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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