Attention Tea Party and Black Radicals: Either Fight as Allies, or Fall as Fools

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Attention Tea Party and Black Radicals: Either Fight as Allies, or Fall as Fools

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 Retired army general, and FOX News analyst, Paul Vallely, is quoted as telling Arizona Tea Party Patriots, "I had a call this afternoon from Idaho. The gentleman said, ‘If I give you 250,000 Marines to go to Washington, will you lead them?’" Vallely said as the group laughed and gasped. "I said, ‘Yes, I will. I’ll surround the White House and I’ll surround the Capitol building, but it’s going to take physical presence to do things."  

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POWER TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE

I'm just as angry and disgusted over what Black people have been forced to endure in this country as anyone else, but there are two reasons why I don’t spew bitterness. First, I can see beyond my anger, so I recognize that there are issues that are much more important than my right to vent that need to be considered, and one of the most important of those issues is - at least, in terms of the Black community - by constantly venting into the ears of our youth, we give young Black people a convenient excuse for failure. The fact is, some of us are lazy and less than ambitious anyway (just like many in every other group), so when young people are constantly bombarded with a message that says that the White man is evil, conniving, and intent on holding Black people down, it makes it much too easy for them to say, "Why even try? The White man ain't gon' let me move forward anyway." We don’t need that. On the contrary, we need to inspire our young people and instill a sense of confidence and determination in them. We are what we think, so the very last message that we want to send to our youth is one of impotence and defeat.
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The second reason that I don’t indulge in spewing anger is because it plays into the hands of the enemy. We’re currently knee-deep in a class war, and we’re facing an enemy who doesn’t care any more about poor and middle-class White folks than they do Black people. Yeah, they want to keep Black people down - at least, poor and middle-class Black people - but their ultimate mission is to undermine and subjugate ALL poor and middle-class people of EVERY race, creed and color. And keeping us divided is their most potent and effective weapon in doing just that. So when we’re constantly going around talking about the White man this, and the White man that, we're not only being ignored by those people (including some Blacks) who are actually trying to undermine us, but we're alienating White people who want to be, and should be, our allies in the struggle for universal justice. So why cut our own throats just for the satisfaction of venting our anger?
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The poor and middle class in this country have been under a brutal and growing assault for the past thirty-five years. It has been documented that Ronald Reagan flooded the inner cities with crack to support his illegal war in Nicaragua (in which we’re still suffering the ill affects, and he should have been both impeached and jailed for); our public educational system has been underfunded and under assault, leaving many of us incapable of accurately assessing our political environment; organized labor, the first line of defense for keeping the poor and middle class out of total destitution, has been all but decimated; and now, these malevolent forces are aiming at the middle-class safety net - programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance - which were initiated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to protect the poor and middle class from literal starvation during and after the Great Depression.
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So this is no time for the poor and middle class to be divided. It is essential that we ALL come together to protect our collective interests. If we don't, we’re all going to find ourselves enslaved under the yoke of corporate feudalism - and yes, it can happen here, and that reality looms closer than most people think. Actually, there’s a very strong possibility that it could be as close as one successful Republican election away, because the demographics are against the GOP, so they’re in a panic, and they’ve clearly demonstrated that they’re without limits. So if they ever manage to regain control of government, they’re not giving it up again - regardless to what they have to do.
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Retired army general, and FOX News analysis, Paul Vallely, is quoted as telling Arizona Tea Party Patriots, "I had a call this afternoon from Idaho. The gentleman said, ‘If I give you 250,000 Marines to go to Washington, will you lead them?’" Vallely said, as the group laughed and gasped. "I said, ‘Yes, I will. I’ll surround the White House and I’ll surround the Capitol building, but it’s going to take physical presence to do things" (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/27/fox-news-analyst-tells-tea-party-group-he-can-lead-a-military-coup-against-obama/).

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So it behooves poor and middle-class Black and White people to wake up, put our petty differences aside, and come together as a viable political force that’s ready to pitch a tooth-and-nail battle for the future of this nation. If we don’t, the Tea party and the Klan, the Black Guerilla Army, and the Mexican Mafia, are all going to find themselves shoulder-to-shoulder picking virtual cotton on the very same plantation. 
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Ironically, many White people already recognize this fact - that’s why Barack Obama is President today. But due to our unique historic background, lack of formal education, the proliferation of urban legends disseminated by poverty pimps, and lingering bitterness, many Black people are resistant to this reality. 
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While it is undeniable that some White people are dogs (just like some Black people), we now have undeniable evidence that MOST of them are good people who just want to live and let live in peace and harmony. If that were not the case, Obama wouldn’t have been elected president - twice. No, Obama’s election doesn’t mean that this is a post-racist society, but what it does say is, bigotry is being maintained and perpetuated by a minority of the White community.
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Consider this - even if they had allowed us to stay home, and they automatically posted the vote of every Black man, woman, and child in America for Obama, there still wouldn’t have been enough of us to elect him President of the United States. Black people are only 13.6 percent of the population. So if only one hundred votes were being cast to determine the presidency, and every group was given the number of votes that corresponded to their percentage of the population, Black people would only be given 14 votes. But in order for Obama to become president, he needed 51 votes. Where did those other 37 votes come from? I’ll tell you where they came from - many of them came from White people. Obama could never have been elected president without them. So that’s in direct conflict with the message that the majority of White people are racist bigots. Numbers don't lie, so while it may satisfy the anger of those who allege that to be the case, the numbers simply don't validate their claim.
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In addition, even during the Civil War, as brutal as this country was toward Black people, there were enough White men of good conscience around who decided to leave the love, advantage, and comfort of their homes and families to engage in the most brutal war that this country has EVER engaged in to free Black people from bondage - yes, there were other issues involved, but I’m not going to entertain a lot of nitpicking on this issue, because I see through it, just like I see through the racist arguments of White bigots.
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Well, maybe I'll address the most prominent argument -  that this was not about slavery for these people; it was just a matter of citizens falling in step behind their government. The biggest obstacle to that argument is, we know that the Civil War involved much more than just a routine conflict between opposing government policies. The reason that we know it involved deeply felt, soul-searching, and moralistic passions, was because fathers were fighting sons. That fact alone speaks volumes. Personally, I can't even imagine a cause that I would be so passionate about that I would take up arms against my son. But these people did find such a cause.
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The bottom line is, the ultimate impact of these people's sacrifice brought slavery to an end. That’s a fact that cannot be denied. So when we run around talking about "THE White man's a racist dog," that not only implies, but specifically states, that ALL White men are racist dogs, which constitutes the very worst kind of profiling of, for my money, some of the finest and most selflessly courageous people who ever lived. Black people might STILL be on a plantation - YOU might still be on a plantation - if it were not for these morally courageous people. So by broad-brushing ALL White people it represents the thumbing of our noses at many people, and their families, who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. So to lump such people in with racist bigots, is the very height of ingratitude.
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Thus, as I see it, we who truly believe in justice, and not JUST-US, and are not just using the word "justice" as a pretext to spew garden variety racism, should be just as dedicated to ensuring justice for those who didn't just pay lip service to the concept, but who actually sacrificed their lives for the cause of justice. They had our back, so we should have theirs, and the backs of the descendants that they left behind.
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For that reason, I asked a very good friend of mine to focus on solutions rather than bitterness when posting to my Facebook wall, because when I say I believe in justice, I mean it. I seek justice not only for Black people, but for ALL people. Therefore, I’m not going to tolerate racism or bigotry of any kind on my wall - regardless to which direction it comes from - and I was very gratified to find that my friend understood that fact by indicating that we were on the same page, because there's a word for the concept of justice for some - hypocrisy - and it's poised to destroy us all, and this nation.

