How many people today are texting? Got to be half the planet right.
I haven't a clue but I guess it must be reaching that level. Literally everyone's doing it. what started as a teenage craze has now infected the grey's. Its the 21st centuries equivalent of letter writing but this time is figures representing letters stored inside your mobiles "brain".
Independent Views of News from around The Social Networks.
Monday, 3 December 2012
Two Americas? Reasons that Obama won, the new versus the Old
Something peculiar is happening in USA politics;the anti bigotry coalition is growing and the msm dont seem to notice it. A number of progressive outlets have addressed it, but what we see over the next four years could determine Americas long term future. Here's a link to the original article
There is no question the Obama Presidency has exposed a lot of racism and xenophobia and religious bigotry among Republicans and conservatives, disturbingly more than I would’ve guessed. PPP was mocked early on in 2011 for their polls testing whether GOP primary voters in various states believed Obama was born in the U.S., whether he was a citizen, whether he was a Muslim…even whether he was the anti-Christ! At first I was dismissive of the some of the results because I’m well-aware that people are willing to give ridiculous answers to ridiculous questions.
But then after one GOP Presidential primary debate, Frank Luntz on Fox News had a majority of Iowa GOP focus group members raise their hands in earnest when he asked, in earnest, whether they believed Obama was a Muslim. And as time went on, it became clear in other polling that PPP early on was on to more than just snarky telephone survey replies, there really is a disturbingly large percentage of Republicans who are openly hostile to Obama specifically because of his race, his national origin, and his partial religious ancestry. That GOP electeds from Boehner to McConnell to all the GOP Presidential candidates were unwilling to call out any of it just reinforced the point, since it established they were afraid because these people were a very large part of the GOP base. You don’t worry about calling out your own party’s cranks in public if they’re marginal figures whose votes you don’t need and don’t think you’ll lose because they have no other options…Republican candidates and electeds know that they can lose primaries for openly challenging racial and other bigoted hostility toward Obama. And all this is very personal to me. When I was a small child in Ames, Iowa, in my immigrant family, neighborhood teenagers assaulted our home regularly, pelting fruit and whatever else at our house. Several times my dad had the police come and lecture this group of kids. It was all about race, and these kids’ parents did nothing. So when Mitt Romney in a Michigan stump speech snarks that no one asked him for his birth certificate, and his GOP allies defend the racism as “just a joke,” when so many GOP federal and state electeds endorse or tacitly condone questioning of Obama’s citizenry and engage in other dog whistle racism, these are always personal attacks equally on me…if Obama is not an American and does not legitimately belong, then they’re saying the same about me. I imagine I’m not alone, that people of color across the board see what I see, and the election results confirm this. It’s striking to me, and IMO underreported, that Obama clearly lost great amounts of white support in Florida and indeed his 37% in the exit poll with Florida whites has always been disastrous…and yet he wins the state with an absolute majority. It’s striking to me that the national exit poll has not only people of color increasing to 28% of the total, but also that it has both Hispanics and Asians giving over 70% to Obama. These things tell me that people of color across the board see what I see, an appalling racism and xenophobia in the Republican Party that is enraging. Sadly, the early signs of the post-election period show only continued GOP hostility, even more bitterness and resentment than before. I do believe that Obama and Senate Democrats are going to play hardball these next few months on Senate rules and the most immediate legislative issues of the budget and taxes and debt ceiling, and it will make me happy. That will be necessary, because it appears that Congressional Republicans are remaining adamant in their unwillingness to deal with a black President as an equal to previous white Presidents. That might change out of necessity, but for the time being federal Democratic electeds will simply have to bring the hammer down. The next key test for Republicans will be immigration reform: will resentment and bitterness overwhelm their recent recognition of the need to try to bend toward the demands of immigrant communities? I actually suspect yes, it will. They’re bitter toward losing and now will become only more bitter and intransigent after getting forced into budget and tax legislation they hate, and getting steamrolled on Senate rules. My next big electoral hope is that more people of color wake up and realize the importance of voting in non-Presidential elections, meaning the federal midterms and in places like Virginia where I live the odd-year state-level elections. Outsized minority turnout in 2014 might still be needed to make national Republicans feel compelled to change their ways, as I’m not sure this election will ultimately be enough. Thanks for indulging my rant, this particular topic strikes a very personal nerve and these recent posts on TPM meant a lot to me.
