The following are provocative excerpts from two columnists of Black Agenda Reportcalling out Obama and the black political class for not doing right on behalf of black Americans and, in particular, not being seriously committed to finding real justice and reform for such tragic cases as Trayvon Martin’s.
Margaret Kimberley in Freedom Rider: Obama and Trayvon Martin:
So Obama does what he has been doing for years now. He is the black but not so black man, and all black people are worse off because of his success. If there is justice for Trayvon it will be in spite of Barack Obama, not because of him.snipThe “master of marketing and fakery” was compelled by circumstances to appear concerned about his least favored people: young Black males and their families. President Obama’s most loyal constituents, who usually ask nothing of him, were demanding both an emotional and a substantive response to the Trayvon Martin killing. This was “all very problematic for the president, whose political success is the result of distancing himself from black people at best, and vilifying them at his worst moments.”snipThe shooting death of Trayvon Martin has galvanized black people across the country. Millions of people are of one mind, that this young man was killed because of racial hatred and they are of one accord in wanting to see justice done on his behalf.snipBut all of the love directed at the Obamas when they dress up for a state dinner or alight from Air Force One would not have helped the president if he disappointed the masses on the subject of Trayvon Martin. The master of marketing and fakery had a big problem on his hands once the story made national headlines.snipThe ordinarily besotted masses were driven to ask questions. Why did Obama pick up a phone and call Sandra Fluke, the law student who Rush Limbaugh called a slut, but not manage to contact Trayvon Martin’s parents? The answer is simple, there was no danger in contacting Fluke. White Democrats are always mad at the Limbaughs of the world, and spend an inordinate amount of time seeking out opinions which they can then condemn. As for Fluke, she is a well educated young white woman, untouchable and off limits from criticism. There would be no question about Ms. Fluke’s worthiness for sympathy and support.Not so with Trayvon Martin or any other young black man. Martin is dead because his very being made him a suspect. There was little to gain and much to risk in coming to his defense, a terrible dilemma for the cautious black man whose success depends on his disconnection from other black people.snipAfter saying blandly acceptable things such as how tragic Trayvon’s death was, and thinking about the case as a father, and exhorting all levels of government to come together and get to the bottom of the case, he knew had to say something which would appeal to black people.“If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon,” at last came from his lips. An acknowledgement of the obvious, that he and Trayvon were of the same race. He did not connect any particular feeling to knowing that a son of his might end up like Trayvon ...
Bruce Dixon in Trayvon Martin, Troy Davis and the 2012 Election:
When Obama likened Trayvon Martin to his imaginary son, and that there ought to be a national debate about something or other, what did that mean? It might mean that he wants the votes of those outraged by the murder, but Obama isn't prepared do do much of anything to deserve them beyond claiming to feel our pain.snipThe world of US politics and media is a twisted place where lofty words often cloak base intentions. It's a world where Trayvon Martin's parents, for instance, feel obliged to trademark phrases containing their son's name to prevent economic exploitation of his case by canny entrepreneurs. But in a presidential election year, rampant political abuse, misuse, hand in hand with media disinformation and trivialization of Trayvon Martin and the meaning of his death are practically inevitable.Corporate media news did cover the “million hoodie march,” a hastily organized outpouring of popular rage and frustration, not just at the individual murder of Trayvon martin, but at the universal American policy of hyper-policing young black males in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and other cities. What the coverage left out, however, is that at least in New York, those thousands of hooded protesters ended their march by joining with Occupy Wall Street, where for the first time in six months the occupation was mostly African American, a fact that would have served the agendas of neither of the two corporate parties.snipAfrican Americans are the Democratic party's base constituency. Black politicians are long accustomed to making good sounding but often empty statements against police brutality, stop and frisk, and similar practices. In keeping with the rising level of public anger, black state legislators in New York showed up for a Monday morning press conference in hoodies, and Democrat-supporting figures in the corporate media like Keith Oberman did at least one segment of his show wearing a gray hoodie.The problem of course, is that the culture of over-policing African Americans is deeply rooted in thousands federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors offices, and courts. Aside from repealing a single odious Florida law, few of the public figures and politicians suddenly concerned have any proposals to offer that might begin to roll back the omnipresent culture of racist policing, like rolling back the ability of law enforcement agencies to keep confiscated assets, or ceasing to funnel federal money to police departments based on the number of low level drug arrests. After all, that governing in the interest of the people stuff is hard. Showing up for work in a hoodie is easy.The 21st century civil rights establishment, unlike their predecessors a half century ago, are so tightly bound to the fortunes and careers of elected Democrats that they dare not raise any demands which will embarrass their colleagues. So extending the dramatic demonstrations to, say, wearing a black ribbon until the nation's prison population is cut in half, are utterly unthinkable. Despite their demands for Justice Department interventions here and there, the last thing the civil rights establishment wants in a presidential year, when their candidate is courting “moderate” voters, is a deep and honest national discussion about hyper-policing and the prison state.For our cynical black political class, which we sometimes call the black misleadership class, Troy Davis was last year's fundraising slogan, and this year's get-out-the-vote watchword will be remembering Trayvon Martin. Sound far-fetched? It's not. In the 2000 presidential campaign, the NAACP's national voter action arm commissioned a mailer to millions of black households across the country. It featured whites waving confederate flags and the tag line “If they win, we lose,” and a drawing of a pickup truck dragging a chain, an obvious reference to the 1998 Texas murder of James Byrd by white supremacists. In fairness, the murder did happen when Republican presidential candidate Bush was governor in Texas, and Texas had failed to pass hate crimes legislation.snipAs for the president, many Democrats, wise and learned members of our black political class have offered, on other subjects the excuse that the president can't say what he wants to say about this or that, or is saying what he thinks he must to please some unknown powerful interests. But if the president is prevaricating on these other fronts, how do we know he's not telling black people as much as he can of what he thinks we want to hear without actually doing much of anything? Obama isn't Trayvon's father, and he isn't ours either, so his imagined emotional connection is beside the point. He's not a pastor, he's a president. For a president, saying there ought to be a national debate without being willing to lead it is a weasely cop-out.If the president was seriously concerned with trying to prevent police and vigilante murders, he could have opened his mouth on the November 2006 murder of Sean Bell by NYPD. As a member of the powerful US Senate Judiciary Committee and presidential aspirant, Obama was in an ideal spot to put both light and heat on that and many similar cases. He didn't. If the Obama White House was the least bit interested in leading the way, it could have told the Justice Department to find a legal reason to take an interest in the case of Troy Davis. That's all it would have taken to preserve Troy Davis's life for months or years longer, as investigations, debates and political maneuvers continued. Talk is cheap. Expressions of concern are cheap. Even a federal investigation confined to the specific case of Trayvon Martin is a tiny thing, as there are a million mostly young black men in prison, and hundreds will be killed by sworn police officers, not pretenders like Zimmerman this and every year of the near future.For Obama and the black political class, interested only in their own careers, Trayvon Martin will be an empty slogan, a symbol. Their own careers are proof enough that rolling back the prison state won't be accomplished at the voting booth.
