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White People! May I have your Attention Please?!
(Ed note: Today's blog head comes to us from Christy. Christy's article delicately begins a discussion about race and racism. It's a sensitive topic to approach, but is also quite necessary.)
Hello? Hello! Thanks for coming! In the interest of full disclosure, I am also white. Or, I am at least white enough that white people automatically assume I am white, so really, that is all that matters.
Our country was recently invited to open up a dialogue on racial issues. I would like to happily accept that invitation. So, you might ask... Why am I addressing other whites instead of blacks then? Good question. Simple answer, I am not black. Would you like me to explain that? Ok.
The discussion of race has long been viewed as something that must happen across racial lines, and that is the only thing that counts. The truth is, what people say to each other across racial lines in public, is never what they say in private at dinner. The most important discussions on race, will not happen across the racial divide, it is the conversation between members of the same race that shape the overall attitude the racial divide will be approached with by either group.
As a white person, I simply do not feel threatened by the outburst of occasional racism by blacks, nor do I feel it is my place to dictate racial issues to those of another race. However, on the flip side, outbursts of racist behavior by other whites appalls me. It offends me, and taints the reputation of our race. A stigma that will be thrust upon the future of my white children the same way black racism taints the future of black children. If I am not responsible for it as a fellow white person, then who is responsible for stopping it?
As a race, we have no right to tell blacks they have nothing to fear, because history shows repeatedly they should be afraid of these issues. That very real and justified fear has been devastating in their social evolution. Most of the time when blacks do try to reach across the racial divide with honest questions/observations about race, they are accused by whites of 'playing the race card', or being 'militant' or 'angry'. Black leaders that do press these matters have a bad habit of attracting bullets. As a white myself it is amazing to me they still try even after facing disappointment and danger at every turn and in every era.
I can not speak to the private fears or concerns of blacks, but I do completely believe in their ability to have this same kind of discussion amongst their own. But it must be a discussion they can have openly with each other, without whites trying to set the goals or standards for them. It must be a discussion they can have without fear of white misunderstanding or impatience.
There are many things we as whites can settle amongst ourselves to purge ourselves of tendencies that are destructive to the racial climate. Regardless and separate from blacks, we must modify our own behaviors to reflect progress.
For example: If you have to insist you are not a racist, it is most likely because you said or exhibited behavior that was racist. Racism does not begin at birth, or with an act, it begins with words. Black people understand perfectly well someone who is not racist can say things that seem racist. When a black person points out your words may be racist, it is almost always met with a knee-jerk and defensive reaction. The proper reaction to being accused of racist words is to ask why they were perceived as racist, and then LISTEN to the response.
When I have such discussions with my black friends and family, I am always surprised at how studied their perspective is, no knee jerk reactions on their part, they have learned not to take the discussion personally, I believe whites should learn to do the same. I am often left full of hope when when we have these talks, in spite of all our problems in this world, our common bonds and needs are stronger than ever. They are conversations that heal the mind and soul.
Another example of how whites can facilitate a better approach to racial issues is to understand and accept that there are two radically different histories between our people, and both are equally true.
For whites, we are the land of the free, the land of milk, and honey. Opportunity sprung from this land and all men were created equal. We built something fine and good here. For blacks, it is a history of oppression, slavery, and sub-human conditions. To this day, their men are 'boys' and no one is punished when they are gunned down 50 bullets at a time. Unemployment, prison and political manipulation is their reality. Both realities are true, and they are intimately linked.
Unless both realities are treated equally, accepted equally, we can not broker an honest peace between our people. Until we accept this is the perspective they see our nation from, we are denying a history we all know occurred. We must do nothing less than marry the two histories into a single narrative that is honest about our entire history together.
These issues as a whole are not just black and white. Hispanics, Asians, and yes, definitely Native Americans also all need to be approached in this way by whites, or else the same pitfalls will keep occurring in all racial discussions, and nothing can ever be settled.
No matter what race you are, our willingness to moderate the behavior of our own self and people is what has been most clearly lacking on all sides, and it is the thing most needed to make a deep reconciliation a reality.
And finally, and perhaps most importantly, white people, quit using the 'N' word. Do not use it, and do not allow other whites to use it in front of you. Not even family members at the dinner table. I do not care if black people use the word, that is for them to settle among themselves. But when other whites use it in front of you, it is not about blacks, it is to the detriment of white people that they do so. It sets an awful standard for our own race to use such rhetoric. No white using that language speaks for me, nor do they speak for a majority of whites who do want to settle our common future together alongside our brothers and sisters of all races.
The days of racial division and hostility between blacks and white in this country are numbered. Just the fact I am writing these words is proof of the progress we have made as a nation and that we are all within reach of a new day where these things no longer worry and distract us from fulfilling a great destiny of reshaping our world into something better for all of us.
Christy,
Great blog article. I know it's always difficult to bring up stuff like racism, sexism, antisemitism, and other ism's, without sounding defensive or offensive.
I am not sure of the progress you mention though. When a 20 year old says to me, "We are too diverse to have health care for all..." and that is a code word against immigrants and blacks... well, I don't really feel like we've made that much progress.
Also, the fact that NOLA residents are still homeless after almost 3 years...
And that the media says, "Is Obama too white...Is Obama Black...Will people vote for a Black man"
I guess it's baby steps forward. But when young people continue the racist talk, even if not overtly, I think it's a long way to go.
That is a gem.
I grew up in the 60's in the (what was then still country) suburbs of Maryland. My parents were born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and Maryland was like the sticks for them.
For a number of years, we had a black live-in housekeeper named Mamie. We weren't wealthy by any means at the time, but there were 4 kids and my Dad traveled a lot and Mom needed help. My Dad has told me he gave up eating lunch out on the road to pay for it. Anyway, I digress...
Mamie was in her late 40's-early 50's, meaning she had grown up in the rural areas of the state from 1920's on.
She made the finest homemade clover dinner rolls from scratch, the aroma could knock you over.
She used to take me and my younger brother to church on occassion, and as my memory servers me, this church had to be 100 years old, out in the country, surrounded by big old shade trees, and it was a REVIVAL!
All black, with the service going on for hours, followed by a large picnic cookout under those same trees, with people singing gospel tunes and expressing themselves freely.
Imagine this little 6 year old Jewish kid and his little brother hanging out at these events.
I also remember cross burnings happening not too far from there during the same timeframe.
Oh, and did I mention that she bought me my first James Brown record? I actually credit much of my funk to her influence!
Anyway, I learned so much from those years, the experiences, and it shaped an opinion very much like the one that Christy articulated above.
Bravo Christy, I am forwarding that narrative on to many, many people.
I sincerely hope this campaign allows this type of discussion to take root in this nation, otherwise, we continue to look the part of immature, juvenile, spoiled brat that others see us as.
Just the fact this conversation is finally happening, is proof of progress. It is the most important part!
Yes, baby steps.
It did not become a problem overnight, it won't be fixed by morning.
But, we are working on it. Finally! We are working on it!
I am appalled at what has happened in New Orleans, but I am also very proud of my statesmen. They and one blow hard b*tch named Katrina changed the heart and minds of the nation, within a week, we were forever changed.
