The Juice Got Squeezed For Up To 33 Years, Was It Payback?

From The Huffington Post:

A broken O.J. Simpson was sentenced Friday to as much as 33 years in prison for a hotel armed robbery after a judge rejected his apology and said, "It was much more than stupidity."

The 61-year-old football Hall of Famer stood shackled and stone-faced as Judge Jackie Glass rattled off the punishment. Moments before, Simpson made a rambling, five-minute plea for leniency, simultaneously apologizing for the holdup as a foolish mistake and trying to justify his actions.

He choked back tears as he told her: "I didn't want to steal anything from anyone. ... I'm sorry, sorry."

Simpson said he was simply trying to retrieve sports memorabilia and other mementos, including his first wife's wedding ring, from two dealers when he stormed a Las Vegas hotel room on Sept. 13, 2007.

But the judge emphasized that it was a violent confrontation in which at least one gun was drawn, and she said someone could have been shot. She said the evidence was overwhelming, with the planning, the confrontation itself and the aftermath all recorded on audio or videotape.

Glass, a no-nonsense judge known for her tough sentences, imposed such a complex series of consecutive and concurrent sentences that even many attorneys watching the case were confused as to how much time Simpson got.

Simpson could serve up to 33 years but could be eligible for parole after nine years, according to Elana Roberto, the judge's clerk.

I think OJ Simpson got the correct verdict in his murder trial, and I don't think he should have had to tip around for the rest of his life so people didn't perceive him to be arrogant or rubbing their faces in it because he wanted to go golfing. He is the poster child for "Don't mess with our white girls!" every since that day, and black men have carried this weight since the days of slavery when blacks were hung for looking at a white woman. This is why a lot of black mothers tell their sons to "leave those white girls alone" because "white society" will not treat you the same if things go wrong. OJ is the one black man who is perceived to have gotten away with something against a white woman. Had he been married to a black woman, nobody would care if he was found not guilty. His life would have gone on. But because she was white, he deserves to rot in hell, or die in jail, EVEN IF he was proved to be innocent in a court of law.

Lil Wayne Nominated For Eight Grammy Awards

From Hiphopdx.com:

The Recording Academy awarded 2008's highest-selling artist in any genre with six Grammy Award nominations. During Wednesday night's nomination ceremony/concert, Lil Wayne received nods for Album of the Year, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and two additional nominations for Best Rap Song. To date, Tha Carter III has sold approximately 3 million copies.
Other notable Hip Hop nominees were Kanye West and Jay-Z, who both received nominations as featured guests on the T.I. track “Swagga Like Us,” in addition to their four awards in other categories. Lupe Fiasco and T.I. also received four nominations in various categories.

Nominations were given for recordings released during an eligibility period which ran from October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008. The 51st Annual Grammy Awards air on Feb. 8, 2009 on CBS from 8:00 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). Nominees in all Hip Hop/Rap categories, as well as R&B nominees are listed below.

Album of the Year:

Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Ne-Yo - Year of the Gentleman
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group:

Big Boi (featuring Raekwon and Andre 3000) - “Royal Flush”
T.I. (featuring Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Kanye West) - “Swagga Like Us”
Lil Wayne (featuring Jay-Z) - “Mr. Carter”
Ludacris (featuring T.I.) - “Wish You Would”
Young Jeezy (featuring Kanye West) - “Put On”

Song of the Year:

Estelle (featuring Kanye West) - “American Boy”
Adele - “Chasing Pavements”
Jason Mraz - “I’m Yours”
Sara Bareilles - “Love Song”
Coldplay - “Viva la Vida”

Best Rap Album:

Jay-Z - American Gangster
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Nas - Untitled
T.I. - Paper Trail

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical:

Danger Mouse
Nigel Godrich
Johnny Karkazis
Rick Rubin
will.i.am

Best Alternative Music Album:

Beck - Modern Guilt
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Best Rap Solo Performance:

Jay-Z - “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...)”
Lil Wayne - “A Milli”
Lupe Fiasco - “Paris, Tokyo”
Nas - “N.i.*.*.e.r. (The Slave and the Master)”
Snoop Dogg - “Sexual Eruption”

Best Rap Song:

Lil Wayne - “Lollipop”
Flo Rida (featuring T-Pain) - “Low”
Snoop Dogg - “Sexual Eruption”
Lupe Fiasco (featuring Matthew Santos) - “Superstar”
T.I. (featuring Jay-Z, Kanye West & Lil Wayne) - “Swagga Like Us”

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration:

Estelle (featuring Kanye West) - “American Boy”
Flo Rida (featuring T-Pain) - “Low”
John Legend & Andre 3000 - “Green Light”
Lil Wayne featuring T-Pain - “Got Money”
Lupe Fiasco (featuring Matthew Santos) - “Superstar”

Best Short Form Music Video:

Erykah Badu - “Honey”
Gnarls Barkley - “Who's Gonna Save My Soul”
Alicia Keys and Jack White - “Another Way to Die”
Radiohead - “House of Cards”
Weezer - “Pork and Beans”

George Bush Should Be Prosecuted After Leaving Office

Electing Barack Obama president was the first step in redeeming American democracy. The second step must be indicting ex-president George W. Bush, giving him a fair trial, finding him guilty of many criminal acts and putting him in prison. Forget revenge. Think rule of law and justice.

I want President Obama soon after taking office to go on television and announce the formation of a special group of outstanding jurists and attorneys to make a recommendation whether or not the US Justice Department should bring criminal charges against George W. Bush. Based on earlier analyses, including work by the American Bar Association, I have no doubt they will recommend indictment.

If moral honesty and courage have any meaning, then the nation must take seriously the concept that no president can ever be allowed to be above the law. How can President Obama not strongly support this? Surely no president must be allowed to disrespect and dishonor the US Constitution. George W. Bush broke his oath of office. His behavior was treasonous. Instead of defending the Constitution he disgraced it. Instead of protecting constitutional rights, including privacy, he sullied them. He asserted his right to ignore or not enforce laws so he could break them. Respect for the office of the presidency must never be allowed to trump truth and justice.

