President Obama, welcome to San Francisco

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Dear President Obama,

Welcome to San Francisco and the fundraiser at the Westin St. Francis. Congratulations on your Nobel Peace Prize, as well.  Unfortunately, I will not be there to greet you.

President Obama

I write this with a mixture of pain and nervousness. Pain because I don't intend harm to the political campaign all of us have worked to build. Nervousness because I'm not sure the people at the Democratic Party - nor some of my friends in it - will like what I'm about to write, even though it's not personal and my hope is that it, in some small way, helps to get us back on the right track.

I think we've fallen off of it.

President Obama, the problem for me started when as a member of the gathering's "host committee" I was made aware of the "ask" levels for those we wanted to attend: $30,000 per couple, and $1,000 and $500.

At first I was under the hubris-fueled impression that I could get a lot of my friends to pony up those bucks. But the economic something we always talk about - the worst economy since the Great Depression - has hit everyone.

People I'm used to seeing "do well", as they say, are struggling. And while I have more work, I have to work harder to maintain the flow of it. It's hard for everyone.

But what really got me was the memory of how we got to where we are: the millions of ordinary people who gave a few cents here, or a buck there, or $10 over there, and all online.  Remember all of those people who were so jazzed to see you when you first came out for the Boxer function after you annouced you were running for President?

If you need a reminder, here it is:



What happened to our campaign based on them?

Mr. President, I thought we were supposed to transform the Democratic Party into that kind of fundraising organization: the one based on "the little person" or what we call "the common American."

Mr. President, we - not at this point in our history - should forget about them. Not now. Not when so many people are suffering can we afford to go back to the big money, fat cat ways of campaigns past. People - Democrats fighting to make ends meet - will not get it. Republicans that would normally come over to us would be turned off.

Maybe the cost was to scare off the "riff-raff" but Mr. President you've got the Secret Service and people like me. I will personally kick the ass of anyone who tried to harm you in my presence and you can count on that.

Mr. President, the DNC didn't get just how bad California's economy was. We tried to tell them. Maybe now they've got a clue now, but it would be real nice if they would listen to us first before planning these events. To have those levels of "ask", then hear people - friends - react with a mixture of interest and sadness was too much to go through for me. Plus, I've got other spending priorities of late: a Mom in Georgia who needs and gets my help first and foremost.

So Mr. President, I'll be elsewhere Thursday night. I hope you see this. I hope this never happens again.

Blog Action Day - Climate Change: why question it?

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Tomorrow is the launch of what for me will be my second "Blog Action Day". Last year the topic was poverty; this year the concern is climate change. But before I get to that, let me explain what "Blog Action Day" itself is, because chances are you've never heard of it.

Blog Action Day is a initiative where one day - tomorrow - is designated for bloggers and vloggers to post on one subject. Last year, that was poverty. This year it's climate change.

As I state in my video above, the major issue I take with opponents of climate change is that I don't understand what's wrong with at least having a "gauge" of how our weather system is changing.

If we have a flu, how do we know that aside from how we feel? We take our temperature. Similarly, we must take a measure of our climate's heat if only to know if it's too great or too little as well as the consequences of both extremes.

To me, it's really that basic. So, on Blog Action Day, I hope those who are against climate change will try and go without taking their own temperature if they're sick.

Rush Limbaugh rejected by NFL; he and Bill O'Reilly don't get it

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Rush Limbaugh was dropped from the potential St. Louis Rams NFL ownership group put together by St. Louis Blues owner Dave Cheketts today. As I explained here, Rush being an NFL owner would be "modern slavery":



But it's clear Rush doesn't get how his brand and the NFL's brand don't mix, and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly comes along to paint Rush as the poor victim:

"This (the criticism of Rush for his racially divisive statements) is 1984-type stuff, ladies and gentlemen. Thought police posture.."

And Rush? Limbaugh offered the biggest bunch of hooey I've ever heard from him:

..But I do love you all and I thank you all so much for your support. I want to say that many people have e-mailed me, and they're right about this, that this is not about me. Not just about me, this is not about the NFL, it's not about the St. Louis Rams, it's not about me. This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative.

