Herman Cain says "If you are falsely accused of sexual harassment, it's your own fault. You need to blame yourself!!!"

Campaign buttons for Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain are seen on sale as he campaigned Friday in Talladega, Ala.

A big old H/T to Shady Grady for the perfect headline for this post. I have been snickering all day watching gop, Presidential front runner Herman Cain twist in the wind due to Politico's expose of the charges of sexual harassment in his past.

Josh Marshall
I’m trying to put together a Herman Cain harassment timeline. This is a work in progress because I’m having a hard time keep track of it all. So bear with me.

1. Politico allegations are false. Story is crap.

2. Yes, there were allegations. But they were false.

3. Yes there were allegations that were false and I don’t know what money was paid.

4. I don’t know whether money was paid. And it would be wrong for me to find out whether money was paid because it’s confidential.

5. There was a in-depth investigation. And I was cleared. But I don’t know anything about it.

6. Here’s the gesture that led to my getting accused of harassment.

7. Okay, I remember some discussion of a settlement number.

Yep. Herman punk'd the republicans and the media big time. I mean, didn't they vet this guy? Or, did they honestly think we wouldn't find out about those scary skeletons in his closet?

Field Negro

I 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.

Have the media and the gop forgotten the vague accusations of Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones and Anita Hill?

I wonder if the Koch Brothers are going to repossess Cain's big, nice, shiny bus?

I wonder if the Huntsville Federation of Republican women regret inviting him to dinner at the Marriott?

I wonder if Herman Cain is still Alabama State Senator Scott Beason's (r. racist Gardendale) Boy?

I almost feel sorry for the gop and the mainstream media. They thought they had themselves the perfect racist in Herman Cain.

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.

Too bad. So sad.
Not.

Trick or Treat?

Hide your kids, hide your wife! Herman Cain has some splannin to do.

During Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO.

The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.

And how does Cain's camp respond? By whining of course. Clarence Thomas is that you?

Peter Kilgore, who was the National Restaurant Association’s general counsel when Cain led the group from late 1996 to mid-1999, and remains in that position today, declined comment, saying he cannot discuss personnel matters, Politico reported.

“Inside-the-Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain,” spokesman J.D. Gordon said in a written statement to the AP. “Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the chief executive officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.”

Asked if Cain’s campaign was denying the report, Gordon said, “Yes.”

“These are baseless allegations,” Gordon said in a second AP interview later Sunday evening. “To my knowledge, this is not an accurate story.”

It looks like the gop front runner has all kind of tricks (no pun) up his sleeve. Yep, it's turning into a scary Halloween for the Cain Campaign. Snicker

Long before Herman Cain chief of staff Mark Block was appearing in the most mocked campaign ad of the presidential campaign so far, he and deputy chief of staff Linda Hansen started a Wisconsin corporation that the Journal Sentinel reports illegally helped the GOP presidential candidate get his campaign off the ground.

According to sources and documents obtained by the newspaper, Prosperity USA, founded by Block and Hansen, footed the bill “for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas - something that might breach federal tax and campaign law.”

Can you say The Cain gop Train is off the tracks? You Betcha!

The GOP failing miserably at its gamble to "fight fire with fire," being left to wonder how come they couldn't at least split the black vote with Cain as a candidate. "Gee, I thought those blacks always supported blacks no matter what." (And for further evidence to the contrary, see Artur Davis.)

Either way, even with Mittens being pushed onto the stage while Cain gets yanked offstage with a shepherd's crook, the GOP still stands a huge chance of losing in 2012. I think I need another refill of this here popcorn...

What's that you say? There is a Scam in the Alabama State House? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! NOT. Scams are OK in the State House if you are a republican. Snark

House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) made news recently with reports that he plans to write a book called Storm in the State House, about the Republican Party's 2010 takeover of the Alabama Legislature.

A follow up report, from Bob Martin of The Montgomery Independent, indicates Hubbard might want to change the name of his tome. Scam in the State House probably would be a more appropriate title.

If Hubbard's ethics looked shaky in the initial article, they look positively Nixonian in the followup.

I wish I could say I was surprised by the response to MY post, expressing MY opinion, on MY own damn blog, from the ATTACK MACHINE regarding Hampton Cove Elementary Principal Fillis McGhee, but I'm not. This is who they are and this is what they do to defend and protect the status quo from some teachers, administrators and parents.

I'm waiting on the ATTACK MACHINE to ATTACK THIS

In five months, Dr. Wardynski recommended spending just shy of one million dollars on programs supported by The Broad Foundation.
That’s not bad for a five month tenure, is it? While it’s not clear how much The Broad Foundation has spent “training” Dr. Wardynski, if the “training” for Teach for America is any indication, it’s likely in the $20,000 range. In exchange for this investment, Dr. Wardynski has already returned $410,000 in five months. In all likelihood at some point in November the rubber stamp board will approve spending $550,000 for Teach for America to hire 110 teachers who haven’t been trained to teach.

New Rules

I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules.
1. Any comments that includes name calling, personal attacks or insults will be deleted. Attack the issue not the person. Tolerant people can agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

2. Any comments by anonymous, different anonymous etc. will be deleted.

3. Any comments that include the educated black man Walter Williams quote will be deleted.

4. Any comments not on topic will be deleted.

Happy Haunting!

