A partisan view of a killing.

Fred Clark over at the slacktivist wonders why conservatives have made the killing of Trayvon Martin political.

"I don’t understand the partisan response to the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Yes, many liberals are upset that a child was gunned down with impunity. (It’s been more than a month now.) But they are not upset for partisan reasons or for “liberal” reasons or for Democratic Party reasons.

They are upset because a child was gunned down with impunity. That ought to upset conservatives too. I appreciate that the Republican Party ca. 2012 has a knee-jerk opposition to anything that President Barack Obama says, but just because Obama is saddened by the senseless killing of a child shouldn’t have to mean that Republicans should reflexively take the other side.

This shouldn’t be partisan. Those saddened and angered by the killing of Trayvon Martin are not fighting a partisan battle. This child’s death does not advance some liberal or Democratic agenda. Those of us upset by this are not saying, “A child has been shot and therefore we must restore parity between taxes on labor and taxes on capital gains.” We are saying that it is horrifying and wrong that a child can be gunned down with impunity.

There is no reason that conservatives shouldn’t completely agree with that.
Well, there’s one reason, but there’s no decent, moral, legitimate reason." (Source)

I wonder what Fred is thinking of. I bet he and I are thinking of the same thing.

Finally, have you ever heard those wingnuts complain about the liberals and leftist teaching their kids in America's colleges and universities? It has gotten so bad that they have actually started creating their own personal wingnut institutions of higher learning complete with their own wacky curriculum.

Anyway, I am here to tell you that America's colleges and universities are full of right wingnuts and racist. Just because you are smart enough to get into college, doesn't mean that you can't carry around a certain amount og ignorance with you.

I give you exhibit A, the editorial board of the University of Texas student newspaper.

"The University of Texas‘ student newspaper, The Daily Texan, was accused of being racially insensitive when it printed a bias cartoon on Tuesday that belittled the

The cartoon depicts a Mother reading a book to her child and referring to Martin as a “colored boy,” with an underline and three arrows pointing to it for added emphasis. The title of the book also labels the coverage of the Martin case as “yellow journalism,” which is journalism that is sensational or crudely exaggerated. 

The editorial board of the paper — who first stood behind the cartoon’s artist — has now apologized for printing the controversial cartoon. The artist has also been given the boot, reports the Los Angeles Times.
When word began to spread about the racially insensitive cartoon, tempers began flaring. How could The Daily Texan sanction such blatant racism and make light of an unarmed teen being brutally shot to death by a trigger man who felt threatened by a youth who was minding his own business?
Working on a school paper should offer lasting teachable moments, but a few people made some very poor judgements, and the editorial staff are now being called on the carpet. Seemingly backing up their cartoonist, the paper initially printed the following statement late Tuesday evening:

The views expressed in the cartoon are not those of the editorial board. They are those of the artist. It is the policy of the editorial board to publish the views of our columnists and cartoonists, even if we disagree with them.

Not good enough.

The media soon got wind of the blatantly racist cartoon. Its artist, Stephanie Eisner, who also spelled Trayvon’s name incorrectly, got lambasted as a racist about her tongue-in-cheek depiction of the Martin case. Eisner put forth the following apology on the day after the cartoon was published:

I apologize for what was in hindsight an ambiguous cartoon related to the Trayvon Martin shooting. I intended to contribute thoughtful commentary on the media coverage of the incident, however this goal fell flat. I would like to make it explicitly clear that I am not a racist, and that I am personally appalled by the killing of Trayvon Martin. I regret any pain the wording or message of my cartoon may have caused." [Source]

"Ambiguous cartoon"? OK, we get it. The Trayvon Martin killing has not made A-merry-cans collectively look and see injustice. It has caused folks who view certain people in society as less than human to double down and defend their position and a child's killer. 

The "Nig" in chief.

I wish Ricky (I should be in a) Sanitarium could control himself sometimes. I know all republicans think it, but at least they can control themselves. Ricky, on the other hand, not so much.

Poor Rick. Him of the now infamous "blah people" gaffe. This time around he caught himself before dropping the N word. Oh my! The 24 hour cable news folks would have had fun with that one.

"In this speech, he had been blasting Barack Obama for all things real and imagined. Then where this clip begins Santorum continues "We know the candidate Barack Obama...what he was like. The anti-war, government nig... (insert stumble here)."

FOX NEWS: "Well, I am sure he didn't mean Nigger as in black people are Niggers, Bill. What he wanted to say is that Obama is Niggardly when it comes to the government and the war." "Of course, I mean we all know that the man is not a racist. How could he be and be so devoted to his church....."

Anywhoo, all is well that ends well. Unfortunately for Ricky he was not going to be the candidate that faces his Oness come November. He was dying a slow death by a thousand dollar bills.

It's actually a shame, because I wanted him to hang in there a little longer. Now it looks like the candidate who can keep his thoughts to himself and keep his mouth in check will be the party standard- bearer.

I bet he won't call O a "Nig". At least not publicly.

Finally, while we are all outraged about Trayvon Martin, let's not forget that this kind of thing is par for the course for black men in A-merry-ca. I bring you a story from the ironically named town of White  Plains, New York. (h/t Tia for this story)

"As the Trayvon Martin case draws national attention, we look at another fatal shooting of an African-American male that has received far less scrutiny. Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., a 68-year-old African-American Marine veteran, was fatally shot in November by White Plains, NY, police who responded to a false alarm from his medical alert pendant. The officers broke down Chamberlain’s door, tasered him, and then shot him dead. Audio of the entire incident was recorded by the medical alert device in Chamberlain’s apartment. We’re joined by family attorneys and Chamberlain’s son, Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr., who struggles through tears to recount his father’s final moments, including the way police officers mocked his father’s past as a marine. "For them to look at my father that way, (with) no regard for his life, every morning I think about it," he says."
[Full story here]


Oh, and before I forget; if any of you field hands happen to win the Megamillons Jackpot tonight please holla at your boy.

A video and eyewitness is not enough.

Just listened to an eyewitness to the Trayvon Martin murder on CNN. Anderson Cooper has an exclusive with the person. Looked in my e-mail inbox and there was an e-mail from CNN's PR person. One good thing about running a popular blog is that you get e-mails from folks in the know and cable news people all the time.

selected sound bite from the interview below -

Anderson Cooper: What did you observe after the shot?

Eyewitness: "As I said it was dark, but after the shot, obviously someone, one man got up and it was kind of like that period of him – I can’t say I actually watched him get up – but maybe it was only in a couple seconds or so that he was walking towards where I was watching. And I could see him a little bit clearer, and see that he was a Hispanic man and he was, you know, he didn’t appear hurt or anything else, he just kind of seemed very, worried or whatever, walked on the sidewalk at that point, with his hand up to his forehead and then another man came out with a flashlight..."

