Obama's Statement Rallying Nations to Forsake Nuclear Weapons

From the White House:

To the participants of the NPT Review Conference,

Forty years after the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty entered into force, we have come together to answer a simple question with consequences for us all: as individual nations and as an international community, will we uphold the rights and responsibilities of all nations in order to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons?

For four decades, the NPT has been the cornerstone of our collective efforts to prevent the proliferation of these weapons. But today, this regime is under increasing pressure. A year ago in Prague, I therefore made it a priority of the United States to strengthen each of the treaty’s key pillars as we work to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to pursue the peace and security of a world without them.

Over the coming weeks, we will see whether nations with nuclear weapons will fulfill their NPT obligations to move toward nuclear disarmament. Building on our new START Treaty with Russia and our Nuclear Posture Review, which reaffirms the central importance of the NPT, the United States is meeting its responsibilities and setting the stage for further cuts.

We will see whether nations without nuclear weapons will fulfill their obligation to forsake them. History shows that nations that pursue this path find greater security and opportunity as an integrated member of the international community. Nations that ignore their obligations find themselves less secure, less prosperous and more isolated. That is the choice nations must make.

Finally, we will work to ensure that nations that abide by their obligations can access peaceful nuclear energy. The United States is committed to this goal and will pursue a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation that permits nations that uphold their responsibilities to enjoy the peaceful uses of the atom.

Today, the eyes of the world are upon us. Over the coming weeks, each of our nations will have the opportunity to show where we stand. Will we meet our responsibilities or shirk them? Will we ensure the rights of nations or undermine them? In short, do we seek a 21st century of more nuclear weapons or a world without them?

These are the questions we must answer, the challenges we must meet. At this conference and beyond, let us come together, in partnership, to pursue the peace and security that our people deserve.

Sincerely,
President Barack Obama

Obama Welcomes Navy Football Team to White House Video

Obama gives the Commander in Chief trophy to the Naval Academy team.

White House Press Briefing May 3

Robert Gibbs says Obama spoke with Netanyahu about how to move the peace process forward.

Obama is close to announcing a Supreme Court pick.
On the oil disaster, BP will pay for ALL environmental cleanup and reimburse for economic losses. Democrats want to raise the cap on the amount that oil companies pay for economic damages. By law, BP has to pay.

The cost will be at least $12 billion, according to CSM.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has withdrawn support for oil drilling off the California Coast.

Franklin Graham Distorts Islam on Morning Joe

What a sorry man. He's so lost in his self-righteousness that he can't even see how un-Christian he is. I just don't get these kinds of Christians. I don't know why they don't just practice their faith, be their faith instead of pushing their beliefs on others and disparaging other faiths. That's what makes everyone sick of religion. Graham is just another human, yet he condemns others who aren't Christian. Hypocrisy. There isn't one human on this planet who KNOWS "the way to god," if there is indeed A WAY or A GOD. That is why it's called faith. Condemning others for not believing what you believe is not Christ like.

Graham has some kind words for Obama:

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In an interview with the fringe publication, Newsmax, Franklin Graham dictates that everyone needs to believe what he believes, because he, after all, is right:

Animal Rescue Organizations Preparing for the Worst on the Gulf

About 250,000 animals died in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil disaster. If oil continues to flow as it is now, it would only take 6 weeks to surpass the Exxon spill. Sea turtles are washing up dead, but they're not sure if it's related to the oil spill. Jeff Corwin says dolphins drown on the oil. Birds feed the oil to their offspring. Once the oil invades the eco-system, there's no way to get it out. This spill could be more devastating than the Exxon spill because the waters are shallower.

Obama's Schedule May 3 Includes Presentation of Commander in Chief Trophy

Obama will speak at the Commander in Chief Trophy Presentation to the Naval Academy at 4 pm eastern and at 6:45 pm he'll host a dinner for the Business Council.
Last year's presentation also went to the Naval Academy. Look for a live stream at msnbc.com or WhiteHouse.gov.

