Today will live in infamy as #TheDayDemocracyDied

Despite the white male dominated media spin about the peaceful transfer of power and this is how the system works, this is a false narrative. The system failed, and they enabled it.  The bloodstains of our democracy are on their hands.

EYE am posting this video today in honor and memory of our late democracy.  Watch it and weep.

Trump to African American and Hispanic Voters: "What the hell do you have to lose?"

Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP, said at a press conference Wednesday that Donald Trump "clings to the hateful and intolerant rhetoric of this country's shameful history — a history that we know all too well."Sarah McCammon/NPR

"You're living in poverty,"  So I will nominate the owner of a deadly coal mine as Secretary of Commerce , and a billionaire as Secretary of the Treasury.

PREVIOUSLY:
Donald Trump said the system is rigged. He said hedge fund managers are “getting away with murder.” He said that he’d “tax Wall Street.” He called Washington D.C. corrupt and promised to “drain the swamp.” He said his opponent Hillary Clinton was too cozy with the banks, as epitomized by her closed-door paid speeches. He said Clinton’s vice presidential nominee, Tim Kaine, was “owned by the banks” and that he, Trump, would break them up. Trump closed his campaign with an ad bashing Goldman Sachs and George Soros, using classically anti-Semitic phrases.
And now, according to The New York Times, ABC and CBS, the president-elect has chosen a second-generation Goldman Sachs partner who worked for George Soros before starting a hedge fund and buying IndyMac, a failing California bank that made billions while foreclosing on homeowners after the financial crisis.

"Your schools are no good" so I will nominate a billionaire education secretary who will gut public schools.

Trump's signature education proposal calls for dedicating $20 billion in federal money to promote "school choice": market-driven education reforms that help families move away from what Trump has called "failing government schools" and instead choose private, religious, or charter schools. The movement for charter schools is bipartisan: Republicans and many centrist Democrats support it. But the DeVos family has been promoting a much more radical idea of choice—one that favors moving public funding to private and religious schools over charters.

"You have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed"  so I am considering nominating the CEO of a fast food chain as Secretary of Labor.

One of the names being mentioned as Donald Trump’s secretary of labor is that of Andrew “Andy” Puzder, a former St. Louis lawyer who is now chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc., the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s.

“African Americans and Hispanics are living in hell" So I am nominating a token who  is not qualified to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Carson, who ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, told Fox News last month that he was considering the position. This was a shift from his earlier assertion that he wasn’t qualified for a Cabinet position.

Trump’s choice to nominate Carson is just the latest confirmation that he’s prioritizing loyalty over government experience. One of the president-elect’s first hirings was Steve Bannon, a former Breitbart executive with ties to white nationalists. Bannon was a close adviser to Trump during the campaign.

"You walk down the street and you get shot.” So I am nominating a racist as the Attorney General

In 1986, a bipartisan majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected his nomination to a federal judgeship in the midst of charges of racial bias. For example, Sessions had criticized civil rights groups as “un-American” and “Communist-inspired” and accused them of trying to “force civil rights down the throats of people.” He also dubbed a white civil rights attorney a “disgrace to his race,” according to a witness, and reportedly called a black lawyer in his office “boy.” In his confirmation hearing, he admitted to referring to the Voting Rights Act as “a piece of intrusive legislation,” and he later opposed efforts to update the landmark law.

 -- "what the hell do you have to lose?"

Um, our lives?

When are the American people going to say this is not OK?

Fist Dap jobsanger: Shameful

Five Righteous RedEye Rants on #IndigenousPeoplesDay

EYE am pi$$ed about so many things on this day that EYE don't know where to start.  Warning, this rant is going to make some of you uncomfortable, and for that EYE offer no apologies.  If the rant fits, deal with it. If it doesn't apply to you, shrug.

RedEyeRant #1   Outside Investigators say the shooting of Tamir Rice not criminal because police officer Tim Loehmann acted properly within the constraints of his training.  You want to know how EYE know this is some straight up Bull Crap?  Because Dylan Storm Roof… the suspected killer of the Charleston Nine… was apprehended safely, given a bullet proof vest, and flown back to South Carolina on a private jet.  If law enforcement officers are trained to roll up on black men/women/children, shoot first and ask questions later that is a, strike that, the problem.