Millions and millions of Americans and people worldwide know that George W. Bush made 9/11 the trigger for initiating an illegal war in Iraq that has killed and maimed so many thousands of people. What Vincent Bugliosi, author of "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" called "the most serious crime ever committed in American history." I say convict Bush of myriad counts of criminally negligent homicide related to both Iraq and the Katrina disaster and put him in prison. A former president in prison would not disgrace the presidency. It would restore honor to the office and the Constitution.

Surely millions more people now understand that George W. Bush bears responsibility for creating the conditions that encouraged greed-driven capitalism to rape and murder the middle class and push us into the current global economic meltdown. By removing government oversight and regulation he committed the greatest acts of fraud in the history of mankind. After he made American democracy delusional he made prosperity delusional.

You can read the rest of the article here


I agree one hundred percent, Bush need to be punished. You shouldn't be allowed to get away with the mess he have put this country through. Wether his actions were criminal or incompetence or both he need to face a judge.

Brother-In-Law Arrested In Hudson Family Murders

From The Huffington Post:

Police arrested the estranged brother-in-law of Jennifer Hudson on Monday in the deaths of the entertainer's mother, brother and young nephew, taking him from a prison where he had been held on a suspected parole violation.

William Balfour was arrested at Stateville Correctional Center and released to detectives as he awaited formal charges in the shooting deaths of the singer and Oscar-winning actress' relatives, said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond.

Until Monday, police had identified Balfour, 27, only as a "person of interest" in the investigation. He had not been charged by late Monday afternoon, said Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.

The bodies of Jennifer Hudson's mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were discovered Oct. 24 at the family's home on the South Side of Chicago. The body of 7-year-old Julian King was found three days later in a sport utility vehicle on the West Side. All three had been shot.

I hope this William Balfour character get a fair trial, and if he is indeed guilty I hope they throw the book at his ass. I don't like to judge a person before they have had their time in court but if he is guilty of murdering that little 7 year old child and Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother then he need to get the maximum sentence. I'm not an advocate of capital punishment but this crime was just senseless and just foul. This negro murdering his own relative like he's some psycho Norman Bates.

Economy Down, Military Recruitment Up

Well the military is not complaining about the latest bad news on the economy, they are seeing an increase in recruitment numbers lately. With jobs being hard to find and college tuition is as high as ever, it is no wonder young people are turning to the military for opportunity. This from the Washington Post:

Some of the largest investment firms on Wall Street are gone. The country's auto industry is on the verge of collapse. Banks are shedding jobs. But in these doom-and-gloom times, there is someone who's hiring: your local military recruiter.

The economic downturn and rising unemployment rate are making the military a more attractive option, Pentagon officials say. In some cases, the peace of mind that comes with good benefits and a regular paycheck is overcoming concerns about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which any new enlistee is likely to join.

"There's no way to sugarcoat it: We're a nation at war," said Lt. Col. Michael Bennett, who commands the Maryland Army National Guard's recruiting battalion. "But we offer a stability of income that a lot of employers can't guarantee right now."

The active-duty Army, which like other branches has increased benefits and added recruiters, said last month that it had recruited more than 80,000 soldiers during the past fiscal year, the third year in a row it has met its recruiting goals. Good news for the Army has coincided with terrible news elsewhere. The unemployment rate has jumped from 4.8 to 6.5 percent in the past 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During that time, the ranks of the unemployed grew by 2.8 million, to 10.1 million.

:::

Meanwhile, recruiting has become even more vital as the military plans to expand so it can relieve the strain on troops and their families. The active Army is to grow by 65,000 soldiers, to 547,000, by 2010. And the Marine Corps is to add 27,000, for a total of 202,000, by 2011.

When are Americans going to say, ENOUGH! You know it sounds good, giving young kids an opportunity to go to college and a steady paycheck but it's bullshit, the young folks they are recruiting are going to be used as cannon fodder for the government's wars of aggression. We wouldn't need so many recruits if we didn't get in tangled in so many unnecessary wars and we didn't try to maintain this US military empire around the world.

The military is preying on poor and under privileged young people. I believe the government should provide opportunities to young people to learn job skills and to go to college through various national service programs but not just the military and all young people from all classes should be required to serve the country in some capacity.

Why Black Businesses Have A Hard Time Surviving In America

Why do Black businesses have a hard time surviving in America? Deric Muhammad did a good job trying to explain this problem and to offer some advice to black entrepreneurs. Deric Muhammad breaks it down like this:

Over 300 years of chattel slavery in America totally destroyed Black people’s natural desire to do-for-self. After Abraham Lincoln issued the executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation, Black slaves were declared free, yet were given few opportunities to make a living to feed their families. Many slaves immediately returned to the plantations of their slave masters because they did not know what else to do.

For a long time, slaves were forbidden to read and write. However, the slave master made certain they knew how to count. How else were they to keep up with their daily cotton quotas on the plantation? Many slaves utilized the skills that they mastered as plantation workers and began doing business for themselves. As a matter of fact many slaves had already started businesses and became strong enough economically to purchase freedom for some of their family members. A price was paid before Black people were able to do business in the United States of America.

Yes slavery played a big part in shaping black people mind set to form somewhat of a dependency on white people. But later on, after slavery and during Reconstruction and Jim Crow, black people started businesses and over all a lot of the businesses were successful. One reason is, prior to integration blacks were not welcome in white establishments so they relied on black businesses for their services. So these black businesses strived. But when segregation ended black customer made a mad dash to the white businesses and left the black businesses to struggle. Deric Muhammad goes on to explain:

Our businesses thrived in this country when we understood the urgency of moments in time like “Reconstruction,” the Great Depression and Jim Crow. We knew that if we did not support one another we could not survive. Prior to integration, Whites refused to do business with us.

These days it is difficult to keep a Black business open. According to statistics, Black-owned businesses open and close faster than businesses owned by any other ethnic group in America.