There is no question the Obama Presidency has exposed a lot of racism and xenophobia and religious bigotry among Republicans and conservatives, disturbingly more than I would’ve guessed. PPP was mocked early on in 2011 for their polls testing whether GOP primary voters in various states believed Obama was born in the U.S., whether he was a citizen, whether he was a Muslim…even whether he was the anti-Christ! At first I was dismissive of the some of the results because I’m well-aware that people are willing to give ridiculous answers to ridiculous questions.
But then after one GOP Presidential primary debate, Frank Luntz on Fox News had a majority of Iowa GOP focus group members raise their hands in earnest when he asked, in earnest, whether they believed Obama was a Muslim. And as time went on, it became clear in other polling that PPP early on was on to more than just snarky telephone survey replies, there really is a disturbingly large percentage of Republicans who are openly hostile to Obama specifically because of his race, his national origin, and his partial religious ancestry. That GOP electeds from Boehner to McConnell to all the GOP Presidential candidates were unwilling to call out any of it just reinforced the point, since it established they were afraid because these people were a very large part of the GOP base. You don’t worry about calling out your own party’s cranks in public if they’re marginal figures whose votes you don’t need and don’t think you’ll lose because they have no other options…Republican candidates and electeds know that they can lose primaries for openly challenging racial and other bigoted hostility toward Obama. And all this is very personal to me. When I was a small child in Ames, Iowa, in my immigrant family, neighborhood teenagers assaulted our home regularly, pelting fruit and whatever else at our house. Several times my dad had the police come and lecture this group of kids. It was all about race, and these kids’ parents did nothing. So when Mitt Romney in a Michigan stump speech snarks that no one asked him for his birth certificate, and his GOP allies defend the racism as “just a joke,” when so many GOP federal and state electeds endorse or tacitly condone questioning of Obama’s citizenry and engage in other dog whistle racism, these are always personal attacks equally on me…if Obama is not an American and does not legitimately belong, then they’re saying the same about me. I imagine I’m not alone, that people of color across the board see what I see, and the election results confirm this. It’s striking to me, and IMO underreported, that Obama clearly lost great amounts of white support in Florida and indeed his 37% in the exit poll with Florida whites has always been disastrous…and yet he wins the state with an absolute majority. It’s striking to me that the national exit poll has not only people of color increasing to 28% of the total, but also that it has both Hispanics and Asians giving over 70% to Obama. These things tell me that people of color across the board see what I see, an appalling racism and xenophobia in the Republican Party that is enraging. Sadly, the early signs of the post-election period show only continued GOP hostility, even more bitterness and resentment than before. I do believe that Obama and Senate Democrats are going to play hardball these next few months on Senate rules and the most immediate legislative issues of the budget and taxes and debt ceiling, and it will make me happy. That will be necessary, because it appears that Congressional Republicans are remaining adamant in their unwillingness to deal with a black President as an equal to previous white Presidents. That might change out of necessity, but for the time being federal Democratic electeds will simply have to bring the hammer down. The next key test for Republicans will be immigration reform: will resentment and bitterness overwhelm their recent recognition of the need to try to bend toward the demands of immigrant communities? I actually suspect yes, it will. They’re bitter toward losing and now will become only more bitter and intransigent after getting forced into budget and tax legislation they hate, and getting steamrolled on Senate rules. My next big electoral hope is that more people of color wake up and realize the importance of voting in non-Presidential elections, meaning the federal midterms and in places like Virginia where I live the odd-year state-level elections. Outsized minority turnout in 2014 might still be needed to make national Republicans feel compelled to change their ways, as I’m not sure this election will ultimately be enough. Thanks for indulging my rant, this particular topic strikes a very personal nerve and these recent posts on TPM meant a lot to me.
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
The History of Hstory
History is an interesting topic of conversation,as we all have one. Most people will remember is as a collection of dates an events, in the past which has no bearing on the current events taking place in our lives.
