black…MYstory

Bush has insisted that the fight for Iraq is THE fight against terrorism and that, even yesterday, still tried to link Iraq and 9/11 by saying, “Al-Qaida is doing most of the spectacular bombings, trying to incite sectarian violence..The same people that attacked us on September the 11th is a crowd that is now bombing people, killing innocent men, women and children, many of whom are Muslims.”

Okay, then how do you explain this?

According to U.S. counterterrorism analysts, Al Quaeda is regrouped and nearly back to pre-9/11 strength. But, they are amassing their strength in Iraq, right? No, in fact they are at the place that we took our collective eye off to pursue a war of choice in Iraq is where Al Quaeda is renewing its strength.

John Kringen, who heads the CIA’s analysis directorate, echoed the concerns about al-Qaida’s resurgence during testimony and conversations with reporters at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.

“They seem to be fairly well settled into the safe haven and the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan,” Kringen testified. “We see more training. We see more money. We see more communications. We see that activity rising.”

The threat assessment comes as the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies prepare a National Intelligence Estimate focusing on threats to the United States. A senior intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity while the high-level analysis was being completed, said the document has been in the works for roughly two years.

That “ungoverned space” is along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border — the same region that Osama bin Laden my very well be today.

So, when Bush is talking about fighting terror, does anybody besides the 29% of America who still support him actually believe that he knows what he doing?

Popularity: 26% [?]

A really good article came out a couple of weeks ago that offers some great food for thought.

In a clever way, it highlights the 33 steps (not) taken that allowed for the utter destruction of a great African American city in the U.S.

I’ll share some here but, I urge you to check out the article in its entirety.

Step One. Delay. If there is one word that sums up the way to destroy an African-American city after a disaster, that word is DELAY. If you are in doubt about any of the following steps – just remember to delay and you will probably be doing the right thing.

Step Two. When a disaster is coming, do not arrange a public evacuation. Rely only on individual resources. People with cars and money for hotels will leave. The elderly, the disabled and the poor will not be able to leave. Most of those without cars – 25% of households of New Orleans, overwhelmingly African-Americans – will not be able to leave. Most of the working poor, overwhelmingly African-American, will not be able to leave. Many will then permanently accuse the victims who were left behind of creating their own human disaster because of their own poor planning. It is critical to start by having people blame the victims for their own problems.

Step Three. When the disaster hits make certain the national response is overseen by someone who has no experience at all handling anything on a large scale, particularly disasters. In fact, you can even inject some humor into the response – have the disaster coordinator be someone whose last job was the head of a dancing horse association.

Step Four. Make sure that the President and national leaders remain aloof and only slightly concerned. This sends an important message to the rest of the country.

Popularity: 12% [?]

What we are often told is that the reason that the reason that Blacks and Latinos don’t get the type of back financing that their White counterparts get is based on one’s financial situation, not race. We are told that, in similar situations, both sides are treated equally.

If that’s the case, then, explain this.

A report issued by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition studied 171 metropolitan markets and concluded that blacks were twice as likely as whites to receive expensive loans.

The report, which analyzed 2.3 million loans in 380 metro areas, also concluded that while the disparity among blacks and whites existed at all income levels, it was more severe at higher income levels, rather than lower ones.

The study found that middle-class and upper income blacks in 167 metropolitan areas were at least twice as likely as whites with similar incomes to receive loans with high rates. By comparison, there were 70 metropolitan areas where low-income blacks faced a similar likelihood of receiving above-market rates.

Low-income blacks in all areas were more likely to have pricey loans than whites with similar incomes.

The report uses the Federal Reserve’s definition of high-cost loans: mortgages whose rates are at least 3 percentage points above Treasury securities. That definition includes most subprime loans given to people with weak credit records.

For its part, the industry says that these people have lower credit ratings and this is a factor is their receiving more expensive loans but, consider the following:

The study comes as ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said Tuesday it is considering cutting the credit rating of more than $12 billion in bonds backed by risky home loans as more borrowers miss payments. These bonds — sold by some of Wall Street’s biggest banks — represent a principal source of financing for the housing market.

So, would more scrutiny of these lending practices cut into a lucrative portion of these banks’ business? It certainly seems to be the case.

Popularity: 18% [?]

This is the party of “family values?”

Yesterday, I shared with you how Senator David Vitter (R-LA), was so apologetic over his use of the services of prostitutes in D.C.

He stated the following:

“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling.”

Well, it looks like another bone fell out of the closet.

