Breaking News for Black America » Debate

White Organization To Build A Black Heritage Center?

NewsOne Staff — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:04:32 +0000

A long-simmering debate on where to erect the Delaware African-American Heritage Center may have come to an end this week when Wilmington Mayor James Baker selected the Delaware Historical Society to lead its operation.

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In a News Journal report, Baker said that soon residents can visit a new venue dedicated to the area’s history and culture of African-Americans.

“We have had enough debate, enough arguing and enough of a delay on this important project,” said Baker, who, along with state Rep. Stephanie T. Bolden, D-Wilmington, started pushing for a heritage center in 1996, when the two were on City Council. “It is past time that we move forward and establish a heritage center so that people of all ethnic backgrounds can learn more about Wilmington’s history and about the African-Americans who were and are part of the fabric of our city.”

Now after some 15 years of struggle, the Delaware Historical Society will receive $1 million to help establish the heritage center. The money is from a 2004 city bond allotted specifically for the center. After raising an additional $2.5 million, the center should be fully operational in three years, Baker said.

However, critics of the mayor’s decision claim that the Historical Society is a poor choice because it has underrepresented African-American historical contributions in the past and has only one black worker out of 16 employees.

Harmon Carey, who heads the Afro-American Historical Society, recalled one instance where the Delaware Historical Society produced an exhibit that was a whitewashed historical version of the city’s Market Street.

“It was a street of hope and dreams for white people,” he said. “For us, it was a bastion of segregation. They didn’t tell the story about the segregation. They just told the positive story.”

Carey added that he would have rather seen his organization involved in the heritage center in order to adequately honor the area’s rich black history. Jazz artists like Clifford Brown and renowned attorney Louis Redding once lived in the area.

Though Baker says his decision is final, it’s hard to say if we’ve heard the last of this issue.

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VIDEO: Sharpton Debates O’Reilly Over MJ Coverage

cganemccalla — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:22:06 +0000

Watch Shartpon Face Off With O’Reilly Over The Media and Michael Jackson

Momentum Builds For Marijuana Legalization

Smokey D. Fontaine — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:40:32 +0000

The savage drug war in Mexico. Crumbling state budgets. Weariness with current drug policy. The election of a president who said, “Yes — I inhaled.”

These developments and others are kindling unprecedented optimism among the many Americans who want to see marijuana legalized.

Doing so, they contend to an ever-more-receptive audience, could weaken the Mexican cartels now profiting from U.S. pot sales, save billions in law enforcement costs, and generate billions more in tax revenue from one of the nation’s biggest cash crops.

Said a veteran of the movement, Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance: “This is the first time I feel like the wind is at my back and not in my face.”

Foes of legalization argue that already-rampant pot use by adolescents would worsen if adults could smoke at will.

Even the most hopeful marijuana activists doubt nationwide decriminalization is imminent, but they see the debate evolving dramatically and anticipate fast-paced change on the state level.

“For the most part, what we’ve seen over the past 20 years has been incremental,” said Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief now active with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. “What we’ve seen in the past six months is an explosion of activity, fresh thinking, bold statements and penetrating questions.”

Some examples:

_Numerous prominent political leaders, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Mexican presidents, have suggested it is time for open debate on legalization.

_Lawmakers in at least three states are considering joining the 13 states that have legalized pot for medical purposes. Massachusetts voters last fall decided to decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of pot; there are now a dozen states that have taken such steps.

_In Congress, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., are among several lawmakers contending that marijuana decriminalization should be studied in re-examining what they deem to be failed U.S. drug policy. “Nothing should be off the table,” Webb said.

_National polls show close to half of American adults are now open to legalizing pot — a constituency encompassing today’s college students and the 60-something baby boomers who popularized the drug in their own youth. In California last month, a statewide Field Poll for the first time found 56 percent of voters supporting legalization.

That poll pleased California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced a bill in February to legalize marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol — taxing sales to adults while barring possession by anyone under 21. Ammiano hopes for a vote by early next year and contends the bill would generate up to $1.3 billion in revenue for his deficit-plagued state.