However one of the most significant events in terms of human diaspora has been the enslavement of millions of africans, while in itself this may be lauded or criticized, one of the most insidious effects, is the continued justification, based on scientific, and social racism;the notion that those of african origin are inferior.
This debate is now centered around the origins of ancient Egypt, because as it seems to demonstrate an african origin,it will disprove the inferior hypothesis.
In an effort to provide some sort of synthesis I discovered this article by FAHIM A. KNIGHT-EL.
In throwing a different perspective on the subject it presents an interesting move by the same forces that have been apparent over the past 400 years, in justifying mans inhumanity to man.
However one of the most significant events in terms of human diaspora has been the enslavement of millions of africans, while in itself this may be lauded or criticized, one of the most insidious effects, is the continued justification, based on scientific, and social racism;the notion that those of african origin are inferior.
This debate is now centered around the origins of ancient Egypt, because as it seems to demonstrate an african origin,it will disprove the inferior hypothesis.
In an effort to provide some sort of synthesis I discovered this article by FAHIM A. KNIGHT-EL.
In throwing a different perspective on the subject it presents an interesting move by the same forces that have been apparent over the past 400 years, in justifying mans inhumanity to man.
Friday, 30 March 2012
The War on Drugs
I felt I had to repost this from here Media Matters. I have heard this before but this is by someone whose father was a cop.
As a 50 year old white man I can say that the racism in this country is off the charts right now and here is why this is happening. 40 years ago President Nixon started a new phase of the southern strategy. He called it the war on drugs. My father was a police officer at the time and through him and his coworkers I saw first hand that the war on drugs was actually a war on the poor and dark skinned people. With this new Civil War the police were used to get those scary dark skinned men off the streets and unable to vote. They then demonized minority areas because there were no fathers there to teach those dark skinned kids how to behave because we locked up all their male role models. We then sent in the police to keep locking up as many dark skinned men to stop the violence. Since most police are now cowards who like to brag about how dangerous their job is they were faced with a situation that required real courage. This has brought us to the past few years of transition where a police officer who has shot and killed someone does not even have to leave a "drop" gun at the scene to show that they were justified in shooting someone. I have been saying for years "don't you see what has happened here, now a cop just has to say 'I thought he had a gun' to justify killing an unarmed American." This is why I get so angry when I hear someone refer to the police as "heroes and such". They are cowards with a gun. A hero would take a bullet to protect and serve, today's police will kill you first then check for a weapon later. This is why Trayvon is dead, he met a dangerous want to be a cop who has learned from watching his police role models that if he thinks he is in danger shoot first and just say I thought he had a gun. Is this the America you want to live in. One full of hate and fear. Or would you rather learn that those dark skinned men are just like you and only want to be happy and left alone to enjoy their children and lives. The Second Civil War is being fought right in front of all of us and so few even notice. This war is killing our kids, are you O.K. with that? I am not and will continue to scream as loud as I can, THIS MUST STOP. Thank you for your time, Jeff McCurry
Lets talk about one example of how the war on drugs is manipulated. Crack cocaine.
As I said I was 10 years old when the war on drugs started. It started slowly then Nancy Reagen became involved because seeing the damage to the “crack babies†she said this must stop. The war on drugs became a focus. Crack was made extra illegal and young dark skinned men were imprisoned on a scale not seen before. The supreme court has since ruled the justice system was unfair to these prisoners. But what about the crack babies, that is what we had to stop. Crack didn't stop but crack babies did. Or did they? It turns out that those crack babies mothers had many different substance abuse problems. For those of us that have been around people that abuse cocaine I have noticed that those that like alcohol can drink a lot more when they use cocaine. We always had those crack babies, they were rightfully diagnosed with FAS Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. A horrible condition produced by a legal substance. Did we do anything to help? I see this as an example where the babies were used as a political prop and when they were not useful we all forgot them. So don't tell me the war on drugs is to help kids, it is just like everything else, follow the money.
How about this, your government now admits that Freeway Rick, the most notorious crack cocaine seller in LA, who many claim invented crack was an active operator for the US federal law enforcement the whole time. Do you get that, they admit that we paid him to sell crack, we also admit through Iran Contra that we paid his suppliers too.
