NLRB, the independent agency of the U.S. government that protects the rights of American workers to organize and to “prevent and remedy unfair labor practices” hasn’t had a fully staffed five-member board for a decade now. (A quorum of three members is required for the panel to issue decisions in labor disputes.) Republicans keep blocking President Obama’s appointments. And last week, a second an appeals court said the president can’t make recess appointments to the board either.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont described Republican opposition as part of a long-term strategy by Republicans to make it harder on the middle class.

“The minority is doing everything they can in this case to make it impossible for working people who are on the job to have their rights protected,” Sanders said at May 16 confirmation hearing. “So that tomorrow, if some fella out there, some woman tries to organize a union and gets fired against the law, that worker will have no recourse.”

Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, says a vital NLRB is critical to 80 million American workers.

“Not just [for] union workers, but [also for] workers who speak out in places like Starbucks or McDonald’s; fast food workers,” Cohen told The Ed Show. “If they speak out and are fired or intimidated in any way, the only place they have to go is the NLRB. That’s really what`s at stake here.”

Cohen says the only way to fix the NLRB is fillibuster reform where Majority Leader Harry Reid would get 50 votes and get a full complement of five members on the board.

Steven Greenhouse, the labor and workplace reporter for The New York Times, agrees.

“Because Republicans are apparently going to block confirmation of the nominees, the board will not have a quorum to function,” Greenhouse told The Ed Show. “So the workers are kind of left without a real remedy.”

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Wednesday approved Obama’s five nominees to the NLRB ((full disclosure: one of the nominees is related to a staffer on The Ed Show), splitting along party lines. The confirmation process now moves to the full Senate.

“I will be very distraught if we do not seat them because of another filibuster,” say Sanders.

“Those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that make our military strong,” he said.

He drew a parallel between financial chicanery on Wall Street, the recent Internal Revenue Service scandal of targeted scrutiny of conservative groups, and the sexual assault incidents in the military, saying “If we want to restore the trust that the American people deserve to have in their institutions, all of us have to do our part — and those of us in leadership, myself included — have to constantly strive to remain worthy of the public trust.”

CLICK HERE for the full story.

“We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us, mindful of James Madison’s warning that ‘No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.’ Neither I, nor any president, can promise the total defeat of terror,” he declared in a speech at the National Defense University in Washington.

As part of that effort, the president announced more narrow parameters for the use of drones to kill terrorists overseas and limit collateral casualties and he reiterated his pledge to renew efforts to persuade Congress to agree to close the Guantanamo detention site in Cuba where 110 terrorist suspects are being held.

He said he would appoint a new envoy at the State Department and an official at the Defense Department who will attempt to negotiate transfers of Guantanamo detainees to other countries. And he said he is lifting the moratorium on some detainee transfers.

CLICK HERE for the full story and watch “The Ed Show” Saturday at 5pET on MSNBC for reaction and analysis to Obama’s speech by Robert Greenwald, documentary filmmaker and the Director of the Brave New Foundation.

Here’s Ed’s guest list:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (D-FL) Chair of the Democratic National Committee

Joan Walsh, Salon’s Editor at Large, and author of “What’s The Matter With White People? Why We Long For A Golden Age That Never Was”

Joy Reid, Managing Editor of TheGrio.com, MSNBC Contributor

Martin Bashir, MSNBC Host

Steven Greenhouse, Labor and Workplace Reporter for The New York Times, author of “The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker”

Larry Cohen, President of the Communications Workers of America

Adam Green, Co-Founder of the Progressive Change Campaign

It’s going to be a blockbuster weekend edition of @edshow today at 5pET on @msnbc!!

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Noting the Atlanta school’s mission to cultivate, not just educate, good men, Obama said graduates should not be so eager to join the chase for wealth and material things, but instead should remember where they came from and not “take your degree and get a fancy job and nice house and nice car and never look back.”

“So yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and powerful, or if you can also find time to defend the powerless,” Obama said. “Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business, we need black businesses out there. But ask yourself what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood.”

“The most successful CEOs I know didn’t start out intent on making money, rather, they had a vision of how their product or service would change things, and the money followed,” he said.
For those headed to medical school, Obama said “make sure you heal folks in underserved communities who really need it, too.”

Before Obama arrived in Atlanta, thunderstorms drenched hundreds of people who gathered on the campus lawn for the outdoor ceremony, forcing many guests to wear clear plastic ponchos over what amounted to their Sunday-best clothes. Rain began falling again, accompanied by more thunder and lightning, minutes after Obama began to speak.

