Obama Sticks Clinton on War

Whatever issues I have with Obama on policy, He definitely got the war resolution issue right and has just given Hillary a right pounding on the issue.

Technorati Tags: 2008 US Elections

Immigration and the Democratic Debate

Anyone see anything wrong with the title of this post. It says Immigration. See that's the problem. The question ought never be about "immigration" it ought to be about "illegal immigration."

Obama and Clinton were asked about the effects of [illegal] immigration on the African-American community. THey did not say "illegal" immigration and nor did they mention "poor." The question ought to have been:

What is the effect of illegal immigration on poor African-Americans. Obama ducked the question by saying, insultingly I may add, that balck folk talking about immigrants are scapegoating. Bullshit. Clinton made a far better statement and acknowledged that businesses exploit illegal immigrants to the detriment of US Citizens and legal residents. So her statements jibes with the facts on the ground which is that the presence of illegal immigrants "entices" businesses to suppress wages. I have discussed this at length and have proof of this issue here

I would ask that Obama desist from insulting the intelligence of African-Americans on this subject in his effort to pander to Hispanics. It's not necessary.

Oh an on drivers licenses: Driving is a privilege and not a right. The reason why licenses for illegal immigrants in NY was rejected by the voter was because New Yorkers, by and large are pissed off at being ticketed, fined and whatnot, made to dig up proof of personhood by the government for the privilege of driving and then be told that folks who have no legal right to even be in the state are to be afforded that same "privilege." Since I agree that people ought not to be made to show papers to prove they are citizens or legal residents to police officers, then I agree that drivers licenses ought not be handed out to illegal immigrants. That way it is assumed one is driving legally, one remains assumed to be in the country legally since one is driving because one has already vetted oneself prior to getting the license.

Technorati Tags: 2008 US Elections

Cockburn Agrees with The Ghost

I said that Ron Paul would be a force to pull Republicans to the left if for no other reason than that he would bring the Anti-War message to a crowd that was used to not hearing it and would be able to confront those who were pro war by assailing their logic. He would also be able to lay bare the fake economic message that many of these Republicans pass off to the public. Maybe I credit Paul too much for this but I find Cockburn's statement on the matter to be reflective:

However, the supersensitive antennae of Dickie Morris twitched alertly on Tuesday night on the Fox Channel as he pored over exit polls in Florida and declared that (a) he could detect signs that the Republican Party was lurching to the left because of the economy and (b) that such votes as Edwards was getting in Florida came from people who could not bring themselves to vote for a woman or a black. Maybe that type of voter will switch allegiance to Ron Paul on Super Tuesday.

Trending left you say? Republicans have been used to voting against their self interests for a while now. I stand by my position that Paul's candidacy has exposed it and a significant portion of Republicans are beginning to see that they are being played but can't bring themselves to align with someone they consider "liberal."

In related Paul news we have the following statement, which is old news really:

It's true he should have been more vocal, denouncing those racist newsletters that went out over his letterhead, but one the other hand there's his forthright statement to Wolf Blitzer on CNN on January 10:







I attack two wars that blacks are suffering from. One, the war overseas. In all wars minorities suffer the most. So they join me in this position I have against the war in Iraq. And what about the war on drugs? What other candidate will stand up and say I will pardon all blacks, all whites, everybody who were convicted for non-violent drug acts and drug crimes. And this is where the real discrimination is. if you want to look for discrimination, it's the judicial system. So I am the antiracist because I am the only candidate, Republican or Democrat, who [wants to] protect the minority against these vicious drug laws.

I'm not prepared to hand Ron Paul, Anti-Racist papers, but he's right on track with his position on prisons. Don't expect anyone on the left, still in the game to even approach this level of discourse during the election cycle, even if they are amenable to the idea. Talk about change. After receiving e-mails with a phot of Obama and his wife in NH, and telling me to vote for him because of the cute picture, I don't think too many black folk are really paying attention anyway.

Oh and in passing Giuliani has apparently admitted that Ron Paul won the debates.

And Ron Paul...



