MOVE’s Worst Enemy

The group MOVE founded by John Africa was once a primarily African American group that today is mostly white, it has a demonstrable hatred of succesful African-Americans, this group instead of fighting racism, exploits it, with the aid of their white support structure.

"Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law." -James Baldwin

by Tony Allen

Recently, I came upon a statement by Martin Luther King III written in support of MOVE and delivered some years back by the "civil rights leader". I had to wonder though, and with all due respect to the son of one of the finest human beings this world produced, just how much time and effort Mr, King had put into actually researching MOVE’s case. Given the veracity of the comments, I am guessing not much. But that is not what has prompted me to write this article.

Thinking of King, both he and his father, caused me to reflect upon some comments made to me by MOVE members regarding just who they perceive would be the cult’s worst enemy, and it is not who you would think.

Given MOVE’s history with law enforcement, you would think that the cops would be perceive by the group as their obvious choice as public enemy number one. And while MOVE certainly has no love for anyone with a badge, you would be wrong to think that MOVE considers them to be the worst of the worst.

That honor is bestowed upon upwardly mobile African-Americans or even those in the middle class.

I readily admit that I was taken aback by this kind or revelation that I had heard after I had been involved with MOVE for a number of years

Apparently sensing my confusion, Sue went on to explain that John Africa had explained to MOVE members that because so many blacks were set upon the goal of gaining acceptance into society and were increasingly gaining access to higher education, that these factors would keep these African-Americans from being able to accept the ideology as espoused by MOVE. This ideology essentially dismissed education except with regards to learning very physical occupations such as home repair, landscaping, etc..And while I don’t diminish the value of these jobs, I do have to take issue with children being raised in a world where these jobs are their only options, regardless of their personal interest. This is certainly the case with MOVE.

Sue’s premise essentially boiled down to her thinking that blacks would be so enamored by the allure of the "system", that they would not realize they were chasing down a broken American dream that would turn out to be a nightmare. As the wave of Black Power politics broke and retreated or was co-opted into the "system", so too was MOVE’s appeal to the vast majority of African-Americans.

On the other hand, she claimed that there was an un-tapped reservoir of discontent amongst young white people, who had been raised with all of the trappings of "the system" and were anxious to turn their back upon it and be led out of the darkness of their angst into the solution that are the teachings of John Africa, or that is her story anyways.

It is with an eye towards the future of an Organization that is increasingly white that Alberta Africa, MOVE’s leader used in-vitro fertilization in order to insure a child with very Caucasian features. She denies it of course, but if you see the child his race is beyond question. It is on him that MOVE’s future is set to rest upon. Unlike the other children in MOVE he is being educated, allowed to socialize with non-MOVE members, raised not in the filthy environment of traditional MOVE homes, but in an up-scale home in Cherry Hill. A suburb that is over 80% white and barely 5% black is where he gets to play, while other children of MOVE live off food stamps, cramped houses, commit welfare fraud to get by, and live the violent city of Philadelphia, a world away from that which Alberta’s project/child inhabits.
He is being raised and groomed to not only lead MOVE, but also to recruit the white youth that I wrote about earlier in this post. And not just poor whites, but well-to-do ones and especially people from Europe, where the mythology of MOVE runs largely un-challenged.
Of course Alberta’s child is not just hers. If you are even a casual reader of this blog, you know his father was murdered as he sought to extract his child from this life of cult programming. This child is not just a son for Alberta, he is the embodiment of MOVE’s future.

From the vantage point of MOVE, it is easy to see how easy it must have been for the cult’s members to kill if they thought the future of the Organization was in jeopardy. And indeed it would have been if John Gilbride had the access to his child that the courts were beginning to grant him.

While MOVE raises their modern day savior, I am struck by just how Sue Africa’s labeling of so many African Americans as the cult’s enemies seems to be born out. A look at the cult’s history shows that the most consistent victim of MOVE are in fact black, both rhetorically, and physically.

In the 70's when MOVE became organized, the group was mostly black with a few white members and hangers on. Interestingly enough, at that point, the cult appeared to be an equal opportunity hater, targeting those who got in their way without regards to race. At the time, the sect was still idealistic enough to preach their utopian vision of all races living in harmony and aside from the black policemen who had the misfortune of being within view of MOVE members, the hatred seemed to be spread around somewhat evenly.

It was not till MOVE members took up residence on Osage Avenue that blacks began to bear the brunt of MOVE "heat" as the group called it. The residents of Osage Avenue, nearly all black working class residents, were by all reports, a proud lot, and who raised no protest when in the early 1980's MOVE members moved into the neighborhood, into the whom of Louise James. James, was John Africa’s sister and one of the first devotees of the cult. Her son Frank was revered by the group as the next best thing to John Africa himself.

The problems began in 1983 when MOVE members beat up a couple of neighbors on two different occasions., one of whom by three MOVE women who bit their male victim in the groin and had to be taken to the hospital. Complaints about the attacks and other issues regarding MOVE such as the rats, garbage, too many cats and dogs, and the ever-present bug problem these issues brought with them were ignored by city officials. The neighbors were urged to stay vigilant and not make too much noise till Wilson Goode was elected Mayor. The thinking apparently was that a black mayor would be able to handle the mostly black cult, or so they thought.

As time progressed, things only got worse. In December of that year neighbors were shocked to see Louise James being chased down the street by her own son, an axe in his hand. James had abandoned her home to MOVE by this time, but not before she was allegedly beaten, again by her son, in the presence of John Africa himself.
Christmas brought misery to the people of Osage Avenue as MOVE gave as a gift to their neighbors profanity via a bullhorn.

In the spring, a hooded MOVE member armed with a shotgun was menacing his neighbors from the rooftops. The police came and went and no arrests were made. Black politicos met with the police about the situation and nothing came of it. In May, MOVE spent two weeks on their bullhorn virtually 24 hours a day. They denounced the neighbors, city officials, the mayor, and of course Judges. When neighbors complained directly to MOVE, they were told by cult members that "John Africa told us not to respect your rights".

From MOVE’s perspective, they were going to put pressure on their neighbors, who would in turn pressure the city, and the end result would be MOVE members being released from jail. In a very real way, MOVE’s neighbors were essentially hostages in their own home . At this point, the neighbors were able to get an audience with the mayor who did not impress or effect change. MOVE, for their part, went on with business as usual.

It should be noted that at this point there had been a paradigm shift in Philadelphia’s political structure. When MOVE came into prominence, they did so in the era of Frank Rizzo. A white, former top cop, with a penchant for crass comments, and little sympathy of minorities, MOVE garnered support amongst many blacks and "progressive" whites who loathed Rizzo, even more than they did not understand MOVE. With the arrival of Mayor Goode and a host of other black politicians, MOVE found itself with no bogey men to go after. But it wouldn’t be long before the new Mayor had a new name given to him by MOVE, he was called "Nigger Willie" and the cult threatened his life on a number of occasions. As the faces on city hall changed from white to black, the situation on Osage Avenue was only getting worse, with one city agency trying to drop the ball on another with virtually no affect.

At this point, MOVE had attacked it’s own neighbors, threatened with death just about everyone from the President down to the cops on the street, they had menaced people with a gun, had set up a gas-powered bull horn to torture those around them at all hours of the night. Frank Africa, wanted for parole violation was known to be at the home, had been able to brutally beat his own mother and the group would not even allow city workers to get close enough to read their meter. And all Mayor Goode had to say through a spokeswoman, was that nothing could be done until "MOVE persons break a law". Of course, he knew that MOVE had broken dozens of laws and were currently harboring parole violator, but nothing was done.

While all of this was occurring, MOVE was steadily fortifying the home they had effectively hijacked from it’ owner, Louise James, who out of fear, had been driven to go the police and bet that they do something to, at the very least get her son out of the house, as she was convinced that her brother, John Africa, had gone insane with power and was set upon a course that would lead to the deaths of everyone in what used to be her home, but was now turning into a fortified house that was being readied for battle. The neighbors, who could not sell their homes on the street where MOVE ruled, were in a state of perpetual fear and were effectively hostages, trapped in a conflict they had nothing at all to do with.

One thing that is striking with regards to MOVE’s behavior towards their fellow African-Americans is the level of hostility directed towards the latter. Whether MOVE was angry that the new black leadership in Philadelphia did not aid them in their endeavors or at their neighbors refusal to endorse or accept MOVE’s ideology, MOVE exhibited a palpable hatred of the blacks around them and the Mayor, whom they called "Nigger Willie". What is also striking is how MOVE, ostensibly revolutionary and an opponent of racism, so readily embraced the terminology of white supremacy and treated their fellow blacks not only as second class citizens, but not even as citizens at all. As John Africa had instructed them, MOVE members were to regard their neighbors as people with no rights. It was yet another echo of America’s racist past and sounds very much like the Supreme Court ruling in 1856 that declared

"... that (African Americans) they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect".

