Blacksmythe - Latest Comments in 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Eisenhower Dollars — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:26:41 -0000

Other literature and novel writers Albert Camus (al-Bu’asa’), Henrik Ebsen (The Toy), Leo Tolstoy (War and Peace),Jean Jacquues Rousseau Ernest Hemingway, Jean Poll Sartre, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw and series of detective Arsine Lapin. In addition to Bertrand Russell, Karl Marx, and Karl Manheim in later years.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Flat House Rent — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:10:37 -0000

hey this is excellent dude.. a very great collection ideas and wonderful resources been given .. thanks for you wonderful post!!!!

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Background Check — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:03:45 -0000

Love #26... Our children need to learn how to farm. That is the best insurance against any sort of system melt down or stock market crash.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Meditopia Terms — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:21:26 -0000

Great post I would say..
I hope we get Obama read this somehow or the other. Many of your points are covered or are in process so something to be happy of.
I see you have a real emphasis on rebuilding New Orleans, would be good to see that.
I did not like the ending the war on drugs, this would take us back and at this time we need to consolidate and move forward.. specially in these crisis times..

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

John Crews — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:13:14 -0000

great blog and article

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

blacksmythe — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:47:49 -0000

I actually read that a higher up in either the forces or the Pentagon argued their high budget was unsustainable. Couldn't believe it.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

PatricktheRogue — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:02:09 -0000

Farm policy. It is completely asinine to forbid farmers from planting real food, like spinach, if they take subsidies for any other crop. Our current policy promotes wasteful use of fuel, contributes to climate change, discourages the development of local farm markets, and contributes to the obesity epidemic. I have probably missed something there, but our farm policy is so screwed up I run out of words. And its ramifications spread into every area of our lives. So, President Obama, please fix our farm policy.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

PatricktheRogue — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:54:53 -0000

Re: "you take at least half of the Defense Department budget and reallocate those funds towards providing universal healthcare and infrastructure improvements."

As a Marine officer, I can attest that there is a lot of bloat in the DOD (not much in the Marine Corps though, which is only about 4% of the DOD budget). For one of the new fighter planes the Air Force wants I could get you a whole Marine Division. You do the math, that's one plane instead of 20,000-plus individuals standing in boots. However, as the military-industrial complex is even more entrenched today than when Eisenhower railed against it, I would suggest that we deal with what's possible and simply use the money we already use for health care in our economy and provide health care for all. The Brits do this for about a third of the cost that we already spend. I'll say that again. The UK provides universal health care for less than we as a nation already spend on healthcare. Seems like the answer for the money is there somewhere already.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Liz — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:02:03 -0000

Hey Z, this is great...

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Kali Tal — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:21:04 -0000

Deal with the student loan crisis. Put an expiration date on them, after which they can be expunged by bankruptcy, create programs where people can work for the community to reduce loan burdens, and create limits on predatory lending for student loans.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Zanette Sanders from Chicago — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:42:57 -0000

I would add:

- 'Free wi-fi' in the nation, or in at least every public library across the nation.

- I would like to add 'eradicate poverty'. The word middle class has been thrown around alot, but no one addresses poverty and the true path to get out of it. Possibly communal based living, where the community can share in the agriculture produced (grow own crops), seamstress, mid-wife services, etc. and money goes into one pot dispersed amongst the community that puts into it.

- I agree with the Green Collar Jobs. There is a gentleman the name of Van Jones who wrote a book on 'The Green Collar Economy' and making sure that contractors are 'green certified' to apply for jobs. I would add parlay this into 'Going Green' housing projects as there are grants for implementing changes in the home. I'm actually doing some research on this now as I understand there are matching grants available.

- Please add 'Innovation' to the list. To spur the creativity in all of us, if we have an innovation database of ideas that people could collaborate on, and work across the nation in monthly meetings across the internet and/or phone conferencing. The next big idea can be created and patented across the team.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Joe Embree — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:18:39 -0000

Send more funding to HBCU'S

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Constructive_Feedback — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:29:01 -0000

[quote]Blacks vote for the Democratic Party not solely because they believe the GOP to be racist, but because the DNC supports programs that blacks tend to support.[/quote]

Excuse me brother Blacksmythe - you say that Blacks and the DNC are in alignment with programs that are ASSUMED TO ASSIST Black people in our efforts at progress.

Question my brother - at what point should Black America make the distinction between WHAT IS ASSUMED TO be advancing our best interests and what IS ACTUALLY ADVANCING our interests? What is "popular" is not the same as what is EFFECTIVE.

Why isn't it fair to make note that where Black folks are most concentrated there is ALSO a Democratic stranglehold on these same places yet many of the key elements of the "Black Misery index" are also unacceptably high? (Unemploymnet, Crime, Educational challenges).

