"All we want is make us free."~ The Armistad Revolt

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the day President Abraham Lincoln (R. IL) signed the Emancipation Proclamation as our  nation approached the third year of the War between the States.

The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

So, I'm sitting here 150 years later wondering how the party that freed the slaves turned into the party that is trying to bring back slavery?   The answer can be found in the graphic below. 

 

 See the areas in red?  These are the states that are covered by the Emancipation Proclamation.  Slave holding states not covered are in blue.  Is it a coincidence the states responsible for putting the most Tea Party representatives in the house are all members of the former Confederacy?  I think NOT.  

The goals, methods and passions of the Tea Party in the House are all characteristic of the radical southern right.

The mainstream media have completely missed the story, by portraying the Tea Party movement in ideological rather than regional terms. Whether by accident or design, the public faces of the Tea Party in the House are Midwesterners — Minnesota’s Michele Bachmann and Joe Walsh of Illinois. But while there may be Tea Party sympathizers throughout the country, in the House of Representatives the Tea Party faction that has used the debt ceiling issue to plunge the nation into crisis is overwhelmingly Southern in its origins:

From the Armistad Revolt, the the Emancipation Proclamation, to now,  all we want is make us free.

John Quincy Adams: [to the Court] This man is black. We can all see that. But, can we also see as easily, that which is equally true? That he is the only true hero in this room. Now, if he were white, he wouldn't be standing before this court fighting for his life. If he were white and his enslavers were British, he wouldn't be standing, so heavy the weight of the medals and honors we would bestow upon him. Songs would be written about him. The great authors of our times would fill books about him. His story would be told and retold, in our classrooms. Our children, because we would make sure of it, would know his name as well as they know Patrick Henry's. Yet, if the South is right, what are we to do with that embarrassing, annoying document, The Declaration of Independence? What of its conceits? "All men created equal," "inalienable rights," "life, liberty," and so on and so forth? What on Earth are we to do with this? I have a modest suggestion.
[tears papers in half]

Welcome to 2013!

Edit~"The thing to remember is that just because folks are mad and broke doesn’t mean they’re stupid"

Thank You Keith Owens!

In Pundit World, particularly TV Pundit World it seems, the common wisdom appears to be that if President Obama doesn’t somehow manage to accomplish the near impossible task of reducing the level of unemployment from its current level of 9.1 percent down to somewhere in the 7 percent range, then his chances for re-election are seriously at risk because no president since Depression-era President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has ever won a second term with unemployment higher than 7.2 percent.

As I watch and listen to Mike Huckabee lie about Obama Care being rammed down our throats blah, blah, blab, blab in a paid for commercial on TV, and the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads, in their designer clothes, perfect hair, access to health care, 401k's, and bright smiles blabbing about Obama's poll numbers and what the republicans candidates are saying (WTF cares?), I'm thinking to myself, they (the media, tea party, republicans) must think we the people are stoopid. I mean really!

Contrary to popular and misinformed opinion democrats and the majority of the American people aren't mad at President Obama because democratic policies aren't working for them. We're mad because President Obama pandered to the right at the expense of his base. We're mad because President Obama surrounded himself with advisers who don't know their Donkey from a hole in the ground. We are mad at President Obama for letting Yes We Can get hijacked by HELL NO YOU CAN'T with the media driving the getaway car.

I for one am happy the TeaPubliKlans caused America to lose it's AAA credit rating because America will experience what the majority of Americans experience every day.

No, what makes America look unreliable isn't budget math, it's politics. And please, let's not have the usual declarations that both sides are at fault. Our problems are almost entirely one-sided - specifically, they're caused by the rise of an extremist right that is prepared to create repeated crises rather than give an inch on its demands.
The truth is that as far as the straight economics goes, America's long-run fiscal problems shouldn't be all that hard to fix. It's true that an aging population and rising health care costs will, under current policies, push spending up faster than tax receipts. But the United States has far higher health costs than any other advanced country, and very low taxes by international standards. If we could move even part way toward international norms on both these fronts, our budget problems would be solved.

So why can't we do that? Because we have a powerful political movement in this country that screamed "death panels" in the face of modest efforts to use Medicare funds more effectively, and preferred to risk financial catastrophe rather than agree to even a penny in additional revenues.

The real question facing America, even in purely fiscal terms, isn't whether we'll trim a trillion here or a trillion there from deficits. It is whether the extremists now blocking any kind of responsible policy can be defeated and marginalized.

Psst President Obama! Do something! And I don't mean travel around the Midwest in a bus making speeches. Your people are losing HOPE. If you are one term President it will be your own damn fault. Bring the Professional Lefty's in.

Psst President Obama! Independents are really republicans who are ashamed to call themselves republicans. They are not, and will never be your friend. You stand for everything thing they oppose. You need to stop listening to the gaggle heads and listen to us Professional Leftys. You need to surround yourself with some real Political Scientist and kick the clueless consultants and their enablers to the curb.

Go back to your Community Organizing Roots. Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians, enabled by the main stream media and their failed policies.

Bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan before more lose life and limb for nothing.

Restore honesty and integrity to the Justice department and end the political prosecutions.

