Show And Tell.

What the hell is wrong with us? (And when I say us I think you all know who I mean. I am not talking about the Field family) When I see stories like this, I really have to wonder about the heartlessness and crass depravity of some people.

Lamar Anderson has got to get the award for the worst parent ever. I am always imploring brothers to try to keep their families intact and stay home and raise their children, but when I see stories like the one here I seriously have to reconsider my position. This poor child would have been better off if his moron of a father was nowhere near his home. I usually don't like DHS to step in and take over people's lives, but this is a case where I would get on the phone and call DHS my damn self.

Are you kidding me? A second grader brings pot to school? I know Philly teachers are used to seeing all kinds of crazy shit, but I guarantee you that even this poor jaded soul was shocked by what this student brought to show and tell. Thank goodness one of the little guy's classmates didn't have the no snitch mentality ( I guess he was too young), and told his teacher about the good collie weed floating around the jungle gym --a whole bag no less--. What a mess!

But it gets better. When they went to the little guys home the police found weed and crack cocaine. Nice. Jamal, what do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a pharmaceutical salesman, just like my daddy.

That's it, blame it on the Jews.

"I'm disappointed in the vote. ... We've put forth a plan that was big because we've got a big problem." ~The Frat Boy~

Ahhh ya think? Just when we thought we were out of the economic hot water, 40% of dems and *75% of rethugs decided that they were going to pass on bailing out Wall Street. 777 is a nice number if you are playing slots in Atlantic City, but when that's how much points the stock market lost today (the most since it lost 721 points after 911) well, Washington, we have a problem.

So what happened? Rethugs blame it on Nancy Pelosi's speech right before the vote. Apparently it was too partisan for the rethugs, so they decided to give the yes vote a big fuck you. Nice. Whatever happened to voting based on policy and what is best for the country? Nancy Pelosi pissed you off and you decided to change your vote? One clown even blamed it on the Jewish holidays for crying out loud. What the hell is wrong with these people Tell me it was a bad bill, tell me you have a tough campaign coming up, but don't give me it's the Jews fault.

And since we are talking about politricksters being politricksters; It would be nice to see the O man and Mr. Morton get off the damn fence and grow some. Are you for the bailout or not? Somebody is going to be wrong on this, but right now we need to act. I guess the O man doesn't want to end up with egg on his face like Mr. Morton. Leader of his party my ass. He was doing one thing while his peeps was doing another. I wonder if he will suspend campaigning again to go and save Washington ? Do the "fundamentals of the economy" still look sound Mr. Morton? What a joke.

Oh well, you people wanted bi-partisanship? Well, now you have it. It's a big bipartisan no to the boyz with the three thousand dollar suits in Manhattan. For different reasons of course, but the end result will be the same: we are fucked! The Dow is dropping faster than Monica Lewinsky's dress, and if you travel to Europe, your dollar can't even buy you a pack of gum anymore.

The rethugs thought this was Socialism (like that's a bad thing), and the dems had to play populist. (If I hear we have to take care of Main Street and not Wall Street one more time, I swear I will throw away my Lark Voorhies poster). Truth is, I don't like what those thieves on Wall Street did anymore than the next guy. And this is yet another stain on the frat boy's legacy. But right now we need to do something. Maybe it's because I have ties to the market, but this shit is troubdling, and it will start hurting all of us soon if these clowns don't act. Memo to my Reagan rethuglican friends: sometimes you actually do need the government.

I was sitting in my office today, when a friend of mine stuck his head in the door and said: "The chicken's coming home to roost ha field? Now those clowns on Wall Street are getting theirs. Screw them." "Yeah I guess", I said, and I told him that I really didn't "give a damn about them either. But honestly, I didn't mean a word of that shit.

Oh well, not to worry folks, the frat boy will address the nation tomorrow with a big speech. Gee, I feel better already.

*Correction; that should be 65%.

Would blacks vote for Obama if he were white?

*

Harold Jackson is an opinion columnist for my hometown paper, the Philadelphia Inquirer. Mr Jackson, in case you were wondering, is black. ( like he could be anything but with a name like Harold Jackson). Anyway, he wrote the following article about black folks voting for the O man because he is black:

"There's no way that I'd vote for Barack Obama just because he and I are both black men.
I grew up in Birmingham, Ala., in the 1950s and '60s. A third-grade classmate went to jail for marching. Another little girl at our school was killed when the Ku Klux Klan bombed Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

I've known people who were beaten by Bull Connor's cops in Birmingham and whipped by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. And I don't think any of them shed blood for my right to vote just to see me cast my ballots based on skin color.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act was the result of a convincing argument that black people were just as capable of making an intelligent decision about political candidates as any white person.

More recently, though, a lie has found favor in America. It's the falsehood that African Americans vote as a monolith, without regard to the issues or positions of the candidates. It's a lie promoted by those who don't want to admit that their preferred candidate was wrong on the issues that matter most to most African American voters.

Black voters' interests are so common because their circumstances are so similar. Even those with better educations, higher incomes, and more expensive homes are not too far removed from family or friends living modestly. Poverty is itself a recent memory for many middle-income African Americans. Some feel they are only a paycheck or two from returning to that status.

Blacks don't get credit for carefully weighing candidates' positions on the issues, even though they have shown that they will vote for a white candidate over a black one whose views are not to their liking. "

More here.

I agree with him. This notion that all those dumb blacks who are incapable of thinking through the issues, just mindlessly vote for the O man because he is black, is bull shit. Has it ever occurred to anyone that black folks just might vote for him because he is the best candidate?

Here is my theory about black folks: we are committed to a party, not skin color. We will vote for the white democrat over the black republican every time. Just ask Kenneth Blackwell, Michael Steele, or Lynn Swann. The last time I checked, I didn't see a whole lot of brothers and sisters here in Philly switching party registration to vote for Lynn Swann when he ran for Governor because he is black. He got his ass kicked among black voters by a white Jewish guy, because we happened to like his policies more. Mr. Swann ran as a republican, and that pretty much guaranteed that black folks weren't going to vote for his black ass. And that would have been true whether he was yellow, red, brown, or purple. If Alan Keyes crazy ass ran against any white democrat in A-merry-ca, please believe that he would not get my vote, period. The shit is that deep.

But I will say this: If all things are equal (all things, including party affiliation) black folks, and any other race for that matter, will vote for the person who looks like them over the other guy. Don't believe me? Do you think if this was Bobby Chin running for president he wouldn't get 99% of the Asian vote? Do you think if it was Bobby Sanchez he wouldn't get at least 90% of the Latino vote? Come on now, let's keep it real with each other. The only reason white folks can afford to make choices is because they pretty much dominate this shit. So having a white guy run for office is no big deal to the average white person. He or she can vote for Bobby Sanchez, Bobby Chin, or Bobby Johnson, and still feel like he will have a seat at the table, because everyone around the minority guy at the table will look like them. We don't have that option. Most of the time we pretty much have to just vote for the person who will hurt us the least.

So please, no more talk about this black people voting for Obama because he is black bullshit. Black people will vote for Obama because he is a democrat, and he happens to be better than the other guy. A guy, by the way, who is crazier than the craziest uncle we ever hid in the attic.