 

Shimrit Sheetrit
CNN Public Relations

1888 Century Park East - CC12079
Los Angeles, CA 90067
310.***.****

I don't know, maybe if folks hear the problem with the Trayvon Martin killing from a white perspective they will understand. Meanwhile, the racist continue to dig in and double down that somehow Trayvon Martin brought his death on himself.

But back to that article:

"President Obama transformed the Florida shooting that has become a national protest movement with a single sentence: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Once again, the president transcended race while addressing it.

Obama spoke as a father - any father. And yet there was no one who read or heard his words who didn't understand that he was also speaking as a black father who could have had a black son resembling Trayvon Martin, the teenager whose shooting death has inflamed black America while reminding white America that the legacy of racial injustice is long, complicated, and always painful.
I am a white father who has a story about his black son - that is, a boy who grew up with my son, as close as two friends can be.

They met in first grade at Meredith School, a public elementary school at Fifth and Fitzwater Streets, in a South Philadelphia neighborhood that people were still getting used to calling "Queen Village." It was the early '70s, and young white families who were buying rowhouses in such neighborhoods, as my family did, were referred to in real estate sections as "urban pioneers" rather than gentrifiers.

We were innocents of a sort in the Philadelphia public school system. Still in our twenties, we initially expected our kids to get the same education we had in the suburbs. Meredith at the time was 80 percent black, with many of its students coming from the high-rise public housing projects five blocks away, where parents fudged their addresses so their children could go to Meredith. We sent our children to Meredith because we liked and believed in it, and we continued to believe in it through grade school. Today, Meredith is one of the success stories of neighborhood public schools in Philadelphia, but back in the day, it wasn't so easy.

Best friends
My son Danny was bullied by a kid from the neighborhood, a mean white kid whom I remember as half my son's size, and yet who terrorized him to the extent that Danny retreated inside at any hint of his presence.

And then came Robert. Robert was Danny's classmate, a black kid who lived in the projects down the street. How they became best friends, I do not know. Robert just showed up one day and never left.
The bullying stopped whenever Robert was around. Danny grew more confident by degrees. By fifth grade, he was unafraid. By seventh grade, he was adventurous.

By eighth grade, he was - well, as he once put it to me, black. He was joking, of course, because he would always be white in the eyes of America. And of the Philadelphia police.

'Next time'
One spring morning in 1985, while Robert was walking to school from his mother's apartment in the Southwark Plaza housing project, at Fourth and Washington, he was stopped by the police and put in the back of a wagon. He was 13 years old.

The officers drove him to Sixth and South Streets, where a woman's purse had been snatched. The woman was waiting there when the police wagon pulled up. When its back doors opened, a bewildered boy in tears emerged.

The woman was furious. "I told you it was a man who did this, 6 feet tall. You've brought me a boy. Don't you know the difference?"

The police officers shrugged, put Robert back in the wagon, and drove him back to Meredith School, where he had told them he was a student. They pulled up outside the front doors on Fifth Street about half an hour after classes had begun. Robert was still sobbing when they opened the doors and left him on the sidewalk alone.

The policemen didn't call his mother, didn't offer to walk him inside to explain why he was late, and didn't apologize for the mistake. They simply let him out and drove away after a four-word warning: "Next time, don't cry."
Those are words that no white father in Philadelphia would ever expect a policeman to say to his son. "Next time ... " - because surely there will be a next time, and boys like Robert should learn how to take it like men. And if I had actually been the father of a boy who looked like Trayvon Martin, I would have known that.

That was all 27 years ago. We moved to West Philadelphia soon afterward. Danny and Robert went to different high schools and drifted apart, though they remained friends.

Robert eventually got caught up in drugs and dropped out of high school. But he came from a strong family, and at 19, he joined the Army, got his GED, and learned a trade. When he died of leukemia at the age of 25, he had started a family and was working for a top chef at a Center City hotel. At his funeral, I heard my son cry like I had never heard him cry before."
[Source]

I am still waiting on that all important autopsy report. Not that it will make any difference to folks who think that the "thuggish" black youth got what he deserved, but it should make things so much clearer.

Eyewitnesses are sometimes wrong, that is not the same for videos and forensic evidence.

Now it's "The Butler", and musings from the house on Trayvon Martin.

When will it stop? Now we are told that there is a movie called “The Butler” in the works. Really?!! “The Butler”?!! Boy leave it to Hollywood to find a formula and run that puppy into the ground. I like Forest Whitaker, the man is a fine actor, but I am begging him not to do this flick. I don’t care if my homie Lee Daniels is co-writing and directing it. I say enough of these "Magic Negro roles. This one will focus on the Reagan White House. Lawd help us. "How you doin Miss Nancy, I have your tea for you". "Thank you Eugene, Could you bring my slippers please?" "Sure Miss Nancy, do you want the white ones or the pink ones? " [Source]

I feel like throwing up.

I know who will probably love this movie, my man Juan Williams. Juan is at it again. This time he penned an article for the Wall Street Journal where he pretty much stated the obvious (and what us real black folks have been saying all along) about the tragedy that is black on black crime.

Of course Juan, in typical house fashion, has to make this about black folks not being responsible enough to point out the obvious ills and pathologies in many black communities.  

"The shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida has sparked national outrage, with civil rights leaders from San Francisco to Baltimore leading protests calling for a new investigation and the arrest of the shooter.

But what about all the other young black murder victims? Nationally, nearly half of all murder victims are black. And the overwhelming majority of those black people are killed by other black people. Where is the march for them?
Where is the march against the drug dealers who prey on young black people? Where is the march against bad schools, with their 50% dropout rate for black teenaged boys? Those failed schools are certainly guilty of creating the shameful 40% unemployment rate for black teens.

How about marching against the cable television shows constantly offering minstrel-show images of black youth as rappers and comedians who don't value education, dismiss the importance of marriage, and celebrate killing people, drug money and jailhouse fashion—the pants falling down because the jail guard has taken away the belt, the shoes untied because the warden removed the shoe laces, and accessories such as the drug dealer's pit bull....." blah blah blah.

