A transcript of President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought – and several thousand gave their lives.

We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.

These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness, and teamwork of America’s Armed Forces. At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations. They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together.

Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we’re in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren’t so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.

We can do this. I know we can, because we’ve done it before. At the end of World War II, when another generation of heroes returned home from combat, they built the strongest economy and middle class the world has ever known. My grandfather, a veteran of Patton’s Army, got the chance to go to college on the GI Bill. My grandmother, who worked on a bomber assembly line, was part of a workforce that turned out the best products on Earth.

The two of them shared the optimism of a Nation that had triumphed over a depression and fascism. They understood they were part of something larger; that they were contributing to a story of success that every American had a chance to share – the basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement.

The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.

Let’s remember how we got here. Long before the recession, jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores. Technology made businesses more efficient, but also made some jobs obsolete. Folks at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled with costs that were growing, paychecks that weren’t, and personal debt that kept piling up.

In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. We learned that mortgages had been sold to people who couldn’t afford or understand them. Banks had made huge bets and bonuses with other people’s money. Regulators had looked the other way, or didn’t have the authority to stop the bad behavior.

It was wrong. It was irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, hard-working Americans holding the bag. In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly four million jobs. And we lost another four million before our policies were in full effect.

Those are the facts. But so are these. In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. Together, we’ve agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion. And we’ve put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.

The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we’ve come too far to turn back now. As long as I’m President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.

No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits. Tonight, I want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last – an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.

This blueprint begins with American manufacturing.

On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.

We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.

What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other industries. It can happen in Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Raleigh. We can’t bring back every job that’s left our shores. But right now, it’s getting more expensive to do business in places like China. Meanwhile, America is more productive. A few weeks ago, the CEO of Master Lock told me that it now makes business sense for him to bring jobs back home. Today, for the first time in fifteen years, Master Lock’s unionized plant in Milwaukee is running at full capacity.

So we have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring manufacturing back. But we have to seize it. Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed.

We should start with our tax code. Right now, companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas. Meanwhile, companies that choose to stay in America get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and everyone knows it.

So let’s change it. First, if you’re a business that wants to outsource jobs, you shouldn’t get a tax deduction for doing it. That money should be used to cover moving expenses for companies like Master Lock that decide to bring jobs home.

Second, no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas. From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here.

Third, if you’re an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger tax cut. If you’re a high-tech manufacturer, we should double the tax deduction you get for making products here. And if you want to relocate in a community that was hit hard when a factory left town, you should get help financing a new plant, equipment, or training for new workers.

My message is simple. It’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America. Send me these tax reforms, and I’ll sign them right away.

We’re also making it easier for American businesses to sell products all over the world. Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years. With the bipartisan trade agreements I signed into law, we are on track to meet that goal – ahead of schedule. Soon, there will be millions of new customers for American goods in Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. Soon, there will be new cars on the streets of Seoul imported from Detroit, and Toledo, and Chicago.

I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products. And I will not stand by when our competitors don’t play by the rules. We’ve brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration – and it’s made a difference. Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires. But we need to do more. It’s not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated. It’s not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only because they’re heavily subsidized.

Tonight, I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in countries like China. There will be more inspections to prevent counterfeit or unsafe goods from crossing our borders. And this Congress should make sure that no foreign company has an advantage over American manufacturing when it comes to accessing finance or new markets like Russia. Our workers are the most productive on Earth, and if the playing field is level, I promise you – America will always win.

I also hear from many business leaders who want to hire in the United States but can’t find workers with the right skills. Growing industries in science and technology have twice as many openings as we have workers who can do the job. Think about that – openings at a time when millions of Americans are looking for work.

That’s inexcusable. And we know how to fix it.

Jackie Bray is a single mom from North Carolina who was laid off from her job as a mechanic. Then Siemens opened a gas turbine factory in Charlotte, and formed a partnership with Central Piedmont Community College. The company helped the college design courses in laser and robotics training. It paid Jackie’s tuition, then hired her to help operate their plant.

I want every American looking for work to have the same opportunity as Jackie did. Join me in a national commitment to train two million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job. My Administration has already lined up more companies that want to help. Model partnerships between businesses like Siemens and community colleges in places like Charlotte, Orlando, and Louisville are up and running. Now you need to give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers – places that teach people skills that local businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high-tech manufacturing.

And I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs, so that from now on, people like Jackie have one program, one website, and one place to go for all the information and help they need. It’s time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work.

These reforms will help people get jobs that are open today. But to prepare for the jobs of tomorrow, our commitment to skills and education has to start earlier.

For less than one percent of what our Nation spends on education each year, we’ve convinced nearly every State in the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning – the first time that’s happened in a generation.

But challenges remain. And we know how to solve them.

At a time when other countries are doubling down on education, tight budgets have forced States to lay off thousands of teachers. We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance. Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies – just to make a difference.

Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.

We also know that when students aren’t allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. So tonight, I call on every State to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.

When kids do graduate, the most daunting challenge can be the cost of college. At a time when Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt, this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July. Extend the tuition tax credit we started that saves middle-class families thousands of dollars. And give more young people the chance to earn their way through college by doubling the number of work-study jobs in the next five years.

Of course, it’s not enough for us to increase student aid. We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we’ll run out of money. States also need to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down. Recently, I spoke with a group of college presidents who’ve done just that. Some schools re-design courses to help students finish more quickly. Some use better technology. The point is, it’s possible. So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can’t be a luxury – it’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.

Let’s also remember that hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country face another challenge: The fact that they aren’t yet American citizens. Many were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation. Others came more recently, to study business and science and engineering, but as soon as they get their degree, we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else.

That doesn’t make sense.

I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. That’s why my Administration has put more boots on the border than ever before. That’s why there are fewer illegal crossings than when I took office.

The opponents of action are out of excuses. We should be working on comprehensive immigration reform right now. But if election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, and defend this country. Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away.

