Those "hipster" republicans and when prosecutors choose not to prosecute.

*Hoping to get votes from people who are under fifty years old, republicans have launched a new ad. campaign (*not the pic*) targeting "minorities" and "hipsters". This will be running in fourteen states, and according to the RNC it is aimed at disenfranchised Obama voters.


My prediction: This ad. will not sway one single minority or so called "hipster" voter. Republicans are going to make gains in the senate and the House of Representatives this mid-term, but it will not be because of some silly ad. campaign that is trying to make them seem hip and tolerant. It will be because it is a mid-term election, and the people who support the Democratic Party do not traditionally vote in large numbers during mid-term elections. That, and the demonization of the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare.


"To underscore the point that this is an actual “hipster” who willingly revealed that he votes Republican, National Journal found that Scott Greenberg is a real person who does PR director for the Washington Ballet..."


Good for him. I hope that there is more where he came from. Maybe enough of them will come out in 2016 and make that presidential election close.


Finally, there are two stories from my hometown that I feel compelled to write about.


They are both about prosecutors deciding not to bring criminal charges against elected officials.


The first one involves the democratic Attorney General here in Pistolvania and her decision not to go after a bunch of mostly democratic (not to mention black) politicians here in Philly.


"Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane defended her decision to close a corruption probe of Philly politicians and one judge that was begun under previous attorney generals at a press conference this morning.


The allegations made by several cowardly anonymous sources in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer paint an inaccurate and sensational version of the details and timeline of events related to Case File No. 36-622,” Kane said in a statement issued by her office on Sunday evening. “The real truth is that this investigation was not only deeply flawed, but unraveled long before I was elected and then took the oath of office.”


The Inquirer article, which quoted almost entirely from anonymous sources, alleged that State Rep. Louise Bishop, State Rep. Ronald G. Waters, State Rep. Michelle Brownlee, State Rep. Vanessa Brown, and former Traffic Court Judge Thomasine Tynes all received sizable donations which they did not report as required by law from a lobbyist named Tyrone Ali, who was in fact an undercover operative working on behalf of then-Attorney General Tom Corbett.

The piece reported that Kane “shut down” the sting.

But Kane said in her statement that the investigation itself was improper.

“The majority of the work, including more than 91 percent of the recordings by a confidential informant, took place 18 months prior to my inauguration, through three former Attorneys General,” Kane’s statement continued. “When prosecutors dismissed more than 2,000 serious charges of fraud that alleged their informant [Ali] stole $430,000 meant for poor children and seniors, they crippled the chance of this case succeeding in prosecution. Despite the case originating in 2010, this agreement to drop the charges was signed just 24 days after I was elected and weeks before I was sworn in.

The Inquirer reported anonymous sources stating that Kane took issue with the fact that the sting was directed at members of the Black Caucus, although other anonymous sources denied this claim." [Article]


I am familiar with the above mentioned Mr. Ali, and I can say with a clear conscience that he is not a good dude. Still, if there is corruption among elected politicians and the AG has enough evidence to bring charges against them, she should not shut it down because of politics or for fear of cries of racism.


The next case involves a republican official in the suburbs.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office on Monday abruptly dropped all charges against former county Republican Party Chairman Robert Kerns, whom it had accused of drugging and sexually assaulting an employee at his law firm.
Prosecutors said that the results of a drug test on which the case was built had been misinterpreted, and that Kerns’ accuser had not been drugged with the sleep aid Ambien.
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman is expected to say more later Monday.
The disclosure marked a stunning twist in the case, one that led Kerns to leave his law practice and resign from his prominent party position.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Montco_DA_drops_all_charges_against_ex-GOP_chair_Kerns.html#FZ9WRPbfbmEdGik3.99

