civil | The Obama Diary

Posts Tagged ‘civil

Jan

a very lovely civil war

Categories: All Photos and Articles
Tags: article, bain, Barack, capital, civil, gop, guardian, mitt, Obama, President, republican, romney, the, war

The Guardian: Barack Obama’s strategists find rich pickings as feuding Republicans attack Mitt Romney …. The fierce fight for the Republican presidential nomination, which is likely to see Romney emerge as the party’s candidate, is offering an arsenal of potential ammunition for the Democrats…..

…. Republican infighting has already done much of the work for President Obama and his re-election planners. Over the past week, two of Romney’s major rivals, Gingrich and Perry, have brutally attacked Romney’s time as head of Bain Capital….

…. The civil war is disturbing the Republican establishment who are concerned that Perry, Gingrich and their allies are doing the Democrats’ work and causing huge damage to the Republican name….

….In order to woo social conservatives in the Republican base, Romney has embraced an anti-abortion stance and come out strongly against gay marriage. However, as governor of Massachusetts Romney had quite different and much more moderate positions. Such “flip-flops” are a powerful weapon to be used in any election campaign and Romney has become notorious, even among Republicans, as someone who has switched beliefs for political gain.

…. The really significant story about the 2012 fight between the Republicans and Obama might be unfolding outside South Carolina, as the US economy gradually but noticeably revives …. If the upturn lasts, the anti-Romney playbook already being devised will continue to write itself

Full article here

Thanks Desertflower

Jan

rise and shine

By Chipsticks 167 Comments

Categories: All Photos, All Videos and Articles
Tags: act, al, Barack, civil, families, Michelle, military, Obama, Paul, President, rev, rights, Ron, sharpton, support, toon, video

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US News: She’s best known as America’s First Mom, the First Beekeeper, and Veggie Gardener-in-Chief. But first lady Michelle Obama is also getting quite a name in military circles: First Booster for the troops. “Certainly other first ladies and presidents have taken an interest,” says Joyce Raezer, executive director of the National Military Family Association. “But to make supporting military families [a priority], and not just to make it one of the things you do, this is a game-changer,” adds an appreciative Raezer.

Often teamed with her lieutenant, Jill Biden, the vice president’s wife, Obama has organized and attended more events for and with military veterans and their families than any previous first lady, according to veterans groups. This year alone, for example, she’s participated in 50 events, many out of the eye of the media, and even dedicated the White House Christmas tree to supporting veterans. “There is this sense that this is genuine,” says Raezer. “We haven’t had this kind of visibility from the White House – ever.”

Full article here

Thanks Donna

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President Obama and his family will leave Hawaii early Monday evening, the White House announced Sunday, bringing their Christmas vacation to an end.

The first family will depart Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu at 5 p.m. local time (that’s 10 p.m. back in Washington). They’re expected to land at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday morning.

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Mediaite: In an interview with Candy Crowley on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Ron Paul slammed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, saying it “undermined the concept of liberty” and “destroyed the principle of private property and private choices.”

“If you try to improve relationships by forcing and telling people what they can’t do, and you ignore and undermine the principles of liberty, then the government can come into our bedrooms,” Paul explained. “And that’s exactly what has happened. Look at what’s happened with the PATRIOT Act. They can come into our houses, our bedrooms our businesses … And it was started back then.”

More here

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*****

Morning everyone

Oct

derrick bell 1930 – 2011

By Chipsticks 19 Comments

Categories: Articles
Tags: bell, civil, death, Derrick, harvard, rights, university

NYT: Derrick Bell, a legal scholar who worked to expose the persistence of racism in America through his books and articles and his provocative career moves — he gave up a Harvard Law School professorship to protest the school’s hiring practices — died on Wednesday in New York. He was 80.

… Mr. Bell was the first tenured black professor at Harvard Law School and later the first black dean of a law school that is not historically black. But he was perhaps better known for resigning from prestigious jobs than for accepting them.

In his 20s, while working at the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, he was told to give up his membership in the N.A.A.C.P., which his superiors believed posed a conflict of interest. Instead, he quit the Justice Department, ignoring the advice of friends to try to change things from within.

Thirty years later, when he left Harvard Law School, he rejected similar advice. At the time, he said, his wife, Jewel Hairston Bell, asked him, “Why does it always have to be you?”

…. At a rally while a student at Harvard Law School, Barack Obama compared Professor Bell to the civil rights hero Rosa Parks.

