Are Black People Cowards? Yes, Says Homeboy Sandman. Read More below.

 
Black People Are Cowards

In light of the recent decision by a professional basketball team, comprised of mostly black players, to respond to their boss basically saying “I hate niggers” by turning their shirts inside out the next day at work, I have come to the decision that I agree wholeheartedly with the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, and I too do not want black people invited to my events.

It’s not for the same reasons that the Clippers’ owner doesn’t want black people invited to his events. To be honest I don’t really know what his reasons are. Perhaps he recently tuned in to an FM “hip hop” station and after hearing song after drug, sex, and violence-laden song decided that it might be a good idea to keep some distance. Perhaps his media conditioning spans beyond music, encompassing the gamut of stereotype-enforcing media, (media championed and praised by blacks, where the most rich and famous coons are praised and idolized as examples of black “success”). Maybe he’s been hanging out with George Zimmerman, and they’ve been watching Love & Hip Hop, and Basketball Wives, and the Tyler Perry collection, and Katt Williams and Kevin Hart performances (anybody catch that Kevin Hart movie with the ex-rapper who used to have a song standing up against police brutality playing a police officer? Where Hart delivers the line that Zimmerman had no doubt heard a thousand different times in a thousand different ways, shifting his psyche to the point where he could be authentically terrified of someone just because they were black . . . “you’re white. You don’t fight.”)

No, I’m lucky enough to spend enough time with black people to recognize that we’re not the base form of human life that we continue to support ourselves being portrayed as (though admittedly, it definitely rubs off on us. A lot. So much so that it’s very puzzling to comprehend how we could blame anyone who doesn’t get to spend much time with us for fostering a wildly skewed perception. What can people know but what they see?). No, I don’t want black people to stay away from my events because I believe them to be uncivilized, or ignorant, or anything like that.

I don’t want black people at my events anymore, because black people are cowards.

In all the history I’ve ever studied, in all the fiction I’ve ever read, I am hard pressed to find an example of cowardice to rival the modern day black American, and nobody wants to be surrounded by cowards right?

What if lions break out of the zoo and start trying to eat everyone? What if aliens attack? What if the police department decides that they want to grab their batons and blow off some steam? Are cowards really the type of people that you want to be surrounded by?

Not me.

Black People Are Cowards
That’s why I don’t want black people at my events anymore. Athletes that could refuse to perform until a killer is arrested, even until a killer is convicted, who instead opt for taking a picture where they all have their hoods on and then carrying on with business as usual: I don’t want to be surrounded be these clowns. If you’re black, or white, and you go back to work after finding out that your boss is grossed out at the idea of being in the same vicinity with any black person except for the cutie he’s sugar daddy to, I’m pretty sure you’re not who I want in my corner during crunch time. Real crunch time. Life crunch time.

The most common excuse I’ve heard for today’s cowardice is “they need to feed their families,” which of course is a euphemism for “for the money.” You know, the blacks that sold other blacks into slavery, there’s a good chance they used some of that money to feed their families too. So, that makes them cool with all of y’all? Here’s a question, is there anything that we won’t do for money? Is getting paid an excuse for everything? It’s an excuse for looking the other way when innocent people are killed. It’s an excuse for supporting racism by trying to win a championship for an openly racist owner. With regard to hip hop and media it’s an excuse for purposefully, and most often deceitfully, representing yourself and your culture as pretty much scum who can only be validated by money. Thanks in large part to the exceptional (it’s sad just how exceptional) bravery of Michelle Alexander, (author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness) we live in a society where each day more and more people realize the obvious truth that the goals of the criminal justice system have way more to do with black enslavement than rehabilitation or keeping people safe. Facing the reality of modern slavery, we continue to allow ourselves to be enslaved day after day. (Granted, fear of death is a far cry from fear of lack of wealth, but they’re both fear, the currency of cowardice.) As KRS-One (whose “Sound of Da Police” was actually the theme song for the trailer of that ridiculous movie I referenced earlier, which all but brought a tear to my eye), pointed out on his classic “Black Cop,” many policemen and policewomen are now earning paychecks for gathering up their own brothers and sisters, on charges that perpetually lead to a slap on the wrist for whites but somehow manage to be the first domino in a lifetime of enslavement for blacks. These cops get to use the “feeding my family” line too. We accept it, and go about our day, meek, bullied, and afraid to assert authority against anyone but each other, and amongst each other asserting authority with a ferocity that could only be explained by the rage of hundreds of years of being bullied by everybody else. In New York City, where infiltration and displacement are referenced using the the thinly veiled insult “gentrification” (look up the root word. “Gent.” If we accept and use a term the very definition of which suggests that communities are becoming more noble and graceful, what does that say about the people being pushed out?) natives know better than to display any aggression towards white newcomers, but are as quick as ever to stare down an unfamiliar black face who isn’t from the neighborhood.