He goes on to talk about some of the problems plaguing black businesses today. He also offers advice on how to correct this problem so black businesses can be competitive in todays market:

I regularly hear horror stories about how hard-working people pay Black contractors to do a job that never gets finished. You sometimes show up at a coffee shop or restaurant and they are closed when they are supposed to be open. Too often, we say that we will have a service completed by a certain date and fail to deliver. Many Black businesses close themselves down.

Now let’s flip the coin to the Black business patron. Too often good Black businesses cringe at doing business with our own people, because we are always looking for “the hook-up.” There are good Black contractors who finish jobs and then are paid with a rubber check! We show up at the Black coffee shop just to use the internet and then go buy a latte from Starbucks. Sometimes Black business owners just give up or move to the suburbs because doing business in the ‘hood, proves to be too challenging.

In all fairness, these business snafus are not only relegated to Black businesses. You can go anywhere in town and find poor customer service. However, if we are to survive during these economically challenging times, we must get back to the basics of nation building and self-development. We must support Black businesses that are serious about doing business and eliminate businesses that poison the water that we all must drink from.

In order to do business, we must show character. We must open and close when we say we will open and close. We must treat the Black customer with the same regard that we would treat a dignitary. It does not matter whether the brother or sister is spending $5 or $5,000. If you treat us like kings and queens, we will return to do business with you once again.

Obama to Escalate Afghan War With A 20,000 Troop Surge

Well if you thought Obama was the guy to bring change to US foreign policy then I must say you were sadly mistaking or worse mislead. It seems every American president has got to get their war on, I guess to show the world that they're not to be fucked with. While the American presidents shows the world his bonafides you are going to have some non white people in some far off land being used as live battlefield targets for the US Military. The US Military Industrial Complex is a very powerful and influential business organization and Barack know not to cross the UMIC unless he want to end up like JFK.

From The Telegraph UK:

Barack Obama is preparing to send at least 20,000 more US soldiers into Afghanistan in a "surge" similar to the deployment that contributed to security improvements in Iraq.

:::

The President-Elect's intention to shift the focus of the fight against terrorism to Afghanistan has been bolstered by Robert Gates agreement to stay on as Defence Secretary.

Mr Gates is a strong believer in an Afghan surge, which would not only put thousands more boots on the ground but involve negotiations with malleable branches of the Taliban

:::

A spokesman said the final number was likely to be "well north of 20,000", and indicated that countries such as Britain already fighting in the south would not face strong US demands to provide more troops.

Defence department staff members are privately delighted Mr Obama has chosen to retain a popular boss in the interests of stability. Mr Gates is expected to be officially introduced as part of an experience and centrist national security team on Monday.

"The president-elect has already indicated that he wants to put additional troops in Afghanistan," said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Over the weekend Mr Obama reiterated that he wanted to begin drawing down the 146,000 US troops in Iraq as soon as he takes office, saying he wanted to "shore up efforts" in Afghanistan.

The economy is about to go bottom up, people are losing their homes and their jobs, there is no money for health care or college tuition but our govrnment always have money to wage wars. What a fucking shame.

Obama Keeps Bush's Defense Secretary

I am starting to here the grumbling get louder and louder from the left. Obama's supporters on the left are starting to ask the question, 'Dude, where is my change?'

From ABC:

ABC News' Martha Raddatz and Jake Tapper Report: Sources tell ABC News that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be staying on in the top Pentagon job, for at least the first year of the Obama administration. "It is a done deal" a source close to the process tells ABC News.

Gates, while a registered independent, has served numerous Republican administrations. President George W. Bush nominated Gates to replace the Donald Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterm elections, when the war in Iraq was spiraling out of control.

The former Eagle Scout is expected to be rolled out immediately after the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend as part of a larger national security team expected to include Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, as Secretary of State; Marine Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.) as National Security Adviser; Admiral Dennis Blair (Ret.) as Director of National Intelligence; and Dr. Susan Rice as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

So far Obama's national security team is filled with hawks whether it be neo liberal hawks or neo conservative hawks they are still war lusting hawks. I am starting to ask myself what is going on? American foreign policy is in need of a major over haul and you can't fix it with the same old pro-war politicians that has been running the show for years. Come on Barack let me see some new faces baby.

Am I to believe what the cynics say that the President is not really in charge, that the president is just a lackey or a figure head taking orders from other powerful shadow figures?

President Elect Obama I want to believe the change that you spoke about during the campaign was sincere. I don't want to believe that this election about change was a sham but so far it seems like business as usual my dude.

Rapper MC Breed Dead At 37

From EONLINE:

MC Breed is joining his pal Tupac in the great rap hall in the sky.

The Michigan hip-hopster best known for the 1993 hit "Gotta Get Mine," featuring Shakur, died of kidney failure Saturday at the age of 37.

Breed (full name Eric Breed) had been ill for some time and died in his sleep at a friend's house in Ypsilanti, a suburb of Detroit.

"We are saddened by our great loss. More than just an artist, we mourn the loss of a beloved father, son, brother and friend," his family and management said. "We are thankful and blessed to have been in his presence and want him to be remembered for his creative, caring, talented and hard-working spirit."

Breed's 1991 debut, M.C. Breed & DFC, spawned the single "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'." His 1993 release, The New Breed, featured "Gotta Get Mine" with Tupac. After Shakur's death in 1996, Breed released 10 more albums but never really broke through the mainstream again.

1993 Video "I Got To Get Mine" - MC Breed feat. 2Pac:



Mc Breed established his name in Hip-Hop during the early 90's, some would argue the that the early to mid 90's was the best era in Hip-Hop so I have to give props to MC Breed and may he rest in peace.

US Empire 'to decline by 2025'

The American people better start putting money away for rainy days because the future is looking kind of cloudy. I know Americans are not good at saving but you better learn to kick that habit of just buying stuff just because it's the "new thing". We got to learn to put something away for our kid's future because it's going to be tougher on them to live the life we Americans have become accustom to living. Not to mention the country's debt they will inherit. This article from Al Jazeera should wake a lot of folks up:

US economic and political power is set to decline over the next two decades and the world will grow more dangerous as the battle for scarce resources intensifies, a report by US intelligence agencies has predicted.

