Suppressing the "negroidal" vote.

"There are some stories that are so racist that you don’t actually get angry you’re actually kindof shocked that people are that creative. Like the Trayvon Martin shooting gallery, or the All White Basketball League. I mean who has time to come up with so many different ways to not like black people? Apparently DeWitt R. Thomas has found a new religious way to express those beliefs.

In a story that actually makes me chuckle at his audacity Thomas is suing Keith Langston owner of the Two Rivers Grocery & Market in Big Sandy Texas for letting a black man touch his groceries. Literally. DeWitt in his handwritten court statement admits that when he was paying for his groceries a black bag boy began to put his purchases away and he said:

“Wait a minute, don’t touch my groceries. I can’t have someone negroidal touch my food. It’s against my creed.”

I agree with the author, Jason Johnson; that word "negroidal" is classic. That must be one of those secret phrases that only certain folks know about.

I actually like this DeWitt guy; he reminds me of some of the folks who comment on this blog or who you see at republican gatherings. He is as American as apple pie. It takes all kinds to make up this big pot we are all melting in. (Literally this summer.)

Anyway, from the looks of ole DeWitt, I am sure that the young brother is relieved that he doesn't want him bagging his groceries anymore. Bagging groceries for my man must be an all day job.

Good luck with your lawsuit, DeWitt, and if you need to raise some money just get a website. It worked well for George Zimmerman. [Story]

Finally, while the republicans keep doing whatever is necessary to hold on to power, they continue to ignore the impact their shenanigans will have on people like Viviette Applewhite.


"Viviette Applewhite fears she'll never be able to vote again. But the 93-year-old isn't giving up.

The lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's new voter ID law, with Applewhite as the lead plaintiff, could be headed to the state Supreme Court. "If I live to see it, I'm going to be there," she said.

Applewhite, who testified July 25, said she was surprised by Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr.'s ruling. "He was really listening and paying attention," she said. "I really thought he was not going to pass it."
Simpson, in his decision, said he was moved by the witnesses' testimony but concluded that the plaintiffs did not establish that "disenfranchisement was immediate or inevitable."

Applewhite, who said she had missed only one election since she was 21, said she saw strong political and racial motivations for the voter ID law, and believed it would have dire consequences in the coming presidential election.

"They did it for one reason: to replace Obama," she said. "Now, too many black people can't vote, he will be out."

"I'm praying I won't be here, but I probably will be," she said, noting that her uncle recently died at 106 and her aunt is 104.

Applewhite, who proudly recalls marching with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., views voting as the only way to control her own destiny and the crux of personal liberty....

Applewhite's ID problem is complicated. Several years ago, her pocketbook, containing all of her important documents, was stolen.

After she tried for years to get a new birth certificate, lawyers helped her obtain one in May. But she hasn't been able to replace her Social Security card because it uses the name Applewhite while her birth certificate lists her father's surname, Brooks.

Even if Applewhite gets a new Social Security card by November, she will also need to show two proofs of residency. She has one - the lease agreement for her apartment. But the utility bills are in her daughter's name, and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials have rejected all of the other documents she has bearing her name and address - welfare statements, voter registration cards, bank files, Medicare paperwork, a letter from the mayor, and a birthday card from President Obama.

Applewhite doesn't have a single document with her photo on it. "I'm stuck, you see. They really got me over a barrel" [Source]

Yes they do Ms. Viviette, and that is exactly how they wanted it.

But that's just how republicans roll in "post-racial America." Welcome to the new Jim Crow. It's a lot more subtle, but just as effective.

Don't you wish that everyone was as open with their racism in America as DeWitt R. Thomas?

 

      

Get out those "chains" in Pennsylvania.

A colleague of mine reminded me today that we met Judge Robert Simpson last year at a Bench Bar Conference in Atlantic City. I thought about it and remembered that he was a pretty unassuming and modest guy.(*You need a lot of money to run for Judge in Pistolvania*) Although I must say that he didn't strike me as being particularly bright. And now, given his ruling today on the Pistolvania voter ID law, my reservations about him have been confirmed. (*You need a lot of money to run for Judge in Pistolvania*)

Robert Simpson used to be a democrat, but now he is a republican. (*You need a lot of money to run for Judge in Pistolvania*) Mitt Romney should start every speech from here until November by thanking Robert Simpson. Judge Simpson's ruling today (*You need a lot of money to run for Judge in Pistolvania*) might have just guaranteed Mitt Romney the 2012 election for president.

Judge Simpson ruled today that the republican voter ID law in Pistolvania could be implemented for election day. (*You need a lot of money to run for Judge in Pistolvania*) He said that the plaintiffs did not meet the burden of proving that the law violated the state's constitution. Hmmm, I thought that there was a stricter scrutiny when it comes to voting rights here in America? "The right to vote is preservative of other basic civil and political rights". Even following the less strict scrutiny of a fundamental right as a opposed to being in a suspect class, this Pennsylvania law should have been tossed out. -Especially since the state said that they had no reason to implement it in the first place because they could not document any instances of voter fraud.- (*You need a lot of money to run for Judge in Pistolvania*)

“Petitioners did not establish . . . that disenfranchisement was immediate or inevitable,” Simpson wrote, adding, “I was convinced that Act 18 will be implemented by Commonwealth agencies in a nonpartisan, evenhanded manner.”

