BlackLiberalBoomer

Laid-off Workers at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago IL (AP Photo)

While the Detroit Big Three Auto Makers have to grovel for government-backed loans, Bank of America was one of the banks outright given billions of dollars in Federal bailout monies with no preconditions or oversight. So what does Bank of America do with all of that money which was supposed to HELP small businesses? It promptly canceled the credit-line of an established company in Chicago, Republic Windows and Doors, causing that company to lay off its 300+ workers–some with 17 years on the job–with only three days’ notice.

This series of events is so egregious that the governor of Illinois and the President-elect of the United States are supporting the $14 per hour laid-off workers, who are engaging in a sit-down protest at the factory–they have not even been given their earned vacation time, health care, or severance pay; meanwhile the bigwigs at some of the financial companies can keep their exorbitant compensation packages and go on expensive junkets to exotic locations on the taxpayers’ dime.

It is becoming painfully obvious that these “bailouts” ARE white-collar vs blue-collar. The white-collar financial companies had billions of taxpayer dollars just thrown at them without question. Meanwhile, the blue-collar auto companies are being vilified by Republicans and put through the wringer; and a once-stable American small business which not only employs hundreds, but manufactures energy-saving windows and doors for other businesses is allowed to fail.

It took a year for the Federal Government to “officially” declare that the United States is in a recession (d’ya think?); how long will it take for “officially” announce a “depression”? Why are banks and other financial institutions given money and then allowed to just hold on to the money; while manufacturing companies are made to beg, prove themselves “viable” before being awarded loans, and made to submit to tons of regulations?

Does anyone else see something very wrong with this picture? Workers in manufacturing factories are taxpayers, too!

The United States Supreme Court today declined to hear an appeal from a lower court concerning whether Barack Obama is or is not a true natural-born citizen of the United States and therefore qualified to be elected President of the United States of America.

The people who keep bringing this issue up grasp at straws such as:

* His father was a British citizen at the time of his birth (since Kenya was still a British colony in 1961), so Barack had dual-citizenship. Barack declined his own American citizenship when he moved to Indonesia when he was a 5-year-old CHILD.

* His mother was only 18 when Barack was born so she was “too young” to “give her citizenship” to her son.

* The “Certificate of Live Birth” that the State of Hawa’ii has produced was forged.

* The fact that Barack was born on United States soil doesn’t matter.

* If Barack can be President, so can Arnold Schwarzenegger–even though the “Goven-nator” was born and raised in Austria of Austrian parents.

Factcheck.org has actually seen and touched the actual birth certificate in Hawa’ii.

Some people have even suggested that the birth notice printed in the Hawa’ii newspaper right after Barack’s birth was “planted” there by his grandparents just in case their little grandson decided to run for President over 45 years later!

The bottom line is, there is a group of Americans who just can’t believe that a 1/2 American white, 1/2 Kenyan black man named Barack Hussein Obama has been duly elected President of the United States, with a clear majority AND an Electoral College landslide, and they will try anything to de-legitimize the election. The 2008 election was the first time since Ronald Reagan that a candidate has received more than 50% of the popular vote!) As Barack Hussein Obama said a few months ago, he “doesn’t look like any of the other Presidents”…but the 44th President of the United States also said: “It’s time for a CHANGE!”. So, get with the program!

The Washington Post reported about the Supreme Court denying the case here:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/12/08/supreme_court_declines_to_hear.html

The BBC also reported here, since it involved a former British citizen (Barack Obama, Sr.):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7771937.stm

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to waste time and taxpayers’ money hearing a case on whether President-elect Barack Obama really is or is not a “natural-born United States citizen”. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is the one who actually put this case on the Court’s docket.

There are people who have been trying to undermine President-elect Barack Obama from the time he announced his candidacy. He’s a Muslim, he’s a terrorist, he’s not quite “one of us”; on and on ad nauseum. First, people tried to get the Supreme Court to stay the December 15th Electoral College vote (didn’t work) in the “national interest”. Now, they are trying to say that because Obama’s father was a Kenyan national, and his mother, though a U.S. citizen, was only 18, that she could not “bestow” her citizenship on Barack. Then she re-married and moved to Indonesia with Barack and her new Indonesian husband, so there is no way that Barack could be natural-born because his mother wasn’t “old enough” to give him her citizenship and then moved him out of the country when Barack was five years old.