The current global financial crisis is the beginning of a weakening of the US dollar to the point where it becomes "first among equals", said the National Intelligence Council's (NIC) Global Trends 2025 report published on Thursday.

One of the main conclusions of the report is that "the unipolar world is over, [or] certainly will be by 2025", said Thomas Fingar, the NIC's deputy director, at a press conference in Washington DC.

China and India were likely to join the US at the top of a multipolar world and compete for influence, the report added.

Russia's future was less certain, but Iran, Turkey and Indonesia were also seen by the report as gaining power.

"The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over scarce resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," said the report.

"Widening gaps in birth rates and wealth-to-poverty ratios, and the uneven impact of climate change, could further exacerbate tensions."

Bush Blamed for Worldwide Crises

From Raw Story:

PROTESTERS have demanded that US President George W Bush get out of Peru where he is attending an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, blaming him for the world economic crisis.

"Bush out," about 1000 demonstrators chanted in the center of the capital Lima, watched by scores of police in riot gear who made sure they did not move towards the APEC summit venue several kilometers away.

"This crisis didn't come from the Peruvian people. We shouldn't have to pay for it," a union leader told the crowd, which demonstrated peacefully.

:::

Friday's anti-Bush protest, organized by Peru's biggest labor union, charged that Mr Bush's decision to wage a costly war in Iraq contributed to the financial and economic crises.

"The International Criminal Court should try him for crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression," a big banner next to the main stage for the rally proclaimed.

"Bush - genocide. The Peruvians repudiate your crimes," said another.

"We believe that Bush is responsible for the fall of the financial system," explained Aldo Gil Cristostomo, a 54-year-old mechanic standing near other protesters carrying portraits of Che Guevara.

"The war in Iraq is partly responsible for the fall," he said.

Mr Cristostomo added that, while he had more sympathy for Mr Bush's successor, Barack Obama, he believed the Democrat "is going to maintain the neo-liberal system" championed by the current US president.

I wish Bush would just do us all a favor and just resign early, I mean he has embarrassed the country enough. He need to just go hang out at his Texas ranch until Obama is sworn in. Although I would much rather see Bush go in front of a judge to answer for his crimes but it's unlikely that's going to happen when so many politicians in our government was complicit in his crimes. Obama is not going to investigate the Bush criminal administration, because he's filling his own administration with nothing but pro Iraq war hawks.

Florida Teen Kills Self In Front Of Web Cam

From Reuters:

A Florida teenager committed suicide by drug overdose in front of a webcam streaming live video to the Internet and some viewers may have egged him on, authorities said on Friday.

Abraham Biggs Jr., 19, was found in the bedroom of his home in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on Wednesday and an autopsy showed he died of a toxic combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, a drug used to treat anxiety and insomnia, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office said.

"We have ruled it a suicide. Part of the terminal event was recorded on a website and there was streaming video," said Dr. Steve Cina, deputy chief medical examiner of Broward County.

:::

Biggs had written blogs about his intentions and some of the viewers who were watching the event live may have goaded him on, Cina said.

"There is some indication of that, yes," he said.

In a purported suicide note posted by Miami television station WPLG on its website, Biggs said: "I hate myself and I hate living."

The note said he had "thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past."

Just some more craziness from America's perverse society. People seem to come up with all kinds of ways to get themselves into the news. The only positive I guess is that he only killed himself and didn't go on one those suicide killing sprees we been hearing so much of lately.

Are Progressives Starting To Feel Betrayed By Obama?

If you've been paying attention to Barack Obama cabinet appointments so far you will have noticed that there haven't been any true liberal or progressive politician offered a cabinet position. So far Obama has only tapped centrist or right leaning democrats to serve in his administration. Most of Obama's progressive supporters are still confident that Obama will live up to his campaign promises and they trust his decision. But you have some progressive that are starting to question Obama based on his cabinet appointments so far. For instance you have Chris Bowers making the following statement:

I know everyone is obsessed with the "team of rivals" idea right now, but I feel incredibly frustrated. Even after two landslide elections in a row, are our only governing options as a nation either all right-wing Republicans, or a centrist mixture of Democrats and Republicans? Isn't there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration? Also, why isn't there a single member of Obama's cabinet who will be advising him from the left? It seems to me as though there is a team of rivals, except for the left, which is left off the team entirely.


It is just so very frustrating. It seems like the only place progressives are making any gains is in the House. We are being entirely left out of Obama's major appointments so far. I guess everyone gets to play in Obama's administration, except progressives.

Then you have Christopher Hayes at the Nation expressing his frustration in what he see so far:

Not a single, solitary, actual dyed-in-the-wool progressive has, as far as I can tell, even been mentioned for a position in the new administration. Not one. Remember this is the movement that was right about Iraq, right about wage stagnation and inequality, right about financial deregulation, right about global warming and right about health care. And I don't just mean in that in a sectarian way. I mean to say that the emerging establishment consensus on all of these issues came from the left. There's tons of things the left is right about that aren't even close to mainstream (taking a hatchet to the national security state and ending the prison industrial complex to name just two), but hopefully we're moving there.

And yet, no one who comes from the part of American political and intellectual life that has given birth to all of these ideas is anywhere to be found within miles of the Obama cabinet thus far. WTF?

I'm hoping Barack Obama live up to his pledge to bring change to Washington but looking at his appointments so far, I'm starting to question it. The people he have offered jobs to so far, all supported the Iraq war. For Obama to claim the Iraq war was the biggest foreign policy mistake in the history of this country, why would he put these people, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emmanuel, Joe Biden, etc into top cabinet and advisory positions. There's even rumors he's going to keep the George Bush appointee, Robert Gates on at Secretary of Defense. What kind of fucking change is that.

