What has President Obama accomplished?

http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/89446-nope-he-hasnt-done-anything.htmlA Grade for Obama by Robert Watson


I am repeatedly asked to grade the Obama presidency thus far. In place of a grade, here is a list of Obama's accomplishments as of August 2009.

Robert Watson, Ph.D.

Coordinator of American Studies

Lynn University



1. Ordered all federal agencies to undertake a study and make recommendations for ways to cut spending

2. Ordered a review of all federal operations to identify and cut wasteful spending and practices

3. Instituted enforcements for equal pay for women

4. Beginning the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq

5. Families of fallen soldiers have expenses covered to be on hand when the body arrives at Dover A.F.B.

6. Ended media "blackout" on war casualties; reporting full information

7. Ended media "blackout" on covering the return of fallen soldiers to Dover A.F.B.; the media is now permitted to do so pending adherence to respectful rules and approval of fallen soldier's family

8. The White House and federal government are respecting the Freedom of Information Act

9. Instructed all federal agencies to promote openness and transparency as much as possible

10. Limits on lobbyists' access to the White House

11. Limits on White House aides working for lobbyists after their tenure in the administration

12. Ended the previous "stop-loss" policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan longer than their enlistment date

13. Phasing out the expensive F-22 war plane and other outdated weapons systems, which weren't even used or needed in Iraq/Afghanistan

14. Removed restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research

15. Federal support for stem-cell and new biomedical research

16. New federal funding for science and research labs

17. States are permitted to enact federal fuel efficiency standards above federal standards

18. Increased infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, power plants...) after years of neglect

19. Funds for high-speed, broadband Internet access to K-12 schools

20. New funds for school construction

21. The prison at Guantanamo Bay is being phased out

22. US Auto industry rescue plan

23. Housing rescue plan

24. $789 billion economic stimulus plan

25. The public can meet with federal housing insurers to refinance (the new plan can be completed in one day) a mortgage if they are having trouble paying

26. US financial and banking rescue plan

27. The "secret detention" facilities in Eastern Europe and elsewhere are being closed

28. Ended the previous policy; the US now has a no torture policy and is in compliance with the Geneva Convention standards

29. Better body armor is now being provided to our troops

30. The missile defense program is being cut by $1.4 billion in 2010

31. Restarted the nuclear non-proliferation talks and building back up the nuclear inspection infrastructure/protocols

32. Reengaged in the treaties/agreements to protect the Antarctic

33. Reengaged in the agreements/talks on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions

34. Visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any president in his first six months in office

35. Successful release of US captain held by Somali pirates; authorized the SEALS to do their job

36. US Navy increasing patrols off Somali coast

37. Attractive tax write-offs for those who buy hybrid automobiles

38. "Cash for clunkers" program offers vouchers to trade in fuel inefficient, polluting old cars for new cars; stimulates auto sales

39. Announced plans to purchase fuel efficient American-made fleet for the federal government

40. Expanded the SCHIP program to cover health care for 4 million more children

41. Signed national service legislation; expanded national youth service program

42. Instituted a new policy on Cuba, allowing Cuban families to return "home" to visit loved ones

43. Ended the previous policy of not regulating and labeling carbon dioxide emissions

44. Expanding vaccination programs

45. Immediate and efficient response to the floods in North Dakota and other natural disasters

46. Closed offshore tax safe havens

47. Negotiated deal with Swiss banks to permit US government to gain access to records of tax evaders and criminals

48. Ended the previous policy of offering tax benefits to corporations who outsource American jobs; the new policy is to promote in-sourcing to bring jobs back

49. Ended the previous practice of protecting credit card companies; in place of it are new consumer protections from credit card industry's predatory practices

50. Energy producing plants must begin preparing to produce 15% of their energy from renewable sources

51. Lower drug costs for seniors

52. Ended the previous practice of forbidding Medicare from negotiating with drug manufacturers for cheaper drugs; the federal government is now realizing hundreds of millions in savings

53. Increasing pay and benefits for military personnel

54. Improved housing for military personnel

55. Initiating a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses

56. Improved conditions at Walter Reed Military Hospital and other military hospitals

57. Increasing student loans

58. Increasing opportunities in AmeriCorps program

59. Sent envoys to Middle East and other parts of the world that had been neglected for years; reengaging in multilateral and bilateral talks and diplomacy

60. Established a new cyber security office

61. Beginning the process of reforming and restructuring the military 20 years after the Cold War to a more modern fighting force... this includes new procurement policies, increasing size of military, new technology and cyber units and operations, etc.

62. Ended previous policy of awarding no-bid defense contracts

63. Ordered a review of hurricane and natural disaster preparedness

64. Established a National Performance Officer charged with saving the federal government money and making federal operations more efficient

65. Students struggling to make college loan payments can have their loans refinanced

66. Improving benefits for veterans

67. Many more press conferences and town halls and much more media access than previous administration

68. Instituted a new focus on mortgage fraud

69. The FDA is now regulating tobacco

70. Ended previous policy of cutting the FDA and circumventing FDA rules

71. Ended previous practice of having White House aides rewrite scientific and environmental rules, regulations, and reports

72. Authorized discussions with North Korea and private mission by Pres. Bill Clinton to secure the release of two Americans held in prisons

73. Authorized discussions with Myanmar and mission by Sen. Jim Web to secure the release of an American held captive

74. Making more loans available to small businesses

75. Established independent commission to make recommendations on slowing the costs of Medicare

76. Appointment of first Latina to the Supreme Court

77. Authorized construction/opening of additional health centers to care for veterans

78. Limited salaries of senior White House aides; cut to $100,000

79. Renewed loan guarantees for Israel

80. Changed the failing/status quo military command in Afghanistan

81. Deployed additional troops to Afghanistan

82. New Afghan War policy that limits aerial bombing and prioritizes aid, development of infrastructure, diplomacy, and good government practices by Afghans

83. Announced the long-term development of a national energy grid with renewable sources and cleaner, efficient energy production
84. Returned money authorized for refurbishment of White House offices and private living quarters

85. Paid for redecorations of White House living quarters out of his own pocket

86. Held first Seder in White House

87. Attempting to reform the nation's healthcare system which is the most expensive in the world yet leaves almost 50 million without health insurance and millions more underinsured

88. Has put the ball in play for comprehensive immigration reform

89. Has announced his intention to push for energy reform

90. Has announced his intention to push for education reform



Oh, and he built a swing set for the girls outside the Oval Office!

