Rangel vs Obama and Adam Clayton Powell IV

AAP:  It was Representative Charles Rangel vs President Barack Obama and Adam Clayton Powell IV, at a New York Candidates Forum last night. As reported by the NY Times Representative Charles Rangel was on the ropes and came out swinging against President Obama and his best known Democratic challengers, Adam Clayton Powell IV, who accused Rangel of “years and years of corruption.”  

You have to read this article in the NY Times. Classic political reporting from Michael BarBaro. Great job!  

H/T Faye Anderson, Citizen Journalist and publisher of the blog Anderson at Large for the link.

Source: NY Times:

It was a gentle but unmistakable nudge President Obama gave Representative Charles B. Rangel recently, suggesting in an interview three weeks ago that Mr. Rangel, 80, should retire to “end his career with dignity.”

At a tense and sometimes fiery candidates’ forum Monday night, Mr. Rangel shot back that it was not his dignity the president should be worried about.



“Frankly, he has not been around long enough to determine what my dignity is,” Mr. Rangel said of the 49-year-old Mr. Obama. “For the next two years, I will be more likely to protect his dignity.”


The unexpected eruption seemed to reflect the increasingly bitter relations between the embattled 20-term Democrat from Harlem and a president who is trying to protect his party’s prospects in a difficult midterm election season.


And it came during an uncomfortable evening for Mr. Rangel, who made a rare appearance with his five challengers and found himself facing harsh public attacks in front of his constituents at a Baptist church in the heart of his Harlem district.


Long accustomed to being showered with praise and accolades, and surrounded by friendly crowds who treated him like a folk hero, Mr. Rangel could not escape the controversy that has shaped his re-election bid: the 13 charges of ethical violations issued against him by a House panel last month, including hoarding below-market apartments and improper fund-raising.


The best known of his Democratic challengers, Adam Clayton Powell IV, accused Mr. Rangel of “years and years of corruption.”

“Four rent-controlled apartments. Four!” he yelled.


“It’s a slap in the face to his community!” Mr. Powell thundered.


Mr. Rangel, sitting a few feet away, fidgeted in his chair and fingered some papers, his eyes occasionally darting around the room.


But Mr. Powell did not let up, likening Mr. Rangel’s ethics troubles to a rotting tree: “To have good fruit, you must have a healthy tree. We no longer have a healthy tree, and we will no longer have good fruit.”

The candidates spoke in the sanctuary of the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in western Harlem. Organizers, including some tenants from Mr. Rangel’s apartment complex, appeared determined to tilt the evening in Mr. Rangel’s favor.


They announced unusual rules, just minutes before the forum began, barring photography and videotaping of the forum, ensuring that any heated moments or slip-ups by Mr. Rangel would not turn up later in a rival’s political ads.


The format for the forum, laid out days ago, had originally called for all the candidates to stand on stage at once, putting them on equal footing. But at the last minute, the organizers e-mailed each campaign with a “slight change”: Mr. Rangel would appear on his own, instead of sharing the podium with his challengers.


His rivals cried foul — Mr. Powell called it “the Democratic machine playing tricks” — Read more of this fantastic report HERE



AAP: Well, it looks like State Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV (D) may be right  when he said  "If Rangel won't resign with dignity, "The community will take him out."  Let's see what happens. I have been waiting for this day for years, but Rangel is not the only one that should go...


Read related stories HERE, HERE and HERE

DC Blacks Locked Out of Lucrative Medical-Marijuana Business

Washington, DC is ready to sell herb/pot/Marijuana at $350 an ounce at sanctioned dispensaries. Read The NY Daily News.

The law provides medical marijuana at a discount for the city's poor residents. But who exactly is qualified to receive the cheaper pot,  remains up in the air. It also looks like blacks may be cut out of the "legal" business of selling herb/pot/Marijuana in Washington, DC.


Yes, the city's poor get a discount to use the pot, but no discount to start a Medical-Marijuana Business in the District. It will cost well over $200,000, to start a business, without even factoring in the cost of the required video cameras and alarm system, insurance, a good licensing lawyer—and, most importantly, the pot itself. More HERE.

