While you were sleeping, the world kept turning, shit kept happening and things changed. Yet nothing has changed. If you believed the fervent anti-Obama sentiment on the internet, then on December 31st he quietly singed away your rights(if you're an American Citizen). But in fact he merely re-signed them away. Your rights have been gone. H.R. 1540, or the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.” does include a prevision (Section 1021) which simply "affirms the executive branch’s authority to detain persons
covered by the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force". In the presidents own words "This section breaks no new ground and is unnecessary". In the president's signing statement he expresses that he does not support everything in the bill, and that his administration would not use these previsions to authorize the indefinite detention of American citizens with out trial. Yet this of course does not stop people from decrying him as a traitor who should be put on trail right after you vote for Ron Paul of course. The far left and far right all come together to call Obama the Anti-Christ, Judas, or at the very least a sellout who is going to have each and every one of us rounded up and detained for not voting for him. With rhetoric so vicious and venomous that the lack of appropriate facts is unnoticed simply madmen screaming that their good old U.S.A. has been stolen from them. They feel that the land of the free and home of the brave isn't what they thought it was. They are right, the mythical United States where everyone was free, and anybody could become rich never existed. The land owners and business men have always ran this (and every other) land. It was always built on the backs of slaves and those who stepped outside the narrow laws placed on them by those in power have always been unlawfully detained indefinitely. Not one single thing has changed. Minorities in this country have always been painfully aware of this fact.
Meanwhile why you were busy being outraged that the President reluctantly signed the continuation of laws that have been in place since 2001, his potential opponents sign a pledge to take away the right of every woman to control her own body. Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum (Google it) and Newt
Gingrich all have signed the Personhood USA petition to support
an unprecedented "human life amendment" to the Constitution which would create legislation making clear that "the 14th Amendment protections
apply to unborn children." The person-hood amendment would ban abortion even in cases of rape, incest
or to protect a mother's health, and it could affect the legality of
some forms of birth control, invitro fertilization and stem cell
research. Ask yourself which is a bigger threat to you, to America, and to human rights in general. You can cry that Obama has effectively killed the Bill of Rights. Yet the Bill of Rights was effectively killed under the previous administration and you are still roaming free to read this on the internet. The Bill of rights went out the window the moment the Patriot act was signed into law. That's of course if you didn't know that the United States had been in a perpetual "State of Emergency" since WWII and that every president since Franklin Roosevelt has had the executive ability to declare Marshall Law and round up United States citizens and jail them without trail. This is the reality that you, your parents, your grandparents, and depending on how young you are your great-grandparents, has lived under. You wonder why the "media" isn't covering this? Why aren't the talking heads yammering on and on about this? It's because anyone who has actually studied politics or the laws of this nation already know this. The only ones shocked are the people who are only now waking up to what has long been going on in this country.
You see this isn't news, because this isn't new! If you know your history, and you know the way the world really works, then you would know that you have never lived in the land of the free, and the home of the brave. Long before the industrial revolution you lived in a land of actual slaves, stolen from natives, that discriminated and imprisoned everyone who was not a white christian male of English decent. Everyone from the Irish to women, have had to fight long and hard for the little rights they receive today. That is the beauty of this fucked up country. You can change things, if you really want to. You don't have to take it lying down. But you will not change things by voting for some right-wing Anglo-Saxon, millionaire, religious nut who wants far worst for you than a biracial, Hawaiian, constitutional law professor. Yet even if you do the world will keep on turning and things outside of your control will continue to shape your life. To truly change the system you would have to bring it crashing tot he ground. And my dear friends on the left-that will not happen from camping out in a public park, pretending to be homeless, and attending drum circles while tweeting on your Mac Book Air-Pro! real effective change to the current political system, will only come when we the people rise up and burn said system to the ground. You can't do that without education and organization, rage is just the fire-starter.
