Motley Moose – Archive

On Sunday, March 1st: easily the best three minutes of my day were spent watching part of CBS Sunday Morning, as we will see after the jump ….  

“Higher education is the door to a future of your own making. No American – regardless of their background or station in life – should be priced out of the education they want and need.”

~ President Barack Obama, March 10, 2015

Education Secretary Arne Duncan: The Student Aid Bill of Rights: Enhancing Protections for Student Loan Borrowers

The single most important investment anyone can make in their future is to pursue higher education. But the one thing I often hear from families is that they are worried about the cost.

Too many students are graduating from college feeling burdened by their student loan debt. The Obama Administration has – and will continue to – make college more affordable through increased Pell Grants and education tax credits, while improving transparency so that students and families have the information they need to select schools that provide the best value. Today, we are building on the Administration’s success helping students manage their debt and stay on track.

That’s why today, President Obama has proposed a new Student Aid Bill of Rights that outlines a series of new actions that direct the Department of Education, Department of Treasury, Office of Management and Budget, Office of Science and Technology Policy and Domestic Policy Council, working with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Social Security Administration, to make paying for higher education an easier and fairer experience for millions of Americans.

Video of President Obama’s Speech at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia is below.

VP Joe Biden has spoken out forcefully against the 47 Republicans who took it upon themselves, with no constitutional authority to meddle and attempt to undermine the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Statement by the Vice President on the March 9th Letter From Republican Senators to the Islamic Republic of Iran

I served in the United States Senate for thirty-six years. I believe deeply in its traditions, in its value as an institution, and in its indispensable constitutional role in the conduct of our foreign policy. The letter sent on March 9th by forty-seven Republican Senators to the Islamic Republic of Iran, expressly designed to undercut a sitting President in the midst of sensitive international negotiations, is beneath the dignity of an institution I revere.

This letter, in the guise of a constitutional lesson, ignores two centuries of precedent and threatens to undermine the ability of any future American President, whether Democrat or Republican, to negotiate with other nations on behalf of the United States. Honorable people can disagree over policy. But this is no way to make America safer or stronger.

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR)?

Statement by the Vice President on the March 9th Letter From Republican Senators to the Islamic Republic of Iran

“I served in the United States Senate for thirty-six years. I believe deeply in its traditions, in its value as an institution, and in its indispensable constitutional role in the conduct of our foreign policy. The letter sent on March 9th by forty-seven Republican Senators to the Islamic Republic of Iran, expressly designed to undercut a sitting President in the midst of sensitive international negotiations, is beneath the dignity of an institution I revere.

This letter, in the guise of a constitutional lesson, ignores two centuries of precedent and threatens to undermine the ability of any future American President, whether Democrat or Republican, to negotiate with other nations on behalf of the United States. Honorable people can disagree over policy. But this is no way to make America safer or stronger.

Around the world, America’s influence depends on its ability to honor its commitments. Some of these are made in international agreements approved by Congress. However, as the authors of this letter must know, the vast majority of our international commitments take effect without Congressional approval. And that will be the case should the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany reach an understanding with Iran. There are numerous similar cases. The recent U.S.-Russia framework to remove chemical weapons from Syria is only one recent example. Arrangements such as these are often what provide the protections that U.S. troops around the world rely on every day. They allow for the basing of our forces in places like Afghanistan. They help us disrupt the proliferation by sea of weapons of mass destruction. They are essential tools to the conduct of our foreign policy, and they ensure the continuity that enables the United States to maintain our credibility and global leadership even as Presidents and Congresses come and go.

Since the beginning of the Republic, Presidents have addressed sensitive and high-profile matters in negotiations that culminate in commitments, both binding and non-binding, that Congress does not approve. Under Presidents of both parties, such major shifts in American foreign policy as diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China, the resolution of the Iran hostage crisis, and the conclusion of the Vietnam War were all conducted without Congressional approval.

In thirty-six years in the United States Senate, I cannot recall another instance in which Senators wrote directly to advise another country-much less a longtime foreign adversary- that the President does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them. This letter sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe alike that that our Commander-in-Chief cannot deliver on America’s commitments-a message that is as false as it is dangerous.

The decision to undercut our President and circumvent our constitutional system offends me as a matter of principle. As a matter of policy, the letter and its authors have also offered no viable alternative to the diplomatic resolution with Iran that their letter seeks to undermine.

There is no perfect solution to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program. However, a diplomatic solution that puts significant and verifiable constraints on Iran’s nuclear program represents the best, most sustainable chance to ensure that America, Israel, and the world will never be menaced by a nuclear-armed Iran. This letter is designed to convince Iran’s leaders not to reach such an understanding with the United States.

The author of this letter has been explicit that he is seeking to take any action that will end President Obama’s diplomatic negotiations with Iran. But to what end? If talks collapse because of Congressional intervention, the United States will be blamed, leaving us with the worst of all worlds. Iran’s nuclear program, currently frozen, would race forward again. We would lack the international unity necessary just to enforce existing sanctions, let alone put in place new ones. Without diplomacy or increased pressure, the need to resort to military force becomes much more likely-at a time when our forces are already engaged in the fight against ISIL.

The President has committed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He has made clear that no deal is preferable to a bad deal that fails to achieve this objective, and he has made clear that all options remain on the table. The current negotiations offer the best prospect in many years to address the serious threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It would be a dangerous mistake to scuttle a peaceful resolution, especially while diplomacy is still underway.