Rush Limbaugh, now I'm talking to you! If you're smart, you'll listen.

Rush, let me tell ya, it's not for me an objective of "destroying conservatism" at all. I know a lot of conservatives who don't agree with your tactics and words. Moreover, to me you're not a true, intellectual conservative in the fashion of an Irving Kristol or William F. Buckley. You're what I call a "Couch Potato Conservative" who just makes statements to upset people who don't agree with your point of view or who don't look like you and disagree with your view.

You've done well at exciting and energizing your so-called base, but you didn't stop about the limits to your growth. The late economist John Kenneth Galbraith developed a theory you should pay attention to because it applies to you. It's called the "Theory of Countervailing Power."

The idea, first advanced in his famous book "American Capitalism" is simply that groups and unions would rise to counter the political power of business. Galbraith's take - who's a liberal economist by the way - is right on here and applies to you. In this case, you are the business and African Americans, who you've attacked, are represented by the unions and community groups (like the NAACP).

They rose up and attacked your bid for partial ownership of an NFL team, and they succeeded. They were successful, first, because you attacked them and, second, because the way you have conducted yourself is at odds with the NFL brand.

That's something you and Bill O'Reilly just don't understand. The NFL brand represents all of America, not a part of it. Rush, you and Bill O'Reilly have used rhetoric that speaks to part of our country, not the whole.

Rush, I got a press release from Media Matters about your many statements. You've got to see it, if you've not already. On second thought maybe you don't want to. Rush, you've hurt a lot of people, ok.

This is what I was sent by Media Matters, Rush, what their press release reads as "at least 28 examples of Limbaugh making racially charged remarks, including:"

· "We are being told that we have to hope [Obama] succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200901220002

· "I do believe" Obama is an "angry black guy."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907270023

· "[I]n Obama's America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200909150017

· "Obama's entire economic program is reparations."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907220040

· Obama is "more African in his roots than he is American" and is "behaving like an African colonial despot."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906260019

· Obama is "Halfrican-American."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200701240010

· "Obama has disowned his white half ... he's decided he's got to go all in on the black side."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200803210012

· Sotomayor "a reverse racist" appointed by Obama, "the greatest living example of a reverse racist."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200905260035

· Obama "wants us to have the same health care and plan that he had in Kenya" and "wants to be the black FDR."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908240028

· Latching onto LA Times op-ed, Limbaugh sings "Barack, The Magic Negro."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200703200012

· "God does not have a birth certificate. Neither does Obama"; Obama "has yet to prove he's a citizen."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906100019

· Limbaugh on Gates controversy: "Here you have a black president trying to destroy a white policeman."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907240015

· Limbaugh suggests Obama would not have acted on Somali pirates if he'd known they were "actually young, black Muslim teenagers."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200904140029

· Limbaugh suggests Democrats, media believe "you can't criticize the little black man-child."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200808200009

* "The government's been taking care of [young blacks] their whole lives."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200808200009

· "The days of [minorities] not having any power are over, and they are angry."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200808200009

* "[M]inorities never do anything for which they have to apologize."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200808200009


· Limbaugh: "The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200808200009

· Limbaugh says "NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200808200009

* Limbaugh declares basketball "the favorite sport of gangs."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200910070023

* Limbaugh invented "racial component" to Hackett's decision to withdraw from Ohio primary race.

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200602160001

* Limbaugh on Survivor series: "African-American tribe" worst swimmers, Hispanics "will do things other people won't do."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200609300001

* Limbaugh suggested Colin Powell only supported Obama because of race.

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200905180025

* Limbaugh: Gates is an "angry racist."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907270021

* Limbaugh called illegal immigrants an "invasive species."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907270021

* Limbaugh repeatedly calls Native Americans "Injuns."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200508180006

* Limbaugh says Democrats' interest in Darfur is securing black "voting bloc.”

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200708230008

* Limbaugh says that if "feminazis" had remembered to oppose "affirmative action for black guys ... they wouldn't face the situation they face today."

