Anyone who thinks they have all the Answers before they've even heard the Question - is Dangerously Deluded! Real Truth Requires Vigilance, Perseverance and Courage, regardless of Party and who wields Power. Left, Right, Center, Corporations, Government, Unions, Criminals or the Indifferent.
The bottom line is that a guy (Samir Shabbaz) was caught on camera with a stick while standing outside a polling place. He had been sent there along with another Black Panther Member to help provide Security and prevent Voter Intimidation by local police.
He was not criminally charged, but he was civilly sued and an injunction was granted which originally prevented him from coming within 100 Feet of Any Polling Place with a Stick - ANYWHERE. The "Scandal" is that this injunction was downgraded to just prohibiting this one guy from coming withing 100 feet of a polling place - with a stick - in Philadelphia until 2012.
In Us. v. New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the district court found that the United States had alleged that Minister King Samir Shabazz "stood in front of the polling location at 1221 Fairmont Street in Philadelphia, wearing a military-style uniform, wielding a nightstick, and making intimidating statements and gestures to various individuals, all in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1973i(b)," Order, dated May 18,2009, at 1, and entered judgment "in favor of the United States of America and against Minister King Samir Shabazz, enjoining Minister King Samir Shabazz from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of any open polling location on any election day in the City of Philadelphia, or from otherwise violating 42 U.S.C. § 1973i(b)." Judgment, dated May 18,2009. We (the DOJ) believe this injunction is tailored appropriately to the scope of the violation and the requirements of the First Amendment. We intend to enforce fully the terms of this injunction. Section 11(b) does not authorize other kinds of relief, such as monetary damages or civil penalties.
The argument brought forth by this so-called "Whistle-blower" is that this downgrading is part of an Obama sponsored DOJ plot to Screw White-People by deliberately ignoring cases of Black voter intimidation and fraud (ala the Phony ACORN Scandal).
My problem with this is that I don't think the guy even violated the statute. According to both Kelly and a letter written by the DOJ to a Congressman who inquired about the case No actual VOTERS were harassed or Intimidated.
I think it your being accused of voter intimidation - you should have actually intimidated voters, and no one has presented any evidence of that.
Also, the law requires the the person be within 100 Feet of the polling place and since I've been a poll worker for nearly the last decade - I have my doubts about that. Poll workers are required to post signs marking the 100 Foot Zone, but in the video where the stick is shown no such signs are visible as the videographer approaches the two men. There are signs visible behind them in the windows of the apartment building - which seems to indicate they were outside that zone (which is where they were instructed to be).
If that's the case, and someone would have to know the layout of the building and location of he polling place inside to confirm this, even with the injunction he could still stand in the exact same place, with the exact same STICK.
Unless Megyn Kelly finds out that is.
Kelly: You obviously don't know what you're talking about...
She's not the only one - since the DOJ letters says this.
these defendants failed to respond to the complaint, that does not mean the Department "had effectively won the case" against them. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit "does not favor entry of defaults or default judgments."
The only reason I can say "IF" on any of this is because Shabazz didn't show up to contest the case and the injunction was granted by default, not by merit.
Regardless of Shabazz's own personal issues of loudmouth bigotry, basically to me this is really a case of profiling, Shabazz was essentially convicted in absentia of being a Big Scary Black Man with a Sticktm, it's that kind of presumption of guilt until proven innocent that continues to get a lot of young black men killed even when their trying to do the right thing - case in point - Oscar Grant.
Today the NAACP at it's 101st Annual Convention is scheduled to vote on whether to condemn the "Racist Elements" that have been on display within the Tea Party. Keith and Melissa address it - I think - quite fairly noting first of all that not everyone in that group is, or even could be, a Racist - just some of them.
People these days seem to really forget just who and what the NAACP really is. It was an organization began by both black and white people to help curb the scurge of Lynchings across America. Medger Evers was an NAACP leader. Rosa Parks was an NAACP member. Today the NAACP is standing up against the unjust verdict in the Oscar Grant Shooting, and against Arizona's SB1070.
The need for such an organization was made crystal clear yesterday by Tim Wise's Must Read Tour-De-Force post on modern day discrimination and racism... Black Power's Gonna Git You Sucka
Prominent white conservatives are angry about racism.
What is it that woke them up finally, after all these years of denial, during which they insisted that racism was a thing of the past?
Was it the research indicating that job applicants with white sounding names have a 50 percent better chance of being called back for an interview than their counterparts with black-sounding names, even when all qualifications are the same?
No.
Was it the study that found white job applicants with criminal records have a better chance of being called back for an interview than black applicants without one, even when all the qualifications are the same?
No.
Was it the study that found the lightest-skinned immigrants to the United States make as much as 15 percent more than the darkest, even when the immigrants in question have the same level of education, experience and measured productivity?
No.
But y'see according to Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity, this condemnation of the Tea Party is a) Pure Politics and b) a False accusation, maligning a good organization. Yes, that's right Miss Palin Death Panel 2010 is outraged - OUTRAGED - that someone would make an unfair "false" accusation against her buddies and pals in the (Mad Mad) Tea Party.
HANNITY: Members of the NAACP are going to vote tomorrow on a resolution that condemns what the group calls — the NAACP — explicitly racist behavior by supporters of the Tea Party Movement.
Wanted to get your reaction to that.