Ammiano, 67, said he has been heartened by cross-generational and bipartisan support.

“People who initially were very skeptical — as the polls come in, as the budget situation gets worse — are having a second look,” he said. “Maybe these issues that have been treated as wedge issues aren’t anymore. People know the drug war has failed.”

A new tone on drug reform also has sounded more frequently in Congress.

At a House hearing last month, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., challenged FBI Director Robert Mueller when Mueller spoke of parents losing their lives to drugs.

“Name me a couple of parents who have lost their lives to marijuana,” Cohen said.

“Can’t,” Mueller replied.

“Exactly. You can’t, because that hasn’t happened,” Cohen said. “Is there some time we’re going to see that we ought to prioritize meth, crack, cocaine and heroin, and deal with the drugs that the American culture is really being affected by?”

In a telephone interview, Kucinich noted that both Obama and former President Bill Clinton acknowledged trying marijuana.

“Apparently that didn’t stop them from achieving their goals in life,” Kucinich said. “We need to come at this from a point of science and research and not from mythologies or fears.”

Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, has not endorsed the idea of an all-options review of drug policy, but he has suggested scrapping the “war on drugs” label and placing more emphasis on treatment and prevention. Attorney General Eric Holder has said federal authorities will no longer raid medical marijuana facilities in California.

Nonetheless, many opponents of pot legalization remain firm in their convictions.

“We’re opposed to legalization or decriminalization of marijuana. We think it’s the wrong message to send our youth,” said Russell Laine, police chief in Algonquin, Ill., and president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Marijuana — though considered one of the least harmful illegal drugs — consumes a vast amount of time and money on the part of law enforcement, accounting for more than 40 percent of drug arrests nationally even though relatively few pot-only offenders go to prison.

According to estimates by Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron, legalization of marijuana could save the country at least $7.7 billion in law enforcement costs and generate more than $6 billion in revenue if it were taxed like cigarettes and alcohol.

Pot usage is pervasive. The latest federal survey indicates that more than 100 million Americans have tried it at some point and more than 14 million used it in the previous month.

Testifying recently before Congress, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said U.S. demand for pot is a key factor in the Mexican drug war.

“The violence that we see in Mexico is fueled 65 percent to 70 percent by the trade in one drug: marijuana,” he said. “I’ve called for at least a rational discussion as to what our country can do to take the profit out of that.”

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency remains on record against legalization and medical marijuana, which it contends has no scientific justification.

“Legalization of marijuana, no matter how it begins, will come at the expense of our children and public safety,” says a DEA document. “It will create dependency and treatment issues, and open the door to use of other drugs, impaired health, delinquent behavior, and drugged drivers.”

The DEA also says marijuana is now at its most potent, in part because of refinements in cultivation.

Even in liberal Vermont, with the nation’s highest rates of marijuana usage, many substance-abuse specialists are wary of legalization.

Annie Ramniceanu, clinical director at Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington, Vt., said her agency deals with scores of youths each year whose social development has been hurt by early and frequent pot smoking.

“They don’t deal with anything,” she said. “They never learned how to have fun without smoking pot, never learned how to deal with conflict.”

Legalization proponents acknowledge that pot use by adolescents is a major problem, but contend that decriminalizing and regulating the drug would improve matters by shifting efforts away from criminal gangs.

“The notion that we have to keep something completely banned for adults to keep it away from kids doesn’t hold up,” said Bruce Mirken, communications director of the Marijuana Policy Project.

As for Obama, the activists don’t expect him to embrace the cause at this point.

“Obama’s got two wars, an economic disaster. We have to realize they’re not going to put this on the front burner right now,” said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, or the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “But every measurable metric out there is swinging our way.”

McCain the Penguin vs Obama as Batman

cganemccalla — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:52:14 +0000

An old video of a Batman show from the 60′s is resurfacing on the net. A lot of people are comparing the episode, in which the Penguin had a debate with Batman, to Mccain and Obama. The Penguin, just as McCain, smears Batman as a criminal with questionable associations, while Batman is cool and collected.

