EYE am going to leave this right here... It's #TheMedia #Stupid

DEAR CNN & MSNBC : The Blood is on the Hands of your Political Directors and Anchors.

We have no one to blame but the white male dominated media for enabling this unholy mess.  EYE HOPE they are happy.

Political Directors, CNN's David Chalian and MSNBC's Chuck Todd, along with many hosts and Anchors BEAR THE RESPONSIBILITY of a President Trump. Responsibility for the damage to race relations, the damage to women and families, the damage to Mother Earth due to the advancement of dirty energy and quashing of clean energy corrective measures is yours. Responsibility for the thousands of American men that will DIE in foreign oil wars as a result of the oil and weapons industries dictating policy to the Republican led government is yours. The responsibility for the many thousands of unnecessary gun deaths here in the United States due to the gun lobby and their control over Congress now, etc. is yours. Congratulations again.

MSNBC friend: We in media have blood on our hands. Treated him like a legit candidate, which he isn't & her like a criminal, which she isn't

— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) November 9, 2016

Ode to Nerdland

It didn't start with Beyonce's Formation, but that is reported to be the final straw that precipitated Melissa Harris-Perry's exit from MSNBC. She wanted to discuss it on her show, but MSNBC executives wanted her to focus only on presidential politics, given the network's double-digit ratings deficit. Of course, Melissa is eminently qualified as a Ph.D. in political science to do that, but her professional work has lead her to apply her expertise to the politics of black womanhood. And so that was the catalyst for her interest in Beyonce's new song.

First, Melissa felt slighted. "After four years of building an audience, developing a brand, and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced. Now, MSNBC would like me to appear for four inconsequential hours to read news that they deem relevant without returning to our team any of the editorial control and authority that makes MHP Show distinctive."

Then, it got worse: MSNBC's executives ignored her. As Dr. Steven Taylor, Ph.D. explained in Psychology Today, "Psychologists call slights ‘narcissistic injuries' - they bruise our egos, make us feel belittled. Ultimately, all types of slights boil down to the same basic feeling: of being devalued or disrespected."

Her words confirm Dr. Taylor's explanation. "I have hosted a weekly program on this network for four years and contributed to election coverage on this network for nearly eight years, but no one on the third floor has even returned an email, called me, or initiated or responded to any communication of any kind from me for nearly a month. It is profoundly hurtful to realize that I work for people who find my considerable expertise and editorial judgment valueless to the coverage they are creating.

While MSNBC may believe that I am worthless, I know better. I know who I am. I know why MHP Show is unique and valuable. I will not sell short myself or this show. I am not hungry for empty airtime. I care only about substantive, meaningful, and autonomous work. When we can do that, I will return — not a moment earlier. I am deeply sorry for the ways that this decision makes life harder for all of you. You mean more to me than you can imagine."

As Melissa said, disrespecting by disregarding her communications is a form of betrayal. “It is perfectly fine, 100 percent reasonable and perfectly acceptable for MSNBC to decide they no longer want the MHP show,” she told the Times. “But they should say that, they should cancel the show, they should stand up. And maybe it would be rewarded with huge ratings, but they shouldn’t kill us by attrition and take us off the air without telling anybody, including us. That, for me, is what’s painful and difficult.”

As David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement observed, "In treating an amazing talent like Melissa Harris-Perry in this manner, MSNBC is revealing just how little respect it has not only for an incredible journalist and host, but for its viewers."

Melissa held the MSNBC executives to account, while acknowledging that she didn't know if they were directly involved in how her show has been handled recently. “I will not be used as a tool for their purposes,” she wrote. “I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by Lack, Griffin or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back.”

And here is the crux of the confrontation, the conflict between how Melissa sees her mission, and how MSNBC see theirs.

"That's the privilege of having a public voice," she said. "The issues that we want to advocate for, we can get an audience for." Having granted Melissa editorial autonomy, she felt a loss and an insult when MSNBC removed it. It was more than that; the event proved the thesis of her book, Sister Citizen:

“…this book makes the claim that the internal, psychological, emotional and personal experience of black women are inherently political.

They are political because black women in America have always had to wrestle with derogatory assumptions about their character and identity. These assumptions shape the social world that black women must accommodate or resist in an effort to preserve their authentic selves and to secure recognition as citizens. This is less a book about what black women do to become first class American citizens than one about how they feel while they are in the struggle.”

Melissa wrote about how black women feel in the ongoing struggle for personal fulfillment in the glaring light of historical, societal injustice. Each slight cuts into her spirit like a knife, and yet, perhaps a mixed metaphor is permissible to explain how she must continually refresh her spirit, as dripping water smooths a stone.

