Monday, September 30, 2013

The shutdown train is coming.


"Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan joined editorial board member Mary Kissel on Monday where she advised President Barack Obama to give in to the GOP’s latest demands in order to pass a resolution which continue to fund the government.

She said that it would be “wise” of the president to agree to an 11 month delay of the Affordable Care Act in order to fix its flaws and sell the American people on the law’s benefits.
Noonan began by observing that Obama is not quick to appeal to the negotiating table when dealing with the Republicans in Congress.
“I think the president, at least in the early years of his presidency, had this sense that if he talked straight to the American people, he would be doing a [Ronald] Reagan or a [Richard] Nixon,” Noonan said. “This president has often tried to do that, but it doesn’t work. It’s almost as if things are stuck.”

When asked how Obama could resolve this crisis, Noonan said that it would be “wise” to partially capitulate to the GOP’s demand to delay the ACA by nearly one year. "

Here is hoping that Barack Obama is not listening to Peggy Noonan or any other republican right about now.

There is a reason for that. Their political instincts are just not that good.

"Of all people, Obama would know if he is in trouble. When it comes to national presidential races, he is a finely tuned political instrument: He read the field perfectly in 2008. He would know if he’s losing now, and it would explain his joylessness on the stump. He is out there doing what he has to to fight the fight. But he’s still trying to fire up the base when he ought to be wooing the center and speaking their calm centrist talk. His crowds haven’t been big. His people have struggled to fill various venues.

 This must hurt the president after the trememdous, stupendous crowds of ’08. “Voting’s the best revenge”—revenge against who, and for what? This is not a man who feels himself on the verge of a grand victory. His campaign doesn’t seem president-sized. It is small and sad and lost, driven by formidable will and zero joy.
 
I suspect both Romney and Obama have a sense of what’s coming, and it’s part of why Romney looks so peaceful and Obama so roiled.  Romney ends most rallies with his story of the Colorado scout troop that in 1986 had an American flag put in the space shuttle Challenger, saw the Challenger blow up as they watched on TV, and then found, through the persistence of their scoutmaster, that the flag had survived the explosion. It was returned to them by NASA officials. When Romney, afterward, was shown the flag, he touched it, and an electric jolt went up his arm. It’s a nice story. He doesn’t make its meaning fully clear. But maybe he means it as a metaphor for America: It can go through a terrible time, a catastrophe, as it has economically the past five years, and still emerge whole, intact, enduring.  Maybe that’s what the coming Romney moment is about: independents, conservatives, Republicans, even some Democrats, thinking: We can turn it around, we can work together, we can right this thing, and he can help." [Source]

Thank you Peggy, the fact that you have not been banished to an island with no running water just goes to show you how stupid some folks are in this country.

Anyway, I see that shutdown train coming down the tracks, and President Obama should not do anything to stop it. It was the republicans who hijacked it and pushed the engineer from the controls. Now they own every part of this looming disaster from the controls to the caboose.

Besides, his signature domestic legislative achievement will be going through no matter what.

Still, in less than four hours bad things will start to happen. We won't notice it right away, but eventually we will. I feel for the folks who are facing furlough and uncertainty with their jobs. Sadly, thanks to the 27th Amendment, the clowns in Washington who set this shutdown train in motion will not have to worry about getting paid. (Senor Cruz has already said that he will continue to cash his check.) Maybe if they did they would not have been so quick to climb up on this phony moral high ground that they are standing on.

"Speaker of the House John Boehner accused Harry Reid and other Senate Democrats of “breathtaking arrogance” for intentionally not convening a Sunday session to deal with compromise legislation to stop a government shutdown.
“The House worked late into the night Saturday to prevent a government shutdown, and the Senate now must move quickly, today, to do the same,” Boehner said Sunday."

Oh shut up tan man, the bars in D.C. will still be open, so you will be fine.


Sunday, September 29, 2013

The voting revolution.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the "Opelousas Massacre", so this is a good time to talk about that GOP leader in Nevada who gave us some insight into how modern day republicans feel about Negroes having the right to vote.

"Probably where we had a million voters turn out in 2012; we'll have like 700,000 [in 2014]. A lot of minorities, a lot of younger people will not turn out in a non-presidential year. It's a great year for Republicans!" [Source]

Sorry Mr. Hickey, just hoping that African Americans won't turn out to vote is not a good way to attract minorities to your party.

Anyway, you Negroes out there need to understand that your right to vote is precious, and you should exercise it every chance you get. Too many people died for you to have that right for you to take it lightly.

I am not only talking about national elections, I am talking about voting in local elections as well. Vote for your block captains, your school board members, your city council members, and damn near everything else that calls for you to pull the lever for the candidate of your choice. The best way to start a revolution in these divided states is from a voting booth. At least for now.

Anyway, speaking of a revolution, it looks like some of the folks in congress are trying to start one down in Washington.

They voted last night to delay for a year something that has already been declared the law of the land and potentially shut down the government. They want to defund a law that doesn't depend on congressional funding, so the ploy will not work; even if the government shuts down, Obamacare will still go forward. Oh the irony.

Anyway, a shutdown of the government still seems inevitable at this point. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best.




















Saturday, September 28, 2013

Who will swerve first?

I love the scenes in action movies when cars go hurtling towards each other from opposite directions and none of the drivers seem like they are going to back down. Of course at the last minute someone always decides that it's better to live than to die in a fiery ball of smashed metal, and then they swerve their vehicle out of the way to avoid sure death.

So this is where we are in America. In one car we have tea party right wing extremists, and in the other car we have the President of these divided states. Both are determined to keep driving, and they are boldly telling anyone who will listen that they are not turning their car off the road. Bring on the fiery crash.

Laughably, to the right wingnuts, this fight is akin to the civil rights struggle back in the day. (Yeah, I know. I am still laughing at that one.) To republicans, this Affordable Care Act is like Bull Conner's dogs and Jim Crow. The thing is, though, ninety percent of them have never read the act and don't really understand it. When you live in an age of sound bites and 24 hour cable news echo chambers, your thirst for real knowledge tends to become limited. (We see you Ted Cruz. Just telling a shameless lie on the Senate floor is not a good look.) Of course, most of us know that their unwillingness to accept what has already become the law of the land is motivated by something else.

In the other car is President Obama. He has vowed that he will not back down, because, to him, nothing in his signature piece of legislation known as Obamacare is negotiable. Right wingnuts believe that he will, because they see the polls and his latest foreign policy blunders and think that they are looking at a wounded president who is ready for the taking. This is how it works in Washington. Forget the fact that our government is on the verge of a shut down and that bad things will happen. (Soldiers not getting paid come to mind.) As long as they cripple the Kenyan Socialist and his presidency nothing else matters.

