EYE am back! Did you miss me? EYE am playing catch up, but here are some issues that caught my EYE to get the ball rolling.
A 57 year old grandfather from India, Blogger Legal Schnauzer and three Muslim students discover what it's like to be black/brown in America. Welcome to our world.
What's that you say? Stripping the Jackie Robinson League of the their title is all about race? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! NOT.
Given the racial politics of Chicago and a few of it’s surrounding
suburbs, having one mostly white team start a witch hunt against an all
black team just smells of racist attitudes. I rarely use the term
racist because often times people act on their ignorance based on
prejudices and bigotry, but racist ideals and sensibilities often
present themselves in larger ways that affect the metanarrative; it’s
hard to label a person racist when so much of the system is slanted and a
preferential treatment is automatically given to whites. Operating in
white privilege often means the subconscious, and perhaps unintentional
discrimination of denial of persons of color, but in this case it is
clearly intentional on not just the denial, but the removal of an earned prize and more importantly, the title.
I can't believe HBCU's(Historically Black Colleges and Universities) are being criticized by the first African American President of the United States of America. Strike that. Yes. EYE. Can. So much for Hope for Change we can Believe in.
Say it ain't so Joe! Lorretta Lynch is Codoleeza Rice with a law degree and the Senate committee is delaying a vote to confirm her?
Today's Must Read
Selma in February
No keener an observer than Thurgood Marshall has rightfully made the
point that, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, no other president in
American history did more for the equal rights of African Americans
than Lyndon - not Jack Kennedy, not Bill Clinton (the first "black" president) not even Barack Obama! In
fact, Obama's presidency owes its very existence to the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, both of which were signed
into law by Johnson. I know it's fashionable these days to portray
half-witted presidents from Texas in the most negative light (I'm guilty
of that, believe me); it's just that Lyndon B. Johnson and George W.
Bush just aren't in the same league - it's not even close. Think of it as comparing apples with decomposing ravens.
EYE Shall Return
Finally a war I can support! Just kidding. Those who know me know I am anti-war/anti-violence of any kind. My weapons of choice are words and the ballot box, but I got to thinking....what if democrats did wage a war on white folks? Maybe if Democrats had waged a war on white folks we wouldn't be in this mess. By mess I am referring to sending our troops to war based on dead wrong intelligence, raiding the surplus to give the rich a tax cut, spying on the American people without a warrant, outing CIA agents, massive unemployment, record foreclosures, failing public schools and infrastructure, and the list goes on and on, like the Energizer Bunny.
Before we jump into Congressman Mo Brooks (r. AL 05) #WarOnWhites we must decode his code words. First, democrats are code for black folks, African Americans, Negroes, coloreds, and whatever else you want to call people of color, not to be confused with them their illegals, which is code for Mexicans, Hispanics, anyone else from south of the border. So when Congressman Brooks says democrats are waging war on white folks, he's really saying black folks are waging war on white folks, because everybody knows the democratic party panders to black voters at the expense of white voters. Now, this is not true, but this is the perception held by some, not to be confused with all, white folks.
A generation ago, the Alabama Democratic Party’s black caucus had to fight for representation on the party’s executive committee, but today the party and that caucus, the Alabama Democratic Conference, overlap so much they are nearly synonymous.
Under a 25-year-old consent decree, ADC can select at-large executive committee members to make the
committee racially proportionate to the party’s electorate. But it has
exercised that power only in terms of black and white. Hispanics and
other minority groups are not represented well, if at all, on the
committee.
The ADC’s power has put its president, Joe Reed,
squarely in the party driver’s seat and has made him a divisive figure.
Last year, a spat with then-party chairman Mark Kennedy ended with
Kennedy resigning his position and creating a new political group, the
Alabama Democratic Majority, which some in the party hoped could reform
or replace the state executive committee. At the time, Kennedy denied
that was its purpose, but the message was clear: For at least part of
the leadership, Alabama’s Democratic party had become too dysfunctional
to be salvageable.
What Kennedy and his allies left behind was a smattering of white faces in a mostly black crowd.
I tried to tell them instead of creating their own separate and unequal party to get rid of Joe Reed and his bunch, they should have been joining Joe Reed and his bunch. But did they listen to me? Naaaaah. So here we are 3 months before the election and democrats in the fifth congressional district have a choice between Mo Brooks and Mo Brooks Lite. My only hope is Mo Brooks Lite has the decency not to publicly disrespect the President of the United States of America, and if elected he will put his republican past behind him, and put people over party. But I digress.
