He is furious.

By now everyone has heard of the latest wingnut manufactured scandal against his Oness. It's the one with the movie title: "Fast and Furious" I think they are calling it. This is where we are supposed to believe that a bunch of right wingnuts really give a s*&^ about a bunch of brown people South of the border who lost their lives because of a dumb scheme by the ATF to stop the flow of weapons into Mexico.

So anyway, they had a dog and pony show congressional hearing in Washington and the AG was called in front of a bunch of wingnut poli-tricksters so that they could score political points and maybe get on the news network for dummies later on.

Fortunately, Eric Holder did not roll over and play dead, (no pun intended) and he had a little something of his own to give back to his accusers.

 "During a hearing Thursday over the Fast and Furious scandal, Attorney General Eric Holder lit into GOP Congressman Raul Labrador, after he displayed slides depicting statements Holder made about President Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich.

“That was among the worst things I’ve ever seen in Congress” Holder scolded. “There’s a whole bunch of things that I could say about what you just did, maybe this is the way you do things in Idaho or wherever you’re from, but understand something — I‘m proud of the work that I’ve done as attorney general of the United States, and looked at fairly, I think that I’ve done a pretty good job.”

“Have I been perfect? No. Have I made mistakes? Yes,” Holder acknowledged. “Do I treat the members of this committee with respect? I always hope that I do. And what you have just done is if nothing else, disrespectful. And if you don‘t like me that’s one thing. You should respect the fact that I hold an office that is deserving of respect.”

“And you know, maybe you’re new to this committee, I don’t know, I don‘t know how long you’ve been here,” Holder continued. “But my hope would be that we can get beyond that kind of interaction, that kind of treatment of a witness whether it’s me or somebody else because I think what you just did was fundamentally unfair, just not right,” [Read & watch comments here]

That's right Mr. AG, we all know how they do things in Idaho. Besides, didn't this crap start under W? Why the outrage now?

Oh well this is how the [rignt]wingnut mind works. It is, after all, "politics season."

Finally, my man Rippa sent me a story from Memphis that I am still trying to figure out. I usually have no love for black republicans, not because they are black republicans, but because they usually become black republicans for all the wrong reasons. But there has to be some good ones out there, and if there are, I don't want them to be discouraged from getting into politics if they are going to do some good in our community.

So this story of the Memphis DJ who dissed a black congressional republican candidate has me a bit concerned. From the [right] wingnut accounts of things he seemed to be a bit rough on this lady.

Now she is all over [right] wingnut sites as this poor sympathetic figure who the evil black man picked on.

I need my fam in Memphis to give me more on this one.

Not so exceptional.

With all due respect to Don McLean and my A-merry-can friends, tomorrow will not be the anniversary of the day the music died. That happens to be May 11, 1981.

I just thought I would throw that out there before I start this post.

Anyway, I want to talk about A-merry-can exceptionalism tonight. Flipper has been talking about that a lot lately. He has been saying that if elected he will return A-merry-ca to what she was before this Socialist took office.  "The shining city on a hill" is what he likes to call it.  "I love this land, I love its Constitution, I revere its founders, I will restore those principles, I will get America back to work, and I'll make sure that we remain the shining city on the hill."

Excuse me Flipper, but maybe you should try to get out a little more. Apparently your money is the only thing that likes to travel to foreign lands.

If you insist at staying in A-merry-ca without trying to learn what is going on in the rest of the world, you might want to pick up the Washington Post and read what one of the smartest people in this country is saying about your "shining city". Take it away Fareed:

"Dear Mitt Romney,

Congratulations on Florida. Now that you are again the front-runner, and your campaign focus is returning to President Obama, I’d like to call attention to a line you have used repeatedly: “This is a president who fundamentally believes that this next century is the post-American century.” I leave it to the president to describe what he believes, but as the author of the book “The Post-American World,” let me make sure you know what exactly you are attacking.

