Barack Obama , Rev Wright and My Iron Man Suit

I thank the SF Chronicle's Editorial Page editor John Diaz for the chance to write the essay below that appears in the Sunday May 4th edition of "Sunday Insight" and is below this video:



I've been a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama for president for 17 months, and one large reason is that he's like me. We share the same Aug. 4 birthday, and have walked similar paths of racial discovery.
Both of us have carved out our niche as individuals able to walk in different circles and still be ourselves. That's not easy; it comes as those around you tell you what they think your "place" in life should be. It's no wonder that I felt violated by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's National Press Club speech, as much as Obama did.
Wright made me put on my Iron Man suit again.
My Iron Man suit is a carefully constructed armor I created when I was a 6-year-old boy on the predominantly black South Side of Chicago to protect me from the other kids in the neighborhood. See, to them, I was not "black" - I talked "white" and was "smart." I didn't fight or play basketball - and didn't want to - but those were the prerequisites for popularity at the time.
The suit was my knowledge of everything from politics to Chicago architecture to airplanes and cars and "Star Trek." My suit allowed me to tune out those who said "you need to act black to be black."
The Iron Man suit was also used to protect me from anyone white who thought I should fit a common black stereotype. My Iron Man suit has "Repulsor Rays" I use to shoot "protons" of knowledge to prove I was smarter than anyone else in the room. I used the suit to judge anyone as being less intelligent than me if they didn't have a diverse base of friends - if all they had were, for example, white friends.
But a funny thing happened as I grew up. American culture changed such that I needed my suit less and less. More people accepted me as an individual. American pop culture became more diverse. There were more interracial relationships, and no one seemed to care. The guy who runs American Express was black - still is.
But the best thing was that no one was telling me my place; I'd successfully defined it and society - through generational change - kind of "caught up" to me. Or so I thought.
One problem remains, and Barack's dealing with it. In being the first African American who's one step closer to the Most Powerful Job in The World than any black person before him, Obama is faced not just with doing something "blacks don't do" but with upsetting people who wish he would know "his place."
This "placeism" that Barack and I have had to battle with has come back in the face of Wright and yes, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who worked to remind us that whatever we do, we're still just black.
Both represent the old generation. Hey, so does my mom, and I love her to death. She has struggled for years to get me to take off the suit, and finally gave up.
Mom totally understood Wright's anger, but knows why I have the suit, too.
I don't think Wright's outcry came from a desire to show up Barack, but to scream "Hey. I'm black and proud! You're not going to define me!"
What I didn't like - and got into an argument with my mom about - was that Wright didn't think about success for African Americans of the younger generation like Barack or myself; Wright was consumed with his anger.
And in expressing his anger - in his choice to show his "blackness" and insult Barack's integrity - he made me put my suit on. I think mom realized where I was coming from before I went into full suit mode. She's on my side now.
I resent anyone telling me what kind of black person I should be. I will turn away if one says that I'm the only black person in the room. I don't like it when someone works to wreck the success of a black person just because that person's not "stereotypically black." In my view, that's what Wright did and he owes Obama, and me, an apology.

INDIANA INSULTED BY KANTOR - HE DID SAY THEY ARE "SHIT"

Ok, I've went back and forth on this one, but the official word on the street is, yes, Clinton campaign advisor and then (1993) campaign head Mickey Kantor did insult the people of Indiana in the movie "The War Room", and while we can't -- I certainly can't -- make out the whisper, it's clear that he did call them "shit."

This was revealed in the Washington Post today and before that the story spread like wildfire in the brush of the Internet and then finally hit the mainstream media, though for some irresponsible reason CNN's not mentioned the matter, which just goes to show what lengths they'll go to to protect Senator Clinton.

YOUTUBE UP AT 7:31 AM SATURDAY, MAY 3RD

After being down for hours, YouTube's finally came up at 7:31 AM, or that's when I rechecked its status. More on this later, if any news comes in.

YOUTUBE DOWN AT 6:16 AM SATURDAY, MAY 3RD

I do not know how this happened, but YouTube is down and so is my 230 video channel. Centernetworks reports that -- yikes -- the DNS for YouTube has been hacked. Man Chad (Hurley, the co-founder of YouTube) must be going nuts.

