Tom Daschle is Out!
Yes, Tom Daschle is Out! Daschle announcing his withdrawal. "If 30 years of exposure to the challenges inherent in our system has taught me anything, it has taught me that this work will require a leader who can operate with the full faith of Congress and the American people, and without distraction," he said. "Right now, I am not that leader and I will not be a distraction.
As reported by The NY Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post, Former Senator Tom Daschle has withdrawn from consideration for health and human services secretary over his belated payment of federal taxes. More on how the ex-Senator is the 2nd Obama pick to pull out over tax issues.
AAPP: I have pointed out my concerns about how, former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle was getting "The New Black Politics Pass."
I agree with Steve Holland at Reuters, he is one of many former politicians and ex-government officials who have gotten rich by using their influence and powerful connections. It's too bad as a millionaire he failed to pay his taxes.
Now get this, he is not the only one, not paying his taxes, another appointee who wanted an Oversight Role in the Obama administration has withdrawn. Yes, Nancy Killefer withdrew from consideration for chief performance officer after coming forward with concerns about tax returns.
AAPP: I guess there are a few crooks and liars trying to get positions in the new Obama administration. See Who's Who in Barack Obama's White House.
So… Jennifer Hudson lip “Sang” The National Anthem, Who CARES?
As reported by MTV, By now, you're probably either read about or seen Jennifer Hudson's stirring rendition of the national anthem before Sunday night's Super Bowl. In her first public performance since seen her mother, brother and nephew were slain in October, Hudson delivered a stunning version of the anthem.
But after the game, the show's producer, "American Idol" music director Ricky Minor, told The Associated Press that, at his request, Hudson lip-synched the anthem to a previously recorded track.
AAPP: Who cares MTV, leave Jennifer Hudson alone! She "sang" that Anthem like very few have been able to do. The only people who have done any better are Marvin Gaye and let us not forget Ray Charles' America, The Beautiful. MTV needs to stop hating on black folks.
Jennifer Hudson performs the national anthem at Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday
Photo: Paul Spinelli/ Getty Images
Post Racial America:I Don’t Think So
Since it was apparent that Barack Obama would be the 44th POTUS, the term "Post racial America" has been flowing in the national conversation.
I spent a considerable period of time searching for a definition for the term post-racial. It is interesting that there really is not one given by any viable source. I read plenty of definitions on conservative blogs. Which all seem to lean towards the theory that in a post-racial America the rights of white citizens would be lessened to the point where they would not be able to recover their positions of power.
But one of my greatest passions is the issue of race, which also leads to issues of immigration, assimilation, affirmative actions, social justice, etc. It irks me that the elitist liberal media has annointed Barack Obama as a "post-racial" candidate. (By the way, I have no idea what the working definition of "post-racial" is; when the media gets into the meta-sociological, it always turns out to be a disaster.)
I believe that The Right has a interesting opportunity to capture the sentiments of those who want to move beyond race, into a near color-blind society, by using conservative principles of old. I tell everybody that one of the top reasons I am a registered Republican is the fact that The Left is interested in what I can contribute as a Korean-American or Asian-American; The Right is simply interested in what I can contribute as an American. Source
I find this to be an interesting observation. Especially after the vicious racial tone of the national campaign
The New Black Politics
AAPP says: Here is a great article in The Harvard Crimson by Dr. Jonathan David Farley ’91 is the 2004 Harvard Foundation Distinguished Scientist of the Year. He writes about the new black politics and how it just may not be "all that" for black Americans. It's a great article. I just finished doing a radio program about this issue on my BlogTalkRadio program.
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As an African-American, people expect me to be excited by the inauguration of the first black president of the United States last week. Of course, symbols matter. A black man could not have ascended to the presidency 40 years ago. But the inauguration of President Barack Obama means considerably less than what the pundits say it means.
True, it indicates that racism is lessening in America. But the black unemployment rate will stay the same. The black poverty rate will stay the same. Policemen will still murder elderly black women with impunity. Confederate flags honoring those who killed to preserve slavery and racial segregation will still disgrace our public spaces. And Obama will not do or say anything about any of this.
Certainly, having a black president will be a first. But just because you are a first for blacks does not mean blacks are first for you. For example, Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice, informed on other blacks at the behest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He also hated black America’s Saul of Tarsus and shining prince, Malcolm X.