"At least 43 conservatives want the GOP leadership to go for broke, asserting that Obama has been damaged by stumbles over Syria and by several delays in implementing the Affordable Care Act.

The GOP’s internal battle pits lawmakers who want the party to take a calculated risk against leaders who fear it would be a big losing bet.
Democrats say there is no chance that they or the president will agree to hollow-out their signature domestic achievement.

The White House did not comment for this story, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week said the Senate would reject any attempt to defund the law.

Still, the GOP’s roll-the-dice faction is undaunted.
“I think the president’s too weak to shut the government down … I think we will win,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) said.

“Syria has hurt him significantly … it is a factor in the CR going forward, it is a factor in the debt ceiling,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said.

Conservatives cite recent polling to buttress their case. Following Obama’s aborted attempt to get congressional backing for an attack on Syria, Fox News found public disapproval of Obama’s job performance at an all-time high of 54 percent and his approval rating at 40 percent, equal to his all-time low." [Source]

Easy there wingnuts, remember what happened the last time you watched those FOX News polls? (Mitt by a landslide).

Anyway, I hope that Obama holds on to the wheel. It's time he grew a pair. He has been playing nice to his political enemies too long. The ACA didn't go far enough, but it's a start. The fact that elected officials would try to overturn what has already been declared law in this country is frightening. Could a revolution where citizens take up arms be far behind? The Koch Brothers might be funding their own army somewhere in North Dakota as I write this.

The cars are getting closer. Mr. President, you better not turn that wheel. In fact, you might want to press harder on the accelerator.

*Pic with this post from pensitorereview.com
 






Thursday, September 26, 2013

Calling for the WASA.

It's sad that I have to write about the non- stop carnage that continues on our city streets.

Here in Philly we have had four murders over the past 24 hours. It seems like professional ball players, heart surgeons, and homicide detectives are the highest paid folks in our city these days.

It's gotten so bad in cities all across America, that our Mayor is calling for a domestic security agency" to fight the madness. Yep, desperate times call for desperate measures. Just look at the faces of those folks in the picture after a loved one was killed in Chi-town.

"Speaking alongside New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu on Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Nutter said the United States needs to take domestic violence as seriously as terrorism.

"What if our response to domestic terrorism is as thorough and as engaged as our response to international terrorism," he asked.

Nutter said the 2,977 victims of 9/11 brought numerous changes, including creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and that 14,827 murders across last year merit a Domestic Security Agency.

"From the 9/11 Commission we created the TSA, the Transportation Safety Administration. Well maybe now we need the WASA, the Walking Around Safety Administration," Nutter said. "This is serious, because we have a violence problem in America." [Source]

And it's not only those people in urban America who need to worry about catching a bullet. Unless you have been living under a rock you know that there is no place in Amurderca that's safe from violence and mayhem. We are all potential victims.

Finally, speaking of murder, I see that the wife of a certain killer from South Florida has her doubts about his innocence. (Welcome to my world, Shellie.)

"In the midst of divorce proceedings against husband George Zimmerman, Shellie Zimmerman said she has doubts about what really happened in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin last year, she told Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview. 
"I'm conflicted on that,'' Shellie told Lauer on TODAY Thursday. "I believe the evidence, but this revelation in my life has really helped me take the blinders off and start to see things differently."

Lauer pressed further, asking, "So you now doubt his innocence, at least the fact that he was acting in self-defense on the night that Trayvon Martin was killed?"

"I think anyone would doubt that innocence because I don't know the person that I've been married to," Shellie responded. "I have doubts, but I also believe the evidence." 

Despite these doubts, Shellie vehemently denies that George profiled the teen.
"He did not profile Trayvon Martin," she said.

The "revelation" Shellie referenced came after a domestic dispute between the Zimmermans. 

On Sept. 9, authorities in Lake Mary, Fla., were summoned to the house the couple once rented from Shellie’s father, after she called 911 to report George was threatening her with a gun, according to police reports, which provide a conflicting picture of the sequence of events. Neither side filed a complaint over the incident, and Shellie said that she now wishes she had pressed charges. 

"In hindsight I should've, and I really regret that, but I'm on probation and the officers made it very clear that day if I pressed charges we were all going to go to jail and I would've been the only one to stay there,'' she told Lauer.  

TODAY reached out to George Zimmerman's representatives, and they said they were not interested in commenting. [Source]

No comments needed. We have heard enough.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Stripper troubles.

"
Let's play big bank, take little bank
You are looking at a shark in a fish tank
When I'm in the kitchen, I make plenty cash
Tell shawty come here, she got plenty a**
 Yeah, I love them strippers... "


I don't know why 2 Chainz loves "them strippers" so much, they have been nothing but trouble for us brothers of late.

First the football player:

"Jacoby Jones reportedly suffered his second bizarre injury of the NFL season. According to TMZ, this one occurred off the field.. on a party bus in Washington D.C celebrating teammate Bryant McKinnie's birthday.. where a stripper named Sweet Pea allegedly threw a bottle of champagne at his head.

Citing unnamed sources, TMZ reported on Monday that the bottle hit him and he was "bleeding everywhere."

Jones' agent, Kennard McGuire, told Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun that Jones is "fine." [Source]

Jacoby, it might be a good idea to stay away from strippers during the football season. If you can't do that, at least wear your helmet on the party bus.

And then there is the politician:

"Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been flirting on Twitter with a woman who identifies herself as Lynsie Lee. Her censored Twitter profile picture is above.

Cory Booker knows how to make a stripper blush.

The Newark mayor appears to be caught up in an online flirtation with a self-described "stripper model weirdo" whose name on Twitter is Lynsie Lee...
ooh just got a postcard from @CoryBooker in the mail. this is going under my pillow for later ;)," Lee tweeted, along with this picture, in July.

Booker, who is single, has been on the receiving end of more than a few sweet tweets from Lee, a Portland, Ore., stripper, over the past year, including more than one invitation to consummate the relationship.

Then, on Feb. 24, Lee tweeted, "@CoryBooker the west coast loves you (by west coast, I mean me) :)," an expression of affection that finally prompted Booker to respond.

"The East Coast loves you and by the East Coast I mean me," Booker, currently running for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, wrote in a direct message to Lee obtained by The News.

Cory Booker wouldn't be the first politician to flirt with a woman on Twitter. Above, a not-safe-for-work photo of Lynsie Lee from her account.

