Ten Ways Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are more alike than Different

There are just a few months left before the November Presidential elections. The choice has been mad for many in the simple terms of Democrat or Republican and Obama versus Romney. However, what is not known to most is that these two individuals actually are more alike than different.  We know about the basics: that the both like Star Trek, attended Harvard Law School and the Television situational comedy Modern Family, but they are just as alike from a policy perspective.  The following are ten examples in which they are more alike than different.

1. The signature legislative accomplishment of Obama which Romney has said he will repeal and replace “ObamaCare” was “RomneyCare,” which was the model for The Affordable Care Act.

2. Both wants to expand federal spending on Medicaid to help each state cover residents who cannot afford health insurance.

3. The big Wall Street Banks who received TARP bailout money that were top Obama donors in 2008 are top Romney donors in 2012.

4. The Obama Administration has yet to prosecute a single Wall Street executive for malfeasance related to the 2007 – 2008 financial crash. Wall Street’s aforementioned donation patterns make for a compelling conclusion: A Romney Administration would be no different.

5. Both oppose a full, annual, transparent, audit of the Federal Reserve’s finances and activities, suggesting the need for “Fed independence” from Congress.

6. Both would like a Value Added Tax as a potential fiscal policy solution and support international cap and trade policies via global carbon regulatory treaty and are both supporters of strict gun control measures.

7. Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney prioritize “reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” pursuing alternative energy sources, and setting regulatory efficiency standards as part of federal energy policy.

8. Mitt Romney also supports the continued raids and prosecution of medical marijuana dispensaries (and even patients) that have characterized Obama Administration as well as Bush-era policy on medical marijuana.

9. Neither Obama nor Romney has military experience and both support the Bush era doctrine of preemptive war.

10. Neither Romney, nor Obama have offered a plan of detailed, substantive spending cuts to the out-of-control federal budget.

These are just ten ways.  I could go on and speak of how they both support executive line item vetoes, support continuing drug prohibition and the forty-year-old, Nixon-era War on Drugs, the legitimate power of the president to execute American citizens by “targeted killing” done in secret without charges or trial, support the controversial practice of extraordinary rendition, and their mutual support for support the warrantless wiretapping of the Bush-era USA Patriot Act. The truth is outside of ethnicity, religious faith and party, they are the same

The Illusion of Economic Recovery

They say that the economy is growing and that we are in the midst of an economic recovery, but as I look at my neighbors who are losing their homes and the parents in the PTA who are under-employed and looking for full-time employment, I must admit I do not see or feel it.

I figure Obama and the democrats have to say such to make themselves look good. Likewise, the Republicans have to intentionally imped programs and the efforts of the President to make him look bad. Regardless, the view from the ground level remains one of wealthy politicians bickering like caddy nanny goats. Charlie Brown’s sister Sally said it best in “The Great Pumpkin”…”You elect them then they weasel out of their promises.”

Maybe we get what we deserve. We have been on this trajectory since Nixon accepted the Britton-Woods agreement, removing American from the Gold standard and an asset based monetary system. Now artificial asset bubbles are retro chic and occur everywhere we look in our economy. That’s what happens when one has no asset to back paper. All the government has to do when they are short on cash and need to pay someone is print as much paper money as needed, borrowing more and more and growing more debt (something us regular folk cannot do) creating an environment where everyone from the Government to the Banks accrue debt to capitalization ratios, like MF Global of more than 30 to 1. USB for example is leveraged at 50 to 1.

The question for remains how can one assert that there is an economic recovery occurring in the United States presently and even worse, how can anyone that can do basic math accept this premise? Especially after the credit and derivative based, over leveraged bubble economy we have just experienced that resulted in the financial meltdown in 2008? I cannot put this at the feet of Obama singularly seeing that Republican don’t even have nor have proffered any leadership for improving the economy on anything from the need for state regulation or tax reform, albeit the Democrats especially Obama seem to always cave-in in practice what they dare not abnegate in dictum.

Likewise is the hypocrisy of the GOP, which is on center stage with Mitt “anybody but” Romney. He points fingers at china but seems to ignore the fact that in that nation, spending represents 23% of GDP compared to the United States with 44%. Romney is quick to also say that we are down a path to being like socialist Europe although Germany level of government spending accounting for 48 percent of GDP. In other words that by his logic our goals is heading towards Europe when the facts suggest we are competing with China and playing catches up. He claims that in order to succeed and grow the economy that he will cut spending and balance the budget and lower taxes, which is funny in itself given what we know about our dysfunctional government.

First, the reality is that Obama and Romney are lying out the sides of their necks. On the one hand none of what is being done or said by either can lead to economic growth or a recovery sufficient enough for stable growth in the next decade. It is not the people (although we do have a minor role) the real problem is corporate welfare in the form of state and federal aid to the folk who already have the money and not the folks at ground zero. Yes the Americans with the most loot and corporations have redistribution and shifted wealth and income in America from the middle class to the uber rich and been doing so in plain view since the end of the Regan era. Yet the Republicans claim class warfare on behalf of the Obama Administration and the Obama Administration say he is for Main Street when his actions exhibit otherwise. There is a reason again why The United States has more government debt per capita than Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland or Spain. Not to mention that total consumer debt rose at an annual rate of 9.3 percent in December. It is now sitting at a grand total of 2.498 trillion dollars.

Let us examine American International Group, Inc. (AIG). This week AIG with the assistance of the Bush and more so the Obama administrations, reported $19.8 billion in profits last quarter. This the result of a tax break consequent the Treasury Department for AIG and a few other major corporations that helped create the financial crisis of 2008 that exempts them from its right to employ using net operating losses (NOL).