Pigskin and PoliTricks at Legion Field 3rd Edition

H/T Yellowdog Granny via jobsanger


It's that time of year again. A fall weekend of tailgating, football and poliTricks at historic Legion Field in Birmingham, AL for the 70th annual Magic City Classic.

The Magic City Classic is one of those vestiges of segregation that continues today, continues tomorrow, and hopefully will continue forever.

The Magic City Classic is an annual football game between Alabama's two largest, historically black universities: Alabama A&M University (Normal) and Alabama State University (Montgomery). The first game between the two schools was played in 1924. It has been an uninterrupted, annual tradition since 1945 and played at Legion Field in Birmingham since 1946.

The Bulldogs of Alabama A&M University defeated the Hornets of Alabama State University 20-19 in a game that was a thrilla to end. Who let the Dogs out?

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Alabama State entered today's 70th annual Magic City Classic as the No. 1 team in black college football. When the new polls come out Monday, Alabama A&M may find itself there.
The Bulldogs, behind the play of running back Kaderius Lacey, an inspired defense and a couple of huge special teams plays, knocked off the Hornets 20-19 before an announced crowd of 66,473 at Legion Field.

Now on to the Politricks. It's not an election year, so the usual white political candidates didn't make an appearance pretending like they like black people. Alabama Governor Robert Bentley attended the ESPN televised Alabama A&M vs Texas Southern University game two weeks prior so he didn't feel compelled to attend The Classic too.

Congress Critter Terri Sewell was there, appearing on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, passing out barbecue sandwiches and waving to the crowd at half time. The reception was...cordial.

Herman Cain's bus was there, but no one actually saw Herman Cain. Not that any of the brainwashed black folks wanted to see him or his bus.

Herman Cain must have stopped through Birmingham on his way to Huntsville to attend the Alabama ConFederation of Republican Women's dinner at the Huntsville Marriott.

While there were a handful of protesters on the street corner, dozens gathered outside Cain’s tour bus to cheer on the presidential hopeful.

Leonard Jefferson was one of them.

Jefferson works for the U.S. Space and Missile Command in Huntsville. He says his job is to help keep America safe, and part of that job is helping elect the best commander and chief.

"I’m just trying to keep America strong and doing what I can do at my level. I hope a lot of other people do the same and together we will get there,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson came to the dinner to hear Herman Cain speak.

“When he makes mistakes, or missteps, that endears him more to the ones that say, ‘He is not a full out politician, he is not polished, he doesn’t have his script in front of him.’ I believe he does speak from the heart,” said Jefferson.

Did I read that right (no pun)? Leonard Jefferson, Federal Government Employee whose job it is to keep us safe (help us Lord), says Herman Cain will be the best commander in chief because Cain makes mistakes, is not a full out politician, is not polished and speaks from the heart? Uh, Leonard, been there done that. And your present Boss and CIC might not like you campaigning for his rival. I'm just saying.

Ex Congress Critter Artur Davis's accusation of black voter fraud in the black belt of all places was the topic of conversation. My friends and family believe he will run for the Senate to replace Dick Shelby as a democrat....and win with the votes of white democrats and white republicans. He's their kind of Negro.

Scott Beason, a Republican Alabama state senator, said a Cain win, especially in the Deep South, would be a visible sign of progress.

“It would change the stereotypes that still exist about how people make their decisions down here,” Beason said. “I think it’s ironic that he will do better here than in the so-called enlightened states up north.”

Last year I said;

Most of my friends and family realize the republicans blocked President Obama's agenda because they want him to fail. We realize things won't change until we send the republicans packing so we are going to vote for CHANGE we can believe in again. We are going going to vote like our lives depend on it.

This year I say;
If you think Halloween is scary let the TeaPublicans elect Herman Cain,President of the United States of America, maintain control of the House of Representatives and gain control of the Senate.
Boo!

Psst Mr. Mean as a Snake head of the Alabama Democratic Party! We need some candidates to fight the republicans.

We have to Occupy Just to Make It Today

H/T DownWithTyranny

Misplaced Allegiance-- Why Teabaggers Are Republicans... And Why The Rest Of Us Aren't

Earlier today, in researching a post about corporate shill Artur Davis, I recalled how, when growing up, I first grappled with the idea that poor and middle class people-- and it was Southerners I was thinking about at the time-- could make common cause with conservative politicians and right-wing parties. Conservative parties are-- over and above everything else-- reactions against any semblance of equality for poor and middle class people. That's the raison d'etre for conservatism to begin with. In the case of Southerners-- who were at the time massively abandoning the Democratic party and moving to a the "new" GOP of Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon, the tendency was to chalk it up to naked racism. But naked racism was just part of it. Just like naked racism is just part of the misplaced allegiance of the teabaggers to the Republican Party today.

Ten things that are plucking my last nerve.

1. The assertion, generally by Republicans, that a requirement to bring photo ID to the polls has something to do with curbing “voter fraud.” One candidate even said in debate the other night that voter fraud was on the rise in Virginia. When asked to provide an example he, of course, could not. Look, you don’t steal an election where the votes are cast, you steal it where the votes are counted. Anybody who gave this issue about ten seconds of thought would realize you can’t fix an election by voting fake voters. It’s too cumbersome, requires too many people to be in on the scheme. It’s a silly idea. We’ve had three presidential elections in this country that might have been stolen — 1880, 1960 and 2000. If they were, they were all stolen after the polls closed. So, when Republicans get serious about voting machines with computer software that can’t be easily hacked and paper trails to allow an accurate recount, I’ll believe they care about “voter fraud.” Until then, they’re just trying to suppress the vote.