"Nonpartisan", Judge? Tell that to Honest Mike Turzai, the republican house majority leader in our fine state. Mr. Turzai is pretty sure the law is "partisan". In fact, he is bragging about it.

"Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”

Well, not quite "done" Mike, but you are close.

Republicans have been outraged that Joe Biden said that republicans want us "back in chains". Well folks, I have some news for you; Joe Biden might have been right. 

The kill hype meter, and Joe wants to save us from the chains.

What Piers Morgan calls the "conspiracy of silence" when it comes to the gun debate in America continues. -I have to give it to the NRA, they really have their game together.- Yet another angry white man went all "falling down" in Texas yesterday, (this one over an eviction notice) and as a result, two innocent people (including a law enforcement official) lost their lives.

So here is the thing, only three people died in this latest tragedy, so we will not be getting wall to wall coverage like we did with the Aurora massacre.

I guess if you are a mass murderer and you get some kind of sick twisted thrill out of your evil deeds, the more people you kill the better. It will certainly get you more notoriety.

Also, where and who you happen to kill also makes a difference on the media kill hype meter. If, for instance, you kill a bunch of poor black people in one of America's inner cities, that will score way down at the bottom of the media interest scale. (How many of you ever heard of the Lex Street massacre? Exactly!) If, on the other hand, you do your killing in suburbia, or you kill certain types of people, that will get you noticed. Just make sure you kill a decent number of them. I suspect that here in America we will yawn at anything less than four. Kill some foreigners with a strange religion in a church will get you midway up on the kill hype meter. This is because of the number of people and the fact that it was...well, in a church. Here in America we are still somewhat sensitive to churches. Unless, of course, that place of worship happens to be a Mosque. Those aren't really churches, just places to hide terrorists.

Of course sometimes, depending on who was killed and where they were killed, the number of people killed doesn't really matter. Seven people were killed on Lex Street. SEVEN! But sadly for them, they were just a bunch of crack heads from West Philly. (Kill hype meter barely moving upwards.) Sorry Shihean Black, you ain't no James Holmes.

Finally, republicans are up in arms about Joe Biden's latest comments while he was on the stump in Virginia.

"Campaigning in Danville, Virginia on Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden adopted a southern drawl when he told an audience of supporters of President Barack Obama’s reelection effort that Republicans aim to put “y’all back in chains.”

“Look at their budget, and what they are proposing,” Biden said. “Romney wants to let–he said in the first hundred days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. Unchain Wall Street.”
After a pause, Biden said, “they going to put y’all back in chains.” [Source]

Lord have mercy! O, you might want to put a leech on that Biden fellow between now and November. (Sorry animal lovers, leech might have been a poor word choice.)

Still, I have some news for you; Joe Biden is wrong. Republicans don't "aim" to put folks "back in chains", they already have.

 "After weeks of slanderous and baseless accusations leveled against Governor Romney, the Obama Campaign has reached a new low," Romney press secretary Andrea Saul said in a statement. "The comments made by the Vice President of the United States are not acceptable in our political discourse and demonstrate yet again that the Obama Campaign will say and do anything to win this election. President Obama should tell the American people whether he agrees with Joe Biden's comments."  

Oh STFU! Calling the president of the United States a thief is "slanderous". Using slavery and chains as a metaphor to make a point about Wall Street going unchecked is Joe Biden being Joe Biden. He said Romney will "unchain Wall Street". I think Mitt himself will admit that's true.


    





    

I am not a "cancer", and a dope accuses Bolt of doping.

I am not going to do what most progressives and others have been doing today and rip Mr. "Brown- Noser." I know that there is plenty to rip about the guy, but I am going to show some restraint and let him and his running mate lay out their vision for America. (Speaking of his running mate, Mr. Romney, I need to see those tax returns.) This is hard for me, because I really want to go after the guy. You would too if he went on Glenn Beck's radio show and agreed that you were a "cancer" to America. Imagine that? A hard working guy who pays his taxes, never breaks the law, and helps little old ladies across the street is a "cancer" to America. Those republicans are really mean; no wonder some liberals are so hard on them.

"And plenty of people (fewer on the liberal side, though still a great number of moderates) are lauding Ryan himself as ”courageous”. On the surface, such a take is understandable: Ryan’s claim to fame — his “Path to Prosperity” budget — was a political loser when introduced last spring. But a closer look reveals that these claims are bunk: Picking Ryan is essentially a safe sop to the conservative wing of the party, and Ryan himself is not so courageous.

