The Religious Right: A Threat to America (Reprise)

BENEATH THE SPIN · ERIC L. WATTREE

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The Religious Right: A Threat to America (Reprise)

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When I became of age one of the first things I did was to reassess all of my previous beliefs and attitudes. Thereafter, I discarded as invalid anything that didn't stand up to logical and objective scrutiny, because even at that young age, I'd lived long enough to recognize that most of the problems in this world are a direct result of our failure to re-examine our illogical views of reality.
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Most religious zealots not only fail to go through that process, but refuse to as a matter of religious doctrine. It is due to that kind of zealotry, along with their doctrinal obligation against even considering the fact that they just might be zealots, that makes the religious right a clear and present danger to both the United States, and the world.
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Now, I don't have anything against religious people, per se - I was raised by Christians, and they were wonderful and loving people. In fact, I'm very spiritual myself. But if you show me a man who believes that Moses parted the Red Sea, I'll show you a man whose logical assessment of reality cannot be relied upon.
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Such people fail to realize that efficient thought require that we must first see reality as it is, and only then, as we would have it. But these people have a tendency to try to force reality to conform to what they want it to be, then demonize, and in many cases condone the slaughter, of others who they even suspect might view the world differently. Thus, it is primarily their kind of thinking that introduced into the world the related horrors of xenophobia, homophobia, racism, etc.
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And the GOP leadership is expert at dipping into this well. While most GOP leaders could personally care less about religion, the intolerance of religious zealotry is one of their most potent weapons. As we speak, they're mounting a combined campaign of racial intolerance against President Obama, religious intolerance against Muslims, and sexual intolerance toward gays. And to demonstrate just how virulent and un-Godly that campaign is, just tune in to FOX. The zealots are literally wallowing in their hatred like hogs in slop, even though it means possibly destroying this nation.
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And the irony is, these zealots don't really care about religion, at least, as it relates to God. If they did, they wouldn't be so mean-spirited, selfish, and wedded to the instruments of death. They insist on following the Constitution to the letter when it comes to their right to bear arms, but they're more than anxious to trash that very same document if it means they can take away the right of innocent people to love as they see fit.
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Another indicator of their mean-spirited hypocrisy is how they only embrace those tenents of their religion and/or patriotism when it promotes their point of view. Take school prayer, for example. Again, while these zealots are ready to lay down their lives for their Constitutional right to come armed to the teeth to a presidential assembly, they're prepared to ignore both the Bible and the Constitution when it comes to the separation of church and state.
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Matthew 6:6 says the following:
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"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
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Thus, according to Matthew, public prayer is not the proper thing to do (and by extention, I would imagine that God also wouldn't be impressed by the ostentation of flags and crosses being worn as lapel pins). But these zealots aren't interested in that scripture, because it neither contributes to their point of view, nor is it conducive to their campaign to demonize others.
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They also tend to conveniently overlook the fact that their entire concept of God is merely an accident of birth. If they'd been born in in the Middle East, chances are they would have been Muslims. If they'd been born in China they'd probably be Buddhist, or if in India, a Hindu or Sikh.
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That immediately suggests that religious doctrine is more a cultural manifestation of man than it is a dictate from God. So anyone who has surrendered his or her soul to any organization, be it religious or otherwise, and have a mind that is so closed to reality that they don't recognize that fact, makes me very nervous, because they're obviously more interested in hating others than they're into loving God. After all, the only reason that we're wasting young lives in Afghanistan is because we're trying to keep Pakistan's nuclear missiles out of the hands of religious zealots - and by definition, a zealot's a zealot, regardless to what country he's from. They're all out of touch with reality, whether they be Christian, Muslim, or Jew.
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One would think that any clear-thinking person would recognize that God - or Nature, if you will - provided us with a sense of ethics, common sense, and empathy to guide us through life. So man doesn't require a user's guide any more than birds require a calendar or map to fly South for the winter. And since ninety-nine percent of all the conflicts throughout the world involve a religious component, common sense should tell us that religious doctrine not only does NOT come from God, but indeed, represents the very darkest side of man.
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Think about it, with all of the organized religions throughout the world, and all of the billions of people who claim to love God, why is there so much cruelty, murderous atrocities and suffering in the world? Why is it that with all the collection plates being passed around, collecting billions of tax-free dollars in the United States, that there's any homelessness or suffering anywhere in this country? And most instructive of all is, why is it that the Bible belt was the birthplace of slavery, and the most bigoted part of this entire country?  Certainly bigotry isn't a part of God's will.
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I'll tell you why that's the case - because our religious doctrines are not focused on teaching us to love our fellow man. They're more focused on teaching us that other people who are unlike ourselves and have different beliefs are heathens. It is in our churches where we learn that God is on our side, and "those others" who don't look and think like we do are un-Godly and are going to be condemned by God to eternal damnation. No? I'd be willing to bet a years pay that some of these so-called "men of God"are condemning me right now for having the audacity to speak the truth.
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That's what makes it so easy for us to commit the most horrendous atrocities against others. Our religious leaders spend all of their time teaching us to "have faith" in what we're being told, and hardly any time at all teaching us to love our fellow man.
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Man's need to control the minds of the masses dictate that they focus on teaching us to be selfish, hateful, and fearful rather than loving and Godly. It's all about saving MY soul from the devil, and what God is going to do for ME, instead of what I'm going to do to make this a better world. After all, if I start spending my money on helping  my neighbor I'll have less money to give the church, and the church can't have that.
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Consider what man has told us to have faith in. Over the centuries we've been told such things as God wants us to burn young women at the stake because they're a little different. They told us that God wanted us to excommunicate Galileo and threaten other brilliant scholars with death before the inquisition for having the audacity to try to educate us and give us the benefit of their God-given brilliance. And why? Because their brilliance betrayed the erroneous thinking of church leaders who claimed to be getting their information from a direct pipeline to God. We see that very same Mindset today. Many church leaders dismiss the validity of evolution, even in face of the fact that every time we get our children vaccinated it validates the fact that man is evolving.
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When we're vaccinated we give our bodies a manageable dose of a disease. This allows our bodies to evolve to the point that it can tolerate a disease that would otherwise kill or disable us. But the church has a vested interest in discounting evolution, because new knowledge is often in direct conflict with their version of creation. Thus, for their own selfish reasons many religious leaders dispute evolution, global warming, and other valuable knowledge, even though every bit of new knowledge we've ever collected has served to glorify God's wondrous creation much more thoroughly than Biblical authors could have ever imagined. But these so-called religious leaders don't care about glorifying God - they're only interested in saving face, and revenue.
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Consequently, some of the most serious problems that we have in the world today is a direct result of our organized religious leaders having our minds on lockdown. Their activity in that regard is a direct assault on the will of God, since God clearly made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to think. We know this, because all of the evidence available to man shows that God made man's ability to think the key to his survival.
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Man arrived on this hostile planet as a necked ape, but with neither a legitimate ape's agility or strength. Man wasn't as ferocious as the lion, as strong as the elephant, nor could he soar above danger like the eagle. He should have been dead on arrival, but God provided him with one tool to help him to survive - the human mind. And it is through the development of that tool that man, this most unlikely and fragile of creatures, has established dominion over the entire Earth, and in an incredibly short period of time. Now, through our God-given intellect, we've become more fearsome than the most ferocious lion, we've created machines that are thousands of times more powerful than the strongest elephant, and we can now soar far beyond the eagle's domain. We've even left the planet to explore other worlds.
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Thus, it was clearly God's will that we be logical, thinking beings. So for us to now allow man to come along and tell us that we should suspend our nature as thinking beings, and "have faith" in what, he, man tells us, is a slap in the face of God. By doing so we're showing more faith in what man says, than what God has done.
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That is the source of all of our problems; we're not remaining true to our nature. To tell a man not to think is like telling a fish not to swim, or a bird not to fly. If either of those creatures were stupid enough to comply, they would not survive. And if man continues to listen to other self-serving men instead of utilizing his mind as God intended, he's not going to survive.
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It was through putting our faith in man that we believed that God condoned the Manifest Destiny, that led to the genocide of Native Americans. It was through our faith in man that we believed that God condoned the brutal enslavement of millions of African Americans. It was also man's faith in man that allowed Hitler to convinced the German people that God condoned the murder of six million Jews. And more recently, it was through having more faith in George Bush and Dick Cheney than in the common sense that God gave us, that the American people were convinced that God condoned the sacrifice of our youth and the blatant murder of  hundreds of thousands innocent Iraqis - people who did absolutely nothing to us, other than being in the unfortunate position of sitting on the oil that we coveted.
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Now, don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with being spiritual. But we must always remember, just because a man has the gift of gab and says he's a man of God, that doesn't mean that God sees it that way. God doesn't speak to him any louder than he speaks to you, and no man speaks for God. So whenever you want to hear God's word, just listen to your heart, and God will speak to you directly.
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And there's one other thing. While admittedly, I don't speak for God either, I think I'm pretty safe in saying that God will never tell you to buy another man a big house and a new Cadillac - he didn't do it for Jesus, so why should he do it for these latter-day "saints?"
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And for you zealots out there. Don't forget, God works in mysterious ways. He might have led you to read this piece. So maybe you should think about what I'm saying - it just might spare your child an early death . . . all alone, in the desert.
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"Fascism: A radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