You see, an economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country. That means women should earn equal pay for equal work. It means we should support everyone who’s willing to work; and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.

After all, innovation is what America has always been about. Most new jobs are created in start-ups and small businesses. So let’s pass an agenda that helps them succeed. Tear down regulations that prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from getting the financing to grow. Expand tax relief to small businesses that are raising wages and creating good jobs. Both parties agree on these ideas. So put them in a bill, and get it on my desk this year.

Innovation also demands basic research. Today, the discoveries taking place in our federally-financed labs and universities could lead to new treatments that kill cancer cells but leave healthy ones untouched. New lightweight vests for cops and soldiers that can stop any bullet. Don’t gut these investments in our budget. Don’t let other countries win the race for the future. Support the same kind of research and innovation that led to the computer chip and the Internet; to new American jobs and new American industries.

Nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy. Over the last three years, we’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and tonight, I’m directing my Administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources. Right now, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years. That’s right – eight years. Not only that – last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past sixteen years.

But with only 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, oil isn’t enough. This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – a strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.

We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my Administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy. Experts believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. And I’m requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.

The development of natural gas will create jobs and power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper, proving that we don’t have to choose between our environment and our economy. And by the way, it was public research dollars, over the course of thirty years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock – reminding us that Government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground.

What’s true for natural gas is true for clean energy. In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries. Because of federal investments, renewable energy use has nearly doubled. And thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.

When Bryan Ritterby was laid off from his job making furniture, he said he worried that at 55, no one would give him a second chance. But he found work at Energetx, a wind turbine manufacturer in Michigan. Before the recession, the factory only made luxury yachts. Today, it’s hiring workers like Bryan, who said, “I’m proud to be working in the industry of the future.”

Our experience with shale gas shows us that the payoffs on these public investments don’t always come right away. Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies fail. But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy. I will not walk away from workers like Bryan. I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here. We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Pass clean energy tax credits and create these jobs.

We can also spur energy innovation with new incentives. The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate change. But there’s no reason why Congress shouldn’t at least set a clean energy standard that creates a market for innovation. So far, you haven’t acted. Well tonight, I will. I’m directing my Administration to allow the development of clean energy on enough public land to power three million homes. And I’m proud to announce that the Department of Defense, the world’s largest consumer of energy, will make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history – with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.

Of course, the easiest way to save money is to waste less energy. So here’s another proposal: Help manufacturers eliminate energy waste in their factories and give businesses incentives to upgrade their buildings. Their energy bills will be $100 billion lower over the next decade, and America will have less pollution, more manufacturing, and more jobs for construction workers who need them. Send me a bill that creates these jobs.

Building this new energy future should be just one part of a broader agenda to repair America’s infrastructure. So much of America needs to be rebuilt. We’ve got crumbling roads and bridges. A power grid that wastes too much energy. An incomplete high-speed broadband network that prevents a small business owner in rural America from selling her products all over the world.

During the Great Depression, America built the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge. After World War II, we connected our States with a system of highways. Democratic and Republican administrations invested in great projects that benefited everybody, from the workers who built them to the businesses that still use them today.

In the next few weeks, I will sign an Executive Order clearing away the red tape that slows down too many construction projects. But you need to fund these projects. Take the money we’re no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building right here at home.

There’s never been a better time to build, especially since the construction industry was one of the hardest-hit when the housing bubble burst. Of course, construction workers weren’t the only ones hurt. So were millions of innocent Americans who’ve seen their home values decline. And while Government can’t fix the problem on its own, responsible homeowners shouldn’t have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief.

That’s why I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks. A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the deficit, and will give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust.

Let’s never forget: Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a Government and a financial system that do the same. It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.

We’ve all paid the price for lenders who sold mortgages to people who couldn’t afford them, and buyers who knew they couldn’t afford them. That’s why we need smart regulations to prevent irresponsible behavior. Rules to prevent financial fraud, or toxic dumping, or faulty medical devices, don’t destroy the free market. They make the free market work better.

There is no question that some regulations are outdated, unnecessary, or too costly. In fact, I’ve approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his. I’ve ordered every federal agency to eliminate rules that don’t make sense. We’ve already announced over 500 reforms, and just a fraction of them will save business and citizens more than $10 billion over the next five years. We got rid of one rule from 40 years ago that could have forced some dairy farmers to spend $10,000 a year proving that they could contain a spill – because milk was somehow classified as an oil. With a rule like that, I guess it was worth crying over spilled milk.

I’m confident a farmer can contain a milk spill without a federal agency looking over his shoulder. But I will not back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago. I will not back down from protecting our kids from mercury pollution, or making sure that our food is safe and our water is clean. I will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny you coverage, or charge women differently from men.

And I will not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules. The new rules we passed restore what should be any financial system’s core purpose: Getting funding to entrepreneurs with the best ideas, and getting loans to responsible families who want to buy a home, start a business, or send a kid to college.

So if you’re a big bank or financial institution, you are no longer allowed to make risky bets with your customers’ deposits. You’re required to write out a “living will” that details exactly how you’ll pay the bills if you fail – because the rest of us aren’t bailing you out ever again. And if you’re a mortgage lender or a payday lender or a credit card company, the days of signing people up for products they can’t afford with confusing forms and deceptive practices are over. Today, American consumers finally have a watchdog in Richard Cordray with one job: To look out for them.

We will also establish a Financial Crimes Unit of highly trained investigators to crack down on large-scale fraud and protect people’s investments. Some financial firms violate major anti-fraud laws because there’s no real penalty for being a repeat offender. That’s bad for consumers, and it’s bad for the vast majority of bankers and financial service professionals who do the right thing. So pass legislation that makes the penalties for fraud count.

And tonight, I am asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorneys general to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans.

A return to the American values of fair play and shared responsibility will help us protect our people and our economy. But it should also guide us as we look to pay down our debt and invest in our future.