RedEyeRant #2  Cops Taser kneeling black councilman in Texas Town where Sandra Bland was arrested, and, it just happened to be the same cop that was involved in the arrest of Sandra Bland.  Coincidence, or a pattern of behavior?  See, this is what happens when you give some high school losers a gun,  a badge, and some authority.

RedEyeRant #3  Here we go again. A  Mississippi family wants answers after man dies in holding cell. EYE am sure they will get the answers they are looking for after the police investigate themselves. Snark

RedEyeRant #4  You didn't see it on TeeVee, or read about it in the mainstream press because it didn't involve a bunch of anti Obama, gun toting, Confederate Flag waving Tea Party people, or government issued, taxpayer funded military weapons, or Donald Trump, but Thousands of people peacefully assembled in Washington D.C. on the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March to demand #JusticeOrElse or #NotOneDime will we spend. This is what happens when we dare complain about

RedEyeRant #5  The white, male, dominated media is responsible for this sad, sorry, state of affairs. Yes,  EYE said it.  When they can't make us look bad they don't show us at all.  They coddled, enabled, and mainstreamed the racism with their media driven racial stereotypes, now they are wringing their hands and trying to figure out how to put the Genie back into the bottle.  It's the media that are cowards when it comes to discussions about race.  IMHO it all started when the media forced President Obama to renounce, reject, and repudiate Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan. The white male dominated media  refuses to allow to have an honest and open discussion about race because that would be too much like right.  If the media were liberal we wouldn't be in this mess.  

RedEye Rant Over and Out.  For now.

Who knew Shaq O'Neal was #14 on the list of 100 Most Influential African-American Republicans?

For the record, a black person being a republican is like a Turkey being for Thanksgiving IMHO.  Never the less, there are some who just can't help themselves as evidenced by the list of the 100 most influential African-American Republicans, according to Newsmax.

"Probably the biggest comment they have on the (website is) 'You mean there are 100 of them,"

Most on the list were the usual suspects Herman Cain, Artur Davis, Tim Scott, Condolezza Rice, Alan Keys, Colin Powell, and of course Ben Carson.  But there were some surprises too,  Who knew L.L. Cool J, James Earl Jones, and Shaq O'Neal were Sellouts, I mean among the 100 Most Influential Black Republicans?  My first clue should have been when Shaq endorsed Chris Christie for Governor.



Have They No Shame?

 Again, the  reason I oppose the republican party has nothing to do with me being a democrat, and I don't oppose republicans just to support democrats.  I oppose republicans because the people who perpetrated the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings and other terrorist acts joined the GOP.

Do You Know the Four Little Girls Names?

I'm looking at you 100 Influential African American Republicans.

It's not about what Alvin Holmes said, it's about what Alabama House Republicans did

Mission  Not Accomplished

Bama house republicans voted to deny black/poor women access to a safe legal abortion yesterday, blame Alvin Holmes callous rant.  Not.  According to a report by the Kaiser Foundation African American women obtained the majority of legal abortions in Alabama. 

What Rep Holmes said was no more outrageous than the Republicans pushing the unconstitutional bill to begin with. He was fighting ridiculous statements from the Right with ridiculous statement of his own. Fighting fire with fire.

Racist statements are just a form of stupidity. it was stupid vs stupid, only the Republican stupidity will cost the state of Alabama hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to defend their stupidity in court.

 Ill doctrine says racism is not about that thing you said, it's about that thing you did.  Let's be clear about what Alabama House republicans did, not what Alabama State Rep.Alvin Holmes said.

Look at the facts in Alabama.
It is a racially divided state where the good ole boys rule.
Holmes statement is provocative for sure but when is Alabama going to wake up.
There is a prison system crisis, a poverty crisis, an education system crisis, a health care crisis(and the governor rejects federal money)a huge gap in income between whites and other ethnic and racial groups.

Alabama House republicans voted  for more children born into poverty blame Alvin Holmes. Snark

I thought "front page privileges at Left in Alabama come with a somewhat higher responsibility"?

Tutwiler Prison for Women

Evidently Resident Righty, and Left in Alabama Legal Issues Blogger Old Prosecutor is not required to fact check information before reporting it like mooncat admonished me to do, shortly before my front page privileges were suspended for supposedly posting factually incorrect information on the front pages and refusing to correct it. 

