Nelson Mandela Released Feb 11, 1990

Image via Wikipedia

On this day in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison. At that time, he was probably the most famous political prisoner in the world. I still have my anti Apartheid button that I wore in college. Here's a video of the day that he was released & also one of today's anniversary celebrations.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This Day in African American History

Image via Wikipedia

1842 Activist		William Monroe Trotter set an example for expressing protest! *William Monroe Trotter was born on this date in 1872 more...
	1883 Music		Ragtime/showtune pianist Eubie Blake, an original *On this date Eubie Blake was born in 1883 more...
	1926 Episode		Carter Woodson initiates National Negro Week. *On this date in 1926, Carter G more...
	1966 Film/TV		Chris Rock, straight comedy (no chaser)! *On this date in 1966, Chris Rock was born more...
	1882 Science/Business/ Medicine		Emma Wheeler was an early caregiver! *Emma Rochelle Wheeler was born on this date in 1882 more...
	1915 Activist		Political activist William White III born. *Bill White, III was born on this date in 1915 more... http://www.aaregistry.com/

Earthquake in Haiti

Image by United Nations Photo via Flickr

     In this world of instant gratification, it's easy to forget that things are not always so instant. This article on Haiti reminds us of that. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35011584/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/ The problem with most people watching the horror is that we think that if we just show up, things will turn around immediately & everything will be ok. If that doesn't happen & the whole thing's a failure & it's all our fault.
     Here's the grim reality: Haiti's problems will not get fixed overnight. The earthquake literally wiped out over half the government workers & offices. Plan B was the United Nations. They have the exact same problem as the Haitian government. Up until last week, the harbor to Port-a-Prince was so severely damaged that you couldn't dock any ships there. The airport has one runway & very little space to store anything. The roads are completely impassable due to the severity of the quake & those are just the small problems.
     I know that cable news & bloggers have been going on & on about how the situation in Haiti is a complete failure because the help didn't get to every single person within a day or less. Things just don't work that was when you're dealing with a catastrophic earthquake. Success will take hard work & time; a LOT of time.

KFC Ad

Image via Wikipedia

     Back in December, KFC ran a tv ad in Australia about unruly cricket fans. The storyline was this. A white Australian cricket fan is trying to calm down loud & unruly black West Indian cricket fans. Suddenly, the Aussie takes out a bucket of KFC fried chicken. The crowd surrounds him & starts eating the chicken.  

     The commercial ran in Australia for a few weeks without anybody complaining about it in the land down under. God bless the Internet, though, because the commercial found its way onto it. Wouldn’t you know that the second it hit American shores, the fun was over. Now, KFC pulled the ad.

     In their press release, KFC said "We have been made aware that a KFC commercial being shown on Australian television has apparently caused offense, particularly in the United States, after a copy of the commercial was reproduced online without KFC's permission,". I like to call that the Scooby Doo defense - we would’ve gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.  

      The main problem KFC has here is that it didn't think globally. In other words, what it does in one country can be felt in other countries. A while back, Hollywood stars, in a bid to seem like they didn't sell out in America, would instead do commercials overseas (mainly Germany & Japan). They didn't need to fear fans in America finding out because the internet wasn't a major part of life at that point. These days, the world is much more interconnected. People can watch tv live from Australia or the Middle East. 

     If KFC didn't release a commercial such as this in America because they knew it was stereotypical, what made them think that they could release it overseas & get away with it? A large corporation should know that things like this get around rapidly. Shame on KFC for blowing it off & blaming someone for their own insensitivity.
     Here's the ad. You can make up your own minds. To me, at the very least, it's insensitive. At the bottom, I also threw in an article that says that Americans are just over reacting to the whole thing. That may or may not be true but I put it in to counterbalance what I was saying.

Related articles by Zemanta

• KFC accused of racism over Australian ad (guardian.co.uk)
• KFC scraps Australian advert after 'racist' allegations by US viewers (guardian.co.uk)
• Here We Go Again: Australian KFC Ad Deemed Racist By Ignorant Americans (inquisitr.com)
• Video Fix: Is this Aussie KFC ad racist? (seattlepi.com)

Obama Hates New York?

Image via Wikipedia

  Back on January 14, Michael Goodwin of the New York Post wrote a front page op-ed that said that the President of the United States hates New Yorkers. He sites 4 reasons for this: tax hikes because of the health care law, telling the governor to drop out of this year’s race, trying to block or dissuade anybody from running against Sen Kirsten Gillibrand, & for coming down hard on Wall Street & bankers.

