Smoke & Passion

What's worse, Right Wing Lies or Liberal Fears?

2010-07-21T12:24:00.012-04:00

By Tracie Powell

The only thing worse than right-wing conservatives who lie, mislead and consistently play the race card are liberals who jump to wrong-headed conclusions.

Such is the case in this week’s saga of Shirley Sherrod.

Sherrod is the former USDA employee who was fired after conservatives, including those over at Fox News, aired an edited video clip of her speaking at a NAACP event in March about an experience that happened 20 years ago. First publicized by right-wing zealot Andrew Brietbart, the video clip duped many – including the NAACP – into believing Sherrod had used her position of authority to hurt a white farmer in Georgia, when in fact she simply chronicled a very powerful and personal journey of transcending race in America when helping a white Georgia farmer two decades ago.

That white farmer and his wife were first to publicly praise Sherrod for helping them save their farm.

As a child of the South, having been born and raised in Georgia, I can state with authority that life is viewed through a racial lens of black and white. My parents, both black, had me bussed to a mostly-white high school because they believed - as many did in years past and some still do now - that white meant better: Better teachers, better books, better future. That’s all Sherrod was saying. She sent a white farmer to a white lawyer, thinking “his own kind would take care of him.” I don’t anticipate Brietbart, anyone at Fox News, few in the mainstream media or even a certain someone inhabiting the White House to relate to the invaluable lessons Sherrod spoke of or my upbringing; such thinking is a distinctly Southern thing and those folks probably wouldn’t understand.

Richard Cohen has an excellent piece in today’s Washington Post about the cowardice of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who fired Sherrod, and the Obama Administration, which supported the firing. What Cohen misses or glosses over, however, is the cowardice of right-wingers who continually seek to tear down the legacy of civil rights advances in this country. Conservatives, via a well-orchestrated media campaign (i.e. Fox, which for some inexplicable reason has the term “News” in its moniker) are even trying to rewrite the history and contributions of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall as something less than…).

Furthermore, Cohen’s column misses the complicity of mainstream media outlets propagating conservative misinformation about Sherrod.

In fairness, even the NAACP jumped to the wrong conclusions when confronted with Breitbart’s contrived video clip; the organization later issued a formal apology to Sherrod for calling her “shameful” without having all the facts.

Vilsack also owes Sherrod an apology that comes with a new job offer and a raise. He says he's reviewing the debacle, while Breitbart and conservative ideologues busy themselves with shifting the blame to the White House, which in turn, is trying to distance itself from the firestorm.

How mighty white of them. I do not use this term in the racial sense so much as I do to underscore the hypocrisy of them all.

What we do not need, however, is to hear from Obama on this issue, especially not before another midterm election. Save the reheated race speech, an apology or another beer summit and let’s leave healing race relations and helping the poor to the experts. You know, folks who have made it their life’s work to do so. People like Shirley Sherrod.

Oh wait. Sherrod is out of a job.

Tracie Powell is journalist and law student living in Washington, DC.

Gay Marriage: WWKD (What Would King Do)?

2009-07-16T09:28:00.003-04:00

The president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has been speaking out in support of gay marriage. If you expect one of the country’s oldest equal rights organizations to stand behind one of its chapter presidentsm though, you’d be wrong.

The SCLC wants the Rev. Eric P. Lee fired.

National leaders recently summoned Lee to appear at the group’s Atlanta headquarters to explain his stance. If he failed to show, they said, he would be suspended and removed from his position, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Lee, an African American pastor who has headed the Los Angeles SCLC for the past two years, was an outspoken critic of Proposition 8, an amendment that banned same-sex marriage in California. Voters approved it in last November’s election, but the issue isn’t going away in California or any other place, as states are confronted with court cases and ballot initiatives.

Iowa’s state Supreme Court recently legalized same-sex marriage, while lawmakers in West Virginia are considering whether to ban it. This week, former President Bill Clinton — who signed the law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing gay marriage — said that he now supports gay marriage. And on Wednesday, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, indirectly raised the issue during Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Back in California, Lee continues to advocate in support of such unions.

It’s this kind of advocacy that is raising the ire of fellow clergy at the SCLC. Founded in 1957 in the wake of the Montgomery bus boycott, the organization took a neutral stance on Proposition 8.

Lee now finds himself fighting for more than just marriage equality: He’s also taking on what he views as the hypocrisy of the church (especially black churches) and discrimination, as well as a continued blurring of the line between church and state, he said.

“Any time you deny one group of people the rights and privileges that other groups enjoy, it is fundamentally and unequivocally a denial of their civil rights. That makes it a justice issue,” Lee said in a telephone interview from California. “Because of black people’s history of being oppressed and discriminated against in this country, and because of our legacy of fighting against those things, we have earned the right to be the moral authority on justice issues. In fact, we are obligated to speak out.”

To read the rest, click here.

Considering Coons and the GOP's Future

2009-07-14T16:14:00.002-04:00

Following the election for a new Young Republican leader gave me flashbacks.

Fresh out of college and a tad naive on my first reporting job, a small-town politician invited me to go “coon hunting.”

I had NO idea what he was talking about.

Though I attended majority white schools in the South, my parents kept me pretty protected from a lot of that stuff, and I mainly traveled in a circle of academic achievers, friends from orchestra and band class, and those who attended church with me. My upbringing didn’t prepare me to talk about hunting of any kind with the Milledgeville, Ga., city attorney.

The official's invitation struck me as a little off — he was chuckling as we talked — but I was eager to develop sources so I agreed to join him on his next outing. Back at the office, I asked my white, male editor about killing raccoons, something I wasn’t keen on witnessing. Exactly what would it involve?

The editor, Don Schanche, turned red.

He banged his fist on the desk.

He let loose with ungentlemanly expletives, cursing loud enough to startle everyone in the newsroom. Then he stalked out.

Later, still angry but in a much-lowered voice, he explained that “coon hunting” had nothing to do with raccoons. He apologized, asked whether I was comfortable enough to continue working my city government beat, and cautioned me to keep my distance from City Attorney J.W. Morgan. (Of course I still remember the guy’s name,)

Morgan died three years ago, according to an obituary I found online. But he was vividly brought back to mind by the election of Audra Shays to head the Young Republican National Federation — an election in which the word “coon” played a part.

This being 2009, Shays has a Facebook page. On it, one of her online friends labeled President Obama a “terrorist” and expressed a need to take back the country from “all these mad coons.” To see her reply, zoom in on this screen shot. “You tell ‘em,” she wrote. Where she typed “lol,” that’s shorthand for “laugh out loud.”

Laugh out loud? She found that entertaining?

And now she is one of the elected faces of the party of Lincoln, the party with a national chairman, Michael Steele, who is black.

To continue reading, click here.

The Truth About Abortion and Black America

2009-06-10T09:02:00.004-04:00

I sat trying to figure out how I would cover law school costs this fall when my phone rang. It was a campaign worker with a reminder that Virginia voters had a Democratic primary election this week and I had yet to decide who would get my vote.

It was the typical campaign call, nothing really remarkable about it. The worker wanted to know if I planned to support a conservative — not Republican — candidate at the polls. “Are you African American?” she asked. I replied in the affirmative. “I know that many African American voters are conservative when it comes to social issues like abortion. Would you describe the candidate you plan to support as conservative on the issue of abortion?”

In recent years conservative political strategists have painted African Americans as being more opposed to abortion than the white population. They have cited numbers as high as 59 percent.

But a recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life poll found that 49 percent of black Americans — considered more religious than the U.S. population as a whole — favor keeping abortion legal in most or all cases; just 44 percent of black Americans want abortion to be illegal in most or all cases.

Experts say there is declining black support for conservative social policies like abortion. The reasons vary.

Christopher J. Metzler, an associate dean at Georgetown University who writes regularly on issues of race and politics, attributes the drop-off in support to pressing economic conditions that black Americans face.

The unemployment rate for African American workers is now at 14.9 percent, almost double the national average. “It’s just not one of our top issues,” said Metzler.

Please click here to read the rest, and please leave your thoughts. ~One

Dialing Down the Sound of Fury

2009-06-04T10:17:00.003-04:00

High-pitched conservative rhetoric seems to be even more shrill than usual lately; some even blame it for the recent slaying of Dr. George Tiller, the Kansas physician who performed late-term abortions and was gunned down at his church May 31.

Some Republicans are having second thoughts about the level of negative political rhetoric they have been spouting as of late. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. (1979-99), retrenched on what he recently said about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor being a racist.

Sotomayor will be the first Latina on the high court if confirmed.

It’s about time foes dialed down their fury. Maybe Gingrich realizes that he is the one who came off looking like a racist when he attacked her; then again, maybe not. Regardless, Gingrich’s half-apology comes too late and the damage might already be done.

“No party has a monopoly on saying things that are offensive at times,” said Audrey A. Haynes, an associate professor of political science at The University of Georgia. “But there is general consensus that the Republican Party, thanks to its use of wordsmith practioners and marketing gurus, has done a much better job, at least in the past, of controlling the discourse, framing the political conflicts, and being much more aggressive than the Democrats have been.”

When President Obama campaigned for the Oval Office, he vowed to help change the climate of political dialogue in Washington and beyond. In light of recent events this past week, it seems that this is a promise he won’t be able to keep.

But not because he hasn’t tried.

It was Obama who chose to deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame over historically black Morehouse College. He could have taken the easier path by going to Morehouse, where the first black president would likely have been lovingly welcomed with open arms; instead he went to Notre Dame where he was heckled during a speech that called for greater understanding and fair-mindedness on all sides of the abortion issue.

Click here to read the rest of the piece, and please leave a comment.

Supreme Court Nomination In Black and Brown

2009-05-29T01:51:00.004-04:00

When Rush Limbaugh looks at President Obama and Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, he sees a reverse racist nominated by “the greatest living example of a reverse racist.”

Other conservatives view Sotomayor as an affirmative action choice who lacks the intellectual heft for the high court. She’s someone, they say, who believes Latina judges are better than white male judges.

Liberals, on the other hand, herald Obama’s choice as a stroke of political genius and rejoice in the possibility of the first Hispanic female sitting on the bench.

Some political prognosticators speculate that Obama’s nomination of Sotomayor could lock up the Hispanic vote for Democrats for years to come.

But that’s inside baseball.

What I saw when Obama nominated Sotomayor, with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. by his side, was something quite different: Power, and what it increasingly looks like in this country.

By 2050, there will be no outright majority of any one demographic group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But 236 million minorities — everyone except for non-Hispanic, single race whites — will be the majority.

The socio-political change such population shifts bring is already starting to manifest itself.

“Seeing Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor is more and more what power is going to look like in the future,” said Allert Brown-Gort, associate director of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. “That power, quite naturally, follows demographic changes to a certain extent, but let’s not fool ourselves. The full force of those changes won’t be felt if the laws and rules aren’t in place to let the changes happen.

“Just a couple of months ago they [lawyers and Supreme Court justices] were arguing over the 1965 Voting Rights Act and whether parts of it should be voided,” he said. “This shows us why we have to keep up the fight and can’t take anything for granted, while Obama’s announcement of Judge Sotomayor shows us what is at stake.”

Much attention has focused on the raw distrust between blacks and Hispanic immigrants. Whether it is a tug of war over jobs in New York and parts of the South or turf wars in Los Angeles, many black and brown people have been in a constant fight for the bottom for years.

Please click to read the rest of the story.

Voter ID: How Far Is Too Far?

2009-05-27T08:44:00.005-04:00

With his signature May 5 on Georgia’s new voter identification law, Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue has set up a sure-fire showdown with the federal Department of Justice.

The Bush administration — which favored voter ID laws — was in charge the last time Georgia pushed through such controversial legislation.

This time around, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is calling the shots, and Georgia has to win his approval for an even stricter law that it now wants.

If permitted, Georgia would become the second state (Arizona is the other) to require prospective voters to prove their U.S. citizenship; currently voters in Georgia need only check a box on a registration application affirming U.S. citizenship.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a controversial voter ID law in Indiana, but that only led to more legal uncertainty for states.

Perdue and his supporters say stricter voter ID laws are necessary to combat voter fraud. Those who oppose it say the law has “xenophobic overtones” and maintain that it is a solution to a problem that does not exist. They add that the law would keep the poor, elderly and minorities away from the ballot box.

Perdue’s actions are part of the GOP’s efforts to put in place an array of new voting laws across the South.

For example:

• South Carolina legislators, for example, are arguing over a bill that requires voters to show valid government-issued identification at the polls. That recently prompted a walkout by several Democratic members led by the legislative black caucus.

Click to read the rest, and remember, comment and comment often. Thx

A Foreclosure 'Fix' That Should Be In

2009-05-24T16:05:00.008-04:00

I read with interest New York Times economics reporter Edmund L. Andrews’ book excerpt about how he fell behind in his mortgage payments.

“I know a lot about the curveballs that the economy can throw at us,” he writes. “But in 2004, I joined millions of otherwise-sane Americans in what we now know was a catastrophic binge on overpriced real estate and reckless mortgages. Nobody duped or hypnotized me. Like so many others — borrowers, lenders and the Wall Street dealmakers behind them — I just thought I could beat the odds.”

By 2007, he writes of his third mortgage servicer, JPMorgan Chase, “I was actually beginning to feel sorry for Chase. It seemed to be so flooded with defaulting borrowers that it didn’t have time to foreclose on my house. Eight months after my last payment to the bank, I am still waiting for the ax to fall.”

Not everyone facing mortgage foreclosure has had it this easy.

Lawrence Mouton, a Dallas truck driver for 12 years, purchased a $95,000 home two years ago and was paying a mortgage of $900 a month — the kind of terms Washington, D.C.-area residents like Andrews would kill for. In short order, however, Mouton’s wife lost her nursing home job and the mortgage payments jumped to over $1,200 a month.

Mouton struggled to keep the lights and gas on. He took out payday loans just to keep a roof over his family’s heads.

Home Eq, the company servicing his home loan, constantly called pushing him to pay more money, even urging him to send them his mother-in-law’s Social Security check.

“They wanted anything they could get,” said Mouton, whose bedridden mother-in-law lives with the family. “I told them we used her Social Security to buy all of her medicines. After we do that, all that little money is gone.”

Mouton was able to modify the terms of his loan when the servicer agreed last fall to lower his monthly payment by a whopping $17.86.

Mouton, 51, continued to make payments, even partial ones, but fell behind on the mortgage and his home soon went into foreclosure.

It is unclear how two homeowners with the same problem got different treatment.

Maybe it’s because they have different lenders. Or maybe it’s because one is a reporter for The New York Times and the other isn’t, said Kathleen Day, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Center for Responsible Lending.

In the current foreclosure crisis, Hispanics and black borrowers who often took on subprime loans — even when they qualified for conventional ones — are disproportionately impacted.

“It’s a maddening system,” Day said. “There are disparities and no streamlined process to make it more efficient. That’s why we think the bankruptcy fix is key to solving the current foreclosure crisis. Without it, people have no leverage.”

On April 30, the Senate rejected an amendment to a broader housing bill (S 896) that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of a primary residential mortgage — much the same way they are already allowed to do for people who own vacation homes and yachts. (Total transparency: I worked to win legislative support for a similar bill last year as a congressional fellow.)

The provision in the Senate bill would have helped 1.7 million homeowners facing foreclosure and helped neighborhoods preserve some $300 billion in property value, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. The legislation enjoyed support from voters and key advocates, including Republican former congressman and vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp who passed away May 2.

Twelve Democrats in the Senate joined Republicans in rejecting the amendment, not because of its expense (it doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime), but because mortgage banking lobbyists argued a more appealing case.

Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., — who has spent much of the past two years promoting the benefits of allowing bankruptcy judges to lower interest rates, reduce principal or stretch payment periods for struggling homeowners — blamed the defeat on lobbying efforts of the banking industry — considered by most to be politically battered after six months of federal bailouts and economic disaster.

“The big banks, JPMorgan Chase, you see them all over the United States — they were at the [negotiating] table until last week and they decided, ‘No, we will walk away, we are not interested in this conversation,’” he said. “Wells Fargo, Bank of America, the list goes on and on. If any of the names sound familiar, it is that they are surviving today because of our taxpayer dollars.”

The foreclosure language — a process referred to as “cramdown” — is in a House-passed version of the legislation (HR 1106) and will come back up during conference, Durbin said. But its chances of survival are marginal.

President Obama’s $75 billion foreclosure prevention program has gone further than any other initiative Congress has come up with, but even it has limitations.

The plan only really got off the ground in March and many lenders still don’t have the personnel in place to handle an overwhelming number of loan modification requests. Plus, it is still voluntary, meaning lenders don’t have to participate if they don’t want to, which has largely been the case since the crisis began.

Meanwhile, Day predicted 9 million foreclosures over the next four years, which will cause 92 million neighboring families to see their own property values drop by an additional $1.9 trillion.

In 2009 alone, she said, 2.4 million families will lose their homes, leading to a $502 billion additional drop in value for 70 million neighboring homes.

“This is why we think that eventually they will have to come back and resurrect the bankruptcy fix,” she said. “It is the only thing that makes sense.”

Mouton eventually found help from the Dallas Urban League, one of the oldest civil rights groups that helps economically empower African Americans.

It took a housing counselor at the organization five months to track down Mouton’s lender and convince a resistant servicer to modify his loan. With lots of patience and persistence, the company finally agreed to modify the terms of his loan, one week before his house was to be sold.

The total price of the home grew to $102,000 — about $20,000 above its current appraisal, Mouton estimated. But the Dallas Urban League also got the company to drop Mouton’s interest rate to 2 percent and cut his mortgage payments in half, to $628 a month.

Terms, Mouton says, he can live with.

Fixing the Crack in U.S. Drug Policy

2009-04-28T09:08:00.003-04:00

Eugenia Jennings’ mother left her at a neighbor’s house and never returned to get her.

The people who were supposed to take care of Eugenia, wound up beating and molesting her instead.