Gibbs Air Force One Gaggle From Louisiana to DC

Obama, Thad Allen, Bobby Jindal

Robert Gibbs briefed the press on the way back to D.C. from Louisiana:

MR. GIBBS: So to give you -- chart you guys through a little bit about what they saw, where they went. So this lacks a little perspective of a little bit broader -- but if you look at Louisiana, where we are is that fingertip out, right, is -- Venice is where the helicopters took off from -- right? So they went 15 miles due east right to the edge of the coast, and then went -- basically turned back and made a straight beeline up the coast, and that takes you back to the airport in New Orleans. And in some ways it follows a little bit the road that we took down.

But obviously from the aerial perspective -- the President said you could get a real sense of several things -- just the intricate nature of the coastline that you're dealing with, the fact that you could see from the air the year-by-year decimation of these coastal areas. We heard a lot about this in the meeting, which was that a lot of these places have receded because of damage that's been done. So not only do you have the economics of some of the most -- as the fishermen told the President -- some of the most important estuaries in our country, but you also have -- obviously these marshes represent the physical barrier that protects the greater part of Louisiana, particularly New Orleans, from bigger storms and hurricanes.

So that's a sense of what they saw in the helicopter. On the ride were Thad Allen, Governor Jindal, and John Brennan, along with the President.

Q They saw no sign of the actual slick, then?

MR. GIBBS: No. The winds were -- one of the reasons that we -- well, the reason that-- we had four helicopters -- the visibility and the winds were such that there was a genuine concern that we'd have to go from visual to instrumentation flying. That makes them a little nervous to have four helicopters out there doing instruments, which is why we pealed off quickly. And the winds just did not allow them to get out.

Now, obviously that's part of what is complicating some of the booming and some of the response, but at the same time, has kept some of the oil away as well. So the weather is, I would say, on the whole, has not been helpful to the recovery, though.
Q Robert, did the President see any marshland or coastal area that -- where the slick had reached?

MR. GIBBS: Not that I'm aware of, no.

Q His reaction?

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I mean, you got a real sense of, as he said, what's at stake both economically for the millions of dollars that are made off of fishing in these areas, but also the potential environmental devastation in the further decimation of these precious wetlands.

And we talked a lot about -- in the meeting with the larger group before the press statement -- in once that -- they're obviously setting up and making some preparations in the parish for how to deal with different aspects of the slick as it comes. And they talked about how genuinely hard it is to clean this up once it gets into some of these areas. So I think the President got a real firsthand look at the geography of what we are dealing with.

Read the rest here.

Stotus, Basketball and Life at the Obama White House

The New York Times has a magazine piece today on the Obama White House with emphasis on the 20 somethings, 30 somethings and 50 somethings that work there, including Reggie Love, Obama's personal aide; Jon Favreau, a speechwriter and my fave, Sam Kass, the 30-year-old assistant White House chef who often tends to the garden (pictured).

On Tuesdays, the secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar; the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Julius Genachowski; Senator Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania; and Senator Jon Tester of Montana used to have an early basketball game. Occasionally, Axelrod would join them. Once or twice, Casey and Tester stayed to play a game or two with the later-arriving junior staff members. Basketball is such an obsession that Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, has been known to jokingly admonish staff members to plan their travel around pickup games.

Then there is Stotus — the softball team of the United States (a word play on Potus, the acronym for president of the United States). Stotus, a team made up of White House staff members, gathered on humid summer evenings last year to take on rivals like the Democratic National Committee and then would sometimes celebrate with snacks and drinks afterward at local restaurants and bars. Nonplayers often came out to cheer, thumbing their BlackBerrys as they watched the game. The sports are all in good fun — a chance to unwind after work and connect with friends — but an undercurrent of personal fitness runs throughout.

“People are commenting on it,” Ziskend teased Lesser at Café Dupont, referring to his housemate’s new and improved physique.

“Really?” Lesser asked, laughing. He looked up and added, a touch more seriously: “Really? Like who?”

THE OBAMAS ARE the first White House family in modern memory to treat Washington like an actual city. They moved from Chicago, another urban center with a large African-American population, and they invited inner-city children to help with the new garden and to trick-or-treat and hunt Easter eggs at the White House. According to the CBS Radio News correspondent Mark Knoller, the press corps’ unofficial White House historian, George W. Bush ate dinner or lunch at a restaurant anywhere in the country only 21 times during his eight years in office; the Obamas dined out nearly a dozen times in their first year alone. Read it all here.

