Conservatism & The Black Community

Earlier this year, I had a chance to participate in the Frederick Douglas Foundation's 2nd Annual Conference. Particpants came from all across the nation and shared their thoughts on our values and how they pertain to the black community.

California government grows as private sector shrinks

With private sector jobs disappearing at an alarming rate, Assembly Republican Leader Martin Garrick, of Carlsbad, says in his weekly address that California must reduce the size of government to balance the budget. Here is the Assembly Republicans’ compilation of job statistics titled Real Facts: California Private Sector Job Loss vs. State Employee Job Cost.

California Unemployment Rate - 12.3%
Source: California Employment Development Department

Californians Currently Listed as Unemployed- 2.24 Million
Source: California Employment Development Department

Private Sector Jobs Lost in California Since 2005- 1,298,700
Source: California Employment Development Department

State Government Jobs Added Since 2005-  38,100
Source: California Employment Development Department

Average California Private Sector Job Salary- $55,000
Source: California Employment Development Department

Average State Taxes Paid by Each Private Sector Employee- $3,600
Source: Franchise Tax Board / Board of Equalization

Average Cost to Taxpayers to Pay Salary and Benefits for Each California Government Job- $90,000
Source: California Department of Finance

Number of Private Sector Jobs it Takes to Support One Government Job- 25
Source: Franchise Tax Board / Board of Equalization

So what is the Democrat's answer to these alarming numbers? RAISE TAXES AND CONTINUE TO GROW GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS...

Expectations dwindle from "Change we can believe in" to "It could be worse"

As the 2010 midterm election approaches, President Barak Obama is no longer talking about change we can believe in. Instead, his rhetoric has shifted back to blaming Bush and the Republicans and declaring that things would be much worse if he wasn't in charge.

 A recent Associated Press article made note of the significant change in messaging:

President Barack Obama, who rocketed to the White House promising "change you can believe in," is now telling voters they shouldn't change a thing.

His message for the fall elections, which are looking ominous for his Democrats, is that Republicans caused the nation's economic troubles, but he and the Democrats are starting to fix them. So stick with the Democrats and don't go back to the GOP.

"This is a choice between the policies that led us into the mess or the policies that are leading out of the mess," Obama said recently in Las Vegas.

Trouble is, it's a tough sell to voters who've seen little progress.

Unemployment is stuck near double digits and polls show many voters have decided Obama's policies are to blame, not his predecessor's.

This is despite the President's attempts to continue to blame the previous administration that has been gone for over a year and half as well as congressional Republicans who haven't been in the majority in either house since 2006. The voters recognize that this is his  mess and he needs to own it. But, we all know that is not going to happen.

Obama often frames the argument by saying that Republicans had their chance to drive, then drove the car into a ditch and shouldn't get the keys back. But voters may be concluding that Democrats, who control the White House and both chambers of Congress, have had their chance at the wheel, too, and haven't gotten very far.

"From the American public's point of view, the people in charge at this point are the people who own the problem," said Andrew Kohut, head of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.  

The truth is that the Obama Campaign created a level of expectation that the Obama Administration would never be able to live up to. And now that reality has set in for the voters, the blame game is al the Democrats have left. 

But Obama's pickings were slim when it came to campaign themes.

The narrative that worked so well when Obama was a presidential candidate offering himself as a transformational figure who could change Washington is no longer at his disposal. He can hardly claim to have delivered on that promise because he hasn't changed Washington, at least not much, as he's acknowledged.

Mark Williams Exposes the Truth About the Tea Party

Sooo.... Mark William himself is saying that his remarks were "over the top." Ya think?

I'm glad he's gone, but his departure does little to change the fact that this 'loosely knit' federation of groups still largely condones this type of behavior from its leadership. Not one of its friends; not one of its associates or compatriots; but an official "spokesperson" and leader of the Tea Party.

The NAACP did not put words in the mouth of Mark Williams. The damage to the Tea Party was self-inflicted, and I hope this - in addition to the NAACP resolution that brought this whole issue to a head - will cause some additional reflection of this movement.

I support the right of Tea Party followers to protest and to seek policies that reflect their beliefs. However, to do so in the absence of respect for Democracy and democratic principles, the Constitution and common decency is unacceptable.

NAACP accuses Tea Party of racism while ignoring blatantly racist acts by it's friends!

