The First Family accompanied the President on his economic goodwill tour - now up, Rio.
US President Barack Obama (L), First Lady Michelle (back-R), and their daughters Malia (R) and Sasha (back-L) descend from the presidential airplane as they arrive in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 19, 2011. Obama arrived in Brazil Saturday, calling for bolstering economic ties between the United States and Latin America to open new markets and create more jobs. ---- VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images
The President and First Family visited the CITY OF GOD area in Rio.
U.S. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha (L) and Malia tour the Christ the Redeemer Statue on Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro late March 20, 2011. -----REUTERS/Jason Reed
I have a small quote in this NY Times article. That is the insignificant part. The bigger question is, how important do you think this story is? What does is it say about Mississippi that it's not until 2011 that a reporter can do a story about this topic in a (mostly) positive light?
Even better, I've only received one racist/hate email. After posting this, though, I might get more. I have not and will not respond to the emailer:
Look Marvin
I am sure you are a good person, who is intelligent as evidenced by your PHd; but I just wanted to let you know that your marriage to a white woman is wrong in some ways.
Firstly, say you have kids - those kids will likely have identity issues their whole lives - not really being able to subscribe to 'being black' or 'being white'. Do you really want that?
And secondly - why couldn't you just marry a nice black girl? I mean are you ashamed of yourself, to the point that you thought that you would try and mix your genes so that your kids would have to be a black man/woman?
I'm a mild mannered, sensible person; but there's something about seeing a black man and white woman which is so wrong.
Congressional candidate Jack Davis shocked local Republican leaders in a recent interview when he suggested that Latino farmworkers be deported -- and that African-Americans from the inner city be bused to farm country to pick the crops.
Several sources who were in the Feb. 20 endorsement interview with Davis confirmed his comments, which echo those he made to the Tonawanda News in 2008, when he said: "We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities. Put them on buses, take them out there [to the farms] and pay them a decent wage; they will work."
When Davis repeated those sentiments in the recent interview, the Republican leaders -- who later delivered the party endorsement for the vacant seat in the 26th Congressional District to Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin of Clarence -- said they couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"I was thunderstruck," said Amherst GOP Chairman Marshall Wood. "Maybe in 1860 that might have been seen by some as an appropriate comment, but not now."
Davis spokesman W. Curtis Ellis acknowledged that Davis' comments "may not be politically correct and ... may not be racially correct."
the only 'SHOCK' here is that he went public with his comments. Nobody is going to get me to believe they didn't know which way was up with this guy.
WASHINGTON — Top Senate Democrats raised loud objections Thursday to a plan by Republicans in the House of Representatives that they said would eliminate 10,000 housing vouchers for homeless veterans this year, an effort to save $75 million from the 2011 federal budget.
"I believe it's immoral," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, urging House Republicans to abandon the plan.
Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., called the proposal "astounding" and said no federal budget should shortchange the most vulnerable Americans. She wants to eliminate homelessness among U.S. veterans.
"We owe it to our veterans to provide them with the resources and support they need to put a roof over their heads," Murray said. "And this is just one more example of the Republicans' reckless budget that puts politics and ideology over families, communities and even those who have served and sacrificed for our nation."
Republicans defended the plan by noting that thousands of vouchers have gone unclaimed this year.
"The fact of the matter is there will not be a veteran, a homeless vet, that will not get a voucher," Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, said during a debate on the House floor. "The fact of the matter is there are 30,000 vouchers available today. Only 19,000 of those have been used. There are 11,000 vouchers waiting."
But Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, cited a recent federal report that said that more than 76,000 veterans were homeless on any given night in the United States and that veterans were 50 percent more likely to be homeless.
"Yet the majority's bill turns its back on our homeless vets, leaving them literally out in the cold," Dicks said.
I thought it was all about ' fiscal responsibility'. After all, that's what the Republicans said it was about . I told you that was a lie, but that's what they said it was all about. That the collective bargaining rights of the unions had to be taken away, for the 'fiscal responsibility' of the state.
