Catching up on some "Ruminations"...

Sheridf's, "The Wait of the Nation II:  Parent Companies, the "Bain" of our Existence!" over at The Crunk Feminist Collective, is the best piece I've read about Romney and Bain Capital since all this hullaballoo first broke in the MSM. Here's my comment to her explaining why I think so:

"sheridf…What a wonderful piece of “follow-the-money,” investigative writing! I have to admit, when I saw the title on my emailed subscription, I said, “Argh!, more Romney-Bain sh*it! Does it really matter when he left (besides the fact he may have lied; I mean, Hell, all politicians lie about their money and what they do to get it, if they can get away with it — ALL of them!)?

But this sh*t right here?? This, is the kind of information the MSM and the Changeling’s campaign folk (full disclosure: I’m no fan of his, or them, either!) should be putting out there! Particularly given it’s horribly, negative contributions to the “framing” of our children’s, parents’ and families’ lives (which, as I think about it, speaks to yet another way the current residents of the “Big House,” continue to ignore, “big picture” issues affecting the Black community — I mean, Obesity is/has been his wife’s “signature” issue! Brava my young sister! Thank you for this work…"

Please do take a moment to tune out the MSM's dog-whistles and read this important and very relevant-to-the-Black-community piece of investigative journalism (cuz Lord knows you won't get it from either campaign's talking heads!).

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Glenn Greenwald's got some interesting links in #2 of his "Various Matters" post.  It appears there's at least ONE MSM journalist willing to confront this administration on their undying fealty to Israel.  Glenn has the transcript, but if a picture's worth a 1000 words, then a video is -- priceless! Check it out:

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Now after all this, the Changeling adds insult to injury by, sending "Biden to NAACP convention":

The NAACP had hoped that President Obama would speak during its six-day confab, as he did when campaigning in 2008 and again in 2009. In 2010 Michelle Obama addressed the convention...On Tuesday an NAACP spokesman said the group was reserving a Thursday speaking spot for the president. (emphasis mine)

Well, seems they've certainly got the "hope" part of his "Hope and Change" message down pat!  I guess since Biden thought the Changeling was, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy...” -- THAT guy thought it was okay to send him to a room full of similarly situated Black folk in his stead. (smdh)  Talk about needing to "take off your bedroom slippers and put on your marching shoes" -- so you can march the hell away from this joker!

I think I can safely say that his tenure in the Big House, has effectively put Blacks in an untenable position.  We've not demanded, nor gotten anything from him!  Who's really going to take us seriously after we've sat back and let him get away with ignoring us for four (maybe eight years) with hardly a collective peep?  Come on family, ain't y'all tired of asking:

**UPDATE:** Obama Administration Creating African American Education Office.  Well, family, he finally threw out one of his "executive order" crumbs.  Oh,  go ahead --  I can just imagine all the, "See!  I told you he cared!" happy-dancin' going on right now!

But wait a minute!  Is it just me? Or did it take over three and a half years AND three months before the election to even spit in this direction? Seems to me, if it looks like a shut-the-hell-up duck, and quacks like a shut-the-hell-up duck -- it's a damned shut-the-hell-up duck!  Just sayin'...

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The Julian Assange Show on RT News continues to offer up some interesting conversation that again, we need not look to the MSM to provide:



Occupy movements notwithstanding -- there appears to be little, if any, danger of popular forces creating practical, functioning, new and significant "models" here, Noam!

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Israeli-Arab community upset over new military draft law (article that accompanies the video):

Arab Israelis make up about 20 per cent of Israel’s population. While they have not traditionally been conscripted by the government, many of them choose to serve willingly, either in the army or community service, thereby becoming eligible for the same social benefits that Jewish Israelis enjoy after serving.

However, the new law would make the above service mandatory for the Arab population, raising questions among a community torn between their loyalty to the Jewish state and their heritage as Palestinians. (emphasis mine)

Man! All I can say is -- that is some re-e-ally sad, split-mind shit right there.

Like many minorities here, the Druze have been trying to be "patriotic" and serve "their country" (even though the Zionists, much like "real Americans" here, see it as their country).  And if they do, they get a shot at a somewhat equal and decidedly "better life" -- at least materially.  But when one considers that the Druze must fight and/or kill, other Palestinians, that whole "material" thing seems a bit hollow (the Civil War springs to mind).  But that's just me.

And then of course, there's this, Israeli Military Draft Panel Defies Netanyahu:

Shaul Mofaz, chairman of parliament's largest party, Kadima, told reporters Netanyahu "crassly" violated their coalition agreement on Monday when he disbanded the panel, which proposed ending sweeping exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men and penalizing them if they dodge the draft. Many Israelis deplore the privileges that the ultra-Orthodox receive, but Netanyahu is reluctant to alienate what are traditional supporters by adopting proposals they vehemently oppose...The draft privileges for the religious date back six decades, when Israel's founders granted exemptions to 400 exemplary seminary students to help rebuild great schools of Jewish learning destroyed in the Holocaust. The numbers of exemptions have steadily ballooned over the years, and today, an estimated 60,000 religious men of military age are exempted. The pattern of studying instead of serving continues long past draft age, with ultra-Orthodox men commonly spending their lives in religious study instead of working, while collecting welfare. (emphasis mine)

Sounds a lot like those "exemptions" enjoyed by many of the well-connected, college-bound in this country, no? -- like this, one of many:  Starting as a freshman at Stanford University in 1966, Romney received a series of deferments, including one for his role as a “minister of religion or divinity student,” that kept him out of Vietnam (read that here). 

So if I'm reading these pieces correctly, mandatory for most Arab-Israelis -- exemptions for all ultra-Orthodox Israelis/Zionists. Hell, I'd be more than a little ticked off my-damned-self!

I had one more, but it's way too long to insert as a mere rumination.  Hope to post it soon.