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President Obama’s Opaque Transparency by Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

NEWS ANALYSIS

President Obama’s Opaque Transparency
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

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“We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency… Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.” President Barack Obama – WhiteHouse.gov

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Over the past few weeks the Obama administration has been embroiled in a number of controversies. Three of which are the Benghazi talking points; the Department of Justice obtained through a subpoena two months of telephone records of Associated Press reporters; and the Internal Revenue Service targeted Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax exempt status.

Let’s look at each of these issues separately. First, the Benghazi talking points. Conservatives such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, Senator’s Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are accusing the Obama administration of covering up the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attack to help the president's chances in the election battle with Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

After a release of over 100 pages of emails between the CIA and the Department of State, the record is clear that there was a disagreement between David H. Petraeus, former director of the C.I.A., and his assistant, Michael J. Morell, over how much detail to provide. The conclusion that one draws from this is it was not the administration concerned about reelection, it was officials in the government such as Petraeus and others at the Department of State who were concerned about how this attack would reflect upon them.

What gets lost in this conservative echo chamber is the critical analysis of why did the Obama administration agree to remove a leader of a sovereign country who was posing no immediate threat to American interests. Senator Obama railed against the Bush administration (and rightfully so) for the illegal invasion of Iraq but then as president engages in similar chicanery.

Also, how has this illegal and ill-advised blunder made America safer when as a result of destabilizing Libya there are now thousands of surface-to-air missiles (SAMS), rocket propelled grenades (RPG’s) and other dangerous weapons showing up in Mali and other countries in the region? As Secretary of Defense Gates said on Face the Nation, “Well, given the number of surface to air missiles that have disappeared from Qaddafi's arsenals, I would not have approved sending an aircraft, a single aircraft-- over Benghazi under those circumstances.”

Second, the DOJ vs. AP. The Justice Department sought and was granted a subpoena to obtain two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press (AP). According to CNN this is related to a DOJ investigation of how the AP obtained and then published details of a foiled bomb plot that targeted a U.S. bound aircraft leaked in May 2012.

For as unsettling as it may be to know that the DOJ is investigating journalists, the DOJ followed the law and did nothing illegal. There is a First Amendment protection of the press but there is no “shield law” protecting journalists and their sources at the federal level. Just ask Judith Miller who spent 85 days in jail for refusing to testify about her source in revealing the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame (and ask “holier than thou” VP Cheney how Judith Miller received the information).

According to The New York Times, President Obama now backs a proposal by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) which says reporters do not have to disclose the names of confidential sources or their means of communicating with them. The real question is will President Obama try to water down a revived Schumer plan the way he tried to in 2009. In 2009, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and then-Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) introduced a bill that sought to prevent federal officials from compelling journalists to reveal sources or information under threat of jail time. The Obama administration worked to water down the bill by seeking a far broader national security exemption and by instructing judges to be deferential to executive branch assertions about whether a leak caused or was likely to cause such harm. Is “watered-down” support really support?

Finally, the Justice Department is investigating the IRS for targeting Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax exempt status. The inspector general’s report, released Tuesday, does not indicate that Washington initiated the targeting of conservative groups. But it does say a top supervisor in Washington did not adequately supervise agents in the field even after she learned the agents were acting improperly.

According to The Dallas Morning News, IRS agents were trying to determine whether the political activities of such groups disqualified them for tax-exempt status. These groups were claiming tax-exempt status as organizations promoting social welfare. Unlike other charitable groups, they can engage in political activity. But politics cannot be their primary mission.

When examined individually, each of these “scandals” can be reasonably explained. None of them reach the impeachable standard of Section 4 of Article Two of the United States Constitution “High crimes and misdemeanors.” They tend to indicate a poor management style and too much delegation similar to the way a college professor would allow his graduate students to coordinate their own group projects.

When viewed in the larger context of increased drone attacks, a president seeking to allow the U.S. Army to indefinitely detain American citizens, and an Attorney General Holder who says President of the United States can assassinate American citizen’s any place in the world without judicial review, it makes the “transparent” government that a majority of Americans voted for opaque at best.

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Leon,” and a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Eight Years Post-Katrina: New Orleans 2nd Among Booming U.S. Cities By David T. Baker

Eight Years Post-Katrina: New Orleans 2nd Among Booming U.S. Cities
By David T. Baker

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the The Louisiana Weekly

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A report by Bloomberg Rankings ranks the New Orleans area, including neighbors Metairie and Kenner, as No. 2 on a list of “Top 12 American Boomtowns.”

