As we head out to vote tomorrow, a burned out church stands in Mississippi.

   So his Oness just gave what might be his final speech to the country at a massive rally for Hillary at Independence Hall here in Philly. Michelle spoke as well, and as usual she was on point. I suspect that most of y'all are going to miss that family.

We will see if all that hype and those great speeches tonight worked for Hillary when folks go out to the polls in the 66 wards and all their divisions across Philly tomorrow. The mass transit strike is over and the weather should be nice, so that's a good sign for the candidate who wants to be the first to be called Madam President in our history.

Anyway, on the night before we all go to vote I want to do a cut and paste job of what I believe is a very important story.

"GREENVILLE, MIssissippi — The latest instance of the insanity this election has wrought took place on a dead-end street in a black neighborhood, where someone burned a 111-year-old baptist church and wrote “Vote Trump” on the side.

Hillary Clinton immediately took to Twitter to condemn the act, saying, “This kind of hate has no place in America.” It was signed “H” to show it was from Clinton herself. But when it came to the burning of a black church in his own name, Trump’s little fingers didn’t touch his favorite means of reaching millions of supporters, Twitter. Instead, his campaign issued a boilerplate statement.

So these are stakes of this election: a potential president who would not even condemn in his own words terrorism done in his own name.

The inside of the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church looked like a deranged modern art exhibit when viewed on Friday afternoon. Pews, an organ, the podium for the Bible—all covered in what looked black paint. It was instead soot from the flames that licked up the walls and busted out the windows, burning so hot that firefighters at first had to watch it burn before finally being able to approach the building to try to save it.

They failed.

“We will rebuild,” said Marshall Wilson, a Greenville native and a deacon at the church for the last 38 years. The church will have the help of more than $200,000 raised online in the last few days.

“It’s overwhelming,” Wilson told The Daily Beast on Friday afternoon.

Whether the arsonist was a Trump supporter, someone hoping to throw off the authorities—although Wilson noted no one in the community that he knows of has every had a problem with church, especially not enough of one to spark flames—or someone else hoping to wreak some havoc of their own, is now up to authorities to find out.

“What the Devil do, whoever did this, his plan’s not gonna work,” Wilson said. “God’s got a plan for everything.”

So do a lot of other people.

They include the three men who are accused of planning to bomb a Somali mosque in Kansas, a crime that has federal authorities referring to the men as domestic terrorists. “The only way to turn around this country is a bloodbath,” one member of the group said in a phone call recorded by law enforcement.

The men were arrested in October after an eight-month long investigation.

Somali immigrants, a largely Muslim community, were targeted in North Dakota as well. Police eventually arrested a man for firebombing a Somali cafe there in December, writing “Go home” in spray paint on a window.

But the string of violence against minorities  this election season may have begun in August 2015, when two men in Boston beat and urinated on a homeless Hispanic man simply because of his race, allegedly invoking Trump in the attack.

“Donald Trump was right; all of these illegals need to be deported,” one of the men said after he was arrested, according to police.

The GOP presidential candidate, in characteristically spineless fashion, said then he “would never condone violence” from his supporters. Our possible next president did not say, unequivocally, that he did not condone this specific act, because that wouldn’t fit into the dog whistle nature of his candidacy. During a press conference following the attack, Trump took his non-condemnation a step further, saying his supporters are “very passionate,” and that they “just want this country to be great again.”

For some of those supporters, that greatness is best shown by beating the hell out of someone who is a different color than you.

But the Trump-related violence didn’t stop there. The Daily Beast in March compiled a list of violent confrontations between Trump supporters and protesters at the GOP candidate’s rallies. At that time, Trump’s mostly white gang of thugs had roughed up men and women in at least six incidents, including one that month in which a white man cold-cocked a black protester. Trump at the time pledged to pay the attacker’s defense fees.

Like virtually everything that Trump promises, that ended up not happening. Some protesters, however, have taken legal action and are seeking $1 million in damages for the violence inflicted on them at Trump rallies.

Finally, and most ironically for the “law and order candidate,” is the man who killed two Iowa police officers in early November. A Trump-Pence lawn sign was planted in the front yard of the home where Scott Greene lived and we know that he is angry enough at blacks to record himself waving a Confederate flag in the faces of African-Americans at a high school football game. Police escorted Greene out following the incident.

The Trump tweet came first, then one from Clinton, expressing condolences for the families of the two fallen officers.

