Monthly Archives: September 2009

Finally.  Someone.

For those you know who decry the cost of government health care, even though they never seemed to complain before about federal spending, share with them this chart and new report by Citizens For Tax Justice that helpfully outlines where the U.S. cash flow went, and how we can re-route that give-away for the richest 5% and offer U.S. citizens health care, bringing our country into the 20th century.

In his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas refuted Professor Anita Hill’s sexual harassment testimony against him with these famous words:

“This is a case in which this sleaze, this dirt, was searched for by staffers of members of this committee, was then leaked to the media, and this committee and this body validated it and displayed it at prime time over our entire nation.…This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. And from my standpoint as a black American, as far as I’m concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the US Senate rather than hung from a tree.”

I cite this as precedent in three realms: An African-American defining a lynching beyond the traditional mob beating and hanging of black people; a Supreme Court Justice not known for opinions sympathetic to minorities here asserting racism as the cause in a line of inquiry; and the U.S. Congress’s acceptance of this definition as they hastily approved the minimally experienced Thomas following his scathing complaints.

The history of lynching in America is considerable.  From 1882-1968, nearly 5000 lynchings occurred in the United States.  Lynching is vigilantism and extrajudicial decision by a group of people, a violent act by a mob that does not believe their agenda will be met by law, aware they are acting out of the law, but in effect being the law. There is rarely accountability for those involved.  In fact, the display of the victim hanging for all to see is meant to scare off others, violators of perceived segregation or threats to authority. A perceived wrong to white women was often used as justification.  Fueled by prejudice and mistruths, urged by a perceived threat or need for immediate justice, lynchings often occurred for reasons other than the alleged crime, like a land or business dispute. Lynchings occurred primarily with blacks men dying at the hands of a white mob, but white people were also targeted, for activism or outspokenness.   Read More »

I should know by now to never, ever let my guard down on Ohio.  But just when I thought someone I’ve interviewed in my travels through Ohio can’t come back to shock me, leaps Mayor Eric Brewer of East Cleveland.  Brewer is featured in FREE FOR ALL! as a black Democrat supporting the black conservative Republican Ken Blackwell, and discussing the political opportunities that African-Americans have in the Republican party, since there are so few blacks in the GOP.  He has since proven to be much more revealing…look for him in PAY 2 PLAY!

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This is Fargo with your Daily Roo: NEW BONE! Which, of course, you also want.

This looks like it is from a movie, but it is from Pittsburgh.  Even the uniforms are from a 1970’s sci-fi movie.  These may be sonic weapons being deployed to discourage G-20 protesters, because they sure freak out my dog.  Mark Crispin Miller aptly describes the lack of student uprising in this video being met with overwhelming force.

Props to my boy Robert Prichard for the heads up–good lookin’ out!

They’re the same age, they can be difficult to comprehend, and are known to give their audiences more than they bargained for.  What gives? Read More »

A census worker was found hanged with the word “FED” scrawled across his chest in Kentucky.  Since it seems odd for someone to label themselves and then commit suicide in a public place, and then hang themselves while still on the ground, another term might be apt: lynching.

As Mark Crispin Miller writes:

It may be worth noting that Clay County was the place where a cabal of GOP election officials –posing as “Democrats”–engaged in rigging the elections of 2002, 2004 and 2006, and were indicted for it just last March:

KENTUCKY ELECTION OFFICIALS ARRESTED (March 20)

KENTUCKY ELECTION THIEF PLEADS GUILTY (May 30)

IN CLAY COUNTY, G.O.P. ELECTION FRAUDSTERS POSE AS DEMOCRATS (March 25)

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