--------------
Obama's been walking that razor's edge for twenty years. He is what he is and nothing more or less.
His "if I had a son" comment sounded good to some people but it just seemed like posturing to me. It might be different if he followed it up with policy changes or much more discussion on many more important issues that could help improve this situation and many others but he doesn't do much if anything about anything until the people raise hell; then he comes up with a sound bite.
He works for his campaign contributors!
The system gave him a chance because they may have thought it would be enough to appease the public; or perhaps because they knew that the right wing would be outraged by a black president and they could increase their divide and rule tactics. Regardless of why they did it he clearly isn't looking out for the best interest of the public including black people.
He works for his campaign contributors!
The system gave him a chance because they may have thought it would be enough to appease the public; or perhaps because they knew that the right wing would be outraged by a black president and they could increase their divide and rule tactics. Regardless of why they did it he clearly isn't looking out for the best interest of the public including black people.
"White Democrats are always mad at the Limbaughs of the world, and spend an inordinate amount of time seeking out opinions which they can then condemn."
Blah blah, blah blah, yadda yadda, a thing and a thing and a thing.
"As for Fluke, she is a well educated young white woman, untouchable and off limits from criticism. There would be no question about Ms. Fluke’s worthiness for sympathy and support."
Worthiness... bingo!
As the recession continues more will understand that even being a well educated or skilled white person isn't worth much anymore. A pat on the head for Ms. Fluke and those who want equality is cold comfort. As the least powerful are oppressed and it's tolerated, the powerful grow stronger and oppress more groups.
Living wage jobs are drying up for everyone now, but no worries, if we have excess white men they can build enough prisons for white men too. There is always capital.
We all stand together or we all go under together.
Blah blah, blah blah, yadda yadda, a thing and a thing and a thing.
"As for Fluke, she is a well educated young white woman, untouchable and off limits from criticism. There would be no question about Ms. Fluke’s worthiness for sympathy and support."
Worthiness... bingo!
As the recession continues more will understand that even being a well educated or skilled white person isn't worth much anymore. A pat on the head for Ms. Fluke and those who want equality is cold comfort. As the least powerful are oppressed and it's tolerated, the powerful grow stronger and oppress more groups.
Living wage jobs are drying up for everyone now, but no worries, if we have excess white men they can build enough prisons for white men too. There is always capital.
We all stand together or we all go under together.
Obama's comments were entirely appropriate and genuine. He can not say much. He must be very circumspect in this regard because he does not want to taint the presumption of innocence. It disgusts me that propagandist on both sides are just cynically trying to score political points. Meanwhile the Guardian and Anderson Cooper have revealed a very telling eyewitness account whichyou can read as the 29th comment to my own post on this disgrace.
Aside from that thanks for a great report Lilly. But these self-serving-point-scoring comments from the blacker-than-thou pundits who presume to tell the president what he should do or say about the Trayvon Martin shooting are more interested in promoting themselves than a search for the truth.
To say that “Obama’s most loyal constituents, ... usually ask nothing of him,” is preposterous. They have been some of harshest critics.
For the president to deliver and “emotional and a substantive response to the Trayvon Martin killing” would be irresponsible and outrageous. Leave hyperbole like that to Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson who don’t have to face voters.
To say (I am not clear who you are quoting here) that this is “all very problematic for the president, whose political success is the result of distancing himself from black people at best, and vilifying them at his worst moments.” is absolutely disgusting. Obama has never “distanced’ himself from blacks and never ‘vilified’ them. That ignorant comment is worthy of publication on the walls of public toilets and such every libelous pundit who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that scurrilous trash like that is morally indefensible.
Instead of “repealing a single odious Florida law” it is best to go read it and demand it’s enforcement for (as I have argued before) that is the very first place everyone should start before presuming to form an opinion. It is simple enough for a 17-year old to understand. Indeed, read that law and I have no doubt you will agree that the ONLY person who can rely on this law as a defense was Trayvon Martin.
Indeed, even if the later alleged at fight broke as reported the consequence is the same. Under the plain and simple language of this law and the facts as we know them, the ONLY man with a right to STAND HIS GROUND was Trayvon Martin and the only one legally authorized by that very law to MEET FORCE WITH FORCE was that 6' 3" 140 lb boy against a 5' 9' 240 lb gorilla with a gun! Please read the damned law! It is written with great clarity. Under that law Zimmerman is toast. There is no way he can assert it as a defense. Just read. This one is easy. Come on folks this one is a legal no-brainer.
That law IS actually Trayvon Martin’s rock solid defense and George Zimmerman’s best indictment. Why take away the law that most protect’s Trayvon’s rights? And why take away the law that actually convicts Zimmerman? The people who make these arguments have obviously not even bothed to read (or can’t read) the very law they pontificate about.
I do not like these laws that expand the Castle Doctrine but READ the law and you can see clearly that the problem is not the law but law enforcement and the ignoramuses like Zimmerman who are actually so moronic as the think this law permits one to give chase to a skinny kid because he looks ‘suspicious’.
"Suspicion" will NOT suffice under this statute. Read it. Much more must be specifically shown. Did Trayvon fight back? Is this even a relevant question? If you were 140 lb skinny teenager displaying none of the behavior SPECIFICALLY REQUIRED by this statute (just read it!) and 250 gorilla came after you as you retreated what would you do?
Under the law you call to repeal, in fact, as a matter of that law, the only person with the legal right to stand his ground and meet force with force was Trayvon and ONLY Trayvon. Why would anyone call to repeal a law that ONLY Trayvon can evoke as a defense? Why would anyone want to repeal a law that actually CONVICTS Zimmerman? Easy two reasons. First they have drunk the poison of propagandists and have not taken the time to read the simply-worded law so they can actually think intelligently for themselves. And (2) they care more about misrepresnetin it for political purtpose and don't REALLY give a shit about Trayvon for he they read the demed thing thay can only see it is HIS best defense. This is how we dumb stupid down. Anyone who really, genuinely gives a shit about Trayvon Martin will READ this law and demand that it be prosecuted to the letter of the law and not repealed for Chrisake. Dmand enforcement to the letter under this law and Trayvon is viondicated and Zimmerman convicted. It REALLY is that simple.I rest my case.
