An Open Letter to Pacifica Radio: Regarding the Dropping of Smiley and West

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

An Open Letter to Pacifica Radio: Regarding the Dropping of Smiley and West 

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ARE THEY BEGINNING TO SEE
THE WRITING ON THE WALL?

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Board of Directors,
Pacifica Foundation:
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I'm writing in response to the recent announcement that the Pacifica Foundation has appointed it's own chairman, Summer Reese, as Executive Director. Admittedly, at this point I know very little about Director Reese, but I intend to address that issue immediately so as to gain a better understanding of what's going on within the organization that has caused it to become so far out of touch with what’s currently going on in the Black community.

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Ms Reese has started off her tenure as Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation by making one of the worst moves she could have ever made, at least, with respect to the Black community. By intervening in the Tavis Smiley/Cornel West controversy at radio station WBEZ she has clearly demonstrated that she is completely out of touch with the shifting sands in the Black community. While on the other hand, by discontinuing the services of Smiley and West, Torey Malatia at WBEZ and the three other stations that took similar actions, clearly demonstrated that they have their finger on the pulse of what's going on in the community. So it is Dir. Reese who is out of touch with the rumblings within the community, not the people that she's criticizing.

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Ms. Reese was quoted as saying, "It is disappointing when the term advocacy is used as a smear to trivialize the presentation of intelligent and passionate discussion that is sometimes critical of the American status quo." That quote alone demonstrates that Ms. Reese is missing the entire point.

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Tavis and West have tried to preempt criticism by framing the response to their activities in a way that suggests that their critics are merely upset because they’re criticizing President Obama, and obviously, Ms. Reese has bought into that nonsense hook, line, and sinker. But that's just nonsense. It's the very same kind of RACIST and condescending nonsense that the Republican Party is arguing, and for the very same reason - demagoguery. The implication is that Black people are so blinded by race that we don't have sense enough to know what's in our own best interest, and the mere fact that Tavis and West would join racists in promoting such a degrading and condescending argument speaks volumes about how little respect they have for the intelligence of the Black community. 

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Many in the Black community have criticized President Obama, just like we criticize any other president, including myself. I’ve written several articles criticizing the Obama, but I made sure that they were always issue specific, respectful, and free of unsubstantiated innuendo. http://wattree.blogspot.com/2008/07/journalists-first-responsibility_04.html

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So the issue that’s stirring many in the Black community has absolutely nothing to do with attempting to stifle "intelligent and passionate discussion," as Ms. Reese suggests. The issue is, many believe that Smiley and West are exploiting their high profile in the Black community to promote personal vendettas and lucrative marketing campaigns without any regard for the fact that their activities are detrimental to the Black community’s interest as a whole.
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Tavis Smiley and Cornel West's activities during this election season are identical to the activities of Ralph Nader and Cornel West's in the 2000 election that got George Bush elected. So West is either purposely trying to sabotage the Black community, are he's too dumb to be given a public platform in the first place.

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During the 2000 election Cornel West join forces with Ralph Nader under the very same pretext - "to stimulated vigorous and intelligent discussion." But what did it get us? It got us eight years of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and it was directly responsible for placing America - and the Black community - in the very economic condition that West is currently complaining about. George W. Bush won the 2000 election by a mere 537 votes. The Nader-West coalition peel off 97,488 votes in Florida alone, so Cornel West is, literally, like a man who's dug a ditch and is now complaining because Obama's not filling it in fast enough. Yet, Ms. Reese is arguing that dropping these two demagogues constitute stifling intelligent and passionate discussion!!?  Please be serious.

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The fact is, it’s not WHAT Tavis and West are saying that has the Black community up in arms, it’s WHY we suspect they're saying it. After all, couldn't they wait until AFTER the election, and AFTER we've made sure that we've protected the Black community and poor and middle-class America from corporate fascists, and THEN have this "intelligent and passionate" discussion? But of course, Tavis and West would argue that once reelected, President Obama wouldn't have an incentive to listen. But that's not true. Every president is concerned about his legacy, and as the first Black president that's even more true of Obama than most. In addition, President Obama has two daughters who'll have to live with his legacy for the rest of their lives. Thus, President Obama's actions in office will determine whether they live their lives as American princesses, or pariahs. Certainly the highly intellectual Cornel West recognizes that fact - doesn't he?

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So what's so important for us to discuss at this particular time that it's worth sabotaging this election, and possibly, the future of America? After all, it's not like we have a viable alternative to President Obama. So personally, I can't think of a thing, and neither can many others in the Black community. The only thing we can see is a personal agenda - and then, when you put that together with Tavis Smiley's all-consuming penchant for self-promotion, and his close ties to Walmart, Nationwide Insurance, Wells Fargo, and other corporate interests, that leaves the Black community very suspicious of these two characters. In addition, the Black community is not nearly so dense that we don't recognize that every time these two go on one of their "poverty tours" that they have something to sell under their arm.
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In fact, the political activity of Tavis and West strays so far outside the boundaries of common sense that many in the community are beginning to suspect the possibility of much more sinister motives. In his article, "My Republican Party has Abandoned Me," Black Republican activist, Raynard Jackson, says the following:

RAYNARD JACKSON

"For many years, I have approached the party and its supporters about underwriting programs to bring together Blacks who are Republican or lean Republican so we can weave them into every facet of the party structure. The answer is always, no! But, twice this year some of these same people have approached me about funding for some election year tricks that they (White Republicans) have conjured up and simply need a Black face to execute the plan. On these two separate occasions, these funders were willing to spend upwards of $20 million to have me organize a national campaign to identify Blacks who would be critical of President Obama."
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Hmmmmmm.

Twenty million dollars - that's a lot of money. And thanks to Mr. Jackson, we now have absolute conformation that the GOP is predisposed to playing footsie with the electoral system. But due to a lack of smoking-gun evidence, the jury is still out on Tavis and West. No matter how many dots we might connect - Tavis' connection with GOP-afilliated corporations like Walmart, Wells Fargo, and nationwide Insurance, and his active campaigning against President Obama in the battle ground states just before the election - unless we find a smoking gun, we recognize that any evidence impugning his credibility would be purely circumstantial. And unlike Tavis and West, with regard to their reckless and unsubstantiated accusations against President Obama, we understand the importance of giving them the benefit of the doubt, and one would think that a true scholar would understand the improtance of solid substantiation as well.
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Nevertheless, both men are experiencing a precipitous fall from grace in the Black community. Radio Station WBEZ pointed out that their listenership went from 37,900 to 13,200. That means that out of nearly 38,000 listeners, they lost nearly 25,000. That's a dramatic decline in their listenership (65%), and I'd say, that perfectly corresponds with their pronounced decline in the Black community.

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Tavis and West have become the new Amos & Andy of the Black community, and their trajectory is identical. They not only fail to represent Black interests, but they've become a major liability and embarrassment to many in the community. This will become more readily apparent as they begin to lose the major corporate sponsors currently propping them up - corporations that make it their business to know what’s going on in the community. Once these major corporations begin to see that these two have become liabilities rather than assets, they’re going to drop them like hot rivets. They probably already see it, but Tavis and West are still of marginal value - at least, until after the election.