What do you call people who walk quietly to slavery? Who allow themselves to be insulted without standing up for themselves beyond wardrobe adjustments that in reality are nothing but a public show of shame? What do you call people that pretend that these ridiculous gestures actually hold some weight rather than face the fact that we are the laughing stock of the entire planet, and as long there’s the chance that someday maybe we’ll be rich there’s nothing that we’re going to do about it?

I call us cowards.

It’s almost as if people have forgotten that struggle includes struggling. You might have to lose your job. You might have to lose your life. That’s what it takes for change to happen. There’s no easy way to do this. If you’re scared to stand up for yourself, for whatever reason, all I ask is that you stop pretending. Stop with the Facebook posts. Stop with the meaningless conversations. Just stop. Be honest. About how you behave. About your part in all this madness. About what you are. A coward. Just a coward. No need to put on an act for the rest of us. We can all see right through each other.

One last thing . . .

For those of you who have made it this far without stopping for how furious at me your shame has made you, I want you to know something. I don’t really think black people are cowards. I think humans are cowards. Most of us. I think that regardless of where one’s phenotype places them within the imaginary concept of race, that the majority of us are content to live on our knees rather than die on our feet.

The problem is, we, us, black people, can’t afford to be like everyone else anymore. Not if we want to survive. I don’t know how we got here, but everywhere you look we’re at the bottom of the global totem pole. We need to make history. We can’t be cowards like every one else, not any more. In fact, we need to set a new standard for heroism. For bravery. For courage. Maybe a standard never before seen in the history of humankind. Extreme situations call for extreme measures, and in modern times our inferiority is ingrained in every single aspect of our lives, from our media, to our religion, to our science, to our public education, to our higher education, to Africa appearing to be the same size as Greenland on all of the maps despite the fact that in reality Africa is 14 times larger. It’s harder to see our enemies than it’s ever been. Our enemy isn't white people. It's people who value greed more than human life. Racial division is one of their oldest weapons, and media is their latest. We mustn’t forget how young this weapon is. I didn’t grow up using the Internet. The television itself isn’t even 100 years old. The idea of global celebrity, and global transference of ideas and perceptions of culture, has never existed the way it does today. Just as Howard Beale prophesized in Network in 1976, we’re up against “the most awesome God damned propaganda force in the whole Godless world.”

We’re going to have to step it up.

If you’re down to step it up, let’s step it up. Let’s boycott. Boycott was the foundation of the Civil Rights movement. Do you believe that a cable network exists solely to manipulate the perception of black people? Stop watching it. Don’t put up a post one day praising the episode of Boondocks that never aired and then spend the next day tweeting the entire BET awards. That doesn’t make any sense.

Let’s step it up. If every NBA player who wanted to stand up against racism vowed not to play until the Clippers’ owner resigned, it would be announced that he resigned before you were finished reading this. If he didn’t want to, someone would make him. If we boycotted every night spot that spins music about how much we love killing each other and taking and selling drugs, every single one of them would have new DJs by next week (don’t even get me started on these new DJs. The new drug dealers. Admitting that they know what they’re giving people is bad for them but caring more about getting paid). I went to DJ Spinna’s Michael Jackson/Prince party at SRBs last night and there was more dancing and mirth and free love in that place than every hip hop party in NYC in the last 10 years put together. So when people tell you that we need ratchet nonsense to dance, they’re gaming you. Don’t be so gullible. Don’t act like black people only found out how to have fun when we lost our connection to our own human decency.

Let’s step it up and not buy magazines pushing music designed to glamorize a lifestyle certain to land our youth in prison.

Let’s step it up and take off from work and stay home with our kids until these preposterous tenure rules are revoked from public schools and it’s the kids that can’t be fired, not the teachers.

Let’s step it and use social media to rally each other. Everybody knew about that woman who fired a warning shot and got 20 years (I hear she’s been released now. No thanks to us). Everybody knows about that woman who got however many years for leaving her child in the car while she went to a job interview. Every single week all over Facebook there’s a new video of someone catching a beating as bad as the one Rodney King caught, but I never see a post that says, “Share this if you’ll go on strike from work until these police officers are fired.” “Share this if you’ll strike until this woman is released.” “Share this if you won’t spend a single dollar until Troy Davis is released from death row and granted a new trial.” Can you imagine the impact that that would have? Everybody is always trying to act there’s no solutions. There are plenty of solutions. We're just too cowardly to implement them. Worried about this discomfort or that discomfort, great or small, that might take place as a result. Having to find a new place to party. Or a new show to watch. Isn’t the discomfort of oppression enough? There’s plenty of solutions, just no easy ones, but if we can shift to courage instead of cowardice, there’s more than enough solutions to guarantee our success. Guarantee. Next time you’re complaining about how this country was built on us, take a second to think about the fact that it still is. If we want to, we can shut this whole place down.

So make a decision between cowardice and courage, and if you choose courage, step it up. Step it up in any of the myriad of ways that are available to us. I’ve named a few. Name a few more. Leave a few suggestions in the comments section. Call up your friends. Tweet. Facebook.

