Many black politicians are cretin and need to be called out!

It's time for afrospear political bloggers to step in the gap, and start calling these "cretin" low-life black politicians out. Start reporting on these politicians who could care less about the politicial and economic empowerment of black folks.

Yes, I said it, many of these black cretin politicians are half wit, imbeciles and idiots ... this past week is a case study in why so many black politicians are idiots, and why so many people, particularly black folks are so angry with black politicians and the practice of politics in black communities. 

Let's talk about how black politicians are idiots, and how their counterparts are just as stupid. The Washington Post has a great report on some of this black political idiots.  How about once highly respected Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), one of the longest-serving and most powerful members of Congress, who was forced to give up the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee (a leave of absence, he caMany black politicians are cretin and need to be called outlled it).  As WaPo reports, he was caught in a swirl of allegations involving unpaid taxes and accepting company-underwritten trips, Rangel finally stepped aside to avoid a potentially embarrassing vote against him by his colleagues. His case is far from over.

Oh, and let's not forget New York Gov. David Paterson (D) fought to hang on to his office amid rising indignation and calls for his resignation over reports that he intervened in a domestic abuse allegation lodged against one of his highest-ranking aides. 

How about that Republican leader who has another embarrassment of his own, as reported by WaPo, there was a controversial Republican National Committee fundraising presentation that was first surfaced by Politico's Ben Smith. The PowerPoint presentation included a slide with the title "The Evil Empire." 

The slide depicted President Obama as the Joker (with a caption that read, "socialism"), 

Speaking of cretin black politicans in the U.S. how about Monica Conyers, wife of Congressman John Conyers.

According to The Detriot Free Press, Federal prosecutors have recommended that former Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers receive at least 46-57 months in prison for her role in the Synagro sludge-hauling scandal. get this, Conyers, who also sat on a city pension board, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn. She faces up to five years in prison as part of her guilty plea. Voters may be ready for real change in Washington....

But she is not the only black politician disgarcing black folks recently. How about Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford (D-AL) who as arrested on December 1, 2008 by the FBI on a 101 count indictment alleging conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns in connection with a long-running bribery scheme.


 



Her former chief of staff, Sam Riddle, went to trial last month in connection with the Synagro allegations and other alleged bribery and extortion schemes. During the trial, which ended in a hung jury, prosecutors played many intercepted phone calls of conversations between Conyers and Riddle and Conyers and Detroit businessman Rayford Jackson, who is serving five years in prison. Conyers cast the tiebreaking vote on city council for a $1.2-billion contract with Synagro in November 2007. Read more HERE

Former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for his role in a bribery scheme during his tenure as president of the Jefferson County Commission.

U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler issued the sentence Friday morning in a federal courtroom in Tuscaloosa, telling Langford, "This isn't pleasant for me or you."

Langford declined to make a statement before the sentencing, but did tell the judge, "I'm sorry this has occurred." The judge sentenced Langford to 180 months in prison, plus three years supervised release afterwards.  Langford must also pay restitution and back taxes.

Prosecutors then asked the judge to send Langford to prison immediately instead of giving him 30 days to report to prison because, "Langford showed no remorse." Judge Coogler decided against that recommendation and gave Langford 30 days to report to prison (April 5th.)  However, in the interim, Langford will be required to wear an electronic monitoring anklet, must report to his probation officer twice a week, and cannot go outside of Jefferson County. Federal prosecutors had asked Judge Coogler to sentence Langford to between 24 and 30 years in prison. Langford's attorney, Michael Rasmussen, objected Friday morning, restating the opinions he filed Thursday and asking the judge for mercy.  "Let Langford come out before he's 70 and overcome by health problems," Rasmussen said. "Don't let him rot in prison."   More HERE

Let's not forget about Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon (D-MD) was indicted on 12 counts of perjury, theft and misconduct in office (January 2009)

Not to be out-done, remember Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D-MI) with his Chief-of-Staff  Christine Beatty, fired two police officers for investigating claims that Kilpatrick had used his security unit to cover up their extramarital affair and lied about it under oath. Both pled guilty and were sentenced to 4 months in prison with 5 years probation. (2008)

Or how about in my home state of Massachusetts, former State Senator Diane Wilkerson (D-MA) who was video taped by the FBI stuffing bribe money into her bra. Also charged with tax evasion (1997), ethics violations (2001) and perjury (2005). She resigned the Senate in November 2008, but still faces charges.