Or in this instance, MOVE's neighbors had no rights which MOVE was bound to respect.

Most people are aware that that the confrontation on Osage Avenue ended in death and destruction. That John Africa had not only sought to destroy himself and his fellow cultists, but also the lives of his black neighbors. In a letter sent to the Mayor just days before the "confrontation", MOVE made it clear what would happen if the Police attempted to move in on the now fortified house "If MOVE go down...everybody in this block go down...we going to burn them with smoke, gas, fire, and bullets...We will burn this house down and burn you up with us." Thankfully, the neighborhood was evacuated before the police took any action against MOVE. The city had finally had enough and went to serve warrants on a number of MOVE members in the house

Police Officers gathering around the MOVE compound in order to serve warrants got a taste of what the neighborhood had been enduring for the past three years as the following message was sent to them via bullhorn. Officers were told that after the "white cop was killed" by MOVE, that "the white cop’s wife would get a nigger, and this nigger would fuck his wife and daughter and get the white cop’s money".

Once the Police were in position, the warrants were read over a bullhorn to the MOVE members inside the house as well as a plea and a promise that if MOVE members surrendered that no harm would come to anyone that day. But, John Africa had been itching for a fight and had constructed two bunkers, one inside the house and one on top, complete with firing ports. He had no intention of surrendering and MOVE responded to the Police Commissioner’s words with gunfire. Police responded in kind and the conflict went on all day long with periods of eerie calm, during which the Police and others begged MOVE to come out, and of course they didn’t.

Fire squirts were turned onto the house to flood MOVE members out and a "bomb" was dropped on top of the bunker on the roof in order to "neutralize" the fortification as a threat. In an act of unconscionable brutality, authorities allowed the fire to burn as a "tactical weapon". It burned and burned and eventually the fire houses which had been stopped to let the fire do it’s work were turned back on. But by now, it was too late. The fire was out of control, and it was at this time that some of the MOVE members, in the midst of fire, smoke, and the coming darkness decided they had enough and wanted to leave. Most experts agree by this time, John Africa was already dead or was effectively cut off from those abandoning the house. Police reported that MOVE members were indeed leaving, but that at least one male MOVE members left the house firing with the police returning fire. No one can say for sure what happened in that chaos, but at the end of it, only Ramona Africa and a child named Birdie would escape the smoke, fire, and bullets as 11 others in MOVE were not so lucky. As for the neighborhood, 61 homes were lost in the inferno. The police escaped without any fatalities, their bullet proof vests not penetrated by the shotguns and small caliber weapons used by MOVE members.

For her part, Ramona has perpetuated the myth that the police had come to "MOVE’s house" to kill "every man woman and child" who were in that house. She fails to mention the repeated attempts by Officers and others to get them to come out peaceably. Nor does she admit how she survived, attributing it only to the "power of John Africa". The truth however, repudiates her own story of the police bloodlust, as well as the purported mythical prowess of John Africa, who had been the architect of so much destruction that day. It wasn’t John Africa that saved her and Birdy’s life, it was the police. Had they been out there to kill all of the MOVE members as she claims, she would six feet under as opposed to traveling the world capitalizing on her life as a perpetual victim.

The Police report that they observed Ramona and Birdy approaching their position confused and staggering about. Ramona was heard saying "don’t shoot, we’ve had enough"at which point she was taken to an awaiting Police van and taken to the hospital to be treated for the burns that covered her arms and legs. Birdie had fallen face first into a pool of debris filled water. Officer Berghaier, in spite of his fears of MOVE members still prowling around the area armed, scrambled to where Birdie had fallen and managed to drag him to safety. His last words to the little boy he saved was "It’s all over son, take care." And that is what Birdie has done. Having survived John Africa’s ploy to destroy himself and everything around him, his mother among the dead, was raised by his father who was never a part of MOVE and has grown up free from the cult which almost killed him.

MOVE, due to it’s involvement in the fight to "Free Mumia", who is the cult’s most well known supporter, still lumbers onward. It is a group that now has more white faces in it’s midst than black, yet it’s rhetoric is still drenched in identity politics as the group, instead of fighting to rid the world of racism, embraces it and uses the specter of bigotry to slander it’s opponents. They have tried to make support for themselves and for Mumia a kind of racial litmus test, even as the group itself abuses the mostly African-American children who have the misfortune of being born into the cult.

It is a group that has a policy of forced ignorance with regard to children. Knowing that the more ignorant one is, the more easily controlled they are, MOVE keep’s the children in the cult’s midst largely illiterate and the young girls forced to become breeding machines once they reach puberty. It is a scene reminiscent of slave plantation more so than a home in Philadelphia in 2008.

MOVE members still cross the globe preaching their gospel of hatred and white guilt to it’s mostly young, mostly white audiences, who are largely unaware the group’s real history and who eat up the group’s tales of oppression by the "system" of "white supremacy" and "capitalism".

And while MOVE may embrace bourgeois blacks to their face, there is a thinly veiled contempt in the group for African-Americans who have succeeded and thrived in the "system" that the cult seeks to destroy. This contempt does not end with MOVE’s black members and supporters. White adherents of the cult are imbued with a sense of superiority to blacks who are not in MOVE. And it is not just successful blacks that MOVE has a problem with, it is also African Americans who embrace African culture beyond what MOVE believes is appropriate. MOVE members and supporters call those with an affinity to their ancestor’s culture "ooga boogas". This sense of culture superiority is not surprising coming from a group that hates everything not embraced by their leaders or John Africa. And if you ever want to see a MOVE member angry, bring up the fact that the word "Africa" is a European word imposed upon a continent of many nations in the age of colonialism.

While MOVE stays anchored in the past through their cultish, group-think, their teachings are becoming increasingly irrelevant as the doors that were closed to African-Americans in the past are broken down, as the "glass ceilings" that kept blacks in a perpetual state of second class citizenship are shattered, racism is becoming increasingly irrelevant. These cultural changes for the better are reflected also in the world of science as advances in genome studies are effectively discrediting the whole idea of "race" as a means of dividing human beings.

For MOVE, these steps forward with regard to "race", further illustrate the group’s irrelevance.

So while the rest of the world goes forward, as a black man stands as a true contender to become President, not because of the color of his skin, but because of the content of his character, we come ever closer that day when Martin Luther King’s dream becomes reality.
All the while, MOVE exists in it’s perpetually backward state, crushing the minds of the youth in their midst, while the group’s mostly white support structure unwittingly serve as enablers to a cult that does not seek to eradicate bigotry, but thrives on it. and similar to hate groups, needs it for it’s very survival.

And while the walls that separate us as people crumble, so to do groups like MOVE which do so much to pull people apart.

antimove.blogspot.com

Tony Allen, who is a former supporter of MOVE and lived with them, now seeks to dispel the myths of the group and educate the public about this destructive cult. He has appeared on "Hannity's America", "The Michael Smerconish Show", and has been the subject of several articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has written numerous articles featured on his own websites and numerous others.

Black Pharaohs

You might think that Egypt’s empire was just one of inbred ‘Egyptian’ royalty then you might be taken aback by this new research. Nubian kings actually have ruled over Egypt.

Check out this article from National Geographic:

For 75 years Nubian kings ruled over ancient Egypt, reunifying the country and building an empire. Until recently, theirs was a chapter of history lost in the shadows.In the year 730 B.C., a man by the name of Piye decided the only way to save Egypt from itself was to invade it.

Things would get bloody before the salvation came.“Harness the best steeds of your stable,” he ordered his commanders. The magnificent civilization that had built the great pyramids had lost its way, torn apart by petty warlords.

For two decades Piye had ruled over his own kingdom in Nubia, a swath of Africa located mostly in present-day Sudan. But he considered himself the true ruler of Egypt as well, the rightful heir to the spiritual traditions practiced by pharaohs such as Ramses II and Thutmose III. Since Piye had probably never actually visited Lower Egypt, some did not take his boast seriously. Now Piye would witness the subjugation of decadent Egypt firsthand—“I shall let Lower Egypt taste the taste of my fingers,” he would later write.

Black Pharaohs - National Geographic Magazine

Rwanda Revisited

History doesn't repeat itself. It stutters. It's an often used quip to remind people that there are patterns in history. One such pattern is a history of genocide and ethnic cleansing that gets overlooked by the international media and the UN that refuses to take action other than passing weakly worded resolutions that do nothing to stop the carnage.