Then start doing them. If you can’t convince anyone to do them with you, do them on your own. Start right away because we’re running out of time. I hear some states are fining people for sagging their pants. I’d never sag my pants, but if we begin to allow people to be penalized simply for attributes that we’ve allowed to be associated with being black, we’re going to find the water getting even hotter very soon.

We’ve been cowards for a very long time. We have a lot of catching up to do. Let’s start right now.

For those of you who don’t want to step it up, do me a favor and at least unfriend me.

Homeboy Sandman is a recording artist on Stones Throw Records. He previously wrote for Gawker on the topic of police brutality.

Child Brides Disgrace!

Nigeria's child brides: 'I thought being in labour would never end'

Though child marriage is prohibited under Nigerian law,
a toxic blend of routine and religion continues to ruin
young lives

Nigerian child bride activist Zainab Oussman, 16,
in Kwassaw village. At 14, she refused to marry,
instead staying in school.

Ibrahim Kanuma winces as he recalls the moment
a 63-year-old man asked him for his teenage
daughter's hand in marriage. The proposal was not
unusual in north-western Nigeria's remote, dust-blown
state of Zamfara, but he considered the suitor too old
for his only daughter, Zainab, 13.
"Even if he had been aged up to 50 – OK. But that old,
he'll soon die and leave her lonely," says the civil
servant in his peeling office in Gusau, the state
capital. To protect his school-aged child from the
crushing stigma of widowhood, Kanuma instead
gave his blessing to a union with a "reasonably aged"
 colleague – in his 40s – even though such a betrothal
is illegal.

For Kanuma and many others in northern Nigeria,
the recent outcry over child marriage is puzzling.
Zainab's marriage is prohibited under Nigeria's
Child Rights Act, which bans marriage or betrothal
before the age of 18. But federal laws compete with
age-old customs, as well as a decade of state-level
sharia law in Muslim states.
 
Warning posters about female circumcision and 
fistulas. 

"I wouldn't force my daughter to marry somebody she
doesn't like, but as soon as a girl is of age
[starts menstruating], she should be married,"
Kanuma says.

Four of the 10 countries with the highest rates of child
marriage are in west Africa's Sahel and Sahara belt. In
the years when rains or crops fail, so-called "drought brides"
– who bring in a dowry while being one fewer mouth to feed
– push numbers up dramatically.

But the practice came under scrutiny in July, when
legislators tried to scrap a constitutional clause that states
citizenship can be renounced by anyone over 18 or a married
woman, apparently implying womencan be married under 18.
The obscure ruling will have little direct impact on the one
in four rural northern Nigerian girls married off before they
turn 15, but it reveals
prevailing attitudes in a nation with acute gender disparity.


A successful vote was later derailed by senator Ahmed Yerima,
who in 2010 married a 13-year-old from Egypt. A former
Zamfara governor who
introduced a rigidly enforced version of sharia law in the north
in 2000, Yerima argued that a married girl was considered an
adult under certain interpretations of Islamic law. That prompted
outrage. "Does it then follow that the married girl who is
below 18, at election time, would be permitted to vote?" says
Maryam Uwais, a lawyer and child rights advocate in the
northern capital of Kano.

Other grassroot Muslim activists, however, fear the oxygen
of negative publicity trailing the high-profile Yerima, coming
most vocally from non-Muslims, could trigger a backlash among
conservative, rural Muslims. This would threaten painstaking
progress towards modernisation over the past decade.

In the week headlines erupted over Yerima, Aisha, nine, was
quietly rushed through the corridors of Zamfara's Faridat Yakubu
general hospital. Its cheerful cornflower blue walls belie stories of
the hidden horrors of early marriage. Aisha does not have the
words for what happened to her on her wedding night. Her husband,
she says, did something "painful from behind".

Nearby, Halima was on her third visit in three years. "I like it here.
It is the only time I ever see a television," she says. Just shy of 13,
the newlywed came under pressure to demonstrate her fertility.
"I thought [being in labour] would never end," she adds softly.

In the tradition of the rural Hausa people of the north, women are
expected to give birth at home. Crying out while in labour is seen as
a sign of weakness. But after three days close to death in her village,
Halima begged to be taken to a hospital. By the time her relatives
had scraped together enough to ferry her to the state capital, it was
too late.

The baby had died.

The prolonged labour left Halima with a fistula, which causes
uncontrolled urination or defecation. "Fistulas can happen to anyone,
but are most common among young women whose pelvises aren't at
full capacity to accommodate the passage of a child," says Dr Mutia,
one of two practising fistula surgeons in Zamfara.

Despite the obvious link, he is reluctant to blame child marriage for
Nigeria having the highest global rate of fistula. "The problem is not
early marriage. It is giving birth at home," he says.

Small victories

There have been small victories in reversing the ripple effects of
early and forced marriage, defined as forms of modern-day slavery
by the International Labour Organisation.

Fifteen years ago, Zamfara's statistics director, Lubabatu Ammani,
carried out a census to record the number of girls attending
secondary school in the state. The results were shocking: fewer than
4,000 girls were enrolled out of a population of 3.2 million.