Pretty much in a nutshell how those pricks see the world! #fuckwashington isn't just for the racist who hate Obama it's for all of us! You wanted a divided government well you got it. It matches nicely with the divided country. The Republicans have consistently proven that they care only about the top 1% of this country and are willing to kill us all to protect them. Those duped into supporting them through the racist Koch Brothers funded Tea Party will rue the day they threw in with this lot. Honestly as much as I would love to see them eat it when Obama wins a second term I almost want just as much to see them regret everything if some Republican puppet is installed and they show them what a real Death Panel is all all about!
As President Obama poll numbers begin to rebound, Rush Limbaugh tries to stir the racial hatred and possibly insight a riot. Many things Limbaugh has said about The President in recent months could be cause to charge him with treason and attempting to incite a racial war or worse the very assassination of the president. Of course he chooses his words so that none of that could ever hold up in a court of law, but that's just subterfuge. Limbaugh uses a fight on a school bus where two kids who happen to be black are beating up one kid that happens to be white. Police investigating the fight have ruled that the fight was not racially motivated. This has been made very clear and public by the police chief, but for his own personal gain Limbaugh has chose to ignore yet another fact and stoke the fires of racism
The racial tension in this country is reaching a critical boiling point and it is because of bigots like Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and the rest of Fox News. Even former President Jimmy Carter has commented on the fact that the majority of republican criticism leveled against President Obama wreaks of racial biased. The Birther "movement" and the Tea Baggers fanatical lunacy is the most obvious. Their rally's look like nothing more than unhooded Klan rally's . What will these jack-asses like Lou Dobbs have to say when their hate spills blood in the street. Some comments I have been seeing on various post around the web suggest that that day is drawing near. On the site where I first learned of the "school bus beating" a reader left this comment;
#
what a great example of the future of black leadership 6:35 PM on 09/15/2009
wow, a bunch of wild black-Nazis gang up on a white boy that isn't even defending himself. the black community should be proud. this kid is getting beat down, every other white kid is clearly scared, the bus driver can't be found (i wonder what color the driver is), and the future of black America....their fine upstanding youth are laughing, taking pictures, and joining in beating a kid that isn't even defending himself.....I'm looking forward to what happens when 201 million whites have had enough with Afro-entitlement and put their foot on 40 million uppity blacks....
After watching the amazing speech by the first president in my life time that I am actually proud of, and reading hundreds of blogs that made me ashamed to call myself a blogger, I spent the day listening to the news and arguing with idiots online. Then around 2 (my time) this came on;
From Wikipedia Philosopher kings are the hypothetical rulers, or Guardians, of Plato's Utopian Kallipolis. If his ideal city-state is to ever come into being, "philosophers [must] become kings…or those now called kings [must]…genuinely and adequately philosophize"
From the students from Selma, to the Tuskegee Airman, those who made the journey and braved the frigid temperatures bear witness to history. As I sit alone in Oakland, California (half a world away) I bear witness in awe. My hands are shaking as I hold my head and view the coming change. It is more than the undeniable charisma of one man; it is instead the collective dreams of a nation come to beautifully vivid reality. This moment possible because of millions who wished it so. The crowds in DC spill out of the Mall and onto the rooftops for miles. There is a chill up my spine as he offers words of inspiration. I tear up thinking of my grandmother, and great-grandmother, my mother and my aunts and cousins who have passed on before this moment. I’m not sure if I necessarily believe that they are somewhere watching down on us, but I do believe that their energy and memory is still in the air. I can feel my grandmother in the room with me right now. I laugh with her at the crowd singing “Na-na-na-good-bye” to the outgoing president. I marvel at their unity and wonder how it must feel to old Bush to see how disliked he is. Does he even care? Is he even capable of caring? This is something I have never seen or felt in my life time. Never has any political figure in my life been so unilaterally loved and respected. I can’t help but think that with such high regard and such a daunting task ahead that we are setting ourselves up for either disappointment or delusion. There is no way that one man can undo the damage of the last eight years in four and possible even eight years. The children of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The sons of those kidnapped and tortured in Gitmo, will surely come for us. They will grow older and bitterer with time and they will seek revenge for the dishonor they have received at the hands of the leaving administration. There is nothing we can do about that. George Bush’s actions have made us weaker, and yet stronger at the same time. People of all walks of life have become united in our resolve to at least attempt to undo the damage done. I listened to the new president’s speech after he was sworn in and while reminded of King and Kennedy I hear a new singular voice that will reverberate throughout history no matter what comes next. I have a strong feeling that in spite of what is to come that his voice will comfort the nation on Presidential addresses for some time. I have never in all my days saluted a president but I think for the next four years at least I will.