 I'm not accusing you of lying (0.00 / 0)

But I do say that too often you don't check your facts before you post, with the result that inaccurate information sometimes ends up on our front page under your byline. That is A Problem. When the inaccuracy is noted, you don't always correct it. Another Problem. This goes directly to your credibility and that of this blog, which is my Problem. Kathy is trying to do you the favor of pointing out that you aren't the least bit consistent in your statements. My read is that you're about a hairsbreadth from calling her a racist which would be not only inaccurate, but a damned lie.You are absolutely entitled to your opinion and to include your opinion in any diary. But front page privileges come with a somewhat higher responsibility -- to make an attempt to check information before you report it, because you are reporting to a rather wide audience here. Expressing opinion is fair game, and so is passing on interesting information from other sources, but I remind you that you do have a responsibility to our readers to make a good faith attempt to insure information is accurate before you pass it on.  We aren't a gossip sheet, nor do we want to be one.  I say this publicly because all our readers need to know that the facts matter to us here. Our readers may prefer to fact check for themselves -- good for them -- but I hope they don't catch us in errors very often. Facts matter, that's job one for me, and an important guideline for our front pagers. 

Old Prosecutor  either intentionally omitted some information, or, posted factually incorrect information on the front page of Left in Alabama. regarding Alabama's prison population.

The basic problem is that Alabama prisons are at appx 180% capacity and the Stae, especially the Legislature, is afraid that a lawsuit may result either (1) a Federal Court ordering mass releases (see California) or (2) a Federal takeover with huge financial mandates.

Alabama prisons are at maximum capacity, but the fear of  mass releases or a federal takeover with huge financial mandates is speculation at worst, and opinion at best.

Many suggest that the problem is that Alabama is imprisoning huge numbers of non violent criminals, Yet the numbers show 75% of all inmates are there for violent crimes.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser a survey response from the state of Alabama for a 2012 report by the Southern Legislative Conference show 75% of all inmates are there for violent crimes, and according to Old Prosecutor it just ain't so large numbers of people are in prison for marijuana possession,  but these figures tell  a different story.

After years of representing victims of racial profiling and police brutality, and investigating patterns of drug law enforcement, and trying to help people who were released from prison face one barrier, one legal roadblock after another to get a job, getting access to housing, getting even food stamps–you know, I had an awakening that our criminal justice system now functions more like a system of racial and social control, than a system of crime prevention or control,” Alexander said on PoliticsNation Monday.
“Our nation’s prison population has more than quintupled,” she said. “And this is due largely to the war on drugs and the ‘get tough’ movement. The drug war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color even though studies have consistently shown now for decades that contrary to popular belief, people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, but by waging this drug war almost exclusively in poor communities of color, we’ve now created a vast new racial under-caste.”
Since 1971, when President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, there has been a 700% increase in the U.S. prison population. Today, African-Americans are also more likely to spend time in prison for drug related offenses than their white counterparts. According to the Sentencing Project, African-Americans make up 12% of the nation’s drug users, but represent 34% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 45% of those in state prison for such offense as of 2005.

Now I'm not saying there is a double standard when it comes to posting factually incorrect information on the front page of Left in Alabama, but there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy at best, which goes to the creditability of Left in Alabama.

There can be no unity if there is no justice.  Know justice, know peace.  No Justice, no peace. 

The Washington Times tries to blame the NAACP and the DoJ for Huntsville's Failing Schools via The Attack Machine

@TheDaleJackson @Mark_Kellner The NAACP nor the DOJ are responsible for 40+ years & 71-74  failing schools in AL being predominantly black.
— Red Eye (@RedEyesPage) August 16, 2013

Read  the Concern Trolling for the poor African American students who are trapped in "failing schools" because of the mean ole  NAACP and the DOJ  Here:

There will always be arguments over whether and how much the schools have improved. It may indeed be the case that once-failing schools in Huntsville have improved substantially in the past six years. And perhaps the Alabama Accountability Act could stand an overhaul. But the issues of school choice and of putting students first seem to be lost on both the Department of Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Seeking to keep their lawyers busy, these two enterprises are more concerned about “balance” in the classrooms than what is actually being learned in those classes.

