Monday, October 31, 2011

Beware of those scary skeletons.

II would like to welcome Mr. 9-9-9 to the world of big time politics.

It seems that my man forgot one thing while he was jigging and joking his way into the hearts of white conservatives across A-merry-ca: Your skeletons will always come back to haunt you. We all have them. But we don't all try to get elected as the leader of the free world, or, for that matter, to become a member of the most powerful "democratic" judicial body on earth.

And so here we go again; yet another black conservative is the victim of a "high tech lynching". The last one survived the metaphoric rope around his neck and ultimately found himself in a position where he can influence whether a rope is put around the neck of others. 

Apparently when Mr. 9-9-9 was at the National Restaurant Association he wasn't just making sure that all of us had somewhere nice to eat. He was allegedly making sure that he had somewhere nice to.....ahh never mind. (I hate these types of stories.)

Of course, like most politricksters, Mr 9-9-9 (and the GOP) first denied that he sexually harassed anyone. But then....

"Herman Cain is now saying he does recall some details of a financial settlement with one of his female co-workers who accused him of sexual harassment during his tenure at the National Restaurant Association.
Cain's quotes are being reported by Byron York of The Washington Examiner, based on the GOP presidential candidate's interview with Fox News to be broadcast at 10 p.m. ET Monday night.

Cain spent the day trying to beat back a Politico story that said he was accused twice of "sexually suggestive behavior." Amid his explanations that he had been "falsely accused," Cain twice said he knew nothing about a financial settlement with his accusers." [Source]

Yes, that pesky "financial settlement". Bad news Herman: It exists. Good news Herman: The folks who got the payoff are probably prohibited from divulging the details of the settlement to the rest of us.

But I take no pleasure in watching yet another high profile brotha go down. I don't care how much he jigged for his wingnuts friends and hated and demonized his own people. It's always sad to watch a tragedy such as this play itself out for all the world to see and hear.

"Come on Field, it's not only republicans who do this type of thing. What about Bill Clinton? He was getting pleasured in the people's house for crying out loud and you people defended him!"     

And I would defend Mr. 9-9-9 if whatever he was allegedly doing was between two consenting adults. Sadly, for conservatives, it never seems to be that way. If it was, there would be no charge of sexual harassment.

But the show must go on, and conservatives will now start the spinning:

"In summary: there is a real story here. It's possible thatPolitico got the story wrong, in which case they will be exposed. It's also possible that the story is totally accurate, and yet Cain is innocent of any wrongdoing.

There are plenty of reasons, after all, why a businessman would settle a harassment suit even if he were blameless. The final possibility, of course, is that Cain did behave inappropriately toward women he worked with. Let's hope that's not the case.

A few final points: the accusation that Politico is unfairly liberal (made by Jeff Lord, among others) is itself unfair.Politico undoubtedly employs reporters from liberal media backgrounds, including at least one of the reporters who contributed to the Cain story, Ken Vogel.

On the other hand, they also feature writers hired from conservative outlets. It's worth noting they have published pieces by a number of Spectatorwriters, myself included. " [Source]

Those few paragraphs alone had more twists and turns than a Jamaican country road. But I understand the difficulties that conservatives must be having with this story. It must be sad for them to watch Herman go down. Where else are they going to find a a straight talking black man who is willing to take on uncomfortable subjects and speak of certain things that they are too afraid to utter publicly?

Still, they need to take heart, because, the truth is, Herman Cain was never going to become president, and this story might just make him irrelevant sooner rather than later. Which, in the end, might be a good thing for them.

Happy Halloween everybody, and please make sure that those scary skeletons stay inside the closet.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

To squash, or not to squash, that is the question.

As we approach Halloween, I have a truly scary story for you fellows.

Now, I must admit, that a long long time ago (a really long time ago; waaaaay before Mrs. Field) I considered myself somewhat adventurous in the  boudoir.

But in all of my travels I never heard of some kinky s^%* like the following:

"Woman Reveals Potentially Fatal Sexual Fetish Called “Squashing”

Some sexual fetishes are freaky, nasty and most have an acquired taste, but there are some that are life-threatening and "squashing" is one of them.

"Massive Mocha" is an advocate for the apparently erotic act of sitting on a man until he is almost unconscious as a part of foreplay." [Story]

Wait a minute now, squashing?!! If any of you reading this have been on this sexual adventure please holla at your boy. They never had this kind of stuff when I was living the single life. But, then again, I am not sure that any of the women that I dated could have pulled it off. *shaking head*

And finally, speaking of scary stories...

"A veteran air traffic controller who directed Michelle Obama’s plane into the potentially dangerous turbulence of a massive military jet this year also made a mistake that nearly caused a collision involving a U.S. congressman last year.
The circumstances of the April 18 incident — in which a plane carrying the first lady and Jill Biden, wife of the vice president, came too close to a C-17 while approaching Andrews Air Force Base — was outlined Thursday in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board.

I was thinking that he was a tea party plant until I read the next part of the story...

"The controller responsible for the mistake, Breen Peck, was also involved in an incident in June 2010 when a United Airlines Airbus 319 carrying Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) came within 15 seconds of colliding with a smaller jet while approaching Washington.

The United pilot could be heard saying “That was close” on the radio. He reported pulling up hard after a cockpit collision warning went off, narrowly missing a 22-seat commuter jet.

“At the very least, the [Federal Aviation Administration] should have retrained the controller after the incident on June 28, 2010,” Sensenbrenner said, “and then fired the controller after the error that caused the first lady’s flight to abort a landing at Andrews Air Force Base.”

Peck is in the midst of a comprehensive retraining program that began shortly after the Obama plane incident. He said Thursday that he has been trying to get transferred from the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities in Warrenton, which controls all traffic in and out of the region’s three major airports.

“I’ve been trying to get out of here for several years,” said Peck, who acknowledged his involvement with both flights." [Story]

Mr. Peck, here is one blogger who hopes that you get your wish.   

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The power of the pipe.

We have a winter storm hitting the Philly area as I write this post. And, to think, just last week I was telling some folks that the weather is pretty calm year round here in Philly.

Oh well, I think I might have spoken a bit too soon.

So anyway, the weather outside is windy and cold, just like the hearts of some of these color aroused folks here in A-merry-ca.

"Danny Hembree, a man from York County, South Carolina has admitted to killing 17-year-old Heather Catterton in 2009 so she wouldn’t sleep with Black men in exchange for crack cocaine.

Hembree admitted to giving Catterton crack cocaine in exchange for sex himself, and says he also dated her sister and mother. He is also charged with two other murders.

BET.com reports:
On Monday, a jury in the trial of a 49-year-old man named Danny Hembree watched a taped confession of Hembree saying he committed murder over interracial dating. Hembree, who is being tried in York County, South Carolina, is accused of killing 17-year-old Heather Catterton in 2009, a crime he told police he committed after he gave crack to Catterton in exchange for sex. Yet despite the fact that he had sex with her after giving her drugs, Hembree says he killed Catterton to keep her from having sex with Black men in order to afford crack. “I just released her from that,” he said in the video. “I wasn’t mad or nothing. She was just better off.” [Source] 
She might be better off alright, but it has nothing to do with the black men that she might -or might not- have been sleeping with. The fact that you raped her and slept with her mother -not to mention her sister-, just might have led the poor child to reach out for the crack pipe. *shaking head*

And, speaking of crack pipe, some of you Negroes are going to have a tough decision to make: Which of the two do you love more? Crack, or Jesus?