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So while I have no idea what kind of executive Ms. Reese is, her criticism of Torey Malatia, WBEZ, and the three other stations that dropped Smiley and West was a huge mistake. Because essentially what she's done is admonished these people for recognizing the condition of the Titanic, and then having the good sense to paddle away in lifeboats before the undertow could tarnish their brand and take them down with the ship.
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Pacifica Foundation

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pacifica-Foundation/88069796661
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It’s Time To Boycott Tavis/West and All Black on Black Racists http://wattree.blogspot.com/2012/09/its-time-to-boycott-tavis-west-and-all.html

 

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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Republican Campaign Strategy - Division and Distraction

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Republican Campaign Strategy - Division and Distraction

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The Republic Party has only one agenda during this political campaign , and that’s to keep the American people distracted from clearly looking at the facts. But the bottom line is this:

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1). The GOP was such an unmitigated disaster for eight years under George W. Bush that they’ve had to keep him in hiding.

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2). We haven't had but one successful Republican president in nearly 100 years. That was Ike Eisenhower nearly 60 years ago, and as his very last act of office he warned America to beware of his very own Republican Party - or the Military/Industrial Complex.

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3). Under the Bush administration the nation was hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs A MONTH. Under Obama the nation has now gained over 5 million jobs - and that's with the Republican Party fighting him tooth-n-nail.

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4). Ronald Reagan, the hero of the Republican Party, and the one who first floated the economic plan that Republicans are pursuing, tripled the national debt. Ronald Reagan was the most prolific spender of all of the presidents before him - COMBINED.

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5). One of the reasons that we're in this economic mess is because the GOP used the "search" for Osama Bin Laden as a pretext to soak our national treasury and attack the middle class safety net, which they've been after for over 70 years. Then Obama came into office and got Bin Laden with a handful of men and two helicopters.

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SO AMERICA, DON’T ALLOW YOURSELVES TO BE DISTRACTED FROM THE FACTS. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS DEDICATED TO LOWERING THE STANDARD OF LIVING OF THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS IN ORDER TO HELP BIG BUSINESS TO COMPETE WITH THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES - PERIOD.

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IF YOU LOOK BENEATH EVERY ONE OF THEIR POLICIES YOU'LL FIND THAT THEY ALL HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON - THEY PROMOTE THAT AGENDA:

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* Citizens-United allows big business to control our political system.

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* Their attack on teachers and our educational system chips away at the middle class and makes us more manageable. They want to keep us uninformed about the kind of things that I'm telling you right now. 

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* Their attack on labor unions takes away the voice of middle class workers.

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* Their attack on science, safety, and environmental regulations protect the profits of big business - never mind what it does to the environment or our health.

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* And their constant effort to promote division prevents the people from coming together to fight back.
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These are the tactics employed by third world countries against their people, and it has now become the new business strategy supported, and promoted, by the Republican Party - WORKERS BE DAMNED! 

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THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS WRITTEN OFF 47% OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AS DEADBEATS.

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THINK ABOUT THAT!
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Related Article
The GOP: A One Hundred Year History of Swindling the American People
 

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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AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: THE CONVERSION

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: THE CONVERSION

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I'm against ALL racists, whether they be Black or White. One must be evenhanded in that respect, because one cannot claim to be against racists without being against RACISM, in all its guises. Thus, in the most literal sense, I'm something of a bigot myself - I'm an absolute bigot against anyone who takes pride in their own stupidity - and that's exactly what ALL racists do, irrespective of their ethnicity, as clearly evidenced by Bishop E.W. Jackson in the video above.  The irony of the video is, the good Bishop fails to realize that he's been so traumatized by the very views that he's espousing that he's become a classic victim of the Stockholm syndrome.  

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With regard to his message, in the fight against racism, and bigotry in general, we must have the presence of mind to distinguish between the delusions of racism and the discomfort of truth. E.W. Bishop, shown above, is both a victim and a disseminator of racist, White male Anglo-Saxon Protestant bigotry based entirely on a deluded distortion of fact. He's an ideologue, who's clearly giving ideology priority over truth.

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Rev. Jerimiah Wright

On the other hand, Rev. Jerimiah Wright has also been portrayed as a racist.  But Rev.Wright is not a racist at all. He simply held a mirror up for America to take a look at itself.  But since America is not used to such unfarnished honesty, it was simpler for the American people to spin Rev. Wright into a caricature that was more acceptable to American sensibilities - "It ain't nothing wrong with America; that's just the rantings of one delusional and unGodly preacher." But the fact is, even though America is filled to the brim with wonderful people of every race, the United States has been one of the most blatantly hypocritical, disgustingly greedy, and shamelessly barbaric nations that has EVER existed on the face of the Earth, and Rev. Wright, being a man of the cloth, merely told us so, just as Jesus Christ would have done had he been preaching in Wright's place. The facts are clear and undeniable:

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The Conversion

 "Come here nigga and let me teach yo crazy, animal ass about the Lord. The first thing you got to learn is to Love thy Neighbor . . . especially me."

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"Yes sir, Massa. Why would anybody not love you, Sir? You so good to me, Massa. Anybody don't love you needs to have dey ass beat real good, Massa."

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"Shut up, nigga. I'm talkin'."
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"Listen, you been blessed already, and you don't even know the Lord. The Lord made it where you don't have to worry 'bout a thing. I feed you, I put clothes on yo nasty ass, and I give you a shed to sleep in, and all you have to do is whatever the hell I tell you to. Do you know how blessed you are?"
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"Oh, indeed I do, Massa. You take good care of me. I's so happy."
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"Now, listen real good 'cause dis impotant. God said, thou shalt not steal from me, thou shalt not kill (unless I tell you to), thou shalt not stick another coon's wife (unless we tryin' to make some mo niggas), and nigga, whatever you do, thou shalt not even look like you want to stick a white woman, or we gon lynch yo black ass. You here me, nigga?"
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"Oh yes, Massa. We know dat! But Massa, I thought you said thou shalt not kill?"
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"Dat means people, fool - real people!  Dat don't go for niggas. God wants us to keep you in yo place."
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"Dat's right, Massa. We sho gotta keep niggas in dey place. No tellin' what a happen if we let dese niggas git loose. God so smart."
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"I said shut up, nigga, and listen to the word."
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"The next thing you got to learn is, whatever happens on this plantation is God's will bein' done. And if you listen to me, you'll get to live like I do when you die and go to Heaven."
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"Live like you, massa? A nigga ain't got no business livin' dat good. What a Po nigga like me gon do with all this? You know I ain't got sense enough to run nothin' like this."
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"Just shut up, nigga!" When you dead you gon get some sense - the lord gon give it to you. The Lord can do anything, even give sense to a nigga. And he gon give you all the other niggas you gon need to help you in the fields, too."
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"Massa, you so good to me! Thank you for tellin' me all dis. I'm gon be a good nigga - the best nigga you ever seened. Look, I'm gon pray for you right now, and thank the Lord for givin' me so good a massa."
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"Shut up and get up off your knees, ya dumb nigga! The fields need tendin'! You pray to the Lord on your own time. God don't won't you talkin' to him when you s'pose to be workin'."
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"A couse, Massa. What I been thinkin'? I's so dumb. I don't know why you put up with me, Sir."
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"How many times I got to tell you to shut the hell up, nigga?"
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"Yes Sir, I's a shuttin', Massa. I's a shuttin', right now."
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"Now get yo ass out there in that field and let's get some work done around here . . . Oh, and Toby, have yo woman meet me in the barn. I need to tell her 'bout the Lord too."
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"Yes sir, Massa."
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"And another thing, Toby, if my momma come a lookin', tell her I'm playin' in my tree house."
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"Why you gon go fibbin' to yo momma, Mr. Tommy? She knows you like to sit wit Lou Ann."
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"Just shut up, nigga, and do what I said! And tell Lou Ann to wear that pretty dress I like, cause we gon be talkin' 'bout the Lord, so it's gon be like chuch."
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"Yes Sir, Mr. Tommy." . . . "Whaaaaaaat a friend we have in Jeeeeesus . . ."