4. The way some people who cheered on the Tea Party rallies last year, mock the Occupy Wall Street rallies this year. And, I suppose, vice versa. Before the Tea Party got co-opted by the Republican Party, it expressed a lot of the same populist outrage that Occupy Wall Street does. In my view, this is a country long in need of a little healthy populist outrage. The nightmare of the powers-that-be is that the Occupy Wall Street folks and the Tea Partiers might realize that they’re mad at some of the same people. That graphic going around the Internet isn’t a total joke; there is an intersection of interest between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street around the too chummy relationship between government and business.

This is what democracy looks like.

Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me around
Turn us around, turn us around
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a talking
Gonna build a brand new world


YES, WE CAN!
YES, WE ARE!
YES, WE WILL!

Occupy Oakland meet Occupy Nashville

While everyone was focused on the police brutality directed to the Occupy Movement protesters in Oakland, California the same stuff was happening right in our back yard in Nashville, Tennessee. Here is a run down thanks to the Tennessee Progressive Blogging Community.

From the Civil Rights Museum to arresting Occupy Nashville Folks in One Week.

Last night, a working member of the press was arrested covering the mass arrests at Occupy Nashville. I like to call this a "PR nightmare" which should be Gov. Bill Haslam and Bill Gibbons safe word right now.

Yet that's what happened in the early morning hours, as Metro Night Court Judge Tom Nelson told the troopers who arrested 25 peaceful Occupy Nashville protesters at midnight on Legislative Plaza — along with Scene reporter Jonathan Meador, who was attempting to get off the plaza when he was cuffed and hauled off — that the curfew being enforced at the Capitol had no constitutional grounds whatsoever.

I find it to be amusing in a not so funny way our governor was in Memphis this week visiting the Civil Rights Museum.

A few things I've noticed is that political persuasion doesn't mean beans right now when it come to the public outcry from Tennesseans. One thing that cannot be controlled is passion. I say it entirely too much but to quote Maya Angelou, it's not what you say or what you do, it's how you make people feel.

Breaking: Night Court Judge researches and rules that he can find no authority to charge Occupy Nashville with curfew violations.

Occupy Nashville Vet Injured during 2nd round of arrest.
wo of the 26 Occupy Nashville protesters arrested early this morning were injured, says Karl Bolton of Franklin, who says he is part of the movement's legal team. One man, a veteran, was taken to the hospital. His condition is unknown. A woman also received minor injuries, and her camera was broken.

Occupy Nashville: Cops Arrest Nashville Scene Reporter Along With 26 Protesters

For the second night in a row, eager beaver cops swarmed down on the peaceful Occupy Nashville protesters at the People's Plaza, this time 26 arrests were made. In case anyone was wondering what the hell there is to protest about, the not so great state of Tennessee is busily making the protesters case by perpetrating serious constitutional violations against its citizens.

According to the repressive state of Tennessee, not only do we not have the right to peaceful assembly, we don't even have the First Amendment right to a free press at that peaceful assembly. The first arrests were carefully staged at 3am to avoid press coverage and now in what appears to be an effort to intimidate the press, a reporter has been arrested for the crime of covering the police state tactics of bully Governor Bill Haslam

Paging Keith Olberman!

Occupy Nashville Protesters released jail, Protesters reclaim People's Plaza

Random Acts of Fear and Loathing in America Vol.2

Herman Cain's Wily Racial Politics
RightWatch: The Republican candidate validates what white conservatives believe about blacks.

THIS is what white conservatives believe about blacks. Watch. Listen and Learn.

You got THAT Scott Beason (r. racist, Gardendale)? Evidently NOT.

And in the South, some Cain supporters say that supporting an African-American could turn long-held racial perceptions around. No Deep South states supported Barack Obama in 2008 and elected representatives in the state have become more racially polarized in recent years.Scott Beason, a Republican Alabama state senator, said a Cain win, especially in the Deep South, would be a visible sign of progress."It would change the stereotypes that still exist about how people make their decisions down here," Beason said. "I think it's ironic that he will do better here than in the so-called enlightened states up north.""What folks are doing is listening to what is he saying and he is not afraid to say what he thinks."

It's the Media. They think we are stoopid.

If you black people don't know by now, the media is your worst enemy. The media from the time of the old printing presses have been showcasing your worst traits to the United state and the world, which was justified and even sanctioned by the Pope and the church which relegated you to the status of animals. Kinda forgot about that didn't you? And how was this belief spread? Well, as they say: the media was the message.

TeeVee and the MSM is no friend of black people. It was through the media well up to the late sixties that contributed to the vilification of black people. You should know this. It's part of your history. It's a history white people want you to forget. It's a history white people don't want to discuss. White people don't want to have a dialog about race. If they did, don't you think we would have had one by now, especially here in "post racial" Amerikkka? No, sorry. The majority of white people just want you to go away. They wish to wake up one morning, turn to the news and discover, by some miracle that all the black people in the country have vanished. Then they can lead the harmonious lives that God meant for them to live. 

Shhh! It's a Secret.