Violent And Racist Threats Against Obama Spreads Around The Country

If you thought America was entering a new day on race relation in this country with the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President, you may be sadly mistaking. With right wing hate radio spewing hatred daily against Barack Obama, you also have the gun lobbyist out and about with their campaign against Obama and you have a dangerous situation on your hand. I just ran across a chilling story of students with guns openly talking about assassinating Obama. From Editor&Publisher

A few days ago, the Associated Press and some other news outlets picked up on the disturbing. But at Editor & Publisher we are still receiving tips and personal accounts every day, often from small towns in both red and blue states.

Just this morning, for example, the Mount Desert Islander weekly in Maine reported that a third effigy of a black man had been found hanging from a tree in the area since the election. This was was in Somesville, following reports of others in Tremont and Bar Harbort. The paper observes: "State police also are investigating the incidents, which are believed to be in response to the election of Sen. Barack Obama as president."

Here is the latest note to us today from a student in Iowa (I have her name and address but won't release it here), a state Obama carried rather easily. It is much in line with reported incidents of other school kids, some as young as 7 or 8, talking about "assassinating" Obama. Of course, they couldn't carry that out themselves but what is chilling is that they are likely just repeating language or threats they hear at home.

Here is that email:

"I'm not sure who to email on this, but there have been several derogatory things said about Obama in our school, and one of them got a student suspended. I go to a school in a little town called Letts, Iowa. We are pretty down home, country road farm kids out here. But never, in my 11 years at the school, have I ever heard the conversation take such a negative turn.

"The remark that the student was suspended for was this, "Well, it's called the White House for a reason. We need to get that God damn N----- out of there."

"There were other remarks, mostly by students who hunt. They were discussing how far a shotgun could shoot, and decided that they could get to a high enough vantage-point to shoot Obama from at least 2 miles away, without anyone ever knowing where the shot came from. 'Another Kennedy' they were saying."

Last night a reader tipped us off to an incident in another Obama-friendly state, Michigan, in the town of Buchanan. Members of the South County Democratic Club woke up Saturday to find their building vandalized with swastikas and racist comments, spray painted on the side of the structure. These kind of incidents have been too common to list all of them.

:::

The weekly based in Wasilla, Alaska, which boosted hometowner Sarah Palin throughout the election campaign, provided column space this week to a local student who alleged anti-Obama racial comments the day after his election. Here's an excerpt from The Frontiersman op-ed by Waverli Raine.

Finally the campaign was over and I was actively supporting our new president, even though I knew I would be vastly out numbered at school. I expected complaints and qualms about the new president, but I was not prepared for the flat-out racist remarks said openly in the halls and classrooms. I was appalled. While I sat at my desk trying to do my work I could hear my fellow classmates:

“I think we should kill Obama,” one said.

“I hope someone comes up and shoots him in the head,” another would say.

“I hate Obama … he’s black.”

On went the racist words for the full 80 minutes of that class. Angered, I began to think of the injustice of it all and the ignorance of the students I was surrounded by. I wondered where they learned to be so hateful, and I wondered why the teacher never stepped in - why no adult, no student, including myself, had the guts to cut in and say it was not OK. Because it’s never OK for intolerance.

You know those fucking kids got those ideas from home. I swear I despise those racist right winger so much. Sometimes I wish we could just wall off a part of the country and dump all those vile people in one place and let them have their George Bushes and Sarah Palins as their leaders.

Israel To Boycott UN Forum On Racism

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Wednesday that Israel had made a final decision not to participate in a U.N. forum on racism and urged other countries to boycott what she termed an "anti-Israel tribunal."

The United Nations said it regretted the decision.

The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to be held in Geneva in April, is a follow-up to a 2001 summit in Durban, South Africa on the same issues.

Israel and the United States walked out of the first conference in protest over draft texts branding Israel as a racist and apartheid state -- language that was later dropped.

In a speech to visiting U.S. Jewish leaders, Livni said she announced last February that Israel would not participate in the 2009 meeting unless it was clear it would not be used "as a platform for further anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic" activity

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What's that old saying? If you throw a rock in a yard full of dogs,the dog that screams out is the dog that got hit. So here you have the UN having a world conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia and the first country to scream out is Israel. My suggestion is, if you don't want to be labeled as a Racist and Apartheid Nation then you should stop acting like one.

Wright, Jackson & Sharpton: The Role They Played In Getting Obama Elected

From Daily Kos:

[During Obama's campaign], Reverends Wright, Sharpton and Jackson were in a dilemma. They were three men caught in a web of their own historical press clippings. Even Dirty Harry knew that a man’s gotta know his own limitations. They had no choice, really. It was either distance themselves from Barack Obama, or cost him the Presidency.

:::

Reverend Wright was a firebrand noted for his take-no-prisoners rhetoric from the pulpit. He was the kind of inner-self black spirit that African Americans only surrender to in audience with other like-minded African Americans. He was the Black Power salute of contemporary black dialog – respectably vocal, but never allowed to escape beyond the inside breast pocket of a Brooks Brothers suit. Upper middle class black folks listened to him on Sunday mornings to make more palatable the glass ceilings they had to navigate Monday mornings at work.

Reverend Al Sharpton, on the other hand, had become the quintessential civil rights leader of the 21st Century, in the tradition of Frederick Douglass – "agitate, agitate, agitate." In the white community he had become a caricature of himself, but his gift was the ability to cut through the bullshit and tell it like it is or, shall I say, how he thought it was. He brought the cameras and the microphones which, in some cases, were all that was needed to affect surface level Change.

Jesse Jackson, over the recent years, had lost more credibility than he had gained, but in the eyes of his detractors, he still represented the civil rights camp - heir apparent to the Martin Luther King, Jr. legacy in the absence of any King Family member who wanted the torch more than a movie role. Reverend Jackson’s civil rights cavalcade always seemed to set up shop just outside of operational government and therefore seemed doomed to forever knock on the door of viability... from the wrong side.

