While the mainstream media seems to fueling the story that the Democrats are in trouble, the Republicans are not exactly in great shape either. The recent CPAC poll shows the lack of viable Republican candidates for 2012. Rep. Ron Paul, a fan of the libertarian crowd, was the surprise winner of the poll, but he comes with all kinds of baggage.
Ron Paul, and his family, have been linked to racial scandals on at least three occasions. The latest thing I discovered was a picture of Paul arm-in-arm with Derek Black, a second generation white separatist, who ran for a GOP post in Florida. There is a saying from Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger," "Once is pure chance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action." So according to Paul's track record and the company he keeps, it seems clear where he stands.
The other candidate that conservatives are excited about is former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the genius behind the Contract on America and impeachment of President Bill Clinton. When the smoke from the impeachment, cleared Gingrich and his replacement Rep. Dan Burton were both out of a job, and Clinton was still in office.
Gingrich, who has formed a PAC, also has a pretty messy personal life. He is currently on his third wife, and was having oral sex with a staffer, while he was trying to get Bill Clinton fired for the same thing. (He did this so he could claim that he was not extra martial intercourse.) Gingrich may believe that he washed away his sins by converting to Catholicism and confessing to Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, but I doubt if the media will be as forgiving.
The best candidate seems to be Mitt Romney, but he failed to capture the nomination last time. And with the Republican party currently being hijacked by the far right, I doubt if Romney or Paul could get elected. There is always the wild card Sarah Palin, but that seems to be more of a media story than anything else. Palin's poll numbers are abysmal, and she is too far right to win over moderate parts of the country.
It also seems that Republicans are beginning to cotton onto the fact that Palin is shallow. Bill O'Reilly recently said she needs to go back to "political college," and Jeb Bush said GOP candidates need to show "more intellectual curiosity." Who do you think he was referring to?
I am sure Republicans who accidentally stumble across this blog may think I am deliberately running stories to make them look racially insensitive. All I can say is, I just report the news, I don't create it. Which brings me to this rather shocking story.
Derek Black, the son of a former KKK grand wizard, is suing the Palm Beach County Republican Party for a seat on their Executive Committee. Black won 60 percent of the vote in a primary and is demanding to be seated. The local Republican party, shocked at the election results, apparently barred Black from taking his seat. Local Republican officials claim that Black refused to sign a loyalty oath.
There are so many problems with this story. Firstly, how did a self-avowed white separatist win 60 percent of the vote? And if he won the vote, he should be seated. The problem is the local GOP realize that Black is an embarrassment, but shouldn't someone have vetted him before he ran? I guess Republicans have not learned from the Palin debacle.
Black, who is a wonderkid in white supermacist circles, likes to bill himself as an advocate of "white pride." Like many white supermacists, he is trying to market himself as telegenic, Conservative who wants to show pride in his European heritiage. But look at Black's geneology. His father is a former Klansman and the founder of Stormfront, the granddaddy of online hate sites, and his mother was formerly married to David Duke!
It's disturbing that former and current white supremacists keep popping up in the GOP. Rep. Ron Paul's son Rand, was brushed with scandal after it was revealed that a Senate campaign worker posted racist messages on his MySpace page. Ron Paul (above left) himself has also been dogged by accusations of racially offensive messages in a newsletter he used to run. But judging by the rhetoric that is coming out of the Republican Party, most white supermacists would probably fit right in.
A few days ago I had an interesting conversation with my cousin about the state of race relations in the age of Obama. My cousin said,"Things are getting better, but the people who have a problem with black people are getting worse." To further illustrate his story, he told me about one of his friends, a white lady, whose daughter used to play regularly with a friend, who was also white. One day, one of the girls discovered that her friend stopped showing up for playdates. Her mother went to the other mom and asked why. The answer: "You voted for Obama.
This story is all the more poignant considering the recent wing-nut fest that was CPAC, which "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart described as the "Festival of Whites." Glenn Beck got on stage and put on the same nightly carnival show he does on FOX News. One thing he did say that was correct was suggesting that the GOP needs to admit it has a problem. Beck said the problem was spending, but the real problem is race.
