Cress Welsing: The Definition of Racism White Supremacy
Dr. Blynd: The Definition of Racism
Anon: What is Racism/White Supremacy?
Dr. Bobby Wright: The Psychopathic Racial Personality
The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism (White Supremacy)
What is the First Step in Counter Racism?
Genocide: a system of white survival
'Racism is a behavioral system for survival'
Fear of annihilation drives white racism
Dr. Blynd: The Definition of Caucasian
Where are all the Black Jurors?
The War Against Black Males: Black on Black Violence Caused by White Supremacy/Racism
Brazen Police Officers and the Forfeiture of Freedom
White Domination, Black Criminality
Fear of a Colored Planet Fuels Racism: Global White Population Shrinking, Less than 10%
Race is Not Real but Racism is
Chomsky on "Reserving the Right to Bomb Niggers."
A Goal of the Media is to Make White Dominance and Control Over Everything Seem Natural
Spike Lee's Mike Tyson and Don King
Black Power in a White Supremacy System
The Image and the Christian Concept of God as a White Man
Why do White Americans need to criminalize significant segments of the African American population?
Who Told You that you were Black or Latino or Hispanic or Asian? White People Did
Malcolm X: "We Have a Common Enemy"
Friday, October 5, 2012 at 08:45PM The Ndaba for Reparations will serve as a cultural institution for the purpose of giving the global African community an all-inclusive process to achieve reparations. Understanding that the economic, political, and cultural, atrocities of the Transatlantic slave trade, better known as the Maafa, are crimes against humanity that have been inflicted on African people on [...]
Friday, October 5, 2012 at 05:58PM As a Case Analyst at the Innocence Project, I review claims of innocence and investigate whether a person’s actual innocence can be proven through DNA testing. Thousands of individuals of every race and ethnicity have requested our assistance. Yet, the vast majority of our clients are minorities. In fact, people of color are disproportionately represented at every stage of the criminal justice system - from arrest to conviction to the prison cells.
Many of the consequences of how race affects the larger criminal justice system can be seen in innocence-related efforts. An analysis of the 297 DNA exonerations reveals minorities make up approximately 70% of those proven innocent through DNA testing. Similarly, African-Americans represent the vast majority of these exonerations - 63% of those exonerated by DNA testing.
Despite numerous studies depicting similar levels of participation by Whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics in non-violent crimes – notably drugs, weapon possession, and speeding - Bureau of Justice statistics show minorities are arrested and incarcerated at higher rates for these crimes. Because these minority communities are seen as high crime areas, police focus on these neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, minorities are besieged with recurrent police contact leading to extensive criminal records for even minor non-violent crimes. I’m frequently invited to speak at New York City schools in some of these same neighborhoods, and I hear stories from youth who have regular contact with the criminal justice system, whether they have parents or siblings who are incarcerated or they are themselves stopped by police officers.
Cumulative non-violent arrests can lead to future suspicion for violent crimes, as seen in the stories of those exonerated by DNA testing. A number of our clients who have been exonerated through DNA testing had their mugshot photos entered into a photo array lineup culminating in a misidentification. For example, Rickie Johnson of Louisiana had a mugshot on file because of a misdemeanor traffic violation. The victim identified his mugshot and he was later erroneously convicted of aggravated rape.
In total, nearly 75% of the DNA exoneration cases involve an eyewitness misidentification – approximately 42% of which are cross-racial misidentifications. Research studies have shown how victims or witnesses can have difficulty identifying facial characteristics of a dissimilar race.
Because minorities are more likely to be arrested as juveniles, false confessions and fictitious incriminating statements are more prone to occur. Juveniles are especially vulnerable to giving false confessions because they’re easier to manipulate. Many African-American and Hispanic exonerated men who were arrested as juveniles in urban communities were coerced into give incriminating statements that significantly differed from the crime scene evidence. The case of the Central Park Five in New York City is perhaps the best known example of this dynamic between law enforcement and minority youth. Other examples include Chicago’s Englewood Four and the Dixmoor Five.
While much data exists on the numbers of minorities stopped, arrested and incarcerated, it is difficult to quantify - but no less significant - to also acknowledge the subjective racial biases held by the police, prosecution, defense and juries against people of color, further curtailing fair treatment in arrest, police investigation, plea, and trial proceedings.