Ok, go ahead Righties, rip into all of that and say its nothing
__________________
Its one thing to be an idiot, its a whole different thing to open your mouth and prove it to the rest of the world

Senator Edward Kennedy: Civil Rights Advocate for All Citizens

Senator Kennedy
and his sons at a Roxbury school in 1980.





I am a child of the civil rights movement of the sixties. Therefore, I cried when I heard Senator Edward Kennedy had died because he was one of the most dedicated allies we had.

In its remembrance of Senator Kennedy, the Boston Globe wrote:

"Nearly four months after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Senator Kennedy gave his maiden speech on the topic of civil rights, urging support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations. Barely two years into his term, he authored an amendment to eliminate the Poll Tax, which had been used to block some from voting. The amendment was defeated, but months later, the Supreme Court declared the tax unconstitutional.

Kennedy was a chief sponsor of voting rights legislation, and in 1980, worked to establish a national holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In keeping with his family legacy, he continued to pursue key civil rights legislation throughout his career ."

I cried for Senator Kennedy, but I also cried for myself, my son, my nieces and nephews, my siblings, and for everyone who understand the breadth and depth of changes he brought about.
The civil rights community does not have a replacement for him.

Senator Kennedy's rare qualities of optimism, empathy, and hard work were what set him apart from others. I think this is what enabled him to never get more than one step away from the suffering of humankind. He turned his personal pain into a commitment to help those who, because of their powerlessness, could not advocate as effectively for themselves and whom other politicians shunned: minorities, the disabled, immigrants and women. Senator Kennedy was that powerful ally who understood our needs and felt, like the perennial optimist, that there was always sunshine ahead if only he fought a little harder.

My tears were also shed for the finality of a period in American history that we are unlikely to see again. Senator Kennedy's era, and our own, was defined by a deep concern for empowering people to vote for the first time, to run for political office, to use public accommodations without regard for race, Headstart and Job Corp for the kids and Medicare for the elderly, ramps for the handicapped, special education, unemployment insurance, expanded Social Security benefits, child health care, student loans, and much much more.

Senator Kennedy believed that health care is a fundamental right for all citizens and not just for those who can afford it. My era and his was also bracketed by the sit-in's, marches, pickets, and yes, the murders of civil rights workers and ordinary citizens alike. While his brother, President John F. Kennedy, advocated for civil rights because of political expediency, Teddy believed in the equal value of all women, men and children.

His optimism, empathy and dedication made him a marathon runner, and not a sprinter. That is why his passion to fight for the little people continued until his death. Undeterred by those hostile forces who say they "want their country back," he realized that the society he helped to shape for almost half a century is more just for those very immigrants, blacks, Hispanics, and others who make up the society they now want back. The tidal wave of reforms he led has made it better for everyone, including the "haters" who want to return to some imaginary idyllic time --translated before we elected a black president.

I wish the sixties could have existed forever, but Teddy showed us that the struggle for human dignity is a marathon that cuts across decades and generations. It is not for the weary or the faint of heart. He left us with a road map on how to continue his work. It is up to us to follow it by making health care reform with a public option a reality for starters.
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A Generational Narrative by a Black Woman on the Life and Legacy of Senator Edward Kennedy

By Ruby Nell Sales
Founder and Co-Director of the Spirit House Project
Columbus, Georgia.


This morning I awakened to the sound of news reporters telling the world that Ted Kennedy died just as the night turned into morning. As I heard Senator Edward Kennedy’s voice booming from the television the words “For those whose cares have been our concern… The Hope Still Lives, The Dream Shall Never Die…” when he lost his bid for president in 1980 - my eyes filled with tears that carried with them the hopes and dreams of a generation and community of people of all colors who imagined a new day in America and worked hard to achieve it. As I thought about this man who lived a life committed to “making a better world,” it touched the grief and celebration that run throughout the lives of my generation who rode and still rides a long train towards justice. In many ways, his life reflects the hills and valleys of our lives... our “victories and our defeats.”

This morning in a very special way, I remembered my young brothers and sisters in the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee and local communities throughout the South who worked unrelentingly to advance democracy during the heat and violence of White supremacy without thinking of money or benefits. We lived and worked from freedom houses that lacked hot water, inside bathrooms and sturdy foundations to protect us from the violence and terror of White night riders. Most of us were young. We were idealistic. We were Black, White and Brown. We were determined. Despite generations of America’s broken promises of democracy, we still passionately believed in the dreams of our mothers and fathers: that America was large enough for everyone regardless of race, sex, class, color or creed.