What the past few administrations, the present one and the GOP Presidential contenders are doing is Machiavellian – hiding the truth about how bad our economy is. The unemployment rate today is computed differently from the way it was in 1994. Back then, people who stopped looking for employment and the underemployed—folk who want to work full-time but cannot—were still counted in the numbers. Now they do not. Yet drop in unemployment rates are reported when in reality the US Government measures unemployment using a survey and sample of approximately 110,000 individuals and not number of persons claiming unemployment benefits.

Folks are right when they say there is limited difference between The President and Romney. Both promote economic policies that tighten the association between larger corporations and government. We all know for example that Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel was once a partner at Goldman Sachs and that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who now advises the President on Health care reform, is a well-paid lobbyist for the health-industry. Then there is the observation that the Obama administration talks a god game against corporatism, the problem is like Romney the facts state otherwise – at least Romney admits he believes “corporations are people. “Washington has and always will subsidize big industry and provide loot for their research.

Obama knows this and this is probably why General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt Started a PAC to collect money from its employees for candidates “who share GE’s values and goals” of which Obama got more than any other politician. Immelt was appointed to Obama’s economic recovery board and eventually was named to head his Jobs Council (although it continues to ships jobs abroad). His company stands to make a mint on its investing in “carbon offset” assets if the Obama administration institutes its cap-and-trade energy plans via, HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. If passed, GE will get “incentives” to sell energy-efficient appliances ($75 for each dishwasher sold until 2013 and $200 for each refrigerator) that will make it a bundle.

Romney by the same token is no different. He talks the same game. His tax cuts from what I have read and worked out will result in more than $500 billion in lost revenue over the next decade if he is elected, meaning he will balloon the deficit even more than Obama – Greek economic mathematics revisited if you ask me.

All I am saying is that what they say is an economic recovery to me is an allusion, a penumbra of false light. Alexander Hamilton wrote The Federalist No. 85 for a reason - that is possible for wealth to corrupt and result in a central government that is too powerful that serves the elite at the expense of the many. The republicans and the democrats, as articulated through their economic policy don’t see to get this. Obama or a Romney will still continue programs like the why H1-B visas, which are provided for foreign workers in areas such as engineering, when folk like one of my neighbors, a chemical engineer can’t find a job. In general because they cannot problem solve or accept that neither fiscal austerity nor monetary stimulus will work because neither targets nor deal with limiting inflation or increasing employment. Instead they focus on nominal GDP growth, which will get more US citizens to get more and more in debt, which only make things worse.

All while China sits on the side line, with about $2 trillion dollars of our debt, that may eventually depreciate in value because eventually we going to have to deal with the possibility of runaway inflation in a time when it will become more difficult to borrow. We see and feel it o the ground but I doubt Romney or Obama have bought a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread lately. In the “Dunciad”, Alexander Pope wrote “Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall,
And universal darkness buries all.”

That us the way I see things now. Like I said, they say that the economy is growing and that we are in the midst of an economic recovery, but as I look at my neighbors who are losing their homes and the parents in the PTA who are under-employed and looking for full-time employment, I must admit I do not see or feel it.

Free in name Only

When December 22, 2012 comes around, if I am fortunate to still be here that is, I will be 50. And I almost hate to say it albeit I must, the cadre of writers and intellectuals who happen to be of African descent living in America are insipid disappointments. Many unfortunately are poorly read, self absorbed and even oblivious to the observation that theirs is a banal and mammonistic existence of being free in name only. They tend to write for an assortment of publications including but not limited to “The Root,”, “The Grio,” “Bossip”, "Newsone" and other websites and topically attend to address at the moment issues Ad nauseam that truly have limited if any benefit to the empowerment of our community.

The topical political locution of writers of such publications often is directed singularly on talking points that decussate between the protection of President Obama and the democratic party or intemperate attacks of all in opposition to the President or the democratic party, while ignoring addressing liberty and justice and intellectual empowerment for the collective masses rooted in objectivity and truth - which should be our singular goal.

For example, I would speculate that if you go across any mainstream, popular African American content dominated news site we at the moment would see an inordinate number of articles on Whitney Houston, Barack Obama, Jeremy Lin, Bobby Brown, something on the democratic party, Republicans in Congress, the Tea party or some Rapper – most likely Drake, Jay-Z, kanye West, Niki Minaj or Lil Wayne. Maybe even a little Beyonce baby or a little on Black history month.

No where will the content discuss the implications of what is going on in Syria, the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis, or how globalism impacts us directly. As stated prior, we do talk of government and democracy but only insofar as it regards our blind allegiance to the democratic party and shield President Obama. Rarely will we dispassionately, examine the historical neglect that the democratic party, since 1964 from Mondale and Lyndon Johnson to Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy has incessantly displayed toward us collectively. It is convenient for us for example to applaud what Lyndon Johns Did in 1965 while forgetting that he allowed the Dixiecrats to override the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party and said that he would not protect African Americans while exercising their right to register to vote. We venerate the democrats yet forget that no democrat voted for the 14th amendment and that then Senator John F. Kennedy – with an eye on the Democrat presidential nomination for 1960 – voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

In my purview, our actions or inaction is equal too and just as dangerous as the actions of an E.H Hurst (look him up) and we too are producing Herbert Lee’s each and every day by not engendering the desire for critical thinking and problem solving for the collective betterment of our people. I have no problems with people being supercritical of what I write for I agree with Malcolm X, “If you have no critics you'll likely have no success.”