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Look familiar?

Related Post:

Onward Christian Fascists

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Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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If the U.S. Postal Service Really Wants to Honor Black People, Try Emancipating Them.

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

If the U.S. Postal Service Really Wants to Honor Black People, Try Emancipating Them

On July 10, 2010 The United States Postal Service issued two 44-cent postage stamps honoring the Negro Baseball League. During the ceremony held in Kansas City, MO, Thurgood Marshall Jr., vice chairman of the Postal Service's Board of Governors, spoke on behalf of the postal service. While the issuance of the stamps was a laudable gesture, the gesture and the ceremony itself was fraught with irony.

Considering the postal service's abysmal record of employee abuse, the gesture was nothing less than a slap in the face to both the Negro Baseball League, whose members were the victims of the worst kind of discrimination, and to Thurgood Marshall Sr., who dedicated his life to the struggle for human rights. The ceremony was perfectly akin to having the first born of Frederick Douglass honoring the work ethic of former slaves at a Sons of the Confederacy convention.

I'm virtually certain that if the members of the Negro Baseball League were around today to see the deplorable conditions that the majority of postal workers are forced to endure, they'd say, "Never mind the stamp. Honor us by emancipating our people - all of the people, of every race, creed, and color. " And if Justice Marshall was alive, he'd be overcome with shame to see the human degradation that his son is presiding over.

There is yet another irony here, and perhaps, one even greater than those listed above. The blatant theft of employee wages, intimidation, physical and emotional abuse, and employees being forced to work between four and six hours a day without pay is going on in a United States government agency, and under an African American president. The fact is, that's more than ironic, it's absolutely unbelievable.

President Lincoln was willing to go to war to end slavery on his watch, where President Obama can emancipate over 600,000 American citizens with a simple phone call. Yet, in spite of repeated White House contacts and extended articles written and posted on the Democratic National Committee website, President Obama has failed to make that phone call.

It's hard to believe that the administration can be so tone deaf - then, they don't understand why the president is dropping in the polls. The problem is simple - the president is so preoccupied with trying to win over people that he'll never get, that he's ignoring the people who put him in office.

It's like deja vue. President Obama is making the exact same mistake that Tom Bradley did. After becoming the first Black mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley failed to stand with his core constituency. After the unconscionable Eula Love shooting by the LAPD, Major Bradley came up missing in action. So when he ran for governor he lost just by a hair - and that hair represented the main people whose vote he thought he could count on. I know, because I was one of those voters.While I didn't vote for Republican, George Deukmejian, I simply decided to skip the gubernatorial race on the ballot.

I like President Obama . He's one of the most intelligent presidents we've ever had.  He saved the nation from another Great Depression, and he's accomplished more in his first two years in office than most presidents manage to accomplish in their entire eight years. But there's more to being a good president than what the president manages to do. We must also take into account what he fails to do - and unfortunately, what Obama is failing to do is protect the rule of law, and that can place us all in serious jeopardy.

Even before he became president Obama backpedaled on FISA and failed to hold Bush accountable for spying on Americans. Then once he became president, he turned a blind eye to Bush and Cheney's war crimes. Now President Obama is allowing 600,000 American citizens to be mugged by a United States government agency. That's unacceptable.

Maintaining the rule of law is THE most important function of government. Everything else hinges on it - it was the government's failure to maintain the rule of law that allowed lynchings to take place in the South. Without the rule of law you cannot maintain a democracy, since it is the rule of law that makes a democracy possible. That is exactly why the president is made to swear in the oath of office to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" -  because the Constitution IS the law.

So regardless to how much good you do, President Obama, if you fail to protect the people from government corruption and abuse, it ain't enough. So while I'm one of your biggest supporters, if you come up short in that area, as far as I'm concerned, "what's love got to do with it?"

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

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

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A Glance at Destiny

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

A Glance at Destiny

Since this is political column I rarely use it to discuss anything else. But when I come across exceptional excellence I feel obligated to bring it to your attention. In this era where glaring mediocrity has become the standard we expect, unfettered excellence is a political statement in itself, and Ms. Rita Edmond speaks volumes in that regard.

Several weeks ago I was in Leimert Park when a friend and fellow sax player came up to me and said, "Man, you've just got to hear this singer. She's going to blow you away." So we went to my car and he played the CD. He chose the tune, "You'd be So Nice to Come Home to," from her CD "Sketches of a Dream," and he was absolutely right about her impact on me. She literally blew me away.

I'm a very cynical sort when it comes to music, so while I should have known better, considering the taste of the gentleman who brought Ms. Edmond to my attention, I was expecting to hear just another one of the hordes of singers with a pleasant voice. But before this lady got through the first chorus of the tune it was clear to me that this wasn't just another good signer. This lady is special. The experience of hearing her for the first time can only be compared to the first time I heard, and really understood, Ella, Sarah Vaughan, or Dinah Washington. The only difference was, this time, I understood the importance of what I was hearing. It was an experience that I will never forget - and please believe me, this is not hyperbole. I'm dead serious.