Believing this, we put our youth on the line to make real their dream. We were wounded at the core of our young selves under the weight of White lies, White racism and White violence. America's bad faith, violence and oppression fractured us into tiny unclaimed bits which lay on the road from Mississippi to Alabama to Washington to New York to Los Angeles. Yet, like Ted Kennedy, many of us did not die or lose our will to struggle. We kept on believing, working, and struggling despite hearts that were broken by White men who killed our relatives and murdered our friends. I admit that sometimes we did not always carry our grief well or wisely. However unlike the Trumpet blowers of White Supremacy and injustice, we harmed ourselves more often than we did others. Unlike them, love rather than hate stirred our passions and ignited our imaginations. Even as we watched right wing communities vigorously and intentionally roll back the gains of the Southern Freedom /Civil Rights Movement, like Senator Edward Kennedy, we “kept the faith” and found it over and over again despite the hopeless despair that the right wing communities spread throughout America like a dirty blanket. Because their language and ideals lacked hope, moral authority and meaning, they stole our freedom language. They called death squads in Nicaragua freedom fighters. Even in the midst of this grand theft, we knew like Senator Edward Kennedy that they might steal our language and images, but they could not kill this dream that still burns in us.

My reaction to Senator Edward Kennedy’s life and death this morning caused me to reflect on my own life. It moved me to ask what is it about a White upper class senator’s life that touches me as a Southern Black woman who grew up during segregation and economic exploitation and who came into radical adulthood at Tuskegee Institute now Tuskegee University and the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee on the bloody fields of Lowndes County, Alabama where my white young seminarian friend Jonathan Daniels saved my life as he stepped in from of a bullet aimed at me by a White Klansman.

I am moved by how Senator Kennedy as other freedom workers refused to be broken or incapacitated by slander or even by personal struggles. In the face of much pounding and demonization by members of right wing communities, Senator Edward Kennedy carried the banner for ordinary people who faced the fires of injustice in America. He stood up for immigrants, people of color, workers, lesbians and gays, women, and youth. He stood up in the raging storm of neo-conservatives and right wingers who distorted the people’s struggle for justice and used it to inflame passionate resentment and rage in many Whites and their allies of color. He stood firm as a liberal as members of right wing communities decried liberalism as a big sore that contaminated the federal government and oozed pus throughout America that ruined, destroyed and betrayed the lives of ordinary White people by giving handouts to undeserving colored peoples. He stood firm as the right wing community demonized him and used his name and image to stir up hatred in people while feeding on this hate and resentment to move forward their own careers and their rigid ideological positions. The great irony is that Ted Kennedy fought more vigorously for the rights and welfare of ordinary White people than these right wing preachers, politicians, news pundits and their allies ever did.

As I survey the American landscape that is raging with racism, economic injustice, and cries of some White Americans that they want their country back, I hear the voice of our dear brother, uncle, father, Senator Kennedy’s peer and long distance runner for justice, Vincent Harding reminding us that: “There in Ohio and in here in D.C. it can be our statement, our announcement that we refuse to be overcome by the difficulties of the current moment. It is our way of declaring that, we've come too far to turn back from this peace-making path. Surrounded as we are by a host of ancestors who have gone before us -- including our ancestor Jesus -- we will continue to sing. We will continue to build. We will continue to believe. We will continue to hunger and thirst for righteousness. We will continue to love. We will continue to run. We will continue to hope, continue to dream. For we believe with Langston (Hughes) that we were not meant to be broken–winged birds. As a matter of fact, when we are at our best, we believe that we were meant to rise up on wings like eagles.”

This morning as I placed Senator Kennedy’s life and legacy within a history and context, I salute this powerful and compassionate eagle who flew above the constraints of class to connect with ordinary people, who flew above the constraints of heterosexuality to connect with lesbians and gays, who flew above the constraints of Whiteness to connect with peoples of color and who flew above the constraints of his own individual challenges to strive to become more fully human. We salute you, Senator Edward Kennedy, not because you were perfect and not because we always agreed with you, but because you tried to treat others right on this journey even in the face of great personal hardship and travail. We salute you Senator Kennedy, because you stood with us when standing with us was a liability.

Fly on Senator Kennedy as you join that mighty cloud of witnesses/ancestors whose lives lift us and remind us that we are not alone -- that we are passengers on a long train moving towards justice. For those of us who remain as remnants of Movements for Justice in the 20th century, let the words, uttered at the 2008 Democratic Convention, by our brother, Senator and long distance worker for justice, Senator Edward Kennedy, resonate and hold us through this unsteady leg of our journey. He said: “I have come here tonight to stand with you - to change America and to restore its future - to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama President of the United States... Together we have known success and seen setbacks - victory and defeat - but we have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world.”
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The Dream Shall Never Die

President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy and and Senator Edward Kennedy


This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American...will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege."

For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years. — Ted Kennedy

Clyburn: Town Hall Protests Like Horrid Anti-Civil Rights Demonstrations

The third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives on Thursday compared the disruptive protesters at recent health care town halls to people who unleashed dogs and spat on civil rights demonstrators during the 1960s.

By Sam Stein
Huffington Post
August 13, 2009


In an interview with the Huffington Post, Rep. James Clyburn, (D-S.C.), said that there was "absolutely" an analogy to be drawn between the horrid experience that he went through as a civil rights leader and the boisterous conservatives who have disrupted health care forums.

"I have seen this kind of hate before. I have seen this discussion before," he said. "I have seen snarling dogs going after people who were trying to peacefully assemble. I have seen the eyes of people who were being spat upon."

"This is all about activity trying to deny the establishment of a civil right. And I do believe that health care for all is -- a civil right," the House Majority Whip argued. "And I think that is why you see this kind of activity. This is an attempt on the part of some to deny the establishment of a civil right. (click to read rest of article).

When Are WE Going to Get Over It?

