Fox News’ Bolling Continues To Draw Racial Lines In The Sand With President Obama

“They’re brothers … they’re happy and they’re singing and they’re colored.” — The Wayans Brothers opening.

That was the joke opening from the old television show, but it could be thought of as the way some on Fox News Views sees President Barack Obama.

Here are some words from bigoted Fox News Views anchor Eric Bolling, who has a comforting environment at a network that is often hostile to black folks.

“So what’s with all the hoods in the hizzy? A month after the White House hosted the rapper Common, who glorifies violence on cops, the president opened his doors to one of Africa’s most evil dictators. Here’s Ali Bongo, the Gabonese president, who’s been accused of human rights violations and plundering billions of his country’s dollars.”

The words “hizzy” and “hood” should give you a major clue about where his heart and mind are with respect to black people.

This is beyond mere partisan politics, here. The message is a window to what is in the heart of Eric Bolling, a man who seems hostile to black people on Fox News Views. Bolling knows that when he says “hoods” to his audience they think of undesirable black people. This is all beyond the scope of mere coincidence.

During the segment, Human Events editor Jason Mattera declared that “Barack Obama likes to defecate on American allies,” and Bolling had this exchange with Fox Business reporter Sandra Smith:

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): There are good guys. There are bad guys out there. We’ve got to stay engaged.

SMITH: We don’t have to have them at home, though.

BOLLING: Thank you, Smitty.

SMITH: We don’t have to have them in our White House and entertaining them.

BOLLING: Where? Where? Where? Go ahead, say it. Where?

SMITH: In the hizzy.

BOLLING: In the hizzy. Thank you, Smitty.

SMITH: Do we really have to have them in the White Hizzy?

“Hizzy,” as I said before, is a way of reminding you that President Obama is black and he is turning the precious White House into, as Smith describes it, the “White Hizzy.”

What is the real message, here, to Fox News Views watchers? They want their viewers to vote his black ass out of their precious White House.

“Barack Obama likes to defecate on American allies,” was a line from Mattera. That is absolutely disgusting and indicative of the hatred toward Obama coming from the far right.

Sorry to put it that harsh and real, but the message from some of these individuals at Fox News Views is unmistakable.

Source: Media Matters for America

Hannity Once Again Provides Jesse Lee Peterson A Platform To Attack Black People

I would never insult a house Negro by calling Jesse Lee Peterson one. Peterson is far worse than a house Negro.

Jesse Lee Peterson is a slave-catching Negro who takes pride in doing the dirty work against other black people for his master (in this case it is Fox News right wing talk show host Sean Hannity). With great joy, Hannity sits back and watches as Jesse Lee Peterson launches racist attack after racist attack against black people. Hannity, I would imagine, sees himself as inoculated against any backlash because he has his black man on there to do the dirty work. Back during slavery, the white slave master or slave catcher could sit back and let his black slave catcher do the hard work while he kept his hands physically clean from the horrors.

In one of his latest appearances on Hannity’s Fox News show, Peterson had this to say:

PETERSON: But to be honest with you, this whole thing is — I remember, George Washington built America based on truth. Barack Obama is destroying America based on lies.

This thing is about the redistribution of wealth, it’s about Black Liberation Theology. Obama lied on the primaries, he’s been lying ever since. And the sad thing about it, some Americans — most Americans are starting to see it, but they don’t realize that they’ve been seduced by this man, and he doesn’t care about what is right.

We see what he’s doing, bowing down to everybody around the country –

HANNITY: Around the world.

PETERSON: And around the world. Look what’s happening in Israel right now, he’s never really supported Israel. This guy is not on our side.

He’s — Obama, in all honesty, is the Congressional Black Caucus, he is Louis Farrakhan, he is Rev. Wright, his minister, he is all of them wrapped up in one — and he’s gonna take — if we allow this health-care thing to happen, he’s gonna turn America into Detroit. And we cannot let this happen.

Peterson of course comes back to the customary mention of Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan (names designed to do little more than to scare white people and gain him favor with these same whites he adores more than he adores himself). He comes back to the same tired lines about “redistribution of wealth” and drumming up more fear with his mentioning of so-called “Black Liberation Theology.”

Sean Hannity is a disgraceful man who knows exactly what he is doing by bringing Jesse Lee Peterson on his show to attack black people.