That was, of course, absolute utter bullshyt.
As tonight's maneuverings by the Wisconsin Senate have proven.
Wis. State Senate Passes Anti-Union Bill, In End-Run Around Dem Boycott Eric Kleefeld | March 9, 2011, 7:50PM
Capping a dramatic turn of events, the Wisconsin state Senate on Wednesday night passed a new, stripped-down "budget repair bill" -- which now excludes all the fiscal elements of the original budget repair bill, and simply includes the original's provisions to roll back the collective bargaining and organizational rights of Wisconsin's public employee unions.
With all 14 Democrats absent, having fled the state weeks ago in order to block the three-fifths budget quorum, the bill passed by an 18-1 margin, with only moderate Republican Dale Schultz voting no.
...................................
State Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D) who has been in Illinois, released this statement:
"In thirty minutes, 18 State Senators undid fifty years of civil rights in Wisconsin.
"Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten.
"Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people.
"Tomorrow we will join the people of Wisconsin in taking back their government."
The move is likely to have an enormous political impact in the state, as unions remain an important base of the Democratic Party organization in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the unions and Democrats have been actively organizing recalls of Republican state legislators -- leveraging the power of the tens of thousands of people who have protested the bill, and numerous opinion polls showing that Wisconsin voters oppose breaking the unions.
So, it really wasn't about fiscal responsibility in the least - AT ALL.
This is about hurting the Democratic Party, and the President for 2012.
In fact, the Senate Majority Leader revealed that on Faux Noise:
WI Senate GOP Leader Admits On-Air That His Goal Is To Defund Labor Unions, Hurt Obama’s Reelection Chances
In an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly moments ago, State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), one of Walker’s closest allies in the legislature, confirmed the true political motive of Walker’s anti-union push. Fitzgerald explained that “this battle” is about eliminating unions so that “the money is not there” for the labor movement. Specifically, he said that the destruction of unions will make it “much more difficult” for President Obama to win reelection in Wisconsin:
FITZGERALD: Well if they flip the state senate, which is obviously their goal with eight recalls going on right now, they can take control of the labor unions. If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you’re going to find is President Obama is going to have a much difficult, much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin.
You really have to watch it to believe it. Rachel Maddow has the clip:
Illinois abolishes the death penalty Illinois has become the 16th US state to abolish the death penalty, after the governor signed a bill making permanent a 10-year-old moratorium on executions.
Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill after spending two months consulting with victims' families, prosecutors, religious leaders and others.
Former Governor George Ryan ordered a moratorium in 2000 amid concerns innocent people could be executed.
Thirty-four states still have the death penalty. 'Right thing'
In the state capital Springfield, Mr Quinn, a Democrat, said he had followed his conscience, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history," he told reporters. "I think it's the right, just thing to abolish the death penalty."
In a statement accompanying the bill signing, he wrote the Illinois death penalty system was flawed and could lead to wrongful convictions.
Mr Quinn also commuted to life in prison the sentences of 15 death row inmates.
Mr Ryan's move in 2000 came after more than a dozen condemned inmates were freed from Illinois death row, some when journalists showed they had been wrongly convicted.
His successors, former Governor Rod Blagojevich and Mr Quinn, kept the moratorium in place.
The Illinois legislature approved the ban two months ago, and it takes effect on 1 July.
As a citizen of the state, I must reiterate that the moratorium came to be because it was found that 13 men on Death Row were freed, not because of any technicality, but BECAUSE THEY WERE INNOCENT OF THE CRIMES.
13 men.
That's not a 'glitch' in the system.
That means the whole damn system was corrupt, and that's why George Ryan instituted the moratorium.
Newt's got White House ambitions. Yet, he's got alleycat morals, and no amount of prostrating in front of the Holy Rollers is going to erase what he did.