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office on Monday abruptly dropped all charges against former county Republican Party Chairman Robert Kerns, whom it had accused of drugging and sexually assaulting an employee at his law firm.
Prosecutors said that the results of a drug test on which the case was built had been misinterpreted, and that Kerns’ accuser had not been drugged with the sleep aid Ambien.
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman is expected to say more later Monday.
The disclosure marked a stunning twist in the case, one that led Kerns to leave his law practice and resign from his prominent party position.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Montco_DA_drops_all_charges_against_ex-GOP_chair_Kerns.html#FZ9WRPbfbmEdGik3.99

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office on Monday abruptly dropped all charges against former county Republican Party Chairman Robert Kerns, whom it had accused of drugging and sexually assaulting an employee at his law firm.
Prosecutors said that the results of a drug test on which the case was built had been misinterpreted, and that Kerns’ accuser had not been drugged with the sleep aid Ambien.
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman is expected to say more later Monday.
The disclosure marked a stunning twist in the case, one that led Kerns to leave his law practice and resign from his prominent party position.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Montco_DA_drops_all_charges_against_ex-GOP_chair_Kerns.html#FZ9WRPbfbmEdGik3.99

Republican party chairman, Robert Kerns, was charged with drugging and "sexually assaulting" an employee from his law office. (19 counts in all, including rape.)


The case was suddenly dropped by the republican District Attorney's office because of a lack of proper evidence.


"A lab report “misinterpreted” by Montgomery County investigators prompted the district attorney’s office Monday to have rape and related charges dropped against former county Republican Committee Chairman Robert J. Kerns, according to District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.     


Investigators, whom she declined to name, incorrectly believed that the report showed there were trace amounts of Ambien, a drug commonly used in date rape situations, found in the alleged victim’s system “when in fact there was none,” said Ferman.

Because this misreading of the lab results “was so intertwined” with the evidence that the county presented to the grand jury, which recommended the filing of the charges against Kerns, and with the evidence presented at Kerns’ preliminary hearing, “we decided that the only appropriate thing to do in the interest of justice was withdraw the charges,” said Ferman.


Kerns had been accused of drugging, raping and sexually assaulting a female employee of his law practice. The reported incidents occurred in his Mercedes sedan and at the woman’s home, police said." [Source]


Hey I just report, and you can decide.














 






















 

Strange tweets, and even DWW is getting dangerous.

The guy who found FOX Views took to twitter to give his two cents about the missing Malaysian jet.


He says that the jet may be stolen and might be hidden in Northern Pakistan somewhere. Now I suppose that this might be possible, but man it sure gives an interesting insight into the guy's world view.


"Rupert Murdoch         ✔ @rupertmurdoch Follow

World seems transfixed by 777 disappearance. Maybe no crash but stolen, effectively hidden, perhaps in Northern Pakistan, like Bin Laden."

Yep,  now I see why FOX Views has the type of programming that they do.

And is he saying that Bin Laden is still alive and being hidden in Northern Pakistan?

For his sake I certainly hope not.

Finally, I just posted a story where the po po shot an old man after he pulled a cane on them. Now here comes a story out of Alabama about an unarmed 20 year old airman who was shot in the gut by the po po.

 

"Police shot a 20-year-old airman as he lay on the ground following a traffic accident along Interstate 85 in Alabama, the man’s family said.


Air Force Airman 1st Class Michael Davidson was traveling Thursday evening from Texas to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, near Goldsboro, N.C., in a 2004 GMC Envoy when he changed lanes and clipped a semi-truck with his driver’s side mirror, according to police.


Davidson stopped and got out of his SUV to exchange insurance information with the semi’s driver, the airman’s father told the Opelika-Auburn News.   


He said he didn’t get that far,” said Billy Davidson. “When (he was walking) to the truck, he said he heard something but couldn’t tell what it was. There was a lot of noise, but (he) could see the reflection of the lights off the truck — the police lights. Then he did what I told him to do. I told my boys if you see police lights (to) stop, put your hands up and turn around.”


The elder Davidson said his son held up his arms, holding his wallet in one hand.


