As you know by now, Nelson Mandela has died at the age of 95 years old. I want to share links about Madiba that I tweeted out last night. The Internet is full with tributes to the first black president of South Africa. I will only add that Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner - that context should never be forgotten - he was imprisoned for nearly thirty years for his political beliefs that was in sharp contrast to the South African white supremacy that manifested itself through apartheid. He will be remembered for being a man of peace, a man who did not hold on to anger or bitterness after spending twenty-seven years imprisoned for his role in bringing about a South Africa free from the shackles of apartheid through armed stuggle. As we bear witness to the many tributes and shared memories of Nelson Mandela - we must not forget his militancy, that he was a freedom fighter...and that he was a political prisoner. We can honor his legacy by raising awareness to the plight of political prisoners held by America - and supporting their release. This post will be continually updated with new content via links on Nelson Mandela.
AMANDLA AMANDLA AMANDLA
UPDATED WITH NEW CONTENT
This is a link to a memorial page for Mandela at a South Africa paper - Mail & Guardian
To see all that is happening at Nelson Mandela's memorial service: as it happened
An article about Mandela entitled Freedom Fighter Madiba: Let's Not Forget The Mandela Who Prepared To Defeat Apartheid With Arms
***
South African President Jacob Zuma announces Mandela's death
Statement from Thabo Mbeki on Mandela's death
Ohio University Professor Zakes Mda wrote an OP-ED in the New York Times titled: The Contradictions of Mandela
Letter addressed to the Minister of Justice from Robben Island Prison
South African Broadcasting Company (SABC) coverage of Nelson Mandela
The Guardian coverage of Nelson Mandela
Watch the FRONTLINE documentary: The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela online.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The Blackboard update
The Blackboard has been updated with new content; a post titled Obama’s team of admirers as well as updates to the Resource page. The Resource page has been updated to include two reports detailing the scope of Stop and Frisk as it is used in New York City. The ACLU Report: Beyond "Deliberate Indifference": An NYPD for All New Yorkers (Nov.2013) and the New York Attorney General Office Report on Stop and Frisk (Nov.2013) is now included in the Resource page.
The Resource page has also been updated with resources for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Voting Rights, Race and the current financial crisis affecting Detroit. This page will be continually updated with links to new resources. There are two pages currently being worked on that will include links to critical thinkers such as Malcolm X, John Henrik Clarke, Arturo Schomburg, Vincent Harding, Walter Rodney and several others. In addition, there will be a page tentatively labeled Bookshelf where there will be a listing of books and their summaries that will help advance our understanding of politics, history as well as the current developments as they emerge.
The Resource page has also been updated with resources for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Voting Rights, Race and the current financial crisis affecting Detroit. This page will be continually updated with links to new resources. There are two pages currently being worked on that will include links to critical thinkers such as Malcolm X, John Henrik Clarke, Arturo Schomburg, Vincent Harding, Walter Rodney and several others. In addition, there will be a page tentatively labeled Bookshelf where there will be a listing of books and their summaries that will help advance our understanding of politics, history as well as the current developments as they emerge.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Obama's Team of Admirers
With just days left for the 113th Congress to finish their business before the year is out, this Congress appears to be the least productive in history. Between January 1, 2013 and December 2 - a paltry total of 55 laws were passed. Recently though, Senate Democrats voted to eliminate the filibuster on executive and judicial nominations (except Supreme Court nominees). Now, a simple majority of 51 votes is needed rather than the 60 previously required to override the filibuster. This power move by Senate Democrats snatches away a key tool used by the Senate Republicans to obstruct the process by denying nominees a committee vote. The new rule will enable the nominees to move forward since they will be shielded from raucous partisan politics in the Senate. Nominees for key positions such as Jeh Johnson (Secretary of Department of Homeland Security), Janet Yellen (Chairman of Federal Reserve), Mel Watt (Federal Housing Finance Agency) along with the D.C Circuit Court nominees, Patricia Ann Millett, Cornelia T.L. Pillard and Robert L. Wilkins can move forward.