Aside from that thanks for a great report Lilly. But these self-serving-point-scoring comments from the blacker-than-thou pundits who presume to tell the president what he should do or say about the Trayvon Martin shooting are more interested in promoting themselves than a search for the truth.
To say that “Obama’s most loyal constituents, ... usually ask nothing of him,” is preposterous. They have been some of harshest critics.
For the president to deliver and “emotional and a substantive response to the Trayvon Martin killing” would be irresponsible and outrageous. Leave hyperbole like that to Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson who don’t have to face voters.
To say (I am not clear who you are quoting here) that this is “all very problematic for the president, whose political success is the result of distancing himself from black people at best, and vilifying them at his worst moments.” is absolutely disgusting. Obama has never “distanced’ himself from blacks and never ‘vilified’ them. That ignorant comment is worthy of publication on the walls of public toilets and such every libelous pundit who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that scurrilous trash like that is morally indefensible.
Instead of “repealing a single odious Florida law” it is best to go read it and demand it’s enforcement for (as I have argued before) that is the very first place everyone should start before presuming to form an opinion. It is simple enough for a 17-year old to understand. Indeed, read that law and I have no doubt you will agree that the ONLY person who can rely on this law as a defense was Trayvon Martin.
Indeed, even if the later alleged at fight broke as reported the consequence is the same. Under the plain and simple language of this law and the facts as we know them, the ONLY man with a right to STAND HIS GROUND was Trayvon Martin and the only one legally authorized by that very law to MEET FORCE WITH FORCE was that 6' 3" 140 lb boy against a 5' 9' 240 lb gorilla with a gun! Please read the damned law! It is written with great clarity. Under that law Zimmerman is toast. There is no way he can assert it as a defense. Just read. This one is easy. Come on folks this one is a legal no-brainer.
That law IS actually Trayvon Martin’s rock solid defense and George Zimmerman’s best indictment. Why take away the law that most protect’s Trayvon’s rights? And why take away the law that actually convicts Zimmerman? The people who make these arguments have obviously not even bothed to read (or can’t read) the very law they pontificate about.
I do not like these laws that expand the Castle Doctrine but READ the law and you can see clearly that the problem is not the law but law enforcement and the ignoramuses like Zimmerman who are actually so moronic as the think this law permits one to give chase to a skinny kid because he looks ‘suspicious’.
"Suspicion" will NOT suffice under this statute. Read it. Much more must be specifically shown. Did Trayvon fight back? Is this even a relevant question? If you were 140 lb skinny teenager displaying none of the behavior SPECIFICALLY REQUIRED by this statute (just read it!) and 250 gorilla came after you as you retreated what would you do?
Under the law you call to repeal, in fact, as a matter of that law, the only person with the legal right to stand his ground and meet force with force was Trayvon and ONLY Trayvon. Why would anyone call to repeal a law that ONLY Trayvon can evoke as a defense? Why would anyone want to repeal a law that actually CONVICTS Zimmerman? Easy two reasons. First they have drunk the poison of propagandists and have not taken the time to read the simply-worded law so they can actually think intelligently for themselves. And (2) they care more about misrepresnetin it for political purtpose and don't REALLY give a shit about Trayvon for he they read the demed thing thay can only see it is HIS best defense. This is how we dumb stupid down. Anyone who really, genuinely gives a shit about Trayvon Martin will READ this law and demand that it be prosecuted to the letter of the law and not repealed for Chrisake. Dmand enforcement to the letter under this law and Trayvon is viondicated and Zimmerman convicted. It REALLY is that simple.I rest my case.
I turned off the idiot box playing this story over and over on the Tampa Bay local channels for a reason Libby.
Watching the media frenzied announcements of the latest mass gatherings and the views of both the right and left is getting older by the minute to me.
It seems Americans favorite past time is to blame the POTUS for every single thing that happens in this world and show how entertaining it is to lay blame, either rightly or wrongly.
There are no certain answers for much in this world that happens daily without even a mention.
Yes, this young man's death was tragic.
But to use it as a screaming headline to attack the POTUS is a sad state of affairs.
How many other equally young men have been killed in the last month due to similar gun violence Libby??
I am weary.
Watching the media frenzied announcements of the latest mass gatherings and the views of both the right and left is getting older by the minute to me.
It seems Americans favorite past time is to blame the POTUS for every single thing that happens in this world and show how entertaining it is to lay blame, either rightly or wrongly.
There are no certain answers for much in this world that happens daily without even a mention.
Yes, this young man's death was tragic.
But to use it as a screaming headline to attack the POTUS is a sad state of affairs.
How many other equally young men have been killed in the last month due to similar gun violence Libby??
I am weary.
Mission: I totally agree. It's really infantile to think one man can undue 30 years of damage (Reagan, Bush, Bush) and with tweet, say some magic words and Wall Street and the corporations and the 1% will all come falling down like a house of cards. Very tiresome. And quick, duck, watch out for flying hyperbole.
thanks for comments. only have a sec, and will try to address individual comments more fully later. this stuff is really STRONG calling out of Obama. imho well-deserved.
I see Obama as enabled by the vast majority of the citizenry and faux-progressive and still corporate media and corrupt legacy Dem party in Congress in continuing as a war criminal in defying international law and treasonous in defying the constitution, re the right to assassinate Americans without their due process and continuing to use the Patriot Act as a blank check to defy a citizen's right to privacy, etc.
The privatization of schools and prisons for corporate profitmaking, the promotion of a vastly loopholed health care plan for corporate profitmaking, the lack of focus and concern on those in our society profoundly disenfranchised such as minorities and working class people ALARMS ME and I think it should alarm a lot more people.
How many of the 80 million who put Obama into the White House were prepared for the Obama we got? Obama out-teflons Reagan by light years. Blaming the horrifying status quo on everyone and everything BUT Obama continues to dismay (understatement but don't want to be hyperbolic) me.
Obama's JOB description is fuller than getting re-elected! I think Obama and the rest of the political class continue as amoral gamesmen and gameswomen more than statespersons.
the excerpts above are uncomfortable to read. i don't think they're excessively cynical. i think they are shining a light on a very ugly reality, a light on a cynical and amoral system that is enabled by all of us.
More soon. best, libby
I see Obama as enabled by the vast majority of the citizenry and faux-progressive and still corporate media and corrupt legacy Dem party in Congress in continuing as a war criminal in defying international law and treasonous in defying the constitution, re the right to assassinate Americans without their due process and continuing to use the Patriot Act as a blank check to defy a citizen's right to privacy, etc.
The privatization of schools and prisons for corporate profitmaking, the promotion of a vastly loopholed health care plan for corporate profitmaking, the lack of focus and concern on those in our society profoundly disenfranchised such as minorities and working class people ALARMS ME and I think it should alarm a lot more people.
