Justice Scalia's Racist Agenda

I've been seething for a few days now over Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's outrageous comment calling the Voting Rights Act a “racial entitlement”. There's an article by LEONARD PITTS JR. in the Miami Herald that sums up everything I've been feeling about the injustice of The Supreme Court even hearing this argument. Although concise and extremely eloquent there is one very important aspect that Mr Pitts article left out.  Supreme Court justices are not elected or held accountable by the people.  They are lifetime appointments appointed by whatever party is in the white house whenever a seat becomes open (which is rare).  The Voting Rights Act was enacted by congress and upheld by congress with overwhelming bipartisan support for almost 50 years now.  Congress is an elected body who serves as a voice for their constituents aka THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.  Justice Scalia not only wants to destroy The Voting Rights Act, he wants to remove the power to uphold or overturn the Voting Rights Act away from a democratically elected body who are there to represent the American people and transfer that power to an appointed body who can make decisions that goes against the intentions and will of the American people without scrutiny or recourse.  This is one of the most radical concepts the bench has ever seen.  The Supreme Court has never done this or even contemplated doing this in the history of our nation.  If Justice Scalia is allowed to remove the power of congress as he sees fit, we are no longer a democratic country.  It's unconstitutional, it serves to further disenfranchise minority voters (which is his intention), it's a huge step back from the progress we've made toward equal rights, it makes the voice of the American people irrelevant  and it sets a very dangerous precedent for future legislation.  This is not a democrat vs republican issue.  The last time the Voting Rights act went through congress in 2006 99% of democrats AND REPUBLICANS voted to extend it, but unfortunately current house republicans aren't speaking out and condemning Justice Scalia.  That says a lot about how different this crop of republican law makers are from where they were just 6 or 7 years ago. If you can't publicly support The Voting Rights Act as popular and as needed as it is, then what can you support?  The silence from the hill is deafening.

Miami Herald article I referenced:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/03/3261943/voting-rights-act-not-a-racial.html

BUYING HERMAN CAIN

As soon as I heard that the billionaire republican Koch brothers were bankrolling Herman Cain's bid for the republican presidential nomination, I knew instantly what they planned to do with him and why they chose him. First of all, anyone with any political knowledge will tell you that Herman Cain has absolutely no chance in hell of getting the GOP nod for president. I'd like to think that Mr. Cain is smart enough to know that as well, but the more I see and learn about him, I'm not so sure he's in on the joke.

The Koch brothers created an organization in 2004 named "Americans for Prosperity" as a vehicle to influence the political process and funnel millions of their dollars to republican politicians who share their political views and whoever could pass laws that would benefit their business interests. After President Obama won the election in 2008, the Koch brothers along with their "Americans For Prosperity" organization had to come up with a way to insert race and racism into the election without making themselves and their fellow republicans look overtly racist. They tried to do this in the 2008 election but it backfired and lost them the presidency. So the Koch brothers, their organization, and a number of other GOP "think-tanks" devised what they thought would be the perfect solution. All they had to do is find a republican African-American who they could back as a seemingly legitimate presidential candidate, and use him to deflect any charges of racism, and also use him as a puppet to say the racist things that they could not get away with. They could also use him to paint democrats who are critical of him as racist... or as Rush Limbaugh put it "Cain can level the playing field". So this organization "Americans For Prosperity" (aka Koch brothers) started planning a presidential campaign before they even found who they were going to run. Normally prospective candidates start fund raising about 2 years before their party's primary. But the Koch brothers are BILLIONAIRES and didn't need to bother with all that. They wanted to buy and own a negro, and Herman Cain fit the bill. An African-American REPUBLICAN business man who they could Kapture, Koach, and Kontrol (KKK lol). Never-mind that he's never ran for any type of political office. Although I'm sure his naivete was a necessary attribute that fit into their plans perfectly. I don't know Mr Cain personally, but I'm told he's a successful businessman, and if that's true, then I'm sure he's probably good in that field. But after watching him in interviews, and seeing how he reacts and interacts with the press, and hearing his public speeches, it's painfully clear that he is unprepared, inexperienced, and miles away from being a serious presidential candidate. His encounters with the press has made for some of the most cringeworthy political moments ever. I have yet to find one single quality in him that looks presidential. He's not a good public speaker, he gets visually agitated with the press easily, he has trouble communicating his ideas (or should I say the ideas given to him), he lacks charisma, and at times he seems evasive and even dishonest. So it makes you think, why would the Koch brothers put millions of their money into a presidential candidate who they know won't make it past the primaries. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that they have a different agenda with very devious intentions.

Watch this clip from Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC show "The Last Word". He plays a clip from a recent Rush Limbaugh show, and in it, Rush inadvertently explains the republican's stagey and Herman Cain's purpose and role as their puppet. I hope Herman Cain wakes up and realizes that he's being used... and maybe he'll stop tap-dancing in the republican's minstrel show and recapture some of the dignity he lost before it's too late.

