In a meeting aides described as “frank but cordial,” members of the Congressional Black Caucus told President Barack Obama on Thursday that he has to do more to help African-Americans.

Members of the caucus have complained — both publicly and privately — that they aren’t getting enough from the nation’s first black president. Thursday’s hourlong session was their chance to make that case directly with Obama, and aides said they did just that.

CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said the group discussed direct job creation and work force training as well as areas where government can help “create jobs immediately.”

People close to the caucus said members pointed to the high unemployment rate in their largely majority African-American congressional districts. They encouraged Obama to push legislation in the Senate that would lead to direct jobs creation, particularly a summer youth jobs program — a proposal that failed in the Senate this week.

In a statement, the White House said that Lee had discussed “the impact of the economy in economically distressed communities and the need for additional assistance in these areas,” and that other CBC members had “presented their concerns and solutions for broadening the impact of the recovery effort.”

The White House said Obama and the CBC members agreed on “a number of things” that could be done to address the unemployment problem, both immediately and in the long run.

Prior to the meeting, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said the CBC would be asking Obama to help get the summer jobs program through the Senate, which has just one black member, Roland Burris of Illinois

Jacked via politico.

Van Jones has sure come out punching like a love warrior. He is debating Andrew Morriss at Economist.com. He is arguing that creating green jobs is part of the government’s responsibility. Morriss argues that only the market should dictate. It’s a really interesting debate. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/dgs3EJ

Can’t lie, a tear came to my eye when I heard this one. Check it out!!! The singer is Adi. He’s from Milwaukee.

Study finds median wealth for single black women at $5 By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Women of all races bring home less income and own fewer assets, on average, than men of the same race, but for single black women the disparities are so overwhelmingly great that even in their prime working years their median wealth amounts to only $5.

In a groundbreaking report released Monday by a leading economic research group, social scientists turned a spotlight on the grave financial challenges facing an often overlooked group of women, many of whom could not take an unpaid sick day or repair a major appliance without going into debt.

“It’s rather shocking,” said Meizhu Lui, director of the Closing the Gap Initiative based in Oakland, Calif., who contributed to the report “Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth and America’s Future.” Read More: spotted via “The Dude’s” aka Kmos’ facebook page

PITTSBURGH — A magistrate’s decision to drop criminal charges last week against a Creative and Performing Arts student set off rumors that a work-related retaliation might come from Pittsburgh police officers.

Rumors of a work slowdown or diminished patrols came after a judge said the evidence presented left him with no other alternative than to drop prowling and other charges against Jordan Miles, who claims police beat him during his arrest.

The dismissal of charges has some officers saying it is a failure of the justice system, Channel 11 News reporter Trisha Pittman said.

Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson said he e-mailed officers because of concerns they might curtail their duties based on a perception that the courts failed them.

Pittsburgh police have been warned not to call in sick without reason or cut back on patrols.

Read more here.

Dru Hill has been way from the spotlight for over a decade. The quartet recently dropped this powerful ballad. What do you think? Does Dru Hill have what it takes to comeback, or have they been away from the game too long?

Check the video on the other side of the click.

Yesterday, the US Senate defeated a measure that would provide $1.3 billion for summer jobs for young people. They also voted to end relief efforts for poor families with young children. Although Republicans were the loudest opponents, some Democrats also voted against the measure. Perhaps they are not feeling the future.

I think this is an amazingly dumb move. All of us have friends and family members that would benefit from these jobs. But if our nation’s leaders don’t have the heart to stand up for us, we will stand up for ourselves.

Over the next several weeks, legislators in the House and Senate will be jockying to get this measure back in some version of the jobs bill. The margin of defeat was incredibly close in the first round of voting, and our pressure in this period of negotiation could make the difference between failure and success.

Sign your name to our “Lead on Youth Employment” petition and we will hand deliver your message to your elected officials in D.C.!

The Senators that voted against this measure think we aren’t paying attention. They are flat wrong. It is time for the youth of America to stand up to the people who are selling our futures short.

Fill out our “Lead On Youth Employment” petition and we will hand deliver your message to your elected officials in D.C. Make sure you sign even if your Senator voted yes. Show them that we appreciate their support and expect them to do more for our generation.

Sign our Youth Employment Petition now.

This is up to us. We can only blame ourselves if we don’t step up.

Biko

Federal appellate judges have upheld a Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision to issue permits allowing a company to leach uranium at an aquifer that supplies drinking water to thousands of Navajos in northwestern New Mexico.

A panel of the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 opinion Monday that concluded the NRC took the “hard look” required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

Eastern Dine Against Uranium Mining, Southwest Research and Information Center and ranchers Grace Sam and Marilyn Morris challenged the NRC’s approval of permits for Hydro Resources Inc. to do in-situ leach mining near the Navajo communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock.

The opponents contend the NRC violated federal law in issuing the permits.

