Oakland Riots

Oakland Riots a Harbinger of a Long, Hot Summer?

By Rod Pennington

Last night there was rioting in Oakland. The trouble started after a former San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer named Johannes Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Mehserle was convicted of shooting an unarmed black man named Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009 at a BART station in Oakland. Because of the emotion connected with the trial it had been moved to Los Angeles.

While tame by 1960s riots standards it was still an ominous reminder that the inner-city of most major metropolitan areas of America are sitting on a potential powder keg. Imagine if Mehserle had been found innocent? Would there have been a repeat of the Rodney King riots that wracked LA in 1992?

Buried in the bowels of recent unemployment statics are some pretty scary numbers. Nationally, unemployment for African-American male teens 16-19 is a staggering 43.3% with females only slightly better at 40.1%.

In distressed cities such as Detroit where the “official” unemployment rate is around 15%, city officials think it may be double that for all Blacks and approaching 70% for Blacks under 25. This is intolerable.

Combine this with the falling popularity of President Barack Obama and it becomes an even more volatile mix. Will African-Americans reach a point where they consider any criticism of President Obama a personal snub as well? Without the near unanimous support of Blacks, Mr. Obama’s approval rating is under 40% with the rest of America. As the November elections approach the partisan rhetoric will escalate with much of it pointed at Mr. Obama. There is the potential that Blacks will start to feel everyone else is “dissing” their guy.

There are already Black hate merchants trying to ferment violence. A member of the New Black Panthers, Malik Zulu Shabazz, was caught on video saying “we’re going to have to kill some crackers. We’re going to have to kill their babies.” He was also the same man who was found guilty of intimidation of voters at a Philadelphia polling place until Attorney General Eric Holder stepped in and had the charges dropped.

With the economic situation and frustration in the Black community, it won’t take much to light the fuse. It could be a White cop shooting a Black teenager or a video tape of an African-American being roughed up by overzealous police. As the heat, humidity and despair continues to build in our cities, the risk of another Oakland style riot increases as well. The biggest concern, would an isolated incident cause a cascade of protests that sweeps the nation?

President Obama ran on the message of hope but in the inner-cities hope is in short supply.

Update: US Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will “Review” this case. Whether this decision will help calm the situation in Oakland or merely inflames the passions further will soon be clear.

Republicans are stupid

Five Ways the Republicans Can Blow it in November

By Rod Pennington

Famous 20^th century newspaper curmudgeon H.L. Mencken once noted, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the America public.” Unfortunately, the same can be said about Republicans in Washington.

This November should be an historical blowout. We’re not talking 1994 and the Gingrich revolution. Think 1856. With the Democrats on the wrong side of the Missouri and Kansas slavery issue, they went from 156-78 seats in the House of Representatives to 79-151. From this wreckage a new party emerged. Four years later Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican president and the rest, as they say, is history.

While no one expects Democratic loses in the House to reach triple digits, a control shift should be a “gimme” and a comfortable working majority for the Republicans likely.

However, never underestimate the intelligence of the Republicans. There are 5 ways they can blow it in November and they are already well on their way.

Keep Michael Steele as the head of the RNC. He has been a long term embarrassment. Between his mouth, ego and lavish personal spending he has badly wounded the Republican brand. That he is still around after shoving both feet in his mouth up to the knees recently by saying the Afghan War belongs to President Obama is mindboggling.

Not Listening to the Tea Party. The Tea Party movement is the Republican’s conservative base. Without them they will not win many elections. From 2004 – 2006, with a Republican in the White House and the Grand Old Party holding both houses of Congress, they were horrified by what they saw. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) went on a spending spree that had President Reagan spinning in his grave. On the Senate side they were voting for “Bridges to Nowhere” for the corrupt Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). Meanwhile, President Bush did not veto a single bill in his first 6 years in office. In 2006 and 2008 these folks stayed home. The recent swipe at these folks by the insipid Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) won’t help suave the hurt feelings.

Listening to the Tea Party too much. Full of energy and emotion, the Tea Party people often will move too far to the right. Harry Reid was a dead man walking for his reelection in November. That was until the Tea Party folks flexed their muscle and put a total nut job, Sharron Angle, up against him. Reid, who had been consistently down double digits in the polls to any of a handful of other Republicans, has surged into the lead against Angle.

Keep the same messaging people who got you into this mess in the first place. The Republicans are horrible at “staying on message” or, for that matter, even getting on message. Last week they were raked across the coals for not supporting an extension in unemployment benefits. Why wasn’t every Republican in Washington calling a press conference announcing they would support the bill if only it would come from the unspent Stimulus money? Where were they when Speaker Pelosi said this was the best stimulus possible since it would be spent immediately and help the economy? “We agree with Speaker Peleosi!” The Republicans are lousy when it comes to messaging. They lack creativity and they are slow to respond.

Keep the same spokespeople. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) should be replaced with fresh faces. McConnell reminds Americans of the mumble-mouthed professor they never could quite understand from college and Boehner looks like a smoked ham. If they want to win in November they need a pair of fresh faces. The perfect choice for the Senate would be Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). Sexy, articulate and when he calls a press conference everyone shows up. For the House, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) would be an improvement but not by much. Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI) was a superstar during the health care debate. Will the Republicans leadership be willing to put ego aside for 4 months for the good of the party? Not likely.

