Goodbye DACA?

Today was declared a "national day of prayer" by Donald trump. This is frankly kind of puzzling since today is also Sunday, and it happens to be the day that most Americans go to church. And, let's face it, if they are not praying in church they are kind of missing the point of the entire exercise.

Sadly, today is the day (from reports in Politico) that I learned that Mr. trump is ending the DACA program as well. That just seems to be a very unchristian like thing to do. Forget the economic impact that it will have; that is well documented, but the human cost could be devastating as well.
Imagine separating someone -----who has been in this country since childhood---- from their own family and loved ones.

Somehow, though, that won't matter to trump and this White House. He has built his presidency on division and partisanship, and he will do anything to hang on to the 30% of people who still approve of the job that he is doing. 

The man hates Obama so much that he is hell-bent on doing away with any program that he created. This, in spite of the fact that members of his own party are telling him to reconsider ending the popular program.

“We love the Dreamers, we love everybody…”

No you don't. You only love yourself.

I would pray for you if I thought that it would do any good.

The head birther comes clean. Sort of.

       In a way, trump's press conference and statement that the president was born in America was even more offensive than his ridiculous birther campaign to say that he wasn't.

He was forced to do so after letting his true colors show to the Washington Post , which left his handlers scrambling to play clean up.  

What he did not do was apologize, and he had the audacity to blame his years of race baiting and dog whistle messages ---sent to his David Duke like friends--- on his general election opponent.

He carried it on for years, and he tweeted about it, and he talked about it to anyone who would listen or read. So now, sadly, this disgusting episode in American life--- which was a sordid attempt to delegitimize the first African American president in the history of this country--- falls squarely in the lap of  Herr trump. 

Today, with the rest of the country looking on, he was forced to pivot, and to declare to all the world that the president was in fact born in this country.  He crusaded for seven years as the leader of the birther movement, and he took two minutes to tell us to just let it go, and in doing so, told another big lie.

Watching that spectacle that was supposed to be a press conference (just trump promoting his new hotel) you got to see trump's arrogance on full display. 

He did not have the decency to apologize to the president for being the leader of this reprehensible and racist movement over the years, and he quickly got through his proof of life type delivery as if his handlers were holding a gun to his head. 

To black folks this entire birther sham  was personal. I say shame on him. And shame on every  American who supports him as well. 

*Pic from mediamatters.org.

  

A more positive view of race relations in America.

T        The  Field Negro education series continues.

Folks are always ripping me about my cynicism when it comes to race relations in America, so tonight I want to give you a positive article about race relations by Jamelle Bouie.

"On race relations, President Obama is feeling optimistic.

At least, that’s how he comes across in an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, who asks if “the United States is  than it was” when he took office. “No,” Obama says, “I actually think that it’s probably in imore racially dividedts day-to-day interactions less racially divided.”

If America seems more divided, he says, it’s because we’re more aware of our racial shortcomings. “It’s understandable the polls might say, you know, that race relations have gotten worse—because when it’s in the news and you see something like Ferguson or the Garner case in New York, then it attracts attention.” And if many white Americans have a shocked response to claims of unfairness and discrimination, it’s because it’s outside their purview. “If you’d asked whites in those jurisdictions,” he said, referring to racial profiling in Illinois, ‘Do you think traffic stops were done fairly?’ the majority of whites probably would say ‘yes’ because it’s not something they experience. It’s not because of racism; it’s just that it’s not something that they see.”

It’s easy to dismiss this as undue optimism or a retreat to 2008-style post-racial thinking, especially given events in Cleveland, Ferguson, and New York, and the stark divide in how blacks and whites see law enforcement. But Obama isn’t wrong. When it comes to race relations, America is better than it’s ever been.

The most obvious observation is the fact of Obama’s election—and re-election—to the presidency. As a milestone in American life, this goes beyond electoral politics. “The person who occupies that office is not only the head of the executive branch of the federal government,” writes Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy for the American Prospect, “The president is also the nation’s mourner-in-chief, booster-in-chief, spouse-in-chief, and parent-in-chief.” He continues: “That a black man has been the master of the White House for the past six years does indeed reflect and reinforce a remarkable socio-psychological transformation in the American racial scene.”

You can see this in the data. According to authors Lawrence D. Bobo of Harvard, Camille Z. Charles of the University of Pennsylvania, Maria Krysan of the University of Illinois, Chicago, and Alicia D. Simmons of Stanford University in “The Real Record on Racial Attitudes”—a paper in the 2012 volume of Social Trends in American Life: Findings from the General Social Survey Since 1972—whites have progressed on a wide range of measures. As recently as 1990, more than 40 percent of whites supported a homeowner’s right to discriminate on the basis of race; by 2008, that number had dropped to 28 percent (including 25 percent of highly educated Northern whites). The same goes for the percentage of whites who said blacks were “less intelligent” than whites, which dipped from nearly 60 percent in 1990 to less than 30 percent in 2008." [More]

The article goes on to tell us how whites have become more tolerant of other races and blah blah blah.