The Young Turks on Peterson:

Peterson as a house Negro (and like Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks):

Here are some of my previous posts on the racist idiocy of Jesse Lee Peterson:

Here, he is disrespectful of Demond Wilson and goes on the attack against him: http://simmerdown3.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/demond-wilson-angered-by-rude-jesse-lee-peterson-hangs-up/

Here, Jesse Lee Peterson thanks God for slavery (maybe because he is acting like Sean Hannity’s slave): http://simmerdown3.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/jesse-lee-peterson-thank-god-for-slavery/

Anti-Abortion Advocates Use Of Race Is Out Of Bounds

I realize that abortion is a hot-button issue (one that could hardly get much hotter) that stirs a lot of emotion inside a lot of people.

While I do believe people are entitled to their own points of view, as far as the issue is concerned, I find it appalling that some extremists are using race as a way of promoting their anti-abortion agenda.

I saw this bullshit on the Web site toomanyabortions.com:

Abortion is not a me issue.  It’s not a you issue.  It’s not a personal issue, nor is it just a woman’s issue.  It is a human issue.  And today, with over 40% of all black pregnancies ending in induced abortion, it is a human crisis. The ‘Endangered Species’ campaign highlights the disproportionate impact of abortion on the black community. The Radiance Foundation has decried abortion’s impact on our entire society, regardless of race, but this particular campaign attempts to dig deeper and focus on abortion in an historical context with real present-day ramifications. This isn’t black versus white, or a me versus you. It’s the truth versus the lie. The truth is that abortion kills an innocent human life.

The end of this excerpt makes the comment that “this isn’t black versus white,” but clearly the whole campaign is about race and using race as a way to draw blacks to the anti-abortion side of the issue. This is completely foul and wrong. Trying to use the politics of fear and race, as a way to drum up support for an anti-abortion campaign, is disgraceful.

Rush Limbaugh Making Fun Of ‘Negro Dialect’ To Attack Blacks

All of those Rush Limbaugh fans would seem to embrace his consistent attacks on black people.

Limbaugh, who has a long history of taking shots at black people, attacking black people and making fun of black people is at it again.

Once again, Limbaugh has a good laugh at the expense of black people and all his loyal listeners will continue to listen and make every excuse in the world for this man who rarely misses an opportunity to cheap shot black people.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002190020

Fox News Finds A Few Black Conservatives Then Scoffs At Obvious Lack Of Tea Party Diversity

Leave it to Fox News to search high and low to try to find any way possible to position the tea party activists as being more diverse than they are in reality.

Sorry, but trying to portray the tea party people as some kind of diverse body miserably fails the laugh test. Frankly, sprinkling in a few specks of pepper in a mine of salt does not constitute any kind of real mixture. Of course, if you work for Fox and you can find a few black people who are conservatives then that forms diversity in a sea of angry white faces. There’s nothing wrong with being a black conservative, but I do find it disturbing when black conservatives gleefully allow themselves to be pimped out as models for a diversity-challenged organizations diversity. Lloyd Marcus and William Owens (and even a few hundred others) do not qualify this tea party movement (which obviously was nonexistent for all the previous white presidents) as diverse.

This all brings me to the tea party diversity story Fox News is trying to push on its Web site. So, the headline reads: “Black Conservatives Take Lead Role in Tea Party Movement” and the subheadline of this piece written by Judson Berger reads: “Though the tea party movement has attracted criticism for its supposed lack of diversity, minority activists who are involved say the movement has little to do with race, and that it is attracting a more diverse crowd every day.”

So, the subheadline seems to scoff at the notion (“its supposed lack of diversity” the article reads) that the tea party movement lacks diversity, but at the end champions that the tea party movement is “attracting a more diverse crowd every day.” That strikes me as a bit of a contradiction, but I guess we’re all entitled to our opinions (Fox News just dishonestly passes its opinions  off as legitimate news).

Here is an excerpt from the Fox News story:

To Marcus, President Obama’s policies perpetuate that dependency. That’s why, he says, it baffles him and other black conservatives when the tea party movement is dismissed as somehow anti-black, as a rowdy bunch of ignorant, white protesters who have it in for the nation’s first black president.

“This is the nicest angry mob I’ve ever seen,” Marcus said.