HCS aren't approving Alabama Accountability Act transfers and blaming it on the court ordered desegregation order.  Can you say Scapegoat?

"Dear Mr. President" An Open Letter to President Obama

H/T Uppity Negro Network

If you never read anything else I post, please read this letter to President Obama from an African-American woman via Abagond, who  loves her country but wonders if her country loves her.

As moving as your speech was, it did not address these issues that we face every day and minimized the daily racial inequalities that African-Americans face. Above all, words with no actions can be futile. After the fervor surrounding the Trayvon Martin case has subsided, will race drift to the back burner again? Will African-Americans be forced into silence and oblivion once again?

If the white, male, dominated media has anything say it about the answer is yes, and Forty-Two Million Black people will be told to stop whining, while the GOP continues  ratcheting up its political warfare against African Americans with unmatched brazenness.

Rabid Republicans are also acting with renewed zeal to roll back voting rights in key Southern states. In North Carolina and Texas, GOP-led legislatures are resurrecting a catalogue of Jim Crow-era barriers to minority voting, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning of the 1965 Voting Right Act’s toughest enforcement provision. In North Carolina, the GOP wants to repeal 20 years of best practices that made North Carolina a model of fair and accessible elections. In Texas, the GOP wants to revise political districts to dilute minority representation and pass tougher voter ID laws.

  How long is it going to take the Feds to bring Civil Rights charges against George Zimmerman?

 "As a president, I am asking you to please take the issue of institutional racism seriously."

Read on.  Read often.

And republicans claim to care about children...

 

Fist Dap jobsanger

To keep the rich and the corporations from paying a little more in taxes, the Republicans are willing to cut education funding, cut food stamp programs (which cover more than 20% of the children in this country), cut unemployment funds and stop job creation efforts, cut funds to clean our water and air, cut funds for border security, cut funds for health care, etc. (the list is endless of the items that will be cut for ordinary Americans).
But the rich and the corporations will still be able to avoid paying as big a percentage in taxes as most middle class Americans have to pay -- and that's all the Republicans really care about. And one more thing. There is a branch of the federal government that is immune from the cuts -- Congress. The same Congress that cuts funds for hurting Americans will still be getting their full salaries. They have no interest in sharing the suffering they expect from the rest of America.

Today's Must Read because you won't see it on TeeVee
How the Sequester crosses the color line 

(The Root) -- For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Voters have twice elected an African-American president, and Republicans have twice responded with obstinance -- by waging an intellectual civil war. Voter-suppression efforts were insufficient to deliver a Romney victory, but strategically gerrymandered districts guaranteed that Speaker John Boehner and his Republican-dominated House could continue to serve as the proverbial thorn in Obama's side.

 The status quo keep getting rich, the rest keep getting the shaft.

"And they want us to sing God Bless America?"  Oh, OK.

RedEye's Week in Review

In an effort to sucker, I mean convince African Americans the GOP is not Full of "Cranks, Haters and Bigots"  the chair of the Republican National Committee is going to pow wow with black leaders in Atlanta.  I guess they think they can put the Genie back in bottle.  I wonder if they are going to serve watermelon and fried chicken? 

One high-profile Republican strategist, who refused to be named in order to avoid inflaming the very segments of the party he wants to silence, said there is a deliberate effort by party leaders to “marginalize the cranks, haters and bigots — there’s a lot of underbrush that has to be cleaned out."

Good luck with that. It's not about locking the crazy uncle/aunt in the attic, or putting a black face on the racism,  it's about changing the mentality of the GOP.

Contrary to popular GOP opinion African Americans are not stupid.  We know who has our best interest at heart, and who doesn't.

There’s a reason why the Postal Service was targeted folks, it was a source of tens of thousands of middle-class jobs, especially for minorities. Since We Can’t Have Nice Things, the PAEA was passed and BLAMMO, a recession coupled with structural failure in the Postal Service all but guaranteed a massive loss of jobs. And the USPS still has another 4 years to go to pay off the $22 billion or so it has left to pay off, thanks to Dubya. On top of all this, there are plenty of folks who keep saying the only way to save the USPS is to privatize the mail system completely.