PALIN: Yes. This is some typical divisive politics that is so absolutely unnecessary, especially at this time of turmoil within our country. Turmoil when you consider the state of the economy and so many other challenges that we are facing. This is just so unnecessary.
No, the Tea Party Movement is a beautiful movement, full of diverse people, diverse backgrounds. Folks of all walks of life who, for the most part, happen to oppose President Obama's policies. Not the color of his skin. They don't care that he's half white or half black. It has nothing to do with the person's skin tone —
Diverse people with diverse backgrounds? Urm, not so much via HuffPo
The individuals who make up the Tea Party movement are largely conservative and get their news from Fox; they're generally old and of moderate to low income; and they're fairly convinced that their taxes are going to rise in the next few years, even though they likely won't.More than 80 percent (81 percent) of Tea Party respondents expressed very little approval of Barack Obama's job as president, which exceeded disapproval levels held even by Republicans (77%) and conservatives (79%).
...
All these data points suggest that the Tea Party crowd is comprised predominantly of conservatives. And, not surprisingly, the demographics of the movement seemingly align with those who traditionally vote for the conservative candidate as well. Fifty-six percent of Tea Party respondents are male; 22 percent are over the age of 65 (compared with just 14 percent who are between the ages of 18 and 34); and 23 percent fall in the income range of $50,000 and $75,000.
The data shows they're middle-class, white, conservative and watch nothing but Fox News - so NO Sarah, they're not really that "diverse". You may use that word, but I don't think you really know what it means.
Hannity then chimed in that since no one had claimed $100,000 Breitbart bounty for a video showing Black Congressman being called "Nigger" - even though there were Eye-witnesses there who Heard It - including Reporters!
That just got Palin revved up.
PALIN: Well, it's very unfortunate that they are taking this tactic because it's a false accusation that Tea Party Americans are racist. Any good American hates racism. We don't stand for it. It is unacceptable.
So to be called a racist, yes, those over there on the left who are opposing that good message of Tea Party Americans are using this racism accusation in order to keep people away from not only the movement, but keeping them — keeping a wall built between what the message actually is and the American public that is today receiving that message very well.
False accusation, very unfortunate and again very, very unnecessary. And the president and his wife — you know, the first lady spoke at NAACP so recently, they have power in their words. They could repudiate what it is that this group is saying and they could set the record straight.
And they could — they could correct what this false accusation is that the Tea Party America, that movement, is racist.
Yes, dear reader, you read that correctly - 1/2 Governor Sarah (Palling Around with Terrorists) Palin actually called on the President Obama and Michelle Obama to denounce the NAACP in support of the falsely accused Tea Party.
Yeah, well - let me just answer that by going back to Tim Wise who admittedly went on for quite a while.. it's a veritable exhaustive litany of American bigotry... but here's the part I found particularly relevant.
Well then it must be the blatant stuff. Maybe they finally got around to looking at those images of Tea Party protesters and other assorted conservatives coming to rallies with signs advocating the lynching of Democratic party leaders (HELLO NAACP - LYNCHING!!), or portraying the President as an African witch doctor? Or maybe somebody informed them of all the times that conservative and Republican Party activists have sent around blatantly racist e-mails lately, like those portraying the white house lawn covered in watermelons, or once again with the witch doctor imagery, or likening Michelle Obama to an ape, or picturing the President as a pair of "spook eyes" against a black background?
No.
Maybe they're angry at Tea Party Express leader Mark Williams for calling the President an "Indonesian Muslim" and a "welfare thug?" I mean, that's pretty racialized rhetoric, right?
No.
Or maybe it was the Tea Party leader in Ohio who tweeted about how he wants to shoot Hispanic immigrants, to whom he refers as "spicks?" (sic)
No.
Well then surely it must have been the story about Tea Party candidate for Governor in New York who sent e-mails picturing the President dressed as a pimp and featuring a group of African tribesman performing a traditional dance, which he referred to as the "Obama Inauguration Rehearsal?"
No.
These came not just from a few random Tea Party Protesters, it came from Tea Party LEADERS and Candidates currently running for Office under the Tea Party Banner - rank and file Tea Party members are so comfortable with their own being branded "Racists" they have their own t-Shirts
What was that about "Any good American hates racism. We don't stand for it. It is unacceptable." - seems like the Tea Party accepts it just fine. I have one question for Miss Sarah: exactly where or when has she or ANY TEA PARTY LEADER, instead of acting like Brietbart and literally trying to trivialize it out of existence, stood up and DENOUNCED any of the above? "Won't Stand For it" my bulbous black ass - you stand right next to it and try to make the rest of us believe it's not there - which is frankly, pardon my pure unadulterated English - BullShit!
Nothing to see here - Move Along.. move along...
And yet Palin thinks that President Obama and Michelle Obama should call out the NAACP?
Seriously? To borrow a phrase - That woman is a Fracking Idiot!
Returning to their tried and true Health Care Scare-Athon 2010! Chris Wallace of Fux News decided to grill David Axelrod yesterday about the White Houses "Controversial" decision to parachute in during the night with an unprecedented recess (cough - John Bolton - cough) appointment of ("Well Documented Communist and Old People Hater") Donald Berwick to run Medicare and Medicaid.
Strange, and I thought Fox was on the WH's "Do Not Call Back" List...