Welcome to the party, Juan. Thanks for inviting your racist friends from FOX NATION to join us . Sadly, you won't get any solutions from them. Just the same old racist crap. Of course you will be pleased to know that you are not like those other Negroes, you ask the tough questions. You are courageous, Juan. You stand up to your own people. You are not afraid to call them out. *throwing up again*

Anyway, what folks like Juan Williams and other racist apologist in A-merry-ca fail to understand, is that this case isn't just about the shooting of a young black man by some out of control vigilante. It's about a system of justice-- and those charged with upholding it--- that does not treat the lives of young black men the same way that they treat others. Most intelligent people in this country (black and white) realize that if Trayvon Martin and the shooter reversed races, George Zimmerman would be eating three meals on the County right now.  

Juan has to understand that this isn't about Civil Rights Inc. rallying around yet another bad whitey cause. This is about other young black men seeing how their lives aren't valued by society as a whole, and then thinking nothing of taking the life of someone who looks like they do. They know where they are in the "pecking order", and when they take the life of someone down at the bottom of the food chain with them they know that it's not that big of a deal. Three lines in the local paper and no mention on the evening news; that's it.

"Supposedly all of this is just entertainment and intended to co-opt the stereotypes. But it only ends up perpetuating stereotypes in white minds and, worse, having young black people internalize it as an authentic image of a proud black person."

I get it , Juan. You have to be very careful about how you are perceived by white folks. *looking for a nice jigging tune*  But the people in authority in A-merry-ca should also be concerned about how they are perceived by all A-merry-cans.
Right now the police department in Sanford, Florida is in the spotlight because they are not looking very good to the rest of us.  And when some of us see what was done in the Trayvon Martin case, we know exactly what kind of signals it is sending: Young black man your life isn't worth a damn thing. And whether you are wearing a Hickey Freeman suit or a hoodie and baggy pants, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference.       


Pic courtesy of Brotherpeacemaker blog.




 







 

Justice for the Coons, and Flipper's cool garage.

Do you people remember the post I did a few days ago about two wrongs not making a right? I talked about the case in Kansas City that wingnuts swore no one was talking about. The one where the black kids allegedly set a white teen on fire and allegedly said "you get what you deserve white boy".

Well, as it turns out, there has been no arrest in the case, either. And the mother of this poor white child believes that she is being "brushed off".
   

"The mother of a 13-year-old boy who says he was set on fire by two teens said Monday that her son is having a difficult time after he suffered first-degree burns.

"It's hard for him," the boy's mother told KCTV5 Monday. "It's hard for us as a family having to deal with this."

Other media outlets have identified the boy's mother. KCTV5 is not doing so because the boy is a minor and no one has been charged.

Part of the police investigation has included attempting to verify the veracity of the boy's claims.

This prompted the boy's mother earlier this month to complain that police were treating her son as a suspect.

"It's very frustrating because I feel like we're being brushed off and there's nothing that is happening for us," the mother said Monday.

But in a news conference held last month, detectives said what the boy experienced was a particularly heinous crime.

The case drew national attention last month because the boy is white and he said the two teen boys who set him on fire were African-Americans.

Kansas City Police Sgt. Stacey Graves said Monday that the investigation is ongoing.

"This is not an incident we take lightly," Graves said. "Detectives have reached out to the community and members of the school district in the course of this investigation to learn as much as they can about what occurred and may have led up to the assault and they are still doing that today."

The boy says he was walking home from East High School when two teens he didn't know began to follow him.

According to the police report, the boy said he made it the front porch of his home on Quincy Avenue when one suspect physically barred him from entering. The second suspect grabbed a red gallon gasoline can and said, "This is what you get."

The second teen then used a light to ignite the gasoline, which "produced a large fireball burning the face and hair" of the victim, according to a Kansas City Police Department report.

Other media outlets have reported that one of the suspects said, "You get what you deserve, white boy."

That was not in the police report, and the boy's mother had spoken publicly with KCTV5 before Monday. As a result, KCTV5 did not previously report that statement.

The mother (Melissa Coon) explained Monday that her son confided in her what the suspect said while he was in the hospital. She said he didn't tell police those specific words because he was too upset at the time, which is why it wasn't reflected in the police report.

The boy's allegations have drawn particular attention across the country in the wake of the shooting death of a Florida teen.

The Kansas City case pales in comparison to the death of Trayvon Martin, the local boy's mother said. But she said it is a good reminder to look out for children. [Source]

Yes, Mam we do have to look out for our children. But I sure hope you are not  another Ashley Todd. I don't want to jump to conclusions like some folks have done with Trayvon Martin, but.....

We know for sure something happened with Trayvon, he is dead. We know something happened with this poor child as well, but....

When I first heard this story I was aghast and appalled at what happened to this young man. I still am. But some of you can be so jaded:

"This was broad daylight..correct?

They knew the lighter was a bic. They noticed the types of shoes the boys wore.  One had sunglasses and they could see the silver trim on the sides? The boy wasn't far from his home. Is the area rural that it would produce no witnesses? Did they find the lighter fluid? Surely someone saw these boys...they didn't just disappear into oblivion. I'm questioning whether it was a case of a little boy playing with lighter fluid and his semi racially aroused parents making effort to swing this into something racial because they watch Fox news...and know of the Martin Case...... Remember the girl with the backward "B" carved into her face? They knew the perps to be 16 years old, even the one concealed in his eye glasses and Ohhh! A hoodie no less... How quick did they get away? The teen was attacked right outside on his front porch. Bold teenagers! What did they use as a get away? Their bat mobile? Are the youths in school? High schools can't make out anyone fitting this particular description?????"  (h/t to the folks who send me e-mails on a regular. I won't put your name out there but you know who you are.)

Oh my! What are you saying? That this poor woman made this all up? No, I don't think that she did. I am sure that they will catch these culprits really soon. This little boy deserves justice.

Finally, shout out to Flipper and his new toy. The auto elevator is a nice touch there Flipper. It beats having to spread out the garage. You can just stack those bad boys one on top of the other.

"SAN DIEGO — If the news last summer that Mitt Romney had a $12 million expansion planned for his oceanfront property here helped portray him as a member of the top 1 percent, the new disclosure that the renovation includes elevators for his four-car garage is not likely to burnish his image as a man of the people.

Plans for the expansion, first reported by Politico and later obtained by The New York Times from a rival campaign, include a split-level, four-car garage with a “car lift,” an outdoor shower, and a 3,600-square-foot basement.

A visit to the Romneys’ beachside property on Monday — one of three properties Mr. Romney and his wife, Ann, own — revealed a modest home for the wealthy enclave (at least from a street view) at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. But an official city “Notice of Application” from April 2010 highlighted the changes to come: plans to “demolish the existing residence and construct a new, approximately 8,105-square-foot, single-family residence on a 0.41 acre site.”
Mr. Romney’s pre-expansion home, which sits perched atop a concrete seawall and is further separated from the beach by a locked gate...

