How Racist is America and How Is This Used and Perpetuated? Open Thread Version

DiAnne, earlier today, I saw an article that claimed that Obama might lose the election because he's black. If I find the link, I'll post it.

The Death of Republican Philosophy

Things they can no longer claim in their philosophy:

1. We are the party of small government

2. We Support Free Markets

3. We Are the Party of Fiscal Responsibility.

4. We are the Party of Personal Responsibility

Sparrow
It's the same article - hit the very top link I have. I originally had the "smear" email and the photo - saved them. Then today I read the article on the Comcast main page but it's out to the major newspapers because it's the study that was reported on. It's kind of a misleading title, in a way, and thankfully, people have posted rebuttals and also about the "reverse Bradley effect" and the inability of telephone surveys to tap cell phone users and the demonstrably less racist younger generation. Generally speaking, the younger the person, the more color-blind. Racism is institutionally taught, not innate, so I think it's the universalization of culture that has helped a lot so it's one thing we can maybe partially thank mass media for.

slugbug--ok. Yeh. I thought it was a different article because I saw the link at yahoo.

Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle

By William Greider

September 19, 2008

Financial-market wise guys, who had been seized with fear, are suddenly drunk with hope. They are rallying explosively because they think they have successfully stampeded Washington into accepting the Wall Street Journal solution to the crisis: dump it all on the taxpayers. That is the meaning of the massive bailout Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has shopped around Congress. It would relieve the major banks and investment firms of their mountainous rotten assets and make the public swallow their losses--many hundreds of billions, maybe much more. What's not to like if you are a financial titan threatened with extinction?

If Wall Street gets away with this, it will represent an historic swindle of the American public--all sugar for the villains, lasting pain and damage for the victims. My advice to Washington politicians: Stop, take a deep breath and examine what you are being told to do by so-called "responsible opinion." If this deal succeeds, I predict it will become a transforming event in American politics--exposing the deep deformities in our democracy and launching a tidal wave of righteous anger and popular rebellion. As I have been saying for several months, this crisis has the potential to bring down one or both political parties, take your choice.

Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics, a brave conservative critic, put it plainly: "The joyous reception from Congressional Democrats to Paulson's latest massive bailout proposal smells an awful lot like yet another corporatist lovefest between Washington's one-party government and the Sell Side investment banks."

A kindred critic, Josh Rosner of Graham Fisher in New York, defined the sponsors of this stampede to action: "Let us be clear, it is not citizen groups, private investors, equity investors or institutional investors broadly who are calling for this government purchase fund. It is almost exclusively being lobbied for by precisely those institutions that believed they were 'smarter than the rest of us,' institutions who need to get those assets off their balance sheet at an inflated value lest they be at risk of large losses or worse."

more...The Nation

Sparrow
Wall Street Journal's blog has a title about how "race could cost Obama the election" and it's referencing the same study

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/20/could-obamas-race-cost-him-the-election/?mod=googlenews_wsj

They estimate 6% higher for Obama, were it not for the racial bias, which would constitute a landslide.

On the other hand, new polls are showing Obama picking up and increasing negatives for Palin in particular, especially with Independents. She is popular with the base conservatives. Appearances have been cancelled and she is sticking close with McCain because together they can fill certain air hangars and so on with carefully scripted and screened appearances similar to what Bush used to have.

See the article on the front page, which talks specifically about "white women," who are not moving away from Obama or toward McCain/Palin much after all.

This is the link, which I didn't include on the front page comment, and it's called "White Women Shift, Giving Obama the Lead"
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/362158

What's more, Gallup and also Kos Tracking Poll have Obama today hitting the "magic 50" - 51% and he would win the election. Need to increase the momentum, get voters registered in the next couple of weeks before the deadline, and get out the vote. Then there is the matter of cheating attempts already being engineered in several key states.

I'm no economist but did Congress just give the head of the Treasury the power to do anything he wants?

The thought is that the polls are likely to be off somewhere between 5-6% due the race factor. When push comes to shove, people who uncomfortable with Obama because of his race, and whatever associations they imply to a person, is likely to find another reason to explain why they will do the unthinkable - and vote for McCain.

That is the Bradley effect when they do this in secret, as in the voting booth, but the reverse Bradley effect has also been demonstrated.

Excellent!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wQK1al91drs&feature=related

Wow that was entertaining! Love Jon Stewart!

Want a laugh? This unbelievable Greta chick from FOX News gets all bent out of shape because a Canadian journalist talked about the "white trash vote" in America and hillbillies and hicks and so on. Then the Ottawa talking head they consulted to condemn the CBC was totally unrepentant. It's a pleasure to see Greta look like a self-absorbed hypocritical prig.

I'm listening to the new Metallica and reading from the IFPTE magazine. That's the Machinist's union.

They have an article that says Washington Times called Obama "too Canadian." It was because he wanted more respect for international law, diplomacy and to curtail antiAmerican sentiment.

Studies actually show that American and Canadian values are quite similar. Both value health care, that US should have signed the Kyoto protocol and shouldn't have gone to war with Iraq (a majority in both countries.)

Canadians also support Obama 5:1 over McCain and supported Kerry 4:1 over Bush. Canadians admire Obama more than they do their own Prime Minister Steven Harper.

The values of his that they lilke at Hope, Change, Stewardship, Service, Sacrifice (shared) and they believe Canada would be much better off under an Obama than a McCain presidency.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/09/20/no/

No

By: emptywheel Saturday September 20, 2008 12:16 pm

CR has posted the "bailout plan," as it currently stands.