Or how about Georgia Congressman David Scott (D-GA) who has expended $52,000 to $344,000 to himself, friends, family and business from campaigns every election cycle since 2002. Shortly after the 2006 election, he was served with an IRS tax lien for over $153,000.

Yes, It's time for black political bloggers and blogtalkradio host to start calling these "cretin" low-life black politicians out.  

Now that we learn that everyone is getting paid with taxpayer money except black folks, maybe it's time to call a number of black politicans out. 

But that's just my opinion what do you think?

RIP - Ron Banks

Ron Banks, singer and founder of Detroit R&B/ soul act The Dramatics, died in his home yesterday. He was 58 years old. The falsetto crooner, who formed the Dramatics in 1962, is believed to have died from a “massive heart attack,” according to Motown Alumni Association president Billy Wilson. 

RIP Ron Banks

Here is a news report I missed while not blogging regularly. More HERE

 

Ok, I must have missed this one, years ago.LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Luther Ingram, the R&B singer/songwriter best known for his passionate turn on the 1972 hit "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to be Right," has died. He was 69.

Ingram succumbed to kidney disease in St. Louis Monday. He had undergone a kidney transplant several years ago.

Born in Jackson, Tenn., Ingram moved to New York in 1966 to record with producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Relocating to Memphis two years later, Ingram began scoring a string of hits on the Koko label. The label was owned by producer Johnny Baylor and distributed by Stax, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Ingram became one of Stax's chart mainstays. Notching his first top 10 R&B hit in 1970, "Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)," he enjoyed his biggest showing (No. 1 R&B; No. 3 pop) with "(If Loving You Is Wrong)..."

Subsequent R&B hits include "Ill Be Your Shelter (In Time of Storm)" and "Always." Ingram, who also wrote the Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself" with Sir Mack Rice, later recorded for Profile in the mid-1980s. More HERE

Belated RIP
AAPP

Blacks better off under slavery?

Blacks were better off under slaves?  Asked today by a conservative blogger about the role of race in the hyper-partisan, talk-radio-addled atmosphere in Washington, Republican Rep. Trent Franks took the opportunity to say that he thinks African Americans were better off under slavery.  Check out the video (below) some excerpts:



Slavery “is a crushing mark on America’s soul,” the Arizonan tells Mike Stark. “And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery. And I think, ‘What does it take to get us to wake up?’”

Mayor Adrian Fenty, His Disgrace May Be Catching Up With Him

Recently The Washington Post ran a report on how black folks in Washington, DC don't support Mayor Adrian Fenty. I agree with their analysis and data.

Now here is an great article, and about a man who may just run for Mayor of washington, DC. Don Peebles appears to be just what Washington, DC needs. Check out this article from The Washington, DC "City Paper" on how Non-Candidate Don Peebles Goes Deliciously Negative on Fenty

Posted by Mike DeBonis 

This much is clear: If developer R. Donahue Peebles runs for mayor (and it doesn't seem to be a very big if), that vein in Adrian Fenty's forehead will be doing a lot of popping.

Last night, as a guest of the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations, Peebles delivered what was, for all intents and purposes, a mayoral stump speech. In his remarks before a friendly crowd, Peebles lambasted Fenty's record, attacking the incumbent on education, crime, and economic development. And, at times, he got rather personal.

Notably, Peebles delivered his strident remarks minutes after D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray occupied the podium inside the old council chambers at One Judiciary Square. While Gray decried divisions in the city and got quite animated about D.C. voting rights, he did not challenge the current leadership of the city as directly as Peebles did. (Keep in mind that Gray was there to deliver brief comments before installing the organization's new officers.)

It would be unfair to compare and contrast the would-be candidates, but one thing's clear to LL: Peebles has the taste for the political jugular that Gray does not.

