God I'm sick of this guy

"Monica's breats were this big!"
- Bill "Bubba" Clinton

Someone stop this man please? From an interview given to CNN:

"What happened there is a total myth and a mugging," Clinton told CNN's Sean Callebs in New Orleans, Louisiana, over the weekend.

"It's been pretty well established. Charlie Rangel ... the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in unequivocal terms in South Carolina that no one in our campaign played any race card, that we had some played against us, but we didn't play any."

...Bill Clinton adamantly denied he was playing racial politics. Hillary Clinton later offered regrets for her husband's remarks, saying, "If anyone was offended by anything that was said, whether it was meant or not, whether it was misinterpreted or not, then obviously I regret that."

Obama ended up winning South Carolina with a large majority of African-American voters, while most whites voted for Clinton or former Sen. John Edwards. South Carolina's Democratic primary was January 26.

Bill Clinton insisted his role his his wife's campaign has not changed since South Carolina. When asked if he was concerned that the contest was becoming more polarized, the ex-president said he expected it to happen...

...Clinton brushed aside notions African-Americans were casting an anti-Clinton vote in the primaries by voting for Obama.

"Once African-Americans understood that they had a candidate with a serious chance to win the nomination and perhaps the presidency, then it was going to be a question of somewhere between 80 percent and 90 percent were going to support him except in areas where she had particularly strong profile," he said.

"The fundamental fact is, most of the Democrats like both these candidates and they're trying to figure out who would be the best president, who's likely to do things or be what I need most in a president, and who's most likely to win," he added...

There are a couple of things going on here. This plus his wife's recent half-assed non-apology is the Clinton's said attempt at turning the national conversation away from their race-baiting (which hurts them with the kind of moderate white voters they have up to now not won) and regaining black support.

The fact that they have waited this long to really address this is a sign of that campaign's great incompetence. It was too late for this kind of reconciliation a month ago.

The other thing of course is to still denigrate Obama's efforts while playing the victim.

Obama is not winning the black vote because he's black. If that were the case then Jesse Jackson who the Clinton campaign can't stop incorrectly comparing Obama too would have done alot better than he did when he ran. If it were the case we would be talking about Governors Michael Steele, Lynn Swann and Ken Blackwell.

I don't deny that Bill is an asset but could Hillary stop the nonsense of having her man make stupid comments like this.

It hasn't worked before to sway voters and it won't work now.

Spare us. PLEASE!

Good men speak the truth

Wright is right

It's been a few days since the whole controversy surrounding Obama's pastor Dr. Jeremiah Wright blew up.

So far I've been treated to outraged condemnations of the man from the usual suspects but what I want to focus on is not the controversy but what the controversy tells us about this country.

At some point, certainly not very soon, we will have some dialogue about the Iraq War's beginnings.

There will be inevitable recounting of the lies told by Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Bush and Rice in the lead up but that still won't touch on why we've ended up spending so much blood and treasure in a failing effort in that country.

We are in Iraq because the majority of the people in this country have the mentality of children with regard to the consequences of our actions.

To many people seem to think that we can say what we want and do what we want, even if that means trampling on others freedom and killing people and we shouldn't face any penalty for those actions.

We are in Iraq because of our own hubris. The same way we ended up in Vietnam.

Normally we don't get to see the seething rage that is the product of such callousness.

We are thousands of miles away from the people that we abuse and what we do see is carefully sanitized by our idiotic media so that populace doesn't get upset.

At home, whites have forced the silence of African-Americans through intimidation.

Jeremiah Wright blasted through that wall of fear and ignorance and is now paying for it by having his name and his works smeared.

African-Americans have been the victims of domestic terrorism through enslavement and discrimination for more than 400 years.

Of course there is anger within us at this country and at the people who have benefitted and continue to benefit from the racism in our society.

But we are not supposed to talk about it let alone shout and rage about our continued abuse.

We can't express the ambivalent feelings that we all have towards being black in America.

But Jeremiah Wright spoke up and that is a crime.

Well Dr. Wright I salute you. For continuing the great black tradition of daring to speak the truth in a time when no one wanted to hear it.

Here's to you Dr. Wright.

Don't let the fools bring you down.

The State of Black Women

The National Urban League published it's annual State of Black America report which this year focused on issues affecting black women.

I have only read the abstract of the report, which can be found here, but I was impressed by depth and breadth of what I read.

I was really encouraged to see writings on home ownership and the racist predatory lending that has helped fuel the mortgage crisis.

The Urban League has, I think, been overlooked in terms of it's work to empower black Americans. Maybe it's because there is a whiff of conservative thought in their drive for financial literacy and entrepreneurship but either way they deserve more credit for focusing on issues that affect black America without the grandstanding we've seen from other people.

The whole report, as well as older reports like their phenomenal 2007 report which looked at the state of black men in America, can be ordered here.

I'm tired

A few of Hillary's supporters wait for her at a rally

I'm officially spent at this point with the Democratic campaign.

I haven't been posting because I've been desperately trying to hang onto my sanity while this whole sordid campaign plays out.

I've already devoted too much time and space to the subject of the Clinton campaign's racism and I've allowed myself to be distracted from other issues I want to write about.

There are other blogs like Jack and Jill Politics that do a great job at voicing the rage I feel and so I'll leave them to that.

I'm going to right my ship here but before I do I will just say this about the whole mess with Geraldine Ferraro.

Ferraro is a racist and she needs to go. Period. The fact that she has lasted this long is a testiment to the racism of this country. No one but a black person could have their accomplishments and character questioned in such a way an not have the person making the criticism laid out for being so ignorant.

And Hillary Clinton and the people in her campaign are racists too. You can't condone this sort of thing, even if it is a election tactic without lacking the scrupples to understand what is absolutely off limits.