The Secret Course on Whiteness (1676?- ) is the imagined course where many White Americans learn to talk and act amazingly alike in ways that cannot be accounted for by the public, mainstream culture.
I call it a course because so many of them will say the same thing, word for word, like they are talking from a script that they learned somewhere.I call it secret because it is not part of the public culture. Somehow it gets passed down through the white vernacular culture.

Hustlers & Grifters& Family Oh My!

Well... now, Perry has folks wondering about his own family tree. I mean it does sort of raised eyebrows a little bit, especially with a family ranch called "Niggerhead" and him not to long ago threatening to secede from the union when President Obama (a black man) was elected.

Anyway, the secessionist governor should have left stirring the pot to the women folks because looks like he keeps making a big mess in the kitchen. Which leads up to why people have a question for Perry regarding his family tree. (pssst...Gun toting, secessionist governor ought to withdraw now because things is fixing to get ugly).

Racist,Racism pays. Big Time.

SACRAMENTO-Medro Johnson, African American employee of Sears Home Improvement Products in Natomas, California was awarded $52 million over racial harassment.
A co-worked of Johnson’s had said he was Johnson’s “masta” at a company picnic

Man Killed Crackhead Teen So She Wouldn’t Sleep With Black Men. For real?

Glenn Beck is stupid.

Poor Glenn Beck. He's been thoroughly confused, and made to feel "afraid" and "bad" by the use of the term "African American." By the sounds of a recent rant on his radio show, he really can't take it anymore.

The High Tech Lynching of Fillis McGhee

I wish I could say I am surprised a Huntsville Judge ruled in favor the Huntsville City Schools, against former Hampton Cove Elementary Principal Fillis McGhee, but I'm not. I can tell you from personal experience the judicial system and the school system work hand in hand to legally lynch parents, teachers and administrators who....challenge the status quo. The little guys and gals can't win or get a fair break.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- A judge this afternoon ruled that the Huntsville school board was justified in firing Hampton Cove Elementary's principal on accusations of nepotism and fraud.
Fillis McGhee was placed on administrative leave in August after Dr. Casey Wardynski, Huntsville's new superintendent, accused her of submitting fraudulent teacher evaluations to the central office, lying about her 2-year-old niece's age to get her into the district's pre-K program and using her position to secure her sister a job as an instructional aide.

If anyone believes the reason McGhee was fired for submitting fraudulent teacher evaluations to the central office, lying about her 2 year old nieces age to get her into a district's pre-K program, and using her position to secure her sister a job as an instructional aide, look no farther than the al.com comment section to see who the Judge really ruled in favor of.

The allegations against McGhee were hashed out in court. Allegations bought forth by Jackie Walker, coordinator of the pre-K program, Laura Chisler, the pre-K teacher at Hampton Cove, special education director Amy Sledge and Onin Staffing, a temporary employment service.

Sledge testified Wednesday that McGhee also tried to have her niece evaluated for special education services. Sledge said she told McGhee she couldn't evaluate the girl because the girl's score could be skewed by the age discrepancy. At that point, McGhee became angry, asking, "Why is everyone in my business?" Sledge said."It was a little intense," Sledge said.During cross-examination, Jake Watson, McGhee's attorney, seemed to imply that Sledge might be testifying out of fear of losing her job. He asked if she'd heard rumors that her job might be cut by the new superintendent.Sledge, appearing startled, said she hadn't heard those rumors.

The atmosphere of intimidation and fear of retribution is real.

My sources confirm there was a special interest faction associated with Hampton Cove Elementary who did not want an African American leader at the predominately white school because she was approving too many majority to minority transfers.

The Court is helping Wardinsky do what he was hired to do.

Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!

Lynching Complete.

Next!

Why Artur Davis is singing the gop black voter fraud song

H/T The Black Commentator

Flush with two real victories and one imagined triumph, the authors of the Hard Right's New Black Strategy have doubtless kicked the campaign into higher gear than initially planned. In addition to the usual centers of intrigue (the DLC, for example) and the on- and off-line publications of the Right, it will be necessary to monitor regional and local media and newsletters to determine who is being courted by whom. Again, when the cash actually arrives, it will be too late to nip the Trojan Horse candidacy in the bud.

In case you were wondering why Artur Davis flipped the script on the Voter ID laws..

H/T DownWithTyranny!

Davis isn't done with politics. He'd like to run for the Senate next... if former Democrat (turned Republican conservative) Richard Shelby retires. Will Davis first follow Shelby's path into the Republican Party? Jordan Bloom at the Daily Caller discovered that he's been doing more than undercutting Democratic policies. Now he's contributing to Republican candidates as well!

republican candidates in Mississippi and New Mexico no less

Artur Davis’s new tune on voter ID laws isn’t his only recent right turn. According to third-quarter Federal Election Commission filings, Davis — a former Democratic congressman from Alabama, donated $500 in September to the campaign of Heather Wilson, New Mexico’s Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. Davis also contributed to the Republican front-runner in the Mississippi governor’s race.

Psst Artur! Heather Wilson might have some *ahem* problems.

Now that former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) is throwing her hat into the ring for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), expect a nasty, bitter race and plenty of ghosts turning up from Wilson’s decade-long Washington career.

Wilson, a former Air Force officer and director at the National Security Council, was a rising GOP star and a standout on defense and intelligence matters post-9/11. But her Washington career ended in 2008 when she lost a GOP Senate primary to Rep. Steve Pearce, who then lost the general election to Democrat Tom Udall.