"The purse begat the crack pipe.

Cops found Tonya Sutton's crack pipe hidden inside a Bible in her purse,
reports Will Greenlee in his
Off the Beat blog for TCPalm.com in Stuart.

The 43-year-old Fort Pierce woman was walking while carrying an open 16-oz, container of Colt 45 malt liquor.

When cops unholstered Sutton of her Colt 45, they searched her purse and uncovered the demonic possession of her Bible." [Story]

Oh my goodness! All those vices. I just hope that girlfriend has enough money left over to pay her tithes the next time that she is in church.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Daddy at the day care.

Happy Friday everybody. I am sure that it's always good to lounge a little after a long week of work. Sadly, though, it's time to attack black.

"Come on field, why are you attacking black folks when s*&^ like this is still going on in A-merry-ca"? 

Sorry Negroes, I have to do it.

So anyway, check out this story:

"A 4-YEAR-OLD girl was accidentally sent from a Mantua day-care center with the wrong man yesterday, then was reunited with her parents after police responded to a call about a possible child abduction.

She even got some ice cream and a trip to the park out of the deal, police said.
Staff at Caring People Alliance, inside a community center on Haverford Avenue near 35th Street, were called by two girls' mothers, who gave names of two men authorized to pick them up, police said.

Cops said that the men had the same last name - Lawson - and the little girls had similar first names.

About 1 p.m., Jerry Lawson, 48, came to pick up his 2-year-old daughter but left with a 4-year-old girl.

Lawson showed ID, signed the log book and walked out with the girl, Lt. John Walker, of the Southwest Detective Division, said.
After the pair had departed, Tanya Corbitt, the mother of the child whom Lawson was supposed to pick up, called and asked to speak with her, Walker said.

Police said that the girl fell silent when Corbitt spoke into the phone. Lawson asked Corbitt how old his daughter was, and she said 2.

The child Lawson was walking with told him that she was 4, police said. Corbitt told Lawson to head back. Walker said that Corbitt went to the daycare center and called police.

Lawson and the 4-year-old girl went out for ice cream and a trip to the park before anyone called him, police said. They returned around 3:15 p.m.
Police said that Lawson had been incarcerated and didn't recognize his daughter because he hadn't seen her since she was about 7 months old.
"He just assumed that he had the right kid," Walker said.

Walker said that the employees followed protocol by having Lawson show ID, sign his name and leave his phone number - which is how police contacted him.
The mixup apparently resulted from staff doing only a cursory review of Lawson's ID, Walker said.

"Unfortunately," he said, "most people only look at last names." [Source]

WTF?! This story is wrong on so many levels.

When did dude get out of jail? And mommy never sent him any pictures of his daughter while he was in the big house? And what's up with the day care workers?  

Oh lawd, our poor children.  


*"Family Day Care" is not the day care center associated with this story.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Kevin, Pat, and Mitt. A liar, a racist, and a flip flopper.

I would like the following story to serve as a public service announcement for all of you single guys out there getting your "playa" on:

"AP) — Police say a man's girlfriend unexpectedly came home just before another woman was due to visit, so he called police to report his new acquaintance as a burglar.

The Gazette reports that 24-year-old Kevin Gaylor was cited with a misdemeanor of false reporting to authorities.

Police say Gaylor had invited a woman he met online to come to his home after 3 a.m. Wednesday so they could get better acquainted, but his girlfriend came home first.

Police say that when the other woman arrived, Gaylor called police and falsely reported an intrusion.

Gaylor has an unlisted phone number and couldn't be reached for comment." [Story] 

Some of you laughing at this story need to stop fronting. You know damn good and well that you have tried some dumb stuff before while trying to creep and got busted like Mr. Gaylor.

I feel sorry for his lady. Girlfriend, it might be time to dig up some old phone numbers.

I wonder who Pat Buchanan thinks he is fooling? Soon after dropping his racist xenophobic book, "Suicide Of A Superpower", he is trying to help you Negroes find work in D.C. by calling for us to rid ourselves of those evil immigrants.

Here are some excerpts from his wonderful book:

"Half a century after Martin Luther King envisioned a day when his children would be judged ‘not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character,’ journalists of color are demanding the hiring and promotion of journalists based on the color of their skin. Jim Crow is back. Only the color of the beneficiaries and the color of the victims have been reversed."

Those who believe the rise to power of an Obama rainbow coalition of peoples of color means the whites who helped to engineer it will steer it are deluding themselves. The whites may discover what it is like to ride in the back of the bus.

Not until the 1960s did courts begin to use the Fourteenth Amendment to impose a concept of equality that the authors of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, The Federalist Papers, and the Gettysburg Address never believed in. Before the 1960s, equality meant every citizen enjoyed the same constitutional rights and the equal protection of existing laws. Nothing in the Constitution or federal law mandated social, racial, or gender equality." [Source]

Wow! Some of you, like my friends over at Color of Change, are demanding that MSNBC dumps Pat from their lineup. Not me. I want my man right where I can see him.

Finally, you have to feel for Flipper Mitt. His aides should have kept him out of the Buckeye state. Mitt that thing you are wiping off the bottom off of your shoes is called SB 5, and you just stepped in it big time.

SB 5 is going down in Ohio, and you bailed on your base. Coming back the next day to say that you support it 110% only makes you look like a calculating career politician...wait, you are a calculating career politician. Never mind.






  
 




 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Slave catcher alert!

Someone should give my man Apostle Claver a history book. Judging from his rousing speech to introduce Mr. 9-9-9 recently, he clearly has the wrong political party fingered as the party of David Duke.

"Conservative activist Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani, chairman of the right wing blog RagingElephants.com, called the Democrats a racist party of the Klu Klux Klan at a Houston rally.

"They're the racists, not us," he said alluding to the Democratic party's past affiliation with Jim Crow and segregation." [Source]

Yes, the Democratic party was affiliated with Jim Crow and segregation back then. But that is until they allowed the tent to get too big. Guess which party they all ran to?

Anyway, my man was not finished with you black liberals:

"Kamau-Imani continued with his comments, name-calling prominent individuals.

'Somebody needs to get in Al 'Shakedown' Sharpton's face and call him a liar. Somebody needs to get in Cornell West's face and call him a bald face gap tooth liar.'

And that's not all.

'Somebody needs to get in front of Jesse 'castration' Jackson and call him a liar.'
Cain was not in attendance while Claver was speaking and his spokesman said he does not think the presidential hopeful was aware of Kamau-Imani's contentious remarks."

Herman, give that Negro a chill pill. You don't want him to be your Jeremiah Wright.

Speaking of "chill pill". I think that the po po in Oakland could take a few of them. Tear gas,flash grenades, and a US veteran in critical condition for taking to the streets to exercise a right he fought for. WTF?

And the republicans are saying that this 99% movement and Occupy Wall Street is all O's fault.

