White Police Officer Threatens Black Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin - Race, Color and Politics

Cop says he wants to 'beat' Atlanta mayor with bat.

More Post-Racial bigotry, this coming out of Atlanta, Georgia where a white police officer has threatened the Mayor of Atlanta saying: "I want to beat her [Mayor Shirley Franklin] in the head with a baseball bat sometimes when I think about it," Sgt. Scott Kreher said into a microphone earlier this month in an apparent off-hand remark during a presentation he was giving to the council. Within days, the 17-year department veteran was suspended.

As reported by CNN, Kreher said the "it" that made him want to club the mayor was that, despite repeated complaints, the police union contends the city is not honoring workers' compensation claims for cops whose careers ended when they were seriously injured on the job.

Franklin, one of the nation's high-profile mayors, told CNN on Tuesday that the officers' complaints are a "separate issue" from Kreher's comments.

AAPP: There appears to be a big problem with white police and black folks in America. What do you think? More HERE

Caught on Tape - Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Attacks Black Family

AAPP says: Hat Tip and Shout Out to blogger Intersection between Madness and Reality for reporting on this incident involving a black family assaulted by wreckless Highway Patrol Officers. I agree with this blogger, all black folks should travel with video cameras. These color aroused highway patrol officers should be brought up on charges. More HERE

Hat Tip to the Emergency Medical Technician who was involved in a scuffle with an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper for speaking out about the incident. Maurice White, Jr. thank you for standing up against these troopers. MORE HERE

Amber Alert Two Black Men, a Cadillac

More FAKE Post Racial America. Post this under, "Let's blame it on the black guys" or, blond hair and blued eyed lies ... or, Once Again, Brothas Blamed for Something They Didn't Do, or better yet, Whenever a Black man kidnaps a white woman, just wait for the lie to be exposed.

Hat Tip Rock53 for the link. As reported by CNN, A Pennsylvania woman who called 911 to report that she and her daughter had been abducted by two black men was charged with making a false report and identity theft after police found the pair at a Disney resort in Florida, authorities said Wednesday.

Bonnie Sweeten, 38, told authorities Tuesday afternoon that she and 9-year-old Julia Rakoczy were kidnapped after Two black men in a Cadillac rear-ended her sport-utility vehicle in Upper Southampton, north of Philadelphia. They were being held in the trunk of the Cadillac, she claimed.

Sweeten was arrested late Wednesday at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort in Orlando, Florida, said Michelle Henry, district attorney for Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Sweeten awaits extradition proceedings. More HERE

AAPP: I'm getting tired of watching ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and every other news channel, newspaper or blogs and bloggers who follow these bogus stories of black men abducting white women. 9 times out of 10 they are bogus. Yes, Bonnie Sweeten Played The Race Card

Big fat ugly bastard Rush Limbaugh

AAPP says: I usually could care less about what the big fat ugly bastard Rush Limbaugh has to say, but his most recent statements are his craziest to date. Get this, the bigot now says: DC is "Old South" for GOP, who are an "oppressed minority" in need of "a civil rights movement."

Oh hell, Now Rush Limbaugh and his crowd are oppressed minorities, WTF! Soon this bigot will be asking for affirmative action for the GOP. LOL!

Netroots Nation

Netroots Nation 2009 is fastly approaching. The annual convention of progressive and Netroots activists takes place in Pittsburgh this year from August 13-16. There are few events that I look forward to more each year than this one. There are few times it feels more exciting to be a blogger or a progressive activist than when one is at the meeting formerly known as Yearly Kos.

If you are an activist who uses the Internet to try to change the world, there is no better place for you to be. What could be better than being surrounded by thousands of like-minded people, all of whom are dedicated to the same things you are, all of whom have ideas and strategies on how to make change come alive. Regardless of the official program, the key reason you should be at Netroots Nation is the opportunities you get to interact with an undending stream of people from whom you can learn about how to better do whatever it is you do. It's also a great place to make contacts and connections that will further your own activism and your own career.

If you are a regular reader of Florida Progressive Coalition and follow our efforts, two of our key projects were birthed at Netroots Nation. The widely-popular Florida Progressive Radio, which existed before Yearly Kos 2007, had little direction or focus in its early days. Then one night in Chicago, I sat down with Alison Berke Morano, Susan Smith and Cenk Uygar, among others. Most readers probably know that Cenk is the amazing host of the Young Turks show, which was then on Air America. He gracefully sat with us in the bar and answered a seemingly unending series of questions about hosting a radio show and The Big Show with Alison and Kenny was born that night. Susan soon joined us as a host and hundreds of shows, scores of candidate and activist interviews and thousands of listeners soon followed. Our hard-hitting series of Republican watchblogs was also an outgrowth of information that we learned at Netroots Nation. In fact, I set up our first watchblogs via my laptop while sitting at the BlogsUnited booth in 2007.