First, Romney’s choice: The past few weeks have made clear that the race is slipping away from him, as President Obama’s lead has widened in state and national polls and the economic outlook has brightened slightly. The right has sensed this — see talk show host Laura Ingraham, among others — and conservatives are convinced that Romney is losing because he’s not assertive or conservative enough. So I agree with the New Republic’s Noam Scheiber when he writes this:

Ryan is the way Romney and his aides escape blame for their now-likely defeat — blame which would have vicious and unrelenting — and pin it in on conservatives instead. With only minor historical revisions, they will be able to tell a story about how Romney was keeping the race close through early August, at which point the party’s conservative darling joined the ticket and sent the poll numbers into steady decline.

If moderates such as Condoleezza Rice (pro-abortion rights) and Chris Christie (pro-gun control and moderate on immigration) were out of the question, Ryan was easy to choose ahead of the other possibilities: He has no Bush administration history, unlike Rob Portman, no raft of mini-scandals-in-waiting, like Marco Rubio, and some actual charisma, unlike Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty. Picking a reliable conservative was much safer for Romney than daring the right to abandon him and/or heap all the blame on him for losing in November. By process of elimination, Ryan was the best — and the safest — of the bunch.

As for Ryan himself, to begin with, what policies turned Clinton-era surpluses into Bush-era deficits? In large part, two tax cuts, two wars and a massive prescription drug benefit, and Ryan voted for all of them. (He also voted for TARP, by the way; his fiscal rectitude only included actually voting against massive expenditures once President Obama took office.) His “serious” debt-reduction plan doesn’t balance the budget until 2040. By contrast, the House Progressive Caucus budget, whatever else you think of it, balances the budget within a decade.(Note: In both cases, those are the budgets’ authors’ projections; your math may vary.) Furthermore, no doubt in fear of the senior vote, Ryan dropped the Social Security privatization aspect from his debt plan and now only guts Medicare for people 55 and younger. Finally, Ryan refuses to touch defense spending, retains tax breaks for oil companies that don’t need them, zeroes out the capital gains tax and finds his savings in programs by shredding the already hole-ridden safety net. For a Republican, this is smart politics. But how exactly is it “courageous” or “serious” to protect the interests to some of the most powerful (and wealthiest) lobbies in Washington — Wall Street, oil companies and the defense industry — while heaping painful cuts on the poor? No, the idea that Ryan or Romney’s nomination of him as his vice president is courageous is simply wrong." [Source]
*

Finally, I can't end this post without addressing the article from Dan Bernstein about Usain Bolt and the Jamaican track team.

Mr. Bernstein, in his article, tries to make a case that Bolt and his Jamaican teammates have to be cheating to be this good.

"For many of us, years of drug-tainted performances have deadened the senses. Records fall, anthems play, shoes get sold, and then we get back to sports that matter more to us. For others, the athletes are not so much tainted as scientifically enhanced – the competition viewed now as a high-tech synergy of man and molecular engineering, in which the outcomes can still be celebrated for what they actually are, regardless of the laughable rhetoric that accompanies the games, insisting it’s something more pure.

There is another place where too many still exist, however, that is as intellectually dishonest as it is willfully ignorant, where convenient blind spots and emotionaI neediness cause otherwise intelligent people to create fairylands of childish naiveté.

It is indefensible ground. The province of suckers.
Even the simplest assessment of the circumstances surrounding the explosive success of Jamaican sprinting, for example, sets off alarms. There is enough information available that you’d think it would keep anyone from waxing romantic about Usain Bolt or his teammates.

“When people ask me about Bolt, I say he could be the greatest athlete of all time,” Carl Lewis told the Times of London. “But for someone to run 10.03 one year and 9.69 the next, if you don’t question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now, you’re a fool. Period.”

Jamaica’s Yohan Blake, who just won the silver in the 100 and 200, tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug prior to the 2009 World Championships. Teammates Julian Dunkley and Steve Mullings have also been caught doping.

What are the odds that a tiny, island country suddenly dominates global competition…just because? [Source]

What a dope! (Pun intended) "Suddenly"?

Tell that to Herb McKenley, and Arthur Wint. They won a gold medal in the relays in  the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. McKenley, long before Bolt, was a world champion sprinter. Oh, and Bolt was a world junior sprint champion at the age of 17. (He ran a 19.93 in the 200 meters at the world junior championships)  Do you think he was doping then?

In the seventies there was Donald Quarrie, who won gold in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. The list goes on, but I am not going to do the work for a lazy journalist who should have done the research himself before writing a bunch of trash.

Bernstein also writes about two athletes, Julian Dunkley and Steve Mullings, being "caught doping", but they are not on the current Jamaican track team.

In the future I hope that clowns like Dan Bernstein will do their homework -and maybe read articles like this one- before they disparage the hard work and paint with a broad brush of negativity the entire track team of a small but proud nation.    


*Cartoon from the Jamaica Observer. 
  


  














   

  

Mitt's new friend had to show his taxes.

