Mayor Vincent Gray has the blues

In my opinion, his days were numbered as Mayor of Washington, D.C. the moment he told Michelle Rhee he would not re-new her contract as Chancellor of Schools. It did not say nice things about him from the very beginning of his administration. 

Mr. Gray did not care he inherited the crème de la crème of American teachers in his cabinet upon his election in 2010. Mr. Gray did not care Ms. Rhee was an administrator laboriously and with great pain laying golden eggs. Mr. Gray did not care Ms. Rhee could have made him the envy of every  mayor in America who had failing school systems but, alas, he was blinded by mediocre and pedestrian ambitions while conducting inarticulate news conferences that have, in two short years of his administration, raised serious concerns regarding his leadership abilities.

Mr. Gray does not know which friends to make, which friends  to keep and which friends to let go. As a politician, Mr. Gray does not know what he is doing. Mr. Gray has the blues. Where is that li’l rascal Fenty when you need him?

-Mr. Gray, as a Washtonian and going to public schools here, who was the teacher that rocked your world?

As always,
BB

Nation’s capital beset by scandal, bad news
By Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers
Excerpt:
A federal probe into Mayor Vincent Gray’s 2010 campaign has snared three of his aides, and news that some close advisers helped orchestrate an illegal shadow campaign could force him from office. Three city council members have called on Gray to step down.

And
The scandals suggest a systemic culture of cronyism and self-dealing in city government that threatens to overshadow the other Washington, which had been making progress remaking its image since the lows, such as when former Mayor Marion Barry was caught smoking crack with a prostitute in a hotel room in 1990 and uttered the infamous words, “Bitch set me up.”

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/13/156167/nations-capital-beset-by-scandal.html#storylink=cpy

Pioneers of Outsourcing and The Prison Complex

I am wondering if there is a relationship to stories I heard about prison labor in the 80’s and early 90’s and the outsourcing of American labor.

During that period, I recall an emotional story regarding an irate furniture maker who lost his bid to continue making furniture to a prison complex in his area.

The story went on registering the frustrations and anger of the furniture maker and his remorse having to let employees go and, most importantly, how many prisons used its inmates making things we Americans use in our daily lives i.e., automobile tags, furniture and articles of clothing. I recall some women inmates answering phone calls for businesses.

I do not know if a viable and lucrative prison labor force is still in existence and bringing in revenue. I do not know if those jobs were outsourced or put back in communities. I do recall hearing the prison complex had eliminated exercise rooms for inmates due to expenses.

There are no conclusions I can make, just a lot of things I recall as the Bain and  Mitt Romney saga  continues. 


As always,
BB

Mitt Romney and the NAACP

It was flat out embarrassing to me witnessing  Black Caucus chairman Emanuel Cleaver and NAACP (National association for the advancement of colored people) CEO Ben Jealous struggling to articulate their feelings regarding the speech given Wednesday by Gov. Mitt Romney to members of the NAACP. .

It boggles my mind as to why the colored people of the NAACP even invited Mr. Romney to speak to them and even more mind boggling to me was for them to remain seated  listening to his contrived and un-debatable insults. Were their feet hurting too badly for them to register their indignation by simply standing  up and walking out on the speech? Were they afraid of hurting his feelings? Neither Rush Limbaugh, Rep. Wilson or Gov. Jan Brewer had that problem when addressing Pres. Obama.

If Democrats can walk out of the UN assembly hall led by Dr. Susan Rice  when Prime Minister of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  is speaking and if they can walk out of the House chambers when there is going to be a vote on repealing Obamacare as occurred earlier this week, and if they can walk out of chambers in Wisconsin, surely they can walk out when they are so blissfully insulted by a Presidential-wannabe appearing to stand by every affront he uttered.  Color me ‘disgusted!’

- Mr. Romney, sir, you insulted us.
- You invited me to speak, didn't you? Didn’t you?? Well, I did. What’s your problem, boy, weren’t you listening?

Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

Are Republicans bad for America or…..

are they America?

Just as  “*Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…” and as anything in life, my title could be justifiably debated either way. As per my title, a debate could be made  regarding the Republicans’ influences on America or conversely, the debate could be on Americas’ influences on Republicans.

It is my understanding America was warned by rating agencies it was treading on thin ice coming up to the debt ceiling debacle that occurred last year. The agencies articulated the fact that internal strife and bickering could make world-wide investors nervous. World-wide investors did get nervous and Americas’ credit rating was downgrade from AAA to AA+ by the credit rating agency Moody’s.

As internal strife and bickering continues with the recent  public tar and fettering of our Attorney General Eric Holder and challenges to the U.S. Supreme Courts’ decision  regarding Obamacare become pregnant in addition to what is referred to as the Financial Cliff occurring at years’ end, I am mindful credit agencies have once again warned America of the strife and bickering causing investors to be nervous.

Finally and in my opinion, there is a dead-lock in America between to forces: One being  forces defending influences of racism and the other force defending influences of anti-Semitism and never will the twain meet. China and India and a few other countries do not have this problem. As the man said, “Only in America”.

BTW, it was curious  to me that just before leaving office, Pres. “W” Bush wrote an executive order making it extremely difficult, if not impossible,  to fire certain government workers.  I’ve always wondered what that was all about. Why did that group group of government workers need an executive order protecting their jobs? Why were they so special? My curiousness continues.

Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
* The Road Not Taken
 http://www.bartleby.com/119/1.html