The White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy showed their ass -- and got it handed to them tonight...

Not only did Trump supporters continue their fear-based, asinine behavior tonight -- the media (Yeah, John King, I'm talking to you!), blamed the protestors for what happened -- like Trump's ongoing rhetoric didn't have a damned thing to do with fanning the flames!

Lawd ha' mercy! This shit is gettin' thicker and thicker ain't it? Where, or how will it end? Is there a REAL revolution going on? Or does "Feelin' the Bern" only offer up more of the same shit, different day (Hillary's an equal opportunity shyster, so I didn't include her in my question)?? You decide.


Related:
- Donald Trump, Chicago, and the Lessons of 1968
- The Fearful and the Frustrated
- Reality TV

Why I care nothing about what EITHER empty suit had to say

Glenn Greenwald is again, on point, regarding the farce that passes for a presidential debate.  In his, "The lame rules for presidential debates: a perfect microcosm of US democracy," he is dead-on about all the, "shinin' up shit and callin' it gold," fed to the public by the MSM and both reigning parties.

Linked within his piece, is this commentary from George Farah on Democracy Now! -- "Secret Debate Contract Reveals Obama and Romney Campaigns Exclude Third Parties, Control Questions" (Do listen carefully, and then fact-check it out):

Makes it kinda hard to give a shit, no?

And to top it all off, we have this:  "Green Party candidate arrested outside debate" -- WTH!!  This, is what democracy looks like?  Puhleeze!

People, you are so-o-o being hoodwinked, bamboozled and blinded with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum! {smdh}  Obama (like Romney), did what was "scripted" for your entertainment and distraction -- no more, no less.

The emperor definitely has no clothes

Just like in 2008 -- he had nothin' tonight.  Man, was it painfully obvious!  Definitely not a good look.

Democracy Now's,  "#ExpandTheDebate# with Jill Stein (Green Party) and Rocky Anderson (Justice Party) was kinda interesting.  Too bad they couldn't have been there in person to  check these two liars though.

Watch live streaming video from democracynow at livestream.com

UPDATE:

I love Bruce Dixon!  Ever since I started following him on Black Agenda Report, I've had little, if any disagreement with his point of view.  Here again, he's hit the nail on its proverbial head regarding both the Changeling and Romney during this non-debate -- they're definitely "more alike than they are different" (and the Changeling knows it, hence his dismal showing up, or rather, not showing up last night).

He's such a damned pawn of white supremacy.  He seems to forget -- they've been at this for far longer than he.  He let them tell him what to say, how to say it and to whom he should say it; they told him what to do, how to do it and to whom he should do it (most of them "Other"; all of them poorer than he is), for over four damned years -- all so he could have his undercover-megalomaniacal, yet fragile ego stroked. {smdh}.

And then, for good measure, they work him the hell over today, asking for example, in this NYT piece (yeah, The New York Times!  I don't care how they opened, or penned this piece -- they have hardly been the Changeling's BFF) -- why he didn't do, what they told him NOT to do!  Sure, they mentioned Mitt, but the Changeling was their target.  And puppet that he is, he deserves to be.

Related:
- The US presidential debates' illusion of political choice

CBC a long way from being "real tigers" at this point

Back in December, I wrote - Congressional Black Caucus got juice??? - Ah, No...  - and they still don't.  This two-fer of a Politico piece (managing a stab at both "kinfolk and skinfolk"), Congressional Black Caucus: President Obama's not listening, makes that fact perfectly clear. Here we have, the Black CBC begging plaintively asking for attention, while the first, society-identified-cum-self-identified-when-it's expedient Black president pretty much ignores them.  From the piece:

But unlike previous presidents, Obama doesn't need to win over the CBC in order to pick up support in the black community. Polls show that 96 percent of black voters view him favorably - a number the CBC members probably can’t match themselves...

...That point isn’t lost on Obama, who brought up his polling numbers when April Ryan of American Urban Radio Network asked him in December about grumblings among the black leadership."

“I think if you look at the polling, in terms of the attitudes of the African-American community, there’s overwhelming support for what we’ve tried to do,” said Obama. (emphasis mine)

After reading that piece and listening to them, during the health care debate - and after the bill passed, I couldn't help but think about that "Killed by a Tiger" stand-up bit from Katt Williams.  Yeah I know Katt offends a whole lotta folk and does some stupid shit - like getting arrested for burglary of all things - but that doesn't mean he's not saying something real [WARNING - I RATE THE VIDEO:  TV-MA (Mature Audience Only -- This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17.) This program contains one or more of the following: graphic violence (V), explicit sexual activi ty (S), or crude indecent language (L)].

I'm willing to bet there are plenty CBC members who've asked (among themselves of course) - "Are you SURE I'm a Tiger?" - especially after nothing happened after they (through anonymous aides) "roared" in that Politico piece.

Let's be clear.  With the passage of this "health care industry bonanza" of a bill, I am well aware that CBC members aren't the only ones - "juice-less."  In his - Has Rahm's assumption about progressives been vindicated? - Glenn Greenwald makes it pretty plain who has been, and will continue to be, irrelevant to this Administration (Hell, Shrub didn't even pay them any mind - even when THEY had the majority!) and I concur:

What's not debatable is that this process highlighted -- and worsened -- the virtually complete powerlessness of the Left and progressives generally in Washington. If you were in Washington negotiating a bill, would you take seriously the threats of progressive House members in the future that they will withhold support for a Party-endorsed bill if their demands for improvements are not met? Of course not. No rational person would.

Moreover, everyone who has ever been involved in negotiations knows that those who did what most progressive DC pundits did here from the start -- namely, announce: we have certain things we'd like you to change in this bill, but we'll go along with this even if you give us nothing -- are making themselves completely irrelevant in the negotiating progress. People who signal in advance that they will accept a deal even if all of their demands are rejected will always be completely impotent, for reasons too obvious to explain. (emphasis mine). 

