Mr. President you should have had about 40 million more people over for your happy hour.

I am doing a cut and paste job tonight while I prepare to travel for the holidays. I would love to disclose where but Mrs. Field insist that I do not. She also insists that I do not blog while we are on our vacation but that won't happen. I will be posting [albeit very little];reading the blog for your comments; and trying to sneak a post in when I can.

Anyway, I am posting an article by Boyce Watkins from over at AOL Black Voices. (Whoops. I meant Dr. Boyce Watkins. I know how you Negroes love your titles.) He has joined the growing number of black folks who are down on his O ness, and I though it would be interesting to get your take on his position.

Here goes:

"..President Barack Obama responded to his critics in the black community, who seem to have grown substantially in number. According to a poll taken here on AOL Black Voices, 55 percent of African Americans think that President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder do a whole lot of talking and not much acting when it comes to issues that matter to African Americans.During his interview with Ryan, the president had this to say:"The only thing I cannot do is, by law, I cannot pass laws that say 'I'm just helping black folks.' I'm the president of the entire United States," Obama said. "What I can do is make sure that I am passing laws that help all people, particularly those who are most vulnerable and most in need," he said. "That in turn is going to help lift up the African-American community."The president then went on to cite his job creation and health care initiatives as reasons that African Americans should feel that he is working on their behalf. I am not sure who is advising the president on dealing with the African-American community, but perhaps I can help just a little bit:

1) Please stop giving us the same answers: That "rising tide will raise all ships" argument is played out, Mr. President. Intelligent black folks with a critical eye on politics know when they've heard the same thing multiple times. You can't come off like a broken record. Even the responses given to Ryan during the interview have been repeated in the past. You can't release the same record every time and expect black America to keep dancing to it. Saying something new can be a good thing. For example, rather than speaking out on the silly situation with Henry Louis Gates, you could have spoken out on behalf of Eutisha Rennix, the black woman left to die by paramedics who wanted to hurry up and eat their bagels.

2) If you can't make policies for any particular group, why does it seem that you are doing it for everyone else? I've seen special committees/task forces for the automobile industry, the protection of Israel, the gay/lesbian/bi-sexual community, the environment, bankers, immigrants, etc. Perhaps mentioning a task force to deal with the black unemployment gap or mass incarceration of African Americans might at least appease some of your black critics. But then again, maybe there is something in place that I don't know about - which means you need to spend more time getting your message out to the community. The point is that there appears to be a double standard in place, and we've all noticed that you almost never invite any African-American leaders to the White House. I hope you haven't become the successful relative who is ashamed of his family members.

3) Please stop giving us speeches on personal responsibility. I am still reeling over Obama's speech on Father's Day of 2008, where he seemed to enjoy separating black men as being especially irresponsible and the cause of their own demise. Eric Holder did the same thing last week. Any intelligent man who can see the mass incarceration and unemployment rates of black men, and then chalk it all up to "black men are just screwing up" is doing nothing more than continuing the same international and historical habit of scapegoating minority groups. We expect that from Bush, but not from you Mr. President. If you would not give a particular speech to white folks, then please don't give it to black people. Some of us have drank the kool-aid, but there are quite a few African Americans who are going to weigh your efforts against other politicians we could have supported. You are certainly better than John McCain, but people are wondering if you are better than Hillary would have been. I won't pass judgment on such matters until 2011.

The point, Mr. President, is that we consider you to be special. We don't treat you like everyone else and give reverence to you that has yet to be earned. The same respect we give to you, we'd like to see returned. Not in a way that offers preferential treatment, but in a way that simply acknowledges that we exist. Black suffering should not be invisible. " [Article here]

Oh my, where is that jug of O- Aid when you need it?

Before I go I want to say just a few more things:

This holiday season I hope everyone reading this will have peace and prosperity in their lives. I mean that. I have nothing but love for everyone who reads this blog, comments on this blog, and links to this blog on a regular. At the end of the day I am sure that good will prevail over evil. It always does.

Mike, it might be time to switch.

*

"There is nothing a white man with a penny hates more than nigger with a nickel"

Remember that saying Hip Hop Mike? Well I hope you do, because it is about to become very relevant in your life.