In the lead up to that primary, Wilson suffered a series of public relations blows for her role in the U.S. attorneys’ scandal, improperly politicized firings of U.S. prosecutors by the Bush administration, which Democrats spent months investigating in 2007 and 2008. A lot of information about Wilson’s role wasn’t ever really scrutinized to the extent it could have been because she lost her first Senate bid.

Would a party switch work for Davis as smoothly as it did for Shelby-- and scores of other white ex-Democrats in Alabama?

Time will tell the truth.

"Money is speech in American politics,"

Republican legislatures just can’t help themselves from diluting minority voting power.

Artur Davis Punk'd Left in Alabama Big Time

You knew it was coming....

I pity the Cats, Dogs, and other Critters who thought Artur Davis was impressive, young, intelligent, connected .

Yep, the so called Informed, Involved, Progressive, blog of record tried to ignore the Artur Davis Voter ID flap, but thank goodness regular commentator ( not to be confused with a front pager) bluebearcat wouldn't let them. Based on their reactions and comments I can tell some still don't get it.

I guess we weren't supposed to notice their silence on this subject seeing how this flap started 9 days ago when Davis's Voter ID Op Ed ed was published in The Montgomery Advertiser. Oh well, better late than never.

Does this sound familiar?

“I have heard many Democrats criticize Republicans for imposing litmus tests on their membership,” he said. “I certainly hope that Congressman Cleaver and others are not suggesting that if a Democrat does not hold a certain position that he is no longer fit to be a Democrat. Since I am not a candidate for office, I don’t have to grapple with the question of what party label to wear, but I know that the quickest way for an organization to lose a member is to suggest that he is no longer welcome.”

It should...remember the fallout when Jesse Jackson, Sr. blasted Davis for being the only Congressional Black Caucus member to vote against the Affordable Health Care Act?

I would disagree with the "can't call youself (sic) a black man" part. That smells like a litmus test.

What I said then is what I say now.

It's not a "litmus test". At least not to me. To me it's a question of character. The fact is Davis voted against the best interest of his constituents, a large number of whom happen to be poor and minorities. The fact is he's running for Governor of Alabama, the reddest of the red states. The fact is he is pandering to the right (wrong) at the expense of his base. The fact is democratic votes and support got him elected to Congress. The fact is he is supposed to represent the wishes of his constituents.
It's not a litmus test. It's a character test.

That Artur Davis would accuse African American Voters of wholesale Voter Fraud shows his true color (pun intended), and his lack of character. With African American voters comprising 26% of registered voters in Alabama, if there were black voter fraud I dare say Bob Riley nor Robert Bentley would have been elected governor, and the TeaPublicans damn sure wouldn't have taken over the Legislature. Artur Davis wouldn't have been elected to Congress either.

The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party tried to tell y'all, but did y'all listen?

No.
No.
No.

Proof of Republican Obstruction thanks to FED UP

According to FED UP The following are 20 ways that the U.S. economy has gotten even worse since Barack Obama became president....and what the TeaPublicans enabled by the mainstream media (sic) are obstructing. I don't know where FED UP got this info (probably from some right wing anti Obama source), but I would like to thank FED UP for providing proof republicans care more about their party than they do our country. Why republicans think we are going to reward them for bad behavior is beyond me.

#1 In January 2009, the official U.S. unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. Today it is 9.1 percent.

#2 When Barack Obama took office, the number of "long-term unemployed" in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is up to 6.2 million.

#3 When Barack Obama first became president, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was $1.83. Today it is $3.79. This also affects the price of almost everything else that we buy.

#4 In April 2009, the average U.S. household spent approximately $201 on gasoline. In April 2011, the average U.S. household spent approximately $369 on gasoline.

#5 According to an article in the Daily Mail, the cost of a Memorial Day cookout was 29 percent higher this year than it was last year.

#6 When Barack Obama was sworn in, there were nearly 32 million Americans on food stamps. Today, there are more than 44 million on food stamps.

#7 According to the U.S. Census, the number of children living in poverty has gone up by about 2 million in just the past 2 years.

#8 When Barack Obama took office, the U.S. national debt was 10.6 trillion dollars. Today it is 14.3 trillion dollars.

#9 The federal government has borrowed 29,660 more dollars per household since Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus law two years ago.

#10 During Barack Obama's first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

#11 The combined debt of the major GSEs (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Sallie Mae) has increased from 3.2 trillion in 2008 to 6.4 trillion in 2011. Thanks to George W. Bush, Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress, U.S. taxpayers are standing behind that debt.

#12 Under Obama, the U.S. trade deficit continues to grow. The trade deficit was about 33 percent larger in 2010 than it was in 2009, and the 2011 trade deficit is expected to be even bigger.

#13 Only 66.8% of American men had a job last year. That was the lowest level that has ever been recorded in all of U.S. history.

#14 Just since August, 2 million more Americans have left the labor force.

#15 In 2010, more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure for the first time ever, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.

#16 The U.S. real estate crisis just continues to get worse. During the first three months of this year, less new homes were sold in the U.S. than in any three month period ever recorded.

#17 The U.S. dollar has fallen by 17 percent compared to other major national currencies since 2009.

#18 Faith in the U.S. dollar and in U.S. Treasuries is rapidly declining. The mainstream news is not reporting on it much, but right now the Chinese are rapidly dumping U.S. government debt. That is not a good sign.