I just wish the CBC would take responsibility for their complicity in their own legislative impotency as it relates to issues affecting the Black community.  They are, after all, the Congressional Black Caucus.

But just like sufferers of Battered Woman Syndrome, they fell in love with a man who smelled "insecure neediness" all over them - and set out to exploit every bit of it.  And so happy to have someone "like him," love "someone like them," they denied all the warning signs of the "abuse" to come.  From the link:

FOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL STAGES OF THE BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME

DENIAL - The woman refuses to admit--even to herself--that she has been beaten or that there is a "problem" in her marriage. She may call each incident an "accident". She offers excuses for her husband's violence and each time firmly believes it will never happen again.

GUILT - She now acknowledges there is a problem, but considers herself responsible for it. She "deserves" to be beaten, she feels, because she has defects in her character and is not living up to her husband's expectations.

ENLIGHTENMENT - The woman no longer assumes responsibility for her husband's abusive treatment, recognizing that no one "deserves" to be beaten. She is still committed to her marriage, though, and stays with her husband, hoping they can work things out.

RESPONSIBILITY - Accepting the fact that her husband will not, or can not, stop his violent behavior, the battered woman decides she will no longer submit to it and starts a new life. 

Once the very short "honeymoon period" of the inauguration was over, and the gushing tears (shed to further their "first-Black-president-as-realization-of-Martin's-dream" meme) were dried  - he promptly and continues to let them know, as PatriotDems so eloquently and succinctly put it:  Black People: Obama Is Just Not That Into You (h/t to Cin over at Cinie's World for this gem).

And they heard him.

Then, just like Katt said in the video, they kept "tryin' shit and tryin' shit - don't work - tryin' shit and tryin' shit - switch it up" - quickly moving from the Denial stage to the Enlightenment stage, all the while hoping they could "work things out." 
 
Now I know PTSD of any kind (Post Traumatic Slavery Disorder included) is hard to work through.  Hell, some people never get through it.  But what I know to be true is, unless and until the members of the CBC decide they've had enough of the Changeling's "abusive" behavior and become "real tigers" - the Responsibility stage will never come and there won't be any legislative "new life" - for any of us.

And it's official...

I'd switched from CNN, deciding to wait until about 11 p.m. to see where the race stood. Outside my window, I heard fireworks going off so I switched back. With the tallying of the votes on the left coast, it is official - Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States. Historical? Yes. As the first African-American president, "his story" has won the day. I'm listening to John McCain's concession speech right now. Though I didn't vote for him either, I have to say, what an apparently decent and gracious man he seems to be.

Condolences to the Obama family

Probably for only the second time in nearly two years, as I sit here watching Sen. Obama speaking at a rally in Charlotte, my heart went out to him. It seems his grandmother, his "quiet hero," meant the world to him and I just have to respect that. I truly don't believe those were crocodile tears I saw him wiping away. Instead, I saw this bi-racial little boy, who looks a lot like my own children, hurting deeply. Losing someone you love madly to cancer is something with which I can personally identify. And worse yet, this is the second time for him. I'm hoping all of us not in the Obama camp, will have the decency and dignity not to make light of what is inarguably, a tremendous loss for the candidate - no matter what we think. All politics aside, my heartfelt condolences to the senator, his sister, his wife and their daughters.

Crowning Obama - America diminishes my history for "his story"

Tomorrow "history" will likely be made yet again this year. On the heels of having been the first African-American man ever selected nominee of one of the two major political parties in America, Sen. Barack Obama stands poised to be the first African-American President of the United States. And I, a Black American woman, will have had absolutely nothing to do with it. Given the shoulders upon which I stand, I’m fine with that.

Call it generational, call it voting against my interest, call it stupid – call it whatever you like, but I will be casting my vote for the candidate who has most spoken to the issues about which I care deeply. Will she win? Absolutely not. Does that matter to me? Not especially. I’m not, after all, trying to “gain the world.”

Now this is not a decision to which I’ve come in haste. Like many Black children of the Civil Rights era, I want to see a Black president in my lifetime. That being said however, the fact a candidate looks “Black Like Me” (props to John Howard Griffin) cannot be the sole reason I vote for him. As my grandmother used to say, “It’s not what you say, it’s what you do.” And as I watched the manipulative, albeit skillful machinations of the Obama campaign over this seemingly interminable campaign season, I took issue with plenty of what he did - beginning with his maneuvers in the state of Florida.

As a registered Florida Democrat with firsthand experience of the Republicans’ theft that gave us Bush 43 in 2000, I went to vote on January 29th not only to choose a presidential nominee, but to say YES - to Verifiable Paper Ballots. Closer to home, I needed to say No - to Amendment 1, a property tax reduction amendment geared toward the wealthier of us in exchange for cutting local services to the least of us, most notably our schools.

Sen. Obama's “Yes We Can” train hadn’t yet picked up much steam, particularly in the Black community - as evidenced by our very low voter turnout. But once it did, with the help of the dreaded and patently unfair caucuses, Black Floridians adopted a new line: “We didn’t go and vote because the DNC said it wouldn't count.” Excuse me? Shouldn’t voting on local issues, whose effects if passed, we would immediately feel in our everyday lives be at least as important as choosing a presidential nominee?

And who would a thunk it? Blacks, having been considered "three-fifths persons" constitutionally upon the birth of this nation and beyond, had their voices further devalued by an America-identified-Black, constitutional law professor! No sense of history repeating itself there.

In a response eerily akin to Stockholm Syndrome, many Blacks were just fine with that disenfranchisement. I’ve been told, on more than one occasion, “We have to get him in there first.” And then - what? He’ll respect you in the morning? Guess their Mamas never shared that old adage, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free."