Melissa’s words echo the black woman's endless pursuit of being recognized for her own personal humanness, value and integrity of character, uniting her mind and soul in often hostile and threatening environments.

"The black woman's fight is on all fronts. Sisters resist the ways that black male leaders try to silence women's issues and squash female leadership. At the same time, black women challenge white women who want to claim black women's allegiance without acknowledging the realities of racism. They will not be drawn into any simple allegiance that refuses to account for their full humanity and citizenship."

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in her book, "This Is My Story," that "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Melissa Harris Perry is not consenting.

Footnote:

   

About that #BlackOnBlackCrime Thingy......

MSNBC host Chris Hayes satirizes the right's concern with "black on black violence," rolling footage of a recent "surf riot" from Huntington Beach and asking when "the white community would gets its act together."

Today in Black Mayors bad leaders, White Mayors good leaders

First it was CNN's Carol Costello,  now it's MSNBC's Morning Mika putting Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed in his place, I mean, taking him to task for refusing to accept total responsibility for something that is not his fault.   I mean, really?  You would think Mayor Reed closed down a bridge for partisan political gain or something.

This is what happens when there is a lack of diversity in the mainstream media.  Black politicians get no love unless it's a republican black politician. Is the media using the snow storm to put Mayor Kasim Reed in his place?

Remember former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin?  Journalist tired to put him in his place, I mean, smacked him down too.


Black Mayors bad leaders. White Mayors good leaders.

"Race Baiting" gone bad, and "look at those shiny objects over there"

I wish Romney would go on TV and say, "No apology needed. All sides need to stop being so sensitive. All this fake outrage chills speech."
— Dale Jackson (@TheDaleJackson) January 4, 2014

This is one of those rare times when Radio Boy and I agree, and from the looks of it, Mitt Romney agreed and  rejected the media enabled race baiting hook, line, and sinker.

By now everyone knows how I feel about this sad, sorry, affair. It was bad enough Melissa Harris Perry was forced to apologize for something she didn't say/do, but the tearful apology was like a kick in the gut. Hate to think it,  much less say it, but I have more respect for Phil Robertson, A&E, Cracker Barrel  and Walmart than I do for MHP and MSNBC right now. "Harris-Perry took responsibility for the segment, even though she never said what the right accused her of saying. Her apology was heartfelt, intelligent, and insightful. It was typical of what viewers see on her program every weekend. What it wasn’t was necessary.

Robertson's comments were bigoted and racist, but I defend his right to say them.

I wonder if MHP broke down because she was being forced to apologize in order to keep her job?  I can see that happening because I was told to stop talking about race so much and accused of making up stuff before I was banned from Left in Alabama and told if I wanted freedom of speech I needed to start my own blog.  Which I did.

I guess what Kimberly Foster the founder and editor of For Harriet said is true:

I certainly salute Melissa for expeditiously offering a sincere apology. I Stand With Melissa because I understand that in spite of (of perhaps because of) the fact that she is a black woman with a P.HD and a national television platform, she has to walk more cautiously than her peers.

"Do not follow the shiny object".


 Privilege of the Powerful.

Power of the Privileged. 

God, please help America.

"Tearful apology not needed" My Sentiments Exactly!

field negro: Tearful apology not needed, and the evolution deniers.

 The problem is that there is a basic hypocrisy in the media that allows the right to not be held accountable bad behavior. Not only is the right allowed to get away with worse things than the MHP segment on a daily basis, but no one on the left is ever cut the same slack.

"I have said this before and it is worth repeating: Nobody plays the victim card like these wingnuts. Sarah Palin has made a career out of it. (I see you Mr. Bashir). "

More on this later.

Mission Accomplished: The Shirley Sherroding of Melissa Harris- Perry Complete

You know what the GOP calls an accomplished Balck woman who apologizes profusely for what they deemed bad behavior? A nigger.
— problem with that (@problemwthat) January 4, 2014

Melissa Harris-Perry Breaks Down On-Air While Addressing Keiran Romney Controversy

A perfect storm of slow news and cultural provocation elevated Melissa Harris-Perry‘s New Year’s weekend segment, which used Kieran Romney‘s appearance in a Romney family photo as a setup for jokes about diversity, into a full-blown media conflagration. That firestorm has now roiled into a second weekend. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) is expected to address the controversy tomorrow on Fox News Sunday, and Melissa Harris Perry addressed it on air for the first time on the Saturday morning edition of the Melissa Harris Perry show.

The Struggle Continues......

