Here We Go! Reparations, Anyone?

I can’t believe Micale Berry didn’t latch onto this for his 950 Man Talk show today (especially after Chris Baker spent 2 hours talking about a Brit chick bagging 1K men).

Here’s the next meme — I thought it would be about the struggle of poor farmers.  NO NO NO NO NO.  It can’t be about that.  It’s about BLACK farmers and Reparations and La Raza and SNCC and every other nonwhite boogy man you can conjure all in one.  From Kathleen McKinley’s Houston Chronicle blog:

We are getting played on the Shirley Sherrod coverage. I did a little research last night and then sat back to watch what was being said about the latest on this case. Fox devoted the opening segment of their 6 o’clock news hour and while I noted Shepard Smith went out of his way to denounce Andrew Breitbart and show Shirley Sherrod as the exact opposite of what the shorter video seemed to imply.

Nightline devoted a segment with fawning coverage of her career as someone who assisted the poor and they didn’t hold back on cracking Fox and Breitbart. This morning they continued with an opening that I tolerated until almost 7:20 with George repeating what had been said last night and then some.

No one mentioned that Shirley Sherrod was a plaintiff in the Pigford vs Glickman case that had sued the USDA and that 1999 settlement has paid out right at $1 billion so far.(1) Nobody has mentioned that Obama allowed the justice department to reopen the 1999 settlement and allow another 73,200 plaintiffs to have a crack at that money that so far has been paid to 16,000 rural southern black farmers (original plaintiff estimate was 3,000.(1) No one mentioned that Obama has already authorized another $1.25 billion be allocated to compensate these new plaintiffs that total four times the number of black rural farmers (est. 27,500) that were identified when the case was filed 1997.(1)

Not a peep was said of the $13 million settlement Mr. and Mrs. Sherrod and their New Communities group received a few days before her July 25, 2009 appointment to her current position by Vilsak.(2) Note that New Communities is solely an enterprise of the Sherrods now as it has not been active for years.

And oh by the way, Mr. Sherrod is Charles Sherrod, a founding member of the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee which in 1966 had the reliable John Lewis as it’s chairman.(3) Remember John Lewis and his claims about being spit on a called the n-word a few short months ago? After John Lewis was replaced by Stokley Carmichael they renamed themselves the Student National Coordinating Committee and merged with what became the Black Panthers.(4)

Now here’s a kicker. One of the last active chapters of the SNCC/Black Panther group was in San Antonia and had an officer named Mario Salas who went on to assist in building La Raza.(5)

Now all of that may look like a bunch of tangential information until you realize that the original stated goals of the Rural Development Land Network, whose Vice Chair is Shirley Sherrod, was to “resolve to work toward reform of the land ownership patterns in this country”.(6), (7) Kind of sounds like reparations to me.

For the administration and especially Tom Vilsak to say they shot from the hip and over reacted when Obama, Holder and Vilsak have been shoveling money into the burgeoning settlements of a suit brought by Shirley Sherrod defies integrity, honesty and hopefully the law.

Oh my.

Someone please email this information to Michale Berry.  He’s behind the curve.  I can’t do it because he is afraid of me.

Please someone reading this blog send this VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT REPARATIONS to Michale Berry.  He was all hot and bothered about this topic when he was on the city council.  He would love to have his conspiracy theories confirmed.

What is this really about?  The USDA treated people differently in the past based on their skin color.  The people were finally able to file suit and win their case in court.  THEY WON.  IN COURT.  And there are some people out there — connected with Fox News and Andrew Brietbart, who think this constitutes reparations.

Fucking idiots.

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Some Video Links Plus Added Rants

I don’t get this. He doesn’t really say anything and his pronoun references are completely vague.  It looks like someone in the GOP lower levels is trying to push the NJ gov for prez.  What about Rick Perry!!!!1!!1!1!