“This is a book not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else,” I note at the very outset. I am optimistic about America, convinced that it can prosper in this new world and remain the most powerful country on the planet. But I argue that the age of American unipolarity — which began with the collapse of the Soviet Union — has ended. For a quarter-century after the collapse of communism, the United States dominated the world with no real political or economic competitors. Its ideas and its model — the Washington consensus — became received wisdom everywhere.

Today we are in a different era. In 1990, China represented 2 percent of global gross domestic product. It has quadrupled, to 8 percent, and is rising. By most estimates, China’s economy will become the world’s largest between 2016 and 2018.

This is not simply an economic story. China’s military capacity and reach are expanding. Since 2008 Chinese naval fleets have escorted more than 4,300 ships through the Gulf of Aden. Beijing’s defense spending is likely to surpass America’s by 2025. For its foreign policy activism, look on any continent: A gleaming new African Union headquarters was unveiled in Addis Ababa, Ethi­o­pia, last week. The $200 million-plus complex was financed by China and inaugurated by a high-ranking Politburo member, who arrived with a check for $94 million.
It is not just China that is rising. Emerging powers on every continent have achieved political stability and economic growth and are becoming active on the global stage. Twenty years ago Turkey was a fragile democracy, dominated by its army, that had a weak economy constantly in need of Western bailouts. Today, Turkey has a trillion-dollar economy that grew 6.6 percent last year. Since April 2009, Turkey has created 3.4 million jobs — more than the European Union, Russia and South Africa put together. That might explain Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s confidence and his country’s energetic foreign policy.
Look in this hemisphere: In 1990, Brazil was emerging from decades of dictatorship and was wracked by inflation rates that reached 3,000 percent. Its president was impeached in 1992. Today, the country is a stable democracy, steadily growing with foreign-exchange reserves of $350 billion. Its foreign policy has become extremely active. President Dilma Rousseff is in Cuba this week, “marking Brazil’s highest-profile bid to transform its growing economic might into diplomatic leadership in Latin America,” the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Brazil’s state development bank is financing a $680 million rehabilitation of Cuba’s port at Mariel.

For three decades, India was unable to get any Western country to accept its status as a nuclear power. But as its economy boomed and Asia became the new cockpit of global affairs, the mood shifted. Over the past five years the United States, France, Britain and others have made a massive exception for New Delhi’s nuclear program and have assiduously courted India as a new ally. I could go on.

This is a new world, very different from the America-centric one we got used to over the last generation. Obama has succeeded in preserving and even enhancing U.S. influence in this world precisely because he has recognized these new forces at work. He has traveled to the emerging nations and spoken admiringly of their rise. He replaced the old Western club and made the Group of 20 the central decision-making forum for global economic affairs. By emphasizing multilateral organizations, alliance structures and international legitimacy, he got results. It was Chinese and Russian cooperation that produced tougher sanctions against Iran. It was the Arab League’s formal request last year that made Western intervention in Libya uncontroversial.

By and large, you have ridiculed this approach to foreign policy, arguing that you would instead expand the military, act unilaterally and talk unapologetically. That might appeal to Republican primary voters, but chest-thumping triumphalism won’t help you secure America’s interests or ideals in a world populated by powerful new players.

You can call this new century whatever you like, but it won’t change reality. After all, just because we call it the World Series doesn’t make it one." [Source]

To stay with the World Series theme, that article was a home run.

Finally, congratulations on picking up the Trump endorsement there Flipper, you two looked great together. Just a day after making your I don't care about poor people comment; you make an appearance with the charlatan who represents the narcissistic and vainglorious among us. One of the folks who likes to flaunt his wealth as some kind of status symbol here in A-merry-ca. Nice.

You two deserve each other. We can see your mansions on that shining city from way over here.

Flipper's flop.

Memo to all racists in A-merry-ca: Sometimes when you embrace the Big R it can land your ass in jail. Just remember that. (h/t to Robert Garrick for sending me this story.)