We are still weeks away from the Pennsylvania primary. At the rate the Clintons are ramping up the racist rhetoric I fully expect Hillary to be hosting Klan rallies to drum up political support.

What the Democratic party owes blacks

We've been there for you. You need to be there for us.

The Democratic party is at a crossroads in terms of it's black support.

We have voted reliably for the Democratic party since FDR first moved the party away from it's racist roots. Our support was cemented when LBJ pushed through sweeping civil rights legislation.

In return we gave the Democratic party our loyalty even while others in the party drifted to the GOP.

We've looked past the party's failures to prevent the decimation of programs to help the poor
and the party's capitulation to the GOP in terms of programs like welfare reform and the wrongful imprisonment of our people.

We've stuck with the party through thick and thin so what have we reaped in return?

This campaign season we've been rewarded with the silence of the party as some try to push us aside and label us useless in their zeal to win Latino support and even pit blacks and Latinos against each other.

We've had the Clinton campaign use racist and xenophobic appeals to win votes with not even a peep of objection from the elders of the party that those tactics go against what the party stands for.

Our concerns have been dismissed as whining if they were listen to at all. Our support looks wasted and many of us feel foolish and scammed for even believing in the so called ideals of this party.

No one should be treated this way let alone a group of people who have been the bedrock of the Democratic party for decades.

The party absolutely owes us. Not special treatment but simple fairness. The kind of fairness that is readily given to others in the party without having to beg for it.

We deserve to have our voices heard and our concerns given the same respect that others receive. That isn't too much to ask is it?

We have given the Democrats everything and received little in return.

It's time for that to change.

Speaking truth to power

It's not name calling if it's true

From the Scotsman:

Earlier, clearly rattled by the Ohio defeat, Ms Power told The Scotsman
Mrs Clinton was stopping at nothing to try to seize the lead from her
candidate.

"We f***** up in Ohio," she admitted.

"In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it,
because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win."She is a monster, too
– that is off the record – she is stooping to anything," Ms Power said,
hastily trying to withdraw her remark.

Ms. Power said of the Clinton campaign: "Here, it looks like desperation. I
hope it looks like desperation there, too."You just look at her and think,
'Ergh'. But if you are poor and she is telling you some story about how Obama is
going to take your job away, maybe it will be more effective. The amount of
deceit she has put forward is really unattractive.

There will be many who find what Ms. Power said objectionable.

But let's examine her charge. Is Hillary Clinton a "monster"?

Is that word ever appropriate to describe anyone?

Let's see.

What word would you use to describe a person who agrees with the slander of a man as a drug dealer for no other reason than the man's race?

What would you call a woman who presides over a campaign that purposefully darkens the video of a black candidate?

What would call a woman who resorts to thinly vieled xenophobia to smear a candidate of Muslim heritage?

What would you call a woman who stupidly and repeatedly belittles her opponent who, rival or not, still is a member of her party, saying that she thinks less of him than a warmongerer?

Ms. Power was wrong. Hillary Clinton isn't a monster.

She's the kind of fearmongering race-baiting fool we would expect to see from the GOP and her continued lying will only hurt her and more importantly our party.

Ms. Power next time when you choose to speak about Hillary Clinton get it right.

Calling her a monster is being kind.

We need a new way

I've only been blogging for a few weeks now. And in that time I've tried to find my own voice for the things I wanted to think about.

If there is one thing that I want for my blog it's that I want this to be a place where black folks can let their emotions out and channel what we feel into action.

For too long we have had to play a game of grin and bear it while the powers that be have kicked us in the teeth. And unfortunately we still have to do this is we want to get anywhere.

We aren't afforded the luxury of anger. Instead we have to settle with keeping our emotions in, dealing with high blood pressure and heart disease from having to put up with other's bigotry and stupidity.

We have also not had the chance to learn how to really play the political and economic game the same way other ethnic groups have.

There has to be a way to change that.

We have to learn how to play rough. No more marches. No more quoting from the bible about peace.

I'm not talking about violence but the ability to use the intelligence and skills we possess to make things better for ourselves and the ability to respond swiftly to those who attack us.

The non-violence of the Civil Rights Movement was the only way we were going to gain rights for ourselves but I feel it also prevented us from learning how to fight in the trenches.

Thus people's anger over the treatment of Obama. If we had a real way of showing whites that smearing a black candidate would cost them besides possibly staying home in November and giving John McCain the presidency we would be doing it.

The fact is at the moment we don't have anything and that is a sad result of our own complancency as a people and of our so called leaders.

There has to be another way to fight for our rights in this country because what we have right now is bullshit.

Dumb move Hill. Real fucking dumb.

Hello? IRS? What tax returns?

The Obama campaign released this memo today. Here's part of it:

The Clinton campaign has said that they have released copious amounts of financial information but there are many questions about their private dealings that could be answered in their tax returns but not in the information that is currently available. For example, here are eight pieces of information that could be learned from her tax returns, the accompanying schedules, and attachments:

* Effective tax rate – including whether or not any tax shelters were used to reduce it
* Amount of income for spouses by source
* Amount of stock gains and losses
* Gross income for the couple
* Amount earned from stock dividends
* Amount of household employment taxes paid
* Personal exemptions taken
* Charitable contributions made

Senator Clinton has also claimed that she is too “busy” to release her tax returns. Given the fact she is able to loan her campaign $5 million, you would think the Clintons would be able to hire an accountant. The reality is that she wants to keep this information hidden from voters. The people of Wyoming, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and the rest of the country should wonder why.

Obama's going after her finances and her reluctance to release her tax returns after a weekend of being attacked by Hillary.

One could admire the Clinton's hutzpah on this issue if it wasn't so fucking dumb. They are two slimeballs who had such a strong stench of scandal surrounding them that it cost Al Gore the presidency and they honestly think they can get away with not releasing essential financial information.

