MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - SAME LOVE feat. MARY LAMBERT (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

I could not agree more. I'm impressed by both the talent and the courage of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Why I HATE Political Parties and Partisan Bull

I've always been a big, big supporter and fan of Republican Representative Paul Ryan. Even though I'm a Democrat I cheered when Ryan was selected as Mitt Romney's running mate in the last election.  He is one of Washington's finest. He is certainly one of their brightest. He's honest and even handed, logical and fair, pragmatic yet principled.

Here's a great example from today's news.  Ryan is working hard, against his own political party, to help Immigration Reform happen.  From the Boston Globe:

Dem Pin Immigration Hopes on GOP's Ryan 

Democrats doggedly pursuing a far-reaching immigration bill are counting on help from Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate last year and an unlikely candidate for delivering the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s second-term agenda.

 Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman who is frequently mentioned in the GOP lineup of possible 2016 presidential candidates, stands apart from many fellow House Republicans in favoring a way out of the shadows for the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. in violation of the law. He casts sweeping overhaul as a necessity to ensure both economic and national security — a fitting argument for an acolyte of Jack Kemp, the late Republican congressman and 1996 vice presidential candidate who backed an ill-fated effort in 2006 to overhaul the immigration system. 

‘‘Paul Ryan says we cannot have a permanent underclass of Americans, that there needs to be a pathway to citizenship,’’ says Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who has been working relentlessly on immigration legislation. ‘‘He is my guiding light. I know I get him in trouble every time I say it.’’

Ryan is being himself.  He hasn't changed and he doesn't change to suit the political party line.  He is a man of principle and substance.

Here's why I hate Political Party's and the mindless partisan hacks who simply echo the party line without a single intelligent thought of their own.  Many of my fellow Democrats and especially the so-called "Progressives" who now praise Rep. Ryan were lambasting him as the worst human being alive (or dead) during the last election.  He was called every name in the book and accused of hating old people, women and minorities.  None of that was true.  None of that was necessary.  And any reasonable person with moderate intelligence knew it.

Justice for .......

Justice for Sterling..... Sterling Sims was just five years old when he was gunned down along with  his 31 year old mother, Chavonne Brown, on June 28, 2013.  There are no suspects.  There have been no arrests. There has been no news coverage, beyond local press.  No one is protesting. No one is carrying signs with Sterling's name or picture. No one is demanding the Police Chief resign.  There will likely never be any justice.

Justice for Antonio..... Sixteen year old Antonio Fenner appears to be guilty of walking down the street in his own neighborhood, near his home on July 1, 2013.  He was shot and murdered by gang bangers apparently shooting at a 32 year old gang member on the same street.  Naturally they missed the gang member that was the object of the attack.  It is rumored that "everyone knows" who committed the murder, but there are no suspects, no one will "snitch." There will never be justice for Antonio. 

Justice for Damani ..... Damani Henard was just 14 years old when he committed the crime of attending his own high school, riding a bike.  He was shot and murdered just outside his school on July 3, 2013.  Once again there are no suspects, no arrests, no outrage, no protests, no national news coverage, no riots, and no news.  No national media pundits are calling for the Justice Department to get involved.  There will never be justice for Damani.  You will likely never read his name again. 

Justice for Ed ..... Fifteen year old Ed Cooper was guilty of playing in the park with his friends when a gang of men piled out of a van and fired at the children, scattering the crowd. Ed was shot as he ran but continued to run for cover. He died in  a vacant lot down the street just a few days ago, on July 9, 2012. Suspects?  Of course not. Arrests? No and yet no one is protesting about the lack of justice. There will be no justice.

I could go on, literally forever, but I am sick to my stomach. I hate the media, I hate the lazy police departments, I really hate the supposed "leaders" like the Reverend Al Sharpton who only are interested in a crime if it fattens their wallets.  I certainly hate the Zimmerman protesters who will riot, assault police, destroy property and even commit murder themselves in their rage, but will never actually do one damned thing to help the genuinely needy in this country.  And I hate our communities who refuse to invest in our towns and people to give them a good education, jobs and to make them safer.

