So, let me make sure I understand Beck. He claims that God told him to pick this date. So, this same God couldn’t have told him the significance of this date to the civil rights community? Beck was asked by many in the Black community to move the date of his event in deference to our feelings about this date. He refused. But, he wants the Muslims in New York to move the location of their future mosque in deference to him and others who think the location is too close to ground zero. Hmmm, how do you spell hypocrisy? I looked it up in the dictionary and found a picture of Glen Beck!

He wants conservatives to reclaim the civil rights movement. Well, I can’t find any history of Beck being involved in civil rights—either historically, or recently. This is the same person that called a sitting president “a racist…with a deep seated hatred of white people.” The day after his event, he gave a simi-apology for making that statement. But one would have thought if he really was regretful of what he said, he would have used the national stage he had during his event to make the apology. But maybe he didn’t want his white friends in attendance to see him apologize in front of a national audience. Afterall, we wouldn’t want people to call him an “apologist” for America like they say about President Obama.

Remember, you can’t have unity without “u & i.” But everything about Beck does just the opposite. Am I the only Black who felt somewhat uncomfortable during the “Black” portion of the program? This was near the end of the event; before Beck’s self indulgent, meandering, narcissistic, rambling, tortuous speech.

Is America only for white people? The question stuck in my mind following yet another e-mail exchange with a friend of mine, regarding my conservatism. For this particular gentleman, being black in America is at odds with conservatism.

Jack Kemp was everything the Republican Party should be but isn’t.

Genuinely inclusive; knowledgeable about various groups contributions to America and unafraid to denounce discrimination and shortsightedness on his side of the aisle.

Where is THAT kind of Republican and conservative after the Obama victory? We’d be hard pressed to envision Kemp leading the ” Birther ” brigade or demonizing Muslims as campaign policy.

I’ve met a few Kemp-esque conservatives at the grassroots level but nationally they often resemble Pat Buchannan’s best bromides. The Inclusive Right does exist but isn’t in high rotation on FOX NEWS or other outlets controlled by what I term the Imperial Right.

The Inclusive Right has to be as loud, though not as crass, as its opposition within the GOP.

Vietnamese Americans have as a group historically voted in favor of Republican candidates and have self-identified as Republicans at a greater rate than other Asian American communities. This is for a number of reasons, including because Vietnamese Americans perceived the GOP as being the more aggressively anti-communist of the two major American political parties, particularly during the Reagan era. Given the historical circumstances which led to emigration by Vietnamese people to the United States, in many ways one can consider the Vietnamese American experience to be similar to that of another post-World War II immigrant population – the Cuban American community, and the voting tendencies between both groups are quite similar.

This voting tendency has not disappeared. According to the National Asian American Survey (NAAS) entitled “Asian Americans and the 2008 Election” (which was conducted prior to the 2008 Presidential election), Vietnamese Americans were the only Asian American group that leaned more Republican than Democrat, and the polling in that survey showed strong support for John McCain over Barack Obama at a ratio of two to one. The exit polling conducted during that election seems to support the pre-election polling cited above. According to a report from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) entitled “The Asian American Vote in the 2008 Presidential Election“, Vietnamese Americans had the highest percentage of identification with the Republican Party among Asian American groups at 44%, with that number going over 50% in the states of Texas, Louisiana and Maryland.

Deep in the dark depths of winter, an announcement was made in church that caught my attention. One of the ladies’ groups was meeting to discuss a project by a Muslim organization to build an Interfaith Center in a damaged building near Ground Zero.

Now, at the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I don’t tend to take this sort of thing very seriously. It seems to me that the most enlightening thing to emerge from most “interfaith dialogue” is the realization that ladies who are members of the same tennis club have a lot in common in spite of their religious background. An interesting insight perhaps, but unlikely to break the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate.

This project caught my attention because of the location. It seemed like a bold, perhaps provocative move; the sort of thing people do to catch publicity. It seemed too provocative to fit its stated purpose , but I had no idea where it would go and didn’t think much more of it at the time.

I have not said much about the Target controversy. For those not in the know, the discount-store chain Target, decided to give $150,000 to an indpendent political committee that supports Republican Tom Emmer for Governor. Emmer tends to be not-so-friendly when it comes to gay issues. Target, which is based in Minneapolis, made the donation because they view Emmer as pro-business, while Mark Dayton the Democratic candidate is not viewed in the same way.

(Irony alert: Dayton’s family started the Target chain.)

This has set off a storm of protest from many in the GLBT community who were shocked that Target would do something like this. Target has a reputation of being one of the better employers for gays and has been viewed as incredibly gay-friendly. Many gay folks were shocked that Target would ever dream of doing something like this.

While I was dissapointed, I wasn’t surprised. I know that Target executives had supported Republicans at the local and national level for a while and I also know that Target was making a business decision; not a moral one. Emmer’s pitch is about trying to shrink government and lower taxes while Dayton is all about taxing the rich. If you are a large business, I can tell pretty much tell you that they are going to go for door number one. Do I think it was a good decision? No. But I also understand why Target did it.

Reason.tv’s Ted Balaker sat down with Calle to discuss what should be done to spur private-sector growth, the role uncertainty plays in hiring decisions, why business leaders are often afraid to complain about public policy, and the myth of the laissez-faire CEO.