Poor Hip Hop Mike. It seems that he has been doing a little moonlighting for dollars while collecting a check from the GOP to make them the party of Lincoln again. Mike has been charging $8,000 a pop to speak at different venues while chairman of the GOP.

Hey Mike, I am not mad at ya. A brother has to live. Gators and those fly suits I see you sporting cost money. But the GOP crowd is not pleased.

"The former Maryland lieutenant governor, who was elected chairman of the GOP in January, has given a dozen speeches to corporate boards and colleges. He has charged $8,000 per appearance while at the same time collecting a salary of $223,000 as the leader of the party. The chairman's paid speeches were first reported by the Washington Times.
Richard Bond, who was chairman of the party from 1992 to 1993, said he was "shocked" Steele had accepted the money and that he "didn't take a dime" from speaking fees during his tenure. A current member of the 168-member RNC, who did not want to blast Steele publicly, called the speeches a "bad idea."'

Now Mike, you and I both know that they don't like you. They only put you out there because you were their version of his O ness. Now, as the president's star dims, watch how yours will go dim right along with him. The republicans don't need their own version of the articulate Negro anymore, because the one they feared so much is getting his ass handed to him in the polls.

Don't believe me Mike? Well guess who broke this story about you? If you guessed one of those liberal rags like the New York Times you would be wrong. It was the conservative Washington Times. I wonder why you think they did that, Mike?

"Harry Sandler, who handles Mr. Steele's bookings at Newton, Mass.-based American Program Bureau, told The Washington Times that Mr. Steele "tends" to charge between $10,000 and $15,000 for an appearance and that he received roughly that amount for a Sept. 21 speech at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark. Mr. Steele has an upcoming speaking engagement at DePaul University in Chicago, for which he will be paid $12,500.

"Holy mackerel, I never heard of a chairman of either party ever taking money for speeches," said Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., RNC chairman under President Reagan and CEO of the American Gaming Association.

"The job of a national chairman is to give speeches. That's what the national party pays him for. We didn't have a rule book back then, but being national chairman was and is a full-time job," Mr. Fahrenkopf said."

Mike, I tell you what I am going to do; -and some of my fellow field Negroes won't like this-. But here it is: I am going extend an open invitation to you to come back to your people and leave the dark side. Those people you are running with are not your friends. See how mad they get at you when you make a little money? It's because they don't think you should be pulling down $230,000.00 per year AND still want more. The only black folks in A-merry-ca allowed to make money are ball players and actors. Didn't you know that Mike?

So hurry Mike, this offer won't last very long. If you can make as much as $10,000 per speaking engagement now; just think of how much you will be able to make once you pull the switch.

*Pic from Getty Images.

Here we go again? Or just field trying to stay in shape by chasing imaginary racism?

I haven't chased my man racism in awhile. So with that in mind, I decided to post a link that my girl Jody sent me. (She is white)

It's about the movie "Avatar", and some folks are crying racism because of its cast and overall theme. The best article that addresses the subject is the one Jody sent me, and it was written by someone named Annalee Newitiz. (Hmmmm, Newitiz; doesn't sound like she is of the Negro persuasion. But I could be wrong.) Anyway, here is the article:

"When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like "Avatar"?

Critics have called alien epic Avatar a version of Dances With Wolves because it's about a white guy going native and becoming a great leader. But Avatar is just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy.

Spoilers...

Whether Avatar is racist is a matter for debate.
Regardless of where you come down on that question, it's undeniable that the film - like alien apartheid flick District 9, released earlier this year - is emphatically a fantasy about race. Specifically, it's a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people. Avatar and scifi films like it give us the opportunity to answer the question: What do white people fantasize about when they fantasize about racial identity?

Avatar imaginatively revisits the crime scene of white America's foundational act of genocide, in which entire native tribes and civilizations were wiped out by European immigrants to the American continent. In the film, a group of soldiers and scientists have set up shop on the verdant moon Pandora, whose landscapes look like a cross between Northern California's redwood cathedrals and Brazil's tropical rainforest. The moon's inhabitants, the Na'vi, are blue, catlike versions of native people: They wear feathers in their hair, worship nature gods, paint their faces for war, use bows and arrows, and live in tribes. Watching the movie, there is really no mistake that these are alien versions of stereotypical native peoples that we've seen in Hollywood movies for decades." [More here]

True confessions: I don't like James Cameron, so it's easier to chase racism with projects that he does. I don't know, something about him just never seemed quite right. Maybe it's because he never had any brothers in that damn movie where the ship sunk. What's the name again...? Yeah, "Titanic". Field, that's because there was only one black person that history knows of on the Titanic. Well he could have shown at least one clip of the brother. A brother like that with all those white people had to have stood out. I know when they were reaching for those life boats that brother was out on the deck, because you know he couldn't swim....let me stop.

