Happy New Year for the Scott Sisters!!!

Barbour issued orders indefinitely suspending the sentences for Jamie Scott and Gladys Scott.

Why now??

I tweeted about the problems Haley Barbour had recently and now he needs make a political that first, makes him not look like a racist, and try and keep his 2012 Presidential dreams alive. Fat chance, no pun intended. Several question are being asked about if this is ethical? I love the Press and it's Monday Morning quarterbacking... that's more troubling.

It's the ECONOMY Stupid...

"It's the economy, stupid" was a phrase in American politics widely used during Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H. W. Bush. For a time, Bush was considered unbeatable because of foreign policy developments such as the end of the Cold War and the Persian Gulf War. The phrase, made popular by Clinton campaign strategist James Carville, refers to the notion that Clinton was a better choice because Bush had not adequately addressed the economy, which had recently undergone a recession.

In our current political times it seems that we sometimes forget how important that phrase really is. When most of the conversations of late seem to center around taxes, deficit spending and a nice dose of political posturing that takes place in politics of today, it seems like this is the only thing being talked about. However, most of us don't have the option or luxury of having deficit spending in our own personal life, either you have the money or you don't. Wouldn't it be great to spend all the money you want and then when you are "able" you will come up with a plan to take care of that accumulated debit, fat change. And yet this is how we got here.

Despite all appearances President Obama has been working on the economy even before he took office. The implementation of new regulatory laws in the financial industry are ideally in place to prevent what got us here in the first place. You can't really improve the economy unless you have a clear understanding of how we got here. The new healthcare laws will, over time, make millions of Americans life easier and hopefully in the process drive down overall healthcare cost. I am completely amazed that so many are against the implementation of this new law. Yet, years ago many employers were complaining that the reason they were not hiring is because of the increasing healthcare cost. Now, we have the new boogieman theory that it will increase cost. I cannot help but laugh, remember when DVD's first came out everyone was talking about how great it was, but way to expensive to have, now fast-forward to today you can find a DVD player for $25. That's kinda how this will work out, insurance companies will have to compete more for business and this will hopefully drive overall healthcare cost down for all Americans, over time.

Which brings us where we are today, waiting for senators to approve a backdoor stimulus plan disguised behind the notion of tax-cuts, it's still deficit spending. That we will still need to find a way to pay for later. However, to most Americans it means more money on the paycheck, which equates to more household spending, which will hopefully lead to businesses adding jobs and an end to this dreadful recession.

When people quit spending, business have to cut jobs, this slows down the economy and leads to a recession. So we need to spend, spend spend.

This has been so far a good week for President Obama. The economy seems to be on a slow mend. The Associates Press reported that 45% of executives expect their companies plan to hire, this is the highest since 2002. 38% expect no change in current payroll. The executives group consist of 193 companies, 12-million workers and a combine revenue of 6 trillion dollars.

What is Quantitative Easing: [QE1,QE2]

"...what quantitative easing actually means, at least in part, is creating massive amounts of money out of thin air. Economists -at least some economists - believe that when you want to improve the economy, you need to get more money out there, circulating around...."

The Central Bank buys long term government bonds, $600 Billion, which in turn lowers the interest rates and speed-up the economy. Some concerns is that QE when lead to inflation, so far this has not happen. The Federal reserve announced that they will continue to purchase $75 Billion each month to inspire recovery in the economy. This will hopefully lead to banks lending again, people spending and investing and that will grow the economy.

NPR: Quantitative Easing explained: [3min 51sec]

audio clip

Clinton advises President Obama then gives briefing:

My prayers were answered!!

In a recent post I stated that President Obama needed to seek the advice of President Clinton to help navigate him through troubled waters... here is the Briefing after the Obama/Clinton meeting, the clip is long I have added the notes that I took from briefing, but I wanted to attach the whole clip to keep what President Clinton said in context. Enjoy!