In early Spring of 2008, as Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency began to approach the rarified air of serious money, there must have been an unspoken meeting of the minds among these men. It was a moment when all four had to realize that The Black Agenda had to be set aside in favor of The American Agenda. This had to happen in order for Obama to reach unprecedented heights in the presidential campaign. In was like members of the old Negro Leagues bidding farewell to Jackie Robinson as he cleared his locker. It was never "Why him?" They knew he had to move forward so that others could move forward after him, and it was time for them to step aside.


:::

Barack Obama would have never disavowed Reverend Wright had it not become evident that Wright’s rhetoric had the potential of slicing and dicing his campaign. So Wright intentionally pushed the issue. And he pushed it so far to the radical left that Obama had no choice but to respond emphatically.

Reverend Sharpton did his part by holding off on his endorsement of Barack Obama for as long as possible, before his motives were beginning to be questioned by his own constituency. Thus he helped to move Obama a tad further to the center.

Jesse Jackson’s particular stroke of genius was to enlist the aid of the enemy - FOX News Network. He knew it would only work once, and in order for it to work, it had to be Fox News, one of the most racist new organizations in the world. They would never not broadcast an apparent rift between two newsworthy black men. Jackson made the comments to a guest before an interview on "Fox & Friends," whispering that Obama was "talking down to black people" and that he (Jackson) wanted to "cut his nuts off." FOX jumped on this with all four feet. Not only did Jackson not ask FOX to hold back the tape, he went on CNN to apologize for his comments, thus ensuring that the tape would be broadcast. It played perfectly on the evening news. Jesse set himself up to take the hit, and even his own son, Jesse Jackson, Jr, an Obama staffer, had to denounce his father’s comments. How much more real does it get? Jesse played FOX like a cheap pawnshop trumpet. Here is a man who has been in public life for almost 50 years. He had been scrutinized by Hoover, wire-tapped by the FBI in the King era. And we’re supposed to believe that he forgot he was on a hot microphone... at the FOX News Network, no less?
Puh-leeeze!

Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson fell on their swords so that Barack Obama would have a greater audience at center court. Someday a filmmaker will study the screenplay, and even she won’t believe it. Rod Serling wouldn’t believe it, either, and he knew something about irony.

Comedian Wanda Sykes Comes Out Of The Closet

From The Huffington Post:

Comedian Wanda Sykes says the passage of a same-sex marriage ban in California has led to her be more outspoken about being gay.

"You know, I don't really talk about my sexual orientation. I didn't feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life," Sykes told a crowd at a gay rights rally in Las Vegas on Saturday.

"Everybody that knows me personally they know I'm gay. But that's the way people should be able to live their lives," she said.

Sykes, who is known for her feisty and blunt style, said the passage of California's Proposition 8 made her feel like she was "attacked."

"Now, I gotta get in their face," she said. "I'm proud to be a woman. I'm proud to be a black woman, and I'm proud to be gay."

I didn't know Wanda Sykes was gay, I wonder who is next to come out of the closet, Queen Latifah?

Black Man Posing As White Racist Arrested

From The Sun Herald:

A black man from Mississippi has been arrested and accused of sending racist death threats over the Internet to three black students at Louisiana's Nicholls State University.

The FBI in New Orleans said Dyron Hart, 19, was arrested Wednesday. He is accused of sending the messages by way of the students' Facebook accounts. The messages contained racial epithets and death threats and were sent to two black women and a black man at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La.

The author of those messages cast himself as a white man who intended to kill blacks because Barack Obama was elected president.

Hart told an FBI agent that he sent the messages to "get a reaction," according to the agent's sworn statement.

:::

An FBI news release said Hart, if convicted, would face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Repeatedly using an obscenity and the N-word, the author of the message threatens to kill more than 3,000 black people in a month because of Obama's election and warns the recipient of a pending attack from "a random white man," according to the agent's affidavit.

All I can say is this Dyron Hart character is one dumb ass. I'm glad the authorities are taking these racial threats serious because there are some real racist out there that would like to do real harm. So the prankster like Mr. Hart should be taught a lesson. They should throw the book at this clown.

Americans Have A Lot Of Faith In An Obama's Presidency

Let me start by saying I would not want to be in Obama's shoes. The Man has a monumental task ahead thanks to the incompetence of George W. Bush. He has two wars (or two occupations if you will)to deal with, the financial markets are in crisis, the housing market and the auto industry is about to go under, he's working with a half a trillion dollar deficit and a 10 trillion dollar national debt and now they call the black in to clean up this mess.

According to a CNN Poll, the American public think Obama is the man that can get the country back on the right track though. From CNN:

The overall public mood may still be sour at the moment, but a new national poll suggests that most Americans think Barack Obama will make major accomplishments as president of the United States.

Nearly two-thirds of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday said President-elect Obama will change the country for the better. Twenty-five percent said he won't change the country either way, and only 9 percent indicated they think Obama will change the country for the worse.

"The bar is being set awfully high for an Obama presidency," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

According to the poll, most people think it's likely that Obama will improve race relations, improve economic conditions, bring stability to the financial markets, make the United States safer from terrorism, reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil, reduce global warming, win the war in Afghanistan, and remove U.S. troops from Iraq without causing a major upheaval in that country.

You've heard that old saying, "Once they go black they never go back". So if Obama does a good job, which I am praying that he does, America will fall in love with a black president and probably would be willing to pick another one in the near future but, if Obama's presidency goes down as a failure then it will be generation before another black is giving a remote chance at the white house. See future white candidates will not be judged based on Bush's failures but future black candidates will be judged based on how well Obama performs. So Obama has the reputation and aspirations of African Americans as well as the hopes of all American on his narrow shoulders. In other words failure is not an option.

What Obama Can Learn From The Wire (TV Series)

Yo, I am a huge fan of the HBO series The Wire, I feel a void in my life now that The Wire has ended. During an interveiw early in the primary season, Barack Obama said his favorite TV show was The Wire and his favorite character on the show was Omar Little.