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Lindsey Graham is a weasel

Lindsey Graham is John McCain Lite

By Rod Pennington

South Carolina’s Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is fast becoming the mainstream media’s new favorite Republican. With Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in an unexpectedly tough primary fight, McCain has had to tack hard to the right. This means, the “Maverick” will have to pretend for the next 4 months that he shares at least a few Republican values. It’s a tough job, but McCain should be up to the challenge.

Senator Lindsey Graham pointing out to Senator John McCain the next Republican they were going to disappoint

With conservative and former congressman J.D. Hayworth breathing down his neck, McCain’s reversal on immigration reform has been enough to cause whiplash. He went from the front man on amnesty to Mr. “Just Build the Damn Fence” faster than the airbags could deploy. Not to worry. After the polls close on November 2nd he can revert back to his old habit of pulling the rug out from under Republicans.

For the past decade or so Graham has been Commander Riker to McCain’s Captain Picard on the USS Bi-Partisanship. For some reason and no matter how many times they have gotten bitten by the Democrats, both keep “reaching across the aisle.” This has made the pair darlings of the Washington elite media and each has gotten hooked on the ego stroking that comes with it.

In 2005 the Republicans held the Senate and the White House and Democrats were filibustering everything that moved. When then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) proposed the “Nuclear Option” of not allowing filibusters on judicial nominees and giving them a straight up or down vote, Graham and McCain both had the vapors. The quickly formed the “Gang of 14” and “saved” the integrity of the great deliberative body.

From closing Gitmo, to stopping “torture” of terrorists, to “comprehensive” immigration reform, to bad mouthing the Tea Party movement, the mainstream media can always count on Lindsey for a quote. There was a bit of concern when Graham showed some spine recently. He got miffed when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) knifed him by having the nerve to move other legislation ahead of his. In a snit, he pulled his name off of the Kerry, Liebermann and Graham bill to tax the daylights out of anything that used energy bill. The Democrats aren’t too worried. They know if push comes to shove they can count on Graham’s loyalty.

Poor Lindsey probably hasn’t figured out yet that he is just a seat warmer for the long time darling of the media, John McCain. While Graham has been sticking his thumb in the eye of fellow Republicans for years, McCain has been doing it for decades. After the Maverick pulls the wool over the eyes of the good folks in Arizona in November with cooing words of conservatism, he’ll jet back to Washington and return to his old form. The press will be there waiting; probably with balloons and a cake.

Graham, who doesn’t have to face the voters of South Carolina again until 2014, can continue to put “whoopee” cushions on the seats of fellow Republicans. He can be secure in the knowledge, at least until November when McCain will be back; that he will be the first Republican all the networks will call to star on their Sunday talk shows.

Your Single Source for News

“It’s Bush’s Fault” is Starting to Wear Thin.

By Rod Pennington

For nearly two years now every problem, small and large, according to President Barack Obama, has been George W. Bush’s fault. From the poor economy, to unemployment, to the war, to souring relations with allies and enemies they have all been laid at the feet of Mr. Obama’s predecessor.

Former President George W. Bush

Lately the easy catchall phrase, “The mess we inherited from the previous administration”, has lost some of it power. Still the president mentioned the problems he “inherited” twice during a Wisconsin town hall meeting this week. Old stump speeches die hard.

People agreed that Bush was a disaster, that is why they turned to Obama in the first place. Besides, it wasn’t like Senator Obama was sitting in his office contemplating what to include in this third memoir when this mess was suddenly dumped in his lap. He ran hard to get the presidency. President Obama didn’t “inherit” anything; he asked America for a chance to fix the problems he saw. Nearly 70 million of his fellow citizen voted to let him try. Now, after nearly two years and a huge increase in the national debt, nothing seems to be getting better.

Unemployment is at 9.5% even after a generous adjustment by the Department of Labor this month. The bureaucratic incompetence and foot dragging of this administration and Mr. Obama’s “cool” indifference in response to the Gulf oil spill is starting to make Bush’s reaction to Katrina look good by comparison. All the bowing to our enemies and the abandonment of the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel, has raised a few eyebrows. Talking nice to the nut job regimes around the planet has not made the world any safer.

Plus, President Obama came to Washington claiming to be a new kind of politician. Unfortunately for Mr. Obama and the country, it is easier to take the politician out of Chicago than it is to take Chicago out of the politician. Obama has proven to be thin-skinned when even lightly criticized and hyper-partisan. There hasn’t been this combination at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. since LBJ moved out. President Obama has been more Mayor Daley than Gandhi.

Apparently there is still some mileage left on the old “blame Bush” tire. According to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 41% still point the finger at the Republicans for the bad economy with 28% now saying it was the Democrat’s fault. The rest, except for the usual 5% who have no opinion, thought both sides were to blame.

With the November elections only 4 months away it is unlikely President Obama will suddenly stop blaming everything on President Bush and the Republicans. However, after the fall elections he may want to ask himself if he is ready to starting trying to fix problems instead of trying to fix blame.

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