Black Money: Blue-Eyed Bankers to Blame for the Crisis?

White, blue-eyed bankers are entirely to blame for the world financial crisis that has ended up hitting black and indigenous people disproportionately, the president of Brazil declared .

In an outspoken intervention as Gordon Brown stood alongside him, Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva pledged to make next week's G20 summit "spicy" as he accused the rich of forcing the poor into greater hardship.

"This crisis was caused by no black man or woman or by no indigenous person or by no poor person," Lula said after talks with the prime minister in Brasilia to discuss next week's G20 summit in London.

"This crisis was fostered and boosted by irrational behaviour of some people that are white, blue-eyed. Before the crisis they looked like they knew everything about economics, and they have demonstrated they know nothing about economics."

Challenged about his claims, Lula responded: "I only record what I see in the press. I am not acquainted with a single black banker."

 

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Poll: Americans Don’t Blame Obama for Economy

U.S. President Barack Obama benefits from a broadly held perception that others bear the bulk of responsibility for state of the U.S. economy, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll published on Tuesday.

Asked who was responsible for the economic meltdown, 80 percent in the poll blamed banks, financial institutions and corporations. Some 70 percent also blamed consumers for taking on too much debt and the former Bush administration for lax regulation. Only 26 percent said the Obama administration was not doing enough to turn the situation around.

Two-thirds of respondents approve of the way Obama is handling the presidency, and 60 percent approve of the way he is handling the economy.

Sixty-four percent said were confident Obama's policies will improve the economy, down from 72 percent just before he took office in January.

 

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Dr Boyce v. The NCAA…John Calipari’s Contract

www.BoyceWatkins.com

Sources says that John Calipari from U. Memphis is close to inking a 6-year, $40 Million dollar contract to sign with the University of Kentucky.  Not only does this contract steam me because Kentucky is my alma mater, but it is indescribably unethical for a professional sports league like the NCAA to spend this kind of money and then simultaneously claim that it cannot afford to share revenues with the families of basketball and football players.

I love when these deals are signed, since it reminds the public of just how hypocritical the NCAA happens to be.

There story is here.

Technorati Tags: ncaa,john calipari,paying college athletes,pay for play,black news,african american news,racism

Bill O’Reilly Pays for His Racism

After the national protests by YourBlackWorld.com, ThinkProgress.org and ColorofChange.org, UPS is finally getting the point.  Recently, the company sent out an email stating that they are no longer going to advertise on The O’Reilly Factor. 

Bill O’Reilly harassed Dr. Boyce Watkins last year in an effort to have him fired from Syracuse University for speaking against his racism during the Obama Campaign.  Watkins had also called for a boycott of Bill O’Reilly’s corporate sponsors.  Keith Olbermann later supported Watkins, stating that O’Reilly’s attacks were unwarranted and that everything that Watkins said was true.

Read the email below:

Thank you for sending an e-mail expressing concern about UPS advertising during the Bill O’Reilly show on FOX News. We do consider such comments as we review ad placement decisions which involve a variety of news, entertainment and sports programming. At this time, we have no plans to continue advertising during this show.

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NCAA Rebuts Dr. Boyce Watkins on Pay for Play Issue

To join the Your Black World Coalition, please click here

The NCAA Explains its Behavior 

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.BoyceWatkins.com

In its effort to impact public perception and in response to those across the nation who’ve critiqued the NCAA’s revenue generation at the expense of college athletes and their families, the league has put something on its website entitled: Behind the Blue Disk: Why Don't You Pay Student-Athletes?

I have provided the statement made by the NCAA, with a “between the lines” short response, explaining why athletes in revenue generating sports deserve to have the same rights the rest of us enjoy as Americans. The arguments used by the NCAA to justify its behavior are eerily similar to those used during slavery, in which the high profitability of the cotton trade led those in power to presume that it was also O.K. to strip other human beings of their labor rights.   Many years ago, some said that slaves were better off under the control of their masters, and that they were actually protecting African Americans by earning excessive profit from their hard work.  Like slavery’s Underground Railroad (which was illegal at the time), coaches and others are sometimes caught giving payments to players beneath the table so these athletes can help their families.  The arguments made by the NCAA can get a bit silly at times, since they are stuck with the difficult task of defending that which cannot be defended.  Even Walter Byers, former Executive Director of the NCAA said “the federal government should require deregulation of a monopoly business operated by not-for-profit institutions contracting together to achieve maximum financial returns.”  Translation:  the NCAA is earning a great deal of money by rigging the economic game in their favor and Congress has been allowing them to do it.  Byers, and many others are saying that the families of athletes deserve to make a living from sports, just like the coaches.

The NCAA’s statement (and my response) is below.  Enjoy!

Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.BoyceWatkins.com

This is America! Student-athletes should get paid!
Critics often cite capitalism as a reason for paying student-athletes. But not everything that looks like capitalism is capitalism.
Higher education and intercollegiate athletics generate significant revenues, but the revenues don’t go to making a profit for owners or shareholders - or campuses or college sports, for that matter. The revenues go to providing increased opportunities for all student-athletes.

Rebuttal: As I mentioned earlier, slaveholders justified taking away labor rights of slaves because they argued that they were using the revenues of slavery to feed the slaves and clothe them.  They neglected to mention that they were making many individuals wealthy in the process.  Today, the NCAA is a non-profit organization, granted.  But coaches, commentators, corporations and administrators earn millions from this non-profit organization every year.  Finally, the NCAA earns more revenue during March Madness than all the other professional sports leagues, including the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB.  I am a Finance Professor, and I know capitalism when I see it.

Nonetheless, student-athletes are doing the work. They should get paid!
This argument falls apart right from the start because student-athletes are students first who have the opportunity to compete athletically. They are not university employees. As student-athletes, they are among the fortunate few that are able to continue their development in both the competitive arena and the classroom.
Rebuttal: I have seen this system up close for the past 15 years as a professor at 4 universities with major athletics programs.  Student athletes are NOT students first, especially those in basketball and football.  Their scholarships are taken away if they do not perform on the field, they are put in dorms away from the other students, they are expected to miss class to play in games, and their time is so taxed that they barely have a chance to do anything else.  The NCAA hardly runs a “weekend warrior” operation, since athletes bring in more money than nearly any other employee campus.

I’m not buying it. Big-time athletic programs are awash in money.
Wrong! More than 90 percent of NCAA schools consistently lose money on their athletics programs. Most are forced to rely on alternative funding to even field teams. Paying players would only make the problem worse.

