Virginia is only for lovers if both lovers look the same.

Today my racism chase is taking me to Virginia. The thing about the big R is that it affects all of us both black and white.

In this latest case its latest victim was a gentleman from the majority population. (h/t my twitter fam Robin for this story.)

 "A Virginia couple was shocked to find a police officer in front of their home when they returned from running errands, but they were even more surprised by the reason for the cop's visit-- to question whether or not they were in fact their children's parents.

Joseph, a white man who didn't want his last name revealed, and his black wife Keana told Fox5DC that they were outraged after the policeman told them a security guard at their local Walmart had suspected Joseph of kidnapping his three young daughters.

"He asks us very sincerely, ‘Hey, I was sent here by Walmart security. I just need to make sure that the children that you have are your own,’” Joseph said.
"I was dumbfounded," Keana said. "I sat there for a minute and I thought, ‘Did he just ask us if these were our kids knowing what we went through to have our children?’

The couple, who have been married for 10 years, have a four-year-old daughter and two-year-old twin girls. Joseph had taken the girls to a Walmart near their Prince County home to cash a check and left after spending a short time in the parking lot. After speaking with the officer, they called the store demanding an explanation.

According to Keana, she was told a customer was alarmed after seeing her husband and children.

"Well, the customer was concerned because they saw the children with your husband and he didn't think that they fit," Keana told the news station. "And I said, ‘What do you mean by they don't fit?’ And I was trying to get her to say it. And she says, ‘Well, they just don't match up.’” [Source]

Lord have mercy! And you all wonder why I don't like Walmart.

The Lovings must be turning in their graves.

Finally, if you think that political spin and cover ups are new in this country, read this story and get back to me.

The selective outrage over all things O is amusing to me, because I know the true motivation of his political enemies.

As I have said many times in the past, his presidency is what it is. He may not end up on Mount Rushmore, but he will not go down in history as another Carter, Bush or Nixon, either. The lunatics on the right who are declaring that his presidency means the end of the republic as we know it need to take a serious look around them, grab a history book, and check their motivation for those statements.

The political truce is over.

"The reheated Benghazi "scandal" and other two aimless "scandals" are nothing but political junkie fodder. Neither will end in anything substantial. Collective yawns from the public as the tea party queens flog themselves with their laminated copies of the constitution that they can't read."

~Comment left on Mediaite~

Ouch!

I think we are far enough away from the tragedy in Oklahoma to declare an end to the cease fire when it comes to political s*** talking.

Of course the wingnuts couldn't even wait until the wind stopped swirling to start with their political cheap shots.

"That’s exactly the premise of a tweet that Fox News contributor Erick Erickson sent in the aftermath of the devastation. “I wonder when President Obama will find out about Oklahoma,” ...Erickson went on to scold his critics as humorless and “self-righteous,” even as he tweeted “Confession: I often hesitate to retweet pastors because of the unbridled hate from the hell bound that might then get directed at them.” [Source]

Erickson is a moron and a racist, so his very inappropriate and ill- timed tweet is not all that surprising. 

Bill Bennett, on the other hand, surprised me a bit. I expected a  little more from him. But there he was on his radio show this morning belittling and making fun of the poor people who suffered during Katrina and praising the folks from Oklahoma for their "fighting spirit" and their "patriotic American can- do attitude". [No links, but if I am lying, Bill Bennett is free to try and to sue me.] Bill Bennett, like all those of his ilk, is a sanctimonious dope.

And, as if this wasn't enough,a wingnut politrickster found it necessary to play political games with a national tragedy.

"As of this morning, at least 51 people, including 20 children, are dead in the suburbs of Oklahoma City, following one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history. Rescue teams worked through the night, especially in the devastated city of Moore, and local officials fear the death toll may yet rise significantly. [Update: as of this afternoon, the death toll had been revised down to 24, not 51.]

Ordinarily, so soon after a disaster of this magnitude, discussions about political agendas and ideologies are put on hold, which is why it came as a surprise when one of Oklahoma's U.S. senators staked out a far-right position on federal disaster relief just five hours after the storm hit.

The tornado damage near Oklahoma City is still being assessed and the death toll is expected to rise, but already Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says he will insist that any federal disaster aid be paid for with cuts elsewhere. 

CQ Roll Call reporter Jennifer Scholtes wrote for CQ.com Monday evening that Coburn said he would "absolutely" demand offsets for any federal aid that Congress provides. 