(APPLAUSE)



... who won all the debates, on that thing where you call in all the time. I used to watch it afterwards at night when I'd go back to my room and Ron Paul would win all the debates.

We told you that already didn't we?

Technorati Tags: 2008 US Elections, Ron Paul

Florida Results

As I warned people in my last post, Obama's victory in SC was race based and did not bode well. the Florida count shows a Hillary victory about on par with Obama's performance in SC. If this pattern continues into super Tuesday, Obama is toast. Of significance this time is that the voting process in Fl is closed so we do not know what impact independent voters would have had. You'll note that Obama did well in counties with Black colleges and bordering other southern states with large black populations. My prediction: Obama campaign advertisements will be flush with white faces.



Oh and about Giuliani. This is for Diallo and Louima. This is for Patrick Dorismond. This is for every brother undeservedly harassed by "Giuliani time" police officers. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Technorati Tags: 2008 US Elections

Disecting a NH "Voter Fraud" Video

Found this video on the "assault" site:

And I wrote the following comment:

I disagree. And the video, while interesting only deals with the hand counted ballots which I understand went in favor of Obama. The question that wasn't asked was whether ballots have ever been moved "from the vault" in any other election.



The "piece of paper" question is not as significant as it seems because if anyone is familiar with a crime scene one will know that such things are done regularly and accepted as "sealed" evidence.





When the videographer returns on Jan 323 they state they went with "Butch and Hoppy" They went into a building that was open, but they did not say when the building was opened and by whom. Shall I assume they didn't ask or is it they didn't think it was an important thing to put to tape.



Then the only act of verified ballot tampering was by these individuals who were let into the building by authorized agents.



Nor did the individuals discuss or state whether the "seal" on the room door was broken or appeared tampered with. Nor did the videographers determine whether anyone had entered the locked building between the time they left and the 23. Why not? It's important.



Lastly you will note that the seals on the boxes were very "tight" and sealed from end to end and has the signature of one "p histon".



The tape that these videographers used, once pulled off was not sealed end to end, nor did it have the signature of the authorized signator. Tell you what.. you try to sign my signature and I bet you anyone who knows it will know it's fake.



This video is proof of absolutely nothing and would be DEMOLISHED in court. The reasonable doubt factor is HUGE.

I want to extend this comment because this is important because reckless charges of voter fraud will become a problem when actual voter fraud happens. If the videographers of the above video wanted to prove that the ballots were tampered with, why didn't they stay at the building all night? Why not have friends sit outside of every entrance to the building? Wouldn't that at least prove once and for all whether someone entered the building after hours and tampered with the boxes?

Ars Technica has an interesting analysis of the controversy which has this to say:

Clinton Optical scan 91,717 52.95%

Obama Optical scan 81,495 47.05%



Clinton Hand-counted 20,889 47.05%

Obama Hand-counted 23,509 52.95%



These numbers flew across the Internet, and for those who suspected election fraud, the table above was a smoking gun. Except that it wasn't a smoking gun—it was more like a temporary shape in the clouds that, for a brief moment, looked exactly like a smoking gun.



When I first saw those numbers my initial reaction was that they were fishy; and not fishy in the "Clinton really did steal the election" sense, but in the "something's wrong with the source data here" sense. I wracked my brain for possible fraud-related explanations, but ultimately I just couldn't conceive of an election theft situation that would result in a symmetry like this. I mean, no fraudster would deliberately do something as bizarre as reverse the hand-count and machine-count percentages like that. It made no sense.



After grabbing a copy of O'Dell's spreadsheet and hitting the NH Secretary of State's web site to compare and crunch the numbers myself, I soon discovered that there were two major problems with O'Dell's vote totals and with the remarkable symmetrical percentages that they produced. (Note that I was not alone in these conclusions; there were a few people in one of the forum threads I was monitoring who were asking the same questions.)



