Nina Simone "Feelings" (Montreux Jazz Festival)

Hey everyone I along with Alfonzo from the Black & White blog will be interviewed by Fausta Radio. Fausta's Talk Radio is one of the largest online blog radio dials to date.
The show will be tomorrow via podcast tomorrow at 11AM. I want to leave you with this wonderful performance by Nina Simone extraordinaire!

'The Candyman -Yes We Can!

Just some fun this Sunday afternoon, But have any of you noticed a similar nostalgic tone with "The Candy Man song" and Obama's speeches

-Read it and see if it doesn't sound like his campaign speeches.

Who can take a sunrise,

Sprinkle it with dew?

Cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two

The candyman, the candyman can,

The candyman can 'cause he mixes it with love

and makes the world taste good

Who can take a rainbow,

Wrap it in a sigh?

Soak it in the sun and make the stra'bry lemon pie

The candyman? The candyman can

The candyman can 'cause he mixes it with love

and makes the world taste good

The Candyman makes everything he bakes

Satisfying and delicious.

Talk about your childhood wishes.

You can even eat the dishes!

Who can take tomorrow,Dip it in a dream?

Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream,

The candyman?

The Candyman can, the candyman can

The candyman can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

And the world tastes good'cause the candyman thinks it should ...hint..hint!!

Answering Democrats Part 3

Every month we will take questions from a Democrat here on HipHopRepublican.com today's question again is about Iraq.

Democrat -Millions of Iraqis dead, thousands of Americans dead, and not even in the hope of freedom, except to fee up oil profits. Let's see, was that Che? No.. Lenin?...No...Pol Pot?...No.it was, and still is George W Bush. A cold blooded mass murderer.


Answer-

1) Yes..it is true that many Americans and many more Iraqi's have died since the invasion of Iraq. The accusation however that "millions" have died is a misnomer and is inaccurate even liberal body counts groups like the British Iraq Body Count organization alleges that 24,865 civilians in Iraq died violently between March 20, 2003 and March 19, 2005.

It alleges that coalition forces were responsible for 37 percent of those deaths, and that insurgents were responsible for only 9.5 percent. “Criminal violence” gets 36 percent of the blame, and 11 percent goes to “unknown agents” — a category into which suicide bombers are strangely lumped. Much of the commentary explaining the deaths Iraq Body Count has been refuted. But to say American troops killed a million Iraqis since the start of the war is untrue and is a smear tactic.

The numbers published on iraqbodycount.net did not distinguish between Iraqis killed by coalition forces or by insurgents. Reliable figures for insurgent casualties are not available. The Pentagon stopped supplying figures for what it called "non-compliant Iraqi forces" in mid-summer 2003. Another problem these body count groups have is there heavy reliance on media accounts which may be inaccurate.

A Canadian paper noted that The Nation magazine not a friend of the administration estimated that survey results could indicate "U.S. ground combat forces would have been responsible for the deaths of an absolute minimum of 13,881 noncombatants" since the start of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Even if this is true which I doubt it is in now way close to a million people.

The War was About Oil

2)There are two flavors to this argument. The first was popular before the war, and held that the United States would invade Iraq and take the oil. Given that this didn't happen, and that the Americans are helping to rebuild Iraq (against insurgent attempts to thwart the process by destroying pipelines and terrorizing the population), this is no longer believed by anyone except the most hopeless anti-American conspiracy nuts.

The more reasonable version of the argument is that Americas only interest in Iraq is to see that the countrys oil reaches the international market. The problem with this theory is that the only thing keeping Iraqi oil off the market prior to the war was American-supported sanctions.

The sanctions wouldn't have been there in the first place if Americans were only interested in oil. Nor would America have gone to war over oil, since it would have been far easier to simply drop the sanctions if oil was really the issue.

As it turns out, the only people selling their souls for oil were the European opportunists, such as George Galloway (allegedly), who were paid millions in oil allotments by Saddam to moralize against the war. Fortunately for them, they aren't American, therefore no one in Europe really cares.

More information here
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Articles/11Myths.htm


Now you mentioned Stalin, Pol Pot, Che and Lenin

3)Well the butchers who ran the Soviet Union killed between 25 million [The Black Book of Communism] and 60 million [Rudolph J. Rummel] innocent humans - men, women and little children. The monster Stalin may be the greatest mass killer of all time.