*Pic courtesy of feakingnews.com

What's up doc?

Recently I come across a story that made me....well, flinch. It was a story that was so sad and tragic, that it made me want to just count my blessings. I mean it could have happened to any of us. Well, not any of us, ---maybe 50% of the population----, but I am sure that most of the other 50% of the population would be just as, if not more, devastated.

So anyway, here is the story:

"LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Kentucky man who claims his penis was removed without his consent during what was supposed to be a circumcision has sued the doctor who performed the surgery.

Phillip Seaton, 61, and his wife are seeking unspecified compensation from Dr. John M. Patterson and the medical practice that performed the circumcision for 'loss of service, love and affection.' The Seatons also are seeking unspecified punitive damages from Patterson and the medical practice, Commonwealth Urology.

A woman who answered the phone at Commonwealth Urology would not take a message for the doctor Thursday. But the Seaton's attorney said the doctor's post-surgical notes show the doctor thought he detected cancer and removed the penis. Attorney Kevin George said a later test did detect cancer.

'It was not an emergency,' George told The Associated Press on Thursday. 'It didn't have to happen that way.'Seaton was having the procedure on Oct. 19, 2007, to better treat inflammation. The lawsuit filed earlier this month in state court claims Patterson removed Seaton's penis without consulting either Phillip or Deborah Seaton, or giving them an opportunity to seek a second opinion."

More here.

Okay Phillip, you are 61 years old, so there was still a little life left in the old cannon. Honestly, I don't blame you for suing the guy for "loss of service"..... although, I guess, Mrs. Seaton would be the best judge of that (Make sure your lawyer puts her on the witness stand). The good doc said he detected some cancer in your....ahem, tool, and he figured it was the little guy or your life. I don't think the good doc was like one of these guys, but he might have been negligent never the less.

Fellows, what would you do? So many questions here: How accurate was the diagnosis? And if it was, how far along was the cancer? Was the cancer affecting his ability to get it up? And was it curable? I would love to know the answer to those questions before I go killing the good doc. Although regardless of Mr. Seaton's condition, the doc should have told him what he was planning to do. I mean you just don't go cutting off a man's best friend without some serious consultation. I don't care how far along or serious the cancer is.

Oh well, it's Saturday night y'all, I better go and put mine to some good use (good being relative of course) because, well, you just never know when it might be your last go round.

Chalk one up for the O man.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz, oh, wait, I have to create a post tonight. Forgive me for nodding off folks, I just caught the debate between Mr. Morton and the O man, and if you saw it you will know what had me nodding off. No sparks, no memorable quotes, no knock out punch. I was watching it on CNN, and their little tracker on the bottom of the screen was doing a flat line the entire night.

But still, I have to give an edge to his O ness. And before you folks start calling me a closet Obamaholic, please believe that I am not. Trust me, if our boy had lost, I would have called it that way. But he didn't. He beat the salty one on points tonight.

Speaking of salty: I guess now you see why I call the man Mr. Morton. John McCain, WTF? Could you at least look at the O man once in awhile? I know you just probably view him as an uppity black man, and you have nothing but contempt for the guy, but you have to at least pretend to like him. Try making a little eye contact every now and then. Your body language and obvious contempt for the man was showing, and it was the worst part of your performance. The pundits weren't talking about it that much tonight, but I guarantee you that the people watching noticed. The O man seemed more likable than you, and in A-merry-can politics, that's huge.

And what the hell is a League of Democracies, or whatever you called that crap? You want them to enforce democracy in the world? And how exactly will they enforce it? Especially since Russia and China are not democracies. And the next time you go spouting off names of foreign leaders, you might want to get the name of the President of Pakistan right.

O man, you had some stumbles yourself. I wasn't feeling your ear mark and tax moments when you should have been talking about this fucked up economy, and how it's hurting our pocket books. And you showed just a little too much deference to the salty one, although I get why you did it (The brotha always has to be the gentleman), but pick your spots and throw a zinger at the old guy every now and then, it won't hurt.

Still, I liked your "google for government" reference, and your line about Mr. Morton using a "hatchet" when he should be using a "scalpel"; it almost had classic written all over it. O man, maybe you need to work on your delivery just a little, because it was a good line.

So another debate is behind us. The "O" man looked presidential, and Mr. Morton, finished the damn thing without blowing his lid. But I don't think it was a game changer, and the way the week has been going for Mr. Morton, that's not a good thing.

Oh well, maybe Sarah will come through for him next week. She did it once before, but has the luster gone from the beauty queen? He invoked her name tonight, so clearly Mr. Morton is hoping that there is still a little shine left. For his sake, I sure hope so, because there was no shine 0n him tonight.

"Buy a black dress now"

I would like to interrupt the news of the madness going on in Washington with some news from the real world.

In the middle of the day on Tuesday, Daniel Giddings executed Philadelphia police officer Patrick McDonald, after shooting and wounding him and then coming back to finish the job; by pumping several more rounds from his semi-automatic weapon into the poor man's body. Daniel Gidding's life ended a few moments later, after he was cornered by Philadelphia's finest. And please, let me stop you from thinking what I know you are thinking, and give you a little perspective. The boyz in blue here in Killadelphia have lost five of their brothers in arms over the past two years, so you might want to excuse them for being a little trigger happy.

Daniel Giddings was a career criminal, and was, even by Philly standards, a very bad man. At the tender age of 10 he beat and robbed a mentally challenged man in his neighborhood. Neighbors told his mother at the time that she should "buy a black dress". He was placed in various juvenile detention facilities where he sent staff members in not one but two of the facilities, to the hospital. When he was 18 he carjacked a motorist robbed him of $100 and shot him in both knee caps. He was sentenced to 6-12 years in state prison (he could have gotten a maximum sentence of 45 years). While upstate he spent over 500 days in the hole and had over 25 violations. The ADA in his case begged the Judge not to put him back on the street, and the Judge said he had an appalling criminal record. Still, Giddings did 10 years and was released to the mean streets of Philly and the probation department, to serve out his remaining two years.

Now the city is mourning the loss of yet another police officer to the senseless violence of its streets. And Daniel Gidding's family is mourning too. His family said he was no monster. (Really? He seemed like a monster to me) "In my eyes, he was family-oriented" (What family? The Mansons?), is what his sister said. "He was intelligent, lovable and adored his children (yes, he actually had children, three of them). It's painful to see all the negatives. They're trying to make him a monster". Ahhh yes we are, and he sure made it easy for us.

Now here is the thing: The blame is flying fast and furious after this tragedy. We have been blaming the Judge for his light sentence. We have been blaming the prison for his early release. We have been blaming the probation department for not monitoring him properly after his release, and we have been blaming the pro gun crowd for helping to make guns so easily available on the streets of Killadelphia.

My question is this: Why is no one blaming the fucking sperm donor who created this monster, and kept getting up? Apparently the sperm donor was a career criminal himself, and as is often the case, the seed he created was doomed from the start.

"He always told me that he'll never go back to jail...I did my time", his sister said.

