PROFOUND DVD EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: "THE ANGRY EYE" WITH JANE ELLIOTT

A week or so ago in my Communications class I had the pleasure of watching the short video, "The Angry Eye" with Jane Elliott.

Jane Elliot gained notoriety after Dr. King was shot in Memphis in 1968.

She began a blue eye/brown eye exercise that segregated her all white third grade class (according to Wikipedia she did not see a Black person until she was nineteen,) in tiny Riceville, Iowa into two groups: The Blue Eyes, the Superior Group, and The Brown Eyes, the Inferior Group. She had the "brownies" wear neck collars to further set them apart.

The response was stunning. The blue eyed kids were told the brownies were inferior because of their eye color, and as a result of their eye pigmentation they were unable to learn at the same level, they were unable to hold jobs, and the blue eyes should lower expectations for the brownies and then castigate them for not doing better, etc...

It didn't take long and the blue eyed kids were bossy, arrogant, and mean to the brown eyed kids, and the blue eyes actually began to do better academically, while the brownies suffered, and even brown-eyed kids that were excelling in class saw their grades and their confidence slip.

I watched a version of the exercise that was filmed on a college campus in the United States that involved young college students, and it blew my mind. The reaction from the white students was predictable yet unreal nonetheless...I believe this should be a required video in every school in the United States, it is that good, and it is that necessary.

The video that I posted is not from the vid I saw in class, however, it is just as poignant as the one I saw...we will be investing in these videos as time goes by, take the time to watch the video.


Some links:
Wiki
Jane Elliott website
IMDB -The Internet Movie Database

Peace-
Mike

ISLAM IN AMERICA: WHEN AMERICAN STUPIDITY SHINES BRIGHTLY

I am working on securing a series of interviews from a local Imam. In light of the shooting in Texas at Fort Hood, I thought it would be in my best interest, my family's best interest, and the best interest of those I will interact with in the future to have a better understanding of Islam.

I read a write up about Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter, on MSNBC, and it's rather disturbing.

It is not disturbing in the sense that most Americans, especially white Americans would think, you know the type Searchers: "That guys a Muslim...I betcha he's gots him some bombs and guns and I bet he's a-fixin to blow up (insert local shitbox .50 cent-draft-night-on-tuesdays bar here.) No, read the excerpt, the disturbing part is the local shit kickers giving a man shit who is trying to mind his own business and serve his Country at the same time.

"'Everyone else just sat down there and drunk their beer, and looked
at him, and giggled at him,' the woman said starting to cry. 'They
just would laugh at him when he walked down with his Muslim clothes...he was
mistreated. He was all alone. He went to his apartment there and was
all alone.'"

I know the type. I used to go to church with the worthless idiots, and Mrs. Searchers entire range of kinfolk in Arkansas are precisely this way. Redneck, and total pussies when it comes to individual confrontation. Like Mrs. Searchers brothers, Hank and Samuel Chris Flanagin, and the racist coward Pat Flanagin.

In addition to verbal harassment, Major Hasan also had to deal with rednecks vandalizing his vehicle.

What cracks me up about the worthless red necks is Major Hasan is educated; he is an Army Psychiatrist. That means he is a Doctor. MD. And the rednecks outside their crappy little apartment units probably have less than a GED, probably have less than a mouthful of teeth, and probably have the equivalent of a 9th grade education.

The only People I am prejudiced against and the only People I believe should be sent to re-education camps are Rednecks. No mercy, either change or be eradicated.

So, I am trying to secure at least one interview with the folks that run the local mosque. I'll keep ya posted. Peace,

Mike

Read the full article here

Thanks Washington Post and MSNBC

image credit

THE FACE OF A TRUE DEADBEAT: ARKANSAS' PAT FLANAGIN

Meet Pat Flanagin, deadbeat dad (pictured above) of Mrs. Searcher, and former Arkansas State Representative. This is the guy that spawned Chris Flanagin. This is also the guy that kicked his oldest son to the curb, (yes he has children by different women, which makes him, among other things, a total fucking hypocrite) sent his namesake, Jr., into exile, and abandoned his only daughter, all while defending, supporting, aiding and abetting his violent criminal son, pictured below daddy.

More on this dink as time goes by, believe me, there's plenty.
BTW, what's with the moustache?

