NRA

Other than the fact this little picture doesn't address the line in the Second Amendment that says "the people," meaning a plurality not the individual, this hits home pretty well.

A Short Thought On A Sad Fact

Fact:  60% of College Graduates Do Not Read A Book A Year After Graduating.

How is it that the older generations of Americans say that society is dumbing down?  Easy.  The fact above is one of the ways that it is.  Imagine reading "The Grapes of Wrath" instead of watching the movie.  You might actually have to use your imagination instead of having the picture painted for you.  That use of your imagination could spark another idea or thought that leads to discovery.  Instead we are sloth-like in our habits of allowing others to show us their ideas and thoughts instead of having our own.

A Reflection on the 2012 Presidential Election

This being Veterans Day, I'd like to share one of my favorite Marine Corps boot camp stories. On the third day, we were introduced to our Drill Instructors. The recruits sat on the floor with their knees in their chests, eyeballs glued to the drill instructors as they introduced themselves, one by one. One guy, a Sergeant, came out and started talking about how, in the Marine Corps, there were no "black" Marines, or "white" Marines--we were all just MARINES! This was 1980, the country still identified itself along race lines on many topics--the Supreme Court's Bakke decision was still fresh on everyone's tongue. I'm thinking: "Wow, this is great! No distinctions, no prejudice, just a bunch of Marines! Great!" Then the next thing from his lips was: "We're just 'light-green' Marines and 'dark-green' Marines!"   (SMH!!)   Oh well, so much for that experiment!

I wrote earlier that on Election Day, it took close to four hours to cast my ballot, the longest I've ever taken to vote in any Presidential election I've participated in. Right after the balloting, I posted a few observations from my "eternity" standing in the polling line--some were sincere, some are kinda snarky.

When we got home (a little after 10:00 p.m.), my wife and I didn't have to wait long for the election results, "Uncle Baama" (as one little kid, waiting in line with his dad, kept referring to President Obama) had won easily. In the days prior to November 6, many of my Black friends would send email messages and Facebook pokes about the importance of voting, and often included video clips or photos reminding folks my age (55+) of the dark days of segregation and the fight for voter rights in the South. The emails would be very blunt about how important it was to vote in this election (re-electing Obama) because the "fear" or implied "threat" was we (Blacks) would be forced, by hooded (and un-hooded) thugs, back down the road to the good old days of Sheriff Bull Connor's fire hoses and police dogs, tear gas, warrantless arrests, church bombings, picnic lynchings, and out right murder! The implication was, as Blacks, we had an OBLIGATION to vote to prevent American from again sinking into that abyss. Quite frankly, I was a little offended by the heavy-handed imagery of those messages, mainly because I'm convinced that America has long ago turned the corner on that kind of overt, blatant, institutionalized racial prejudice, bigotry, and race hatred.  I want to believe we are past that.  Sure, there are individuals out there who will always think in those terms, but that's not the majority of Americans, and I did not believe that's where Romney or the GOP were trying to take us this year.   There was no need for concern that if you didn't vote for Obama in 2012, that America would backslide to its days of apartheid.

But I'll be damned if, during the coverage of the election results, many news anchors, guests, and so-called "political experts" (especially on Fox News) weren't actually blaming Romney's loss on race! These people were actually upset that "minorities" had the temerity and the gall vote in the manner and number that they did! I couldn't believe my ears that by voting, we (minorities) were to "blame" for Romney's loss. These clowns were saying crap like:

      - "...the white establishment is now the minority..."

      - "...it's not a 'traditional' America anymore..."

      - "...this is the new America; this isn't your father's America anymore..."

