It’s About Time

After 15 years and some heated debate, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington makes it long awaited debut at the National Mall. The memorial is a 30-foot granite sculpture of the prominent civil rights activist, and is flanked by a crescent–shaped wall inscribed with 14 excerpts from Dr. Kings most notable sermons and speeches.

According to Harry Johnson Sr., president and CEO of the MLK National Memorial Project Foundation, “This is going to a first in two different ways—it’s the first memorial on the National Mall to honor a man of peace, and a man of color.”

Building a permanent tribute to the globally revered icon was a long and arduous process that tested the determination and faith of the team behind the project. The vision to build a national memorial dedicated to Dr. King was initially conceived in 1984 by Alpha Phi Alpha, the African-American fraternity of which King was a member. Congress authorized the memorial in 1996, and two years later the Alphas set up a foundation to manage fundraising -- to the tune of $120 million -- and design.

While his legacy has been reduced to snappy catch phrases, ‘limited series’ postage stamp collections and Federal Holidays dedicated to the proposition that all American’s can devoutly worship at the altar of rampant consumerism, ultimately it is much more than a trip to the mall or a quick sound bite on TV during “Black History” month.

The true measure of the man we know as the leader of the American Civil Rights movement is actually more about the “message” that he, as well as other abolitionists and revolutionaries throughout history have given their lives to uphold and defend: the message of healing and unconditional love. Dr. King sought the integration of the spiritual and the intellectual, he asked us to go beyond ourselves and tap into the transcendent moral ethic of love.

Dr. King was the spiritual leader of our nation; he was the Commander in Chef of the war on racism, hate and inhumanity—the war for the soul of our nation. This war still rages on today, three years after the election of America’s first black President. This should not be the case, but tragically, it is. The price of freedom demands eternal vigilance, even more so when we speak of the ugly and odious specter of established racism. Perhaps the human heart will never truly free itself of fear and hate—but I refuse to accept this conclusion. The human race is made of finer stuff, and therefore, the warriors of light and love can never rest until the war is finally won…

But for the time being, right in the heart of our nations capital, bordering Washington, D.C.'s Tidal Basin between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, stands a 30-foot granite statue that captures the vision of one man who dared dream of freedom, opportunity and justice for all Americans.

It’s About Time.

AIG...An American Success Story.

For the last few weeks we have been inundated in news stories stories about the $165 million AIG has paid its executives.

AIG Boss Edward Liddy was grilled by the blowhards and buffoons in Congress and at the end of the day, proved himself a cut above the lynch mob who aimed to publicly humiliate him to make headlines at his expense.

Political theater at its best and its only going to get better.

To recap: Rep. Barney Frank(D-Mass) and his fellow Republicans and Democrats alike, who can't balance Americas budget if their lives depended on it, gave Edward Liddy the business, calling into question his judgement because AIG paid out 33 million in bonuses--designed to keep talent at the company to 52 executives who happen to not work there anymore !

In addition, AIG will pay $450 million in bonuses to employees in its financial products unit. That division was at the heart of AIG's collapse last fall, which compelled the U.S. government to provide $173.3 billion in aid to keep it running.

Those payments are in addition to to 121.5 million in incentive bonuses for 2008 that AIG started making in March to about 6,400 of its roughly 116,000 employees. AIG, which was rescued in September 2008 as it faced potential bankruptcy, is also making $600 million in retention payments to over 4,000 employees.

All together, the three programs could result in roughly $1.2 billion in retention and bonus payments to AIG employees.

Good stuff...

The howls from the congressional lynch mob ran the gamut: this is a disgrace, the executives should voluntarily return the bonuses, AIG execs should commit ritual suicide, we need to impose the highest excise tax that will stand up in court, blah, blah, blah.

Needless to say, the saber rattling from the boys and girls in Washington was nothing more than smoke and mirrors designed to win brownie points with ordinary folks who according to a Gallup poll found 85% of Americans are angry at the bonus boondoggle and 76% favor congressional efforts to claw the money back.

Lets be clear about one thing, the "retention bonuses", as obscene as they might be, are nothing more than the flavor of the month.

The real story that Barney Frank and most of the main stream media is unwilling to cover is the $105 billion of government funds that AIG paid to U.S. and international banks including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale.