First, I spotted a number of districts that the spreadsheet incorrectly listed as "hand-count" districts, but that the NH Secretary of State's web site listed as machine-count districts. As it turns out, fourteen districts were incorrectly identified as hand-counted in O'Dell's source. So moving those fourteen counties from the "hand count" into the "machine count" column made the symmetry disappear. It also made the discrepancy between the hand count and machine count even wider, but more on that later.



The second thing wrong with the table above is that the numbers on which it was based were preliminary, and were still being updated on the Secretary of State web site. The updated vote tallies, which I accessed and compared to O'Dell's spreadsheet, also destroyed the symmetry of the percentages.

But lets go even further than this, Lets assume that the mirror image results were the final results. According to the video above, not only would someone have had to gain entrance to the building without being recorded on the scanner. They would have to have a key to the room, break the seal and replace with an identical seal with the proper signature AND position it exactly like the other one in order to cover any adhesive residue, they would also have to have carried in an exactly correct number of ballots for Obama AND Clinton AND put those in enough boxes to make it look random and do it in enough time to not get caught. You'll note that the original seal shown on the "test box" in the video is clearly intact and unbroken.

So in essence the charge is that the secretary of state or whomever it was that is responsible for the ballots, gave someone access, had the log of entry and any video erased. He also gave this hypothetical person new seals with the proper signatures AND the exact numbers of ballots to add to the various boxes (and if stuffing the ballot resulted in an over count, then the person knew how many to remove from which ever counties. Got that?

I'll wait for someone to post on how and when that happened but I'm not holding my breath.

Technorati Tags: 2008 US Elections

Obama Takes SC. Expected.

But Edwards is made kingmaker (or queenmaker) for SC since in much of the state so far, Clinton's loss margin is almost equal to the votes given to Edwards. Should Edwards pass his people to Obama, Obama will take SC in the general election. Why? Look at the numbers between McCain (current front runner) and Obama, Obama has carried more counties than McCain and by wider vote margins.

Interesting Exit Polls from SC:

Obama took 78% of the black vote. Edwards and Clinton split the white vote practically in half with Edwards taking a slight lead. This underscores Edward's King/queenmaking ability. Further study of the black turnout is that there is no so called "generational gap" among Black Obama supporters as he polled at least in the 70 percentiles in all age groups. There IS a generational gap to be seen in whites between ages 18-29 (those more likely to be star struck and adhere to "post-racial" ideologies).

There are two things that stand out from this exit poll to me:

1) There is very little fluxuation between voter choice vs. the issues. It seems to me that most of the voters had their minds made up and if anything the Dr. King events only hardened peoples decisions. Usually you'll see a fluctuation based on issues. If Iraq was an issue then Republicans voted McCain, if Religion was an issue, Repubs voted Huckabee. In the Democratic primary almost across the board, it was Barack. You cannot tell me that this was about 'issues" when it is clear that blacks voted the black candidate across the board and whites voted the white candidates across the board. It is clear that for whites in SC, the decision was between gender, the race issue was mostly settled.

This brings up an interesting issue. What if there was another black candidate to choose from. What if a candidate with Obama's qualifications and money were in the race? In one sense Obama has an advantage over his opponents, the fact that he is the lone black candidate works in his favor when race is "off the table" for whites, or "on the table" for blacks." This brings me to point two.

2) If there is anything that will come out of a Obama presidency it will get African-Americans out of the "first one" cave that they are currently operating in. Just like with NYC's David Dinkins and other cities with black governors and mayors. Once it's been done, when the euphoria wears off, the black electorate of those places matures and gets back to issues and race can no longer be used in the political game with much results. It is similar to Representative Keith Ellison. After him, the issue of running for a congressional seat as a Muslim becomes less of a thing because a successful Ellison term takes the issue off the table.

Oh and lastly it appears that the Obama campaign has seen the light in regards to my suggestion that they drop "si se puede" as their chant. They've reverted to the English translation. Smart move.

