In order For America to Thrive, It Must Invest In Its Future, Not Kill It

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

In order For America to Thrive, It Must Invest In Its Future, Not Kill It
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We’ve got to wage a fierce battle against the ugliness in this world, but we must resist the urge to profile and become ugly ourselves. This battle is not about Black people against White people, or civilians against police; it’s about good people against bad people.
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In an incident in Portland, Oregon, "a  Portland police officer noticed a 12-year-old boy holding a sign that read 'Free Hugs' during a Ferguson demonstration. The officer started talking to the boy about the demonstration, school, and life. When they were done talking, the officer asked if he was going to get a hug.
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"The boy teared up — and obliged."
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Chances are, that one encounter will color that young boy's attitude toward the police for the rest of his life.  And I'm sure that if that officer is ever in an encounter with a young Black man, he'll think about that young kid before he pulls the trigger. So what we're talking about here is not one side against the other, but EVERYBODY dealing with our fellow human beings with a sense of humanity.
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But currently, the domestic enemy of the United States is appealing to America's emotions in order to circumvent our common sense. They're purposely instigating hatred, frustration, and division in order to promote their own single-minded agenda of power and greed. That agenda is destroying America, so if we intend to maintain the kind of life we've become accustomed to, we've got to appeal to America's emotions as well, but with knowledge, wisdom, and a sense of humanity. We can never out-scream fanatics, so we've got to out-think them, by reminding Americans of what we profess to believe in.
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One of my first memories in life was of the police coming to my house in the middle of the night, shooting my dog. and dragging my father off to the pen. When I was 19 years old I was busted at 3 a.m. in the morning with a briefcase full of drugs (and I mean HARD drugs) - and that was after a prolific juvenile career of going in and out of institutions from the time I was 12 years old (I was a precocious child). Now they finally had me as an adult, so there was absolutely no doubt in my mine that nothing was gonna beat me to the joint but the headlights on the bus.
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Then at my sentencing hearing, up pops this cop, Sgt. Foster, who wasn't even involved in the case - it wasn't even in his jurisdiction - but he was the first cop who arrested me when I was 12, and he harassed me throughout my juvenile career. Me and Foster had some kind of relationship. I saw him as the quintessential racist. He looked like he stepped right off a movie lot - a big, cigar chompin’ brute who used to always try to embarrass in front of the fellas. If I was suspected of something, he wouldn’t even bother to come looking for me. He’d just go up on the block and tell the fellas, "You tell Eric I want him in my office at 8 o’clock sharp tomorrow morning - and tell ‘em if I have to burn up one drop of gas looking for him, I gonna stick my foot in his ass."
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The fellas just loved that. "Man, Foster just came by here lookin’ for you, and he said you better arrest yourself and report to jail by 8 o’clock in the morning or he’s gonna kick your natural ass." Then everybody would fall out laughing and making jokes at my expense. When I was 16 he caught me high on drugs and embarrassed and manhandled me so bad that I got in a tussle with and reached for his gun - I would have been dead if that would have happened today. But he just busted me in the head with his club and subdued me. But instead of taking me to jail, he took me home and told my mother and stepfather what took place - "You better take him and have that head looked after" (I had to get several stitches in my head; I still feel the wound every time I comb my hair). But he was right back on my ass the next day: "Hey, E. You better get outta here. Here comes Foster to get him some mo ass. Ha, ha, ha!"
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So when I saw Foster in court, I assumed that he came to gloat, because he had warned me at 16 that if I didn't change my ways that I was gonna end up in San Quentin, or dead. So again, I assumed he'd made that special trip across town to wave bye bye.
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But when they called my case up, and I stood up to see how many years I was gonna get, the judge put the court in recess and they took me back to his chambers, and in walks Foster. He told the judge that I wasn't really a criminal, I was just stupid. I didn't like the idea of being called stupid, and protested, but Foster told me to shut up.
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He then went on to convince the judge to give me an option f going into the military, and if I came out with an honorable discharge, the adult charges would be dropped against me and my juvenile record would be expunged, which the judge did.
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But they changed my life. If it hadn't been for that one act, I wouldn't be capable of writing this, and neither my daughter nor son - or any of my grandchildren would be here - because I would have been in prison during the time they conceived. I often wonder what my life would have been like then. I shudder to even think about it.
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But Foster did twist the knife a little bit. I thought they were talking about the Army, but they made SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS with the Marine Corps to accept me - in spite of the fact that I was a high school dropout with an extensive juvenile record - to this day I don't know how they did that. But before the bus stopped rolling at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, the biggest, ugliest DI they had was jumped on the bus screaming my name, and within two days, I was fantasizing about how nice it would have been to be quietly relaxing in prison.
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One Generation Later, Here’s What the United States Air Force Had To Say About My Son

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MEMORANDUM FOR OFFICER TRAINING SCHOOL SELECTION COMMITTEE

FROM: 92 SFS/SFO
2 E. ARNOLD STREET
FAIRCHILD AFB, WA 99011

SUBJECT: Recommendation for Staff Sergeant Eric L. Wattree

1. I wholeheartedly concur with Staff Sergeant Wattree’s request to attend Officer Training School. He represents the enlisted ranks with the highest standard and will bring that dedication and professionalism to the officer corps.

2. Eric continues to lead a stellar military career; his enlisted performance reports speak for themselves. His leadership and experience, especially in contingency environments, remains a vital asset to our unit and wing. As one of my primary Phoenix Raven team leaders, he’s propelled to the forefront of all major deployments throughout the world. He’s repeatedly secured aircraft and crews, supporting a wide variety of missions, in the most austere and terrorist-ridden environments where security is severely inadequate. The diversity of these missions never limited SSgt Wattree’s capacity to adapt to each situation. For this reason, Eric was selected as our 2000 Outstanding Phoenix Raven Member of the Year and the 2001 Air Force Reserve Component Airman of the Year for the 92d Security Forces Squadron.