The thing to remember is that just because folks are mad and broke doesn’t mean they’re stupid. Sure Obama has made his fair share of missteps, and he has for sure worn out his welcome with the adult in the room business, let alone his over willingness to negotiate with folks who hate his guts. But in the end he is still so far ahead of every last one of the Republican challengers in his potential ability to manage this crisis that it’s not even a fair fight.

We are mad and broke, but we are not stoopid. And neither are you.

Let them eat sugar coated Satan Sandwiches!

What just happened?

The phony debt ceiling crisis was, from beginning to end, a con. It was an elaborate and successful hoax in which the nation's first black president, the Democratic and Republican parties, Wall Street and corporate media all played indispensable parts. The object of the supposed “crisis” was to short circuit public opinion, existing law, democratic process and traditions of public oversight, in order to deal fatal blows to Medicaid, Medicare, social security, job growth and public expenditures for the common good. It worked. We've been conned.

Now they call for "leadership"

Can't Make This Up: After Staying Silent Until Budget Deal Passed, AFL-CIO Now Issues a "Call for Leadership and for Action"

The result was as painful as it was predictable.

If nothing else, the debt ceiling crisis provided what Barack Obama is so fond of calling a "teachable moment." Hopefully, that extends to the President himself. After seeing his nominees blocked, his legislation filibustered and popular upper-income tax increases delayed by Republicans who withheld their support from his watered down stimulus and health care programs, President Obama nevertheless continued to seek common ground with those whose only goal remains his political destruction. The result was as painful as it was predictable.

Hope is not a plan

When everyone says a deal sucks it sucks.

Our Congress Critters protected their modest wealth.

Happy Birthday Mr. President, enjoy your birthday cake while the rest of us choke on a sugar coated Satan Sandwich.

What is a Satan sandwich exactly? According to a 2004 Urban Dictionary definition, it’s Dressing up a successful right-wing hostage-taking situation as an act of political compromise.

Un Huh.

Still trying to get over the shock and shame

H/T Jerry Brice

Just when I think our Congress Cowards can't sink any lower they drag Congress woman Gabby Giffords from her sick bed to vote for the sugar coated, Satan Sandwich. But Gifford wasn't the only victim that day. They couldn't drag the little girl in the picture to the vote.

Isn't it ironic Giffords voted FOR a deal brokered by the same people whose rhetoric is responsible for her present condition? Isn't it ironic these same people win again? This is not Change we can believe in. This is more of the same old stuff.

Listen to Athenae

I feel about this the way I feel about people who keep grizzly bears and gorillas and tigers as pets. They keep animals that outweigh them as pampered house guests, feeding them raw salmon and steak and putting cute little collars on them and shit, and then are ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED when their "best friends" get bored one day and eat their faces.

I mean, COME ON. Did you really not think you'd be lunch at some point? It's one thing to know it and have a death wish. People jump out of planes. People do all kinds of shit they know is dangerous as hell and it's kinda sexy to live that far on the edge, but only if you know. If you've got yourself a degree in Advanced Self-Deception and you think it is going to be okay to keep a zoo animal in your living room because it owes you something for naming and putting a little hat on it, I don't even know what to do with you. That kind of idiocy exhausts me down to my bones.

Listen to Field Negro

O, this is not change that I can believe in. I understand that there is a degree of politics involved here, so you had to kick the can down the road after 2012. But did you have to let the wing nuts pick the can to kick, the shoes you will use to kick it, and which one of your feet you will kick it with? No wonder your base is fit to be tied and the leader of the CBC is calling this proposed debt ceiling bill a "Satan Sandwich". (Tea party sandwich, "Satan sandwich, what's the difference?)

They hate us for our freedom

The ruling elite didn't even have the decency to throw in an extension of unemployment benefits as a sweetener to cowed Democrats in Congress. I guess they figured they could use that as a backup if too many House Democrats decided to follow their consciences... instead of their Conservative Consensus president who already lost them their majority last year and is guaranteeing they won't win it back in 2012. That won't be necessary though, will it?

And, NO. Trotting Gabby Giffords out for spin is NOT going to distract us from the fact the President and the Democrats made a deal with the devil and divided the party. Giffords health care and pension aren't going to be cut.

It's not going to distract us from the fact Democrats provided the boat for the TeaBaggers to sell us down the river. And for what? Or should I say for whom? Not the little girl in the picture. Not the elderly. Not the disabled. Not the single mothers. That's for sure.

Mo Brooks voted with the Congressional Black Caucus?

That's right (pun intended), number One TeaBaggers Mo Brooks joined with the Congressional Black Caucus and voted HELL TO THE NO on the sugar coated Satan Sandwich, aka the debt deal.

Congressional Black Caucus chairman Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) isn’t a fan of the proposed deal to raise the debt ceiling.

Cleaver told Roll Call Sunday that the deal was a “sugar-coated Satan sandwich.”

“You have been quoted, coming out of your caucus as calling this agreement a ‘sugar-coated Satan sandwich,” MSNBC’s Chris Jansing noted Sunday. “Was that indeed your quote? Is that how you feel about this deal?”