Marcus is one of a number of black conservatives who have joined up with, and helped lead, the conservative tea party movement since its inception. Though the movement has attracted criticism for its supposed lack of diversity — MSNBC host Chris Matthews recently called the groups “monochromatic” and “all white” — those minority activists who are involved say the movement has little to do with race, and that it is attracting a more diverse crowd every day.

“I think a lot of black people are waking up from their Obama night-of-the-living-dead fog,” Marcus said. “They were walking around like zombies going Obama, Obama, Obama.”

Right, you keep believing that Lloyd.

Marcus, I have no doubt, is genuine and strong in his conservative beliefs. There’s nothing wrong with being black and conservative. There is something wrong with allowing yourself to be used by a group that is largely opposed (and/or avoided) by the majority of blacks and minorities. Sadly, however, he is blinded by his own ideology that he misses the racial element. Of course the tea party people like him. He is the black man who functions against most black people. So, of course they are going to like him and welcome him mostly with open arms. He (in the minds of the tea party people) helps them deflect the racial politics. It’s version of the “I’m-not-racist-because-I-have-black-friends” defense.

Fox News, as expected, has rushed to the defense of the tea parties to once again prove its media brand of conservative activism.

Once again, Fox news uses its platform in the media to aid the Republicans and tea party activists … all while claiming to be “fair and balanced” with its programming.

Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/19/black-conservatives-lead-role-tea-party-movement/

A Natural Fear Of Black People … NOW!

Love this scene from the Eddie Murphy movie “Boomerang” and I feel like I can watch it over and over again.

 

Noted Bigot Rush Limbaugh Lectures Black People On Their Problems

Multicultural icon Rush Limbaugh is at it again telling black people how bad they are and how pitiful they are in today’s United States of America. He now is telling people ”the black frame of mind is terrible” on his radio broadcast that reaches millions of people. The sad thing is that the millions of people he reach believe in just about everything he is saying and support his frequent racial, sexist and homophobic attacks. He criticizes black people for thinking the election of Barack Obama was going to be this huge turnaround of the economy when actually conservatives were saying that about President Obama and portraying him as some kind of celebrity and calling him “The One” as a way of attacking him.

Some of this might resonate with the 18 black people who probably listen to Limbaugh, but not much beyond that small minority.

Then noted race relations expert Rush Limbaugh finishes off his idiotic rant by taking a shot at Tiger Woods and his interracial marriage by saying, “Tiger Woods’ choice of females not helping them out with their attitudes there either.”

Rush Limbaugh’s words translated: Black people are not working, black people are bad, blacks have bad attitudes, blacks are depressed, blacks are down, blacks are disillusioned and blacks are being screwed by Barack Obama. Then you got Tiger Woods who is messing around with white women and showing you just how bad people of color are today.

It’s always interesting to hear from champions of diversity and inclusion like Rush Limbaugh when he shares his firsthand knowledge of all that is bad with black people and how they can turn it all around if they listen to Uncle Ruckus Lim … er… Uucle Rush Limbaugh.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200912080019

Glenn Beck To Hold March In Washington On Anniversary Of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Historic ‘I Have A Dream Speech’

On Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a historic and important address that we have since come to know as the “I Have a Dream” speech. During that speech, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King called for the people and the government to bring racial equality to reality and to end discrimination in the United States of America. To commemorate Dr. King’s important, sensational and inclusive speech, the divisive and hostile opportunist, right-wing nut Glenn Beck, plans to exploit the great things that Dr. King fought for to advance his bigoted points of view and make a few bucks selling books.

Here is the entire text from the “I Have a Dream” speech (I put it all here because people need to see the entire speech and not just the selected excerpts):

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

So now we go from the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest men who ever lived, to someone like Glenn Beck who is set to spit in the faces of black people by holding his rally on the anniversary of “I Have a Dream” and in Washington D.C.

Here is a Facebook comment from CNN contributor Roland Martin, ”Guys like Beck HATE that speech. It was about demanding the govt. do what it’s supposed to do. This is an attempt to rebuke MLK’s vision.”

Roland is correct. Men like Beck selectively quote Dr. King by taking out of context bits and pieces of his speeches to slap down people of color. A lot of people have been conditioned to like Dr. King. Many of these people who have been conditioned to like (or grudgingly accept) Dr. King would be badmouthing him if he were alive today.