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"ONE NATION

 UNDER GOD,

WITH LIBERTY,

AND JUSTICE,

FOR ALL."

Hmmmmmmmm . . . No shit?

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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IS OBAMA THE REAL REASON BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT IS SO HIGH?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

IS OBAMA THE REAL REASON BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT IS SO HIGH?

WHAT COULD OBAMA DO
TO GET YOU TO HIRE THIS BROTHER?

During this deep recession, and true to 400 years of Black history, we have a group of Black, Black haters and poverty pimps running all over the country selling their books, promoting their television and radio shows, elevating their speaking fees, and playing crabs-in-a-barrel by blaming President Obama for the high unemployment in the Black community.
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Never mind that we’re in the deepest recession since the Great Depression, and in spite of that, President Obama has managed to created over 5 million jobs with a Republican congress kicking, screaming, and hanging on to his ankles every step of the way. And never mind that under Bush the nation was hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs a MONTH without these very same poverty pimps saying a word.
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And again, never mind that in the process of saving the nation from another Great Depression, President Obama also managed to take out Osama Bin Laden in the process, a feat that eluded George W. Bush for nearly eight years, and Bush's failed effort in that respect contributed mightily to the economic situation that we currently find ourselves - in fact, it might have been a pretext to purposely bring us to this point in order to attack Social Security, Medicare, and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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But the poverty pimps and haters won't tell us any of that, because they have their own agenda - a huge part of which is to only tell the people what they WANT to hear, and NEVER, EVER what they NEED to hear. So they conveniently neglect to tell us any of the things above, and they certainly won’t tell us about the things that we need to do for ourselves in order to mitigate our situation. That would be too much like "blaming the victim." So at the risk of sending these pimps into shock, I’d like to address one of these issues myself - the image that we’re projecting to the world, and the impact it’s having on our ability to obtain employment.
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Question: Why are Black People always portrayed like this? We're always portrayed as either grinnin' like ches cats, or too cool to be trusted. Do we ever see Asians portrayed in this way? Now, I'm not saying it's a conspiracy, but it's a reality that we need to change.
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On the surface it seems like all the sister below is doing is dancing, but if every time we see a Black person it's like this, it makes us look like we don't have a brain in our head. No wonder nobody takes us seriously. So this commercial may seem harmless, but every time a Black person applies for a job the interviewer has this, or something like it, dancing around in the back of his or her head. We need to start thinking about this stuff, because image is everything - and this image is killing us.
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As I pointed out above, the problem is not the sister herself. On the surface she's just a sister dancing, and the message is even positive - she's dancing because Western Union made it easier to send money to her child in college. But the BBQ, or watermelon, is in the image being projected. I guarantee you that if they had an Asian in this commercial the image being projected would have been much different.
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After repeatedly showing Black people in this light - always grinnin', always dancing, and always being engaged in something frivolous, it sends a subliminal message to the world that creates a caricature of who we actually are. It suggests that we're a mindless and frivolous people, or court jesters. So yes, on the surface it simply looks like we see a sister dancing, but if a human resources person had just seen that commercial - then a commercial of an Asian woman sitting at a desk looking professional, or being portrayed as a doctor or scientist - then later, interviewed a Black woman and an Asian woman who are equally qualified for a job, which one do you think would be hired?
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The most unique aspect of our culture is not our rhythm, it's our creativity, and that's a very important thing to remember, because when any cognitive scientist looks for intelligence in any animal, including man, the very first thing they look for is creativity. The reason for that is, the very same creativity that goes into the making of an Areatha Franklin, Ray Charles, or John Coltrane, can easily be redirected toward becoming a Barack Obama, or finding a cure for cancer.
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So simply having rhythm is not who we are - that's who many want us to THINK we are. Having rhythm,"soul," and even being cool is just the outward manifestation of our creativity and intellectual potential trying it's best to break out of its shakles to express itself. A good example of that is the fact that the only thing I love more than writing is playing the saxophone, but my ability to think and express myself on paper springs directly from the very same source of creativity that allows me to play 'Round Midnight' on my horn. It's the very same thing. So even as I write this piece, I feel like I'm playing a solo - it's tickling the very same part of my soul.
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All any individual is, is a large bundle of past experiences. The very same thing is true of cultures. All Jews are not just innately good businessmen, all Asians are not innately good at math and science, and all Black people don't just naturally have soul. We learn these things as we grow up. Every culture, as a result of it's cultural experiences, tend to assume a cultural niche in society. The culture becomes known for those things that it specializes in.
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The Black culture has become known for music, sports, and art. But that's only because those were the only areas of society in which we were able to freely participate. But now that has changed, so it's time for us to break out of the artificial bounderies placed upon us and find out who we really are. Maybe Johnny Cochran, Colin Powell, and Barack Obama are not the exception, but the rule.
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So the way this sister in being portrayed in this Western Union commercial constitutes nothing short of allowing ourselves to be profiled, and not in the most flattering way. It not only amounts to an updated version of Steppin Fetchism, but it also stifles our young people's ability to see themselves in any other way. So as Black people - if for no other reason than for our children - we must never allow either ourselves, our children, or the world, to forget that Black people have much more to offer than simply jokes, jump shots, and rhythm.

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 EVEN AS OUR CHILDREN ARE BEING UNDERMINED, UNDEREDUCATED, AND SOCIALLY DISENFRANCHISED, WE'RE BEING PORTRAYED AS HAPPY IDIOTS.

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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DEAR MR. PRESIDENT

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

           DEAR MR. PRESIDENT

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May the last debate be a lesson to you,

one that we sincerely hope you grasp;

While the American people love a nice guy,

we want a president willing to kick ass.

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You’ve let the Republicans strut about,

talking shit and calling you names,

while you’ve tried to make excellence

you’re calling card,

and made competence the key to your game.

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But this is America - you’re not on the court,

playing ball with your buds who are fair;

You must target their asses, and firmly affix,

your executive Florsheims in there.