WTF!!   I could not believe I was hearing this!!  Is this America?!?   The thing that saddened and (and pissed me off) the most is the fact that when I look back on it in retrospect, both sides willfully played the race card. It seems no matter what we do or say as a nation, in the end, it all comes down to race! (damnit...) When the heat is turned up, someone's going to shout or whisper or insinuate the "N" word, or the "C" word, or the "S" word, or the "J" word.  The funny thing is, when I was standing in that voting line, there was one other thing I observed that didn't impress me enough to note, and that was the colors of the people standing around me. I was surrounded by people of all colors, races, nationalities, languages, and creeds--a nice "stew" of Americanism.  To keep my legs from going numb, I walked up and down the line just watching folks with my ears falling on this or that conversation. There were whites, blacks, Indians, Asians, Hispanics (or is that "Latinos?"), Arabs, a Russian couple, Africans--it just seemed like "people" to me. It never dawned on me that we were still "black and white" and "minorities and majorities." After listening to the jerks on Fox News, I don't think I want to see a "traditional" America again, but I guess we are "light-green" and "dark-green" Americans.

 

Pity!

An Example Of Why I Am Not A Republican

The following picture is from a member of the Romney Clan.  And I hope that whoever thinks that this is appropriate burns in hell for using our Ambassador's death in a politically crass usage such as this:

Ronna Romney, I hope that you never have to bury someone close to you because they are murdered.  This is because you might decide that you need more blood and use their death for political purposes or you just decide that you like the taste of it, sort of like Dracula.  I have both middle fingers up to the Republican Party for shit like this!

Uncle Billy World Tour

We need a whole lot more of this, and that's definitely the collective we:

Wouldn't it have been wonderful (screw being worried about not seeming Presidential) if President Obama had done this to the Supreme Flipflopper during the debate? Yup, wonderful indeed!

I Have a Yellow Discharge

Thanks, Sarah, for getting to the point in a way even dum basses can understand.

"I'm Mitt Romney, bitches, and I'm all you got left"

This is one of the best, and funniest, pieces I've seen written in a very long time.  It takes someone with the wit and balls of Charlie Pierce to pull it off.  If you don't read Charlie, well you should.  I see his stuff on my FB wall from Esquire.  I'm still LMAO at certain pieces, like the following:

"You think I'm worried that a bunch of cheap suits with BlackBerries are talking smack about me to some political fanzine? Do you think I'm concerned about the good opinion of a bunch of people that we'd have had pushing the snack cart around the sales floor at Bain? Do you think I care about the national ambitions of that zombie-eyed granny starver I put on the ticket? That guy really thinks I mean all that stuff about opportunity and free enterprise. You know what's free about free enterprise? No, you don't, fools, because you... don't... speak... Money. I do, and, well:
I'm Mitt Romney, bitches, and I'm all you got left."

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/romney-speech-after-secret-tape-12824014#ixzz26rui54Hs

So I really encourage you to read Charlie on a regular basis and I'll live you with this additional teaser:  "Put me on a podium in front of an auditorium full of mouthbreathers I wouldn't hire to park my car and I turn into an ice sculpture. But put me in a room with sentient piles of currency"...

And I wanted to share this great political cartoon:

He Said It

"The Democratic Party promises groups of people everything, They want the Hispanic vote, they want Hispanics to be dependent on government, just like they got African Americans dependent on government. That's their game." – Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), during a recent speech in Schaumberg, IL.

I don’t want either Democrats or Republicans to make me dependent on government. I want them to create jobs, and not just the entry-level paying ones that continue to create a deeper chasm between the haves and have nots. I want them to help create ones that pay more so we once again have a thriving middle class.

And what about Joe Walsh’s kids? Since he still hasn’t paid his child support, how are his kids getting by?

The Obama Administration Stirs Up A Hornet's Nest In Declaration That The President Supports Gay Marriage

This is a picture that I put up on my facebook page about 6 months ago.  It is what I believe.  I have gay and lesbian friends.  And it doesn’t seem right to me that something that I believe is genetically decided should be the cause of them not being married.  Well, apparently the North Carolina Constitutional Amendment passing by 20 points has prodded President Obama to publicly support gay marriage.  And that is fine by me.  He needs to come out and tell the public what he believes.  And if the people that don’t believe that gay marriage should be legal because of religious views, then they can criticize all they want, but I don’t see them clamoring to follow the laws set out in the bible.  So that argument seems a little hypocritical to me.  Anyways, here is the transcript for President Obama’s proclamation that he supports gay marriage:

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” he told ABC.

