Foreign policy so easy even a "monkey" could do it, and this is no country for old [black] men.

Wow, I guess "the times they are a changing". Now the right has new found love for the Russians and Vladimir Putin is their hero. (The enemy of my enemy is my friend.) Nice. They deserve each other.

Anyway, here is hoping that O rethinks his Syria strike. Forget the poll numbers, forget the neocons and a pliant media, forget the criticism of his seemingly fractured plan when it comes to Syria. If a new compromise (A Russian proposal no less) is what it takes to say no American bombs in the Middle East, well then so be it.

The irony is, of course, that O made a big political miscalculation by asking congress to authorize the use of force in Syria. But I am glad for that mistake, because it's looking more and more like it's not going to happen.

Still, I wouldn't want to be one of O's speechwriters right about now. This was supposed to be his turn to explain to the American people why Bashar Assad was going to catch a beat down for gassing his own people. Now, given the way the world is turning, this is probably not going to happen. That, to me, is a good thing.

Sometimes the Big R wants you to chase, but it is not always wise to bite.

Take for instance Ann Coulter's latest cry for attention. Ann didn't want to be left out of the Syria debate, but rather than give us something of substance, she gives us this:

 "Ann Coulter joined Sean Hannity on Monday night to bash President Obama for a failure of leadership on Syria. Hannity called Obama “confused” and “wimpy,” while Coulter derided the White House for thinking this is a simple Aaron Sorkin monologue away from being solved, adding that she believes Vladimir Putin has made Obama into a “monkey” on Syria.

Hannity found the day’s events “embarrassing” for Obama, while Coulter acknowledged that Kerry’s off-the-cuff comment about Syria handing over their chemical weapons was ver cleverly snatched up by Putin. Hannity was astonished that Putin appears to be the “great peacemaker” in all this, with Coulter saying he’s “looking like a man” while Obama looks week.

She reminded Hannity how much the media (“Obama’s PR crew”) mocked Mitt Romney last year for saying Russia is America’s “number one geopolitical foe.” After using the Obama-as-Putin’s-”monkey” line again, Hannity asked her why she’s using that word specifically. Coulter simply insisted that “Putin is playing with him and making him look ridiculous.”

Moving right along and giving chase where the Big R needs chasing; Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

The more I read this story the angrier I get. (h/t Mike)

"When the time came to move 107-year-old Monroe Isadore to a new home, police say he resisted and barricaded himself inside. Authorities tried using a camera to monitor him, along with negotiating tactics, and finally gas to get him to come out.

None of it worked.

So, a SWAT team went inside and was greeted by gunfire, authorities say. The team fired back, and Isadore died.

The weekend confrontation raised a flurry of questions Monday as residents struggled to make sense of how someone known as a pleasant, churchgoing man who was hard of hearing and sometimes carried a cane had died in an explosive confrontation. Did authorities know how old he was? Did they follow proper procedure? Could they have done anything differently?

“It’s just a big puzzle,” said Ivory Perry, who has known Isadore for decades.

The standoff began Saturday, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press. Laurie Barlow, 48, of Lonoke, told officers she had gone to the house where Isadore was living temporarily to help him move to a new home. She said Isadore had previously been excited about the move but that when she arrived Isadore barricaded himself in a room.

“Ms. Barlow stated his granddaughter finally got him to open the door and she went around to speak with Mr. Isadore, at that time she stated Mr. Isadore raised his arm and pointed a gun at her and stated `You better stop breaking in to my house,’” the report said.

After police moved Barlow and the granddaughter across the street, Isadore fired at a door moments after police tried to contact him. A SWAT team, called out when negotiations failed, maneuvered a camera into the house to see how Isadore was armed, then stormed inside after deploying gas and a distraction device, the report said. When Isadore fired, the entry team fired back.

Police Sgt. David DeFoor said Monday that Isadore had been living at the home temporarily, but did not go into more detail. The sergeant also said officers may not have been aware of the man’s age.

“The only thing they knew that I’m aware of was that he was older,” DeFoor said." [Source]

Sgt., I am quite sure that they knew something else, and it had nothing to do with his age.  

  

George's latest adventure, and the blind leading the blind in Iowa.

It looks like our friend George Killerman has some splaining to do to  the po po once again.