But he took a life, destroyed a family, and damaged the psyche of a city. He paid with his life, so I guess some will say that justice was served. But was it? Is the sperm donor who created him paying for his sin? I doubt it, and we will just have to brace ourselves until the next monster comes along. Just keep those black suits and dresses close by.

Now you can return to the make believe world of Washington politics, and missing little white children.

Story here.

TIMEOUT.

I swear that Obama guy is one lucky man. Just when it looked like my au natural Broad Street run come election night, was safe, the economy decided to go South. And so, once again, his O ness is creeping up and away in the polls. So much so that he just might get enough votes to overcome the Bradley effect, and make the field Negro eat crow.

But not so fast, Mr. Morton still has some political tricks up his sleeve. I swear this guy has more tricks than a Brazilian soccer player. First Palin,and now this. I wonder if it will work? I used to think I knew my politics, but with these elections I am not so sure. Who knows how the A-merry-can public will react to this latest little.....ahh, ploy. You got to think that the rethugs think it will work, or they wouldn't try it. I bet they have been doing all kinds of polling on this one (I didn't get a call, did you?), and their pollsters must have told them to go for it. Oh field, you are such a cynic, the man cares about his country, he sees that we are in a financial crisis, and he wants to suspend his campaigning so that both he and Obama can go to Washington and try to work this thing out. What's wrong with a little bi-partisanship for the good of the country, field? Nothing, except it's Mr. reach across the *aisle man himself whose party ran the economy into the ground. And just what the fuck has he been doing in Washington all these years except contribute to the problem? I mean give me a break.

Now this latest little Machiavellian stunt might work, and his O ness might be falling into yet another political trap, but if it does, the A-merry-can electorate is even dumber than I thought. Imagine, Mr. Morton wants to suspend campaigning, so that he and Obama can go to Washington and help to try and work out this latest mess we are in. How nice of him. Except there is one little problem; his party put us into this mess in the first place.

But don't go for it O man, I am giving you some advise against my own best interest: They are just trying to slow your mo. You love basketball so let me give you an analogy: You are playing shooting guard and you hit five shots in a row to put your team up. And then, all of a sudden, you are dribbling down the court, and the referee stops the game. He tells you that it will start again at another time and everything will pick up where you left off. Wouldn't that be messed up?That's what Mr. Morton is doing, he is playing referee on your ass.

But I have to give you credit, it looks like you refuse to play along. According to your peeps, the debate is on. Unlike Mr. Morton,apparently you can multi task. This is fun. On again off again, round and round we go. Mr Morton and his O ness, holding their breaths, while waiting to see how the A-merry-can people will react to this one. Of course I know how I would react (this is some bullshit!), but I am not the typical A-merry-can voter.

His O ness was first to try and play the reach across the isle role, apparently he tried to play nice and call Mr. Morton. But Mr. Morton, trickster that he is, wasn't having it, and he called the press to announce his latest little stunt before the O man knew what hit him.

"I thought this was something that he was mulling over,.... Apparently, this was something that, you know, he was more decisive about in his own mind."

Yes O man, he knew it all along. It's called politics. Now folks, if you will excuse me; I have some crunches to do.

*Thanks English prof. AKA "gine". ;)

"And Justice For All"?

By BOB HERBERT Op-Ed Columnist New York Times 19 Sept 2008————
"Troy Davis, who was convicted of shooting a police officer to death in the parking lot of a Burger King in Savannah, Ga., is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.

There is some question as to his guilt (even the pope has weighed in on this case), but the odds of Mr. Davis escaping the death penalty are very slim. Putting someone to death whose guilt is uncertain is always perverted, but there’s an extra dose of perversion in this case. The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to make a decision on whether to hear a last-ditch appeal by Mr. Davis on Sept. 29. That’s six days after the state of Georgia plans to kill him.

Mr. Davis’s lawyers have tried desperately to have the execution postponed for those few days, but so far to no avail. Georgia is among the most cold-blooded of states when it comes to dispatching prisoners into eternity.

So the lawyers are now trying to get the Supreme Court to issue a stay, or decide before Tuesday on whether it will consider the appeal. No one anywhere would benefit from killing Mr. Davis on Tuesday, as opposed to waiting a week to see how the Supreme Court rules. So why the rush? The murder happened in 1989, and Mr. Davis has been on death row for 17 years. Six or seven more days will hardly matter.

Most of the time, the court declines to hear such cases.
If that’s the decision this time, Georgia can get on with the dirty business of taking a human life. If the court agrees to hear the appeal, it would have an opportunity to get a little closer to the truth of what actually happened on the terrible night of Aug. 19, 1989, when Officer Mark Allen MacPhail was murdered. He was shot as he went to the aid of a homeless man who was being pistol-whipped in the parking lot.

Nine witnesses testified against Mr. Davis at his trial in 1991, but seven of the nine have since changed their stories. One of the recanting witnesses, Dorothy Ferrell, said she was on parole when she testified and was afraid that she’d be sent back to prison if she didn’t agree to finger Mr. Davis. She said in an affidavit: 'I told the detective that Troy Davis was the shooter, even though the truth was that I didn’t know who shot the officer.' Another witness, Darrell Collins, a teenager at the time of the murder, said the police had ’scared’ him into falsely testifying by threatening to charge him as an accessory to the crime. He said they told him that he might never get out of prison. 'I didn’t want to go to jail because I didn’t do nothing wrong,' he said.

At least three witnesses who testified against Mr. Davis (and a number of others who were not part of the trial) have since said that a man named Sylvester 'Redd' Coles admitted that he was the one who had killed the officer. Mr. Coles, who was at the scene, and who, according to authorities, later ditched a gun of the same caliber as the murder weapon, is one of the two witnesses who have not recanted. The other is a man who initially told investigators that he could not identify the killer. Nearly two years later, at the trial, he testified that the killer was Mr. Davis.

So we have here a mess that is difficult, perhaps impossible, to sort through in a way that will yield reliable answers. (The jury also convicted Mr. Davis of a nonfatal shooting earlier that same evening on testimony that was even more dubious.) There was no physical evidence against Mr. Davis, and the murder weapon was never found. As for the witnesses, their testimony was obviously shaky in the extreme — not the sort of evidence you want to rely upon when putting someone to death.

In March, the State Supreme Court in Georgia, in a 4-to-3 decision, denied Mr. Davis’s request for a new trial. The chief justice, Leah Ward Sears, writing for the minority, said: 'In this case, nearly every witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trial has now disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably.'

Amnesty International conducted an extensive examination of the case, documenting the many recantations, inconsistencies, contradictions and unanswered questions. Its report on the case drew widespread attention, both in the U.S. and overseas. William Sessions, a former director of the F.B.I., has said that a closer look at the case is warranted. And Pope Benedict XVI has urged authorities in Georgia to re-sentence Mr. Davis to life in prison.