• The Tax-Cuts would help him greatly-personally.
• Would not approve the Tax cut deal if it was just an extension of the Bush tax cuts.
• Whole agreements helps the MOST Americans:
• a. Unemployment extension; spent funds help economy
• b. Payroll Tax cut
• 1. Lower unemployment rate
• 2. Create More jobs.
• c. Tax Credits for manufacturing; job related to energy
• Net Plus for country/ Bipartisan agreement
• 1.8 Trillion in uncommitted funds needs to be used.
• START agreement needs to be approved!
• Asked if President Obama could have gotten a better deal?- Said No!!
• slippage: said Payroll tax relief was a stimulus...LOL
• What advice did he give the President?- said if President wanted to disclose he could ...
• Asked what needed to happen in Private Credit market to open-up?
• a. Community banks need to lend: for every $1 can lend $10
• b. Business Community is uncertain about financial reform, need to go to banks and make sure they understand what the new laws are. Hopefully a better understanding will result in more lending. Went on to say that they have 2 Trillion could result in 20 Trillion new loans.. not sure why sitting on cash. Need to reinvest in in economy.
• Asked if President Obama Has abandon his core principles and let his party down?-said NO!!
• US suffered severe Financial Collapse!!!
• Asked about Comparisons of Election btw 1994 and 2010?- sidestepped question.
• Haiti Update
• Asked about triangulation? deflation biggest problem and concern we have in-regards to economy.

My only HOPE is that President Obama was taking notes!! I hope he took the time to actually watch the entire briefing Clinton gave and learn how to sell the from the pulpit.

Downside of briefing? Makes President Obama look even more unprepared to deal with problems.

Also, side note talk around town is that President Obama may pull off the political maneuver of 2010... getting Republicans to back slide on deficit spend and approve another stimulus..ops not suppose to use that word.

SNL:12/04/2010-Wikileaked!

As odd as it may sound SNL makes a ggod piont what TMZ does is really no difference than Wikileaks... I'm just sayin'

November 2010: State of Unemployment for Minorities

Black Unemployment: 16.10% [8.90%-Whites]

Black Men: 16.70% [9.20%-Whites]

Black Women: 13.10% [7.60%-Whites]

Latino: 13.2%

Black Teens: 46.50% [20.9o%-Whites]

Any recovery in the national unemployment rate for minorities is usually a year or so behind that!

Data: http://www.nul.org/sites/default/files/November_2010_Jobs_Report.pdf

Obama, Bush Tax Cuts and unemployment insurance...

Note to Obama...

If you don't live under a rock the tide has changed against President Obama. I have been saying this for over a year and everyday it becomes increasingly clear that President Obama is completely clueless. Why clueless? It appears that he understands that he has lost one branch of congress, yet and still he carries on with the same failed strategy that has not worked the first two years of his administration. When holding your ground is the smart thing, he caves in. And when being bipartisan is the smarter route, he digs in.

What kind of negotiation strategy is it to tell the Republicans that you will give them all their Bush tax cut extension provided they extended the unemployment insurance for 2 million Americans. How do you lose this one?? After Eight years of out of control spending from the Bush Administration; all of a sudden the Republican's on going rhetoric now is to control deficit spending, keeping the Bush tax cuts in place does not control the deficit. And then injury to insult one Republican almost made it sound as if those Americans on unemployment want to be, like getting the average of what comes to three hundred and two dollar a week a life-style choice anyone is choosing. For real? Today on Fox news, Juan William went on to say that those on unemployment lack work ethic? How? Like this was their doing, like they asked to be laid off or terminated. This coming from a man who just signed a multi-million dollar contract.

The Republican's do not want to extend unemployment because of deficit spending, they want to end unemployment insurance so that the unemployment rate goes even higher then the current 9.8% and ultimately hurts your re-election bid for 2012. Not to mention 2 million more upset, angry Americans looking for work and wondering why you did not fight harder for them.