...The Romney campaign said that a “car elevator” was simply a mechanism for storing cars in tight spaces, but that hasn’t stopped Mr. Romney’s rivals from jumping on the details of the planned expansion. In an e-mail on Tuesday, Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for President Obama’s re-election campaign, wrote, “But while Governor Romney has been quite specific about putting the finishing touches on his car elevator in La Jolla, he has hid many of his domestic and foreign policy plans under lock and key.”

And the Obama campaign also took a jab at Mr. Romney’s hiring of Matthew A. Peterson, a lawyer in San Diego, to ease the way for construction permits. Since 2008, Mr. Romney has paid Mr. Peterson $21,500 to lobby city officials for the renovation.

Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, sent out an e-mail that simply said: “Well, doesn’t everyone need an elevator for their cars? Even if you have to hire a lobbyist to secure it?” [Source]

Flipper, I was cool with the garage upgrade until I saw the part about the $21,500 you paid to have someone lobby for you to be able to build it. Now it doesn't look so cool anymore.

Besides, that money would have been better spent taking some Russian studies classes.

"MOSCOW – Russian President Dmitri Medvedev today accused Mitt Romney of being stuck in the Cold War, after the Republican presidential candidate said Russia was the United States’ “number one geopolitical foe.”
Medvedev dismissed Romney’s Monday remarks at a news conference in Seoul, saying they “smell of Hollywood.”

Medvedev told reporters today that the U.S. presidential candidates should explain their rationale for such statements, according to the Russian Interfax news agency. He advised Romney and the other candidates to look at their watches, saying “now is not the mid-70s.” [Source] 

Yes, but at least he has elevators for his cars. Can you say that Mr. Medvedev?

   

     

  

Let the push-back begin.

"Damn field! Why do you allow all those racist trolls to comment on your site?"

 I get that a lot. And my answer is always the same: Get used to it. Those trolls could be your neighbor, your co-worker, or even the person you set next to in church.

The thing about the Internet is that allows folks who couldn't always do it to hide behind an anonymous label and call you all kinds of vile things. He or she can do it from the safety of their trailer park or the Wal- Mart bathroom, and they can send it out to thousands of people reading every day with one push of a button to a black run website. Isn't technology beautiful?

The thing is, far too many of you so called progressive thinking people have been fooled into thinking that A-merry-ca is this forward thinking place full of enlightened people. You watch too many commercials with hip interracial friends getting along while sipping beer and playing with puppies. That is not A-merry-ca. That is what Madison Avenue wants A-merry-ca to be.

The real A-merry-ca is a place filled with the kind of folks you see commenting on this web site on a daily basis. The real A-merry-ca is full of envy,hate, and "color aroused" angst brought on by ignorance and prejudice. It's why you are seeing the blow- back from right wingers and some folks in the majority population with the Trayvon Martin case. Now you will hear what a bad kid he was. You will hear that he might have been kicking his killer's ass before he was slaughtered in that housing development like roadkill on a Florida highway. You will hear that Mr. Zimmerman actually had a black friend, and that he mentored black boys. And you will hear that if George Zimmerman didn't kill Trayvon Martin, the seventeen year old was going to beat him to a bloody pulp with those "street hardened" fists of his.

You will hear it, but don't believe a word of it. And even if you do, it should not affect how you feel about this case one little bit. The truth of the matter is that an unarmed seventeen year old was lawfully walking down the street to go and watch a basketball game at the home of a friend. He was spotted, profiled,  hunted down, and eventually killed.   

Trayvon Martin is dead, and George Zimmerman is free. Therein lies the problem. Justice has not been served. George Zimmerman has not even been arrested for a lessor crime than murder. Most A-merry-cans see the injustice in this. Most.

Sadly, in the dark hearts of many A-merry-cans, this is exactly how it should be. Because the person who died is a "young black thug". The hoodie wearing suspect fit a profile and fit our perceptions of what people who end up dead when there is a violent confrontation should look like. This fits the narrative. All the protesting and calls for justice does not.

So what's a good knuckle dragging racist to do? Well,for one, they can comment  and troll on black websites. Or, if they are fortunate enough, they can tell the world how it should be or manipulate the facts from their own websites. Or, thanks to their very own 24 hour cable news channel; they can go on television and tell millions of like minded people to ignore the calls for justice because justice was already served.

"Field, by allowing these trolls to leave these nasty comments and say all those vile things, you make it hard for me to go to your website."

I will miss you. But remember, you not reading the Field Negro blog and me blocking their comments won't change how they feel in their hearts or how A-merry-cans, in general, feel about you and me.

I just want you to understand what is happening here in the land of only some are free. It's been here all along. But we have a black president now, and black people, people of color, poor people, and progressive whites, are now demanding  that A-merry-ca lives up to her claim of exceptiona ism. The rest of the people in A-merry-ca want to know why. "Haven't we been exceptional all along?"

No, we haven't. And our actions and words lately prove more than ever why we have not.

"It's clear the president has been not a uniting figure on an issue that, I think many Americans thought he would be. And it’s very tragic and to take a horrible situation like that and inject this issue, which, you know, may be a factor, may not be a factor, but even if it is a factor, it’s one… If it is a factor, it’s obviously one sick man and to use that instead of just saying, as a healing president would do, try to bring people together, but instead try to divide people is really a sad, tragic legacy of this president.”

Wrong again Mr. Santorum. The "tragic legacy" of this presidency will be the behavior of those who thrive on division and are driven by hatred.

 “What the president said, in a sense, is disgraceful,” Gingrich told conservative talker Sean Hannity. “It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period. We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background.”

We should "be horrified". But we are not. Not at the killing of that young man.  Instead we make excuses for justice denied to a dead young man and his family.

“It is a tragedy this young man was shot. It would have been a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban, or if he had been white, or if he had been Asian-American, or if he’d been a Native American,” he continued. ”At some point, we ought to talk about being Americans. When things go wrong to an American, it is sad for all Americans. Trying to turn it into a racial issue is fundamentally wrong. I really find it appalling.”

What I find "appalling" Mr. Gingrich is the fact that you would politicize the death of a human being to score cheap political points with like minded people.

You all deserve each other.






          

Notes from a Mormon.

As most of you reading this know, I am not a very religious person. So, as a result, I always try to watch my posts when it comes to religion. Having said that, I have some issues with the Mormons; not because of their religious beliefs, but because of how blacks have traditionally been treated in their church.

So anyway, when a friend of mine who happens to be Mormon sent me an essay that he wrote, I asked him if I could re post it on my blog. He said that I could if I didn't use his name, as he happens to have an important position in the church.

