Race: the discussion we avoid -- After Shirley Sherrod, we all need to slow down and listen

Op-Ed in the Washington Post
Written by Charles J. Ogletree Jr. and Johanna Wald

Sunday, July 25, 2010

President Obama has called and chatted with Shirley Sherrod. Tom Vilsack and Ben Jealous have issued heartfelt apologies. There is talk of a "Chardonnay summit" in the Rose Garden. The subtext to all this? Let's wrap up this incident quickly so we can all go on our vacations guilt-free, secure in the knowledge that our "post-racial society" remains intact.

Once again, in the midst of the cacophony, calls abound for a national "dialogue" on race. Yet our nation cannot muster the patience or stamina to sustain such a discussion beyond a single news cycle. In some ways, Sherrod's tale is a metaphor for this country's aborted efforts to address race. In its entirety, her deeply moving story was about transformation and reconciliation between blacks and whites. It contained the seeds of progress and healing. She spoke of blacks and whites working together to save farms and to end poverty and suffering. But Sherrod, and those listening to her story, could get to her hopeful conclusion only by first wading through painful admissions of racial bias and struggle.

Unfortunately, our news and political cycles make it impossible for any of us to stay in a room long enough to reach that transformative moment. At the barest suggestion of race, we line up at opposite corners and start hurling accusations. Attorney General Eric Holder was widely criticized last year for suggesting that we are a "nation of cowards" when it comes to such discussions. The reaction to his comments is a reminder that we cannot continue to ignore this challenge. Yet Americans refuse to acknowledge that, in today's society, racial attitudes are often complicated, multi-layered and conflicted.

Racial inequality is perpetuated less by individuals than by structural racism and implicit bias. Evidence of structural inequality is everywhere: in the grossly disproportionate numbers of young black men and women in prison; in the color of students shunted into remedial and special education tracks; in the stubborn segregation of our neighborhoods and schools; in the lack of recreational and academic opportunities for children of color in poor communities; in the inferior medical treatment that people of color receive; and in the still appallingly small numbers of men and women of color in law firms, corporations and government. It is evident, too, in the history of blatant discrimination against black farmers practiced by the Agricultural Department.

But that does not make doctors, nurses, police officers, judges, teachers, lawyers, city planners, admission officers or others prejudiced. Most are well-intentioned professionals who believe themselves to be free of racial bias. From their perspective, it is not easy to connect individual actions and decisions to broader structural conditions and environments built up over decades and even centuries.

Implicit bias is a reality we must confront far more openly. A growing mass of compelling research reveals the unconscious racial stereotypes many of us harbor that affect our decisions. Such attitudes do not make us prejudiced; they make us human. Those who take the Implicit Association Test often express shock when results show that their unconscious biases conflict with their explicit egalitarian values and ideals. Nonetheless, white and black test-takers match black faces more quickly than white ones with words representing violent concepts and are more likely to mistake a harmless object for a gun when it is carried by a black person. One study found that the more stereotypically black the features of a criminal defendant, the harsher the sentence he or she is likely to receive. Implicit bias has been shown to factor into hiring decisions and into the quality of health care that individuals receive. Mazharin Banaji and Jerry Kang, leading scholars on implicit bias, have noted: "As disturbing as this evidence is, there is too much of it to be ignored."

The good news is that structures can be dismantled and replaced and unconscious biases can be transformed, as happened to Shirley Sherrod and the family she helped, the Spooners. First, though, they must be acknowledged. We and others researching race and justice are committed to untangling the web of structures, conditions and policies that lead to unequal opportunities. Our nation has to stop denying the complexity of our racial attitudes, history and progress. Let's tone down the rhetoric on all sides, slow down and commit to listening with less judgment and more compassion. If Americans did so, we might find that we share more common ground than we could have imagined.

Charles J. Ogletree Jr. is executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice and the author most recently of "The Presumptions of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class, and Crime in America." Johanna Wald is director of strategic planning at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.

Meet the Press: Economic update, and Racially-Charged Politics -- lessons from Shirley Sherrod

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Attorney General Eric Holder at the African Union Summit

Kampala, Uganda ~
Sunday, July 25, 2010
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...there are four specific areas where, I believe, America’s support must continue and where I hope our partnership can be strengthened:

in combating global terrorism and international crime; in promoting good governance and the rule of law; in creating the conditions and capacity for economic development; and, finally, in ensuring that Africa’s women and girls are no longer disproportionately affected by violence or denied basic rights and equal opportunities to learn, to dream, and to thrive.

In each of these areas, the United States intends to serve, not as a patron but as a partner – as a collaborator, not a monitor.

First of all, because opportunity and prosperity cannot be realized without security, the United States will continue to direct every resource and tool at our command – from diplomacy and military tactics to our courts and intelligence capabilities – to defeat the global terror network. In protecting our people and defending our allies, we will respect the sovereignty of nations, as well as the rule of law. And we will look to engage more AU member nations in this work.

Second, we will strengthen current efforts to promote good governance and to combat and prevent the costs and consequences of public corruption.

Today, when the World Bank estimates that more than one trillion dollars in bribes are paid each year out of a world economy of 30 trillion dollars, this problem cannot be ignored. And this practice must never be condoned. As many here have learned – often in painful and devastating ways – corruption imperils development, stability, competition, and economic investment. It also undermines the promise of democracy.

As my nation’s Attorney General, I have made combating corruption, generally and in the United States, a top priority. And, today, I’m pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of Justice is launching a new Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative aimed at combating large-scale foreign official corruption and recovering public funds for their intended – and proper – use: for the people of our nations. We’re assembling a team of prosecutors who will focus exclusively on this work and build upon efforts already underway to deter corruption, hold offenders accountable, and protect public resources.

And although I look forward to everything this new initiative will accomplish, I also know that prosecution is not the only effective way to curb global corruption. We will continue to work with your governments to strengthen the entire judicial sector, a powerful institution in our democracy which depends on the integrity of our laws, our courts, and our judges. We must also work with business leaders to encourage, ensure, and enforce sound corporate governance. We should not, and must not settle for anything less.

Third, the United States – guided by President Obama’s international economic development plan – will work to expand current economic development efforts. Here in Africa, President Obama has signaled his commitment to foreign assistance, with the goal that such support will, over time, no longer be necessary. This goal is driving our work to help Africa develop new sources of energy, to create green jobs, to grow new crops, and to develop new education and training programs.

Finally, because we’ve seen that the global struggle for women’s equality continues – in many aspects of American life, as well as in countries across this continent and around the world – we know that our work to promote security, opportunity, and justice must include a special focus on women and girls. The unique challenges and urgent threats facing women and girls across Africa have inspired unprecedented action, collaboration, and investments by the U.S government. In particular, I am proud of the contributions that U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors and law enforcement agents have made here in Africa, through the Women’s Justice Empowerment Initiative – a three-year, $55-million-dollar program that was developed by the U.S. Departments of Justice and State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. In Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, and Benin, this initiative has helped to train attorneys, investigators, law enforcements officials, and medical professionals in an effort to improve prosecutions and to raise awareness about the special needs of victims...

