Pres. Obama, Mayor Berry and White Flight

*It's quite unsettling to talk to members of Barack Obama's transition teams these days, especially those who are helping with the economics portfolio. Without going into details, the sense I get from them is that they are very worried that the economy will get a lot worse before it gets better. Not just worse... a lot worse.

Marion Berry was one of the first Black mayors of a major city. He had two tenures: 1971-1991 and 1995-1999. During his first tenure, D.C. lost its favorable bond ratings due to the fact major tax based companies left the city. It became hard to sell bonds and borrow money.

I remember Mayor Berry telling us the “white flight”, my words not his, from cities who had voted in Black mayors was not mere coincidence. There is data. I find a curious parallel to the raiding of our treasury due to the fact our Pres. Elect is a man of color to the “get out of dodge” mentality of businesses and organizations who would not tolerate having a Black mayor. Mayor Berry had two difficult tenures. I don’t know how he survived. the Washington Post assigned Tom Sherwood as his bloodhound who, in my opinion, harassed him to no end. There is no question in my mind Tom Sherwood became a wealthy man as Mayor Berry remains, by comparison, a pauper.
As always,
BB
*Tighten your belts folks--the Ride is About to Begin
by EBetty
Thu Dec 11, 2008 at 07:26:09 AM PST
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/11/101258/45/428/671827

Gleeful Dems continue to savor contents of Bush’s ass

Bush with 29% or lower approval ratings and 79% rating for Democrats a la Pres. Elect Obama. Whether “Loyalty to my master” from the Blacks or “Stockholm Syndrome” from the others, this is still America and the condition of our Democratic Congress. Dems trust and relish the judgment of Bush. The latest example concerns the Auto Bailout. I continue to posit the Democrats will make huge and conscious contributions to many of the impending failures of the Obama administration. They can not help themselves. Political scum! Political figureheads! Politically unsophisticated and illiterate! Bums!
As always,
BB
I just don't understand why the Democrats in Congress are caving so easily. And not just because their electoral success and Bush's all-time-low approval ratings put the party in a position of strength. What I really don't get is what the hammer is that is causing them to crumble. What is the "or else"? The answer you will hear is, "If we don't get money to General Motors and Chrysler, they will go into bankruptcy, and millions of Americans will lose their jobs." But if the party is truly looking out for the workers, why are they allowing Bush to demonize the union contracts? And, more importantly, the future of American auto workers depends on a viable industry emerging from this mess. That will not happen if money is handed to the companies so they can just continue their "business as usual" approach, one that has failed miserably and brought them to near extinction.
Posted December 10, 2008 | 11:51 AM (EST) BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index
Why Are Congressional Democrats Giving in to Bush on the Auto Bailout?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/why-are-congressional-dem_b_149922.html

Cholera in Zimbabwe: Dr. Laroche and Mr. Tsvangirai

I saw two interviews this early morning on CNN-In in reference to the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe.

The first was a very short telephone interview with Dr. Eric Laroche of the “Health Action in Crises” wing of the “World Health Organization”. Although the connection was very poor, I was able to understand he is not on top of his game for whatever reason. I base that judgment on two things I did hear him say and was able to understand him to say: “still gathering data” and “We are going to..”. The entire conversation lasted less than three minutes as I recall and did not contain any of the substance one would expect from a spokesperson regarding the break out of such a dreaded epidemic in the country or geographical area they are monitoring on their health watch.

Later in the morning, I heard Ms. Anita Rushpaul (?) interview Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai who was also asked pointed questions regarding the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. Mr. Tsvangirai was not conducting the telephone conversation from Zimbabwe, as noted by Ms. Rushpaul. From the beginning of the interview, my focus was on the quality and “spot on” questions Ms. Rushpaul was asking Mr. Tsvangirai. In my opinion, she was asking purely humanistic question like a mother would ask not only for the safety of her own children but for the children of other mothers. The nature of her questions makes one wonder if indeed at one point, as she put it, “The connection to Mr. Tsvangirai was (suddenly and abruptly) lost.” Ms. Rushpaul did not turn to the viewing audience saying "...my producer will try to re-establish the connection and get back to you". (Smile)

I am highly suspicious of Former Pres. Carter and his entourage trying to visit Zimbabwe and subsequently making a public statement as to its dire condition. If Pres. Carter went there having a pre-arranged meeting with Pres. Mugabe, in my opinion the politics surrounding the cholera outbreak would be taking another turn and perhaps for the better. I don’t know how to put it but you know sometimes you just get a gut feeling?
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

Zimbabwe and Cholera

About ten years ago, my son and I went with a group to Zimbabwe. About five years ago, I remember telling him the water works in one of the cities we visited had been privatized and we both lamented how could those poor people we saw pay for water. This may make it difficult to clean up the water system. Bureaucracy.
As always,
BB

Computers? Broadband? American schools? Fightin’ time!! (Update)

(Author: This is a re-post. I re-post this due to the recent elimination of almost $50 million dollars for education from the Stimulus Recovery Bill.)
Imagine Pooky, Shanika and Jamal in their computer class going to Al
Zazarra English web site and reading the content of the site on their school computer. Imagine them going to the Dkos web site or to the Huffington Post. Lord have mercy if they find The Drudge Report, CounterPunch or Newsladder.Net!