3. Whether operating under peacetime or contingency operations, Eric easily assumes control and tackles every situation with meticulous tenacity, a quality highly desired in our Air Force officers. Requested BY NAME, Sergeant Wattree, provided security for presidential Banner missions throughout Greece, Peru and Viet Nam. While deployed to Afghanistan, he flew numerous combat missions in our nation’s pursuit to eradicate terrorism through Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Additionally, he provided round-the-clock force protection for aircraft in other high-threat environments including Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Oman.

4. Sergeant Wattree motivated his personnel during the worst conditions and raised the level of esprit de corps to integrate personnel from other Air Force specialties into a cohesive team. His leadership, integrity and devotion to our Air Force play an integral part in our future leadership. Eric has what it takes to become a commissioned officer and earns my full support to attend Officer Training School.

FRANK HELLSTERN, JR., Captain, USAF
Operations Officer
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Today Eric is a Special Agent for the U.S. Department of Justice. I only wish Sgt. Foster (later, Capt. Foster) was still around to see it, because when I finished college he tried to recruit me into the LAPD - "You’re just the kind of person we need." I was seriously considering it, but my wife wasn’t having it at the time, but look what she ended up with for a son - Buck Rogers. There’s much irony in life.

Eric L. Wattree, Jr.

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HOWLING WINDS
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As I watched my son, dapper as they come, walk down our walkway and into manhood,

what I remember most was the howling winds.
I'd seen such winds before, but never like this - my old foe was pulling up trees by the roots,

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So I watched,
but I watched alone.

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As the winds raged on and the mighty palms bowed, a single leaf from our Winter-bare ficus tree

held tough against the ferocious storm.
It fought valiantly against the angry gale, as though hanging tough Just to witness the changing of the guard,

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So I stood,
but I stood alone.

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Like that solitary leaf, all my life I've fought the ferocious winds,
and now they’ve returned, this mighty foe,
poised to seize the hopes and dreams of my only son,

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So I cringed,
but I cringed alone.

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Then, posterity glanced back, squared its shoulders, and beat back hopelessness as it

trudged through fields of ivy.

Then it spread its wings and rode those howling winds

over yonder mountaintop,

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So I wept,

but I wept with a crowd . . .
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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2014/11/life-with-val.html

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Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.  

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West Ducked The Walmart Demonstrations . . . AGAIN!!!

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West Ducked The Walmart Demonstrations . . . AGAIN!!!?
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Don’t You Worry, Baby. You’ll Eat TONIGHT, Because Help Is On The Way!!!
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As we speak I bet WalMart is shakin’ in their boots, because Tavis (Poverty Tour) Smiley, and Cornel ("I come to go to jail!") West is on their way to read WalMart the RIOT ACT this year!!!
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What? They didn’t show!!!? AGAIN!!!? For the THIRD year in a row, and they didn’t even send a postcard of support!!!?
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WELL, I GUESS THAT JUST ABOUT SAYS IT ALL ABOUT THOSE TWO.

It’s like my mother used to say - "Pay no attention to what people SAY, just watch what they DO."
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THOSE TWO BEING SPONSORED BY WALMART IS LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING BEING SPONSORED BY THE KLAN.

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POVERTY PIMPS AND BLACK SUFFERING

The reason that I ride Tavis Smiley and Cornel West so relentlessly is because they are the quintessential poverty pimps. As shown above, they're not interested in the plight of the poor at all; they simply USE the poor to feather their own nests. The fact is, the more misery that the poor are forced to endure, the more notoriety and money they make selling books, holding seminars, and doing $30,000 an hour speaking engagements. So people like Smiley and West are not an asset to the poor and minority community, they're an affliction upon it.
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Many Black people have bought into a philosophy that was introduced into our thinking by poverty pimps in the sixties. They’ve convinced many Black people that we are impotent and can't do anything for ourselves. I know many people who suffer from that malady. Poverty Pimps introduced that into our thinking so we would feel that we needed to hire them to the very lucrative job of Black Ambassador to the ‘White Man’ (the White establishment). That's been big business every since Martin and Malcolm died.
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What we need to recognize as Black people is that we don’t need one voice speaking for millions, we need millions speaking with one voice; and we don’t need one brain thinking for millions, we need millions of brains thinking in concert. Black people also need to RE-LEARN that the only thing we need from the White man is for him to stay the hell out of our way.
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Yes, we want our piece of America's pie, but whinin' ain't the way to get it. The only way that we're EVER going to obtain justice, dignity, and all of the other things that we are due in this world, is to become strong enough to demand it, and competent enough to hold on to it. The Black community will NEVER be fully viable, until we embrace that clear and simple reality.
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So we need to stop talking about what we CAN'T do, and start thinking about what we CAN do - and we can do any damn thing we decide upon.

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A MESSAGE TO TAVIS SMILEY, CORNEL WEST AND THE VARIOUS OTHER ‘WILLIE LYNCHERS’

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Black People Don’t Resent Criticism of Obama, But We do Resent Slander - Which is What These People Engage In, To The Direct Benefit of the GOP, The Biggest Enemy In The World To the Poor and Minority Community

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Cornel West spews more racist rhetoric than any Republican in America. The reason for that is he’s essentially an entertainer who specializes in shock and race-baiting as his one and only routine. Clear evidence of that is he's over the top in everything that defines him - he's over the top in his personal image, in his overly gesticulative presentation, and his rhetoric is invariably inflammatory. Everything about him is a contrivance that’s specifically designed to bring attention to himself. The actual issues are meaningless to him. They're nothing more than a platform to launch his performance. In short, Cornel West is the Liberace of faux intellectualism.

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Have you ever noticed that nearly every public pronouncement that spews from the mouth of Cornel West is literally dripping with racial innuendo? One of his latest racist slanders is that MSNBC is the ‘Rent a Negro’ network. West has said at various times the following:

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1). President Obama is "a war criminal."

2). President Obama is "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs . . ."

3). President Obama is "a black puppet of corporate plutocrats."

4). President Obama is "a Rockefeller Republican in Blackface."

5). President Obama "has a certain rootlessness, a deracination."

6). President Obama Is "Afraid Of Free Black Men."