(h/t TPM)

Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings diaries give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

The President’s Weekly Address post is also an Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, the President discussed an issue close to his heart: education for adolescent girls around the world. Earlier this week, he and the First Lady announced “Let Girls Learn,” a whole of government initiative that will build on investments we have made and successes we have achieved in global primary school education, and expand them to help adolescent girls complete their education and pursue their broader aspirations.

62 million girls around the world — half of whom are adolescent — are not in school and therefore have diminished economic opportunities. Yet when a girl receives a quality education, she is more likely to earn a decent living, raise a healthy, educated family, and improve the quality of life for herself, her family, and her community. That’s why the President and First Lady have made addressing this problem a priority because every girl has so much to offer to the world, and no girl should be denied her chance to learn.

UPDATED: The president’s speech :

Rep. Terri Sewell at 1:59:20

Rep. John Lewis at 2:04:00

President Obama at 2:12:00

Transcript: Remarks by the President at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches

Today, CSPAN-3 will cover the commemoration of Bloody Sunday live at 12 noon Eastern Time.

Six hundred marchers assembled in Selma on Sunday, March 7, and, led by John Lewis and other SNCC and SCLC activists, crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River en route to Montgomery. Just short of the bridge, they found their way blocked by Alabama State troopers and local police who ordered them to turn around. When the protesters refused, the officers shot teargas and waded into the crowd, beating the nonviolent protesters with billy clubs and ultimately hospitalizing over fifty people.

President Obama on this weeks events:

“When I take Malia and Sasha down with Michelle next week, down to Selma, part of what I’m hoping to do is to remind them of their own obligations. Because there are going to be marches for them to march, and struggles for them to fight”

There are many stories about the march, few as imbued with symbolism as this one Tweeted by @splcenter: The Untold Story of Why MLK Wore a Hawaiian Lei at Selma

Bright Hawaiian lei will be on full display this weekend when President Barack Obama, civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis and others march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to mark the anniversary of the civil rights protests.[…]

In photos of the 54-mile third march from Selma to Montgomery on March 21, 1965, Martin Luther King, John Lewis and other demonstrators can be seen wearing the iconic Hawaiian flower garlands.

The journey of those flowers from Hawaii to Alabama started a year earlier, when King delivered a lecture at the University of Hawaii. It was there that he met Rev. Abraham Akaka, the brother of future U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka.

In the lead-up to the third march, as President Lyndon Johnson was making preparations to protect the demonstrators with military policemen and the Alabama National Guard, Rev. Akaka sent gifts of bright white lei from the Pacific Ocean to the Deep South to be draped on the marchers.

For the reverend, it was a symbolic gesture that affirmed Asian-American support for the civil rights movement.

Now, 50 years later, Lewis and Hawaii native Obama will join Asian-American lawmakers Sen. Mazie Hirono and Rep. Mark Takai, among nearly 100 lawmakers, to pay homage to the civil rights movement and “Bloody Sunday.”

The first black president, born in Hawaii, will be wearing a lei to honor the civil rights movement.

Inside the Ferguson court. Black people pay fees and fines. White people collect them.






After reading the Department of Justice (DOJ) report on the Ferguson police department, lyrics from an old song “Sixteen Tons” kept going through my head. “Another day older and deeper in debt….I owe my soul to the company store,” and someone needs to do an update with “I owe my soul to the Ferguson Court.”

That lyric references “debt bondage,”and though the original song was talking about coal miners, in my head I envisioned black sharecroppers, who after emancipation lived in debt and suffering under the yoke of white planters.

Browsing the news, I read “This Is What It’s Like To Go To Court In Ferguson, Missouri.”

In an email I noted:

Systemic racism is intersectional-so it covers policing, repression, economics, schooling, housing …

This is what I call urban sharecropping-black rural populations lived in debt to “the company store.” Black urban populations like those in Ferguson now live in debt to the township. Race is never overshadowed.  It is the driving force behind systems of subjugation and control. Missouri was a slave state. Might as well sing Dixie when you think of it.

The harvest in Ferguson is cash. The police are like the overseers and drivers on plantations of old, keeping black folks in line and paying…paying…paying. Sass back, get shot or bit by dog. Can’t pay-go to jail. The boss who profits…well you can figure that out.

Cross-posted from Denise Oliver Velez at Daily Kos

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Hi. If you look at my timeline, you’ll see I do a lot of diaries about the  Hill Country Ride for AIDS. I haven’t done as many of these this year as I’d like, I’ve been a bit distracted. But I have a commitment to raise at least $2,000 for the Ride. If you want to cut to the chase, here’s my Hill Country Ride for AIDS page, but I hope you’ll come with me below the fold for a good story. And of course music.

Oh – and a picture. Here’s a picture from the year I was top fundraiser, with the amazingly wonderful David Smith, who was the director that year :

A word about David. His 50th birthday was yesterday, and his FB timeline was filled with greetings, as it should be. But they were different than the usual “happy birthday”. Almost to a person, we all posted messages about what a blessing David is, how lucky we are to have him in our lives, and how the wold is so, so much better because he is here.

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was a lioness. Born into enslavement in Mississippi in 1862 she rose to become one of the foremost voices in this nation against lynching and injustice, as a journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, and an early leader in the civil rights movement.  She is one of my sheroes. I have written about Wells-Barnett before, in The Ballot and Black Women, and in They marched and battled for the ballot.