Iowa GOP Baulk at Palin Speaking Fee

An Iowa conservative group is struggling to raise Sarah Palin's $100,000 speaking fee. Why anyone would spend that kind of money to listen to Palin's ungrammatical drivel is beyond me. I have to wonder if all these speaking fees and book deals don't make her look money hungry? Palin cannot seriously be considered as a candidate for president in 2012. She is a velcro candidate. Instead of scandals bouncing off her, they stick to her. She has a scandal a week, first it was the pregnant, unwed daughter, who was against abstinence and then for it, now it's her daughter's baby daddy, who can't keep his mouth shut. Does the GOP really needs this? Democrats are hoping she gets the ticket.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28873.html

poll by twiigs.com

Glenn Beck's PR Rep is a Dem

The Washington Post is reporting that Glen Beck's PR rep is Matt Hitzlik, is a long-time Democratic operative who worked on Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign. PR is a business, and PR reps often have to take on clients that who don't agree with it. I think the real hypocrite here is Beck, who sends a check to a liberal, who belongs to a group he claims to despise. This goes to show that Beck's nightly conspiracy rants are all an act. It's all about the benjamins and he will do business with whoever makes him money. For all your Beck fans, do you think a man who makes $27 million really cares about what ordinary people are going through?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102704010.html

poll by twiigs.com

NY Times Chief Compares Newspaper Biz To Titanic

So now would not be a good time to get into the print journalism business? New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. says that print journalism is an anachronism, and needs to adapt to the changing media world. He says that people will still require news, but the medium will not necessarily be on paper.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/10/times_publisher_arthur_sulzber.html

poll by twiigs.com

The Black Elephant in the Room

By G.A. Afolabi

Potter Stewart, an associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, made this now famous remark in a case about pornography: "I know it when I see it." One could say that Black people could also use the same phrase when talking about racism. Most Black people have been dealing with racism since the day they came into the world and their parents were dealing with it long before they were born. We are experts on racism. The mercurial comedian Dave Chappelle once said he was a connoisseur of racism.

So for Black people it's obvious what is behind the white-hot (no pun intended) hatred directed at President Barack Obama, the first African-American to occupy the White House. Obama's election was a shining moment for America, a moment when many American believed we had moved beyond our national obsession with skin color. However some of the older members of the Black community, who have been battling racial injustice for the entire 20th century, probably knew that this monster would not disappear overnight. Many Black seniors, who lived through an age where leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were cut down by assassins, suggested that it was suicide for Obama to even consider running for president.

Like President Bill Clinton, Barack Obama was always going to face stiff opposition to his administration. During the Clinton years, a huge right-wing media machine had grown up and harnessed the frustrations of angry, white men. FOX News, spawned during the Clinton years, has swelled into a media titan that is the no. 1-rated cable news channel, even though it's parrots GOP talking points and makes no attempt live up to it's comically ironic "fair and balanced" motto. In addition, eight years of a Republican-led White House convinced many conservatives that they would be in power forever.

However, the level of disrespect towards President Obama is still, at times, shocking. From congressman shouting insults, a 400 percent increase in death threats, and Conservatives who cheer loudly whenever the country fails, we are seeing new levels of animosity. As former President Jimmy Carter said, much of this is racially motivated.

Some of it stems from apathy towards his progressive policies, but even Bill Clinton, who was despised by the Right, didn't face this level of hatred. No one ever accused Bill Clinton of being an illegal alien. Of course being a white male with an Anglo Saxon last name, there was no way that Bill Clinton could ever be a foreigner. Clinton was also never accused of being a Muslim or being in league with a terrorist. For all of Clinton's flaws, at least he was one of them; white, male, Protestant and a Southerner to boot. I suspect much of the animosity towards Clinton was based on his policies and the fact that he not a member of America's social elite. For many white people Barack Obama has too many factors working against him, he doesn't look like them, he has a "foreign-sounding" last name and his father was born a Muslim, but later became an atheist.

Just because we don't see anti-Obama protestors using the n-word it doesn't mean they are not racists. 21st century racism has morphed into a new beast which is not as blatant as it was in the 1960s. Describing how Republicans have adopted code words to mask racism, Lee Atwater, the GOP operative who came up with the infamous Willie Horton ad, said, "By 1968 you can't say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites."