Yes, according to Chris Schott, Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn and wife Stephanie Kahn have a simple plan for bankrolling their controversial proposed medical-marijuana facility on Blair Road NW. “We plan on financing this from our personal life savings,” he says.

How much are we talking? Well, that’s a bit, um, hazy at the moment.

The biggest expense will likely be the price of the herbal remedy itself, according to Stephen DeAngelo, executive director of Harborside Health Center in Oakland, Calif., which both Rabbi Kahn and fellow aspiring dispensary operators with the nonprofit District of Columbia Patients’ Cooperative have toured in preparation for creating their own facilities.

DeAngelo tells City Desk, “Out of every dollar we take in, about 62 percent of that goes to paying for the actual medicine. The balance of that goes towards paying our rent, our payroll, our insurance—all the other typical expenses that a business has.”

While not a single legal pot plant is yet in production in the District, thus making the budgeting process quite difficult for would-be sellers, we can safely assume that all other costs aren’t even the half of it. That said, Mayor Adrian Fenty’s proposed medical-marijuana regulations at least provide specifics about some of the other start-up costs:

• The annual fee for a medical marijuana dispensary registration shall be ten thousand dollars ($10,000) + an initial application processing fee of five thousand dollars ($5,000)

If you plan on growing your own, tack on an additional ten grand:

• The annual fee for a cultivation center registration shall be five thousand dollars ($5,000) + an initial application processing fee of five thousand dollars ($5,000)

Next, you’ll need to register all your corporate partners…

• The annual fee for each director, officer, member, incorporator, or agent registration shall be two hundred dollars ($200)

And every “bud-tender” on staff:

• The annual fee for an employee registration shall be seventy five dollars ($75)
• The annual fee for a Manager’s license shall be one hundred and fifty dollars ($150)

You may also need a permit for moving the medicine between manufacturing and distributing facilities:

• The fee for a transport permit shall be twenty-five dollars ($25)

Not included in the regs: your necessary certificate of occupancy ($33 application fee).
Then there’s the whole matter of rent. According to real estate analysts Delta Associates, the average retail rent in D.C. (as of the end of 2009) is about $35 per square foot annually. For a modest 1,500-square-foot dispensary, such as the one the Kahns are proposing, that works out to roughly $4,375 each month, or $52,500 for the whole year. (Add on an additional month’s rent for the probable security deposit.)

Next up, payroll. The proposed regs specify that each dispensary “shall be staffed with at least two persons during its hours of operation,” with those hours of operation being anytime between 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Let’s say you open on a more limited basis, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A dispensary employing two staffers at all times (minimum wage: $8.25 per hour) would thus run up at least $1,155 in weekly payroll (or, $60,060 annually).

Then there’s security to think about. The Kahns, for instance, are planning to hire an off-duty cop to monitor the premises, beginning from a half hour before opening until a half hour after closing. A police officer working “reimburseable detail,” as it’s called, runs about $55 an hour—roughly three times the price of your average security guard. Let’s say you go the cheaper route ($18 per hour); that’s $1,386 per week (or, $72,072 annually).

Already, we’re looking at well over $200,000, without even factoring in the cost of the required video cameras and alarm system, insurance, a good licensing lawyer—and, most importantly, the pot itself. If we accept DeAngelo’s 62-percent figure on the cost of product, then we’re talking around half a million dollars (if my math is correct).
In its own financial impact statement, the District predicted the average cost of marijuana sold at dispensaries at about $350 per ounce.

Therefore, a dispensary would need to sell about 1,429 ounces of herb annually to cover its basic costs.  That’s about 119 ounces per month. Patients, meanwhile, are limited to just two ounces per month, and the District expects to register only 300 patients citywide in the first year. Which means dispensary owners may need to dip into their own inventory to make the math look right.

AAP: Will blacks be excluded from this business opportunity in the District of Columbia. Well, Mayor Adrian Fenty's track record is not that good in the black community with regards to economic empowerment of black businesses...

Thoughts? Join me on Facebook.

 
 

Medical Marijuana in Washington, D.C at $350 an ounce

Washington, DC is ready to sell herb/pot/Marijuana at $350 an ounce at sanctioned dispensaries. Read The NY Daily News.