“Very accurate quote,” Cleaver admitted. “What you see is antithetical to everything the religions of the world teach: take care of the poor, take care of the aged. Look at the phone calls I’ve gotten. They are seven-to-one in favor of a balanced deal, and also preserving Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security. And I’m concerned about this because we don’t know the details. And until we see the details, we are going to be extremely non-committed.”

The Congressional Black Caucus released a letter Sunday urging President Barack Obama instead of making a deal with Republicans to raise the debt ceiling.

Meanwhile little Miss Designer Pump wearing Representative Terri Sewell (CD 7) voted against the Congressional Black Caucus and FOR the sugar coated Satan Sandwich. Here is here statement courtesy of her ardent fan mooncat over at right leaning, Left in Alabama.

"Today, I voted in favor of the Budget Control Act of 2011. While it is not a perfect bill, this bipartisan measure prevents this nation from going into default and protects Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security – essential programs relied upon by our nation’s seniors and middle class families. The bill that passed today removes the cloud of economic uncertainty from our global markets and ensures that this nation will meet its fiscal obligations. I voted in favor of this bill not because I am a Democrat, but because I believe in the Full Faith and Credit of the United States.
Legislation is the art of compromise and there are plenty of provisions in this bill that are unsettling. The drastic cuts coupled with no revenues I believe threatens our economic recovery. However, the bill does provide a significant down payment on our nation’s debt and creates a process for reducing the deficit.
As we continue working toward strengthening the economy, the burden cannot simply fall on our seniors, students, middle class families and the most vulnerable. The solution must include shared sacrifice from us all.
Ultimately, allowing America to default on its obligations was simply not an option."

Mo might not have intended to vote with the Congressional Black Caucus but I have to give it to him for looking out for his constituents .

One of his reasons is what would happen to the defense budget if the bipartisan committee created by the deal fails to reach another agreement on spending cuts by the end of the year.
“You're looking at a 20 percent cut in FY '13 in our (national) security, and I cannot agree to do that”, Brooks said after a meeting of House Republicans.

Unlike little Miss Sewell who represents Alabama's black belt.

Today, Alabama's Black Belt includes some of the poorest counties in the United States. Along with high rates of poverty, the area is typified by declining populations, a primarily agricultural landscape with low-density settlement, high unemployment, poor access to education and medical care, substandard housing and high rates of crime.

What's up is down. What's down is up.

A RedEye Rant

To say I am pi$$ed off about the debt ceiling capitulation is an understatement. I postponed my rant until I could compose a complete sentence without using cuss words and calling our *ahem* President, and the Democratic *ahem* leadership. a bunch of dirty names. Until I can compose my thoughts with clarity, read what other Professional Lefty, Effing Retards, have written about this low down, dirty, deal of death.

This is what we get for trying to reason with those who can't be reasoned with.

Meanwhile, you gotta hand it to the ever-present Tea Party contingent of the GOP for "staying the course", or whatever they call it these days. They have a goal, and it is to use this current (manufactured) crisis to not only hang a failure over Obama's neck like so many dead Albatrosses and send him packing come November 2012, but also to drive the country over the fiscal edge right now and into a genuine depression, one that may or may not rival that of the Great Depression that kicked off in late 1929 and didn't let up until sometime near the end of WWII. The whole idea behind this plan is to trigger a moment of weakness in American history where they can finally present and implement their socioeconomic policies and make their ideology the "gold standard" among Americans.

Can you say Punk'd again?

So why won't the president call Republican and bankster bluffs and shut down the phony debt ceiling crisis? Why won't the Republicans take yes-may-I -have-another-tax-cut-for-the-rich for an answer? And why won't president Obama stand up and fight for the poor and working people who voted for him in their tens of millions, who have made his career possible.

Because he wants to be the first and the last African American President in the history of these United States of America that's why.

I have a theory about all this debt ceiling bullshit. And some of ya'll might accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist. But I'll be that.
This time.

Do ya'll remember back to last year when the senate minority leader Mitch McConnell made a rather disrespectful comment towards the President after the Dumbocrats got their asses handed to them during the midterm elections?

I believe the comment went like, 'The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president'.
Their "single most important thing" is to get this half Negra out of the house that Whitey built; with the "built" being done by slave labor.
So I think that this "debt ceiling" is a part of that plan.

Another Horse Head in the President's Bed.

Republicans threatened to crash the economy, on purpose, unless a series of radical demands were met. Democrats made an effort to lessen those demands and make them less painful than intended. The result, not surprisingly, is rather ugly, which is to be expected.

The debt-reduction framework isn’t a compromise; it’s a ransom. If one were to draw up two lists — one with all the concessions Democrats made, the other with the concessions the GOP made — the one-sided image would be striking. Of course, that’s what happens when one party has a gun to the head of its hostage — in this case, the nation and its economy — and the other party wants to prevent their rivals from pulling the trigger.

Ransom paid.

Anyone who characterizes the deal between the President, Democratic, and Republican leaders as a victory for the American people over partisanship understands neither economics nor politics.