The formal program of workshops, lectures, discussions and entertainment is also unrivaled when it comes to other similar events. For just about any topic you can imagine, there will be a session, led by experts in the field. Most of what I know about state-level blogging, I learned at Netroots Nation. The full agenda for this year's event isn't up yet, but there were sessions last year on various Netroots strategies, a multitude of issues, for fans of various blogs and Netroots organizations, author and candidate appearances, and opportunities to actually get involved and do something, whether it be the day of service, or phonebanking for a local candidate. The list of speakers and appearances at the event is too long to even begin to delve into, but suffice it to say that if someone is a significant player in the progressive movement -- politician, blogger, activist, journalist, whatever, chances are they'll be on site.

And that's great for those of us who are political junkies. You have ample opportunity to meet and talk to the people who drive progressive politics in America. My liberal bookshelf at home has books from more than a dozen authors I've personally met and talked to at Netroots Nation. And then there was the time that a congressional candidate from California, Steve Young (not that Steve Young), took me to lunch and we discussed strategy. Or there was the time that I made Al Gore laugh. Really. After his keynote speech, he was going down the line shaking hands and taking pictures. When he got to me, I told him that I was with a group of people from Florida and that we were sorry for the 2000 election. He laughed heartily. Then, quickly, he came back with: "Don't be sorry, I won Florida." Only at Netroots Nation.

There are many other positive things about Netroots Nation that I could talk about, but you probably get the idea. I could talk about the opportunities to explore local communites like Chicago, Austin or, this year, Pittsburgh. I could talk about the opportunities to appear on panels like the regional blogger panel or the self-starter sessions. I could talk about the parties, where you can be sharing a local microbrew with bloggers from New York and New Mexico while talking to a professional stand-up comedian. I could talk about the helpful people you'll meet, like the crew at DFA or the members of BlogsUnited who make the experience all the better. I could talk about the fact that I met more Florida politicians and activists at Netroots Nation than I have at most Florida events. I could talk about any of those or any number of other things, but I think I'll start packing instead.

If there is anyway you can make it to the Keystone State this year for Netroots Nation, you should. If you can't make it, donate money to help others get there with a DFA/Netroots Nation scholarship. I was one of those scholarship winners last year and the experience was invaluable. I couldn't have attended without the help of the generous donors who funded the program. You can have that impact on the people who attend this year. You won't regret it either way.

Read more on Florida politics at the Florida Progressive Coalition blog (http://flaprogressives.org) and the Florida Progressive Coalition Wiki (http://quinnell.us/sspb/wiki/).

Death By Electrocution in The United States - Body Count 20

My man, Villager of at the blog, The Electronic Village is reporting on the continued loss of life with 20 Taser-Related Deaths in the United States

His blog has been pointing out incidents of police taser torture for quite awhile. The work done over the past few years by Patti Gillman and Cameron Ward inspired his post. Gillman and Ward documented over 400 taser-related deaths in North America on their blog. Check out The Electronic Village blog and the list of 20 Taser-Related Deaths in the United States HERE.
Don't forget to visit the blog Tasered While Black for detailed updates of blacks who get Tasered While Black in America and Canada.

I Support The Color of Change - You should too!

Have the Republicans gone completely insane? Republicans come on my BlogTalkRadio program with the same "Rush Limbaugh, 'The Niggers Are Coming for Their Reparations!'" garbage that the great folks at Jack and Jill Politics report on: More HERE

I'm glad to see that the folks at the Color of Change are also calling out these color aroused bigots. As James Rucker at the Color of Change points out:

You won't believe Rush Limbaugh. He just accused President Obama of trying to intentionally wreck the economy, saying that Obama wants to put more people on welfare and food stamps, and implying that he wants to redistribute the country's wealth to Black people.¹

This is not just an ugly attack on President Obama from Rush Limbaugh -- these are words from the man who is being held up as the face of the Republican Party. Virtually no Republican leaders have been willing to denounce his divisive rhetoric, or even disagree with him.² Instead, they say he's an important part of their party, and a friend.

