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Brandon Whitney is the creator of Homelandcolors.blogspot.com a blog that focuses on issues that affect the African American community. He is also a frequent guest on News and Notes’ Blogger Roundtable. Brandon has political experience as an Outreach Director for the Democratic Party and is passionate about being a positive force in his community regarding African American issues.  He is also a frequent guest on News and Notes’ Blogger Roundtable. You can read more of Brandon's work at Homeland Colors.

Great Movies Great Books

You can also read Brandon's book and movie reviews at http://greatmoviesgreatbooks.blogspot.com.

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Playing With Fire 

February 11, 2010

Raynard Jackson 

Republicans continue to play a dangerous game of politics that may give them short term victory, but will ultimately destroy their brand and viability.  They are allowing fellow Republicans to enter territory that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. 

Republicans would argue that they can’t “control” what others say and that people have the right to “freedom of speech.”  All this is true, but there is such a thing as enabling a person to engage in destructive behavior.  You don’t have to strike the match that causes a fire to be culpable.  Spreading gas in a building and walking away while someone else lights the match is enough for both parties to be guilty! 

Republicans have indoctrinated Sarah Palin into actually thinking that she has a future as an elected official.  She is an empty vessel that they fill with words that she has absolutely no understanding of.  She is a pretty face, who uses folksy language and one who excites and rallies a fringe element of the party.  No political strategist (Republican or Democrat) takes Palin seriously.  Privately, these people think she is doing more harm (to herself and the party) than good.  She is willingly being used and has no idea of the implications of her decision.  She seeks fortune and fame in exchange for being paraded around the country to give speeches that she can’t explain to anyone. 

She is not allowed to do “real” media interviews and even with friendly interviews, you can’t help but walk away feeling sorry for her.  Take Sunday’s interview with FOX’s Chris Wallace: 

WALLACE: What do you think of Barack Obama's presidency so far?

PALIN: He has some misguided decisions that he is making that he is expecting us to just kind of sit down and shut up and accept, and many of us are not going to sit down and shut up. We're going to say, No, we do not like this..."

WALLACE: Wait, where is — wait, wait. Where is he saying sit down and shut up?

PALIN: In a general — just kind of his general persona, I think, that he has, when he's up there at a — I'll call it a lectern — when he is up there and he is telling us, basically, "I know best. My people here in the White House know best, and we are going to tell you that yes, you do want this essentially nationalized health care system." And we're saying, "No, we don't."

And the messages are not being received by Barack Obama. So I think instead of lecturing, he needs to stop and he needs to listen on health care issues, on national security.

This perceived lackadaisical approach that he has to dealing with the terrorists — we're saying, "That concerns us, and we're going to speak up about it. And please, don't allow this persona to continue where you do try to make us feel like we need to just sit down, shut up and accept what you're doing to us."

This is painful to even read.  So, she said Obama said “sit down and shut up,” but when challenged on it, could not name one time the president said that.  Or her answer when she was on Glen Beck’s TV show. 

BECK: Who is your favorite founder (as in founding father)?

PALIN: You know, well, all of them because they came collectively together with so much diverse.

BECK: Bull crap. Who is your favorite?

PALIN: So much diverse opinion and so much diversity in terms of belief, but collectively they came together to form this union...No, and they were led by, of course, George Washington, so he's got to rise to the top. Washington was the consummate statesman.

Beck is a fanatical supporter of Palin, but yet he calls her answer “bull crap!”   

A final point on Palin and the media.  I can guarantee that most of you have never heard or read about the horrible thing Chris Wallace (FOX News) said about Palin last Thursday on Don Imus’ radio show.

Imus:  When you interview her, will she be sitting on your lap?

Wallace:  One can only hope.

I think this was totally disgusting and Wallace should have been suspended by FOX.  But, more importantly, why did Palin not call Wallace on the carpet for such a denigrating remark?  Where were all the feminist groups?  This is exactly why no one takes Palin seriously.  She will rant and rave about stupid issues like the word “retarded,” but on an issue that all Americans would have supported her on, she says nothing! 