     I’ll take these points one at a time. While it may or may not be true that there will be tax hikes because of the health care bill, I highly doubt that New Yorkers are targeted for an abnormal amount of it. If it’ll make Mr Goodwin feel better, he can think that everybody’s being targeted with higher taxes.

     As for getting the governor to drop out of the race, there’s a simple reason for that. The guy’s less popular than a Red Sox Fan at Yankee Stadium. If he were to somehow get the Democratic nomination, he’d go down in flames extremely badly.

     Goodwin trying to make people feel bad for Obama coming down on Wall Street & bankers with tough regulations is really stretching things. If any group deserves to be slammed with tough regulations right now, it’s the financial sector. After all, they’re one of the main reasons why we’re all in this mess. Therefore, me felling any sort of pity for those guys? Not gonna happen.

     The only point that Goodwin has is the White House’s interference in the senatorial race by trying to dissuade Harold Ford from running for senator. Personally, I’m supporting Mr Ford. He’s a moderate, like myself, with a very good track record. If the White House thinks that Senator Gillibrand is such a good candidate, then she should be able to win on her own credentials & not because of any heavy handed tactics from Team Obama.

     Overall, Michael Goodwin’s op-ed is way off target & definitely was not good fodder for a front page screaming headline about how Obama hates New Yorkers. Even for the New York Post, that one was low.

Palestinian Nonviolence

Here is an excellent blog from Amnesty International about the Palestinian nonviolence movement. It is a side of the Palestinian struggle that we in America never see. The only images we see in the media of Palestinians are of violent people blowing themselves up or hijacking airplanes. There is never any media coverage of Palestinians who are nonviolent.
Here's the first couple of paragraphs of the article, along with the link for the rest of it:

"Remarks made by Bono , New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof and President Barack Obama stating they hoped Palestinians would find their Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) or Gandhi completely ignore Palestinian nonviolent resistance to brutal oppression.

The presumption that the Palestinian struggle is mainly violent is disturbing. And the dismissal of the people who have sacrificed time, money and even their lives to fight injustice with nonviolence is callous.

Although Palestinian nonviolent resistance dates back to the early 1900’s, the image of armed and violent Palestinians still prevails.   In the 1970’s and 80’s, Palestinian refugees from camps in foreign countries, seeing no resolution after decades of displacement, chose armed struggle and  more recent suicide bombings in Israel  reinforced the perception.

Several factors have hindered a single, iconic figure from emerging or a cohesive civil disobedience movement from blooming despite its continued use by different sectors of Palestinian society......"

http://blog.amnestyusa.org/middle-east/palestinian-nonviolent-resistance-has-strong-roots/

SC Politician compares poor people to Feeding Stray Animals

     At a town hall meeting last Thursday, South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer compared people getting government assistants to stray animals. "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that."
     The negative reaction so far seems to be mainly from Democrats. However, Bauer has a large following among the religious Republican base. For his part, Bauer says that he doesn't regret his words except maybe the stray animals part. Bauer is now running for the governorship against 8 other people.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The End of the Tea Party?

Image via Wikipedia

     Over the past few days, I've been reading a sudden influx of articles about the end of the "populist" tea parties. These articles are reacting to the many troubles the Tea Party Convention seems to be having. Perhaps the convention organizers are beginning to find out that it's easy to be angry but it's difficult to organize that anger into a legitimate political force.
     Of course, the same people who are saying that the party is over are the same people who said that the Republican Party was dead after the election of 2008. Instead, in the major political races within the last 5 months, the Republicans have made a clean sweep, including two governorships, a mayoral race in the largest city in America, & the senate seat of the man who was the Liberal Lion of the Senate for over 50 years.
     There may be a little truth to this death theory, though. Within the last few days, President Obama has been sounding like a populist. He's been going hard after the banks & has now even ordered a bipartisan committee to attack the outrageous federal deficit. If the President's latest tone catches on, the Tea Party people may be backed into a corner.