The racists rearing their head are doing so because they feel the mortal threat to their ideals. People are tired of it. Tired of tolerating it.
They never should have tolerated it in the first place. Everyone with a brain knows it.
Let the stupid people stay stupid. In this age of information they are only ignorant because they chose to be. They have no excuses left.
Really, when you think of how DUMB they are, just outright stupid,... all the sudden they don't look so scary anymore. Their biggest fear, is being confronted.
Are any of us left standing really afraid of confronting the viciously stupid?
HAHAHA! I say we should make it a hobby, just to amuse ourselves and do some good.
Cool story Monkey.
I do not remember a single black person being allowed in my house when I was a kid. Except once a black man had an accident out close to our house, my dad let him in to use the phone.
That is the only black person I ever remember being in my house as a kid.
My father hated black people, which seemed so odd to me since my dad was so obviously native American. I asked him once, 'Don't you realize the KKK hates you as much as they do blacks?'. He slapped me so hard it made my neck pop.
I did not acquire a Ms. Mamie until I was an adult. She is my moms best friend and nieghbor. Wonderful lady.
Strange how we could have such different experiences, yet still come to the same conclusions.
". Their biggest fear, is being confronted."
That sounds like the neocon racist 20 year old from last week. I'm telling you she was pissed at having to watch Michael Moore, even though everything he said was true. She didn't even mention the Katrina failure, even though she begrudgingly allowed that the troops were NOT being supported when they came home.
But the thing that stands clear in my head--and I guess still shakes me up--is how she was nearly to a meltdown at the prospect of discussing the whole point of view that was different from hers.
The funny thing is that she's not religious, in fact she will confront religious people to "LOOK AT THE FACTS!"
Yet, out of her mouth poured the most vile conservative, selfish bologna I've heard from someone her age.
But as I said, she fairly shook with anger at the 'confrontation' even though I wasn't even confronting her with facts as I could have.
The stories today remind me of a time not too long ago, when my son brought a black boy in to our very Republican (at that time) household, and didn't ask if his friend could join him in our hot tub, he figured it was his friend and he didn't have to ask me.
Well, his stepdad's mother happened to be staying with us that week, and when the black man walked in with my son, her face turned white, and she grabbed her purse and ran into her bedroom.
The beginning of the end. ha ha.
In a country that seems SO completely intent on measuring everyone's "goodness" on their faith and religious-ness, it's oddly hypocritical to discount the depth to which blacks have been, and continue to be, active in their churches, in pursuit of the very same God that ultra-white America worships.
For hundreds of years, faith has sustained and defined blacks in ways that should be so clearly admirable and beyond reproach.
So what gives?
... and don't even get me started on the virtues of gospel music.
For those of you who may not have seen the Amy Poehler sketch of Hillary Clinton on May 10th's Saturday Night Live:
SNL's Clinton: 'I have no ethical standards'
Raw Story (Free subscription) | 05/11/2008
This past Saturday night's all new "Saturday Night Live" was hosted by actor Shia Labeouf. The show opened with Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton giving a message to America. Poehler's Clinton says how the race is "hopelessly deadlocked" and she gives reasons why she will make the better president. Reason one? "I am a sore loser... I will probably refuse to campaign for him." Second: "My supporters are racist." "I have no ethical standards, none whatsoever."
more and video....http://www.wikio.com/entertainment/actors_and_actresses/amy_poehler (click on video on page).....
You know, if Hillary keeps this angle up, she really needs to add David Duke as her running mate.
IMO, the African-American race has more than paid it's dues to deserve "One nation, under God."
(When I say "paid it's dues" I don't mean by going to church), I mean by being transported to this country initially to be slaves, and living under decades of oppression.
But then, the same could be said about women at a time not to far from our own.
And white working class, at this moment in history. Along with racial bias, we also have a class structured society that wasn't as threatening in the fifties and sixties as it is now.
This country has GOT to come together at this time, and if either the racist, or poor working class, don't get it, they should be smart enough to vote for their own interests. Obama should stress how not just are we still battling traces of racism in this country, but how the oppression is on all people's of all colors and creeds, unless you are wealthy, a part of the Republican party, and send Your Poor's sons off to fight a battle you would never DREAM of having your own son or daughter partake in.
Then have the intestinal fortitude to have your very beautiful daughter marry her well connected Republican wanta-be husband the day before Mother's Day, while you drool in to the camera's and say "All we want is for HER to be happy, that's all." I'll bet that soothed many an Iraq War casualties' mom the next day, on Mother's Day. Oh, that's right, the feel good feelings are just for the rich and Republican. "Don't want to bother their beautiful heads about war, casualties." There it is, it is THE DISCONNECT....those people don't have idea one about how to identify and empathize with the working class in America.
I think the wedding feast should have been mess kits, and I have a really good idea where the newlyweds could have gone on their honeymoon....
Another thought for V.P., might make a very good candidate......
Democratic Governor Joe Manchin III, of West Virginia.....
bio... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Manchin
Are any of us left standing really afraid of confronting the viciously stupid?
HAHAHA! I say we should make it a hobby, just to amuse ourselves and do some good.
Right On, now that is a fight I love, just took on staff members of Govt, for lying with threat of supinas works friking wonders, to get at the truth.
Obama should stress how not just are we still battling traces of racism in this country, but how the oppression is on all people's of all colors and creeds, unless you are wealthy, a part of the Republican party, and send Your Poor's sons off to fight a battle you would never DREAM of having your own son or daughter partake in.
Then have the intestinal fortitude to have your very beautiful daughter marry her well connected Republican wanta-be husband the day before Mother's Day, while you drool in to the camera's and say "All we want is for HER to be happy, that's all." I'll bet that soothed many an Iraq War casualties' mom the next day, on Mother's Day. Oh, that's right, the feel good feelings are just for the rich and Republican. "Don't want to bother their beautiful heads about war, casualties." There it is, it is THE DISCONNECT....those people don't have idea one about how to identify and empathize with the working class in America.
Excellent Article Christy
VOTE OBAMA!!!! BRING ABOUT CHANGE FOR THE WORLD COMMUNITY. YES YOU CAN
Preaching to the Choir
Excuse me, Blue State people. May I have your attention please..? Thank you.
I make it an obsessive habit to watch everything in our country lately. From down here in Louisiana, because of the 'Information Revolution,' I keep surprisingly up to date on the current clusterfuck our nation has become.
Now, normally, I don't see things in red state/blue state terms. I was taught to believe we are ALL Americans first. Period. However, there is a red/blue problem that I simply can not remain silent on anymore. It touches on EVERYTHING we hope to do.
I see all our democratic and activist leaders, all on the move. It is truly a beautiful thing. The people are waking up, and the message is trickling out, slowly but surely. Our opposition to the tyranny of the Bush family bonds us in ways that transcend blue state/red state and hold us firm against the fear. I see our leaders holding rallies in N.Y., L.A., Phoenix, and D.C.
What I do not see are rallies in Jackson, Shreveport, or Birmingham.