Eugenia was sexually abused by another neighbor and a prostitute at the age of seven. A year later she was raped by a step-brother and the man who called himself her step-father tried so when she was a teenager.

Eugenia ran away at 13, and shortly thereafter got hooked on crack-cocaine and alcohol.

“She stopped using when she learned she was pregnant but after she gave birth at age 16, desperate for money to support her and her daughter, she began selling drugs. Of course, she was eventually caught,” said her brother, Cedric Parker, who will testify before U.S. senators this week about federal mandatory drug sentences.

While in prison Eugenia got clean, earned a GED and gave birth to another child. But after getting released in 1999, she relapsed.

In June 2000 Eugenia Jennings was arrested for trading 13.9 grams of crack cocaine – differing quantities on two different occasions - for clothing.

She was charged in federal court with two counts of distributing crack cocaine. She pleaded guilty and, because she already had prior offenses for small amounts of drugs, Eugenia was sentenced in 2001 to nearly 22 years in prison; she was 23 years old.

The irony here is, had Eugenia Jennings been found with powder cocaine instead of crack, she would have gotten less than half that amount of time behind bars.

The system, the judge said when sentencing Jennings, had let her down.

“Mrs. Jennings, I’m not mad at you. . . . The fact of the matter is, nobody has ever been there for you when you needed it. Never. You never had anyone who stood up for you. All the government’s ever done is just kick your behind. When you were a child and you had been abused, the government wasn’t there. When your stepfather abused you, the government wasn’t there. When your stepbrother abused you, the government wasn’t there. But, when you get a little bit of crack, the government’s there.

“Now is that fair? No. It’s not. And have you been punished? You bet,” according to a transcript of the court proceedings. “Your whole life has been a life of deprivation, misery, whippings, and there is no way to unwind that. But the truth of the matter is it’s not in my hands. As I told you, Congress has determined that the best way to handle people who are troublesome is we just lock them up. Congress passed the laws.

“And it is an awful thing, an awful thing, to separate a mother from her children,” the judge continued. “And the only person who had the opportunity to avoid that was you . . . . .At every turn in the road we failed you. And we didn’t come to you until it was time to kick your butt. That’s what the government has done for Eugenia Jennings.”

Click to find out what happened to Eugenia, and please leave a comment here or here. Thanks, ~Sunshine

Politics of Color for Obama in Cuba

2009-04-27T09:04:00.003-04:00

Miriela Mir Fonseca left her mother as well as four brothers and sisters behind in Cuba. Her relatives often don’t have enough to eat, she says.

So when President Obama recently lifted travel and remittance restrictions for the tiny island nation, Mir Fonseca considered it a blessing.

“With Obama, I can go home anytime I want,” said the 33-year-old, who works as a baker for a popular pastry chain in Buffalo, NY. “Can I tell you my dream? My dream is for my mother to come visit me, and for my brother to come here to help me start my business.”

Mir Fonesca is the face of a little-understood side of U.S.-Cuba relations. She is Afro-Cuban.
Fidel Castro’s relationship with blacks in the U.S. goes all the way back to when he stayed in Harlem after getting rejected by Western and European leaders attending a UN General Assembly meeting in 1961; he was welcomed by El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (also known as Malcolm X). Castro has chosen to visit and deliver speeches in Harlem ever since.

The tiny island nation has long offered to provide free medical school to African Americans, and took a harsh stance against South African apartheid, even as the American government would not.

Over the years, Fidel Castro has encouraged his country – about 60 percent of which is of African descent — to not only identify themselves with African Americans, but to have an affinity for them. And he used America’s racism to discredit U.S. policy on the island, according to Mark Sawyer, associate professor of political science at UCLA and author of Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba.

Obama’s election means the Cuban regime might not be able to demonize the U.S. as it once did.
But despite his reversal of Bush Administration policy toward Cuba travel, it more than likely will prove difficult to follow that with a quick end to the 47-year-old trade embargo.
For one thing, Cuban leaders aren’t sure the country is ready for the embargo to be lifted. That’s why we see mixed messagescoming from the Castro brothers about opening a dialogue with the U.S.

And Castro isn’t stupid. He saw what happened to the Soviet Union in the 1980s after it opened itself up to the West — its economy collapsed.

“Cuba is an island of 10 million people and it has a very small economy,” Sawyer said during a recent telephone conversation. “Opening up with the U.S. could potentially overwhelm their economy; and it could dramatically undermine Cuba’s power, control and its domestic policy.”
Like Mir Fonseca, Afro-Cubans tend to want the embargo put to rest; but they also want their families to maintain the gains of the revolution, such as universal health care and a guaranteed quality education. (Cuba has one of the highest life-expectancies in the world, and Castro is credited with basically eliminating illiteracy in the country.)

A report released earlier this year by Sen. Richard G. Lugar , R-Ind., recommended establishing a bipartisan commission to forge a new, multilateral strategy on Cuba with Latin America and the European Union. It also urged Havana’s reintegration into western-dominated international institutions, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, among other steps.

Borrowing money from the International Monetary Fund could impact Cuba’s domestic policy, by forcing the country to put caps on how much money it spends on education, health and poverty reduction. And it could affect how much Cuba can tax remittances. Currently taxed at 20 percent, that money allows Cuba to provide social services to its citizens.

Possible negotiations with the U.S. are further complicated by an issue that has a decidedly racial component.

When 25,000 elite, mostly white Cubans, fled the island between 1959 and 1993, Castro allowed their homes to be taken over by the maids and other servants – mostly black – who, in many cases, worked for the families that moved to Miami. “These wealthy families want to be paid back for their homes,” said Sawyer. “Under the radar, this is being talked about in terms of possible negotiations with the U.S.”

Cuba could be bankrupted if forced to repay wealthy exiles for their property, Sawyer said.
And that would further hurt poor black Cubans, like the realtives of Mir Fonesca.

As grateful as she is to be able to see her family more than once every three years, as the Bush Administration permitted, she wants more for them, and thinks ending the embargo would be the right start.

“Our families are starving,” she said. “We’re praying for a new start for the USA and Cuba.”

[un]Common Sex Blog: Muslim Husbands Can Rape Their Wives?

2009-04-08T09:15:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I stole the title from Eddie Blue Eyes, but it does fit what I'm about to write about. Well, kinda.

See, one of my male friends went on a tantrum this week after hearing how U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confronted Afghan President Hamid Karzai (pronounced Carz-eye) about a new law he signed. The law, according to Clinton and U.N. officials, effectively allows husbands to rape their wives.

Women, as you know, have very little freedom in many parts of the Middle East. In places like Afghanistan, Muslim women must be completely obedient to their husbands. The new law essentially forces women to get their husband's permission before looking for a job, going to the doctor, or receiving education, and grants custody of children to fathers and grandfathers only.

The friend I mentioned earlier, takes offense to Clinton - and by extension - the U.S. meddling in Afghan affairs. He flatly states that it is not America's business what happens in the bedroom of a husband and wife, especially when that husband and wife live in another country, on another continent.

As a woman my heart goes out to the women in Afghanistan, I mean, what woman would want to live under those conditions?

When I mentioned that, my friend asked me what Muslim women have I heard complain. Well, you know me, don't ask a question if you don't want me to answer. I pointed to several youtube videos, news articles, human rights reports... You get the picture. I have my facts together and spat them.

Then he goes to a place that I wasn't prepared, and still can not, possibly defend.

My friend, who isn't American, pointed out the ultimate of American hypocrisy. We talked about rape in America and how victims are too often treated. Many times they are raped, albeit not physically, all over again by the people who are supposed to protect them.

And then he mentioned that if we're going to use this issue to ramp up American anger to help bolster military efforts against the Taliban in Afghanistan, then we better be prepared to go after our trusted ally Saudi Arabia too.

Yup, he's right. when it comes to women, they don't have any rights in Saudi Arabia either. In fact, some maintain that women are worse off in Saudi Arabia than they are in Afghanistan.

Remember this? Or how about this?

And what about Pakistan, another "friend" of America, where public flogging of women is commonplace.

First Lady Hype Can Be Offensive

2009-04-04T06:43:00.000-04:00

Press coverage of Michelle Obama has been all over the map, and not all for the good.

A year ago she was being called an angry, black woman. After the inauguration we were saturated with debate over her body parts (here and here). On the eve of her trip to London, a talk radio host called Mrs. Obama “trash” and Townhall.com referred to her as a female dog. The b-word has since been removed from its web site.

In the past week, television seemed to fixate on an intimate moment Mrs. Obama shared with the Queen of England.

Heavens to Betsy! It’s not like we’re on the verge of a global economic collapse or anything, right?

Polls suggest that Michelle Obama is more popular than her husband.

She has even managed to win over some Republicans who, just a couple of months ago, would have had her stay behind in Chicago rather than move to Washington.

Once written off as a radical, if the reports are to be believed, Mrs. Obama is now the new Jackie O. But all I see when I look at her is my mother, cousins and friends. (They really mean Jackie Kennedy, anyway. The O-part came later.)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Mrs. Obama is showing the world — including many Americans — the real face of the average black American woman: Beautiful, strong, warm, nurturing, even likeable.

But many African-American women, including this one, view all the attention — even the seemingly benign kind — as bordering on patronizing and, at times, offensive.

Reality check: About 2.3 million black women 25 years and older in the U.S. hold baccalaureate degrees or better, and 68 percent of them work full-time. They also work in higher numbers than white women in the U.S, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

To read the rest, click here and PLEASE leave a comment over there. Thanks, Sunshine

Is Anyone Else Tired of Michelle Obama Coverage, Or Is It Just Me?

2009-04-02T10:41:00.000-04:00

Okay, last night I was bombarded with news stories concerning Michelle Obama's major faux paux of touching Queen Elizabeth?

Heavens to Betsy!

It's not like the world economy is teetering near disaster or anything, but hey, we have to read about something other than Glenn Beck's apparent breakdown, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I'm proud and happy that the First Lady is showing the world, and many in America, the face of the average black woman: Educated, beautiful, strong, warm, nurturing, graceful and gracious.

Yes, we're all that and more.

But it does feel that I'm on Michelle O-overload!

One moment I'm reading what used to be two of my favoritie columnists debating whether she should cover her arms within the staid pages of The New York Times. Then I read about her vegetable garden, visiting schoolchildren and feeding the homeless. She, it appears, is just as good as June Cleaver, so much so that she's winning over some of the same Republicans who, just a couple of months ago, would have had her stay behind in Chicago instead of move to Washington.

Then, last week on the eve of Mrs. Obama's trip to London, I heard a talk-radio host call the First Lady trash. Next I'm reading an article in Townhall.com that refered to her as a female dog (editor won't let me use the actual term in this publication, but I'm quite sure you can guess).

Now, I'm hearing how Michelle Obama is taking the world by storm.

Ink overflows about her style, her smile, her grace.

What did they expect, for Obama to wrap herself in red, black and green, blow her out into an righteous afro and throw up black power signs everywhere she goes?

Puhleeze! Some of the adulation is bordering on plain-old-patronizing.

So... I have to ask: Is anyone else tired of how Michelle Obama is being covered in the media or is it just me?

Prison Bust

2009-03-28T06:33:00.000-04:00

Something shocking just happened in Ohio.

Prosecutors there said they want to reduce sentences for criminals — not hardened murderers, just non-violent and low-level drug offenders.

Prosecutors — not prison reform advocates or defense attorneys — said they want to eliminate mandatory prison sentences for trafficking and possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs, except in the most serious cases. They also want to reduce several other non-drug crimes to misdemeanors from felonies, including assaulting a school teacher without physical harm; injuring a police dog or horse; illegal use of food stamps; and stealing cable television

The biggest change, however, would be to give judges more flexibility in sending second-time offenders to drug treatment programs instead of jail.

It says a lot when prosecutors request less time for criminals, and Ohio isn’t the only state where this is happening.

In California, home to the largest prison system in the country, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger , a Republican, plans to cut his prison costs by reducing the number of people on parole. (Most of the people entering California prisons go, not for committing new crimes, but for violating technicalities of their parole. The Governater basically wants to release certain ex-cons without the benefit of state supervision).

California’s prison system is so overcrowded that the courts recently ruled that the state has to release 57,000 prisoners. And conditions so poor that a judge recently found Schwarzenegger in contempt of court for defying his order to pay the first $250 million of a multibillion-dollar plan to rebuild the state prison health care system.

Last year Schwarzenegger wanted $6.7 billion to build new prisons. Pending double-digit budget deficits probably was enough to change his mind.

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire , D, is proposing the release of low-risk female inmates whose children are in foster care. The move is expected to help close a $9 billion budget shortfall.

Read the rest here.

Remembering John Hope Franklin

2009-03-26T05:49:00.000-04:00

John Hope Franklin, Scholar Who Transformed African-American History, Dies at 94

DURHAM, N.C. -- John Hope Franklin, the scholar who helped create the field of African-American history and dominated it for nearly six decades, has died at the age of 94.

Franklin died of congestive heart failure at Duke Hospital this morning. He is survived by his son, John Whittington Franklin, daughter-in-law Karen Roberts Franklin, sister-in-law Bertha W. Gibbs, cousin Grant Franklin Sr., a host of nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, other family members, many generations of students and friends. There will be a celebration of his life and of his late wife Aurelia Franklin at 11 a.m. June 11 in Duke Chapel in honor of their 69th wedding anniversary.

[In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that contributions be made to the Aurelia W. and John Hope Franklin Endowed Scholarship Fund at Fisk University, c/o Office of Institutional Advancement, 1000 17th Street North, Nashville, TN 37208.]

“John Hope Franklin lived for nearly a century and helped define that century,” said Duke President Richard H. Brodhead. “A towering historian, he led the recognition that African-American history and American history are one. With his grasp of the past, he spent a lifetime building a future of inclusiveness, fairness and equality. Duke has lost a great citizen and a great friend.”

Franklin, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History, was a scholar who brought intellectual rigor as well an engaged passion to his work. He wrote about history – one of his books is considered a core text on the African-American experience, more than 60 years after its publication – and he lived it. Franklin worked on the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) case, joined protestors in a 1965 march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. in Montgomery, Ala. and headed President Clinton’s 1997 national advisory board on race.

He is perhaps best known to the public for his work on President Clinton’s 1997 task force on race. But his reputation as a scholar was made in 1947 with the publication of his book, “From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans,” which is still considered the definitive account of the black experience in America.

“My challenge was to weave into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly,” he said when the 50th anniversary of the book was celebrated in 1997. “That was terribly important.”

In January 2005, he spoke at Duke at the celebration of his 90th birthday, displaying the fire that motivated him throughout his long life. While others at the event talked about the past and reminisced about his accomplishments, Franklin focused squarely on the future. He described the event, held the same day as President George W. Bush’s second inauguration, as a “counter-inaugural,” and gave a talk in the form of a letter to a fictional white man he called “Jonathan Doe.”

He recounted some of the historical inequalities in the United States and recalled some of his own experiences with racism. He said, for example, that the evening before he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton, a woman at his club in Washington, D.C., asked him to get her coat. Around the same time, a man at a hotel handed Franklin his car keys and told him to get his car.

“I patiently explained to him that I was a guest in the hotel, as I presumed he was, and I had no idea where his automobile was. And, in any case, I was retired,” Franklin said. Both of these incidents occurred when he was in his 80s.

“What these experiences will do to me in the long run, I do not know. My cardiologist says that they are not good,” he said, continuing with the letter.

“I very much doubt, Mr. Doe, that you have had such experiences. Your race and your consequent position of power and privilege have doubtless immunized you from the experiences that a black person confronts daily, regardless of his age, education, position or station in life.”

At the time From Slavery to Freedom was published, there were few scholars working in African-American history and the books that had been published were not highly regarded by academics. To write it, he first had to give himself a course in African-American history, then spend months struggling to complete the research in segregated libraries and archives – including Duke’s, where he could not use the bathroom.

Franklin accumulated many honors during his long career, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He shared the John W. Kluge Award for lifetime achievement in the humanities and a similar honor from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, the nation’s two oldest learned societies.

But he also was revered as a “moral leader” of the historical profession for his engagement in the pressing issues of the day, his unflagging advocacy of civil rights, and his gracious and courtly demeanor.

Virtually all of the many articles written about “John Hope,” as he was called by friends and colleagues, include the words “distinguished” or “elegant.” His devotion to his wife, Aurelia, who died in 1999, was legendary, as was his love of orchids, which he raised in his Durham home. He even had one named after him: Phalaenopsis John Hope Franklin.

Franklin recounted the events of his long life in his autobiography “Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin,” which was published in 2005. To read and hear an interview with Franklin about his book, go to http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/11/jhf_qa.html.

The grandson of a slave, Franklin’s work was informed by his first-hand experience with injustices of racism -- not just in Rentiesville, Okla., the small black community where he was born on Jan. 2, 1915, but throughout his life.

Named after John Hope, the former president of Atlanta University, Franklin was the son of Buck Colbert Franklin, one of the first black lawyers in the Oklahoma Indian territory, and Mollie Parker Franklin, a schoolteacher and community leader.

The realities of racism hit Franklin at an early age. He has said he vividly remembers the humiliating experience of being put off the train with his mother because she refused to move to a segregated compartment for a six-mile trip to the next town. He was 6. Later, although an academic star at Booker T. Washington High School and valedictorian of his class, the state would not allow him to study at the state university because he was black.

So instead of the University of Oklahoma, in 1931 Franklin enrolled at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, Tenn., intending to study law.

However, a white history professor, Theodore Currier, caused him to change his mind and he received his bachelor’s degree in history in 1935. Currier became a close friend and mentor and when Franklin’s money ran out, Currier loaned the young student $500 to attend graduate school at Harvard University, where he received his master’s in 1936 and doctorate five years later.

He began his career as an instructor at Fisk in 1936 and taught at St. Augustine’s and North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University), both historically black colleges.

In 1945, Alfred A. Knopf approached him about writing a book on African-American history – originally titled From Slavery to Freedom: A History of American Negroes -- and he spent 13 months writing it.