Before Rita could get to the first bridge of the tune I told my friend that I've got to have this CD. But when he started telling me where I could pick up a copy it became clear that he didn't understand what I was saying, so I had to make myself clear. "No. You don't understand. I want THIS copy." Fortunately, being the good natured fella that he is, he caved in and sold it to me.

Being a musician I'm sure he understood instinctively that I didn't want to share the experience of my first encounter with this very exceptional woman with him or anyone else, and he was right. Immediately after purchasing the CD I went to the park, parked under a shade tree, and listened to it in its entirety, and that's when my musical love affair began.

It turned out that the tune that first got my attention wasn't even my favorite tune on the CD - in fact, I really can't tell you which tune is my favorite. There are no fillers on the entire CD. Any tune on the CD could very easily have served as the title song.

The entire CD is flawless. For weeks I woke up listening to it, and being the night creature that I am, I'd take a sip of dinner out on my patio and listened to it from 3 a.m. in the morning until the dawn. Then once I was sure my neighbors were awake, I'd take out my horn and play along with it until I became exhausted. Musicians will immediately understand where I'm coming from, while I'm sure the civilians among you will think this a bit excessive. But those are the facts, and I'm not exaggerating one bit.

Now Ms. Edmond has come out with another CD, "A Glance at Destiny," and it's just that. I love this one even more than the first, if that's possible. Hearing her sing "Sonny," "You've Changed," "Gentle Rain," "Just Friends," and "You don't Know What Love is" will surely be a delight for every committed jazz fan, because they remain true in depth, feeling, and artistry to the originals in every way.

But this CD is not just a walk down memory lane for we old fogies. Ms. Edmond is also extremely contemporary, so "A Glance at Destiny" will also serve as an excellent primer for those who simply love beautiful music but don't really understand what jazz is all about. If you happen to be one of those people, pick up this CD and broaden your horizons. Be schooled by one of your own. Ms. Edmond is of the hip hop generation, so she understands and appreciates hip hop as well, but jazz just happens to be her thing.

And one more word to the jazz purists. This is not one of those take-off CDs where you have studio musicians doing their interpretation of what jazz is SUPPOSE to sound like. This is the real deal. Rita's accompanied by Ricky Woodard on tenor sax, Nolan Shaheed on trumpet, Z. Sean Johnson on flute, Greg Poree and Jaques Lasure on guitar, Llew Matthews (Nancy Wilson's keyboard player) and Joel Scott on piano, James Leary and Edwin Livingston on bass, and the illustrious Albert "Tootie" Heath of the world renowned Heath brothers on drums. You don't get no more legit than that.

Tootie Heath's presence on this CD alone should say it all. He and his brothers, Jimmy and Percy Heath, are of the bluest of the blue bloods of  jazz. They are as much a part of the jazz aristocracy as Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Finally, I mentioned that Ms. Edmond's excellence also represents a political statement, and nothing is more representative of that fact than her rendition of "Here's to Life." Rita Edmond is a relatively young woman, but the artistry, passion, and sensitivity that she brings to that tune is of a bygone era. You simply don't find the kind of Sarah Vaughan-like artistry that she brought to that tune today. It left me feeling like the hand of a higher power has to be involved in what she does.

I'm not very big on metaphysics, so while my common sense tells me that Rita wasn't even born when many of these tunes were written, my stubborn heart says, "Don't be a fool, Eric. Listen to that woman! She's been here before - case closed." I'm feeling a little silly, but the more I listen to Rita sing, the closer I come to caving in to that argument.  So I say again, Ms.Edmond's rendition of "Here's to Life" is THE most passionate and heart wrenching performance that I have ever heard by ANYONE, doing any song - EVER:

"No complaints, and no regrets. I still believe in chasing dreams and placing bets. Yet I've learned that all you give is what you get, so give it all you've got. I've had my share; I've drank my fill. And even though I'm satisfied, I'm hungry still. To see what's down another road beyond the hill, and do it all again. So here's to life, and every joy it brings. So here's to life, to the dreamers and the dream."

So has Ms. Edmond been here before? I don't know. But I do know this - she sings with a vision, polish, and a smooth, matter-of-fact delivery that's far beyond her years.  So give her a listen. Then you tell me if this is her first time around.  You just might be surprised at your own answer.

A Glance at Destiny is a truly powerful effort. I could only find one criticism of the entire CD - Ricky Woodard's solo on "Gentle Rain" keeps reminding me of why I'm sitting here writing instead of playing my horn for a living.

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

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

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Let Us Put an End to Poor and Middle-Class Abuse

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Let Us Put an End to Poor and Middle-Class Abuse

A journalist should never get personally involved in a story. He should simply record the facts, or in my case, comment on what is taking place. But what if he's covering a story and observe a child drowning, do journalistic ethics require him to just stand there and record the event? I don't think so. Well, as I see it, American workers are drowning, and I have no intention of just standing by and watching it happen.

I thought my activist days were behind me. But as a creature of the 60's, it's just not in my nature to turn my back on injustice and the exploitation of the weak. Thus, in last week's column I mentioned the creation of CARMA (Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse). CARMA is currently building it's database, but once we've attained sufficient numbers to make an impact on the system, we're going to lay OUR law down on the political establishment - and that means BOTH political parties.

While the Republican Party is undoubtedly guilty of obstructionism, the Democratic Party is equally guilty of allowing it to happen. Both parties are engaged in a game of "good-cop-bad-cop" in order to maintain the status quo. The Republican party is doing everything it can to undermine the interest of the working class, then the Democrats will throw us a bone and come back wringing their hands saying, "Well, we tried - can you send us a little more money?"

That's a bunch of crap. They're not trying, and that's what's got everybody up in arms. The only time they've managed to come to a nonpartisan consensus was in the decision to bail out Wall Street. When it comes to addressing the needs of the American people, however, they haggle for months until the bill is watered down to nothing.

Congress was whining over the impact of extending unemployment for 26 weeks to jobless Americans. They complained that it would add $33.9 Billion to the deficit. Yet, they're fighting to extend Bush's tax cut for the richest 2% of the population, which, in its entirety, will add $4.4 TRILLION to the deficit. They also just authorized $37 billion to go shoot at rocks in Afghanistan - and that's in spite of the fact that a DOD audit indicates that $8.7 billion simply disappeared in Iraq.

And where do you think all of those dollars went? Well, here's a hint. The bottom 50% of the nation's population now only own 1% of the nation's wealth. So, I don't know about you, but it's clear to me where these "Houdini funds" ended up, and it's also clear to me why so many in congress insist on keeping these wars raging - and all on the back of the poor and middle class, I might a add.

The richest 2% of this country have a great scam going for themselves. The poor and the middle class provide all the sacrifice, while the rich reap all the benefits. Our tax money is funding the wars and our children are providing the human cannon fodder, while the rich are reaping windfall profits and we're paying their taxes. Then, as the most ironic of all ironies, they call us greedy socialists when we ask for a crumb to feed our families. What a scam!

But we're no longer going to play that game. If congress can't manage to carry out its responsibility to the American people with integrity, we need a different group of people in congress. So CARMA is designed to be a different kind of organization. Unlike many organizations, our primary reason for existence is getting results, not raising money. We're only about raising three things - raising voices, raising votes, and raising hell. We don't need your money, because we're not going to give politicians a penney of bribe money. They're already being paid - in fact, much more than they're worth. So we're going to MAKE them do their jobs. If they don't, we're getting rid of them with the use of pure and unmitigated human outrage.