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So, why should the President of the United States listen to me?
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The answer to that question is quite simple, Mr. President. I've written you several letters over the years, and every one of them turned out to be not only right on the money, but if I may say so myself, have risen to the level of prophecy. On November 2, 2009, I wrote an article directed at you entitled Could Obama Fall Victim to a Lack of Change We Can Believe in?  And I felt so strongly about the issue that I reprised it on March 22, 2011. The article said the following:
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"There's only two legitimate reasons to have our troops in that part of the world. The first is obvious - to make damn sure the nuclear missiles in Pakistan don't fall into the hands of Al Qaeda. The second reason is to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice. So why can't we simply pull out of Afghanistan and deploy enough troops in Pakistan to protect the missiles, then let the CIA and law enforcement deal with Osama? That way we save both treasure and lives, and we're not creating more enemies for the United States by killing innocent people.
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"But many Independents suspect that there's another agenda afoot. Actually, Cheney's giving it away. Independents recognize that Dick Cheney has absolutely no integrity, so when he gets passionate over an issue we know to follow either the money or power. Thus, many Independents suspect that what's actually behind Cheney's insistence that we go recklessly rushing into Afghanistan has much more to do with Halliburton's bottom line than it does America's best interest. And while Obama has shown himself to be an excellent president in many ways, his one shortcoming - and a shortcoming that may very well bring him down in the end - is his tendency to try to appease the stupidity and greed of the GOP.
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"The President needs to recognize that there is nothing he can do that's going to make him acceptable to the GOP - that is, unless he agrees to appoint a Republican vice president, and then resign. By now it should be clear that even while he's asleep, the GOP is trying to hatch plans to destroy him. So by spending more time thinking about them than he is his base, he's playing right into their hands.
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"I mentioned power as one of the reasons that Cheney's trying to rush the president into Afghanistan. I wonder if the president has considered the fact that Cheney just might be trying to get him to make the same kind of mistake in Afghanistan [and now Libya] that the Bush Administration made in Iraq in order to take the Iraq issue off the table for the 2012 election? If during the 2012 campaign America is bogged down in Afghanistan with the useless death of thousands of U.S. troops, all of a sudden, Bush, Cheney, and the GOP won't look all that bad. The president should think about that possibility, since the mechinations of Dick Cheney makes Machiavelli look like a trainee.
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"On the other hand, if the president would have the CIA go after Osama Bin Laden (through the use of intelligence, instead of blindly shooting at rocks), then pull out of Afghanistan and make an agreement with the government of Pakistan to help them protect their nuclear arsenal, he'll be looking pretty good in 2012, and he won't have the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops to have to justify."
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Hmmmm, sounds like I wrote that while gazing into a crystal ball. But actually, there's nothing special about that. Many of your supporters could have predicted everything that I did. That's why many of them are jumping up and down in frustration. Because both the Republican Party, and the political landscape, are completely transparent and predictable when you're not engulfed in Washington's fog of political triangulation. So based purely on the accuracy my track record, here's my take on the best way to deal with Romney.
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To Romney/Ryan:
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"Your plan to resolve the deficit has gone from Voodoo Economics to Lost in Space. It sounds like it was crafted by Houdini whiile orbiting Earth in the space shuttle. You need to stop trying to tell us to believe in magic, come down to Earth, and provide the American people with some viable numbers that we Earthlings can get a handle on. Your claim that you'll negotiate the numbers with congress later is just another way of saying the numbers don't add up. If I'm wrong, at the very least you should be able to give us the numbers that you'd like to present to congress to be negotiated.  But you can't, because then you'd have to reveal to the American people that your ultimate goal is to do away with Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and homeowner deductions for the middle class. Thus, you're pushing snake oil, pure and simple."
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Thereafter you should begin to ask the specific questions that the Romney/ Ryan campaign is trying to avoid. That will get the American people focused of the fact that their plan doesn’t make sense, and the Democrats can keep referring to it for the rest of the campaign - "Here comes Houdini again." That will effectively end the Republican campaign, because the more they continue to avoid giving straight answers, the more your message will be reinforced in the people's mind.
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And another thing, stop letting the Republicans choose what's appropriate and what's inappropriate to be discussed. If they start squealing over some issue - like Romney's taxes - saying the issue is out of bounds, that's exactly the issue you should jump on, and STAY on it! You don't have to discuss just one issue at a time. Overwhelm them, and the American people, with their hypocrisy, just like they're overwhelming you, and the rest of us, with their lies. That's exactly what they've doing, you know. That's their strategy. It was clear during your debate that Romney hit you with such a barrage of lies that your mind went completely blank just trying to figure out which lie to address first - you couldn't even remember them all, much less, respond to them.
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And finally, with respect to this bipartisan crap that the Republicans keep whining about - you should tell them, "Hell no I'm not gonna be bipartisan, not as long as the GOP continues to put your lust for power and greed before the interest of the American people." And you should keep on saying that loud and clear until it gets through to the people. Because there's a large segment of the American population who don't see anything until they're told to look. So if you don't say it, they won't see it.
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So you need to drop all the politeness and go for broke. If you don't, you're going to remembered as the nicest president who's ever been defeated. Because at this point, all that group I mentioned is seeing, are the lies they're being told by the Republican Party.

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SOUND FAMILIAR?
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Related Article

THE GOP: A ONE HUNDRED YEAR RECORD OF SWINDLING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

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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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A Gift From the GOP

 Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

A Gift From the GOP

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After President Obama took the oath of office the chairman of the fed went to him and said, "If you don't do something by MONDAY, our economy is going to collapse." This was a gift from the Republican Party. These people
are not hiding the last Republican president and vice president for nothing. Under Bush, the nation was losing 800,000 jobs a MONTH. Now, just ask yourselves, who was the last Republican president who DIDN’T drag America under a bus?

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ENTRUSTING THIS NATION AND OUR ECONOMY TO THE GOP WOULD BE LIKE ENTRUSTING OUR CHILDREN TO CONVICTED CHILD MOLESTERS.

THE GOP: A ONE HUNDRED YEAR RECORD OF SWINDLING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

In 1921 -- eight years before the great depression -- Republicans took over the helm of this nation for 12 years. During that time there were three Republican administrations, the first of which was the administration of Warren G. Harding. History remembers Harding's administration for one thing more than anything other -- scandal. It was during Harding's presidency that the Teapot Dome Scandal erupted. His administration was considered the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States -- until Nixon's, then Reagan's, and finally Bush's.

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Next, in 1923, came Calvin Coolidge, the president that Ronald Reagan is said to have most admired. Coolidge's policies of large tax cuts, allowing business a free-rein, and his encouragement of stock speculation contributed greatly to the impending stock market crash and the great depression that was to come.

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Then in 1929 Herbert Hoover came to power. During his administration the stock market crashed, starting the great depression. In spite of the fact that by 1933 the unemployment rate was at 33.3% with 16 million people out of work, the Republican, Hoover, just sat, thinking that the economy would eventually rejuvenate itself. During Hoover's administration 15,000 WWI veterans marched on Washington demanding that they be paid what they were owed by the government. Hoover responded by calling in federal troops to throw these ex-servicemen off government property.

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Finally in 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a liberal democrat, was elected overwhelmingly. He immediately surrounded himself with a group of the finest minds in the country, including Columbia professors Adolph A. Berle, Jr., Rexford G. Tugwell, and Raymond Moley, known at the time as the "Brain Trust." After assembling these men and others he went about the business of developing a" New Deal" for the working class people of this country.

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The New Deal had two components -- one to help the economy to recover from the effects of the great depression, and a second component to give relief to the American people and to insure that they were never be placed in a position of total destitution again. To help heal the economy Roosevelt created programs that regulated business, controlled inflation, and brought about price stabilization; to bring relief to the people he signed The National Labor Relations Act which guaranteed workers the right to collective bargaining, and he created the Social Security Administration to guarantee workers some sort of income once they became too old to work. He also signed the Fair Labor Standards Act which protected workers rights and set a minimum wage for workers.

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With his New Deal in place Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this "bleeding heart liberal", not only led this country out of the worst, Republican generated, crisis that this country has ever faced, but went on to lead the free world in victory over Hitler in WWII. He then ushered in the most sustained prosperity that the world has ever known.