Truth? We can't handle the truth.  Thousands upon thousands of young black male children and teens are killed every year by other black men, children and teens.  Few of these horrific murders are ever committed by women.... and almost none are ever committed by whites.

Jimmy Carter is the Voice of Reason

The mob of politically correct hypocrites, corporate lackeys and East Coast Elites continues to swell, all determined to at least tar and feather Paula Deen if not outright hang her from the nearest tree,  This is nothing more than mob violence in the age of Twitter.

However, there is one man of high principles and unquestionable moral integrity, who has dared to stand up and face down the mob.  That man is former President Jimmy Carter.  I can't possibly be more proud.

Carter forgives Deen and defends her in an interview given to CNN and posted below. Carter said,

"She was maybe excessively honest in saying that she had in the past, 30 years ago, used this terrible word. I think she has been punished, perhaps overly severely, for her honesty in admitting it and for the use of the word in the distant past. She's apologized profusely."  

There's a Lesson to be Learned Here....

There is a lesson to be learned from the current Paula Deen debacle, but I.m not sure I like it.  The lesson seems to be it's quite important to lie under oath.

Bill Clinton already proved that lesson to be true. He lied under oath.  That's what his Impeachment was all about.  But Clinton's defenders said his lies were A-OK because they were about sex and everybody lies about sex.  Today Bill Clinton is our most beloved President.

But Paula Deen took a different approach.  When asked if she ever used the infamous "N-Word" she admitted she had in a private conversation with her husband, 27 years ago.

Curiously she has been attacked as violently and as aggressively as if she used it on Twitter last night in the midst of a racist diatribe.  Oh, no wait, that was Alec Baldwin and it was homophobic, not racist.  And Baldwin, a New Yorker, won't be fired.  But I digress.

Deen was fired.  And worse.  She lost her Food Network Television Show and her products, books and foods have been effectively banned from Walmart, Target, Home Depot, the QVC Channel and Sears/K-Mart.

And, in the final straw today, Deen's publisher cancelled her upcoming #1 Bestselling book.  Pre-sales on Amazon were skyrocketing.

The real question is "Why?"

No one I've read or seen quoted believes Deen is a racist today. Deen was a vocal and financial supporter of President Barack Obama in both of the last two elections.

But she is "Southern" and that is an unforgivable sin among the media elite.

I'm not a Deen fan and I've never seen her television show or read her cookbooks.  It's reported she has made millions from her books, endorsements and appearances and is in no financial trouble.  I'll lose no sleep over this tonight.

But why are major corporations attacking her financially so aggressively?  What's happening to Deen seems to make no sense.  It feels like group think.

On the flip side of the coin I note with great interest that she has a huge following on Facebook and Twitter.  The comments I read are 99 to 1 in favor of Deen.  Even those who are Deen agnostics like me feel the punishment here does not fit the crime.

Group think.  The CEO of Sears must have said, "Did you see Walmart dropped Deen, we better do it too."  And so on down the line.

I personally guarantee that every single CEO, every single Board Member and most of the Senior Management of every single company dropping Deen used the "N-Word" 27 years ago. I guarantee they did.  But if deposed they will learn from the Deen experience.  They will lie.

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Another excellent post on this subject can be found over at FREEDOM EDEN: Alec Baldwin Get a Pass, Paula Deen Gets Punished

Where are Our Liberal Fighters?

The NSA snooping scandal get worse every day.  It turns out rampant spying without any court oversight is happening on a widespread scale.  Using a loose interpretation of a single FISA Court ruling data is being collected on American Citizens and used constantly and consistently.  We clearly have a government completely and totally out of control.

Amy Davidson, writing in The New Yorker, called the FISA ruling a secret FISA court order "a gift certificate for one year of warrant-free spying "

Curiously we don't have a single evil dictator or despot.  That's the good news.  President Obama is aloof, incompetent and largely unaware.  As I've written several times before, Barack Obama isn't the President, he just plays one on TV.  But he is not evil.

Looking at his reception at the G8 last week and his laughable speech to a tiny crowd in Berlin, his star is fading, like every television star whose time has passed.  But I digress.

The bad news is that the government has become this powerful and evil all by itself.  A badly written law here, an over zealous bureaucrat there and you have institutional evil, a government totally out of control.  The Constitution is meaningless.  Your rights, rights you actually had until five or six years ago, are gone and perhaps gone forever.

