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Obama stays on message – he wants bold, immediate action on the Economy and he wants Congress to pass a major Economic Stimulus package ASAP.
A traditional perspective on the significance of the first 100 days in office as President:
Michael Steele is the first African-American to hold the position of RNC Chair. Here is some raw video of his acceptance speech.
Cocktails, shirt sleeves, impromptu press visits…Obama is setting a much different tone in the White House than Bush.
As Published on DaveyD.com
by Davey D
Leading up to last week’s Inauguration and in the days after, it seems like the biggest question being posed and bantered about in mainstream media circles is whether or not President Barack Obama is our first Hip Hop President?
For some this question seems important because Obama is young. At age 47, he is definitely a part of the generation of people who came up when Hip Hop was exploding across the globe. So at the very least you can assume he at the very least listened to Hip Hop. But does that make you a Hip Hop president?
The LA Times published an article this morning, asserting that the Republicans lack a party line on the economy. AP poses the question in this video – Where do Republicans Go From Here?
President Obama says it is ‘outrageous’ that Wall Street employees got more than $18 billion in bonuses last year. The bonuses came at the same time financial companies were accepted federal bailout money.
Pat Quinn has been sworn in as Illinois’ new governor. Quinn took the oath of office moments after the state Senate voted to remove Rod Blagojevich, who was ousted on charges of abuse of power.
President Barack Obama signed his first major piece of legislation, a bill that makes it easier for people to file pay discrimination claims!!
Yesterday President Obama anounced former Sen. George Mitchell’s trip to the Middle East on behalf of the State Department and Administration. Here are Sen. Mitchell’s remarks from today, speaking on behalf of the Administration:
Watch a video of Al Gore addressing lawmakers, urging them to not set aside major Global Warming legislation in the midst of our economic crisis.
Here are Rep Barbara Lee’s remarks on the Stimulus Package from the floor of the House today. She is Chair of the Hip Hop Caucus Advisory Board. She spoke today in support of the Stimulus Package.
President Barack Obama says businesses and workers are counting on Washington for ‘bold and swift’ action to steady the struggling economy. He’s aiming to be signing this massive stimulus package into law in the next couple of weeks.
Seems like there may be some challenges in bringing the White House into the 21st Century; email not working is more than a glitch. Facebook is blocked for security reasons. Obama is keeping his blackberry, though.
President Obama expresses optimism in his first interview on Al-Arabiya, one of the most popular pan-Arab news stations for Middle East audiences. Obama’s message is that America is not an enemy of the Muslim world…
President Obama is sending former Sen. George Mitchell to the Middle East in a bold gesture for diplomacy and peace in the Middle East, by the New Administration.
Timothy F. Geithner was sworn in today as the 75th Secretary of the Treasury of the U.S. More than ever, the Secretary of the Treasury is a critical position in these difficult economic times. Secretary Geithner will be directing the $350 billion remaining of the Wall Street Bail Out money, and he will have a big say in the disbursement of the money from the Stimulus Package – which is looking to be about $825 billion!
A recent poll shows President Obama with a 2/3 approval rating from the public. What are your thoughts on his performance thus far and the direction he is taking?
We will post President Obama’s Weekly YouTube address on our blog. We’re looking forward to seeing if utilizing YouTube like this really does provide for a more transparent and open White House.
By Tai Saint-Louis
AllHipHop.com
AllHipHop.com has received an exclusive report that Atlanta-based producer Jermaine Dupri’s tenure as President of Island Records Urban Music has come to an end. A formal announcement of his departure from the position, which he has held for nearly two years, may come as early as Thursday (Jan 8).
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source close to the situation confirmed to AllHipHop.com that Dupri has in fact been terminated effective immediately.
The Island Records Urban Division was created within the Island Def Jam Music Group a short time prior to Dupri’s hiring in February 2007. In the position, he oversaw the label’s entire urban music operations, reporting directly to label Chairman Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Steve Bartells, President of Island Music and COO of the Island Def Jam Music Group.
Having enjoyed tremendous success with Island Records songbird Mariah Carey on The Emancipation of Mimi, Dupri’s duties also included providing production for the Music Group’s entire roster.
In April 2008, Island/Def Jam announced the creation of TAG Records, a new venture with Procter & Gamble’s TAG brand to be helmed by Dupri. The partnership created a new marketing module that allowed for new talent, like So So Def/TAG artist Q, to be cross-promoted in conjunction with TAG body sprays through print, television, radio, and digital advertising.