Finally, hardships can derail life after exoneration for an innocent person - several DNA exonerated minorities still face problems obtaining employment, housing and education post-exoneration because of their criminal record or the extent of years served on their wrongful conviction.
The DNA exonerations reveal how race can affect arrest and conviction of an innocent person. DNA testing has the potential to correct these injustices, although it’s available in only a small percentage of criminal cases. An innocent person can be falsely accused of a crime he did not commit based solely on the neighborhood where he lives and previous contact with the police. Additional research should be pursued to correct the wrongs that race plays in convicting the innocent.
Friday, October 5, 2012 at 05:50PM The unemployment rate dipped below 8 percent in September, to 7.8 percent, shaking up estimations of the presidential race and providing welcome news for President Obama just a month before Election Day.
The economy added only 114,00 jobs, yet the unemployment rate still dropped from 8.1 percent to 7.8.
Total employment rose by 873,000 in September, a significant jump that explains the drop in the unemployment rate.
The report revised figures up in July and August, and it showed more people entered the workforce last month. This is also the first report to be released since the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced it had undercounted employment for the previous year by 386,000.
penultimate report before the presidential election, and the unemployment rate is now lower than when Obama entered office. No incumbent president has won reelection with an unemployment rate above 8 percent since President Franklin Roosevelt.
The report is particularly welcome news for the White House and Obama's campaign after a difficult week in which Obama was roundly thought to have been beaten in his first debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Romney hit Obama hard during the debate on his handling of the economy, which has been the central issue of the race.
“This is not what a real recovery looks like," Romney said Friday in reaction to the report.
"We created fewer jobs in September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July, and we’ve lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office. If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force, the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent," he said.
The report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised figures for July and August to show stronger growth.
In July, the economy added 181,000 jobs and in August it added 142,000, according to the report. Originally Labor had estimated the economy added 141,000 in July and 96,000 in August.
And for the first time in months, the job market showed stronger growth as 418,000 more people entered the workforce to look for a job.
"This is a really big report. This is a big report," said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics. He noted average weekly hours worked were also higher, according to the report.
At the same time, Zandi noted the monthly reports are volatile and that half of the 873,000-person gain in total employment came from part-time workers. He suggested some of those gains could also be related to seasonal adjustment issues that could fall out of the data.
The number of unemployed fell to 12.1 million, the lowest level since January 2009, which is also the last time the jobless rate was 7.8 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up 60 points in early trading.
Some commentators questioned Friday how the report could show the unemployment rate falling in September amid such strong growth in labor participation.
Former GE CEO Jack Welch accused the administration of cooking the books, saying in a message on Twitter: "Unbelievable jobs number ... these Chicago guys will do anything ... can't debate so change numbers."
Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute who closely follows the labor market, said this month's employment story is one of different reports. The jobless rate is based on a survey of households, and showed people were getting jobs and not leaving the labor force.
The establishment survey of businesses that determined the job count showed the kind of growth that is basically just enough to keep up with population growth, Shierholz said in a statement.
"The rule of thumb when the two surveys tell different stories is to go with what the establishment survey says. However, the household survey provides reasons to be somewhat more optimistic about job opportunities for American workers," Shierholz said.
Friday, October 5, 2012 at 05:48PM President Obama is crushing Mitt Romney among swing-state Hispanics, according to two new polls out from nonpartisan pollster Latino Decisions.
Obama leads Romney by 78 to 17 percent with Nevada's Hispanic voters, a huge gap that outpaces the 76-to-22 percent edge he had over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) four years ago in the state.
In Florida, where the Republican-leaning Cuban population bolsters Latino GOP support, Obama leads Romney by a 30-point margin, at 61 percent to 31. That's double the 15-point edge he had with the state's Hispanics four years ago, when he carried the demographic group by 57 percent to 42.
If Romney can't close these gaps it will be very difficult for him to win Nevada, and complicate his path to victory in Florida. The group will release polling results in Colorado, another swing state with a large Hispanic population, next week.