When Republican leaders refuse to denounce this kind of race-baiting from someone they call a leader, the message they send is that they embrace it. It's time to force Republican officials to say where they stand. Please take a moment to help us publicly confront them:

Click This LINK

Here's what Rush said about President Obama's economic policies:

"The objective is unemployment. The objective is more food stamp benefits. The objective is more unemployment benefits. The objective is an expanding welfare state. And the objective is to take the nation's wealth and return to it to the nation's quote, "rightful owners." Think reparations. Think forced reparations here if you want to understand what actually is going on."³

It's a direct appeal to racial fear and paranoia, and it's deeply insulting to the President, to Black people, and to anyone who cares about the future of this country. We've seen this kind of thing from Rush before.^4,5 But now, Republican politicians are refusing to denounce what he says, or even disagree with him. When they do, they usually take it back the next day, begging Rush to forgive them.⁶

Colin Powell is perhaps the only prominent Republican who has consistently stood up to Limbaugh and urged other Republicans to turn away from his divisive rhetoric. Powell recently said this: "I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without."⁷

The response from Limbaugh and other Republicans? Rush repeated an old attack on Powell, accusing him of supporting Obama during the election solely based on race.⁸ Meanwhile, Dick Cheney took to the airwaves to attack Powell and make it clear that he stands with Rush Limbaugh when it comes to the future of the Republican Party.⁹

Rush speaks. Republicans in government do the work.

You might think Rush and Cheney merely represent the party's extremes, but that misses the larger context. The Republican Party has made it clear that they don't want Obama to succeed--even if it means further damage to the economy and to the lives of everyday Americans. It's evident in the 'no' votes Republican members of Congress cast against Obama's budget, the refusal of Republican governors to allow stimulus dollars to flow into their states, and their leadership's refusal to denounce the rhetoric coming from Rush and others. Rush has said clearly that he wants Obama to fail, and Republican elected officials have been clear in their actions.

Please join us in demanding that Republican leaders say publicly where they stand. Do they reject Rush Limbaugh's divisive fear-mongering, or do they stand with him? If they refuse to denounce what Rush said, they'll be making it perfectly clear what the Republican Party stands for. And we'll do our best to make sure the media tells the story.

More HERE

-- James, Gabriel, William, Dani and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
May 26th, 2009

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU--your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or corporations and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

CLICK THIS LINK

President Barack Obama Nominates Sonia Sotomayor - Good Decision!

No matter what others may say, I say to President Barack Obama, Good JOB!

UPDATE: I will say, Sherrilyn A. Ifill does make some interesting points when she writes, "Yes, Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s career reflects the kind of arc that should inspire us all. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep pushing for another black Supreme Court justice."
Read More HERE

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Yes, it is a good choice and for me it is somewhat radical. Who would think that a Woman from the Bronx would be the next Supreme Court Nominee?

There are concerns by some that Sonia Sotomayor if confirmed could be a female Clarence Thomas.

Hmm... There are a number of great bloggers following this story, including the good folks at Jack & Jill Politics, Booker Rising, along with Pamela on Politics over at BET.com


Mr. President, I love the fact that you chose a Supreme Court nominee who rose from humble roots. Yes, I'm loving that President Barack Obama has chosen New York jurist Sonia Sotomayor to succeed Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. This is a great day for America, particularly for our Latino brothers and sisters. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would be the nation's first Hispanic justice. Obama said he was looking for a jurist who had "a common touch and a sense of compassion." It's interesting to note the 54-year-old Sotomayor, was named to a federal judgeship by a Republican, former President George Herbert Walker Bush in 1992. My sense is, the republicans will have a hard time not confirming a former Bush nominee. Let's see what happens though, the Republicans are not the smartest group of people these days. Even though some media reports that are saying, Republicans are withholding criticism of Sotomayor, there are still some Republicans who have already started trying to create red flags.



More Later....

Blacks and Color-Aroused Culture in Brazil and the United States

International activist Francis L. Holland has a thought provoking post on Color-Aroused Culture in Brazil and the United States. He reviewing the work of a Brazilian Black advocacy group called Educafro, that he says, "has somewhat successfully protested Brazil's São Paulo Fashion Week because the models in the show are 97.5% white while Brazil is 50% Black and mestizo. (I say their protest was "somewhat" successful, like our protest of the lack of Black state blogs at the 2008 Democratic National Convention) because Educafro got a commitment to 10% Black models in a 50% Black country, while we got 7% Black blogs in a 20% Black Democratic Party. Is that something to celebrate or a good reason to burn down the Brazilian studios where the Fashion Show will be held?)"

AAPP says: Ouch! Burn down the Brazilian studios... I don't think so. But you got to read more on Francis Holland and how his living here in Brazil has provided him with a first hand experience to see the disparity and discrimination. More HERE