Tag: President Barack Obama

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Domestic Policies Martin Luther King Jr THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT

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I Have a Dream

~Martin Luther King
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring — from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring — from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring — from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring — from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring — from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that.
Let freedom ring — from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring — from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring — from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,
“Free at last, free at last.
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
Categories
health care law Politics Repeal

Next Stop For Health Care Law – The U.S Supreme Court

In a move some are describing as  pure confidence, the Obama Administration has allowed the September 25th deadline to pass without filing their appeal to the 11th Circuit Court, in the ongoing battle by Republicans to repeal the President’s Health Care Law. Republicans have claimed that the individual mandate in the law is “unconstitutional.”

Former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger, who supports the law, told Politico that this move to allow the case to be heard now by the Supreme Court, “confirms what I had already concluded: That the government is confident that it’s going to prevail in the Supreme Court and would like to have a decision sooner rather than later.”

But opponents to the law are looking at this decision differently.  Randy E. Barnett, a Georgetown Law professor who is working with the plaintiffs, credits the President for not delaying the case anymore and for sending it to the Supreme Court for their decision in what he refers to as a “constitutional controversy.”

Politico Reports:

The issue of the constitutionality of the individual mandate has been widely expected to be decided by the Supreme Court. The key question has been the timing. The Justice Department’s apparent decision to ask the Supreme Court to review the case greatly increases the chances the issue will be heard in the 2011-12 term, which begins Monday.

The Supreme Court now has several strong reasons to accept the case. The court rarely declines requests from the government to take a case, especially in situations in which a circuit court has struck down a piece of a high-profile law.

The current political make-up of the Supreme Court is 5 to 4 in favor of the Republicans/Conservatives. In a perfect world, one would expect these justices to strictly adhere to the rule of law and judicial precedent. But this particular court is an activist court, implementing decisions that benefit their political party’s ideology over the rule of law.

Expect justice to eventually prevail, but with the current political occupants of this Court, justice will be delayed then detoured until the new occupants move in.

For more on this story, click here.

Categories
Politics United States

Can President Obama Really Create Jobs?

The simple answer is, of course he can’t. And that is because we operate under a system that is governed, for the most part, by the United States Constitution.

There are specific Constitutional duties set forth for the President of the United States. Included in these duties however, are specific restrictions. According to the constitution, the President – although his office is one branch of government and is considered one of the most powerful positions in the world – cannot make legislation. Introducing bills or legislations that could eventually become law, rest solely in the hands of Congress. And more specific, any bill or legislation that has to do with finance or revenue, must begin in the House of Representatives. This too is laid out in Article 1, section 7of the Constitution, that states – All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

So what’s a president to do when government is divided, when he and his party controls the Senate and the opposing party controls the House of Representatives? What can the President do when the unemployment rate hovers around 9.1%, representing over 14 million people looking for work? What can he do when the arm of government responsible for revenue – in this case, the Republican controlled House of Representatives – refuses to do their job and is content to just watching the economy go down the toilet?

What’s a president to do? Exactly what President Obama has done.

Realizing his constitutional limits, he proposes jobs solutions and negotiates with the enemy in hopes that they will work with him in good faith to get people back to work and get the economy and country moving in the right direction again.

This President have been criticized on many occasions by members of his own party for negotiating with the enemy. They question the President’s ability to “get things done” or “fix the economy.” We have all seen the weekly, sometimes daily polls asking participants if the country is moving in the right direction, and the pundits all wonder aloud whether the President can right what is wrong, “fix the economy,” and reduce unemployment before the next election.

These questions of course, all deal with revenue, and the President’s hands are tied by a sacred document called the Constitution. His duties are specific, his restrictions are precise. And with a Republican party determined to hold the American worker hostage, we can just be thankful that the general unemployment numbers are at only 9.1%

It is time that the pundits and the American people realize what is happening. There is a Republican agenda at play here, and it is to make sure this economy fails, to bring down the middle class, and thus, to bring down this presidency.

We must realize who the responsible party is, and we must draw a clear distinction between them and the irresponsible Republicans in Congress.

Categories
democrats George Bush Politics

Poll Find Americans Blame Bush and The Republicans For The Economy

A new Poll released Thursday by The Associated Press/GFK found Americans placed the blame for the bad economy squarely on the backs of George Bush and the congressional Republicans. And rightly so. Under his watch, America went from a surplus to a deficit, mainly because of his trillion dollars tax cuts, engaging in two wars and his nonsensical medicare part D.

This is now the numbers from the poll breaks down:

  • Blames George Bush for the state of the economy? – 51% say it’s Bush’s fault.
  • Blames Republicans for the state of the economy? – 44% say Congressional Republicans are to be blame.
  • Blames Democrats for the state of the economy? –36% say it’s Congressional Democrats fault
  • Blames President Obama for the state of the economy? – 31% say it’s President Obama’s fault.
And even with this poll, it is amazing that Republicans are still trying to take the country back to the Bush years. What’s even more amazing is there are Americans out there who claim to love this country, but are willing to vote Republican in 2012.
That’s mind-boggling!
Categories
Nancy Pelosi Politics

The Deal – What We Know So Far

President Obama and the leaders of both parties in the House of Representatives and Senate, have finally agreed to a framework for a deal to prevent America from defaulting on paying its bills for the first time in our history. The specifics of the deal are not yet known, but for the first time in months, a possible consensus has been reached.

President Obama spoke earlier tonight and urged all members of Congress to pass the deal, saying there are still some very important votes to be taken by members, but that a general consensus has been  reached on a plan that will avoid default. What do we know so far? The deal would;

  • Cut $1 trillion dollars in 10 years
  • Appoint a special congressional delegation also called a Super congress, will report by November on ways to further reduce the deficit and to find ways to increase revenue through taxes and decide on more spending.
  • Will extend through 2013.
Meanwhile, the Republican Speaker of the House Of Representatives, John Boehner, R-Ohio, set up a conference call with House Republicans for Sunday night, and House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would meet with Democrats on Monday. Mrs Pelosi also made the news, assuring the nation that seniors would get their Social Security checks, the U.S. military would be compensated and other obligations would be met.
More information on the deal will be made public soon.
Categories
Osama bin Laden Politics

The Killing Of Bin Laden In Pictures

No, the official death pictures of Osama Bin Laden are not out yet, but as soon as they come out, we’ll post them here at EzKool. 🙂 In the meantime, enjoy the photos montage leading up to the daring mission that captured and kill Osama Bin Laden.

[cincopa AwBAGmavO5kM]

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