Sarah Palin gets put on the spot.  I can think of quite a number of people more qualified to yap about the oil spill.  Michael Berry isn’t one of them.

White male Seattle idiot police officer punches a young black woman in the face. Commenters say she deserved it.  It’s hard to watch.  I don’t think I could have stood there and just recorded it. Cops can just be criminals with guns.  One Bellaire cop shot a pro baseball player and got off — nothing happened to him.  Michael Berry blamed the baseball player’s mother for the shooting.  FAIR ENOUGH?

Related:  Pasty white boy gets ruffed up by 68 year old.  The same people showing there “balls” about a cop punching a 19 year old black girl get misty-eyed and cry Assault!!!!  Assault!!!!! when it’s one of their own.  These people are insufferable.

Lastly, I am SICK of pasty white people telling African Americans that this that or the other is their problem.  As I have said again and again, why can’t all of the pasty white concern trolls take a look at their own poor white folks and fix that?   Michael Berry and Bill Bennett need to quit acting like they’re black and get with taking care of all of the poor whites.  Wouldn’t that be novel?

Pasty white guy wants drug testing.  Who is going to pay for that?  Does the Utah Senator have some interest in a drug testing kit company?  Does the Utah Senator have a problem with people who are down on their luck?  I’d like to see him submit to a drug test on the teevee first.  Dick.

Lastly, I’m about ready to build a Mexico City style wall around my damn house.  Someone put the nicely bundled vegetation I had ready to go for next month’s green pick up by the city in my recycle cart, destroying the very expensive new freaking green yard waste bag I had ready in the process.  Whoever it was left my recycle cart in the middle of the driveway, too.  Oh, and whoever it was, cut up my Lantana, too.

Dicks — all of them.

“We Lost Thirty Years”

I’m watching The American Experience tonight.

It makes me sad.

They just showed Regan taking the solar panels off the White House.

Today, women are being trained to work on and build solar panels in poor parts of India, and that same technology is out of reach for average people here in the U.S.  It’s easier for a person in India to get solar power than it is for me.   Why is that?  That’s rhetorical.  I know why.

We lost thirty years of people caring about turning off the lights and being economical with energy.  Today, the electricians and others where I work don’t care that there are lights that won’t turn off.  They are on 24/7/365.

I still hope to get solar panels on my roof.  I recycle and would even without the rewards.

The environment is not an abstraction.

Only in Texas

You ask, (don’t you) why do BLACKS and HISPANICS have clubs that good old white boys can’t join? There’s the BLACK this and the HISPANIC that, and good old white boys say, “Where’s my club, dammit?”

This is our starting point.  Anyone can join any group he wants.  If Michael Berry decided that he wanted to be a member of the NAACP, he could, his adoption of a child born in Africa not withstanding.  Men can join women’s groups, caucasians can join any group.

But there are places, mostly golf clubs and other last refuges of caucasian exclusivity, that historically have not let others in.  True fact.

So, why have people started groups to represent their non-caucasian selves you wonder?  (If you are a teabagger who just woke up, or a talk radio host who just wants to stir up the racial animosities as those who have the means always have in this state and Houston as well.)

I could attribute it to the White Man Whine, but it’s more than that.

The first person to sign up for the new caucasian club was an Hispanic female.  Shocked?  Hispanic is not a race.  If you look at any census, look at the diversity of Hispanics,  it is clear (for the thinking person).  Some Hispanics are caucasian.  Surprised?  Some are mixed.  Some are of African origin.  Some are of Asian origin.

In the end, this club may be forward looking.  Caucasians will be in the minority soon and this club might serve a purpose.  I think there will be a day soon that talk radio, oil companies or the Republican party (and I include teabaggers here because they didn’t try to take over Democratic precincts this spring, only Republican — they have only put out ads about the Republican County Chair.  They don’t care about Democrats — never have) will be the minority.  Hell, they probably already are.  It’s just going to take some time for this white thing to roll over.