Anyway, I want to know. Is what the author writes here the bottom line?:

"This is a classic scenario you've seen in non-scifi epics from Dances With Wolves to The Last Samurai, where a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of people of color and eventually becomes its most awesome member." [Hmmmm, the Bill Clinton effect.]

Or is my man racism just distracting me again while he does some real damage somewhere else?

Oh what a tangled web....

*

I am all for health insurance reform. I really am. And when the senate got the 60 votes over the weekend to make this bill filibuster proof I was happy for the dumbocrats. I am not one of these "uber" leftist who say give me a public option or nothing at all. I understand how the A-merry-can political system works, and I am willing to take the baby steps. Do I want a public option? Of course I do. A government run health insurance plan would drive the cost of health care down for everybody. In fact, if I were King of this A-merry-can world, we would have a single-payer health plan tomorrow. But I am not. the King of the A-merry-can world is money. And right now the insurance lobby and their fat cat friends have damn near all of it. But I digress.

So I am glad for these sixty votes, but I am not happy at how they got there. If what is being reported is true,(the wingnuts are calling it a bribe) Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) cut a sweetheart deal for his home state of Nebraska. Seems they won't be paying their fair share of the contributions to Medicare for a long time to come. He is not alone. Apparently Mary Landrieu from my favorite state, Louisiana, did the same thing. She held out for a cool one hundred million.

Honestly, I have no problem with folks looking out for their home states. (Unless their name is Joe Lieberman ,who has just become a whore for the insurance industry. Wait...did I say just become? Sorry, l I take that back; he has been a whore for them for a long time.) But shouldn't these people be voting their conscience and convictions? If you think health care reform is needed, why hold out to the highest bidder for your vote? The whole thing just stinks a little too much for the kid.

Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) was on one of the Sunday talk shows, and he was talking about how unconstitutional it all was. He argues that 30% of the people he represents in his state are African American, and if Nebraska gets this deal there will be some equal amendment issues to consider. Ooooo kaaaay. Like when was the last time a GOP official cared anything about the equal rights for black folks? Still, there is something to that argument. The one that says that some citizens shouldn't get certain benefits at the expense of others just because their elected official happens to be slicker.

But, at the end of the day, it looks like his O ness might have a nice Christmas present. And he will be able to say that he got some historic legislation past. That will be something for dumbocrats to run on in what will be a tough election year in 2010.

And if what the CBO chief is saying is true; it's a bill that A-merry-cans could find themselves being able to live with in the long run.

" The bill would cost an average of $87 billion a year for the first ten years. It would expand coverage to about 30 million Americans. It is projected to reduce the deficit by $132 billion over the next ten years. Here's the summation from CBO chief Doug Elmendorf's blog:"

I am no economist, but that doesn't sound like a bad deal to me. Certainly not as bad as some of the deals that were cut to get to 60 votes.

*Pic from Jen Sorensen @ Slowpokecomics.com

Aiming at Sarah.

*

Field Negro, there goes your crazy left wing friends again. What is it with you people? This latest cowardly and disgusting act, by no doubt, one of you communist, just goes to show how low you people will go.

How dare you throw tomatoes at Sarah Palin? This woman is the heart and soul of the republican party (not to mention its most important spokesperson) and you people disrespect her growing legacy by throwing tomatoes at her? I say tomatoe[s] because that joker threw two...

Stop laughing field Negro, what if this had been the president? You liberals would be screaming bloody murder about racism and the president not being safe. This was no laughing matter. What if those tomatoes were poisoned with some kind of deadly venom? What if those were grenades instead of tomatoes? This Jeremy Paul Olsen fellow should be sent straight to Gitmo with the other terrorist.