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LOOK AT HOW LONG THE GOP HAS BEEN TELLING THE SAME LIE

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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.

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An Irrefutable Truth About the GOP

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

An Irrefutable Truth About the GOP
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A gentleman by the name of James W. Lewis recently commented on my article, "Who’s In the ‘Dark,’ the Black Community, or Dr. Ben Carson?" In his comment he posed a question which under ordinary circumstances would seem to be very reasonable, and one that seems to currently be on the mind of a surprising number of younger Black people. He asked the following:
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"There’s one thing that has always bothered me about black folks. We constantly battle trying to prove we’re not all the same, especially what’s portrayed on television. We come from a variety of backgrounds, and our unique upbringings shape our beliefs, including political beliefs. If that’s the case, why do we ALL have to be Democrat (or even Independent)? The Democratic Party was once pro-slavery with obviously no, to very little African American support. The shift began in the 1940s with FDR’s New Deal. African Americans have been generally pro-Democrat ever since. If African Americans can change the face of the Democratic party, can’t the same be said for the Republican party?"
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James, in a word, no.
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People often suggest that I tend to advocate for the Democratic Party over the GOP.   In response to that, first, I'd like to make it clear that I'm not a Democrat, and I haven’t been since my early twenties. I’m a independent progressive thinker, as oppose to a liberal or conservative. There is a difference.
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Liberals and conservatives are both ideologues, and as such, tend to be different sides of the same coin. They both have a propensity to give ideology priority over unadulterated truth. So when truth fails to conform to their particular ideological position, they both have a tendency to try to bend and contort the truth in order to mold it into a more comfortable fit within their political philosophy.
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Progressives, on the other hand, are non-ideological. We believe in following truth wherever it leads and regardless to who’s ox it gores. Truth is our only constituent, so we tend to look upon the political landscape as though we’re observing an ant farm, rather than from a partisan perspective.
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At this point it must be granted, however, that progressives do generally come down on the liberal side of the ledger, but there’s a reason for that, and since we believe in truth, that reason should be obvious. The current Republican Party has become a refuge for scoundrels for some, and a refuge from reality for many others. So while I’m not advocating FOR the Democratic Party, I routinely and vociferously advocate AGAINST the Republican Party with my every keystroke, because the current GOP is filled to the brim with some of the most dangerously malevolent people in this country.
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Simply ask yourself, when was the last time a party had to, literally, hide their last president and vice president during an election? Granted, I’m not a historian, but I can’t think of another time in our history. But the Republican Party had to do it twice - in both the 2008 and 2012 elections - and with good reason.
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George W. Bush and Dick Cheney spent their entire eight-year reign enriching their cronies. In addition, during their time in office they didn’t do one solitary thing to help America, or the American people, and that’s been the Republican record for nearly ONE HUNDRED YEARS. The GOP has a clear and irrefutable one hundred year record of swindling the American people, which I clearly lay out in the following link. (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2010/10/gop-one-hundred-year-record-of.html).

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Thus, the GOP has clearly become the domestic enemy of the United States. So to even try to be nonpartisan with this group would constitute colluding with the enemy against the American people.
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Am I engaging in a hyperbolic rant? I don’t think so. Let me prove it: Who was the last Republican president who didn’t drag America under a bus? That’s a real brain teaser isn’t it? Now try to name one good thing that the GOP has done for the American people in the last 30 years. Let me answer that for you - Absolutely nothing.
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Rush Limbaugh was foolish enough to make his feelings known out loud - "I don’t want Obama to be successful" - and as everyone knows, Rush speaks for the Republican Party.
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 Thus, Rush gave the Republican Party their marching orders at the very beginning of President Obama’s administration - that the GOP should do everything in its power to prevent America from succeeding, regardless to the level of suffering that the American people may have to endure, and they've stood steadfast to that agenda.
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In yesterday's vote on gun control, in spite of the fact that a majority of 54 senators voted to approve the measure, the Republicans used the threat of filibuster to block true democracy and thumbed their nose at nearly 90% of the American people in favor of their corporate cronies. That, is the literal definition of a domestic enemy.
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The History of the Republican Party
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One of the founding fathers of conservative thought was Alexander Hamilton. He was an aristocrat who advocated that poor and middle-class Americans should be relegated to second-class citizenship, and the GOP has fully embraced his agenda. Hamilton said the following:
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“All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and wellborn, the other the mass of the people.... The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second, and as they cannot receive any advantage by a change, they therefore will ever maintain good government.” (Debates of the Federalist Convention, May 14-September 17, 1787).
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The founding fathers rejected Hamilton's position in laying out the blueprint for this nation, but the arrogance of Hamilton's philosophy continues to exist, even to this day, in our politics - and it was exactly that arrogance that we witnessed in the Republican Party in yesterday's vote on gun control - "To Hell with the people; we're talking about my reelection here!"
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The modern Republican Party is a coalition between fiscal conservatives, or big business, and social conservatives, or social bigots. Even though these two factions don’t even like each other, they have one thing in common – they both have a vested interest in undermining Black people.