The fact is that there has always been a well of anger towards the Clintons within the Democratic party. Bill's shenanigans cost us the public's trust and allowed the pack of rabid dogs that is the GOP to attack him and anyone close to him.

There's that and the fact that Hillary's campaign has chosen to go racist and xenophobic in their tactics, something that for most Democrats is unthinkable. The angry response of many from those attacks frees up Obama to attack her in ways he wouldn't have been able to before.

Obama's camp has been pretty good at responding to Hillary's attacks up until now. This may be the start of Obama's own "kitchen sink" stategy where he destroys her campaign under an avalanche of questions about every single thing that the Clinton's have touched since Bill won elected office.

And between, Marc Rich, Vince Foster, Monica Lewinsky, Ricky Ray Rector, Lani Gunier among others Obama could have a field day reminding people just why the Clintons come off so poorly.

It's about seven weeks until the Pennsylvania primaries. God help Hillary if she thinks she's going to make it to PA in one piece.

They're called Representatives for a reason

Meet the next Ambassador to the Bahamas if Hillary wins
Photo: Washington Post

As any civics teacher can tell you we don't live in a direct democracy we live in a republic.

Living in a republic means that we hold elections to select people who will represent area they serve.

Members of the Congress, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate are representatives of the districts and states they serve.

They work for the people. We are their bosses.

So we can only greet with great amusement the hyperventilating commentary from Hillary Clinton supporters and idiots on the right over the threats being made by black constituents to black superdelegates who support Hillary Clinton to change their support to Barack Obama.

Many white people don't respect black political thought and black voting power.

We are a monolith. A brainless shuffling mass poisoned by the rantings of black religious zealots. Our inferiority proven because since we dare to disagree with them, there can be no other explanation than that we are too stupid to understand the world we live in.

If they actually listened to us they would find that the Clintons have destroyed their reputation within the black community with racist and xenophobic appeals. They have wrongly discounted us as a group thinking that our votes no longer mattered because Latinos were growing as a political force.

Worst of all they have used our own political representatives as a way to justify their racism.

Did they not think seeing people that we've sent to speak for us, speaking for the Clintons instead, using their black skin and their position as our representatives to lend the Clinton's racism legitimacy wouldn't provoke a reaction?

You're fucking right we are threatening to kick these motherfuckers out of office.

Every time black Clinton supporters like Sheila Jackson-Lee or Stephanie Tubbs-Jones goes on the TV to explain away the Clintons bullshit they make a mockery of the connection that they have with the black people in their district.

They show they not only are they willing to be pimped out for an ambassadorship or some other position but they are willing to sell out their own people.

These fools work for us and as their bosses we have the right to let them know, harshly if need be that they have well and truly fucked up.

We have the right to tell them that just because they are willing to betray themselves it doesn't mean that the rest of us are going to stand for it.

We have the right to fire them for their arrogance.

They are part of a generation of black leadership that have felt entitled to political power. They haven't been challenged on anything in decades.

What has the Congressional Black Caucus done for us? Not a goddamn thing and they know it.

So when you see some of these idiots turned out, don't take that as an act of revenge, it's just the bosses getting rid of the deadweight to make things work as they should.

Don't get distracted

This is not the point

There is some discussion of a possible "subliminal message" in Hillary Clinton's 3 AM ad.

If you freeze the video at 11 to 12 seconds in you see the letters "NIG" on the pajamas of one of the sleeping children.

Is this a racist subliminal message sent out by the Clinton campaign to get people to think "NIG" = nigger = Obama?

In my opinion no.

First, the people for whom the letters "NIG" would have enough meaning to keep them for voting for Obama are already so racist that he wouldn't get their votes anyway.

Second, the Clinton campaign has not shown the aptitude to make convincing appeals with obvious messages let alone a subliminal one.

Third, when the Clinton campaign has used racial messages they have always been bumbling and plain to see. They haven't shown the ability to learn from their mistakes either, so I'm not thinking that they would take a more subtle approach, especially now that they are much more desperate.

The fact that some are actually having this conversation shows how much the Clintons have damaged their legacy with racist and xenophobic attacks against Barack Obama. Three months ago this kind of attack on the Clintons would have been outrageous and dismissed. Now the only criticism is of the hyperbole of the people who think this is something racist not that the Clintons would never stoop that low.

It also shows how easily distracted people can get. There are many more important things to discuss than this.

If we are going to have a discussion (and we should) about the racist images coming from the left and the right against Obama, then there are many more worthy things to talk about than a couple of frames of something that you have to cock your head like an owl and squint to see.

Russian elections

Dmitry Medvedev (left) and Vladimir Putin
Photo: www.boston.com

If we had a responsible media they would be covering the Russian elections that are happening today.

If the media was smart they would analyze what the inevitable election of Dmitry Medvedev means for the world and Russian-American relations.

But since we don't have that you'll have to settle for my slightly drunk analysis.

Dmitry Medvedev is 42 and is Vladimir Putin's protege. He was chosen by Putin to succeed him as president of Russia after serving as First Deputy Prime Minister under Putin.

When Medvedev is elected President (and believe me he will be) he will be an unknown quantity. There is plenty of speculation about what changes he might bring or not but either way he will be the head of a resurgent Russia that sill wields considerable power through it's energy resources.

I think too many Americans think of Russia as a spent power. We kicked their asses in the Cold War and the last most people have thought of them was maybe back in the 90s when Russia was going through a period of radical economic change.

People may know of Putin and some of the horrible things he's accused of having done but I think he's just seen as one man playing dictator.

Putin transformed Russia from the corrupt oligarchy of the 90s to the much more stable although much less free Russia of today that is keen on reasserting itself through it's own power but also through teaming up with up and coming powers like China.

The media has done us a disservice by not reporting about these two men and their country at length but below are some links that are a good place to start.