But I am not chasing the Big R tonight. Tonight I have a bigger fish to fry. Being poor in A-merry-ca is a b#*&^. I don't care if you are black, white, brown, or yellow. It's just not cool to be "very poor" here in the land of the [some are] free.

Everybody beats up on poor folks. I guess it's because they don't have any influence on K Street, and they don't have money to give to political campaigns.

If you are poor and you heard Flipper this morning on CNN you must have felt really bad, because you know now that if he becomes president of these divided states of A-merry-ca, he will not care about you.

"After less than 24 hours after a big win in Florida, Mitt Romney stated he isn't concerned "about the very poor" because “we have a safety net there.” Instead of focusing on the highest poverty levels, Romney intends on helping middle class Americans find jobs.

"If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich. They're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling."
"We have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened or whether there are holes in it. But we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor," Romney said. "But the middle-income Americans, they're the folks that are really struggling right now."

Flipper, if you think that "middle-income Americans" are "really struggling", just WTF do you think that poor people are going through? Do you really believe that people want to depend on a f*&^%$# safety net? Or do you think that they want to participate in the A-merry-can dream and try to get where you are someday by working their asses off? No one wants to depend on a safety net. No one, except of course, the fictional welfare Queen who exists in the minds of [right] wingnuts like you, and Ronald Reagan. 

But then of course Flipper was in typical Flipper mode later in the day.

"Since his comments, Romney claimed his poor choice of words were taken out of context.

"No, no, no, no," Romney said. "You've got to take the whole sentence, all right, as opposed to saying, and then change it just a little bit, because then it sounds very different. I've said throughout the campaign my focus, my concern, my energy is gonna be devoted to helping middle income people, all right? We have a safety net for the poor in, and if there are holes in it, I will work to repair that. And if there are people that are falling through the cracks I want to fix that." [Source]

Way to correct that flop there Flipper. I think that you managed to flip back on  your feet for now.

Flipper takes Florida.

It looks like Flipper is laying a smack down on Newt as I write this post. He is up by over twenty points. Congrats Flipper, I guess practice makes perfect. This could get ugly. Whatever happened to all those Tea Party folks? Flipper and his people out spent Newt big time. I can't wait for Newt's concession speech to his troops.

Flipper went negative on Newt and has vowed to crush him. (92 percent of the ads have been negative!) It seemed like only yesterday that Newt was saying that the negative stuff in the republican primary was all the media's fault and he was running a positive campaign. Well Newt, that ain't the media slamming you with all those negative ads in Gator country. You might want to check your fellow republicans to see where the heat is coming from.

Still, the truth of the matter is this, none these candidates are very appealing to their base. (Sarah, where are you?)

“That’s the great mystery of 2012,” a senior Republican journalist told me while watching the brouhaha in Florida. “We have the weakest incumbent president in 32 years, running on the weakest record in 32 years… and who’s taking the stage in South Carolina and Florida? It has to be the weakest field I can remember. Each of these candidates has in his character, in his history, in his idea set—never mind disqualifying—a guarantee for self-destruction. If Newt is the candidate, he’ll lose badly. If Mitt is the candidate, he’ll lose slightly less badly … So what you have is an almost complete guarantee that if these are the candidates, Barack Obama will be reelected.” [Source] 

Relax Mr. GOP; it's still going to be a very close election this November. No matter who represents the republican gang, the members of the gang will still vote for the person with the R by their name. You just have to hope that they come out. Besides, a little fighting among yourselves is good. It will get your guy battle tested for the war that's sure to come in November. Hillary and O beat up on each other pretty good, and O was a better candidate in the general because of it. Although this Flipper guy....I don't know.