It wasn't money that made the administration so anxious to fire Shirley Sherrod that they made her pull over on the side of the road, it was the administration's weak-kneed fear of public outrage. They were afraid that Glenn Beck was going to call the administration racist. Then after the true facts were revealed, it wasn't money that had the administration crawling back to Ms. Sherrod trying to apologize - it was that very same weak-kneed fear of bad publicity.

If it were not for the fear of public outrage Shirley Sherrod would be at home licking the wounds of her injustice and trying to file an EEO like the thousands of gainfully employed postal workers who are literally being robbed of their wages with impunity on a daily basis.  So the Sherrod episode clearly demonstrates what this political system is all about. It demonstrates that in order to obtain justice in this country it's not enough to simply be right, you must also have the ability to become a political embarrassment. In short, the only ones who can expect a change they can believe in are those with the clout to make it a change that they can demand - and that's what CARMA is about, gaining the attention of the corporate press and shining a light upon injustice. Only then will the rest of America's workers receive the immediate justice that Ms. Sherrod had the good fortune to enjoy.

Thus, CARMA is convinced that we can have an impact on this corrupt system with just the clout of human capital alone - with the raised voices and focused outrage of dedicated activists. If we can grow our numbers enough to gain the attention of the corporate media and make enough noise to get the attention of the average voter, all the corporate money in the world will be rendered meaningless.

So please, urge all of the sincere activists among family, friends, and associates to join this effort to bring focus to our mutual concerns. We can do this! - and we're going to do it.

We don't need one voice speaking for millions; we need millions speaking with one voice.

Eric L. Wattree

Ewattree@Gmail.com

CARMA on Facebook

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

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Jews, Zionism, and the Stupidity of Bigotry

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Jews, Zionism, and the Stupidity of Bigotry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Maybe I'm Dumb, but Could Somebody Please Tell Me the Difference Between Zionism and Racism?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Maybe I'm Dumb, but Could Somebody Please Tell Me the Difference Between Zionism and Racism?

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I'm about to do something that I generally make it a point to avoid - discuss the collective nature of White folks. The reason I make it a point to avoid this subject is because I don't want to add to the disinformation disseminated by many Black racists (oh yes, racists come in Black too) that there is something more intrinsically evil in White people than there is in any other racial group.

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The fact is, as humans, just as intellect is distributed equally across our species, so is malevolence. We all have a tendency to be self-serving and corrupt given half a chance. The only difference between White people and any other group is that they have the power, thus opportunity, to reflect that side of their nature - and to anyone who wants to challenge my assertion in that regard, I invite you to witness the Black-on-Black mayhem that's currently taking place on the continent of Africa. Or take the police out of the Black communities of America and see the level of enlightenment that prevails - it would be the survival of the fittest within a week.
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So it seems that the common trait shared by all those who tend to be inhumane and corrupt is neither race, creed, nor color. What they all have in common is power, opportunity, and greed. And let there be no doubt, that's the source of all of the turmoil in the Middle-East - the power, opportunity, and greed of Israel and the American military/industrial complex.
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But whenever anyone seeks to examine this issue they're immediately met with hysterical charges of being either unpatriotic, anti-Semitic, or both. So while everyone is aware of the problem, we tend to turn a blind eye to it.
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This is an issue that desperately needs to be addressed, because due to our failure to do so, American troops are dying, the United States treasury is being looted, and the entire world is being placed at risk. So enough with all of the name-calling and accusations. Israel's behavior needs to be scrutinized just like any other country in the world.
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Pure, objective, and unadulterated truth is not nearly as complicated or elusive as we try to make it seem in this country. But since truth doesn’t lend itself to being Black, White, Jew, or Gentile, when the truth comes up less than a perfect fit to our carefully constructed comfort zone, we tend to beat, distort, and convolute it into a more comfortable fit. In the process, however, we do ourselves a gross injustice, because no matter how you distort it, truth will always prevail in the end. That is the source of most of our problems in this world. We all seek to distort the truth in a way that is most palatable to our special interest - and this problem is magnified by the fact that our writers, political pundits, and politicians have a natural tendency to seek applause and self-interest over truth. But if we’re indeed dependent on the truth to set us free, let us not doom ourselves to a life of death, carnage, and intellectual bondage by living a lie.
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And the truth is, our poor and middle-class young people are being wooed by slick government commercials to become cannon fodder in a war for profit. But young people, take it from an old Marine, it’s all a lie. They're only showing you the benefits and upside of military life - with you standing proud and strong in your spotless uniform at home, with all the girls looking at you with admiring eyes. They’re not showing you the real picture - of you lying in 120 degree heat in agony thousands of miles from home, bleeding to death from the stub that use to be your leg, or looking at your foot in a bloody boot twenty-five yards away from where the rest of you lay dying. They’re being criminally remiss in not showing you that side of military life.
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Now, don't get the impression that I’m a pacifist, or hate the military, however - I’m not. There IS a time when war is justified, but this ain’t it. You know it’s time to go to war when you’re prepared to see your own love ones become it’s first casualty, but it's abundantly clear that no one in our government has reached that point as yet. If they had, they'd be encouraging their kids to enlist.
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Where is Liz Cheney, or the Bush girls? They can drive a truck. But no, not on your life - they're idea of patriotism is cheering on the dying "little people" from the lobby of exclusive tennis clubs. So be all you can be, but don’t be a fool. You won’t be fighting for your country; you’ll be fighting for Exxon and Halliburton's collusion with Israel to rob the people of the Middle East and gouge the American taxpayer.
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The truth is, the dispute over Israel is nothing less than "The Manifest Destiny" being reenacted. When the Europeans came to America and began to strip the indigenous people of their land, they justified their unholy atrocities by declaring that it was God’s will that they settle and bring his word to this "uncivilized land"– it was their manifest destiny. So in true civilized, Christian fashion, they began to spread the Holy word of God through the hot muzzle of a Gatlin gun. It was a brutally unconscionable and gruesome event, but what could these good Christians do? After all, it was God’s will that they slaughter those "Godless savages." That is the exact same scenario that is currently taking place in the Middle East today. It began with the "creation" of the state of Israel in 1948, and the campaign continues as I speak - but this time, it’s called Zionism.
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In 1882, while Jews were being massacred throughout Russia, Leo Pinsker, the founder of the Zionist movement, published a small booklet entitled "Auto-emancipation". It pointed out that Jews would never find equality in Russia, so it was necessary for world Jewry to establish their own homeland. At first he didn’t care where it was located - in fact, the area encompassing Zaire, Africa was even considered. But later, Pinsker recognized that in order to get Jews to immigrate in numbers large enough to establish a homeland, he needed a location that would inspired the Jewish soul, and no location in the world would suit that purpose like Palestine, the land of Zion - "the land that God had promised the Jews." The fact that there were indigenous people already living in Palestine never even crossed his mind.
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The American Heritage Dictionary defines Zionism as follows: "Zionism: An organized movement of world Jewry that arose in Europe in the late 19th century with the aim of reconstituting a Jewish state in Palestine. Modern Zionism is concerned with the development and support of the state of Israel."
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Thus, Zionism, by definition and design, is a doctrine dedicated to the taking of Palestine - and on May 14, 1948, European Jews did just that. Between 1944 and 1948, due to their experience with the Nazi’s, Eastern European Jews wanted to get off the European continent by any means necessary, so various Zionist organizations created the Bariha (escape) Organization that helped close to 200,000 Jews to leave Europe and settle in Palestine. Prior to that time, in July of 1922, the League of Nations (the progenitor of the United Nations) gave Great Britain a mandate to protect the people of Palestine, but on November 29, 1947 when the U. N. General Assembly passed a resolution to partition off Palestine between the Arabs and Jews, Great Britain announced that it was terminating its mandate. The end of the British mandate was to go into effect on May 15, 1948, but on May 14, 1948 the Zionists declared the creation of Israel, a Jewish state.
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But in order for the new State of Israel to have any legitimacy it had to be recognized by the United States. The U.S. State Department was less than enthusiastic about creating a Jewish state in Palestine, but shortly after President Truman took office, European Zionist, Chaim Weizmann, convinced the president that it was only just that the survivors of the holocaust would be given their own homeland. Truman agreed, and recognized the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, and all hell’s been breaking loose every since.
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The Israeli-American alliance was a match made in Hell from the very outset - they didn’t even trust each other. One of the largest units in the CIA is dedicated to the prevention of Israeli spying on the United States, and one of the biggest spy scandals in U.S. history involved an Israeli spy name Jonathan Pollard, an American of Jewish descent, born in Galveston, Texas. But in spite of that, Israel receives more U.S. foreign aid than any other country in the world, and we’ve made them one of the most formidable military forces in the world. The reason for that? - oil.
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Israel stands as an extension of the United States in the Middle East, within easy striking distance of Middle Eastern oil fields. So what we have in the Middle East is an unholy quid pro quo -The United States will help the Israelis steal Arab land, and the Israelis will help the United States steal the oil beneath the land.
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So the Israeli claim that their slaughter of the Arab people is simply an attempt to defend themselves is nothing but a farce. Granted, when someone invades your home you do have a right to retaliate against them, but Europeans have about as much right to call Israel their home as I’d have of tearing off a part of China simply because I converted to Buddhism.
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Far be it from me, however, to say who’s a Jew and who’s not, but I think we can all agree that European Jews are not the same Jews that were spoken of in the Bible. But, of course, you’re not suppose to even whisper such sentiments here in America. To say that European Jews don’t belong in Israel, or to speak out on any atrocity that the State of Israel might commit, is considered anti-Semitic in this country. But even that’s a farce. There’s a big difference between being anti-Semitic and anti- Zionist. To be anti-Semitic is to be against a people, while being anti-Zionist is to be against a philosophy. After all, all Jews are not Zionist. But there’s another issue here as well. How can you be anti-Semitic towards Europeans? They aren’t even Semites.
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The situation above describes exactly why were in Iraq and are in Afghanistan today. Thus, all of the killing in the Middle East is about European hubris, injustice, and greed. The entire justification for Europeans being in the Middle East at all, is based on a lie - and that includes Europeans by way of America.
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How can you go into your neighbor’s home and kill his family, then call him the aggressor? And now they’re trying to undermine nuclear arms negotiations as a prelude invading Iran! It’s all about racism and greed. Think about it-- as bad as the Germans and Russians treated the Jews over the years, you’d think the Jews would have been given part of one of those countries. If they’d done that, European Jews wouldn’t have even had to leave home. But White folks don’t play that - no matter how much they hate each other.
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Eric L. Wattree
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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Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
It's Time to Fight Back

