The First Lady and Her Continued Trip in South Africa

hat tip-The Obama Diary:

The First Lady continues her trip in South Africa. I can't express how I feel looking at the pictures coming back from this trip. This is a goosebumps moment that I didn't even know I wanted to have.








Children from a nearby creche hold placards as they wait for U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama before a wreath-laying ceremony at the Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto, June 22, 2011. Pietersen became a symbol of the apartheid struggle in South Africa when he was killed by police during the 1976 student uprising in Soweto .
---REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko








A choir sings before U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at Regina Mundi Church and addresses the Young African Women Leaders Forum in a Soweto township.
(doesn't matter the country, our elders singing in church, just give off the same vibe. the dress hats might look different, but you can feel it through the picture, their pride.)














Michelle Obama embraces Baleka Mbete, who has promoted equality and development in South Africa, with Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela.










U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama (L) chats with Antoinette Sithole, sister of Hector Pietersen, before laying a wreath at the Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto, June 22, 2011. Hector Pietersen became a symbol of the apartheid struggle in South Africa when he was killed by police during the 1976 student uprising in Soweto .
-----REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko



U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama (R) chats with Antoinette Sithole, sister of Hector Pietersen, before laying a wreath at the Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto, June 22, 2011. Hector Pietersen became a symbol of the apartheid struggle in South Africa when he was killed by police during the 1976 student uprising in Soweto .
-----REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko



U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama (R) comforts Antoinette Sithole, sister of Hector Pietersen, after laying a wreath at the Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto, June 22, 2011. Hector Pietersen became a symbol of the apartheid struggle in South Africa when he was killed by police during the 1976 student uprising in Soweto .
----REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko


U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama (R) lays a wreath with Antoinette Sithole, sister of Hector Pietersen, at the Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto, June 22, 2011. Hector Pietersen became a symbol of the apartheid struggle in South Africa when he was killed by police during the 1976 student uprising in Soweto .
----REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko



U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama (R) comforts Antoinette Sithole, sister of Hector Pietersen, after laying a wreath at the Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto, June 22, 2011. Hector Pietersen became a symbol of the apartheid struggle in South Africa when he was killed by police during the 1976 student uprising in Soweto .
----REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko



The First Lady at a ‘breakout’ session at the Young African Youth Leaders Forum in Johannesburg

Songs (and Poetry) in the Key of Life

Bonus:

Gil Scott-Heron - The Prisoner (From Pieces of a Man)

GSH Story - Gil Scott-Heron Saved My Life

Fast & Furiously Stupid: ATF Supplies Guns to Cartels

Federal government provides guns to some of the worst criminals on the planet.

Federal Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

From CBS News:

WASHINGTON - Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.

He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?

"Yes ma'am," Dodson told CBS News. "The agency was."

An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.

Investigators call the tactic letting guns "walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States.

Dodson's bosses say that never happened. Now, he's risking his job to go public.

"I'm boots on the ground in Phoenix, telling you we've been doing it every day since I've been here," he said. "Here I am. Tell me I didn't do the things that I did. Tell me you didn't order me to do the things I did. Tell me it didn't happen. Now you have a name on it. You have a face to put with it. Here I am. Someone now, tell me it didn't happen."

Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.

ATF named the case "Fast and Furious."

Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles.

So it turns out ATF not only allowed it - they videotaped it.

See full report w/ video

Amazing that ATF administrators couldn't figure out that this was not OK and probably wouldn't end well. Completely lacking good judgment. It annoys the Hell out of me that they have idiots like these running agencies/departments, yet I can't get a job. Unreal.

Republicans don't come away clean on this one either. They have blocked President Obama's nominees for ATF Chief for months, along with countless other leadership positions.

The First Lady and First Daughters Continue Their Visit to South Africa

hat tips-The Obama Diary,3CHICSPOLITICO:

The First Lady continues her trip in South Africa.

US First Lady meets Mandela

US First Lady Michelle Obama met South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela at his home Tuesday, in a rare visit with the ageing icon whose legacy frames much of her journey here.

The meeting with the 92-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was discreetly arranged after Obama and her daughters visited archives chronicling some of his 27 years as a political prisoner.

At the Mandela Foundation, his wife Graca Machel guided Obama, her mother, and her daughters Malia and Sasha through an exhibit of his personal photographs and journals, in which he meticulously drafted letters but also kept more mundane notes on his weight and daily routine.

“After leaving here, she proceeded to make a brief courtesy call on former president Mandela,” said Achmat Dangor, the head of the foundation, calling the first lady “a lovely woman without any airs”.

Their visit added to the symbolism surrounding Obama's journey, with America's first black family in the White House meeting South Africa's first black president.

Read more »

In Today's Voter Suppression 2012 Chronicles, We Go To North Carolina

From Crooks and Liars:

June 08, 2011 04:00 PM
N. Carolina GOP Pushes Bill That Forbids Voting For Straight Party Lines
By Susie Madrak

See what happens when you turn your back on Republican state legislators? They wreak havoc all over the place.