7). President Obama is "a global George Zimmerman."

8). Dr. Harris-Perry is "a fake and a fraud"

9). Dr. Michael Eric Dyson "is a sellout."

10). Al Sharpton "is a sellout."

11). MSNBC is the "Rent a Negro Network."
12). And if that’s not enough, now he’s quoted as calling the first Black President of the United States “a shell of a man.”

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Yet, when comedian Steve Harvey called him an Uncle Tom, he said, "When you are trying to talk about issues that affect the people, name calling gets in the way. Name-calling is nothing but another weapon of mass distraction."

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So name-calling is only objectionable when it’s directed at him. Such unmitigated hypocrisy is mind boggling - but for once, he’s right. Not one of the above assertions is a disciplined, constructive, or scholarly assessment of the facts. On the contrary, they're the reckless and intellectually undisciplined rants of a bitter, self-serving, and severely discredited academic fraud.

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For Cornel West, there’s something ‘racially defective’ about every Black person who has the audacity to preempt Cornel West from the limelight. West has a propensity for trying to denigrate the character of people whose been in the trenches for years, while West, himself, has done absolutely nothing beyond running his mouth. In order to gain clear evidence of that fact one simply has to ask oneself, what efforts have West made to try to improve the plight of the Black community?
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1). Is he in the community teaching 3^rd grade to help ensure a better education for our children, or teaching at an Historically Black College or University to help "enlighten" young Black students?

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No. He’s never taught at a school that more than 1% of Black students can even afford to have lunch in throughout his entire career. He’d rather gain props for teaching the children of the economic elites, who he CLAIMS, is the enemy, whenever he MANAGES to do a

"Drive-by" in the hood.

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2). Is he in the community teaching our young men to cherish, honor, and respect our Black women - the very womb of our culture?

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No. He’s out trying to sell books filled with inane and misleading information, doing $30,000 an hour speeches, and trying to become a hip hop star.

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3). Is he advising his good friend and business partner, Tavis Smiley, to be consistent with his sermons by being "accountable" to the community, and returning the money that he made on the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Scam" loans that he helped to herd over 30,000 poor minorities into?  Or is he out getting arrested in support of the Black Friday Demonstrations against Wal-Mart, the most prolific abuser of poor workers in the world?
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Nope, not a peep.

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The same is true of West's former puppeteer, Tavis Smiley. He can go all over the country in a bus criticizing President Obama in his Wal-Mart sponsored "Poverty Tour," and find the time to go "Dance With The Stars," but couldn't spare even a second of his time to walk down the street from his office to support the demonstration by Wal-Mart employees?

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Nope, all we've heard from Smiley regarding Wal-Mart abuse of  poor workers is crickets

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So what West, Smiley, and their ilk actually see coming from the community regarding their criticism of President Obama is Black outrage over their indulging in the crabs-in-a-barrel tradition that was inbred in us as slaves. Black people recognize that many of President Obama’s Black critics, including Cornel West, aren’t really interested in policy; they’re just using public policy as a pretext for attacking the President himself, and they’re so steeped in their Willie Lynch mentality that they either don’t realize, or don’t care that they’re doing a grave disservice not only to the African-American community, but to Black people all over the world.

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Because the fact is, many of Obama’s White conservative critics aren’t really interested in policy either. Like Obama’s Black critics, they have an ulterior motive as well, but their motive has nothing to do with crabs-in-a-barrel. Their primary motive is defending their claim of White superiority, and President Obama, in his soft-spoken, laid-back way, is dragging that claim through the mud. That’s why racists and conservatives hate him so.

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Conservatives recognize, as we all should - and especially Black people - that President Obama is not just another president. President Obama is the most high-profile symbol of Black competence in the world. In addition, what he has accomplished is the perfect equivalent of a conquered slave rising to become the emperor of Rome - and, one of its greatest emperors. So Barack Obama is going to be remembered by posterity as one of the greatest men in ALL of human history, and his story will be inspiring Black children a thousand years from now.

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Racists and conservatives recognize that fact, so naturally, they’re desperate to tear down Barack Obama’s image, and build up the image of criminals like Ronald Wilson Reagan, and there is no excuse for Black idiots like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins not to recognize that fact. That’s what makes them so detestable. Instead of trying to help racists tear down this Black icon, they should be offering RESPECTFUL suggestions in an attempt to ensure that Barack Obama is remembered as one of the greatest Presidents that this nation has ever had, even if they have to drag him up Mt. Rushmore kicking and screaming. But instead, they’re allowing themselves to be pointed to by racists who are claiming, "See, even Black people know he doesn’t live up to the standard of White presidents."

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Thus, people like Smiley and West are giving their own egos, self-service, and their Willie Lynch-inspired need to tear-down a Black historic icon priority over Black history, and the role that history is going to play in helping to raise the self-concept of the Black culture. In short, they’re trying to sabotage the self-esteem of Black children who are yet unborn. The mere thought of that kind of ignorant selfishness is absolutely disgusting - and especially when clothed in faux scholarship.

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So Cornel West and the others like him are not Black leaders, they’re clueless Black cultural afflictions, and if I wanted to take even more time (maybe I'll do it in a book), I could methodically take apart every argument that they've put forward against President Obama. But the short version is, there are some things we have to do for ourselves - and with good reason.

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As alleged "educated" men, they should all realize that Obama is merely President Obama, not King Obama.  The United States Constitution is very specific in giving SOLE power over spending to the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans (that’s why they could refuse to pay the light bill and shutdown the government). So President Obama can’t do a damn thing for us without getting the Republicans to go along with him. That’s why he has to slip us everything on the down-low, because if the GOP know it’s for us, they’re going to dig-in, and if Obama goes to war against them over the issue, they're not going to allow him to do anything for ANYBODY. And as President of ALL the people, he can't allow that to happen, so he has to wrap Black interests in the interest of ALL the people.
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FORMER OBAMA CRITIC AND
NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST

In addition, as a thinking man (unlike many of you), Obama realizes that he has to think about precedents. If he grandstands like many of you suggest and say, "This is what I'm going to do for Black people," what are you going to do when the next White president says, "This is what I'm going to do for White people?"  And he'll justify it by calling it "The Obama Doctrine." 