How many of the 80 million who put Obama into the White House were prepared for the Obama we got? Obama out-teflons Reagan by light years. Blaming the horrifying status quo on everyone and everything BUT Obama continues to dismay (understatement but don't want to be hyperbolic) me.
Obama's JOB description is fuller than getting re-elected! I think Obama and the rest of the political class continue as amoral gamesmen and gameswomen more than statespersons.
the excerpts above are uncomfortable to read. i don't think they're excessively cynical. i think they are shining a light on a very ugly reality, a light on a cynical and amoral system that is enabled by all of us.
More soon. best, libby
another thought on my previous comment track:
Scott Peck writes about how responsibility is easily rejected as long as there are a number of mutual parties responsible, parts of the whole, so then NO ONE assumes responsibility for the whole since they only are part of it and the blame game ensues.
For example, for deaths by automatic guns, automatic gun manufacturers say, well, gee, I only make thpse guns, I don't shoot them. And automatic gun distributors say, well, I only sell the automatic guns I don't shoot them. And the pols say, well I only support the second amendment by not interfering with gun manufacture and sales, I don't shoot them. And yet the number of innocent victims of aut0matic weaponry is escalating. So the problem of escalating deaths from automatic weaponry has no solution because the shooters are the only ones blamed when those other parties could step up to the plate and do what they can to contribute to a solution.
fwiw, libby
Scott Peck writes about how responsibility is easily rejected as long as there are a number of mutual parties responsible, parts of the whole, so then NO ONE assumes responsibility for the whole since they only are part of it and the blame game ensues.
For example, for deaths by automatic guns, automatic gun manufacturers say, well, gee, I only make thpse guns, I don't shoot them. And automatic gun distributors say, well, I only sell the automatic guns I don't shoot them. And the pols say, well I only support the second amendment by not interfering with gun manufacture and sales, I don't shoot them. And yet the number of innocent victims of aut0matic weaponry is escalating. So the problem of escalating deaths from automatic weaponry has no solution because the shooters are the only ones blamed when those other parties could step up to the plate and do what they can to contribute to a solution.
fwiw, libby
jmac, very well put. razor's edge is right.
to clean up the game you gotta get dirty to enter the game.
the catch-22ness of it all, to get into power game you have to accept the down and dirty status quo of the game and distance yourself from troubling constitutents -- the people who are counting on you to change the down and dirty status quo and who helped hoist you to where you are or so they thought. And to get re-elected you have to enable the down and dirty status quo people, and when and if you get re-elected when there may be fewer strings on you, your soul is toast and you are lost in the swamp of corruption and cronyism to really mix my metaphors. :) libby
to clean up the game you gotta get dirty to enter the game.
the catch-22ness of it all, to get into power game you have to accept the down and dirty status quo of the game and distance yourself from troubling constitutents -- the people who are counting on you to change the down and dirty status quo and who helped hoist you to where you are or so they thought. And to get re-elected you have to enable the down and dirty status quo people, and when and if you get re-elected when there may be fewer strings on you, your soul is toast and you are lost in the swamp of corruption and cronyism to really mix my metaphors. :) libby
Zachd. thanks for comment. Actions speak louder than words for sure. Sound bites SHOULD NOT BE ENUF! But the Obama media "brand" seems to keep on carrying this administration. Reality of poverty and global carnage? ... those dots don't seem to get connected to Obama and all of them.
I remember appreciating the Michael Moore movie, Capitalism, A Love Story, when at the end he starts walking encircling the block of WS highrises with yellow crime scene tape. The three branches should be encircled with that. The WH and Obama seem to be viewed as helpless victims. The impression management of seeming to care is where the focus is. Like his jobs council made up of rapacious CEOs who came out with a self-serving jobs bill that will be spun for the people. best, libby
I remember appreciating the Michael Moore movie, Capitalism, A Love Story, when at the end he starts walking encircling the block of WS highrises with yellow crime scene tape. The three branches should be encircled with that. The WH and Obama seem to be viewed as helpless victims. The impression management of seeming to care is where the focus is. Like his jobs council made up of rapacious CEOs who came out with a self-serving jobs bill that will be spun for the people. best, libby
Bleue, thanks for comment!
"Living wage jobs are drying up for everyone now, but no worries, if we have excess white men they can build enough prisons for white men too. There is always capital."
Well, first off, prisons for white men and women of conscience only and then those from the 99%.
"We all stand together or we all go under together."
To America's and God's ears! Hard to get on the same page, isn't it?
best, libby
"Living wage jobs are drying up for everyone now, but no worries, if we have excess white men they can build enough prisons for white men too. There is always capital."
Well, first off, prisons for white men and women of conscience only and then those from the 99%.
"We all stand together or we all go under together."
To America's and God's ears! Hard to get on the same page, isn't it?
best, libby
toritto, thanks for your comment! :)
francoise, thanks for commenting. sorry it took so long to address.
Re Obama being cautious exercising "discretion" I recall not that long ago when Obama declared about Brad Manning, "He broke the law!" More than a little taintful.
Obama has turned his back on black people to an awesome degree. Turned his back on the plight of the poor which affects a disproportionate number of black people and other ethnic groups. What cognitive dissonance finally having a black man in the halls of power who does not exercise empathy in the way of any serious policies to black people, quite the opposite, with his austerity channel of corporate welfare and everyone else can twist in the wind.
Also, no interest in prison reform with the horrifying statistics of how many young black males are and will end up in prison. Obama has avoided addressing this, on the contrary, privatization of prisons is escalating the ratio of incarcerations instead of lessening the number.
This is about racism, this case, but it is also about the over-militarized group-think of our police, encouraged by the kleptocrats. It is also about classism. The poor as collateral damage, life is cheap.
If Martin's parents hadn't fought so hard the media would have ignored one more injustice based on race AND class. And if there weren't so much racial profiling in this country, and such anger at the two Americas, one for the privileged 1% and one for the rest of us 99% that feels like quicksand right now with our civil rights and our economic security the passive public would also have not gotten involved.
The Stand Your Ground law is dangerous, whether or not Zimmerman's defense will try to twist it for his benefit. All the cases of lethal deaths in which that law was drawn on. I read 400 in the past 5 years somewhere. (Sorry, don't remember source at moment.)
Mission, I really disagree with your statement:
"It seems Americans favorite past time is to blame the POTUS for every single thing that happens in this world and show how entertaining it is to lay blame, either rightly or wrongly."
If you read my comments above about Obama you will see once again what a different take I have on him. He horrifies me with his not draining the executive swamp after Bush left, in fact deepening it. Now we have three corrupt swamp branches of government! (see references to "rotating villains" above). Kabuki posturing of the entire political elite that betrayed us.