This Week in the GOP dominated Alabama State Legislature

Pro embryo republicans introduced 13 gun bills out of fear the scary black man in the White House is plotting to take their money, TeeVees, and their daughters (not necessarily in that order) away.

Senate republicans approved a right to work bill  (NOT), and Rep. Kurt Wallace (r. HD 42)  basically told Alabama women to stop having sex with men if they didn't want to get pregnant. 

Psst Alabama GOP!  You are doing a great job of being a voice for the unborn, but what about the born?  What are they....Moochers?

• Child poverty rate: 28%
• Senior poverty rate: 14%
• Women in poverty: 21%
• Percent of single-parent families with related children that are below poverty: 45%

Saturday Night Special Links I Like

 Michael D'Antuono:  A Tale of Two Hoodies

 If you never read another thing I post you must read this thought provoking and factual timeline describing American racism against blacks,  found on the wonderful blog Abagond.  Be sure and read the comments.

This is what Attorney General Eric Holder tried to talk about.
This is what Reverend Jeremiah Wright was talking about.
This is what General Colin Powell is talking about.

This is what  ALL Americans need to talk about if we want our country to make progress, and not go back to before.

"Well, there's a certain mean spiritness that's out there, not only in Alabama but it's in America.  And that makes this election extremely important." Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders (D. Selma)

Is the first African American President of the United States of America the president of everybody but African Americans?

" I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of the United States of America,"~President Barack Hussein Obama 

Oh, really?  Based on  the current state of affairs African Americans are struggling to just to breath, and it seems like to me the first African American President is the first African American President for everybody but African Americans.

Obama may be Black, but he’s not that kind of president. “If he were the first Black President he would be using his bully pulpit to champion legislation targeting unemployment in urban areas, poverty, income disparity, and other issues.” This particular Black man is, essentially, a functionary of a government in the service of wealth and empire. “The President’s efforts will not address chronic income disparity or the wealth gap.”

I'm going to be honest, I had this nagging feeling there was going to be a black lash post election of President Obama, but never did I expect things were going to get worse.  President Obama's adheres to the philosophy that a rising tide lifts all boats, but if one end of the boat if full of holes guess what...the whole damn boat is going to sink.  If the boat full of holes just happens to be is full of black folks no one will throw out a life preserver, much less send the Coast Guard because black folks expect the government to take care of them. RedEye roll

Those who attempt to bring the suffering (yes I said suffering) of African Americans to the attention of the first African American President are called The Professional Left,  Haters (or worse), admonished to stop whining and put on your marching shoes and support the first African American President because he's well... the first African American President of the United States of America.

criticizing “a first” poses great risks. “Firsts” are often sacred cows that black people protect because they don’t want them to fail and don’t want other black people “bringing em down.”

What Kelli said all the damn way!

He's not the president of black america, yet he needs the black vote!! When other groups holler they get his attention, when we do we're told to stop complaining and put on our marching boots. We defend him the most and get shitted on by him in the process. Black unemployment is through the roof and we have no right to complain? I'm sorry but singing Al Green and going to Harlem for a fundraiser(not to listen to regular folk problems) is just not going to cut it anymore.

According to a recent report released by the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics the black unemployment rate jumped from 12.9% to 14% this month.  Now you tell me if the script were flipped and white unemployment jumped from 12.9% to 14%,  the white President would be saying I am not the president of white America.  I'm the president of the United States of America.  There would be hell to pay, and rightly so.


See, this is why I didn't want an African American President of the United States of America because I knew  there would be Hope and Change  for  EBBF...Everybody But Black Folks. 

Sigh

The Right to Bear Arms "Race" creates an economic stimulus for some

 

 Fist Dap Huffington Post

"Try to get them while we can still get them".

President Obama's call for sensible gun control in wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre created an economic stimulus for gun/ammo dealers and manufactures, as buyers rushed to cling to their $1000.00 assault rifles, magazines that hold more than 30 rounds, and compact firearms. 

Given President Obama's emotional comments involving the slayings at the elementary school in Connecticut, David predicted 30-round magazines will soon be rare "like Cuban cigars."
"Say they limit (magazines) to 10 and you want to kill 30 people, you bring three," interjected another man at the front of the line, saying no ban would create security. That man, who identified himself only as Don, was buying ammunition for his .357. But he said the sudden sales rush is about mistrust.
"I'm not scared somebody is going to break into my house," he said. "It's fear of the federal government."