An attempt by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot to form a Communist peasant farming society resulted in the deaths of 25 percent of the country's population from starvation, overwork and executions. Under Pol Pot's regime, 1.5 million died in death camps and another 200,000 so-called "enemies of the state" were executed.

Serving in the post as "supreme prosecutor" on the appellate bench, Che Guevara oversaw the trials and executions of thousands, dissidents, religious minorities like the Jehovah's Witnesses and others.

~The facts show that Bush is not the mass murder of history you try to make him out to be. The most likely reason for the war was Bush believed Iraq was a threat to peace and stability. A more credible debate is how great the threat and why intellegence agincies were not able to get it right? Many liberals are blinded by the facts because they hate Bush.As long as this is there worldview is clouded by hate than facts no intelligent discussion on the war can ever be had.

Condoleezza Rice on Israel at 60

Heathy Food Choices and the Inner City

By Richard

The New York Times recently did an article about city residents and the difficulty they were having in gaining access to healthy foods.The article was of interest to me because first, I am a New Yorker and secondly I lived in Harlem on 125th and Lexington for close to three years.

The article tried to make the case that mostly minority communities were affected by these inconveniences. The Times is correct that many impoverished neighborhoods in the city are flooded with stores that are anything but nutritious.

The entire area is scattered with scores of Chinese fast food and Bodega’s which for those who do not live in Manhattan are small quickie stores. The average Bodega has fruit and vegetables but for the most part, it is littered with cheap sweets and sodas. They make most of there money on school children who flood these stores after class is out.

Because of the popularity of these stores, there is no question that they contribute greatly to the obesity in the community especially when it comes to children. However despite the vast numbers of stores the notion that people do not have access to healthy food is false. On 125th and Lexington one will find very visibly Pathmark Groceries a relatively inexpensive supermarket with fresh vegetables and fruit.

In addition, it is only takes two bucks to take a simple subway train anywhere in the city to get any item. Most city children have an unlimited subway card and could use the card to pick up healthier foods for the family. Parental involvement and the lack thereof in the area of food consumption plays a much larger part . Many children in the inner city live with just one parent and in most cases the parent to struggles with unhealthy eating habits. In addition, the gentrification of these areas may ironically be the answer to the problem. As more and higher incomes move in these areas, it will attract stores like Whole Foods. As these urban economies change so will the variety they seek.

Richard is the founder of HipHopRepublican.com

Below is a report done by the New York Sun on the same issue.The Sun investigated a neighborhood the Times found critically lacking in grocery stores and finds...many grocery stores. See Whole Article

Is Islam Compatible with Liberal Democracy?

Ray Lewis, Deputy Mayor Of London, United Kingdom

BOOKERISTA PROFILE:

Yes, Imani and Tyrone, London now has a black conservative named Ray Lewis as a deputy mayor (hat tip: Narcissistic Views On News/Politics). More specficially Deputy Mayor for Young People, which will focus on tackling London's increased crime rate among young people and education issues. It was the very first appointment that Boris Johnson - the Conservative Party candidate who unseated incumbent Ken Livingston of the Labor Party in the mayoral election last week - did as the new mayor starting on Monday, citing crime reduction as his administration's top priority.

I am not surprised by this appointment. Longtime readers of Booker Rising may recall when I profiled Mr. Lewis's group, Eastside Young Leaders Academy - which focuses on the leadership potential and the academic success of disadvantaged black British boys, and is modeled after a similar program in Louisiana, USA - about 2 1/2 years ago. The former juvenile prison governor started the program after he saw the large numbers of black teenagers ending up in the criminal system.

Born in Guyana in 1963, Mr. Lewis grew up in suburban Walthamstow. He began his career working as an administrative officer for the Civil Service, before becoming a Clerk in Holy Orders for the Church Commissioners in 1990.

After working at HM Prison Woodhill, Mr. Lewis became Executive Director of Eastside Young Leaders' Academy in 2001. He is also a Trustee and Governor of the Petchey Academy in Hackney. His motto is: "We see no shortage of young black males in the courtrooms, so my vision is to seek to prepare as many as possible for the boardrooms."

Mr. Lewis is a Gold List nominee for the Conservative Party's slate of parliamentary candidates in the 2010 elections, so keep your eye on this bookerista.

