FL - It's Not Called the Hate Amendment for Nothing

Wow. At first glance, that's all I can say about the comments from Pastor Hayes Wicker of Naples, Florida. Here's what he said at an anti-gay event last week:

This is a tremendous social crisis, greater even than the issue of slavery.

Wow.

For those who don't know, fundamentalist right-wingers in Florida are attempting to pass a constitutional amendment in Florida this year that would ban gay marriage in the Sunshine State. The same gay marriage that is already illegal under four separate parts of state law. And this amendment wouldn't just ban gay marriage, it would also prevent civil unions, cities and corporations from offering benefits to gay couples and anyone from giving benefits to unmarried straight couples. But let's leave aside the practical implications of the proposed gay marriage ban in question, I've talked about that in the past and I'll come back to it over and over again throughout the year, let's look at the hate ingrained in this particular phrase.

This is a tremendous social crisis, greater even than the issue of slavery.

Keep in mind, this isn't about banning gay marriage. Gay marriage is already banned in Florida under four different laws. What this nutjob is actually saying is that the fact that they haven't yet enshrined hatred in the Florida Constitution, despite not one single legal gay marriage ever taking place in Florida, is not only a "tremendous social crisis," but one greater than slavery. That shows an astounding amount of hatred not only for gay people, but for African Americans as well.

Let's take a quick look at the history of slavery and its outgrowths in American history:

• Slavery caused approximately 30 million people to be ripped out of their homes, families and lives
  
• Slavery included the horrible conditions of the Middle Passage, where the cramped, diseased and abusive conditions led to the deaths of as many as 15 million people
  
• Slavery in America was hundreds of years of the near total subjugation of an entire class of people
  
• Slavery involved the beating, flogging, raping, and murder of millions of people
  
• Slavery tore apart families, kept people illiterate, and kept most in abject poverty
  
• Slavery nearly destroyed the United States
  
• Slavery led to the death of one of America's greatest presidents
  
• Slavery transformed into sharecropping, tenant farming and the prison-lease system, which combined to keep most African Americans in virtual slavery through the beginning of the twentieth century
  
• Slavery laid the groundwork for Jim Crow, lynching, a corrupt justice system, assassination and the long-term economic deprivation of African Americans long past the end of slavery
  

Now, for comparison's sake, let's take a quick look at the history of no gay marriages in Florida and the fact that the ban on gay marriage isn't in the Florida constitution:

• Gay marriage ripped no one out of their home, family or life
  
• Gay marriage included no Middle Passage
  
• Gay marriage killed no one
  
• Gay marriage led to the subjugation of no one
  
• Gay marriage involved no beatings, floggings, rapes or murder
  
• Gay marriage tore apart no families, kept no one illiterate and led to no poverty
  
• Gay marriage has had no negative effect on the United States
  
• Gay marriage killed no presidents
  
• Gay marriage transformed into no forced subjugation or de facto slavery
  
• Gay marriage did not lay the groundwork for segregation, lynching, corruption, assassination or economic deprivation
  

One of these things is not like the other.

And just in case you weren't convinced by that quote that this was all about hate, the article goes further:

Without such an amendment or a law, Wicker said, it could lead to legal marriages in Florida between “man and dog” and “father and child.”

Wow.

This isn't just about hatred, it's about stupidity. How is it possible for someone to be so wrong and so misguided about so much? In the annals of critical thinking there is a logical fallacy known as the slippery slope. Simply put the argument that one step in a particular direction guarantees that we will continue down that path towards worse outcomes. In the real world, it's hardly ever true. In this case, it's incredibly untrue. First off, without this amendment, gay marriage is still illegal in Florida. And even if gay marriage were legal, the fact that two consenting adult humans who are unrelated could marry would in no way legally require bestiality or incest being made legal. It's the height of silliness to think otherwise. Those things would still be illegal under other laws, including federal constitutional law. Beyond that, the people who support the legality of gay marriage don't support the legality of bestiality or incest. In fact, they all oppose it. Just like everyone else. And if gay marriage were made legal, it wouldn't change anyone's opinion on these other issues. How do we know? Because gay marriage is legal in several places. Bestiality and incest aren't. And there are no negative consequences for anyone out of that legalization. Not one. These arguments are ludicrous and the people that say things like:

This is a tremendous social crisis, greater even than the issue of slavery.