Let's flip the script....what if large numbers of African Americans joined the NRA and started purchasing assault rifles because they were in fear of the federal government?  I mean, if anyone has reason to fear the federal government it's black folks.  But I digress.  Do you think there would be a call for some sensible gun control , or an out right ban?

"Voter Fraud is rarer than Shark Attacks" So what's the problem?

How ridiculous are the republicans getting over Voter ID laws?

This ridiculous

Just two weeks ago a Rasmussen poll showed that 64 percent of Americans believe voter fraud exists. Thatpoll was a major hit with the folks at the pro–voter ID True the Vote conference held over the weekend in Houston. No less than three speakers mentioned it to the crowd of roughly 200 attendees. According to conference host and True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht, thirty-two states were represented here for their third national summit, but it was clear most in the room were from Texas. Many appeared to be part of one Tea Party group or another (True the Vote is the 501c3 arm of the King Street Patriots, a Texas Tea Party group), and none seemed to be aware that they were far from losing the war on voting.
And this:

The card pictured above was good enough for voters in Texas to use to elect George W. Bush governor of Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchinson to the U.S. Senate and other elected officials for decades. During the last legislative session, republicans passed a new Voter ID law requiring a photo ID in addition to this card before voters can vote, claiming there is massive voter fraud in the state.  However when asked for proof of the magical voter fraud the best they could provide was 51 cases since 2002.

Everybody knows this is about state-sanctioned Voter Suppression.  Republicans couldn't believe an African American was elected President of the United States of America in 2008 and they are determined to correct that mistake and make sure it doesn't happen again.  They know black voter turnout was the key in 2008, and black voter turnout is the key in 2012.

How ridiculous is it to believe gun laws won't stop real gun violence, but Voter ID cards will stop imagined Voter Fraud?

Today's Must Reads
Guns, Gun Rights and Black People

Gun Laws and the Myth of the Slippery Slope

The NRA--A Cancer on the Soul of America

People Kill People, and guns make it easier for them

Today's Must See YouTube 
Bowling for Columbine-A brief history of the USA

Who the Heck are the Polling Pollsters Polling?

Fist Dap jobsanger:  American Dream

So I woke up this morning to TeeVee Talking Pundit Head after TeeVee Talking Pundit Head touting  polls claiming  Slick Willard and President Obama are neck in neck in key battleground states, despite the mudslinging etc. by both sides.  According to them, "It's a tight race".  Oh really?

Who the heck are they polling in these key battleground states?  The 1%? Those who have 401k's and offshore accounts? Those who have access to quality, affordable,health care? Those who have several homes, boats, dancing horses, and cars?  Those who can afford to send their children to elite private schools and Universities?  Those who have jobs?  Those who have Trust Funds?

They certainly can't be polling the  99%.  Those who are unemployed?  Those who are homeless as a result of being jobless?  Those who don't have access to quality, affordable, health care?  Those who can't afford to send their child to college, and are forced to send them to underfunded public schools?

They certainly aren't polling public school teachers, public service workers,  union workers and tradesmen/women.

They certainly aren't polling women.

They certainly aren't polling LBGT's.

They certainly aren't polling African Americans.

They certainly aren't polling Hispanics.

So who the heck are they polling?

All I'm going to say is, if the polling pollsters are are correct, and Obama and Romney are "neck in neck", it's proof there are more Americans who hate Obama more than they love Romney.

Well there's a certain mean spiritness out there, not only in Alabama, but in America, and that's what makes this election important.~Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders (D.Selma)

Today's Must Reads
Hank Sanders was right (no pun)

Are Bachman and Sununu attacks part of a new McCarthyism?

White House comments in Trayvon Martin case

Actually, it should read,  the white male who speaks for the White House comments in the case of Trayvon Martin by passing the buck back to the Sanford Police Department.  I wonder what part of the Sanford Police Department is part of the problem doesn't he understand?

What do you want to bet if the Black militia group who wants to arrest George Zimmerman gets involved there will be plenty of comment from the white male who speaks for the White House?