I hate to keep "beating a dead horse", but, once again, I have to ask Mitt about those tax returns. This questions becomes even more important because of what Mitt demanded of his potential running mate for vice president.

"CHARLOTTE - Mitt Romney requested "several" years of tax returns from his potential running mates, a senior adviser to the candidate said Saturday, suggesting that those considered for the ticket may have been required to reveal more financial documents that the candidate himself.

In a briefing with reporters in Virginia Saturday, senior adviser Beth Myers, who was charged with headed the vice president selection process, declined to specify exactly how many years of tax returns were required, saying only that "several" were requested.

Several, by definition, implies more than two years." [Source] 

I can't say that I blame Mitt for wanting to know how his potential running mate has handled his taxes over the past few years, and Mitt should understand why we, the American people, want the same from him. To say that seeing how an individual has handled this important aspect of his life over the past few years is not important for the person running for president is ludicrous. Of course it's important. And I suspect that Mitt and his supporters know that it is. However, for the sake of political one- upmanship they pretend not to.

Speaking of running mates, Mitt had his on the stump with him today in North Carolina. They had bigger crowds and more enthusiasm coming from those crowds. Ryan, right on cue, lashed into Obama for attacking Mitt instead of offering real hope and change. Yes, he attacked Obama for attacking. This is politics in America.

Anyway, it seems that Obama and his peeps have some attacks of their own. Apparently they have been expecting Mr. Ryan.

 "..Team Obama's response to the House Budget Committee Chairman's elevation to potential VP made clear that the Democrat's campaign won't overhaul so much as go into overdrive. Aides argue that Ryan amplifies rather than challenges their core message with just 88 days until the election.

The early attacks are telling: Obama's website repeatedly refers to Ryan's "extreme budget plan" as favoring the rich over the middle class (the president's core argument against Romney). The first line of its biographical sketch reads "Paul Ryan is a career Washington D.C. insider." (Obama has been running in large part against inside-the-Beltway political stalemate, casting the blame on Republicans.)

In an attack everyone in politics saw coming, the site warns Ryan's budget "would turn Medicare into a voucher program, increasing seniors' costs by up to $6,350 per year"—an unusually precise figure seemingly tailored to shock elderly voters in pivotal battlegrounds like Florida, even though his proposal would not affect people currently over 55. [Source]

Ryan is 42 years old and has spent 20 years in Washington. So yes, he qualifies as an inside the beltway guy. (Isn't that the antithesis of what the new republican party is supposed to represent? Tea Party types who want to throw the bums out and give government back to the people?)

Another thing, is Paul Ryan really a blue collar guy? I know that he represents a blue collar district, (even though he seemed to shun them for a more well to do County when he appeared today with his wealthy new friend) but blue collar? Hardly.

He is a fourth generation Wisconsin native, his dad is a lawyer, his great- grand father owned a hugely successful construction business, his grandfather was appointed US Attorney for Western Wisconsin by Calvin Coolidge, and his family liked to go on ski trips when he was a kid. Yep, a real everyman background. I can just see him and his dad pounding back Pabst Blue Ribbon beers and swapping jokes about the mill in their overalls. Not.

Still, the imagery is there, and right wingers -from the republican wonks in Washington to the Tea Party faithful down at the local Wal Mart- are all on board.

Now if they can just keep those minorities, old people, and single women home come November, they will be in business.    

*Pic from the Paul Ryan Watch





  

Mitt's pick.

I saw Mitt announcing his VP pick in Virginia this morning. (A battleship, Mitt? Going door to door in Paris with the Book of Mormon is not battle.)  I must say that his timing couldn't have been better. His campaign was tanking fast. This is a good way to stop the bleeding; introduce your vice presidential running mate to the country and get us talking about something else besides Bain Capital and a lack of personal income tax returns for awhile. (Mitt, we still want to see those returns.) 

That running mate happens to be Paul Ryan. He is white, male, and has a lot of hair. All the things needed if you want to be on a winning GOP ticket. (Sorry Sarah)

Anyway, I have some bad news for my fellow progressives who thought I was going to rip Paul Ryan with crass Eddie Munster jokes. I am not. Ryan seems like a decent enough fellow, folks I know who have met the guy all seem to confirm that. Anyway, I actually think that this is a good choice for Mitt. I think that we will finally be able to argue substantive issues and the American voters will have an opportunity to make a choice between two different economic visions for America.

I have been fortunate in life, so when I stop working and start spending my days enjoying my retirement, I will not have to depend on a social security check to keep me going. Medicare? Well I plan to be still playing a mean game of tennis long after I am 65, so I am not even thinking about long term health care right about now. Sadly, however, for those of you who are, the choice of Paul Ryan to be your potential VP might be a little problematic.

The Ryan Plan in a nutshell:

"By selecting Ryan, Romney closely associates himself with the author of a controversial budget plan which would dramatically overhaul the federal government. Ryan, as head of the House Budget Committee, has called for big reductions in taxes for both wealthy individuals and corporations and turning Medicare into a program in which each senior citizen gets a voucher of several thousand dollars to purchase their own plan, instead of the current, government-operated program. He would make Medicaid a block grant program where each state could set its own rules.