Blocking our 1.7 million votes because the majority weren't cast for him may have been a great political strategy in the eyes of those to whom strategy matters. But strategy doesn't matter to me –democracy does. And as I continued to watch while he played to the crowds on the dust-ups regarding flag pin/no flag pin, campaign financing/no campaign financing, Rev. Wright & Trinity/no Rev. Wright & Trinity, NAFTA/ no NAFTA, Hamas/no Hamas, no on FISA/yes on FISA, etc., etc., I was convinced he and his crew would just hold up their collective fingers, test which way the wind was blowing and proceed accordingly. Not exactly the strong, principled, Black man he’s been made out to be.

Somewhere deep inside though, I'd really held out hope the senator from Illinois might somehow be different from the politics as usual to which we’ve become accustomed. As he grudgingly spoke the dreaded "R" word in Philadelphia back in March, I was cautiously optimistic. But once that photo-op was over, the elephant was swiftly returned to the corner it has inhabited since the advances of the Civil Rights movement. I knew then, I could not support him.

Popular opinion insists Sen. Obama is the fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream. Now let’s see. Has he used his campaign to address poverty and those it affects most in this country? How about our prison industrial complex continuing to disproportion-ately swallow up Black and Latino boys at such an alarming rate? Did the disparity in sentencing, proven to be racially motivated by The Sentencing Project make it in? What about the lack of decent schools with qualified teachers in every class? Geoffrey "Whatever It Takes..." Canada as an advisor on education would have been a great move. Did I miss the part when he talked about the lack of affordable housing that breeds homelessness or worse? Well, I can see why he wouldn't have wanted to talk about that - Grove Parc and his community organizing might have really been under scrutiny. But okay, what about our broken judicial system meting out both the death penalty and life sentences to those of a decidedly darker hue, faster than The Innocence Project can blink? Dallas D.A. Craig Watkins, a young Black man with a true understanding of Dr. King's dream, could have helped him with that one. I guess America's only ready to elect a "Black" president if he doesn't talk about any issues important to Black people.

I don’t know the content of Sen. Obama’s character. If we're honest, few of us do. But I’m almost certain I felt those shoulders upon which I stand slump mightily and often during this long campaign season. As we all flock to the polls on Tuesday, to exchange our first viable chance at substantive change for an alleged “sui generis” candidate - will it be history or his story? Only time will tell.

MoveOn.org's latest attempt to woo voters for Obama hilarious

My husband sent me an email containing the following video: "Obama's Loss Traced to Deb C." I was rolling on the floor laughing hysterically, especially when I got to Miss Marcianne Walsh at about 40 seconds in - hilarious! While I will not be voting for the McCain/Palin ticket, I will however be voting. Watch the video, it's a scream!

"General Powell, tell me why we should care???

Gen. Powell, even though he was a Republican, used to have my utmost respect. Until that is, he spoke out against gays in the military. That took a little shine off the apple for me because in my mind, he should have had some understanding of what my LGBT brothers and sisters have had to endure as they try to live authentically in a homophobic society.

It got way worse though, once he allowed the Bush Administration to pimp him like a $2 whore, standing up at the U.N. talking about the certainty of WMD's. Sorry, I just find it a bit hard to swallow that they could bamboozle this former National Security Advisor, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this long-serving, apparently intelligent, general about what was actually going on in Iraq. I could be wrong, but I just don't think so - which is the reason I ask the question, "Why should we care?"

Nextel firemen could teach Congress a thing or two

"A lot of paper here to tell us we need to keep the rich, rich and the poor, poor. Want it guys?" "NO!!!" At least that's how it should have gone this past week. But then again, the firemen are among the working poor now aren't they?

I won't even say I'm surprised that this no-cojones-havin', low-approval-rating gettin', pattin'-themselves-on-the-back-posturin', impotent, poor excuse of a Congress voted for this obvious and blatant sell-out of the American people - because I'm not. For the four years the Democrats have had the majority in Congress, they've continued to do the same things, expecting different results. I know Shrub & Co. are rolling on the floor laughing their asses off in Crawford, TX tonight saying, "We got 'em again boys!"

As I watched the run-up to this "rescue plan," it felt so strangely reminiscent of their "Hurry, hurry, act now or we're doomed!!" run-up to Iraq that for a minute there I thought, "Now I know The Second and Fourth Estates won't even fall for this again!" But I was wrong. I gave them all too much credit for, at the very least, having some damn common sense. It was like Groundhog Day watching the mainstream media stoke the flames with the fears fed them by Paulson and the Bush Administration! Over at Poynter Online, David Cay Johnston wrote, "Ask tough questions about the bailout." It's an interesting piece about how the media really needs to do their job and one with which I totally agree.

I'm no economist, but I don't need to be one to know that if I ran my house the way the powers-that-be have run this country, I'd be on the street or in jail! Those same financial institutions who've lied, manipulated the market and stuffed their proverbial mattresses would be poised to take EVERYTHING I had as punishment for my irresponsibility. I wouldn't be allowed the opportunity to get credit again for a long damn time - no matter what reason I gave. And the government certainly wouldn't be beating a path to my door with boatloads of other people's money to "rescue" me. Oh, I forgot. Only the common people can be labeled irresponsible for borrowing more money than they could pay back.

And don't you just love the condescending way the talking heads make it sound like we just don't understand how this all works? How they know what's best for the rest of us and we, lemmings should just shut up and get on board? And have you noticed who was pushing the hardest for this debacle of a piece of legislation? Not your everyday, average John Q. Public of the population, that's for sure.