We have no idea of our place in the world or that our struggle is really in its infancy. I really do wish those under me could have experienced just one day of being born in segregated America, just one day of seeing national Guards on your street in front of your house with machine guns on jeeps telling you not to play in your own front yard the day Dr. King was murdered, or the day my mother and her sisters and brother went downtown in Memphis to vote, coming back home smiling with my uncle saying he was only spit upon one time. I wish they could now what it feels like to have grandparents with no formal education stress the importance of education and describing reading and knowledge itself as a revolutionary act: reminding us of what it had taken just to get to where we were then.

Our writer and presupposed quasi-scholars under those of my generation that many in the world who rule both the political and corporate spectrums prefer for the masses, especially African Americans and minorities live as we do: materialistic, wasteful and without a desire to hold education as the greatest good and equalizer of all. They abide by what was written by Michel Crozier , Samuel P. Huntington , and Joji Watanuki in 1975, sanctioned by the Trilateral Commission in their book “The Crisis of Democracy” the belief that American democracy is sick with “democratic distemperment” because of too much participation in democracy by groups like African Americans, women and other minorities.

What we have now is not democracy but rather the participation of the elite and in government. Real democracy includes all, the poor, the downtrodden, the share cropper and the lame. In America, this is not the reality although those with black kin and white mask would argue otherwise, just because a man of African descent is in the Whitehouse. And dont talk about Obama, or draw a picture of him like an ape, or fire Roland Martin, or any thing of this nature - us black folks will come after you like you beat our momma. But never will we be as vehement about the fact that just 41% of Black men graduate from high school in the United States or that 69% of Black children in America cannot read at grade level by the 4th grade, or that only 11 percent of African American students are identified as proficient in math by high school compared to other groups, or that the net worth of Black families is $5677 compared to $113,149 for White families – all things which we can control. But dont talk about our president and please let us see Michael Jackson's and Whitney Houston;s funeral and a picture of Blue Ivy.

Yes our writers, intellectuals, scholars and leaders have failed us, they do not represent us, for they for the most part are disconnected with our history and have no knowledge of liberty, for as it was once written, “Ipsa scientia potestas est….Knowledge itself is power.” A truism that we obviously have forgotten along the way seeing that we will write on end about the death of a Whitney Houston but mention not one word of the death of a Patricia Stephens Due that happened the same week. As Martin Luther King spoke so eloquently, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Yes, we as a people are Free, but in name only.

Congress has No Job Plan and Obama’s Job Speech: No Substance- No Peace

When I started High School in the tenth grade in Memphis in 1977, my homeroom teacher Dr. Meyer’s was also my economics instructor. Although a public high school, at least a third of my teachers had PhD’s. In his class, according to him I did so well that he suggested I take another economics class as an elective albeit he knew I was concentrating in math and science classes. Thus via a flip of a coin I took microeconomics over macroeconomics. Herein this essay begins, upon a reading of the President’s job speech.

I have come to accept as abstruse as it may seem for some to grasp, that the plausible allure for present day politicians regardless of race, gender and political affiliation, must either be the ability to lie or the scarious inability to see a truth in order to tell it like it is. All because it is clear they do not want to tell us the truth about the nation’s current economic conundrum – that it has taken decades to create this problem, that there is no easy solution out of this mess, or worse that they intentionally vitiate solutions because they have no answers because they have no answers and lack the scrotum to say honestly it will require decades to get out of this mess, that it will be hard and that Americans will have to tolerate difficult times and live within our means to do so.

Telling the truth, no matter how saddening or worrisome lost on politicians even Obama. Not to mention it is difficult for a class of millionaires like Washington, DC politicians the pains economically us regular folks feel. Factually since 1960, there has never been a time in which four straight months of stagnate job growth as we have just seen has never manifested without a recessionary period to follow. Yet politicians on both sides of the aisles quip they have answers and solutions to solve this problem in the immediate future – a bold face lie. They say the recession is over, that we will not experience a double dip recession and that the nation is not in a depression – a bold face lie.

Now as for the President’s speech, it was passionate, but passion and great subject verb agreement does not amount to substance. I disagree with GOP stalwarts who assert a joint session was not the place for such a speech under the auspices it was not an urgent situation. But as I stated prior, for people who are not wealth like most inside the beltway politicians are hurting and the state of the economy is a serious national security issue.

Still with this said, Obama’s speech was more of the same rah rah type. Not that it was bad, but still the same old same old. Only thing missing was a “cash for clunkers” program. Why because it was not specific and talks around what I see and experience as a person under employed who has grown through $300,000 of savings just to keep from losing his home. I guess he knows that in this weak economy his numbers are bad but that the approval for congress is worse. On the ground, those of us without sufficient employment know that things will most likely get worse before they get better and that none of what he proposed even attempts to thwart the impact of the troubles of Europe through its banking and market crisis on the average American citizen, for consumers remain deep in debt and the depression in the housing market has yet to hit bottom.

We in touch and on the ground see the economy is too weak to add enough jobs monthly to even keep up with US population growth. My understanding of microeconomics and math indicates anything less 140,000 jobs a month will only keep adding to the ranks of the unemployed.

The plan had nothing I would consider big or different. He should have [1] offered to implement some sort of profit tax on large corporations that earn more than 20 million annually in profits of around 4 to 6 percent. He should have [2] offered some type of net job creation tax for large and small businesses for about a five year period to serve as an incentive for job creation that would said companies a tax credit that would cover at least a third of their salaries for that time period. He should [3] look at international growth sectors and instituted a re-employment service as opposed to unemployment that focus on industry specific training programs that would prepare the young and poor for skilled jobs.

Nothing in his proposal is punitive. He should have [5] mentioned that the top 100 companies in the US have uprooted around 3 million jobs here in the states over the past decade yet created around 2.5 million jobs overseas. He should have [6] specifically addressed Sarbanes-Oxley regulations and only implement them for corporations making under $200 million annually (I could only imagine the strain and expense on businesses with respect to their legal cost alone to comply).