From the disgraceful Glenn Beck’s Web site:

- I have begun meeting with some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders. I am developing a 100 year plan. I know that the bipartisan corruption in Washington that has brought us to this brink and it will not be defeated easily. It will require unconventional thinking and a radical plan to restore our nation to the maximum freedoms we were supposed to have been protecting, using only the battlefield of ideas.

- All of the above will culminate in The Plan, a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.

- On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.

This is an intentional insult to Dr. King and to black people. It is not an accident that Beck has chosen this date. Gleefully, Beck is exploiting the great deeds of Dr. King to insult black Americans, disrespect Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to make money selling a book.

From the Daily Kos:

When Glenn Beck called for his national rally at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 2010, he twisted the memory of the day for a country that has evolved from slavery to elect it’s first black president. MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech there 46 years ago. President Obama accepted the Democratic nomination last year. Tsk, tsk, ego issues, Glenn?

This is no accident and it speaks lowly of a man with a dark heart and a mean streak when it comes to minorities who don’t fit his vision of what people of color should be like in the United States of America.

This is a jab back and black people.

This is disgusting by Glenn Beck’s standards (and that is saying a lot).

Rush Limbaugh’s Words Inspire Hate Group To Fight For ‘White America’

Far-right talk show host Rush Limbaugh, a veteran hater on the airwaves, might be proud to know his messages of hate and divisiveness have finally touched some people: white supremacists. Limbaugh got this whole thing started when he turned a story about two black kids who beat up a white kid into a hate crime (the local police authorities have not indicated that this attack was motivated by race). Even with no evidence, Limbaugh has been pushing the notion that this was some kind of a racial hate crime. Now, that is not necessarily a bad thing (since people are entitled to reasonable opinions … even the right-wing people who trashed President Obama for coming out in support of Harvard University professor Skip Gates early in that conflict). Famously, Limbaugh had a hate-driven on-air tirade during which he talked about how this is (as documented by Think Progress)  what happens to “white kids” in “Obama’s America.” Limbaugh continued as he proclaimed, “We need segregated buses.”

LIMBAUGH: In Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, ‘Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on. I wonder if Obama’s going to come to come to the defense of the assailants the way he did his friend Skip Gates up there at Harvard.”

The way Rush sees it, all people of color (he might say “colored people”) stick together.

During that comment, Limbaugh mocked what he seemed to think was the way black people talk, but he seemed to be stuck in the 1970s with his vision of how black people talk.

Still, it’s shocking to hear garbage like this in 2009.

These are the kinds of comments we heard from racial segregationists 40, 50, 60 years ago.

Here is what Think Progress said about the white supremacists marching in Belleville, Ill., “On Saturday, members of white supremacist groups marched in Belleville holding signs echoing Limbaugh’s rhetoric that said, “It was a hate crime.”

Here is an excerpt from the story:

While a police sniper watched from the roof of the police station, 22 members of white supremacist groups, shouted obscenities and made obscene hand gestures. One man, who had a crew cut and wore a black uniform, told the crowd of onlookers, “Wake up white America!”

“We were out there to denounce the violence,” said Belleville resident Jason Bonn, who is a corporal with the National Socialist Movement, a group with a name similar to the Nazi Party of Germany during World War II. Bonn’s group is “fighting for white civil rights.”

While a police sniper watched from the roof of the police station, 22 members

Where are the right-wing moderates standing up to condemn Rush Limbaugh? Can you imagine the outrage that we’d be hearing from Bill O’Reilly if black men like Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton said something like this about segregated busses or this is what happen’s in Bush’s America? Remember the hate that came down on Kanye West when he made his infamous comments about President Bush after the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina?

WEST: I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, “They’re looting.” You see a white family, it says, “They’re looking for food.” And, you know, it’s been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help — with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way — and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us!

MIKE MYERS: And subtle, but in many ways even more profoundly devastating, is the lasting damage to the survivors’ will to rebuild and remain in the area. The destruction of the spirit of the people of southern Louisiana and Mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all.

WEST: George Bush doesn’t care about black people!

