And for some “News You Can Use,” there is this tidbit – guess who else owes back taxes (you know, besides Charlie Rangel, and Timmy Geithner before he became the head of the IRS)? That would be the developers of the mosque near Ground Zero:

The mosque developers are tax deadbeats.

Sharif El-Gamal, the leading organizer behind the mosque and community center near Ground Zero, owes $224,270.77 in back property tax on the site, city records show. (Emphasis mine.)

El-Gamal’s company, 45 Park Place Partners, failed to pay its half-yearly bills in January and July, according to the city Finance Department.

The delinquency is a possible violation of El-Gamal’s lease with Con Edison, which owns half of the proposed building site on Park Place. El-Gamal owns the other half but must pay taxes on the entire parcel. [snip] (Click HERE to read the rest.)

Oops. So, after all of this brouhaha around this developer building a mosque so close to Ground Zero (for its proximity to that hallowed ground), all of the angst this has caused so many people may very well have been for nothing. Are you kidding me? Sure seems that way since this massive delinquency this could violate their lease.

Um, no one thought to check the tax records before? What a mess, and getting messier by the day.

Oh, and here is another good one from the Dallas News about Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas:

Longtime Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide’s two children since 2005, using foundation funds set aside for black lawmakers’ causes.

The recipients were ineligible under anti-nepotism rules of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which provided the money. And all of the awards violated a foundation requirement that scholarship winners live or study in a caucus member’s district.

Johnson, a Democrat, denied any favoritism when asked about the scholarships last week. Two days later, she acknowledged in a statement released by her office that she had violated the rules but said she had done so “unknowingly” and would work with the foundation to “rectify the financial situation.” [snip] (Click HERE to read the rest.)

As Rev. Jeremiah Wright said, “Americans chickens are coming home to roost…” Amen to that, brother, but I bet this isn’t what he meant by it. Still, truth will out, at least sometimes.

Just ask the drivers on Northbound I-5…

I am sure it will not surprise you to learn that when the shoe was on the other foot, a Republican being charged with Ethics charges some time ago, Waters was all too ready to pile on.

Now the shoe is on the other foot, as Bill Hemmer discusses with NPR and Fox contributor, Juan Williams in this clip below:

So, Rep. Rangel made a 37-minute long speech about his mistreatment by the House. Oh, woe is me, right Charlie? I thought Stephen Hayes made some good points about Rep. Rangel in the discussion below near the end:

Sorry, Charlie, many of us are not buying what you are selling, especially in terms of that half a million…

Well, I reckon we’ll see soon enough what will come of these two trials, though Rangel is right – don’t leave him swinging in the wind. Put him on trial now, or expel him. Go for it. Any day now.

As for the race card Rep. Waters has used, and will be using, I think we all knew that was going to happen during one (or both) of these trials. So, when I happened to catch the following Larry Wilmore segment on Rangel and Waters with on The Daily Show, I was laughing my, um, head, off:

Hilarious, right? I thought so. The race card has been maxed out. Oh, if only that was true…

Consider this an Open Thread. Discuss this or anything else going on.

But here’s the problem for me. I had really liked President Carter. I had a lot of respect for him, in fact. I was young and naive when he was in office, but certainly the work he had done AFTER leaving the White House was commendable. For instance, the work he and his entire family did for Habitat for Humanity has helped numerous people, including in my home town. I have experienced firsthand seeing the joy and pride the new homeowner as she looked at her house, and talked about what it meant to her. And the group of university students with whom I was working, all female, becoming more empowered, more sure of themselves, because they were helping to build someone a HOUSE, and the sense of pride and accomplishment that gave them.

The work Carter has done in Africa, helping to eradicate a horrible disease of worms that infiltrate too many areas there, doing horrible damage to the people they infest. Or his work in monitoring elections. Heck, even his recent decision to leave his church of many years because they will not ordain women.

My partner and I have visited the Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, GA, a beautiful place in a calming and serene environment. I walked through that buildung filled with a sense of awe, seeing what he gave up, and subsequently his wife, when he left his commission as a Naval officer behind to go back to Georgia and help out the family. As I saw photographs marking historic moments, actual papers from events I had read about, or seen on tv. I was in awe as I saw his actual Nobel Peace Prize. And with pride, we have supported the Carter Peace Center for years now with monthly contributions…

(Photo by rachydachy)

But, things have been changed now. It began with some of his statements about Israel. Then President Carter inserted himself into the Primary Campaign, making some unkind remarks about my hero, “>Hillary Clinton. And now this. Being called a racist because I oppose the way by which Obama became President, but even more, because I oppose his policies. When someone calls me a racist, I gotta say (as we do down here in the South, “Them’s fightin’ words.” And so, I have written this letter to send to the Carter Center when my next payment is due:

Dear Carter Center,

Sincerely,
The Rev. Amy

What a sad day, for me personally, but also for this nation, when a former president makes such a grievous, and unfounded, charge against over half of the population. Because we have the audacity to judge the president by his CHARACTER, rather than the color of his skin, as Martin Luther King, Jr., charged us to do, we are called a heinous name. How sad, and how infuriating.