Rushing to execute Mr. Davis on Tuesday [Sept. 23, 2008] makes no sense at all.————–"

Well, thanks to the work of some good human beings, like the folks in the Afrospear (See FNOTD), I think justice might be served. The victims family, of course, is convinced that the right man is on death row. But what if they are wrong? “It should have happened today,”.. but justice will be served.” Yes it will, but you have to give it a chance. Like Mr. Herbert said: "what's the rush?"

You really have got to ask yourself; what kind of country or state puts a human being to death when there is doubt about his guilt? What does that tell you about the state of Georgia, and the folks who are charged to administer justice there? I have no mercy for cop killers. None! But I don't know if Mr. Davis is one. I don't know if he pulled the trigger in the Burger King parking lot that day. And I can't condone putting a human being to death when there is still so much doubt about his guilt.

As a society, we still have such a long way to go. The scales of justice are still too imbalanced. The size of our pocket books and the color of our skins is often the deciding factor in what kind of justice we will get, and it shouldn't be that way. Sadly, here in A-merry-ca, that's just the way it is. Let us all hope that it's not that way for Troy Anthony Davis. Let us all hope that he at least gets a chance.

I sure hope the White House has a big ass garage.

Thirteen cars? Damn Mr. Morton, you could open your own used car lot. And here I thought that only brothas liked nice whips. You must have a little black in you after all. But hey, if you have seven houses I guess thirteen cars makes sense. That's almost two to a house, so no harm no foul, right? Man you should be on cribs or some shit. Thirteen cars? Are you sure you don't do a little rapping on the side Mr. Morton? For your sake I sure hope that they are all automatics, because whenever I look at you it doesn't look like you can do too much with those arms of yours, so driving a stick would be kind of difficult....oh field that was cold, that was not called for. Don't make fun of the man's limitations. Sorry, I don't know what came over me.

But seriously, do you mean to tell me that Mr. Morton couldn't have gotten rid of some of his rides before he decided to run for president? I hear that a bunch of them are over four years old. What does he need them for? Thank god the O man got rid of his Negro Bentley, also known as the Chrysler 300. (Has there ever been a car that black folks love more?) But then... come on now O man, I know you are trying to identify with the people, but a Ford Escape? You are running for president of these divided states, and you drive a Ford freaking Escape? Nothing against folks who drive Ford Escapes, but....Digression alert! Let me stop, this isn't about you, it's about Robin Leach's favorite candidate.

So anyway, among Mr. Morton's cars is a Lexus (bad Mr Morton, that is not an A-merry-can car. And didn't you say that you only drive A-merry-can cars?), a Lincoln (bad Mr. Morton, that is not an environmentally friendly car), and a 2008 Jeep Wrangler (want to trade for a slightly used one?). According to some conservatives, we should leave Mr. Morton alone, because most of his cars are over two years old and they are all inexpensive. Really? Since when is a Lexus, or a Cadillac CTS inexpensive? But even if that's true, it only makes him extravagant and stupid. Mr. Morton, if you can afford thirteen cars, you should at least invest in good ones. I hope if you are elected you don't run the country like that.

But like the houses, this too will pass. Mr. Morton can do no wrong to most A-merry-cans. Besides, with thirteen cars he can damn near relate to every A-merry-can and what they are driving. Own a Volkswagen? Mr. Morton has one. Own a Honda Accord? Mr. Morton has one. Drive a Ford F Series? Mr. Morton has one of those too. See folks, he is a regular man of the people, he has got every one of us covered. This adds a whole new meaning to the term used car salesman, doesn't it?

O Aid intervention and crisis hotline needed.

"The “Bubba vote” and underlying racism will hurt Democrat Barack Obama in key battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“The Bubba vote is there, and it’s very real, and it is everywhere,... “There’s an awful lot of people in America, bless their heart, who simply are not emotionally prepared to vote for a black man."

~Dick Armey~

First of all let me say how disappointed I am with you Obamaholics. After reading your comments which followed my last post, it is clear to me that you live in a serious state of denial. The quote you read above was not from some hick shooting the breeze at the latest Redneck 500. That was a former congressman and a majority leader of his party (the rethuglicans of course) from 1995 to 2003, and the elected representative from the 26th district in the great state of Texas. But all I keep hearing from you Obamaholics is that race doesn't matter. That in spite of what people are telling the pollsters, the end result will be different. Oh field you tell me, those people saying all that negative stuff don't really vote, so why even pay attention to them? People can hate the man's race but not him. They can compartmentalize you tell me, when they see him they don't see a black man, they see their future president......well, that's all bullshit, and you know it. But that O Aid has you living in that state, the one that starts with a big "D". You are like junkies who say that you only get high when you want to have a little fun, and that you can break your addiction whenever you want to. But you and I know that you can't, and no matter what reality throws in front of you, you will just keep hitting that pipe, and pushing that needle.

Look, do you think that the rethugs use ads. like the latest one showing the O man with Frank Raines, by accident? Don't you think they could have used a few other Wall Street types who were close to Obama, besides Raines? Of course they could. But they, unlike you, understand their constituency, and they understand that race matters; especially when they are trying to cover up their own *candidates' incompetence when it comes to the economy, and other issues. (Hat tip Greg Fuller for that link)

But like that drill Sargent, football coach, or ball busting math teacher that you hated in your youth, I only mean the best for you. So I will continue to give you my tough love, because if I don't do it, no one else will.

Now go out and register some folks, you gotta keep trying to offset that "Bubba" vote.

....Wait, this just in: it seems the rethugs have updated that ad. (god forbid they seem like they are a bunch of racist) and it features a white CEO now. Nice! I think they know you Obamaholics more than you know yourselves. See field, I told you, it's not about race. What do you have to say now wise ass?

Intervention sessions will start the first week in December. :)

*Charlotte, thanks for telling me about that broken link. It has been updated.

40% of you don't think too highly of me: present company excluded of course.

You Obamaholics know I love you right? And I want nothing but the best for you. I try to keep it real with you, and in spite of your convictions and giddy idealism, I try to keep you grounded, and let you know what is happening here in the real A-merry-ca.

I know you all have heard of Stanford University; it is one of A-merry-ca's most prestigious educational institutions, and some of our best and brightest go there to learn. So anyway, seems they came up with this poll, and if it is true (well, I know it's true), it will have a devastating effect on the"O" man's campaign. Seems quite a few dumbocrats have a negative view of his O ness because of his race. And, as a result, they will not be pulling the lever for him in November.

I bet that Mr.Morton and his peeps are doing a little jig right now. Honestly, I can't say that I blame them. I would be doing a jig too if I knew that no matter what I do wrong I am going to get elected, because at least 20% of the people in my opponents party won't vote for him because of his race. And, at least 40% of A-merry-cans have a negative view of blacks. A race my opponent happens to belong to. (Well, at least half of him) Think about that for a minute: 40% of the people in my country have a negative view of me before they even meet me. That's astonishing! Now after they meet me, the negative stereotype might be justified, but I digress.

So please read the article and the link I provided, and tell me if I will still have to go running down Broad Street in the chilly November night, "johnson" fully exposed, for all the world to see. If you still think I do, detox might not be good enough for you. Instead, may I suggest a full lobotomy.

Josh Howard is an American too.

