american black

Why conventional wisdom is wrong

The new Bin Laden video have some liberals already talking defeat and some cheap labor conservatives jumping for joy. It seems 'conventional wisdom' says that the image of Bin Laden will have the masses running in support of the President.

But there is a problem with that.

This is not the age of 'conventional wisdom'.

Bloggers, cell phones, the Black vote, voter registration drives and 527s has thrown everything you used to think about Presdential elections out the window. The real rule is that no one knows the rules yet. That's what's making this race so interesting.

Why i think Laden's effect will be non existant.

1. Most folks have already made up their minds. This is not an on the fence election. This election is about the direction of this country. Is the future more war and fear or is there a better, different way to solve this terrorism problem. And is the war on terror worth sacrificing health care, social security, education and the other problems we all know we have. The majority have made their decision.

2. The fact that Bin Laden is still threatening us shows the failure of the Bush administration. Bin Laden is 'the face' of terrorism for America. He's the guy we all want. He's the mastermind. But the fact that he is still around taunting us is a problem for Bush. We spent billions of dollars for what?

I feel that whatever the pundits are saying is usually wrong. They have been wrong about everything. I still think that the election will not be as close as they are saying. The polling data is messed up. This has been a very bad week for Bush and the Ladin tape is not good news.

The passionate folks are those against Bush. They will be out in droves. And elections are all about turnout. That's some conventioal wisdom I still believe.

In a kind of related note: Ray gives his own thoughts on widom via audio!

interesting things I missed this week

The Philadelphia Daily News reported on Thursday that two men who worked extensively in the wreckage of the World Trade Center claim they helped federal agents find three of the four "black boxes" from the jetliners that struck the towers on 9/11 - contradicting the official account.

[winner up: US gave date of Iraqi war to Britain 5 months in advance]

Best Observation:

In a recent post, I briefly discussed the phenomenon that Americans tend to view violence as a manifestation of strength. This of course is almost the opposite of what is true - violence is the act of a desperate, threatened and frightened being, believing that no other recourse exists. It is also one of the least effective means of achieving the desired outcome. Violence begets violence, a cycle of revenge, and a poisonous atmosphere not conducive to the resolution of conflicts. As an example, compare the approaches of leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King with the recently infirmed Yasser Arafat. It is hard to argue with the comparative results.

In foreign policy terms, this concept is translated into the belief that being "strong" on issues of national security means possessing a hawkish willingness to use the military over "weaker" diplomatic options. Again, this interpretation is misguided and exclusionary of the vast amount of evidence detailing the enormous successes of diplomacy. Despite all the public bluster and macho image, the "strongest" thing that Reagan ever did was agree to engage Mikhail Gorbachev in a paradigm shifting series of summits that culminated in the end of the Cold War.

Bush's Bogus Meeting with Black Leaders
This bizarre set of pictures was posted on Democratic Underground, which I found by way of Attaturk. You may have seen pictures of Bush at a meeting with black leaders yesterday (?), where Bush attacked Kerry's statements on the explosives. As I recall, the published photos made it look as if it were a legitimate event.

Here are the photos of what actually went down:

Best Question:
Why has mustard in the United States improved so much, but ketchup has stayed largely the same?
Answer

Chuck D discusses voting

Jay had an hour long discussion with Chuck D. Here's Chuck's veiw of voting:

...Organizations are encouraging young people to vote, which to me I think is like, yes, it’s so necessary. It’s like washing up in the morning. But I'd say there’s a bigger picture to even that. That, okay, in December 2004, how are the issues gonna be met? And who’s keeping score? My thing if you’re voting and you aint keepin’ score, what the f**k are you voting for? That's why when people are like "yeah you know, Kerry, you know straight up, that nigga the devil, you know? So, Bush, Kerry, they the same niggas" …it’s like, you're not keepin’ score though! And if you’re not keeping score, don’t even pass a comment.

Cuz the one thing with Bush, you gotta understand what’s on the table to knocked off immediately. Child Care. Health. You know, these are things that are like one and two in our area. Don’t even get in the discussion of jobs cuz we ain't got Black businesses or encouragement for Black businesses, and then you ain't even have encouragement for education that tells you it’s possible to have a Black business that ties into the diaspora. All that shit is out the first day that Bush continues to stay in office. So when a cat tells me that the cats are one and the same.. dude, alright. But are you keeping score?

Disgusting

This flyer is being distributed around Milwaukee's African American communities...

Politically Motivated? IRS attacks NAACP

How much uglier than this election get? This story comes via Newsday:

The Internal Revenue Service is investigating whether a speech by NAACP Chairman Julian Bond last summer that criticized the Bush administration violated a federal law that prohibits tax-exempt charitable organizations from engaging in most forms of political activity.