Rebuttal: Any school that is not making money from college sports should not be paying its head coach more than $100,000 per year.  Instead, many schools sign deals for as much as $6.5 million per year for football and basketball coaches.  It is a bit nonsensical to attempt to argue that you are wallowing in poverty when your organization is creating millionaire television commentators, coaches, and athletic directors every year.  Additionally, schools don’t have to pay athletes at all.  They should only allow athletes to have the same labor rights as coaches and other Americans.  The athlete can then earn money from his/her own image from sources off campus.  You see?  With just a little bit of intelligence, we can assuage the NCAA’s concerns, as they argue that they are nothing more than harmless paupers barely squeezing by.

Why not eliminate the non-revenue sports and pay the football and men’s basketball players?

Nice try but there is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow either. In Division I, only 30 percent of football and 26 percent of men’s basketball programs make money. For the pure capitalist, that means more than two out of three football teams and three out of four basketball teams would be in jeopardy because they are losing money. But let’s get beyond the economics. The NCAA is about increasing participation opportunities for all student-athletes, not diminishing them. The benefits of participating in college sports are too valuable to limit to a chosen few in two sports.

Rebuttal: Even a company that is not making a profit should have to fairly compensate its employees.  Additionally, many of the universities who claim to be broke are signing multimillion dollar deals with their coaches (the University of Kentucky just gave its basketball coach $6 million dollars to quit).  If you were to simply redistribute the revenue that the coach earns, your problem would be solved.  Finally, participation for all athletes in non-revenue sports is certainly important, and it is ridiculous to believe that other sports would not exist without the blatant violation of student athlete labor rights.  High schools operate sports programs on far less than the billions earned by the NCAA.    

OK. But aren’t student-athletes being exploited?
Absolutely not. Our ground-breaking studies show most current and former student-athletes appreciate the educational and athletics opportunities that college presents. In general, student-athletes graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. They do so while simultaneously playing the sport they love and preparing for their future as a pro in something other than sports. And let us not forget the average full-ride scholarship at a public school is worth more than $100,000, no small sum by any means. In total, Division I and II institutions cumulatively award $1.5 billion in athletics scholarships each year. Division III does not award athletics aid.

Rebuttal: I am not sure what the NCAA is referring to with their “groundbreaking study” (I hope it’s not as bad as the CBS infomercial they featured me on last year, which included several millionaire coaches and commentators - Coach K at Duke, Clark Kellogg, Billy Packer - explaining why athletes’ families should be left out of the revenue-generating pool).   I also recommend that they do a survey of athletes in revenue-generating sports to determine if they agree with the NCAA’s optimistic assessments of the student athlete experience.  The NCAA seems to work very hard to shape the playing field in their favor, as any unbiased survey would show that athletes in revenue generating sports (and their families) would much rather have their labor rights restored.  In fact, the NCAA almost never engages in public debates to defend their current system (when I spoke on this issue on CNN, the NCAA refused to put someone on the show to debate me.  I speculate that they are nervous about dealing with a Finance Professor and Educator who knows the system and has the ear of African American males).
Does Title IX play a role in this issue?
We’re pretty sure it would. This historic 1972 federal civil rights law has been interpreted to say female student-athletes are to be treated the same as male student-athletes. Although it has never been tested in court, we suspect this same interpretation would apply if colleges started paying either. The penalty for not complying is the loss of federal educational funds, something no college can survive without these days.

Rebuttal: The NCAA does not have to pay anyone.  The argument is that they and Congress should stop restricting the labor rights of college athletes.  They can do the same for female athletes as well.  Hiding behind Title IX simply doesn’t work, since there would be no violation necessary.

Documented benefits of being a student-athlete:

• They enjoy high levels of engagement in academics, athletics, and community

Rebuttal: I’ve dealt with student athletes for the past 15 years.  Many of them are tired from practicing constantly, USA Today found that they are steered toward particular academic majors, and they are constantly in fear of disobeying their coaches, even if it is to attend class.  Many athletes do not have the sheer joy that the NCAA attempts to present to the American public.  This reminds me of pictures of happy slaves my history teacher used to show in class.

• They have very positive feelings about their overall athletics/academic experience

Rebuttal: Again, I recommend having an independent body do a survey of former student athletes in revenue-generating sports to determine if their experience was as enjoyable as the NCAA proclaims it to be.  Just ask the family of Curtis Williams, a football player at The University of Washington, who was paralyzed in a game and died a few months later.  The NCAA initially refused to pay for his home care and then later refused to pay his death benefit, even though he was paralyzed on the football field. I would not consider this to be a positive athletic experience.

• They attribute learning invaluable life skills to being a student-athlete
• They are more likely to earn similar or higher wages after college than non-student-athletes

Rebuttal: I do not disagree with either of these assessments, since I enjoyed being an athlete when I was young.  However, the idea that someone benefits from something doesn’t imply that you have the right to steal their labor rights.  Those forced into slavery gained tremendous physical strength from picking cotton all day, but that doesn’t justify the master’s criminal behavior.  The bottom line is this:  The NCAA has colluded with Congress to strip fundamental rights from a select group of individuals through a nexus of rules and cartels with serious threat of punishment to those in violation of cartel policies.  This sort of behavior would be illegal in nearly any other industry in America, but it is acceptable to the rest of us because most of the players are Black.

So, as the NCAA argues that such abhorrent behavior is actually helping college athletes, we must remember that a thief who vacuums your carpet is still the guy who broke into your house.  There is no getting around accountability.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of “What if George Bush were a Black Man?”  For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.

Technorati Tags: ncaa,paying college athletes,pay for play,black athletes,african american athletes,black scholars,african american scholars

John Hope Franklin Dies

John Hope Franklin, one of the most prolific and well-respected chroniclers of America’s torturous racial odyssey, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday in a Durham, N.C., hospital. He was 94.

It was more than Franklin’s voluminous writings that cemented his reputation among academics, politicians and civil rights figures as an inestimable historian. It was the reality that Franklin, a black man, had seen racial horrors up close and thus was able to give his academic work a stinging ballast. Franklin was a young boy when his family lost everything in the Tulsa race riot of 1921. The violence was precipitated by reports that a black youth assaulted a white teenage girl in a downtown elevator. In the end more than 40 people died, mostly blacks, although some reports put the death total much higher.

Franklin was among the first black scholars to earn prominent posts at America’s top — and predominantly white — universities. His research and his personal success helped pave the way both for other blacks and for the field of black studies, which began to blossom on American campuses in the 1960s.

 

Click to read.

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Why Doesn’t Notre Dame Want Obama?

Jimmy Carter came to Notre Dame in 1977. So did Ronald Reagan in 1981 and George W. Bush in 2001.