No word on how Dupri’s departure will affect TAG Records, nor the roster of artists on So So Def, which has been distributed through Island Urban since 2007.
BY JOAN VERDON
NorthJersey.com Staff Writer
Moonachie-based hip-hop retail chain Against All Odds has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a victim of the economic slowdown, the credit crunch, and shift in consumer demand away from expensive name brands and toward bargains.
The company stated, in documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark Monday, that it has not decided which of its 64 stores will conduct going-out-of-business sales. Against All Odds plans to close its West Coast stores and reorganize its Northeast locations, or find a buyer for those stores. The company had originally planned to open 25 stores in 2009, and has canceled those plans.
There are 17 Against All Odds stores in New Jersey, including stores at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus and at Willowbrook Mall in Wayne.
Against All Odds was founded in 1995, by Kenny Khym, a former messenger in Manhattan who took as job as a mall clerk to learn the retail business before opening his first store. He rode the hip-hop craze, fueled by celebrities such as Russell Simmons and Sean Combs, who started clothing lines, to create a chain of stores in eight states. Sales reached $121 million by 2007.
But this year the company was caught in a three-way crunch, facing pressure from suppliers and banks as sales were evaporating. The company’s court documents blamed the sales drop on steady declines in mall traffic. The company said mall landlords refuse to negotiate better leases, even as traffic counts were falling. “The straw that essentially broke the camel’s back was a landlord seeking a writ of attachment in California,” the company stated.
The company employs 1,038 people, 78 in the Moonachie headquarters, and the rest in the retail stores.
By ANN SANNER FOR AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Roland Burris said Wednesday he should be able to join the Senate “very shortly,” after talking to newly supportive Democratic leaders and working on lingering legal obstacles. Talking to reporters on the second day of a Washington power odyssey that would intimidate many, the 71-year-old Burris declared himself happy and said he was pleased with his meeting with Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin.
“My whole interest in this experience is to be prepared” to lead Illinois, Burris said, “and very shortly I will have the opportunity to do that.”
Burris’ legal issues include a pending decision by a court in his home state on whether Secretary of State Jesse White’s signature is required on his certification papers and his appearance Thursday before a committee considering the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who appointed him to take the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Senate leaders hoped that Burris would be asked under oath Thursday whether he promised Blagojevich anything in exchange for the appointment to Obama’s seat. Burris offered his assurances at a news conference Wednesday that he wasn’t involved in any such “pay to play.”
For his part, Obama stood above the fray, telling his own news conference that the decision on whether to allow Burris to join the Senate is a decision for Senate leaders. He did say that he knew him, liked him and would be happy to work with him if he is seated.
Senate leaders were under significant pressure to resolve the Burris matter quickly before its racial and political themes further overshadowed the 111th Congress and its consideration of a stimulus bill that could cost $1 trillion.
The Congressional Black Caucus voted unanimously Wednesday to support seating Burris. Chairwoman Barbara Lee of California said the 41-member caucus plans to send a letter to Senate Democratic leaders calling for Burris to be seated immediately.
Meanwhile, Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, sued the Senate Wednesday, saying the refusal to seat Burris is unconstitutional.
“This is a situation where we have a senator who has now missed out on his first day,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. “It’s only fair that he be sworn in immediately. This is a no-brainer.”
Senate leaders weren’t quite ready to do that, but they were pivoting abruptly from their posture a day earlier that Burris lacks the proper paperwork to be seated and that the taint of Blagojevich’s corruption charges would strip him or anyone the governor appoints, of credibility.
Instead of meeting the press out in the rain, this time Reid, D-Nev. and Durbin, invited him into the heart of the Senate’s power center — and the press to photograph the three, Burris in the middle, smiling and chit chatting.
Later, Reid and Durbin reported that they thought highly of Burris and that they were merely waiting for procedural matters to be resolved before he could be seated.
“We don’t have a problem with him as an individual,” Reid said of Burris.
One matter holding up Burris seating, he and Durbin said, was a ruling by the state supreme court expected this week on whether White is legally required to sign Burris’ letter of appointment. White has taken the position that Blagojevich, accused of seeking to benefit financially from filling Obama’s seat, did not have legal authority to make the appointment.