President Obama... your current strategy is not working... call Bill, call Bush, call James Carville ... call anyone who is going to help you stop looking like a complete dumb ass.

At best you have six-months to create some kind of up swing.

Who is Julian Assange?

Ted Strickland: Democrats Suffering From 'Intellectual Elitism'

I like this!!!

it's the truth and it needs to be said...

"I mean, if we can't win that argument we might as well just fold up,' he said. 'These people are saying we are going to insist on tax cuts for the richest people in the country and we don't care if they are paid for, and we don't think it is a problem if it contributes to the deficit, but we are not going to vote to extend unemployment benefits to working people if they aren't paid for because they contribute to the deficit. I mean, what is wrong with that? How can it be more clear?'"

Thank you Gov. Strickland

International man of mystery? Who the Heck is Julian Assange?

Julian Assange Vs. Hillary Clinton; USA: EU and Russia....

"How Much of this is about politics?"

CNN's Anderson Cooper took Texas birther and state Rep. Leo Berman (R) down a whole bunch of pegs last night over Berman's birther bill. "You're basing legislation on stuff that's just rumors and stuff that's been proven to be false," Cooper told him.

Midterm Election: 2010 Aftermath

The numbers are in, let the political posturing began and what will become is still unknown. The Republican’s are under some strange belief that the American people needed them to save us from the world’s fallen-angel, President Obama. The star of the midterm elections was not the Tea- Baggers and the Republican’s. The villain wasn’t Obama, Nancy Pelosi, or the Democrats. The star was the Independent voters who are switching teams faster than any confused bisexual. And the understudy was voter frustration.

What did we learn? Was this a wave for Republican support or mandate? Was this a rebuke on Obama’s handling of the greatest economic circumstances we have faced since the great depression? Keep in mind, this is the third-time in a role that a seating President has loss control of the one or both the senate or house of congress. This has happen under President Clinton, Bush and now Obama. My summation is that this was pure and simple voter frustration.

1994- all over again?

The Republican’s are doing what Republican’s do they did over whelming credit that the results of the election are in fact a mandate for their agenda, no wish I knew what that was. I know that they say that they are going to control the deficit and extend Bush tax cuts but the question is how? The Republican’s have actually back them selves into a corner. If in fact they keep the Bush Tax cut’s in place that will increase the deficit, less people paying taxes means less revenue the government will take in meaning that will increase the deficit spending.

I keep hearing conservative pundits say that this was just like 1994 mid-term elections. Actually, they are not, the elections in 1994 resulted in 54 new House seats, 8 new seats in the Senate and 12 new Governor seats. Also, not one single republican loss a seat! If you forgot the Republican’s ran on the “God, Gays, Guns and Clinton” strategy, that was a mandate. Another key difference in 1994 was the unemployment rate was at 5.6%.

Independent voters

Note to Republicans and Democrats the Independent voters have no allegiance to either one of you. Their vote seems more squarely aimed at our problems not at a partisan viewpoint. Respectively speaking the independent voters seems to vote with the a particular party when things are going well, if not it appears they vote for a changing agent. Who ever is going to change the tone in Washington so that things get done.

Familiar territory for Republican leadership

What is similar to the 1994 mid-term elections for the Republicans is the fact that this is a clear opportunity to lead and work in tandem with the President, can or will this happen is up to them. I am not sure how they can want to “get things done for the American people” when they have members of their own party stating their objective is to make sure that Obama does not get re-elected. You cannot be for the American people and be divisive at the same time, can you?

The Republican’s failed to gain control of the Presidency in 1996 because they over reached. We will see what happens this time.

A Presidential test for Obama

We have been talking about the 1994 mid-term elections and it seems only fitting that we would look at what President Clinton’s reflection were at that time. From all published accounts Clinton admitted that he was overly concerned with “what” he got done, after the midterms he seemed to be more concerned about “ how” things got done. Clinton was also committed to controlling his schedule and his time more so than before.