Clinton’s tweet condemning the arson at the Greenville church compared to Trump’s silence on his chosen platform is an important distinction to make. Twitter is the place where Trump is at his most “unshackled” where he regularly berates and bullies opponents, reporters, citizens, foreign leaders and whomever else chooses to question his manhood, sanity, or bonafides as a presidential candidate or basic human being. It’s also where he pushes conspiracy theories and fake news, where he utilizes plagiarism as a campaign tactic, and where he occasionally blames interns of questionable existence for insulting the entire state of Iowa.

That Trump had nothing to say on his own about the church doesn’t bother Deacon Wilson.

“The church was still smoking when the firemen brought out the Bible,” he said as investigators continued to comb through the wreckage on Friday afternoon. “It hadn’t been touched. You can’t burn God’s word.”' [Source]

If you cant condemn the burning of a church in your name, are you really qualified to lead the "greatest country" on earth?

*Pic from nbcnews.com

 

Lost in Philly.

 I didn't want to go out at lunchtime today, cause it was just too damn hot, and, frankly, I don't really like crowds that much. And in case you have been living under a rock for the past few days, thanks to the DNC, there are some large crowds in Philly these days.

So anyway, on my way back to the office from my quick lunch run, I was stopped by a group of older white women who were obviously lost, and who wondered if I could point them in the right direction to a popular destination for tourists in our city.

I grabbed their map, smiled kindly, and proceeded to go over everything that I thought they needed to know. I kept up my Philly tutorial until I was sure that they knew exactly how they were going to get to their destination.

They thanked me over and over again, and before they left, I asked them where they were from. They told me that they were all from Tennessee, and for all but one of them it was their first visit to Philadelphia. They said that they were having a wonderful time, and that everyone had been really friendly and  kind.

Philly sometimes gets a bad rap for rudeness, so it was nice to meet some folks whose experiences went against the perception.

I gave each one them a business card, and told them that if they found themselves in any trouble that they should not hesitate to give me a call. [Southern accent] "Well we plan to party for the rest of the week so we might just take you up on that". *Laughter all around.*

They were all such nice ladies. Now I am glad that I went out of my building for lunch and bonded with the ladies from Tennessee.

I know I know, some of you are waiting for that cynical hook that sometimes accompany my posts, but tonight there will be none.

That's it. That's my blog post tonight. Just a wonderful experience with some older ladies from the South. 

*Pic from visitphilly.com

Convention, heat, and hackers.

 With apologies to Nelly, it's hot "herr" in Philly this week, folks. The heat came just in time for the dems big party.

I gotta give it to Bernie's peeps, they were out in full force in the midday heat trying to make their voices heard. Meanwhile, my Jamaican ass was running for the closest air conditioned building. (Hey, I was in a suit; they were in shorts and flip flops.) That type of dedication is what wins elections. Hillary better hope and pray that they put some of that energy into getting her elected.

Sparks are already flying at the convention. Bernie's people actually gave their leader a real Philly welcome for all the world to see.

They are pissed because hacked e-mails confirm what they already knew: That the DNC was favoring Hillary over Bernie.

Now I get it, Bernie was never really a democrat, but he ran as one, and the fair thing to do would have been to give him equal treatment in the race. Sadly, Debbie Wasserman Shultz did not do that, and now, thankfully, she is gone.   

Dems are saying that the Russians hacked their e-mails to embarrass them and give trump the edge in the upcoming election. Apparently the trump Putin bromance runs deep, and word is that Vlad would love to see his buddy Donald running things in the most powerful country on earth.

They sure seem to have a lot in common, and there sure seems to be a history between them.

"Over the last year there has been a recurrent refrain about the seeming bromance between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. More seriously, but relatedly, many believe Trump is an admirer and would-be emulator of Putin's increasingly autocratic and illiberal rule. But there's quite a bit more to the story. At a minimum, Trump appears to have a deep financial dependence on Russian money from persons close to Putin. And this is matched to a conspicuous solicitousness to Russian foreign policy interests where they come into conflict with US policies which go back decades through administrations of both parties. There is also something between a non-trivial and a substantial amount of evidence suggesting Putin-backed financial support for Trump or a non-tacit alliance between the two men.

Let me start by saying I'm no Russia hawk. I have long been skeptical of US efforts to extend security guarantees to countries within what the Russians consider their 'near abroad' or extend such guarantees and police Russian interactions with new states which for centuries were part of either the Russian Empire or the USSR. This isn't a matter of indifference to these countries. It is based on my belief in seriously thinking through the potential costs of such policies. In the case of the Baltics, those countries are now part of NATO. Security commitments have been made which absolutely must be kept. But there are many other areas where such commitments have not been made. My point in raising this is that I do not come to this question or these policies as someone looking for confrontation or cold relations with Russia.