What worries me most is that our protectors, our guardians of justice and liberty have gone silent.  They have disappeared into partisan political oblivion.  The Liberal Media, the ACLU, the great Liberal crusaders have all gone silent, mumbling nonsensical platitudes in the dark.

Have you read the essays or listened to the Progressive pundits over on MSNBC?  I've read some of the most frightening, convoluted defenses of the status quo I have ever seen.  No logic, no defending the down trodden, no standing up for the rights of the common man, just mumbling about how it was bound to happen anyway.  

The leaders who fought so eloquently, so vocally and occasionally fought so violently against the war in Viet Nam, now tell me everything is perfectly OK as long as we're not doing anything illegal anyway.  "If you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear."

One of the greatest Progressive voices on Twitter is the brilliant and unyielding Shoq.  He is a voice I greatly respect.  His black cat avatar is beloved by thousands and feared by his opponents.  

I recently engaged Shoq about his defense of the government's abuse of spying power and ignoring of our traditional Constitutional rights.  Quick to misinterpret my questions as an attack on President Obama, his instantly replied that Obama had done nothing wrong and, indeed, Obama has done nothing.

But, I asked, how can allow this power to fall into the hands of the next President, most likely a Republican.  Shoq's reply was simple but I fear terribly naive  "We must be careful of who we elect...."

Shoq has written a lengthy essay about the NSA and the attacks on the NSA Spying by Glenn Greenwald and The CATO Institute here.   It's an interesting read that puts a great deal of blame for the current controversy on the Koch Brothers.  You'll also always find links to Shoq's latest blog essay on the right column of my blog.

Other Progressive have multiple views of the NSA scandal, almost all defensive.  First they mount a defense to protect President Obama or the "government" in general.  Then they defend the indefensible attack on our liberty and freedom with the "... unlike President Bush, Obama got a court opinion, and he's really a good guy..." scenario.

The great Liberals of my youth who mounted the illegal protests against the Viet Nam War at the Chicago Democratic Party Convention, the Liberals who used an illegal leak to bring down the Nixon Presidency because of the SPYING at Watergate, those Liberals who dared to break the law in their fight for our rights in Selma, Birmingham and Jackson, those Liberals are gone.....   

The Gun Control Debate is Stunningly Stupid

Although the Senate is deep into negotiations about much needed Immigration Reform, there are behind the scene maneuverings to attempt another effort to pass reasonable Gun Control legislation.  Of course Conservatives immediately see these maneuvers and are already working to block these efforts.

While I find no fault in the proposed gun control legislation, I personally hate to see Democrats, Liberals and Progressives waste much needed time, effort and money trying to pass a bill that will not reduce gun violence by even a single death.  Emotions will run high, passions will be inflamed, the nation will be even more deeply divided (if that's possible), and people will still die in genocidal numbers.

Our problem here as Democrats, Progressives and Liberals is that our Conservative opponents are 100% correct: Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People!  If we genuinely want to reduce gun violence and needless deaths we have got to start attacking the real problems and guns aren't one of them.

I write often about murders and gun violence in Chicago.  It's easy to focus on Chicago because reporting is so good, statistics so readily available and the violence is so pervasive.  If you were only to read my blog you would think Chicago is the most dangerous place on earth.

The reality is that most of Chicago is just about the safest place in America!!  In fact in the parts of Chicago where most of the "known" guns are located (that would be legally purchased, licensed, registered and/or documented guns or rifles) there is little or no gun violence!  Curiously guns don't kill people in the North side of Chicago.  The guns are there, they people are there, but there is no violence.  In half of Chicago's 23 police districts there are virtually no murders.

But on Chicago's South and West sides, in fact in just a small part of Chicago geographically, virtually all the murders and shooting occur.  Almost all the guns are illegal, unreported and illegally obtained.  The police classify this as "gang violence."

If, as Liberals, we are bound and determined to blame inanimate objects for society's problems, then we must point out that guns are strangely prejudiced against the poor and against blacks, because that's who they shoot, wound and kill.  Damn those racist guns!.

