Tea Party Senate Candidate Just Received College Degree This Week
Source: AP / The Huffington Post
Washington — Twenty-one years after she began her undergraduate work, Republican Christine O’Donnell can accurately call herself a college graduate.
A spokesman for Fairleigh Dickinson University says the tea party-backed Senate candidate earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature on Wednesday. Spokesman Scott Giglio says he cannot provide more information.
O’Donnell has been dogged by questions over her claims she graduated from the New Jersey school; she later conceded that while she attended graduation day in 1993, she did not collect a diploma.
Republicans have questioned O’Donnell’s credibility as they try to stop her candidacy. She is in a bitter primary against Rep. Mike Castle, who has the backing of the political establishment.
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Progressive Oct. 2 March Must Be About Jobs
September 3, 2010 by Roland
Filed under Commentary, Featured
Now that we are a week removed from the march on Washington organized by the self-named rodeo clown, Glenn Beck, it’s clear that the event was nothing more than an exercise in ego worship. It’s still unclear if the event was about the troops, restoring the honor of America — whatever that is defined as — an effort to reclaim the civil rights movement, which I’m still laughing at, or a tent revival intended to move Americans closer to God.
So many conflicting agendas and purposes left nothing more than a headache. Now that conservatives had their shot, Oct. 2 represents an opportunity for progressives to come to the nation’s capital and rally their faithful.
Four months ago, one of the major participants called to alert me of the event and to give me the purpose. After listening to a litany of reasons for the march, as well as the various participants, I couldn’t help but be as blunt as possible: “What in the hell is the agenda? A 25-point plan?”
It’s impossible to count the number of marches, rallies and calls to action that I’ve covered in my 18 years as a professional journalist. And with all certainty, I can tell you that the ones that failed miserably are those with so many reasons given that no one was able to take that mass action of civil disobedience and apply it to legislative action. It’s not interesting at all to see folks who focus on meeting, talking and then dispersing. For me, it should be about meeting, mobilizing and acting.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech is hailed as one of the all-time greats in the history of the world, yet without the subsequent Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, those words spoken at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom would have been just another speech. The forces behind the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom planned it as a way to pressure Congress and the Kennedy administration to pass a strong civil rights bill.
What folks seem to forget is that what happens on Saturday at the rally is immaterial; it’s what happens on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, and so on, that really makes the difference.
So, on Saturday, Oct. 2, a number of progressive organizations will rally in Washington, D.C. Frankly, I’m uninterested in hearing from 40 different speakers talking about 40 different things. The centerpiece of the rally — essentially funded by labor organizations — should be to pressure Congress to get moving on a massive jobs bill that supporters say is designed to help small businesses.
The bill that is getting the most attention is the Local Jobs for America Act, which is sponsored by Rep.
George Miller, D-Ga., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. According to supporters, the bill will save or create 1 million public and private sector jobs over the next two years, including teachers, firefighters and police officers.
President Barack Obama has constantly chided top Republicans for blocking the bill from moving forward, saying it will provide money for small businesses to borrow, as well as extend tax credits for them.
“It is paid for,” the president said Friday. “It will not add one dime to our deficit.”
His push for the bill came on the same day the Department of Labor says the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent, with the loss of 54,000 jobs, largely due to seasonal Census jobs ending. The private sector added 67,000 jobs last month.
On Wednesday, I talked to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on my segment of the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Steele said the jobs bill will only be a further burden to small businesses.
“I agree it sounds great on the headline on top of the newspaper, but the reality of it is, look at the bill and does it do for small businesses what small businesses need to have done,” Steele said.
He added: “How much credit and capital is made accessible to them?” And Steele questioned the regulatory burdens small businesses will have to face, namely with health care.
Those are legitimate questions that deserve a hearing. But preventing even a real discussion from moving forward makes no sense. If Republicans and Democrats both say they want the economy to grow and prosper, then put all of your cards on the table and let’s see what you’ve got. Saying no isn’t a plan of action.
Progressives are standing around and spending precious time complaining about the tea party and how they are mobilizing their people. Well, shut up and get to work.
And you can do that by helping America get back to work. The last thing we need is another march for the sake of marching. Instead, we need to see folks plan marches that have a real benefit other than to give them face time on the camera. With our economy still sluggish, we need folks on both sides of the aisle focused on growing our economy and making it healthy.
Over the next month, let’s see what progressives have planned for Oct. 2. But I’ll go ahead and say it right now: If there is no plan of action to mobilize supporters of the event to put maximize pressure on Congress to pass a much-needed jobs bill, then they are wasting their time. And yours.
Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and the author of the forthcoming book “The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.” Please visit his website at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM
Sphere: Related ContentObama Promises New Jobs Initiatives, Slams GOP (VIDEO)
Source: CNN
Washington – President Obama went on the offensive Friday on the politically critical issue of job creation, promising to lay out a broad package of ideas next week and slamming Senate Republicans for blocking passage of his administration’s small business aid legislation.
Obama renewed his call for the languishing bill in the wake of Friday’s release of new unemployment figures. The jobless rate, according to the Labor Department, rose from 9.5 percent to 9.6 percent in August.
The economy lost a total of 54,000 jobs last month. Most of the losses, however, came from the public sector as the government cut 114,000 temporary census workers. Private businesses added 67,000 jobs to their payrolls.
August was the eighth straight month that businesses added jobs, following nearly two straight years of job losses. So far this year businesses have added 763,000 workers to payrolls.
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WATCH: Obama Promises New Jobs Initiatives, Slams GOP
Sphere: Related ContentRep. Johnson Responds To Accusations (VIDEO)
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson responds to accusations regarding charitable scholarships going to family members.
WATCH: Rep. Johnson Responds To Accusations
Sphere: Related ContentBP: Gulf Oil Spill Cost Hits $8 Billion
Source: Jessica Durando / USA Today
BP said Friday it spent $8 billion so far on the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The cost includes containment, relief well drilling, static kill and cementing, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs, the energy giant reported.
BP said more than 28,000 people and 4,000 vessels are still involved in responding to the spill. No oil has flowed into the Gulf since July 15.
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