Let's start with the basic facts. There is a lot of Russian money flowing into Trump's coffers and he is conspicuously solicitous of Russian foreign policy priorities.
I'll list off some facts.

1. All the other discussions of Trump's finances aside, his debt load has grown dramatically over the last year, from $350 million to $630 million. This is in just one year while his liquid assets have also decreased. Trump has been blackballed by all major US banks.
2. Post-bankruptcy Trump has been highly reliant on money from Russia, most of which has over the years become increasingly concentrated among oligarchs and sub-garchs close to Vladimir Putin. Here's a good overview from The Washington Post, with one morsel for illustration ...

Since the 1980s, Trump and his family members have made numerous trips to Moscow in search of business opportunities, and they have relied on Russian investors to buy their properties around the world.
“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” Trump’s son, Donald Jr., told a real estate conference in 2008, according to an account posted on the website of eTurboNews, a trade publication. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”

3. One example of this is the Trump Soho development in Manhattan, one of Trump's largest recent endeavors. The project was the hit with a series of lawsuits in response to some typically Trumpian efforts to defraud investors by making fraudulent claims about the financial health of the project. Emerging out of that litigation however was news about secret financing for the project from Russia and Kazakhstan. Most attention about the project has focused on the presence of a twice imprisoned Russian immigrant with extensive ties to the Russian criminal underworld. But that's not the most salient part of the story. As the Times put it,

"Mr. Lauria brokered a $50 million investment in Trump SoHo and three other Bayrock projects by an Icelandic firm preferred by wealthy Russians “in favor with” President Vladimir V. Putin, according to a lawsuit against Bayrock by one of its former executives. The Icelandic company, FL Group, was identified in a Bayrock investor presentation as a “strategic partner,” along with Alexander Mashkevich, a billionaire once charged in a corruption case involving fees paid by a Belgian company seeking business in Kazakhstan; that case was settled with no admission of guilt."

Another suit alleged the project "occasionally received unexplained infusions of cash from accounts in Kazakhstan and Russia." [More]

Ok, so maybe the theory that the Russians hacked the DNC e-mails to get trump elected is not so far -fetched after all.

The city of robotly love. Not!

 I am sorry to hear about the Canadian robot who met an unfortunate end while here in the "city of brotherly love".  (That's him in an AP file photo. He is looking much worse these days)

Here in Philly we can be tough like that.  I wonder if Meek Mill's peeps had something to do with that. The Philly rapper and his crew have no love for anything from Canada these days. 

I am not sure what those Canadians were thinking when they tried to get little hitchBOT to hitchhike across America all by its lonesome.  Newsflash: America is not Canada . (hitchBot made it all the way across Canada in 26 days. Nice folks those Canadians.) And Philly is certainly not like the rest of America. Heck even the white folks here are hardcore.

True story: A white bum approached me once in Center City and asked me for some money. I told him that I only had some change and he stared me down for a few seconds before telling me to go f*** myself.  All I could do was laugh. Everybody in this town thinks that they are Rocky or some shit.  Heck we booed Santa Claus for crying out loud. And if that wasn't enough we pelted his big St. Nick behind with snowballs  just for good measure. So why did these clueless Canadians think that a robot could just hitchhike through our town unscathed?

 "The robot bounced around the Boston area and was briefly taken to sea. One day, it took in a Red Sox game, checking off one of the items on the bucket list created for it. But hitchBOT never made it off the East Coast.

The creators were sent an image of the vandalized robot Saturday but couldn't track its location because the battery is dead. They said they don't know who destroyed it or why.

 

The robot was designed to be a talking travel companion and could toss out factoids and carry limited conversation. A GPS in the robot tracked its location, and a camera randomly snapped photos about every 20 minutes to document its travels."

 

How sweet.

 

I would imagine poor hitchBot's last conversation went something like this:

 

Hi, I am hitchBOT.

 

You're what? Hitchbutt?

 

I am a travel companion and I am pleased to meet you.

 

Yo, you're not real, son.

 

What's in this  jawn anway? Any money in this bitch?

 

Hi, I am hitchBO..... *smash*

 

Shut the fuck up! You're not real! Now hitchBot that shit.

 

Thankfully, the Pope will be here soon.  That's really a good thing,  because these mean spirited Philadelphians could really use some prayers. 

 

Francis seems like a cool dude. He will pray for us all.   