Jeh Johnson, the nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has passed out of committee and is headed for a full Senate confirmation vote. Last week, Roland Martin of NewsOne, “moderated” a brief yet rather contentious debate on Mr. Johnson’s qualifications. The debate erupted between panelists, Dr. Wilmer Leon and Angela Rye, when Ms. Rye took issue with Dr. Leon raising doubts regarding Mr. Johnson’s qualifications. During the spirited back and forth, Dr. Leon analysis focused on policy and on Mr. Johnson’s political views while Ms. Rye’s argument centered on DHS needs. She also appeared to lament over the double standard afforded to African American nominees. “You have to be twice as good to outpace everyone else,” asserted Ms. Rye. Dr. Leon pointed out Mr. Johnson’s position on the U.S. drone policy and countered, “I don’t question his credentials as an attorney, I question his competence from an ideological perspective. I just don’t see a lot of his positions consistent with the Constitution in this country.”
Jeh Johnson, the nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has passed out of committee and is headed for a full Senate confirmation vote. Last week, Roland Martin of NewsOne, “moderated” a brief yet rather contentious debate on Mr. Johnson’s qualifications. The debate erupted between panelists, Dr. Wilmer Leon and Angela Rye, when Ms. Rye took issue with Dr. Leon raising doubts regarding Mr. Johnson’s qualifications. During the spirited back and forth, Dr. Leon analysis focused on policy and on Mr. Johnson’s political views while Ms. Rye’s argument centered on DHS needs. She also appeared to lament over the double standard afforded to African American nominees. “You have to be twice as good to outpace everyone else,” asserted Ms. Rye. Dr. Leon pointed out Mr. Johnson’s position on the U.S. drone policy and countered, “I don’t question his credentials as an attorney, I question his competence from an ideological perspective. I just don’t see a lot of his positions consistent with the Constitution in this country.”
Thursday, November 21, 2013
The clock is ticking...
There’s no other way to say it – the Obama presidency is in crisis, reeling from all the problems and issues associated for their badly mismanaged launch of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) website. October 1st was the first day of enrollment for the nation’s uninsured to attain health insurance through market exchanges.
President Obama signed his signature policy, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), three years ago in March 2010. Since then, the president has faced a relentless stream of criticism, obstructionism, and heavy opposition from GOP conservatives and the Tea Party faction. Over the course of three years, the conservative opposition have taken to successfully tagging the legislation, “Obamacare”, failed in their many attempts to defund and repeal ACA, and went so far as to shut down the entire federal government for 16 days at a cost initially pegged at $24 billion dollars. In recent months, Dr. Ben Carson emerged as the black conservative who would take the Obama presidency to task with his ridiculous linking of ACA to slavery.
The recent scrutiny and revelations about the problems associated with ACA has now clearly surpassed GOP attacks on ACA’s premise and purpose – as the national spotlight now shines on the self-inflicted wounds created by the Obama administration. Initially, the focus was on the continuing issues associated with the ACA website, followed by revelations that folks were being dropped from their insurance policies because their policies were deemed “unqualified” under ACA guidelines. “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan…” was looped over and over and over again to highlight yet another broken promise made by this president to the American people. The president’s poll numbers indicate declining trust and credibility brought on by the ACA debacle. His apology to those who lost plans was debated while his sincerity was questioned by conservatives. To neutralize congressional actions to address the dropped plans – the president announced his plan to help the people who lost their plans so they can be able to keep their plans.
While the president set a November 30th deadline to resolve the website issues – a recent hearing before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce committee revealed that the website is only about 60 percent complete . Additionally, we now know that the administration knew of the problems months before the October 1st launch date. A report by McKinsey & Company outlined many of the issues that plagued the October 1st launch.
The emergence of these issues with ACA has prompted a stream of commentary disguised as analysis comparing the ACA problems to the death and destruction that followed Hurricane Katrina. While the issues with the ACA rollout are serious and significant – any attempt to link these problems to Hurricane Katrina is at best flimsy and unsupported with strong analysis. However, in light of the reports that have surfaced regarding information shared with the administration – the question comes up, “What did the president know and when did he know it?” But what may prove to be a bigger issue and one particularly for voters – what else is there that we don’t know? Are there other parts of the law lurking about in the shadows that hasn’t pierced the light of day yet? Furthermore, there are reports that President Obama’s proposed fixes for the dropped policies may cause even more problems.