Holder's full address to the A.U. here: http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-100725.html

President Obama's Weekly Address 7/24/10: Moving Forward on the Economy vs. Moving Backward

Blog #1000: Shirley Sherrod's lesson in Race Relations

My one-thousandth blog entry could have very easily have been a book on my first 1000 blogs, or maybe I could have re-submitted the very best blog of the 1000 blogs. Instead -- as in my five-hundredth blog on the epedemic high unemployment rate of African-Americans -- I chose to blog on the recent yet historic racial blunder that I predict will change the tide of racial relations forever.

The racially-charged political, business, social, and media stress thermomater overheated in the case of "former" USDA Georgia State Rural Development Director Shirley Sherrod. America experienced race-baiting times ten, with the overly-exposed/under-researched NAACP event video of Sherrod referring to a situation occurring over 20 years ago, that somehow surfaced on National TV, Radio, Newspapers, and every other form of media. The overexposed edited video forced a resignation of an excellent USDA leader, whom officially is a position within the Obama Administration.

The steered video released to the international media by extreme right-winger Andrew Breitbart was used to prove Breitbart's theory that the NAACP was racist towards White people. Andrew decided to release the edited video in response to the NAACP accused the Tea Party of harboring racists. The NAACP stated this at their 101 year anniversary convention in Kansas City. The video comes at a time in 2010 when there are double-digit unemployment rate for Black men and Black women in USA.

Historically Breitbart's video edit happen to occur during the July 2010 month of the 100-year anniversary of Jack Johnson becoming the first "undisputed" Black Heavyweight champion of the world. Johnson's victory ignited massive racial riots throughout American cities where Whites killed over 23 African-American and injured well over 100 more during the night of Johnson's July 4th victory over previously undefeated champion James J. Jeffries -- Jefferies retired five years earlier but still considered the champ and nicknamed the Bear. Johnson actually won the championship belt two years prior to this July 4th, 1910 "Fight of the Century", on December 26th 1908. Johnson beat then heavyweight champion Tommy Burns in Sydney Australia nearly 100-years to the day before the America people elected the first Black President Barack Obama in November of 2008.

The replay of the "Fight of the Century" championship fight film on July 4th, 1910, was shown in theaters days later. But the showing of the fight in theaters again, caused multiple race riots, counting for 37 additional deaths. Because of the additional riots, the fight film of the Johnson-Jeffries fight was banned from theaters nationally.

In essence, 100 years ago the internationally-honored World Heavyweight Boxing Championship for the first time was won by a African-American Man. One-hundred years later in 2008, a Black Man is elected to the most powerful position in the World, the President of the United States. Responses to these major accomplichments by these two Black men have similar responses by Whites in America. Since the African-American President Barack Obama defeated the 'Arizona' candidate Republican Senator John McCain, guns are selling at an all time high and national news/talk television channels hosts connote racial fears to its' millions of viewers, inclusive of the Breitbart edit video of Sherrod's speech..

Unfortunately, especially today, race is not discussed openly by the Obama Administration nor fairly debated amongst racial groups. An example is the aforementioned first African-American Heavyweight Boxing Champ Jack Johnson has yet to be pardoned by the new Black President for being falsely accused of racial crimes for being Black, brash, and dating White Women by Jack Johnson during his 7-year champion reign. Johnson was even accused and convicted of crimes that were yet law. Yes, laws were created after Johnson's then false convictions.

Jack Johnson deserves to be pardoned because he was arrested and tormented by the U.S. government solely because he was a Black man. His story is by no means unique. But his prominence and historical importance makes his story stand out and helps us all recognize the blatant crimes committed against African-Americans by America’s judicial system. His arrest – like many so many others – was purely racially motivated.

Both the House and Senate have demanded that Johnson be pardoned. The bill to pardon Johnson is on President Obama’s desk, meaning the bill was already passed by House and Senate. But President Obama won't sign it. Why? Some would say that it is because the Justice Department prefers to focus its pardon resources on people “who can truly benefit” from them.

Read more here: http://dagblog.com/politics/jack-johnson-pardon-only-awaits-signature-barack-obama-3131
http://www.czarjustice.com/cmon-mr-president-pardon-jack-johnson/
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1238336/posts http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6889019.ece
http://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/knockout/pardon.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-presidential-pardon-boxing-champ-jack-johnson/story?id=8874642


Since this past Monday -- July 19th, 2010 - when Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign from the USDA based on the tainted video released by right extremist Andrew Breibart, Sherrod has been going through sheer hell. The video from an NAACP convention where she speaks of an issue with a poor White family was in the process of losing their farm that happened twenty years ago, a video that was cut short prior to Sherrod's redemptive message coming to grips with helping this needy white farming family. The Breitbart's edited Sherrod video blog aired everywhere. The video made it to Fox TV News, CNN, NBC's Today show, print, and the internet for the world to view Sherrod, and also the NAACP as a discriminating organizaton, whom both are racist against White people.

Shirley Sherrod had every opportunity to be bitter against White people, as her father was shot and killed by a white farmer in 1965. Pre-1970's in the south during the Jim Crow era Black farmers and share croppers where routinely mistreated, short-changed, lynched, shot, and forced off of their land -- as my grandmother Alice Johnson as a seven year-old in 1922 witness. Grandma Alice was forced of her land with her father, mother, and 7 sisters and brothers by a racist mob jealous of the fifty acres the here family owned while a thriving farming family in Harris County, Georgia. In fact, this fifty acres were just a portion of the 786 acres owned by her grand and great-father John R. Hatchett Jr. and Sr..

___________________________________________________________________________

 In the closing remarks of Shirley Sherrod's "full" video speech, Sherrod came to terms siding with humanity, morality from her Bible teachings, the real meaning of the "civil" rights movement, and subsequent poor people's campaign, to help the needy people period.

The Spooners -- the White farmer family that Sherrod spoke about at that videotaped NAACP event over twenty years ago -- quickly came to Shirley Sherrod's rescue. The Spooners recognized that Sherrod was the very lady that saved their lives by saving their means of support, that being their farm.

 

Many lessons can be learned by this racial moment. Attorney and Harvard Professor Charles Olgetree put it best in his July 25th Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post ("Race: The Discussion We Avoid"). Professor Olgetree stated: "Racial inequality is perpetuated less by individuals than by structural racism and implicit bias. Evidence of structural inequality is everywhere: in the grossly disproportionate numbers of young black men and women in prison; in the color of students shunted into remedial and special education tracks; in the stubborn segregation of our neighborhoods and schools; in the lack of recreational and academic opportunities for children of color in poor communities; in the inferior medical treatment that people of color receive; and in the still appallingly small numbers of men and women of color in law firms, corporations and government. It is evident, too, in the history of blatant discrimination against black farmers practiced by the Agricultural Department."

 Chronologically:

1. Thursday July 15th: Andrew Breitbart released the edited video of Sherrod from an NAACP event over 20 years ago.
2. Monday July 19th, 2010: Shirley Sherrod was asked to resign, and, according to Shirley Sherrod, "they harassed me as I was driving back to the state office from West Point, Georgia yesterday," Sherrod told CNN. "I had at least three calls telling me the White House wanted me to resign…and the last one asked me to pull over to the side of the road and do it." Sherrod said the final call came from Cheryl Cook, an undersecretary at the Department of Agriculture. Sherrod said White House officials wanted her to quit immediately because the controversy was "going to be on Glenn Beck tonight."