These new results mirror national polling by this and other groups that show Obama outpacing his 2008 performance with Latino voters and Romney struggling mightily. Two recent national polls of Hispanic voters show Obama cracking 70 percent, with Romney pulling between one-fifth and one-quarter of Latino voters. A senior Romney Hispanic strategist told The Hill this summer that the campaign's goal was to win 38 percent of the national Hispanic vote.
Romney's campaign has made a recent push for more Latino support, and argued earlier this week that it was doing better than national polling indicated with swing-state Hispanics. But these polls, the only ones so far to conduct polling in Spanish as well as English and have large enough sample sizes to be trusted, indicate the opposite.
Friday, October 5, 2012 at 05:46PM Friday, October 5, 2012 at 02:36AM Barrett Brown, the self-proclaimed spokesman for the affiliation of worldwide hackers known as Anonymous, has been indicted on three federal charges: making an online threat, retaliating against a federal officer and conspiring to release the personal information of a U.S. government employee. Authorities raided Brown's apartment and arrested him last month while he was chatting online with Anonymous folks. The bulk of the evidence against Brown in the indictment consists of threats he allegedly tweeted and YouTubed in the weeks leading up to his arrest -- most of them aimed at his longtime FBI foil, Agent Robert Smith.
Friday, October 5, 2012 at 02:05AM Gearing up for the debate over extending federal transportation programs last spring, Jose Parra, deputy communications director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, listened to his boss run through a list of the consequences of the proposed cuts. He couldn’t help but chime in.
“Hispanic communities are overrepresented in the construction industry,” Parra said he told those gathered, pointing out that the cuts would be disproportionately borne by Hispanic-Americans. “Thirty percent of Hispanic firms are construction firms.”
“That point would have gone unnoticed during our discussions if there hadn’t been minority staffers present,” Parra recently told National Journal Daily.
But despite the benefits of bringing a variety of voices to the table, racial diversity in Capitol Hill offices continues to lag behind corporate America, and most minority staffers are left only dreaming of the day they earn a position as senior as Parra’s.
Members of Congress are not required to report demographic details on staffers, so no definitive tally is available, but two voluntary surveys found minority hiring on the Hill to be surprisingly low, especially at senior levels.
National Journal’s “Hill People” issue in 2011 profiled 288 top aides who work for congressional leaders and House and Senate committees, and only 7 percent of them were identified as Asian, black, or Hispanic. In the private sector, these same groups collectively held 12 percent of top managerial positions in 2010, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Diversity on the Hill seems to increase further down the totem pole, with 17 percent of House staff assistants, an entry-level position, identifying themselves as a race other than white in the latest House Compensation Study from 2010. Still, 34 percent of entry-level professionals in the private sector in 2010 were minorities, according to the EEOC, compared to the 2010 Census finding that nonwhites made up 28 percent of the U.S. population.
Weldon Rougeau, who has worked in both the upper levels of Congress and the top rungs of corporate America, says members do not have the same incentives as CEOs to focus on staff diversity. Rougeau was one of the first black staffers on the Hill in the 1970s, beginning as a legislative aide and later working as chief of staff to then-Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. Rougeau left the Hill in the 1980s to help blaze a trail in another arena, becoming one of the first African-American vice presidents at American Express. He said that while he was there, hiring practices at the company began to favor more racial diversity in senior-level positions. He added that he has yet to see this same push spread widely across the Hill, even after his return to serve as CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in 2001.
The decision to focus on diversity among top management at American Express came about simply because it was “smart business,’’ he said.
“We used to call them ‘emerging markets,’ ” said Rougeau, who is now retired. “For all practical purposes, they have in fact emerged. They are not being ignored by companies anymore. They are huge economic forces, and companies who recognized that started hiring people who knew something about these markets.”
Unlike CEOs, members of Congress do not have customers, a board of directors, or shareholders to answer to. Instead, they have constituents, who are more likely to visit a member’s office in their state or district than to make the trek to Washington. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who is white, represents a district that is 71 percent minority—one of the highest levels in the country. He told National Journal that hiring staffers who look like his constituents is more important in home offices than on the Hill. Cohen has three black, five white, and one Latino staffer working in his Capitol Hill office, compared with six black, two white, and one Asian-American staffer in his Memphis office.