Pat Shinn Rocks (Sort Of)

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Pat Shinn “noticed” that on one of the other radio shows that the host thought that the U.S. doesn’t manufacture anything anymore, so he made it his trivia question.  It was a no brainer that someone got an out of date book for answering.  I called Lores “sniffles” Live last week to ask her to consult Pat Shin about whether the U.S. manufactures things anymore.

I’ve thought about putting together my own little sound track of Lores sniffling on her show, but I will have to put it off until we have a rainy day.  I don’t have a staff working for me like Michael Berry.  I’m just a regular person who blogs for the fun of it.

Later in his show, Pat Shinn decided to kind of equivocally buy into the idea that CAPITALIST can’t be democrats or vice-versa.  It’s a shame.  While he beat back the inflation scare on one call, be bought into another caller’s ideas about manufacturing being in decline.  Why have the trivia question then, Pat?

Which brings me to Chris “I wanna kill people at the border” Baker, who doesn’t seem to understand the difference between political systems and economic systems.  Clue bat for Baker:  Anarchy is a political system; Marxism is an economic system.  Perhaps his boss (who pays him well) could point him to a little education.

How about an example?  Anarcho-syndicalism.  Baker denied that something like Anarcho-capitalism existed, but it does.

I wonder who might be brave on this radio station and point out just how many tax credits/deductions their listens could get this year on their taxes.   I also wonder who will venture to tell their listeners that THEIR TAXES HAVE NOT GONE UP.

My bet: NONE.

Conflict at KTRH, KPRC

Tune into local Houston stations KTRH or KPRC lately and you will hear the personalities crying about the national deficit or debt.  (The two are very different, but I have given up on trying to argue that, just like I have given up trying to explain the difference between economic vs. political ways to organize a state, i.e. the the socialist vs. democracy argument yadda yadda yadda).

According to Pat Shinn on KTRH this afternoon — the U.S. ranks 6th in debt to GDP ratio within the G8.  Sure there are ongoing talks with the Chinese (who manipulate their currency to keep their deficit where it is and you all who buy shit without looking where it is made contribute to it), but there are other countries — not Canada — that are in worse shit than we are.

Will this fact make any difference in the ongoing debate about the deficit/debt?  No.  Just like no one in the media — including every last person (except Pat Shinn) at KTRH and KPRC — will ever acknowledge that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — the most costly parts — were kept off the books until President Obama made the biggest transparency move of all:  putting the wars on the the books.  No one will ever acknowledge that — especially at KTRH or KPRC.

I also listened to Natalie this afternoon.  From what she said, everyone knows about the Houston connections to talk radio and Beck attacking Medina and there seems to be a lawsuit in the works.

Please look at Beck’s website.  The seed conspiracy is more of a dupe/snake oil thing than the ‘buy gold’ thing, but there it is.  And it’s all under KTRH’s URL.  It’s all entertainment, right?  Beck is also planning an event on August 28th this year.  He’s calling it, “Restoring Honor.”  But look closer and you will see that Beck gets his chunk of change before anything goes to the charity,

All contributions made to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) will first be applied to the costs of the Restoring Honor Rally taking place on August 28, 2010.

How charitable of the clearly well-compensated Beck.  It’s much like Hannity’s self promotion concerts.

And we go along and think this is discourse or something.  I never thought I would say it, but I hope AM radio dies — and soon.

In the meantime, President Obama has John Walsh on his team at this point.  Walsh even acknowledged — actually praised the pres for getting it passed  —  that the stimulus bill kept law enforcement officers employed.

You See, Michael Berry, These People are Your Friends

Michael Berry was trying to be all sensible and fair today — he says “fair enough” enough every day — but he sidestepped his good buddy’s complete nonsense last night — Rick Perry is who I am referring to.