The latest human rights catastrophe is in Kenya, where disputed elections in December have led to ethnic cleansing, more than a quarter million people displaced and more than 1,000 dead. The prospects for even more carnage is on the horizon as the government is now engaging in strafing the opposition with helicopters.


Army helicopters strafed crowds with machine-gun fire and police struggled to separate rival gangs yesterday as Kenya endured yet more violence. About 100 people have been killed since Saturday, bringing the number of deaths in the wave of tribal bloodshed since last month's disputed election toward 900.With vital roads blocked and tourists staying away, Kenya's economy is suffering. Chaos in East Africa's richest and best-developed country threatens the entire region. Near the tourist town of Naivasha, about 600 terrified people cowered inside a small police outpost.



They were from the Luo tribe, as is the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. Outside were about 600 men armed with machetes from the Kikuyu tribe of President Kibaki.At first, Kikuyus were the main victims of the violence as Luos and other smaller tribes, notably the Kalenjin, sought revenge for Mr. Kibaki's victory in what they believe was a rigged election. Now Kikuyus are striking back.Many of the Luo refugees had been driven from their homes during the weekend. Now, with only one armed policeman to protect them, they faced murder at the hands of the Kikuyu mob.Unable to offer protection, police summoned three army helicopters. These swept low over the Kikuyu crowd, firing bursts from their machine guns. This spread panic, forcing the crowd to disperse. The pilots seem to have been firing not to kill but to intimidate and scatter the mob. They do not appear to have inflicted any casualties.



Ralph Peters notes that the West's failures to address the mess in Kenya is due to a three-fold problem:


The horrific violence in Kenya has its roots in three things: the corruption we overlook, the forms of democracy we demand - and, above all, the tribes that left-wing academics insist are only wicked European inventions. Our tolerance for corruption (our ambassador initially hailed Kibaki's "victory") may be the most pernicious remaining form of racism - our all-too-ready acceptance that developing countries just can't rise above it. And corruption is a cancer that infects every organ of a society. At least we grasp, on some level, that corruption is wrong. It's the other two factors - ill-fitting forms of democracy and the persistence of tribes - that steer our good intentions into the express lane to Hell. Kenya was long one of the continent's few stable states - yet people there kept on voting along tribal lines.



As they do in Iraq. And Afghanistan. And Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria . . . just throw a dart at the map. Impose Western forms of democracy, and majority or plurality tribes win - then view their victories as license to loot. It doesn't even occur to them to share.Tribalism is quite strong in most parts of the world, and ignoring that fact is troubling. Diplomats do this all the time, which is why the US middling response to the disputed elections isn't so much a conclusion of itself, but a symptom of an ongoing problem within the State Department - an unending series of failures to recognize the facts on the ground for what they are and not to carry out foreign policy based on those very facts.

http://lawhawk.blogspot.com/

Joseph C. Phillips on Becoming An Obamacan

The conservative Republican actor writes: "Obama’s point [ that the late President Ronald Reagan was a transformative figure in U.S. politics] may have been a bit too academic for a primary campaign. He was, however, correct. Reagan was an optimist and was able to bridge the partisan divide by articulating a vision of American strength. It was a vision of smaller, less intrusive government and lower taxes. It was a vision that swept him into office with two landslide victories. It was, alas, also a vision at odds with Obama’s message of higher taxes, bigger government and international mollification. If he is looking for Republican defections, he will have to offer more than soaring rhetoric. Like Reagan, he will need a message grounded in the same sense of American exceptionalism that Reagan preached in 1980. Obama, however, has something else to offer that, for some, might just outweigh his policy shortcomings. That something is the allure of history. Hillary Clinton is running with a similar promise of history. However, a White woman riding into the White House on the coattails of her husband is not only a feminist’s nightmare, but it also fails to capture the imagination in the same way as that of a Black man being sworn into our nation’s highest office."

Mr. Phillips continues his commentary: "Though I am a member of the opposition party, I must admit to feeling a genuine excitement when Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses and to an equally fantastic sense of deflation when he later lost the New Hampshire primary and split the state of Nevada....In this way, I don’t think I am too very different from thousands of other Black folk across this country that hold viewing parties on primary nights and root for Obama, holding their breath with each update. They sense something real and historical happening in this country; they believe that like Reagan, Obama will not only change the political conversation in this country but our socio/cultural conversations as well. This is more than just a flashback to 1984 when I stood in a union hall in New York City chanting 'run, Jesse, run!' Even in the naiveté of my youth, I never really believed Jesse could win. Obama, however, is something different. The country is different."

And more: "For Black people of my parent’s generation, a Black man becoming president was a sign that somehow we as a people would have arrived wherever it was we had been headed. What would my parents say today? How much does America change the morning after Obama is sworn in as president? Will the ghosts of our nation’s past finally be exorcised? Will this nation finally be absolved from its original sin? Will we finally take the last step in realizing the remarkable ideals articulated by this nation’s founders? What is it worth to find out? There are millions of voters across the country that couldn’t disagree more with Obama's new liberal vision for America. There are some, however, -- voters both black and white -- that feel the tug of history more than they do the pull of ideology. Obamacans will be those that step into the quiet anonymity of the polling booth and wonder if perhaps this is the moment that America changes for good."

Condoleezza Rice at the World Economic Forum -YouTube

Quote Of The Day

"The problem facing us, then, is the kind that makes many uncomfortable: a cultural one. For example, while three in four black men without diplomas are unemployed, only one in five Latino ones are. The norm in black communities has become different than the one in Latino ones, and different even from the black community norm of 40 years ago. The question is how to change this. To simply recount once again that manufacturing plants moved away 20 years ago demonstrates a lack of concern, since the plants aren't coming back. Rather, we must figure out how to connect unskilled inner city men to other work, for example as sound technicians, building inspectors, and repairmen, that does not require a B.A.....Welfare reform was the best thing for black America since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, because it changed the dependency that had become routine. Only by putting resources into the male half of the equation can we finish the job."

— John McWhorter, moderate-liberal commentator, on mainstreaming black American men

Bill Cosby---Grandparents

Allen B. West for Congress-08

As many of you know this site will be focusing on minority candidates running under the GOP banner this up and coming election season. This weeks candidate is LTC Allen West an American patriot who has lived his life in service to America.

In 2004, when it was time to retire from more than twenty years of service in the US Army, Col. West brought his wife and two young daughters to Broward County, Florida, where he taught high school for a year. Col. West then returned to Afghanistan as an advisor to the Afghan army, an assignment that he finishes in November 2007.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Col. West received BS (UT) and MS degrees in political science (KSU). He also holds a Master of Military Arts and Sciences from the US Army Command and General Staff Officer College in political theory and military history and operations. "Education is the great equalizer," he says. "With a good education, any child in America can live his dream."

Col. West knows that for our children to live their dreams, they need to be safe. He has faced down the world's terrorists: in Operation Desert Storm, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was battalion commander for the Army's 4th Infantry Division, and in Afghanistan, where he trains Afghan officers to take on the responsibility of securing their own country.

In his Army career, Col. West has been honored many times, including a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals (one with Valor), and a Valorous Unit Award. He received his valor award as a Captain in Desert Shield/Storm, was the US Army ROTC instructor of the year in 1993, and was a Distinguished Honor Graduate III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas Air Assault School.

Excellence is a West family tradition. His lovely wife, Angela, holds an MBA and PhD. and works as a financial planner. His daughter, Aubrey, 13, was just accepted into Cambridge academic program at Ft Lauderdale HS and his daughter, Austen, 10, is a budding young pianist.

Facts about the race..hatip Atlas Blog

Retired Army Col. Allen West is campaigning in Florida's 22nd U.S. Congressional District, hoping to unseat freshman Democratic Rep. Ron Klein, who toppled 26-year Republican incumbent Clay Shaw in a contentious battle in 2006.

The well-funded and very politically active Klein is not about to give up his seat easily, but West is banking on his notoriety as much as his military experience to make his case.West, 46, cuts an intriguing figure. He is a war hero to his supporters, but his opponents see him as a symbol of a war gone wrong.

West commanded the 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery, Fourth Infantry Division in Iraq, then spent two years as a private contractor helping to train the Afghan army.
He's not only up on military and national security issues, but he has worked briefly as a teacher in the Palm Beach/Broward County area public schools.

"Allen is one of the most compelling figures I've ever worked with," said Donna Brosemer, an unpaid campaign strategist and spokeswoman for West. "He's a non-traditional candidate at a time when the public is sick of traditional candidates."

According to Wikipedia ..Klein ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida's 22nd congressional district against 13-term Republican incumbent Clay Shaw. Alhough Shaw won re-election easily in the 2004 election (his opponent dropped out before the election), John Kerry carried the district by a margin on 50-48 percent over George W. Bush in 2004.

