We see a new era of time. The White House is having a tour that tries to present himself as the champion of the thriving middle class. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that the administration would provide no federal funds for the city of Detroit, which is disgraceful. The city emergency manager Kevyn Orr historically placed the city into bankruptcy. This can cause the stripping of health benefits and pension benefits including the dismantling of public services. Jay Carney told the press that the administration will allow local leaders and creditors to handle Detroit's debt obligation without any financial assistance to the city at all. So, we see Detroit's local leaders (like Kevyn Orr, Detroit Mayor David Bing, and Michigan Governor Rick Synder) have been in contact with the Obama administration. The establishment in both parties have done policies then and now that have harmed the working class. This (or the bankruptcy of the former auto capital of the world) according to some could be used as a precedent to mount more attacks via unelected officials like Orr against workers' pensions including health benefits in cities across the country. The White House had a job speaking tour in Galesburg, Illinois. The White House wants to defend the middle class when the poor should be defended as well. Extremists want to attack social programs and the social programs and the pensions including health benefits of the public sector workers (including hundreds of thousands of federal workers begin to lose one day's pay a week (as a result of the furloughs imposed as part of sequester spending cuts). Now, we should talk about economics. We should also disagree strongly with the massive, illegal spying by the government on the American people. The international manhunt of the whistleblower Edward Snowden is interesting. Regardless of who Edward is, he should not be murdered unjustly at all. The economy is beyond just about growing the middle class out. It is about dealing with the poor and working class including the homeless as well. The corporate and financial elite refuse to support the federal government to financially assist Detroit. A jobs bill can never be tailored to the interests of big business like tax cuts and subsidies for the corporations. A jobs bill should be as comprehensive as possible. During Tuesday’s press conference, Carney bragged about the Obama administration having created 7 million jobs since the start of the economic “recovery.” This ignores the fact that the working age population has grown by 9.4 million during this time. The labor force participation rate has fallen every year of the Obama’s administration. Our recovery has failed to recoup the jobs lost since 2008 by some 2 million. The National Employment Law Project reported last year that while the majority of the jobs lost during the 2008 crash were middle-income, 58 percent of new jobs created during the “recovery” were low-wage, paying between $7.69 and $13.83 We know that the super-rich class in Wall Street has been financially strong still. CEO pay is higher than ever. There is a wide economic inequality among the rich and everyone else. The incomes of the top 1 percent grew more than 11 percent between 2009 and 2011. Now, the issue is that Obama wants to have his proposal to slash about $400 billion from Medicare and $130 billion from Social Security. Both parties have members to roll back the living conditions of the population during since the 19th century. Some reactionaries had 8 hour work days, child labor laws, comprehensive public education, pensions, health benefits, workplace safety, safety regulations, etc. These attacks on workers are evil and we should fight for justice in the world. The corporate elite and the financial elite should be made accountable for their actions. Now, we should know that this neoliberal, white supremacist agenda has been around before Obama was President, so I will never blame the President for all issues in our community at all. We need social need and power to have our own destinies.