Now, another madam, this time in his home state of Lousiana, is saying that Vitter was a client of hers as well. Before he was a senator, Vitter would visit a brothel run by Jeanette Maier. According to federal prosecutors, Maier’s brothel charged rates of $300 for services. Maier pleaded guilty to running the brothel in 2002. Vitter became a senator in 2004.

For the record, Maier says Vitter was a “decent guy” who appeared to be in need of some company.

I’m sure that endorsement will go well on campaign materials…for Vitter’s opponent.

Needless to say, that when your platform (such as “family values”) is built on a house of cards, you should step lightly.

Popularity: 10% [?]

A few years back, somebody pointed out the site “Hot Ghetto Mess” to me. Despite their claim that this was to encourage change, I was not impressed. I found that the videos and images shown there are not representative of even a majority of black people so, putting a tag line out there like “We got to do better” left me wondering who is the “we” she’s talking about. Every group of people has some “triflin’ folks” among them. However, minorities, unlike white people in this country, are judged by the exception rather than the rule. If “we got to do better”, we need to do a better job about not allowing people to stereotype us and to quit profiting from the disrespect of black folks.

Which brings me to the following…

“Hot Ghetto Mess” is coming to T.V.! Aren’t you excited?!

Hosted by Charlie Murphy, this series “guides viewers through shaking booties, thug life, baby-mama drama and pimped-out high schoolers, “Hot Ghetto Mess” will explore what these images really mean to all of us.

Cutting edge, original, relevant and irreverent, “Hot Ghetto Mess” is like the traffic accident you can’t look away from. Viewers will laugh. They’ll cry. They’ll think. They’ll learn, and hopefully they’ll recognize they’ve GOT to do better.” (From BET’s web site)

Great!

Well, it looks like some advertisers are already jumping ship. Home Depot and State Farm Insurance have pulled ads.

At any rate, the show launches July 25. Given much of BET’s other programming, I’m sure this will fit in quite nicely.

Popularity: 45% [?]

David Vitter and his ilk have had no problem beating us over the head with the “threat” gay marriage poses on families.

I’m a black man whose been married to the same woman for over ten years and I don’t feel the least bit threatened by gay marriage. The challenges I deal with are not taking each other for granted, raising a child, making sure the bills are paid and trying to make my wife laugh at least once a day.

In other words, I’m too busy taking care of mine to worry about someone else’s.

However, I believe that if you are going to talk about protecting something, you don’t undermine it yourself. More simply, don’t be a hypocrite.

Since Republicans want to act like they’re the only people in America who’ve ever read a Bible, they should be familiar with this verse:

“Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

-Matthew 7:5

Vitter embodies the above. He was one of these folks who made a lot of political hay about the gay marriage issue. In fact, he’s an original co-author of the federal marriage amendment. On his Senate web site, he offers the following:

This week, the U.S. Senate focused much of its attention on the Marriage Protection Amendment, a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage as being between one man and one woman. While more senators voted for it this time than two years ago, we still didn’t meet the threshold for a constitutional amendment to pass. But we are making progress.

Voters in Louisiana and at least 44 other states have shown their support for traditional marriage by voting to protect it. But these laws are being attacked in courts across the country, and activist judges should not be able to suppress the will of the American people. This is why we need a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage.

Marriage is a core institution of societies throughout the world and is a bedrock institution for our own society because it has provided permanence and stability for our very social structure. Studies have shown that the institution of marriage has a positive impact on the lives of both parents and children because, for example, it reduces the risk of poverty and the risk of crime.

So, you would think Vitter would exemplify what it means to be a good husband, right?

Well, in his book, I guess gays are a threat to marriage but hookers are not.

Read the rest of this entry →

Popularity: 13% [?]

A columnist from a small news site in Missouri is making a big splash. He is one (of many, I suspect) fed-up Republicans who have left the party over George Bush.

Steve Thomas has written a brilliant column on what precipitated his decision to leave and become an Independent.

You don’t have to be a conservative to appreciate this one.

“I thought George W. Bush started off well enough. He responded to 9/11 with the right amount of diplomacy and force. I never thought much of his tax cuts - I’m not rich - and I found his constant harping on family values and morals to be distasteful. (It made me think of the Sermon on the Mount: “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.” But who I am to quote the Bible without sounding like W?).

I supported the Iraq War in the beginning, but as its mismanagement grew, so did my disillusionment. Yet I remained a Republican.

Then the rains came. When the New Orleans levees gave way, so did my belief in the Republican Party. This was an American city, pulverized by nature - though with plenty of notice, unlike an earthquake - and although the local and state authorities (which were Democrats) reacted with monumental ineptitude, I had confidence that a Republican administration would get the situation under control and lead a swift rebuilding.