For those of you who actually spend your time watching actual news, the latest bogus Scandal in the Fox NutWerk is that Dr. Donald Berwick once had the audacity, the bold temerity to admit his Socialist/Facists/Commie leanings by saying this...
Berwick: I am romantic about the NHS. I love it
And...
BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE: Critics of CER have said that it will lead to the rationing of healthcare.
BERWICK: We can make a sensible social decision and say, "Well, at this point, to have access to a particular additional benefit [new drug or medical intervention] is so expensive that our taxpayers have better use for those funds." We make those decisions all the time. The decision is not whether or not we will ration care -- the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open. And right now, we are doing it blindly.
See!.. See! It's like we told you - he wants to KILL Old People. He wants them to suffer and die, withering away in Waiting Rooms for days on end until the flesh falls from their bones.
Now if this Berwick character had ever been wise enough to Criticize that evil British National Health System, then we'd be on the right track and could breathe a sigh of relief - since Americans clearly don't want and don't need a Health Care System that doesn't require proof of insurance before they can be seen by a doctor. If he'd only said something more like this...
BERWICK: Is the NHS perfect? Far from it. Far from it. I know that as well as anyone in this room, from front line to Whitehall, I have had the privilege of observing performance and even to help to measure its performance.
[...]
BERWICK: There is less progress in some areas, especially with comparison to other European systems, such as in specialty access, in cancer outcomes, in patient centeredness, in life expectancy and infant mortality for socially deprived populations. In other words, in improving its quality, two facts are true: The NHS in en route, and the NHS has a lot more work ahead.
See this guy is a guy you can trust with our Health Care, He's not blinded by romantic rose colored glasses over those British Death Panels, he has a critical view. Why couldn't the White House appoint THAT GUY?
Excluse me?
That Berwick is Donald Berwick? There must be some mistake, Fox - America's News Station - wouldn't - gulp - Lie or anything would they?
I mean come on, we all know how horrible NHS is - just look at this study from the Digital Journal which said it's hard to a doctor in the UK - On the Weekends!
The 14% who said they waited more than six months for elective surgery was second only to the United Kingdom (15%), compared with a low of 2% in Holland... Almost one-third of Canadians said they had to wait six days or more to get an appointment with their doctor last time they were sick, easily the highest among the seven countries.
The UK also has the worst record for waiting times with 15% having to wait for more than six months for elective treatment.
See next time I need to have an elective kidney transplant I'm not going to Whitehall - I'm getting it done right here in the U.S. of A where all I have to worry about is having my insurance claim denied and paying for it out of my own pocket.
(Also from the same article)
The thing that struck me in this survey is the trouble that Americans have in getting to see their own doctors. As in previous surveys, U.S. adults were most likely to have gone without care because of... high out-of-pocket costs.
Also from the study this report is from actually shows that Canada had the longest wait time for non-critical elective surgerys (which would be like removing a mole or other cosmetic procedure) they were more likely to see their doctor on the same day than either the UK OR THE U.S., and even if you do have to wait a few days - that occurred less frequency in Canada and the UK, than it does in America.
In general the outcomes in Canada and UK are about as good as those in the U.S. (with both Infant Mortality and life expectancy being better THERE, rather than here) only in those countries the overall cost is about half what America pays for Health Care.
According to the World Health Organization the UK Ranks at number 18 in Healthcare outcomes - while the U.S Ranks at Number 37. Their position is TWICE AS GOOD as ours, In overall Life Expectancy they are at #14 while we are at #24. England also has a lower infant mortality rate than the U.S. (4.85 per 1000 births to 6.26). In contrast our Health Expenditures as a percent of GDP is second at 15.4% (behind only the Marshall Islands) while the United Kingdom is in 41st Place at 8.2% of GDP.
(In All seriousness) my wife has been trying to get in to see her OB/GYN for the last - oh THREE MONTHS - but they're so booked up at UCLA Med Center she can't get an appointment. Her only other choice would be to go to their Emergency Room and wait, and bitter past experience has shown us the average wait time at that ER is about 20 Hours.
She's seen people waiting for hours in the ER who'd had the tip of their finger cut-off, crying in pain and bleeding the entire time -- all the attending triage nurses would tell him is "Keep pressure on it" - which of course was an excruciating thing to do without meds, since he hadn't seen a doctor yet to get a prescription. It was a total Horror Show.
And that was in America!
American where we don't countenance RATIONING - except when Insurance Companies do it as Former Cigna Exec Wendell Potter explained to Congress.
To help meet Wall Street's relentless profit expectations, insurers routinely dump policyholders who are less profitable or who get sick
Why would you want to give health care to sick people who've paid for it? Where's the Profit in that?
Here we see Fox's News Model Megyn Kelly InterviewAmbush Verbal Assault of Malik Shabbazz, current head of the New Panther Party over the actions of one of his members at a polling place on Election Day 2008, where he wasn't arrested and wasn't prosecuted for NOT intimidating voters.
Right now, this is a BIG DEAL Story over in Fox Land. It apparently goes like this, on election day 2008 members of the New Black Panther party (at the direction of Shabazz himself as he admits in the video) were dispatched to various polling places around the country to act as a deterrent to police intimidation of black voters during the Presidential Election.
The event in question occurred in Philadelphia, a city which has had a long and troubled history between it's black citizens and police going all the way back to the Move Bombing in the early 80's.