The list is a ranking of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. between 2007 and 2011 based on census data for metropolitan areas combed through by Bloomberg Rankings. The group used the data to identify areas with population growth, then “scored areas on growth in gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation,” an article about the list on Bloomberg.com said.

“It’s a reaffirmation of the progress we’re seeing on the ground,” said New Orleans Mayor Landrieu’s spokesperson Ryan Berni. “The city is being physically rebuilt from streets to libraries to parks to community centers. Neighborhoods are being revitalized. New companies are moving in. Retail is finally coming back and in a big way.”

Once the two scores were combined, the list was sifted down to regions with more than one million residents in order to identify the nation’s fastest-growing cities.

The New Orleans area reportedly had the largest population growth among U.S. regions from 2007 to 2011. The region saw growth in population from 1,030,363 in 2007 to 1,191,089 in 2011 — a 15.6 percent increase, the data shows, and a GDP compound annual growth of two percent.

As the area continues to rebuild from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, including reconstruction of damaged homes and businesses, there has been a surge in heavy construction jobs according to Allison Plyer of GNOCDC.

These construction jobs as well as jobs created through the relocation of large companies to the area such as General Electric have been a boon that has the area’s unemployment rate at 5.9 percent, which is below the national average.

“Just in the past 10 days, we have celebrated a string of major wins all across New Orleans from opening the GE Capital Technology Center, which will bring 300 high-paying, high-tech jobs, to breaking ground on the new Walmart in New Orleans East to reopening the Tremé Center,” said Berni. “And next week, we’ll have additional ribbon cuttings and we’ll break ground on the Broad ReFresh project which is bringing a Whole Foods to Broad Street thanks to the City’s Fresh Food Retailer Initiative.”

In 2012, the New Orleans area’s population rose to 1.2 million, the data shows.

Trice Edney Wire Exclusive: Malcolm Shabazz in His Own Words - To Self-build as an Example to Others: 'This is Truly the Best Gift that I Can Bring Back'

May 12, 2013

To Self-build as an Example to Others: 'This is Truly the Best Gift that I Can Bring Back Strong'
By Malcolm Shabazz
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(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Editor's Note: The following is an exclusive essay, written by Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of Malcolm X, at the request of Trice Edney News Wire in December 2010 and published January 3, 2011. It is a photographic and journalistic reflection upon his trip to Mecca, Saudi Arabia for his first Hajj, the annual spiritual pilgrimage taken by millions of Muslims in submission to Allah, God.

As editor-in-chief of the Trice Edney News Wire, I have decided to republish the article in its intirety in the wake of young Malcolm's untimely and violent death on Thursday, May 9. The factual circumstances surrounding the apparent murder of 29-year-old Malcolm are still unfolding; therefore we have chosen to respect the facts by not reporting speculation, instead publish what he intended for his life in his own words.

As of Monday, this week, according to a source close to the family, his mother, Quibilah Shabazz, had gone to Mexico City, Mexico, the place of his demise, to retrieve his body.Arrangements for memorial and burial were still undetermined early this week.

A release from the family stated, "We are deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved El Hajj Malcolm El Shabazz. To all who knew him, he offered kindness, encouragement and hope for a better tomorrow. Although his bright light and boundless potential are gone from this life, we are grateful that he now rests in peace in the arms of his grandparents and the safety of God. We will miss him."

In October 2010, in New York City - just before the trip to Mecca - the then 26-year-old faced a small, private audience, pulled together by Trice Edney Wire columnist and former Malcolm X associate A. Peter Bailey. I was a member of that forum during which Malcolm Shabazz publicly discussed detailed aspects of his young life for the first time.

In addition to many social and political issues affecting Black people, he openly discussed his past of having served time in penal institutions, including juvenile detention, after setting the fire that killed his grandmother, Betty Shabazz, when he was only 12 years old.

Malcolm recalled his then immature thought processes. He recalled his plan that if he set a fire, his behavior would be considered so bad that his family would force him to live with his mother Quibilah - which was his ultimate desire. The result was the tragic and accidental death of his grandmother, among the painful memories of his past.

Young Malcolm, with the rich and booming voice of his grandfather, was attempting to press into his future. Shabazz wrote that he had returned to the U. S. with a gift. That gift, he reflected in part, was the change in his life that could only have come from his youthful experiences and – like his grandfather - the deep spiritual experience of the Hajj. The following are the reflections of the now late Malcolm Shabbazz:

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - In the name of Allah the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful: I have been all over the Middle East; from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and so forth. And I must say that Madina and Mecca have absolutely stood apart.