The media has twisted itself into knots to avoid stating the obvious, that there are still many Americans who are uncomfortable with the idea of a Black man in charge of the country. Instead of looking at the obvious signs -- Obama as a witch doctor, puppets of Obama as a monkey, and signs saying Obama plans to institute white slavery, they still seem to be intent on denying the evidence staring them in the face. I think much of the media's hesitance to address this elephant in the room stems from the fact the blatant racism is now out of fashion. Many Americans are embarrassed that some of their fellow citizens still harbor bigoted views towards black people. To talk about it would be to admit that we have a problem, but like an embarrassing drunk uncle, it's easier to pretend it's not there.

Obama haters have been egged on by race baiters such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, who between them seem to come up with a new racial insult every week. Limbaugh has a two-decade history of making racial jokes, but some of his more recent moments of hilarity include claiming that in Barack Obama's America, "white kids get beaten up on the bus while Black kids cheer." (The police report from this incident stated that the assault had no racial implications.) Limbaugh later topped this by calling for a return to segregated buses.

Beck, who's conspiracy-laden show falls somewhere between pantomime and bad televangelism, is still smarting from losing more than 80 advertisers for calling the president, who is biracial and was raised by white grandparents, a racist, "who had a deep animosity towards white culture." Beck couldn't explain what "white culture" was when pressed by Katie Couric.

Liberals may laugh at this garbage, but many of the people who listen to Beck and Limbaugh believe that they are telling the gospel truth. Some of the marchers at the recent Tea Party rally in DC said they were "educated" by Glenn Beck. In an interview on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," Tea Party leader Mark Williams has described Obama as an "Indonesian Muslim Welfare Thug" and "racist in chief."

For Black people race baiting and hate speech, are all too familiar tactics. Most Black people have dealt with the same kind of problems whenever they have tried to break the color barrier at work, in housing or in education. They have faced people questioning their qualifications, hostile co-workers and neighbors, and out right threats of violence.

When I was a child, my parents would keep me inside when the local white supremacist group held its annual march through town. I remember getting harshly scolded because I wanted to go and play in the front yard. At the time I couldn't understand why my parents were so concerned for my safety. My nine-year-old mind could not comprehend that someone might try to kill me for simply existing. Maybe that is the tragedy of the black life experience, knowing that there are people who want to do harm to you for no doing of your own.

I remember some of the signs those white supremacists used to hold featured slogans such as "Go back to Africa." Interestingly enough those are the same kinds of comments you see on right-wing message boards and at the Tea Bag march, so 20 years on we're still dealing with the same BS. (You would think that they would have come up with some new insults by now.) One of my Facebook friends is a Black Conservative who was banned from a Sean Hannity web site because he complained about the hateful postings about Barack Obama. How much more evidence does the media need?

poll by twiigs.com

Foamers, Birthers and Tea baggers

Obama Haters Want to Re-fight the Civil War, Civil Rights Movement

By G.A. Afolabi

When America elected Sen. Barack Obama as president many people thought the monster of racism has finally be slain. But like a horror movie villain, racism is proving a hard creature to kill. Like South Africa, which is still struggling to overcome its racial past, America is not going to become Kumbayaland over night.

The events of the last few weeks show that there is still a lot of work to do when it comes to racial equality. The last two weeks saw parents pulling their kids out of school to avoid hearing the president's speech, Rep. Joe Wilson calling the president a liar during his speech to Congress, and thousands of right wingers marching on Washington holding signs with statements such as "Diversity is a Disease."

Race seems to be the elephant in the room that many Americans simply refuse to deal with. But as Sherlock Holmes said, when you have elimnated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Obama is not the first liberal president. Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, all pursued liberal policies that encouraged government spending. Obama is not the first president to graduate from an Ivy League college or come from a law background. He is not the first president to have a gorgeous wife or young children in the White House. But the most evident factor that sets him apart from the previous 43 presidents is his race.

Obama's election has upset what many people thought was the natural order -- white people, mainly white men, in charge. The election of the nation's first African American president has also tapped into latent fears among White Americans about the changing nature of society. It's clear from some of the virulent hatred directed at Obama that many whites simply refuse to accept the idea that the most powerful man in the nation is Black. There was signs of this backlash during the 2008 Presidential campaign, where Gov. Sarah Palin whipped up angry mobs into a frenzy. Palin-led rallies, that produced death threats and accusations of Obama being everything from a Marxist to a Arab Muslim terrorist, saw the first emergence of "foamers", people so mad at the idea of a Black president that they are foaming at the mouth with rage. Attendees of pro-Palin rallies issued statements such as, "If he wins, the Blacks will take over." (Some of the protestors at the Tea-bagger march carried signs reading "Obama's Plan, White Slavery.")

