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Steve

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Everything posted by Steve

  1. Rand Paul won't win a national campaign. Even his dad in a recent interview seems to have distanced himself a little from him. Christie is the best hope against Hillary right now. Unless someone we haven't heard of steps up. The far right kills its party's best hopes (Huntsman, Johnson, etc.) The Tea Party and religious right have dragged it down. Obama was very beatable. In '08 the financial crisis helped Obama, he was vulnerable before that, very much so, even with the Axlerod algorithm thingy he has. Moderate voices are being silenced and they are catering to a niche (protestant white male) that is shrinking. Some voices are trying to get the latino vote. They have given up totally on the black vote. They aren't even gonna try and most likely still use the fear tactic again with regards to the black vote to build up other segments. They are losing young white women. Young white women grew up with title 9 and totally legal abortion. They grew up with that being a right. They grew up being told making abortion illegal is akin to men having control over their bodies in Women Studies classes and most women these days will take one of those in college as an elective. They lost the Asian vote, a totally gettable vote. A niche that can certainly identify with Republican core values but they alienate anyone who isn't a white male. I knew a fair amount of black conservatives. I would say at least half are no longer Republicans. They don't feel welcomed. Powell epitomizes their discomfort with the party. Palin's "shucking and jiving' comment, other comments and voter registration issues designed soley to limit voting. Even my very conservative brother is still a Republican but he's a bit dissatisfied (he's the sole Republican of all my brothers). My sister was a fundamental right Republican. She voted for Obama last election. Never thought I'd see that. She voted for Bush twice. It goes to show you how much they have alienated some people. Yeah, you will still hear the Larry Elders, etc. support them but truth is they make tons of money towing the party line. I recall Thomas Sowell in an interview with Elder saying there may be riots if Obama wasn't elected. I was stunned at such a statement. For one, it would never happen and he knows that. He is towing the party line and I thought he had more integrity than that statement. I read several of his books and enjoyed it. Anyway, the party leaders are pragmatists but the fringe aren't.
  2. The elected government of Egypt has no power over the peace treaty with Israel or the Suez Canal. The generals are the TRUE power. They gave up Mubarak to keep the peace. They are rich, they have their own untouchable businesses that makes them millions and they will not give it up and the people can't force them to because they have the guns. The Muslim Brotherhood's situation is as I thought it would be. A while back I said, don't worry about them. Once they get in power they will have to learn to deal with kitchen table issues. Theocracies are terrible at that. They MB have no say in the peace treaty. Trust me on this. The military won't let them. There are issues that the military lets any elected leadership knows that are off the table for discussion. Of those 1. The peace treaty with Israel 2. The control of the Suez Canal and 3. The military owned businesses. Those are non starters. They can do whatever the hell they want with other things but not those. They are to keep the peace. If they can't and the people are too unhappy and it becomes international, then they will arbitrarily remove them. The military gets tons of funding from the U.S. and doesn't want to end there. Egypt was the broker between sides in the middle east, one of the 'moderate' voices of reason and I say that within context of the middle east and its losing that reputation.
  3. Interesting thing about Jesse Jackson jr was that ideologically he was not far left. He is a centrist. He grew up in private schools and rumor was he went to a HBUC (historically black university/college) because his father forced him to. He grew up in white private schools. He was also pretty much the only black of note who supported Obama from the beginning. As I've said before Obama was always an outsider to the black political elite. certainly in Chicago the black politicians did not like him and considered him an outsider and not 'one of them'. His Hawaiian background, Harvard background, etc. He was painted as a person who could not understand the underclass because he never came from them..but I digress. Jr's father supported the Clinton's full tilt and father and son were at odds over it. The younger black pols are actually centrists, especially the children of former civil rights leaders and pols from those days. Ford from Tennessee is another. Son of a former Liberal civil rights era politician but very centrist, even right of center. Jackson and his wife have their self to balme. As for the mayor of DC I'm surprised. I don't think it would have been a big deal to his constituency. Some gays paint the black community as homophobic and its true in sentiment but not in action. Gays are tolerated in the black community. Numerous churches have gay choir directors, its almost a cliché in black Baptist churches. Same with gay hairdressers. That's a cliché as well as its so common. Also, its rare that a gay son is kicked out of the family. They are tolerated. Numerous cases of white families kicking out the gay son, rare in black families. They don't like it but the son is not ostracized. Not saying that gays are not made fun of, socially ostracized to a large extent but not beaten or run of the neighborhood in most cases. I've yet to meet a black family, mine included, that doesn't have an uncle or cousin or even a sibling that everyone knows is gay but its not talked about or discussed. I had an uncle who I was sure is gay. He was effeminiate and I recall it was an unsaid but 'rule' not to be alone with him...haha...you just 'knew' not to, hard to explain.