Malcolm5_1 One reason is that this is a main pillar of Islam. It is obligatory upon every single Muslim around the world to at least have the sincere intention to make the holy pilgrimage to the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia at least once in their lifetime if they are physically and financially able.

I’ve never met a person who expressed disappointment or had any ill words to relay about this “Holy” experience. But, I do know people who came back from Hajj and after a few weeks - let alone a few months - they were right back to their old ways. They could almost tell me about the Hajj with an alcoholic beverage in their hand. But, for others, I can bear witness to the awesomely profound impact that it had on their lives.

It had such a profound impact on my grandfather's life. So I came over here anticipating much while not knowing exactly what to expect. My intentions were pure. So before embarking on this journey, I resolved to devote my heart to Allah; stripping it of every preoccupation and barrier.

I arrived in Madina on November 5 at approximately 10 minutes before our morning prayer was to begin at about 4:55am. I immediately noticed that despite the fact that there were millions of pilgrims that had all come in to the same place, around the same time and from all over the world, the atmosphere was still so calm and serene.

I had never witnessed this many people in one place at the same time. It was like the ultimate concert, except there was no rapper, singer or any other type of entertainer. We were all here for the sake of seeking nearness to Allah.

For the most part, I was received quite well, though we must remember that here on earth every place has its ups and downs. And anywhere you go in this world, you will witness that Black people are most generally discriminated against.

However, this prejudice has absolutely nothing to do with Al-Islam. When most people in the Middle East encounter Black people from the States – unless they take notice of our American style of dress or the fact that we speak English - they most likely assume that we are from Nigeria, Sudan or another African country.

MalcolmShabazz-Hajj_1 When they find out that one of us is actually from America, they become quite curious. Many of them are unaware that there are many Black Muslims in the United States. What most of them know of us is what has been portrayed to them of us on television as entertainers, athletes, criminals and thugs. This goes to show the power of mainstream media and how it doesn’t have our best interest at heart.

Also, I couldn't wholly blame them for their perspectives of us because the way that we most often perceive ourselves is the image that we project unto others. We, as Black Americans, often project onto others the images that have been fostered to us by our oppressors.

It was a profound blessing for me to be afforded the opportunity to worship Allah within the Masjid-e-Quba, which is located between the Makkah Province and Madina. It was the first Masjid ever to be built in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It is also the first Masjid where Salatul Jama' (Congregational Prayer) was recited. I also offered many prayers within the Masjidun Nabi (The Prophet's Mosque), which was the second Mosque to be built in Madina. This is the city of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself. It was quite humbling to realize that I was actually treading upon the very soil upon which he once set foot. This is the first city in the world where Islam was firmly established.

There was much to see and people to meet. I met with royalty, dignitaries and various other high ranking Saudi officials, including Sheikh Saleh Husain, President of Affairs of both the Grand Mosque (Masjidul Haraam), and the Prophet's Mosque (Masjidun Nabi); Sheikh Faisal Ghazawi, Imam of the Grand Mosque (Haramain); Dr. Anwar Eshki (Former Maj. Gen. Saudi forces), President of Middle East Center; and Abdulrahman Zamil, former member of the Shura Council.

My grandfather once said, "The past is not to be dwelt upon, but rather looked to as a road map or compass-in the present-in order to help us successfully navigate into the future".

At present and by the will and grace of Allah, I am a revolutionary Muslim who is in service to the people; especially to the masses of down trodden and oppressed. If I learned anything from my grandmother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, it's that one must first help his or herself before thinking about being a saviour toward others. Recently, I have been busy with self-building. Now, I am preparing to build with others while continuing to purify myself.

After a hajji returns from Makkah and Madina, they are obligated to convey through their actions that which they have brought back with them. My speech, actions, mannerisms and disposition must be an example for others who also desire to self-build. And this truly is the best gift that I can bring back for the people.

I have learned that Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. It comes with experience. And experience is irrefutably the best of teachers. If there is any truth that we are, somewhat, products of our environments; then I suppose this would explain my current circumstances -the events that led to these points in my life. It is not necessary for me to run down a list of ills that may have affected me in one way or another. I will say that I have quite often been placed in many undesirable situations. Yet I alone made the decisions which produced the consequent outcomes.

We often find ourselves in situations where we wish that we could turn back the hands of time; to go back, and do things differently. But time travel is not a reality. So, I resolve that the only remedy is to be as conscious as possible in the present in order to successfully navigate into the future.

