Jack & Jill Politics

AFTERNOON OPEN THREAD IS UP!!

WEWANTTHE PUBLICOPTION.COM

Democracy for America has teamed up with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee to take our hard-hitting TV ad from DC to the states. Help us choose which senators to pressure -- vote for up to 3 by checking the box to the left of their picture. (View results here.)

http://vote.wewantthepublicoption.com/p-ekick-n...

If the MSM needs a black person to speak for all of Black America and who is not Barack Obama, Cory Booker needs to be called up and stop with Jesse's and Al's foolishness. Jesse still having issues not being the HNIC. He needs to let it go.

Booker doesn't want that job. Check Matt Bai's article, Is Obama the End of Black Politics?:

“I don’t want to be pigeonholed,” he said. “I don’t want people to expect me to speak about those issues.” By this, presumably, he meant issues that revolve around race: profiling by police, incarceration rates, flagging urban economies. “I want people to ask me about nonproliferation. I want them to run to me to speak about the situation in the Middle East.”

Hey Pro! Haven't been over in a while. Just leaving a personal greeting.

You know this foolishness needs to stop.Is Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the voice of white America,Do the MSM go to John Yoo for the Asian perspective and I think if we say Alberto(I do not recall)Gonzales speak for Latinos they will call us penderos for being so stupid.

Why come Jesse Jackson let John King play him for a fool? King started out with this comment from Mary Mitchell in her column the other day:

"Consider this: When Bill Clinton was in the White House, Jackson practically had keys. But who from the grass roots of black America is speaking regularly to Obama about the issues that specifically relate to black people?

Jackson is on the outside looking in. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been banished. Minister Louis Farrakhan won't get an audience. The Rev. Al Sharpton is operating on the fringes."

Then asked Jesse if the President is doing enough to improve upon the 1984 unemployment rate(down in 2009), poverty rate (down in 2009), single parent homes (up 3% in 2009).

King pretty much just said: Obama = Jackson 1984. I wish Jackson 2009 would channel Jackson 1984.

It kills me to see the MSM pundits bring up the issue of, “what are your Black leaders doing for you lately,” like they care. They want to drum up this dialogue in the hopes of turning Blacks against Obama and giving Whites an excuse to change their vote in 2012; the discussion will drift into the all important question, Is Obama the Black people’s president or is he for all Americans? I am waiting for them to take on Pat BuKKKanan. Ask him what he is doing for White people.

Barack Obama feels the heat, changes the play

Finally, we’re starting to see him sweat.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25114...

My take on this post - utter garbage. Clearly these people could give a good rats as* about resolving real issues facing our country. Noooooooo they are too focused on seeing the President "lose his cool."

Mark my words. That.will.never.happen. They will see flashes of annoyance for the increased level of stupidity and wtf moments displayed by our elected officials (and those flashes will only boost his support from the American people) but he will NEVER give them the satisfaction of seeing him "lose his cool".

Idiots. Who hired these people??? Now I am getting annoyed.
Go ahead Mr. President. Brush your shoulders off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yel8IjOAdSc&feat...

smh....this line from that drive-by kills me....."Friday remarks at the White House had a trash-talk edge"

Oh...didn't they know? Obama's new speech writer is Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr.

felt the heat rising at the base of my neck . . . . I have to stay off the news on the regular for the past few weeks. Only give myself maybe twice a week lately and I almost always limit my searches to JJP and I skip plenty of links. It is getting crazy up in here. It is becoming increasingly frustrating when we have so many issues to resolve, economy, healthcare, education, climate change, two wars, unemployment which the President repeatedly informed the citizens of the country would be slow to recover until at minimum next year . . . . etc. etc. etc. and the focus instead is on seeing THIS President with some "flaw" real or imagined.

Somebody needs to hire the President a tall, strong, physically fit individual whose sole responsibility is to appropriately and effectively utilize the "pimp" hand. Preferably female so she could slap the mess out of both sexes without bias if displays of stupidity reaches above the 70% intolerance level.

"Somebody needs to hire the President a tall, strong, physically fit individual whose sole responsibility is to appropriately and effectively utilize the "pimp" hand. Preferably female so she could slap the mess out of both sexes without bias if displays of stupidity reaches above the 70% intolerance level."

My resume is prepared and so am I.

I love it!

White House stands by August goal for healthcare

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House budget director Peter Orszag said on Sunday the administration still expected the Senate and House of Representatives to pass their versions of a healthcare overhaul bill before they break for their August recess.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090719/ts_nm/us_us...

I know affairs are not limited to a political affiliation but why the recent push to provide "balanced coverage" on cheating politicians? What . . . is this tied to the influx of Republican skeletons falling out of the C street closet? What's up?

Political sex scandals a nonpartisan affair
(CNN) -- If there's one thing Democrats and Republicans have in common, it's sex scandals.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/14/politica...

It's all about the ' C' Street closet and them not covering it when they were supposed to.