But even after Obama's election it seems that a certain segment of the population has decided to not accept the natural order. In a democracy, the party that loses has to accept the winning party running the country for the next four years. But the far-right wing of the Republican party has spawned a movement of people who seem to believe that if they can't win the game, they are going to take the ball and go home. Since their candidate lost, they want to overturn the election or declare Obama illegitimate because he not really an American.

The noise from the right-wing media has been deafening since the presidential campaign, but also illuminating. Demagogues such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are turning frustrated White people, battered and bruised by a crumbling economy, into a frenzied mob. Beck has issued dire warnings about secret government detention camps -- without providing any information to back it up -- and has launched a crusade to rid the government of "secret Communists." He also said, "There is a coup going on ... it has been done under the guise of an election." (The twisted logic behind this statement is so erroneous, it would take an hour to point out all of the flaws. ) Also, conservatives from former Confederate states have threatened to start a second Civil War and Texas Gov. Ricky Perry flirted with the ideas of secession from the union.

If there was any doubt at the real anger behind birthers, deathers and the resurgent militia movement it can be cleared up when you look at the background of Rep. Joe Wilson, who became infamous for his heckling of the president. Wilson is a protege of the infamous Sen. Strom Thurmond, who made his reputation as segregationist in the Old South. Thurmond, ran for president on the pro-segregation ticket, but his reputation was severely dented when his half-Black daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, came forward after his death. Wilson, ever the Southern gentleman, accused Thurmond's mixed-race daughter of lying about her parentage. (Her claim was later proven to be true.) I guess he simply couldn't believe that his mentor, who had built his reputation on hating Black people, could actually have Black people in his family. Wilson is also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization that honors soldiers who fought in a war that was designed to keep Black people as chattel. Considering these facts, it's not difficult to imagine that the idea of Black person sitting in the White House and lecturing Congress, could cause people like Wilson to lose it. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd writes, "Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a Black man is president and will never accept it."

Segregationists and modern-day racists base their ideas on the fallacy that Black people are intellectually inferior to white people and should never be allowed to be put in positions of authority. The hatred directed at Obama is not just political, it's racial. It comes from people who are scared about an inevitable future where white people will be the minority taking orders from a Black, Latino or Asian person.

These attitudes are excellenty highlighted in the documentary, "Right Nation: Feeling Wronged," directed by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. In the movie, shot in 2008, Alexandra Pelosi interviews McCain-Palin supporters about their views on Candidate Obama. One Mississippi resident says that he is simply not ready for an African American president. So more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and about 50 years after the Voting Rights Act, we still have large segments of this country who refuse to accept African Americans as full American citizens. In the words of Candidate Obama, "If not now, when?"

poll by twiigs.com

Failing Palin

Sarah Palin

Resignation Shows Alaska Governor Can’t Handle the Heat

By G.A. Afolabi

There is one thing you can say about Sarah Palin’s bumpy political career is that it is never uneventful. Palin recently announced her resignation in a breathy and hurried speech in which she quoted everyone from Gen. Douglas McArthur to a refrigerator magnet. Palin took particular pains to lambaste the mean-old, liberal media, who had the audacity to actually investigate her past. If Sen. John McCain had done a better job of investigating her past, he might have won the presidency.

In spite of her scandals, and lack of intellectual depth, many Republicans saw Sarah Palin as the great white hope, who was going to rescue the nation from the evil clutches of the Communist, Muslim, Anti-Christ called Barack Obama. Towards the end of the McCain-Palin administration, the tail was literally wagging the dog and it was clear that Palin’s star power was outshining McCain.

Palin had the audacity to ask McCain if she could give a concession speech, after the wheels finally came off their rickety campaign – even though a vice presidential candidate has never given a concession speech. The fact that Palin was still seen as a serious candidate, after literally sinking the McCain candidacy, didn’t seem to deter Conservatives. Maybe they saw Palin as a cipher, who was so dazzled at the idea of being a national celebrity, that she could be lead around by the nose, while the real GOP bosses created policy. Maybe they saw her as a fall gal, who could take the blame if the country collapsed under another disastrous Republican presidency. I think a lot of Republicans were thinking with their dicks. If Palin looked like Rosie O’Donnell, I am sure they would not have been as enthusiastic about her.

As we all know, Palin proved to the final lead balloon that sunk the McCain presidency. Unfortunately, she didn’t quietly return to her artic homeland. Faced with a collection of less than stellar GOP presidential candidates, Palin stood out. It also appeared that she enjoyed the national spotlight, the multiple TV interviews and the adoring crowds. (What were those people smoking?)