WATCH WHITE MALE APOPLEXY IN REAL TIME!! MORE STUPIDITY FROM THE GREAT WHITE RIGHT

I've been paying attention to the continuing circus that is our Supreme Court judicial nominee process. It has been four days since President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, and the right has come out against her nomination, which is no surprise, as any President that nominates an individual to the high court is going to face opposition to their pick regardless of party affiliation. Dems will oppose Repub picks and vice-versa.

What I am watching is the way the right is opposing her nomination. For the past four days, and right now it is 6:09 am Pacific, all I have heard about is race issues (not judicial decision issues) from the Great White Right.

Before I begin indulge me as I interject a thought:
I considered ignoring this subject altogether unless something really outrageous (actually the behavior from the right IS outrageous, but it's so commonplace that it just seems normal) transpired, then of course I'd be all over it. The subject of race in the United States has become so predictable that it is just tiresome, especially when it comes from pampered, privilged white folk, or white folk that are broke as hell, and not interested in expanding their horizons by picking up a book, newspaper, or watching a t.v. show other than American Idol or some such drivel... *sigh* So here we go...

Sonia Sotomayor is an extraordinarily accomplished individual that happens to be a woman of Latin decent. She sees the world through her eyes, eyes that I'm confident have seen some shit while growing up in a South Bronx project by a single mother. Her dad died when she was nine. She has experiences that no white person could ever understand, and I daresay she has had experiences no one could relate to, unless they were walking in her shoes.

I believe this is a good thing. We now have, on the right, characters such as Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, Glen Beck, showing their extraordinary fear and trepidation, (okay let's call it what it is: they are fucking tripping) because their vision of the Supreme Court DOES NOT include a Puerto Rican woman.

I laughed as I wrote that last sentence because it's just so damn funny!
So the aforementioned clowns are screaming about a statement Sotomayor made a few years ago. Here it is, courtesy of Media Matters:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life,"

You decide. The right is screaming "Racism," that she is a "reverse racist!" I guess that means she is being a racist while driving in reverse or some shit like that. A sidebar Great White Right: There is no such thing as "reverse racism" you idiots. Either you are a racist or you're not. "Reverse racism" is a completely idiotic term that makes virtually no sense, much like the very life most of the Great White Right lead.

Okay, so Judge Sotomayor believe she has had experiences as a Latina that could help understand discrimination cases better than a white male. Big surprise. Of course she does! Growing up as a poor kid in the projects, you know damn good and well she has experienced racism against her on all sorts of levels. Racism that a white male has never experienced. There is such a thing as white privilege, white people en masse don't see it cause, well, it is white privilege, after all. So let's forge ahead and see what some of these privileged white folk have to say about this accomplished, articulate woman:

Glen Beck, from his radio show, thanks Media Matters:

Glen Beck cannot conceal his racism at all, when he condescendingly calls her a "Hispanic chick-lady."

Next-Newt Gingrich former speaker of the House, racist, Georgia:

"White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw." The biggest problem Gingrich has is the fact that she is not white, or a Michael Steele type of Black man...

And the Big Boss Limbaugh: Racist Supreme and leader of the Republican Party, Olbermann breaks it down-

Thanks to Media Matters, MSNBC and Olbermann. If you didn't watch the clip, Limbaugh compared her to David Duke, from the Ku Klux Klan. (As a man from Arkansas that walked by smoldering crosses on black people's lawns in the town of Pocahontas on my way to work at Ramon's Grocery store, I can say this woman is no David Duke.)
The right wing has attacked Sotomayor for her heritage, for the food she eats, and some have even demanded she change the way her name is pronounced, make it more "anglicized." Batshit crazy, racist as hell, and it has to stop.

I'm not going to bother to post what Rove had to say, Search it out.
I realize that Obama has seriously offended the sensibilities of these pampered, privileged white folk, but they had better get used to it, 'cause these times they are a changin' and there aint no stopping it. And why would I want to live in a monochromatic world that's ruled by nut jobs with bad hair (or no hair) anyway? The biggest threat these people face, is a sea change in the status quo, and that terrifies their cowardly asses. Let's have Bob Dylan take us out, cause the times they really are changing...
Peace-

REPUBLICANS SHOW THEIR RACISM YET AGAIN

So Searchers, I'm sure you now know about the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court of the United States.

