Roland S. Martin's Blog, page 722

Michelle Obama Sees Personal Stake in 2012 Election, Wants Second Obama Term (VIDEO)

Source: Devin Dwyer / ABC News First lady Michelle Obama today said her global advocacy on behalf of women and young people gives her a personal stake in her husband's re-election, and that she eagerly awaits the coming campaign. "I think there's so much more work to do. We've really just begun to lay the foundation," Obama told ABC News' David Muir in a wide-ranging interview in Cape Town, South Africa, where she's on a weeklong trip to promote youth [...]

TJMS: Congressman James Clyburn Discusses House GOP Attempts To End The Elections Assistance Commission And Promote "Voter Suppression Laws"

Roland Martin talks with Congressman James Clyburn about the Elections Assistance Commission debate. House Republicans are attempting to get rid of that commission, enact voter I.D. laws and promote what Rep. Clyburn called "voter suppression laws."

U.S., Other Nations To Release 60 Million Barrels Of Oil From Reserves

Source: MSNBC The United States and other oil-consuming nations said Thursday they plan to release 60 million barrels of oil from government reserves over the next month in a bid to push down soaring energy prices. The announcement had an immediate impact on global markets, pushing down the price of one benchmark grade of crude by $5 a barrel to about $109. The consumer nations acted after OPEC failed to raise production at a meeting on June 8 and despite assurances [...]

Sterilization Victim "Raped By The State Of NC"

Source: Kelly Cobiella / CBS News RALEIGH – At 57, Elaine Riddick has a house full of god children, great nieces and nephews, but only one child of her own – a son. When she was 14, Riddick was raped. The day she gave birth, doctors sterilized her on orders from the state of North Carolina. "They said that I was feeble-minded, they said that I was promiscuous," Riddick tells CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella. Riddick was one of nine [...]

Winklevoss Drop Legal Claim Against Facebook Founder

Source: Ben Smith / CNN Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the former business partners and Harvard University classmates of Mark Zuckerberg, have dropped their court appeal of a settlement with the Facebook founder. The Winklevosses had claimed they were shortchanged in a $65 million settlement with Zuckerberg because Facebook had misrepresented the value of company stock. In April, a federal appeals judge rejected the argument and ruled the twins could not unwind the legally binding agreement they had signed in 2008. [...]

House Republicans Plan Vote To Cut Funding For U.S. Military Effort In Libya

Source: Deirdre Walsh and Rachel Streitfeld / CNN Washington – Frustrated rank-and-file House Republicans Wednesday pushed their leadership to go further in rebuking President Obama over his handling of Libya, pressing GOP leaders to schedule a vote to defund the military mission. The bill, which the House could vote on as early as Friday, is a much stronger statement than the non-binding resolution leaders originally introduced that called for removing U.S. forces from hostilities in Libya. The legislation was still [...]

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Pulls Out Of Debt Ceiling Talks

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor pulled out of bipartisan negotiations to raise the nation's debt limit, according to multiple sources. Stay tuned for more details.

Chemo Drug Taxol Shortage Puts Cancer Patients at Risk

Source: Jane E. Allen / ABC News A shortage of Taxol, an intravenous chemotherapy workhorse for ovarian, breast, lung and colon cancers, demonstrates once again how vulnerable U.S. hospitals and clinics are to an increasingly unreliable pharmaceutical supply chain, leaving patients at risk. Paclitaxel, the generic version of Taxol, joins 196 other drugs on a shortage list compiled by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in Bethesda, Md. Although no one has been able to quantify the number of lives [...]

NBA Draft Preview (VIDEO)

Kemba Walker was the best player on the best college team. Will he be selected No. 1 in the draft?

President Obama Announces U.S. Troop Withdrawals From Afghanistan (VIDEO)

Source: CNN Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama announced Wednesday night that all the 33,000 additional U.S. forces he ordered to Afghanistan in December 2009 will be home within 15 months. In a nationally televised address from the East Room of the White House, Obama said 10,000 of the "surge" forces would withdraw by the end of this year, and the other 23,000 would leave Afghanistan by September 2012. Calling the deployment of the surge "one of the most difficult [...]