Well, this nonsense has been brewing for a while.  These are the people who are Michael’s friends.   These are the people who think that the Constitution is everything and they are fighting for their FREEDOM — as Chris Baker is always stuck on.  Both of them are free to lie on a 50,000 watt scream machine, so I don’t know why they bellyache so much.

Doing pro bono work is part of being an attorney.  At times, some very good attorneys step up and do their best to protect individuals from the vigilantes in our midst.  Can Berry or Baker explain their brethren to me?  Why is there a problem with very good well-qualified attorneys working for the justice department?  Why the witch hunt?

Could it be that they see the writing on the wall?  With the embarrassment that was the Rick Perry election, do they know it’s actually now over and they are trying to take out as many people as they can?

Can anyone give me any insight into the crazy that is the conservative/republican/libertarian “movement”?

Haiti

It breaks my heart.  Just Monday, The PBS News Hour had a segment on as part of their series on fragile states, detailing how the Haitian textile industry was set for a comeback, particularly through the work of Bill Clinton.  The title of the report?  “Despite Years of Crushing Poverty, Hope Grows in Haiti.”  I can’t even bring myself to read the transcript.

I donated to the Red Cross and UNICEF.  There was no question in my mind.  In listening to wingnut radio this morning, I was happy to hear that both of the hosts were advertising a number to call for a charity to donate to.

This afternoon was quite different.  I pulled up “Katrina Trash” Chris Baker while I was at work and found that his producer was on the air, making jokes about having fired Baker.  (I’ll leave that to another post.)  The producer also decided that he was obligated to mention the earthquake in Haiti, but what he really wanted to talk about was how there is scientific proof that men are better than women.  How insightful producer guy!

Later, on the way home, Michael Berry wasn’t much better.  He just couldn’t decide if giving aid to Haiti was a good thing to do and asked his listeners to call in (or text or email).  Most of the arguments were about Hurricane Ike and how people are hurting here at home and that the government shouldn’t be in the charity business.  A couple of callers I heard used Haiti’s history to decide that it wasn’t a good idea to donate or help them.  Sort of like it’s their own fault that two tectonic plates decided to slide against each other.  (For example:  one caller pointed out that Haiti and the Dominican Republic are on the same island and what a difference there was between them.  How could one plate and another exist under one island?!?  How could one city get hit by a hurrican and not another? How could one part of an island flood and not another?  Gee, I don’t know!!!!)  It’s clear that neither Michael Berry or his listeners saw the News Hour piece — otherwise all of them would have been lamenting the fact that Haiti had it’s hopes dashed.

I would be irresponsible not to speculate that wingnut listeners, after having seen wall to wall coverage of poor black people (“it’s Katrina all over again!”) in a foreign country on their teevees all day, as well as yet another appearance by the president guy reading from his teleprompter, had decided by 5:00 CST that it was just not their problem.  But they have to have some excuse, so they fired up their computers and looked around Free Republic or other websites and decided that, heck, there are houses somewhere along the Texas coast that still haven’t been rebuilt since Hurricane Ike, there are Americans unemployed, our country is in debt, and you know what, fuck those Haitians.  I would be irresponsible not to speculate that many of Michael Berry’s listeners had had about enough of the blacks on the teevee for one day.  And last but not least, for every excuse each had for not giving or doing something for the people in Haiti, none of them did or will ever do a damn thing for anyone else.

It’s a no-brainer — whether or not to help.  In the aftermath of Katrina, many nations offered to help us, though that was more because they had competence in the problem areas rather than something about resources.  Those nations got burned by the Bush administration.  Again.  And wrt to Ike or unemployment, sorry, there is no equivalence.  Problems with Ike recovery are not about a lack of funds on a national level.  Far from it.  If all of Michael Berry’s callers are so worried about Ike victims (I can still hear Berry cry over the air “PEOPLE DIED!11!11!1!1!11!!), then they would have done something about it before now, dontchathink?

So, I send out a big FUCK YOU to Michael Berry’s callers.  The posse leader will keep riling up the troops no matter what I might say.

