DU you know?

[Ballygrl]

Instead of me starting new threads on stories that are interesting but won't be found on DU, I thought maybe I should put them in just 1 thread?

[Ballygrl]

OK, to start it off, some excerpts, entire article can be read at the link:

http://biggovernment.com/jpollak/2011/07/23/naacp-convention-in-shift-president-ben-jealous-highlights-cooperation-with-tea-party/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BigGovernment+%28Big+Government%29&utm_content=Twitter

NAACP Convention: In Shift, President Ben Jealous Highlights Cooperation With Tea Party

At last year’s convention, the NAACP passed a resolution condemning racism in the Tea Party after claiming (falsely) for months that Tea Party members had used the “N-word” against members of the Congressional Black Caucus at an anti-ObamaCare rally on Capitol Hill in March 2010.

A year later, after the Tea Party helped lead Republicans to sweeping electoral victories in November 2010, the political landscape has changed nationwide–and so, apparently, has the NAACP’s rhetoric.

Today, at an introductory press conference, NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous appeared to strike a conciliatory tone, highlighting areas of cooperation with the Tea Party and prominent conservatives, even amidst broad policy disagreements.

In the brief question-and-answer session that followed, a local reporter asked Jealous to respond to plans by a Tea Party group in predominantly black South Central Los Angeles to protest against the NAACP on Sunday.

He brushed aside the question with a dose of humor–and a hint that the NAACP’s attitude had changed: “You know, at a certain level, I think we take a bit of pride in helping to diversify the Tea Party.”

Jealous focused on the theme of the conference, “Affirming America’s Promise,” and highlighted problems with unemployment, incarceration, and poor education in the black community. Despite growing, and overwhelming, evidence that left-wing approaches to these problems are making them worse–and hurting black families most–it’s clear that the NAACP remains committed to big government policies and to its big labor allies.

It’s also apparent that the NAACP expects to weigh in on President Barack Obama’s side in debates with Republicans over the debt ceiling, with Jealous criticizing what he called the “obstructionists” in Congress. He also castigated states that had passed voter ID laws, favored by many Tea Party activists.

Yet Jealous sought to avoid direct confrontation with the Tea Party. It is a sign of the Tea Party movement’s new power–and, with that power, new respect.

[Ballygrl]

So this begs the question, why the shift in the NAACP's stance against the Tea Party? could it be they see the Tea Party as relevant contrary to those on the left who dismiss it? would the NAACP try to find common ground with an organization that's "racist"? I think not, and is the NAACP seeing that the black community has been hurt more than any other community in the downturn of the economy?

[franksolich]

So this begs the question, why the shift in the NAACP's stance against the Tea Party? could it be they see the Tea Party as relevant contrary to those on the left who dismiss it? would the NAACP try to find common ground with an organization that's "racist"? I think not, and is the NAACP seeing that the black community has been hurt more than any other community in the downturn of the economy?

I suspect it's because the NAACP is starting, unlike other Democrat, liberal, and primitive groups, to see what a force the Tea Party is, and perhaps coming to the quite reasonable conclusion that it would be better to cooperate rather than villify.

[Ballygrl]

I suspect it's because the NAACP is starting, unlike other Democrat, liberal, and primitive groups, to see what a force the Tea Party is, and perhaps coming to the quite reasonable conclusion that it would be better to cooperate rather than villify.

Oh! so you think the constant vitriol over the Tea Party being insignificant and irrelevant is basically an acknowledgment that they are significant and a stronger force than they're willing to admit? I thought so!

[franksolich]

Well, it's too much to expect that the NAACP is going to abandon its fondness for the Lyndon Johnson "Great Society" and "War on Poverty" policies and programs, or its automatic support of Democrat office-seekers, but this is a glimmer, a sign that the NAACP is starting to realize that reactionary old attitudes and policies don't work, and hurt the poor the most of all.

I see it as an opening; how far it'll open, only God knows, but remember, it had been shut tightly before.

[GOBUCKS]

I suspect it's because the NAACP is starting, unlike other Democrat, liberal, and primitive groups, to see what a force the Tea Party is, and perhaps coming to the quite reasonable conclusion that it would be better to cooperate rather than villify.

Any conciliatory words from a NAACP guy is just confirmation of the James Carville maxim that if you drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park it's hard tellng what you might find. I detect the sweet aroma of a gratuity.