Or

Without such an amendment or a law, Wicker said, it could lead to legal marriages in Florida between “man and dog” and “father and child.”

are not only ignorant, they are morally bankrupt and about as un-American as a person could possibly be. Hatred of other citizens based on their innate characteristics, particularly when those characteristics harm no one, is as close to evil as one can get without raping, molesting or killing someone.

Kenneth Quinnell is a regular contributor to African American Political Pundit. Although he is not African American, this publication provides him and others with the opportunity to blog and cross post on topics important to African American community. African American Political Pundit offers opportunities for people of all backgrounds to have conversations about political, social, economic and faith issues. You can also visit Kenneth Quinnell at the Florida Progressive Coalition.

Bill Clinton's actions 'bizarre' and bigoted towards blacks

AAPP: There is no doubt that Clinton's Conduct Could Doom The Dems’ White House Chances.
Black voters are truly pissed off with his bigoted and color aroused comments.



Bill Clinton is pissing off a whole lot of black folks. He is becoming a very interesting X President who loves to do un-presidential mud slinging. As reported by NY Times reporter By Mark Leibovich, "The third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives and one of the country’s most influential African-American leaders sharply criticized former President Bill Clinton this afternoon for what he called Mr. Clinton’s “bizarre” conduct during the Democratic primary campaign."

Representative James E. Clyburn, an undeclared superdelegate from South Carolina who is the Democratic whip in the House, said that “black people are incensed over all of this,” referring to statements that Mr. Clinton had made in the course of the heated race between his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Senator Barack Obama.

Mr. Clinton was widely criticized by black leaders after he equated the eventual victory of Mr. Obama in South Carolina in January to that of the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1988 – a parallel that many took as an attempt to diminish Mr. Obama’s success in the campaign. In a radio interview in Philadelphia on Monday, Mr. Clinton defended his remarks and said the Obama campaign had “played the race card on me” by making an issue of those comments.

In an interview with The New York Times late Thursday, Mr. Clyburn said Mr. Clinton’s conduct in this campaign had caused what might be an irreparable breach between Mr. Clinton and an African-American constituency that once revered him. “When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar,” Mr. Clyburn said. “I think black folks feel strongly that that this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation.” More HERE

What are your thoughts? Is Bill Clinton a bigot? Will Obama's Plans for a May General Election Organizing Launch be enough? Is Wright's Reemergence Compounding Questions for Obama in Key Stretch?

Obama Needs To Take Off The Gloves and Float Like A Butterfly and Sting Like An Obama Bee."

The Clinton Negative Campaigning is Working - Take off The Gloves Obama!

The Media has jumped ship from Obama to Clinton. "It's time to float Like a Butterfly and Sting like an Obama Bee."



AAPP: OK, "Obama you have been Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. Cool, and Smooth. But at this point The Media and Billary redefining you to the electorate, you are no longer defining yourself." As an example it's crazy that Bill Clinton is sayiing that the Obama campaign played 'race card' on him. Bill Clinton is doing the rope a dope on you. The Clinton campaign along with the media are playing up "Color aroused" questions. You know the script they have been using. Bill Clinton saying about Barack Obama's campaign, "This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen..." Remarks made by Sen. Clinton, insulting one of the greatest Americans of our time, Martin Luther King, Jr, and the hundreds of thousands of black and other Americans who fought for civil rights in our country, when she said in regards to civil rights legislation, "It took a (white) president [Lyndon Johnson] to get it done."