  4. Very sad about the guy beaten up by the kids. Murky details as two girls fighting was the catalyst. They made four arrests but if there are more and it appears more were involved possibly by all means arrest and prosecute them. Hopefully there were cctv cameras or personal videos that can indentify the assailants. What gets the marches, etc. the other way around is when there are no arrests or the person is exonerated when there is evidence to suggest they shouldn't. Black suspects get shot by white cops fairly often. You don't hear protests for those shootings. Why? They were guilty and often in the act of committing a crime. In this sad matter there were 4 arrests. Cops have ALWAYS been too aggressive in minority communities. It was that way before civil rights and they didn't stop because civil rights laws were enacted. Its ALWAYS been that way, its just a little harder to get away with it in this electronic dominated society. Also the history of lynchings is well known as well. So when a cop or someone white kills someone black and it seems unjustified that's when you see the marches and protests and jacksons/Sharptons (who we all, black, white, etc. can do with out) come out. There was a guy recently, Wisconsin, I think but not sure. Anyway, this older white guy, had some guns stolen out of his house and suspected his black neighbor, a teenager of doing it. (no word as far as I know if it was true). The neighbor's own video surveillance camera caught him confronting the youth while he was emptying his trash, pulled a gun on him, told him to raise his hands and promptly shot the unarmed youth in front of his own mother. Most blacks haven't heard of the case. It never made the black online social media circuit. There were no marches. Why? The guy was arrested, tried and sentenced. If the guy got off THEN you'd see the marches, etc. So, the difference in both cases (Martin and this guy), both unfortunate, both tragic was that in the former, the perceived wrong doer got off and in the latter, the perceived wrong doers got arrested (the 4 kids). I don't want to sound flippant. I hate seeing any kind of crime, especially race based ones either way. Its bad enough beating or killing someone for personal gain but those with a a racial component are worse in my humble opinion. Beating someone is always wrong and if its doing to support your drug habit or money to feed yourself I hate it but you understand it as its been that way in ever society. Doing it based on nothing else but a color or culture is so avoidable. More avoidable than a poor person or a drug addict doing it if that makes any sense.
  5. The irony of it all... http://tv.yahoo.com/news/birthers-republican-ted-cruzs-presidential-eligibility-questioned-141636992.html Some members of the Republican party who have spent years questioning whether President Obama was really born in the U.S. now find one of their own rising stars in a birther controversy: Ted Cruz, the Canadian-born Tea Party darling. Leading the conservative-leaning Drudge Report this morning is the headline "CNN: IS CRUZ ELIGIBLE?" The insinuation is that just as people on the right have questioned Obama's roots, CNN -- which many conservatives suspect of a left-wing bias -- is going after a rising conservative. Also read: NBC News' Chuck Todd Blasts Hillary Clinton Miniseries: It's a Total Nightmare (Video) In other words: They do it, too, so it's okay when we do it. To be blunt, Cruz's eligibilty to run is much less certain than Obama's. Obama's isn't even a real question. He's proven repeatedly he was born in Hawaii, and anyone who chooses to believe otherwise truly chooses to believe otherwise. Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother and Cuban father. That's a potential problem, because the Constitution says presidents must be "natural born citizens."