Peebles read from a prepared text (available below). His particular spin on the rags-to-riches story---grandson of hotel doorman becomes hotel owner---won him applause and grunts of approval from the crowd. He got even more applause when he started his broadsides at the Fenty record---noting that murders went down last year, but only "for the first time...since Adrian Fenty walked into office" and playing down rises in school test scores as modest. Like Gray, he indulged in the old "tale of two cities" line, which launched him into the meat of his attack, skewering Fenty for "economic neglect" and closing social-service offices while unemployment is at an all-time high. In another ripped-from-the-headlines riff, Peebles decried the overcrowding at the city's youth detention center.

On the night of the State of the Union address, Pebbles also deployed a classic SotU tactic, quoting a resident named Renarda House to testify to the plight of the city. Her testimony: "Fenty is not in touch at all with this community." (House appeared not to be on the premises.)

That segued into another Peebles crowd-whipper---the recent CoStar tax-abatement deal: "I wonder how Adrian Fenty would feel, how he would explain to her and the hundreds of others, how he chose to close two service centers to save $1 million while at the same very time, he flew back from a junket from Las Vegas, Nevada, and sat in first-class next to the owner of a company called CoStar and cut a deal to give him $7 million to move his business from Bethesda, Maryland, to Washington, D.C.---a deal that would not create one new job, not spark any new economic development in our community."

After wrapping up his prepared comments, things got really interesting.

After one woman in the audience of several dozen rose to urge him to run, Peebles, citing his mother-in-law's terminal cancer, said he wasn't running "at this particular time." He added: "I do intend, whether I'm a candidate or someone else is, to help support change in the city."

With that, the Fenty slams notched into high gear. For one: "I don't dislike Adrian Fenty. I mean, you know, he's probably a good athlete. But I am angry at the job that he's done as mayor and the level of disrespect and the lack of compassion."

On his economic development record: "I, at 27 years old, with $20,000 in the bank have built more buildings in Ward 8 than Adrian Fenty with $9 billion in the bank."

Peebles went on to call him "vindictive" and retaliatory toward those who don't support his political campaigns. He pivoted to address a key ant-Peebles talking point: "People have been going around telling the media that I'm just trying to buy the mayor's race. But I want to answer that for those of the media that are here: I am. I'm gonna buy it back and give it to you." Big applause for that one.

And then things got personal, apropos of the Cora Masters Barry eviction saga. As predicted, the Fenty administration's attempt to oust the estranged wife of Marion Barry from her space at a city-funded tennis center became prime campaign fodder, prompting this vein-popper: "Does he think he's gonna be mayor forever? One day his wife will be the former first lady. Then I realized he probably doesn't have much respect for her." Yikes.

And that, of course, gave way to Fenty's related snub of civil rights icon Dorothy Height and poet Maya Angelou, who wanted a meeting with Hizzoner in order to stump for Cora. "Who the hell does he think he is?....If it weren't for Dorothy Height, he wouldn't be running the city; he'd probably be working at the cleaners."

In closing, Peebles alluded to the parks contracting mess and a well-worn reference to old Howard Beale: "The reality is, I hope you all understand, Adrian Fenty doesn't care....We have got to say enough is enough...stand up and say, 'I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!'" Read more here

Senator Harry Reid's Vegas Integration Lies

Well it looks like Senator Harry Reid is at it again. you remember how I commented about the NAACP giving Senator Reid an "A" in Congress report card | more HERE and HERE. Well, it appears that Senator Reid is spreading a bit of "little white lies" this time with regard to his role in the integration of the Vegas Strip. 




Get this as reported by Steven Friess at AOL News, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who last month apologized for privately praising President Barack Obama's lack of a "Negro dialect," posted a Black History Month essay on his Web site Monday in which he takes credit for racial integration in Las Vegas.

One problem: Some local black leaders and historians don't remember him having had a significant role in that effort and the senator himself made no reference to it in his 2008 memoir.

President Barack Obama, right, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

President Barack Obama, right, participates in a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in the Coliseum at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas, in this May 2009 file photo. Obama will head to Las Vegas for a Democratic Party fundraiser and events Friday for Reid after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., in Denver.