Right now, our most immediate priority is stopping a tax hike on 160 million working Americans while the recovery is still fragile. People cannot afford losing $40 out of each paycheck this year. There are plenty of ways to get this done. So let’s agree right here, right now: No side issues. No drama. Pass the payroll tax cut without delay.

When it comes to the deficit, we’ve already agreed to more than $2 trillion in cuts and savings. But we need to do more, and that means making choices. Right now, we’re poised to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was supposed to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Or do we want to keep our investments in everything else – like education and medical research; a strong military and care for our veterans? Because if we’re serious about paying down our debt, we can’t do both.

The American people know what the right choice is. So do I. As I told the Speaker this summer, I’m prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors.

But in return, we need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of Members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes. Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up. You’re the ones struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages. You’re the ones who need relief.

Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.

We don’t begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference – like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. That’s not right. Americans know it’s not right. They know that this generation’s success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to their country’s future, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility. That’s how we’ll reduce our deficit. That’s an America built to last.

I recognize that people watching tonight have differing views about taxes and debt; energy and health care. But no matter what party they belong to, I bet most Americans are thinking the same thing right now: Nothing will get done this year, or next year, or maybe even the year after that, because Washington is broken.

Can you blame them for feeling a little cynical?

The greatest blow to confidence in our economy last year didn’t come from events beyond our control. It came from a debate in Washington over whether the United States would pay its bills or not. Who benefited from that fiasco?

I’ve talked tonight about the deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street. But the divide between this city and the rest of the country is at least as bad – and it seems to get worse every year.

Some of this has to do with the corrosive influence of money in politics. So together, let’s take some steps to fix that. Send me a bill that bans insider trading by Members of Congress, and I will sign it tomorrow. Let’s limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact. Let’s make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for Congress can’t lobby Congress, and vice versa – an idea that has bipartisan support, at least outside of Washington.

Some of what’s broken has to do with the way Congress does its business these days. A simple majority is no longer enough to get anything – even routine business – passed through the Senate. Neither party has been blameless in these tactics. Now both parties should put an end to it. For starters, I ask the Senate to pass a rule that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days.

The executive branch also needs to change. Too often, it’s inefficient, outdated and remote. That’s why I’ve asked this Congress to grant me the authority to consolidate the federal bureaucracy so that our Government is leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the American people.

Finally, none of these reforms can happen unless we also lower the temperature in this town. We need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign of mutual destruction; that politics is about clinging to rigid ideologies instead of building consensus around common sense ideas.

I’m a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That Government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more. That’s why my education reform offers more competition, and more control for schools and States. That’s why we’re getting rid of regulations that don’t work. That’s why our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a Government program.

On the other hand, even my Republican friends who complain the most about Government spending have supported federally-financed roads, and clean energy projects, and federal offices for the folks back home.

The point is, we should all want a smarter, more effective Government. And while we may not be able to bridge our biggest philosophical differences this year, we can make real progress. With or without this Congress, I will keep taking actions that help the economy grow. But I can do a whole lot more with your help. Because when we act together, there is nothing the United States of America can’t achieve.

That is the lesson we’ve learned from our actions abroad over the last few years.

Ending the Iraq war has allowed us to strike decisive blows against our enemies. From Pakistan to Yemen, the al Qaeda operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing that they can’t escape the reach of the United States of America.

From this position of strength, we’ve begun to wind down the war in Afghanistan. Ten thousand of our troops have come home. Twenty-three thousand more will leave by the end of this summer. This transition to Afghan lead will continue, and we will build an enduring partnership with Afghanistan, so that it is never again a source of attacks against America.

As the tide of war recedes, a wave of change has washed across the Middle East and North Africa, from Tunis to Cairo; from Sana’a to Tripoli. A year ago, Qadhafi was one of the world’s longest-serving dictators – a murderer with American blood on his hands. Today, he is gone. And in Syria, I have no doubt that the Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change can’t be reversed, and that human dignity can’t be denied.

How this incredible transformation will end remains uncertain. But we have a huge stake in the outcome. And while it is ultimately up to the people of the region to decide their fate, we will advocate for those values that have served our own country so well. We will stand against violence and intimidation. We will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings – men and women; Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets, because tyranny is no match for liberty.

And we will safeguard America’s own security against those who threaten our citizens, our friends, and our interests. Look at Iran. Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program now stands as one. The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent. Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations.

The renewal of American leadership can be felt across the globe. Our oldest alliances in Europe and Asia are stronger than ever. Our ties to the Americas are deeper. Our iron-clad commitment to Israel’s security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history. We’ve made it clear that America is a Pacific power, and a new beginning in Burma has lit a new hope. From the coalitions we’ve built to secure nuclear materials, to the missions we’ve led against hunger and disease; from the blows we’ve dealt to our enemies; to the enduring power of our moral example, America is back.

Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about. That’s not the message we get from leaders around the world, all of whom are eager to work with us. That’s not how people feel from Tokyo to Berlin; from Cape Town to Rio; where opinions of America are higher than they’ve been in years. Yes, the world is changing; no, we can’t control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs – and as long as I’m President, I intend to keep it that way.

That’s why, working with our military leaders, I have proposed a new defense strategy that ensures we maintain the finest military in the world, while saving nearly half a trillion dollars in our budget. To stay one step ahead of our adversaries, I have already sent this Congress legislation that will secure our country from the growing danger of cyber-threats.

Above all, our freedom endures because of the men and women in uniform who defend it. As they come home, we must serve them as well as they served us. That includes giving them the care and benefits they have earned – which is why we’ve increased annual VA spending every year I’ve been President. And it means enlisting our veterans in the work of rebuilding our Nation.

With the bipartisan support of this Congress, we are providing new tax credits to companies that hire vets. Michelle and Jill Biden have worked with American businesses to secure a pledge of 135,000 jobs for veterans and their families. And tonight, I’m proposing a Veterans Job Corps that will help our communities hire veterans as cops and firefighters, so that America is as strong as those who defend her.