Race is a frustrating problem in America, because it tends to attract polar opposite opinions. Black people are often aggrieved about their situation, while white people seem to be in deep denial that there is a problem. A common excuse is,"I didn't own any slaves." But that is a simplistic answer, slavery was outlawed about a 100 years ago, but there are several pressing problems affecting African Americans and other people of color.
You may not have owned slaves, but what did you do when the police were torturing and executing black men? What did you do when black men were being locked up for crimes they didn't commit? And what did you do when banks were steering people of color, with good credit, into high-interest loans?
As my cousin said there are many people who are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of a black president. They feel their old world, of white male privilege and a comfortable middle class lifestyle, is slipping away. To them Obama is the John the Baptist of the Apocalypse, the harbinger of the destruction of White America as they know it. The clearest evidence of this was seen when Obama decided to hold his impromptu Q and A session with House Republicans. Obama answered, deflected and parried their questions with aplomb, and all the while you got the impression, that this smart, articulate and knowledgeable black man, was driving them crazy.
Black people may have dominated in sports and entertainment, but in the fields of business and politics, white men still ruled the roost. Obama spells the end of that. I am sure a lot of older white men are worried that Corporate America is soon going to end up looking like the the NBA, with their grandchildren only allowed to play bit parts.
The extreme wing of the Republican party realizes this and that is why with the aid of their propaganda department, also known as FOX News, they are trying to whip white rage into a frenzy. Blue collar and middle-class Americans have a lot to be angry about, with chronic unemployment and the near collapse of the financial market. However FOX News is channeling that anger into rage at the Obama administration, when it was the Bush administration's tax cuts to the rich and unfunded foreign wars that largely caused the problem. Joe Stack, a frustrated computer programmer, was so angry that he flew a plane into an IRS building in Austin, killing one worker. And even after this apparent incident of domestic terrorism, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) still said, that he emphathized with Stack and urged listerners to "implode" more IRS buildings.
This deadly mix of rage and frustration is being stoked by the conservative triumvirate of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
American Talkers recently named Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity, respectively, as the top three most influential talk show hosts in America. All three commentators are infamous for their barely-masked racial animosity. They won't come out and say they hate black people and don't think Obama should be president, but they'll use a series of code words and sleights to convey their message.
Limbaugh is fond of using words like "uppity," and "arrogant," which were used in Jim Crow times to describe black who didn't know their place. Hannity simply employs hired minstrels like Jesse Lee Patterson to say the things that any white host would be fired for mentioning.
These hate mongers understand the fears of their AM radio audience. Rush Limbaugh recently said the only reason why Obama made it through Harvard Law school is because his professors wrote his papers for him. This taps into the anger that many white Americans have about affirmative action. There is nothing worse you can call a black employee than an affirmative action hire. Limbaugh topped that by recently comparing Obama's health care legislation to reparations. (Funny how those "reparations" will benefit a lot of non-black people.) Limbaugh also said that Obama is a "primitive, indigenous guy." This is highly ironic because Obama is a graduate of Harvard Law school, while Limbaugh dropped out college in his freshman year. (Hannity and Beck are also college drop outs.)
I am not the only person concerned about the rage that is being nurtured by the right. Dr. Sherman Miller, a columnist and long-time Republican activist from Delaware, describes Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity as America's racist trinity of evilwho are "perpetuating a media lynching of President Barack Obama." Additionally, former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said that right-wing bloggers urged him to physically attack First Lady Michelle Obama when she was a guest on his show. Huckabee said he was "disgusted by the anger and meanness."
Limbaugh and co. have said that they want Obama and his policies to fail, and they will use every weapon in their arsenal to stop him -- even if that means lies, smears and encouraging violence.