As with the cases of  the Jena Six, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Sean Bell, Shirley Sherrod, and Troy Davis, the first African American President can't take a position, because it might offend 39% of  white voters.

Is it too much to ask the President of the United States of America to stand for something other than killing Osama Bin Laden?  What about the killing of Trayvon Martin ?  His family does not trust the local police department, with good reason.

See this is why I didn't want an African American President, because he's the African American President of everybody but African Americans.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Edit~Trayvon Martin 1994-2012, Rest in Peace Sweet Child

Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old African American teen murdered two weeks ago inside a gated community outside of Orlando, Florida.   Click on the hyper link to read the sad, sordid, details.  My point is if this were Caylee Anthony ,or some other white child,  Nancy Grace and the national media would be all over this story. The  white, male dominated mainstream media doesn't care about African American Children. 

If Trayvon Martin had killed a white man he would have been arrested on the spot. 

Sign the petition.  Lets get justice for Trayvon Martin.

Trayvon Martin's family deserves justice.  And so do we.

What Trayvon Martin Says about our politics,

And our country.

Who will stand up for the least of these?

The Two Party System-found at Truthdig

We've already established there are two kinds of republicans, millionaires and Suckers, the above cartoon makes me aware the democratic party has it's on ahem shortcomings.  The rich are getting richer at the expense of the middle class and the poor are getting the shaft.  God bless America?

Today's must reads

GOP Candidates are ready for a national conversation on race  Yeah right. Snark

Despite Economic and Social Ills, Blacks give Obama a pass because blacks are caught between Barack and hard place.

How to waste your vote in 2012-  damned if we do vote, damned if we don't vote.  Where to go and what to do?

Anti- poverty duo criticize Obama and get slammed for it.

Of Targets and Victims

A RedEye Rant about Whining Complaining

The people in that picture... Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

And so it begins...the marginalization and minimization of African Americans and the issues affecting us.

Political Animal's Steve Benen (5/12/09) notes a recent Rush Limbaugh broadcast (5/11/09) that makes the racist subtext of the right's critique of Barack Obama virtually explicit:

The [economic] deterioration reflects lower tax revenues and higher costs for bank failures, unemployment benefits and food stamps. But in the Oval Office of the White House none of this is a problem. This is the objective. The objective is unemployment. The objective is more food stamp benefits. The objective is more unemployment benefits. The objective is an expanding welfare state. And the objective is to take the nation's wealth and return to it to the nation's, quote, "rightful owners." Think reparations. Think forced reparations here if you want to understand what actually is going on.

So Limbaugh thinks Obama is intentionally creating unemployment in order to boost food stamps, unemployment and welfare as a form of "forced reparations"; he's wrecking the economy, in other words, in order to benefit black people. If Limbaugh is the voice of opposition to Obama, no wonder that opposition is so concentrated in the states of the old Confederacy.

Obama falls for the Okey Doke

President Barack Obama is quietly moving forward with a plan for black America. He’s just not talking about it.

It’s probably a good idea.

Obama has been criticized recently – particularly by commentator Tavis Smiley – for not speaking out directly on behalf of African-Americans and failing to specifically address the needs of the black community through a symbolic “black agenda.”

That’s nonsense.

Obama is the nation’s first black president, and, while he was elected with overwhelming support from African-Americans, he’s not a president just for black folks. Critics like Smiley won’t be able to strong arm Obama into publicly announcing some sort of black agenda. The president is resistant to bullying tactics, no matter who is doing the bullying.

Smiley appeared on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" early last week and chastised black leaders, saying Obama had not been pressed hard enough in a White House meeting - one with Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, National Urban League's Marc Morial and the NAACP'S Ben Jealous - to act in the interest of African-Americans.

And therein lies the problem, critics like Tavis Smiley were accused of trying to "strong arm" the President of everybody into publicly addressing issues affecting African Americans like that was a bad thing. Velma Hart tried to tell President Obama we were tired of defending him, but did he listen...NO.

The GOP Noise Machine was in gear the minute he got elected. The Prez needs to recall the fable of the Frog and the Scorpion. These people have an agenda. The terms are NOT negotiable.

The Kochs spent billions financing the Tea Party and other Right Wing astroturf groups. Obama should take note:

The Tea Party elected candidates. The Tea Party is pushing the GOP into a corner. Why? They are masquerading as a Populist movement. They got the People to believe in their agenda and their cute little hats.

