Obamas Feed The Poor On MLK's Birthday

Obamas Serve Lunch To Poor On MLK Day



President Barack Obama served plates of steaming hot lunches to the needy on Monday, one of several ways the nation's first black president paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. on the federal holiday that honors the slain civil rights leader.

Obama also scheduled a White House talk with black elders and their grandchildren about the movement for racial equality that King led until he was assassinated in 1968. The president also was to speak later Monday during a musical celebration of King's legacy at the Kennedy Center.

His outing was part of an array of holiday tributes. Worshippers at King's Ebenezer Baptist Church heard Princeton University scholar Cornel West deliver a passionate keynote address in Atlanta, urging them not to "sanitize" King's legacy.

In Washington, Obama spent the day with King observances.

"How are you sir? God bless you," the president said, greeting one man among the dozens of men and women who filed into the dining room at SOME, or So Others Might Eat.

The organization, just a short ride from the White House, provides the poor and homeless with food and other services. Obama handed them pre-assembled lunch plates of chicken, potato salad, mixed vegetables and bread.

He brought the whole family: first lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, mother-in-law Marian Robinson and some aides.

Mrs. Obama poured hot coffee while 8-year-old Sasha tagged along and handed out packets of sweetener. Mrs. Robinson walked around serving danishes from a baking sheet. Malia, 11, walked among the rows of diners, chatting with them and shaking hands.

One woman asked Mrs. Obama if she had brought the family dog, Bo. (She did not.)

It was the president's second straight day of reflection on the legacy of King, whom Obama credits with paving the way for his 2008 election.

On Sunday, at a Baptist church founded by freed slaves, Obama spoke of his reliance on faith, recalled King's work and urged hundreds of worshippers to take heart in hard times and celebrate progress — however small.


Sources: MSNBC, Politico

Bloomberg's 3rd Term Pledges: Listen, Lead, Volunteer, Shake Up Bureaucracy

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Mayor Bloomberg Sworn In For Third Term Of Office At City Hall In New York

Promising to "listen and lead," Mayor Bloomberg on Friday took the oath of office for his third term, alongside two new citywide leaders who promised to challenge him.

"This term is a special opportunity, one that comes with extraordinary responsibilities," said Bloomberg, 67, who upended city law and spent more than $102 million to win office again.

Twelve hours and 53 minutes after his second term ended at midnight, the mayor raised his right hand as his daughters, Emma and Georgina, held a 100-year-old family Bible.

He was sworn in by state Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.

Bloomberg was the third official to take the oath on the City Hall steps after John Liu, a two-term Queens councilman who became the new City Controller, and Bill de Blasio, who became the new public advocate after eight years as a Brooklyn councilman.

Liu, the first Asian-American ever to be sworn in for a citywide office, received a standing ovation after taking his oath with a wild grin of victory. He was surrounded by his wife, his 8-year-old son Joey and his parents, Jamy and Joseph, who brought Liu and his brothers to Queens as young boys from their native Taiwan.

In a seven-minute speech, he cast his historic election with last year's inauguration of Preident Obama and appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

"These are the groundbreaking milestones for a country built by immigrants, prospering from labor, and empowered by its people," Liu said. "I am humbled to be a part of this wave of change."

At the conclusion of his speech, he thanked his parents and boasted that he "proudly" wears the lable "made in Taiwan."

Both de Blasio and Liu have promised to be aggressive watchdogs of Bloomberg and his policies - and both are widely seen as possible contenders to run for mayor in 2013.

That could create more tension for the mayor's agenda than in the past - especially since a newly restive City Council, seeing weakness in Bloomberg's 4.4-point victory margin, may seek to pounce.

De Blasio, standing with his wife Chirlane and children Chiara and Dante, was sworn in by Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan and Brooklyn).

He used his inaugural speech to implicitly challenge Bloomberg to make the city more affordable for the middle class, show more compassion to the homeless and listen to angry parents of public school students.





"I commend the Mayor for his dedication to improving our education system," de Blasio said in a seven-minute speech. "But I am convinced we can continue to do better if we involve the parents of this city more fully."

In a nod to parent frustration that school changes under Bloomberg have been implemented over their objections, he added that "we must welcome \[parent\] voices in the schools that define their children's possibilities:

Liu offered a congratulations to Bloomberg on his third term, then vowed to keep Bloomberg honest by examining development deals, rooting out fraud and scrutinizing "no-bid contracts whose justifications are weak at best."

Bloomberg, who dropped his Republican voter registration in 2007 boasted that he was the first independent ever to take the mayoral oath.

He did not directly address any criticism in his 14-minute speech but told thousands of spectators in City Hall plaza that his job was "to listen and to lead" for four more years.

"No matter where you live and work, no matter what your race or roots, no matter who you love or who you worship or who you voted for, I pledge to be your mayor," he said.

"And I will not stop working for you - I will not rest - until every job seeker finds work, every high school student graduates, every child is safe from illegal guns, every family has an affordable home, and every New Yorker with a dream finds it within reach."

He promised to continue to fight in Washington for tougher Gun Laws and more Liberal Immigration policies while committing to push locally for laws and policies to help Entreprenuers start Small Businesses.

"I've been there. I know how tough it is," said Bloomberg, who made his billions by starting the Bloomberg LP financial information service. "Government can do more and we will do more."

Bloomberg's only specific commitment in the speech was to shuffle top deputies at each city agency to another agency for three weeks, to improve communication, look for innovations and breakdown "bureacratic barriers."

"Conventional wisdom holds that a third term, mayors always run out of energy and ideas," he said. "But we've proved the conventional wisdom wrong time and time again, and I promise you, we will do it one more time."

Bloomberg's mother, Charlotte, who turns 101 Saturday, did not make the trip to New York, but the mayor plans to visit her at her Boston-area home for her birthday.

The mayor began his day at Park Slope Christian Help, a Brooklyn soup kitchen, where he helped prepare New Year's Day meals for 150 people before taking an R train to City Hall.

He wore a black turtleneck sweater emblazoned with an "I love NYC" logo, and was joined by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson.

When Sister Betty Schroeder blessed Bloomberg and his new term, he replied, "It would be perfect if John Sampson delivered all the state's money to us."



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Sources: NY Daily News, MSNBC, Youtube, Google Maps