Politics
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Why Shelby Steele Is Right
I can’t believe I am writing this. But I am. Shelby Steele is right. Not in the conclusions expressed in his recent article in the Wall Street Journal about Judge Sonia Sotomayor and what her nomination reveals about President Obama’s supposed contradictions. That is the stuff of fantasy. But Steele is right about one thing:…
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A Reversal to the Right
When the conservative-dominated Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of upholding Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, and 8-1 to strike down a school’s decision to strip search a 13-year-old middle school student in a search of drugs last week, it seemed certain that the Supreme Court planned to lower the hammer in the…
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Obama’s Perfect Pitch on Iran
More than two weeks after the disputed Iranian elections and the beginning of a brutal government crackdown on those protesting the result, the unrest continues. Just this past weekend, Iranian police used tear gas and clubs to disperse a crowd of at least 2,000 demonstrators and detained British Embassy staff members whom they accused of…
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Court Rules For White Firefighters in New Haven
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge. New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to…
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Black, Paranoid and Absolutely Right
An excerpt from the book This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America by Ryan Grim. In the summer of 1996, the San Jose Mercury News broke the story of the connection between L.A. crack dealers and the U.S. funded Nicaraguan Contras. More than a month later, the Washington Post…
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Ahmadinejad Calls Obama George W. Bush v. 2.0
From CNN: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called the U.S. president inexperienced, compared him unfavorably to President George W. Bush and suggested he apologize for “interfering in Iran’s affairs.” “Do you think that this kind of behavior is going to solve any of your problems? It will only make people think you are someone…
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Sanford and Sonned
Yes, it’s sad to think of the impact of Mark Sanford’s confessed extramarital affair on his family, but it’s also not hard to picture this staunchly conservative dude holed up in a Buenos Aires pied-á-terre with an Argentine hottie breathing heavily on a kitchen counter while the governor pleads in her ear: “Don’t tap out,…
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In New Survey, Blacks Say Race Relations are Same Old Same Old
Barack Obama has a 96% approval rating among Black Americans. The approval rating for race relations is a sight lower than that. According to a CNN/Essence magazine poll, 55% of African Americans surveyed feel racial discrimination is a serious problem. During the 2008 election, that figure was at 38%. From CNN: The poll was conducted…
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We Still Need the Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the monumental achievements of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency, was designed to not only eliminate voting barriers for African Americans, but also to monitor attempts to restrict their access to the ballot box. The act is perhaps the most important civil rights legislation of the 20th century,…
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BREAKING: Authorities Use Force to Beat Back Protesters in Tehran Square
This is a recent development in the on-going unrest in Iran. The information available right now is vague, but, according to CNN, it appears security forces in Iran have broken out clubs and firearms against election protesters in Tehran. Many updates are being received via Twitter: From @BreakingNews: – “You should stop this, you should…