Someone should explain to George that nothing compares to the fury of a woman scorned. Not hell, not the parents of Trayvon Martin, not the NAACP; nothing.

"Police in Lake Mary, Fla., say they are holding George Zimmerman in "investigative detention" after a 911 call from his estranged wife who reported that he punched her father in the nose and threatened them both with a gun.

Police said Zimmerman is cooperating but has not talked with investigators.
In an audio recording of Shellie Zimmerman's 911 call to police, she reported that Zimmerman had smashed an iPad she was holding and cut it with a pocket knife, struck her father in the nose and threatened both while putting a hand on a gun.

"I'm really scared,'' Shellie Zimmerman can be heard repeating during the call.
Deputy police chief Colin Morgan says Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin in a case that put a spotlight on Florida's self-defense gun laws, is being held in handcuffs.
Shellie Zimmerman filed for divorce last week." [Source]

Careful George, killing a little Negro boy isn't the same as hurting a white woman. Those right wingnuts and NRA supporters who had your back for killing that little "thug" Negro will run away from you quicker than Usain Bolt from the starting blocks.

I am convinced now more than ever that karma (not the good kind) will pay George a visit really soon. It's just a matter of time. And, when it does, I hope that the parents of Trayvon Martin will be around to see it.

"I'm really scared.'' "Shellie, at least you are alive.

Finally, speaking of the NRA, I am sure that organization is very much involved in the debate now taking place out in Iowa. 

In case you folks didn't hear, in the state of Iowa it is now being debated whether to issue a gun permit to a blind person.

Actually, in Iowa, a blind person can get a gun permit.   

"Iowa law enforcement officials are debating the wisdom of granting gun permits to blind people.

The Des Moines Register reports ( http://dmreg.co/15O9I83 ) that Iowa law doesn't allow sheriffs to deny a permit to carry a gun in public based on physical ability.

 

Some sheriffs have been granting gun permits to people with visual impairments while others have been denying them. Blind people and other Iowans can obtain the permits for carrying a weapon in public because of changes to state law that took effect in 2011.

 

Jane Hudson with Disability Rights Iowa said keeping legally blind people from obtaining weapon permits would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Some other states, including Nebraska, require anyone applying for a gun permit to provide proof of their visual ability by supplying a driver's license or doctor's statement.

 

Hudson said she thinks someone could successfully challenge Nebraska's vision restriction because federal law requires states to analyze a situation individually before denying a service.

 

"The fact that you can't drive a car doesn't mean you can't go to a shooting range and see a target," Hudson said.

 

Polk County officials said they have issued weapons permits to people who can't drive legally because of vision problems at least three times. Sheriffs in Jasper, Kossuth and Delaware counties say they've also granted permits to Iowans with severe visual impairments.

 

"It seems a little strange, but the way the law reads, we can't deny them (a permit) just based on that one thing," said Sgt. Jana Abens, a spokeswoman for the Polk County sheriff's office, referring to a visual disability.

 

It's not clear how many people with visual impairments have permits to carry weapons in Iowa because no one collects that information." '[Source]

 

Sergeant, if that "one thing" happens to be the fact that they can't see, I think it would be a good idea to deny them a permit. Just a thought.

 

I bet even Stevie Wonder would agree.

 

 

 

   

Two young lives.

From the "things that makes you go hmmm" department comes this case out of Georgia. I have been watching it for some time now, and I see that the parents of the young man, Kendrick Johnson, had a second autopsy which shows that he died of "blunt force trauma".

Now before you start saying that I am racism chasing on this one, I am not, as it is very likely the parties responsible for any fowl play (if there was fowl play) are black. He did, after all, attend a predominantly black school.

Still, whenever a young black male dies in the South (or anywhere for that matter), and law enforcement agencies are asked to investigate, I will ways view their actions with the fuzzy eyeball. Because I, like others like me, understands how we are viewed here in America.

"This week, another autopsy was released of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson  who was found dead in his school’s gym. The autopsy indicates that Johnson was actually murdered, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

Johnson’s body was found inside a rolled-up wrestling mat in Lowndes High School’s old gymnasium in January. An initial report by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office said the youth reached for a loose shoe that fell in to the center of the mat. He then became trapped in the mat, which was propped upright behind bleachers, and died from being upside down for an extended period. Officials also said he was alone at the time.