Why is it that we, the people, continue to allow those whose hands are the least clean to make such life-changing decisions for us? Every single person in on this hijacking has a personal stake in seeing those government dollars flow into the coffers of these hat-in-hand institutions. Hell, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has intimate knowledge of how this all works! After all, having been with Goldman Sachs for more than 20 years (the last four of which he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Investment Banking), he received a $37 million compensation package in 2005 and more than $16 million in 2006! You be the judge of whose interests he sought to protect. Naked Capitalism's piece, "Mussolini-style Corporatism in Action: Treasury Conference Call on Bailout Bill to Analysts (Updated)" should give you a clue.

Let's be clear, I have no intention of voting for John McCain. But when he announced he was suspending his campaign to head back to The Hill to do the damn job he was elected to do, I said "Bravo!" Obama's sarcasm-laden, "A president has to be able to do more than one thing at a time" bullshit was just more confirmation of his hubris (You're not the damn president yet!!!) and dereliction (You are a U.S. Senator - no matter how you got there - you don't get to delegate your legislative responsibility for your own personal gain!). Sure, it was probably a campaign stunt on McCain's part, but at least it was one that said, "This is a big deal and my constituents are watching. I better act like I know why they sent me to Congress." I noticed Obama didn't suspend, but he ran his happy-ass on back to the White House for that photo-op with Shrub & Co. and later showed up to vote so as not to be bested by McCain's appearance - the effectiveness of which remains debatable.

When the Republicans voted down the first package, I thought looming elections had forced their hand (after all, election time is really the only time the people ever get a fraction of what they want, or need for that matter). But true to form, corporate greed ruled the day and they buckled. Democrats tried to make it look like Obama played a major role in turning some of their votes around and the MSM, rather than asking the tough questions, lapped it up and regurgitated that bullshit.

And once the deal was sealed, Nancy Pelosi had the nerve to say they didn't know how they got to this place! Jesus wept!! Isn't that the reason we put them in Congress? To know what the hell is going on and make laws in the best interest of the people! Then she added insult to injury by saying, "We sent a message to Wall Street -- the party is over." What??? How can the party be over when Congress just gave the "Barbarians at the Gate" not only a pass for knowingly ripping off the American people, but a reward??!! Where are those Nextel firemen when you need them???

At the end of the day, both presidential candidates, knowing on which side their bread is buttered, voted "Aye" on a bill sure to rock the poor and shrinking middle class to their core, all the while telling us they did what was "best" for us. Considering Obama and McCain have together spent over a half-billion dollars - that's BILLION with a "B" (approximately $368 million and $196 million dollars respectively) - on this joke of a presidential campaign, nobody needs to tell me whose "best" they meant. I know my girl Sugar over at Sugar N Spice will not want to hear me say this (she's told me many times before!), but I think Obama will win this thing. Sad part about that is if you close your eyes, an Obama administration will likely look and act like all those that will have preceded it. For all his crowing about McCain not mentioning the middle-class, he's no better - because for me anyway, it's not what you say, it's what you do. And based on his marionette-like actions to date, he's proven he too, is merely talking loud and saying absolutely nothing. The more I think about that sad fact, the more I'm with Maxine on this one.

"Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy" - Republicans strike back

I can't help it, I found that line of Rudy's pretty catchy. I tell you, these Republicans are not playing in Minnesota tonight. The gloves are off and no punches are being pulled. But I must admit, having Rudy Giuliani talking about Obama learning "Chicago-style politics" while he was community organizing was a bit much, especially considering Rudy's Italian roots!
But the star of the convention was no doubt Gov. Sarah Palin. Don't get it twisted - her acknowledgment of Hillary Clinton's hard-fought, but losing run notwithstanding, I disagree with everything for which she stands. That being said however, the fact she got up there and said some of the things about the senator from Illinois that should've at least been explored by the mainstream media was well worth my listening.
I don't know why, but she reminded me of Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo in the 2007 movie "300." The scene above immediately popped into my head as I watched, particularly the line at about 2:35 in the clip where she whispers into the ear of Dominic West's character, Theron, right after she thrusts in the sword that takes him out.
"In politics there are those who use change to promote their careers and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change." Come on, you have to admit that was a good line. I don't know how the Palin choice will affect the momentum of McCain's campaign, but based on all the hootin' and hollerin' at the convention, she's already a huge shot in the arm.

Gustav, Katrina and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

As we watch Gustav barrel toward New Orleans on this, the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Mother Nature will most definitely exact the kind of accountability heretofore avoided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The fact Gustav's course is opposite the track taken by Katrina, may well expose further incidents of shoddy work done by USACE - or not. We'll see.
Sending my constant prayers to those in the path of this storm...

"Selected" by Acclamation, Dr. King an afterthought as Obama accepts the nomination

Whew!!! It's been a pretty hectic couple weeks as I start out on a path toward realizing a "dream" of my own. It took until today for me to process the significance of all that's happened since Monday when I moved to D.C. to start graduate school after 30 years. As I drove home from my very first class Thursday night, I couldn't help but think, "How fitting is this for me to be in this town, at this time, on this night - the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech!" I was so overwhelmed, I started to cry. As the tears ran down my face, I said aloud, "This is a huge part of what the dream was about." Though my route was circuitous, it was clear - like the throngs who'd come 45 years ago, I'd come to our nation's capital to cash the check that had previously been marked “insufficient funds." I stopped at an intersection on a narrow Georgetown street and looked around. I could see inside the windows of the houses nearby and then I realized why the streets were so empty. Everyone was watching what I was listening to on my car’s radio - Sen. Clinton asking the convention to stop the count so Sen. Obama could be selected the nominee by acclamation. My emotions were immediately mixed as he gave his acceptance speech. I expected him to acknowledge the importance of the day, to pay homage to the man whose life and death had made this day possible for us both. Not until the last minute of the speech, did he say this:

And it is that promise that, 45 years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream. The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustrations of so many dreams deferred. But what the people heard instead -- people of every creed and color, from every walk of life -- is that, in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one. "We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back." He didn’t even call him by name.