Lastly, he should [7] reinstate Glass-Stegall, [8] eliminate Dodd-Frank, [9] increase tax rates on short term capital gains for hedge funds for example who create most of the market volatility and lower long term capital gains taxes and lastly – [10] relegalize the sale of marijuana.

This is just what I think, based on what I learned from Dr. Meyer in high school and my subsequent readings since then. It aided me in being able to amass more than $300,000 in investments without the aid of a broker or financial planner; although I have been using it up to stay afloat after my business closed and lost full time employment before then.

Politicians are scared to tell us the truth, do not understand the problem and too busy with the interest of large corporations to really solve or care about us little folk. They are afraid to tell us and won’t tell us the truth, and Obama’s plan is nothing more than the same thing he did the first two years while in office – hum bug.

Neither the congress nor the President can honestly feel what we feel on the ground. They argue about finding funds to provide for simple people who have lost everything due to floods, fires and tornadoes. They do not see that the games they play are not funn for us and look away from the possibility of what has been seen in France, Greece, Italy, Syria, Israel, England and else where in the form of civil disobedience can manifest over here. Nice speech Mr. President. Way to sit on your hands Congress. Just be reminded though – No Substance, No peace. For republiacns and democrats seem to not understand I am human capital not political capital.

Humpty Dumpty Economics

I have come to accept that all the King’s horses and all the King’s men cannot rebuild and grow the US economy with the approaches being considered currently and the inability for adults occupying the political grounds within the beltway to accept the common groundwork that they work for the people, not themselves, corporation or K Street lobbyist. All that has been proposed or ignored, whether by the President or the congress misses the point completely, avoids a historical context for understand and is rooted on feculent assumptions.

For starters we cannot deal with our soverign debt issues until we recognize the need to obviate the massive credit contraction we are expericing.se in point, it is a fact that the top five percent of the people in the US with respect to income account for nearly 40 percent of all US consumer spending. Just imagine if the annual salary of the top one percent is above $700,000, this group includes individuals earning more than $500,000 and up yearly. Coupled with the recent news that no, zero jobs were created in August and the prior months numbers were revised to show lower job creation, it is no way possible for any of the suggestion proffered by the Congress or Obama can work to create jobs without addressing the massive gap in consumption between the rich and poor, in particular if demand (more specifically lack of demand) is why there is minimal job growth. Now there are some who say Obama saved the country from a depression with his stimulus, but in fact it resulted in 2 million jobs vacated from the system, since the money went to the folks who already had money and desired to save it, or it went to those from foreign countries who currently own our debt and subsequently spent that money abroad and not here to create jobs.

Obama’s effort, even if more stimulus is introduced, will not produce any jobs. Likewise, the Republicans, who say they do not desire excessive regulations and want lower taxes, will not create jobs either, if history is any indication of what such policies evince. One reason is because over the past twenty years, household debt grew by more than thirty percent. Namely because of the lack of regulations proposed by the GOP for large corporations and Wall Street especially. Second, growing the economy, by reducing taxes for the top 2 percent while sales and payroll taxes for the masses continue to increase, will mean less money in the pocket of the average American, thus keeping consumer demand as it is or lowering it. Math shows us that US workers fortunate to be employed have increased in productivity, yet compensation and hourly wages have stagnated, not matching this productivity. Why, because just as prior to the great depression as it stands now, the majority of the wealth was in the hands of the top five percent. As Robert Reich notes in his book “Aftershock: the next economy and America’s Future” the top earners in the share of the nation’s total income reached their highest levels in 1928 and 2007 – both two years before major economic depressions. And Yes Virginia, a double dip recession as a kind way to say a depression.

Both Obama and the congress need to accept these facts. Obama needs to recognize big corporations are no longer singularly loyal to the US – they are global and have global interest. Republicans need to understand that deregulation places short-term profit gains over long-term economic. But I doubt if they will, seeing that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor wants to stop rules that regulate deadly mercury emissions and toxic coal ash from power plants suggesting that such regulations kill jobs (he fails to speak of the public health risk and loss of human life). I published a list four years ago that would grow the economy and create jobs, but what do I know, I just study history and do math.

I just wonder why places like India, China and Germany can do what we can’t – grow the economy and create jobs and increase earnings. German economic growth has outpaced the US for the past 15 years. Over the same period they have increased annual pay close to 30 percent while ours has increased almost 6 percent over the past fifteen years. The top 1 percent only takes 11 percent of the nation’s total income. Oh that’s right, they value education more, just as the other countries, and consistently out pace us in math and science aptitude, just as 26 other nations around the world.

Yes Obama has the second worse record to job creation of all US presidents, ranking only above Herbert Hoover. Yes, our attention deficit disorder having republican dominated congress seems to display the inability to comprehend that cutting taxes is not correlated to a decrease in the ratio of revenue to GDP. Not to forget a Treasury secretary who said the US credit rating would never be lowered, we have incompetence all around the nation’s capital.

Our economy suffers because in 2008 the chickens came home to roost – with no regulations, Wall Street, Banks and multi-national corporations were allowed to deal complex papers with unknown values like mortgage backed securities, which gave banks extra capital to enrich themselves by selling the same debt based securities of unknown value around the world. Simply because oligarch, people with great economic power and influence on politicians, republican and democrat equally, make the rules defining American economic policy to benefit themselves and ignore 95 percent of the nation. It not happen stance that The poorest 50% of all Americans now control just 2.5% of all the wealth in this country, or that the wealthiest 1% of all Americans now own over 50% of all the stocks and bonds.