The post below was sent to me by a friend. The author, Andrew M. Manis, is associate professor of history at Macon State College in Georgia and wrote this for an editorial in the Macon Telegraph. This courageous author's comments merit national distribution. Therefore, I hope all of my readers will forward it to others. The burden of responsibility for the race problem usually falls disproportionately on blacks. The author takes a different point of view.

By Andrew Manis

For much of the last forty years, ever since America "fixed" its race problem in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we white people have been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, "When are African Americans finally going to get over it?

Now I want to ask:

"When are we White Americans going to get over our ridiculous obsession with skin color?

Recent reports that "Election Spurs Hundreds' of Race Threats, Crimes" should frighten and infuriate every one of us. Having grown up in "Bombingham," Alabama in the 1960s, I remember overhearing an avalanche of comments about what many white classmates and their parents wanted to do to John and Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Eventually, as you may recall, in all three cases, someone decided to do more than "talk the talk."

Since our recent presidential election, to our eternal shame we are once again hearing the same reprehensible talk I remember from my boyhood.

We white people have controlled political life in the disunited colonies and United States for some 400 years on this continent.

Conservative whites have been in power 28 of the last 40 years. Even during the eight Clinton years, conservatives in Congress blocked most of his agenda and pulled him to the right. Yet never in that period did I read any headlines suggesting that anyone was calling for the assassinations of presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, or either of the Bushes. Criticize them, yes.

Call for their impeachment, perhaps. But there were no bounties on their heads. And even when someone did try to kill Ronald Reagan, the perpetrator was non-political mental case who wanted merely to impress Jody Foster.

But elect a liberal who happens to be Black and we're back in the sixties again. At this point in our history, we should be proud that we've proven what conservatives are always saying -- that in America anything is possible, EVEN electing a black man as president.

But instead we now hear that school children from Maine to California are talking about wanting to "assassinate Obama."

Fighting the urge to throw up, I can only ask, "How long?"

How long before we white people realize we can't make our nation, much less the whole world, look like us?

How long until we white people can - once and for all - get over this hell-conceived preoccupation with skin color?

How long until we white people get over the demonic conviction that white skin makes us superior?

How long before we white people get over our bitter resentments about being demoted to the status of equality with non-whites?

How long before we get over our expectations that we should be at the head of the line merely because of our white skin?

How long until we white people end our silence and call out our peers when they share the latest racist jokes in the privacy of our white-only conversations?

I believe in free speech, but how long until we white people start making racist loudmouths as socially uncomfortable as we do flag burners?

How long until we white people will stop insisting that blacks exercise personal responsibility, build strong families, educate themselves enough to edit the Harvard Law Review, and work hard enough to become President of the United States, only to threaten to assassinate them when they do?

How long before we starting "living out the true meaning" of our creeds, both civil and religious, that all men and women are created equal and that "red, brown, yellow, black and white" all are precious in God's sight?

Until this past November 4, I didn't believe this country would ever elect an African American to the presidency. I still don't believe I'll live long enough to see us white people get over our racism problem.

But here's my three-point plan:

First, everyday that Barack Obama lives in the White House that Black Slaves Built, I'm going to pray that God (and the Secret Service) will protect him and his family from us white people.

Second, I'm going to report to the FBI any white person I overhear saying, in seriousness or in jest, anything of a threatening nature about President Obama.

Third, I'm going to pray to live long enough to see America surprise the world once again, when white people can "in spirit and in truth" sing of our damnable color prejudice,
"We HAVE overcome."

It takes a Village to protect our President!!!

The Henry Louis Gates Affair

Mug shots of Henry Louis Gates after arrest for disorderly conduct. wbz photo


I am reminded of James Baldwin's book, Nobody Knows My Name, when I think of the thousands of black and brown men who have been the victims of racial profile.


I haven't logged on for more than a month because I got tired of writing on the same old same issues. However, the Henry Louis Gates arrest by the Cambridge police officer deserves a comment.

It is unfortunate that any man, be he white black, brown or yellow, is arrested while trying to enter his own home peacefully. Police officers should exercise restraint when faced with a potentially volatile situation. When Gates showed Officer Crowley his identification, the matter should have ended. However, it gets murky from then on with a disagreement between Officer Crowley's written report and Gates's description of what occurred. If, as the office said, Gates told him "Your mama's outside" (see police report) when he asked him to step outside, the cop should have bitten his lip and left. They are trained to ignore such things. Maybe, on this hot day the officer didn't take kindly to Gates playing the dozens with him. Who knows? We are not mind readers.

I am reminded of James Baldwin's book, Nobody Knows My Name, when I think of the thousands of black and brown men who have been the victims of racial profile. Unlike Skip Gates, these men have no outstanding credentials or media friends to report their arrests on the front page of the New York Times. There is something inherently wrong when the arrest of a nameless Joe Blow ends up only on the police blotter.

I would hope that Skip uses his arrest as an honest way to bring attention to the problem for the thousands of black and brown men whose names are not known by the national media. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the affair ends with the White House beer drinking party hosted by President Obama for Gates and Crowley. President Obama was in hot water for referring to the Cambridge police department as "dumb" without having all the facts. Looking for a way out of the mess that I don't think he should have been involved in from the start, he called Officer Crowley, who suggested he invite him and Gates for a beer at the White House.

Anytime the President speaks on a volatile issue, it takes him off message. The passage of a health care reform bill is more critical to the nation than the arrest of Skip Gates, as President Obama soon learned. Now, I hope the right wingnuts will leave the whole affair alone and the rest of us can get back to health care.