On the same day he was found, the state concluded his death was accidental; however, Johnson’s family refuted the reports, noting his bloated head and face during the first autopsy.

They believed he was murdered.
In June, they placed a successful court order to have Johnson’s body exhumed from a cemetery and re-examined by an independent pathologist....

Despite receiving a copy of the findings, however, Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson said he stands by the original autopsy.

According to Watson, Johnson died from “unexplained,” non-accidental blunt force trauma, which was caused by asphyxia." [Source]

Now I see where some house Negro commenting in News One is proclaiming that this is just a case of a family trying to hit the "ghetto lottery".  That is a truly ignorant and inconsiderate comment from someone trolling the web with serious self-hate issues. Why couldn't it be just a case of a family grieving for their son and wanting answers?

The irony is, of course, that the same house Negroes screaming that this is a case of black folks trying to get paid, would be on the Internet as I write this, saying what a tragedy this story was if it was a child from the majority population who died in such a manner. But such is the mind of the house Negro: Still trapped in mental slavery.

Finally, some of you suburban kids need to start listening to Jay- Z .

"I don't pop molly, I rock Tom Ford"

Mollies are not a good look for you, and, they can actually kill you.

"Rave drug molly is being blamed for the death of a gifted University of Virginia student who suffered an overdose at a Washington, D.C., club last week.

Shelley Goldsmith, 19, a sophomore on scholarship at the prestigious school, took a lethal dose of the designer drug before collapsing at a rave at the club Echostage after midnight on Aug. 31, police sources told The Washington Post.
She was pronounced dead later at a local hospital." [Source]

Why just the other day they had to shut down a concert in New York because some of the concert goers died of a molly overdose.

You young white kids need to stay away from this stuff, it's dangerous. And remember ecstasy boys and girls? Well it's pretty much the same thing, just more powerful.

Two tragic deaths for two young Americans. We know how one died; we are waiting to see what happened to the other one.

The pacifists of convenience.

"Don't pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang
 Bombs over Baghdad!
 Yeah! Ha ha yeah!
Don't even bang unless you plan to hit something
 Bombs over Baghdad!" ~Outkast~

Ok, maybe not Baghdad, but you get the point.

I am not riding with O with these bombs over Syria scenario, although I understand why he is doing it. If you are the most powerful man in the free world and you tell someone not to cross a line and they cross it, you will look like you are just selling woof tickets if you don't act. But hey, maybe you shouldn't have drawn that line in the first place.

I understand that the world community frowns on the use of chemical weapons, but they should frown on mass genocide as well.

Where were we when Hutus were slaughtering Tutsis in Rwanda? (I see you Bill. Monica got more attention than the Akazu.) If America has a conscience and cares about mass atrocities and genocide, what prevented (or is preventing) us from acting in Sudan? (O, that question is for you.)

Still, I don't want to hear s*** from all the George Bush apologists and cheerleaders for the war in Iraq. In fact, if you were not as vocal and outraged about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, you need to shut the hell up now. These folks have the audacity to be outraged that O wants to go all Gap Band on Syria but they were either silent or they supported the war in Iraq.

The wingnuts rationalize their pretzel logic by saying that they trust one commander in chief but not the other. They oppose this guy because they hate him so much, not because they thought it out and it is the right thing to do.

They oppose him for one crass reason: politics.

Some even went as far as to use this crises in the Middle East to do a little fund raising.

 "As your voice in Washington, I will continue to listen and take a stand for you. Donate today to stand with me to strongly oppose military action in Syria," reads a fundraising pitch Grimm sent around to supporters.

An email asks supporters to donate $25 ore more to "stand with" the congressman in opposing "President Obama's plan."
Grimm made headlines Thursday when he shifted positions on Syria. 
Initially in favor of military action, he said that he withdrew his support because Obama "showed his hand when he should have kept it close" in deciding to pursue congressional approval for military action before moving forward with attacks.

"Now that the [President Bashar] Assad regime has seen our playbook and has been given enough time to prepare and safeguard potential targets, I do not feel that we have enough to gain as a nation by moving forward with this attack on our own," he said in a release.