The deal does not raise taxes on America’s wealthy and most fortunate — who are now taking home a larger share of total income and wealth, and whose tax rates are already lower than they have been, in eighty years. Yet it puts the nation’s most important safety nets and public investments on the chopping block.

I want my Effing Hope for Change we can believe in back instead of Deja Voodoo All Over Again!

As the Senate draws closer to passing the Obama Compromise, I have the same sick feeling of helplessness I felt when our Congress Cowards gave George W. Bush a blank check to take our troops to war in Iraq. Us hard core, professional lefty, tree hugging, Birkenstock wearing, Latte drinking, hybrid car driving, liberals tried tell everyone Bush was using 911 as an excuse to go to war in Iraq. We tried to tell everyone there was no WMD in Iraq. We tried to tell everyone Saddam had nothing to do with 911. We tried to tell everyone there was no exit and our troop would be plan sound the alarm. But did they listen? Noooo. We were called anti Bush, anti Troops, anti American and told to STFU and stop whining for the good of the country. Never mind that we were right (pun intended), there was no WMD in Iraq and our troops are still there.

Well here we go again. Us hardcore liberals are trying to sound the alarm about the Obama Compromise and again we're being told to STFU.

Open wide and eat your Grand Crap Sandwich

The Republican Party was able to enact more conservative cuts on the government with a Democratic President and Democratic Senate than they were with a Republican President, House, and Senate. That’s how much of a massive failure the debt ceiling “deal” is.

It is a massive failure, not only of progressive politics, but of American politics. The legislation will hobble the economic recovery while hurting the poor and middle class. Anybody who believes in progress for America should loudly vote against this monstrosity.

Everybody should share the blame here.

The Republican Party, for its dogged dedication to policies that enrich the already rich at the expense of ordinary Americans.

Congressional Democrats, for being listless and directionless and spineless at practically every opportunity. Given the reigns of power by the American people, they dithered and dithered and watered legislation down. While in the majority, they allowed the GOP to wield far too much influence, while also making the party’s own conservative wing overly influential. Those choices helped lead to a loss of power in 2010, and even weaker leadership in 2011.

I for one am not surprised.

Barack Obama signaled that he was going to be a weak president on January 11, 2009. That is when Obama, nine days before his inauguration, told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that he was going to take a "look forward, not backwards" approach on the apparent crimes of the George W. Bush administration.

Obama, unfortunately, followed through on that pledge, and it helped Republicans claim the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2010. The House takeover, in turn, led to last night's debt-ceiling deal, which a leading columnist calls a "disaster"--and a "political catastrophe" for Democrats. The deal probably will make the nation's economy worse, not better, and it provides more evidence that Obama is headed for a failed presidency.

Stay tuned for more ranting.

RedEye's Must Read List

If you care about education and want to know what is really going on in the Huntpatch Sitty snark School System, Havalittletalk is the go to blog. Thank you for your honesty! Thank you for getting it! Thank you for caring!

When WAAY TV.com published the list of schools affected by the new double-up bus scheme that will have some kids on the corner at 6 am, I was curious to see which kids were going to be bearing the brunt of sacrifice for the School Board’s colossal fiscal mismanagement.

Surprise! Surprise! Guess which School Board member's district is least affected?

So Dr. Jennie Robinson, District 3, you’ve kept your constituents from taking any of the hardships wrought by your fiscal irresponsibility.

After all, in your campaign last year, you said:

Putting a child on a bus for over an hour a day, disconnecting the child from the support of family and neighbors, and creating barriers of time and distance for parents also doesn’t make sense.

So much hypocrisy. So little time.

But at the Saturday July 16, 2011, meeting you were quivering so with excitement for Dr. Wardynski’s plan for putting the Providence sixth graders on two buses to Williams that you were motioning to approve (or maybe you could only get in with the second) before he had a chance to present it.

But here is the kicker. Deja Voodoo all over again.

Parents are just now, after these are done deals, finding out about them.

Blogger Mack Lyons pens a a powerful post exposing Birmingham, Alabama's "civic anemia" with hope for the future.

It originated as a company town, methodically planned out by men of industry and vast wealth, situated on a number of coal seams that made coal mining and steel production a no-brainer. Located smack dab in the middle of a county staring down the biggest bankruptcy this side of Orange County, CA, the population is currently at 212,000 and falling. It was hit hard by the loss of the steel industry, with a high number of the plants and foundries closing shop around the 1970s, only to reinvent itself as a medical research mecca of sorts, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham at the forefront. With high crime rates, deteriorating city sectors, a laughably corrupt government and a people still divided by racial and urban/suburban strife, this city is hurting. Big time. But there is hope.

Mack Lyons defines the problem with clarity.

Alabamians in general hold a deep distrust of politicians, save for their local favorites. The general assumption seems to be that these fellows in office are all corrupt and that any attempt by any of these "scoundrels" to ask for more money to do anything with should be met with absolute suspicion. Unless, of course, it happens to benefit them in a rather direct manner which they can see for themselves. Reason being these "scoundrels" are quick to siphon funds into their own personal accounts and those of their friends in high places.

So how does that relate to Birmingham, per se? Just hold on.