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One would think that conservatives would have seen the light, but their passion to further enrich the wealthy at the expense of the middle and lower classes seems to supersede all logic. Therefore, from the moment that the New Deal went into place, conservatives have been determined to dismantle it. The closest they've come to succeeding started during the Reagan administration with Supply-Side Economics, or, "Reaganomics" -- and the battle is currently raging in Washington D.C. as we speak.

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Supply- Side Economics was a scheme hatch by U.S.C. economist Arthur Laffer and the Reagan crowd which was supposed to cut the deficit and balance the budget. The theory behind Reaganomics was ostensibly, if you cut taxes for business and people in the upper tax brackets, and then deregulated business of such nuisances as safety regulations and environmental safeguards, the beneficiaries would invest their savings into creating new jobs. In that way the money would eventually "trickle down" to the rest of us. The resulting broadened tax base would not only help to bring down the deficit, but also subsidize the tremendously high defense budget. When the plan was first floated, even George Bush, Reagan's vice president to be, called it "voodoo economics."

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Reaganomics, for the most part, sought to undo many of the safeguards put into place during the Roosevelt era and create a business environment similar to that which was in place during the Coolidge Administration. What actually took place, however, was even more like the Coolidge era than planed.

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Instead of taking the money and investing it into creating new jobs, the money was used in wild schemes and stock market speculation. One of these schemes, the leveraged buy out, involved buying up large companies with borrowed funds secured by the company's assets, then paying off the loan by selling off the assets of the purchased company. This practice cost the citizens of this country its industrial base. In addition, the bottom fell out of the stock market. On Monday, October 19, 1987 the Dow-Jones Average fell 508.32 points. It was the greatest one-day decline since 1914 - 15 years before the Great Depression.

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And what about Ronald Reagan's promise to balance the budget and lower the deficit? By the time he left office he was not only the most prolific spender of any president, but he also added more to the deficit than all of the other presidents from George Washington to his own administration combined. And what does the Republican Party propose to do about that? One of the Republican proposals was their "contract with America," a capitol gains tax cut -- for the rich.

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Due to the continued 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.

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Then 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.

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Then there was the Lincoln Savings and loan scandal in 1987, involving John McCain. The scandal was very similar to the one that is currently playing out on Wall Street. He was one of a group of senators dubbed "The Keating Five" involved in a scandal by the same name.

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In 1976 Charles Keating moved to Arizona to run the American Continental Corporation. In 1984, shortly after the Reagan era push to deregulate the savings and loan community, Keating bought Lincoln Savings and Loan and began to engage in highly risky investments with the depositors' savings. In 1989 the parent company, which Keating headed, 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.

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After having received over a million dollars from Keating in illegal campaign contributions, gifts, free trips, and other gratuities, the Keating Five--Senators John Glenn, Don Riegle, Dennis DeConini, Alan Cranston, and Sen. John McCain--attempted to intervene in the investigation into Keating's activities by the regulators. Later, they were admonished to varying degrees by the senate for attempting to influence regulators on Keating's behalf. Charles Keating ended up being convicted for fraud, racketeering and conspiracy, for which he received 10 years by the state court, and a 12 year sentence in federal court. After spending four and a half years in prison, his convictions were overturned. But prior to being retried, he pled guilty to a number of felonies in return for a sentence of time served.

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Then came the George W. Bush administration that caused close to a million people to die uselessly in an illegal war in Iraq, robbed the American people blind, whose fumbling ignited the longest war in American history in Afghanistan, and whose greed came very close to sending the nation into yet another depression.

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Now, after all of their repeated efforts to deplete the national treasury, they're unanimously voting against every piece of legislation that the Democrats propose to repair the damage they created, and to bring relief to the American people. Then they have the audacity to claim that they're doing it because they're concerned about deficit spending.

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They're against affordable health care for American families; they're against any kind of spending to put Americans back to work, and they're against extending unemployment insurance to relieve the burden of America's unemployed. What's particularly telling, however, is they're also against any kind of strong legislation to prevent the financial community (them) from being able to rob the American people in the future.

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The fact is, what they really want is to maintain the status quo, and make damn sure that the American people suffer until the 2012 elections so they'll have a chance to regain power and raid the treasury again. That's their one and only agenda - period.

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This is not just political rhetoric. Here is the activity of the Republican congress who ran in the 2010 election on their claim that their number one priority was to bring economic relief, and create jobs for the American people:

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History is clear. The conservative Republicans don't mind spending money, they just don't want to spend it on those who need it - us. Remember, they're the party of Alexander Hamilton, one of this country's founding fathers who believed that only those who owned property should even be allowed to vote. He also said:

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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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So, let's set the record straight. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, that "bleeding heart liberal", not only brought the nation back from the Great Depression and saved the world from Hitler during his life, but his "New Deal" for the American people gave us the greatest prosperity we've ever known, and allowed him to reach back from the grave to save the nation from Ronald Reagan 50 years after his death.

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That isn't to say that the liberal Democratic philosophy corners the market on what is in the best interest of the nation -- it is clear that both parties have had illustrious moments in the past -- but rather, this is one of those defining issues in American politics that determines whether this is to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, or a government where the citizens or nothing more than disposable resources for big business.

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In the past the Democratic Party has always been there to draw a line in the sand on this issue, but in recent history the liberal philosophy has been distorted to the point that even Democrats are distancing themselves from their own political philosophy.

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But what makes America great, are those dramatic moments in American politics when that one individual has the courage to put everything on the line to defend, protect, and save the American people from disaster. And the annals of modern American history will clearly show that during those moments, it was a "bleeding heart liberal" that stepped up to the plate. First FDR, then Bill Clinton, and now Barack Hussein Obama.

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Thus, future historians will record that there is nothing more honorable in American politics than a bleeding heart . . . because their hearts bleed for America.

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Related Post

http://republicanjobcreation.com/

Eric L. Wattree

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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It’s Time to Boycott Tavis, West, and All Black-on-Black Racists