"Instead of appealing to the hope and optimism that were hallmarks of his first campaign, he has launched his second campaign by preying on the emotions of fear, envy, and resentment..."

Someone should tell Paul Ryan that the reason that these people are in the streets is because politricksters like himself have been bought and paid for by the 1% in this country.

Finally,I see that republicans on the Hill are still not serious about reducing the deficit.

"Democrats on the so-called "super committee" proposed during a closed meeting Tuesday a $3 trillion plan designed to slash the federal deficit but Republicans swiftly and decisively rejected it because it relied heavily on tax increases, according to several congressional sources from both parties.
One top Republican aide described the Democratic offer as "outrageously absurd" and a "non-starter," and a sign the super committee may ultimately fail." [Source]

Failure is always good in these days of O if you are a republican. It's how they plan to return to power. Or, so they hope. Sadly for them, there are some people in the streets who might have something to say about that.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The "birthers" are back, and Herman is still number one.

I'm baaack. It's always good to finally come home and sleep in your own bed. (Or, in the case of some of you fellows; your own couch.)Taking a break is nice, but being home is always better.

Big shout out to the folks who wished me safe travels.

Anywhoo, now that I am back on A-merry-can soil, I feel like I stepped into a time machine. Didn't we do this whole birther thing before? Can you say "Groundhog Day" boys and girls:

"Gov. Rick Perry isn't convinced President Obama was born in the U.S., but says he doesn't care.

After raising the question of Obama's birthplace over the weekend, the presidential hopeful told CNBC on Monday that he's not too concerned about the issue.

"I'm really not worried about the president's birth certificate," he told John Harwood. "It's fun to poke at him a little bit, and say, 'How about, let's see your grades and your birth certificate.'"

In an interview in Sunday's Parade magazine, Perry ressurected the "birther issue," a belief among some right-wing conservatives that Obama was not born in the states and, therefore, illegally holds the office of the president.
"Well, I don't have a definitive answer, because he's never seen my birth certificate," the Texas governor said.

Perry added that he'd had dinner with Donald Trump, and the topic of Obama's birth certificate did come up.
"[Trump] doesn't think it's real," he said.

Perry stressed, however, that he didn't necessarily agree.
"I don't have any idea. It doesn't matter. He's the president of the United States. He's elected. It's a distractive issue," the governor said." [Source] 

Oh yes, let's get the "graders" on board as well. Poor Rick. Today he unveiled his [flat]tax plan(if any of you figure out what the hell it stands for and how he plans to carry it out please holla at your boy) and we are all still scratching our heads.

Meanwhile, some thing's have not changed here in A-merry-ca. Mr. 9-9-9 is still leading -or close to the top- the pack among the republican field of candidates.
I guess Rick is trying to keep up with the Cains. If you can't beat em join em.

If you are a republican operative you must be praying for this Cain madness to end. But, sadly for them, Herman is the personification of the republican party as it stands today. A party of soundbites with no substance. A party so shallow,lacking critical thinkers, and full of misanthropes, that its leading candidate for president is proud of the fact that he doesn't know the name of the president of another country in the world. (BTW Herman, Uzbekistan is not some "small insignificant state". ) He also wants to put an electrical fence on the US Mexican border, but that hardly got a peep from his friends on the right. In fact, I suspect that many of them would do the exact same thing.

His campaign released an Internet ad.today that was so comical and goofy, that  there are folks out there who honestly believe that it's a hoax.

But it's not. Like Herman, it's very real. And what's comical and goofy to the rest of us might be just what the doctor ordered for my right wing friends.

Finally, I have to salute the students of Ohio University for trying to check the Big R:

"Halloween is right around the corner and as costumes fly off the shelves, an Ohio University student group is taking a stand against outfits that promote cultural prejudices.

Students Teaching Against Racism (STARS) started a campaign called "We're a Culture not a Costume" to generate a discussion about Halloween costumes that parody people of color. The group contends that these cultural caricatures help to reinforce stereotypes that are not cool and funny.

Slideshow: Boo! What not to wear this Halloween

By releasing the posters, the group says they want to:

"Educate and facilitate discussion about racism and to promote racial harmony and to create a safe, non-threatening environment to allow participants to feel comfortable to express their feelings."
STARS have garnered over 8,000 plus views on their president's tumblr blog where the posters were first released. However, the comment section has since been disabled due to inappropriate and hateful comments from some visitors."  [Source]

So now I see where some of you folks who comment anonymously were while I was away.







    

 

Monday, October 24, 2011

Thursday, October 20, 2011

"This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya .."

Damn O man, can you find another A-merry-can hater to kill? [Graphic Warning on this link!] I bet terrorist and despots all over the world thought that when the black Socialist took over the United States it would be one big party. Not! That Obama is not to be f&^%$d with. Must be a Chicago thing. Now if he could just grow some and get tough on some of the political terrorist in this country.

All of you folks heading to an occupy [fill in the blank] better be careful. Folks are watching you and they are taking names.

"A public radio host was fired on Thursday after the conservative political site The Daily Caller exposed her role as a spokeswoman for "October 2011," the faction of Occupy Wall Street movement occupying Washington's Freedom Plaza.

Lisa Simeone, the host of the nationally syndicated "World of Opera" show, and former weekend host of "All Things Considered," is a freelancer working for WDAV, NPR's Davidson, N.C., affiliate, where "World of Opera" originates. She also was the host for the weekly D.C. show "Soundprint" on NPR's WAMU affiliate.

Simeone confirmed on Thursday that she had been fired from the "Soundprint" show; NPR is "in conversations" about her role as both "World of Opera" host and Occupy D.C. protester.

"We recently learned of World of Opera host Lisa Simeone's participation in an Occupy D.C. group," NPR communications SVP Dana Davis Rehm wrote in a memo to affiliates. "We're in conversations with WDAV about how they intend to handle this. We of course take this issue very seriously."
Those conversations could result in Simone's firing from that show, too. On Thursday, Rehm added: "We fully respect that the management of WDAV is solely responsible for the decision making around Lisa's participation in Occupy DC and her freelance role with WDAV's program."
On Wednesday, Simeone wrote in an email to the Baltimore Sun that she didn't understand what the fuss was all about:
I find it puzzling that NPR objects to my exercising my rights as an American citizen -- the right to free speech, the right to peaceable assembly -- on my own time in my own life.

I'm not an NPR employee. I'm a freelancer. NPR doesn't pay me. I'm also not a news reporter. I don't cover politics. I've never brought a whiff of my political activities into the work I've done for NPR World of Opera. What is NPR afraid I'll do -- insert a seditious comment into a synopsis of Madame Butterfly?

This sudden concern with my political activities is also surprising in light of the fact that Mara Liaason reports on politics for NPR yet appears as a commentator on Fox TV, Scott Simon hosts an NPR news show yet writes political op-eds for national newspapers, Cokie Roberts reports on politics for NPR yet accepts large speaking fees from businesses. Does NPR also send out "Communications Alerts" about their activities?

Ms. Simeone, didn't you know that all political activities aren't created equal? [Article]

I will be heading out of the country for a few days. I will try to blog, but I am not sure if I will be able to.