  6. Some may say 1,000 people is not significant in comparison to 300 million but its the symbolism of it. An American passport (citizenship) is regarded as the most valuable passport to have globally. People risk life and limb to get into America for it. Giving it up is a huge symbolic thing. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-law-thats-driving-record-193226792.html "My decision was less about the actual amount of taxes I had to pay, and more about the system," said one investment banker, who renounced his U.S. citizenship and is now a Hong Kong citizen. "I'm not an ultrawealthy dude. It was the hassle with all the paperwork." A few months ago, I attended a dinner where I sat between two Americans living abroad who complained that FATCA has made foreign banks less willing to provide American expatriates with checking accounts, credit cards and mortgages. This has been a major point of complaint for organizations representing American expatriates. FATCA also complicates matters for foreign businesses with American investors (and for Americans who want to invest in foreign businesses) since American ownership makes a business subject to FATCA reporting. If you intend to move back to the U.S., you're probably not going to renounce your citizenship because it was hard to get a checking account, or even because you had to forego an investment opportunity. But if you're a dual citizen with weak ties to the U.S. and the law is materially interfering with your financial dealings, it might be a reason to go ahead and quit being an American.
  7. WTF? I'm all for transwhatever you wanna call them not to be abused in school by bullies and being able to be who they are but just like many thngs, the pendulum swings far in the other direction past reason and logic. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/california-law-let-transgender-student-athletes-choose-compete-101139096.html While a student's ability to choose which restroom they use has received the largest amount of attention, two other rights protected in the bill will have a direct impact on California prep sports: the right to choose which locker room a student wants to use and whether they compete in boys or girls sports. The transgender rights law has received major backing from civil rights organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Center for Lesbians Rights, but has also been attacked by some conservative detractors who fear that the law goes too far in officially sanctioning rights for some students who might receive biological advantages based on which sex they identify with for sporting purposes.
  8. Okay (free speech, yadda, yadda) or over the line with respect to the President? http://news.yahoo.com/mo-state-fair-bans-rodeo-clown-mocked-obama-183933790.htm
  9. Never, ever, ever get married in America...EVER!! http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/2011/09/01/tv-star-jon-cryer-must-pay-child-support-for-son-in-his-custody/ Jon Cryer has almost sole custody of his son with Sarah Trigger Cryer. She has 4% of the parenting time; he has the other 96%. So you’d think she’d be paying child support to him, but no. It’s the other way around. He’s paying her because a Los Angeles trial court ordered him to and the appellate court upheld the order.
  10. Obama has sold out to big money. Two things Republicans haven't hit him hard on even though he's exposed is shifting the recovery to big business and the Snowden domestic spying thing. Why? They are in favor of both. Its sad, there is no voice for the people. The progressives are the only ones left and they have no power.
  11. The ultimate blame is us as a collective.
  12. So, why are gas prices still at an all time high? Answer: Because the oil companies want them to stay there with the complicity of the government. http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-fear-north-dakota-one-man-says-132802213.html The U.S. is currently enjoying the highest level of oil production in a quarter-century, around 7.56 million barrels a day. "The prince is right to recognize not just oil shale production in the U.S.," says Kloza, "but in similar geologic areas that will put pressure on the kingdom." He refers to shale deposits in Europe, China and South America. He predicts the oil industry will see "plenty of shale exploration later in this decade" in those regions. Further helping the U.S., he says, is reduced domestic consumption. "At the same time we're seeing this shale boom, we're using less oil. It's a function of an aging population: After age 55, driving drops off sharply." Thai Oil Spill Spreads The U.S. is well on its way, says Kloza, to achieving production of 8 million to 9 million barrels a day of crude. "It was as low as 5 million not that long ago." The U.S. strategic petroleum reserve currently has a 200-day supply, which he calls a huge cushion. "For years, we had to struggle to get a 90-day supply."
  13. Man left in jail for 4 days, forgotten http://news.yahoo.com/student-left-dea-cell-4-million-us-170408624.html I know it was an accident and oversight but it also illustrates how out of control law enforcement is these days. We really, truly live in a police state. The police can do ANYTHING it wants. Remember the rogque cop in LA that was burned in a cabin? The cops were randomly shooting up cars and people that looked familiar and sometimes didn't look familiar all over the greater LA area. It was indiscriminate. They can enter any home or anything pretty much these days. The test for warrants has sunk very law. ANYTHING is probable cause for judges.