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

It’s Time to Boycott Tavis,West, and All Black-on-Black Racists

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Like most black people I used to like and admire both Tavis Smiley and Cornel West a great deal, but after they made public fools of themselves on the very day that Barack Obama announced his intention to run for president, I decided to do a little research into them instead of simply buying into the hype. Not long thereafter it started to become clear that their images were merely facades that hid highly ambitious, self-serving, and untrustworthy clowns of the worst kind - and that assessment is not based merely upon my opinion. The most cursory review of the facts will easily bear that out.
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I found that Tavis is the most prolific corporate shill in the Black community, and he's closely associated with some of the most exploitive corporations of working class people in the country. So I began to ask myself, how can his so-called concern for the poor and middle class coexist with his association with Walmart, Nationwide Insurance, and other corporate manipulators of the poor and middle class?
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HERE’S A MESSAGE FROM A PRO-BUSINESS FRIEND OF MINE REGARDING NATIONWIDE INSURANCE.
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“One thing that caught my eye was the picture of Nationwide because it's personal. Sharon's sister was blind-sided by a drunk, uninsured motorist. Donna had been paying uninsured motorist insurance though Nationwide for years. Donna was barely conscious in the hospital when a Nationwide rep showed up with a document he told Donna to sign because it would pay the ambulance fees (about $4-5,000). Donna had broken arms, broken ribs and other major injuries. Donna barely scribbled her initials and the guy left. Several weeks later, when she got out of the hospital, her bill was in the tens of thousands of dollars. Required Physical would add thousands more, all within her policy limits. Nationwide refused to pay, citing Donna's initials on what she was told was the ambulance and ER bills. Donna was unable to have physical therapy and had to file bankruptcy. Like Sharon, Donna is an American Indian (Cherokee), lives in the country and knew/knows nothing about lawyers. By the time we found out, Nationwide's weird statute of limitations had run out and they were legally "off-the-hook". Donna is crippled and debilitated to this day.
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“Nationwide IS NOT on your side. They are scumbags to be avoided AT ALL COSTS! You have my permission to use this if you wish to help your community. Tom”
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I also began to ask myself how Tavis could possibly claim to be concerned about the plight of Black people, and then seek to pad his pocket by promoting R. Kelly, a man who became more famous for his alleged appearance in a graphic underground video of himself molesting a 14 year-old Black child than he is for his musical ability? Sure, Kelly beat the case, but the video is still out there, and it is what it is. http://newsone.com/384692/tavis-smiley-draws-child-rape-criticism-f...
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And then there's Cornel West, a man who's literally made a career of spewing the depth of his love for his people to anyone who will listen, for a fee. With West, it's always brother this, or my dear brother that, yet, as badly as we need educators in the Black community, why is it that he has never taught at a school that more than 1% of Black people could afford to attend in his entire career? If he loves his people so much, why isn't he teaching third grade in the hood, or at the very least, instructing young people at one of the many Historically Black Colleges or Universities? Isn't teaching poor and middle-class students prestigious enough for him? Doesn't he love his people enough to want to see them well educated? I guess not, because while his incessantly running mouth says one thing, his behavior consistently says another. Over the years it has become abundantly clear that he would much rather preach us a sermon than live us one.
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While it seems that West can't inconvenience himself to the point of busting a grape when it comes to helping to educate Black children, he wants us to believe that he loves the Black community so much that he was forced to join forces with Ralph Nader and help to elect George Bush in the 2000 election. Bush won the election by 537 votes. The Nader-West coalition peel off 97,488 votes in Florida alone. But, of course, West only helped to usher in the Bush-Cheney era, and the attendant misery that it brought to the Black community, in the interest of political chastity. You understand, right?
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But as horrific as that episode was, for me, its hypocrisy is more than rivaled by West's mere association with Tavis Smiley. In this latest coalition, West reminds me of a guy running down the street ranting about fascism after just having lunch with Mussolini. But many Black people can't seem to see that, because they've been so bedazzled by the hype over Cornel's resume that even though he doesn't make a bit of sense most of the time, they assume that he must be saying something so profound that their limited education is causing them to miss the point. But what point could possibly be missing when a man advocates that you become so disgusted with the Bogeyman that you elect the Devil? Dumb is dumb, even if it comes from Princeton.
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So my distaste for these two individuals run far, far deeper than their criticism of President Obama. The fact is, I’ve written several articles criticizing the president myself - as I do with every president - but I make sure that my criticisms are constructive, issue-specific, and I ALWAYS make sure that I afford the president all of the respect that he’s due. But the thrust of Tavis and West’s criticisms of President Obama are neither issue-specific, nor constructive. In fact, in the case of Cornel West, his criticisms are not only less than constructive, but they hover around a level of immaturity approaching The Dozens. So for the most part, Tavis and West are simply running around saying, "This guy ain’t no good and he can’t be trusted," under the guise of being concerned about poverty. But if you listen closely, after you get past all of the misleading rhetoric and disinformation, you'll find that the bottom line is, they’re campaigning for the Republicans as a cure for poverty, and you don't get no dummer than that. So we're dealing with one of two things here - either they're two turncoats, or they're so dumb that they shouldn't be allowed to hold a microphone.
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Thus, their mantra about "attacking the messagener" notwithstanding, I’d like to hereby assure both, Tavis and West, and the world, that my raging distaste for them has absolutely nothing to do with their criticizing Obama. My distaste for these two individuals is a direct result of what I perceive as a gaping flaw in their character. I am far less concerned about WHAT they’re saying, than I am about WHY they’re saying it. Because it's the "WHY" that's so toxic to the Black community.
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I’ve been around long enough to recognize that as African Americans, we’re products of the very same racist environment as White people. As a result, many of us are just as racist toward other Black people as any Hillbilly, and that’s exactly what I see in Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. I've never forgotten the very valuable lessons that I learned from the FBI's "Cointelpro" operation launched during the sixties to destroy the civil rights movement.
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During that time the FBI scattered turncoats, snitches, and provocateurs all through the Black community to intice us to destroy ourselves. I was just a kid, but I learned something I'll never forget during that period - always keep your eye on the ones who are always looking, acting, and talking the most militant. That's why Cornel West immediately got my attention. I also learned that a good rule of thumb when dealing with such people is to ignore what they say, and simply watch what they do. In that regard, what are Tavis and West doing at this very moment? As we speak, they're campaigning in the battleground states against Obama, and for the Republican Party.
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So it has long since become clear to me that these two are not the least bit concern about poverty. They’re simply using the term "poverty"as a convenient metaphor to misdirect the people. You see, once their criticism of President Obama backfired on them in Black community, Tavis and West had to find a way to spread their anti-Obama message without generating so much heat. So they simply started using the word "poverty" as a metaphor for "Obama," much like the Republicans use the word "welfare" as a metaphor for "Black people." So now, instead of saying, "Don't vote for Obama, they just use the word "poverty" to IMPLY that Obama’s presidency is inadequate. It’s an old psychological technique right out of the Republican playbook.
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You see, Tavis and West’s motives are exactly the same as Herman Cain’s, but they’re coming from a different direction. At least Herman Cain was honest enough to come at us as a Republican, but Tavis and West are so arrogant that they think the Black community is stupid, so they’re trying to use reverse psychology. Where Herman Cain’s message was, "Black people need to start voting Republican so the two parties will have to fight for their vote," Tavis and West are playing us stupid in a different way. They’re using militant rhetoric in order to get us to cut our own throats. They're trying to make unsophisticated voters so disgusted with Obama that they don't vote - and as every sophisticated voter knows, every Democrat who doesn't vote translates into a vote for the Republicans. So like I said, it's Cointelpro, revisited - the use of Trojan Horses to divide and conquer.
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Tavis and West are currently wrapping themselves in the legacy of Malcolm, Martin, and every other historic Black figure they can think of in order to send the message that Obama’s not being Black enough. Yet, in doing so, they know full well that it’s impossible for President Obama to become more strident in pursuit of exclusively Black issues, because then, the Republicans would use it as a weapon to tear away his White support - and he can’t get anything done without White support. Just imagine what the Black response would be if a White President said, "I’ve got to put things on hold for a moment so I can do something for White people." Black people would go berserk, but essentially, that’s exactly what Tavis and West are demanding that Obama do - but again, just like the Republicans - they're making their demand in race related buzz words.
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So Tavis and West have President Obama in a position where if he continues to be the president of ALL the people, as he should be, they’re going to divide his Black support; but if he caters to their call for him to pay special attention to the Black community, he’s going to have two problems - congress is going to dig in, so he won’t be able to get anything passed, and beyond that, it’s going to divide his White support. So instead of doing everything they can to help improve the condition of the poor and middle class (Black and White), Tavis and West are playing silly, self-serving little games to divide the people, help the Republicans, and promote their own mean-spirited agenda.
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So why are Tavis and West playing these games when they know it’s hurting both the country, and the administration of the first Black President of the United States?
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It’s simple - for spite. As I mentioned previously, since Black people are a product of the very same racist environment as White people, many Black people have attitudes that are just as arrogant, condescending, and racist toward other Blacks as any White racist, and this is clearly the case with Tavis and West. They think that they're above us, and that we're undereducated and politically unsophisticated idiots that they can play to their advantage.
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You see, contrary to what they would have us believe, these two don’t love Black people - they think they OWN us. They don’t see us as people - they see us as a commodity to be manipulated, bartered and sold. That explains why Tavis and West are so upset with President Obama. When he went around them to get our vote, as far as they were concerned, he stole something from them.
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If you go back and review the video of Cornel West ranting over the fact that Obama decided to hold a press conference to announce his intent to run for President of the United States instead of attending Tavis Smiley’s "State of the Black Union" broadcast, you’ll notice a clear sense of entitlement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXj3_pjTTwg&feature=player_embedded. West takes the position that when Obama failed to come on Tavis's show, he turned his back on the entire Black community. I'd never heard such balloon-headed arrogance in my life! When was Tavis Smiley appointed the Grand Vizier of the Black community? 

