IOKIYAR

Wanted: Alabama Democrats: Did Republican Judge Alison Austin Violate Ethical Rules? And Does The Huntsville Times Care?

Free Your Mind Friday

 Kings Dream at 50:  A Report Card Agbond

Last week marked 50 years since Martin Luther King, Jr gave his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. Here is my report card on how America has done on the particular issues he raised in that speech all those years ago:
Scale: A for excellent, B for good, C for so-so, D for bad, F for failing.

This is for those-of- you who banned/booted/censored me in an attempt to suppress my voice. H/T jobsanger

Speaking of silencing dissent, the Congressional Black Caucus has gone from being told to stop whining and start marching to STFU and Support President Obama or else.  Hate to say it, but despite the fact a majority of African Americans oppose military action in Syria,  I predict the CBC will give President Obama the authority to drop bombs on Syria because we are the most loyal democratic voting block, and because  we can be counted on to carry the water for our country as we always do, even for a country who uses and abuses us. We don't want to make the first African American President look bad. 

Bombs away.

Sigh

"When elected officials ignore public opinion, isn't that treason?"

 

H/T jobsanger

You won't hear it from the Iraq War Architects  on TeeVee,  but according to The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press; Public Opinion Runs Against Syrian Attack

The new national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Aug. 29-Sept. 1 among 1,000 adults, finds that Obama has significant ground to make up in his own party. Just 29% of Democrats favor conducting air strikes against Syria while 48% are opposed. Opinion among independents is similar (29% favor, 50% oppose). Republicans are more divided, with 35% favoring air strikes and 40% opposed.

treason, noun,

1.  Violation of allegiance toward one's country.

2. A betrayal of trust or confidence.

Fix America First.

Hump Day Hypocrisy Diary Trifecta Edition

There is so much hypocrisy going around I don't know where to start.  All I can say is the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads must think We The People have amnesia, or, they think we are stupid enough to believe everything they tell us just because they keep saying it over and over on TeeVee. 

The TTPH's have the nerve to trot out some of the same ones who enabled Bush and Dick to take us to war based on DEAD WRONG INTELLIGENCE and NO EXIT STRATEGY,  telling us Syria is not like Iraq.

 Yeah right.

Republicans like to bomb people.  That's messed up.  House majority leader John Boehner backs President Obama when it comes to dropping bombs,  but when it comes to access quality affordable health care, public education, jobs, women's right, or sensible gun control legislation, not so much.

 How could Obama let himself be pushed into this catastrophe you ask?  IMHO, and mine only,  our President suffers from Bipartisan Syndrome,  he keeps reaching out to republicans, and they keep sawing his arm off.  What part of republicans do not like him, and will never like him doesn't he understand?  We F--king Retarded, and Professional Left tried to tell him, but did he listen to us?  Noooooooo.

 Speaking of The Left, Writing for the Huffington Post,  Frank Schaeffer says The Left and the Right Entirely Missed the Point of Obama deferring Syria to Congress.

 The pundits mostly are trying to figure out the president's tactics short term on the "next war" or "what this means politically." But Syria isn't the point. Politics isn't either. Our Constitution is. What they don't get is that irrespective of the outcome now in this case, President Obama has injected an old/new note of constitutional restraint into the American war making game that is revolutionary for our times.
It's a very big story that the media seems to be missing by concentrating on the short term situation, Syria, and politics. The real story here isn't Syria--it is presidential power. President Obama just put our country's good ahead of his power and handed a little of presidential power back to We The People. Thank you Mr. President.

Uh, I don't think we should be thanking Mr. President for handing a little bit of presidential power back to We The People just yet. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said she supported the president and sent a letter to fellow Democrats urging that they fall into line. But she conceded, “In my district, I don’t think people are convinced that military action is necessary.”

Booman keeps harping on it

She can feel the pulse of the progressive caucus, but she's supporting the president.
Did that last sentence make you cringe? Cause a little cognitive dissonance?
It should, because the progressive caucus, as opposed to the predominately white progressive blogosphere, has been the strongest supporter of the president. But progressives of all stripes are scratching their heads over the presentation of the evidence and the logic behind the strategy.
Nancy's right. Progressives need to see more.

I agree with the rude pundit

Across this America, city after city and state after state, the basics of daily life (and death) are being wrecked, in part, by our failure to spend on things that matter to Americans, things that actually would make this a great country. A nation that has a city that, even briefly, couldn't provide death or birth certificates because it didn't have paper is a nation that has absolutely no business spending millions, perhaps billions of dollars to bomb Syria just because the mad president there did something insane.

Fix America First because we still have a great distance to go.

Hump Day Must Read
Why I can  no longer just stay in my lane

I have not been speaking publicly about the relationship between drones abroad and the War on Drugs at home. I have not been talking about the connections between the corrupt capitalism that bails out Wall Street bankers, moves jobs overseas and forecloses on homes with zeal, all while private prisons yield high returns and expand operations into a new market: caging immigrants. I have not been connecting the dots between the NSA spying on millions of Americans, the labeling of mosques as “terrorist organizations” and the spy programs of the 1960s and ‘70s – specifically the FBI and COINTELPRO programs that placed civil rights advocates under constant surveillance, infiltrated civil rights organizations and assassinated racial justice leaders.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

Call me a Cynic but...

 Fool me once....can't fool me again.  Actually I wasn't fooled the first time our government, enabled by the media, told us they had proof of weapons of mass destruction being used in another country against innocent civilians, so I'm sure you can understand my ahem skepticism this time.  President Obama is ready, willing and able to attack Syria based on ahem intelligence, but he's moving like a turtle when it comes to the Justice Department criminally prosecuting George Zimmerman.

At first I thought  the party of NO (aka TeaPublicans) would save us from attacking Iraq, I mean Syria, but then I remembered that republicans haven't met a war they didn't like.  They may vote against access to health care, education, food stamps, jobs, and other ahem social issues, but when it comes to bombing people they are full speed ahead.

 Where does your congressman stand on Syria?

If you are like me and only know what the Lapdog media wants us to know about Syria, click and read 9 questions about Syria you  were afraid to ask, beginning with:

What is Syria?

 Syria is a country in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It’s about the same size as Washington state with a population a little over three times as large – 22 million. Syria is very diverse, ethnically and religiously, but most Syrians are ethnic Arab and follow the Sunni branch of Islam. Civilization in Syria goes back thousands of years, but the country as it exists today is very young. Its borders were drawn by European colonial powers in the 1920s. Syria is in the middle of an extremely violent civil war. Fighting between government forces and rebels has killed more 100,000 and created 2 million refugees, half of them children.

I will close by quoting Rep. Allen Grayson (D. FL)

"We are not the world's policeman," he said. "We can't afford this anymore, these military adventures that lead us into wars that last for a decade or more. It's wrong. We need to cut it off before it even happens."