While it would be absurd for blacks to practice “shadism”—the great Harvard graduate W. E. B. DuBois, intellectual and freedom fighter, had the blood of two continents in his veins—it would be naïve to ignore the weighty significance of the truth: that many black political “firsts” in America, such as Marshall, have been light-skinned mulattoes, like Obama.
Admittedly, Obama represents a new type of African-American politician: He is not a minister, he did not march with Dr. King, he has no line item in his budget for pregnant mistresses and keeps food—not cash—in his refrigerator. Brotherman is no tria laser hair removal Uncle Sambo. He is not an embarrassment in that sense.
Yet he is an embarrassment in another sense. At least the misleaders and pied pipers who came out of the bowels of the civil-rights movement paid lip service to the idea of uplifting the race. Obama and the new generation of black policy-makers, such as Newark, New Jersey, mayor Cory Booker, self-professed drug-dealer-cum-Harvard-professor Roland Fryer, and former Tennessee congressman Harold Ford, Jr., pay scant allegiance to the past or feel little obligation to their fellow blacks as blacks.
Unlike black conservatives, such as Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, whom the African-American community mostly derides, the new black politician does not usually declare openly that he is against the issues blacks support. He just never declares that he is for those issues. For instance, the issue of reparations for slavery is avoided. At one presidential debate, white congressman Dennis Kucinich said he was for it, while Obama dodged the question.
Blacks make the false assumption that, because the new black politicians have somewhat dark skin, they in fact share the same goals and do not need to say so. When pressed a year after the aforementioned debate, Obama admitted he was against reparations for slavery. He can support giving $700 billion to corporate crooks and incompetents, but he cannot support reparations for slavery. Obviously, he knew he would still get 99 percent of the black vote.
African-Americans are like dogs at the park: If you fake throwing a Frisbee, they run away looking for the Frisbee you didn’t throw. When the dog comes back, you do it again—and the dog falls for it again, drooling. Blacks who swoon over Obama are akin to the blacks who dance to the song “Sweet Home Alabama.” They clearly haven’t listened to the words.
This is why the inauguration of Obama as the nation’s first half-white president was nothing to celebrate. One can only succeed as a black American—in politics or at your job—by submitting to majority authority and control. You can’t say you don’t want to recite the no no hair removal reviews Pledge of Allegiance. You can’t suggest you were ever not proud of the country that murdered Indians with gifts infected by smallpox and that blew up little girls as they prayed.You certainly can’t speak the truth about racism, as Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright, proved.
Obama’s rival, Senator John McCain, all but called Obama a child molester, all but called Obama a traitor, and in response Obama called McCain a “hero.” Wright, on the other hand, praised Obama endlessly, officiated at Obama’s wedding, baptized his children, and gave him the title of his best-selling book. But he also made a few correct remarks about American racism, labeled too “controversial” to keep them from being discussed seriously. Instead of standing by his friend and supporter as the statesman Nelson Mandela would have done, new black politician Barack Obama assailed Wright without mercy.
Obama’s election is exactly the wrong signal to send to America’s ebony youth: that, if you don’t raise any issues that make the majority uncomfortable, you, too, can become the president. We can only celebrate the election and inauguration of a black president when he can represent and articulate black interests, and not before.
Dr. Jonathan David Farley ’91 is the 2004 Harvard Foundation Distinguished Scientist of the Year.
Former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle Gets “The New Black Politics Pass”
If a black man or woman didn't pay his or her taxes they would not even be considered for employment with any Federal agency, let alone become head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Why is it that former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle is withstanding revelations about unpaid taxes, and can get a pass? This is change?
As reported by the NY Times, During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher in what he would later call in his Inaugural Address a “new era of responsibility.” What he did not talk much about were the asterisks.
The exceptions that went unmentioned now include a pair of cabinet nominees who did not pay all of their taxes. Then there is the lobbyist for a military contractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industry even if not formally registered as lobbyists.
President Obama said Monday that he was “absolutely” standing behind former Senator Tom Daschle, his nominee for health and human services secretary, and Mr. Daschle, who met late in the day with leading senators in an effort to keep his confirmation on track, said he had “no excuse” and wanted to “deeply apologize” for his failure to pay $128,000 in federal taxes.