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Tavis and West were clearly under the impression that they OWNED the Black community, and when Sen. Obama went around them to announce his intent to run for president instead of coming on the show and asking, "Mother may I?" it constituted a slight to their authority, and a huge failure in protocol on Obama’s part. They obviously believed that the proper thing for Obama to do was to come on the show and ask for their permission to borrow THEIR Black votes! Even now, they're trying to force President Obama to meet with them. Who the hell do they think they are?  We've got to bring these two egomaniacs down to Earth.

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This bears repeating. Tavis and West hate Obama because in their unmitigated arrogance they feel like he stole something from them - us, Black voters. They felt that they had us in their pocket like a commodity to be bought and sold, and they were right. They were - and they or - making money off of us. Large corporations, like Walmart will come to Tavis Smiley and ask, "How much would you charge to deliver the Black community to us?" And he tells them. So while Tavis and West speak of "loving their people," that's not exactly what it is. They don't see us as their loved ones; they see us as their whoes, and the evidence of that is glaring.

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DO YOU BELIEVE THAT NATIONWIDE IS ON YOUR SIDE?
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT TAVIS DOES?
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Tavis’ Solicitation To Corporate Sponsors (like Nationwide)

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"Tavis Smiley builds brand identification and strengthens your corporate image. Sponsors benefit from the "HALO EFFECT" of being associated with PBS and NPR and its mission to make a meaningful contribution to our community. Nearly 85% of consumers believe such HIGHER-PURPOSE, CAUSE-RELATED marketing creates a positive image for sponsors. And almost two-thirds of PBS viewers and NPR listeners are MORE LIKELY TO PURCHASE the product or service of a PBS or NPR underwriter."
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As for West, the man is greedy, immature, and petty. He complained because "The guy who carried my bags into the hotel" got tickets to the inauguration and he didn't. Wouldn't you think that a person who fights for equality would love the symbolism of a worker getting into the inauguration of the President of the United States over a self-appointed VIP?  But not Cornel, he felt slighted and insulted. He felt like he was more deserving than the "HELP." And when Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry got the job with MSNBC. Wouldn't you think a man who fought for equality and loves the Black community would be delighted to see another intelligent Black female voice getting national exposure? Of course you would. But not Cornel, he issued a public statement calling her a liar and a fraud. How did that promote the interest of the black community? And is that the behavior of an enlightened intellectual? I don't think so.
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We’ve got to bring this kind of petty, self-serving, Black-on-Black racism to an end. That’s why it’s time to boycott Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and any corporation, product, or media outlet that’s associated with them. After over 400 years of manipulation, it’s time for the Black community to send out one message loud and clear - BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT FOR SALE! And we're not going to tolerate ANYONE thinking that they can walk around with us in their pocket.

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Related Articles
Suit Alleges Trusted Blacks Drew Minorities to High-Rate Loans
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TSU Drops Tavis Smiley's Name From School
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SUNY Oneonta Paid Dr. Cornel West $30,000 for one Lecture
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Cornel West is an expert showman but nothing more
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class (CARMA) 

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WHY AM I SO FIXATED ON CORNEL WEST?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

WHY AM I SO FIXATED ON CORNEL WEST?

IS THIS THE SAME CORNEL WEST WHO WAS
BAD-MOUTHING OBAMA BEFORE IT BECAME CLEAR
THAT HE WAS GOING TO WIN?

A lot of people ask me why I’m so fixated on Cornel West. The reason is simple. I grew up with brothers like West in the hood - they were a dime a dozen - so I know exactly what he’s about - nothing.
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Contrary to popular belief, there’s a wealth of both knowledge and intellect in the Black community. Johnny Cochran came out of the hood, and so did Colin Powell, Barack and Michelle Obama, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, and Charlie Parker. Langston Hughes came out of the hood - and hell, so did I. So contrary to what's reflected in the media, a large part of this nation's most valuable resource is lying dormant in the inner cities across this nation, because there, you've got to be sharp just to survive.
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But what's generally reflected in the media are the dregs of the Black community.  For every 'gangsta' in the hood, there are literally thousands of young people struggling to get ahead. But the problem is, far too many of us have allowed the media to define who we are, so we no longer have respect for our own intelligence. As a result, many young people tend to have more confidence in the intelligence of frauds like Cornel West than they have in their own ability to think.