But in a statement, a Booker spokeswoman simply said the mayor "talks with people from all walks of life on Twitter." [Source]

OK, no harm no foul. Mr. Booker gets a pass from the kid. Because unlike a certain politician from New York, he did not send suggestive pics of himself to his stripping twitter follower from the West Coast.

So relax folks; it is only twitter. This is the kind of stuff that happens on social media.

Corey, just don't take it too far. Those strippers can be dangerous.


Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The last zealot standing.

Is Ted Cruz still talking?

Ted is probably in the middle of his filibuster as he tries to slow down efforts to prevent a government shutdown. In case you didn't notice Ted really hates Obamacare, and he believes that this little stunt will somehow prevent it from becoming the law of the land on October 1, 2013. It won't.

Of course most sane people believe that Ted is nuts, and that he is the worst thing to come out of Canada since their version of American football. But Ted will not be deterred, he, along with his many supporters, believe that Ted is one of the last true conservatives in Washington. That he is a real man of the people. Of course the joke is on them. Ted is far from a man of the people.

Still, I have to give it to Ted; he will raise a lot of money and expand an already large mailing list. I can see those dollar signs floating around in his head now.

But this is all bad news for the GOP. Because as much as I rip the party of Lincoln, I believe that there are still a lot of sensible people under their tent.

Dorothy Rabinowitz who writes for that extreme left wing paper, The Wall Street Journal, had some interesting things to say, and it pretty much sums up my thoughts on the subject. 

“Whether the government shuts down or not, we will live..” . “But what needed to be met – what needed to be joined was the battle between the sane elements of the Republican Party and the massive range of extremist, deranged believers – false leaders – who have just taken over.”

......“conservative cable TV” elevated conservative legislators to positions of undue influence within the GOP.

'Do you really want to smear the tea party with such a broad brush?” Kissel asked.'

“Yes,” Rabinowitz interjected. “All we know is that there is an effort – and a very successful one – to say, ‘This is what the American people want. We know that. We’re the tea party. We speak for them.’ Really? How do you know that? Did you ever speak to the American people what they thought of the tea party? No.”

She added that the conservative base of the party derives their power from “threatening” legislators who diverge from their brand of “zealotry.”

Kissel challenged Rabinowitz on her assertion that the tea party is composed entirely of unhinged representatives noting that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) counts himself a member of the tea party ascendency.

“And where is he?” Rabinowitz asked. “He just isn’t insane enough.”

She called the idea that the government should be shut down a “maniacal effort” and noted that the good intentions that the tea party set out with has been “permanently” erased by its extremist members in government. " [Source]

I think Ted is still talking. Something about Nazis, the moon, and the Soviet Union.




    

Monday, September 23, 2013

Those "1813" text messages among friends.

Tonight I will go on a somewhat short run with my racism chase, as it takes me just a few miles from my hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

It's just another one of those stories to remind you Negroes out there that you are not living in a "post-racial" country. I know that some of you reclining in your La-Z-Boys from the comfort of your house would like to tell us otherwise, but......

"COATESVILLE, Pa. — A prosecutor says officials at a large southeastern Pennsylvania school district exchanged “shockingly racist” text messages on district phones.

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan told The Associated Press on Monday that his office learned of the messages during an investigation into the Coatesville Area School District.

Check out the texts here.

He says the text messages “looked like something from 1813, not 2013.”
The Daily Local News of West Chester says Superintendent Richard Como (pictured left) and Director of Athletics and Activities Jim Donato (pictured right) used the district-owned cellphones to exchange a series of racist texts in June. Both resigned abruptly during the first week of school.

Here are a few exchanges between the two school officials, according to The Daily Local News:
In an often unintelligible exchange of messages, the pair repeatedly used well-known and offensive racial slurs while discussing students, faculty, and members of the athletics department. 
“All should just have whatever first names they want…then last name is N—-R!,” Donato wrote to Como. “Leroy N—-r, Preacher N—-r, Night train n—-r, clarence n—-r, Latoya n—-r, Thelma n—-r and so on.” “Great idea!” Como responded. “Joe n—-r bill n—-r snake n—-r got a nice ring to it.” 
The conversation did not end there, as Como and Donato continued to use the slur as they appeared to discuss students in the school district. 
“Could have whole homerooms of n—-r!” Como wrote.
“Hahahahaha!” Donato responded. “Will N—-r report to the office, pardon the interruption but will n—-r report to nurses office. N—-r to lunch now!” 
On June 7, the pair exchanged another round of text messages discussing the then pending layoffs of district teachers and the recent firings of other black employees. 
“Man some week for sure but will be topped Tuesday night by Delco vs. Ritter. Campbell fight over Dunn financial claims and sneak attack in wings,” Como wrote. 
“Jesus christ! Can’t get much better (worse),” Donato replied. “Blood in water…” 
“Right this could be classic conclusion to board meetings by end of month 23 (teachers) get clipped Tuesday a.m. before committee meeting and prob 6 to 9 more in July if Ritter budget numbers right,” Como said.
“How many n—-rs out of 23?” Donato asked. “Not enough!”
“Don’t know but think it’s only 4-5. At most until last minute rush of firing by Goo of Phoenix and Kamara,” Como answered.
“Good hangings there,” Donato wrote. The conversation continued with more obscene language.
Phone listings for Como and Donato weren’t immediately available." [Source]

Wow! This is the superintendent and the athletic director. Nothing against hardworking blue collar folks, but this not a bus driver and a janitor we are talking about here, these two David Duke wannabes were men with a lot of influence and power. And Coatesville, in case you didn't know, is not exactly a lily white place. 

But hey, at least they got caught. They were too dumb to realize the dangers of texting on their cell phones. The bad news is, of course, that there are a lot more people in positions of power who are just like them.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Ted's World.

I believe that this Ted Cruz dude is off the republican reservation. He has been making a lot of noise about Obamacare these days and dividing his party while doing it. It's gotten so bad that they sent the republican news corporation opposition research on him before he appeared with republican spokesperson, Chris Wallace.

"Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said Sunday morning that he’d received opposition research from other Republicans about Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in advance of Cruz’s appearance this morning, a serious indication of how upset the GOP is with the Senator leading the risky charge to defund ObamaCare.

“This has been one of the strangest weeks I’ve ever had in Washington,” Wallace said. “As soon as we listed Ted Cruz as our featured guest this week, I got unsolicited research and questions, not from Democrats but from top Republicans, to hammer Cruz.”