Which brings me back to where I began. Those of us who’ve been sent here to serve can learn from the service of our troops. When you put on that uniform, it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white; Asian or Latino; conservative or liberal; rich or poor; gay or straight. When you’re marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails. When you’re in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one Nation, leaving no one behind.

One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn’t matter. Just like it didn’t matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates – a man who was George Bush’s defense secretary; and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president.

All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves. One of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn’t deserve credit for the mission. It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job – the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of control; the translator who kept others from entering the compound; the troops who separated the women and children from the fight; the SEALs who charged up the stairs. More than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other – because you can’t charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know that there’s someone behind you, watching your back.

So it is with America. Each time I look at that flag, I’m reminded that our destiny is stitched together like those fifty stars and those thirteen stripes. No one built this country on their own. This Nation is great because we built it together. This Nation is great because we worked as a team. This Nation is great because we get each other’s backs. And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard. As long as we’re joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong.

Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

Disabled Women at Lexington Ave. Shelter Face Deferred Dreams and Violations

Maria Antonellis found herself transferred to a “punishment shelter” after a series of mishaps at the BRC Women’s Shelter at 85 Lexington Ave.
Each week she was required to see her case manager to sign an Independent Living Plan (ILP). Because her case worker did not keep regularly scheduled appointments, Maria was issued an undated “violation” for failure to keep her appointments.
She was given a warning stating a second violation would lead to her being “Next Stepped,” and transferred to a “punishment shelter” with an 8pm curfew, and where there is a 2-roll a-month allotment of toilet paper and none in the bathrooms.
Despite living with a heart murmur and osteoporosis, using her own initiative Maria found a job. After working a couple of weeks, Maria found herself displaced by students at a nursing school and unemployed. Homeless shelter clients are required to save 60% of their earnings via Postal money order. “I was working 8 days, and got two checks. Next thing you know, they are looking for my 60%,” said Maria. In total, Maria earned approximately $300. After paying back loans from friends, she had no money. Maria offered to give 60% of her EBT payment ($32.40), which the shelter accepted.
Maria was given a second “violation” and at 9pm that evening, Maria was ordered out of the shelter and given 15 minutes to leave and no carfare. She was told to go to Plaza Next Step Women’s Shelter at 555 W 174th St. in Manhattan. She went to a fair hearing on Sept. 28 where her violation was rescinded the same day. 85 Lexington was ordered to allow Maria to return. Each time Maria called, she was told there were no beds available.
Barbara Gonzalez walks with a cane after having surgery on her foot due to a car accident a few months ago. She needs additional surgery on her foot as well as surgery on her back. As a result of her various conditions, Barbara needs to take medication. Protocol at 85 Lexington is during intake on list of the client’s medications is generated. Barbara takes medication for high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, and pain in her foot and back. She says clients are allowed to keep their medications with them unless they are controlled substances. Barbara says one day someone went into her locker without consent. She suspects it was shelter staff that entered her locker because clients are required to use shelter locks that staff has recorded the combinations. The next day shelter staff demanded a search of Barbara’s locker and pocketbook. Barbara’s medication was confiscated. According to Barbara, when staff returned her medication bottles three weeks later, some of the pills are missing. During that time, Barbara had no access to her medication.
Barbara says shelter staff accused her of taking drugs. She was given a urine test which came out positive. Barbara says, “According to them, I was positive for every drug known to man. I have never taken drugs in my life. My medications may give a false positive.” Barbara says she rarely takes the medication because after she does so she needs to rest and there is no place to rest at the shelter. “Ms. Calloway, the director accused me of using drugs and being in a methadone program. I asked, ’OK, where did you get this information?’” When Barbara demanded the source of the information and threatened to sue, staff retracted the charge of a positive urine test and returned her meditation. Barbara took her prescribed pills to her friend’s house and never brought them back to the shelter. When she needs a pain medication she goes to a friend’s house 2 buses and 40 minutes away and takes it there. “I only go when the pain becomes unbearable,” said Barbara. “They promised me an apology letter, but I have never received it.”
In addition, Barbara receives $22 from public assistance every two weeks. The shelter is demanding 60% to hold as savings. Barbara says this is impossible because the co-pay or one of the medications is $10.
Since these incidents have occurred, Barbara has been moved from the medical dorm. “They say the medical room does not exist. It does exist; they call it the CCP room” where clients are allowed to stay all day as long as they are dressed by 11 AM.
Margie Roldan is completely blind, has MS, lupus and has had a disk removed from her spine. Margie said during her stay at 85 Lexington she was constantly harassed by staff who did not believe she is blind. One day, she was given a 2 hour notice that she had to leave 85 Lexington shelter and go to Susan’s Place, a specialized shelter in the Bronx. She had 4 suitcases and $2,984 in cash. She had called the facility prior to leaving 85 Lexington and asked if she could be accepted with her 4 suitcases. “The people had no idea who I was. They had no transfer papers for me,” said Margie.
According to Margie she was being transferred because 85 Lexington was not suitable for her based on her disability. Yet she had been at 85 Lexington for 15 months. 85 Lexington staff offered to take Margie to Susan’s Place in their van, but refused to take her 4 suitcases. She was forced to take a cab to Susan’s Place, but because they had no documentation of Margie, she was not accepted at that time. to a hotel, where she spent 4 days at a cost of $150 per day. Margie had to pay someone to stay with her because the hotel would not allow her to stay there by herself. For three days Margie took a cab from the hotel to Susan’s Place at a cost of $60 each way. Each time she was turned away because documentation Ms. Calloway gave Margie was an inadequate blank form with Margie’s name on it. 85 Lexington was forced to allow Margie to return where she stayed for a week until the transfer to Susan’s Place was finalized.