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200805210009

Rush both you and Bill O'Reilly don't get that these comments, taken as a collective, show a pattern of dislike and boarderline hatred for people of color. You've made a $400 million killing from this practice, but where you went wrong is in assuming it would get you in the NFL's club of owners.

The NFL has no interest in wrecking its brand with your approach; Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban's right on here.

Think about it, Rush.

Let's say you were part of the St. Louis group and you made some inflammatory statement. You'd give NFL public relations a total nightmare of a job trying to explain away what you said, not to mention the staff of the Rams.

I can't believe you'd be so selfish as to put your narrow interests ahead of so many innocent people. But you tried to, and now, thank God, it's over.

I hope you've learned a lesson.

Tom Hayes: Do we have a right to truth?

The 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which we often describe as the right of the "Freedom of Speech" which also prohibits interference in religion or the media is being abused in pursuit of corporate profits. Remember how the Bill of Rights starts?

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Sounds good, right? We can't know exactly what the founding fathers had in mind with the 1^st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we do know that misinformation distorts debates and delays progress. I've come across a story that explains a lot of the shameless prevarication we've seen from the Fox network over the past 6 years or so.

In brief, back in February 2003 a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

"The court implied there was no restriction against distorting the truth. Technically, there was no violation of the news distortion because the FCC’s policy of news distortion does not have the weight of the law..."

Never, ever doubt that a commercial media outlet is driven by profit.

In Florida, the Court held that a threat by Jane Akre (part of a Fox “Investigators” team at WTVT in Tampa Bay) to report the station’s actions to the FCC did not deserve protection under Florida’s whistle blower statute, because Florida’s whistle blower law states that an employer must violate an adopted “law, rule, or regulation."

The decision reversed an earlier judgment against Fox.

We can't know what the founding fathers had in mind when they drafted the Bill of Rights but it seems unlikely that their intent was to protect the right to profit from untruths. They went so far as to include the oft-overlooked 9th Amendment:

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Of course, that raises the sticky question, "Do we have a right to the truth?" Apparently the Court in Florida feels Murdoch's right to profit from capitalism as he operates the Fox network is more fundamental - the Florida appeals court found in favor of corporate bottom lines even at the expense of accurate information. It might be worth exploring how they feel about "creative accounting." After all, they found that profit trumps truth.

Read more about this dangerous and disgraceful interpretation; if you share my indignation, spread the word.


Thomas Hayes is a political analyst, journalist, and entrepreneur who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics including economics, politics, culture, and community.

Rush Limbaugh did not make "James Earl Ray" statement

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While I may dislike Rush Limbaugh's takes on African Americans it does not mean I will not defend him if he's falsely accused of making a statement. I will defend Rush Limbaugh.

In this case, there's a quote that has flown around the Internet almost unchecked and found its way into a famous "Top 10 racist quotes" list that has been used by everyone from myself to some cable television news outlets.

It's this:

“You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed."

Well, it turns out this is one statement Rush Limbaugh never said. It's hard to find but one really good blog item on this, and that's by a blogger named Samurai at the blog Smash Mouth Politics in 2005. He did a time-consuming research job and attributed the quote to a person named "Cobra". Samurai wrote:

First, the quote and the date that it was supposedly made by Rush: “You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed. [4/23/98]” Rush never said it. It was made up back in about 2005 and this article proves it.

I am no computer research guru, but I was able to track down enough to prove that this quote first arose back in the fall of 2005, and there is no evidence of the quote before that date. Bottom line, it is inconceivable that such a quote was made by Rush Limbaugh back in 1998 and then never got any attention on the internet or elsewhere until 2005.

...Evidently, “Cobra” was still making this exact same claim in 2006 ON A STILL DIFFERENT blog site, when he was contemporaneously busted for making this s-- all up!

But even with the great research by Smash Mouth Politics, the quote was still passed around and grew new legs with Rush's interest in an NFL franchise, the St. Louis Rams. But the bottom line is it's wrong and Rush himself has taken action to address the matter.

But even with his work, there's no definitive article or post entitled "Rush Limbaugh did not make "James Earl Ray" statement" until now.