  14. Social welfare was and is targeted to 1) get the middle class angry to vote for conservatives and 2) divide and conquer working poor/poor and middle and working classes. Corporate welfare has ALWAYS been way more than social welfare, but no one touches that? why, the companies buy the elections and their lobbyists pretty much bribe congress. There are tons of industries and companies that don't need the money, making a healthy profit and get corporate welfare. Dole gets huge subsidies for ecample (as well as a murky history of being involved in more than a few revolutions in the banana republics of central america decades ago). Its all bullshyt http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021807581 Also, the face of welfare is often painted as..well..we all know...and as a percentage it is so, but the raw numbers say that its whites not blacks that are on welfare. Also, welfare, as it was designed has been one of the main things to destroy families, especially minority families. When the war on poverty was being discussed in the Johnson administration and into the Nixon one, the government set up a commission to explore poverty and specifically black poverty was part of it. At the time almost a quarter of blacks were born out of wedlock and the commission said any social welfare should keep the family intact. The family, a father in the home was the foundation. So what did the government do? The complete opposite, to qualify for welfare no male over 18 could be in the home. The government replaced the father in essence. So here you have the poor who had no say in creating welfare and we are now criticizing the same program that we created in the first place. Sorry, I"m a cynic these days. I just see the bullshyt for what it is I guess.
  15. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POVERTY_STRUGGLING_WHITES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-07-29-03-59-28 Hardship is particularly growing among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among that racial group about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987. In the most recent AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of whites called the economy "poor."....While racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, race disparities in the poverty rate have narrowed substantially since the 1970s, census data show. Economic insecurity among whites also is more pervasive than is shown in the government's poverty data, engulfing more than 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60...Marriage rates are in decline across all races, and the number of white mother-headed households living in poverty has risen to the level of black ones... Nationwide, the count of America's poor remains stuck at a record number: 46.2 million, or 15 percent of the population, due in part to lingering high unemployment following the recession. While poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics are nearly three times higher, by absolute numbers the predominant face of the poor is white. More than 19 million whites fall below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four, accounting for more than 41 percent of the nation's destitute, nearly double the number of poor blacks. Sometimes termed "the invisible poor" by demographers, lower-income whites generally are dispersed in suburbs as well as small rural towns, where more than 60 percent of the poor are white
  16. Not a good day for conservative media.... http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/07/sandra-fluke-might-cost-limbaugh-and-hannity-big-contract/67698/ More Than 40 Radio Stations Might Drop Limbaugh and Hannity The company isn't saying directly at this point. But last May, Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey complained publicly about their lost revenue following Limbaugh's remarks, with other reports indicating that both Limbaugh and Hannity are on some sort of advertising blacklist for almost all of the top 50 advertisers. Limbaugh has pushed back hard against those assertions. But in the first quarter of this year, Cumulus lost over $2 million in revenue related to talk radio http://news.yahoo.com/why-fox-news-scandal-good-news-reza-aslan-221802800.html Aslan appeared on the online show on Friday to promote his new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, about how the environment Jesus grew up in shaped him. But host Lauren Green didn't want to talk about the book so much as she wanted to talk about how Aslan is a Muslim. "You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?" was Green's very first question. "Well, to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim," Aslan politely replied. Green doesn't give up, though, the interview goes downhill from there: At one point Green goes so far as to accuse Aslan of hiding his religion, as if he was trying to be sneaky, or as if it matters. "Ma’am, the second page of my book says I’m a Muslim," he tells her. "Every single interview I have ever done on TV or in print says I’m a Muslim." The whole ten minute appearance is embarrassing for the news network, even if it was an online show, for a number of reasons. As Uproxx's Josh Kurp points out: "At no point does Fox News realize the irony of persecuting someone over their religion in a discussion about Jesus." That's probably the biggest one. But after the interview started to get passed around quietly on Saturday, and then exploded late last night after Buzzfeed called it "The Most Embarrassing Interview Fox News Has Ever Done," the outrage train was off and running. The reaction fell somewhere between praise for Aslan and disbelief at Fox News' horrible behavior. "This Fox interview with Reza Aslan is absolutely demented (& he handled it with remarkable calm)" said The New Yorker's Emily Nussbaum. Wired's Steve Silberman simply called the interview "embarrassing," as did many others. "Please, please watch this if you haven't yet. It's amazing," urged Digg editorial director David Weiner. "How fitting to watch that [Aslan] clip during a commercial break from Idiocracy," he added later. Buzzfeed's Raymond Sultan called it "the greatest thing" he's ever seen. "The level of stupidity and ignorance here is bewildering," said writer Chris Addison. "My patience would have vanished within a few minutes if I was being asked these questions," said Deadspin's Samer Kalaf. "Reza Aslan is superhuman."