Coburn added, Scholtes wrote, that it is too early to guess at a damage toll but that he knows for certain he will fight to make sure disaster funding that the federal government contributes is paid for.

I've seen many note overnight that Coburn is at least consistent -- there are plenty of politicians who've balked at disaster-relief funds when there's a devastating storm, only to change their minds when their constituents are among the casualties. Coburn, however, has routinely questioned emergency funding for everyone, and apparently wants to apply the same standards to his own home state.

But while consistently is welcome, it doesn't change the questions about unnecessary callousness.

---

For many years, federal disaster relief was effectively automatic -- there was bipartisan support for quickly responding to American communities in their time of need. It was a reflection of who we are as a people -- when disaster strikes, we're there for the people in affected areas, regardless of politics.

But in recent years, many Republican lawmakers have decided to change the standards. Under the new approach, they'll consider emergency resources, but only if Democrats agree to cut a comparable amount from the budget elsewhere. There's no real economic rationale for this, but for much of the right, the ideological rationale is sufficient."' [Source]

Overheard in the Fox newsroom: "Is it safe to talk about Benghazi and the IRS now?" 

Yes wingnut, the truce is over.

 





 

"This is like a war zone", and more ghetto tours.

I have to start this post by saying that my thoughts go out to the people of Oklahoma after those massive storms hit them today. Twisters, my friends, are no joke. They can do some serious damage.


I am just hearing that several students who were trapped in an elementary school were pulled out alive. I can't imagine what the parents of the children who are still missing their children are going through. Some of those parents are trying hard to get to their children but are being held back.

It is times like these that we realize we need the federal government. Hopefully those folks will get all the assistance they need in a timely fashion.

I just saw some videos of the area of devastation again and does in fact look like a war zone. Just wow!

Finally, as our hearts go out to the people of Oklahoma, foreign tourists are invading the Bronx to see what a real American ghetto looks like.

"Foreigners, who are looking to witness from a safe distance, what a “real ghetto” looks like are paying $45 a pop to take a bus tour through the Bronx, and borough politicos are up in arms, according to the New York Post.

Real Bronx Tours are taking mainly White Europeans and Australians on a tour of the Bronx with stops at for photo ops at a food-pantry line, “pickpocket” park, and housing projects.

According to an unnamed patron on the tour, one of the guides, Lynn Battaglia (pictured), from Pittsburgh, poked fun at impoverished areas, describing the South Bronx, in particular, as a crime-ridden borough infested with poverty and violence, which has plagued the area since the 1970s.

At one point during the tour, Battaglia allegedly told the tourists in front of pantry line, “I don’t know what that line’s about, but every Wednesday we see it,” Battaglia told the tourists. “We see them go in with empty carts, and we see them come out with carts full.” [Source]

I have blogged about these types of tours before; this type of thing is nothing new. People will always profit from the suffering of others. It's one of our many flaws as human beings.

Hopefully the good in the human spirit will come out in Oklahoma over the next few days.

Telling "black folks business."

President Obama was at Dr. King's alma mater today, and he had some strong words for the young men there.

Some of you Negroes are saying that he was just having a Sistah Souljah moment at the expense of the Morehouse men, and that he is always airing black folk's dirty laundry when he speaks to a large black group.

I have to respectfully disagree. That message the president sent today was on point and it needed to be delivered.

"Obama spoke in very personal terms to the 500 young men as he urged them to not only become leaders in their community, but also good fathers and good husbands. Obama, who was raised by a single mother and grandparents, lamented the absence of his father in his life and urged the graduates to make family their top priority.
Obama told the Morehouse men they are also obliged to set an example for other black men.

"Keep setting an example for what it means to be a man," Obama said. "Be the best husband to your wife, or boyfriend to your partner, or father to your children that you can be. Because nothing is more important."

What is wrong with what he said? Last time I checked his daddy was a black man, and he wasn't exactly a role model. I am not sure I can blame the president for having some issues with that.

Look, without getting too personal, I work in an area of law that unfortunately has to confront a lot of dysfunction when it comes to families, and I can say without question that not having a good father figure at home is a major cause of problems with families here in my city. I suspect that this is the case all over the country. Asking young African American graduates to go out into their communities and be good family men is exactly the type of message that the president should be sending.

"But Field, why didn't he deliver a similar message to the graduates of Ohio State University? Why doesn't he talk about being a responsible parent when he talks to white folks? Why does he only choose to lecture us? 