“This was a strategy laid out by Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz without any consultation with their colleagues,” said Karl Rove. “With all due respect to my junior Senator from Texas, I suspect this is the first time that the end game was described to any Republican Senator. They had to tune in to listen to you to find out what Ted’s next step was in the strategy.”

“You cannot build a Congressional majority, in either party, for any kind of action, unless you are treating your colleagues with some certain amount of respect, and saying, ‘Hey, what do you think of my idea?’” Rove said. “Instead they have dictated to their colleagues through the media, and through public statements, and not consulted them about this strategy at all.”

Rove also corrected Cruz’s interpretation of a Wall Street Journal as giving the GOP the advantage on whom Americans trust on health care. “I wish that were true,” Rove said, pointing out that Democrats still held the advantage, but were at an historically low number." [Source]

A government shut down is looming, so I really hope that you republicans can get yourselves together soon. This is not a time for dysfunction among members of the same political party.

Finally, the leader of the NRA is at it again. Wayne LaPierre is calling for armed guards and more guns after another mass shooting in America. That's kind of like calling for an open bar at an alcoholic anonymous meeting.

Of course we know that what the NRA leader is calling for does not work.

Read what Mark Follman has to stay with his excellent article on the subject.

"In the wake of the unthinkable massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, pro-gun ideologues are once again calling for ordinary citizens to arm themselves as a solution to mass shootings. If only the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School had possessed a M-4 assault rifle she could've stopped the killer, they say. This latest twist on a long-running argument isn't just absurd on its face; there is no evidence to support it. As I reported recently in our in-depth investigation, not one of 62 mass shootings in the United States over the last 30 years has been stopped this way. More broadly, attempts by armed civilians to intervene in shooting rampages are rare—and are successful even more rarely. (Two people who tried it in recent years were gravely wounded or killed.) And law enforcement overwhelmingly hates the idea of armed citizens getting involved.

Those pesky facts haven't stopped the "arm America more!" crowd from pressing the argument with alleged examples of successful armed interventions. The problem is, the few examples they keep using—in which they depict plain old folks acting heroically and with definitive results—fall apart under scrutiny. Here are five cases commonly cited and why they don't work: [Read more here] 

Follman goes on to outline incident after incident where what the NRA is suggesting did not work and where it actually had disastrous effect on the situation.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,"

Wrong Wayne, the only thing that can stop "a bad guy with a gun" is silencing a bad organization which supports his right to own a gun.









Saturday, September 21, 2013

Can a rapper help to stop terrorism here at home?

"And the struggle of the brothas and the folks
With lovers under dope, experiments to discover hopes
Scuffle for notes, the rougher I wrote, times was harder
Went from rock star to the voice of a martyr
Why white folk focus on dogs and yoga
While people on the low end try to ball and get over.."  ~~Common~
 
Common, I have mad love for you, but maybe it's time for some of our peeps to  focus on "dogs and yoga" instead of just trying "to ball and get over".
 
Still, I love what you are doing in your hometown with this wave of violence that has gripped it. A peace summit might not be the answer, but it's a start.
 
There is some deep stuff going in Chicago. Young bucks are literally at war with each other. Beefs can escalate like that. We have had them here in Philly.
 
Sometime ago two different blocks in the same neighborhood in Southwest Philly were at war over a diss and a punch on a basketball court. And over the next few years countless young men lost their lives as a result. I know the back story, because a couple of these young men were my clients at one time or another.
 
The problem of youth violence in urban America is a complex and difficult, and there is a lot of blame to go around: Dead beat fathers dropping their sperm and leaving to let the streets raise their sons. Mothers who coddle their sons and allow "Baby Boy" to do whatever and whenever, because they hope that he can take the place of the father they never had. A broken political system that cares more about building prisons than investing in programs to keep kids off the streets and better educate them. A morbid and unhealthy fascination with guns and their status in our culture, which leads to an easy access to those guns.
 
All these things have come together in Chicago to form a perfect storm of violence and death. Thirteen people shot Thursday night and four people lost their lives last night.    
 
O, you might want to forget about Syria and focus on your back yard for awhile. I know that terrorism is real (see what happened in that mall in Kenya), but we have some little terrorist here at home who we might need to watch as well. Those Islamic terrorist in Africa shot up a mall for political reasons, these young bucks will shoot up a mall here in Amurderca because of a diss.
 
So good luck Common, I hope that the summit will do some good. Sadly, though, I don't think it will. We have tried this kind of thing before, and it seems that we are right back to square one.
 
"I feel like we just gotta sit 'em down and build with them. Talk to them, get some type of peace thing going," he said. "It's bigger than rap. Kids is dying. I would tell Keef and all of them cats, 'Man we gotta sit down and figure out how we're gonna get to a peace meeting.'"
 
Honestly, we have to figure out how to do a whole lot more than that.

 
 
 
 
 


Friday, September 20, 2013

Billo on Trayvon. The Chicago "killing fields".

Now from the ignorance with a capital I department comes Bill O'Reilly. Mr. O'Reilly, in his infinite wisdom, has declared that  Trayvon Martin died because of the way he looked.

"The reason Trayvon Martin died is because he looked a certain way, and it wasn’t based on skin color. If Trayvon Martin had been wearing a jacket like you are and a tie, Mr. West, this evening, I don’t think George Zimmerman would’ve had any problem. But he was wearing a hoodie, and he looked a certain way, and that way is how gangstas look. And therefore he got attention.” [Source]

Holy crap! So we shoot people for what they wear in America, now? Look, there has been a time or two when I wanted to put some dude out of his misery for rocking a short sleeve dress shirt, but I never acted on it.

Bill, you are wrong, the reason Trayvon died that night was not because he looked a certain way; it was because he was born a certain way.

And speaking of dying, some folks are wondering why we made such a huge deal when a deranged killer shot up the Navy facility in Washington, but there is no non-stop cable coverage about the 13 people shot (including a three year old) in Chicago last night.

The killers used an AK-47 assault rifle to carry out his horrific and depraved act. (I had a debate on a national radio show with some clown from Chicago once, and the dude actually claimed that street criminals didn't use assault rifles. I would love to talk to him now.) The story is not getting as much attention as we would like it to because it's a dog bites man story, not the other way around.

Sadly, we have no one but ourselves to blame for what is happening to these young killers out here. Everyone wants to be a "shotta"; no one wants to be a straight A student. Hitting your books and making good grades doesn't give you "street cred," shooting an innocent child on the street, does.











Thursday, September 19, 2013

No food for you. Invisible in North Carolina.

Those [right] wingnuts in congress are at it again. Today they voted to cut almost forty billion dollars in food stamps (SNAP)for you poor and little people. Almost four million of you will be cut off. Tell the kids to learn to eat mud pies.