Secondly, the NAACP's Ben Jealous criticizes Shirley Sherrod for Sherrod's apparent negative racial comments calling her edited video's words "shameful".

Thirdly, TV "Journalist" Bill O'Reilly on Fox Cable News condemns Sherrod in his commentary of what appeared, in the edited video, to be racist comments.

3. Tuesday July 20th NAACP sees entire video and during the early morning hours the NAACP retracts "shameful" statements it made criticizing Sherrod the day before. NAACP officially apologized to Sherrod. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/20/agriculture.employee.naacp/index.html?video=true?video=true&hpt=T1  

USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, with the Congressional Black Caucus, apologizes for jumping the gun and demanding that Shirley Sherrod resigns. Vilsack offers Sherrod another position in the USDA, Sherrod states that she has not made up her mind, in large part due to how she was and can be treated with the USDA. http://www.blackenterprise.com/business/2010/07/22/usda-chief-offers-emotional-apology-to-cbc-over-sherrod/

Once the point of the video was show, Bill O'Reilly apologized for making an example out of Sherrod the night before on his commentary. Link here shows the O'Reilly apology on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno http://mediamatters.org/research/201007270009

4. Friday July 23rd  The President reached Ms. Sherrod by telephone at about 12:35. They spoke for seven minutes.


The President expressed to Ms. Sherrod his regret about the events of the last several days. He emphasized that Secretary Vilsack was sincere in his apology yesterday, and in his work to rid USDA of discrimination.

The President told Ms. Sherrod that this misfortune can present an opportunity for her to continue her hard work on behalf of those in need, and he hopes that she will do so. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/07/22/128695843/shirley-sherrod-talks-with-obama

5. Sunday July 25th. on the Sunday talk shows all of the Black leaders, including National Urban League President Marc Moria, Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, Political analyst Donna Brazile, and others, agreed that the President needs an African-American on his staff that deals with Racial issues. They feel that the people around President Obama too often avoid racial issues or do not deal with Black issues...period.


________________________________________________________________________


Masters Degre recipient Shirley Sherrod and has taken the high road by not denegrating anyone, except Andrew Breitbart. Breitbart still refuses to apologize to Shirley Sherrod and has had several opportunities to do so.

The fighter for the poor farmers Shirley Sherrod has since exposed the USDA for ignoring the plight of African-Americans, Women, Latinos, American Indians, and Asian farmers constant requests for the USDA's assistance.

Sherrod's request to meet the President Obama for lunch in the farmlands of Georgia to see for himself how poor farmers are living was an intelligent and an active gesture. We would all hope that the President's advisers do not steer him from the Georgian request.  

Ike and Tina Turner -- Proud Mary

Ike &Tina Turner - Proud Mary ( live 1974)
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New Law Extends Unemployment Benefits, Critical for New York -- One of Three Steps This Week to Rebuild Economic Foundation

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of Media Affairs

July 23, 2010

WASHINGTON – President Obama has signed legislation extending critical unemployment insurance to 2.5 million Americans – including an estimated 199,600 people in New York – who are looking for a job but have not been able to find work before their benefits were exhausted.

The extension of unemployment benefits was one of three important actions this week to help repair the damage to the nation’s economy from this recession, and rebuild it on a stronger foundation. Other key actions:

Wall Street Reform becomes law. This legislation contains the toughest financial reforms since the ones created in the aftermath of the Great Depression. It will bring greater accountability to Wall Street, and provide greater security to families and small businesses on Main Street. The financial industry is central to our nation’s ability to grow, prosper, compete, and innovate. This law will help to foster that innovation, not hamper it. These reforms will put in place the strongest consumer protections in history, which will be enforced by an independent agency whose sole job is to establish rules of the road and enforce these protections to look out for the American consumer. Because of financial reform, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes. There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts -- period. If a large financial institution should ever fail, we will have the tools to wind it down without endangering the broader economy. And there will be new rules to prevent financial institutions from becoming “too big to fail” in the first place, so that we don’t have another AIG.

Government inefficiencies are a prime target. President Obama came into office determined to change the way Washington works for the American people. That means working to build a government that is more open, more transparent, and more responsive to the needs of its people; and that is focused on getting rid of the waste and inefficiencies that squander the hard-earned money of American taxpayers. One of the core responsibilities of government is to steward the tax dollars of the American people wisely and well. And yet each year, the federal government makes billions of dollars in improper payments to individuals, organizations, and contractors. That’s why the President signed into law this week the Improper Payment Elimination and Recovery Act, an important step toward realizing the President’s new goal of reducing improper payments by $50 billion between now and 2012. This bipartisan legislation requires every federal agency to conduct annual assessments to determine which of their programs are at risk of making improper payments; and to audit more of their programs and recapture more taxpayer dollars. And there are now rigorous enforcement mechanisms to hold agencies accountable for how much money they save.

The President’s full remarks follow:


I want to talk about the progress that we made this week on three fronts, as we work to repair the damage to our economy from this recession and build a stronger foundation for the future.

First, I signed a Wall Street reform bill that will protect consumers and our entire economy from the recklessness and irresponsibility that led to the worst recession since the Great Depression. It’s a reform that will help us put a stop to the abusive practices of mortgage lenders and credit card companies, and ensure that people get the straight, unvarnished information that they need before they take out a loan or open a credit card. It will bring the shadowy deals that caused the financial crisis into the light of day. And it will end taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street firms and give shareholders a say on executive compensation.

The need for this reform, by the way, was underscored by the report issued by Ken Feinberg this morning, identifying a number of financial companies that continue to pay out lavish bonuses at the height of the financial crisis even as they accepted billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance.


Second, I signed a law that will improve our ability to crack down on improper payments made by our government. Every year the government wastes tens of billions of dollars -- taxpayer dollars -- on erroneous payments to companies that haven't paid their taxes, or to prison inmates, or even to people who died a long time ago. Today we have the technology to block these payments. And the law I signed will give us new tools to do so. I've set a target to save at least $50 billion in -- by 2012, savings that are more important today than ever because we simply don't have any money to waste.

Third, we finally overcame the procedural blockade of a partisan minority in the Senate to restore unemployment insurance for about 2.5 million Americans who are out of work and looking for a job.


So, taken together, we made enormous progress this week on Wall Street reform, on making sure that we're eliminating waste and abuse in government, and in providing immediate assistance to people who are out there looking for work.

But ultimately, our goal is to make sure the people who are looking for a job can find a job. And that's why it’s so important for the Senate to pass the additional steps that I’ve asked for to cut taxes and expand lending for America’s small businesses, our most important engine for hiring and for growth. And a small business jobs bill that contains these measures may come up for a final vote in the Senate in the next few days.