Glenn Greenwald has an important response, as does gjohnsit over at DKos.

But here's all you need to know. Hank Paulson is asking for $700,000,000,000. That's $2,333 from every man, woman, and child in the United States.

In exchange for that money, Paulson is unwilling to accept any demands to make markets more transparent, limit executive compensation, or assist homeowners fighting foreclosure. The sole purpose of that $700,000,000,000 is to bail out Wall Street and only Wall Street, but not to fix it, or our larger economy.

He is asking to be absolutely unbound by any law when he spends that money.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

The only "string" attached is a semi-annual Congressional report--one in which they would have zero leverage to influence his choices.

Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3.

Paulson didn't even have the class to call this a "review"--which underscores the degree to which he wants to be unbound by any and all review, legal, congressional, or anything else.

Hank Paulson--one of the CEOs who got us into this mess--is asking each and every American to give him $2,333 to do with as he sees fit, with absolutely no strings attached.

No.

Bernie Bailout Manifesto!

http://www.sanders.senate.gov

Excerpt is as follows:

In my view, we need to go forward in addressing this financial crisis by insisting on four basic principles:

(1) The people who can best afford to pay and the people who have benefited most from Bush’s economic policies are the people who should provide the funds for the bailout. It would be immoral to ask the middle class, the people whose standard of living has declined under Bush, to pay for this bailout while the rich, once again, avoid their responsibilities. Further, if the government is going to save companies from bankruptcy, the taxpayers of this country should be rewarded for assuming the risk by sharing in the gains that result from this government bailout.

Specifically, to pay for the bailout, which is estimated to cost up to $1 trillion, the government should:

a) Impose a five-year, 10 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year for couples and over $500,000 for single taxpayers. That would raise more than $300 billion in revenue;

b) Ensure that assets purchased from banks are realistically discounted so companies are not rewarded for their risky behavior and taxpayers can recover the amount they paid for them; and

c) Require that taxpayers receive equity stakes in the bailed-out companies so that the assumption of risk is rewarded when companies’ stock goes up.

(2) There must be a major economic recovery package which puts Americans to work at decent wages. Among many other areas, we can create millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and moving our country from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. Further, we must protect working families from the difficult times they are experiencing. We must ensure that every child has health insurance and that every American has access to quality health and dental care, that families can send their children to college, that seniors are not allowed to go without heat in the winter, and that no American goes to bed hungry.

(3) Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999. That means re-regulating the energy markets so that we never again see the rampant speculation in oil that helped drive up prices. That means regulating or abolishing various financial instruments that have created the enormous shadow banking system that is at the heart of the collapse of AIG and the financial services meltdown.

(4) We must end the danger posed by companies that are "too big too fail," that is, companies whose failure would cause systemic harm to the U.S. economy. If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We need to determine which companies fall in this category and then break them up. Right now, for example, the Bank of America, the nation’s largest depository institution, has absorbed Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, and Merrill Lynch, the nation’s largest brokerage house. We should not be trying to solve the current financial crisis by creating even larger, more powerful institutions. Their failure could cause even more harm to the entire economy.

700 billion dollars.

That is enough to give every man woman and child in this country 2 million dollars and still have over 600 billion left over.

A once in a lifetime theft. A once in a lifetime looting spree.

I think we need to dig in our heels, and demand more from Paulson. Sanders plan makes perfect sense to me.

Just sent to Schumer and Hillary:

Secretary Paulson's plan to bail out Wall Street is a flat out give away to corporate interests. I strongly support the ideas of Bernie Sanders and Barney Frank to make Wall Street executives and wealthy investors pay for their role in this all too predictable financial debacle. We need fundamental changes in the way business is done here in America. We cannot afford to simply bail out the bad actors, and allow them to bankrupt America again and again. Lessons must be learned - and changes must be implemented. The executives and corporate interests who profited most from this financial chicanery must be made to pay their fair share of the bailout. Otherwise, Congress will be doing nothing but delaying the inevitable – while generating the kind of resentment and cynicism among ordinary Americans that could very well lead to explosive developments in the decade or so to come.

BREAKING NEWS: Treasury Secretary Paulson says credit markets remain frozen

"The credit markets are still very fragile right now and frozen," Paulson said in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press. "We need to deal with this and deal with it quickly."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26817453/

Katrina Banks, cover model for 'Too Little Too Late' magazine.

But that is the point Matthew. While everyone frets and twitters they are going to do what they want to do it, exactly how they want to do it.

Do you really believe Paulson, or georgie NEED a plan? They already have a plan. They are going to jack 700 billion in cheese in broad daylight and laugh at all of us while we are all running around thinking up 'plans'.

They are forcing congress to act 'within days', and they will throttle it through and take everything they want before anyone stops them.

Who will stop them? Pelosi? That is a freaking JOKE that is not even funny.

I honestly believe they have no intention at all of 'fixing it', why would they when they can walk out the door with 700 billion? Or more if it breaks even worse. They will let it get even worse just so they can take more, and more, and more.

They never intended to 'fix it' all they ever meant to do was loot us, and now, no one can stop them.

None of the plans that will be offered will work, because they already have a plan. Smash and grab.

The down fall of the USA, what do they care? When will they ever get another opportunity to just walk away with 700 BILLION dollars at a time?