I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I heard that they pay $600 a month for rent. I stayed at a hostel in DC for a few weeks between September- November 2008. for 35.95 a day. The monthly rate was $800 a month. This was for a room with bunk beds. So the price the Congressman is paying for rent may be an issue also.

I still wanna know how they're able to reside in this building and the "owners" are exempt from property taxes. I own a bible and I read it and I say my prayers...i dont get a stinkin exemption.

You're not a white married male politician bootslapping with his mistress.

You mean they slap boots, too?
The heathens!

raotflmao

NAACP still has much to do

Clarence Page
is a Chicago Tribune columnist

Judging by my e-mail, my appearance in a CBS News Sunday Morning report on the NAACP's 100th-anniversary convention last week left many viewers with a false impression.

They think that I said President Obama's election has made the nation's oldest and largest civil-rights organization unnecessary. That would be tantamount to saying that racism is no longer a problem.

I do not believe that Obama's election has made the NAACP unnecessary. Rather, I fear that the organization is making itself irrelevant.

I raised a question that a lot of people find uncomfortable: If we did not have the NAACP today, would anybody notice the difference?

Then I concluded that, in too many instances, the answer would be no. Not because it isn't doing anything, but because too few people see the organization's work making a difference in their lives.

That disconnect helps to explain why the organization's treasury, membership rolls, and name recognition among young people have been shrinking in recent decades.

I don't want the organization to disband. I would like to see it catch up with an era in which the biggest problems facing black Americans increasingly have less to do with skin color than with education and economics.

I am disappointed that it has not been more effective in reaching those who have been left behind, who are isolated in low-income communities and substandard schools, resegregated not only from whites, but from upwardly mobile blacks, too.

Despite the NAACP's noble history, our high unemployment rates, fatherless kids, and black-on-black crime call for more than civil-rights solutions.

We can't just sue our way back to strong families and lower crime rates. NAACP members in hundreds of chapters are helping to strengthen community institutions that can support strong families. Yet the prevailing attitude at the organization's national level was well expressed by Chairman Julian Bond when he declared that the NAACP was about "social justice, not social service."

Fair enough. As long as we hear stories like that of the Huntingdon Valley swim club that turned away a mostly black group of day-care kids, the NAACP will find plenty of racial suspicions to keep itself going. But it also runs the risk of becoming an organization for elites, missing those who need help the most.

Into this battle I welcome the new NAACP president and CEO, Ben Todd Jealous. The 36-year-old Rhodes scholar is the first NAACP leader too young to remember the 1960s. Appropriate to his generation, he has announced an Internet-age idea: a cell-phone-based "rapid-response system" for the reporting of alleged police misconduct.

If it works as hoped, the cyber-age concept could offer the organization a new networking tool to which the Twitter and Facebook generation can easily relate.

It could also offer something that fired up many of the civil-rights changes in the '60s: racism you can see on TV and not just wonder about.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090719...

New consumer protection agency meets resistance
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- If you hold a credit card, mortgage or a student loan, Congress is considering a new agency designed to give you a lot more protection.

The Consumer Financial Products Agency would set new rules to simplify contracts, eliminate fine print and get rid of the tricks and traps that led some to unwittingly sign up for mortgages they couldn't afford.

However, the proposed agency is running into some resistance from the financial services industry. According to one of the industry's top lobbyists, stopping the agency is "our No. 1 priority."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/18/consumer...

Wow.......
"I don't think anyone would argue that over the last 30 years financial innovation has been the fuel of the economy," says Stinebert, who believes that's reason to tread carefully.

I can barely believe he had the audacity to say that. It would be funny if it weren't so frightening. Did this "Stinebert" guy miss the last year or what?

Yeah, the "innovations" of CDO, Black pools, SSIV, under the counter derivatives, economic bubbles, etc. that NO ONE can figger out how to unravel is working great.

He is likely in support of the few who receive annual bonuses that ranges from $120 millions to $20 millions and can't understand why folks are looking for their homes to burn them down.

The arrogance of the financial industry execs that ruined this economy is staggering. What was it that Brazil's president said?

"This was a crisis that was fostered and boosted by irrational behaviour of people that are white, blue-eyed, that before the crisis looked like they knew everything about economics,’ he declared.
‘Now they have demonstrated that they don’t know anything about economics

President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva deserves some sort of award for those statements alone...isn't there a Nobel Prize sitting around with his name on it?

Stimulus Youth Jobs
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2009/...

Eric Cantor needed the taste slapped outta his mouth for that dumb azz statement.

did you get that? I got that. Had to remind myself several times. Today is Sunday . . . Today is Sunday . . .Today is Sunday . . . .

not sure if we posted this --

Senate Bill Expands Hate Crimes Law
WASHINGTON) — People attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender would receive federal protections under a Senate-approved measure that significantly expands the reach of hate crimes law.

