The mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers that Americans remember each May are strikingly different from "Julia," the star of Obama's political campaign.

We cannot see helpless Julia as Molly Pitcher, stepping up to fire a cannon in the Revolutionary War in place of her fallen husband. We can't picture Julia taking risks to free slaves in the War Between the States, or doing demanding work nursing dying soldiers in battles, or being willing to endure walking alongside a wagon train to settle the West.

Julia does not work from dawn to dusk to build shelter, plant crops, harvest food to eat, sew clothes, haul water, or clean up waste as our ancestors did. Julia does not stand side by side with her parents, brothers, sisters, and husband to build a community and fight to defend it.

Julia does not seem to have any of those natural relationships most women have?she only has the parasitic "relationship" with the "government" with her from cradle to grave.

Julia doesn't need the skills our foremothers had...or even the skills of women today who work in fields previously only available to men. Everything is done for Julia through government benefits!  But remember, those benefits come from taxing someone else's work.

Poor hapless Julia can't even "focus" on her web design work without free contraceptives provided by the government to "ease her worries" about getting pregnant. When Julia does "decide" to have a child, she then sends the child off on a bus to be raised at a government school.

Our foremothers showed strength, independence, and courage. They had no guarantee of the basics of life, even water, food, or shelter, and endured unbelievable hardship. They persevered through hard times, held their families together, and passed along their culture, their traditions, their standards, and dreams of liberty to the next generation.

American women have helped build the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world.  Through their own hard work, women reached the pinnacle of success in many fields: business, medicine, law, the military, engineering, space exploration, mining, construction, science, and government. They achieve through their effort and initiative and development of skills, a process we call earned success.

Julia, on the other hand, exemplifies learned helplessness and dependency. Her life shows the stark contrast between the vision of our Founders and the vision of modern "progressives." Instead of having the freedom to choose her own path and to succeed based on one's work, one's intellect, one's right to keep property, and one's personal values, Julia's life is subservient to Big Daddy government for protection to help her day to day. Although Julia doesn't realize it, she could lose her favored "protection" at any time her protectors lose an election.

Government will take care of Julia?after it decides she is one of the chosen. Julia will be allowed to live as long as she is perceived to be an asset to the state. Once she becomes too old, or too sick, she will be "comforted" and "assisted" in dying when the government decides it is her time to go so that "society's" resources can be spent on someone younger or more politically valuable.

It is a cruel irony that the very progressives who are reducing our women to this pathetic state are accusing others of making "war on women." This government nanny kills the soul and the creative spirit of strong women, and creates passive, helpless shells of women living a shadow life.

The spirit of America is not embodied in the faceless, passive cartoon character of Julia, holding out her hand for government benefits.

The true spirit of America is embodied in The Lady Liberty, a strong woman who values the law, stands proudly holding her torch high as a beacon to victims of tyranny and oppression throughout the world.

The spirit of women we celebrate each Mother's Day is embodied in the millions of women who dared to dream, who dared to take risks, who dared to explore the unknown and work alongside men to build a great nation.

I have spent a career in Medicine focused on empowering women, not creating dependency.  Let it not be said that freedom to choose one's path in life died on our watch while we made passive, parasitic "Julias" out of our young women.

http://www.aapsonline.org/

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Governor and Maj. Gen. Enyart receive Commander's Cross award from President Bronislaw Komorowski

MARSEILLES- May 20, 2012.  Governor Pat Quinn and Major General William Enyart of the Illinois Army National Guard (ILARNG) welcomed President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski today at the Marseilles Training Center, where they visited with ILARNG soldiers and Polish officers in training. Governor Quinn and Maj. Gen. Enyart, of Belleville, Adjutant General for the ILARNG, were presented with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, which is bestowed upon foreigners for distinguished contribution to international cooperation with Poland. Thirteen of the soldiers were also presented with the cross.

"We welcome President Komorowski to Illinois and thank him for the continued economic and military partnership with our state and the Illinois Army National Guard," Governor Quinn said. "This visit is a show of solidarity and support for our troops, and a testament to the great friendship that we have with Poland. I am honored to accept the Commander's Cross with Illinois' outstanding servicemembers."

In addition to maintaining a strong military partnership with Poland, Illinois exports to the country totaled nearly $200 million in 2011, an 11% percent increase over 2010. Overall, Illinois ranks 5th among U.S. state in exports to Poland. Approximately 1 million Polish-Americans live in the Chicago-Area, the largest gathering of people of Polish Heritage outside of Warsaw.

