Major gender-based pay-equity legislation remains in Committee

Women are still waiting for the Paycheck Fairness Act to become a law. But, since passing by a party line vote of 256-163 in the House on January 9, it remains in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

Unlike the recently passed Ledbetter bill which extends the statute of limitations for everyone in a protected class with a proven claim of pay discrimination, the Paycheck Fairness Act’s aim is to provide women with more effective tools to combat pay inequities based on gender. But, given its overwhelmingly partisan vote in the House, it appears the wait will be a little longer than expected and I don't think the Republicans are the only ones to blame - after all we all know who has the majority. If they wanted it to pass, Republicans alone could not stop it.

According to a January 27 CNBC transcript of a media event held in the Capitol following passage of the Ledbetter bill, Speaker Pelosi’s comments seem to hint it may well be some time before the bill passes.

When asked what the next workers’ rights bill she would attempt to take up, she replied:

” Well, we have paycheck fairness, sponsored by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, which Mr. Miller passed out of his committee, and with the leadership of Mr. Hoyer, on the floor passed and was sent over to the Senate. So we hope that eventually that will become law someday, too, because that's the obvious next step.”

If the bill becomes a law, women would be able to sue for unlimited punitive and compensatory damages to include expert fees either individually or as a class. Companies would have a greater duty to prove that job performance alone was the reason for any pay inequities that do exist. Additionally, the bill would usher in a never-before-seen era of wage transparency in our culture by preventing companies from retaliating against employees who share salary information.

The opponents of the bill feel it would strip employers of the right to manage their businesses and lead to more frivolous class action lawsuits. But the sponsors believe its passage is imperative in order to:

• provide a solution to problems in the economy created by unfair pay disparities
• substantially reduce the number of working women earning unfairly low wages thereby reducing the dependence on public assistance
• promote stable families by enabling all family members to earn a fair rate of pay
• remedy the effects of past discrimination on the basis of sex and ensuring that in the future workers are afforded equal protection on the basis of sex
• ensure equal protection pursuant to Congress' power to enforce the 5th and 14th amendments

If implemented as written (guess I should say "if implemented at all), it could either seriously close the gender wage gap, or clog the judicial system to such an extent that no substantive progress is realized. We'd just have to wait and see.

For whom the "bell" tolls - she tolls for thee

***WARNING: POST DEFINITELY FOR GROWN FOLKS***

As I continue to think about the presidential seal the Changeling has stamped on the ethnic cleansing of Blacks in this country, I kept hearing bell hooks in my head, so I thought I'd go look for her to help keep things in perspective. Her take on the media's motivated representations of feminism could definitely be applied to the selection of Barack Obama, the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy's "ushering in of a new, old version of the desirable" - Black man...

...and a recent conversation with "ea" about Hip-Hop and this article, "Is Obama's presidency the change hip-hop needs?" by Glen Gamboa at Newsday, sent me looking for some more bell to offer a much better perspective on the "change hip-hop needs"...

Nothing like a good dose of plain, old truth to shake the cobwebs loose.

For all you "Revisionists" out there - WHITE AND BLACK...

...stop conflating Obama's selection with fulfillment of Dr. King's dream - Please!

And so it begins...

Even I have to admit that this, is quite a sight. I can't lie, it's a bitter-sweet moment - but a moment - nevertheless.

Sen. Clinton hoodwinked and bamboozled?

I didn't think Sen. Clinton should have taken the Secretary of State position when the Changeling offered it. It just didn't feel right. It still doesn't.

Unless she did some serious wheeling and dealing during that "private meeting"in Washington last June (all those ex-Clintonistas in the Changeling's cabinet maybe?) - complete with Obama signing his name in blood - I just don't understand why she accepted the Changeling's offer.

The sexism and misogyny of the Obama campaign was palpable and it didn't just disappear because their guy won. Remember Obama speechwriter, Jon Favreau and this little grown-up display of manhood (pic courtesy of Kitty at AROO)? Do you think this kind of thing just goes away? It doesn't. Especially when their guy wins.

Personally, I think the Boys Club played her. Signs of the patriarchy are all over this move, "Senator Biden's trip raises concerns."

And not unexpectedly (since patriarchy is patriarchy no matter the race or party), the Bush Administration knew about this before it happened. The article states:

Biden first ran the South Asia trip idea by Bush administration officials several weeks ago, said Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe. “We discussed the trip and reviewed it in advance with them,” Johndroe said. “We are facilitating the trip administratively where necessary.”

Wonder if they gave the presumptive Secretary of State a heads-up?

This is the reason he took so long to resign his seat - so his trip could seem "legitimate" as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This swill insults the intelligence of both the people and Sen. Clinton - not that I believe they care about that. With this act, "the guys" have signaled to the cadre of other testosterone-filled world leaders, who the "bosses" really are and sets Sen. Clinton up for an inevitable fall.

In hindsight, this exchange, from the Democratic debate in Philadelphia last April, is very telling:

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: So you would extend our deterrent to Israel? SENATOR OBAMA: As I've said before, I think it is very important that Iran understands that an attack on Israel is an attack on our strongest ally in the region, one that we -- one whose security we consider paramount, and that -- that would be an act of aggression that we -- that I would -- that I would consider an attack that is unacceptable, and the United States would take appropriate action. MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Clinton, would you? SENATOR CLINTON: Well, in fact, George, I think that we should be looking to create an umbrella of deterrence that goes much further than just Israel. Of course I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation from the United States, but I would do the same with other countries in the region.