Pul-leeze. First and most importantly, because Barack was born on U.S. soil he is automatically a natural-born citizen. It doesn’t matter whether one or both parents was or was not a U.S. citizen. The Constitution states that a natural-born citizen is one who is born in a U.S. state or territory. Hawa’ii had been our 50th state for two years before Barack was born. The state of Hawa’ii has verifed Barack’s birth certificate, but people actually think that the State of Hawa’ii is lying or that Barack “paid them off”. People are even trying to say that if Barack is “allowed” to be President, then Arnold Schwarzenegger should be able to run for President, too! Of course, it doesn’t matter to these “haters” that Governor Schwarzenegger (R-CA) was born in Austria of Austrian parents and didn’t come to the US until he was an adult! The same with Governor Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), who was born in Vancouver, Canada of Canadian parents; although she and her family moved to California when she was a child. They are not eligible to be President.

The people filing these cases are ridiculous. President-elect Barack Obama is 1) a Constitutional scholar, and 2) not stupid. He would have known if he were not a natural-born U.S. citizen. Of course, those same people refuse to believe that Barack ran for President, not for himself, but for the greater good of the country. Not everyone is only out for himself.

Although people tried to say that John McCain wasn’t eligible because he was born in the Panama Canal, and that Barry Goldwater wasn’t eligible because he was born in Arizona before it was a State, both of those court challenges were thrown out; both the Panama Canal and the Territory of Arizona were “under the U.S. Flag” at the times of their births. Even if Hawa’ii had not been a state yet (which it was) when Barack was born, all people born in U.S. territories, commonwealths, and districts such as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, world-wide U.S. military bases, etc.–even Washington, D.C.!–are U.S. citizens. ‘Nuf said.

But this case would not even had come up if Barack Obama wasn’t 1/2 Kenyan with the middle name of Hussein; let’s be clear. For more clarity, I looked at snopes.com which has a page-long explanation.

However, the bottom line is: Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. was born in the U.S. State of Hawa’ii on August 4, 1961. His mother had never even been to Kenya. He may or may not carry dual citizenship with Kenya; but he is a natural-born United States Citizen because he was born in the United States, no matter how young his mother was at his birth. Case Closed. Believe it or not; but just call him “Mr. President”.

‘Tis the Season for the annual fight over whether “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” is the right greeting! Every year recently, people on the Religious Right have raged a war against those who say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, contending that NOT saying Merry Christmas is a slap against Christianity and “Jesus is the reason for the Season”!

Well, I submit that both greetings are appropriate for this time of year, and neither is an affront against the other. First of all, the official Holiday Season in the United State actually lasts from Thanksgiving to New Year’s and also includes Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, as well as the actual Christmas Day. The entire six-week time period is supposed to be a time of celebration and good times with family and friends. To say “Happy Holidays” acknowledges the overall time of celebration that lasts for more than a month; and is not intended to either slight or favor one holiday over another.

On the other hand, to say “Merry Christmas” should not be intended to make people feel that if they don’t celebrate Christmas the way the Religious right feels it should be celebrated, or if some Americans don’t celebrate it at all for any reason, that they are “wrong-thinking”. “Merry Christmas” should be used as a greeting of “peace and goodwill” whenever it is said, and can and should be said to anyone, whether they are Christian or not, as just a joyous “hello”–not to force one’s beliefs on another.

I could insert a little history lesson here about how the date of December 25th was chosen to celebrate Christ’s birthday is based not on Biblical mandate but as a response to ancient pagan winter solstice celebrations; or I could remind the Religious Right that celebrating the birth of Christ isn’t biblically based at all, but just comes from centuries of tradition, but I have a feeling that they wouldn’t listen to me!

Meanwhile, I will say both “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” this season, and I will mean “Peace and Joy and Happiness” to whomever I am greeting! I should not be get in trouble with anyone for wishing everyone Good Tidings!