The real factors in gun violence are poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunity.  In an incredibly controversial speech this week Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis decried the lack of funding for schools on Chicago's south and west sides.  She also condemned the lack of effort on the part of city leaders and "white" businessmen in investing in these communities.  Unfortunately she blamed "racism" and the resulting controversy obscured the real wisdom in her observations.

We must find ways to invest in children in the poverty stricken portions of Chicago.  We must improve education.  And we must change the cycle of violence, drugs, gangs and poverty that go on generation after generation.

Curiously, if we do that, the guns will become as silent on the South Side of Chicago as they are on the North side.

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Resources: ABC News: Chicago Teachers Union president calls for tax changes to fund schools

The New York Times: In a Soaring Homicide Rate, a Divide in Chicago

And the very powerful, interactive website that tracks Homicides on Chicago: Redeye Tracking homicides in Chicago

The Truth is Out There, Part Two

There is news. There is IMPORTANT news. Breaking news. News critical to the future of democracy. And the best news is that it's all being covered, at times brilliantly!  It's just being covered by the newer media leaders.

John Nolte, one of the best and brightest writers I read regularly, has written a scathing article over on Breitbart.com, attacking and condemning the traditional media giants for their failure to investigate, research and often to even report on major news stories.  

John is 100% correct!  The old media, the folks we often call the "mainstream media," is a pathetic joke right now.  Read John's article here: MAINSTREAM MEDIA FAIL TO BREAK EVEN ONE OF FOUR OBAMA SCANDALS  The article is brilliant.  And Breitbart.com is one of the real leaders in investigative news reporting today.

Yes, as a real Liberal (with a capital "L"), I'm praising Breitbart because they are doing the job that used to be done by the New York Times or The Washington Post.  There are still Woodward's and Bernstein's working today, they just work for FOX NEWS, or one of the newspapers in the United Kingdom.  If any work for The Washington Post, they are blinded by the light, frozen like a deer caught in the glare of the Obama Presidency.

Every real Liberal should be ashamed of the embarrassment that is NBC News.  They should be appalled of the cowardice of The New York Times and saddened by the impotence of The Washington Post.  I know I am.

I'd like to believe somewhere out there is a real editor who is just damned tired of being scooped by The Guardian all the way across the pond.  I'd like to believe there is an editor giving his (or her) reporters absolute HELL over their failure to discover the IRS story, the Benghazi story, the AP story or the Verizon/NSA story.  I'd like to believe that.

However, the truth is exactly as John Nolte states it in Breitbart:

During the Bush years, it was the New York Times, Washington Post and Sy Hersh breaking story after story after story about the White House. And yes, some of that reporting was--ahem --overreach, but at least Power knew it was being watched; our democracy was safe because an overzealous media is what you call a luxury problem.

Today, it is the complete opposite and the result is an administration run amok.

Get down on your knees and thank your Maker for conservative New Media, Roger Ailes, and for the few true liberals left in the media, like Glenn Greenwald--who works for the Brits.

If a Republican is elected in 2016, the old mainstream media will come back to life.  After all the New York Times sent 16 reporters to Alaska to "investigate" Sarah Palin.  I'll welcome the re-awakening.  It just shouldn't be that way.  Political Parties shouldn't make one damned bit of difference.   

But until we get a Republican President, I'll give a big "Thank You" to the late Andrew Breitbart.  His legacy is saving our Democracy.

The Death of the Main Stream Media

The news today is upsetting and disappointing.  President Obama, just months into his second term, is embroiled in scandal after scandal.  Three of these scandals are so serious they might actually bring down his Presidency.  My gut tells me President Obama is primarily guilty of gross incompetence, but these investigations must play out in there own time and their own way.

But we are talking about the most serious Presidential Crisis since Watergate.  This is, in sum, considerably more serious than the President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky Affair and that one ended in an Impeachment Trial.

But my point this afternoon is that several of the traditional news media leaders are pretending like this isn't even happening.  This afternoon neither National Public Radio (NPR) nor NBC/MSNBC even mention any of the scandals on their website homepages. Not even a link! And today is the day IRS official Lois Lerner took the 5th and refused to testify before Congress and Press Secretary Jay Carney faced a revolt from the White House Press Corps.

