Tea Partier Tim Scott Appointed to US Senate as Spielberg's 'Lincoln' Paints a Different Portrait of the Republican Party

Rep. (now Senator) Tim Scott (R-SC)

I finally got to go see the movie 'Lincoln' last night, what a vivid examination of a pivotal moment in American history; exceptional film making, great script and an amazing cast.

I think there are some fascinating and very relevant parallels between Steven Spielberg's brilliant portrayal of the intense philosophical/political debates surrounding the passage of the 13th Amendment banning slavery, the current identity crisis facing the Republican party and the growing cries for more assertive gun control legislation.

Enter newly-appointed Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley's decision on Monday to appoint conservative Congressman and Tea Party poster boy Tim Scott to replace Senator Jim DeMint certainly represents a watershed moment for the GOP, but it's also historic for the nation as a whole.

The 47 year-old Scott, who rose from poverty in North Charleston, SC to become a prominent hard-line conservative member of the House of Representatives, is the first African-American Senator from a southern state to join the US Senate since Mississippi Republicans  Hiram Rhodes Revels (who served from 1870-1871) and former slave Blanche Bruce (who served from 1871-1885) as part of the wave of 23 black Congressmen elected during the Reconstruction Era beginning with John Willis Menard of Louisiana in 1868. 

While Haley rightfully and enthusiastically asserted Scott's qualifications for the Senate seat, in terms of political strategy the move is no surprise in the wake of the pasting the GOP took in the last Presidential election amongst African-American, Hispanic and Asian voters. With a stunning 90% of black Americans casting their votes for President Obama (and overwhelming Hispanic and Asian votes as well) this past election was as much a warning as a wake-up call for today's Republican party.

It's hard to ignore the ties between the historic significance of Scott's election to the Senate and the lofty dialog between politicians debating a post-slavery America in 1865 in  'Lincoln', which interestingly enough, is in nationwide release at the very moment the Republican party is reeling from it's unwavering support of the NRA in the wake of the shootings in Newton, the ongoing battle over raising taxes on the wealthy and the impending fiscal cliff in Washington.

Spielberg scores not just with a revealing portrait of Abraham Lincoln, but by carefully reminding his audience that the Republican party weren't always characterized by the ideologically rigid, culturally intolerant extremists who control today's GOP.

In this nation it was Republicans who were once the ones who fought tooth and nail for passage of an Amendment to the Constitution that would outlaw slavery and establish the difficult pathway towards citizenship and equal rights for the millions of African-Americans struggling to escape the horror of generations of indentured servitude in this nation.

In the same way Republicans in the late 1860's and early 1870's sent black Congressmen and Senators to Washington as duly elected representatives of the people in an effort to cement the gains won by hundreds of thousands of Americans during the Civil War, I get the sense today's GOP leaders looked at the results of the 2012 Presidential elections and quietly decided there's no future in being a political party that cannot appeal to and serve ALL Americans.

Maybe (just maybe), in the appointment of African-American Congressman Tim Scott to one of the two US Senate seats of South Carolina, (the very state where the first shots were fired by the Confederacy against Union forces entrenched in Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 to begin the Civil War), there are voices within the Republican leadership seeking to reconnect the GOP to it's roots as the Party of Lincoln as it was once known.

Is it possible the appointment of Scott signals the start of a different kind of battle for the soul of the Republican party? Maybe. There's no question that right now the GOP itself seems enslaved; to Grover Norquist, the NRA, to the rejection of science and reason; to an ideology that seems increasingly out of step with mainstream Americans.

No matter how conservative you are politically, it's got to be hard to reconcile the party that once led the fight to pass the 13th Amendment with the slew of intolerant polarizing extremists like Rush Limbaugh, Dinesh D'Souza, Pat Buchanan, Donald Trump or even some of the Senators who will serve with Tim Scott that define today's Republican Party.     

Maybe somewhere, the great American statesman and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens is allowing himself just an inkling of hope that what once was might someday come to pass again; and the nation will be the better for it.

Unanswered Questions After Newton Shootings - Silence from the NRA

Newton, Conn. elementary school shooter Adam Lanza

I'm not the only one having a hard time getting my mind around the children and adults gunned down in a senseless act of moral depravity in Newton.

Frankly I'm just tired of being "shocked and saddened" over the horrifying slaughter of innocent people by gun violence. Aurora, Virginia Tech, Newton...how long do we keep adding the names of these towns and places and the innocent victims of these sick individuals who use illegally obtained guns to murder people?

My good friend "FK" just forwarded me an e-mail with a link to the blog of investigative reporter Jon Rappoport. In a December 15th post titled, Lanza, Bloomberg, Obama, Guns, Psychiatric Meds and Mass Hypnosis: the TV Script, Rappoport takes the mainstream TV media to task for lulling viewers into a state of hypnotic sense of numb helplessness by trying to "make sense" of this tragedy without using the power, reach and influence of the media to ask the really hard questions that lie at the core of 20-year old Adam Lanza's murder of children (six and seven year-olds) and adults at an elementary school.

Rappoport questions why the media aren't asking Lanza's physician what kinds of drugs he may have been taking for the well-documented behavioral problems stemming from his Asperger's Syndrome and whether or not that played into his decision to shoot his mother in the face then proceed to the Sandy Hook Elementary School and gun down 20 children and 7 adults.


Why have mainstream media outlets been largely absent on the issue of gun control in this nation? 
 
I watched the President speak last night but in the subsequent analysis by television news hosts and reporters, I saw very little discussion about the killer's mother and what role her delusional doomsday scenario obsessions, survivalist tendencies and decision to keep five weapons (including an assault rifle) in the house played in this event.

Obviously it's still early to reach conclusions. But the UK's Daily Mail Website seems to be one of the few news organizations asking the harder questions about Adam Lanza's mother Nancy and how her stockpiling of food, water, weapons and ammunition, her apparent beliefs that civilized society was coming to an end, as well as her choice to teach a child with a mental condition how to use weapons may have contributed to this unspeakable horror.

Of course the NRA, the gun manufacturers who bankroll them and their supporters on Capitol Hill in the House and Senate are not just silent on this issue; they're absolutely no where to be found. No Senator or Congressman who supports the NRA would even appear on any of the Sunday Morning news talk shows.

What's the reaction of the NRA, which has fought even the most basic kinds of restrictions on background security checks for people who buy guns and also fought the assault weapons ban?

They took down their Facebook page and it's Twitter account is silent. Their silence tells you just about all you need to know about their opposition to the need for stricter gun control laws in this nation. As the President said, enough is enough; we've got to have meaningful change.

It's almost 2013, isn't it past time the Supreme Court re-evaluated the definition and language of the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution drafted in the 1700's when we had no standing army and people used flintlock rifles to defend themselves against the British Army?

Jet Magazine Makes Headlines Featuring 1st Gay Male Newlywed Couple

I saw an interesting short piece on MSNBC this morning about Jet Magazine featuring Ravi Perry and Paris Prince as the first gay male African-American couple to appear in the magazines 'Weddings' section.

