Thursday, July 26, 2012

Romney adviser: Obama doesn't understand our Anglo-Saxon heritage

As GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney crossed the big pond for Great Britain -- a trip to demonstrate his  foreign policy chops -- one of his foreign policy advisers decided to add his two cents on Obama's lack of historical understanding of the special bond between England and USA:

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr. Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.”
Although Romney disavowed this quote, it is to be noted that no one was identified, fired or kicked off his foreign policy team -- publicly of course. This just further underscores how -- considering the growing diversity of the American electorate -- the GOP party is determined to double down on the small tent rhetoric and ideology.

As our country becomes more multi-cultured -- remember the big melting pot -- the GOP has become more monolithic. As Lincoln Mitchell noted:

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Nas - One Mic: Hip Hop's Finest

Memo To: Lil Wayne, Young Money, Wacka Flocka, Meek Mills, Wale, Rick Ross, Diddy, etc. this is Hip Hop.

Study and then up your game.

The streets need more science dropped as opposed to cooning and buffoonish lyrics/videos over your fronts, watch, car, crib, hoes (your word) and benjamins.

Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones, aka Nas.



Monday, July 23, 2012

Austerity's Big Winners Prove To Be Wall Street And The Wealthy


This article is part of a Huffington Postseries on the global impact of austerity -- "A Thousand Cuts" -- from affordable housing funds lost in San Francisco to increasing class sizes in New York, food inspector cuts in Canada, disability benefits taken away in the United Kingdom, decimation of France's solar industry, and more. Click here for information on how you can help people affected by these measures.
WASHINGTON -- The poor and middle classes have shouldered by far the heaviest burdens of the global political obsession with austerity policies over the past three years. In the United States, budget cuts have forced states to reduce education, public transportation, affordable housing and other social services. In Europe, welfare cuts have driven some severely disabled individuals to fear for their lives.
But the austerity game also has winners. Cutting or eliminating government programs that benefit the less advantaged has long been an ideological goal of conservatives. Doing so also generates a tidy windfall for the corporate class, as government services are privatized and savings from austerity pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens.
U.S. financial interests that stand to gain from Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security cutbacks "have been the core of the big con," the "propaganda," that those programs are in crisis and must be slashed, said James Galbraith, an economist at the University of Texas.
Advocates of austerity measures have sold their proposals as a means to improve the economy. read entire article

The fall of St. Joe Paterno: NCAA issues hefty punishment on Penn State

Paterno and Sandusky
It is now official: The NCAA has rendered -- to the surprise of no one -- a harsh verdict on the Joe Paterno legacy.

The massive sanctions against Penn State's football program include:

Even the proponents for the NCAA death penalty agree, this punishment fits the crime for not only punishing present day Penn State but for retroactively penalizing Joe Paterno and his legacy: by taking away wins between 1998-2011 -- years that Sandusky continued to commit rape against children when Penn State and Paterno conspired to cover-up his crimes -- Paterno will lose the record of most wins by a college coach.
This indeed is a tale of Greek tragedy proportions: Similar to Icarus, Paterno continued to flap his wings in hubris and narcissism. He believed that his program, brand and reputation mattered more than the welfare of innocent children. 
Instead of turning in a monster preying on children, Paterno continued to aimlessly flap his wings. Instead of being a profile in courage, Paterno turned a blind eye. Well, similar to Icarus, Paterno descended from the heavens and crashed into the sea of despair.
All of this could have been avoided if Joe Paterno demonstrated some Paternal instincts.