Advocates Outraged Over $21 Billion Cut to Food Stamps Program by Zenitha Prince

Advocates Outraged Over $21 Billion Cut to Food Stamps Program
By Zenitha Prince

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Congressional leaders and anti-hunger advocates expressed outrage over a U.S. House committee’s passage of a bill which includes a $21 billion slash in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the nation’s largest nutrition assistance program.

The bill, formally known as the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, passed out of committee by a vote of 36-10 on May 15. A day before, the Senate passed its version of the farm bill, including $4 billion in cuts to SNAP, by a vote of 15-5.

“A vote for this level of cuts is shameless,” David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, said in a statement. “Millions of people will lose food assistance and hundreds of thousands of households will see their benefits cut dramatically at a time when families across the country are struggling with long-term unemployment or reduced wages. Hungry and poor people do not deserve to bear the brunt of our deficit-reduction efforts.”

Supporters of the bill say the cuts in SNAP, better known as the food stamp program, reflect savings from the elimination of errors and fraud—the first reform of the program since the Welfare Reform Act of 1996.

“I am proud of the Committee's effort to advance a farm bill with significant savings and reforms,” Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement. “We achieve nearly $40 billion in savings by eliminating outdated government programs and reforming others. No other committee in Congress is voluntarily cutting money, in a bipartisan way, from its jurisdiction to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.”

But detractors said SNAP has the lowest error rate among federal programs, and the budget cuts penalizes those who need the government’s help the most.

On May 14, Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, a Democrat, urged his colleagues to consider the moral implications of allowing so many Americans to go hungry.

The farm bill includes $20 billion in SNAP cuts “at a time when we have 50 million hungry Americans. At a time when we have 17 million hungry kids,” McGovern said. “We were elected to solve problems and help people; not make things worse. We were elected to help make lives better. We were elected to do the right thing. Cutting SNAP – making it harder for hungry Americans to put food on their tables – is the wrong thing.”

The proposed measure would remove 2 million SNAP recipients from the program, reduce SNAP benefits by about $90 each month for 850,000 households, end free school meals for 210,000 children and cut international food aid by $2.5 billion over five years, the lawmaker said. Those measure are in addition to a $25 per month cut that every SNAP recipient will see this fall when the increase from the Recovery Act ends. During the bill’s markup on May 15, McGovern offered an amendment to restore the cuts which failed by a roll call vote of 17-27.

The decision undermines the first line of defense against hunger and will impede the work of charitable and faith-based organizations such as Bread for the World, Catholic Charities USA, Feeding America and United Way Worldwide in feeding the hungry, especially with food demands going up and charitable giving on the decline, advocates said.

Feeding America estimates that these cuts would amount to over 8 billion lost meals for struggling families.

“If divided evenly across Feeding America's national network of food banks, every food bank would have to provide an additional 4 million meals each year for the next 10 years, and that is just not possible,” Bob Aiken, president and CEO of Feeding America, said in a statement. “There is no way that charity would be able to make up the difference. We are already stretched thin meeting sustained high need, and we simply do not have the resources to prevent hunger in all of the families who would be impacted by these cuts.”

The groups say they will continue to lobby lawmakers to reverse course and restore SNAP’s funds as the bill moves to the House floor. And several lawmakers have vowed to do the same.

“We must stand for the most vulnerable in our country,” McGovern said in his floor speech. “And we must End Hunger Now – not make it worse.”

New FCC Chair Continues Prison Phone Battle by Stacy M. Brown

New FCC Chair Continues Prison Phone Battle

By Stacy M. Brown

Mignon Clyburn Says Rates Are Unfair To Inmates and Families

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Washington Informer

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Mignon Clyburn, a veteran policymaker from the Public Service Commission of South Carolina, has been appointed acting chair of the Federal Communications Commission, the first woman to ever hold the post.

Since joining the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2009, Clyburn remains a leader in the fight to reduce telephone rates for prison inmates throughout the country and, in her first interview since being appointed by President Barack Obama to her new post, she vows to continue that battle.

"Tens of thousands of consumers have written, emailed, and telephoned the Federal Communications Commission, pleading for relief on interstate long distance rates from correctional facilities and I intend to keep pushing this issue," said Clyburn, 51.

Clyburn said that she could not discuss details regarding her recent appointment, which was announced on May 1.

However, the second-term FCC commissioner is miffed that rates make it cheaper to place a cellular telephone call from as far away as Singapore than it is for an inmate to make an interstate collect call from prisons in the United States.