#19 When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs about $1500.

#20 Americans seem to be more pessimistic about the economy than ever. According to a brand new poll, 61 percent of Americans believe that they will not return to their "pre-recession" lifestyles until at least 2014.


Republicans drove the country into the ditch like drunk frats boys, blocked the tow truck and the ambulance, and they say President Obama is a failure? Give me a break. They must think we are stoopid.

God Bless America

Tahrir Square meets Occupy Oakland, California, USA! Cheryl Contee(Jill Tubman) reports;

People here in the Bay Area have pretty strong feelings about Occupy Oakland. Overall, people are not cool with it. There are real concerns among everyday people about the right of free speech and free assembly being trampled upon. Hundreds of cops used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bang grenades against peaceful protesters. And it is not pretty. It looks like a war zone. Let this be a warning to mayors who want to bust up Occupy protests in the name of cleanliness or law & order.

The Occupation will not be televised

During the Occupy Oakland march tonight (Tuesday), ABC News in the Bay area shut cameras off on the ground and in the sky the moment police attacked.
They said the chopper needed to refuel and will be back, but we all know this was not correct. A coincidence that both CBS and ABC choppers needed to refuel at the time police started attacking?
[...]
There was a camera on the ground for a full minute showing exploding canisters, people screaming, and gas being covered everywhere and that was shut off shortly after.
This is the constitution, protests are allowed by it. For CBS and ABC to shut the cameras off during the time police violated the rights of the American people is journalism at the worst, in fact not even close to the integrity a real media outlet should bring.

Cheryl Contee (Jill Tubman) again;

I don’t really have more to add to that. I mean, what makes us different from places like Syria and Egypt and Libya are our freedoms — including freedom of the press. Journalists’ job is to cover events not cower under police pressure to cover their brutality.

A BlackMan's View

All this "occupy" bullshit needs to be redirected towards it's roots.And the roots run directly beneath Washington DC.These "occupiers" need to take their occupation (insert city here)... to the ballot boxes of that city.
Cut the head off the snake and the body will die.
I'm just saying...

I'm just saying it's the media we have instead of the media we wish we had. If they spent their time informing the masses and telling us what we need to know instead of what they want us to know maybe we wouldn't be in this mess.

GrannyStandingforTruth asks;

Did the "Oakland Occupy Wall Street" protesters break any windows downtown Oakland or were they looters? Did they commit any violent act? Nope! They did not. In fact, they were so peaceful you would have hardly knew they were there accept for the signs and the small corner space they occupied.
Did they chant too loud or throw bricks at the police? What exactly did they do to deserve an Iraq war veteran winding up in critical condition?

"And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains, the government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton field, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness. The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America — that's in the Bible — for killing innocent people. God damn America, for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America, as long as she tries to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent.."
Reverend Jeremiah Wright

The Right to Vote Today. The Right to Vote Tomorrow. The Right to Vote Forever.

THE SIXTEENTH STREET Baptist Church in Birmingham was used as a meeting-place for civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and Fred Shutterworth. Tensions became high when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) became involved in a campaign to register African Americans to vote in Birmingham.

On Sunday, 15th September, 1963, a white man was seen getting out of a white and turquoise Chevrolet car and placing a box under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Soon afterwards, at 10.22 a.m., the bomb exploded killing Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Cynthia Wesley (14). The four girls had been attending Sunday school classes at the church. Twenty-three other people were also hurt by the blast.

Civil rights activists blamed George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, for the killings. Only a week before the bombing he had told the New York Times that to stop integration Alabama needed a "few first-class funerals."


In light of former Alabama Congress Critter Artur Davis' baseless accusation black voters commit wholesale voter fraud without impunity I am cross posting a diary I composed during my tenure at Left in Alabama on the anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act. Links updated.

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson (D. Texas) signed the National Voting Rights Act. For my fellow Americans who've always had the right and the privilege to vote today may not be a big deal to you, but to me and mine it's a very big deal.

The right to vote is sacred to African Americans. I know it sounds cliche, but it's steeped in blood, sweat, tears, courage and sacrifice. That's why we don't think Voter Suppression with the State Seal of Approval is funny. It's why we shake our heads at the tough Voter ID Laws enacted by red republican state legislatures. It's why we get weep silently when real voter fraud/suppression gets a slap on the wrist, and the imagined voter fraud is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It's like pre 1965 all over again.

My paternal grandparents were allowed to vote in the 1940's because they were educated/educators. They were teachers at what was known then as the Veterans Continuation School (pre GI Bill), a federal program designed for veterans returning home from the war to continue their education.

The classes were held at night and they a stipend. One of the classes they taught was how to pass the Literacy test. My grandparents were also exempt from paying the $2.00 poll tax because they taught at the school. So you see,  black veterans returning home from war, didn't have the full rights and privileges they fought for others to  have overseas.

My maternal grandfather could vote because as my mother says "he worked in the mines" and he was grandfathered in because his father "worked in the mines". My maternal grandmother cast her first vote after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. She was a Republican because "Lincoln freed the slaves". As much as we tried to tell her that was the Republican party of yesterday, she was loyal to the Republican party until the day she died.