As reported by The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune the news that former Sen. Tom Daschle (S.D.), President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Health and Human Service Department had not paid more than $128,000 in back taxes over the past several years threatened to further slow the momentum built by the president during the transition process. The new Republican leader is also having none of this. As reported in USA Today, Michael Steele said in a telephone interview that Republicans should oppose former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle's nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services. Daschle is the second Cabinet nominee to acknowledge he didn't pay thousands of dollars in taxes.
"We've already let one cat out of the bag with (Treasury Secretary Timothy) Geithner," Steele said. "So what's the standard down to, to be a Cabinet secretary? You don't have to pay your taxes? Come on."
AAPP: OK, I'm a former Democrat, and Republican, but I'm now Independent. I have to say, enough is enough. Now we learn his chief of staff is a lobbyist. Steele just may be on point when he says, Steele said. "So what's the standard down to, to be a Cabinet secretary?
AAPP: I guess I agree with John Brummett, who wrties: "There is nothing new, nothing that changes Washington, nothing in the vein of “yes, we can,” in nominating for secretary of health and human services a former veteran senator whose wife is a big-time Washington lobbyist for the airline industry (which she once regulated as acting FAA administrator), then standing by him when it comes out that he didn’t pay his hair removal taxes on income from a car and driver provided him by a big corporation, and didn’t tell you about the problem, of which he became aware last summer, until after you’d nominated him.
We need public officials who pay their taxes, in full, on time, even without being nominated for cabinet jobs. Holding our noses for a treasury secretary who came up short on his income taxes was enough to ask. Plenty."
As The Washington Post reports, Daschle, who paid more than $100,000 in back taxes to the IRS in recent days according to a spokeswoman, is set to meet in a closed door session on Monday with the full Senate Finance Committee to explain the oversight.
Daschle is the third Obama Cabinet pick to run into trouble. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Obama's initial choice as Commerce Secretary, stepped aside due to an ongoing federal investigation into pay for play allegations in the Land of Enchantment. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner acknowledged he had failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for several years, describing the failure as an accounting oversight; he was confirmed by a vote of 60-34 earlier in the week.
AAPP: Change? Right! I guess this can be called, The New Black Politics pass.
Gaps in black construction jobs – Stimulus for everyone but black men?
The Gotham Gazette has a great article on the $825 Billion Dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan unveiled on Jan. 15 by House Democrats. They note it is breathtaking in its no no hair removal scope and cost. Intended to retain and create 3.7 million jobs over the next two years, the $825 billion package of federal government investments includes dozens of spending measures ranging from $200 billion in fiscal relief to help state and local governments, to $6 billion to extend broadband to rural areas, a 21st century version of Depression-era rural electrification. Two thirds of the total value consists of spending, with one third for tax cuts.
Negotiated with President Barack Obama's transition team, the plan - a.k.a. Stimulus II or ARRP - is an important first step to halt the downward economic spiral triggered by last fall's financial meltdown. As large as it is, though-5 percent of gross domestic product-it is not sufficient to create a sustained scholarships for women recovery.
The Gotham Gazette notes: It is no exaggeration to say that this is the worst economy since the Great Depression. The 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008 were more than in any year since 1945. Overall unemployment could be 9 percent by the end of the year and 11 percent in 2010 in the absence of the recovery plan, according to economist Zandi. Already, unemployment among adult black men is 13.4 percent.
AAPP: Bingo! Unemployment among adult black men is 13.4 percent.
The folks at Policy link are right, "In order for the stimulus to truly put us on the path to sustained economic recovery, investments must be made in workforce training and apprenticeship programs that help lower-income people and communities of color access quality employment in the infrastructure arena, while also building a pipeline of workers for the future.
Construction jobs are quality jobs that pay family-supporting wages with benefits. however, it is a sector of the economy that has largely excluded whole ab circle pro reviews segments of society. A study of 25 major metropolitan regions found that white males dominate construction work regardless of the racial and gender composition of the local workforce as a whole. Nearly 140,000 black workers are essentially “missing” from the construction workforce in the regions analyzed, and are the most underrepresented (relative to their rates of participation in other industries). The study also found that the most significant gaps in black employment in the construction sector were in the regions that had the largest African American populations (e.g., Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, and Houston).