Before we return to the #WarOnWhites, there is one more word we have to define, and that word is psychological projection.
Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against unpleasant impulses by denying their existence in themselves, while attributing them to others.[1] For example, a person who is rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude.
So, when Congressman Mo Brooks accuses democrats (blacks) of waging war on whites, he really means republicans (whites) are waging war on democrats (blacks).
Alabama has an
ugly racial past that has taken decades to overcome. Still, for many
outside the state, Alabama is remembered for Bloody Sunday in Selma and
Bull Connor's fire hoses turned on peaceful protesters in Birmingham.
Those images belong in the past in the wake of the civil rights
movement, but Brooks' comments will only reinforce those images.The
irony in Brooks' comments is he accuses Democrats of "... launching
this war (by) claiming that whites hate everybody else." Really? With
our first African-American president in his second term, is it he and
his party fomenting hate? No.Brooks
embodies all that is wrong with the contemporary Republican Party. He's
too far right to understand ordinary people's problems, and he won't
engage with Democrats to craft legislation — such as immigration — that
has long needed to be addressed. He is mired in political theory and
ideology, refusing to accept that others, even in his own party, have
something to bring to the table. That is arrogance.Sadly,
Brooks will find a willing audience for his incendiary views in a state
and a nation increasingly divided against themselves.
Whites are waging a war on blacks, and the opening salvo was the certification of the 2000 election.
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
Whatever political party draws its strength from these people is the party I'm going to work to defeat.
The End.
How will Alabama Democrats rise again? According to the resident Left in Alabama righty , the south, I mean the Alabama Democratic party could rise again if them there special interest groups would get out of the way and stop standing in the school house, I mean party door.
The ADP, and in particular the Democratic primary, has come to be dominated by two special interests groups, AEA and ADC. Now, there is nothing wrong with special interests groups except that these two have demonstrated a willingness to torpedo any candidate that doesn't march in lockstep with their agenda, no matter how good that candidate may be overall.
For those who don't know AEA stands for the Alabama Education Association,
The Alabama Education Association (AEA) is the largest education association in the state of Alabama. The AEA is an advocate organization that leads the movement for excellence in education and is the voice of education professionals in Alabama. Our mission is to promote educational excellence.
ADC stands for the Alabama Democratic Conference.
The Alabama Democratic Conference (the Black Political Caucus of Alabama) was founded in 1960 by a small group of black citizens who banded together that year in an effort to influence black voters to support the Democratic presidential ticket of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Among the founders were: Arthur Shores, a highly respected civil rights lawyer in Birmingham; Rufus Lewis, a successful Montgomery businessman and former coach at Alabama State University; Dr. C. G. Gomillion, a college professor and activist at Tuskegee Institute; Q. D. Adams a gifted salesman and civic promoter from Gadsden; Isom Clemon, a powerful labor leader among Mobile County longshoremen; and Beulah Johnson, a feisty Tuskegee educator.
After seeing the special interest (teachers, students, administrators, support personnel, minorities,labor) these two groups represent, why in the world wouldn't they torpedo anyone who doesn't march lock step with their agenda? I mean, really? What is the point of having an overall good candidate (whatever that means) if they oppose everything you stand and fight for?
I guess it depends on what the definition of a good candidate overall IS.
We began this last state election cycle with two good candidates (IMHO), Davis on the Democratic side and Byrne on the Republican side. Both (again in IMHO) got torpedoed by the two groups I mentioned.
Actually the torpedoing was the other way around. Davis on the democratic side torpedoed the ADC by pandering to the right and expecting them to vote for him because he was an African American running on the democratic ticket. Byrne on the republican side torpedoed AEA with this so called 2 year college corruption probe allowing the legislature to switch from blue to red.
Further more states the resident righty the agenda of these two groups are so out of line with the average voter that a candidate who meets their approval can not win a general election. Yes, in a primary, they can still defeat a candidate but that is far different than electing a candidate.