“The next thing I know I was on the ground,” Michael Davidson told his father. “That’s when they shot me. I didn’t realize he shot me. I didn’t know what happened. It was so fast. They couldn’t have been there three or four seconds when I was shot.”


Michael Davidson told his father that police immediately searched his vehicle, even before he received medical assistance.


“After being shot, the officer was yelling at Michael, asking where the ‘other person’ was,” his father told the Panola Watchman. “Michael was traveling alone, and has no idea who the ‘other person’ is.”


But police said officers and emergency medical personnel responded “as quickly as possible,” and even discussed sending a medical helicopter to assist." [Story]


Lord have mercy! It's getting just as bad to drive while white as it is to drive while black. You police officers have got to chill a little bit out here. You are way too quick on the trigger. If police departments have to pay a little bit more to better train their officers then so be it.

Missing.

Man this missing plane story is a trip. (No pun intended.) I guess it's possible for planes to disappear out of the sky and never  be seen again, but in this day and age it seems quite unlikely.


CNN has been all over this story from day one. If you happen to be a pilot or a former FAA official you have probably already gotten a call from a CNN producer. 


Anyway, this has to be extremely heartbreaking for the families of the passengers on that plane. Not getting any closure with what happened to their loved ones and holding out hope that there is even a slight chance that they might be alive.


Now they are saying that this might have some kind of nefarious plot executed by the pilot or pilots on the plane. Great. So now it's not enough-- post 911-- to be suspicious of fellow passengers, but now we have to watch the damn pilot as well.


Finally, this Bill O'Reilly obsession with Beyoncé is getting kind of creepy. It's gotten so bad that even late night hosts are starting to notice.


Now he claims that he is only concerned about all the sexuality in her act and the impact that it might have on young black women.  


"In the video, Beyonce can be seen dancing provocatively on a pole, showing off her hot body and dancing provocatively for her husband, Jay Z while in a limo.


“Teenage girls look up to Beyonce, particularly girls of color,” O’Reilly said. “She is an idol to them. Why on earth would this woman do that. [sic] Why would she do it when she knows the devastation [of] unwanted pregnancies and fractured families." [sic]


I need a break. Bill O'Reilly cares as much about  the welfare of "girls of color" as I do about old white men on FOX: Zero!


Bill, take it from me, a black person; you are the last person we want advocating for us or pontificating about what you think is wrong with the black community. The last time you were in an area with more than one black person you made an absolute fool of yourself.


Maybe you should be trying to get your own house in order (not to mention your workplace) before you start worrying about what goes on with black folks.

The sheriff shot Bobby.

I know that there are some of my white brothers and sisters out there who think that I only chase racism when I perceive that there is injustice done to a person of color. That is not true. And my post tonight will show that I detest injustice when it is done to people of all races.


The case about the old guy coming from getting his NASCAR on, and then getting shot by the po po down in South Carolina just doesn't sit right with me.


"During a recent traffic stop in South Carolina, a 70-year-old man was shot after the responding officer mistook his cane for a shotgun. The officer was put on administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident which occurred in February.


Bobby Canipe, the North Carolina resident and Vietnam veteran who was a victim of the shooting, was returning form attending the Daytona 500 when he was pulled over for an expired license plate. “It’s a walking stick,” Canipe said when the shots ended.


“I promise to God I thought it was a shotgun,” replied York County Deputy Terrance Knox. The officer is later heard crying while explaining to a fellow officer why he shot Canipe.


Fox News Channel reporter Trace Gallagher reported on Thursday that Knox’s commanding officer said, judging from the dash cam tape, that Knox “did the right thing.” [Source]


I am glad that they took this brother off the street. I know that being a police officer is a tough job, but come on now, you can't go blasting an old head who pulls a cane out; you just can't.


The white grievance society will be all over this one (I see you FOX Views) and they will cry a river that the case won't get enough attention because of the race of the shooter and the shootee (I know that's not a word, but I like it), but hey, they can't blame yours truly. That old man didn't deserve to be shot, and the police officer who shot him deserves what he has coming his way.