It is time for poor and Middle-class workers to start fighting back. The corporate community has become increasingly prone to take shortcuts on safety, create hostile work environments, undercutting and even stealing wages from gainfully employed workers in the name of grossly obscene profits.

These unconscionable practices in the name of ever more profits are not only having a negative impact on the quality of life of the poor and middle-class, but often, literally, sacrifice their very lives, as we've seen in an increasing number of cases, as in the coal mine disaster in Kentucky that took the lives of 29 coal miners, and the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico less than a month later, that took the lives of 11 oil workers.  Both of these "accidents" were avoidable, and due to reckless penny-pinching by the corporations.

What the corporate community is calling "unfortunate accidents" are not accidents at all. They're actually the corporate community's reckless response to the new global economy - and it's having a devastating impact on the American middle-class standard of living, and an even worse impact on the poor.

What we once thought of as American corporations have now become international in scope. They have no loyalty to any one nation, nor do they have any respect for any geographical boundary. They're now competing with countries that pay their workers less per week than many American workers spend on lunch per day. As a result, the American middle-class standard of living has become a liability and is under an aggressive assault by both the corporate and governmental establishment.

Something has to be done, so in response to this attack on our quality of life I've recently become associated with three gentlemen who share my belief that it is essential that the middle-class beat back this assault by every means at our disposal. These gentlemen include the following:

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  Lewis Maltby: Attorney, author (Can They Do That?), and former president of the worker's Rights Division of the ACLU. Lew is also current president of the National Workrights Institute.
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  Dr. Steve Musacco: Therapist, author (Beyond Going Postal), occupational psychologist, and 30-year veteran of the postal service, retired. Steve was involved in the development and implementation of both the Voice of the Employee Program and the Employee Assistance Program for the U.S. Postal Service.
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  Rick Owens: Publisher of the Postal Employee Network. Rick's publication reaches the workforce of the postal service's 600,000 employees.
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  My name is Eric Wattree. I'm an author (A Message From the Hood), and I write a political column called Beneath the Spin. My column is carried in the Los Angeles Sentinel, New York's Black Star News, and several other publications in America's heartland. I'm also a staff writer for Veterans Today - a publication that is global in scope.

We've come together to establish a non-partisan organization called CARMA (Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse). We're currently in the process of developing a database to increase our numbers. We intend to consolidate and flex the political clout of poor and middle-class workers in a way that will be impossible for politicians, unions, and the corporate media to ignore. We also intend to use our clout to address the reckless assault on the poor and middle-class through both political action, and in the courts.

We intend to take no prisoners, nor give any group a pass based on political concerns, be they corporations, unions, or politicians. So we urge every American worker to become part of this important effort to defend poor and middle-class workers. If maintaining or enhancing your standard of living is important to you, please contact the e-mail address below and become a part of our database. If you're already a part of our database, please distribute this message to your family, friends, and neighbors.

We don't need one voice speaking for millions; we need millions speaking with one voice.

Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

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

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Wake up, Mr. President - The GOP has Launched a Jihad Against America

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Wake up, Mr. President - The GOP has Launched a Jihad Against America

We all know you're a nice guy, Mr. President, but this is a seminal moment in American history. The Republican Party has revealed themselves to be the American Taliban. They're inciting insurrection, protecting corporate corruption, denying unemployed Americans subsistence, and they threaten to cripple the nation as a whole with their irresponsible use of the filibuster. The Republican agenda is to keep America ignorant and miserable at any cost. So at this point we don't need nice, we don't need bipartisanship, and we don't need a diplomat. What we need at this point in our history is a Commander-in-Chief to lead us in the fight against Republican tyranny. So it's time to suck it up and "fix bayonets," sir.