Obama is calm even when angry:

Obama doesn’t yell, his aides say. He’s calm even when he’s angry. But his stern glance is far worse than any tirade. To many of his acolytes, the president is a role model. “This is a person who beat the odds to be a United States senator and who has offered you a job,” Reggie Love says. “This was a moment in time where things will only be this way for a little bit, and they were, and I was proud to take the opportunity.”

More than anything, they repeat, over and over, they don’t want to embarrass the president.

Michelle Obama gives dating advice to the younger staffers:

Showing up to work each day at the most prestigious address in America can feel a bit like finals week in college. They are always on call, always working hard. To these mostly 20-something staff members, Obama is a strict father, one with high expectations, whom they don’t want to disappoint. Michelle Obama is more of a big sister, tapping her toes about when that boyfriend is ever going to propose or playing Cupid by suggesting a match. She gives young, single White House staff members the kind of dating tips she offered in Glamour magazine’s December issue, warning young women: “Cute’s good. But cute only lasts for so long.

Obama Calls Spill Potentially Unprecedented Environmental Disaster - Video

Louisiana's Times-Picayune has comprehensive coverage/photos here

Obama spoke just minutes ago giving an update on the car bomb and the oil catastrophe. Obama met with Admiral Thad Allen and other personnel, including Gov. Bobby Jindal. The spill is about 9 miles off the coast.
"We're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster."
Obama says the federal government isn't sparing any resource. BP is responsible for the leak and BP will pay for the bill, Obama said.
Let's not forget, 11 people died in this oil rig disaster. It doesn't sound hopeful to me. Some sort of miracle is in order to stop the leak. Mitigating the effects of the oil on the environment seems highly futile.
Watch ABC's interview with Janet Napolitano, Ken Salazar and Thad Allen.

T-Shirt Vendor and Veteran Alerted Police to Car Bomb

The vendor, who was swarmed by television cameras, wore a name tag around his neck that identified him as Lance Orton. A law enforcement official confirmed that his first name was Lance.

The vendor had seen smoke billowing from the rear of the S.U.V., which was parked awkwardly near the curb and was running, shortly before 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Within moments, the vendor alerted a mounted police officer; the officer smelled gunpowder near the car and an evacuation of Times Square was ordered.

Around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, the vendor and several others he worked with collected the T-shirts and tables they had abandoned on 45th Street and Broadway when Times Square was first evacuated. After collecting his belongings, the vendor walked down 45th Street in search of a taxicab to take him home. Read more at NYT

Obama in Louisiana Gives Update on Oil Spill and Car Bomb

Read more on the oil spill at NOLA

Update: Watch video of Obama's remarks here.

Watch BP America's Lamar McKay's remarks on This Week here.

Update: Standing in the pouring rain, Obama essentially said this could be a huge ecological catastrophe and that every federal resource is being put into stopping the leak and mitigating the spill. Obama reminded everyone that BP is responsible for the spill and for paying for the cleanup.

It's 4:25 eastern. Obama has arrived to speak. Live stream.

Obama arrived in Venice, Louisiana at 1:30 pm eastern and was greeted by Gov. Bobby Jindal. Obama appointed Thad Allen to spearhead cleanup. A live stream of Obama's update is expected at 4 pm eastern. Listen at the audio stream below or there could be live video at msnbc.com.

Ratcheting up its efforts Saturday to respond to the Gulf Coast oil slick that’s quickly approaching land, the Obama administration announced that it had appointed U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen as National Incident Commander with overall responsibility for the government-wide response.

In a conference call with reporters, Allen said that he had served in the same role during a 2002 planning exercise in New Orleans for an oil spill in the Gulf Coast, giving him unique insight into the tactics available to respond to the situation.