Sanders is arguing for a 10% surcharge on incomes over a certain level. There is no reason why the Democrats can't force through that kind of provision, force McCain to attack it, and Dubya to veto it - and make an unrelenting argument that the people who benefited most from these deceptive practices are the ones who most deserve to pay for a bailout.

Homeowners who can't pay mortgages will likely lose their homes at one point or another. The only way to make the investors and corporate executives who profited from this scam pay is the kind of surcharge that Sanders is advocating - as well as a policy of paying absolute rock bottom prices for these assets. And make no mistakes, this real estate implosion if far from over. If you want to establish a realistic bottom for prices, think about what comparable property was worth in 1998, or even 1992. That's a realistic bottom - not some hypothetical percentage.

This is an issue of equity, of fairness - and mark my words, if this issue is ignored, it will come back to haunt the powers that be.

Just sent the same message now to my Congressperson, Ms. Clarke.

If there was ever a moment to act, it's this. We need to light a fire across America. If a Conservative like Jim Bunning is now comparing Bush to Chavez, this is likely an issue that has legs.

'There is no reason why the Democrats can't force through that kind of provision,"

I will give you two reasons why they won't or can't. Nancy. Pelosi.

When she is not on tv telling us how awful georgie is, she is busy making sure he gets all he wants and asks for.

BTW, I just checked in on Rossis blog to see where she's been.

She needs a group hug I think.

http://rossiannsretreat.blogspot.com/2008/09/total-devastation-i-lost-my-big-boy.html

So, why not take her on? This is an issue that cuts across political lines, and comes down to basic fairness?

We're headed into a fairly deep recession regardless of what Congress does at this point. But it would be better if We headed into it with the People not taking of hundreds of billions in unnecessary debt. We're going to need that money to rebuild, to regroup, to tend to our wounds. The economic elite, those who profited most from these shamefully negligent policies, deserve to pay their fair share. It's as simple as that.

If Pelosi is incapable of successfully arguing that position, then she deserves to be out of a job.

Pelosi has not deserved her position for a long time now.

Why not take her on? Because there is no time. The same way the use the terror 'threats' to force them into actions they later regret they are doing the same thing here.

And besides, taking her on... totally useless. She is ONE OF THEM.

Remember this 'They are the ADVOCATES... and WE are the leaders!' As far as she is concerned we are all just a bunch of meddling kids and SHE is the mommy.

The mommy who l;ets daddy beat her and molest the kids right in front of her without lifting a damn finger to stop it.

She would not even impeach him for illegally and unjustly getting over a million people killed with demonstrable lies. WTF does Nancy care if we are looted?

She should have been impeached herself a year ago.

I think we should all consider that NOTHING short of Revolution is going to stop this. They are going to do it no matter who says what.

They were planning this all along, they intended to do it, and they set it up just so no one can or will stop them.

Why rob banks? Because that is where the money is. And they intended on taking it all with them when they left. They intended to do this all along.

And NO ONE can stop them unless we all buy pitchforks and storm the gates.

And they are already sending shiploads of our own soldiers to deal with that.

They already have the detenion facilities built, they already overturned Posse Comitatus, they already have 'filters' thrown onto our media.

They already have made the laws to make sure Homeland Security can violate ANY LAW with no cause, not even a viable suspicion is needed, and there is no judiciary recourse to control them. The SCOTUS is already packed with a bunch of Nazi wannabes.

They even already trained PREACHERS to 'keep us calm' in the case of 'national emergencies'.

The only thing left for them to do is take the money and then turn off the lights.

We are in serious trouble. We may not make it to November.

Oh and I forgot... On top of all that, anyone else notice our Ambassadors getting slapped around and exiled from South America?

Anything to do with THIS?

"The news from the Pentagon that the US is re-establishing its Fourth Naval Fleet in the Caribbean, ostensibly to "build confidence and trust among nations through collective maritime security efforts" unfortunately shows that the days a US military threat to Latin America are far from over. "

That is why they needed Katrina to ensure maximum damage. So no one could see the naval build up. He can not attack to the south without absolute control of the PORT OF ORLEANS. The Strategic Reserves are there.

Over there was never worth as much as right here is. Over there was never more than an epic distraction.

They are WAR profiteers. The bigger the war, the bigger the profit.

Chavez not only represents Latin America, he is a sattelite for both Russia and China, and our people will happily attack him just for that alone, thinking we are in some pitched battle between good and evil.

All they need to start it is another 'terrorist' attack.

As a matter of a fact I just had a flashback.

When I was a little kid, one of the first things I learned about the politics of war was my father trying to explain this concept to me.

"The best way to jumpstart a failing economy is to declare war on another nation."

What will be their 'solution' to Wall Streets collapse? The same solution they apply to everything. MORE WAR.

Only a mass murder of nations can cover up a theft this big.

True Leader from iocomposer on Vimeo.

Christy
Depressingly provocative and possibly right on ..

Take the money. Turn out the lights. Light a match. Let history decide what did or did not happen there amongst the ashes and rubble.

God help us. We are at the mercy of monsters.

LOOK!

In a supporting affidavit from Mr. Spoonamore (filed along with the motion for relief from stay), Spoonamore writes that Connell "clearly agrees that the electronic voting systems in the US are not secure." He continues, "Mr. Connell is a devout Catholic. He has admitted to me that in his zeal to 'save the unborn' he may have helped others who have compromised elections. He was clearly uncomfortable when I asked directly about Ohio 2004."