OK, if it's racial progress to still worry about how we are viewed by whites and their attitudes towards us well then so be it.

Personally, I don't see this as progress, I see it as more of the same.

But hey, that's just me.

*Pic from nationofchange.org. 

 

A different kind of "animosity".

As one of my twitter followers eloquently stated: "I guess "aloof" is the new uppity."


Quite a few lawmakers (including some democrats) have been complaining about the president's hands off style. Apparently they don't believe that he is engaged enough with them or that he makes enough of an effort to reach out.... OK then.


I understand how Washington works, and that there is a certain amount of backslapping and bullshitting required to function in that town. I also understand that it has not been happening with this president.


Look, there should come a time when all parties involved put aside their egos and try to pass laws that work for the sake of the rest of us. That includes the president.


While I understand how President Obama can be reticent about sharing his personal feelings with the clowns in Washington,  he is the president of these divided states, and he must make an effort to reach out and have those phony tender moments, no matter how much it pains him.


It has to be tough for him, because I am quite sure he knows that there are quite a few lawmakers in Washington who cannot get over the fact that a black man is president and they are not. Every time they see that Negro stepping on Air Force One or stepping up to the podium with that Presidential Seal, they want to just die. (I see you Ted Cruz.)


This, no doubt, eats at him, and it will be interesting to see if this is mentioned in his post- presidency memoir that is sure to come. He can never be comfortable with them (and vice versa), but he has to learn to play pretend. He is a politician. He has that skill.


Of course it was never going to be easy to be the first black president, because there was always going to be so much more than just governing and being presidential at play. Folks wanted to think that we were a "post-racial" country after 2008, but the truth is, only a certain segment of the population bought into the "post- racial" meme. It was easier said than done.

"Several Democrats said Obama must contend with GOP animosity, but so did former President Bill Clinton, who was undeterred through two terms.

Obama held a few dinners with Senate Republicans last year, discussing budgets, entitlements and immigration over steak and coconut sorbet. Hopes for keeping a constructive conversation going have faded more than a year after the last dinner and several participants have had little contact with Obama since."

Bill Clinton might have been the "first black president" in Toni Morrison's eyes, but the reality is that he was not. Had he been, I am not sure that he would have been as "undeterred through two terms". He would have faced a different kind of  "animosity".


Still, with only two years left, Mr. Obama might want to consider getting out some more "coconut sorbet".








  

An old issue is back, and Stacey disses Obama.

*

Bless Abigail Fisher’s pure white heart. She was a straight A student in high school and even played the cello for good measure. Her sibling and her father attended UT Austin, and that is where she wanted to go. But, sadly for Ms. Fisher, she had to settle for one of Mrs. Field’s alma mater, LSU.(My heart bleeds.) Of course, like so many other white people in “post racial” America, she is sick of being discriminated against, so she is did what any red blooded American would do: she sued.

Now, four years later, her case is before the Supremes.
The University of Texas says that even without "affirmative action" Abigail wouldn't have made the cut. But Abigail doesn't believe it; she thinks that one of those minorities took her spot. Her spot.
 

So can a university select a student body it wants to look like the larger community and society at large? Does having a more diverse student body give students who graduate from said university a better opportunity to compete in the real world? The University of Texas seems to think so. 

Republican appointed jurist, Sandra Day O’Conner, writing for the majority in a case styled Grutter v. Bollinger, believes that it does as well. Abigail, --and  I suspect most white people in America-- does not.

You can’t use racial quotas, but you can certainly consider race as one of the factors. This seems reasonable to me if you consider other factors such as economic background and family hardships as well. I am all for a poor white kid who has been disadvantaged all of his or her life getting more consideration than a wealthy black kid with all the privileges afforded those with wealth in this country.

To me, there is affirmative action and what the University of Texas is doing. What they are doing is not affirmative action, what they are doing is trying to enhance their student body by bringing people of different backgrounds and experiences together.

But still, should we feel for some woe is me white folks like the ones I read about in Slate Magazine, today?

"I’ll start with the anger. J.R. Constable writes that after taking the community college courses he was told were required, he tried to transfer to California State University at Fresno, only to be told by a counselor there off the record: “ ‘We can’t admit you, because we have too many white males enrolled in your major.’ ” He says, “I was enraged,” and continues:

I wish I could say that within a few weeks I got over it, but I still find myself once in a while having the thoughts that I missed a promotion because of my gender, or race. Or that because I'm white I don't have as much potential, or ability. That I was being viewed as a failure. If life is supposed to be so much easier for me, why do I have to struggle so much?