Technorati Tags: 2008 US Elections

Kucinich Ends Bid: Death by "Progressive"

When Cynthia McKinney lost her seat in Georgia I declared that Black Protest Politics was dead. Kucinich, though not black, is also a bell weather to that particular fact. In the last presidential election the banner was "Anyone but Bush." So called progressives became beholden to the concept of "electability." They weren't voting on the issues they were voting on the apparent ability of the candidate to beat Bush. They settled on Kerry. We see how that went.

It is said that insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Again this cycle so called progressives are again seeking the "electable" candidate. This chase puts to a lie the desire for "change" that so many are claiming they are for. Clearly anyone who enters the White House is going to be a change. But so called "progressives" like their Republican counterparts are stuck on "electability " and so the candidates who are clearly not bought and espousing serious policy changes are far and away down the polls. Why?

So called Progressives, especially those white ones that post regularly on Alternet and Kos, are mad at Kucinich over two things. His change of heart over abortion and his "Anyone but Bush" endorsement of John Kerry in the 2004 race. That's all. These high and mighty so called "Progressives" saw fit to make Kucinich "pay" for his "mistake" and now they have their pound of flesh. I hope it was worth it.

If the Libertarian in Republican clothing could out fundraise his opponents, then I'm asking what they hell happened to the supposed "change seekers" out there?

True this election cycle has been like one very long run of American Idol, and I mean that literally because you do realize that those that run the show have the final say regardless to what the "voting" audience says. The media went out of it's way to make a mockery of both Paul and Kucinich yet anyone who was astute saw what was going on. When Kucinich was barred from one of the debates I was thinking that the right thing for the other candidates to do was to bow out of the debate over that. At least it would show their dedication to fairness and democracy, but they didn't so I knew right there who and what they were about. I thought it was even worse for Obama simply because he had kept saying all this stuff about no more "politics as usual." Apparently that doesn't include the politics of media control. But hey what does THAT matter?

But at the end of the day the very people who claimed to be for real "change" simply did not show up money wise or vote wise. It says much about where the country is too. Democrats are on some "anything for the White House" race, and Republicans are trying their best to scare themselves into another Republican administration.

But anyway, after the announcement expect the so called "progressive" sites and blogs to go on about Kuciniche's Ohio problems or how he wasn't a serious candidate or how there was some media conspiracy. But the reality will be there clear as day for anyone to see: Americans don't want change, they simply want to feel good. And as for the Democratic party, consider it terminally infected by corporate interests. I suggest real "progressives" jump ship immediately and form some kind of national party that will have the organization and funds to run their own debates, advertisements, etc. and start grooming candidates with debate skills.

Black Agenda Report Makes it Plain

This site is not called Be Nice to Prominent Black People Report.

WORD. Add Garvey's Ghost to that sentiment too. We don't care who the Negro is, How high the Negro is or who the Negro knows. If the Negro takes a dump on Black Folk we will call him or her out. Period. This ain't no game.

Sean Bell Case Stays in Queens

Yes it will.

2008 Olatunji Foundation Scholarship App Available

A quick note for those who have been following us. There may be a question as to why after all these years has there been no announcement of a winner or winners. The reason is simple, like most other scholarships available, this one goes unclaimed and un-applied for. The first year I received a phone call from a young lady in Atlanta asking if the scholarship was still available. This was about a week before the May 1 deadline. Had she applied she would have been the only applicant AND assuming she qualified would have won. The next two years I received a call from a person who was at a non-qualifying institution and I received a letter from a scam artist who thought that sending me a thick letter explaining their financial situation and life circumstances would make me hand over my cash. No.

So for those interested, or who know persons who would be interested let me say this: This is a serious offer. I require that one of the two questions be answered because this is not a "your black and poor therefore you get money" Scholarship. This is a reward to those persons who are serious about the issues facing African people and are serious about applying their skills to dealing with those issues. This is for thinkers and doers. No a 2.9 GPA is not enough. No, a 3.0 is not asking too much (that's lower than my graduating GPA by a few points). If you cannot maintain at least a 3.0 GPA then I'm not entirely convinced you're serious about study, discipline and sacrifice, all that are needed to address the issues facing African people.

