Anderson@Large

What's the Matter with Republicans?

I would like to share an excerpt from my BlogHer post about the Republicans and their fixation on United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice:

I have watched with bewilderment as Republicans ratchet up their attacks on United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice.

To be sure, Congress should investigate what happened in Benghazi. After all, four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens who reportedly had expressed concern about the “security vacuum” around the consulate.

But a quick glance at the State Department’s organization chart shows that embassy and consulate security is not included in Rice’s portfolio.

Why haven’t Republicans hauled Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Under Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy before Congress? If Sen. Lindsey Graham wants answers, why not ask the person directly responsible for “ensuring that the United States can conduct diplomacy safely and securely around the world,” Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell.

Read more: Why Do Republicans Keep Picking on Susan Rice?

Don’t Advertise Your Man

I’m a blues lover who subscribes to the credo, “ain’t nobody’s business if I do.” At the same time, I mind my own business.

But when your business is plastered all over the Internet and the airwaves, Schadenfreude happens.

The investigation that led to the downfall of Gen. David Petraeus reportedly was triggered by emails from his outside woman, Paula Broadwell, to a second woman, Jill Kelley.

Although Broadwell is a graduate of West Point and Harvard, she could have learned a lot if she had listened to Sippie Wallace. Way back in the day, the blues singer advised women:

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut
Don’t advertise your man
Don’t be no fool!
Don’t advertise your man
Baby don’t do it.

Where the Jobs Aren’t

In his weekly address, President Obama called on Congress “to get its act together” and pass the American Jobs Act:

It’s been almost three weeks since I sent the American Jobs Act to Congress – three weeks since I sent them a bill that would put people back to work and put money in people’s pockets. And now I want it back. It is time for Congress to get its act together and pass this jobs bill so I can sign it into law.

A study by the Transportation Equity Network suggests that getting “construction workers back to work rebuilding our roads and bridges” will not help African Americans.

The report, “The Road to Good Jobs: Making Training Work,” will not be released until Tuesday, but the media advisory says all you need to know:

Most states are failing to boost job access to those hit hardest by the recession—minorities and women—in the multi-billion-dollar federal highway construction field.

The Road to Good Jobs: Making Training Work presents the first-ever compilation of data from all 50 states on their use of on-the-job-training and apprenticeship programs to boost job access for minorities and women in the federal highway construction field from 2008-10.

The study finds that most states are doing a poor job of using proven training programs to boost highway construction job access for minorities and women, though unemployment rates for minorities are nearly double those of whites, and female unemployment is ticking up while male unemployment is dropping.

For more info, contact Stephen Boykewich.

UPDATE: TEN has released the report, “The Road to Good Jobs: Making Training Work.”

Waters to Obama: You Talking to Me?

There has been a mixed reaction to President Obama’s speech before the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s awards dinner.

Rep. Maxine Waters gave her take during an appearance on CBS’ “Early Show.”

Waters said she “wasn’t sure who the president was talking to.” Waters found Obama’s rap “a bit curious”:

I found that language a bit curious because the president spoke to the Hispanic Caucus and certainly they are pushing him on immigration. And despite the fact that he’s appointed Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, he has an office for excellence in Hispanic education right in the White House, they’re still pushing him. And he certainly didn’t tell them to stop complaining.

And he never would say that to the gay and lesbian community who really pushed him on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Or even in a speech to AIPAC, he would never say to the Jewish community “stop complaining” about Israel.

Oh no she didn’t!

Solyndra in the Hot Seat

This morning, executives from the bankrupt Solyndra will be hauled before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations to tell what they did with taxpayers’ $535 million.

While Chief Executive Officer Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover are expected to take the Fifth Amendment, some former Solyndra employees are talking.

The Washington Post reports:

Former employees of Solyndra, the shuttered solar company that exhausted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money, said they saw questionable spending by management almost as soon as a federal agency approved a $535 million government-backed loan for the start-up.

[…]

As the $344 million factory went up just down the road from the company’s leased plant in Fremont, Calif., workers watched as pallets of unsold solar panels stacked up in storage. Many wondered: Was the factory needed?

“After we got the loan guarantee, they were just spending money left and right,” said former Solyndra engineer Lindsey Eastburn. “Because we were doing well, nobody cared. Because of that infusion of money, it made people sloppy.”

The issue of crony capitalism was raised by Robert Johnson during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s town hall on jobs and economic opportunity.

Johnson asked how a risky start-up like Solyndra received $535 million when black-led start-ups can’t get access to capital. He observed:

Somebody said there’s a compelling interest in seeing green. But nobody said there’s a compelling interest in seeing black wealth.

It is said there are no coincidences in politics. I hope congressional investigators find out who in the Obama administration thought the Solyndra fraudsters had a compelling claim to taxpayers’ money.

The hearing is open to the public. Opening statements, witness testimonies, and a live webcast will be available here.

National Town Hall: Economic Opportunity and Jobs

Civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr. once said, “The hardest work in the world is being out of work.”

That is the sad reality for 25 million Americans, including nearly three million African Americans.

At today’s town hall, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation will focus on the jobless crisis in the African American community and strategies for job creation that will help those who have been hardest hit by the recession.

CBCF Chairman Rep. Donald Payne said in a statement:

We are facing an unprecedented crisis in our community, with the possibility of generations of African-Americans permanently detached from economic opportunity. The CBCF understands the importance of bringing our brightest minds to the table to find solutions that will provide jobs and bring financial security to families.

Those bright minds include:

• Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president, Bennett College for Women
• Marc Morial, president and CEO, National Urban League
• William Lucy, president, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

The National Town Hall is free and open to the public. It will take place from 9:00 am to 11:30 am in Ballroom A in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

If like me, you can’t make it to DC, no problem. You can join the discussion via a live webcast. I wil tweet the event (hashtag #41stALC).

CBC Week 2011

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference 2011 starts today. This year marks its 41st anniversary.

For me, it will always be “CBC Week.”

The Congressional Black Caucus kicks things off with the “Jobs for the People” Commission, led by CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver. Given the depression-level unemployment rate in the African American community, the discussion will focus on strategies to create jobs, jobs, jobs.

The event is free and open to the public. To join the conversation on Twitter, use the hashtag #41stALC.