Then in 1947, he took a post as professor at Howard University, where, in the early 1950s, he traveled from Washington to Thurgood Marshall’s law office to help prepare the brief that led to the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision.

In 1956 he became chairman of the all-white history department at Brooklyn College. Despite his position, he had to visit 35 real estate agents before he was able to buy a house for his young family and no New York bank would loan him the money.

Later, while at the University of Chicago, he accompanied the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. in 1965.

He spent 16 years at the University of Chicago, coming to Duke in 1982. He retired from the history department in 1985, then spent seven years as professor of legal history at the Duke Law School.

Franklin was a prolific writer, with books including The Emancipation Proclamation, The Militant South, The Free Negro in North Carolina, George Washington Williams: A Biography and A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Antebellum North. He also has edited many works, including a book about his father called My Life and an Era: The Autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin, with his son, John Whittington Franklin. Franklin completed his autobiography in 2005, which was reviewed favorably in many media outlets across the country.

He received more than 130 honorary degrees, and served as president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the American Studies Association, the Southern Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association.

Franklin’s best-known accomplishment in his later years was in 1997, when he was appointed chairman of the advisory board for President Clinton’s One America: The President’s Initiative on Race. The seven-member panel was charged with directing a national conversation on race relations.

When he was named to the post, Franklin remarked, “I am not sure this is an honor. It may be a burden.”

The panel did provoke criticism, both from conservatives who pressured the panel to hear from opponents of racial preference and others who said it did not make enough progress. Franklin himself acknowledged in an interview with USA Today in 1997 that the group could not solve the nation’s racial problems.

But Franklin said the effort was still worth it.

In 2007, lent his formidable effort to the issue of reparations for African Americans. Franklin returned to Oklahoma to testify in a hearing urging Congress to pass legislation that would clear the way for survivors of the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, one of the nation's worst race riots, to sue for reparations.

At Duke, Franklin’s legacy has been honored in many ways. In 2006 he delivered Duke’s commencement address. After celebrating his 90th birthday in January 2005, Duke held a symposium celebrating the 10th anniversary of the John Hope Franklin Collection of African & African American Documentation in the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University. The event also marked the publication of his autobiography. A portrait of Franklin was hung in Perkins Library in 1997.

And, in 2001, Duke opened the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, (jhfc.duke.edu) where scholars, artists and members of the community have the opportunity to engage in public discourse on a variety of issues, including race, social equity and globalization. At the heart of its mission is the Franklin Humanities Institute, which sponsors public events and hosts the Franklin Seminar, a residential fellowship program for Duke faculty and graduate students.

For Franklin, who continued his scholarly work and public appearances full-bore into his 90s, the work he began in the 1940s still was not finished.

In a statement to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2002, Franklin summed up his own career: “More than 60 years ago, I began the task of trying to write a new kind of Southern History. It would be broad in its reach, tolerant in its judgments of Southerners, and comprehensive in its inclusion of everyone who lived in the region. ... the long, tragic history of the continuing black-white conflict compelled me to focus on the struggle that has affected the lives of the vast majority of people in the United States. ... Looking back, I can plead guilty of having provided only a sketch of the work I laid out for myself.”

A special website commemorates the life and legacy of historian John Hope Franklin. Leave condolences at: http://www.duke.edu/johnhopefranklin.

Join the Facebook group "In Memory of John Hope Franklin (1915-2009)" here: tinyurl.com/c7v6m8.

Did Steve Harvey Plagiarize Best Seller?

2009-03-25T10:14:00.002-04:00

There is a rumor going around that Steve Harvey and his co-writer might have stolen the idea for his new, best-selling book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.

Full disclosure: I haven't read the book yet, but I have been eyeing it in my local Border's bookstore. It currently sits atop the New York Times Best Selling book list and several book clubs are now reading it.

The book dishes advice to women, who Harvey says, are setting their standards too low when it comes to men. He even went on Oprah to promote it recently.

Man, if this rumor is true, it will be the second time Oprah has gotten burned by an unethical writer (or co-writer in this case).

Oprah's gonna be pissed.

Anyway, Sharon P. Carson published an e-book by the same name in 2003, according to this web site.

The book sells online for $7.99 (not the $23.99 price-sticker on Harvey's book). In it, Carson touts her book as providing "keys to self-worth and surviving a love knockout."

There's more on Carson's book below. Meanwhile, let me know if this comes up on Steve Harvey's radio show.

Taken from Sharon P. Carson's Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man:

Act like a Lady – Think like a Man is a
collection of short lessons that are intended to
inspire women to practice both self-love and
tough love in relationships.

In today’s world women’s hearts are being
broken over and over again, as easily as eggs
for an omelet and without remorse or second
thought.

By gaining some insight into
how men think (in terms of their relationships
with women,) a woman can help better her
present relationship and be more able either to
recognize the signs of a bad relationship so
that she doesn’t fall into one, or to recognize
if she has already fallen into one.

He's the President, Not A Pop Star

2009-03-21T06:32:00.000-04:00

People waited for hours to get tickets.

They arrived at 2 a.m. or earlier. Some had the foresight to bring tents, while others lay in wait on cots or sat in lounge chairs for all that time.

Just a glimpse of him would be more than some could ever wish for. Alas, more than a thousand people were turned away after learning there were no more tickets.

Forget Michael Jackson and his sold-out concert in London. I’m referring to President Obama’s town hall meeting in Costa Mesa, California.

The point of the town hall meeting was to provide an opportunity for Obama to spread his economic message. But it was peppered with American Idol-like adulation and screams of the kind I imagine Elvis Presley must have received.

A couple of times somebody in the crowd yelled, “I love you.” The president responded, “I love you back.”

I cringed.

What’s love got to do with it?

We’re still fighting two wars, have Iran breathing down our necks, an economic crisis of epidemic proportions on our hands, and the people are acting like he’s Paris Hilton, not the president.

Okay, Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz., tried to use that line before and it didn’t work. But some presidential scholars now worry that Obama risks being perceived as not taking his job seriously enough.

“I think there is a danger for Obama in looking too much like a celebrity star. It was an avenue of attack that McCain used against him in the campaign, it didn’t work then, but that was the campaign. It’s different when you’re in office,” says Jeremy Mayer, presidential expert at George Mason University. “I think he risks the stature of the presidency being diminished.”

Obama recognized the attention he was getting from the crowd (I guess you can’t ignore someone yelling, “I love you”) but he also tried to strike a more somber note by steering the audience back to his message about the economy.

There is a certain “coolness” to Obama’s approach that may help make him more appealing to the masses than past presidents. But what happens when you’re too cool, too awesome?

Perhaps we found out when Obama appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, becoming the first sitting president on late night TV.

Between commercial breaks to sell cars, deodorant and laxatives, the president made a bad joke about the Special Olympics. By all accounts, Obama knew he had crossed a line, and almost immediately apologized.

In today’s fragmented media market, Obama is using multiple platforms to reach out to different groups of people and that comes with certain risks, says Eric Deggans, media critic for The St. Petersburg Times.

“The Special Olympics gaffe is an example of what happens when you make a minor mistake. I think the issue would have been more serious if the comment highlighted or was an example of a larger insensitivity connected to Obama’s policies,” adds Deggans. “But it wasn’t, and Obama apologized quickly, as he should have.

“But I think people are missing the fact that Obama spent a fair amount of time explaining his position on the AIG bailout, the bonus scandal, efforts by his administration to shore up the economy and the reasons why they have chosen the strategies they have,” says Deggans. “Just because he didn’t do it in front of a podium, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a meaningful exchange. I just think people need to take a deep breath and separate controversies which matter from the ones that don’t.”

Most Americans still approve of the job Obama is doing, though his popularity has slipped a bit.

But don’t tell that to the screaming fans in Costa Mesa.

To them, Obama is still bigger than a rock star.

Palin Blasts Obama for Special Olympics Comment

2009-03-20T13:03:00.000-04:00

But wait, didn't Governor Sarah Palin just, this week, turn down federal stimulus money that would have helped special needs education programs?

Give me a friggin break! This woman never ceases to make me laugh.

Story is here.

Too Bad Mel Brooks Can't Write Ending to AIG Mess

2009-03-19T06:45:00.000-04:00

It defies logic that executives of American International Group Inc. who are responsible for running the company into the ground would get $165 million in bonuses.

And it’s understandable that Americans want someone to blame.

They just might be leveling that blame at the wrong people.

What’s being overlooked is that if there were no such thing as a federal bank bailout, AIG would have still gotten an $85 billion cash infusion courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, because the company got its money from the Federal Reserve, not the Treasury Department.

In fact, the Republican-appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had already bought an 80 percent stake in AIG by the time Congress passed the federal bailout (PL 110-343) in October.

“People need to understand that the AIG guys would have still gotten their money regardless as to what Congress did or didn’t do because they never went to Congress in the first place. AIG went straight to Bernanke,” says Kathryn C. Lavelle, a political economy professor at Case Western University and fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC

The Fed, as it is commonly called, is responsible for protecting the country’s money supply. It prints money, sets interest rates and ensures there is enough cash and credit in the market. And unlike the treasury, the Fed doesn’t have to ask Congress for money or get members’ permission or guidance on how to use money under its control; much like it did when it bought $85 billion worth of AIG stock last September.

It’s another one of those quasi-government agencies like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, but with technocrats who have a higher level of expertise.

Congress created the Federal Reserve in 1913 as a neutral entity so that it wouldn’t be subject to political pressure. At the time, the banks and government each wanted to control it; nobody wanted a politician in control of the country’s cash supply. The Fed’s current quasi-governmental structure was decided on as a compromise.

Members of Congress don’t typically involve themselves in the day-to-day dealings with the Fed, but it is a creature of Congress. In fact, Congress has the power to get rid of the Fed. That said, most members of Congress don’t even know who to call at the Fed or what kinds of questions to ask when problems like AIG arise.

Who’s to blame?

The outrage surrounding AIG reminds me of a funny scene from the 1974 Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles.

A new sheriff arrives and the town of Rockbridge is ecstatic until they see who he is. The men-folk pull guns on the man sworn to serve and protect them. Then the sheriff pulls his own gun and puts it to his head. “Hold it, the next man that makes a move, the (black man) gets it,” said the sheriff, threatening to kill himself, while also refusing help from the townspeople who had now become his rescuers.

Last fall, President Bush’s Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, called congressional leaders and told them, in no uncertain terms, that Congress would have to rescue Wall Street with $750 billion in taxpayer money – more than twice the country’s discretionary spending, minus entitlement programs.

The money was needed, Paulson said, to save the country’s financial sector and national economy, both bordering near collapse. Worried Democrats demanded that Paulson take out language in the federal bailout concerning bonuses for the very bank executives Americans were now being asked to save.

The banking industry was replaying the scene that Cleavon Little had in that movie, essentially grabbing a gun and holding it to its own head.

The banks, Paulson insisted, would not help save themselves if Congress took away their bonuses.

Congress believed that, and here we are.

But that was the big banks, not AIG, which got its money from the Bernanke-controlled Fed, not Paulson’s Treasury.

That’s why Bernanke went on 60 Minutes, granting the rarest of interviews; he has to do damage control.

But he’s not the only one. Because the Fed is structured to largely be shielded from politics, it’s difficult for an enraged public to direct its fury there. Congress is a an easier-to-find target.

“That is also what makes this situation so volatile,” Lavelle says. “This is very serious for the upcoming midterm congressional election; those members are more vulnerable than President Obama right now. That’s why you see the immediate outcry from the Senators and Representatives.”

Indeed, you’ll see a move on the House floor today to tax away some of the bonuses.

But to be fair, the root of the AIG problem occurred during the Bush Administration under a deal negotiated by Republican appointees.

Moreover, it wasn’t until Democrats came to power in 2006 that Congress even started looking at issues in the country’s financial services sector. They held hearings on executive compensation, hedge funds and high mortgage default rates.

That said, Obama is president now, not Bush.

“This is my mess,” Obama announced during a town hall meeting in California.

His mess, he’s got to fix it.

Obama needs to come up with a serious plan to solve the financial and economic crisis, especially since he’ll likely have to come back to ask taxpayers for more money. After AIG, he’ll have a hard time getting it.

Secondly, says Lavelle, Obama will need to “restructure the financial system in a way that will fundamentally change the way we lend and borrow money in this country.”

In Blazing Saddles, the new sheriff finesses his way out of harm’s way by using reverse psychology. Safe and behind closed doors, he hugs himself and says, “Oh baby, you’re so talented, and they’re so dumb.”

But the American public isn’t dumb, and they want heads to roll.

I ask that you PLEASE, PLEASE leave all comments here.

Starting Over: How Iyanla Vanzant Lost Her Home and Health Insurance

2009-03-17T07:05:00.000-04:00

Remember Iyanla Vanzant, the motivational speaker and prolific writer who gave us such titles as One Day My Soul Just Opened Up and Acts of Faith?

For those who still don't know who she is, Iyanla is the black version of Dr. Phil with a side of Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou all rolled into one person.

Well, like millions of other Americans, Iyanla got one of those exotic loans - yes, even those with money got suckered - and lost her house. On top of that, due to catastrophic illness and tragedy in her family, she also lost almost everything else. Her daughter was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and like many black folks (includng myself), Iyanla had to take on the added responsibility of taking care of her daughter, her daughter's bills and a grandchild. She also went through a divorce, and her daughter died.

We've heard a lot about the pervasive greed serially committed by those n charge of companies like AIG. And we've been bombarded with people like Rick Santelli. If you recall, he's the nice fellow who went on a televised rant a couple of weeks ago and castigated many of those who have recently lost their jobs, healthcare, homes or all three.

For those who subscribe to Santelli's point-of-view, I suggest you read Iyanla's story. For those who don't feel like Santelli, I still encourage you to read what happened with this woman and how she went from "Oprah favorite" to starting over.

Voting Rights in Peril

2009-03-14T07:04:00.000-04:00

Some contend that the 1965 Voting Rights Act has outlived its usefulness, and hold up President Obama as proof-positive that times have changed.

But have they changed enough?

In April, the Supreme Court is slated to decide whether part of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. It is conceivable that the high court could strike down Section 5 of the law, which requires states and other jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination to pre-clear any changes in voting rules with the U.S. Justice Department to ensure the changes cannot hurt minorities.

“Those of us who have been involved in the voting rights struggle have always viewed the Voting Rights Act as a temporary transitional remedy,” said Rep. Melvin Watt , D-N.C., who helped push through the act’s reauthorization three years ago.

The U.S. Supreme Court has struggled with the issue of race for years, and the country’s changing demographics isn’t making the task any easier.

When the court debated the midterm Texas redistricting by former House Speaker Tom DeLay, justices sent out a mixed message about race, redistricting and the Voting Rights Act, the The landmark civil rights law created to overcome a legacy of poll taxes, whites-only primaries and literacy tests, especially in Southern states.

This week, in another decision the high court seems to be saying that unless the population of a district is at least 50 percent minority, then it’s not black or brown enough to be protected by the law.

The decision leaves in question the drawing of crossover, or coalition districts, where African-Americans vote with whites, Hispanics or other ethnic groups to elect their candidates of choice.

Justice Clarence Thomas , as usual, sided with the rest of the conservative wing of the court — Chief Justice John Roberts, Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito — in arguing that unless minorities make up more than half the voting population in a district, they are not protected by the Voting Rights Act. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy , considered a swing vote on the court, joined them.

In his opinion, some think Kennedy signaled that he too believes the Voting Rights Act is still needed. “Racial discrimination and racially polarized voting are not ancient history,” Justice Kennedy wrote. But the goal of the Voting Rights Act, he continued, was to “hasten the waning of racism in American politics” rather than to “entrench racial differences.”

Fifty percent sounds like a pretty arbitrary number, until you start thinking about the other time the court linked a number with race. As I recall, that three-fifths formula didn’t work out too well.

Click to read the rest.

Corrective Rape?

2009-03-12T17:33:00.000-04:00

The partially clothed body of Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's acclaimed Banyana Banyana national female football squad, was found in a creek in a park in Kwa Thema, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Simelane had been gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. As well as being one of South Africa's best-known female footballers, Simelane was a voracious equality rights campaigner and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian in Kwa Thema.

Her brutal murder took place last April, and since then a tide of violence against lesbian women in South Africa has continued to rise. Human rights campaigners say it is characterised by what they call "corrective rape" committed by men behind the guise of trying to "cure" lesbian women of their sexual orientation.

Watch a testimonialsvideo.

Newt to the Rescue... in response to Rippa's blog on Michael Steele

2009-03-07T06:13:00.000-05:00

With the Republican Party in seeming disarray, Newt Gingrich is emerging as someone who might be able to save conservatives — and the GOP — from themselves.

But can a former Speaker of the House do what Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele may not be able to do after effectively abdicating his party leadership role to talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh?

Many party activists insist the GOP doesn’t have a leader right now. But anyone watching Gringrich might think differently.

Take, for example, his address to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. The former Speaker of the House took the stage to the thumping beat of ”Eye of the Tiger”, then succinctly and articulately did what Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal failed to do more than a week ago.

“I came here today to take a few minutes to answer the president and answer his attorney general and to comment on the machine which currently runs the Congress,” said Gingrich, giving the defacto Republican response to President Obama’s big speech to Congress.

To the folks in that crowd, Gingrich’s words are what they hungered to hear from somebody, anybody inside the Republican Party.

Some key phrases from Gingrich’s speech showed up as talking points on television shows — hammering on the term socialist, for instance, and charging hard against the earmarks in the catch-all spending bill.

“To suggest to us that he is opposed to earmarks when the very next day the Democrats brought up a bill with 8,000 earmarks in it, then to suggest that (this bill) doesn’t count because all the pork was in it before he got here,” he said, pausing for dramatic effect, “I was looking for change we can believe in.”

Bull’s-eye.

Like Bill Clinton, Gingrich used the rhetoric of the opposing party to discount its message.

Pulling another chapter from Clinton’s playbook, Gingrich talked about how the party should expand its base by reaching out to conservative Democrats and independents. And most importantly, he offered a plan.

