Tag Archives: United States

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a message from Alan Grayson



The Republican Credo.                      

           

           

Alan Grayson was back on MSNBC on Monday night, telling it like it is.  The subject was Senator Rubio’s attack on President Obama.  Rubio said that we “have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history,” and Rubio criticized the President for graduating from Harvard Law School.  Rubio hit President Obama, and Alan hit back.  Here is what Alan said:

SHARPTON: Congressman, let`s start with you. Senator Rubio thinks the President is divisive. What do you make of that?

GRAYSON: Well, remember how President Obama first came to the public`s attention seven-and-a-half years ago. He gave a beautiful speech in which he called for one America. Not a blue America or red America, but one America. And that speech enabled him to win the Democratic nomination – because that was an idea that appealed to Americans across the board – and then to win the presidency. But what he has been faced with from the Republicans is implacable division.   Division just for the sake of division. Disagreeing just for the sake of disagreeing. Look what happened with the healthcare bill: more than 150 Republican amendments included in that bill, and no Republicans voted for it.

SHARPTON: Yes.

GRAYSON: Look at the “grand bargain” on the deficit that the President proposed, to end the deficit. The Republicans wouldn’t even show up and negotiate for it. But they`re not just guilty of division, they`re also guilty of subtraction. The Republicans have subtracted jobs.  They`ve subtracted health care.  They`ve subtracted from public education.  And they want to subtract Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans and unemployment insurance.

SHARPTON: Now, it`s interesting you say that, Congressman, because the fact of the matter is when you deal with this question of divisiveness and partisan politics, the President has been criticized by members of his own party, some of us that are progressive, for leaning over too much. And now to call him divisive; it almost is laughable, in some circles.

GRAYSON: Right.  I think that soon they’ll wheel out Roger Clemens and he`ll say that the President is guilty of using steroids.  That makes as much sense as what Marco Rubio said. . . .

SHARPTON:  Now, Congressman, let me go back to you. It`s a lot of ugliness and di-viss-iveness, or de-vice-iveness, as Joe said, whichever [way] you want to pronounce it. Governor Chris Christie attacked the President this weekend while he was addressing Kentucky Republicans. [Christie] said, and I`m quoting him, “President Obama has cared more about posing and preening than progress.” And then Congressman Joe Walsh‘s town hall this weekend, a constituent at Walsh`s town hall attacked the President, and Congressman Walsh listened and said nothing. Let me show it to you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: He should have said it before he was elected and said, “I`m a socialist, I believe in socialism, communism, nazi,” whatever, and say “this is where I want to lead the country,” not do it underhandedly.

REP. JOE WALSH (R), ILLINOIS: However you want to label and define it, don`t you think now after three-and-a-half years as a country, now we have a really good idea where the President wants to go.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Well, absolutely because he feels he has everyone by the cojones, now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: I mean, real ugly kind of crazy, shrill language, but it`s being entertained, and in some cases being recycled, by some of the leaders in the Republican Party in some cases.

GRAYSON: You`re going to see nothing but personal attacks against President Obama for the next six months, because we`ve seen nothing but personal attacks against him for the past four years. You know, [like] this whole question of his birth certificate. When has a white president ever been asked to produce a birth certificate?  It`s all nothing but personal attacks, because they have no answers for anything. All they can do is make ad hominem [personal] arguments. There`s a Harvard phrase for you:  ad hominem arguments. They`ve got no health policy worth discussing.  Their health policy is basically, “Don`t get sick.” They`ve got no educational policy worth discussing.  And their economic policy is “reverse Robin Hood.” They`re stealing from the poor, and giving to the rich.

SHARPTON: Florida Congressman Alan Grayson, I have to go. Joe Madison, always good to have you on. Thank you both for your time.

IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT A CONGRESSMAN WITH GUTS, THEN CLICK HERE.

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AFL – CIO – National Labor College(NLC)



Alejandro Garcia, IBEW Local 357, is an NLC student and a Union Plus NLC Scholarship recipient. Want to join him?

Are you or is someone you know trying to complete a college degree?

If so, now is the time to do something about it, and the National Labor College (NLC) can get you started toward completing your degree as soon as this fall.

The NLC’s program is tailor-made for full-time working men and women like you. Call 1-888-427-8100 or click here to visit NLC.edu for more information.

With NLC, you can expand your job skills, increase your salary, enhance your job security and improve your job satisfaction while finishing your degree.

Apply by Aug. 6 to be eligible for financial aid and scholarships.

Visit NLC.edu or call 1-888-427-8100 to get more details and apply.

Worried that your full-time work schedule won’t give you enough time to go to class? The National Labor College offers degrees with an online format so you can manage your courseload and pace to fit your schedule. You also can receive college credits for what you have learned through trainings and work experience.

And NLC is the only accredited labor college dedicated to educating union members and their families. Tuition is highly discounted for union members (about $300 per credit).

What if you aren’t a union member? You can join our community affiliate, Working America, and get the discount. And Union Plus scholarships also are available to help with tuition costs.


Tina Davis, AFSCME Local 1270, is a Union Plus NLC Scholarship recipient and will graduate this year.

Online bachelor’s degrees and certificates are offered in:

Call 1-888-427-8100 or click here to visit www.NLC.edu for more information. Take the first step and apply today!

In solidarity,

Andy Richards
New Media Strategist, AFL-CIO

P.S. The NLC offers an array of financial aid options so you don’t have to worry about how to pay for your degree. You can find out more about financial aid here. You could complete your degree in less than two years for less than $10,000.