President Obama has a steep mountain to climb to resurrect his popularity and legacy. Clearly, his legacy will certainly rest on the success of his administration’s efforts to resolve the ACA issues and concerns that are sure to surface during the remaining two years of his presidency. In light of the crisis the president now faces, can the president successfully “rebrand” and “remarket” ACA to remind the country of ACA’s long term objective of transforming the health care system and insuring the uninsured?
Millions of the uninsured are depending on him and the clock is ticking…
President Obama signed his signature policy, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), three years ago in March 2010. Since then, the president has faced a relentless stream of criticism, obstructionism, and heavy opposition from GOP conservatives and the Tea Party faction. Over the course of three years, the conservative opposition have taken to successfully tagging the legislation, “Obamacare”, failed in their many attempts to defund and repeal ACA, and went so far as to shut down the entire federal government for 16 days at a cost initially pegged at $24 billion dollars. In recent months, Dr. Ben Carson emerged as the black conservative who would take the Obama presidency to task with his ridiculous linking of ACA to slavery.
The recent scrutiny and revelations about the problems associated with ACA has now clearly surpassed GOP attacks on ACA’s premise and purpose – as the national spotlight now shines on the self-inflicted wounds created by the Obama administration. Initially, the focus was on the continuing issues associated with the ACA website, followed by revelations that folks were being dropped from their insurance policies because their policies were deemed “unqualified” under ACA guidelines. “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan…” was looped over and over and over again to highlight yet another broken promise made by this president to the American people. The president’s poll numbers indicate declining trust and credibility brought on by the ACA debacle. His apology to those who lost plans was debated while his sincerity was questioned by conservatives. To neutralize congressional actions to address the dropped plans – the president announced his plan to help the people who lost their plans so they can be able to keep their plans.
While the president set a November 30th deadline to resolve the website issues – a recent hearing before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce committee revealed that the website is only about 60 percent complete . Additionally, we now know that the administration knew of the problems months before the October 1st launch date. A report by McKinsey & Company outlined many of the issues that plagued the October 1st launch.
The emergence of these issues with ACA has prompted a stream of commentary disguised as analysis comparing the ACA problems to the death and destruction that followed Hurricane Katrina. While the issues with the ACA rollout are serious and significant – any attempt to link these problems to Hurricane Katrina is at best flimsy and unsupported with strong analysis. However, in light of the reports that have surfaced regarding information shared with the administration – the question comes up, “What did the president know and when did he know it?” But what may prove to be a bigger issue and one particularly for voters – what else is there that we don’t know? Are there other parts of the law lurking about in the shadows that hasn’t pierced the light of day yet? Furthermore, there are reports that President Obama’s proposed fixes for the dropped policies may cause even more problems.
President Obama has a steep mountain to climb to resurrect his popularity and legacy. Clearly, his legacy will certainly rest on the success of his administration’s efforts to resolve the ACA issues and concerns that are sure to surface during the remaining two years of his presidency. In light of the crisis the president now faces, can the president successfully “rebrand” and “remarket” ACA to remind the country of ACA’s long term objective of transforming the health care system and insuring the uninsured?
Millions of the uninsured are depending on him and the clock is ticking…
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Stop & Frisk: Bloomberg Deception and fear mongering
unconstitutional, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted a stay on her ruling and went so far as to remove the judge from the case. The October 31st ruling blocks the numerous remedies outlined by Judge Scheindlin that would align the maligned police practice with the US Constitution until the whole appeals process plays itself out. This means, the appointment of monitor to oversee reforms, revised policies and training regarding stop and frisk and racial profiling, and the use of “body-worn cameras in a “pilot” project in one precinct per borough – “specifically the precinct with the highest number of stops during 2012” – would now be put on hold.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)