The University of Notre Dame has a tradition of inviting new presidents to speak at graduation. But this year's selection of President Barack Obama has been met by a barrage of criticism that has left some students fearing their commencement ceremony will turn into a circus.

Many Catholics are angered by Obama's planned appearance at the May 17 ceremony because of his decisions to provide federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and international family planning groups that provide abortions or educate about the procedure.

The consensus Thursday on the campus of the nation's most-prominent Catholic university was that any president should be welcomed at Notre Dame.

"People are definitely entitled to their outrage, but I think the main thing is to see that it's an honor to have the president of the United Statescome to speak here whether you agree with him or not," said Katie Woodward, a political science junior from Philadelphia.

Justin Mack, a senior film major from Dallas, agreed.

 

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: notre dame,black president,barack obama,black news,african american news,black politics,african american politics

President Obama Gaining Momentum

The Obama administration's tenth week in office was a busy one. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner unveiled the next phase of the bank bailout. Congress took up the president's budget. And the government outlined a plan to overhaul regulation of the financial system.

The administration's efforts, along with some faint signs that economic conditions are stabilizing, helped improve the sentiment on Wall Street. Stocks posted strong gains for the week despite a selloff on Friday.

It was also a busy week on Capitol Hill.

Committees in the House and Senate largely supported Obama's priorities for the 2010 budget, with certain caveats, in the early stages of what is expected to be a months-long debate.

Lawmakers also heard testimony from Geithner on how the administration hopes to prevent future meltdowns by increasing oversight of the financial markets and preventing companies from growing too big to fail.

Meanwhile, the president continued to promote his long-term economic agenda, stressing the need to invest in health care, education and energy.

In a new rhetorical tack, Obama sought to draw a direct connection between his budget proposal and the broader themes of economic recovery and future growth.

"This budget is inseparable from this recovery," Obama told reporters Wednesday night. "It is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."

To promote his message, the president took a number of unconventional steps. He published an op-ed in more than 30 newspapers around the world, held his second prime time news conference, and broke technological ground with an online town hall meeting at the White House.

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Technorati Tags: barack obama,black president,black news headlines,black money,african american money

Your Black Money: Genma Holmes Speaks on Tavis Smiley’s Sponsor, Wells Fargo

Roland Martin, political correspondent for CNN and The Tom Joyner Morning Show, interviewed NAACP's CEO Ben Jealous about the law suit against Wells Fargo and several other banks for institutionalized racism. Mr. Jealous addressed the records that banks must make public about their lending ratios. Jealous stated that many of the blacks applicants were put in subprime loans that actually qualified for conventional loans. Jealous also stated that African American were target specifically for this type of discriminatory practices.

I read the lawsuit several times prior to my posting several weeks ago but I thought it would be interesting to pull out several key points of the lawsuit to further expand on my original post.

The suit states:

5. Wells Faro Bank, N.A. and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc target the African American community by capitalizing on their relative lack of experience in dealing with banking institutions and mortgage loans. Upon information and belief, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc. are aware of the African American Community's susceptibility to predatory lending practices, but nonetheless engage in policies and procedures that they know will result in African Americans being steered toward less favorable loans.
6. Indeed, in 2006, the Center for Responsible Lending, a non-profit research organization, found that even when income and credit risk were accounted for, African American were still 31% to 34% more likely to receive higher rate subprime loans, and that the disparities between them and Caucasians with the same risk factors were "large and statistically significant."

These particular points intrigued me more so than others in light of recent charge to hold folks Accountable by Tavis Smiley. Again this is not a personal attack of Tavis, only a charge to him to do his research and get back to the community that he often admonishes to educate ourselves on the issues, to know all the facts, and to dig deeper in our pursuit of being empowered.
Section 11. states The NAACP brings this class action lawsuit seeking declaratory and injuctive relief based upon the Fair Housing Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the Civil Rights Act.

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: roland martin,genma holmes,ben jealous,tom joyner morning show,black news,african american news

Prof Boyce Watkins calls for NCAA Reform

Here is the schedule for coming media appearances related to the call for NCAA reform by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Finance Professor at Syracuse University.

Boyce Watkins to discuss NCAA and Black athletes on WBCP Radio, Champagne, IL - 3/27/09

Boyce Watkins to appear on Gtown Radio - 3/26/09

Dr. Boyce on NPR to discuss NCAA - 3/26/09

Dr. Watkins to appear on XM Satellite Radio - 3/27/09

Dr Boyce in the Baltimore Sun-Times - 3/25/09

Dr. Boyce discusses the NCAA at Loyola College in Maryland - 3/24/09

Technorati Tags: black athletes,black news,black scholars,african american news,african american scholars

The President’s Testy Exchanges with Media

After an uncharacteristic gaffe on 'The Tonight Show' and an unfortunate case of the giggles on '60 Minutes,' President Obama had a lot riding on his Tuesday night press conference. The president largely stayed on message, using the hour to focus on the economy, the budget, and his anger (even if was delayed) at those darn AIG bonuses.

The buzziest moment came about 35 minutes into the press conference when Ed Henry of CNN asked the President why he didn't spew outrage as soon as he learned about the AIG bonuses. Why, Mr. Henry asked, did the president wait several days before speaking out? The president, with an icy stare, responded that he "likes to know what he's talking about" before he speaks. It was a pretty testy exchange that brought about nervous laughter from the other reporters andsnarky responses from Twitterers. Boom! Next question.

Another moment that seemed to strike a chord came when Chuck Todd of NBC asked the president what sort of sacrifices he would like to see from the American people during this economic crisis. The president responded that he expects Americans to do what they've always done "which is working hard, looking after their families, making sure that, despite the economic hard times, that they're still contributing to their community..."

Chip Reid asked a tough question about Obama's controversial budget. Reid asked if the budget, which will increase the debt to "$7 trillion over the next 10 years," is a case of passing problems onto the next generation. Obama responded that investments need to be made to "meet our growth targets that put us on a pathway to growth.

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: barack obama,black news,african american news,black politics,african american politicsl

Black News: Out of Wedlock Births Higher than Ever

Forget the baby boom. More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history — and a wedding band made increasingly little difference in the matter. The 4,317,119 births, reported by federal researchers Wednesday, topped a record first set in 1957 at the height of the baby boom.

Behind the number is both good and bad news. While it shows the U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend, the teen birth rate was up for a second year in a row.

The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40%, continuing a trend that started years ago. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older.

For a variety of reasons, it's become more acceptable for women to have babies without a husband, said Duke University's S. Philip Morgan, a leading fertility researcher.