His stuttering blather about defending Israel notwithstanding, I believe he means to go the diplomacy route (why else send Biden?). And should she get confirmed, I'm sure these words, so forcefully spoken by a woman jockeying to be America's first female president, will be used against her as Secretary of State when they advise her she will no longer be serving - at the pleasure of the President.

Checkmate Blagojevich!!!

There was never a law requiring the Illinois Secretary of State's signature (as he continually told everyone) on certification papers for Roland Burris. And now that the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled they are in order, the Keystone Cops in the U.S. Senate were forced to do what they should have done all along - seat Burris in the U.S. Senate. And they need to do it - before the inauguration.

Crowing to every willing media outlet that they would not seat Roland Burris after he was appointed - was bad enough. But adding insult to injury, they had him running here, there and everywhere trying to prove that he was "worthy." And most disguting of all, he was forced to stand in the rain after being turned away, while they held the big swearing in of all the other new and only-white senators. They displayed their Plantation Owner behavior for all the world to see. As former NFL coach, Denny Green said once in a beer commercial clip, "They are who we thought they were."

They were wrong. And worse, they came off as megalomaniacs (which many of them seem to actually be). And the President-select was front-and-center on this from Day One, I don't care how you revisionists try to spin it.

I'll bet you a nickel that their apology to Roland Burris will hardly be as public, or as vociferous as was their refusal to seat him. And the media? Well...

I have more respect for Roland Burris and his legal team's "strategy" of knowing the law and using it slap them upside their damn heads, than I have for any of them. Congratulations Sen. Burris (and please, no Stepin Fetchit behavior once you get in there, m-m-mkay?).

Bill Moyers, a rare and dying breed of journalist - on Gaza

Bombs and banks - and a complicit Congress

I was watching David Sanger on CNN talking about this, U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site and thought, "They want us to give them more weapons just to use on Iran. Right." Then I thought, "All out war on Iran - over Iraq?" What the hell??? Involved in WWIII because they don't trust Shrub to "handle" Iran before he leaves and no confidence in any return on all those AIPAC dollars they gave the Changeling once he gets in.

Then, I went to AROO and read this, "The Bag Lady's Lament", which led me to this:

"Life savings gone, 'Madoffed' best-selling writer back at work", which led me surprisingly to this:

"Madoff investors may get money back" Those fleeced by $50 billion fraud may be able to retrieve funds from Securities Investor Protection Corp in a few months, Congressional non-profit says. In which I found this: "SIPC is a non-profit agency set up by Congress to maintain a fund to help investors who had accounts at brokerage firms that failed."

Congress set this up? Did they set anything up for anybody else who lost their shirts in this Ponzi scheme of a bailout to the same banks that caused them to lose their shirts in the first place with all their mortgage schemes and not-representing-any-real-money-credit default swaps/derivatives games?

Gotta do something for all those AIPAC dollars spent I guess.

Upcoming Cheney interiew - more racial symbolism over substance

I saw a clip of Wolf Blitzer's upcoming interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney to air Sunday at 11 a.m. In it, Mr. Cheney spoke about how much we've progressed racially since he came to Washington in the 60s.

He said, "When I came to Washington, we'd had Kennedy assassinated, Martin Luther King assassinated and riots in the streets. Things have changed so dramatically that now, we're preparing to swear in Barack Obama as President of the United States. " (emphasis mine)

Let's be clear, I agree with him - things have changed racially in this country. But I'm not lying to myself that Obama's selection is a reflection of that. If you want to feel that way, go right ahead. But rather than showing how far we've come, I think the former Vice President's statement does more to starkly point out how far we still have to go.

The tragic irony of his statement is that, as I sit in Washington:

• It seems 22 year-old, Adolph Grimes III was assassinated on January 1, 2009 - shot by police, twice from the front and 12 times from the back (a total of 48 bullets were fired according to CNN). Grimes did have a gun - with a legal permit to carry. Now you have to ask yourself, what you would do if you're sitting in your car in New Orleans right after the New Year rolled in and plainclothes policemen pulled up in unmarked vehicles and surround your car with guns drawn - and you have a weapon with a permit to carry. Details are sketchy because the NOPD's not answering a lot of questions right now. Good idea since they've given two versions of what happened.
  
  
• It seems 22 year-old, Oscar Grant was assassinated on January 1, 2009 - shot by a Bay Area Transportation police officer in the back.
  
  
• 
  Witnesses say police handcuffed Grant after he'd been shot, but removed the cuffs right before news reporters arrived. The officer has resigned, is at home and will speak to no one on advice of legal counsel. And there was rioting in the streets.
  