Ten-year-old Brooklyn Girl Breaks 30-Year Record

A 10-year-old Brooklyn girl with a B average broke a 30-year-old Track & Field record on New Year’s Eve at the Colgate Women’s Games held at Pratt Institute.
Mykhiyah Williams, who attends Ocean Hill Collegiate Charter School in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, cleared 4 feet, 8 inches in the Elementary B Division High Jump during the preliminary meets.
The leap snapped a long-standing three-way tie for the previous record of 4-foot-7, established first in 1982 and tied in 1992 and 1995.
“Today’s record reminds us that there are young girls with real talent and skills who are ready to work hard at any age if given the proper encouragement to succeed,” said meet director Fred Thompson. “There are virtually no schools with programs for kids at the elementary and middle school level, yet it’s during these school years that kids will decide for themselves whether they’ll use their natural abilities to better themselves and to discover how far they can go.”
Mykhiyah’s breakthrough jump utilized superb technique in her jumping style known as the Fosbury Flop, so-named for Dick Fosbury, who invented the style as a 16-year-old high school jumper in Oregon.
The technique calls for the jumper to go over the bar backwards, headfirst, curving his or her body over the bar and kicking the legs up in the air to clear the bar at the end of the jump.
Mykhiyah is the youngest of four girls and her mother, Monique Lebron, said she used to take her to the Colgate Games after she became involved with them through her older daughters.
“She used to come with me when she was in pre-K and kindergarten and would always watch the other athletes,” said Lebron. “She didn’t start training. She would basically sit back and watch and naturally started doing it (Fosbury Flop) the right way.”
Lebron, a single mom, said her daughter also does gymnastics and swims and her favorite subject in school is science.
“I’m driven to give my kids all I can so they can excel and be the best in whatever they can,” she said. Photo: Lem Peterkin
SW

Kwanzaa celebration connects youth to African ancestry and the world

The National Association of Kawaida Organization (Nako – NY), held the 45th Anniversary celebration of Kwanzaa at Boys and Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
For the event, the entrance of the school was transformed to resemble a marketplace where vendors sold many traditional African culture clothing and other collectibles.
The celebration was led by a performance from the Quest Youth Organizations, Q City Sounds, Charisa Dowe-Rouse the “violin diva,” Zahmu, a vocalist and composer, and the universal African dance and drum ensemble.
During the celebration I greeted a woman with “How are you?” and her response was “Habari Gani.”
The woman explained to me that it was the second day of Kwanzaa, and that one greets another by saying “Habari Gani” and the response should be the principle of the day.
Tuesday night was “Kujichagulia,” and the principle represents self- determination.
The woman, Roslyn Bacon, continued to say that Kwanzaa represents the historical and genetic identity of African-American people in America.
“It is the combination of all our hopes, dreams and aspirations. It is a medium to express our creativity and spirituality. If you are of African ancestry, Kwanzaa has something for you,” said Bacon. “Although, the concepts are universal, the roots and essence of the principles are African.”
Bacon said Kwanzaa offers those of African ancestry to let go and let the African feeling come through. It is the space where you can be African without an apology.
“There’s something about the originality of African people. You can’t fake the funk. Kwanzaa is the time where the funk can’t be faked,” she said.
Bacon said she celebrates Kwanzaa in a tacit way as the holiday is about spiritual reflection and personal improvement.
“It was at a Kwanzaa gathering where I was prompted to take a trip to South Africa. I have memories of how the collective energy of African people can spur you on to achieve you goals,” she said.
Also on hand was Dr. Maulana Karenga, the creator of Kwanzaa who addressed the theme of sharing and sustaining the world during the celebration. He urged residents to keep to the Kwanzaa values as a way to orient, guide and do justice and walk in the way of right by teaching the children how to walk as Africans in the world.
According to Dr. Karenga, sharing is a fundamental principle that first came about with creating, cultivating and gathering and sharing of foods.
“Harvesting taught people how to appreciate the bounties of the earth. The earth is the source of life and sight of the sacred,” he said. “We are wounded even as if the earth is wounded. In order for the world to stay healthy we have to share it. The well-being of the world depends on the right being.”
When Dr. Karenga referred to well-being he spoke of social and environmental justice, encouraging residents to “walk gently, act justly and relate rightfully in and for the world.”
In order for the black community and Kwanzaa to survive shared collective work and responsibility would have to occur. The residents are further urged to continue to support their own and think of ways to help expand the connection of the lives of people, he said.
The seven principles of Kwanzaa include: Umoja which translates to unity, Kujichagulia, self-determination, Ujima, collective work and responsibility, Ujamaa, cooperative economics, Nia, purpose, Kuumba, creativity, and Imani, faith.
See more Kwanzaa photos at Facebook.com/ourtimepress

Occupy Movement Comes to “Foreclosure Ground Zero” In East New York

Rain did not deter 500 “Occupy Our Homes” protesters who marched the streets of East New York on Tuesday. The group took a tour of foreclosed homes in the area and supported one family who “liberated” a foreclosed home on Vermont Avenue. Chants ranged from, “All day, all week, Occupy East New York,” “We are the 99%,” “the people united will never be defeated,” “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” “get up, get down, there’s revolution in this town.”
The crowd flowed from the sidewalks to the streets, at times blocking traffic. As the drivers drove by, they honked in solidarity. Inspector Jeffrey Maddrey, commanding officer of the 75th Precinct, was there to supervise his officers who were patient and respectful throughout the entire peaceful march.
Organizers distributed copies of Occupy Wall Street’s official newspaper, and hand-outs that allege NYC is warehousing property. One flyer depicted a section of 11207 between New Lots, Warwick, Linden Boulevard, and Van Sinderen pinpointing 45 pre-foreclosed homes.
Kendall Jackman said she is a victim of foreclosure. Her landlady took out two subprime mortgages totaling $775,000, more than 2 ½ times the value of the home. In January 2009, her neighbor and her were served with local foreclosure papers. For two years she did not pay the mortgage. Her home was an ATM for her and her family and their new home. September 21, 2009, Jackman had to enter a homeless shelter, where she remains. “I am stuck in the system along with 47,000 other people, including 19,000 children.”
One homeless man said there are more abandoned buildings than homeless people in New York City. He said he is here to deliver a message to the banks, our governor, and our mayor that we are taking back our houses. “We are not going to stop until we occupy every home in New York City.”
Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez said, “I heard today that Mayor Bloomberg has a headache because he doesn’t know what to do about this movement. The eviction from (Zuccotti) Park was the best thing because now the movement is getting more color. I am so proud of the organizers who started occupying on September 17. White, Black, Asian, Latino, workingclass and middleclass are all sending a message to the 1%. We are fed up. We will take no more.” Councilmember Barron declared, “Evict Bloomberg. Evict Cuomo. We are today here in East New York declaring East New York a liberation zone.”