Mr. Lewis is married, and has three daughters. He has a degree in Theology & Pastoral Studies from Middlesex University.

Shout Out for the Day!! (Jeremiah Wright)

Black & White on the Grey Matters (Jermiah Wright)

B. King & Friends - The Thrill is Gone with Eric Clapton

The man is a national treasure! Ain`t a white thing ain`t a black thing.........It`s a Blues thang!

The Food Crisis & Property Rights

By Richard Ivory

The international food crisis that is hitting nations around the world is partially due to a failure to clearly define property rights. In many nations like Zimbabwe the concept of property rights is foreign to the average citizen. Poorly defined property rights imposed by dictators keep small businesses from cultivating new crops for fear that when they become profitable they will be seized by the government. A perfect example of this is when Robert Mugabe evicted white farmers from the land they had previously owned and for years taken care of. In doing this Mugabe destroyed not only his nations agriculture but its entire economy.

The domino effect of these and other government interference policies show just how delicate supply side market economies can be.The failure of nations to inculcate property rights legislation into there constitutions has added much to the food crisis. Many government's in the developing nations like to control everything in there nation. The aid that comes to these nations mostly from the US is then used by them to remain in power. They use the aid as a means to pacify while controlling its people.

The United States must demand that nations that receive our aid have within their legal structure a clear concept of property rights. We must also encourage these nations to be independent of us while at the same time showing them the importance of property rights a tool for economic growth . By giving people financial incentives to grow there own crops and to sell them not just locally but internationally, these nations economies will in a short time turn around.

These nations own economies in turn will be what will feed there local populations. The need for foreign aid will be lessened and the workforce of these nations will expand. However the leaders of these nations must understand that hard work and the ingenuity of its people and small businesses is what feeds the world not government handout's.

Richard is a founder of the blog HipHopRepublican.com

Crime Ain’t The Only Thing It’s Tough On

Interesting post from another Hip Hop Republican blog..This is a reflection on recent incarceration rates in Philadelphia.

http://illtelligent.com/stereo/page/3/

~Still thinking about the incarceration issue, a new study has Philly with the highest rate of incarceration in jails in the country.

Philadelphia has the highest rate of incarceration in jails in the country, according to a new study from the Justice Policy Institute.

In Philadelphia county, 602 people were in jail for every 100,000 in 2006, according to “Jailing Communities: The Impact of Jail Expansion and Effective Public Safety,” a study by the institute, a Washington, D.C., criminal-justice think tank. That’s up from 369 per 100,000 in 1996, the study says.

Two Tennessee counties followed Philadelphia: Davidson (includes Nashville), with 596 per 100,000, and Shelby (includes Memphis), with 594.

Rising jail populations have resulted in huge bills for local municipalities across the country.

More than $19 billion was spent on jails nationally in 2004.

“I do think that since the 1970s we’ve definitely had an increased desire to punish,” said study co-author Amanda Petteruti.

The study looks specifically at the number detained in jails, locally run facilities that traditionally hold people with short sentences or people awaiting trial who were either denied bail or could not post it. Prisons are typically reserved for longer sentences.

Thinkin’ back a couple days, what I think this highlights is the need for some type of alternative sentencing options for nonviolent offenders. Especially in the case of the less-potent drugs like marijuana. While the argument for keeping weed illegal while alcohol is legal is specious to me, the law is the law. But that don’t mean we should be wasting good money going after jokers who wanna puff a little herb. The only problem is, te way we’ve been goin politically for the last couple decades is always “tough on crime.” But now, being tough on crime is startin to be tough on our wallets.

Cesaria Evora -Besame Mucho

by Richard

I figure it is time to take a break from politics and enjoy the beautiful music of Cesária Évora. For those who do not know who she is she is a Cape Verdean singer.She is often called the “barefoot diva” for her preference of performing without shoes. Cape Verde is an island near Angola, that speaks portuguese.

Here is more information on her from Wikipedia.

"Bésame Mucho" is a Mexican song written in 1940 by Consuelo Velázquez before her sixteenth birthday. The phrase "bésame mucho" can be translated into English as "kiss me a lot". According to Velázquez, she wrote this song even though she had never been kissed yet at the time. Also she was inspired by the aria "Quejas, o la Maja y el Ruiseñor" from the Spanish 1916 opera Goyescas by Enrique Granados.