I have said it before, and I will say it again FOX News is propaganda. They are not in the news business, they are in the truth creation business. FOX News' goal is to keep people ignorant of the truth, and keep them believing the Republican version of reality. And in that world, the Democrats are responsible for the deficit, Obama wants to ruin the country and there were no terrorist attacks under George W. Bush.
Don't believe the hype. FOX News operates under one of the classic principles of propaganda. That is repeat the lie over and over again, until people believe it's true. Unfortunately, it seems to be working, as many Americans frustrated with the slow economy are threatening to vote out the party in power. But here are some facts. And remember, I am a poor blogger who is not being supported by any commercial interests. I have no corporate master's telling me what to write about, or what not to write about.
The Stimulus Worked. Contrary to what some sections of the media are reporting, the economy is turning around slowly and the Stimulus plan actually worked. Some economists like Paul Krugman say the Stimulus Bill, which totalled around $800 billion, was not extensive enough. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Stimulus created 2.1 million jobs. Without the Stimulus unemployment would have been about 11 percent. Economists from the National Association of Business Economics predict the economy will grow by 3.1 percent this year. Some economists have claimed that without government intervention we would have been looking at 30 percent unemployment. And you can only imagine the type of anarchy that would have been unleashed with statistics like that!
Obama is successfully waging the war in Afghanistan. Former VP Dick Cheney may get on TV every Sunday to complain about the war in Afghanistan, but the experts on the ground have a different view. Obama has successfully refocused the military's energies on Afghanistan and the man who was behind 9-11. A Daily Beast article lays out the successes against Al-Queda by pointing out how they are now resorting to sending confused men with bombs in their pants to the attack the U.S. Less than 10 years ago, they managed to coordinate a four-pronged attack, that knocked down the Twin Towers and damaged the Pentagon. Some Bush officials have actually complained that Obama is killing too many terrorists!
Prosecuting terrorists in court and not torturing them works. Before we thought that most terrorists were wild-eyed fanatics who wouldn't talk even if their feet were literally held to the fire. The truth is a little different. American interrogators have gotten terrorists to talk by using tried and true techniques like negotiating and exploiting family ties. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian underwear bomber, is alleged to be cooperating with authorities after his family was flown to the United States. American resident Najibulah Zazi, a terrorist who was captured attempting to bomb the New York subway system, has also proved to be a wealth of information, after cutting deals with prosecutors to avoid prosecuting his parents.
So Obama is turning around the economy and successfully killing and prosecuting terrorists. Now if he could only get health care fixed ... Of course the Republicans are pretty much voting down all of Obama's legislation, even the Jobs bill, which would help put Americans back to work. Okla. Sen. Tom Coburn said that Republican like gridlock, because it prevents anything from getting done. And Rush Limbaugh, the unofficial leader of the GOP, has said that he wants Obama to fail. These are the same people who applauded when Chicago didn't get the Olympics. So voters please remember this when November comes around and when you are looking at your empty 401k. The GOP has shown you where they stand, now it's up to you to show them where you stand.
Van Jones' real title was Special Advisor for Green Jobs.
But the media dubbed him Green Jobs Czar
The next time some brain-dead Tea Bagger says there are "more czars in the Obama administration than in the Soviet Union," please point them towards this article.
They are wrong on two levels. Firstly, THERE ARE NO CZARS in the Obama administration. There have never been any czars in any administration. The term "czar" is a media phrase used to describe a White House special adviser who is assigned to oversee a certain policy area. Van Jones, was the erstwhile green jobs czar. Richard Clarke, author of "Your Country Failed You," was "counter terrorism czar" under three presidents, including both Bushes and Bill Clinton. Clarke's real title was National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism. (Try fitting that on a business card.)
Jones' full title was Special Adviser for Green Jobs. However the media decided that green czar was easy to write and also sounded snappier. According to a Time magazine article most czars do not have any budgetary control, or real power. Of course it is easier for FOX News viewers to believe the lie, than actually do the research, which took me all of 30 minutes.
In addition, there were no czars in the Soviet Union. The last Tsar, Nicholas II, was killed in 1918 during the Russian Revolution. The Soviet Union was officially formed in 1922.