I don't personally have a problem with Judge Sotomayor, she was initially appointed to a seat by Bush 1, and elevated to another seat by Bill Clinton, so she clearly can appeal to both Repub and Dem. The snippets of her record that I have caught on the news channels, (MSNBC and CNN, Fixed News is nothing more than a Republican propaganda machine) as well as what I have read leads me to believe that she probably is not left-leaning enough to balance the ridiculous Antonin Scalia, or Ailito, or Roberts, or Thomas.

So Obama nominated a woman and a Latina at that. I say it is about time. (Not only do we need more women on the Court, we need more "Minorities" and those that understand what is like to not be a rich white "christian" man) The biggest problem bigots such as Newt Gingrich, Mitt (who the hell names their kid "Mitt" any damn way? and of course you know he named his kid "Tagg" wtf?) Romney, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, is not her political record, although granted that may play a part, largely because she is "not conservative enough," (why must it be a pre-requisite to be a conservative to be on the court, especially with the abysmal track record of conservatives, both repub and dem in our country. Wake up! We are in the current crises because of the conservatives) but the real reasons are two-fold:

1. She is a woman, not a man. Specifically, not a rich white man.

2. She is Latina. Specifically, a Puerto Rican. However, the fact that she is Peurto Rican is only realized after being told that she isn't Mexican, which is where the majority of these clowns this all people of Latin decent hail from...*sigh* (I feel as though I need to apologize to the rest of the world for the lack of intellectual curiosity and percieved superiority of my fellow countrypeople)



Mike Huckabee, former governor of the failed state of Arkansas, summed up the Republican mindset with this snippet from his website:

"The appointment of Maria Sotomayor for the Supreme Court is the clearest indication yet that President Obama's campaign promises to be a centrist and think in a bipartisan way were mere rhetoric. "

Ah Mike Huckabee, the twice-elected governor of Arkansas, who evidently thinks all women of Latin decent must be named "Maria." I do not believe this screw-up of her name was a typo. It was a deliberate attempt to demean and marginalize Sonia Sotomayor. (See my post "Life in the Bible Belt: Would Jesus Abuse Immigrants?" )



His website has been updated, but that does not take away from the inherent racism this "christian" governor harbors. He is a fraud.

Newt Gingrich, and Rush Limbaugh, however, are not frauds. They are unabashed, obvious racists. See my October 24, 2008 post regarding racist Limbaugh quotes. Keep in mind this is the guy that runs the Republican Party from a radio studio in Florida.

So, congratulations, Ms. Sotomayor, on your historic nomination. I'm confident you will be confirmed, and when you are, use your position to balance this Reagan throwback, right wing court.

Peace-

Thanks to Huffington Post for turning me on to the latest stupid shit to come out of Huck-a-chuck's mouth...

Let me leave a post script here regarding Huckabee: This is an individual that was a Southern Baptist (think Jerry Falwell) minister in the state of Arkansas. Red Flag! When he took office, he launched a campaign of retaliation against his political opponents that included one Patrick Henry Flanagin of Forrest City, Arkansas. Pat Flanagin was a 22 year veteran of the state legislature, (and failed candidate for Forrest City, Ar mayor) serving as a state rep for 11 terms. That is, sponging off of the taxpayers and abusing his power for 22 years while elected, which has not stopped simply because he no longer holds an elected office.

Pat Flanagin and Mike Huckabee should have settled their differences in a field with dueling pistols, perhaps neither would have survived the duel. This would not have been a bad thing if the scenario would have played out in such a fashion.

Where I take exception to Huckabee (among other things) is when he attacks children regarding their school records because he dislikes the parents of particular children.

As mentioned above, Huckabee is a fraud. Pat Flanagin is a dipshit criminal that abandoned his oldest son and his daughter. He sent his namesake, "Junior" to exile. He attempted to bribe his son in law with money and a car after his puppet child, samuel "chris" flanagin (criminal, racist,) broke into his daughters' home and attempted to murder his son in law (the worthless shitheel was facing almost 20 years in prison.)



Both Huckabee and Pat Flana-fuckstick are the antithesis of what it means to be a Christian, (that is "christ-like") and they should both be locked in prison for what we know they did and let's add "for life" to that prison sentence for what they probably did, but we just don't know about yet.

PPS: Forrest City, Arkansas is named after the Confederate racist, Nathan Bedford Forrest, the "Arkansas Gem" that founded the Ku Klux Klan. It is an absolute shithole in the poverty stricken delta region of Arkansas. Interstate 40 runs through there, and if you're driving through, you better make sure you have insurance, tags, and a good lawyer, and ties to the ACLU cause if they start to fuck with you, it can be like fallng through a black hole. For example, just a few years ago, the sheriff of St. Francis county, of which Forrest City is the seat, cut the testicles off of an accused criminal, and displayed them on his desk in a jar. He was a close friend of Patrick Henry Flanagin, (D) Forrest City. Real classy folks.