But, here are his latest comments about his MULTIPLE adulteries.
Gingrich: Past Adultery 'Partially Driven By How Passionately I Felt About This Country' (VIDEO) Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is in the early stages of a presidential campaign, spoke in an interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network about his history of adultery and divorces. And as Gingrich told it, he sought God's forgiveness -- and as for the events themselves, they were driven by how hard he was working and his great passion for America.
"There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate," said Gingrich. "And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn't trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them.
"I found that I felt compelled to seek God's forgiveness. Not God's understanding, but God's forgiveness. I do believe in a forgiving God. And I think most people, deep down in their hearts hope there's a forgiving God. Somebody once said that when we're young, we seek justice, but as we get older, we seek mercy. There's something to that, I think.
G-T-F-O-H with this mess.
I won't put up the videos, if you want to see them, click on the link.
Gingrich can have one of these ' confessionals' per week until November 2012, and it won't make a difference.
Over the past few weeks, right-wing legislators have unleashed a torrent of radical legislation upon the American electorate designed to gut collective bargaining rights and attack the middle class. As these conservatives have launched their assault, a Main Street Movement consisting of ordinary Americans fed up with living in such an unequal country has fought back.
Conservatives have sought to malign this movement by claiming that it is simply defending the parochial interests of labor unions, who they claim are imposing huge costs on taxpayers with little benefit. Yet the truth is that America’s public and private unions have been one of the major forces in building a robust and vibrant middle class and have fought over the past century to improve the lives of all Americans in a variety of ways. ThinkProgress has assembled just five of the many things that Americans can thank the nation’s unions for giving us all:
1. Unions Gave Us The Weekend: Even the ultra-conservative Mises Institute notes that the relatively labor-free 1870, the average workweek for most Americans was 61 hours — almost double what most Americans work now. Yet in the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century, labor unions engaged in massive strikes in order to demand shorter workweeks so that Americans could be home with their loved ones instead of constantly toiling for their employers with no leisure time. By 1937, these labor actions created enough political momentum to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act, which helped create a federal framework for a shorter workweek that included room for leisure time.
2. Unions Gave Us Fair Wages And Relative Income Equality: As ThinkProgress reported earlier in the week, the relative decline of unions over the past 35 years has mirrored a decline in the middle class’s share of national income. It is also true that at the time when most Americans belonged to a union — a period of time between the 1940′s and 1950′s — income inequality in the U.S. was at its lowest point in the history of the country.
3. Unions Helped End Child Labor: “Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined” in U.S. history, with organization’s like the “National Consumers’ League” and the National Child Labor Committee” working together in the early 20th century to ban child labor. The very first American Federation of Labor (AFL) national convention passed “a resolution calling on states to ban children under 14 from all gainful employment” in 1881, and soon after states across the country adopted similar recommendations, leading up to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act which regulated child labor on the federal level for the first time.
4. Unions Won Widespread Employer-Based Health Coverage: “The rise of unions in the 1930′s and 1940′s led to the first great expansion of health care” for all Americans, as labor unions banded workers together to negotiate for health coverage plans from employers. In 1942, “the US set up a National War Labor Board. It had the power to set a cap on all wage increases. But it let employers circumvent the cap by offering “fringe benefits” – notably, health insurance.” By 1950, “half of all companies with fewer than 250 workers and two-thirds of all companies with more than 250 workers offered health insurance of one kind or another.”
5. Unions Spearheaded The Fight For The Family And Medical Leave Act: Labor unions like the AFL-CIO federation led the fight for this 1993 law, which “requires state agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave annually for workers to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, seriously ill family member or for the worker’s own illness.”
"The two parties have combined against us to nullify our power by a ‘gentleman's agreement' of non-recognition, no matter how we vote ... May God write us down as asses if ever again we are found putting our trust in either the Republican or the Democratic Parties." -- W.E.B. DuBois (1922)
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