  17. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-4-5-us-face-175906005.html Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.
  18. With 2/3 of personal bankruptcies being health care cost related, I would categorize health care as a crisis. The 'why' is rarely discussed thoroughly enough in the media. There is something simply wrong with the cost of health care in America being so outrageously high and every industrialized nation, our fellow G8 and even G20 nations have a national health care system of some sorts. Americans don't travel and live overseas much so they don't know and don't see the benefits. I had a root canal and wisdom tooth pulled in Korea for 25 bux including the meds that included valium. I'm NOT saying it should be that cheap but there are reasons its so expensive and NO ONE of note wants to address it or say why because it would bring the doctors, HMOs, big pharma, nursing unions and health insurance companies into it and they would look very, very bad. They pay off pols to keep the system costly to line their pockets. Wanting to max out as much money as you can make is not a crime. When you're elected to work for the American people and you don't its another matter. Its painfully obvious that Obama care isn't ideal. However, my biggest beef is that pols were doing cosmetic changes to health care that changed nothing especially the high cost and not addressing the core issues. Why? Because they are paid off with campaign money.
  19. Primaries are for the base. Unfortunately the base is extremely right. On the Dem side they will cater to liberals and progressives or populist ideas depending on the base. Kentucky is fairly conservative so the Dems tend to be only slightly left of center and closer to centrist.
  20. I think its possible and even probable that Martin had Zimmerman on the ground. But lets back up a little. Everyone agrees that Martin did not initiate contact. He was going back to his Dad's home. A disciplinarian from all accounts. I've heard people try and paint Martin as a 'thug'. The only thing we know about his history was that his twitter account said he had a fight in a fight club and may have hit a bus driver. He smoked pot. The standard for being a thug has been lowered for Martin. Both those incidents have not even been confirmed and could have been teenage embellishment. I find it very hard to believe someone could hit a bus driver and get away with it. But for arguments sake lets say its all true. Is that the definition of 'thug'? Really. One of the incidents was a mutually consented fight (Fight club). It was one fight if it did happen. The other one incident we don't know why. Its never right to hit anyone but we don't know the circumstances. Using that standard a good number of the guys at my white, republican high school I went to in the suburbs were thugs. There were plenty of guys who had far more fights than what was attributed to Martin. As for pot smoking. Its been changed to 'smoking dope'. 'drug user'. If smoking pot makes someone a 'drug user' then at least half of frat row at my university were drug abusers. The standard for racism was lowered for Zimmerman as well. The neighborhood had break ins and the suspects were Black. So absolutely nothing wrong with his suspecting Martin of possibly being up to no good. I've got no problem with that. This is where it gets murky. Martin has no history of repeitiive violence. He was certainly no thug by any definition of the word. So, if he was in a violent rage and even a murderous rage, logic and reason tells me something was said or done to him to put him in that state. Zimmerman wanted to follow him according to his call to the police. Martin knew he was following him per the phone call to his friend. So we know that much. Logic dicates to me that knowing Martin's lack of history for arbitrarily starting a fight, for him to be in that much of a rage Zimmerman must have said something to him and that something was not flattering and was so upsetting that it resulted in a rage. Martin told his friend Zimmerman was creepy. The choice of words is important. We don't arbitrarily look to confront creepy people. We avoid them. Martin didn't know he was a neighborhood watch volunteer. So the whole thing stinks. Doesn't matter what the race is, if ANY parent has his son killed on the way home from buying skittles and the person was not arrested then that parent would be raising hell. Zimmerman was exonerated and given his gun back. That action by the police makes no sense. Maybe I watch too many crime shows and maybe I'm being overly race sensitive but its hard to believe if Martin was white that the police would have done the same exact thing. Its just too hard to believe, especially spending a year and a half bussed to a suburban HS where I saw kids get no jail and a talking to by cops where the same incidents was an arrest in north Philly (light school boy vandalism such as egging, drinking and driving, drinking publicly in an open container, joyriding in their parents car without permission). The parents would tell the cop or the principal. "If you arrest my boy he can't get ino a good college'. That excuse got more guys off than anything else at that school. so while I can certainly believe that Martin was in a violent rage maybe even a murderous one, I have to ask WHAT put him in that state? If he had a history of repeated violent behavior, NO PROBLEM. but the problem is he does NOT. The artile says its possible for a 17 y.o. to be able to kill. I agree. Far younger than that have killed for their gangs. That's NOT the problem though. Its WHY would Martin want to kill Zimmerman. What in his history says he's capable of that kind of rage?