Peace-



Thanks to the New York Times as well...

SHOT RINGS OUT IN THE MEMPHIS SKY

Today Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Rest in peace, Dr. King.

image credit

REGARDING ALLEGED MURDER BY POLICE OF BLACK MAN, HOMER, LA.

I posted on this a few days ago. I had read the quote before but sometimes ya gotta read it again! Here is the Chief of Police, Russell Mills, from Homer Louisiana. (Kinda reminds of the fat worthless fuck, Ken Johnson, C.O.P., Fairveiw, OR.)

""If I see three or four young black men walking down the street, I have to stop them and check their names," said Mills, who is white. "I want them to be afraid every time they see the police that they might get arrested." [Los Angeles Times]
"People here are afraid of the police," said Terry Willis, vice president of the Homer branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. "They harass black people, they stop people for no reason and rough them up without charging them with anything."That is how it should be, responded Homer Police Chief Russell Mills, who noted the high rates of gun and drug arrests in the neighborhood.

I pulled this from flexyourrights.org Here is a snippett of subsequent commentary:

"Arrested for what? Being black? A professional police department should not
be a source of intimidation for citizens who've done nothing wrong. It's just an
appallingly racist and inappropriate remark coming from the chief of police in a
town plagued by racial tension. Chief Mills's mentality pretty much tells you
everything you need to know about how things got this bad. Skeptics in the
debate over racial profiling will often begin by telling you that police never
use racial profiling, then conclude by implying that black people are all
criminals who must be stopped and searched at every opportunity. It's an absurd
contradiction. As long as I can still find police chiefs publicly boasting of
racial bias in the newspaper, I fail to understand how anyone could claim racial
profiling isn’t a serious problem."

Very well said. I live in an extremely liberal city, but the institutional racism against people of color is very evident. There has not been an African American on the city council for over a decade. Not for lack of qualified individuals. Well peace, Searchers, I'm done for the day.

FOX NEWS HAS A NEW PSYCHO

His name is Glen Beck and he is a lunatic. He joins the family of whack jobs that include Bill O'Reilly, sexual harasser and buffoon, and the racist pile of crap Sean Hannity. Fox just keeps getting better and better...Peace, boycott FOX NEWS.

I had to add this pic of Fox News' John Gibson. I'm not sure if he's still with Fox, but he sucks. Remember, I watched Fox for years until I had an epiphany :)

"A NATION OF COWARDS"

Eric Holder the new Attorney General of the US throws down the glove when it comes to race. Check it out courtesy of CNN:

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic
melting pot, in things racial, we have always been and we -- I believe continue to be in too many ways essentially a nation of cowards," Holder told Department of Justice employees at an event Wednesday celebrating Black History Month. He said that Americans are afraid to talk about race, adding that"certain subjects are off-limits and that to explore them risks at best embarrassment and at worst the questioning of one's character."

Regarding the melting pot myth: There is no such thing and there never has been. We are not a pot of fondue, we are human beings, different,unique, beautiful. For far too long the United States has forced people of color and especially the Natives to conform or be left behind, or worse, imprisoned or killed.

It is time to recognize our diversity and strength. Embracing the cultures that make up the United States, and acknowledging the atrocious behavior by the United States Government toward the people of African decent, people from Latin America, Native Americans, is a first step, but only a first step toward healing this country and laying to rest the ghosts of the past that continue to haunt the United States.

I can further tie this "cowardly race issue" in to the past election, and the way the electoral map shifted in the United States. What used to be the bible belt can clearly be seen for what it is and what is has always been: The Racist Belt. Check out this link for the map, click on the Voting Shift link if it doesn't take you right to it. It shows the way the country voted, either more democrat or more republican than in 2004. It is very telling. Here is the map:

You will notice, Arkansas and the bible belt voted MORE republican that in 2004, clearly disrespecting Obama, and embracing the embarrassingly ridiculous Republican party ticket of McCain/Palin. Even after the fucking nightmare of George W. Bush. They voted more republican, completely against their own interests. Once upon a time I was like that in Arkansas. Then I finally pulled myself out of the bowl that Arkansas is. You know? You get stuck in a bowl so long without being able to see above the rim, and you think the rest of the world is like this bowl, also. Fortunately it is not true. You can get out and have a better life.