Teacher Leaves Muslim Student In Tears

A Houston Algebra teacher at Clear Brook High school (Mr Todd Burrows) mocked a 9th grade Muslim student by telling her “I heard about about your uncle” after Bin Laden’s death.  The student's mom says she was offended by what her daughter says happened Monday in ninth grade algebra.  She said, “The teacher told the student that ‘I bet you’re grieving.’ And she basically looked at him and said what are you talking about? And he said I heard about your uncle’s death and she said wow, because she understood that he was referring to Osama Bin Laden being killed.”

I came across this story while checking my email messages.  The headline that I saw read: "Teacher Mocks Muslim Student: “I Heard About Your Uncle”.  When I first read that headline, I have to admit I did giggle a little.   Although it was a quick visceral reaction, it was still wrong of me to find humor amidst the racist torment that this Muslim student must have felt.  All through elementary and junior high school I was the only Black kid in most of my classes, and I have gone through similar situations with racist teachers as well as racist classmates.  Because of this, I can definitely  relate to this young female student.  You would think I would be the last person to find humor in something like this, and I am just as confused as you are by my initial reaction.   I guess I have some "issues" of my own to work out... but I will say that I think this teacher should be fired ASAP.  Kids go through so much these days and the last thing they need to worry about is ignorant teachers alienating minority students by making racist comments in front of their classmates.  Some kids look up to their teachers, so when a comment like this is made, it sends a signal to those impressionable minds that this kind of behavior is acceptable.  When an educator displays this type of poor judgement, punishing them with "administrative leave" does not go far enough.  They need to be fired and made to attend some kind of racial tolerance class before they can even apply for another teaching job.

I think it's great that the girl's classmates stood up for her.  It gives me hope for their generation.  I think this teacher could learn a thing or two from these students... it's called CHARACTER (and that's something he clearly does not possess).

FYI - The school would not release the name of the teacher to the press, so I had to do a little detective work to find out who he was.  It was not an easy task but I didn't give up.  I thought it was wrong to protect this man's identity.  I was even able to locate a picture of him and his wife.  I know the quality isn't very good, but it was the only one I could find.  I hope this incident will make Mr Todd Burrows take a long hard look at himself, and want to become a better person.  Everyone makes mistakes and I believe redemption can be achieved by anyone that's willing to admit their shortcomings and work diligently to overcome them.  

College Basketball Slavery

While flipping through channels the other night trying to find something good to watch, I came upon a very interesting story on PBS's news-magazine show "Frontline".  It's kind of like "Dateline" on NBC, but 10 times better, and not controlled by a multi-national major conglomerate who's only agenda is to make as much money as possible by churning out the same substandard regurgitated thinly veiled crap with new packaging accompanied with a vaguely familiar title designed to trick the viewer into watching at least long enough to see a few commercials so they can sell you more crap that you do not need and show you expensive stuff that you can not afford, and just when you're starting to feel depressed about all this, a precisely timed commercial for a new antidepressant medication comes on and seems to have a cure for something you did not have until you started watching tv a half hour ago... but I digress. lol

So, I'm watching this news story on "Frontline" about the NCAA college basketball organization and how much money they make off of the basketball players, but pay them noting in return.  I'm not a big sports fan at all, so everything they mentioned in this broadcast was completely new to me.  After watching it, I was in total shock at how screwed up this organization is, and amazed at how corrupt the people that run it are.  Here's a few key points they discussed in the broadcast.  The NCAA alone rakes in BILLIONS each year by selling the broadcast rights of their games to television networks, plus signing huge commercial endorsement deals, plus ticket sells plus licensing their brand and the players names to sell merchandise, and god knows what else.  This all adds up to BILLIONS!  Yes, you heard me right, BILLIONS (believe it or not, that isn't a typo).  The coaches get huge salaries (most receive upwards of 2 million a year).  The people on the board get huge salaries... and that goes for almost everyone that holds a high position in the organization.  All of this money is being generated because of the players... and they get paid ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Appalling isn't it?  The NCAA treats their players like slaves or indentured servants.  I couldn't believe the level of exploitation that goes on in college basketball.  A crass but fitting analogy would have Mark Emmeret (the president of the NCAA) playing the role of a pimp, and the NCAA college basketball players in the role of his prostitutes...  Actually, Mr Emmeret treats the players worse than prostitutes because pimps would at least let their hoes keep some of the money they make.  The players give these teams their all and work very hard to play each game to the best of their ability.  A future in the NBA isn't promised to these guys.  They could easily get injured in a game, and their career as a pro athlete would be over before it even began.  I also learned from watching this that the players are required to sign a ridiculous contract that gives the NCAA the right to use their names and images in perpetuity for whatever purpose they choose, and keep 100% of any revenue that it generates.  For example, they created a video game with EA Sports that used players as characters in the game.  Some of the players they used had already made it in the NBA, and some of them weren't lucky enough to transition into professional sports after college.  But because of the contract they signed in college, the NCAA didn't have to share any profits with any of the players at all.  That's just the tip of the iceberg with these guys.  There was another situation described in the news report that caught my attention.  It's arguably the most appalling part of it all.  The NCAA does not offer free tickets to the families of the players.   These tickets can be quite expensive...  so if a player comes from a low-income household, the only way their parents can watch them play is on tv.  How despicable is that?  The investigative reporter exposed a number of situations that were extremely exploitative and designed to put huge sums of cash into everyone's pockets, except the players.