There may be a speech now and then, that gets heartily protested by the very loud minority, and then they are gone. Back to the blue states to preach to the choir. There is no democratic hope in the south because there are no democratic generals here fighting the republicans on their own turf. Don't get me wrong there are dems here hard at work trying desperately to spoon out the ocean. But these dems are underfunded and COMPLETELY INVISIBLE in our daily lives.
Now perhaps, you have been told that we are all morons down here that spit at outsiders and dream of the days when slaves were ours to own. Perhaps that's the image you have. But nothing could be further from the truth. By tradition the southerners are DEMOCRATS. We are only red state because the damn republicans have been rigging elections down here for more than a century. You think Ohio was ugly...? Try Louisiana EVERY election day. But, who do we tell? We are left with the corrupted leaders or telling those who will pass it on to the yankees, who then turn around and forget they once violently overthrew and occupied the very soil I am sitting above as I write this. And there were consequences.
MANY MANY consequences. All of them political. None of them easy. I wonder at times, if Martin Luther King had been from Cali would he have found it worth dying for? I doubt it.
Coming down here to make a speech and then outrun the fruit throwers on your way back to bluer borders WILL NOT WORK. You are simply overlooking the TRUE problem of the south because it is what..? Distasteful?... Tedious?... Dangerous?
And you are missing the opportunity of the ages.
The current shuck and jive campaign coming out of D.C. these days is being delivered with a southern accent. But, not eveyone who SPEAKS with an accent, THINKS with an accent. And it is WAY past time to come and engage those people in a VERY lengthy discussion. One that we can sleep on, and engage again in the morning. I have never once believed the republicans outnumber democrats down here. ONLY at the polls is this a republican stronghold, and if you believe the numbers from Florida can be skewed it's not a hard leap to see the truth about the south.
The truth is, you have abandoned us, and we need you now more than ever. We have the numbers, and the courage, and the will. But, we can not go anywhere without leaders who are willing to risk just as much as we are.
When a hero does come forth I do not know if he will be northern, or southern, black, white, red nor blue. I do NOT know if that hero that leads us to rally down here will even survive the experience. What I do know is this, WHOEVER that hero is, when they rise from the ashes of the old south, their names will live forever in the halls of heroes among men.
When that hero does come, many, including me, will give all we have to protect them. But we can not protect what we can not reach.
When the rallies that electrify the blue states are over and the choir goes home, there will STILL be a quiet sense of desperation in the deep south. As a region we are the poorest and most illiterate, even now. You could get it all back, and win the very heart and mind of the country.
But you can not take what you refuse to touch.
Christy Cole
Now that is just so dishearterning, that so many people may vote against their interests, after the last 8 years.
Clinton supporter on WV vote: 'Just wait ‘til we win like 80-20′
From CNN Political Producer Alexander Marquardt
A Clinton supporter set the bar in Tuesday's vote very high.
LOGAN, West Virginia (CNN) – Political campaigns usually look to lower expectations – but one of Hillary Clinton’s supporters took the opposite tack Monday, setting the bar for a West Virginia primary win at an unprecedented high at an enthusiastic campaign event.
“You think this crowd’s noisy?” said West Virginia Senate Majority Leader Harry Truman Chafin. “Just wait ‘til we win like 80-20.”
“We’ve got to give her a vote tomorrow of 80-20 or 90-10,” he added moments later.
A campaign spokesman quickly tried to downplay Chafin’s remaks, saying “We appreciate his exuberance, but we're pretty sure this race is going to be much closer than that.”
Polls suggest Clinton will win West Virginia very easily — recent polls have shown her beating the Illinois senator by as much as 40 percentage points.
But Chafin isn’t the only one raising expectations.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/12/clinton-supporter-on-wv-vote-just-wait-%E2%80%98til-we-win-like-80-20/
A male friend of mine once dated a man whose family still lives in West Virginia; this guy was a former choir member for the PTL, a friend of Tammy Faye Baker, and a first-class racist. For instance, when talking with friends, he took great pleasure in using racial epitaphs when describing his African-American maid. He had plenty of shame about being gay (he would fall on his knees after sex, and ask Jesus for forgiveness), but no shame whatsoever about being a racist.
I bet I know who he's voting for today.
Moore making ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ sequel.
Variety reports that Michael Moore is making a sequel to “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which was a “scathing indictment of George W. Bush’s war on terrorism and a hit at the worldwide box office.” The new film will reportedly pick up where “Fahrenheit” left off: “In the time since, President Bush’s popularity has plummeted, while the Iraq war continues and the economy falters.”
http://thinkprogress.org/
HAHA!
EXCLUSIVE: Fmr. Military Intelligence Officer Reveals US Listed Palestine Hotel in Baghdad as Target Prior to Killing of Two Journalists in 2003
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/13/fmr_military_intelligence_officer
War. Crime.
When I was a kid, I didn't hear much about black people or other races or foreign people although sometimes in a book or movie I'd see something about a "Chinaman" or "Ayrab" or something. Even my ideas about white people from the south came from movies. I had some exposure to Native Americans, which was for the most part respectful, though my dad was a music teacher at a reform school and there were a disproportionate number of Native Americans, many of them foster kids or orphans.
One of my dad's music students was George "Buddy" Miles, age 12, who died recently and was know for playing in Jimi Hendrix' "Band of Gypsies." He was probably the first black person I knew. (I was 7.)
When I was 12 I was exposed to the music of James Brown via a band called D D Knight Train and the Soul Express, from Mitchell SD. The lead singer was white and very talented & there were some black guys in the band, students at Dakota Wesleyan. From then on, I stayed up late at night to catch radio from Little Rock Arkansas and would order R&B singles through the mail.
As soon as I finished high school I headed for Minneapolis and I had a boyfriend who was older, black, had been in the Air Force in Vietnam and worked at Shell Oil but was also a Black Panther. We saw Sly & the Family Stone play there and he was in a band which emulated them and which was an influence on a later quite famous musician named Prince!
My mother was exposed to some racist rhetoric via her father and uncle. My father joined the Army during WW2, to play in the Army band and he was also in a "Big Band" (sax) in those days. He was kicked off a bus in Little Rock Arkansas, for refusing to come up from the back of the bus where he was sitting with black musician friends.
I had more curiousity than racism, and ideally race wouldn't have been much of an issue, but I always pretty much wished I wasn't white. Even though I might face more discrimination, I was really attracted to black culture. & I wanted to get the hell out of SD, which I did.
I suspect there are many kids in all parts of the US who suspect the stratification and separation by race and class is bullshit. My son insists that his generation is less racist and I hope it's true all throughout the United States.
I know there was racism in Vietnam. I had a boyfriend who was a Marine there by age 17 (oldest of ten and white) and he said it was a big race war over there. He came back much more prejudiced than he was when he went in, so whatever happened over there was very very destructive. Let's hope it's not the same in Iraq and Afghanistan, both between the races fighting alongside each other and toward the Iraqis. When my dad was in WW2, the Army was actually still segregated.
This world is messed up beyond belief but Barack Obama running is one of the first times I have felt proud to be an American. I understand that - it crosses race, class & gender lines.