At the same time, there are projected to be significant labor shortages in the construction sector as older workers retire in large numbers. Additionally, new technology and building requirements will require more training for both new and existing workers in the trades and many other jobs in design, architecture, engineering, environmental remediation, energy conservation, and construction management.
As noted by Policy Link there are two immediate actions can be taken by the federal government to address existing inequities and worker shortages in the construction sector that will be essential to the smooth flow of infrastructure recovery dollars.
First, allocations for infrastructure projects should be conditioned on the development of explicit commitments by states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs— agencies designated to allocate federal transportation funds) to set aside a minimum of one percent (no says: AAPP it should be 10 percent) of project funds for workforce education programs, apprenticeship programs, and first source hiring policies that will benefit low-income communities of color.
Second, the federal government should make a parallel investment to quickly expand local capacity to deliver workforce education and training programs for vulnerable communities. Years of neglect and financial cutbacks have severely limited the capacity and expansion of community colleges, community-based organizations, unions, and adult education programs to provide the basic skills and workforce education programs.
AAPP: It's important to note, most of the jobs created by in the stimulus plan will require background investigations, and many black men who have been involved in the criminal justice system may not be able to get the job(s). Maybe it's time to connect the Danny K Davis Second Chance Act of 2007 to the stimulus package?
TyGirlz Should Be Taken Off The Shelves…but this is America
As reported by many news outlets, The Obamas aren't happy with new 'Sasha' and 'Malia' dolls. Although the company that makes the doll claims the dolls aren't based on the Obama girls, Michelle Obama still disapproves Sasha and Malia dolls. H/T Lkay59 for the update on the "ugly doll" brand that Obama girls seem to like.
As reported by The Post, First lady Michelle Obama, who has described herself "first and foremost . . . Malia and Sasha's mom," has defended her daughters' likeness, saying it is not proper for a company that makes the plush Beanie Babies to produce dolls called Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia.
"We feel it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for how to get your ex back marketing purposes," Obama's press secretary, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, said in a statement yesterday.
Ty recently released the 12-inch dolls in their collection called TyGirlz. The dolls have soft brown skin and big eyes. Ty's Web site shows Sweet Sasha wearing two pigtails and a pink and white dress, with Marvelous Malia doll wearing her hair to the right side and a blue-green shirt.
The company, which is based in Oak Brook, Ill., has said the dolls are not made to be exact replicas of the first couple's daughters and are not based on the Obama girls.
Get this, Ty Inc., the makers of Beanie Babies, have created two dolls named Sasha and Malia, and they're pretending that it was all just some giant coincidence. This excerpt from the Associated Press news article:
"The motorcycle auctions Oak Brook-based company chose the names because 'they are beautiful names,' not because of any resemblance to Malia and Sasha Obama, said spokeswoman Tania Lundeen."
"'There's nothing on the dolls that refers to the Obama girls,' Lundeen said. 'It would not be fair to say they are exact replications of these girls. They are not.'"
AAPP: The Ty Corporation is full of dog poop. se dolls should not get any love from The White House or for that matter anyone else. They should be taken off the shelves because they are so silly looking... but this is America land of luminess air capitalism.
In my opinion, they do not in any way represent Sasha and Malia Obama. The first lady is within her right to protest, however, as some have said, welcome to the White House.
Black bloggers are following this story.
King, Obama, Economic Stimulus, Poverty, and The Poor People’s Campaign, Inc.
The big news in Chicago seems to be, as the Chicago Sun Times notes, how Blagojevich won't participate in impeachment trial. We also read how prosecutors want Blago tapes released to Senate and how Gov. Rod Blagojevich's lawyers expect his removal from office. Well, I guess that will end the drama in Chicago.
Maybe then, people will turn to the Chicago economy, and Chicago jobs, and how, as the Chicago Tribune notes, the economy meltdown presents obstacles to King's push for economic justice as Obama takes office — The focus of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 wasn't what had been accomplished — but rather his view of what still needed to be done.
More than four decades later, King scholars say he would take the same approach at this historic moment — the inauguration of the first black president at a time when the nation is facing its greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.
The crisis could widen the already large financial gaps between whites and blacks and make it more difficult to attain King's dream of economic equality in America.
"I believe that Dr. King would caution us not to rest on the election of a black president and say our work here is done," said Kendra King, associate professor of politics at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.