  

No, neither of these men were political or spiritual leaders, but their lives mattered - to someone.
UPDATE: I just had to say this. Sitting here watching Don Lemon on CNN as they "focus" on these shootings (and that of Bobby Tolan) in their Special Investigations series. He starts out by saying, "What is going on with all these police shootings!" (emphasis his) as if they just started happening. It took his white guest, B.J. Bernstein (she was Genarlow Wilson's defense attorney), to say, "This is not new, it happens to 1 in 4 African-American males all the time." Then he switches to the Grimes shooting and asks her if given all the crime in New Orleans after Katrina, are the police a little touchy or are the shootings warranted! I guess he realized what he said, because then he added, "not that anybody's death is warranted." Christ!!! Just because CNN just started "focusing" on young Black men being gunned down by police, doesn't mean it just started happening. It's times like these that I just have to holler Zora's words: "All my skinfolks, ain't my kinfolks!!"

"Bruised but not Broken" - Blagojevich a media joke or Rahm's worst nightmare?

For countless media outlets, Gov. Rod Blagojevich was the joke of the day as he responded to his impeachment by the Illinois House today. Seems no one was really listening to what he actually had to say - too busy laughing and asking, "What is this guy talking about?"

He said a lot. To a few people. And in their continued unbalanced, "Obama love" - the media missed it all. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but here's some of what I heard:

Click :38 - "Let me tell you what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to do what my accusers and political enemies have been doing and that is talk about this case in 30 second soundbites on "Meet the Press" or the TV news." (emphasis his) Direct hit - Sen. Harry Reid.

Click :59 – “And I want to assure everyone who’s here and everyone who’s listening, that I intend to answer every allegation that, uh, comes my way. However, I intend to answer them in the appropriate forum – in a court of law.” (emphasis mine) Direct hit - Obama & Co. on that first part. He let them know that he plans to tell it all (unless of course, in requisite Chicago-style, they do something to get him out of this mess). The second part, direct hit - Illinois House. He told them to kiss his behind. He didn't show up to their kangaroo court because a court of law is the finder of fact - not them.

Click 1:46 – "Now I know there are some powerful forces arrayed against me. It’s kind of lonely right now. But I have on my side the most powerful ally there is. And it’s the truth." (emphasis his) Direct hit - Obama & Co. Just a reminder, if it comes down to it, he's tellin' the whole truth.

Click 1:05 - "From the very moment of my reelection, I've been engaged in a struggle with the House to get things done for the people...The House has stood in the way...In my view, those of us who make the rules ought to be able to uh, follow a simple lesson that I was taught to believe in in Sunday school. It's called the Golden Rule. That you do unto others as "you would have them do unto you." That sounded like a veiled threat to e-e-erbody!

When he entered, I said, "Now why did he bring all these people up there?" He answered, here:

Click 3:09 - 4:43 " So the House's action today and the causes of the impeachment (emphasis his) are because I've done things to fight for families who are all with me here today. Now I'm gonna talk about some of the examples that I'd like you-to share with you and some of the counts that the House is actually choosing to impeach me on. For example, The "I- Save" Prescription Drug program is among the things the House said I should be removed from office for. That was a program we began, I believe it in late 2002, or early 2004. That was a program brought to me by then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel (emphasis his) who suggested that since the big pharmaceutical companies had a tremendous amount of sway with the FDA (emphasis his), that too many senior citizens were being forced to ration their medicine or couldn't afford to buy their medicine...that maybe we should try somethin' different and go to Canada. And Go to the place where ya' make the exact same medicines, for the exact same companies only if you have free and open trade (emphasis his) and go to Canada you can help our senior citizens save up 30-40-50 percent on the cost of their medicines. We did that in Illinois, being the first state in America to defy (emphasis his) the FDA and the big drug companies. And I'm happy to say we were joined by the state of Wisconsin, the state of Kansas and the state of Vermont and a lot of senior citizens in Illinois have had the benefit of being able to afford their medicine at prices they can afford. The house is impeaching me for that. Is that an impeachable offense?"

The 11th Article of Impeachment reads, "The Governor's actions with regard to, and responsibility for, the I-SaveRx Program, as more fully detailed in the Final Report at Section IV-F and in the Committee Record as a whole."

The House Committee on Impeachment's report , upon which the articles were based, is a detailed accounting of the governor's alleged, illegal activities involving the I-SaveRx program (Pgs 39 - 42). And Rahm was right there with him. So why is Blagojevich headed to federal court, while Rahm is headed to the White House "Court" to sit at the Changeling's right hand? Will anybody in the mainstream media ask that question? Particularly since there's this pesky, little thing over at the Illinois state government site.

"Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago) were joined by Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle for the launch of the new I-SaveRx prescription drug importation program -- the first program in the nation to allow Illinois and Wisconsin residents to purchase lower cost, safe prescription drugs from Europe and Canada."

I don't know if it's an impeachable offense or not but, Direct hit - Obama & Co., Senate Dems, Illinois legislature and especially, Rahm Emmanuel! Blagojevich made sure we knew that he and Rahm had been "talking" way before his "President-elect Advisor" status popped up in Fitzgerald's complaint (not indictment as I'd said previously - shame on me for picking up the media's terminology).

And if the President-select's right-hand man was "talking," with the governor for all that time, I'd venture a guess -he was not alone in doing so (no wonder he's all but blended into the background since the story broke. I guess they figure if he draws no attention to himself, no one will ask the important questions). People, we are fiddling while Rome burns.

(Blagojevich - 5/Democratic leadership - 0)

"Open up and let the wind blow through..."