Bésame Mucho" is also known by translated names such as "Kiss Me Much", "Kiss Me a Lot", "Kiss Me Again and Again.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!!

Free Andrew Mwenda

HipHopRepublican.com is asking all liberty loving bloggers around the world in calling for the condemnation of a series of recent arrest by the government of Uganda. One of the persons subjected to arrest is of Andrew Mwenda. Mwenda is a libertarian and editor of the Ugandan periodical the Independent!




UPDATE

The trio were later freed on bail for the offenses linked to two stories published in this week's edition of the Independent that were critical of the government. "One story features an interview with an army deserter who discussed claims of secret detentions and torture by Ugandan military intelligence and implicated top officials in atrocities during Uganda's civil war," CPJ said in a statement."We are concerned by this raid against The Independent and Andrew Mwenda," said CPJ's Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. "Ugandan authorities have a history of prosecuting Mwenda based on his critical journalism.

We call on the authorities to restore all equipment and possessions seized from the journalists and the newspaper immediately."Mr. Mwenda is an outspoken journalist and former radio talk show host who lost his job with The Monitor daily after publishing controversial articles on the country's political life. Uganda has been criticized for its poor human rights record, but is reputed to offer a relatively free press environment compared to some of its neighbors.The Monitor (Uganda) writes an editorial in defense of its former employee: "The security personnel first raided Mwenda's home in Kololo in search of seditious material.

He was manhandled, handcuffed and bundled into a security car. If there was reasonable ground to suggest that the magazine had committed an offence within the provisions of the law, there are clear legal procedures on how the journalists can be handled. In a civilised, democratic and free country, the police do not manhandle and handcuff journalists as if they are highway robbers or hardcore street criminals. They are, at worst, summoned to police and later charged in court. This brutality was not just directed at The Independent but the press in general. The government must desist from such brutality and learn civilised ways of handling journalists through the law. In Uganda today, it's increasingly becoming difficult to write or publish a story severely critical of the State or its gurus without standing the risk of being arrested or summoned to CID. The freedom of the press is rapidly getting stifled and (if this trend continues) will ultimately be irreversibly suffocated

Quote Of The Day

"My mother taught me as a child that you don’t take other peoples’ property without asking. She also taught me that we are all endowed with the ability to improve our lot in life. It’s an individual’s responsibility to be a good steward of her talents by using them to enrich herself and her society. As my interest in economics matured I read books describing the structures of wealthy societies.

In them, I recognized the basic principles my mother taught me. The difference between a country like my native Kenya and a wealthy country like the U.S. is not difficult to identify. In countries where basic property rights are respected as law, people prosper. In places where this idea is disregarded, people suffer.

I am also greatly affected by the work of French political economist Frederic Bastiat and, in particular, his book The Law. Bastiat based his idea of justice on respect for private property rights. His words sparked my interest in studying African laws and their relation to individuals’ ability to prosper."

— June Arunga, Kenyan-born libertarian journalist, lawyer, and filmmaker, on the rule of law, private property rights, and prosperity

Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown - No Air

Both amazing singers...they are so cute together! Not to be a spolier but towards the end her nose peircing is on the right side then the left side then the right side again:-)

Senator McCain's Push to Privatize Healthcare

Let me start of by saying that I like the concept, and feel that it’s way past due. One of my biggest problems with the current healthcare system is that it’s mainly been a monopoly, from business to business.

Up to this point, the quality of my health care benefits depended upon only two things- whether a good insurance company with a good plan made the winning bid to the company that I became employed for; and/or whether I joined a good company that paid enough into the health care plan to make it one of quality for myself and my fam.

With privatized healthcare (the way that I see it), we wouldn’t have to be left to the luck of the draw.. hoping that the stars will align, and that we’ll be fortunate enough to have great (or at least good) healthcare with our places of employment.

With healthcare companies competing for our business, like all businesses should, this would not only drive down premiums.. but provide better packages for those premiums.

I like this prospect a lot better than that of a government run(down) healthcare system which mandates cookie cutter base coverage for everyone. I feel that this will drive up the price of healthcare. For some reason, the government seems to have the uncanny ability to end up paying far more for privately contracted services, than private citizens do. Of course the cost then gets passed back to the taxpayer.