Black Panther member Samir Shabazz with one other appeared at the polling place. Samir had the temerity to bring - A Stick. This is when the hijinks ensue as shown here...
Hey is that a Billy Club in your hand or are you just glad to see me?
As documented by this "Student" and Poll Watcher who decided to question and confront the two Panthers in front of the polling station with "What's going on?" and "Why do you have a stick in your hand... don't you think that's a bit intimidating?"
The response he received was "Who are you to say?" He wasn't threatened, he wasn't shooed away, you can see in the video that other people behind them are entering the polling place unfettered and unrestricted. In fact, they simply answered his questions with "We're Security" then began to ignore him.
Wow - Scary.
Despite this several other Poll Watchers complained that Samir (aka Stick-man) said some things to the effect of "Now you're going to see what's it's like to be ruled by a Black Man, Cracker!".
(Just as a side note: I have to say that that's one of the most pathetic racial epithets on earth. Cracker? What are you calling him a "Saltine" - a "Waffer"? Where's the insulting part of that IMO? Not that I'm condoning it, I'm just saying - after 360 years of slavery and oppression - "Cracker" is the best you got? Frankly that's just embarassing! I'm waiting for the guy who'se gonna be traumatized, break down and cry cause somebody called them "Cracker!" Please.)
Other videos provided by Kelly show Samir making far more racially charged remarks about "Killing Crackers" and such. Let me say this, clearly Samir is a bit of a DICKHEAD and a bigot - but that doesn't mean he broke the law.
In her reports - which she hyped for nearly an hour prior to interviewing Shabazz - Kelly admits that No Voters Complained about being intimidated at the polls, only so-called "Poll Watchers". I've worked my local polls as a Poll-Worker (not Watcher, Worker - I did things to help people vote) that Poll-Watcher's aren't just innocent bystanders, they're Partisans. They are sent by one campaign or the other to document what is going on or read the posted voter roster to see who hasn't voted yet in order to target their GOTV efforts. Let me also point out You Can't Film inside a polling place without permission of the people you are filming, and it's only because this occurred Outside that the photographer wasn't in violation.
Also I will note that no Poll Workers issued a complaint, but a couple Poll-Watchers did and called the police. Reportedly the Police arrived and Made No Arrests!.
Just this week Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has signed a law allowing people to carry guns in church. Other states have decided to allow people to carry guns in bars. Apparently none of that is in any way intimidating, But a man can't carry A STICK on public property?
"Hey do you have a license and a permit for that Stick!? What's the serial number for Your Stick!, Dude?"
Interesting that all the hard core 2nd Amendment guys seem to forget that a STICK is also a form of "arms" and is also protected by the Constitution. So is being a verbal jerk by the 1st Amendment.
I bring this up because I don't see Fox News or Megyn Kelly up in arms about THIS GUY... who brought an AR-15 to a Presidential Town Hall for questionable religious reasons.
Some of the things Samir has said are pretty hateful, yet it seems what a Right-Winger says something horrible about - well, anyone - they don't seem to care so much.
During the same election when Pastor Hagee was lambasted for Racist, Anti-Semetic, Anti-Catholic comments then Candidate John McCain DEFENDED the Pastor and said he was taken Out of Context.
More recently when the Military Dis-invited a Christian Evangelist Franklin Graham to an event because of his comments that Islam is a "Wicked and Evil" Religion, Fox news got upset.
@SarahPalinUSA even tweeted "The Army's Loss in Dis-inviting a Good Man..."
As media matters notes, but FOX NEWS HASN'T MENTIONED the case against Samir Shabazz was dropped by the Bush Administration Department of Justice in 2008. They also chose not to pursue similar cases against members of the Minutemen.
There was a subsequent lawsuit on which Samir Defaulted - which means HE DIDN'T EVEN SHOW UP - and was slapped with an injunction baring him from ever going near any polling place in the country with a Stick. This judgment was later downgraded to just polling places in Philadelphia until 2012.
Now Fox has been highlighting a Whistle-Blower who claims that political appointees at the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept deliberately dropped the case and have put forth an edict that voting rights cases against Black People will not be pursued.
But this Whistle-Blower, Christian Adams, as again FOX HAS FAILED TO REPORT is hardly a non-partisan actor in this drama... h/t MediaMatters
# Adams is a long-time right-wing activist, who is known for filing an ethics complaint against Hugh Rodham that was subsequently dismissed, served as a Bush poll watcher in Florida 2004, and reportedly volunteered for a Republican group that trains lawyers to fight "racially tinged battles over voting rights";
# Adams was hired to the Justice Department in 2005 by Bradley Schlozman, who was found by the Department of Justice Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility to have improperly considered political affiliation when hiring career attorneys -- the former head of the DOJ voting rights section reportedly said that Adams was "exhibit A of the type of people hired by Schlozman";
# Adams has admitted that he does not have first-hand knowledge of the events, conversations, and decisions that he is citing to advance his accusations;
Adams is an Acolyte of Schlozman, and I think Media Matters actually downplayed the importance of that. Schlozman almost single-handed purged the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division of Black, Minority and Female attorneys bringing their level of participation in that Department down to a level that was less than it was 30 years ago.
Also remember during that time you had situations like that of David Iglesias, who was summarily FIRED by the Bush Administration for refusing to pursue Bogus Voting Fraud Charges Against ACORN.