President Carter, as respectfully as I can muster after being called a racist, I would suggest it is time for you to go into retirement, and leave off sharing your political opinions. You are not doing yourself or your legacy any good, to be sure. Even more, you are not doing this nation any good. Rather, you are fanning flames that divide us, not unite us, all to provide cover for a man who, had he been properly vetted in the first place, and had the DNC followed its own rules, would never have gotten this far. Speaking for me only, I am judging Obama on the merits, not the color of his skin. I suggest you do likewise.

Obama has a friend or associate that is questionable.

Video or articles surface of Obama thanking them, supporting them, writing a blurb for their book, organizing events for them, campaigning for them, campaigning with them, playing poker with them, serving on boards with them, buying homes with them, dining with them, praising them, using them to prove his christian faith, or hiring them.

Obama then denies their tight relationship – brushes the association off as *a guy in the ‘hood*, claims they are someone who doesn’t advise him, minimizes the actual number of times he attended church, says he can’t vet his vetters, or flat out lies.

Obama THEN completely denies any knowledge of who they really are, denies ever knowing who they were, what they said, what they did, how corrupt they were, any fraud they were up to, and what they were preaching.

People – this isn’t a coincidence. One or two nefarious associations can be examined and written off. But there is a looooooooong list of people that Obama is close to – whether they be family members, business partners, friends or co-workers who are either radicals, criminals, racist, or anti-American.

This list, compiled by The Daily Antikos, is great, but forgot a few people/organizations (that I added at the end):

Jeremiah Wright – Obama’s Pastor for 20 years. Obama did not distance himself until it was political.

Father Pflager – Speaks at Obama’s former Church (only after embarrassment) and Obama gave him money & here they are in 2000.

Bill Ayers – Terrorist. Member of the Weather Underground. Killed Americans. Launched Obama’s Political Career.

Tony Rezko – bought land and sold it to Obama at a discount. Oh yeah, and he is a convicted felon.

Raila Odinga – Defeated in his bid for the Kenyan Presidency. Led Supporters in a Violent Uprising. Obama Campaigned for him in 2006. (at tax payer expense)

Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al-Mansour – I can’t even get started. This is Obama’s Political Grand-father, and his intentions do not seem to be too honorable.

Franklin Raines – Cooked the Books at Fannie Mae. Obama hired him as an advisor on Housing and Urban Affairs.

Frank Marshall David – Communist Obama Mentor.

Emil Jones, Jr. – Ugh… Just Read It.

Rev James Meeks – Spiritual Mentor

Rashid Khalidi – PLO Terrorist.

Here are a few more:

Larry Walsh is the Will County (IL) County Executive, good buddy, political confidante, and frequent poker player with Barack Obama. He is currently being investigated by the FBI.

Kwame Kilpatrick, former mayor of Detroit, convicted felon, has been charged with 10 felonies including perjury, obstruction of justice and assaulting a public safety officer. He will be sentenced October 28th. In June, Kwame Kilpatrick gave Barack Obama his endorsement as a Democratic Party Superdelegate.

Gov. Blagojevich, who is under investigation.

Marilyn Katz, a former member of the ’60′s anti-war group SDS, led protestors against the police outside the Democratic Convention in 1968. Protestors threw nails in the street to impede the police and clashed with police on this occasion and others. Katz has said of her activities that she wanted the U.S. to become a socialist paradise. She is a close friend of Barack Obama. Katz is a member of Obama’s national finance committee.

James Johnson, Former Fannie Mae executive who was vetting candidates for Obama for his VP but had to resign. Johnson is drawing fire over his jumbo home loans from Countrywide Financial, a major actor in the subprime mortgage mess, that may have been below market rates.

Louis Farrakhan, leader of the NOI. Obama helped to organize his Million Man March in ’95, and he is tight with Reverend Wright and Phleger.

Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac – Obama has recieved the most donations, second only to Dodd, from these companies, and also was thanked, in part with the Congressional Black Caucus, for *being like family* with Fannie and Freddi.

ACORN – Obama is the former Director of Illinois Project Vote, and they have been raided and charged for fraudulent voter registration practices. They are also linked to some of the above associations of Obama’s.

Michelle Obama. *First time in my adult life, I am proud of my country.* Nuff said.

How does someone hang out with that many people, who are, as I said, criminals, radicals, racists or just plain anti-American, and not share some of those characteristics?