This wonderfully written example of humanity ran in counterpunch.com's Weekend Edition, January 2 - 4, 2009. It was so thoughtful, so honest, so true - I wrote the author for permission to reprint it here in it's entirety and she said yes. I'm glad. It's a decidedly different, first-hand account of what is happening in Gaza - one our media rarely, if ever portrays. Enjoy!

~#~

Hearts Are Made to Be Broken Shiv'a in Gaza, December 2008 By DEB REICH

"My heart has been broken so many times, writes Alice Walker somewhere, that it feels like an open suitcase with the wind blowing through it" … But maybe, she muses, hearts are made to be broken, and what is required of us is simply a steadfast acknowledgment: Open up and let the wind blow through; that's what hearts are for.

If so, Gaza 2008 is good cardiac training.

I am an American-Israeli Jewish woman of 60 living now in an Arab town in Israel and working for Jewish-Palestinian-Arab-Israeli reconciliation. I have two friends in Gaza and I will tell you how we came to be acquainted.

The first step was simply refusing to be enemies. There are thousands of Palestinians and Jews like me, in the Middle East and worldwide, who refuse to be enemies. We rarely make the headlines in your local paper, but we are here. One day we will prevail - not over anyone, but with everyone together. We are creating a new reality together and the paradigm, sooner or later, will shift decisively. Meantime, people needlessly bleed and suffer and die and mourn; the scenarios are endless but the outcomes are identical: death, injury, pain. What distinguishes Gazan suffering at the moment is that the noncombatants have nowhere to run to. The borders are sealed. The bombs fall. The world watches.

* * *

In 2006, one of my several informally adopted children, business consultant and "business for peace" activist Sam Bahour of Al Bireh, Palestine, started an Arabic-English-Arabic translation service, AIM Word Factory. A key goal was to provide employment for underemployed Gazan translators. To have the honor of being one of the first customers and helping that great idea launch, I sent him, for translation into Arabic, an anti-war story I wrote many years ago called "Dudu in Heaven," about an Israeli woman who loses her brother in the 1967 Six-Day War. The translator in Gaza was a young professional named Maha M., and the shared literary mission led to some email exchanges, all conducted via Sam. "Maha says the story is too sad," Sam reported at one point. "She likes it very much, but she says you ought to write a happier one next time."

Not long ago, I discovered that Maha's nephew Mohammed, 14, is the boy whom Sam has been helping for some years now in a very personal struggle with a rare inherited immune disease, CGD. Sam donates and helps raise money from private donors for Mo's treatment and medication and has been successful in assisting Maha to get the necessary "permits" from Israel to enable her to accompany Mo for his treatment. Mo became a patient at the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, an excellent Israeli facility near Tel Aviv. ("Everyone on the medical staff will go straight to heaven someday," says Sam.) Mo and Maha recently spent two and a half months at the hospital and the nearby Bet Hayeled ("Children's House"), the hostel for young patients and their families on the hospital grounds; their "permits" do not permit them to leave the campus and their travel documents are deposited with the guard at the hospital entrance. This is the reality of Israel and Palestine, so far; the change we are struggling to midwife is not yet. In November, Mo underwent a bone marrow transplant at Tel Hashomer.

I only discovered that our Gaza-based translator of "Dudu in Heaven" was in Israel toward the end of their stay, early in December when Sam mentioned it by chance. I got organized fairly quickly and went to visit them, accompanied by Abdalla, the 22-year-old son of my landlord upstairs. I figured Mo would enjoy an Arabic-speaking visitor and Abdalla was happy to oblige. We invested in an enormous basket of chocolates - "the absolutely correct gift to bring to a Palestinian child in the hospital," according to Abdalla - chocolate being one of those things that evidently transcend cultures. Also for the young patient, Abdalla's mom Faryal contributed some never-worn boy's jeans and sweatshirts that her sister Shadya in New Jersey sent recently for Abdalla's kid brother, who is too big to wear them. For Maha, I raided my bookshelf and selected Garrison Keillor's anthology, "Good Poems for Hard Times," and a couple of other books I thought she might enjoy.

We drove to the hospital and found Maha and Mo and a parking space, and had a wonderful visit, everyone bonding instantly after the first hug. Maha is a writer-editor-translator type just like me, only a couple decades younger. She and Abdalla took a bunch of digital photographs and I prayed inwardly - even though some ghastly crisis in Gaza was already clearly imminent - that all four of us would be back together again one day soon for a reunion. Mo is a great kid: undersized, on account of the illness, but with a smile like a lighthouse and a passionate interest in airplanes. His dream to become an airline pilot someday is not the most realistic dream for a seriously ill Palestinian child from Gaza in 2008, but insofar as our dreams keep us going, maybe it's very functional. The boys talked soccer and other guy topics and there was a lot of laughter. The chocolates were a big hit.

Abdalla was rather subdued afterwards and I saw that the experience had deeply affected him. We talked mostly of inconsequential things during the drive home.

* * *

Around the time of that visit in early December, after a battery of tests, Mo's bone marrow transplant was declared a guarded success and he was discharged the week before Christmas to make room for the next young patient, despite the iffy situation in Gaza and the near-impossibility of obtaining "permits" to return to the hospital for the required twice-monthly follow-up treatment. There are never enough beds, apparently, for the sick children in this world.