While Jet has featured same sex female couples in their 'Weddings' section before, I think a male black gay couple appearing there represents an important cultural gauge in light of recent conversations and national debate on same-sex marriage that have been increasingly frequent in the mainstream media with the Supreme Court set to rule on Federal cases in New York and California that could establish the right for same-sex couples in the US to marry.

Personally speaking, Jet featuring a simple photo reflects evolving views on the acceptance of same-sex marriage in America. Too often in this country the African-American perspective tends to get lumped into a rather narrow expression of "black conventional wisdom" that doesn't really take into account the enormous diversity of opinion that exits in contemporary black society. 
 
We're decades past the days when Jesse Jackson sitting on a television news program with an earpiece on "explaining how blacks feel" could sum up the African-American perspective with a couple quotes. While there is certainly a wide range of opinion on the acceptance of same-sex marriage among African-Americans, there's no doubting the enduring popularity and relevance of Jet Magazine as a solid snapshot on black culture and entertainment.

For well over a century barbershops and beauty parlors that cater to primarily African-American clientele have served as more than just a place where people of color can go to "get a cut". These small community institutions found in just about every corner of the nation have long functioned as unofficial community centers where one can go to catch up on local news and gossip, swap stories, hear a good joke or get the latest on what's happening in the local black community.

One common touch sure to be found amongst all these small businesses are plenty of copies of Jet, Ebony or Black Enterprise. While I never picked up a copy of Jet for extensive world analysis, it was always a fun, lighter read to leaf through where one could read stories about the lives of leading African-American celebrities and important figures from the world of business or politics; or sometimes just regular people. Jet still boasts a respectable monthly circulation of 700,000 according to the MSNBC report I saw, but it holds a special place in the black American community.

I got my first haircut at Jimmy's Barbershop located at 141 John Street which used to be located at the heart of what was the African-American community in Princeton. The owner Jimmy Mac, who left the Navy and opened the shop in 1954, was known unofficially as the "Mayor of John Street" and you could learn a lot about life and the community by just sitting there listening to him as he cut hair and held court. Sitting in one of the hard-to-find chairs in his small shop while waiting patiently for a haircut always offered time to pick up an old copy of Jet; and I'm certain I'm not the only guy who quickly leafed through the pages to check out the "Jet Beauty of the Week".

It's going to be months before the Supreme Court rules on same-sex marriage, but as more and more conversations about people's right to marry who they want take place across this nation in the media and in private, Jet's decision to feature a gay male black couple in the 'Weddings' section suddenly makes it even more relevant; a snapshot of a shifting perspective. Not just in the African-American community, but in the mindset of many Americans who understand that our concepts of family, marriage and individual rights are changing with the times.   

Beate Zschäpe - The Face of the National Socialist Underground in Germany

Beate Zschäpe was recently charged in Munich

German efforts to reconcile with the horrors and tyranny of the Third Reich, the rise of Adolph Hitler and the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, it's role in the Holocaust and plunging the globe into World War II are monumental in scope; a daunting task that is still ongoing almost 70 years since the end of the most destructive war in modern history.

The difficulty became even more apparent in November of 2011 when a botched bank robbery in the German town of Eisenach turned out to be the work of the Nationalist Socialist Underground or NSU; a little-known violent right-wing neo-Nazi faction. When police found the two robbery suspects Uwe Bonhardt and Uwe Mundlos dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a mobile home, they also found a pistol belonging to murdered policewoman Michele Kiesewetter and a horrifying truth began to unravel.

The two men along with a woman named Beate Zschäpe were the core members of a ultra nationalist terrorist group determined to use murder to scare foreigners out of the country. Between 2000 and 2007, the three of them murdered eight Turkish immigrants, one Greek immigrant and the policewoman Kiesewetter in towns across Germany. 

According to a recent article in Der Spiegel, the year-long investigation into the murders that led to Zschäpe being charged have uncovered some unsettling lapses in domestic German law enforcement and intelligence that have left the majority of the nation shocked and confused.

It has led to a number of resignations of high security officials. For example, Heinz Fromm, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution resigned back in July not long before it was revealed members of his own staff had destroyed documents that might have implicated them in the murders. A number of German law enforcement personnel have come under scrutiny and suspicion for being more than sympathetic to the NSU's xenophobic ideology.

An article in the November 24th issue of The Economist magazine alleges that German authorities spent years focusing their investigations of the murders of Turkish immigrants on members of the Turkish community (even members of the victims own families) rather than considering the neo-Nazi underground movement as suspects. As if Turks would detonate a nail bomb on a busy street lined with Turkish shops as the NSU did on a Cologne street in 2004. 

According to sources cited by Wikipedia an agent for the Hessian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution known only as "Andreas T" was present in a cafe in 2006 when the NSU killed the Turkish owner. Andreas T was known in his hometown by the nickname "Little Adolph" and was known to be open about his extremist political views. 

Part of what has left many in Germany outraged and confused about these killings is how so many different levels of the law enforcement institutions within the country (both local and national) could not have suspected the NSU much earlier. After all Germans tend to crack down hard on any kind of neo-Nazi activity; flying the Swastika is a serious crime.

I've been to Berlin twice and you're not even supposed to talk about Nazis in bars or restaurants. Doing so will get you cold stares from Germans seated nearby; total strangers will politely tell you it's not permitted to discuss such things in public.

As recently as 2011, officials in the town of Wunsiedel, Germany tired of being linked with extremists, exhumed the remains of Hitler's deputy Rudolph Hess and removed the headstone because his grave had become a shrine for neo-Nazis. In the years since the reunification of Germany, the nation has worked hard to stamp out the last vestiges of the Nazi Party and take responsibility for the extermination of millions of Jews, Poles, eastern Europeans and enemies of the Third Reich in the concentration camps scattered across the central and eastern Europe.

The trial of Beate Zschäpe and other members of the NSU demonstrates the unsettling reality that there remains a sympathetic element within Germany for Nazi ideology and the use of violence to "cleanse" the nation of those deemed unfit to be there. According to the Economist article, 7.3% of the West German population subscribe to right-wing political views based on research by the Frederich Ebert Foundation; 15.8% in Eastern Germany where the NSU trio lived under assumed names for years.

It's an unsettling trend no matter which way you look at it, especially given the country's past. But remember, such beliefs and acts are not restricted to Germany. That mindset exists here in the US and across Europe too. While it's a sad reminder during the Hanukkah holiday, I think it's important not to forget what often lies just beneath the surface.

Serial Killer Israel Keyes Extremist Past Overshadowed by His Trail of Violence and Murder

Serial killer Israel Keyes

While there was certainly no shortage of national media coverage of the Sunday December 2nd suicide of confessed kidnapper and serial killer Israel Keyes in an Alaskan jail cell, few of the stories I've read online devote much analysis or even mention his indoctrination into the white supremacist movement in rural Washington state.