Watch the Video After the Jump

Here’s the clip with the Young Turks running commentary.

Watch the Penguin Debate Batman

EXCLUSIVE: The Obama and McCain Economic Plans On Trial In Debate

Smokey D. Fontaine — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:18:27 +0000

The Last Straw for McCain

John McCain finds himself in a precarious but familiar position heading into Wednesday evening’s final presidential debate. Senator Barack Obama has decisive leads in several stronghold states, and in states that typically favored Republicans, polls indicate he is running close to Sen. McCain, within a few percentage points or even.

The tone of the campaign has turned both finicky and petulant in the McCain circle, with supporters crying for Obama’s head in more aggressive stump speech language, and media conservatives jumping ship at a crucial time. Governor Sarah Palin has remarkably remained below the radar since her lackluster debate performance, and anger-inciting rallies. Her closely huddled advisers have spirited her away until further notice, as truths about her involvement in an Alaska ethics scandal begin to emerge. Gov. Palin has falsely asserted that the investigation found that she made no unlawful decisions, and then in a turnabout claimed that the findings were fueled by partisan forces (a vast left-wing conspiracy?)

John McCain had established himself as an icon of the American cultural divide at one point, embracing the divisive language of his party’s base. The Virginia GOP chairman, Jeffrey Frederick, recently tied Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden saying both men were connected to people who bombed the Pentagon. McCain has not made gains with negative rhetoric, has openly rejected the notion that Sen. Obama was “unsafe” to lead Americans after being questioned about his supposed Arab origins at a rally, and only mildly pursued accusations about Barack Obama’s links to Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

But on the heels of a financial rescue, the public is less concerned about potential character flaws in the candidates, while maintaining grave concern about the state of our now state-sponsored economy.

The Economy Matters

Who is better equipped to manage the most volatile market in decades?

President George W. Bush has proven himself a novice in dealing with both the precipitous lending crisis, and the following market collapse. Barack Obama has never been responsible for such a large budget. John McCain made several curious decisions surrounding the crisis, including suspending his campaign to dismantle the initial talks between House Republicans and Democrats about the financial bailout.

The Obama Plan Versus The McCain Plan

The Obama Economic Plan

The McCain Economic Plan

For Americans earning more than $250,000 a year, Obama intends to return their tax rates to the Bill Clinton/Robert Rubin era, which if you recall was not a terrible economic time for the United States. Obama intends to give a tax cut to 95 percent of all working families with children. He will spend money on programs that he believes in, such as providing healthcare to all Americans, but he will pay for it without raising taxes on the average American. Ending the war in Iraq will free up enormous amounts of funding to be better spent here at home.

Obama wants to open up economic opportunity to all by emphasizing preschool education, higher pay and accountability for teachers, and greater emphasis on student loans and scholarships for college.

Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 with Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to reward companies that create good jobs with good benefits for American workers.

Invest In A Clean Energy Economy And Create 5 Million New Green Jobs: Obama and Biden will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, invest in low emissions coal plants, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid.

Obama and Biden will create a 10 percent universal mortgage credit to provide homeowners who do not itemize tax relief. This credit will provide an average of $500 to 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year.

John McCain has proposed a new “HOME Plan” to provide the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects their home’s market value.

John McCain is proposing a student loan continuity plan. Students face the possibility that the credit crunch will disrupt loans for the fall semester. John McCain calls on the federal government and the 50 governors to anticipate loan problems and expand the lender-of-last resort capabilities for each state’s guarantee agency.

John McCain believes that globalization is an opportunity for American workers today and in the future. Ninety-five percent of the world’s customers lie outside our borders, and we need to be at the table when the rules for access to those markets are written. To do so, the U.S. should engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules.

John McCain believes we should send a strong message to world markets. Under his plan, the United States will be telling oil producing countries and oil speculators that our dependence on foreign oil will come to an end – and the impact will be lower prices at the pump.