I guess no one would eclipse his big night - not even the Black man who took on a racist America, putting everything on the line so that an African-American, Barack Obama could stand at that podium to accept that nomination.

Quel déshonneur absolu!

Free Speech Zones?

When I read the article below, the image above immediately popped into my head. I don't know, that just seemed the huge unspoken message from the DNC regarding how they see those who oppose this "selection."

In his July 22nd commentary, "A free speech graveyard at the Democratic National Convention," John Whitehead informs us:

"Free speech zones have been employed by both Democrats and Republicans at past political conventions. This year, however, Democrats face the embarrassing possibility that they will be the only party actually caging dissenters. Protesters at the upcoming Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver in late August will be corralled into caged "free speech zones" made of chicken wire and chain link fences which are located more than two football fields from the delegates' entrance. Those who attempt to exercise their First Amendment rights outside this makeshift cage, which is partially obscured by trees and sculptures, will be arrested. (Ironically, protesters at this year's Republican National Convention will not face a cage or even policemen in riot gear.)"

"Chicken wire and chain link fences??" "More than two football fields from the delegates' entrance??" If you were thinking the Changeling and his crew would be tolerating any of that First Amendment stuff on his big day - think again! Hat tip to BJ commenting over at No Quarter for this link to the judge's final decision: Judge OKs 'free speech zones' at upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Florida Democratic Party as big a sham as Obama

I just got this email from the head nitwit of the Florida Democratic Party:

##########

Dear Florida Democrats, Today is a proud day for all of us who fought so hard to ensure Floridians votes are fully counted. Just minutes ago, Sen. Barack Obama sent a letter to the DNC credentials committee urging them to restore the full vote of the Michigan and Florida Delegations, proving his commitment to uniting the party and ending the uncertainty surrounding the process. With Florida's economy in recession for the first time in 16 years, our state leading the nation in job loss, and we are number two in foreclosures, Floridians in every corner of our state are excited to elect Barack Obama and other Democrats this fall to bring change to Washington and Florida. The people of Florida know Barack Obama and other Democrats will rebuild our economy, create good jobs, and lower gas prices and homeowners insurance rates. I want to thank Barack Obama, the Florida Congressional Delegation, the Democrats in our Legislature, and voters across Florida for fighting to have our votes count. This is a proud day for all of us. Sincerely, Karen Thurman Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman Chair, Florida Democratic Party

##########

Proving his commitment to uniting the party and ending the uncertainty surrounding the

process?? Commitment to what? Manipulation? Our votes did not count! If they had, he wouldn't even be the nominee today. There's no uncertainty about that.

Floridians in every corner of our state are excited to elect Obama?? Ms. Thurman, you do not speak for this Floridian. The people of Florida know that he and other Democrats will rebuild our economy, create good jobs, and lower gas prices and homeowners insurance rates?? And I guess he'll walk on water too. It's people like Ms. Thurman who provided fodder for that RNC, "The One" ad.

What he will do is get in the Oval Office and use the Bush Administration's eight years of mucking things up as cover for him being an ineffective president. Then he'll say the mess was so bad, he needs four more years to get it right - all while the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

These politicians just kill me. Seems all the Florida Dems were ever interested in was going to the "Big Party" in Denver.

CNN's "Black in America" misses the mark

You know, I like Soledad O'Brien’s work. Since she’s joined CNN, she has at least made a concerted effort to give Black lives a seat at the network's heretofore unbalanced coverage table. So I really wanted to watch this special. However, I had no expectations or pre-conceived notions that it would be some groundbreaking, life-changing or particularly edifying commentary on our lives. After all, to quote Sugar over at Sugar-N-Spice, "I already know what it's like to be Black in America!"

I was more interested in filtering out the noise of statistics and “expert” opinions to see if there’d be any signs of change in the coverage we ‘re afforded given our highly touted “post-racial” society. I wanted to see if we’d changed as well, given all this new found, rampant pride in the symbolism that is Obama. In both cases, I saw little if any change. And if we’re honest, in light of an Obama presidency, the possibility of any real change heading down the pike appears fleeting - at best.

Give a carefully crafted, media-hyped speech on race, channel MLK or JFK as appropriate, throw in a Father's Day lecture wherein he fronts like he knows what the Black experience in America is all about and all you end up with (to borrow a phrase from bell hooks at Portland, Oregon's, Lewis & Clark College back in 2006) is an eager audience of "unenlightened white people worshipping at the throne of Black mediocrity" joined by a group of Black folks for whom the shaming and blaming of their own has taken on an eerie, Stockholm Syndrome-like quality. Man! If he's selected to the Burning House, his presidency will only provide even more fodder for those who insist we “Quit whining!” because slavery’s over.

I'm no shrink, but I believe Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (in our case, Post Traumatic Slavery Disorder) is no less prevalent or debilitating to the souls and minds of our people as that suffered by returning war veterans, battered women, abused children or even - elephants, as it turns out. Yes, I said elephants! For all CNN’s questions and portrayals of dysfunction in the Black community and all the Black participants’ responses to those questions and portrayals, it seems not many people really get, or care to get that fact - which brings me back to the elephants.

20/20 did a segment tonight on elephants suffering PTSD. And, if as Stossel said, “It may change the way you look at elephants,” then why is it that the same disorder, brought about by the same kinds of brutal circumstances which manifest the same undesirable, anti-social behavior in elephants, has not been connected to what is going on in the Black community? Why doesn't it “change” the way white folks and even some Blacks look at the Black community?