You want to know who Megyn Kelly talked to about her interview with Malik Shabazz immediately after it was over? Karl Rove.
I don't know exactly what the political appointee that Adam's is talking about said - (and he probably doesn't either since he wasn't in the room at the time) - but if it was something like "We're not going to pursue anymore of these Bogus ACORN cases..." I wouldn't have a problem with that.
Let also recall one more thing - just how much has Fox Reported about Voter Caging by the RNC? Anybody remember Monica Goodling testifying to Congress that former Rove Assistant Tim Griffin was involved in Voter Caging?
Voting rights attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for prison time for the new US Attorney for Arkansas, Timothy Griffin and investigation of Griffin’s former boss, Karl Rove, chief political advisor to President Bush.
“Timothy Griffin,” said Kennedy,”who is the new US attorney in Arkansas, was actually the mastermind behind the voter fraud efforts by the Bush Administration to disenfranchise over a million voters through ‘caging’ techniques - which are illegal.”
Caging is a direct mail trick, where a registered letter is sent to the address of an absentee voter and if they don't respond to that letter within a specific period of time they are placed on a "Challenge List" so that when their absentee ballot comes in - IT WON'T BE COUNTED. Griffin did this specifically to African American Servicemen who were stationed in Iraq during the 2004 Election, afterward he was rewarded with a Patriot Act approved appointment as a U.S. Attorney without being Confirmed by the Senate.
When Griffin did this Caging for the RNC, there was already a Court Ordered Consent Decree blocking them from doing so - so he not only violated the Law, he violated a Court Order.
And is Fox All Up In ARMS because thousands upon thousands of (Black) Voters may have been disenfranchized by the RNC?
Uh, not such much.
They rather froth at the mouth about what one guy with a STICK didn't do two years ago - which wasn't illegal.
A new Gallup Poll reveals that the people who identify themselves as Tea Partiers, and those who represent the GOP "Base" are virtually the same.
So what we see here is that the allegedly brand spanking new "Tea Party" - is really just the rotted core of the same Old not-so-Grand Party. Surprise, surprise...
But then again, it's not as if there weren't some hints.
From the HBO Documentary "Right America, Feeling Wronged" which documented the McCain/Palin campaign and their supporters - it's not like some of the rank distrust of Obama and Democrats just suddenly happened after he was elected President.
Obama is a Muslim.
Obama is a Terrorists.
Obama Hates America.
He's going to swear his oath of allegiance on the Quoran.
He won't wear a Flag Pin.
He won't pledge allegiance to the Flag.
McCain just didn't take the Gloves Off.
The way the youth is behind him, all I could think of is "Hitler Youth".
The fact is that the Tea Party are just a pack of bitter Conservative Republicans who can't stand the fact they lost - they're nothing more then Sore Losers!.
You can argue that some of the crazy statements by supporters in this video don't matter - except that we've been hearing just as crazy stuff for quite a while from elected (and nearly elected) Republicans. What's even funnier is to watch how fast they run when they get called on it.
People like John Boehner, who now say "Nobody ever said the Stimulus wouldn't produce any jobs" --- except that HE DID. (And so did Scott Brown)
Wanna see what Obama has done to our Jobs? This.
Or Rep. Steve King who says Obama hasn't helped out Lousisiana on the BP Oil Spill because "Bobby Jindal is a Republican". So is that why George Bush did such a shitty job during Katrina, because Jindal's predecessor was a Democrat? That's Really your argument Steve, that the President is that Petty? Maybe it's because he hates White People, cuz he's only "Half White" or he hates Christians since he was Sworn In on the Quoran!
Hint to the Sarcasm Challenged, that was a Joke!
Tea Party Wacko or GOP Base - it does tend to sound the same if you bother to listen to them doesn't it?
Then there's Wannabe Senator/Tea Party Crown Prince Rand Paul who said he thinks the Public Accommodations portion of the Civil Rights Act goes too far... but then he wouldn't try to REPEAL it or anything. Sure you wouldn't.
Poor Rand Paul has been so maligned See he doesn't want to repeal Civil Rights, he only wants to abolish the American's With Disabilities Act. Paul also thinks the EPA is Running Amok with too many restrictive regulations, Doesn't think anyone's going to miss a Few Mountains Here and There that have been mined into oblivion, and has endorsed banning guaranteed citizenship to people who were BORN in America.
Golly Gee Willickers, how much more UnAmerican can you get than that!?
Lastly there's Wannabe Senator Sharon Angle who is rapidly trying to SCRUB (rinse and repeat) any evidence of her past radical statements such as...
Abolishing Social Security:
Social Security and its attendant Medicare are broken and bankrupt systems because we, as voting citizens, have allowed congress to transform these systems from insurance programs to and [sic] entitlement programs. [...] Free market alternatives, which offer retirement choices to employees and employers, must be developed and offered to those still in their wage earning years, as the Social Security system is transitioned out.
On drill, baby drill:
As a long-term policy, America must expand its own domestic energy supplies. Sharron Angle would legislate to .repeal regulations that prohibit off shore drilling, drilling in ANWR and development of American owned petroleum resources.
On climate change:
Cap and Trade, which is based on an unscientific hysteria over the man-caused global warming hoax, steps over the constitutional boundaries of the federal government and is merely another way to tax the people.