Holla at you soon. That's if they let me me back into A-merry-ca. :)


  





      

A shaky bill, the creep factor, and shedding some weight.

I Just got back from Washington. I was Hanging with some smart folks at the Google offices and debating this bill that has already gotten out of committee. I am all for protecting intellectual property against Internet piracy, but the bill, as it's written, seems a bit over broad to the kid. I am not trying to be blue screened because ICE caught some cats running an illegal gambling shop out of China and blocked their DNS number."Honey I tried to get on the Field Negro's blog and it says that it's shut down for improper use by the government. I always knew that FN was into some shaky s&^%." Just sayin people.

But that's enough "inside baseball", let's talk about a serious issue: Wayne Newton getting all creepy with Michele Bachmann.

"Everyone who's seen Vegas Vacation knows what a charmer Wayne Newton can be, and last night he channeled his charisma toward Michele Bachmann, the Republican presidential candidate and representative from Minnesota.
In a post-debate interview on Fox News' On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Newton and Bachmann hit it off.

"I will support this beautiful lady as long as she wants to go," Newton said, as he repeatedly caressed Bachmann's arm." [Story]

Yuck!!!Honestly Wayne, you might want to save all the embalming fluid until after you are dead.

Alright I was kidding. That's not the serious issue that I wanted to talk about. I actually wanted to talk about an article I read in Politic365 by a sister named Jeneba Ghatt. It dealt with the baggage that black politicians allegedly carry as opposed to their white counterparts, and I found it quite interesting.

"Wellesley University professor Peggy McIntosh wrote an essay in the Winter 1990 edition of a school journal discussing an “invisible knapsack” of unearned skin privilege that Whites benefit from but many do not recognize and may not acknowledge. Recent criticisms of Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain over their handling of race issues reflects a different type of baggage that Black political leaders must carry.

In McIntosh’s essay, she called the invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools , and blank checks which assist certain people of the lighter hue – unfettered by the same stresses that people of color endure. Many are blissfully aloof to and unaware of these perks in life they enjoy by simply being born in the skin they are in. These “taken for granted” advantages provide license to “ … disparage, fear, neglect, or be oblivious to anything outside of the dominant cultural forms.”
But for persons of color who climb to positions of extreme influence and esteem, they must carry around an invisible, weighted backpack full of bills, past due notices, obligations, IOUs, and contingency letters.

IOU to ancestors

There are encumbrances in the form of pressure from members of their race. Black politicians must be mindful of who paved “the way” for them. Because of that ancestral sacrifice, Black leaders must be more than just a senator or a Supreme Court justice for the constituency they are supposed to represent or support.

So when Tim Scott decided against joining the Congressional Black Caucus, many said he did not want to acknowledge CBC efforts on behalf of Black people. The prevailing thought is that as a Black man, he owed “his people” at least some deference and consideration while sitting in Congress. His voting record and speeches would be watched with extra attentiveness from those who share his heritage, an attempt to ensure he “ … does right by them.” While a South Carolina legislator, Scott may have opposed the confederate flag flying atop his state’s assembly house or supported a measure against police profiling of Black drivers, he was quickly called out by fellow Black legislatures for not backing those measures all the way. After all, he owed it to his race to look out for their issues.

Black politicians don’t have the luxury to just exist, but must take extra consideration to give back, mentor, and take into account the needs of “their people.” This obligation is the heaviest item in that backpack. Harvard professor Randall Kennedy has written about that obligation in his book The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency. According to Kennedy, it’s the reason why President Obama faced much flak when he decided not to address Black people directly in early speeches.

As we’ve seen in recent months several members of the Congressional Black Caucus have not been shy about questioning the president’s hesitance to address double digit unemployment in the black community.

Thus, the Black politicians’ backpack is full of loan payment remittances that will never get paid. So long as you are on top with few of your people there, you will always have to pay towards those who made the down payment and cleared a path for your success.

That asterisk by your accomplishments and the legacy of Affirmative Action

Black politicians must also live with the permanent asterisks by their accomplishments. At some point, folks may assume that their matriculation to an Ivy League school or rapid rise in a company was on account of “Affirmative Action” policies. Your “wins” are not always unclouded by that doubt.
The story is that you must have gotten some assistance or help along that way or that you were able to attend college because a more qualified White or Asian student was denied a seat – or that you weren’t necessarily the best person occupying your role. Of course, that’s not really the case. Yet, the doubt is always there.

Many Republicans leaders and candidates, and most outrageously Donald Trump, questioned how the president got into Harvard, pointing to Affirmative Action to undermine the accomplishment.

Donald Trump infamously demanded that the president show his academic records, telling Politico, “I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can’t get into Harvard.”

Perhaps sentiments like these are why Scott and Justice Clarence Thomas have avoided openly embracing the notion that their respective careers were advanced by an Affirmative Action policy. They are not alone as several blacks and other minorities in high position lament on having their positions and decisions in the workplace questioned and undermined by colleagues and co-workers who don’t necessarily believe they are the most qualified.
It makes the backpack that much heavier.

Burden of Stereotypes

By the time a black politician has risen to the pinnacle, he or she will have to overcome certain presumptions about his or her correct grammar, parentage, upbringing and capabilities. Without a doubt, there is a stereotype, partially substantiated by statistics of humble beginnings and Ebonic vernacular.
These presumptions are the symbolic probation notices and warnings in that backpack which could be considered the opposite of skin privilege. Rather than being presumed credit worthy and to have gone through life on one’s own merit, you are considered an anomaly for being articulate.

Those who opt to surmount race, shedding the backpack, are quickly labeled “Uncle Toms” or “sellouts.” They must always carry the weight as their brother, mother, father and race’s keeper." [Source]

Trust me Ms. Ghatt, Clarence Thomas and folks like him shed that backpack a looong time ago. 

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Please stay in Vegas!

This is a serious question for my republican friends: Where do you get these candidates? I am watching the CNN republican debate in Vegas, and I hope that what happened in Vegas tonight stays in Vegas. These folks are brutal.---- BTW, will someone please tell Michele Bachmann that it's October 18th? I could have sworn that she wore white.

Anyway, it looks like a home crowd for Mitt, Herman keeps jigging, Rick is talking about doing away with the UN, and I still have no idea WTF Ron Paul Newt and Rick Santorum are talking about. I almost hope that one of these clowns become president so that I can quit my job, close my business, and blog full-time for the four years of their term.

I know who will be voting for one of these candidates come November 2012; Police officer Michael Daragjati of New York.

"A New York police officer faces civil rights charges after he allegedly falsely arrested a Black Staten Island man and then used racial slurs to brag about it.
“I fried another nigger, ” NYPD officer Michael Daragjati, 32, can be heard saying in a phone conversation intercepted by federal authorities.
“The power to arrest…must be used fairly, responsibly and without bias,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. “Motivated by racial aniumus, the defendant allegedly abused this power and responsibility.”
You Negroes up in the big apple better be careful. I am not so sure that "protect and serve" means protecting your black asses.  [Story]

Finally, I have to get on my fam in Memphis a little bit. (Shout out to Rippa)
Now we have some crazy s&*^ going on here in Philly, but you folks in Memphis done lost your minds.