"I think Romney will be the nominee,” a veteran Democratic campaign observer told me about the feud with Gingrich. “But he has unplumbed weaknesses. He’s such a terrible candidate. When’s he’s competent, he’s memorizing the talking points and delivering them with a mechanical energy. There’s no mind at work, no evidence that he understands how to do this. You don’t see a brain working, do you?”

Yes, but who needs a brain when you have money?

Rough words from Reince.

All this GOP infighting is taking a toll on the party of Lincoln and Duke. O is looking at a 53% job approval rating as I write this post, despite 8.5% unemployment and a sluggish economy in these divided states of A-merry-ca.

No wonder the RNC chairman, Reince Priebus, felt like he had to say some nasty things about the beige one on "Face The Nation" this past Sunday. My man must have thought that he was on FOX. BTW, who names their son Reince?That dude must have some serious issues if he has to live with a name like Reince. But I digress.

So anyway, Reince compared his Oness to a man who allegedly committed manslaughter and left his ship causing people-at least 16 that we know of-  to die. That's pretty harsh stuff coming from the leader of the RNC. I would suspect that they left that kind of down and dirty name calling to wingnut bloggers and talk show hosts.

I must give some credit to Michael Steele, who left the house long enough to condemn Reince.

"Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele told MSNBC the analogy was "unfortunate." [Source]

Good for you, Michael. Although I hope you are not saying this because my man took your job.You black republicans don't usually go after folks in your party for things like this. But I guess there is a first time for everything.

Finally, James O'Keefe has got to be the dumbest wingnut alive. Remember James? Yes, he was the clown who got busted breaking into a senator's office down in the Big Easy.

Anyway, check out his latest brilliant move:

"James O’Keefe’s latest video features surrogates appearing to commit voter fraud in yesterday’s New Hampshire primary election, all in an attempt to highlight voter fraud, a problem which is by-and-large nonexistent in the Granite State.

The undercover video shows unnamed individuals working at O’Keefe’s behest approaching polling stations throughout New Hampshire. After poll workers asked for the person’s name, O’Keefe’s agents gave the name of a voter who died within the past few weeks, before then receiving a ballot to vote. The individuals asked the poll workers if they needed ID to prove their identity, and when poll workers confirmed that they did not, O’Keefe’s men insisted on returning to their car to retrieve their ID and returned the ballot.

However, in highlighting the non-problem of voter fraud in New Hampshire and elsewhere, O’Keefe’s agents appear to have committed voter fraud themselves. Section 659:34 of the New Hampshire code defines voter fraud as when a person (highlights are ours):

(a) When registering to vote; when obtaining an official ballot; or when casting a vote by official ballot, makes a false material statement regarding his or her qualifications as a voter to an election officer or submits a voter registration form, and election day registration affidavit, a qualified voter affidavit, a domicile affidavit, or an absentee registration affidavit containing false material information regarding his or her qualifications as a voter;
(b) Votes more than once for any office or measure;
(c) Applies for a ballot in a name other than his or her own;
(d) Applies for a ballot in his or her own name after he or she has voted once;
(e) Votes for any office or measure at an election if such person is not qualified to vote as provided in RSA 654; or
(f) Gives a false name or answer if under examination as to his or her qualifications as a voter before the supervisors of the checklist or moderator.

In the raw footage released by O’Keefe (reproduced below), at 12:32, the poll worker asks the unnamed individual, “what’s your name again?” The man replies with the name of a dead New Hampshire voter, “Thomas McCarron.” She then asks if he lives at “179 Harrison Street?” The man affirms, “yes.”

In another instance, at 5:00, the poll worker checks off the individual’s fake name and says, “that’s you.” He does not correct her, but implicitly affirms the false identity by taking the ballot she hands him.

In addition, O’Keefe’s group may have run afoul of New Hampshire’s law against hidden recording devices. Granite State law requires both parties to consent when recording devices are used, a fact that even O’Keefe’s own website notes. However, the video gives no indication that poll workers were aware they were being filmed.