But you lefties are such hypocrites-not to mention bad throwers-. You tried this crap with Ann Coulter; and you tried this stuff with Michael Steele, throwing Oreo cookies at him. (Well...that story might not be true. Whatever! ) And one of your Iraqi friends even tried it with our last president. Throwing things at people you don't agree with politically has got to stop. It is not civil, and it is dangerous. Sometimes you people even get tired of throwing things and just beat your political opponents. How do you explain that one field Negro? Ahhh Passion?

"Palin was not hit by the flying tomatoes, which instead hit two police officers standing near the former governor. Olson was arrested on charges of suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct.
Palin — who has sold more than 1 million books since starting her signing tour last month — did not comment on the incident. "

Thank goodness! Now the book tour will continue, and our next president will be be able to go on spreading her populous message to the rest of A-merry-ca. You people can't stop Sarah, field. You can only hope to slow her down.

Is Sarah's book tour taking her to Philly? I would love to volunteer my time to help protect her. Just to insure that nothing is ever thrown her way again. You never know; there might be another Jeremy Paul Olsen out there.

*Pic from Politico.com

Justice Delayed.

Poor James Bain. His situation adds new meaning to that old cliche, "justice delayed is justice denied." I mean there is delay and then there is DELAY. Thirty five years?

In 1974 my man was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 10 year old boy. His conviction was based, in part, on the little boy's testimony who described his attacker as having "bushy sideburns and a mustache". Nice. No doubt the law and order types (like the usual suspects on this blog) were around screaming for his head on a platter at the time. If I had been blogging then and wrote alleged child rapist, James Bain, I would have been vilified.

But thank goodness for DNA testing.

What I want to know is how this man can be so calm and composed after having 35 years of his life taken away from him. It takes a special person to come out of a situation like that and hold no ill will to the people and the system that did this to him. Remember Robert Deniro's character in the move "Cape Fear"? That might have been me. Yep, I just might have gone all Max Cady on someones ass. I am just saying.

"I'm not angry," James Bain, 54, told reporters after a brief hearing in Bartow, Florida. "

Well Mr. Bain, I am angry for you. When that judge told you "Congratulations", you should have asked him for what. What the hell is he congratulating you for? The state of Florida takes 35 years of your life and all that damn Judge can tell you is "congratulations"? Congratulate this! *middle finger to the sky*

"I got God in my head,' said Bain, surrounded by supporters and wearing a T-shirt with 'Not Guilty' across the front. 'I knew one day he will reveal me."'

It's times like these that I have no problem with religion, and man's need to beleive in a higher power. If it [religion] helped Mr. Bains keep his sanity during his terrible ordeal, then I have to give a shout out to Jesus.

Poor man. Imagine being in jail for 35 years and knowing that you are innocent of the crime you were charged with and ultimately convicted of.

"Ed Threadgill, who prosecuted the case originally, said that he didn't recall all the specifics but that the conviction seemed right at the time. "I wish we had had that evidence back when we were prosecuting cases," said Threadgill, 77. "I'm ecstatic the man has been released."

Of course he didn't recall all the specifics; his life went on. I bet James Bain could tell you all of the specifics, right down to the tiniest detail. [Story]

Shout out to the folks at *The Innocence Project.*

And lead us not into temptation...

*

It's Christmas party time, and the field and a few of his friends are getting their party on. (Props to Jody and the Camac Street crowd for another great party.)

So I am at this one party when I spot this sister who I have been knowing for a minute. Lady has more curves than a Jamaican country road, and she has the whole package: Dark and lovely, baby hair with the serious cut, the whole nine. (Hey just because I am on a diet doesn't mean I can't look at the menu. Right?) I see Ms. Thing every year at this one party and every year she looks better. Ms. thing is always playing the "Lone Ranger" role and this year is no different.

Hi field. "Hey what's up?" Mrs. Field let you out by yourself? "Yeah, how about that?" "Are you all still together?"" Yes we are." She is looking at my "LoJack" ( also known as a wedding ring) so I know she knows the deal. Field, why are all the good men taken? It's so tough out here for a sister. I am looking at her and I am wondering why she isn't taken. Unfortunately field, I think I am doomed to be single for a long time. "No, I don't think so", I tell her, "you will be hitched in no time. Just hang in there. " I don't know field, it hasn't happened yet, I am not getting any younger. Really? She could have fooled me.