The Senate bill also would make it easier for federal prosecutors to step in when state or local authorities are unable or unwilling to pursue hate crimes. "The Senate made a strong statement this evening that hate crimes have no place in America," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said after the chamber voted Thursday to attach the legislation as an amendment to a $680 billion defense spending bill expected to be completed next week. (Swampland: Hating on Hate Crimes)

The House in April approved a similar bill and President Barack Obama has urged Congress to send him hate crimes legislation, presenting the best scenario for the measure to become law since Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., first introduced it more than a decade ago.

Republicans will have the opportunity to propose several more changes to the hate crimes bill on Monday, but that will not change its status as part of the must-pass defense bill.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,859...

Investigation of Secret CIA Program Turns Into Political Brawl

The CIA is so heavily investigated these days you wonder how much time they have for actual intelligence work.

The latest: The House intelligence committee announced a new investigation on Friday into whether the CIA broke the law by not telling Congress about a secret post-9/11 program to target Al Qaeda leaders.

In a written statement, committee Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) said the investigation will focus on "possible violations of federal law, including the National Security Act of 1947."

Republicans immediately denounced the investigation as an effort by Democrats to "tear down the CIA."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/07/invest...

Cheating SC gov says God will make him better
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, still clinging to office after admitting to an extramarital affair, wrote in an opinion piece released Sunday that God will change him so he can emerge from the scandal a more humble and effective leader.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SC_GO...

Almost seven years in office:
What has Mark "THE PLAYER" Sanford done?
1) Brought shitting pigs into the SC State House.
2) Outsouced himself a mistress.
Don't hate the player, hate the...oh, hell...hate this dumbassed player!

***dead***

Bullcrap! he needs to step down from that office and that check just like he insisted that others do. They turn my stomach trying to be so righteous and talking about God. They spent all that money to try and get Clinton out of office and now they want to play by a different set of rules. I don't buy nothing none of them say. I am hoping like mad that they get what's coming to their hypocritical behinds.

will they stop putting GOD in the middle of their messes?

Rikyrah - I am just grateful I am not within lightning striking distance.

Senate GOP chief: Sotomayor won't get my vote
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate's top Republican says he admires Judge Sonia Sotomayor's personal story but is not going to vote for her confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Sen. Mitch McConnell says that he is "a big fan of her career" and biography. He is not, however, a fan of her personal views.

McConnell says Sotomayor lacks the objectivity he wants in a justice. He says he is worried that her opinions would shape rulings from the bench.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AFGHA...

Of course sleezeball McConnell will not vote for confirmation on Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Never was, and never would, as long as she is a Hispanic and as long as she is the appointee of President Obama. (remember, hope he fails!) President Obama is the REAL ISSUE, so no what she would have said, agreed to, or disagreed to, it would not have mattered in the least bit.

Senator Sessions of Alabama [the avowed Racist who was denied a federal judgeship some years ago mainly because of his racists remarks) is another white, male who will not vote for her confirmation. These two said this BEFORE the "witch-hunt interrogation" began, and yet were still allowed to badger this Hispanic woman. This is why the entire ordeal (some call it a confirmation hearing), was a JOKE. I was just waiting until these racists dogs ran out of time, and thank God they did because she turned the "race baiting, nit-picking" into facts of law to which they had no counterpoint.

The status quo ($$ male, white) had to have "their turn at dissing this Hispanic female" EVEN though it meant NOTHING legally. They couldn't stop the nomination, they just wanted "to dance" and appear that they were in control of something. They (status quo) were determined to make a good showing for their racist counterparts to save face and to "show'em. Ha! Now, they can go back under the rocks where they slivered out of. Ugh.

he is an old sleezeball with ugly ass self. Looks like one of those ole time polished faced dolls. I can't stand them. Standing up there saying that someone is racist like "How dare you feel about us the way we feel about ya'll" He can barely get that old clinched mouth of his opened.

Soldier held in Afghanistan is 23-year-old Idahoan
HAILEY, Idaho (AP) -- A soldier from Idaho who disappeared from his base in Afghanistan has been captured, the Pentagon confirmed Sunday, a day after he was seen in a Taliban video posted online....
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AFGHA...

Someone please tell me what has happened to Sunday morning news programming? I used to enjoy it when Russert lived. This David Gregory bores me. what he chooses to discuss is dull and uninteresting. John King on CNN is a conservative trying not to cross the line too much so that CNN doesn't boot him. Stephanopolis did not impress me before Russert died and hasn't done much to gain his audience. Are these so called journalist scared of consequences or so uninformed that just exist. NBC should have gotten Gwen Ifill or Andrea Mitchell for Meet the Press. Does anyone know how Gregory's ratings are doing? Scrap Gregory quick!

The MSM is bought off by the corporations who in turn buy off the politicians who appear on these shows.And then look at the framing of the questions.See if a real journalist start asking questions that on any given day the kind that are raise just on JJP,then they will be out of a job so fast that you be like damn"Where did he go"So it is what it is. The corporations are pimps, the guest are the prostitutes and the moderators are the johns.

LOL! Corporations are the pimps! Guests are the prostitutues and Moderators are the Johns! ROTF!