Jacked via KOB.com

Words can’t fully express how disgusting this dialogue is. There are truly a ot of bad people out there that don’t give a damn about a person’s feelings. Howard Stern definitely fits in that category. This had to really hurt on the receiving end.

Keep ya head ^^^ GAB

Check the video after the jump. Read the full story

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans — along with some Democrats — defeated a measure to provide $1.3 billion for summer jobs for young people this year and a $1.3 billion extension of enhanced subsidies for poor families with children.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who introduced the amendment along with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), pleaded with her colleagues not to object.

“I have personally heard the stories of these young men and women whose summer jobs changed their lives across the country,” she said. “This amendment will provide $1.3 billion to create up to 500,000 temporary jobs this coming summer. It will invest in critical employment and learning programs that will help not only these young people but the businesses who hire them.” partially jacked via

Secretary Chu discusses the climate change debate.

I was too young to understand what had happened when it did. The news anchorman spoke briefly of a rapper that was shot and killed, and all I could think as a 10 year old kid was, “don’t I know this guy?” When we lost a great rapper, I was more focused on the tooth that I might be losing.

Now, as a 23 year old, I’m thinking, damn, that couldn’t have really happened in my lifetime.” I can’t believe how many years have passed, how many magazine covers have been produced in commemoration of Biggie and Tupac’s rap career or how many songs/movies/documentaries have been composed since their deaths. This is how we mourned. Deep down we really tried to replace the irreplaceable.

What have we learned from the passing of hip hop’s elite? It’s safe to say that words are weapons and are very powerful. We should definitely use them wisely when given the platform to speak to the masses.

But what if it were all a dream? Sit back and reflect on that just for a sec. What if Jay never got as big as he did? Could you imagine a Big track featuring Kanye West?

I appreciate what we got now, but ill never forget what we had.

Love you BIG!

As early as last week, I’ve been getting notified about the early recipients of Census forms. This should be an exciting time for everyone because it’s an opportunity for us all to become civically engaged without leaving the confines of the crib. Honestly, I don’t care how it’s done…you can lay down and complete this form…as long as you STAND UP and BE COUNTED and make sure everyone in your household is accounted for!!!

Below: Highlight and Paste the link in new window or tab to watch Funny A** Census Scene from “The Wash”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTc_Ty8V_ZE

In one of his first appearances since returning to the Center for American Progress, senior fellow Van Jones told attendees of the CAP-Apollo Alliance conference, “Picking a Winner: How to Make the U.S. a Leader in the Clean Energy Economy,” that we now know that the clean energy economy is coming. There are “three key questions that need to be addressed” about the emerging clean energy economy, Jones said, that need to be addressed, but only two already have a “robust policy discussion.

video after the jump. Read the full story

Lots of people hate on Lil Boosie, as he is obviously far from perfect.  But few MCs today are able to capture the pain of urban millennials better than Boosie Boo! Check out the first “8 Bars” of his song “You Don’t Know My Struggle.”  Hopefully, he will you use his art to get his life back together when he gets out of jail. We started off in the backyard,

I’m that boy,

Hate to lose,

if I lose, yo can get bruised,

I’m that hard.

Life starts from a bad memory.

Daddy loved drugs.

Can’t take this from him,

He loved girls.

Went from neighborhood jackas.

To neighborhood stackas

I-10 ridaz,

to I-10 traffickas.

Imagine us in that bottom on that PCP.

Walkin’ to school wit a tool,

who gon’ beef wit me.

Black History Month has come and gone but that is not stopping Detroit emcee and Michigan State University journalism graduate Jashua “JYoung The General” Smith from continuing the celebration. Teaming up with G-Unit’s producer Nick Speed and clothing line sponsor, Dangerous Negro Apparel, JYoung has created Black History Year, a compilation of songs aimed at teaching Black history 365 days a year in a way that is appealing to young people.

“I’ve been studying black history since I was a teenager, and I know firsthand that there’s more than enough information for just 28 days,” said JYoung in a statement to the press. “With Black History Year, I want to educate and entertain for twelve months - and hopefully, even more than that.”

Black History Year, which was named after Dangerous Negro Apparel’s t-shirt campaign, will include a number of installments going in on Black issues such as gentrification, the Black Panthers, the alarming AIDS and HIV epidemic, Haiti, odes to Black comedians and more. The first song on Black History Year’s debut is titled “The Meeting (Malcolm vs. Martin)”, featuring Lansing, Michigan artist, James “P.H.I.L.T.H.Y.” Gardin, which emulates a conversation between the two Black leaders, setting the tone for the tracks that follow.

The project is available for stream and free download on JYoung’s Bandcamp Page (http://jyoungthegeneral.bandcamp.com). Also, follow JYoung on Twitter (http://twitter.com/JYoungS2TS)

A Pittsburgh teenager at the center of a racially charged police brutality investigation celebrated with his family Thursday after a judge dismissed charges from his arrest by officers he says beat him.