For those who would like to donate, please do so. If there are not enough donations then all the scholarships will not be awarded (in the case that enough apps come in in all qualifying areas). If you don't want to simply give up 25 bucks then purchase a shirt so you can feel like you got something.

Thanks again, spread the word and put your money where your mouth is.

Why America Needs a Black President

And I'm not talking about Obama.

Yesterday I was watching one of those "more conservative" black shows on ABC and they said that Obama is running for president of all Americans not just African-Americans. I've heard this many times and it bothers me a great deal. The implication of this statement is that the wishes of Black America or of less importance of any other group and/or black America's issues are somehow not good for the whole country. That is, they are only good for black Americans.

The problem with this analysis is that it is defied by the history of black struggles in America. The public school system was the creation of the black representatives during reconstruction. Indeed they wanted to get education for the newly "emancipated" Africans in America, but that same public school system would educate countless white people. So here we have an example of where the desires of black folk turned out to be beneficial to the entire population.

Another example is the Civil Rights Act itself. Anyone who reads the document will clearly see that it is not directed only at Black people as it includes protections for ethnic groups, gender, etc. Again mostly black folk who took water hoses, dogs, lynchings, etc. got legislation through that now protects a large number of people many of whom lifted nary a finger to gain those protections.

Want more? How about Affirmative Action, Supposedly this executive order was to help blacks, but the data is clear that the group that has benefitted the most from Affirmative Action programs are white women..

These are but a few examples of how "black issues" have been beneficial for the country. So it is high time that the marginalization of black issues as somehow not good enough for everybody, when it has been "black issues" that have been at the forefront of holding the US to it's constitution, stop. When you hear this nonsense, let 'em know.

Obama's Half Sister

Do you think of yourself as white? No. I’m half white, half Asian. I think of myself as hybrid. People usually think I’m Latina when they meet me. That’s what made me learn Spanish.

Actually my dear, Caucasians and Asians are pretty closely related genetically. More so than Caucasians and Africans so that statement isn't really accurate on a genetic level though as always the social construct can be twisted to fit whatever.

NYTimes

Obama: Care to cite sources?

And so Senator Obama is said to:

Obama said blacks often have been the victims of injustice, but he said they also have perpetrated divisions with gays, Jews and immigrants.

I won't dispute the homosexual issue, but exactly what is this thing on Jews? Seriously. Perhaps he's been spending to much time with Abe Foxman. Don't expect the so called black media (with possible exception of Black Agenda Report) to question that line. Also I think the line on immigrants is out of line, since no black person I've spoken to, including most of the more radical ones are opposed to immigrants. We are all unified in our observation that illegal immigrants are used to suppress wages that the poor and working class compete and we can prove it. We are also well aware of some of the bigoted attitudes that many immigrants come into the US with and we don't apologize for calling it out. Nor should we have to. I do hope that this portion of the speech is not a Obama aping Bill Clinton, "souljah" moment. Not that the general black electorate will care, especially those in DeKalb county.

Republican Shocker

Ron Paul is beating Giuliani (again) and Fred Thompson (again) and Mike Huckabee (New) and is just behind John McCain.

This is some serious ish here. Ron Paul placing third anywhere is guaranteed to make the rest of the Republican field shit in their pants.

Did I mention I'm happy that Giuliani is doing so poorly?

In other news John Edwards continues his decline as the Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket continues to be pushed down the throats of Democrats. And I'm leaning towards a probable Clinton-Obama ticket.

[Update- 5:06 PM]

Ron Paul has squeaked past John McCain to grab second place by about 40 votes. Even I'm shocked. Remember how after the FOX debates, everyone in the FOX "sample" room voted that Ron Paul lost the debate but how most of the respondents over the phone said that Ron Paul won the debate and the host guy laughed it off? I bet they have just wet their pants. Right now in terms of vote counts, Ron Paul is about as electable as Obama. Ain't that funny?

On Nightline last night they showed some local hoes, well that's what they are, who said they were for Ron Paul, one even said she asked for a donation before beginning "services" and had gotten one john to part with $1,000 bucks. Somebody needs to get these hoes on staff. And like I said, they are actual hoes so there's no insult meant in the use of the word.