Ms. Thing gives me a hug (down field) and we say our goodbyes. Back in my single days. (A looong looong time ago. Loooog before Mrs. Field.) I would have probably tried to holla at Ms. Thing, but those days are over. Now I can only wonder what it would have been like and wish girlfriend luck. I am sure she will be fine. Later on I spot her still working the room, and she is talking to some dude with damn near as much cash as Tiger. Dude is married as well, but he is all over Ms. Thing.

I am left to wonder if a lady like that really wants to get hitched, or if she is enjoying living this way: Turning heads and breaking hearts until she doesn't have it anymore. She says that all the good men are taken, but if they weren't would she want them? I am guessing not.

I am leaving the party to make another stop when Ms. Thing stops me: Field are you leaving already? "Yep, I have to make my rounds ". Girlfriend comes over and gives me a hug (down field) and tells me she will definitely call me to do lunch or something. I tell her that"it's all good" when I know damn good and well that it's not. Bye field, I hope Santa is good to you this year. One more hug; one more squeeze; that menu sure is looking good.

*Pic courtesy of Mamahenfolkart.com

Is life liberty and the pursuit of happiness only for "real" Americans?

In my last post I wrote about some of the shortcomings of the economic plans set down by his O ness. I lamented about the help everyone else in A-merry-ca seems to be getting except poor people and people of color. As is usually the case, you folks followed with some really deep and thoughtful comments. And you really had me thinking about some of the different ways that we could change our reality.

But here is the thing; regardless of what type of economic policies are implemented, and how it's shaped in Washington; is there a segment of folks in A-merry-can society that will never be happy with this president no matter what? And would those people do everything in their powers to undermine this president -or anyone that is perceived to be a threat to the A-merry-can ideal or way of life- even if his policies were good ones?

I was reading over at BroadSnark, and Mel wrote a post that had me thinking about that.

"White America's Existential Crisis

'People have, apparently, lost their minds. There seems to be a panic that we have lost the fabric of our society and I’m having trouble getting a handle on what has happened that is so drastic that people would think its tyranny or fascism or hitleresque or stalinesque' (Jon Stewart)

That quote is from Stewart’s interview with Lou Dobbs (video below). Dobbs never really answered Jon’s question, so I’m going to try.

There is a certain segment of the American population that really believes in the American foundational myths. They identify with them. They believe that America was built by a handful of white, Christian, men with exceptional morals. Their America is the country that showed the world democracy, saved the Jews in World War II, and tore down the Berlin wall.
These people have always fought changes to their mythology. They have always resented those of us who pushed to complicate those myths with the realities of slavery, Native American genocide, imperial war in the Philippines, invasions of Latin American countries, and secret arms deals.

And we have been so busy fighting them to have our stories and histories included in the American story that we sometimes forget why the myths were invented in the first place.
No myth illustrates the slight of hand behind our national mythology quite like the myth of the cowboy. In the mythology, the cowboy is a white man. He is a crusty frontiersman taming the west and paving the way for civilization. He is the good guy fighting the dangerous Indian. He is free and independent. He is in charge of his own destiny.

Read Richard Slatta’s Cowboys of the Americas and you will get a very different picture. In reality, the first American cowboys were indigenous people trained by the Spanish missionaries. In reality, more than 30% of the cowboys on Texas trail drives were African American, Mexican, or Mexican-American.

And cowboys were not so free. Cowboys were itinerant workers who, while paid fairly well when they had work, spent much of the year begging for odd jobs. Many did not even own the horse they rode. Frequently, they worked for large cattle companies owned by stockholders from the Northeast and Europe, not for small family operations (a la Bonanza). The few times cowboys tried to organize, they were brutally oppressed by ranchers.

So what does all this have to do with Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck, teabaggers and white panic?
Marginalization and myths have always been about economic exploitation. White supremacy is not simply personal bigotry. It is the systematic exclusion, dehumanization, and erasure of the majority in order to preserve economic dominance for the wealthy minority. And while white men may be in most positions of wealth and power to this day, only a very few of them really benefit from our current economic system. White supremacy helped distract poor and working class whites from targeting their economic exploiters. White supremacy helped mask the lie of equal opportunity.

When you know the real history of the cowboy, it makes the selling of Reagan and Bush as cowboys seem like an inside joke. The mythological cowboy is the heroic figure that many Americans wish they were. The fact that the cowboy was actually an exploited worker is virtually unknown.