 

I just hope that we show him more love that we did our little non-human friend from Canada.

 

hitchBOT @hitchBOT

"My trip must come to an end for now, but my love for humans will never fade. Thanks friends: "

 

 

hitchBOT, if I see the pope I will ask him to pray for you, too.

 

 

     

"livin in a violent world"

I am just making some observations tonight, but I am not getting on my soapbox, because that's what friends do; we just talk to each other.

A few years ago a former client came to me and wanted me to represent his little brother. He was upset because, as he put it at the time, the young man was a "civilian" and wasn't in "the game". He didn't have a record and was just caught up with some bad kids in the neighborhood. According to his brother, "he (his little brother) wasn't a soldier" like him, and he didn't want him to become one. 

Anyway, I have since heard that term "civilian" used to describe folks who aren't involved with a certain lifestyle by folks who are in that life. And I have since heard them address themselves as "soldiers" as well. I suppose that in their own minds, most of the people getting killed in our inner cities are "soldiers" fighting their own meaningless wars for drugs, money, and turf.

That is how the rest of society views them as well. Maybe not as "soldiers", but people thugs caught up in a deadly and violent lifestyle who kill each other all too frequently. But we know where they are, and we know when to stay away and who to stay away from. It is why even though we have had 193 murders and counting so far in Philly (not to mention the carnage taking place in other cities all over America) we don't even seem to notice or care. They are way at the bottom of our consciousness scale. Those killings don't affect us.

It is why President Obama did not make an official statement about the 274 murders in his hometown of Chicago so far this year, but he had to make one about the shootings in a movie theater in Colorado.

When violence is random and in places that we don't expect it, we get 24 hour cable coverage and front page news headlines. We know the names of all the victims and the shooter will forever live in infamy. It ignites gun control debates and we ponder and pontificate about the violence of our culture until it fades away and the next tragedy strikes.

That doesn't happen when we pick up the paper on Monday morning and read about the shootings and mayhem in the streets of pick a city, that's just the way it is with "those people". We expect that. It's like reading the box scores from last night's baseball game. And, believe it or not, the "soldiers" fighting their senseless and violent battles want it that way. They have their turf and their enemies are defined: Other "soldiers" in the game who know the rules and who, for the most part, play by them.

Sadly, the folks who live within the confines of their battle field do not have the luxury of just moving out or tuning out the violence. They might not be soldiers in the battle, but they are also at war. Unfortunately for them, though, the presidential candidates will not take a break from their campaigns to consider their plight and mourn with the rest of the country. Flags will not be flown at half-mast, and the residence of North Philadelphia, East St. Louis, or the city of Detroit will not be getting a visit from the president.

 “Turned on the TV this morning. Had this shit on about — about livin’ in a violent world. Showed all these foreign places…where foreigners live, and all. Started thinkin’, man. Either they don’t know…don’t show…or don’t care about what’s goin’ on in the ‘hood. They had all this foreign shit. They didn’t have shit on my brother, man.”   ~Doughboy (Ice Cube) Boyz N The Hood~

Well Doughboy, Aurora, Colorado is right here in America, but it might as well be in a foreign place to folks "in the hood".





    

    

       

Parents, it's 10:00 p.m., do you know where your children are?

Every city has its equivalent to our South Street here in Philly. For example: In New Orleans it's the French Quarter. In New York it's East Village. In San Diego it's the Gas Lamp District. And, in Miami, it's South Beach.

So anyway, a couple of nights ago a bunch of knuckle heads decided to have an all out street brawl on South Street. Lately this has been par for the course in our fair city. Young people converging on a particular area and going buck wild before the po po can break it up.

I am just thinking out loud about these kids. Like if they can take the time and energy to rip and run up and down city streets, why can't they channel that energy into doing something positive? Like, for instance, marching up and down the street in an organized manner for a just cause. And just where the hell are the parents of these children? That was a rhetorical question, I already know the answer.

"Why are there violent "flash mobs" in Philadelphia?

In different settings, different teenagers yesterday offered a variety of views on the furor over flash mobs, including the very term.

They scolded their peers. The boys said they were looking for girls. Some did it to establish a reputation, they said, and some didn't like the label being applied to them. They said the swarming was pointless. They said it probably would continue.
Authorities can't "put some tape on it and it's finished. . . . It's not really that simple," said Martisha Hardy, 17, of Germantown."

Actually, Martisha, it is pretty simple: your mama and daddy needs to stay on your ass!