Immediately after the incident, I was at the worst of my self-loathing, I was constantly hating myself for what I was, a white man. I hated myself for what I was becoming, a bigot. Race and gender went from being a non-issue, to being the only issue. I was crushed, and I dropped out of school. I settled in to the fact that because of something that happened to me at conception, that I had no control over, that is an insignificant part of the larger sum of me, I’d been doomed to being at the bottom.

 

J.R. says he was rejected from Cal State in the early 2000s, after California voters passed a referendum that barred the state from considering race, sex, or ethnicity in public employment, contracting, or education. He says he was told that the school needed more minorities in his major because of a federal funding mandate, and that trumped the state law. He also says he grew up poor, taking care of his disabled mother, and that he’s sure being on the losing side of affirmative action, as he sees it, was a terrible turning point for him."

An email from a man from Austin had the same flavor. When he didn’t get into the University of Texas at Austin law school in the mid-1970s, he was told that he’d met the minimum standard for test scores and grades, “but because of affirmative action and the fact that the University was trying to increase minority enrollment, there were not enough places for me. Tough luck.” He didn’t have the money to attend another law school, since he was living and working in Austin. “I never became an attorney,” he continues. “ I don’t harbor any ill will, but I guess just regret and sadness.

I checked on UT’s affirmative action policy in the ’70s. According to a 1994 court ruling, the law school had a separate admissions committee that considered applications from minority students and disadvantaged white students. In 1977, out of 500 applications, the committee admitted 68 minority students and three white students. So it’s true that the law school was trying to increase minority enrollment, and it’s possible that these efforts could have edged out a white student on the margin. For the man who wrote to me, that possibility is enough for a life’s worth of complicated emotion.
 

Robert Grant, who went to law school at the University of Mississippi in the 1990s, feels bitter about the scholarships he saw go to minority students. He’d just come out of the Air Force, the GI Bill didn’t cover graduate school, and he was working the graveyard shift at a local hotel to pay for school when he ran into a black classmate parking her fancy car. She was on scholarship; he was not. “This is justified as a remedy for past discrimination. Fine,” he writes. “However, I currently have over $100,000 in student loans. ... I wouldn’t be human if it didn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth.” [Source]

How did he know that the black law school student "parking her fancy car" didn't have a rich daddy? Anyway, I feel his pain. Color arousal can be a b*&^# sometimes.

Finally, I wish that you Negroes would leave Stacey Dash alone. So she supports Mitt Romney, there is nothing wrong with that. (Wasn't her biggest movie called "Clueless"?) This is America, and she pretty much has a right to support who she wants to become our president. I know I slammed her on twitter, but I was joking. I was not the person who called her a house slave.

Rip Stacey for her acting career....wait, she has no acting career. OK, fine, rip her for messing with my girl LisaRaye; but not this.

“Believe me I wish things had worked out because I thought Stacey and I were great together. She was my age and we were working it. It was sex-symbol to sex-symbol. But she didn’t want to be there. I was disappointed about that. She had some issues. I’m not sure exactly what those issues were. In the end, she and VH1 made a decision.”

Well, now we know. The poor child was having buyer's remorse over his Oness.

*Pic from Slate magazine.
  

 

And a Christian shall lead them.

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."~ Matthew 7: 21-23~      

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Franklin Graham are all "workers of lawlessness."

They have all been in rare form lately with their I am more religious than you schtick. Obama said that he offered a prayer for Franklin's daddy; he should have sent one up for the son as well. That boy needs Jesus.

"..Graham also said he couldn't "categorically" say Obama wasn't a Muslim, in part, because Islam has gotten a "free pass" under Obama. Graham also said the Muslim world sees Obama as a "son of Islam," because the president's father and grandfather were Muslim." [Source]

Not wanting to be left off that "chariot of fire" as it rides into heaven; Mitt Romney also joined the bash Obama's faith crowd.

"Unfortunately, possibly because of the people the president hangs around with, and their agenda, their secular agenda — they have fought against religion," Romney said". [Source] 

Move over Elijah!

And then, of course, there was Rick.

" [Santorum] told an Ohio audience on Saturday that Obama’s agenda is based on "some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology."

Rick, I feel like doing a little  preaching myself.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." ~Matthew 7:1-5~

My brothers and sisters, let us stay with the book of Matthew. Turn with me to verse fifteen.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves."        

And the church said amen.
        

Still not good enough Mr. President!

I just saw one of those great You Tube moments on John King's show.

"JOHN KING, HOST, “JOHN KING USA”: You raised this –

DONALD TRUMP, CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: No, no, you raised this.