Violence in Nigeria

For the past 6 days, Muslims & Christians have clashed in Northern Nigeria. Human Rights Watch says that assailants attacked & killed over 120 Muslims (including at least 20 children) in the city of Kuru Karama. Here's the story:

Ebony Power 150

Image via Wikipedia

     A couple of months ago, Ebony Magazine put out its issue of the 150 most powerful African Americans in the country. There were the obvious people on the list. President & Mrs Obama, Jay Z, Beyonce, etc. However, there were two names that I believe were purposely left off of the list, mainly due to their conservative politics.
     Michael Steele is the chairman of the Republican party. Think about this for a minute. A Black man is the head of the Republican party. That means that Black men are the leaders of the two biggest political parties in America. Only one made Ebony's list, though.
     The other man who's missing from this list is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He's the only African American on the most powerful court in America. Yet, he doesn't make the Power 150.
     I'm not a big fan of either of these two men; far from it. However, Ebony should respect the fact that both men made it to posts that African Americans had only dreamed about not too many years ago. Both deserve to be on Ebony's list. Shame on Ebony for not even considering them.

Pentagon Report Says Prisoners Return to Fight

Image via Wikipedia

     According to a classified Pentagon report, one out of every five prisoners who is released from Guantanamo Bay returns to fight for Al Qaida. First off, if this is a classified report, why do we know about it? Second, when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense logically.
     Imagine for one minute that you've been locked up for almost a decade & possibly tortured. Even if you were completely innocent when you went there, you now have hatred for for captors. When you leave, aren't you going to want revenge? I know I would. I'd join the fight in a minute. Why this report surprises people amazes me. In fact, I'm surprised the number isn't actually higher than one in five. It's just basic human nature.

Article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34735908/ns/us_news-security/

Slovakians, Irish, & Bombs

     Apparently, a few days ago, Slovakian security people decided to do a test of airport security. Their idea? To put bomb parts in an innocent passenger's bag. The man flew to Ireland, unknowingly carrying the bombs with him. Once authorities discovered the parts, the man was held for several hours, then released. The Slovakian government told the Irish what they had done a few days after the fact.
     When you think about it, this was amazingly stupid. I feel really bad for the passenger. Who do you sue for something like this? All I know is that when I travel, my bags are never leaving my sight.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This Day in Political History

There were a few events on this day in political history. In 1992, President Bush (the first one) pardoned former Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger & 5 other people for their part in the Iran Contra scandal. That was the scandal where the United States sold weapons to Iran in exchange for money to fund the Nicaraguan contra rebels. At the time, the rebels were fighting a war with the Sandinista government. Another offshoot of this action was that the arms also helped the United States secure freedom for hostages who were being held by certain Islamic groups.


There were two reasons why this operation was illegal. The first is that Congress passed a law barring the United States from supporting any covert operations with the Contras. The second is that there was a trade embargo against Iran. Neither of those issues stopped the operation. Members of the government just used the National Security Council to run the mission.

Eventually, the operation was uncovered by newspapers overseas. Congress called hearings. People all the way up to President Reagan were implicated. In the end, a few people were convicted, although two of them (the most famous being Colonel Oliver North) were overturned due to immunity agreements that had been made with the Senate in exchange for their testimony.

Another event that happened on this day was that the domestic terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan, was first formed in 1865. It was formed as a club for Confederate veterans in Pulaski Tennessee. The Reconstruction & Jim Crow eras were when the group was at its height.

The third event that happened on this day was the signing of the treaty of Ghent. In 1814, the United States & Great Britain ended the War of 1812 with this treaty. For those people who say that the United States never lost a war until Vietnam, you would be wrong. The United States got its collective butts handed to it, including having Washington DC invaded & famously burned. The two main battles that the war is most famous for are the Battle of Ft. McHenry (the inspiration for the Star Spangled Banner) & the Battle of New Orleans, which actually happened after the treaty to end the war had been signed & made a hero out of General & eventual President Andrew Jackson.

Also on this day in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, saying that they were upholding the 1978 Afghan – Soviet Friendship treaty. It began a 10 year war against the Mujahidin resistance movement. The United States boycotted the 1980 summer Olympics over this matter. Not only that but the United States also helped the rebel groups by supplying arms. This group is the same group that eventually turned against America & had at that time a fighter by the name of Osama Bin Laden.

My Apologies

My apologies for not keeping up with the blog in the last couple of weeks. Life’s gotten extremely crazy in the last few weeks & it’s only going to get crazier. This is the busy season, as most of you are probably already feeling. It’s the time for doing first the Halloween festivities, then gearing up for Thanksgiving, then Christmas parties & travel, & winding down with New Years stuff. In short, the last 3 months are always extremely busy. I’ll try to do postings when I can but it may be a bunch once a week instead of daily or every other day.

Joe Lieberman Must Go

     60 votes. 60 votes are all that stands in the way of Americans finally getting some type of health care reform. With the historic vote in the U.S. House late Saturday night, the fight now shifts to the Senate. 60 votes will make the bill filibuster proof so that it can come up to a vote on the Senate floor. The problem is that the person who stands in the way of getting to 60 votes is Joe Lieberman.