With this small business bill, we’ll set up a new lending fund to help community banks offer small businessmen and women the loans they need to grow and to hire. We’ll help states encourage more private sector loans to small businesses in industries like manufacturing or construction that have been especially hard hit by this recession. We’ll expand our most successful small business initiatives and more than double the size of loans our small business owners can take out.

And to unlock the growth of our entrepreneurs, we’ll finally do what I’ve been advocating since I ran for President, which is to eliminate capital gains taxes entirely for key investments in small businesses.

Now, last night, after a series of partisan delays, the Senate took an important step forward by supporting a lending fund in the overall small business jobs bill. I want to thanks Senators Mary Landrieu and George Lemieux for their leadership and advocacy on behalf of the millions of small business people for whom this will make a meaningful difference. I was heartened that Senator LeMieux and Senator George Voinovich crossed party lines to help pass this lending provision last night, and I hope we can now finish the job and pass the small business jobs plan without delay and without additional partisan wrangling.

You know, the small businessmen and women who write to me every day, and the folks who I’ve met with across this country, they can’t afford any more political games. They need us to do what they sent us here to do. They didn't send us here to wage a never-ending campaign. They didn't send us here to do what’s best for our political party. They sent us here to do what’s best for the United States of America and all its citizens, whether Democrats or Republicans or independents. In other words, they sent us here to govern. And that's what I hope we will do in the remaining days before the Congress takes its August recess.

BACKGROUND: UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE EXTENSION

Since the first week of June, Senate Republicans had stonewalled the extension of unemployment benefits to 2.5 million Americans, including an estimated 199,600 people in New York. The Senate was able to overcome these parliamentary maneuvers in order to provide much-needed support to middle-class families.

Extending unemployment benefits expands local purchasing power. Economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com put the economic multiplier of extending a dollar of unemployment benefits at 1.6, meaning that, for every dollar spent on unemployment compensation, $1.60 is added to our economy’s output. Similarly, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office places the multiplier in a range between 0.8 and 2.1.

Independent assessments from the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Duke University/CFO Magazine survey have cited sales concerns and weak product demand as the largest concerns voiced by small businesses and corporate financial officers. The Duke survey found that 36.4 percent of the CFOs believed that weak consumer demand was the top macro concern for their corporation – more than 18 percentage points higher than any other listed concern.

Why can't Black Americans have a tea party movement of our own?

op-ed from Washington Post 
written by Sophia A. Nelson

I have never participated in a "tea party" demonstration or rally. Nor do I think I ever will.

The reason is simple: I am black and I am proud and no self-respecting black American would ever openly join that conservative movement or support its goals. Right?

I'm exaggerating a bit, but really I'm just channeling a debate that erupted last week. At its annual convention in St. Louis, the NAACP passed a resolution denouncing the "racist element" within the tea party movement. "We don't have a problem with the tea party's existence," explained President Benjamin Jealous. "We have an issue with their acceptance and welcoming of white supremacists into their organizations."

Sarah Palin, the highest-profile tea party supporter, wrote on her Facebook page last week that "the charge that tea party Americans judge people by the color of their skin is false, appalling and is a regressive and diversionary tactic to change the subject at hand."

The whole discussion is a prime example of how we have, once again, become a very polarized nation, both politically and racially.

I'm supposed to be on the NAACP's side of this argument. I am a member of the nation's oldest black sorority and the founder of a national organization that focuses on professional black women. And I have a book coming out early next year on the unique challenges facing college-educated black women in the United States. I have a lot to lose by lining up with the wrong crowd: I could be pegged an Uncle Tom or a sellout. And so I have been fearful and silent. But I am increasingly uncomfortable staying quiet.

The fact is that I support many of the core goals of the tea party movement, not as a black American -- but as an American. Let me be very clear about what I agree with and what I find intolerable. I do not support those who hate my president because he is a black man -- and that kind of hatred is often displayed on racially charged and denigrating signs at tea party rallies. I do not support those who spew racial venom, especially when incendiary words come from leaders within the movement, as they did last week from Mark Williams, national spokesman for the Tea Party Express. And I abhor and reject anyone who would spit upon or yell racial epithets at an esteemed public servant such as Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), and other black members of Congress, as tea party supporters reportedly have done.

But that visceral hatred is not the entirety of the movement. I admire the principle of protesting peaceably against your government. I, too, am fed up by vast unemployment, underemployment, and making do with smaller paychecks and increasingly burdensome taxes. Like many protesters, I agree that the government has gotten too large and has a say over too much of our lives. I think that our nation's immigration laws should be enforced most vigorously. And I agree that capitalism and a strong national defense are the best ways for this great country to continue to thrive, defeat terrorism and lead as the world's sole superpower.

These are sentiments that many of my black friends, neighbors and family members share. Although I may be virtually alone among my black peers in saying this publicly, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, only 77 percent of people who identified as members of the tea party described themselves as white. And talking to my friends -- fellow black professionals -- I hear the same kinds of things: Our taxes are too high, I had to tap into my retirement account, I could lose my home if my husband loses his job, I worry about what kind of future we are leaving our kids with all of this national debt.

Even people who disagree with me don't think that a public war of words over race is the best way forward. "How is condemning the actions of a few white fools in the tea party going to help put food on the table of unemployed black folks?" a black lawyer friend in his late 30s -- a staunch Democrat -- asked at a recent dinner party. He didn't see how an NAACP resolution was going to create jobs in cities where black men are experiencing unemployment at Great Depression levels. "The NAACP needs to come up with something better than that move," he said.

Another friend at the dinner, a black woman who works for a member of Congress, agreed. "We need to wake up. Black folks are hurting bad in this current economy, as are many whites and Hispanics. We better start finding a way to work together and stop all of this racial name-calling," she said. "We need a Rainbow Coalition tea party to set this thing off before we all end up getting dumped in the Boston Harbor."

I agree. I got lambasted last week after I wrote a commentary for the Root suggesting that blacks may want to give the tea party movement a second look on substance and perhaps even emulate it. We should, I argued, start our own tea party as a way to protest the historic loss of black wealth since 2007. This did not go over well. How could I take those racist people seriously, some asked.

Well, I don't take racists seriously. I am alarmed by the racial animus and incivility that continues to build among our citizenry -- on all sides. But such voices do not represent the entire tea party movement. And it's the movement's ideas I take seriously.

To really move forward, we don't need provocative proclamations and condemnations. We need the NAACP and the tea party leadership alike to come up with tangible solutions, ideas that lessen some of the economic and social pain we are all experiencing.

So why can't black Americans have a tea party movement of our own? That is, why can't we get energized by politicians and proposals that would put people back to work and reduce the burden of taxes? I am all for social programs that feed and help people in rough times, but we need to do more than keep heads above water.

No community is more in need of this message than the black community. It's too bad that the bigots and the bad actors in the tea party movement have drowned out the substance of a message we all should hear.

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Sophia A. Nelson is a contributor to the Root and BET. She is the author of the forthcoming book "Black. Female. Accomplished. Redefined."