If you don't mind I will honor those wishes.

Here is what he wrote:

"We Need to Wake Up

 

A recent Pew survey of 1,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day-Saints revealed, among other things, that 49% of Mormons say they (we) experience “a lot of discrimination”, while only 31% of Mormons believe Black people experience “a lot of discrimination.” In other words, Mormons think it is harder to be Mormon than it is to be Black.

 

I get it. At one time I may have answered this question the same way. I would have been wrong.

You see, Mormons, especially those in the West where the religion predominates and where the people are predominantly white, race is an abstract. It exists on TV, in the news, occasionally with an individual (though we love to say we never even noticed they were Black), and mostly it is in history books. I, and I would guess most like me, were taught that Martin Luther King Jr. fought for rights, won, and now things are better. We watch the old news reels, we would never do something racist ourselves, and we assume this is just how it is. That is what I used to think. Why would I think otherwise? I knew a couple Black people, they seamed popular, I never heard anyone call them that one word. Everything was fine right?

 

On the other hand my local newspaper had lots to say about how horrible Mormons are. We made it too hard to drink, we meddled in politics, we were just mean. A cursory look at the Salt Lake Tribune would never leave one lacking in ammunition to disparage the LDS church. Every now and then national news or events would dig up some polygamy or related scandal or question what goes on in our mysterious temples. Living in the hot bed of Mormonism has a polarizing effect, you are in or you are out, you love them/us, or hate them/us. In the coming weeks the church will hold a semiannual conference in Salt Lake City that will be broadcast around the world. At the gates to temple square and on the sidewalks surrounding the conference center, there will be people with large signs shouting in megaphones about how horrible Mormons are. How do I know they will be there? Because they are always there. No one growing up in Salt Lake City will likely ever see someone holding a sign complaining about Black people. We would never do that.

 

Then I left Utah.

 

Having lived in Georgia, South Carolina, and now Philadelphia, I have learned a thing or two about not just Black people, but my being a Mormon “back East” as well. First lesson, racism is alive and well. Second, there is little social consequence for publicly mocking Mormonism. The two are not the same.

 

Driving around the south it is not uncommon to see confederate flags on bumper stickers, on clothing, and waving in front of homes and in public places. These flags, despite what those flying them may say, serve as a visual reminder of a horrible past. The past I'm talking about isn't slavery, its the 60's. This is when people waving these flags sprayed well behaved college kids with fire hoses and sicked police dogs on peaceful protesters. This flag flew over a battle in Mississippi when a qualified Black man tried to enroll in college. The message that flag intended then, is not forgotten by Black people today, yet many people still fly it with pride.

 

My father never got sprayed with a hose by the Police for being Mormon.

 

But of course, this was in my history book and MLK won that fight, right? The legacy of that last generation carries over to now. National statistics show that this history of direct and legal oppression, which again lasted into my parent's life time, means that being Black means you will more likely be poor, get arrested, go to a cash strapped under performing school, find it harder to get a job even when you are qualified, have a broken family, be judged negatively by your appearance, and die younger than the national average. There are absolutely no statistics showing any of these challenges in the lives of Mormons. Some individuals have made great strides, even becoming president, but expecting every Black person to be Oprah or Obama is just like expecting every Mormon to be Mitt Romney or John Huntsman. Funny enough, the statistics show the average Mormon is more likely to be Mitt Romney than a Black person is to be Oprah.

 

But remember I said racism's existence was only my first lesson. I began my second when I wore a name tag and pedaled a bike around an American city. I was called hurtful names daily and pelted with debris from passing cars almost as regularly. Being struck by half eaten muffins and bagels was sort of amusing, being hit by beer bottles, not so much. In my professional life I have been the sole sober person at a corporate event when my superiors began making jokes about the number of wives I must have or my magic underwear. I have had perfect strangers vocally question my sanity immediately upon our introduction and on numerous occasions when visiting other denominations heard my own condemned as evil over the pulpit. A play mocking Mormonism swept the Tony's, and every other day I see a news report reminding me that most Americans really don't want to vote for a Mormon. Make no mistake, mocking Mormons is publicly acceptable.

Finally, again, these two lessons are not the same. It is human nature to view one's own struggle as paramount, but not all mountains are on the same scale. Let us not confuse Pikes Peak as comparable to Kilimanjaro. They simply aren't the same. I fear the protection of the Wasatch front has left Mormon's ignorant of the reality that lies beyond. This is in no way a problem specific to Latter Day Saints, it's an American problem. The national nature of the problems with race is why I'm writing this now. I have great pride in my faith, my Utah roots, and in my nation. I love them all and want all to be better. As a Mormon I am forced into the work of bettering the image of my faith in the public's mind. I live it every day. But I am not just Mormon, I'm also white, and to ignore the tangible unearned obstacles faced by those in my country who may not look exactly like me, would set me up as an obstruction to the discovery of a solution.

 

If anything, the persecution Mormons do face, which is very real, should wake us up to how horrible the effects of racism could be, and in fact, are."

 

We might have a Mormon president soon. And now, because of the killing of Trayvon Martin, A-merry-cans are once again calling for a serious conversation about race.

 

If Willard Romney happens to become president of these divided states, this essay should be required reading for him. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

More on you know who.

It is day 27 since he killed Trayvon Martin, and George Zimmerman is still free. We live in quite a country. A celebrity with zero talent is flour bombed and the person throwing the flour is arrested immediately as if they just shot the president. Flour!

"I think 'What if that was some other substance? What if that person had a dangerous weapon?" Kardashian told US. "And so we are definitely changing things up a little bit, amping up security, taking some measures, and... I'm gonna definitely deal with it because it is not acceptable."

Yes, God forbid she had thrown some skittles at you.

And I see that it didn't take long for Mr. Zimmerman's lawyer to use the some of his friends are black defense. His lawyer, Craig Sonner, said that he actually mentored a "black kid...."

First of all, if what I read about George Zimmerman's background is true, that kid should have probably been mentoring him.

Totally off topic. But I have to blog about it before I forget. There is a story out that Dick Cheney had a heart transplant. I just hope that he gets a human heart this time. He had been on the waiting list for 20 long months. I guess those "death panels" republicans like to talk about spared his life.

Finally, I need you all to tell me what you think of the following story. I know I chase the Big R a lot, but sometimes the Big R can be so silly that I don't even feel like chasing it.

"A black ninth-grader in Fairfax Country, Virginia was reading a Langston Hughes poem in class when his teacher instructed him to read it blacker, The Washington Post reports.