Some might argue that the heinous acts of murder committed by the 34 year-old Keyes (he confessed to 8 murders but the FBI suspects that he's responsible for many more unsolved killings across the United States) are more important than any religious or political beliefs he might have had, but I'm not one of them. Those beliefs are the root of the problem.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch Website offers the most insight into Keyes upbringing in a remote community where anti-Semitic and racist beliefs were the norm. Hatewatch is one of the few Websites that notes that Keyes was a childhood neighbor and close friend who lived just up the road from Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe, two violent white supremacist brothers who garnered world wide media attention in 1997 attention after their shootout with two Ohio State Troopers following a traffic stop was captured on videotape; both were later convicted of the kidnapping, torture and murder of gun dealer William Mueller and his family.

Personally the mainstream media needs to be shining a brighter spotlight onto the secluded kinds of communities like the one where the Keyes and the Kehoes were raised. According to Hatewatch all three were home-schooled as kids by parents with strong anti-government and supremacist beliefs and attended The Ark; a Christian Identity church that is part of the small but influential nationwide network of followers who's origins stretch back to 19th century Europe.

Keyes violent tendencies were directly nurtured by Christian Identity ideas; and any serious examination of his death must include more public education about the community in which he was raised and the beliefs he was exposed to from an early age.

How many more Israel Keyes and Chevie and Cheyne Kehoes are out there? And how seriously does law enforcement take the threat they represent?

Newark Mayor Cory Booker Takes on the 'Food Stamp Challenge'

Newark Mayor Corey Booker

If the recent Presidential election taught us anything, maybe it was simply being reminded that one of the most important qualities of those who aspire for higher office is an ability to really connect with the people they're elected to serve.

Ronald Reagan had it. So did Bill Clinton. President Obama has it and personally I think Newark mayor Cory Booker has it too. This guy is bright, confident and well educated.

Anyone who is a Stanford graduate, Yale Law School alum and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford could make a fortune on Wall Street; but Booker chose to be a public servant in a city facing some of the stiffest challenges in the nation. That says a lot about his character and he won his 2nd race for mayor in 2006 and has been a fixture on the national scene ever since.

Today, he began the food stamp challenge in an effort to back up his public support for effective nutrition initiatives in low income communities across the US; part of his broader vision for urban renewal.

The Food Stamp Challenge is a national effort aimed at educating Americans about the realities of food stamps in this nation by exposing people to the challenges of trying to buy nutritious food and make difficult purchasing decisions based on the current levels low-income Americans must deal with each day.

When four members of Congress, James McGovern (D-MA), Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill), and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) publicly took on the challenge of trying to live on a food stamp budget in 2007, it began to gain national exposure.

To date four governors, nine different mayors and 20 members of Congress, community leaders, religious leaders of all faiths and thousands of citizens have also tried the challenge. The goal is pretty simple: try and live on $30 a week in groceries. The average NJ benefit is about $4 a day or $133.26 a month.

The hope is people can learn to get past the stigma of food stamps and get past the partisan rhetoric of politicians like Republican Paul Ryan who try to paint the program as government waste. In a nation where 1 in 6 US citizens live in poverty, as recently as May 8th of this year Ryan actually defended cutting government funding for food stamps while defending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and subsidies for corporations.

Booker's mission began with an exchange on Twitter when a 30-something mother of two from NC said on Twitter to Cory, "Nutrtion is not the responsibility of the government." Booker fired back that he felt it was the responsibility of the government to make sure children in public schools should have the right to nourishing meals.

To his credit, Booker stayed true to the quote posted prominently on his own Website  , "Democracy is not a spectator sport", and backed up his Twitter response to the unnamed woman with action. Today he posted his first grocery bill online as he undertakes the Food Stamp Challenge in an effort to connect with the millions of low-income Americans (many of whom work full time) who must rely on government assistance to feed their families. 

If any one man could arguably be considered a superhero, it's Booker. He went on a 10-day hunger strike to focus attention on drug dealers plying their trades in the streets of Newark. He and members of his staff personally shoveled snow during the 2010 "Snowpocalypse" as the city was swamped with requests to clear streets. In April he saved a woman from a burning building. During Hurricane Sandy he personally delivered food and supplies to Newark residents trapped in buildings without power or running water.

To me that's the mark of a real leader. Don't take my word for it. The New Jersey gubernatorial elections will take place on November 5, 2013, less than a year from now. Even though incumbent Chris Christie has boosted his popularity with New Jersey voters from his hands-on response and no-nonsense attitude in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Cory Booker is the overwhelming favorite amongst a group of potential challengers set to challenge Christie for the NJ governor's mansion according to recent polls.

I think a man who shows the ability to reach out and connect with (and serve) all citizens regardless of the size of their wallet deserves a chance to be governor and I'm not the only one who sees Cory Booker as the kind of leader who could make it to the Senate and make a real difference in a time when this nation is so desperate for real leadership with innovative ideas for urban renewal on the local level and national level.

And no, Booker did not pay for this blog post; he earned it. If only Trenton, NJ could have that kind of visionary leadership, but alas, they're stuck with Tony Mack.

Michael Dunn Charged With 2nd Degree Murder After Shooting Teenager Jordan Davis Over Loud Music

Florida resident Michael Dunn

I read Lizette Alvarez's article in the New York Times on Saturday about Michael Dunn, a 45-year old software developer from Satellite Beach, Florida charged with 2nd degree murder after shooting 17 year-old Jordan Davis with a handgun on November 23rd; the day after Thanksgiving.

I couldn't help but feel the same chilling sense of bewilderment and anger I (and millions of others around the world) felt back in February of this year when George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin after following the unarmed teenager in his van because he seemed "suspicious."

The circumstances in this still-evolving case are just as puzzling and the results no less violent or tragic; another unarmed African-American teenager with no criminal record killed with a handgun by a white Florida man claiming to have felt threatened.

The cause this time? Angry words exchanged over loud music. Dunn's lawyer claims her client was sitting in his car outside a convenience store waiting for his fiancee to come out when he asked four teenagers in a vehicle parked next to him (including the victim Jordan Davis) to turn down their music and it went south from there.

After more words and insults were exchanged, Dunn, who has a concealed weapons permit, took a handgun out of his glove compartment and fired four shots into the back of the vehicle, then as the teens ducked and scrambled out in an attempt to flee for their lives, he fired four more shots at the vehicle; fatally wounding Davis who sitting in the middle in the back seat.

According to the victim's father Ron Davis, the father of the slain teenager, the teens were waiting for one of their friends to come out of the store with gum and soda. While Dunn, who admitted he'd had at least two drinks at a wedding, was waiting for a female companion to come out with some wine.

Dunn is trying to claim the teens had a shotgun causing him to fear for his life, directly contradicting reports he gave to police detectives after he was arrested. Dunn fled the scene after the shooting and was arrested 173 miles away; when questioned he never mentioned the teens had a shotgun.