If you apply now, take 50 percent off the application fee—and you can start taking classes in September.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

President Obama Speaks …


May 19, 2012 by    

President Obama discusses the reforms to Wall Street that he put in place to protect consumers and make Wall Street play by the same set of rules — and calls on lawmakers to finish implementing these reforms so that we can prevent excessive risk-taking and help create an economy that is built to last.

May 18, 2012 by    

President Obama announces a new alliance between government leaders and private sector partners to reduce hunger and lift 50 million people out of poverty by investing in Africa‘s agricultural economy. May 18, 2012.

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VIDEO: We Are Not ‘Garbage’ … Axel Caballero from Cuéntame

Few industries have a greater impact on neighborhoods, residents, workers’ rights and environment than the waste and recycling industry. Their drive for profit has left a trail of abuse, neglect and indifference and in some instances – death. Enough is enough, the community is standing up and saying: We are not garbage!
Watch this moving and powerful video and send a message to public officials that they must act now!
One of the worst offending companies is American Reclamation. A company that represents precisely what is wrong with this industry across the country – with dozens of health and safety violations that have resulted in official investigations. Even so, these companies are on the brink of securing major city contracts.
We must show that we stand behind our recyclers. They are listening right now. So leave or send your comment and we will deliver it to the appropriate official!
Together we can change the course.

Yours, Axel Caballero and the Cuéntame team.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Solar Eclipse May 20


Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20

The first solar eclipse of 2012 occurs at the Moon’s descending node in central Taurus. An annular eclipse will be visible from a 240 to 300 kilometre-wide track that traverses eastern Asia, the northern Pacific Ocean and the western United States. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon’s penumbral shadow, that includes much of Asia, the Pacific and the western 2/3 of North America (Figure 1).

The annular path begins in southern China at 22:06 UT. Because the Moon passed through apogee one day earlier (May 19 at 16:14 UT), its large distance from Earth produces a wide path of annularity. Traveling eastward, the shadow quickly sweeps along the southern coast of Japan as the central line duration of annularity grows from 4.4 to 5.0 minutes.

Tokyo lies 10 kilometres north of the central line. For the over 10 million residents within the metropolitan area, the annular phase will last 5 minutes beginning at 22:32 UT (on May 21 local time). The annular ring is quite thick because the Moon’s apparent diameter is only 94% that of the Sun. Traveling with a velocity of 1.1 kilometres/second, the antumbral shadow leaves Japan and heads northeast across the Northern Pacific. The instant of greatest eclipse [1] occurs at 23:52:47 UT when the eclipse magnitude [2] reaches 0.9439. At that instant, the duration of annularity is 5 minutes 46 seconds, the path width is 237 kilometres and the Sun is 61° above the flat horizon formed by the open ocean.

The shadow passes just south of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands as the central track slowly curves to the southeast. After a 7000 kilometre-long ocean voyage lasting nearly 2 hours, the antumbra finally reaches land again along the rugged coastlines of southern Oregon and northern California (Figure 2) at 01:23 UT (May 20 local time).

Redding, CA lies 30 kilometres south of the central line. Nevertheless, it still experiences an annular phase lasting 4 1/2 minutes beginning at 01:26 UT. It is already late afternoon along this section of the eclipse path. The Sun’s altitude is 20° during the annular phase and decreasing as the track heads southeast. Central Nevada, southern Utah, and northern Arizona are all within the annular path.

By the time the antumbra reaches Albuquerque, NM (01:34 UT), the central duration is still 4 1/2 minutes, but the Sun’s altitude has dropped to 5°. As its leading edge reaches the Texas Panhandle, the shadow is now an elongated ellipse extending all the way to Nevada. Seconds later, the antumbra begins its rise back into space above western Texas as the track and the annular eclipse end.

During the course of its 3.5-hour trajectory, the antumbra’s track is approximately 13,600 kilometres long and covers 0.74% of Earth’s surface area. Path coordinates and central line circumstances are presented in Table 1.

Partial phases of the eclipse are visible primarily from the USA, Canada, the Pacific and East Asia. Local circumstances for a number of cities are found in Table 2 (Canada, Mexico and Asia) and Table 3 (USA). All times are given in Universal Time. The Sun’s altitude and azimuth, the eclipse magnitude and obscuration are all given at the instant of maximum eclipse.

The NASA JavaScript Solar Eclipse Explorer is an interactive web page that can quickly calculate the local circumstances of the eclipse from any geographic location not included in Table 1:

eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/JSEX/JSEX-index.html

This is the 33rd eclipse of Saros 128 (Espenak and Meeus, 2006). The family began with a series of 24 partial eclipses starting on 0984 Aug 29. The first central eclipse was total and took place on 1417 May 16. After three more totals and four hybrid eclipses, the series changed to annular on 1561 Aug 11. Subsequent members of Saros 128 were all annular eclipses with increasing durations, the maximum of which was reached on 1832 Feb 01 and lasted 08 minutes 35 seconds. The duration of annularity of each succeeding eclipse is now dropping and will reach 4 minutes with the last annular eclipse of the series on 2120 Jul 25. Saros 128 terminates on 2282 Nov 01 after a string of 9 partial eclipses. Complete details for the 73 eclipses in the series (in the sequence of 24 partial, 4 total, 4 hybrid, 32 annular, and 9 partial) may be found at:

eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsaros/SEsaros128.html

Additional details for the 2012 annular solar eclipse (including tables, maps and weather prospects) can be found at:

eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/ASE2012/ASE2012.html