This announcement is a game-changing event in the election of 2012.  Will it hurt or help?  Only time will tell.  But there is one fact that you cannot deny.  Gay marriage is becoming more accepted in America and that at some point in the future, Gay marriage will become the law of the land.  It might not be the next 10 or 20 years, but I would predict within the next 40 years, the anti-gay marriage laws and constitutional amendments passed by many states will become null and void because of Federal statues that say that two people, no matter what sex they are have the right to marry.  And at some point in the future, our descendents will look back at the fights around gay marriage and say that we have evolved and are happy that such backward thinking isn’t around anymore.  Sort of like us and slavery.  Anyways, the next 6 months should be more interesting just because of this announcement.

Cross-posted at An Angry Dakota Democrat

But They’re Just Like Us, Right?

Do you have $990? I don’t need it but if I want to keep up with middle class people like Ann & Mitt Romney I need to buy a $990 Reed Krakoff Audubon silk t-shirt or it’s equivalent.

I don’t care if the t-shirt was donated to the Romney campaign or if Ann actually bought it. I find it insulting when a candidate tries to identify with the middle class and then wears a t-shirt that costs almost as much as my rent.

But don’t blame the Romneys for their latest faux pas. They’re just middle class people like us, right? [/sarcasm]

He Said It

I’d give you the direct quote but it’s better for you to view this video uploaded to YouTube by San Diego mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher, who not only announced he’s leaving the GOP but is embracing his Independence.

Unlike most Republicans running for office, Fletcher served in the military. He also supported ending DADT, which automatically makes him too liberal for the GOP.

San Diego deserves better than the same partisan bullsh*t from the likes of Bob Filner and Carl DeMaio. Fletcher’s currently tied for third place in recent polls, but this move and his track record might give him the boost his candidacy needs.

In the open primary only the top two candidates face off in November. I hope Fletcher is one of them.

He Tweeted It

Rush - As soon as u started losing the big $$ from your hate speech, you caved & obeyed the men who pay u. Who's the prostitute now, bitch? –Michael Moore, via Twitter, March 3, 2012.

I have no comment. I can’t stop laughing!

Sliding Scale

There's a reason why the the political and media right attack Rachel Maddow more than any of the other political show hosts on MSNBC.  Yes, she's the most liberal -- with the possible exception of Dylan Ratigan, they're all liberal obviously -- but the reason why they choose her as the poster child of the liberal media is because she's the one who most has her facts and her act together.  The right has always been very successful at holding someone up and demonizing them, labeling them as something to fear in a successful effort to keep their readers, listeners and partisans from even finding out for themselves what someone stands for.
Many times I've watched her show and felt, like I have with the others, that she's dead right but the difference with her is that she takes you to school and backs it up with lots of facts, evidence and proof.  Watching her first segment two nights ago was a textbook example of this, even more so than usual; but the reason I'm sharing this is because it's a wakeup call.  More often than not her topics of illustration bring to light something even the most informed hadn't thought of or noticed.  Also, there's an excellent interview at the end of the following clip with Maine's Democratic Representative Chellie Pingree regarding this issue and whether she's likely to run for Senator Olympia Snowe's seat.

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

Many of us moderate liberals have felt this going on for some time now.  Now is the time to put a stop to this and, if any, start dragging the center back to the left.
Cross-posted on Inside Zebster

He Said It

"I'm more than willing to go off decorum to ensure THIS MAN is not beatified. Sorry, he destroyed lives. And he knew it." – Andrew Breitbart, commenting on the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), August 26, 2009.

When I heard Andrew Breitbart died this morning of natural causes, the first thing I thought about were some of the things he did. Not only did Breitbart piss on Ted Kennedy’s grave via Twitter, but he also destroyed lives.