David “Thought police” Horowitz will not allow that to happen. The group who last year closed the Muslin school in New York City would strenuously object as will the opponents of “Leave No Child Behind”. Pres. Elect Obama recently announced re-structuring our school, putting in computers with broadband connections has upset a lot of people. The foes of education are saying, “No, no, no by my chinny chin chin!” They go on to bray, “We are very satisfied with our permanent underclass citizens. They satisfy our needs” they would conclude.

Needless to say, in my opinion the new Secretary of Education is going to have a though row to hoe. Very though! There are segments of our society who will do anything, anything you hear, not to educate people of color. They have done it in the past and will continue to do so. Their efforts to keep us dwelling in the past with the Holocaust and 1932 Germany is notorious i.e., Christiana Amanpour “Scream bloody murder” as an excuse to once again show the tired story of the Holocaust. Hello? There is the more modern American Civil Rights story.

There may be many virtues living in the past but a citizenry has to at least move up a notch or two on the scale of civilization. They can not all be subjected to Herculean efforts to keep then at ground zero expecting any meaningful productivity from them or their country. Their anticipations and productive levels are predictable. The permanent underclass becomes a drag on a country.

Yesssirree! The new Secretary of Education is going to indeed have a tough row to hoe and as a matter of fact, it may well be the hardest cabinet position both to fill and sustain with many of us learning how to love eating cake as we did with the good Sec. of Education Ms. Spelling. To be specific, do I think we will get our schools physically restructured having computers with broadband connections? No! In my lifetime? Hell No. In my children’s lifetime? No. My grand-children’s? It. Will. Not. Happen! At best, we will be able to modify or change some curriculums and ask for the return of, and get, some trade schools. Might as well ask Ms. Spelling to stay.
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
(Update)
Education can be a key element to our recovering from this economic crisis long-term, or it may play a role in our continued decline. To have someone who sees the complexity of these problems, and is willing to draw counsel from those who have studied that complexity, gives me much hope going forward that the role of education in our country will be more the former than the latter.
If you have read this far, thank you. This is a long diary, and I had to resist making it longer. But, I hope you have found here something thought provoking, if not helpful, in your own coming to terms with education policy as we move forward.
Linda Darling-Hammond and "Renegade" Education Advice
by elropsych
Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 06:31:16 AM PST
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/8/93116/4574/785/670429

Game: Sanctions, diseases and blame (Update)

I am sure leaders have been challenged and “de-throned” since man first gathered as a unit and the lower animal kingdom have been doing it long before that.

I would posit there are many ways to de-throne your opponent, sort of like “How shall I de-throne thee. Let me count the ways.” Once the decision is made, like minded people are gathered and the process of de-throning begins. From America’s birth and dealing with the Indians, America’s decisions to de-throne were by using the vehicle of war. War on the Indians, war on the Mexicans up to the war on the Viet Congs.

In my own consciousness, sanctions were added to the war machine beginning with Iraq. It appears sanctions have two objectives: to get the citizens of the targeted country angry enough so rebellions can effectively begin or having sanctions so the world community can taunt the country when the country and its leader can no longer produce basic services to its citizens. Now that I think about it, both programs maybe simultaneously at play.

I am mindful in Iraq there was a clean water issues as is now in Zimbabwe. Cholera broke out due to the sanctions. People died there also. There was something regarding the health of new born babies. For one thing, they could not get formula, as I recall. There was a lady from State Department on C-Span interviewed by Bran Lamb who quite her job due to the fact the US was so brutal in its sanction policy. She cited the denial of sending to Iraq yogurt making machines with the rational they could be used to make weapons of a sort. She cited others but that happens to be the one I most remembered. When America wanted to put stronger sanctions on Iran, Chancellor Merkel of Germany would not go along with it. She knows the inter-relationship of the world monetary systems.

I find it crude Morgan Tsvangirai pompously bouncing into Mr. Mugabe’s government demanding ministries and Britain, The EU Union and America going along with it. From where I sit, that is what happened. With Dr. Susan Rice going to the United Nations, let’s hope she can slap some sense in the poor man’s head.
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

Hyperinflation forces Zimbabwe to print $200 million notes
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/12/06/zimbabwe.currency/index.html?eref=rss_world
Excerpt:
The United Nations has said that more than half of Zimbabwe's population is in dire need of food and clean water.
Acute shortages of essentials such as fuel, electricity, medicines and food are key indicators of a failed economy, according to economic observers.
"The [Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe] is failing to deliver the demands of market, prices are doubling daily, and that demands more cash," Zimbabwean economist John Robertson said. "The huge price increases are resulting from severe shortages of most goods."

And
Critics of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe link hyperinflation to his policies on land distribution and unbudgeted payments to war veterans.
Zimbabwe has had no Cabinet since the March presidential election.
Its political troubles have aggravated its humanitarian and economic crisis, including a cholera outbreak that has killed close to 600 people since August.
(Update)
"This outbreak can be contained, but it will depend on many factors, in particular a coordinated approach between all health providers to make sure we are providing the right interventions where they are needed most," said Dr. Custodia Mandhlate, WHO Representative to Zimbabwe. "Such interventions include prevention, quick case detection and control, and improved treatment."
Polluted Water Spreads Cholera in Zimbabwe
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2008/2008-12-10-02.asp