1. The BBC on the elections today
2. Individual Russian reactions also from the BBC
3. There is some concern that Medvedev is Putin's puppet
4. A report on Gazprom the state controlled Russian energy giant and the Ukraine (BBC again)
5. A report from OpenDemocracy.com on murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian Press and the speculation of Putin's involvement in her murder

And yes the fact that all of my links are from Britian is a fucking disgrace.

The Rise of the Angry White Female

Their Queen
Photo: blog.washingtonpost.com

In 1994 the Democrats lost control of Congress for the first time in 50 years in a wave of anger and resentment whipped up by the Republican party.

According to media reports the agent of that great change was the "Angry White Male" who was defined as the "regular guy" who in the wake of disturbing economic and social changes and a philandering and lying president that he could not tolerate exacted his revenge in the ballot box.

The Angry White Male was entitled to his anger in a world gone wrong where only his strength and moral guidance could make things right and the fact that he primarily responded with hate was something not to be questioned.

The time of the Angry White Male has passed.

Let's talk about his wife instead.

Meet the Angry White Female.

She is primarily concerned about sexism against her and her alone. There is no space for consideration of a broader analysis of sexism against women of color because women of color are subordinate.

Like her brethren, she is perfectly comfortable using xenophobia and racism and other types of hate to bolster her point and as an attack against the numerous forces working against her.

Hillary Clinton is the ultimate Angry White Female. She is strong, smart and capable. A wronged woman politically and within her own marriage and therefore is entitled to the presidency.

Forget her stand on Iraq, her questionable electability and her incompetence as the head of a political campaign. We OWE her! And goddammit if she doesn't get what she wants she'll stomp and scream until you do.

The Angry White Female a problem because she hurts the cause of women's rights by either crying wolf or self-centeredly spinning legitmate claims of gender based discrimination so far away from the real point that we all end up too disoriented to tackle the real issues.

The Angry White Female is not going to go away with a Hillary Clinton defeat. If anything she will be emboldened because Hillary's loss will be another example of the cruel world destroying her dreams.

As Democrats, leftists, hell anyone who wants to have a rational debate about women and the issues that effect them we have to stand up to them.

The irony of having to defeat the first woman to get close to winning the presidency can't be overlooked but we must not focus on that to the point that we forget the larger much worthier goal of speaking truthfully and loudly for the rights of all women.

I need a hazmat suit

The latest fashion for the spring

The right-wing smear machine is in high gear assisted as always by the supposedly leftist media outlets.

Tim Russert got the ball rolling with making Obama apologize to apparently all white Americans for having, if we are being extremely generous, an acquaintance with Louis Farrakhan.

That was followed by John McCain's campaign inviting a racist scumbag to introduce him at a Cincinati campaign stop and then being surprised that the asshole produced a racist and xenophobic rant using Obama's middle name.

This is just the beginning of the smear campaign against Obama's race and background.

These attacks need to be brought out into the open. Not just the ones that make it to the mainstream media but the conversations that the right hasamongst themselves on their websites and other media.

So I'm sacrificing my sanity for you in bringing you the lastest smears and other bullshit straight from the right-wing.

Obama Exposed is a pdf produced by Human Events a wing-nut magazine with a collection of the latest smears and fears on the rise of the senator

Link :http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfzgtt86_0gdwjd8dg

There are contributions from the stars of the right-wing media like, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin.

I would try to give a quick summary but it's so all over the place and insane that I could not do it justice. You really should read it for yourself.

A compromising position

Yes she thinks Latinos are stupid (and racist as hell apparently)

Democrats' racial divide becoming ever more evident

By JAY ROOT

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Democrats have long depended on a rainbow-like racial coalition to win races against Republicans, but the fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has revealed an increasingly common and sometimes bitter split between blacks and Hispanics.

As Hispanics have grown in numbers, the tension has increased, and it's produced a racial minefield for the Democratic presidential candidates. Both camps publicly downplay the divide, but it has occasionally spilled out into the open, and it could be a significant factor in the March 4 Texas primaries.

Raw feelings were evident in a recent complaint from Jesse Diaz, president of the Dallas-area League of United Latin American Citizens. Diaz, identifying himself as a Clinton supporter, said in a letter posted on the CNN Web site that Hispanics in Dallas are not about to "jump on the Obama Express."

"When Senator Obama's campaign rolls into Dallas, the 'Dallas Phenomenon' will reflect the racist and biased distaste Dallas' black leadership has shown towards Dallas' Hispanic community for decades," Diaz wrote.

Diaz' chief complaint is that black leaders show favoritism to African-Americans in government jobs and leadership posts. He stood by his comments in an interview, saying that "what Anglos did to African-Americans, African-Americans are now doing to Hispanics."

The rest of this bullshit report can be read here.

I don't know who Jay Root is. After reading his report I really don't care because his report is pure crap. What concerns me about this story is that it is a prime example of the unsavory relationship between campaigns and reporters.

I know campaigns leak stories and the media plays favorites but this is something different.

We've already gone through the news cycle where the Clintons tried to play the "Latinos hate blacks card".

And we've already seen that idea debunked not only at the ballot box but also in writing
Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Never mind the real divide is generational as it goes with how Latinos are voting in the Democratic primary or that even if they don't vote for Obama it doesn't necessarily have to come down to racist reasons.

So why are we seeing this resurface now? There are two reasons.

First, the new SurveyUSA poll which shows Obama up by four points in Texas.

Second, is the fact that she has run out of any real ideas of how to attack him (and the previous ones she's used have not worked) and now is chucking any negative attack she can at him.

This report is part of that line of attack.

So what does that say about Jay Root, that he is a willing vessel for some racist smear that is thoroughly debunked by a desperate and dying political campaign? It says that the man doesn't deserve to write for the local Pennysaver, let alone a newspaper.