Ratings indicate viewers are abandoning MSNBC is droves. The network is a virtual ghost town. And all the major network news broadcasts are failing in the ratings, trying to regain their footing.  Yet they continue to try to ignore the current Presidents troubles, I assume believing that if they don't report them, they don't exist.

Meanwhile the new media gets it right.  The Drudge Report dominates on-line news and The Huffington Post works hard at genuine journalism and is willing to let the chips fall where they may.  Other smaller news organizations and even bloggers, some leaning left, some right, all are on the case and gaining viewers and followers in droves. 

Here's Huffington's Home Page minutes ago: 

Huffington also covers the IRS scandal in depth on their front page, as well as the rest of today's news. 

The problem at NBC and NPR this afternoon is that they insult their viewers and readers intelligence. People know there is a crisis and they want the latest facts.  When they can't find them on NBC News or NPR, they go elsewhere.  

Old fashioned journalism works.  America was, quite literally, built on it.  By deciding to ignore journalistic principle and simply become a "Progressive" or Democratic Party advocate, you quickly lose all credibility.

Viewers can handle the truth.  And they want the truth.  They demand a robust press not a babysitter.  

Every Citizen in American Needs to See this Video

New York Times: Treasury Knew of I.R.S. Inquiry in 2012

I am increasingly disturbed by the events unfolding in the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) mishandling of Conservative Groups applications for Tax Exempt Status.  I am equally disturbed by the Republican's overstating the severity of the offenses and the Democrats continued efforts to deflect or deny what has happened.

I greatly fear the administration has committed acts that are both morally reprehensible and very possibly a violation of the law.

Calls for Impeachment have already begun and I pray (and I'm reasonably confident) it will not come to that.  But had either this scandal or the  Benghazi scandal come to light before the election most certainly Mitt Romney would be President today.  And the country would be much better off.

If somehow you're not up to date on the FACTS (and not just the partisan rhetoric) please read the entire NEW YORK TIMES article (only a few sentences are included below):

     Treasury Knew of I.R.S. Inquiry in 2012, Official Says

The Treasury Department’s inspector general told senior Treasury officials in June 2012 he was auditing the Internal Revenue Service’s screening of politically active organizations seeking tax exemptions, disclosing for the first time on Friday that Obama administration officials were aware of the matter during the presidential campaign year.

At the first Congressional hearing into the I.R.S. scandal, J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that he informed the Treasury’s general counsel of his audit on June 4, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin “shortly thereafter.”

Barack Obama Portrays the President on TV

Is it remotely possible that MSNBC host Chris Matthews read my blog entry from last September 20, 2012?  My ego would like to say yes, but it's much more likely that he and I have come to virtual identical conclusions on our own.

I'll still take it as a compliment that Mr Matthews has echoed my observation that President Obama really doesn't like doing the job of President.  He loves the pomp, the speeches, the crowds, just not the work.  Here's what Chris Matthews had to say yesterday:

"What part of the presidency does Obama like? He doesn't like dealing with other politicians -- that means his own cabinet, that means members of the congress, either party. He doesn't particularly like the press.... He likes to write the speeches, likes to rewrite what Favreau and the others wrote for the first draft."

"So what part does he like? He likes going on the road, campaigning, visiting businesses like he does every couple days somewhere in Ohio or somewhere."

"But what part does he like? He doesn't like lobbying for the bills he cares about. He doesn't like selling to the press. He doesn't like giving orders or giving somebody the power to give orders. He doesn't seem to like being an executive.”

Last September I wrote:

President Obama loves to campaign and loves to play President, but is both unwilling and unsuited to actually do the work of the job. He is the first President in 20 years to not meet a single Head of State during his visit to the United Nations. He instead appeared on “The View.”

His avoidance of his National Security Briefings (he attends only 30% of the briefings) and his failure to hold a single meeting of his own Jobs Council in over 6 months are just two of dozens of examples of his avoiding the actual work of being President. He doesn’t love the work, he loves the role.

This is also why he avoids the work of actually compromising with Congress. By delegating his normal role to Pelosi and Reid, he abdicated the normal responsibilities of the executive branch.