Another big problem is the antagonistic racial/ethnic relations between blacks and whites that has made Birmingham famous, and in a bad way. In fact, I don't think I even have to tell anyone reading this why, since it's so well known internationally. A rather fucked-up byproduct of all this is the belief among some whites that the blacks "won" or "conquered" Birmingham, causing a lot of whites to not only flee towards the relative "safety" of the suburbs beyond Red Mountain, but also to not have anything to do with the city. In fact, a lot of people have made their stock in watching the city collapse, presumably so they can show proof positive of the city's ineptitude under Negro management. You can see this backwater collapse fetishism combined with racial animosity on display at AL.com whenever black criminals, the city of Birmingham or black criminals in the city of Birmingham comes up as subject matter.

ML not only defines the problem, but offers solutions. Read on.

Field Negro say's it's time to head on down to Home Depot and buy a pitchfork.

"I need your help. I can't tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later, and we're gonna hurt some people.
...Whose car we takin'?"

That was Ben Aflleck's character, Dougie MacRay, trying to get his boy to accompany him on a beat down in the movie, "The Town".

It's also the line from the movie that republicans met and chose to watch in order to rally around each other for this debt ceiling debate. Nice. It's apropos, seeing that it is a movie about a bank robbery, and these clowns are holding up A-merry-ca.
Anyway, like a good Negro, my man Allen West volunteered to drive the car. (Because that's what good Negroes do.)

This is your republican majority. You get what you vote for.
It turns out that Joe Walsh, the tea party hero congressman, has a little problem paying his own personal debts:

Tea Party hero Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) wants to wipe out the nation’s debt, but he’s got some major personal debt that his ex-wife is demanding he take care of - $117,437 in child support, according to a lawsuit revealed by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The suit charges that Walsh enjoyed foreign vacations with his new girlfriend while claiming he couldn’t pay support for his three kids because he was out of work.

Bruce Dixon says President Obama is smarter than the average bear. My words not his.

So if you're an Obama supporter, and you're disappointed that your president won't fight for you --- if you're an Obama supporter and you wonder why the president won't stand up for Medicaid, Medicare and social security --- here's the answer. The president really, really is smarter than you. He knows what side he's on and you don't. He knows that the two-party system is a veal pen, where as long as “he can play good cop to the Republicans' ever worsening bad cop, the game is fixed, and not in your favor.

Mark Karlin says OBAMA'S OBSESSION WITH COMPROMISE HAS COMPROMISED HIS PRESIDENCY, and I agree. Maybe that's why us "professional lefty retards" were sent to upstairs to the attic.

Regardless of the current political theater taking place over the debt ceiling, what drives much of the right wing - in terms of symbols - is the iconic image of the lone male (usually with a gun) who doesn't flinch from a fight, when his integrity and justice are at stake.

Let's call this "The John Wayne Syndrome."

Ronald Reagan, a Hollywood colleague and buddy of Wayne, was the epitome of this - in large part because he could act the role so well.

This brings us to the issue of form vs. content in the Obama presidency. Obama has positioned himself as a mediator between the Democrats and the Republicans, not as an unwavering leader for a specific agenda or vision. Since his presidency began, he has been primarily on the defensive, caught on the Republican side of the football field with has back to the goal line.

This is where his emphasis on "compromise" may have compromised his presidency. The Republicans, in general, value strength in politics over concession. They tend to look at a man who is frequently backing away from his positions, whatever his lofty rhetoric, as weak and as someone who can be pushed around.

Read on. Read often.

RedEye'sTuesday Talking Points and Rant

For the record I am NOT one of those Americans who want a compromise on the debt ceiling. For one thing, compromising with the republicans is like a rape victim compromising with their attacker. For another thing, how come President Obama is the only President who has to jump through hoops to get the debt ceiling extended? Never mind. We know why. The republicans want to keep President Obama from doing anything. Strike that. republicans want to keep President Obama from doing anything for black/brown/poor people so we can be accused of standing around wanting a hand out. Snark

That's right (pun intended). Whites are getting richer while black and brown folks are getting the shaft, but it's not racism. Snark Before you start whinning about this being RedEye hollering racism again, you might want to check out the findings of a recent Pew Research study

From “Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics”, a study released on July 26 by the Pew Research Center

The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.

These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.

The Pew Research analysis finds that, in percentage terms, the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households.

As a result of these declines, the typical black household had just $5,677 in wealth (assets minus debts) in 2009; the typical Hispanic household had $6,325 in wealth; and the typical white household had $113,149.

And NO. An African American, democratic President cutting social programs does not make it more palatable for blacks because when white America get a cold, non white America gets pneumonia....and die because you know, we are the ones without access to quality affordable health care. I guess the plan is for us to die quickly.

The black middle class is on the verge of extinction. So don't think it's not your problem. If you are black in America it is your problem too.

As has been the case for more than half a century, the black unemployment rate, which is understated, has been running at twice the rate of white Americans. Black teenage unemployment rates are particularly dismal. They have been hovering around 40 percent, and the rate for both teenage males and females is currently more than 35 percent. High teenage unemployment, as well as a dismal job market for new college graduates, suggest that attaining or maintaining middle-class status is increasingly difficult for black youth, and the three paths that earlier generations of African-Americans took — work in the unionized manufacturing sector, public sector employment and more recently college and graduate education — either no longer functionally exist, or are much less reliable conduits to social mobility than they were even a decade ago.