And the best excuse Obama can ever come up with is *they aren’t the person I thought I knew* or *I never heard them say those things* or *I did not know they were a domestic terrorist when I was having my first fundraiser in their living room*.

Are we to believe that he truly didn’t know, that he is that uninformed, that naive, that, dare I say, stupid? Or is he just lying?

Why would someone who associates with all those people WANT to be President? And more importantly, why would anyone WANT him to be President?

I just don’t get it.

Well, I am here to tell you Obama, it is too little, too late!

I’m laughing now…Obama frightened of a woman! OMG! This is so hilarious! Palin reaches out to all women….single mothers, married mothers and so many other women.

While we may not agree with all her positions, we can see ourselves in her.

She is a fighter, will fight for mothers and families with disabled children! She will fight all the smears, sexism, and lies!

Governor Palin is authentic and courageous….and this has the Obama/Biden ticket shaking in their shoes and probably peeing down their legs!

Look who else Obama will be using….after dispatching…dispatching….Hillary to Florida. And since the election is so far past Hillary and more focused on Obama, her campaigning for him may be seen as pandering to keep her position within the Senate and the party. A party which tried to kick her out.

And Hillary’s appeal to women will remind of us this.

With the McCain-Palin team courting undecided female voters, including some who backed Mrs. Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Obama aides said they were counting on not only Mrs. Clinton but also Democratic female governors to rebut Ms. Palin — and, by extension, Mr. McCain. Those governors include Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

Run away. Run away. Run away! Those female Democratic governors are coming your way!

Sebelius will miss the mark….she is very elitist, endorsing Obama right out of the chute!….talks out of both sides of her mouth. She has said that she supports veterans….not so much. And she doesn’t seem to understand people like me who live on dirt roads in Kansas! The state of children in Kansas released recently shows no significant changes especially in the area of poverty.

And then there is Napolitano…..well this is what she did,

In short, Napolitano was under a lot of pressure. Nevertheless, on Jan. 11, a few weeks ahead of Arizona’s Super Tuesday primary, she announced her support for Barack Obama, citing his ability to attract independent voters and his appeal to national unity. For those who’d been tracking Napolitano’s rhetoric and career, the move didn’t come as too much of a shock, despite her Clinton connections. Napolitano has been dropping buzzwords like “unity,” “compromise,” and “nonpartisanship” since her first campaign for attorney general in 1998 — years before a young Illinois state senator burst onto the political scene.

She might be terribly popular with her constituents, but she will miss with disaffected Clinton supporters and undecided women. Women will remember her for her buzz words (sounds like Obama) and her endorsement of Obama.

More on this from NYT,

“What McCain has done with Governor Palin’s nomination is aim right at a demographic that Obama needs to address quickly (this should have happened months ago, game, set, match, and you lost Obama!): noncollege-educated women,” said Mike McCurry, a former spokesman in the Clinton White House. “They need to maximize Biden’s ability to reach out to them, but at the end of the day, it is Obama who has to get that very, very critical group.”

Here is Hillary with a little bit of honesty. Hillary is telling Obama “don’t count on her influence”, Hillary apparently realizes that women in general are still pissed at Obama.

Advisers to Mrs. Clinton said that she stood ready to help the Obama-Biden ticket, but they urged the campaign not to overestimate the impact Mrs. Clinton could have, noting that she had other commitments this fall, like campaigning and raising money for Senate candidates (something Obama knows nothing about).

Obama is really showing his fear of Governor Sarah Palin. See how many people watched her deliver her speech on national television at the Republican National Convention. According to Forbes, 40 million people viewed her speech.

Seems Obama isn’t the only “new” and “exciting” candidate….Governor Sarah Palin beats him …. not only in the numbers but in her authenticity and her charitable nature. Palin’s career has never been just about her but the citizens of Alaska. That must be the reason her approval rating is more than 80%, making her the most popular governor in the USA!

Keep on running Obama, Governor Sarah Palin, a Washington outsider, is on your heels and she is only running for Vice President!

And one of the people who foisted Obama on us, who backed him but claimed he wasn’t until the beginning of June, is none other than my representative, and House Whip, Jim Clyburn. And he did it by demeaning Bill Clinton. You know, Bill Clinton, the one who spoke the other night so eloquently, as only he can? The first “black president”? The one under whom our economy was so good? That one?

Let me refresh your memory on what Jim Clyburn said about Bill Clinton, on our “friend,” Keith Olbermann’s show:

Oh, and Rep. Clyburn? The “WILL OF THE PEOPLE” WAS overturned by the SuperDelegates when they supported OBAMA, not Clinton! So many of the counties, districts, and STATES she won had the SDs go to Obama in clear contravention to the will of the people. So, how do all of those folks who wrote you feel about this NOW, or do they not care as long as THEIR candidate won? DO they not care HOW he got it as long as HE got it?

