Saturday, September 24, 2011

The GOP Strategy: Sabotage the economy for political gain


With the narrative of President Obama coming up short in revitalizing our economy firmly ensconced in mainstream media, one far more unscrupulous - and more valid - story is under-reported.

The GOP is deliberately contributing to the economic suffering of millions and millions (globally billions) of people by tanking our economy in hopes of winning back the presidency in 2012.

Yes, the GOP and their Tea Party cohorts are running our economy off a cliff in their power grab.

Where's the beef, you ask?

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell has publicly stated (several times):

Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office.

Notice he did not say heal the economic woes of the American people; nor did he say to help create jobs. No, he stated his main goal was to defeat Obama in 2012 and he knows a poor economy is the ticket.

And now this:

The top four Republicans in the House and Senate sent Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke a letter this week expressing their "serious concerns" about the Fed's plans to administer further monetary stimulus to juice the stalled economy. The Fed should "resist further extraordinary intervention in the U.S. economy," they advised. (The Fed ignored the GOP and approved a plan to buy $400 billion in long-term Treasury bonds by selling shorter-term T-notes.) Liberals have pounced, accusing the GOP of trying to undermine the economy for political gain — the theory being that if the economy improves, so do President Obama's chances in 2012. "I realize the term 'economic sabotage' is a loaded one," says Karoli Kuns at Crooks & Liars. "But what else do you call this?"

This is obviously economic sabotage: Blocking every single one of President Obama's proposals to boost the economy has worked out pretty well for the GOP, says Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Beast. And with this Bernanke letter, "I think it's now fair to say that they are even attempting to intensify the slowdown by intimidating the Fed from doing its job." Trying to "sabotage economic growth for short-term political advantage" is a pretty shocking new low — even for the Party of No.


To the doubting Thomases, prior to 2010 mid-term election of Tea Party wackos our economic recovery was beginning to look rosier - jobs were being created at a faster pace, the GDP was growing, consumer confidence was improving and the stock market was rebounding.

Since the installment of the just say no (even to your own ideas if Obama likes it) Tea Baggers, our recovery has become mired in the political mud.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Vesta Williams Found Dead In Her California Hotel Room


Vesta Williams, the diva known for her powerful voice and 80's hits, was found dead in her California hotel room last night, according to reports. Though news sources have reported the singer was 48 years old, Williams can be seen in a 2010 interview saying she was 53.

TMZ is reporting that bottles of prescription pills were found in the hotel room, and that the authorities are treating the singer's death as an accident or suicide.

Williams scored a big hit with "Congratulations," a song about a woman who is distraught upon learning that her former lover is getting married. "Congratulations," with its vocal acrobatics and dramatic story, became a talent show staple.

JackeƩ Harry, the television actress, tweeted her condolences about the singer's passing.

"...just received truly devastating news: R&B great, and my friend of many yrs, Vesta Williams (@vesta4u), has passed away. #RIPVesta"
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Thank you for the memories, as you now sing in the heavenly choir... one last look at the jewels you have blessed us with:

Judge Mathis and the world on the execution of Troy Davis



"If you are pro-death penalty, you should be shouting twice as loud as the rest of us about the imminent murder of Troy Davis," Chivers wrote. "Otherwise, you can't claim to be supporting a stark but necessary act of justice. You're just a fan of killing people in general. There are words for people like that. None of them are nice."

The execution sparked angry reactions and protests in European capitals -- as well as outrage on social media. "We strongly deplore that the numerous appeals for clemency were not heeded," the French foreign ministry said.

"There are still serious doubts about his guilt," said Germany's junior minister for human rights Markus Loening. "An execution is irreversible -- a judicial error can never be repaired."

The European Union expressed "deep regret" over the execution and repeated its call for a universal moratorium on capital punishment.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the bloc had learnt "with deep regret that Mr Troy Davis was executed," her spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told Agence-France Presse.