Click to read the rest. Feel free to leave your thoughts here, there, or both places.

QOTD: What do you think about Obama's Iraq plan?

2009-03-02T05:20:00.000-05:00

As many of you may already know, President Obama announced over the weekend that he will withdraw American troops by August 2010.

While he is largely keeping his campaign promise to get out of Iraq, Obama says he will leave behind 50,000 troops to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to protect U.S. interests.

Now, while Republicans like John McCain applaud this plan, Democrats like Nancy Pelosi are ticked. Some liberals see this as Obama trying to have it both ways and are angry.

Question: Do you think leaving behind 50,000 troops in Iraq is the responsible thing to do, or do you see it as Obama back-paddling on his promise?

Ethics Schmethics, who cares anyway?

2009-02-28T05:55:00.000-05:00

Are Washington Rules Really Changing?

Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, who was just convicted after misconduct that prosecutors say spanned nearly two decades, was just one of many government insiders who forgot they’re supposed to be public servants.

Foggo, who rose to the No. 3 spot in the CIA during the Bush administration, apparently got his mistress hired to a $100,000-a-year job that she couldn’t do and steered millions in federal contracts to a friend, who is already serving time.

Foggo’s actions took quite a bit of chutzpah, but he’s far from unique in that.

Take, for example, Sen. Roland W. Burris and his many-layered story about dealings with now-deposed Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich. Prior to being appointed to the Senate, not only did Burris forget to tell the public he tried to raise money for the former governor, he also forgot to mention that Blagojevich gave his son a $75,000 job.

Instead of apologizing or resigning, as many in his own party and state have encouraged, Burris got mad at the media, said he’s not going anywhere and added he would no longer respond to questions from the press.

If that’s not audacious enough, consider bankers getting billions in federal bailout money now have the unmitigated gall to charge unemployed workers to use state-issued ATM cards to access their benefits. This, on the heels of multi-million dollar bonuses paid to executives and plans to continue with swanky employee trips after receiving taxpayer dollars.

But wait, I’m not done yet.

At the same time these banks were struggling for survival, several of them gave millions to politicians, including the two main presidential candidates in the last election cycle.

Want more? How about the mayor of Los Alamitos, California who emailed colleagues a photo of the White House lawn planted with watermelons. Dean Grose wants his constituents to believe that he was “unaware of the racial stereotype that black people like watermelons,” according to The Associated Press.

On Friday, the mayor did what Burris won’t: He resigned.

To read the rest, click here and don't forget to leave a comment over there. If you love me, you'll do it.

First Lady's Official Portrait, Do you like?

2009-02-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

First lady Michelle Obama's official portrait was released Friday by the White House, a month after her husband's came out. The first lady is wearing a black sleeveless dress, white pearls -- and a smile. The photo was taken by White House photographer Joyce N. Boghosian in the Blue Room of the White House, NBC News reported.

So now we have a 'watermelon' lawn... post-racial my arse!

2009-02-25T18:27:00.000-05:00

From the Associated Press

The mayor of Los Alamitos is coming under fire for an e-mail he sent out that depicts the White House lawn planted with watermelons, under the title "No Easter egg hunt this year."

Local businesswoman and city volunteer Keyanus Price, who is black, said Tuesday she received the e-mail from Mayor Dean Grose's personal account on Sunday and wants a public apology.

"I have had plenty of my share of chicken and watermelon and all those kinds of jokes," Price told The Associated Press. "I honestly don't even understand where he was coming from, sending this to me. As a black person receiving something like this from the city-freakin'-mayor - come on."

The Orange County Register first reported the e-mail on its Web site Tuesday night.

Grose confirmed to the AP that he sent the e-mail to Price and said he didn't mean to offend her. He said he was unaware of the racial stereotype that black people like watermelons.

He said he and Price are friends and serve together on a community youth board.

"Bottom line is, we laugh at things and I didn't see this in the same light that she did," Grose told the AP. "I'm sorry. It wasn't sent to offend her personally - or anyone - from the standpoint of the African-American race."

Grose, who became mayor in December, said he sent an apology e-mail to Price and her boss and also left her a voicemail apology.

Regardless, Price said it will be difficult for the two to work together.

"Now I am like - wow, is this really how he feels?" Price said.

Los Alamitos is a 2¼-square-mile Orange County city of around 12,000 people. The mayor is elected by fellow members of the five-seat City Council.

President Replaces N-Word

2009-02-20T19:24:00.000-05:00

Link

Nothing rhymes with President, it's multisyllabic... LOL

Okay, you gotta click and I dare you to tell me that you didn't laugh!

Bipartisanship? Don't Count On It

2009-02-14T08:35:00.000-05:00

By Tracie Powell

Republican Senator Judd Gregg’s dismissal of President Obama’s offer to serve as Commerce secretary - on the heels of a stimulus bill passed almost entirely along partisan lines - shows that bipartisanship in this town is just a word that doesn’t carry much weight.

Obama should have known better. After all, it was the new RNC Chairman Michael Steele who first put him on notice when he said last month that “bipartisanship is overrated.” Funny, Steele (like Obama) talked a lot about change when he campaigned, but that was before he won the chairmanship.

And say what you want about Rush Limbaugh, but the man was just being honest when he said that he hopes Obama fails.

Quiet as it’s kept, more than a few Republicans probably share Limbaugh’s wishes, says Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University. “I think Republicans believe that their only chance to win is by being in staunch opposition, and if (Obama’s) policies fail, to be in a position to then make major gains in the midterm elections of 2010.”

In terms of appearances, Obama has gone above and beyond to reach out to members of the Republican Party. Problem is, nobody’s reaching back.

There was a time when presidents were more interested in policy than politics, said Richard Skinner, a government and legal studies professor at Bowdoin College in Maine.

Starting with Ronald Reagan there has been a rise in partisan presidencies; George W. Bush, however, brought partisanship to a new extreme “perhaps to the point when practice becomes pathology,” said Skinner, who wrote an article about the topic in a recent issue of Political Science Quarterly.

Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter all sought a nonpartisan image, reaching out to voters instead of party leaders. And, according to Skinner, Eisenhower openly displayed apathy toward the GOP while Richard Nixon and Johnson actually distrusted their respective national party committees.

“The past quarter century has seen a reversal of the trend toward weaker relationships between presidents and their parties,” Skinner writes. “Beginning with Ronald Reagan, recent presidents have increasingly relied upon their parties for support both in the electorate and in the Congress. They have presented a more distinctively partisan image to voters and have found it difficult to cultivate support from the opposition.”

To his credit Obama seems to be seeking a return to a more conciliatory time in which presidents relied less on vociferous extreme party wings and more on competent professionals.

In addition to the Gregg nomination, Obama added Texas Republican Ray LaHood to his cabinet and is keeping Bush appointee Robert Gates as Defense secretary. Before that, he placed prominent Republicans in high profile positions in events leading up to his inauguration and invited Republicans into his inner sanctum to discuss the stimulus bill before it even went up for a vote. When it came time to vote, not a single Republican in the House voted for the bill, and all but three shunned it in the Senate.

This week the GOP tried to say it was Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi who they have problems with, not Obama. But that too is circumspect upon closer examination.

Click here to read the rest...

Is the Congressional Caucus Still Necessary?

2009-02-07T06:44:00.000-05:00

You may have seen stories lately questioning the usefulness of Black History Month (click here, here and here) and pondering the relevancy of organizations like the Congressional Black Caucus.

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a challenge to the Voting Rights Act and millions of people — disproportionately minority — face losing their homes to foreclosure, the caucus says it can make the case that it is needed more now than ever.

“The Congressional Black Caucus is as relevant today as it was when it was first organized back in 1971,” Rep. Barbara Lee , the new chairwoman of the caucus, said recently.

“What we have to determine now is how to move our people and make them a part of the democratic process as President-elect Obama called for during the campaign.”

Obama’s election, Lee said, “provides us a unique opportunity to enact legislation to fill the moral gaps in our society. We have to be bold in addressing the issues he has raised, from foreclosures and jobs to health care and education . . . . (and) confront the problems of poverty head-on.”

The black caucus has 43 members, including several who hold sway over plum committees in the House: founder John Conyers, D-Mich., chairs the House Judiciary Committee, while Charles B. Rangel , D-N.Y., heads one of the most powerful committees of all, Ways and Means.

Members of the CBC, as it’s known in these parts, also control 15 subcommittee chairmanships and just last month laid claim to perhaps one of its biggest victories to date when one of its own became the president of the United States.

The real question is whether the CBC will translate those leadership positions into policy successes.

Click here to read the rest... and leave a comment over there and over here if you want!

WHAT THE NEW CHAIRMAN PICK SAYS ABOUT THE GOP

2009-02-01T04:10:00.000-05:00

By Tracie Powell

A black president and a black Republican Party chairman: Things just got a lot more interesting in Washington.

On Friday – after losing two consecutive elections – the Republican elite selected former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele, the GOP’s first African American chairman, to lead them out of the political wilderness.

But is Steele the person who can help Republicans reach out and expand the party base, or is he just a pretty face to put out front while party strategy remains the same?

Riding in on the wave of change, President Obama repeatedly seized upon Abraham’s Lincoln name during his run for the White House, so the election of Steele might be seen as a scale-balancer for the party Lincoln actually belonged to.

Steele could be just what Republicans need to extend the party base by appealing to more than just white, Southern conservatives.

To achieve this, the GOP needs more than just a black face, or any face of color for that matter, said David Bositis, Senior Research Associate with The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. “He will project less of the Southern imagery for the party, which is good. But I’m not sure (Steele) will really be able to succeed,” Bositis said. “The party needs to change — not just superficially, but real change.”

FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003022229&cpage=1

TO FINISH READING, CLICK THE LINK AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON THAT PAGE.

Who Should Play Obama?

2008-12-17T17:36:00.000-05:00

So Jamie Foxx, Will Smith AND Puff Daddy aka P-Diddy are all vying to play President-elect Barack Obama in an upcoming movie.

Now aint that some stuff!

That's why Foxx has been going around the television show circuit doing his best Obama impression lately. Have you seen it? In case not, here it is. BET is reporting that P-Diddy is throwing his weight around trying to land the gig too (either that or the first Black James Bond, he says). And Smith is talking about he and Obama have the same size ears.

Lawd...

Obama apparently agrees. He told Fox News back in February that Smith is the best actor to play him if a movie is made about his life.

Now, I don't know about you, but none of these cats fit the role, IMHO. Foxx is one my favorite actors: he pulled off Ray Charles like nobody's business and he does an okay impression of Obama. But we all know making us think he is the next President of the United States just might be too much of a stretch for Jamie Foxx.

Come on now, tell the truth! No offense to Foxx, Diddy or our future president, but I think Harry Lennix would make a GREAT Obama.

Check it out and tell me what you think, and then tell me what actor you would choose?

Personal Finance Lesson #1

2008-12-15T16:18:00.000-05:00

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.

When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.
One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her natural beauty took his breath away. "I may look like just an ordinary man," he said to her, but in just a few years, my father will die, and I'll inherit £200 million."

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother.

Women are so much better at financial planning than men.

35 Most Corrupt States In The Country

2008-12-11T06:58:00.000-05:00

In light of Governor Blah-Blah's antics in Illinois, Politico reported on why Illinois is the most corrupt state in the country, only it's not.

Suprise, suprise Louisiana appears to be the most corrupt state in the union, according to this report of the most populous states that also have the distinction of being the most corrupt.

Numbers contained in the 2007 report are based on data from the U.S. Department of Justice (pre-2006 Democratic takeover of Congress for all the partisans out there), and include political officials CONVICTED of violating the public trust (not simply those accused of engaging in malfeasance).

Here they are: The 35 most populous states ranked by their level of corruption.

Did your state make the list?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Louisiana

Mississippi

Kentucky

Alabama

Ohio

Illinois

Pennsylvania

Florida

New Jersey

New York

Tennessee

Virginia

Oklahoma

Connecticut

Missouri

Arkansas

Massachusetts

Texas

Maryland

Michigan

Georgia

Wisconsin

California

North Carolina

Arizona

Indiana

South Carolina

Nevada

Colorado

Washington

Utah

Kansas

Minnesota

Iowa

Oregon

Republicans Trying to Link Illinois Scandal to Obama

2008-12-10T04:27:00.000-05:00

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says he's making "no allegations that President-elect Barack Obama was aware" of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich allegedl pay-to-play antics. But that's not stopping some Republicans from trying to link it to Obama.

Check this out: "Robert "Mike" Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, saidi: "Americans expect strong leadership, but President-elect Barack Obama's comments on the matter are insufficient at best."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Obama has said that he hasn't talked to the Governor in at least two years. What else can Obama add to that?

Well, we also know from the transcript of the wiretaps on Blagojevich that he had been communicating with lower level Obama staff. By his own wiretapped statements, Blagovevich was upset that the Obama people weren't playing ball.

In fact, Blagojevich called Obama a "motherfu_ker" for not giving him anything in return for appointing the person the Obama people wanted to fulfill his U.S. Senate seat. According to scuttlebutt around Washington, that person was Valerie Jarrett, the woman Obama just made his Chief of Staff instead.

All the juicy details are in the transcript, you can read it yourself so I won't bore you with that. I also won't bore you with any more rumors flying around your nation's capitol. What I find more interesting is the Republican attempt to make some, if not all, of the controversy stick to Obama.

Will it work?

Stay tuned...

Supreme Court Disses Obama Citizenship Lawsuit

2008-12-08T08:03:00.000-05:00

Filed under No Surprises Here

(AP) The Supreme Court this morning unceremoniously declined to hear an emergency appeal from a man who claimed President-elect Barack Obama is not qualified for the presidency because he is not a "natural-born" citizen.

The court without comment declined to hear "Donofrio v. Wells," a suit that had attempted to keep Obama off the New Jersey ballot. Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick had claimed Obama had dual nationality at birth, because of his Kansas-born mother and his Kenyan-born father, who was a British subject at the time.

Just to be nonpartisan about it, Donofrio also contended that Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Socialist Workers candidate Roger Calero also were not natural-born citizens and should have been kept off the ballot.

The case had little chance at the high court, but became the subject of a tremendous amount of speculation and debate on ideological political blogs.

Right-wing blogs were outraged when Justice David H. Souter denied Donofrio's petition for an injunction, and left-wing blogs smelled trouble when Justice Clarence Thomas referred the matter to the full court for consideration.

In fact, both were routine procedures, as the court's action today shows. There were no recorded dissents to the decision dismissing the case.

This hardly means the lawsuits are over. There are two other cases at the Supreme Court, neither of which has been scheduled for consideration. The most celebrated is filed by Philip J. Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa. There are others still at lower court levels.

Berg argues that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as Obama has said and Hawaii officials confirm. Alternately, Berg argues that Obama may have renounced his citizenship as a boy in Indonesia, where he lived for a time with his mother and stepfather.

Those supporting Berg do not believe a birth certificate Obama's campaign has produced.

Factcheck.org has done an independent investigation of the controversy.

"FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate," the group writes. "We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship.... Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said."

History Lesson Gone Awry?

2008-12-06T16:13:00.002-05:00

White Instructor Said To Have Taped Hands And Feet Of 2 Black Middle Schoolers, Made Them Crawl Under Desk

HAVERSTRAW, N.Y. (CBS) ― Reenactments and demonstrations can be helpful teaching tools, but did a Rockland County teacher take that approach too far? She's under fire for binding the hands of black students and having them sit under a desk during a lesson on slavery.

Christine Shand says it was a terrible experience for her daughter, Gaby, descended, like most Jamaicans, from slaves.

"She burst into tears, she was crying and she was horrified," Shand told CBS 2 HD.

In a social studies class at Haverstraw Middle School, teacher Eileen Bernstein chose Gaby and another girl for a demonstration of conditions on ships that carried slaves out of Africa.

One African-American student raised her hand to volunteer for the demonstration. Gaby did not volunteer, but was chosen anyway.

"She taped their hands together, taped their feet together, and she had them crawl under the desk as if they were on a slave ship," her mother told CBS 2.

Mrs. Shand said Gaby was traumatized. She questions the teacher's judgment.

"There are other ways to demonstrate slavery. There's movies, you don't actually have to grab two kids and like put shackles on them," she said.

Wilbur Aldridge, the regional NAACP director, went with the Shands Thursday to meet Bernstein.

"She said she apologized for causing any problems for the child, but she was not apologizing for using that simulation during the class," Aldridge said.

But Principal Avis Shelby apologized, calling the slave ship demonstration a "bad decision."

"And we have things in place to make sure it doesn't occur again," Shelby added.

Mrs. Shand said she's still not satisfied and is mulling her options, worrying about how Gaby will perform the rest of the school year.

In the meantime, Mrs. Bernstein has remained in the classroom. Because it's a personnel issue, school officials won't say if she's been disciplined or reprimanded.

Should This Woman Have Been Fired?

2008-12-02T16:12:00.000-05:00

Have you heard the one about the university administrator who was recently fired after saying you can't compare gay rights to civil rights?

Well, in case you haven't here it is.

In case you don't want to go to the link, a University of Toledo vice president for human resources , Crystal Dixon, wrote a column in a local newspaper saying: "I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are 'civil rights victims.' Here's why. I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a black woman."

True.

But was she out of line?

Dixon said gay rights can't be compared to civil rights because homosexuality is a choice.

She further stated: "There are consequences for each of our choices, including those who violate God's divine order."

Two weeks later, Dixon was fired. School officials said her views contradicted university policies, according to the lawsuit.

Dixon is now suing for wrongful termination, by the way. Conservatives, naturally, are taking up her cause.

Before a judge decides Dixon's case, what do you think?

Democrats At Sixty

2008-12-01T16:59:00.002-05:00

I just saw rapper TI campaigning for Jim Martin in Georgia.

Who is Jim Martin you ask. Depending on whether voters come out tomorrow to cast their ballots, he's one of the guys who can help Democrats in the U.S. Senate reach a filibuster-proof 60 votes.