Under Ryan, corporate taxes would be 25 percent instead of 35 percent, and the highest tax bracket for individuals would also be 25 percent instead of 35 percent. He would also cut trillions in government spending, likely reducing funds for education, health care and transportation at a much faster rate than Democrats have proposed in order to balance the federal budget.

The Ryan vision is a dramatic departure from what the president is proposing. In his second term, Obama wants to raise taxes on wealthy individuals to fund increased spending in some areas of education and infrastructure and continue implementing “Obamacare,” which expands Medicaid and sets strict rules for states on how they use the program."

Democrats, including President Obama, argue Ryan’s proposals constitute “social Darwinism” and would benefit the rich at the expense of people who rely on Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. [Source]

Speaking in strictly political terms, some of you will say that this is a risky pick. That it's just another Hail Mary by the GOP. Romney was feeling heat from the right, and this is the guy that the so called thinkers in the party wanted. (Sorry Mitt, no more Etch A Sketch.) This is a a guy with some real meat on his economic plan and his vision for the future of America. Now, maybe, we can talk issues.

"The case for Mr. Ryan is that he best exemplifies the nature and stakes of this election. More than any other politician, the House Budget Chairman has defined those stakes well as a generational choice about the role of government and whether America will once again become a growth economy or sink into interest-group dominated decline.

Against the advice of every Beltway bedwetter, he has put entitlement reform at the center of the public agenda—before it becomes a crisis that requires savage cuts. And he has done so as part of a larger vision that stresses tax reform for faster growth, spending restraint to prevent a Greek-like budget fate, and a Jack Kemp-like belief in opportunity for all."

So there you have it. The case for Ryan from the right.

Of course, at the end of the day, Mitt is still the man at the top of the ticket, and....well, I love what Jed Lewison wrote:

"The case they are making for Ryan has nothing to do of demographics or geographical considerations. Nor does it have to do with checking some sort of box—like foreign policy experience—on the GOP ticket's joint resume. Instead, they are saying that without Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney is nothing more than an empty suit, someone at any given moment will say whatever he thinks is most politically expedient. In their view, Mitt Romney is just a guy who's running for office, for Pete's sake.

If they didn't believe that, they wouldn't be getting so excited for Paul Ryan. After all, Mitt Romney has repeatedly and enthusiastically supported Ryan's plan. He's already on record supporting it. If conservatives thought Mitt Romney was a man they could trust, that would be enough for them. But they do not trust him—and with good reason.

But here's the thing: even if Mitt Romney does pick Paul Ryan, he'll still be as untrustworthy as he is today. Picking Ryan might make the conservatives feel good. But if Romney does it, the only reason will be that he decided Ryan was the most expedient decision—the best tactical pick. Because that's just how Romney rolls. [Source]

That's exactly how Mitt rolls; "tactics" not substance.




  









 








 

Carl the crab, and Mitt prays for the "sheiks".

Let me start this post by saying a big f**K you to Carl Lewis. Calling into question the drug testing of the Jamaican track team? Are you serious? So when the IOC surprise tested Asafa Powell three times in five days  (including the middle of the night causing him to lose valuable sleep) were they covering up his results?

I am so glad that Usain Bolt called out this bad anthem singing, hater. When you, (yes you, we know what happened before Seoul) Flo- Jo, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, and a bunch of other American athletes were doping, I am sure that you didn't hear Bert Cameron, Ray Stewart, and Merlene Ottey complaining.

Sadly, some of you Negroes always seem to want company at the bottom of the barrel.

Finally, I am here to tell my Sikh friends that they are not alone. I know that Mitt Romney kept referring to them as "sheiks", but this is what republicans do with groups of people that they don't really care about or understand.

They call us black folks "blah" people, and they have a few choice names for other groups as well. Indians, for instance, are considered "Macacas".

Still, you would think that the guy running for president would at least try to do his homework and pronounce the name of a major religious group correctly.

 "I was in Chicago earlier today," Romney said to about 280 supporters at a fundraiser in West Des Moines, Iowa. "We had a moment of silence in honor of the people who lost their lives at that sheik temple. I noted that it was a tragedy for many, many reasons. Among them are the fact that people, the sheik people are among the most peaceable and loving individuals you can imagine, as is their faith. And of course, the person who carried out this heinous act was a person motivated by racial hatred and religious intolerance." [Source]    

"Glad you want to call out the person who committed this "heinous act" Mitt, but it would help to be able to pronounce the name of the people you are praying for.

When asked about the comments, Romney spokesman Rick Gorka insisted that the mix-up was a mispronunciation.

"He misspoke," Gorka said, according to the pool report. "He mispronounced similar sounding words. He was clearly referring to the tragedy in Wisconsin."