Gay Bradshaw, director of The Kerulos Center, was featured in the segment, so I looked her up. I came across her very interesting essay entitled, "Elephant Breakdown" and based on what I read, she gets it! She sees how trauma causes depression, separation anxiety and anti-social, often violent behavior. Look, I know people don't want to be compared to animals, but I challenge you to read the essay and NOT find the distinct similarities, not only in the nature of the trauma, but in the response to it.

As I continued to watch, I thought I was losing my damn mind when the segment about paying 4th graders for good grades came on! I get the incentive thing, okay? And I even applaud Professor Fryar, who came from a crack-infested environment, trying to at least find a solution (Talk about pathology! Having a whole family of crack dealers might make one more inclined to understand the "dollar-bill" mentality - but in a legal way of course). I even agree wholeheartedly with his “meet people where they are approach.” To my mind, that is the only chance of getting through to anyone!

All that being said however, I just cannot believe I'm the only person concerned how this little, Black, poor, 4th grade boy is already equating his self-worth only to that dollar bill and what it can bring! Can I be the only person who saw how hard little man was working, trying to help his Dad keep them in their home only to be put out anyway? Can I be the only one cognizant of the lasting and damaging effects feeling helpless and not good enough can have on children? Not to mention fathers! Does nobody else see how our society is helping to perpetuate this cycle? I'm not mad at money, but isn't there something terribly askew here?

Even in the proud moments, I saw pain. The first thing Butch, the Little Rock superintendent wanted the cameras to get as they visited his office was the sign with his name on it saying he was the superintendent. He even said, “A lot of people wait a long time to get their name on a sign.” I don’t know about you, but that's not a lofty goal of mine. But that seemed more important than sharing what he'd been able to achieve in carrying on the legacy of the Little Rock Nine (but then again, after watching the documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine, I can see why he didn't want much made of that ).

Even as he talked about loving the view from his McMansion in that predominantly white, Little Rock suburb, the pain and anger of having white police question his even being in that neighborhood during the building of his home was evident. (That reminded me of an incident that happened when we put our Texas home, in an all-white neighborhood, up for sale. A white realtor brought a white prospective buyer to see the house while I was in the front yard gardening. She pulled into the driveway, came up to me and asked if she could speak to the owner. I said, "That'd be me and apparently my agent needs to emphasize that "By Appointment Only" stipulation in the listing." I have to admit, like Butch, I was pissed at her assumption, but I sure took great pleasure in debunking it!).

And again, more pain as he avoided the conversation about his middle son, who'd not followed in his prescribed, "I am somebody" footsteps - getting locked up, embarrassing his brother the prosecutor and the entire family. Of course there are kids who never get into any trouble (or never get caught!), but being a mother of two grown sons myself, I know that number is way less than some would have us believe. Yet when it comes to our children, perfection is demanded lest they draw the scorn of the larger society and the shame of their own people heaped upon them for making the same mistakes many children make in the course of growing up.

Our families are constantly measured against the white, "nuclear family" yardstick. And of course in the eyes of those who choose not to see, we'll always come up short - if for no other reason than the fact that, since the days of Kunte Kinte, someone else’s culture has informed what OUR families are supposed to look like, what OUR names should sound like, what OUR language should sound like, how WE should act, how WE should dress, what OUR hair should look like. Not only does the list go on and on, but the indoctrination continues. Really, how many of you have HOAs or Condo Associations to whom you PAY good money to tell you how to act like a grown-up in the house for which YOU ARE PAYING? How many of you have been turned down for jobs because of those dreads or braids? I know I can raise my hand to both of those! I swear, we seem to be the only minority for whom "ethnic cleansing" was 100% successful.

Unlike many people, I see all the huge occurrences in our community of single-parent households, increased HIV/AIDS cases, absentee fathers, disproportionate incarceration and drop-out rates among our youth as symptoms of much deeper, more pervasive problems which are rarely, if ever, addressed in any substantive way by anyone. Unless and until we truly begin to understand and seriously address the causation staring us all in the face, the symptoms will continue to destroy Black communities from within, while our lives continue to only be their “stories” without.

The rampant patriarchy in America only serves to further diminish our efforts to thrive as a people. And we not only have white men to thank for that, but Black men as well. I’m certainly sick and damn tired of whites constantly using Black single-mothers as whipping posts for the ills of this society, but trust me, I’ve also had my fill of people like Obama, the reverends Sharpton and Jackson, Bill Cosby, that Cosby-kid-by-marriage, Joseph C. Phillips and others jumping on that same bandwagon.

With the exception of Obama, I know the others should know better. Hell I’m a South Carolina girl from a large extended family held together by women, so I know Al and Jesse ought to know better! One of the most damning legacies of slavery is the resulting “village” kept together by Black women as their husbands, sons and fathers were sold off as chattel - or while they or their “girl chillun,”as my grandmother used to say, were left to be raped and brutalized undefended. Don’t talk to me about Black single mothers! Stop measuring my sisters against that white, “nuclear family” yardstick! I'm proud of the way our women have stepped up, stepped in and kept moving despite all the obstacles they’ve faced, so don't look for me to wield the overseer's lash.

Two parent families are great – if you have one. But unless both parents stand "whole" in who they are (and considering our PTSD, many do not, phenomenal financial success notwithstanding), abuse, neglect, abandonment and brokenness can be just as destructive in a two-parent home as in a single-parent home. Having a “man” in the house won’t change that.

In our discussion over at Sugar’s place, ea asked: "Is there any substantive or symbolic difference to a child who doesn't know his or her father whether money comes from him or from the state?" I answered, “Good question, but its answer is not a simple yes or no. I think there's a substantive, not symbolic difference to a child who doesn't know his/her father, but where the money comes from has little, if anything to do with it.” And I firmly believe that. To the kid, it’s not about the money, really it isn’t. It’s about filling that hole in his soul with love, acceptance and encouragement – no matter who’s giving it.