 

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Technorati Tags: black childhood,african american families,black news,african american news,black social commentary

How Loyal is the Loyal Opposition?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE How Loyal is the Loyal Opposition? From this point on I pledge to stop using the terms "conservative" and "Republican" interchangeably. I'm beginning to realize there's a big difference between the two. Conservatives are loyal and well-meaning Americans of good faith who just happen not to share my opinion of what's in the best interest of America. On the other hand, it has become clear that the Republican Party has crossed the line between the loyal opposition, and subversion. Am I indulging in radical hyperbole? I don't think so. The American Heritage Dictionary defines subversive as "Intended or serving to subvert, especially intended to overthrow or undermine an established government" (emphasis added). While I don't mean to imply that the GOP is involved in a plot to overthrow our government–at least, not at this point--it is certainly clear that they are deeply involved in a conspiracy to undermine it. Forces within the GOP like Rush Limbaugh and Tom Delay have literally stated that they want President Obama to fail in his attempt to rescue America from our current economic crisis. One can sugarcoat that anyway that one likes, but the bottom line is, if President Obama fails, the American people are going to suffer greatly. So what these GOP leaders are actually saying is that they're hoping for additional, and severe hardship, to be visited upon the American people. And considering the fact that America is in the throes of a nation-threatening economic crisis (due to a very large extent to GOP governance), I'd say they've crossed the line, from simple irresponsibility, to what could literally be considered subversive. One might argue that I'm dealing in semantics if it were not for the fact that the GOP has taken its intent beyond mere words to blatant, and clearly defined obstructionism. They're using every legislative device at their command to sabotage the president's rescue plan. While they claim that their concern is about "pork barrel" spending, their claim is transparently disingenuous. First, the amount of spending that the GOP is jumping up and down about is less than 1% of the rescue plan. So in essence, they're taking the position that one should allow a baby to starve to death because the local market is charging two pennies more for baby food than the store across town. Their rationale? It's a matter of principle. Oh, really? The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that making President Bush's tax cuts to the rich permanent, as virtually every Republican wanted to do, "Without offsets, making the tax cuts permanent would increase the deficit and thereby add to the national debt. The interest payments [alone] needed to service this higher level of debt would amount to about $700 billion over the next ten years. Thus, the total cost of making these tax cuts permanent, including the related interest costs, would be $4.4 trillion over the ten-year period" (emphasis added). In addition, much of the pork in the rescue plan was placed in the stimulus package during the Republican watch, before President Obama even took the oath of office. And beyond that, many of the very Republicans who are complaining, are some of the most excessive spenders. Republican minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell complains, for example, that the rescue plan spends more "than the previous administration spent in seven years on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina combined." But he fails to point out that he's responsible for more than $75 million of the pork that he's complaining about. According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, McConnell is responsible for a $950,000 earmark to fund a bikeway for a Western Kentucky University, and $2.9 million to purchase buses for LexTran, and $1.6 million for a forage animal research laboratory. And for a politician who's so concerned about leaving debt on the backs of our children, it didn't seem to bother him when he landed on CREW's 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress List for, according to CREW, "accepted donations to his campaign and political action committees in direct exchange for earmarking federal funds to clients of Bates Capitol," a lobbying firm owned by McConnell's former chief of staff, Gordon Hunter Bates. And now we have Republican governors threatening to refuse the stimulus money. Governors Rick Perry (Tex), Mark Sanford (SC), Bobby Jindal (LA), C.L. "Butch" Otter (ID), and of course, Sarah Palin (AL)--all Republican, and all having presidential ambitions, thus, they all have a vested interest in President Obama's failure, and more than willing to let their people suffer to bring about that end. That in itself should demonstrate how we ended up in our current fix. Now just ask yourself–do you think that President Obama would allow people to starve, election or not, or under any circumstances? Of course not–that's the difference between a statesman and demagogues. Even Ray Charles could see through the motives of these people–and as we all know, Ray's both blind, and deceased. When was the last time anyone ever heard of any governor telling the federal government that they didn't want more money? You show me a Republican who turns down money, and I'll show you some kind of conspiracy. Thus, all of these Republican governors are willing to starve the people of their state for personal gain. In the middle of the worse--not just a national, but world--economic crisis of the last eighty years, they're telling the federal government, "No, I don't want you to help the people of my state. Let their unemployment lapse. We have food in the governor's mansion, and I'm sure the people will survive–somehow. " In essence, "Let them eat cake." Those are not conservatives. They're self-serving, ruthless, and quite literally, anarchists. The American Heritage Dictionary defines Anarchism as, "The theory or doctrine that all forms of government are oppressive and undesirable and should be abolished"-- or as neo-con, Grover Norquist said, "small enough to drown in a bathtub." No, these are not conservatives, and when we as progressives paint conservatives with the same broad brush as we do people who are blatantly un-American, we do both the nation, and ourselves a gross disservice. We play right into the hands of these demagogues, because their very survival depend on keeping the nation divided. They've prospered for years by keeping us racially divided, but that didn't work in the last election, so now they're desperate–and angry. So it's on to plan B–"By any means necessary." What has kept America a strong and viable nation over the years is that in times of crisis we've managed to come together--not as Black or white, Jew or Gentile, liberal or conservative-- but as Americans, and that's the way we've got to address this crisis. These demagogues have a philosophy–"Never let any crisis go to waste." What they mean by that is never miss an opportunity to manipulate the people. But we should take that philosophy and turn it on its head to mean, never allow the hardship of a crisis to go for naught, without making us a more insightful, steadfast, and unified America. We've got to recognize that our inherent diversity is our strength. It makes us more, rather than less. Just as we need the progressive voices of Martin Luther King, Caesar Chavez, and Malcolm X to make us a more just and compassionate nation, we also need the conservative voices of a Gen. MacArthur and Colin Powell to make us strong. It's called balance. But what we don't need are divisive voices like Rush Limbaugh's. What he represents is called, self-destruction. Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com A moderate is one who embraces truth over ideology, and reason over conflict.   

Black News: Pope Says Condoms Won’t Stop AIDS in Africa

Pope Benedict XVI said on his way to Africa Tuesday that condoms were not the answer in the continent's fight against HIV, his first explicit statement on an issue that has divided even clergy working with AIDS patients.

Benedict arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon's capital, Tuesday afternoon to a crowd of flag-waving faithful and snapping cameras. The visit is his first pilgrimage as pontiff to the African continent.

Benedict had never directly addressed condom use, though his position is not new. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, often said that sexual abstinence — not condoms — was the best way to prevent the spread of the disease.

Benedict said that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS.

 

Click to read.