The Republican Party is a coalition of three separate constituencies with confluent interests. The first group is made up of traditional conservatives. These are highly patriotic Americans who believe in limited government, the primacy of the people over government, and fiscal responsibility. But the other two groups that have coalesced within the GOP are much more malevolent - international business interests, and social bigots.

It is the former of these two, international business, that controls the GOP. It's made up of highly educated individuals with huge resources and plenty of clout - and they use every bit of their resources and clout to manipulate what has become their citizen army - the social bigots. The social bigots are the people we see armed to the teeth at presidential speeches, disrupting townhall meetings, and fighting against their own interests. In short, these are the "Joe the Plumbers" of the world.

While the traditional conservatives are legitimately concerned about the direction of the country and assuring that the nation remains fiscally sound, big business could care less about the condition of the American people, because for the most part, they've become international in scope. That should be clear to anyone with eyeballs, considering how they first, created an economic crisis in this country, then used the very crisis that they created to gouge the American people.

So all big business is concerned about is making money at our expense, and more often than not, to our detriment. These are the very same people who have gouged America dry, given themselves huge bonuses, then rented post office boxes in other countries to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

And if that isn't bad enough, these corporations then used the very money that they avoided in taxes to buy politicians, who are suppose to be representing us, to feather their nests even further. They're also using the incredible wealth that they've managed to maintain - again, thanks to our tax dollars - to clog our airwaves with propaganda in order to incite every undereducated social bigot within earshot to near insurrection. They're using these people to distract us from examining the true issues that would serve to protect us from their greed.

And the social bigots are easy targets - not only because they have less than a tenuous grasp on reality, but in many cases, they're willing stooges. These are not true victims. Due to their bigotry - and I don't mean simply racial bigotry, but bigotry against anyone who doesn't happen to share their beliefs - and anger over losing the last election, they're willing to accept any kind of nonsense disseminated about the government, and you, Mr. President, in particular. Due to that blind anger they're perfectly willing to not only accept the most blatant nonsense, but they're also willing to cut their own throats, and that of their families, if it means striking a blow in the name hatred.

Take the issue of socialism, for example. Shouldn't even the most misguided idiot understand that there's a big difference between the government protecting its citizens from the greed and predatory business practices of large corporations, and their claim that government is taking over the free enterprise system?

Even a child should recognize that some things are just too important to our society to be left to for-profit business interests. Those things include police, fire, national defense, and public healthcare. Imagine calling the police to report your daughter has been raped or kidnaped and the police inform you that they were sorry but there was nothing they could do - your daughter just turned 18, so she's no longer covered in your rape/kidnap policy.

But the social bigots can't see that - they don't want to see it - because they've been whipped into a mindless frenzy by the corporate media. Yes, I said mindless - anyone who can be convinced to demonize the very person who is trying to protect THEIR families from corporations that just two years earlier came close to gouging them into another Great Depression, is by definition, ignorant and brainwashed.

That's a dangerous level of stupidity, Mr. President, and it is essential that you recognize that fact. You simply cannot be reasonable with people like that. Neville Chamberlain tried it prior to WWII. It didn't work then, and it's not gonna work now.

So you need to drop this (I'm sorry, Mr. President) irrational need to cater to these people. Yeah, I said it - irrational. That's why you're dropping in the polls. You're putting so much effort into catering to people that you'll never win over that you're allowing them to dilute legislation that they have no intention of voting for, and they're causing you to turn your back on the people who elected you.

Yes, Mr. President, you've accomplished a great deal in your short tenure - probably more than any other president in modern times. But unfortunately, you're also being judged on what you're FAILING to do. For example, Bush and Cheney should be under indictment for war crimes by now. You simply cannot sidestep your failure to act in this area. This is not a political issue where there's room for debate. This issue represents the rule of law, and the rule of law is THE most important component in any democracy. You're a constitutional scholar - you should know that.

You promised us a change we could believe in, Mr. President, but frankly, I ain't feeling it. So as Duke Ellington used to say, "We love you madly," but your falling poll numbers is our way of telling you, this ain't what we voted for.

So suck it up, my man, and be all that you can be.

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

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

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Postal Service Gets Break, Union Officials Get Paid, And Workers Get the Shaft - Again

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Postal Service Gets Break, Union Officials Get Paid, And Workers Get the Shaft - Again

*

The following report comes directly from an audit by the Office of Inspector General. It was released on July 1, 2010. Further comment is not required. It speaks for itself:

"We also found that union representatives received excessive payments from grievance settlements. Union representatives in four districts (Colorado/Wyoming, Alabama, Mid-America, and Capital) were involved with the allocation of class-action grievance settlements for six grievances that resulted in union representatives receiving payments that were significantly more than other members of the class. Specifically, union representatives received $33,447 (or 24 percent) of $141,639 in settlements for these six grievances. One union representative in the Mid-America District received as much as 35 percent of a grievance settlement, while other payees received less than 1 percent.

"This occurred because the Postal Service has not established procedures for reviewing the allocation of settlements to ensure that payees whom the union identifies are part of a class action. Once the Postal Service negotiates a settlement, they often have no involvement with its allocation. As a result, union representatives may be receiving payments to which they are not entitled.

Payments to Union Representatives

"We noted during our audit that union representatives received excessive payments resulting from grievance settlements. Union representatives at four districts were involved with allocating class-action grievance settlements for six grievances that resulted in union representatives receiving a significant percentage of the settlement amounts, while the grievants received very small percentages of the settlement amounts. A union representative in the received as much as 35 percent of one grievance settlement, while other payees received less than 1 percent. For the grievances we reviewed, union representatives received $33,447 (or 24 percent) of $141,639 in settlements for these six grievances. The following items describe theindividual examples of union representatives receiving more than most of the grievants.

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  "In the [Name Withheld] a class-action grievance paid the local American Postal Workers Union president $16,934 (or 30 percent) of the total settlement of $56,448, which was more than the amount most other grievants received. The grievance was settled through arbitration. To abide by the settlement, two local unions and the postmaster negotiated a total settlement amount. Once the amount was determined, the union president decided who to include in the settlement and how much each grievant would be paid. The local union president allocated 30 percent of the total settlement ($16,934) to himself. In addition to the president, there were eight other grievants. Four grievants received $1,128.96 each (or 2 percent); two grievants received $5,644.80 each (or 10 percent), and one received $22,579.20 (or 40 percent). One grievant filed an unfair labor practice complaint based on allocation of the payment. The union settled the case out of court for the amount paid to the local union president, according to Western area officials.

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  "In the [Name Withheld] in FY 2009, we found the local union president received $9,000 from two class-action payment settlements. He received $4,000 of a $25,000 settlement and $5,000 of $30,000 settlement for union expenses. The Postal Service' Labor Relations team settled this grievance at a significant discount for the Postal Service, but the union also allocated the payments, including the payment of union expenses to the local president.

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  "In the [Name Withheld] a local union president received $5,850 (or 35 percent) of a $16,928.73 settlement. The person most affected by the contract violation received $2,000.73 and 67 other individuals received between $110 and $1,000 each.