Bingo! MSM=Bordello

When Gregory was chosen, I said that MTP went from the Tivo list, to a week-to-week thing.

I don't think that ANYONE should wait on ANYONE ELSE to rescue them! Get off your duffles and help yourself. This goes for blacks as well as other races or ethnicities. My parents used the term: "weight broke the bridge down". I believed it them and governed myself according to that principle. I still believe it today, and it now truer than ever. It is called "LAZINESS". No one can rescue you but you; others can help you but you must be the "do-er".

And somebody please tell me what is wrong with our Black President calling out the Black People? Isn't that what he should do, especially since the "proof of the pudding is in the eating"? HE DID IT! I don't get it. The President said exactly what he was supposed to say, especially since they did not "get it" when Dr. Bill Cosby said it. I will say the same thing: get off your A$$e$ and do it yourself. Stop waiting for someone to come and rescue you.

And young black men, take care of your babies -not mine- but yours, and I will take care of mine and won't have to take care of yours! [And young black females, stop having babies for every tom, dick and harry you meet at the club one night]. I also know that some people are asking why does the President have to single out Black males/female when other ethnicities are guilty of the same thing. Well, guess what? I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE OTHERS. Let pat buchanan, Dr. Gupta, or some other white-ethnic male talk to them, I don't care who does it. Right now, I wish to concentrate on MINE.

I see you and uncle Thomas have a lot in common. Simply because white people would like POC to believe we are responsible for the continued economic inequality does not mean we have to believe the nonsense. A child growing in poverty has very little chance of making positive gains specifically because the systemis designed for them to fail. Instead of calling out Blacks Obama needs to get the courage to call White ppl out on their ish. I don't care if he is president, one man in a position of authority does not translate into equality for all.

And who are you, womanistmusings, to say what the President of the United States SHOULD DO?

And if you're talking to me, MaryEllen, specificically, I do not know "your uncle Thomas", but I would like to know what he and I have in common.

Also, our President Obama has the courage to call anyone out. That's what he does whenever he calls a Press Conference or Briefing.

Clearly I was addressing you. If he had the courage he would not have allowed Holder to speak about whiteness and then damn near break his foot running to get away from it.

I have every right to speak my mind. What happens to the peoples of the African Disaspora is very much my business as we are all effected. As for the Uncle Thomas comment, I suppose that hit to close to home for your oreo eating ass.

Obama is so busy playing center of the road politics that he has yet to ever speak to whiteness about its accountability and continues to lecture Black people on ours. He may sweeten it with rhetoric but the bottom line is that he has bought into the nonsense that Blacks are responsible for the systemic inequality that serves to keep us as second class citizens. I'd like to see White people swim against the stream for awhile and see how they do. I am tired of people telling Blacks to rise above, as though we have not been doing that for hundreds of years. Since it is Sunday I won't share the rest of my thoughts with you, though lord knows you deserve it.

to womanistmusings, please feel free to share the rest of your thoughts; it should not matter because it is Sunday (excuse?) And of course, you have every right to speak your mind. I asked what did you think qualfied you to state what the PRESIDENT SHOULD DO! It is just your opinion, like everyone else, so it doesn't hold any more weight as any one else.

And you use words such as "allowed" and "running to get away from it". Running to get away from WHAT?

Blacks are RESPONSIBLE FOR THEMSELVES, just like every other HUMAN BEING. I have asked Blacks to "rise above" as you state (or as I say, show' em instead of telling 'em,) for over 50 years and will continue. I believe in doing, not "trying to.

Also, why do you think that our President should speak to "whiteness" and what should he say? Don't you think that all of us, including those who are "white" know the score? I do. In addition, our President has to "play the middle"; the "middle" is what elected him. Your vote, [IF you voted for President Obama] like mine, was only counted ONCE, so he needed more than our TWO votes to win the election.

Again as noted, and unfortunately for many others like you, it is "always someone else's fault". Take responsibility, as much as in YOUR POWER, for yourself.

Finally, I sense that a lot Black people are disappointed because they feel that our President has not listened to them. I disagree with that assessment. He has also listened to those others, too.

W have you ever moseyed over to some of the sites where you have young Black American men and women chatting and posting? You should give it a try and see how our young women are selling themselves or talking about our young performers selling themselves like the slave masters used to do on the block. Look at the spellings and I don't mean just for speed's sake. You need to have a look and then you may see that he is not battling ghosts here. I am agree that what happens to the people of the African Disaspora is very much our business; but you can't be good for anyone else until you are good for yourself. Maybe in your mind he is playing center of the road. But tomorrow, if the election was to be held again, could we as Black Americans vote him into office? I don't think so. And yes we are responsible for ourselves to a certain degree. We have and do swim against the stream but one man can't forsake the entire country to make us swim with the current. Some of us have been down so long, getting up doesn't even cross our minds. We are a microwave nation; we want it done right now and when we don't get it right now we will turn on leadership....or on this leadership. We haven't turned on other leadership since the 50s and 60s. I just say, give the man a break. Did it need to take all that time in hearings to vote that woman on to the Supreme Courts, no. It was a waste of time. that woman was more than qualified......Just an example of how these assholes intend to play this game. No matter what the president wants to do, he's gotta have some votes to do it. Remember, it's called politics not the Holy See.