This was sent out by Seattle for Obama. There is a link at the bottom & I'll abridge it.
By Dave Lindorff
I want to be clear here from the start: there is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Stupidity is a lack of intelligence. But even here, there are subsets. Some ignorance results from a lack of access to knowledge, while some is the result of a laziness or unwillingness to learn. Some stupidity is the result of some genetic or nutritional deficiency or perhaps of some abuse or lack of care or attention during early childhood, while some is the result of mental laziness or a willful desire not to think.
Having lived in Asia and traveled widely in the remoter areas of rural China, and in Laos and other desperately poor countries, I have had an opportunity to see people who are truly ignorant about many things, but who are anything but stupid. In a remote part of Anhui Province, back in the spring of 1992, for example, I visited a small village that had been completely inundated and destroyed a year earlier by an epic flood, which completely destroyed their rice fields and washed away their mud brick, dirt-floored homes. They had, in less than a year, rebuilt the town, and were preparing to plant a new rice crop. They were also, using nothing but their hands and wheelbarrows, building a massive levee that would keep the river at bay the next time around. The villagers had never seen an American in their lives, had no televisions or phones, and in most cases had never been farther than the next village, but they knew how to survive disasters that would have killed the average American.
They were also intensely interested in learning whatever they could from two visitors from halfway around the world. The whole village quickly crowded around me and my traveling companion, another American, peppering us with questions about America. We were invited into the home of a village elder, and served a delicious meal, which we ate among wandering chickens and rabbits in a dirt-floored room, as half the village peeked in through the window openings. Significantly, the thing they were proudest of, and which they brought us to see, was their new school.
I mention this because I am trying to imagine how the average American community would respond to a surprise visit by a couple of Chinese peasants from that village. I suspect that far from surrounding them and peppering them with questions about China, there would be calls to the local police to pick up to wandering vagrants. Instead of trying to communicate, and perhaps learn lessons about how to make gardens grow during a drought, local Americans would be studiously avoiding the visitors. An invitation to have dinner in a local home seems particularly unlikely.
When I lived in a small town in upstate New York for a few years back in the 1980s, I found myself briefly the president of the local little public library, which was wholly supported by donations. One year, we tried to get a donation of $1000 from the local Lions Club, which had an annual carnival and donated the proceeds to worthy projects (ours was an expansion of the building to accommodate books which at the time were sitting in piled up boxes for lack of shelf space). The president of the Lions, a local businessman, responded to our request saying, "What do we need a library for? I haven't read a book in years!" (My fellow library board member, a local businesswoman herself, responded, "I'm no surprised to hear that, but I am surprised that you'd be willing to say it publicly.") I also remember overhearing, in the local supermarket checkout line, a cashier talking to her friend. She said, "I wish my daughter would drop out of high school and get a job. I mean, she's 16 already, and what does she need a high school diploma for? She can work a cash register without one."
All this brings me to Hillary Clinton's proud assertion that she is the candidate of the uneducated white worker. It is of course, precisely why she's likely to win the West Virginia primary today by a lopsided 75:25 or maybe a 60:40 margin. One news program I watched about the West Virginia primary yesterday included an interview with a Clinton supporter, in that state, an older woman who said she couldn't vote for Obama "because he's a Muslim." The reporter responded, "Well, for the record, you know he says he's a Christian." The woman replied, "Well I don't believe him." In West Virginia, one in four residents doesn't have a high school diploma. That compares to one in five nationally. I'm guessing this woman was one of that one in four. Only one in seven West Virginians holds a bachelor's degree, compared with one in four nationally.
Now taken by itself, this isn't to say West Virginians are stupid, or at least any stupider than the average American. (And don't get me wrong. I love West Virginia-- particularly its brilliant musical heritage and the musicians and artists of the region who carry on those traditions, and its gutsy labor union history, which played such a key role in the development of the American labor movement.) In large part, it is rather a reflection on the state's relatively low average income, a legacy of historically low expenditures on education, and a general lack of opportunity. Moreover, I'm certain that many of those West Virginians who never completed high school are smarter than your average college grad, in the same way that the Chinese peasants I met in rural Anhui were smarter than many much better educated Americans. But I'm also certain that a lot of West Virginians without high school diplomas, like other Americans without an education, are woefully ignorant, and vulnerab le to manipulation by candidates who appeal to their baser instincts and fears, as Clinton has been doing in her sinking campaign. It is why states like West Virginia have, election after election, backed candidates like George Bush whose policies manifestly work against their own interests.
A depressingly large number of Americans, not just in West Virginia, but also across the land from Maine to California, including my own state of Pennsylvania, fall into this willfully stupid category. They are content to get their information from television programs that offer no facts--just propaganda and ratings-boosting rants. They don't read newspapers. They reject facts that conflict with their prejudices. They'll believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim. They'll believe that Saddam Hussein was behind 9-11. They'll believe that the earth was created 6000 years ago. They'll believe the moon landings were faked in a Hollywood studio.
Certainly one cohort of voters that is keeping the leaky Clinton dirigible airborne is women, particularly older women, for whom her candidacy is a feminist milestone. That is understandable. But the other cohort, which Clinton has referred to as "working, hard working, white Americans," and as "whites...who had not completed college," is hardly something she or any candidate should be bragging about.
And yet that is what she is doing: bragging that she's got a lock on the stupid, racist white vote.
She should be leaving that for John McCain.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_dave_lin_080513_hillary_clinton_2c_joh.htm
& I have met people who had master's degrees who had never heard of Bin Laden til after 9/11 and did not know who Condoleeza Rice was.
That scared me more than anything.
The best way to mend racial gender and age tensions is to work for Obama side by side.
I have sensed LESS racial tension in this part of the country since the Obama campaign. There isn't alot of overt racism in the first place but there is now a higher comfort level, for associating, working and discussing.
By the way, this is the 40th anniversary of the 1968 General Strike in France and that paved the way for public discussion of a host of issues - racism, women's rights, labor rights - all of it. France had formerly been quite a conservative country and Sarkozy now blames what happened in 1968 for alot of the problems of the country (such as too many liberal types of people) - just as the neocons in this country blame the same time period (dissent) in this country.
It is also illustrative to read the Op-Ed that George McGovern wrote today (don't have it at hand at the moment) where he links what happened in those days to what we need today (unity in the Democratic party and forge ahead)
This is from Eminem. I heard it the other day and listened carefully and I think (please overlook the profanity if it offends you and consider the source but listen to the message) that it explains someo of the hostility and fear.
Parents KNOW their kids can see beyond the confines of small-mindedness and are curious about what's out there. That explains alot of the popularity of Eminem but also of rap in general and black (& other minority) culture esp. fashion and style among the young.
WHITE AMERICA
America!! Hahaha! We love you!
How many people are proud to be citizens of this beautiful country of ours?
The stripes and the stars for the rights that men have died for to protect
The women and men who have broke their necks for the freedom of speech
the United States government has sworn to uphold..