“It is no mistake that we are here East New York. ENY has become ground zero for every predatory lender and criminal offender. Not one has gone to jail; not one has been arrested,” said Bertha Lewis. “Guess what? We are the people who are taking back East New York.”
One young person said, “We are the youth of this movement. We are here in East New York with 1,000 people taking back homes. We are not the only ones. This is happening across the country. Occupations across the nation are taking back homes for the people that deserve them. We will not stop. This fight has just begun.”
A protester said, “We are here to show the bankers we care about our community.” Yet another said, “We are grassroots. Bottom up, not top down.”
Ryan Gibbs from Picture the Homeless said he is formerly street homeless. “One of the many difficulties of street homelessness is while being out there, you are constantly being harassed by the police. You are not able to just sit and have a rest from daily stresses of homelessness,” said Gibbs. “The problem with homelessness is people get so desperate they are willing to risk arrest in order to get off the streets. What we need is real affordable housing now.”
One member of New York Communities for Change said she was among 6,000 people who wrote J.P. Morgan asking that her loan be restructured. She said both she and her husband lost their incomes because the banks ruined the housing and construction markets.
Quincy, a young man who was being foreclosed on the day of the march, broke down in tears as he told of being deceived into signing away his deed, while still owing $475,000 on his mortgage.
Another woman was moved to join the protest and tell her story. She bought her house in 1997 in Queens Village, with an $80,000 down payment. She worked two jobs all her life. She said she would pay 2 to 3 months mortgage when she went on vacation. She paid for her son’s private school education, and then he joined the military. He spent four years in Kuwait, and another four years in Iraq where he died during a special assignment. Her mortgage was originally $1500 a month. It was switched from bank to bank. Now her mortgage is $3800. “How am I going to do it?” she asked. “How many families are suffering like me?”
Alfredo Carrasquillo moved his wife and young children into a foreclosed home on Vermont Street. “There are countless homeless people in the streets including myself and my family. We are here to fight back and let the government and the big banks know they are not going to take advantage of our communities anymore.
Carrasquillo’s wife said they have been moving their children from place to place. “I just want a place for my children,” she said.
“The real criminals are the banks and Wall Street who are foreclosing these homes and leaving people homeless. We have had a lot of support from Occupy Wall Street,” said Carrasquillo. “Why is it that communities have to suffer while the rich get richer? Ultimately, when we start that dialogue within our communities then we can start addressing it.”

Barron Says He’ll Take “Voice of the 99%” to Congress

By Amadi Ajamu —
NYC Councilman Charles Barron officially announced his candidacy for Congress representing the 10th Congressional District on Sunday. Surrounded by a host of supporters and media in front of Sonny Carson Park in the heart of East New York, Barron vowed to be “the voice of the 99%”.
Well wishers included his family, community activists, parents, tenant association leaders, youth leaders, Freedom Party members, and labor organizers. Speakers told of Barron’s history as a tireless fighter for the rights of the people and the resources he has brought to his Council District (East NY and Brownsville) including affordable housing, health care, senior care, quality education and jobs, refurbishing and renovating parks, and planting trees throughout the communities.
When Councilman Barron stepped to the podium, the crowd started singing the campaign song ‘Charles Barron for Congress!’ He began chanting, “Whose voice?” They responded ‘Our voice!’ “Our voice is going to Washington! When they extend the tax breaks for the rich, we say no! Everyone shouted “no!” in unison. When they say they’re going to cut Medicare, we say no! When they try to cut social security, we say no! When they say they’re going to continue the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, spending trillions of dollars on war and no money for our elderly, no money for our youth, we say no!”
“Our voices are going to be the voice of the 99%. Guess what? We are 99% of the 99%. They are occupying places all over the country. We support that movement. But we know we catch the most hell. They say, well Charles how are you going to impact Washington all by yourself? I say, I’m not. I’m bringing you to Washington. We are going to be the voice of our people,” he continued.
“I am sick and tried of the Democrats and Republicans, they should just have one party the Republicrats. They are both the same. It don’t matter who gets into office, we still have a corporate elite running the two party system. I’m going to put some fire under the Congressional Black Caucus and say come on brothers and sisters, our time has come for us to stand and be the voice of the people. Even if you don’t get the vote, say it! Don’t just sit there like some political punks.” The crowd cheered him on and applauded.
“I’m not going to be afraid to speak out against Israel and what they are doing to the Palestinian people,” he said. “We are going to tell it like it is. We are not going to go up there and be cowards. We are going to say, you should have never bombed Libya and murdered Colonel Gaddafi. He is an African hero. We are also going to stand up for Robert Mugabe, an African hero. He is taking land back from white people, who stole it from us in the first place.”
Congressional Candidate Barron concluded with, “They say, Charles you have to be for everybody. Well I am! But I’m Black and proud and strong. I will represent everyone in the district. But I will take care of Blacks and Latinos because we catch the most hell!”
Mr. Barron will be running against incumbent Congressman Edolphus Towns who has held on to his seat for fifteen terms. The 10th Congressional District includes the neighborhoods of East New York, Canarsie, Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Cypress Hills, Clinton Hill, Mill Basin, Midwood, downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, as well as parts of Fort Greene and Williamsburg.