Herman Cain Will Never Get Serious Consideration from Blacks on Democratic Plantation

I am a proud graduate of Morehouse College. I am among a distinguished group of alumni who include Martin Luther King, Jr., Edwin Moses, Spike Lee, Samuel Jackson, Maynard Jackson and current Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain. It is unfortunately, most African Americans will not give Cain any objective consideration simply because he is a member of the Republican party. This confuses me and is also an issue of consternation when we look at the history of African Americans.

Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, once served as a Federal Reserve Bank chairman in Kansas City, takes heat from the Republicans establishment just as much as the general black community, including former Bush adviser Karl Rove and conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer who said his campaign was all about “entertainment.”

Although a long shot and the fact that many consider Barack Obama, America's first African American president, Cain if elected would be really the first black president into office. This is not about his skin color, but rather his experience. His experiences and history of a robbed heritage, more akin to most African Americans that that of President Obama. Obama can speak of his lineage to Kenya through his father and Ireland through his mother. Most African Americans cannot trace their family history to any specific person, time or place in Africa.
Cain, the son of a chauffeur and a domestic worker in Georgia, graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in mathematics, and he earned a master’s degree at Purdue before joining the Navy. His rise in the corporate world started first at Coca-Cola and then at the Pillsbury Company, where he was an executive overseeing Burger King and chief executive at Godfather’s Pizza.

At 65, Mr. Cain, platform will push for new energy policies to make the United States less dependent on foreign oil. In a recent interview he said, "My great, great grandparents were slaves, and now I'm running for president of the United States of America," he says later. "Is this a great country or what?" He also upset many Tea Party supporters when he stated that African Americans are too poor to tea party. “They can't afford to," Cain said. "So I think the first reason is economics. If you just look at the sheer economics of it. If you look at the typical income of a black family of four it's going to be lower than a non-black or white family of four," he explained.

Now I am a libertarian and see no big difference between democorats or republicans inside thebeltway. My reality is that Cain’s experiences is closer to mine than Obama. Most do not know that it was democrats that fought against integration, both in the North and South. That it were the "Democrat-controlled state legislatures in the South that placed the Confederate battle flag on their state capitol flags." That the democrats founded the KKK (the first Grand Wizard of KKK- Nathan Bedford Forrest was honored at Democratic National Convention of 1868) and the Council of Conservative Citizens. That no democrat voted for the 14th amendment and that then Senator John F. Kennedy – with an eye on the Democrat presidential nomination for 1960 – voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Cain has no chance because African American myopia will vote for anyone who is a democrat without out question. Sad fact is democrats are happy to see blacks ask the government to do for them because they will not have to and take the black vote for granted. The way I see it, democrats are like Church’s Fried Chicken and the Republicans are Ruth Crisp. Democrats will sell us foods that kill us and set up shop throughout our communities. We accept without question for that is reality on any plantation, democratic or republican.

The President, Congress, Senators and Wall Street: The True Sodomites

Now I am no biblical scholar, but I can admit to reading the Bible as well as the teachings of Buddha from cover to cover. The reason I am writing this is based on what I isolated in a post last week regarding the West-Obama narrative. Now I basically pounced on Black and Africana studies for two reasons, first it is not an area of science and singularly doesn’t mandate scholarly or intellectual discorvey pertaining to African descendents and our culture via existence. Secondly, it seems to promote more discussion regarding the use of the word black as a descriptor and issues of race and racism than pedagogy.

Many found that Dr. West statements regarding President Obama as a personal attack. In some accords they were but in other I do not think so and in fact would wager that if he had not used the descriptor black his statements would have accurately described every President since `1980 and nearly every politician within the beltway. West described Obama as being a "black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats."

Now if he had just called Obama a “mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a puppet of corporate plutocrats,” he would have been 100 percent on point. That’s why it seems strange to me that the quasi intellectuals who want to make a big deal of this appear to only focus on the use of the word “black” and name-calling.

The reality is they cannot tackle the content of the assertion for the reality is that Wall Street is handled as if it is more important than the people of America. They get bailed out and we loose our jobs and homes. Wall Street bankers have amassed and wield more power than Harry Potter, or the politicians they purchase like EMF’s.

Obama, just as Bush and Clinton and Regan before him are all guilty and regardless of color, “mascots of Wall Street oligarch (A very rich businessman with a great deal of political influence). Yes they are for oligarchs of big business and Wall Street have employed large amounts of loot to corrupt both Democrat and Republican politicians equally. I wonder why Prof. Melissa Harris-Perry piece in the nation doesn’t even discuss this.

Why is it wrong to note that without Wall Street, in particular Goldman Sachs (Obama's Top contributor), that Obama would have never been elected. Why is it wrong to note that the Obama policy assisted in giving bankers on Wall Street $700 billion after his election when most folks were just satisfied to have his picture on the wail on the side of Jesus opposite martin Luther King, Jr. in the front room.

Like Bush, he has sang the GOP and big business song that deficits are what we need to deal with first before we deal with the poor and middle class. In Ezekiel 16:49 the problem with those of Sodom was that they “had pride excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”

I have been saying all along that Obama was no different than the crooks that occupied the Whitehouse before him. That he was another in a long line of sodomites who give it to the populous with no Vaseline. Although sodomy is used to refer to gay sexual acts, there is no mention of such in the bible – none. Who ever came up with this was like an old television show I grew up watching, “Lost in Space.” In today’s world in the United States, The President, Congressmen, Senators and bankers Wall Street are the true sodomites, for while millions of Americans, of all ethnic/racial distinctions have lost jobs and homes, politicians like the president and others inside the beltway have turned a blind eye to the criminal activities of Wall Street’s banking and finance system. All we see are the outcomes – the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the uber-wealthy oligarchs. But what can one expect for a collection of millionares the likes of Obama and the wolk on Capitol Hill.