For those not in the know (and most of my readers are) a filibuster is a parliamentary procedure to obstruct or to prevent the adoption of a measure generally favored or to force a decision against the will of the majority.

One of the things I've learned since living in our nation's capitol, is that being the minority in the Senate isn't all bad. It means you hold the power; and that means you can put holds on legislation or make extraordinarily long speeches to keep legislation you don't like from being debated or voted upon.

Democrats say they need 60 votes to help keep such practices from happening.

Last month when voters, particularly black voters in suburban Atlanta, went to the polls in droves, they prevented the incumbent Senator, Republican Saxby Chambliss, from getting more than 50 percent of the vote. His biggest challenger, Jim Martin, nipped at Chambliss' heels, and now the two are in a run-off election that takes place Dec. 3 (tomorrow or today depending on when you're reading this).

As I've said many times before, there's Atlanta and then there's Georgia (I can say this because it is my home state and town). Because of this anomoly, I feel pretty safe in calling tomorrow's race for Chambliss because the JAW-JANS will come out, and election-weary (mostly black) voters in suburban ATL will choose to skip the festivities, even with the Senate at stake.

Former Republican Vice Presidential contender Sarah Palin visited the state Monday and John McCain has been there several times post-general election to help push the GOP candidate over the top. Obama, on the other hand, hasn't visited Georgia at all. Even he is blowing off the runoff.

Then again, Obama's been a little busy with other stuff lately I guess.

Regardless, Tuesday is about turnout.

If TI can campaign and vote, surely you can too.

Who Went Shopping Today?

2008-11-28T15:44:00.000-05:00

Is Alabama Next?

2008-11-28T05:58:00.003-05:00

America surpised many of us, myself included, when it voted a black man into the White House. But now another black man, Artur Davis, has the audacity to think he can be elected governor of Alabama.

Really? Alabama?

I like Davis, and he is one of the few members of Congress that I feel truly tries to know the issues. But is he smokin' weed or what?

Seriously, I'm only half joking here. Think about it, does he actually have a chance in Alabama or is it just wishful thinking? Are we asking for too much, too soon?

Score One For Fox News

2008-11-25T06:54:00.000-05:00

"So are the all-powerful liberal media responsible for the election of Barack Obama?" Rem Rieder asks in the December/January issue of the American Journalism Review.

"I'm with Shepard Smith on this one," says Rieder.

"The Fox News Channel anchor was listening to a comedian named Nick DiPaolo start to go off on the dreaded Fourth Estate and how it was all 'in the tank' for That One when Smith went off a little himself.

"'Oh, please,' he interjected. 'The mainstream media reflected what was happening in this nation. It did not drive it. The blogs didn't drive this movement. The media didn't drive this movement.'"

". . . The truth is, the Obama campaign was well-organized, disciplined, virtually error-free. Obama was an inspiring candidate to many, a dazzling public speaker with an inspiring storyline.

"The McCain campaign, in contrast, was a train wreck, lurching from message to message. And McCain, who can be an immensely appealing figure, seemed angry and unfocused.

". . . McCain got his negative publicity the old-fashioned way. He earned it." "So are the all-powerful liberal media responsible for the election of Barack Obama?" Rem Rieder asks in the December/January issue of the American Journalism Review.

"I'm with Shepard Smith on this one.

"'Oh, please,' he interjected. 'The mainstream media reflected what was happening in this nation. It did not drive it. The blogs didn't drive this movement. The media didn't drive this movement.'"

". . . The truth is, the Obama campaign was well-organized, disciplined, virtually error-free. Obama was an inspiring candidate to many, a dazzling public speaker with an inspiring storyline.

"The McCain campaign, in contrast, was a train wreck, lurching from message to message. And McCain, who can be an immensely appealing figure, seemed angry and unfocused.

". . . McCain got his negative publicity the old-fashioned way. He earned it."

Change of Heart?

2008-11-24T17:59:00.000-05:00

Virginia, which has some of the harshest policies regarding illegal immigration, is now softening its stance.

The state is now considering a host of services designed to help immigrants rather than penalize them, such as offering in-state tuition to those who meet specific criteria and creating an immigration assistance office, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Virginia officials credit the change of heart to a better "understanding of the state’s limitations on a largely federal issue and backlash at the voting booth," the Post states. They also say there is waning public interest in immigration in the face of a growing economic crisis.

The news comes a day after Gannet News Service reported that President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reached an agreement that will make way for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration legislation.

The legislation, if it wins approval, would make some undocumented immigrants eligible for certain federal programs, including student aid, according to an interview the news service conducted with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The Bush Administration tried to push through an immigration bill last year, but it failed amid partisan rancor and public outcry.

BREAKING: BOND STEPS DOWN AS NAACP CHIEF

2008-11-21T10:36:00.001-05:00

From The Baltimore Afro American

Long-time civil rights icon Julian Bond announced he will step down as national board chairman of the NAACP. He will serve out his final term through February 2009 and not seek reelection.

“This is the time for renewal. We have dynamic new leadership,” Bond said in a statement. “The country has a new President in Barack Obama; the organization has a new CEO in Benjamin Jealous, and we’ll soon have a new Chairman of the NAACP Board. The NAACP and the country are in good hands.”

The NAACP said that Bond informed board members in a letter that, although he would not run for reelection as chairman of the national board, he will remain on the board and run for reelection to the board when his three-year term ends.

“It has always been my plan to serve until the Centennial which will be underway in February when my term ends,” said Bond, referring to the centennial celebration of the birth of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.
“I’m not resigning. I’m just not running for reelection.”

Bond was elected chairman of the board of the NAACP in 1998. But he began his career in the Civil Rights Movement when, as student at then Morehouse College in 1960, he was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNNC). From 1960 to 1963, Bond led student protests against segregated public facilities in Georgia.

In 1965, Bond was one of eight Blacks elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. However, Georgia state representatives voted 184-12 not to seat him because of his support of SNNC’s opposition to the Vietnam War.

But in 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Georgia House denied Bond his right to free speech and they were forced to seat him. He went on to serve four terms in the Georgia House from 1965 to 1975 and six terms in the Georgia Senate from 1975-1986.

Bond, 68, said it was time for him to step back from the rigors of being the organization’s chairman.

“Being Chairman has been a wonderful honor however; it has been more time demanding than anything I’ve ever done,” Bond said. “I’m ready to let a new generation of leaders lead.”

Alan Keyes Sues Obama To Prove Citizenship

2008-11-21T02:47:00.002-05:00

Filed Under "Shaking My Head"

Remember Alan Keyes? The guy who keeps running and losing for public office.

Well Keyes is back again. This time the perennial black Republican candidate who lost to Obama in the 2004 Senate race, is now trying to sue Obama, claiming that the new president-elect was not born in the U.S.

Keyes filed suit this week in California Superior Court in Sacramento to stop the state from giving its electoral votes to Obama until evidence is shown to prove Obama was born in the U.S.

Keyes was the presidential candidate of the American Independent Party in the 2008 election and was reportedly listed on the California state ballot. He has run for office several times before and never won.

"Senator Obama has failed to demonstrate that he is a 'natural born citizen,'" Keyes said in his lawsuit (see PDF file here). He argues that failure to grant his request "will cast a pall of doubt on the election process and taint the election results themselves."

The story is old news for the Obama campaign. A web site run by the campaign disputes Keyes's claim and posts an actual copy of the president-elect's birth certificate. Several news agencies have also discounted the story.

The Washington Post investigated months ago and debunked the non citizenship story. And FactCheck.org, an independent research project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, also proved that Obama is, in fact, a natural born U.S. citizen.

The rumor resurfaced just a few days before the election, and on October 31 the Associated Press tracked down the Hawaii Health Department Director, Dr. Chiyome Fukino and the registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, who confirmed the authenticity of Obama's original birth certificate.

-- The Daily Voice

Black-on-Black Crime, I swear.

To Bail Or Not To Bail... That is the Question

2008-11-20T02:43:00.001-05:00

America's auto Industry helped create the black middle class by paying fair wages to working class Black Americans and providing the upward mobility at a time no other industry would.

Now some lawmakers are telling the automakers to toss out long-fought for labor agreements with unions, in order to receive help from the government. This is especially troublesome when already too many companies get away with not providing health benefits, hiring illegal immigrants to do menial jobs for little pay and no benefits.

Basically, the narrative that some are suggesting goes a little something like this: a bailout for the car companies is basically a bailout for part of the middle class, since many members of the middle class work for the auto industry. No place is this truer than in Detroit, Michigan.

In the end, it's the taxpayers who should decide whether to bailout the auto industry the same way we've bailed out the banks. Or, as some Democrats suggest, use some of that bank money to help the car manufacturers.

What do you think?

While you're pondering the question, here's a piece from a colleague's site about the auto bailout and how it is linked to the middle class.

Would You Sell This Car?

2008-11-19T02:51:00.000-05:00

Broadview woman owns Obama's old Dodge Neon

State records show President-elect Barack Obama briefly owned Natasha Brown's 2000 Dodge Neon. (November 14, 2008)

(The Chicago Tribune) - Natasha Brown knows what drives Barack Obama, or at least what he used to drive.

The 21-year-old Broadview woman owns the 2000 Dodge Neon that once belonged to the president-elect. Illinois secretary of state records show Obama briefly owned the four-door car and sold it to a suburban dealership in January 2005, just a few weeks before being sworn in as a U.S. senator.

Brown, then 18, picked out the Neon while browsing with her father at Park Plaza Dodge in September 2005. Her dad tried to steer her toward another car, but Brown thought the silver sedan was "cute."

She paid $6,000 for the car, which had about 60,000 miles on it. After Brown signed the papers, the salesman told her that Obama once owned the Neon, but back then Brown and her teenage friends didn't consider the junior senator famous enough to care about.

The car's transmission had to be replaced last Thanksgiving, but otherwise it hasn't given her any problems. Brown thought about trading in the car before the election but now thinks it might be more fun to show people the title with the president's signature on it. If the car's value shoots up because it once belonged to Obama, Brown—who cast her vote for the Democrat in her first presidential election—says she would entertain offers.

"I can't believe the president of the United States would be driving around in a Dodge Neon," she says. "It's a little girl car."

African American May Soon Head Republican Party

2008-11-16T15:23:00.001-05:00

Coincidence? I think not.

This is what came to mind when I learned the Republicans might put its own brand of African American male as head of the party.

You might remember Steele, he ran but lost a U.S. Senate race in 2006, and served as Lt. Governor of Maryland.

In a statement he released on Thursday, here is part of the reason Steele says he's running for Chairman of the Republican National Committee,

The Republican Party must present a vision for the future of America that relies on our conservative values and core principles. It is wrong to believe the voters have suddenly become liberal. They have just lost any sense of confidence that the Republican Party holds the answers to their problems. We must face the fact that our party has failed in recent years to live up to our own principles -- we have failed to be 'solutions oriented' in addressing the concerns of all Americans.

Now, I'm not saying Republicans are trying to play tit-for-tat with the Democrats, but I do want to say it has been a long time coming for an African American to hold a place of high esteem within the GOP. The last one to achieve such a feat was Colin Powell, and we all know what happened with that.

So what are your thoughts?

Now Bush wants to bailout credit card companies too?

2008-11-12T06:35:00.000-05:00

Oh Hells NO!!!!!

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said he wants to expand the government's $700 billion bailout program to include credit card, student loan and car loan companies, part of an effort to ensure that households and businesses have access to a broad array of borrowing options.

In a speech this morning, Paulson laid out his priorities for some $350 billion of the bailout fund that remains uncommitted. Much of the first half was used for direct capital investments into banks.

The remainder, Paulson said, should be used to reinvigorate the market for credit cards, student and auto loans -- which combined account for some 40 percent of consumer credit.

"This market, which is vital for lending and growth, has for all practical purposes ground to a halt," Paulson said.

His comments amount to a significant shift in the use of the bailout fund from a program to remove troubled loans from the books of financial institutions, and into an effort to support household and business spending at a time when both are in decline.

Paulson said that the original plans for the Troubled Asset Relief Program -- to buy bad mortgage loans from banks -- has now been shelved in favor of other uses for the money.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/12/AR2008111201124_pf.html

First question: Why do credit cards companies need my tax dollars? Aren't they already getting enough of my money?

Second question: Is G.W. Bush trying to give away the store before Barack Obama gets into office?

Just damn.

Impeach Obama?

2008-11-06T17:23:00.001-05:00

Filed under stupid is as stupid does

'Impeach Obama' groups pop up on Facebook

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Barack Obama has not even been sworn in yet as the 44th president of the United States but groups are springing up online calling for his impeachment.

On Facebook, an "Impeach Barack Obama" group has attracted more than 700 members and a lively debate about the Democrat's election victory on Tuesday over Republican John McCain.

Another Facebook group of the same name has 160 members and urges others to join because "we might as well get a head start on the impeachment of Obama."

"There are a lot of Americans out there that do not fully understand the concept of Socialism or Communism which is why they've elected Obama as president," it says.

Yet another Facebook group, "Impeach Barack Hussein Obama," has 160 members.

It decries that Obama "has voiced support for various unconstitutional programs such as the assault weapons ban, universal healthcare, and various schemes for wealth distribution."

"What are we going to do about it? IMPEACH HIM!" it says.

Obama still has some way to go, however, to equal the number of "Impeach George Bush" groups on Facebook, which lists at least 95 such groups with varying membership.

Obama is to be sworn into office on January 20, 2009. He will be the first African-American president of the United States.

A Long Time Coming

2008-11-04T21:43:00.001-05:00

Here is a speech I wrote in June. I have been looking for it over the past few weeks and finally found it two nights ago. Then I had to convert it so that I could post it here. I tweaked the second paragraph to reflect President Elect Obama's historic victory, but the rest remains unchanged.

It's long, but worth the read, especially now. Many of the same things addressed in this speech are issues we're dealing with today. That, and Obama's win is what makes the words in this speech still very relevant today.

-------------------------------------------------

Shortly before his assassination on June 5, 1968 Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy made the following prediction during an interview on Meet the Press: "Things are moving so fast in race relations (in this country) a Negro could be president in 40 years. There’s no question about it," Kennedy continued. "In the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has."

Today, exactly 40 years later, Barack Obama is the President Elect of the United States of America. President Obama will soon take the same job Robert Kennedy’s brother held and Robert himself might have held had he not been assassinated 90 days into his presidential campaign. Many will venture to tell you that Obama is also the fruit of Martin Luther King’s dream, a dream deferred until now, exactly when Kennedy said it would happen.

Obama often quotes King when talking about why he’s running for president. He calls it the "fierce urgency of now," which comes from a speech King delivered to members of the clergy on his objections to the war in Vietnam.

"We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today," King said to his audience of mostly ministers on April 7, 1967, nearly a year before his death. "We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity."

Whether the realization of King’s dream, or a manifestation of Kennedy’s prediction, Barack Obama’s ascent to the highest office in the land isn’t the only manner in which the lives of these two men parallel one another.

I want to share a few other ways in which King and Kennedy were very much alike:

First, both men were staunch advocates for eradicating poverty and racial divisions in this country, and they spent their lives pushing this country to live up to its promises as spelled out by the founders in the U.S. Constitution.

King hoped that one day men and women would be judged by the content of their character and not by their skin color. Similarly, Kennedy worked to end discrimination while also acknowledging that prejudice would continue to be one of America’s greatest challenges. "...we have tried to make progress and we are making progress," Kennedy once said. "We are not going to accept the status quo."

Second, both King and Kennedy were against the war in Vietnam and desperately wanted it to end.

Kennedy actually made opposition to the conflict part of his presidential campaign platform. "Our brave young men are dying in the swamps of Southeast Asia," Kennedy said in a speech he delivered in California on March 24, 1968. "Which of them might have written a poem? Which of them might have cured cancer? Which of them might have played in a World Series or given us the gift of laughter from the stage or helped build a bridge or a university? Which of them would have taught a child to read? It is our responsibility to let these men live... It is indecent if they die because of the empty vanity of their country."

Third, both men were change agents who forever left their mark on this nation. King was a Southern Baptist pastor with a pulpit who galvanized a generation to collectively work to change a system from one of oppression to one of opportunity, for all people, not just blacks. He believed that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Kennedy’s presidential campaign was all about change, especially after his brother was assassinated in 1963. Kennedy experienced another epiphany during a 1966 tour of South Africa, where he witnessed the effects of apartheid first-hand.

In an interview with Look magazine, he said: "At the University of Natal in Durban, I was told the church to which most of the white population belongs teaches apartheid as a moral necessity. A questioner declared that few churches allow black Africans to pray with the white because the Bible says that is the way it should be, because God created Negroes to serve," Kennedy recalled.

"But suppose God is black," Kennedy replied during his visit to the university. "What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?"

Kennedy remembered there was no answer to his question. Only silence.

Both King and Kennedy spoke out against apartheid, and both became the hope of South Africans.

It wasn’t until 1990 that South Africa began to slowly dismantle its apartheid system. In 1992 a whites-only referendum approved the reform process, and on April 27, 1994, the first democratic elections were held there, with people of all races being able to vote.

Indeed, these two men were unmistakable instruments of change. One only has to read what’s inscribed on Kennedy’s gravestone at Arlington National Cemetery. The quote is taken from a speech he gave at the University of Cape Town, South Africa: "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope..."

Most importantly, however, is the fact that both King and Kennedy had the uncanny ability to connect with ordinary people.

Each built coalitions of unlikely allies. For King it was urban minorities and Jewish civil rights workers who put their lives on the line so that African Americans could vote. Kennedy built upon this coalition, adding Hispanic farm workers and impoverished whites who four years earlier had supported segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace. "This coalition of have-nots," wrote journalist Jeremy Sherer in the Daily Californian, had conflicts and prejudices within its own ranks; however, what held them together was the belief that Robert Kennedy truly did feel their pain and that he was going to do something about it."

The same can be said about Rev. King.

The 1968 assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4 and of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, did not stop people from making change happen.