Hyperbolic? I dearly wish I were being so.
best, libby
francoise, thanks for commenting. sorry it took so long to address.
Re Obama being cautious exercising "discretion" I recall not that long ago when Obama declared about Brad Manning, "He broke the law!" More than a little taintful.
Obama has turned his back on black people to an awesome degree. Turned his back on the plight of the poor which affects a disproportionate number of black people and other ethnic groups. What cognitive dissonance finally having a black man in the halls of power who does not exercise empathy in the way of any serious policies to black people, quite the opposite, with his austerity channel of corporate welfare and everyone else can twist in the wind.
Also, no interest in prison reform with the horrifying statistics of how many young black males are and will end up in prison. Obama has avoided addressing this, on the contrary, privatization of prisons is escalating the ratio of incarcerations instead of lessening the number.
This is about racism, this case, but it is also about the over-militarized group-think of our police, encouraged by the kleptocrats. It is also about classism. The poor as collateral damage, life is cheap.
If Martin's parents hadn't fought so hard the media would have ignored one more injustice based on race AND class. And if there weren't so much racial profiling in this country, and such anger at the two Americas, one for the privileged 1% and one for the rest of us 99% that feels like quicksand right now with our civil rights and our economic security the passive public would also have not gotten involved.
The Stand Your Ground law is dangerous, whether or not Zimmerman's defense will try to twist it for his benefit. All the cases of lethal deaths in which that law was drawn on. I read 400 in the past 5 years somewhere. (Sorry, don't remember source at moment.)
Mission, I really disagree with your statement:
"It seems Americans favorite past time is to blame the POTUS for every single thing that happens in this world and show how entertaining it is to lay blame, either rightly or wrongly."
If you read my comments above about Obama you will see once again what a different take I have on him. He horrifies me with his not draining the executive swamp after Bush left, in fact deepening it. Now we have three corrupt swamp branches of government! (see references to "rotating villains" above). Kabuki posturing of the entire political elite that betrayed us.
Hyperbolic? I dearly wish I were being so.
best, libby
I'm as pissed off at Zimmerman as anyone; and at the general climate of racial violence of police against black men. I vented my rage with a post last night.
I from what I've heard, listening to his voice on the 911 tapes and considering his actions, I figure Zimmerman probably fantasized about shooting him a black thug for a long time, and then he went out and did what he had to do to make that happen. In his mind he probably views that as cleaning up the neighborhood. He's a racist and a murderer and he should be in jail, and he's trying to use a bad law to shield himself from criminal prosecution.
None of this is Obama's fault, and I'm not sure what people expect him to do in this instance, specifically. Order Zimmerman arrested? That might be emotionally satisfying, but we have to follow rule of law in this country, and it is the President's duty to uphold rule of law. He cannot veto Florida law; he has done what is legitimately in his authority: he's dispatched federal investigators to find out exactly what happened. They are considering raising federal hate crime charges against Zimmerman. President Obama does not know the specific details any more than you or I do, and he cannot commit the power of his office until he is certain of the details. And his public statements are constrained by the need to not prejudice the investigation.
The bigger problem in America is one that people need to get up and take care of at the local level. Who pays the police salaries? Local tax payers. Who votes in City and County elections? Lobby your council members or supervisors or commissioners or elders or whatever your local government is to form a citizen police review board that has the authority to review cases of police violence and FIRE and or PROSECUTE police officers who do not protect all citizens and do their job professionally. Put it on the ballot or get your council to vote to establish such a citizen police review board. This problem can not be micromanaged from the White House.
It's all fine if you show your cred as good hearted well intentioned liberals who believe in justice; but actually changing things requires some thought and some action, not just whining about the President not solving every problem for you.
I from what I've heard, listening to his voice on the 911 tapes and considering his actions, I figure Zimmerman probably fantasized about shooting him a black thug for a long time, and then he went out and did what he had to do to make that happen. In his mind he probably views that as cleaning up the neighborhood. He's a racist and a murderer and he should be in jail, and he's trying to use a bad law to shield himself from criminal prosecution.
None of this is Obama's fault, and I'm not sure what people expect him to do in this instance, specifically. Order Zimmerman arrested? That might be emotionally satisfying, but we have to follow rule of law in this country, and it is the President's duty to uphold rule of law. He cannot veto Florida law; he has done what is legitimately in his authority: he's dispatched federal investigators to find out exactly what happened. They are considering raising federal hate crime charges against Zimmerman. President Obama does not know the specific details any more than you or I do, and he cannot commit the power of his office until he is certain of the details. And his public statements are constrained by the need to not prejudice the investigation.
The bigger problem in America is one that people need to get up and take care of at the local level. Who pays the police salaries? Local tax payers. Who votes in City and County elections? Lobby your council members or supervisors or commissioners or elders or whatever your local government is to form a citizen police review board that has the authority to review cases of police violence and FIRE and or PROSECUTE police officers who do not protect all citizens and do their job professionally. Put it on the ballot or get your council to vote to establish such a citizen police review board. This problem can not be micromanaged from the White House.
It's all fine if you show your cred as good hearted well intentioned liberals who believe in justice; but actually changing things requires some thought and some action, not just whining about the President not solving every problem for you.
jeff, I call it trickle down amorality from the government to the Sanford police department.
whining am I? asking the INAPPROPRIATE ya think from my government and my FELLOW CITIZENS? like wanting constitutional and ethical law to be honored. like looking beneath media propaganda. like objecting to global genocide helped paid for by our tax dollars.
Seeger said think globally and act locally. I agree. We need to do BOTH.
btw, I think I'd rather be flat-out hated than patronized.
libby
whining am I? asking the INAPPROPRIATE ya think from my government and my FELLOW CITIZENS? like wanting constitutional and ethical law to be honored. like looking beneath media propaganda. like objecting to global genocide helped paid for by our tax dollars.
Seeger said think globally and act locally. I agree. We need to do BOTH.
btw, I think I'd rather be flat-out hated than patronized.
libby
Hi Libby,
I assume by patronizing you mean using the word "whining". I'm sorry about that; I got carried away by my frustration at the tone of the articles you posted.
I get your point about preferring honest hatred to indirect hostility in the form of patronizing. By I don't feel hatred, and my purpose in writing wasn't to throw stones; I was trying to make serious points that I believe have validity or I wouldn't have bothered.
And again I'm sorry for allowing my frustration to get the best of me.