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Big business has a vested interest in not only lowering the standard of living of Black people, but the entire American Middle class in order to become more competitive in the global market against countries who pay their workers less per week, than the average middle-class American spends on lunch per day. And the great American bigot simply hates Black people in general. The most benevolent of them think that Black people should be relegated to shining his shoes.

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But it is true that most Black people used to be Republicans immediately after the Civil War up through the Civil Rights Era – Martin Luther King was a Republican. But the Republican Party was different back then. They represented the business community of the North, and the Democrats, or Dixiecrats, represented the farmers of the South. That was one of the reasons for the Civil War. The Civil War wasn't actually about freeing the slaves; it was actually a dispute between the big business Republicans of the North, and the Southern Democrats that represented the farming interests. Black people just happened to benefit from the dispute, and during the industrial revolution big business could use the additional manpower.
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But during the Great Depression the two parties began to change their alliances dramatically. After Democrat president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, turned on big business to help the poor and middle class with his "New Deal" for the American people during the Great Depression, working-class people began to gravitate to the Democratic Party. Then during the Civil Rights Era of the sixties when John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson began to support Black civil rights, many more Black people migrated to the Democratic Party, and southern racists began to move to the Republican Party. So, essentially, a complete shift took place in party alliances.
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So when you hear someone from the Republican Party saying that it was the Democrats who kept Black people in slavery and formed the Klan, they’re trying to play on your ignorance of history. A much better way of keeping track of those who victimized Black people is by following political philosophy. It was conservatives who victimized Black people, and those conservatives currently reside in the Republican Party - and as we speak, they’re desperately trying to obstruct our right to vote.
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But the Republican Party is currently in a state of turmoil. Every since social conservatives sought out refuge in the GOP subsequent to the Civil Rights Era, there’s been an uneasy alliance between the corporatist conservatives like Mitt Romney, and social bigots like Rick Santorum.
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So once again there’s a dispute between the interest of fiscal conservatives, or big business, who benefit from a more practical approach to social policies - and who would love to bring in as many undocumented workers as possible as potential customers, and to lower the cost of wages; and social conservatives, the social bigots - who, if they had their way would send all undocumented workers back to their respective homelands. So a second Civil War is brewing, but this time it’s going on within the Republican Party itself, and it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.
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But the bottom line is this - the bigots within the Republican Party hate Black people even more than they do undocumented workers, liberals, and gays; and the corporatists hate the entire poor and middle-class population. You heard Mitt Romney talking to his homies – he thinks nearly half of the American people are scum – Black and White.
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Thus, any Black person, regardless to who he or she is, who think that Black people can find a comfortable fit in the churning cauldron of Republican hatred, bigotry, and self-interest, has got to be a fool - a damn fool.

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THE GOP HAS BECOME DANGEROUSLY
UN-AMERICAN
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RELATED ARTICLE
Herman Cain: Black People Are Brainwashed? Please!
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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.

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Are We Lying On God To Justify Our Own Bigotry - Again?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Are We Lying On God To Justify Our Own Bigotry - Again?



I just reread an editorial entitled "Don't Shake Your Fist at God."  It was written by a friend mine. In the editorial he comes out against same-sex marriage based on the Bible, and his view that it is not a civil rights issue. He refers to gays as "reprobates" and implies that by allowing same-sex marriage our society is on the threshold of becoming a latter-day Sodom and Gomorrah.
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My friend is a very gifted writer, but I found his position on this particular issue to be absolutely ridiculous. While I'm as straight as they come, and it's beyond my comprehension why with all the beautiful women in this world one man would want to marry another, it is just as incomprehensible to me why one group of people would insist on shoving their belief system down everyone else's throat.
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It simply eludes me why a person who's against same-sex marriage can't be satisfied with simply taking the position that since I'm totally against same-sex marriage, I'm going to make it a point to marry someone of the opposite sex, then just leave it at that. But that's not good enough for some people. Some people aren't satisfied unless they can make their opinion THE LAW. There's simply got to be some kind of pathology attendant to that kind of obsession.
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I was raise by devout Christians, and most of my values are consistent with the values reflected in the Bible, but I didn't get any of them by reading the Bible. All of my values evolved around the principle of minding my own business and treating people the way I want to be treated–and I didn't get that from the Bible either; I got it through what God gave us to live by long before there was any such thing as a Bible–it's called, common sense.
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For that reason, even though my values are consistent with those of the Christian tradition, I have refused to formalize my association with the Christian community, because I've known too many Christians over the years who are more interested in looking down on other people than looking up to God. Too many tend to be narrow-minded and discriminatory in mind-set. They also tend to be more interested in preaching a sermon, than living one.
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This world would be a much less hostile place if we would simply live, and let live, as long as individuals are not hurting others. I don't see what's so difficult about that concept. But even if we did decide to abolish certain behaviors, I'd go after the bigots long before I went after the gays. After all, Rush Limbaugh is having a much more negative impact on society than Little Richard.
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I've pointed out several times in my columns that true Christians are some of the most loving and beneficent people in the world, but unfortunately, there are far too many demagogues hiding among their number. Some of the most vicious bigots in the world find the Christian community a very convenient place to hide and spread their hatred and bigotry. By feigning to be Christians, these demagogues are allowed to say, "It's not that I hate everybody who don't look, think, and act like me, it's just that God does." That allows them to promote the demonization and slaughter of anyone who is different from themselves, while at the same time wrapping themselves in the alleged "word of God" - ask Sitting Bull.
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That creates a serious problem within the Christian community, because much too often these bigots are in positions of authority, and since many Christians believe that these authoritarian bigots have a direct pipeline to God, their poisonous bigotry tends to seep into the thinking of legitimate Christians.
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We've seen the demonic impact of these people throughout history. We saw them during the Inquisition when they burned so-called "witches" alive, and they raised their ugly heads again with the brutality of slavery, and yet again during the so-called "Manifest Destiny," where they justified the slaughter of nearly all the Native Americans across this land. Now we see them, once again, spreading their malevolence in the middle-east, while at the same time disseminating their poison here at home.
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So I want to take this opportunity to point out to my well-meaning, but grossly misguided colleague, that whenever one group in our society attempts to demonize another, that's not God's will - that's the will of bigots, and it is, indeed, a civil rights issue.
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When I was a kid, about five years old, I had a friend who was quite effeminate. It was clear that he was "different" long before we even knew his sexual orientation. It was obvious that the adults already knew he was gay - even though he didn't even know what the word meant at the time - because they use to whisper and giggle whenever he'd come around. But of all my friends, even then, he was the smartest and the most loyal.
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Later in life, it turned out that he indeed was gay, but there is no one on the face of this Earth that can tell me that he had a choice in the matter, anymore than I had a choice in growing up to love women, because he was effeminate before he was old enough to make a choice, or even know their was a choice to be made. Therefore, if God made him gay, who are we to discriminate against an act of God?
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With respect to the Bible, many Christians tend to be quite hypocritical in picking and choosing what scriptures they choose to adhere to. While those who are against gay marriage often select scriptures that tend to justify their bigotry, there is another scripture - one that seems to me to be much more reflective of what Christianity is suppose to be about. It says, "Judge ye not."
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What makes that scripture so important is that it seems to be a warning from God. It tells man to stay out of God's business, because man is much too narrow-minded and stupid to understand why God chose to do what he has done.
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It is also important for Black "Christians" to remember that the people who taught us the attitudes and religious beliefs that many Black people so passionately embrace had us tied next to the mules when they taught it to us. They were killing and abusing us even as they taught us to "Love thy neighbor," and it seems that many of us have learned their lesson well - that God wants us to love our neighbors, except for the ones the bigots taught us to hate.
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We should also remember that at the time that Barack Obama was born, there were many states in this union where it was illegal for his mother and father to marry. There were many people who thought that reflected God's will as well - and many still do.