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Many of our young people are simply taking the media's word for the fact that Cornel West is suppose to be this powerful intellect instead of actually assessing what West is saying for themselves. The problem is, they’ve been brainwashed into believing that the White man’s water is wetter than their own, so when they hear the words "Harvard" and "Princeton" connected to Cornel West’s name, they simply assume that he possesses a greater ability to think than they do, and that he can see things that they can't. That's nonsense, and it didn't used to be that way. Brother's used to define themselves based upon their ability to think, not by how 'fresh' their tennis shoes look - in fact, unless they ran track, they didn't even wear tennis shoes, because their primary goal in life was to get away from having to wear tennis shoes.
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I remember how much pride my grandparents took in me when I went off to college.  And later, when I got my degree, they stopped debating issues with me all altogether. It was like all of a sudden I went from being one of the kids to becoming the head of the family. I remember my grandmother used to say, "Well, Eric, you’re educated, so you know about all that stuff. We don't understand it."
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They didn't understand it?  They understood enough to waltz through the Great Depression while White folks were throwing themselves out of windows, and they also understood enough to managed to become financially secure in a world that threw every stumbling block before them that it could muster - and without busting a sweat bubble. I don't ever remember them having to suck-up to a landlord.  They always owned their own home.  Yet, even as they were keeping an eye on me and my young family to make sure we didn't falter, my grandmother was saying, due to my education, they didn't understand life like I did.
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I knew my grandmother was giving me much too much credit, but I didn’t say a word, because my young ego had me soppin' up the props like gravy.  But I knew in my heart that even though I’d gone off and gotten a degree, that she - and especially my grandfather - could think circles around me.
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Because even back then, I understood that there was a big difference between innate intelligence and its attendant wisdom and knowledge, and simply going out and picking up a degree. You see, if a ghetto kid who dropped out of high school has an IQ of 140, and a brain surgeon has an IQ of 120, due to his education, the brain surgeon may be in possession of more information, but he'll never be able to connect the dots as efficiently as that high school dropout, because the kid is smarter, and he always will be. Well, I had enough education to recognize that my grandfather was naturally smarter than me, and regardless to how much education I obtained, he always would be - in fact, he was so smart that he had the wisdom not to humiliate me by ramming that fact home. He understood how important it was to let me THINK that I was his peer, so he placed my self-esteem above his need to be 'the man.' That took wisdom, the kind of wisdom that still benefitting from to this day.
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So I knew what my grandfather was doing - after all, I was his grandson - but in spite of that, his actions taught me a far greater lesson - that no institution of higher learning can confer either wisdom, knowledge, or intelligence upon any individual. The only thing that Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or any other institution can confer upon an individual is a receipt indicating that the individual paid his tuition and occupied a seat in a room where knowledge was shared. And while that receipt might also indicate that the individual was able to regurgitated the information once or twice, it cannot certify that any of the information was absorbed, or that it can be effectively manipulated to draw further insight. Education is a solitary pursuit, so the only one who can educate you, is yourself.
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Thus, what my grandmother failed to understand was, my degree didn’t certify that they’d taught me to out-think her, the only thing it certified was that I had been exposed to, and learned to regurgitate, the thoughts of dead White folks. It said absolutely nothing about whether or not I’d learn to think for myself. After all, George W. Bush obtained a receipt from Yale, and we all have a firsthand knowledge of how little that was worth.
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Therefore, it’s important that we in the Black community learn that the very same thing is true of Cornel West, Boyce Watkins, and many other so-called public "intellectuals." While we should have all of the respect in the world for education, we must also have a clear understanding of what constitutes an education. An education is the consumption of knowledge, regardless to whether we consume that knowledge at Harvard, or at the corner library. Knowledge is knowledge, and it's free. So Harvard's knowledge is no more knowledgeable than anyone else's - you just pay more for it, and it comes with public relations support. So if you can't afford to go to college, seek your knowledge from elsewhere - anywhere else - but continue to seek it. And always remember this - Harvard was built to teach what insightful men had ALREADY thought.
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So what most of us fail to understand is, a person cannot BE educated. Each individual must educate himself. Thus, to allow someone else to educate you is not education at all - it's indoctrination. So while having a string of letters behind one's name makes for an excellent calling card and has immeasurable economic value, it says aboulutely nothing about an individual's ability to think. Titles, robes, badges, and all of the other accouterments of alleged knowledge and stature are society’s way of dictating who we listen to, and that’s not always in our best interest. So unless we’re dealing with a highly specialized area of knowledge - like medicine, for example - we should NEVER give anyone else’s ability to think priority over our own, because when we allow someone to think for us, we're also allowing them to control us.
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Consider this - simply having influence over the minds of other people is big business. It can be worth literally millions of dollars to any person who can convince you and others to let him control your attitudes, thinking, and behavior. During the 2008 primaries, one preacher in the south charged Hillary Clinton a specific dollar amount for every brian that he controlled in his congregation.
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A perfect example of how valueable having influence over others can be is, even as we speak Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are on the road trying to portray President Obama as the Bogeyman in an attempt to get Black people to elect the Devil - the Republican Party. Can you imagine how much money the billionaires in the Republican Party would be willing to pay them, not to actually deliver the vote, but to merely keep Black people away from the polls? Now, I have no evidence to suggest that that's what's going on, but it wouldn't be the first time that Cornel West has engaged in the tactic of dividing the vote. West joined forces with Ralph Nader in the 2000 election and helped to get George Bush elected ("Once Again, Nader and West Team to Elect a Republican President").

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DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT NATIONWIDE
IS ON YOUR SIDE?
DO YOU THINK TAVIS SMILEY BELIEVES IT?
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But if you confront members of the Nader/West coalition with the fact that they helped to elect George Bush, they’ll immediately begin to obfuscate and engage in intellectual gymnastics in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the horrific fate that they brought upon this country. They’ll say things like, "It’s not our fault that Gore lost. He just didn’t fight hard enough for a recount." But by using such arguments what they’re actually saying is, "Gore just didn’t work hard enough to undo the damage that we’d done." But here are the facts - Gore lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So don’t take my word for it, you do the math. The bottom line is this – Cornel West is more than partially responsible for the very poverty that he's reportedly being paid $10,000 a speech to complain about - period, and case closed..

That's why back in the hood we used to routinely dismiss people like Cornel West. We recognized them as self-serving individuals who couldn't be trusted, because they would do or say anything to get attention. So even if we allowed them to hang around, the minute they opened their mouths we’d simply tell ‘em to shut the hell up, and that would be that. But back then, people like West were simply a source of irritation, under the current circumstance, however, West’s propensity for self-service and chasing public attention is in direct conflict with what’s in the best interest of the Black community. So for that very reason, I try to drag his tired ass through the mud every chance I get. I have a Google Alert on both Tavis and West. I call it the Mutt and Jethro Alert - and I'm about to add Boyce Watkins to it as well, and change the name to the Treacherous Trio Alert.

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At first I tried to prevent it, but this has become a personal thing with me. One of my primary missions in life has become getting Black people to see Tavis and West for who and what they are - two ruthlessly self-serving and dangerous individuals who crave public attention so desperately that they're willing to drag the entire Black community under a bus to get it. West is all affectation, contrived image, and gesticulation, and if you take off his costume and cut off all the fuzz from about his head and face, the only thing you’ll be left with is a goofy-looking little bucktooth punk who takes a very long time to say very little.

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Think about it. Tell me one thing that Cornel West has said in his 30 years of public prominence that’s been either profound, or even the least bit memorable?  Let me answer that for you - not a damn thing. Cornel is best known for two things - slandering the first black President of the United States, and publicly calling his Black female colleague, Dr. Melessa Harris-Perry, a liar and a fraud.  Never mind that it was grossly disrespectful to the President of the united States, Dr. Harris-Perry, and Black women in general, it got him public attention, and that's all he cared about - and this, from a 'brother' who claims to love his people, yet, has never taught at a school that the average Black person can even afford to eat lunch at in his career.

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So in the hood we had a rule of thumb regarding people like West - "Never trust a brother who's always trying to be the coolest thing in the room, because he’s putting so much brainpower into his image that there’s nothing left for him to think with. Hood Rat Wisdom 101.

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LESS WE FORGET  

Here’s a 2008 video of Cornel West calling himself giving, then, Senator, Obama a tongue lashing for deciding to announce his intent to run for president instead of postponing it so he could appear on Tavis’ dog-n-pony show. Think about that for a minute. Tavis was so big headed that he thought the democratic process should be put on hold just for him! And Cornel, latching on to an opportunity for publicity, jumped right on his bandwagon.  I’ve never seen such presumptuous arrogance in my life. Who the hell do Tavis and West think they are!!!?

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Here’s Old-schooler, Dick Gregory, on the same show, essentially telling Tavis and West that they’re damn fools.

 

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Related Article

Dr. Cornel West and intellectual Rice Cake

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2011/07/dr-cornel-west-and-intellectual-rice.html

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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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