I never woulda dreamed in a million years I'd see so many motherfuckin people, who feel like me
Who share the same views and the same exact beliefs
It's like a fuckin ARMY marchin in back of me
So many lives I touched, so much anger aimed
in no particular direction, just sprays and sprays
And straight through your radio waves, it plays and plays
'til it stays stuck in your head, for days and days
Who woulda thought; standin in this mirror bleachin my hair
with some peroxide, reachin for a t-shirt to wear
that I would catapult to the forefront of rap like this?
How could I predict my words would have an impact like this?
I must've struck a chord with somebody up in the office
Cause Congress keep tellin me, I ain't causin nuthin but problems
And now they're sayin I'm in trouble with the government - I'm lovin it!
I shoveled shit all my life, and now I'm dumpin it on
White America! I could be one of your kids
White America! Little Eric looks just like this
White America! Erica loves my shit
I go to TRL; look how many hugs I get!
(snip - here he talks about how he made it easier because he was white, you know, as Elvis was more acceptable back in the day than someone like Ike Turner)
See the problem is, I speak to suburban kids
who otherwise woulda never knew these words exist
Whose moms probably woulda never gave two squirts of piss
'til I created so much motherfuckin turbulence!
Straight out the tube, right into your living rooms I came
And kids flipped, when they knew I was produced by Dre
That's all it took, and they were instantly hooked right in
And they connected with me too because I looked like them
That's why they put my lyrics up under this microscope
Searchin with a fine tooth comb, it's like this rope
waitin to choke; tightenin around my throat
Watchin me while I write this, like I don't like this (Nope!)
All I hear is: lyrics, lyrics, constant controversy, sponsors working
round the clock to try to stop my concerts early, surely
Hip-Hop was never a problem in Harlem only in Boston
After it bothered the fathers of daughters startin to blossom
So now I'm catchin the flack from these activists when they raggin
Actin like I'm the first rapper to smack a bitch or say faggot, shit!
Just look at me like I'm your closest pal
The posterchild, the motherfuckin spokesman now for..
[Chorus]
So to the parents of America
I am the derringer aimed at little Erica to attack her character
The ringleader of this circus of worthless pawns
Sent to lead the march right up to the steps of Congress
and piss on the lawns of the White House
To burn the {flag and replace it with a Parental Advisory sticker
To spit liquor in the faces of this democracy of hypocrisy
Fuck you Ms. Cheney! Fuck you Tipper Gore!
Fuck you with the free-est of speech
this Divided States of Embarassment will allow me to have
Fuck you!
{*Eminem harmonizes the beat*
I'm just kiddin America, you know I love you
The two men in West Virginia I talked to yesterday, one of whom said "I wouldn't vote for that nigger if he was dead" and the other who said "this is the wrong number for that, baby" would NOT let me talk to their wives, who I'd asked for, and hung up on me directly after.
What is their fear? I believe the Eminem comments speak to that and I believe the fact that Obama is mixed race speak to that - it's hard to believe that could be part of it.
I am very disappointed in the Clintons because if they don't share the worldview of these men then they are exploiting it in the same way Bush II exploited the fundamentalist Christians without giving a shit about them really.
The reason those "swing" voters don't immediately vote Republican immediately if they are so conservative is because the Lincoln Republicans freed the slaves.
It's kind of hard to get down with the types of Democrats who supported George Wallace. That was more than four decades ago.
In Kokomo, the Farmers for Obama headquarters was vandalized. That's where in the 1920s, 200,000 KuKluxKlanners massed. So it's gotten better but these people still control the destiny of all of us UNLESS WE GET OUT THE VOTE EVERYWHERE ELSE.
Timely snark
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/13/163154/935/693/514928
Obama accepts WV vote and suspends campaign
WV has 28 delegates. Obama has gotten 24 superdelegates in a week. Suppose Clinton wins 20 delegtes in WV - he would still have beat her by 10 delegates in a week.
Conyers Threatens Bush with IMPEACHMENT in Letter over Iran
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/13/52536/8804/1000/514629
WTF!?
"It's good to hear her talk about gas prices. They're killing us," said Donna Madden, 45, a part-time high school cafeteria employee from Clear Fork. "She's an American, a real American. It's just good to know that she has the same ancestors as us, that her family goes back for generations and generations and generations."
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-uscamp0513,0,5168268.story
'The same ancestors''The same ancestors''The same ancestors''The same ancestors''The same ancestors''The same ancestors''The same ancestors''The same ancestors'.
Sorry. Just am trying to wrap my head around that one.
Good Lord.
Is Hillary of Native American descent?
These racists that are popping up here and there, let them pop up. The more visible they are, the more universally they will be condemned. That is why racist behavior is almost always kept hidden, because they know when they show themselves they will not be tolerated.
I think that some of the people who NMP have tried to call, and the ex of MC's friend, were indoctrinated as children, both by their churches and by their society as well. They are carrying around prejudices instilled in them as children, and need to hear that this IS NOT THE SIXTIES. There is more racial equality in some areas of the country. I know when my son lived in N.C. he and his friends were in a park, and they were attacked by a gang of blacks there and almost shot. They beat them up pretty badly, but didn't shoot.
I understand why kids join gangs, and why people still have unconscious prejudices toward one another. I understand the emotional and financial impoverity that is the catalyst for these behaviors.
Alot of people right now are prejudiced toward the Republican party, period. Let's hope we can take that and run with it.
Gee, Hillary sure has alot of descendants in this country.
Yeah I share blood with Hillary and the West Virginians - Irish anyway - probably not Scotch. & then English & Welsh, so probably related to Bush crime family too. I hope the taint has been diluted by now.
Just heard the author of a book on Ahmahdinejad (on Terri Gross, Fresh Air/NPR) talk about what a rightwing creep he is - they seem to exist in all major religions. He wanted to move the Jews to Alaska, for example, and to wipe them off the face of the earth. He put up a poster when he was Mayor saying that it's noble for women to love their children but even more so to be martyrs (such as suicide bombers.)
So Terri asked the author what he thought about Hillary's comment about obliterating Iran (if they attacked Israel) - although he was born in Iran, he has worked as a journalist for the BBC and many other outlets and he does not like the current regime in Iran at all - he says they are far far fringe rightwing elements, ideological in nature and essentially nuts.
Still, he said Hillary's comment was "sad" and "over the top" - first of all, the scenario was hypothetical and pretty unlikely. Secondly, Ahmadinejad talked about wiping Israel off the map, so for her to talk about obliterating or annihilating Iran puts her on the same level as Ahmadinejad, as he pointed out.
I would like to see the downfall of all far rightwing ideologue neocons whether Islamic, Christian, Jewish or other. They are the antithesis of freedom, liberty, justice etc.
Hillary's father was Welsh and English and her mother was English, Scottish, French Canadian and Welsh.
So I am pretty closely related to her and Madonna (who is Italian on her father's side, but Hillarish on her mother's side.)
Yet I'm also related to Obama, who has Irish blood, so is AfroSaxon.
The flood of rants by Hillary supporters over at The Times continue unabated. They're not going to vote for Obama, he's weak, inexperienced, and, of course, my favorite, they want a fighter who gets things done. I bet these clowns would have loved Mussolini.
Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"
Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051203014_pf.html
Remember the good old days? Remember how in 2004, on the Kerry blog, a certain somebody constantly argued with me that racism was DEAD and that it was just RIDICULOUS that I could even believe it had anything to do with anything, because we had all 'gotten past' it....?
Ahhh, good times.
One day, I am going to come across that chick again and ask her how that all worked out for her.
Here is a perfect example of our nations 'problem' with Israel.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/13/obama/index.html
Christy
I think it is wishful thinking that racism has gone away. I wish it had gone away.
Here is a perfect example of our nations 'problem' with Israel.
Yeah read that this morning.
Lincoln Chafee Calls Bush Worst President in History
by David Swanson Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com
Former Republican Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee on Tuesday evening called George W. Bush the worst president in U.S. history and the occupation of Iraq the worst foreign tragedy in U.S. history. Chafee said Bush deserved to be impeached.
Chafee served in the U.S. Senate from 1999 to 2006 and credits his defeat in 2006 - as do most analysts - to his membership in the party of Bush and Cheney. In 2003 Chafee was the only Republican senator to vote against authorization to attack Iraq. Chafee and John McCain had been the only two Republican senators to vote against the first round of Bush tax cuts.
While Chafee is supporting Barack Obama for president, he said on Tuesday that the Democrats as well as the Republicans have moved too far to the right. Without any apparent bitterness, Chafee remarked that while voters got a new Senate and House in 2006, they didn't get any changes in policies out of it.
Chafee made his remarks on a radio show I hosted, the audio of which can be found at
http://www.davidswanson.org
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_sw_080513_lincoln_chafee_calls.htm
BREAKING CLINTON LOSES FIRST PLEDGED DELEGATE
Source: Washington Post
Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson, a Democratic convention delegate pledged to support Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said yesterday that he thinks Sen. Barack Obama has "in a real sense" won the Democratic nomination and that he now plans to support Obama at the August convention.
Johnson, who endorsed Clinton nine days before Maryland's February primary, said he will urge Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, who co-chair Clinton's Maryland campaign, to bring all of her delegates to Obama's camp for the sake of party unity.
"I cannot in good conscience go to the convention and not support Barack," Johnson said in an interview. "She ran a great campaign, but she fell short of the line."
"The freedom to change your mind or change your vote does exist," Paulson said. "They're not like superdelegates, but they do have this flexibility."
Obama swamped Clinton in Maryland, capturing 61 percent of the vote statewide and 79 percent of the vote in Prince George's County. Given the results in Maryland and elsewhere, Johnson said, the Maryland party would be unenthusiastic about the November election if Obama were not the nominee.
A decision by O'Malley or Mikulski to release all of Maryland's Clinton delegates could be the start of a national wave to unify behind Obama, Johnson said.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
Fmr DNC Chair Romer Backs Obama
Email
Share May 13, 2008 10:45 AM
ABC News' Teddy Davis, Sunlen Miller, and Mike Elmore Report: Roy Romer, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former governor of Colorado, said Tuesday that he is supporting Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president. In announcing his decision, Romer urged other superdelegates to do the same, saying that "it's important" for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., "to know where we are so she is not misled."
"My reasons are that the party needs to get on right now with a lot of business, including figuring out what to do with Michigan and Florida," Romer told ABC News. "It's important to make known right now not only my vote but as many superdelegates as possible."
Romer said his support for Obama is based on the delegate math as well as Obama's strength in the interior Mountain West: the Illinois Democrat carried Colorado over Clinton by a two-to-one margin: Obama 67%, Clinton 32%.
After previewing his announcement with ABC News, Romer joined Obama campaign manager David Plouffe on a conference call with reporters.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/05/fmr-dnc-chair-r.html
Excellent thread header, Christy. Beautifully written and thought provoking. In fact I remember the first time I came face to face with racism. It's something that is so long gone that I haven't thought of it in many, many years.
It was the 1970s and my mother inlaw was visiting for the first time at our home in a small mining town on the edge of the Australian outback. My husband and I had travelled the 480 miles round trip to confirm my first pregnancy. I was 24 years old and had a 17 year old step daughter, a 15 year old stepson and 8 year old stepson, Billy who was the only child still living at home.
I noticed Billy's sadness and I put it down to his fear that my baby would replace him. That maybe I wouldn't love him any more. By the time dinner was over and he'd had his bath and gone to bed, I was really concerned. I asked his father if he'd noticed. He had but figured it was just the pregnancy.
I went in to Billy's bedroom and asked him what was wrong. He didn't want to tell me and his eyes were full. I sat on his bed and said, "I'll just wait till you're ready." Eventually he told me.
"I brought Tony (Aboriginal friend) in because he cut his foot on some glass in the caravan park and I was going to help him clean it. Grandma (our chosen child-minder for the day) yelled at me and sent Tony away. And his foot was really bleeding. She yelled at me because we got blood everywhere."
I was stunned. These 2 friends were 8 years old.
Billy's room was off the lounge room where his grandmother was sitting watching television. I walked out choking on my rage. As calmly as I could I asked her why she'd sent Tony home and she answered, "He's black." And the words spewed out. "How dare you treat anyone who is injured like that! Billy's friends are as welcome in this house as you are. After this, his friends are more welcome."
"But he was bleeding all over the bathroom floor."
"I don't care if he was bleeding all over the carpet! He was hurt and he needed your help. I certainly hope that he's ok after all this."
Needless to say my mother inlaw ended her visit and left the next morning. I doubt that I taught her anything except to never want anything to do with me. I saw her only one more time after that.
As an aside, after many years away, I went back to that town in the mid '90s. I went into a Club one night and a young man in his late 20s came up and hugged me and said "It's good to see you." He saw the surprise on my face and said, "You don't remember me, do you? I'm Tony."
Was it that experience that connected us? Or maybe it was just that I was one of his (and Billy's) primary school teachers. Either way - we're connected. And that's nice.
Monkey, stories like yours are so good. A book I read at least once a year is, To Kill A Mockingbird. The smells of the kitchen and the sounds of black church culture of the time, from the perspectives of white children are a delight that I indulge myself with over and over. I can see you and your brother enjoying the church services just as Scout and Jem Finch did at every opportunity.
NMP, sparrow, you're right. Racism is still alive and doing well. But it isn't doing as well as it was. White trash is just that. White trash. Always was. Always will be. When the young make racist remarks, they are more to be pitied because it's as though they know no better. What kind of dreadful life must they live to be so afraid of anyone who is different. What joys they will never ever experience.
Christy, my grandchildren are my reminder to take the message of the joy of diversity to as many people as I can. I don't have your courage to speak it as often as I'd like. On regular mainstream television here are 2 programs that I watch every week - Living Black; and Message Stick. They are cultural and current affairs; political and social. It's a start. A small start.
My latest post at "The Caucus"
*****
Hillary electable? Ha! The GOP is just waiting in the wings to reprise all the sleaze of the 90s, and the new sleaze that Obama is too nice to use. Ever wonder what Bill's been doing since Hillary took that job in Washington? Something tells me that the GOP hit men are prepared to tell us. And make no mistake, Hillary is just as vulnerable to the "she was for the war before she was against it” charge as was Kerry.