Silliness seems to follow Palin wherever she goes.  Saturday night she gave her long anticipated speech at the Tea Party convention (for a reported $ 100,000).  But, the only thing people are talking about is the fact she had notes scribbled in the palm of her hand.  This, in and of itself, would not have been a big deal, except for it perpetuated the caricature of her as a dunce.  During this speech she railed against Obama using a teleprompter, while she was reading from her prepared remarks (and referring to the palm of her hand during the question period).   

She is a walking contradiction.  These contradictions always become the topic of discussion within the media, thereby taking away from any message she may be trying to communicate. 

At this same convention, former Congressman Tom Tancredo gave a scary, dangerous, incendiary speech that was right out of the 1950s.  In his speech he said, “…people who could not even spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House.  His name is Barack Hussein Obama…..” 

The danger here is that not one Republican official has denounced this speech!  It’s ironic that this speech was given during Black History Month, of all things.  I am stunned that Michael Steele has said nothing, being the first Black to head our party.  I get all sorts of silly emails from his director of coalitions, Angela Sailor, but on a substantive issue like this, she remains totally silent. 

Republicans, here’s a lesson you will learn, you play with fire you are going to get burned! 

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a D.C.-public relations/government affairs firm.  He is also a contributing editor for ExcellStyle Magazine (www.excellstyle.com).

 

Obama Uses the Word "Lie"

By Brandon Whitney

Barack Obama used the word “lie” to describe well…… a lie. He didn’t say people are misspeaking about the bill. He didn’t say they were mistaken. Obama said they were lying. He did this because any other word to describe the oft repeated “death panels” rumor would have been inappropriate. Propaganda un-denounced becomes truth in the minds of those who hear it. We both strike down falsehoods and strengthen true when we bring a lie to light.

Like it or not an elected president is the head of a political party. Obama is the current leader of the Democratic Party. His leadership is required for us to achieve progressive victories, meaning that if healthcare reform, credit card reform, and election reform are to occur he must be the driving force behind it. Many had lost confidence in Obama as the Republicans used repeated lies to get their points across. Perhaps that loss of confidence was unjustified and victory is a bill away.

I still believe that a strong public option will be passed through congress and signed by our president. Hopefully it will be the first of many victories for the progressive movement.

 

 

The Health Debate: Democrats Will Lose in 2010 Without Public Option

By Brandon Whitney

There are senators, and blue dogs, who are under the false impression that they won in the last two elections. They didn’t. In 2006 a failure to successfully run the government and a flock of chickens coming home to roost, such as Iraq, immigrant bashing, etc. lead to the Republicans losing, Democrats just happened to be the candidates running against them. In 2008, the Dems rode the Obama wave into office. The only thing that can truly lead to a Democratic majority of any significant amount of time is the passing of a health care bill that insures all Americans without catering to parasitic health care companies.

Blue dogs are dumb. I don’t say that to be shocking, and I know it makes me seem a bit less classy to put it in those terms, but they are being extremely dense. Many of them are from conservative districts and receive funding from insurance companies. That being the case they feel that they have to cave to the demands of these two demographics in order to be reelected. What they don’t realize is that they putting the nails in their own political coffins. Conservatives are not going to vote for them no matter what they do as long as they have a “D” next to their name. Progressives might vote for them if they have no alternative, but disappointment will repress their votes. All the blue dogs are doing is putting themselves at a further disadvantage.

Finally, Obama is being a little too much like Abraham Lincoln. Old Abe compromised a lot. And while he was probably one of our greatest presidents, he made some mistakes in attempting to be too conciliatory. Obama has to be more aggressive against members of his own party who are attempting to thwart the will of the people. By this I mean he needs to threaten them with political sanctions and let them know he will campaign against them in primaries. He also needs to highlight how extreme the Right is in this battle and his refusal to bow to the will of the corporate elite. Otherwise we will not get health care and if the Dems can’t get it done when they have a majority in two branches of government, why should we vote for them.