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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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.

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BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

President Obama: Respect workers’ Rights - Emancipate United States Postal Workers 

PART III

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We thought it would be instructive if we took the time to reprise in part an article that we did in December of 2009. During that time we wrote a series of articles pointing out that the United States Postal Service was a microcosm of America as a whole, so to ignore the plight of it’s employees would come back to bite middle-class workers as a whole. 
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At this writing, Ohio voters are in the process of voting to repeal a Draconian assault on middle-class workers by Governor John Kasich and his Republican legislature. It’s one of many votes across the country that’s only necessary because American workers refused to wake up to the fact that the only way to fight for their own justice, is to fight for the justice of others. 
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Ohio voters wouldn’t have had the problem they’re facing if they wouldn’t have ignored the threat that the GOP posed to workers when they elected Kasich, but they thought he was only a threat to others.  But now they’ve found out the hard way that injustice toward some is a threat to the justice of all, and it’s much more difficult to fight off injustice when you wait until the boots are at your door.   
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The Tea  Party abruptly woke up to this fact as well. By the way, when was the last time you heard from the Tea Party?  I'll tell you when - when the GOP started talking about attacking Social Security, Medicare, and the programs that have a direct impact on their lives. Isn't it funny how fast people begin to see the light when the quality of THEIR lives are under attack?  

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The Role of Poor, Minorities, and Middle Class in the New World Order

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The phrase New World Order says it all. But in our blind naivete' and the belief that it can't happen here, the vast majority of American people believe the phrase refers to the reshuffling, in terms of importance, of the various nations around the world. We fail to understand that the change is much more profound than that. The new world order not only applies to a geo-political reshuffling among nations, but the reshuffling of the internal economic structure within individual nations as well.
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That means that as the world moves from many separate national economies to one global economy the class structure of the various nations of the world must be adjusted to accommodate the new state of affairs. In turn, that means that the high standard of living enjoyed by the American middle class since WWII can no longer be sustained in an economy where many of America's competitors are paying their workers less per week than many of us spend on lunch per day. That accounts for why American jobs are being outsourced to other countries, and Walmart, one of the largest retail corporations in the world, has based its business model on purchasing most of its merchandise from China in order to undercut the price demands of its competitors.
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Walmart is a microcosm of the revised American business strategy under the new world order. Must only look at Walmart's business model, and the socioeconomic profile of its employees, and see exactly what direction American business, and our society, is headed as a whole.
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Walmart's business strategy is to hire easily replaceable and low skilled employees who are at, or very near, the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. It then takes advantage of their precarious economic condition to squeezes every dime of profit out of the company's operation . They aggressively fight organized labor to hold down employee wages and benefits, and deny their employees anything approaching affordable healthcare. That, essentially, is the American business model under the new world order.
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But now there is a new wrinkle. Now, the United States government has embraced this anti middle class business model.  In the past the U.S. government was dedicated to enhancing the standard of living of workers all over the world to conform to the standard of living of U.S. workers, but now, as evidenced by the abusive employment practices of the U.S. Postal Service - the second largest employer of middle-class workers in the country - the United States has clearly embraced the corporatist philosophy that it’s easier to lower the standard of living of American workers to conform to that of third world countries.
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Thus, at this point, American workers are on their own. Neither business nor government are on our side. Where business was once our partner in a symbiotic relationship, it is now a predator to consumers and employees alike. Our parents could pull into a gas station and a guy in a white shirt and bow tie would run out to check their oil and water, then put air in their tires as he pumped twenty-two cents a gallon gas into their tanks. I know, gas is no longer that cheap, but what happen to the service?
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The reason for the change is greed. When the United States had a thriving industrial economy, one class complimented the other. Labor was well paid and given the security of knowing that they had a job for life, so they had the confidence to purchased goods that the corporations produced. That allowed the companies that sold the goods to prosper, to the benefit of the investor class.
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But now, in a global market, in order to remain competitive with countries that pay their workers just above slave wages, corporations have to squeeze every penny and every concession out of the labor class that they can get. And since the heads of these corporations must make huge profits to justify their unconscionably oversized bonuses, they prey on their workers by undercutting their benefits and outsourcing the very jobs that the economy is dependent upon to sustain the corporation, and the nation. But since these corporate heads live from bonus to bonus and only think about themselves, they never stop to consider the negative impact of their irresponsible behavior on the economic viability of the nation.
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So now, when Wall Street or the Fed announces that the economy is thriving, they're not talking about the American economy as a whole - they're only talking about the monetary return of the investor class. A thriving economy means they're successfully squeezing the American worker to the limit and gouging the consumer of every penny that he can afford to part with - and a few that he can't. It is that kind of greed and irresponsibility that led to the 2008 economic disaster, and nothing has changed.
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In the global economy of the new world order, corporations no longer need the American worker to sustain their profits. Now that they can outsource their labor, and purchase and sell their goods overseas, the American worker is no longer a partner in the corporation's viability. the worker has now been relegated to the status of field hand. The only time they need us is when they want to tap the treasury for our tax dollars to pay off their gambling debts.
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An article in Wikipedia points out that the AIG Financial Products division, headed by Joseph Cassano, in London, had entered into credit default swaps to insure $441 billion worth of securities originally rated AAA. Of those securities, $57.8 billion were structured debt securities backed by subprime loans. So not only did the American taxpayer pay off this insurance company's debt, but we paid off a debt that originated in another country.
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Now, your money is being taken once again, but this time, they're taking YOUR money, to pay YOUR representative, to block an attempt by President Obama to stop them from cutting your throat in a time of crisis, just like they did to the corporations on Wall Street. But there's one very big difference - you and you're family are NOT too big to fail, so without the benefit of a robust, job creation program like the one proposed by president Obama, but being blocked by the GOP, you're simply gonna bite the dust - and with the corrupt and able assistance of many of your very own representatives.
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Think about that, and urge president Obama to step up to the plate and emancipate United States postal Workers, because they represent the American middle class as a whole.
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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.