When Obama wins the nomination, and he will win the nomination, get prepared for the ugliest Presidential election since 1864 - when General George McClellen and his supporters claimed that if Lincoln won, blacks and whites would kissing all across America. Given the loathsome vein that Billary has chosen to mine, we must expect the GOP to mine a similar vein. But that would be a fight worth fighting.
Four more years of triangulation and narcissism? Gag me with a spoon. A noble fight to demand that racists and bigots clean up their act, or be described as the un-American slime that they truly are - now that's a fight worth fighting. The soul of this nation is now at stake. I don't want to live in an America where bigots and racists are tolerated, and even courted. Either we finally live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence or blow the whole the whole thing up, and start over.
Oy!!! No words necessary!
Bush: I Gave Up Golf For The Troops
re: blowing the whole the whole thing up, and starting over... PLEASE don't give the Bush administration any more ideas on what to blow up.
Months back when Sen Clinton (I'm tired of the whole first name thing, btw) was being coronated as the party nominee, it was so rediculously obvious just how divisive she would be in a general campain, and how unifying she would be to the GOP at a time when they were coming apart at the seams.
As Matthew says, the GOP would be fully ramped up for a war on the Clintons, it's what they do best. That fact was such a blatantly absurd given, at least in my mind, that I was instantly turned off, and actually pretty pissed, as soon as she announced she was running.
But the divisiveness she's brought to her own party, at a time when it was NOT coming apart at the seams, when people from all walks of life were ready to vote democratic just because of how badly the GOP has screwed things up, well, for that, I simply can't forgive her or her loudmouth husband (who I used to be a really big fan of).
My political cynicism level has reached new lows, ushered in first by the Clinton impeachment debacle, then accelerated by Selection 2000, then into hyperspace under 8 years of Rove-Bush-Cheney... and when finally seeing the light at the end of this miserable tunnel, back along come the ones who started it, mixed in with the continued huge dose of disappointment in my supposed fellow citizens for not elevating the level of discourse to something other than tabloid.
I'm sick & tired of being sick & tired.
End rant, Part I in a series.
And, for the record, The Times chose not to publish that post.
Gee Matthew, I'm shocked...
Loving v. Virginia and the Secret History of Race
By BRENT STAPLES
Published: May 14, 2008
Americans born in the 21st century will shake their heads in disbelief on learning that 40 states once had laws prohibiting interracial marriage. The Supreme Court struck down the last of these statutes in the 1967 case of Mildred and Richard Loving, a black woman and a white man who were arrested and banished from Virginia for the crime of being married.
The couple became celebrities after the landmark ruling known as Loving v. Virginia. But Mildred and Richard wanted nothing to do with fame. They returned to the tiny, backwoods community of Central Point, in Caroline County, Va., and shunned publicity. Richard died of injuries sustained in a car accident in 1975. Mildred, who died this month, was quiet and self-effacing and maintained all along that they married because they were in love, not to fight a civil rights battle.
The particulars of the case — which featured a stereotypical Southern sheriff and a medieval system of laws — turned Caroline County into an emblem of blunt-force segregation. But the story was more complicated.
more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/opinion/14wed4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
T-shirts for sale in Georgia compare Obama to ‘Curious George.’
http://thinkprogress.org/
The Great White Ape Strikes Again!
Finch: To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The State has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. Now there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led, almost exclusively, with his left [hand]. And Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken "The Oath" with the only good hand he possesses -- his right.
I have nothing but pity in my heart for the Chief Witness for the State. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance. But, my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. Now I say "guilt," gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She's committed no crime. She has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. But, what was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder of what she did.
Now what did she do? She tempted a negro. She was white and she tempted a negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong, young negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.
The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Lincoln County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen -- to this Court -- in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted; confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption, the evil assumption, that all negroes lie; all negroes are basically immoral beings; all negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber, and which is in itself, gentlemen, a lie -- which I do not need to point out to you.
And so, a quiet, humble, respectable negro, who has had the unmitigated TEMERITY to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white peoples. The defendant is not guilty. But somebody in this courtroom is.
Now, gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system. That's no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality!
Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this man to his family.
In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson.
Hang in there, everyone.
I CAN'T WAIT to sing "Ding, Dong, the witch is ...."
Christian Broadcast Network endorses Obama.
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/375071.aspx
Continuing the theme of racist attacks on Black people, see Richard's rant du jour on the front page...
They posted this one...
The Clinton Revolution led directly to 12 years of Republican Congresses and the Bush years. And where was Bill Clinton when George W. Bush was getting ready to launch his war in Iraq? He was appearing alongside Bush Sr, on Larry King Live, telling the entire world that Dubya was doing the right thing.
Clinton downsized the military to the point where it couldn’t withstand a long occupation without significant help from allies, but there he was endorsing exactly that kind of campaign, without allies, knowing full well that if anything went wrong, the American military might ultimately break under the strain.
That’s Clintonian leadership in a nutshell - poll driven triangulation intermixed with political cowardice.
Spare me the moderates who make wars that they would personally never fight in, and who care more about political positioning than the health of the American nation or its armed forces.
CNN: Edwards to endorse Obama
(CNN) — CNN has confirmed that former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will endorse Barack Obama at a Michigan campaign event about an hour from now.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
EDWARDS ENDORSES OBAMA!
JINX!
Matthew... I was pretty excited for a sec, but I dont know that I would call that an endorsement by CBN, but the article does certainly spin Obama in a far more positive light than one would expect.
Maybe, just maybe, the tide is turning in how right wing Christians treat their fellow human beings.
Hey, I can dream, right?
Hey, could Edwards surrender his delegates to Obama?
Edwards for VP!!!
Edwards for Poverty Czar or Sec of HUD... he could be waaaay more effective in capacities other than VP.
Obama will need serious experience on the ticket ... I still think Wesley Clark fits the bill, although there is the pesky little fact that on September 15, 2007, he endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Jordan jails three for Bush assassination plot
REUTERS
Reuters US Online Report Top News
May 14, 2008 09:27 EST
AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's state security court jailed three Islamists for 15 years on Wednesday for plotting to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush during his visit to the kingdom in November 2006, judicial sources said.
They said the court, which commuted their sentence from death to 15 years because they were young, found them guilty of plotting to carry out terrorist attacks and of possessing automatic weapons and explosives. The sources said the three were in their 20s but did not give specific ages.
Security officials said the three were arrested two days before they planned to attack Bush.
The three, who prosecutors say do not belong to any known Islamist group, were also accused of planning unspecified attacks on the U.S. mission in Jordan and a brewery.
Earlier their lawyers said the three were tortured to confess and denied that their clients were involved.
Lawyers defending those charged with militancy since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq accuse military prosecutors of manufacturing charges to try to show Jordan's commitment to the United States and what it calls its war on terror.
Jordan has rounded up scores of men in recent years, many of whom were either detained or charged for plotting attacks on Westerners.