Oh – and Keith was right – there WAS “traitorous” acts – and they were perpetrated by the RBC of the DNC, and the Obama campaign with caucuses. Whatever. As long as it’s not Hillary, right?

Anywho, so during the primary, Clyburn had some tough stuff to say about Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton who has done more for the African American community than ANY other president. That one. After President Clinton’s outstanding speech the other night, Jim Clyburn was interviewed by Judy Woodruff. Here is the transcript from that interview in an article, Delegates Rate Speech “Outstanding“:

JIM LEHRER: Let’s go now to Judy Woodruff, who’s on the floor there among the — the Clinton reaction, Judy?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Jim, I am here on the floor with the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, Representative Jim Clyburn of the state of South Carolina.

What did you think of the president’s speech?

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D), South Carolina: A great speech, outstanding. As I said earlier today, I expect for Bill to be Bill. And he was Bill tonight. I really believe that he teed it up well for Barack Obama, and I think tomorrow night we’ll — he’ll do what he has to do tomorrow night.

JUDY WOODRUFF: There were some differences between you and some others with President Clinton with some of the language he used during the tough primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the question of whether he injected race into the campaign at a couple of points. Is all forgiven on that front?

REP. JIM CLYBURN: Well, I never had a problem. I made it very clear. I admire and respect Bill Clinton. I think he was a great president. I was pleased to be in the Congress to help with that, so I never had a problem.

I do believe, though, that a lot of things that got said could have had more than one meaning. And it got carried in more than one way.

And so I still think that he is an outstanding person, and I have no animosity toward him at all.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How much will his support — how much difference will his support make in this general election campaign?

REP. JIM CLYBURN: I think it means a great amount of difference, especially to our base supporters out there. These people love and admire the Clintons. And they really needed to hear what they heard last night and what we’ve heard tonight.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Congressman Jim Clyburn, the House majority whip, thank you very much.

REP. JIM CLYBURN: Thank you.

Well, golly gee, Jim. YOU may not have any animosity toward Bill Clinton, but I imagine he might just have some toward YOU for disparaging him, for demeaning him, for implying (at the very least) that he was a RACIST. Yeah, he might not be too keen on YOU right about now. You tried to ruin his reputation, and YOU have no animosity toward HIm. That’s rich. Really rich.

But here’s the thing about BIll Clinton: he has class. He may have grown up dirt poor, but the man has class. And integrity. You and your candidate could sure take a lesson or a thousand from Bill AND Hillary on class and graciousness.

You know, now that it is official that Obama is The One, I have said I would vote downticket. But that means voting for Jim Clyburn. Frankly, there is no way in HELL I’m going to support that man after what he did to Hillary and Bill. Hmmm. Looks like I might not even be going to the polls for the first time in my adult life this time around (and before you tell me that I MUST vote for McCain, I assure you – I will give it serious consideration as a way to make clear to the DNC that I will not support a Party that lies, cheats, and steals. I am not there yet. As a lifelong Democrat, that is a hard, hard place for me to go. So can we just leave it at that, that I’ll think about it? Great. Thanks.).

The DNC is broken. People like Jim Clyburn helped break it. I can think of no better reward for him than to lose his seat. Or at least being the Whip. Hey, here’s a thought – how about Dennis Kucinich being the Whip? He hasn’t trashed the Clintons, or painted them as racist. He holds all of the positions Progressives hold dear. Sounds like a good option to me! Maybe he should push for THAT position!! Oh, that would be FUN to watch, wouldn’t it? Whoever, however, it would sure be nice for Clyburn to lose that power position he holds, wouldn’t it? I think so. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy, IMHO.

Jim, you may not have animosity toward President Clinton, but I sure have animosity toward you for what you did. To quote another line from The American President: “You have bigger problems…You just lost my vote.”

(Geez, I miss the Big Dawg. What an eloquent, passionate, brilliant man he is!)

And then, there was Representative Clyburn who claimed to be “neutral” – you know, the same type of “neutral” that Donna Brazile was. Anyway, this is what Clyburn said about Bil Clinton:

Nice, huh? Never mind that President Clinton has worked TIRELESSLY for the African American community, and has stood with them for years. Nice payback, ESPECIALLY when Clinton did not DO what Clyburn accused him of doing. Yep, real nice, Jim.

Anywho – besides Clyburn clearly being in the tank for Obama, which he finally admitted in June, he is also known in the state of SC for his propensity toward earmarks. This is a subject on which I have written before (“Such Associates…“). Well, just hold onto your seats while you watch the following statement by Representative Clyburn at a forum in March of this year. It will blow you away!