"At Overbrook and during the radio program, students also were asked what could be done to prevent the violence. Several mentioned more after-school activities and recreation programs, but one boy at Overbrook pointed out that those services were available now.

"I think if teenagers knew more about how it affects their future and knew about the consequences . . . that would prevent it," said Shaun Loadholt, a senior at Overbrook.
On the radio, Marques Carson, 17, said many groups of young people from different neighborhoods, when they find themselves in the same place, were bound to clash.

"Half of these neighborhoods are going to battle," said Carson, of West Philadelphia.
In these fights, or in causing other types of chaos, the youths are looking to "catch a rep," said John Laderer, 16, of Southwest Philadelphia.

"They doing this to get buzz, to ring bells," he explained.

"Image is becoming a big matter on the street," Carson added." [Article]

Yes, image is everything. I love the one of the sixteen year old in the morgue with half of his brains blown out.

I am here for you.

I learned a new word today while reading one of our weekly rags here in Philly. The word is "exceptionalism", and I learned it from a University of Pennsylvania sociology professor no less. Apparently it is when a person who holds a negative stereotype about a certain group will make exceptions for people he likes in that group individually. The author used our Mayor, Michael Nutter, and Barack Obama, as examples of African American politicians who the majority population has practiced "exceptionalim" on.

Now I don't know about our Mayor, but I do know that the "O" man is in some serious doo doo. And I don't think all the "exceptionalism" in the world will save him.

But Obamaholics I promised I would be here for you when this thing started, and I don't plan to let you down now. I told you that when the real A-merry-ca raised her ugly head and torpedoed your boy's run, you could come here and find some solace. So here I am. Ready to counsel console, and just be a shoulder to cry on.

And let's be honest, the man ran a hell of a campaign to this point. Honest to god I didn't think he could get this far. I have said that on this blog before. So please don't think I blame him for what was bound to happen at some point. In fact, at this point in time, the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of a certain crab. A crab with a microphone in one hand and a bible in the other. At this point! I say at this point because it was going to happen whether the camera loving Reverend came out of the wood work or not. They were going to find something. "How can we have a President that can't bowl?" His wife is too angry." Or "the man smoked cigarettes for crying out loud, what kind of message is that sending to our children?" There is a certain segment of A-merry-ca's population who don't want the "O" man's unity message to fly. They need this country to stay divided, and stay split down the middle between red and blue states to hold on to political and financial power. Thing is, those people have a lot of power, and they influence a lot of people. Think people like Rupert Murdoch and the clowns at FOX NOISE.

But hey, that's Okay, all those old racist who influence our politics, our thoughts, and ultimately our vote, can't live forever. A new day might just be on the horizon. Maybe not in our lifetime, but maybe there are children alive now who might live to see that A-merry-ca.

I have read all the comments and the e-mails. I feel the disappointment and the frustration. Believe me, I live with one of you, life has been hell in the field household. You all don't watch the cable and news shows anymore. You tune out the pundits, and I can't say that I blame you. Not when they are going after your boy like a new parolee at a Victoria Secret photo shoot.

So all I can tell you is hang on, and see where this thing goes. Knowing your fellow citizens like I do, I am not sure this will have a happy ending, but we will see. Your boy was late again to respond, and you really have to wonder now just who is advising him. At some point "O" man you have to step up and decide who and what you want to be, or A-merry-ca will decide for you.

Hillary sure as hell is trying to.

"...he doesn't know me very well..."

Okay "O" man, but I sure hope you know yourself.

Postscript

I have a few more things to say about last night's election here in "Pistolvania". And I have a few choice words for you Negroes here in Philly. Negroes like the clown who asked me if I voted, and when I told him yes, he had the nerve to brag to me that he didn't because he had to do something with his "old lady."

It's these kind of Negroes that make me wonder if it's really worth it to fight the good fight. I mean why bother? Some folks just enjoy living in ignorance. I will let you all in on a little secret; I happen to have some pretty good connects at our dumbocratic city committee here, and I looked at those Ward results from last night. And guess what, a lot of you Negroes didn't even vote. Not for Hillary not for Obama. Now for Hillary that might not have been a bad thing, because if your dumb asses did vote, it probably would have been for the "O" man. I thought I knew you Negroes but I don't. The other night I gave the "O" man's advisor some bad advise, because I told him to save his WAM (walking around money) and to use it for other shit. "It's a national election I told him, folks are going to come out for this one, they are passionate about their candidates." Well you Negroes here in Philly didn't come out. Thousands and thousands of you stayed home. I guess you will always need your committee person and ward leader to come around and kick your lazy assess in the butt. I bet if they were giving away free T.V's at Wal-Mart your asses would have skipped work to go. But not to go and vote, something that folks died to give you the right to do. Something that new immigrants to this country can't wait to do once they get their citizenship. You want a politician to ignore you? Just keep ignoring the ballot box. Want your neighborhoods to stay fucked up? Keep ignoring the voting booth. No wonder the "O" man is reaching out to white folks, he knows you sorry Negroes don't vote.