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So Cornel West, Tavis Smiley - and also you others who share their backward-thinking proclivities - you need to use some of that alleged brain power to think, instead of burning it up trying to maintain your image, or attempting to hide your true motivations for attacking this President. I didn’t hear you saying a damn thing when Bush was in office. So you can try to clothe your true motivations in a tux, but it still has the funky smell of Willie Lynch all over it.

Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

　

Ode to An African American Patriot - And His White Brothers In Arms

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
 

Ode to An African American Patriot - And His White Brothers In Arms

A retired Black disabled vet said,
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"...to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem causes conflict within me. I grew up watching Cowboys vs. Indians every Saturday morning, John Wayne war movies, and the Combat TV program. In a nutshell, I knew early on it was my destiny to become a 'fighting man' who would proudly wear the uniform of MY country because I would make my fellow countrymen proud. I would die, with honor. Taps played at my funeral, followed by a rifle volley...
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"Then I learned all my countrymen didn't have my back, in fact, many could really give less than a damn about me, simply because I am Black. Well, being the proud Black man I am - I love to stand tall in times of adversity, I ain't backing down. My favorite line is, "nobody can ride your back, IF you stand up straight," and that's all I do.
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"I am a retired Navy disabled combat veteran. I was selected to join 32 other Americans, out of thousands of other military members, to seek, discover, and return the remains of our fallen to their families. I witnessed the full circle of war, from enlistment, to serving, to combat, to returning the fallen to the longing, loving arms of their family, and I came to the conclusion war really is folly. I believed I was helping provide for the common defense of my people, some who would rather see me dead, than happy. I like to believe I have been blessed with a modicum of intelligence, so I am conflicted when time comes to say the pledge or sing the anthem.
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"Did either the Allegiance or Pledge provide cover for my son, Michael? No he's not my birth child, but had we selected the first name of Michael for one of our sons - he would have been. Millions of people rejoice in his demise. Until this country does right by her Black citizens I will refuse to sing the allegiance or pledge my loyalty and fealty to a land and certain residents who countenance a difference in how people are treated simply by skin color. Well, I ain't playing this game no more. I'm taking my ball and going home. Call me when things change, but know I won't be holding my breath waiting."
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My good brother,
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Don't even think about giving up on this country. That's exactly what the domestic enemy of the United States wants you to do. We need people like you more than ever. As a "former" Marine (if there is such a thing - the Marine Corps insists there’s not) I often felt the very same kind of frustration that you are. But then it occurred to me that what we're actually watching is Jim Crow's dying gasp.
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It may seem like this country is going to Hell, but we've got to remember that the people who are raising all the hell are a small, desperate minority who's going crazy because they see the writing on the wall - their heyday is rapidly coming to an end. 
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The vast majority of Americans truly believe in this country's values. If that weren’t the case Barack Obama could never have been elected President - twice. Black people only make up 13.2% of the population in the United States, and Barack Obama needed over 50% of the vote to win the presidency. Where did the other 36.9% come from? A lot of White folks had to vote for him - the majority of them, and that speaks volumes. And even if we go back as far as the 19^th century, SOMEBODY had to have Frederick Douglass’ back for him to have the courage to tell the American people that he considered their Fourth of July celebration a "mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages!" - and that was in 1852!, nine years BEFORE the Civil War.
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So while there's undoubtedly a lot of bigots in this country, they are far from the majority; they're just so loud and obnoxious they sound like the majority.  But even though they are in the minority, they're a dangerous minority, with a vested interest in keeping the rest of us divided, and keeping you feeling just like you are.
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That's why it's so important for us to know our enemy - and even more important, to know who's not. Because this battle is no longer simply about race.  We are currently knee-deep in a CLASS war, and race is now only being used as a TOOL of that war. The enemy that we're facing, the global corporatists, don't care any more about poor and middle class White people than they do Blacks. They're only using race as a device to keep the poor and middle class divided. That makes it next to impossible for us to mount an effective defense. They keep us so busy fighting one another that it gives them a freehand.
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The corporatists' ultimate agenda is to lower the American middle class standard of living to conform to the global economy, where in many countries workers are virtually slaves. But in order to do that they have to fundamentally change our democracy, and the "Citizens United" ruling is a perfect example of how they're going about doing that.
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This isn't speculation on my part. A Princeton study declares that America is no longer a democracy; we are now an oligarchy, controlled by the rich (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/21/americas-oligarchy-not-democracy-or-republic-unive/), and there's clear empirical evidence of the direction we've been heading since the Reagan administration duped us into accepting the scam of "Trickle Down" Economics.
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Currently the top 5% of the population controls 72% of the nation's wealth, and the bottom 80% of the population only control 7% . What happens when that 7% becomes 5%, and then 2%?  I'll tell you.  Essentially, we'll be slaves - both Black people, and White people. The corporatists will be able to leverage their wealth, and our poverty, against us, and force us to do anything they want us to do, because if we don't comply with their wishes, they'll simply starve us to death, like they've already started doing. So the only difference between the situation that we're rapidly approaching and actual slavery is, we'll have to provide for our own housing. Thus, the American people are currently engaged in the most desperate struggle in this nation's history, and many of us don't even realize it.
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But many forward-thinking Black, and White people, do recognize this fact. They understand that if Americans want to maintain the kind of life that we've come to know, and if we don't want to be subjected to a corporate feudalist state, it is essential that we put aside our racial animosities and come together as allies to face America's most insidious foe - that's why President Obama insists on being President of ALL of the United States, and refuse to allow idiots to divide us into segments. He understands that terrorists