Unfortunately for one in seven Americans, depending on the government to get a little help with their food bill is not going to cut it with certain people in Washington. Only rich corporations and deep pocketed folks who contribute to political campaigns deserve a break from these [right] wingnuts.

Memo to [right]wingnuts: Not all people depending on food stamps are like Jason Greenslate. He was a FOX News creation created to distract from the real issue of people in need of assistance.

The irony of all of this is that most of these right wing politicians represent people who are poor and come from poor states.

"Politically it's a great issue," says Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., one of the conservatives who has pushed for the larger cuts. "I think most Americans don't think you should be getting something for free, especially for the able-bodied adults."

Tim, you need to take a look in the mirror. You and your friends have been freeloading off taxpayers ever since you got to Washington.

Finally, the effort by folks in the majority population to whitewash our history (pun intended) and dilute and weaken black culture continues.

You all might have noticed a growing trend in this country to label anyone who even talks about racism to be labeled as racist themselves. So this is not a good time to be banning great historical books written by iconic African American authors.

Anyway, school boards across the country are getting into the act.

"Ralph Ellison’sInvisible Man‘ has been banned from Randolph County school libraries after the Randolph County Board of Education voted 5-2 to remove all copies of the book from school libraries.
The action stems from a Randleman High School parent’s complaint about the book. Committees at both the school and district levels recommended it not be removed. 
Voting in favor of the ban were Board Chair Tommy McDonald and members Tracy Boyles, Gary Cook, Matthew Lambeth and Gary Mason. Voting against the action were Board Vice Chair Emily Coltrane and member Todd Cutler who both first introduced a motion to keep the book in the schools. This first motion was defeated by a 2-5 vote.
The book, originally published in 1952, addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the first half of the 20th century… 
The board action was prompted by a complaint about the book from Kimiyutta Parson, mother of an RHS 11th-grader. She submitted a request for reconsideration of instructional media form, which detailed, in a 12-page supplemental document, her reasons for the book’s removal. 
She stated, in part, “The narrator writes in the first person, emphasizing his individual experiences and his feelings about the events portrayed in his life. 
This novel is not so innocent; instead, this book is filthier, too much for teenagers. You must respect all religions and point of views when it comes to the parents and what they feel is age appropriate for their young children to read, without their knowledge. This book is freely in your library for them to read.”
Parson also objected to the type of language used in the book and its sexual content. " [Source]

So now the "Invisible Man" will become invisible to the children of North Carolina. And America wonders why the rest of the world is passing us by.

I sure hope that Kimiyutta Parson is not a sister, because if she is, someone needs to call The Drop Squad.


 








     


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

"Renewing America."

Right wingers in America are a puzzling group. They don't want an ideological debate with their opponents; they want to simply banish them from the American political landscape.

"Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman reiterated his call today for an anti-Obama rebellion and Egyptian-style coup, writing in Renew America that Americans should gather en masse in Washington D.C. to remove President Obama from office. Klayman maintains that since neither Congress nor the courts will remove Obama, a popular uprising is needed “to cleanse the nation of the half-Muslim, anti-white, socialist fraud in the White House before the nation goes under for the final count.”

“If the Egyptians can do this with regard to another radical Muslim, former president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, then can't we Americans do it with Obama?” Klayman asks, calling for conservatives working with his new group, Freedom Watch, to organize an “Occupy Washington” movement in which millions of people will “stand in front of the White House and other national treasures and demand that Barack Hussein Obama leave.” “And, when we do converge on and ‘Occupy Washington’ in the millions on a date to be announced for the week before Thanksgiving, the people may think about chanting: ‘Mr. President (to use the term loosely), put the Quran down, get up off your knees and come out with your hands up!’” “[Obama] will finally know that his time has come to leave his perverted, Islamic concept of Mecca, our nation's hallowed capital,” Klayman concludes.

“I do not advocate violence, but it is time we show Obama that we mean business. He would be well advised to ride off into his Islamic sunset, link up with 72 virgins and party on at his expense – not ours!” On Sept. 11, 2013, a dangerous and viral strain of Muslims invaded Washington, D.C., to march and declare victory over Christians and Jews and to otherwise thumb their noses at everyone who does not believe in allah.

While only 30 or so had the "courage" to actually appear on the streets of D.C., having been surrounded by a horde of "Rolling Thunder" Harley Davidson motorcycle riders, and despite the fact that the Muslims secured a permit and the motorcyclists were denied one by Barack Hussein Obama's National Park Service, let us take a lesson from our Islamic "friends." It is time that we Christians, Jews, people of faith and all true patriots say enough is enough and ourselves, in a very real way, "Occupy Washington" to cleanse the nation of the half-Muslim, anti-white, socialist fraud in the White House before the nation goes under for the final count.

Having done little to nothing about the growing list of "phony" Obama scandals, ranging from Benghazi-gate, to IRS-gate, to Navy SEAL Team VI-gate, to Fast and Furious-gate, to NSA-gate, to name just a few, it is clear that our elected representatives do not have the will or courage to remove the mullah-in-chief from office.

Over the last five years, as we stand on the precipice of calamity by provoking a regional and potential global war with Obama's pro-Islamic desire to intervene to "save" his radical Muslim al-Qaida "freedom fighters" by bombing Syria, it is clear that the time to act is now.

Impeachment is not an option, as Republicans, many of whom support Obama in this folly, are content to let this incompetent evil fraud continue in office until at least the run-up to the 2014 congressional elections. This was the same game Republicans played with previous Democratic presidential criminals Bill and Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2000 elections.

Not wanting to remove Bill Clinton from office, lest Vice President Al Gore become an incumbent president with all the advantages of potential re-election, Republicans bailed out and refused to both impeach and convict "Slick Willy" of the scandals that really mattered: China-gate, File-gate and Travel-gate.

So if the past is a prologue, which it is today even more than it was back in the late 1990s, the Grand Old Party is even more of a neutered, impotent elephant now. Our court system is also not ready, willing or, practically speaking, able to get the job done. Save for federal judges like Royce Lamberth who did so much during the Clinton years to hold them accountable to the rule of law, there is no one on the bench who will stand up to the president.

Just look at the judges, state and federal, who have had the chance to effectively remove Obama over his lack of eligibility to be president, as he is not a natural born citizen. From Florida, to Alabama, to Georgia, to California, lower court judges have fudged the law to squirm out of having to actually rule on not only his "phony" birth certificate but also his lack of having two American-born citizen parents as required by our Constitution. While many of these lower court rulings are on appeal, do not hold your breath that the higher courts will have the courage to do what needs to be done.