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President Obama: Respect workers’ Rights - Emancipate United States Postal Workers PART II

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

President Obama: Respect workers’ Rights - Emancipate United States Postal Workers 

PART II

As pointed out in Part I of this series, on August 13, 2011, after Carrier Sylvester Burton inadvertently left part of his mail in the station, he alleges that U.S. Postal Service supervisor, Juanita Hamblet, of Rimpau Station in Los Angeles, came out to his route and subjected him to severe verbal abused.  According to Mr. Burton and an independent witness, Ms. Hamblet came out to his route and began to verbally accost him in a very hostile and aggressive manner.  Then when Burton asked the supervisor why she was harassing him, the following exchange took place:

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“She then walked up to me, her hand in my face and said, ‘I CAN HARASS YOUR ASS AS MUCH AS I WANT, AND I WILL CONTINUE TO HARRASS YOUR ASS. I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU BURTON - I THINK YOUR ASS IS GAY. TAKE YOUR ASS BACK TO THE STATION, I’M GONNA CALL THE POSTAL POLICE ON YOUR ASS!’

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“So I pulled about 8 feet away from her and parked, wondering if I should follow this woman’s instructions or ignore her and finish delivering mail. Then she walked up to me again, and said, ‘I SAID TAKE YOUR ASS BACK TO THE STATION! THAT’S A DIRECT ORDER!’
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When we got back to the station she ran into Mrs. Stanley’s office and told the manager that I called her a bitch, I threatened her, and that I almost ran over her. She also said that I was a coward and she was intimidated by my presence.”
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One of the customers on the route wrote a statement substantiating Mr. Burton’s account of the incident, adding, “My entire family including my seven year-old niece had to witness this entirely unprofessional vulgar outburst. The cursing and swearing peppered with the f-word and the homophobic remarks was nothing less than shocking and completely inappropriate.  I was extremely offended by her homophobic remarks and I am myself gay, not to mention the cursing and swearing in front of our child . . . You need to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS WOMAN. While representing the USPS no one should be able to behave that badly and make that big of a scene in public plus publicly attacking a subordinates sexual orientation and be allowed to keep their job.  If Mr. Burton sues for harassment I will gladly be a witness on his behalf.”
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There have been several complaints regarding the behavior of this supervisor in the past. Subsequent to the incident with Mr. Burton, one employee summoned the courage to write the following:
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“To whom it may concern:
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“I, Vyonnie Garbutt, can attest to the fact that Mr. Sylvester Burton is a respectable, hardworking carrier at Rimpau Station.  He always treats everyone with respect and carries himself in a professional manner.
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“I would also like to attest to the fact that I have personally witnessed Carrier Supervisor Juanita Hamblet unprofessionalism and lack of dignity and respect for several employees at Rimpau Station.  These employees include window clerks, distribution clerks, carriers, custodians, TE’s and PTF carriers. Some of these employees I personally witnessed include Marcus Smith (Carrier), Antoine Denson (Carrier), Charmaine Hepburn (Clerk), Ms. Franklin (TE), Mr. Sonny (Custodian), Ms. Joi (PTF),Vyonnie Garbutt (Clerk), Sylvester Burton (Carrier).
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“Supervisor Juanita Hamblett has been in combustive verbal altercations on the workfloor too many times.  She creates an extremely hostile work environment for Rimpau Station.”
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Unfortunately, this sort of behavior is far from an aberration by far too many postal managers and supervisors.  In fact, it’s become protocol. Postal management routinely use threats, aggressive behavior, and intimidation to get employees to work off the clock without pay.  So when the postal employees refer to the postal service as “the plantation” they’re not speaking figuratively - and the various agencies within the government such as the Office of Inspector General and the EEOC, who are charged with protecting employee rights, are at best, indifferent to employee abuse, and at worst, in collusion with the agency to protect its impunity from repercussions. Thus, poor and middle-class workers have but one recourse, to address their plight as a political issue.
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As a United States government agency the U.S. Postal Service should be in the very forefront of the fight to protect employee rights, yet, in the Equal Employment Opportunity mediation initiated by Mr. Burton on this matter, instead of the postal service bending over backwards to correct what is clearly a toxic work environment, the agency went into damage control. The postal service didn’t even require Supervisor Hamblet to attend the mediation. Instead, they had an attorney, Kristi Ashman, come in her place to try to negotiate the issue away.
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Mr. Burton indicated that during the "mediation" he felt like he was trapped alone in a den full of jackals, and essentially he was. He was one worker trying to fight for his rights against the full weight of the federal government. He was alone in the room with his manager, his area manager, a post office attorney, a mediator who improperly urged him to accept the postal service's "lame resolution," and a union representative who the postal service's attorney pulled out the room to talk to out of Mr. Burton's earshot. So initially he signed the agreement as a result of feeling like an elephant was sitting on his chest. But to his credit, he came to his senses and rescinded the agreement within the remaining three-day time limit. In addition, the participants are sworn to secrecy regarding what takes place in the mediation, which is also slanted against the interest of the worker.
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The United States Postal Service is a microcosm of America as a whole, and the above situation is a perfect metaphor for the gross assault on poor and middle-class workers in this country as a whole.
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The working conditions created by the inept and irresponsible managers within the postal service is not only un-American, but creates a serious danger to the unsuspecting public at large. The reckless and self-serving  irresponsibility of bonus-seeking postal managers constitute nothing less than a United States government agency sending ticking time bombs to every business and home in America six days a week.  Dr. Stephen Musacco, an organizational psychologist, a therapist with thirty years experience in the postal service, and the author of "Beyond Going Postal,” says the following:
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“Prior to my retirement from the USPS, at a former district I worked for, there were three suicides within a two year period that I concluded were contributed to in significant part by how these employees were treated in the workplace. The third employee, a city letter carrier, fatally shot himself in a postal jeep and left a letter stating that he could no longer take the job. The night before he committed suicide he told his wife he did not know if he would be able to handle his job anymore. How do I know? His wife told me this one day after his suicide. He was one of the best employees in the office. The District Manager and I interviewed his coworkers after his death, and they stated he would urinate in a bottle while on delivery route for fear he would not meet an artificial deadline set by postal management. During the interviews, one of the postal supervisors told the District Manager and me that the day before the suicide she gave a letter to all the city letter carriers in the station, noting that any future over time used for their routes would be considered unacceptable performance. The suicide at the Gastonia postal facility was the second since December 2005.
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“Many people have asked: Why is there so much stress and workplace tragedies in the U.S. Postal Service? The answer to these questions is because the postal culture embraces and reflects core values that center on achieving bottom-line results with little or no regard for employee participation, respect, dignity, or fairness. Additionally, there is little or no accountability for the actions of top management in the Postal Service. Many postal facilities consequently have toxic work environments, and they can be a catalyst or trigger for serious acts of workplace violence, including homicide and suicide. The associated rewards system for behavior consistent with the postal culture core values, moreover, enables systemic organizational and individual bullying of employees at all levels of the organization.”
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One of the criticisms of the "Occupy" movement is that it doesn't seem to have a well defined objective. But in defense of the movement, it is commendable that it's not allowing itself to be co-opted by any particular political party or group. One way to resolve that conflict is for the movement to simply target instances of glaring middle-class abuse and focus its energies on addressing those issues one at a time, and there's no better target for beginning that process than the United States Postal Service, for several reasons.
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First, there is not a more flagrant example of middle-class abuse anywhere in the world than the way the U.S. Postal Service treats its employees right here in the United States. Secondly, the postal service is the  largest civilian employer in the United States after Wal-Mart, so that alone makes it directly representative of the way middle-class workers are being abused as a whole in this country. And finally, the postal service also highlights the fact the U.S. government has now embraced the corporatist philosophy of profits over people, which, by definition, is blatantly un-American.
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We also have to confront the hypocrisy of our government.  Again, in a June 9, 2009 speech in Cairo, President Obama told the people of Egypt, “ But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.” 
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Thus,  during this election season we need to confront our president with the fact that he seems to be preaching a much better sermon than he's prepared to live.  We want to believe in him, but facts don't lie.  The following fact is a case in point:

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If we can sacrifice the lives of our young people to bring justice to others around the world, certainly the president can make a simple phone call to bring justice here at home to the families and former comrades of those who are putting their lives on the line. After all, veterans are postal workers too. 

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Where are you, Mr. President?


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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.

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Jews, Zionism, and the Stupidity of Bigotry

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Jews, Zionism, and the Stupidity of Bigotry

I guess I'm going to have to retrace my steps, yet again. Last week I reprise an article on Zionism (Maybe I'm Dumb, but Could Somebody Please Tell Me the Difference Between Zionism and Racism?).  Due to a response to the article by a young Black man the first time it ran, I found it necessary to write a follow-up article the following week. That seems to be necessary once again:

I try to Avoid addressing the same issue in consecutive columns - that's my only defense against my natural tendency to be tedious and predictable. But this past weekend a young man, let's call him Rob, came up to me and said, "Brother, I got to give you props - you really stuck it to those damn Jews last week." As soon as the words came out of his mouth I knew I had to clarify my message by revisiting the issue of Zionism. I didn't have the time, at that moment, to stand there in front of the store and explain to the young man that my article wasn't against Jews, but on the other hand, I wanted to make sure that he understood the distinction between hating a philosophy, and hating a people. So I asked the young man to be sure to pickup the following week's paper because I was going to write an article especially, and specifically, for him. So Rob, as promised, this one's for you - and I sincerely hope that God gives me the skill to make my point.

Rob, while my last article had to do with a segment of Judaism, it wasn't intended as a diatribe against Jews. I'm not against Jews, or any other group of people. I'm against various behaviors.

It would be a pity to go through the pain and suffering that Black people have experience in America and not come out the other end with at least some measure of wisdom. One would think that we would have learned through the blood, sweat, and tears that we've shed, that trying to paint any group of people with the same broad brush, whether it's to say that they're all good, or they're all bad, is not only the height of stupidity, but is the very mindset that has caused Black people so much misery here in America. How can I claim to detest racism, only to turn around an embrace that very same ignorant philosophy?

No, I'm not against Jews, I'm against the injustice of Zionism - a philosophy which dictates that one group of people are entitled to the land of another by virtue of their religious beliefs alone. But while I argue passionately that Zionism is a gross and unjust philosophy, I always keep in mind that all Jews are not Zionists. In fact, many Jews are more adamantly opposed to Zionism than non-Jews.

It's important to recognize that fact, because efficient thought requires that we always recognize subtle distinctions. While knowledge is power, knowledge can only yield its power when combined with the wisdom of truth. Evident of that is the fact that one of the most prolific problems that we have in this vast world filled with knowledge, is our tendency to circumvent that knowledge through thinking with our brain stems. Instead using our higher cognitive abilities and taking the time to be precise in our thinking, we find it easier to lob preconceived generalizations at every problem - and more often than not, those generalizations cater to the very darkest side of our nature. Look at what we're doing with our knowledge in the Middle East. Instead of using that knowledge to enhance the quality of life for all of humanity, we're using it to spread death and destruction around the entire world.