"The first thing is to stop this thing at the source," Admiral Allen said. He explained that Coast Guard, BP and others are working on a plan to drill what's known as a "relief well" to ease the flow of oil through the shaft that was breached after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. More at Politico

Obama Heads to Louisiana To Assess Oil Spill Cleanup

Obama's Affair Rumors

The National Enquirer, a piece of crap tabloid, regardless of whether it broke the Edwards affair, has written that Obama had an affair with a former Senate campaign staffer, Vera Baker, while he was a senator. I've noticed that this rumor has been picking up steam.
Irresponsible media such as Gawker repeated it and now in some people's minds it's true.
The National Enquirer, nothing but a gossip rag, said it had video proof and a limo driver that said so.
Yesterday, the piece of crap tabloid said it didn't have video evidence after all. It was still searching for the video.

This story also popped up during Obama's presidential campaign, pushed by Obama's opponents. But it didn't get anywhere.
But that doesn't matter because now there is a whole group of ignorant people who believe that Obama cheated on Michelle.

As if Michelle is the kind of woman you'd cheat on. Obama is a family man, a man of character. I would be stunned if Obama cheated.

But there is a bigger issue here--the sad fact that journalism is on its dying legs and people are so gullible and willing to turn to the National Enquirer for their news. People don't even know what real journalism is anymore and it makes me crazy.

Bloggers are not journalists. If there isn't a copy editor or an editor, then it isn't journalism. If there isn't the reporting of both sides of an issue with the intent of fairness, then it isn't journalism.

Any publication that has celebrity gossip and often includes the word "shocking" in its headlines is not a quality publication. It's junk.

Journalists aren't helping themselves either. Chuck Todd does journalism and then he does opinion. The line is so blurred.

I think Obama's caught on to this trend, which is why he's always commenting on the state of journalism and the media.
Listen people, National Enquirer pays its sources--in this case, "anti-Obama operatives" are paying millions for "evidence"-- and the Enquirer is not legitimate journalism. I wouldn't take a million dollars to lie, but there are plenty of others who would.

The Enquirer stalked Rielle Hunter and got a story about Edwards' baby. That's what they do. That is not journalism. Heck, I knew John Edwards was a creep at the get go. You'll have to go back into my 2008 archives.

If you want legitimate journalism, read the Washington Post, read the New York Times, read Newsweek. Some may be slanted left or right but those are journalists doing journalistic work.

Hillary Clinton on Meet the Press May 2

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Napolitano and Salazar on Meet the Press May 2

Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano talks about the Times Square bomb scare last night. They both discuss the oil spill. Obama is headed to the gulf today to assess cleanup efforts. For updates on the oil spill, the EPA has an informational site.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama Speaks at White House Correspondents Dinner 2010

Update: Obama's speech is over. He seemed mighty preoccupied--and it's no wonder. He was short on the funny and then turned serious--to the gulf. Then he talked briefly about the importance of real journalism. Jon Favreau (Obama's speechwriter, not the actor) and David Axelrod worked on Obama's speech. Full video:

This is a live audio stream that begins at 8 pm eastern. Watch a live video stream at c-span here. C-span also has the red carpet arrival coverage of the journalists, media moguls, celebs, and politicians. Goodness, even Justin Bieber is there.

Obama will speak first, followed by Jay Leno. Note that the speech that Obama gives is supposed to be humorous. Read more about the annual correspondents' dinner here.

Obama is sitting between Bloomberg journalists, Matt Winkler and Ed Chen, according to c-span. Michelle Obama will announce scholarships prior to Obama's speech.

The Washington Post will have live coverage at 8:30 pm eastern here.

Obama Gives Commencement at University of Michigan

Tonight, Obama will speak at the White House Correspondents dinner sometime after 8 pm eastern. It will be live streamed at C-Span.org. WhiteHouse.gov also has a live audio stream. Here is his full commencement speech today (transcript here):

Here is a live stream of the commencement. Obama should be speaking soon. Obama is sitting next to Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Update: Obama used the commencement speech to talk about the preciousness of our democracy. He said the villification and over the top rhetoric in our politics --use of terms "right wing nut," "left wing nut" --blocks progress. He praised republican presidents in history who've used government effectively, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt.

He said presidents throughout history have been accused of socialism, there were even duels. We have been fighting about the size of government since the beginning of our democracy. He wraps it all up with a call to the class of 2010 to participate in democracy.

West Wing Week Video May 1

This is the fourth in a series that runs down this past week at the White House:

Obama's Weekly Address May 1

Obama Heads to Gulf May 2

No other details yet.