As we transition from November to December, and fully into the 2008 holiday season, our President-elect is very busy managing the (hopefully) smooth transition into his new administration.

According to the MSNBC website, the transition process as it is known now has been used since 1952 and was started by President Harry Truman:

Since 1952, at the urging of President Harry Truman, transition processes have been in place to help facilitate the change from one administration to the next.

The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 formalized the process, providing federal funds and logistical support. The act was updated in 2000 by President Bill Clinton to accommodate an increasingly complex transition process.

Presidential transitions today involve the turnover of over 4,000 political appointments, all of whom must be identified, vetted, and confirmed. Over 1,000 of those positions require Senate confirmation. By some estimates, recent transitions have taken an average of one year to be seen through to completion. The last time a transition occurred across political party lines was in 2000, between Clinton and President George Bush.

This year, just 77 days separate election day from inauguration day, but the transition process began long before any ballots are cast, and will continue long after Barack Obama takes the oath of office.

Until the mid-20th Century, the Presidential Inaugurations took place in March, to allow for the slower communications and travel available at that time. Now that the new President takes office in January, there is much less time to accomplish an increasingly more complex process.

It will be exciting to watch the Presidential appointments and nominations along with all of the politicking going on. December will be especially busy; so far only about 12 people have been officially named. However, historically, Presidential Cabinet and Staff positions didn’t even begin to be filled before December. President-elect Barack Obama realizes the seriousness of the job ahead of him, and as he stated: “There is not a minute to waste!”

You can see a great pictorial chart of the Cabinet and top staff members who will be named in the next few weeks here at MSNBC.

The United States of America has been known as the greatest country in the world. We have been responsible for some of the best inventions; we are usually a model of democracy, having almost no real problems with periodic transfer of power; we have been known as “The City on the Hill” to peoples from all over the world.

But as we celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday this week and enjoy the blessings we have as Americans, let us not forget that America’s greatness was built on the tears, fears, and grief of indigenous peoples and enslaved peoples brought here in chains.

America could not have been America without the near-destruction of the native peoples who were here first; America could not have become America without the centuries of free labor of enslaved Africans.

God Bless America!

Future First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama

In the flurry of appointments and Cabinet picks in the last few days by President-elect Barack Obama, and the hoop-la over the possibility of you-know-who as Secretary of State, some important women and progressives may have been overlooked.  According to my favorite progressive journalist/blogger, Al Giordano, a high-level woman progressive has been appointed to the Economic Team. At his blog, The Field, Al says:

The most interesting news out of the press conference just concluded by President-elect Obama was the appointment of an unabashed progressive, Melody Barnes (in the photo, above), to head the Domestic Policy Council. Barnes will coordinate the mega-board of the Cabinet secretaries of Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Energy, Treasury, Agriculture, Transportation, Interior and Veterans Affairs. Basically, she’ll be domestic policy czar.

Meanwhile, “Chicago” will still continue to its mark on the new Obama White House, with the appointment of high-level Chicago businesswoman Desiree Rogers as Social Secretary. Hardly a light-weight dilettante, Ms. Rogers is a graduate of Wellesley College and has an MBA from Harvard. She has been working in prominent positions in Illinois government and in the private sector for over two decades. The Social Secretary does much more than plan parties; Ms. Rogers will be in charge of all functions–public and private, domestic and international–for the White House. She brings many social and political contacts to her new position, and everything that everyone does who is involved with the Obama White House has to be cleared through Ms. Rogers.

I posted this last Friday at my Detroit-focused “DSpot Redeux” blog…because I feel that the auto companies are really getting a raw deal concerning getting a $25B loan while financial companies are receiving hundreds of billions in out-and-out bailouts. The Congress and President-elect Obama are right for asking for a plan from the Big Three (and it was STUPID for the auto execs to appear before Congress with empty hands outstretched…), but now that Citigroup is the latest financial company to receive $350 BILLION without having to go through the drubbing that GM, Ford, and Chrysler had to endure. Citigroup didn’t have to go before Congress at all…and this is their second bailout in as many months…no questions asked…no plan for the future…no embarrassment…

OK, so the auto execs should’ve thought twice about going to Washington in separate $20K/trip corporate jets. Of course the auto companies need to change a lot of things about their business model. But is anyone thinking about not just the “rich guys at the top” but the millions upon millions of blue-collar workers and retirees who depend on the auto companies for their livelihood? What about the millions of auto-related jobs with small businesses around the country who depend on the auto companies? What about all of the other small businesses that will fail because they won’t have any customers? Why punish all of them because of what the bigwigs did or didn’t do?