What U wont see on TV #2

1] Whites leaving the Democratic Party in droves

2] Detroit Officials To Shut Half The City's Schools

3] Mom Arrested For Duct-Taping Baby Daughter

4] Blood Tests Show Chemicals In Gulf Citizens Blood From SeaFood

5] If Libyan unrest spreads, gas could reach $5

6] BABY DOLPHINS ARE WASHING UP DEAD ALONG THE GULF

7] Security Industry Association recommends biometric authentication for federal E-Verify program

8] Italian Stock Exchange suspended due to 'technical issues'

9] 5.7 Volcano Island Japan and 5.8 Santiago Argentina.

Are Democrats and Republicans Trying to Ruin Black Politicians?

The current climate in Washington is tense. Not only are the upcoming midterm elections expected to change the future political landscape, but so too will the recent rash of ethical complaints leveled at prominent Democrats.

Two longtime members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters are being investigated for alleged ethics violations.

Both of the aforementioned have declined plea offers and have accepted to fight the charges publicly prior to the November elections.

Since the establishment of the Office of Congressional Ethics by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in 2009, all eight individuals cited for alleged ethics violations have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus, meaning all are African American. As such, many are starting to question if these investigations are racially or politically motivated.

The recent allegations against Congressman Rangel, who faces 13 ethics charges, including improper fundraising and tax evasion, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, whom the House ethics subcommittee has alleged broke ethics rules by lobbying Treasury officials for a $25 million bailout of OneUnited Bank in Boston, have given Congress a witch hunt environment. Waters’ husband, former NFL player Sidney Williams, has a financial stake in OneUnited.

In addition, the GOP has incessantly promoted an all-out ground assault against President Obama. Ironically all of this is happening while Republicans are trying to make the upcoming elections a referendum against the Democrat-controlled Congress and White House.

If the trials of Rangel and Waters do manifest, they may serve the interests of the GOP by driving a wedge between the Democratic Party, mainly the Obama White House, and his large corpus of African American supporters, and white Democrats.

The strange thing is that what Rangel and Waters are charged with is historically no different than activities conducted by former President George W. Bush.

Although to the dismay of many Democrats, Obama refused to charge the Bush administration with any criminal acts regarding his war against Iraq and his involvement with Enron.

During the first nine months of his administration, Bush used his presidential powers to assist his personal friend, Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, in covering up criminal activity. Bush fought vehemently against imposing caps on the price of electricity in California when Enron drove up prices artificially by manipulating and controlling supply. In addition, under the Bush administration, Lay was able to influence the administration's energy policies. In fact, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was replaced in 2001 after he started an investigation into the now-illegal complex derivative-financing schemes practiced by Enron.

However, the Republicans are willing to take the opposite road if they are able to win back the U.S. House of Representatives in November. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has stated that he will launch several investigations of the Obama administration if he becomes chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Of specific importance to Issa is the Obama administration’s alleged interference in U.S. Senate races in Pennsylvania and Colorado. Issa has attacked the administration with ethical wrongdoing charges consistently since Obama took office.

The double standard with respect to how Republicans and Democrats are being treated in regards to ethics violations sends mixed messages to the African American community. First it looks as if the white Democratic leadership, in concert with the GOP, is targeting blacks singularly. Second, it lets the world see America’s hypocrisy in regards to how Republicans are treated compared to black political officials, especially if one happens to be the first African American president of the United States of America.

What the GOP Used to be

It is strange how times change, and how the sensitivity of a pluralistic political system is not actually as plural as it appears to be on the surface. A few decades ago the delineation between republicans and democrats was clear. Such cannot be said so today. I think it may have actually died with Jimmy carter or earlier. I am not certain, but I do see a shift, that unlike the past, when it was a party of the people, for and by the common man, it has morphed into the new GOP and is merely the party of the large corporations.

It is now, just as Bush and his predecessor, the party of bailouts and handout and tax breaks for the wealthy. It is in bed with K-street equal to if not more than the Republicans. Truth be told I cannot see any distinction, from the handling of the war, to the economy, to gun control. Now true, I don’t support bailouts, or the purview that we must stabilize the economy or gun control, plus I am neither democrat nor republican. However I do see what has transpired and have been giving some thought to these changes and their impact on America, especially the regular mutha fucka. See a real democratic approach to the economy from my perspective would be to give each small business no matter what industry a check for 30,000 with no strings attached, they would buy from vendors and put the money in the banks (that are failing left and right) which would stimulate upward growth and allow banks to have capital on deck for lending.

The Democrat Party now only has a single moral obligation – avarice and money. They are just as dishonest as the GOP and have no moral fortitude or integrity. They are merely concerned with power and fame the way I see it. And don’t even mention middle east policy or the restriction of free speech. Yep, today the democrats are what the republicans used to be and it is sad for the Republican party is about to be a fossil and it will be a while before a new party comes to the forefront to claim what the Democrats used to be – that is if you asked me.

fundamentals still aint sound

As of late I have become disappointed. Now I am a man who lives at his means, well really below my means in the current economic climate. I just wish the folks in Washington, them in the Whitehouse and them on Capital hill could see such. Now I know many get mad because I hold our leadership to task, but it is what we do given the principle of liberty. And if any of yawl know in 2003, I wrote an essay in my book Dirt Behind My Ears, predicting that Obama would be our first African American President. 4 years before he even ran and 6 years before he was sworn in - so don’t trip.

