I am very bored.I`m not saying school is boring but when i come to school, it is always boring. Nothing new ever happens. It`s always the same thing, and i get tired of it. To make kids want to come to school they have to make it interesting. That`s why there are so many drop outs each year. They feel that they don`t have anything to come to school and look forward to. I understand where they are coming from, but they should always want to come to school and get an education.

Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit

In both the Illinois State Senate and the U.S. Senate, Obama championed efforts to expand the EITC, which is one of the most successful anti-poverty programs to date. President Obama will reward work by increasing the number of working parents eligible for EITC benefits, increasing the benefit available to parents who support their children through child support payments, and reducing the EITC marriage penalty which hurts low-income families. Under the Obama-Biden plan, full-time workers making minimum wage will get an EITC benefit up to $555, more than three times greater than the $175 benefit they get today. If the workers are responsibly supporting their children on child support, the Obama-Biden plan will give those workers a benefit of $1,110.

Yesterday, several members of the President's energy and environment team attended the Washington auto show. We asked Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, to make jot down some notes with her impressions of the show. On January 29th, the U.S. Senate approved the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, better known as the State Children's Health Insurance Program or SCHIP. Once signed into law, this legislation will continue coverage for six to seven million children and increase that coverage to four million more.

The particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us," President Obama said this morning to a crowd of about 3,500 people gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in the nation's capital.Last night, President Obama signed a law reauthorizing CHIP, which funds health care for families who don't qualify for Medicaid but still can't afford private insurance.That's the title of President Obama's op-ed this morning in the Washington Post, where he makes a forceful argument for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

On a visit to an infrastructure project in Virginia, the President announced that the Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar told him that if the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passes, his company would be able to rehire some of the 20,000 employees it has laid off in the last few weeks."No matter what you do, you can't pass a law that makes somebody do the right thing, right?" That was Mrs. Obama's message to a group of young people she met with on a visit to the Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that provides a range of social services.

"Yesterday was a great day for the Latino community, as 60 Latino and Latina leaders from across the country converged in Washington for a briefing with key White House Staff," Office of Public Liaison member Stephanie Valencia writes in a guest blog post.President Obama this morning released a statement in response to the crash of Flight 3407 outside Buffalo late last night.Yesterday, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed through conference and is now on its way back to the House and Senate for full votes. Have a look and give us your comments.

"In the end, all of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis. And all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow this crisis to continue to deepen," President Obama said today in Phoenix, AZ, announcing the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. "But if we act boldly and swiftly to arrest this downward spiral, every American will benefit."

It will be an enormous undertaking to ensure that the transparency and accountability that the President expects for Recovery.gov will be upheld. Peter Orszag, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has sent a memo to the heads of federal departments and agencies explaining what's expected of them and offering advice for how to meet those high standards.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Civil liberties experts say ongoing cases related to torture and rendition are testing the Obama administration's assertion it will be more open and transparent than the Bush administration.
Since taking office on January 20, President Barack Obama has extended Bush-era secrecy over documents authorizing waterboarding and other controversial interrogation techniques, and has resisted an appeal by a terrorism suspect seeking to challenge his arrest and detainment.
"It's not the clean break that people were looking for," said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy. "It's also not the last word."
Obama has been in office less than a month and several Department of Justice appointees have not yet been confirmed.
But rights groups are already worried Obama will not live up to campaign promises to create a transparent government in contrast to the secrecy of George W. Bush.

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama's first foreign trip as president — a down-to-business visit with an essential economic ally, Canada — is light on time but loaded with touchy matters.
The world will watch Thursday as Obama gets his first chance since taking office to command an audience abroad, let alone get an impression of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The two have not met previously.
Ottawa is awash in buzz about hosting the new president; supporters are rolling in by the busload in hopes of a glimpse. Two-thirds of Canadians wanted Obama elected, a Gallup Poll found in October. Even more said the choice of the U.S. president affected their own nation.
Canada and the United States have the largest trading relationship between any two countries in the world. And for all the talk of ending a dangerous reliance on foreign oil, the U.S. depends more on Canada for imported oil than it does any other country.
So far, as Obama grapples with a crashing economy, he has kept his focus at home. As if to underscore that urgent domestic tone, he isn't staying the night or even sticking around for dinner in Canada. He will be there for about seven hours.

JAKARTA, Indonesia – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham on Thursday relentlessly hammered home the Obama administration's message that America is under new management and ready to listen and engage the world.
"When the United States is absent, people believe that we are not interested and that can create a vacuum that destructive forces can fill," she told a group of journalists after meeting with Indonesia's leader on the second leg of a weeklong Asia tour. "We don't want to be absent. We want to be present."
Earlier, she took to the airwaves, appearing on the most popular youth show in the world's most populous Muslim nation to deliver her message and bring greetings from President Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood here.
"There is so much excitement in the air here," she told an enthusiastic studio audience on the MTV-style "Dahsyat" show, which translates in English to "Awesome." She said she had just spoken with Obama who wished them all well, drawing cheers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration's $275 billion program to stem a wave of U.S. home foreclosures will start having an impact as soon as March, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman Sheila Bair said on Thursday.
"I think you'll start seeing an immediate impact in the increase of meaningful loan modifications in March, when the program becomes effective," Bair said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
The plan, unveiled on Wednesday, would allow up to 4 million borrowers facing foreclosure to get their payments reduced through modifications jointly paid for by lenders and the U.S. Treasury.
An additional 5 million who cannot qualify for conventional refinancing because their home values have dropped could refinance through housing finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Bair said applicants would need to show that it makes financial sense for them to stay in their homes if payments are reduced.
"We'll take time to work through these incomes, verify the incomes, and get the payments to an affordable level, but I believe you'll start seeing a real impact in March, with meaningful long-term, sustainable modifications," she said.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, editing by Mohammad Zargham)

After school there is this tutoring program that i go to and it is called The Greater East Foundation/ Peer Power. When the program first started off, my team, AMILLIE, was winning everything. Now, there is this team named g-swag that wins everything. I know that we are not always going to be on top, but the program said that our prizes and rewards were based upon our attendance and the whole entire team always misses days from the program and somehow always wins the most money. I`m not just in it for the money, but if they keep wining everything then i`m not going to be waisting my time going to this program anymore.