Finally, this is not a sexy subject or something that folks like to talk about, but we seriously have to start taking a look at our aging infrastructure in this country--- especially in our cities. If we don't there are going to be more situations like we had in East Harlem a few days ago and like we had in North Jersey earlier this month. (BTW, I think we can all agree that fossil fuels and an aging infrastructure is not a good mix.)


This is something my wife likes to talk about, because she works in the environmental field, and quite frankly, she is surprised that we don't have more of these types of tragedies.


Clearly we have been lucky. But judging from the news reports lately, it looks like our luck might be running out.












  

Paul's message to the "inner cities".

Add Paul Ryan to the long list of Americans on the apology tour. Although it wasn't so much an apology as it was regret for how his words came out. ("Inarticulate") Of course he doubled down on his comments about folks in the inner city and how the men in particular do not "value hard work".


And just in case some of his fellow travelers didn't hear the dog whistle, he invoked the name of Charles Murray to drive home his point. Murray, for the record, is the guy who thinks that black folks are intellectually inferior to their white brothers and sisters.


This of course is ironic since it is coming from a guy who has been living off the government all of his adult life. He is a career Washington insider who has been collecting a government salary since college.


Anna Marie Cox wrote about Ryan's latest musings in The Guardian and I have to agree with her.


"Poor Paul Ryan, in trouble again for saying something stupid about poverty. If only Paul Ryan knew more actual poor people.

Yesterday, in an interview on Bill Bennett’s radio show, Ryan unselfconsciously asserted the insight that conservatives seem to believe is theirs alone: work offers people dignity. Ryan, with an equal lack of thoughtfulness, went onto diagnose “generations of men” in the “inner cities” as “not even thinking about working or learning the value and culture of work”.

It’s this last bit that’s gotten Ryan in the most trouble, stirring up accusations of intentional (if subtle) racism. The logic is transitive and not direct: by “inner cities” Ryan meant black; by describing black men as not “learning” the “value and culture of work” – and since Charles Murray has called poor people “lazy” – Ryan was saying black men were lazy. So: “inner cities” = black people; “inner cities” = not valuing work; not valuing work = “lazy”; therefore what Paul Ryan really meant is “black people = lazy”.

Racism is such an explosive accusation that it’s distracted people from the first half of Ryan’s rationalization for welfare reform: that being poor makes one lazy.

“[W]e want people to reach their potential and so the dignity of work is very valuable and important and we have to re-emphasize work and reform our welfare programs, like we did in 1996,” Ryan told Bennett. Nevermind that welfare “reform” actually has thrown more people into deep poverty – and, by Ryan’s own logic, struck a further blow to their dignity: his romanticized view of the 1996 law shows just how deeply he holds his wrong-headed theory of poverty’s causes and effects.

Paul Ryan may also believe that black people are inherently lazy. Citing Charles Murray is strong evidence that Ryan has some nagging sense of superiority linked to race. That’s wrong and stupid and reprehensible. But to my mind, that’s not as detrimental to policy as the assumption that any human being would have to be taught the value of work.

Ryan can protest that he’s not talking about race – as he did last night and today. And he may even believe that he’s not. That doesn’t make his comments any less condescending and destructive.

Ryan and his ilk flatter themselves to think that promoting dignity through hard work is controversial, that liberals and critics object to welfare “reform” because we don’t value work. But no one questions that having work can lead to greater self-respect. What’s insulting is how Ryan indicates that falling into the social safety net is the opposite of “work” and thus has the opposite effect on one’s sense of self. He may not believe only work can inculcate dignity, but in a defense of his “inner cities” comments, he called it the “best”:

A stable, good-paying job is the best bridge out of poverty.

The thing about this perspective is that it reveals a belief in the converse: that the main reason people are poor is because they choose not to work."


