Archives
All posts for the month April, 2018
#akaday@the Capitol-State Representative Jimmy Harris, District 99 in New Orleans. Great to see old friends.
Wall St Journal: Lois Romano
April 17, 2018 at 7:45 PM
Barbara Bush, who was the wife of one president and the mother of another and whose embrace of her image as America’s warmhearted grandmother belied her influence and mettle, died April 17. She was 92.
The office of her husband, former president George H.W. Bush, issued a statement announcing her death but did not disclose the cause. Mrs. Bush was reportedly battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure. Her family announced on April 15 that she had “decided not to seek additional medical treatment” after recent hospitalizations amid her “failing health.”
As the matriarch of one of America’s political dynasties, Mrs. Bush spent a half century in the public eye. She was portrayed as the consummate wife and homemaker as her husband rose from Texas oilman to commander in chief. They had six children, the eldest of whom, George W. Bush, became president. Their eldest daughter, Robin, died at age 3 of leukemia, a tragedy that had a profound impact on the family.
See how much money you spend this month with a “Sample Budgeting Worksheet”- http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-1020- make-budget-worksheet.pdf
50 YEARS SINCE MLK. |
On April 4, 1968 – five decades ago to the day – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King risked and ultimately sacrificed his life in a fight for racial and economic justice in America. Hear civil rights leaders of today reflect on his legacy. |
But his legacy is too often co-opted and his message appropriated by people who are actually fighting for policies that stand in opposition to King’s values. Dr. King was in Memphis for a sanitation workers’ strike, and throughout his life, he argued for better wages, working conditions, and strong unions for low-income workers and communities of color. But the Trump administration and many in Congress are enacting policies that weaken Americans’ power to organize into unions and earn decent wages. And the congressional Republicans’ tax plan will only exacerbate the wealth gap, which King fought so hard to end. King also devoted much of his life to ending the injustices within our health care system, saying, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” But too many of our members of Congress are trying to undermine the progress made under the Affordable Care Act. He fought tirelessly for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but conservatives in power have essentially turned back the clock through voter ID laws, gerrymandered districts, and voter roll purges – all of which disproportionately disadvantage people of color. |
So on a day when we honor the legacy and radically progressive message of a great leader, don’t fall for the rhetorically fluffed messages from people like Vice President Mike Pence, who says he “honors the man and the Dream.” Pence has dedicated his entire life to oppressing minorities and disadvantaging every American who does not share every single one of his traits. Politicians like him are just hoping you believe their whitewashed version of King’s message of peace and equality, rather than the reality of his radical distaste for institutions that systemically and systematically stack the deck in favor of the rich and powerful and against the poor and people of color. |