Full article here

Thank you Claire

Oct

fred shuttlesworth, 1922 – 2011

By Chipsticks 28 Comments

Categories: All Photos
Tags: Barack, civil, death, fred, King, leader, luther, martin, Obama, photo, photos, President, rights, Shuttlesworth, statement

Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama pushes civil rights activist Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth during a march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 1965 ‘Bloody Sunday’ Voting Rights, March 4, 2007 in Selma, Alabama

MSNBC: The Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, who was bombed, beaten and repeatedly arrested in the fight for civil rights and hailed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for his courage and energy, has died. He was 89.

Princeton Baptist Medical Center spokeswoman Jennifer Dodd confirmed he died at the Birmingham hospital Wednesday morning.

Shuttlesworth, a former truck driver who studied religion at night, became pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., in 1953 and soon was an outspoken leader in the fight for racial equality.

In his 1963 book “Why We Can’t Wait,” King called Shuttlesworth “one of the nation’s the most courageous freedom fighters … a wiry, energetic and indomitable man.”

He survived a 1956 bombing, an assault during a 1957 demonstration, chest injuries when Birmingham authorities turned fire hoses on demonstrators in 1963, and countless arrests.

“I went to jail 30 or 40 times, not for fighting or stealing or drugs,” Shuttlesworth told grade school students in 1997. “I went to jail for a good thing, trying to make a difference.”

2008: Fred Shuttlesworth watches the results of the historic presidential election from his hospital bed at St. Vincents Hospital in Birmingham. Shuttlesworth watched the returns with his wife Sephira and close friend Cathy Crenshaw.

monday

By Chipsticks 13 Comments

Categories: All Photos and Articles
Tags: aggro, Barack, be, civil, knoller, Mark, Obama, President, schedule, Twitter

Live here

*****

Morning everyone, hope you’re all doing well.

I haven’t had a chance to read all the comments the last few days, but having looked through a few …. just a small request: please be civil to each other!

I know this is a miserably tense time, but let’s try to keep our heads and stay united through it all. That doesn’t – needless to say – mean we won’t disagree, sometimes passionately, on the issues currently being debated, but let’s try to do so in a respectful way.

Also, please don’t bring ‘professional’ left/GOP spin and lies here – as we all know, those two groups are united in their opposition to any form of compromise in these talks for the sole reason that they believe it would reduce the President’s re-election chances. It’s all about destroying Obama – if the American economy is trashed in the process, so be it. Honestly, we don’t need their pitiful talking points repeated here, we know where to go if we want to read them.

So, when the President is up against that level of mindless hostility and opposition I think we should all just try to dig a little deeper, stay calm, wait to see what happens – and stay united. By all means disagree with each other, but try to be nice while doing it!

Thanks

Jun

clara luper (May 3, 1923 – June 8, 2011)

By Chipsticks 30 Comments

Categories: All Photos, All Videos and Articles
Tags: Barack, civil, clara, luper, Obama, President, rights

Read about Clara Luper’s life here

January 2009 – NewsOK: Clara Luper clapped and let out a cheer as Barack Obama finished taking the oath of office and became president of the U.S.

The graying matron of Oklahoma City’s civil rights movement was surrounded by about two dozen people at the Freedom Center, 2500 Martin Luther King, for an inauguration watch party.

Though her health has dwindled in recent years, Luper said she never doubted she’d see a black president in her lifetime.

“I hadn’t planned on dying until I saw this day,” she said. “If I die now, I’m OK.”

On the walls of the center, large pictures hung showing Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. Other pictures showed black children staging a sit-in at a lunch counter and Luper being led away from a protest by police.

Luper said the struggles of those days never got her down because she knew today would eventually come. “I came from a family of believers,” Luper said. “We believed in the sun when it didn’t shine. We believed in the rain when it didn’t fall.”

Benetta Williams, Luper’s caretaker, said Obama’s election has re-invigorated the 85-year-old, who organized sit-ins to protest segregation in Oklahoma City beginning in 1958. She was invited to the inauguration, but could not attend because of her health.

“Ms. Luper cannot stand by herself,” Williams said. “The night that Obama was elected, she stood. She got up for the first time in two years and stood by herself.”

Watching Luper as she sat in front of a 12-inch TV and listened to Obama’s speech Tuesday, Williams said she was struck by how much Luper gave for this moment.

“Tears just streamed down my face as I looked at her,” Williams said.

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