There has been much controversy over the potential Mosque at Ground Zero. I have done my best to listen to all, and understand their points of view. I have even sparred with people I love and respect over the topic. When I think of 9/11 I think of my family members who were downtown that day. When I think of this mosque I think of all my wonderful Muslim friends, most of whom I have met in the last few months. I think of how hurt we all were after 9/11, and how hurt my Muslim friends probably are feeling, being discriminated against. It’s a touchy subject. It is a combination of unhealed, raw wounds, salt and rubbing alcohol. Not pleasant in the slightest. I do not even really want to speak about it. I have, however, come the conclusion that I must. The more I hear, the more I think on it, the more I understand, the more I think it is wrong. What is odd however, is that being a person who rarely changes their mind about anything, I felt quite different just a few weeks ago.

Being a Constitutionalist Conservative reflects my core political philosophy. The 1st Amendment, perhaps the most important of them all, is clear. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” These words to me are more precious than gold. We do not just have freedom from religion, we have freedom for it! I do not know if anything more beautiful than this can be found in a governing document of another nation. It does not matter how close minded some people on the right want to be, Muslims are not all terrorists and it is wrong to treat them that way. So it is clear, and I said this many MANY times: Muslims, like anyone else have a right to worship. The last few weeks of intense discussion have forced me to ask, just as Sarah Palin asked and Barack Obama had to acknowledge… is it really right for them to worship there?

Washington, DC - On Friday, September 17, 2010 Republicans for Black Empowerment will hold its fourth annual gathering of GOP activists. The event, which occurs every year, acts as a conservative alternative to the more liberal leaning Congressional Black Caucus event, which is held the same day.

This year’s special guest will include S.C. Rep. Timothy Scott who was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives for District 117 in 2008, becoming the first Republican African-American representative in more than 100 years. He is currently the Republican nominee for Congress for the 1st Congressional district seat.

In his book White Guilt, conservative, Shelby Steele, from Stanford and fellow researcher for the Hoover Institute argues that liberal politicians, like Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer, in the 60s inspired redress programs that caused damage to African Americans over the long run. These policies of redress according to Steele emanated out of “white guilt”, but ultimately led to prejudice. American white liberal “guilt” helped to establish the governmental system for the breakup of the traditional African American families by removing any notion of personal accountability. Steele defined white guilt as being a “complete vacuum of moral authority wherein a stigma is cast upon an entire group of people regardless of what they do or say.”

Also, due to the very real historical wrongs of segregation and slavery, liberal whites see redressing as the only way to regain “moral authority”, so liberal white politicians used government funded programs to reclaim their moral goodness. Liberal whites want to prove their own worth so to do so they must exonerate themselves of any suspicion of being racist by making sure they are aiding a needy minority. Unfortunately and conveniently for them this has become the mantra of liberal Democrats and it is in their best interest to keep perpetuating the idea that minorities are handicapped groups that require government assistance to rid themselves of poverty.

Ryan Brumberg is a Jewish Republican candidate for Manhattan’s 14th District. He faces an uphill battle in challenging incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the 14th District where, in Manhattan, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 3-1.

Today, Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao (LA-02) expressed his “profound disappointment” over the Obama Administration’s decision to strengthen bilateral relations with Vietnam’s communist government.

Cao, the first and only Vietnamese-American ever to serve in the United States Congress, described Hanoi’s record on human rights and religious freedom as “atrocious.” He said the the Vietnamese government does not deserve better U.S. ties until it demonstrates greater respect for the freedom and dignity of its own people.

Cao cited numerous examples of abuses committed by the Vietnamese government, including the harrassment, arrest and false imprisonment of pro-democracy advocates and clerics, the seizing of religious institutions and destruction of religious symbols, and the use of eminent domain to strip property owners of their holdings without just compensation.

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao (LA-02) expressed his “profound disappointment” over the Obama Administration’s decision to strengthen bilateral relations with Vietnam’s communist government.
 
 
Cao with fellow Representatives Frank Wolf (VA-10) and Christopher Smith (NJ-04) hold news conference Thursday to discuss the Vietnamese government’s human rights record
Cao, the first and only Vietnamese-American ever to serve in the United States Congress, described Hanoi’s record on human rights and religious freedom as “atrocious.” He said the the Vietnamese government does not deserve better U.S. ties until it demonstrates greater respect for the freedom and dignity of its own people.
Cao cited numerous …

Cleveland needs to get rid of its savior complex. LeBron James could never have saved Cleveland–no single sports star or entrepreneur or bailout can–but there are definite, proven steps that any city can take to improve life for its citizens.

In its coverage of the Philadelphia voter intimidation case, conservative media has unfortunately chosen sensationalism over clarity. There are layers to this case to be explored that might highlight the idealism of the right and expose the pessimism of the left. Unfortunately, those layers of exploration are not as sexy as the continuous video loop depicting New Black Panther Party member King Samir Shabazz screaming about killing crackers.

The vast majority of black people respond to such rants this way: “That brother is crazy!” Indeed, to see the video of Samir suggesting that black liberation can be had only through the murder of white babies is to witness a man in the throes of mental illness.

Mental instability may not be a requirement for membership in the New Black Panther Party, but believing in time travel certainly is. The small membership of the Panthers routinely attempts to transport themselves back to 1968. They have appropriated the look of Huey P. Newton and borrowed their rhetoric from Elijah Muhammad and early Malcolm X. In addition, other than standing on the street corner yelling at people, or appearing on Fox News, they appear to do very little actual work.