“I also have to say you all are going to get wet,” he said. “I would be out there with you if I could. But Secret Service gets nervous, so I’m going to have to stay here, dry. But know that I’m with you in spirit.”

Obama urged graduates to “inspire those who look up to you to expect more of themselves.”

Obama used the speech to once again share his personal story of growing up without a father, confessing that along the way he made unspecified bad personal choices “like too many men in our community.”

“Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down,” he said. “I had a tendency to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is, there’s no longer any room for excuses.”

Speaking in personal terms as he often does when addressing predominantly black audiences, particularly of black males, the nation’s first black president also spoke intimately of his desire to be a better father to daughters Malia and Sasha than his absent father was to him, and to be a better husband to his wife, Michelle.

He told the graduates to pay attention to their families, saying success in every other aspect of life means nothing without success at home.

“I was raised by a heroic single mother and wonderful grandparents who made incredible sacrifices for me. And I know there are moms and grandparents here today who did the same thing for all of you,” he said. “But I still wish I had a father who was not only present, but involved. And so my whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father wasn’t for my mother and me. I’ve tried to be a better husband, a better father, and a better man.

“It’s hard work that demands your constant attention, and frequent sacrifice. And Michelle will be the first to tell you that I’m not perfect,” he continued. “Even now, I’m still learning how to be the best husband and father I can be. Because success in everything else is unfulfilling if we fail at family.

“I know that when I’m on my deathbed someday, I won’t be thinking about any particular legislation I passed, or policy I promoted. I won’t be thinking about the speech I gave, or the Nobel Prize I received,” said Obama, 51. “I’ll be thinking about a walk I took with my daughters, a lazy afternoon with my wife, whether I did right by all of them.”

The speech was Obama’s second commencement address of the season, following remarks last Sunday at Ohio State University in Columbus. His third and final graduation address will come Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

About 500 students received undergraduate degrees on Sunday and became “Morehouse Men.”

“Nothing dissolves the bonds between the people and their government like the arrogance of power here in Washington,” Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday. “And that’s what the American people are seeing today from the Obama administration, remarkable arrogance.”

Republicans will undoubtedly be talking about these “scandals” for months. But there’s a real scandal going on in Washington right now.

Republicans in Congress voted to repeal Obamacare for the 38th time on Thursday. And of course, the vote didn’t go down without a show.

“We see this coming just like the Titanic, we see that iceberg, only it`s not just in a mist,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. “Shortly in front of our eyes, we have time to turn. And that’s why we are here. We’re here to make a turn from a train wreck.”

“It is a malignant tumor metastasizing on American liberty and must be ripped out by the rules and completely repealed,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

But the Republican-led House is taking the phrase “do nothing” to a whole new level. Out of the 138 days so far this year, Boehner’s House has been in session for only 51. And one of those precious days was wasted trying to take away your health care.

It’s estimated since Republicans took control of the House in January 2011, they’ve spent 15% of their time attempting to repeal Obamacare. But Boehner is trying to convince Americans it’s about jobs.

“These are the thousands and thousands of pages of Obamacare regulations,” Boehner said Thursday. “And if we want jobs, we need to get rid of this because this is getting in the way of employers hiring workers around the country.”

But so far this year, there has not been one vote in the House on a jobs bill. Instead, it looks like the Republican master plan for job creation is taking health care away from 30 million Americans.

Meanwhile, there is another major health care story grabbing headlines this week. After undergoing genetic testing, actress Angela Jolie learned she had an 87% chance of developing breast cancer, and a 54% chance of developing ovarian cancer. With those odds, Jolie opted to have a double mastectomy in February. At this time, it’s still unclear whether Jolie will have her ovaries removed.

Jolie is brave but also very lucky. She had the means to undergo testing and take care of the problem before it got serious. But many Americans are in desperate need of health insurance. And it is literally a matter of life and death.

On May 11, MSNBC host Ed Schultz asked for a volunteer with cancer, but no health insurance, to come forward and share their experience. And he found a perfect example of why Republicans should leave Obamacare alone.

Dan Seco, 26, is undergoing chemotherapy treatment but lost his health insurance months before he was diagnosed. He’s hoping Republicans fail to repeal Obamacare.

Dan Seco, 26, is a freelance sports writer. He played by the rules his whole life. He worked hard, studied hard, went to graduate school and pursued a career as a freelance sports journalist.