My parents cast their first votes right here in Madison County in the 1950's. Although it was pre Voting Rights Act, they didn't have to pay a poll tax or take a literacy test. I remember my Daddy taking me to the Madison County Courthouse to register to vote on my 18th birthday, and my younger siblings on their 18th birthday. It's a rite of passage I continued with my own offspring.

Today is in honor of President Lyndon Baines Johnson (D. Texas) for having the courage to do the right thing. It's in honor of Viola Luzzio, who was murdered after the Selma to Montgomery March. Today we honor the memories of Jimmie Lee Jackson, James Reeb, Denise McNair, Carol Robinson, Addie Mae Collins and Carol Wesley.

Some GOP members of congress believed the National Voting Rights Act is "over reaching" and objected to renewing it in 2006. Fortunately they were over ruled and the Voting Rights Act was extended for another 25 years.

In July 2006, 41 years after the Voting Rights Act passed, renewal of the temporary provisions enjoyed bi-partisan support. However, a number of Republican lawmakers acted to amend, delay or defeat renewal of the Act for various reasons. One group of lawmakers, led by Georgia congressman Lynn Westmoreland came from some preclearance states, and claimed that it was no longer fair to target their states, given the passage of time since 1965, and the changes their states had made to provide fair elections and voting.

Another group of 80 legislators supported an amendment offered by Steve King of Iowa, seeking to strip provisions from the Act that required that translators or multilingual ballots be provided for U.S. citizens who do not speak English.[5] The "King letter" said that providing ballots or interpreters in multiple languages is a costly, unfunded mandate.

Will the National Voting Rights Act need to be extended another 25 years? I don't know, but based on current GOP/conservative sentiment it sure looks like it.

Addendum

The real reason that I oppose the Republican Party has nothing to do with my being a Democrat. I'm not. I'm an independent, with no political party. I don't oppose the Republicans in order to support the Democrats, I oppose the Republicans because the kind of people who perpetrated the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing have joined the GOP. Prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Nixon's Southern Strategy, these people were loyal Democrats, partly because of the New Deal but mostly because of Reconstruction and the Civil War. When the Democratic Party split along sectional lines in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act, the Republicans reached out to the disaffected Southern Democrats, encouraged them to join the GOP. The party did not change the Dixiecrats, the Dixiecrats changed the party.

Whatever political party draws its strength from these people is the party I'm going to work to defeat.

"Black voter fraud must be why democrats win so many elections in Alabama"

So says Daily Kos commenter Paleo in response to Artur Davis' Flip on Voter ID and his refusal to say who he saw committing voter fraud. You see, Davis made some serious allegations in his editorial in the Montgomery Advertiser.

Voting the names of the dead, and the nonexistent, and the too-mentally-impaired to function, cancels out the votes of citizens who are exercising their rights — that’s suppression by any light. If you doubt it exists, I don’t; I’ve heard the peddlers of these ballots brag about it, I’ve been asked to provide the funds for it, and I am confident it has changed at least a few close local election results

For the record, there was ONE case of ABSENTEE BALLOT FRAUD prosecuted in Alabama's black belt, and I'm not so sure it wasn't racially motivated.

Tinker, Rosie Lyles and Valada Paige Banks, all black, have been charged with crimes stemming from alleged voter fraud. The indictments come after a tumultuous decade during which thousands of the county's absentee ballots became the deciding votes in municipal and county elections.

In that time, a bank where absentee ballots had been stored for the district attorney burned in an arson that remains unsolved and the Greensboro mayoral election was overturned by the courts. A judge issued an arrest warrant for the probate judge and an attorney general's investigator looking into voter fraud allegations was thrown in jail.

Artur must have forgotten about what they do to voting rights activist in Sweet Home Alabama.

Back in the spring of 1986, after having successfully appointed scores and scores of conservative judges to serve on courts across the country, President Ronald Reagan went too far. He picked a federal prosecutor to a fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court in Alabama whose nomination was so controversial that it got quashed by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee.

That prosecutor was Jeff Sessions, the senator who, in all likelihood will serve as that committee's most powerful Republican for the next year and a half.

But back to 1986. During the debate over his nomination, committee Democrats questioned Sessions' prosecutorial discretion, focusing in particular on a case he pursued against three Marion, AL civil rights workers--Albert Turner, Turner's wife Evelyn, and Spencer Hogue, Jr.--whom he accused of voter fraud. Sessions was unconcerned with claims of fraud outside the so-called Black Belt, but he alleged that the trio had falsified absentee ballots in Perry County during the 1984 election. After conducting an exhaustive investigation, though, he was able to account for only a small handful of questionable examples, and even those he couldn't pin on his defendants, who were acquitted after only a few hours' deliberation.

Artur Davis takes being a sore loser to different level.

Back in February, I wrote a Cliff Note about a Black South Carolina State Senator who, while considering a run for Governor, felt the need to strengthen his White support by celebrating the Confederacy. Well a few weeks ago, another post-racial Dixie Governor wannabe decided to go the same Confederate lovin’ route. Artur Davis, candidate for Alabama Governor, recently criticized an Auburn City Councilman for removing confederate flags from a local cemetery.

If there were massive black voter fraud in Alabama why didn't Artur Davis win the democratic gubernatorial primary? And why did the republicans take over the Legislature, the Governors office, the Supreme Court and the Attorney Generals office? I mean, really?