That does not change my view of Rush with respect to the NFL. I feel that given the overall weight of his statements regarding blacks, for him to own a team even part of it would be modern slavery. That's just my view. As I said in my video here -



- Rush can change this just by being a lot less angry toward African Americans. At least that's the way he sounds to me, and I've listened to him many times.

NY Giants' Pierce blasts Oakland Raiders on radio after victory

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Talk about adding insult to injury, NFL (please keep Rush Limbaugh out) and New York Giants Linebacker Antonio Pierce did just that to the Oakland Raiders after his team beat the Raiders 44 to 7 on Sunday. On Sirius talk radio Tuesday with Alex Marvez and Marty Schottenheimer, Antonio Pierce said:

"I do not like knocking teams," ..."But right now, they're struggling. We're playing that game the other day and, honestly, it felt like a scrimmage, like a practice. It felt like we were going against our offense [in a controlled setting] as far as the tempo.

"There was no vibe of trying or effort from the Raiders at all from a defensive standpoint against their offense. We're getting three-and-outs. You don't hear nobody [saying], 'Hey, let's go!' trying to pick the guys up, rallying them, getting guys fired up. There was nothing. It was quiet. A guy gets sacked or somebody gets beat, they just get up. It's not like there's yelling or no kind of [emotion] about the way they were playing.

"It was shocking to be out there in that game and get that kind of feeling."

..."It's sad because I grew up a Raiders fan," Pierce said. "That organization right now, they need some guidance. They need somebody to pick them up."

If that's not the kind of comment that leads to changes at the Oakland Raiders, I don't know what will do it. The team's not well-coached, but to read that it's not even motivated to play is shocking and this comes from within the league.

NY Giants' Pierce insults Oakland Raiders on radio after victory

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Talk about adding insult to injury, NFL (please keep Rush Limbaugh out) and New York Giants Linebacker Antonio Pierce did just that to the Oakland Raiders after his team beat the Raiders 44 to 7 on Sunday. On Sirius talk radio Tuesday with Alex Marvez and Marty Schottenheimer, Antonio Pierce said:

"I do not like knocking teams," ..."But right now, they're struggling. We're playing that game the other day and, honestly, it felt like a scrimmage, like a practice. It felt like we were going against our offense [in a controlled setting] as far as the tempo.

"There was no vibe of trying or effort from the Raiders at all from a defensive standpoint against their offense. We're getting three-and-outs. You don't hear nobody [saying], 'Hey, let's go!' trying to pick the guys up, rallying them, getting guys fired up. There was nothing. It was quiet. A guy gets sacked or somebody gets beat, they just get up. It's not like there's yelling or no kind of [emotion] about the way they were playing.

"It was shocking to be out there in that game and get that kind of feeling."

..."It's sad because I grew up a Raiders fan," Pierce said. "That organization right now, they need some guidance. They need somebody to pick them up."

If that's not the kind of comment that leads to changes at the Oakland Raiders, I don't know what will do it. The team's not well-coached, but to read that it's not even motivated to play is shocking and this comes from within the league.

Rush Limbaugh created Glen Beck, wants NFL team

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Rush Limbaugh, who I said if the NFL allowed to own even part of an NFL team would be "Modern Slavery" -

here



- is taking credit for the rise of Glen Beck (who's also known for divisive hate talk) and "conservative media" as he calls it. According to Think Progress, Rush Limbaugh says:

Look, in 1988, I’m the only national conservative voice. Now look at conservative media. Look what I have spawned. Glenn Beck to me is right on daddy-o. Glenn Beck is a result of my success.

And this man thinks the NFL's going to allow him to be a part of the owner's club? No way. By comparing himself to Glen Beck, Rush just officially mugged his own chances to be in the NFL.

But thanks for the red meat, Rush.

Bay area earthquake? What earthquake?

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According to a number of postings there was a small earthquake near Pleasanton, CA, not far from here as the crow flies.

What's interesting is the "Bay Area Earthquake" isn't showing up on the news pages of the mainstream media press in the area but the blog sites have it on Google Trends. Reportedly it was 3.7 on the Richter scale.

I didn't feel the damn thing. And from what I've read it happened while I was working on my Phil Matier video blog. I know it's long at 21 minutes, but wow!