In the fundraising email, he further explained his position and accused Obama of "failing to show strength" on Syria.

"President Obama has failed to show strength at this critical moment in time. While the debate in Congress continues, our nation’s credibility grows weaker and weaker. After much deliberation and prayer, I have decided to withdraw my support. I do not feel that our country has enough to gain by moving forward with this attack," he said.

The chances of a resolution to approve the use of military force in Syria passing the House look slim at this point, with liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans alike expressing opposition." [Source]

For those of us who are morally and ideologically consistent, we opposed the last war and we oppose anything resembling another one. For the rest of the hypocrites and charlatans who are now embracing a dove like persona; we call bull s**t!

*Rwanda pic from EarPluggin.blogspot.com
 

Debating for dummies, and they are still standing their ground in Florida.

We can all discuss, cogitate on, and ponder the wisdom of an attack on Syria, and whether this administration is taking us down a very Bush like road to another conflict in the Middle East. But what is not debatable is the stupidity of some folks on the right as they place themselves in the middle of the debate.

Take, for instance, Liz Cheney:

 "Cheney filled her 90-minute speech and question-and-answer session with red meat for the conservative crowd. She compared herself to Winston Churchill standing up to Adolph Hitler and suggested members of both parties in Congress are hiding information about Obamacare from the public.Booooooooo.

Cheney also says Obama is incompetent because he didn't bomb Syria years ago, but since she is a Cheney that is really not news. And she says that she would not vote for bombing Syria if she were in Congress now, because she is a Republican and holy hell, they just cannot wrap their minds around this notion of Obama doing something that they've been calling for him to do for years, even if it means they get to bomb someone they have been itching to bomb—trying to decide between the two has broken what was left of their brains.

“The press will try to portray this Syria debate as a battle between wings of the Republican Party,” she said. “Don’t believe them.”  [Source]

You all know who her daddy is, right? 

Then there is this doozy from Joe "You lie" Wilson:

"Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) -- the congressman who yelled "you lie" during President Obama's 2010 State of the Union speech -- asked Wednesday if the administration's decision to attack Syria was made to distract from other "scandals" like Benghazi and the IRS.

'On April 25, the White House legislative director Miguel Rodriquez wrote that ... the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons. With the president's red line [crossed], why was there no call for military response in April?' he asked Secretary of State John Kerry at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
'Was it a delayed to divert attention today from the Benghazi, IRS, NSA scandals; the failure of Obamacare enforcement, the tragedy of the White House-drafted sequestration, or upcoming debt limit vote?'" [Source]

If there is a god, please have mercy on our souls.

Finally, the latest from the state of Florida and their crazy "stand your ground" law.

"A Florida man who shot up a neighbor's barbecue last year, killing two and injuring another, is looking to have murder charges dismissed under the state's "Stand Your Ground" law as well as the "Bush Doctrine," which gives the U.S. license for preemptive strikes, according to a report.

William T. Woodward, 44, is facing murder and attempted murder charges for ambushing Gary Lee Hembree, Roger Picior and Bruce Timothy Blake as they lounged at a backyard Labor Day party in Titusville on Sept. 3, 2012, Florida Today reported.

Hembree and Picior were killed. Blake, who was hit 11 times, survived, the newspaper said.

Cops said Woodward and Hembree had beefed in the past and had even brought their dispute before a judge. [Source]

OK, if you are from Florida, you will have to take a pass on this Syria debate as well.











 

America is full of surprises.

Some things in life still surprise me, and some things, well, not so much.


For instance, I was surprised to learn that most people on food stamps live in the burbs. The way some folks go at those urban dwellers you would think that they are the only ones living off the government dole these days.

"When talking about food stamps (or SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as it’s now called), many people imagine that it’s primarily an urban benefit—think Ronald Regan’s “welfare queen” living on the South Side of Chicago. That image still persists today: When talking about government nutrition assistance, news stories are often illustrated with images of single mothers of color or older retirees in large urban housing developments. Seldom do the suburbs—the land of cul-de-sacs, strip malls, and minivans—come into play in regards to SNAP.