This post is going to piss off some of you in the A-merry-ca "love it or leave it" crowd. It has to do with Josh Howard, a very fine, and to some, misguided player, who plays for the Dallas Mavericks. It seems Howard pissed off patriotic Americans from California to Maine, when he refused to recognize the national anthem at an Allen Iverson celebrity basketball game. And, of course, folks are up in arms. Most average A-merry-cans view this as damn near an act of treason, and they want Howard punished (Thank god he works for Mark Cuban). To compound things, Howard injected race and invoked the name of his O ness in his little You Tube moment, which made all the folks on the right even more pissed.

Well, not so fast. The last time I checked, this is A-merry-ca, and the reason we love this country so much, and are so patriotic, is because it allows young millionaires like *Josh Howard to say fuck you to the national anthem. Dwight Howard had every right to do what he did, as much as we have every right to stand at attention and cross our hearts when we hear it. (The anthem)This is A-merry-ca damn it, and no matter how much it offends us, if someone chooses to say screw patriotism, we have to live with it. Because that is exactly what makes this A-merry-ca; the fact that ordinary citizens---even young rich black ones---can choose to take a position on something that offends us, without fearing being thrown into jail, or having his or her right to make a living taken away. That is the kind of shit they do in countries that we overthrow, and invoke our will on. That is not the kind of shit we expect in a democracy.

Honestly, like Matt Watson who wrote the piece in the last link I provided said: I sure hope Howard does not backtrack and apologize for what he did. I hope he fesses up and says that he did exactly what he wanted to do. I am sick of faux patriotism and the hypocrisy of celebrities and high profile people.

So if you are a Mavericks fan, enjoy Howard's game, and hope he can get your team an NBA championship. If you are not, boo Howard like hell the next time he is introduced in a game, but boo him because he plays for the opposing team, not because he has views about his country that you find offensive.

*Thanks for the correction "ruffian96"

PUSH IT!

Hello is this Mr. Field?

Yes it is.

Hi Mr. Field, this is Bob, and we are conducting a poll for the upcoming elections.

Yes.

Yes, I was wondering who you were going to vote for come November?

Well right now it's looking like the democrat.

Hmmm, interesting, but I was wondering if you were aware that he had ties to some strong pro Palestinian groups in Chicago.? Groups with close ties to radical anti Jewish groups such as Hamas?

No, I didn't know that. I guess if I was Jewish it would certainly give me cause for pause.

.....wait, you aren't Jewish? Your name isn't Feldman?

No, it's Field.

Sorry, I won't take up anymore of your time.

Now I know most of you reading this blog are pretty politically savvy, so you are quite familiar with the term push polling. That fictional exchange at the start of this post, is an example of a push poll in progress, and it is the type of despicable telemarketing technique that has been aimed at Jewish voters on behalf of Mr. Morton's campaign to influence the Jewish vote in close battle ground states.

Sad isn't it? Especially when you consider that the frat boy used this very technique against Mr. Morton in the rethuglican primary in 2000. It wasn't good then and it's not good now. In fact, after what the Bushites did to him, you would think that Mr Morton would be the last person to use the same tactic against his political opponent. Oh well, I guess that honor thing only goes so far now doesn't it?

"The deeply personal, usually anonymous allegations that make up a smear campaign are aimed at a candidate's most precious asset: his reputation. The reason this blackest of the dark arts is likely to continue is simple: It often works.
In 2000…

Anonymous opponents used "push polling" to suggest that McCain's Bangladeshi born daughter was his own, illegitimate black child. In push polling, a voter gets a call, ostensibly from a polling company, asking which candidate the voter supports. In this case, if the "pollster" determined that the person was a McCain supporter, he made statements designed to create doubt about the senator."

That was Mr. Morton's campaign manager in 2000, talking about the sleazy behavior of the Bushites at the time.

Fast forward to 2008:

"After going over some more issues and confirming the fact that I was likely to vote for Obama, the caller made a series of rather pointed inquiries. Would it affect my vote, he said, if I knew that Obama has had a decade long relationship with pro-Palestinian leaders in Chicago , the leader of Hamas, Ahmed Yousef, expressed support for Obama and his hope for Obama's victory the church Barack Obama has attended is known for its anti-Israel and anti-American remarks. Jimmy Carter's anti-Israel national security advisor is one of Barack Obama's foreign policy advisors. Barack Obama was the member of a board (sic) that funded a pro-Palestinian chartiable organization. Barack Obama called for holding a summit of Muslim nations exlcuding Israel if elected president

Ben Smith at Politico reports that other Jewish voters are getting these calls, too. Based on his reporting and a comment from TNR reader "amstern," it sounds like the calls are going out to Jews in Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan (which is where I live). "

Hat tip to nationalpost.com

Wow, and to think I thought Mr.Morton, in spite of all his faults,was an honorable man. Oh well, I guess I was wrong. I guess some people will do anything for power. Honor and truth be dammed, as long as they sleep well at night. Although I guess when you have silk sheets to sleep in, it makes it a whole lot easier.

Sarah Privilege.

Honestly there is so much to post about today that I don't even know where to start. And now that the rethuglicans and their leader, George Bush, has pretty much made it necessary for us to put our increasingly worthless dollars under our houses, (a trillion dollars in three days!) you could say that I am speechless. The Dow lost over 400 more points today, the feds are talking about printing money, and we, the taxpayers, are now the proud owners of a huge insurance company, [ AIG] thanks to another government bailout. Talk about corporate welfare.



So anyway, with all this going on; why is it that all I can think about is Sarah? Yes Sarah. (And I did not hack into her e-mail account. You can't pin that one on the black man)I don't even know why I let you mofos let me stop talking about her in the first place. Maybe it's because I heard another story about her being a *racialist (*that's a field word), in yet another Alaska restaurant (see my sidebar), and maybe it's this whole "Troopergate" thing, but Sarah just won't go away. Well, honestly, I won't let her.


So anyhoo, my girl Jody sent me this nice little article from "Honorary Field Negro", Tim Wise, and I just had to share, because it's so true.



~By Tim Wise ~ "For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.


White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because 'every family has challenges,' even as black and Latino families with similar 'challenges' are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.


White privilege is when you can call yourself a 'fuckin' redneck,' like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll 'kick their fuckin' ass,' and talk about how you like to 'shoot shit' for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.


White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.


White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're 'untested.'


White privilege is being able to say that you support the words 'under God' in the pledge of allegiance because 'if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me,' and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the 'under God' part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was 'Alaska first,' and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community ogrganizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or > an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a 'second look.'

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.


White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a 'trick question,' while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a 'light' burden. And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole 'change' thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.


White privilege is, in short, the problem. "


Nope, Sarah getting the benefit of white privilege is.


BTW, thank you Mr. Morton for inventing the Blackberry, it is my favorite gadget and I could not live without it.....

Drudged!