The Shirley Sherroding of Melissa Harris Perry

 

*Sigh*

You know the drill:

The righties have their panties in a wad because Melissa Harris-Perry dared voice her opinion on a photo of Mitt Romney, the man of the 2%, holding one of his kid’s adopted black baby. 

Some (not to be confused with all) democrats/liberals/lefty's jump on the bandwagon accusing MHP of insulting Mitt Romney's Black Grandchild.

Melissa Harris-Perry apologizes to the Romney family for mocking their black grandson.

Melissa Harris Perry apologized, as liberals are wont to do after right wing persecution takes hold of the media’s endless pity and blind spots. But she never personally attacked the grandchild, and it’s obtuse to pretend that no one gets how absurd it is that the man who ran one of the biggest race-baiting races in history has an adopted black grandchild. It reeks of blind privilege and a failure to connect the dots.
You see, a rich black baby will not have the same experiences as the majority of black people in this country. It’s not about color. It’s about privilege. The privilege that comes with white skin growing up in one of the wealthiest counties in the nation as Mitt and his wife did.

The media enabled GOP propaganda machine wins again.


What  Persephone Clover said.

Oh My God. Seriously? No one called the baby a thing. One person sung one line of a SONG. Those are the words of that Sesame Street song. The other panelist said the picture represented the diversity of the Republican party. The RNC did a whole autopsy about how Republicans need to do better reaching out different communities after the 2012 losses. Melissa herself only said the baby was gorgeous and she wanted to see the wedding between him and Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's baby in another twenty years.

 What patis2 said:

this adoption is a political act. it is designed to appeal to black america to vote for the republican party in upcoming elections. the baby is a sacrifice on the altar of racism. i hope black people don't fall for this crude, unequivocal act of black exploitation.
it is cultural suicide to let the romneys take that black child into that social milieu of morons and republicanism, both institutions that are well known for their racism.
i strongly object to it. i don't think MHP has anything to apologize for. unless she thinks she will lose her lucrative TV spot. 

What lilrock diva said:

Apologize for WHAT?

So many here, are responding to what they think was said, not what was actually said. Why don't you try reading it:

“Everybody loves a baby picture,” Harris-Perry said, “and this was one that really, a lot of people had emotions about this baby picture this year. This is the Romney family. And, of course, there on Governor Romney’s knee is his adopted grandson, who is an African-American, an adopted African-American [grand]child, Kieran Romney.”
[PHOTO]
When asked to caption the picture, comedian and actress Pia Glenn sang: “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn’t the same … “And that little baby, front and center, would be the one.”
Laughter erupts.
“And isn’t he the most gorgeous?” Harris-Perry responded in an attempt to divert from Glenn’s impromptu song. “My goal is that in 2040, the biggest thing of the year will be the wedding between Kieran Romney and North West. Can you imagine Mitt Romney and Kanye West as in-laws?”Comedian Dean Obeidallah had already taken the ball and run with it though: “I think this picture is great,” he said. “It really sums up the diversity of the Republican party, the RNC. At the convention, they find the one Black person.”
Yes, that is all -- THE END!

Call me cynical, but could this be a media-enabled weapon of mass distraction from the real insult to LBGT's, African Americans, and women?

PS:  If You're Outraged by Melissa Harris Perry's Romney Remarks, Here's Some Recent History For You

Dale Jackson just convicted George Zimmerman in one sentence

"Why the black community insists on acting like being told not to dress/act/mimic thugs is outrageous is beyond me and that attitude is getting people killed." Dale Jackson The Attack Machine 6/12/2013

I'm not a lawyer, or a detective,  but I watch a lot of them on TeeVee, and they all say means ( the ability of the defendant to commit the crime), motive (the reason the defendant felt the need to commit the crime), and opportunity ( whether or not the defendant had the chance to commit the crime), are the three aspects of a crime that must be established before guilt can be determined.  Dale Jackson laid out the George Zimmerman's motive for profiling, stalking, and killing, Trayvon Martin in one sentence.

According to Radio Boy ~"The simple point is this, they started with race based killing and refuse to let facts stop that story."

This is what happens…

• Zimmerman followed Martin
• Martin took exception
• Martin confronts Zimmerman about being followed
• Martin and Zimmerman scuffled
• Martin was winning
• Zimmerman fears for his life
• Zimmerman kills Martin
• The end

Radio Boy doesn't know exactly what happened unless he was an eye witness, so he is relaying Hearsay.  As the lawyers on TeeVee say, he assumes facts not in evidence.  So let me offer a rebuttal and set the record straight with facts that are in evidence.