But increasingly, the ’burbs are becoming the defining image of food stamps. The number of Americans living in suburbs who receive SNAP doubled between 2007 and 2011, and the majority recipients nationwide—55 percent—now live there, according to an analysis of American Community Survey data by the Brookings Institution." [Source]

So that was all a bit surprising, but I was not surprised to read that George Killerman is in trouble with the law again. (Can you say O.J. boys and girls?) 

"George Zimmerman has been pulled over for speeding in central Florida.
Lake Mary police report that Zimmerman was stopped and ticketed Tuesday morning for going 60 mph in a 45 mph zone.

Zimmerman was previously pulled over on July 28 near Dallas, Texas, but was let go with a warning." [Source]

I was also not surprised to learn that the monster in Ohio who held those three young ladies captive for years in his home checked out a little sooner than we all expected. Or maybe not.   

"He was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years for a heinous crime, but in the end he cut that life short.

Ariel Castro, convicted of kidnapping and raping three women, as well as murder, committed suicide in his prison cell Tuesday night, the Franklin County, Ohio, coroner's office said.

 

The discovery of the three women who had been Castro's captives in his Cleveland home for about a decade was shocking from the outset, and surprising in its end.

 

Castro, 52, hanged himself with a bedsheet, Coroner Dr. Jan Gorniak told CNN on Wednesday. He was being held at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient. " [Source]

 

I guess there is something to this wages of sin is death thing after all.

 

I was also not surprised to read that a person of the cloth has a lot of love for those folks in the majority population.

 

"North Carolina pastor Makeda Pennycooke sent out a mass email asking that 'only white people' greet visitors at the 9:00 a.m. service at Freedom House Church and her congregation has raised holy hell.

“I was floored,” recalled church member Carmen Thomas. ”Like it was a jaw dropper. You can put a white face all over the front door. But when you come through those doors, you’re going to see African Americans, you’re gonna see Asians. You’re going to see people of color.”

Pennycooke serves as the Executive Pastor of Operations for Freedom House Church, located in Charlotte, North Carolina." [Source]

 

I know you work in the lord's house Ms. Pennycooke, but I am about to send you to another one.

 

Finally, I was surprised to read about a man getting kicked out of Universal Studios because he wore a t-shirt with "POLICE STREET CRIME UNIT" written on it.

 

"A family man says he got kicked out of Universal Studios in Orlando for wearing a T-shirt that reads, "Police: Street Crime Unit."

Christian Jarosz, of Jupiter, Fla., brought his family to the amusement park to surprise his daughter for her Sweet 16 on Saturday night, but the real shocker came from park officials.

"He just basically said you can't have that shirt in the park," Jarosz told local station WPTV.

Jarosz, who is not a police officer, got the shirt from his brother, a cop in New York. He has worn it to Disney World without incident and was cleared by Universal security before entering." [Source]

I would say that this was a case of reverse racism, but it was Universal Studios who refused to show my man any love. That's  just a case of white on white profiling, and in this case it wasn't right.

Mr. Jarosz, you might want to go for the solid t- shirt look next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this "sole-ful stance" an impeachable offense?

Holy s**t! That Negro over at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue done lost his mind!

Now he did it. This will be the worst scandal of the summer. I wonder how he will get out of this one.

"If you were hoping for one more overblown controversy to end your summer, your wish has been granted. President Obama put his foot on his desk in a White House photo, and although it admittedly does look a little cheesy, people are outraged over the leader of the free world placing his foot atop the Resolute Desk because it’s undignified and beneath the office of the president… although technically it’s in the office of the… the point is, people are not happy.

Here’s the image that has everyone freaking out so much: [See above]

And here’s a sampling of some of the measured, thoughtful reactions to the president’s sole-ful stance:





This is not, amazingly, the first time the president has come under fire for putting his feet up on the desk. This has happened time after time after time after time.

Which is why it’s important to point out that this is not the first president to have so callously desecrated the Resolute Desk.


Those are pictures of George W. Bush and Gerald Ford, obviously making a mockery of all that we hold dear."

Yes, but there is one little difference......

Anyway, there are so many substantive issues that we could be debating this president about--- and questioning his judgment on-- but the right chooses to focus on where he decides to put his shoes.

Unbelievable!

 

Who is killing our toddlers?

I am not going to get into this too much, because it involves my line of work and something that I see on a regular basis. But some of you women out here are going to have to start making better choices with the men you choose to let into your lives.