It appears to me that there is a need to do an accounting between the ASSUMPTIONS and the REALITY.

It is illogical to have an external faction that enjoys strong and unquestioned support as we fight AGAINST OUR ENEMIES only to have these enemies depart, that faction take over and yet they "MOVE THE GOAL POSTS" and have us focus not on that which they are delivering for our communities any longer but instead how the adversary from afar is not sharing with us.

This can only be accomplished via a complicit Black voting bloc who goes along with the altered goal line.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Cobb — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:16:54 -0000

Spoiled as compared to ourselves when we rode horses, or even to those fleeing the Dust Bowl, or even to those a mere half a century ago in the Jim Crow era when college was not required.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

blacksmythe — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:50:30 -0000

With the exception of the spoiled part--spoiled compared to whom?--you are absolutely right. I did this intentionally.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Cobb — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:25:03 -0000

Geopolitics. You missed basically everything on the globe that's not focused on the material concerns of the already spoiled American proletariat.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Irami — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:29:35 -0000

"How do we restructure our society, so fewer of our smartest people are going into zero-sum stuff like stock trading and tax law?"

You speak boldly about the importance of good faith and ethics in business culture. And you lead by example, that means, Barack, take public financing, ESPECIALLY when it's inconvenient to do so.

I still don't know why so many Negroes are itching to vote for a black guy who wants to end Affirmative Action. Booker T. Washington is running for President and blacks are buying what the liberal whites are selling.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

blacksmythe — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:07:34 -0000

I think the statement about "black party discipline" was confusing on my end as I read it. I'm not arguing that there is a group within the democratic party that somehow keeps black people in line, but rather that there is a group dynamic (the shorthand term here is "linked fate") that binds black people together attitudinally and behaviorally. Politically it is expressed in the large support for the DNC, and in this case the relative unwillingness to talk about substantive policy concerns in favor of focusing on electing Obama.

I know he's the head of the government. But again, he's the President, not the CEO. We elect him rather than hire him. The distinction is important. His ability to act unilaterally IS constrained...but pointing again SOLELY to the ability to draft executive orders I'd ask how many times Bush's executive orders (for example) were overturned by either Congress or the Supreme Court? How many of Bush's executive orders (for example) explicitly refer to acts of Congress?

Under Bush and to a lesser extent Clinton the power of the presidency in relation to the other two branches of government has increased. There may be some pushback against the idea of an "imperial presidency" but I expect Obama when elected to have significant sway over the legislative agenda of Congress. Off the top of my head Bush lost with Social Security, and he lost in trying to make his tax cuts permanent. But he (sadly) accomplished much of what he explicitly set out to accomplish.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Wm_Tucker — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:36:25 -0000

I didn't write Black voters choose Democrats out of contempt for the GOP. I was addressing the idea of 'Black party discipline' which, IMO, doesn't exist. Blacks just aren't coordinated in such a manner -- although I understand how it seems that way from the results. I believe there as many reasons why Black voters pick Democratic candidates as there are Black people.

On the second point, you're completely incorrect. The POTUS is the head of the Federal government, in addition to being the head of state and commander-in-chief of the military. His ability to act unilaterally is constrained by Congress on the one side and the courts on the other. He does not write legislation. He does not adjudicate law. When issuing executive orders, the President is only free to interpret how a law will be enforced. A lot of a president's authority is symbolic, as when he uses the proverbial bully pulpit to influence or galvanize public opinion.

As you noted, the President is a public servant in the sense he does our bidding as determined by Congress. But we do cede him various powers and privileges under the law that add up to a considerable amount of discretion for the POTUS to do the job of running the gov't. So, if there are ideas, or actually an agenda you have in mind for the next President to follow, the most efficient way to affect them/it would be through Congress.

Think globally, act locally.

Maybe I'll take a stab at condensing your list later.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

blacksmythe — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:34:42 -0000

The first part of your statement is wrong. Blacks vote for the Democratic Party not solely because they believe the GOP to be racist, but because the DNC supports programs that blacks tend to support.

And we're not talking about a chief executive. The United States isn't a business...we're talking about a President. An individual who does have the power, by executive order if nothing else, to make significant policy changes. It isn't solely about the bully pulpit.

Finally it isn't about setting forth "challenges for the American people." The American people elect HIM and other representatives...not the other way around.

But...let's ignore that for a second. You think these things above could be condensed into 4 or 5 broad policy goals. What would they be?

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Wm_Tucker — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:16:20 -0000

Again... I don't believe the overwhelming Black voter consensus for Obama to be unified around any particular policy, or set of policies.

