black…MYstory

In what was supposed to be a 9/11 tribute video show at the Republican National Convention and aired on the networks carrying it, instead of remembering the fallen, the Republicans instead played on fears and attempted to use the imagery of that day to score cheap political points.  Sadly, they find nothing sacred.

The video is below along with Keith Olbermann’s response to his audience for his network having aired this video.

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I guess Georgia Republican Representative Lynn Westmoreland must have caught a plantantation flashback.  In a interverview yesterday, he was comparing vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin to Michelle Obama (oddly enough, I didn’t realize Michelle Obama was running for vice president but, I digress) and offered the following:

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity.”

He was then asked to clarify that he said “uppity” and he stated:

“Uppity, yeah.”

Uppity is a word that has often been used to disparage black people who some white folks believed were too proud of themselves or, more often, were perceived to be not acting in “their place” on the racial hierarchy.  In other  words, an “uppity negro” was one who had the audacity to believe that he/she was equal to a white person.

So, to hear someone, particularly a Southern politician who would be well aware of the implications of such a word, using it to describe two black people, leads me to believe that he was using it in the racially-tinged way that it has come to signify.

So, Rep. Westmoreland, from this uppity negro, I present to you the “Middle Finger” award.

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Earlier this year, I posted about the possibility of Kwame Kilpatrick facing perjury charges, after lying under oath about his affair with his chief of staff.  At the time, Kilpatrick was testifying about his role in the firing of a police officer and one of his bodyguards.  The two fired men say that they were cooperating in an internal investigation that would have exposed the married Kilpatrick’s relationship with his chief of staff.

Shortly after the case was settled, it was revealed that the chief of staff, Christine Beatty, had been communicating with Mayor Brown via her city-owned pager.  Messages sent from and received by that pager clearly show that there was a romantic relationship there, including an exchange about a sexual encounter they had.

Fast-forward several months and, today, Kwame Kilpatrick, as part of a plea deal, has agreed to resign as mayor of Detroit.  He will also pay a $1 million fine and could serve jail time.

This closes a sad chapter for the city of Detroit.  I hope for a brighter future there.

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What’s good for the goose…

It’s funny to see how the McCain campaign is trying to spin the questions on Sarah Palin’s credentials and experience as ’sexist’.  They want Americans to believe that she’s the only one whose gotten such questions and that these questions wouldn’t be coming if she weren’t a woman.

However, McClatchy Newspapers writer Steve Thomma cuts through the B.S. and reminds us that, not too long ago, we heard much more intense scruitiny about Barack Obama.

For example:

Covering Obama’s very first trip to New Hampshire in 2006, for example, McClatchy Newspapers noted that, “if Obama exudes a JFK-like charisma for some, he doesn’t share Kennedy’s 14 years of pre-presidential experience in Congress.”

At one of the first Democratic debates way back in April 2007, McClatchy noted that Obama failed to list Israel as a top U.S. ally, a news story that Fiorina’s own Republican National Committee used in news releases to point out Obama’s lack of experience in foreign policy.

Last fall, the news media continued to raise questions about Obama’ experience, including those raised by Democratic voters. “A lot of people think he’s too inexperienced to be president,” said one article last September. ‘”It’s not his time,” said Cindy Forbes of Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines. “He’s not experienced enough. He’ll be president some day, but not now.”‘

A quick search of newspapers that contribute to the McClatchy-Tribune News Service found 89 references to Obama and the word inexperience. A Google media-wide news search found nearly 10,000 such references.

What you are seeing is a questioning about who she is, particularly since a lot of people, including a lot of people who are trying to tell us how great she is, really don’t know Sarah Palin.

She wants a job that would put her one heartbeat away from the presidency (insert McCain age joke here) so, to think that she should get a free pass based on gender would be a ludicrous as believing that Obama should have gotten a free pass based on race.

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Roland Martin sat in for an interview with Cenk Uygar of The Young Turks this week at the Republican National Convention.  In this interview, he hits on everything from the glaring double-standard from the right in regards to the pregnancy of their vice-presidential candidate’s teenage daughter to why the Republicans can’t garner more of the black vote.

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Despite putting on their best faces for the cameras, in unguarded moments some Republicans are saying what they really think about McCain’s choice of the nearly-unvetted Sarah Palin for his vice-presidential running mate.  Republican pundits Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan were on MSNBC today and did not know the mikes were still on.  Here’s a clip of what they had to say:

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As I see here, after watching some of the coverage on Hurricane Gustav, I worry for the people who, once again, had to pack up their lives or risk death and abandonment at the hands of their government.  However, I also can’t help but remember something that I was always told growing up — “God don’t like ugly.”

I find it interesting, to say the least, that, on the day that the party behind the horrible response to Hurricane Katrina is to begin their convention, our attention is turned back to New Orleans, Louisiana.  We just commemorated 3 years since some roughly 1700 people in that city died from a combination of the immediate impact of Hurricane Katrina, subsequent flooding and sheer governmental neglect.

So, today, I see that FEMA, the agency that helped mismanage the response to Katrina, is now putting out press releases and talking points, saying everything from people remaining in the city will not be helped to there is a possibility that the levees may be breached.

Yes, if you don’t already know, the same levees that broke 3 years ago are still at risk for a breach.

So, as the Republicans convene in Minnesota, the irony of this day is not lost on me.  George Bush and Dick Cheney have already stated that they will not be attending because of Gustav, a stark contrast to Bush’s not cutting his vacation short as people were dying in the streets 3 years ago.  Now, there is talk that even the nominee himself, John McCain, may skip the convention, due to concerns of how a celebratory gathering might look in contrast to the potential devastation caused by Gustav.  However, McCain is planning on staging some photo ops in Louisiana, a move that could backfire should the levees fail.

Nonetheless, we shall see if the lessons of three years ago have been learned, in both the governmental and political response to such a disaster.

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I have to give it up.  Obama laid it down!

It was a speech that he needed to give on a night where we remember Dr. King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech from 45 years ago and saw, for the first time, a black person accepting a major party’s nomination for President of the United States.

It was not just flowery words.  In fact, there was very little fluff.  Instead, it sounded more like a point-by-point refutation of all the Republican talking points about both him and Democrats, in general.  The speech also detailed his platform for rebuilding America, including getting us off Middle Eastern oil in 10 years.

Also, it was a call to arms for all Americans to join in and make change happen, including being responsible to our families and communities.

It was an historic speech on an historic night.  I hope that it will serve as a springboard to a successful Obama campaign for President.

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Go Obama!

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Anyone reading this blog regularly knows how I feel about people who hurt children.  I try hard to be compassionate to all people but, I have little of that for some who harms a child.  I feel that children are a blessing and you should should not do anything that would cause physical, mental or emotional harm to a child.

So, when I read about the alleged actions of Kena Ross and Christopher Gray, my blood began to boil.  Ross is the mother of boys, ages 4 and 5, as well as two other children.  Authorities say that the couple tortured these two young boys.  According to police, these children would have their hands and ankles bound by the couple on a regular basis and, in the case of the 4-year-old, on at least one occassion, he was denied medical treatment for his injuries.

Authorities were tipped off when one of the children was brought into Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati and medical staff noticed burns on his hands.  The couple was arrested and each is in jail on a $150,000 bond.  All four children are now in the custody of a grandmother.

In my opinion, they can stay in jail.

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