Flight Suit George

Flight Suit George

The revisionists are out in force in an attempt to rewrite history regarding the rein of George W. Bush as president of the United States. But fortunately, the internet is brutally tenacious in recording how the vast majority of Americans really feel about this eminently corrupt and incompetent abomination of American governance. So let us set the record straight--not for vengeance, but for posterity:

Oh,
Sweet patriot, square of jaw, and demeanor of great command, you fearlessly stand in defense of America, and the savior of all God’s chosen men. Anointed by God as his personal envoy to all men, corrupt and blind, and charged with the swift and brutal destruction of heathens of other kind.

You stand vigilant against all our enemies, both foreign and imagined within; you vigorously guard against all that is evil, and all that you see as sin. You define God’s needs and precious values, in the most unambiguous tones, and never once have you erred on behalf of truth, to reveal “God’s values” as indeed your own.

You lead our troops in fearless glory, challenging Death to “Bring it on!” Never thrusting your sword on the field of battle, fearlessly leading the charge by phone.

Oh,
Sweet patriot, square of jaw, and demeanor of great command, how selfless your will to guard America . . .

While hating the pillars upon which it stands.

Eric L. Wattree, Sr.
Wattree.blogspot.com

Black Love gone bad: Whose at Fault in Domestic Violence Situations?

By Hugh V. Collins

Based on the article posted earlier, "Boston Teens state Rihanna is at Fault for Assault", I was compelled to add my perspective.

I am a Boston resident and while I'm not surprised at how some "teens" may think, it is surprising and alarming that they think Rihanna is responsible for her demise. I see teenagers running the streets of the city daily and I tell you, sometimes I just have to shake my head. Why do I feel like you see the same behaviors and think the same thing?

One may say a person's behavior is a direct indication and response to what medicine they receive at home. I use the term medicine because it is something someone usually takes to heal a symptom and some of these kids haven't been getting the right medicine. Domestic violence is common. Whoever tells you domestic violence it is not common is living under a rock. The thought process of the teenagers surveyed, while not unstable, may have answered in honesty based on their exposure to what happens in their home, and how they perceive the behavior of the participants of the parties involved - the abuser and the abused.

 

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Your Black News: Pres. Obama Blasts AIG Over Bonuses

President Obama latched on to the latest round of populist anger over corporate greed Monday, ordering his Treasury secretary to "pursue every legal avenue" to stop insurance giant AIG from giving $165 million in bonuses to some of the executives who drove the company into financial ruin before it was rescued by a government bailout.

"How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?" Obama demanded of the company that last month posted the largest corporate quarterly loss in history, $61.7 billion.

Obama's scolding of American International Group came after his top economic advisers — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House chief economist Christina Romer and Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council — also blasted AIG over its doling out bonus checks ranging from $1,000 to $6.5 million to executives after accepting up to $180 billion in government bailout money.

 

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Tavis Smiley and the SOBU: What We Should Know About the Sponsors

by Genma Holmes

While I was reading the lawsuit filed by the NAACP for predatory lending practices, my eyes kept returning to Wells Fargo. My something-smells-funny nose kept sniffing until I looked across my desk and saw the program guide from the recent State of the Black Union (SOTBU). In large font was the Wells Fargo logo, titlesponsor of the event. I wondered if the NAACP had any dialogue with Tavis Smiley prior to the lawsuit being filed. The bank that is being sued for institutionalized racism sponsors a think tank for black folks. (You cannot make this stuff up.)

Wells Fargo has sponsored the SOTBU for several years. SOTBU was the brainchild of Tavis Smiley and birthed from his weekly commentary on the Tom Joyer Morning Show. Tavis Smiley quit the TJMS in April of last year and moved on to other projects that needed more of his attention. One of those projects is to hold President Obama accountable for his political record and campaign promises made on the campaign trail as outlined in his recent book.
From his book:

“During the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, while I was still the resident political commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, I caused quite a stir among the listeners, who are largely African-American, by insisting that we hold then Senator Barack Obama accountable for both his political record and his campaign promises. I wasn’t singling him out, but rather applying the same standard to him that we should apply to all.
I feel now, as I did then, that it is our responsibility as engages citizens to expect now-President Barack Obama to live up to the promises that made him an appealing candidate… As Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail reminds us, ‘Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes from the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.’
So, let us take Dr. King’s lead… and go forth and make real the promise of our democracy.” -- Excerpted from the Foreword (pages xii-xiii)

The SOTBU website states "Some of the most influential thinkers, entertainers, and political leaders of our time gather each year to discuss the State of the Black Union during Black History Month. Presented annually in February by Tavis Smiley Presents, the symposium was created to educate, enlighten and empower America by bringing people together and engaging them in thoughtful dialogue, leading the way to constructive action."

The man who has written a book titled Accountable, has accepted sponsorship for years from a bank that is being accused of forcing blacks into subprime mortgages while whites with identical qualifications got lower rates. Class-action lawsuits were filed against Wells Fargo and HSBC in federal court in Los Angeles. Los Angeles was also the host city for the State of the Black Union.

My words may anger some but this is equivalent to a child molester opening up a neighborhood daycare center. It is this type of irony in the black community by leaders and organizations that keeps folks from getting ahead. "Leaders" play nice and accept money from the very organizations that causes the most harm and perpetuate media stereotypes. This happens in many communities but it is perverse in the communities of color.

Does this means Tavis is going to turn his journalistic intuition on Wells Fargo and hold them accountable? I hope so. These are serious charges being leveled at a time when banks that are behaving badly are receiving TARP bailouts. Is he going to compile the number of loans that were given to blacks vs. whites and research the information and give it to the board of directors of Wells Fargo? Will he ask for their resignations? Now that is taking action. Will he helped them be a better bank by helping them exam how they conduct business with people of color? Will he turn down their sponsorship next year and take their logo off his website with a link to their mortgage department? That would be worthy of an NAACP Image Award! Is this not what several of the panelist ask often when others accept sponsorship or advertisement from organizations that do not tow the line when allegations or perceived racist misconduct occur? All the time.

Tavis has always asked his listeners and viewers to be watchful and test everything and everyone. How did Wells Fargo allege predatory practices get around Tavis who would not allow then Senator Obama to campaign without a thorough scrutiny of the issues and his character? President Obama who has been on the national political scene less than ten years is being exam microscopically by Tavis. While SOTBU, Tavis and the same panelists year after year have held meetings with very loud megaphones on radio and television turned blind eyes to the practices of Wells Fargo and others. Practices that have gone on much longer than President Obama has been in the White House according to the time line stated in the NAACP lawsuit.