Sam Stien has reported that the Obama campaign is aware of the color aroused strategy. From Clinton supporter and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo insulting, "you can't shuck and jive at a press conference." To Bill Clinton implying that Hillary Clinton Is Stronger Than Nelson Mandela, when the former president declared, "I go to Nelson Mandela's birthday party every year and we're still very close. But if you said to me, 'You've got one last job for your country but it's hazardous and you may not get out with life and limb intact and you have to do it alone except I'll let you take one other person, and I had to pick one person whom I knew who would never blink, who would never turn back, who would make great decisions, I would pick Hillary.'" The Color Aroused campaigning should not go without a response.

I agree with Thomas B. Edsall when he wrote in Huffington Post that the Media has jumped ship from Obama to Clinton. He is right, as he wrote, "In a blink of an eye, the media has jumped ship from the Obama campaign and become a crucial Clinton ally, pressing just the message -- that Obama is a likely loser in the general election -- that Hillary and her allies have been promoting for the past six weeks. The new tenor of media coverage is visible almost everywhere, from Politico, Time and The New Republic to The Washington Post and The New York Times."

He is also right when he write, "For Hillary, the shift is a potential lifesaver as she struggles to keep her head above water; without it, she would, metaphorically, drown. Until now, she, her husband, and her campaign aides have been trying, with little success, to make the case that Obama has potentially fatal flaws. For the first time, reporters working for magazines, newspapers and web sites have abruptly decided that she might well be right, and the results for Obama have been brutal: The first hard punch was thrown by my friend and colleague John Judis in a widely distributed piece on The New Republic web site, filed sometime around 3AM Wednesday, seven hours after polls closed in Pennsylvania. In the article titled, "The Next McGovern." Read More HERE

Now we learn from the Washington Post's Perry Bacon, Jr that she also repeated her challenge to Obama to debate her in this state, after the senator from Illinois would not commit to a previously scheduled one. "I've said I will debate anytime, anywhere," Clinton told a crowd of several hundred in Fayetteville. "I think you deserve your own debate."

AAPP: Hell no, don't debate her, we have had over 20 debates. Enough of the debates. We don't need to see more debates with media attacking. Enough is enough.

AAPP: I agree Perry Bacon, Jr. Clinton's Hopes May Lie With N.C. As he reported, North Carolina, with its large African American population, has long been seen as a firewall for Obama after contests in Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere that favored Clinton. A win here and in Indiana, which also votes May 6, could cement his status as the front-runner.

AAPP: I say, "It's time to end this color aroused camapign by the Clinton's once and for all." It's time to float Like a Butterfly and Sting like an Obama Bee. Now the question is, What are you going to do? Do you want to win this or what? I truly want you to win this with the style and grace of Ali and Jackie Robinson. Not the disgrace of Hillary and Bill Clinton.

Election 08, Did Hillary Really Win Anything?

Hillary "The Liar" Clinton Wins Pennsylvania. But did she really win anything?



Field Negro says it best, The Bill and Hillary show continues. Black bloggers have suggested she concede for some time. Blacks across the world have asked Hillary to Concede Hillary and Unify the Democratic Party.

There are a lot of established media seeing through this madness as well. The NY Times has noted her low road to victory.

The NY Times said, "Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election."

Also, as reported by Bill Lambrecht with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Clinton faces uphill battle despite win in Pennsylvania primary. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's victory in the Pennsylvania primary Tuesday keeps her on the playing field against Sen. Barack Obama in the extended World Series of Democratic politics, but the game for her now becomes harder.

Her finances bleak and Obama still leading in every statistic despite a few recent stumbles, Clinton's campaign faces a steady uphill climb as the Democratic Party winds up this historic primary season with a six-week stretch of contests from Oregon to Puerto Rico.

The next big event: May 6 primaries in Indiana, where Clinton has another fighting chance, and North Carolina, where she is a big underdog, en route to the primary season's June 3 windup in Montana and South Dakota.

"She did what she had to do, shore up her base. And the race goes on and on and on," said Terry Madonna, director of the Floyd Institute's Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.