[/update]

[Update 10:02 PM]

Another Happy moment. Giuliani is beaten by Ron Paul in South Carolina. Also we find that:

Further, a plurality said the most important quality they were looking for in a candidate was that he shares their values; they favored Mr. Huckabee over Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney by more than three to one. They cared less about a candidate who says what he believes, which Mr. McCain has made his signature quality.

I very telling comment there. Republicans care less about candidates that say what they feel? So they would rather a candidate that is fake? Pretty sad if you ask me.

On the Igbo Religion

The following fell in my inbox this afternoon and I thought I would share:

by Onyemobi Anyiwo

The spiritual system of Ndi Igbo (the Igbo people) is one of the
oldest on Earth. The roots of Igbo spirituality is the same as the
roots of every other African one; that is, in Africa. Igbo
spirituality predates Islam, Christianity, Judaism and every other
-ism that one can think of. If there are any similarities between the
traditional practices of the Igbo and those of other religions, it is
because they were borrowed from our ancestors, and not the other way
around.

The ancient spirituality of the Ndi Igbo, like most other traditional
African spiritual systems, has been misunderstood and demonized
unjustly. Evangelical churches, with the help of Nollywood movies,
have helped to paint a negative picture of traditional Igbo
spirituality that dates back to the arrival of the Europeans in
Alaigbo (Igboland). It is quite unfortunate that most of the people
who condemn Igbo spirituality do not know much about it, and base
their most of their information from the lies of the very same people
who wanted to destroy it and everything about our culture. While all
the misconceptions about the traditional practices cannot be corrected
in one article, this introduction to Igbo Spirituality will help clear
a few things up.

The basis of Igbo Spirituality is the concept of "Chi." Similar to the
"Ori" of the Yoruba, and the "Ka" of Ancient Egyptians, Chi was the
fundamental force of creation. Everyone and everything has a Chi. Ndi
Igbo, like other Africans, worshiped one Creator, who is known by many
names: Obasi Dielu (The Supreme God), Chi di ebere (God the merciful),
Odenigwe (The Ruler of Heavens), etc. The two most popular names for
Supreme Being used in Alaigbo were Chukwu and Chineke. The dominant
name, Chukwu, which is a combination of the Igbo words "Chi" and
"Ukwu", literally means "The Big Chi", and shows that Igbos believed
that the Supreme Being was omnipresent and all-pervading. Chineke,
which most people translate as "God the Creator" actually has a deeper
meaning. Chi is the masculine aspect of God and Eke is the feminine
aspect. Ndi Igbo knew that it took male and female to create life, so
the Creator of everything would have to encompass both parts.

Because Ndi Igbo believed that everything in it had a chi, they also
gave names to the Chi found in nature (the Alusi). The Alusi of the
sky was known as Igwe. The Alusi of the yams (the most important crop
of Ndi Igbo) was called Ahiajoku. The Alusi of the Sun was called
Anyanwu. The most important of the forces of Nature was Ani, which was
the feminine force that presided over the Earth. The Alusi were not
limited to natural forces; metaphysical and supernatural forces and
principles also had their own names and attributes. Ikenga was the
Alusi of strength and Agwu was the Alusi of wisdom and healing. Each
Alusi had its invididual personality and function, but they all were
still parts of Chukwu.

The Ndiichie (esteemed ancestor spirits) also held a high place in
traditional Igbo society. Elders have always been revered in Igbo
society, and even more so after they passed onto Be Mmuo (the land of
the spirits). The Nddichie would often be consulted to offer advice to
their descendants and appeal to the Alusi on their behalf. Ndi Igbo
have never worshiped their ancestors, only venerated them, which is no
different then what Catholics do to their saints or what every country
does to its national heroes. Respect and honor for the Nddichie was
shown in one way by pouring of libations while chanting incantations.
Ndi Igbo believed in the concept of reincarnation, and felt that the
Nddiichie often reincarnated back on Earth. In fact, all Mmadu (human
beings) were believed to reincarnate seven or eight times, and that
depending on your karma, one either ascends or descends into another
spiritual plane.