The six months for President Obama are crucial to his current presidency and any desire for another term. It is one thing to say that you loss sight of the American people while you were fighting for legislation. The American public's patience is running thin his major goal over the next six months is to create jobs. if not his presidency is over.

The Federal Deficit

I think that it should also be noted that when Clinton left office we had a $236 Billion surplus. When Bush left office we had a $1.2 trillion deficit, $700 Billion coming from 2008 Bush Bail-out. So, when the Republicans talk about fiscal responsibility and controlling the deficit why were they approving all of Bush’s deficit spending with clearly no way to payback. Oh, yeah John Boemner has support and walked in lock step with Bush during his tender, so isn’t he more responsible for our deficit problems then Obama.

Whatever, you think clearly the 2010 midterm elections were about congress and the President working together. And if not the Independent voters clearly made a big mistake

SNL: 11/20/10: Funny!

Democrats Rejected African-American Voters and Paid the Price - New America Media

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE (part2)

The reason why I started this blog was for the simple reason that I fundamentally believed that all our blind faith in the democrats was not being reciprocated by the Democratic Party. Currently we are in the worse economic conditions the country has been in since the great depression. Yet, somehow we are still last in line for help and first in line for a hand-out. People we need to really re-think our political misfortunes. The old adage use to be that "we needed a seat at the table," well we have that, Obama just isn't representing our interest either. Ask yourself, who is the first to be let go on the job? Which segment of society has been most impacted by this recession? Black people! Like most African-Americans, when asked, what is your political affiliation, I always say Democrats, naturally? But, really belonging to a politcal party or organization means that they support you and you support them. Is this not true across the board? When one is in a membership or organization, the objective is to represent all members. Would one belong to an organization that is dependent upon you, but has no intentions of really supporting you. The Democrats do not support us. I wonder what would happen in current American politics if African-Americans and Hispanics starting acting like Tea-Party members. Their mantra is TAX ENOUGH ALREADY. Well we've had enough!

What happened in some of the other states relative to their outreach to the African American communities? According to media reports, The Democratic National Committee (DNC) reported to have spent $50 million during the 2010 mid-term election, and of that amount, only $3 million was said to have been spent in the African American media. According to NNPA Chairman Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., "We (the Black Press of America) is still looking for that $3 million." It appeared to have been a case of 'you get what you pay for'; they did not spend much and they did not get much.

Outreach to African Americans must be done early, often and real to be effective.

In looking at the history past mid-term elections, politics pundits and historians have reasoned that a changeover of power in Congress is usually expected at the mid-point of most presidential terms. But that sounds like voodoo politics because politics is not an exact science; there is a cause and an effect. And traditionally, the Democrats have had a history of ignoring the African American community and/or taking it for granted. They appear only at election season.

Too little, Too late

Interesting fact?

"Why did the DNC fail to mobilize and maximize the black vote in the midterm elections? This is a salient question because it is, or should be obvious, that in a close election the turnout of black voters will be the difference between victory and defeat.

One answer to this question is the fact that the national committee invests the bulk of its resources in reaching out to voters it was unlikely to get and didn’t get, while largely ignoring the most loyal and traditional base of the party, Black voters."

Some Lessons from 2010 | Texas GOP Vote

REPUBLICANS LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR VOTES IN 2010

Interesting article about how Republicans need to rethink their Strategy for minority votes in 2012! What I found interesting is that the Republican's recognize that they need minority voters and that they also need to reach out to those minority voters. What does this really mean? If the GOP is in pursuit of minority voters, our firts question to them is what are you going to do for me?