While it's still too early to make conclusions based on the known facts, the slain teenager's father insists that his son ( a student at Wolfson High School in Jacksonville) and his three 17 year-old friends were on their way back from the mall, none of them have ever been in trouble and there were no drugs or a shotgun in the car as Dunn later claimed; the father claims he would never allow any guns in his house. 

Meanwhile it's looking like Robin Lemonidis, Dunn's defense attorney is going to try and dredge up the controversial Florida 'Stand Your Ground' law to justify her client's violent reaction to loud music, arguing, like George Zimmerman, Dunn felt threatened. Regardless of what happens Jordan Davis, an aspiring Marine, was buried last week and police have yet to locate the mysterious shotgun Dunn now claims was pointed at him from the car.

It's clear that at some point in the very near future Federal courts in the state of Florida are going to have to take an honest look at a basic question; is this what the Stand Your Ground law is going to be used for? Shoot first and claim that you were 'threatened' later? If Dunn felt threatened or was indeed 'Standing His Ground' as he claims, why didn't he just call the police? And why, as witnesses at the scene claim, did he flee the scene?

Oh and speaking of feeling threatened, we're still waiting for Trayvon Martin's killer George Zimmerman to stand trial, who (according to NPR) is now selling his autograph on his Website to raise money for his "living expenses and legal costs."

Republicans Claim the Moral Low-Ground; Top GOP Officials Admit Voter ID Laws Are a Front to Supress the Vote

A sign from a 2012 protest in Tampa, Florida

I suppose congratulations are in order for voting officials from the state of Arizona for finishing  counting the 2.2 million votes submitted state-wide. Sure they finished two weeks after the official date of the Tuesday November 6th election, but who's counting?

Well, according to an LA Times piece by Cindy Carcamo, the 600,000-plus Arizona citizens who's early votes and mail-in ballots were uncounted on the day they really counted. It certainly doesn't come as a surprise that a huge percentage of those people were Latino, African-American and Democrats.

But now it seems the truth of the rash of recent voter suppression laws has become too much of an ethical burden even for a handful of top Florida Republican officials to bear. A truly stunning article in the Palm Beach Post by Dara Kam and John Lantigua has literally blown the cover off the flimsy excuse that voter ID laws are meant to prevent voter fraud.

Both the former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer and ex-governor Charlie Crist have gone on record with conscience-clearing admissions that as far back as 2009 leading Republican strategists were pushing for stricter voter ID laws with the express intent of suppressing minority voters.

According to ThinkProgress.org:
"Another GOP consultant, who did not want to be named, also confirmed that influential consultants to the Republican Party of Florida were intent on beating back Democratic turnout in early voting after 2008.
[...]A GOP consultant who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution said black voters were a concern. “I know that the cutting out of the Sunday before Election Day was one of their targets only because that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves,” he said."

Keep in mind Republican attorneys general along with conservative activists are aggressively seeking to have the Supreme Court overturn the key provision of the landmark 1965 Voter Rights Act; and yes it is 2012.

Suppressing people's Constitutional right to freedom of expression...in the church?? 


   



 

Racist Tweets From NY High School Students Draw Outrage

A colorful voter participation Twitter message from "Britt D"

In the wake of Mitt Romney's defeat, dimwitted reactionary Twitter messages from the likes of  the perpetually-embittered increasingly-delusional Donald Trump (“Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us.”), or
from the marginally-funny 2nd tier SNL alum Victoria Jackson ("Thanks a lot Christians, for not showing up. You disgust me.") were to be expected.


But a very different kind of trickle-down theory seems to have taken root via Twitter.

The months of coded language, attempts to marginalize and negatively portray segments of the population outside of the Republican base and conjure up fears based on the color of the President’s skin have also come home to roost in the halls of some US high schools.

According to the New York Daily News, the Website Jezebel.com first brought widespread media attention to a couple of disturbing Twitter messages written by two New York high school students in the wake of the re-election of President Obama. Sixteen year-old Ricky Catanzaro (no doubt the pride of Brooklyn’s Xaverian High School…) first posted the message “No nigger should run this country!" on his Twitter page known as Madhouse1245. 

While over in Suffolk County, Long Island, Lou LaDonna, a senior at West Islip High School took a slightly more poetic approach to his poet-election anti-Obama fervor when he posted, "When in doubt, kick the nigger out." on his Twitter page.

While scrolling through Sunday morning television news programs over brunch this morning I caught an interview with Jezebel.com editor-in-chief Jessica Coen, on CNNs Reliable Sources. I personally agree with her decision to publicize a series of these virulently racist tweets even though such words are protected by the first amendment of the US Constitution.  

Incredibly, when Jezebel.com posted the article about the racist Tweets about Obama, they received a flood of even more racist Tweets defending the rights of the kids to vent hate messages directed towards the President. Read a sample for yourself but don't expect coherent arguments about policy, proper spelling or a grasp of punctuation. Much of it is a mix of rage and ignorance, but it's important for Americans to see it and understand what's really going on in this country.

For many in this nation the divisive nature of the 2012 presidential campaign seems to have uncorked something unpleasant that’s not so easily poured back into the bottle.

Buchanan Blusters, Romney's Flustered - Republicans Blame Everyone

In the wake of bitter partisan post-election comments by Mitt Romney, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh and a host of other conservatives still seething over the President's re-election, Republicans seem to have their eyes fixed on a bizarre determination to just burn the whole thing down. 

'Scorched Earth' is a name commonly associated with a ruthless and vindictive strategy of warfare that boils down to the idea that if you have to abandon territory to the enemy, you intentionally burn or destroy virtually anything that might be of use to a conquering foe. It's been used since before the ancient Roman and Carthaginian armies employed tactics like poisoning wells of drinking water, salting the earth so crops wouldn't grow or reducing buildings, roads and bridges to rubble so invading troops or foes couldn't make use of them.

During WWII Josef Stalin ordered Russian soldiers (and people) to burn thousands of acres of fertile wheat fields rather than leave the invading Nazi forces a food source to harvest and use to feed their hungry troops. More recently the Iraqi Army detonated hundreds of oil wells as Allied forces advanced towards Baghdad in the first Gulf War.

Cut to present day: Even after a clear majority of American voters issued an unquestioned and wholesale rejection of the Republican party's narrow-minded vision for the future of the country on November 6th, some of the most influential and controversial figures in the GOP  seem committed to a bizarre pathway towards total implosion.

Consider Maine Republican chairman Charlie Webster, who confided his paranoid suspicions of voter fraud (in a state that is 95.4% white) based on seeing African-Americans he didn't know at rural polls in Maine. Apparently unaware that only 1.3% of his state's population is African-American, Webster insisted some kind of mysterious influx of minorities swooped into the state just to vote fraudulently. Said Webster:

‘‘It doesn’t matter to me whether they’re black or Chinese or Indonesian. The issue isn’t that. The issue is that people have come into vote that no one had seen before,’’ 

His comments are actually pretty tame compared to erstwhile quasi-white supremacist Pat Buchanan, who shed the veil of his faux "staunch Constitutional patriotic historian" personae during an eye-opening interview on convicted Watergate bungler, er, uh burglar G. Gordon Liddy's radio show.
Consider this mournful on-air exchange between Pat and G. Gordon:

Buchanan: "White America died last night. Obama's reelection killed it. Our 200 plus year history as a Western nation is over. We're a Socialist Latin American country now. Venezuela without the oil."