Mr. Davis, Harvard on line 1. They want their degrees back. You obviously aren't doing anything useful with them. H/T Egalitare

RedEye's Random Rants

Agabond must be reading this blog because they hit the nail on it's head with this post, which explains the difference between white racism and so called black racism. Black racism is not a mirror image of white racism. It is not equal and opposite. Instead it is different in scale and kind:

FED UP, this quote is for Y-O-U and yours.

Blacks do commit hate crimes and so on, but to think black racism is equal and opposite to white racism is to miss the nature of both white racism and black racism. White racism is institutional and cultural and a hundred times more powerful. Black racism is personal and, to a large degree, is a weakened form of white racism.

Some readers think I am just flipping the script, that I am a black Stormfront or something. A black Stormfront would talk about “whitey” and “white devils” and imagine blacks violently wiping out whites and so on. The strange thing is, nearly everyone who talks about that kind of stuff on this blog is white. So much so that when a black commenter talks like that I suspect him (it is always a him)

I hear you Mack Lyons.

A number of blogs have suffered from individuals who stumble in said discussions and dictate their own opinions, drawn from experiences that may be alien or inapplicable to the situations alluded to in the discussions. They expect everyone else to stop and listen, thereby becoming the center of attention by presenting themselves as a sage bearer of advice. Such advice usually comes from a perspective that's had zero experience with the discussion subjects or anything remotely similar.

But I refuse to moderate or ban people from this blog because I don't agree with their point of view, or, how they present their point of view. This blog was started because someone accused me of doing the very thing you described above. Everyone has the right to express their opinion in their own way. Readers have the right to react in their own way. Most of the time FED UP is on speech ignore, which is my right. The Trolls are everywhere but I can't suppress free speech. I just can't.

Welcome to my blogroll TheSkepticOne! You are my kind of Blogger!

But this is America, where equality and justice are still determined by the color of your skin. Studies continue to show that when the victim is white, 9 times out of 10, the Black defendant is given the death penalty...regardless of where the trial takes place in this country.

And believe it or not, a sitting United States Supreme Court Justice says it's okay to put an innocent man to death in America because the Constitution doesn't address the matter.

Birmingham Home Girl is a day late and a dollar short.

In the hopes of cleaning up history’s view of her and I guess selling more books.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the Bush administration was dismissive toward her concerns over security in a post-war Iraq, according to excerpts from her autobiography that Rice tweeted about Sunday.

How the republicans plan to steal the 2012 Presidential election with Artur Davis providing the get away car and Herman Cain driving it away. Cheating is not winning.

"Once again, a major political party in the United States is running on a platform of making it more difficult for people to vote, specifically for the poor, the elderly, minority voters, and college students. Once again, the kind of "voter fraud" that these laws supposedly stop, a "national crisis" has never been documented. These laws exist for one reason: to tilt the electorate in favor of the Republican party. Period."

The rule of law or the rule of the jungle? I report. You decide.

Months of acts of aggression culminating in an extrajudicial execution sends a message to other countries, and even non-state actors, who find the US or any of its NATO allies to be a foe is that one must kill or be killed. This is the rule of the jungle, not of international law.

What a difference a Judge makes in Sweet Home Alabama. One Judge uses the 1901 Alabama Constitution to declare contract provision in Alabama immigration law unconstitutional in pending lawsuits. And another Judge uses the 1901 Alabama Constitution to keep a current law intact unconstitutionally discriminates against black and poor schoolchildren in Alabama.

"Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"

"Free at Last, Free at Last."

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth will be laid to rest today

In memory and honor the late Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth I am turning the floor over to two great posts written by two great Alabama Bloggers.

Mack Lyons pens an excellent account of Birmingham, Alabama Fred Shuttlesworth who fought like the Devil to change. Here is an excerpt;

While reading an AL.com story about concerned citizens meeting to discuss and plan Birmingham's future, I ran across this nugget that's a bit of a theme among some dissatisfied with the Magic City's current shape:

They should talk about B'ham's past (pre 1963). A lot more pleasant.
Be nice if they could revert back to that time. I just don't see it happening, which is why I left.

I've never known any black person from Birmingham to talk pleasant about the city as a whole pre-1960s, unless it involved their own neighborhoods. That kinda narrows down the pool of people most likely to say the above, trolls excluded.

The Simple-Minded Savior talks about the present state of Alabama.

I was born and raised in this God forsaken state and it IS still stuck in the 50's and 60's. It's not a stereotype and why anyone would want to visit here is beyond me. Oh yeah, they can come visit and see what main attraction? The CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM...Some parts of the interstate still have a confederate flag flying high and proud so what's he talking about? And the fact that one of the State Legislators called Black people "ABORIGINES" on tape and it was part of a trial transcript makes no never mind. Yeah, you're right, Alabama has not one racial problem, it's a beacon of hope, a melting pot of sorts for the nation. This State, Alabama, should be held out as the example of how loving a state should be. *sarcasm* If Jesus came back right now and came to an Alabama suburb, he would be labeled a dead beat liberal hippie and crucified a second time.

Let these diaries serve as an incentive to march on until victory is won in grateful appreciation for the sacrifices of

Reverend Shuttlesworth

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Four Little Black Girls

Viola Luizzo

Jimmie Lee Jackson.

Their living will not be in vain.


Funeral Services for Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth will bestreaming live beginning today at 10 a.m.

Rest in Peace thy good and faithful Servant. Your faithfulness endures for all generations Psalm 119:90