And it also says that as readers we all must look beyond the story and realize that understanding the motivations of the people behind the scenes of the stories of the day are as important as the stories themselves.

I'm trying to control my anger

The racist bitch in her own words

The photo in question - AP

From Mike Allen of the Politico:

Obama slams smear photo
By: Mike Allen
February 25, 2008 10:16 AM EST
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe accused the Clinton campaign Monday of "shameful offensive fear-mongering" by circulating a photo as an attempted smear.

Plouffe was reacting to a banner headline on the Drudge Report saying that aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) had e-mailed a photo calling attention to the African roots of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

"The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat front-runner dressed as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya," the Drudge Report said.

The Clinton campaign did not deny the charge, but did not comment further...

Link to the article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8667.html

Despite my initial apprehension of Matt Drudge as a source, the fact the the Obama campaign has responded to this and more importantly the Clinton campaign hasn't denied it, the idea that the Clinton campaign has done this puts to rest any possible equivocation that the campaign is employing racist tactics and is trying to use Barack Obama's Muslim heritage as wedge issue.

It also for me is the last straw in cutting the Clintons any slack on the shit that they've been pulling.

I've been reluctant to call them racists for the many attacks they've used on Obama. I figured that they like many white Democrats see Rovian racist tactics as fair political play and that was what was fueling their smear machine.

After this however, I can't believe that they haven't gotten the message, especially given their incredible loss of standing with black folks over the previous smears, that this kind of crap is racist and has no business being employed by any political campaign let alone a Democratic one.

Fuck Bill. Fuck Hillary. Fuck that mammy looking bitch Maggie Williams for condoning this shit.

I don't want Hillary to lose at this point. I want her smited. I'm offended that I have to share the same planet as these people.

Some initial blog reaction:

Jack and Jill Politics, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, Marc Ambinder

MSNBC is straight fucking garbage

MSNBC's liberal beard

Courtesy of diarist Shane Hersinger at Daily Kos:

UPDATED: MSNBC's and Now CNN's Odious Attack on Obama Today

by Shane Hensinger

Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 03:05:14 PM PST

No flag pin, no hand over his heart: Is he exposed?

Exposed as what exactly? Not wearing a flag pen is to be "exposed" for not adhering to the Fox News/Republican Party-version of patriotism, which means meaningless gestures like wearing a lapel pin are far more important than words and deeds?

Glenn Greenwald linked to this image today on MSNBC which follows a Fox News attack line that Obama is not patriotic for "refusing" to wear a flag pen on his lapel, as if a flag pen is mandatory and not wearing one is tantamount to treachery and treason against this country.

Sen. Barack Obama's refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin along with a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem led conservatives on Internet and in the media to question his patriotism.

Now Obama's wife, Michelle, has drawn their ire, too, for saying recently that she's really proud of her country for the first time in her adult life.

Conservative consultants say that combined, the cases could be an issue for Obama in the general election if he wins the nomination, especially as he runs against Vietnam war hero Sen. John McCain.

Yes, because meaningless gestures of patriotism are so important, especially when you're the Republican party, which makes a show of "supporting the troops" and then undercuts them by awarding no-bid contract to Republican donors and lackeys who then manufacture sub-standard equipment every time they get the chance.

Link to the discussion : http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/24/17467/0743

The fact that CNN has stooped to this doesn't surprise me. They have been Fox News lite for years now and anyone who employs Wolf "They are so black" Blitzer isn't worth a damn anyway.

The difference here is MSNBC. MSNBC when compared to the right wing nut cases at Fox and the Fox wannabes at CNN have earned a bit of a reputation of being more left leaning in their news.

With Keith Olbermann anchoring the network's highest rated show, they unlike the others feature real lefty pundits like Rachel Maddow, who has been rumored to be the next in line for a show there.

That veneer of liberalism is so thin however that it might as well not exist considering the other fools they have working the place.

My earlier post, Brothers, I briefly touched on Chris Matthew's sexism. This new salvo against Barack Obama is obviously just the start of the networks racist campaign against Obama.

I'm not naive. I knew that the media's love-fest towards Obama would end as soon has he got within spitting distance of the Democratic nomination so they could get down to the more important business of kissing John McCain's shriveled ass. MSNBC has already shown that it is comfortable spewing sexist garbage at Clinton and her family and it's protection of Matthews is gauling. No one can really expect them at this point to have the scrupples to stand up to the racist shit that will be headed Obama's way.

And yes an anti-American charge against a black politician is racist because it reinforces the idea that blacks are somehow separate, untrustworthy and not real citizens of this country.

So what about Olbermann? I like his reporting but the fact is he's being used as a beard to hide the channel's obvious lack of ethical standards.

None of us are privy to what goes on in the newsroom but as the campaign goes on and the smear campaign heats up Olbermann will facr increasing pressure to speak out about what is going on.

During the whole Shuster "pimping" debacle he went on air to personally plead for the Clinton's forgiveness of his network.

One has to wonder if Keith already has some text prepared for the inevitable apology he'll have to make for the upcoming Muslim and racist smears that will be made by his colleagues.

Must Reads-February 24, 2008

The Congresswoman h/t C-SPAN.org

The indispensable Jack and Jill Politics on the State of the Black Union and Sheila Jackson Lee:

1. SOBU Open Thread
2. Highlighting the remarks of Nicole Lee of TransAfrica a global justice non-profit
3. A really good SOBU overview w/ clips
4. Sheila Jackson Lee and her hypocrisy

Brothers

Two peas in a fetid pod

This post started as a screed about Juan Williams and the fact the man still feels ok drawing a paycheck from Fox News when the channels biggest star talks about the possibility of going to a lynching party when referring to Michelle Obama.