With 99 percent of precincts counted, Clinton had 55 percent of the vote to Obama's 45 percent. Despite losing the Pennsylvania popular vote, Obama retained an overall lead of at least 500,000 votes.

The Illinois senator also scored heavily in the delegate hunt to keep an insurmountable lead in pledged delegates. A preliminary tabulation showed Clinton gaining at least 66 national convention delegates to 57 for Obama, with 35 still to be awarded. That gives Obama 1,705 delegates and Clinton 1,575, according to the AP tally. More HERE

AAPP: I was surprised that Hillary did not throw Gov.Rendell under the bus for praising the work of Minsister Louis Farrakan and the Nation of Islam. But then again, why should you or I be surprised at Hillary Clinton. She wanted to win at all cost. Right?

It's time to sign the Online Petition and urges Hillary Clinton to concede.

Black Accountability

A few words on the need for black leadership accountability.



Do you agree?

Election 08, Live Blogging at Dallas South Blog and at BlogTalkRadio at 11 PM

Don't forget, Shawn Williams is Live Blogging at Dallas South Blog.

I'm also linking to his blog. Dallas South Blog.com

Don't forget

Join African American Political Pundit

Tuesday April 22, 2008 11:00 PM EST

Join me for my Pennsylvania Primary Round-Up.

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Hillary, Obama, Osama and Bill Clinton

Hillary Clinton's new last minute campaign strategy: Scare them into voting for me - It worked for George Bush.

The Real John McCain

Senator John McCain (L) and Reverend John Hagee

Senator John McCain says he will hold on to Reverend John Hagee's endorsement, after admitting it was 'probably' a mistake to accept it.

"I admire and respect Dr. Hagee's leadership of his church," said the presumptive Republican nominee during his Sunday appearance ABC's This Week.



When asked if it was 'a mistake to solicit and accept his endorsement', Senator McCain said "oh, probably, sure." The 71-year-old McCain added, however, that he is 'glad' to have Hagee's endorsement. "I am glad to have his endorsement. [However,] I condemn remarks that are in anyway anti anything." John Hagee, the leader of a San Antonio mega-church, has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as 'the great whore' and called it a 'false cult system' and 'the apostate church'. It's true that [John] McCain's campaign sought my endorsement," the pro-Israeli reverend had said in an interview with the New York Times. Source: presstv

'Bigotry To Go' John McCain is trying another apology recipe on Black America

Angry John McCain is trying to run away from his past, while also trying a new apology recipe, hoping that black folks will eat his born-again approach to civil rights. McCain is also hoping just a few white liberals or white moderates will believe him as well. He wants people to believe he is a supporter of civil rights. just like he wants people to believe his wifes recipes. The problem is McCain is Guilty of Plagiarism. He is guilty of being on the wrong side of developing recipes. not just food recipes, but progressive recipes for American social change.

Like I've said, black folks are not stupid, and we know when someone is is not telling the truth. We know when we are being laughed at. We know when we are being insulted. We know what tar baby means. You see John McCain hated Martin Luther King and voted against every piece of legislation that would make Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday. Now McCain is scheduled to make remarks at the foot of Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, beginning at 9 a.m. and maybe take a quick tour of some of the Selma churches where civil rights workers staged their marches.



As an example (source DNC), in 1983 McCain did something not even Dick Cheney did: he voted in Congress against a federal holiday in honor of Dr. King, which President Reagan later signed into law. In 1987, McCain supported Arizona Governor Evan Mecham's action to rescind an executive order establishing a state holiday in Martin Luther King's honor.

