Note to self: All Politicians Are Crooks Regardless of Color

Since Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, African Americans without question have voted hook, line and sinker for the Democratic Party. As a consequence of this blind allegiance, we often fail to see the similarities of Democrats and Republicans — namely that regardless of race and gender, they all — for lack of a better term — are crooks and place themselves and their interests above that of the commonwealth. Take the example of Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas.

The longtime congresswoman from Dallas is a member of the renowned Congressional Black Caucus. At 74, she is expected to easily win a 10th term in November over Republican Stephen Broden. Recently, Amy Goldson, counsel for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, said that Johnson violated organization rules when she awarded scholarships to her relatives and those of an aide, Rod Givens. Givens served as the district director for the people of the 30th Congressional District.

According to the Dallas Morning News, over the last five years, Johnson awarded up to $20,000 and a total of 15 scholarships to two grandsons, two great-nephews, and aide Rod Givens' children between 2005 and 2008. Each year, each member of the Black Caucus is given $10,000 to award scholarships. In 2009, Johnson selected 12 students to divide $10,000 from two scholarship programs; according to foundation records released Monday. Eight students got one scholarship. The four other students — the congresswoman's grandsons, Kirk and David Johnson, and her staffer's son and daughter, Julian and Mariyah Givens — got two apiece.

These scholarships were awarded in violation of Congressional Black Caucus Foundation eligibility rules, which require that winners live or study in the lawmaker's district as well as the anti-nepotism clause. Initially, Johnson denied violating the anti-nepotism regulation. Now she has changed her position, saying that she "unknowingly" broke Congressional Black Caucus Foundation rules. "While I am not ashamed of helping, I did not intentionally mean to violate any rules in the process," Johnson wrote in a statement released Aug. 30.

Johnson intimated that she might not have picked relatives had there been more qualified applicants. Johnson says she'll repay the scholarship funds by week's end. Johnson's actions are troubling since awarding the scholarships violated anti-nepotism rules and went to students who neither live nor study in her district.

Newt - a slimy idiot with a PHD

Newt - by definition any of various small amphibious salamanders with amphibian in the latter sense meaning having two natures. For Newt Gingrich this means slimy and full is do-do. In an interview with the National Review Online, speaking of Obama Gingrich said, "This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president."

The supposedly astute scholar of history went even farther saying "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?" He continued his bazaar and inaccurate proposition on Fox News Sunday, criticizing the president's economic policy saying, "The thing that the president doesn't understand and the thing that Keynesian economics get wrong is real simple: Do you want people to have enough money to invest to create jobs? If they have a surplus of income so they can create jobs, that's somehow bad and the president wants to take away the income. That means he's leaving them with no money to create jobs."

He admitted that his thought was influenced by an article written by Dinesh D'Souza for Forbes Magazine in which D'Souza extended the psychotic paranoia of the Tea Party and so-called Birthers saying "the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s." This being a specific reference to Obama's father. He connected this to Obama by writing "Here is a man who spent his formative years--the first 17 years of his life--off the American mainland, in Hawaii, Indonesia and Pakistan, with multiple subsequent journeys to Africa." As if to say being from Hawaii is less valuable than being born on mainland USA or being a descendent of Africa is even worse.

Both Gingrich's and D'Souza's assertions are sentiments only a country built on racism could support. It is unlikely that such would be said of a man who was president who's father was born in Ireland or any other European Nation. I would even venture to say that neither man has ever lived in Africa nor are even astute on the history of colonialism and it's impact on the political psyche of Africans around the world. We are always reminded of he impact of colonialism and imperialism in the for of both slavery and the stealing of natural resources that Europe and the West continue until this day.

The Luo comprise around 12% of Kenya's population, making it the 3rd largest ethnic group after the Kikuyu and the Luhya. If Gingrich or D'Souza had any remote understanding of African culture or history they would see the absurdity of their position since the Luo were not particularly troubled by the arrival of the white Europeans and settlers, did not have their land taken like the Kikuyu and the Luhya and were not particularly involved in the Mau Mau rebellion. What they did was help to create an independent Kenya through politics as opposed to violence. Unlike the radical colonialist who formed this nation we live in here - America. If I am not mistaken, Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Franklin and Hamilton all were self described ant-colonist.