Translation, they cater to them there minorities, public school teachers, and labor unions. I don't know who the average Alabama voter is exactly....but I'd be willing to make an educated guess it's a right wing, bible thumping, anti public education, anti minority, anti labor, anti choice republican. So you're darn Skippy the agenda of these two groups don't meet the approval of the AEA and the ADC. Sure don't. That would be like a chicken supporting Colonel Sanders.
It's not about electing a candidate. It's about electing a political philosophy/agenda. Average Alabama voters rejected, renounced and repudiated Artur Davis and Bradley Byrne agenda's. End of story.
Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.~Justice Louis D. Brandeis
It's time for another installment of an "original thought" blog stroll down memory lane in recognition of the first anniversary of my being booted from the front pages of Left in Alabama. Note: These are my original thoughts from my tenure at Left in Alabama, not links to other diarist at LiA, if you find any factual errors , not to be confused with typo's and grammatical errors, please let me know so I can correct them. :)
In light of the fact one of the first orders of business for the red republican legislature in the reddest state in the union is to get rid of them there gerrymandered voting districts, and the right wing outrage over State Senator Hanks Sanders' mad as hell robo call about returning to the days of Jim Crow, please read The right to vote today. The right to vote tomorrow. The right to vote forever. Posted on the 49th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act.
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. It's why we get weep silently when the real voter 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.
The republicans are coming! The republicans are coming! This is what we have to look forward to under republican rule. This is their battle cry!
Seriously, what has the present day gop ever been right (pun intended) about? Why are they constantly being rewarded for bad behavior? Why do democratic candidates pander to the wrong at the expense of what's right, and against Progressives/ liberals/democrats who btw are right (pun intended) on the issues?
Why are we treated like the no family values, culture of cronyism and corruption?
Why is Alabama a "majority republican state"?
Why do Alabama voters consistently vote against their self interest?
What is wrong with this picture?
It was the stoopid racism then and it's the stoopid racism now.
I believe most of us can/will agree that racism is stupid and that it takes power to exercise racism. Meaning, a person can have all the racial prejudice against a certain group of people in their hearts and minds they want to, but when they have the power/authority to act on those beliefs it's racism.
And we wonder why the right wing is so misinformed...
A good friend of mine told me they take their blood pressure medicine and watch Faux News every night. When I asked why they would do something stoopid like that, they replied because forewarned is forearmed and so they would know how and what righty's think (now there's an oxymoron for you). Prior to tuning in to the Faux News Talking Pundit Heads I started to pour a stiff drink of my favorite alcoholic beverage, but I didn't want my perception to be, cough, cough, impaired :). So, armed with an arsenal of sock bombs to throw at the TeeVee if needed, I settled in for an evening of watching Faux News.
Yo President Obama! I tried to tell you...
If we had wanted to keep Bush's political prisoner operation we would have voted for John Mc$ame. If we had wanted an Attorney General whose first act was to free former Senator Ted Stevens (r. Alaska) we would have voted for Mc$ame. If we had wanted to keep Don't ask don't tell we would have voted for John Mc$ame. If we had wanted to continue the same economic polices as Bush we would have voted for Mc$ame. If we didn't want the single payer option we would have voted for McSame.
Now, I won't go as far as my friend BeulahMan and call you a "lying piece of sh^!" on the front page of LiA, but I HOPE you get my drift. We the people are suffering and under siege. We are loosing HOPE.
Click on the links to read the full text and don't forget to read the comments.
Keep HOPE alive y'all. Keep HOPE alive.
A recent column by David Sirota Laying Bare The Myth of the Left sparked an interesting discussion on a list serve I subscribe to about the democratic party and progressives/liberals and the democratic agenda. Sirota concludes the so called powerful left does not exist in America;
I'm always amused by popular references to the allegedly all-powerful American "Left." The term suggests that progressives today possess the same kind of robust, ideologically driven political apparatus as the Right - a machine putting principles before party affiliation.
This notion is hilarious because it is so absurd.
Yes, there are certainly well-funded groups in Washington that call themselves "progressive," that get media billing as "The Left," and that purport to advocate liberal causes regardless of party. But unlike the Right's network, which has sometimes ideologically opposed Republicans on court nominations and legislation, many "progressive" institutions are not principled at all - sadly, lots of them are just propagandists for Democrats, regardless of what Democrats do.
Listservmember SW says;
progressives are going to have to come together & construct a backbone soon. I wish it would be to highly protest the Kagan nomination...but ...