On Election Day 2006, Klein defeated Shaw by a margin of 51%-48% and assumed office when the 110th Congress convened on January 4, 2007. Klein was aided by voter discontent over the war in Iraq and the scandal involving Republican Congressman Mark Foley in the neighboring district.

Please join with HipHopRepublican.com in showing support by donating to this campaign!

http://www.allenwestforcongress.com/

U.S. deficit estimated at $250 billion "DemoRats" blame Bush!

The deficit for the current budget year will jump to about $250 billion, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday, citing the weakening economy. And that figure does not reflect at least $100 billion in red ink from an economic stimulus measure in the works."After three years of declining budget deficits, a slowing economy this year will contribute to an increase in the deficit," the CBO report said.

The figure greatly exceeds the $163 billion in red ink registered last year. Adding likely but still unapproved outlays for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan brings its "baseline" deficit estimate of $219 billion to about $250 billion, the nonpartisan CBO said.Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the 2008 deficit would reach more than $350 billion once the costs of an upcoming economic stimulus measure under negotiation between the Bush administration and Congress are factored in.


~So the question is what is causing the deficiet the democrats and the left blame it on the war the argument goes something like this "if it were not for Bush and this "illegal" Iraq we would somehow be using that moneyfor roads and jobs here in the US. But how honest is this statement?

Lets take a peek!

The biggest expense in the US Budget is Social Security $608/billion for 2008.

Medicare is 3rd at $386/billion and the welfare social programs add up to $324/billion.

Together, they cost the US Taxpayer $1.318/trillion dollars.

That is nearly 50% of all the money the US collects in taxes.

So you tell me, Who's at Fault?

FDR and the Liberals with their socialist programs to save the world are costing us our arms, legs, and heads. Blame Bush all you like, but this problem won't be solved and will only get worse as the baby boomers retire (ie: stop working and paying taxes) and begin edging up Social Security and Medicare.

Estimated receipts for fiscal year 2008 were $2.66 trillion.

* $1.25 trillion - Individual income tax
* $927.2 billion - Social Security and other payroll taxes
* $314.9 billion - Corporate income tax
* $68.1 billion - Excise taxes
* $29.2 billion - Customs duties
* $25.7 billion - Estate and gift taxes
* $50.7 billion - Other

* Mandatory spending: $1.527 trillion (+4.2%)o $608 billion (+4.5%) - Social Securityo $386 billion (+5.2%) - Medicareo $209 billion (+5.6%) - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)o $324.0 billion (+1.8%) - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending* Discretionary spending: $1.114 trillion (+3.1%)o $481.4 billion (+12.1%) - United States Department of Defenseo $145.2 billion (+45.8%) - Global War on Terroro $69.3 billion (+0.3%) - Health and Human Serviceso $56.0 billion (+0.0%) - United States Department of Educationo $39.4 billion (+18.7%) - United States Department of Veterans Affairso $35.2 billion (+1.4%) - US Department of Housing and Urban Developmento $35.0 billion (+22.0%) - State and Other International Programso $34.3 billion (+7.2%) - Department of Homeland Securityo $24.3 billion (+6.6%) - Energyo $20.2 billion (+4.1%) - Administration of justiceo $20.2 billion (+3.1%) - Department of Agricultureo $17.3 billion (+6.8%) - National Aeronautics and Space Administrationo $12.1 billion (+13.1%) - Department of Transportationo $12.1 billion (+6.1%) - Department of Treasuryo $10.6 billion (+2.9%) - United States Department of the Interioro $10.6 billion (-9.4%) - United States Department of Laboro $51.8 billion (+9.7%) - Other On-budget Discretionary Spendingo $39.0 billion - Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending* Net interest on debt: $261 billion (+9.2%)

Next time Democrats open there big mouth let them know that Nearly 60% of your taxes goes to social programs. The remaining 40% goes to everything else from Defense to Farm Aid.

Why We Support Isreal?

Reprinted from National Review Online

by Victor Davis Hanson

The Muslim world is mystified as to why Americans support the existence of Israel. Some critics in the Middle East excuse "the American people," while castigating our government. In their eyes, our official policy could not really reflect grassroots opinion. Others misinformed spin elaborate conspiracy theories involving the power of joint Mossad-CIA plots, Old Testament fundamentalists, international bankers, and Jewish control of Hollywood, the media, and the U.S. Congress. But why does an overwhelming majority of Americans (according to most polls, between 60 and 70% of the electorate) support Israel -- and more rather than less so after September 11?

The answer is found in values -- not in brainwashing or because of innate affinity for a particular race or creed. Israel is a democracy. Its opponents are not. Much misinformation abounds on this issue. Libya, Syria, and Iraq are dictatorships, far more brutal than even those in Egypt or Pakistan. But even "parliaments" in Iran, Morocco, Jordan, and on the West Bank are not truly and freely democratic. In all of them, candidates are either screened, preselected, or under coercion. Daily television and newspapers are subject to restrictions and censorship; "elected" leaders are not open to public audit and censure. There is a reason, after all, why in the last decade Americans have dealt with Mr. Netanyahu, Barak, and Sharon -- and no one other than Mr. Arafat, the Husseins in Jordan, the Assads in Syria, Mr. Mubarak, and who knows what in Lebanon, Algeria, and Afghanistan. Death, not voters, brings changes of rule in the Arab world.

The Arab street pronounces that it is the responsibility of the United States -- who gives money to Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Afghanistan and others, has troops stationed in the Gulf, and buys oil from the Muslim world -- to use its influence to instill democracies. They forget that sadly these days we rarely have such power to engineer sweeping constitutional reform; that true freedom requires the blood and courage of native patriots -- a Washington, Jefferson, or Thomas Paine -- not outside nations; and that democracy demands some prior traditions of cultural tolerance, widespread literacy, and free markets. Moreover, we give Israel billions as well -- but have little control whether they wish to elect a Rabin or a Sharon.

Israel is also secular. The ultra-Orthodox do not run the government unless they can garner a majority of voters. Americans have always harbored suspicion of anyone who nods violently when reading Holy Scripture -- whether in madrassas, near the Wailing Wall, or in the local Church of the Redeemer down the street. In Israel, however, Americans detect that free speech and liberality of custom and religion are more ubiquitous than, say, in Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Palestine -- and so surmise that the Jewish state is more the creation of European émigrés than of indigenous Middle-Eastern fundamentalists.


Pluralism exists in Israel, rarely so in the Arabic world.

Pluralism exists in Israel, rarely so in the Arabic world. We see an Israeli peace party, spirited debate between Left and Right, and both homegrown damnation and advocacy for the settlers outside the 1967 borders. Judaism is fissured by a variety of splinter orthodoxies without gunfights. There are openly agnostic and atheistic Israeli Jews who enjoy influence in Israeli culture and politics. In theory, such parallels exist in the Arab world, but in actuality rarely so. We know that heretical mullahs are heretical more often in London, Paris, or New York -- not in Teheran or among the Taliban. No Palestinian politician would go on CNN and call for Mr. Arafat's resignation; his opposition rests among bombers, not in raucous televised debates.

Israeli newspapers and television reflect a diversity of views, from rabid Zionism to almost suicidal pacifism. There are Arab-Israeli legislators -- and plenty of Jewish intellectuals who openly write and broadcast in opposition to the particular government of the day. Is that liberality ever really true in Palestine? Could a Palestinian, Egyptian, or Syrian novelist write something favorable about Golda Meir, hostile to Mr. Assad or Mubarak, or craft a systematic satire about Islam? Past experience suggests such iconoclasts and would-be critics might suffer stones and fatwas rather than mere ripostes in the letters to the editor of the local newspapers. Palestinian spokesmen are quite vocal and unbridled on American television, but most of us -- who ourselves instinctively welcome self-criticism and reflection -- sense that such garrulousness and freewheeling invective are is reserved only for us, rarely for Mr. Arafat's authority.

Americans also see ingenuity from Israel, both technological and cultural -- achievement that is not reflective of genes, but rather of the culture of freedom. There are thousands of brilliant and highly educated Palestinians. But in the conditions of the Middle East, they have little opportunity for free expression or to open a business without government bribe or tribal payoff. The result is that even American farmers in strange places like central California are always amazed by drip-irrigation products, sophisticated water pumps, and ingenious agricultural appurtenances that are created and produced in Israel. So far we have seen few trademarked in Algeria, Afghanistan, or Qatar.