SIKH and SH-IEK. That's SHHHHH-IEK.  Sorry Rick, they might sound similar, but it would be very hard to mix up the pronouncements. That is, of course, if you cared.  









    

Usain comes up golden and Mitt cries foul.

Let me start this post by saying congrats to my yawdie family for going 1-2-3- in the men's 200 meters earlier today. Usain, you are the truth.

Staying with the Olympics, I have to rip my man Yohan Blake, --the world's second fastest man-- just a little bit.

Yohan, WTF were you doing wearing a $500,000 watch? Do you know how many families in Jamaica that kind of money could feed for a year? Look, I know it was an endorsement, and you probably didn't pay a dime for it, but next time tell Richard Mille and the Tourbillion folks to donate the cost of that watch to a needy charity on the rock.

OK, so let's talk a little politics.

Mitt Romney's camp has been going crazy about an ad. that's set to run which seems to imply that he cost a woman to lose her fight with cancer. The wingnuts have been crying foul, and they claim that this is the lowest of the low. Even dumbocratic turncoat, Lanny Davis, has been critical of the ad.

"Davis says both Romney and Obama, and their supporters, have sponsored ads “that make us all want to take a shower.” But when it comes to the cancer ad, he said the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action has gone too far.
“Bill Burton needs to go back to ethics school,” Davis said of the group’s senior strategist, who is a former Obama White House spokesman. “He knows perfectly well that the ad is misleading and disgusting and he needs to apologize for it.” [Source]

Why should he? Maybe Lanny hasn't been hearing some of the stuff coming from Mitt and his supporters, lately. I have some news for you Lanny, politics is dirty business, so you and the wingnuts crying a river better get used to it.

Anyway, maybe Mitt Romney didn't cause that woman in the ad. to lose her life, but is there any doubt that he did business with people who caused the death of others?

"When Romney struggled to raise funds from other traditional sources, he and his partners started thinking outside the box. Bain executive Harry Strachan suggested that Romney meet with a group of Central American oligarchs who were looking for new investment vehicles as turmoil engulfed their region.
Romney was worried that the oligarchs might be tied to "illegal drug money, right-wing death squads, or left-wing terrorism," Strachan later told a Boston Globe reporter, as quoted in the 2012 book "The Real Romney." But, pressed for capital, Romney pushed his concerns aside and flew to Miami in mid-1984 to meet with the Salvadorans at a local bank.

It was a lucrative trip. The Central Americans provided roughly $9 million -- 40 percent -- of Bain Capital's initial outside funding, the Los Angeles Times reported recently. And they became valued clients.

"Over the years, these Latin American friends have loyally rolled over investments in succeeding funds, actively participated in Bain Capital's May investor meetings, and are still today one of the largest investor groups in Bain Capital," Strachan wrote in his memoir in 2008. Strachan declined to be interviewed for this story.

When Romney launched another venture that needed funding -- his first presidential campaign -- he returned to Miami.

"I owe a great deal to Americans of Latin American descent," he said at a dinner in Miami in 2007. "When I was starting my business, I came to Miami to find partners that would believe in me and that would finance my enterprise. My partners were Ricardo Poma, Miguel Dueñas, Pancho Soler, Frank Kardonski, and Diego Ribadeneira." [Read more.]

Mitt, there is one little problem; your partners were also financing death squads in El Salvador.

Of course you probably won't hear anymore about this story, because the PACS supporting Obama are probably now afraid of folks like Lanny Davis condemning them for playing dirty politics. But is it dirty politics if it's the truth? Shouldn't the American people know everything about Mitt? He won't show us his tax returns, so let's keep digging about his past business practices.

Finally, speaking of dirty politics, I am glad to see that a former republican came out and admitted that they were trying to suppress minority votes down there in Florida. He should know, he was in the room when they were plotting to do it.

Jim Greer was a republican party chairman in Florida and is always the case with these types of situations; he started singing like Aretha Franklin when he found himself in some hot water.

"In the deposition, released to the press yesterday, Greer mentioned a December 2009 meeting with party officials. “I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting,” he said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. He also said party officials discussed how “minority outreach programs were not fit for the Republican Party,” according to the AP."

Yes Mitt, politics is a dirty business, but I am sure that you and your peeps already knew that.


   
 









  

Gabby, Lolo, and black folks coming together.

I am going to ask my white friends to ignore this post. If you happen to be white and you were going to check out what I am writing tonight, please come back tomorrow. ( I am going to delay the comments section because I really don't need to hear from the trolls tonight)

Anyway my brothers and sisters, I am moved to write this post because of some disturbing things coming out of London. (No, not Usain partying with blonds until early in the morning.)

First, some of you Negroes were on twitter ripping Gabby Douglas because of her hair style. Not her actual athletic prowess, but her hair. This is ignorant and wrong on so many levels, and it speaks to some greater issues with many of you: This constant need to focus on the superficial and not what really matters. It's why some of you would rather spend $40,000.00 on a brand new car instead of training towards a college degree or a vocational certificate. It's why some of you (who can't afford it) spend thousands of dollars on a hand bag instead of a nice stroller for your infant child. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

Gabby Douglas was over there making it happen because she put in the work in to compete on a world class level in a very difficult sport. The last thing she needed to be worrying about was if her weave is tight. It got so bad that you all got white folks in our business. This is not cool. The last thing that poor child needed was to be worried about her damn hair.