Poor Fatimah Ali, she is a columnist here in Philly, and she took on the 2 million hits a day man, also known as Matt Drudge, and lost. Drudge, that slimy little rethuglican cretin, who looks like he doesn't wear anything under his trench coat and flashes little school girls, distorted a post by Ms. Ali, and posted it on his site for all the world to see. He flashed the headlines that Philly writer predicts race war if Obama loses (or something like that) and caused all hell break loose for the poor lady. Every racist in A-mery-ca was flooding her inbox with nasty and threatening e-mails.

The truth is, Ms. Ali actually wrote about a race AND "class" war in trying to sum up the mood of the country. ( "If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness - and hopelessness!") But of course Sludge being Sludge, only chose to write about the race part of her editorial. An editorial, by the way, which I happened to disagree with. Not because I don't think there should be a race and class are against the mofos in power, but because most A-merry-cans are too happy and dumb to give a fuck. Poor black and white people who should be uniting around each other, and fighting for common goals, allow slick politricksters to divide them along racial lines to serve their own best interests.

So anyway, now the poor woman has been forced to write this:

"AT LEAST 2 million readers visit DrudgeReport.com daily, and, for the last two weeks, it seemed like most of them were steamed at me.

Thousands of hostile messages flooded my e-mail after my Sept. 2 column that the Daily News called "We Need Obama, Not 4 More Years of George Bush."
Drudge cleverly headlined it: "Philadelphia columnist warns if McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race war."

I stand by the column - but after all of that backlash, I realize I was dead wrong. We don't have to wait until after the election for a race war. We're in one now.
I know that putting the words "race" and "war" together is like hurling an incendiary device. But I wasn't issuing a call to arms, it was a metaphorical prediction.

I hate violence, but I do see a growing wave of intolerance sweeping the nation. And most of the responses were hostile, like one from someone who identified himself as Dennis Van Pelt: "Obama runs like a porch monkey in Alabama during a KKK concert." But, not all white Southerners feel like Dennis. Russ Nelson wrote: "I am a white male who was proud to cast my vote for Barack Obama in the Alabama state primary. He inspires me!"

Nelson sounds more like the liberal whites I grew up with in West Mount Airy, a community that pioneered integration in Philadelphia and kept me wearing rose-colored glasses. I didn't personally experience racism until I was 40, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks...'

The recent onslaught of hate mail I received is a cruel reminder that racism is a like a simmering pot ready to boil over. But it's diametrically opposed to what democracy should represent.

I move in diverse circles and was raised in an upper-middle-class family with parents who exposed us to a wide range of experiences. My family includes several races and religions and a range of political views.

But from what I've been seeing lately, including the reaction to my column, the racial, economic, cultural and religious divides are getting wider. Most of the 2,000 negative responses used language so foul my ears curled...."

More here.



Ms. Ali, I know a little about Mt. Airy; it is one of the most beautiful and diverse communities in A-merry-ca. But Ms. Ali, you ain't in Mt. Airy anymore, you are in A-merry-ca now, and there won't be any race war. The only wars that are being faught are being carried out by people like Drudge and the folks at FAKE NEWS. They are fighting against truth, and they are hoping that the rest of A-merry-cans will stay blind and never see it.

504!!!

If you own stocks in banking, give the field a holla, I know the number of a very good suicide hot line here in Philly. Seriously, WTF? That 504 figure is not Jimmy Rollin's batting average, or a new area code, it's how much points the Dow lost today. The most since September 11.

All this on a day when Mr. Morton made the astonishing statement that the "fundamentals" of the economy is still "strong". Huh? I wonder if someone told him how totally ridiculous that statement was. Oh, apparently they did, because later in the day he tried to say that he meant the American workers are the fundamentals.....What? I guess they will no better than to let Mr. Morton give speeches without a script in front of him next time, the man is losing it.

Look, I have a confession to make: I do alright money wise. Between me and Mrs. Field, I am pretty much in that percentile that his O ness wants to increase taxes on. So I am not one to panic over money, or the lack of it. Unlike Mrs. Field (who has a lifetime subscription to Kiplinger's), I honestly don't follow the markets that much. I rely on my city pension fund, and Mrs. Field to read my deferred compensation statements. Mrs. Field reads her 401-K statements like you would read your bible. She knows all about large company growth funds, emerging growth funds, diversified international funds, value funds, and blend funds. She has us diversified in Janus Oversees, Columbia Acorn, Fidelity, Meridian Growth, Vanguard, Harbor Capitol Appreciation, Franklin Templeton...ahh shit my head is spinning. But you get the point.

So anyway, today, for the first time since I have known her, Mrs Field was talking about the stock market, and just how fucked we all might be. And seriously, when you read stuff like this, how can you blame her? "Wait a minute", I ask her. "I thought you were the one who always said that we should be patient investors, and that you invest for the long term. Don't panic with the rise and fall of the markets you always say, right? ""Yeah field but this isn't looking good. The Dow lost over 500 points today, and the banking sectors are getting hammered." "Sooo, what does that mean for the kid? ""It means the kid's stock portfolios and his wife's retirement is taking a beating. It means the kid's home probably lost about 10% of it's value within the last few days, that's what." She is being sarcastic when she says "kid", and she is not a happy camper. "See field, you have your little pension with the city, and it's pretty much guaranteed, so I am sure you don't worry about these things like the rest of us." Memo to all husbands out there: when your wife starts referring to your pension plan as "little", you might have some issues.

But, as is always the case, I blame the frat boy for this mess. These damn republicans with their leave the corporations alone, laissez faire attitude towards financial regulations in this country, have caused us to be in this mess. They are not laissez faire economist, they are fucking "Market Anarchist", and we are paying for it.

I was reading about Princeton economist, Robert Shiller, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and he was basically saying the same thing that Mrs. Field is: we are fucked. And no one in government is doing anything to save us. Shiller says that the "the immediate fix that is needed is similar to that called for by the Great Depression, but unlike the 1930s, nothing fundamental is being done." This gloom and doom guy (I wonder if he would like a nice African American woman to marry)actually said that "home prices have sunk 30% since 2006, and that we could go back to a 25% unemployment rate like it was from 1925-1933." Gloom and doom to be sure, but the guy is no dummy. He helped to develop the "Standard and Poor's Case Shiller (that's his name in there) Home Price Index" for ten large metro markets, so he knows what he is talking about. But at least he has some solutions. He thinks, for instance, that "the government should replace Fannie Mae with an overseer and guarantor of mortgage loans, and that it should bail out lenders and borrowers to keep them from dragging others down." But he even admits that this is a "stopgap measure" which would just be designed to shrink the company's loss exposure until the next administration (sure you want this presidency thing O man?) figures out a more permanent way to fund home loans. Shiller wants the government's goal to be "pushing home prices back up while preventing a fundamental loss of economic confidence in our institutions and in each other, while preventing distress among people of modest means. He also wants a 'Financial Product Safety Commission' tracking loan and investment products, promoting fee only financial planners, to reach lower income people." Gee, there is a novel concept, making financial planners more affordable to everyone. And get this; the guy wants to "detach loan and bond prices from the U.S. dollar, whose steady erosion by inflation gives a false sense of its value." Gee, again, what a novel concept. "Loan prices", he argues, "should rise and fall with the value of goods produced and consumed in an economy, while bond prices should be tied to national economic output". Now I am no economic expert, but hell, that makes sense too.

