Muddle Minded Mitt

What have I been saying all along? Haven't I been commenting on what appears to be the racist appeal of the modern GOP from angry rich white men to misogynists to voter suppression that would impact mostly on minority Democrats, the closing of polls hence making it harder to vote in rural areas, the eliminator of souls to the polls Sundays to the stereotyping recipients of public assistant as lazy Black people....Haven't I been pointing this out? What, you ask? What is she pointing out? This article says it better than I: http://www.freewoodpost.com/2012/05/22/romney-of-course-ill-win-im-the-white-guy/ Seamus' abuser is so muddle-minded he forgot when spoke here that the press was there. So, in order to prove he's "one of the people" he says this. Yeah, we know who he's appealing to for sure....

Memory Lane

With the GOP's in-your-face-blatent-vote-for-us-we-are-rich-and-understand-your-poorly-educated-fears tactics I am reminded of the 60's when, despite it's attempts at revisionist history, the Reppublican Party WAS the stalwart of protector of “States's Rights!” Back in that day this meant segregation, the burning of Black churches and police assault on protesters marching for the right of Black people to have the right to vote. Some people may be saying I am “spinning” this but you know what? Quid pro quo! The Republicans are now claiming THEY were the party of the Civil Rights Movements? Really? Then how come they have been sneakily going about securing voter suppression legislation in certain key states? Back then college students saw what was happening and protested everything from the right to vote for everyone to against the Viet Nam War which no sense to anyone with an ounce of common sense and yet so many our young soldiers died. Back then I really thought a difference was being made, that people were moved by these tragedies to fight what had caused them but, it was the body politic, after all, wasn't it? As for the "people"...the hippies...most of them went Wall Street. Turn coats like Abbie Hoffman! forgetting what was once valued in favor of the buck! then came the 'me' then "x" (as in unknown factor in algebra) and truthfully what could they know? What I and my colleagues, such as Barbara Cavallo (please read her blog on voiceofthecrone.blogspot.com)have forgotten, Gen Me and Gen X will never know... But ignorance is no excuse. If are too young to know what I am talking about, READ YOUR HISTORY, DAMMIT!

This Post Modern Reconstruction Era

If you have not seen it you MUST watch the PBS special, SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME. As I watched this incredibly informative program about life after the Emancipation Proclamation I saw saw frightening similarities between then and now.

To briefly recap, after Lincoln's assassination the new President (Johnson) was allied with southern interests. Being an economy based on free labor run by a small number of aristocrats (sound familiar?) and with a majority of poor whites who were also uneducated and poverty stricken, free Black people were feared as competitors for work aka survival.

In 1864 slavery was outlawed by The 13th Amendment was issued as a temporary act which read, "Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

In 1868 to further ensure equality the 14th Amendment was passed stating (Section 1)
that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

In 1870 the 15th Amendment was passed stating the prime objective in Section 1 as being, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Basically what happened thereafter was a backlash in the south that resulted in the placement of congressional leaders that passed laws EMPOWERING INDIVIDUAL STATES to govern according to their own laws (Sound familiar?) The result, as brilliantly illustrated in this documentary, was laws that made (for example) loitering being defined as being unemployed with loitering being a crime punishable by imprisonment. Of course there were other laws such as the Pig Laws that made stealing a pig punishable by eight years in prison! the south then found a way to get back cheap labor by sentencing man, many more Black men than white men so they could be hired out to hard labor for the newly growing Industrial Economy.

With the push for States' Rights being bandied about in a frighteningly serious manner and with ignorance not only being catered to but lauded as a virtue can we not see where this is going?

Fast forward to our present. The elite one per cent is doing the very same thing to circumvent rights such as federal laws to which states must comply. States' Rights, if put in place could over ride federal law and cancel the Civil rights Acts, Women's Voting rights and even freedom of religion! this sounds far fetched some may say but, is it really?

With misinformation being bandied about that many people are not minimally educated enough to know States' Rights might appeal to a particular religious or philosophical point of view.

Now consider this: Have the ninety-nine per cent, over time, becomes slaves by another name?

Thanks For The Memories!

With the help of the Republican candidates no one has to wait for the President or other democrats to begin their campaigns!

Bain is a thorn in Romney's side and there is no getting away from his overt support of real estate speculation when he stated foreclosures should run their course allowing "investors" (AKA speculators)to buy properties at a fraction of the cost so they can resell at a profit. This profit will be huge! For example if a $200,000 home is foreclosed or "quick saled" that home might, for example be sold for $75,000 and then resold for $125,000. Years ago real estate ethics warned against speculators. Speculators were then white washed as this type of practice became "gentrification" which resulted in massive homelessness. As a New Yorker I witnessed this first hand. Neighborhoods that were communities became too expensive for people to stay and then became trendy with the ME GENERATION as their denizens.

Why were people in such shock about Wall Street and the loss of pensions etc.? We did after all have Bernie Madoff in our midst and this following the ENRON catastrophe during the Bush years. Excuse me but what were the penalties for those at fault? This story quickly slipped away even with leftist news channels as the noose was tightened around their throats! ENRON was an omen of what was to come and no one bothered to begin the checks and balances then. It was swept away under the rug of capitalist acceptable losses. Yes. Acceptable losses...as in war...as in class war.

Now Romney is calling the suffering many "envious." With voter suppression and immigration laws targeting certain ethnic groups the Republicans are campaigning for the Democrats. As they rally for pre-Civil War states rights under the guise of Lincoln and the Republican party of the time being abolitionists they cloak the real meaning of states' rights as it pertains to today: let's go back to back street abortions, decide who votes and who doesn't and who, based on how someone looks, is an illegal alien.

Keep talking because by the time you are finished the Democrats and President Obama will have nothing much left so say.

It's a Matter of Mind

The biggest pitfall and the most understandable one is the despair looming over so many people. Uncertainty has taken the spring out most steps and the biggest challenge to even possibly seeing any change at all will be a referendum on the Gop Election Day 2012.

Thankfully courts are reversing legislative laws passed in Republican states as being illegal. They are illegal because these laws violate federal laws on voter's rights.

This is but one of many cases in point why I oppose "states rights." Without federal laws many states would elect to do as they chose regardless of the impact on their citizenry.

People seems to be waking up! Even Republicans. Humph. 'Bout time. I was growing impatient with how slow on the uptake it appeared the American public had become. Is there a glimmer of hope for our future as a nation? Dunno. Hope so.