     The Democrats really only have 58 votes. There are two Independent Senators who usually vote with the Democrats but there are no guarantees that they will always vote with the Democratic block; which brings us to Joe Lieberman. He has already said that if the Senate version of the health care bill contains a public option, then he will join with the Republicans & filibuster the bill, which would in effect kill the health care bill.

     You may wonder where his animosity towards the Democrats has come from. After all, wasn’t he the vice presidential candidate back in 2000? Well, the seeds of discontent were sown in 2006, when he was running for reelection. The Democratic establishment refused to endorse him because he voted in support of the war in Iraq & they decided to back his opponent in the primary. Leiberman got trounced. However, rather than give up, he decided to run as an Independent & beat both the Democratic & Republican candidates.

     Lieberman then went on to endorse his very good friend John McCain for president. That was fine & even admired by most in the Democratic party because it showed bipartisanship. That feeling went out the window when, while speaking at the Republican Convention, Lieberman gave not only an antidemocratic, but an extremely antiObama speech. It was one thing to be for McCain but it was completely different to also be against Obama & that was where, in most people’s eyes, Lieberman crossed the line. I still remember watching the video of Obama pulling Lieberman aside on the Senate floor & completely dressing Lieberman down afterwards. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall for that one. Despite all of this, Harry Reid decided to forgive Lieberman & let him keep his committee chairmanship.

     That decision, among others, is now coming back to haunt the Democrats. In fact, Lieberman went out on the campaign trail this year & campaigned for Republican candidates. If anybody thought that Lieberman was going to vote with the Democratic Party on anything any more, those thoughts should’ve been put to rest with that announcement. Now, one of the most important pieces of legislation in our lifetime may not come up for a vote because of this man.

     I believe that Lieberman is of the opinion that he can not be defeated with he comes up for reelection in a few year. I have already decided that I’m going to put that theory of his to the test. I am putting aside money & will give freely to anybody in the Democratic Party who will run against him. I will also work on the candidate’s campaign. There is no place in the Senate for Joe Lieberman & he needs to learn this lesson sooner, rather than later.

Rep Grayson's Speech the Republicans Tried To Block

The Republicans tried to block his speech on the House floor. They failed.

Democrats Wondering About New York Mayor's Race?

     There’s an article today about the reasons why Bill Thompson lost the NYC mayoral race to Mike Bloomberg by 5 points, despite being overwhelmingly outspent & outcampaigned  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33624244/ns/politics-more_politics/. The basic underlying point of the article is that if the White House (specifically Obama) & other prominent Democrats had campaigned with Thompson, he might have pulled off the upset.

     There are two things that the article fails to take into account. The first is that Bill Thompson ran a really bad campaign. By the looks of it, he didn’t really start his campaign until after the September primary. I guess he figured that he was going to win the primary, despite going up against at least 3 other candidates, so why spend money on name recognition, like Mike Bloomberg did?. In fact, I didn’t even see a campaign commercial from Thompson until mid October. I remember seeing a front page article about Thompson with the headline “Who’s the other guy running for mayor?”. Not exactly a ringing endorsement on his campaign or lack there of, in this case.

     The other thing is that, for the most part, people really like Mike Bloomberg, even the White House. A little Bloomberg history. Mike Bloomberg was a life long Democrat who ran as a Republican back in 2001 because there were only 2 Republicans running versus 8 other Democrats. He’s about as liberal a Republican as you’re going to get, with his antismoking, pro gay rights, & anti gun policies. Plus, he became an Independent a couple of years ago yet managed to be put on the ballot as both an Independent & a Republican (I’m still trying to figure out how that’s possible).

     Obama endorsed Thompson because he had to but in the same endorsement, Obama praised Bloomberg profusely. I call it playing both sides of the fence. Most people call it politics. Either way, Obama got who he really wanted as the next mayor. For most Democrats, it would be considered a loss. For the White House, it’s a win & no amount of hand ringing by the Associated Press or anybody else is going to change that.

Election Issues

     The voting ballots are a funny thing sometimes. In last Tuesday’s election for mayor of New York, you had a choice between Democrat David Thompson & Republican Mike Bloomberg. If you’re like me, you didn’t like either choice. While I think Bloomberg did a fine job as mayor, he basically did a dictator move & got the city council to do away with the term limits law that the voters put into place only 10 years ago. That way, he could run this time around. That didn’t sit well with me.