I’ve been thinking of how I was going to end this. The most important election cycle of my life (to date), has been filled with the most blogs I have ever written or posted (to date). I have followed each and every up and down, twist and turn for the last eighteen months. It has been serious at times, humorous at others. I have had my doubts and fears, and moments of joy and pride. I have debated the merits of Hillary Clinton and John McCain versus our next President Barack Obama. I have argued and admired with others. I have delved into this process far more than even I would have thought. It is no small event. The historic nature is of course the draw. The possibility and symbolism of a black U.S. president is no small feat. Those that feel otherwise are either fools or closet racist. I do not hide the fact that beyond his words his skin color is the reason why I support him. I did not support Alan Keyes in his 2000 bid and was too young to recognize the significance of Jesse Jacksons ’84 attempt. I could sit here and make a last minute plea for Obama, listing his ideas and proposals, but that’s being done across the board. It’s all out there if you haven’t heard it and I doubt it will sway you at this final night before the world changes. Instead in art inspired by the death of Barack’s grandmother on Sunday I will tell you my story simply and plainly and hope you understand why a man who once planted a fake bomb in a mall and wears proudly the symbols of Anarchy and Chaos on his arms has spent the last year and a half supporting a mainstream candidate for president.
For me this goes back to when I was a child. As a young Negro in Mocksville North Carolina there were very few examples of black success. Locally there were business men who owned black barbershops, or tree clearing services, janky auto dealers, or BBQ joints, but no real examples of wealth and success. On television you either had to shill Jello pudding or run a basketball up and down the court in order to be rich. It wasn’t until after I had begun to consider myself and adult that I believed any differently. I knew in my teenage years that blacks could own magazines and business, but only those that marketed to other blacks. The whole notion that if you grow up, and do what you’re supposed, to and you too could be president, was for whites only. Blacks were shown/not told that even if you grew up and became successful you would still be nothing more than nigger. Your money and position held only on how well you kept your place, how well you bowed and scraped and followed the white man’s way. My grandmother as strong and as independent as she was never once told me such lies. She never once uttered such nonsense. And it was nonsense. By all evidence presented a black man would never become president. Not until some mythical future where Whites were minorities and brown skinned people controlled the economy. Low and behold we are almost to that point. Yellow people are dominating the market and lending the U.S. money, it is only a matter of time my brown brothers and sisters. Not that I am some anti-white Farrakhan loving brother. I have often been told “You’re the whitest black guy I know”, though I am far from it. I cannot deny that my blackness has often been questioned, due to my taste in music, my associations and my choice in women. I was raised in the country not the city. There were very few kids in my neighborhood. I grew up with television as my number one companion, and as stated earlier there was very little blackness on TV. I can still remember when BET started and one of the first videos was Pattie Label and Michael McDonald. I can remember when the most famous black person alive was Sammy Davis Jr. and he was known for what? Tap dancing for Frank Sinatra! There was a brief time when I was in ninth grade I listen to some Nation of Islam speeches and read Malcolm X, watched Roots and thought I hated white people. While secretly I listened to the oldies station as I played Mario 3. That was mainly due to the shock of moving back from nearly all black Washington D.C., to little old white bread Mocksville N.C. That time however served as my education of black accomplishments. I wrote a 48 page Black History month paper that year. I thought I was a sleeper agent for the Black Panther Party. I was just a kid, and as I got older I thought I had worked through most of my race issues. I