Monthly Archives: November 2012

Democrats and the Fiscal Cliff » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

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NOVEMBER 12, 2012

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The Coming “Historic Betrayal”

Democrats and the Fiscal Cliff

by SHAMUS COOKE

Literally the day after the election a sudden “urgency” gripped the nation: the imminent danger of the so-called “fiscal cliff” — the national automatic tax increases and spending cuts due in January. The media screamed that the suddenly approaching fiscal cliff would trigger a recession, forcing Democrats and Republicans to consider a “grand bargain” budget deal to avoid disaster.

Of course the fiscal cliff was looming throughout the presidential campaign; politicians simply agreed not to talk about it, since they shared — more or less — the same very unpopular “grand bargain” solutions: austerity cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other popular social programs.

Yes, Obama talked incessantly about the rich “paying their fair share” during his campaign, but he greatly exaggerated his willingness to make this happen, as well as the real differences between the Republicans and Democrats when it came to fixing the deficit.

This fact is revealed by the pro-corporate grand bargain that Obama nearly brokered last summer to fix the fiscal cliff.

The New York Times explains:

The White House agreed to cut at least $250 billion from Medicare in the next 10 years and another $800 billion in the decade after that, in part by raising the eligibility age. The administration had endorsed another $110 billion or so in cuts to Medicaid and other health care programs, with $250 billion more in the second decade. And in a move certain to provoke rebellion in the Democratic ranks, Obama was willing to apply a new, less generous formula for calculating Social Security benefits, which would start in 2015.

via Democrats and the Fiscal Cliff » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names.

Elizabeth Warren: Responsible Interracial Politics? | The Feminist Wire

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Elizabeth Warren: Responsible Interracial Politics?

November 6, 2012

By Linda Martín Alcoff

President Obama announces Warren appointment to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Elizabeth Warren, candidate for the Senate in a highly contested race against Tea Partyer Scott Brown in Massachusetts, has faced an unprecedented type of scrutiny from her Republican opposition. They want to know, has she or hasn’t she engaged in responsible interracial politics? This may seem like a stretch for the “we’re white and we’re proud” party, but the Scott Brown campaign has been raising questions for months now about Warren’s choice to allow herself to be listed as a ‘minority law teacher’ since the mid 1980’s and used by Harvard to boost its minority faculty numbers.

via Elizabeth Warren: Responsible Interracial Politics? | The Feminist Wire.

What Obama should do now: Address racial inequality – The Washington Post

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For example, in addition to lowering mandatory minimum sentences, the administration should stop funding the Byrne grant program, which provides federal money for state and local criminal law enforcement. These grants are often awarded to cities and states with high rates of arrest and conviction, therefore encouraging aggressive policing.

via What Obama should do now: Address racial inequality – The Washington Post.

Cornel West Says Black Prophetic Tradition Has Reawakened for Obama’s Second Term | Kulture Kritic

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Cornel West Says Black Prophetic Tradition Has Reawakened for Obama’s Second Term

 

Professor Cornel West and Tavis Smiley are planning to hold a symposium on poverty on January 17th, right before President Obama’s inauguration.  During an interview with Democracy Now, West says that the black prophetic tradition has reawakened, and that there is a growing resurgence of the black prophetic tradition that doesn’t look at politics solely through the lens of race or in the interests of the black elite..

President Obama’s victory in the last election was met with intense celebration, particularly in the African American community.  Dr. West says that Obama’s presidency offers a unique opportunity for black Americans to have the political voice they are seeking.

via Cornel West Says Black Prophetic Tradition Has Reawakened for Obama’s Second Term | Kulture Kritic.

Fantasyland

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See on Scoop.it – OUR COMMON GROUND Informed Truth and Resistance

Denial has poisoned the GOP and threatens the rest of the country too.

 

. It’s the GOP that demands the rewriting of history (and history textbooks), still denying that Barry Goldwater’s opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Richard Nixon’s “southern strategy” transformed the party of Lincoln into a haven for racists. Such is the conservative version of history that when the website Right Wing News surveyed 43 popular conservative bloggers to determine the “worst figures in American history” two years ago, Jimmy Carter, Obama, and FDR led the tally, all well ahead of Benedict Arnold, Timothy McVeigh, and John Wilkes Booth.

See on nymag.com

Frank Rich on the GOP’s Denial — New York Magazine

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Fantasyland

Denial has poisoned the GOP and threatens the rest of the country too.

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(Photo: Christopher Anderson/Magnum Photos/New York Magazine)

Mitt Romney is already slithering into the mists of history, or at least La Jolla, gone and soon to be forgotten. A weightless figure unloved and distrusted by even his own supporters, he was always destined, win or lose, to be a transitory front man for a radical-right GOP intent on barreling full-speed down the Randian path laid out by its true 2012 standard-bearer, Paul Ryan. But as was said of another unsuccessful salesman who worked the New England territory, attention must be paid to Mitt as the door slams behind him in the aftermath of Barack Obama’s brilliant victory. Though Romney leaves no political heirs in his own party or elsewhere, he does leave a cultural legacy of sorts. He raised Truthiness to a level of chutzpah beyond Stephen Colbert’s fertile imagination, and on the grandest scale. That a presidential hopeful so cavalierly mendacious could get so close to the White House, winning some 48 percent of the popular vote, is no small accomplishment. The American weakness that Romney both apotheosized and exploited in achieving this feat—our post-fact syndrome where anyone on the public stage can make up anything and usually get away with it—won’t disappear with him. A slicker liar could have won, and still might.