The 1960s were a time of chaos. Riots were erupting in inner-cities across this country, adding to widespread consternation about where we were going as a country. We were experiencing what many historians call, a crisis of conscience. Conflict raged between seemingly every part of our society- whites versus non-whites, young versus old, the economically privileged versus those who were barred from fully realizing their full potential.

From that emerged two men who were so different, but yet the same. And America was changed forever because both King and Kennedy dared to dream, to hope, to offer the possibility of improving the lives of others, to strike out against injustice, to send forth a tiny ripple of hope.

They alone had the audacity of hope.

On their shoulders Obama now stands. And now he too dares to hope.

And so should we.

Obama Etiquette

2008-11-04T05:12:00.000-05:00

Good Morning My People ~

It recently dawned on me that Sen. Barack Obama could actually win this thing. If that happens, there will be a lot of people (some of our co-workers included) who will be afraid that an Obama presidency will usher in the end of days.

They'll be watching us tomorrow for signs of the end times.

To keep the peace and keep a lot of folks from getting nervous, I think we should develop a list of acceptable celebrations and behaviors we should probably avoid – at least for the first few days:

1. No crying, hugging or shouting "Thank you Lord" – at least not in public.

2. No high-fives – at least not unless the area is clear and there are no witnesses.

3. No laughing at the McCain/Palin supporters.

4. No calling in sick on November 5th. They'll get nervous if too many of us don't show up.

5. We're allowed to give each other knowing winks or nods in passing. Just try to keep from grinning too hard.

6. No singing loudly, We've Come this Far By Faith (it will be acceptable to hum softly).

7. No bringing of barbeque ribs or fried chicken for lunch in the company lunchroom for at least a week (no chittlings at all). This may make us seem too ethnic.

8. No leaving kool-aid packages at the water fountain (this might be a sign that poor folks might be getting a break-through).

9. No Cupid Shuffle during breaks (this could indicate a little too much excitement).

10. Please no Moving on Up music (we are going to try to remain humble).

11. No doing the George Jefferson dance (unless you're in your office with the door closed).

12. Please try not to yell----BOOOO YAH!

13. Just in case you're wondering, doing the Running Man, Cabbage patch, or a backhand spring on the highway is 100% okay.

14. No cussing out your boss (of another persuasion) because "I've been waiting for this day all my life!"

15. Don't go into the stores asking for a discount because the President is all of a sudden a distant relative (he my aunts, cousin's nephew's uncle).

16. Don't go out and get drunk and get into it with a Police Officer telling him you now have new rights as an African American and shouting "We have Arrived!" (your ass will still go to jail).

17. No naming every baby boy born in November Barak or Obama, we'll have way too many in the classroom with the same name. Or if it's a girl, no names like Baraka, Barakiana, Barakisha, Barakeema, Barakamichelle', Obamashay, Obamarosa, Obama-mama, or Obamichellerak!

18. No talking smack about politics when you still don't know whatcha talkin' about (this will be a good time to read more to learn more about our government).

19. Don't praise him over God! He's still just a man… a good man that we're very proud of, yet still a man.

20. DO allow him to be a positive example in your life and walk with your head held high when the haters hate, maintain your dignity when faced with adversity, and strive to make this a better world for our children (grand-children)!

If I've missed anything feel free to add to the list. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page when Obama brings this thing home on November 5th.

And if the results turn out differently...I'll be humble, too!

I got this in my email today, I don't know where it originally came from, but I stole it and posting it here.

He's BAA-AACK!

2008-11-02T16:49:00.001-05:00

We said he'd come back, and here he is.

And to think, journalists have been giving Sen. John McCain kudos all weekend for not playing the race card the way some of his supporters, including running mate Gov. Sarah Palin, have wanted him to.

All of a sudden on Saturday, Nov. 1, the Pennsylvania GOP released this ad. Just in the nick of time, and right when it looked as if a number of discouraged, depressed Republicans -- who are not enthused about John McCain and his campaign -- might stay home on Election Day. What better way to rev up voters in a swing state than with a splashy ad featuring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

Politicians never seem to disappoint me. Oh well, I would ask what took them so long; but knowing what I know about politics, I think the GOP's timing is impeccable actually.

What's sad, though, is that the current Deputy Chairperson of the Pennsylvania GOP is African American. But hey, that shouldn't surprise us either.

Why would anyone want to stop YOU from voting?

2008-11-01T14:32:00.000-04:00

Have a plan in case there are lines. Bring some food, drinks, friends, books, games, a chair -- anything that will prevent you and other voters from walking away. Have fun while you wait and encourage your friends and neighbors to stay in line so their vote is counted.

Don't give up--don't walk away without voting.

Two numbers you should have in your phone.

Put these numbers in your phone so you're prepared to report problems and help other voters find their polling place:

866-OUR-VOTE
It's a hotline that's been set up to collect information about problems on election day--lawyers and election protection advocates are ready to respond. It's the best way to make sure someone addresses any problems you see.

The number for your local election board
Have it in case you need to tell someone where they can vote. Enter your zip code at govote.org, then look for 'Contact [your county] election officials' on the right.

Beware of lies, misinformation and dirty tricks; spread the truth.

Political operatives who do not have your best interest at heart are spreading plain lies to frighten new voters. In Philadelphia, anonymous flyers in Black neighborhoods have falsely claimed that voters with unpaid traffic tickets or outstanding warrants will be arrested at the polls. If you hear a scary rumor, it's probably a lie. Call your local election officials to check it out--and make sure your friends and neighbors know the truth.

Leave the Obama or McCain gear at home.

In some places, you won't be allowed into the polling place if you're wearing clothes and pins that support a given candidate. This isn't true everywhere, but it's best to play it safe. You can contact your local board of elections to find out if it's a problem in your area. If it is, bring some extra plain T-shirts or sweaters to loan neighbors who show up unaware of the rule.

Read the ballot carefully, and ask questions!

Some ballots can be confusing even for smart and informed voters. Read instructions on the ballot carefully, and if you're not sure you understand something, ask a poll worker to explain. Remember what happened in 2000 in Florida--a confusing ballot caused thousands of people to mistakenly vote for the wrong Presidential candidate. Don't let that happen to you!

It's On You!

2008-10-29T17:38:00.001-04:00

Okay folks, we are in the final stretch.

For those who will be voting on Tuesday, be forewarned that there will be long lines and frustration.

Persevere through all that - think about our forefathers and foremothers having to toil in the fields or walk from their villages to slave ships that pulled them away from their families and land. Think of your own children or whatever the heck inspires you. Just make sure your vote is counted!

Here are a few tips to help you be on your way:

Take proper identification with you to the voting precinct, a driver's license or state issued ID in most cases. Don't have that? Call your elections office to find out what else will suffice.
Take a book or a couple of magazines with you too, especially if you live in a swing state. Also bring a snack and some water... I'm not kidding about the long lines.
And just in case you have problems casting your ballot - poll workers don't always know the rules - I'm providing a list of phone numbers for you to call in case you need help.

The Brennan Center for Justice, at the New York University School of Law, has a Web site to let people know their voting rights: www.brennancenter.org/studentvoting.
The Tom Joyner Morning Show and the NAACP National Voter Fund have partnered to launch 1-866- MYVOTE1, a voter alert line that allows people to find out where their polling places are located and report problems at the polls.
Election Protection, a coalition of legal and civil rights groups, recently announced a national voter protection initiative, including another hotline number (1-866-OUR-VOTE).

NO EXCUSES

Halloween Gone Too Far?

2008-10-27T19:33:00.000-04:00

A conservative friend of mine sent me this video.

In his email, my friend complained, "So what do you think your reaction would be -- or others in today's media -- if this were Obama a the end of the rope?" He demanded to know. "As I said, when it comes to vileness and pure nasty behavior, The Dems (Libs) take the cake."

Check out the video and then read what comes after:

While I don't agree with my friend's assessment (there are vile people on both sides of the aisle, we just seem to be hearing more from the right than the left with assassination plots and women who lie about getting attacked by big, black Obama supporters).

I do have to acknowledge, however, that had this been Sen. Barack Obama instead of Sarah Palin, a lot of people would be mad as hell, and rightly so I would imagine.

Is it any less wrong for this guy to hang Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin from a noose than Barack Obama? What makes one funny, but the other a hate crime?

Police interrupt Skin-head plot to assassinate Obama

2008-10-27T13:12:00.000-04:00

Forever Vigilant

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday.

In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

The men also sought to go on a national killing spree, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.

''They said that would be their last, final act -- that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama,'' Cavanaugh said. ''They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying.''

An Obama spokeswoman traveling with the senator in Pennsylvania had no immediate comment.

The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond. Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.

Attorney Joe Byrd, who has been hired to represent Cowart, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.

Cowart and Schlesselman are charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president.

The investigation is continuing, and more charges are possible, Cavanaugh said.

Did anyone watch the new DL Hughley Show on CNN?

2008-10-26T08:53:00.000-04:00

I have to admit, I didn't watch it. Actually, I never intend to.

DL Hughley just isn't that funny to me. And when he does manage to be funny, the material is often "borrowed" from another comedian who is... funny. I fell out with Hughley a long time ago when he used to do a lot of stand-up. But the final straw came when he agreed with Controversial Radio Host Dom Imus that members of the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team were a bunch of "nappy headed hoes."

I know we're supposed to support our own, but we have to draw the line somewhere. Wrong is wrong.

Finally, I have a problem with CNN, which is supposed to be a Cable News Network (hence its acronym) moving farther away from delivering news and resembling more of an entertainment company.

Time Warner - parent company of CNN - already competes with Comedy Central Network (which broadcasts The Daily Show as well as the Colbert Report). Time Warner owns HBO, so why not air DL after the the Bill Maher Show on Friday nights?

And if Time Warner/CNN really wants to do a better job competing with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, why not choose a comedian who is actually funny?

While I do not plan to support DL Hughley's new show, I would like to know what others think of it, especially in light of the fact that I haven't heard much talk about it other than Scott McClellan's endorsement of Barack Obama during the show's debut on CNN over the weekend.

So what do those who watched think about DL's new show? Is it worth me breaking my personal boycott or what?

Blame The Black Man...Again

2008-10-24T08:41:00.005-04:00

UPDATE: It's official. Police are charging Ashley Todd with filing a false police report.
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html

By now you've heard about 20-year-old Ashley Todd, the young Republican volunteer who claims a black, male Obama supporter mugged her and carved a letter "B" on her face.

I immediately smelled another Susan Smith when I first heard about this story. Now police are starting to doubt it too. What gets me though is that even Michelle Malkin - conservative pundit/columnist/blogger/best-bud-of-Bill O'Reilly - says this woman's story doesn't pass the smell test.

On her blog, Malkin basically calls the woman a liar. This, from the same Michelle Malkin who lied before the Vice Presidential debate when she accused moderator Gwen Ifill of writing a book about Barack Obama?

For Malkin, calling a fellow Republican a liar had to be a difficult thing to do.

Get this though: What's even more striking is that Ashley Todd calls herself a liar on her very own Myspace page.

It is too sad to ponder, but if you want to read more about Ashley, go to Malkin's link above. You can also read http://www.wpxi.com/news/17789715/detail.html and the Drudge Report, which first cast this "incident" as a reverse hate crime and partisan attack (thumbs-down award goes to Drudge).

Do American elections seem to be bringing out the worst in people, or is it just me who thinks this way?

I think we need to be real honest with one another. There are those in America who do not want a black man - even a half-black one - inside the Oval Office. Eventhough it was black men who built the thing.

These people will go to extraordinary lengths to make sure Sen. Barack Obama doesn't make it past his inaugeration, and they are becoming increasingly desperate the closer we get to Election Day.

What is also clear to me is that we need to be ever vigilant in making sure all hell doesn't break loose in this country. No matter who wins the election.

No More Welfare for Sarah Palin

2008-10-22T04:39:00.008-04:00

I love it when I hear conservatives bemoan public welfare.

The conversation usually starts off a little something like this. "Why should my money go to take care of people too lazy to get a damn job. That's not my responsibility. They've been on the welfare rolls too long, I shouldn't have to pay for their lifestyle."

Well, yesterday we learned that as Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin not only took state money that paid her to spend more than 300 nights at her own home instead of the already-paid for Governor's Mansion, she also spent another $43,490 of Alaskan taxpayer dollars on travel for her children and husband.

Then this morning I awoke to learn that in the last two months the Republican National Committee has paid $150,000 for Palin's clothing and make-up. That's $150,000 in a publicly financed campaign. (Remember McCain is taking public tax dollars to wage his campaign, while Sen. Barack Obama chose to raise his funds from private donors.)

One Hundred and fifty thousand dollars in just TWO months. Interestingly enough, The Huffington Post said that same amount would have provided health insurance for 15 people.

I digress.

One would think the RNC would want to spend that money on competing with Sen. Barack Obama in swing states where the McCain-Palin ticket is now shaky, places like Florida maybe. But hey, it's their cash and the RNC can spend it whatever way they want.

Instead of dropping $75,000 in one shopping spree at Neiman Marcus for clothes and accessories, Palin could have gotten hooked up at Macy's for far less? RNC spokespeople said Palin will donate the clothes after the election. Uh-huh, sure.

That said, it is far more concerning to me that Palin sees fit to take money from taxpayers pockets and use it to to cover travel costs for her husband and children.

Alaskans picked up the tab for Palin's children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, the Associated Press found that Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

I'm not griping about Palin wanting to spend time with her family, but the public shouldn't have to pay for it.

As average parents we wouldn't be able to get away with this. In fact, if we wanted our children and/or spouse with us on a business trip, we'd have to pay for it ourselves, and we would still get the raised-eyebrow look from colleagues.

This amounts to nothing more than public welfare for Sarah Palin. And it is the stuff that voters need to know in order to make intelligent and informed decisions on Election Day.

I don't know about you, but it's obvious to me that Gov. Palin has champagne tastes and caviar dreams at the expense of other people who can barely afford to buy a jug of milk and put gas in the tank.

I hope Palin doesn't think she can waltz into the White House with us giving her a credit card with an unlimited balance. America is in the midst of a recession, we can't afford welfare for Sarah Palin.

What's Wrong With Being 'An Arab'?

2008-10-20T14:29:00.001-04:00

Answer: Absolutely Nothing.

I thought most of you would be able to appreciate this. It is the beautiful photograph that Colin Powell referred to yesterday when talking about the mother of a Muslim American soldier killed while fighting in Iraq. Photo credit goes to the New Yorker.

Here's Powell's quote:

"Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.
And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."

"Is there something wrong with being Muslim in America? No, that's not America," he said. "Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way."

ACORN cheats voters but a Republican gets arrested?!?

2008-10-19T15:07:00.002-04:00

Filed under, Say it ain't so Joe

GOP voter registration fraud case leads to arrest

Mark Jacoby, who was arrested in Ontario and owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state registration laws, authorities say.

By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
2:38 PM PDT, October 19, 2008

SACRAMENTO -- The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario late last night on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California.

Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department comes after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by his firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM. The voters said YPM tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters. The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.

Several agencies had launched investigations into Jacoby's activities, including the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, which issued the warrant for his arrest earlier this month on felony charges of voter registration fraud and perjury.

Efforts to reach Jacoby were unsuccessful.

evan.halper@latimes.com

Colin Powell 2012?

2008-10-19T09:58:00.001-04:00

I think he should have been, and here's why:

That said, why do you think the Republican Party didn't encourage Gen. Powell to run, especially with Sen. Obama on the Democratic ticket? And, should Powell run in 2012?

Forget Joe the Plumber, what about Shaniqua the Hairdresser?

2008-10-17T05:46:00.002-04:00

I'm sick to death of hearing about Joe the Plumber, the guy who has become the cause de célèbre for Sen. John McCain and the Republican Party. He's become the symbol, for them, of the typical white man living in Middle America with a car and 2.2 kids.

Look Joe, your 15 minutes of fame are up, now it's time to talk about Shaniqua the Hairdresser.

She's middle class too. Shaniqua has a child, her own small salon, and student loans she's struggling to pay off. Shaniqua also has an SUV she bought before gas prices exploded and a home she purchased with her boyfriend before she had to put him out. Now sistah-girl is having to rob Peter to pay Paul just to keep up on the mortgage payments and other bills.

Back in the day, doing hair was considered a recession-proof business. Not anymore!

Because of the rising cost of food, gas, heat and electricity, Shaniqua is now having to buy boxed-perms to use on her clients' hair; well, for the clients who haven't resorted to doing their own perms at homes. Hey, they've got to save money too.

Instead of making money off of more profitable relaxers, Shaniqua is stuck doing less profitable wash-and-sets. Plus, with all the people who want to sport natural styles today, what's a sister to do?

I'm only half joking about Shaniqua, but I bet most of you, like me, can relate to Shaniqua a hell of a lot better than you can Joe Six-pack or whatever his name is this week.

The real facts behind Shaniqua reflect much of our own stories.

Many of our parents made sure we got an education so that we could either land good jobs or start our own businesses. Some of our parents weren't even able to save for their own retirement because they chose, instead, to help pay toward our education. Now we're having to help take care of them.

The black middle class in America is in trouble, more so than our white counter-parts actually.

The black middle class is in fact, disappearing, according to most experts. You see few of us have been able to replace the black dry-cleaners and grocery store owners that used to populate our neighborhoods. All we really have left are the hair dressers, funeral home directors, and the occasional restaurant owner. Now, even they are on the endangered list.

Contributing to our demise are incomes that have become stagnant over the years and manufacturing jobs that our parents held, but are now moving to other countries.

Sure, today's middle class African Americans have bigger houses than our parents and even have nicer cars. But let's be honest, we don't really own that stuff, the banks do. Plus, those big ticket items are more expensive and far out-strip the amount of money we earn each month.

Statistics paint a mixed picture. While blacks as a group still have lower incomes than white Americans, a report released last year by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that median incomes have risen over the past 30 years for black Americans, from $27,100 annually between 1967 and 1971 to just $35,010 today.

