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Washington, DC - March 21, 2010 Congratulations to President Obama and Congress for the historic passage of the health care reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) , along with the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HR 4872) which makes improvements to the Senate bill. The reforms should provide quality, affordable health care to nearly all Americans for the first time in our nation's history. So what does this mean for mental health care? As a Clinical Psychologist in private practice for the past 3 years, I have seen many patients struggle to afford the psychological treatment they needed for their mental health. When I first began my practice in 2007, essentially all of my patients were paying for therapy out of pocket, or without the help of their insurance benefits. In the Bay Area, the average cost is $150 per therapy hour, with some therapists allowing a sliding scale fee...

Last Night President Barack Obama gave the greatest speech I've ever heard and his best, certainly. We have the text of that speech over at Zennie62, so you can read it with a click here: OBAMA SPEECH .

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Help is on the way for East Bay school districts, local governments and small businesses through the economic recovery act that President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday, Rep. Barbara Lee said Wednesday. Exactly how and when this help will arrive remains to be seen, she acknowledged. The White House estimates the $787 billion stimulus package will create or save 369,000 California jobs over the next two years. Lee, D-Oakland, said an estimated 7,300 of those would be in her 9th Congressional District, which includes Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, Piedmont, Castro Valley and various adjoining areas. Lee also said about 2.4 million Californians will get $100 more per month in unemployment benefits, and about 506,000 laid-off workers will see their benefits extended. And the Golden State stands to reap millions — $30 million for Oakland alone — to modernize its dilapidated public schools, she added.”

Tony West, who you've frequently seen if you're a visitor to the Oakland Focus Blog , and my YouTube channel Zennie62 , was appointed Assistant Attorney General by President Barack Obama. Congratulations, Tony! I just interviewed Tony , who became a friend during the campaign, on November 12th here and in a talk where one can learn more about the man and his vast background (for example, he's worked in some way for six presidents and now seven) who was just appointed on Friday of this week: But that was not the first time I talked with Tony. Here's the other videos: This one last year at the California State Democratic Convention: And this one when then-Senator Obama visited San Francisco for a large fundraising event:

Oakland's California Assemblyperson Sandre Swanson took time to talk with me at BSmith's event on Saturday as part of the Obama Inauguration Celebration. He explained what the then-moment-to-come meant to him.

The sight of our President-Elect Barack Obama shirtless in Hawaii has some in a tizzy. But look, many brothers have hairless, sculpted chests, like me! My chest is better than President Obamas!

llinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been indicted for ethics violations connected with a string of actions, including attempting to sell the now vacant Senate seat held by President-Elect Barack Obama. Of the persons considered for the seat, it's reported that Senator #5 offered to raise over a million dollars for the Governor -- it's rumored that the person is Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. Jackson moved swiftly to address this issue, holding a press conference where he said that he did meet with the Governor, and for 90 minutes. But he did not offer anything in the way of money. That press conference is here.

Barack Obama On Meet The Press - The Activist President-Elect : “President-Elect Barack Obama appeared on the last "Meet The Press" hosted by Tom Brokaw who filed-in masterfully to take the place of Tim Russert after Russert's untimely death earlier this year. On the telecast, Obama presented a plan which can be summed-up as the "Activist President." The convergence of economic problems and President Bush's horrible performance has paved the way for an economically aggressive agenda by Obama that's the child of necessity.”

My good friend Hala Hijazi  has a firm called " Professionals VIP  " which over the past five years has developed into a kind of meeting place for the Bay Area's movers and shakers and last night's event, held at the Neiman Marcus Rotunda and hosting Morisson and Forrester Partner and Obama For America Northern California Chair Attorney Tony West, was no exception with about 150 people in attendance. At the affair I had the pleasure of talking with both former Mayors of Oakland and San Francisco respectively Elihu Harris and Willie Brown about the chances of Don Perata winning the Oakland Mayor's Race and both gave answers at separate times but said the same thing: that Perata would win the Mayor's Race...if he's not indicted, first.   Sources including those reported earlier this year in the East Bay Express  , believe that the State Senator will be indicted on public corruption charges, but that was as far back as July; it's December and nothin...