Additionally, Senate Democrats want sworn testimony that Burris did not promise Blagojevich anything in exchange for the appointment – sort of political insurance in case other news came out after his seating in the Senate.
Then, Reid said, the Senate will almost certainly hold a vote on whether to seat Burris.
The whole process, Senate officials predicted, might take weeks.
But under pressure on Wednesday, Senate Democrats began the process of retreating from their previous hard line against seating Burris.
Knowledgeable Senate officials said the visual embrace of Burris was meant to show the Democrats’ acceptance of his personal and professional qualifications, reflecting the expectation among Senate Democrats and Republicans that Burris eventually would be seated.
Burris was on the second day of a bizarre introduction to Capitol Hill. He stood in the rain Tuesday to say he was being denied the seat, and then gave a much more upbeat assessment of prospects Wednesday after his meeting with Reid and Durbin.
Burris was asked about the obviously warmer reception he got the second time around.
“I don’t know what pressure they were under, but they, I guess they have to keep the integrity of the Senate,” he said. “And they did not want to rush into anything and make a decision where they have to then be trying to reverse that. And that would even be worse.”
Asked if he, Reid and Durbin discussed any conditions under which he could be seated, he said that subject “wasn’t even on their radar screen.”
When a reporter asked whether Burris had any “pay to play” discussions with Blagojevich or his office, Burris joked that couldn’t have happened — “because I don’t have no money.”
AFP News Wire
Seven Zimbabwean opposition activists accused in a series of bombings have been “severely tortured” by state security agents, their lawyer told a court Wednesday, urging a probe into the alleged abuse.
The activists include the director of security for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as well as a former adviser to party leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
“From November 20, they were severely tortured while in police custody and and some of them were denied critical medication,” lawyer Alec Muchadehama told a magistrate’s court.
“No arrest took place. Each one of them is a victim of abduction and forced disappearance by state agents. None of them was arrested in terms of the law,” he said.
“What we are seeking is that the court must urge the state to investigate the allegations of torture and report on the next remand date. If nothing happens we reserve the right to approach international courts for redress.”
The accused were among 18 opposition and rights activists taken from their homes in separate incidents since October and detained at unknown locations.
They only began appearing in court on December 24, and stand accused of bombing two police stations in Harare as well as two bridges outside the capital “for the purposes of causing insurrection in Zimbabwe.”
They denied the charges.
Doctors who examined them at Chikurubi maximum security prison, where they are detained, said they suffered various injuries. One appeared to have damaged kidneys and required urgent medical treatment, the doctors said.
Another risked becoming deaf without urgent treatment for a ruptured membrane in one ear, while a third was phychologically traumatised and had developed a fear of water and open spaces.
The arrest of the activists has heightened fears for a September power-sharing deal signed by Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe, which has stalled over disputes about dividing control of key cabinet posts.
The hearing continues Thursday.
SF Chronicle Staff Writers: Demian Bulwa, Charles Burress, Matthew B. Stannard,Matthai Kuruvila
A protest over the fatal shooting by a BART police officer of an unarmed man mushroomed into several hours of violence Wednesday night as demonstrators smashed storefronts and cars, set several cars ablaze and blocked streets in downtown Oakland.
The roving mob expressed fury at police and frustration over society’s racial injustice. Yet the demonstrators were often indiscriminate, frequently targeting the businesses and prized possessions of people of color.
They smashed a hair salon, a pharmacy and several restaurants. Police in riot gear tried to control the crowd, but some people retreated along 14th Street and bashed cars along the way.
The mob smashed the windows at Creative African Braids on 14th Street, and a woman walked out of the shop holding a baby in her arms.
“This is our business,” shouted Leemu Topka, the black owner of the salon she started four years ago. “This is our shop. This is what you call a protest?”
Wednesday night’s vandalism victims had nothing to do with the shooting death by a BART police officer of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day – but that did little to sway the mob.
“I feel like the night is going great,” said Nia Sykes, 24, of San Francisco, one of the demonstrators. “I feel like Oakland should make some noise. This is how we need to fight back. It’s for the murder of a black male.”
Sykes, who is black, had little sympathy for the owner of Creative African Braids.
“She should be glad she just lost her business and not her life,” Sykes said. She added that she did have one worry for the night: “I just hope nobody gets shot or killed.”