But what bothers me is the lack of clarity and I hate to say it, transparency. I mean the Democrats won the white house by being very critical of the Bush Approach to the war and the Economy. Not to mention John McCain gave them the Whitehouse when he said the “fundamentals of the Economy were sound.” Particularly, it was how Obama kept hammering at Bush by saying that the deficit spending of his administration was irresponsible – which it was. The problem for me is that although in office briefly, his first proposed budget triples this fiscal year’s current deficit.

This is not an example of the government tightening their belts. As an individual American, I cant triple my debt and expect to survive or be economically responsible without fear of loosing my home or my business. I in fact have had to tighten my economic belt just to make ends meet. Why can’t the current administration and the folks in Congress do the same?

And I am talking as a person who started his own business with $60,000 of my own cash, as a person who pays himself and as a single parent. I am not one who depends on others to write me a check to live on and I don’t expect folk who don’t to really get what I am attempting to say. I mean this budget as well as the bail out place US and tax payers to more exposure and risk than the government, more so now than anytime in history.

Not to mention I am tired of folk giving me the okie doke about the Wall Street financial giants saying they are too big to fail. Folk, this is capitalism, business fail all the time and others take their place. If they to big to fail, to me they too big to exist. Then you talk about Banks and Bank holding companies in one breath as if they are the same. They are not. The FDIC can deal with banks, but can’t go into Bank Holding companies like AIG or Citigroup. So You not putting loot in banks, but rather bank holding companies.

Dumping money in a failing institution aint the way to solve this problem Mr. President, we need to restructure our finical system in concert with giving these folk loot. All around the nation, from the local to state level, governments are reducing their budgets not expanding them. Why can’t the federal government do this? And its not just the Dems, it’s the GOP too. They talk all that mess and don’t even have one constructive suggestion to suggest. They just complain. Now true I said a long time ago Geitner was the wrong man for the job and gave out about 10 others I thought were better to get us out this mess. But he there now so I aint tripping, but for the GOP to say he should leave without offering who they would replace him with, and bich over little nit picking shit borders on stupidity.

So I say April 15^th, if you owe some loot tell them folk to suck your private parts and don’t pay. If they aint got the balls to let the banks fail, or tell these mf’s they giving our loot too who still run the companies that got us in this mess to resign, or don’t revisited getting the laws on the book that got us in this mess such as the commodity futures modernization act, they can fail economically too. Cause our fundamentals still aint sound.

Monkey in the middle

I have repeated on inordinate occasions that I see no difference between democrats or the GOP. In my defense, I have asked for proof with regards to policy, affect and impact on problem solving and/or saying what they do. To this date no one has accepted this challenge and those that do tend to assert America is a democracy when I ask, as opposed to KNOWING it is a republic.

Now, as the typical Washington inside machine operates, it reared its selfish and good old folk head again. The U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama was appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the former attorney general of Illinois Roland Burris. When Jones got to Washington, The Senate good old boys told folk he was not accepted (his credentials were not in order). He was refused entry to the Senate based on them citing Article 1, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution, which states "Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members."

In two words – bull shit. This is purely political, blocking the appointment of one man because they dislike the other. And I tell ya if as many black folks who followed Beyoncee would follow this the same way, these folk in Washington would have a lot of noise back home in their districts. I was optimistic that Obama meant what he said, and would do accordingly. But I am slowly becoming disillusioned. He spoke of change, and not having the “good old boy” network of “Washington Insiders” in his administration – yet he does. I won’t even get on the usual talk of tax reduction, war ending and other stuff that all democrats and republicans chant like some Taoist mantra.

The situation with Burris is ridiculous and shows us how theatrical politic inside the beltway are. If I know the signature from the Illinois Secretary of State is not required but rather ceremonial, then they should too. Blagojevich legally appointed Burris to the seat vacated by President-Elect Obama. Now I don’t really give a care about Senate appointee Jones one way or the other, but I do care about the right of the Illinois citizenry. That's some of the dumbist shit I done seen in recent times. I mean they give more attention to this than the economy, the decline of the dollar, a non-existant manufacturing base, despots like the former NASDAQ Chairman (Madoff) or education.

As it stands, seems as if the Senate is reminiscent of a bunch of kids on the little rascals refusing another kid into the he man woman hatters club, or not letting a kid play with them because he friends with another kid they don’t like. Go pick on the kid you don’t like, Senator Burris aint done nothing wrong and should not be treated as if he is the governor. That man is 71 years old and you holding the ball over his head, and passing the buck like he a monkey in the middle.

Point of order: told yawl I could write a post about Beyoncee.

shadow boxing

Point of order: 1] Was kind of hurt when i write about relationships I get more comments than when I write about loot or the economy. 2] Congrats Chipper Jones.

I just took the last 50 minutes or so reading the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. I knew something would have to be on paper today, before the Asian markets opened. I’m really disappointed in this and I am willing to point fingers at both the GOP and the Democrats. First it aint comprehensive and there is no assurance we will be compensated after the said five years outlined in the bill. Im still confused, i mean why do I gotta bail out folks for there intentional disregard of the law, why am i being punished for others stupidity? Fuck insuring Wall street, substituting our tax dollars for more worthless paper in the form or insurance premiums. Am I that stupid? Then if the big willie we put over the loot to watch the corporations, decide to steal or do foul wall street shit, the bill dont even allow for the judicial branch to intervene. Cant even take folk to court. Now that is Bush-esque (loving the bankers, speculators over the regular folk). Dont even talk about dealing with laws that put us in this place like the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 . Rejected a stock transfer tax of 2.5% that would have made Wall street pay for some of this. It still promotes the wealth up to the top jones.

In a few words, this is a piece of shit. They say it is needed, that this legislation is necessary for the survival of the American financial market. They say that some action must be taken I just don’t know if this is the action required to fix the problem. They talk as if it is the do all and be all to deal with our economy. But I don’t see it, I mean; they don’t even know if it will work, at least I don’t. Add to that that if it doesn’t, what will be next.