  

Monday, October 17, 2011

Money Mitt in the house!

"Slammin Bentley doors,hoppin out of Porches Poppin up on Forbes list."

Sorry "Jigga man", I know that you like to flaunt, but the real baller is my man Money Mitt.

Just check him out in that pic; my man is seriously flossing. Nice.

And here I thought that only cats in the hood posed up with money.

Oh well, I guess there are all kinds of hoods.

This baller might be president some day.... Or maybe not. I don't think that everyone is pleased with Money Mitt.

"I have no doubt that the Bain boys thought they were enacting a hilarious parody of what others saw in them. At least in part. The other part was giddiness and pride at being rich.

But this picture speaks more than a thousand words in the campaign that will be coming if Mitt is the nominee. Mitt Romney is a heartless rich guy, who closed down factories and offices, throwing people out of work, solely to enrich himself and his cronies. Courtesy of this visual aid, the sales will be closed with a substantial segment of the voting public, who resent the big-money, well-connected Wall Street types who are financial manipulators.

For the moment, the picture is not being touted much by the left, though Gawker ran with it late last week. Obviously, this ammunition is being saved for the moment when it is too late for the GOP to change horses.

Is Mitt Romney really the most electable member of the GOP field?
This campaign is not going to be fought mostly on the basis of ideas. A plan to rehabilitate the economy consisting of dozens of points will simply be too complicated to explain, especially when a picture summarizes the Obama critique: Romney is a rich guy who doesn't care about you -- only about getting rich and flaunting it, when he thinks most Americans are not looking.

As if to drive home the Democrat critique, for inexplicable reasons during an election campaign, Romney announced a plan to tear down a mere 12-million-dollar beach house in swanky La Jolla, to replace it with a dwelling four times as large. That is literally livin' large. Sure, it would make a great summer White House, but that's getting ahead of ourselves, isn't it?" [Article]

Yes, it is.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

White friends.

Congrats to my birds for putting a beatdown on those fraud deadskins. BTW, how is this even a story? I swear haters will not leave #7 alone.

Anywhoo, I spent a lot of time this weekend with some of my white friends. (Yes, field has white friends.) And, as Kat Williams says; all of you Negroes should get you some white friends. You never know what they could be plotting against us and one of your white friends might just mess up and spill the beans to you. Then, hopefully, you can warn the rest of us.

So anyway, I am talking to this young lady who is a declared republican who wants to recruit me to the dark side like some other black folks here in Phily. (Shout out to Renee Amoore)After a few drinks (it always takes a few drinks) she is telling me that her grandfather hated black people. But, she said,  her father didn't dislike blacks quite as much. Still, she wanted to make a point that she broke the cycle. That after going to undergrad and law school with black folks and developing relationships with them, she truly felt that she could say that she did not have a problem with us Negroes like her father and grandfather did. (Thank you missy.) For the record, I don't think I was going to lose any sleep if she did.

Still, this all got me to thinking: I wonder how many people have the same story that this young lady had about her parents and grandparents? I am guessing quite a few. I have heard it more than a few times myself.

But on the day that we dedicate Dr. King's Memorial in D.C., you have to wonder why this was even the case. I mean it's not like black folks were wilding out back in the day, and we certainly weren't a threat to the white power structure. So why did they hate us so much? And why did they allow that hate to manifest itself in such a way that they either passed it on to their children or made their children aware of it? Those are rhetorical questions. I suspect that I know why, but it doesn't make it any less tragic.

In this young lady's case the cycle has been broken. (Or so she says)
Here is hoping that she is the norm and not the exception.

Pic from Slip N Slide online store.
  

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The end of capitalism and "weave thieves" strike again.

These are not good times for capitalism. Protesters are taking to the streets here in A-merry-ca and all over the world to demand that the rich pay their fair share.(Where were all of these people when the IMF was putting a beat down on Third World countries?) And still, the politricksters who they have in their pockets keep fighting to protect their moneyed friends.

I just read where those communist in China have more people who are able to put food on their table than we do here in A-merry-ca.

"The number of Americans who lack access to basic necessities like food and health care is now higher than it was at the peak of the Great Recession, a survey released Thursday found. And in a finding that could worsen fears of U.S. decline, the share of Americans struggling to put food on the table is now three times as large as the share of the Chinese population in the same position.
The United States' Basic Index Score, a Gallup measure of access to necessities, fell to 81.4 in September--even lower than the 81.5 mark it reached in February and March, 2009. The recession officially ended in June of that year, but the halting recovery hasn't given a sustained boost to the number of Americans able to provide for themselves. The government reported last month that a record number of Americans is living in poverty."

And so they march. Six thousand of them in Times Square today.

“The world will rise up as one and say, ‘We have had enough,’” Patrick Bruner, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman, said in an e-mail. A news release from the organization said there were demonstrations in 1,500 cities worldwide, including 100 in the U.S. [Source]
Mr. Bruner, what took you so long?

Finally, on a lighter note. I have gotten to the point in my life where I cannot tell the difference between a weave [or wig] from a woman's real hair. (I think this is true of most men.) So obviously there is something to be said for a nice weave hook up. But is that reason enough to be stealing the precious strands of hair?
"Weave thieves have struck again, robbing an Atlanta beauty supply store for high-dollar hair extensions, Atlanta police said.
Thieves broke the window of Lexi’s Beauty Supply with a brick, but got away with just $60 dollars of merchandise, the store’s owner Travis Tipton said.
The break in is the latest in a recent trend of beauty store burglaries in which thieves have sought out expensive hair extensions.
In May, the New York Times reported human hair packages of the most expensive brands cost $200 and stolen hair is sold on the streets for as little as $25, with hair ending up on the Internet, including eBay." [Story]
Some of you need Jesus in your lives. Or at least a good hairdresser.





Friday, October 14, 2011

Still running from the struggle?

I am out of town at a conference, but I am going to do a cut and paste job to encourage discussion about an interesting aspect of this Mr. 999 phenomenon.

"Cain continued on his trail of silly statements this week by saying that racism is not a factor in economic inequality in America. The candidate argues that educational and geographic differences account for disparities in wealth levels and unemployment. The statement is curious, because these words serve as further evidence that Cain never studied structural inequality in school. Also, to continue Cain’s argument, inequality exists because Black people are either naturally, culturally or strategically inferior to whites, which is the convenient explanation taught to us in White Supremacy 101.

While I won’t go into all the reasons that Cain is wrong in his statements on racism, the truth is that Cain seems to be building his campaign by making one eyebrow raising statement after another. In fact, he has become the shock jock of the Republican Party.

Being a shock jock is great for the radio and selling books, but it’s not the stuff that makes one into a serious Commander-in-Chief. Even within the Republican ranks, Cain’s candidacy merely deflects attention away from the flaws of more serious contenders, like Rick Perry’s love for the Confederate flag and all the other things that make Republicans just so darn interesting. But when the dust settles and the smoke clears, Republican leadership will ask Cain to walk off the track in the same way the pace setter is removed after the first two laps of a big Olympic race.

