Senators: They all look the same to me!

Imagine if a leading Iraqi or Afghani politician -- or President Pervez Musharraf were to say something publicly to the media like:

“It’s hard for [Iraqis, Afghanis, Pakistanis], all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these people,” he said. “Why do they kill people of other religions because of religion? Why do they hate the Muslims and despise their right to exist? Why do they hate each other? Catholics, Protestants, Jews? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.“

How seriously would you take such a man or woman and their grasp of basic world history and politics? Likely you would consider this person to be at best an uneducated buffoon and at worst a bigot.

How then must the words of famous racist Trent Lott appear abroad (let alone here in the U.S.):

“It’s hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these people,” he said. “Why do they kill people of other religions because of religion? Why do they hate the Israelis and despise their right to exist? Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.“

Speak for yourself, Lott, when you defend Strom Thurmond's segregation-based presidential campaign or when describing the American interest or sense of the socio-political situation in Iraq. My only hope is that your constituents remember how difficult it probably is for you to tell them apart too come election time. (Source: ThinkProgress)

Flipping the Script on the Constitution

That's what the Bush Adminstration wants to do. Apparently the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are too limiting for this "new" war on terrorism. (The terrorism happened 5 years ago. We have not been directly attacked since. What's so new, exactly?) Bush doesn't like it -- it leaves many of his activities somewhat extra-legal and possibly impeachable. Time to flip the script!

So far the Black and Latino politically-oriented blogs have been silent on the Detainee Bill being debated in the House and Senate unlike many other bloggers. That's mighty strange. I too was reluctant to write about it. Why? Because it scares me to death. Barack Obama himself had to be poked and prodded into saying something.



Minorities will be targeted under this new and improved "interpretation" of the Constitution. Rest assured that it will be predominantly minorities who are detained indefinitely and tortured with no legal recourse available to defend themselves. Most at risk: American Muslims and anyone who looks like they might be or know a Muslim. "Sympathizers" -- uh, that means you, white people -- will also be targeted.

According to the Justice Policy Institute, which advocates a more lenient system of punishment, the United States has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country, followed by Britain, China, France, Japan and Nigeria.

There were 726 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents by June 30, 2004, compared with 716 a year earlier, according to the report by the Justice Department agency. In 2004, one in every 138 U.S. residents was in prison or jail; the previous year it was one in every 140.

In 2004, 61% of prison and jail inmates were of racial or ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12.6% of all black men in their late 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.6% of Hispanic men and 1.7% of white men in that age group, the report said.

(Source: USAToday)

I almost can't believe it's happening. After all President Bush has done. After the many false and dangerous paths he has led the nation down, why now give him even more power? How about more oversight over where the money for the Iraq war is going, over why the Taliban are coming back into power, over why Osama Bin Laden is still at large. I could go on.

It is a new level of cowardice for anyone to think that turning away from our historic leadership on human rights and civil rights, that turning toward the type of tactics employed by the very dictatorship we have sacrificed so many lives to unseat will do us any good. It will not save us from terrorism. It will only turn us into the enemy we fear most.

Hip Hop Marches on the White House, Finally

What happens when you combine faith, politics and hip hop sensibility?



You get the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President of the Hip Hop Caucus. He's worked with Jay-Z, Diddy, Russell Simmons, PFAW and the Congressional Black Caucus on political initiatives. Now he's working on George Bush and Chris Matthews.



Last week, they led a civil disobedience protest in front of the White House to protest the Iraq War. Yearwood talks about putting humanity first. Funny that the press wants you to look at black ministers who are against gay marriage and against abortion, etc. Ministers like T.D. Jakes who take photo ops with and fundraise for Bush. But when a progressive black leader shows up to confront Bush on his record, you don't hear a peep? Who took the needle off the record?

This is real civil rights leadership. Right on, Rev. We're looking forward to hearing and seeing more from you in 2006 - 2008. (Props: PlayaHata)

Murder in Michigan

Check out this video of a protest in Lansing Michigan featuring Jesse Jackson and MI Gov. Jennifer Granholm.



Have y'all heard about the plot to kill affirmative action in Michigan? Proposal 2, the Orwellian-named "Michigan Civil Rights Initiative", is on the ballot for November. It's not receiving much media attention at the moment, but lead thug/liar/hypocrite Ward Connerly is up to his old tricks boosting a resolution to ban affirmative action as he did in California and Washington state. Might as well call Ward Booker T with quotes like these to his credit:

"Supporting segregation need not be racist. One can believe in segregation and believe in equality of the races."
-CNN’s “Wolf Blitzer Reports” 12/13/2002

He's funded by a bunch of right-wing wackos with deep pockets. Affirmative action works for Ward when his wallet needs lining. But apparently no one else should benefit from programs designed to break down barriers to success for minorities. After all, it's a totally level playing field, right? There is no more racism in America, haven't you heard?

The video above was taken by a group of ultra-conservative students called the Young Americans for Freedom. How conservative are they? Well, Dan Quayle was a member. YAF equates political correctness with Marxism. They like to make signs that say things like: "Affirmative action is state-sponsored racism", "Smash Left-Wing Scum" and "Burn All Reds!" Among the enemies of freedom: Cindy Sheehan, Jesse Jackson and the ACLU. Take a look at the Michigan State YAF Recruitment Video for yourself. Charming, ain't it?



YAF was badly out-numbered in this recent protest. Still, the MCRI initiative is attracting attention and defense from conservatives like George Will and there's a real threat here. Hopefully Michigan United, a group working against the referendum will prevail. It would sure help though if they put their commercials on YouTube and stopped producing all of their press releases in PDF! Oh and ">props to the NAACP for being on the case -- for once! Look, Martin Luther King supported affirmative action, citing special programs for veterans as examples:

"A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for the Negro..." in order to get to the color-blind society we all dream of. George Allen is a clear example of the bigotry and hatred minorities still face today -- in the street and in the workplace.

Let's think carefully before we so quickly undo the legacy he worked hard and died to help achieve. If you live in MI, please vote No on MCRI.

Rice gets served!

Ha! That's hilarious cause I didn't mean it as a pun, but Condi should know betta! Check yoself before you wreck yoself!

Back to Black Clinton. After his no-nonsense action on Fox, Condi came out and basically accused the man of lying:

"We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda," Rice told a reporter for the New York Post on Monday. "Big pieces were missing," Rice added, "like an approach to Pakistan that might work, because without Pakistan you weren't going to get Afghanistan."

But hoooold up (wait a minute!). Thanks to RAW STORY

However, RAW STORY has found that just five days after President George W. Bush was sworn into office, a memo from counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke to Rice included the 2000 document, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects." This document devotes over 2 of its 13 pages of material to specifically addressing strategies for securing Pakistan's cooperation in airstrikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Now, I hate to ask this question in public, but why does such a highly educated person have such apparent difficulty reading memos!?!?!?

Brother Aaron to leave the strip?

Just caught word that fellow rabble rouser Aaron McGruder may be done with his daily strip. As you may know, he took a six month sabbatical, but it looks like he's sorta kinda not trying to come back.

What had happen was... he saw some of that big time TV and Hollywood money.

Wonkette is in a haterish mood, revealing a complete lack of comedic taste