“In Memphis, you want to have people [on staff] that represent the district. I have staffers there who go out with me in the district when I’m home, and we know what people are thinking,” Cohen said. “In Washington, we’re dealing with issues that pertain to everyone: health care, jobs, housing, veterans’ affairs. [When hiring], we look at people’s backgrounds, their expertise, and their experience on the Hill.”
But many otherwise qualified minority applicants lack Hill experience because they never make it to the first rung of the legislative ladder: an internship. Most Capitol Hill internships are unpaid, which presents a barrier to potential staffers who cannot afford to spend a summer living in the expensive Washington metro area without a salary. Whites are more likely to be able to afford this sacrifice: In 2011, the poverty rate for whites was 9.8 percent, compared with 27.6 percent for blacks, 25.3 percent for Hispanics, and 12.3 percent for Asian-Americans, according to Census figures.
The homogeneity of professional networks that lead people to the Hill poses another hurdle. David McCallum, who as Reid’s deputy chief of staff makes hiring decisions for the Senate’s top Democrat, said most of his colleagues simply send word around to other chiefs of staff and members of their Washington networks when looking to fill an opening. The process is fast and efficient, but it brings in too few applications from minorities, he said.
Even minorities who are already on the Hill are told to broaden their networks and look outside the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus—the so-called Tri-Caucus groups—if they want to rise through the ranks. At a recent panel hosted by the Congressional Black Associates, a former staffer passed on this advice to a young black woman who asked how to get ahead: “Get a mentor who does not look like you.”
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:23PM 
Mitt Romney campaign co-chair and former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu (R) appeared on Fox News on Thursday and took a victory lap following last night’s first presidential debate.
Sununu described Obama’s performance as “babbling,” “lazy,” and “disengaged,” and dismissed the possibility that he could do better in the future. “When you’re not that bright you can’t get better prepared,” he said.
During a separate interview on MSNBC, Sununu doubled down on the characterization. “I think you saw him admit it the night before when he delivered the pizzas. He said, you know, they’re making me do this work. He didn’t want to prepare for this debate. He’s lazy and disengaged.”
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:18PM The good news: Gov. Robert F. McDonnell is restoring voting privileges to ex-inmates faster than his predecessors did. Now the bad news: With the exception of Florida, Virginia has the nation’s worst record when it comes to disenfranchising its citizens. It’s also racially skewed. Because African Americans and other minorities are overrepresented in prison populations, they are disproportionately disenfranchised in Virginia and other states where voting rights are not restored promptly, universally or automatically. In Virginia, more than 1 in 5 African Americans is disenfranchised, according to a report, State-Level Estimates of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States, 2010, by The Sentencing Project.
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:15PM Concerned that Maryland State Police (MSP) have been granted carte blanche to keep secrets about how the agency addresses citizen complaints of police misconduct, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland today asked Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals to overturn a lower court ruling permitting the department to shield all records of complaint investigations from public scrutiny. The challenge comes in the case of a Somerset County woman, Teleta S. Dashiell, who is seeking information related to MSP's handling of her complaint about a voicemail message she received from a state trooper in which he twice uses a racial slur. The ACLU appeal argues that MSP's blanket refusal to disclose any information about its investigation of Dashiell's complaint, or about any corrective actions taken in response, is illegal and undermines trust with communities troopers are sworn to serve.
"Teleta Dashiell hoped that her pursuit of a citizen complaint would help to restore her faith in law enforcement, by allowing MSP officials to demonstrate that such complaints are taken seriously, and that the Department does not tolerate racism," said ACLU attorney Sonia Kumar. "The State Police message of ‘Trust us' is just not an adequate response for someone who is complaining of police misconduct and has good reason not to trust the police. As the court has previously said, what police officers do while on duty as part of their jobs is a public, not private matter."
On November 5, 2009, Maryland State Police Sergeant John Maiello left an offensive voicemail message containing a racial slur on the cell phone of Teleta Dashiell, a resident of Somerset County. Although the MSP closed their investigation into the incident during the second week of February 2010, they have refused to release any details of the content or results of the investigation or about any corrective actions taken.
"How can members of a community have faith that police officers will be held accountable for abuses when the results of legitimate complaints are kept secret?” asked Gerald Stansbury, President of the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches. "Law enforcement officials are supposed to be responsive to the community they serve, but this stonewalling by the Maryland State Police threatens to undermine not only the trust of African Americans in Somerset County but also the right of any Marylander to open, transparent government."