Statement by President Barack Obama on Signing the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010

THE WHITE HOUSE


Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________________

July 22, 2010

Today, I signed the unemployment insurance extension to restore desperately needed assistance to two and a half million Americans who lost their jobs in the recession. After a partisan minority used procedural tactics to block the authorization of this assistance three separate times over the past weeks, Americans who are fighting to find a good job and support their families will finally get the support they need to get back on their feet during these tough economic times. Now it’s time for Congress to act on more proposals that support our economic recovery, including passing critical aid to our states and support to small businesses. Small businesses are the engine of job growth, and measures to cut their taxes and make lending available should not be held hostage to partisan tactics like those that unconscionably held up unemployment insurance.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS CLEAR FINAL HURDLE

WASHINGTON, DC – House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn today released the following statement after the House took up Senate amendments to H.R. 4213, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act. This emergency legislation will retroactively extend unemployment insurance benefits to millions of American families that have been left without this vital lifeline for more than 7 weeks as a result of the Republican obstructionist agenda.
“I am pleased that the Democrats were able to break the Republican stalemate and provide millions of Americans with unemployment insurance benefits to support their families and keep their heads above water as they search for work. I expect President Obama to sign this bill into law today, after 7 weeks of Republican obstruction of this critical measure denying over 2.5 million families with the emergency assistance they need.

“Congressional Republicans refused to extend unemployment benefits for these families unless the cost was offset, yet they are fighting to extend hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans without concern for the deficit. Republicans have shown their true colors as they support the wealthy, special interest and big business while denying vital benefits to working Americans who lost their jobs as a result of the Bush recession.”

Sherrod's steadfast motto: 'Let's work together'

story by CNN
written by Jim Kavanagh

Atlanta, Georgia -- Shirley Miller Sherrod (pictured left) has spent most of her life fighting injustice.


On the Baker County, Georgia, farm where the Miller family grew corn, peanuts, cotton and cucumbers and raised hogs, cows and goats, oldest daughter Shirley despised the work.

"I swore I would never have anything to do with a farm past high school," she said Wednesday with an easy chuckle. "I would talk to the sun as I picked cotton and picked cucumbers and worked out there in that hot field, and [say], 'This is not the life for me.' I didn't want to have anything to do with agriculture ever again."

On the night in 1965 when her father, Hosie Miller, a black man and a deacon at Thankful Baptist Church, was shot to death by a white farmer in what ostensibly was a dispute over a few cows, Sherrod -- then 17 years old -- changed her mind.

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"I decided to stay in the South and work for change," said Sherrod, now 62, who believes her father's killing was more about a Southern black man speaking up to a white man than about who owned which animals. The all-white grand jury didn't bring charges against the shooter.

That summer, when she and several other blacks went to the county courthouse to register to vote, the county sheriff blocked the door and even pushed her husband-to-be, Lester Sherrod, down the stairs, she said. Activists used that incident to get a restraining order against the sheriff so blacks could register to vote, she said.

Sherrod worked for civil rights with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee while studying sociology at Albany State University in Georgia. She later earned her master's degree in community development from Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

"We've got to get beyond this [racial division]," she said. "... My message has been, 'Let's work together.' That's what my message has always been."

Despite her father's killing and the injustices that followed, the racial hatred she has fought all her life, and now her quick exit from the USDA, Sherrod refuses to become bitter.

"I can't hold a grudge. I can't even stay mad for long," she said. "I just try to work to make things different. If I stayed mad, if I tried to hate all the time, I wouldn't be able to see clearly in order to do some of the things that I've been able to do.

"Even with this, I'm not angry. I'm not angry. I'm out of a job today, but I'm not angry. I will survive. I have. I can't dwell on that. I just feel there's a need to go forward."

Sherrod returned to rural Georgia to help minority farmers keep their land in a place where history is against them. She has often gone toe to toe with the local offices of government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture before she worked there, she said.

Sherrod was forced out of her job with the USDA this week after a video emerged in which she seemingly admitted to failing to try to help a white farmer save his land from foreclosure in 1986. She has since said her words, recorded in March at a Douglas County, Georgia, NAACP meeting, were deliberately taken out of context. The story, she said, was part of a broader message she has given many times about the need to move beyond race.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday afternoon that Sherrod is "owed an apology. I would do that on behalf of this administration."

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday that he offered his "personal and profound apology for the pain and discomfort" caused to Sherrod and her family.

"It makes me feel better," she said in response on CNN. "It took too long, but it makes me feel better that the apology's coming."

"... Why did they hire me in the first place if they didn't believe in what I had done up to this point?"

What she had done is work tirelessly for minority farmers for four decades.

Because of discriminatory lending practices, black farmers were losing their farms in the late 1960s and '70s. After college, Sherrod co-founded New Communities Inc., a black communal farm project in Lee County, Georgia, that was modeled on kibbutzim in Israel. Local white farmers viciously opposed the 6,000-acre operation, accusing participants of being communists and occasionally firing shots at their buildings, Sherrod said.

"They did everything they could to fight us," she said.

When drought struck the South in the 1970s, the federal government promised to help New Communities through the Office of Economic Opportunity. But the money was routed through the state, led by segregationist Gov. Lester Maddox, and the local office of the Farmers Home Administration, whose white agent was in no hurry to write the checks, she said.

It took three years for New Communities to get an "emergency" loan, she said.

"By the time we got it, it was much too late," Sherrod said.

The operation hobbled along for a few years with other financing, but creditors ultimately foreclosed on the property in 1985, she said.

Getting money for any minority farmer out of that FmHA office "was always a fight," Sherrod said. But she made a point of learning the regulations so thoroughly that she understood them better than the bureau agent, she said.

"I was such a thorn in his side," she said, that the agent eventually left the bureau for good.

Using that experience, Sherrod worked with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to help black farmers keep their land. The group worked with U.S. Rep. Mike Espy, D-Mississippi (who later became agriculture secretary), and Sen. Wyche Fowler, D-Georgia, to pass the Minority Farmers Rights Act in 1990. The measure, known as Section 2501, authorized $10 million a year in technical assistance to black farmers, but only $2 million to $3 million a year has been distributed.

With black-owned farms heading toward extinction, Sherrod and other activists sued the USDA. In a consent decree, the USDA agreed to compensate black farmers who were victims of discrimination between January 1, 1981, and December 31, 1999. It was the largest civil rights settlement in history, with nearly $1 billion being paid to more than 16,000 victims. Legislation passed in 2008 will allow nearly 70,000 more potential claimants to qualify.

"I was deeply involved in all of that work and in the settlement, and in helping farmers to file their claims," she said. "So I was having to fight USDA just for the services, for the loans for farmers, for some of the programs that should have been automatic, that others were getting."

USDA hired Sherrod as its Georgia director of rural development in August 2009. She was the first black person in that position; of 129 USDA employees in Georgia, only 20 are black, she said.

Her family still owns the farm in Baker County, plus an additional 30 acres she bought from a cousin. She hasn't had time to work the land yet.

"I'd like to try some of the things I've taught others," she said, again laughing.

Sherrod emphasizes that the speech that caused all the controversy was about embracing diversity and using the strengths of every culture.