Liddy: "With what you just said right there...You seem to imply that white people are better than other people. That's not really what you're saying is it?"

Buchanan: "Of course that's what I'm saying," Buchanan replied "Isn't it obvious? Anything worth doing on this Earth was done first by white people."

If I were Hillary Clinton I'd be signing my resignation as Secretary of State, cracking my knuckles and salivating in anticipation of the 2016 race for the White House. And then there's Mittens. 

Seemingly unable to grasp the idea that his comments are always recorded, Romney (apparently hell bent on cementing the perception of the conservative electorate as hopelessly out of touch with mainstream Americans...and reality) outraged members of his own party by offering up ludicrous excuses for his lop-sided loss suggesting to yet another private audience that Obama won the election by "promising gifts to blacks, Hispanics and young voters."

Even if such a lame horseshit excuse for being a crappy presidential candidate who couldn't connect with anyone who wasn't a white evangelical voter was true; Latinos and African-Americans represent about 29.8% of the US population according to the most recent US Census. So even if Obama had secretly promised everyone of us a Starbucks card, or a $20 or a job; does anyone with a goat's ass worth of sense believe 30% of the US population could be wooed by unspecified "gifts" to cast their votes for a candidate?

How could such a doddering simpleton reach a net worth of over $250 million? Seriously Mitt, we might not be in the top 1%, but we're not that cheap dude; Take a cue from Republican Governor Bobby Jindal and do us all a favor, take your head out of your ass, shut up and just go away. No one likes a sore loser. 

Despite the "malfunctioning" voting machines that cast a vote for you when someone selected Obama/Biden, despite your aversion to facts, despite the state of Florida's 3rd straight presidential election when the count still wasn't done hours after every other state had finished, despite the hundreds of millions funneled through Super Pacs financed by billionaires like Adleson and the Koch brothers...you lost. Fair and square. Get over it and move on; the nation has serious issues to address.

'Bucket of Chicken' Quip Lands Bradshaw in the Fryer

Whether or not he goes the way of Howard Cosell remains to be seen but Fox Sports football analyst and resident goofball Terry Bradshaw's latest on-air verbal gaffe was a titanic jaw-dropper; even by the almost non-existent standards to which he seems bound on live television.

On Sunday afternoon while the Fox Sports studio analysts were reviewing video highlights of former USC standout Reggie Bush's spectacular 18-yard touchdown run for the Miami Dolphins, Bradshaw (referring to the intensity of Bush's effort to reach the end-zone) quipped to ex-Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson; "Look at this Jimmy! Like he was chasing that bucket of chicken the wind was blowing the other day!"

Check out the 21-second clip for yourself.

As a former football player who played at both the Division I collegiate level and in the NFL who also worked as a television sports reporter and newspaper sports columnist, I can write with a reasonable level of authority on the subject of the various announcers, commentators and personalities who sit in front of the screen and call the game.

Fox anchor Curt Menefee, aside from analyst/former player Howie Long, is arguably the most balanced of the Fox bunch and the only other African-American on the set besides Michael Strahan. While he cringed noticeably, he yucked it up with the rest of the others; who seem to relish Bradshaw's folksy off-the-cuff and clearly off-color remarks. Almost like a class of high-school seniors who can't wait for the class clown to crack them up.

If some of the media reaction is any indication, Fox is moving quickly to reinforce Bradshaw's apologetic assertions that the comment was directed at Jimmy Johnson's love of fried chicken, rather than some kind of sly twist on the dead-horse stereotype of black people loving fried chicken.

Even Menefee is Tweeting denials that the comment had anything to do with the color of Bush's skin, but I think the fact the he's even denying that points to the context in which Bradshaw's comments are viewed by many people. Even though millions of people (including me) do love fried chicken, the reality of this nation's history is that there are deeply entrenched stereotypes that link African-Americans with certain types of food in ways that are viewed as racist when taken in certain contexts.

There are countless examples of 19th and early 20th century art work, graphic art/advertisements, posters, product labels and post cards depicting simplistic negro stereotypes with exaggerated physical features like bug eyes, grossly enormous lips, "pickaninnie" grins greedily feasting on slices of watermelon.

In the same way that Fuzzy Zoeller caused a media stir back in April of 1997 when he called golfer Tiger Woods (then 21 years-old and one of the top players on he tour) as "that little boy" and jokingly suggested Woods shouldn't serve fried chicken and collared greens at the next champions dinner (as winner of the Masters he selected the menu), Bradshaw tapped a vein that still threads through this country.

Having been raised in Maryland, I grew up a Washington Redskins fan and I was watching the Dallas Cowboys-Washington game on that Monday night back in September of 1983 when Howard Cosell referred to Redskin's wide receiver Alvin Garret as a "little monkey" after he caught a pass, I still remember being stunned. Like many Americans I knew about his relationship with Muhammad Ali and his past public support of black athletes; but when he referred to a black receiver as a monkey it sounded racist. Period.

It wasn't just the monkey comments either, during the game Cosell had made repeated references to the Redskin's other wide receiver Charlie Brown's extremely long arm as well; ascribing the player's long reach to an almost ape-like physicality that was clearly hinted at during the broadcast.

It eclipsed Cosell's years of experience and indeed his character, it made Cosell sound insensitive; even it's true he called his own grand kids and other players little monkeys, it still made him sound like a bigot and put him in the same light as Jimmy the Greek. What confuses me about men like this is they're media professionals with years of experience and hundreds of hours of live broadcast experience; how is it that they don't stop and think to themselves, "Maybe that's not the best way to phrase that?"

Bradshaw is the 2nd Hall of Fame-Super Bowl winning NFL quarterback/broadcaster to suffer a slip of the tongue that was perceived as racially insensitive. Back in fall of 2009 I blogged about ABC broadcaster Bob Griese after his stupid taco comment about race car driver Juan Pablo Montoya during a college football broadcast.

Like Bradshaw, I'm not going to judge the man's entire life based on one comment. But it offers insight into how even well-known media professionals used to being in front of the camera can permit subconscious prejudices to come to the surface. It reveals a lot about how deeply ingrained some behaviors and assumptions are in this nation.

So I'm not going to pretend I know that Terry Bradshaw is a "racist", but he hails from the deep south and it's not unreasonable to assume he's absorbed certain prejudices over the course of his life that might surface from time to time. This is America and he can think what he wants after all.

But let's be honest, does anyone really believe that if a white tight-end or a white running back was hustling into the end-zone for a touchdown that Terry Bradshaw would refer to fried chicken in discussing his efforts?   