The next troubling development from London was this girl fight which broke out between Lolo Jones, and her hurdling teammates, Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells.

This one is a little more complicated, because it involves what is perceived beauty in this country and how that perception of beauty drives marketing.

On one hand we have Lolo Jones; a woman who America views as beautiful,(I actually think Kellie Wells is cuter) and who has athletic talent and a compelling story to match. She was dubbed the Anna Kournikova of track by the New York Times in an article that seemed to send Jones over the top.

"I think it was crazy just because it was two days before I competed, and then the fact that it was from a U.S. media,'' Jones told Savannah Guthrie before fighting back tears. "They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me to shreds. I just thought that that was crazy because I worked six days a week, every day, for four years for a 12-second race and the fact that they just tore me apart, which is heartbreaking.

"They didn't even do their research, calling me the Anna Kournikova of track. I have the American record. I am the American record holder indoors, I have two world indoor titles. Just because I don't boast about these things, I don't think I should be ripped apart by media. I laid it out there, fought hard for my country and it's just a shame that I have to deal with so much backlash when I'm already so brokenhearted as it is."  

No doubt that Jones works hard, but the truth is that she might not be talented enough to compete for gold on the world's highest stage. And is it really her fault that America has pumped her up because of her looks? You could also argue that the reason the 100 meter hurdles is getting so much shine is because of Jones. Her coming out that she is a virgin only made the press want more of her.

On the other hand we have the aforementioned Wells and Harper. They are probably more talented on the track than Jones, but in the eyes of America, they don't have "the look". And yet, we have been learning that Ms. Harper's story is just as compelling as Lolo the virgin.

"Beadle: You thought you weren't getting enough respect ... Why is that?
Harper: I feel I had a pretty good story -- knee surgery two months before Olympic trials in 2008, to make the team but 0.007, not have a contract ... working three jobs, living in a frat house, trying to make it work. Coming off running in someone else's shoes getting the gold medal. Uhhh, I'd say I was pretty interesting. I just felt as if I worked really hard to represent my country in the best way possible, and to come way with the gold medal, and to honestly seem as if, because their favorite [CLOSE UP ON LOLO JONES FROM TUESDAY NIGHT] didn't win all of sudden it's just like, 'Were going to push your story aside, and still gonna push this one.' That hurt. It did. It hurt my feelings. But I feel as if I showed I can deal with the pressure, I came back, and I think you kinda got to respect it a little bit now.

Beadle [to Harper and Kellie Wells]: You guys kinda hang out together ... Is there fighting amongst the team -- we're talking about Lolo Jones if you can't figure this out -- is there an awkward situation or now that it's over we've all just moved on?

Wells: Well, I think that, on the podium tonight, the three girls that earned their spot and they got their medals and they worked hard and did what they needed to do, prevailed. And that's all that really needs to be said.
Beadle: Wow.

Harper: BOOM! Just like that.

Beadle: You can cut the tension in here with a knife." [Story]

OK fam, so that's the back story, now I want to know why these ladies couldn't get along. Weren't they all over there busting their butts as teammates? What is it about us black folks sometimes that makes it so hard to come together?

Why are these two ladies on NBC trashing Jones instead of enjoying their medals?

Holla at me.
    

Gabby wears pink and some folks are seeing red, and Mitt's "loving it".

You know that we have really come to a bad place in this country when commentators on a certain cable news network are making an issue of the outfit that one of our stars from the Olympic games, Gabby Douglas, wore during her routine. They basically said that she isn't "patriotic enough" because she chose to wear pink.

"Gabby Douglas was the topic du jour for Olympic commentators throughout last week, but over the weekend, she became a centerpiece in another manufactured controversy at Fox News, America’s top outlet for manufactured controversies. Douglas’ pink leotard, Fox host Alisyn Camerota lamented, was emblematic of an Olympic “trend” (one that, Fox wants you to believe, is part of a liberal-left conspiracy to rid the world of red, white, and blue) of athletes wearing colors that don’t appear on the American flag..

“Some folks have noticed that the American athletes’ uniforms don’t carry the stars and stripes look as much as they have in past years,” Camerota complained, without any evidence of who “some folks” might be. “The famous flag-styled outfits worn in year’s past replaced with yellow shirts, gray track suits, pink leotards.” Radio host/Tea Partier David Webb later chimed in with a sad tome about how America has “lost over time that jingoistic feeling” because “a soft anti-American feeling that Americans can’t show their exceptionalism..” [More] 

Maybe the folks at FOX NEWS can start training their own athletes for 2016. But a word of caution; if they turn out to be as bad as their on air talent, I am quite sure that America would be shut out of the medal count.    