While pondering Williams' motivations and lack of ethics I thought of Alex Witt, Norah O'Donnell, Tamron Hall and all the other women who work with Chris Matthews and the personal compromises they must make to work with such a sexist pig.

I caught myself in my own hypocrisy when I realized I felt more sympathy for the women than I ol' Juanito.

Maybe it's because as a woman who has worked in a corporate setting, observed the frat house antics of male colleagues go unchecked and has caught her boss blantantly staring at her tits, I understand the horrible compromises that women make everyday just to earn a freaking paycheck. Maybe it's because I feel on some level Juanito has more of a choice at where he works and that unfortunately the atmosphere of the average newsroom isn't going to be more woman-friendly no matter where they go.

Ultimately, as much as I would like Juan to suddenly appear on Monday's Factor with a noose and a rainbow and unicorn emblazoned mylar ballon that says "Happy Retirement Bill!" and give the pervert a personal lesson about the fun of "lynching parties", the responsibility lies not with the unfortunate folks who have to work with these assholes but the networks that continue to employ them.

The fact that these men still have their jobs is the best argument anyone has against the rightwing's idea that the media is liberal or we are ruled by politically correct language.

It's a reason to doubt the motives, fairness and veracity of anything that appears on any of those channels because if the kind of racist and sexist crap that these fools spew is what makes it on the air what the hell must be going on behind the scenes.

When journalists wonder why people don't trust them or why bloggers and other forms of independent media are growing like weeds while their market share shrinks they only have to look at the continuing presence and power of these jerks and that should answer the question.

The White Media and Tavis' ego

Image from blackstudentallianceyale.squarespace.com
The negro will shine your shoes too.

Sigh.

CNN: Obama takes heat for skipping State of the Black Union
Taylor Marsh's crazy ass: Obama Ducks State of the Black Union Forum
CBS News: Clinton leaves Primary States for "State of the Black Union"

The larger media is reporting on Tavis Smiley's "State of the Black Union" forum and the tempest in a teapot that has been stirred up about Obama's abscence from the event.

As usual, the media does a drive by with the facts not even touching on the fact that this is not a controversy at all within Black America if they are being fair to outright lying about the 99% of us who have no problem with Obama missing the event.

I can't get too angry at these media outlets. They really don't know better at this point and any energy spent on wondering why they are so duplicitous and stupid is wasted energy.

I'll save my venom for Tavis.

The question isn't why isn't Obama there it's why is Tavis doing this?

There is no reason for any report of infighting within the community. There is no controversy and any reports of such could be put immediately to rest by Smiley who knows from the angry emails and calls he's been receiving that his listeners have spoken and that's that.

So what does Tavis gain by the larger media portraying a split in the black community and a split between the community and himself?

For Tavis us black folks are the first wife. We're the ones who have supported him why listening and watching his shows and buying his books while no one else knew or cared who the hell he was.

We have been with him every step of the way paving his way for potentially a larger career.

And the larger career is what this is about.

Tavis can now portray himself as the victim of the irrational group-think of the blacks in America. He can shake his head and sigh as he has a meeting with some media bigwig and say "See what I do for these people and this is hwo they repay me. You know I would do a better job in a larger forum. How about a primetime show."

This about his name and his money and being able to reach out to a larger white audience using what was traditionally a black forum. By keeping the idea of a controversy going and by only having Clinton there in the last desperate throws of her campaign, he will get a slice of the demographic pie that would have never thought of tuning into C-SPAN on a Saturday afternoon.

If you go to Tavis' website you can see his slogan "Enlighten. Encourage. Empower."

From how he has acted over this apparently that only applies to his fan's ability to advance his career.

A Democrat in Dallas

Star-Telegram/Rodger Mallison

Links to the articles:
http://www.star-telegram.com/667/story/486413.html
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/490522.html

From the second of two articles in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about an Obama campaign rally in Dallas yesterday:

Secret Service defends security strategy at rally in Reunion Arena

By JACK DOUGLAS Jr.

Star-Telegram staff

The U.S. Secret Service on Friday defended its handling of security during a huge rally in downtown Dallas for Barack Obama, saying there was no "lapse" in its "comprehensive and layered security plan," which called for some people to be checked for weapons while others were not.

A report in the Star-Telegram that said some security measures were lifted during Wednesday's rally sparked a public outrage across the country, with most people saying they were shocked that a routine weapons search was lifted at the front gates of Reunion Arena an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage.

The articles tell of a huge crowd at a Dallas rally that was not fully screened for possible weapons.

The Dallas Police Department and the Secret Service are disagreeing on whether this was a lapse by Obama's Secret Service detail but the fact remains people got in without being screened.

To make matters worse the Star-Telegraph reports that this may not be the first time that this has happened citing an email from Jeremy Dibbell of Boston who said that the same relaxing of procedures happened at a rally he attended in Boston.

The Secret Service says that it is normal procedure not to screen every single person. What they have are random checks of people and their belongings.

I'm not surprised by this but it is worrisome.

In all the awe over Obama's swelling crowds it's disturbing that no one has really thought about the quality of the man's security apart from the occasional fear that pops up in most people when they remember how easily assassinations of the past happened.

John Hinckley Jr. was an insane man who had an obsession with Jodie Foster that his mind twisted into a reason to shoot Ronald Reagan.

Squeaky Fromme was a Manson follower who got up close to Gerald Ford with a loaded .45 but mercifully didn't pull the trigger.

Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan and John Wilkes Booth succeeded in killing their targets with only Booth giving a clear reason why he felt the need to kill.

Turner Classic Movies is running a Alfred Hitchcock marathon today. In between my normal weekend chores around the house I've gotten to see the results of human madness from the old master.

Hitchcock's work always revolved around the idea of inexorability of a person's madness and it's consequences. It is a force that can't be stopped with love, friendship or reason.