"It was a combination of dropouts, early marriage and religious
misinterpretations," explained Ammani, who proposed creating a
female education board to help remedy the problem. "We asked all
the local emirs and found the main problem was that parents didn't
want girls who had hit puberty to be in co-ed schools."

Female enrolment in Zamfara is at its highest since independence
five decades ago, with 22,000 secondary school students. On most
days, Ammani visits wavering parents to encourage them to keep
their daughters in school.
Ammani welcomes the reawakened debate on child marriage but
warns of its limits: "The fact is, a lot of people [here], when they
hear the campaigning is by people from a different tradition or
religion, they won't agree with it."

Others are more blunt. Haliru Andi, who served as Yerima's top
aide while he led the call for sharia, bristles at the idea of interference
with his faith. "How I even use the toilet, how I share my time with my
family – everything is contained in my religion," he says in his
Persian-carpeted living room. "How, then, can I take instructions from
anybody who does not have a deep understanding of Islam?"

Cultural norms further muddy the issue. Posters outside Mutia's office
exhort against another disturbing practice related to child marriage.
In one,a woman is being forcibly restrained on a woven palm-frond mat.
An assistant grabs her legs; another sits on her chest, and yet another
reaches between her legs with a razor blade.

The scene shows a common recourse when a child bride refuses to sleep
with her husband, prompting her parents or in-laws to drag her to the  
wanzan, or traditional barber. "This traditional barber, he doesn't
understand anatomy. He thinks there's something obstructing the girl
down there, and that's whyshe fears her husband. So anything he sees,
he will just use his knife to cut it,"
Mutia explains. "They think they are helping."
None of the northern-based grassroots Muslim activists the Guardian
interviewedwanted to go on the record about child marriage – reflecting,
says one activist, the difficulties women face "going against the grain".

The storm of Twitter and online commentary has translated into a
handful of protests in the more liberal south, which is predominantly
Christian but also home to millions of Muslims.
In the tiny village of Rigasa, flanked by baobab trees and fields of millet,
Nafisa, 14, draws letters in the powdered maize she grinds every morning
for herself and her in-laws. A-B-C-D, she writes. It is all she remembers.
"My husband gets angry any time I asked him if I can take up my schooling
again, so I stopped asking. But my heart is in school," she says.

• 
  
  
  

Breaking News: This Is Huge! IRS Will Now Allow Same Sex Married Couples For Tax Purposes Regardless Of Differing State Laws!!

 

I.R.S. to Recognize All Gay Marriages, Regardless of State

WASHINGTON — All legally married same-sex couples will be recognized for federal tax purposes, regardless of whether the state where they live recognizes the marriage, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.

The change stems from the Supreme Court decision in June that struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which found that same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits.

“Today’s ruling provides certainty and clear, coherent tax-filing guidance for all legally married same-sex couples nationwide,” Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said in a statement. “This ruling also assures legally married same-sex couples that they can move freely throughout the country knowing that their federal filing status will not change.”

The Treasury said that the ruling applies to “all federal tax provisions where marriage is a factor, including filing status, claiming personal and dependency exemptions, taking the standard deduction, employee benefits, contributing to an I.R.A., and claiming the earned income tax credit or child tax credit.”

The ruling applies to all legal marriages made in the United States or foreign countries. But it does not extend to civil unions, registered domestic partnerships or other legal relationships, the Treasury said. Same-sex spouses will be able to file as married couples for the 2013 tax year, the Treasury said, and will also be able to file amended returns for certain prior tax years, meaning that many couples might be eligible for refunds.

"Cougers" On The Prowl! Watch.

Breaking News | Celebrity News | More ABC News Videos

Bowling Green's Homosexual "Couple" Cheers U. S. Supreme Court's Same Sex Ruling, Calls Ruling "A Natural Progression".

Court ruling 'a natural progression'

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz had a mini-celebration Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act – which defines marriage as between one man and one woman – is unconstitutional.
 
In another decision Wednesday, the Supreme Court also cleared the way for gay marriages to take place in California.

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz celebrated their third anniversary June 10.

They married in Provincetown, Mass., and live in Warren County, where they raise two children, ages 13 and 16. Family mementos are scattered through their home, including a plate with the children’s handprints and a glass vase filled with multicolored sand symbolizing the union of the family.

“It’s one of the reasons we went to Massachusetts, because it was important to us to teach the kids, you know, that you want to be in a committed marriage,” Marcie Mulwitz said. “We didn’t want to just move in together and live like that.”

The couple work, attend church and live normal lives, but their marriage isn’t recognized in Kentucky. They believe eventually it will be. The Supreme Court decision shows momentum on that front, Christin Mulwitz said.

Wednesday’s court decision will allow them to file federal taxes together.

“It’s just a natural progression,” Marcie Mulwitz said. “It’s just like any other rights. ... It’s well past time for it to be there.”

In the meantime, they try to protect their family. For example, they made a will so, if one dies, their home can’t be taken from the other, Marcie Mulwitz said.

But there are things for which they can’t make provisions.