Something else. When I lived in Arkansas, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day rolled around, white people greeted each other by saying, "Happy Nigger Day." With a big grin and a smile. Don't tell me about the New South, and the Gem that Arkansas is, it simply is not true. The potential is there, but the leadership is not.

We have much work to do in the US. Things have begun, let us work to fully marginalize the right wing to a strictly yapping small regional party relegated to the South, and then let's push them right off the East and Gulf Coasts right into the sea where they belong. Stay strong Searchers, keep the heat on the right wing...and Mr. Holder, you're completely correct. Peace-

Onward.

map courtesy of New York Times, photobucket

MORE RACISM IN MURDOCH'S WORLD

This is a pic from The New York post. It depicts Obama as a chimpanzee being gunned down by police. It is not surprising that the paper that published this disgraceful "cartoon" owns Fox News and employs the racist Sean Hannity as well as Bill O'Reilly. It is pathetic, and it reinforces my past decision to tune Rupert Murdoch's puppets out. Before you get nuts and call me judgemental against conservatives, as if there is such a thing, I devoted years of my life tuning Fox News channel in. I'm glad of the day I woke up.

It also shows the racism that is fully alive and well in the United States, and supported by major media outlets.

Boycott Fox News and other Murdoch media outlets.

Image Courtesy of guardian.co.uk

REGARDING ARKANSAS "ALL THE ROADS ARE CLEAR WHY AREN'T WE SEEING ANYTHING?" "NO SIGHT OF STATE REP J.R. ROGERS" "NO HEAT FUEL FROM SHELTERS"

ELECTRICAL WORKERS: "WE'RE QUITTING AT SIX"

"WHAT'S SCARY TO ME IS WE'RE IN THE DARK AND DON'T SEE ANYTHING."

ANONYMOUS WRITER FROM THE JONESBORO SUN: "IT IS NOT THE GOVERNMENTS RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE, ASIDE FROM POLICE AND FIRE."
Let me make a comment: It is the responsibility of the municipal, state and federal governments to be on the game, to ensure warmth, safety, education, health, food. I am deeply concerned that a writer at the Jonesboro Sun has such a view on responsibility. Such is the mindset of some in Northeast Arkansas, and such is the outcome of such thinking.

Planning? The writer at the Sun said no one could plan for this catastrophe. I disagree. Like New Orleans, this is an event that could have been planned for, but leadership denied, and the people are suffering for their lack of foresight.

I am after you J.R. Rogers. Make sure you call!

Sherry from Walnut Ridge: "We don't need JR. Rogers"

This is indicative of the mind set in Northeast Arkansas: Do not expect help, responsibility, or accountability from your elected officials.

DO YOU NEED TO BE REMINDED ABOUT MCCAIN SUPPORTERS?

UPDATE: The commentator related the racist comments and then gave commentary. I'll try to separate the two...

I pulled this from NewsOne. Bear in mind this piece of shit makes millions of dollars a year...

Here’s Our Top 10 Racist Rush Limbaugh Quotes

1. I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.

Okay Rush, slavery was not a good thing for the millions of African Americans who were enslaved, raped and beaten. The streets weren't at all safe for African Americans. Slavery not a bad thing? Someone should put Rush on a plantation for him to see how great it is. Keep on fear and race mongering Rush, you might get to Goebels status.


2. You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed.

Martin Luther King is a national hero, not a black hero. Everybody in the United States celebrates his birthday, children are taught to look up to him as a hero in school. He’s earned the respect and admiration of the world and you believe the man who killed him was a hero? This is beyond racist. This is evil, mean spirited, subhuman. Praising the assassin of one of our great American heroes is beyond the scope of regular racism.


3. Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?

No but I’ve noticed that all racist bigots think like Rush Limbaugh. Comparing a respected black politician and minister to common criminals is Jim Crow racism. Maybe all black people look alike to him, but I’ve never seen a picture of a wanted criminal that looks like Jesse Jackson. A serial killer that looks like Rush Limbaugh on the other hand.
John Wayne Gacy


4. Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela — who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing.

The communist connection is an old way of dealing with black leaders. They used it on Martin Luther King, they’re using it on Barack Obama and Limbaugh used it on Nelson Mandela. By siding with the racist apartheid regime over a world-wide symbol of peace and freedom, Limbaugh has shown he’s a global racist.


5. Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.

Limbaugh is once again fear mongering and race baiting by associating professional black athletes with criminals and gangmembers. He continues the fear mongering association of good, decent, hard working African Americans as criminals.


6. The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.

Now Limbaugh is saying that an organization with a storied tradition of representing the positive black people for change in their communities are criminals and rioters. An organization that has been represented by intelligent professional African Americans, that has played a part in the Civil Rights movement and continues to be an intelligent, concerned voice for the African American community is degraded to common criminals. There you go Rush. Keep racism alive!!!!


7. They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?

Decent human beings care Rush. Someone out of that 12% may just become President of the United States. Not caring about black people? Even George Bush wouldn’t admit to that.


8. Take that bone out of your nose and call me back(to an African American female caller).

Okay Rush that’s classy. The old African bone in the nose stereotype. Wasn’t funny when the racist white school kids called the black kids that and it’s definitely not funny when a grown man with audience of millions of easily influenced dittoheads says it either.


9. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.

I wasn’t super offended by this, the whole black quarterback/coach thing has been going on for years in sports, but the quote was so offensive that Retired General Wesley Clarke said:
There can be no excuse for such statements. Mr. Limbaugh has the right to say whatever he wants, but ABC and ESPN have no obligation to sponsor such hateful and ignorant speech. Mr. Limbaugh should be fired immediately.
When a respected, retired general condemns the statement of a sportscaster, you know he’s gone too far.


10. Limbaugh attacks on Obama. Limbaugh has called Obama a ‘halfrican American’ has said that Obama was not black but Arab because Kenya is an Arab region, even though Arabs are less than one percent of Kenya. Since mainstream America has become more accepting of African-Americans, Limbaugh has decided to play against its new racial fears, Arabs and Muslims. Despite the fact Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law school, Limbaugh has called him an ‘affirmative action candidate.’ Limbaugh even has repeatedly played a song on his radio show ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ using an antiquated Jim Crow era term for black a man who many Americans are supporting for president. Way to go Rush.

So Rush Limbaugh has managed to make racist attacks on four of the most admired and respected people of African descent in the past one hundred years, in Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Colin Powell and Barack Obama.

He has called for the assassin of Martin Luther King to be given a medal, and said slavery was a good thing.

He has claimed that Joe the Plumber, who isn’t even a plumber is more important in this election than Colin Powell, a decorated military veteran who has served honorably in three administrations. How can the Republican party stand by this man and let their candidates appear on his show?

Rush Limbaugh’s comments are so racist, they’re funny, in a Borat, Archie Bunker kind of way. What is not funny is the millions of dittoheads who listen to him, who take in and re-spout all the racist rhetoric that he spits. Limbaugh’s statements are echoed in the racist, angry Palin/McCain supporters who shout ‘kill him,’ ‘terrorist,’ ‘communist,’ ‘traitor,’ ’socialist’ and ‘off with his head.’

Now it's me:

This is the epitome of the Right wing redneck Republicans. I'll bet if ya ask him, he'll tell you he's a Christian. This piece of shit, if memory serves, is from Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

And I'm not going to mention the lame ass female (okay, I guess I mentioned her) that blamed a Black man for assault at an ATM a la Susan Smith, only to later admit it was bullshit.

I will say this about the girl, she is clearly in need of mental health care, but she's going to be prosecuted by the police for lying, and she probably won't get the help she needs, especially if McPalin is elected, because they do not believe in social programs.

We need systemic change in the United States.

Peace,
Mike
LUKJ

GOTTA LOVE THOSE REPUBLICANS

While combing through various blogs today, and thinking about trickle-down economics and the utter failure of it, I came across this quote that I believe came from the daily kos:

"All economic theories revolve around the redistribution of
wealth. Supply side economics, (Reaganomics, Bushonomics, McCainonomics),
believe in redistributing it upwards in the hope it will trickle down. To
paraphrase Warren Buffet-Class warfare already exists, and the wealthy side is
winning."

Trickle down economics does not work. I find it very telling that the United States, with it's total embrace of unregulated capitalism, when faced with the complete failure of its financial system and the potential turning out into the streets millions of the poor and middle class, jumps in and pumps billions of dollars into the economy to keep it from crashing: something that the US, in collusion with the World Bank and IMF, did not allow other nations to do when it became necessary to rescue their populace when they obtained loans with these organizations with odius strings attached.