Today, the National Association of Colored People’s National Conference voted to approve a resolution that accuses the Tea Party Movement of “blatant racism”, while at the same time ignoring voter intimidation by their friends in the New Black Panther Party and a violent hate crime by their friends from SEIU.

As a part of their national campaign to regain some semblance of relevance again the NAACP has taken to attacking the most relevant political movement today, the Tea Party Movement. Keep in mind that this is the same NAACP that is pushing to legalize pot and make Neverland Ranch a State Park in California. And they have the nerve to claim that no one takes the Tea Party seriously?

If they truly wish to denounce “racism”, why don’t they put forth a resolution denouncing the blatant racist thuggery and voter intimidation of the New Black Panther Party who brandished pipes as they stood outside a polling place in Philadelphia? Furthermore, why won’t they call on the White House to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law?

Or maybe we can get the NAACP to encourage prosecution of the those who are guilty of the only violent hate crime ever committed at a Tea Party? But then again that would mean turning against their friends at SEIU who brutally attacked a Black man at a Tea Party Rally last year calling him the “N” word repeatedly. Instead the Missouri NAACP chose to hold a press conference supporting those who were guilty of the hate crime.

Sounds to me like the NAACP is desperately trying to overcome it’s irrelevancy by attempting to tear down a movement that is actually making a positive difference in this country.

This comes right out of the NAACP playbook: If you can't beat'em, call'em racist!

Eric Holder refuses to prosecute hate group for voter intimidation.

“The time is now to provide justice to victims of bias-motivated violence and to re-double our efforts to protect our communities from violence based on bigotry and prejudice.”

These were the words uttered by Attorney General Eric Holder a little more than one year ago, as he sought passage of new federal hate crimes legislation. What he didn’t say was that he wasn’t referring to all “bigotry and prejudice” especially if it was aimed at whites. Case in point: the Justice Departments refusal to prosecute the New Black Panther Party members who stood outside a polling place, brandishing weapons in an attempt to intimidate white voters during the 2008 presidential election.

This dismissal was so egregious that Former DOJ attorney J Christian Adams who actually worked on the case resigned as a result of it. He recently wrote a commentary in the Washington Times outlining his objections to the Obama Administration’s handling of the case:

On the day President Obama was elected, armed men wearing the black berets and jackboots of the New Black Panther Party were stationed at the entrance to a polling place in Philadelphia. They brandished a weapon and intimidated voters and poll watchers. After the election, the Justice Department brought a voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party and those armed thugs. I and other Justice attorneys diligently pursued the case and obtained an entry of default after the defendants ignored the charges. Before a final judgment could be entered in May 2009, our superiors ordered us to dismiss the case.

The New Black Panther case was the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career. Because of the corrupt nature of the dismissal, statements falsely characterizing the case and, most of all, indefensible orders for the career attorneys not to comply with lawful subpoenas investigating the dismissal, this month I resigned my position as a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney.

Keep in mind that these are the same folks who declared that black should "...kill some cracker babies..." I wonder if this case would have been handled the same way if the perpetrators had been flag waving Tea Partiers? I doubt it.

Justice is supposed to be blind. But in this case, it is blind as a bat!

The people’s Prop 23 would reverse the politician’s AB 32… Bizzaro World? No, Just California….

When the people California began gathering signatures to overturn the politician’s Global Warming Initiative, who would have thought that irony would be played out so perfectly?

Should it pass, Proposition 23 (The California Jobs Initiative) which was put on the ballot by the people, would REVERSE AB 32 (The California Job Killer) that was passed by the politicians.

As pointed out by California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) AB 32’s higher energy prices will increase the cost of doing business here and cause economic “leakage” to occur: meaning that businesses will leave the state in search of greener pastures.

Jack Stewart, president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association stated, “California has already lost 630,000 manufacturing jobs in the last decade, and the state is far below the national average in new industrial job growth. The Legislative Analyst’s most recent report makes it clear we’ll lose even more jobs and manufacturing activity if AB 32 implementation proceeds as scheduled.”

But needless to say, environmentalists will argue that despite the facts, AB 32 will not cost jobs and that those who want to repeal it simply want free reign to pollute California’s air and water.

I can see the commercial’s already- The BP oil spill… George Bush… and somehow referencing children and minorities…