Mo's prospects soon took a dramatic turn for the worse with the Israeli assault on Gaza launched last week - two days after Christmas, on December 27, 2008. Not even the indomitable Sam Bahour can get a child out of Gaza right now. The date for Mo's first post-op intravenous treatment at Tel Hashomer - December 30th - came and went. The treatments are - how shall I put it? - not optional. As I write this, cosy at my desk with a fresh cup of coffee and plenty of everything, Mo and Maha are sitting in Gaza in the dark, in the cold, with little fuel and no reliable supply of food and water, along with Mo's parents and six siblings. Right about now, the family are surely thinking of Mo's seventh sibling, Nora, who died four years ago of CGD at the age of 16, in a hospital in Egypt, before the doctors were able to diagnose her. Mo has a good chance to manage his illness, if only he can somehow get back to Tel Hashomer. I think of them sitting there, listening to the bombs whistle in flight and waiting for the planned Israeli ground assault, while tanks mass along the Gaza perimeter. In the lethal game of mindless violence and counter-violence playing out in Israel and Palestine lo these many years, Mo and his family are innocent bystanders. His innocence will not get Mo to his IV treatments, however.

Can you feel that wind blowing right through your heart?

* * *

While Abdalla and Mo were talking sports at the hostel that day in early December, Maha and I were chatting about the things women talk about. She told me about her shopping, at the minimarket on the hospital grounds, in preparation for their expected return to Gaza. "My sister-in-law told me to buy us a lot of candles," she remarked, "because, you know, there's no electricity most of the time now." We contemplated this bleak picture together in silence for a few moments.

"So I asked the clerk at the shop to sell me some candles that will last a long time," Maha continued. "And he showed me these fat, tall ones that are encased in a solid glass container…" I could feel the hair lifting on the back of my neck. "He said they would burn for a week, so I bought a whole bunch of them," concluded Maha, oblivious, as I sat there, dumbstruck. She was describing the traditional Jewish shiv'a candle - the candle of bereavement lit by Jewish families all over the world for the seven days of mourning on the death of a loved one.

As this ghastly December drew to its grim close, Maha still had enough fuel left to run a small generator for an hour every day or two, so she could get online and do some emails or charge her mobile phone. I got an email saying they are OK ("bombs falling nearby but not on us, so far") and I sent my love and prayers for the family. As of New Year's Eve, I knew they were still alive because I got an e-card from Maha yesterday. Her message said: Dear Deb, I wish you and your children a Happy New Year and a long, happy, healthy and successful life. May every day of the New Year glow with good cheer and happiness for you and your family… Love and best wishes, Maha.

(Deb Reich is a writer and translator in Israel/Palestine, at debmail@alum.barnard.edu)

Illinois Secretary of State says, "Don't Blame Me!"

When I first heard Illinois Secretary of State, Jesse White was refusing to certify credentials for Roland Burris, I said, "Man! Is evererybody in on this charade?"

Turns out I was right - and wrong. According to the podcast here, Senate: Burris Needs Sec. Of State Signature {audio}, Mr. White spoke about how "they" had all agreed not to accept anyone appointed by Blagojevich - including Bobby Rush. But then, it became a problem.

I won't spoil it for you. Follow the link, read the article and do listen to the podcast. Jess White knew he'd been had and he wasn't havin' it! Rich!

(P.S. Undying Obamalove reigns at HuffPo as they've now revised history - yet again, crediting Obama for putting an end to this, rather than the law - which Burris used to back those Senate Dems the hell up!)

Burris will be seated

According to a report at Salon about 20 minutes ago, Roland Burris will be seated. Alex Koppelman writes:

"No more information than that is available so far. First impression, though, is that this news just reinforces the impression that the Democratic leadership handled this really, really badly. If they were going to let him in as of Wednesday, why not seat him Tuesday? Why allow the embarrassing spectacle of Burris walking out in the rain after being turned away? Not a good way to start the new Congress." (emphasis mine)

Yes, the Democratic leadership, and I use that word very loosely, handled this "really, really, really badly" - for all the world to see.

The questions are legitimate. But of course, I cannot speak for them. I do believe however, the very simple answers lay in the questions themselves: "let - allow - embarrassing spectacle." The selection of Barack Obama notwithstanding, America's white supremacist capitalist patriarchy believes it is, and always has been, up to them - and them alone - who does what, when and even how in this country, as evidenced by Sen. Reid's statements in the video at my "The Emperor Strikes Back" post. He reminded us, emphatically and repeatedly, "We are the ones that determine" (Read: "Nobody, not even the law of the land, will tell us what to do." - at least that's how I read it.) He went on to say, "So there's clearly, legal authority for us to do whatever we want to and this goes back for generations." (emphasis mine) And therein lies the problem. The "we," of whom he speaks, has been all-white from the birth of the nation up until Reconstruction when Hiram Rhodes Revels (R-MS) was elected to the senate in 1870 - that's 94 years! Here's an ironic piece (as we kick around "barring" and "citizenship" issues this election) from the United States Senate site, Arts & History section:

February 25, 1870 First African American Senator On February 25, 1870,visitors in the Senate galleries burst into applause as Mississippi senator-elect Hiram Revels of Mississippi entered the chamber to take his oath of office. Those present knew that they were witnessing an event of great historical significance. Revels was about to become the first African American to serve in the Senate. Born 42 years earlier to free black parents in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Revels became an educator and minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. During the Civil War, he helped form regiments of African American soldiers and established schools for freed slaves. After the war, Revels moved to Mississippi, where he won election to the state senate. In recognition of his hard work and leadership skills, his legislative colleagues elected him to one of Mississippi's vacant U.S.Senate seats as that state prepared to rejoin the Union.