When Americans vote for a president, they want to see that heroic version of themselves looking back at them. They want to see that free cowboy of the mythology. No matter how poor or exploited white people were, they could always take subconscious comfort in the fact that, when they looked at the highest power in the land, they saw an idealized version of themselves.

And then came Barack Obama.

Pop.

It’s a powerful thing to be able to identify with the people who are your leaders, to feel like they are one of you. It’s a feeling that many people in the United States felt for the first time when Barack Obama was elected. It’s equally powerful when your elected leaders are clearly not like you, when the fact that they do not represent you is glaringly obvious.
I had my whole life to get used to the idea that the government was never made to really represent my interests. Many of these angry people are the very white, Christian, men that this country was supposedly built by and for. And this is the first time the myth of America has been unmasked for them." [More here]

I guess my question is this: If we had the perfect economic climate for black folks and poor people in A-merry-ca, and everyone started working again, would we even be able enjoy it? Is the American dream for certain people just a myth? And if it is just a myth; would it be in the best interest of certain people in A-merry-ca to let us all fail just to keep that myth alive?

Brothers "can you spare a dime?"

"Them belly full, but we hungry; A hungry mob is a angry mob. A rain a-fall, but the dutty tough; [rain is falling but the dirt is still hard] A yot a-yook, but d' yood no 'nough.[a pot is cooking but the food is not enough] " ~Bob Marley~

Oh lawd O man, I think the natives are getting restless. The black side of your family is threatening to come out of the basement and embarrass you in front of the rest of A-merry-ca.

I think they are upset because it seems like you have been doing more for Wall Street than Mai....no, not main street, MLK Boulevard. (Doesn't every black neighborhood in every city have an MLK boulevard?) I mean this recession has really hit black folks. And they see you in the White House and wonder why you can't throw a bone their way.

Oh field, stop it. The man is president of all A-merry-cans, he has to be presidential. I guess you want him to go down to the hood and sit on the corner and sip a malt liquor with pookey "an dem." It doesn't work that way field, we are talking about the president here. Didn't you see him getting with the bankers yesterday? Come on field, the man has only been in office a year now, give him some time.

OK, I will give him some more time. After eight years of the frat boy I know he needs it. But it just seems like the man on the street (not only black folks) are getting left behind while Geithner and his banker friends in Manhattan clean up. And please spare me the economics 101 speech. I get it. The banks had to be bailed out or there would have been no loans for anybody. A-merry-ca would have been in big trouble. But now the bonuses are flying again, the DOW is over 10,000 and poor people still can't find jobs.

Mrs. Field broke my heart today (not to mention my checkbook) by telling me about a family she adopted and their woes for Christmas. That shit is not cool. And it's not like these people don't want to work. They do. But no one is hiring.

I am no fan of the CBC, but I have to give them a some props for getting with his O ness recently.

"Black lawmakers who have largely held their tongues during President Barack Obama's first year in office are stepping up their demands that the nation's first black president do more for minority communities hit hardest by the recession.

While still careful about criticizing Obama publicly, they appear to be losing their patience after watching him dedicate more than $1 trillion to prop up banks and corporations and fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while double-digit unemployment among blacks crept even higher.

"Obama has tried desperately to stay away from race, and all of us understand what he's doing," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. "But when you have such a disproportionate number of African-Americans unemployed, it would be irresponsible not to direct attention and resources to the people who are receiving the greatest level of pain."

Dating back to Obama's campaign, many black leaders have pressed him to take more of a stand on the challenges facing minorities. Most voiced criticisms privately for fear of jeopardizing his candidacy or undercutting his popularity after his election. They also have tread lightly so as not to be at odds with their own majority-black constituencies, who strongly support Obama........ frustration has been building. The 42-member Congressional Black Caucus flexed its influence last week when 10 of its members held up a financial regulation bill backed by the administration until leaders agreed to add about $3 billion in foreclosure relief for struggling homeowners. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the House Financial Services Committee chairman, later added $1 billion for neighborhood revitalization programs.

During the stalemate, the lawmakers issued a statement saying they would no longer support public policy "defined by the world view of Wall Street." [Link]

Good for them. And did I see where the author said that black lawmakers were afraid to confront his O ness for fear of a backlash from their constituents? Interesting.