That is the reason for Freedom Watch's citizens' grand juries, which are indicting and trying political felons like Obama as we speak. In this regard, a conviction is near in the case of the Obama for eligibility fraud. Once convicted, We the People will have the right to enforce this conviction and demand that Obama surrender himself to the people's system of justice for incarceration. Will he do so voluntarily? Obviously not! His arrogance and disrespect for American law – just look at how his attorney general has flouted it – and his apparent allegiance to Shariah law make this more than unlikely, to put it mildly.

I therefore call upon all American patriots, once we obtain this conviction, which we will shortly, to converge on Washington. Millions should stand in front of the White House and other national treasures and demand that Barack Hussein Obama leave. If the Egyptians can do this with regard to another radical Muslim, former president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, then can't we Americans do it with Obama? And, when we do converge on and "Occupy Washington" in the millions on a date to be announced for the week before Thanksgiving, the people may think about chanting: "Mr. President (to use the term loosely), put the Quran down, get up off your knees and come out with your hands up!" The power of the people will then be heard without firing one proverbial shot.

This fraudster, who stole the presidency and has done so much harm, will finally know that his time has come to leave his perverted, Islamic concept of Mecca, our nation's hallowed capital. I do not advocate violence, but it is time we show Obama that we mean business. He would be well advised to ride off into his Islamic sunset, link up with 72 virgins and party on at his expense – not ours!'  [Source]

"Stole the presidency"? You "mean business"? What, exactly, is this "business" you are talking about?

Okaaaay then.

I need to step back, though. These folks are more powerful that I thought. The leaders of the republican party have decided that they will cast their lot with the folks in their party who are writing things like the editorial above. That is a scary thought.

Now, once again, they are talking about a government shut down, and the real losers will be the American people. All the people.

“None of the Republicans are willing to stand up to these anarchists,” Reid told reporters. Of the law known as Obamacare, he added: “They’re obsessed with a bill that passed four years ago, a bill that was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. They can’t get over that.”

No they can't Mr. Reid. Not as long as that Muslim is in the "people's house".



Tuesday, September 17, 2013

They deserve a break, and black folks and mental health.

O has a lot of haters out there, but there are a lot of you Negroes who love him as well. His latest domestic initiative is something that we all should love him for.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I really feel for those poor home- care workers who bust their asses every day (and night) while taking care of old folks who have been abandoned by their own children.

"The presidency is a powerful position. So powerful that it makes it easy to forget the reason one entered public service. But this president, President Obama, never forgets. Today was another shining example of a president who never forgets about the Americans who work hard, don't ask for much, and deserve better than they're getting. Today, the administration announced final regulations to include home care workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act, making them eligible for minimum wage and overtime pay staring in 2015.
...the U.S. Department of Labor announced a final rule today extending the Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage and overtime protections to most of the nation's workers who provide essential home care assistance to elderly people and people with illnesses, injuries or disabilities. This change will result in nearly two million direct care workers — such as home health aides, personal care aides and certified nursing assistants — receiving the same basic protections already provided to most U.S. workers.
Home care workers are some of the hardest workers doing some of the most important work in our country with the least amount of rewards. They care for the most vulnerable Americans - the elderly, the disabled, and people with serious injuries and illnesses. They do some of the toughest work - bathing, cleaning, moving and comforting people who cannot do it on their own.
The people they care for are our parents, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, our sons and daughters, the people we love the most. And today, the people we entrust with this critical care can breathe a little easy knowing that while they're looking out for the society's most vulnerable, they have a president who is looking out for them. Today, they know that their president won't sit idly by while their employers (home care agencies) take advantage of lax labor rules to line their corporate pockets.

Of course, this isn't just a matter of doing the right thing - not that that wouldn't be reason enough. This is also about ensuring high quality services by making sure the professionals who provide these critical services are treated like professionals. This is as much about protecting quality care for the recipients of their services as much as it is about the workers who do this amazing work.

Let's talk a little about the workers who do this work.
90 percent of them are women, 32 percent are African Americans and 12 percent Hispanics. Notice something? These are also the groups with the highest poverty rates in this country. A good part of that wage disparity is because of labor rules that value their work less than the work of the rest, because we have regulations that say the industry they provide their critical skills and services to does not have to abide by the same rules of fair labor standards as everyone else.

Well, no more. Because of President Obama, a home care worker will no longer be equated with a babysitter.

The Republicans and corporate interest groups are howling with their tired old talking point that affording basic worker protections to hard working caregivers will cost jobs, hours, and fewer people availing themselves to the services provided by these working people. The Labor Department countered that of there has been no noticeable drop in employment in this industry in the 15 states that already extend minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers." [Source]


Good for you, O. Keep this up and I might even let your accidental diplomacy when it comes to foreign policy slide.

Finally, I hate to agree with Don Lemon so soon after he agreed with Bill O'Lie-ly, but he is right with his latest assertions about black folks and mental health. His statements about the shooter in D.C. was on point.

You Negroes need to stop going to the preacher to heal your mental health issues and get a real mental health professional to talk to. The Rev. has a degree in theology, not psychology. And some of these preachers don't have a degree at all. I know, I know, they were called by a "higher power", but that higher power put people on earth to handle this kind of stuff.

Getting your mind right is just as important as getting your body right. Black folks need to stop stigmatizing family members and friends who suffer from poor mental health.

"If we don’t wake up to these realities, that we cannot pray it away, the next time we see a crime on the news, especially a mass shooting, the first question you might ask yourself; is it the usual one? Oh, no, are they black? You know you all do it; I hope they’re not black. It might be the same one that the haters are posing on the Internet. If Obama had a son would he look like the killer?"

Well Don, we still have a long way to go to catch up to those "haters" when it comes to mass killings, but I get your point.

Second pic from Black Mental Health Alliance.




Monday, September 16, 2013

Shocked for a day.

Aaron Alexis has now allegedly joined a long line of American mass murderers by using his AR-15 to wreak carnage on a naval civilian facility in Washington D.C. today.

We are now learning that he acted alone, and that he does not fit the profile of most mass shooters (see white males)in America. Most. Just a few years ago a couple of black males terrorized the D.C. area as well. We didn't see that coming, either.

His friends say that he was a peaceful guy (they always say that) and that he even studied Buddhism. They say that all of this was out of character. But was it?

Apparently this Alexis dude liked to fire his gun, and he liked his video games as well. That is not a good combination. Alexis was actually arrested in Texas for discharging his weapon. (Those damn noisy neighbors) But Texas being Texas the district attorney there did not find it necessary to file charges.