A 2010 en banc decision by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in a public information case concerning racial profiling complaints brought against the MSP by the ACLU and NAACP held that MSP should produce such investigatory records. In that case, the appeals court said:
Racial profiling complaints against Maryland State Troopers do not involve private matters concerning intimate details of the trooper’s private life. Instead, such complaints involve events occurring while the trooper is on duty and engaged in public service. As such, the files at issue concern public actions by agents of the State concerning affairs of government, which are exactly the types of material the Act was designed to allow the public to see.
Counsel representing Teleta Dashiell are pro bono attorneys Shavon Smith and Jeffrey Johnson of Dickstein Shapiro, LLP; Sonia Kumar, Attorney, ACLU of Maryland, and Deborah Jeon, Legal Director, ACLU of Maryland.
For more information please visit : http://www.aclu-md.org/press_room/79
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:14PM Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif had been at Guantanamo for nearly 11 years when he died last month, despite being recommended for release many times. But even in death, his travails aren't over. His body hasn't been sent back to his home country of Yemen, and it's no longer at Gitmo.
It's being held in an undisclosed location.
"Mr. Latif's remains are being handled with the utmost care and respect by medical professionals and are being maintained in an appropriate facility designed to best facilitate preservation," said a Defense Department spokesman, Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale. "His remains are no longer at JTF-Guantanamo Bay."
Lt. Col. Breasseale said the U.S. is responding to Yemen's "wishes that we maintain the remains until a time when they are prepared to receive them."
A Yemeni official said his government "will not accept the remains until we get an official autopsy and an investigation report. We just want to know what happened." The official, who declined to be named, also said that the government was in touch with Latif's family.
The Joint Task Force at Guantanamo says it has conducted an autopsy and opened an investigation into the death, but has not yet announced a cause of death. According to the military's initial statement, Latif was found unconscious in his cell on Sept. 8 and could not be revived by medical staff.
As we laid out in a timeline last week, Latif was never alleged to be a high-level terror suspect. In 2010, he successfully challenged his detention in federal court only to have the decision overturned on appeal. Latif was also recommended for transfer out of Guantanamo by the military several times, beginning as far back as 2004.
Eight other detainees have died in Guantanamo, several by apparent suicide; another Yemeni died in 2009 and according to local news reports, his body was repatriated within days. Breasseale, the Defense spokesman, said that "there have been delays before" in repatriating remains, but would not give further details.
Latif's lawyers say he was mentally unstable, and attempted suicide on several occasions. They have also said that he did not receive adequate medical attention.
Latif's father, Farhan Abdul Latif, gave an interview to the Emerati publication The National last month in which he said, "This case is far from over. We are holding US President Barack Obama responsible for the killing of my beloved son."
Latif's Guantanamo saga began in 2002, when he was among the first detainees to arrive at the prison. He had been captured along the border of Afghanistan by Pakistani police and turned over to the U.S. He said he was traveling to Pakistan in search of medical care; the U.S. says he was going for military training. A federal judge ruled in 2010 that the government could not prove his connection to Al Qaeda or the Taliban, though that decision was reversed a year later by an appeals court.
One factor complicating a potential release was his Yemeni citizenship. Following the Christmas Day bombing attempt in 2009, a plot that originated in Yemen, the Obama administration announced a moratorium on detainee transfers to the country due to security concerns.
Many of the Yemenis who remain at Guantanamo are in limbo because of that ban. The State Department recently released a list of 55 detainees approved for transfer. By human rights lawyers' counts, at least 26 of those are Yemenis. The government has previously indicated that there is a separate group of 30 Yemenis being held at Guantanamo who the government says may be released if and when the other 26 leave.
Yemen's President, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took office earlier this year, spoke about Guantanamo in a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder last week. Lawyers for Yemeni detainees say they have been encouraged by Hadi's apparent commitment to the issue.
Wells Dixon, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who has represented several detainees, says that Yemen could increase pressure on the U.S., as Tunisia, Egypt, and some European nations have done. "With the State Department list, President Hadi needs to ask for the return of those men by name, and needs to do so in the context of the bilateral relationship between Yemen and the U.S.," Dixon said.