Remember Shirley Sherrod? Once upon a time she was the Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture. Then snippets of video showed she said some racist things in a speech and was forced to resign. Then the truth came out – those snippets were taken out of context and when the unedited video was viewed it was determined to be a Breitbart smear campaign. A civil suit by Sherrod against Breitbart is still ongoing.

Remember the heavily edited ACORN videos? Breitbart was part of the cabal that publicized them and later we found out ACORN did nothing wrong – but they were still defunded by Congress anyway.

And people want us on the left to play nice because he left behind a wife and four kids? I don’t blame people for saying some of the cruel things about him today. With the way Andrew Breitbart chose to conduct himself in the media – and with his media empire – he had it coming. And he knew it.

"Red Tails": A WWII Drama

Uncle John in Raleigh, NC 1944

My motive for this commentary is attributed to my father, Private Walter J. Chavis, Sr., and his brother, 2nd Lieutenant John H. Chavis.  My father and Uncle John were members of the famed "Tuskegee Airmen."  In short, they were the Nation's first Black fighter pilots in WWII.  My father was not a pilot--he was a crewman mechanic; but my Uncle was, and was declared missing over Italy while on a bomber escort to Germany on 16 Feb 45, a couple of months before the end of the war.  I never met Uncle John.  I have no anecdotes of him or his exploits, and I don't know what became of him, or if his body was ever recovered.  However, in March 2007, my father was the proud recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, presented (personally) to the surviving Airmen by President George W. Bush. 

When I heard about a new movie about the Tuskegee Airmen called "Red Tails," I was very excited.  I was looking for a movie that would go a few steps further than the 1995 flick ("The Tuskegee Airmen"), staring Lawrence Fishburne.  The 1995 movie went into detail about the prejudice the Airmen experienced before the War Department would "allow" them to actually die for their county.  I was kinda looking for any slight, minor reference that might hint about a pilot named Chavis.  When I heard that George Lucas ("Star Wars") was producing, directing, and funding the "Red Tails" movie, a small "uh oh" went off in my head.

I admit that when I sat down to watch the movie, I was concerned about seeing some 2012 "hip-hoperized" characterization of Black WWII fighter pilots, wearing their pants around their asses, using words like "knowwhatimsaying" and "for shizzle" at every opportunity, and after shooting down an enemy, they'd land, jump out of the cockpit, do a chest bump with their crewman, a flight line "end zone" dance, then look for the sideline camera for a "it's all about me" moment.

I was pleased that I didn't see any of that--not even close.  But overall, I was disappointed with the movie.  The main subplot was more about a love affair between the squadron's best ace ("Lightning"), and an fairly good looking Italian girl.  Not that I had a problem with a Black American airman in 1944 falling for a White woman, but I would have thought SOMEBODY in that small Italian country town might have had a slight problem with it, but no one seemed to object!  Less than 2 minutes after introducing himself to the senorita, he's sitting cozy in the front parlor with her and her mother--she with a warm, welcoming "Do you want to marry my daughter?" smile!  Not long after they meet (a few "movie" days I assume), Lucas shows the pilot waking up in the morning, half naked in the very same front parlor with his underwear-clad girlfriend. 

The only people who seemed to have a race problem were the White bomber pilots and that quickly melted when they saw the courage and skill of their Black fighter escorts.  Somewhere in the movie, they mentioned the problem the Pentagon brass had with using Black combat pilots, but that fact was only barely a key subplot.  Oh, I forgot there was a part when they showed a P-51 (truly a kick-ass WWII fighter plane with a max speed of 487 mph) outrunning (and shooting down) a German Messerschmidt Me 262 jet (max speed 900 mph).  Interesting.  The movie's climax shows the squadron replacing their P-40s with P-51s, then going on one of the biggest bomber escorts of the war--they were supposed to escort the bombers half way to the target, when another fight escort group (presumably White) would take over, but that group "didn't show up" so the Tuskegee Airmen finished the mission...but we never found out how that mission ended!