As Jordan Shumate recalls the incident to The Post, the teacher didn’t hold back in punches in expressing her displeasure with how he was reading the poems.

“She told me, ‘Blacker, Jordan — c’mon, blacker. I thought you were black,’ ” said Shumate, who is African American.

When he refused to comply with her ridiculous request, the teacher read the poem herself. “She sounded like a maid in the 1960s,” Shumate told The Post. “She read the poem like a slave, basically.”
Watch a video report of this story to see Shumate express his shock at his teacher’s behavior" [Source]

I swear these poor young black men can't buy a break in A-merry-ca these days. If you speak correctly and with proper diction they tell you to speak "blacker". And, If you wear a hoodie, they shoot you to death.

*Pic from Globalvoices.

The hoodie did it.

That pic right there is why it's tough to rip his Oness. (I don't care if it's photoshopped.) Yes, he can be too politically wishy washy at times. But just when I started to wonder about his heart he restored my faith in his humanity by coming out and making a statement about the Trayvon Martin case. I mean if you are going to insert yourself into the Skippy Gates and Sandra Fluke cases, you better have something to say about this one.

 "If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon".

Well that's true Mr. President, and as a parent of black children it would be very hard for you to divorce yourself from this case. I bet Michelle was giving you an earful every night: Forget Axelrod and your pollsters, so what if you alienate some white voters. If this causes you to lose the election so be it. You will be able to live with yourself for the rest of your life."  O, always listen to your wife.

Anyway, as is to be expected, some folks are not too pleased:

"Newt Gingrich called Obama's remarks about Trayvon Martin "disgraceful" in an interview with Sean Hannity, according to CBS/National Journal.
“It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period. We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background," Gingrich said. "Is the President suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot that would be ok because it didn’t look like him?" [Source]

Actually Newt, if he was white he most likely would not have been shot. The truth of the matter is he was shot because he was black.

 "It would have been a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban or if he had been white or if he had been Asian-American of if he’d been a Native American. At some point we ought to talk about being Americans."

Newt, that would be nice. But......

"Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Thursday he is willing to go before the NAACP and urge blacks to demand paychecks, not food stamps.
Gingrich told a town hall meeting at a senior center in Plymouth, N.H., that if the NAACP invites him to its annual convention this year, he'd go there and talk about "why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps." [Source]

*mouth open*

Anyway, Newt made his cretinous and moronic statement while giving an interview on FOX NEWS. The same FOX NEWS who hires one Geraldo Rivera. (Is there a "Drop Squad" for Latinos?) Geraldo wants all of us to know that Trayvon Martin was killed because of his hoodie. Yes, the hoodie did it. Not George Zimmerman. Trayvon Martin contributed to his own death by wearing a hoodie. It's the victim's fault.

*shaking head*

Finally, shout out to the LeBrons for stepping up and making a powerful political statement about the Trayvon Martin killing. I rip athletes and celebrities all the time for not involving themselves in social causes, so when they do I have to acknowledge their actions.

I think I am rooting for the Heat to go all the way this season.

The L Word.

Can you be a guy who just lies a lot but is not really a liar? Hmmm, that's the question Paul Waldman is asking in his excellent article for The American Prospect.

"Is Mitt Romney a guy who tells a bunch of lies, or is he a liar? That the question Jonathan Chait asks, and he winds up sort-of defending Romney, saying that his lies, many of which revolve around his effort to deny his own history, have been practical in nature. "It's Romney's bad luck that fate has dictated his only path to the presidency lies in being a huge liar," Chait says, so those lies don't tell us much about what's deep in Romney's character.

There are two problems here. The first is that Romney lies about President Obama as often as he lies about himself. It's just that when he does the former, he does it with actual squirming (if he's sitting down), the phoniest smile you've ever seen, and panic in his eyes, so it's really obvious. The second problem is that Chait's distinction applies to pretty much every political liar in history. There's always a reason why a politician lies. The biggest lies come when they get caught doing something they shouldn't have (Nixon with Watergate, Reagan with Iran-Contra, Clinton with Monica Lewinsky). They might be telling themselves, "Taking responsibility is all well and good, but it's better for the country if I get out of this scandal and continue with my duties."' [Source]

The L word is being thrown around for my man Flipper because folks are starting to finally catch on. I have to wonder why it took so long. The man has been lying from day one. In fact, one could argue that his entire campaign in the republican primary has been built on a lie. (Etch A Sketch anyone?)

"During a debate in November, when moderator Wolf Blitzer introduced himself by saying that "Wolf" is really his first name, Romney greeted the audience by saying, "I'm Mitt Romney, and yes, Wolf, that's also my first name." In fact, Willard is his first name. It's a lie notable for being so mundane: Why would someone fudge their name? It's almost as if he can't control himself."

I don't think he can.

Pic courtesy of Art Maggot.

Two wrongs......

"Field, all this talk about Trayvon Martin, why aren't you writing about the white kid who was torched and taunted by black kids in Kansas City?"

It was a terrible tragedy. And the young men who did it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Thing is, the police are searching for the thugs who committed this terrible crime; and I am quite sure that when they are found they will be arrested and prosecuted. This is not quite the case with Trayvon Martin. He is dead and his killer has still not been arrested. Thankfully, Ms. Coon's son is still alive----Wait, did I say Mrs. Coon? I swear you can't make this stuff up--- I am happy for her, but Trayvon Martin's parents will never hug their child again. 

Anyway, as is to be expected, rather than show mutual disgust and unite around an obvious injustice; wingnuts have chosen to play tit for tat and revert to childish we do it but you do it too, games.

"The only surprise, to me, is that there's any media coverage of this at all.

Had it been two white teens setting a black teen on fire, the entire ****ing world would've descended on Kansas City like a load of bricks.

Hypocrisy, thy name is minority rights. " [Source]

Yes, those minorities always want a right to live. *shaking head*

A quick Google search brought me a full page of news about this story from major news sites such as CBS, Huffpo, the Daily Mail, and so on. So this story is being reported.  

The Trayvon Martin story is being well reported now as well. At least by most credible news outlets. One news outlet that is not reporting the story is FOX NEWS. I suspect it is because they, too, are of the mindset that if the main stream media isn't going to blow up the attack of a white kid by blacks; well then they aren't going to report on the killing of a black youth by an out of control vigilante.

Typical FOX NEWS. And over on their website they are actually making jokes about Martin's murder.


"FOX News, long known for their propensity to either spin the news or ignore it, depending on their agenda, is once again making headlines for their near non-existent coverage of the Trayvon Martin case, reports Think Progress....

