Category: Politics

Two on the Street Right Now

“Let me put this in perspective,” Biden said on Face the Nation. “There have been three people tried and convicted by the last administration in military courts. Two are walking the street right now. There have been over 300 tried in federal courts by the last administration and by us. They’re all in jail now. None of them are out seeing the light of day.”

We’re looking into Biden’s assertion that more than 300 people have been tried in federal courts and will post our findings soon.

Here, we are examining Biden’s assertion that three people were tried and convicted by the last administration in military commissions, and that two of three have been released

After consulting news reports and military documents, we discovered that Biden was correct. We also checked with experts who both support and oppose military commissions for various reasons, and no one disputed Biden’s numbers.

via PolitiFact | Two of three convicted in military commissions have been released.

You gotta love Joe for that soundbite!

“Lynch Coates” – Ta-Nehisi Coates

I don’t know what manner of blindness makes people pillory the race card, and then turn around and threaten a lynching. I don’t know what makes them seethe with this kind of hate. I don’t know what America they want to keep safe, or strong. It isn’t mine. Likely, that’s the point.

via “Lynch Coates” – Ta-Nehisi Coates.

This is the folks who want to keep America safe.  With “friends” like this…

Eric Holder and the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial : The New Yorker

Greg Manning, whose wife, Laura, was severely burned in the World Trade Center attacks, stood before the crowd and said, “Thousands are already dead because of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s choices. We do not want to see . . . hundreds of thousands dead because of the Attorney General’s choices.”

Andrew McCarthy, the former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney who led the prosecution of the 1993 World Trade Center attacks, also gave a speech, declaring that Holder didn’t “understand what rule of law has always been in wartime.” He said, “It’s military commissions. It’s not to wrap our enemies in our Bill of Rights.”

“Traitor!” someone shouted.

Edith Lutnick, who works for the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, told the crowd, “My brother, Gary, lost his life that day.” The 9/11 victims, she said, “were murdered by the terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and we do not want him and his fellow-terrorists tried in that building. . . . We need to tell Eric Holder that we will be victims no more.”

“Lynch Holder!” an onlooker cried.

via Eric Holder and the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial : The New Yorker.

Our fear is on display.  (Not to mention our racism.)  I can’t help but think how “the terrorists” are chuckling at us over this.  I think Jon Stewart had it right when asked about the KSM trial.  Skip to 4:05.

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Budget Sense and Nonsense « The Baseline Scenario

Budget Sense and Nonsense « The Baseline Scenario:

“So, let’s recap. The medium-term deficit problem was created by Bush tax cuts and by an unfunded Bush-era expansion of Medicare. The long-term deficit problem is all about Medicare. Yet the only solution that Republicans can think of is reducing spending–but not Medicare spending. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise us; Mitch McConnell gave us this, after all:*”
CBPP Deficit Analysis
Mitch McConnell Flip Flop Press Releases

(Via The Baseline Scenario.)

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Why I’m not into Elephants

I have long been suspicious of the party because of it’s deplorable track record regarding race and it’s loud and showy “Christianity” that is short on the values that Jesus taught. Having said that, GOP ideology when reduced to core principles that can flexibly be expressed in policy are compatible with mine which are generally center left.

Are African-Americans ready to embrace the GOP? Part 2

Jeff Booker, who is currently on the Gloucester Township GOP committee and previously served as the Executive Director of Camden County GOP (2002-04) stated, “I believe that the GOP is the party that exemplifies responsibility, small government, liberty, and self-determination. Younger blacks are becoming Republican because they see the negative affect of a large out of control government can be. As you get older, people start to change their views. We are starting to see suspicion in the local Democratic Party. However, our party has not done a good job of recruiting people of color and I am apart [sic] of the effort to do better.”

via Examiner.com.

First let me say Jeff is a good friend and I respect him and his choice to be a Republican.  Even more I applaud his efforts to recruit better.  I have long been suspicious of the party because of it’s deplorable track record regarding race and it’s loud and showy “Christianity” that is short on the values that Jesus taught.  Having said that, GOP ideology when reduced to core principles that can flexibly be expressed in policy are compatible with mine which are generally center left.  If a GOP candidate focused on the following, which generally deals with how the GOP could handle race and religion, I wouldn’t rule out voting for them.  (Hey, after the 2008 campaign where Palinites were shouting, “KILL HIM!” that’s the best I can do.)