See?? It’s a “Constitutional Mandate” for congresspeople to build pork into the budget for their family and friends! What’s the big to-do about, anyway?? Now, I hasten to add, I do not share the videographer’s political statements, and I am no fan of Senator DeMint, but he DID make a good point in this clip. And that point would be that Clyburn has a, um, well, let’s just say, UNIQUE understanding of the Constitution! Hey! Maybe THAT’S one of the reasons he supports Obama! They both seem to have a document with which I am not familiar to which they refer as “The Constitution!” Maybe they made their own. Ahem. So, yes – who the heck knew this was a “Constitutional MANDATE?”

I suppose that explains the following excerpts from article about Clyburn (highlights in bold are mine), Clyburn Quits Museum Board:
Hopes To Sidestep Conflict of Interest:

Clyburn, who tucked an $800,000 earmark for the museum into the federal budget approved late last year, said he decided to resign from the board after learning Friday that his nephew, Derrick Ballard, works for one of the two architectural firms recently hired to design the $70-$80 million museum.

This is by no means the first time issues have arisen regarding Clyburn’s propensity for earmarks:

In 2006, Clyburn was scrutinized by The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News for setting aside federal money for the Five Rivers community development organization, which hired the same nephew to design a building and reportedly paid the firm nearly $70,000 for initial work, though the building was never completed.

Five Rivers also employed Clyburn’s brother, Charles Clyburn.

Clyburn said the federal money he earmarked for Five Rivers was never appropriated, and he didn’t know of his relatives’ involvement with the organization, but he said that’s just the sort of appearance of impropriety he’s trying to avoid with the International African American Museum.

“There was no substance to it, but a lot of headlines,” he said.

Ballard works for Antoine Predock of Albuquerque, N.M., a nationally recognized architectural firm that teamed up with Moody Nolan of Columbus, Ohio, the nation’s largest black-owned architectural firm, to win the contract to design the International African American Museum. He could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Rita Scott, vice chairwoman of the museum’s board, said board members were unaware the Predock firm employed a relative of Clyburn’s when the firm was selected.

Really? They had NO idea that the nephew of an incredibly POWERFUL Congerssional Representative from THIS DISTRICT worked for this particular architectural firm?? Well, of course not! The vice chairwoman continued:

“None of us knew,” Scott said. “It was a firm that we unanimously felt was the right firm.”

Evidently.

Not that the architectural firm is not a good one, it is:

Predock won the American Institute of Architects’ national gold medal in 2006, and Moody Nolan principal Curt Moody won the AIA Ohio gold medal in 2007.

The museum’s architect selection committee, which includes Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, unanimously picked the Moody/Predock team in February after interviewing three other finalists.

It is just a tad unbelievable that NO ONE KNEW, especially after the Five Rivers situation. It never occurred to ANYONE to consider that maybe, just maybe, the same nephew from the Five Rivers project, an ARCHITECT, might just have something to do with this other MAJOR project that received a huge earmark? Seriously?? I mean, I know we’re here in South Cackalacki with its really, really low academic rating (I’m kinda joking, but sadly too serious abt how far down SC is in terms of education in the country), but still – you would think SOMEONE would have thought to ask the question! Just sayin’ and all – you’d think the question would come up.

But, no. The question didn’t come up. And now we know that Rep. Clyburn, one of Obama’s big cheerleaders, and the HOUSE WHIP, no less, thinks it is his CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE to push pork into the Federal Budget for his district. Wow. You know, come to think of it, maybe it should never have been a surprise that Clyburn would back Obama, and try to tear down both Bill and Hillary along the way. The more I learn about him and how he operates, he seems like the perfect Obama supporter, don’t you think?

. . .an increasingly nasty lawsuit against the DNC, brought by Donald Hitchcock after he was fired as the party’s gay and lesbian outreach director, has exposed the rift between gays and one of the party’s most important constituencies, African Americans.

As an outsider to both groups, it seemed to me that the LGBT groups were looking for recognition, participation and a guaranteed voice in DNC matters. Many consider this a civil rights issue. While the use of the term “civil rights” seems to offend some AA groups, it does not necessarily look as if “civil rights” is the driving factor in what follows.

In my read of the available materials, the issue is power. Powerful AAs in the Democratic party want to keep that power in AA hands. An example of this was the recent election in Alabama of Patricia Todd, the first openly gay state legislator. In a race for the seat of a retiring AA legislator, with no Republican opponent, the Democratic primary would decide who held the seat.

Five people ran and the vote was close enough to force a run-off between the top two vote-getters – Todd, a white gay woman, and Gaynell Hendricks, an AA woman. The run-off was decided in favor of Todd by 59 votes out of 2287.