Brandon's Trip To Kenya

My trip to Kenya was amazing. My girlfriend and I flew into the country at 7:00p.m. on a Tuesday. In our cramp airbus we were able to see the lights of Nairobi shining up at us in the darkness. The landing was smooth and we evacuated the plane rather quickly. Kenyatta Airport has the look of a building built in the sixties or seventies. We were able to get our luggage relatively quickly as there were men working on the conveyer belt who helped us. We tipped them and headed to the car were we met my girlfriends cousin with whom we stayed. As I walked towards the car I was greeted by and old man who said “Jambo”. This made me realize that I was easily identifiable as American, as Kenyans generally don’t use the term. For the rest of the trip I would learn that rather then a greeting, Jambo meant “I know you’re a tourist so I’m going to try and charge you more”. Riding down the street on the opposite side of the road from the United States, I was struck by how smooth the street was. Most of the Kenyans in the states that I had spoken to told me about how rough the roads were, many of them hadn’t been home for a few years and so did not know that they roads had just been repaved. I grew up in Detroit and now live in Baltimore, the roads in Nairobi were as smooth as these two cities. In fact, for the majority of my trip the roads were smoother than my own home town.

How do I describe Nairobi in a way that will make you see it? If you imagine a large Black run city, such as Detroit and Baltimore, you’ll have a general idea of Nairobi in terms of upkeep. The majority of the buildings seemed to have been designed and built in the middle of the last century. There are palm trees in parts of the city, similar to places in Florida and South Carolina. It was generally warm in the city, although the country tends to cool down in June and July. The city, and all of the places I visited in Kenya, were well built but slightly run down. It’s not as if the country was in bad shape, but merely untidy. People had a tendency to litter, the grass was cut but un-edged, the flowers were planted well but grew somewhat haphazardly. It made me realize just how closely that Detroit, the city of my youth, resembled a developing nation.

Public transportation in Nairobi, and throughout much of the country, was amazing. There are these private buses called matatoos that one can use to get around. It costs less than a dollar to ride one, about 40 Kenyan shillings. They are small Nissan buses that people buy and then use to hire out as public transportation. This is probably one of the most amazing things about Kenya. Everyone I met in Kenya was hard working and enterprising. They were people who, if they were in the United States, would be business owners and probably quite well off. In Kenyan they were just getting buy, but their entrepreneurial spirit created a simple, but efficient bus system. The matatoos are privately owned but have route numbers. This means that you can take the number 12 matatoo from point A to point B. They arrive quite regularly, probably faster than buses in D.C. and are more reliable than the subway in Washington. This spontaneous order of the bus system is awe inspiring. In addition, the owners of the matatoos will often paint them different colors and place well drawn pictures of their favorite hip hop, reggae, and local musicians. It’s an amazing show of creativity and individuality among the drivers of the buses. I have never seen, nor heard, of anything like this before and I wish that some economist somewhere would take the time to study the phenomenon.

 

Obama’s Short Sightedness

President Obama is looking to establish political stability in our country so that he can push through policies that repair our healthcare system and economy. The release of the photos and the prosecution of those who participated and authorized torture will lead to much strife in our nation and may even lead to the failure of some of the issues that Americans are most passionate about. In the interest of peace, Obama is attempting to avoid the issue of torture in by our government. Releasing the pictures and prosecuting those who tortured prisoners would be bad for the country, but ignoring the wrongdoing would be worse.

Obama has shown a tendency to pattern himself after Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a great president, but he made mistakes that echo into the present. When the Civil War began, Lincoln failed to aggressively free the slaves of the Confederacy. In some cases runaway slaves were returned to the rebels as Lincoln attempted to reestablish the Union. This attempt failed. When injustice simmers beneath the surface, peace cannot be maintained. Obama is attempting to form the same negative peace that Lincoln tried, it will fail. Appeasement is a failing strategy; those who have abased the constitution must be punished, not for our own satisfaction, but for the protection of our democracy. While Obama would like to create peace between the far right and left in our nation, that peace must be built on justice, not the compromise of our morality.