In addition to Spoonamore's affidavit, Arnebeck has filed with the court an affidavit from Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips, author of the book Witness to a Crime: A Citizens' Audit of an American Election. Dr. Phillips writes: "Having personally examined 126,000 ballots, 127 poll books, and 141 voter signature books from 18 counties in Ohio, and having examined many other election records as well, it is my conclusion that there is so much evidence of ballot alteration, ballot substitution, ballot box stuffing, ballot destruction, vote switching, tabulator rigging, and old-fashioned voter suppression, that the results of the 2004 presidential election, in all likelihood, have been reversed."

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/electionstrikeforce/2008/09/motion_for_relief_of_stay_file.html

Let's just get this out in the open, shall we?

I am not playing these email games.

Sherry.

This (email) is probably the most insane thing I have ever read.

You have a right to believe whatever you want to believe. But if you vote for them you are voting for WAR. What does God say about that?

I hope God forgives you because as a patriot, I never will.

Go to them, and let them lie to you and pretend they SPEAK FOR GOD. With this one letter you have severed any bond that was made between us as either friends or Christians.

I hope you take care of that Obama I painted for you. Commissioned for you by a Sparrow, sent from God to save my own life

Let me guess, you have already trashed it? In the NAME OF GOD...?

Goodbye TSP. Please do not send me anymore religious rants. As a Christian and a Patriot, they offend me deeply.

C. Cole

Sherry has a tendency to be emotional, and that letter was hot pink emotional...

I do think it's fair to point out that Palin's religiosity is being mocked in ways that are a bit unseemly, especially by people who likely have an agenda to grind against religion in general. I think she's a magical thinker - and hence completely unqualified to be "Commander-in-Chief in waiting" in a terrible war of ideas - but the fact that she's a "faith-based" person doesn't make her a monster. She may be one, but her "faith" is not the basis for her deep character flaws. Her total lack of exposure to alternative ideas, not to mention foreign policy or the wider world, that's a very different story.

I heard Bill Maher go off the other night on religion, and he made me want to jump through the screen, grab him by the neck, and point out the truly terrible things that have been done by "secular" regimes over the past 250 years. The death toll of secular regimes since the French Revolution utterly overwhelms all the murders we know of committed by religions over the past two thousand years. Just add the numbers of Stalin's dead, Mao's dead, Hitler's dead, and Robespierre's dead...and try then comparing those numbers to the Crusades, and the Spanish Inquisition, and whatever other incident you care to point to.

When it comes to Abortion, I truly come down with Voltaire's position that man's obligation is to care for the living. I'll leave the unborn to God. We do such a terrible job taking care of the living, as is. We know so very little about the nature of existence, and yet we go around pretending that we have a clue what God does or doesn't think.

The God that I know of creates black holes that consume entire universes, and allows plagues to wipe out huge percentages of population, regardless of whether they've been naughty or nice. The idea that God, even the God of the Bible, is somehow "pro-life" has yet to demonstrated to me in any credible way.

This is not about becoming 'secular'. There are far too many christians in this country for us to ever be truly secular.

This is about the religious CRAZIES being stirred up to vote against their own best interests simply because someone claimed to be a believer and that made them HOLY THAN THOU!

I really doubt Palin is anymore 'faith based' than what she needs to be to manipulate voters in her favor. God to these people is no more than magic beans or bridges they are peddling. Vote for me because I have the SPIRIT! YEAH ME!

Like God gave them something He did not give all the rest of us. They make me sick.

This is about Christians standing up to other Christians and telling them they do not speak for GOD. And our nation is ruled by MAN.

The sooner the crazies are forced to understand that reality the better off our nation will be.

It's about humanism, compassion, taking care of the living. But it's also about taking care of others and taking care of this planet.

McCain/Palin care about their own power and their own drive and nothing else.

In their book, all of us can rot in Hell and die cold and bloody in the streets. They'll fool the anti-abortion crowd and then use their powers to make sure they get everything they want and more--just like Bush and Cheney.

They don't have enough religion in them to even follow the tenants of the Bible that they preach. They're all talk. They're hypocrites. And they are evil to the bone.

And they are no better than anyone who doesn't see the 'holy ghost' or whatever. In fact, someone who utilizes that postering to get more power is really not even doing what the Holy spirit was suppose to mean or do.

I took my response off the blog and am not going to discuss it here.

slugbug---probably a smart idea.

Actually, I won't discuss those things at all. Not even via email.

It's not about who is right.

People have the right to vote for who they want
after considering the issues.

Some people are "values voters" mostly.

There is only so much energy.

Use it wisely.

30000 in Charlotte

Christy

I can tell you from Seoul - that the Christian community is using the "divide and conquer" Republican tactic so damn well, polarizing South Koreans into two camps: those who have been "enlightened" by Jesus, and everyone else.

The government is owned by Christians. The national police chief and the Secret Service chief have openly asked for spreading the Gospel of Jesus wide and far through the government. The President, the vast majority of National Assembly, and all CEOs of major corporations are Christian.

It's gotten so bad to a point where a Buddhist monk who wanted better safeguards for screening imported beef got nearly murdered, and the police won't investigate it properly. The Buddhists are seething mad. The Christians want no restrictions on American beef at all, because Americans are above the law - as protectors of South Korea's democracy and Christianity, they must be given proper "respect."

I'm really fed up with the Christians here in South Korea corrupting politics both here and in the US. It's not just about the Christians, however - religious political corruption of all stripes have existed elsewhere before. But I will not let this go unanswered. Here's one American who would rather do without all this Confucian "deference" the South Koreans are showing to the US.