USDA Shirley Sherrod misrepresented

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Whale of a tale! 40-ton mammal lands on yacht

A young Southern Right Whale is seen jumping out of the water between Robben Island and Blouberg, off Cape Town, South Africa, on Sunday. The whale then landed on a yacht belonging to Ralph Mothes and Paloma Werner, breaking the steel mast. The whale swam away and the couple was not injured. (Courtesy of Paloma Werner)

The whale destroyed the yacht's mast and damaged other parts of the boat as it thrashed about on the deck before going back into the water. The couple reported that the whale left some skin and blubber behind. (Courtesy of Paloma Werner)

What Wall Street Reform Means For You?

Good afternoon,

Today, President Obama signed into law the most sweeping reforms of our financial system since the Great Depression and the strongest consumer protections in history.

We've put together a video that walks through what the bill means for the American people:

Here are a few highlights:

There's now a single agency responsible for looking out for consumers: the Bureau for Consumer Financial Protections. Instead of seven agencies dealing with these issues part-time, one agency will be in charge of establishing clear rules of the road for banks, mortgage companies, payday lenders and credit card lenders.

Mortgage brokers won't make a higher commission by selling people mortgages that they can't afford. This was a major factor in the recent housing crisis. Now brokers and banks have to take into consideration a borrower's ability to repay before giving a home loan.

You’ll be able to get a free credit score if you’re denied a loan, an apartment, or a job because of your credit, so you won’t be turned down without knowing why. Right now, you get one free credit report a year, but you can’t see your credit score for free, even if a lender or employer rejects your application because you have bad credit.

No more bailing out banks with our tax dollars, no more "too big to fail." If a company's in trouble because of risky gambles, it will have to liquidate -- and do so before it can take down the rest of the financial system.

Yesterday, under pressure from the President, the Senate overcame a partisan minority and took an important step toward passing an extension of unemployment insurance. We need to keep the pressure on to ensure that there are no more delays and that this assistance gets to our friends and neighbors who lost their jobs during this crisis as soon as possible.

Their struggles are a staggering reminder of how much damage has been done and how many families have had it so tough for so long now -- in no small part due to reckless greed and irresponsibility hundreds or thousands of miles away on Wall Street.

The problem was that year after year, decade after decade, Wall Street gained more and more power in Washington, and they and their allies in Congress fought with everything they had to derail these reforms -- but this time there was a President who fought back, and this time they lost.

Let me tell you something: This President has been fighting for the middle class since Day 1. He stood strong for the Recovery Act that's created or saved 3 million jobs and cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. He fought tooth and nail against the insurance companies to pass health reform after seven previous presidents failed. And now the middle class has won out over the Wall Street lobbyists.

Wall Street reform is a big deal -- and it's only the latest major step forward for the American people.


Sincerely,



Joe Biden
Vice President

Clyburn hits milestone with no plans to slowdown

story by the State Newspaper
written by LeRoy Chapman Jr..

He turns 70 this week. And U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn fully grasps the biblical significance of July 21, 2010.

Clyburn will get his three score and 10 years Wednesday, man’s life expectancy, according to Psalms 90:10.

He is looking forward to a fourth or fifth score, thanks to good health and modern medicine.

“The fire is still there,” said Clyburn, last week reflecting on his tenure and fielding questions about his future. “Physically I’m well. (Cholesterol drug) Lipitor is my only daily medicine. Of course, I take my baby aspirin every day. Or every day I remember (it).”

Clyburn, fresh off of celebrating the passage of Democratic-authored financial industry reform last week, has no plans to retire. He’s been a member of Congress for 18 years now. He made history in 1992 as the first African-American congressman elected from South Carolina in more than 100 years. For the past four years, he’s been the third-most powerful U.S. House member.

Clyburn holds what has been the safest seat among the S.C. delegation. In June, he dispatched primary opponent Gregory Brown with 91 percent of the vote. He is expected to cruise to victory this fall against Republican Jim Pratt, who has $2,000 on hand, according to his latest campaign filing. Clyburn has $1.5 million.

“(Clyburn) can be in Congress for as long as he wants to be in Congress,” said former Columbia Mayor Bob Coble, a longtime Clyburn friend. “When he leaves is between him, God and Mrs. Clyburn.”

But what about a Republican sweep this fall? Democrats hold a 39-seat advantage in the U.S. House. As many as 70 congressional seats will be competitive this fall, according to some political analysts. If Republicans take control of the House, Clyburn’s clout diminishes.

No matter, said Clyburn.

“My service to the people of South Carolina has nothing to do with me being majority whip,” Clyburn said.

Still work to do

The average age of a U.S. Congressman is 57 – old enough to join AARP but still 13 years younger than Clyburn.

Approaching 70, Clyburn’s days routinely stretch 12 hours or more, typically over six days. They are consumed mostly by the legislative battle of the day and by the fight between the two parties over power.

Clyburn is a chess player, at home with the ways of Washington. The one move that paid off handsomely for him, he recalls, was giving up his seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee in 1998.

“My wife called me and asked me ‘are you crazy,’ ”Clyburn said. “I told her ‘yeah, just like a fox.’ ”

The move left many scratching their heads, but also left key lawmakers indebted to him. That helped get Clyburn elected vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus in 2002. By the time Democrats took by control of the U.S. House, it put Clyburn in line to be the second African-American majority whip.

So, Clyburn is where he expected to be. Many of the issues he ran on in 1992 – most related to job creation in his impoverished district that takes in the Interstate 95 corridor – remain issues today. It’s why he’s not contemplating retirement, as the nation grapples with fixing the economy, health care and a Social Security system that most think will not be able to meet future obligations.

He wants to stick around for those debates, and he appreciates the long service of S.C.politicians in Washington.

Clyburn, though, said he will walk away from politics some day, hopefully he says to a teaching position at a university in South Carolina.

“I plan to go back into the classroom. That’s where I started,” Clyburn said.

And how will he know it’s time to go?

“If I ever felt that my children were embarrassed by my public service, or my wife, or if I ever look in the mirror and feel some bit of shame of regret, I would hang it up right away.”

Reflecting lately

Clyburn is writing his memoirs, an exercise in self-analysis that has the congressman in a storytelling mood.

“I think a lot about my parents. I really do,” Clyburn said. “My mother had great dreams, most of which she never got to fulfill.”

Almeta Clyburn, a beautician, died of cancer at 55, the same week Clyburn became the first African-American adviser to a S.C. governor in 1970. His father, Enos Clyburn, was a minister. He died in 1978 at age 80.

“My daddy used to love to take me around with him because I was his first child,” Clyburn said.

Enos Clyburn’s first wife died during childbirth. Enos and Almeta’s first child was stillborn.

“That’s why my father was so proud of me. He used to take me everywhere.”

Clyburn recalls an incident when he was about 14, when his father introduced him to a fellow minister from Jacksonville, Fla. Clyburn shook the minister’s hand, but dropped his eyes to the floor during the handshake.

“My father was so furious he snapped my head up and slapped the hell out me,” Clyburn said. “ … He told me ‘Now son, any time you shake a man’s hand you look him in the eye, don’t you ever cast your eyes away from anybody.”

Clyburn said even though the nation has elected an African-American president, there are still too many African-American children who lack confidence in their own abilities. Those children are casting their eyes down, he said, not reaching their potential.

