Tracey- where's the wooooooooooooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooooo, LOL. Your post seemed empty w/o it. I believe that no matter how Obama's presidency is viewed in history, it will be viewed as one of the most important ones because he was the first person to break through the dominant white male model for US presidents. I think the same is true for Kennedy, who was the first catholic and will be true for the first woman, jew, latino,gay, muslim, atheist etc. because all cultural segmenta of the population probably want to feel as if they can hold the highest office in the land. In another century, when hopefully all subgroups of the country have been represented, this won't be an issue.  I love seeing children and teens inspired by the elections because they're the future of the country.

suz- I'm shocked birthcontrol isn't already covered under medicaid. I would think that's a no brainer. I do think that while vital, birth control isn't overtly economically stimulating,  this needs to be covered somewhere. No one should be denied birth control. About 20 yrs ago I took a teen from a youth group I led (as a volunteer) to planned parenthood for it. She came up to me saying she was having unprotected sex and wanted birth control but was afraid to go alone, so of course I took her. I helped her fill out the forms and gleaned some scary yet important information. The form asked at what age she lost her virginity and she asked me, "with my boyfriend or my brother." EEK. I said the first time, trying not to freak  her out by freaking out. She wrote down 8.  It also came out that her "boyfriend" was in his late 30s. The doctor was able to help her with reporting and help get her younger sisters safe and I was able to help her understand more of the dynamics of what had transpired.  You just never know when free access to something like birth control can lead to more important life saving things.

Have you guys been reading about the murder/suicides in the past week from people who have lost jobs? So very sad. I'm sure some of the people had extenuating circumstances and/or mental health issues, but it's still so sad.  It reminds me of the people who killed themselves when the stock market first crashed in 29. I think for a lot of people Obama's presidency is hope that neither the poor nor the rich will reach that precarious place.

  (sorry for the big letters, I can't figure out how to make them smaller)I've been following this for years. Lilly Ledbetter, another pioneer. This is one of the reasons women in this country are so lucky to have Obama as president. McCain and company just didn't get why this is important. No one will ever be able to explain to me how any woman could oppose equal pay for equal work. This is why we need some new liberal supremes. How the heck could someone who didn't know she was being paid unequally for equal work file withing 180 days of getting the first unequal paycheck if she didn't have a clue she was being paid unfairly???? If it were up to me, I'd take out the statute of limitations or expand it to 5 years.WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Barack Obama signed a new pay-equity measure into law Thursday, effectively overturning a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it harder to sue for pay discrimination. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act is the first bill President Obama signed. 1 of 2 The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, named for a former Goodyear Tire employee who sued the company for gender discrimination in 1998, is the first bill signed by Obama."It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign ... we are upholding one of this nation's first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness," Obama said at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House."If we stay focused, as Lilly did, and keep standing for what's right, as Lilly did, we will close that pay gap and ensure that our daughters have the same rights, the same chances, and the same freedom to pursue their dreams as our sons."The new law removes a provision requiring employees seeking equal pay to file a complaint within 180 days of receiving their first unfair paycheck.House acts to make pay-discrimination suits easier House approves Obama stimulus bill Under the measure, employees instead have the right to file within 180 days of their most recent paycheck.Supporters of the Ledbetter Act have argued that, under the old standard, an employer merely needed to hide unfair pay practices for three months before being able to continue them without penalty forever.Lilly Ledbetter was awarded $360,000 in back pay by a federal judge in Alabama, but the verdict was overturned in a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in May 2007. The court said that even though she filed her complaint within 180 days of when she first learned that she was getting paid less than comparable male employees, she had failed to file within 180 days of the first unequal paycheck.During the 2008 presidential campaign, the Ledbetter Act proved to be a significant point of contention between Obama and Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. Obama heavily emphasized what he called the plan's benefits to working women, while McCain criticized it as a boon for trial lawyers.Obama later danced with Ledbetter at one of his inaugural balls. She also spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention."My case is over. I will never receive the pay I deserve," Ledbetter said in that speech. "But there will be a far richer reward if we secure fair pay for our children and grandchildren, so that no one will ever again experience the discrimination that I did."

Hey, I haven't seen you in a while, Benita.

There's not one answer for how the economy got so bad, but I can give you some nonpartisan reasons, even though I've got some partisan ones too .  I'm not going to go into allllll the minutia of each point.

1) Energy Dependence- The price per barrel of oil went up, for a variety of reasons including India and China having more cars and using more of the world supply. Simple supply and demand.

2) Mortgage/Bank issues-  The government wanted more people to own homes and made it easier. That wasn't so much the problem as predatory lending and people taking out more loans than they could pay. There were also mortgages and loans that had very small payments in the beginning, sometimes just paying the interest and not the principle. These mortgages ballooned up after several years to where the lendee was then paying both principle and interest, which made the loans too expensive. The idea of these loans in ideal theory is that people take out such a loan and then their income continues to grow so when they are forced to pay more money, they can afford it.  These people who cannot pay, do not have any equity in their homes, so the people are out, the lending places are out money and this makes the companies at times insolvent and bankrupt. Additionally, rather than banks and mortgage companies owning their own debt, they debt was sold and resold and resold to a questionable brokerage outlets, so that part of one's debt could be owned by multiple companies.

3) The Dow Jones has been deregulated to where megacheating and incompetent mismanagemant were allowed to develop without oversight.

4) We've been importing more than exporting and things that used to be made in the USA is now made overseas, which leads to job loss, less taxes coming in to cities and the country etc higher unemployment numbers means more people on welfare and foodstamps, which costs the gov. money.

5) People have lost confidence in the stock market, so they aren't investing and have pulled some of their money out of the market, which leads to drops in the dow which leads to people being less confident.

6) What happens financially in the USA financially and on the dow effects other countries, which effects out country like a viscious circle.

7) We've borrowed as a country out the wazoo, we owe china, japan, india and who knows what other country a TON of money, all with interest.