How Henry Louis Gates Got Ordained as the Nation's "Leading Black Intellectual"

Counterpunch
July 27, 2009


By ISHMAEL REED

Now that Henry Louis Gates’ Jr. has gotten a tiny taste of what “the underclass” undergo each day, do you think that he will go easier on them? Lighten up on the tough love lectures? Even during his encounter with the police, he was given some slack. If a black man in an inner city neighborhood had hesitated to identify himself, or given the police some lip, the police would have called SWAT. When Oscar Grant, an apprentice butcher, talked back to a BART policeman in Oakland, he was shot!

Given the position that Gates has pronounced since the late eighties, if I had been the arresting officer and post-race spokesperson Gates accused me of racism, I would have given him a sample of his own medicine. I would have replied that “race is a social construct”--the line that he and his friends have been pushing over the last couple of decades.

After this experience, will Gates stop attributing the problems of those inner city dwellers to the behavior of “thirty five-year-old grandmothers living in the projects?” (Gates says that when he became a tough lover he was following the example of his mentor Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka as though his and Soyinka’s situations were the same. As a result of Soyinka’s criticisms of a Nigerian dictator, he was jailed and his life constantly threatened.) Click here to read rest of article.

Police: McNair girlfriend behind murder-suicide | Jacksonville.com

Police: McNair girlfriend behind murder-suicide | Jacksonville.com

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Michael Jackson: 1958-2009

Michael Jackson recording We are the world.

There will never be another one like him. As a young boy from a working class family in Gary, Indiana he grabbed our attention like no child singer before him. He was a ground breaker with an extraordinary gift for music. As a singer and dancer, he had no peers. Remember the moonwalk? He had charisma and genuine talent. Long before the modern music studios came into existence, Michael and his brothers of the Jackson Five showed us what real talent is all about. You could hear their beautifully stylized lyrics and you could dance easily to their beat. Their music was sweet, beautiful, and peaceful. It evoked happier times and an optimistic future.

I can see see Michael's fancy footwork now, as I did one night at the Robert F. Kennedy stadium in Washington, DC. It was his "Thriller" concert tour and it was worth every bit of effort it took me to garner tickets very close to the stage for my ten year old son and my twelve year old niece. I was a generation ahead of Michael but he had a way of bridging my generation with my son's. We all had happy feet that night as we danced to Michael's music.

In the days ahead every Tom, Dick and Harry will show up on the front pages of the tabloids to "scandalize" Michael's name. Countless lawsuits will fly as people try to get their claws into his estate. But as for me, I will follow the simple dictum: If you don't have anything good to say about the dead, then say nothing. I am not interested in the rehashing of his sexual and other deviance. Enough has been said about that already.

Let's remember the sheer joy he brought us when he performed the broad range of songs. Also, let us remember the social consciousness he practiced in his early career, as symbolized by the organizing role he played in producing the historic song, "We are the world."

Go in peace young brother. You brought us a lot of joy. Thank you for leaving all of us with a song in our hearts. Your legacy is ensured into future generations.

Nana, I Want To Be A "Celebrity"

Spencer and Heidi Pratt on "I'm a Celebrity...Get me out of here."


Being A Celebrity is not something to which young people should aspire, especially if their role models are dimwits.

A friend told me recently that she asked her ten year old grandson what he wants to be when he grows up. Not missing a beat, he said proudly, "I want to be a celebrity." In other words, he wants to become well known for no particular achievement, goals, or accomplishments. He just wants to be famous. She said she used this as a teachable moment, and vowed that it will become a teachable day, week, and year for she will need this much time to rid this child of what is, apparently, a career "goal" for an increasing number of young people.

We have sunk to an all time low when it comes to celebrityhood. I had never watched any of the television survival reality shows primarily because I hate the outdoors and the dirt and grime that goes with it. However, I became hooked on the show, "I'm a Celebrity...Get me out of here" over the past two weeks because of the two twits- Spencer and Heidi something or the other who fulfill the little boy's idea of a profession. If ever there were two people who should turn all of us against celebrityhood, it is this couple. For example, Spencer declared in one scene, "I am the king of America," and she, who spent all of her time gabbing about how much she loves Jesus, turned the show into one sordid mess as they lied, engaged in deceit, and strutted around the set throwing verbal brickbats in the paths of the other contestants. He even allowed Steven Baldwin (the brother of actor Alec Baldwin) to baptize him in a creek on the set. Steven said he is a born again, nondenominational, charismatic Christian, whatever that is. After the baptism that shouldn't have been a baptism, Spencer commenced to talking about the demons that had been cast out of him. His wife, Heidi, talked about the demons in their midst.

I have never watched the reality show, The Hills, but Heidi and Spencer are or were apparently in the cast. Spencer became a "celebrity" by attacking people as the bad boy. Heidi talked about Jesus and cries a lot, or engages in nonsensical gibberish when asked a direct question. For example, Al Roker, the NBC Today Show weatherman and host tried to interview these dimwits this week. When he asked Heidi if she was proud of her behavior on I'm a Celebrity...Get me out of here, she stammered, smiled, tried to engage in doublespeak...(no, she's not smart enough to have two thoughts at the same time), and tried to avoid responding to his question.

Roker asked her again if she was proud of her horrible behavior on the set in Costa Rica. Her atrocious behavior included leaving the set twice, once due to illness, and she spent a night in the hospital. Then, she accused NBC of torture because she said her illness was a direct result of how she was treated on the show. A family member said she was considering suing NBC. That's what Roker meant when he asked her if she was proud of her behavior. Roker later said they aren't accustomed to having to answer direct questions, which means they aren't used to accepting personal responsibility for misbehavior, lying, deception, and doing anything to be "famous."