“This proves I was telling the truth. I didn’t want people to look at me negatively,” Jordan Miles, 18, said after a contentious hearing in Pittsburgh Municipal Court. “They asked me, ‘Where’s your gun, money and drugs?’ All kinds of thoughts went through my head. I thought I was going to get robbed.”im during an arrest on January 12th, 2010, finally faced Magisterial District Judge Oscar Petite Jr. jacked via the Pittsburgh Tribune

Onehood’s DJ Paradise was on the scene and captured the video above. Check Paradise’s blog here.

Note: This post is a response to DJ Willie Shakes’ post “Speaking of Condoms, Whose Responsibility is it?” . The views of the author are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the League of Young Voters Education Fund.

So an unwanted pregnancy is something that really only affects a woman, and it’s her fault if she didn’t make the guy wear a condom? I’ve heard that argument before, and it’s plain old misogyny.

Saying the woman is responsible for the condom gives men a free pass, when what happens during and after sex is the equal responsibility of both partners. Just because you think it’s “reality” that only a woman’s life is ruined by an unwanted pregnancy doesn’t make it right. If it is reality that men don’t take responsibility for their kids, it’s on you to change that, Shakes, and on all of us.

The argument you’re making is clearly well intended, but it’s based in the belief that a man has no more responsibility for the children he fathers than to send a check every month. It also creates an adversarial dynamic, making women “force” their lovers to be responsible in an interaction that should be tenderly mutual and comfortable for both partners.

Personally, a dude who doesn’t think of getting a condom out himself has a pretty small chance of hooking up with me again. Especially if he calls it a “manxilla”.

The employment rate is low everywhere I go but there are definitely people with jobs that they don’t appreciate as much as they did before they got it. Meaning, they don’t work as hard with that sense of dedication, urgency, or give-a-fuck mentality

Above, a conversation between an 8 year old and an emergency operator that, if you ask me, went too long. This is really sad and disturbing to me as I kept my composure listening to the pain in this little girls voice versus the cold-hearted tone of the 911 dispatcher. The operator got a lil frustrated with this small child who is a girl that obviously can,t handle possibly losing both parents to gun violence.  The childs mother is dying and unavailable to speak or she wouldve dialed 911 herself but the operator still insists on speaking with her. Not to mention her dead father on the floor being aided by the 8 year old’s 6 year old younger sister.

There was no sign of assistance being sent and in fact it seems as if the girl was hung up on. Lets do a better job of doing our job. Damn.

Note to readers: The views of the author are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the League of Young Voters Education Fund.

“We all know condoms are important yet based on all the baby bumps around; people seem to forget the importance of the condom. This morning while looking at pictures of Kim Kardashian I wondered whose responsibility it is to use a condom during sex, the male or the female.

In the heat of the moment, while panties are being tossed on the floor and boxers are being hurled across the room; there is are a few seconds where we have to stop our sexual antics to put on a condom. Sure it doesn’t take long, but why is condom forgot so often. A friend of mine called me complaining about his child support payments. He is sick and tired of giving part of his checks to a no good, sorry ass baby mother. His baby mother isn’t the worst, but she has no job, and depends on his payments in order to live.

I listened to his concerns before telling him, this all could have been avoided if he had put on a condom. He said she didn’t ask me to put one on. What he said was profound in the way a peasant would be profound. I asked him if he had a condom that night, he said yeah. So whose fault is it? I’ve been in the heat of the moment, condom in pocket and almost went raw until the woman said, put a condom on, I got up and 30 seconds later she had the manxilla in her stomach. It was either wear a condom, not have sex or rape her. The later two were not an option.

Being a man I can’t help but think that it’s the woman’s job to make sure that the guy uses protection during sex. One big reason is because she has to carry around the kid in her belly for 9 months, buy a new wardrobe for fat people and all of that. Her life is the one that will be ruined or changed the most by having a child, not his. It’s just the reality of the situation.

My good friend over at Super Happy Ill Time has a completely different outlook on the situation. He said it’s the guy’s job to put on the condom. Chivalrous right? Wrong! He said “Because his penis will be the one to fall off if she’s lying, got nothing to do with chivalry for me.” Valid point.

Every girl I asked this question to, said it was the guy’s job my home girl over at Looseneck.com says the responsibility is mostly the man’s because he knows what fits, what he likes and what won’t break. Another valid point, but if it’s not the woman’s job to say ,“Hey put on a condom” what if she runs into a guy who doesn’t want to wear a rubber is she going to just let him run in it raw because it’s his decision to make?

No one wants to have a tree trunk growing out of or off of his or her private parts, but at the end of the day who is really responsible for using a condom. I say since women have the final say in sex so I believe it’s their job to make sure a condom is used. Key word MAKE SURE, it’s a guys job to wear one.”