Politics

Unemployment seems to be budging very little, especially for blacks, where it hovers around 15.7 percent. Millions of so-called baby boomers are nearing retirement. More people, not fewer, are relying on Social Security benefits, especially African Americans. And as President Obama and Congress begin the process of hammering out a budget for 2012, with standoffs…

Are American minorities unduly optimistic about their economic condition and future? A nationwide survey of attitudes about the recession and its impact shows that blacks and Hispanics, although hit harder by the economic downturn, are more upbeat than white Americans about the economy and the future of the United States. Blacks and Hispanics are also…

Just hours after the Republican-dominated House of Representatives passed a measure to strip Planned Parenthood of funding on Friday, the embattled organization hit back, setting the stage for a showdown in what is widely seen as a symbolic effort to repeal the health care law. The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, sponsored by Indiana…

The vitriol swirling around Michelle Obama’s support of the IRS’ reclassification of breast pumps as a deductible medical expense makes me ill. Conservative commentary from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and others who accuse the first lady of creating a “nanny state” and catering to special interests — specifically African-American women, who are statistically less likely…

It is very easy to say that we are in an economic crisis and that there is a need to make changes in government budgets at all levels, from the state capitals to Capitol Hill. Some of the choices involved are tough ones, including those proposed by President Obama in his version of the 2012…

It’s hard to imagine that someone who was practically announcing his 2012 White House bid on Fox News Sunday last weekend wouldn’t take the easy out on a hot-button issue when it’s sitting right there for him, but so far, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour won’t do it. In the latest race-relations dustup over Barbour’s unwillingness…

John W. Boyd Jr., the steadfast leader of the National Black Farmers Association, was in high spirits last December. President Barack Obama had just signed a bill authorizing $1.25 billion to settle a long-standing discrimination case filed by thousands of black farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The feat was hailed as a landmark…

ColorLines’ Shani O. Hilton is reporting that members of the Congressional Black Caucus are angry with President Obama’s announced budget cuts. In his press conference yesterday, Obama insisted that “just like every family in America, the government has to do two things at once: It has to live within its means and it has to…

The Associated Press is reporting that President Barack Obama has won a showdown vote in the GOP-controlled House to kill a costly alternative engine for the Pentagon’s next-generation fighter jet. A flood of Republican freshmen elected on a platform to cut the budget helped President Obama win the costly battle. Many taxpayer watchdog groups weighed…

Last week the Democratic National Committee announced that Charlotte, N.C., would host the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The Queen City wrestled the convention away from more popular cities like Cleveland, Minneapolis and St. Louis, Mo., to take its place on the world’s stage, playing host to no fewer than 30,000 delegates. By all accounts, the…