So the Negroes in Philly didn't come out in force, althoug the ones that did, came out for the "O" man by a nine to one margin. And I am going to give it to the "Ice Queen", she kept the Montgomery County and Bucks County suburbs close when everyone was expecting an "O" man blowout. A Jewish friend of mine saw this coming, and he tried to warn me. His Mom and his older relatives were strong for Hillary, and she sealed the deal for them when she made her comments about the Middle East the other day. That was "dog whistle" politics for all the Jews in this area; I will "obliterate" any country in the Middle East that fucks with Israel. And for most Jews that's all they needed to hear. Hey, that's smart politics Hillary, the "O" man could learn a thing or two from you. You knew the blue collar Catholics and the ethnic gun toting crowd wasn't going to vote for his black ass, so you went after his Northeastern suburban base.

Now as for the aforementioned blue collar crowd. This could be the most problematic thing for the "O" man in the general election. He needs states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Michigan to become President, but all of those states have a significant population of "Negro fearing" folks. And even if the "O" man went in to everyone of their homes and gave them a check for $1,000, they still wouldn't vote for his ass. I told you all that at the start of this nomination process and it's still true.

I love how all the pundits and pollsters like to beat around the bush on this issue of race, as if it's so hard to believe that everyone in these divided states don't share our Yankee doodle idealism. They will beat around the bush to find anything except the real reason these folks won't vote for the "O" man. "Well, he is too young. Well, there is that Pastor. Well, his wife just seems so angry. Well, his bowling game is weak. Well, he can't go to his right on the basketball court....."Come on now. Let's keep it 100% with each other. "He looks like one of the gangbangers I just saw on the evening news, and don't want the leader of my country to look like that." Sorry "O" man, only the best Tuna's get to be Starkist.

So that's my little postscript on the elections folks. Here in Pistolvania we hate to see the candidates go. I know the T.V. stations are sad that the "O" man is leaving, they made a killing on that guy. Now in retrospect, I am realizing that maybe he should have kept his T.V. money and used it for something else. WAM maybe?

HI, I AM FIELD NEGRO, AND I AM AN OB.......

"I have never felt more convinced that this man's candidacy - not this man, his candidacy - and what he can bring us to achieve - is an historic opportunity. This was a testing; and he did not merely pass it by uttering safe bromides. He addressed the intimate, painful love he has for an imperfect and sometimes embittered man. And how that love enables him to see that man's faults and pain as well as his promise. This is what my faith is about. It is what the Gospels are about. This is a candidate who does not merely speak as a Christian. He acts like a Christian."

~~Andrew Sullivan~~

Whoa there Andrew, lets not have the "O" man walking across the swimming pool just yet.

But still, that speech the "O" man gave here in Philly today almost had me completing the title of this post. Today, finally, the "O" man became a "black" candidate. I even think he pulled the good Reverend from under the bus a little bit (Although I think his shoelaces might still be stuck). The "O" man embraced his race, and confronted some of A-merry-ca's racial demons. And this all happened just a few blocks away from where the concept of liberty was supposedly crafted in these divided states of A-merry-ca. He gave it a stones throw away from a bell that is as cracked as some of the bigots attacking him. Fittingly, it was right in front of the U.S. Mint, because his speech was on the money.

The "O" man had to know it was coming, and it seemed that he was ready (The shit about his racist maternal grandmother was classic). He said all the right things, and he tried to appeal to the best part of our nature. He even came at his own peeps a little. But it's cool "O" man, we get it, this isn't about us, you have our vote. This is about letting the rest of A-merry-ca know that you don't bite. "Ahh come on field, he had to say what he did, it was a calculated political move and nothing else" Yes, but he could have kept up the whole I am the Tigerlike politician act, but he didn't. He stepped up to the plate, and talked about race and what it has meant to this country. I have been killing the guy since day one to get just a little real, so when he does, I am going to give him credit.

"..And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part — through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk — to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time..."

OK "O" man, now you have me at least checking the ingredients in your "O" Aid. Do you happen to have Orange flavors?