I agree and disagree with SW. I believe there are progressives out there with backbone,, suppressed by the elitist. For example, why isn't David Sirota ever booked as a Talking TeeVee Pundit Head? Why was I banned from Left in Alabama? Why are only so called conservative/moderate Democrats voices being heard?
I believe the democratic party has been infiltrated by conservatives and so called moderates so they can divert attention away from social issues and maintain the status quo.
My definition of Blue Dog/ConservativeDemocrats are candidates and elected officials whom identify themselves as "Democrats" to garner the African American vote, and "Conservative" to garner the White votes. In reality they are social conservatives, also known as Republicans.
In my opinion moderates, undecideds,swing voters, blue collar voters, working class voters, Nascar dads, security moms, Walmart moms, in the middle voters, values voters,evangelical voters, christian right and libertarians are code words developed and used by the media to manipulate public opinion. In reality these groups are social conservatives, also known as Republicans.
The republican party is fond of saying they are the party of Lincoln and therefore are not racist(were the party of Lincoln being the operative word) when it suits them, but every since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act democrats are more like the party of Lincoln and republicans are more like the party of Thomas Jefferson. Today's republicans are yesterdays Dixiecrat's.
on June 19, the substitute (compromise) bill passed the Senate by a vote of 73-27, and quickly passed through the House-Senate conference committee, which adopted the Senate version of the bill. The conference bill was passed by both houses of Congress, and was signed into law by President Johnson on July 2, 1964. Legend has it that as he put down his pen Johnson told an aide, referring to the Democratic Party, "We have lost the South for a generation."[8]
In addition to conservative infiltrators the democratic party has so called "moderates, centrist, center" who try and walk a thin line down the middle of the party. We don't know if they are pro choice or anti choice. We don't know if they are pro civil rights or anti civil rights. We don't know what the heck they stand for. They are in the middle whatever the heck that means. My daddy says the only thing down the middle of the road is a yellow line. Moderates are afraid to take a position one way or another because they don't know what side of the road they are on.
Here is what Booman says about the so called center or centrist, and I agree.
The center hasn't ceded power to the extremes. You have one party that is trying to govern in a recognizably American way, and another party that is debating whether it was a mistake to desegregate lunch counters. Given that choice, what does it even mean to be in the center? If you can't make a choice with these options, maybe the center is the place for imbeciles.
Seriously, where is my democratic party? The party of Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and other proud, unashamed liberals?
The party that stood up for women's rights, civil rights and human rights?
The party that didn't throw the traditional base under the bus just to be elected?
The party that was the home of progressives and liberals?
The party my list serve friend and fellow progressive gd describes below:
Many of us believed we were electing a traditionally Liberal Democrat as our President. We apparently have been deceived. Many of the same Bush policies Progressive Democrats abhorred are still in place. Many of the so-called "changes" that were promised haven't happened and lack of action seems to have reinforced some of the Bush policies.... such as continuing to allow warrant less wiretapping of American Citizens under one the more noxious Executive powers within the "Patriot Act," doing nothing to end the wars and even escalating the number of American troops in the war in Afghanistan, doing nothing to change the DADT policy, etc. Now the current Administration wants to tamper with Americans' "Miranda Rights" which have worked for low these many years to protect us from having a "Police State." Perhaps it is time for a Progressive Party to emerge.
If the DLC and the current Administration continues down their "right-of-center" path, and "We the People" do nothing to change that direction, then DEMOCRACY as we have known it, will cease to exist. The Corporations, who have now been granted "person hood" by the Judicial Branch of our government, will become "The People" who will be buying and paying for election of their candidates. A Corporation already owns the machines which tallies our votes, and nothing has been done by the Current Administration to eliminate the easily manipulated electronic voting machines or about the other much needed election reforms either.
Financial Reform now looms largely on America's horizon. Will these "reforms" be weakened in favor of Wall Street & the Banks, the same way Health Care Reform was weakened in favor of the For-Profit Health Care Insurance Corporations? Is that rattling sound I hear the sound of Progressive Democrats striking their swords against their shields, or is it the sound of a "We the People" Democracy gasping its last rattling breath?
I hope and pray that rattling sound is the sound of progressive democrats taking their party back and not the sound of "We the People" Democracy gasping it's last rattling breath.
Enough.
I want my liberal democratic party back.