“It gives us maybe a false sense of security, I would say,” Christin Mulwitz said.

There’s no guarantee, if one of them were sick or injured, that one would be allowed to visit each other, Marcie Mulwitz said.

Marcie Mulwitz also can’t legally adopt Christin Mulwitz’s children without her relinquishing parental rights. If something were to happen to her, the children might be taken away, Christin Mulwitz said.

That lack of stability wouldn’t be good for them, Marcie Mulwitz said.

“The most important thing in raising a kid is stability for them,” she said.

“And love,” Christin Mulwitz added.

Diane Lewis, acting president of Bowling Green’s chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said she was thrilled about the Supreme Court decisions.

“The tide is turning, and we’re on our way,” she said.

Today’s youths increasingly view homosexuality as a non-issue, and Lewis hopes Kentucky will catch up with national trends on gay marriage and fairness ordinances that help protect against discrimination.

Patricia Minter, a member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky Board of Directors and an associate history professor at Western Kentucky University, said that, as a legal scholar, she always thought the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. “It’s a major day for civil rights and human rights in the United States,” she said Wednesday.

Marriage is a basic right, Minter said. It’s meaningful culturally, facilitates process like inheritance and helps parents to create stable environments for children.

The Rev. Kara Hildebrandt, associate pastor at The Presbyterian Church on State Street, felt the Supreme Court rulings dealing with gay marriage were positive.

“It keeps the separation of church and state,” she said. “If the church defines marriage one way, that should not be placed on everyone. I think we saw justice in action today.”

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is in the process of discussing how to define marriage. The denomination allows gays and lesbians to be ordained as ministers.

“(It’s about) understanding that we are all God’s children,” Hildebrandt said. “(Sexual orientation) is not a defining factor in whether or not you are qualified to be ordained.”

She’s interested to see what will happen when ministers in states where gay marriage is legal are asked to perform gay and lesbian weddings that go against their beliefs.

Richard Nelson, executive director of the conservative think tank Commonwealth Policy Center in Cadiz, said he was surprised at the Supreme Court decision to strike down DOMA. The law has been in place for 17 years and was approved by large margins.

“It was wrong in that it subverts the democratic process,” he said.

He’s concerned that the activism he sees at the court level will discourage people from participating in the political process.

“When you have an activist court, you undermine that process,” Nelson said.

The ruling also sends the message to young people that marriage can be whatever they want instead of between a man and woman, he said.

Nelson said men and women represent two sides of humanity, and doesn’t believe that having two parents of the same gender is the same as having one of each gender.

“There is a difference between men and women,” he said. “Gender does mean something.”

For the Rev. Dave Thomas at Lakeview Fellowship Church, two things are supreme: God and the Bible. “That sets the boundaries for me of what’s right or wrong,” he said.

Because God says marriage is between a man and a woman, that’s what he believes is right. He is upset by the Supreme Court rulings.

“I think it’s very sad, kind of an indication of where our society is right now,” Thomas said.

It  frustrates him that the decision did not come from the people.

“Seemingly five people decided what’s right or wrong,” he said.

The Rev. Freddie Brown, pastor of State Street Baptist Church, doesn’t think allowing gays and lesbians to marry is in the same category as civil rights, such as the right to vote.

“I don’t see it in that light,” he said. “They are two completely different categories.”

Though he doesn’t believe homosexuality is in line with the word of God, he treats gays and lesbians with love.

“Our decision is to minister to all people, including those with alternative lifestyles,” Brown said. “Maybe we can get them to see God’s way. …It’s just like any other sinner. I might hate their crime, but I don’t hate them. We love the person regardless of the mistakes they made.”

EVERYONE WHO LIVES IN AREAS OF THE WORLD WHERE RACISM ALWAYS REARS ITS UGLY HEAD, NEEDS TO WATCH SPENCER TRACY, CATHERINE HEPBURN AND SIDNEY POITIER IN "GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER"! WATCH THE CLASSIC HERE. ENJOY.

WATCH BELOW: WHILE YOU ARE AT IT, WATCH JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG BELOW:

CIA DIRECTOR, DAVID PETRAEUS, RESIGNS OVER AFFAIR WITH MARRIED WOMAN, HIS BIOGRAPHER PAULA BROADWELL. HIS WIFE MUST HAVE COMMENTED: "DAVID BETRAYED US"! SORRY, I COULDN'T RESIST. MY BAD. WATCH VIDEO.

READ MORE ABOUT HER.

Eugene Robinson: Election Is A Struggle For National Meaning, Identity.

Eugene Robinson | Election is a struggle for national meaning, identity

WASHINGTON — This election is only tangentially a fight over policy. It is also a fight about meaning and identity — and that’s one reason why voters are so polarized. It’s about who we are and who we aspire to be.

President Obama enters the final days of the campaign with a substantial lead among women — about 15 points, according to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll — and enormous leads among Latinos and African-Americans, the nation’s two largest minority groups. Mitt Romney leads among white voters, with an incredible 2-1 advantage among white men.

