Lee Stranahan: The Congressional Black Caucus vs. Black Farmers

The Congressional Black Caucus vs. Black Farmers
Pigford v. Glickman was supposed to help black farmers discriminated against by the USDA. Instead, it’s diverted hundreds of millions of dollars to people who never farmed and diverted attention away from the plight of real farmers. The people helping to perpetuate the Pigford Fraud have myriad motivations. There’s the lure of proximity to a multibillion-dollar pile of cash. There are complex ideological reasons related to racial injustice both real and perceived. There are politic...

The Congressional Black Caucus vs. Black Farmers
Lee Stranahan, BigGovernment.com : Pigford v. Glickman was supposed to help black farmers discriminated against by the USDA. Instead, it’s diverted hundreds of millions of dollars to people who never farmed and diverted attention away from the plight of real farmers....

AIMs Kincaid Takes Up Banner for Racist Organization
It’s one thing to falsely accuse an organization of connections that haven’t been verified. It’s another thing altogether to claim that an organization isn’t what it is. In the immediate wake of the Jan. 9 Tucson shooting — in which six people died and 13, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, were injured — Fox News ran with a document supposedly leaked from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security suggesting that the presumed shooter, Jared Lee Loug

Maine Governor to NAACP: Tell em to kiss my butt. If they want to play the race card, come to dinner and my son will talk to the
Maine Governor to NAACP: “Tell ‘em to kiss my butt. If they want to play the Race Card, come to dinner and my son will talk to them.” Paul LePage, the Governor of Maine, has stood up to the tugs at the NAACP…who ginned up the old racebaiting machine to brand him a RAAACIST! for not being available to attend a Martin Luther King tribute dinner this year. “They are a special interest. End of story…and I’m not going to be held hostage by Special Interests. ...

Time to Call Out Black Race Exploiters
Black race exploiters are well aware of the power of playing the race card. It trumps all logic, reason and truth. Whites accused of Racism typically cower in fear. Devastated and panicked, the accused white pleads, "I'll take back everything I said, give you my home and my car if you please drop your allegation that I'm a Racist!" In our current highly racially polarized America, exploiting race is despicable. As a black Tea Party patriot, my New Year's resolution is to call out thos...

Rush Gains Additional Support in Bid for Ranking Member
With the 112th Congress now in full swing, committee assignments have been made and final leadership decisions are underway.  As the final selection time approaches, Congressman Bobby L. Rush (D-IL) has received two more major Endorsements in support of his pursuit of the Ranking Member post on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Communications, Technology, and Internet Subcommittee. Early in the week, Communications Daily reported that Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) “took hi...

Meet The New RNC Chair
Arkansas Democrats weren’t the only ones to lose a chairman today.  The RNC booted gaffe prone Michael Steele and, low and behold, the dirt is already coming out on their new chairman, Reince Priebus. So, what skeletons are coming out of Mr. Priebus’s closet?  Well, for starter’s, there’s some stuff that’s going to make the Republican messaging a little more difficult.  Apparently, Mr. Priebus’s Law Firm both sought federal stimulus funds from t...

FNTT Season 7: the Post-Racial round
Background on Feministe’s Next Top Troll is here. Today we offer you trolls who are so enlightened, they know that skin is just, like, a color, man. Vote below the fold. I am a white American male who has dated a variety of foreign women along with American women. I will say the foreign women got the American women beat. It isn’t because foreign women are weaker or subservient then the strong independent American female. Foreign women are better lovers and better in relationships, a...

Tea Party Caucus set to meet
(CNN) - The Senate Tea Party Caucus will convene for the first time January 27, featuring members of local Tea Party groups and Republican Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky. According to the statement, they will discuss spending proposals, options for balancing the Budget, ending the Deficit and limiting the size of government. "The folks who made the Tea Party such a force to be reckoned with in the last election can have an enduring impact...

Rand Paul announces Senate Tea Party Caucus
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul on Friday announced the formation of a new Senate Tea Party Caucus, taking a formal step toward uniting members of the movement in the 112th Congress. Paul and Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) will be the group's inaugural members, according to a joint statement released by Paul's office. "Republicans in the Senate have already made a pledge to end Earmarks and fight for a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution," Paul said in the stat...

DC RNC Committeewoman Betsy Werronen: 'I caucus with Micheal'
National Harbor, MD - Washington Examiner Local Zone blog caught up with DC’s Republican National Committeewoman Betsy Werronen outside the hall at the RNC chairman election. Like other U.S. terrorities, the District’s GOP had been wooed by Steele, and stayed loyal. Regional loyalties among Republicans in deep blue territory played a role here, too. Steele was GOP chief of “Ward 9,” aka Prince George’s County, before he was Maryland Lt. Governor. Were did she go af...

Senate Taiwan Caucus resurfaces in time for Hu visit
The leaders of the Senate Taiwan Caucus, a Bipartisan group of senators in favor of strong U.S. support for the island's security needs, are preparing to send a letter to President Obama urging him to make clear to Chinese President Hu Jintao during next week's summit that the United States will continue to sell weapons to Taipei, despite Beijing's complaints. The issue of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which led Beijing to cut off U.S.-China Military-to-military ties in February 2010, is sure to...

