truesee's Blog

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a fiery summons to an important voting bloc, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and “put on your marching shoes” to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity.

And though he didn’t say it directly, for a second term, too.

Obama’s speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he’s been giving away too much in talks with Republicans — and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent.

“It gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of y’all,” Obama told an audience of some 3,000 in a darkened Washington convention center.

But he said blacks need to have faith in the future — and understand that the fight won’t be won if they don’t rally to his side.

“I need your help,” Obama said.

The president will need black turnout to match its historic 2008 levels if he’s to have a shot at winning a second term, and Saturday’s speech was a chance to speak directly to inner-city concerns.

He acknowledged blacks have suffered mightily because of the recession, and are frustrated that the downturn is taking so long to reverse. “So many people are still hurting. So many people are barely hanging on,” he said, then added: “And so many people in this city are fighting us every step of the way.”

But Obama said blacks know all too well from the civil rights struggle that the fight for what is right is never easy.

“Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,” he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. “Shake it off. Stop complainin’. Stop grumblin’. Stop cryin’. We are going to press on. We have work to do.”

Topping the to-do list, he said, is getting Congress to the pass jobs bill he sent to Capitol Hill two weeks ago.

Obama said the package of payroll tax cuts, business tax breaks and infrastructure spending will benefit 100,000 black-owned businesses and 20 million African-American workers. Republicans have indicated they’re open to some of the tax measures — but oppose his means of paying for it: hiking taxes on top income-earners and big business.

But at times, Obama also sounded like he was discussing his own embattled tenure.

“The future rewards those who press on,” He said. “I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.”

Caucus leaders remain fiercely protective of the nation’s first African-American president, but in recent weeks they’ve been increasingly vocal in their discontent — especially over black joblessness.

“If Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House,” the caucus chairman, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, recently told McClatchy Newspapers.

Like many Democratic lawmakers, caucus members were dismayed by Obama’s concessions to the GOP during the summer’s talks on raising the government’s borrowing limit.

Cleaver famously called the compromise deal a “sugar-coated Satan sandwich.”

But Cleaver said his members also are keeping their gripes in check because “nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president.”

Still, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., caused a stir last month by complaining that Obama’s Midwest bus tour had bypassed black districts. She told a largely black audience in Detroit that the caucus is “supportive of the president, but we’re getting tired.”

Last year, Obama addressed the same dinner and implored blacks to get out the vote in the midterm elections because Republicans were preparing to “turn back the clock.”

What followed was a Democratic rout that Obama acknowledged as a “shellacking.”

Where blacks had turned out in droves to help elect him in 2008, there was a sharp drop-off two years later.

Some 65 percent of eligible blacks voted in 2008, compared with a 2010 level that polls estimate at between 37 percent and 40 percent. Final census figures for 2010 are not yet available, and it’s worth noting off-year elections typically draw far fewer voters.

This year’s caucus speech came as Obama began cranking up grass-roots efforts across the Democratic spectrum.

It also fell on the eve of a trip to the West Coast that will combine salesmanship for the jobs plan he sent to Congress this month and re-election fundraising.

Obama was leaving Sunday morning for Seattle, where two money receptions were planned, with two more to follow in the San Francisco area.

On Monday, Obama is holding a town meeting at the California headquarters of LinkedIn, the business networking website, before going on to fundraisers in San Diego and Los Angeles and a visit Tuesday to a Denver-area high school to highlight the school renovation component of the jobs package.

Poll: 56% of surveyed think Barack Obama is worse President, or just as bad, as George W. Bush

John Lauinger
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, September 24th 2011, 4:00 AM

Another example of some parental wisdom that we've all heard: Do as I say, (Not as I Do).

Michael Turner allegedly became upset with his 17-year-old son for taking his sister earlier that day to get a tattoo, according to a Clay County Sheriff's Office arrest report.

Details from the arrest affidavit:
The Orange Park dad got into his car, revved up the engine and drove at his son twice. But the lucky lad was able to dodge the vehicle both times.

The teen then struck his dad "in self-defense" with his fist through an open window in the vehicle.

Now it was dad's turn — he stepped out of the vehicle, then opened the trunk to retrieve a crowbar which he swung at his son.

Mom managed to intervene and separate the two before deputies arrived.

Odd behavior from a Dad that sports some tattoos, according to the arrest report.

Dad tats include a panther on his left leg, an eagle on his right leg and a panther head on his right shoulder.

Photo: Clay County Sheriff's Office

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Pampered pets can live the life of luxury in the world’s first seven-star animal hotel in Dubai – complete with air conditioned suites and an on-site GYM.

Irish ex-pat Aideen O’Mara set up the Urban Tails Pet Resort as a pet equivalent to the mega-rich resort’s famous Burj Al Arab hotel.

Charging up to #68 per night, the hotel has plasma TVs in rooms and butlers to cater for the animals’ every need.

There are webcams all over the resort so owners can log in from wherever they are in the world for peace of mind.

And speakers play classical music in communal areas of the resort to ”promote calmness”.

Dogs are not allowed on public beaches or in parks in Dubai and have to spend five months inside because of the unbearable heat.

Aideen moved to the UAE in 2004 where she worked at an international school for seven years before she spotted a gap in the market and set up her hotel this year.

She wanted to create an environment where cats and dogs could ”socialise in luxury surroundings” while their European owners return home at the hottest time of the year.

Urban Tails – which styles itself as a seven-star resort like the famous Burj al Arab hotel – has suites to accommodate 70 dogs and 40 cats while their owners are away from home.

Aideen, said: ”I have always had pets and I feel that animals are given a bit of a raw deal in the UAE in terms of pet services on offer and they do not have much freedom in comparison to dogs in Europe.

”I came up with the idea of a pet resort as, first of all, most of the pets in Dubai use boarding facilities and secondly, there was no facility in the country that was attempting to make boarding stress free for the pet and their owners.

”When dogs are staying with us we socialise them in groups and get them out of their suites, playing a few times a day so that when they are put back in they are too tired to be anxious.

”We have plasma TVs in all the dog suites to give them company and let them hear sounds that remind them of home.

”I wanted the dogs to actually enjoy the boarding experience instead of hating it.”

Prices start from £20 per night for the Junior Suite with the slightly larger Deluxe and Urban Suites costing £24 and £25.50 respectively.

All suites and play areas have a special design layout to reduce noise and minimize stress

The top-of-the-range Royal Suite costs a jaw-dropping £68 per night, although the service comes with a personal butler and pickup and delivery in the ‘pet limo’.

Aideen added: ”It’s not all about dogs either. Our cat guests also get out of their condos every day so they don’t feel like they’re cooped up.

”Sometimes we are able to mix a few cats together so they can play on the Cat Jungle and run around after each other.”

”It’s been our first summer but we were full for the whole season and the animals seem to love it.

”Owners are always saying that when their car pulls up outside the gate the dog is pulling at the leash to come inside. Some dogs even have to be pulled out the gate when they are leaving.”

Octomom Nadya Suleman says she 'hates' her children, contemplates suicide: 'They disgust me'

Cristina Everett
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, June 30th 2011, 11:22 AM