Many of the speakers at Tavis' 2009 SOTBU event were the same faces sitting in the audience for the 2009 NAACP Image Awards. The award show was televised on the Fox Network, which was the subject of a boycott. (You cannot make this up.) Some body's PR people are not talking to the other folks' legal department and the legal department is surely not talking to the marketing representatives. In the fragile world of sponsorship and raising dollars for mega events to show accountability, this sounds like a church split or at the very least biting the hands that sponsor/televise your events. This is enough to leave one confused and bewildered.

 

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Money and Politics: Drug Lord On the Forbes Richest List

What do software mogul Bill Gates and banking investor Warren Buffett have in common with wanted Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera?

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, pictured in 1993, ranks 701th on Forbes' yearly report on billionaires.

They are all featured in Forbes magazine's world's billionaires report as "self-made" billionaires.

Guzman Loera, whose nickname means Shorty, escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001. He heads the powerful Sinaloa cartel, investigators say. Authorities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border blame the Sinaloa and other cartels for a surge in violence in the region.

He ranked 701th on Forbes' yearly report, with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.

Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora expressed outrage at the publication and described Forbes' calculations on Guzman Loera's fortune as mere "speculation."

"I will never accept that a criminal could be recognized as someone distinguished, even if it is by a magazine like Forbes," Medina Mora said to local media during a drug traffic summit Thursday in Vienna, Austria.

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Can Obama Breath Easier? The Stock Market is Now Rising

Stocks rose Friday for a fourth straight day following more encouraging comments from bank executives and better-than-expected trade data.

Reports that Citigroup Inc.'s chairman Richard Parsons said the bank doesn't need additional government support after receiving three rounds of emergency funding helped lift financial stocks.

The reports came a day after Bank of America Corp.'s chief executive Ken Lewis said his bank was profitable in January and February, extending a streak of optimism about financial shares that began on Tuesday when Citigroup said it was having its best quarter since 2007.

The three-day rally that ensued has lifted the Dow Jones industrialsnearly 10 percent.

The market has been quick to embrace the encouraging signs about the financial system after weeks of unrelenting selling spurred on by concerns that the government's efforts to break a freeze in lending weren't working.

 

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Fed Chief Says Entire Financial System Must Be Overhauled

The nation's financial regulatory system must be overhauled to strengthen oversight of banks, mutual funds and large financial institutions whose collapse would put the entire economy in peril, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday.

"We must have a strategy that regulates the financial system as a whole, in a holistic way, not just its individual components," Bernanke said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations.

In his most extensive remarks on the subject, Bernanke built upon previous suggestions to bolster mutual funds and a program that insures bank deposits — and repeated his call for Congress to create a system to cushion fallout from the failure of a big financial institution.

The Fed chief's remarks come as the Obama administration and Congress are starting to crafting their overhaul strategies. For the administration, critical work on that front will be carried out among global finance officials this weekend in London. That will help set the stage for a meeting of leaders from the world's 20 major economic powers in April.

 

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The Black Sports Report – 3/11/09

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The Politics of Cloning

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NPR Talks w Dr. Boyce Watkins about the Stimulus

Dr Boyce Watkins, Finance Professor at Syracuse University, discusses foreign policy, The Obama Administration and the Economy.  Click the image to listen!

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Black Comedy: Where’s George Bush Now?

Obama: Stem Cells Linked to Scientific Integrity

President Obama will sign an executive order Monday lifting limits on human embryonic stem cell research and will direct federal agencies to "restore scientific integrity" to decision-making, White House aides said Sunday.

Obama's order follows years of wrangling over stem cells and scientific decision-making in the Bush administration.

"Public policy must be guided by sound scientific advice," said Nobel Prize winner Harold Varmus, co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, discussing the order and memorandum Sunday.

Melody Barnes of Obama's Domestic Policy Council added that the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will set standards for federal science advisers, insulating them from political interference.

The executive order will reverse President George W. Bush's 2001 decision to withhold federal support of research on newly collected colonies of embryonic stem cells, the master cells from which all tissues are formed. Bush, who opposed the destruction of embryos necessary to harvest the cells, limited research funding to 21 stem cell colonies, or lines, already in existence.

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Michel Martin, NPR Speaks on Barack Obama and Michael Steele

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Baltimore NAACP Leader Arrested on a Drug Charge

Baltimore City police arrested the vice president of Baltimore's NAACP on Thursday after heroin and marijuana were recovered during a search of his car.

Joe Sviatko, a spokesman for the State's Attorney's Office, said prosecutors have declined to prosecute the case because they do not believe it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Police said Ellis L. Staten Jr., 44, who is also an executive committee member of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People Maryland Conference, was in the driver's seat of a car that had stopped near Pennsylvania Avenue and Dolphin Street.

 

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Fewer Christians in the US than Before

America is a less Christian nation than it was 20 years ago, and Christianity is not losing out to other religions, but primarily to a rejection of religion altogether, a survey published Monday found.

Survey finds percentage of of Americans identifying themselves as Christian has fallen over two decades.

Seventy-five percent of Americans call themselves Christian, according to the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1990, the figure was 86 percent.

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League said he thinks a radical shift towards individualism over the last quarter-century has a lot to do it.

"The three most dreaded words are thou shalt not," he told Lou Dobbs. "Notice they are not atheists -- they are saying I don't want to be told what to do with my life."

At the same time there has been an increase in the number of people expressing no religious affiliation.

The survey also found that "born-again" or "evangelical" Christianity is on the rise, while the percentage who belong to "mainline" congregations such as the Episcopal or Lutheran churches has fallen.

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Obama’s Economic Pandora

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.DrBoyceMoney.com

Let’s be clear: This recession has become President Barack Obama’s personal War on Terror. Like the War on Terror, the enemy is evasive, the challenge is global, international cooperation is necessary, and the battle is unlike any other in our nation’s history. Wars are good for political business: when people get scared, politicians get a blank check to fulfill their legislative agenda. After 9/11, President Bush used fear to get the entire nation to sign onto the Patriot Act, and years later, we are wondering if someone is going to tap our cell phones and illegally imprison us for not eating our Freedom Fries. Bad legislation is like an STD: you can pick it up with a snap decision, but you pay the price for the next 20 years.

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The Politics of Black Men in Media: CNN, Boyce Watkins

Click the image to watch the video.  In this clip, Dr. Boyce Watkins appears on CNN to say that “Chris Brown is not a monster”. 

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boyce watkins,chris brown,chris brown and rihanna,black news,african american news,black celebrities,african american celebrities

Black News: Barack Obama Appeals to Turkey

For one of his first foreign visits, President Barack Obama will call on NATO ally Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country viewed as critical to aiding the U.S. pullout from Iraq, turning around the Afghanistan war and blocking Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The invasion of Iraq has strained the long friendship between the U.S. and Turkey, a Western-style democracy that straddles Europe and the Middle East and has an Islamic-oriented government. Obama's visit, expected at the end of a European trip in early April, would mark an improvement in ties.