On her plans to reduce the deficit by ... cutting taxes!
As your U.S. Senator, Sharron Angle will introduce legislation in line with her economic policy of:
* Pay back the deficit
* Cut back on spending, taxation and regulation
On the UN:
The U.N. continually threatens U.S. sovereignty, with endless rhetoric and treaties and it has now become the “umpire” on fraudulent science, such as global warming.
On immigration:
Sharron Angle has been endorsed by Minuteman PAC.
Or her argument that"We may need 2nd Amendment remedies" if Republicans fail to take back Congress.
Second Amendment Remedies eh? You mean remedies like these guys who Murdered Police Officers?
Hear that...
.
.
.
.
.
Yeah, THAT, that deafening SILENCE FROM THE GOP/TEA PARTY - punctuated by the occasional cricket - as they race each other clawing hand and foot to denounce Murdering Police Officers because of some Nutbag Radical Constitutional Theory!
But give a few more seconds and they'll start whining that they've been Wrongly Associated with Domestic Terrorists. Yeah, right ok. I'm sure Bill Ayers didn't mind his name being used to trash Barack Obama either.
That's right I invoked the dreaded Bill Ayers, who never killed anyone, and was never even tried, let alone never convicted of Anything largely because of gross Right Wing Crimes - including witness tampering, evidence planting and false confessions - in the effort to "Get those Dirty Pinko Leftists" by Herbert Hoover's FBI.
Oh yes, now do you see why those pesky 4th and 5th Amendment Rights Matter? Wanna see what REAL Fascism Looks like? Try this...
There's a reason you don't fight criminals with more crime - it backfires!
Yeah, they called Dr Martin Luther King Jr a "Socialist" too - the FBI illegally wiretapped him and tried to use that information to blackmail him into suicide - but it had nothing to do with his race. Right, sure it didn't.
Truth is, there is a difference between the center of the GOP and the most radical and potentially violent fringe elements of that group just as there is a massive difference between Dr. King and Bill Ayers (not that the FBI didn't try to Railroad both of them) - but in the case of the GOP/Tea Party and their violent radical fringe, that difference is practically paper thin.
The philosophy of the Weather Underground and Black Panthers compared to Dr. King were radically different - but with the GOP/Tea Party and groups like the Hutaree Militia the Philosophy is identical, only the methods differ - so far.
As I wrote yesterday about the Tea Party "Yup, I'm a Racist" T-Shirts - the real problem here is that when you openly admit you Hate Non-Christians, you openly admit you Hate Liberals and you Hate Socialists, you openly admit you Hate Communists, you openly admit you Hate Gays, you openly admit you Hate Scientists and you hate Doctors who dare to give all those Slutty Women an Abortion just because it's LEGAL ... When about 70-80% of the rest of the Nation includes Blacks (who tend to be Democrats and Liberals), Women (most of whom of may not get an abortion, but would at least like to have the Freedom of Choice on the issue) and Gays (who would like to be able to serve their country openly and have the FREEDOM to marry the consensual party of there choice) and what was that other group again, oh yeah DEMOCRATS and Liberals who happen to have been fighting to protect all those peoples FREEDOMS as well as YOURS for generations - then whining about being called "Racist" is like complaining about the Barn Door being open after all the pigs have run down the road, been picked up and already taken to market to slaughter.
That Ship has SAILED already.
We already KNOW the GOP Base and Tea Party are a bunch of Hate Filled Ignorant Bigots - now we're just haggling over HOW Ignorant and Bigoted.
From the July 4th Tea Party Rally in Lexington Kentucky where T-Shirts declaring "Yup,' I'm a Racist!" were sold.
The Shirt Says on the Front: Yup, I'm a Racist
On the Back: if the Government Says so Because...
1. I support the Constitution
2. I support Free Speech
3. I support the Right to Bear Arms
4. I support the Bill of Rights
5. I support Capitalism
6. I support NO Government Bailouts
7. I support closing the border
8. I support the Military
9. I support the Tea Party
10. I support Jesus Christ as My Savior.
This apparently passes for Irony in Tea Party World. Somehow, just like Alanis Morisette, I do not think they know what that word means.
This list is not why anyone in the Tea Party was ever associated with or accused of bigotry or racism - this is...
This...
This...
And this...
And specifically THIS...
When the reality is that what Obama did with the Stock Market after George W. Bush Crashed it was THIS...
What I haven't seen is anyone in the Tea Party denounce this kind of imagery as inappropriate and bigoted. They clearly think it's JUST FINE! Rather than call this stuff out, they rather pretend "Oh, it just a few guys OVER THERE" it wasn't ME - I didn't hold that sign up, I just stood right next to the guy who did, then whine and play the Victim Card for their not so tacit endorsement of this stuff, which is actually what this new set of Silly T-Shirts are really all about.
Racism comes from people like Mark Williams, who happens to be the leader of the Tea Party Express, who openly says that "Muslim's are Animals".
And from their GOP Rank and File, even before he was Elected you got Stupid Stupid Crap like this...
The fact is that people who support Barack Obama also support the Constitution, including Article 1 which includes the power of the Congress to pass the Laws, and Article 2 which outlines the Powers and Responsibilities of the Presidency - which includes enforcing the Laws, even when he doesn't agree with them or like them. (Unlike Bush who just ignored the Laws he didn't like) After the Supreme Court's Heller decision (which is briefly mentioned in the first video) which established the Right to Bear Arms as a Constitutional Right, there isn't much that the President or Congress Could Possibly do to take people's "Guns Away", not that he's ever suggested any such thing.