 A MESSAGE TO AMERICA'S BIGOTS

can only destroy buildings, but the Corporate/GOP Alliance is out to destroy the very foundation that this nation was built upon.
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So as Black people, we need to CLEARLY define our enemy instead of simply broad-brushing ALL White people as our foe, because in our current situation, it is essential that the ENTIRE poor and middle class population of this country come together to fight the most desperate battle of our lives. 
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Many Americans are making the mistake of blaming President Obama for this situation, but he's only President Obama, not King Obama, so there's nothing he can do in a free society to FORCE corporations to hire Americans instead of sending our jobs overseas. All he can do is create a business environment that is conducive to a thriving economy, and he's done that. Corporations are making more money than they've ever made in their history, so jobs should be plentiful, and the American people should be doing better than they've ever done before, but the Corporate/ GOP Alliance has decided that it's in their business and political interest to continue to keep America, hungry, angry, and divided.
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FORMER OBAMA CRITIC AND
NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST

And in response, the American people acted just as the corporatists planned. In spite of the fact that Barack Obama saved the nation from descending into a second Great Depression, rescued the American auto industry, brought Osama Bin Laden to justice, provided affordable health care to millions of Americans, and declared by many to be one of America's greatest Presidents, in the 2014 midterm election the American people slapped him in the face and left him to continue to try to protect their interest, single-handedly, against the most insidiously dangerous foe that America has ever faced.
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Thus, we cannot afford to allow fuzzy-headed people to continue to distract us, regardless to whether the fuzz is on their head, or in it. We've got to COME TOGETHER and fight back - not as Blacks, or Whites - but as Americans. Because the enemy that we're confronting are no longer Black, or White, or Americans - they're globalists, whose only loyalty is to the dollar.
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So we must educate ourselves and LITERALLY begin to recognize that everything is not as simple as Black and White. We must begin to de-escalating our racial animosities by recognizing that even during slavery, as brutal and immoral as some White folks were back then, there were many White people around who believed so passionately in the concept of "justice for all" that they gave their lives in the most brutal war that this nation has ever been involved in. Consider that. Who were these people who were so dedicated to truth and justice that many of them voluntarily left the love and comfort of their families to die horrible deaths on blood-soaked battlefields? Yes, there were other issues involved, but it was the issue of slavery that ignited so much passion that it caused fathers to go to war against sons, and tore entire families apart.

.

THE LUCKY ONES
 

Yet, we rarely even mention these people today, because it’s not fashionable among many Blacks to give White people credit for decency - and with good reason - because we’re afraid that we may be mistaken for one of the handful of Black conservative lunatics that infest our community. But efficient thought requires that we follow truth wherever it leads, and regardless to whose ox it gores - and the truth is, as Black people, we not only owe ourselves, but we also owe those heroic White American idealists a tremendous debt that we can never even begin to repay. So the very least we can do is to continue to carry on the struggle for universal justice for which they gave their lives, in a clear-minded, unbigoted, and effective way.

.

So again, brother, never even THINK about walking away from this battle, because it is the ULTIMATE struggle of good over evil. Far too many - Black, and White people - have sacrificed far too much to win this battle. And we've got to always remember that it's not about Black people against White people; it’s about good people against bad people, and the bad people are using our division against us. It's their most effective weapon.

.

So continue to sing the Anthem with all of the passion you can muster, good brother, because you’re not just singing about a country, you’re serenading a CAUSE for which many great, and often, nameless people have died. Those were your true brothers, and THEY, are the ones that you're singing to, and you're singing for. So it is not America that's causing you pain, it's the enemies of America, and they must be defeated.

.

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So as you celebrate this Thanksgiving, forget about the American myth, and celebrate the true patriots who died to make that myth a reality . . . and "loved mercy more than life."

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HOPE

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.  

Are The American People The Victim of Their Own Stupidity?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Are The American People The Victim of Their Own Stupidity?

 .