New Tea Party Caucus launches in Senate with three members
I didn’t quite understand why Bachmann felt the need for one in the House and I understand this even less. It’s good retail politics to wave the TP flag, I guess, but the point of a Caucus is to try to keep the members together to vote as a bloc as a way of maximizing ideological leverage over Legislation. There ain’t much leverage with only three members, though, particularly when all three of these guys are already mortal locks to vote the same way on every fiscal matter to...

Caucus fate to be decided this weekend
The first decision of the 2011 session of the Alaska Legislature won't be about spending or oil taxes. It will be about whether Reps. Kyle Johansen and Charisse Millett, who describe themselves as "great friends," will spend the year exiled together in a largely powerless Caucus of two. Click to enlarge Rep. Kyle Johansen Click to enlarge Rep. Charisse Millett ...

Tea Party Caucus convenes
Three of the most conservative senators are giving a nod to their base by moving forward with plans to form a Tea Party Caucus aimed at slashing the Budget. Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who won a Second Term in November, and freshmen Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said they'd hold an inaugural Jan. 27 meeting to discuss proposals to rein in the size and scope of government. “By joining with my fellow Senators, Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, as well as grassro...

UN to call for aid to help Sri Lanka flood victims
KARAITHIVU, Sri Lanka - The United Nations said it will launch an emergency appeal for funds to help Victims of floods that have ravaged eastern Sri Lanka for days, as the death toll rose to 32 on Saturday. With vast rice fields that were ready for harvesting inundated, many in the region have had their livelihoods disrupted. U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Neil Buhne said in a statement late Friday that the world body will call for millions of dollars in aid to help replant the...

UN to call for aid to help Sri Lanka flood victims
The United Nations said it will launch an emergency appeal for funds to help Victims of floods that have ravaged eastern Sri Lanka for days, as the death toll rose to 32 today. With vast rice fields that were ready for harvesting inundated, many in the region have had their livelihoods disrupted. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Neil Buhne said in a statement late yesterday that the world body will call for millions of dollars in aid to help replant the fields and compensate those who...

UN to call for aid to help Sri Lanka flood victims
The United Nations said it will launch an emergency appeal for funds to help Victims of floods that have ravaged eastern Sri Lanka for days, as the death toll rose to 32 on Saturday. With vast rice fields that were ready for harvesting inundated, many in the region have had their livelihoods disrupted. U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Neil Buhne said in a statement late Friday that the world body will call for millions of dollars in aid to help replant the fields and compensate those w...

A Year After Earthquake, Haiti Still Suffers
One year after the massive Earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands, Haiti is still in intense pain. “There are over 1 million IDPs [internally displaced persons], over 3,600 have died from a Cholera epidemic, and women and girls remain highly vulnerable to Rape and violence in IDP camps,” says Melinda Miles, founder and director of Let Haiti Live. A major problem has been the way the international community has woefully fallen short on its initial promise of plentiful aid. “...

Kuwait premier in rare Iraq visit
Iraq and Kuwait have pledged to resolve disputes dating from the 1990 Gulf War, during the first visit by a Kuwaiti premier to Baghdad since the conflict. Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki discussed issues relating to borders, security and finance, officials said. The two neighbours are locked in a dispute over billions of dollars in War Reparations from Baghdad, relating to Saddam Hussein's 1990-91 invasion. It is the highest level visit since. Dip...

D/FW airport executive resigns amid scholarship questions
D/FW airport executive resigns amid Scholarship questions 12:00 AM CST on Thursday, January 13, 2011 By JON NIELSEN / The Dallas Morning News [email protected] WFAA-TV (Channel 8) contributed to this report. A Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport executive, who was under scrutiny for a Scholarship his daughter received from Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, said he resigned Wednesday. Don O'Bannon was placed on paid leave in October from his job as vice president in charge of minority c...

We Must Not Waver In Our Commitment To Haiti
A year ago, on January 12, 2010, a devastating Earthquake in the Caribbean Island Nation of Haiti killed more than 235,000 people. The catastrophe left nearly 1.3 billion people Homeless and an entire nation traumatized. Since then Haiti has received a tremendous outpouring of support from the international community. It was the generosity of foreign governments and individual citizens, facilitated by technology and Social Media that immediately helped save lives and maintain some sense of order...

The First of Too Many Discussions Already
I know many of you on this board knew about the upcoming “America’s Next Chapter” fest being hosted by Tavis Smiley here in Washington, DC, and have already decided you’re not going to be bothered with watching it, or anything to do with Tavis Smiley.  It’s already being whispered that this was another attempted hatefest masking as criticism of President Barack Obama - even as a couple of thousand made their way into Lisner Auditorium at George Washi...

Paper: DFW Airport Official Resigns
DALLAS - The head of minority contracting at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has resigned in the aftermath of ethical questions over Scholarships awarded by U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson. Don O'Bannon was placed on paid leave from his position as vice president over minority-owned businesses at the airport in October. The Dallas Morning News reports he resigned Wednesday "to pursue other opportunities." O'Bannon's daughter, Danielle, was one of several people Johnson chose to receive $...

The food bubble is bursting, says Lester Brown, and biotech wont save us
Haitians awaiting food distribution from a U.N. food program.Photo: U.N./Sophia ParisFor years -- even decades -- Earth Policy Institute president and Grist contributor Lester Brown has issued Cassandra-like warnings about the global food system. His argument goes something like this: Global grain demand keeps rising, pushed up by Population Growth and the switch to more meat-heavy diets; but grain production can only rise so much, constrained by limited water and other resources. So, a food cri...