Obama and Race

The election of Barack Obama has done nothing to resolve the racial problems of our country; on the contrary it may have made them worse.  Many whites can now say "enough"...that the black man has finally achieved equality in our society.  I am sure many whites felt that voting for him in 2008 was there way of showing that they were no longer racist.  His re-election in 2012 leaves me scratching my head; is my observation wrong or was Romney just the "right" opponent to insure another victory for racial justice?

It should also be noted that Obama is not our first "black" president; he is our first "brown" president. Remember his mother was white and he was raised in a white world by white grandparents.  To say other wise is discount the effect of our mothers on our upbringing and I don't know anyone who would claim that. I am also thinking about that Langston Hughes poem that in part said;  "if your white, you're alright.  If you are brown, hang around.  If you are black stay back".

In The Nation magazine from Sept 2/9, 2013 is the following statement.  "Black unemployment is almost double that of whites; the percentage of black children living in poverty is almost triple that of whites; black life expectancy in Washington DC is lower than in the Gaza Strip; one in three black boys born in 2001 stands a lifetime risk of going to prison; more black men  were disenfranchised in 2004 because they were felons than in 1870, the year the 15th Amendment ostensibly secured their right to vote".

The same source notes the following. "Yet the fact remains that African Americans are no better off materially as a result (of his election), even if they may have been worse off had he lost, and that the economic gap  between blacks and whites has grown under his presidency". 

NSA

The FISA court-a secret court, that we know about but are not privy to its deliberations-has given the NSA the authority "to keep collecting US phone records".  The NSA director-James Clapper (or is it Grapper?)-let it be known that the collection of records would continue under the Obama admin's order.  Clapper "at one time told Congress his officers do not collect such data".  The leaks by Edwin Snowden made Clapper's claim a lie.  Please tell me why Clapper is not being charged with lying under oath as Bill Clinton was?  If anyone believes anything the NSA or Clapper says in the future they should have their heads examined.

(Source:  The Virginian Pilot on 10/12/13 "Secret Court Allows NSA to Keep Collecting US Phone Records")

Update:  Snowden, in a video posted by Wikileaks from Moscow, claims that the surveillance program he uncovered is going to "...hurt our economy and country...limit our ability to speak and think and live and be creative, to have relationships and to associate freely".  If he is right it will be like America under the tyranny of Joe McCarthy when people were unwilling to speak their minds being afraid they would be accused of communist leanings.  Our foreign policy toward China in the late 1940;s and 1950's was most certainly effected by this self-censorship of policy makers and commentators and other with knowledge of the issues of the day.  Maybe that would give some reason to say that is the damage that Snowden has done. 

Aid to Egypt and others.

The Virginian Pilot reports today that besides the $ 1.5 billion (The figure has also been reported as $ 1 billion and $ 1.3 billion.  Every time I read a report of this nature the figure seems to increase.  I wonder how much we really give Egypt; I am not sure I can believe what my government tells me about the amount) we give Egypt, other middle east countries give more.  Qatar gives $ 8 billion. Saudi Arabia gives $ 5 billion. Kuwait gives $ 4 billion.  The United Arab Emirates gives $ 3 billion.  These figures come from the AP.  First thought; if Egypt's neighbors are ponying up $ 20 billion a year, why do we need to add another $ 1.5? Second thought; I wonder how much of the aid middle east neighbors are giving actually is coming from us thru our aid to them?

Any while all this money is flowing down a "rat-hole", citizens in major US cities are going without, roads and schools are being ignored and millions of Americans do not have health insurance.

Items of Interest for today.

The Washington Spectator, in a pro-mo ad notes the following items.

First, $ 806 billion in 2012 was spent on the military while the American Society of Civil Engineers reported that "repair backlog on our nation's public schools to be $ 322 billion...and $ 930 billion just to repair America's roads and bridges".  That $ 800 billion is almost half of "federal discretionary spending" (note: what items are not included in discretionary spending?).

Second, 29 % of Americans (and 44 % of Republicans) "believe armed revolution might be necessary in the next few years to preserve our liberty" (it would seem from the rest of the article that the liberty to own a gun is the heart of the matter with this group).  Have these people given any thought to what kind of government would replace the present one?  Do we want armed militia groups running the country?  Maybe these people have been inhaling too much gun powder.  If they tried pot and mellowed out we all might all be safer.

Third, a Harris Poll reports that 40 % of those who responded (and 67 % of republicans) believe Obama is a Socialist.  A third (and 57 % of republicans) believe Obama is a Muslim.  A majority of republicans believe Obama was not born in this country.  Didn't Thomas Jefferson say that in order to maintain our liberty and form of government, we must remain informed.

Recent Items of Interest

Regarding the Confederate Battle Flag being flown by a Virginia group near Richmond, the following item was noted in the paper today.  The bagpipe band at this gathering played the song "Amazing Grace".  It should be noted that the song was written by a former slave ship captain-one John Newton-who "later became a minister and renounced his involvement in trafficking humans".  (This from the Virginian Pilot on 10/3/13 editorial titled "The Lost and Wretched Cause").

The Virginia Democratic Party is filing a lawsuit against the state over Virginia's plan to "purge" its voter roles of person suspected of being registered to vote in other states, some 57,000 registered voters are involved. The Democrats claim the "database" was created by Republicans.  Further complicating the issue is that state election officials have instructed local election officials to use "their best judgment" in deciding "whether to purge voters", meaning that some will be purged while others from the database will not be purged.  This will create a "equal protection" possible violation.  Counties like Loudoun and Cherterfield will not purge while counties like Fairfax and Prince William will purge.  (The Virginian Pilot on 10/3/13 titled "Democrats' suit says GOP seeks to suppress votes").

Update:  On reading the above, I wondered what the white/black make-up of the four counties mentioned would be.  So I checked.  Loudoun  County-did not purge voters-is 69 % white and 8 % black giving the thought that the decision to purge or not was a racial one.  But Chesterfield-did not purge-is 65 % white and 32 % black suggesting that race was not an issue.  Prince William County-did purge-is 58 % white but 40 % black and Hispanic again suggesting the issue may be racial.  But Fairfax-did purge-is 70 % white 31 % Asian and Hispanic  with 5 % black (I know the numbers don't add up) which doesn't tell me anything re race as an issue.  Bottom line; I can not say, based on this research, that the decision was based on race.
(Source: Internet research on Wikipedia 10/4/13)