Look at some photos on my own blog (click link next to my name) for the commentary regarding the religious stuff.

Catching up at work and here: I too received the email from TSP and I replied. For what it's worth, I felt my own opinions ought to matter to her if she expects me to read through hers.

We have had a 4-5 year conversation in this little community--people have come and gone, but many check in now and again. And we have tried to be based in facts, research, observations, and discussions. We do not have to agree with each other all the time, and we don't. But I have come to rely on the sum total of the conversations here as a gauge of what thinking Americans are concerned about.

I always learn something from everyone here. Unfortunately, I also learned something about the tactics being used on people of faith and fear in the middle of the country in that email.

I think we must provide a backdrop of serious truths over the next few weeks. It all feels like deja-vu and many are being fooled again.

Let's keep the facts front and center.

The best news is the number of thinking Republicans who are not being co-opted this time. I believe it was former Cong. Tom Davis who said earlier this week that "if the Republican Party was dog food, it would be taken off the shelf."

Last night Richard and I attended a DC gathering--a performance of music. The show ended with the audience singing along with the performer, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic".

Mine eyes have seen the glory...and his truth is marching on....

It's always about the truth. Spread it around.

Ally,

I really appreciate seeing the pictures from Seoul. To me it's so amazing that my preconceptions about the country are actually wrong! It looks like such a calm, humanistic society (even though I do know about the Korean War!), but when I see Asian people or think of Asia, I think they are calm and budhist and peace loving.

I should know better. After all...sumarai and all those wars...

My sister sent me this. Sorry about incorrect formatting.

This is Your Nation on White
Privilege
By Tim Wise
9/13/08

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are
looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will
help.

White privilege is when you can get
pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because 'every family has challenges,' even as black and Latino families with similar 'challenges' are regularly
typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call ourself a 'fuckin' redneck,' like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if
anyone messes with you, you'll 'kick their fuckin' ass,'and talk about how you like to 'shoot shit' for fun, and still be viewed as
a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up
some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative
action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island
of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be
president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means
you're 'untested.'

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words 'under God' in
the pledge of allegiance because 'if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me,' and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s
and the 'under God' part wasn't added until the 1950s--while if you're black and believe in reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school,
requires it), you are a dangerous and mushy liberal who isn't fit to safeguard American institutions.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto is
'Alaska first,' and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with
her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month
governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in
college and the fact that she lives close to Russia--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your
running mate anyway, because suddenly your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a 'second look.'

White privilege is being able to fire
people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who ngages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line
political machines in Chicago means you must be
corrupt.

White privilege is when you can take
nearly twenty-four hours to get to a hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still be viewed as a great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose 'next door neighbor' qualities make
her ready to be VP, while if you're a black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you're irresponsibly exploiting them.

White privilege is being able to give a 36 minute speech in which you talk about
lipstick and make fun of your opponent, while laying out no substantive policy positions on any issue at all, and still manage to be considered a legitimate candidate, while a black person who gives an hour speech the
week before, in which he lays out specific policy proposals on several issues, is still criticized for being too vague about what he would do if elected.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely
criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring
Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's
punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just
a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the
U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for
asking you such a 'trick question,' while
being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to go to a prestigious prep school, then to Yale
and then Harvard Business school, and yet, still be seen as just an average guy (George W. Bush) while being black, going to a prestigious prep school, then Occidental College, then Columbia, and then to Harvard Law, makes you 'uppity,' and a snob who probably looks down on regular folks.

White privilege is being able to graduate near the bottom of your college class (McCain), or graduate with a C average from Yale (W.) and that's OK, and you're cut out to be president, but if you're black and you graduate near the top of your class from
Harvard Law, you can't be trusted to make good decisions in office.

White privilege is being able to dump
your first wife after she's disfigured in a car crash so you can take up with a multi-millionaire beauty queen (who you go on to call the c-word in public) and still be
thought of as a man of strong family values, while if you're black and married for nearly twenty years to the same woman, your family is
viewed as un-American and your gestures of affection for each other are called 'terrorist fist bumps.'

White privilege is when you can develop
a pain-killer addiction, having obtained your drug of choice illegally like Cindy McCain, go on to beat that addiction, and everyone praises you for being so strong, while being a black guy who smoked pot a few times in college and never became an addict means people will wonder if perhaps you still
get high, and even ask whether or not you ever sold drugs.

White privilege is being able to sing a
song about bombing Iran and still be viewed as a sober and rational statesman, with the
maturity to be president, while being black and
suggesting that the U.S. should speak with other nations, even when we have disagreements
with them, makes you 'dangerously naive and
immature.'

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism and an absent father is apparently among the 'lesser adversities' faced by other politicians, as Sarah Palin explained in her convention
speech.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with
George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are osing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because a lot of white voters aren't sure about that whole 'change' thing.

Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the
problem.

Maybe it's a good thing that I did not receive TSP's email. I am not in a mood to deal with religious misinformation campaigns, American or Korean.

BTW, today's (Monday 9/22) Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's leading daily newspaper (and a mouthpiece of the Lee Myung-bak and George W. Bush regimes) reports that this autumn, South Korean history textbooks will be thoroughly checked and cleansed of the past several years of "leftist bias." Former fascist dictatorships' brutal murders of left-leaning (and maybe not so left leaning) civilians will be justified in the name of national security. The 18-year unitary executive Park Chung-hee (he would've ruled even longer, had he not been assassinated in 1979) is currently described as being "above the Constitution" but that will be cleansed to "the architect of the nation's industrialization."