Even in 1989, when McCain finally came around and supported a state holiday, he said he was "still opposed to another federal holiday." As recently as 2000, McCain reportedly said he "resented it when people outside of Arizona got involved" in the issue. [FOXNews.com, 4/3/08; ABC News, 4/3/08; Huffington Post, 4/1/08; Wall Street Journal, 4/3/08; AP, 2/29/00]

McCain apparently thinks a stop in Memphis can gloss over that part of his bio, but -- as one reporter noted -- McCain's "views on race in the 1980s do not stand up to the sunlight of America a quarter-century later." [ABC News, 4/3/08]

1983: McCain Votes Against Federal MLK Day. In 1983 McCain voted against establishing a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. "Most Republicans in the House voted for the holiday (89 voted for the holiday, 77 opposed), though all three Arizona House Republicans were opposed. Reps. Dick Cheney, R-Wyoming, and Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, voted for the holiday. (Cheney had voted against it in 1978.)" [ABC News, 4/3/08]

1987: McCain Opposes Arizona MLK Holiday. In Arizona, Democratic governor Bruce Babbitt issued an executive order to establish an MLK holiday. Yet "[i]n January 1987, the first act of Arizona's new governor, Republican Evan Mecham, was to rescind the executive order by his predecessor to create an MLK holiday. Arizona's stance became a national controversy. McCain backed the decision at the time." [ABC News, 4/3/08]

1989: McCain Still Opposes Federal Holiday. Even though he now supported establishing a state holiday for Martin Luther King, he said he "said he was 'still opposed to another federal holiday.'" [Huffington Post, 4/1/08]

2000: McCain Said He Had Opposed Instituting MLK Day On A National Level. In 2000, it was reported that "McCain has said he supported implementing the holiday on a state level but resented it when people outside of Arizona got involved." [Associated Press, 2/29/2000]




David Jackson, of USA Today reports — John McCain begins today's tour of the Alabama "Black Belt" at a mecca of the 1960s voting rights movement that realigned Southern politics.

The 1965 assault on marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., helped produce the federal Voting Rights Act. Four decades later, the South is predominantly Republican, and African-Americans are the Democratic Party's most loyal constituency.

McCain's remarks at the Pettus Bridge will begin what he calls the "It's Time for Action Tour," spotlighting "forgotten Americans," who include steelworkers in Youngstown, Ohio, the rural poor in the Appalachia region of Kentucky, and Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans.

"We will travel to areas of this country that in many ways have been forgotten and left behind," McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt said. More here

AAPP: As David Jackson, of USA Today reported McCain's efforts to attract black voters will face historic hurdles. first off Barack Obama could become the first African-American nominee of a major party. so he might as well forget about getting any significant black votes. Secondly, as stated previously McCain voted in Congress against a federal holiday in honor of Dr. King.

Put a fork in it McCain - your done! no one believes you care about poor people. Black folks are not hearing you. We know were you stand.

As Ted Rall noted, Time after time, McCain weighs a decision. Then, after careful consideration, he chooses evil over good. In the short run, evil gets him what he wants. Later, when the devil comes to collect his due, McCain issues a retraction.

Running for president in 2000, John McCain squared off against George W. Bush in the key South Carolina primary. Asked whether the Confederate battle flag should continue to fly over the state capitol, McCain sided with the rednecks: "Personally, I see the flag as symbol of heritage."

A few months later, he'd lost South Carolina and quit the race. He apologized--not to the African-Americans he'd offended, but to a friendly audience of Republicans. "I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary," he admitted. "So I chose to compromise my principles." It wasn't the first time, or the last.

Also in 2000, McCain insulted Asians. "I hate the gooks," John McCain hissed, "and I will hate them for as long as I live...and you can quote me." After a few days of negative press attention, he took it back: "I apologize and renounce all language that is bigoted and offensive, which is contrary to all that I represent and believe."

What does McCain "represent and believe"? In 2000 McCain attacked George W. Bush for speaking at Bob Jones University, a freaky institution that smeared Catholics, banned jazz and interracial dating. Six years later, however, it was McCain's turn to suck up to the Christianist right. He appeared at the Rev. Jerry Falwell's extremist Liberty University, which--like BJU--bans gays and denies pregnant students the right to seek an abortion.

No apology for that one.

