(Akiit.com) President Barack Obama headed west to sell his big picture deficit-reduction plan. But many people are waiting for a quick fix to their own economic problems caused chiefly by persistent unemployment and the crippled housing market.

Audiences in California and Nevada understood why it’s important to get a handle on the deficit over the long term. Yet they made clear that the economic recovery hasn’t fully taken hold in ways that are meaningful to them.

As Obama shifts into re-election mode, he will need to show that he hasn’t lost his focus on jobs even as the conversation in Washington swings to paying down what the nation owes.

An audience member at Obama’s town hall meeting Wednesday at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., summarized how the increased attention on red ink looks to the public.

“At the beginning of your term you spent a lot of time talking about job creation and the road to economic recovery,” the questioner told the president. “Since then, we’ve seen the conversation shift from that of job creation and economic recovery to that of spending cuts and the deficit.”

“I would love to know your thoughts on how you’re going to balance these two going forward, or even potentially shift the conversation back,” she added.

Obama said that unless lawmakers get the country’s long-term finances under control, more immediate economic gains could prove difficult.

“If we don’t have a serious plan to tackle the debt and the deficit, that could actually end up being a bigger drag on the economy than anything else,” Obama said.

The economy has rebounded since the early days of Obama’s presidency. But the unemployment rate is 8.8 percent and millions of jobs cut during the recession haven’t returned. A questioner at Obama’s town hall meeting in Reno, Nev., on Thursday said both he and his wife were out of work.

The faltering housing market has left many homeowners owing more on their loans than their homes are worth. Prospective homeowners are struggling to find the money to buy.
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(Akiit.com) Today marks the one-year anniversary of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil drilling disaster.

For 153 days, Gulf communities suffered as their economic, environmental and health care realities were shaken. Many of the area’s residents are still left with questions of when their lives will be restored. While BP’s efforts, under government supervision, have made some strides with some residents, many people in the Gulf are still greatly suffering.

One year later, thousands of Gulf residents not only have not been “made whole” from the disaster, but many have faced elevated levels of toxins in their bloodstreams, community conflicts, destruction of families, culture erosion, loss of property and, for many, an end to their way of life.

The disaster’s economic impact has been significant. Moderate testing has been done, yet efforts need continue to restore the now considerably-damaged confidence in Gulf seafood. In many communities, sales tax revenues stayed flat or decreased, while already-high unemployment rates rose. Opportunity Inc., a housing assistance program in Fort Walton, FL reported their revenues were reduced from nearly $11,000 per month to an average $3,000.

Since the disaster they have had to turn away six families for every one they can serve. BP has provided a modest level of support to community based organizations, but the company must significantly increase its support to organizations serving extensive Gulf community needs arising from the aftermath of Deepwater Horizon’s explosion.

Federal agencies continue to research long-term health effects of the oil drilling disaster, yet significant attention must be placed on addressing immediate well-being needs as well. The NAACP’s concern lies in both the short and long term impact of this exposure. We have spoken to many oil spill workers who cleaned beaches without the benefit of standardized protective gear. Volatile organic compounds have since been found in blood samples for Gulf residents. We need to implement systems that screen, diagnose, and treat health effects from toxic contact.

At a town hall meeting in Destin, one Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) petitioner introduced herself by way of her GCCF claim number. “My Name is 6508799,” she said, underscoring the feeling of many residents that they have been objectified and reduced to a number in a failed system which has yet to compensate for their losses.

At present, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility processes significantly disadvantage the claimant. Reforms must minimize hurdles facing financially devastated persons and provide comprehensive restitution in a timely fashion.
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(Akiit.com) Environmental and health protection in America has always been a grassroots, community-powered movement. The first Earth Day took shape more than 40 years ago, when people came together in their communities to demand clean air to breathe, healthy water to drink and swim in, and safe lands to build homes, businesses and churches. This Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and President Obama are continuing – and expanding – that tradition by bringing together some of our nations’ greatest grassroots assets into the new Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Initiative.

The Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Initiative is an effort being led by the White House to bring together our communities’ most active groups with important work that is happening throughout our government. Along with the EPA, other agencies are coordinating with secular and faith-based non-profit organizations to serve Americans in need, from veterans to residents of rural communities to people seeking health services.