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:12PM Pew Social & Demographic Trends
When the national conversation focuses on class, the social safety net and the distribution of wealth as it has in the past week, the public sees clear differences between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and Obama has an overall advantage. People are more likely to say Obama’s policies would help the middle class and poor, [...]
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:11PM Pew Social & Demographic Trends
About one out of five (19%) of the nation’s households owed student debt in 2010, more than double the share two decades earlier and a significant rise from the 15% that owed such debt in 2007. A record 40% of all households headed by someone younger than age 35 owed student debt in 2010.
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:08PM From the October 4 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:04PM Media figures cheered Republican Mitt Romney's performance in the first presidential debate, claiming he offered specifics and an economic plan to contrast with that of President Obama. In fact, independent analysis shows Romney provided vague details at best.
Erick Erickson Claimed Romney Gave "A 5 Pt Plan." In a post on his Twitter feed, CNN contributor Erick Erickson claimed that Romney gave a five-point plan during the presidential debate even though "the Obama campaign said [Romney would] give no specifics."
[Twitter, 10/3/12]
Andrea Tantaros: "Saying 'Romney Doesn't Have A Plan' After Tonight Just Doesn't Hold Up." In a post on her Twitter feed, Fox News host Andrea Tantaros claimed: "Saying 'Romney doesn't have a plan' after tonight just doesn't hold up."
[Twitter, 10/3/12]
Laura Ingraham: "Romney Is Burying Obama In Specifics." In an October 3 post on Twitter, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham claimed that Romney was "burying Obama in specifics."
[Twitter, 10/3/12]
David Limbaugh: "Romney Is The Worst Possible Matchup For Obama Because He Is So Specific." In an October 3 post to his Twitter feed, conservative commentator David Limbaugh wrote: "Romney is the worst possible matchup for Obama because he is so specific and so precise and so knowledgeable and so quick on his feet."
[Twitter, 10/3/12]
Ben Shapiro: Obama Saying "Romney Lacking Details" Is "Absurd." In an October 3 post to his Twitter feed about the presidential debate, conservative talk radio host Ben Shapiro claimed it was "absurd" for Obama to say "Romney lacking details":
[Twitter, 10/3/12]
Steve Doocy: Romney Stuck To The Facts. "His Secret Weapon? Just Stating It Like It Is." On Fox News'Fox& Friends, co-host Steve Doocy introduced a segment on stats and figures used during the debate by claiming that Romney stuck to the facts. He added: "His secret weapon? Just stating it like it is." Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. agreed, claiming Romney offered "substance," "specifics," and "hard facts."
DOOCY: Zing, Mitt Romney comes out swinging last night, and he did stick to the facts, a tactic rarely seen among politicians. His secret weapon? Just stating it like it is. Peter Johnson Jr. joins us live right now, Peter?
JOHNSON: It was substance, it was specifics, it was hard facts. And, in doing it, Mitt Romney crushed the president last night, and I think everybody is agreeing on that. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/4/12]
Ezra Klein: Romney "Was Able To Hide In Those ... Pockets Of Vagueness He Created." MSNBC policy analyst and Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein noted that despite Romney's insistence that he has a "lengthy description" of his health care plan, the health care plan on Romney's website is "about half the length of an average op-ed column." Klein added that Romney "was able to hide in the sort of pockets of vagueness he created." From MSNBC's post-debate analysis:
KLEIN: The description [of Romney's healthcare plan] he's talking about, it's on his website, it's about 396 words. It's about half the length of an average op-ed column. It is not a lengthy description. It's not a specific description. But he kind of got away with saying it was lengthy without facing a challenge and I think that's what you had for kind of a lot of the debate tonight
[...]
KLEIN: [Romney] was able to hide in those sort of pockets of vagueness he created.
