Uncategorized
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History Made, History Promised
Poor John McCain. He must be asking himself, “How am I supposed to follow that?” That, of course, is Barack Obama’s rousing appearance at the NAACP convention in Cincinnati Monday night. When McCain delivers his own speech to the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization on Wednesday morning, the ovation Obama triggered may still…
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A Stream of Change at Fountain Square
Barack Obama’s address to the NAACP convention was unspectacular, as these things go. It’s just that we’d heard all his material before, as good as it is. Repeat tomorrow.What made the NAACP speech significant wasn’t what Obama said and it didn’t happen in the convention hall. Its significance was in a crowd thousands-deep, two blocks…
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Global Waiting
Last year, Congress passed a measure calling for better gas mileage by the year 2020. Last week, the G-8 proposed reducing global gas emissions by the year 2050. I’m making some major announcements, too. I will be coming to work on time (starting in 2010). I will clean up my garage (by 2015). I will…
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Lift EVERY Voice?
Jazz singer Rene Marie recently courted controversy when she performed at the “State of the City” address by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Expected to sing the “Star Spangled Banner,” Marie instead broke out into a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Some have complained, including Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, that Marie needlessly made a…
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Lay Off Soror Barbie!
When I’m correctly tagged as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, I’d like to think that it’s because I exude ambition, class and a belief in paying it forward. Experience has taught me otherwise. Some people look no further than the color of my skin and length of my hair. The stereotype of…
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Homewreckers
You gotta admire, on some cynical level, a crook who can steal your money and make you believe it’s your own fault for getting jacked. That’s perhaps the most galling part about the con-job banks and lenders are still running on America. They spent a decade creating the “mortgage meltdown”—knocking down prescient state-level safeguards, dreaming…
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The Sotomayor Sessions
As the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor get under way this week on Capitol Hill, some members of the Senate have a major decision to make about their identity and their future. Will they continue to advance divisive politics rooted in America’s sad history of racism and exclusion? Or can they…
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Enough Already With the Bipartisanship!
I hate to say this, but unless President Barack Obama toughens up pretty soon, his presidency could be in trouble. It’s too early to be sure, but the warning signs are beginning to accumulate. If unemployment, now at 9.5 percent, keeps rising, Democrats could lose House and Senate seats in the midterm elections next year, and, though…
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Sotomayor's Judgment Day
As confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor begin before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, it’s probably best to keep some perspective on the significance of the proceedings. Unless there’s a violent crime in her past, Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Given Al Franken’s recent seating as…
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Smith's Rules for Global Domination
While you weren’t looking, no doubt tracking the fortunes of the Hope, Will Smith became the world’s biggest movie star. With the financial success of his superhero comedy Hancock ($62 million domestic on opening weekend, $190 million in its first full week global), Smith can claim five films that opened at No. 1 on July…