As his administration aims to move thaw U.S.-Cuban relations, President Barack Obama took some time to respond to questions posed to him by a young Cuban  blogger.

Yoani Sanchez , whose blog 'Generation Y' is distributed through the website 'DesdeCuba.com', (From Cuba.com), explains that she wanted to ask the U.S. president about issues that keep her up at night.

According to the site, DesdeCuba.com is an "exercise in citizen journalism."  The site aims to "give visibility to opinions that are not found in the official Cuban media or other publications restricted by political requirements."

The site is blocked in Cuba for being anti-government.

Sanchez also wanted to know "how the [US-Cuban] dispute is going to play out, when it will cease to be the central theme in every aspect of [Cubans'] lives." 

So she came up with a list of seven questions for the U.S President, and waited for months as she tried to get her questionnaire to the White House.

(1) For years Cuba has been a U.S. foreign policy issue as well as a domestic one, in particular because of the large Cuban American community. From your perspective, in which of the two categories should the Cuban issue fit?

(2) Should your administration be willing to put an end to this dispute, would it recognize the legitimacy of the Raul Castro government as the only valid interlocutor in the eventual talks?

(3) Has the U.S. government renounced the use of military force as a way to end the dispute?

(4) Raúl Castro has said publicly that he is open to discuss any topic with the U.S. provided there is mutual respect and a level playing field. Is Raúl asking too much?

(5) In a hypothetical U.S.- Cuba dialog, would you entertain participation from the Cuban exile community, the Cuba-based opposition groups and nascent Cuban civil society groups?

(6) You strongly support the development of new communication and information technologies. But, Cubans continue to have limited access to the internet. How much of this is due to the U.S. embargo and how much of it is the responsibility of the Cuban government?

(7)Would you be willing to travel to our country?

 Thursday she posted the answers she received from Mr. Obama.   Keep reading to see his responses.   (Sanchez also submitted a questionnaire to Cuban President Raul Castro, no word back from him yet though.)

Keep Reading ...

President Obama says he is "extraordinarily pleased and grateful"  that two key groups have endorsed a health insurance reform bill that is working its way to a vote in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Obama surprised reporters today with an impromptu appearance in the Brady Press Briefing Room to laud the announcements from the AARP and the American Medical Association. 

The endorsements, the President says,  bring the country "even closer" to passing reform. 

Keep reading to see the full transcript of the President's remarks. Keep Reading ...

Set your Tivos and DVRs:  the Food Network is airing a "Super Chef Special" two-hour episode of Iron Chef America on January 3rd that will feature not only the White House Kitchen Garden but First Lady Michelle Obama and White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford.

White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford. (AP Photo)

Food Network celebrity chefs Mario Batali, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse were in Washington last month for the special taping at the White House, confirms the First Lady's office.

In the episode, the chefs are greeted by the First Lady and are given their Super Chef Challenge: "create a meal for America using the White House Kitchen Garden's produce as their secret ingredients," announced the Food Network in a statement.

The chefs will compete in teams: Flay and Comerford versus Batali and Lagasse. Armed with their secret White House Kitchen Garden ingredients, the four chefs then head to New York to 'Kitchen Stadium' for the actual battle.

According to the Food Network statement, "each team must produce five dishes that showcase the ingredients they selected from the garden and that represent the ultimate American meal."

The battle's judges will include chef Nigella Lawson, Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin; and actress Jane Seymour.

Mrs. Obama recently had 5th graders from a local school come to the Garden for a harvesting event.

Mrs. Obama helps students from Washington's Bancroft Elementary School as they push a wheel barrow with sweet potatoes they harvested from the garden, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. (AP Photo)

Since the Garden was planted back in March, it has produced hundreds of pounds of vegetables that the White House chefs use in presidential meals and that the Obama's donate to DC area food pantries.

First Lady Michelle Obama launched a new mentoring program Monday that gives young girls access to female White House senior staff.  The initiative will allow the mentoring teams to focus on developing, "educational,  career development, life-skills," and other mentoring activities, said the White House.

First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a White House leadership and mentoring program in the State Dining Room of the White House. AP Photo

Thirteen 10th and 11th grade girls from D.C., Maryland and Virginia schools joined the First Lady in the State Dining room for the event launch.

Mrs. Obama explained to the girls how she and the President developed the idea for the mentoring program. "When we came to the White House, we thought 'wow, we've got the most powerful seat in the land to help be a bridge builder," she said, "and we thought , 'what can we do to make the White House different? To let kids in our new neighborhood know that the White House is a place for them?'   So we started thinking  of new ways to bring new kids in, to have their voices heard, to know that the President of the United States hears you and values you and cares about your growth and development."

Among the staff participating are Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor the President; Melody Barnes, the President's Domestic Policy Advisor, and  Desiree Rogers, White House Social Secretary.

A similar program for young men is expected to begin soon.