There is also an affinity between the Israeli and Western militaries that transcends mere official exchanges and arms sales. We do not see goose-stepping soldiers in Haifa as we do in Baghdad. Nor are there in Tel-Aviv hooded troops with plastic bombs strapped to their sides on parade. Nor do Israeli presidents wear plastic sunglasses, carry pistols to the U.N., or have chests full of cheap and tawdry metals. Young rank-and-file Israeli men and women enjoy a familiarity among one another, and their officers are more akin to our own army than to the Republican Guard, Hamas, or Islamic Jihad.

The Israelis also far better reflect the abject lethality of the Western way of war. Here perhaps lies the greatest misunderstanding of military history on the part of the Arab world. The so-called Islamic street believes that sheer numbers and territory -- a billion Muslims, a century of oil reserves, and millions of square miles -- should mysteriously result in lethal armies. History teaches us that war is rarely that simple. Instead, the degree militaries are westernized -- technology that is a fruit of secular research, group discipline arising from consensual societies, logistical efficiency that derives from capitalism, and flexibility that is the dividend from constant public audit and private individualism -- determines victory, despite disadvantages in numbers, natural resources, individual genius, or logistics.

We hear a quite boring refrain from enraged Palestinians of "Apache helicopters" and "F-16s". But in the Lebanese war of the early 1980s we saw what happens in dogfights between advanced Israel and Syrian jets in the same manner Saddam's sophisticated weapons were rendered junk in days by our counterparts. So Israel's power is more the result of a system, not merely of imported hardware. The Arab world does not have a creative arms industry; Israel does -- whether that be ingenious footpads to wear while detecting mines or drone aircraft that fly at night over Mr. Arafat's house. If the Palestinians truly wished military parity, then the Arab world should create their own research programs immune to religious or political censure, and ensure that students are mastering calculus rather than the Koran.


The 20th century taught Americans that some Europeans would annihilate millions of Jews.

Nor are Americans ignorant of the recent past. The United States was not a colonial power in the Middle East, but developed ties there as a reaction to, not as a catalyst of, its complex history. Israel was instead both created and abandoned by Europeans. The 20th century taught Americans that some Europeans would annihilate millions of Jews -- and others prove unwilling or unable to stop such a holocaust. We sensed that the first three wars in the Middle East were not fought to return the West Bank, but to finish off what Hitler could not. And we suspect now that, while hundreds of millions of Arabs would accept a permanent Israel inside its 1967 borders, a few million would not -- and those few would not necessarily be restrained by those who did accept the Jewish state.

Somehow we in the American heartland sense that Israel -- whether its GNP, free society, or liberal press -- is a wound to the psyche, not a threat to the material condition, of the Arab world. Israel did not murder the Kurds or Shiites. It does not butcher Islam's children in Algeria. Nor did it kill over a million on the Iranian-Iraqi border -- much less blow apart Afghanistan, erase from the face of the earth entire villages and their living inhabitants in Syria, or turn parts of Cairo into literal sewers. Yet both the victims and the perpetrators of those crimes against Muslims answer "Israel" to every problem. But Americans, more than any people in history, live in the present and future, not the past, loath scapegoating and the cult of victimization, and are tired of those, here and abroad, who increasingly blame others for their own self-induced pathologies.

#Europe's policy in the Middle East is based on little more than naked self-interest.

The Europeans are quite cynical about all this. Tel Aviv, much better than Cairo or Damascus, reflects the liberal values of Paris or London. Yet the Europeans rarely these days do anything that is not calibrated in terms of gaining money or avoiding trouble -- and in that sense for them Israel is simply a very bad deal. All the sophisticated op-eds about the shuffling of Mr. Jack Straw about Islamic liberalism cannot hide the fact that Europe's policy in the Middle East is based on little more than naked self-interest. If Israel were wiped out tomorrow, Europeans would ask for a brief minute of silence, then sigh relief, and without a blink roll up their sleeves to get down to trade and business.

Our seemingly idiosyncratic support for Israel, then, also says something about ourselves rather than just our ally. In brutal Realpolitik, the Europeans are right that there is nothing much to gain from aiding Israel. Helping a few million costs us the friendship of nearly a billion. An offended Israel will snub us; but some in an irate Muslim world engineered slaughter in Manhattan. Despite our periodic tiffs, we don't fear that any frenzied Israelis will hijack an American plane or murder Marines in their sleep. No Jews are screaming at us on the evening news that we give billions collectively to Mubarak, the Jordanians, and Mr. Arafat. And Israelis lack the cash reserves of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and they do not go on buying sprees in the U.S. or import whole industries from America. So the reason we each support whom we do says something about both Europe and the United States.

Instead of railing at America, Palestinians should instead see in our policy toward Israel their future hope, rather than present despair -- since it is based on disinterested values that can evolve, rather than on race, religion, or language that often cannot. If the Palestinians really wished to even the score with the Israelis in American eyes, then regular elections, a free press, an open and honest economy, and religious tolerance alone would do what suicide bombers and a duplicitous terrorist leader could not.

This article originally appeared on National Review Online

Ali A. Akbar reflects on Martin Luther King Day

http://www.aliakbar.net/blog/

Michelle D. Bernard on Hardball

IWF President and CEO, Michelle D. Bernard as a guest on Hardball with Chris Matthews.

Michelle joins with democratic strategist Michael Powell to discuss a wide range of topics including the 2008 presidential candidate race, millionaire candidates, McCain and torture, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Paul Wolfowitz's resignation, and body armor in Iraq.

REAL ID: Real Scary?

by LaShawn Barber



Last Friday, head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Michael Chertoff (whom I gave the evil eye in a CNN green room) announced the final regulations of the REAL ID Act. Among other things, states have until May 2008 to comply with the law to keep residents’ current IDs valid for air travel (intent to comply is OK at this point), or seek waivers. Final implementation will be delayed until 2017.


Signed into law in 2005, the REAL ID Act was a response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, or more specifically, to the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations that the federal government set standards for identification cards. REAL ID requires states to comply with these standards if they wish to continue receiving federal dollars.


Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of REAL ID (and my favorite) is the requirement that people seeking a driver’s license prove they’re in the country legally. States must verify that these proof-of-status documents and social security numbers are legitimate. And DMVs will be required to take license photos at the beginning of the process instead of at the end. Why? If the person ends up not getting a license because they don’t have the necessary documents, their photos will be on file. The idea is to link up state databases, so if such people attempt to get a license in another state, a record of their failed attempts will show up. Additionally, the new IDs supposedly will be tamper-proof.



Continue reading REAL ID: Real Scary?

The Case Against Moral Inversion

Speech before UN Human Rights Council, 6th Special Session 24 January 2008 Delivered by Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch





Mr. President,

The nations assembled in this special session on the Gaza Strip, convened by the Arab and Islamic states, face an immediate question. On the proposal to condemn Israel, for the alleged crime of targeting civilians, should they vote for, or against?

Let us consider the proposed resolution. To understand its purpose we are guided best not by the science that studies the conduct of governments, but that which studies the mind.

In psychology, attributing one’s own malicious impulses to others is known as projection. Mr. President, the resolution before us constitutes a classic case of such projection.

It is, after all, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations, who deliberately fire rockets—over 200 in the past week alone—at innocent civilians in Sderot and other Israeli towns. It is they who attack from populated areas, using their fellow Palestinians as human shields. It is they who reject the very notion of a distinction between combatants and civilians.

Israel, like the rest of the civilized world, does the opposite. In exercising its right and obligation under international law to defend its citizens from such attacks, Israel risks the lives of its own soldiers to avoid harming civilians. To Israel, causing a civilian casualty is an unintended tragedy; to Hamas, it is a cause for celebration. The world knows this.

The supporters of those who fire rockets at nursery schools summoned us here to accuse Israel of violating international humanitarian law, when in reality it is they who deny—in word and deed—the very premise of that code.

Let us also consider who initiated this session: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan—each of whom just received the lowest possible rating, Not Free, in the annual world survey by Freedom House. Another is Cuba, which just held an election where the ballots had only one candidate. Are these to be the world’s arbiters of human rights?

The truth is that this session was fixed from the start. Those who sponsored it could introduce a resolution declaring the earth to be flat, and it would be assured of the same automatic majority.

The real question we face is something deeper. Can civilization survive—the values of democracy, freedom and basic humanity—when its basic ideas are, in such high forums, everywhere under assault?

That will not be decided here today, but every international declaration has its influence.

Those countries who genuinely care about the future—of the Middle East, of a credible UN, of civilization—will vote No.

Thank you, Mr. President.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodríguez
(Exercising right of reply to UN Watch testimony)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, usually, Cuba doesn’t exercise its rights of reply for non-governmental organizations. We appreciate their interventions in the Council as we did before in the Commission, even when they have views different from ours.