The law provides medical marijuana at a discount for the city's poor residents. But who exactly is qualified to receive the cheaper pot,  remains up in the air. It also looks like blacks may be cut out of the "legal" business of selling herb/pot/Marijuana in Washington, DC.

It will cost well over $200,000, without even factoring in the cost of the required video cameras and alarm system, insurance, a good licensing lawyer—and, most importantly, the pot itself. If we accept DeAngelo’s 62-percent figure on the cost of product, then we’re talking around half a million dollars (if my math is correct) More HERE.

UPDATE:
 
Washington, DC: Qualified patients will not be legally able to obtain or possess medical marijuana in the District until at least next summer, according to draft regulations recently issued by Mayor Adrian Fenty's office.

Under the law, which took effect in late July, the Department of Health and the D.C. Alcohol Beverage Control Board will establish and oversee regulations for the licensed cultivation and distribution of marijuana to registered patients. However, according to a draft version of the regulations circulated by the Mayor's office, the regulatory framework for the District's dispensaries and cultivation centers won't be completed until January 2011. It is not anticipated that the facilities will be up and running for several months afterward.

As amended, the District's medical marijuana law only permits patients to possess marijuana legally if they are registered with the Health Department and have obtained cannabis from a licensed dispensary.


NORML Legal Counsel Keith Stroup criticized the delay. "Many of the patients that this law is specifically designed to protect -- such as D.C. residents with HIV, cancer, and multiple sclerosis -- need medical cannabis now, not a year from now. These people should not be subject to arrest and incarceration for using a medicine that helps them. Who knows how long D.C. politicians and regulators may drag their feet on this issue? Why should patients have to suffer in the interim?"
More HERE

Margot/AP

Care packages' of medical marijuana are dispensed to poor patients at an Oakland, Calif. clinic. Washington D.C. hopes to make medical pot cheaper for its low-income residents.

Get this, according to the Medical Marijuana Blog, in yet another sign of the growing acceptance and support of medical marijuana, the Council of the District of Columbia gave unanimous, final approval to legislation that would place our nation’s capital alongside 14 other states in allowing doctors to recommend medical marijuana for seriously ill patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other debilitating illnesses. The measure would also create a government-regulated distribution system to provide marijuana to qualifying patients though 5-8 dispensaries located throughout the District. The bill now goes to the mayor’s office for approval and, once signed, will be transmitted to Congress for a mandatory 30-legislative-day review period. If approved as expected, the effective date for the legislation would be mid-July.

Not only did the Council give its approval to the bill, but the amount of marijuana patients can purchase could also be raised. Previously, the maximum potential amount was 2.5 ounces. Under an amendment offered by Councilmember Phil Mendelson, the mayor will now be able to raise that limit to 4 ounces. Unfortunately, several other amendments offered by Councilmember Jim Graham that would have improved upon the bill by allowing Virginia and Maryland physicians to make recommendations and providing for civil discrimination protections for patients were defeated with Councilmember Mendelson and Councilmember David Catania leading the opposition.

Nonetheless, the vote represents a victory 11 years in the making. District voters approved Initiative 59 with nearly 70% support in 1998, but Congress quickly put the measure on hold by including a rider preventing the initiative from taking effect in the appropriations bill that provides funding to the District. MPP succeeded in removing the “Barr amendment” (after then-Rep. Bob Barr) late last year, and immediately went to work lobbying the Council to implement the initiative. More HERE

Is Mayor Adrian Fenty a Jerk?

The Mayor of Washington, DC is having a rough time getting re-elected. He sure is not getting any help from the Washington City Paper. They are asking the question:

Is Adrian Fenty a Jerk?



The voters are having 2nd and 3rd thoughts about the Mayor, and now blacks in South East Washington, DC, (lead by former Mayor Marion Barry, who endorsed Fenty 4 years ago) are saying no to Adrian Fenty. Read the Washington City Paper article here.

 

As The Washington Post noted, Fenty is rattled by the strong showing of challenger Vincent C. Gray, the D.C. Council chairman, in the Democratic primary race, Fenty has turned the campaign trail into a tour of contrition -- a path supporters and advisers privately say he was not initially willing to travel. 