That first third of the debate, where they were arguing about taxes and in particular whether or not the tax cut Romney has would cost five trillion dollars, that was an entire debate over a particular missing number in Romney's plan, which is "if you're going to pay for this, how will you do it?" Romney, by saying that he won't give specifics but he will do it, was able to say simultaneously that it will be paid for but he's not actually telling you anything he'll cut to do so. [MSNBC's post-debate analysis, 10/3/12, via Media Matters]
AP: "Romney Has Refused To Say Which Tax Breaks He Would Eliminate To Pay For The Lower Rates."Following the debate, the Associated Press noted that "Romney has promised to balance the budget in eight years to 10 years, but he hasn't offered a complete plan. Instead, he's promised a set of principles, some of which ... work against his goal." The AP further wrote that Romney has "offered only a few modest examples of government programs he'd be willing to squeeze, like subsidies to PBS and Amtrak," and that "[t]he knock on Romney's plan, which Obama accurately cited, is that Romney has refused to say which tax breaks he would eliminate to pay for the lower rates." [Associated Press, 10/3/12]
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 04:01PM DETROIT – A federal judge will hear arguments tomorrow at 10 a.m. on a voting coalition’s request strike down Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s controversial “citizenship checkbox” as unconstitutional and a violation of federal and state law. Secretary Johnson has been ordered to appear at the hearing.
The lawsuit contends that the erratic and inconsistent implementation of the checkbox violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which requires voting rules and regulations to apply uniformly across the state.
In addition, the groups argue that the checkbox is unlawful because it lacks statutory authority; was not promulgated through the required rule-making process of the Michigan Administrative Procedures Act, which requires a public notice and opportunities for public comment and a hearing; and violates the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance requirement, which requires the state to seek permission from the Justice Department or a federal court before making changes to election practices that impact voters in two Michigan townships, Buena Vista and Clyde.
The lawsuit was filed last month by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development (LA SED), Ingham County Clerk Michael Bryanton, and registered voters from East Lansing, Shelby Township, and Buena Vista Township filed the case with support from the UAW International.
To read more about this case, go to: https://www.aclumich.org/issues/voting-rights/2012-09/1761
To read the Motion for Preliminary Injunction, go to http://www.aclumich.org/sites/default/files/Checkbox_Preliminary_Injunction2012.pdf
WHAT: Oral arguments on the voting rights coalition’s request to stop Secretary of State Ruth Johnson from enforcing the controversial “citizenship checkbox” during the general election.
WHO: Coalition attorneys will argue before Judge Paul D. Borman
WHEN: Friday, October 5, 2012 at 10 a.m.
WHERE:
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse
231 W. Lafayette Blvd., Room 740
Detroit, MI 48226
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 03:58PM House Majority PAC will launch a new television advertisement today targeting Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., part of their $1.5 million investment in Florida's 18th District.
The group's previous advertisement, in late September, hit Allen on various controversial statements he's made, from the number of Communists in the Democratic Party to Social Security being a modern form of slavery -- and finishes with a graphic stating "Allen West had 6 liens for unpaid bills including $11,000 for the IRS."
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 03:56PM in the latest National Journal Political Insiders Poll, Insiders of both parties mostly agreed that Mitt Romney's "47 percent" comment had damaged his candidacy, although they differed on just how damaging it was.
Nearly 80 percent of Democratic Insiders said the secretly-taped remarks were "very damaging"; none deemed it "not damaging." Meanwhile, only about 2 out of 10 GOP Insiders classified the incident as "very damaging" while the vast majority said it was "damaging." About 14 percent said it was "not damaging" at all.
Many Insiders said Romney's remarks on the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay income tax were especially harmful because they reinforced what President Obama's campaign has been saying about him and the Republican Party all along -- that they are the party of out-of-touch millionaires who don't understand the middle class.
"He gave voice to the worst caricatures some have of Republicans: uncaring, selfish, and arrogant," one GOP Insider said.
|
How much has Mitt Romney's "47 percent" comment hurt his candidacy? |
||
|
|
Democrats (101 votes) |
Republicans (97 votes) |
|
Very damaging |
78% |
18% |
|
Damaging |
22% |
68% |
|
Not damaging |
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Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 03:55PM As President Obama and Mitt Romney prepare to square off in Denver, Colorado tonight, we look at how the Democrats and Republicans manage to shut out all third parties from the presidential debates. The Obama and Romney campaigns have secretly negotiated a detailed contract that dictates many of the terms of the 2012 presidential debates. This includes who gets to participate, as well as the topics raised during the debates. We’re joined by George Farah, founder and executive director of Open Debates, and author of the book, "No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates." [Includes rush transcript]