One section of footage not released by O’Keefe, however, was when a surrogate was caught at the polls trying to impersonate a dead voter. The Boston Herald notes that the man “disappeared before police could corral him.” [Source]

I hope that the authorities in New Hampshire throw the book at this clown and his minions. While somewhere in A-merry-ca a former ACORN worker is laughing his or her ass off.








  

Civil war.

Man the republican establishment sure is beating up on Newt. McCain. Coulter. Drudge. Dole. They are all piling on. And now it looks like it's all finally getting to Newt and his peeps.

I can't say that I blame Newt's camp for being a little testy these days. Flipper has opened up a pretty big lead in Florida and the fat lady is warming up in the green room.

But all is not lost for the Newtster; apparently he has just picked up an endorsement from Mr. 9-9-9.

"Cain, a tea party favorite, endorsed his fellow Georgian at a GOP fundraiser Saturday calling him "a patriot."

"Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas," Cain said.
The former pizza executive, who left the race before the first nominating contests after facing accusations of unwanted sexual advances, suggested the two have both undergone intense scrutiny.

"I know that Speaker Gingrich is running for president and going through this sausage grinder," Cain said. "I know what this sausage grinder is all about."

Herman, I am guessing that you should have used a couple other words to describe what Newt is going through. The "sausage grinder" Herman Cain association is not a good one. Just sayin.

And then there is Sarah. Remember her? Well, Sarah is supporting Newt as well. It's a Tea Party thing. Sarah believes that the republican elites and the Tea Party folks are in a battle for the soul of the republican party. To Sarah, Newt represents the populists in the party, the common man. Flipper, on the other hand, represents the wine and cheese crowd who looks down on their trailer parks as they drive by in their limousines.

Now the questions is this: Can they come together in time to defeat his Oness?
Clearly Mitt is lacking something. He just has not been able to pull the republican forces together. First Michele,then Herman, then Newt. The beat just goes on and on. Even with his big lead in Florida, folks are convinced that it's his money and not Flipper's charm and competence that's doing it.  

"TAMPA, FLORIDA — According to some final spending numbers shared with TPM by a Democratic media observer, Mitt Romney’s lucky number in the final push to the Jan. 31 primary here is five.

As in five-to-one: that’s the ratio — just about — by which Romney and his allies have outspent Newt Gingrich and his allies on TV in the Sunshine State. The narrative that Team Romney is pushing is that of a new-and-improved candidate, battle-hardened after his South Carolina woes, and sharpened as a candidate by having had to outsmart Newt Gingrich.

The Dems think these figures suggest something else: that it’s not Romney who’s winning votes in Florida, but the size of his wallet."

Just remember Flipper, all that money can be a blessing and a curse.



 

Mitt's new spokesperson?

Flipper used a devastating television spot against Newt to land a knockout punch in Florida. The commercial featured a clip of Tom Brokaw talking about Newt being censored and fined by the house for ethics violations.

It was obviously an effective spot, but NBC was not pleased.

"WASHINGTON (AP) — NBC asked GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Saturday to pull a campaign advertisement made up almost entirely of a 1997 "Nightly News" report on Newt Gingrich's ethics committee reprimand.

The "History Lesson" ad started running in Florida on the weekend, when it is harder for stations to switch ad traffic even if they want to. Broadcast days before Tuesday's primary, the ad shows former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw saying that some of Gingrich's House colleagues had raised questions about the then-speaker's "future effectiveness."

Under Brokaw's image is a line that reads — "Paid for by Romney for President, Approved by Mitt Romney."

The footage was used without permission and the extensive use of the broadcast "inaccurately suggests that NBC News and Mr. Brokaw have consented to the use of this material and agree with the political position espoused by the videos," NBC's vice president of media law, David N. Sternlicht, wrote Romney's campaign manager, Matt Rhoades.