KING: No, I did not raise this. I did not call the press conference in Palm Beach earlier this week –

TRUMP: Excuse me, you raised this. And every time I sit down with the press, all they want to talk about is the birth certificate. And I got him to do something that nobody else could get him to do, and I’ve been getting great credit for that.

KING: And you - you raised this issue of his credibility, that if he has it, he should release it.

TRUMP: Absolutely.

KING: There are people who question yours in the middle of all this. The other night, you went on "ANDERSON COOPER" and you said your investigators told you it was missing or it wasn't there.

TRUMP: Excuse me.

KING: What was that about?

TRUMP: Excuse me. Very simple. I had people looking into it. Now I don't have to have the people - I can call them back, I hope. I mean, I haven't seen this. I'm sure a lot of experts –

KING: But if – would you ever pay them – if serious people told you it was missing or not there, here it is. Here it is.

TRUMP: Would I pay them? I don’t know. Maybe I'll let you negotiate for me.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Some people think you just made that up though.

TRUMP: Let me just tell you, I don't make up anything. Let me tell you something. I have done a great service to the American people...."

For more laughs please watch the clip that goes with this link.

I will say this much for Mr. Bad Hair, he fits right in with the republican party. He looked right into the camera and told a lie. When King asked him why he said he was even with the president in the CNN polls he said because he was. When King told him that CNN had no such poll he told King that he [King] was lying and tried to send some flunky to get it [The poll]. CNN and the rest of A-merry-ca is still waiting for proof of that poll. It will never come. Just like we will never hear from the investigators that he had in Hawaii. It was all a lie.

Still, I am mad at O. I did not want him to release his birth certificate. The thought of an A-merry-can president having to release a birth certificate to prove that he is an A-merry-can is astonishing to me. It's why I can't stop blogging about it. Can you imagine? Two years into their presidency one of the previous 43 presidents having questions raised about where they were born?

So there was Mr. Bad Hair today taking credit for O showing a document which every person in A-merry-ca who doesn't see black helicopters over his/her lawn knew existed.

"Yes, but why did it take two years for him to show it. Tell the people, Mr. Obama, why two years? "

Mr. Wingnut, why did he have to show it to you in the first place?

I shot up with the Sheriff. And everyone has an opinion.

While you Negroes keep slinging and splitting each others' wigs in urban A-merry-ca, those other folks keep living out their Mexican "Federales" fantasies in meth havens all over rural A-merry-ca.

You Negroes could learn a thing or two from those other folks; start slinging from the inside.

"VAN BUREN, Mo. – One county on the edge of the Missouri Ozarks seemed oddly immune to the scourge of methamphetamine ravaging the state, boasting few meth raids or arrests in recent years. Some residents now think they know why, after a meth bust landed the Carter County sheriff himself in jail.

Tommy Adams, county sheriff for a little more than two years, was arrested earlier this month after giving meth to an informant at his cabin on a remote and hilly gravel road, according to a court document. He also allegedly snorted the drug himself with a straw. Authorities would not detail the extent of Adam's alleged meth involvement, but charged him with meth distribution. He is being held in Cape Girardeau County jail on $250,000 bond...." [Source]

I know Tommy, times are hard, they just don't pay sheriffs like they used to.

Finally, yet another Charlie is giving an interview. But, sadly for this one, he isn't "Winning!"

This one will continue to spend the rest of his miserable life in prison for committing some of the most heinous crimes in A-merry-can history. And yet, he seems to be joining the legion of O haters around the country. I am not surprised though, he fits the wingnut profile.

Still, this all has to feel like the worst kind of piling on for my man O. I mean first your own people, and then one of A-merry-ca's most notorious murderers? Where does it end?

The only good news for O is that in order to win a second term he only has to beat a republiclown. And unless they are in a lab building a secret candidate as I type this, I am sure that O isn't losing any sleep over any of his likely opponents.

We should all remember.

Sorry about missing last nights post people, I am on the road and passing through the" A" on my way to take care of some business along with a little pleasure.

It's September 11th and every year at this time of year I remember what I was doing on that sad day and the people I was with. Three thousand people lost their lives because of a bunch of cowards who wanted to hurry up and get to "paradise" so that they could to sleep with a few virgins. It didn't make sense then and it still doesn't make any sense to the kid. I swear the things people do in the name of religion.

Anyway, I see his O ness is appealing for tolerance from the A-merry-can people.- Good luck with that.- There is a political party out there that wants to take all the power away from your brown behind.

Hey, at least you have kept us safe *knock on wood* .

BECK HINTS THAT OBAMA WILL "KILL WHITE BABIES".