Trayvon Martin was stalked, hunted, murdered, for the crime of WALKING WHILE BLACK

HE HAD NOTHING BUT SKITTLES AND ICED TEA.

HE WAS MINDING HIS OWN DAMN BUSINESS ON THAT NIGHT…IN THAT HOUSING DEVELOPMENT..

TRAYVON WAS A VICTIM PREYED UPON BY A CRIMINAL VIGILANTE THUG WHO DECIDED TO BE JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER FOR TRAYVON.

Why Dale Jackson thinks this is OK is beyond me, unless he was raised that way.  To my knowledge  White children aren't told not to act/dress/mimic thugs by their parents. 

The inherent social contract that modern western society has placed on black folks is this:  If you want upward social mobility, a good job, and fair and equitable treatment, and avoid being pulled over, arrested, constantly harassed, expelled from school, or murdered, then don't LOOK or ACT like a NIGGER.  Don’t be stereotypically loud, obnoxious, combative or arrogant. Don’t wear gang colours, baggy pants, doo-rags, bandanas, wave caps or Timberlands. Not only were we told to act JUST like the REST of society – we were told to act BETTER. And if we acted the same as others, we faced STIFFER consequences and that was just the way it was. And you know what the WORST part about this deal is – we TOOK it.

Psst Dale!  MSNBC isn't the one that sees racism in everything including parenting.......  your beef is with Toure,  he is employed by MSNBC,  he doesn't own MSNBC.  That's just like saying WVNN sees racism in everything because you are employed by them.

Friday Funnies

Sometime you have to laugh to keep from crying.  Get your giggle on.~RedEye

Fist Dap to countrycat at Left in Alabama  for this Laugh out Loud of the week.

WTH?  I know we tend to dismiss some members of the Alabama legislative super-majority as "weasels" (with apologies to the actual weasels among us), but what the heck are these guys wearing on their heads?  Speaker Mike Hubbard is preening about his involvement in the so-called "pro-life rally" today in Montgomery - so much so that we wouldn't be surprised to see him sporting a peacock tail.
But what's UP with the hats & capes?  It's like some kind of reverse skunk outfit.  And that can't possibly be Dan Aykroyd in the middle, but maybe a cousin....

 

Republican whine of the day.....we lost the 2012 presidential election because of "that one".  "We’re what needs to be fixed in the Republican party? Seriously?"  Oh. OK.

 

All I'm going to say is the The Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads must think we are insane.  Fist Dap Gorilla Pig via The Platzner Post

Update~I love it when the Brass Knuckle Wing of the Democratic Party is Allowed on TeeVee

What do you want to bet Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's uppity donkey be seen on TeeVee ever again?

Oops, spoke too soon, the Mayor showed his uppity donkey to Chucky Todd too.  Back to the attic he goes.

Thank you for being brave enough to speak truth to power Mr. Mayor.  I hope you don't end up like the last black Mayor of a mayor U.S. City  that showed his uppity donkey......

I'm just saying....

RedEye's Week in Review Hypocrisy Edition

For anyone keeping score~Fist dap jobsanger

The prize for hypocrisy in the name of Lord goes to Chik-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy, who says he respects LBGT workers and patrons in spite of the fact they are inviting the wrath of God with their lifestyle.    Translation the CEO of Chik-fil-A worships  money more than he fears God's wrath. Amen and Amen.

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Username: 

 

With Democrats like Craig Ford who needs republicans?  Craig Ford is the latest so called democrat who believes the way to the Governor's office is to pander to the right at the expense of the traditional democratic base.  He should ask his friend Artur Davis (r. turncoat VA) how that worked out for him.

Second prize for hypocrisy goes to LiA bloggers countrycat and mparus, who don't want to revoke Craig Ford's membership in the Alabama Democratic party, and are standing up for marriage equality but had no problem revoking my front page and posting privileges because I stood up for who I believed in,  and what I believed in.

I was forced to watch CNN this week because MSNBC aired the Olympics during the day, and I would rather run through hell with a pair or gasoline drawers on than watch Faux News.  Remember when CNN used to be the most trusted names in news?  Where is CNN (said in my best James Earl Jones voice)?

 In their effort not be called liberal (like that was a bad thing), they turned into Fox Wanna Be. No wonder the CNN chief is "stepping down" because the network needs new thinking.  Ya think?


Psst CNN!  Check out Newsroom on HBO, it's the kind of media we wish we had instead of the media we have.

The Rightards are licking their chops at the prospect of former Governor Don Siegelman (D.) being re sentenced for crime he shouldn't have been sentenced for in the first place,  by the same judge who sentenced him the first time.  Confused yet? 