As soon as Dan turned 26, he lost his health care, and as a freelance writer he didn’t have the money to buy private health insurance. Then after losing his health care, through no fault of his own, Dan was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma back in February. So now Dan is facing the monumental task of figuring out how to pay for his cancer treatment.

Dan wanted to appear on The Ed Show Saturday, but he is undergoing another chemo treatment. The Ed Show offered to go to his hospital room to tape an interview, but his doctors didn’t want to risk Dan’s health (editor’s note: Dan’s brother Kyle Seco, who is raising money for Dan’s treatments, agreed to appear in his place on Saturday’s The Ed Show).

But Dan really felt it was important to tell you his story, so he called The Ed Schultz Radio Show on Friday.

“I’m currently in the hospital right now, I’m undergoing chemotherapy treatment. I’m about half way through with my current regime,” Dan told Schultz. “I had health insurance up until my 26th birthday, which was last August. I was working for a travel company and I wanted to pursue my writing career full-time. And I took a little bit of a risk by not having health insurance, but I didn’t have any options really as a writer.”

Dan says he’s applying for Medicaid and relying on charity and the good-natured spirit of other people to help him out. Meantime, he and 30 million Americans are waiting for the benefits of Obamacare to kick in.

Dan’s story is like millions of other Americans. Thirty million people are waiting for Obamacare.

“I think I’m the model case for why Obamacare needs to pass and what it can do to help people in my situation, who are pursuing what they want to do with their life,” Dan said. “And they need the care that they can’t afford. You pay out of pocket for some things like a PET Scan that shows how much cancer you have in your body, $14,000. Who has the money to pay for that?”

Dan says he’s trying to comprehend why Republicans are spending so much time trying to repeal Obamacare.

“I can’t understand why someone would work against this type of policy, which is really going to make the lives of so many people so much easier,” said Dan. “Even I find out I’m better by August, who knows that happens a year later, two years later, further down the road. The bottom line is, I need health insurance.”

To learn more about Dan and to help him in his battle against cancer, click here and give what you can.

Kyle Seco, brother of cancer patient Dan Seco

Mike Rogers, Managing Director of Raw Story

Wilson Cruz, National Spokesperson for GLAAD

Mike Papantonio, Host of “The Ring of Fire” Radio Show

Zerlina Maxwell, Political Analyst & Grio.com Contributor

David Cay Johnston, columnist for Reuters, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of “Perfectly Legal” and “Free Lunch”

Joel Berg, Executive Director, New York City Coalition Against Hunger

It’s going to be a blockbuster weekend edition of @edshow today at 5pET on @msnbc!!

Join the conversation now or during the show by commenting on Facebook and/or tweeting (with the #edshow hashtag) so we can share your thoughts on the show.

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Despite declaring on Friday that “others may get distracted by chasing every fleeting issue that passes by, but the middle class will always be my number one focus,” the president finds himself under fire from his progressive allies in Congress.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), for example, took to Twitter recently to declare he’s taking on the president.

I will do everything in my power to block @barackobama’s proposal to cut benefits for #SocialSecurity recipients through a #chainedCPI.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 8, 2013

And Sander’s is not alone in his opposition to the president’s plan to use a “chained” consumer price index (CPI) to lower cost-of-living adjustments paid out by Social Security.

“The homeless, the helpless and the hapless in our society, they’re the last that ought to be taking it in the next for deficit reduction,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) at a recent news conference.

“CPI was originally a Boehner-McConnell demand,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois). “It was a bad idea then and it’s a really bad idea now.”

In addition, the president is also offering $400 billion in Medicare cuts over the next ten years. All this as the deficit shrinks faster than expected.

“Don’t tell anybody, Ed, but I think we’re going to beat the president on this,” Sanders told Ed Schultz on May 11 edition of The Ed Show on MSNBC. “When the middle class is disappearing and the gap between the rich and everybody else is growing wider, you don’t assault the middle class by cutting Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans.”

Sanders also said that Social Security has not added one nickel to the deficit and has nothing to do with deficit reduction. He says Social Security today has a $2.6 trillion surplus and is paid for independently by the payroll tax.

Instead of cutting benefits, Sanders recommends lifting the cap on taxable income on Social Security from $113,000 to $250,000 to make it “strong for the next 75 years,” an idea Obama supported as a candidate in 2008.

“I think the president continues for some very, very strange idea to keep believing that if he makes major concessions to the Republicans that somehow he’s going to get something back in return,” Sanders said. “I really don’t know why he continues to think that. It hasn’t worked up to now.”