Subject: route fully down
Pinging the Youtube DNS shows the route is down at the datacenter:

traceroute to 208.65.152.137 (208.65.152.137), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
...
3 xe-0-1-0-19.lon10.ip.tiscali.net (77.67.64.193) 1.094 ms 10.260 ms 1.101 ms
4 ge6-2-1000M.ar4.LON3.gblx.net (64.212.107.89) 1.392 ms 213.200.77.234 (213.200.77.234) 1.607 ms 1.708 ms
5 YOUTUBE-LLC.tengigabitethernet8-2.ar3.DCA3.gblx.net (208.48.1.186) 80.579 ms 80.300 ms 80.451 ms
6 * * *

IRON MAN | Iron Man Is Excellent; Robert Downey Jr.'s Cool Performance

I just returned from seeing "Iron Man" at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, and I must say that it did indeed meet my expectations; in fact, it surpassed them. The movie, Directed by Jon Favreau, is tight, with little wasted scene or motion, and it manages to pull a lot of ideas in for you to grasp but it doesn't hit you over the head with it's overall anti-war theme.

The images of the idea of de-militarization are all around us in the film and the biggest one is of Stark as Iron Man destroying the very weapons he made for use by the U.S. Defense Department, which have fallen into terrorist hands. But that's only part of a great movie. There's the love between Stark / Downey and Pepper Potts, expertly played -- really well played -- by Gweneth Paltrow. There's also the family feeling between Stark, Johnson, and General James Rhoades, performed with ease by Terrance Howard, who also gives us the idea that he will be in that Iron Man suit in one of the future films.

I could go on and on about this movie. Yes, it really is as good as the first Spiderman. Yes, the special effects are terrifically real, and the sky scene featuring Iron Man being chased by two F-18s is a classic in movie making. It's better -- far better -- than the Space Shuttle crash-save scene in Superman Returns of two years ago. And the best effects are when Stark is testing the parts and engines that make up the Iron Man suit.

The villian. Well, there are two really, but Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane is simply so good you hate him. He's really the heavy. Indeed, there's much about this movie that's heavy and light all at the same time. A good flick. See it.

Obama on Native Tribal Sovereignty, the Freedmen, & NAHASDA

Obama vs. CBC on the passage of NAHASDA "as is"

In a March 13, 2008 Letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, members of the Congressional Black Caucus stated that “members of the CBC will not support, and will actively oppose passage of NAHASDA” unless the bill contains a “provision that would prevent the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma from receiving any benefits or funding” until they extended tribal membership to the Freedmen. The letter contained the signatures of 35 CBC members, but not the signature of White House hopeful Senator Barack Obama. The Native American community began raising questions about an Obama Presidency that could potentially support CBC efforts to undermine the rights of tribal governments to determine their own membership.

Asked to clearly state his position on H.R. 2824, Obama’s campaign issued the following statement:

"Tribal sovereignty must mean that the place to resolve inter-tribal disputes is the tribe itself. Our nation has learned with tragic results that federal intervention in internal matters of Indian tribes is rarely productive; failed policies such as Allotment and Termination grew out of efforts to second-guess Native communities."

Clinton and McCain websites have no specific links or information for Native American peoples or issues, while Senator Obama’s campaign has a main page link directly to his website for “First Americans.” Further, a look at all three candidates’ campaign teams reveal that Senator Obama has a Native American Community Outreach Coordinator and a 30-member Tribal Steering Committee. If Clinton and McCain have a Native American presence on their campaign teams, it is well hidden.

Obama’s opposition to Diane Watson’s legislation will undoubtedly be met with unrest by those of his fellow members of the CBC that side with the Cherokee Freedmen, but Obama appears to be no stranger to the CBC’s disaffections. Last year, online political publication TheHill.com reported on the CBC’s anger with Obama about rejecting an invitation to debate on Fox News, and added that “Obama has irked fellow CBC members by failing to respond to a request made early last year that he host a fundraiser for the Black Caucus’s political action committee (PAC). [Senator Hillary] Clinton received a similar invitation and quickly followed through by headlining a CBC PAC fundraiser in March of 2006.” Perhaps this is why the CBC recruited Hillary Clinton and not Barack Obama to be the Guest Speaker at their 37th Annual Legislative Conference, prompting the Washington Times to speculate that the CBC was quietly trying to endorse her bid for the presidency.

"Tribal sovereignty must mean that the place to resolve inter-tribal disputes is the tribe itself,” Obama said.

"Discrimination anywhere is intolerable, but the Cherokee are dealing with this issue in both tribal and federal courts. As it stands, the rights of the Cherokee Freedmen are not being abrogated because there is an injunction in place that ensures the Freedman's rights to programs during the pendency of the litigation. I do not support efforts to undermine these legal processes and impose a congressional solution. Tribes have a right to be self governing and we need to respect that, even if we disagree, which I do in this case. We must have restraint in asserting federal power in such circumstances."

read more | digg story

CNN Paints "Blue Collar Whites" As Racist, So Why Did They Vote For Obama?