In other Olympic news, some dude competing in the Judo competition has been banned from the games for testing positive for a banned substance. His explanation for testing positive for the substance is a bit odd.

"Delpopolo, 23, of Westfield, N.J., said he inadvertently ate baked goods that contained marijuana before he departed for the Olympics last month. U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky said the athlete was sent back to the USA on Monday shortly after being notified of the test result.

His disqualification marks the first in-games doping violation announced by the IOC. Four previous offenses involving Olympic athletes resulted from tests conducted prior to the start of Olympic competition.

"I apologize to the U.S. Olympic Committee, to my teammates and to my fans, and I am embarrassed by this mistake," Delpopolo said in a written statement. "I look forward to representing my country in the future, and will rededicate myself to being the best judo athlete that I can be."

Sandusky said the U.S. committee "absolutely" supports the disqualification."[Source]

Not buying it. They are not checking for the good collie weed. If that was the case why didn't any of the Jamaican athletes test positive? I kid, I kid. (Save your e-mails, I am Jamaican, I can joke about this stuff.) 

Anywhoo, good luck with all your future pursuits Mr. Delpopolo, just stay away from the brownies next time.

Finally, I love how wealthy folks throw around their sense of entitlement while showing disdain for poor people.

Mitt Romney is trying his best to activate a very dormant and skeptical base, and his latest nod to them is a trashing of those lazy welfare recipients who depend on the government for handouts. He is trying so hard to blow this dog whistle that he is actually being disingenuous while doing it.

  "Mitt Romney sought to inject the issue of welfare into the presidential campaign here Tuesday, accusing President Obama of dismantling federal welfare reform and creating a “culture of dependency.”

The presumptive Republican nominee charged that the Obama administration has reversed the popular bipartisan welfare reform that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1996 by allowing waivers for states for welfare work requirements.

“That is wrong. If I’m president, I’ll put work back in welfare,” [Source] 

Yes Mitt, because poor people don't deserve anything unless they work for it.   Bu then there is the story you told us about your daddy:

"Mitt Romney has made no secret of his love for fast food—and it appears he inherited that taste from his dad.

Speaking to supporters at a Chicago fundraiser Tuesday, Romney recognized a member of the audience who had worked at McDonald's, based in nearby Des Plaines, for 27 years—including with the chain's founder, Ray Kroc.

That prompted Romney to tell a story about his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, and what he'd found peeking through his father's "top drawer" as a teenager when he was rooting around for spare change.

"I found a little paper card, a little pink card, and it said this entitles George W. Romney to a lifetime of a hamburger, a shake and french fries at McDonald's

"It was signed by the hand of Ray Kroc. My dad had done a little training lesson or whatever for McDonald's when there was just a handful of restaurants, and I saw this thing and was like, 'This is a gold mine, dad! What are you doing?'"

Once he got over the shock, Romney said he had the card laminated for his father.

"My dad, as you know, would go almost every day to a McDonald's restaurant and get either a hamburger or a fish filet sandwich," Romney said. "And he would present this little card and of course the person behind the counter would look and say, 'Well, what is that?' They'd never seen something like that, but he said it was never turned down. They always honored it." [Source]

Free Micky D's for life?! Isn't being rich wonderful? I bet Mitt still has that damn card.

  

Just another boy next door.

A day after the shooting at that Sikh Temple, America is learning more about Wade Michael Page. Most of us are not surprised to learn who he is or what he represented. When the DOJ spoke about the dangers of "lone wolf" -right wing-  white supremacist taking such actions, their warning was met with derision and scorn from the right. And, as is always the case, they (the right) tried to play down the seriousness of the threat. In fact, they claimed that it was those evil Black Panthers we should fear, not right wing hate groups. (Why anyone would fear Malik Shabazz and the boys is beyond me. The only person who should fear Mr. Shabazz is the FOX NEWS makeup person who puts on the wrong shade of foundation before he goes on the air.)    

Speaking of the DOJ, they were warned to look out for attacks on Sikhs as far back as April. (Memo to Michele Bachmann: Sikhs are not Muslims.) Because, thankfully, there are some folks in America who understand the seriousness of the threats from these hate groups. Unfortunately, you can't monitor every psycho in America; this is a big country with a lot of deranged people. Wade Michael Page was one of them. He was a gun toting Neo- Nazi with marginal musical skills, and he was demoted and kicked out of the military. He was a man who hated his miserable life so much; he did the unthinkable probably knowing that he would lose it.

Anyway, he was a coward. Shooting a peaceful group of people while they worship puts him in the same category with the animals that killed those four little girls in Birmingham back in the day, and the one who killed those little Amish girls right here in Pistolvania a few years ago.

Sadly, there are more like him out there. Many whose hatred for others is just as strong, and a few who will actually act on that hatred when the opportunity presents itself.

The good news is that he seemed to act alone. The bad news is that he had a lot of cheerleaders along the way.