Yes he did. Today on his radio program, while playing the clip of some so called New Black Panther over and over again, he declared that the guy was only saying what his O ness was thinking. And he tried to link Obama to all things black and radical in A-merry-ca. (Did you know that DOJ is reviewing the verdict in the bay area shooting case because the victim was black?) And this is the second most listened to radio program in A-merry-ca. (He is behind this guy, who, just the other day, said that the Queen of day- time talk owes all of her success to her race. Go figure.)

But Glenn is trying to start a race war, and he got the NBP party to bite. (Of course that was easy. Those clowns have never seen a camera that they don't like.) Seriously, who pays attention to guys who go around calling for the "killing" of " all crackers and "white babies"? That is stuff you leave for fringe bloggers to talk about, not one of the most popular right wing political figures in the country. But this is all a part of a well orchestrated plan by Beck and company to racialize (Is that a word?) Obama and further divide the country. It's a smart move politically, because white folks still have the power of numbers when it comes to votes. At the end of the day, Beck is just a variation of the same republican machine. Don't believe that crap about being independent and not being beholden to any political party. It's not true. If you don't believe me, watch how the rhetoric changes when a republican finally takes back the White House.

Obama knows it, which is why he runs away from you black folks like Usain Bolt. Are you Negroes upset that he is skipping the NAACP convention next month? Don't worry, he will send Michelle. She is the designated black person in the White House.

But back to Beck. This all should be fun, because as we get deeper into the political season let's see how far the republicans will play along with Beck and company in this game of black vs. white. Some in the republican party are starting to say enough. But it might be too little too late. I think that horse has already left the barn.

Still, Beck will keep doing what he is doing, and folks who are desperate for a bogeyman to take away the pain from their own own miserable lives will keep biting. They will do it in spite of editorials like this from the very white Philadelphia Inquirer. The Inquirer, by the way, happens to be the flagship paper in the city where all of this so called voter intimidation against white folks was supposed to have taken place.

I don't know about the rest of you, but the more I think about it is the more I want to be in DC come August 28, 2010. I will stock up on lots of popcorn during my ride down.

Some perspective about the tea party movement from another side.

Boy field, I sure hope that this is it for you and the teabagger posts for awhile. I am sick of you and these teabaggers. Can't you write about another political group?

Well, not quite yet. I just have one more cut and paste job about my wingnut friends and then I promise to leave them alone. *fingers crossed*

Still, I understand about my reputation for racism chasing, and I have acknowledged the folly of my ways. I mean how can I truly see what is in a man's heart? I am not a white person who had white parents, and who grew up in a white household,-especially one in the south- so how would I know what goes on behind closed doors?

Which is why I am glad that I have folks like Carlos Dews to kind of give me an idea:

'The nigger show."
I first heard this expression used to describe the Obama administration during a visit to my hometown in East Texas during the early summer of 2009. I understood what the epithet meant: Our minds are made up, the president lacks legitimacy, and there is nothing he can do that we will support. I was not surprised to hear such a phrase.

I grew up in the 1960s during the ragged end of the Jim Crow era, where many of the books in my school library were stamped Colored School, meaning they had been brought to the white school when the town was forced to integrate the public school system. I recall my parents had instructed me, before my first day of elementary school, not to sit in a chair where a black child had sat. And I remember my sister joked that her yearbook, when it appeared at the end of her first year of integrated high school, was in "black and white."

The outward signs of racism of my home state have now disappeared, but racial hatred remains. My father and his friends still use the word nigger to refer to all black people, and the people of my hometown don't hesitate to spout their racist rhetoric to my face, assuming I agree with them. I hold my tongue for the sake of having continued access to this kind of truth. I learned long ago how not to accept the hatred I was being taught and how to survive not having done so. More recently, I realized that I also learned another lesson: how to recognize racism when it masquerades as something else....... Ironically, until the election of Barack Obama, my discussions of racism in the United States seemed historical. I felt that with the passage of the civil rights legislation of the mid-1960s, the country had turned a corner, that the slow evaporation of overt racism was perhaps inevitable. Now, my personal experience of Southern racism feels current and all too familiar. A news story about the Big Read that appeared in La Repubblica on Sept. 20 (unaware that my grant was awarded during the Bush administration), presciently brought Rome, Obama, To Kill a Mockingbird, and racism together in its headline: "Obama brings antiracist book to Rome."

Jimmy Carter was lambasted for having recently explained that the vehemence with which many Americans resist Obama's presidency is an expression of racism. Carter was accused of fanning the flames of racial misunderstanding by labeling as "racist" what on the surface could be perceived as legitimate policy differences. Like Carter, as a white Southern man, I can see beyond the seemingly legitimate rhetoric to discern what is festering behind much of the opposition to Obama and to his administration's policy initiatives. I also have access, via the racist world from which I came, direct confirmation of the racial hatred toward Obama.