We can't depend on the media we have to tell us what we need to know, because they are too busy telling us what they want us to know. That's why we don't know what we don't know. I sure do miss the good old days when the media kept our government from misleading us to enabling our government to mislead us.

It's been said many times. But it's never enough: the conventions of journalistic 'objectivity', as currently defined, frequently make journalists violate their biggest duty, which is honesty with readers. The top headline running now on CNN reads: "They're all talking, but no one is compromising, at least publicly. Democratic and GOP leaders appear unwilling to bend on proposals to raise the debt ceiling."

By any reasonable measure, this is simply false, even painfully so. It might be right to say they are not agreeing, that's demonstrable. But I don't think any observer -- one who has actually watched the specifics of the debate -- honestly believes that neither side is compromising. Indeed, even the firebreathers on the Republican side aren't suggesting this. Their argument is that the nature of the 'crisis' is so great that there can be no compromise on their basic demands. That is what it means when they say they will not support any new taxes as part of a global deal.

Compromising with the TeaPublicans is like a chicken compromising with Colonel Sanders.

House Speaker John Boehner often attacks the spendthrift ways of Washington.

“In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual,” the Republican leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the U.S. debt. “I’ve got news for Washington - those days are over.”

Yet the speaker, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for major drivers of the nation’s debt during the past decade: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and Medicare prescription drug benefits. They also voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, that rescued financial institutions and the auto industry.

Enough!

You didn’t create Social Security and Medicare, the American People did – working their will through the efforts of Democratic Party leadership over the course of a 40 year struggle. You were not there. The blood and tears and courage it took to create these programs were not yours.

Americans who have paid their dues and paid their taxes for a lifetime expect it to be there when they need it. That was the promise. That is the cornerstone of our social contract as a nation.

Stop what you’re doing, now. You have no right. You have no mandate. Social Security and Medicare do not belong to you.

RedEye Rant over and out.

Playing catch up, Casey Anthony, gop greed, and a message to mooncat

I'm back! Did you miss me? Every now and then I have to take what I call a mental health break from the world of politics and do what my family calls normal stuff. Ironically my mental health break took me to Orlando, Florida home of the infamous Casey Anthony trial. I'm going to admit I didn't pay close attention while the trial was in process, but it was wall to wall 24/7 coverage in Orlando. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was following the trial with eager anticipation of her guilt and execution. You know why? Because the mainstream media had convinced them she was guilty.

I thought they were going to have to call out the National Guard when the jury found her not guilty. I also thought I was going to be run out of town on a rail when I reminded friends and family this is America where we are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and not guilty until proven innocent by the media, of the media, for the media. I wish the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads and arm chair Lawyers would exercise some discretion and stop trying people in the court of public opinion. I wonder who Nancy Grace and company will go after next?

Race played a factor. We all know of the horrendous things that happen to little black girls everyday but they don't get coverage like this.

O.J.'s trial outed every liberal or racist who found a cause to justify their negative feelings towards blacks and especially those who "allegedly" kill white folks. The fact that one of them got away has become a cyclic issue for many and will remain so for many years to come.

The Casey Anthony trial was white on white crime--if there was one and this was a nightmare and a cause of concern across all ethnic and socioeconomic lines. The dreaded issue of maternal filicide!

BTW: I'm concerned about Nancy Grace. The intensity and obsessiveness shown on her show has been rather alarming. The murder of her fiance years ago and with the birth of her twins--she seems to be eerily off centered in re: to the homicidal tendencies of others.

What's that you say? republicans might be willing to tank the economy to put President Obama in his place? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! Not. So,someone floated the rumor President Obama was considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare which riled up the democratic base And rightly (no pun) so.

If I’m being charitable, I’ll just assume the White House is floating a trial balloon in order to make the eventual Republican rejection look even worse. AKA “we even offered to cut social security!” But if there’s any reality to this proposal, I hope that at the very least a senator like Bernie Sanders and the few remaining Senate Dems who aren’t spineless or bought off will filibuster.

But here is what I think is going on. The republicans walked out of the debt ceiling negotiations, remember? In order to get them back President Obama had to put cuts Social Security and Medicare on the table. Just because it's on the table doesn't mean it's going to happen. In any event now republicans are caught between Barack and a hard place *snicker*. They are damned if the cut Social Security and Medicare and they are damned if the force an economic collapse in order to protect the rich. It's not President Obama's fault gop means greed over people.

Message to mooncat, not being a native Alabamian, you may or may not know the history of the formation of the ADC (Alabama Democratic Conference)

The Alabama Democratic Conference, formerly known as the Black Political Caucus of Alabama, was established in 1960. Its leaders were African Americans who wished to encourage all voters, but especially other African Americans, to vote for the democratic candidate, who at the time was John F. Kennedy with vice president Lyndon B. Johnson. The founders of this influential group include Arthur Shores, Rufus Lewis, Dr. C.G. Gomillion, Q. D. Adams, Isom Clemon, and Beulah Johnson. All of these individuals held respectable positions in their communities and were looked up to by the people, especially by other African Americans.