 

Frank Rich on the GOP’s Denial — New York Magazine.

Bill Duke, a Q&A With a Legend, Pt. 1 : Mother of Color

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Bill Duke, a Q&A With a Legend, Pt. 1

Bill Duke, a Q&A With a Legend, Pt. 1

He is one of Hollywood’s most prolific and powerful directors, with acting credits that span multiple mediums, genres and generations. Whether you’re a fan of drama, action or comedy, Bill Duke is a man who’s portrayed all of the above with depth and aplomb, and since his mainstream debut in the classic 1976 film, Car Wash, the Poughkeepsie, NY native has maintained a flourishing career both in front of (Commando, Predator, Action Jackson, Menace II Society, Get Rich or Die Trying) and behind the camera (Hill Street Blues, A Rage in Harlem, Deep Cover, Hoodlum, Not Easily Broken), serves on the Board of Trustees at the American Film Institute and donates both resources and time to his community to educate youth in the craft of acting (“Boot Camp Hollywood”), as well as supplemental education alternatives for at-risk youth in his home base of Los Angeles (“Educating Young Minds”).

In  part one of a recent chat with DSN, the 67-year-old activist and Director’s Guild of America Award recipient spoke with passion about his latest projects and how societal issues reflect in his film and humanitarian work.

via Bill Duke, a Q&A With a Legend, Pt. 1 : Mother of Color.

Don’t be mad at Blacks over President Obama’s re-election. You ticked off the wrong white women… | OHN -You know your momma raised you better than this.

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Don’t be mad at Blacks over President Obama’s re-election. You ticked off the wrong white women…

by OHN STAFF on NOVEMBER 7, 2012

in 2012 ELECTIONS, FEATURED

This morning I had two interesting conversations with some friends and associates regarding the election, both of which happen to be conservatives who voted for the President.

Slaus:” Yeah last night was a barn burner. I don’t think I went to bed til 3am finally. So glad that part of the foolishness is over. Now time for the real madness.”
Friend:” Really! My facebook timeline is filled with angry white people. You would think they took nutella off the market.
Slaus:” lmao. That’s racist.”
Friend: ” No what is racist is all of the rage towards black people on my timeline in twitter and FB. They are blaming this on ‘N*ggers coming out in droves’ to back their messiah’. I’m going to even have to block my own father over this.”
Slaus: ” What’s funny is that I see a lot of whites on twitter and FB pissed off at Black people when the fact is…. Blacks as a voter group are not what ’caused’ the President to be reelected. It was white women…..”

Congrats to Elizabeth Warren

Congrats to Elizabeth Warren

via Don’t be mad at Blacks over President Obama’s re-election. You ticked off the wrong white women… | OHN -You know your momma raised you better than this..

The Rev. Al Sharpton’s Electronic Bully Pulpit – The Daily Beast

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President and Founder of the National Action Network Rev. Al Sharpton (R) speaks news conference in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

While MSNBC showcases a slew of reporters, contributors and anchors with strong liberal views, Sharpton offered a level of authenticity with his keen understanding of both race and politics that hadn’t been seen before on cable news. His on-air presence quickly attracted a large number of minority viewers, and Politics Nation now ranks as the network’s No. 1 show watched by African Americans. According to a recent Neilsen ratings report,  Politics Nations also surpassed the ratings of its CNN competitor John King’s USA by more than 200,000 viewers.

Much in the same way the 58-year-old ordained minister used Politics Nation to shift the country’s attention to the tragic shooting death of Martin, he also insisted daily that people of color and those who believed in fairness fight back against Republican-sponsored voter suppression laws that threatened to derail Obama’s push for a second term as well as turn the clock back on civil rights.

This summer, Ohio, Florida and several other states declared that they would ask voters for additional IDs to vote in the presidential election, and that they would shorten the dates for early voting. Both restrictions hurt minority voters, a group that turned out in large numbers during the 2008 Presidential campaign to support Obama.

The Rev. Al Sharpton’s Electronic Bully Pulpit – The Daily Beast.

What the Obama Victory Means « Commentaries on the Times

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What the Obama Victory Means

Thanking Supporters for a Job Well Done

 Political Science + Organization + Candidate = VICTORY!

It isenough to witness the stunned looks and listen to the silly excuses offered by Republican strategists, and their media shills, attempt to explain why the Grand Obstructionist party crashed and burned at the polls to understand that they were caught off guard by the President’s smashing victory.

Viewing the smug statements of confidence offered by Fox’s favorite presidential soothsayers Dirty Dick Morris, and that prissy know-it-all George Will – who always reminds me of “Jughead” from the old “Archie” comics – they appear totally out of touch with the new political reality in the US.

Hence when Nate Silver, the real numbers crunching wizard at the New York Times, gave President Obama an 85% chance of reelection and predicted that he would win with over 300 votes in the Electoral College, he was greeted with boisterous chorus of angry invective and contemptuous ridicule by Mitt Romney’s supporters.  However as I write Silver is looking like a 21st century Nostradamus, except there is no mystery to his method of predicting the future.

via What the Obama Victory Means « Commentaries on the Times.