And do you ever wonder why republicans are only concerned with folks in the "inner cities" AKA black folks? Why no mention of poor folks in rural places in states like West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee? Could it be because these poor white people vote republican and you need them (and others) to view those inner city people as being bad? Why demean one group of poor people and give the other group of poor people a pass? Is it because one group of poor people should  be blamed for their condition but the other should not? Why cut  food stamps and other programs that you think will help poor folks in the inner cities, but throw all kind of farm subsidies to rural poor folks? 


I am asking a lot of questions, but I already know the answers.


For the record, most of those poor white folks in Appalachia do not want to be poor anymore than those poor black folks in the "inner cities" do. Everyone can't be a Washington insider like Paul Ryan.


"After reading the transcript of yesterday morning’s interview, it is clear that I was inarticulate about the point I was trying to make. I was not implicating the culture of one community—but of society as a whole. We have allowed our society to isolate or quarantine the poor rather than integrate people into our communities. The predictable result has been multi-generational poverty and little opportunity. I also believe the government’s response has inadvertently created a poverty trap that builds barriers to work. A stable, good-paying job is the best bridge out of poverty."


Paul will have a "good paying job" for a long time. He is making sure of that by making the type of statements that he did about those people in the "inner cities".
 

The company you keep.

"...neurosurgeon and newfound conservative icon Ben Carson told Breitbart TV that America currently resembles Nazi Germany.


During the annual New York Meeting on Monday, Carson reportedly mentioned that we “live in a Gestapo age.” After the event, Fox News contributor Mallory Factor asked the doctor what he meant.
His response [emphasis added]:

I mean, [we are] very much like Nazi Germany. And I know you’re not supposed to say ‘Nazi Germany,’ but I don’t care about political correctness. You know, you had a government using its tools to intimidate the population. We now live in a society where people are afraid to say what they actually believe. And it’s because of the PC police, it’s because of politicians, it’s because of news. All of these things are combining to stifle people’s conversation. The reason that is so horrible is because the only way you have harmony and reach a consensus is by talking. But if, in fact, people are afraid to talk, you never reach consensus. And instead you grow further and further apart. And that’s exactly what’s happening, creating a horrible schism that will destroy our nation." [Source]

Dr. Ben, here is the thing; I don't want to have a talk with anyone who uses Nazi analogies when talking about a government he opposes in this particular country.


Those comments were asinine and full of hyperbole. As far as I am concerned the good doctor is no different than Gil Switzer.


And in case anyone was wondering, Gil Switzer is the dude down in Georgia who hates this president so much that he found it necessary to fly the Nazi flag in his yard as a sign of protest.


"A Georgia man infuriated his neighbors recently after he decided to fly the Nazi flag in his back yard in protest of the dictator he believes President Barack Obama has become.


Warner Robins, Ga., resident Gil Switzer insisted that he is neither racist nor anti-Semitic, but that he believes Obama “shows the features and the behavior of a dictator,” specifically Adolph Hitler. To show his distaste for the president’s actions, Switzer has taken to flying a swastika.


His neighbors told WXIA-11 that they want the flag take down because, in spite of Switzer’s assertions to the contrary, they do believe it demonstrates racism." [Source]


So Dr. Carson has gone from a well respected neurosurgeon to a babbling right wing buffoon.
This saddens me, because Dr. Carson is a member of the church that I grew up in. He is also a man who I had an enormous amount of respect for because of his talent and hard work to get to where he is, professionally.

I actually met him once and found him to be a gentleman.  

Sadly, though, being a good doctor does not necessarily make him a good legislature or a good policy maker.

He should stick to what he does best: Being a doctor. Not going around making a fool of himself by parroting over- the-top rightwing talking points. 

       

 

She's baaack.

I have some history with Angela McGlowan. Back in the day when she was still relevant, she took issue with how I characterized her on my blog. I challenged her to an open debate, but, as wingnuts tend to do, she chickened out.