The visit by Polish dignitaries coincides with the NATO Summit, taking place in Chicago May 20-21. In the past day, Governor Quinn also met with world leaders including the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Prime Minister of Belgium, Foreign Minister of Greece, President of Turkey, Prime Minister of Italy and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to strengthen economic partnerships and increase trade opportunities for Illinois.

"It was important for President Komorowski to see what training happens here in Illinois before his Soldiers deploy to a combat zone with Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers," said Enyart. "We truly value the great relationships we have developed with Poland since 1993 and today's visit only enhanced those relationships."

The Soldiers honored with the Commander's Cross included: Brig. Gen. Johnny Miller of Tamms, Col. Albert Cox of Newark, Lt. Col. Drew Dukett of Roodhouse, Lt. Col Joseph Schweickert of Peoria, Maj. Eric Davis of Mount Pulaski, Maj. Stanley Manes of Champaign, Capt. Andrew Adamczyk of Springfield, Capt. Douglas Coop of Jacksonville,, Master Sgt. Richard Schap of Sycamore, Master Sgt. Terry Martin of Dunlap, Master Sgt. David Ray of Millstadt, Sgt. 1st Class Ryanzo Perez of Springfield, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Markham of Glenarm.

Komorowski and other Polish dignitaries witnessed various training including firearms and vehicle rollover simulations, as well as assembling and dissembling of military equipment. ILARNG Soldiers have co-deployed with every Polish rotation to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Prior to deployment, Polish Soldiers travel to Illinois to conduct training at MTC. Governor Quinn visited Afghanistan on a mission led by Polish troops and supported by the ILARNG in 2009. As governor, he serves as the commander-in-chief of the ILARNG.

The Illinois National Guard State Partnership Program with Poland is one of the oldest and largest of all the state partnerships in the nation. Poland has been a state partner with the Illinois National Guard since 1993. It was originally created to assist Poland with military transformation and acceptance into NATO.

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DES MOINES - In a continued effort to share President Obama's vision for our country, Obama for America released a new television ad in Iowa titled "Reverse" that highlights the steady, consistent recovery President Obama is leading for the middle class.

President Obama is coming to Iowa on May 24th for a grassroots event at the Paul R. Knapp Animal Learning Center at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.  Thursday's event is the President's first campaign grassroots event in Iowa of this election cycle.   It is open to the public, and no tickets are required. Space will be first come, first served. Doors will open at 4:30 PM CST. The address for the Iowa State Fairgrounds is 3000 East Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50317, and guests should enter using the main entrance to the fair grounds at the intersection of East 30th St. and East Grand Ave.

When the president took office, our country was losing 750,000 jobs a month and he took immediate action to stop the bleeding, not only helping the private sector end the free-fall, but reverse the trend. Instead of losing jobs, we are now creating them -- 4.2 million private sector jobs over 26 consecutive months of job growth.

Since day one, President Obama has been fighting for the middle class and working to move Iowa and our country forward.  While we're moving in the right direction, we have much more work to do.   We are growing an economy that's built to last, where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded, where everyone has a fair shot and does their fair share, and everyone from Wall Street to Main Street plays by the same set of rules.

That is why President Obama is running for re-election, because America cannot afford to go in reverse.

Please click here to watch the ad.

Please click here to read the backup.

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Do you remember the many occasions when you found yourself asking: What should I do? Where should I go? What is wrong, and why do bad things happen to me? How can I enjoy a better life, a more fulfilling career, stronger social connections, economic freedom, greater self-confidence or a more passionate relationship?

Life is complicated, and sometimes things get difficult; in such situations what we need is guidance. With this in mind, Avram Cosmin has written the first of a planned series of books entitled "Be a WINNER - Get the LOVE YOU want". The book was written especially for you with the objective, not of teaching you, but rather to help you benefit from the power of reading it.

Bear in mind that the premise of this book is YOU, and the reason it was conceived was to help you solve many of your problems by using the right approach. As Avram Cosmin states, "What matters in life is what you decide is right for you and at the same time how you choose to make it happen". He also says that, "Life is full of unexpected ups and downs. This must not be a surprise to anyone, but rather an opportunity to enjoy life and to reinvent ourselves".

The book "Be a WINNER - Get the LOVE YOU want" is about YOU, your needs, wishes, hopes and desires. It is about your ability to understand the reality of the society you live in, and to accept how things work. It is about how you handle the situation at hand and how you interact with others.

In the words of the author "Reading is knowledge. In reading this book, you make a statement to yourself that no matter what the circumstances are, you will never stop seeking to be a better person, a happier individual and more successful in life as a human being, on a professional level by doing the work you love and on a personal level as a child, lover, spouse or parent".