Raise your hand if you have a family member who works now, or who is retired from one of the Big Three or a related company. Raise your other hand if that family member bought a house, raised a family, donated to charity, sent their kids to college, and just basically lived the American life by keeping the American economy going. Now, put down one or both hands if that family never ever made a mistake throughout life. See all of those hands raised?

The auto companies are asking for a “bridge loan”; the re-tooling for the future starts next fall–the plans are already in place. The unions have cut their wages and benefits to the bone. Huge world-wide companies can’t change overnight, but changes are coming.

But because of vengefulness, short-sightedness, and frankly, elitism on the part of Republicans in Congress–yes the same ones who spend $10 BILLION a MONTH in Iraq–the white-collar financial companies got their bailout, but the blue-collar auto companies can’t get a loan without rancor and vitriol.

Meanwhile, Nissan has pulled out of exhibiting at both the Detroit and Chicago Auto Shows (bad for the economies of both cities), and Toyota, Honda, and other “foreign” car companies have acres and acres of new cars sitting on the dock in San Diego because they can’t even be delivered to the dealers who can’t sell cars because of the credit crunch and mismanagement brought on by: THE BAILED-OUT-WITH-NO-QUESTIONS FINANCIAL COMPANIES!

November 22, 1963. 45 years ago. Many Americans still remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard that the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas Texas.

I was, if you can believe it, in my 8th grade Civics class. We were supposed to be doing some kind of writing assignment, but it was Friday afternoon and everyone waiting for 3 pm when school would finally be out for the weekend. I clearly remember my teacher (can’t remember his name, but I remember he wore wire-rimmed glasses, though) sitting at his desk in the front of the room. Another teacher poked his head in the room and called my civics teacher to the teachers’ lounge where there was a radio. A few minutes later, my teacher came back to the room. Tears were streaming down his face. He told us what had happened, although he could barely get the words out of his mouth.

School was immediately dismissed. Everyone at school, everyone in the city, everyone in the country, everyone in the world seemingly was in shock. Even Walter Cronkite, the anchor of the CBS Evening News, cried on-air when he announced that the President had been killed. That’s the way it was.

Where were you on November 22, 1963?

Why are the Cabinet picks of President-elect Barack Obama important? Exactly what do Cabinet Secretaries do? (Remember, Governor Sarah Palin did not know what the Vice-President does, which is one reason why she’s not VEEP-elect!)

In addition to being the most senior-level appointed officers of the President and the Executive Branch, they are Constitutionally required (Article Two) and are in the line of succession should the President, Vice-President, Speaker of the House, and President pro tempore of the Senate become unfit for office.

The first Cabinet Secretary in the line of succession is the Secretary of State; which probably explains why there is so much hoop-la over whether Hillary Clinton will be appointed. The Attorney General, who doesn’t have the title “Secretary”, is in charge of the Department of Justice and is fourth in line. Eric Holder will apparently be nominated for the top Justice job.

Next in line is the Secretary of the Treasury; and with the economic crisis now being experienced, this nomination is also being highly anticipated. But while we wait, the Secretary who is 9th in line is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) is reportedly up for nomination for this post. For some reason, the Secretary of Homeland Security is 15th in the line of succession. Governor Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) is reportedly up for this Cabinet post.

It has been 2 1/2 weeks since the election, and watching this transition (and how it is different from the campaign) has been both interesting and informative.  Mr. Obama is walking a fine line between “change” and “experience”, trying to balance having some of both.

There has been much speculation about the President-elect’s choices. It may be good to remember that Mr. Obama has repeatedly said that there is no choice until he says there is a choice.  Until then, it’s just an exercise in lots of talk and conjecture.