But I seriously have to push back on things like saying justice will com in spite of Obama, as if Obama is doing something to prevent justice. And the rhetoric, such as "master of marketing and fakery" and that he had to appear concerned about his least favorite people; these just don't seem honest to me. I can't see how the writer can pretend to know these things, or believe them, and it feels to me almost more like an attempt to adopt a political fashion for style points than an attempt to honestly engage with the known facts.
I just think people should try to take a realistic look at the kind of job the President has to do, and the political realities he faces. As the first black President who would like to be elected for a second term in a political climate that includes people with a broad range of political views, the sad truth is the President Obama has to be like Jackie Robinson; if they spit on him or spike him, he has to turn the other cheek and fight back with his performance. He has to use jiu jitsu to try to make them look like immoderate fools in their attacks, rather than directly return fire. Even his remark that Trayvon would look like his son unleashed a storm of controversy in the media among people who have the power to relentlessly punish the President politically and erode his image. That kind of thing has a real impact on his chance of being reelected, which is important. This is political reality, and it's pointless to engage in politics while ignoring political reality.
He isn't as liberal as many people would like; but there is a reason Jesse Jackson or Dennis Kucinich or Ralph Nader have not been elected: the support is not there. There is support for Obama among moderates and centrists, and liberals helped elect him too. Obama is very mildly progressive. That is way way better than Bush was, and way better than any other of the Republican candidates. His election could determine one or two more seats on the Supreme Court in the next four years; that matters a lot too. These things are pragmatic practical political facts that liberals ignore at their own peril.
I can see the difference between the world as it is and the perfect world we would like to see, but I also accept that we have to work from the standpoint of where we are, not where we'd like to be. I just don't see how it's just to expect the President to behave differently than he has in this case; I don't like that Zimmerman is free today, but with some patience to allow the rule of law to proceed at it's natural pace, hopefully we will see Zimmerman arrested and prosecuted for federal hate crimes. And that would be the direct result of Obama's actions.
And I would like to refer to my previous post about where the real solution lies to this problem: local citizens need to use democracy to gain some control and review over their police departments; they really aren't under the President's authority.
I believe the President would like to say more about race in America; he made a beautiful speech on the subject in Philadelphia during the election. It was very cautious and guarded, but also brilliantly nuanced and structured in my view. But if the President lashes out in anger about the injustice of violence against blacks in America, the right wing media would roast him for starting a race war or something; and even though they are totally full of shit, the problem is that they have the power to put doubt and fear in the minds of people that the President needs to vote for him this fall. There has to be much stronger and consistent political support at the polls from the left before a President can confidently give more full throated support to the priorities and concerns of the left. But the fact will always remain, the President has to balance the concerns of the whole nation, not just one group.
Anyway, regardless of whether anything I write makes sense to you, again I'm sorry about my rudeness before.
I assume by patronizing you mean using the word "whining". I'm sorry about that; I got carried away by my frustration at the tone of the articles you posted.
I get your point about preferring honest hatred to indirect hostility in the form of patronizing. By I don't feel hatred, and my purpose in writing wasn't to throw stones; I was trying to make serious points that I believe have validity or I wouldn't have bothered.
And again I'm sorry for allowing my frustration to get the best of me.
But I seriously have to push back on things like saying justice will com in spite of Obama, as if Obama is doing something to prevent justice. And the rhetoric, such as "master of marketing and fakery" and that he had to appear concerned about his least favorite people; these just don't seem honest to me. I can't see how the writer can pretend to know these things, or believe them, and it feels to me almost more like an attempt to adopt a political fashion for style points than an attempt to honestly engage with the known facts.
I just think people should try to take a realistic look at the kind of job the President has to do, and the political realities he faces. As the first black President who would like to be elected for a second term in a political climate that includes people with a broad range of political views, the sad truth is the President Obama has to be like Jackie Robinson; if they spit on him or spike him, he has to turn the other cheek and fight back with his performance. He has to use jiu jitsu to try to make them look like immoderate fools in their attacks, rather than directly return fire. Even his remark that Trayvon would look like his son unleashed a storm of controversy in the media among people who have the power to relentlessly punish the President politically and erode his image. That kind of thing has a real impact on his chance of being reelected, which is important. This is political reality, and it's pointless to engage in politics while ignoring political reality.
He isn't as liberal as many people would like; but there is a reason Jesse Jackson or Dennis Kucinich or Ralph Nader have not been elected: the support is not there. There is support for Obama among moderates and centrists, and liberals helped elect him too. Obama is very mildly progressive. That is way way better than Bush was, and way better than any other of the Republican candidates. His election could determine one or two more seats on the Supreme Court in the next four years; that matters a lot too. These things are pragmatic practical political facts that liberals ignore at their own peril.
I can see the difference between the world as it is and the perfect world we would like to see, but I also accept that we have to work from the standpoint of where we are, not where we'd like to be. I just don't see how it's just to expect the President to behave differently than he has in this case; I don't like that Zimmerman is free today, but with some patience to allow the rule of law to proceed at it's natural pace, hopefully we will see Zimmerman arrested and prosecuted for federal hate crimes. And that would be the direct result of Obama's actions.
And I would like to refer to my previous post about where the real solution lies to this problem: local citizens need to use democracy to gain some control and review over their police departments; they really aren't under the President's authority.
I believe the President would like to say more about race in America; he made a beautiful speech on the subject in Philadelphia during the election. It was very cautious and guarded, but also brilliantly nuanced and structured in my view. But if the President lashes out in anger about the injustice of violence against blacks in America, the right wing media would roast him for starting a race war or something; and even though they are totally full of shit, the problem is that they have the power to put doubt and fear in the minds of people that the President needs to vote for him this fall. There has to be much stronger and consistent political support at the polls from the left before a President can confidently give more full throated support to the priorities and concerns of the left. But the fact will always remain, the President has to balance the concerns of the whole nation, not just one group.
Anyway, regardless of whether anything I write makes sense to you, again I'm sorry about my rudeness before.
Technically the only thing Obama has in common with African Americans is his brown skin. His family history is untainted by slavery or Jim Crow. Both he an Michele have made it really clear, via word and deed, that they identify as millionaires and members of the black aristocracy. Neither of them have a clue what it's like to live in the inner city or in poverty. In a way, they are like the Kennedys, who never knew what it was like to carry money in their pockets.
Jeff,
Actually it was more the benign "sounding" the "good hearted well intentioned liberals" which hit the patronizing note for me. Calling me out for whining was more honest than the messaging of "you are so misguided and naive continually making the perfect the enemy of the good like us wiser and kinder pragmatics" is how I heard it.
We have three branches of government. Obama is responsible for the executive branch. His forgiven "gamesmanship" stance by many on the so-called left frustrates me no end. We desperately need a moral statesperson at the helm of this country. 80 million thought we had one, maybe not perfect, but someone who would exercise as president a capacity for empathy and push for policies that reflected them. And make those who had been breaking moral and civil law be made accountable for that. He has done none of that and far more than not that, what I call EVIL.