The protest had started calmly shortly after 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, where BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot 22-year-old Grant of Hayward a week ago. BART shut down the station well into the evening commute, although the demonstration there was peaceful.
However, shortly after nightfall, a group of roughly 200 protesters split off and headed toward downtown Oakland, prompting the transit agency to close the Lake Merritt and 12th Street stations. The group wreaked havoc through much of downtown, drawing hundreds of police in riot gear. It wasn’t until roughly 10:40 p.m that police clamped down on the mob, arresting dozens who were cornered near the Paramount Theatre, and bringing an end to the mayhem.
Earlier in the evening, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums met the mob on 14th Street, urging calm and leading them on a walk to City Hall, where he gave a speech.
“I sense your frustration,” he told the crowd. “I understand that you’ve lost confidence in a process because you’ve seen what you believe is a homicide … But listen to me, we are a community of people. We are civilized people. We are a nation of laws.
“I’m asking people to disperse,” the mayor said to the couple hundred people in the crowd. “Let’s leave in a spirit of peace.”
But soon after, a man shouted “that’s the modern day lynching” and the mob quickly continued its rampage, smashing at least seven storefronts on 17th street between Franklin and Webster streets. They also smashed eight cars, including four belonging to the City of Oakland.
Near 14th and Alice streets, Myron Bell was taking dance lessons in “step,” a form of dance popular among African Americans, when he looked out the window and saw people jumping on his Lexus sedan.
Bell, 42, came out to find that almost all of the car’s windows, including the front and back had been smashed and it appeared that someone had tried to set the car on fire.
“I’m for the cause,” said Bell, who is black. “But I’m against the violence and destruction.”
Nearby, Godhuli Bose stood near her smashed Toyota Corolla as a man walked by, repeatedly called her a misogynist slur and then added, “F- your car.”
Bose, a high school teacher, said: “I can’t afford this.”
Earlier in the evening, when the mob first appeared downtown, Oakland Police Officer Michael Cardoza parked his car across the intersection of Eighth and Madison streets, to prevent traffic from flowing toward Broadway and into the protest. But he told The Chronicle that a group of 30 to 40 protesters quickly surrounded his car and started smashing it with bottles and rocks.
Cardoza jumped out of the car and said some protesters tried to set the car on fire, while others jumped on top of the hood – incidents repeatedly shown on television. Cardoza said the protesters “were trying to entice us into doing something.” A Chronicle reporter saw a fist-sized rock in the back seat.
A group of protesters also set a trash bin aflame, moving it adjacent to the police car.
Police threw tear gas into the group to disperse it, said BART Sgt. Mark MacAulay. After 8 p.m., there were numerous arrests.
“When you get that mob mentality, it can be dangerous,” MacAulay said.
Other protesters marched on BART’s 12th Street Station about 7 p.m., prompting the transit agency to close the downtown hub station even as it was reopening the Lake Merritt and Fruitvale stations.
The mob blocked the intersection of 14th and Broadway, near the downtown BART station entrance. As police put on helmets and gas masks and stood in a line formation, some demonstrators held signs that read, “Your idea of justice?” and “Jail Killer Cops.”
One man lay in the intersection with his face down and his hands behind his back – intentionally evoking the position that Grant was in when he was shot.
Some in the mob wore masks over their faces as they yelled at police. Roughly a dozen stood just a few feet away from police as they screamed at them. Chants included “pigs go home,” “the fascist police, no justice, no peace” and “we are all Oscar Grant.”
Mandingo Hayes, who is black, said he participated in the protest because “we’re tired of all these police agencies getting away with shooting unarmed black and Latino males.”
Hayes, 36, downplayed the attack on the police car.
“For a police car to get abused, and for a person to get shot and killed, which would you rather be?” said Hayes, a construction worker from San Pablo.
As the night wore on, Hayes tried calming people down, asking for peace.
The core group of the mob appeared to be about 40 people, several of whom were with Revolution Books, a Berkeley bookstore. A man distributed the “Revolution” newspaper – whose tagline is “voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, U.S.A.” – as he shouted “This whole damn system is guilty!”
Soo Jung Sung didn’t understand why she was to blame. She wept as she looked at the shattered front windshield of her Nissan Montero.
“Emotionally, I totally understand them,” she said of the upset over Grant’s shooting. “But it’s not nice.”
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