Who "responsibility" is it to:

- create jobs
- promote living wages
- stop predatory cash centers in predominate majority-minority communities
- stop and go after predatory lenders taking black homes
- stop insurance companies and banks from redlining black communities
- raise admission numbers so that a record number of successful black graduating HS students can get into college
- stop the school to prison pipeline

Let's talk about the "social contract" and mutual responsibilities also.

exactly

"mayellen" had no intentions of having an actual discussion about a damn thing - I believe that exact same post is on blackvoices, the daily voice and a few other sites of choice.

Hi Miranda, were you talking to me, Maryellen? If so, I have no idea of what you are speaking since I did not direct any inquiry to you. Maryellen.

Miranda & Womanistmusings stated their opinions, Are they not allowed to state what they feel or does that luxury only belong to you?

Justice58, were you directing your inquiry to me, Maryellen? It is difficult to tell if you don't address me.

After all of these replies and looking at the various comments on these boards...you really don't get the format when the comment is a RESPONSE TO YOURS??

Miranda...heh!

You talking to me Lilytiger??

(i couldnt resist)

You & Lilytiger both...to the "bad chair"

*dead*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJNnDCOK_gw&feat...
Yeah I'm tawkin to you...LOL

rotflmao!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ROFLMAO

-- deleted

Val, I  don't care WHO responds to my post. But I don't know if you are addressing me unless you use my name, Maryellen. And, I think it is rude of you to not address me by name. And why do you use "we"? Are you the one responsible for all of the postings?

What are you talking about? and I suggest you watch your tone because just like you I can choose to be polite or not.

Hi Morphus, who's responsibility do YOU think it is for the objects you mentioned in your posting?

My point is, it's too simplistic to lay at the feet of the AA community their failures when in fact there are too few in positions of authority or in policy-making positions to make effective changes.

Lets look at education. It is my opinion, that the AA community is bleeding from their collective ears from hearing the "education" mantra, over and over again. It seems that the AA community heard the steady droning of education, education, education. And, I read where record numbers of successful students graduated and submitted applications to colleges in such great numbers that the colleges were crying uncle. Imagine that, centers of higher education are complaining because they were overwhelmed with the number of HS applicants applying for admission. This suggest that because of the application volume there are going to be a sizable number of students who will be rejected.

Plus, there are stories like the one that, rikyrah post on Friday: University of Illinois admissions: Elite high schools from Chicago metro area fatten clout list.

"The majority of students who benefited from political connections when applying to the University of Illinois attended elite, affluent high schools, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of admissions data."

There are a lot of "first time" applicants to colleges and universities coming from the AA community who will not be beneficiaries of schools political connection or alumni pipelines. Who's fault is that? Their parents?

Additionally, there is an array of interconnected issues with education like the brain drain, taxi cab drivers and the homeless with multiple degrees, the poverty level at the bachelor's degree, etc.

Sorry for the rambling, but I hope you get my point.

It's funny how some people mock non-whites for getting an education by claiming they are "acting white."

I have long held the belief that the "doing well in school = acting white" thing was started up by racist whites.

I think it's interesting that most of the 80s era rappers were college students/college graduates and they all had on the HBCU T-shirts...but when Corporate America got their hands on rap you never heard a rapper again talk about black pride and you never saw an HBCU t-shirt on a rapper again.

I think it's curious that conservatives tell blacks/hispanics they're being discriminated against because they don't have any education...but when the black/hispanic gets an education they tell them that education doesn't mean anything.

I think it's interesting that conservatives/GOP admonish hispanics for not knowing English and tell them they better learn English, no Spanish allowed...but when hispanics try to learn English, they are mocked.

Maybe the problem in this society isn't education, because it really doesn't matter if blacks and hispanics go to school and get an education because many whites will regard somebody like Palin, who went to 5 colleges in 6 years, has no command of the English language and is intellectually incurious as much more smarter and qualified than a black/hispanic summa cum laude graduate of an Ivy League school who continously strives to learn.

I suspect RayRay in the hood knows this. He doesn't need a State of the Black Union to tell him what he already knows.

I think black and hispanic communities should stress education NOT as a way to assimilate and gain acceptance into the larger white society (that's never going to happen) but stress education as a way to build up their own communities instead.

Great break down, Town! You always bring it!

co-sign.

Town

Big Up! Big Up!

My vote for post of the day.2 thumbs up!!!!

Hi again Morphus, to emphasize once again, I am laying the "lack of trying" at the feet of African Americans. I don't care if you get into educational facilities by hook or crook, the point is to continue your education. And so what if there are too many applicants, the powers that be will have to find a way to deal with it, but "they" can never say that you "did not try to get an education". The "obstacle to the mainsteam quality of life" will then have to be "something else". So what, again, keep trying; what else do you have to do with your life? You're not going anywhere, the world isn't going anywhere.