And these nations saw the complete collapse of their economies.

Check out the history of Chile, Argentina, and others.

Here is something else I found today:

Special to The Press-Enterprise
An Inland Republican women’s
group sent
out a newsletter showing this fake $10 “food stamp” with Barack
Obama’s face
on
it.
She said she doesn't think in racist terms,
pointing out she once
supported Republican Alan Keyes, an African-American
who previously ran for
president.

So supporting Alan Keyes doesn't make you racist?

I cannot believe in this day and age that someone in the United States, especially a white woman presumably well off financially, doesn't know the racial over tones that are implied when fried chicken, kool aid, ribs and fucking food stamps are associated with people in the US of African descent.

What a fucking joke.

The appalling stupidity of the Republican party continues to astound me...

It is time for a systemic change in the United States.

Peace-

Mike

LUKJ

EFFIGY OF OBAMA HUNG AT CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY IN OREGON

NEWS-


Early Tuesday morning, workers found an effigy of Barack Obama hanging from a tree on a university campus outside Portland, OR.

According to the article, a sign was attached to the Obama effigy disparaging students that are recipients of scholarships, largely minority students:

" A sign taped to the cutout said, "Act Six reject," referring to a scholarship program for Portland students, many of whom are minorities."
(thanks to Oregonlive.com)

If the link works, here is the write up on Oregonlive.com.

As many of you know, I have posted in the past about the white American church, and the evangelical movement.

Unfortunately, I cannot say much more than this:

This type of behavior is indicative of the deep racial bias that the white American church, (especially right wing Republicans and conservative Democratic Evangelical churches) harbors in the United States against Blacks and minorities.

The fact that this effigy was hung on a tree at a predominantly white Christian university and not the much larger and more diverse campus of Portland State University speaks whole volumes about the state of the church in the United States, as well as the values that are being taught to the up and coming people in the Evangelical Movement.

Many in the Evangelical movement do not see a problem if the US decides to wage war against another nation.

Many in the Evangelical Movement advocate violence against people that do not accept their belief structure, or their doctrines as they interpret in the Bible.

Many in the Evangelical Movement assume people in lower social strata than themselves have been saddled with a "generational curse" or somehow deserve their misfortune.

Many in the Evangelical Movement believe this especially applies to people of African descent in the United States. It is openly taught that Blacks descend from Ham, and Ham was cursed. It is also taught that their ancestors worshipped demons, animals, etc., (the obvious point being that they didn't worship Jesus and embrace the doctine of the Christian Church. This is a common ploy used to keep the gullible under control, as it is taught in the context of: "THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!!!") and this has saddled the Black American with "generational curses."

I spoke with a fellow student (and graduate of Rhema! Bible College in the Tulsa, OK area) at my college today, and I related that I had heard through news reports, etc., that Sarah Plain believed the world is five thousand years old and man walked with the dinosaurs, despite there being no scientific evidence to support her assertions. His response? "What's wrong with that?"

(Rhema! is a very influential Evangelical Charismatic church/organization that has influenced millions of people worldwide throughout the past 60 years or so with the ministry of Kenneth E Hagin, and his son, Kenneth W. Hagin)

This is indicative of the nonsense that is taught at Evangelical bible colleges throughout the United States.

And we were worried about madrases in Pakistan!?!

_________________________________________________________________

Those that tried to murder me and advocate the hate crimes against me and my family are devout evangelical Methodists. Samuel Christian Flanagin, Arkansas State Representative Pat Flanagin, Dora Hughes, Pat Flanagin, Jr., and their cohorts in and around the state of Arkansas continually invoke the name of Jesus to justify their crimes while referring to the victims of their hate as "niggers."

When Edward Abbey declared-"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the [US] flag and carrying a cross." He might have been envisioning the point in time we could be at today.

Clearly, Christian Fascism has to be defeated in the United States.

Clearly, people do not realize how large and deeply rooted the problem is.
This is still the Klan operating, albeit sanitized, and it is running strong in the white Evangelical church in the United States.

Clearly, we need a systemic change n the United States.

Peace-

WHITE PRIVILEGE-REPOST FROM FIELD-NEGRO

Again a post from The Field-Negro:


~By Tim Wise ~ "For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly 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 yourself 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 believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

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 was '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 ogrganizers 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--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 all of a sudden 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 engages 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 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 claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a 'light' burden.