Mayor Fenty recently commented to the Washington Post:  "We were so focused on getting results, we . . . didn't take into account people's feelings and their desire to be heard and listened to." 

"There's a lot of people who right now may be on the fence or thinking about voting against me who we've probably done a lot [for] in their community. But because we've just been focused on doing it rather than doing it with them, they don't feel as good about it as I would have thought just by delivering the results." 

Now the Fenty's has a new approach: Humility. He says there will be differences if reelected. The Washington Post reports, acknowledging that he is in a tougher reelection campaign than he ever foresaw, Fenty is admitting failings in his bid for a second term and is modifying his pitch to D.C. residents at candidate forums, in interviews and in a TV ad released last week. Discreetly, he is also contacting voters to apologize for dismissing their views and promising to be more inclusive if reelected. Over the past few weeks, he has called at least 100 of these activists and other voters. Rattled by the strong showing of challenger Vincent C. Gray, the D.C. Council chairman, in the Democratic primary race, Fenty has turned the campaign trail into a tour of contrition -- a path supporters and advisers privately say he was not initially willing to travel.

AAP says: Yes, in many ways Mayor Adrian Fenty may be a jerk. As The Washington  City Paper article notes: In Fenty’s own office, current and former lower-level staffers call him a “moody” boss. One says he became so accustomed to Fenty’s angry side that he could see the mayor’s rage coming by watching for the throbbing of a vein in his head. “He runs his ship by fear; people are afraid of him,” says one staffer. “He’s one of the biggest assholes I’ve ever met in my life.”  

 

Several sources said Fenty has a ferocious temper. Last December, according to multiple sources, Fenty kicked a trash can, slammed a door, and screamed, “I’m the fucking mayor,” after learning that some much-hated New Jersey Avenue NW billboards were being removed without his being present for a photo-op. A Fenty campaign spokesman disputes the details of that event. The mayor also got worked up when he heard that LeBron James was in town and his staff hadn’t arranged for Fenty to meet with the basketball star, according to sources.

One former staffer likened working for Fenty to being an “abused wife,” constantly fighting a losing battle to make the mayor happy. The one time Fenty gave him a compliment, it came as such a shock that he called his significant other to tell her that maybe the mayor wasn’t such a bad guy, after all. Read More HERE

AAP: I supported Fenty 4 Years ago. I have said on a number of occasions since his election that Adrian Fenty is a disgrace. I'm not so sure how Vincent Gray will do as a Mayor. But I do know he cares about the less fortunate of Washington, DC. Something that has been missing in Washington, DC's most recent past.  All I can say is good luck Mr. Gray, here's wishing you a successful 4 years as the next Mayor of Washington, D.C. 

And for Mr. Fenty... good night and good luck as citizen Fenty.

Affordable Housing and Black America

There is a problem in America and it's poverty in America. It sems that no one wants to talk about poverty in America. Poverty in America is causing major housing problems across America and no one seems to want to talk about it. For the next 30 days I will be talking about poverty in America on my BlogtalkRadio program. I hope you will join me.


Check out the report in The Washington Post on how the Obama administration plans to address the lack of affordable housing in America. More on this topic later....


 

Wyclef Jean Is Not Eligible to Run for President of Haiti

As reported by major news outlets, Wyclef Jean Is Not Eligible to Run for President of Haiti. The Haiti Electoral Council has decided that the The hip hop star's candidacy is a no go. Despite his lack of political experience, he has been considered a potential front-runner in his earthquake-shattered homeland.  Read more HERE

As reported by The NY Times, No explanation was given. A council spokesman, Richardson Dumesle, simply read the list of 19 presidential aspirants deemed eligible and 15, including Mr. Jean, judged ineligible.

Throughout the day, the Haitian news media debated unconfirmed reports that Mr. Jean had already been disqualified from running, primarily because of a failure to meet the requirement of having been a resident of Haiti for five consecutive years before the election. Mr. Jean left Haiti as a child for the United States and now shuttles between the two countries. On Friday evening, hundreds of Mr. Jean’s passionate supporters had rallied outside the electoral council’s offices, chanting, “We want Clef, Clef is Haiti and Haiti is for Clef.”