It's interesting to note what that shirt doesn't support - the 13th Amendment which Abolished Slavery (almost), the 14th Amendment which guaranteed the equal protection of the laws to all persons within the jurisdiction of the state - regardless of whether they are citizens or how they arrived in that jurisdiction (even Gitmo Detainees) Sure, the first and second amendments are great, but what about the 4th Amendment protection against illegal search and seizures? What about the 5th Amendment Right against Self-Incrimination? What about the 8th Amendment protection from Cruel and Unusual Punishment?
I didn't see any Tea Partiers with big "George W. Bush is a NAZI signs" when he was sanctioning illegal wiretaps (which violates the 4th and 5th) and torture (which violates the 8th Amendment) now did I?
I didn't see any Tea Partiers when Bush cut taxes for people who didn't need their taxes cut and turned the budget surplus into the greatest deficit we've ever had?
I didn't see any Tea Partiers with "George W. Bush is a Communist/Socials/Muslim" when he sent thousands of our soldiers to die in the Iraq War based on a pack of lies generated by ignorance, stubbornness (even after we were specifically TOLD Saddam had destroyed his weapons stockpiles), bribery (Curveball), torture (al Libi) and forgeries (Niger).
There are some legitimate policy issues and leadership issues to criticize Obama for, specifically his far too hands off attitude with BP and the spill cleanup, his aggressive prosecution of Whistleblowers for merely revealing Bush Administration malfeasance and failure to followup on Bush War Crimes - but when President Barack Obama implements the Bailout that Bush Crafted, then manages to actually make a profit doing it by keeping a close eye (certainly closer than Sec. Paulsen wanted) on Wall Street...
The Troubled Asset Relief Program has reached a significant milestone: The amount of TARP funds paid back to the federal government has surpassed the amount that remains outstanding.
Through the end of May, $194 billion in TARP funds had been repaid, compared with $190 billion in TARP funds still owed to the government.
The completion of the Treasury Department’s sale of 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup, which provided $6.2 billion in gross proceeds to taxpayers, was the deal that put repayments ahead of outstanding TARP funds.
Taxpayers also have received $23 billion from dividends, interest and other income through TARP, the program that was created in 2008 to bail out the financial system, but also has been used to prop up corporations like General Motors and Chrysler.
Read more: TARP’s turning point: More money has been paid back than is owed - bizjournals:
When 40% of the Obama Stimulus Bill included Tax Cuts for the Working Middle Class and Small Businesses, when the Budget Deficit actually came down by $400 Billion during his first year, when he manages to do what he can to actually support the Right to Living with a Health Care proposal that requires people to show Personal Responsibility by carrying their own Health Insurance instead of mooching and making everyone else pay for their care in the Emergency Room, when he EXPANDS our Military Involvement in Afghanistan trying to block a safe haven from Al Qeada (after Bush failed to do that for 9 years)... he gets called a Socialist Witchdoctor Nazi Communist Kenyan with a Bone Through His Nose?!
The truth is the Tea Partiers Don't Deserve to be called "Racist" - IMO that's too good for 'em - they deserved to be called a Pack of Fracking Deluded Idiots! Any confusion with Actual Racists, is merely a function of their Shared Rank Stupidity.
But don't mind me using my still fully functioning Free Speech to say so.
Cenk responds to the GOP attack on Thurgood Marshall.
In the original Constitution black persons were considered and counted as "3/5ths of a person" for purposes of Congressional Representation and Taxes, so Slave States received lesser numbers in congress, but also lower taxes based on the number of slaves. The deal brokered between the North and South States helped establish the Union, but it did so with in an inherent poison pill in the mix.
There was also the Fugitive Slave Clause which required the Free States to enforce Slave Laws and recover and extradite escaped slaves back to their home states - which actually they refused to do until Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act (1850) which in an attempt to stave off the Civil War made this recovery the duty of Federal Marshals.
In 1850 Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law. Only John P. Hale, Charles Sumner, Salmon Chase and Benjamin Wade voted against the measure. The law stated that in future any federal marshal who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave could be fined $1,000. People suspected of being a runaway slave could be arrested without warrant and turned over to a claimant on nothing more than his sworn testimony of ownership. A suspected black slave could not ask for a jury trial nor testify on his or her behalf.
Any person aiding a runaway slave by providing shelter, food or any other form of assistance was liable to six months' imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. Those officers capturing a fugitive slave were entitled to a fee and this encouraged some officers to kidnap free Negroes and sell them to slave-owners.
Suspected Slave - not proven Slaves - SUSPECTED Slaves were not allowed a trial, which created a cottage industry of Kidnappers who could target free person for a bounty. Although the original Slave importation had been banned by the Congress in 1808, thanks to this law it could still continue between within the Free States and as a result No Black Person in America was truly safe from being potentially enslaved, even if they were outside of a slave state and were legally free.
Yes, the original Constitution was "Flawed" - deeply so.
These clauses are what gave us the Dred Scott Decision (1857) where it was said that even a former slave, who had lived for over 12 years as a FREE BLACK MAN didn't have rights, as black people weren't even considered *citizens* in the original Constitution.