(Jason Reed/Reuters)

There is more, In the essay, which was also published as an opinion piece for the black-issues Web site The Grio under Harry Reid's byline, the Senate majority leader wrote: "I worked hard during my time in local politics in Nevada to integrate the Las Vegas strip [sic] and the gaming industry."

Yet Joe Neal, a former Democratic state senator who was a key figure in the civil rights movement in Nevada, was baffled by the claim. For one thing, Reid was only 20 when a famous 1960 meeting between casino owners, progressive government officials and NAACP leaders resulted in an accord to integrate Las Vegas casinos for customers.

The Nevada Legislature passed a civil rights act in 1965, but Reid did not become a member of that body until his 1966 election as an assemblyman. And a federal court decree in 1971 that set quotas for the hiring of minority casino workers was negotiated by the U.S. Department of Justice and handed down just months after he was sworn in as lieutenant governor.

Reid spokesman Jon Summers responded to questions about the claim with a one-sentence e-mail: "He and Mike O'Callaghan worked together as governor and lieutenant governor to apply pressure on business leaders to integrate the industry." Reid served as lieutenant governor under O'Callaghan for one term, from 1971 to 1974, before leaving the post for his first, unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.

When pressed for specifics, Summers pointed to a Politico piece from June 2008 in which Reid told a journalist he helped negotiate the 1971 settlement that required casinos to begin hiring blacks in hotel casino jobs other than as maids and porters.

"I don't recall him being involved in any of that," said Neal, the first black state senator and first black gubernatorial nominee from a major party when the Democrat lost in 2002. He attended several meetings related to the federal settlement and was heavily involved as the state's top elected black official. "I don't think he would have an involvement" in the federal court decree.

Historians who have studied the era were similarly uncertain to what Reid referred. A 2004 doctoral dissertation [pdf] by sociologist Jeffrey J. Sallaz specifically examined the outcome of that federal decree and didn't reference either O'Callaghan or Reid. Instead, Sallaz laid out the history as a tussle between federal authorities and casino executives.
Read the whole article HERE.

NAACP Generational Shift with Roslyn Brock at Helm

Finally, as reported by By Krissah Thompson, The Washington Post, The NAACP hands over reins to a new chairman | I have written my own response and congratulations... more HERE

As reported by The Washington Post, The NAACP selected health-care administrator Roslyn Brock as its chairman on Saturday, marking the culmination of a generational shift for the historic civil rights organization. For the first time in the NAACP's history, both its president and chairman are too young to have personally experienced legalized segregation.

Brock, 44, takes the helm from civil rights pioneer Julian Bond. She will guide the association along with Benjamin Jealous, who, at 37, is the youngest president in the NAACP's history. 

The shift comes as the association seeks to regain the influence of its heyday during the civil rights movement, and Brock said her goal is to expand the NAACP's base beyond its stagnant chapter membership and narrow its focus on a few specific civil rights issues: education, health care, economic empowerment, criminal justice and civic engagement.

Roslyn M. Brock, who joined the civil rights organization in college, succeeds Julian Bond, left. (Helayne Seidman For The Washington Post)

AAPP says: All of you know how I feel about the NAACP. I have been a critic of the NAACP for some time, yet at the same time I have scene glimmers of HOPE. I've talked about how the naacp is still facing a battle over its future. More Here about - my second take

It's interesting that I (along with other bloggers) just recently discussed how the NAACP gave Senator Reid an A in Congress report card | more HERE and HERE 

Yes, I have been critical of how Three Negros (stooges) meet with Obama at White House without an agenda, plan, strategy, out program in place. On this blog I have followed the NAACP for some time. I have pointed out, like so many other black folks how NAACP is out of touch! As an example, giving Harry Reid a grade "A" as a Senator.

Now we learn the NAACP selected health-care administrator Roslyn M. Brock as its chairman on Saturday, marking the culmination of a generational shift for the historic civil rights organization.  

AAPP: This is good News!

As reported by By Krissah Thompson over at The Washington Post, For the first time in the NAACP's history, both its president and chairman are too young to have personally experienced legalized segregation. 

Brock, 44, takes the helm from civil rights pioneer Julian Bond. She will guide the association along with Benjamin Jealous, who, at 37, is the youngest president in the NAACP's history. 

