Burlingame, CA -- The Republican party’s desire to appeal to Latino voters is a matter of survival. Nearly 22 million Latinos in the United States are eligible to participate in this year’s election—the most ever, and up by more than 2 million since 2008. But Republicans don’t have the best track record for getting Latinos, or any minority group candidates, in office. There are no Latino, Asian or Black Republicans serving in the state’s Senate, Assembly or congressional delegation.
The great fear a year ago when President Obama unveiled his budget for 2012 was that he caved to the GOP and Tea Party hardliners, and axed dozens of vital programs and agencies. The screams were long and loud from liberal Democrats that the budget slashes would tar Obama as the first Democratic president to do what no Democrat or GOP president had dared do and that was to slash and restructure Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The fears have mostly proved groundless.
From New America Media: PCIP is a part of President Obama's healthcare plan that guarantees access to insurance for U.S. citizens with preexisting conditions, who have been uninsured for at least six months. Knowing that the major changes under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) wouldn’t kick in until 2014, Democrats made sure to include provisions that would take effect quickly, as a bridge to 2014 – and before the 2012 election.
From New America Media: The excuses some Democrats give for their chill toward backing President Obama’s re-election bid would fill up a legal pad. The Blue Dog and moderate Democratic congresspersons and senators representing shaky swing and conservative districts are scared stiff that if they rub shoulders too close with Obama, they will be signing their political obituary for re-election.
Will the center-leaning and politically roadblocked President Obama have the force to resurrect the charismatic and inspirational Candidate Obama that we all remember from his momentous 2008 campaign? A few years ago, the symbolism that shrouded Barack Obama—the first African-American President in our country’s history running on an optimistic platform of “hope and change” with a commitment to bipartisanship made him seem more like a deity than a politician to many of his ardent supporters.
If Boseman wins a Golden Globe for his performance (he is nominated for best actor in a drama), some will believe it is out of sympathy. That thought should be dispelled now, as it diminishes his incredible work. In “Ma Rainey,” based on the like-titled August Wilson play, Boseman plays Levee Green, a trumpet player in a music world where black artists are mercilessly abused. Although capable of writing and playing with the best, Levee is relegated to backing Ma Rainey (Viola Davis, also nominated for a Globe), a black diva who has achieved enough fame and success to hold sway over white record producers.
At the same time, wood—in its “original” state as trees—has been adversely affected by global climate change and other environmental factors. This has led to wildfires of unprecedented fury and reach, including the megagires in Australia in 2009 that generated an inferno of hellish proportions, eventually covering more than 100 million acres. What comes across most vividly in this panoramic study of wood is Roland Ennos’s love of the subject.
