In his final weekly address before assuming office, President-elect Barack Obama speaks about the upcoming Inauguration activities, a tradition at the heart of our democracy.
The Prospector at blackmediamine.blogspot.com sent me a link to his site about a shooting that occurred on New Year’s Day when a Bay Area Rapid Transit Officer killed an unarmed Oscar Grant during an arrest. There’s a lot of speculation about what happened, but thanks to a witness the shooting was caught on camera phone video.
I saw some of this on CNN, but the Prospector also has some informative links on his website for you to check out. I heard the officer had the taser and gun switched on his hip and pulled the gun by mistake. The police have a difficult job when they’re on patrol, but they have to be held accountable for mistakes like this. However it turns out, an innocent life was lost and a family is in mourning.
Young unarmed Black father Oscar Grant killed by police
Christina Romer, the Chair-designate for the Council of Economic Advisers, discusses a new report about what kinds of jobs and which types of workers will benefit from the proposed American Recovery Act.
There’s been a lot of talk about the positive influence that Michelle Obama will have on how our society views black women. While I think she is an amazing person, my first thoughts when hearing this was how DOES society view the black woman? I’ve always felt the brotha man caught a bad rap at times, but in my mind black women were viewed as strong, caring, independent women.
How and when did everyone’s perception change? Was it because of BET or do we just focus more on the negative aspects of the black male and female? I try to hang around positive people, so maybe that’s why I don’t understand why the media is so in awe about our soon-to-be first black First Lady of the United States. Don’t get me wrong! She is amazing and she is a major inspiration to most women. But let’s not allow the media to cause us to forget those women who’ve inspired her and paved the way for the Michelle Obama we know today. If you got one you love, go give your mom a big hug and tell her you love her 
I found this video tribute posted at forwomenonline.com. I have to admit, this video is very well put together. I had to watch it a couple of times. Ain’t Black Love grand?!!
Change from Damian Steinberg on Vimeo.
In this week’s address, President-elect Barack Obama discusses solutions for our struggling economy in the new year.
This month was a little better than November for the President. The purpose for this post is to inform you of the new laws and acts enacted by President Bush. It’s good to know what’s going on because some of them may benefit us as a people. It’s important for us to watch every step our government takes. We elect them, so we need to make sure they are doing their job. The laws I list are posted at whitehouse.gov. For a more unbiased version, I’d recommend doing additional research at govtrack.us. As always feel free to leave any additional comments. This is President Bush’s last month and on January 20th, 2009 President Barack Obama will be in charge. I’ll keep doing this post on a monthly basis becasuse we need to know what laws are being enacted.
On Monday, December 1, 2008, the President signed into law:
H.R. 5714, the “United States Army Commemorative Coin Act of 2008,” which requires the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue coins in recognition and celebration of the founding of the United States Army in 1775.
On Tuesday, December 2, 2008, the President signed into law:
H.R. 2040, the “Civil Rights Act of 1964 Commemorative Coin Act,” which requires the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue coins in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
S. 602, the “Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007,” which requires the Federal Communications Commission to conduct an inquiry to examine the availability of, and methods of encouraging the use of, advanced blocking technologies that help parents protect their children from transmitted video and audio programming that the parents determine to be indecent or objectionable;
S. 1193, which directs the Secretary of the Interior to take into trust two parcels of Federal land in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the benefit of 19 Indian pueblos; make various technical changes to statutes concerning Native Americans; and extends the authorization for Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial through November 12, 2009.
On Friday, December 19, 2008, the President signed into law:
H.R. 6859, which designates a facility of the United States Postal Service as the Dr. Walter Carl Gordon, Jr. Post Office Building,
S.J.Res. 46, which reduces the compensation of the Secretary of State to the level in effect on January 1, 2007.
On Tuesday, December 23, 2008, the President signed into law:
H.R. 6184, the “America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008,” which establishes a program in which the reverse side of quarter dollars issued beginning in 2010 will have designs emblematic of a national park or other national site in each State, the District of Columbia, and each territory of the United States; and requires these coins to be issued at a rate of five new designs each year in the order in which the sites selected were first established as a national site;
H.R. 7327, the “Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008,” which delays required minimum distributions from certain retirement accounts for one year; makes changes to funding requirements for certain pension plans; and makes other miscellaneous changes to tax and pension laws;
S. 3663, the “Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act,” which requires the Federal Communications Commission to implement a program to encourage and permit analog television broadcasting of safety information and digital television transition information for the 30-day period following the February 17, 2009, digital television transition deadline; and
S. 3712, which conforms the effective date of certain mental health parity requirements for collectively bargained group health plans with the general effective date of mental health parity provisions of Public Law 110-343.
It’s hard to believe 2009 is already here. 2008 was full of ups and downs, but I’m here and that’s all that matters. This past weekend at church the pastor preached about doing better in the new year. Instead of making resolutions that I may or may not keep, the best thing I can do is be the best me that God wants me to be. He talked about trying new things and getting out of your comfort zone. He also talked about setting short and long term goals for things you’d like to achieve. When you operate within the will of God, He’ll make a way.
Every year it seems like I change the purpose of this blog. I think it changes as I change. For the last couple of weeks I’ve slowed down on posting. It can be a real drain at times and with the new addition to the family, work and other outside activities it gets hard to keep up. But I blog to get things off my chest and to inform you all of things I find interesting. I enjoy the discussions in the comment area and I’ve learned a lot from people I’ve never met. My focus for 2009 will be much of the same. I don’t want this to be a news blog and I don’t want to focus on one specific topic. I want this blog to remain as open as possible. I want the sharing of knowledge and information to always remain a priority with this blog. We can learn a lot from each other and an informed people is a happy people (in most cases).
I hope you all have a good year in 2009. I thank you for your support and appreciate the time you take to read what I post. As always, I like hearing from you and will do my best to blog on topics where we can all learn together.