Dinesh D'Souza Exposed as Adulturer and Moral Hypocrite

Dinesh D'Souza & mistress/"fiancee" Denise Odie Joseph II.

Over the years conservative writer and critic Dinesh D'Souza has delighted Republicans and right-wing media pundits by targeting African-Americans, Democrats, the poor, unions, homosexuals, pro-choice advocates and President Obama with unsubstantiated theories, a long-winded mix of pseudo-intellectual editorializing and uninformed revisionist American history.

D'Souza, a converted Catholic now aligned with the evangelical Christian church, has carved out a career with his self-righteous condemnation of the personal beliefs, political choices and life style choices of people who don't think like him. Now he's crying foul over the humiliating public revelation that he was recently spotted staying in a hotel room during a conference with Denise Odie Joseph II, a significantly younger married evangelical Christian woman; who herself is married according to Jordan Sargent of Gawker.com.   

A recent article by David Sessions on the Daily Beast Website claims the story was broken by World (an evangelical Christian magazine) after two conference organizers learned D'Souza was shacking up in a South Carolina hotel with a woman who was clearly not his current wife of 20 years.
                        
Don't get me wrong, D'Souza's personal life is his own business, but when he writes books and films documentaries based purely on some wildly speculative theory that the President has some kind of secret agenda for the nation based on a seething hatred of colonialism, his own personal life becomes relevant and subject to scrutiny.

Just recently D'Souza had the gall to accuse the President (who regularly attends church, is happily married with two daughters and lives with his mother-in-law) of 'Attacking the traditional values agenda' according to an article posted on the rightwingwatch.com Website. 

Perhaps D'Souza should spend less time obsessing over what he perceives to be other people's moral failings and more time reflecting on just what his own 'traditional values' are. He certainly will have plenty of time for reflection, in the wake of the scandal D'Souza resigned as president of King's College in New York City, a small Christian school funded by Campus Crusade for Christ. Their Website states in part:  
"The King’s College educates students to lead with principle as they aspire to make America better. We prepare students for principled leadership. And nothing else."

Unfortunately for D'Souza, I suspect the media (and his current wife Dixie), will be a lot less forgiving than Jesus.

More "Palin Pageant Walkin" and GOP Code Talkin!

Even though she mistakenly believed the continent of Africa was a nation, couldn't comprehend the function of the Federal Reserve and got famously flustered on-camera when Katie Couric had the gall to ask her what newspapers she read, I can't help but be just a little bit nostalgic for Sarah Palin's unique brand of uninformed feistiness as the 2012 presidential race winds to a close.

She's caught a lot of heat in recent days for using the term "Shuck and Jive" during a Wednesday evening attack on the President's foreign policy response in Libya. As usual, her inflamatory attack made little sense and simply cemented the common perception of her precarious grasp of global events. It was certainly quotable but not really surprising; and no stranger than the news that she's a distant relative to actress Halle Berry.

Palin is just the latest right-leaning member of the GOP to be trotted out to sling code words at the President in an effort to try and make voters uncomfortable with his race. Remember Newt Gingrich suggesting poor school children in urban areas (GOP Code for "black and Latino kids") could be compelled to work as janitors in their schools to teach them work habits?  Or labeling Obama a "food stamp President?"

Perhaps the most notoriouos Code-Talker in this bunch (aside from the Donald Trump) is the co-chair of the Mitt Romney for President Campaign, the perpetually angry former New Hampshire governor John Sununu. He's been called upon by the Romney camp to serve up a remarkable feast of unapologetically bigoted cheap shots over the past few months. Most recently slamming General Colin Powell for voting for Obama only because of the color of his skin.

Funny, when I watched General Powell (arguably one of the most respectd public fugures in the country) lay out his reasoning for choosing to vote for the President, they were well thought out arguments based on facts, logic and the President's record; at not time did he mention voting for Obama because of the color of his skin. Watch for yourself if you missed it.

Curious, when the GOP Code-Talkers talk about Obama, they seem to say much more about themselves and their perspective of the nation we live in.


 

Trump Embarrasses Himself, Maricopa County Tries to Dupe Hispanic Voters

President Obama laughs off Trump's latest gaff on Leno

No amount of blogging away my frustrations could possibly sum up mainstream America's collective response to perpetually-coiffed attention whore Donald Trump's anti-climatic "challenge" to President Obama any better than Barbara Walter's choice words on ABC's "The View".

In response to Trump's pathetic video effort to raise the long-dead ghosts of the vanquished  Birther movement by offering up $5 million to submit his passport applications and college records, Walters opined:  

“Donald, you’re making a fool of yourself,” she continued. “You are not hurting Obama — you’re hurting Donald, and that hurts me, because you’re a decent man. Stop it. Get off it, Donald.”

Amen sister. "The Donald" has clearly relegated himself to the media scrapheap of totally irrelevant personalities intoxicated by their own brilliance. Someone please put some cheese on that clown and set the table, cause he's done.

By the way, if Trump wants to drop $5 million on something, maybe he should try giving back the tuition money to the hundreds of enraged students duped into paying for a degree from his sham Trump University.

Even as poor Mitt Romney struggles to distance himself from his own views and pass himself off as a moderate, members of his own party continue to horrify American women with their archaic views on abortion and rape. Indiana Senate nominee Richard Mourdouk sailed right into Todd Aikin territory with another jaw-dropping pro-life soundbite that further increases the President's already significant lead over women voters nationwide.  

GOP efforts to criminalize voters who aren't very likely to support them at the polls on November 6th just keep getting more despicable and bizarre. In good 'ole Maricopa County, Arizona, home to notorious bigot Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the county's own elections department has been caught putting out two Spanish-language documents with the wrong election date on them.

Even though they're direct English-to-Spanish translations of English elections documents; there's just one error. The date. The Spanish-language version incorrectly lists the date of the Presidential elections as November 8th; the date of the election is actually November 6th. Go figure!

Do NOT adjust your television folks, this is the year 2012 and we are in fact in the United States of America.

Bain Capital-Owned Clear Channel Helping GOP Voter Suppression Tactics

Signs like these popping up in Black & Latino Communities

For a party that spends as much time as it does trumpeting patriotic values and chiding the Obama administration for not doing enough to support Democracy in Syria and Libya, Republicans are employing a variety of reprehensible tactics to suppress voter participation.

With the cooperation of media giant Clear Channel (owned by Mitt Romney's former company Bain Capital) an "anonymous family foundation" is posting billboards in primarily  black and Latino neighborhoods in Wisconsin and Ohio to intentionally intimidate and mislead voters who would tend to vote Democratic. What's next? Asking voters to recite Shakespeare from memory in order to vote like they used to do in the Reconstruction-era South? 

What's got civic-minded Republicans all riled up? Apparently nothing. As Natasha Kahn and Corbin Carson reported on the Minnesota Post Website back in August, a careful analysis shows that voter fraud is virtually non-existent in Minnesota, and despite millions of tax-payer dollars spent on questionable anti-voter fraud initiatives in Pennsylvania, no actual cases of voter fraud have been found.