  21. Its a normal and human fear. Whites in urban centers in the '70s feared Black political power and now its Blacks in certain cities (LA, Oakland, SF) fearing Latino political clout. Studies have shown that the group that benefited the most, considerably more, than any other group in Affirmative Action are white women. I've personally never been comfortabe with Affirmative Action. I've benefited from it but never felt comfortable with it personally largely due to how I was raised. Very, very proud parents who more than qualified for government aid but didn't take it. I'm not sure how all of us got lunch money each day for school lunch. We qualified for free lunch though. When I applied for colleges and had to submit my parents income, I had no idea how much they made piror, i was shocked at how little they made. My first good job i made more than they did. Anyway, on my travels it seems that Americans who probably wouldn't have associated back in America get along well outside of it. Numerous times, whether its Thailand, an airport lounge, Europe, where ever, Americans of all types we get along and talk. The irony is that a person who may not have been comfortable with a Black person or Latino living next door to them in America would welcome that person as a neighbor if they had a house in a foreign country. Or sitting at a beer bar and shooting the breeze about whatever. I've met the most diverse groups of people at a beer bar in Pattaya. People who I'm sure we wouldn't have associated with each other back home but have a great time talking for a couple hours over a beer at a beer bar.
  22. Amazing stat. No shootings in Brooklyn for over a year!! http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/nyregion/no-shootings-or-killings-for-363-days-but-the-fight-is-far-from-over.html
  23. Regarding Martin/Zimmerman. Anyone who kept fairly close tabs on the trial woudn't be shocked by the verdict. it was a tough case to prosecute but I also think the prosecution wasn't good...for whatever reasons. I also sense a tiredness with many Whites with regards to specifically Black issues in America. Its a 'look, we're tired of hearing about racism. Get over it. Times are tough for everyone'. I'm not saying its wrong or right but its the prevailing sentiment with many I'm guessing. Years of dealing with some of Jackson's and Sharpton's antics helped that sentiment. I can understand the seniment as much as I can try to be objective and empathetic. I do think there are some faults on both sides. Sadly, I also think that there is a gulf that will not likely be bridged. Some of it historical, most of it social. The majority culture has accepted pretty much every european immigrant group that it once excluded (Irish, Italian, Jewish, catholics, non prostestants). Its left alone others (Asians, sub continent Asians) even though it hasn't included it. Although there are some random occasions (Chinese, unofficial limits to jewish membership, etc.) Blacks in America are the only group that the federal and/or various state governments have legally and legislatively exlcuded. Once regarded as 3/5s a person, legally kept from use that any other group can use (water fountains, bathrooms, etc.). The cold hard truth is that, Blacks as a collective have never been accepted totally by the majority culture. Marrying an Italian, Irish, Jew, catholic was unthinkable a 150 years ago but is acceptable now. Its never been acceptable other than in rare occasions (celebrity status) to marry a Black person and I doubt ever will be. Its just something that every Black in America knows inately. An Asian, Indian, Latina woman can be accepted, not wilingly but can be in a suburban neighborhood but a Black women almost always isn't. There are exceptions but generally speaking. Even marrying a latino, Indian, Asian man is more acceptable than a Black male. We can cite some marriages but if we're honest its generallly not acceptable. The person would need to be a celebrity for people to openly accept it. if he is a doctor or lawyer, there is still some reticence, major reticence. Its just one of those things thats ingrained in America. It is what it is. Its something that all Blacks know instinctively. It was never mentioned in my home but once I got of age, I understood the way the world works. As you all know I'm a soccer (football) fan. I spent lot time at British bars iin Amerca watching the sport, not only in LA but when I traveled on business I would almost always find a pub that showed games. The bars included all football fans. Mostly British but also your occasional French, Spaniard, German, all Europeans because it was the only place to watch football. I recall a Britsh guy, who grew up in south London, had friends who were Indian, Pakistani, Black (jamaicans, africans) etc. and he said he thought England had a fair amount of racism but