"Aside from the obvious copyright issues, this use of the voice of Mr. Brokaw and the NBC News name exploits him and the journalistic credibility of NBC News," the letter said. The network asked for the campaign to stop running the ad immediately and revise any other videos or commercials to remove at NBC material.

"As a news organization, NBC News objects to any use of NBC News journalists and our copyrighted material that suggests to the public that we or our journalists are taking sides with any individual or organization involved in a political campaign or dispute, and we request that your organization respect that concern," the letter said.

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said the campaign isn't likely to stop running the ad."

Man that Flipper dude is no joke. It's going to be scary when the general election rolls around. All this Super PAC money flying around out here well make this very ugly.

"We just received the letter. We are reviewing it, but we believe it falls within fair use," he said. "We didn't take the entire broadcast; we just took the first 30 seconds....Brokaw said in a statement released by NBC that he was "extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign."

I wonder why Flipper didn't use a FOX NEWS clip? I am quite sure that they would have had no problem with his campaign using it.

Finally, I have to rip Yahoo News for the following headline and story:

"Mom Allegedly Drags Son by Car for Missing School Bus"

Ok, so that's the headline. Now check out the actual story:

"ABC News' Katti Gray reports:

A Woods Cross, Utah, woman was arrested for allegedly forcing her 9-year-old son to walk alongside her car as she pulled him along by his belt and steered him toward school after he'd missed the school bus.

Police said the boy could have been hit by traffic driving in the opposite direction on the two-lane road and have turned the case over to the Davis County District Attorney's office, which will decide whether to charge the mother with child endangerment.

"She was going at a slow enough speed that the child was able to keep pace with the vehicle," Woods Cross Police Chief Greg Butler said. A neighbor phoned his department about what the mother was doing.

Her name is not being released because she has not been charged, and the child - who is not deemed to be in imminent danger - remains in his mother's care, Butler said." [Story]

"Walk alongside the car", not "drags." Big difference.

And please save your nasty e-mails. I know it's not cool to walk your kids outside of a moving car, but I had a totally different image in my head when I first read the headline.

Besides, I see you white folks with your children on leashes all the time, so what's the big deal?

No more fetuses in our food, but we still have dial up.

When I first saw the headline I thought that it was a gag from The Onion. Honestly, these local republican elected officials are setting this country back hundreds of years with their myopic form of thinking.

"An Oklahoma bill that would ban the sale of food containing aborted human fetuses has some people wondering: What food currently contains aborted human fetuses?
The bill, introduced Jan. 18 by State Sen. Ralph Shortey, prohibits the manufacture or sale of “food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients.”

Shortey declined to give specific examples but said some food manufacturers used stem cells in the research and development process.
“There is a potential that there are companies that are using aborted human babies in their research and development of basically enhancing flavor for artificial flavors,” he told KRMG Radio. “I don’t know if it is happening in Oklahoma, it may be, it may not be. What I am saying is that if it does happen then we are not going to allow it to manufacture here.”

Shortey may be acting on claims that the San Diego-based company Semonyx used proteins derived from human embryonic kidney cells to test artificial sweeteners, NPR reported. The cell line, known as HEK 293, was created from a human embryo in 1970 and has become a staple in biochemistry labs around the world.

Some people are calling the bill a back-door attempt to ban embryonic stem cell research — a ban Shortey said he would support, KRMG reported." [Source]

Now, to be fair, most folks in this country believe that this wingnut has lost his  mind. But we have to wonder how this fellow got elected in the first place. And who are the people voting people like this into public office?

Finally, I have been at this minority telecom conference in DC for the past couple of days, and the scariest thing I have learned is that we are running out of broadband spectrum. A "spectrum crunch" they call it. Some of you folks with these smart phones with all these fancy aps. are using up all the space.

There were a lot of big shots here from a lot of big companies: At&T, Verizon, Comcast. And they are all getting in line to buy up all the available broadband. The government is going to have some kind of auction, and if you have the loot you can get a seat at the table. If not....oh well. 