"The second problem is the obvious, minority voters are becoming higher percentage of the voting population and much of this growth comes from the Hispanic voters. Hispanic as a average are less likely to vote when compared to Whites or African-American voters but they are voting in greater numbers. The Democratic strategy for a permanent majority is based in no small part on this demographic change. They feel that if they continue to get 90 plus percentage of African-American and keep Republicans to 30% of Hispanics while keeping their base along the West coast and Northeast, they can become the dominate Political Party. With minority voters as important base of support, they can sweep the Southwest, add Texas and Florida in the future and maintain the upper edge in the Midwest. They pulled this off in 2008 (with the exception of capturing Texas)"

Exit Poll: Lower Turnout Among Youth and Black Voters - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Exit Poll: Lower Turnout Among Youth and Black Voters - Political Hotsheet - CBS News:

Who is surprised by this... 50% of the Voters between that ages of 18-29... did not show up to vote. Most Probably could not afford the gas to get to the voting booth!

Mid-Term Elections are in 4 months!

Latinos not flexing political muscle -- yet - CNN.com:

"At 15.8 percent of the population, Latinos constitute the largest minority group in the United States. African-Americans make up 12.3 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Census Bureau. In 2008, turnout for black voters was 65.2 percent and 67.2 percent for white voters. For Latinos, turnout was 49.9 percent, according to Pew."

Imagine what kind of political power we would have if African-Americans and Latinos merged their voting power behind a single candidate on each election. What kind of change could we bring to our community to our personal lives .

New Unemployment Numbers: US 9.5%...Blacks 15.4%

The unemployment rate in June fell to 9.5% as labor force participation declined by 0.3 percentage points.

The black unemployment rate remained level at 15.4% (from 15.5%) as the participation rate fell to 61.9% (from 62.8%).

The unemployment rate for black men increased slightly (from 17.1% to 17.4%), as the rate for black women fell (from 12.4% to 11.8%).

The unemployment rates for whites (8.6% from 8.8%) and Latinos (12.4%) also showed little change in June. The rate of underemployment (including the unemployed, marginally attached and those working part-time for economic reasons) was also essentially unchanged at 16.5%.


source: National Urban League: State of Urban Jobs: June 2010 report

Uneven pain—Unemployment by metropolitan area and race

"African American unemployment rates
The black unemployment rate in both the Detroit and Minneapolis metropolitan areas was just over 20% (see Table 4). These were the highest rates for blacks. Washington D.C. had the lowest black metro unemployment rate in 2009, 8.1%. Fourteen of the metro areas had black unemployment rates that exceeded 11.3%. None was less than 7.3%. By contrast, in 11 of the 18 metro areas analyzed for blacks, whites had unemployment rates below 7.3%.

The black-white unemployment ratio was highest in Minneapolis and Memphis. In these metropolitan areas, the black unemployment rate was three times the white rate. In both of these cities the black-white gap was also over 10 percentage points. The black-white ratio was lowest in Detroit, but blacks were still 1.5 times as likely to be unemployed as whites. On average, blacks were twice as likely to be unemployed as whites."

Unemployment And African-American Men : NPR

This story was part of a longer piece by the New York Times reporter Michael Lou, and he joins us in just a moment. But it's worth repeating his focus in these hard times: Black male college graduates are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as their white counterparts. The numbers come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and raise a number of provocative questions."

Why Obama had to fire Gen. McChrystal

Politics is a funny game. In which one must always be aware of danger. Everyone, well almost everyone, would agree that the President has his hands full. To list everything here would fill up this blog. There is an old adage, "be careful what you wish for," comes to mind. Obama wanted this job so bad, however he is constantly tripping over himself with one political blunder after another.

Obama is a shrewd politician, more strategic then media savvy. The magic for this President happens behind the scenes which can sometimes convey the wrong message. The BP mess was something that he was on top of, despite the appearance the White House portrayed. America is exhausted of the behind the scenes President. American's want a up in your face President. Tell me what your going to do about this? When will this happen? How long will this take? Ok now go get this done, then come back with the next set of problems you promise to tackle.

Business leaderships is defined as: the capacity to establish direction and to influence and align others toward a common goal, motivating and committing them to action and making them responsible for their performance.