From Wikipedia:

[Todd's] run-off victory was challenged by her opponent’s mother-in-law, who claimed that Todd had received “illegal votes” and had filed a campaign finance report late.[4] That report contained information – a $25,000 contribution from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and payments to two of her primary opponents – that opponents charged could have affected the outcome.

It was widely reported[5] that the contest centered around the question of race. Todd is white, and the outgoing legislator, like the majority of the district, is black. Many of the state’s African-American political leaders were apparently eager to keep the seat in black hands.[6]

A sub-committee of the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) met to decide the contest and voted 5–0 to disqualify both Todd and her opponent, on the basis of what the ADP Chairman Joe Turnham called an “archaic party by-law”.[7] The by-law had not only been superseded by the 1988 Fair Campaign Practices Act but had not been followed by any candidate running for any office since 1988, including candidates for governor. It also emerged that the by-law was in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act and may well actually have been repealed.[8]

Following sustained pressure and newspaper editorials criticising the judgement,[9], the State Democratic Executive Committee voted on 26 August to overturn the sub-committee’s ruling by a vote of 95–87. According to press reports, the voting was “mostly along racial lines”.[5]

Footnotes at Wikipedia will take you to original articles, some of which are no longer available.

The NYT had this to say at the time:

The challenge was brought by Ms. Hendricks’s mother-in-law. But it was tacitly supported by Joe L. Reed, a longtime Democratic kingmaker and the party’s vice chairman of minority affairs. Mr. Reed had urged voters to support Ms. Hendricks, and at one point the Alabama Democratic Conference, a black political organization that he is chairman of, gave a check to cover the $3,000 fee needed to bring the challenge in case Ms. Hendricks missed the deadline. He also controlled the subcommittee; three of the five members were drawn from a pool of Mr. Reed’s appointees.

“This is really not about race,” Ms. Todd said in a telephone interview as she traveled to Montgomery for the hearing. “This is about Joe Reed controlling the party and trying to get his way, and he’s just a bully.”

Mr. Reed disagreed. “She doesn’t even know me,’’ he said, “so she wouldn’t be in any position to know. This is not about lifestyles; this is not about race. This is about whether she complied with the party rules.”

The Times seems to suggest the issue may have been race, but LGTB groups saw sexual orientation as the issue.

The WaPo reported the eventual outcome this way:

The Alabama Democratic Party Executive Committee voted 95-87 on Saturday to reject that decision. Party chairman Joe Turnham said no candidate has filed a disclosure report with the party since 1988.

The vote, which pitted vice chairman Joe Reed, a powerful black political leader, against other party officials, fell mostly along racial lines.

Prior to the Todd election, the DNC’s director of outreach to the gay community, Donald Hitchcock, was fired after his domestic partner, Paul Yandura, wrote a letter criticizing DNC chair Howard Dean to gay Democrats.

Hitchcock sued the DNC alleging discrimination. During the course of the lawsuit, the Todd election and other issues between the LGBT community and the AA community surfaced.

According to the Washington Blade:

Yandura’s open letter to gay Democrats in 2006 came shortly after reports surfaced that some members of the DNC Black Caucus opposed a proposal by gay DNC member Garry Shay of California to add gays to the party’s affirmative action guidelines for selecting delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

According to documents obtained by the Blade, Daughtry allegedly led a vigorous effort to thwart the plan.

Leah Daughtry, Dean’s chief of staff and long time party operative, is an AA woman who is also a pentecostal minister.

Shay’s proposal called for a DNC rule change that would require all state parties to set goals for selecting a minimum number of gay delegates, much in the same way that delegate quotas exist for African Americans, Latinos, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and women.

Here’s where Donna Brazile comes in. Apparently she supported the change as long as it was voluntary, not required. Why might she do this?

The New York Daily News reported that Brazile, a member of the DNC Black Caucus, was among the Democrats who were concerned that Shay’s proposal could result in fewer black delegates attending the convention.

Not surprisingly, some information has come forth – from YouTube. The first clip is from the beginning of the Dean deposition. The second concerns the Shay proposal.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So, while this may or may not directly impact every NQ reader, it is instructive. Any group with power and a guaranteed voice is not likely to share that without a fight. In this case, it appears the main objection to full inclusion of the LGBT community in the Democratic party relates more to a potential loss of power than even race or sexual orientation, although those go hand-in-hand when people are grouped this way. But ultimately, it’s about power – and keeping it. Naturally, to the LGBT community, it is a denial of their rights.

Ironic from a civil rights standpoint, but predictable from a human one, and the Democratic Party is showing the strain. However, I’ll just bet the calculation within the upper echelons is that the LGBT community will just have to hold on. Where else can they go, right?? Well, maybe the Log Cabin Republicans, in a pinch?