"We share a commitment to democracy, a secular constitution, respect for religious freedom and belief and in free market and a sense of global responsibility," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday in announcing Obama's plans after meeting with Turkish leaders in the capital.

The visit is "a reflection of the value we place on our friendship with Turkey," the chief American diplomat said on the last stop of her week-long trip to five countries. The president asked her to make the announcement, she added.

Turkey had advised against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and refused to permit U.S. ground forces to launch elements of the attack from Turkish soil.

 

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Dr Marc Lamont Hill: The GOP Undressing of Michael Steele

by Dr. Marc Lamont Hill

Columbia University

Over the past week, the political world has been tuned into a highly  unusual soap opera involving Republican Committee Chair Michael Steele  and conservative radio jock Rush Limbaugh. After Limbaugh was publicly  lambasted for stating that he wanted President Obama’s agenda to fail,  Democratic leaders wisely used the moment as an opportunity to anoint  the polarizing pundit as the de facto leader of the GOP. Steele, the  actual leader of the party, dismissed Limbaugh as a mere “entertainer”  whose show trades in “ugly” and “incendiary” remarks. Limbaugh soon  fired back, telling Steele to do his job and to stop acting like a  “talking head media star.”

Of course, partisan infighting is not uncommon in politics –though  such public spats are typically the property of the Democrats.  The  difference, however, has been the party’s response. Instead of  rallying around its newly appointed leader Steele, GOP honchos have  either taken the side of Rush Limbaugh or remained conspicuously silent. Even Steele himself caved into Limbaugh, apologizing for his  remarks and removing any lingering doubt about who the real don is.
By allowing Michael Steele to be publicly undressed by a party  extremist, Republicans have tacitly confirmed what many of us already  knew: they haven’t changed one bit. Despite their post-November promises to rise above bitter partisanship, the GOP decided to cosign  Limbaugh’s antipatriotic machinations. Instead of living up to their  promise to broaden their message and appeal, Republicans have instead opted to defer to the steward of its most vile, ignorant, and bigoted  constituency. Most disturbingly, they have legitimized their antidemocratic enterprise by hiring a black man,  but giving him no more political muscle than the queen of England.

To be clear, I am not trying to diss Michael Steele, who I know personally and like a great deal despite our political differences. My concern is that the seductive aroma of power and prestige have  diverted his attention from the harsh realities of his circumstance. 
Like many prominent African Americans, Steele has climbed the heights  of white society under the false premise that he is being judged purely on merit rather than color. This couldn’t be further from the  truth. While the Republican party is willing to use Steele’s black  face to celebrate its ostensible progress, it is equally committed to  reducing him to nothing more than a paper champion. Hopefully, Brother  Steele will stop drinking the Kool-Aid long enough to recognize this  and come back home.

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Your Black World: Dr Boyce and Madeline Discuss Domestic Violence and Octomom

These are the People that Limbaugh and the GOP Represent

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Sorry Mr. President, but We’ve Turned too Many Pages Already

President Obama has suggested that we “turn the page” on Republican misdeeds and move the nation forward. The president is a good natured sort, but there is such a thing as being forgiving to a fault, and I think we’ve long since reached that point with the Republican Party. The GOP reminds me of a woman who's been caught committing adultery, then when her husband confronts her with it the next morning, she becomes incensed tells him that he's going to destroy their marriage if he doesn't learn to stop dwelling in the past.

It’s time for America to take a long, hard, and objective look at the Republican Party. The American people have been played for fools long enough by these people. Once we begin to take a serious look at the GOP an unmistakable pattern is going to emerge. We’re going to notice the same arguments being put forth by the same names, who are engaging in the very same practices, leading to the same kind of corruption being recycled every generation.

On October 29, 1929 the Republican Party ushered in the Great Depression under President Herbert Hoover, and it took Democratic president, Franklin Roosevelt, to bail the nation out.

Then on October 19, 1987, under Republican, Ronald Reagan, the stock market fell 508 points due to the excesses of Reaganomics. Then after that, due to the continued freewheeling fiscal policies of conservative Republicans, between 1986 and 1989, spanning the presidencies of Reagan and Bush Sr., the FSLIC had to pay off all the depositors of 296 institutions at a cost of over $125 billion.

Then in 1988 Silverado Savings and Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $1.3 billion. It was headed by Neil Bush, brother of George W. The investigation alleged that he was guilty of "breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest." The issue was eventually settled out of court with Bush paying a mere $50,000 settlement.

Then there was the Lincoln Savings and loan scandal in 1987, involving John McCain. The scandal was very similar to the one that is currently playing out on Wall Street. He was one of a group of senators dubbed "The Keating Five" involved in a scandal by the same name.

In 1976 Charles Keating moved to Arizona to run the American Continental Corporation. In 1984, shortly after the Reagan era push to deregulate the savings and loan community, Keating bought Lincoln Savings and Loan and began to engage in highly risky investments with the depositors' savings. In 1989 the parent company, which Keating headed, went bankrupt, and it resulted in over 21,000 investors losing their life savings. Most of the investors were elderly, and the loss amounted to about 285 million dollars.

After having received over a million dollars from Keating in illegal campaign contributions, gifts, free trips, and other gratuities, the Keating Five--Senators John Glenn, Don Riegle, Dennis DeConini, Alan Cranston, and Sen. John McCain--attempted to intervene in the investigation into Keating's activities by the regulators. Later, they were admonished to varying degrees by the senate for attempting to influence regulators on Keating's behalf.

Charles Keating ended up being convicted for fraud, racketeering and conspiracy, for which he received 10 years by the state court, and a 12 year sentence in federal court. After spending four and a half years in prison, his convictions were overturned. But prior to being retried, he pled guilty to a number of felonies in return for a sentence of time served.

So fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But if we allow them to continue to fool us every generation with impunity, we’re damn fools. We need to hang these people out to dry, or mark my words, they'll be back feeding from the frough in another ten years--convincing a new generation of Americans that they're socialists if they don't hand over their money.

Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com

President Obama Reopens Stem Cell Research

Reversing an eight-year-old limit on potentially life-saving science, President Barack Obama plans to lift restrictions Monday on taxpayer-funded research using embryonic stem cells.

The long-promised move will allow a rush of research aimed at one day better treating, if not curing, ailments from diabetes to paralysis — research that crosses partisan lines, backed by such notables asNancy Reagan and the late Christopher Reeve. But it stirs intense controversy over whether government crosses a moral line with such research.