Please share this with all your friends so we can put this to rest.
Sometimes I wish I was not always right. About two years ago when the American people finally came to the realization that George W. Bush had really screwed up the economy, I told a close friend that we would probably see an uptick in violence.
I suggested that white people, stripped of their homes, SUVs and Eddie Bauer clothing, would lash out violently. Unlike black and Latino, and maybe even Asian people, many white people are not used to being broke. Being broke is nothing new to people of color, most of us are only one generation from the projects. Many of us grew up in the ghetto, went to college and got out. We still have family members who live in shady neighborhoods. And who has hasn't had to send money to kinfolk who have fallen on hard times?
But with white people it is not necessarily the same. I am not saying that all white people are rich. But poverty is less common among whites. Although this is changing as the American nuclear family crumbles. Rising divorce rates and out of wedlock birth rates mean we are seeing more white families struggling with poverty as women try to raise children on single incomes. Statistically there are more white people on welfare than black people.
However for many white people, we are talking about two or three generations of middle-class incomes. Maybe some of their grandparents remember the Great Depression, but their parents went to college, or had white-collar jobs. There are kids who get brand new cars on their 18th birthdays, trust funds and college tuition paid for. I once worked with a lady who was surprised that most people went into debt to pay for college.
The Great Recession has decimated the middle class. In fact we are seeing many people tumbling out of the middle class and into poverty. When homes are foreclosed those families may end up homeless or in shelters. Unlike people of color, white people often don't have close social networks. Black people always know they can bunk on their mama's couch, until they get on their feet. But many middle class white people, are estranged from their families and find it difficult or darn near impossible to ask for help.
So it's not surprising we are seeing more case like Joe Stack, who crashed a plane into the IRS building in Austin, Tx. This is one of many recent cases of domestic terrorism from angry white men. And with FOX News, the Tea Party movement and people calling for the execution of the the first black president, I fear it's only going to get worse.
The worse thing about the Tea Baggers movement is that it misdirected anger. Tea Party protesters say they are mad at legislation like the banking bailout, because it overlooks the little guy, and yet they are throwing their weight behind the party which has an even more corporate-friendly agenda than the Democrats.
Unfortunately, the powers that be have always used race and religion to misdirect the anger of blue-collar white people. Tea Baggers are mad at Barack Obama, but they really should be directing their anger at George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, whose disastrous policies wrecked the economy. Bush signed the banking bailout and was an advocate of the same kind of deregulation that caused the financial crisis in the first place. (Obama took money from Wall Street so he really isn't that much better.) Consider this small fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the final cost of the Iraq War will be about $2.4 trillion! (Where were the Tea Baggers was Bush was pushing his bill through Congress?), while the Stimulus bill, cost about $780 billion. So if we had not invaded Iraq we could have sunk that money into the American economy and prevented the Great Recession from ever happening! By the way, Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist, Princeton professor, and Noble prize winner, also agrees with this idea.
High Crimes Include Auto Bail Out, Health Care, Stimulus
You got birthers, tea baggers, and tenthers, now we need a name for conservatives who are calling for President Obama's impeachment. (Maybe we can call them "peachers?")
In this video from Think Progress, Caleb Heimlich, spokesman for the Impeach Obama campaign, explains why he thinks the president needs to be removed. He quotes Gerald Ford, who said that "anything is an impeachable offense." Actually what Ford said, was "an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."
Well since, the House is currently controlled by the Democrats, it is unlikely that they would pass a vote for an impeachment. You would have though that the Republicans would have learned from the last time they tried to impeach a Democrat. Obama is accused of high crimes like bailing out the auto companies, health care legislation, and the stimulus bill. (Although all three pieces of legislation were voted on by Congress, so they should also be held responsible.)
It ironic, that some Republicans want to impeach Obama who has been in office for about a year, yet they said nothing when the Bush-Cheney administration was committing high crimes such as war profiteering, torture and holding an American citizen without trial!