And my question again is this: who in the frat boys administration was thinking these things out? Why were they just letting the financial sectors and the markets police themselves while they lived high on the hog, and drained our 401-K accounts? That was a rhetorical question. I am quite sure that you all know the answer. And now we have Mr.Morton, a man with no clue about our economy, ( he doesn't have to, his wife is worth a hundred million) promising us that he will fix this mess. Yeah right, and guess how is he going to do it? By cutting corporate taxes, and bailing out speculators, that's how. Nice. You gotta love those republicans. Destroy the country with their economic policies, and demand that we give them four more years to run it.

Anyway, enough of this financial talk, I am looking down at my butt and my calves, and the spinning hasn't stopped. Mrs. Field is on the phone with her sister, and she is telling her that she has to get off because she has to get on her computer. I will give you one guess what she is going to go and check on. If you don't get a post from the kid tomorrow, it's because I am out looking for a third job. I mean I know I am a Jamaican, and as the joke goes, we are used to working multiple jobs; but damn!

I am going back to the game now, my birds are up at the half.

Just another "small town folksy" American?

I honestly wasn't going to post anything about Sarah for awhile. After all, like Obama, I am going to try and start focusing on the issues, and on the top of the ticket, not the bottom. But then I read in my hometown paper, an oped by some academic named Catherine McNicol Stock, who is apparently an expert on rural radicals. (This lady actually wrote a book about the subject) So anyway, being the good field Negro that I am, who is always trying to do my best to keep you informed, I thought I would share her oped with you:

"Despite her efforts to portray herself as an average, small-town, 'folksy' American, Sarah Palin's political views - ardently pro-gun, pro-censorship, antichoice and antigay - make John McCain's conservative credentials pale in comparison. What few observers have said, however, is these beliefs are not just extreme - they are radical, and even bear a comparison with some of the most notorious "rural radicals" of our time.

It has been years since groups such as the Montana Militia, the Posse Comitatus and the Sagebrush Rebels, and individuals such as Terry Nichols and Ted Kaczynski have made us wonder why so many "angry white men" populated our rural regions. Many of us have forgotten the threat once posed by domestic terrorists and instead have turned our attention to foreign terrorists. But we should never forget that in the late 20th century, ultra-Christian, antistatist and white-supremacist groups flourished in the states of the Pacific Northwest - called by many the "Great 'White Northwest' - the very region that Sarah Palin and her family call home.

Demographics most basically define this geographic region. In the six states that make up the Pacific Northwest - Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska - only six counties are more than 5 percent African American. Not by coincidence, each of these counties is also near an important military installation with many African American men and women. Even so, barely more than 3,000 blacks lived in all of Idaho in 2000.

Although home to tens of thousands of native peoples, Alaska is not much different in terms of diversity from the other states of the region. African Americans live in areas near important military installations in Anchorage and Fairbanks and almost nowhere else. Wasilla, where Sarah Palin was mayor, makes the census' list of the top 10 Alaskan communities with the largest number of African Americans because they make up a full 1 percent of the population. Rough calculations suggest that 65 blacks lived in the town.

But the region also must be defined by its history of intolerance, resentment, antistatism and violence. Appearing in the region in the 1980s and 1990s were some of the most notorious "hate radicals" of our time: militia groups, survivalists, Identity Christians, secessionists, white supremacists and others.

Some simply hated the federal government, like Randy Weaver of Ruby Ridge, Idaho, a survivalist whose wife and child died when their compound was fired upon by FBI agents attempting to arrest him on gun charges. "Whether we live or whether we die," Weaver said, 'we will not obey this lawless government.'

Other groups, like the Aryan Nation, with headquarters in Hayden Lake, Idaho, actively planned to rid the United States of African Americans, Jews, and other 'non-Aryan' peoples. A few carried out their plans, murdering Jewish radio host Alan Berg in Denver, the Goldmark family in Seattle, an African American state trooper in Arkansas, Fish and Wildlife officials and FBI agents in Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana, and more than 160 federal employees and their children in Oklahoma City. "

More here.

Oh well, let's hope we see more of the real Sarah as election day draws near. And let's hope that she wasn't influenced by her surroundings growing up. I love those small town "folksy" values as much as the next guy, but there are some aspects of those small town "folksy" values that scare me a little. Just like Sarah.

What's next, Sarah on a Wheaties Box?

"WASHINGTON - Activists at a conservative political forum snapped up boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.

Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed "offensive material." The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since Thursday afternoon.

The box was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix. They sold it for $10 a box from a rented booth at the summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council...."

TEN DOLLARS? That's a lot for a box of waffles. Where do I start with this story? Some of you have been e-mailing me and commenting here about this story. And you wondered what my take would be on it. Some of you thought it was purely satire, as Bob DeMoss, one of the creators of the mix said; and you thought that I would see it as such. Well, it's a funny thing about satire: it's kind of like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart described pornography: "I know it when I see it". Sorry folks, this wasn't satire, it was racism. Maybe I can't give a fair take on this subject, since my disdain for the people who were buying up and selling the Obama waffles is so strong. But that's just the way I see it. There is just too much history with these folks for me to give them a pass.

But then I hear that they didn't only offend my peeps by playing off the negative imagery of Aunt Jemima----that Mammy that A-merry-cans love so much--, but they offended Muslims on the top of the box, and Mexicans on the back. On the back they had an image of Obama in stereo typical Mexican dress, which included a sombrero. The picture was above a recipe for "Open Border Fiesta Waffles" and it said you can serve "four more illegal aliens...while waiting on these zesty treats to invade your home, why not learn a foreign language? " Nice! You gotta love those "Family Research Council" and American Values folks, they sure know how to fire up their base. I bet those pancake boxes were flying out of the booth. And I bet there will be a booming Internet business for these two creators for weeks and weeks to come.

"The Obama campaign declined to comment"

Of course they did. We can't have the "O man playing the victim card now can we. That's the beauty queen's job.

A GOP win by any means necessary.

Do you remember how hard it was for black folks to register to vote back in the day? States like Alabama (shout out to the great blog "Left in Alabama"), actually had poll taxes, and "literacy tests" that had to be taken before poor people of color could register. These tests, of course, were often administered by the all white local county officials, and enforced by the local police departments. Can anyone say "White Citizens Council" ? Anyhoooo, that was such a long long time ago, and A-merry-ca has come so far since then, that your friendly neighborhood field Negro is just mentioning it to give you a little history lesson. Right? Wrong! I know the Supreme Court said such things were improper, and that the folks in the old "Jim Crow" South were wrong to do these things. But the new Supremes, made up of....well, conservative republicans, tend to disagree. They ruled, just this year, that it was alright to suppress people's right to vote, in order to do away with fraud. Look up Crawford v. Marion County Election Board if you think I am lying. And read this excellent article in Newsweek Magazine from Jonathan Alter, to understand exactly what is going on here. Voter fraud my ass, that's just a smoke screen to keep black folks from voting. Mr. Alter, of course, thinks it's the GOP being political and not racial; I tend to disagree. (What came first the chicken or the egg?)