Ally,

They have been doing that in American schools--by the conservatives! I remember HEARING all that talk about 'liberalism' in schools.

Heck...even the students in my classes or at my school in general seem to think that the profs are all liberals. (Thus a liberal bias.)

Gosh. Facts sometimes are just liberal because they're TRUTH.

sparrow

W is the most important ally of the current conservative government of South Korea. And I repeat - Americans are above the law, because the US is the benevolent protector of South Korea's democracy and Christianity.

And conversely, South Korea is a key ally of the US Republicans. The Unification Church uses South Korean government funds to generously fund the Religious Right think-tanks and try to get gay marriage banned again in California. Key Republican figures, including Tom DeLay, the late Jerry Falwell, and the late Jesse Helms, have vacationed here in South Korea.

I will say one more thing:

There is a healthy distrust of authority here in South Korea - even more so than in the US - because of decades of Japanese rule, followed by decades of fascist dictatorships (most of which were well supported by US Republicans).

Lee Myung-bak can revise his textbooks all he wants. But the truth will never die; it's survived decades of Japanese rule and decades of fascism.

Of course, Lee and his political party can, and will, claim that the leftists will submit sheepishly if and when the North Korean Communists come marching south. Honestly, I doubt it. If the fascists can't break the democratic spirit of the South Korean people, neither can the North Korean Communists.

Excellent Video::
Naomi Klein: Financial crisis part of Bush 'shock doctrine'

The bailout of Wall Street’s largest players by the federal government is another example of the Bush administration pursuing a corporate agenda at the expense of average Americans, a prominent author argued on Friday.

In a Friday night interview on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Naomi Klein said President Bush’s $700 billion proposal to rescue the financial sector stems from a profiteering streak that has dominated the last eight years.

"The disaster is far from over," Klein said. "The disaster was on Wall Street and they have moved the disaster to Main Street."

Referring to the bailout, Klein said the "bomb has yet to detonate" and that the real crisis will strike when tax payers are overwhelmed when faced with the debt from the bailouts.

According to Klein, the bomb will detonate if Sen. John McCain becomes president and "rationalizes" that it is necessary to privatize government programs like social security and healthcare because neither the government nor Americans can afford them.

"The real disaster has yet to come; the real disaster is the debt that is going to explode on American tax payers," Klein said.

how crises, real or perceived, have been used by governments, especially the United States under George W. Bush, to strong-arm a disoriented citizenry into accepting changes to its rights, and its government, that it wouldn't otherwise accept.

But Andrew Sullivan of TheAtlantic.com disagreed with Klein that a few "demonized" companies were at fault when the real culprit behind the mortgage crisis has been the willingness of Americans to

"[The American people] have spent and borrowed more than they could actually support," Sullivan said. "…To some extent, the American people are responsible for the crisis they are currently in."

Klein quickly shot back her own rebuttal.

"The reason why this bubble was allowed to inflate is not because the American people demanded it, it was because it was spectacularly profitable for Wall Street," Klein said.

This video is from HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, broadcast September 19, 2008.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Naomi_Klein_Financial_crisis_part_of_0921.html

Christy, Carol, thanks much appreciated.

Dollar May Get `Crushed' as Traders Weigh Up Bailout
Source: Bloomberg

Dollar May Get `Crushed' as Traders Weigh Up Bailout (Update1)

By Bo Nielsen and Anchalee Worrachate

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan to end the rout in U.S. financial markets may derail the dollar's three-month rally as investors weigh the costs of the rescue.

The combination of spending $700 billion on soured mortgage-related assets and providing $400 billion to guarantee money-market mutual funds will boost U.S. borrowing as much as $1 trillion, according to Barclays Capital interest-rate strategist Michael Pond in New York. While the rescue may restore investor confidence to battered financial markets, traders will again focus on the twin budget and current-account deficits and negative real U.S. interest rates.

``As we get to the other side of this, the dollar will get crushed,'' said John Taylor, chairman of New York-based International Foreign Exchange Concepts Inc., the world's biggest currency hedge-fund firm, which manages about $15 billion.

The dollar fell against 14 of the world's most-traded currencies on Sept. 19, including the euro, as Paulson unveiled the plan, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 4 percent. The plan may end the rally that began in June and drove the U.S. currency up 10 percent versus the euro, 2 percent against the yen and almost 13 percent compared with Brazil's real, strategists said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arSYa87HCb9U&refer=home

The 700 Billion is the collateral being placed on the table secured by Taxpayers courtesy of annointed individuals, the Feds.

The actual amount that this will cost is not known, the 700 Billion is only to secure total amount that securities houses and banks will unload and at what discount. The American Taxpayer will be on the hook for the 700Billion, PLUS the balance. Think of it a downpayment against future obligations.

It will probably run in the 3-4 trillion range when all is said and done, and this excludes interest. it may be a great deal more.

Watch how many financial houses run to be reclassified so they qualify for this feeding frenzy. Foreign Banks will want to get in on this, since they didnt know better than offer mortgages for no money down to individuals that dont have steady or sufficient income.

This is the nail in the coffin. The last act of a corrupt adminstration that will bring down a Nation. If this is not enough to create outrage, then the idiom is accurate; a people get the government they deserve.