AAPP: I had the opportunity to speak with Jerry Robinson, president of The Poor People’s Campaign and Floyd Davis, Vice President, of The Poor People’s Campaign, who have decided to take the Poor Peoples’ Campaign to another level. These two Chicago based insanity workout review grassroots activist saw the Poor people’s campaign lie dormant for over 40 years, and decided to re-establish the Poor Peoples Campaign, as a grassroots national organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
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Resurrection City, June 1968
There are still people around who can remember back in November and December of 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) met with leaders of the movement following the passage of civil rights legislation, concerned about the emergence of black power movement and the urban riots of the previous summer. SCLC decided to launch the Poor People’s Campaign, Inc., a movement to broadly address economic inequalities with nonviolent direct action. From 1965 and 1966, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King brought the brilliant organizing insights of the SCLC to the slums of Chicago to confront the evils of a number of slum lords. King moved his own family into a rundown housing unit in Chicago’s Lawndale community (renamed Slumdale at the time by its occupants), where they endured for a time the harrowing poverty, squalor, and overcrowding that other slum residents had endured for decades. I’m also reminded that Dr. King was able to inspire many grassroots people in Chicago interested in the Poor People’s Campaign, Inc.
Fast Forward
Since 2003, Jerry Robinson and Floyd Davis of Chicago, both long time residents and community activist in Chicago re-established the long dormant Poor People’s Campaign, Inc. Today, The Poor People’s Campaign, Inc. is working to help poor and low-income people of Chicago achieve economic prosperity and self sufficiency.
To achieve this goal, they have developed networks of community-based organizations that assist clients with comprehensive self sufficiency services. “These networks, says Jerry Robinson, help poor and low-income individuals enter the workforce.” Jerry Robinson says, “The bottom line is we connect our clients to income-enhancing benefits that help them move toward financial independence and self sufficiency.”
The Poor People’s Campaign 21st Century Style
Both Jerry Robinson, Floyd Davis, who are quintessential grass roots organizers, are not taking their efforts lightly. Floyd Davis says, “The Poor People’s Campaign, Inc. board of Directors has worked with a community development consultant out of Washington, DC to develop and approve a business model that includes a 5 year chihuahua training business plan.” Floyd Davis say, “We are taking grass root organizing to the next level, we will be using technology, including twitter, my-space, You-tube, and other social networking sites to organize and fund raise.”
Jerry Robinson said, “We understand that in order to succeed in our efforts to improve the plight of the poor in Chicago, we must work with Chicago’s local workforce system, the Chicago Workforce Board and a variety of local, state and national organizations.”
He also said The Poor People’s campaign will link to a variety of public, private, and non-profit agencies, and will collaborate with city and county agencies such as, the Chiaco Department of Children and Youth Services, the Chicago Jobs Council, Chicago Public Schools, and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development.
Jerry Robinson and Floyd Davis say they are excited about the level of support they have received from Congressman Danny K. Davis, Congressman Bobby Rush, and the office of Mayor Richard M. Daley as they have developed and grown the Poor People's Campaign to a viable organizatiion addressing the many need of poor People through the metro Chicago community.
Jerry Robinson said, “We plan to expand nationally to key partnership cities, including, Peoria, Illinois, Rockford, Illinois, East St. Louis, Illinois. and Los Angeles, California, in order to serve the poor people in those cities, with a clear goal of expanding nationally in major urban cities, to develop and implement projects and programs to create economic opportunity for people who are struggling to move out of poverty.”
Floyd Davis said, “We plan to work with city agencies to ensure that the new Green-collar economy and economic stimulus plan works for the poor as well.” Floyd went on to say, The Poor People’s Campaign, Inc. plans to provide meaningful employment opportunities – full-time jobs with living wages and benefits – to poor people in the targeted metro-Chicago area communities.” He went on to say, “Our plans are also to provide necessary supportive services to make employment possible, including life skills training, job training, quality accessible childcare, and transportation.”
Jerry Robinson said “the bottom line is poor people need jobs.” He went on to say, “The Poor Peoples Campaign will work with the city and county to recruit and train residents for construction jobs, as part of the Obama Economic Recovery Plan.” Our plan is to work with the Chicago Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and area labor unions to develop the best possible Economic Recovery implementation strategy that includes poor people.
The Poor People’s campaign, Inc. is located on the web at: www.poorpeoplescampaignppc.org