Moving right along with these celebrities who are so vacuous that a logical thought never entered their minds, Spencer and Heidi parlayed their "disgust" with Roker by referring to him as "just a weatherman" and Miss Heidi said women should be careful if they intend to be interviewed by him. Careful of what? Did I miss something?

I am glad my friend asked her grandson what he wants to be when he grows up, and I urge all of you who have children and grand kids to do the same. You never know whether pea brains like Heidi and Spencer have influenced them.

Michelle Obama's Abbey outfit: stacked like a wedding cake – but nice colours

Okay. You be the judge. The Times of London ran this picture with a pithy article.

The Times Online
June 10, 2009

Jon and Kate Plus Eight Exploited Little Children

John and Kate Gosselin and their eight children

I promised myself that I wouldn't write about reality television shows but Jon and Kate Plus Eight has gotten under my skin. If you haven't watched the show on TLC (The Learning Channel), it features a young couple in their early to mid thirties who have eight children: a set of eight year old twins, and five year old sextuplets. I started watching it a couple of years ago when the parents were struggling with how to cope with the day to day pressures and joys of having a house full of very small children. Kate, the nurse turned homemaker, spent her days being exceptionally obsessive compulsive about every spot and stain on the kitchen table and barking orders to her then compliant husband.

I could see back then that all was not well in Paradise because Kate was always bossing Jon around. She had no mercy on her husband. He couldn't do anything right, even as she messed up all the time without ever acknowledging that she wasn't perfect. The most horrible scene occurred in a K-Mart store when she yelled to the top of her lungs, "Jon, get over here and stop playing with the toys" or something to that effect. He told her how embarrassed he was for her to treat him that way in public. Always unflappable, Kate simply dismissed his protests. She has a curt disposition, and is not given to apologizing or saying "thank you" to anyone for anything. It is as though she feels that her womb produced eight tons of gold and the public is supposed to bow down and acknowledge her superiority. Seriously folks, the woman is a trip.

Well folks, Jon bolted and cut loose from his dominatrix and I don't blame him. She spends her time on the road selling her two books (I doubt seriously that she wrote them) and running what she calls the "family business" while Jon is the house husband. That is, when he is not slipping out of the house at midnight and later to meet friends at a local bar. The word is, he also has a girlfriend, and he has moved out of their bedroom to a room above the garage in the multimillion dollar house they now own, thanks to TLC and her "family business." Also, it is rumored that her handsome bodyguard is also her lover.

Where do the children fit into this scheme? Clearly, their welfare is not front and center because if it was they wouldn't have a camera thrust in their faces every day of the week, chronicling their every move. I wonder what the children will say when they are old enough to watch themselves in some areas that they may find difficult to fathom. Will they lash out at their parents for denying them a "normal" life, or will the "family business" have made them so rich that it won't matter? I will bet on the kids turning on their parents when they're old enough to understand the concepts of privacy, intimacy, etc. What do you think?

RNC slams Obama for romantic date with Michelle in New York

Christian Science Monitor
By Jimmy Orr
May 30, 2009

Sure, it’s one of the worst songs ever written. But perhaps President Obama and First Lady Michelle are closet Air Supply fans and are simply “Keeping the Love Alive” by enjoying a date-night in New York City tonight.

As we told you earlier, the Obamas are spending a presumably romantic evening together with dinner and a Broadway show this evening in the Big Apple.

If the RNC are fans of Air Supply as well, perhaps they believe the Obamas are “Lost in Love” because flying off to New York while the economy is tanking is just not right they say.

“As President Obama prepares to wing into Manhattan’s theater district on Air Force One to take in a Broadway show, GM is preparing to file bankruptcy and families across America continue to struggle to pay their bills,” RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in an email this afternoon.

That’s not all from Gitcho. She then added a snitty, “Have a great Saturday evening — even if you’re not jetting off somewhere at taxpayer expense.”

Fung Wah

Well, you can say the Obamas are at least trying to keep the costs down. They downsized the transportation opting not to take the normal Air Force One 747.

It’s not like they took the $10 Fung Wah Bus either though. They just hopped on a smaller plane. Although it is still called Air Force One, it’s just part of the fleet.

The plane they took this afternoon is an Air Force Gulfstream V (C-37A) — a 12 passenger aircraft. (H/T Mark Knoller). And there are no plans to circle the Statue of Liberty.

Snazzy

It looks like they’re ready to hit the town too. Reports are that they’re all snazzed up. According to the Associated Press, Michelle “…wore her hair up, heels and a sleeveless black ruffled dress that fell below the knee while he went tieless in a dark suit and white shirt.”

No details yet on the restaurant of choice. Although we are surmising that’s it’s a notch up from the hamburger stand the president visited yesterday (nothing against hamburger stands).
As for the Broadway show? They are heading to the Belasco Theatre for a performance of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”.

Valerie Jarrett: No. 2 Woman in the White House

By Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 1, 2009



The framed, inscribed photo of President Obama on a table in her office says it all, more than any fancy title: "The best of friends . . . Thanks for always being there for us. Love, Barack."

Valerie Jarrett is not simply the highest-ranking woman serving in the White House these days. She has the kind of power that comes with long history and deep friendship, a voice in the room that confidently reflects her 20-year Chicago-based relationship with Barack and Michelle Obama. The Obamas ate their first family dinner outside of the White House at her Georgetown apartment, and there are ample photos in Jarrett's office of her daughter, Laura, a student at Harvard Law School, with the president.