She went on to ask: “Is there some "vicious cycle" in which the lack of a parental male role model leads to more young men not having any notion of what it is to be responsible for anything, much less a child? If one suggests that answer to this question is the affirmative, does that mean that women are inadequate, or better, incomplete as roles models for male children?” To which I replied: “And my answer to your other question about the "vicious cycle" is also yes. But that doesn't mean women are inadequate role models for male children, just different - with different sensibilities (a reason a woman president would have been a great thing!). The noted paradigm however, requires that the socially acceptable, dyed-in-the-wool sensibilities of "men" be different than those under which most women operate.” I stand by that statement as well, because this is a both/and, not an either/or situation. We've got to consider the whole pot of greens, not just the neckbones!

I’d been invited to participate in an online/call-in discussion to be held after the special ended by a sister-blogger. I was interested in hearing the feedback and offering some of my own. Once we were all connected though, the call was hijacked by one of the most racist white men I’ve heard in a very long time. I cannot even repeat some of the things he said here, though I did record it to play for my husband when he gets back into town. Gotta to let him know his “post-racial” candidate’s still got a lot of work to do!

I was startled at my first gut feeling of rage mixed with pain. Immediately I felt like I’d been hurled back into mid-60s, early 70s South Carolina. It was a feeling of which I thought I’d long since disposed. But old wounds die hard. The moderator ended the call and everyone else hung up - but I didn’t. It took me a few seconds to get past the rage and pain, then I composed myself and calmly asked him, “Why are you so afraid?”

Peppered with "cunts", "bitches" and a lot of "niggers", he railed about how he hated us and was not afraid of us and we would see. After about a half-minute or so, I just laughed and told him, “It must really suck to be you with all that misdirected anger boiling in the pit of your stomach. I’m going to hang up now and you should really go and see somebody about that because it’ll kill you one day if you don’t. Bye-bye now!”

A “post-racial” society we are definitely not, don’t let Obama fool you. That caller is not alone, trust me. There are plenty angry, fearful, hateful people out there just like him and we would do well not to forget that. But, as we hold onto that thought, let’s not forget to hold onto each other and those who aren’t anything like him. Let’s purposefully acknowledge (apologies are nice but my grandmother always said, “It ain’t what you say, it’s what you do!”) and seriously address how we got to this place in all our lives. And please Lord! Let’s stop doing the same things and expecting different results - particularly since that’s not been working for any of us up to this point, if the truth be told.

PUMA, Just Say No Deal - "American Tank Man?"

Courtesy of my homegirl Sugar over at Sugar N Spice: Announcing: PUMA CONFERENCE 2008Marriott Wardman Hotel Washington, D.C. August 8 – 10, 2008 Dear PUMAs,

The 2008 PUMA Conference Committee is ready to ROAR with these incredible conference deals! For the amazing (and we mean that sincerely) price of $250, you will receive the following:

• Lodging at a FIVE STAR hotel – the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. for THREE nights (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)
• Breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.
• Lunch on Saturday.
• AND it also includes the price of the conference itself.

Mind boggling, crazy good isn’t it?

Registration opened (Sun., July 20th) at 12noon PST at: http://www.pumaconference08.com/

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

After the first 250 people register at the $250 price, IT IS GONE. As we are under tight time constraints with the hotel for numbers and commitment at this time, once you register there will be NO refunds. (Please reread that sentence before you register.)

1. 1. YES we have a registration offer if you’re local or not planning to stay at the hotel. If you would like to attend without the hotel room, the price is $150 (or if you aren’t one of the first 250 to register).
2. YES we welcome vendors. If you would like to have a “vendor table,” you may do so (we reserve the right to determine if your organization is a good fit). We have 30 slots open for $100 per table.
3. YES we need sponsors. If you’re interested, please email us immediately at PUMAConference@yahoo.com.
4. YES you will have an opportunity to volunteer – you can do so during the registration process.
5. YES we are still working on how folks can participate via the internet and radio. Details will follow late next week.

Email us with any questions at pumaconference@yahoo.com

READY? So are we! Meet you in D.C!

PUMA Conference Committee Will Bower & Deb Barnes/PUMA

Felt it was my duty to spread the word!

JibJab's - Time for Some Campaignin' - Hilarious!!!

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Forget satirical cover, Lizza's column is what should concern residents of ObamaWorld

Main Entry: sat·ire

1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly
I just want to sit that definition right up there as I write this, just to remind myself that -- I'm not losing my damn mind along with everybody else today!!

Here I was thinking, "Now you know they're wrong for that. They didn't have to slam the "bitters" or the Republicans that hard!"

In that quirky little way I have of looking at oh, I don't know - SATIRE, I saw them encapsulating all the things people seem to fear about the Obamas and skewering them as "issues" Americans maybe shouldn't be so worried about. You know, all those "issues" that keep popping up, forcing that instant and routine as of late, "chuck-you-under-that-big-ole bus" reaction. You remember those don't you?

I said to myself, "Self, now you know ObamaWorld is not going to find this funny - at all." They're going to see it as a full-scale attack!" I started ticking off in my head a list of the things I was sure would occur as a result of this cover:

1. A whole lot of angry, divisive comments from Obama supporters, threatening to cancel their subscriptions to The New Yorker, berating the magazine and the artist with so many, "How could you do such a things?"
2. A whole lot of schadenfreude, accompanied by anything from low snickers, to people rolling on the floor laughing, particularly from Democrats who don't support Obama and Republicans who, well, don't support Obama.
3. A decidedly indignant, "no-chuckle-here," official victim statement from Camp Obama (Jeez! didn't The New Yorker know that it's absolute sacrilege to think, say, write or draw anything other than that which has been rubber-stamped by Camp Obama?!)
4. A quick "It wasn't me" official statement from the McCain camp (though I'm sure they danced a little jig when they got their first glimpse of it!)
5. Pundits and surrogates on the left, pundits and surrogates on the right, all of them trying to convince us that their realities should be our own

I was right and then some. Commenters everywhere are a little bit warm today. This, from a HuffPo reactionary:

"It is not satire, satire takes the TRUTH and shows an extreme absurdity of that truth.You have taken a MISCONCEPTION and tried to show it as an absurd truth."