Because, as a black man, he has a stake in how we progress as a race.

More than likely one or both of his daughters will marry a black man, and he understand that in spite of his white mother,his place in the American melting pot is with you black folks.

Mitt Romney, as America's president, would not have spoken at Morehouse College (or any other HBCU), and Anne Romney would not have been caught dead speaking at Bowie State University in her capacity as First Lady. (Loved how Michelle Obama went there about black kids thinking other black kids are acting white if they are hitting their books.) So rather than rip the man for telling you Negroes what you need to hear, you need to take stock of yourselves and see why there is a need for him to say it in the first place.

Finally, speaking of black men, I see that the Tea Party has recruited one to run as their candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Unfortunately for them most black folks in Virginia would probably rather vote for the very purple Barney than this guy. Because, quite frankly, he is nuts!

Sadly, this is what happens when you don't know too many black people; you tend to have to pick your friends from a very small pool.   

Umbrellagate is growing.

I am not sure if that picture with the four presidents and their human umbrella holders is a photoshop job or not. And, quite frankly, I don't care.

This "Umbrellagate" thing is getting out of hand. Wingnuts still can't get over the fact that president Obama asked a young white man Marine to hold an umbrella over his head.

"It is against the law and Marine protocol for crying out loud! This Negro done lost his mind!"

I know I know. The word uppity comes to mind.

"Of course, there's no rule against the president acting like a selfish asshole. That just comes naturally to Obama. We used to have dignity in our presidents, especially when George W. Bush was in office. This president is just an egotistical prick."
Some fringenuts are positive that what president Obama did was illegal and they are demanding answers.

Sadly, as is always the case with the black helicopter crowd, they are wrong.

"Yes, the Marines are often forced to get wet while standing outside the White House because they cannot hold an umbrella. Yes, the Marine Corps uniform regulations state a Marine cannot hold an umbrella. But Marine spokesman Capt. Eric Flanagan explained to the Washington Post that, according to Title 10 of the U.S. Code, Marines must "perform such other duties as the President may direct." So when the President asks you to hold an umbrella over his head, you hold an umbrella over his head." 

That's right; even when it's a black president.

"It didn't matter that there's a long history of Marines and Secret Service members holding umbrellas for the President, no matter which side of the aisle they represent. It also didn't matter that there are easily discoverable pictures of Sarah Palin having an umbrella held for her. They wanted to add more headaches to the President's very bad week. But, oh well. So much for Umbrellagate. It had a nice ring to it, too. "

More desperation from the right. Although I can't say that I blame them. Three "scandals" in one week and the man's approval rating didn't even take a hit.

Sorry guys, it would take his Oness having an affair with Kerry Washington to get most Americans to pay attention. That's just how we are built here in these divided states of America.

"A Confederacy of Dunces", and now comes umbrellagate.

It looks like the feeding frenzy around the faux scandal in Washington is causing journalists down there to turn on each other. I swear you just don't know who to trust anymore.

"One day after The White House released 100 pages of Benghazi emails, a report has surfaced alleging that Republicans released a set with altered text.

CBS News reported Thursday that leaked versions sent out by the GOP last Friday had visible differences than Wednesday's official batch. Two correspondences that were singled out in the report came from National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes and State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

The GOP version of Rhodes' comment, according to CBS News: "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation."
The White House email: "We need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly the investigation."

The GOP version of Nuland's comment, according to CBS News: The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda's presence and activities of al-Qaeda."
The White House email: "The penultimate point could be abused by members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings."

The news parallels a Tuesday CNN report which initially introduced the contradiction between what was revealed in a White House Benghazi email version, versus what was reported in media outlets. On Monday, Mother Jones noted that the Republicans' interim report included the correct version of the emails, signaling that more malice and less incompetence may have been at play with the alleged alterations."

Of course we now know that republican operatives fed folks like Jon Karl phony information and he ran with it. How is this for irony? ABC went looking for a scandal and found themselves trying to fend off one of their own.

Only in America.

"What did they know and when they did they know it? That question has been posed to the White House a lot this week — but it should also be put to ABC News, which has been caught reporting as fact emails about the Benghazi controversy that, it turns out, were doctored by Republican aides. There’s no indication that ABC and its reporter, Jonathan Karl, knew the emails were manipulated before reporting them, of course. But the network may run into trouble for overplaying its hand in claiming it had “obtained” emails that, we learn today from CBS News, were actually notes taken by GOP aides being briefed on the emails."