My friends could not figure out why i moved to China, now they are asking for windows of travel time so they can visit and investigate relocation for themselves.

This is the nail in the coffin. The last act of a corrupt adminstration that will bring down a Nation. If this is not enough to create outrage, then the idiom is accurate; a people get the government they deserve.

Amen

Karen, that is the reason I responded to her here.

I got dragged into by surprise and I was not going to get caught between all the people emailing me from this group behind the scenes. If it is good enough to mass email us all about then By God it can be done right here, out in the open.

And yes, that email is a perfect case study of religious intrests trumping all patriotic intrests.

ENOUGH ALREADY!

BUSTED!

Q: In 1999, you were one of the senators who helped pass deregulation of Wall Street. Do you regret that now?

McCAIN: No. I think the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy.

Watch it

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/21/mccain-deregulation/

The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating. -Thomas Jefferson

History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance. -James Madison

If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations. -Andrew Jackson

The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity. -Abraham Lincoln

Issue of currency should be lodged with the government and be protected from domination by Wall Street. We are opposed to...provisions [which] would place our currency and credit system in private hands. - Theodore Roosevelt

Despite these warnings, Woodrow Wilson signed the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. A few years later he wrote: I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. -Woodrow Wilson

Years later, reflecting on the major banks' control in Washington, President Franklin Roosevelt paid this indirect praise to his distant predecessor President Andrew Jackson, who had "killed" the 2nd Bank of the U.S. (an earlier type of the Federal Reserve System). After Jackson's administration the bankers' influence was gradually restored and increased, culminating in the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Roosevelt knew this history;

The real truth of the matter is,as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since
the days of Andrew Jackson... -Franklin D. Roosevelt
(in a letter to Colonel House, dated November 21, 1933)

Good morning Toolmaker. TY for the quotes, very interesting and helpful.

I had another flashback, but this one is weird, I was wondering if anyone else remembered it.

Ok, on 911, the night before, Rummy announces 2.3 TRILLION dollars was missing from the Pentagon. The news of it was just starting to trickle out on the papers on the morning of 911. The 'largest theft in history' was being announced.

But I remember now, I was already watching/focused on New York that morning because there was a HUGE freaking hurricane BIGGER than Katrina headed straight for New York City.

At the last minute, right after the attacks, she unexpectedly turned away from New York City and went back out to sea.

On the morning of 911 I turned on the news to anxiously await hurricane Erin and ALREADY was expecting the destruction of New York City that day.

I was ALREADY EXPECTING to watch the Towers fall that day, from wind and floods.

Why was New York not being EVACUATED....? Why did they all just go to work with a hurricane BIGGER than Katrina headed straight for them?

Why in the hell did it take me 7 years to remember that?

Holy crap. I'm trippin!

BTW Rossi, you're welcome and I love you.

I'm so proud of my friend Ari for kicking ass on television.

GREAT job, Ari. The meanness of laughing at the disenfranchised is going to do them in. They are bullies and thugs and they are wrong on the problems and the solutions. That's what we have to keep pointing out.

And TM, thanks for the reminders that we set up for this crisis back in the 19th century, and the forefathers must be smacking their foreheads and rolling rolling in their graves...

What really happened on Nov 2nd, 2004?

Here is what, and they even name names.

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/images/Phillips%20Aff%20to%20Reply%20filed%2091708.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vCK8mSyhb0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8NkQQ6oMtc&feature=related

Substitute for "Lodi" just about any place remote from Houston for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA7iGxV6rt4

Christy
Interesting

Hurricane Erin developed from a tropical wave on September 1, and strengthened to a 60 mph (95 km/h) tropical storm as it moved to the west-northwest. After weakening due to wind shear, the remnants re-organized into a tropical depression the next day, and Erin strengthened into a hurricane on September 9 while moving northwestward. The hurricane quickly intensified and reached peak winds of 120 mph (195 km/h) later on September 9. A trough turned Erin to the northeast, and after passing just east of Cape Race, Newfoundland it became extratropical on September 15. The extratropical remnant continued northeastward and lost its identity near Greenland on September 17.[7]

Hurricane Erin on September 10
A tropical wave off the coast of Africa organized into Tropical Depression Seven on September 7 while near the Cape Verde islands. It moved rapidly to the west, and degenerated to a tropical wave the next day. By September 10, the wave had reorganized, and it was again named Tropical Depression Seven. The depression continued to strengthen, and became Hurricane Felix by September 13. Tracking roughly northward, Felix intensified rapidly, reaching Category 3 status, and subsequently turned to the north as it began to weaken. By September 17, Felix had dropped to tropical storm strength, and it dissipated two days later.[8]
Hurricane Gabrielle originated in a weak low- to mid-level trough that was nearly stationary a short distance off the southeastern coastline of the United States. A cut off low formed over Florida on September 9, and an associated surface low pressure system formed, that was soon designated Tropical Depression Eight. The storm gradually intensified, and made landfall on Florida before emerging into the Atlantic Ocean and accelerating northeastward, as it reached peak intensity as a minimal hurricane.[9]

I hadn't realized NYC was at such risk for hurricanes. It totally is.

http://www.ccsr.columbia.edu/information/hurricanes/

more - this is ripe for development of a conspiracy
http://www.drjudywood.com/articles/erin/erin1.html

Whether there is a conspiracy or not, NYC will get whacked. The question is not if but when. Global warming is intensifying the danger.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2006/sealevel_nyc.html

Any populace seacoast area is at risk. Where I live we also face earthquakes. We don't really get hurricanes but tsunami danger - yes!!! & there is a major faultline right through downtown.