According to data from various telephone companies, including Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, the average cost of a call to Singapore is 12 cents per minute, while a call from prison includes a $3.95 connection fee regardless of the length of the conversation.

"One five-minute call from prison could be as high as $17 with the connection fee and the per minute rate can be as high as 89 cents," Clyburn said. "That framework can be as high as your regular monthly phone bill. We're talking a significant amount of money for those who are least likely to be able to afford that type of engagement. All of this has motivated me to keep this fight going," she said.

Clyburn, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Banking, Finance and Economics from the University of South Carolina, served as chair of South Carolina's Public Service Commission from 2002 to 2004.

While Clyburn has made her mark in the public sector, she remains proud of her background in media – that's where she learned to speak truth to power.

"It was on an African-American newspaper, the Coastal Times, in South Carolina," she said. Clyburn co-owned and operated the newspaper with her father, Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), the former House majority whip and the current Assistant Democratic Leader.

Clyburn said she will continue to pressure regulators to find more affordable solutions and rates for inmates and their families.

Two private companies own the service that operate all prison phone calls in the country, Global Tel*Link Corp. of Mobile, Ala., and Securus Technologies, Inc. of Dallas, Texas. A spokeswoman at Global Tel*Link and a secretary at Securus each declined comment.

Officials from both companies have previously said during a conference in New York last year that the higher rates are due to the security features their technology provides, such as monitoring phone calls and blocking numbers.

"But, technology is readily available and not something that should translate to $15 for a 15-minute phone call," said Steven Renderos, national organizer for the Center for Media Justice in Oakland, Calif.

Rates for the calls widely vary from state-to-state, but the commissions received by the phone companies and prisons are high, Renderos said.

"For example, in Alabama the commission rate is 61.5 percent, and this translates to families having to pay 89 cents a minute on top of the $3.95 connection fee every time a family member receives a call," said Renderos.

"Eight states, California, South Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Michigan, and Missouri, have banned these commissions and in those states, you see some of the lowest rates for phone calls," he said.

The District of Columbia prohibits any surcharge, commission, or other financial imposition on prisoners' phone calls beyond legally established phone rates, which are limited to the maximum rate determined by the District's Public Service Commission, agency officials said.

Clyburn, who in 2001 began work to reduce the rates and recruited Jesse Jackson's Operation Push to assist, said the telephone is a crucial instrument for the incarcerated, and those who care about them, because telephone usage is often the only communications option available.

"Maintaining contact with family and friends during incarceration not only helps the inmate, but it is beneficial to our society as a whole because there are well over two million children with at least one parent behind bars and regardless of their circumstances, both children and parents gain from regular contact with one another," said Clyburn.

A major hurdle in the battle to reduce the call rates is the "Almighty dollar," officials at the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) said. Last week, representatives from the CBC also signed on to help Clyburn fight the exorbitant costs of prison calls.

The phone market in state prison systems is worth more than $362 million annually. Payments to governments in return for exclusive phone contracts account for an estimated 42 percent nationwide, or $152 million per year, according to a 2011 report published by Prison Legal News.

Also, while telephone companies sometimes provide reduced rates for evening and nighttime calls, many prisoners don't have the luxury of scheduling phone calls during those time periods.

When Louisiana issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for prison phone services in 2001, it specified that the maximum points should be awarded to the bidder who bids the highest percentage of compensation. It also stated a desire that the bidder's compensation percentages be "as high as possible," the study stated.

When the Alaska Department of Corrections issued an RFP in 2007, bidders were rated on a point system with 60 percent of the evaluation points assigned to cost.

Some of America's prisons are privately owned and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), meaning that they are for-profit businesses and pay dividends to shareholders. Cornell Companies Inc. (whose NYSE symbol is CRN), Corrections Corp. of America (CXW) and Geo Group Inc. (GEO), are the three companies that own prisons in the U.S.

Cornell, which operates in 15 states and the District of Columbia, is currently trading at $29.45 a share. Stock for Corrections Corp., the largest owner of partnership correction and detention facilities and one of the largest prison operators in the United States, is trading at $37.07. Located in Boca Raton, Fla., the Geo Group is trading at $37.92 a share and the company is expected to release its first quarter financials on May 9.

"I'm optimistic on a number of fronts," Clyburn said. "Our office has constantly ensured that this process of reducing the rates is one that is dynamic and moving forward," she said.

"The more people who are aware of what's going on, the better because there isn't anyone, myself included, who hasn't had this type of engagement. We all know or are related to someone who has been or is currently incarcerated and a lot of people still don't realize how significant of an economic impact this has on poor families."