With environmentalism’s grassroots history, this collaboration makes perfect sense. Throughout American history, faith and neighborhood groups have shown the extraordinary power they have to advance justice issues, open pathways to new opportunities and improve the world we live in. We saw that power during the Civil Rights Movement, when Dr. Martin Luther King, along with other faith and community leaders, brought together motivated citizens to work for change. And we saw it on the first Earth Day more than 40 years ago, when twenty million Americans stood together for a healthier nation.
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(Akiit.com) I’m so sick of hearing about damn Spike Lee. Spike can go straight to hell! You can print that. I am sick of him talking about me, I am sick of him saying, ‘this is a coon, this is a buffoon.’ I am sick of him talking about black people going to see movies.

This is what he said: ‘you vote by what you see,’ as if black people don’t know what they want to see.” I am sick of him – he talked about Whoopi, he talked about Oprah, he talked about me, he talked about Clint Eastwood. Spike needs to shut the hell up!” — Tyler Perry

It was surprising to be sure. Not to the level of “shocking,” but certainly surprising. One would imagine that Tyler Perry has expressed those same thoughts regarding Spike Lee in the same manner with the same veracity dozens of times before, just in more select company. Going public in this manner was unlike him or at least what we’ve come to know of Perry.

The truth of the matter is that the precipitating question wasn’t even in relation to Spike, but about whether Perry receives criticism from the church community regarding Madea and “pot jokes” in his films.

Mo’Kelly will come back to the church community in a moment.

Yet if you heard the audio, Perry was ready for a fight, arguably one which did not exist on that day in that media space. Nevertheless, Perry was ready and seized the opportunity to let Lee have it for the incessant criticism he’s rained down on Perry and his work. The rant was not spontaneous, not even a little bit.

That stood out.

What also became apparent given the fullness of the context and content of the remarks by Perry was that the criticism of his work obviously has hit home. This is not a statement about whether Lee has made valid points over years, that conversation has been had, hundreds of times in hundreds of different media outlets. The Mo’Kelly Report has been there, done that…now let’s go beyond that and let’s also be sure to leave out “hater,” “jealous” or “crabs in a barrel” and underhanded quips about one’s sexuality in the process.

Let’s have the “grown folks” conversation now, which is far more nuanced in nature.

If there was ever any question as to whether Perry views himself first as an artist or a business archetype, it was laid to rest with this one rant. Anyone’s art, from songwriting to film making to even editorial commentary is intensely personal. It’s the outward expression of our inner longings. It’s our heart put on screen, our life with an accompanying soundtrack. Ask any “artist” in any field and he/she will tell you it’s exceptionally personal in terms of motivation and ultimate expression. Conversely, ask any consummate businessman and he/she will tell you it’s never personal, merely the best decisions made from the best information available to bring about the best financial result.

For example, Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn whether you dislike him, only whether he’s paid.

Tyler Perry telling Spike Lee to “go straight to hell” says to Mo’Kelly that Perry’s art comes first. We can, and have debated the quality and maturity of Perry’s work as his career has progressed but we should be able to lay to rest the debate as to where his loyalties lay. He’s an artist and prides himself on his art; all of our various value judgments or said art notwithstanding. It was just surprising that the super-successful director who is right now on top, slowed down to look over his shoulder and throw a brick at a singular critic. Clearly some nerves had been struck. Nobody in the room even mentioned Spike’s name except…

That too stood out.

Conversely, what also stood out is that Perry made no mention of Aaron McGruder or his far more offensive Boondocks assault on the kingdom that which is Madea. The episode was beyond personal; it was profoundly degrading. If Tyler Perry is about the business of passing out train tickets to hell for those who’ve offered the greatest criticism of his work, the conspicuous absence of Aaron McGruder is both noted and noticed.
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(Akiit.com) Very tight braiding or weaving may be linked to a permanent type of hair loss that affects many African American women, according to a U.S. study.

Prolonged pulling at the hair strands may cause inflammation of the hair follicle, which has been showed to lead to scarring.

In principle, this could lead to scarring hair loss or central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, a type of balding that starts at the top of the scalp and then spreads slowly to the rest.

“Our survey results suggest there is a high prevalence of central hair loss among African American women,” wrote Angela Kyei, of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who led the study.

Though the findings couldn’t prove that hair grooming was at the base of the problem, women might still want to take them into consideration, she added.
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