So, there were a lot of these little nits that bugged me throughout the movie.  The movie wasn't well acted (many of the lines were corny) and during one battle, I half expected to hear: "Use the Force, Leroy!"  They certainly could have better used the talents of Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrance Howard.  But the biggest problem with the movie occurred within the first 10 seconds when the introductory subtitle read: "Inspired by true events."   Inspired by events??  Why not "Based on a true story!?"  After stewing on that fact for a few days, it suddenly dawned on me that "Red Tails" was no more about the history of the Tuskegee Airmen than John Wayne's "The Sand of Iwo Jima" was a biography about the U.S. Marine Corps or a historical account of the battle of Iwo Jima.

It was a piece of film fiction--a WWII drama complete with the obligatory sex subplot, the improbable prison escape, personal redemption, and "good" conquering over "evil" (although "justice" seems to have been glossed over).  A pure drama.  Taken from that perspective, I can appreciate Lucas' effort a little better.  The movie wasn't about the Tuskegee Airmen and it wasn't about my Uncle John.

More Actual Voter Fraud By Yet Another Republican

That isn’t surprising in itself, but what that bastion of virtue, Mitch Daniels did is.  Instead of filling the Secretary of State’s position with a permanent replacement, he appointed a temporary replacement in hopes that the judge will reduce the 6 felony counts to misdemeanors and bring back Charley White, the Secretary of State that was found guilty on 6 of the 7 felony counts.

Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White was convicted of six felonies early this morning, and consequently lost his job.  But the Republican could get it back soon.  White, 42, Fishers, plans to ask a judge to reduce his convictions – all class D felonies – to misdemeanors at sentencing. It’s uncertain whether that move would allow him to reclaim his job.

Damn.  Wanting his job back where he committed crimes is bold.  And he is getting support from the governor of Indiana.

Shortly after White’s verdict was read, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in a news release shortly before 3 a.m. that he has appointed Jerry Bonnet, White’s chief deputy, as interim secretary of state.“I have chosen not to make a permanent appointment today out of respect for the judge’s authority to lessen the verdict to a misdemeanor and reinstate the elected office holder,” the Republican governor said in the news release. “If the felony convictions are not altered, I anticipate making a permanent appointment quickly.”

Holy guacamole batman.  The governor of Indiana is not phased by his Secretary of State committing crimes in office.  So much for accountable government in Indiana.

After about 12 hours of deliberation, a jury convicted White of three counts of voter fraud, two counts of perjury and one count of theft.  He could face six months to three years in prison on each of the counts.  White was acquitted of his most serious charge, fraud on a financial institution, a class C felony.

I hope that the judge keeps the convictions in the Felony column and has this public official sentenced to between 7 and 10 years in the pokey.

This has been cross posted over at An Angry Dakota Democrat.

Drug Test Them Instead

The constant, constant chatter from the right regarding drug testing anyone who receives support from the taxpayers prompts this brief post.  Why is it always so easy to blame the defenseless for something that isn't occurring to veil your contempt for the unfortunate?  Why don't you just come out and say that you don't want to pay taxes for any reasons but most especially for the disadvantaged?
The people who should be drug tested are those who constantly ring this false alarm because they're ignoring the data that repeatedly shows that the incidence of welfare recipients who use drugs is far, far below the percentage of people applying for state and federal jobs who pop on piss tests.  Florida is learning that right now, where I believe the percentage of welfare recipients who've tested positive is 2% and the percentage of people drug tested for other reasons is 7 to 9%.  Welfare recipients want to feed and house their family, and want to get back on their feet and be self sufficient.  There are those wanting to scam the system wherever you look but getting rid of subsidies to Monsanto or getting GE to pay taxes of any kind is much more worth the effort than this old boondoggle.  And don't even get me started on the fact that in Florida the company running the drug tests is a company "formerly" owned by the same Governor who pushed the legislation.
These cries come from the same side of the aisle who claim they want less government, less government intrusion into the rights of citizens and a reduction in government spending.  More money is spent implementing, carrying out and analyzing these programs than the money saved by catching the rare welfare recipient smoking pot.
Cross posted on Inside Zebster