We've got to learn to stop thinking in terms of Black and White, Jew and Gentile, or whether a person is Gay or Straight. As long as we think in those terms and continue to antagonize one another, we sabotage every opportunity to form coalitions to fight for our common good. That's why people like Bush, Cheney, and much of the GOP crowd thrive in a hostile environment. They love keeping us ignorant, because ignorance keeps us divided, and that very division allow them to step in and conquer all of our hopes and dreams as a people. It is a must, therefore, that we develop the wisdom to understand that there are only two kinds of people in this world - good people, and bad people.

Now, I'm not suggesting that Black people forget their history and engage in a rousing chorus of Kumbaya; that would be fool hearty. But it behooves Black people to not only understand, but remember, that while malevolent White men did indeed place us in shackles, it was malevolent Black men who made us available to be shackled. We must also recognize that we commit a gross injustice by forgetting the sacrifice, and the families, of the thousands of White men of good character who gave their lives to unlock those shackles.

So while we witness the horror and atrocities that the state of Israel is committing against the Palestinian people and we lean toward condemning all Jews, we must keep in mind men like Joel Elias Spingarn, also a Jew, and a prominent literary figure of his time. He not only gave great support to the Harlem Renaissance, but helped W.E.B. DuBois to establish the NAACP as a driving force for change in America. Spingarn also established the Spingarn Medal in 1913 - and to this day it's awarded annually for Excellence in African American Achievement. So as we're formulating our opinions about Jews, we should remember this man and many others who made great contributions to the African American people.

Spingarn was Chairman of the Board of the NAACP from 1913 until his death in 1939. We should also keep in mind that during that period the NAACP board was predominantly Jewish - W.E.B. DuBois was the only Black man on the Board of Directors. In fact, the NAACP didn't elect its first Black president until 1975. Think about that.

But it's become less than politically correct to bring up issues such as these - probably because many of us are afraid of becoming associated with Black opportunist, turncoats, and White apologists like Clarence Thomas, Alan Keyes, Larry Elder, and the like. But it's important that we keep these facts in mind and pass them down as part of our history. Facts such as these represent valuable knowledge to our youth. It's a source of knowledge to young people that says - as the three misguided Black men mentioned above clearly atest - everybody that looks like you is not your brother, and conversely, everybody that doesn't look like you is not your enemy.

That's an invaluable lesson, not only for Black people, but for all of America, because we will never truly overcome until all people of good faith come together as a coalition - and that will never happen until we begin to recognize that true brotherhood is not of the skin, but of the soul.

--
Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

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

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Postal Service Employee Abuse Spur Call for Citizen Action Group

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Postal Service Employee Abuse Spur Call for Citizen Action Group

Do you know the names of any of the 29 coal miners who died in Montcoal, West Virginia on April 5, 2010, or what has happened to their families since that needless tragedy? Can you tell me the names or condition of the families of the 11 oil workers who were vaporized during the explosion of the oil rig in the Gulf on April 20? Can you give me just one name of the many innocent postal workers who have been killed, maimed, or disabled due to irresponsible postal management over the past several years?

Of course you can't, because the limitless greed of the corporate community - including much of the corporate press - has relegated these poor and middle-class workers to the wastebin of 'unfortunate collateral damage' in their blind pursuit of the dollar. As a direct result, a citizen's action group has been proposed to address the diminishing quality of life of America's poor and middle-class workers.

Since it has become abundantly clear that many of our unions, civil rights activists, and even our government are either unable, or unwilling, to address this issue, an umbrella organization encompassing a coalition of human rights organizations has been proposed to address this issue. Tentatively, the suggested name for the umbrella organization is "Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse" - CARMA, a play on the Buddhist term Karma, or "action" - a sort of C-Party so to speak.

It has been suggested that this coalition be headed by Lewis Maltby. Mr. Maltby is the founder and president of the National Workrights Institute. He also founded the National Workplace Rights Office of the American Civil Liberties Union, and holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Maltby is a nationally recognized expert and prolific writer on human rights in the workplace. He's also the author of Can They Do That? : Retaking Our fundamental Rights in the Workplace. In addition, until 1988 Maltby was a senior executive in the corporate community, so he brings extensive knowledge of the mindset of corporate executives. He indicates that during the time he was in the corporate world he learned that "human rights and corporate efficiency are not only compatible, but mutually reinforcing," so he would also bring a great deal of common sense to what is certain to be a vigorous national discussion. His final decision is currently pending.

Since the U S Postal Service, with more than 600,000 employees, is the second largest employer in the United States, second only to Walmart, it will be a natural target of this new organization. The postal service will also be a target due to its long history of time fraud, blatant abuse, and intimidation of its employees. But what makes the postal service a particularly large target is as a United States government agency it should be in the very forefront of the fight for workers' rights.

For decades U.S. presidents have gone all over the globe lecturing world leaders on human rights. Yet, our very own United States Postal Service is among the worst abusers of workers' rights outside of the third world.

As mentioned in previous columns in this series, the postal service's policy of forcing employees to work four to six hours without pay, falsifying clock rings and deleting hours of employees who were gainfully employed, then intimidating the employees in order to prevent them from reporting the matter is routine business on a daily basis within the postal service. One postal supervisor even reported to this writer that she personally witnessed a manager forge an employee's resignation. This sort of activity is unconscionable, and must come to an end.

On Thursday, April 22, President Obama went to Cooper Union College in New York City and lectured the financial community on the need to curb its corrupt business practices. He pointed out that their business model led directly to this nation's financial crisis, and brought severe hardship upon millions of American people. But ironically, his words also serve to condemn the business practices of his very own United States Postal Service.

The corporate assault on the middle class has become blatant. The Massey Energy Company ignored 1,342 safety violations going back to 2005. That led directly to the death of 29 coal miners. And according to platform-worker, Tyrone Benton, British Petroleum ignored several safety concerns on the oil rig 24 hours before the explosion. That saved the company $500,000 a day in down time, but it led to the untimely death of 11employees, and the worst oil spill disaster in United States history. Similarly unconcerned about the welfare of its workers, the U.S. Postal Service is committing Blatant felonies against its employees with complete impunity on a daily basis.