I think she ran for congress in Mississippi and lost (thank goodness), and I thought she had just gone off into the sunset somewhere to relax in a nice ----republican paid for---- house for the rest of her life.

Boy was I wrong. Angela never went anywhere. Apparently she has been hiding out on conservative radio and bolstering her wingnut cred this whole time.

Now we learn that Angela has teamed up with Sean Hannity of Fox News to declare that somehow Barack Obama is responsible for the tragic circumstances surrounding that missing Malaysian jet. *????*

Now this all sounds so ludicrous and comical that you would think that it's a part of a Daily Show or Saturday Night Live skit. Sadly, though, it is not.

Angela McGlowan actually believes that president Obama's policies led to  terrorists taking over that plane.... but wait; we still don't know what happened to the plane just yet. It turns out that those two Middle Eastern men with stolen passports might not be terrorists after all.

Oh well Angela, back to the drawing board. Back to saying dumb things like "Obama wants to take away our guns which means that we can't defend ourselves from an attacks from Syria, Iran." (Yes, she really said that.)

And to think that this woman almost went to congress.

Finally, one of the many problems with the Koch brothers just blindly pumping money into all of these anti-Obamacare ads is that they probably can't properly vet the actors who appear from time to time.




"Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group backed by the Koch brothers, is running Obamacare attack ads featuring a cancer patient who claimed her treatments were "unaffordable" under the new health care law. On Monday, The Detroit News reported that the patient will actually save more than $1,000 a year.


Julie Boonstra says in the anti-Obamacare ad that she was diagnosed with leukemia five years ago, and her health care plan was canceled when Obamacare went into effect.


"Now, the out-of-pocket costs are so high, it's unaffordable," she said.
Before her plan was canceled, Boonstra was paying a $1,100 monthly premium. That's $13,200 a year without adding out-of-pocket expenses like co-pays and prescription drugs.


But under her new plan, the Blue Cross Premier Gold, Boonstra's premiums are down to $571 a month, and out-of-pocket costs are capped at $5,100. That's a maximum annual expense of $11,952 a year.


According to The Detroit News, Boonstra said it “can’t be true” that her new coverage is cheaper than her old.


“I personally do not believe that,” Boonstra said." [Source]




Of course you don't ma'am. You are, after all, a wingnut.

Why some countries are rich and some are poor.

It's always interesting to read what racists have to say about white superiority as it relates to different countries in the world.


They love to talk, for instance, about how wonderful white ruled western countries such as the United States are, and how horrible predominantly black Third World countries are.


This ignorant and shortsighted view of history fails to take into account the effects of colonialism and wealth grabs by older more established countries from smaller less established ones.  


India, for instance, went from a 22% share of global income in 1700 to 4% when they became "independent". This is true of most Third World countries.
An excellent article about decolonization and the effects of European imperialism on developing countries can be read here.


Another excellent article on the subject is from Jamaican producer and writer, Keiran King, and it is such a good article that I found it worthy of a cut and paste job. It understandably focuses on Jamaican, but it could be about any country in the Third World.


"It's an embarrassing but inescapable truth about Jamaica - most of the time, we're a complete mess. From arresting criminals to developing industries, diversifying exports to simplifying taxes, creating wealth to erasing intolerance, Jamaica lags behind much of the world.


Our GDP per capita is less than half the global average. According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, almost one in three men and one in two women in their early twenties can't find work. Forty per cent of all the jobs in the country are in farming, fishing and car repair. Construction and tourism provide a quarter of the rest. And those hard-baked jobs pay about J$11,500 a week, not enough to afford the computer to read this article.


What's a beautiful banana republic to do? Two hundred years ago, Jamaica was the richest colony in the British Empire by a distance, and its citizens, like Simon Taylor and Thomas Thistlewood, the most wealthy. Falmouth famously had running water before New York. How did we go from such prosperity in 1814 to such poverty today? Why is Jamaica so poor?