What I know about a chief executive is their main responsibility is to articulate a vision for which others act. With all due respect to your laundry list, most of these action items can be condensed into 4 or 5 broad policy goals. It will be Obama's role as President to state these points as challenges for the American people.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

albatross — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:12:04 -0000

Irami:

Your comment about derivatives and "the smartest guys in the room" raises another big problem, nothing the president can hope to solve in the first months of his term, maybe not even solveable: How do we restructure our society, so fewer of our smartest people are going into zero-sum stuff like stock trading and tax law? It can't possibly be a good allocation of resources to have guys bright enough to get PhDs in math or physics working to extract some tiny advantage over one another on the trading floor. What would our world look like if those smart people (and most of the smart people in tax law and corporate law and high-tech weapons design) were building something *useful*?

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Irami Osei-Frimpong — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:54:12 -0000

Education.

Obama has the audacity to deny school vouchers while he puts his own girls in a private school. I'm against school vouchers, but I understand that shared sacrifice means that one ought to but ones children in public schooling. If you aren't willing to do that, how dare you ask others to do sacrifice their children in a public school?

Public Finacing:

Obama single handedly killed campaign financing reform by putting his campaign before his principles. If he is going to murder public financing, I hope he comes up with an appropriate plan in its stead.

My greatest nightmare about an Barack Obama election is that black people have let suburban whites pick their leadership. Barack Obama is a physical instanciation of Washingtion's Altanta Compromise. White people get to keep their suburban houses, illegal immigrant labor, big cars, patriot act, death penalty in picking a black candidate who is anti-affirmative action, pro-NCLB, mealy guns and silent about criminal justice. Obama has brokered a deal where all whites have to do is vote for Obama to move into a post-racial America and pat themselves, thereby making sure that the only Negro they have to see are the "right kinds" on their TV in the guise of Heathcliff Huxtable or President Barack Obama. There is a great section in "Crisis of a Negro Intellectual" where Harold Cruise talks about "Rasin in the Sun," as a popular black play because white producers, reviewers, and audience members liked because it showed a struggling black family that wanted nothing more dearly than to act with the norms struggling white family.

Yes, my bar is higher for black men because our burden and potential is greater. I do not want my kids, or anybody else kids, to fool themselves into thinking that it's permissible to ditch your preacher because he makes suburban whites nervous. You don't ditch a woman with the quality and character and intellect of Samantha Power because she made a mistake and apologized for it. Americans are Americans with respect to our character, not our economy. Which is why he should be ashamed of his position on Education.

Obama wants to throw money at the pit which is NCLB, rather than open up a serious about the purpose and promise of public education in a democracy. He wants to produce math and science test takers, and while I may be wrong, it was those greedy derivatives junkies, the smartest guys in the room , who bloated the market and introduced us to one of the worst financial meltdown in US history. (I'm going to leave perfect LSAT Eliot Spitzer out of this.)Obama wants to produce Math and Science scholars to rival India and China, but those countries have a billion people each, and if they want to produce more engineers than we do, they are going to do so. At best, what we can do is produce the right kind of engineers, ones who have the quality of character to look into the political sphere and work responsibly, but in order to cultivate the right kind of engineer, one needs to develop character, courage and insight. Character must always come first.

I went Ralph Nader's web site. I read his education policy. Nader gets it. I'm voting for Nader. I think everyone should vote for Nader. If that means McCain wins the election, so be it. Negroes will survive four years of John McCain. We may not survive four years of looking up to an ambitious coward like Barack Obama or and unctuous weasel like Jesse Jackson Jr.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Exodus Mentality — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:49:58 -0000

How about stop United States military aggression against brown people throughout the world? Or are you sticking with a purely domestic agenda? This still fits, if after you stop shooting, you take at least half of the Defense Department budget and reallocate those funds towards providing universal healthcare and infrastructure improvements.

How about forming an exploratory committee to find a viable alternative to rampant capitalism as our foundational economic principle? Too much?

Maybe initiate a Justice Department inquiry into the abuses of prosecutorial and judicial discretion in charging and sentencing and how that may have affected the disproportionate minority overpopulation of the prison industrial complex?

While he's at it, how about dismantling the prison industrial complex?

Did I mention racial profiling? Would somebody please ask Obama to mention it? Just in passing, so people will think he might be thinking about it sometimes?

While I don't want to quibble about rebuilding New Orleans, could we at least make sure the residents of New Orleans can afford to live there at some level other than abject poverty this time around?

Let me think about this for a while, and I'll get back to you. By the way, I like the linked list. Not sure I have the patience or internet search skills to find links for all of my ideas, but I'm going to try this at home, thank you very much.

Re: 40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)

Mahndisa — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:54:34 -0000

10 19 08

Your ideas are lofty, save rebuilding New Orleans. It is an environmental disaster waiting to happen and will not be sustainable in the future.