The shift comes as the association seeks to regain the influence of its heyday during the civil rights movement, and Brock said her goal is to expand the NAACP's base beyond its stagnant chapter membership and narrow its focus on a few specific civil rights issues: education, health care, economic empowerment, criminal justice and civic engagement.

"As we move forward, our greatest challenge really is to hone our message to make it relevant," said Brock, who joined the NAACP as a freshman in college. "We have to recognize and to own that we can't be all things to all people, and that there are new players in the space that we operate in who may be able to do some things better than we can."

Brock and Jealous, who was named president two years ago, are tasked with finding a way to reignite what they call the association's "front-line" activism. Jealous said both see their mission as no less pressing than the struggles faced by African Americans in other eras. 

AAPP says: Hmmm.... Here is my previous comments on the naacp 100 years... what next?

"We are the so-called children of the dream," Jealous said. "We were told that everything was fair and all we had to do was work hard. That worked well for many of us, but all of us realize that we are a part of a generation that is both the most murdered in the country and the most incarcerated on the planet."

Both Brock and Jealous said they want to see the NAACP catch up with technological advancements in social activism. Smaller, younger groups have built robust online activism networks. Jealous began last year to increase the NAACP's online presence, with live streaming of video and online campaigns in support of health-care reform and other issues.

AAPP says: I agree with one of the professors, quoted in the Washington Post article, "The jury is still out on the relevance of the NAACP, but this is definitely a step in the right direction," said Andra Gillespie, a professor of political science at Emory University. "The biggest structural challenge [facing the NAACP] is in an era where there is codified equality and you have a black president, you have to figure out what a civil rights agenda looks like. No one has figured that out."

I also agree with the responder to a recent blog post, regarding the NAACP's meeting with Barack Obama recently, when he wrote: 

"Looks like The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion traveled all the way to Washington, in the middle of a snow storm, just to get one hour with The Wizard Obama. Even Dorthy knew it would be a waste of time...that's why she stayed home. They could have gotten better results with a phone call. Many Blacks said it would be a "cold day in hell" before Obama would spend ONE day addressing our issues... they were wrong....it just took a cold day in Washington, and less than one hour to address our issues."  More HERE

As Krissah Thompson at The Washington Post, noted, although it had been a force in winning major civil rights battles for decades, the NAACP has been criticized in recent years for not remaining relevant. The average age of its 64-member board of directors is 58. Read more HERE

 

With all this said, we wish her the best in her new role....

Three Negros (stooges) Meet With Obama at White House

The Three Stooges of Negro Opinion met at the White House with President Barack Obama today.

Two of the of the three "black like me, 'light skinned Obama type negro' men of negro opinion and somewhat negro dialect" met privately with Obama for about an hour saying they pushed for aid in urban and rural areas with large numbers of hurting "minorities." Media outlets like CNN, continue to build these folks up, as Black spokes people, saying "Wednesday as President Obama huddled with key African-American leaders at the White House."  Who elected these three self serving negro clowns black leaders?

These 3 Top negro hustlers of the civil rights memories of days long gone, included Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network (a paper tiger organization based out of NY) and National Urban League president Marc Morial, and thier new side kick NACCP chief negro in charge Benjamin Todd Jealous, spoke with members of a media that was non exsistent outside the West Wing of the White House following their meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington.

Al Sharpton and the other two stooges went to the White House to talk about the pain of black folks, in order to gain favor from the Obama administration for their pet projects. This after the negro NAACP organization called the NAACP just finished giving a letter A of support to America's Senate bigot.

Sharpton and the other stooges met with President Obama, urging him to remember their communities when it comes to the pending jobs bill and other pieces of economic legislation."We expect to be included in the process," Sharpton said, just as business and union leaders are. Obama's other negro guests: Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP, and Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League made up the three stooges.

Dorothy Height, chairwoman of the National Council of Negro Women, had to cancel because of the weather.

AAPP says: There appears to be something drastically wrong with the Obama administration refusing to address poverty and the black community. Maybe Doug Wilder is right. i have been saying it for some time myself, The White House of "not listening to the people" I also urge Barack Obama to fire his senior aides. It seems that his staff only see red.