You also say that "there are too few in positions of authority or in policy-making positions to make effective changes. Well, how else do you propose that we change that, except though education whereas you are qualified to become the "change agent" and work for that change. But you must put yourself in a position of power, first.

Finally, your statement regarding "There are a lot of "first time" applicants to colleges and universities coming from the AA community who will not be beneficiaries of schools political connection or alumni pipelines. Who's fault is that? Their parents? No, the responsibility of getting accepted into a college or university lies with the applicant, not the parent nor the political connection. Again it seems that some of us are WAITING ON OTHERS! I did not depend or count on any political clout, friendship, palm-greasing or otherwise, to help me get into my college, and later, my university. I depended on my GRADES. It is as simple as that. (And please explain to me what you mean when you say "..there is an array of interconnected issues with education like the brain drain, taxi cab drivers and the homeless with multiple degrees, the poverty level at the bachelor's degree, etc.).

delusional one,

what do you say about the study that came out that a WHITE MAN WITH A PRISON RECORD was more likely to be chosen for a job than a BLACK MAN WITH NO RECORD.

A White ex-con was preferable over an honest Black man.

I would probably say the same thing you would say: discrimination at work. I am in total agreement that this motive is being used more times than not. I am saying though that getting an education is the key to fighting some of this discrimination, and that we, as blacks, have given up on getting a good education. Some of the reasons that we have given up on education is "it is too hard" or "it won't matter anyway if I do get an education", or "I don't want to flip burgers for a living" - when you are not qualified to do anything else. That's what I am saying and standing behind it. We can not WAIT for someone to do anything for us. That's the easy way out. Take responsibility; and that is what our President is saying!

Lets' break it down again: a dumb ass white woman is thought to be MORE qualified for anything over the black guy and hispanic woman with Ivy League degrees by a good chunk of Amurka. The only qualification she needs is white skin.

And SMART white women know what's up, which is why they are all (GOP, Democrat and Independent alike) APPALLED by this chick. Women all seen this chick before: the dumb ass bimbo who winks, shimmies and shows her boobs and legs to rise to the top, and when called out on it, cries and sobs that "erry'body pickin' on me."

Louder, Town!

Say it!

maryellen: Seriously, having a Masters, Bachelors,or PhD do not mean jack if you can't find a J-O-B.

Hi Morphus, I totally agree with you that the end results is locating a job. I am just trying to avert people from using the "not qualified for lack of education" as an Excuse to discriminate. Like I said, "they" will have to use another "excuse", so be it. But the time, this "other" reason comes into play, we might have some legitimate responses i.e., don't do drugs, no FELONY criminal record, etc. But it has to start somewhere, and education, or lack thereof, is as I see it, a good place to start. Remove this as a barrier and then tackle the others as they surface. It takes a lot of work, but aren't we up to that? And also as I previously stated, you have nothing ELSE to do. Nothing else has worked, so why not try this "route"?

maryellen: I don't know why you insist that the excuse to discriminate will automagically go away if a POC had education. That is simply not true.

Since Regun, jobs in the U.S. have been disappearing via: right-sizing, downsizing, outsourcing, HB1-visas, business illegal immigration. etc. In addition, jobs that once required a HS diploma now demands a bachelor degree. Was there actually a change in skill requirements for many of these jobs that now demands degrees? Many say no. Jobs that POC will not be hire for in the private sector they perform exceedingly well w/o a college degree while they are in prison. Go figure.

The jobless rate for POC have consistently been twice that of non-POC and again, it is NOT because of education. As rikyrah indicated below, a white felon will get a job faster than a POC with no criminal record and a degree. This reality is acknowledged and documented.

What must be "tackled" is institutional disparities in hiring practices.

Morphus, I did not say that the excuse to discriminate will automatically go away if people of color got an education. I said THIS WOULD NO LONGER BE AN EXCUSE THAT THEY COULD USE. Another one maybe, BUT NOT THIS ONE.

Good grief, when will "you" people learn. Nobody is buying this act.

GAWD, another troll coming to teach the negros a lesson or two, cause "Miss Ann" gonna do it, cause she knows what's good for prissy and nem.

Barbour's Efforts to Revive GOP May Also Boost Himself

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 19, 2009

BILOXI, Miss., July 18 -- Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was Republican National Committee chairman the last time his party was at such a low, after the election of 1992. Two years later, Republicans captured control of Congress, and although Newt Gingrich, who became the new House speaker, got much of the credit, party insiders say Barbour played a major role.
Sixteen years later, Republicans are looking to Barbour to help lead them back once more. It is perhaps ironic that, at a time of generational change in politics, an elder statesman such as Barbour, 61, is once again poised to play a pivotal role for his party, this time in the elections of 2009 and 2010. And although he says a presidential candidacy in 2012 is not likely, Barbour has refused to shut the door on speculation that he is interested.