So the trend is clear. Corporate America has set a policy of ignoring the safety, rights, and financial interests of the American poor and middle-class in their blind pursuit of ever more wealth - and the United States government has no intention of doing a thing about it.  In fact, Republican congressman, Joe Barton of Texas, apologized to British Petroleum for having to take responsibility for its criminal negligence.

This has been going on for years. Michelle Mairesse wrote,

"Judicial Watch represents hundreds of postal workers from the Brentwood Postal Facility in Washington, DC. Until the Brentwood facility was finally condemned by the CDC, Brentwood postal workers handled all of the mail for Washington, DC, including the ‘official mail’ that contained the anthrax-laden envelopes addressed to Senators Daschle and Leahy. While Capitol Hill workers received prompt medical care, Brentwood postal workers were ordered by USPS officials to continue working in the contaminated facility. Two Brentwood workers died from inhalation anthrax, and dozens more are suffering from a variety of ailments related to the anthrax attacks. A variety of legal actions are being planned for the disparate treatment and reckless endangerment the Brentwood postal workers faced."

If we want America to remain America, we must fight this sort of reckless disregard for American workers.

Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

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

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Is the Government Putting Something in the Water?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Is the Government Putting Something in the Water?

When I was a teenager my grandfather once told me that when you start thinking that everyone else is crazy, it's time to look in the mirror. Well, it must be my time, because this country is looking more and more like a Stepford society to me every day.

It must be something in the water, because every since the Reagan era the American people seem to be walking in their sleep, allowing the government and multinational corporations to cut their throats at will.

During Iran-Contra we simply stood by while Ronald Reagan sold arms to the very people that our troops are now facing, and there is strong evidence that suggest that he made a deal with the Iranians to hold American hostages until after the election. Then we watched in complete and utter silence as he flooded our inner cities with drugs in order to support his illegal excursion into Nicaragua. We also stood idly by while under Reaganomics he allowed speculators to dismantle our industrial base and sell off some of our largest corporations one piece at a time to benefit a small handful of people.

But the Republicans told us to not to worry. They said, if you'll just give up the right to write off the interest on your credit cards and other debts temporarily, the rewards that the rich are enjoying will eventually "trickle down," and you'll all be showered with the benefits of a robust economy. But their promise never came to past. The only thing that trickled down was our having to pay the tax burden of the rich - and even as I write, the rich are enjoying additional tax breaks while we still haven't regained the simple right to write off the interest on our debts.

As a direct result of our apathy, we're still suffering from the effects of our stupidity today, thirty years later, and due to the assault on our educational system we haven't learned a thing. So now the Republican Party and their corporate cronies have an entirely new generation of victims in which to feed that nonsense. They recycle their crap about every ten years, after the American people have time to forget the disaster they created previously. A simple review of history will show that going all the way back to 1900, with few exceptions, every time the Republicans come into office the middle class has to pay a price. Republican policies were responsible for the Great Depression, but let's just look at recent history.

Due to the freewheeling fiscal policies of conservative Republicans, between 1986 and 1989, spanning the presidencies of Reagan and Bush Sr., the FSLIC had to pay off all the depositors of 296 institutions with assets of over $125 billion, while the American people just stood around and watched.

In 1988 Silverado Savings and Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $1.3 billion. It was headed by Neil Bush, brother of George W. The investigation alleged that he was guilty of "breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest." The issue was eventually settled out of court with Bush paying a mere $50,000 settlement. Yet, again, we just stood by and watched.

In 1989 there was the Lincoln Savings and Loan scandal, involving Charles Keating and John McCain. Lincoln went bankrupt, and it resulted in over 21,000 investors losing their life savings. Most of the investors were elderly, and the loss amounted to about 285 million dollars. Thereafter, John McCain was censured by the Senate for trying to use his influence to protect Keating, who ended up going to the federal penitentiary. Yet, again, we simply stood around with a blank look on our faces.

We also stood by and watched while Dick Cheney, under Bush Sr, reconfigure our military to sell off many of its most vital functions to private corporations. The Republicans are always talking about wasteful spending. Well, consider this - we now spend billions of dollars to have the most awesome military force in the world guarded by private security guards. How does that make any fiscal sense?

Well it certainly made sense to Cheney, because he walked right out the door into the arms of Haliburton to make a killing on the windfall profits from this scam. And if that wasn't enough, he then returned as vice president to expand the money-making potential of the scam by lying to the American people in order to invade Iraq.

That led to the death and maiming of thousands of American troops, and nearly a million Iraqi citizens - and all in the name of exhausting our national treasury and transferring the nation's wealth into the pockets of his friends, cronies, and colleagues. But still, the American people didn't say a word. We simply continued to walk around like zombies with a blank look on our collective faces as we stared into the void of MTV, BET, and ESPN.

The level of our stupidity must have even shocked them. So they looked at one another and said, "What the Hell, we've exhausted the national treasury, but they still have a few dollars in their pockets." So they hit us with the Wall Street scam. Yet, even with that, we're still walking around in a stuporous daze.

They're able to get away with what they have because our current population is so undereducated and distracted by our hedonistic pursuits that we have no sense of history. Also due to our lack of education, they've been able to convince many of us that any attempt to protect ourselves and our families from this corporate fraud constitutes socialism. It's the American way to allow Haliburton to raid our treasury to electrocute our troops and provide them with contaminated water, but it's a socialist plot to spend a dime on putting Americans back to work, or provide our families with affordable healthcare.

Thus, the American people are rapidly sliding down a slippery slope where corruption is considered the norm. That's why I'm weighing in so heavily on the corruption that's taking place in the postal service. In the past, the government protected the American people from fraud and abuse, so private corporations had to steal from us covertly. But gradually the mores of our society changed to where private corporations could do it openly. But now, the government has gotten in on the act. The United States Postal Service has now embraced the philosophy that it's perfectly alright to commit acts of abuse, intimidation, and actual felonies against American citizens - and many the victims of these moral atrocities are the very veterans that this nation claims to honor. 

When are we going to say enough is enough? It had better be soon, because at the rate that America is descending into the despotic abyss, it won't be long before Washington's corporate puppets outlaw our right to dissent.

Where are you, President Obama? The postal service is a United States government agency. You could improve the lives of over 600,000 Americans with a simple phone call. Why hasn't that call been made, Mr. President? Where is that change you promised that we could believe in?


The Postmaster General, and Inspector General, must go!

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Chairman Edolphus Towns
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-5051



Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

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

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