started to say that I don’t hate white people-I hate all people. I said it just the other day at work, though the reality of even that statement is false. If I truly hated everyone then I wouldn’t want to see this world progress. And whether you believe that Obama is just a puppet of the CFR or whatever there will be no mistaking his impact as a symbol for those of us of color. Even if is elected and begins to institute policies more damaging that George Bush he would have finally shown us that we can do anything. And before you point out that he is half black and half white, let me remind you that less than sixty years ago it was U.S. law that if you were 1/8th black you were black! The history of race in this country is sad and ugly. But what do you expect from a nation founded on slavery and the thievery of land from an entire race of people. Genocide is in the blood of every white American. That’s exactly why the whole reverend Wright episode scared the shit out of people. He wasn’t being un-American or preaching hate. He was in fact simply telling the truth. And they feared that Obama would ascend to power knowing that. Let me tell you I have read both Obama books (one of which was named after a Rev. Wright speech), and Obama does know this. He would have known all those things without Jeremiah Wright. That’s what leads him to choosing that church in the first place. Much like myself and every other thinking black person in this country we have struggled with identity and race issues for our entire lives. The things that Reverend Wright said both in the sound bites and in the full speeches are real and felt by all of us. Obama played the petty game to get elected, but trust me you can pick up either of his books and find the truth. He grew up reading comics like me, and experimented with drugs, not as much as I but I feel his verdict. He moved own however unlike yours truly and decided to fight the system from within. And tomorrow we will find out if it worked. I have faith that it has but if not I hear the Oakland P.D. will be on the lookout for me. According to the Telegraph U.K., they have SWAT teams standing by in case McCain wins to quell any uprising. And I assure each and every one of you if you do not hear from me after Tuesday it is because McCain won and I went on the attack.
Last night Barack Obama gave the speech of his life thus far. It was not the most dramatic or grandiose, but it was perhaps the most compelling pitch he has given thus far. It was the most compelling reason to vote for him he could offer to the few million naysayer’s and doubters. It was a speech so utterly amazing that it had renowned bigot and republican asshole Pat Buchanan chocked up and falling over himself to praise Obama. On the anniversary of Dr. Kings “I Have a Dream” speech Obama delivered a one- two punch to John McCain.I went to sleep last night amazed and astounded confident that I had just witnessed history. I woke up this morning as did the rest of you to the rug pulled completely from underneath the Obama campaign. McCain has chosen a woman as his VP. Trying not only to steal the thunder from Obama’s big night, McCain has picked someone who would also make history. They went after the weakest spot; the Hillary voters that Obama had spent all week trying to swoon. But will placing a conservative anti-abortion, anti- welfare, pro-Alaska-drilling, governor. Who-by the way-has only been governor for 18 months, and prior to that she was the mayor of a town with less than 10,000 residents. In her coming out speech this morning she immediately went for the Hillary voters. As if to say “Hey I’m a woman-vote for me now”. All the while the McCain camp has went after Obama’s experience record and said he was not ready. What now? This pick was clearly an attempt to steal the headlines and show that McCain’s ticket too will make history. So white people want feel so bad not voting for Obama. This gives the red carpet treatment to people who were supporting Hillary simply because of her gender. Surely anyone who was supporting her because of her issues they cannot support someone who claims to be as socially conservative as Sarah Palin. She is pro-gun, pro-life, and not ready for day one as they say. This is what McCain has said about Obama. This is insane. She won’t be able to stand up to Biden in a debate. But it will make this race even more interesting that it already was.