The president needs to address low-income workers who have been hit the hardest by the jobs crisis, instead of addressing America's affluent. the President needs to talk with real people, and not these fake three stooges he met with today. Maybe he can get it on his schedule.

Hey Mr. president, This is not the change I voted for. At this point, this independent,   would never vote for you again.

Want to talk about this issue and these three stooges, and what they are up to?  Is this just a disguise to get some money for their organizations? Are they just really planning to support Obama because Americans are not supporting his support the rich policies?

Join us tonight on BlogTalkRadio's most popular blog talk radio program, "If you can handle the truth."Join in the conversation tonight on Blog Talk Radio 

Obama: The most polarizing first-year president in history

The New Obama message is getting old. No I'm not talking about the interesting pictures of the President getting old, as found on the website, Art of Obama.com that are based on the photoshop pictures that was recently featured on CNN (via BoingBoing, via IssTumBul): “Presidential aging photos – Boing Boing. “The president ages twice as fast while in office, according to a theory advanced by Dr. Michael Roizen, a chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic.”  More Art of Obama.com

President Barack Obama on Friday, Jan. 22, 2010.(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak).

No I'm talking about the real deal. The newest "weak proposals" from President Barack Obama and the White House to the economic crisis in America. Now he is proposing the following:

-- nearly doubling the child and dependent care tax credit for families making under $85,000 a year;

-- limiting a student's federal loan payments to 10 percent of income above basic living allowance;

-- creating a new system of automatic workplace retirement savings accounts;

-- expanding tax credits to match retirement savings; and

-- expanding elder care help for the "sandwich generation" of baby boomers caring for parents and children.

Hmm... these proposals are interesting but I must ask, why is he not understanding that it's about jobs and foreclosures? It's about the money he gave to the banks, and they refuse to loan are money back. It's about the bailout that saved Wall Street firms from failure. It's about poor leadership in the White House. It's about, you got elected NOW LEAD!

Americans are pissed because there has been no real reform on Wall Street, and there is no vision coming out of the President. Why not be a great first term President, Mr. Obama?

The fact of the matter is, If Barack Obama allowed some of those Wall Street bastards to fail, Maybe, just maybe, failure might provided an opportunity for real Wall Street reform. Now Barack Obama is seen by Independent's like me, as no more than a George W. Bush clone.

I guess I understand why so many independents like myself believe Barack Obama is the most polarizing First Year President's in History.

Three polarizing presidents

The Gallup Poll people delivered an interesting report today: President Obama was the most polarizing first-year president in history. 

Well, so much for all this talk about Barack Obama being the great consensus builder and the Lincoln bible and channeling Abraham lincoln stuff, that Barack obama played to the max and took us for a ride.

The fact of the matter is, Barack Obama has been playing America and playing black folks like a fiddle. In the name of Abraham Lincoln. 


What ever happened to Fredrick Douglass as a hero?

Haiti: Where is the Medical supplies for Haiti?

I have been concerned for some time about how poorly the people of Haiti are being treated. I have been wondering for sometime regarding how supplies are being distributed.I'm particularly concerned about how Haitians are dying at a hospital for lack of supplies.




 





It's really a damn shame that makeshift hospitals in Haiti are struggling to deal with hundreds of thousands of people were injured in the earthquake, many of who are dying while waiting for treatment due to lack of medical supplies. More HERE

"I candidly wonder if this earthquake happened in Canada or England would the United States take so long to get supplies to them?"

Like me, a number of news outlets are finally beginning to ask, 'Is America's Haiti Response: Worse than Katrina?"

 

Dominic Nahr for the Wall Street Journal
 

Most of the victims of Haiti's earthquake were buried in mass burial sites such as this one in Titanyen.

I have been saying for the past week that America could be doing better and could be doing more in Haiti. Why is it that other countries have their act together but America does not have it's act together? But guess what, you don't believe me. But then again,pictures say a thousand words.

