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Subscribe to RSS“President Barack Obama plans to name Alan Krueger, a labor economist and former Treasury official, to lead the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said a White House official,” Bloomberg reports.
On the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream speech,” John Lewis in the Washington Post writes what he thinks King would say to President Obama: “As a minister, never elected to any public office, Dr. King would tell this young leader that it is his moral obligation to use his power and influence to help those who have been left out and left behind. He would encourage him to get out of Washington, to break away from handlers and advisers and go visit the people where they live. He would urge him to meet the coal miners of West Virginia; to shake the hands of the working poor in our large urban centers, juggling mutiple jobs to try to make ends meet; to go to the barrios of the Southwest; and to visit native Americans on their reservations. He would urge Obama to feel the hurt and pain of those without work, of mothers and their children who go to bed hungry at night, of the families living in shelters after losing their homes, and of the elderly who chose between buying medicine and paying the rent. Dr. King would say that a Nobel Peace Prize winner can and must find a way to demonstrate that he is a man of peace, a man of love and non-violence. He would say it is time to bring an end to war and get our young men and women out of harm’s way. Dr. King would assert without hesitation that war is obsolete, that it destroys the very soul of a nation, that it wastes human lives and natural resources.”
Jim Clyburn writes in The Hill: “Too often overlooked in Dr. King’s speeches and activities is his focus on jobs and opportunity. Dr. King said he refused to believe the vault of opportunity in this great country is empty. Yet in 2011, the gap continues to grow wider between those who enjoy great wealth and those who struggle to get by with little thought of ever getting ahead. What more proof do we need that ‘human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability?’ Now is the time to rededicate ourselves to Dr. King’s work.”
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Just read about Alan Krueger. Boring except his picture. He has wild "Michelle Bachmann" eyes. Hope there is much more going on between those eyes.
We can continue to deny the fact that African Americans are still not treated equally in our country and close our eyes to the prejudices they still endure. Or we can open them and realize the prejudices exist and keep up the fight to eradicate our society of those prejudices. Closing our eyes to this prejudice allows it to fester and grow.
Any talk abut job creation needs to begin with a discussion about economic equality.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour; or roughly 35% of what is needed. So for you that want less government spending, you will need to seriously consider raising wages by an additional $13.25 per hour. After all, money is better spent when in the hands of the individual; not government; also, and in this case, not business. Words often parroted by the right-wing bloggers on this website.
So all you right-wing conservatives NOT earning $150,000 annually, you are the real leeches on our society.
Get off your a$$es (and off this blog) and create more wealth and quit spending my tax dollars for your tax credits. That way we can assist those in your voting bloc who need public assistance for food, medical care, education, and shelter. After all, there are a greater number of registered Republicans benefiting from government spending programs than any other group of voters; in an amount greater than $1.4 trillion each year.
"So for you that want less government spending, you will need to seriously consider raising wages by an additional $13.25 per hour"
You truly are a "Dummy".
Having trouble dealing with Tactic #2, Bob?
Tactic #2?
Oh that's right...you moonbats are too clueless to think on your own, you must be give specific instructions at grade school level.
Feisty said evil conservatives shouldnt call people names...priceless.
One of the first things Republicans tried to do in Maine when they won the majority and governorship in 2010 was create a lower "teen" minimum wage. It didn't occur to them, or they didn't care, the last thing out-of-work adults needed was to compete with lower wage teenagers. They did not succeed in lowering the minium wage, however, they did manage to make it legal for teens to work later and longer hours.
Cheap labor: the Republicans' gift to corporate America.
So..does that mean Obama's catering to illegals is as repulsive to you as to me? A MUCH bigger problem.
Not everyone is repulsed by the thought of brown people being treated like human beings, john
Dr. King made his speech at a time when he, and any other black man or woman, could not have even gotten a room in most of the hotels around Washington, D.C. The regular murder of black men for no reason other than their existence was a fact of life.
Things are better today, that is a fact. There is still discrimination and racism, that is also a fact. Let us hope that we truly are judging others by the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin.
When Senator Coburn makes a comment that our President could not have gotten where he is today without "white males" creating programs that assisted him along the way, we realize we have a long way to go to make people realize how prejudice they truly are and that they need to open their eyes and hearts and make changes to their way of thinking in regards to people of color.
I'll admit, we have a long way to go for equality. As it stands we have set asides for government jobs,Quota's in the colleges and automatic increases in civil service test scores for being of a certain race or color. It's time for true equality and end all of these discriminatory programs.
john: I long for the day when we can, truly, eliminate all preferences based on race or ancestry. Many cities have eliminated the high rise ghettos which were present since the 1960's. The sources of the inequality that many black, latino and asians have in their grammer school and high school educations are slowly being eliminated. However, they are still present. Quota's have never been an adequate remedy and should never have been used.
I don't know the proper solution. I do know that someone who is not a white male must work two or three times as hard and be two or three times better just to succeed. Entry into Ivy League schools or into a profession or trade because you are black is no better than entry because you are the third, fourth, or fifth generation to go to the school, or every one of your relatives is a cop, fireman, steel worker, plumber, carpenter, doctor, lawyer, politician, what have you. Exclusion from a position based on race is wrong, no matter what is needed to enter the position.
How do you "know" that? You instinctively know the racist intents of employers,or that your background is superior to anothers? Try getting on as a fireman or a police officer and scoring higher than another, yet because of their color...they get points added to their test, just for being born of a certain race or gender. That my friend is blatant racism, no more no less.
john: in cities where the general population is over 50% non-white, yet the workforce in the police, fire, and other city departments is over 80% whites, that too is evidence of racism. Most cities have gone to testing without a subjective component. The cities which do "add points for color" are finding that, indeed, that to is discriminatory. Where there has been discrimination in the past, it does make sense to balance out. However, for most communities, the time for that too has past.
what would martin luther king jr. tell barry? hey barry get your freakin head out of your crapper
Go away troll.
These kinds of comments should be banned. People need to show some respect for the presidency and allowing these words on the blogs is really shameful.
MLK was a Republican most of his life; he was a preacher and religious fundamentalist; almost all his political speeches cited to God and morality. He emphasized personal responsibility and upright behavior. He specifically desired a colorblind society, without divisive laws based on race.
So...if he was around today, the moonbats would call him a "right wing Bible thumping religious nutjob".
the country seems to be headed towards another civil war.
John Lewis and Jim Clyburn offer Obama sage advice. Get out of DC and go where people are. He should take a page out of Clinton's playbook and show people "I feel your pain." Maybe the selection of Alan Krueger to the Council of Economic Advisors is a step in that diection.
From the moment President Obama was elected, it has been the tea party rally cry of taking our country back from the majority. Their stated goal is to make President Obama fail. It is quite alright to punish the rest of us because we voted for a black man.
I am not sure just how effective the republican we will punish you until you vote republican plan is going to work. I am not sure just how stupid you have to be to think that the republican for the rich only party has got a plan other than cut, cut the working poor and middle class so we can give more tax breaks to the rich.
The republicans plan of killing social security and medicare and then we can have all the old people out on the streets dying and maybe the republican party for the rich will be happy then. For the full effect, let kill the EPA and then our children can be dying too from the pollution. (less money to spend on education)
Just how can jobs that kill our planet be good for us?
For the love of America Obama 2012
Geat post! It isn't the Money he has handed out to welfare reipient's illegals. It was never about the bailouts which lost the American taxpayers millions of dollars, and it's not even the regulations from an out of control EPA that has led us to 9.3 unemployment rate and a 72% increase in the use of food stamps and puts people out of work in Louisiana and Appalachia where the jobs are sorely needed. It's not about the Socialistic medicine program which the american people never wanted, or the backdoor amnesty that the President has used to curry favor with illegals nor the recent credit rating downgrade...It's just RACISM why those mean old Republicans has treated this Black President in such a manner.....You are beyond hilarious! That post HAS to be some kind of comic routine and NOBODY could be that stupid! Great job!
mcgraw, you are totally clueless. someone with a guilty conscience screams and denys the loudest.
Good greif John, you need to get with the program. The worse Obama's record gets, the more people like you claim this nonsense... are there people that are racists to his white half?
If Obama fired Immelt, killed Obamacare and a ton of new regulations, followed Bill Clintons advice of lowering the corporate tax rate, stop talking about raising taxes, tell Reid to pass a budget, etc... his poll numbers would skyrocket and he would be re-elected.
So what is Obama doing today? He hires another academic as part of his economic staff. The guy just doesn't get it. This is why ABO.
Keep dreaming, the republican party of for the rich only and determined to kill social security is definitely the party of rich first and country last.
People are waking up to the lies and are not very happy with the republican plan to kill America.
What the heck, as long as you still believe the lies all is right in tea party land.
No, people are waking up unemployed and on food stamps under this president. THAT is what they are "waking up"to.
Too bad after all President Obama was handed a country with no problems. There were no wars and we had a surplus and for the first time in many years did not have to raise the debt ceiling. Economist were predicting that as this rate we would be completely out of debt in 10 years.
No I am wrong, that is what bush inherited from President Clinton a Democrat and then borrowed money to give tax cuts our country could not afford and then started two wars one of choice all on the American credit card. All the while maintaining that deficient didn't matter while driving America to bankruptcy.
You have the nerve to blame President Obama like the republicans haven't obstructed any bill or any ideal that would move America forward after being the ones that got us to where we are today.
How come the Baggers who post here are the first ones to assume that anyone the President appoints to any post lacks experience or intelligence? Perhaps TPer cynicism stems from their own ineptness and incompetence at picking people to lead their party - from Palin the "Stupid" to Bachmann the "Bubble-Brained Verbal Gaffer" to Perry the "King of Mediocre Mental Capacity". My personal observations are that the rightwing is hostile to intelligence and competence, hence their immediate denegration of Alan Krueger for lacking what they call "No Practical Job" skills, while failing to realize they elected George W. Bush as president twice when the only jobs he ever held Daddy Bush got for him, and he royally screwed those up.
Well we haven't been wrong yet.
No, when you can't admit your own mistakes and refuse to see the truth before your eyes, you're never wrong.
Well obviously YOU can't see that every policy he has put into place has worked to grind the economy to a halt. Is that not plainly before your eyes?
And just what policies has he put into place?
EPA executive order 13423 and 13514 come to mind that are the most egregious. Backdoor amnesty and catering to illegals is another.
Now you're grasping at straws.
You think getting federal agencies to use less energy and be more accountable is wrong?
You think using more renewable energy is wrong? It's obvious you haven't read the orders you quote.
You think continuing the illegal alien policy of every president in the last thirty years is wrong?
You're just spouting the same old talking points. Everything you complain about Obama, you praise someone else for doing the same thing.
John, I suppose that the freefall that brought down our economy by bush was just fine. I suppose you cheer the republican obstructionism and then blame President Obama because things have not gotten better fast enough.
Again, what policies has he put into place? Maybe, you are talking about the cuts only the tea party has implemented by holding our debt ceiling hostage. That is sure to bring the economy to a grinding halt.
Maybe you are talking about ending unemployment for 14 million families that the republicans want, that could drive us into another tea-cession if not a depression. Or how about the republicans wanting to raise taxes on the working poor and middle class all to protect the rich from fair taxes.
All plans meant to bring our economy to a grinding halt all brought to you by the republican tea party.
For the love of America Obama 2012
John M,
My apology for missing the sarcasm of your earlier post... if I were a progressive, the thing that would irk me the most is knowing that Obama will ALWAYS have that asterisk by his name that says something like:
* first president responsible for seeing the United States receiving a credit downgrade
And I thought that Congress had the power over the National "purse".............who knew?
Krell, it was stated quite clearly in several reports the reason for the downgrade was not President Obama but the faction in the congress that thought it was their right to hold the country hostage to implement their plans. Many economist have stated that a cuts only approach is the best way to get American back into a recession.
I guess what irks me most is people like you pretending to believe it is Obama's fault while knowing that they are lying.
Americans First...
Help me out here -- are you telling me that 60 rookies in the House have more power than Reid and the Senate Dems and King Obama? If you believe that, do you realize how that sounds? Really? if this is true, how pathetically weak does this make Reid and Obama?
How reasonable is it if you read a story where a handful of 1st graders held a class of 8th graders and the teacher hostage?
That asterisk is permanently etched by Obamas name - I'm not happy about it but it is what it is. We can't take it back.
john mcgraw
Republicans refuse to acknowledge when Presidnt Obama bailed out the auto industry he saved thousands of jobs.
test...........where did my newsvine account go?
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Dang Paul and Americans1st, you done left ol' Krell speechless!
Frank --
No. I tried to make a joke, but it didn't work. So I decided that its better to say nothing.