Whites earn an average of $60,000 today versus $50,262 in the early 1970s, the report shows. Incomes for blacks haven't kept quite pace, the report states, largely due to declining income and employment of black men and depressed marriage rates among black Americans.

I wrote about the disappearing black middle class a few weeks ago. Maybe after you finish laughing at Joe the Clown... I mean Plumber, you will take time to check it out.

*Disclosure: The woman in the picture above is not Shaniqua. Both the name and Shaniqua's story are made up, just like much of what we originally heard about Joe the Plumber.*

Say It Aint So Joe!

2008-10-16T10:06:00.000-04:00

You mean to tell me he's not a licensed plumber, and may not even be a registered voter?

Well surprise, surprise.

To be fair, the information the elections office has on Joe may not properly match what we know about Joe - maybe his name is misspelled. But we do know that he's a apparently a Republican, if the information on file is to be taken at face value.

From the Toledo Blade

"Joe the Plumber" isn’t a plumber — at least not a licensed one, or a registered one.

A check of state and local licensing agencies in Ohio and Michigan shows no plumbing licenses under Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher’s name, or even misspellings of his name.

Questions were raised Thursday morning whether Mr. Wurzelbacher is a registered voter.

Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, whose address and age match Joe the Plumber’s, registered in Lucas County on Sept. 10, 1992. He voted in his first primary on March 4 of this year, registering as a Republican.

Ms. Howe said that the name may be misspelled in the database.

I wonder what else Joe isn't telling us?

McCain Must Apologize

2008-10-10T12:30:00.001-04:00

If Barack Obama's supporters acted the fool like John McCain's followers are doing right now, media pundits and everyone else would demand Obama apologize.

Why don't I hear these thunderous demands for McCain. After all, it is McCain's minions who are yelling for Obama to be killed and slinging racist slurs at members of the media who happen to be black while his running mate fans racial flames by insinuating Obama is "not like us."

Damn skippy Obama isn't like those bigoted fools, Sarah Palin included.

When the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's appeared on televisions across America last year, Rush Limbaugh and crew were the first to demand that Obama apologize. Even after Obama came out against Wright, they kept whining, just like they're whining now.

If you ask me, what I've been seeing all week from McCain supporters is much worse.

McCain is well aware of what his supporters are doing, and even more aware of the divisions currently being exploited by Palin.

Let me say that I'm not surprised by the white-privileged among us who are angry and afraid that a half-black man has gotten this far in the electoral process, we all know racism is alive and well. What I find perplexing is that nobody has appeared on the airwaves wagging their fingers and tongues at McCain.

Wait, let me take that back. Like me, one columnist is calling for McCain to apologize but we need others to join the drumbeat. "Whenever a crowd gets whipped up to the point that they turn ugly and start hurling racist insults, it is common sense that the candidate moves to rein it in," writes Mary Mitchell in today's Chicago Sun-Times.

But McCain is so desperate to win, he's feeding off of those angry crowds.

McCain should put a stop to the hate-speech. It is his job to rise above the harsh calls for Obama's blood. He needs to apologize immediately. And while he's at it, he needs to apologize for putting Palin on the ticket.

Anything less from McCain shows me he's NOT the leader he claims to be; and certainly not one that I would want representing me.

Beware of the Purge2 - HIGH PRIORITY

2008-10-08T22:22:00.001-04:00

Voter purges in 6 states may violate law

NEW YORK - Tens of thousands of eligible voters have been removed from rolls or blocked from registering in at least six swing states, and the voters' exclusion appears to violate federal law, according to a published report.

The New York Times based its findings on reviews of state records and Social Security data.

The Times said voters appear to have been purged by mistake and not because of any intentional violations by election officials or coordinated efforts by any party.

States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 by removing the names of voters who should no longer be listed. But for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows.

The newspaper said it identified apparent problems in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina. It says some states are improperly using Social Security data to verify new voters' registration applications, and others may have broken rules that govern removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election.

Democrats have been more aggressive at registering new voters this year, according to state election officials, so any closer screening of new applications may affect their party's supporters disproportionately, the Times said.

The result is that on Election Day, voters who have been removed from the rolls could show up and be challenged by political party officials or election workers.

The six states seem to have violated federal law in two ways. Some are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

And some of the states are improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters, the newspaper reported.

In three states — Colorado, Louisiana and Michigan — the number of people purged from the election rolls since Aug. 1 far exceeds the number who may have died or relocated during that period.

"Just as voting machines were the major issue that came out of the 2000 presidential election and provisional ballots were the big issue from 2004, voter registration and these statewide lists will be the top concern this year," said Daniel P. Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University.

Read entire story here.

Cindy McCain made a funny

2008-10-08T05:57:00.000-04:00

Here's one for the "if that ain't calling the kettle black" files.

Before last night's debate Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee John McCain for those who have been asleep, accused Sen. Barack Obama of running one of the dirtiest campaigns in history.

She said what?!?!

While making a campaign appearance at a children's hospital in Tennessee, Cindy McCain said her husband would correct Obama's distortions about her husband.

Hmm... well, I don't know that he did that Cindy.

Here's the quote:

Cindy McCain said today that she expects her husband to clear the record at tonight’s debate and let America know where he truly stands.

McCain, who stopped to visit a half-dozen children at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt today, said the presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has "waged the dirtiest campaign in American history,” and her husband Sen. John McCain will use tonight’s debate to correct the distortions.

“What I have found is that it’s necessary to make sure the American people understand what we have to say, what we stand for as a husband and wife, and what we will do for the American people if we’re lucky enough to be elected,” Cindy McCain said.

For the record, both campaigns have been distorting one each other's record. But if I had to call it as I see it, McCain has gone further out on that limb than Obama.

Debate Take-away: McCain Never Really Talks About the Middle

2008-10-07T19:26:00.000-04:00

For the second of only three presidential debates, Sen. John McCain didn't mention the middle class not once.

That should speak volumes to Americans, and to you.

This is significant in a time when wages are stagnant and people are losing their homes, their jobs and health insurance.

While Sen. Barack Obama dodged a few questions asked of him also, the one that stood out most to me is one posed to McCain: Is health care a commodity or a right. Obama answered it, McCain didn't.

Help for the middle class is what I wanted to hear more about tonight, and McCain failed yet again to address it.

What questions did you have before the debate, and did the candidates sufficiently answer them?

Big Dollar GOP Donors Not Impressed With Palin

2008-10-07T14:54:00.000-04:00

Through all the spin, gripes, and fights that I've been watching over the 48-hour news cycle, here's is a passage of story that stood out to me most about Republican Vice Presidential pick Sarah Palin- she might be fooling the GOP masses but the more educated and monied seem to like her even less than Democrats.

From an Associated Press story that ran today:

The angry GOP vice presidential nominee even found a way to blame the market decline on the yet-to-be-enacted tax policies of the yet-to-be-elected Obama.

"If you turn on the news tonight when you get home, you're gonna see that, yah, this is another woeful day in the market, and the other side just doesn't understand -- no!" she said at an afternoon fundraiser at the home of mutual fund giant Jack Donahue. "Especially in a time like this, you don't propose to increase taxes. The phoniest claim in a campaign that's full of them is that Barack Obama is going to cut your taxes."

Of course, Obama never promised to cut taxes for people at $10,000-a-plate lunches in air-conditioned tents on waterfront compounds. And the crowd -- among them New York Jets owner Woody Johnson -- reacted without applause to Palin's Joe Six-Pack lines. After they didn't strike up the usual "Drill, baby, drill" or "USA" chants, Palin, rattled, read hurriedly through the rest of her speech.

Funny how the rhetoric and "cuteness" doesn't work on everyone. Somebody should have told Sarah Palin.

Maybe God helped cause this whole subprime mess

2008-10-05T13:30:00.000-04:00

I'm web surfing, as I do on most Sunday mornings while watching the news shows, when I come across this article in Time Magazine.

It poses the question about whether God, or more accurately, Prosperity Gospel, helped cause the rash of foreclosures we're currently experiencing.

Here's an excerpt:

"Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That's what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise — that God will "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe "God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house." The results, he says, "were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers."

The article made me think about a church I attended when I lived in Dallas, Texas. Now I won't reveal the name of the church, but I will say the pastor there all too often preached about the accumulation of wealth and status.

His sermons centered around the notion that if only a person remained steadfast in God's word and to the church, then they could get that job, house or car they wanted. The pastor I'm familiar with would repeatedly say, "Don't hate the game, play your own game," before bragging about his newest luxury vehicle.

It disgusted me to see members who were unemployed and/or struggling from one paycheck to the next, sit there and listen to this man continuously talk about his expensive car. Needless to say, I stopped attending the church.

What do you think, does the author of this article make a valid point, or is his argument weak?

The Apocalypse

2008-10-05T12:02:00.002-04:00

Did anyone see Swing Vote with Kevin Costner?

In the movie, Kevin Costner plays Bud Johnson, an apathetic, beer slinging loafer who is coasting through a life that has passed him by. But one day, Election Day, Bud Johnson goes from a nobody to becomes the voice for all of America when the world realizes that his vote, and his alone, will be the one that elects the next President of the United States. Politicians invade the small town of Texico, New Mexico and its unwitting inhabitants, waging war for Bud's vote.

They say art imitates life. No truer is this phrase than now.

I'm not saying that the election can come down to one vote, but it very well may come down to one or two congressional districts.

Let me explain:

Remember last week when Sen. John McCain pulled out of Michigan at the same time the U.S. Labor Department reported 159,000 job losses in the month of September? I honestly found myself wondering why he'd do such a thing, afterall pulling out of a state with the highest unemployment levels in the country speaks volumes about a candidate's priorities, right?

His own running mate, Sarah Palin, and political mastermind Karl Rove also questioned McCain's decision as an act of political erraticism.

Well, now we know the reason behind such a move.

McCain wants to use the money he was pouring into Michigan in Maine instead. Yes Maine, with its four electoral college votes. But under the McCain strategy, he only really needs two of them.

The reason, according to Newsweek Magazine. "The Pine Tree State (that would be Maine) awards two of its four electoral votes by congressional district--meaning that if Barack Obama adds Iowa, New Mexico and Colorado to John Kerry's 2004 states (which is likely), but loses New Hampshire (which is possible), a McCain victory in Maine's rugged, northern Second Congressional District could break a 269-269 Electoral College tie and propel the Arizona senator to the presidency. Now comes word that Team Obama has opened another field office in Nebraska--the only other state to divvy up its electors by district. If Obama wins Nebraska's Second (which includes Omaha, the site of his new office) and McCain wins Maine's Second, then the two regions will cancel each other out--and we'll be right back where we started, a 269-269 stalemate."

Political strategists are calling it "The Apocalypse," and say the likelihood of this happening is a very real possibility given the state of the current electoral map.

If a tie does result, guess who gets to decide the election?

The U.S. Supreme Court a la 2000? No, worse. The U.S. House of Representatives. Sure Democrats control the House, but that doesn't necessarily guarantee an Obama win.

It is all so complicated to explain.

Suffice it to say that while there are more than one member in the House to represent individual states, the U.S. Constitutions states that under such Apocalyptic circumstances, each state only gets one vote when it comes to deciding who will be President.

Members of the House will be under so much pressure from constituents back home to vote one way or another, that it could threaten, well, complete chaos.

Can you say sheer madness? Riots and hysteria would ensue, predicts Newsweek. Hence a declaration of Martial Law (big shout out to Marxist Rev. Richie).

Funny thing is, none of this would even be possible if it weren't for the Electoral College, the very creation of which is steeped in slavery and devised by this country's founders as a way to deal with, or not deal with, the issue of slavery.

Oh, it is all so complex and my head is already spinning. If you want to know more about the Electoral College and why it was created, go here, here and here (look under slavery).

Meanwhile, I'll pray that we can somehow avoid The Apocalypse.

Beware of the purge

2008-10-03T19:15:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to remind everyone that Saturday, Oct. 4th begins the last days of voter registration for the upcoming presidential election in many states.

Not only is it the last chance for new voters to register, it is also the final opportunity for making sure the information elections offices have on file about you is correct.

In recent years elections offices across the country, many with good intentions, have purged the names of millions of voters from election rolls. What this means, however, is that your name may erroneously have been removed.

To ensure your name was not mistakenly purged from county voter lists, please call your local elections office BEFORE registration ends in order to fix any and all inaccurate information.

When you call, and this is important:

Be sure you are properly registered
Be sure you go to the correct polling place
Find out your options about convenient voting, such as obtaining an absentee ballot
Find out if you are required to show identification

After you confirm all of this data with the election's office, ask for a sample ballot and review all information about candidates and issues

These steps are crucial in making sure your vote is counted in November.

DON'T SLEEP ON THIS!

OINK, OINK: BAILOUT LOADED WITH PORK

2008-10-03T06:18:00.000-04:00

The latest version of the Bush Administration's bailout plan is yet another welfare program for the rich.

U.S. Senators quietly tucked away billions of earmarks in an already bloated bill. Who knows what the House will do.

Have you seen how many freebies, that have nothing to due with bailing out banks, are included in the package now being considered by the House of Representatives. In case you haven't seen it, let me share a few morsels of fat with you:

$2 million tax benefit for makers of wooden arrows for children
a $100 million tax break to benefit auto racetrack owners
$192 million in rebates on excise taxes for the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry
$148 million in tax relief for U.S. wool fabric producers
$49 million tax benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989 tanker Exxon Valdez spill.
Even Hollywood got something out of the Senate bill: renewal of a tax incentive worth nearly $48 million a year for film and TV producers who produce their work in the United States.

This is how Washington, DC works folks, aint life grand!

OINK, OINKl: BAILOUT LOADED WITH PORK

2008-10-03T06:16:00.000-04:00

The latest version of the Bush Administration's bailout plan is yet another welfare program for the rich.

U.S. Senators quietly tucked away billions of earmarks in an already bloated bill. Who knows what the House will do.

$2 million tax benefit for makers of wooden arrows for children
a $100 million tax break to benefit auto racetrack owners
$192 million in rebates on excise taxes for the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry
$148 million in tax relief for U.S. wool fabric producers
$49 million tax benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989 tanker Exxon Valdez spill.
Even Hollywood got something out of the Senate bill: renewal of a tax incentive worth nearly $48 million a year for film and TV producers who produce their work in the United States.

This is how Washington, DC works folks, aint life grand!

OINK, OINK: BAILOUT LOADED WITH PORK

2008-10-03T06:13:00.000-04:00

The latest version of the Bush Administration's bailout plan is yet another welfare program for the rich.

U.S. Senators quietly tucked away billions of earmarks in an already bloated bill. Who knows what the House will do.

$2 million tax benefit for makers of wooden arrows for children
a $100 million tax break to benefit auto racetrack owners
$192 million in rebates on excise taxes for the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry
$148 million in tax relief for U.S. wool fabric producers
$49 million tax benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989 tanker Exxon Valdez spill.
Even Hollywood got something out of the Senate bill: renewal of a tax incentive worth nearly $48 million a year for film and TV producers who produce their work in the United States.

This is how Washington, DC works folks, aint life grand!

How Long Before Rev. Wright Comes Back

2008-10-02T20:40:00.002-04:00

I'm taking cyber bets...

Now that the Vice Presidential debate is over and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appears to have learned to speak in half-way coherent sentences (though she didn't answer many of the questions asked of her).

And McCain-Palin has slipped in several, if not all, national polls.

And McCain-Palin has watched their lead in crucial battleground states shrink.

And realizing in all probability that they might lose the state in November, the McCain-Palin team has pulled out of Michigan.

And bad economic news proven to be a drag on McCain Palin approval ratings.

And as it becomes more apparent that McCain-Palin needs to change the subject,

How long do you think it will take for

McCain-Palin to bring back

the Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

McCain Gives Up On Michigan

2008-10-02T15:49:00.001-04:00

No wonder he didn't want to speak to Sen. Barack Obama last night...

Now THIS is news!

John McCain is pulling the plug on Michigan, a severe blow to his strategy for taking the White House.

Campaign officials confirmed the decision Thursday to pull TV ads and people out of Michigan, as they scramble to shift resources to states like Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin.

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ssf/2008/10/campaign_officials_confirm_joh.html

Seriously, what's wrong with John McCain?

2008-10-02T06:08:00.001-04:00

I just don't get this at all:

[Obama] walked over to where McCain was chatting with Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida and Independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut. And he stretched out his arm and offered his hand to McCain. McCain shook it, but with a "go away" look that no one could miss. He tried his best not to even look at Obama.
Finally, with a tight smile, McCain managed a greeting: "Good to see you."
Obama got the message. He shook hands with Martinez and Lieberman -- both of whom greeted him more warmly -- and quickly beat a retreat back to the Democratic side.

This was yesterday on the Senate floor, when the chamber voted on the bail-out bill. Ta-Nehisis Coates, of The Atlantic, writes that this is "pretty incredible when paired with McCain's inability to look at Obama during the debate. The only thing worse than a sore loser, is a person who's sore even before they lose."

I agree.

Sure, the polls have him trailing right now, but that can change in four weeks. And for a candidate and party who doesn't follow the polls, why should McCain care?

Seriously, what's wrong with him?

The Right's Newest Most Cynical Tactic

2008-10-01T07:51:00.002-04:00

They hope it will undermine the moderator of tomorrow's debate and provide cover for the potential poor performance of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin

On the eve of the Vice Presidential debate, conservative operatives and their minions are going into over-drive to undermine moderator Gwen Ifill.

Ifill, the only person of color to moderate debates during this high-profile election season, is the target of character assassination by the likes of conservative huckster Michelle Malkin. You can read Malkin's drivel here, but in a nutshell Malkin charges that Ifill "is in the tank" for Sen. Barack Obama and is encouraging other conservatives to place calls to the commission that selects moderators to complain about the "conflict of interest" Ifill presents as a moderator. Malkin also wants this to be the first thing Republican veep nominee Palin brings up during the broadcast of Thursday night's debate.

