President Obama says ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are in the “best interests” of US Security and our economy.
“Now is the time to focus on nation building here at home,” said the President in his weekly address to the nation.
President Obama says that realizing our nation’s potential requires more than simply cutting spending; we have to foster development at home, so that the United States will continue to grow and attract the world’s best talent, ideas and job-creating technologies.
April 12, 2011by Michael McInteePennsylvaniaComments Off
Representative Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania) thanks the many people who helped pass the new Low-Power FM act that will create thousands of new community FM radio stations across the country. He tells independent journalists gathered at the National Conference for Media Reform in Boston that it was a bi-partisan coalition in Congress that made the law possible.
The law was passed after about a decade of opposition and lobbying from the National Association of Broadcasters.
“You don’t really need to have big lobbyists on your side when you have the voice of the people on your side.”
February 27, 2011by Michael McInteePennsylvaniaComments Off
This is the workers’ rights rally at Love Park in Philadelphia on Saturday. It is part of a nationwide action to support public workers in Wisconsin. The Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker is trying to take away their collective bargaining rights. Video by Larry Willoughby
Editor’s note: Larry Willoghby went home and reflected on what he saw and heard Saturday. He then offered up this narrative of his thoughts.
Thoughts from the Love Park workers rights rally aka the Please Save the American Dream rally.
It was with some trepidation that I headed out at high noon to Love Park in the City of Brotherly Love on a sunny Saturday. A workers rights rally was being staged. The stated goal of the rally? “To Save the American Dream.” A tough nut to crack that will be. As anyone familiar with Hunter Thompson will tell you that dream wave crashed and died at the end of the sixties. Never to return. Oh you might see the occasional ripple in the water but really it was an illusion – just a passing shark making its presence felt. Real progressive change? Improved workers rights? Not a chance. Not even our great hope Obama could pull that off. He caught the wave and then we watched in horror as he wiped out before our eyes. Well you get the idea. He managed to make some progress but now it will cost us. Time to put the lid on that hope and change thing. It’s bad for business.
Two pieces of proposed federal legislation could make schools safer for all students at risk for being bullied, including LGBT students. At a press conference on November 18 U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) introduced the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA), which protects students from harassment, bullying, and violence based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The SNDA has 29 Senate cosponsors. Its companion bill authored by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo) also enjoys broad support.
Franken was joined at the conference by Minnesotan Tammy Aaberg. In July 2010 her 15-year-old son Justin committed suicide after prolonged bullying at school about his being gay. Aaberg told the audience that she had never realized the torment Justin had experienced until his friends told her. She discovered the Anoka-Hennepin School District provided no definitions of LGBT bullying or guidelines for intervention. That bullying would go unchecked in the presence of teachers and staff. And that school policy prohibited classroom discussion on any matter related to sexual orientation.
“Too often this kind of bullying gets swept under the rug. And the sexual orientation policy currently in place only serves to perpetuate the feelings of isolation that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students already feel,” Aaberg said.
The second piece of legislation was introduced by U.S Senator Bob Casey (D-PA). The Safe Schools Improvement Act (SISA) is a federal anti-bullying bill that protects students based on race, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression. Casey was joined by 16-year-old Joey Kemmerling of Pennsylvania. He too talked about prolonged bullying and anti-gay violence, including a student who threatened him with a knife. Joey asked school officials to respond, but they didn’t.
Joey recalled the student coming up to him and looking him in the eyes. “I didn’t know who he was. But I knew that he hated me,” Joey said. “And he said, ‘Your life is in my hands.’”
The Casey bill, like the Franken bill, has widespread support with 130 cosponsors in the House and 15 cosponsors in the Senate.
And in Minnesota, the Star Tribune reports the Minnesota School Board Association is advising school districts to expand their harassment and violence policy to specify LGBT students and other vulnerable groups. The MSBA recommendation counters a belief held by many (including Gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer) that parents, not schools, should teach kids not to bully LGBT students.
Every cub reporter dreams of getting that big interview. When you’re in journalism school, it’s quite a big “get” to interview the President of the United States. Several journalism students got that opportunity Monday when the President had a half hour conference call with them.
After President Obama talked about his education plan, students asked about their generation being the “lost generation” because of rising tuition, why the President visits Wisconsin so often (he’s there again today), and health care coverage for young people.
” We need to make it as easy as we can for our companies to create more jobs in America, not overseas. And that starts with our tax code.” —President Obama in his weekly address
“Because you reminded people what it means to have 40 bucks taken out of your paycheck every week, it got done.”—President Obama on Congress passing payroll tax cut.
The federal government and 49 state attorneys general have reached a landmark $25 billion agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses.
President Obama announces ten states have agreed to implement bold reforms around standards and accountability will receive flexibility from the most burdensome mandates of the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind.
The President meets an 8th grader named Joey from Phoenix, AZ at the White House Science Fair and the two launch a marshmallow across the state dining room with Joey’s science project – an air cannon.
The housing crisis has been the single largest drag on America’s economic recovery. President Obama wants to fix that fairly for homeowners who have been responsible, but not the ones who took out huge mortgages or bought multiple homes.
Minnesota will be creating a “cottage industry of voting lawsuits” if the current proposed voter photo ID amendment becomes law says Carolyn Jackson, Lobbying Coordinator with the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.
DFL lawmakers make a second attempt to repeal the Minnesota constitutional amendment on marriage that is on this fall’s ballot, this time to “pay for” the unknown cost of the voter photo ID constitutional amendment.
A proposal to give Minnesota businesses property tax relief would add $126 million to a already expected $1.3 billion state deficit says Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk.
“Mean spirited” and “humiliating” to poor people is how Ebony Harris describes a Minnesota proposed law requiring 60-days residency to qualify for welfare benefits.
Hundreds of people are expected to show up to this afternoon’s hearing on a proposed constitutional amendment requiring Minnesotans to present a photo ID to vote. However, it is unlikely they will be able to talk about the potential voter suppression effect the amendment would have.
Untargeted business tax relief that would go to out of state retail corporations such as McDonalds and Costco would be a “race to the bottom” says Senator Scott Dibble (DFL- Minneapolis)
Education Minnesota says a proposed law that allows high seniority teachers to be laid off first will create a “lot of chaos, a lot of grievances, (and) possible lawsuits.
A website owner from Maple Grove tells the House tax committee that trying to make Amazon.com charge sales taxes for goods sold in Minnesota will not bring in revenue and will put her out of business.
Occupy MN is occupying Monique White’s house at 3310 N. 6th St. in the city’s downtrodden North Minneapolis neighborhood. In doing so, Occupy MN instantly made itself more diverse, and more relevant.
When administrators revealed a plan last spring to shut down North High School — one of only two public schools on Minneapolis’ embattled north side — MN Neighborhoods Organizing for Change and other activists answered the call.
North Minneapolis food entrepreneurs use Kindred Kitchen to learn about starting their own business, making their food safely and legally in a commercial kitchen, and marketing it within the community.
Voters should pick their politicians, not the other way around. That’s the thought behind Draw The Line Minnesota, a citizen group that is working to draw the maps for congressional and legislative districts.
This year’s FLOW art crawl was all about recognizing thousands of volunteers that helped with the clean-up and recovery efforts after the May 22nd tornado. Leaders hope the positive can-do attitude of the cleanup can power a rebirth of the Northside.
After their home in North Minneapolis was destroyed by the May 22 tornado, Dennis and Deborah were forced to seek refuge in the local Armory and at the North Commons Recreation Center. For weeks, they and their five children slept on cots on the floor of a gymnasium.