Anywhoo, I also learned that  you Negroes are not into media ownership. Eight full time television stations just isn't going to cut it. I met some dude who owns a a bunch of radio stations, but they are all low powered stations with limited reach, so he was there to cry a river to the powers that be from the government about the inequity in how this stuff is given out.

I also met some poor lady from rural North Carolina, (shout out to Dr.Donna Sullivan for putting in the work to try and get her people into the 21st century)who spoke of the people in some communities still using dial- up to try and get on the information super highway. Apparently they were on their way when the big wigs from Time Warner stepped in and paid off lobbied the politricksters in their state to set up shop the way that they wanted it done.

But never fear, I heard from the FCC Commissioner today that the federal government is going to try and free up 500 megahertz worth of spectrum. Hopefully that will ease the "crunch", and the poor folks in places like rural North Carolina can join the rest of us while we speed on down the information superhighway.

*Pic courtesy of "Pulling to the Left".    

The Negro threat.

I swear you can't make this stuff up. Did Jan Brewer really say that she felt " a little threatened" by Obama?

 “I was in the middle of a sentence and he walked away. I wasn’t angry at all. I felt a little bit threatened, if you will, in the attitude that he had.” [Source]

"Threatened"?!!! Let's see now, he is the President of these divided states. Those football player looking dudes with the earplugs in their ears are protecting him, not your drug addicted looking ass.

Republicans no longer have any respect for the presidency because they don't respect the person currently holding the office. It's that simple. That's sad, because I thought that republicans loved A-merry-ca and what the office of the president represents. *shaking head*

Then there is this new study out of Canada which confirms what I have suspected all along.

"There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

"Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood," he said.

Earlier studies have found links between low levels of education and higher levels of prejudice, Hodson said, so studying intelligence seemed a logical next step. The researchers turned to two studies of citizens in the United Kingdom, one that has followed babies since their births in March 1958, and another that did the same for babies born in April 1970. The children in the studies had their intelligence assessed at age 10 or 11; as adults ages 30 or 33, their levels of social conservatism and racism were measured. [Life's Extremes: Democrat vs. Republican]

In the first study, verbal and nonverbal intelligence was measured using tests that asked people to find similarities and differences between words, shapes and symbols. The second study measured cognitive abilities in four ways, including number recall, shape-drawing tasks, defining words and identifying patterns and similarities among words. Average IQ is set at 100."

Social conservatives were defined as people who agreed with a laundry list of statements such as "Family life suffers if mum is working full-time," and "Schools should teach children to obey authority." Attitudes toward other races were captured by measuring agreement with statements such as "I wouldn't mind working with people from other races." (These questions measured overt prejudiced attitudes, but most people, no matter how egalitarian, do hold unconscious racial biases; Hodson's work can't speak to this "underground" racism.)

As suspected, low intelligence in childhood corresponded with racism in adulthood. But the factor that explained the relationship between these two variables was political: When researchers included social conservatism in the analysis, those ideologies accounted for much of the link between brains and bias.

People with lower cognitive abilities also had less contact with people of other races.

"This finding is consistent with recent research demonstrating that intergroup contact is mentally challenging and cognitively draining, and consistent with findings that contact reduces prejudice," said Hodson, who along with his colleagues published these results online Jan. 5 in the journal Psychological Science." [Source]  *h/t to Greg Fuller for the pic and story.*

I bet Jan Brewer doesn't have a very high IQ. 

Still, the moral of this story is that racism is just a bad thing all around for everybody.

Finally, shout out to David Honig and the folks at MMTC who are once again hosting a wonderful summit here in D.C.

David, I promise that I will try to attend all of the sessions tomorrow.  





 

Uppity Negroes and broke Negroes.

Memo to Jan Brewer, that Obama fellow doesn't forget s*&^.

"Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer came to greet President Barack Obama upon his arrival outside Phoenix Wednesday. What she got was a critique. Of her book.