All I'm going to say is if Siegelman is sent back to prison for being too liberal,  it will be because  democratic leadership didn't confront  the right wing Bullies.

 If democratic leadership is afraid to stand up to the right wing Bullies,  maybe we should all be afraid, and just bend over and take our Gang Banging like Girlie Men.  I'm just saying...If the Left were anything like the right....

Fist Dap-Liberal Bias

Noted scholar and world leader Evo Morales has definitively proven that eating chicken causes male homosexuality. Why? Because chickens that are raised to be eaten are artificially injected with female hormones to make them plump and tasty.  Thus, when a male eats the hormone-filled chicken, it will cause him to deviate from normal maleness and therefore TURN INTO A HOMOSEXUAL.

Who are you going to believe? Me, or your lying eyes?

 31 days and counting since George Zimmerman, profiled, stalked, confronted , tormented,  then executed Trayvon Martin, who wailed and begged for his life for 40 seconds\, We have video...finally... .  To say the video is inconsistent with the Sanford Police Department Report,is an understatement.

31 days and counting,  we learn Trayvon Martin's Killer has friends in high places.

31 days and counting since Trayvon Martin was killed, some in  the media are still race baiting, thank goodness for online activists and MSNBC.

31 days and counting since George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Williams, I've learned when the mainstream media cautions us not rush to judgement because we don't have all the fact, they are not going to conduct an investigation and present the facts. No, they are going to wait for their unnamed sources to leak the facts they want us to know, instead of the facts we need to know..

31 days since George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, black children are still under attack by the people who are supposed to protect and serve them.

Justice is stubborn when  the victim is black.  Ask the parents of the 4 little black girls.  Ask the family of Medgar Evers.  Emmett Till's murderers still haven't been bought to justice.

Justice is swift and sure if the victim is white.  Ask the Scottsboro Boys.

 Rekia Boyd 1980-2012 RIP Sweet Child

There's the United States of America, and theres the state of Florida

I hate to say it, much less think it, but I don't believe George Zimmerman will be arrested or charged in the death of Trayvon Martin.

Why do I think this way?

1. .Zimmerman will appear before a secret grand jury on April 10, 2012.  We don't know who will serve on the jury, and we won't know what was said because it's well...secret.

2.  A  month later, not only do we find out Zimmerman's father is a white, retired, Magistrate Judge, we learn the lead investigator wanted to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter,  but was over ruled by the Seminole County State Attorney via the Sanford Police Chief.

3.  Righty's and the  mainstream media  are itching for a "race war", and what better place than swing state Florida?

4.  Most of the mainstream media, with the exception of MSNBC, are so afraid of being called liberal, they are bending over backwards to adopt the Fox News  faux fair and balanced meme, thereby enabling the Zimmerman camp.  Compare  MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell's and Joe Scarborough's tough questioning , with CNN's John King's questioning of  Florida State Attorney Angela Cory.  As long as the white, male dominated media gets to decide what is racism by denying there is racism, America never be post racial.

 5.  It's been 30 days and counting since George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, still no arrest, and the State Attorney in charge of the investigation says there might not be one.

What say y'all?

If it's Sunday it's time to Meet the Pest~Trayvon Martin Edition

I woke up this morning to the most NOT trusted name in news, CNN, pushing the New Black Panther Party Offers $10,000 for George Zimmerman, meme.  What I want to know is; who/ where is the New Black Panther Party getting $10,000 from in this economy?  If they have $10,000 they should give it to Trayvon Martin's parents.   Psst CNN!  I know you love all war all the time, but please stop trying to incite a race war for ratings as a weapon of mass distraction from Trayvon Martin's death.  Click


I flipped over to Meet the Pest, I mean Press, with David Gregory and spit out my coffee when I saw  Haley, Boss Hoggs, White Citizens Council, Pardon Gate, Scott Sisters, Barbour, of all people, talking about the Trayvon Martin case.  Psst David Gregory!  Haley Barbour has no creditability on race issues.  Haley Barbour had no creditability on race issues.  Haley Barbour will never have any credibility on race issues.  Click.


Then comes MSNBC's  Alex Twit, I mean Whitt asking Ron Allen if George Zimmerman's side of the story resonates with the people in Sandford, Florida.  Psst Alex!  Hell to the NO, Zimmerman's side of the story is not resonating with the people in Sanford, Florida because everything he said is a L-I-E.   Your colleague Melissa Harris Perry  is speaking TRUTH to power.   Click


Somebody had to die so Dick Cheney could live, thanks to the best Government Run ObamaCare for Life our tax dollars can  buy.  And that's all I'm going to say.