In 1983, John McCain was a freshman congressman from Arizona, then one of the most right-wing states in the country. In order to appease his Republican Party's base--racist whites--he voted against the bill that established Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. "I thought that it was not necessary to have another federal holiday, that it cost too much money, that other presidents were not recognized," he explained in 2000. Do Chester Arthur or Gerry Ford deserve holidays? Anyway, MLK Day didn't cost employers a cent; Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday were replaced by the generic President's Day.

He also floated the "states rights" excuse (with its own racist signifiers) that referenced his support for Confederate "heritage" in South Carolina. "I believe it's an issue that the people of South Carolina can settle, just as we in Arizona settled the very divisive issue over the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King as a holiday. I resented it a great deal when people from Washington and pundits and politicians and others came to my state to tell us how we should work out a very difficult problem."

Healthcare is "a very difficult problem." Iraq is "a very difficult problem." MLK Day, like the Confederate flag "issue," was a simple question of right and wrong.

True to his pattern, McCain understood that the racist pandering he used to launch his political career could come back to haunt him in the more enlightened--the John Birchers who contributed to his early campaigns might say "politically correct"--election year of 2008. Time for another apology: "I was wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support for a state holiday in Arizona," he concedes. "We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans." MORE here

AAPP: Now Mccain is trying another recipe on black folk and America. A trip to Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, maybe take a quick tour of some of the Selma churches where civil rights workers staged their marches, and another apology. Will it work?

Breaking News! Clinton Praised a Group of KKK Supporters

According to Black Commentator, Senator Hillary Clinton (D, NY) has some explaining to do.

BlackCommentator.com has learned that Bill Clinton, while president, repeatedly praised the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). This is an organization that many, including some whites and a former U.S. senator from Illinois, have called racist.

To view the entire report with documentation please visit the link below.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/274/274_clinton_udc.html

Note: BlackCommentator.com is an independent weekly Internet publication that is published every Thursday. It is not a blog.

Pennsylvania Voters Switching To Obama

NPR is taking the pulse of Pennsylvania Voters April 19, 2008 · 62% of voters polled who've switched their party registration to Democratic since January say they will vote for Sen. Barack Obama, says Terry Madonna, professor of politics at Franklin and Marshall College. He discusses the top issues for voters in the state. More HERE

Obama leads Clinton 'signifcantly

Was last week the final face-off between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?

Meanwhile, Obama leads Clinton by 19 in Newsweek poll. According to By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence at U.S.A. today, Two stories are making waves on this Saturday morning:

• Newsweek says its latest polling shows Sen. Barack Obama 19 percentage points ahead of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton nationally in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. He leads 54%-35%. The polling of 1,209 registered Democratic voters was done on Wednesday and Thursday, and 517 of those surveyed were contacted after Wednesday night's Democratic debate. The margin of error on each figure: +/-3 percentage points.

This is the perfect time to remind ourselves that polls are snapshots of current public opinion and can't predict what will happen on any far-off Election Day. It's also important to say that a 19-point lead is much larger than what most other polls are giving to Obama. Yesterday, for example, Gallup said its daily national tracking poll puts Obama 3 points ahead.

Pollster.com says Obama's average lead over Clinton in national polls is about 5 points (it hasn't yet factored in the Newsweek number). Real Clear Politics, which has included Newsweek's result in its calculations, gives Obama nearly a 9-point average lead.

• The Huffington Post has obtained a recording of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton blaming "what she called the 'activist base' of the Democratic Party -- and MoveOn.org in particular -- for many of her electoral defeats, saying activists had 'flooded' state caucuses and 'intimidated' her supporters."

MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser told Huffington that his group's 3.2 million members "deserve better than to be dismissed using Republican talking points." More HERE.

All of this as Obama gets establishment democrats' backing and racks up more endorsements.

Finally, Obama is saying to Hillary, Let's campaign, no more debates. He suggested he doesn't see any point in having another debate with Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton.