Strong U.S. Job Growth Leads to Lowest Black Unemployment in Years

Two job related news stories bring good news for Democrats and President Obama: The overall unemployment rate continues to drop; and the stubbornly high unemployment rate of black Americans has significantly improved.

On cue, the GOP and Mitt Romney will respond by claiming the growth is very weak and that Obama's policies and big government regulations are hindering a more robust economic recovery.

Two things: President Obama inherited a free falling economy that was losing over 800,000 jobs a month before he even walked into the Oval Office. His first mission was to stabilize the patient, hence avoiding a Great Depression.

Secondly, to add insult to the GOP created injury, the Republicans in congress, for over three years, have not lifted one finger to help bring the American people relief. No, they have - due to partisan politics - obstructed and refused to partner with Obama on anything for the good of the country. Obama's number one priority was to help the country recover; the GOP's number one priority was to defeat and frustrate the president. For example:


The Republicans announced that no matter what Obama did, they would oppose it. Jobs bill? No. Deficit solution? No. Nothing matters to them but defeating Barack Obama. source

Read the following two job report articles.

President Barack Obama hasn’t unfurled a “Mission Accomplished” banner just yet.

But Friday’s jobs report showing the unemployment rate dropping to 8.3 percent, the lowest level of his presidency, is an unexpected boon for Obama’s reelection bid and a serious hurdle for his top competitor, Mitt Romney, who has staked his campaign on a jobs-and-economy message.

While 8 percent-plus unemployment is still a perilous number for any incumbent, the clear downward trend in the jobless rate complicates the Republican narrative that Obama is an out-and-out economic failure who has no hope of turning around the economy.

The lower that number goes, strategists in both parties say, the harder it will be for Romney and others to rely on a glum national mood and a purely jobs-focused sales pitch to turn voters against the incumbent.

“Those numbers are good news for the country and they are good news, politically, for the president,” said Steve Schmidt, who ran John McCain’s 2008 campaign. “It puts particular pressure on Mitt Romney as the nominee to offer a big, bold, sweeping agenda of reform and economic growth and contrasts with the president’s vision. He’s simply not going to be able to run a campaign built on a foundation of criticism.”

It’s not just the political world where eyes widened in response to the economic news. Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, said: “It’s certainly good news for Obama.” read more

And news on black unemployment:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS )reported Friday.

The number of unemployed persons declined to 12.8 million in January. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.7 percent) and blacks (13.6 percent) declined in January. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (23.2 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and Latinos (10.5 percent) were little changed.

Black unemployment saw the biggest drop — from 15.8 to 13.6 percent. And for the first time in a long time, those numbers aren’t being fudged (much) by people who have dropped out of the workforce. Unemployment overall is at 8.3 percent now, and the BLS says that workforce participation is holding steady.

“These numbers are important because one, we now have the lowest unemployment rate in nearly three years. It’s also one of the biggest drops in black unemployment—nearly two points—that the BLS has recorded in years,” said Shani O. Hilton, Colorlines.com’s D.C. Correspondent. read more

Super Bowl Fun Facts by Greg Gee

Drum roll please...
I will now predict a sure winner of Super Bowl 46 with these two facts: 


1) All former super bowl champions have had double digits wins in the regular season...therefore, the New York Giants cannot be champions because they only had 9 victories during the season.  


2) No team with a defense ranked as low as 22nd best has ever won the super bowl, therefore the 31st ranked defense New England Patriots cannot be champions.


Ok, so I'm messing with yall. Here are some other fun facts with players from each team - enjoy the game:

Patriot Players:
Fun facts: Tom Brady, married to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, was selected as a catcher (the least glamorous position in baseball) in the 18th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball draft by the Montreal Expos.
Fun facts: Wes Welker was nicknamed "The Natural" while at Texas Tech. … Only one player in NFL history – Gale Sayers – had more all-purpose yards in their first three seasons in the league.

 Fun fact: Rob Gronkowski's great-grandfather, Ignatius, was a member of the 1924 U.S. Olympic cycling team in Paris.

 Giant Players:
Fun facts: Justin Tuck was nicknamed "The Freak" by college teammates at Notre Dame. … He's the second youngest of seven children. … At Central Coosa County High School (Kellyton, Ala.), Tuck averaged 17.6 points and 11.3 rebounds as a senior for the Class 4A basketball State Champions.

Noteworthy: Jason Pierre-Paul was born in Deerfield Beach, Fla., to parents who emigrated from Haiti in 1983. Jean Gabriel Pierre-Paul, Jason's father, went blind and his last vision of Jason was as an eight-month year old child. His father listens to games on the radio.
  
Fun fact: Hakim Nicks never lost a game in high school and completed his senior year with MVP honors in the 4-AA state championship game for Independence High School (Charlotte) with eight catches for 205 yards and two touchdowns.

Fun facts: Born Elisha Nelson Manning on Jan. 3, 1981,… On his first career snap, Manning handed off to Tiki Barber, who ran 72 yards for a touchdown. … Eli married college sweetheart Abby and they have a daughter, Ava Frances, born in March 2011

Watch the NFL's Funniest Moments 2011 video:

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 Related Stories: Greg Gee's Super Bowl Picks

‘Soul Train’ Host Don Cornelius Dead Of Suicide

With supreme sadness and heavy heart,  I report the apparent suicide death of Don Cornelius.

 He is and forever will be a monumental figure in black culture, music and entertainment. In our house-hold, each Saturday afternoon, Soul Train was must see TV. 

To Don we salute: Love, Peace and Sooooul!

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Don Cornelius, creator of the long-running TV dance show "Soul Train," shot himself to death Wednesday morning at his Los Angeles home, police said. He was 75.

Officers responding to a report of a shooting found Cornelius at his Mulholland Drive home at around 4 a.m., police said. He was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 4:56 a.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.

"Soul Train" began in 1970 in Chicago on WCIU-TV as a local program and aired nationally from 1971 to 2006.

It introduced television audiences to such legendary artists as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Barry White and brought the best R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV and had teenagers dance to them. It was one of the first shows to showcase African-Americans prominently, although the dance group was racially mixed. Cornelius was the first host and executive producer.

"There was not programming that targeted any particular ethnicity," he said in 2006, then added: "I'm trying to use euphemisms here, trying to avoid saying there was no television for black folks, which they knew was for them." source

Soul Train Golden Moment: Five Stairsteps sing - Ohh Child

Are the Clippers better than the Lakers?: Watch Blake Griffen Own Kendrick Perkins

With the addition of Chris Paul and the experienced Chauncey Billups, many NBA fans are daring to ask - the once unthinkable question: Are the LA Clippers the best basketball team in LA? My LA & Kobie fans (HGP sports editor Greg Gee included) don't sleep on the Clippers.

Blake Griffen/CP3 and crew are younger, more athletic and more exciting to watch(check out the video of Blake just posterizing Kendrick Perkins) - not to mention, after twenty some games into the season, the Clippers have the better record. To be fair, it's a bit premature to answer that question. But the mere fact we can even pose this question with a straight face is saying something.

And yes, Show Time at the Staples Center now has to be clarified: Clippers or Lakers?

 

  For more:

Lakers-Clippers rivalry? Are you kidding? This is now officially a street fight.

It used to be all that mattered when the Clippers played the Lakers was whether Jack Nicholson bothered to show.

No more. This one clearly mattered. By the final period, there threatened to be more technical fouls and near-fights than basketball plays. The basketball wasn't that bad, either. Spectacular, actually, if you are measuring intensity. The Lakers will measure it any way you want. Led by that old hand, Kobe Bryant, they prevailed in a rough and rugged fourth period to win, 96-91. read entire article

Cut Your Beverage Tab at Bars, Restaurants & Resorts

It's possible to spend less for drinks at bars, restaurants and resorts. Here's my list of do-it-mostly-yourself drink recipes.

• Spiked & flavored coffees: At bars, restaurants and resorts you can save a lot by ordering plain American coffee and a shot of Baileys Irish cream liqueur or other liqueurs. One shot of liqueur is good for spiking several rounds of coffee, especially if the establishment offers bottomless cups of coffee. Final ingredient: Tip the waiter or bartender generously.
• Virgin drinks: When lounging poolside at a resort, beach or hotel, save money by ordering the non-alcohol version ofpina coladas or other mixed drinks. Spike your virgin drinks with your own small bottle of rum or vodka. At one one resort, virgin drinks were $4-5 each, compared to $8-12 for the spiked versions. Note: Only use this recipe at resorts where it's customary for guests to carry DIY snacks, sodas and food. Many resorts have no problem with customers bringing brown-bag treats from hotel rooms, beach bags, the food court or other take-out establishments. Final ingredient: When you order the virgin drinks, be sure to tip the waiter or bartender generously. 
• Watered down drinks: One area resort serves strong drinks. When I asked for a watered down version, one fellow customer chided me. She told me take the strong drink as-is and to request an extra glass of soda to dilute the original drink. In this fashion, it's possible to create your own two-for-one drink special. Final ingredient: Tip the waiter or bartender generously.
• DIY iced tea or iced coffee: Some hotels and resorts offer guests free (hot) coffee and tea bars, with high-end herbal teas and gourmet coffee. At one resort where we were staying, I made a cup of hot passion fruit tea and requested a cup of ice from the bar area. With the ice cubes and the hot herbal tea, I was able to create a tall glass of iced tea at no charge. The same strategy works for turning hot coffee into a chilled-out drink. And of course, it's good karma to tip the bartender for the ice.
• Drink water: It's healthier. It's cheaper.

For the love of the Super Bowl

My sister Karen sent me this astounding poll of what major life events people would skip to watch the Super Bowl.

Some of us love football, but a few select individuals said they love it so much they'd skip some major life events for Super Bowl tickets.

In an online survey sponsored by CouponCabin.com, of 2,625 U.S. adults polled, about 21 percent said they'd miss an important work-related duty to attend the NFL's big game, and about 20 percent said they would miss a loved one's wedding or a funeral to watch the ballet of bulldozers on the gridiron.

The poll, conducted by Harris Interactive from Jan. 9-11, also revealed that America's love affair with football is so deep that about 15 percent of those surveyed said they would skip the birth of their child to attend the game.

Quick Clicks

There's no word on how many football fans would sell their soul for Super Bowl tickets as that question was left out of the poll.

Tea Party in Tennessee: Slavery Did Not Happen?

The plot thickens: Apparently the clueless folks in another confederate southern state (remember Texas School Board) - Tennessee this time - wants to literally white wash American history to fit their Tea Party agenda/narrative. They want to remove all negative historical facts in the education curriculum that fails to show our American forefathers in a glowing light.

The Rebirth of a Nation: Directed by D. W. Griffith

Native American genocide - Get the white-out and presto - it never happened.
Brutality of Slavery - Gone With The Wind.
Terrorism of KKK - just some good ole boys expressing their 1st Amendment Rights.
Mexican/American War - apply the airbrush.


Yeah just like that. According to these folks, one can just pick-chose-ignore American history at one's discretion. If the portrait is disturbing just recast it to be more favorable - get rid of the inconvenient truth.

Read On:

A little more than a year after the conservative-led state board of education in Texas approved massive changes to its school textbooks to put slavery in a more positive light, a group of Tea Party activists in Tennessee has renewed its push to whitewash school textbooks. The group is seeking to remove references to slavery and mentions of the country's founders being slave owners.

According to reports, Hal Rounds, the Fayette County attorney and spokesman for the group, said during a recent news conference that there has been "an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another."

"The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn't existed, to everybody -- not all equally instantly -- and it was their progress that we need to look at," Rounds said, according to The Commercial Appeal.

During the news conference more than two dozen Tea Party activists handed out material that said, "Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government."

And that further teaching would also include that "the Constitution created a Republic, not a Democracy."

The group demanded, as they had in January of last year, that Tennessee lawmakers change state laws governing school curricula. The group called for textbook selection criteria to include: "No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership." source

Marco Rubio to GOP: Cut out the harsh anti-immigrant language

Take note: My black conservative friends, if you want more blacks to consider joining the GOP it may help to speak out - like Senator Rubio - to chastise your party when they use over-the-top rhetoric against the African-American community (Herman Cain and company, the perfect opportunity was when Newt suggested that blacks should demand jobs and not settle for food stamps).


I know former RNC chairman Michael Steele once stepped up to the plate to voice his concerns of race baiting language by Rush Limbaugh; unfortunately he was taking to the shed - You name is Toby, Boy style - and we never heard a peep out him again on this subject.

Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told CNN's D.L. Hughley Saturday (February 28) that Rush Limbaugh was "entertainment," agreed he was "incendiary" and said, "Yes, it's ugly." Two days later, in a statement reported by the Associated Press, he apologized for his words, saying he respected Limbaugh as a "national conservative leader" and did not want to "diminish his voice."

Why apologize? What did he say that could have been construed in any way as to necessitate an apology? Nothing he said about Limbaugh was either untrue or impugning.

Except to Rush Limbaugh.

Rush Limbaugh -- who has found that with the election of Barack Obama, he has become a driving force within the Republican opposition to the Democrats -- took exception to Steele's words and suggested he resign on his nationally syndicated radio talk show Monday. "Why are you running the Republican Party?" he asked. "Why do you claim you lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it that President Obama succeeds? ... I would be embarrassed to say that I'm in charge of the Republican Party in the sad-sack state that it's in. If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it's in, I would quit."

In his statement late Monday, Michael Steele said, "I respect Rush Limbaugh, he is a national conservative leader, and in no way do I want to diminish his voice. I'm sure that he and I will agree most of the time, but will probably disagree some as well, which is fine."  source

Rubio, on his home turf stated enough is enough:

Marco Rubio condemned unnamed members of his own party Friday for using "inexcusable" rhetoric about illegal immigrants.

"For those of us who come from the conservative movement, we must admit that there are those among us who have used rhetoric that is harsh and intolerable, inexcusable," Rubio said at a conference for the conservative Hispanic Leadership Network. "We must admit, myself included, that sometimes we've been too slow in condemning that rhetoric."

