be held on a giant 25'X14' screen at the newly renovated Seasongood Pavilion." (pictures above are pre-re-model)

Movies for this summer are:

Thursday June 18th Some Like it Hot (1959)

Thursday July 23rd To Catch a Thief (1955)

Friday August 21st Philadelphia Story (1940)

"Gates will open at 7:30 pm, with live music performed before the show. Bring a picnic dinner! Daveed's, Mt Adams Bar and Grill, and Pavilion are offering special box dinners-to-go (pre-orders recommended). "

This is fantastic. Also interesting is Mt Adams earlier history of the Belvedere Theater which closed sometime in the 1980's (yellow building pictured to the right).

Here is how the Mt. Adams Walking Tour Brochure (written by Jim Steiner) describes it's history:

"The original building at 1138 Belvedere Street house a silent movie theater known as The Belvedere. The arched ticket windows are located to the right of the front door and the name is inscribed over the doorway. The building survived as a theater into the 1930s and then became a saloon. It then became a show place with live entertainment. It became a theater again in the late 1930s. This lasted until after World War II, when it became a "Holy Roller" Church. In the 1970s and 1980s it was an alternative movie house. For one 35-week stretch it ran only one film, Harold and Maude.

The top two floors were added in 1989 and the building became a residence. Note the contrast between the old and new brickwork. The street level floor is the garage and still has the sloped floor of the theater." The other interesting article in this Newsletter is about the pool in Jim Steiner column "HILL YES! .... A look back at Mt. Adams"

"Warm weather has arrived along with flip flops, shorts, t-shirts, fountain, flowers, outdoor dining and of course, family swimming at the Mt. Adams Pool. We have a pool you ask? Yes, and it's within walking distance of everyone on the Hill. Want to know more about it?

During the Great American Depression (I've never understood what's so great about a depression) Franklin Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration, designed to provide jobs and income to the unemployed. From 1935 to 1943, the WPA created almost 8 million jobs, built many public buildings, projects and road and operated large arts, drama, media and literary projects. Almost every community in America was the beneficiary of a project and Mt. Adams was no exception.

The WPA built stone retaining walls along Art Museum Drive, Ida Street, Paradrome and Louden. If you look closely along the walls, you will see a marker that dates when the wall was built. The Mt Adams pool was also a WPA project built in 1938. The outbuilding next to it was completed in 1941 and included space for office, changing rooms, showers and arts and crafts. The WPA marker with date is on its west wall. The pool holds 57,000 gallons of water, the bottom was replaced in 1966 and the architect is believed to be Carl Freuend.

Mt Adams lifers have fond memories of their childhood times at the pool. Entry was free and the pool was open every day, but Sunday. There was night swimming. Playground leaders entertained the kids with crafts and took them on excursions. There were swing sets, monkey bars, teeter totters, a baseball field, picnic tables and shuffle board. Kids spent all day at the pool and had to be drug out at closing time. At the monthly adult dance that featured jitterbugging, soap flakes were spread on the pool deck to make dancing easier.

When the pool was drained at the end of the season, roller skating in the empty pool was a favorite past time. There was a shelter house that sold candy and pop. The Shelter House Theater was built around this original shelter house in 1966, and the land for the ball field became a parking lot, much to the chagrin of Mt Adams residents. (black and white picture from 1950's shows shelterhouse and pool outbuilding)

The playground was revamped in 1969 with cost being covered by the Playhouse. Today, the pool is still going strong and is run by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission.

The pool will open on June 8 and close for the season on August 14. Hours are 2 to 7 Monday - Friday and 1 to 7 Saturday and Sunday. A season pass is $10 and may be purchased at the pool.

Swim lessons and Acquaswim water aerobics classes are available. It's a great place to wind down from a busy day with a picnic, a good book or to just catch some rays.

A special year event is planned, the first ever Dog Day swim to benefit the SPCA. Hours are 10:30 to 2:30 on Saturday August 15. It's ok if your dog wants to wear swim fins and goggles. Suits are optional. Cost is $10 per dog. Sound like fun and a great photo op. The proceeds will go to SPCA."

UPDATE:

Below are pictures of the picnic backback John and I bought at Sur la Table today for movie night.

Lunch with the Reds and Lucy's Bad Day

Yesterday was a lot of fun for John and I and not at all for Lucy. Here is how the day went. At 10 AM we had an appointment for Cat Calls (vet who makes home visits from her van) to come to our home to clean Lucy's teeth. Since this involves anesthesia we could not let her eat anything after midnight the night before. Lucy looked perplexed when her food bowl was missing. Then she tried everything to communicate she was hungry, including pawing at the pantry door where the food is kept and being extra nice and then being bad. When the vet arrived at 10 the real trauma began. John carried her to the van and I took pictures. It was heartbreaking when she buried her head in his stomach. Since we got the tickets to the lunch with the Reds after this dental appt the vet took Lucy back to her house to do the cleaning and would return her @ 2PM. We thought the lunch was from noon - 1PM so we thought the timing would work well. Thank goodness we drove to the stadium, usually we walk.

Anyhow, we were a few minutes late arriving which is kinda embarassing. Ironically one of my new tenants (moving in in June) who works for the Reds was one of the first people I saw when we got to the luncheon. The Reds Membership director was already speaking when we arrived. Also ironic we were seated at Table #1 which was front and center to the podium. The lunch was buffet style so we grabbed some food and got seated. Then the players started coming around to each table along with Reds photographers. I took very few pictures but will buy some online. I may even buy one on a mug for John for his birthday. The players and management at this lunch:

• Micah Ownings Pitcher
• Laynce Nix Outfielder (center field)
• Ramon Hernandez Catcher
• Dusty Baker Coach
• Tommy Helms Former Reds player & mgr (replaced Pete Rose as mgr in '88)
• Phil Castelinni COO
• George Grande ESPN broadcaster and emcee for the lunch

So by the time the players, Dusty Baker and George Grande made it to every table it was 1PM. George Grande (who was fantastic) did a 15 minute intro and then opened it up for a 30 minute Q&A. At this point I was getting anxious and thought I should leave to call Dr Lawrence (Cat Call doctor) but John didn't think we would be late so I did not call. Well the Q&A did go a little long but (again embarassing) we left before it ended.

My impressions: Dusty Baker is well spoken, interesting and friendly. The players were very kind and surprisingly all soft spoken. But George Grande really carried the event in my opinion. When someone would ask a boring question George would follow up with something more to get the players to talk. He really impressed me with his knowledge. Arthur Rhodes said one of the more amusing things. He said he thought the umps on their recent San Diego road trip really screwed the Reds. I think it surprised Dusty to hear the candor but he also seemed to agree with Rhodes. The players refer to Dusty as "Bake" and appear to be very dedicated to him.

So we got home about 5 minutes before Lucy was delivered. She was hyperventilating (but she is somewhat of a drama queen) and very wobbly on her feet. She was vocally very sad too. Lucy slept most of the afternoon while John worked. And she wanted nothing to do with us until later that evening. Today she is back to herself. I thought it was sweet that Dr. Lawrence called to check on her condition today.

So after Lucy was settled I went to Tropical Foliage to buy plant material for the conservatory gift shop. We should sell more than ususal as it is Memorial Day weekend. By the time I got the plants to the conservatory it was 5PM which was perfect as I could check in and re-stock when no one was around. Except as I was stocking a wedding dress rehearsal arrived and they were using the lobby (where I was working). I asked the bride and my boss if they wanted me to wait until they were finished. Thankfully neither cared if I finished. Just struck me as a wierd way to end my day.