The veiled racism I sense in the United States today is couched, in public discourse at least, in terms that allow for plausible deniability of racist intent. And those who resist any policy initiative from the Obama administration engage in a scorched-earth policy that reminds me of the self-centered white flight, the abandonment of public schools, and the proliferation of private schools, that followed the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate public schools. The very people, like my own rural, working-class family back in East Texas, who stand to gain from the efforts of the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress are, because of their racism, willing to oppose policies that would benefit them the most. Their racism outweighs their own self-interest.

Unfortunately, racists in the United States have learned one valuable lesson since the 1960s: They cannot express their racism directly. In public, they must veil their racial hatred behind policy differences. This obfuscation makes direct confrontation difficult. Anyone pointing out their racist motivations runs the risk of unfairly playing "the race card." But I know what members of my family mean when they say - as so many said during the town hall meetings in August - that they "want their country back." They want it back, safely, in the hands of someone like them, a white person. They feel that a black man has no right to be the president of their country.

During a phone conversation a few weeks after Obama's election, my father lamented that he and my mother might have to stop visiting the casinos in Shreveport, La.: Given Obama's election, "the niggers are already walking around like they own the place. They won't even give up their seats for white women anymore. I don't know what we're going to do with 'em."' [Article]

Mr. Dews, you are just another racism chasing white man. Maybe your family was different than all the rest. And what are the chances that folks like the ones in your family are part of the "tea party movement", today? Come on Mr. Dews, get with the program. This is about the man's politics, not his race.......

Tax Day.

True confessions: I hate tax day. I will leave it at that. (I know the IRS monitors these blogs.) Having said that, I will never be mistaken for Wesley Snipes. I have no problem with paying my fair share of taxes. I love the roads that I drive on and all the other benefits I reap from the federal government while my tax dollars go to work. So there. All you teabagger protesters can kiss my ass. If you really want impress me and make a sacrifice for something you believe in, give up your social security checks when it's time to retire. And, when Father Time grabs you and you start getting sick, pay out of your own damn pockets for whatever medical care you will need.

And while we are on the teabaggers, let me take a little time to praise his O ness: Just a couple of years ago ago this country's economic foundation was on the verge of a collapse. The Dow was tanking, unemployment was rising, and the big D was on every one's lips. (Brother can you spare a mortgage payment?) Now let's be honest wingnuts, we are over a year into the age of Obama and things ain't looking so bad. The Dow is up over 11,000 points, unemployment is holding steady. (Didn't the wingnuts predict that unemployment would be at 12% by now?) And even though home values are way below what they were during the peak of the housing bubble, the bleeding seems to have stopped in the housing market.

On the international front I see O doing some good things as well: (His feud with my home country not withstanding.) He is trying his best to rein in the nukes ,and even though I am still not down with the war in Afghanistan, he seems to be doing a great job with the war on terror where Pakistan is concerned. There has been no major terrorist attack on A-merry-can soil (knock on wood), and he is reaching out to world leaders in a meaningful way to increase our -moral-standing in the world.

Do I have some issues with the guy? Sure I do. But if I am going to be totally honest, so far he has been better than the frat boy at playing leader of the free world. (Oh field, you are just saying that because he is black like you. If he was a white republican you would be all over him.) Nope, if he was a white republican they would be getting his bust ready for Mount Rushmore.

Not everyone is being good on Good Friday.

It's Good Friday and my man racism is still messing with me. (h/t Celina) Poor O, the wingnuts find all kinds of stuff to throw at him. Now he is being associated with some of our deepest and darkest fears as god fearing A-merry-cans: The black brute taking it to the bedroom and raping our women.

Oh field, relax, you lefties did a lot worse to George Bush and you didn't hear folks crying about all kinds of isms. It's just politics field, it has nothing to do with race. That pic you put up there with this post is just an example of god fearing A-merry-cans showing their frustrations and disgust with a man who wants to take us down the road of Socialism.

I see, is that why this guy refused to treat patients who voted for Obama? I thought doctors took some kind of oath to treat everybody in a fair and ethical way? Oh well, maybe it's not racism with the good doc, but the folks who came up with the cartoon...I am not so sure about, them.

But seriously, I need to quit. I am going to stop chasing racism in post racial A-merry-ca. I guess there is no need for it anymore. Not when everything is so race neutral. Hell, just recently, The National Review had on online symposium on black unemployment and they didn't even need any black folks to talk about it. In post racial A-merry-ca there is no longer a need for division based on race. Nope, a panel of white experts is all we need to tell us why black folks are unemployed.