The mis-steps that keep happening are things that most political scientist majors know; Command the issue, get out in front of the problem and always keep your pulse on the public sentiment. Obama has been drinking his own Kool-Aid. The assumption that he would be able to move from the senate to the White House and everyone would just fall in line and follow his lead is just plain stupid thinking. The Republicans have managed to make this President look like a political novice and the BP mess is now bearing fruit.

When 9/11 happen Bush needed to do something that would give the impression that he was in charge, that he was the leader of the free world. So, an opportunity to go to war in Afghanistan and attack al qaeda then Iraq gave that perception.

With the Health Care debacle you would think that Obama would have been a little quicker on the uptake. Obama was a professor, I can only imagine what kind of nightmare that was for students and supporting staff. It is my understanding that Obama is a big delagator. Delegation is good with the appropriate amount of follow-up.


The Rolling Stone interview manage to do several things:
1- undermine the President
2- Questions the people he appoints to important positions
3- Exit strategy for July 2011 from Afghanistan
4- is the plan working? what is the plan?

Gen. McChrystal was a lose cannon from the start, clearly the article makes that point crystal clear. One cannot help but think why was this guy drinking and speaking so freely, clearly he had an agenda about why he was telling this writer these things.

Obama had no choice, Gen. McChrystal forced his hand. Obama needed to show leadership in a big way, and it needed to be fast and swift.

Five Months to Mid-Term Elections: 2010

Racial profiling meet Ethnic profiling

When I think about the Holocaust, outside of the gruesome images of people being mistreated and killed, I'm sure everyone would agree that these were outrages acts against humanity. The horrifying image that always comes to mind is those arm bands affixed to their shirts. The Nazis used triangular badges or patches to identify prisoners in the concentration camps. Different colored patches represented different groups. The Nazi holocaust begun with enemies of the state who were slowly segmented out and and removed from society.

Now, fast-forward to what's happening in the state of Arizona passing a new law that is asking law officials to look for illegal immigrants that my be in United States illegally. Stopping individuals that look like, could be or not sure, to carry documents that say they are in this country legally. So basically anyone of Mexican descent has now become an enemy in the state of Arizona.

Legislators make the laws. Police Officers enforce the laws. However, with a law like this who is watching to ensure that we all have the same equal protections under the law? This law gives Police Officers the legal right to ethnically profile individuals! How could legislators believe that creating a Police State is the most prudent and effective way to enforce this law? How? Being a minority in United States is hard enough now extending and making law the right to question individuals the could "possibly be" illegal is outrageous.

Imagine a Police Officer entering a local restaurant in the fascist State of Arizona. When he enters he sees three families. One family is white, another is black and the other family is of course of some Mexican descent. More than likely under the provisions of this new law he will no doubt observe the Mexican family the most, make them feel as uncomfortable as he can and then eventually he will stop them, first.

Who wants to live the Cooper state? Not me. The constant harassment and compromising of ones civil liberties being violated just attempting to go to the movie on a Friday night. Another unknown factor is not knowing what personal biases the Police officer may harbor. Anyone who appears to be Mexican descent. Anyone who looks like they could be be and illegal immigrant can be stopped. Now, legal citizens are being forced to basically live underground in some George Orwell like Police state. Nice!

A police report was released at the end of April regarding the use of Force by the Michigan Police Department (MPD). The 20 page documented that 76% of the subjects in the report were black. Furthermore, In 2009, MPD officers conducted 27,270 subject stops and 53 of them involved the use of force. As one would expect, there were more subject stops conducted in the summer months than in the winter months. There were, on average, 515 subject stops for each stop that involved the use of force (27,270 / 53 = 515). what is troubling is that we all know this is happening what will happen in a State that Police Officers are ethnically profiling individuals.

Maybe they should assign an arm band to citizens who have a legal right to be here!

Oh, yeah, that did not work in Germany, maybe it will work in Arizona.

VBVP: Who represents your local District? Who represents and protects your rights and issues you care about?