Though it should come as no surprise that FOX News doesn’t value justice for Black children and is taking a pro-actively racist stance by willfully suppressing Zimmerman’s crimes in the news, one would think that their viewers would be insulted by the narrow, white-washed view of the world that the network provides.

According to poll results released November of 2011, FOX News viewers are less informed than people who watch no news at all, reports the Huffington Post." [Source] 

I guess I could try to use the old adage that two wrongs don't make a right. But it probably wouldn't do any good. Unfortunately, there are some folks in A-merry-ca who only see wrong when certain people do it.





     






  

 

Still free.

Another day has passed and George Zimmerman is still free. *shaking head* Anyway, a grand jury will convene in early April and unless the people of Florida are as dumb as their local law enforcement officials, criminal charges are sure to follow. I also have to commend the Department of Justice for getting involved. It's amazing what a little pressure can do. All you people who helped to blow up this story should be proud of yourselves. Nancy Grace isn't going to pick up our stories, so we have to make it a story and hope that the main stream media will chase it.

Sadly, I continue to learn more about what happened on that night in Central Florida, and the more I learn the angrier I get. It's getting harder and harder for the enemies of justice to justify the actions of the racist vigilante masquerading as a protector of law abiding citizens. Florida's seven year old self- defense ("stand your ground") law was made for the victim in this case, not for the shooter. But the shooter hid behind the law and avoided being charged by inept local law enforcement officials.

Still, there are some who do not believe that all the hoopla over one teenager getting shot to death in Florida is justified. (Just read the comments after this Will Bunch column in my local paper) To them it's just another black teen who was profiled and lost his life because of the actions of others in his community. "If young black men weren't so dangerous and didn't commit such a disproportionate number of crimes, upstanding law abiding citizens would not be in such fear of them."  That's the latest narrative from the clueless A-merry-can crowd. Get used to it; you will be hearing it over and over again. This is a crowd who is more upset over the TSA pat down of a toddler than they are about a teenager actually losing his life. (BTW, way to go dad. Posting a video of your kid all over the web for the world to see and scrutinize.)

“They always get away,” Zimmerman told dispatch in a 911 call released Friday, and he kept tracking Martin. Zimmerman had a gun. Martin was carrying only an ice tea and the Skittles he’d just bought at the store. The two had a struggle that no one saw. Hearing shots, neighbors called 911. In one call that’s hard to listen to, a woman anxiously says she can hear someone calling for help while in the background, a terrified, wailing voice pleads, "No! No!"

I heard that "wailing voice". And it didn't belong to George Zimmerman. 









    








 







   

Why Trayvon Martin is not "America's problem."

So I was listening to a talk radio host here in Philly on my drive home today talk about the Trayvon Martin case. Dude was saying that he has sons who are Trayvon's age and that they are prone to wear hoodies every now and then. "But for the grace of God go I" is what he said. Sorry Mr. Smerconish, with all due respect, your sons would have not been shot to death on that fateful day in Central Florida. Your sons do not look like Trayvon Martin.

This is one of the benefits of white privilege that most whites take for granted. In a "color aroused" society, you don't have to worry about how you will be perceived by Joe Public. I am fortunate enough to be able to go to some very nice establishments, and I am always aware of what I wear to certain places. It shouldn't have to be that way, but it is. Unless you are a famous black person (and even when you are), you just do not get the benefit of the doubt. Those "color aroused" instincts always take over and makes things uncomfortable for certain people. Unfortunately, sometimes the results can be deadly. 

Some pundits worry and wonder why this particular case is not "America's problem" and why it is only a black one:

"Trayvon Martin, like so many “suspicious-looking” young black males with similar "fates, did not have that luxury. No one can hide his or her skin color and, in the context of vigilante violence, the false threat of black skin is a uniquely black male problem. That doesn’t mean that those who have not experienced it cannot see why it is so obviously troublesome, nor does it exonerate non-black people from the responsibility of demanding a more just legal system that sends a clear enough message that murders like Martin’s are so unacceptable that they will, for the most part, go away. That lack of joint responsibility may be the single most troubling part of this story.

When Caylee Anthony disappeared, Nancy Grace almost single-handedly decided for us that this was America’s Problem. For a good year, this was America’s Problem. This was America’s Problem despite the fact that, by the time Caylee’s mother was arrested and acquitted, there really wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. Black media leaders had to cover Casey Anthony’s trial, too. And Joran Van Der Sloot’s. And Amanda Knox‘s. The lack of reciprocity, particularly in cases with black victims, is stark and needs to be addressed."  [Source]

It "needs to be addressed", but believe me, if it's not, we won't be surprised.
As Americans we do have a lot in common, but unfortunately, problems like this isn't one of them.

Finally, Rick Santorum came out against pornography the other day; and he has been forceful in his condemnation of this particular phenomenon in A-merry-can life.

I admire the guy's passion, but if he really wants to do away with pornography he has to stop posing shirtless for all the world to see. I, like, Justice Stewart, know obscene pornography when I see it. That pic, my friends, was obscenely pornographic.


*Pic courtesy of The Grio.

What if Charlize Theron had adopted Trayvon and not Jackson?

Congrats to Charlize Theron for joining a bunch of other Hollywood A- list folks in the adopt little black boy game. I sure hope that she knows what she is getting into. I don't care if she is a Hollywood celebrity, raising a young black male in this society is no joke. Just ask the parents of Trayvon Martin. If the young thugs who have no respect for your life or their own don't get you, "some color" aroused citizen or law enforcement officer will. That's how it is here in the land of the [only some are] free.

But I blame some of you Negroes as well. Yes we should be outraged at the killing of Trayvon Martin, but we should be just as outraged at the epidemic of young black males killing each other in urban A-merry-ca. When we don't value the lives of our own children this is what happens: they are slaughtered in the street, and those in authority who are charged with dispensing justice do nothing. Because, to them, it is just another young black male. Unless they are running up and down a basketball court or running with a football, we don't really care about them. Occasionally one will become a glorified family pet to some celebrity, but that's the extent of it. They are at the bottom of the A-merry-can pecking order, so if you are charged with raising one you better get all the help you can. You have a tough job, and unfortunately nothing in our society will make it any easier for you. 

If you have ever been in the unfortunate position of having to visit the emergency room, the crime scenes, and the funerals like I have, you will see what I am talking about. The tears from family members and loved ones are real. The people in those churches and hospital rooms aren't just a quick mention on the evening news; they are real people going through real suffering because they lost a child, a brother, a cousin, or a friend.  

Charlize Theron will never have to see what I have seen, because she is far removed from the mean streets of Philadelphia. The thing is, though, Charlize Theron might have just brought the mean streets of Philadelphia to her beautiful Hollywood home.