This weekend, he is playing host to a meeting of the National Governors Association, a gathering of bipartisanship and bonhomie that is allowing him to show off how the Mississippi Gulf Coast has recovered under his leadership since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. Once the meeting ends, he will turn back to partisan politics in his new assignment as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

He is prospering as other GOP luminaries, including South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have stumbled.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

"This weekend, he is playing host to a meeting of the National Governors Association, a gathering of bipartisanship and bonhomie that is allowing him to show off how the Mississippi Gulf Coast has recovered under his leadership since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005....He is prospering..."

The real question is "who prospered"? Bloomberg: Mississippi Governor's Associates Profit From Katrina Recovery

Little for Liberals in Confirmation Hearings
As Sotomayor and White House Avoid Ideology, Some on Left See Wasted Chance

By Amy Goldstein and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 19, 2009

Early on the third day of last week's confirmation hearings, one of the Senate Judiciary Committee's leading liberals leaned forward in his leather chair toward Sonia Sotomayor to explain his hopes for the next member of the nation's highest court.

"I want a justice," said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), a veteran politician taking part in his first Supreme Court confirmation, "who will continue to move the court forward in protecting . . . important civil rights. I want a justice who will fight for people like Lawrence King who, at the age of 15, was shot in a school because he was openly gay. I want a justice who will fight for women like a 28-year-old Californian who was gang-raped by four people because she was a lesbian. And I want a justice who will fight for people like James Byrd, who was beaten and dragged by a truck for two miles because he was black."

So, Cardin asked the nominee: Don't courts have to take such factors as race into account?

Sotomayor paused. "Well," she replied, "it depends on the context of the case that you're looking at."

The hearings were a moment of history that liberals had awaited for 15 years: an opportunity for a Democratic president's Supreme Court nominee to inject into the public dialogue fresh ideas about the Constitution and the law, beginning to recalibrate a court that has gravitated to the right.

Yet Sotomayor did not articulate such a vision. In answering Cardin, and in scores of other times during four intense days in the witness chair, she eluded efforts of Democrats and Republicans alike to draw out any statement of liberal thought.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

"I want a justice," said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), a veteran politician taking part in his first Supreme Court confirmation, "who will continue to move the court forward in protecting . . . important civil rights."

Right. This from a senate that waited 2 1/2 CENTURIES to address slavery.

Regarding Justice appointee, Sotomayor, she HAD TO AVOID being or give the inference of being, FOR any entity that was brought up so as not to allow herself to get caught in a "trap". I loved the way she re-directed all inquiries back to the LAW. This was genius, because she took the "weapon" out of the hands of her opponents that they had planned to crucify her with. Excellent play. I was very proud of her.

Good Morning JJP!

Blessings to All.

Rikyrah...You did it again! Praise his name!

I want to thank you all. I admit, sometimes I just want to hear songs that ' take you back'. This is one of those songs for me.

Amen. . . all the day long!

Zack,

I have to give Rikyrah props for choosing such Spirit-Filled songs! I listen over & over. Songs like this takes me back and blesses my soul.
*Tears*

Oh yes, I agree. I look forward to Sunday Morning music messages from rikyrah and I too feel blessed by them. They bring up so many memories of how I felt when I heard those songs sung in church and so often they speak in powerful ways to my condition at the moment.

More on swimming pools in Philadelphia:
One Michael Smerconish wants to part words over racism yet hasn;t to my knowledge denounced a single word of the Republican Senators whom accused Sonia Sotomayor of racism.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090719...

Two, the Yeadon Swim Club a response to racism.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20090719_C...

Today's Conversation: Obama's Warning to the Civil Rights Industrial Complex Will Go Largely Go Unnoticed - completely ignored actually
http://bit.ly/4oA8UU

excerpt: Sorry but this isn't going to a feel-good post about the merging of ideals within the "black community". Excuse me while I hurl. Obama is a fence-sitter on many significant issues regarding LGBT rights depending on which way his political career may go. He's a conflicted participant trying to hold another huge entity of dead ideals (that would be the CRIC TM WAOD) responsible for having an enforceable code of ethics. Well welcome to 2009 because we're not in 1959, 1969 and we're certainly not in 1999.

Well, at least he's sitting on the fence and you don't know which way he will go. That's better than the ones before him, because you knew they were going to do nothing. I realize that the President can walk and chew gum at the same time; but he can't do everything at the same time. You've waited all these years for people who did nothing.....can't you even give him a year or two to deal with the millions of things everyone is waiting for him to handle. Damn, regardless to popular belief, he is not our savior come to earth to die for us. Give the man some time.

I do think Obama can do many things at once. Why is it that some blacks are ALWAYS the 1st to insist that "we" wait while OTHER groups have demanded and are getting THEIR needs addressed?

I don't see the gays getting their needs addressed.