he was shocked at how much was in America in private conversation with many Whites. He had a Black girlfriend in England and he never mentioned her race because it wasn't an issue. She came for a visit and people were shocked. Many europeans on my travels have told me it was made apparant to them either through subtle means or even overtly to avoid associating with American blacks when they lived there. There are social cues that pretty much every group, ironcally enough, even native Africans and black West Indians to avoid American blacks. Its just not socially acceptble to be too tight with us. I've had the opportunity to travel to other countries, Europe included and the difference in how I am perceived is stark. American Blacks I've met in other countries have said the same. In Thailand, I'm an American, Black second. I am viewed more similar to a white American than I am to a native African. For the most part, the rest of the world views me as American first. In America, I'm Black first. American blacks don't help our own cause. That's obvious. Too many issues, too much crime, too many issues with dysfunctional families. Its not every one in the majority culture. Obama couldn't get elected were it a majority. Its not but there are enough that makes it an issue that will be permanent from what i can see. I think the media has a huge role in how things are portrayed. People who have never lived in the inner city have a view that its the wild wild west. it isn't. A small percentage of young Black men do the most crime. If even half were involved it would be total anarchy. The overwhelming majority of guys I knew in my area didn't commit crimes. It was a small group and its that way in all neighborhoods. Even in Compton in gang areas, such as south Central. The vast majority of young black boys are not in a gang. i think the number of crips at its height was said to be 60,000 which sounds like a crazy figure and it is, that's a lot of people and that includes young and old. The gangs have been around since the '70s and so there are lifetime members who are 40 and 50 years old. Anyway, look at the total population of Black males say, 14 to 40 in south central LA. Hundreds of thousands. And this is in possibly the most gang populated region in America. At its height it was stil a fairly small percentage of the total male population. Cities that get the 'murder capital' title typically have no more than 400 murders in a calendar year. Too many but in the larger context, its 400 murders, even in Chicago, in a city with hundreds if not a million or so Blacks. Its a small hard core group but we all get painted with the same brush. I once saw a FB post that had a picture of the Holocaust and the caption said 'Never Forget!', then a picture of the World Trade Center towers burning and the caption said 'Never Forget!' then a picture of a slave in chains and the caption said 'Get Over It'. Many Blacks feel its selective. I do agree we shouldn't be drudging up slavery or Jim Crow at every turn. It happens too much with some Blacks but it does get minimized as well. I think Obama's presidency scared a lot of Whites, especially White males. I actually think there is an unsaid fear that the party is over, me and my kids are not going have the same access, priveleges as before. More than any other group in America I think that the emergence of any sustainble measure of American blacks is feared the most either because the fear is Blacks will seek some revenge for the past and/or Whites will lose a lot of power to the more than 40 million Blacks. First, the goal of Blacks in America for 300 years was a need to be accepted even if it means to sell out our own. It has happened. Most budding slave revolts ended before it started because one of the slaves, usually the house slaves told the owner. But the Black need to be accepted is pathological. Despite what you see on tv. Obama hasn't done some things but dividing America racially isn't something he has done. His being Black was the divisive issue. He is a symbol of the possible future and it elicits fear amongst some. I thnk the Zimmerman support is all part of this. I live outside the U.S. now and I see America from the outside in. I think It gave me a lot of clarity not only on America as a whole but specific groups within, including Black America. Its said "what about the deaths in Chicago and across the nation. Why no uproar about that?" The fact is anyone in 'black' Chicago have seen numerous local activists in action and a lot has been done locally to squash it but it doesn't make the news. In my hometown of Philly which was close to being the murder capital last year, I know for a fact there were lots of comunity action. It doesn't make the news and sadly, often doesn't even make local news and if so, a few seconds at the end of the broadcast. LA crips and bloods have