Cain has also made a career of hurling insults at Black people that no white man could ever get away with. His words have not been measured or diplomatic enough to garner broad-based support, and are about as sloppy and ignorant as a man killing a fly with a shotgun. Most of his comments are not the kinds of things he could say about other ethnic groups; if he were to say that all Jews were brainwashed (as he said about African Americans), he’d be off the stage before finishing his sentence.

Herman Cain has become, in many ways, the perfect racist. America lives under the interesting premise that a racist can’t be Black. That’s like believing that a man can’t hate his sibling, or that a woman can’t advocate for a man to beat his wife (as Whoopi did to Oprah in “The Color Purple”). The truth is that racism is typically most effective when you put a Black face on it, and Herman Cain has volunteered to become the cute little political puppet which allows white America to say the things that they are afraid to say.

It is their ability to put Cain out front to absorb the criticism for racist remarks that makes millions of right-wing Americans so happy about his racial politics. Cain validates and brings security to a set of ideas that are generally unacceptable to those who understand America’s ugly racial history. In this regard, Cain is a breath of fresh air because he is the only Republican who doesn’t change the subject when the issue of race is brought to the table.

As an older Black man, Herman Cain certainly understood the challenges of Jim Crow. But Cain was also able to evade Jim Crow by willfully standing to the side in the fight for Civil Rights (yes, he has admitted that he avoided the Civil Rights struggle). So, Cain cannot, in any way, connect his contributions to the Black community, nor his readily marketed ethnic legitimacy to that of his fellow Morehouse graduate, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While he might have validity among those who gladly accept the rewards that come from the sacrifices of others, Cain cannot profess to have been willing to make necessary socio-political sacrifices himself. He stands on the backs of the brave, yet joins forces with the descendants of their historical oppressors.

Instead of marching for progress, Cain learned long ago that making whites feel comfortable was a powerful and simple key to success. He seems to think that Black folks who are unwilling to give in to structurally oppresive forces are somehow making things worse for themselves by not standing and applauding the grace of whites who’ve decided to no longer hang our relatives in the middle of the night. No different from the way he ducked and hid from those who marched with Dr. King in the 1960s, Herman Cain is ducking and hiding from doing the right thing today.

So, not only is Herman Cain a political gimmick, he is also a coward. That is just a couple of the many reasons that Herman Cain can never be President of the United States of America." [Source]
 
Interesting essay there Dr. Watkins.

Folks, let me know what you think.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Anita is "brutalized", and Negroes keep jigging.

I never had any respect for Governor Big Hair, but I really don't have any respect for him now. My man sent his wife out there to cry woe is me to anyone who would listen. And boy did she ever deliver.

"It's been a rough month. We have been brutalized and beaten up and chewed up in the press to where I need this today...We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party. So much of that is, I think they look at him, because of his faith. He is the only true conservative – well, there are some true conservatives. And they're there for good reasons. And they may feel like God called them too. But I truly feel like we are here for that purpose." [Source]

Wow! "Brutalized and beaten"? Now that's some hyperbole for your ass. Welcome to national politics, Rick.

So he was called to run by a higher force. I wonder if that higher force told him to paint over that Niggerhead rock on his leased hunting property? God sure works in mysterious ways.

Some of you are claiming that Tavis Smiley and Cornel West did a good thing by going on FOX NEWS and sparring with Bill O'Reilly over poverty. Well I got news for you; they did not.

It's never good to go on FOX NEWS and give those clowns any sort of legitimacy. I know that those two will never hesitate to jump in front of a camera, but sometimes you just have to say no.

They thought that they were doing a good thing by getting into a shouting match with O'Reilly, but I can guarantee you that all they were doing was giving him material for his reprehensible show.

"He said that what Smiley and West seemed to want was for the government to "forcibly seize" money from the rich and give it to the poor. "That's socialism and that's not going to work here," he concluded.

"It wasn't socialism when we bailed out the banks in the first place?" Smiley said. He started to say that O'Reilly had been "right" in a recent attack on Stanley O'Neal, the former head of Merril Lynch. O'Reilly misheard him.
"Lied about it?!" he thundered. "What do you mean i lied about it?!"

"I said you were right!" Smiley said. "R-i-g-h-t!" O'Reilly apologized, and assured his guests he was "calm." Things got a lot less calm right afterwards, though. Smiley asked why O'Reilly was focusing on O'Neal, one of the few black CEOs of a major firm, causing O'Reilly to shout, "we treat everybody the same here!" Smiley disagreed, and wondered why, when Occupy Wall Street protesters were being arrested, no "bankster" had gone to jail "to pay for his crimes."

"They didn't violate any laws!" O'Reilly said, prompting Smiley and West to essentially lose it. "OOOOOHHHHHHHH!" they both said together. "How do you know?!" West yelled. "There's been no investigations! Why would you say something like that?!"

"All right, knock it off!" O'Reilly fired back." [Source]

I might have to agree with O'Reilly on that one: Fellows, please knock it off.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Bullets, perms, and curls.

The guy standing in the pic that goes with this post walked into a beauty salon today and killed eight people. Eight! Apparently his wife, an employee of the salon, did something to piss him off. (From the looks of him she might have hid his workout videos.)

Anywhoo, it's just another day for the "Falling Down" crowd here in A-merry-ca.

"A gunman opened fire Wednesday in a busy hair salon, killing eight people and critically wounding another while leaving bodies scattered throughout the business in a normally sedate California beach community.

The gunman got into a car and drove away from Salon Meritage after opening fire about 1:30 p.m. He was stopped by officers about a half-mile away and surrendered without incident, said police Sgt. Steve Bowles.
His name was not immediately released.

Police were struggling to determine the motive for the killings.
"There may be something to the motive as to a relationship with somebody in the salon, that is our assumption," Bowles said.

Seal Beach has seen just one other homicide in the past four years.
Police responding to a report of shots fired found six people dead and three wounded. Two of those three died at a hospital. The other person was listed in critical condition.

Bowles said bodies of the victims were scattered throughout the salon, along with two of the wounded. The other wounded person, a man, was found outside the building. It wasn't clear if he was trying to flee when he was shot or if he was the one survivor.

"We're unsure at this point if he shot from the entrance and people, as they were shot, ran in seeking cover or seeking shelter, but we have fatalities throughout the salon," Bowles told reporters at a news conference outside the business.
"From my observation, it did look like people were seeking shelter at the time," he said.

He said the salon was busy at the time, with every hair-dressing station in operation.

He didn't know what type of weapon was used or if the man used more than one.
Salon employee Lorainne Bruielle, who wasn't working Wednesday, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram the gunman was the husband of another employee.
Bruielle said she talked to the husband of one of the employees involved, who said one employee locked herself in the salon's facial room and was unharmed while another man locked himself in a bathroom but was wounded.

The suspect was cooperative when officers, following a description of the shooter, stopped him nearby. He told them he had multiple weapons in his car, Bowles said." [Article]

"Multiple weapons". Where have we heard that before?

Finally, congrats to Herman Cain. I see that he is the flavor of the month right now in the republican party. Wingnuts just love the plain spoken black man who isn't afraid to put down his own people.

Memo to Herman: Poll numbers can't buy you air time.