Low individual tax rates – sole-proprietorships, partnerships, landlords and others are taxed under the individual income tax.

Access to capital from low tax rates on dividends and capital gains.

Minimizing expensive mandates – such as those for health insurance and pro-union initiatives like card check.

More on the Obama Economic Plan from the NYTimes

More on the McCain Economic Plan from the NYTimes

McCain’s plan lacks specifics, possibly because his candidacy has turned almost wholesale away from supporting the capitalist leaders now thought to be the perpetrators of our nation’s crisis. Republican party platforms have typically supported larger businesses, but the language of his economic package has emphasized the small business owner. He has unveiled an economic plan at almost every stage of the crisis. His latest iteration calls for the federal government to buy up bad mortgages (those at risk to default) at their present value. In essence, it would continue the bizarre lending practices that deepened the credit crisis. He has advocated for the reform of government spending without necessarily explaining what major programs he would cut. In addition, the corporate tax cuts he is typically aligned with have never yielded economic growth in American history.

Barack Obama’s plan outlines various programs that put tax dollars in future industries. At the base of his plan, he seeks to invigorate the public education system, the search for energy solutions beyond oil, and the
healthcare system. Critics contend that paying for such an overhaul of the public trust’s institutions would mean increasing spending significantly at a time when tax hikes would touch sensitive households the most. Senator Obama has repeatedly assured that his tax cuts — the core of his plan — would benefit 95% of Americans, freeing up their spending capabilities and impetus to start businesses.

As the debate nears, Americans will be seeking explicit language about how to ease the hurt of spiraling banks and mortgage woes. The next President will be charged with serious tasks in the famous first 100 days of his term. Should John McCain assume office, he will be hard-pressed to make up for an admitted lack of fundamental knowledge. Barack Obama will have a similar challenge at hand in his term: using his flexible mind to understand a rapidly changing economic cycle in a major transition. The debate may be a mash of carefully decided talking points but Obama stands to lose just as much ground if he cannot articulate his bold vision for financial prosperity.

McCain Wants to Postpone Debate

NewsOne Staff — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:36:13 +0000

Republican John McCain says he’s directing his staff to work with Barack Obama’s campaign and the debate commission to delay Friday’s debate because of the economic crisis.

In a statement, McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation’s financial problems.

McCain also said he wants President Bush to convene a leadership meeting in Washington. Both he and Obama would attend the session.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain met Wednesday with a panel of business executives to seek their opinions on the Bush administration’s proposed 0 million bailout of U.S. financial markets.

McCain said he wanted to discuss “how we can make sure that the American people regain confidence on Main Street so that they can regain their confidence in Wall Street and in Washington.”

McCain renewed his insistence that the bailout deal have greater transparency, oversight and CEO accountability to make it acceptable to voters.

“Most Americans feel very strongly this isn’t their fault. It’s Wall Street and Washington and the cozy insider relationships that have caused a great part of the problems,” he said.

Flanking McCain were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, his one-time rival for the GOP presidential nomination, and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Others in the meeting were John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, and John Thain, the CEO of Merrill Lynch before it was acquired by Bank of America earlier this month for a much-reduced value.

A survey by The Associated Press found that Thain was the best-paid corporate executive in the U.S. in 2007, receiving approximately .1 million in salary and bonuses that year.

McCain has stated repeatedly that the bailout package should not allow large payouts, called “golden parachutes,” for executives at failing firms like Merrill Lynch. Asked whether he believed the panel of business titans agreed with him on that principle, McCain said, “I think this group of people are as knowledgeable on the financial status of America as any group of Americans that I can find.”

McCain planned to meet later Wednesday with foreign leaders in town for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. His running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was set to join him in a meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko.

McCain was also scheduled to meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and with Bono, the lead singer of U2 and an activist on global poverty and AIDS. He was scheduled to tape an appearance on “Late Night with David Letterman.”

McCain scheduled a session with Lady Lynn de Rothschild, a former supporter and fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential run who announced last week that she was supporting McCain.