It's the billion-dollar question, one the best and brightest social scientists have been chewing on for decades. Here's the most influential living economist, Robert Lucas: "Is there some action a government of India could take that would lead the Indian economy to grow like Indonesia? If so, what, exactly? Once one starts to think about [it], it is hard to think about anything else."


It's easy to know what makes a market healthy - just write down what the First World does. Modern economists agree that balancing state budgets, suppressing inflation, allowing free trade, and investing in infrastructure is the way to go. But what's good for the country is not necessarily good for the government. In a democracy, where politicians only last a few years at the top, it makes more sense to spend as much as you can, protect the interests of powerful friends, and skimp on infrastructure apart from big, prestigious projects.


Still, with selfish people in power everywhere, why do rich countries stay rich and poor countries stay poor? In 2001, a Turkish economist, Daron Acemoglu, solved an amazing, disturbing piece of the puzzle. He discovered that he could predict the current GDP of 70 countries, including Jamaica, by looking at the mortality rate of white men in the 1800s. Wait, what? How in the name of Paul Bogle are those two things even related?


It turns out that wherever European colonisers survived in large numbers, like Australia and North America, they imported the rule of law from home. But where they mostly succumbed to disease, like much of Africa and the West Indies, they didn't bother to set up strong institutions. Instead, they set a precedent of grab-and-go, short-term, extractive policymaking that persists, like the viruses they feared, to this very day. Out of many, one example - inefficient bureaucracies that encourage and even tolerate widespread corruption.


Tim Harford, yet another economist, explains: "Development is thwarted because the rules and laws of the society do not encourage projects or businesses which would be to the common good. The small amount of education and technology and infrastructure [in a country like Jamaica] could be much better used if the society was organised to reward good, productive ideas. But it is not." By contrast, America's patent system, effective courts and venture capital paved the way, as much as the literal investment in highways, for a good idea like FedEx to flourish. In turn, FedEx created the delivery network for Amazon, whose supercomputers now enable Netflix, and the virtuous cycle continues.


This is all very depressing, because it suggests the problem of poverty operates on a scale larger than anyone's lifetime, that as a colonised people, we were predestined to struggle far past Independence, and that we are our own worst enemy in implementing solutions. But depression is not despair. We have to find a way to align the short-term interests of our elected officials with the long-term interests of the economy. How to do that remains unanswered, but with the world's best and brightest on the job, it'll probably only take another 200 years." [Source]


I don't agree with all of Keiran's theories as to why countries like Jamaica are still poor (countries like the United States still try to destabilize other governments when their political and economic interests are not suited), but he certainly makes some interesting points about how to fix some of our economic problems.




 


 
 

The "great awakening".

Did you know that we are on the verge of a  "great awakening" in America? I can't wait. I wonder how it will manifest itself.


Another reason why I am sad that I missed the CPAC convention is because I didn't get a chance to hear Sarah talk about it.


 "....working the statist agenda of Obama’s.” She cried, “This is a great awakening! The age of Obama is almost over!”


She was happy at how much more fired up people are this year, saying that despite the media dismissing Benghazi, the IRS, and Obama’s “dopey wobbling on the world stage,” “Americans aren’t quite as obedient as they thought we were.” In honor of Ted Cruz‘s big filibuster last year, Palin even did a little Dr. Seuss during her speech, starting out by saying, “I do not like this Uncle Sam. I do not like his health care scam.”' [Source]


Sarah, we know what you are really thinking:


I am Klan I am Klan
Klan I am.
That Klan I am That Klan I am!
I do not like that Klan I am


Do you like the powerful black man
I do not like him Klan I am
I do not like the powerful black man


Would you like him here or there
I would not like him anywhere
Would you like him in your bed
Would you like him then


Well maybe in my bed when I think of Glen.
Maybe I would like him then.....


Let me stop.


If Sarah Palin read all of Green Eggs and Ham, it will be the first book that she actually completed.