Revels' credentials arrived in the Senate on February 23, 1870, and were immediately blocked by a few members who had no desire to see a black man serve in Congress. Masking their racist views, they argued that Revels had not been a U.S. citizen for the nine years required of all senators. In their distorted interpretation, black Americans had only become citizens with the passage of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, just four years earlier. Revels' supporters dismissed that statement, pointing out that he had been a voter many years earlier in Ohio and was therefore certainly a citizen.

Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner brought the debate to an end with a stirring speech. "The time has passed for argument. Nothing more need be said. For a long time it has been clear that colored persons must be senators." Then, by an overwhelming margin, the Senate voted 48 to 8 to seat Revels.

Three weeks later, the Senate galleries again filled to capacity as Hiram Revels rose to make his first formal speech. Seeing himself as a representative of African American interests throughout the nation, he spoke—unsuccessfully as it turned out—against a provision included in legislation readmitting Georgia to the Union. He correctly predicted that the provision would be used to prohibit blacks from holding office in that state.

When Hiram Revels' brief term ended on March 3, 1871, he returned to Mississippi, where he later became president of Alcorn College.

Though Sen. Revels was the first Black to serve, he was not the first to serve a full term. That distinction goes to this equally interesting guy, Sen. Blanche Kelso Bruce, another Republican representing Mississippi from 1875 - 1881. The son of a white Virginia plantation owner and a Black house slave, he was (and will forever be) the only freed slave ever to preside over the U.S. Senate in 1879 (for the day, Dad was a stand-up guy). I live two miles from his residence in DC, declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975 (Hm-m-m wonder who lives there now? Think I'll drive by there tomorrow. I'll post a pic. Also going to find this book about him, "The Senator and the Socialite." Can't critically think and form intelligent opinions without a well-rounded perspective right?)

It would be another 86 years ( somebody check me, I hate Math!) before Blacks would have another successful go at a Senate seat. But in 1966, yet another Republican - this time from the North - Sen. Edward William Brooke, III (R-MA) was elected. In 1993, he was followed by Sen. Carol Mosley Braun (D-IL), the first Black Senator from the Democrats and through some strategic maneuvering, Barack Obama (D-IL) in 2005.

That's it people. Only five Black Senators in the almost 233 years this country has been a country - only five (now I have to go back and and check the stats for my Latino, Asian and Native-American brothers and sisters! - ea, got anything?). Sen. Reid was right. Doing "whatever they want" does go back for generations. But, he is incorrect that there is "legal authority" for them to turn the brother away in the rain.

Today, despite Gov. Blagojevich or because of him, the Senate will have to consider what the law and somebody else wants. Now that's "Change We Can Believe In!" - and it had nothing to do with the President-select who supported the barring in the first place.

(Blagojevich - 4/Democratic leadership - 0)

The Fourth Estate...

"Power never concedes anything without a demand.

It never has and it never will."

Frederick Douglass

I found this at once amusing and interesting today. I just wanted to share. Earlier, while reading through the list of blogs I follow, I read this headline at Lynn Sweet's blog:

Burris Enters Capitol peacefully; media hordes greet him." No comment had been posted yet, I left this: Hey Lynn, What did you expect a fight? You do Mr. Burris and Blacks a disservice by using these code-laden words. Just now, after signing in, I went back to Lynn's blog hoping to engage in some intelligent discussion. Instead I found my comment was never posted but now, the headline reads: "Burris Enters Capitol; media hordes greet him." The post is the same, only the headline changed. I left this: Lynn, Since you didn't print my comment (it was the very first one on this post too!) about your "FIRST" headline - "Burris Enters Capitol peacefully; media hordes greet him" - I probably shouldn't expect this one to printed either. But it's worth a shot. I see you DID delete the "peacefully." That's a start I guess. Now, we just have to work on owning our mistakes and asking ourselves why we did them in the first place. What do you think? I'm not telling anyone what they should, or should not do on their own blog, but I have to say -I'm disappointed. I've been reading Lynn Sweet at least since the Changeling threw his hat in ring. I read her because she seemed to be doing what journalists should be doing according to their code of ethics:

• Seek truth and report it
• Minimize harm
• Act independently
• Be accountable (includes admitting mistakes and correcting them promptly and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct)

(Yes I was paying close attention in class!).

Lynn Sweet knew the territory better than anyone else I'd read out of Chicago. Often I would read background information about him in her columns that I hadn't seen anywhere else. She was fair, and gave the reader as balanced a look as possible no matter the player or the issue. And working in the land of Capone, I'm sure that was no mean feat. I liked the fact she'd been around for awhile - "seasoned" as it were.

But since the President-select was selected, I've seen a change and again, I have to say I'm disappointed. I will not stop reading her because of what happened today. It will just be with a more critical eye that I do so.