[franksolich]

Any conciliatory words from a NAACP guy is just confirmation of the James Carville maxim that if you drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park it's hard tellng what you might find. I detect the sweet aroma of a gratuity.

Could be, but best to keep a Pollyanna attitude about it until proven otherwise.

[jukin]

Could be that the NAACP might actually be looking out for colored people instead of pushing liberalism.

African-American unemployment at 16 percent

Which as we all know means that the real black unemployment rate is north of 30%.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/19/eveningnews/main20072425.shtml

[q]For young men of color, especially black males in New York City, things are especially bad. According to the think tank, the Community Service Society, 34 percent of New York's young black men age 19 to 24 are not working. [/q]

[GOBUCKS]

Could be that the NAACP might actually be looking out for colored people instead of pushing liberalism.

Which as we all know means that the real black unemployment rate is north of 30%.
[q]For young men of color, especially black males in New York City, things are especially bad. According to the think tank, the Community Service Society, 34 percent of New York's young black men age 19 to 24 are not working. [/q]

If you have 34% unemployed, plus 30-40% in the slammer, that doesn't leave many to work.

[Ballygrl]

Heard an interesting interview this afternoon with Major Garrett, he said that Obama has told Harry Reid that the 1 thing he wants in raising the debt ceiling talks is this, he just wants the debt ceiling to be raised until after the election, he doesn't want debt ceiling talks to be going on around that time, that was it, that's the only thing he cares about, and cuts are on the table.

[delilahmused]

Maybe they're starting to realize they've been sold down the river (or levees in the case of New Orleans). With the ever growing prominence of black Republicans maybe they're getting a picture of how their life COULD be if they'd quit being willing victims of the lefts condescending slavery.

Cindie

[Ballygrl]

Can you imagine a conservative saying this?

Biden jokes Giffords is in 'cracked head club'

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/08/gabrielle-giffords-joe-biden-cracked-head-club-/1?csp=34news

[Chris_]

And Obama's Impeachment Insurance Policy pays another dividend.

[AllosaursRus]

Oh! so you think the constant vitriol over the Tea Party being insignificant and irrelevant is basically an acknowledgment that they are significant and a stronger force than they're willing to admit? I thought so!

If we irrelevant, do ya think they would spend so much time tryin' to downgrade our influence?

just sayin'..........Look how they treat Palin. If she weren't a threat, they wouldn't send 23 lawyers and reporters to Alaska in order to try and dig up dirt before the last election.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

If you have 34% unemployed, plus 30-40% in the slammer, that doesn't leave many to work.

PERSPECTIVE: World War I became an economic crippler for the belligerents when >10% of the male, working-age population became mobilized.

Maybe they're starting to realize they've been sold down the river (or levees in the case of New Orleans). With the ever growing prominence of black Republicans maybe they're getting a picture of how their life COULD be if they'd quit being willing victims of the lefts condescending slavery.

Cindie

I'm hoping that what is, by appearances, an overture of mere political expedience, turns into a genuine social awakening within the next generation or two.

[Ballygrl]

Thanks to Sybilll for this:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/08/unions-outraged-that-white-house-hired-non-union-workers-for-obamas-birthday-bash/

UNION MEMBERS OUTRAGED After White House Hires Non-Union Crew For Obama’s Birthday Bash

A confidential and trusted union source contacted me today to report that the crews called in to work Obama’s birthday bash are non-union. Union members are OUTRAGED that Obama would turn his back on them.

-Continued at the link-

[Ballygrl]

Thanks to Battle Hymn for being of service to provide the news that's suppressed at DU.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45290

Liberal Pollster's Devastating Memo to Obama: Join the Tea Party

by  Wynton C. Hall
08/04/2011

If President Obama needed any more indication of how much his public support has eroded, he need look no further than a recent memorandum of sorts published in the New York Times by former President Bill Clinton’s pollster, Stanley Greenberg.  Listen to Greenberg, whose progressive polling firm partners with Clinton strategist James Carville, advise Obama and Democrats on what his latest round of polls and focus groups reveal are their only hope to survive politically, given the current reality:

“Voters in the developed world are turning away from Democrats, Socialists, liberals and progressives.”

“Voters feel ever more estranged from government—and they associate Democrats with government.”

“If they are to win trust, and votes, Democrats must show they are as determined as the Tea Party movement to change the rules of the game."