dropped considerably. The reason was the effort of local activists, former NFL star Jim Brown prominant amongst them, that got a historic peace treaty years ago that barely got a mention in the LA Times and local tv. The media, either consciously or whatever chooses black america spokespeople. They chose Jackson and Sharpton. I've said a few times that Sharpton was thought of as a buffoon amongst Blacks but he got on the cameras when the media wanted a voice. How did they come to ask him? I have no idea. Barkley is not respected in the Black community because its believed he says things to be accepetd. One of the resaons why Black conservatives are not liked in the Black community is because its believed that for them to be accepted by whites, they have to speak badly about the Black community as a whole. To be honest, i see some merit in that. Powell is about the only Republican that doesn't. Alan West, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, all have made a career out of it. There are people you all have never heard of but are well respected in the black community but will never be invited to Meet The Press or MSNBC or Fox. Finally, I am not optimistic. There are some sytemic and endemic issues among Blacks that are solveable but the same obstacles that negate Congress and state governments from bringing true change also inhibit Black america as well.
  24. I can't blame Zimmerman for being suspicious. As stated, the overwhelming majority of all violent crime is committed against those of the same racial/ethnic ancestory. I have more to fear from a Black criminal than any other race. Anyway, I have no problem with Zimmerman being suspicious. He did the right thing and called 911. He should have left it there. Don't follow, don't do anything else. I have seen PLENTY of suspicious people. I have NEVER thought to follow them. The LAST thing I want to do is follow them. Even if I had a gun. What doesn't make sense is why Martin, a kid with no history of violence. A normal kid. He smoked pot and so did most of the guys in the dorms at my college. He was on his way home to his father, a disciplinarian by all acounts who would not have been happy had he delayed and got in trouble. For him to cause that to Zimmerman, logic and reason dictates that something Zimmerman said or did triggered him to do it. If, as we are told, he was in a murderous rage. Having a gun in some folks hands emboldens them.
  25. Zimmerman was seen as 'white' socially. His dad was white and the black part of his mom's heritage means nothing. If you recall there was a one drop blood black law at one time. Conceivably someone who was shown to have the faintest black in them. Could have been a grandmother part black and even though they looked white in appearance they were considered black. So it was 'us' America that started this about race and such and who was white or what was considered white. Jessica Alba is latina but she is passed as and marketed as white. Vin Diesel and the Rock have a lot of black blood. Not sure either, half or a quarter but are marketed as 'white' stars. Perception is everything. In the Rodney King case, it was the culmination of Blacks who have said that they were targeted and abused by cops. The Martin/Zimmerman matter is also a response to Blacks who have said that Black males get stopped and questioned far more than anyone else based solely on race. NYC has been doing this for the last several years where there are college kids in NYC who dress and act like college kids who have been stopped several times, repeatedly based solely on race and crime stats. Zimmerman appears to have targeted Martin based solely on his race and that targetting ended up with Martin dead. The facts whether they support Zimmerman is kinda immaterial to millions of Blacks who experience being questioned all the time. If we are honest we will say that if Martin was white its unlikely he would have been followedd. I've posted here about being stopped in my suit and tie by cops in LA and this was before the Rodney King incident. Many blacks (as well as whites, latinos, etc.) are killed in the course of a crime. Those are never a point of contention because the person was obviously involved in a crime. Hundreds of times this happens. The ones that get the marches, and Jesse and Rev Al and the NAACP are ones that the cop or whomever seemed to kill a Black kid who was not a threat or could easily have been arrested without having to be killed. If it seems like racial animus involved. There are shootings of unarmed guys. Those get the marches, etc. There are tons of shootings that don't because they deserved it. They were pointing their gun or firing at cops. Trust me, Blacks don't care about them. Over 80% of Black crime is against other Blacks. Blacks want those folks in jail or dead.
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