From the Administration: Cheney is Just a Chest Beater

True enough.

Here’s the entire entry — copied and pasted without a bit of guilt:

The Same Old Washington Blame Game

Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on December 30, 2009 at 03:34 PM EST

There has been a lot of discussion online and in the mainstream media about our response to various critics of the President, specifically former Vice President Cheney, who have been coming out of the woodwork since the incident on Christmas Day.  I think we all agree that there should be honest debate about these issues, but it is telling that Vice President Cheney and others seem to be more focused on criticizing the Administration than condemning the attackers. Unfortunately too many are engaged in the typical Washington game of pointing fingers and making political hay, instead of working together to find solutions to make our country safer.

First, it’s important that the substantive context be clear: for seven years after 9/11, while our national security was overwhelmingly focused on Iraq – a country that had no al Qaeda presence before our invasion – Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda’s leadership was able to set up camp in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where they continued to plot attacks against the United States. Meanwhile, al Qaeda also regenerated in places like Yemen and Somalia, establishing new safe-havens that have grown over a period of years.  It was President Obama who finally implemented a strategy of winding down the war in Iraq, and actually focusing our resources on the war against al Qaeda – more than doubling our troops in Afghanistan, and building partnerships to target al Qaeda’s safe-havens in Yemen and Somalia.  And in less than one year, we have already seen many al Qaeda leaders taken out, our alliances strengthened, and the pressure on al Qaeda increased worldwide.

To put it simply: this President is not interested in bellicose rhetoric, he is focused on action. Seven years of bellicose rhetoric failed to reduce the threat from al Qaeda and succeeded in dividing this country. And it seems strangely off-key now, at a time when our country is under attack, for the architect of those policies to be attacking the President.

Second, the former Vice President makes the clearly untrue claim that the President – who is this nation’s Commander-in-Chief – needs to realize we are at War. I don’t think anyone realizes this very hard reality more than President Obama. In his inaugural, the President said “our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.” In a recent speech, Assistant to the President for Terrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan said “Instead, as the president has made clear, we are at war with al-Qaida, which attacked us on 9/11 and killed 3,000 people. We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al-Qaida’s murderous agenda. These are the terrorists we will destroy; these are the extremists we will defeat.” At West Point, the President told the nation why it was “in our vital national interest” to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to fight the war in Afghanistan, adding that as Commander in Chief, “I see firsthand the terrible wages of war.” And at Oslo, in accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, the President said, “We are at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land.”

There are numerous other such public statements that explicitly state we are at war. The difference is this: President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and – unlike the last Administration – we are not at war with a tactic (“terrorism”), we at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies. And we will prosecute that war as long as the American people are endangered.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

Never Known Anyone Convicted Abroad?

Then you must be a GOP shill like Bill Kristol.

There’s a teevee show in the U.K. called BangedUp Abroad that shows what happens to people who get caught and are tried abroad.  There are any number (thousands) of foreigners in our prisons and jails who were tried in our courts under our rules.  It happens all the time.  Remember Manuel Noriega?  Or the less-well known Jose Medellin?

I once dated a guy who spent time in a Mexican prison.  No one screamed about him getting some sort of special treatment.  No one screamed about Noriega getting special treatment.

Before Bush and Cheney, it seems that our courts were doing an ok job.   But for Bush and Cheney, we wouldn’t have the problem that is Gitmo.  It would only be a setting for a popular movie.

One particularly disturbing thing I find about the GOP and wingnut outrage about this incident is the comparison to 9/11.  There is no comparison, and yet it is ok to make it, again and again.  It should be clear, lots of people died on 9/11, including quite a number of unionized people, and no one died on the flight to Detroit.

All is lost if we give in to DeMint, Kristol, King and the others.

Here’s hoping some more people — of all stripes — start behaving reasonably and stop trying to make every little fucking thing about the elections  in fucking November 2010.