If I am responding now, I am exercising this right to answer something which is the antithesis of a non-governmental organization. I am referring to UN Watch and the executive director, Mr. Neuer. I must say, he produced a Hollywood-type display, speaking to this Council and ambassadors and delegates.

Human... UN Watch is a lucrative organization amply funded by the CIA and Mossad, which is devoted to denigrating certain member states and this Council. He told us, that Israel and his own organization are within the so-called “civilized world”… This implied that this special session is in the world of the barbarians.

But I don’t know anything greater than the acts of barbarians than are taking place in Gaza — dark hospitals, people without water, and other things that UN Watch and his executive director haven’t talked about. I won’t take any more time talking about this false organization, whose voice I have never heard criticizing the concentration camps in Guantanamo. I will simply wait for them calmly in New York, where in the NGOs meeting where they will have to render accounts. And we will see what to do with their consultative status.

Thank you.

MICHELLE BERNARD OP-ED: The Path To Democracy And Stability In Pakistan

The head of the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative group, argues that the War on Terror isn’t just about the safety of the United States but also the world's fate. The Republican asserts that the best way to honor Benazir Bhutto's legacy and advance our interests is for Americans to become true partners of the Pakistanis in order to encourage democracy and prosperity in their nation:

"Another foreign nation is in crisis. Americans should appreciate yet again how fortunate we are to live in a country that is both free and stable. We do not worry about one killer turning our political system upside down. The contrast today with Pakistan could not be greater. The murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was a tragedy on many levels. Her family has lost a wife and mother. Her party has lost its soul and inspiration. Her country has lost an intelligent, courageous woman prepared to lead in difficult times. The rest of us have lost one of the world's leading female politicians — living proof that a woman can run the government of an Islamic nation. Bhutto could have helped turn Pakistanis and Muslims elsewhere away from the failed politics of extremism and terrorism and towards the positive approach of global engagement and leadership. Bhutto's death was a blow against people of goodwill all over the world. But we must not grow discouraged. To the contrary, the U.S. and its allies must redouble their efforts in the War on Terror and aid Pakistanis as they attempt to advance democracy in their nation."Ms. Bernard adds: "It is critical to win the allegiance of the Pakistani people.

The U.S. government must be more careful to ensure that the Pakistani people understand that it supports them, and not any particular government or politician. America cannot dictate the form of Pakistan's government or the speed with which it returns to democracy, but Washington should unequivocally support the right of the Pakistani people to choose their own leaders. We also must ensure that our aid actually goes to help people in need. Military assistance will remain vital so long as the Taliban and al-Qaeda remain threats, but the U.S.-Pakistan relationship must not focus on security alone.

Non-governmental organizations, including those which promote the full economic, political, and social advancement of Pakistani women, should take on a greater role, bypassing the Pakistani government and establishing a direct relationship with community and tribal leaders. As some Middle Eastern suffragettes have remarked, half a democracy is not a democracy. Finally, Washington must demonstrate that it has learned humility and is willing to listen to the Pakistani people even as it encourages them to remain on a democratic path."

Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Clinton-Obama Barbs Dominate Debate

Hatip Booker Rising



A Political Season, a black moderate-conservative Republican blog that supports Sen. Obama's presidential bid, writes about last night's acrimonious Democratic debate:

"By all accounts from the MSM and the blogosphere, this debate was full of personal attack and defense and I find that disheartening. More to the point, it pisses me off. I blame the Clintons for that tone. The politics of personal destruction is the playbook they are working with. Obama on the defense for votes and Rezko and whatever else they can find is only out there because they can't just win on a message about her experience and her vision for the country. Obama has now been forced onto Clinton's ground with this kind of negative campaigning. She is better at it, having had to spar with [R]epublicans for years, and frankly she relishes it. I found it interesting to watch her deadpan staredowns of Obama when he was speaking, and the smile that came to her face when it was her turn to talk and she could press her attack. I'm sorry, that's not inspiring. It doesn't make me want to follow you. It doesn't tell me what your vision is or encourage me to believe that your leadership is what we need.



"The commentary continues: "I totally agree with Edwards that the BS squabbling does not do anyone any good. The MSM lays down its responsibility to be of value by encouraging this petty nonsense. I think its very clear that her attacks were aimed at Feb. 5th primary states and white voters. I think it's also very clear by now that the Clintons have made a tactical decision to attack Obama and maim or destroy him as best they can, even if it means risking alienating the black vote in the short term, because they figure with the house negro support they do have, that they will be able to get blacks back in the fold by the general. I hope they find themselves being very wrong on that score. By all accounts, Edwards had a good night. I still think his angry man politics won't carry the day and thats why he has no chance of being the nominee, but I like that he got the opportunity to be the voice of reason. But considering that I don't think he has had a bad debate performance yet, having a good one here is not going to help him."

Martin Luther King "I have a dream"

This is the full version of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech, HipHopRepublican.com will be down for the celebration of this great American. Let us lets us never forget the the power of the people over racism and government indifference.You may want to help continue the dream by helping to build the dream as Americans both Democrat and Republican help construct a memorial on the National Mall in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Survey Views Of Black Republicans

Republicans For Black Empowerment recently conducted a membership survey (hat tip: DarkStar Spouts Off).

While it features a sample pool of only 95 participants, a self-selected group (i.e., people who are RBE members) and thus is not representative enough of the universe of black Republicans, the survey may provide some insight into black Republicans' views.

Background: 83% of survey respondents listed an educational background of having at least a 2-year associate’s degree.

35% have a Master's degree, law degree, or Ph.D.

27% have bachelor's degrees.

Ideology: 82% of respondents identified themselves as "somewhat conservative" or "very conservative".

The report does not give breakdowns for the other 18% of respondents (i.e., whether they consider themselves to be moderate, somewhat liberal or very liberal, lbertarian, whatever).

Presidential Candidate Support: 32% of respondents support former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Sen. John McCain and former U.S. Senate Fred Thompson each have 16% support among RBE respondents, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 15%, Rep. Ron Paul 11%, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani 9%, and Rep. Duncan Hunter 3%. Sam Brownback, Alan Keyes, and Tom Tancredo (who dropped out) were each at 0%.

RBE writes: "This preference may be attributed to Mr. Huckabee being the only top tier candidate to participate in an 'African American' Presidential debate hosted by Tavis Smiley and PBS at Morgan State University last September. Also of note is the seeming unpopularity of Rudy Giuliani who at 9% had less support than Ron Paul. Mitt Romney was favored by 14% of respondents."Booker Rising notes that the survey was taken on January 5, after Mr. Huckabee's victory in the Iowa caucuses. Since the Republicans have had been one caucus (Wyoming) and two primaries (New Hampshire, Michigan) since this poll - with various winners - it would be interesing to know whether these stats still hold up.

It is also interesting that Alan Keyes, the only black Republican in the race and thus "one of us" for the RBE crowd, had no supporters.Issues Of Concern: Repondents cited economic growth, the War On Terrorism, and health care as their top three concerns. 55% of respondents cited economic growth as one of their top 3 issues. 54% did so for the War On Terrorism, and 48% cited affordable healthcare as a Top 3 concern.Illegal immigration, the budget deficit and education were intermediate concerns. Abortion and gay marriage were at the bottom of respondents' lists of concerns.

The Republican Party And Blacks: When asked if the GOP addresses key issues in their community, 35% said "somewhat agree" and just 7% said agree. 21% disagreed and 24% somewhat disagreed that the GOP addresses key issues in their community. 51% of respondents also said that Republican outreach efforts in black communities were "small" or "nonexistent".53% of survey respondents say they are involved with their local Republican Party.

Which Political Party Serves The Interests Of Black Americans? Opinion was split here. 49% of respondents said the Republican Party. However, 49% said "neither party". 2% said the Democratic Party.

Pitbull and The Cuban Boat Lift

The politics of most hip-hop could correctly be described as progressive; Pitbull is one of the main exceptions. Pitbull is a Cuban-Anerican rapper living in Miami. As with many Cuban-Americans in Miami, Pitbull's politics are strongly anti-Castro. This trend continues with the title of his new album The Boatlift. Pitbull recently spoke to HipHopDz.com about the origin of the title:

HipHopDX: What’s your mind state on this new album?

Pitbull: My mentality has always been to knock the record out, put it out or whatever, and then throw it out there. I call it The Boatlift ‘cause I feel everybody, somehow or someway, came to this country in a boat lift. If not then they’re running across a border trying to get here. With that said, this album is my way of giving them freedom through music. It’s my boat lift. It’s my way of taking them on a ride.

DX: Both the title of this album and the previous one make reference to the El Mariel Boatlift of 1980, which your late father played a role in. For those who don’t know, can you explain the significance of that event?