Today's Must Reads
Trayvon Martin, my son and the Black male Code

Have Hoodie, Will Die

AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

I want my Hope and Happiness Back!

 

This is a picture of the late, great, Myrna Copeland celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama from a face book page dedicated to her memory.  I remember that night and how excited, happy, and hopeful were all were.  We joined hands, formed a circle, and sang We Shall Over Come because we truly believed the long, national, Bush, Dick, Rumsfeld and Company nightmare was over.  We left the Davidson Center that night full of HOPE for CHANGE we could BELIEVE in.

So what happened?  How did the winners turn into losers, and the losers into the winners?  I'll tell you what happened...the gop infused,media enabled, TeaPublicans  happened.

President Obama didn't help matters by trying to play nice with the TeaPublicans at the expense of people like us  Professional Lefty Retards. What part of you can't play nice with people who hate you didn't he understand?

The Talking TeeVee Pundits Heads helped hijack Hope for Change we can believe in by providing the fair and balanced get a way car.  The truth is not fair and balanced, it's either the truth or it's not.   Case in point, Monday's Jansing and Company line up on MSNBC featured a segment with former RNC chair Micheal Steele representing the republican point of view, and former  Congressman Artur Davis representing the democratic point of view. Big eye roll.

What have the TeaPublicans and the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads  ever been right (no pun) about?  When have they ever been on the right (no pun) side of history?    I wonder what they are going to say when Ron Paul wins the Iowa Caucus?  

Non Apologetic "Socialist"

Let's just cut to the chase and stop the pretense. The words Socialist and Socialism didn't appear in our lexicon until Barack Hussein Obama was elected President of the United States of America. Calling him a Socialist is an acceptable slur because calling him the N word is not.

Former MSNBC Host Carlos Watson said it first which is probably why he's a former MSNBC host.

What concerns me is that in some of those town hall meetings including the one we saw in Missouri recently where there were jokes made about lynching etc, you start to wonder whether in fact the word socialist is becoming a code word, whether or not socialist is becoming the new N-Word for frankly for some angry upset birthers and others, I hope that’s not the case, but that sure does say to you what David Brooks said the other day on T.V. which is that more credible conservatives have to stand up and say there’s a line that has to be drawn, that there’s a line of responsibility, that’s important that extends to the words we choose including how choose even legitimate words like “socialist…

Calling his agenda Socialism is an acceptable slur because it's code for lazy, shiftless, baby making, black folks that want the government to take care of them (social programs). Rush, Sean and the other Lords of Loud use the public airways define Socialism as the use of taxes and government entitlements (welfare) to redistribute wealth from the rich(white) to the poor (black/brown). If the media we had would do it's JOB and use the public airways to inform the public instead of keeping the dumb bigots in line we wouldn't be in this mess.

The media who can talk at nauseam about balloon boy, can’t seem to put together a complete educational story about crap that really matters. Instead the media, and their overpaid experts, who opine about everything irrelevant, have yet to correct or educate anyone on one broken record statement; “Obama is moving America towards Socialism.” It really irritates me that none of these overpaid “news” celebrities even bothers to deal with “what is Socialism” and “are we really going there?”

I bring this up now because our illustrious Congress Critter from the 5th district Mo Brooks was forced to retract the socialist comment from his House floor remarks but he's not sorry. I'm not surprised Mo is not sorry. I'm just sorry my progressive, informed, involved friends help send him to Washington D.C. in the first place. I tried to tell them, but did they listen to me? Noooo. That would have been too much like right (pun intended), but I digress.

Ironically, candidate Mo Brooksand I had the following exchange on Flashpoint blog regarding his anti socialism platform

Commissioner Brooks,
Would you be so kind and define/explain/clarify specifically what you mean by your assertion “the American economy is threatened by the twin evils of unsustainable budgets and socialism”? What unsustainable budgets and what socialism?

His response was to refer me to his website (thanks but no thanks), bash Pelosi and Obama, and an invitation to call him. But, he had this to say when pressed for specifics by someone who wanted to support him.

The beauty of the free enterprise system is that it will take care of economic matters by itself if we elect leaders who both understand how the free enterprise system works . . . and have enough confidence in our free enterprise system to let it work.

The free enterprise system has served America well for more than two centuries (and made us, for roughly sixty years, the world’s greatest economic power).