Don't worry Jonathan, there will be a job waiting for you over at FOX NEWS when this is all over. You seem like just their type.

Speaking of the FOX NEWS type, I see that Sarah Palin has denounced the N****r in the White House for daring to ask a Marine (and a white one to boot) to hold an umbrella for him while it rained on his press conference.

O, you are one uppity N****r. No wonder some of these folks hate you.

"The conservative Daily Caller wrote up the incident with the headline, “Obama breaches Marine umbrella protocol.”

“Mr. President, when it rains it pours, but most Americans hold their own umbrellas,” former Alaska governor Sarah Palin tweeted.

“These guys aren’t valets,” one conservative blogger wrote, though he also guessed that previous presidents had done the same thing “because the optics are sufficiently bad that Team O wouldn’t have tried it without precedent to cite in its defense.” Another wrote, “This is the nuclear version of bad optics.” The conservative Move America Forward PAC put out a fundraising e-mail on the subject:

Fundraising off Obama’s umbrella FTW. twitter.com/aseitzwald/sta…
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) May 17, 2013 " [Source]

They are right about one thing, when certain people are looking, it is "bad optics."

This is what is known in certain quarters as pure "hateration". Consider the fact that Sarah Palin herself had someone holding an umbrella for her not too long ago.

Honestly, we knew that there was a serious short in her brain cells, but we didn't think that she had a short memory as well.

The Field comes clean: An open letter to my readers.

Dear Field Hands and friends of the Field Negro:

 

It is with a heavy heart that I write you this letter.

 

I am forced to write it because it would appear that some of you have been right all along about his Oness and all the terrible things that he has done as our nation's 44^th president.

 

Unfortunately, I let the president's race and the historical significance of his presidency cloud my better judgment.

 

I found myself defending him over and over again against attacks that I thought were unfair and were only directed at him because of his race.

 

I failed to look at the cold hard facts regarding his presidency and the things that he has done so far throughout his tenure.

 

Yes, I know that the DOW, Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 keeps chugging along at a record pace, that unemployment has been on a steady decline, and that the budget deficit is shrinking much faster than we expected; that home prices are rising, and, that according to the Fed Chairman, the economy is looking up.

 

I know that he has overhauled the food safety system, expanded the children's health insurance program (CHIP), advanced women's rights in the work place, and ended don't ask don't tell in the military. And I know that he has increased funding for veterans, and reversed the torture policies of the previous president.    

 

I  know that he appointed two pro life women to the Supreme Court, signed into law a fair pay in the workplace bill for women, and that he passed the hate crimes bill and the fair sentencing act as well.

 

I am familiar with his  Obamacare (health care reform after five presidents failed), which, among other things, ended the practice of medical insurance companies denying medical claims for pre-existing medical conditions, and the fact that he signed an executive order which called for tougher emissions controls on automobiles.

 

Then there is that Osama Bin Laden fellow;  I think he killed him (not to mention many of his top lieutenants) , ended the war in Iraq as promised , and that he is withdrawing the troops in Afghanistan.

 

I also know that he bailed out and turned around the auto industry, and that he passed the stimulus plan when the country was on the brink of a total financial disaster. Oh, and he also recapitalized the banking system, kicked banks out of the federal student loan program,  and expanded Pell Grant spending.

 

But still,  I understand that in spite of these things, he pales in comparison (no pun intended) to the great presidents who came before him.

 

I should have recognized the obvious and not have been in the tank for this man.

 

 

I hope that you all will accept my sincerest apology.

 

Your humble servant,  the Field Negro.  

One of the real scandals in Washington.

Conservatives are about to find out that it's not only those poor Negroes in urban areas who depend on food stamps.

 

My experience has taught me that quite a few working head of households, college students, and hardworking families who are trying to make ends meet in America depend on food stamps as well.

 

Yes, there is fraud, but show me an area of society where there isn't fraud. I guarantee you that if we were to put a microscope to some of these politicians passing these draconian laws against  people they consider powerless we would find that their milk isn't exactly clean, either.

 

This is one of the real scandals in Washington that no one is talking about.

 

Speaking of politricksters in Washington, the clowns from both sides of the isle were in full finger- wagging mode today.

 

Good for Eric Holder for at least wagging back.

 

These hearings today involved the AP scandal, which, by the way, is the only one of these scandals that I consider serious--- or will even pay attention to.