P: It’s very significant because my father was involved in bringing three boats over from Cuba. He brought 547 people to freedom in Miami. There were 125,000 refugees that came over from Cuba during the boat lift, which lasted from a six-to-eight-month period if I’m not mistaken. It’s a vital part of Hip Hop because the whole movie Scarface was based on the boat lift.

Everybody knows Scarface because it’s a story about going from nothing to something, which we all come from in Hip Hop.

And [Tony Montana] was sort of like the good guy and the bad guy, which we all like in Hip Hop also. I’m not trying to be Scarface or Tony Montana. I’m trying to live more like [Alejandro] Sosa—if they wanna take that movie and depict it for its attributes. That's basically Pitbull in a nutshell. I'm low key and proper when I have to be and a street when I have to be type of guy.

Pitbull does politically focused rap but he is mostly known for his Miami Bass tunes like "Toma" and "Culo."




http://www.ulmann.blogspot.com/

Joe Rogan Endorses Ron Paul

YouTube has a video of comedian Joe Rogan endorsing Ron Paul. Joe Rogan talks about his support of Ron Paul for supporting small government. So if your vote is made by deciding who UFC commentators will endorse, consider Ron Paul.

Cesaria Evora - Mar de Canal

Wesley Snipes And The Anti-Tax Movement

Wesley Snipes is charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and filing a false claim for a $7 million refund before he stopped paying taxes. The actor is also charged with failing to file tax returns for six years starting in 1999 and giving the government three worthless checks totaling $14 million to cover some taxes. If convicted, Snipes faces 16 years in federal prison. Freedom Democrats, a blog for libertarian Democrats, writes: "I've been following this story tangentially for awhile now, but it appears Wesley Snipes is set to directly take on the IRS over the contention that there is no legal justification for Americans to pay income taxes on wages earned. The so-called '861 position,' which was popularized in Aaaron Russo's film America: Freedom to Fascism, has been rejected by the courts in terms of invalidating the income tax, but in recent years tax resistors have been acquitted in criminal courts using this argument.

Although legal experts expect Snipes to be convicted, an acquittal could be devastating for the IRS."The commentary continues: "At one point, this case supposedly had reached a settlement. Although the NY Times speculates that Snipes is being motivated by an anti-government black supramecist [sic] sect, it's not entirely clear to me if Snipes' defense won't center around that he was the innocent victim of bad advice by tax professionals who ascribed to 861 and that his prosecution is racially motivated. Snipes has attempted a couple of times to get the trial moved to New York from Ocala, FL, asserting that he can't have a fair trial in the latter location. Snipes' legal team plans to bring Muhammad Ali, Spike Lee, Sylvester Stallone, and Woody Harrelson as witnesses. My thoughts on the matter is that I would love to see Snipes get an aquittal, but if I were him, I think I would have taken the deal. The 861 argument has always seemed pretty flimsy to me."

Hollywood Pimps For Democrats

Here is a list of more celebrities who contributed to the 2008 presidential candidates from January through March 2007:

Sen. Hillary Clinton
Comedian Chevy Chase, $4,600
TV's "Murphy Brown" and "Boston Legal" star Candice Bergen, $4,600
"King of the Hill" and "Sister Act" star Kathy Najimy, $2,300
Film director/producer Steven Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw Spielberg, each gave $2,300 for a total of $4,600
Actress Mary Steenburgen, $4,600
Actress Christine Lahti, $2,300
Music producer Quincy Jones, $4,600
Film critic Rex Reed, $1,000
Film director/producer/actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner each gave $2,300, for a total of $4,600
Donald Trump's children and "The Apprentice" co-stars each gave to Clinton. Daughter Ivanka Trump gave $1,000, while son Donald J. Trump Jr. gave $4,000. Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples gave $1,000.
Talk show host Rosie O'Donnell, $2,300.
Singer and actress Barbra Streisand, $2,300
Model Christie Brinkley, $1,650
Singer Barry Manilow, $2,300
Producer and activist Laurie David, wife of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star and "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David, $4,600
Actor and producer Michael Douglas, $4,600
Talk show host and former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer, $4,600
"Cosby Show" producer Marcy Carsey, $4,600
"All in the Family" producer Norman Lear, $2,300
Novelist Anne Rice, $4,600
Singer and Eagles drummer Don Henley, $4,600
Motown founder Berry Gordy, $4,600
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner gave $2,300. His estranged wife Kimberly Hefner also gave $2,300.
Philanthropist/former studio executive Sherry Lansing, $2,300
Songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, $4,600
"21 Jump Street" star Holly Robinson-Peete, $2,300
Actress Jami Gertz, $2,000
"St. Elsewhere" actress Cynthia Sikes Yorkin gave $9,200, although the limit is $4,600. Her husband, director Bud Yorkin, gave an additional $4,600.

Sen. Barack Obama
Singer and actress Barbra Streisand, $2,300
"Scrubs" star Zach Braff, $2,300
Actor Morgan Freeman, $2,300
Actor Tom Hanks, $4,600
Actor and former "24" president Dennis Haysbert, $2,300
"Spiderman" actor Tobey Maguire, $2,300
Actor and comedian Eddie Murphy, $2,300
Actor Edward Norton, $2,300
"Heroes" co-star Adrian Pasdar, $2,300
Actor and director Mario Van Peebles, $2,300
Actor and comedian Ben Stiller gave $2,300. His wife and sometimes-co-star Christine Taylor gave $2,300.
"Gilmore Girls" co-star David Sutcliffe, $250
The original Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder, and his wife Karen Wilder each gave $2,300, for a total of $4,600.
"Amen" co-star Anna Maria Horsford, ave $2,300
"Star Trek" actor Leonard Nimoy and his wife Susan Nimoy each gave $2,300.
"Friends" star Jennifer Aniston, $2,300
Actress Rosanna Arquette, $2,300
Actress Angela Bassett, $2,300
"Sabrina the Teenage Witch" co-star Beth Broderick, $500
Film director and producer Steven Spielberg gave $2,300. His wife actress Kate Capshaw, also gave $2,300.
Dreamworks SKG co-founder David Geffen, $2,300
Dreamworks SKG co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, Marilyn Katzenberg and David Katzenberg each gave $2,300, for a total of $6,900
Actress Jodie Foster, $2,300
Actress Jami Gertz, $2,300
Character actress Dana Ivey, $1,000
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" Oscar-winner and "Roseanne" co-star Estelle Parsons, $1,000
"St. Elsewhere" actress Cynthia Sikes, $2,300
Actress Gabrielle Union, $2,300
Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines, $4,600
Talk show host Rosie O'Donnell, $2,300
TV interviewer Byron Allen, $4,600
Model Kate Dillon, $532.55
Film producer Brian Grazer, $4,600
Musician Branford Marsalis, $4,600
Singer Barry Manilow, $2,300
Singer Graham Nash, $2,300
TV producer Steven Bochco, $2,100
Film producer Lawrence Bender, $2,300
Motown founder Berry Gordy, $2,300
TV producer Norman Lear, $2,300
"Mad About You" star Paul Reiser, $2,300
Actress Susan Sarandon, $1,000
Hair products mogul Vidal Sassoon and Rhonda Sassoon each gave $2,300 for a total of $4,600
Songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, $2,300
Reality show producer Mark Burnett, $2,300
TV producer Marcy Carsey, $2,300
Former Playboy bunny Kimberly Hefner, estranged wife of Hugh Hefner, gave $2,300
"Friends" creator and producer Marta Kauffman, $4,200
Philanthropist and former studio executive Sherry Lansing, $2,300
Film and TV producer James L. Brooks, $2,300
TV producer Paul Witt, $2,300
Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, $4,600

Former Sen. John Edwards
Actor and "Simpsons" voice-over Hank Azaria, $2,300
Actor and former "West Wing" vice president Gary Cole, $2,300
Actor Seth Green, $4,600
Steven Spielberg and his wife actress Kate Capshaw Spielberg each gave $2,300 for a total of $4,600
Actress Madeleine Stowe, $1,000
Director Brett Ratner, $4,600
Film director and producer Rob Reiner, $2,300
Singer and actress Barbra Streisand, $2,300

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
"Frasier" and "Cheers" star Kelsey Grammer, $2,300
Actor and "Dancing with the Stars" contestant John O'Hurley, $4,600
Actor and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Adam Sandler, $2,100
Actor and conservative commentator Ben Stein, $750

..............................................OOH THAT LIBERAL MEDIA!!!!

