Posts Tagged ‘bigotry’


Hispanic voters targeted AGAIN?

In honor of the repeated attempt to disenfranchise Hispanic voters, I’ll re-post that last cartoon:Bradblog has posted a note from a Democratic voter in New Mexico. The voter’s complaint prompted a judge to issue an injunction preventing the Republican Party of New Mexico from calling non-Republicans with precinct information. It seems voters with Hispanic surnames may have been specifically targeted:

Yesterday (11/04), about 1pm MST, I rec’d a phone message from the Republican Party of NM telling me that my polling location was John Adams Middle School. My polling place is usually Longfellow Elementary about 1 block away. John Adams is about 7 1/2 miles away. In my horror and disgust I quickly deleted the message. Thinking that maybe my polling place changed, I then called the **Republican Party** here and simply asked if they could tell me my polling place. They asked my address only, I told them, and they said, “You vote at Longfellow.” This is correct and I hung up.About 5pm MST, the Republican Party of NM called AGAIN and left a message telling me that my election day polling place was West Mesa High School, even further away than John Adams. They gave the full address and zip code. My Caller ID shows “REPUBLICAN PART.” I DID NOT DELETE THIS MESSAGE.Then around 7pm MST, the same thing happened. The Republican Party of NM called and left a message telling me that my election day polling place was back to John Adams Middle School. My Caller ID shows “NEW MEXICO VICT.” I did a Google search on the phone number and this entry came up:New Mexico Republican Party :: CalendarSummary:, Contact your local county party or call the Victory Officeat (505) XXX-XXXX to find out what you can do to help our 2006 Republican candidates. …I DID NOT DELETE THIS MESSAGE.If you want the actual phone numbers, I can give them to you…-Read more at Bradblog.com

So far this is the only complaint about this, but it certainly fits the pattern that’s plagued our elections since 2000. There’s something seriously wrong with your party if you have to keep people from voting in order to win elections.•••


Ignoring that cross-burning elephant in the room

There’s an old English idiom about an “elephant in the room.” An elephant sits in the corner of a room, while everyone in the room just sort of pretends it’s not there so they don’t have to talk about it. Once they did talk about it, after all, they’d have to do something about it, and nobody wants to be the one who has to try and evict an elephant. So everyone goes about their business as if the elephant isn’t there.America is a land filled with elephants. For instance…We all want to believe the racist practice of voter disenfranchisement is dead and gone, so much so that we’re willing to ignore it when it’s sitting in our kitchen, its trunk is flailing about knocking over the microwave, and it’s eating our lunch. That particular elephant, which we thought we’d killed in 1964 when LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act into law, has again been sitting in our rooms ever since the year 2000 when Florida’s Secretary of State – who also just happened to be George Bush’s campaign chairwoman – denied tens of thousands of African-Americans their right to vote by wrongly declaring them “felons.” (the felon voting rules themselves have their genesis in the Civil Rights era, as a means to disenfranchise Blacks, who were far more likely than Whites to be convicted of felonies in the South). That pachyderm has been chilling in the corner with a big tub of nachos ever since the party that benefitted from its presence refused to investigate it, and the Justice Department declined to hunt it down.Nationwide, 1.9 million black votes were discarded. Thrown away. Not counted. That was 50% of the ballots that were discarded as “spoiled” in 2000, even though Blacks only made up 12% of the electorate.-SF Chronicle, June 20, 2004Now, as all people who benefit from crimes would say, “that’s in the past. Get over it. Forget about it. Move along, there’s nothing to see here.” Well, unfortunately for our leaders, the American people – or at least a large number of us – have longer memories than they’d like us to have. When the people who committed this crime are still benefitting from it and still trying to do it again, it is not “in the past.”2004•Florida AGAIN tried to remove thousands of Black voters from the rolls. The state run by George Bush’s brother created ANOTHER “potential felons list” filled with people who’ve never committed a felony. That one would’ve robbed more than 22,000 African Americans of their right to vote.(“Florida List for Purge of Voters Proves Flawed.” NY Times, July 10, 2004)•It was widely reported that in several urban precincts in Ohio, African Americans had to wait up to ten hours in line in order to vote. Ohio’s Secretary of State, another Bush campaign chairman, refused to provide minority precincts with an adequate number of voting machines. There was no such problem in the predominantly Caucasian suburbs.2006As for this year, time will tell. I would be THRILLED if I were proven wrong this year. I really hope that happens. I really do. But the damage may have already been done, as Black voters, disillusioned by the resurrection of the age-old pracitice of voter disenfranchisement, may simply stay home today.Some Americans would have us believe it’s all in the past — still others would have us believe it never happened at all. I spoke with one of those this morning when Frank Beckmann, an ABC “News” talkshow host from Michigan, called to talk about last Sunday’s cartoon (above). During the interview, he told me Blacks “have not been disenfranchised,” that those 54,000 African Americans who were removed from the voter rolls in 2000 WERE felons (even though the United States government report on the election concluded the opposite), and that reports of long lines in Ohio were simply wrong. People can convince themselves that any problem doesn’t exist if they don’t want it to exist – or if they benefit from its existence.Anyone who’s read Candorville should know that I don’t believe it serves us to ignore the elephants that stand in our rooms, no matter what they are, from the constant persecution of gays, to voter disenfranchisement, to the pervasive thug culture. We can’t solve our problems unless we have the courage to first acknowledge they exist. Instead of ignoring the elephants, we should grab our elephant guns and go on safari. As difficult as it may be, it has to be done.•••


Fox News: Oh no, Obama (gasp) SMOKES!

