Politics. On Point.

The letters J-O-B-S hang down the front of the Commerice building in Washington.  Just a block from the White House.  Photo/CD Brown. Yesterday we learned that more than 70,000 FAA employees were returned to work after almost a two week long furlough after Congress worked together to end the FAA shutdown. Today, we learn that the July jobs report shows shows that private sector payrolls increased by 154,000 in July. The economy has added 2.4 million private sector jobs over the past 17 months, despite a slowdown in economic growth from substantial headwinds in the first half of the year. Still, unemployment remains at an all time high, hovering around 9.1%. In some cities, mainly urban, overall unemployment tops 20%. Unemployment in Detroit is currently at a staggering 30%.   President Obama continues to make jobs creation his top priority. But the affects are slow, and people remain impatient, while the White House remains optimistic. In an alm...

For America's Black farmers the tenth time is the charm. African American farmers will finally receive the $1.15 billion owed to them that was settled out of court over 11 years ago in a case that involved discrimination on the part of the U.S. Agricultural Department. Under a federal judge's terms, dated in 1999, qualified farmers could receive $50,000 each to settle the claims of racial bias. John Boyd, farmer and founder of the web site BlackFarmers.org , has been in the forefront of this battle, having been on many TV and radio shows, and on Capitol Hill (see our coverage here ) to bring the plight of America's Black farmers to the national stage. Boyd called the historic announcement "vindication and justice". "This case was about justice for Black farmers who waited for so very long."   Boyd pointed out that many African American farmers died and others lost land waiting for Congress, (specifically Tom...

Speaking at a small gathering for the Democratic Socialists of America meeting earlier this month, Congressman John Conyers had a few choice (tough love) words for President Obama and his administration. Conyers was critical of the continuation of the war in Afghanistan saying, "There probably isn't anybody above the tenth grade who doesn't know you can't win a war in Afghanistan." Conyers even had choice words about White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs saying the Democrats might lose both the House and the Senate, calling his choice of words "automatically dismissible". "If I were president, that would be the end of it.  I would send him packing", said Conyers.  Adding, "I don't know where he came from anyway." Gibbs has since changed his summertime opinion. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy Conyers called President Obama "one of the smartest men in American politics....

Or Is It? When Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central, showed up on Capitol Hill this week to attend a session on illegal farm workers hosted by the United Farm Workers, he drew the largest crowd seen at a hearing, at least by Congress member John Conyers.  Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert Conyers, in his "I run Congress" persona complimented Colbert on his celebrity appeal to bring people out to participate in politics, saying he couldn't remember when a hearing drew such a crowd, but respectfully asked the comedian with the sudden political conscience to leave the room after for offbeat comments that included him saying, "I don't want my tomatoes picked by a Mexican.  I want them picked by an American." Colbert's comments also included him saying, "America's farms are presently far too dependent on immigrant labor to pick our fruits and vegetables then sliced by a Guatemalan and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean g...