Why will none of the defenders of Obama on this website or even on the personality over character progressive tv seriously address the alarming (understatement for me) anti-constitutional decisions Obama has made, including the murder without due process of Americans because of his being the "decider" of negative intelligence about them. That is not the right of a president, it is the right of a dictator!
The lack of diplomacy in the rampant militarism for corporate agendas going on. The only tool in America's toolbox for international relations are weapons? What happened to diplomacy. Sociopathic economic terrorism is the path the US has chosen to go. Might makes right. Winner take all. No mercy. Just profiteering for the mafia elite class.
Obama offering up more and more profit-making opportunities (pillaging of taxypayer treasury) to the corporatists and bringing on more and more economic terrorism and dooming others, 45,000 a year, to death from inadequate health care. Most of Obamacare won't kick in until 2014, so he and vile Congress are all right with all those deaths until then. And some are willing to reduce the number. But don't try to change the number to zero even though they are GRATUITOUS deaths which other industrial nations will not abide for their populations. Money going into the obscene already full wallets of the corporate insurance and pharma vendors would save those lives if the medicare program were expanded and the age of medicare reduced from 65 to birth. We didn't have to start from scratch, Barack. We had a system that has been working for how many years now? 45? But you guys won't just not expand it, you are going to fix what isn't broken because of corporate overlord greed and incrementally begin getting rid of it. The money for bureaucratic paperwork and undeserved profit-making would save our fellow citizens. We are ranked 37th in terms of health care in the world. And we spend more per capita on health care than any other country by a long shot. What is wrong????
Do you think he is just along for the violent imperialism ride and not asserting his "commander in chief" role in the wars being waged? He was, after all, the anti-war candidate. Mr. golden-tongued Obama, the glorified community organizer. Does he consider sanctions that starve the lower strata of a country's population, literally, his form of diplomacy? And bobble-headed Americans defend that not really benign stance? Just like nice sounding "no fly zone" means the country we are bombing the shit out of, they don't get to fly as we bomb the shit out of them and call it humanitarianism to boot.
Ted Rall asks what is the difference between the Bush regime and the Obama regime. His answer OPPOSITION. Serious opposition.
Okay, the righties are tilting at someone the corporate overlords want them to believe Obama is. A liberal. A socialist. What a joke. How surreal. But I don't see them any more delusional than those who see Obama as someone who is contributing to the recovery of our struggling country.
Now if I am being rude, Jeff, and I am sorry. I do see it as delusion, as you see me as delusional I suppose.
You know, I grew up in an alcoholic family and looking back I see how my mother, the codependent to the alcoholic, ENABLED the alcoholic who was out of control and irresponsible, but she kept the system limping along and kept the suffering of the system members continuing as an enabler as my father's alcoholism escalated and the emotional pain of the whole family escalated. She weakened herself and made the kids confused and suffer learned helplessness by her choice to deal with the grotesque problems facing the family by tiptoing around the situation by tolerating the intolerable. She focused on secrecy, enabling and impression management at the expense of herself and all of us. The secret is not in trying to win with the addicts. It is in not engaging in THEIR game. Obama continues to let them frame the game, unless it is his game which more and more I see he seems totally on board.
I honestly don't know if Obama is the addict as power hungry leader or the sick enabler. The result is the same. Maybe he is locked into enabling and inviting the citizens to have to coexist with him as the children of alcoholic systems are asked to make due with the crap raining down on them. Maybe that is what Obama is locked into with the rabid rat bastard political elite?
Is he asking those of us who are suffering, and our ranks are ever-growing, to STFU while he keeps the system limping along out of his own "disturbed paranoia about THEM" and his codependent reactiveness in the ever-destructive game. Children in alcoholic families are neglected because the energy and attention of the codependent spouse is consumed always reacting to the unpredictable outrageous behaviors and narcissism of the addict's acting outness.
The two columns I am quoting above are saying, if you think Obama is going HELP change conditions as they are in this country with the Martin murder and other racist and classist atrocities that are going to keep on escalating don't hold your breath. A sound byte with nothing behind it is all he can begin to give. Hollow.
All those soldiers committing suicide and Obama gives speeches praising the troops. WHY THE HELL ARE MORE SOLDIERS COMMITTING SUICIDE THAN DYING ON THE FIELD???? For a woman to join the military her chances of getting raped by a fellow soldier are what, 30%? Hell!!!!
But to Obama like the co-alocholic wife or husband all energy goes to IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT to cover up the sick system rather than in recovering and repairing it. Dear God!!!
I wish you would read my comment on "rotating villians" above. Obama heads up one of our three branches. Do you think that that is the noble and pristine branch and the other two rotten with Republicans branches are the ones bringing us down? It is three-way branch collusion. I think Obama is colluding with corruption up to his eyeballs. But you know, I have a lot of disgust with Bill Clinton, too, who sold out to the corporatists by letting the Republicans get rid of Glass Steagal. Signing off on that. As did most of them. WHAT AVARICIOUS IDIOTS AND/OR BASTARDS!!!
Brooksley Born recognized the horror of credit default swaps and Greenspan and the rest of the avaricious patriarchy took care to shut her up and media and Congress re-assured everyone that all was well.
Sorry to go on and on, Jeff. I get emotional because I am a feeler type personality and that is how I communicate and I know to more rational types not only my message but its styling is like nails on a chalkboard. But it is the voice I have and the takeaway I have.
Thanks if you waded through all this and for coming back.
best, libby
Stuart, as always, thanks for your validating take. I call Obama the American Judas, but to the black citizens of this country the dimension of tragedy deepens of his being an American Judas to them. Was Obama put in power to make use of his being a black American to buy time and opportunity in the fog of progressive confusion and further trauma and heartbreak to wreak even more devastation on all of us by the corporate overlords who have captured our democracy and are quickly dismantling and replacing it with fascism? I believe so. btw, Kevin Zeese uses the expression "FOG" ... "forces of greed." Apt I think. best, libby
Actually it was more the benign "sounding" the "good hearted well intentioned liberals" which hit the patronizing note for me. Calling me out for whining was more honest than the messaging of "you are so misguided and naive continually making the perfect the enemy of the good like us wiser and kinder pragmatics" is how I heard it.
We have three branches of government. Obama is responsible for the executive branch. His forgiven "gamesmanship" stance by many on the so-called left frustrates me no end. We desperately need a moral statesperson at the helm of this country. 80 million thought we had one, maybe not perfect, but someone who would exercise as president a capacity for empathy and push for policies that reflected them. And make those who had been breaking moral and civil law be made accountable for that. He has done none of that and far more than not that, what I call EVIL.