Crack was very bad at the time and I knew people in the outlaw motorcycle gang world. Here is how they handled it, we call it an intervention, if they found out a member was doing crack he was told to stop, if he didn't they told him much more forcefully. They all saw that crack lead to big problems for their safety and business interests. They would tolerate a woman doing crack but no members allowed for the safety of all. Not a perfect solution but it worked way better than locking every body up.
My drug of choice is marijuana to save you insults, and I have been to federal prison for growing marijuana plants. I have been on both sides of this war for 40 years and I am tired so I am telling my story. I proudly have a letter from the US DOJ telling me that if I did not stop saying I trust a doctor to tell me what substances are hurting me more than the police they would lock me back up. They didn't and they let me off probation early. You see I am white and even though they had to run me through the system I got every break available. One of them was time off for attending a 9 month inpatient drug treatment program RDAP at Beckly Federal prison camp. The thing I will never forget is one day a federal counselor said to us, “okay all my pot heads in here listen up, with these other drugs we can show you how they are hurting you, you need to know that you are being hurt by the law.â€
I am following her advice and I am doing my part to change the law. But then again I can not vote because I was convicted of growing a plant the has no fatal dose. Did you know marathon runners were dying from an overdose of water quite often and they cut the number of water stations on the course and the deaths dropped. Are you going to outlaw drinking water, it kills people?
As I said I was 10 years old when the war on drugs started. It started slowly then Nancy Reagen became involved because seeing the damage to the “crack babies†she said this must stop. The war on drugs became a focus. Crack was made extra illegal and young dark skinned men were imprisoned on a scale not seen before. The supreme court has since ruled the justice system was unfair to these prisoners. But what about the crack babies, that is what we had to stop. Crack didn't stop but crack babies did. Or did they? It turns out that those crack babies mothers had many different substance abuse problems. For those of us that have been around people that abuse cocaine I have noticed that those that like alcohol can drink a lot more when they use cocaine. We always had those crack babies, they were rightfully diagnosed with FAS Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. A horrible condition produced by a legal substance. Did we do anything to help? I see this as an example where the babies were used as a political prop and when they were not useful we all forgot them. So don't tell me the war on drugs is to help kids, it is just like everything else, follow the money.
How about this, your government now admits that Freeway Rick, the most notorious crack cocaine seller in LA, who many claim invented crack was an active operator for the US federal law enforcement the whole time. Do you get that, they admit that we paid him to sell crack, we also admit through Iran Contra that we paid his suppliers too.
Crack was very bad at the time and I knew people in the outlaw motorcycle gang world. Here is how they handled it, we call it an intervention, if they found out a member was doing crack he was told to stop, if he didn't they told him much more forcefully. They all saw that crack lead to big problems for their safety and business interests. They would tolerate a woman doing crack but no members allowed for the safety of all. Not a perfect solution but it worked way better than locking every body up.
My drug of choice is marijuana to save you insults, and I have been to federal prison for growing marijuana plants. I have been on both sides of this war for 40 years and I am tired so I am telling my story. I proudly have a letter from the US DOJ telling me that if I did not stop saying I trust a doctor to tell me what substances are hurting me more than the police they would lock me back up. They didn't and they let me off probation early. You see I am white and even though they had to run me through the system I got every break available. One of them was time off for attending a 9 month inpatient drug treatment program RDAP at Beckly Federal prison camp. The thing I will never forget is one day a federal counselor said to us, “okay all my pot heads in here listen up, with these other drugs we can show you how they are hurting you, you need to know that you are being hurt by the law.â€
I am following her advice and I am doing my part to change the law. But then again I can not vote because I was convicted of growing a plant the has no fatal dose. Did you know marathon runners were dying from an overdose of water quite often and they cut the number of water stations on the course and the deaths dropped. Are you going to outlaw drinking water, it kills people?
This current racial storm reminded me of a story I heard cops tell many times. They loved telling it. My dad worked undercover for years, during one of their joint federal and local operations the only black officer in the group was shot and then he shot the shooter. The part I heard a thousand times was when the EMT's said we need to check the other guy to which he replied "f### that N##### he is going to die" They loved being able to tell a story where a black man said that. The cop lived, the other guy died. Cincinnati 1980's
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)