If you wish further details on "Be a WINNER - Get the LOVE YOU want", or on the author himself, Avram Cosmin, please visit www.avramcosmin.com.

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Silver Star medal.png

Ceremony Highlights Heroism and Bravery of Illinois Servicemembers

CHICAGO - May 19, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today joined Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Illinois National Guard Maj. General William Enyart to honor Illinois National Guardsmen Sgt. First Class Ryan Ahern of Glen Ellyn and Capt. Tom Bozzay of Wheaton with Silver Stars for valor. Gen. Dempsey presented the awards to Ahern and Bozzay for their heroic actions in Afghanistan in December 2009 while protecting a French military unit. 

"As we honor our military heroes on Armed Services Day, we must never forget their sacrifices," Governor Quinn said. "Sgt. First Class Ahern and Capt. Bozzay are genuine heroes and a shining example of Illinois' best."

Ahern and Bozzay are both assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group in Chicago. While deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and while under attack from a large enemy force, Bozzay moved under fire to provide medical care to five unit members who were seriously injured. With complete disregard for his own personal safety, Bozzay repeatedly used his body to shield wounded comrades from incoming fire.

Ahern was unconscious when the unit received fire, which wounded him and four others. After regaining consciousness from the blast, Ahern identified and fired at the enemy long enough to allow other members of the unit to reinforce their positions.

"The actions of Capt. Bozzay and Sgt. 1st Class Ahern prove they are not only heroes, but they are true protectors of this country," said Enyart. "They were selfless and fearless without hesitating to simply do their job. They are an inspiration to me and our fellow Illinois National Guardsmen."

The Silver Star is the third-highest military decoration that can be awarded to any branch of the United States Military. Today's ceremony on United States Armed Services Day at the Pritzker Military Library comes as the Illinois National Guard is playing a key role in this weekend's historic NATO summit in Chicago. On Sunday, Governor Quinn will join Polish President Bronis?aw Komorowski for a ceremony honoring continued military cooperation between Poland and the Illinois National Guard.

As Memorial Day approaches, Governor Quinn is encouraging Illinois residents to honor the servicemen and servicewomen who have lost their lives fighting for democracy by supporting programs that benefit Gold Star Families, including the Illinois Military Family Relief Fund, Operation Hero Miles, and Operation Support Our Troops. For more information about programs for our Veterans, visit www.operationhomefront.org or call the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs at 217-782-6641 or 312-814-2460.

 

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Des Moines, IA - May 19, 2012 - Today, Obama for America Iowa announced that President Obama will hold the May 24th grassroots event at the Paul R. Knapp Animal Learning Center at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Thursday's event is the President's first campaign grassroots event in Iowa of this election cycle.

The grassroots event is open to the public, and no tickets are required. Space will be first come, first served. Doors will open at 4:30 PM CST. The address for the Iowa State Fairgrounds is 3000 East Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50317, and guests should enter using the main entrance to the fair grounds at the intersection of East 30th St. and East Grand Ave.

"We are excited President Obama is coming back to host a grassroots event in Iowa," said State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald. "In Iowa, we have seen firsthand the choice in November as the President is fighting for the middle class and creating a pro-growth economy that is built to last and Mitt Romney, whose economic theories are based on outsourcing and tax breaks for the wealthy and biggest corporations that undercut middle class Iowans."

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**Friday, May 18, 2012**

 

CHICAGO - May 18, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today took action on the following bills:

 

Bill No.: SB 770

An Act Concerning: Public Aid

Changes the date that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits can first be received, to 30 days after the application is received. Requires an employability assessment to be completed 45 days after administration of TANF benefits.

Action: Signed                        

Effective Date: July 1

 

Bill No.: SB 2450

An Act Concerning: Appropriations

Reallocates money from the General Revenue Fund of the Department of Human Services for childcare provider payments.

Action: Signed                        

Effective Date: Immediately

 

 

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SEARCY, ARK. (05/18/2012)(readMedia)-- Annemarie Doyle of Andalusia (61232) departed May 8 to spend a six-week summer session living in Italy while studying art and design at Harding University in Florence (HUF-Art).

As part of the HUF-Art curriculum, Doyle, a sophomore interior design major, will spend the semester immersed in Italian culture. Students will have the opportunity to visit locations such as Naples, Rome, Milan, Paris, London and other historically significant areas. They will be living in apartments in the Florence Bible School in Scandicci, a suburb of Florence, cultivating new relationships with fellow students.

Students in the program have a course load of high-level art classes available to them taught by visiting Harding professors. The professors also travel with the students. The classes offer an extra emphasis on art and design.