But Palin’s brief moment in the national spotlight has only highlighted her flaws. One of the strong points of the McCain campaign, was the senator’s experience in the Navy, and both the House of Representatives and the Senate. But then he appointed a novice, whose record reads, served as mayor of a town of less than 5,000 people, and less than one term as governor of one of the smallest states in the union.

Candidate Palin has several other problems:

• She is an outsider, and that works against her. As much as the GOP has tried to paint itself as the party of Joe Sixpack, it is still dominated by wealthy, white men and their interests. The Republican Party has always been geared towards Country Club types, and it still is. However several years ago, they figured out that by blending racism, religion and homophobia into their message, they could appeal to the middle class and blue-collar people, their policies were screwing over. Palin came from that stock, and falsely believed her religious views and conservative social leanings, could get her into the country club. However the backlash from unnamed McCain campaign sources, shows that the GOP still see her as the poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Mitt Romney, for all of his strange religious views, is more welcome than the Evangelical Palin. After all he is man, and he is old money, unlike the self-styled blue-collar Palins. Even George W. Bush for all of his Cowboy bluster, was a third-generation blue blood.
• Palin is shallow, and it shows. It is still a mystery why the McCain campaign selected her for the second most powerful job in the world. Political pundits claim Palin’s selection was an attempt to look more attractive to the conservative wing of the GOP – the one’s who think dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark and Global Warming is a myth. Her academic background is far from stellar and she had not shown great business or political acumen before she was tapped to join the McCain campaign. Her disastrous appearances in softball interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson reinforced her lack of knowledge. If she couldn’t handle simply questions like what newspapers does she read, how would she handle hard-hitting interviews from veteran reporters with media organizations like “60 Minutes” and “The Washington Post?”
• Palin has more skeletons in her closet than a morgue. One wonders if the McCain campaign vetted her at all? Isn’t the whole process of vetting supposed to mean going through a candidate’s past with a fine-tooth comb to find any potential scandals? But with Palin, the scandals came so thick and fast you could barely keep up with them. There was the baby incident, the pregnant teenage daughter, the on-going feud with her common-law in laws, the state trooper firing and several ethics charges.

But most troubling of all is Palin’s demeanor and emotional state. Women candidate

have it hard anyway. If they act tough, they are too manly, or accused of being lesbians, and if they show their feminine side, they are accused of being too emotional. Palin has failed on both levels, but her erratic behavior and whiny nature plays into the stereotype of women being unfit for leadership.

I have worked for a government organization headed by a woman, and one thing that I gathered about male legislators, is they hate to hear whining. Whining is that most un-male of qualities. Most men’s attitude is “I got problems, and I don’t want to hear about yours.” Palin needs to realize that if you want to play with the big boys, you got to learn to take your lumps. However, she complained about the media, GOP operatives, the Washington establishment, and anyone else who dared to ask critical questions.

Get over it Sarah. Politics is a bruising, down and dirty business. Learn to deal with it, or stick to the lecture circuit. You are not the first political candidate to be grilled by the media, lampooned, or put under the microscope. Barack Obama was called everything from a Satanist to a homosexual. He had a record number of death threats and his friends, family and wife were all put through the wringer. The press was particularly brutal to Bill Clinton, and, when the media finally regained their balls, they also went after George W. Bush. Complaining about the media, is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. The more you complain, the more ammunition you give them.

If you can’t deal with a few months of campaigning, how are you going to deal with

four years in the White House? Maybe Palin did us all a favor by resigning and showing her true colors. We’ve seen her resume and audition tape, no it’s up to us to decide whether we give her the job.

ck Click here http://tinyurl.com/pcasch to submit your email to get a black MacBook Air. The thinnest notebook is even thinner in black! US only!here http://tinyurl.com/lwxg9o find out how to make $250 to $873 working with T

Click here http://tinyurl.com/pcasch to submit your email to get a black MacBook Air. The thinnest notebook is even thinner in black! US only!

poll by twiigs.com

The End of the GOP?

Republicans are still appealing to white males, even as Latino political might grows.
It has been said that one should not revel in the travails of others, but it’s hard to not to smirk at the current plight of the Republican Party. After all this was the same GOP that dragged us into two wars, sanctioned tortured and played a large part in the current financial mess. In addition, the GOP made an unholy alliance with Christian zealots to push “family values” down the nation’s throat, all the while harboring a large number of closeted gays within its ranks.

http://newsflavor.com/opinions/the-end-of-the-gop/