Now I am trying to be respectable and not demagogue this issue, lord knows I catch enough flack from my republican friends (yes I have some) for staying on their party as much as I do. But come on now, when they do things like this, how can I? Hey, you rethugs have a history when it comes to this kind of stuff, so don't go crying a river when people call you out on it. Let's keep it real folks: the rethugs are the ones bringing back those days, and they are the ones making my little history lesson seem more like current events.

But I promised myself and Mrs Field that I was going to stop getting so worked up over little issues like the suppression of people's right to vote. It's not good for my pressure. No one else in A-merry-ca seems to give a damn, so why should I? You would think the folks in the democratic party would be making a bigger deal about this, but they are not. I guess they don't want to be seen as the ones crying racism. That is so una-merry-can and so unpatriotic. After all, there are no racist in A-merry-ca anymore, just different points of views as to how to move the country forward.

Anyway, as I did with the last election; as election day draws closer, I will be posting some links to help folks in some of these key battle ground states, so that they can understand their legal rights when it comes to voting.

It's important. The White Citizens Coun....whoops, I mean the republicans know it, and so should you.

Sarah's sit down.

I am on my way out the door and I can't leave without talking about the beauty queen's little sit down with Charlie (I really need a lifetime subscription to GQ Magazine) Gibson. BTW, Charlie, WTF? You make a zillion dollars a year, and you conduct one of the biggest interviews of your career in that outfit? They don't have producers over at ABC News to help you with such things? Anyway, I digress.

“I would never presume to know God’s will or to speak God’s words... But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that’s a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God’s side.”

Huh? And this woman is a heart beat and a malignant tumor away from the presidency? I don't know god's will either beauty queen, but if there is one, I sure hope he or she helps us.

And will someone please tell me that it's not true that the beauty queen did not know what the "Bush Doctrine" was? When Gibson asked her if she would continue the "Bush Doctrine" she asked him which part of the "Bush Doctrine" he meant. Nice dodge there beauty queen, lucky for you that Gibson bailed you out with the next question, by telling you the answer in the question. Folks, imagine that for a minute; this woman did not know the most talked about part of the foreign policy of her parties' president. A man who has been president for the past seven years. The "Bush Doctrine" (strike a perceived threat before it strikes us) is why we are in Iraq now. And this woman does not know what it is? How did we come to this?

Then there is this traveling thing. When asked if she had ever met a leader of a foreign country she said, no. She defended herself by saying that many people in her position had never met a foreign leader. Not true beauty queen. ABC did a fact check, and for the past 30 years every potential VP had met a foreign leader up to this point, sorry. I guess that explains her answer about Russia. Hey memo to the beauty queen: going to war with Russia is not like getting one of your rifles and going to hunt in the Alaskan wilderness. I know you consider yourself a cowgirl, but you might want to reconsider your position on that front. Putin ain't your local county commissioner. You can't just push him around, or threaten to fire him if you don't get your way.

McCain spokesman, Rick Davis, told FAKE NEWS that Palin wouldn't talk to the press until she could be treated with "respect and deference". Let me translate that for you: She won't be speaking to the press until we we can give her an intense crash course in foreign policy. Because right now our girl just isn't ready. How could she be? When she says stuff like she can see Russia from Alaska, and implies that it makes her an expert on Russian affairs? As my friend Dan said: "I can see the Comcast building from our office, does that make me a fucking video technician?" No Dan it does not, but then you are not Sarah Palin. Sarah has special gifts from god.

I can't wait for round two with this clown. Apparently, tonight, on 20/20, she talks about her opposition to stem cell research, and why she supported the bridge to nowhere, before she was against it. I can't wait for part two with the beauty queen, it should be fun.

"On January 20th, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, we will be ready... "I'm ready."

We will be ready too Sarah, but it will be to to get out survival kits, and our passports.

It's like it happened yesterday.

Like most of you I remember exactly where I was that day, and what I was doing. I was at a child support conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and I was looking forward to playing hooky from the days events and playing a round of golf (yes this field Negro plays golf) with some colleagues. I don't know, maybe it's because of the events of that day, but weatherise, It was probably the most beautiful and perfect day that I can ever remember. And when those planes started hitting those buildings, right before our very eyes, live and in living color; everyone freaked the fuck out. I don't think too many of us can forget the images of the people jumping from buildings, the brave first responders, and the sheer panic and misery on the faces of those people who were right around ground zero.



I remember thinking: These sick mofos must really hate us. Some of the people around me couldn't even fathom it. "How can anyone hate us so much?" They asked. "Where did all this evil come from?" They pleaded to no one in particular. As I watched the events unfold from that Hotel lobby,, I felt like I knew. Unlike most of the people around me, I had traveled the world, I had lived and spent time outside of the United States, and I knew that a lot of people out there really really hated us. But I never knew this was how they would strike? I had to give it to them; it worked.

Now it couldn't have worked without real commitment and devotion. After all, you had to have been willing to sacrifice your life to complete the mission. And I guess the promise of seventy two virgins in paradise was enough to make these sick fanatics take the lives of over 3,000 of our fellow citizens.

Total strangers came up and hugged me, total strangers cried with me, I hugged strangers and told them that it would be alright. I tried to convince them-- and myself at the same time---, because deep down I knew that things would never be the same. Forget Don McLean, 911 was the real day the "music died" in this country.


And, of course, the moron we had as a leader, didn't help. The first problem with him of course, was that like the lunatics who shattered our peace, he was deeply religious and thought he was called by god to lead us. So instead of thinking it through and figuring out a way to go after the perpetrators who attacked us, he launched his own version of Jihad against the Arab world. Instead of trying to bring us closer together as a country, he became more partisan, and threw us farther a part. Instead of asking for a shared commitment to service, he told us to go shopping. And instead of trying to build good will with the rest of the world, he made them hate us even more.


So now, seven years later, the man who was responsible for committing this despicable act is still held up in a cave somewhere like Fred fucking Flinstone. And all our idiot of a leader can do is say that al-Qaeda is in retreat, and all the evil doers are on the run. Yeah right. I have a news flash for yo frat boy: al-Qaeda is stronger than ever (your war gave them a hell of a recruiting tool), and we are no closer to capturing the Arab with Santa Clauses beard and Wilt Chamberlain's height than we were seven years ago. And you are still using the fear that was created by those 19 hijackers to hijack the political process, and take away our civil liberties.






Now I am left wondering who did the most damage from that day? The 19 hijackers or the frat boy? My gut of course tells me it's the hijackers; all those poor families without their loved ones that they lost that day. But my head tells me that it's this administration and their minions. September 11, was a tragic day, but we have endured tragedies and dark times in our history before. It's how we come out of those times that determines what type if country this will ultimately be, and tells us who we are as a people.


911 was a deep cut to our nations psyche and to our way of life. But this administration did not try to heal it. Instead, they let the wounds fester, and they made it even worse. So now, as a result, we will forever be scarred. There were 19 hijackers on those planes that day, but there was one hijacker sitting in a school house in Florida that day too.