"I think we have relied on each other at different points in our life," Jarrett said in an interview in her White House office last week. (Click to read rest of article)

Attacks Against Judge Sotomayor

A smiling Judge Sonia Sotomayor appears at the White House announcement of her nomination to be the next member of the United States Supreme Court. AP Photo

A smiling Judge Sonia Sotomayor appears at the White House announcement of her nomination to be the next member of the United States Supreme Court. AP Photo

I never thought I would see the day that a bigot like Rush Limbaugh would call a distinguished judge, Sonia Sotamayor, a racist simply because she said that one's background has an impact on the decisions she and other judges render. Her specific statement was:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."

For that one sentence that was also taken out of context, Judge Sotomayor has been likened to David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan. Karl Rove, the sleight of hand trickster who helped to steal the first election for George W. Bush and who has committed all manner of transgressions against our code of morality (and possibly against the law) had the nerve to say that Judge Sotomayor does not have the intellectual ability to be a Supreme Court Justice. Another critic said she got her judicial appointment because of affirmative action.

Puh-leez.

Never mind that Judge Sotomayor graduated with honors from Princeton; was a member of the Yale Law Review and; has more judicial and legal experience than anyone who has sat on the United States Supreme Court.

For anyone to object to Sotomayor's statement that she has a greater understanding of people like her is nothing more than stupidity, and a denial of reality. Surely, these men would object strenuously if she said she could understand other white powerful and privileged men as well as or even better than Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, or Rush Limbaugh. They would be ready to call her impudent and full of herself.

When I was in graduate student I studied what is called urban ethnography. A key component of ethnography is participant observation methodology in which one attempts to "take the role of the other" to understand more fully the experiences and lives of the people I studied. This was a natural for me because it involved empathy (the word President Obama said he recognized in Judge Sotomayor), and it gave me a far better and more in-depth understanding of the teenage girls I studied in the Pruitt Igoe public housing project. What helped me in my research is the underlying assumption that there is no value free sociology because all of us have values, attitudes and assumptions. My task was not to agree or disagree with these adolescents on what they believed or did with their lives, but rather to understand them. What is lacking in the right wing talk machine is the inability even to understand how others view the world.

Judge Sotomayor was trying to say exactly that but her opponents have used it as a sledge hammer against her. Rush Limbaugh has values and so does Karl Rove. There is no way a judge can hear a case without their own values intruding, whether they agree or disagree with the behavior of the person standing before them. Most important, the fact that one has a value preference does not mean that one will rule unfairly and against another. Far from it.

The idea that justice is blind is a goal to which the nation aspires, but we see too many cases in real life in which Lady Justice turns a blind eye to the grievances of the poor and powerless. Throughout history justice was not given to slaves who subsequently became second class citizens without the right to vote. Nor is justice granted to those who were subjected to the three-strike rule of law for possession of crack cocaine while those possessing powder cocaine were not given sentences as harsh.

I am reminded of a passage from a book, The Challenge of Blackness, by historian Lerone Bennett:

George Washington and George Washington's slaves lived different realities. And if we extend that insight to all the dimensions of white American history we will realize that blacks lived at a different time and a different reality in this country. And the terrifying implications of all this is that there is another time, another reality, another America... By and large reality has been conceptualized in terms of the narrow point of view of the small minority of white men who live in Europe and North America. We must abandon the partial frame of reference of our oppressors and create new concepts which will release our reality , which is also the reality of the overwhelming majority of men and women on this globe...

Although Bennett published this almost forty years ago, Judge Sotomayor and all the other previously voiceless people are saying to the likes of Rove, Gingrich and Limbaugh that they have a lot to learn about the way so-called minorities in this society view and respond to the world. They need to go back to school and take ethnic awareness and understanding courses.

When White Women Accuse Black Men of Abducting Them (and it turns out to be a lie)

Mug shot of Bonnie Sweeten, Orange County Sheriff's Department/AP


Susan Smith, who falsely accused a black man of abducting her two boys.

Posted: 30 May 2009 11:22 AM PDT

Why is it that in this so-called post-racial society, we see vestiges of terrible historical racism on television that represent psycho-sexual fantasies and fears? Take the case of the white female who, a few days ago, called 911 to report that her car was hit from the rear by "two black men in a Cadillac" and she and her daughter were taken hostage. She said she was calling from the trunk of the car somewhere in Bucks County, outside Philadelphia. It took a short time to determine that she was lying because she was later found at Disney World in Orlando. What this woman doesn't appear to realize, or doesn't care about is that black men have been lynched for doing far less to white women. To use a phrase coined by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (I never thought I would quote him), "high tech lynching" still occurs. The kind of lie she told could have caused Philadelphia cops to stop, harass, and place in line-ups every black male driving a new Cadillac. Fortunately, she has been arrested but not before she evoked the images of brutish black men out to harm a white woman.

The reason this story is important is because, tragically, it points to some of the vestiges of racism that have existed since slavery when black men were mutilated and lynched for allegedly "lusting after" white women. The white Southern woman was placed on a pedestal for all to see and not touch. At the same time, the symbols of black manhood as "bestial" and "animalistic" were also conceived by white males who, in dehumanizing him, made it easier to control him in the Southern plantation economy.

Fast forward to the present. The notorious Susan Smith case in South Carolina where a young white mother accused a black male of kidnapping her and her children gripped the nation for days until it was discovered that she had murdered her children by driving her car into a river, allowing the tots to drown. Smith appeared tearfully on national television begging for the black man to bring her children home. This case was pivotal in spawning a cottage industry of the "helpless white woman" who have been accosted by the "brutish, dangerous black man." Nancy Grace, whom I would not deign to call a journalist, uses air time each night to zero in on the white women and children who are lost, missing, murdered, beaten or Amber Alerted. Some of these claims are valid and others like Susan Smith and the Philadelphia woman who said she was in the trunk of a Cadillac driven by black men are bogus, and just plain wrong.