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  "In the [Name Withheld] we noted a union steward named in two class-action grievances received the highest payments —$805.46 (or 18 percent) of a total settlement of $4,457.32 for 25 grievants and $857.56 (or 10 percent) of a total settlement of $8,805.28 for 34 grievants. For one of the grievances, he received almost twice the amount of the next highest payee. We determined that, although the Postal Service calculated the settlement, it was the union steward who identified the individuals eligible to receive payment based on his knowledge of who was available for overtime and the documentation provide to the dispute resolution team (DRT). The DRT settled the grievance but did not receive any additional information from local management to dispute the union' information, so there is no way to know whether the allocation was distributed accurately.

• 
  
  "The Postal Service has no procedures in place to review the allocation of settlements and ensure the payees identified by the union are part of the class action. Once the Postal Service negotiates a settlement they often have no involvement with its allocation. Union representatives may be receiving unwarranted payments by filing grievances and potentially violating fair labor practices with regard to Postal Service employees."

It is clear that many within the institutions that the poor and middle-class have depended on to protect them in the past can no longer be relied upon. At best, they're turning a blind to our best interest, and at worst, they're picking our pockets while we sleep. That isn't to say that all politicians or all unions are corrupt, but too many of their number are beginning to reflect the corrupt nature of our society for us not to come together to protect our own interest.

I've been contacted by Lewis Maltby in response to the series of articles that I've been doing on the Postal Service since March of this year. Mr. Maltby is an attorney, former Director of the Employment Rights Division of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), author of the book, "Can They Do That," and current president of the National Workrights Institute.

He indicated that he was aghast at what he read was going on in the postal service, and that he's prepared to bring a class action lawsuit against the postal service that could very easily reap tens of millions of dollars on behalf of postal employees. From there he intends to broaden his focus to address the assault on the middle-class as a whole.

So if you are a postal employee who are the victim of time fraud, being forced to work without pay, or have been intimidated into working through your lunch and breaks, he wants to hear from you. He's setting up an organization called Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA) to fight this kind of abuse both in the courts, and with the help of your numbers, in Washington, D.C.

If you're ready to fight back, please contact the e-mail address below in order to create a data base. It's time for the poor and middle-class to convert their vast numbers into political clout.

Eric L. Wattree

wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

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

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GOP Stumbles Over 'Homeboy' Steele - Again

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

GOP Stumbles Over 'Homeboy' Steele - Again

The national media has seized upon yet another Michael Steele gaffe. This time he's caught on camera suggesting that the war in Afghanistan is now President Obama's war. The statement is troubling for the GOP on so many levels that it would take an entire article just to explain it, but that's not the point of this article.

This is a reprise of an earlier article, which refers to yet a previous article regarding the Republican party's troubles with the illustrious Michael Steele, the conservative Snoop Dog. Now the GOP desperately wants to find a graceful way to get rid of him, but to put it in Brother Steele's vernacular, 'We don't roll like that, Dawg' - and further, he doesn't have sense enough to resign. Why should he when he gets to 'boogie-down' on the world stage? 'This is better than being on Soul Train, my man.'

I tried to warn the GOP about the character of a turncoat. Well, I hate to gloat, but I told you so . . . Dawg. I could have predicted this - oh, wait a minute - I did, didn't I? You see, Black people have had centuries of experience with people like Steele. Now it looks like you're cynical attempt at political manipulation have finally come back to bite you directly in the rectum - and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch. And ironically, Steele is the perfect symbol for the GOP - a bunch of self-serving clowns.

Immediately after the election of Michael Steele as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, I pointed out in my article, Republicans: "Look Y'all - We Got Us One Too!", that The RNC ploy to elect Steele as the first African American chairman in its 153 year history was not only grossly transparent, but was going to backfire in a very big way - and I was so right on target with that prediction that the RNC should hire me as chief consultant against Republican stupidity. Steele couldn't have been a worse disaster for the GOP if he'd been planted.

The very first thing I pointed out in the previous articles was that you elected Michael Steele chairman of the RNC for all the wrong reasons. I indicated that "anyone with an ounce of sense can see that this is a gimmick. Republicans were defeated so badly in the last election, and Obama is so popular, that they figure Black must be the political flavor of the season, so they went out and "got them one" – it didn't matter who, just long as his skin was dark. But again, they're so politically jaded that they're completely out of touch with the American people."

I then went on to pointed out that "the American people didn't elect President Obama because he's Black - they elected him because he demonstrated that he was an intelligent and competent statesman." In addition, "He was also elected so overwhelmingly because for the past eight years the Republican Party has clearly demonstrated that it was overflowing with corruption, incompetence, and greed . So while it's hard for the RNC to believe, for the very first time, we've had an election that was based strictly on the issues and relative competence, and not race" - which seems to be a point that still hasn't struck home with the Republican Party.

The RNC also turned a deaf ear to the suggestion that "if part of the Republican calculation was that by making a Black man head of the Republican Party it was going to help their numbers in the Black community, they're going to be sadly disappointed –in fact, they've hurt the Republican brand even more." The fact is, "If they'd ever taken the time to truly get to know the Black community, they would have known that the only thing more toxic to Black people than a flat-out racist, is a Black conservative, with the notable exception of Colin Powell – because we suspect he's not truly conservative [at least by today's definition], simply loyal" to those who helped to promote his career.

What has contributed greatly to the Michael Steele disaster, and many other problems within the Republican Party is the unmitigated arrogance of their leadership. Many Republican leaders confuse economics, social status, and ivy league diplomas with intelligence. They equate the quality of one's life and social standing with the quality of one's intellect. They fail to realize that there's a vast difference between the two. That's why they're rapidly becoming a regional party. They so greatly underestimate the intelligence of the American people, that it's gotten to the point where the only people they appeal to are the minority of Americans who are indeed ignorant. Thus, their entire platform has become one of lending comfort to the uninformed.

They fail to recognize that intelligence is not limited to the upper class. Nor do they seem to understand that social stature and the ability to obtain an ivy league diploma means nothing more than one has the resources to purchase a seat in an environment where knowledge is available. Intelligence entails much more than regurgitating information by rote in a rarified environment with ivy growing up the walls. Granted, there are many brilliant professors at Harvard, Yale, and many of our other universities, but brilliance isn't transmitted through osmosis. If one is committed to learning there is just as much knowledge to be absorbed on google or the corner library as there is at Harvard.

Thus, while these institutions of higher learning can, and do, confer diplomas, no institution in the world can confer common sense, wisdom, nor intelligence. These are qualites that are distributed equally throughout the population, so these Republican leaders need to recognize that they're making a serious error in thinking they can look soberly into the camera and begin to hemorrage their lies and disinformation upon the American people. It is, in fact, only they're own arrogance and stupidity that allow them to assume that they corner the market on intelligence

Clear evidence of that is the fact that the RNC, with all of it's experts, "political savvy", and think tanks, was completely oblivious to a fact that their attempt to push Michael Steele down America's throat as a Black clone of President Obama was the height of stupidity. It takes much more than black skin to create a Barack Obama. Any high school kid in any ghetto in America could have told them that - in spite of their atrocious educational environment.