Yeah, I want to see Palin attack Ifill right out the box tomorrow, that will surely increase her approval ratings. Among some, yeah, but hopefully many more will see this coded racial behavior for what it really is.

Anyway, Malkin basis her claims of "conflict of interest" on the fact that Ifill wrote a cover story about the Obama family for Essence Magazine in August (of course Essence's primary readership are African American women for my bretheren and sisters who might not know). Malkin also cites an upcoming book Ifill wrote as proof that the highly respected journalist is somehow compromised and should not be allowed to moderate tomorrow's debate.

Malkin fails to tell her followers that the book isn't about Sen. Obama in so much as it is about the new era of race in politics, the decline of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of new black power elites like Obama, Artur Davis of Alabama, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and Corey Booker of Newark, NJ.

Of course, this very factual piece of information doesn't matter to Malkin and conservatives who agree with her. They just want to set-up a straw-man, or in this case a straw-woman, to take the blame in the likelihood that their beloved Sarah Palin falls on her face in the debate in much the same way she's fallen on her face in recent interviews with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson.

Question is will such cynical tactics continue to work on the psyche of America's electorate, especially those ever-so-crucial independent voters?

Gwen Ifill Breaks Ankle, But Still Plans To Meet Veeps In St. Louis

2008-09-30T15:22:00.001-04:00

From TVNewser

PBS' Gwen Ifill broke her ankle after tripping and falling down stairs at her home last night, a NewsHour insider tells TVNewser. We're told Ifill had been walking up a staircase, carrying research related to her moderating duties at Thursday's Vice Presidential debate in St. Louis, when she took a wrong step. (Wonder if Sarah Palin's pastor - the one who hunted witches - put a hex on Ifill... just kidding, okay, kidding).

We are told Thursday's debate show will go on: Ifill is planning to travel to Missouri for the big event.

Ifill is the only journalist of color to serve as moderator during this election cycle. She also moderated the 2004 vice presidential debate. You may recall her question about AIDS among American blacks stumped both Vice President Dick Cheney as well as his opponent at that time, former Sen. John Edwards.

Are we headed for a recession?

2008-09-30T14:17:00.004-04:00

America is at the tail-end of a failed administration, and while the politicians keep telling us that we need to bailout the financial sector or else... aren't we headed for the dreaded "or else" whether we pass the bailout or not?

Today Senator Barack Obama urged the U.S. Congress to pass the bailout plan rejected by the House of Representatives Monday afternoon. Without it, Obama said "...thousands of businesses could close. Millions of jobs could be lost. A long and painful recession could follow."

Sen. John McCain and President Bush reiterated these same sentiments. Trouble is, I just don't think they're being straight with us.

Housing prices have collapsed. joblessness is up, 401K plans hemorraging and retail sales down.

Now I know politicians and Wall Street don't like to utter the "R-word," but facts are facts.

More sensible heads at Bloomberg and Forbes say that any effort to rescue America's financial system will not avert a recession. The world's largest economy is in for very uncertain times, economists say. They just don't know how bad it will get.

Should we trust what the politicians are saying or the economists?

You tell me.

BAILOUT DEFEATED

2008-09-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

Reporters calling it a major shock!

House vote comes down 205 voting YES, 228 voting NO.

Will update as info comes in.

The Bail Out: Banks Win, Troubled Homeowners Lose

2008-09-29T07:41:00.000-04:00

No surpriss here...

Who wins, who loses under proposed bailout plan?
Monday September 29, 2:58 am ET
By Tom Raum, Associated Press Writer

Financial industry a big winner in bailout proposal, but not so troubled homeowners

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The proposal to bail out U.S. financial markets to the tune of up to $700 billion creates a lot of potential short-term winners, as well as some losers.

Wall Street and the banking industry are perhaps the biggest winners. Scores of banks and other financial institutions faced with going under stand to gain a lifeline that should allow them to start making loans again.

Under the plan that congressional aide sought to put into final form Sunday, the Treasury Department can start buying up troubled mortgage-related securities now held by these institutions.

These securities are clogging balance sheets, leaving banks without the required capital to make new loans and putting the banks dangerously close to insolvency.

Banks not only have slowed lending to individuals and businesses, they have stopped making loans to each other. The rescue plan should help restore confidence to financial markets.

There are other winners, too, if the bailout works as intended: anyone soon trying to borrow money -- for cars, student loans, even to open new credit card accounts.

Top executives at troubled financial institutions, on the other hand, are in the losing column because the proposal would limit their compensation and rules out "golden parachutes."

Of course, these executives may take solace in knowing their jobs still exist.

Investors, including the millions of people who hold stock in their 401(k) and pension plans, should benefit. Failure to reach a deal over the weekend could have sent stock markets around the world tumbling on Monday.

Homeowners faced with foreclosure or those who have lost their homes get little help from the agreement. Nor will it help people whose houses are worth less than what they owe get refinancing or take out equity loans.

It would do little to halt the slide in home values that are one of the root causes of the current economic slowdown.

"It doesn't deal with the fundamental problems that gave rise to the problem -- or alleviate the credit crisis," said Peter Morici, an economist and business professor at the University of Maryland.

Click below for more:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080929/rescue_winners_losers.html?.&.pf=banking-budgeting

He's no Palin, but Biden needs to get his crap together too

2008-09-28T05:47:00.000-04:00

Okay, it is not as big a deal as implying you're a foreign policy expert because you can look out of a window and see Russia. Nor is it on par of saying that you're an expert on Russia because Putin rears his head while flying into U.S. airspace over Alaska, but Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden's big mouth as of late is making him look, well... Palin-esque.

Take for example last week when he said leaders should take a lesson from the history books and follow fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response to a financial crisis.

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened,”‘ Biden told CBS News.

Cool, except Roosevelt wasn't the president during the Great Depression of the 1920s, and there was no such thing as television then.

Republican Herbert Hoover was in office when the stock market crashed in October 1929. There also was no television at the time; TV wasn’t introduced to the public until a decade later, at the 1939 World’s Fair.

Earth to Biden...

What the hell were you thinking?

Dangerous. Naive. Lacks Experience and Knowledge.

2008-09-27T11:29:00.002-04:00

After gritting my teeth throughout last night's debate, my first emotion was furor.

I was furious with Sen. Barack Obama for over-talking himself and getting mired in the details of his political plans. "Mister Senator, nobody gives a damn about details anymore, hit the highlights and keep it moving," I yelled at the television screen.

I was furious that Sen. John McCain kept using code-words to put-down Obama, and Obama just let it ride. While I understand the WHY behind Obama doing so, I felt he missed an opportunity to continually tie McCain to the failures of this current administration. "Remind people of high gas prices, declining wages, lop-sided tax policies, and job losses," I hurled, furious that Obama hadn't jabbed back.

Dangerous. Naive. Lacks Experience and Knowledge.

McCain kept repeating these condescending terms, sending subtle messages into the subconscious of his core audience out in TV Land. You know who I'm talking about-- those who live in "rural America," "mainstream America," or in the "heartland." Those "values voters," "soccer mom," and "hockey moms."

I kept hearing McCain utter the word "dangerous" over and over, a racist code-word if you ask me. The Republican-sponsored Willie Horton ad of the 1980s flashed across my mind. Remember it?

That made me more angry.

I went to bed thinking neither candidate had come out any better or worse than they had been before the off-again, on-again debate. But then I awoke this morning with these words still stuck in my head.

DANGEROUS

NAIVE

LACKS EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

Warning! Warning! Warning!

McCain used the right words, he just directed them at the wrong person.

McCain Will Debate Obama Tonight

2008-09-26T08:09:00.000-04:00

I know you all have been wondering about this all week and probably couldn't sleep last night.

So here you go:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican John McCain says he's going to be at the first presidential debate, even though Congress doesn't have a bailout deal. With less than 10 hours until the debate was scheduled to start, the McCain campaign announced that the Arizona senator would travel to the University of Mississippi. The campaign said after the forum he will fly back to Washington to continue working on the financial crisis.

McCain Will Debate Obama Tonight

2008-09-26T08:08:00.000-04:00

I know you all have been wondering about this all week and probably couldn't sleep last night.

So here you go:

McCain Will Debate Obama Tonight

2008-09-26T08:07:00.000-04:00

I know you all have been wondering about this all week and probably couldn't sleep last night.

So here you go:

Get your drink on Lusi!

Dissention in the Ranks

2008-09-26T03:32:00.000-04:00

Not a Good Day for the GOP and on top of all that, Washington Mutual Bank collapsed. Thank goodness I moved my money!

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee declared Friday that an agreement on legislation to relieve a spreading financial crisis depends on House Republicans "dropping this revolt against President Bush."

Rep. Barney Frank said leading Democrats on Capitol Hill were shocked by the level of GOP divisiveness that surfaced at a White House meeting Thursday, not long after key congressional players declared they had the broad outlines of an agreement on a bill implementing the administration's proposed $750 billion bailout plan.

Frank said he did not think that Democrats were going to see a substantially different proposal from the $700 billion bailout plan that the administration has been trying to sell to lawmakers and which has been the focal point of closed-door talks for days.

Participants in a meeting late Thursday afternoon that Bush had at the White House with congressional leaders and presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama said it descended into arguments, principally among Republicans.

"I didn't think we were going to have to be the referee of an internal GOP ideological war," Frank, D-Mass., said on CBS's "The Early Show."

Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican who appeared on the same show, said many GOP lawmakers dislike the proposal that has been pushed on the administration's behalf principally by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

"Basically, I believe the Paulson proposal is badly structured," Shelby said. "It does nothing basically for the stressed mortgage payer. It does a lot for three or four or five banks . ... "

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert don't have the sense they were born with

2008-09-25T18:43:00.000-04:00

What do you think of Entertainment Weekly's new magazine cover, it's a parody of a parody?

Oh, if you want to read the story that goes with it (warning, the story is very long) click here.

Bail Out For Bullies

2008-09-25T06:40:00.001-04:00

I am thinking since the Chinese are going to loan us $700 billion to bail out Wall Street so we can keep buying their cheap stuff at Walmart, we might as well ask for $1 trillion.

Why the hell not?

I awoke to news reports that Congress is close to making a deal on the bailout plan. A bailout for bullies, who typically enough, wrote much of the very legislation on which the U.S. Congress is about to vote.

What's next, will Hank Paulson hire these very same Wall Street bullies to administer the very plan they helped write? The same bullies fired from their cushy bank jobs for corporate malfeasance and mismanagement?

That's how Washington, DC works. No wonder we're losing our pants.

As I grabbed a cup of coffee, my thoughts lingered on the bullies. Not just the bullies on Wall Street, but perhaps one of the biggest bullies of them all, George W. Bush. You remember him, though many of you would perhaps rather forget. He's the guy notorious for saying "you're either with us or against us."

Well here we go again.

Get your hand outta my pocket!

Obama hung in effigy

2008-09-24T11:41:00.000-04:00

NEWBERG, Ore. (AP) _ Officials of a small Christian university say a life-size cardboard effigy of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was hung from a campus tree, suspended from a branch with fishing line around the neck.George Fox University President Robin Baker says a custodian discovered the effigy early Tuesday and removed it.
"We will not tolerate such displays and condemn it in the strongest terms," he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-24-ore-campus_N.htm?csp=34

McCain wants to delay debate to focus on economy

2008-09-24T11:10:00.000-04:00

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Republican John McCain says he's directing his staff to work with Barack Obama's campaign and the debate commission to delay Friday's debate because of the economic crisis.

In a statement, McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.

McCain also said he wants President Bush to convene a leadership meeting in Washington. Both he and Obama would attend the session.

The GOP Back In Business

2008-09-23T17:29:00.000-04:00

Even in a time of economic crisis, with the current Republican administration largely responsible for burdening this country's taxpayers with astronomical debt and failing to monitor greedy Wall Street brokerage houses, it is astonishing that half of all registered American voters still have a favorable opinion of the GOP, according to a report issued last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

The Republican Party is rapidly gaining popularity among American voters, the report says.

Among Independent voters, Republicans hold a 50-49 advantage in favorability ranking. In August, the Democrats were up by 18 points. Also, among overall registered voters, nearly half hold a favorable opinion of the GOP, their highest rating since 2005. These numbers suggest that the Republicans are back in business, just as many Americans are struggling or are on the cusp of going under.

Mind you, deregulation of the mortgage banking and other industries started under Republican darling Ronald Reagan, continued under George H.W. Bush, and was partially embraced by Democratic head honcho Bill Clinton. But much of the damage we see today squarely sits at the feet of the Republican Party and George W. Bush, not that a Democratic Congress did much to stop it.

So why then do you suppose half of all Americans like Republicans more than Democrats?

But it's gay people who are devaluing marriage. Riiighht...

2008-09-22T18:45:00.005-04:00

I was surfing the net this evening while watching Dancing with the Stars (no comments please) and came across this little tid-bit about Bishop Thomas Weeks III.

You remember him, the ex-Mr. Juanita Bynum who beat his wife in an Atlanta parking lot last year. Well, he wants to get married again and he's going online to find his next wife, according to this story.

Weeks pleaded guilty to assaulting his then-wife (in order to protect her from public scrutiny, he said). He is currently serving three years' probation and has already completed court ordered community service and anger management counseling.

The couple's divorce was finalized in June.

Bishop Weeks posted video excerpts on his church web site where he offers dating tips and talks about what he's looking for in his third wife.

In the video, Who Will Be the Next Mrs. Weeks, the Atlanta minister says his next wife should be at least 25 years old but "with special exemptions for 21 and up if they are classy." Weeks said she also must want to have children with him.

"This woman has to be very discerning, and very intimate, and very social and very sensual," Weeks says, laughing. "And on the ministry side she has to be very diverse. She can't be ugly."

Now, I'm not trying to diss anybody's pastor - Lord only knows I don't want to be bombarded with complaints from his church members - but does anyone besides me see anything wrong with the good bishop's list of requirements?

And why is Bishop Weeks taking his search to the Internet. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but with all those women who certainly attend his church, Weeks should have his pick.

Can I get a witness?

Given it is an election season, I posted this because gay marriage is bound to come up at some point.

I'm not trying to pass judgement, it's just that sometimes I think that Americans, like Weeks, might have their priorities mixed up.

For the Weeks' fans, here's one of his most popular web-casts, "Cussin in the Bedroom."

Most Bigots Don't Think They Are Bigots

2008-09-21T19:21:00.001-04:00

"I'll vote for a black dude over a bitch."

This comment recently came from a white former boss of mine who said she was echoing the sentiments of her relatives. My former boss relayed the sentiment as if it were a joke and chuckled when she said it, but she wasn't bold enough to repeat the actual word, "nigger," so she clumsily used "black dude" instead.

She said her kin-folk in Kentucky plan to vote for Obama/Biden rather than McCain/Palin. Somehow I think her relatives will do something altogether different when they go inside the voting booth. In fact an Associated Press report suggests this very same sentiment.

You've probably already read or heard about the report so I won't spend a lot of time on it, what I want to talk about are bigots who don't know they are bigots.

The former boss I mention above is the same person who was shocked because I'm not like "other black people." She told a white colleague - a friend of mine - that I was "different." She said that Alicia (another black woman she hired, I am not using her real name because this is a true story) is really tough-acting, from the projects of New York where she lived with her single mother, and has a father and a brother who are both in prison for murder. Our boss wondered why I wasn't like Alicia.

Mind you, this from the very woman who hired me.

"How could she be so different," our boss asked my friend, making reference to me. "Because they are two different people," my friend responded.

My friend was astonished at such ignorance; I wasn't.

See my former boss is a bigot, only she doesn't know it. That's because she, and others like her, are blinded by something called white privilege.

Tim Wise wrote about it recently. White privilege differs from racism and prejudice in that the person benefiting from white privilege may not necessarily hold racist beliefs or prejudices themselves. Often, the person benefiting is unaware of his or her supposed privilege, or so says Cornel West and other scholars who subscribe to this school of thought.

Problem is, because these people are so unaware of their bigotry, stupid things often come out of their mouths.

Most don't realize they act or sound like bigots. What's worse, they in fact look down their noses at racists like David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. And still others will keep a straight face and tell you they aren't racist, but then will turn around and vote for someone like David Duke (remember he was elected to the state legislature in Louisiana as well as campaigned for that state's governor and President of the United States).

Or they make dumb jokes like "If Obama wins, will we still call it the White House?"

Wait, don't think me a bigot, but that one is so stupid that it is actually kinda funny.

For more on white privilege, watch this video:

Newest Bail-out Will Cost Taxpayers A Trillion Dollars

2008-09-19T12:44:00.004-04:00

I can't even fathom a trillion bucks, can you?

So after the Mother of All Bubbles comes the Mother of All Bailouts. Main Street saves Wall Street. It now looks like Uncle Sam will create a new entity to take hundreds of billions of bad debt off the books of America's major financial companies. (Look for this to get done before Election Day, if not early next month.) "This is a gigantic step forward, the only way to fix the crisis," writes Ian Shepherdson, economist at High Frequency Economics. "Economy still a mess, but systematic risk way down."

Details are still forthcoming, but one possibility would be an $800 billion fund to purchase toxic bank assets. But whatever forms it takes, Congress will provide something close to a blank check to solve the American banking crisis. Already the Treasury Department has come up with a one-year, $50 billion guarantee of money market funds. You have questions. Here are some answers.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/09/19/analysis-washingtons-trillion-dollar-wall-street-bailout.html

Liar, Liar

2008-09-18T11:24:00.006-04:00

It doesn't even seem like candidates care that they get caught telling their tall tales. (Click graphic to enlarge.)

Read story here: http://www.mije.org/richardprince/boldly-telling-lies-media

Now, I'm sure Sen. Joe Biden, and the heads of each one of these political tickets have made some mis-statements - or told outright lies - as well. Afterall, politicians tend to fall into this trap.

Unfortunately, when I went to fact-check.org, I didn't find any for the other candidates. If you can think of lies some of the other candidates have told, please post them below so that we can all shake our dayum heads and step lightly through the BS.

No More Lies - Michelle