Today, President Obama will sign the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 after receiving his usual daily briefings.

Later in the day he will meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Afghanistan and Pakistan as he continues to contemplate his strategy.

President Obama's Public Schedule:

9:30PM The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

10:00AM The President receives the Economic Daily Briefing

10:30AM The President meets with senior advisers

11:50AM The President signs the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009

1:30PM The President meets with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Expected attendees include:

Vice President Biden; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; General James Jones, National Security Advisor; Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ; General James E. Cartwright, USMC, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; General George W. Casey, Chief of Staff of the Army; General James T. Conway, Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps; Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations ;

General Norton A. Schwartz, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force; Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security; Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan

Senior White House Correspondent Major Garrett tweets the following from the ongoing gaggle with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

* President expressed "how very sorry he was about their loss," Gibbs says of Dover AFB family meeting.

* Gibbs says meeting with families (14 were in the AFB Chapel) was "not about soliciting advice" on future Afghan strategy.

*  "He will continue to pay his respects," Gibbs says when asked if Obama will go to Dover again.

 * Obama to host German Chancelor Merkel on Nov. 3. She will also address Congress.

* "The point isn't what you call it, but what effect it has," Gibbs says of name change from public option to consumer option.

* Gibbs says GDP number shows economy is moving "in the right direction" and says stimulus played a big part.

President Obama continues his push to help out small businesses gain access to capital by delivering remarks this morning to members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), and small business owners and organizations from across the country, says the White House.

Last week, Mr. Obama announced that his administration would seek to increase caps for existing Small Business Administration loans and give small banks more access to TARP money. In the afternoon, the President will meet with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore in the Oval Office and then separately with Sen. Patrick Leahy.

Mr. Obama will also sign the Girl Scouts USA Centennial Commemorative Coin Act in the Oval Office.

He then wraps up his day with a meeting on health insurance reform with a variety of congressional players.

President Obama's Public Schedule:

11:50AM The President delivers remarks on the Administration’s plan to help small businesses

1:45PM The President meets with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore

2:40PM The President meets with Senator Patrick Leahy

3:15PM The President signs the Girl Scouts USA Centennial Commemorative Coin Act

3:45PM The President meets with senior advisers

5:05PM The President meets with representatives of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

As his decision on Afghanistan war strategy nears, President Obama made a surprise trip to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night into Thursday morning  to attend the dignified transfer movement of 18 U.S. personnel who were killed in Afghanistan on Monday.

The dignified transfer is a solemn movement that is conducted for every US military member that dies while in service in a theater of war.

The 18 killed included service members and Drug Enforcement Agency agents.

The traveling press corps that accompanied the President to Dover was permitted to witness one of the transfers, per the wishes of the families.

 The President stood at attention with the six –person carry team near the ramp of the C-17 which carried the flag draped transfer case which held the body of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin of Terre Haute, Indiana. As the carry team brought the case down the ramp, the President and the official party saluted.

Sgt. Griffin’s family members were also present.

The President was accompanied by Attorney General Eric Holder, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, U.S. Army Assistant Judge Advocate Maj Gen Daniel Wright, U.S. Army Special Forces Commander Brig. Gen. Michael Repass, and Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center Col. Robert Edmondson, who will served as the Dignified Transfer Host Officer.

Fifty-five Americans have died in Afghanistan this month, making it the deadliest month of the war since it began eight years ago.  Two hundred and seventy-seven Ameriacns have died this year, forty-three percent more than last year.

A spokeswoman for the First Lady's office says Sasha & Malia Obama received their H1N1 vaccines last week after the immunizations were made available to Washington, D.C. school children.    The White House physician applied for and received the vaccines through the DC Department of Health, "using the same process as every other vaccination site in the District."

The President and the First Lady have not received the H1N1 vaccine, says the spokeswoman in a statement, "and they will wait until the needs of the priority groups identified by the CDC ... have been met.'

The  Centers for Disease Control identifies those priority groups as children and young people up to the age of 24, pregnant women, health care workers, and older people who have,  "health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza."

All four of the Obama's have received the seasonal flu vaccine.

President Obama wakes up in Miami and heads to Arcadia, Florida, where he will announce Recovery Act funding for Smart Grid Technologies and tour the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center.

On his way home, the President stops in Norfolk, Virginia, where he will make remarks at a campaign rally for gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds.

President Obama's Public Schedule:

12:10PM The President tours DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center

Arcadia, Florida

12:25PM The President delivers remarks at the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center

2:05PM The President departs Sarasota, Florida en route Norfolk, Virginia

 3:50PM The President arrives in Norfolk, Virginia

4:55PM The President delivers remarks at rally for Creigh Deeds

Old Dominion University

6:05PM The President departs Norfolk, Virginia en route Andrews Air Force Base

6:50PM The President arrives at Andrews Air Force Base

7:05PM The President arrives at The White House