Still, this won't be one of those we need gun control bash the NRA post; that would be too easy. This is about trying to find out what is happening in America to cause people to want to just take out innocent people because of their own messed up situation in life. Aaron Alexis became infamous today, tomorrow it will be someone else.

We will all be just as shocked, and just as outraged. But, when it's all said and done; we will do nothing. Oh the cable news shows will make some money, and politricksters and pundits on both sides of the political debate will go into their respective corners and start shouting in an echo chamber.

This will go on for about two weeks, and then we will be back to Miley and her twerk.







  




Sunday, September 15, 2013

CWB can be just as bad as DWB.

I am in a bad mood right about now. I just saw my birds go down to a bunch of powder blue white hat wearing losers from the left coast. That is not cool.

Chip, please get some boys in here who know how to play defense, ASAP, or it's going to be a very long season.

Anyway, it's another sad day in America if you were hoping that the color aroused disorder afflicting many in the majority population had gone away.
As a country we have come a long way, but we obviously have a long way to go.

Down in North Carolina it is now not only dangerous to DWB, it's hazardous to your health as a black man if you crash while black as well.

"An unarmed man who was shot dead after running toward police officers in Charlotte, North Carolina, may have been just trying to get help after crashing his car, police said.

A woman called 911 after Jonathan Ferrell, 24, began knocking insistently on her front door in a leafy residential neighborhood in Charlotte at about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said.

The woman, who immediately closed the door on Ferrell after seeing it was not her husband, may not have been aware that he had just crawled out of his wrecked car in nearby woods, police said.

Three police officers arrived, finding Ferrell a short distance from the woman's house. As soon as the officers got out of their vehicles, Ferrell started running toward them, police said.

One officer unsuccessfully fired a Taser at Ferrell, but he kept running. Randall Kerrick, another officer, then shot Ferrell several times with his service weapon, killing him, police said."' [Source]


Poor Jonathan, he never learned the rules of behavior when around the po po. Sadly, now we have to teach our young black folks how to act after they drive and have an accident as well. Driving while black (DWB), and now crashing while black (CWB). Lord have mercy!

Jonathan was a former football player, so this story might get some attention.
America loves her Negro football players. At least when they are on their team.

Now don't get it twisted, it's not only those Southern Boss Hogg  type cops who shoot first and ask questions, later. Up in New York the boys in blue are just as bad.

"Two police officers fired on a man who was acting erratically and dodging cars on a busy Manhattan street Saturday night, wounding two bystanders and sending people running for cover, authorities said.


Police said the man made movements suggesting he had a weapon, though he turned out to be unarmed. The officers' shots missed him, and he was eventually brought down by a stun gun.
 
Authorities identified the man as Glenn Broadnax, 35, of Brooklyn. He faces multiple counts including menacing, riot, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and resisting arrest. He was in custody, and The Associated Press couldn't locate a phone listing for his home." [Source]
 
I am guessing Glenn is not of the Irish persuasion. Just a guess. If he was, those officers would not have been shooting into a crowd full of innocent people to prevent him from pulling an imaginary weapon.
 
But back to North Carolina. The officer who suffers from extreme color- aroused emotions was arrested for manslaughter and is now out on $50,000.00 bail.
 
"Our investigation has shown that Officer Kerrick did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter," the police department said in a statement."
 
Poor Officer Kerrick is kicking himself right about now. But hey, color arousal can take a hold of you so fast that you sometimes just don't know how to fight it.

* Proper credit was not given to a picture featured in this post and it has been removed per the request of the photographer.
 


 








Saturday, September 14, 2013

The Fascist and his friends.

This is how one MSNBC contributor feels about the GOP's sudden crush on the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.

"Fox News’ Eric Bolling may prefer shirtless, gun-toting Vladimir Putin to the fully-clothed, bike-riding Barack Obama, but according to Rachel Maddow, there’s another reason why conservatives are flocking to the Russian president. On her show Friday night, Maddow revealed that an anti-gay rights group called The World Congress of Families will be hosting their 2014 meeting at the Kremlin in Russia.

As Putin’s 'becoming a hero to literally fascist groups in Europe for him being super anti-gay,' Maddow explained, 'Vladimir Putin, and Russia under Putin are also becoming kind of a north star for anti-gay forces here at home in the United States.” Some on the Christian right are even suggesting that one Russia passed anti-gay laws, “people from the west would begin to emigrate to Russia the same way russians used to emigrate to the United States and Europe. American conservatives should move to Russia.'

But, as Maddow said, those extreme conservatives were 'just ahead of their time.' Following Putin’s scathing op-ed in The New York Times, the rest of the right have chosen him to be their 'new hero.”'

'It is not just the far, far, far right, anti-gay right anymore,' Maddow said. 'It is the right in general. Both in Congress and in the conservative media peanut gallery, who have decided real Americans should show how much they love our country by maybe moving to Russia. Because Vladimir Putin is the kind of strong and decisive leader that we want and we love.'

After playing a montage of conservatives praising Putin this week, she compared it to the “NC-17″-style love they used to feel for Sarah Palin. But unlike Palin, or President Ronald Reagan, Maddow told the right that Putin is “not that into you.”

'Seriously, I know you guys hate President Obama, so it feels good to have a man crush on somebody else,' Maddow concluded, 'but this guy is a president of Russia. Zip it up, you guys, seriously. Have some respect.”' [Source]

And this is how the Russian leader feels about "American exceptionalism"

So does the GOP hate Obama more than they love America? I think they do.

But enough of this geo-politics, I have a fight to watch.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Bad luck for Shiping,Shelly, and Kevin.

While George Killerman continues along a path of self-destruction, we are now learning that maybe the state of Florida wasn't as diligent in their prosecution as they could have been.

"Dr. Shiping Bao, the recently fired Florida medical examiner who performed Trayvon Martin‘s autopsy, is allegedly claiming that George Zimmerman shot Martin through the back, reports Alternet’s Rod Bastanmehr.
“According to the former assistant coroner, the results of Martin’s autopsy clearly showed that, despite Zimmerman’s statements regarding their altercation, there was no feasible way for Martin to have been on top of Zimmerman when the gun was fired, because the bullet entered Martin’s back,” Alternet reports.
RELATED: Medical Examiner In Zimmerman Trial Sues For $100M, Claims Prosecution Threw Case [VIDEO]
This allegation is shocking for several reasons, including the fact that Martin having been shot through the heart at close range was a pivotal point during the trial as both the defense and prosecution teams attempted to paint a picture of the fatal encounter — specifically, whom was the aggressor during the altercation.
More importantly, Bao himself signed off on Trayvon Martin’s autopsy report stating that the entrance wound was through the chest at “intermediate range.”
tm-autopsy

If these allegations are true, that would make Bao complicit in the very same alleged cover-up that he has exposed.