"Whites Only"- Again

"CHANGE WE CAN BELIVE IN" - YEAH RIGHT

Richardson steps down, before he even steps up

In my No Permanent Friends, no permanent enemies... post back in April '08, I pretty much summed up what I thought about Gov. Richardson - nothing's changed. Though I am a bit surprised that in exactly one month, we went from this... To this...

M-m-m-m... *smdh* This Andrea Mitchell video is interesting: "The Obama team has been rigorous about demanding......to have everything examined before their hearings are scheduled." Yep - and they knew about this too - even as he was being nominated. From the Hartford Courant: "A senior Obama adviser said Richardson gave assurances before he was nominated last month that he would come out fine in the investigation and the president-elect had no reason to doubt it. But as the grand jury continued to pursue the case, it became clear that confirmation hearings would have to be delayed for six weeks or even longer until the investigation was complete, said the adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity."

So what was this one-month appointment real-l-y about? Hubris? Strategy? What? I just do not believe Obama & Co left such an obviously long, and potentially garment-ripping thread hanging off the presidential cloak this close to the crowning for no reason. Look at the number of people jammed up under those huge charter buses of his for reasons way less important. Unless, there is a reason.

When asked, "Any idea who might be on this next list then to take over this job?" Ms. Mitchell said she frankly wasn't sure which way it'll go. Is that other Daley, you know, William M., former-Secretary-of-Commerce-in-the-Clinton-Cabinet-integral-cog-in-the-Chicago-Daley-Machine Daley? Is he still lurking around?

And doesn't it sound like there should be violins in the background as she quotes him saying he said, "I will remain in the job I love, governor of New Mexico and will continue to work every day..." (under investigation). More ammunition for Blagojevich? Hey! He only has to show there was no actual quid pro quo right? Then he can return to the job he loves - until impeachment and conviction anyway.

I read Earl Ofari Hutchinson's, "Richardson the Odd Democrat Out" over at HuffPo (Yes, I go there - sometimes). While I found nothing new as I scanned it, that very last paragraph seems awful prescient - for a few people, not just Richardson:

"The play for pay scandal just reinforced the notion that politicians who try so hard to be major players in the political ranks will often wheel and deal, cut corners, and or not averse to lining their campaign and even personal coffers with dubious contributions to get ahead. When they do, and they're called out on it, it insures that they remain not just odd men out of the rarified political circles they desperately want to crack, but disgraced ones too."

I'm sure if Molly Ivins were alive today, she'd have told the governor in that deep, smoke-laced, Texas drawl, "Now Bill, ya'll know ya'll gotta dance with them what brung you if you want to get anywhere!"

By the way, any statements from the Clintons yet? Why am I picturing that car insurance commercial with those squirrels jumping up and down, high-fiving each other as the car runs off the road?

Pre-conditions?? Really??

Since we appear to be in kindergarten... Later, on The Hill...

(Pics courtesy of my sister-in-law Jan, not sure where she got them!)

"Okay, we'll seat you, but only for two years. You have to promise not to run in 2010." What the hell?? Does the Constitution say that??

Will Princess Caroline have those same conditions thrust upon her? How about Michael F. Bennet, appointed to fill the seat being vacated by Ken Salazar? Just because Edward "Ted" Kaufman, is comfortable with stepping down in 2010 after completing Biden's term, does that mean Burris should be "comfortable" with that too? He didn't sound like he was good with that idea today on CNN. I would hope he doesn't cave, but then again, man does have a way of crumbling in the face of 15 minutes (in his case - 2 years) of fame. We'll see.

The Emperor Strikes Back!

Not 43 seconds in, and David Gregory brings up the "defied" word. That just has such a master-subject, elite-commoner, parent-child, unequal connotation to me. This man hasn't even raised his voice, hasn't "performed" like a lot of us say. Gotta keep that Angry Black Man image out there I guess. Now that the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy has their approved-version of a Black man (A "white man" too, as it relates to Blagojevich! Kitty over at Aroo wrote this nail-on-the-head piece about that dynamic), seems there's no intent to suffer any of us fools gladly who don't match those requirements.

~#~

Now Senator Reid, I'm going to be one of the ones to go out on a limb here and suggest there is some very, inherent racial bias, not only in the Burris instance (seeing as you've not offered any reason other than what someone else may have done), but in quite a few things you said. And I assure you, I'm not part of the Blagojevich anything! Just a few examples:

• Click 4:15 - "We are the ones that determine. Democrats and Republicans, determine who's going to sit in the Senate. It's been that way f-f, since before 18(inaudible)." Sounds eerily familiar to "I'm the Decider!" don't you think? And by the way, the "we" looks decidedly different than Burris, or did you miss that?
• Click 6:02 - "We determine who sits in the Senate and the House determines who sits in the House. So there's clearly, legal authority for us to do whatever we want to and this goes back for generations." Exactly the issue, on both counts.
• Click 7:40 - A picture's worth a thousand words, eh??
• Click 9:20 - "I went to the Clark County District Attorney's office to find a nobody, s-s-s-people thought was a nobody to become a federal judge, Johnnie Rawlinson." That'd be the "nobody" on the left of course.