I've got CNN on in the background and it's funny how they seem to paint people into categories. For example, CNN's "The Situation Room" had a segment which claimed that "Blue Collar Whites" like Hillary Clinton but will not get behind Barack Obama.

That's silly as hell. How did he win 30 states without the support of Blue Collar Whites? And I wonder if this will cause a Blue Collar White backlash? And so Blue Collar Whites know they're Blue Collar Whites?

Geez, this is sick stuff.

Ecuador Blames Chevron For Oil Spill While Petroecuador Gets No Blame At All

In a continuation of what's turning out to be a big fraud, Ecuador's pushing a lawsuit against Chevron that is $16 billion. That's right, $16 Billion. The Minority Report's Steven Foley explains:

Ecuadorean indigenous groups have filed one of the largest environmental class action suits in history against an oil company to the tune of $16 billion and if successful could set a dangerous president.

Ripping off the facade and digging under the surface of what at first glance looks to be nothing more than deserved retribution by indigenous groups who've suffered at the hands of Evil Big Oil one begins to see more clearly the forces behind this fraud are non other than Ecuador's own state run oil company Petroecuador, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, and the powers-that-be who are working feverishly to re-identify and usher in a new socialist South America.

You see, the fact is, Chevron, through its Texaco subsidiary (which Chevron aquired in 2001) , operated an oilfield joint venture with Petroecuador as a minority partner between 1964 and 1992.
From 2002 to 2007, Petroecuador was responsible for more than 1,000 oil spills, of which 168 took place last year alone. In fact, Petroecuador (through its oil and gas exploration and production subsidiary Petroproducción) accounted for 90 percent of all oil spills in Ecuador last year, according to official government data quoted by local newspaper El Universo. The remaining 10 percent were contaminated by six different private companies. In other words, Petroecuador is clearly a major and serial contaminator.

You can read more here: Steven Foley.

Clinton Aide Kantor Video Was Doctored - Kantor Did Not Make Statement

I just listened to the video that was the source of the first video out and around the Internet which said that Mickey Kantor called Indiana people "White Niggers".

After further review, he did not say it.

Here's the actual video from the movie "The War Room":



Mickey is saying that "they're shitty," and it seems he's referring to pollsters, and not people in Indiana. Then he does say "How would you like to be, but then the rest is not even audible. It would have to be doctored to have one be able to hear him say the words "White Nigger."

As far as I'm concerned, Mickey is owed an apology by bloggers like me. Sorry Mickey.

Clinton Advisor Mickey Kantor Called Indiana Folks "Worthless White Niggers"

In a video I uncovered on YouTube and here, Mickey Kantor, a long time friend and current advisor to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign and Bill Clinton's campaign chairman, is seen high-fiving Clinton advisors James Carville and George Stephanapoulos, and saying "Look at Indiana...it doesn't matter if we win. Those people are shit. How would you like to be a worthless white nigger?"



I don't know where the video came from, but it's an explosive look at how the Clinton camp really feels about people in Indiana, and even though this was 1992, it features the same people who are Clinton supporters and advisors today: Mickey Kantor George Stephanapoulos and James Carville.

UPDATE - Kantor claims that the video is libel and he will take legal action, but someone forgot to tell him that the evidence is here and no one is calling him names and he's a public figure, so good luck fighting this news. If someone diggs up the movie War Room -- from which this came -- and this is confirmed, he can forget any legal remedy.

Obama and small donors: $5 on Cinco de Mayo

Follow the money

Going into the NC and IN primaries the Obama campaign is once again relying on the legion of small donors - and asking for a simple $5 donation. Spread across the nearly 1.5 million people who have already contributed, May just may get off to a big start for Barack. Is it really Cinco de Obama? Follow the money...

read more | digg story

Did Illinois State Police murder a corrections officer?

R.I.P. Lernard "Sandy" Grigsby

Police said Grigsby, 48 struck a sergeant in the head, then attacked the trooper. He then tried to grab the sergeant's weapon, and the sergeant fired twice, authorities said, hitting Grigsby in the abdomen. In an employee dormitory at Stateville Correctional Center?

Troopers were responding to a domestic disturbance in the dormitory. When a sergeant and a trooper found the woman who had made the complaint, Grigsby allegedly attacked the officers.

Lernard's nephew, MN Vikings DE Otis Grigsby isn't buying it. The Chicago Trib can't seem to find anything substantive to say... So Grigsby has taken his story to the public via YouTube.

read more | digg story