"Well Bob, it seems that the blacks in A-merry-ca are unemployed because they simply don't want to work. Yes, that and the fact that many of them figure that since their ancestors worked so hard during slavery America owes them something. What a shame... "

But seriously, isn't this analogous to having a bunch of Jamaicans holding a symposium about the effects of too much snow on depression? Is it just me or does the whole thing seem a bit surreal?Oh hell, maybe it's just me. Check out the comments after the link I gave you.

Finally, I am going to have to find a religion and soon. I can't let another Good Friday come and go without truly appreciating it. The only thing I associate with Easter is Jamaican bun and cheese. Which reminds me, I have to give my baker in West Philly a call. I better enjoy all the Jamaican bun while I can. Why? Because pretty soon in post racial A-merry-ca, someone else will be baking those bad boys.

It's working! Black is not beautiful in A-merry-can politics.

Okay so what do I know? Here I was thinking that all of these silly accusations and new campaign commercials by Mr. Morton, were pointless and would have zero effect on the race. But of course I was wrong. These repukelicans know their identity and polarizing politics more than I ever could, and they are in full gear already.

Now don't get me wrong, I have been telling you folks all along that his "O" ness cannot win this race, no matter how attractive he looks to you. (Wrong skin tone, wrong name, wrong political pedigree) Still, I never thought the GOP operatives would be this blatant this soon. But I should have known this was coming; they brought over some of the Bushites to run their campaign, and it has been down and dirty ever since.

I wonder how long his "O" ness is going to sit back and let his ass get kicked by the repukelican smear machine? If the two little blonds and accusations of the race card wasn't enough to make him come out and start swinging, I don't know what will. Oh yes, racial politics. You see "O" man, no matter how hard you try to run away from the racial question, the repukes are going to make sure it is following right behind you. They have to keep reminding A-merry-cans that you are black. They know, like I do, that as long as A-merry-cans see you that way, you don't have a snow ball's chance in hell of becoming president of these divided states.

Oh well, at least my Broad Street nude run is safe. But it would have been nice to say President Obama. He might not have been perfect, but he sure as hell couldn't be worse than the all white male club that's led us in the past.

He might never get on our money, but let's not rule out a postage stamp.

"Patriot Games"

"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest... Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism."

I see that you are trying to make F. Scott Fitzgerald a liar huh "O" man? I guess you are trying to show that there are second acts in American lives. Wow, who would have known? Here you are on your very own red white and blue I am more patriotic than you tour, and trying to erase all those unpartiotic memories some of your fellow A-merry-cans might have of you.

I caught a part of your second act in Independence Missouri today, (What's up with matching your location with the theme of your speech? Unity, New Hampshire for your little love fest with Hilary, and now this. I guess you will be going to Hell Michigan when you give your speech on religion) and your speech was impressive. Honest to god I wanted to find my citizenship papers and cradle them over my heart.

But I need you to understand that this all might be a little too late. Hell even so called main stream media outlets are taking polls to see if you are really a patriot. Do you believe this shit? I mean here you are running for President of these divided states and folks are questioning your patriotism. But I gotta give it to you "O" man, you are certainly giving it the old "college try".

"It's worth considering the meaning of patriotism because the question of who is - or is not - a patriot all too often poisons our political debates, in ways that divide us rather than bringing us together.. "Throughout my life, I have always taken my deep and abiding love for this country as a given. It was how I was raised; it is what propelled me into public service; it is why I am running for President.."

Well yes "O" man, let's consider the meaning of patriotism for a minute. Webster's Dictionary defines it as "love or devotion of ones country." You certainly qualify there "O" man, the problem is, many of your fellow country men don't believe it. You see, to them, love of country means different things: It means wearing your flag pin at all times, it means not questioning your government when they do fucked up things, it means protecting our borders at all costs from people who look and act a little different than we are; people who we think will come here and try to change our way of life, it means that we take everything the good book says literally and keep god in our lives at all times. Because, after all, everybody knows that god is an A-merry-can. Are you for all of those things "O" man? If you are,you can kiss my vote goodbye.

Like writer Ross Belano said, I thought it was ironic that you gave your speech today from the Truman Library. I mean wasn't he [Truman] the President who ordered the bomb? Yes, I think he was. You know the bomb don't you "O" man? The one that was dropped that faithful August 6th morning that killed over 100,000 Japanese, including women and children? Those poor people. But hey, I don't think they were patriots, so serve them right.

"I remember listening to my grandmother telling stories about her work on a bomber assembly-line during World War II. I remember my grandfather handing me his dog tags from his time in Patton's Army, and understanding that his defense of this country marked one of his greatest sources of pride. That's my idea of America.."

Yeah it's mine too.

Nothing sweet about it.