It's amazing how clueless people can be. I'm currently focused on how people can't see the negative impact that some of these ego maniacs like Cornel West and Ralph Nader are having on their lives. How can they not see that when you divide the vote of like-minded people that it only serves to help the people that they like least? So when they blindly follow people like Nader and West they’re allowing the mysterious agenda of these people to have a direct, and undue, impact on their very lives.
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In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Seth Masket and Hans Noel points out that "The last third-party candidate to win the presidency was Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, 151 years ago. But Lincoln's campaign was hardly independent. The Republican Party had been organizing for years, and it had representation in Congress. And one of the previous major parties, the Whigs, was collapsing, its followers mostly switching to the Republicans." (http://articles.latimes.com/.../la-oe-masketnoel-indies...)
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In a similar article, "Third-party candidacies: Rarely successful, often influential," that ran in The Washington Times, Henry Olsen, who heads the National Research Initiative at the American Enterprise Institute, was quoted as saying, "‘Fringe candidates can affect the outcome of an election . . . They can be decisive in a lot of ways, often in ways that don’t necessarily show up in how well the candidates do, but rather where they do [it],’ said Mr. Olsen, who suggested George W. Bush may not have become president in 2000 were it not for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader . . . Mr. Nader was ‘inconsequential nationally, but because of our electoral system, he cost [Al] Gore Florida, and hence cost him the election,’ Mr. Olsen said" - and that’s what led to the Iraq war, the deaths of over a million Iraqi citizens, the death or disabling of thousands of American troops, and our current economic condition. Was it worth it, for the need of ideological puritans to simply vote their conscious? Personally, I don’t think so.
(http://www.washingtontimes.com/.../third-party.../...)
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So again, why can't these "ideological puritans," who claim they want to "vote their conscience," recognize that by dividing the vote of like-minded people, they’re actually helping the people that they like the least? In essence, they’re so upset with the Bogeyman, that they're leaving the backdoor unlocked for the Devil. It's pure stupidity.
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George W. Bush, and his trickle-up policies are the primary reason that we’re in the condition that we’re in, and the Nader/West coalition is the primary reason that Bush was elected. But in spite of that, now we have Cornel West going all over the country doing $30,000 an hour speeches demonizing President Obama for not doing enough to remedy the situation.
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The sheer gall of this guy is unbelievable. West is like a guy who walks into a restaurant and craps on the floor, and then calls the Health Department because the owner didn’t get it up fast enough. People like Ralph Nader, Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, and Boyce Watkins are the quintessential hypocrites. People like these are pursuing their own limited and self-serving agendas while portraying themselves as the saviors of the very people they’re hurting the most.
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After Ralph Nader was rejected for the 2000 presidential nomination by the Democratic voters, instead of acknowledging his rejection and falling into line to help defeat the Republicans, Nader went into a petulant snit and ran as a third party candidate. It was clear that he purposely ran as a third party candidate with the mean-spirited intent of sabotaging the Democratic effort, because third parties never win; the only purpose that third parties ever serve is to help elect the people that you like least, because they divide the vote of like-minded people.
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Cornel West joined Nader in this foolish - or treacherous, you make the determination - campaign, and as a result, George W. Bush won the election over Al Gore by winning Florida by a mere 537 votes. The Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So when I say that Cornel West is more than a little responsible for George W. Bush becoming President of the United States, and thus, your current economic condition, don’t take my word for it – you do the math.
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Most people, if they were sincere, would look at the disastrous results of their activities and be devastated. After all, causing Bush to be elected was the worst possible outcome for everything West is SUPPOSE to represent. So most people would conclude that they had made a grave error, and that they would never do anything to divide the progressive vote again. But not Cornel West, he teamed up with Ralph Nader yet again in the 2012 election against Obama, and tried do the very same thing that they'd done in the 2000 election that resulted in Bush's presidency. The only thing that stopped them was, this time the people weren’t buying it.
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So yes, in September of 2011 Ralph Nader and Cornel West teamed up to try to sabotage the Democratic Party yet again. They canvassed the country for Democratic opponents to challenge Obama in the primaries. According to Nader, "Without debates by challengers inside the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries, the liberal/majoritarian agenda will be muted and ignored." And he goes on to say, "The one-man Democratic primaries will be dull, repetitive, and draining of both voter enthusiasm and real bright lines between the two parties that excite voters." What he failed to say, however, was it kept the liberal voice solid and united. So if Nader and West had been successful, they would have divided the Democratic Party just enough for Mitt Romney to squeak out a victory, and the nation would now be under conservative leadership. Now, just take a moment and think about what life would have been like for poor people then. But did the illustrious Cornel "I love My People" West care about that?  Not a bit. (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2014/10/is-cornel-west-judas-goat-when-was-last.html).
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Proof That The Ralph Nader/Cornel West Coalition Purposely Helped Bush Become President
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Outside Magazine, August 2000:
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"If California tips Green enough, Bush could win the state and the whole damn election. Which, Nader confided to Outside in June, wouldn't be so bad. When asked if someone put a gun to his head and told him to vote for either Gore or Bush, which he would choose, Nader answered without hesitation: ‘Bush.’ Not that he actually thinks the man he calls ‘Bush Inc.’ deserves to be elected: ‘He'll do whatever industry wants done.’ The rumpled crusader clearly prefers to sink his righteous teeth into Al Gore, ... [and] concludes with the sotto voce realpolitik of a ward heeler: ‘If you want the parties to diverge from one another, have Bush win.’
(http://www.hereinstead.com/QUOTATIONS-FROM-RALPH-NADER.htm)

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Those are the words of a clueless and self-serving lunatic who is more interested in his own agenda than he is the best interest of the American people, as the results of his activity clearly demonstrates. Thus, it was no accident that Nader and West teamed up. They are of the very same ilk - they’re brothers in self-serving indifference to America. In addition, they’re both self-absorbed, they both crave attention, and they’re both extremely petty and spiteful, as demonstrated by Nader’s antipathy toward Al Gore, and West’s spitefulness toward Barack Obama.
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Nevertheless, in the past, they were both highly respected for what appeared to be their selfless advocacy for the people. But their current activities clearly demonstrate that what seemed to be "selfless advocacy" was actually self-promotion. As mentioned, they both crave attention, and they both have a contrarian nature, so in the past, it just turn out that their contrarian dispositions just happened to coincided with the public interest, so they seized upon the opportunity in order to promote themselves. But now, they’ve both made it perfectly clear that they’re willing to turn their backs on everything that they were suppose to believe in so passionately if it's in conflict with either their pettiness, or own self-interest. A perfect example of that is to ask yourself, how many people did Cornel West influence to stay away from the polls in the last election by the suggestion that it was alright not to vote if they disagreed with any one of President Obama’s policies - he said in a Time.com article, "I couldn’t vote for a war criminal." (http://time.com/3475306/hear-cornel-west-on-obama-a-drone-presidency/)
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As a direct result of such messages being sent to the American people, we now have a Republican controlled house and senate - and what kind of compassion does this Republican controlled congress have for the people who West is supposed to "love" so passionately . . . ?
The GOP is engaged in an unconscionable effort to obstruct the implementation of Obamacare, which provides affordable health care to millions of Americans.

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Retraction

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Previously we reported that "Congress Eliminates Child Tax Credit, Mortgage Deduction And E.I.T.C From Tax Code." That was in error.  What we should have reported was congress has failed to renew the expiration of many of these middle class tax deductions.

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Nevertheless, in the 2014 midterm election, the American people decided to thumb their nose at the man who prevented them from going into a second Great Depression, saved the American auto industry, and provided affordable health care for millions of Americans, to follow demagogues, and the very people who are directly responsible for their dire economic straits. I’d call that, blatant stupidity.
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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. - Edward R. Murrow.
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

The Black Community Controls $1.1 Trillion in Buying Power, Yet . . .

Beneath The Spin*Eric L. Wattree

The Black Community Controls $1.1 Trillion in Buying Power, Yet . . .