Just for the record the Civil was not fought to "End Slavery" because it didn't. It was fought by the North to preserve the Union and by the South to protect "States Rights" - (even though they were under no threat as this legacy of Laws and Court Cases shows) - the real tragedy is that the 13th Amendment only shifted Slavery and Indentured Servitude from being focused on people based on Race, to people based on Criminal/Civil Convictions.
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Any judge or jury can even now inflict slavery or involuntary servitude on someone as punishment for a crime, which may in it's own way explain why so many criminal laws and law enforcement efforts seem to continue to focus on young black men, including torturing them into false confessions to near the exclusion of so many others who commit equal or even greater crimes - but I digress.
Much of these views were technically erased by the 14th Amendment (Ratified 1868) which (supposedly) guaranteed equal protection of the laws to all persons born in the United States and within it's Jurisdiction. Plessy v Furgeson (1896) which established "Separate but equal" including this lovely piece of skip logic.
It is claimed by the plaintiff in error that, in any mixed community, the reputation of belonging to the dominant race, in this instance the white race, is property in the same sense that a right of action or of inheritance is property. Conceding this to be so for the purposes of this case, we are unable to see how this statute deprives him of, or in any way affects his right to, such property. If he be a white man and assigned to a colored coach, he may have his action for damages against the company for being deprived of his so-called property. Upon the other hand, if he be a colored man and be so assigned, he has been deprived of no property, since he is not lawfully entitled to the reputation of being a white man.
This decision seriously - seriously - argues that if a White Person was forced to sit in the Black section of the Train, he would have a right to sue the railroad for being deprived of his rightful "Property", but that a non-white would not! This is what the court called "Separate but Equal".
Brown v Board of Education (1954) Reversed this (teacherken points out in the comments that Brown's Scope was limited to School Segregation Only and still didn't reverse the Core of Plessy - ht), and abolished the "Separate but (Clearly Unequal)" doctrine and finally, (partially) undid the Scott ruling of almost 100 years prior.
Sen. Franken to Elena Kagan on the "Judicial Activism" of Brown v Board of Education and Justice Thurgood Marshall
The fact is that the Activist Judges were those who wrongly decided Plessy, and that in Brown the court Corrected that wrongful decision and finally began to undo a near Century of wrongful decisions which had helped enshrine and protect not just discriminatory treatment but rampant murder and terrorism that was enforced by the racial majorities in this country for centuries.
That's exactly the kind of thing that RNC and especially Rand Paul who clearly would agree with the judicial overturning of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which protected people from private discrimination - provisions which were eventually reinstated by the Civil Rights Act of 1963 under the Interstate Commerce clause.
That would be the same clause the Tea Party is attacking in the Health Care Law as "Unconstitutional".
I mean this quite seriously... who and or what is this country going to be?
In 2008 we made a choice, we voted to make a difference - we voted for a Change - but all of these people didn't disappear, they didn't go away, they simply got even more disturbed, even more unstable, and ultimately - Much Louder!
This November there will be yet another choice before us. Most Democrat and Progressives have resigned themselves to the fact of lost seats in Congress, and possibly losing control of the House.
But seriously, have you been listening to people in the House lately?
A House Takeover would make John Boehner the Speaker. John Boehner, who never said the Stimulus wouldn't create "One Job" - except for when both Scott Brown and he said Exactly That.
The Guy who thinks the largest economic meltdown since the Great Depressions was just the size of an Ant.
It would elevate the power of Louie Gohmert who thinks that Hamas is sending their songs and daughter here to make babies that will return and KILL US!
It would give More power to these guys who want to Completely Repeal HealthCare... even though they can't do it.
They would replace the current Senate Majority Leader with This Woman - who thinks having a 6 to 1 ratio of unemployed workers to available jobs is simply a sign of Laziness on the part of Job Seekers.
Speaking of "Lazy People" we better not giving handouts to those damn dirty Homeless Vets that Bill O'Reilly still can't find...
It would give More Power to the guys who think Poor BP Has Suffered Enough...
THIS is who we're battling against, THIS who what we Can. Not. Afford to become again. These people CAN NOT be given even more influence, and power over the lives of Americans than they already abuse.
THAT. CAN'T. HAPPEN.
There are NO DEATH PANELS. There are no FEMA CAMPS.
Dems are far from perfect and are disappointing on many levels, particularly in Afghanistan and keeping BP's Neck off the of the people in the Gulf's... But DAMN!
If these people get Subpoena power you can forget about getting Climate and Energy Legislation passed. You can forget about making sure BP cleans up the Gulf and compensates everyone affected by the Spill. You can forget about seriously tackling out defect, or government inefficiencies, or growing our economy or putting people back into goods with decent benefits.
Just FORGET about it.
Congress will turn into the "What Has Cass Sunstien done today" - Conspiracy Theory Circus that Runs every weekday on Fox around 3pm. They might even invite the Beckinator in as an "expert witness" on the Obama Administrations "Crime Incorporated".
I don't know what it's going to take, I don't know why the plain, sad, obviousness of it all doesn't make every one of us shake with rage - why the clear and present threat that these people present to all of our lives and livelihoods doesn't make us all rise as one and scream "NO!!".
But I still hope and pray that it will make some of us vote for the far less obnoxious, but still far from perfect guys this November.