The cash, excuse me-- tax-payer cash, paid to AIG's so-called counter-parties, was used to cover collateral payments, cancel derivatives and meet obligations at its security lending business.

The numbers play out as follows: payments to municipalities totaled $12.1 billion. Goldman Sachs Group got the biggest chunk of the grab bag, receiving $12.9 billion, Bank of America Corp. and brokerage subsidiary group Merrill Lynch together received $12 billion, followed by Societe Generale which recieved $11.9 billion and Duetsche Bank that got $11.8 billion.

The final tally: $105 billion in payouts !!!

And yet, the main stream media in America nor Barney Frank and the rest of our so-called representatives in Congress have anything to say about that... gee, I wonder why?

And just in case most of you are still not laughing your heads off, consider this...

AIG had previously argued that disclosing the identity of counter-parties could damage its business relationships or cause competitive harm !?!

Retention bonuses: $600 million

Payments to municipalities: $12.1 billion

Counter-parties payouts: $105 billion

The American people getting screwed: priceless

There are somethings that money can't buy, for everything else, there is credit and debit American-taxpayer card.

Racism That We Can all Believe In... Three Times A Charm

The New York Post issued a half-hearted apology for Wednesday's notorious stimulus/chimp cartoon which has inspired outrage among many critics and readers. Lets be absolutely clear, so-called apology not withstanding, the New York Post is a racist rag and a disgrace to journalism. They did not learn a damn thing from all the uproar and they need to called out for their bigotry and hatred. No amount of editorials or spin is going to alter what the stimulus/chimp cartoon really meant and we all know it.

The pressure has to be kept up and the staff at the Post have to be made to understand: that brand of racist humor WILL NOT BE TOLERATED !!!

The first decade of the 21st century is almost done and we still have "so-called" New York City newspapers printing this type of stuff during Black History Month ?!? And then we are suppose to be satisfied with a lame explanation and a few bait and switch words ?

Sorry, no sale.

It might not make much of a difference to a rich guy like Rupert Murdoch, but all the advertisers that buy ad space with the Post need to given fair warning...you guys wont be getting our money as long as you continue to do business with this disgraceful rag. Hurting the bottom line will definitely make an impression at the Post.

Who knows they even might have an revelation and actually come to realize that perpetuating hate and stereotypes is bad business and more importantly, not funny. And speaking of funny...

Here is the apology:

Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.

It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says.

It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.

Period.

But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.

This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

Racism That We Can All Believe In... part duh

The New York Post has come up with a brilliant idea regarding the uproar over the stimulus/chimp cartoon that appeared on Wednesday.

Blame Al Sharpton!?!

It makes perfect sense, instead of accepting responsibility for their so-called "political-satire", and God forbid, try to issue a sincere apology, they have opted to blame Rev. Al. Way to go fellows. But in case the people don't buy the bait and switch routine, write an editorial and put the blame on the Democrats and Hamas, that always does the trick. "They must be stopped...our country is in danger. Don't let the smoking gun be a mushroom cloud, amber alert or red alert."

Yup...that should work.

The truly amazing thing is that the New York Post stands behind the cartoon. As far as they are concerned, they are an enlightened group of journalist serving the public trust and defending democracy in the bargain. Unfortunately, this is not the case and many people besides Rev Al Sharpton know exactly what the New York Post is and more importantly, what the underlying message was in the stimulus cartoon.
To recap: it wasn't funny, it wasn't a "political satire", and it was deeply offensive and extremely racist in content. It's clearly obvious that Rupert Murdoch could care less about civil rights or real journalism, after all, FOX News is an ultra right-wing propaganda machine dedicated to serving the public trust by telling Liberals to "shut up."

The brain trust at the New York Post might not care nor "get it" but everyone else: black, white, male, female, liberal, conservative, etc, need to care and speak up. Words are powerful, they can inspire and they can hurt.

And a picture is worth a thousand words....

Racism That We Can All Believe In...

First of all...The New York Post has always been a racist rag. Second, I am not at all surprised by Wednesday's notorious stimulus/chimp cartoon which inspired outrage among many readers. The only thing that was missing was a white sheet and a burning cross and it would have been a true work of racist art.... a Triumph of The Will courtesy of Rupert Murdoch and company.