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The African American community controls more spending power than the Gross National Product of Germany, the third richest industrial nation in the world, so why are we whining to the White man to provide for our needs?
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Dr. James P. Neelankavil, a professor of marketing and international business at Hofstra University, says in his book, International Business Research, that "Since the output of a country is an indicator of its economic activity, the GNP [Gross National Product] is often used as key factor in evaluating a country’s economic strength. The five largest countries in the world based on their GNP are the United States, $7 trillion; Japan, $2.5 trillion; Germany, $1.1 Trillion; France, $873 billion; and China, $393 billion."
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So based on Professor Neelankavil’s data, the African American community’s buying power of $1.1 trillion is equal to the economy of Germany, the third largest industrial economy in the world. We control $127 billion more than France, and $607 billion more than the gross national product of China. So why was it that in the 2014 midterm election people like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West were running around suggesting that due to high unemployment in the Black community, Black people would be justified in sitting at home, not voting, and letting the Republican Party win governorships around the country, and take over the House and Senate? There’s something wrong there. Either they, and their ilk, are grossly uninformed - in which case, they need to keep their mouths shut and educate themselves - or they’re in active collusion with the GOP - the Black community’s worst enemy, and the domestic enemy of the United States as a whole.
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It’s not President Obama’s fault that we have high unemployment in the Black community. We in the Black community need to educate ourselves to a few fundamental facts. Barack Obama is merely President Obama, not King Obama. The U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. House of Representatives SOLE power over spending, and the house is controlled by the Republican Party. Thus, President Obama has to get permission from them to even pay the light bill, but the GOP has a vested interest in keeping the American people hungry, angry, and divided, so they’re blocking everything he tries to do. We saw the reason for that in the midterm election, because with people like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, Boyce Watkins, and the entire Republican Party, they can convince the American people that it’s Obama’s fault, and win elections.
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NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST

The very same thing is true of the nation’s high unemployment. The economy is doing better than ever, and corporations are making more money than they’ve ever made in history, so the American people should be more prosperous than ever, and riding high. But the corporate/GOP coalition have a vested interest in not allowing that to happen, so they’re sending what should be American jobs, overseas. Again, the reason for that is political for the GOP - they want the American people angry with President Obama so they can win elections. And for the GOP’s corporate partners, it’s a business strategy - they’re trying to soften the American middle class up to the point they will accept a lower standard of living. They want to lower the American middle-class standard of living to where it’s more in line with the global economy, where in some countries workers make less a week than many middle class Americans spend on lunch per day. So the bottom line is, even though Barack Obama is President, in a free society, there is nothing that he can do to force corporations to hire more American workers. So I find it quite strange that someone who is SUPPOSE to be as brilliant as Cornel West is laying all of our problems at Obama’s feet, and not saying a mumbling word about the corporate/GOP alliance.
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Again, the Black community controls as much spending power as the GNP of Germany, the third largest economic power in the world, so we’re a nation within a nation, and there’s no reason why we have to sit around and wait for the White man to pass us crumbs. The reason we’re in this situation is because of our conditioning. As I’ve said many times before, we are products of the very same racist environment as White people, so some of us harbor some of the very same underlying bigoted attitudes toward other Black people as any barefoot, sheet-wearing, Hillbilly, as people like Clarence Thomas, Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and a whole hoard of Black conservatives clearly demonstrate - oh, did I forget Boyce Watkins (It’s important that I keep mentioning these people, because with the exception of Clarence Thomas, the others are trying to influence Black people covertly).
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As a direct result of many of our underlying attitudes toward our own people, Black consumers will drive right past Black businesses to give our hard-earned money to Walmart, a corporation that’s closely associated with ALEC (and Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, I might add), and an organization that leaves no stone unturned to obstruct Black people’s right to vote, support politicians who are dedicated to impeding any legislation or program designed to enhance the interest of the minority community, and undermine poor and middle-class American worker’s as a whole. For this reason, Black businesses are absent or barely surviving in the community, and can’t afford to hire Black workers, so we’re creating our own Hell. 
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The following statistic says it all:
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"Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days. How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!!! African American buying power is at 1.1 Trillion; and yet only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses"(http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/02/african-americans-1-1-trillion-dollars-buying-power-putting-good-use/).
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But in spite of the $1.1 trillion passing through the Black community, there are many who still insist on coming up with the excuse that the problem is with the banks - they won’t finance Black businesses. That’s a lame excuse, and we really need to stop trying to make excuses for our condition, because by coming up with all of these excuses, we’re simply giving ourselves a convenient excuse for failure. With all of the money that passes through the Black community, if we came together we could establish our OWN banks.

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Black Community Opens Its Own Market, and Creates Its Own Jobs

The Black community of Greensboro, North Carolina has seen the light. The African Globe reports the following:
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"Winn Dixie and other large grocery chains had divided up market territory, resulting in the closing of some stores despite their profitability. The loss of this Winn Dixie turned Northeast Greensboro into a food desert . . . For more than 15 years, there were many efforts to lure a new grocery store into the space. However, while the store would be profitable, it wouldn’t be profitable enough to satisfy the demands of the shareholder-based economy of a large corporation. Fed up with essentially begging for access to affordable, quality food,  residents of this predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhood decided to open their own grocery store.
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"After learning about cooperative businesses, they decided to open a community-owned grocery store. The store would meet local residents’ needs for access to quality food and dignified, well-paid jobs. And now it’s going to happen. When the Renaissance Community Cooperative opens in 2015, it will be a conventional grocery store (like a Food Lion or Kroger) where wages start at $10 per hour."