My problem if passed or not, it is still a 50% chance it will still get worse. I just don’t know how u can come to a dollar figure for a bail out and u don’t know the real value of said assets that the bail out targets. It like paying protection money to a gangster or the Mob; knowing as long as other mobsters are out there, if they aint around (or bought up) they can’t provide no protection at all. From what I read, don’t say nothing about how to deal with the additional 230 billion this will add to the national debt alone and it won’t be effective until January 2010.

Then these sneaky bastards did all of this behind closed doors as if the folks who gone have to foot the bill, me don’t need to know how they plan to spend my loot. So much for state rights, guess they don’t exist anymore. It aint rocket science, Goldman was likely on the other side of the default swaps and these swaps in general were nebulous if they existed at all. All I can see that this bill does is cover up the past stupidity of our elected leaders – it covers up their actual legislative failures.

Like I say, they act like this will work or that they know it will, I aint so sure. I figure two things are possible. The first is a run on the dollar at home, im sure a few more banks gone topple over. I mean 57% of our treasury bonds, in the form of debt is own by foreigners. We can’t stop them, say like OPEC nations from getting together, what makes us so sure them folk wont hook up and be like,” let’s stop buying US Treasury bonds and lets sell them all?” And the way I understand Treasury bonds, they the mid point between what we spend as a country and what we save. Number two would be as I have written before – deflation and ask Japan how that shit can be.

I really think that they should have let the economy fall, then regular folks who don’t care, or who wont read the 106 page bill would have to start saving and get they shit together. Like I said they say it is gone work, I just don’t see it as being that certain. I do know that we some resilient folk – after all we still Americans but them folk on capital hill is way out of touch and out of line for this. I guess that’s what Meth was methaphorically describing in Shadow Boxing. Welcome to the shadow government. And Im gone read it again a few more times, i had to stop shit made me mad jones. vote

running into a brick wall

Now back to our regular scheduled programming. I had a homeboy that used to play defensive back with the Washington Redskins and Eagles. When he finished playing football in college, right before the draft, he came home. At one of my infamous party’s, we exchanged dap and talked. He spoke about the interviews he had with several NFL teams prior to the draft. He said he told them all “if you pay me enough, I will run into Brick wall." Now my Boy Barry hit hard, was Memphis Buck, and fast – all 6’2”, 220 pounds of him. He led the NFL in interceptions as a rookie and had 2 interceptions during the Skins Super Bowl win over Denver when Doug Williams was the MVP. I say this as a metaphor regarding the future as it may come to fruition in November.

Most of you all know that Dr. Ron Paul was my first choice for the Presidency, followed closely by Senator Obama. But since it seemed as if folks didn’t ascribe to my position, I’m going with Obama in the title game. However, many folks are s caught up on the primaries and his nemeses that we seem to be missing the bigger picture. A few weeks ago I asked why Black folk seem to vote hook, line and sinker for the democrats. Now, I feel that if things don’t go as most expect, there maybe a form of whiplash from African American voters.

The cynicism will rise extremely quickly if the democratic primary allows for the race between HilBill and Barak Obama to be decided by a bunch of elites Super delegates. As it stands now, with this inclusive of what has happened with the democratic primaries in Florida and Michigan, shit may really hit the fan. I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me if all this sit ends up in court. Not to mention that the three co-chairs of the DNC Credentials Committee: Alexis Herman, James Roosevelt, Jr. and Aliseo Roques-Arroyo, all served in the Clinton Administration. I just wonder how serving and working for her husband for 8 years may influence how they cast their super delegate votes.

On the other side of the aisle, Obama is already talking about November – a November where he most likely will be in the title game against John McCain. Although both democratic candidates say they are the best to face McCain, the truth is Obama has the best chance. Hillary says she can, but it would be easy for her to get beat down if she did face him in the general election. First, there are zillions in the GOP who hate her husband and her as well. Most folks would use the Clinton’s as a rallying cry to motivate a stagnant party, even if many conservatives feel that McCain isn’t conservative enough for them. Add to the fire that pundits like Rush Limbaugh recently said he would help raise money for Senator Hillary Clinton in order to unify the GOP.

Obama to me would be a stiff challenge for the GOP although some, like the ultra conservative New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corps. Empire endorsed Obama in the New York primary, feel that it will be easier to defeat him. Why, well it brings us back to the feeling that hard liners hope that the race card, and the assumption that many still would not select an African American to be the President of the United States, as their player card.

Truth is he will be a visible difference versus McCain. First he will represent a strong generational difference, which McCain cannot challenge. Second, he will be a strong contradiction to McCain stance on the war in comparison to Clinton, who voted to support the war effort. Not to mention McCain sees us being in Iraq for another 100 years.

So what’s next? Well Hillary is already sending her daughter around to meet with the younger super delegates. For example, she recently had breakfast with Jason Rae who is a super delegate since he is a member of the Democratic National Committee from Wisconsin.

But the aforementioned is not the issue, it is the super delegates, who will the side with and what them three big wig Democratic Credential Committee folks will do. This has been a break out years for the democrats. It seems that they have been able to motivate young voters as well as pick up independent voters who have historically voted republican. However, if Obama has a slim lead nationally, but ends up loosing via the super delegates, it may end up back firing on them. Especially among African American and young voters, who may be so disappointed, that the party that says it stands for unity may loose a major segment of its membership. Its ok for my boy Barry to say he will run into a brick wall if they pay him enough, but I don’t think the democrats can survive running into a brick wall that may turn folks off from the voting and election process.