And yes, we should have let the bad banks fail. The government should never reward failure with tax dollars. If the federal government had stayed out of it, the banks that were doing things right would have survived and purchased the assets (primarily customer base) of failing banks . . . and everything would have worked itself out. And everyone would have been reminded that the price of failure is failure. Not reward.

As for GM, the same principles apply. Although we should note that it was government interference in the free enterprise system (examples: extraordinary tax burdens on GM and/or wrongful interference with the natural balance between labor unions and management) that led to GM’s demise. Had “know-it-all” and/or pandering politicians not intervened and made GM uncompetitive, it would still be thriving (with no taxpayer intervention or subsidies).

If my economics degree at Duke University (with highest honors) taught me anything it is this: no one group of people (i.e. – the government) is smarter than the collective knowledge of everyone who participates in and makes decisions concerning the free enterprise system. Anyone who believes our government “leaders” are smarter than the collective wisdom of everyone else in America gets the failures they deserve

Stated differently, I know I’m not smarter than the collective wisdom of the free enterprise system. Hence, I know that it is best to defer to the solutions and innovations the free enterprise system ultimately creates.

Government’s role should be very simple and very limited. Get out of the way except in the most extraordinary of situations (an example of proper government interventionism is when competition has been replaced with monopoly or similar anti-competitive practices).

Non apologetic Mo is hosting a WVNN Legislative Get Together at the Melting Pot of all places on May 13, 2011. I think all non apologetic socialist should attend and say it loud,

We're Socialist and Proud!

I believe in nationalizing banking.

I believe in nationalizing energy. Oil, ng, electricity generation.

Added to our already nationalized...

Military

Edit: to clarify and correct my OP the following are mostly under the control of state and or local governments. However many listed below do receive funding from the federal gov't.
Police
Fire
Highway/roads/streets
Water/Sewer
Education

I believe in government for the people, by the people.

Free and fair elections. Hand counted paper ballots.

Ban corporate person hood.

Use anti-trust laws to break up mega corps and multi-nationals.

Ban corporate campaign spending.

Eliminate the disgraceful wealth divide in America.
- fair, progressive taxation of the super wealthy.
- a LIVING WAGE FOR ALL WORKERS.
- pass and sign Employee Free Choice Act into law with a strong card check provision.
- a government with the backbone to protect a workers right to organize, and enforce labor law.
- ban of all federal funds to states with 'Right to Work'(for less) laws until they repeal these anti-worker laws.
- creation of a workers Bill of Rights.

End all foreign wars of Imperialism.
- Afghanistan -BRING THEM HOME ALIVE, NOW!
- WOT
- America's war against the poor in Central and South America.
- Close the School of the Americas
- Close Gitmo
- Close our 700+ international military bases spread all over the globe. Bring EVERY soldier home.

Reduce our so-called "defense" budget by no less than 50%.

Invest in America's aging infrastructure- rail, mass transit, high speed, light rail, city bus, roads, bridges, water, sewer, high speed Internet, electrical grid, seaway, PUBLIC EDUCATION.

There is no greater investment that a government can make in it's people than public education. Access to a quality education for ALL is a basic human right. Is there anything that can enable and empower a person to be self-sufficient better than access to a quality education?

Perhaps, affordable access to health care.

Single Payer Universal Health Care for all, and nothing less.

Affordable housing. End homelessness - a growing tragedy.

Feed the hungry.

I believe that democratically elected representative government can prevent us from being a 3rd world nation.
......................................

I don't pretend to speak for all socialists. Many here may disagree with my stances. What I listed above are just some of the reasons why I consider myself to be a Socialist.

I am a proud Socialist.

Socialist to the bone!

I will take my Socialist beliefs to my grave and make no apologies for them.

See you the Melting Pot Mo. I'll be the one wearing the Socialist T-Shirt, :)

Sunday Shock, Shame and Awe

If You Don't Think Olbermann Was Fired Because of Comcast, I Have an Igloo in the Mojave Desert to Sell You

Comcast is a right-leaning, big media entertainment corporation that is about to control content, television, telephone and Internet service, all through one giant portal. Its interests are in dictating what consumers pay, see and hear by owning the delivery system and what it delivers.

Its acquisition of NBC Universal will accelerate an already-monopolized big media presence on television to include content control that extends even to the Internet.

Anybody who thinks that a company that is the epitome of Pac-Man corporate growth is going to tolerate liberal programming on MSNBC that is critical of corporate governance - well, you're floating down the river of "de-Nile."

Keith is gone and black folks need not apply.