It's snowing like hell outside right now. I'm stuck in the middle of a blizzard and that's just the half of it. I've heard all the poll numbers and read all the articles on The Washington Post .com, I'm tired of listening to Anderson Cooper and Ann Coultier. I've turn the TV off and turned up the Mountain Goats. Theres nothing else I can do. I made a mix CD last night to spin out some good Obama vibes and spread the maigik just a little bit around. I'm meeting up with Anitra at the Royale later (unless I'm snowed in). It's probably snowed a good four to six inches just since she left for work this morning and theres no let up insight. I may not even be able to make it into work. Knowing my luck it'll stop soon and they'll get the roads clear just in time for me to make it in. The shit is getting thick all over the country as Hillary Clinton makes it easier for John McCain to defeat Barack, by throwing everything including the kitchen sink at him. Running from television studio to studio. Jumping in front of every camera to remind us that she was preordained for this nomination and if she doesn't get it then no Democrat will win. Appearing on SNL with Amy, grinning like some evil Cheshire Cat in her hideous power suit and god awful cackle. I pray that she looses big tonight, but even I've got my doubts. The majority of the voting public in Texas and Ohio are not exactly the sharpest tacks in the box and fear mongering scare tactics and vicious lies often have an effect on them. I only hope that the sheer volume of new, young, educated voters turn out for Senator Obama. This is not going to decide it I'm sure, even if she wins that simply keeps her in the game. Theres still more states including my home and source of pride-North Carolina! Gods gift to the country. And I know my family and friends still there won't let us down. Right guys? The sad thing is, is that the longer this drags on the further they drag each other down. Some of the luster gets rubbed off, and by the time they reach the general election they will be haggard and worn through. The good news about that is That Obama will be stronger and “vetted” finally. His debate skills have gone up with each debate so far and he's proving to be quite the Teflon-Don dealing with the silly name calling and bitter politics being hurled at him. Everything from his middle name being used as a scare tactic to two year old photos from a Senate trip to Africa, to scrutinizing every word of anyone who's ever so much as shook his hand. I hope we the people can continue to rally around this man and turn off the televisions, tune out the critics and do something that will fundamentally change the landscape of this country for the fucking better!
Entering the presidential nomination process as a distinct underdog, his expressed views were seen as more moderate than those of rivals. Other contenders, especially those with more governmental experience, had acquired enemies within the party and were weak in the critical states. As a freshman House member, he was not a particularly powerful or influential figure. However, he spoke out against the War. I'm not talking about the Iraq War, I'm talking about the Mexican-American War. And the person I am describing is not Barack Obama, it is Abraham Lincoln. The other tall skinny guy from Illinois (I know Lincoln was born in Kentucky-Obama was born in Hawaii). I know that one was a Republican and one is a Democrat, but the Republican Party then resembles more of what the Democratic party does today. Somewhere along the way they switched ideals. I am aware of the differences, but chose instead to highlight the similarities. For one simple reason; and that's to show that it can be done. Of course I hope for a better ending to Obama's presidency than old Abe's, I believe the legacy they leave will be on par. This is history in the making folks and not in a Gorge Bush way. I work in a bar (more or less), after work I sit down to have a few drinks and often get into discussions with random people about the merits of Sen. Obama. The first argument often thrown up is his lack of experience. Like Obama, Lincoln didn't have much experience before becoming president and leading the nation through a turbulent era. I am by far not the first one to draw these comparisons, just Google the two names and see for yourself. Obama himself kicked of his campaign on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield Illinois where Lincoln served as a House Representative. He even said, ”That is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live.”
BARACK OBAMA
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
EARLY CAREER:
Illinois lawyer
Illinois lawyer
CAREER IN STATE POLITICS:
8 years in Illinois State Senate (1996-2004)
8 year in Illinois State House of Representatives (1834-1842)
CAREER IN NATIONAL POLITICS:
2 years in U.S. Senate (2004-2006)
2 years in U.S. House of Representatives (1846-1848)
PROPELLED TO NATIONAL POLITICS BY:
Speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention on – among other things - similarities of people in the “red” and “blue” states.
Speech in 1860 at Cooper Union on – among other things - similarities of people in the northern and southern states