“This distrust of government and politicians is unfolding as a full-blown crisis of legitimacy [and] sidelines Democrats and liberalism."

Greenberg says that his public opinion research now reveals that voters believe, “Government rushes to help the irresponsible and does little for the responsible."

To win, Democrats must “advocate policies that would control the borders and address problems of undocumented workers,” and voters want to “see strong enforcement at the border and in the workplace, and the expulsion of troublesome undocumented immigrants."

“Finally, progressives have to be serious about reducing the country’s long-term deficits” because “the deficit matters to people and has real meaning and consequences.”

<snipped>

-Continued at the link-

[Ballygrl]

Uh Oh! Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillén challenges Sean Penn to go to Venezuela and live in his hometown for 2 years and then see how he feels about Hugo Chavez!

[youtube=425,350]y-LJLdMWZ_w[/youtube]

[Ballygrl]

Uh Oh! Wisconsin Democrats in meltdown mode. BTW the comments at the link are awesome.

http://www.wisconsinreporter.com/wisconsin-democrats-threaten-wisconsin-reporter

Wisconsin Democrats threaten Wisconsin Reporter
August 5th, 2011

By Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — Clearly not pleased with Wisconsin Reporter’s news coverage, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin on Friday sent a tersely worded email to Wisconsin Reporter, threatening to let loose party “activists” in a campaign to expose the news bureau’s “obvious bias.”

First Amendment experts call the party spokesman’s threats petulant and “out there,” asserting that the official’s threat to influence the status of Wisconsin Reporter’s statehouse credentials borders on free speech suppression.

Graeme Zielinski, communications director for Wisconsin’s Democrats, criticized a Wisconsin Reporter staffer about a recent interview conducted by the Heritage Foundation with Gov. Scott Walker.

Zielinski was quoted in the Wisconsin Reporter’s story about the interview saying the Walker administration’s proclamation of economic victory is “right-wing fantasy, a total lie.”

Wisconsin’s economy created 9,500 jobs in June, more than half of the total 18,000 positions added nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of labor.

Zielinski pointed to neighbor Illinois as outpacing Wisconsin’s economy. The Land of Lincoln, however, shed 18,900 jobs in June, pushing the state’s total jobless to north of 600,000.

“In your Walker water-carrying article, you made all sorts of arguments for Scott Walker, then used a snippet of my quote, and then used apposite information to debate me. IN MY OWN QUOTE. I’ve never seen that before in my life,” Zielinski wrote in the email to the staff writer.

In short, Zielinski said Wisconsin Reporter is some kind of shill for the Republican Party and isn’t balanced in its news coverage.

Then, the Democratic Party spokesman goes on to write “What happens next.”

“What happens next is that I contact the publishers and editors of the papers that publish you as ‘unbiased,’ and let them know our deep concern about the obvious bias that permeates your entire operation,” Zielinski states in his email.

“Then, we let our activists know which papers publish you, and they write the publisher and editor. Then, we contact the Capitol press pool and let them know about our concerns about your credentialing.

“And we continue on until you actually admit to the truth of your operation.”

What is the “truth of the operation?”

Jason Stverak, president of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, the nonprofit open government advocate that owns and operates Wisconsin Reporter and several other news agencies like it in the U.S., calls Zielinski’s assertions “factually incorrect.”

“Wisconsin Reporter’s content is trusted by tens of thousands of individuals in Wisconsin who get our stories, whether through our newspaper partners, our website, or they read it on Facebook or Twitter,” Stverak said. “The people of Wisconsin have come to rely on Wisconsin Reporter for trustworthy and credible content so they know what’s going on, not only in Madison but across the state.”

Wisconsin Reporter, which launched operations late last year, distributes its news products to more than a dozen daily newspapers throughout Wisconsin and northeast Iowa.

“But just because you disagree with a story does not mean you should be able to threaten the ability for that news organization to put out credible news content,” the executive said, calling the Democratic Party spokesman’s statements to Wisconsin Reporter a “direct threat” to the freedom of the press at large.

“The people of Wisconsin and citizens across the country rely on the ability of a free press to not only provide them information of what’s going on in government but of the principal actors in government,” Stverak said.

First Amendment experts have their concerns, too.

Beth Bennett, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspapers Association, served 20-plus years in government relations in the often politically rancorous state of Illinois, and she said she has never seen anything like Zielinski’s email to Wisconsin Reporter.