Gingrich and D'Souza's are what is wrong with the republican party and they wonder why they are seen as being extremest zealots with distinct phobias against anything other than white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. If this is all the GOP has to offer, and their thought is a continues to be a hodgepodge of flippant inaccuracies and attempts to divide instead of amalgamate, then I say GOD save America, and any person in America who is not white.

Young Jeezy: Dope Boy or F--- Boy?

Some people just don't get it. Or maybe some people just don't understand or maybe even care about others or feel that they should be responsible for what they say. Take Young Jeezy, for example. Jeezy is well-known and liked in the world of hip-hop, and may even be a good person, but it is obvious that his mental prowess has yet to match or equal his creative acumen.

Recently, Jeezy released his latest mixtape titled, 1,000 Grams Vol.1. On the cover are stacks of what appear to be bricks of cocaine, stamped with a black scorpion logo. I was asked to listen to the mix tape by a friend via my blogtalk radio show and I have just finished. I have one phrase to describe this piece of garbage, which by definition is discarded or useless material and inaccurate or useless data. That phrase is "assimilation of criminality."

Although it's funky, with some semi-decent production, this mixtape gets an F on content, substance and usefulness. What is the value of 12 songs that all talk about selling cocaine and killing folks over cocaine and money? None. Has he looked out of his window lately and noticed that he isn't living that life anymore, or does he still live in the poverty-stricken area he was raised in outside Macon, Ga.

If anything his name fits him. When I think of young anything, I think of a boy, which he obviously is, maybe even a "f--- boy," a term he uses frequently in his music. A man should have some desire to empower and be socially responsible to his community and put that above money and avarice. But not Jeezy. And I know he as well as his defenders would say he "just keeping it 'hood" or is "telling what's going on in the streets." To this I say: nonsense. As for the claim that he is being "black," that is equally nonsensical. Since when does proclaiming and keeping it gangster, thug or street mean being black? If it does, tell that to 13-year-old Robert Freeman Jr who was shot 22 times last week in Chicago or 8-year-old Tanaja Stokes who was shot while playing jump rope outside her home Tuesday.

This CD reflects what is wrong in our community and basically reinforces sociopathic behavior. You cannot promote this type of behavior in 2010 when on very corner in urban neighborhoods DEA agents are watching and waiting to reach their quota. Young Jeezy needs to become a man and stop preaching ignorance and placing greed over substance. Grow up and stop acting like Mel Gibson and Dr. Laura.

The Lost art of saying F*** it

It is difficult for me to understand why politicians and our civilian population in America are so distracted and seem to display the ability to see through the shady penumbra of what is promulgated both in the media and inside the beltway.

I have been told by the aforementioned that we as Americans should be worried about what a fringed right wing psychopathic zealot in Florida plans to do on this up coming anniversary of 9/11. I cannot see how this man with a following somewhere around the size of a professional football team.

The more it is discussed the more I am able to figure out why it is news worthy unless there is some unseen or unspoken back room motive behind it. The truth is that I could care less as to what this man does as well as other Muslim fundamental extremist. So what really can this idiot do to put us at risk after all that we have done in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan already?

I obviously have a different purview than Secretary Clinton and General Petraeus. It is lucid that they separate what our military and political actions are and have been in the past. From our documented torture of detainees, targeted assassination and drone strikes, our incessant occupation of Muslim countries, tens of thousands of civilian casualties and the recent report of US soldiers killing Afghan civilians for fun and collect their fingers as trophies.

How quickly we forget or worse do not see, that we are doing exactly what extremist desire for us to do. To hate and openly discriminate, to retract the freedoms we take for granted from others. I am an American and although and African American, I know there is much more that can be done to make this country support me as the mainstream. However, still, I am not afraid

I just don't see how this is less of a provocation that a confederate throwback preacher oral plan to burn Qurans. We as Americans are so used at deflecting blame and impetus too others that we can't even own up to our own shit. Personally, I say fuck it, fuck what the extremist think here and abroad. But I do see that America has become sissified, for saying such is truly a lost art.

Still Discriminated Against in Jury Selection in South

The history of the South is replete with documented practices of prejudice and racial discrimination. From slavery to the Black Codes, Jim Crow to segregation, the general tenor was to implement practices that placed white people as being pure and close to God and African Americans as being less than human and akin to livestock. Those days have changed, or have they?

