A New Entitlement for the 21st Century (Crossposted at Blackprof)
I’m doing some work for blackprof this month. And going straight to video, in order to begin a new type of conversation as I note below:
Archive for October, 2008
The Pope of the Free Market Economy becomes an Atheist ?
Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, an acolyte of Ayn Rand, and a devout proponent of free markets appeared before Congress to talk about the roots of the economic crisis. This runs 10 minutes but is worth watching and listening. If you have little time scroll forward to the 3:38 mark and then again to the 8:00 mark.
For those unfamiliar with Greenspan and the Federal Reserve, know this. Because literally billions of dollars move based on their statements, they tend to be extremely conservative in their pronouncements. Perhaps no other group of people besides the (trained) clergy consider their words with more care. For him to say that the free market ideology he supported was basically wrong, would be akin to the Pope saying that he was wrong about Jesus being simultaneously the only begotten Son of God and man.
Now of course the problem here is that those of us on the outside looking in have always known that free market ideology doesn’t work. But the thing is that we weren’t considered part of the rational world.
When what we think of as “social scientists” first began to employ statistics in order to control, manage, and study human populations, there was a moment in America where white supremacists used statistics in order to prove that slavery as a social system worked well for blacks. Using cooked census data they found that the percentage of blacks who were insane increased the further north one went. Whereas only one out of a thousand or so blacks were deemed insane in the deep south, in the northeastern corridor there were places where one out of every eighty or so were deemed insane.
The way that white supremacists explained this was extremely logical–though still racist. Blacks didn’t have the mental capacity to live with all of the choices that freedom offered. “Do I work? Do i stay home? Do I go to the store? Do I take a walk? Do I read?” And each of those choices themselves led to other choices, which led to other choices, which…you get the picture. Much better for blacks to live in a system where all of their major choices were decided for them.
Riiiighht.
(Congress questioned this finding…and when they looked into it found that in many cases there were more insane blacks in some of the towns, then there were people in the town!)
But it is this type of logic either applied to non-white spaces (‘inner cities’, ‘barrios’) domestically, or to the “third-world” in general, that caused people to ignore the flaws of the free market. To their (and our) detriment apparently.
Does Your State allow you to take time off of work to vote?
I’m blessed to have a job that pays me no matter what I do. Some people don’t have that luxury, at least not in the United States. But some states have fairly liberal laws regarding employers and voting. I’ve lived in Michigan, Missouri, and Maryland. Here are their laws:
Michigan: There is no state law regarding employee time off to vote.
Missouri: An employee is given up to three hours leave to vote, unless the employee has three consecutive non-working hours in which to vote while polls are open. The employee must request leave prior to election day, and the employer may designate the time that the employee is given off from work. This time off is paid. (Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 115.639)
Maryland: An employee is allowed up to two hours to vote if the polls aren’t open two consecutive hours outside the employee’s regular shift. The time off is paid with proof that the employee voted. (Md. Code Ann. Section 10-315)
Want to know about the laws in YOUR state? Find the answer here. While you’re at it check out Why Tuesday.
McCain campaign worker Attacked HOAX
Many of us thought this story sounded funny when it was first reported. And Prof. Lacewell is right to note that things have changed a great deal since the Susan Smith hoax (and incidentally the Carol Stuart hoax before that). But the question is how? Is it just the passage of time? Is it that folks just get an epiphany and then realize what the real deal is?
Take a look at this footage. Who is doing the talking for the police department? The racial integration of police departments across the country have not eased the tension between them and the black communities they work to supposedly serve. Some of the police accused of murdering Justin Bell were African American. But the increase in the number of black police officers–which comes as a result of political action– has arguably increased the level of skepticism applied to cases like this.
Riots if Obama is not elected?
Police have prepared for riots in cities with large black populations if Obama is not elected.
Or at least that’s what I’ve heard, directly and indirectly.
I don’t buy this. Poking around the best I could find was this article from the United Kingdom. Homeboy interviewed the “police spokesman” (who the hell is that?) and then–get this–a “an internet columnist and black Republican candidate for state representative in Massachusetts”. In other words, a cat with a blog and absolutely no expertise whatsoever (he’s a candidate, not a representative). The other article I found was a duplicate. I imagine this story to blow up closer to the election, to the point it becomes self-fulfilling. I wish we wouldn’t reproduce this meme ourselves but I guess it’s par for the course.
