Thursday, February 26, 2009
Public Opinion Asks About President's Speech
The Public Opinion (Feb. 26, 09) called Democrats to ask their opinion about the President's speech (your editor was included as well as Rev. Steven Harris.) You'll notice another article about Republicans watching the speech. The Republicans, in the main, chose not to watch. I can understand their frustration having often thought twice about watching former President Bush. But in the end I did, because you have to be informed in order to form an opinion. Hopefully Republicans will get over the shock of being in the minority and figure out ways to work with President Obama to rebuild the American economy.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
SC 8th Grade Student to Sit with First Lady
Ty'Sheoma Bethea, an eighth-grade student at J.V. Martin Junior High School in Dillon, S.C., will sit with President Barack Obama's family Tuesday night when he delivers his first address to Congress. Ty'Sheoma was invited to sit in first lady Michelle Obama's mezzanine box in the House of Representatives, thanks to her letter imploring lawmakers to help her crumbling school, which was built in 1896. Ty'Sheoma's letter made its way to Obama, who campaigned at J.V. Martin in 2007.
Obama cited J.V. Martin two weeks ago in his first presidential news conference as a symbol of decaying schools that would be replaced by funds in his economic stimulus plan. "The president and first lady were moved by Ty'Sheoma's heartfelt letter and are looking forward to welcoming her to D.C.," said a White House spokeswoman. She walked to the Dillon town library to write her letter because her family doesn't have a computer.
"People are starting to see my school as a hopeless, uneducated school, which we are not," she wrote. "We finally want to prove to the world that we have a chance in life just like other schools, and we can feel good about what we are doing, because of the conditions we are in now we can not succeed in anything."
Obama cited J.V. Martin two weeks ago in his first presidential news conference as a symbol of decaying schools that would be replaced by funds in his economic stimulus plan. "The president and first lady were moved by Ty'Sheoma's heartfelt letter and are looking forward to welcoming her to D.C.," said a White House spokeswoman. She walked to the Dillon town library to write her letter because her family doesn't have a computer.
"People are starting to see my school as a hopeless, uneducated school, which we are not," she wrote. "We finally want to prove to the world that we have a chance in life just like other schools, and we can feel good about what we are doing, because of the conditions we are in now we can not succeed in anything."
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Keep Track of the Stimulus Bill Spending
This is a very good website posted by President Obama's office to track the funds and spending timeline of the recovery spending.
http://www.recovery.gov/
http://www.recovery.gov/
The White House Web Site
The White House website is full of important information and a terrific blog on the latest Obama Administration initiatives. Particularly don't miss the slide show on the work that went into passing the Stimulus Package. http://www.whitehouse.gov/slideshows/
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Call In For Single Payer Health Care Feb. 12, 2009
Our Fulton County friends, Jack and Kathie Hendricks, ask us to mark the national call in day for National Health Care, the single payer solution heading for Congress. we are being asked to call our congressman and the White House...the whole thing is nicely organized at this website: http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/call/
Abraham Lincoln the Working Man Imagined Our Future
“It has so happened in all ages of the world, that some have labored and others have, without labor, enjoyed a large proportion of the fruits. This is wrong, and should not continue.”- “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital; that, in fact, capital is the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed, that labor can exist without capital, but that capital could never have existed without labor. Hence…labor is the superior -- greatly the superior -- of capital.”... “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the Money Power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed.” Abr. Lincoln
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Photos from Inauguration Day?
Did you visit the mall? Did you party at home? Or, as your editor did on a moonlit beach in PR with a group of happy Democratic snowbirds. Please e mail photos of your experience on inauguration day to ruthjcommunications@comcast.net.
Editor Returns from a Long Swim
Your scuba loving editor has returned from Puerto Rico. Hope people are still reading this blog. Look for interesting updates later this week.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Visiting the District of Columbia for the Inaugural Festivities?
Check out this web site to find union restaurants and other highlights of DC's labor history
http://www.communitywalk.com/washington_dc/dc_labor_map/map/315109#0004;qAO
http://www.communitywalk.com/washington_dc/dc_labor_map/map/315109#0004;qAO
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Are You Waiting for Your Invitation?
December 21, 2008
Inside a Gritty Brooklyn Factory, Potomac Fever
By CAROLINE H. DWORIN
ON Thursday, Dec. 11, Jim Donnelly got the call at his office on Jay Street in Dumbo for the biggest job he had ever had. Emmett Beliveau, the executive director of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, told him that Precise Continental, Mr. Donnelly’s 26-year-old printing company, had won the bid to produce one million gold-and-black engraved invitations for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.
Mr. Donnelly gathered his staff for the announcement, and a cheer went up. “They were ecstatic,” he said. “They wanted to be a part of history.”
To meet the Jan. 2 deadline, Mr. Donnelly’s 65 employees have to work around the clock. But no one was complaining, Mr. Donnelly said, and he put out dozens of calls for rush orders of paper, ink and the like.
According to Mr. Donnelly, Precise Continental was selected over rival printers because it is a union company, it uses recycled paper and it is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which promotes responsible forest management. Although Clark Stevens, a spokesman for the inaugural committee, would not confirm that those factors were decisive, he did say, “These are issues that President-elect Obama campaigned on and that have concerned him throughout his career.”