     I wanted to vote for Thompson but couldn’t because, under Thompson, the Board of Education was run into the ground. Schools weren’t being repaired, corruption was everywhere, & test scores were way below the national average. There was no way I was going to vote for someone like that to be put in charge of the city government.

     I decided to vote for the independent party. Wait. Whose name is in the Independents’ slot? Mike Bloomberg. How is it possible that his name is in two different slots? Bloomberg, after all, quit the Republican Party last year & became an Independent. How can he be on the ballot as both a Republican & an Independent? I ended up voting for the Working Party candidate. Bloomberg won in a squeaker.

     He wasn’t the only one to game the ballot system, though. Just about every race had the same guy on the ballot under more than one party. There was even a guy for civic judge whose name appeared three times. It’s time there were clear rules that stated that a candidate can only appear on the ballot once. He or she shouldn’t be able to appear as a Republican, an Independent, & a Conservative, or Working Families candidate.

One Year Ago Today: a Message From President Obama

And now, a message from President Obama

Public Option Creates Competition & Lowers Costs

This video is from a joint press conference held on October 28 with senators & the small business community, outlining their support of the public option in the health care bill.

Health Care in America

Check out this video by Sen. Diane Feinstein on the history of health care in this country:

By the People: the Election of Barack Obama Interview Video

I found something that didn't include insults or controversy. It's an interview with the makers of the new HBO documentary "By the People: the Election of Barack Obama".




Watch CBS News Videos Online

Crisis of Conscience

     I'm having a crisis of conscience when it comes to politics. It's not because of how I feel about President Obama, who I think is doing a pretty good job, though I wish he'd take control of his message more. It's because I'm just sick of all the name calling back & forth.
     I've completely turned off cable news. I never learn anything from watching it. People who do those shows are more interested in insults & saying controversial things, rather than bring anything of substance to the conversational table. I only watch CNN, MSNBC, et al when there's a major breaking news story.
     I thought I'd try punching up this blog with some videos  that bring substance to different topics like health care. However, I'm hard pressed to find any, mainly because once again, they're full of nothing but insults being hurled back & forth. I'll keep looking, though. I'm sure there's something I can do for this political blog without turning it into the latest insult blog.

Daylight Savings Time

     This Sunday marks the end of daylight savings time. This is my favorite night of the year because we get an extra hour of sleep (or partying since it’s Halloween night). Daylight savings time used to end at the beginning of October. That was until Congressman Markey sponsored a law that lengthened its time to what it is now. His thinking was that it would give people an extra hour of daylight later into the year & earlier in the spring than it used to be.

     All of that may be true but there’s a safety issue that’s been overlooked. The sun this week doesn’t rise until after 7 in the morning, when kids are walking to school. That means that for a vast majority of children on their way to school, they’re either walking on sidewalks (or in the streets if there isn’t a sidewalk) or they’re waiting for buses & trains in complete darkness. This is bad. What lawmakers should do is adjust the weeks that daylight savings time goes into effect. Make it start 1 or 2 weeks later & end 1 or 2 weeks earlier. That way, people still get later daylight & kids don’t walk to school in the dark.

Top 10 Torture Tunes

  Today, a group called the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo put out a press release talking about the use of music during torture sessions at the detention center. The reason why this is sorta news is that some major artists, including Pearl Jam & the Roots, signed the statement. Among the music that the CIA used to torture people with are Brittany Spears, Metallica, & rap music. I hope it was gangsta rap & not old school. I love old school & Metallica. Brittany Spears would be torture.

     Aside from the question as to why form a group for something that's actually being closed down (we'll have it closed within 1 year), it got me thinking about what music would I be tortured with if I were sent to some undisclosed detention facility. Here are my top 10 worst songs or artists to be tortured by:

1. The Macarena by whoever did that stupid song.

2. Rod Stewart

3. Achey Breakey Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus.

4. God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood. Nice idea but way too Republican Party anthem. Plus, it's a really annoying song.

5. Any song that uses auto tune, which is pretty much every song on the pop charts today & every Lil Wayne rap song.

6. Country music with very few exceptions, such as Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Shania, Tim McGraw, & Johnny Cash.

7. Classical music - I actually like classical but too much of it will start reminding me of college classes sitting there in a room full of snobs who thought that only classical & jazz were the true art forms & that all other forms of music were beneath them to listen to.

8. Any Broadway musical.

9. Any version of any song that is sung by an American Idol contestant that is not from their own records.

10. Any song that has the word niggga in its lyrics.