Sunday, December 28, 2008

RNC chair candidate Chip Saltsman sent out a CD of the “Barack the Magic Negro” song


For his Christmas greeting this year, RNC chair candidate Chip Saltsman sent out a CD of the “Barack the Magic Negro” song. Saltsman’s Christmas message:

“I look forward to working together in the New Year,” Saltsman wrote. “Please enjoy the enclosed CD by my friend Paul Shanklin of the Rush Limbaugh Show.”

Shanklin’s CD, “We Hate the USA,” also contains songs such as “Star Spanglish banner” and “Wright place, wrong pastor.”

Saltsman is refusing to apologize, telling CNN: “I think most people recognize political satire when they see it. I think RNC members understand that.”

Saltsman isn’t the only RNC candidate who has come under fire on race issues. South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson was a member of a whites-only country club until recently, when he withdrew his membership in order to lay the groundwork for his RNC candidacy.

Update Politico's Mike Allen notes that more than 18 hours after the news about Saltsman broke, not a single Republican official has condemned his actions.

Update Today RNC chairman Mike Duncan issued a statement distancing himself from Saltsman: "The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party. I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction."

Update RNC chairman candidate Kenneth Blackwell, who is African-American, also defended Saltsman, saying that "there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race."

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Report: White vigilante groups blockaded small town in post-Katrina New Orleans and murdered blacks

Earlier this week, A.C. Thompson of The Nation revealed that after Hurricane Katrina, white vigilante groups patrolled New Orleans, blockaded streets, and shot at least eleven black men. It “was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it,” said one vigilante. Color of Change is organizing a campaign to tell Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and state officials to investigate the shootings, as “Louisiana’s broken law enforcement agencies have refused to investigate these crimes.” Watch Thompson’s video on his report:

Color of Change is also sending messages to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Attorney General nominee Eric Holder. Sign the petition here.Colorofchange.org

Charles Barkley is right



Most of you know that I love sports. ESPN and all things sports have become a part of my daily life. Take your pick, I love pro and college sports, it doesn't really matter.


But I want to talk about college sports for a minute, and a dirty little secret in big time college football. For those of you who follow college sports, you will know by now that Auburn University fired their successful football coach, and hired a guy who was about to get fired by a lessor known football school, Iowa State. He was about to be fired because even at a non powerhouse program like Iowa State, a record of 5-19 is not acceptable. Gene Chizik might be a good man and a great motivator, but the truth of the matter is that he did not deserve to get the Auburn job. Turner Gill did.

Why Turner Gill? Well, Turner Gill is African American and....Oh here we go, of course, here comes the give it to the black guy speech. No, not quite, this time it's a give it to the best guy who happens to be black, speech. And if I did give that speech, could you think of a better group of people to give it to than the nation's top college Athletic Directors? Consider: Twenty five percent of the assistance in major college football are African American; fifty percent of the players are African American; yet only three percent of the coaches are black. That grades an "F" from the Black Coaches Association. Wouldn't it have been nice if a big time program like Auburn had stepped up to the plate and hired a qualified person of color? Charles was right about his Alma Mater this time. "It’s a comment on Auburn. It’s a comment on the state of Alabama, I just feel sadness because you know what people think of the South and Alabama, things like that. And you just hope that at some point that people are going to say we’re going to change this. Or it’s just going to stay status quo...” ...I look at things from a commonsense standpoint, how do you interview Turner Gill and pick Gene Chizik over Turner Gill?"

And now the buzz is that one reason Gill was turned down, wasn't because he is black, but because his wife is white. Yep, seems jungle fever doesn't play too well at those cocktail parties with those good ole boy boosters. Oh, and we might want to add Florida assistant, Charlie Strong, to that mix. Yep, seems the white wife scuttled his chances as well. Honey I am going on a job interview. Hey, check out this new tanning bed I got you. Oh, and look at this nice wig.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Do you think we could use 9 Billion dollars that went missing in Iraq now ?

The Republicans blocked the auto makers bail out tonight.

The prospects of a $14 billion government rescue of the American auto industry seemed to vaporize Thursday as the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke out forcefully against the bill, effectively ending its chances despite the urgings of the White House.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Mr. McConnell said he and other Republicans had drawn a clear distinction between the Treasury’s $700 billion economic stabilization, which they helped pass in October, and the proposal to aid the American automakers, which he said raised questions about which industries or individuals deserve help.

Wow, the Republicants are so worried about taxpayer money these days I often wonder where they disappeared when 9 billion dollars just vanished in the black hole of Iraq?

Nearly $9 billion of money spent on Iraqi reconstruction is unaccounted for because of inefficiencies and bad management, according to a watchdog report published Sunday. An inspector general's report said the U.S.-led administration that ran Iraq until June 2004 is unable to account for the funds.

An inspector general's report said the U.S.-led administration that ran Iraq until June 2004 is unable to account for the funds.

"Severe inefficiencies and poor management" by the Coalition Provisional Authority has left auditors with no guarantee the money was properly used," the report said.

These knuckleheads are willing to let the auto companies go down in flames, but never lifted a finger when it came to funding Bush's war. For war, there is never enough funding for conservatives, but to help Americans ... Nada.

Bailout Hypocrisy from Oklahoma's Republican Congressional Delegation



Full disclosure, I have worked as an independent contractor in the automotive industry for more than a decade, and have recently relocated to Oklahoma due to the economy,so I may not be entirely impartial.

I'm against bailouts. I don't like the fact that public taxpayer-funded money could go to private companies if said private companies are huge, dying and poorly managed. But I'm warming to the auto industry bailout precisely because the final version of the bill will be dispensing loan money with tight controls, unlike the $700 billion in mostly free money with little control that the House and Senate passed in October. It's also less of a big deal because of the math involved: $19 billion is much much less than $700 billion.

But many Republican senators and representatives don't see it that way. Here's a sampling of the hypocrisy just in Oklahoma:

Senator Tom Coburn:

The labor rates of the Big Three are out of sync with labor rates across the nation and it is unfair to ask American taxpayers to subsidize poor management decisions. The only acceptable Congressional action would be the possibility of guaranteeing loans after labor contracts are renegotiated

Senator Coburn voted yes on the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, which mandated that Americans subsidize poor management decisions.

Representative Mary Fallin:

With our deficit rising and our economy continuing to shrink, cutting every struggling company a multi billion dollar check is simply not an option. The best way to protect American taxpayers is to ask the automobile companies to work through their problems, reorganize their companies and operate by the same rules that other companies and industries have to play by.

Representative Mary Fallin voted yes on the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, which cut many multi-billion dollar checks for dozens of struggling lenders; institutions that now do not have to operate by the same rules that other companies and industries have to play by.

Representative John Sullivan:

Taxpayers should not be asked to reward failure by subsidizing the very business practices that got them into this situation in the first place. Moving forward Congress should focus on helping to rebuild a viable domestic automobile industry through market driven policies, not massive government intervention by nationalizing these companies.

Representative John Sullivan voted yes on the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, which mandated that taxpayers reward failure by subsidizing the very business practices that got lenders into this situation in the first place and created a massive government intervention by partially nationalizing certain companies.

Representative Tom Cole:

Unfortunately, another costly investment by U.S. taxpayers does not guarantee that automakers will reform the habits that caused their current spiral. In fact, a bailout may only encourage the status quo.

Representative Tom Cole voted yes on the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, which encouraged the status quo.