There is an argument that torture was justified, I would disagree with that. Grant Morrison wrote a series called “Preacher” in which the main character traveled the country and interacted with people of multiple walks of life. One of the people he met was a former Nazi who was looking for redemption for his sins during the holocaust. In seeking understanding, he asked Jesse, the main character, what one does when the only choices are committing atrocities or death. Jesse replied “You die”. Fear and safety are no excuse for torture. Expediency is no excuse for ignoring torture. We must prosecute all of those who had allowed us to become a nation of war criminals.

 

 

Catching Up With Brandon

Justice Souter

The replacement of Justice Souter should have been the partisan fight of the year, but considering how the Right has been picking a fight over everything from the stimulus bill to the dress code at the Whitehouse, it is unlikely that the fight over the next justice will be as grand as many think. Republicans may have had more of an ability to affect the selection of the judicial nominee if they hadn’t already proven themselves irrationally intransigent. It is unlikely that they will have much of an affect on who becomes the next justice.

Wanda Sykes

Lol. Her jokes were inappropriate; the funniest ones tend to be. But hey, if they didn’t want inappropriate jokes told, they shouldn’t have invited a comedian. They could have had politicians tell jokes, people pretend to laugh, and something unwatchable but they chose funny instead. Her joke about Limbaugh was priceless.

Charlie Crist for Senate

The Republican civil war is becoming heated. Charlie Crist is running for Senate and is probably the wrong kind of Republican for many of the hardcore right. This will likely be good for the Democrats in that much money will be spent on the Republican primary and it is likely to be very ugly. Whoever wins the Republican primary will be thoroughly bruised and many general election voters are likely to be turned off by this.

The Holocaust

The Pope, who as a child was required to be a Hitler Youth, has visited Israel recently and the subject of the Holocaust has been brought to the top of the news cycle. The specific targeting of the Jews by the Nazi’s for “extermination” was a horrible thing. We must never forget what happened there and it is good that the Pope spoke about it. The only problem I’ve had recently regarding the holocaust is this, although the Nazi’s had a particular, and irrational, hatred of the Jews, they were not the only people they killed in the camps. 11 million human beings were killed in the Holocaust, 6 million of which were Jewish. I sometimes think we forget about the other 5 million people were killed by the bigoted Nazi party, and I also think that it is possible to recognize the horrible pogrom against the Jews, while at the same time recognizing those others who were targeted by Hitler without diminishing either group.

 

 

By Brandon Whitney
 

I’m not looking for revenge or justice in the prosecution of the Bush officials who condoned, and encouraged the torture of captured militants. I am not vindictive against the Bush administration; I honestly think most of their mistakes were the result of arrogance and overconfidence in their own intelligence rather than spite. I think all legal steps should be taken to prosecute perpetrators because I am afraid that without a negative incentive in the executive branch for power grabbing and subverting the law, our democracy, or Democratic Republic if you want to be specific, will be endangered.

Democracy requires that the rule of law be obeyed. While I understand Obama’s desire to move forward and focus on our current problems, and sympathize with him for inheriting the mess he has in our economy, environment, and infrastructure, I believe that he is doing us a disservice should he choose not to pursue lawbreakers in the former administration. Every time, in our short history as a nation, that we have decided to move on for the sake of expediency we have paid a heavy price for it.
 

When the founding fathers decided not to face the issue of slavery, and the contradiction it represented in a free nation, their descendents were forced into a Civil War that cost 600,000 lives. When Lincoln decided not to punish the Southern leadership who drove us to war, at no provocation from the North, he was assassinated and Blacks were forced into the Jim Crow system for 100 years. When the Democrats decided not to pursue an investigation against Reagan over Iran-Contra, we ended up getting an administration that believed it could act with impunity.

Due process must be followed. We have reason to believe laws sacred to our Democratic Republic were broken. We have reason to believe that executive power overreached and acted against the best interest of the Republic. If Obama is to remain true to his oath to protect the constitution of the United States, he must ensure equal application of the law to all members of the society. Those who are in positions of power have the ability to cause great harm. Negative incentives must exist if the corruptible are to be prevented from harming our institutions. The rule of law must be adhered to.