Instead of officials, Grace and others rushing to say "Oh, she must be mentally ill," these women should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law (Susan Smith was sentenced to prison). Are these people inferring that only a "sick" white woman who does this type of thing? Or, are the trying to find a way for them to avoid prosecution? We have seen that even when the so-called mentally ill white women go off the reservation, they target the "black male as the culprit.

Unfortunately, black women and children who are abducted, beaten, and murdered do not get the same preferential treatment. The horrendous murders of an untold number of Chicago children receives far less media attention. We have yet to see the national public so outraged as they are when danger allegedly strikes the white females. I cannot remember when I last heard an Amber Alert issued for a black child. Are black children not abducted? And what of the black women who were abducted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? We heard very little about them, and Nancy Grace's "Damsels in Distress TV" show, nor has the nation been gripped by these tragedies.

I do not make light of these tragedies when they occur against women and children, no matter their race or class. What I do dislike is the distinction that is made between females on the basis of color.


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An Empathetic Puerto Rican Woman for the U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. President Barack Obama nominates Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor (R), to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, at the East Room of the White House in Washington May 26, 2009. (Reuters)

I am glad President Barack Obama named a woman of color to be the next Supreme Court justice. While I wish a black woman had been nominated, I am happy that a New York Puerto Rican woman from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals is the nominee. Judge Sotomayor has an examplary record. The knives of the right wing have already been sharpened to go after her. This ritual of attacking the record of Supreme Court nominees has become an unfortunate ritual, and the faint of heart need not be considered for they will surely be slashed to bits.

The Republican leadership in the Congress is going to have difficulty launching an attack against Judge Sotomayor. The number of Americans who identify themselves as Republican continues to shrink, especially among the young and among those who do not live in the deep South or in one of those states located far, far away from the mainstream: the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, you get the picture. The Republicans need the Hispanic/Latina vote desperately. How can they oppose the first Hispanic/Latina nominee to the high court, and still expect to gain voters in Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Texas and California? Their base has become so purist that only those who pass the litmus test developed by Rush Limbaugh can be endorsed for dog catcher and beyond.

In the meantime, raise your glasses for a toast to President Obama who had the courage to appoint someone with all of the "official" qualifications, as well as that other qualification he said he considers extremely important:

HERE'S TO EMPATHY!!!

NAACP Endorses Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Below is an open letter from Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP

I was at the White House this morning when President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court -- and it was a thrilling moment.

She is a brilliant legal mind and a distinguished judge -- and she would be the first Hispanic, and the third woman, to serve on the Court.

At the NAACP, we are excited to have a nomination that brings us one step closer to the inclusive democracy that is the hallmark and promise of our nation.

I am writing now to ask you to help ensure that she is confirmed. Here is what you can do:

1. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
2. Ask to speak with one of your senators.
3. Once you are connected, tell the person answering the phone that you "urge the Senator to ensure that Judge Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation is swift and fair."
4. Do the same for your other senator.

The nomination of the first Latina to join the Supreme Court is a moment that we should celebrate. Judge Sotomayor has the life experiences, as well as the judicial temperament and legal mastery, to be a successful and effective Supreme Court justice. She also has an established and proven commitment to civil rights.

You have probably already heard about her life story: she grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx, her father died when she was nine, and her mother worked two jobs. She went to Princeton and Yale. She can understand the reality of all Americans from diverse backgrounds.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings first; once they have recommended her, the full Senate will vote. Please call (202) 224-3121, ask for your senators, and tell them to confirm Judge Sotomayor.

Thank you for your support!


Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

What Is Wrong With Dick Cheney?

When I lived in Washington I got used to the different color coded alerts that were issued by Attorney General Ashcroft. They were supposed to put us Washingtonians on notice that danger lurked behind every building, pothole, and it floated through the air like viruses that would wipe you out. We were never told what the colors meant, therefore it was never clear as to whether red was a higher level of alert than, say blue. One time I got so agitated that I combed my pantry and kitchen cabinets for all the canned goods I could box and save for Armageddon.

My "adopted" son and my close friend looked at me with pain in their eyes. They didn't want to tell me that I looked like a fool, especially when I inspected the garbage room as a possible hiding place should one of the alerts turn out to be a genuine "terrorist" threat on Washington, DC.

I lived between one and two miles from the White House. I tried to plot an escape route because we were told by the Attorney General that we needed to have a pre-planned escape route to get out of Washington if the big one hit us. The problem is, no one knew how to do it because the transportation arteries couldn't handle the traffic. Plain and simple. That fact alone, that we couldn't all get out of town if Cheney and his Fear Industry, wanted us to brought me back to my senses. I realized we were all being conned and I never listened to another color coded warning.

Fast forward to today when Dick Cheney, who used to go into hiding to parts unknown and certainly unannounced to the public , gave a less than logical speech on the state of the "terrorist" industry. He has spoken out far more since leaving the White House than he did when he was Vice President. Now, the man whose approval rating is problem minus zero
(-0), is leading the opposition to President Obama's plans to close Guantanamo Bay.

I can't figure out what Dick Cheney is up to. I try to analyze things as logically as possible but this one stumps me because he makes no sense whatsoever. Does this man really fear his shadow, and does he see a bogey man behind every rock? Is he trying to whip up the fear industry because he wants the company he formerly headed to keep getting contracts worth gazillions of dollars? Does he think people are taking him seriously? If so, he needs a reality check because part of the reason his Party was voted out was because people got sick and tired of being told they needed to be scared out of their minds by Darth (Cheney) Vader?

I don't know the answers. I can only raise the questions. Sound off, dear readers because I really want to know what you think this man is trying to do.