But facts and data aren't stopping people like Colin Small, an employee of a company hired by the GOP called PinPoint. As reported by Stephanie Saul in the New York Times last Friday, Small a voter registration supervisor in Harrisonburg, Virginia was charged with 13 counts of destruction of voter registration applications. Specifically, Small was caught when he parked behind a building and dumped a trash bag containing an envelope with 13 completed voter registration forms into a dumpster.

According the to the Times article, a suspicious local retailer spotted Small and went to retrieve the bag and found the registration applications. Fortunately they were turned in and will be processed accordingly. Guess which party the trashed applications were for?

If that's not enough, last week it leaked out that Mitt Romeny is sinking even lower by sneaking around the country asking CEO's to instruct their employees to vote for Romney. People like Arthur Allen, CEO of ASG Software solutions, who sent an e-mail to all of his employees "requesting" that they contribute to the Romney campaign and vote for the Romney/Ryan ticket.

The most pathetic thing about all this is that even Romney knows he just can't sell his platform to mainstream Americans, or convince them he's the better candidate.      

Bullet Fired at Obama's Campaign Office in Denver

The blown-out window at the Obama offices in Denver

We can really only wonder what was going through the mind of the person or persons who fired a gunshot through the window of the Obama field office in Denver on Friday afternoon.

According to the Denver Post Website police are trying to track a suspicious vehicle seen near the scene at the time of the shooting. Fortunately no one was hurt, but there were campaign personnel inside at the time.

It's not the first time someone's distorted political views and irrational anger at the president have prompted them to pick up a weapon and pull the trigger from a car. Remember Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez?

He's the guy who took a shot at the White House at the corner of 16th street and Constitution Avenue from a distance of 750 yards back in November of 2011. His motivation for his assassination attempt according to an anonymous investigator at the time? “He hates the president, he hates Washington, he hates society,” Which of course, is a reason to kill someone in the minds of some.

Maybe, like Jared Lee Loughner, who shot former US Representative Gabby Giffords and 18 others (murdering 6 innocent bystanders) we'll never really know. None of the right-wing media pundits (like Limbaugh) who use the airways to spew a constant stream of extremist, anti-Obama rhetoric  will take responsibility for it.

Nope. They'll just shrug their shoulders. And the band plays on. By the way, I watched the first presidential debate and the vice-presidential debate last night; I don't think I even heard gun control mentioned. Not once. We're lucky it was just a glass window that got damaged today; unlike some in this country, bullets don't discriminate.

Standing Up for Big Bird

 If Mitt Romeney was trying to soften his image as a self proclaimed "severely conservative" politician, I'm not sure his first debate performance really helped him.

Forget about an economic recovery plan that centers on a commitment to Grover Norquist's bizzare pledge to never raise taxes (ever) and slashing government spending programs that benefit the vast majority of Americans while providing even more tax relief for top earners. Forget the 47% gaffe. 

When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney leaned across his podium during last Wednesday night's debate in Denver and condescendingly assured narrator Jim Leherer that he "loved Big Bird" but would eliminate Federal subsidies for PBS, he crossed a point of no return. Yesterday NY Times columinst Charles M. Blow eleoquently stated what I consider to be a well-versed summary of the majority thinking on the incalcuable intellectual value of PBS.

If a person is running for the highest office in the land who would presume to lead on behalf of all Americans, unquestionably he or she must understand the importance of PBS programming to the educational and cultural enrichment of the nation. Period. (Seriously Mitt, Ken Burn's 'The Civil War?' American Experience? Sesame Street? Word Girl? Really??)

If they don't get that, they're so detached from common-sense Main Street sensibility they simply have no business in the White House. In this age of bloated defense spending, excessive tax subsidies for petroluem behemoths like Exxon-Mobil (which posted 1st quarter profits of $9.45 billion) and trillion dollar bailouts for big banks and insurance companies who greedily gambled on complex-but-crappy financial products, we can afford PBS.

When you consider that the rich variety of PBS educational and entertainment programming costs each tax payer about $1.35 per year, suggesting Big Bird is to blame for the massive US deficit borders on the most absurd kind of delusion at best; and blatant partisan disconnect at worst. Poor Flipper just doesn't understand that PBS refelects what is best about this nation, it's people and our collective values.  

Hip Hop Artists Brawl At BET Awards (Again); Teen Girl Rampage in Chester, PA

Rappers Rick Ross & Young Jeezy had words at the BET Awards

The propensity for petty "beefs", juvenile dust-ups and fights among Hip-Hop artists, rappers and members of their ubiquitous entourages during awards shows has become so commonplace it's almost cartoonish; maybe even buffonish.

It's also potentially dangerous as artists like Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls could tell you - had they not both been gunned down over perceived slights and insults.

The latest ego-inspired fracas occurred over the weekend in Atlanta during the taping of the BET Awards when 36 year-old rapper/producer Rick Ross and rapper Young Jeezy (who's actually 34) apparently had words backstage. The conflict then escalated when the respective entourages of both groups had a confrontation that continued out into the parking lot and according to multiple sources, shots were fired.

It's the latest blight that gives a bad name to the industry and the thousands of legitimate rap artists across the nation who oppose violence and manage to create music without getting their faces plastered on TMZ.com. What's peculiar is on one hand you have artists who demand to be taken seriously for their creative and business/entreprenuerial skills (i.e rap artists who successfully expand their brands into fashion, sports drinks or even fast food) but then totally undermine their own public perception with highly-public confrontations or outbursts.

Remember when Kanye West totally embarrassed himself by blundering onstage during the Video Music Awards a few years ago to disrupt Taylor Swift's award moment with his unsolicited rant?
I won't even get into Chris Brown assaulting singer Rihanna after the Grammy Awards. 

What's most troubling is the message that gets absorbed by young people. The same night I heard about the debacle at the BET Awards taping, I saw the horrifying news report about six teenage girls in Chester, PA who recorded a totally-unprovoked vicious assault of a 48 year-old mentally disabled woman sitting on her front stoop minding her own business; then had the audacity to post it on Facebook. The teens are seen laughing while they beat the woman.

The attack has outraged citizens (including me) from all walks of life not just in the Delaware Valley and Philadelphia area, but across the nation including Boston and Chicago. In response, assistant DA Greg Dawson is charging all six girls as adults and I agree with the vast majority of the reader-comments that all six should be locked up as an example of what happens when you prove unable to function within the laws of decent, civilized society.

Now I certainly can't blame any one rap artist or Hip Hop impresario for the sick teenage girl rampage in Chester, but I do hold the adulation of thuggish behavior and misogynistic themes that still permeates much of Hip-Hop culture, music and media at least partially accountable; and where the hell are the parents? Odds are NOT at a PTA meeting.    

