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Showing posts from May, 2010

Rand Paul, The Negative Side of Conservative Extremism and What it Means for the Republican Party

In one of the more shocking moments of recent political theater, Rand Paul, current candidate for Senate from Kentucky has went from the darling of the Tea Party Movement and is now the albatross hanging from the neck of the Republican Party in less than 24 hours. Rand Paul who is an ardent Libertarian much like his father Ron Paul was supported by the Tea Party Movement during his run for the Republican nomination for Senator. His views are very radical. The Tea Party Movement decided to align themselves with his candidacy for clear reasons. His viewpoints were on the fringe of what is expected, especially when it comes to government and its limitations or lack thereof on citizens and private businesses. He was able to make a huge push and win the nomination due to much of the anti-incumbent fervor that exists in the nation, as well as the push for more extreme candidates and views to come to the forefront. This is especially true for the conservative segment of the electorate. But a

Black Unemployment So Bad The UN Investigating: What This Really Means

In a recent article on www.racismreview.com the United Nations may investigate the incredibly low numbers for black employment in the U.S. The United Nations governing body is making the claim that the U.S. government is not living up to its commitment set up under previous human rights agreements. Among other absolutely sobering statistics listed in the article, the rate of unemployment for black men is at 20.2% in comparison to 9.6% for white men. These rates may be worse because the percentage does not include the numbers of people who simply stopped looking for employment. The rate of pay for black men is also lower than white men. The rate of unemployment is not monolithic. It goes across the spectrum of black life from the young, old, college educated, high school educated, urban or rural. If the facts in this report are true, there are some serious things that need to be addressed. Systematically and socially blacks have been at the bottom of the employment ladder since Slavery.

Arizona Strikes Again: Now Education is Under Attack

What is really going on in Arizona? As if creating an immigration law that can be perceived as racist wasn't enough, now the Arizona Legislature has decided that schools that teach courses about various races will lose state funding. The exact wording of the document states that schools will lose funding if they "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals." Now there are some major issues with this policy. Of course I fully agree that if there are teachers and schools that are promoting overthrowing the American government they should lose funding. What American wouldn't agree with a policy like that? But I believe that comparing acts of treason to courses that "advocate ethnic solidarity" is completely ridiculous and frankly racist. Under this law if sc

Blacks Running as GOP Candidates: Is this good or bad?

While I was sitting down watching Hardball with Chris Matthews, he had a segment on the resurgence of black people running for congressional seats as Republicans. There are currently 32 black people running for Congressional office as Republicans. This number is the most since Reconstruction. I believe that this resurgence has both good and bad aspects to it. On one hand its a great thing that blacks feel comfortable to run as Republicans. It shows that we have come a long way in our history that while it is a story that this many are running, its not as big a story as it would have been a few years or decades ago. I believe that the election of Barack Obama as President and the selection of Michael Steele to head the Republican National Committee both have played a huge role in blacks wanting to win political office, and believing that they can. While blacks have run for political office in the past and have done well, especially in regions that have a solid black population, the elec