If you are a student of irony, this is good. The Todd election was initially reversed based on a rule not enforced for nearly 20 years because it was superseded by the 1988 Fair Campaign Practices Act. The rule was also in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act and may have been repealed to boot. The panel that ruled the Todd election void based on this discriminatory rule was majority AA and appointed by Joe Reed, the vice chairman of minority affairs for the Democratic party in Alabama.

In the end, is this a racial issue, a gay / straight issue or simply about power? Yes, to varying degrees and individuals, it is about all of the above. However, it is clearly about keeping power in the hands of established Democratic operatives. In this case, those operatives are AA. Would the outcome be the same if the gay participants were also AA? Hard to say – in that case, other issues, like gay / straight tensions or religious ones, might have more influence. Would a gay AA win over a straight white person in a traditionally AA district? I have no idea.

In today’s political climate, with AA presidential candidate BO promising a “post-racial” inclusive administration, this issue is particularly poignant. How the Democratic Party handles this and how the AA community responds to the challenge of the LGBT community will be interesting, to say the least.

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Okay, Okay, I’ll get to the point: Obama wants to continue the Faith Based Initiatives Program, and EXPAND the amount of federal dollars GOING to the organizations involves in it. But wait – it gets better! He wants to allow them to HIRE and FIRE on the basis of RELIGION!!!

You read that right — this self-titled Constitutional scholar wants to allow YOUR tax paying dollars to go to faith-based initiatives, allowing them to decide if the person is religious enough, their KIND of religious, and to dismiss them should they decide the employee’s belief system does not match closely enough to the organization. Hold on, there is even more! According to the AP Article, “Obama TO Expand Bush’s Faith-based Programs“:

Obama proposes to elevate the program to a “moral center” of his administration, by renaming it the Office of Community and Faith-Based Partnerships, and changing training from occasional huge conferences to empowering larger religious charities to mentor smaller ones in their communities.

Pay attention to that name change, so that you KNOW he is talking about faith-based programming using federal dollars in the future.

In a further pander to Evangelical Christians, Obama said,

“In time, I came to see faith as being both a personal commitment to Christ and a commitment to my community; that while I could sit in church and pray all I want, I wouldn’t be fulfilling God’s will unless I went out and did the Lord’s work,” he was to say.

Huh. I wonder if he thinks the “Lord’s Work” includes character assassinations, and vote stealing??? Those two look mighty close to breaking a couple of Big Ones to me, but, hey, what do I know? But I digress…

You are going to LOVE this next quote! In it, he throws together a bunch of issues facing us, ending with a quintessential Naval metaphor (get it?):

“The challenges we face today, from putting people back to work to improving our schools, from saving our planet to combating HIV/AIDS to ending genocide, are simply too big for government to solve alone,” Obama was to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “We need all hands on deck.”

Why, yes we do. To make sure you never become president!

Ironically, it was just the other day that Obama sent out Mrs. Obama to shore up his support among – Wait for it – GAY groups!! No, I am not kidding, and I am not making this us. (For those of you who might be unaware, Evangelical Christians, certainly those affiliated with organizations like James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family,” are not too keen on gay people. They kinda think of us as big ol’ sinners, to cut to the chase!) According to the article,

Barack Obama will fight for equal rights for gays just as he fought to help working-class families overcome poverty, the Democratic presidential hopeful’s wife told a gay Democratic group Thursday.

Recalling his past work as a community organizer to help struggling families, Michelle Obama said he would take the same approach as president.

HAHAHAHAHA!! Obama is going to help the LGBT Community the same way he has helped those folks during his Community Organizing days? Those people without heat and all of that in the Southside of Chicago? That’s how well he is going to do for US? Oh, WHEEEEE!!!!

Believe it or not, there is still more.

Touting her husband’s record pushing for workplace discrimination legislation as an Illinois state senator and his support of civil unions, Obama noted her husband also had brought a call for equality to conservative groups, telling churchgoers they need to combat homophobia in the black community.

His workplace discrimination legislation? As in what, PUSHING for workplace discrimination?? As Uppity Woman pointed out in her excellent piece, “Sexist Obama Pays His Female Staff Less Than The Males” in No Quarter, Obama is not exactly a prince in the Sexual Equality department, certainly in the realm of equal pay for equal work. It is more like the Sexual INequality department. Just freakin’ spare me.

Okay, sure – he can tell conservative churches that they need to stop attacking LGBT people, and do more about HIV/AIDS, but when one of his BFFs is Senator Rev. James Meeks, a blatantly ANTI-GAY activist, and when he campaigns with Donnie McClurkin, a noted ANTI-GAY activist, it is just a little hard to take this seriously. He can SAY whatever he wants to say, but his ACTIONS clearly indicate otherwise. There is a world of difference between Senator Clinton’s relationship with the LGBT community and Obama’s – Clinton actually HAS a relationship with the LGBT community!! Just sayin’.