 

This IRS "scandal" is a joke. Why? Because as I have been saying for the past few days, there is nothing to see here; been there done that.

This is selective outrage on the part of the clowns in Washington and the corporate media whores who have to drive their ratings.

 

No wonder O had to talk to the nation this evening to calm their fears. I just wonder where this outraged media was for all those years when Bush was in power and investigating churches, black organizations, and liberal groups. (Just ask Eric Dyson. Bush and his boys went after him five years in a row. FIVE!) I  know that I am starting to sound like a broken record, but I think I will keep playing this tune until you all at least catch the lyrics.

 

"We'd have every major liberal newspaper in America calling for investigation ending in impeachment. It'd be leading the evening news. We'd have have every group that had liberal or progressive tendencies demanding answers and marching on the White House. And leaders of Congress, Democrats in Congress, demanding to have answers. It'd be a nightmare at the Bush White House had this been done on our watch."

 

Mr. Rove, with all due respect, it was done on your "watch", and you seem to be sleeping pretty well these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

The big overreach.

You [right]wingnuts might want to hold off on the impeachment party for the "Socialist" in the White House. I mean just when you think that you will finally get to see that Negro hold a press conference, put up a peace sign, and ride off into the sunset; it turns out that lady luck is smiling on him once again.

Anyway, it looks like the man in charge of allegedly targeting those Tea Party groups at the IRS was a W appointee. (Oh, and memo to Marco Rubio: there is no IRS Commissioner, that position has been vacant since November.)

"Oh Field, there you guys go blaming Bush for everything again"

Yes, and he makes it so easy for me.

But again, this all begs the question: Why is this even a scandal when W and his people were targeting the NAACP and other liberal groups with the heavy hand of the IRS when he was holding the hammer? The Tea Party apparently rejected an apology from the IRS; I would like to know why they (the IRS) even apologized to them in the first place. I certainly don't think the NAACP or Greenpeace got any when W was slapping his political enemies around.

Here is something you wingnuts and your friends might need to understand. If you are a political action group (such as the Tea Party)you cannot get 501(c)(4) tax-exemption status for your group. The IRS will target you if they believe that you are breaking these guidelines. These wingnuts crying a river over the government targeting should take a ticket and stand in line.

"Reuters has obtained part of a yet to be released report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) that confirms that the IRS was targeting groups on the left and right who focused their activities on advocating for expanding or limiting of the size of the government. The report also states that the screening process was not influenced by the Obama administration, and that none of the groups screened were denied tax exempt status.
Without the claims of a partisan witch hunt against conservative groups, this latest Republican fueled Obama scandal is set to lose all of its sizzle.
The real reason why Republicans are desperately trying to drum up a scandal here is because they don’t want the IRS forcing their dark money groups to pay taxes. The IRS is threatening their Citizens United fueled political slush fund, and Republicans want it to stop. Republicans are trying to bully the IRS into backing off.

It turns out that Obama isn’t Richard Nixon after all. He wasn’t using the IRS to attack his enemies. In their own bungling way, the IRS was trying to deal with the problems caused by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. First, Benghazi crashes and burns, and now the IRS scandal could be fading fast."

Oh yes, Benghazi, the places where almost half of you black helicopter tin foil clowns can't find on  a map. Well, as it turns out, those leaked e-mails were apparently edited to make the Socialist in Chief look bad.

"Turns out the press got played again by Republicans. Jake Tapper has the smoking gun of the original email from the Obama administration which differs significantly from the “leaked emails” ABC ran with.

In an exclusive for CNN, Tapper reveals that CNN has the original email sent by a top Obama aide, regarding the administration’s reaction to the Benghazi attacks. Tapper reported, “The actual email differs from how sources characterized it to two different media organizations.” [Source]

I bet republicans all have very long arms.

Finally, on to a more serious subject: The urban terrorist terrorizing the hard working people of New Orleans.

19 people were shot at a Mother's Day parade, and the national press treated it as if it was just another one of those unruly young Negroes living out his gangsta fantasies here in America.

Two monsters cause death and mayhem at the Boston Marathon and they shut down a major American city and there is 24 hours cable news coverage about the incident. This was "terrorism", what happened in New Orleans was not.

Tell that to the poor people who live in that neighborhood or who went to that parade.

The FBI quickly issued a statement saying that this was not a terrorist act, and we could all just get on with our lives now. Nothing to see here America. Just Negroes in the hood being Negroes. You can all go back to pursuing happiness.  That is until the real terrorists strike again. (Shout out to Greg Fuller for this story.)