I guess part of me isn't that worried about Obama's security because if he will be assassinated there probably won't be anything anyone could have done about it.

That isn't comforting I know because I suppose it's a thought that is too cold but also because that idea goes against our own ideas of the importance of some people, to believe that they can fall for the most trivial of reasons but it does happen.

Of course, like everyone, I hope that doesn't happen to Obama.

What anger I do have toward the Secret Service is because I think their job is more about the appearance of top-notch security than the actual complex plans they have to protect someone.

The most damaging thing about this incident is that it makes the Secret Service seem clumsy and fallable. For someone who is sick and would like the free publicity that would come from killing Obama, what is there to make them hesitate now?

In a crowd of thousands of people why not take the chance of sneaking in a weapon, since they not only don't check everyone but even the cooperation between the Secret Service and the local police doesn't seem very well coordinated.

We can only hope that whatever prompted this incident that the security around Obama will take time to learn form this and not just point fingers.

That idea of mutual cooperation could also be learned by Jessica Santillo a spokes-idiot from the Clinton campaign who when asked about the incident responded that their campaign works to "protect the safety of everyone who attends our campaign events."

The Idiot to English translation of that remark is "We try to keep everyone safe unlike that
feckless Obama guy."

If Obama is shot I guess Hillary will trot out Chelsea to say "At least my parents love me enough to be able to dodge a bullet." or some other nonsense.

The Clintons are a bunch of classless assholes.

It's the oppression stupid!

Photo from worldsecuritynetwork.com

Matthew Yglesias has a post up about the possible precedent set by Kosovo's independence and it's application to the Palestinians and other peoples around the world who seek the same freedom:

...Now, I'm for Kosovo independence. But at the same time, I really don't think it's viable to support independence for every ethnic minority group everywhere around the world. So why Palestine? What makes the Palestinians so special that they deserve their own country when the Catalans and the Québécois and all the rest don't have them? The answer is pretty simple -- the alternative to independence is citizenship. The Québécois don't have an independent country, but they are citizens of Canada. Catalans are citizens of spain. Flemish and Walloons are both citizens of Belgium. Komi are citizens of Russia. When you see legal discriminatory treatment against citizens -- as with African-Americans in the United States until very recently -- that's a problem. People are owed equal citizenship.

It's clear, though, that granting Israeli citizenship on terms of equality to residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is incompatible with the idea of Israel as a Jewish state. Thus, Palestinian independence emerges as a reasonable, practical, and moral alternative. Basically, there are four things you could do with Israel-Palestine. One option is partition and independence. Another option is equal citizenship and the end of Israel. A third option is "transfer" and ethnic cleansing. And a fourth option is apartheid...

The idea of citizenship v. independence is flawed. Yglesias says the the Quebecois, Catalans, et. al. have not been supported in bids for independence because they are citizens of some nation.

What happens when the lucky citizens want independence?

The point of Kosovo's independence isn't about them being a minority group but an oppressed minority of citizens of the Serbia state. Oppression isn't just a "problem" it's the issue around which many independence movements are created.

If a people are oppressed it makes it a non-starter for many of them to consider the idea of citizenship as being worth anything. Citizenship means trying to make an alliance with people who have been kicking them in the teeth.

Now sometimes that can be overcome. The example of Quebec is notable because French-Canadians were discriminated against by their English speaking brothers. The province well may have been on it's way to breaking away from Canada but a number of societal and political changes increased the power of the Francophone community and made it politically smarter to end the discrimination. The possible break away of Quebec was never about citizenship because the Quebecois were already Canadians, they were treated as lesser citizens.

The best example I can give where citizenship is not enough is our own fight for independence.

The people of the 13 colonies were British citizens but that didn't prevent a revolutionary war. Read the Declaration of Independence. It's a list of transgressions against the people by the state. If anything the fact that they were British citizens made the oppression seem worse because there was a feeling that the British were hurting their brothers.

The idea of citizenship v. independence doesn't hold up.

In my post earlier I listed the Catalans and Basques in Spain and the people South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia as potential flashpoints because of the situation in Kosovo.

In all of those cases those peoples are citizens of that country but that doesn't stop them from feeling slighted by those states and dreaming of their own land, where they can speak their own language under their own flag.

The Palestinians aren't fighting for their own state because the idea of citizenship is the best solution in an untenable situation or because citizenship is incompatible with what the people of Israel want. They are fighting for their own land because of the oppression they have faced for 60 years now.

The same way the people of Israel did.

This is not about Barack

From the AP:

Atlanta Minister to Challenge Lewis

By BEN EVANS – 22 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. John Lewis' waffling over his pick for the Democratic presidential nomination has earned him a primary challenger.

Markel Hutchins, a 30-year-old minister, announced Wednesday that he would run for Lewis' congressional seat in the Atlanta district. Hutchins said he had been considering a bid for several weeks but was ultimately swayed by Lewis' recent equivocating over whether he supports Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama.

"Political experience can often times lead to political indebtedness, and I think such political indebtedness has caused Congressman Lewis in some real sense to separate himself from the winds of change that are blowing in his own congressional district," Hutchins said.

Link: Atlanta Minister to Challenge Lewis

Today is John Lewis' birthday. He is 68 years old. His challenger, the man pictured above, the Rev. Markel Hutchins is 30.

I'm sure it's very flattering to an Obama supporter's idea of a people driven movement to think that Obama is such an important figure to inspire a young man to run for office against an intrenched incumbent but that isn't what's happening here. If we could have an honest moment from Rev. Hutchins I would bet that he had been thinking of running for more than a few weeks. John Lewis' fumbling has provided the opening he's needed to run. Barack Obama isn't the reason, he's the excuse.

The post civil rights era within black America has been a time of silence. There are conversations about class, education, violence and most importantly the results of the civil rights policies, that people like John Lewis risked their lives for, that we as a people have not bothered having.