Neither Rick Ross or Young Jeezy were arrested for their BET Awards melee on Saturday; but if the six Chester girls were arrested and charged as adults, maybe Ross and Jeezy should be too. If for nothing else than to demonstrate that people in this society must take responsibility for their actions - and that there are consequences for acting like a fucking asshole.

On that note, I admit I don't always agree with the actions of the NYPD, and I've called them out in my blog on a number of occasions, but props to Commissioner Ray Kelly for announcing stepped-up efforts to control local gang violence in communities in New York.  

Bobby Tillman's Murderer Tracen Franklin Sentenced to Life Without Parole

18 year-old Bobby Tillman, the victim of a savage beating.

For my money Pulitzer Prize-winner Cynthia Tucker is one of the most insightful journalists/commentators in the business.

A syndicated writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I first heard her as a semi-regular color commentator on the PBS Newshour who always brought a succinct and highly-principled perspective to discussions on a range of domestic and international issues.

On Saturday Tucker wrote a column about the aftermath of the murder of 18 year-old Bobby Tillman that opened my eyes to a horrifying case of violence that highlights the tragedy of one of the most insidious problems afflicting the African-American community (and indeed, America); senseless black-on-black crime.

This particular travesty had nothing to do with gang violence or a marginalized inner-city community.

Tillman, a college student who aspired to be a sports agent, was outside a crowded teenage party in the suburbs of Atlanta almost two years ago when a group of four African-Americans led and spurred on by Tracen Franklin, attacked Tillman and viciously stomped and beat him to death in a heinous crime that shocked the nation.

One of the saddest things about this incident, and a factor that is all too common among violent black-on-black crime, the attackers didn't even know Tillman; they were just angry and feeling "dissed" after one of the four were struck by a female guest during the party. Apparently feeling the need to vent their sense of inadequacy, they made the ill-fated decision to take it out on an innocent victim who happened to be Tillman.

Last Friday Franklin was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Franklin's accomplices Emanuel Boykins, 30 will serve life with a possibility of parole in 30 years and the other two charged, Quantez Devonta Mallory and Horace Damon Coleman are also facing pending charges of murder.

And so it continues. Tillman's death did draw national attention, but I know I'm not alone in wondering when crimes like the killing of Bobby Tillman draws the same sense of national outrage amongst African-Americans that the shooting of Travon Martin by a non-African-American did. Seems as if there's too much of a complacency for the former that black Americans especially, from all walks of life, must take a greater collective responsibility for.

Let's be honest about the deeper racial component of this case; if four white teens had killed Bobby Tillman after a party in Georgia black folks would still be marching. I don't mean to sound cynical or in any way make light of Tillman's death, I'm just tired of young black men preying on each other like it's some kind of insane race to see who can devalue life the fastest.

Looking at the statistics alone, one might think young African-Americans had declared some kind of sick cultural jihad on each other. According to the Bureau of Justice, (thanks to Bossip.com) between 1976 and 2011 there were 279,384 African-American murder victims. Given that 93-94% of blacks are murdered by other blacks, 262,621 black people were murdered by people of their own race between 1976-2011. Bobby Tillman's death is more than a sickening tragedy, it's a startling statistical reality in America that can't just be blamed on the media.

Romney's Selling, Mainstream America Just Isn't Buying

Thurston Howell, III as played by actor Jim Backus

Let's just call it like it is; there's a growing sense pervading the collective 'culturegeist' of the American voter that we simply can't afford four years of a Romney presidency.

Even after his disastrous and possibly irreparable remarks about the "47%" (a group including retired veterans, retired workers living on pensions they earned, people working two jobs and members of the oft-forgotten long-term unemployed who can't find jobs because US companies are content to sit on huge cash reserves rather than expand hiring), Flipper found a way to seem even more like an affable-but-doddering scion of privilege totally alienated from mainstream Americans.

As detailed on numerous blogs and Websites including Salon.com, Marriott chairman Bill Marriott
(#298 on the Forbes 400 with a net worth of $1.6 billion) introduced the candidate at a recent fundraiser by relating a story of how he pulled his boat up to a crowded slip at a dock on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire and couldn't find anyone to help him. Mittens bravely stepped forward to tie up the line and secure the expensive craft of the head of one of the largest hotel chains in the world; and it's fair to observe, a fellow wealthy leader of the Mormon Church.

Nothing personal against Bill Marriott mind you, he's a decent enough man who's been generous with charitable support for organizations like the Boy Scouts of America for years. But during this time when millions of Americans are struggling to find jobs, stay out of debt, hold on to their homes and survive the ravages of an economic downturn that's decimated the middle class, offering up the public endorsement of yet another billionaire as a character endorsement does little to reassure voters who have no confidence Romney is remotely capable of identifying with the struggles of the bulk of the US population.

Increasingly, Mittens is perceived in the media more as a caricature to be lampooned; a walking symbol embodying the ultra-wealthy 1% who inhabits a different America than the rest of us. A man who comes off more Thurtson Howell, III from Gilligan's Island than seasoned business executive ready to lead the nation into long-term recovery based on some kind of suave corporate savvy and a decidedly non-specific agenda based on sketchy old Supply-Side economic theories that have never actually worked.

The media blame game isn't helping Mitt either. As much as some of the more extreme conservative media pundits would like to make the growing gap between Obama and Romney about abstract concepts like "liberal media bias" (or one of my favorite Sarah Palinisms, "the lame-stream media") the plain truth is the problem is simply Mitt Romney and his ultra-conservative budget-hawk VP candidate sidekick Congressman Paul Ryan. 

As Brian Knowlton observed on today's Caucus blog on the New York Times Website,  just this morning Ryan appeared on Fox News Sunday to complain about how 'Media Bias' is skewing the sagging poll numbers.

Of course his dip at the polls has nothing to do with, oh I don't know, Ryan having been the leader of one of the most unproductive and obstructive Congresses in modern history? Or his having quite recently been booed onstage at a recent AARP convention audience after telling them he wants to repeal the Healthcare Reform Act? And surely his dismal poll numbers are unrelated to his desire for draconian unrealistic cuts in government spending that would overwhelmingly affect the poor and middle-class?

The media, liberal or conservative, has nothing to do with Americans having already pegged Ryan as a heartless technocrat who's a one-trick political pony. Choosing him as a running mate was one of Romney's worst decisions of his campaign. It's not that Mittens isn't a nice guy or a decent family-man, but it's obvious he just isn't the kind of candidate for president at a time when America needs innovative ideas, the ability to connect with all Americans regardless of their income level and the courage to tell the American people things they might not want to hear.

Maybe it's just possible that Romney and his embattled campaign manager Stuart Stevens (check out Maureen Dowd's op-ed on Stevens and his role in the mismanagement of Romney's run) can change the tide at this Wednesday nights presidential debate but I wouldn't bet on it.

Okay enough politics and links for now, the Yankees just tied Toronto in the 5th, I've gotta head to the gym to be back in time for my weekly fix of HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire'; it's what television can be when it dares to combine excellent writing with a willingness to explore topics of substance. Sunday nights are all about Nucky.