While checking out today's piece about the construction of Old Man Brad Pitt in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, I was reminded that I was more impressed in the movie by whatever they did at the end that legitimately made him look very young than I was by the flashier business with his shriveled old-man head.
Because -- I swear -- my thought at the time was, "He looks exactly like he looked when he was on Growing Pains playing a high-school student." (I am a fount of knowledge that way.) And so, for reference, about a minute and a half into in the clip above: Brad Pitt as a high-school student. Or possibly a very old Benjamin Button.

Reaching out to the world’s most populous Muslim nation and the boyhood home of her boss, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Indonesia on Wednesday, saying she wanted to pay tribute to its hard-won democracy.
“Indonesia has experienced a great transformation in the last 10 years,” she said, hearkening to the Asian financial crisis of 1998, which triggered the ouster of the autocratic regime of President Suharto.
Mrs. Clinton said that her decision to come here — a 3,600-mile detour from her tour of Japan, South Korea, and China — was also driven by a desire to recognize Southeast Asia, a region that senior Obama administration officials said had been neglected by the Bush White House.

we are going on a class trip and i cant wait. While we are on the trip, i am not going to be thinking about anything but having fun and having a way to just think about getting away from all the little issues that are going on.

I am in the Greater East Foundation after school and i would describe it as a way to help the younger minds. I think it is a great way to get freshmen and many other students in school to participate in something wonderful after school even if they don`t need help. It also gives them something to do after school so that they won`t be in any trouble.

" My Day Out Of School"

On Tuesday, January 28, 2009, we discovered that we did not have to come school. My sister got up and got ready for school when all of a sudden school was cancelled because of the weather. I was so delighted when i found that out because if school was never cancelled then i would have been late like always. I hope school is always cancelled in the middle of the week because I got to get a lot of rest and I got to spend some extra time with my "boyfriend".

One Of My Fvorite Singers-Keyshia Cole

Keyshia Cole was born in Oakland, California to Francine (Frankie) Lons. Her mother's friends Yvonne and Leon Cole Jr. adopted her when she was two years old. She acknowledges Leon Cole as her father, as stated on her show The Way It Is.[2] Keyshia is one of seven children. Her older brother is Oakland-based rapper Nutt-Socitation needed. Cole's first experiences with the music industry began at age 12, when she recorded with MC Hammer and 2Pac.She is one of my favorite singers.

Today is January 27 and the day really hasn`t been good so far. It is boring and half of the people that are suppose to be in my class are not even here. It`s this one girl in my class that i can always depend on being here so that I can have some one to talk to. Her name is Taishiana King and she is not my best friend but i this class she is. When she needs some one to talk to about her problems, i`m always here. Like last week, she was jumped by five girls, i don`t know why the jumped her but what every reason it was, i`m sure it wasn` t a good reason. The girls got suspended and they are back at school today and they said that they wanted to jump her again. That`s not going to happen as long as i`m around because that`s my friend and they are going to have a fair fight.

My mom is about to file her taxes. I am very excited because i know she is going to give me some money. I plan to do a lot of things with that money like go shopping for new shoes,clothes and getting my hair done. I am going to buy my little nieces some things they need and we are going to have fun when every my mom gives me the money.

Yesterday i didn` com to school and i had about thirteen dollars. My friend came over and i sent him to the store and told him to but some junk food. I told him that I didn`t care what he ought just bring me seven dollars back. When he came back he had everything that I wanted and the right amount of money. We went to Sleep for a little while. We woke up. he got ready to go to school and when he ave me a hug, he took five dollars from me. I didn`t know that until I found myself looking for it at about seven last night and my said she saw him pick it up. I asked him if he had my money. He said no. I asked him again and he said i borrowed it for a minute. I said that isn`t borrowing that`s stealing because i didn`t know u had it and he came back over my house and we started arguing and we broke up.

Last week the class of 2012 found out that we have a class trip. The only way we are allowed to go on the trip is if the assistant principal says that we can go. I had a permission slip and my money and just when i was about to pay for my trip, the principal said that i could`nt go. I was shocked because i haven`t had any altercations with anyone and i only had one n in conduct on my report card. I had my mom talk to him and now I can go on the trip, but good thing i didn`t pay yet because my friends aren`t even going.

My name is Julisa Branch and i attend East High School. I am about 5`5 and my G.P.A. is a 3.1. I attend school everyday. I have dozens of friends. My best friend is Tiara Hobson. We have been best friends since 8th grade. I have a wonderful boyfriend named Myles Gladney. We have been dating for over a year now and i would describe our relationship as wonderful. We always have fun together and i love being around him. My friends say that we spend to much time together, but we don`t think so.I hope that we stay together for a little while longer because our parents and other people think that we make a good couple.