I'm talking about Bill Cosby-like rant but an real conversation where myths are laid bare and where there are real proposals to move forward.

There has been no honesty about the civil rights movement in black community. This is understandable because the men and women who faced down water cannon and police dogs don't want to hear criticism of what they fought so hard to achieve but that doesn't mean that the lack of attention to how those changes were implemented hasn't been disastrous.

Desegregation of schools meant the firing of good black teachers and closing of black schools. It meant the busing of black children like me to hostile white schools that weren't the least bit interested in actually educating black children but warehousing them in separate classrooms. How much institutional knowledge has been lost on how to teach our children?

The upward movement of blacks into universities and the workplace because of anti-racism laws and affirmative action has meant that there is a larger black middle class. Affirmative action has largely benefited white women. Is that what was meant when those policies were proposed?

What about the people in the ghettos of this country that have been left behind by their richer friends and relatives? Is that what we were fighting for?

There is no feeling that lessons should be learned from those years or god-forbid we should be doing things differently.

Instead we have older leaders who are used to their lofty positions who haven't had anyone call them to account for decades. A recipe for intellectual and political lethargy.

So it comes to Markel Hutchins, first of what I'm sure will be a wave of young blacks who actually lived the policies that men and women like John Lewis fought for, who can speak to a new way of doing things.

We all are indebted to our elders sacrifice but holding up a picture of being hauled off by the police sometime in the 60s will no longer be enough to keep the questions from coming.

Punë Muti!

For those who don't speak Albanian the title translates to Shit! in English.

The only thing saving the U.S. embassy in Serbia form being burned to the ground right now is the phalanx of Serbian police officers turning away the drunken rioters angry about our aiding of Kosovo to gain it's independence.

I'm not going to debate the wisdom of our governments decision to recognize Kosovo. However I think this is a good time to talk about foreign policy and what is at stake in the upcoming presidential election.

The Bush administration's spectacular failure in Iraq has overshadowed the other foreign policy issues that our country is facing. The potential chaos in the Balkans is one of those issues.

Eastern Europe has not enjoyed the stability economically or politically that Western has. Poles, Bulgarians and other Eastern Europeans are leaving for Western Europe by the thousands. The Balkans however are teetering on the edge of something horrible right now because for them the issue was never something that could be solved by joining the E.U. and having their citizens hop a plane to London.

A competent administration would understand the underlying complex ethnic tensions surrounding the former Yugoslavia. They would also understand how dealing with the people of would-be states like Kosovo would impact similar hopes of independence not only in Eastern Europe but around the world.

What we have however is a president who, in a press conference, acted too quickly, congratulating Kosovo for achieving independence while the State Department was taking a more cautious tack to see how our European allies would react before advising him on what action to take.

What we have is a military stretched to the brink of total collapse which couldn't respond as it did in the 90s to restore order and a NATO alliance that hasn't been able to define a new mission for itself since the USSR broke up.

We have an adversary in Vladimir Putin that has more brains in his left pinky than Bush has in his entire body, who as an ally to the Serbs to make this into even more of a mess should he choose by stirring up even more nationalistic rhetoric in other provinces that want to break away just to tick us off.

In short we may be screwed and there is no guarantee that the situation in Europe won't get worse before the next president can come in an restore some intelligence to our foreign policy.

So for now memorize and educate yourself on these names, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Catalonia, Euskadi and E.T.A because if we mishandle this we'll be seeing conflict in these places.

Look at the picture above and look at the news tonight, where you see the anger and rioting of the people in the streets of Belgrade as a reminder of all the other things that are at stake.

Even if we get out of Iraq there are still many more challenges requiring our country's leadership than what is going on in the Middle East.

Michelle Obama and the war

Michelle Obama made what for some was a controversial statement at a Wisconsin campaign rally yesterday by saying:

“Hope is making a comeback and, let me tell you, for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country. Not just because Barack is doing well, but I think people are hungry for change. I have seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues and it has made me proud."

Now the media and many in the blogosphere have done their part in truncating the quote, editing out anything after the first sentence, making her seem like all she doing was America bashing. But even shortened the remark is, no pun intended, unremarkable. That is to say, given the last eight years, let alone the 26 years that have passed since Mrs. Obama was 18, there is more than plenty not to excite many folks into spontaneous ecstatic waving of Old Glory.

This is the richest country in the world that can't keep it's people out of poverty, educate it's children properly, has a dysfunctional healthcare system that makes people fiscally ill while it makes them physically well and seems obsessed with war even if it means making us less safe and jeopardizing our already fragile economic safety net.

There can be no doubt that there are many good things about the United States but the country's wholesale failure to provide for it's people is a tragedy.

Michelle Obama knows this, as many African-Americans do, having grown up in poverty in the south side of Chicago and should be thanked for telling a bit of truth about where we are as a people and how people are finally beginning to understand what needs to happen for us to live in the country we should.

The angry response to her remark is another disturbing example of the willful blindness that people in this country exhibit to the issues facing us.

It's this kind of stupidity that explains why we are in Iraq today. There are too many people in this country who lack even the basic sense of self-preservation and common sense that God gave a dung beetle to recognize what really is happening around them.

This should give everyone pause because no matter how many people now believe the Iraq War was a mistake the same idiocy that got us there in the first place is still there ready to be fearfully brought forth again.

Barack Obama talks about changing the mindset that got us into war. I wish him luck because the terrible truth of the matter is he can count every single fool who is criticizing the veracity of his wife's statement now as a future deterrent to any social, economic or foreign policy programs he wants to implement. Not because they will have reasoned arguments against them but because it is far more comfortable to to be a kneejerk reactionary than to act with reason.

Remember the first thing we can do out of the womb is scream and holler. It takes alot more time to learn how to talk.