'"The EU opposes the use of capital punishment in all circumstances and calls for a universal moratorium," she said.

"The abolition of that penalty is essential to protect human dignity."

Amnesty International condemned the execution in a statement. "The U.S. justice system was shaken to its core as Georgia executed a person who may well be innocent. Killing a man under this enormous cloud of doubt is horrific and amounts to a catastrophic failure of the justice system," Amnesty said. source

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Execution of Troy Davis - Dr. Runoko Rashida asks: What comes next?


Troy Davis is now an Ancestor. Bless him on his journey. Now the question for me is, where do we go from here?

As cruel as it may sound, John Henrik Clarke used to say, "Bury the man and continue the plan."

It seems to me that the greatest tribute that we can pay to Troy Davis, and so many others, is to channel the hurt and anger and frustration and disappointment that so many of us have into a movement that changes things, and not just a movement that reacts from one crisis to the next.

What do you think?

Dr Runoko Rashidi

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

When The Truth Doesn't Matter


The truth or facts do not matter to citizens of FOX News Nation.

Their audience, willing to be duped, consumes unchallenged everything uttered by FOX as the gospel truth.

FOX has notoriously whipped their audience into a frenzy by exaggerating and distorting truth.

Osama Bin Laden morphed into Saddam Hussein, hence the Iraqi war was on.

Acorn, amid a couple rogue volunteers that were reported by Acorn itself, was branded as a criminal organization trying to defraud elections.

An infinitesimally small and loosely organized band of Neo-Black Panthers in Philly was used to scared the FOX faithful of a rise of armed and dangerous black militants.

Their followers have tossed out fact checking and story verification to the point that they are now willing to believe any convenient story - from any right-wing source - if it aids their agenda.

Case in point, the governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley:

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has admitted that she has no evidence backing her claim that half of job applicants at a local government facility flunked a drug test. She'd used the claim to push for requiring the jobless to pass a drug test to be eligible for benefits.

"I've never felt like I had to back up what people tell me. You assume that you're given good information," Haley told Jim Davenport of the Associated Press. "And now I'm learning through you guys that I have to be careful before I say something."

Haley said two weeks ago she'd been told that of hundreds of job applicants at the Savannah River Site, a nuclear reservation owned by the U.S. Energy Department, half failed a drug test. But Jim Giusti, a spokesman for Energy Department, told HuffPost that of the workers hired over the past few years, less than 1 percent failed a test. Additionally, only new hires -- not applicants -- have to submit to testing in the first place


Haley told AP she'd used the anecdote "a million times" to promote drug-testing for the jobless. "It is the reason you're hearing me look into whether we can do drug testing," she said.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Give Them Hell Barry...I hope


President Obama is the ultimate reconciler. As a man who is multi-racial and has a multi-ethnic family as well, he has astutely learned - and mastered to a large extent - how to bring folks together.

His presidential vision for our country was to write a new chapter in our country's divided states (thanks Field)- bring red states and blue states together in one purple mosaic.

President Obama deliberately set out to change the tone in DC.

The GOP knew this and have deftly converted this principled objective to become the president's greatest weakness.

After two years of trying to find a sincere dancing partner in the GOP - much to the chagrin of his base - President Obama appears to be ready to draw the proverbial line in the sand.

Is this a new strategy or the beginning of a new political campaign - subsequent actions will tell...

President Barack Obama finally gave his liberal critics exactly what they wanted.

His tough opening bid on deficit reduction and his feisty, defiant speech from the White House Monday were greeted with almost incredulous joy by progressives who have urged Obama to take this kind of hard line with Republicans since the day he was elected.

After two years of disappointing compromises on health care, Wall Street reform, climate change and the Bush-era tax cuts — and nearly one year after Obama’s centrist tack in reaction to the 2010 midterm elections — Obama is now singing from the left’s playbook
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My Quotes of Week: Fran Lebowitz


"In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy."

"Privitize the private sector."