The mission of the ADC is as follows

The mission statement of the Alabama Democratic Conference is simple. It is to "organize" and to "unify" the vote of the African American population and also to make the African American vote and opinion appreciated and respected. The organization worked tirelessly for ten years after its inception before these results truly began to manifest themselves. It was a long, hard road, but the members were simply not willing to give up on what they thought as important. Things really changed for this group in 1970 when it began to screen and endorse actual democratic candidates. This brought more attention to and knowledge of the group. The Alabama Democratic Conference also focused on having voter registration drives, monitoring voting, employing African Americans, and helping African Americans to be able to run for office and to hold high positions. Thanks to the group's hard work, there are now more African American elected representatives in Alabama than there are in any other state. While this cannot be due entirely to the Alabama Democratic Conference, it certainly wouldn't have been possible without its dedicated efforts and concern.

The ADC suit has merit because banning PAC to PAC to transfers will eliminate the organization, which is the goal of whites who want to suppress and dilute black voices and the black vote. You said it yourself.

Those payments, coming as they do from other campaign committees or PACs, are now prohibited. For ADC and organizations like it (Alabama New South Coalition is in a similar position) to survive under the new rules, they must change their philosophy and begin raising the bulk of their money directly from individuals and/or corporations.

I'm sure individuals and/or corporations will line up to give money to the ADC and Alabama New South Coalition. Snark

Your understanding of the work, and the mission of the ADC is dead wrong.

As far as I can tell from public records, the bulk of ADC's contributions come from Democratic candidates, other PACs and the Alabama Democratic Party. A candidate who wants to speak at an ADC meeting has to pay, a candidate who wants help from ADC for GOTV has to pay, if the Alabama Democratic Party wants help from ADC for GOTV they have to pay -- it seems backwards if the goal is supporting like-minded candidates and helping them get their message out.

The ADC was formed because blacks were shut out of the Alabama Democratic Party. Political Action Committees are not the root of all evil.

A Political Action Committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation.[1] Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a matter of state and federal law. Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, an organization becomes a "political committee" by receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election.

This is not about as you say making it easier for ordinary citizens and the press to see how money influences Alabama government. Nor is it about informing and putting more power in the hands of the people for the good of our democracy. It's about putting Dr. Joe L. Reed and the rest of the uppity blacks in their place.


White Alabama Democrats have some serious soul (pun intended) searching to do.

White Alabama democrats have some deep soul(pun intended)searching to do. Speaking only for myself, I'm tired of the "we want black democrats to be seen but not heard" mentality of the party elite. I'm tired of the African American vote being taken for granted. I'm tired of conservatives running as democrats to take advantage of the black vote then governing like republican. I'm tired of democratic candidates pandering to the right at the expense of the traditional base. I'm tired of African Americans being treated like second class citizens with a nod, nod, wink, wink. To quote Dr. Joe Reed;You cannot curse Bubba and Cooter, Big Man, and June Bug in the daytime and beg them at night. If I wanted a republican representative/governor/senator I would vote republican.

I don't have to be member of the Alabama Democratic Party, I chose to be a member of the Alabama Democratic Party because I believed we shared goals and values. I choose not to be a member of a democratic party who would rather lose than stand up and fight for what is right.

What Old Fart said all the damn way!
This is, to put it succinctly, a political hatchet job.

I am glad and proud the Alabama Democratic Conference is fighting back.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The state's oldest black political group filed a federal lawsuit today challenging last year's changes to Alabama's campaign financing law banning transfer of money between political action committees.

The Alabama Democratic Conference says in the lawsuit that the new law hurts its get-out-the-vote efforts in elections and cuts money available for minority candidates.

The Alabama Democratic Conference and five of its members filed the federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and two district attorneys, Robert Broussard in Madison County and Bryce Graham Jr. in Colbert County.

This is the kind of Alabama Democratic Party I wish we had instead of the Alabama Democratic Party we have.

We can't win for the media and the ConservaDems

It's easier for the mainstream media to *ahem* talk about Sarah Palin, Chris Christie, Anthony Weiner and Breitbarts latest hoax than it is to talk about the Sad Day in the House of Representatives on the debt ceiling vote to set up a trap for President Obama and the democrats.

House Republicans will hold a symbolic vote next week to pressure Democrats into accepting deep spending cuts in exchange for lifting the $14.3 trillion debt limit.

The move, announced Tuesday in a closed-door conference meeting, is designed to show President Obama and Senate Democrats that Congress will not unconditionally grant the government more borrowing authority.

So now that we know it's a trap to force "deep spending cuts" for the middle class what are WE going to do about it?

Republican aides dismissed concerns — raised by some Democrats — that a failed House vote would rattle the financial markets, much like the failure of the initial Wall Street bailout package in 2008 sent the Dow crashing by more than 700 points. The GOP circulated a fact sheet listing nine examples of clean debt-limit votes that have failed in the House or Senate since 1975.

Tarheel Dem explains what it means.