My statement was not addressed to only Blacks. It's that everyone wants their problem taken care of right now. I feel that when he tackles healthcare reform, trying to put people back to work and these types of things he his helping more people, while trying to get to the actions that help an individual group. Sometimes though, I do feel that Blacks expect the word "Black or African American" must preceed a topic before we feel that we are being the attention or help needed for solutions to our problems.

And I'm saying other groups ARE being addressed RIGHT NOW. I don't consider the Benjamin nomination a solution but a 1st step.

And what do u consider the appointment of Eric Holder? It is ridiculous for to to want the prez to change structural inequalities that have been in the making for years overnight. So even if u do have a point it is too early for you to be harping that Obama hasnt done enough.

Harping huh? Perhaps you behave like a shrew. I'm talking abt blacks being shrewd.

I saw the Holder nomination the biggest step. We have never had a Black AG and I am pleased to know that his thing is to tighten those civil rights violations.

Again it's about policies and results NOT a black face in a high place. We'll see what he does and does not do while in office.

you get no arguement from me on that. You named the Surgeon General so I simply named the AG. To me, if you have no job, sleeping in the streets, losing your home and can't afford to see a doctor; It doesn not much matter what else is on the agenda. These are human needs and as Black Americans, we are among the worse in these cases. That is why I see these things that he is trying to handle now as most important. I cannot see why many Black Americans feel that their issues are not being listened to if we our numbers rate higher in these catagories. I simply saying give the man a chance. We've been patience with presidents who promised us nothing and when they were elected that's exactly what we got. I'm not dismissing our other needs, but I am saying these basic needs are of highest importance to me.

You are the one who made t about 'black faces in high places' when u mention Dr Bengamin. Try to be consistent!

What r u talking abt? I said these were gestures not directly addressing some core issues. Also these orgs like NAACP have also failed. They should've been advocating on behalf of ppl with every administration.

Simply because you gave a name. I was not talking about people, but since you named the SG I just wanted to add, if we going on that, the AG was much more important to me.

I'm totally confused. I was having a conversation with "heartsandflowers" and now it seems that I'm conversing with Alison269. Alison 269 would you please address to whom you are speaking.

First let me say, I believe that the GLBT movement is a civil rights movement and I will readily acknowledge that members of the GLBT movement are subject to discrimination and hate crimes.

Although, I do not have a immediate family member who is in the GLBT community, I have always been sympathetic and supportive of the GLBT cause. When the Regun admin would not acknowledge GLBT community plight, I cheered them on when they took on NIH, when they put their blankets out to gain visibility, when they fought to get healthcare coverage for their partners, when they fought to get into the ICU with their partners, and when they adopted crack babies. But, and, you may have suspected that there was going to be a "but", although the GLBT movement is a civil rights movement, it is not "The Civil Rights" movement.

It appears to me that everyone with a beef or an advocacy issue wants to invoke the image of black oppression in order to legitimize their cause. The AA and GLBT histories are completely different and the discriminatory laws are different.

Personally, I feel that the GLBT unfounded attacks on the AA community after the failure of Prop 8 caused me to become less willing to be an ally for their cause. And, then I felt personally attacked again in Jan 2009 when the GLBT community didn't think twice about protesting the MLK service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. After these and other antics, I am not surprise that some blacks are pushing back and they are seething at any comparison of the fight against gay marriage bans to the civil rights struggle.

From my vantage point, I feel that it would be nice if those who want to use "The Civil Rights" movement for their own purpose would occasionally advocate on our behalf.

I agree. I think black LGBTs have dropped the ball where that is concerned as well. I've lots of posts about the hypocrisy and hijacking of the African American contributions to this country even by non-AA blacks. Yet at the end of the day when you look at the poor state of leadership and the infrastructure blacks have really dropped the ball and not protected each other.

"If Hatch, who has called Forté "a genius," and Simon, who says that working for the reduction of the musician's sentence "became my calling," were the midwives at Forté's rebirth, the delivery-room doctor was even more improbable.

In one of his final acts as president, George W. Bush on Nov. 24, 2008, commuted Forté's sentence."

What If found most disgusting reading this article is the effort to put a halo on Dr Death when he is described as the "delivery room doctor".

Sen Orrin Hatch successfully worked to have John Forte commuted by President George Bush in 2008. It just never stops blowing me away how people can latch unto one person because of some affinity. As a result of this they then think of themselves as not racist.
The other weird thing is that Carly Simon says she could not find Democrats to help her. The lack of courage of politicians over issues like realistic looks at drugs is just disgusting.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/20...

This only proves we have to find and seek allies who will assist us in our endeavors. That doesn't mean they're permanent friends just that we may share a similar interest (Harold Washington ain't neva lied!!!) Smart ppl go find WHOMEVER WILL MEET THEIR NEEDS not try to beat a dead horse (i.e. focusing exclusively on political party OR race) as the binding agent. Hopefully one day more African-American will get a clue about that and stop waiting for their "Barack" to magically appear out of thin air and find a man of CALIBER from all backgrounds.