I can relate to the "O" man's latest faux pas with Detroit reporter, Peggy Agar. Seems the"O" man slipped up and referred to the reporter as "sweetie" while trying to brush her off. Bad move in this hyper sensitive age of political correctness. And the reporter, to her credit, saw her opportunity and took it. Talk about "15 minutes of fame" . Well this sweetie is signing off is what she said at the end of her broadcast or something to that effect. Trust me, her tone was a lot worse than it reads. The "O" man was forced to call back girlfriend and leave an apology on her voice mail. (They even played the voice mail on WXYZ Television, her employer) "Hi this is Barack Obama.... (I can see the goose bumps from here) I meant no disrespect so I am duly chastened on that front."

Mrs. Field, of course, thought her hero was out of line. But Mrs. Field is a professional who works in a male dominated field, so I would expect no less. "You have that problem too Mister. Have you ever heard yourself when you talk to total strangers?" "Hi 'hon', sorry 'gorgeous', and yes I have heard you use 'sweetie' on more than one occasion". "Guilty as charged" I declare, "and I will stop". " Why do you think I am always correcting you? Some women actually find that offensive. "

Of course being who I am, I had to defend myself:"Yeah but women do it too. There are these older women I work with who always refer to me or other guys at the job as "hon". "Yes but they are older right?" Yes, so what's the difference? "They can do that and get away with it. " "They came from a different time when it was acceptable, it isn't anymore." " So would it be cool for an older man to use the term' sweetie' when addressing a women?" "Of course not!" "Field, what the hell is wrong with you?"

I am thinking that I don't know, and that right about now it feels good not to be a politician. I wonder why Michelle never gave the "O" man these life lessons. "That's a bad habit of mine."

"O" man, you are not alone.

Field are you going

to post about something else besides race, the "O" man, and Hillary just once?

Ahhh, I want to. But sorry, tonight I have a twofer. Why? Because it involves the Ice Queen, the "O" man, and race.

You all know the story. Apparently the Ice Queen darkened up the "O" man for a T.V. commercial, and her campaigned got called on the carpet by some left leaning blogs.

I have posted the pic. Is it much to do about nothing? I bet the Ice Queen thinks it is.

After all, she is just trying to show A-merry-ca what the Kenyan side of the "O" man looks like.

But hey, I am tired of all the racial stuff. I mean is it possible that maybe the picture just happened to be darker, and there was no nefarious intent on the part of the Clinton campaign?

I choose to see the glass as half full. I think the Ice Queen and her peeps were just trying to appeal to African American voters. After all, she is not doing so hot with that group.

Don't worry Ice Queen, if you become President, I am sure you will be the President of all the people. Even the darker ones.

Will he turn the other cheek?

“Over the years you’ve heard plenty of promises from plenty of people and plenty of speeches. And some of those speeches were probably pretty good. But speeches don’t put food on the table. Speeches don’t fill up your tank. Speeches don’t fill your prescriptions,”.... My opponent makes speeches. I offer solutions. It’s one thing to get people excited. I want to empower you.”

Tough talk like that from the ice queen, and the fired up won't take no more speeches girlfriend has been giving lately is fine as far as I am concerned. Hey, this is politics, and Hillary is supposed to give tough speeches when she is attacking her opponent. Sorry Obamaholics, shit happens when you are running for the highest office in the land.

But that picture your campaign floated out there today Hillary was over the top, even for you. I mean I know that you are facing--- to steal a quote from Dick Morris, "political extinction" but my god woman have you no shame? Showing the "O" man in that outfit from Somali in a turban (nothing scares white folks more than a black man in a turban) to remind A-merry-cans that he is black like any other field Negro was low. Hell, I am typing with one hand while I hold my family jewels in the another. Why? Because I am feeling that shot you gave the "O" man, that's why. "Oh come on field, you are from a country where they kill their political opponents in record numbers. How dare you question our democratic process here in A-merry-ca? Yes, maybe I should find some context . I suppose in the big scheme of things smearing someone by floating a picture of him out there to create a black Bogey Man isn't the same as killing him. But geez. If you do this and he looses, you sure will be killing the "hopes" of millions of people Hillary. Oh, and one of your supporters did actually try to kill his in law over this shit. See what firing up your supporters can do Hillary? Hey, maybe we are closer to the politics of my homeland here in A-merry-ca than we think.

For the next couple of days I will see if the "O" man turns the other cheek, and if his campaign fires back. Think a picture of Monica Lewinski making goo goo eyes at Bubba while she was in that receiving line. Floating some pics out there of that shit again would be a start "O" man. And see what a nice field Negro I am? I have decided to give your campaign a head start by putting a picture of girlfriend on my blog. I think Monica looks good in black don't you?