"Ronald Reagan -On Islamic Fascism"

John McCain 2008:"One Man"

~In the next few months we as Americans will have clear choices as to who the next President will be for me the answer is very clear. I think that while all the candidates Republican and Democrat have sincere proposals for reshaping our nation for the better there is but one candidate who can do it and that person is Sen. John McCain. The above video is an ad that the Senator released some months back highlighting his experience as a prisoner of war.

St. Louis Activist Debates the Question of Apologizing for Slavery Before National Audience

St. Louis Republican businessman and activist Dwight Billingsly appeared on the Paula Zahn Now show on CNN last week. Billingsly, a brilliant man with degrees from Harvard and Yale, debated the head of Virginia's Legislative Black Caucus on the question, "Should the Queen apologize for slavery? Billingsly's appearance was sparked by this column he wrote for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. I never cease to be amazed by black people today who obsess about slavery. It's over, gone, done and can't come back, and yet there are black state legislators offering resolutions through which their respective states can apologize for slavery.

I find it funny because nobody who was involved with slavery, of course, is alive today. What good is an apology that doesn't involve any of the principals to the act? If you hurt me, I want an apology from you. If I don't get it, I'll get over it and persevere. That's been the history of black people since slavery: We've persevered and achieved especially well here in America. An apology from your great, great grandson to my great, great grandson doesn't interest me.

JAMES SHIKWATI OP-ED: Isolate Extremists And Save Kenya And Africa

The libertarian head of the Inter-Region Economic Network (Kenya) opines about election violence in his country: "I had to play hide and seek with time and civilian road blocks to make it to Kisumu airport for my flight to Nairobi.

People's houses are burning, property is being destroyed, it matters less whether one is Kikuyu, Luo, Kalenjin, Luhya, or whatever. It's a matter of time and the violence will assume a life of its own that will go beyond the shades of tribalism. We must do something to save democracy and our country Kenya.

We are caught in a moral and legal dilemma. To allow a government, whose mandate is being questioned to govern, will imply that Kenyans are not keen on upholding democratic ideals. To resist governance from such a government under the present circumstances where mobs seem keen on ethnic cleansing is to destroy the very fabric of nationalism that is needed to make a nation. To hide under legalism to legitimize a flawed process is to kill the spirit of rule of law; to overthrow the law in order to oust leadership whose mandate is being contested is to set a precedent where one can simply violate the law to serve the whims of time."He continues his commentary: "The Kenyan legal advisors ought to quickly isolate the few culprits and subject them to justice according to the law; if the spirit of the Kenyan law has evaporated; they ought to simply name and shame them. Agitated Kenyans ought not to punish innocent people simply because a suspect happens to come from a particular community.

I appeal to political elites, business people, and the Kenyan middle class in general to take individual initiative to pin point to their relatives that vote tallying irregularities was not executed by a whole community but by a few people. And that no violence is directed to any particular tribe. Mass action ought not to be targeted towards individual communities; it ought to be simply a peaceful but loud expression of people against forces that are keen to rape democracy in Kenya and by extension Africa. I also appeal to the international community, inclusive of the East Africa Community, African Union, China, the West and others to assist Kenyans by isolating extremists who seem keen on engaging in 'Kamikaze' strategy on democracy. Let the world know who they are and where possible subject them to an ancient rule of ensuring that they do not have visas, and that their families are restrained from external travel."

300+ Kenyans Killed

Michael Steele -On What Is a Conservative?

Mary J. Blige - Just Fine

Michael L. Williams 08- Texas Railroad Commissioner

Railroad Commissioners in Texas are elected to six-year terms with one Commissioner seeking election every two years. When a Commissioner is appointed by the Governor to fill an unexpired term, the appointee serves until the next General Election at which time the appointee may run for the remainder of the unexpired term. Michael L. Williams is seeking this office again. Mark Thompson of Hamilton is seeking the Democratic nomination for the post.

Presently Michael L. Williams is the Chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oldest regulatory commission. In November 2000, the people of Texas elected him to complete an unexpired term. In November 2002, they re-elected him to a full six-year term expiring in 2008. He was initially appointed to the Commission by former Governor George W. Bush in December 1998 to fill a vacant seat. Williams served as Chairman of the Commission from September 1999 to September 2003. He is the first African American in Texas history to hold an executive statewide elected post.

Video: Romney Supporters Remove McCain Signs

Shows what freakin extreme tactics the Romney campaign will go through to win...But come tuesday McCain is gonna whip some Romney butt!!!

And Let the Minstrelsy begin.........First Sunday is the First of I hope a limited amount of Blackface Comedies for 08'

Hatip to AfroNerd on exposing another ghetto black hating film

Once again, I must thank the Invisible Woman from Invisible Cinema for gracing our internet radio airwaves a few days ago by visiting our show on Black Cinema. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask her about O'Shea Jackson's (Ice Cube for the uninitiated) latest minstrel-fest, First Sunday.

Interesting that his friend, John Singleton actually has a degree in filmmaking and yet arguably, Cube is the more successful of the two. Of course, Stepin Fetchit (aka Lincoln Perry) became quite wealthy in his heyday by doling out Black stereotypes. Will there ever be a day when the public, especially people of color grow tired of these one dimensional (and unfunny) portrayals?

Dr. Marion D. Thorpe... Shares His Life Story

Dr. Marion D. Thorpe, Jr. is a Republican running for the U.S. Congressional candiate running for District 23 in Florida

My Iowa Predictions

by Richard

I am going to roll out my magic dice and predict the upcoming results for the Iowa Caucus, first as far as the Republicans are concerned no matter happens Sen. John McCain will come out a winner.

The winner will be Huckabee and Romney may come in second or third a true surprise may be a win by McCain all together.The two front runners Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have attacked each other so badly that independent and swing voters will began to look to John McCain. As far as the Democrats I believe that Obama will beat the Hillary machine also I think a few of Edwards voters will go the way of Obama.

One of the greatest of the greats past away Christmas eve, Oscar Peterson, extraordinary jazz pianist. Much as I love Art Tatum, I prefer Peterson. Many a romantic New York night spent languishing while Peterson brilliantly tapped those jazz keys. In this clip, an unusual trio, Oscar Peterson on piano, Ray Brown & Niels Pedersen both on double bass, perform "You Look Good To Me" at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1977.

Kenya Election Riots Leave At Least 140 Dead

Tribal killings fuelled by fury over a “rigged” presidential poll have swept Kenya as the wave of post-election violence claimed at least 140 lives.

At sunrise, enraged supporters of Raila Odinga, the opposition politician who President Mwai Kibaki claims to have defeated, emerged from slums and villages to vent their fury over what they believe was a “stolen election”. President Kibaki responded with an uncompromising New Year message, insisting that the contest had been “free and fair” and pledging to “deal decisively with those who breach the peace”.A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed in the town of Kisumu, a stronghold of support for Mr. Odinga where about 53 people have been killed. Troops enforced this measure by shooting on sight. In the capital city of Nairobi, protesters fled slow moving lines of riot police, firing tear gas and flanked by armoured trucks loaded with pepper-spray cannons.Much of the violence has been between the Luo and the Kikuyu tribes, who are traditional enemies.

Mr. Odinga is a Luo while President Kibaki, 76, is from the dominant Kikuyu tribe which has largely controlled Kenya since independence from Britain in 1963. Luos sought revenge for Mr. Odinga’s alleged election defeat by attacking Kikuyus at random and destroying their homes and businesses. In Mombasa, six Kikuyus were hacked to death. This incident provoked swift retaliation and the murder of three Luos. Almost half of the deaths were in Kisumu, a largely Luo area. The government has sought to quell the unrest by banning local television and radio stations from making live broadcasts. Public transport has largely closed down, leaving thousands stranded.Mr. Odinga, 62, has formally rejected the election result and accused the President of rigging the poll. On Monday he declared that President Kibaki had no right to govern. “Democracy is under siege in this country,” said Mr. Odinga. “The illegitimate government of Mwai Kibaki is holding the entire country hostage and we fear they have more ruses up their sleeves. All emerging dictatorships follow the same patterns.

But Kenyans are not as they were in the 1960s and 1970s, we have matured and will not stand for this.”Western governments have expressed deep unease. David Miliband, Britain's Foreign Secretary, said it had “real concerns” about reports of ballot-rigging. The U.S. State Department, having first congratulated President Kibaki on his victory, hastily withdrew this accolade and said: “We do have serious concerns, as I know others do, about irregularities in the vote count.” Alexander Graf Lambsdorf, head of the European Union election observer mission, said the vote “tallying process lacks credibility”.Mr. Odinga pledged to organize “peaceful mass action” against the government. His Orange Democratic Movement has won a majority in Parliament and could force a vote of no confidence in the president. This would trigger a new election.