Does the current Washington wisdom seriously think there are no leftists in America?

I believe Obama could have had an OCEAN of people for free, simply by doing an FDR and letting the GOP scream. Because, as you say, they were going to be screaming anyway.

I'd rather he'd given them something to scream ABOUT

Instead of giving the TeaPublicans something to scream about, President Obama tells black folks to stop whining and complaining and start fighting. With all due respect, black folks never stopped fighting Mr. President, Sir, and we never will.

Yes, there are political reasons that Obama can't directly address black joblessness, and no, I'd never suggest that he do anything to validate some trite and delusional right-wing narrative that he's in office only to aid blacks. Even if agreeing to that austerity-inspired debt-ceiling deal -- which will do little to generate growth or really chip away at our debts -- was a political necessity, it was another example of the president giving off the impression that he's not fighting hard enough for those in greatest need of assistance.

To tell people who are in the greatest need to stop whining is insulting and demeaning. It's the oppressors way of telling the oppressed they are not going to listen to or address their concerns because they don't deem you an equal.

And yes, I'm whining about it and will continue to whine about it as long as you continue to give me something to whine about. I was raised to fight for my rights, to stand up to injustice to protest double standards and to encourage others to take the same just stand.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined President Obama tell African Americans to stop whining and complaining. To be honest, I'm surprised and hurt by his actions because I believed him when he said CHANGE had come to America. Things are changing allright....for everybody but African Americans.

Preach!

In regards to actually getting policies passed, the President's political repertoire is pretty transparent at this point: He gives the Republicans, the rich and the corporations a large amount of the tangible victories they want when it matters, and tosses nothing but an empty, often victim-blaming, "tough-love" populist message towards his supporters when it doesn't matter.

President Obama is the President of black folks too.

One man stood up and strongly defended the president and criticized members of the Congressional Black Caucus who questioned the President’s strategy. Moderator Martin strongly resisted the notion that being critical of the president was off limits for black public officials. “Blacks voted 95 percent for this president, and we should expect a return on the investment,” Martin said.

When the audience member pushed his point further, Martin reminded all of the episode in late 2009 when the 10 black caucus members on the House Financial Services Committee went up against the Obama administration regarding $40 billion they wanted in the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The 10 caucus members withheld their votes as they faced off against the Obama administration and pushed for access to capital for minority-owned banks and for consumer protections. Martin asked the audience member if he’d rather have the $40 billion or no one criticizing President Obama.

Are Black voters Obama's political mistress?

If Barack Obama were a white man, that would mean that there would be collective outrage over speeches like the one he delivered at the Congressional Black Caucus Convention, where Black people were told to “stop complaining” about the highest unemployment in nearly 30 years. It would mean that we’d expect the same things from President Obama that we would have expected from Bill Clinton or anyone else during their time in the White House. I would dare to say that if Black unemployment had risen to 17% under Clinton, he would be hammered by the Black community for refusing to consider targeted economic policy.

This is not to say that President Obama is not deserving of the Black vote. But it does say that Black America must cease to make itself into the political mistress of the Obama Administration. For a man whose loyalties lie elsewhere, the mistress is often the woman from whom he expects preferential treatment, but only offers second-class status. The love is often one of secrecy because he may be ashamed of the relationship and fear the reputational consequences of those who may judge him harshly.

This is exactly why I didn't want an African American President, I knew if black folks dared complain we would be accused of wanting preferential treatment and be told to stop whining because America is post racial. *Snark*

So, if the White House expects Black America to treat Obama differently from the way they would treat a white politician, it is only logical that we expect the same. One of the tenets of racial inequality is the idea that Black people should be complacent with being treated worse than others treat us: For example, whites are allowed to moan to President Obama all day about 8.1 percent unemployment, but Black people are told to “stop complaining” about nearly 17% unemployment. Do we realize how sick it is that we allow others to say and do things that we cannot do ourselves? So, when President Obama gives a speech before a group of white folks and says “stop complaining,” then I’ll be satisfied. But until then, we might want to reconsider accepting our role as President Obama’s political mistress.~Dr. Boyce Watkins

My sentiments exactly.