I also feel that the kind of socialized healthcare plans that Senators Obama and Clinton suggest would drive down the quality of service. From what I’m hearing, similar systems exist in Europe and Canada, and aren’t faring very well in terms of preventive medicine, cutting edge treatment of existing conditions, and crisis response. I have yet to research this, statistically, but this is what I’ve read in general articles on the matter.

If we take a good look at our country’s wide-scale social programs and institutions, and give ourselves some honest criticism- we will see that our government isn’t the best at maintaining such things.. and you can’t pin that on one particular party or administration. It’s simply a fact, that this is not our government’s strongest suit.

You know what? That’s okay. Thank God we have a private sector, and in many instances, it can get things done better and alot more efficiently.

Give anyone a choice between a private hospital and a government run hospital (if any exist outsite of veteran institutions), and see which one people would chose every time!

In light of that fact, would we really want a government run healthcare system? Good Lord y’all!! LOL

Well I, for one, am looking forward to learning more about Senator McCain’s plan.. and if there will be any particular mandates contained within it to ensure that the underpriveledged aren’t left out entirely in a completely capitalist benefit system. However, as it appears to stand, privatized healthcare would be benefit a broad range of Americans.. the broadest range in my opinion.

What do you think?

-Micheal is a 36 year old IT guy living in Raleigh, NC. He does desktop support and Systems Administration. He officially switched affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 1997 during Clinton’s second term. Also he just had a son so say hi and welcome him to the blog!

http://www.myspace.com/mikecanaan

Chris Gardner - Excerpt from "The Pursuit of Happyness"

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=190

Self-made entrepreneur Chris Gardner reads an excerpt from his book, "The Pursuit of Happyness," recounting his experience at an "est" group therapy seminar in 1970s San Francisco.

This video was taped at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco.

This clip contains explicit language.-----Chris Gardner in conversation with 20/20 producer Lynn Redmond about his newly-published autobiography, "The Pursuit of Happyness."

Gardner's fascinating story is also the subject of a movie of the same name starring Will Smith as Gardner and Smith's son Jaden as Gardner's son, Chris Jr. The film was shot in the Bay Area and is scheduled to be released in December 2006 by Columbia Pictures.Gardner is President and CEO of Rich LLC. He is also an avid philanthropist committed to assisting organizations involved in education and economic development.

Howard Dean's DNC calls the North Carolina GOP ad "racially divisive."

This would be Howard Dean, who said, "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

This would be Howard Dean, who said Republicans are "a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party."

This would be Howard Dean, who said, "I hate Republicans and everything they stand for," and "This is a struggle between good and evil and we're the good."

Hey,

Blog readers this is Richard I just want our readers to please try to make a mental note to reconvene next Sunday, April 27th (8pm eastern) to the blog Afro Nerd he is intervewing esteemed author, linguist and Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow, Dr. John McWhorter. He will be discussing his upcoming book, All about the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can't Save Black America as well as his thoughts regarding the current political landscape, notions of Black Authenticity, African-American culture, conservatism for people of color and so forth. I will remind our blog readers as the week progresses. The call-in number is 646-915-9620....again, this Sunday at 8pm eastern! http://www.afronerd radio.com http://www.afronerd .com

Racial Politics: Obama vs. Steele

(Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at The Corner)



Politico puts the charges of "racial politics" by some who are sympathetic to the Obama campaign into perspective:





In his ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate, then-Lt. Gov. Michael Steele faced a barrage of attacks centered on his being an African-American Republican.It actually started in 2002, when Steele was selected as the running mate for gubernatorial candidate Robert Ehrlich.The editorial page of the Baltimore Sun dismissed Steele’s experience and used race to do it.Steele, the Sun charged, brought “little to the team but the color of his skin.”Four years later, the Sun continued to attack Steele, who had at that point served a full term as Maryland’s lieutenant governor and was running for U.S. Senate.While patronizingly labeling Steele a “likable man and persuasive speaker,” the Sun urged a vote against Steele “on the basis of record and experience alone.”

***Dismissing a likable, persuasive African-American on the question of experience sounds familiar, doesn’t it?Watching the attacks on Obama these past weeks, anyone who followed the 2006 elections knows what Yogi Berra meant when he quipped, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”***In the 2008 presidential race, Obama should consider himself lucky.