The Black Community Must Rid Itself Of Poverty Pimps

If the Black community ever wants to be a viable entity, however, we’re not only going to have to follow Greensboro’s example, but in order to do that, we need an organized community, and a big obstacle to that is the self-serving poverty pimps among us who benefit from our suffering. We’ve got to eliminate these people. These are the ones who are primarily responsible for the plight that we currently find ourselves. When Martin and Malcolm were alive, the only thing they wanted from the White man was for him to leave us alone and allow us to live our lives in peace. My grandfather had a little verse that reflected their attitude. He used to say, "The only thing I want from this whole damn nation, is a pretty little wife, and a good foundation." I didn’t realize it at the time, but in that one little verse he was teaching me the meaning of life - and he had that - a prosperous and meaningful life, and more.
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But after the death of Martin and Malcolm, the poverty pimps swooped in to try to take their place, but both their philosophy, and their agenda, were much different. They convinced the Black community that we couldn’t make it on our own. They convinced us that we were incapable of such a monumental feat. They told us that we needed the White man’s help to move forward, so it was incumbent upon us to hire them as our official emissaries to the White man. That was in the late sixties and early seventies. But since that time, the "emissaries" have all profited greatly, while we’ve been sitting on our hands suffering, whining, and begging for the past forty years - and we're still waiting for the White man’s response. Sure we want our piece of America's pie, but the only way to get that is by organizing and making ourselves a strong enough political force to DEMAND it, not pay poverty pimps $30,000 an hour speaking fees to talk about how unjustly we're being treated. First, we already know that; and secondly, the only one it's benefitting is the poverty pimp. We're actually PAYING him to help spread the word, and profile us, as an hopelessly inept culture.
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So it’s time to bring the poverty pimp hustle to an end. We don’t need one voice speaking for millions; we need millions speaking with one voice. We also need to re-embrace our self-esteem, and begin to recognize who we are, what we represent, and the dignity of what we’ve managed to overcome. We're not puppies who need to be defended. We are a strong and vibrant people. One of our number has risen from the very bottom to become President of the United States. That's one of the most amazing accomplishments in the history of mankind. It's the equivalent of a captured slave rising to become the emperor of Rome, and it also speaks volumes about the American people's respect for excellence. But the poverty pimps have a vested interest in playing that down. They have a vested interest in playing you down.

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The Community Must Control The Way We Are Being Portrayed

In addition, the Black community is doing itself a huge disservice by just sitting back and allowing ourselves to be portrayed in a distorted and negative fashion. It sends the wrong message to our children, and the world. When our children sit around for hours on end watching the antics of Lil’ Wayne and others flaunting the very worst of who we are, it sends the message to our young people that they have a moral obligation to be stupid in order to demonstrate their Black pride. They’re, literally, being instructed in what it means to be Black by sources other than ourselves. They’re being taught that being Black means wearing pants saggin’ off their asses, engaging in reckless and irresponsible behavior, scarring their bodies with ugly tattoos that can prevent them from obtaining employment, and giving priority to chasing "bling," momentary pleasure, and superficial trinkets over pursuing education, knowledge, and investing in themselves as individuals.
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If we’re tolerating these things in our homes, we have no right to complain when the rest of society refuse to hire us, and profile us a superficial and irresponsible idiots. But the fact is, we’re not only tolerating it, we’re making people filthy rich by supporting an industry that thrive on producing videos that are nothing short of ten minute commercials being circulated around the world saying that the very womb of our culture are sluts and whoes who are only good for abuse, and that Black men want everything out of life but a job - and will do anything to get it.
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That’s not who we are as a people, but that’s the way that 90% of the community is being portrayed by a mere 10% of the most dysfunctional element in the Black community.  That’s who our young people are looking up to, and that’s the way the rest of the world sees us. So if we allow this to continue, whose fault is it when the rest of the world believes their lying eyes? No wonder unemployment is so high among Black people. I wouldn’t hire anyone like that either - would you?
.

So the Black community needs to come down on the media like a sledgehammer, and stop them from slandering our community. We also have to start letting our children know, in no uncertain terms, that stupidity’s not cute. And we can't start to disseminate that message too soon, or too early in a child’s life, and since kids tend to gravitate toward those things that they’re rewarded for as "cool," it’s not enough to simply address this issue as individual parents - we might as well be spittin’ in the wind. We have to address this issue as a COMMUNITY.
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We’ve got to let BET know that if they want the community’s continued support, they’re going to have to change their call letters to stand for Black Excellence Television, and their programming is going to have to reflect that. We have to make it clear to BET, MTV, and the rest of the media that if they want the support of the Black community that they’re going to have to air programming that’s consistent with our agenda as a community - programming that reflects manhood as having the character to face and defeat adversity, and reflects strength as being tender enough to sooth the wounded feelings of a baby girl.
.
And we should also encourage the promoters of these awards shows, like the Soul Train Awards, to be more responsive to the needs of our community. We don't need yet another parade of swaggering millionaires staggering up on stage, snatching microphones, and acting a fool. We need to start placing more emphasis on honoring young scholars, educators, and the people in the community who are helping to move Black people forward. That isn't to say that celebrities and entertainment shouldn't be involved in the shows (I'm a musician myself), but they should be the "help," not the honorees. After all, if all our young people ever see the community honoring are singers, movies stars, and athletes, why should they aspire to be anything else?
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And finally, we've got to demand more responsibility from our churches. We've got to make it clear to some of these preachers that if they expect to take collection money out of our community on Sunday, they’re going to have to do more than just flap their lips; they need to be prepared to put some kind of service back into the community during the week. Our churches should be serving as low-cost childcare facilities for working mothers during the week. They could then employ unemployed mothers, and at the same time hold classes in child rearing. They should also put some of their tithes into starting businesses to provide jobs within the community, instead of squandering it on big cars and expensive homes (generally outside the community) for the preacher. So the community needs to send a very direct and precise message to some of these preachers -"Don't just preach me a sermon, live me one."
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WHY I LOVE BEING BLACK - REVISITED

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

A DYING LOVE

Beneath The Spin* Eric L. Wattree

A DYING LOVE

We vowed that we would love forever, the love of two puppies, they said, in our youth. But now two marriages
and four children between us,
I vow my love is just as strong
for you.

*
We danced, we frolicked,
we experimented with love,
and shivered warm
against the sea;
Private memories
of a carefree love,
memories that belong
to just you and me.

*
Now, I love my wife with all of my being. She’s made my life a pure delight. But love never dies, and you need me now, so I stand here, at your bedside tonight.

*
I’ve done well in choosing the women in my life, as your fading eyes can see; for as you lie here dying and I profess my love,
my wife stands here in tears, next to me.
*
You’ve also chosen very well. Your husband loves you more than his pride. For he’s the one who summoned me here, so we could say goodbye.

*
So good-bye sweet soul who taught me to love, and brought such
burning passion to me. As you close your eyes for the very last time, let my love be the last thing you see.

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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.