 

 

By Brandon Whitney

Barack Obama smiled and shook Hugo Chavez’s hand. Rick Perry flirted with secession. Who is the far right angry and obsessed with? Barack Obama. I don’t really know what Obama should have done in the view of Jingoists. Should he have frowned when he shook Hugo’s hand? Perhaps he should have shoved him and kicked him when he fell to the ground. The foolishness of the right, in light of the real crisis we are dealing with, shows a profound lack of care for the state of our nation.

Rick Perry made a semi-serious argument for separating a state from the country. This he did, because he felt that in the last 100 days the country has gone horribly off course and his liberty is in danger. He believes this because of a 3% tax increase on 5% of the population, a lower tax rate on the rest of us, and a reshuffling of military spending into weapons that can actually be of use in our current wars.

Secession is actually treason. (look it up). Shaking a hand at a diplomatic meeting is…..well diplomatic. I love my country, even when I’m getting pulled over for being the wrong skin tone. I never thought Detroit should secede from the United States when Bush was busy with his many errors and am offended at the implications of Rick Perry. Being a patriot doesn’t mean hugging one’s riffle, waving a flag, or drinking the right beer. It means working for what’s best for your country, even when you are in the political minority.

Brandon Whitney is the creator of Homelandcolors.blogspot.com a blog that focuses on issues that affect the African American community. He is also a frequent guest on News and Notes’ Blogger Roundtable. Brandon has political experience as an Outreach Director for the Democratic Party and is passionate about being a positive force in his community regarding African American issues.  He is also a frequent guest on News and Notes’ Blogger Roundtable. You can read more of Brandon’s work at Homeland Colors.

 

 

Mark Sanford 

If there is justice in the world, people like Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, will get their just deserts. In his case this would mean losing his next bid for governor and being shunned in the state in which he resides. Rather than use the stimulus money to stimulate his state’s economy, he is planning to use it to pay down their debt. In this author’s opinion he is doing this in order to have a chance at running for President. The opportunity cost is the education of many of South Carolina’s poor and disenfranchised.

It is a fascinating phenomenon that many who yell most loudly of America’s greatness, the power of pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps, and the importance of taking advantage of every opportunity are also the first to ignore the importance of education. The right has, thus far, been anti-education for the common American. They have allowed student loan interest rates to go up, they have failed to regulate the relationships between private lenders and universities, and they have failed to fund No Child Left Behind initiatives or set serious standards therein. How can you love America and fail to provide for its future? What can we accomplish as a nation if we are behind our first world counterparts in terms of education?

We are not just failing our children when we don’t fund education initiatives. We are failing our nation. Italy was once Rome. It was once the heart of an empire. In a time when most places depended on a nearby river for a water source they had running water in the city. There was a time when the concrete of Rome, the roads of Rome, and the people of Rome were the envy of all of Europe. Their descendants devolved into region of city states and then a nation that, even to this day, struggles to regain their past greatness. We can become Italy if we coast on past glories and fail to act in ways that will ensure the continued growth of our country. We will not get there by coddling the rich and successful as the extremist of the right want us to do. We have been a socialist nation for decades, as the policies of Bush I, Bush II, and Reagan have turned us into a nation whose government protects the wealthiest of us from hardship by placing the tax burden on the poorest of us. Mark Sanford represents those who care more about the class in which they reside than the nation in which they live. If there is any justice in the world, people like him will find themselves replaced by patriots.
 

 

The Fall of Michael Steele

Mike Steele is in bad shape, but then so is the Republican Party. A party that has been very much unified, but that has used a short term strategy deficient in practicality but heavy in ideology, is on the ropes. Mike has gotten a Republican party that is in the same condition as the nation, battered and bruised. Both Barack and Steele are African American men who received leadership positions after their organizations have been put into precarious positions, the difference is the level of skill and competence level that the men possess.