Some say that there is a conspiracy against the Haitians to de-populate the capital city of Haiti, and make it a great big tourist town. That just may be possible. I do know that Wyclef Jean just may be right when he called for evacuation of Port-au-Prince. I also support Wyclef Jean's efforts to raise money for Haiti

Yet, with all that is going on, I don't know what else to believe anymore...

President Obama FAKE Populist

President Obama is now trying to be a populist after giving away billions of dollars of tax payer money to wall street and banks. Now the president is trying to act like a populist rather than suffer from, the anti-Wall Street, anti-establishment mood sweeping the country. 

Angry voters are turning against him and are sick of industry bailouts and special-interest deal making. Candidly I believe Barack Obama is only showing a fake populism. I wonder if his "new fake populism" save his health care plan?  Probably not! More to come on this issue.

Erroll Southers Withdraws and The Color Aroused US Senate

Erroll Southers, President Obama's selection to head the TSA

According to NPR's Mark Memmott, The Obama administration's choice to head the Transportation Security Administration has withdrawn his name from nomination after weeks of questions about whether he gave misleading answers to Congress regarding a reprimand he got for running background checks on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend in the late 1980s. The Associated Press just reported that "in a statement, Erroll Southers says he is withdrawing because his nomination has become a lightning rod for those with a political agenda." His statements about the background checks wasn't the only obstacle in Southers' path. More HERE

AAPP:  Damn, another nominee gone. What is going on here? This guy, erroll Southers appeared to be highly qualified. more qualified than some of the bigoted Senators on Capitol Hill. 

It's too bad that President Obama keeps letting the bigots get the best of black men who may not be the "light skin negroes" that are acceptable by some in the United States Senate.

Obama administration nominees or members who split, quit, withdrew, or were let go. 

H/T Talking Point's Memo.

Scott Brown Wins - Obama's Big Loss

AAPP says: Newspapers, websites and bloggers on the left and right throughout America are covering this issue head-on. My hometown newspaper The Boston Globe captures it all. 

Voters are angy! After one year of being in office Barack Obama believes he is doing a great job giving himself a B+, but with voter anxiety and resentment, building for months in a troubled economy, as Brian  Mooney at the Boston Globe wrote, Massachusetts voters exploded like a match on dry kindling in the final days of the special election for US Senate.

While some are saying the final vote in Massachusetts was a vote against Obama's health care efforts,I believe that it was frustration with the status quo that fueled emotions and the big turnout. As reported by the Boston Globe, scores of interviews at multiple polling places, Republicans, independents, and even some Democrats said frustration over health reform and anger with Congress had motivated them to vote for Scott Brown. President Barack Obama needs to begin to understand and take note of.

Miller/News

Read more: here

As Jenna Russell of the Boston Globe noted, "Ted Kennedy’s hometown did not look or sound like a place deeply attached to the senator’s liberal legacy." While Democrats ask what went wrong with Kennedy’s seat, It's clear to this Bostonian, African American Political Pundit,  that  President Obama and the Democrats suffered a major blow with Martha Coakley's loss in Massachusetts. 

Yes, as reported by The Huffington Post,The blame game is fully underway. A top pollster to Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley told HuffPost on Tuesday that the White House, in attempting to blame the Coakley campaign for a potential defeat today in Massachusetts, underestimates the wave of populist fury among Massachusetts voters.
Pollster Celinda Lake said Coakley was hampered by the failure of the White House and Congress to confront Wall Street. That failure, she said, means that Democrats are being blamed by angry independent voters worried about the state of the economy. More HERE

AAPP: Speaking of blame, The new Chairman of the DNC was not watching the ball and probably should be fired! 

Barack Obama and his handlers seem to be disconnected with reality. Unemployment remains high (ten per cent) and many white working class voters are disenchanted with a President Obama because he is black, and other foolish reasons. 

Add Martha Coakley poor campaigning style and tea party and birther folks to the picture...  You know who I'm talking about, the "birther" movement, that has sought to discredit President Barack Obama’s status as an American citizen, and who defended Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown’s suggestion that Obama was born out of wedlock.  More HERE

You see, the white working class, (many who may have been color aroused) voters in Massachusetts sent a loud, bigoted and clear message to the Obama administration.