With an enrollment of more than 7,100 students, Harding is the largest private university in Arkansas and attracts more National Merit Scholars than any other private university in the state. Harding also maintains campuses in Australia, Chile, England, France, Greece and Zambia. For more information visit www.harding.edu/international.

Son of Holocaust Survivors Cites Need to Preserve Older Generation's Stories

As World War II ignited in Europe, the woman who would eventually bring Eli Nussbaum into the world was already a young mother with a husband and a little boy.

The family lived in Poland, part of the largest population of Jews in Europe before the war. As the Nazis invaded her country in 1939, Bella-Rachel Liebermench placed her toddler son in the protection of a monastery.

Eventually, she and her husband would be transported to a concentration camp, where he would die and she would survive torture and deprivation. She would never again find her first little boy.

That story is at the heart of a new novel, The Promise (www.elinussbaum.com), by Nussbaum, now one of the United States' premiere pediatric pulmonologists.

"In writing a novel, I was able to truly immortalize my family's stories because a novel is something that will be read by many more people than just my family," Nussbaum says. "Having a record of a family, like a family tree or what a  genealogist might prepare, is important, but few strangers will want to curl up on a sofa with that and read."

Nussbaum says adult children need to think creatively about how they preserve and pass along their parents' stories. Documenting names, dates and milestones is fine, but the audience for that is limited. Recounting the events that shaped your parents' lives, and their reactions to them, not only preserves their legacies, Nussbaum says, it can provide illustrative and cautionary tales for the world at large.

He suggests:

• Make a StoryCorps recording: StoryCorps is a non-profit organization that has collected and archived more than 40,000 interviews since 2003. Anyone can share their story; it will be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and participants receive a CD of their recording. Go to www.storycorps.org, find the location nearest you and make a reservation. Bring a friend or loved one - someone who will either appreciate your story or whose story you want to share - and think about the story you want to tell. Staff at the recording sight will help you; the process takes about 40 minutes.

• Create a digital slide show with soundtrack: Photos set to music are an entertaining and often emotional way to share a story. Don't try to tell a whole life's story in one slideshow - that's more like watching someone's old home movies. Instead, choose an interesting time, event or story to share. As you compile photos, music and narration, remember, you don't want to create a photo album, you want to tell a story. So you should have a beginning, middle and end. Your finished product should be no more than two to three minutes long. Caption the photos with names, dates and places. There are numerous public sites online to share your show.

Nussbaum notes that he wrote his novel after his parents' deaths; he knew the stories, so he didn't have to rely on his parents to re-tell them. Those whose parents are still living should involve them in the process, if possible. With StoryCorps, for example, parents can share their stories in their own words.

"The older generations are beginning to pass away," he notes. "For example, in Israel, where I am also a citizen, a study of Holocaust survivors found that by 2015, 66 percent of the survivors in that country will be over 80 years old, and their numbers will have shrunk from 240,000 to 144,000.

"It's important to preserve their legacy now. If your parents are already gone, you need to do it before you can't remember their stories."

About Eliezer Nussbaum, M.D.

Eliezer Nussbaum, M.D., was born in Katowice, Poland; his father lost his first wife and four children in the Holocaust and his mother lost her first husband and son. He is a professor of Clinical Pediatrics Step VII at the University of California and Chief of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine and Medical Director of Pediatric Pulmonary and Cystic Fibrosis Center at Memorial Miller Children's Hospital of Long Beach. He has authored two novels, three non-fiction books and more than 150 scientific publications, and was named among the top U.S. doctors by US News and World Report in 2011-12.

DAVENPORT, IA - On May 18, 2012, Ronald Ronnell Hearn, age 28, of Rock Island, Illinois, was sentenced to 12 months of imprisonment for one count of escape from federal custody, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. Chief United States District Judge James E. Gritzner also ordered Hearn to serve a term of supervised release of 3 years following his incarceration and pay an assessment of $100 to Crime Victims Fund.

On Tuesday, November 08, 2011, after having been released from the Federal Bureau of Prisons to the custody of the Residential Re-Entry Center in Davenport, Iowa, Hearn left the facility, ostensibly to look for a job in Rock Island, but failed to return. His GPS tracking bracelet was found by law enforcement in an open field after having been cut off and discarded.

After Hearn was declared an escapee and his image was broadcast on local television stations, he turned himself in to police.

This investigation was conducted by the United States Marshals Service, the Illinois State Police, the Rock Island, Illinois, Police Department, the Rock Island County Sheriff's Office, the East Moline, Illinois, Police Department, the Davenport, Iowa, Police  Department, and the Illinois Department of Corrections. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of Iowa.

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