It is too simplistic to conclude that demography equals destiny. Both men are being sincere when they vow to serve the interests of all Americans. But it would be disingenuous to pretend not to notice the obvious cleavage between those who have long held power in this society and those who are beginning to attain it.

When Republicans vow to “take back our country,” they never say from whom. But we can guess.

Issues of race, power and privilege are less explicit this year than in 2008, but in some ways they are even stronger.

Four years ago, we asked ourselves whether the nation would ever elect a black president. The question was front and center. Every time we see the President and his family walk across the White House lawn to board Marine One, we’re reminded of the answer.

The intensity of the opposition to Obama has less to do with who he is than with the changes in American society he not only represents but incarnates. Citing his race as a factor in the way some of his opponents have bitterly resisted his policies immediately draws an outraged cry: “You’re saying that just because I oppose Obama, I’m a racist.” No, I’m not saying that at all.

What I’m saying is that Obama’s racial identity is a constant reminder of how much the nation has changed in a relatively short period of time. In my lifetime, we’ve experienced the civil rights movement, the countercultural explosion of the 1960s, the sexual revolution, the women’s movement and an unprecedented wave of Latino immigration. Within a few decades, there will be no white majority in this country — no majority of any kind, in fact. We will be a nation of racial and ethnic minorities, and we will only prosper if everyone learns to give and take.

Our place in the world has changed as well. The United States remains the dominant economic and military power; our ideals remain a beacon for those around the globe still yearning to breathe free. But our capacity for unilateral action is diminished; we can assert but not dictate, and we must learn to persuade.

Obama’s great sin, for some who oppose him, is to make it impossible to ignore these domestic and international megatrends. Take one look at Obama and the phenomenon of demographic change is inescapable. Observe his approach to international crises in places such as Libya or Syria and the reality of America’s place in the world is unavoidable.

I’m deliberately leaving aside what should be the biggest factor in the election: Obama’s policies. It happens that I have supported most of them, but of course there are legitimate reasons to favor Romney’s proposals, insofar as we know what they really are — and the extent to which they really differ from Obama’s.

In foreign affairs, judging by the most recent debate, the differences are too small to discern; Romney promises to speak in a louder voice and perhaps deploy more battleships, but that’s about it. Domestically, however, I see a clear choice. I consider the Affordable Care Act a great achievement, and Romney’s promise to repeal it would alone be reason enough for me to oppose him. Add in the tax cuts for the wealthy, the plan to “voucherize” Medicare and the appointments Romney would likely make to the Supreme Court, and the implications of this election become even weightier.

Issues may explain our sharp political divisions, but they can’t be the cause of our demographic polarization. White men need medical care, too. African Americans and Latinos understand the need to get our fiscal house in order. The recession and the slow recovery have taken a toll across the board.

Some of Obama’s opponents have tried to delegitimize his presidency because he doesn’t embody the America they once knew. He embodies the America of now.

Breaking, But NOT Surprising News: Whitney Houston Died From A LETHAL Combination Of Xanax And Other Prescription Pills And Alcohol, NOT From Drowning.

Check out our friends at TMZ for more.

Meanwhile, please remember that Whitney doesn't smoke crack cocaine; she tells Diane Sawyer that "crack is wack" and she makes too much money to smoke crack.

Yes, she smokes the expensive cocaine. Watch:

Pop Diva Whitney Houston Has Died At The Beverly Hills Hilton. A crime Lab Van is Seen Outside. I Bet Dr,UBS Were Involved. RIP.

More to come. Stay tuned.

More update below. Watch video:



More update: her body is being taken out on a gurney below:

BTW: her body was found in the hotel room's bathtub, and there were pills in the room. Did she pass out from drugs and drown? Time will tell.

Father, Whose Son Steven Woods, Jr., Was Executed From Texas Deathrow, Tells Kids: "I Wasn't A Parent [To My Son], I was just Being A Friend Because I Wanted Them To Love Me For Something That I Wasn't".

Father whose son was executed warns kids about drugs and alcohol
Club Sponsor: ‘A real-life story is better than someone just telling a story’
By LAUREL WILSON

Steven Woods Sr. of Bowling Green has delivered anti-drug talks around Warren County for 10 years. But he said a speech before a group of students at Warren East Middle School on Wednesday was the

hardest one he's given.

It was the first time Woods has spoken to a group since his son, Steven Woods Jr., was executed in Texas on Sept. 13 after a decade of being on death row. "The reality of what was going to happen actually happened," Woods said.

Woods Sr. visited Warren East Middle School to share his story with students in Club Pride, which aims to teach children about the consequences of drugs and alcohol and to help them make the right choices. It's important for students to learn firsthand about the reality of drugs, said Brenda Lawrence, the club's sponsor.

"A real-life story is better than someone just telling a story," Lawrence said.

The elder Woods told the group he began using drugs at age 13 because of peer pressure while he was growing up in Michigan. "I thought I wanted to be with the cool crowd," he said. "It's not the cool crowd. In my book, it's the dumbest crowd there ever is."