Yes, Herman is still popular with certain closeted bigots who need a mouth piece. But sorry Herman, they ain't giving you their money. Poor Herman's campaign is still woefully short of cash.

Maybe Herman should stop saying nine nine nine so much and start saying dollars dollars dollars.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Possible murder in Arkansas,a murder in Romania, and good things in West Philly.

The Occupy Wall Street folks marched around Rupert Murdoch's penthouse today. But I want to know where the Koch brothers live? It seems to me that these Occupy Wall Street folks should be marching on their home compound as well.

Why? Because the Koch brothers could be literally getting away with murder down in Arkansas. (h/t to Robert Greenwald and the folks at Brave New Foundation for bringing this story to my attention.)

Speaking of murder. I feel bad for Chauncey Hardy [in pic] and his family.But what is it going to take for some of you Negroes to learn?

Look, just because you are a big man on campus here in A-merry-ca and you can go and get your pick of the litter at the local bar on a Saturday night, don't ever believe that you can try that crap in some other parts of the world. (Or A-merry-ca for that matter.) Romania?! Negro are you crazy? First of all, I wouldn't travel to Romania if someone told me that there was a million dollars in unmarked bills waiting for me at the airport in Bucharest.

Still, it's a sad story. And I hope that this will be a lesson to you young bucks out there. I know this is 2011, but color arousal can be a a mother *^*%$#.

Now for some good news. I am always focusing on the bad stuff that some of our kids do here in Philly, but believe me when I tell you that there are some kids out there handling their business as well.

"The West Philly Students Who Build Supercars

This is no mere science fair project: The students on West Philadelphia High School’s Hybrid X Team built two hybrid cars for the Automotive X-Prize, making it all the way to the semifinals. PM awarded the students with its Next Generation Breakthrough Award.

Of the 111 Teams that competed for the $10 million purse in last year's Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, only one was from a high school—West Philadelphia, where85 percent of students are economically disadvantaged. West Philly entered two vehicles—a Factory Five GTM biodiesel hybrid kit car and a converted Ford Focus gasoline plug-in hybrid—and made it to the semifinals with both. "We were going up against teams that had dozens of engineers, and we had 15 students, a couple of teachers and a dream," says adviser Simon Hauger, a teacher in the school's Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering. "One of the marvelous things about teenagers is they're not daunted by that."

After its impressive X Prize performance, West Philly won the Green Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, N.Y., last April, when its GTM achieved the equivalent of 160 mpg over 100 miles.

"I always liked fast, gas-guzzling race cars, so when I first heard the club was named the Hybrid X Team, I wasn't so sure, but I gave it a try," says captain Stefon Gonzalez. "It definitely broadened my horizons, not just with cars but with things like public speaking, fundraising and networking." The after-school program also helped the high school senior (and two other teammates) land a public-transit internship with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

"I call it the light-switch effect," Hauger says. "This work truly enlarges the students' vision for what they're capable of doing. We don't put them in a row of desks and lecture about fuel efficiency, biofuels or aerodynamics. We say, 'Let's solve this problem together.'"

The students so impressed Edison2 founder and Automotive X Prize champion Oliver Kuttner that he asked them to build an electric version of his Very Light Car (VLC). The team hopes to operate a nonprofit after-school project that employs students to make and sell the EVLC kit car. "When they're done, they will have the world's most efficient electric car by a leap," Kuttner says".[Story]

Nice.

It's always good to see young Field Negroes getting their science on. (h/t to Brown Dartanyan for this story.)

Finally, a lot of you have been writing to me and asking me to comment on Herman Cain.

I promise that I will have more on Herman later. I want to watch the debate tonight and see where to take it from there.

I know one thing; Herman has become a hit with right wing white folks. It must be wonderful to be able to put down those lazy shiftless n*&&^%s without actually having to do it yourself.

Thank you Herman.  






   

Monday, October 10, 2011

Protectors of the Oligarchy.

"It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America’s direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent.     

 And this reaction tells you something important — namely, that the extremists threatening American values are what F.D.R. called “economic royalists,” not the people camping in Zuccotti Park.

Consider first how Republican politicians have portrayed the modest-sized if growing demonstrations, which have involved some confrontations with the police — confrontations that seem to have involved a lot of police overreaction — but nothing one could call a riot. And there has in fact been nothing so far to match the behavior of Tea Party crowds in the summer of 2009.

Nonetheless, Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, has denounced “mobs” and “the pitting of Americans against Americans.” The G.O.P. presidential candidates have weighed in, with Mitt Romney accusing the protesters of waging “class warfare,” while Herman Cain calls them “anti  American.” My favorite, however, is Senator Rand Paul, who for some reason worries that the protesters will start seizing iPads, because they believe rich people don’t deserve to have them.
Michael Bloomberg, New York’s mayor and a financial-industry titan in his own right, was a bit more moderate, but still accused the protesters of trying to “take the jobs away from people working in this city,” a statement that bears no resemblance to the movement’s actual goals.

And if you were listening to talking heads on CNBC, you learned that the protesters “let their freak flags fly,” and are “aligned with Lenin.”
The way to understand all of this is to realize that it’s part of a broader syndrome, in which wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is...."

..What’s going on here? The answer, surely, is that Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe realize, deep down, how morally indefensible their position is. They’re not John Galt; they’re not even Steve Jobs. They’re people who got rich by peddling complex financial schemes that, far from delivering clear benefits to the American people, helped push us into a crisis whose aftereffects continue to blight the lives of tens of millions of their fellow citizens.

Yet they have paid no price. Their institutions were bailed out by taxpayers, with few strings attached. They continue to benefit from explicit and implicit federal guarantees — basically, they’re still in a game of heads they win, tails taxpayers lose. And they benefit from tax loopholes that in many cases have people with multimillion-dollar incomes paying lower rates than middle-class families.
This special treatment can’t bear close scrutiny — and therefore, as they see it, there must be no close scrutiny. Anyone who points out the obvious, no matter how calmly and moderately, must be demonized and driven from the stage. In fact, the more reasonable and moderate a critic sounds, the more urgently he or she must be demonized, hence the frantic sliming of Elizabeth Warren.

So who’s really being un-American here? Not the protesters, who are simply trying to get their voices heard. No, the real extremists here are America’s oligarchs, who want to suppress any criticism of the sources of their wealth." [Article]

Paul Krugman is on point, and his well timed essay had me nodding my head in agreement. But I will go even farther and say something that Mr. Krugman was either afraid to say or does not believe:

It's not only oligarchs who are to blame for A-merry-ca's predicament. It's the poor, working class, and middle class  folks in this country who have been hoodwinked and beguiled into believing that the A-merry-can dream is not rigged. They have been made to believe that they too can become one of the oligarchs and look down on the rest of us someday from their penthouses in the sky.

A segment of the A-merry-can public is comfortable with protecting the status quo. (See the Tea Party movement) They don't want banking reform and consumer protections, because they see it all as being un-American. They contribute to the demonization of those questioning a rigged system because, they too, hope to benefit from that system some day.

Of course it will never happen. And their great- grandchildren will not be paying for their education from a trust fund; they will be paying for it from loans from the very government that their great- grandparents spent all of their lives putting down.