The two leaders could be seen engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.

Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said: "He was a little disturbed about my book."

Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes.

Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her. In an interview in November Brewer described two tense meetings. The first took place before his commencement address at Arizona State University. "He did blow me off at ASU," she said in the television interview in November.

She also described meeting the president at the White House in 2010 to talk about immigration. "I felt a little bit like I was being lectured to, and I was a little kid in a classroom, if you will, and he was this wise professor and I was this little kid, and this little kid knows what the problem is and I felt minimized to say the least."

On the tarmac Wednesday, Brewer handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border.

"I said to him, you know, I have always respected the office of the president and that the book is what the book is," she told reporters Wednesday. She said Obama complained that she described him as not treating her cordially.

"I said that I was sorry that he felt that way. Anyway, we're glad he's here, and we'll regroup."' [Source]

Yes Jan, some of these Negroes can get a little uppity. That Obama fellow seems to have forgotten his place. Being the president of these divided states of A-merry-ca will do that to you.

Finally, when are some of you Negroes going to learn how to manage your money?

You shouldn't be able to blow eighty millon dollars even if you try.

 "I hate myself for letting this happen. I believed that they had my back when they said, ‘You take care of the football, and we’ll do the rest.’ And in the end, they just basically stole from me.”  [Story]

Who is "they" TO? Like WTF?

The next time one of you Negroes out here balling have a few hundred thousand to throw away, please holla at your boy. I promise that I will put it to good use for you, and I will even have some saved away for you after your playing carreer is over. Promise.

The SOTU and Newt's racial stereotype problem.

I am settling in to watch the SOTU address with O. It should be interesting. Republicans say that it will be nothing more than a political speech, and they are already ready to go with their talking points.

One republican who won't be there is Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado. I guess he is really afraid that some of that tar will fly off his Oness and get on his skin.

Anyway, O is coming in now. There are hugs and kisses all around. Oh ohhh, he is approaching the supremes. ("Smiling faces, sometimes pretend to be your friend...) And now he is hugging "Gabby" Giffords....ohhhh. Now that was a "Kodak Moment". O, you might have just bumped your approval ratings by about five points.

My friends over at Politc365 have a live feed. I think I will check it out.
[Feed]

O was in big time campaign mode. The [right]wingnuts will be foaming at the mouth tomorrow. This election should be fun. The battle lines have been drawn.

Finally, and believe me, I don't even want to bring this up, because I am honestly hoping that Newt comes out on top in the republican primary.

"GOP contender Newt Gingrich has built up quite a record of making derogatory, racially-charged remarks on the campaign trail. He frequently derides President Obama as a “food stamp president” and said he would go to the NAACP and tell African Americans they should “demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.” Last week he said work is a “strange, distant concept” to Fox anchor Juan Williams, who had the audacity to ask Gingrich at a recent debate if he understood why blacks might be offended by his remarks.

More than 40 Catholic leaders recently challenged Gingrich to “stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes” with his divisive rhetoric.

For Gingrich, perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes is nothing new. Today, the Huffington Post reports that at the height of Gingrich’s power in Congress, one of his major speeches had to be edited to remove a racist characterization of Asians, Latinos, and black Americans:

But before Gingrich could deliver his grand new theory of American civilization to the public in a 1993 speech, his deeply divisive racial stereotypes would need to be removed.

“For poor minorities, entrepreneurship in small business is the key to future wealth,” Gingrich wrote by hand in a first draft. “This is understood thoroughly by most of the Asians, partially by Latinos, and to a tragically small degree by much of the American black community.” [...]

By the time a member of Gingrich’s staff typed up the notes and prepared the speech for delivery at the National Review Institute, the racial stereotypes were gone." [Source]   

I smell dirty politics here, but I still can't give Newt a pass. I know exactly where Newt stands on these issues, and it's scary that he could have gotten even this far.