Tony West, who I've gotten to know over the last two years of volunteering for the Obama campaign, and Van Jones, who I actually met for the first time at a party hosted by Aimee Allison, are both featured in today's Oakland Tribune as possible future members of President-Elect Barack Obama's Cabinet.  Here are two videos I made of interviews I conducted with both Tony West and Van Jones  : Tony West: Van Jones:

President-Elect Barack Obama's just annouced his new economic team this morning  :  New York Federal Reserve head Tim  Geithner as Treasury Secretary, UC Berkeley Professor Christine Rohmer  as chair of his Council of Economic Advisers , and former Harvard President Lawrence Summers as head of National Economic Council . Geithner and Summers have been much-talked about. Summers, even with his mistatements on women, is considered a bright and effective economic policy-maker. Geithner is so well respected on Wall Street that the Dow jumped 200 points after Friday's news leak of his selection as Treasury Secretary. The surprise is Christine Rohmer, who's well-known in the San Francisco Bay Area as a professor of Economics at Cal-Berkeley. I personally met Professor Rohmer during my second year as a graduate student at UC Berkeley. I found her to be a delightful mix of the personable and the intellectual. A great mix to advance policy points and ideas. O...

My take on President Elect Barack Obama's appearance on 60 miniutes Sunday.  He and Michelle -- First Lady Elect -- performed very well.  Well, performed is the wrong word, because they didn't seem to be putting on an act.  They were honest and forthright.  My only advice at this point is for Obama to tuck his suit in as he sits to do a YouTube presentation.  

  If the American Auto Industry is allowed to collapse, the US will lose 7.8 million jobs, an economic impact of $349 billion and, increase an already high unemployment rate by another six percent. We can't let that happen. In this video I explain why.  

According to the Oakland Tribune, Eastbay Lawmakers have set up call-in numbers and email lists for those looking for inauguration tickets.  Here's their report, in part: The East Bay congressional delegation is compiling first-come, first-serve waiting lists of those who want free — and hard to get — tickets to the Jan. 20 presidential inaugural ceremony in Washington, D.C. But federal lawmakers are warning the hundreds of constituents who have called or sent e-mail requests for tickets that a spot on the list offers no guarantees. Members do not know how many of the estimated 250,000 tickets their offices will receive from the Joint Congressional Inaugural Committee. Ticket-holders will have access to the outdoor viewing area on the west front of the Capitol. Lawmakers' phones started ringing months ago, but the volume ramped up after the historic Nov. 4 election of Barack Obama, who is poised to become the nation's first African-American president. It's unclea...

Donald Lacy is a name that came into Oakland and the nation's view after the 1997 murder of Lacy's daughter who was an innocent bystander just leaving McClymond's High School in Oakland. As part of his on-going effort to combat the problems that caused that event, Lacy started The Lovelife Foundation, which is "promoting life and saving lives through community revitalization, leadership and development." ( http://lovelifefoundation.org)  . I saw Lacy at the San Francisco Democratic Party event on Election Night and got his views on the Election and President-Elect Obama's victory.

Sean Sullivan's a new name and face in Oakland politics. Observers may remember Sean's run for Oakland's District Three Council Seat, where he lost to the incumbent Nancy Nadel. But Sean pressed on. He's worked at Covenant House and serves on the board of several non-profits in Oakland and the Bay Area. You can learn more at his website: http://www.seansullivan.org At the Westin on Election Night, Sean stopped to talk about the election and now President-Elect Obama and the then-progress of the No On Prop 8 campaign.

This video will be misunderstood by some just for its title. I ask you to listen to what I say. I'm am against California Proposition 8. I've made videos to show the World how stupid and hateful the people who back the initiative can be. But what does bother me is the discovery that of all groups, African Americans voted more for it than against it. Why? I think one reason is that the message those who were against Prop 8 put out was off-putting to many who are Black. While I agree that gay marriage is a civil rights issue, one can't then make the cognitive leap and say that Blacks and Gays share the same path and past. The reason is simple: if I walk down the street you already have made up your mind how you're going to adress me because of my skin color. That's not true if the person's Gay -- you can't tell by looking. The bottom line is civil rights for all -- but the message that's sent by "No on 8" seems to say that ...

Like everywhere in America, horns blowing and people out celebrating in downtown Oakland.

This is by sunao999  on YouTube and is from last night's election party at the Oakland Convention Center.  I was at my client's event in San Francisco (Yes on H).   

According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters  , Alameda County had 803, 009 registered voters, and 448, 597 cast ballots.  That's over 55 percent, 55.86 percent to be exact, and a record turnout.  That means just over 1 of every two people registered in the county, voted.