  1. You Can Be Tough on Crime…Equally – By the DOJ’s own statistics, blacks in the system face a stacked deck from drug war laws that give poor, lower level criminals longer sentences than the kingpins who supply them to the unequal sentencing of the death penalty to police brutality and murder and racial profiling.
  2. You Have to Have a Job to Have Your Taxes to Cut – It has been scientifically proven that a black man with a clean job history has less of a chance of getting hired than a white ex-con…in New York City.  And that’s in a blue, blue, blue state.  Imagine the red states where the GOP dominates.  You don’t have to be for Affirmative Action.  Craft a policy such as class based affirmative action, that you can prove benefits poor black folks and that your ideology can support.  Bougie Negroes like Jeff and I might not benefit, but so what?  AA wasn’t supposed to be for us anyway!
  3. Come Clean about a Racist Past and THEN Move On (no pun intended) – Ever since Nixon first employed the infamous Southern Strategy, the GOP has used the racial fears and racism in white voters to win elections from Willie Horton to Barack “HUSSEIN” Obama.  And despite Ken Mehlman’s apology to the NAACP, I have not seen any serious attempt to change this.  Painting Obama as an Arab/Muslim was a clear example of this.  Stop providing joy and comfort to racists.  And be public about it.  We don’t trust you otherwise.  It’s that simple.
  4. Know What Christian Values Are and Live Them– Jesus was very specific on being anti-death penalty (John 8:2-11), lending without expectation of repayment (Luke 6:35), giving generously to the poor and uplifting them (Luke 6:20, 18:22), turning the other cheek (Luke 6:29), blessing our enemies (Luke 6:28), providing care to the sick (Matthew 25:34-40), praying in private (Matthew 6:5-6), and visiting prisoners (Matthew 25:34-40).  The party really needs to reconsider it’s pro-war, pro-death penalty, pro-prison, public prayer, anti-poor, anti-healthcare policies before you can claim a lock on Christian values (Matthew 25:41-46).  I mean, really!  (Luke 6:46-49)

So if the party can produce a candidate that seriously deals with the four points above, I don’t see why plenty of black people wouldn’t consider the party myself included.

Why I Love Thinking: It’s a Rare Commodity

This morning I saw some college undergrads analyze the healthcare bill more incisively than any legislator, policy wonk, or pundit. That is both a source of pride in the students I’m privileged to teach and terror in that none of our leaders in Washington seem to get what the hell is going on.

This is a black eye most of all on my President Barack Obama who, as a generally supportive but frustrated professor said, “should have brought doctors and economists together to craft a real solution” to be debated in Congress. I once thought his standards too high, but mine were too low. And it is clearly reflected in the bill.

I’m still optimistic because our system seems to be self correcting over the long haul. I pray we correct soon. Until then I’ll at least enjoy the GOP get pummelled by fact checks.

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The Party Mans Up

Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today. The Rebs quickly criticized it in the same spirit of us losing the 2016 Olympics. Then comes this from the Dems:

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists — the Taliban and Hamas this morning — in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” wrote DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize — an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride — unless of course you are the Republican Party. The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore – it’s an embarrassing label to claim.”

I’m not one to cheer the Dems but I clapped…hard…when I read that.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Democrat stands ground after ‘die quickly’ health care remark – CNN.com

Democrat stands ground after ‘die quickly’ health care remark – CNN.com:

“Citing a Harvard University study released this month that said 44,000 Americans die each year because they have no health insurance, Grayson called on Democrats and Republicans ‘to do our jobs for the sake of those dying people and their families.’
‘I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America,’ he said.”

(Via CNN.)

Payback it is a …

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MSNBC’s Ratigan battles McCaughey – Ben Smith – POLITICO.com

MSNBC’s Ratigan battles McCaughey – Ben Smith – POLITICO.com:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(Via Politico.com.)

McCaughey gets her rear end handed to her. This is what happens when someone demands an actual answer to a question.

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Connecting The Dots – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Connecting The Dots – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“There’s a lot at work here: 1.) Race-baiters have, for the past few decades, repeatedly outfoxed anti-racists. Beck and Cornyn know how to walk up to the line. Carter is from a generation of liberals who never understood why people didn’t agree them about Willie Horton. Thus Carter doesn’t insinuate, he doesn’t calibrate, he just speaks, political effects be damned. 2.) The dominant school of journalism holds that it’s safer to talk about the effect of talking about race on Obama, rather than actually talking about its effects, period. That’s true for most things though–reporters are generally more interested in gamesmanship, than issues. 3.) A lot of reporters take Beck and Cornyn’s race-baiting is taken as a given. I’ll be shocked if anyone asks Cornyn about this. I don’t think they much care.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coats.)

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