I am sure many media talk-heads like Rush Limbaugh will defend the offensive cartoon: first amendment, it wasn't intended as an insult to our new President during Black History Month, Al Sharpton is stirring up trouble, blacks are taking it out of context, it's just a stupid cartoon, etc. And I am sure there are many people that will be hoodwinked by those excuses. But lets be clear, no amount of excuses will ever make the Post cartoon anything other than what it is--a racist sucker punch.

Maybe fifty years ago, before the Civil Rights Act was passed and segregation was struck down by the Supreme Court, filthy rags like the New York Post could have gotten away with their bigotry and hatred and sold a lot of papers in the bargain. But unfortunately for Rupert Murdoch and his minions, time has passed and most Americans have learned that the content of a persons character is more important than the pigment of their skin. America has come a long way, we have a black President and I think that is a good look for a nation that prides itself on diversity and upholding Christian values.

The New York Post doesn't "get it" nor will it ever understand the furor that has erupted over their so-called "political satire." And unless we all speak up, make our voices heard and call out the bigots, warmongers, and all the other assorted trash that attempt to turn back the hands on the clock, we will be no better than the staff of the New York Post.

Change We Can Believe In...Just Without The Pork

Okay...President Obama has made his case for his stimulus package. And the American economy is in desperate need of some serious help. We can all understand the urgency to do something, to fix a problem that threatens our children's future. Yes we desperately need to do something ... jump start our ailing economy with some adrenaline, invest in infrastructure and new technologies, get Americans back to work, etc. Unfortunately President Obama has made a major political error and I am not talking about Tom Daschle and his other picks... that debacle is a story for another time.

President Obama's huge blunder has been giving Nancy Pelsoi (Speaker of The House) and Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) to much free reign to draft a stimulus bill heavily laden with pork entitlements. Its grab bag time and the Democrats are in the middle of an orgasmic rush of epic proportions, after all, its not everyday that you get to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayers dollars on pet projects. According to Senator John Kerry, "This is not the moment to cut spending. This is the moment to prime the pump. This is the moment you've got to get money flowing into the system."

Obviously, writing checks with no money in the checking account doesn't present a problem to our elected officials. So what if we are spending ourselves into greater debt, and we are borrowing this money from future generations. Its foolish to expect Democrats and Republicans in Washington to understand that what President Jimmy Carter spoke about in his famous Malaise speech (give up our wasteful, consumer driven pax Americana ideology, and dependency on foreign oil) was sound advice that speaks to the heart of our current problems.

Like I've note in another blog, its Christmas time in Washington and the goodies are coming, we all get to sleep well tonight. And more importantly, the world gets to see America at its best -- while our economy melts-down we spend like the true gluttons we are....

Show Me The Money !!!!

Despite the GOP's lack luster attempts the derail the money train, the House signed-off on President Obama's $819 Billion "rescue" plan. The mindset being: the stimulus package will get money into the economy quickly and it will invest money in projects that supposedly will have long-term economic benefits.

That all sounds good but there is one nagging question that nether the White House nor Congress have been able to answer. What happens if this stimulus package turns out to be a dud like the last one, what then? What is the fall back plan...is there a plan "B" ? And more importantly, why isn't the government seriously studying these questions before signing off on $ 1 Trillion gamble ?

And while were on the subject, has anyone in Congress bothered to look at the more than 600 pages of the stimulus bill ... at a rough guess I would say "hell no." Why would they, it's Christmas time in Washington and all the little boys and girls on both sides of the aisles are getting stocking's full of goodies paid by the tax-payers of today and Christmas yet to come. Yes Virginia can we say pork...like a lot of unnecessary items hidden in the fine print of the stimulus package. Juicy items that amount to hundreds of millions in spending that wont help the economy.

Last time I checked, money like that doesn't grow on trees and we just don't print up more and chalk up everything to experience. But in the long run it's only money right? After all, our kids wont mind picking up the tab for our Christmas goodies...that reminds me, I want a gas guzzling, environmentally unfriendly, Ford F 150 pickup truck, with a pulley in the front and 32 inch spinning rims.

Hey, its Christmas in January and I've been a very good boy.