 




  

The Trayvon Martin case.The MSM is finally noticing.

"SANFORD -- SANFORD The 911 tapes released by police Friday show neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman called in with a problem: there had been a few break-ins lately, and now there was another suspicious guy in his Retreats at Twin Lakes neighborhood.

He looked like he might be on drugs and “up to no good.”

“It’s raining. He’s just walking around, looking about,” Zimmerman told the dispatcher. “He’s just staring looking at all the houses.”
Later, he lamented: “These a**holes always get away.”
Zimmerman is the neighborhood watch volunteer in the Central Florida town of Sanford who on Feb. 26 shot and killed Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman claimed the teen started an altercation, and then -- in fear for his life -- Zimmerman pulled a weapon from his waistband and fired. He has not been charged.

Family members and attorneys believe the Sanford Police has bent over backward to protect Zimmerman out of a sense of kinship for a man who had devoted his spare time to law enforcement.

In an interview this week with the Miami Herald, Police Chief Bill Lee said the 911 calls would prove the incident was not a case of racial profiling, because when asked whether the suspect was white or black, Zimmerman did not know. However the recording clearly shows that when asked, Zimmerman said, “He looks black.” And then a few moments later, “He’s a black male.”

His family filed a lawsuit to force the Sanford Police Department to release the 911 tapes to clarify the murky circumstances. A hearing had been scheduled for Monday, and in the face of mounting national pressure the Sanford Police decided to release the tapes late Friday. They first allowed the slain teen’s family and attorneys to listen.

According to the recordings posted on the city’s website, Zimmerman was perturbed because Trayvon looked a bit out of sorts. Other callers reported hearing someone calling for help and then a blast that silenced the wailing. One call, so close that the cries for help could be heard, contains two sounds, first a muted bang that family attorneys believe was a warning shot, then the louder crack of close-range gunfire. Sanford police said Sunday that a check of the weapon showed only one shot was fired.

The first call came from Zimmerman.

“He’s just looking at all the houses,” Zimmerman said. “Now he’s just staring at me.” Then Zimmerman said the suspicious person, who appeared to be black and in his late teens, had his hand in his waist band. “Something’s wrong with him. He’s coming to check me out.” 

As he narrates where the man was headed, the dispatcher asks, “are you following him?” Yeah,” Zimmerman said. “We don’t need you to do that.” [Source]

"These a**holes always get away". Yes they do. But they might not this time Mr. Zimmerman.

Glad to see that the main stream media like NBC (they waited until the weekend) and CNN have finally caught up to this story. It always takes them awhile (they have to check out the sensibilities of their audience, first ), but eventually they catch up to the rest of us.  

The thing is, the media in A-merry-ca will jump all over a story where there is perceived injustice somewhere else in the world, but not so much here in A-merry-ca. They are especially afraid of stories that involve the uncomfortable subject of race. God forbid we mess up the beautiful kumbaya post-racial vibe that we have been enjoying of late. *sarcasm off*

At the end of the day it's bloggers and the social media that always drives these stories,because the producers who work in the main stream media and their puppet masters do not have the guts to do it. It's only after the public outcry becomes loud enough to embarrass them that they give in and feature these types of stories in their programming.

Troy Davis, the Scott Sisters, Jena, and on and on it goes. 

But hey, that's why we are here; because CNN doesn't always cover our world.  




   

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/16/2697604/trayvon-martins-parents-criss.html?asset_id=2699335&asset_type=audio#storylink=cpy

Winning back the White House by any means necessary.

My governor here in Pistolvania has been on a roll lately. He told women to just close their eyes and enjoy a foreign object poking around in their vagina, and his new budget proposal cuts college funding by over 600 million dollars. Then, to top it off, he is aligning himself with the rest of the charlatans and politricksters in his party by signing off on a nefarious plot to win back the White House and disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters here in Pistolvania.

By signing the voter ID bill, HB 934 into law here in Pistolvania, he has cemented his legacy as nothing more than a political hack who cares more about his party than the people of his state.

So why was House Bill-934 even necessary in the first place? Republicans claim that it will reduce voter fraud, but is that really necessary? Let's see now, between 2002 and 2007 the Justice Department found only 86 cases of voter fraud out of 300 million votes cast.  In Pistolvania we have had 20 million votes cast since 2004, and there has been exactly four (yes, FOUR) convictions for voter fraud. This little scheme to crack down on imaginary voter fraud is going to cost our state between five to eleven million dollars.

But we all know what this is all about. Pistolvania is a crucial swing state in the presidential elections, and the votes here are always close. Keeping those poor people, the elderly, and Negroes away from the voting booth could make a huge difference in the next presidential election. 

"They purveyors of voter fraud fear also have decades of practice. The modern crusade against voter fraud started in the civil rights era of the 1960s, with growing anxieties among white politicians and voters over the growing power of black and urban voters.

As historian Rick Perlstein documents, Republicans tapped into -- and inflamed -- these fears with outrageous claims of black voter fraud, which not only riled up the conservative base, but also laid the groundwork for "anti-fraud" campaigns that could depress Democratic turnout."

Ok, so it's all about politics. Well, two can play that game. Waiting for the Obama Justice Department to step in here and stop Pistolvania in 10-9-8-7-.......

Finally, I want to do something unpopular and what no other blogger will have the guts to do. I want to defend the hard core porn industry in this country.
Unfortunately, they are coming under attack from one of the republican presidential candidates.

"Rick Santorum has made a campaign promise to bar "hardcore pornography" from American websites, magazines and television, but industry giants who produce much of the nation's porn aren't worried that the crusading candidate will stop the multibillion dollar industry from churning out the next "Deep Throat."

"I don't see a danger," Michael Lucas, New York's largest producer of gay adult films, told Yahoo News. "There's no danger that he will be the Republican Party nominee."

Santorum's campaign posted a position paper on its website in February that vowed to "vigorously" enforce obscenity laws and restrict the distribution of hardcore pornography, which it says has reached "pandemic" levels. The former Pennsylvania senator said he will "prohibit distribution of hardcore (obscene) pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier." [Source]

WTF? I think I speak for every red blooded A-merry-can when I say that this is bull s*&^! So if Ricky is elected there will be no more porn available on our computers. This means that most of his supporters will not be able to secretly get their freak on with their Internet girl when they go home from bible studies.

This is why this guy is dangerous. Sorry Rick, we don't need Taliban style laws here in the land of the free legislating our morality.

"Pandemic levels"? I will tell you what has reached "pandemic levels": stupid "closed- minded" people. It has gotten so bad that some of them are actually running for president.