As people that watched The Wire know, the show dealt with a lot of problems we face as a nation. From drugs, violence, education and corrupt politics, Barack could learn a few things from the show. I came across this post over at Daily Kos where a blogger laid out the things Barack could learn from watching the Wire, a show which paints a bleak picture of the decaying city of Baltimore:

Foreign Policy

If Obama was watching The Wire carefully, he could learn a lot about foreign
policy from two of the major characters from the first three seasons, Avon
Barksdale and his cohort, Stringer Bell. While Avon was always willing to go
to war for territory and fight over pride, Stringer was more pragmatic,
realizing that war was bad for business. Like Obama, Stringer was willing to
negotiate with his enemies, including Proposition Joe and Marlo Stansfield.
Rather than war with other drug dealers over territory, Stringer built an
alliance of huslters from both the east and west side to share a common
package and economic interest.

Obama could take Stringer's role and avoid wars unless they are absolutely
necessary, negotiate with countries previously hostile to the US and build
alliances with other countries. He should not however be shady and
conniving, the characteristics which led to Stringer's death.

Drugs

Addiction and distribution of drugs have played a big role in all 5 seasons
of The Wire. If anything is clear from The Wire, it is that the War on Drugs
is a failed war, that only keeps the cycle of addiction, poverty and
violence going. For many, the War on Drugs, is a war on black neighborhoods.
In the Wire, we see that incarceration of drug dealers has little effect, as
there always is a new one to take his place. Obama could learn a lot about
how to deal with drugs from Bunny Colvin's Hamsterdamn experiment. Rather
than brutality and incarceration, treatment and counseling were used in an
area where drug dealers were free to sell drugs. With drugs less of a
priority, police were able to stop violent crime, burglaries and rape.

If Obama was paying attention to Season 3, he will put more money into
treatment, and less emphasis on incarceration. While the American War on
Drugs has focused primarily on the black community, millions of white
Americans have become addicted to prescription pills and methamphetamine.
While surveys have shown that white people use drugs at the same rate of
black people, blacks are incarcerated five times as much for drug crimes.

Education

Season 4 of The Wire highlighted the educational crisis in urban areas.
Through the eyes of four poor black children and a white teacher. In Season
4 we see the failure of No Child Left behind, as teachers are forced to
teach to tests rather than using their own skills and knowledge. We also see
the apathetic teachers and the overcrowded classrooms and the social
problems that lead to dysfunctional students.

Season 4 also makes it clear that students in urban areas who aren't
involved in the educational process get educated on the street to become
drug dealers. John McCain called education the Civil Rights Movement of the
21st century, probably the ony thing he said during the campaign that I
agreed with. Education in urban areas is not a black problem but an American
problem, a problem all Americans must unite to solve.

Politics

Clearly Obama paid close attention to Mayor Tommy Carcetti's campaign
against Mayor Royce. Both Obama and Carcetti were good looking, with
excellent debate and oratory skills. Just like Tommy Carcetti woke up white
in a city that wasn't, Barack Obama woke up black in a county that wasn't.
Carcetti managed to overcome his race problem by splitting the black vote
between Royce and Gray just like Obama managed to split some of the white
vote between Edwards and Clinton in the primary. Carcetti kept a cool head
while his opponents tried to connect him to unsavory characters and reached
out to people outside of his base to develop a strong coalition.

Obama must also learn from Tommy Carcetti's brief term as Mayor. Carcetti
found himself in a budget deficit as Mayor and unable to complete his
campaign promises. He also realized that he would have to eat "bowls of
shit" from several interest groups in Baltimore. Obama must also confront
this problem in dealing with the military, Wall street and religious
leaders. With a failing economy, he must be both pragmatic and idealistic in
his decisions on what to cut, what to keep and what to expand.

Obama must also be like Carcetti and build alliances with his opponents who
did not support him in the election, such as Carcetti's alliance with
council president, Narise Campbell. He must also crack down on corruption in
politics, whether it be from the Clay Davis's of the world or the Tom
Delays.

Weekly Wrap Up In Political News - Cartoons

Click on picture to enlarge:

8 Year Old Boy Kills Father And Friend

What is going on in this country? I just came across this story out of St. Johns, Arizona. From CNN:

An 8-year-old boy is scheduled in court Monday to face two counts of premeditated murder in the shooting death of his father and a friend. The hearing comes on the same day mourners were to gather for a funeral.

Police say the boy, a third-grader, confessed to planning and carrying out the shooting deaths of his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and a co-worker who rented a room from him.

The men were found dead inside Romero's home northeast of Phoenix on Wednesday.
Authorities had no motive for the shootings.

"That's what's puzzling to us," Police Chief Roy Melnick said Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "There's no record of any problems in school, no reported abuse."

Romero came from a family of hunters and wanted to make sure the boy wasn't afraid of guns, said the Rev. John Paul Sauter of St. Johns Catholic Church. He said the father taught his son how to use a rifle to kill prairie dogs.

Police say the boy used a .22-caliber rifle to kill his father and the other man, Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos.

St. Johns police are hoping a judge will agree to try the boy as an adult, but they admit it's unlikely.

The boy's attorney says police questioned his client without representation from a parent or attorney and didn't advise the child of his rights.

The killings took place in the St. Johns, a town of about 4,000 people located roughly 170 miles northeast of Phoenix.

:::

Stories like this is like the America's chickens come home to roost. America is still clinging to her ancient and out dated gun laws. You have evil organizations like the National Rifle Association (NRA) who want to see more guns on America's streets including automatic assault rifles. I bet if Mr. Romero had it do all over again he would have never taught his young son about guns.

Fox News Snubbed By Obama At First News Conference

From Huffington Post:

President-Elect Barack Obama held his first press conference yesterday, one that focused mainly on the current economic crisis. One detail that flew under the radar, however, was which networks and newpapers [sic] got to ask questions, or, rather, which one didn't get to ask a question. As Media Bistro notes, one network who was not called upon sticks out: Fox News.