Melissa Harris Perry lives in that neighborhood, and along with the wonky Chris Hayes she tried to bring attention to the double standard when it comes to the mainstream media.

"You know, I thought that line, I want to ask you what you make of that line,” Hayes said. “This was street violence. I saw this on social media. Shooting in New Orleans. And then it was like, oh, oh, oh. That’s just, you know, gang-bangers in New Orleans, probably a black neighborhood, you know, that’s just life in the big city. Street violence isn’t terrorism, it’s not terrifying, it’s not terror that is being visited on people every day.” [Source]

Wrong Chris. "Street violence" is terror, and it's being visited on people every day. Maybe not the people in America that most Americans care about, but they are people, and they are Americans, and when they are terrorized it needs to be highlighted just like it is with the people of Boston.

Just a "flaw" in our history, Washington's real scandal, and hide your peacocks in Illinois.

It is always interesting to hear how some people in the majority population want to whitewash (pun intended) history when they talk about slavery.

 

Take for instance the conservative gentleman on Bill Maher's HBO program on Friday. He dismissed Joy Reid calling out the imperfections of the America Revolution because slavery was just "a flaw" in a grand experiment.

 

Now if you happen to be black or a descendant of one of these slaves, I dare say that you think that the atrocities committed against slaves was a bit more than just "a flaw". It was a crime against humanity, and it should never be forgotten, or white washed and minimized by 21^st Century talking heads and pseudo historians.

 

"Republicans love talking about slavery if they can somehow accuse President Obama of being worse than it, but when it comes to recognizing the historical significance of actual slavery… well, not so much. On Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher, a great example of this was on display when MSNBC contributor and Managing Editor for TheGrio.com Joy Reid mentioned slavery to refute the argument that the American Revolution was somehow exemplary, in comparison to the Arab Spring, and National Review writer Charles Cooke called the reference a “cheap shot,” opining that slavery was a “flaw” that rendered the Revolution “imperfect.”

 

Host Bill Maher was arguing that the Middle-Eastern dictatorships that have been overthrown during the Arab Spring are being replaced by Muslim theocracies, which, he argued, “are dictatorships themselves, aren’t they?”
Cooke responded that Americans “have a problem thinking about this” because “the revolution that happened here was great, and very rarely is that the case in the world.” 

Cooke responded that Americans “have a problem thinking about this” because “the revolution that happened here was great, and very rarely is that the case in the world.”

He explained, “You have this revolution in America in which the British fight the British, and then they codify classical liberal values in a constitution, and it’s great,” adding that in “normal” revolutions, “there’s bloodshed, and it’s horrible.”

Joy Reid countered that “The revolution in the U.S. was great, unless you were a slave, and there was a war in which 600,000 Americans had to die to make it better.”

“So, revolution isn’t always great,” Joy continued, “in the French Revolution, you had beheadings. Revolutions are messy, so if you want people to have democracy, it can be messy, right?”

“The slavery point, I think, is cheap,” Cooke responded.

“You mean the revolution in the United States that produced a government that included slaves, that included enslaved Africans, its a cheap shot, to include that in the narrative?” Reid asked. “Í mean, that is part of the narrative.”

“No,” Cooke replied, “the point is that of you’re looking for perfection in the 18th Century, you’re not going to find it. What the Americans did was a massive step forward, it wasn’t perfect, it was resolved in a civil war that was bloody and awful, but if we’re going to write off the greatest revolution, the greatest constitution in world history because it was imperfect and it was flawed.." [Source] 

Come on now Ms. Reid. That's only a part of the "narrative" if you happen to be one of those black racist troublemakers. Remember, as my twitter fam Jaru said, here in America "we never use historical facts in an argument".

Speaking of facts, that is something that is not too popular in Washington these days. But there are a lot of so called "scandals" swirling around that town. We all know about Benghazi, and the Tea Party IRS beef (I am still trying to figure out why the lamestream media didn't jump on the IRS when W and his crew were targeting the NAACP), but sadly,the biggest scandal of all in Washington has been ignored by the willfully blind and ignorant here in America.

"Want a real Washington scandal — one worse than the (phony) Benghazi scandal and the (apparently real, but apparently limited) IRS scandals combined? Try the continuing, and possibly accelerating, obstruction of executive branch nominees by Senate Republicans.