Several days after the phone call, the snow fell heavily on the cobblestones in Dumbo, and trains rattled over the Manhattan Bridge. Inside Precise Continental, there was an almost poetic combination of mechanical repetition and human industry, all on an enormous ink-stained wooden floor. It could have been the 1800s.
The first order arrived by truck on Monday, from Neenah Paper, a Wisconsin company. Ink came on Tuesday from BuzzInk, in Chicago.
With clean hands, the workers inspected each invitation at each step in the process, and fed great machines moving back and forth. “This gentleman here can feed by hand as good as the automatic press can,” said Mr. Donnelly of a man he called Bobby, who was seated in front of a massive instrument moving sheets of paper from his left hand to his right.
Precise Continental prints stationery and specialty items, like certificates for Fordham’s million-dollar donors and invitations to an Emmy after-party sponsored by TV Guide. As for the inaugural invitations, they are being printed on recycled paper called Classic Crest (“It’s a distinguished cream color,” said Bernie Hennessy, area sales director at Neenah Paper), with an inaugural seal at the top in gold. The curling black script, modified versions of Shelley Allegro and Kuenstler typefaces, begins, “The Presidential Inaugural Committee requests the honor of your presence. ...”
Mr. Donnelly’s plant will hum 20 hours a day, with the workers in two shifts, to complete the project. “Our goal is to get as much done before Christmas Eve,” Mr. Donnelly said, “so they don’t have to work the day after Christmas.” He would not say how much the invitation project will cost.
A small, dark-haired, steady-handed man named Augusto Lovato, who speaks more Spanish than English, hunched over a drawing board in a quieter room off the main floor, a dusty lamp nearby. Peering though an old magnifying glass at a copper plate, he expertly cleaned the serifs and curls.
“This is a real economy,” Mr. Donnelly said of the printing business. “This is not that bogus economy of Wall Street. This country used to manufacture things.”
Mr. Donnelly does not believe he will be asked to attend the inauguration. Of course, he has not finished printing the invitations.
Inside a Gritty Brooklyn Factory, Potomac Fever
By CAROLINE H. DWORIN
ON Thursday, Dec. 11, Jim Donnelly got the call at his office on Jay Street in Dumbo for the biggest job he had ever had. Emmett Beliveau, the executive director of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, told him that Precise Continental, Mr. Donnelly’s 26-year-old printing company, had won the bid to produce one million gold-and-black engraved invitations for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.
Mr. Donnelly gathered his staff for the announcement, and a cheer went up. “They were ecstatic,” he said. “They wanted to be a part of history.”
To meet the Jan. 2 deadline, Mr. Donnelly’s 65 employees have to work around the clock. But no one was complaining, Mr. Donnelly said, and he put out dozens of calls for rush orders of paper, ink and the like.
According to Mr. Donnelly, Precise Continental was selected over rival printers because it is a union company, it uses recycled paper and it is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which promotes responsible forest management. Although Clark Stevens, a spokesman for the inaugural committee, would not confirm that those factors were decisive, he did say, “These are issues that President-elect Obama campaigned on and that have concerned him throughout his career.”
Several days after the phone call, the snow fell heavily on the cobblestones in Dumbo, and trains rattled over the Manhattan Bridge. Inside Precise Continental, there was an almost poetic combination of mechanical repetition and human industry, all on an enormous ink-stained wooden floor. It could have been the 1800s.
The first order arrived by truck on Monday, from Neenah Paper, a Wisconsin company. Ink came on Tuesday from BuzzInk, in Chicago.
With clean hands, the workers inspected each invitation at each step in the process, and fed great machines moving back and forth. “This gentleman here can feed by hand as good as the automatic press can,” said Mr. Donnelly of a man he called Bobby, who was seated in front of a massive instrument moving sheets of paper from his left hand to his right.
Precise Continental prints stationery and specialty items, like certificates for Fordham’s million-dollar donors and invitations to an Emmy after-party sponsored by TV Guide. As for the inaugural invitations, they are being printed on recycled paper called Classic Crest (“It’s a distinguished cream color,” said Bernie Hennessy, area sales director at Neenah Paper), with an inaugural seal at the top in gold. The curling black script, modified versions of Shelley Allegro and Kuenstler typefaces, begins, “The Presidential Inaugural Committee requests the honor of your presence. ...”
Mr. Donnelly’s plant will hum 20 hours a day, with the workers in two shifts, to complete the project. “Our goal is to get as much done before Christmas Eve,” Mr. Donnelly said, “so they don’t have to work the day after Christmas.” He would not say how much the invitation project will cost.
A small, dark-haired, steady-handed man named Augusto Lovato, who speaks more Spanish than English, hunched over a drawing board in a quieter room off the main floor, a dusty lamp nearby. Peering though an old magnifying glass at a copper plate, he expertly cleaned the serifs and curls.
“This is a real economy,” Mr. Donnelly said of the printing business. “This is not that bogus economy of Wall Street. This country used to manufacture things.”
Mr. Donnelly does not believe he will be asked to attend the inauguration. Of course, he has not finished printing the invitations.
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