It will be interesting to see how the conservative network adjusts to a political reality in which the Democratic Party holds the White House and substantial majorities in both houses of Congress. Michael Wolff, a Vanity Fair columnist who is writing an authorized biography on Rupert Murdoch's career and family, claims that even Murdoch is embarrassed by Fox News

Damn that's got to hurt, every news network crave for access to the White House. Fox News - The Bush News Network - is now the odd man out. I would like to see the Democratic party boycott the entire network, don't go their show, don't do interviews with that dishonest racist network. Since Fox News decided to cast their lot with the Republican party, the Democrats should treat them like the opposition that they are. They employ the most hated and vile right wingers, people such as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Carl Rove and they're also a haven for vicious smear merchants like Ann Coulters and Michelle Malkin. Why would any democrat take 'Sly' Fox News serious?

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Palin Blamed For Increased Death Threats To Obama

From Telegraph.co.uk:

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

:::

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

The revelations, contained in a Newsweek history of the campaign, are likely to further damage Mrs Palin's credentials as a future presidential candidate. She is already a frontrunner, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to take on Mr Obama in four years time.

Sarah Palin went over the line with her attacks on Obama and she's probably too damn stupid to realize it. In the article they say she's already a front runner to take on Obama in four years, my question is based on what, her looks. She doesn't offer anything else. She is just a dumb as right wing extremist, she need to take her ass back to Alaska where they love her. We need intellegent people to run for president, no more George Bush and Sarah Palin types.

Democratic Takeover Of Government Leads To Boom In Gun Sales

It seems gun enthusiasts, I like to refer to them as gun nuts, are worried that Obama will make it harder for them to buys guns in the future so they are rushing out to buy guns and ammunition before Obama and the democrats take over in January. This from the Associated Press:

When 10-year-old Austin Smith heard Barack Obama had been elected president, he had one question: Does this mean I won't get a new gun for Christmas?

That brought his mother, the camouflage-clad Rachel Smith, to Bob Moates Sports Shop on Thursday, where she was picking out that special 20-gauge shotgun — one of at least five weapons she plans to buy before Obama takes office in January.

Like Smith, gun enthusiasts nationwide are stocking up on firearms out of fears that the combination of an Obama administration and a Democrat-dominated Congress will result in tough new gun laws.

:::

No data was available for gun purchases this week, but gun shops from suburban Virginia to the Rockies report record sales since Tuesday's election.

"They're scared to death of losing their rights," said David Hancock, manager of Bob Moates, where sales have nearly doubled in the past week and are up 15 percent for the year. On Election Day, salespeople were called in on their day off because of the crowd.

Why the fuck do these gun nuts feel the need to own so many damn guns, are they that terrified of their fellow citizens, are they planning on going to war with the government or what? I just don't get it, one or two guns in the house is not enough, these fools feel they need an arsenal to feel safe. And what is up with buying guns for a 10 year old kid, shouldn't there be laws against that?

America's Overflowing Prisons Are A National Embarassment

From Citizen-time.com:

After decades of directing the world from atop its throne of moral authority, the United States has finally lost its perch. No one else has yet ascended to that exalted seat, so for the moment the international righteousness championship and the financial competence championship both remain vacant.

America forsook those titles by succumbing to the lures of unprovoked war, shameless torture, unsustainable greed, mistreatment of the poor, and vast overuse of prisons. As even hermits know by now, we suffer the highest incarceration rate in the world. Indeed, one author has deemed us the rogue state of imprisonment.

:::

Can you believe that 1 in every 100 U.S. adults is physically in jail, and that 1 in 32 is under some kind of state control? Too bad we can’t see all those jumpsuits and electronic anklets at the same time. It might jolt us into some policy changes.

Worse yet, 1 in 9 young black men are in the klink. No diploma in sociology is required to grasp how that number is a natural product of our society. Bad schools, bad housing, bad diet, bad health care, and biased law enforcement are not designed to breed productive citizens.

America's Prison Industrial Complex is something I'm hoping the Obama administration deal with. For this nation to lead the world in incarcerations means there is a societal problem here. I know there are individuals that should be removed from society but there are a lot of people in prison that could be rehabilitated, some just need a better chance in life.

Election Cartoon

Just a few toons for your enjoyment. I guess I'm still celebrating Obama's victory, I hope you enjoy:

Black and Latino Voters Crucial In Banning Gay Marriage

It seems African Americans played a huge part in passing Proposition 8, A California ballot amendment banning gay marriage. So blacks lined up with social conservatives to discriminate against the LGBT community. I am a straight black man OK, but based on the racism and discrimination black people had to go through in this country, personally I don't believe in discriminating against any group of people. I would never align myself with social conservatives - the same people that gave us so much hell in the past and still do - to discriminate against LGBT community today.

From Mercury News:

Even as African-American and Latino voters were a powerful force in boosting America's first black president to victory, in California they also were crucial to passing Proposition 8, a ballot measure labeled, "Eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry."

Exit polls showed that 70 percent of black voters, and a majority of Latino voters, voted yes on Proposition 8, one likely reason why the measure won a slim majority in Los Angeles County, where pre-election polls had suggested it would lose, even though it lost by a huge margin in the Bay Area.

New Song By Dead Prez - Politrikkks Feat. Malcolm X

Well it doesn't seem like all black artist are excited about Barack Obama winning the presedency, the political Hip-hop rap group Dead Prez think Barack Obama is nothing more than a tool for corporate America. I've been a fan of Dead Prez since they first came out even though I may not agree with everything they say, they do make some thought provoking music. So check it out and take it for what it's worth:

Palin's Shopping Sprees More Extensive Than Reported

I know this is like 'water under the bridge' or 'kicking a dead horse' but there is more to the Sarah "Real American Hockey Mom" Palin's $150,000 shopping sprees. Some folks may be saying Fraze2000 just give it a rest she lost, don't rub it in. But fuck that, Sarah is a wicked broad so I don't mind kicking her while she's down. Newsweek is running a story about her shopping sprees which are even more extravagant than first revealed. Check it out:

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

***

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.