Woods Sr. said he used any drug he could get his hands on, including cocaine, heroin, LSD and marijuana. He introduced his children from his first marriage to drugs at a young age, he said.

"I wasn't a parent, I was just being a friend because I wanted them to love me for something that I wasn't," Woods Sr. said.

His oldest son, Woods Jr., followed much the same path as his father. As a teen, Woods Jr. began to hitchhike around the country in search of drugs and clubs that would let him in even though he wasn't yet of age.

When the younger Woods was 21, he was involved in a drug deal in Texas that went bad, resulting in the murders of two people. He was charged with capital murder and sentenced to die.

"He got his last high by the state of Texas when they injected that drug into him that slowly stopped his heart," the elder Woods said. After 10 years on death row, it took just 10 minutes for his son to die.

"Drugs will either kill you or put you in jail," Woods Sr. said. "And I can guarantee you that."

He showed the audience pictures of his son, including his mug shot.

"That mug shot right there - I want you all to remember that," Woods Sr. said. "I want you all to go home tonight and give the person you love the most a hug and tell them how much you love them, because I can never hug my son again."

Woods Sr. said he was clean and sober for more than nine years before he fell off the wagon a week before his son was executed.

"For just a little while, because of what was going on in my life, I thought I had the strength to handle it," he said.

He lost that strength but managed to pull himself back up, because he realized he wasn't doing himself or anyone else any good by falling back into his old habits, he said.

Woods Sr. said he knows many students in the audience have seen drugs, and he urged them to resist peer pressure.

"These people that you've seen do drugs - I think you should talk to them about it," he said. "Tell them what could happen in life."

He asked the students to think about their dreams, whether they want to become sports players, lawyers, doctors or anything else.

"Well, I'll tell you, if you get involved in drugs, you can forget about them dreams," he said.

Woods Sr. has another son, Patrick Woods, 13, who's in seventh grade at Warren East Middle School and a member of Club Pride.

Patrick said knowing his father's situation has helped him stay away from drugs.

"Where I used to live, I could have done drugs any time I wanted to, but I knew about my dad so I didn't," Patrick said.

Codey Stoll, 13, a seventh-grade member of Club Pride, said hearing stories such as that of the Woods family help him realize how bad drugs can be.

"What you think can't happen really can happen, and quickly," Codey said.

Editor's comment: This news should sound an ALARM to those "parents" who insist on being friends with their children and ABDICATING their GOD given responsibilities to PARENT their children instead!

Los angeles Jury Finds Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal", Dr. Conrad Murray, Guilty Of Involuntary Manslaughter. Good Riddance. To Conrad's Lawyer, I Ask: Who's The "Dirty Pond" Now, A$$hole?! Watch Video.

Kim Kardashian And Family Express Sadness Over Divorce. So SAD! Watch Video.

So You Missed The WARNING Signs In The Kim Kardashian (Eliabeth Taylor In The Making)/Chris Whatever His Name "Marriage" Breakup? It Must Have Been Just You! Watch Video.

Kim gets a brand NEW post option: WHOREDOM!

OK, As I Predicted Here And Everywhere, Kim Kardashian's "Wedding" To Kris Humphries Is A BUST -- Lasted 72 Long Days! Yes, Who Would Marry A WHORE?!

You can read the divorce document here.

They did NOT fool me!

Are You Watching The Murder Trial Of Micheal Jackson's "Smooth Criminal", Conrad Murray? You Should be. Watch It LIVE Here.

First watch this:



OK, continue watching LIVE and make comments:



Live video from your Android device on Ustream

Listen To "Doped Up" Micheal Jackson On Tape, Recorded By His QUACK Doctor Conrad Murray, The "Smooth Criminal". Watch And Listen.

Social Networking Sites Like Facebooking Define Acceptable Behavior. YIKES! Watch Video.

Number Of Kentucky Children Living With Non Parents Explodes.

Number of children raised by someone other than parent skyrockets in Kentucky
By Bill Estep and Linda J. Johnson

The number of children in Kentucky being raised by someone other than a parent went up significantly in nearly every county from 2000 to 2010, new U.S. Census figures show.

The jump was dramatic in some places — 283 percent in McCracken County, for instance, which was the highest, and 148 percent in McCreary County, according to an analysis of data by the Herald-Leader.

Police and other officials said a debilitating level of substance abuse is one key factor in the statewide increase.

Abuse of prescription pills and other drugs leaves parents unable or unwilling to care for their children, or lands parents behind bars for drug crimes or other crimes, such as theft, that are related to abuse and addiction, officials said.

The problem results in children being placed in the care of other relatives or foster parents, often by court action but also through family arrangements.

"Nine times out of 10 for us, it is substance-abuse issues," said Stacie Noble, who oversees a program that assists grandparents raising their grandchildren in the Kentucky River Area Development District, which covers eight counties in southeastern Kentucky.

McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden agreed that problems with abuse of prescription drugs, methamphetamine and cocaine have driven up the number of children in his county being cared for by someone other than a parent.