Until Wall Street is clear that the Republicans really would refuse to raise the debt limit, the Republicans can continue to play their kabuki to try to force Democrats to vote against their key programs - Social Security and Medicare. Who causes the other to blink wins the narrative. Republicans are already arguing that Democrats have already cut Medicare (the same BS that won the GOP the House last year). But that argument after the Ryan budget has less traction.
There is one huge hot sweaty debate coming right before the August recess. (That's assuming that the administration has not made savings that kick the can down the road.) Faced with the debt ceiling being reached while they are home talking with voters and getting their local organizations lined up for next year's campaign, what will Republicans do? As usual, the disunity in the Democratic House caucus (thanks, Heath) is a problem.

The GOP media machine is getting more shrill, a clear indication they are getting worried that the extortion might not work and the hostage might escape.

I HOPE President Obama doesn't capitulate I mean compromise again. The way to deal with Bully's is to stand up to them.

What it means to me...the DEMS had no plan on how to handle this vote. They should have hung together and voted FOR the debt limit increase because it's the right thing to do and what needs to be done. Forget the 30 sec ads; it won't matter in the large scheme of things and that's what DEMS don't get.
They needed to hang together and make a statement; if they couldn't on a yes vote they should have all voted no in protest to the rules and had that be the message; either way it's stupid the way it shook out and took the focus off Medicare which is where it needs to be.

This was a mess all around and the White House should have been focused in on this and working to pull together a plan with house democrats.

Then again, they seem to be focused on a Biden track for a solution and ignoring the House.

I tried to tell them, but did they listen to me? Nope.

Frankly, I don't see how one can be both Conservative and a Democrat. Democrats are pro choice. Conservatives are pro life as long as it's in the womb. Democrats are pro equal rights and civil rights. Democrats are pro labor and pro union, Conservatives are pro-prayer in school and pro "traditional family". Conservatives favorite Congressmen are Jim Marshall and Jim Taylor, Democrats favorite Congressmen are John Lewis, Robert Wexler and Dennis Kuchinich.

Our problem is that the Democratic Party keeps nominating conservatives.

We're in a class war, and conservatism itself is our enemy. H/T revbob

Monday Talking Points

Psst TeaPublicans, cut spending on all war all the time! I am sick and tired of TeaPublican after TeaPublican, all over the public airways talking about cutting spending on social programs (code word for we the people), but you don't hear them saying a mumbling word about the monetary cost, nor the human cost of all war all time.

Don't you wish some enterprising Talking TeeVee Pundit Head would ask them how much we are spending on the wars, and how many of our sons and daughters have lost life and limb fighting them? Don't you wish they would ask them about cutting spending on all war all the time?

Will Obama Throw a Grenade to Blow-Up Hidden Campaign Donations? I sure HOPE so.:)

Frustrated by limited, near-term legislative or regulatory options to increase disclosure of hidden federal election expenditures, President Obama is considering an executive order aimed at government contractors which would partially achieve that goal. If issued, this order will cause a political uproar--and stimulate immediate litigation to stay its effect.

The president is responding to the 2010 political cycle, when groups allegedly independent of candidate campaigns spent $300 billion in attempts to influence the outcome of federal elections. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, almost 50 percent of that total was spent by organizations which did not disclose their donors, up from 25 percent spent by entities with no disclosure in 2008.

Georgia on my mind...Lawsuit seeks dissolution of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Milton, Chattahoochee Hills because 'super-majority white neighborhoods' were created. Meanwhile the Feds allow Sandy Springs out of Voting Rights Act. Hmmm. I wonder why the Feds would do something like that? Never mind. WE know.

Congress passed the act in 1965 to stamp out illegal efforts to deny minorities access to the ballot box. It applies to all or part of 16 states, including Georgia.

In 2006, Congress renewed the act for 25 years.

Then in 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that jurisdictions could seek relief from the act’s Section 5, which requires them to gain federal clearance to change any election procedure, including small items such as moving polling sites.

For Alabama to be 2nd in the nation in Religiosity (Is reglisiousity a word?), they sure don't practice what they preach.

Alabama is second to Mississippi in the nation in the percentage of residents who say that religion is very important in their lives (74%) according to the Pew Research Center (though the state is fifth in the percentage of residents who say they attend religious services at least once a week at 52%).

I guess it depends on what the definition of Religiousity IS in Alabama and Mississippi. :)

Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ, continues to intrigue all sectors of society, all peoples, all races, both rich, not so rich and, most particularly, the underclass and poor. In an age that has come to emphasize money, materialism, outright greed, and admiration for the rich and powerful, he offers an alternative.

Yet Jesus is in an enigmatic and troubling figure. For many people in the world, he is seen as a kind of general love figure, the ultimate nice guy. After all, that is what the world wants to see in other people - niceness, tolerance, humanity, and kindness in others. Far from being solely concerned with being loving and nice to people, however, he is the ultimate litigator. One might see Jesus as an advocate of the underclass. Perhaps one could see Jesus as a socialist or communist, since in the Gospels, he seems to make a point of associating with and advocating for, the poor and working class.

Jesus, save us from your followers. :)