He has not been called “slavish” by the majority leader of the House of Representatives, Steny H. Hoyer, or an “Uncle Tom” by Maryland state Senate President Mike Miller, as Michael Steele was.Perhaps most troubling, the attacks on Steele codified an attitude of many in the Democratic Party, which was crystallized in a 37-page memo by Cornell Belcher, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean’s handpicked pollster.He laid out a blueprint for how to deny Steele his very ethnicity, calling for a “persuasion campaign” to “discredit Steele as a viable candidate for the [African-American] community.”

While the Clinton strategy has been to brand Obama as an African-American first and foremost, the Democrats’ playbook strategy was the inverse, hoping to “turn Steele into a typical Republican candidate — as opposed to an African-American” (emphasis added).

***Still, the Obama camp’s outrage over questions it says are race-based — concerning whether a three-year senator has the experience to lead the free world — cannot be taken entirely seriously.After all, it was Obama ... who questioned Michael Steele’s experience to become one of his colleagues, saying that while Steele is an “affable person” (articulate? clean?), his record was “pretty thin.”He then urged a predominantly African-American crowd to vote for the candidate with the “longer record of working on behalf of the African-American community.”

[Read the whole thing]

Why Barack Obama & Hillary can't bring (Change)

Black & White on the Grey Matters 4 (Change)

Charter Schools vs. Public Schools

Harvard economics professor Caroline Hoxby discusses several differences between charter and public schools.



Harvard economics Professor and Hoover Fellow Caroline Hoxby discusses her research on New York City charter schools in two city neighborhoods, Harlem and the Bronx, and how they compare with other public schools in the same neighborhoods.

Caroline M. Hoxby is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and a member of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. She is the Allie S. Freed Professor of Economics at Harvard University and the director of the Economics of Education Program for the National Bureau of Economic Research. She also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences.

ENTIRE VIDEO

Stop China-In Africa

Please sign this petition calling to stop the Chinese weapons shipment to Zimbabwe. At this delicate time, the international community must rally to bring democracy and stability--not weapons--to Zimbabwe. ..China is slowly becoming a commie colonial power seeking to suck Africa dry...Do Not Allow the Chinese to take over Africa like Europe did!!

The more people sign the petition, the more powerful the international call will be--so please forward this link to friends:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_arms_for_zimbabwe/98.php/?cl_tf_sign=1

Thanks!

Alicia Keyes- Government Invented Rap

Alicia Keys has gone mad she did an interview for the the May cover of Blender mag, in which she shares her theories on the why gangsta rap was created.



“‘Gangsta rap’ was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. ‘Gangsta rap’ didn’t exist.” She says that the rivalry between slain artists Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. was fueled “by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing.”Does anyone else out there know what the hell she is talking about?

Keys is now saying that Blender misrepresented what she said during the interview with Blender:

“My comments about gangsta rap were in no way trying to suggest that the government is responsible for creating this genre of rap music,” Keys said in a statement issued by J Records.”We stand by our story,” Blender spokeswoman Kate Cafaro said Tuesday.


~Now we all know .."FIDDDY".. has to get some media attention ...so in an interview with the members of G-Unit, responded to a recent Alicia Keys statement about gangsta rap.

Shout Out for the Day!! (War)

Black & White on the Grey Matters 2 (War)

Republican of the Month-Justin R. Jordan

~Here at HipHopRepublican's we highlight every year three young African American who while being Republican are making a difference in his or her community.

Currently Jordan is enrolled at Texas Southern University where he is pursuing a degree in Public Affairs. Jordan is a Republican student, strategist and consultant, he was born in Midland, Texas to a single mother who instilled in him the values of hard work and being morally and ethically sound. Jordan is President of the TSU College Republicans which has a current membership of fifty students and is a Republican Precinct Chair. Aspiring to become a United States Senator, Jordan believes in the Republican Party’s philosophy as it relates to freedom and the role of government.

Quote of the Day

"[South African] President Thabo Mbeki and his infamous colleague [Zimbabwean President] Robert Mugabe are marooned on an isolated political island, under siege by diplomatic brickbats and flotsam; their old bodies quivering and shivering in cold winds of backlash from Mr. Mbeki’s unpopular proclamation that Zimbabwe is not a crisis situation.