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 losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because 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. "

I would like to add:

White privilege is AIG getting an 85 billion dollar bailout when the average person in the US is having trouble putting gas in their tanks.

White privilege is vetoing health care for children and cutting education for the masses because your rich white family has always had a doctor and your daddy and grandpa can pull strings to get you in top-notch universities.

White privilege is the president of the United States saying to a roomful of million/billionaires: "Some people call you the elite. I call you my base."

We need a systemic change in the United States.

Peace-

Mike

EVANGELICALS AGAINST MCCAIN/PALIN-THANKS TO THE DAILY KOS

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/10/15218/4307/139/593799

The link above, click on it, or read below...


We Are Out Here- Updated
by ex VRWC
Wed Sep 10, 2008 at 05:15:44 PM PDT
We are out here - the Republicans or ex-Republicans who will no longer tolerate the racist, despicable slime machine that the right wing and the John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign has become. I know, for I am one of them. I am not your typical progressive, being an ex- Air Force officer (9 years), evangelical Christian, card carrying conservative, Rush/Hannity listener - an now an Obama supporter in John McCain's home state of Arizona.
And I know I am not alone - for one, my grown sons are with me. My older, now in college, proudly rides around with Obama stickers on his scooter. He, also, was raised an evangelical Christian, and goodness knows I subjected him to a conservative worldview.
So what gives? Why are we out here - the Rebublican Obama supporters, the ones you don't expect. More on my story below:
ex VRWC's diary :: ::
ROTC Cadet, Air Force Captain, Free Republic diarist, James Dobson quoting conservative, 2 time Bush voter. Church worship leader. These all describe me. And there are more just like me. My evolution to progressive awareness has been a slow one, but is has never gone faster than in the last 3 or 4 months. How do I describe myself now - a progressive conservative, of course (if there is such a thing)!
So why am I and those like me out here? I am out here because I see through the hysteria that the right wing has become. I know the abandonment of principles when we see it. I despise in today's Republican Party what I was always told were the worst traits of the 'left' in years past. I know better these days. I have come to the realization that in many ways I left my brain turned off for far too long. I listened to those I was supposed to agree with, and never tried to be, as Rush Limbaugh says, a 'truth seeker'. Well I am a truth seeker now, I find truth much more often when I listen to Rachel Maddow that I ever did on Rush. I am able to see (on the right) political opportunism, shameless lying, rampant political positioning, and a party leadership that has forfieted all claim to trust.
Nothing has shamed me more than the evangelical groupthink around the Sarah Palin pick. People I used to respect for their strong stand on the family and values have completely abandoned their principles to back someone whom they think offers a slim grasp at victory. I will not participate in it, nor will my church, for which I am thankful. Trust me, the groupthink on the right is not as rampant as you may think. There are those of us that recognize that our so-called conservative and Christian leaders in this country are almost universally bankrupt, and we are outraged and ashamed.
The sins of the right in this campaign and of the last 8 years do not go unnoticed. The racism, the shameless lying, the demeaning, the assumption that the 'base' is composed of idiots - I see through these things. I see through the rabid assertions that question patriotism or imply sympathy with terrorism. I see through the thin veneer of declaring 'victory' in Iraq. I see the right wing totally ignoring the very real issues we face - the housing crisis, the mortgage meltdown, the looming bank bailout, the sellout of the economy in the name of 'globalization'. I saw the disregard for fellow humans that was Katrina and its aftermath, even to this day. I see the eroded stature of our nation that 8 years of 'maverick' foriegn policy has wrought. We are not stupid.
What do I see in Barack Obama? I see an intelligent, thoughtful, unflappable leader. I see a patriot who is rising up and putting himself forth for leadership of this great nation in its hour of need. Goodness knows, I would not want the job. I see a man who will perform the duties of the President of the United States with sober and thoughtful judgement. I see a man with the breadth and depth who can address many of these problems we face as a nation. I see a man who wants to bring us together. I don't pretend it will be easy, it will not be. There are big problems to be solved. We will need to come together, those of us on each side of the political spectrum. First to get Barack Obama elected, then to work to make America a better place. I will do my part to convince those I know that a vote for McCain will be a disaster.
So, progressives on the left, know that there are those of us on the right that have been listening and paying attention. We have heard what Barack Obama is saying. We look forward to working together with you to make this nation a better place. Godspeed in the next 2 months.
Update