I wonder if a black anchor at one of these cable shows would be talking about the bomb that was found in Washington? The lame stream media sure is quiet about it. Or, the cop from the "windy city" who was doing his best John Demjanjuk impersonation on black folks for years. I guess racial tensions and hate groups aren't selling in A-merry-ca these days. One political act of terror is enough for now. We are just getting over Tucson, we can't overload the public. There is just so much hate we can take here in A-merry-ca. You can't pursue happiness when you are hating anybody.

Black Radical Thought Will Save Us All

White Left resistance to effective, comradely collaboration with Black Leftists “makes impossible the ‘revolution of social values’ called for by Dr. King.” Whites control far more resources on the Left, especially in media. However, “the general absence of Black intelligence in White media, specifically that which is defined as White Left or Progressive media, inhibits broad social movement building.”

Redeye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray.

Redeye's Saturday Must Reads and Open Thread

Warning readers, this is not one of those uplifting forward thinking posts. I still reserve the right to complain... LOUDLY over folk's FOOLISHNESS!~Gina, The Blogmother

Over the Mountain Dems are looking for a solution to the Joe Reed problem.

10,000 Pound Elephant (4.00 / 1)
The all danced around a very pertinent issue, Joe Reed. He has got to go and will be used as the poster boy to beat Dems going forward for many years. Good lord, how badly do we have todo in elections before stupid people at the top get it.

I can't say I didn't see this coming. Comast in. Keith Olberman out.

Which of these statements are true?

There is no such thing as white privilege.
Blacks like to complain.
Blacks are their own worst enemy, not white people or their supposed racism.
Blacks need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps just like everyone else.
I made it on my own, I did not get any special favours. Why should blacks?
If anything, blacks have it easier than whites, what with affirmative action and all.
Affirmative action is unfair to whites.
Whites are a better judge of whether something is racist than blacks are. Blacks are oversensitive.
It is unfair to have a Black History Month when there is no White History Month.
Blacks are just as racist as whites.

The Tea Party will be No Party for the poor and the middle class

Republicans and Tea Partiers have no compunction when it comes to lowering the hammer on the lives and welfare of taxpayers (the "low-hanging fruit"), while the rich and the powerful are advocated for with full press--the extension of the Bush tax cuts which will increase this nation's deficit hole, although economists are mostly in agreement that such an extension will do little to stimulate our lethargic economy.

Why can't our government officials share in the pain?

Every time I hear the phrase "it's gonna be painful", what comes to mind is that the only ones that are feeling the pain are the downtrodden and poor. However, our government officials always seem to glide through the pain as untouchables.

What's on your Saturday reading list?

The Left is NOT like the Right

I want to debunk the right wing, media enabled, rhetoric that it is illegitimate to hold the gop infused, media enabled, Tea Party responsible for the present toxic political culture. The school yard meme claiming the overzealous nature of partisanship on both sides of the aisle is straight up Bullpoo. There is a huge difference between the rhetoric on the right and the rhetoric on the left. For one thing, the right has a wider platform.

The left isn't responsible for the anger and the vitriol that produced the random acts of domestic terrorism. It's those on the right who have exploited the arguments of division, reaping political power by demonizing immigrants, or welfare recipients, or bureaucrats. The Left doesn't use Hate Speech to incite violence.

The Left is not on Talk Radio 24/7 using the public airways to misinform the uniformed to keep the bigots in line.

Where does one start in the wake of the political killing spree that occurred in Arizona on Saturday?

With John Wilkes Booth putting a bullet into the head of Abraham Lincoln?

With the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy?

With the shooting of Martin Luther King?

The right-wing culture of hate and implicit coded call to kill the enemy, as if on a mission from God, is a subset of our larger national culture of violence.

From our policy of maintaining superpower status through wars and coups to going back to the conquest of America by the slaughter of Native Americans, we have had a history of a large segment of our population that views violence as a remedy for personal and political grievances - as well as the fulfillment of ideological goals. For them, "putting down your enemy" is as American as apple pie.

MSNBC is NOT like Fox News

Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.

What if the gop infused, media enabled Tea Party were Black?

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protesters — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.

IMHO President Obama doesn't need to be leading a moment of silence for the Arizona Victims, he needs to be speaking out. This is another one of those teachable moments where he has the opportunity to reaffirm the belief we are not red states and blue states we are the United States of America. He should take the lead in in quieting the voices of hate and bigotry.

You won't see wall to wall, breathless coverage of the One Nation Working Together rally held in Washington D.C. today because it's not a bunch of Obama hating white folks waving their flags while they waive their rights. Nope, it's red, yellow, black and white Americans from red states and blue states coming together to reclaim The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and demanding the CHANGE we voted for.

It's the media.