Affable, open and accessible are not words one usually associate with
politicians or political candidates such as John Liu, but the City
Comptroller and mayoral aspirant radiates these qualities even before
breakfast at Lenny’s on the upper Westside. Liu strolls into Lenny’s without a jacket on a recent morning, grabs
himself a sandwich, and between bites discusses the intricacies of
local, national and international affairs as well as a few details about
his campaign.
Future New York state employees will have fewer retirement benefits
because state legislators voted for cutting them in a move that
undercuts the power of labor unions.
Conservatives on the right—be they politicians, talk show hosts, or
recently departed gadflies—will do everything in their power to
disparage President Obama and anyone associated with him. And that includes digging up old videos of the late Harvard Professor
Derrick Bell embracing his student Barack Obama at a rally for faculty
diversity in 1991.
As the Obama administration presses colleges and universities to get
creative in improving racial diversity at their campuses, more Blacks
seem to be opting for public two-year colleges or trade schools.
President Obama laid out his administrative plan for the United States
in the state-of-the-union address last week and was succinct in
directing much of his statement at Congress. Citing a need for action
from Congress to help stimulate the economy by improving the employment
outlook for the upcoming year, Obama chastised the legislature for
"do-nothing" obstructionism and instructed them to "send me a bill."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama enjoyed considerable
support from the African-American community, and that certainly
included Hollywood. But expectations are lower this time, and there are real questions as to
whether or not African-Americans in Hollywood will step up for him
again.
Johnny Otis and Etta James were joined in life and now only a few
days apart they are together in death. Otis, 90, of Greek ancestry but
by choice black and who discovered James, died last Tuesday, Jan. 17
in Los Angeles. James, 73, whose recording of “At Last” brought
her everlasting fame, died on Friday, Jan. 20 in Riverside,
California, after suffering with leukemia.
President Obama has called the nation’s community colleges “an essential part of our recovery in the present and our prosperity in
the future." However, the vexing predicament facing the close to 1,600 community
colleges nationwide is a thorny one that doesn’t look to get any less
tangled in the near future as funding shortfalls from state budgets come
at a time when many schools across the country are experiencing
skyrocketing applications and record enrollments.
This Sunday will mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11th
terrorist attacks on New York, a fact that was apparently not lost on
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday as the Empire State
Development Corp. (ESD), the state’s chief economic development agency,
announced that it was awarding $17 million in Community and Cultural
Enhancement Fund grants to 38 community and cultural initiatives in
Lower Manhattan.
In 1963, at an American University commencement address, President John
F. Kennedy said, “If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can
help make the world safe for diversity." Now, almost a half century
later, and on the eve of the dedication of the MLK Jr.
Memorial on the Nat'l Mall in Washington, a new report released
Wednesday suggests we may have taken a monumental step towards
achieving both men’s vision in the last decade.