After watching the program in its entirety, I began to think about how long this has been common practice in the NCAA.  This has been going on for decades, so why haven't I seen this discussed on the news before.  Why haven't I read about this in the paper anywhere, or seen it questioned in any magazines?  Why is "Frontline" the first news show to do a complete in-depth investigation into this?  Then the answer hit me, and it made perfect sense.  Frontline is a PBS news show.  It's not owned by any corporation.  They do not generate revenue to pay for operating costs by selling commercial time slots to advertisers.  Because of this, they aren't beholden to any corporate pressure, or higher-ups with hidden self-serving agendas, like ALL of the other tv networks and news programs.  College basketball brings in a ton of money to whatever tv network they choose to license the broadcast rights to.  This gives the NCAA the power to kill any story that shows them in a negative light.  It's stories like this one that shows us the importance of a network like PBS (LONG LIVE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS).  It's time for the NCAA to set aside their greed, and get rid of their policies that exploit and use their athletes.

Here's an 8min clip that displays the exploitative practices, the corruption and the greed of the NCAA:

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

If you'd like to watch the full news story, follow this link: http://to.pbs.org/h7Ya7w

Here's an update: Apparently the NCAA President Mark Emmeret, who was interviewed in the story, saw how awful and greedy him and his organization looked on the broadcast, so he released a statement saying that he has changed his position on not paying student athletes. He didn't give any specific information on what policies he's actively seeking to change, but he said that the idea of compensating student-athletes should be considered. Vague, I know, but it's a start headed in the right direction.

(http://to.pbs.org/gpJ2a7 link to the short clip displayed above).

Shirley Sherrod Victimized By Dirty Politics

Shirley Sherrod is just the latest in a series of officials who have been fired, demoted, or forced to step down or who have had their nomination withdrawn because the Obama administration capitulates to right-wing propaganda put out by smear merchants like FOX News. It's bad enough that we have to fight the constant smear campaigns and appeals to racial paranoia from FOX and the right-wing media. But it's completely unacceptable for the Obama administration to give credence to fake controversies and manufactured lies.

Please sign this petition telling the Obama administration to stop paying attention to the right-wing noise machine. Click the link below to take action.

The Boondocks

If any of you are offended easily, and are stuffy ass pureitanical stick up your ass "right-winger" mid-west types, then this is defenitaly not the place you need to be. SO LEAVE NOW WHILE YOU' STILL HAVE AN UNTARNISHED SOUL.

Now that they are gone, let's get into some real offensive non politically correct bad ass dirty type shit. Can I get an "AMAN"? (aman!)... Thank you. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the "BOONDOCKS". For those of you that haven't heard of it, let me try and explain. It's an animated series that satirize different African American stereotypes, and plays up the clash between two young black kids from the hood juxtaposed against a white middle American suburb that they move to shortly after the death of their parents. A classic "fish out of water" type animated comedy. Let me make this very clear before I go any further. THIS IS NOT A KIDS CARTOON! Not at all! It airs on Cartoon Network late at night during their "adult swim" viewing block (check your local listings... lol, I've always wanted to say that). It's the brain-child of very talented cartoonist Aaron McGruder. It started off as a comic strip, but quickly gained popularity and spun into a half-hour series for television. He recruited some A-List celebs for the voice over work. Regina King does the voice of both Riley & Hewey (the two young brothers), and John Witherspoon for the voice of the grandfather (aka *Mr. Bitches). They've only completed two full seasons so far, and both of those are available for purchase on DVD. If you've never watched the show before, there's no way I could describe this cartoon that would even get you close to understanding its greatness, so I decided to share one of my favorite episodes form season 2. Oh yeah... I forgot to mention that this show throws the "N" bomb around more times than Michael Richards, Imus, and Dog the Bounty Hunter combined. Just be warned. So, here it is. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the show.

FYI: Uncle Rawkus, although he's a Black man, he hates Black people. That's right. It's not a typo. He's racist against his own race. He plays the priest in this episode. I think he's one of the funniest and most original character ever created in recent years... Just watch the damn clip:

The creators of the series have just launched a brand new website that's packed with a lot of cool stuff. You can view full episodes (limited). You can check out behind the scenes footage of how it's made. There's a section where you can read a more detailed bio for each character, and all kinds of interesting shit like that. Whoever designed the site did a beautiful job. You can tell they put a lot of work into it as a "thank you" or "tribute" to the fans of the show. It's very easy to navigate, so here's the link: http://www.boondockstv.com. Definitely worth your time to check it out (fan or no-fan) .