You gotta love us black folks. We stay down with brown no matter what.

"Cost of livin' gets so high, Rich and poor they start to cry:Now the weak must get strong;They say, "Oh, what a tribulation!"Them belly full, but we hungry;A hungry mob is a angry mob"

Wrong Bob! Only the poor is crying. The rich will be fine.

"A" is for Reverend Al.

Rev. Al's groups is front and center in Philly again. This time to defend a Frankford High School student who was allegedly set upon and beaten by two school district police officers.

" Supporters of a Frankford High School junior who was allegedly beaten by two school security officers called on Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman today to launch an independent investigation into the incident immediately.
They also demanded a probe into the alleged "boxing glove beating" of students at Olney High School by a district officer known as "Sarge."

"The schools are out of control and we need to do something about it," said Gregory Brinkley, Philadelphia chapter president of the National Action Network, a civil rights group headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Brinkley led a rally of about 20 mostly network members this afternoon at Frankford High School as classes let out for the day.

Jeffione Thomas, 17, a star running back for the Frankford High Pioneers, admits he was late for school Oct. 29 when the two truancy officers followed him into the building.

Just inside the school doors, Thomas said the two officers "jumped" him and knocked him unconscious. One of the officers put him in handcuffs while the other continued to beat him, Thomas said.

Several students watched as school surveillance cameras captured the episode.

"The beating lasted seven to 10 minutes," said senior Denzel Parker-Dixon. He said it took five administrators to pull the officers off of Thomas.

The assault, Thomas said, left him with a bruised eye and a torn lip that required six stitches.

After being treated at a nearby hospital, Thomas was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly hitting the officers. A court hearing, scheduled for this morning in Juvenile Court, was postponed until Jan. 22."

I know what you all are thinking, and I was thinking the same thing: Those officers should lose their jobs and possibly be prosecuted. But I know some people very close to this case who say that I shouldn't be believing everything that I read. They say that these officers have a tough job and it was the student who instigated the whole thing.

Well I wasn't there, so I am not going to pass judgement. Still, just on its face, it doesn't look good for the school police. Then again I know how the children in Philly's public schools can act. Lately our fair city has been all over the news because of the behavior of some of our students. And you have to wonder how far the the level of frustration is rising with those who are charged to supervise and to teach.

I know who is there now: Yep, Rev. Al's people. "The National Action Network" is in the house.

"At the rally, Brinkley demanded that the security guards be arrested and charges against Thomas be dropped. He said that a school district probe of the incident was "a sham" because district investigators had not spoken with Thomas. He also claimed the investigators had tried to convince witnesses to change their stories.
"We're calling for the DA to convene a grand jury immediately," Brinkley said.

Thomas - in a dark suit, lavender shirt and a paisley tie - quietly watched the rally as his mother and grandmother stood by his side.

Since the incident, he said he has "problems eating a little bit," but his injuries have otherwise healed."

Now Mr. Brinkley was quoted earlier in this article as saying that "the schools are out of control and we need to do something about it." Yes they are, but it's not the school board officers who are out of control, it's the damn kids. These two officers might have been out of control on this particular occasion, but trust me, it's not a pattern. If anything we don't have enough damn truant officers. I will tell you who is out of control Mr. Brinkley; it's the damn thugs who come to school pretending to be students while preventing kids who are there to learn from doing just that.

If these officers acted inappropriately they should be punished. And let's hope that the school board and all concerned conduct a fair and swift investigation into the matter. Having said that, I am going to have to tell the Rev. and his organization to chill on this one. Philadelphia public school children are not the victims of human rights abuses at school. If anything, they are the victims of it at home. [Story here]

Oh, and before I go, there is another story out of Philly that has my attention. It's the series that my local paper is doing on the District Attorney's office, and their lack of convictions for violent offenders. Great series; loaded with stats and interesting reporting.

But here is the thing: And believe me, I have nothing but love for the Philadelphia Newspaper people. (Hell they feature this blog as a link on their web site for crying out loud!) But if they knew that our District Attorney was so bad, why the hell did they endorse her in the past in campaigns for that office? And why is it that they wait until she is leaving to do a report about just how inept her office was?

Come on guys, you are better than that. Next time expose ineptitude when it matters, not when the subject of your indignation is going out the door.