Finally, I see that the neocon with the barely ticking ticker is calling for not ruling out military action in the Ukraine.


I guess he wasn't satisfied with all the Americans and Iraqis whose death he caused in the last war. (A war, BTW, which seems to have no end)


"Former Vice President Dick Cheney told Face the Nation guest host Charlie Rose that the Obama administration should not have taken military options off the table in response to Russia’s invasion of the Crimean peninsula, and that Obama had a harder task in gathering allies after reversing course on attacks in Syria."


Now that he is closer to his date with the devil it's easy to call for military action where others will die.

If only he wasn't dead he could tell us how to perform an incredible trick.

"what did the alabama sheriff say when he saw a black man shot37 times?

Worse case of suicide i've ever seen

what did the alabama sheriff say when he saw a black man that was pulled out of the bottom of the lake, found dead, and tied in chains?

 Told him not to wear all that jewelry"


Those were jokes. But what has been happening to young black men while in the hands of law enforcement in this country is not funny.


The latest comes from the land of Bobby Jindal. Mr. Jindal is a man who does not understand the history of civil rights in this country. But I digress.


Back to the case of the magic bullet, compliments of yet another Southern police department.


"Louisiana state police are investigating the death Victor White, III, 22, who allegedly shot and killed himself while handcuffed in the back of a patrol car, reports The Advocate.


White was allegedly involved  in an altercation and when deputies responded to the call they claim to have found illegal drugs on him which lead to his arrest.
White was in handcuffs with his hands behind his back when he was killed, allegedly by his own gun — which conveniently wasn’t found during the search that led to his arrest.
Read more below from The Advocate:

Once at the sheriff’s office, White became uncooperative and refused to exit the deputy’s patrol vehicle, reports CBS affiliate KLFY. 

Trooper Stephen Hammons says White produced a handgun and fired one round, striking himself in the back. 

White was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.  

Sheriff Louis Ackal asked State Police to investigate the incident. State Police-led investigations in deaths involving officers are normal.
“We’re investigating how he got the gun,” Hammons said late Monday. “It’s too early in our investigation to comment further.”

Rev. Raymond Brown, president of National Action Now of New Orleans, said Monday night that his organization is looking into White’s death.


“Something is seriously wrong with this picture,” Brown said. "


Reverend, that might be the understatement of the year. 












 

Negroes needed for "outreach".

I would have tried to make it down to CPAC this year, but unfortunately, once again, I did not get an invitation in the mail.

Judging from this picture from the minority outreach panel discussion that they had down there, they probably should have sent me one.

Let's face it, these CPAC folks are just scary to Negroes.

Anyway, enough of the guns and god crowd, tonight my racism chase takes me to Arkansas, where a sitting judge got himself in some hot water for some negative comments he made about Charlize Theron and her cute little African accessory, and about blacks, Gays, and women.

 

"An Arkansas judge has confessed to leaking confidential details about Charlize Theron adopting a son from South Africa in a series of online comments.
Mike Maggio, 52, admitted Wedsnesday [sic] he was behind the anonymous profile "geauxjudge" which posted notes about the case on the Louisiana State University fan message board.


In other racist and sexist posts, the Circuit Judge equated gay and transgender sex to bestiality - and said women needed to take care of a man's two basic needs of sex and food.


He also wrote about the effect a person's name has on their chances of success.
"How many Doctors do you hear named Dr. Taneesha or HaHa?" he wrote, apparently referring to black University of Alabama football player Ha'Sean 'Ha Ha' Clinton-Dix." [Source]


Sounds like a really great guy. And folks wonder why black folks never feel like they can get a fair shake in the judicial system.


But not to worry, here comes the obligatory apology in 5...4...3...2...


....."I take full responsibility for the comments that have been attributed to me," the father-of-five said in a statement.


"I apologize deeply for my lapse in personal judgment and I have no excuse. The comments posted were not acceptable. These comments are not a reflection of who I am,..."