A new report published and released by the Equal Justice Initiave called “Illegal Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy,"paints a different picture. The two-year study was conducted in eight southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee), and includes interviews with more than 100 African Americans who had be absolved from jury duty. In addition, the study looked at historical court records to complete its report. Findings of the study suggest that the "variation among states and counties concerning enforcement of anti-discrimination laws that protect racial minorities from illegal exclusion" is wide, and that defense lawyers often fail to present adequate challenges regarding racially discriminatory jury selection.

The report also supports the notion that racially biased use of preemptory strikes with regards to jury selection is a prevelant practice in the South, even noting that prosecutors have removed African Americans for reasons ranging from appearing to have “low intelligence,” wearing eyeglasses, and even having dyed their hair. In some communities such as in Houston County, Alabama, 8 out of 10 African Americans who qualified for jury service have been struck by prosecutors from death penalty cases. Likewise, in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, African Americans have no representation on the jury in approximatelly 80 percent of criminal trials.

These findings are serious and show the slow nature of change in the United States, especially in the South. Although we may have an African American president, America is still super-saturated by race. These findings come more than 130 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed by Congress to eliminate racial discrimination in jury selection. The objective fact is that race is still a major construct in the judicial process of America.

Planned Parenthood's Goal is African American Genocide

The black community is plagued by many problems from drug abuse to violence and high incarceration and dropout rates. But shockingly, abortion is the No. 1 cause of death in our community. Yes, abortion.

In a recent feature by Rev. John J. Raphael written for the Black Catholic Monthly, a publication run by the National Black Catholic Congress, it was noted that abortions in the black community occur 1,452 times a day, accounting for more than 13 million lives lost within the last 30 years. This figure is equivalent to approximately 1/3 of our present population.

Since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973 legalized the practice, more blacks have been killed by abortion than have died of AIDS, cancer and murder combined. Although we comprise less than 13 percent of the U.S. Population, data indicates that we account for 37 percent of the abortions performed, meaning blacks in utero are 5 times more likely than whites to be aborted.

The biggest sponsor of abortions in America is Planned Parenthood. According to their Web site, the organization runs more than 840 health centers. What they fail to state is that about 80 percent of these centers are located in minority neighborhoods.

In the past, investigations have documented that the organization accepts funding that is directed specifically toward the termination of blacks. A few years ago, a UCLA student, Lila Rose and a friend, called Planned Parenthood clinics in seven states. One played the part of a racist male and asked if he gave money would they use it specifically for the termination of black children. All of the clinics indicated that they would accept donations specifically for the termination of black babies.

"We have received contributions from people who want to support us because they want all welfare mothers and all black women to stop having children," said Faye Wattleton, a former director for Planned Parenthood.

It should be noted that Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger, once wrote "Where Negroes dwell one finds them, in fat times and lean alike, contributing a disproportionate number to the rolls of dependents and delinquents. They make excessive demands on the white man's charity and over tax his patience."

Although some states are debating whether or not to defund Planned Parenthood, the group receives more than $380 million annually from the federal government.

FAMU and University of Miami Students Brawl

Obama to Sign Fair Sentencing Act That Is Still Unfair

Congress just passed a bill to address disparities in sentencing based on crack and powder cocaine possession. The House passed the legislation under suspension rules after it was passed by the Senate in March. The bill, the Fair Sentencing Act (S. 1789), will now go to the president, who is to expected to sign it into law.

The new law modifies the 25-year-old statue that has been employed to send thousands of African Americans to prison for crack cocaine convictions while giving lesser sentences to whites arrested with the same amount of cocaine in powder form.

Provisions of the modified law include reducing "the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100:1 to 18:1, with a five-year mandatory minimum for 28 grams of crack cocaine and a five-year mandatory minimum for 500 grams of powder cocaine." In addition, it "eliminates the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine." In the original law penned in 1986, crack was the only drug that had a mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession.

The new bill, which is authored by Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin and co-sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Jeff Sessions, still is unfair, and represents a compromise made with Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members who objected to equitable sentences for the drugs.