How many stories have we heard of a mother taking up with her new boyfriend, only to have said new boyfriend cause the death (intentionally or otherwise) of her child? I would say far too many.

Then there are the women who choose to hook up with gangbangers and cats who sell illegal pharmaceuticals, and they end up putting their children in danger by mere association with these abhorrent characters. I am not going to state the obvious. We all know that these thugs and urban terrorist who choose to wage battle on our streets, and the heartless men who would harm a child should bear responsibility as well. But this post isn't about them; it's about the other part of the equation.

Take, for instance, this case out of Brooklyn, New York. Poor Antiq Hennis never had a chance.

"NEW YORK (AP) - Police investigating the death of a 1-year-old boy who was shot in his stroller during a walk on a city street believe his father was the intended target, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Monday.

Authorities have some leads in the killing of Antiq Hennis in Brooklyn on Sunday night and believe his death may be gang-related, Kelly said.

Antiq's father, Anthony Hennis, had just gone to pick up the boy at the home of the baby's mother, Cherise Miller, and take him to visit Hennis' grandmother, Kelly said. Hennis, 21, put the boy in the stroller and was pushing him across a street in the Brownsville neighborhood when shots rang out at about 7:20 p.m., police said.

"I saw a man with a stroller screaming: 'My baby got shot! My baby got shot,' " witness Gina Gamboa, 23, told the New York Post.

"He was going crazy."

Grief and outrage over the toddler's shooting loomed over the annual West Indian Day Parade about a mile and a half away, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the killing "a tragedy for his family, for this community, for the entire city" and political candidates talked about gun violence.

Four shots were fired, and one hit the boy in the left side of his head; he was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The gunfire left four .45-caliber shell casings on the corner and bullet holes in the stroller, Kelly told reporters before the parade. [Source]"

You won't find a bigger advocate for stricter gun laws and more gun control than yours truly, but you people have got to make better choices and start being smarter with your children. What's the point of having them if you are going to put their lives in danger?

Finally, it's Labor Day here in America, but I have to wonder why we even celebrate it anymore.

Labor unions are becoming obsolete in this country and Americans look down on the labor movement now more than ever.

Big business and capitalism has won. They can thank a republican party that's in their pocket for that. It's all about the bottom line now, and cheap labor and poor working conditions rule the day. Americans are just glad to have a job (any job) and they are not going to risk losing it by speaking up for things such as a safe work environment and a fair wage.

It's such a shame. Labor Day used to mean something.





 

A "branding problem".

*And now this from black republican, Raynard Jackson, about the GOP and their "branding problem":

"During the past year, we have watched monumental change take place all over the world; not just in terms of democracy, but in terms of culture, law, and politics, etc.

Our major institutions have not been immune from this change that is sweeping across the globe.  There has been a major push to redefine what a family is; we have redefined marriage; we have redefined sexuality—no longer is there male or female, now there is other; there are now gay Christians; we now have Christian gangsta rappers, etc.

Everything seems to be changing other than the Republicans approach to engaging the Black community.

My readers know, that I think the RNC, under chairman Reince Priebus, seems to be the only one that has had a substantive approach to dealing with this issue.  He has hired Black staffers, he has gone into the Black community, and he actually listens to Blacks who bring ideas to him that make sense.
Now juxtapose that with our members of the House, Senate, and our 30 governors.

In June, there were two major decisions issued by the Supreme Court—voting rights and affirmative action.   Neither the house or senate leadership had any coordinated response that would speak directly to the Black community.  Even more problematic is the fact that the leadership in the Congress has no Black Republicans that they seek out for advice and guidance.

You have White members and their staffs who think they know more about the Black community than a Black person.  You have absolutely no engagement with the Black media from these members.

The Democrats constantly parade Black liberal all over various news outlets. They constantly brand the Republican Party as racist, bigoted, and non-caring about the poor.  And what is our party’s response?  Total silence.
In PR, a brand that is allowed to be denigrated beyond a certain point with no one to defend it; sooner or later becomes damaged beyond repair.

So, it is no wonder that when Blacks are asked their thoughts about the Republican Party, you hear words like:  racist, against Obama, don’t like poor people, homophobic, voter suppression, etc.   We must fight this onslaught in the media, but Republicans have very few Blacks with credibility to utilize in this capacity.