Barack Obama is a grassroots guerrilla guy. His approach to government is asymmetrical, he thinks creatively and outside of the box. Obama is an imaginative thinker who attacks problems in new ways. Barack is revitalizing American government and Mike Steele, if his approach was similar, could do the same to the Republican Party. He won’t, or at lest hasn’t so far. Mike Steele seems unsure of himself. His attempts at being more inclusive of minorities have been clumsy at best. Mike has be inconsistent in his message, he has appeared weak an ineffectual in his leadership, both because of his apology to Limbaugh for stating his opinion, and because he has yet to hire a staff for the RNC.  He is failing and is probably going to be drummed out of leadership.

As a Democrat, I see the dissolution of the Republican Party and Michael Steele’s failure as an opportunity to push the progressive agenda. However, as an American, I find the destruction of the opposition party, or its return to extremism, to be unfortunate. It is best when the two sides of the debate are moving in a common direction even if they have different ways of getting there. The extremist Republicans vision of America is narrow and self-limiting. It is my hope that the Republican Party reemerge as a useful part of our nation’s political process. Unfortunately, at this point it seems that both Michael Steele, and his party, is sinking into a mire of self delusion and bitterness. Hopefully, the Party of Reagan will reemerge as the Party of Lincoln and political debate will replace the foul and disheartening monstrosity that we have been victim to since the 1994 revolution.

Brandon Whitney is the creator of Homelandcolors.blogspot.com a blog that focuses on issues that affect the African American community.

 

 

Rush Limbaugh for President 2012 by Brandon Whitney

Many are saying that Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. Michael Steele, the current Chairman of the Republican disputed this and said that Rush is simply an entertainer, and then apologized to Rush for his statement. A title does not make one a leader, power makes one a leader. Rush Limbaugh has the power to turn commanding elected officials into Oliver Twist like begging supplicants. I think we are witnessing the collapse of the Republican Party.

Rush Limbaugh has never been elected to any office. He really is just an entertainer. Rush is the right wing angry version of Howard Stern. He doesn’t actually do anything except talk. However, Rush has a following of mostly hard-line right wingers. These are people who show up in Republican primaries, and these are people that many Republican law makers have to please if they want to be re-elected. Here’s the problem for them, the country is not full of hard-line right wingers. People reside all along the political spectrum; the extreme right wing is probably 25% of the population. You can’t win general elections with just a quarter of the voters.

Rush Limbaugh for president is a sign I’d love to see in 2012. It’s unlikely, but I’m sure that if his influence remains strong someone just like him will be the candidate. They won’t have a chance in Hades of winning. Unless moderate Republicans begin to take control of their party, the Party will go the way of the Whigs. After all, no one wants to support a political party who only loves the country when their running it, and whose idea of bi-partisanship doesn’t involve compromise but domination.


 

Republican Wants Hip Hop Votes

Michael Steele, the newly elected chairman of the Republican Party has said that they will apply conservative principles to hip hop settings. I think what the former Maryland Lieutenant Governor is trying to say is that the Republican Party will be trying to get African American’s to vote for them. This honestly makes sense from their perspective. So, me being the strategic thinker I am, feel that perhaps the Democratic Party should go after the Rodeo vote.

Seriously though, Michael Steele is a middle aged African American Republican man. I doubt he has his fingers pulse on the hip hop generation. I’m 27 and I don’t know that I still have as great an understanding as I did five years ago before the I-pod went main stream and discovered Gill Scott Heron. What Steele’s efforts speak to is an attempt to shift the extreme right back into realms where sane people, and voters, live. It will only be successful if the party cuts loose the Pat “assassinate elected foreign officials” Robertson and the Rush “United States of GOP” Limbaugh’s. The Republicans should take their party back.

There was a time, not long ago, when the Republican Party really were fiscal conservatives. They really did believe in individual rights, so much so that they aggressively fought against slavery and for the rights of manumitted slaves. There was a time when the Republican Party had a lock on the African American vote. That was a long time ago. That was before they sold out to the fiscally irresponsible leanings of Reagan. That was before they sold out to the racist, anti-Semitic, and heartless teachings of Pat “Gays caused Aids” Robertson. And that was before being a patriot meant demanding war but not demanding health care for wounded soldiers. If Mike Steele really wants to rejuvenate his party, he’s going to have to do more than throughout out catch phrases.