Jack & Jill Politics

Blackprof continues to run a census of black blogs, and we at Jack & Jill are keeping the lines open for explicitly local blogs by folks of color. I’ll add that we are not limited to the medium of text. If you know of a good podcast or video podcast that fits the bill, please let us know.

and now, the news…

From “Forward Together” to “Yall Go On Without Me” PAC

By now, the news has spread that former VA governor Mark Warner has stepped out of the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination race. I know when I first heard the news and the default excuse of “more time with my family,” I figured Warner decided that his own scandalous indiscretions were gonna remain private. The timing is just too interesting. Don’t be surprised if another shoe drops soon.

SPECIAL UPDATE 23:10 Sat Oct 14:
Well. This post really upset Jerome Armstrong (just see his comment to this post) and resulted in him deleting the post from MyDD. I’m a big fan of Jerome, except when he’s deleting my work, and hope we can move past this. As for Warner, I don’t know enough to say if I’m a fan, but the rest of my post expanded on what those feelings might have become had he stayed in the race.

I have no information about Warner being involved in any scandal. I honestly thought the timing of the Foley news was interesting and was attempting a bit of humor in the implication that Warner chose the standard “time with his family line” during this of all weeks. So I apologize for throwing that out there in a less-than-obviously humorous tone. I still think it is noteworthy timing. It is my job as a commentator to call that sort of thing out, and I am not apologizing for the spirit of the connection I made, only the words I used. Perhaps if I had replaced “his own scandalous indiscretions” with “any scandalous indiscretions he might have” that would be better?

I am new to this blog and to MyDD posting, and I do not do this full time. I have no idea what sort of comments were left on MyDD after the post because I left my home and was offline until just now, when I found that it had been deleted. I have many jobs (I’m Jamaican like that (that was a joke!)) and hope a slow response time on my part didn’t make people more upset.

However, I also put a lot of time into the roundup this week, from the titles to finding that Flickr photo. Jerome probably would have appreciated a softer, more respectful hand in my handling of Warner’s stepping down. Well, I would have appreciated a softer, more respectful hand in the deletion of my post.

Throwing this in here may not build a bridge of peace between Jerome and me, but I need to say it. It is an unreasonable response to cut my entire post. You could have flagged the offensive sentence and said “MyDD editors consider this statement irresponsible and possibly libelous and are in discussions with the author to substantiate or revise.” I cannot be the only blogger to have thrown out an unsubstantiated claim. Is this the standard response? MyDD is your site, but that’s just cold-blooded to delete all my other work in that post. I expect that sort of response from the Bush administration, but not from the “liberal blogosphere.”

If any readers want to weigh in, use the comments. I will respond as much as I can (within the bounds of my Jamaican work lifestyle). And Jerome, reach out to me and let’s discuss the matter. I do want to understand, but you have not left me much of an option in that area. My email address is on this blog. I hope you use it.

AND NOW, BACK TO OUR PROGRAM…
more below the fold

I also remember his blowout bash at YearlyKos to woo the liberal blogosphere and wondered what could have made him drop. I had met people who swore Warner was the Dems best chance to take the White House, and my own interest was raised to see him speak before the Congressional Black Caucus over two years before the election

Many blogospheric conversations are focusing on the impact to the Stop-Hillary wing of the party, and of course the Draft-Al movement.

I personally believe Brother Al should stay away from this race (and that’s a mighty tough thing for me to say). Keep saving the planet, Al. The US will do what it’s gonna do, but you’ve come too far to step into the soul-sucking expedition that is presidential politics.

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Black Pro-Lifers hold conference
The Republican attempt to own morality as a political issue obviously blew up in their faces with Foley, but the release of Tempting Faith goes a step beyond standard hypocrisy into extraordinary contempt and manipulation of evangelical Christians. This morality play has been used to woo an increasing share of the Af-Am vote over the past two cycles (particularly with gay marriage and abortion).

So it was especially interesting to note that in Philadelphia, Life Education And Resource Network (LEARN), the largest black pro-life organization in the U.S., had its Summit For Life.

The context is complicated and interesting: a U.S. Census report states that black Americans are below the birth replacement rate for the first time in American history; Sharpton and Jackson’s recent comments about abortion not being a major black issue; and there’s an attempt to tie the fight against abortion to the fight for civil rights…

Booker Rising summarizes a point made by XY:

Dr. Alveda King, who has also had an abortion in the past, recalls memories of her childhood home in Birmingham, Alabama. It was later bombed by those who hated civil rights activism of her family. She asserted that just as she and her family should have been comfortable and safe in their own home, so should an unborn child feel safe inside of his or her mother during pregnancy

Strangely, the blogosphere is pretty silent on the conference so far as is the local Philly press. Does anyone have first-hand reactions or reports?

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A new report suggests that 655,000 Iraqis have been killed since the US invasion, an order of magnitude more that the White House’s claim of 30,000. Numeric accuracy is never a strong point for the class in power, whether it’s under-counting the Million Man March, the cost of the Prescription Drug Care bill or over-stating the number of Iraqi police and military force.

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Kerry Healey’s increasingly divisive and racist rhetoric against Deval Patrick in the Mass. governor’s race continues to get attention from our own Jill Tubman plus Skeptical Brotha.

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African American Political Pundit has an interview with Republican Joe Lavigne who’s trying to unseat Louisiana’s money-freezing William Jefferson

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Al responds to Lieberman’s dis.

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JJP celebrates an unofficial educational black video day.

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General Sir Richard Dannatt says it will soon be time for the British Army to roll out of Iraq, but not cut and run.

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Oh yes, I suppose I was inspired by the Bush administration to leave this situation on the back burner. North Korea tested a few nukes, and the UN has imposed sanctions.