Don’t think it’s a scandal? It’s pretty basic: Republicans, by abusing their Constitutional powers, are — deliberately, in several cases — preventing the government from carrying out duly passed laws.

The New York Times yesterday highlighted two of the more recent ways that Republicans have manipulated loopholes in Senate rules to delay confirmation of Secretary of Labor nominee Thomas Perez and Environmental Protection Agency nominee Gina McCarthy. It’s worth stepping back and realizing: what’s happening here is that Republicans are delaying these nominations beyond their eventual insistence that almost all nominees must get 60 votes. In other words, they’re filibustering on top of their own filibusters. 

That’s just two examples. There are numerous others; again, with virtually all nominees required to have 60 votes, one can accurately say that Republicans are filibustering every nomination. But perhaps the worst are the “nullification” filibusters, in which Republicans simply refuse to approve any nominee at all for some positions — the National Labor Relations Board, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — because they don’t want those agencies to carry out their statutory obligations.

In doing so, Republicans are not breaking the rules of the Senate. They are, however, breaking the Senate itself, and harming the government." [Source]

Yes, but nobody cares about "harming the government" if the Socialist with the Kenyan father is in charge of it.

Finally, there are some truly sick people in the world. As a social Libertarian I strongly believe that folks should be able to do whatever they want to do in the privacy of their own homes. Especially if they are two consenting adults. But a bird????!!!!

I mean I agree that a peacock is a beautiful animal, but I am not looking at a peacock and thinking I want to get my freak on.

   

" A Roselle, Ill., man was charged with animal cruelty after police investigating another crime discovered that he had sexually abused his pet peacock.

 

David Beckmann, 64, was booked at DuPage County jail on Wednesday on separate charges of battery and attempted indecent solicitation of a child, the Daily Herald reported."

 

Lord have mercy! Not even our Peacocks are safe in society from these sickos. [Story]

 

 

 

  

 

The tax man cometh for the Tea Party, and Darrel's pants is on fire.

What's all the fuss about the IRS targeting the Tea Party? S**t happens with the IRS. Just ask Wesley, Lauren, and Redd. And I know that they allegedly broke the law and the Tea Party did not, but I didn't hear folks making a fuss when W's IRS targeted the NAACP back in 2004. Besides, anytime you can make Mark Levin miserable that's a good thing.

"The Internal Revenue Service is auditing the NAACP, scrutinizing the nation's oldest civil rights group after its chairman gave a stinging criticism of the Bush administration in a speech this summer.

Julian Bond's July 11 comments at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's convention in Philadelphia chastised President Bush for being the first sitting president since Herbert Hoover not to address the group.

Bush declined the group's invitation to speak, while Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry accepted.

In a letter dated Oct. 8, the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Division informed the NAACP's national office in Baltimore of the investigation.
The letter said the probe was limited to " ... whether or not your organization has intervened in a political campaign. ... "
Bond said yesterday that the audit was "an attempt to silence the NAACP" right before a tight presidential election.

"They are saying if you criticize the president we are going to take your tax exemption away from you," he said. "It's pretty obvious that the complainant was someone who doesn't believe George Bush should be criticized, and it's obvious of their response that the IRS believes this, too."
In a statement, IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said the agency could not comment on activities involving specific tax-exempt organizations, but he rejected Bond's claims.

"Any suggestion that the IRS has tilted its audit activities for political purposes is repugnant and groundless," the statement said.

The IRS letter states that Bond's speech "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush on education, the economy and the war in Iraq."
The letter goes on to note that the NAACP's 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status prohibits "directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office."
Tool of both parties

Bruce Payne, a lecturer in public policy at Duke University, said administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have used the IRS to harass political opponents." [Source]

Nothing to see here folks, move along.

Finally, Darrel Issa has been implying that Hillary and the White House has been lying and covering up about the B word. But  guess what; we know that he is a liar.

"An exchange on Sunday morning’s Meet The Press illustrates how even the most subtle distinction can carry heavy political undertones. In discussing this week’s hearings on Benghazi, Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA) asserted that Ambassador Thomas Pickering, who led the Accountability Review Board on Benghazi, “refused to come before our committee.”

Amb. Pickering jumped in to correct him, saying “That is not true,” and telling host David Gregory that “I said the day before the hearings, I was willing to appear, to come to the very hearings that he excluded me from.” [Source]

Nothing "subtle" about what Mr. Issa was doing; the man was lying plain and simple, and props to Ambassador Pickering for calling him on it.