Bond said he felt the probe was politically motivated and meant to have a chilling effect on the NAACP, in particular its efforts to register black voters, who support Sen. John Kerry overwhelmingly...

Frances Hill, a University of Miami law professor and an expert on the political rights of tax-exempt organizations, read Bond's speech and said it was indeed critical of President George W. Bush. But she added that Bond was probably on safe legal ground because his speech was broadly conceived, didn't focus solely on Bush and touched on a range of issues that have long been trademarks of the NAACP, such as equality and justice.

"You can be passionate and still have a tax-exempt status," Hill said. "If the IRS thinks that this speech is sufficient to trigger an audit, then I think we have quite a new standard and they must be planning to audit hundreds of other groups."

Of Course the NRA is tax exempt. And they have endorsed George Bush.

Any cool Halloween Costume Ideas?

There's a big halloween party going on in New Orleans this year, (--email me if you'll be in New Orleans and want to check it out). The hostess emailed me looking for original costume ideas.

...I was considering coming as the "axes of evil" and making some axes to put on myself and covering myself in probush paraphenilia....Definitely if you can come up with any clever pun costumes that are easy to wear and clever enough for me to pull it off, please let me know....

Anyone has one better than that so I can seem brilliant?

Bush Ignores the Black Press

The Bush Administration continues to show contempt for Black people by refusing to be interviewed on Black news networks. Robert Johnson (owner of BET) went so far as to send letters to Colin Powell and Condeleeza Rice asking them to ask the President to reconsider.

No dice.

Here's an excerpt from the Birmingham Times:

President George W. Bush has rejected invitations to be interviewed by reporters from the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service, which provides stories to more than 200 African-American newspapers, and Black Entertainment Television (BET), which reaches 80 million households.

“It doesn’t make political sense not to talk to voters,” says Robert L. Johnson, president and CEO of Black Entertainment Television. “I think this doesn’t support the rhetoric I hear from the Republican Party that they want to compete for the Black vote and they are trying to reach African-Americans.”...

Johnson, BET’s top executive, says he is not surprised by Bush’s decision to avoid taking questions from Black journalists.

“I don’t think we were surprised because we’ve tried on other occasions to get him [president Bush] to speak,” Johnson explains. “It leaves one wondering were they [the Bush administration] only paying lip service when they said they wanted the Black vote.”

[emphasis mine]

County study: Whites getting most contracts

As cheap labor republicans argue for the removal of Affirmative Action we get this story from California:

Businesses owned by white men receive contract work from Alameda County at significantly higher rates than similarly qualified businesses owned by women and minorities, accord ing to an exhaustive new study of county contracting practices. The study, presented Tues day to Alameda County supervisors, prompted an angry rebuke from Supervisors Nate Miley and Keith Carson, who called for immediate changes.

"This is institutional racism, and I'm not going to sit by and let it happen," Miley said.

The study by Oakland-based Mason Tillman Associates looks at $552 million in contracts awarded between 2000 and 2003.

White male-owned businesses reaped 79 percent of county dollars -- or $436 million -- handed out to contractors between 2000 and 2003, the study says, while minority- and women-owned businesses that were just as qualified to perform the jobs received just 21 percent of the money, or $116 million...

The entire report is available at www.acgov.org/availability.htm/.

Affirmative Action is a touchy subject. In the worse of situations it could end up like this or you can end up with the problems noted in Oakland. Hopefully there's answer somewhere. But something tells me it's not going to come from Black conservatives.

Conservatives For Kerry

Despite what what Black conservatives are saying Ray Garrard managed to find out what real conservatives are asking...

How can a conservative refuse to support George W. Bush? The real question is how a conservative can stomach having a man like George W. Bush in the White House.

If we conservatives can step back and be honest with ourselves for just a moment, we'll see that George W. Bush has done everything we used to get furious at Bill Clinton for doing... only worse.

We understand that conservatives feel a bit strange holding back support from President Bush. We feel pretty odd about it ourselves, to be honest. The truth is, though, that as time goes by, more and more good conservatives are deciding that they just can't stand by the outrageous excesses of George W. Bush any longer.

Vote Or Die

People seem to have some issues with P.Diddy's "Vote Or Die" campaign. It seems one guy didn't realize registration was not included. The shirts bother Byron so much he came up with his own solution:

...If I was involved with this shit, I'd change the name of the campaign to "Kill Dick Cheney," with the idea being that should him and GDM actually lose this year's election, the news would be enough to cause his pacemaker, or whatever it is that's keeping that creep alive, to short out and he'd actually drop dead right there on the spot. The TV commercials would be an actual dramatization of this happening and a fade to black with the words "Kill Dick Cheney." The shirts would be similar, except that the word "Kill" would be in red and "Dick Cheney" would be in black. I know I'd buy one, and I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those "Vote or Die" shirts...