I’ve already said I think this election is a lock. So perhaps the bigger question is what types of preparations does law enforcement need to make to deal with the socialist haters?
The GOP End Game–Go Out BLAZING
Cobb offers a cute strategy with a little under two weeks left. But what if he’s got the frame all wrong?
GOP elites have to be familiar with the same numbers I am. They show clearly that Obama has a close to $40 million more than McCain (taking the GOP and DNC contributions into account) and that he’s only a few electoral college votes away from a victory just looking at solid blue states. McCain would have to get every toss up state available even though he’s had to write off a few of them because he doesn’t have the loot.
That’s why I came up with the list remember?
So the “he’s a socialist” screed that McCain has unleashed isn’t really about McCain winning. But rather it is about something else entirely.
I think he’s adopting a scorched earth policy. In a normal circumstance bankrupting the government would be enough to ensure that liberal policy proposals are shot down–by the Dems themselves no less. But these aren’t normal circumstances. Being in debt won’t prevent Obama from suggesting spending on infrastructure and other issues, given the state of the economy. So another set of tactics are required. Their best option here given the electoral slaughter they are looking at, is to get the population upset enough about the prospects of a liberal government that they will exert enough pressure to serve as the type of check on government that the deficit use to serve as. To the point that Obama can’t govern.
Obama’s a Socialist…according to my daughter’s teacher
My daughter’s American government teacher called Obama a socialist in her class today.
Friday? I’m dropping the hammer.
I haven’t talked about it much but this past September we made the decision to send all of our kids to school. It was a hard decision for my wife, but the economy dictated it. Raising five kids with college tuition looming is no joke. But they’ve all been managing. Nothing but As across the board.
I’m biased of course…but my kids are the shit. No problems claiming that here son.
But for them to stay that way? My wife and I have to be prepared to take on all comers. To get to them, you’ve got to go through us.
So when my daughter came home a couple of hours ago with a “hypothetical” it was on.
“Daddy, let’s say hypothetically that someone–not me of course Daddy–that someone else’s American government teacher called Obama a socialist.”
Off the rip there are a couple of problems here.
First there’s the minor problem that Obama isn’t a socialist. In the least. Hell…I wish he were. The tax increases he’s suggesting? McCain as early as four years ago supported them. If he can’t get this right it’s clear to me he doesn’t belong in a classroom.
Then there’s the issue of classroom pedagogy. There circumstances I can think of where it would be appropriate for this teacher to impose his political views on the classroom. But not this one.
Friday? I’m dropping the hammer.
40 Big Ideas for Obama (and everyone else)
A while back I noted the powerful black party discipline that attended Obama. Rather than take the opportunity to talk about ideas, about what we would actually want from an Obama presidency, we talked more about getting him over that electoral hump. To the point of cutting off dissent in some limited cases.
What I’d like to do is begin a conversation about what comes next. And as a first step I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. Folks talk about the first 30 days of a presidency? I’m going to up the ante. My motto next year is “40 is the new 40.” So in that spirit I’m going to present 40 ideas for Obama. Some of these ideas are ones Obama is already promoting. Some of these ideas are technically not within the federal government’s purview. Some of them are unworkable.
So what.
We’ve got to stop believing that the one thing government does well is punish black and poor men and women.
In no particular order:
2. Low interest loans to businesses/homes for energy improvements.
11. Release non-violent offenders.
14. Support the Millenium Project.
15. Make Election Day a Federal Holiday.
16. Change how the census counts prisoners.
17. Restore their right to vote while you’re at it.
19. Build a bridge to somewhere.
22. End private financing of political campaigns. (pdf)
23. Increase funding for the arts.
24. Restore the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department.
25. Reduce government secrecy.
26. Put Greenhouses in every classroom.
27. Give working class families individual development accounts.
28. Expand Horizons.
31. Fix our bridges and roads.
32. Bring scientists back into government.
35. Stop trying youth as adults. (pdf)
36. Give 47 million Americans the ability to get sick.
38. Promote zero-pollution cars.
What did I miss?
Old School MC Beatdown over the economy
You want to see an old school hip-hop inflected MC beatdown over the election?
Read this.