With the winds of change blowing all around, the Republican Party’s leadership seems to be stuck in the past.  If they continue to surround themselves with the same white staffers, White consultants, and white media advisers, guess what—let me paint the picture for you.

There will be no more marriage (as we know it), there will be open borders, taxes will be north of 90 percent, and Republicans will be true minority party (as in numerically).

Republican governors are passing ID laws loaded with things that undercut their whole message.  North Carolina is a perfect example.  I am a huge supporter of voter ID, but it is insane not to allow a student to use their college ID as valid identification.  This indeed does open the door for the liberals to use the race card.  We must be smart with our legislative agenda, not just be right.

What is ironic about North Carolina is that the governor’s chief of staff is Black.  But this fact proves my point.  Just because a person is Black, does not mean he understands PR or media strategies.  North Carolina presents an opportunity to study, in real time, the impact that a negative brand can have on actual elections.  On paper, we should be able to pick up the senate seat there next year; but my greatest fear is that our brand will be so bad as a result of the recently passed voter ID law, that we will lose an easy pickup.

Being right is not enough.  We Republicans are very good at utilizing our majorities to force our political agenda into law; but we are horrible in explaining to those outside of the party why and how our actions will benefit them.

Unfortunately, this is not a brand new problem; but rather a brand problem." [Source]

*Pic from TransGriot

This is getting ugly....

Oh lord! This intra- racial fighting is getting ugly. Now my man Cornel is calling out half of Rev. Inc. and declaring him to be a "house negro of the Barack Obama plantation." (Isn't it amazing how far just one diss can go? O, next time send that man an invitation to your party.)

"Public intellectual Cornel West tore into many of this week’s speeches surrounding the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech, accusing everyone from President Obama to Rev. Al Sharpton of “sanitizing” Dr. King’s vision.

“Brother Martin himself, I think, would’ve been turning over in his grave,” West said of the event. “[King would have wanted] people to talk about Wall Street criminality, he wants people to talk about war crimes, or drones dropping bombs on innocent people,” he asserted.

“Instead,” he lamented, “we saw the coronation of the bonafide house negro of the Barack Obama plantation, our dear brother Al Sharpton.” West went further declaring that Sharpton’s decline was “supported by [MSNBC analyst] Michael Dyson and others who’ve prostituted themselves in a very ugly and vicious way.”

West and Tavis Smiley both lamented that black leadership has become “so sold-out” so as not to have the courage to be a “bull in the china shop,” break rank, and talk about “racism, poverty, and militarism” at an otherwise “bought-out” event." [Source]

Now I understand some of frustration that Brother West is feeling. We do need to be talking more about things such as "racism, poverty, and militarism". But  what country does Cornel West believe that he is living in? Negroes getting upset because Barack Obama didn't get into the White House and go all Huey P. Newton are as crazy as the republicans who foam at the mouth over the sound of his name. Just what the hell did you expect?

Let me repeat this again: Barack Obama is a politician, and he happens to be a damn good one. Politicians know how to raise money, run the government, and push all the right buttons to make Americans feel like their country is the greatest in the history of the world. That's it. The fact that this president happens to be black should be celebrated for its imagery and what it can mean for the future aspirations of young black boys watching him, but that's about it.
It's not going to change how business is done in this country and who gets the spoils.

If you Negroes want things to change, stop depending on poli-trick-sters like Barack Obama and start grass roots efforts to change things in your own neighborhoods. Start organizing locally to try and better the lives of people around you. Change is not going to come from Washington; it's going to come from your homes.  

Again, I am not sure what some of you Negroes were expecting, but I have news for you; it's not going to get any better for your agenda when Barack Obama leaves and when the next presidents come after him. Americans don't want to talk about things like "racism" and "poverty", and when they do, it makes them very uncomfortable. Look what happened when this president tried to address the elephant in the room. "If I had a son he would look like Trayvon".

Anyway, Barack Obama does need to have real folks in his ears-- besides his wife Michelle--- from time to time. It's just that when Negroes like Tavis and Cornel do the criticizing, it comes off more like sour grapes than constructive criticism and speaking truth to power.