A few questions to keep in mind while watching the latest salvo in the Faux News bombardment of Senator Obama:1. So we haven’t seen Obama smoke. Since when have we seen any politician smoke? Do they expect the Senator to fire up a Marlboro while he’s on camera with Wolf Blitzer?2. Why does the commentator who’s apparently on this show because they want a Black man to comment on Obama make the argument that America only cares about the Senator because he’s Black? Is this guy Fox’s resident Irony Expert?3. Where does the Media get off calling him “Barack?” Where do we all get off calling Senator Clinton “Hillary?” Do we routinely refer to White male Senators as “Trent,” or “Edward,” or do we give them the respect of using their title or at least their last names?4. Since when does not smoking in public make someone duplicitous?5. “Mammy?”


Fox’s Obama obsession: If it walks like racism and talks like racism…

I saw something on YouTube the other day (I’ve posted it below) that I found disturbing. But luckily, I had the foresight to pull out and leaf through my tattered copy of The Modern American’s Guide for Interpreting Other People’s Behavior: Women/Minority/Gay Edition™. I carry it with me everywhere I go. It comes in handy in department stores, for instance.Just a few months ago at Target, I found myself wondering why a security guard seemed to be following me at a distance as I perused the cargo shorts aisle. I started to feel nervous. I kept walking, and the nerves turned to incredulity, the kind where the world sort of slows down and you start to feel detached, like your’e watching something absurd instead of living it. I saw his eyes poke around the corner behind the socks to look at me looking at black boxer briefs. I started to feel my ears burn as the detachment faded into anger. That’s when the manual saved me. It was right there on page 92, under “The Target Security Guard.” It said “He’s not suspicious of you because you’re Black/Mixed/Whatever-the-hell-you-are, he’s suspicious of you because you’re a teen-ager.” That would’ve made sense years ago, when I first bought the manual, but what the hell, I’m not old yet. It could still apply.Now that was a relief. Life is easier with the manual. People seem much less ridiculous. Sunsets are rosier. The air even smells fresher, somehow.So when I saw a link that had the words “Fox” and “Obama” in the same sentence, I immediately reached again for that manual. I sure am glad I did. Watch this clip, and then I’ll tell you how The Modern American’s Guide for Interpreting Other People’s Behavior: Women/Minority/Gay Edition™ helped me put it all in perspective:

Now, according to The Modern American’s Guide for Interpreting Other People’s Behavior: Women/Minority/Gay Edition™, there was absolutely nothing racist about any of this. Here’s what it said, right there on page 18,978:

Clip from Fox News’ allegedly satirical take-off on The Daily Show: “The 1/2 Hour News Hour”1. Time index 01:01- Masses of dancing Africans are shown while Fox mentions Barack Obama supporters.This is not – we repeat, NOT – Fox News intentionally trying to scare White viewers with the thought of hordes of unruly dark people taking over the streets. They probably just couldn’t find any other footage on such short notice.2. Time index 01:14- “BO Magazine”This is not Fox using racial code words & concepts in an ongoing campaign to help as many of their viewers as possible get back in touch with their inner bigots. This is not – we repeat, NOT – Fox News dredging up the age-old stereotype about Black people smelling bad. That stereotype hasn’t been widely used for at least several decades. Several years. Well, at least several months. So it’s unreasonable to think anyone at Fox has heard of that stereotype, much less that anyone there would intentionally employ it.2. Time index 01:37- “Organize Your House – and your Senate”Fox News is not trying to conjur up the image of a Black housekeeper. In fact, this is more evocative of magazines aimed at housewives. So maybe they’re complimenting Barack Obama’s wife. Have you ever stopped to think of that?2. Time index 01:46- “Barack vs. Tiger Woods: Who’s More Diverse? “This is not an example of Fox News mocking the very existence of mixed-race Americans in order to reinforce deep-seeded White resentment. They’re actually praising diversity – showing how grateful they are that we live in a country where anyone can marry and raise kids with whomever they want (‘long as they’re not queer).2. Time index 02:03- “Don’t tell Mama, I’m for Obama”Nothing to see here.

Thanks for making life more bearable, The Modern American’s Guide for Interpreting Other People’s Behavior: Women/Minority/Gay Edition™!


Tim Hardaway and the Senseless Crowd

Tim Hardaway can’t stand gay people. Sensible people can’t stand Tim Hardaway. Unfortunately, there are an awful lot of senseless people in this world.Look for cartoons on this next week here, or in your Candorville-carrying local paper.


More Conservapedia Wisdom: Marriage

Today’s random bit of wisdom from Conservapedia:

Recently there has been a push by liberals for “same-sex marriage” however this supposed form of “marriage” has no basis in scripture, common law, the constitution, biology, or American social tradition. Then again, interracial marriage was considered to be taboo 40 years ago. 

I didn’t realize there was a basis for heterosexual marriage in biology. I suppose that would explain the abundance of “just married” signs on dog houses. It’s “Rex” and “Daisy,” not “Rex” and “Spot.”I also didn’t realize there was a “basis” for heterosexual marriage in particular in the U.S. Constitution. I really need to learn to read that document between the lines, since that’s where so many Americans seem to find support for their theories.