That hasn’t happened. Instead, a great American city has been left to pull itself out of the mess while thousands of American citizens haven’t been able get decent housing or assistance from the federal government, which is firmly in the hands of the Republicans. Maybe the Republicans were grossly incompetent or simply indifferent because most of the hardest-hit victims were poor or non-white or both. No matter what, a Republican administration showed itself to be either monumentally inept or cruelly, methodically callous.

Either way, I didn’t want anything more to do with the Republicans. So I declared myself an Independent and have been so since. It was hard for me to walk away from a party that had been my political home since my youth.”

His anger, by no means, begins and ends with the bungling of Hurricane Katrina relief but is, instead, a lead-off into his understanding of Bush and Co.’s depraved indifference for the law and the rights of the non-rich. I encourage you to read this entire piece.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Colin Powell, where were you when it mattered?

At one time, Colin Powell was enjoying respect from both sides of the political aisle. But, by putting his loyalty to President Bush over loyalty to his country, he helped push the bull that landed us into a war in Iraq. In fact, most people cite Powell’s presentation at the U.N. as the seminal moment at which they supported military action in Iraq. His name carried so much credibility that he turned detractors into supporters.

Now, it appears that Powell knew that the Bush administration’s rationale for war was bogus but, rather than resign in protest, he allowed himself to continually be used and discarded when no longer needed.

Of course, now that the war is incredibly unpopular, Powell is emboldened to speak out.

At the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Powell spoke about how he tried to talk Bush out of the war:

The former American secretary of state Colin Powell has revealed that he spent 2½ hours vainly trying to persuade President George W Bush not to invade Iraq and believes today’s conflict cannot be resolved by US forces.

“I tried to avoid this war,” Powell said at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado. “I took him through the consequences of going into an Arab country and becoming the occupiers.”

Powell has become increasingly outspoken about the level of violence in Iraq, which he believes is in a state of civil war. “The civil war will ultimately be resolved by a test of arms,” he said. “It’s not going to be pretty to watch, but I don’t know any way to avoid it. It is happening now.”

He added: “It is not a civil war that can be put down or solved by the armed forces of the United States.” All the military could do, Powell suggested, was put “a heavier lid on this pot of boiling sectarian stew”.

That’s all fine and good but, if he had spoken up over 4 years ago, we might not be here. Now, he wants to come out like he’s some voice of reason.

Spare me.

Colin Powell, you are an enabler. Your name will go alongside the names of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al, as an architect of this mess. The mea culpa is not going to cut it. There’s the blood of thousands on your hands and your weak criticisms won’t wash it away.

Popularity: 12% [?]

We’ve talked about vote-caging on this site before and, despite protestations to the contrary, evidence keeps popping up about Republicans being involved in using this tactic to disenfranchise black voters.

Now, it appears that more proof this tactic had come into play in 2004 has come to light.

Former Duval County Republican leader Mike Hightower, local chairman in Duval County Florida for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, denied knowing what voter caging was, much less being involved in it. However, internal city memos have surface, contradicting that claim.

Hightower was in attendance at several meetings with county elections officials where the concerns about this issue were discussed.

While he still denies it, there seems to be enough here to warrant further investigation and I would not be surprised to hear that Hightower summoned to testify in front of the Senate.

We need to stay on top of this because, as you can tell, our vote may be in jeopardy.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Something about the story of the “Miami Seven”, who were allegedly plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago, always stunk to me. Here you have a bunch of guys without a nickel to rub between them and without the expertise to pull of an attack being treated like some national security threat.

Now, obviously, you have seven people who, collectively, are not that bright. They supposedly vowed allegiance to al Quaeda. But, beyond that, this all seems flimsy. For example, check out the following excerpt from MSNBC.com:

Prosecutors say they discussed blowing up the Sears Tower and destroying FBI offices and other buildings in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington. Authorities have said their purported plot never moved beyond the preliminary stages and the group never possessed explosives or other weapons to carry it out, but insist the men were serious about their intentions.

But, even more interesting is the following:

Members of the group would often go paintball shooting as a form of military training, and once used a U.S. flag for target practice, defendant Burson Augustin, 22, told the FBI.

In other words, they didn’t have real guns to train with so, they used paintball guns. Anybody else questioning whether or not these guys were for real or just a bunch of dudes trying to be tough? I think that there are some real terrorist threats in the country, both domestic and foreign, but hyping up cases like this makes me question if we are serious about battling terrorism or if it’s more like our war on drugs — just occasionally bust a few people to make it seem like something is really being done and keep you political office for another term. I really believe that the latter is true.

Popularity: 25% [?]