Oh – and no doubt, what Michelle Obama also said during this speech is just gonna PISS Donna Brazile off:

Michelle Obama also drew a connection between the struggles for gay rights and civil rights.

“We are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in the pursuit of a more perfect union,” she said at the event, held days before the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots between gays and New York police, and the city’s annual gay pride parade.

“The world as it is should be one that rejects discrimination of all kinds,” she said.

Whooey, is that ever gonna make Donna MAD!!!! Remember, Howard Dean got into some hot water (as in, faced a law suit) because of his firing of a gay man. In an article in the Washington Blade, regarding choosing Civil Rights delegates for the National Convention in August, and including gay people in the Civil Rights contingent to that convention,

Dean said some “influential individuals” within the DNC Black Caucus, such as Donna Brazile, opposed the plan because it was seen as “an affront to the civil rights movement.”

All righty. I bet Ms. Brazile might just have a little chat with Michelle on this. How dare she go against Donna’s party line?!?!

Apparently, though, the 200 – 300 people there drank the Cult Aide – they raised over $1 million for him. I am going to make an unsubstantiated guess and say they MUST have been Log Cabin Republicans!! How else to explain it?! I certainly can’t any other way. This man has done ZERO for our community – ZERO, actually, he has done NEGATIVES for our community, and while John McCain probably isn’t going to be winning any GLAAD or HRC awards any time soon, neither is Obama. Oh, wait – someone DID win the HRC award, and coincidentally, her initials are HRC!!! But why bother with trivialities?!?!

Anywho, it sure will be interesting to watch the hoops Obama will jump through as he tells every single group, no matter how much their varying beliefs/realities may be diametrically opposed, that he supports THEM, and will do everything possible for THEIR agendas. I guess this just highlights – again – the importance of the PUMA and Just Say No Deal coalitions, to point out Obama’s bald-faced lies, flip flops, pandering, and frightening policies. Speak out, speak loud, and expose this charlatan for who he is! Power to the PUMA!

And for your viewing and listening pleasure, if our politicians want to know what the people want, check out this video by Martina McBride:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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See my earlier stories on the similarities between Bush and Obama:

Another Bush/Obama Similarity…, June 22, 2008

“Slack Like Me”, June 17, 2008

Sparks Fly at Black Caucus Meeting

Sources at the meeting said that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, a Clinton supporter, expressed the desire that Obama and his campaign would reach out the millions of women still aggrieved about what happened in the campaign and still disappointed that Clinton lost.

~snip~

According to Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Obama then said, “However, I need to make a decision in the next few months as to how I manage that since I’m running against John McCain, which takes a lot of time. If women take a moment to realize that on every issue important to women, John McCain is not in their corner, that would help them get over it.”

Isn’t that sweet? He is a regular ball of joy and conciliation. I guess no one ever told him that the first step in reaching out to someone is to actually extend your arms (Figuratively speaking of course. Because I sure don’t want that dude trying to touch me). Apparently they don’t teach that stuff at Harvard. Or at the College of Community Organizers. Or at the Chicago School of Thugs.

And then poor little Barky revealed that him’s feelings had been hurt by the Clintons and that maybe he should be the one asking for an apology. A reaching out. Boo Hoo Hoo… Lil Barky needs a hug. Him does. Yes him does. Anyone seen his blankie? His binkie?

Obama then said two sources at the meeting said that he’d held his tongue many times during the campaign against Clinton in the interest of party unity and sensitivity. Clinton and her allies had suggested he was a Muslim, had said he wasn’t qualified to be president.

~snip~

According to the sources, Obama suggested he bit his tongue every time. He could be asking for an apology, he could be asking for the Clintons to reconcile with him, but he chose to rise above it.

Yes Barky, just when is it that you bit your tongue? Was it when your guy Jesse Jackson Jr. told the world that Hillary didn’t cry for Katrina and that the black folks were going to have a say in this election and set Hillary straight? Did your tongue swell then?

Or were you biting your tongue when Donna I’m uncommitted but I need to be committed Brazile twisted Bill Clinton’s fairy tale words all around. Maybe you were biting it when Hillary gave everyone a civics and history lesson about LBJ and the Civil Rights Act? Were ya holding back then too? Does it still hurt? Maybe that’s why you stammer and stutter so much. It’s all our fault. And those mean old Clintons.

Poor Lil Precious is so torn up inside. Him got him’s feelings hurt and him can’t just get over it himself. So he wants the rest of us to get over it. Somehow I just don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon.

18 million Hillary supporters reach out and ask for reconciliation. And Obama lectures us on how hurt he is. Poor lil misunderstood Barky.

Here’s what I think.

PUMA! Just Say No Deal!

Even more now than ever.