Rubio, a Republican senator to Florida who is often floated as a potential vice presidential nominee for the party in 2012. source

Let's hope Rubio sticks to his guns and doesn't cave. But then again, this may be nothing more than a coordinated  and cynical ploy (I smell Romney and potential VP nomination for Rubio as the impetus) to win over the valuable Latino vote.

The GOP:The Party Of Exclusion

In his State of the Union rebuttal, Mitch Daniels, in a measured tone, lambasted President Obama for being and supporting divisive policies.

Presenting the Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union address, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) attacked President Barack Obama, saying his administration’s extreme and divisive policies have held back economic recovery. He said the country must instead be righted by a pro-growth agenda, a simpler tax system, and a balancing of deficits. source


Now, granted, we should always strive to be grown-ups in the room. I am aware that the politics of name calling represents a breach of decorum. But how else do you describe Mitch Daniels and the GOP/TeaParty without suggesting that they suffer from sociopathic behavior?


For starters, the GOP has perfected the dubious strategy of campaigning by using the Southern Strategy of divide and conquer. Via exploitation of white resentment, the GOP's claim to power is based on  Us against Them.  Consequently, the GOP's tent is remarkably absent - except for a few tokens - of diversity.


Their campaigns are based on wedge issues against blacks, immigrants, feminist, Arabs, gays, urban dwellers and the list goes on. And their mantra is: We want our country back. They are the party of Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman,FOX News, Rupert "Phone Hacker" Murdoch - the party of extremism.


The Alternet featured an article that further underscores this point.

The 10 Most Racist Moments of the GOP Primary (So Far)

The Republican Party is digging deep into the old bucket of white racism, using the politics of fear, hostility and anxiety to win over white voters.

One cannot forget that the contemporary Republican Party was born with the Southern Strategy, winning over the former Jim Crow South to its side of the political aisle, and as a backlash against the civil rights movement. This is a formula for a politics of white grievance mongering and white victimology; a dreamworld where white conservatives are oppressed, their rights infringed upon by a tyrannical federal government and elite liberal media that are beholden to the interests of the “undeserving poor,” racial minorities, gays, and immigrants.

In keeping with this script in order to win over Red State America, the 2012 Republican presidential candidates have certainly not disappointed. Both overt racism and dog whistles are delectable temptations that the Republican presidential nominees cannot resist. With the election of the country’s first African-American president, and a United States that is less white and more diverse, the GOP is in peril. In uncertain times, you go with what you know. For the Republican Party, this means “dirty boxing,” digging deep into the old bucket of white racism, and using the politics of fear, hostility and anxiety to win over white voters by demagoguing Obama.

Racism is an assault on the common good. Racism also does the work of dividing and conquering people with common interests. While the 2012 Republican candidates are stirring the pot of white racial anxiety, this is a means to a larger end—the destruction of the country’s social safety net, in support of vicious economic austerity policies, and protecting the kleptocrats and financiers at the expense of the working and middle classes. read more

Do You Trust Mitt Romney?

Mitt Romney gives me the creeps - for many reasons.

First, he has a long track record of saying anything to be elected. If he needs to be anti-abortion, he will adopt that position. If he needs to be pro-health care or anti-health care, he is comfortable with both positions. He told the state of Massachusetts that he would govern to the left of Ted Kennedy; now he pleads for conservatives to let him carry their water.

Second, he made his several hundred millions as a greedy corporate raider who put profit over people.  Similar to the fictional character Gordon "Greed is Good" Gecko of the movie Wall Street, Romney made his loot by bleeding dry companies purchased by leverage buy outs. Here's one example:


In 1992, Mitt Romney was running Bain Capital, a private equity firm. Bain Capital bought American Pad & Paper Co. (Ampad) for $5 million.

Over the next several years Romney's firm bled the company dry. Hundreds of workers lost their jobs. Stockholders were left with worthless shares. Creditors and vendors were paid less than 50 cents on the dollar. While they were exploiting the company, Romney's firm charged Ampad millions of dollars in "management fees." In all, Romney and his investors reaped more than $100 million dollars from the deal. source

Third, not only did Romney amass his fortune at the cost of thousands of American jobs, he used shady tax loopholes to pay a lower tax rate than the average middle-class family - 14%. Additionally, he had millions of dollars in a Swiss bank account and hidden in the Cayman Islands - both notorious for serving as havens for people trying to hide money or escape tax collections.

Romney's tax forms show he had a bank account in Switzerland, which he closed in 2010, and accounts in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. All three have reputations as offshore havens where the extremely wealthy keep their cash, sometimes to avoid paying taxes. source

Most of all, Romney, who has declared Corporations are People, embodies virtually every economic inequality that has crushed the American middle-class for the last 30 years. And now he wants to be our president - like I said, Mitt gives me the creeps.