The we have the north Korean nukes .. and the danger faced from Alaska (Hurricane Baricuda)

Huh?

This goes out to Garfield HS, Seattle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zfbrNukQvc&feature=related

Cleveland HS, Portland

But wait... If a hurricane of that size was headed straight for NYC that morning, and look how close that big b*tch got...

Why were they not EVACUATING NYC? I don't get it, they were just going to let millions of people just sit there in the path of a monster hurricane that literally came thisclose to hitting them...? I mean... WHAT?

It took me 7 years to remember what precisely I was doing that morning before the planes hit. What was I looking for when I saw that? A hurricane!

I was thinking 'OMFG Why is no one evacuating with that BIG HUGE HURRICANE heading straight for them?' . And then the planes were hijacked and I forgot. just like that, I TOTALLY forgot what I was doing that morning.

And it was heading straight for them too, look.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2001erin.html#TABLE3

I was already expecting the destruction of NYC that morning, BEFORE the planes ever entered the equation. How could I possibly have forgotten that?

No one evacuated. How can it even be possible such a monster hurricane came so close to millions of people and no one even acted like it was there?

How is that even possible?

Chuck
Look!
http://www.experiencehendrixtour.com/
I would love to see this! It's coming! Look who all will be there!

McCain's chief of staff is sort of being "outed" at DKos & reportedly the guy who "outed" Larry Craig is going to come forth with more & some of this comes from the guy's lover .. AND his mother.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/22/144220/825/541/606626

Sorry if this has already been posted here. I haven't read any since I got up this morning. Monty Python fans will love this from the Brits ........

Michael Palin for vice-president?
2008-09-22 08:09:58
John McCain may have picked the wrong Palin for his vice-president, at least according to this spoof video which has provoked Republican anger.(02:30)

http://media.theage.com.au/?rid=41988&category=World%20News

Found at DU. And boy is it ever true.

A response to anti-abortionists:

I heard a university speaker today respond to the old " I won't vote for anyone who kills babies" say without breaking stride, " You are right and the war that Senator McCain sponsors has killed perhaps as many as 25,000 babies in Iraq alone! Barack Obama has a plan to stop this."

So...how many American babies and children and adults will they kill by refusing basic human health care insurance to all?

Blockquoting was off. My sentence is "So...how many..."

Sorry.

Also, how many children and adults will be killed by living on the streets, jobless and penniless too?

But...the womb is more important then anything else to them.

Rep. Jim McDermott just had the quote of the day:

"This is the third time we've done it with this bunch. First the war, which didn't get paid for. Then the tax cuts, that didn't get paid for, and now King Henry takes over to distribute 700 billion dollars. He's going to be there for four months. And in four months he will make deals and then he'll go out and he'll be able to catch a pass he threw to himself."

DailyKos diary - with good comments - others like me who are proud to be in his District

http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com

McCain's chief of staff is sort of being "outed" at DKos & reportedly the guy who "outed" Larry Craig is going to come forth with more & some of this comes from the guy's lover .. AND his mother.

Out those sodomites.

And punish them according to the Biblical law on sodomites. DEATH.

Another update from Seoul:

The right-wing government has followed its Republican masters faithfully, by announcing massive tax cuts that apply only to the wealthy. The cuts are up to 50%.

I don't know what the balance sheet looks like for the South Korean government, but I am pretty sure it can't be much better than the US. It costs money to fund the Unification Church, to help the Republicans and the Religious Right in the US, to oppress non-Christians within South Korea, and to fund the military operations in Iraq. Remember that South Korea has more troops in Iraq than anyone except the UK - all because the US promised some oil concessions.

The silver lining in the clouds: it only took South Korea six months to regret voting the right-wing government into power. By comparison, it took the average American six years.

Remember that about us putting a warship fleet in the Carribean...?

Guess it is a party now.

Venezuela to host Russia navy exercise in Caribbean

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080907/wl_nm/venezuela_russia_dc

The problem with this entire bailout is that IMHO it is based on a flawed premise - that is, that we are anywhere near a bottom in real estate.

Let me briefly relate a story. In 1986, my ex-wife and I shopped for a 1-bedroom apartment in the Jackson Heights section of Queens. We found one in a building we liked that was priced at $102,000. I soon after lost my job, so we couldn't pursue it. We looked again in 1987 at an apartment in the same building, in the same line; it was being offered at $120,000. We decided to play it safe, and instead rent for another year or two. Then came the '87 stock market downturn. To make a long story short, in 1992 we bought an apartment in that same building, in that same line, for $28,000.

If we study the example of the last boom-bust period in real estate, it suggests that we're nowhere near a bottom, and that: a) the Federal government is likely to be paying far too much for these assets at this point in the cycle; b) there is likely to be a lot more bad mortgages appearing over the next several years, especially if nothing can be done to dramatically spur new job creation here in America.

The real key to avoiding disaster here isn’t bailing out rich people; it’s creating jobs for the Americans with those mortgages, so that they can continue paying them – and thus keep these financial institutions solvent.

The era of Hamiltonian trickle-down economics must end, and be replaced by a new era of Jeffersonian sprouting-up economic prosperity.

Mathew:

God forbid there is a Jacksonian rebellion against a central banking system!

Chuck in Jakarta