“To have a party official put something in writing like that is pretty out there,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of emotions. Politics are bubbling to the surface in a way we don’t normally see with editorial products, but this is uncharted territory.”

Kenneth Bunting, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Missouri School of Journalism, said most of Zielinski’s threats are petulant but not pure attacks on the First Amendment.

“I’m not a gambling man, but I’m betting he’s going to back down on telling the publishers of the papers you serve that you suck before you go out of business,” Bunting said.

Where the Democratic Party spokesman stood as of Friday evening was unclear; he did not return a phone call and emails from Wisconsin Reporter seeking comment.

The more serious challenge, Bunting said, is the threat to affect Wisconsin Reporter’s press credentials to cover Capitol news.

Below is Graeme Zielinski email to Wisconsin Reporter Bureau Chief M.D. Kittle

<Continued at the link>

[Ballygrl]

Heard a London rioter being interviewed by the BBC, she said we're just showing the police and the rich people that we can do this. Rush had a great commentary about that girls comment, these people are given free healthcare, they basically live in a socialist utopia when it comes to things like benefits, and they basically become dependent on the handouts instead of going off on their own and taking care of themselves, then when the gravy train basically runs dry you see this.

Also interesting that the girl rioter justified burning down businesses because rich people own them, Mom and Pop shops are rich people? they're suffering and going to continue to suffer from this fallout.

Sound familiar?

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

TAX BREAKS SPUR BUSINESS

(Reuters) - Arkansans shopped until they dropped on Saturday, braving temperatures deep into the triple-digits to take advantage of the state's first sales tax holiday weekend.

"I have never seen anything like this," said Clancy Graham, a manager at Little Rock's RK Collections Boutique, an independently owned store. "If we could do this three times a year, it would be amazing. It has done crazy good stuff for our business."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/08/us-arkansas-taxholiday-idUSTRE7773GY20110808

[Ballygrl]

TAX BREAKS SPUR BUSINESS

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/08/us-arkansas-taxholiday-idUSTRE7773GY20110808

[Ballygrl]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/127339738.html

Sky isn't falling

Gov. Scott Walker's so-called tools will help at least some local governments deal with cuts in state aid. Tough choices and pain remain, but give the governor some credit.

Aug. 9, 2011 6:13 p.m.

So it turns out that the sky isn't going to fall on all local governments in Wisconsin. The numbers now starting to come in show that Gov. Scott Walker's "tools" for local governments apparently will help at least some of them deal with cuts in state aid imposed by the state budget.

That's contrary to the expectation and the rhetoric of critics in the spring, and it's to Walker's credit. It bears out the governor's assessment of his budget-repair bill, although we still maintain he could have reached his goals without dealing a body blow to public employee unions.

Local government officials also need to keep in mind that not all governments will share equally - Milwaukee County is one example - and that tough choices remain. And state legislators should make adjustments in any follow-on budget-repair bill to make sure that any pain is fairly shared.

But the news is good for many. The latest example is Milwaukee, where the most recent estimates show the city with a net gain of at least $11 million for its 2012 budget. That will take a slice out of the city's structural deficit, which is created by costs rising faster than revenue, and will reduce cuts that Mayor Tom Barrett and the Common Council must impose.

The city projects it will save at least $25 million a year - the figure could be as high as $36 million in 2012 - from health care benefit and pension changes it didn't have to negotiate with unions because of the changes wrought by the new law that ended most collective bargaining for most public employees.

That certainly will help the city deal with the $14 million in cuts in state aid in the 2011-'13 state budget.

City officials were loath to give Walker any credit. "It's a false question," Barrett said when asked whether Walker was right in his contention that his bargaining changes more than offset the impact of his aid cuts. Barrett said most people would agree that public employees should pay more of their health care and pension costs, but Walker didn't have to eliminate almost all of their collective bargaining power to do it.

Barrett's right on that point. And it's true that some local governments will see more pain than gain. But Walker does deserve some credit for balancing the state budget without putting everything on the backs of local taxpayers.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

ONLY GOVERNMENT CAN PROTECT US

Federal officials said they turned up a dangerous form of salmonella at a Cargill Inc. turkey plant last year, and then four times this year at stores selling the Cargill turkey, but didn't move for a recall until an outbreak killed one person and sickened 77 others.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/08/10/government-knew-about-bacteria-in-turkey/#ixzz1Uf308OyF

IIRC - Cargill initiated the recall before the government ordered one.