As I recently noted on Jack and Jill Politics blog:

"Republicans, independents, and even some Democrats are concerned that President Obama and the Democrats are giving away the store to the banks, and not addressing the employment status of millions of Americans. With the President refusing to develop a stimulus plan for "main street America" including the places with the highest unemployment (black neighborhoods) the future is beginning to look pretty bad for the Democratic Party. America voted for change, not Congress taking from the poor and middle class to give to the rich (bankers). It would be wise for president Obama and the democrats in Congress to listen to the voices of anger towards the status quo, and pass a real jobs bill, and re-think some of the Health care bill. Otherwise we just may see Birthers, Teabaggers and other wacko's running the Congress."

If the Democrats don't get it together real soon, the Republicans, Birthers, Teabaggers and other right wing nuts just may be singing... that 1960's song...

We have only just begun...

Haiti 2010 - Drop The Food To The Haitian People America

 

People walk along a debris-covered street in Port-au-Prince January 17, 2010. World leaders have pledged massive assistance to rebuild Haiti after the earthquake killed as many as 200,000 people, but five days into the crisis aid distribution was still random, chaotic and minimal.

"It's a matter of life and death for over 3.5 million black folks."  America! Drop the food, Medical Supplies, and water down to the people, before they all die! 

I have been asking if America doing enough? I have been saying for the past three days that this relief effort is turning into an international disgrace. Lord only knows why President Obama has engaged former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who both did more to create much of the problems in Haiti while they were Presidents. "I don't get with George W. Bush of all people, is back at the White House coordinating anything for Haitians. It's a national disgrace."  U.S. officials on Friday acknowledged the limits of their initial relief efforts, and promised to speed delivery of relief in the next few days. Whatever!

NPR reports that desperately needed aid — including food and water — was pouring Saturday into quake-ravaged Haiti, but the airport in the capital Port-au-Prince continued to be log-jammed as dozens of aid organizations struggled to deliver supplies to fraught survivors.The difficulties in delivering supplies raised concern among aid workers that frustration could turn to lawlessness in the streets. Read more HERE

Now as reported by the NY Times, while countries and relief agencies showered aid on Haiti, only a small part of it was reaching increasingly desperate Haitians without food, water or shelter. “We see all the commotion, but we still have nothing to drink,” said Joel Querette, 23, a college student camped out in a park. “The trucks are going by.”

Hunger drove many to swarm places where food was being given out. Reports of isolated looting and violence intensified as night approached, and there were reports of Haitians streaming out of the capital.

Still, as the NY Times reports, recovery and aid efforts were widening. And even the distribution problems in the country stemmed in part from good intentions, aid officials said: Countries around the world were responding to Haiti’s call for help as never before. And they are flooding the country with supplies and relief workers that its collapsed infrastructure and nonfunctioning government are in no position to handle.

But with Haitian officials relying so heavily on the United States, the United Nations and many different aid groups, coordination was posing a critical challenge. An airport hobbled by only one runway, a ruined port whose main pier splintered into the ocean, roads blocked by rubble, widespread fuel shortages and a lack of drivers to move the aid into the city are compounding the problems.

Haitian officials said the bodies of tens of thousands of victims had already been recovered and that hundreds of thousands of people were living on the streets. A preliminary Red Cross estimate put the total number of affected people at 3.5 million. More HERE

AAPP says, it's great to know that the World Food Program  has finally been able to land flights of food, medicine and water on Saturday, after failing on Tuesdy, Wednesday,Thursday and Friday.

But get this, as reported by offical noted, “There are 200 flights going in and out every day, which is an incredible amount for a country like Haiti,” said Jarry Emmanuel, the air logistics officer for the agency’s Haiti effort. “But most of those flights are for the United States military. He added: “Their priorities are to secure the country. Ours are to feed. We have got to get those priorities in sync.”

AAPP: says "When will the United States get their coordination priority of feeding people in sync. I would like to know, I'm sure the 3.5million Haitans affected would like to know as well. The world is watching the Commander and Chief now more than ever... It's a matter of life and death for over 3.5 million black folks."

You can listen to my opinions on this and other political issues on my blogtalkradio program.
"If you can handle the truth."