We have to be careful that talking about race will not lead us into the illusion that the political establishment is God. The contemporary African American condition is serious. So, not only individuals and organizations should address racial oppression and inequality in America. The federal government (or made up of the people I might add) should address these issues as well. We have every right with having disgust and anger about a lethal neighborhood watch stalker that murdered the unarmed black teenager and high school student Trayvon Martin in February of 2012. We live in no post racial America and unfortunately some in the White House has been politically correct on the issue of Civil Rights. That is why any African American has the right to identify with the interests of the black community. We know what the GOP is all about. Enough said. Now, even some deeply conservative, bourgeois-neoliberal Democrats have come up to talk about the middle class, but not the poor. They love free enterprise and not loving the collective power of the people. Some of them like Levin even love to militarily intervene in Syria without trying to end imperialism in the world. Many Caucasians fear anyone that expresses his or her blackness in society via a firm, legitimate, and strong way. Even the neo-John Bircher right (with folks like Alex Jones) is wrong to assume that Obama is far more progressive on all issues than what he really is including on race. The neo-McCarthyite FOX News readily outlines the lie that the President is some Marxist, Islamic extremist that wants reparations. Back then, the Liberty League smeared FDR as Communist. The reality is that the President said that we are a nation of laws when just because unjust laws exist in America doesn't mean we have to honor or respect those laws. I respect no unjust law at all. When Sean Bell was unjustly shot 50 times, even the Justice Department, FBI, and the U.S. Attorney office for Eastern District of NY said that the death did not violate anyone's civil rights. That is wrong and disgraceful to say the least. We have been a record amount of racist lawlessness by criminals and this is happening in the 21st century. Even President Barack Obama refuses to outline white supremacy in public as the reason why we see these attacks in our communities in the first place. He refuses to mention the truth that black Americans are heavily in the racist criminal justice system, because of documented racist surveillance, arrest, and evil sentencing practices (from the police, prosecutors, and judges nationwide. They are in league with the system of white supremacy). Yet, President Barack Obama did say many legitimate, moving words in his historic speech on race during the aftermath of the verdict. Now, Trojan Pam (a very intelligent, pro-black Sister) is correct to write that we should use strategy and realize that the system of white supremacy is even more powerful than the President (and we can't be filled with unnecessary, non-constructive tensions. We must use our energy constructively to build up our people and advance solutions. We have to build black people up at the end of the day). Racial oppression has not slowed down regardless of what the President says. 1 in 3 adult black males have been involved in prison, jail, or the criminal justice system in some way. Blacks continue to suffer a fall in income since 2007. Fully 28 percent of African Americans, and 37 percent of black children, are officially poor, compared to 10 percent of whites and 13 percent of white children. Thirteen percent of blacks are officially unemployed, compared to 7 percent of whites. None of the neither Democratic nor Republican establishment has outlined solutions that deal with these disparities at all in a comprehensive fashion. That is why the President refuses to call for a new federal program to try to solve these issues. We must have a national commitment to jobs and education as a means to solve this issue. The federal government can grant corporate subsidies to the Pentagon war machine, but not to domestic services in the same way Wall Street receives its bailouts. Solutions should also come from the state, local, federal levels (including independent organizations and from individuals too. Everybody should get involved). We must not embrace some token middle class reform rhetoric. We need jobs, programs, and radical, revolutionary solutions. Mainstream capitalism has destroyed cities including the once thriving city of Detroit. We must not agree with making Ray Kelly (or the former commissioner of the NY Police Department and he orchestrated stop and frisk. Stop and frisk criminalize almost all black and brown persons living in New York City) to become the new Secretary of Homeland Security at all. The bootstraps myth is fantasy since the poor work more harder than the rich and the poor receive fewer benefits for their labor than the rich. So, we need revolutionary solutions not the JBS reactionary propaganda (like from the reactionary Alex Jones. Alex Jones praised Thomas Jefferson when he was a racist, a rapist, and an extreme slaveholder, who was linked to the evils of the Maafa including the institution of slavery) nor bourgeois neoliberalism either. So, I will not hate the Brother President Barack Obama. The Sister Angela Rye reminds us that there is value in all black life recently in her moving tribute to her unborn son. I have disagreements with the Brother President on some issues, but we all wish him to be better and much legitimate prosperity in the right direction.