   

Sunday, October 09, 2011

"Do a Good Turn Daily"?

Is it about time for those Girl Scouts to come to my local grocery store and start peddling their cookies, yet? Some people thing that they are cute. (Like Mrs. Field, for instance.)But not moi. I don't like a shake down; not even by a Girl Scout.

"Mister would you like to buy some cookies?" No little girl, I would not. Besides, other than the lemon chalet cremes, they all pretty much suck.

Anywhoo, I knew that there was a reason that I didn't like the little female youth group:

"ATLANTA (AP) -- An Atlanta-area mother has filed a lawsuit against a Girl Scouts organization alleging that her twin daughters were expelled from their troop after they gave a presentation on their family's involvement in the civil rights movement.

Angela Johnson filed the suit last week in Gwinnett County State Court, claiming intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. The suit says the troop leaders knew an expulsion would cause the girls harm and that the organization had a responsibility to repair the situation.

In a statement, the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta says the girls weren't expelled and calls the incident a "disagreement between well-intentioned moms," referring to Johnson and the troop leaders.

The 8-year-old twins gave a presentation in March for their "family heritage project" that centered on their family's involvement in the civil rights movement in Mississippi, and they were distraught when they received a cool response from the audience and troop leaders, the lawsuit says.

"The only applause they received was from the other two African American girls and one Indian girl in attendance," the suit says." [Article]

I sure hope that they weren't expelled. And, if they were, it had better be because they didn't sell enough cookies.

Saturday, October 08, 2011

"Just win baby", and racism hits "Sparty."

Let me start this post by saying R.I.P. to Al Davis. Those silver and black unis are still the best in the NFL, and you gave a black head coach a shot when none of the other owners would. You recruited the first black quarterback to USC, and you were the first to draft players from historically black colleges. As far as I am concerned; they can put Honorary Field Negro on your headstone.

Anyway, I am very disappointed with my dad's Alma mater. Tonight my racism chasing takes me to East Lansing, Michigan.

"The campus of Michigan State University has been rocked by recent acts of racial intimidation directed toward black students. The student body at the state's largest university made their voices very loudly heard on Tuesday night that these acts will not be tolerated.

"The incident that really jump-started this movement was an incident at Akers Hall where someone wrote 'No Ni**ers, please' on a door of a young lady's room," said Mario Lemons, the president of the MSU Black Student Alliance (BSA). "The residence life staff told us not to talk about. Of course, someone took a picture of it and sent it to one of us."
MSU-Nigger-on-door.jpg
The picture set off a firestorm on campus and online, even starting the hashtag #MSUBlackUnity on Twitter. An estimated crowd of 1,000 MSU students of all races filed into Conrad Hall for a town hall meeting on the issue of racial intimidation on Tuesday night.

"We put it on Facebook and Twitter and started a dialog about it," said Lemons. "From that came more stories of other people going through things on campus."

These incidents included other racist messages being scrawled on doors; outright physical acts of racial intimidation; and the initial incident of a black doll being hung from a beaded noose in a chemistry lab shortly after the school year began in early September.

There are people overtly saying the n-word," said Lemons, a senior from Detroit, majoring in education. "People telling other students that they don't belong here, saying that they only got here because of Affirmative Action. Very unwelcoming things done to black people on campus."

The Akers Hall incident was directed toward Tinisha Sharp. Sharp was leaving her dorm room to go to chemistry class last week when she saw the slur written on the dry-erase board. Since she was the only black student living in the room with three other students, it was very clear the message was directed at her.

"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Sharp, a sophomore from Detroit. "It was very surprising to see a message like that. I really thought this type of discrimination had been ceased by this time. But I guess not." [Source]

Welcome to post racial A-merry-ca, Negro. But this is how you overcome racism: Get your education on, get your degree, and become a credit to your family and your race.

Oh, and stay out of the house. 
    

Friday, October 07, 2011

"By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them"

Oh my! I told you all that this was coming. Actually, it has been there all along. These good Christians on the right can only hold in their true feelings for so long.

 "Shortly before noon, reporters at the Values Voter Summit were handed a blue sheet of paper with a news alert: "Southern Baptist Convention Leader to Endorse Perry at Values Voter Summit." Dr. Robert Jeffress, a Texas pastor, was all set to introduce his governor, and he had some thoughts. "Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person, or one who is a born again follower of Jesus Christ?" Get it? "In Rick Perry, we have a candidate who is... a committed follower of Christ." Get it?"

I think I get it. Maybe if you told me a little more:

"Okay, I'll get it for you: Jeffress doesn't like Mormonism. Scott Keyes reminds me that Jeffress became briefly infamous in 2007 for his rants against Mitt Romney, and the unacceptability of a Mormon nominee. Romney, he said, was a "cult" member.
I believe we should always support a Christian over a non-Christian. The value of electing a Christian goes beyond public policies. . . . Christians are uniquely favored by God, [while] Mormons, Hindus and Muslims worship a false god. The eternal consequences outweigh political ones. It is worse to legitimize a faith that would lead people to a separation from God.

At 2:30, Jeffress took the stage, as promised, and repeated his statement, adding to it. Perry was a "genuine follower of Jesus Christ!"
Perry walked onstage and thanked Jeffress for the endorsement.
"He really knocked it out of the park!"
UPDATE: After the speeches, Jeffress walked through the hotel doing interview after interview about his take on Mormonism."Article 6 of the Constitution says government can impose no religious tests," he said. "But private citizens can impose all the tests they like!"
In the scrum, I asked if he'd expressed these concerns to Perry. "No. He is not aware of my views on Mormonism," he said, "nor am I aware of his."
What does Romney's religion say about his judgment?
"There are a lot of good people who are mislead," he said. "Being a fine person with a great family and great values does not get you to heaven." [Source]

Got it!. Is this the same guy who told Anderson Cooper that Mormons were a cult? Yep, I think it is.

Mitt, that's what you get for lying about his O ness.

"CNN’s John King called out Mitt Romney for making false claims about President Obama apologizing while making speeches abroad, something he has repeatedly claimed before. “While (Obama) has said some things that make Republicans mad and are fair game for criticism, President Obama has not apologized for America in the way Governor Romney and many other Republicans assert.”

Romney made the erroneous claim at the Citadel earlier today. “Let me make this very clear,” Romney said. “As president of the United States, I will devote myself to an American century and I will never, ever apologize for America.”
King explained that the Republican meme began with a Karl Rove editorial in April 2009, in which, Rove labeled Obama’s speeches abroad as an “apology tour.” “He has apologized on three continents for what he views as the sins of America and his predecessors,” Rove wrote.

“I can tell you firsthand the President bristles at the apology tour label and the idea he doesn’t view America as an exceptional nation,” King corrected. “He has, though, on several occasions…used very deferential language, conceding America’s mistakes, flaws and even arrogance. He insists being more humble was necessary in those early days because of the hits America’s image took and the Iraq War and what they call George W. Bush’s broader cowboy diplomacy image.”
[Source]

The term strange bedfellows comes to mind. I wonder if Mitt realizes how much his fruit is starting to taste like the one that Mr. Jeffress and his followers are eating.

*Pic courtesy of uglyrepublicans.com