Originally, it was introduced to completely eliminate the discriminatory 100:1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing under federal law. The fact remains that it does not obviate the proven disproportionate impact such sentencing has on African Americans when compared to whites, nor does it remedy the many who are currently serving sentences under the old law.

Unfortunately, this law on paper may be seen as a move in the right direction but it still will result in disparities in incarceration rates for Africa Americans when compared to whites. Based on 2009 data, although African Americans comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population and 14 percent of monthly drug users, they are 37 percent of the people arrested for drug offenses. Moreover, according to Human Rights Watch, across the nation, African Americans are arrested for drug offenses at rates 2 to 11 times higher than the rate for whites.

The Pre-Fuctual agreement

In this age of harlots, infidelity, groupies and celebrity fascination, I have come to the conclusion that the legal world has not kept up. In particular when it comes to voice mail transactions, text messages and tweets between both parties’s. So here today I propose the establishment of a new legal document call the pre-fuctual agreement.

The way I see it, if a man has any status in the form of wealth or fame, he will need to protect himself legally from the money hungry groupies that tend to amass like pigeons on a wire (did I say pigeons?). We have legal trust and wills and in the case of prior to marriage pre-nuptial agreements, but what is there for us who just want to bone and dis-own? We have nothing.

For us, I mean, many of us like to slang penis on a regular, but what grounds do we have availed to us if we one day, find ourselves in the same light as Tiger Woods. Now true he is married and it is foul to creep when one is under the union of holy matrimony. Likewise it is foul for a woman to have sex with a married man, but that is beside the point. For us regular men need to know that the wrath of a woman, when in pursuit of a free meal ticket is ravenous. So I have decided to have my lawyer work on a new legal tool call the pre-fuckuial agreement. It will be signed prior to sex and extends to the woman the premise that if she agrees to sex, she cannot keep the sperm filled condom or take it out of the garbage upon completion of sex, as well as obviates her rights to share or publicize any text messages, emails, voice mails or any other cyber communication to any third party,

Yes this should help out greatly. So before you pick up some skank, trick or woman in a club, Kroger or on Face book and desire to take her in your bed – have your pre-fuctuial agreement in hand and don’t leave home without it

Why Black Folk Will Always be Broke

In these times of economic turmoil and instability, many are tightening their purse strings across the nation. However, a large segment of the population continues to spend and live above their means — African Americans.

The simple fact is that African Americans do not save money and tend to spend before even considering putting a few coins away. The average African American’s savings level is about 1 percent of annual income when compared to other ethnic groups. This represents the percentage of disposable personal income held in retirement plans and liquid financial assets.

This is strange given the massive spending power that we have as a collective. African Americans spent $645.9 billion in 2002, an increase of 104 percent from 1990, according to Target Market News, a consumer market research and information company. In 2004, blacks' spending power increased to $723 billion, according to U.S. consumer market data, and is currently estimated to be $913 billion.

If African American spending power were considered Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — the measure of a nation’s wealth, we would be ranked 13th, lower than Russia and higher than Mexico, Australia, Netherlands and South Korea. Given this accomplishment, why can't we save some of this money?

We comprise less than 13 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for 30 percent of the country’s Scotch whisky consumption. Detroit, which is 80 percent African American, is the No. 1 market in the world for cognac consumption. According to Target Market, African American consumers spend a significant amount of their income on depreciable products such as $30 billion on clothes and around $15 billion on furniture to put into homes that are mostly rented. The average African American household has also increased its annual spending on entertainment by nearly 30 percent over the past few years.

Regardless of age or income, African Americans contribute less often, and less money to 401(k)s than whites and Asian-Americans. African American employees who earn $120,000 or more have saved $154,902 in their 401(k)s on average compared to $223,408 for whites. Even when comparing households with roughly the same incomes, whites saved nearly 20 percent more each month for retirement.

From income to homeownership to household wealth, we continue to lag behind whites, according to a United for a Fair Economy study. This report observed that a typical white family had six times the wealth of a black family in 2001 and that the gap is growing continuously, particularly with respect to savings and investing.

If we truly desire economic empowerment, then the burden is on us to save. We cannot copy the attitudes of celebrities like Ciara, who in a recent issue of Pride magazine stated that she spends "about $11,000 a month" on shoes and that she owns "maybe a thousand pairs."