We don't need no stinkin' Constitution

Founding Fathers blamed for current problems

Shiftown, Arkansas--President Obama spoke to a crowd of supporters today and took the opportunity to explain the context of the crises he faces as the nation's leader.

"People are saying 'where's the change, where's the change?' Now, I've only been in office for a year and half," Obama told the audience. "When I came to the White House, the Constitution already existed. All these separations of powers, the cozy relationship between people who want certain products and those who supply them in a free enterprise system under a limited government, all that was in place when I got here."

"Every day, we're making progress," he continued, "but I have to tell you, the influence of the guys who wrote the Constitution became entrenched, not on my watch, but well before I was even born. It's going to take some time to undo all that."

(from optoons.blogspot.com)

Related video clips:

'Fundamentally transforming the U.S.A.'

'The fundamental flaw of this country'

Obama energizes censorship

We don't need no stinkin' news union

The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in April killed eleven workers, and led to the biggest oil spill and one of the worst environmental catastrophes in U.S. history. Hundreds, if not thousands, of reporters and photographers—many of them AFTRA members—descended on the region and many remain there today, working tirelessly to cover this complex and constantly shifting story. The spill and its effects on the economy, the environment, and the people of the Gulf region will be a major story for months, if not years, to come.

As the union of broadcast journalists, AFTRA is committed to understanding the challenges journalists face as they cover the story, and providing support and solutions. In particular, our union is deeply concerned about recent reports that members of the press are being denied access to people and places essential to their ability to fully cover the oil spill.

Since last month, stories of the press being denied access by BP and its contractors, local law enforcement and the U.S. military have emerged sporadically in local and national press reports and in the blogosphere. Frequently, journalists and photographers are being provided access as embeds on government or corporate flights, rather than being given unfettered access to sources and locations. Denial of access to people and public spaces and filtering the story through a government or corporate lens is censorship.

(from aftra.com)

Bloody Thursday, Labor State

On this day: July 5

Venezuela declares independence from Spain (1811)

Germany takes possession of Cameroon (1884)

"Bloody Thursday": Police open fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco (1934)

The National Labor Relations Act is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1935)

b: Eugen Fischer (1874); d: Tom Mboya (1969), Kenneth Lay (2006)

Community Organizing for the New Progressive Era