Many of these academically deprived young people would have had the innate intelligence to inform the RNC exactly what I did:

"Most Black people have very little use for Black conservatives. It's not that we disagree with everything they say, but because we're suspect of the reasons they're saying it. Without exception, every Black conservative I've come across is an opportunist. Their conservatism tends not to be so much grounded in their actual philosophy as it is an opportunity to gain exposure. They realize that conservatives are looking high and low for Black people who will step forward to validate [Republican] views towards the Black community, so they gleefully allow themselves to be used in return for personal wealth, position, and notoriety."

So as we in the Black community sit back and watch the Republican Party struggle with this Michael Steel disaster, for once, we're having the last laugh - and believe me, the entire Black community is rolling in the isles. Because, you see, as "uneducated and politically unsophisticated" as we are, we had more than enough common sense and, yes, intelligence, to know what you were getting. So we're loving it, and hope it continues for months on end. Just this once, we've lived to see Uncle-Tomism work to our advantage. And even beyond that, we now have prima facie evidence of your unmitigated stupidity.

As I pointed out in my earlier article, "Black people have suffered a long history of such people [as Michael Steele], going all the way back to slavery. These were the very same people who would informed on slaves who were trying to escape to freedom: 'I don't know what's wrong wit him, boss. Ya jest can't get him to appreciate nothin' you do for us. What he needs is a real good beatin'. Want me to do it?'" But this time, due to your clumsy attempt at political manipulation, you're stuck with him.

What did he tell you? "Either fire me, or shut up!"

Don't think he didn't get a kick out of that. Even as an Uncle Tom (Yeah, I said it), he's more than cognizant of our history of having to lick the "master's" boots. So now that he's got you by the short-hairs, he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to tell you to kiss his ass - his Black ass - and that's exactly what he did. And the beauty of it is, you're gonna have to do it - publically. That's what happens when you lie down with dogs. Next time have your "think tanks" consult any Black kid over twelve.

So next to the election of President Barack Obama, hearing that statement come from the lips of a turncoat to his master was the most delightful moment of my political life. It's nothing short of poetic justice.

While it's generally not my nature to gloat, watching the Republican Party - THE GREAT MANIPULATOR - being played like a two dollar whore by a third rate tennis shoe pimp, strips me of all pretense of social propriety. And here's the great part - it doesn't matter who wins or loses, whether the RNC or Michael Steele. Regardless to how it turns out, we win.

It's a situation so perfect in it's design, it simply has to be an act of God.


Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com

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

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A Fourth of July Message to America: The Lady Wears Shackles

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

A Fourth of July Message to America: The Lady Wears Shackles

For over a hundred and twenty years the Statue of Liberty has greeted immigrants to these shores with open arms and the promise of the kind of freedom that they had never known. As a result, that towering, stately, and majestic lady has come to represent the quintessential symbol of freedom, liberty, and justice for people all over the world. Just the sight of her brought hope and inspiration to millions of European immigrants as they entered New York Harbor, and that initial vision sustained them as they started their new lives in America.

The scene must have seemed surreal as their boats slowly moved past her in the harbor. Oceans of tears must have flowed as the immigrants stared in awe at this magnificent lady. In her right hand she held the burning flame of passion and enlightenment - outstretched and high, as though reaching for the very face of God. In her left arm she held the tablet that represents the rule of law, and the guarantee of equal justice for all, and on her right foot, the broken shackle of a freed slave. That's right - millions of European immigrants were welcomed to America by the statue of a freed slave.

On the pedestal upon which she stood, were the words that had inspired their journey. It says... "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse to your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

As a child in school I was taught that the idea of the Statue of Liberty was conceived by a Frenchman, Edouard Laboulaye, as a monument to the collaboration and friendship of the United States and France during the Revolutionary war, and that it was sculpted by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. But at the urging of one of our readers I revisited the issue, and did a little research. As a result, I found that Laboulaye did indeed conceive of the Statue of Liberty, but not as a monument to the Revolutionary War. The Statue of Liberty was conceived as a monument to the end of slavery, and to honor those men, women and children who had been enslaved.

Laboulaye conceived of the Statue of Liberty in 1865. That was a hundred years after the Revolutionary War, but it just happened to be the very year that the Civil War came to an end. And it also turns out that Laboulaye wasn't just any Frenchman - he was not only an abolitionist who had dedicated his entire life to the abolishment of slavery, he was a leader of the French abolitionist movement. In addition, the sculptor who actually created the Statue of Liberty, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, was connected with the abolitionist movement as well.

In an Associated Press interview, Richard Newman, a research officer at Harvard University's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research is quoted as saying, "It is widely believed in academic circles that Laboulaye meant for the statue to honor the slaves, as well as mark the recent Union victory in the Civil War and the life of Abraham Lincoln."

The Statue of Liberty wasn't actually completed until 1886, but there's a 21 inch replica of the statue that was completed in 1870 on display at the Museum of the City of New York. That replica, or, original, is not white, it's terra cotta (brownish-orange), and it is said to have been designed in the likeness of a Black woman. In addition, the replica has a broken shackle around her left hand. The 151 foot statue in New York Harbor has a more . . . Discrete shackle around her foot.

The words at the base of the Statue of Liberty from the poem, "The New Colossus", by Emma Lazarus wasn't added to the statue until 1903, during a time when there was a huge surge in European immigration, and that's when the fiction began. During an interview with the Associated Press, Rebecca M. Joseph, a Boston-based Park service anthropologist is quoted as saying, "There is wide agreement that Liberty's now-familiar association with immigration was not planned by the statue's creators."

Nevertheless the thoroughly ironic scene of European immigrants weeping as they passed the Lady's flame must have played out thousands of times. It's the stuff that movies are made of - and just like most movies, the irony of a magnificent subplot churned discretely beneath the surface. One of the ironies is that now, many the grandchildren of some of those very same immigrants - those indigent immigrants that Lady Liberty welcomed into this country with open arms - have used voting fraud, unfair labor practices, redlining, blatant discrimination, and every other device, in an attempt to undermine the very people that we now know the Lady was originally created to embrace.

So irony is the operative word in this piece, and exquisite in its irony is the deplorable state of ingratitude of many of the people that this magnificent symbol of Black liberation welcomed to the country. It is all but a complete indictment on human nature that some of the very same people that Lady Liberty served as a symbol of hope, and who she welcomed to this country as literal vagrants, would now attempt to slam the door of hope and justice on the very people that she was created to enshrine.

Considering that ironic twist brought a tear to my eye as I researched this issue, because as a kid, I couldn't help but be awed by the majesty of that Lady - and that was in spite of the fact that I thought she was created for everybody but people like me. But now to find that she was created specifically for me, and even that was stolen, is almost too much to bear. Just think of how many young Black lives might have been salvaged by just the simple nudge to their self-esteem that something so grand and majestic could have provided had they known what it was created to represent. Just that knowledge alone could have given them the sense of pride, dignity, and purpose that might very well have sustained them throughout their lives.

But in spite of that, or maybe because of it, the Lady continues to hold her flame high as a tantalizing subplot silently plays itself out beneath the surface. For even as pernicious ingrates continued to indulged in their evil machinations, yet another immigrant quietly sailed passed the Lady's burning flame. He was a solitary young man from Kenya who presented papers in the name of Barack Obama.

I'm sure the immigration official laughed as he examined the papers and said, "Who?" But little did he know that it wouldn't be long before the entire world would provide him with a resounding answer to his question.

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

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

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