Security officials in Jordan, a U.S. ally, say the rise in militancy is tied to growing anti-U.S. sentiment after the invasion of Iraq.
(Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Source: Reuters US Online Report Top News
http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Jordan_jails_three_for_Bush_assassi_05142008.html
Sources: U.S. cuts off Iraqi politician Chalabi
Once a neocon favorite, he had 'unauthorized' contacts with Iran
Sources in Baghdad tell NBC News that as of this week American military and civilian officials have cut off all contact with controversial Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, the former favorite of Washington's once powerful neoconservatives.
The reason, the sources say, is "unauthorized" contacts with Iran's government, an allegation Chalabi denies. Iran has been accused of arming and training rebel Shiite forces in Iraq.
Chalabi had been making a remarkable comeback in Iraq, but that may now be in question, American officials tell NBC News on condition of anonymity.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24620260/
I disagree Monkey.
As VP Edwards perfectly balances out Obama. They complete each other. Not only that, but we already know Edwards can be vetted at that level.
If 'experience' mattered, then clinton would still be inevitable.
We all know 'experience' is a crock, because there is no experience that can prepare you for the presidency.
And, let us not forget 'experience' is code for 'dc insider'. Exactly what we DON'T want on the ticket.
I like Wes Clarke too. He would be a good pick.
But an Edwards and Obama together, is a once in a lifetime pairing of two perfectly matched forces. It would almost be a crime NOT to pick him.
I'm about twenty minutes behind y'all, but Edwards just started his speech to endorse Obama.
YIPPEE!!!!!!
I've become excited about the idea of Obama-Hagel. I've even come up with a campaign slogan:
Obama-Hagel 2008: Out of Iraq, Out of the Partisan Divide, Out of the Gutter, and Back on Track in the 21st Century
I've been thinking Obama and Edwards since Edwards dropped out. Together they'd be magic! It's great to have Edwards endorsement and the timing is brilliant. Hillary has lost the top media spot it seems, for right now.
And how fantastic would it be to have the very smart and very strong Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Edwards in that inner circle to help change Washington and attitudes further afield?
Christy, one of our journalists here remarked upon Major Michael Mori who was defending David Hicks in Guantanamo. He said, "Major Mori looks like Gomer Pyle and argues like Atticus Finch."
Thanks for that powerful courtroom closing speech. Wow! Are we closer to getting it right? I think we are closer to making it far better. Far better is closer to getting it right.
"There's one man who knows in his heart that it's time to create one America, and not two" - John Edwards
Take that, Billary!
Atticus Finch is, according to the American Movie Institute, the #1 all time hero. Number two is Indiana Jones. Those two beat out even superheros.
I never told anyone this, but I think it is an appropriate thread to share it on. It was perhaps the thing that changed me most as far as racial perspective.
When I was 13 there was a boy in my class named Micheal Jones. Even at 13 he was real big, heavily muscled, a track star. A real handsome kid. I developed an unusual 'crush' on him.
It was not the normal hormonal/kid crush, it was different.
He was really sweet, and we became friends right off, even though he was very wary of being seen as too friendly to a white girl. But, that year his father was dying of cancer, and as the oldest kid, he was taking on ever more responsibility while watching his father die. You could see it wear him down by the day. At the start of the year, he was a 13 year old boy, by the end of the year he had turned into a man, no doubt about it. I admired his courage, and his strength.
Anyways, about 2/3rds of the school year in, his dad finally passes, and he came back to school... different. I guess everyone expected him to seem upset, but he was instead very relaxed, in good humor. I just remember it being so 'adult' of him. He was real composed.
So a few days later, I was walking to band class, and there he is leaning up against the side of the building where no one could see him, and he had his hands on his face.
Something had just made him crack a little bit, and he was just trying to catch his breath. I started talking to him, hoping to help, and he kinda breaks down more, so I just stood there against the building with him, and he bent over trying not to sob. He literally doubled over in agony.
I put my hand on his back, only to look up and see my nieghbor kid and his friends making the same shortcut. White kids. He started pointing and whispering to his friends and sneered at me when they passed us. I took my hand off of his back. And I just stood there, less than 2 feet from this sobbing boy, and I was terrified of touching him. I never tried to hug him, I never tried to grab his hand. Even though I loved him, I was too scared I would be seen.
I knew my dad would find out. I knew he would kill me for it, he told us often he would. That kid did rat on me, and I was accused of being a probable 'ni**er lover' for a while by family and schoolmates. Just because I put my hand on his back while he was crying.
I am still ashamed of the fear I felt that day. I am still angry I was expected to be afraid. I demand to live in a better world than that.
I think about Micheal Jones all the time, I pray for him too. He was such a determined kid. I hope he made it.
I believe Micheal Jones made it. He knew how it was for you, Christy. He had the kind of strength that makes the best people in this world. The worst part for you both was that you couldn't hug. For what reason? You were friends. You were children. The start of that closing statement of Atticus Finch is something you lived.
I hope this election will show that most people want to change all that. What better way could that be done than with Obama in the top job?
America, I think the world is standing on the sidelines, looking in and willing you to do it.
Tar baby?
In a 20-page memo on GOP electoral woes, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) repeatedly misspells Barack Obama’s name – it’s one R, congressman, not two -- and then manages to use the racially charged term “tar baby” in a paragraph about Obama and immigration.
“Remember,” Davis writes, “Hispanic voters are a swing group in this election and future elections. John McCain, being from a border state, may be out of sync with many Republicans but he has standing among Hispanics. Barrack Obama has not made the sale to Hispanic voters. Thus, this issue is a tar baby for anyone who touches it, with land mines everywhere.”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0508/Tar_baby.html
'Sick' Secret Service emails prompt Jesse Jackson to demand filesDavid Edwards
Emails containing crude, racist and pornographic images "were just released by the Secret Service as part of a long-running civil rights suit filed by African American agents," CBS 2 in Chicago reports.
One of the emails joked about civil rights leader Jesse Jackson being killed by a missile.
"The Secret Service e-mail, WBBM-TV obtained from a court filing in Washington, was titled 'The Righteous Reverend,' and jokes about the deaths of Jackson and his wife when a missile strikes their plane," the station reports. "The e-mail ends with, it 'certainly wouldn't be a great loss and probably wouldn't be an accident either.'"
The report continues, "The one about the Rev. Jackson has now led to a demand for the release of any other insulting references to members of the Jackson family in Secret Service files. More damaging, though, is who sent and received them: top brass, including the former Special Agent in Charge of the Presidential Protective Detail, as well as the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago field office."
In response Jackson said, according to WBBM-TV, that he "wants all Secret Service communications which mention him, all the way back to the 1980's."
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Jesse_Jackson_wants_to_see_Secret_0514.html
HAHAHA! They don't have any reason at all NOT to turn them over either. The first batch was enough to blow any reason they had to begin with to smithereens!
Go Jesse!
From that same Rawstory link
"Reacting to the story at the conservative Free Republic site, one user wrote, "Who cares what Jackson wants? Tell him to go back to the ghetto." No one else in the thread had any reaction to the comment."
Pathetic.