Obama will hold an event at the White House to announce the move, a senior administration official said Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the policy had not yet been publicly announced.

Embryonic stem cells are master cells that can morph into any cell of the body. Scientists hope to harness them so they can create replacement tissues to treat a variety of diseases — such as new insulin-producing cells for diabetics, cells that could help those withParkinson's disease or maybe even Alzheimer's, or new nerve connections to restore movement after spinal injury.

 

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Obama’s Growing Worry: Unemployment now exceeds 8%

Employers axed 651,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate to its highest in 25 years, as companies buckled under the strain of a recession that is showing no signs of ending, according to a government report.

While that figure was near economists' expectations for a 648,000 drop in non-farm payrolls, January and December job losses were revised sharply higher.

The Labor Department on Friday said the unemployment rate surged to 8.1% in February, the highest level since December 1983. That was above market forecasts for a rise to 7.9 from January's 7.6%.

Cost-cutting employers are resorting to even bigger layoffs as they scramble to survive the recession, feeding insecurities among those who still have jobs and those who desperately want them.

"The pace of layoffs is fast and furious," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, before the report. "We're still in the teeth of this recession and the bite has not let up at all."

 

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Finally! CNN Gets Rid of DL Hughley

Comedian D.L. Hughley was pummeled by critics when his weekend talk show debuted on CNN last fall. "What the hell was CNN thinking?" a columnist forAdAge asked after watching the first episode. It remains unclear what was running through the minds of CNN execs when they signed him up for the spectacularly unfunny program featuring painfully awkward interviews. But the network may have come to its senses or at least decided to cut its losses. A source tells us that CNN has decided to cancel the show due to "budgetary constraints."

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The GOP: A 'Rush' to Obscurity

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE The GOP: A 'Rush' to Obscurity Those of us who pointed out that Michael Steele was elevated to Chairman of the Republican National Committee as both a token, and as attack-dog-in-chief against President Obama should feel completely vindicated. No further evidence need be presented than what recently took place when Mr. Steele had the audacity to say that he was the head of the Republican Party, not Rush Limbaugh. In response Limbaugh all but literally told him to stay in his place. Limbaugh said, "Yes, said Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, I'm incendiary, and yes, it's ugly. Michael Steele, you are head of the RNC. You are not head of the Republican Party." Limbaugh went on to say, "Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the RNC and right now they want nothing to do with it, and when you call them, asking them for money, they hang up on you." Then after being verbally pummeled by Limbaugh, Steele responds by groveling. During an interview Steele said, "My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh." He then added, "I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership." Sound familiar? It should–it's a dialogue right out of the 19th Century, and that's exactly where the Republican Party wants to keep America. They have absolutely no respect for Michael Steele, and why should they? He's allowed himself to be used. In my article, "Republicans: Look y'all We Got Us One Two," I point out the following: "Most Black people have very little use for Black conservatives. It's not that we disagree with everything they say, but because we're suspect of the reasons they're saying it.Without exception, every Black conservative I've come across is an opportunist. Their conservatism tends not to be so much grounded in their actual philosophy as it is an opportunity to gain exposure. They realize that conservatives are looking high and low for Black people who will step forward to validate their views towards the Black community. So they gleefully allow themselves to be used in return for personal wealth, position, and notoriety." Well, they got him–and good riddance. This time the Republican strategy threatens to backfire. They were so concerned about finding a Black face to put up against President Obama that they didn't take qualifications or simple common sense into account, and it's becoming increasingly apparent that Mr. Steele has neither. In addition, based on an investigation into allegations that he funneled campaign funds into his sister's non-existent company, character has also become an issue. While they can't say they weren't warned, actually, he fits right in with the rest of that Republican crowd. The problem with the Republican Party is that they've become victims of their own corruption, greed, and sense of entitlement. They feel that they have a God-given right to power, and the American people have a moral obligation to give it to them. As a result, they feel no need to earn the right to govern through competence and integrity. So instead of putting competent people of good character in positions of responsibility, they appoint through cronyism, and in response to short-term goals. It is that mindset that led to George W. Bush, Michael Steele, the disaster in Iraq, the Katrina catastrophe, our current economic crisis, and why America has to be rescued after every Republican administration. Think about it. The last Republican administration that didn't cause some kind of crisis in America was the Eisenhower administration–and his very last act was to warn us about people like Bush and Cheney. You see, Ike understood the Republican mindset, and he also understood, and told us in no uncertain terms, that they constituted a serious threat to America. What the Republican Party failed to realize was that the American people didn't elect President Obama because he's Black, they elected him because he's competent, and obviously a statesman of exceptional character, but they just didn't get it. They figured he was elected because Black was the flavor of the season, so they went out and "got them one"--without regard to character, intelligence, or common sense. But Black comes in many shades of competence just like any other group, so they got the color right, but they came up a little short on brain cells. After all, any man who thinks he's going to bring the hip hop community under the Republican tent is not only out of touch with the world around him, but must also be bordering on psychotic. Most hip hop people hate everything the GOP stands for, and vice versa. When Michele Bachmann told Steele, "You be DA man," it came off as so contrived that it was offensively condescending. He was even embarrassed–and that had to take a lot. But Michael Steele is not an anomaly. Reckless appointments and governance is a way of life with Republicans. Another example is Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, executive director of the C.I.A. under George W. Bush between 2004 to 2006 who was just sentenced to 37 months in prison for defrauding the government. The New York times reported that Mr. Foggo used his position, which included directing the CIA's administrative operations and budget, to steer sensitive clandestine contracts to military contractor Brent R. Wilkes, a San Diego businessman and close childhood friend. In return Wilkes "took Mr. Foggo on expensive vacations, paid for his meals at exclusive restaurants and offered him a job after he retired." Under a plea agreement Foggo pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, for which he could be sentenced to no more than the 37 months in prison, which he received. The Bush administration knew he had a shady background when Mr. Foggo was appointed. CIA Director Porter Goss appointed Foggo to an executive position in the CIA even though they knew that he had a reputation for having affairs with the wives of his colleagues, and allegedly shared a woman with Felix Bloch, a Russian spy. Yet, they appointed this man to the third highest position in the CIA, during a time of war! We didn't here a word from Rush about that, but now these very same Republicans want us to believe that they want President Obama to fail--and are doing everything in their power to bring that about--because they love America. Anyone who believes that is a fool. The fact is, after what they've done to this country, only a lack of character would allow then to look us in the face. Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com A moderate is one who embraces truth over ideology, and reason over conflict.