(Judge Johnnie Rawlinson (9th Cir.) (photo left) looks on as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor thanks participants at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference last month for the gift of a box of flies. O’Connor is an avid fly fisher. Photo Credit: Ninth Circuit, Office of the Circuit Executive)

And he did that himself ya'll! Please!!!

And Senator Reid? Don't rip your arm out of its socket pattin' yourself on the back there, M-m-mkay?

(Blagojevich - 3/Democratic leadership - 0)

"I Hear You Knockin' But You Can't Come In!"

"You went away and left me long time ago and

Now you come back knockin' on my do'

I hear you knockin' but you can't come in

I hear you knockin', go back where you been"

Okay, so Fats Domino was singing about something else - but the first verse certainly works for this lunacy:


First of all, why did CBS splash that big blue "Corruption Scandal" banner across the screen as Burris got into his car? Why imply he's part of the corruption scandal even though, in this very clip, they said, "...since there's no evidence Burris did anything wrong, there is no taint?" Conflating the two visually will, no doubt, make it so - in the minds of many.

And another thing - why'd the media reach into their "angry Black man" trick bag on Burris? Every description of him, from them - is that he's "defiant," or he "defiantly...," or he "defied..." Why is the brother "DEFIANT??" Must be because he' didn't just shuffle on back to where he'd been, hollerin' over his shoulder, "Yassuh, ya'll sho' is right. I'se gwine now." Sure didn't take long for the media to revert to their Pre-"post-racial" bogeyman antics.

I'm telling you these people have lost their damn minds! What is this, high school? If Roland Burris shows up in Washington this week, the rest of "the class" plans to play, let's ostracize the new kid? Please watch CNN's, "What if Burris shows up?" video (I tried to embed it, but it's not working and I don't know why.) and tell me it doesn't sound like a bunch of kids. And what says the President-select? Well, no big surprise there.

Look, I know what Blagojevich is doing. It's part and parcel of those political games we, the people, tend to watch from the sidelines. But as it relates to Burris - it's the principle of the thing for me, along with a healthy dose of schadenfreude, I must admit. But seriously, here's a "qualified" Black man, a seasoned politician whose hands are clean as far as we know. Why that doesn't work for those Senate Dems is the real question we need to be asking.

And that, "He's a great kid, he just hangs around with the wrong crowd." is just not a good enough answer.

(Blagojevich - 2/Democratic leadership - 0)

Puff, Puff, Pass - Caroline Kennedy's turn at the "Party" joint

As it was with the Changeling, the fix is already in. Whether he wants to or not, Gov. David Paterson will be appointing the Kennedy kid to finish Senator Clinton's term - regardless of how much hell people raise about Caroline Kennedy's lack of "experience" or how many times she says, "You know." Hell, none of them raised any questions about the Changeling's deficiencies, or how many times he said "Uh!" (Class, repeat after me - PA-TRI-AR-CHY)

This exchange last year between Mos Def, Dr. Cornel West and Bill Maher is a little long, but interesting. Mos makes a good point at the 9:13 click...



...and I agree with him completely. I'd just add that ANY political office, ANY top media position and ANY executive banking position - not just the presidency - is treated like a "party joint" within the institution of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

Nepotism is essential to keep the money and power in the hands of those who've always had it. Obama's selection changes nothing (They just allow him to play the game a little bit. You know, stuff like earmarks to the hospital that tripled MO's salary, or he and Jarrett's Grove Parc bonanza, or that sweet deal on the mansion?).

He's the perfect "two-fer" - as long as he doesn't step out of line. They believe his brown face will, at once, be the vehicle that allows them to maintain their kind of status quo, and repair America's image in the world. And with all this sui generis, "post-racial" nonsense, the media side of the afore-mentioned, unholy triumvirate is more than happy to do whatever they can to keep up the charade.

I really think they chose him because they saw in him, the budding of the same power-hungry, cutthroat greed and hubris they possess that has fueled their manipulation of the masses for all this time. Easier to control the puppet's strings when the joints are already oiled right? And it worked - beautifully! "All sheeple present and accounted for, Sir!"

Now comes the Princess of Camelot, poised to cash in her nepotism chips with the aid of Uncle Teddy, continuing to rage mightily against going "gentle into that good night." This is just more shining up shit and calling it gold folks.

Let's be clear. Gov. Paterson was appointed in the aftermath of Spitzer's dalliances. If he wants to keep his job next election - and I'm sure he does - he'll fall in line. He knows all too well, what will ensure he keeps it is not that pesky election by the people thing, but rather, those "Games Mother Never Taught You."

CORRECTION: ea..."Just a nitpick: Patterson was Lt. Gov. He is Governor now because of succession. I think that is right."
Si, está correcto. ¡Gracias Mujer! Nitpick away, it makes both of us better. And as a result, I read some more about Gov. Paterson. Now I'm pissed I may be right about this appointment!

• "Elected to represent Harlem in the New York State Senate in 1985..."
• "In 2002, David Paterson was elected minority leader of the New York State Senate, the first non-white legislative leader in New York’s history."
• "And 2006 saw Mr. Paterson make history again by being elected New York’s first African-American lieutenant governor."

He's been elected a time or two. Shouldn't he have some political capital built up to say, "No" to this very wrong thing?