Namibia is a nation filled with gems. It is a nation with 2.3 million human beings by 2012. Many investment opportunities exist in Namibia. Some modern port facilities like Walvis Bay have such investments. It is part of the 15 country REC and SADC. It is a potential hub for regional and international partnerships. “No country can develop on its own. Countries need each other for development and economic growth,” said Bonaventura Hinda, Commercial Counsellor at the High Commission of the Republic of Namibia in South Africa. Hinda opened the Namibian investment seminar held in Midrand, South Africa recently. Namibia is a great country to invest for numerous reasons. It has smooth transfers of power. It has experienced economic growth of 3.5% to 5.8% in the last decade. Namibia also prides itself as having many resources. It has such resources like diamond, gold, copper, fisheries, iron ore, manganese, and uranium. The country is rated fourth in uranium producing in the world. Now, Namibia does grade with China, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Singapore, and others. Africans have the right to trade with other African nations as well to sustain including boost the African economy. The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of Namibia, Honorable Tweya Tjekero added, “This is an African partnership, not a European partnership,” he said to the audience’s amusement. Tweya Tjekero said that he wants to further growth the logistics, agro-processing, manufacturing, and infrastructure. Tjekero said that there is a railway construction between Namibia and Angola underway now. There is a development of a highway between Walvis Bay and South Africa, which will increase market access. Namibia can be further sustained according to Christian Faure (of the Namibian Port Authority) said that the economic growth in the region of Walvis Bay exceeds that of most traditional markets. Faure said that there is investment in the logistics sector. Namibia moved from the position of 120 (out of the 148 countries surveyed) to position 72 in liner shipping connectivity in 2012. Namibia has improved its connectivity in 2011 and beyond. Walvis Bay is growing its population from 74,000 to reach about 170,000 by 2023. The New Walvis Bay Container Terminal could take 30 months to finish according to Faure. The new terminal will be in use in 2017. It can have more areas for growth in the future. It will smooth trade in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the energy sector, Hinda shared that Namibia produces 39% of its own power; Eskom produces 40%, Zesco 9%, and Zesa 12 %. The country has four power stations in total and is planning on adding five more for a total of nine. Agriculture supports about 70% of the population. It deals with livestock and crop production. Some farmers are sheep farmers and mainly cattle or communal farmers. Meat production and fish production is key to Namibia's economy. Namibia is a huge fish exporter. The agronomic industry is very important with horticultural products like grapes, dates, etc. Alexandria Angala, Chief Agricultural Economist in Namibia, said that other opportunities in the agricultural value chain are cold storage, ripening rooms, and marketing floors. There are threats of poor soil fertility, drought, and climatic conditions in the nation as said by Angala. There are education services in Namibia. So, the nation of Namibia has a mix of investment opportunities in its national boundaries. As Namibian Commercial Counselor Hinda said, “Namibia: a gem worth investing in.” There is the 2013 Africa Transport and Infrastructure Show that brought rail, road shipping, and air experts together. They came as a means to discuss ways of boosting the transport sector and its economic and social impact on the continent. So, many Africans are finding new ways to reduce transport costs and expanding transportation in its beautiful continent. There should be stronger intra-continental trade. “Together Africa will prosper – divided we will fail,” Dlamini declared. So, Africa is on the move. Africa will improve. We have to keep on inspiring, keep on fighting against imperialism, and keep on connecting with our African Brothers and Sisters.
When you heard anti-immigrant rhetoric, it can get annoying at times. Now, we should expose myths and just show the truth uncut. The reactionaries say that undocumented immigrations do not pay taxes. The truth is that two thirds of undocumented workers pay Medicare, Social Security, and personal income taxes. In 2005, there was a Social Security surplus before the government borrowed money to pay for war, creating a crisis. 10 percent of the surplus or 50 percent of it came from undocumented immigrants. They pay sales taxes and property tax through rent. The National Research Council says that each immigrant contributes $80,000 more in taxes than they ever receive back. Professor Ford of the University of Tennessee, an expert on immigration and taxes, states undocumented workers contributed $428 billion dollars to the country’s gross domestic product in 2006. Of the more than 31 million foreign-born people living in the United States in 2009, about 20 million were either citizens or legal residents. Of those who did not have authorization to be here, about 45 percent entered the country legally and then let their papers expire. For about the first 100 years, the United States had an “open immigration system that allowed any able-bodied immigrant in,” explains immigration historian David Reimers. The biggest obstacle would-be immigrants faced were getting here. Now, it is much more difficult for immigrants to come into America than between 1790 and 1924. Entering the country legally is a long process (with few exceptions like asylum seekers, those who have a trained skill, etc.). Many of the early immigrations never spoke English at first, but held onto their cultures fiercely. While today’s immigrants may speak their first language at home, two-thirds of those older than 5 speak English “well” or “very well” according to research by the independent, nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. And the demand for adult ESL instruction in the United States far outstrips available classes. So, the English only agenda is silly by some since America is made up of numerous cultures including numerous immigrants. One of the biggest lies from the xenophobic crowd is that immigrants take good jobs from Americans. According to the Immigration Policy Center, a nonpartisan group, research indicates there is little connection between immigrant labor and unemployment rates of native-born workers. Here in the United States, two trends—better education and an aging population—have resulted in a decrease in the number of Americans willing or available to take low-paying jobs. Between 2000 and 2005, the supply of low-skilled American-born workers slipped by 1.8 million. That is why some multinational corporations seeks to exploit cheap labor (since corporations want to refuse to raise the minimum wage as a means to give immigrants less benefits and ignore worker safety laws). Undocumented immigrants never have massively increased the crime rate in America in record levels at all. Nationally, since 1994, the violent crime rate has declined 34 percent and the property crime rate has fallen 26 percent, even as the number of undocumented immigrants has doubled. According to the conservative Americas Majority Foundation, crime rates during the period 1999–2006 were lowest in states with the highest immigration growth rates. During that period the total crime rate fell 14 percent in the 19 top immigration states, compared to only 7 percent in the other 31. Additionally Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute said, “there is a consensus that, on average, the incomes of families in this country are increased by a small, but clearly positive amount, because of immigration.” So, we should be fair to all American citizens, but we should always understand and respect immigrant rights. So, we must not be like Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh on this issue. We know the truth. The truth is that immigrants from Africa to Latin America are blessings for America is a nation founded by immigrants and others. So, we don't need prejudice or hatred of immigrants. We need tolerance and comprehensive immigration reform. I do believe in comprehensive immigration reform. Folks from across the political spectrum are coming around to see the truth.
College affordability is a key part of this human rights movement. It is awe inspiring goal of the human race in general. It is the role of the federal government to make public colleges affordable and accessible regardless of what anyone says. Some in the GOP want to halt federal officials from regulating for profit educational institutions. If you are in federal soil in the USA, you are bound under many federal laws like the Bill of Rights and Constitution. SAFRRA or the Supporting Academic Freedom through Regulatory Relief Act wants to block three Department of Education rules. One rule is meant to improve oversight of the schools that receive taxpayer education dollars by involving state authorities in combating waste, fraud, and abuse. Another rule sets the threshold of 35 percent of graduates actively repaying loans in order for schools to continue receiving federal funds. For profit schools might struggle to meet that threshold. The credit hour rule would prevent online schools, for example, from telling the government they’ve provided an hour of educational value while actually spending far less time on students. So, some want for profit schools or privatization to dominate all forms of education indeed in America. Even Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) received a substantial campaign from for profit education companies that would stand to gain from eliminating the federal government's role in higher education. That for profit industry has given over $68,000 to Foxx during her political career. Chairman John Kline (R-MN) racked up $116,000 in profit education contribution in just the second quarter of this year. Foxx’s role on the Education and the Workforce Committee makes her a natural target for industry money. These for profit schools are reliant greatly on federal financial aid funds. They are being investigated in more than 32 states. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigated them for misleading students or defrauding federal education programs. So, regulating these universities is fine according to activists. The government spends less on education and job training as a percentage of overall spending than it did in 1970. Oversight is fine. Investing in our education can obviously boost the economy in the long run. That is why the government legitimately spending on education is fine with me. The reactionaries have abolished many admission programs and other minimal reforms that existed since the mid 1960's. The attacks on affirmative action deals with the reactionary lie that minorities who suffer oppression deserve nothing. There is still inherent race and class bias of higher education under mainstream capitalism. The Koch Brothers and others fund efforts to end affirmative action as a means to make education a privileged system for the few instead of it being a human right of all of the people. So, I will continue to fight for affirmative action. When I was in college back in 2004, I believed in affirmative action then. I believe in it now. Education is a human right for all human beings. We have a system where the select few manage to get into a strong college and then be accepted to advance their careers. We must end racial oppression and class oppression in the world today. We have right on our side and we win indeed.
By Timothy
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