“I want to demonstrate every day I walk out of my apartment and come to work that all of the myths that exist about black people are just myths,” Clyburn said.

You Don't Have to Pay for Cable TV

written by Dan Schointuch

provided by


Almost a year ago I moved into a new apartment and did something revolutionary: I didn't set up cable or satellite TV. I was frustrated by the lack of choice (only one provider), lengthy contracts, and inexplicably high price. As someone who watches a lot of television, this seemed like a truly difficult problem, but I resolved to find a way to see my favorite shows without paying a cable or satellite bill. Fortunately, it was much easier than I thought.

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You might not know it, but you can watch HDTV with an antenna.
Over 99% of U.S. TV households can receive at least one local sation over the air, while 89% can watch five or more. The picture is perfectly clear thanks to the switch to digital TV completed on June 12, 2009. You'll either see a crisp, beautiful image or no image at all (static is a thing of the past). And the best part? All your favorite programming will still be in HD.
[Click here to check savings products and rates in your area.]
HDTV is more expensive for local stations to produce, so it's common to see a station broadcast in regular standard definition during the day, but switch their signal to high definition for prime time. So while the local news may not be in HD, your favorite shows like Glee, America's Got Talent, and The Bachelorette will be.

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Of course, you will need an antenna to make this work, but your HDTV will also have to have an "HDTV tuner" built in. This is sometimes referred to as "integrated HDTV". If not, you'll need to buy a separate HDTV tuner that connects your existing HDTV to an antenna. To check, you may have to consult your HDTV's manual, do a search online, or contact the manufacturer.
AntennaWeb, a site provided by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), will show you exactly where to point your antenna for the best reception at your address. It will also let you see which stations are broadcasting over the air in your area. There may be more than you think.
What about shows that aren't on broadcast channels?
Two of my favorite shows, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, air on Comedy Central, which isn't a channel you can receive with an antenna. Fortunately, Internet to the rescue! If you've got a computer and internet access (there's no way I'd be able to live without paying for Internet), both shows can be watched in their entirety on their respective websites for free. (Full episodes of The Daily Show and full episodes of The Colbert Report). Like most online shows, you'll have to sit through a few commercials, but less than you would see watching the same show on television and without having to pay for the privilege.
The popular website Hulu has hundreds of shows available to watch online, all free, commercial-supported, but it's not the only option. Netflix is a great way to watch past seasons of favorite shows, which can be streamed instantly to almost 100 devices like your computer, Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, iPhone (soon), etc. You can watch as much as you want for only $9 a month; compared to the cost of a cable or satellite subscription with premium movie channels, a pittance. Plus, they've got almost every movie you've ever heard of, offer a 2 week free trial, and let you cancel whenever you want.
Where do you watch live sports online?
If you're getting your Internet from one of these providers, you can access ESPN3, a "broadband network for live sports programming". The site is currently in beta and not every game on TV is available online, but you can watch thousands of games and events (even World Cup soccer) live with chat, stats, scoreboards, and picture-in-picture. According to them:

Each year ESPN3 delivers thousands of live games and events like College Football and Basketball, NBA, MLB, UEFA Champions League Soccer, The Masters and US Open Golf, all 4 Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and more. Plus you get a fully interactive experience with real time in-game stats and scoreboards and live chat.

Other sites to watch sports? MLB.tv has an $80/year membership that will let you stream every regular season baseball game (with a few exceptions) right to your computer/PS3/etc, live or on-demand, and in HD when available. Given the success of these ventures, look for even more games and events to be broadcast online through sites like ESPN3 and MLB.tv. The interactive nature of the web allows for an engaging, social experience and ultimately, more enjoyable spectating.
But what about "premium" shows, like the ones on HBO, Cinemax and Starz?
Some shows can be purchased individually from sites like Amazon.com or Apple's iTunes Store a day or two after they air. If you do the math, you'll find that purchasing your favorite show is likely to be cheaper than paying for the channel it airs on month after month.
For everything else, you'll have to be a little patient and wait for the inevitable DVD release of last season. The typical DVD set for one season of a television series costs between $25 and $35, so you could buy several sets each month and still save over the cost of cable or satellite. However, if it comes out on DVD, chances are it'll show up on Netflix where that $9 a month subscription is now looking really good.
How does all this internet video get on my TV?
While streaming video to your computer sounds great, most people want to watch television on their television. Fortunately, there are tons of options to get your favorite shows on your big screen. First, check your computer for an output designed to work with either an external monitor or TV. If you've got one, you may be able to buy a cable and adapter that will plug your computer directly into your television. Doing so is a bit like putting together a puzzle; you want to find pieces that connect to each other. This can be a little tricky, especially with all the different possible connections on the market. So if you're not tech savvy, you may want to get a little help from someone who is or check out this video from Howcast called "How To Connect Your Laptop To Your Television".
You might also want to look at "media streaming" boxes. Like the cable box you'll be ditching, these connect to your TV and allow you to watch programming you wouldn't otherwise be able to see. The big difference? You can watch free and paid internet content. Depending on the box, you'll be able to stream video from Netflix, Amazon, MLB.tv, Hulu, and YouTube, audio from internet radio stations, Pandora, and Last.fm, and watch movies or look at photos that have been stored your home PC. Think of media streaming boxes as mini-computers for your TV.
The Roku Digital Video Player is $80 ($100 for the HD version), but you can get $20 off if you're a new Netflix subscriber. It'll stream dozens of "channels" from the web right to your TV for less than the price of one month of cable or satellite. Plus, it's an open platform so developers are adding new channels all the time.
The Boxee Box by D-Link wont be available for purchase until later this year, but you can install their free software on your home computer right now. It'll turn your Mac or PC into a full fledged media player, with an interface specifically designed to look great on TV. It's much easier to navigate with a remote and provides easy access to your personal collection of movies and music, as well as every video website under the Sun.
Google will soon enter the market to pair TV and the Internet with Google TV, a software package they developed to be built in to TVs, Blu-Ray players and set-top boxes. It's sort of a super-TiVo that will let you watch and record broadcast programming while seamlessly switching to internet streaming when what you want to watch isn't on a channel you receive. In essence, Google created the perfect companion for anyone who wants to ditch cable or satellite without sacrificing their favorite shows. Upcoming devices with Google TV built in have been announced by Sony, Logitech and Intel, but wont be available until later this year.
Apple TV is like an iPod for your TV. It'll let you stream videos and audio from your iTunes collection, but only if they're in the right format, and nothing from Hulu, Netflix, etc. Of course, anything you purchase from iTunes will play perfectly, so this may be a great option for some. However, at $230 with seemingly limited capabilities, your best bet might be to wait for the Apple TV 2 (if such a thing is coming).
So there are plenty of inexpensive options. You don't need a new computer for every TV in your house, though with the money saved by cutting out cable or satellite, you could afford several.
How much does all of this cost?
While the average cable bill is $75 a month or $900 a year, I was paying closer to $150 a month or $1800 a year to see everything I wanted. Now I pay $9 a month for my Netflix subscription and watch everything else for free online or over-the-air broadcast. I don't need a TiVo (since you can just hit pause on a website), and I use an old, cheap computer running Boxee hooked up to my TV as my "media center". My $1800 a year expense is now only $108 and I can watch just about everything I want, whenever I want.
Update: Hulu Plus
Just one day after writing this story, Hulu announced their new premium membership called Hulu Plus. For $9.99 a month, it promises full and current seasons of shows like The Office, Friday Night Lights, Dancing with the Stars and Lie to Me. Shows can be watched on your computer, through an iPhone/iPad app, or on a compatible television, blu-ray player or gaming system. While you are paying money for a premium service, Hulu has said that programming will still be advertising supported, so be aware. Currently, the full Hulu Plus catalog is only open to those who request an invitation, but look for wider availability soon. Personally, I can't wait to try it out.