"We actually see that quite often in a lot of the drug cases we work," Hayden said of the need to have someone else care for a child.

The poor economy also might play a role, as parents unable to adequately provide for children send them to live with others, Hayden said.

The percentage of children living in households headed by someone other than a parent increased tenfold in some counties from 2000 to 2010.

By last year, 15 percent or more of all the children in some counties were not living with their biological parents, according to the paper's analysis of the data.

The highest total was in Owsley County, where 21.6 percent of the children were living with someone other than a parent.

Only four counties saw a decline in that trend.

The figures on children being raised by someone other than their parents were included in new information the U.S. Census Bureau released early Thursday.

The agency has issued new data from its 2010 count several times this year.

Many of the children being cared for by someone other than a biological parent are living with grandparents.

There were more than 86,000 households in the state in 2010 with people raising the children of their children, according to the census data.

Grandchildren come into the care of their grandparents for a number of reasons, including substance abuse; the inability or unwillingness of parents to care for their children; and illness, disability or death, said Deborah Anderson, commissioner of the state Department for Aging and Independent Living, which helps grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.

In one program, which provides money for grandparents to buy school clothes and meet other needs of their resident grandchildren, the number of people assisted in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2011, which ended in June, was greater than in the entire previous year, Anderson said.

Melinda Mann of Lee County, who with her husband, Walter, is raising three grandsons, said the voucher program and other services such as food stamps and Medicaid are a great help, but raising a grandchild can still put grandparents in a financial pinch.

Mann, 47, said she held a job before her three grandchildren came to live with her. Now, she can't find work that would let her be off at the same time as her grandchildren or stay home in the summer when they're out of school.

The couple had to move to a larger house — with higher payments — after taking in their grandchildren. And there's no program to pay for gas for trips to the doctor with one grandson, who has health problems, Mann said.

Mann said she and her husband got the three boys, now ages 10, 7, and 5, because their parents had drug and other problems and weren't caring for them properly. Her son and daughter-in-law were in prison at one point, Mann said.

Taking in grandchildren is a major lifestyle change, Mann and others said.

At a time when people begin to think about retiring or traveling, they're thrust instead into caring for kids for the second time around.

Mann said she and her husband came and went as they pleased before, and had planned to travel more to see relatives out of state. The expense of traveling with three children prevents that.

"Everything that we had planned went on the back burner," Mann said.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/07/21/1818685/number-of-children-raised-by-someone.html#ixzz1SkRRtXtp

Facebook Makes It Possible For People To Face Jail Time.

Facebook posts lead to revocation of probation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Boasts of drinking exploits on social networking sites have cost some people their freedom.

Offenders on probation are ending up in prison or getting other sanctions with increasing regularity after posting pictures online of themselves with alcohol or firearms or bragging about out-of-town trips made without permission from their probation officers, according to judges, prosecutors and Kentucky corrections officials.

It happened to Scott W. Roby of Louisville. Convicted of possessing methamphetamine and Ecstasy, Roby had his probation revoked this month - and was sentenced to two years in prison - in part for violating conditions that required him to stay alcohol-free.

Roby posted Facebook pictures of himself drinking, including one in which he was holding a beer while posing next to the mascot for the Louisville Bats, prosecutor Dinah Koehler told The Courier-Journal. Before that, Roby had invited his probation officer to be his friend on Facebook.

In another case, Donnie Lee Griffith Jr., who was on probation, went to prison last year on theft and burglary convictions after the 22-year-old Louisville man posted a Facebook photo in which he held a jar of clear liquid over a caption that said, "Moonshine rocks and so do I!"

In another post, he reported that he was "drinking like a fish," according to court records.

Griffith, who was released on shock probation after serving about six months behind bars, didn't respond to messages left on his Facebook page, which no longer shows him drinking, the Louisville newspaper reported.

Chelsea Otto, also 22, got 60 days tacked on to her 1-year sentence for cocaine possession in 2009 after she boasted that she drank "like 20 pina coladas" during an unauthorized weekend trip to Clearwater, Fla.

Otto, who has moved to St. Louis, also didn't answer messages left on her now-sanitized page.

Roby is in prison and his lawyer, Scott C. Cox, said he had no comment, other than to note that his client's Facebook postings were only part of the reason his probation was revoked - as was true in some of the other revocations.

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Audra Eckerle said she's revoked probation for two offenders in part for their Facebook posts in recent years, including one who brandished a firearm in violation of his probation rules.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Bill Adams, who prosecuted Otto, said he's had a half-dozen cases in which offenders on probation incriminated themselves through social-media sites.

Probationers are required to stay away from alcohol, drugs and firearms and out of places that derive most of their revenue from alcohol sales.

The state doesn't track revocations triggered by social-media postings, but officers have used social media heavily for four years, both to find absconders and to monitor offenders on probation, said Lisa Lamb, a Corrections Department spokeswoman.

One officer, Shannon Blalock, who works out of the department's Murray office, does nothing but troll online and train other officers to do the same.

Blalock said some judges peruse social-media sites themselves, looking for violators.

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