The personal relationship between God and Man in Igbo spirituality is
as close as it can get. Ndi Igbo did not believe that they were
separate from their Creator, and felt that the Chi that resided within
them kept them connected. Igbo felt that their Chi was unique and
personal and served as a guide and protector to them. A person's
destiny was also guided by their Chi. Those with a strong Chi would
have prosperity, good health and good fortune, while those with a weak
Chi would be prone to sickness, poverty and bad luck.

Even though the Igbo are largely Christian now, their traditional
spiritual beliefs still live on. Along with these beliefs, a
fundamental part of Igbo philosophy was "Biri Ka'm Biri" (live and let
live). Ndi Igbo did not believe in fighting wars over religion. In
their view, everybody should be able to worship God as they see fit.
If there is any lesson from Igbo spirituality that we must not forget,
it is this one.

Chickens Headed to the Hank Johnson Ranch

Hank Johnson, who defeated Cynthia McKinney last year is apparently being targeted for removal by black religious figures in his district. The Black Agenda Report website has reported:

" Damning evidence of this trend surfaced just before Christmas in an obscure Georgia political journal. Vernon Jones, Black two-term elected CEO of the state's second largest county, was being urged by his advisers to run for Congress in the Democratic primary against freshman Congressman Hank Johnson, the man who replaced Rep. Cynthia McKinney in 2006. Vernon Jones' trump card, according to the advisers, was the backing of prominent Black pastors who would urge their people to vote against the incumbent black representative on the sole grounds that he is a Buddhist. Thus cynical Black ministers are poised to encourage and exploit religious bigotry in Black communities for their own economic and political gain. This is how low the Black church, the historic cradle of grassroots leadership since slavery, has sunk."

I have been at the forefront of calling out Christian Black folk's apparent religious bigotry that in my opinion often surpases that of the people from whom black folk got the religion from. But back to Hank. If we look at the linked report we find:

"Jones is supporting Larry Johnson. But strategist Kenneth Walker said he’s got information that Hank Johnson is lobbying for Kathie Gannon and has teamed up in that endeavor with Elaine Boyer, the lone Republican on the DeKalb Commission.

That’s a sign, says Walker, that there’s a new effort to broaden Republican influence in DeKalb County and that Johnson, a Democrat, supports it."

After Cynthia McKinney's defeat I posted my position on the matter
saying:

"The second and related groups are the Republican PACs and Republican operatives who also contributed to Hank Johnson, which he admitted to. That black folk in the 4th district, who are mostly registered Democrats would not find that objectionable is interesting and will be discussed later. clearly though those black individuals were more put off by their perception of Mckinney than by the Republican party. It is to me a breech of political etiquette for a rival party to divert funds to a candidate of another party. it's not illegal, but given that I have been saying that the Democratic Party has been infiltrated, I think such actions as these are further evidence to this claim.

...But larger than this is the reports that McKinney supports terrorism. The charge was that members of Muslim organizations like CAIR supported McKinney. Since these organization supported or were sympathetic with the Palestinians or Hamas, then they were terrorist organizations therefore McKinney supports terrorism. In fact Hank Johnson, at a debate said that since McKinney had Arab names on her list of donors, she supported terrorism. Now this clear "racist" remark was not only repeated by numerous Conservative and Jewish press it seemed to have been alright with the black voting block. Hank was not called "looney" for such a remark because in America it is OK to claim that any Arab is a terrorist.

So apparently Hank Johnson is about to be a victim of the very mentality he fostered in order to win the election. He used Republican ops to get into the race and the Democratic machine there, who sat by while McKinney was assaulted by the media (but apparently are willing to go to bat for Hillary Clinton), doesn't want a further erosion of Democratic power. So just so you understand. It's not about truth to power in Dekalb county it's just about power.

Would Someone Please Muffle Andrew Young?

Please?