O-o-okay! I really do get the first part of this, the second part - not so much. The "truth" in the cover is the way a lot of people think about who the Obamas are. Those ARE their truths. The artist has no misconception about that. Thanks to the mainstream media, talk radio and the blogosphere, we've all been inundated with these um, - "issues." Would that one and all had been so rabid about say-y-y FISA? NAFTA? Iraq? Campaign financing? The death penalty? Abortion? Grove Parc Plaza? But I digress. Look, this is just my pea-brained opinion but, this cover is not about the Obamas!

And this from an L.A. Times commenter absolutely basking in his schadenfreude:

"Beyond funny. I laughed out loud. After Sen. Obama's spineless performance this week... this strikes me as quite mild. He should be on the cover as the coward he is. That vote this week took away any consideration many democrats had for him being a " man of his word ". He should be a wolf on the cover hiding under sheep's clothing would be a more accurate depiction of the Sen. who spins and spins and rarely keeps his word or votes with the integrity he so vigorously defends."

Another HuffPo knee-jerker shared this rant:

"As of today, we have cancelled our New Yorker subscription. Although we get the purported irony of your Obama cover, we find that it completely crosses the line into outrageous prejudice and bigotry weakly disguised as a spoof. It's offensive, but our decision to cancel after decades as New Yorker subscribers is because your cover wantonly and irresponsibly fuels a malevolent ignorance with imagery that can easily be taken out of your ironic context..."

Now to whose "malevolent ignorance" might she be referring? Oh-h-h, I get it. It's okay to insult and demean others just as long as you don't even give the appearance of either questioning or insulting Sen. Obama. Too bad his supporters never believed in such reciprocity.

Nico Pitney, over at The Huffington Post, shared this email exchange about the new cover he had with the artist, Barry Blitt. In his update, he provided these other covers by Blitt:


I guess these can be considered satire since they have nothing to do with how people feel about the Anointed One. Let's be clear. Of course, the cover can be interpreted more than one way. But doesn't that depend on the lens through which one views it? And I know Sen. Obama has a little issue with the 4th Amendment, but doesn't the 1st Amendment protect The New Yorker's right to publish the cover?
Now I can understand how his frenzied flock might see this as a potential threat to the Big Coronation.

No really! Think about it. If all you had was a selected nominee, with a tenuous resume and an egocentric, calculating agenda, accompanied by a penchant for shifting positons and people upon which his support was built, surrounded by power-hungry handlers who will say or do most anything to get what they believe to be their marionette into the Burning House, you might be a little frenzied too!

What I really found interesting and connective to the cover, in my little pea-brain, is the piece inside - "Making It, How Chicago shaped Obama" - by Ryan Lizza. Instead of worrying about the obvious absurdities portrayed on the cover, residents of ObamaWorld might just want to be a little more concerned about how Mr. Lizza’s factual account has ripped off that crazy “Change You Can Believe In” mask their guy’s been wearing for more than a year now, exposing the typical, inside-the-Beltway/Chicago-style politician that is the senator from Illinois.

In my “No permanent friends, no permanent enemies…” post back in April, I linked to Skeptical Brotha’s, "Barack's Betrayal" post which offers an excellent account of the ties that bind the Changeling to the Daley machine and the politics as usual against which he’s been so vehemently campaigning. It is a stinging indictment by a brother who pulled no punches and definitely worth a
read.

And you Obama supporters, calm the hell down please. His road to the Burning House has been so carefully and cunningly greased that I'm certain, nothing short of him getting up on TV and cussing everybody out will keep him from sliding right on in there - particularly since most of America seems asleep at the wheel. And again, there aren’t racists around every damn corner looking to cold-cock your guy. And if there are - you’ve been living with them all along with nary a peep of this righteous indignation.

"Because So-and-So did it."

I'm just politically spent. For a couple days now, I've just been sitting - in silence. I'm worn out by the hypocrisy of the "game." And make no mistake, it is all a damn game - one in which "we the people" are merely pawns. I clicked through my links, lurking, just to see who was saying what. I came across two posts that moved me to comment. This one, "Go Sit Down Somewhere" at Cliff's Crib about indicted Congressman William Jefferson's plan to run again as well as the indictment of his kinfolk was not only hilarious in its observations, but dead-on. Read this post when you get a chance. Here's part of my comment: "Cliff...I don't know man, it seems the sole purpose for our doing better in this country is so that we can mimic the Burning House rather than transform it. I expected better, but that's on me. I'm so tired of hearing, "They did it, why can't we?" as if that makes it alright. Those of us who teach our children right from wrong when they're little, appear hypocrites once they're grown because all around them they hear the adults saying shit children always say when parents ask, "Why did you do that?" - "Because So-and-So did it." In a weird show of "solidarity" (pretty sad isn't it that this is what we two Black people share?), I gave him a link to a similar story from my home state of South Carolina regarding House Majority Whip, Rep. James Clyburn. Sad, sad, sad. Appears, some of us are who they thought we were. The other, with which I'd like to leave you, was this one at Sugar-N-Spice entitled, "We Are." Man! That video of Sweet Honey in the Rock coupled with Sugar's words were soul-stirring, uplifting and - the truth! (h/t to Sugar for this beautiful find!):