In a strange way, this is good news. Because the Republicans are admitting that, without tricks, traps and lies, voters are much less likely to vote for Republicans!

But what delicious irony: They voted in a straight party-line vote to prevent voters from doing the same thing.

Yesterday in Raleigh, state Senate lawmakers advanced another bill aimed at making voting harder for North Carolinians who actually make it into the voting booth after clearing the other hurdles the GOP-led legislature has proposed. Reporter Laura Leslie put it succinctly [emphasis mine],

The state Senate voted on straight party lines tonight to forbid NC voters from doing the same thing.Senate Bill 411 would repeal the law that allows voters entering the ballot box to choose to vote for all the candidates in one party or the other. About 40% of voters in NC use this option.

Those mischievous scamps, what will they think of next? That’s SB411, also described as the “Elect Pat McCrory” bill.

Since taking over the North Carolina state legislature, the NCGOP has voted to…

Shorten the early voting period by a week [HB 658 -- passed the House]
Require registered voters to show a photo ID before voting [HB 351 -- passed out of committee in the House, on the House calendar for action today]
Eliminate a voter’s choice to vote a straight ticket [SB 411 -- passed the Senate]

There’s more besides, as lawmakers rush through bills ahead of a key procedural deadline. Passage of a bill through either house by Thursday means they can be considered again next year.

Do you see the consistency of this?

Of the limiting of voting rights?

The same tactics used over and over and over?

The point is obvious - VOTER SUPPRESSION FOR 2012.

WAKE UP.

What is McKinsey and Co Hiding With Their ACA Study?

In an underreported story from last week, McKinsey & Co. published a study about the Affordable Care Act.

In an underreported story from last week, McKinsey & Co. published a study about the ACA. In this study, they claim that 30 percent of employers are planning to stop giving health insurance to their workers as a result of the Affordable Care Act. The study received a good deal of press coverage and was widely bandied about by conservative politicians and media outlets as proof that conservative warnings about the law are coming to pass.

Well, something's rotten in the state of McKinsey and Co. Their study contradicts studies by other independent groups that said just the opposite.

From BlueWave News:

This makes their extraordinary claims about the findings highly suspicious. For one thing, they starkly contradict every projection to date made by reputable nonpartisan organizations about the effect of the ACA upon employer-offered health insurance. In fact, on Wednesday Nancy-Ann DeParle on the White House blog characterized the McKinsey findings as "an outlier," citing studies from the nonpartisan Rand Corporation and the Urban Institute and the consulting firm Mercer (emphasis is mine):


The Rand Corporation: "The percentage of employees offered insurance will not change substantially, but a small number of employees in small firms (defined as those with under 100 employees in 2016) will obtain employer-sponsored insurance through the state insurance exchanges."

The Urban Institute: "Some have argued that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would erode employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) by providing incentives for employers to stop offering coverage. Others have claimed that most businesses would face increased costs as a result of reform. A new study finds that overall ESI coverage under the ACA would not differ significantly from what coverage would be without reform."

Mercer: "In a survey released today by consulting firm Mercer, employers were asked how likely they are to get out of the business of providing health care once state-run insurance exchanges become operational in 2014 and make it easier for individuals to buy coverage. For the great majority, the answer was 'not likely.'"

Now, the plot thickens.

From The Plum Line:

Posted at 04:35 PM ET, 06/10/2011
McKinsey refuses White House request for info on study faulting Affordable Care Act
By Greg Sargent

The other day, the consulting company McKinsey released a startling study claiming that 30 percent of employers are planning to stop giving health insurance to their workers as a result of the Affordable Care Act. The study received a good deal of press coverage and was widely bandied about by conservative politicians and media outlets as proof that conservative warnings about the law are coming to pass.

But as a number of critics were quick to point out, McKinsey’s finding is at odds with many other studies — and the company did not release key portions of the study’s methodology, making it impossible to evaluate the study’s validity.

There’s now been a new twist in this story.

I’m told that the White House, as well as top Democrats on key House and Senate committees, have privately contacted McKinsey to ask for details on the study’s methodology. According to an Obama administration official and a source on the House Ways and Means Committee, the company refused.

A spokesperson for McKinsey — which does proprietary research regularly — declined comment.

It's a straightforward question from the White House. Nothing complicated about it, so why the stonewall?

Read more »

3 for 1: Intruders, Bob James & Jamie Lidell

Intruders - 'Save The Children' (Gil Scott-Heron 1949-2011)

Rachel Maddow Destroys Mitt Romney - The Jobs Candidate?

Love this piece by Maddow. Romney is attempting to brand himself as 'the jobs candidate'. Not only did Massachusetts have flat job growth during Romney's stint as Governor, but he killed jobs when he was an executive in the private sector.

The Art of Jazz

The Great George Benson, April 1967.