USC returns Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy

USC will return Bush's trophy to the Heisman Trophy Trust next month and will take down any jerseys or murals recognizing the former star.

The University of Southern California will return the Heisman Trophy won by former star tailback Reggie Bush in 2005, incoming university president C.L. Max Nikias announced Tuesday.

Nikias delivered the news in a memorandum, adding that he has instructed the athletic department to remove murals of Bush and former basketball star O.J. Mayo from university grounds. Improper benefits taken by Bush and Mayo during their time at USC prompted wide-ranging NCAA sanctions leveled against the school last month.

Nikias also announced that athletic director Mike Garrett would be replaced by former Trojans star quarterback Pat Haden and that the school would take other steps to ensure compliance with NCAA rules.

Kagan wins Senate confirmation in mostly partisan vote, 13 to 6

story by The Hill
written by Susan Crabtree

The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to confirm Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court on a mainly partisan vote of 13 to 6.

All the Democrats on the committee voted in favor of Kagan, while all but one Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), voted against her. Graham, who was one of just nine Republicans who voted in favor of Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation last year, joined Democrats in voting in favor of Kagan.

“No one spent more time trying to beat President Obama perhaps other than Senator McCain,” Graham said. “I understood that we lost, Sen. Obama won, and … the Constitution requires me as a senator not to replace my judgment for his … or pick a fight with Ms. Kagan.”

Graham also praised Kagan’s performance during the hearing and predicted she would serve “honorably” even though he disagrees with her “liberal” views and would not have chosen her himself.

The full Senate is expected to approve Kagan’s nomination with just a handful of centrist GOP votes, most likely later this month.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) praised Kagan’s experience and performance during the confirmation hearings.

“She is a highly experienced person … she has been the dean of the most prestigious law school in this country and has been Solicitor General, and I note that she has the highest possible rating in the American Bar Association committee on the federal judiciary,” Leahy said.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the panel, cited her lack of judicial experience and record on limiting military recruiters’ access to Harvard Law School while dean, as well as her tenure as a legal adviser at the Clinton White House.

“Her lack of robust legal experience … compared to other Supreme Court nominees who spent years trying cases, taking depositions — the kind of day-in and day-out experience that forces critical thought … Kagan does not have that kind of experience. She just does not. Most of her experience is political experience.”

Senate Judiciary Republicans who backed Kagan for solicitor general in 2009 but voted against her on Tuesday include Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Jon Kyl (Ariz.).

Statement by the President on the Senate Judiciary Committee Vote

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 20, 2010

Elena Kagan is one of this country’s leading legal minds, and has shown throughout this process that, if confirmed, she would be a fair and impartial Supreme Court Justice who understands how decisions made by the Court affect the lives of everyday Americans. Today’s vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee is a bipartisan affirmation of her strong performance during her confirmation hearings. I want to thank the Judiciary Committee for giving her a thorough, timely and respectful hearing, and I look forward to the full Senate taking up and voting on this nomination before the August recess.

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON EQUAL PAY

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For Immediate Release

July 20, 2010

In America today, women make up half of the workforce, and two-thirds of American families with children rely on a woman’s wages as a significant portion of their families’ income.

Yet, even in 2010, women make only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. The gap is even more significant for working women of color, and it affects women across all education levels. As Vice President Biden and the Middle Class Task Force will discuss today, this is not just a question of fairness for hard-working women. Paycheck discrimination hurts families who lose out on badly needed income. And with so many families depending on women's wages, it hurts the American economy as a whole. In difficult economic times like these, we simply cannot afford this discriminatory burden.

My Administration has already begun to address this problem. In my first week in office, I signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women who face wage discrimination recover their lost wages, and in my State of the Union Address, I promised to crack down on violations of equal pay laws. Today the Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force will present its recommendations, which include ways to better coordinate among enforcement agencies and inform employees about their rights. These steps support women, and they also support businesses that are doing the right thing and paying their employees what they deserve.

We cannot do this work alone. So today, I thank the House for its work on this issue and encourage the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a common-sense bill that will help ensure that men and women who do equal work receive the equal pay that they and their families deserve. Passing this bill is one of the Task Force’s key recommendations, and I hope Congress will act swiftly so that I can sign it into law.

U.S. Court of Appeals Slams Secretary of State Rice: Re-Designation of Iranian Opposition Group as Terrorist Flawed

Washington, DC—On 16 July 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals—D.C. Circuit ruled that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice erred in renewing the terrorist listing of an Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The Court ordered Secretary Clinton to review the process of re-designation.

According to IPC President and former member of the National Security Council at the White House, Professor Raymond Tanter, “The Court’s decision provides Secretary Clinton with an opportunity to reverse the errors of Secretary Rice.”

The Court asserted, “The PMOI was notified of the Secretary’s [Rice’s] decision and permitted access to the unclassified portion of the record only after the decision was final. And even though the PMOI was given the opportunity to include in the record its own evidence supporting delisting, it had no opportunity to rebut the unclassified portion of the record the Secretary was compiling…”

According to R. Bruce McColm, President of the Institute for Democratic Strategies, “Clinton’s review could allow the PMOI to rebut questionable evidence Rice used.” Regarding that evidence, the Court judged, “Some of the reports included in the Secretary’s analysis on their face express reservations about the accuracy of the information contained therein…the Secretary did not indicate whether she accepted or discredited the reports…” As McColm points out, the Clinton State Department conceded that “the ultimate sources of the information was [sic] unknown and as such, their access, veracity, and motivations were unknown…”

General Thomas McInerney (Lt Gen, US Air Force Ret) said, “Condoleezza Rice’s errors do not surprise me in the least, given her pattern of appeasing rogue regimes, such as Syria, North Korea, and Iran. By failing to follow the rule of law in re-designating an organization that represents pro-democracy forces in Iran, Rice appeases the ayatollahs and suppresses democracy in Iran.”

General Paul Vallely (MG, US Army Ret) said, “National security grounds can be used as a basis to revoke a terrorist designation; Secretary Rice’s failure to appreciate the national security benefits of revoking the PMOI listing was typical of her tenure as Secretary of State. The PMOI provides valuable intelligence on Tehran’s subversion of Iraq and the Iranian nuclear program. Such information provided by the PMOI could be used as lead intelligence to compare with that provided by Iranian defectors, such as nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri.”