CLICK HERE to read Trayvon Martin’s autopsy report.

As previously reported by NewsOne, Florida medical examiner Bao claims that Florida state prosecutors were biased against Trayvon Martin and purposely threw the case, and he is suing the state for $100 million."

It's hard for me to believe that these lawyers would just mail in a case when their own personal careers are at stake.

But.....

"According to Bao, the medical examiner, state attorney’s office, and Sanford Police Department all felt that Martin “got what he deserved.” Bao also claims that he received the strong, though subtle, message not to speak on certain things:

“He was in essence told to zip his lips. ‘Shut up. Don’t say those things,’” said Bao’s legal counsel, legendary Attorney Willie Gary.

Bao’s allegations come swiftly on the heels of him being fired from his position as associate medical examiner." [Source]

If this is true I have no love for Mr. Bao. He should have said all this while the trial was going on and not wait until he was fired to find a conscience. Now we all are left to question his motivations.

I am starting to really dislike the Hawkeye state.

First they let blind people own guns, and then they try to burn down an interracial couple's home. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they got the "post racial" memo in the heartland.

"They wrote the N-word all over my walls,' homeowner Shelly Owens says. Racist vandals broke into Owens house, spray painted the walls and set a fire in the bedroom. Owens, fiance Kevin Durham and their biracial children live in a diverse neighborhood Council Bluffs.
Shelly Owens returned home to find the house in flames.
“This is against me, I guess, and it's a hate crime.” [Source]

Some folks are saying that this is a big hoax for sympathy and some cash. I certainly hope not. It's hard enough chasing real racism without people crying wolf.

Finally, from the news you won't hear on FOX department.

"The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Friday took a suspect into custody in connection with the slaying of a woman and three teenage males.

Jacob Allen Bennett, 26, had previously been characterized by officials as a “person of interest” in the case, but has since been taken into custody for violating parole.

He has not been charged with the murders at this time,” Kristin Helm, public information officer of the TBI, told NBC News in an email.

Police identified the victims as Danielle Jacobson, 22, who was the driver, and passengers Steven Presley, 17, Dominic Davis, 17, and John Lajeunesse, 16. Their bodies were discovered in a car Thursday morning on Renegade Mountain, about 100 miles east of Nashville.

The deaths have shaken the mostly retired residents of the Renegade Mountain community, in a 3,000-acre, densely wooded area in the tiny city of Crab Orchard. A resident discovered the bodies on the way to work on Thursday morning. The car was on an unpaved road about 100 feet off the main road, according to John Moore, president of the Renegade Mountain Community Club." [Source]

You won't hear about this story over on FOX News because it doesn't fit the narrative they like to push to their very old, very scared, white viewers: "Only those dark people in urban areas commit crimes."

If you are reading this congratulations, you survived Friday the 13th.




Thursday, September 12, 2013

Ted's hero, and Bobby Wingate needs a WWB survival kit.

I know why Ted Cruz saying he wished that there were "100 more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate" is no big deal, it's because we have a black president now, so all forms of ignorance and racism ended when he took office. We are now in a post- racial era in America. Poor Trent Lott must be kicking himself for his bad timing.

Still, for someone who is one of the front runners for the republican nomination to run against Hillary, Ted isn't doing himself any favors by reviving the ghost of ole Jesse.

Jesse, in case you didn't know it, was not the most tolerant fellow in the world. This is not a good time for a politician to be embracing his legacy. Even right wingnuts are saying that this was not a good move for Ted. Ted, it's 2013, not 1953.

Anyway, Ted has been in love with Jesse for a long time. At least since he was ten years old. (Hey, we all have our heroes).

"Cruz's speech began with a little trivia about his political history: His first campaign donation—at ten years old—was to Helms. He continued with a declaration: "We need 100 more Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate."
 
For the ostensibly freedom-loving Cruz, it's an incredible statement. After all, this is the Jesse Helms who entered public life as a journalist defending Southern apartheid in the 1960s, and who won election to the Senate in 1972 as an opponent of integration, interracial marriage and civil rights laws. In 1980, the year a young Cruz made his donation, Helms pushed an appropriations bill—co-sponsored by Strom Thurmond—that would have stripped
the Justice Department of its ability to enforce busing. Helms won his 1990 reelection campaign with one of the most racist political ads in recent memory—accusing his African American challenger, then-Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, of taking jobs from whites to give to blacks—and devoted his time to institutionalizing homophobia, with attacks on gays and assaults on AIDS funding. To Helms, LGBT Americans were "weak, morally sick wretches," and AIDS education was "obscene" and "revolting."

Yes, I can see why he was Ted's hero.

Finally, if you think walking while black (WWB) is some funny racial joke, ask Bobby Wingate. Walking while black almost caused Bobby Wingate his life, and definitely caused him to end up in jail.

'A Jacksonville, Florida man says he was assaulted by a Police Officer and thrown in jail for no reason, and when tried for the crime, it was promptly thrown out of court halfway through the trial.

Bobby Wingate said the last time he walked down the road, he had to call 911 to protect himself from the police, which comes as a shock to absolutely no one because it’s Florida.

While pointing Wingate said, “He parked his car right up here near this curve.”

WTLV reports, “On a 9-1-1 recording of that night Wingate can be heard saying, “He said do I really want to fight him? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“The conduct that is outlined in the transcript and the 9-1-1 call is not only breathtaking, it’s outrageous, it’s disgraceful,” said Andrew Bonderud, Wingate’s civil attorney.

Bonderud said that his client was a target of racial discrimination.
First Coast News obtained court papers which state that Wingate was walking down the road in December when a JSO Police Officer stopped him and asked to talk.

When Wingate told the officer that he was running late for an appointment, the officer cited him for walking on the wrong side of the road.
According to the court papers, the officer then hit Wingate in the face and engaged his Taser, which is when Wingate called 911 for help.

Wingate had to spend a night in jail, and the State Attorney’s Office took the case to trial. Seriously, they took this case to court and tax dollars are paying for this bullshit.

Wingate was actually charged with resisting arrest without violence, and walking down the wrong side of the road. But even in court, the officer testified that he wasn’t sure what side of the road Wingate was on." [Source]

Honestly, maybe Ted Cruz is on to something.