Why will none of the defenders of Obama on this website or even on the personality over character progressive tv seriously address the alarming (understatement for me) anti-constitutional decisions Obama has made, including the murder without due process of Americans because of his being the "decider" of negative intelligence about them. That is not the right of a president, it is the right of a dictator!
The lack of diplomacy in the rampant militarism for corporate agendas going on. The only tool in America's toolbox for international relations are weapons? What happened to diplomacy. Sociopathic economic terrorism is the path the US has chosen to go. Might makes right. Winner take all. No mercy. Just profiteering for the mafia elite class.
Obama offering up more and more profit-making opportunities (pillaging of taxypayer treasury) to the corporatists and bringing on more and more economic terrorism and dooming others, 45,000 a year, to death from inadequate health care. Most of Obamacare won't kick in until 2014, so he and vile Congress are all right with all those deaths until then. And some are willing to reduce the number. But don't try to change the number to zero even though they are GRATUITOUS deaths which other industrial nations will not abide for their populations. Money going into the obscene already full wallets of the corporate insurance and pharma vendors would save those lives if the medicare program were expanded and the age of medicare reduced from 65 to birth. We didn't have to start from scratch, Barack. We had a system that has been working for how many years now? 45? But you guys won't just not expand it, you are going to fix what isn't broken because of corporate overlord greed and incrementally begin getting rid of it. The money for bureaucratic paperwork and undeserved profit-making would save our fellow citizens. We are ranked 37th in terms of health care in the world. And we spend more per capita on health care than any other country by a long shot. What is wrong????
Do you think he is just along for the violent imperialism ride and not asserting his "commander in chief" role in the wars being waged? He was, after all, the anti-war candidate. Mr. golden-tongued Obama, the glorified community organizer. Does he consider sanctions that starve the lower strata of a country's population, literally, his form of diplomacy? And bobble-headed Americans defend that not really benign stance? Just like nice sounding "no fly zone" means the country we are bombing the shit out of, they don't get to fly as we bomb the shit out of them and call it humanitarianism to boot.
Ted Rall asks what is the difference between the Bush regime and the Obama regime. His answer OPPOSITION. Serious opposition.
Okay, the righties are tilting at someone the corporate overlords want them to believe Obama is. A liberal. A socialist. What a joke. How surreal. But I don't see them any more delusional than those who see Obama as someone who is contributing to the recovery of our struggling country.
Now if I am being rude, Jeff, and I am sorry. I do see it as delusion, as you see me as delusional I suppose.
You know, I grew up in an alcoholic family and looking back I see how my mother, the codependent to the alcoholic, ENABLED the alcoholic who was out of control and irresponsible, but she kept the system limping along and kept the suffering of the system members continuing as an enabler as my father's alcoholism escalated and the emotional pain of the whole family escalated. She weakened herself and made the kids confused and suffer learned helplessness by her choice to deal with the grotesque problems facing the family by tiptoing around the situation by tolerating the intolerable. She focused on secrecy, enabling and impression management at the expense of herself and all of us. The secret is not in trying to win with the addicts. It is in not engaging in THEIR game. Obama continues to let them frame the game, unless it is his game which more and more I see he seems totally on board.
I honestly don't know if Obama is the addict as power hungry leader or the sick enabler. The result is the same. Maybe he is locked into enabling and inviting the citizens to have to coexist with him as the children of alcoholic systems are asked to make due with the crap raining down on them. Maybe that is what Obama is locked into with the rabid rat bastard political elite?
Is he asking those of us who are suffering, and our ranks are ever-growing, to STFU while he keeps the system limping along out of his own "disturbed paranoia about THEM" and his codependent reactiveness in the ever-destructive game. Children in alcoholic families are neglected because the energy and attention of the codependent spouse is consumed always reacting to the unpredictable outrageous behaviors and narcissism of the addict's acting outness.
The two columns I am quoting above are saying, if you think Obama is going HELP change conditions as they are in this country with the Martin murder and other racist and classist atrocities that are going to keep on escalating don't hold your breath. A sound byte with nothing behind it is all he can begin to give. Hollow.
All those soldiers committing suicide and Obama gives speeches praising the troops. WHY THE HELL ARE MORE SOLDIERS COMMITTING SUICIDE THAN DYING ON THE FIELD???? For a woman to join the military her chances of getting raped by a fellow soldier are what, 30%? Hell!!!!
But to Obama like the co-alocholic wife or husband all energy goes to IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT to cover up the sick system rather than in recovering and repairing it. Dear God!!!
I wish you would read my comment on "rotating villians" above. Obama heads up one of our three branches. Do you think that that is the noble and pristine branch and the other two rotten with Republicans branches are the ones bringing us down? It is three-way branch collusion. I think Obama is colluding with corruption up to his eyeballs. But you know, I have a lot of disgust with Bill Clinton, too, who sold out to the corporatists by letting the Republicans get rid of Glass Steagal. Signing off on that. As did most of them. WHAT AVARICIOUS IDIOTS AND/OR BASTARDS!!!
Brooksley Born recognized the horror of credit default swaps and Greenspan and the rest of the avaricious patriarchy took care to shut her up and media and Congress re-assured everyone that all was well.
Sorry to go on and on, Jeff. I get emotional because I am a feeler type personality and that is how I communicate and I know to more rational types not only my message but its styling is like nails on a chalkboard. But it is the voice I have and the takeaway I have.
Thanks if you waded through all this and for coming back.
best, libby
Stuart, as always, thanks for your validating take. I call Obama the American Judas, but to the black citizens of this country the dimension of tragedy deepens of his being an American Judas to them. Was Obama put in power to make use of his being a black American to buy time and opportunity in the fog of progressive confusion and further trauma and heartbreak to wreak even more devastation on all of us by the corporate overlords who have captured our democracy and are quickly dismantling and replacing it with fascism? I believe so. btw, Kevin Zeese uses the expression "FOG" ... "forces of greed." Apt I think. best, libby
Here ya go. This will take all you know and more and put it together. A documentary you absolutely must see: The Crisis of Civilization from Documentary Wire. An all encompassing report that integrates every issue from the environment, to oil, to energy, to economics, to the “war on terror” to agriculture. Be be amazed at how everything you already sort-of-know will be integrated into a cohesive world view. A film every human should see. Education at it’s finest. Do cut and paste and pass the link around. If you really care about your children demand that it be shone in every school in America but (for obvious reasons you’ll know when you see it) that will never happen. Be prepared for an educational experience we seldom experience in the world of propaganda machines. Do yourself a service.
No comments:
Post a Comment