"Another prominent Clinton supporter from the civil rights era, Andrew Young, also defended Mrs. Clinton. “Hillary Clinton, first of all, has Bill behind her,” Mr. Young said on a recent Webcast devoted to African-American issues. “And Bill is every bit as black as Barack.”

.

I suppose he's also one of those who figured Hillary was disrespecting King Jr. too.

Dr. Edward Rhymes on The Clinton Obama Flap

Dr. Edward Rhymes, linked over there, has come out of hiding due to the recent flap between Clinton and Obama. Like the recent posting by Ishmael Reed, I agree with Rhymes on 90% of his post. I think the points of disagreement are worth pointing out. First there is this:

Hillary's allusion to Dr. King's ability to inspire as compared to LBJ's ability to make the Civil Rights Act a reality smacks of racism at its most pernicious level. The old Blacks "sho can talk" but are short on ability stereotype is very evident in this analogy.

I disagree with this statement. Hillary's statement was nothing of the sort, unless one wants to read something into it. As any preacher or Jihadi can tell you, you can read just about anything out of a statement if you want. Hillary's statement was a clear indication of fact. Dr. King for all his work was not in any position to legislate or approve of legislation. He and others would have to convince those who did have such power to do the right thing (even if they didn't want to). Dr. Rhyme's statement will however be put to the test if Obama finds himself in the oval office. but as it stands I think he made up his mind to see a "perniciously racist" statement where there wasn't one, though he does go on to call out LBJ's statement on Dr. King when the latter made his anti-war position public.

On a lesser level I also have a problem with the following:

This is further accented and buttressed by former President Bill Clinton's reference to the 46 year-old, Harvard-educated, elected-U.S. Senator Obama as a "kid" - coming dangerously close in tone and temperament to the familiar racist designation of "boy." If the Clinton campaign wants to draw a distinction between the record and experience of Barack and Hillary, then that is a conversation that can and should take place. However, that's not what I heard or felt in Bill Clinton's words. I heard the arrogance of a man who believes because of Black America's love affair with him (for reasons I don't understand) he has the right to say to Obama: "know your place boy" or "wait your turn boy."

On the one hand, from personal experience I know all about the 'boy' designation thrown out, particularly by "older" white men. However, I'm not entirely convinced in this case that this is the case here. For example, After Hillary won NH, there was talk of Hillary being the comeback kid. Does that denigrate her? Similarly Bill Clinton when he was running was also called the comeback kid. Similarly John McCain, who pre-empted any talk of "comeback kid" with a lighthearted joke about his age precluding any use of the term "kid" to refer to him, was briefly dubbed a comeback kid. Relatively speaking, Obama is a "kid." I'm absolutely sure that Bill wanted used the term "kid" in order to put FUD into the minds of potential voters in relation to experience. That is fair game as far as I'm concerned. Also I would agree that if Bill Clinton was implying that Obama should "wait his turn" that that too is a fair argument in regards to experience. I would agree that it would be an issue if the statement meant "know your place boy" but that, like supposed voter fraud in New Hampshire will be impossible to prove.

A Note On Ron Paul's Past

For those who think I don't know about Ron Paul's rather nasty past:

http://counterpunch.org/sanchez01162008.html

I still say that he is still on the money in terms of the Iraq War, American Imperialism and funny money. It is still my position that it is in the interest of black folk, that such issues are put in front of so-called conservative audiences. No he's not going to win but he is going to put these issues on national (and international) TV each and every time he gets a chance to debate. In doing so he will expose the other candidates for who and what they really are. That is what is important.

Ron Paul Beats Giuliani

Yes, This is funny. Really. I was over at my mother's house and all of us, uncle included was hoping that Giuliani would perform poorly. After the last Republican debate where He and Fred Thompson insisted on mocking Ron Paul, I am glad that both of them fell behind Ron Paul (twice for Thompson), who got almost more votes than both those jokers combined. Now does anyone want to lay odds that the tone afforded Mr. Paul will be different next time? Let's hope Ron Paul sharpens his debate skills.