West was blasted in a lot of circles and, to some extent, still suffers from the impact of those words. Farrakhan, Jackson and Sharpton are routinely hammered by men like O’Reilly for controversial things they’ve said (even stuff that is 20 years old or older), yet people like O’Reilly let Limbaugh off the hook for his hateful commentaries.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/28/white-bus-limbaugh/

Guest Calls Out Sean Hannity On Use Of Code Words As The ‘New N-Word’

For quite some time, I’ve been pointing out that hardcore conservatives like Sean Hannity have been using words or terms like “socialist” and “anti-American” to attack people. These words are designed to attack and de-humanize people in the eyes of conservatives and people in middle America who may be a little more easily influenced by what they see on television. Frankly, a lot of people can’t distinguish between opinion reporting (hopefully based on some facts) and news reporting. Fox News has been an expert at blurring the line. But, that part is a topic for another day.

Hannity, and people like him, have cleverly turned words or terms like “socialist” and “anti-American” into verbal weapons. You don’t like liberal policies then you call them “socialist.” Liberals are routinely labeled as “anti-American” by so many conservatives. Think about how President Obama was attacked by conservatives during the campaign and since his election and inauguration. He has been called a socialist, fascist and communist. People have tried to portray him as a hater of America and a hater of white people (the absurd claim made by the idiotic Glenn Beck).

For example, I believe the birther movementis founded on a blend of racism and xenophobia (think about the hysteria for some about illegal immigration).

Now, back to Hannity, who for years has provided a comforting platform to people who have made racist comments about black people (Jesse Lee Peterson, Dog Chapman and Rush Limbaugh to name just a few). In this video, posted by Media Matters for America, Hannity is called out by a gutsy guest for his use of these code words to attack people.

The audience member referred to these code words as the “new N-word.”

The rest of the audience (probably stacked with conservatives) tried to shout the man down, but he made his point.

It’s good to see someone call Hannity out for these kinds of attacks.

Demond Wilson, Angered By Rude Jesse Lee Peterson, Hangs Up

An interview with Demond Wilson, one of the former stars of the great 1970s comedy Sanford and Son, seems to go off stride as Jesse Lee Peterson presses him to talk politics and bash President Barack Obama, who has been in the office basically a minute. The hard-headed Peterson keeps jumping on Wilson while bashing President Obama and black people in general.

Peterson’s comments are consistently idiotic and highly rude and prove how little respect he has for his guests or for other people. Peterson is a bigot as proven by his hostile intolerance of those who disagree with him. This shows how vicious, partisan and ignorant Jesse Lee Peterson, aka Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks, is.

If Jesse Lee Peterson was a cartoon character he would be Uncle Ruckus:

Peterson has a show and a platform because he pulls the Uncle Ruckus routine of being the black man who will go on television, on the radio or in print to bash black people without conscience.

Surprised To See Jesse Jackson And Al Sharpton Turn Up After Michael Jackson’s Death?

I will not even pretend to say I was surprised to see the Rev. Al Sharpton show up on television to be interviewed after the shockingly-sudden death of Michael Jackson, who was one of the great entertainers of all time. In the back of my mind, I was wondering when Rev. Sharpton would make his first appearance on the airwaves to have something to say about the life and death of Michael Jackson. But, then I began to wonder, when would the Rev. Jesse Jackson show up? It was not long before Rev. Jackson had shown up to essentially serve as spokesperson for the family of Michael Jackson. I could see the photograph that accompanied the Associated Press story with Rev. Jackson standing with Joe Jackson, father off Michael Jackson (that’s a lot of Jacksons).

I know a lot of people will come out and criticize Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton (both men certainly have earned their share of legitimate criticism over the years). I was hardly surprised Rev. Sharpton quickly found a television camera. But, perhaps Rev. Jackson might have been sought by the Jackson family or had offered to serve as a spokesperson for the Jackson family. To some extent, how his role came about as a sort of spokesperson for the Jackson family is a bit unclear to me.

While I know Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton both crave the spotlight (we’ve seen evidence of that over and over again), personally, I am going to give Jesse a pass on this one. I think, at least in this case, it appears Rev. Jackson is doing a noble deed for the family of Michael Jackson (even if he does get something out of it for himself: the spotlight he seems to enjoy).

If Jesse is able to bring the family of Michael Jackson a little comfort and support during this tragedy then I have no problem with it.