Brooklyn Health Care System in Crisis

Brooklyn’s health care system is in crisis. Several local hospitals — Interfaith Medical Center, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and Brooklyn Hospital Center — are in extreme debt. Brookdale, Interfaith and Wyckoff are in eminent danger of financial collapse. Earlier this year, Gov. Cuomo convened the Brooklyn Work Group to devise recommendations for the restructuring of Brooklyn’s hospital system as part of an effort to overhaul the state’s Medicaid system. In a proactive strategy to have Brooklyn speak for itself, Sen. John Sampson convened the Brooklyn Healthcare Working Group in collaboration with the Borough President’s Office and the Department of Health.
“This past March amidst a budget crisis in Albany, we faced a crisis of our own here in Brooklyn,” said Sen. Sampson. “At the risk was our most vulnerable population: those in need of quality healthcare whose Brooklyn health care system was failing.”
Brooklyn Healthcare Working Group, a coalition of health care providers, administrators, advocates and stakeholders, came together “to take a hard and honest look at the direction in which Brooklyn’s health care system is headed and how we (collectively) right the way,” said Sampson. They held two health care summits at Borough Hall and numerous subcommittee meetings. The purpose was “to restore the credibility of the Brooklyn health care network by brainstorming for new strategies to address an ailing system”, Sampson said. “There needs to be a strong infrastructure capable of providing care to more than 2.5 million residents of Kings County.”
The report proposes three top priorities: increase the capacity of our primary care infrastructure so that Brooklyn residents visit doctors not the emergency room for primary care; an active coordinated care model that would streamline collaboration and partnership among providers across Brooklyn; and to ensure that community-based organizations that offer wellness resources to Brooklyn residents are strategically integrated into our health care network as well as engaging the community. “Implementing these recommendations will go a long way to alleviating some of the long-standing issues that Brooklyn health care has,” said Sampson. “Hospitals are seen as community institutions. If one hospital fails, there will be a ripple affect felt across the entire borough which may take years and billions of dollars to correct.”
Explaining why he convened the Brooklyn Healthcare Working Group consisting of Brooklyn health service providers, Sampson said, “We cannot have organizations that don’t know much about our community and our health care system in Brooklyn to make certain recommendations. We need to be pro-active.”
Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham said, “We are very confident that these recommendations can make our institutions more streamlined and sustainable while ensuring the highest quality health care for all our residents. It is our hope that the state’s Medicaid redesign team will take the recommendations in this report seriously and work to create a health care system that, along with being financially viable, also offers quality health care services to each and every Brooklynite.” Graham is leaving her position as Deputy Borough President to join the Cuomo Administration as Associate Commissioner with the New York State Department of Health, serving in the Office of Health Disparities Prevention.
Ngozi Moses, Executive Director of Brooklyn Perinatal Network, served on the Emergency Room Overuse Team sub-committee. “There was a need for a more sensible approach to financing health care in poor communities like north and central Brooklyn,” said Moses. “Voluntary safety net hospitals are crumbling under the pressure of sustained over-use and a very poor care mix of residents mainly consisting of Medicaid, which pays about 40% less than it costs to deliver a service, the uninsured, self-pay, and no way-to-pay people, and the wealthier newcomers who still go back to Manhattan to receive and pay for their services so that their money is not invested into the health care system in Brooklyn.”
Moses said 83,000 admissions, 325,000 ER visits, 760,000 clinic visits were provided in one year by the five hospitals that are now the center of the Brooklyn study.
Moses has an emphatic rejection of one proposal floated by Stephen Berger, an investment banker Cuomo appointed to head his Brooklyn Work Group. A recent NY Times article reported that central Brooklyn hospitals were called “toxic assets” that needed a government bailout funded by taxpayers first and then transferring these now-clean assets to private investment bankers who would make a profit on health care. “That is one of the recommendations we have to make sure does not even get to the governor’s office,” Moses said. There is a fear that turning hospitals over to private investors would encourage the elimination of “toxic people” in order to make a profit.
“We are asking the public to join forces with the Save Our Health care Safety Net and elected officials to demand that the state Health Department and the governor recognize the need for the safety health care network in Brooklyn,” said Moses. “Policies should be developed to protect facilities in low-income communities, include accountability and transparency in public funding, develop programs to target funds don’t go to financially vulnerable service providers and health care institutions, and to protect those institutions from the usual across-the-board cuts of Medicaid.” Specifically, she urges support for changes in the distribution of charity care money, almost $900 million annually, so that the money follows the low-income patients to the providers that serve them. “Right now the formula does not do that and many hospitals that do not serve majority poor people get it. Currently, the proposal regarding charity care money is before the Medicaid Review Committee,” said Moses.
In some areas of Brooklyn there are only 11 full-time primary care physicians for a population of approximately 80,000 individuals. Mark Krocansky, past President of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, a group of 4300 physicians, medical residents, and medical residents said, “We train young residents in Brooklyn in medical school and other institutions and we try to keep them in Brooklyn. Some of them are international medical school grads. Others are students who have incurred big debt in college and medical school and cannot afford to practice in Brooklyn so they go to more lucrative areas where the salaries are higher. The system rewards specialists. We have to devise a system to train more family and primary care physicians and get them to stay in the community.”
Brooklyn Multiservice Family Health Center President and CEO Harvey Lawrence said, “Everybody is entitled to health care. The hospitals and the health care network in Brooklyn are critical not just to keep people well, but to keep them alive.”
Sen. Sampson recommends that anyone concerned about access to quality health care regardless of ability to pay, should contact their elected officials who will carry the message to the Berger Commission. In addition, he recommends reaching out to the Department of Health to encourage serious consideration of the Brooklyn Health care Working Group’s policy recommendations.

Ratner eyes Brooklyn Navy Yard for Atlantic Yards Construction

Prefabricated skyscrapers could wake city’s manufacturing industry

Developer Forest City Ratner is looking at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as one of three possible sites to manufacture modular units of the Atlantic Yards project, according to a source with knowledge of the project.

