PBS: Newshour- Gwen Ifill & William P. Jones- ‘March on Washington Had More Radical Roots Than Remembered’

Source:PBS NewsHour– Gwen Ifill interviewing Professor William P. Jones.

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. It is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.”

From Wikipedia

“Historian William P. Jones joins Gwen Ifill to offer an overview of how the March on Washington came to be, why President Kennedy feared it would cause negative aftermath and what roles women of color played on that historic day. Their discussion is one a series of conversations looking back at the legacy of August 28, 1963.”

From the PBS NewsHour

The 1963 March on Washington was about individual freedom and equal rights for African-Americans. That is how the civil rights movement started out in the 1950s and 60s.

But as the movement moved along and by the time the late 1960s came around especially after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act and 1968 Fair Housing Law all passed Congress and were signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, the movement then shifted towards economic issues and policy.

What Socialists call economic justice and social justice which are about addressing poverty in America and creating an economic system that expanded economic opportunity to more Americans especially low-income Americans and wasn’t exclusively for African-Americans, but Americans in general who lived in poverty and had no hope for a bright future.

The civil rights movement moves from equal rights under law for all Americans in the early and mid 1960s, to economic and social justice by the late 1960s. And had a real social democratic feel to it and moving American past the New Deal and Great Society and building off of those agendas. Which is what Socialists especially on the Left say further Left in the Democratic Party and Green Party, talk about doing today.

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President Barack Obama: ‘A Thriving Middle Class Needs a Champion in Washington’

Source:President Barack Obama– campaigning in Wisconsin. I guess Wisconsinites call it Wiscansin.

“President Obama in Wisconsin: A Thriving Middle Class Needs a Champion in Washington”

From President Barack Obama 

What President Obama is saying here is as American as apple pie, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, gridiron football, baseball, and all of those things put put together: America is for everybody and American freedom is for everyone that works and tries to make it in America for themselves and their families. That it’s not about the wealth of your parents, or if you even have parents, not about our race, color, ethnicity, gender, but for every American who shows up, works hard, is productive, and brings skills and talent to the table. Great way to close out a reelection campaign.

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Only Waxing: Real Time With Bill Maher- The Paul Ryan Budget

Source:Only Waxing– Elliot Spitzer on Real Time With Bill Maher.

Source:The Daily Times 

“Andrew Sullivan Schools Maher and Spitzer on Paul Ryan and Budget. Very surprising.”

From Only Waxing

What Representative Paul Ryan (Chairman of the Budget Committee) tried to do in the last Congress and so far in this Congress, was an attempt at least on paper to balance the Federal budget. But by only concentrating on around 15-20% of the Federal budget.

And most of those cuts coming from non-Social Security and Medicare social-insurance programs. And if you saw Bill Maher in this video someone who I normally disagree with layout, Chairman Ryan attempts to balance the budget by going after the small appetizers or side dishes. Imagine a meal consisting of steak, mashed potatoes and lets say a caesar salad (good meal, right) instead of targeting the meat of the meal or even the potatoes the stuff that fills people up in the meal normally. What Chairman Ryan goes after a couple of leafs in the meal. “Big meal with too much food, we are going to take away a couple of leafs and call it fat reduction instead of deficit reduction.”

The meat and potatoes in the United States Government’s budget is defense, Social Security, Medicare and to a certain extent Medicaid. And then there are a bunch of public assistance programs of around 30 trillion-dollars or so that aids workers who do not make enough money, or are unemployed. Which is why I believe Paul Ryan and his followers are as interested in deficit reduction, as the typical career politician (lets say House or Senate) is interested in raising taxes or cutting Social Security during an election year when they are up for reelection, or getting a real job and earning their money. In others words: not at all.

If House Republicans were serious about deficit reduction, then they would write and pass a plan that solves the problem by going at the meat of the Federal budget. And not just picking away at salad leaves in it. Chairman Ryan is right I believe about the seriousness of the debt and deficit, but is not ready to solve the problems.

If I’m starving and its late at night and I haven’t had anything to eat all day, I don’t snack on a couple of crackers thinking my hunger will go away. I make myself a meal or buy one. The same thing with deficit reduction, that if you are serious about the budget you go where the meat is. Or in this case the money and you cut back in areas where you can afford to save money. That will help you solve the problem.

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