“The Brooklyn Navy Yard is close to the site and it would be kind of cool given its history of ship building,” said the source, adding that the other site is also in Brooklyn and the third site is in Queens.

When finalized the manufacturing site will construct prefabricated units for the world’s largest modular constructed building at 32 floors on the Atlantic Yards site. It will also be utilized for the other 14 other residential buildings proposed on the $4.5 bill project.

The source said that surprisingly there are still quite a few manufacturing sites around the city, and modular construction will bring manufacturing union and trade-union jobs.
“The site will also serve the construction needs around the city, the country and perhaps globally,” the source said.

The narrowing down of a manufacturing site comes as FCR President Bruce Ratner unveiled the design for the 32-story residential prefabricated building for the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street last week. Ratner said he hoped work would begin on the building in early 2012.

If successful, Ratner may build an even higher prefabricated building of 50-stories on the 22-acre Atlantic Yards site. Currently, the world’s tallest prefabricated building is a 25-story dormitory in Wolverhampton, England, that was built in 2010 in less than 12 months.

Ratner, whose company is a major developer in the city and around the country, told reporters that he has been studying new modern modular technologies for several years and believes the construction industry is moving in that direction, in good part because it reduces costs.

Upon final build-out, the Atlantic Yards project will include the Barclay Nets Arena, which is now under construction, and 6,430 units of housing. Of this housing, 4,500 will be rental units and half of those or 2,250 are earmarked as for low- moderate- and middle-income families.

Music Haven Jazz966 Celebrates 20 Years as Brooklyn’s Best Kept Secret

“Authentic” is a word that we hear a lot now, as in being an “authentic” reproduction of a chair or table, something that looks like the original but you know is not. Every Friday night for most of the year the jazz venue Jazz966 is not just “authentic”, it is the thing itself– a local jazz venue, low-ceilinged and filled with an appreciative family of regulars who are kind enough to let others join in on their very good time.

“Wynton Marsalis came and was very generous to us,” said Sam Pinn, Chairman of the Board of the Fort Greene Senior Citizens Council and Executive Producer of Jazz966. “Anyone in the city would be amazed at what he did for us. The first thing he said was ‘Oh man.’ He had never, he’s played all over the world and it’s hard for me to imagine but he said it, he said, ‘I’ve never played for an audience like this.’ There were over 500 people and maybe two were white and Marsalis said, “There is so much soul in here, I’ve got to bring my musicians back here.” Because not only were the people here, but they appreciated the music. They were into him and he was into them and it was the whole jazz package.”

Sam is a lifelong resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant and lives with Doris, his wife of 52 years, in the same house his parents bought in 1928.

Jazz966 grew out of the interest of Pinn and his friends in jazz. “What happened was one night about 25 years ago we went to the Blue Note and the prices were so ridiculous that it was a culture shock for us to see them. My co-founder Arnold Freeman and I decided that we could do this in Brooklyn.”

Pinn and Freeman had figured that there were 700-800,000 African-Americans in Brooklyn, with 600-700,000 living in Central Brooklyn. “All we needed was 75-100 coming out every night and we’d have it made.” That was 20 years ago and it eventually did work out but not in the way they had anticipated. “Here we are 20 years later and now we’re getting the people coming in. When we started in the eighties and nineties we were charging very reasonable prices, $10, $5, one time it was free, just buy some food. And it was very slow in those early years.

But then in 2000, after much cajoling Sam says, Barbara Sidbury had cause to come to a friend’s birthday party at Jazz966 and was “blown away”, and became a regular bringing many of her friends and her “vivaciousness” and enthusiasm in telling folks about her find.

What she had found was a place where “The patrons have a different sense of themselves” and enjoy the fact that they can come to the center and see feature acts such as “Randy Weston Lou Donaldson, Barry Harris, Dakota Staton, Gloria Lynn and on and on.”
When Jazz966 started, it was straight jazz but now the offering is very diverse with blues, jazz, soul, classic soul and Caribbean music. “Back in the early days when people could smoke, it looked like those old movies with the smoke-filled rooms.” The venue came through that era with some success and what they have built has become more than just a club it’s virtually a cabaret.

“People dance. They can purchase food and soda and bring their own beverages. It is a family we have here and we want all people to feel very comfortable.”
The patrons of Jazz966 are mostly over 60, but don’t call them seniors, unless it involves a reduced fare. Age is just a number, it’s the attitude that makes the difference.
Pinn says he sees three tiers of seniors: Young seniors 60-75, middle seniors 75-85, and mature seniors at 85+ and he says even those numbers are starting to change.

One thing that does not change is the spirit and the joy of life that so impressed Mr. Marsalis, Etta Jones, Torrie McCartney and all of the artists that have appeared. In the 20-years of Friday nights, Jazz966 has become more than a venue, it is the cornerstone of Brooklyn jazz, and while others are beautiful and authentic, Jazz966 is the thing itself.

Jazz966 is located at 966 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY. Live Jazz on Fridays. Doors open 7:00pm. For more info. go to: www.jazz966.com

Education Beat: Benjamin Banneker Academy for Community Development is launching its very first rowing club.

Nine scholars have signed up so far to work with the Village Community Boathouse who introduces young people interested in the sport. The club meets weekly at the Brooklyn Navy Yards where they are educated on rowing terms and team building skills. The scholars are also engaged in a safe clean-up project along the waterway of the Navy Yards.

The club aims to compete in Spring 2012, but also will learn how to put together their boats from scratch. The following are a just a few of the terms that the club is getting familiar with, and challenge yourself to see how many terms you are knowledgeable of!
The parts of the boat include: hull, bow, stern, keel, keelson, gunwales, thwarts, rudder, yoke, pintle, gudgeon, thole pin & ring, floorboards, stretcher, and gunwales. The oars include: collar, leathers, handles, and the blade/spoons.

There are only two positions for each team; the coxswain and the stroke. The coxswain is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering, while the stroke is the person(s) who make the oar motions on the boat.
- J. Higgins, BBAHS Community Coordinator

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