While Mbeki ponders thoughtfully on the next move to restore a badly mutilated credibility, Mugabe conspires with China to fend off a deluge of inevitable popular electoral discontent with Chinese AK-47s, bullets and Israeli water canons. Meanwhile, 18 April Independence celebrations at Gwanzura Stadium was nothing more than a display of military force, a sure sign that the civilian centre can no longer hold at Mugabe’s ZANUpf camp. He is doing want he knows best, defending his political space with stolen ballots and Chinese bullets.

In addition, Mr. Mugabe told us that 'ZANUpf brought democracy to Zimbabwe' and roasted Gordon Brown, as predicted, for attempting to buy Britain’s way back to state house via ‘MDC puppets’. Harare residents were chided for voting for MDC whose agenda Mugabe claims is only one – giving Zimbabwe back to its former colonial power wherefore he vowed the opposition would never ever assume political control of the country as long as he is alive.

Herein lays the contradiction. Mugabe’s narrow perception of democracy is one of a commodity that can be bought, sold and exchanged on the political market place. It is a preserve only for ZANUpf, and therefore anyone who encroaches onto this context must be a sell out. We progressive Zimbabweans would now like to expose this gigantic act of archaic self-delusion. Since 1980, Zimbabwe has been, in Mugabe’s own words, religiously holding elections every five years. He won each one of them up until last month, pumping in millions in USA dollars of state resources in campaigns, materials, publicity, vote buying – all in the name of 'democracy'. In the process – that is from 1985 – thousands of innocent citizens have died in defence of ‘this’ democracy, mostly under the hands of Mugabe’s own repressive machinery.

Therefore, if he accuses the British of racist hypocrisy during the reign of Ian Smith, what does he himself have to show for his ZANUpf brand of democracy in the past twenty eight years of his reign? Moreover the ‘good’ president has completely got his facts wrong. Robert Mugabe was not even part of a rebellion within the Zimbabwe African People’s Union [ZAPU] in 1963 that formed ZANU, but Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole. In 1965, Ian Smith rebelled against Britain by the Unilateral Declaration of Independence [UDI] and later proclaimed that Africans [like Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo] would not rule Rhodesia in a thousand years.

Mugabe then enters the fray long after by deposing Reverend Sithole in a 'prison room' coup, before taking over the reigns from Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front on April 18, 1980. To say ZANUpf shot the Conservative party of Margaret Thatcher out of power in Rhodesia is political gibberish....The second revelation one can make is about the trinity of evil that is colluding to deprive Zimbabweans of true liberty. ZANUpf, the Judiciary and the Zimbabwe Election Commission are a diabolical axis of vampires whose agenda is to perpetuate fascist dictatorship.

So if Mugabe is such a democrat, why are his institutions of governance so frightened by political competition? The more pertinent question really is: has he ever been loved by anyone enough to be voted for purely on a voluntary basis – the essence of true democracy? Of course not!"

— Rejoice Ngwenya, Zimbabwean libertarian and head of Coalition for Market & Liberal Solutions

Was Malcolm X a Republican?

Interesting tid bit from a Law student who has opined about the similar connections with conservatism and black nationalism. There are some similarities just without the hate and lunatic rhetoric!

Malcolm X would be a Republican . . . yes I said it.

Okay, I’m not sure that he’d be a Republican since he held deeply anti-war beliefs. However, Malcolm X would adopt the Republican Party’s ideology and approach to economics.

Malcolm X’s history and work are rooted in Black Power ideology. Black Power is principally the manifestation of blacks’ demand for self-determination supplemented by political recognition within the state.

In 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet,” that in part emphasized the need for black business and economic development and criticized the irrational tossing of the black vote to the Democratic Party without any benefits in return.

Black Power was founded in the ideological thought of hard work and self-reliance. Malcolm X wanted black people to have the freedom to create their own business and/or pursue work in established businesses. He wanted black people to take control of their lives. One can easily imagine that he would criticize many social reforms in their current form, and instead focus on individual action to overcome circumstances and adversity.

As Malcolm X explained it in his '64 speech: “[T]he economic philosophy of Black Nationalism shows our people the importance of setting up these little stores and developing them and expanding them into larger operations. Woolworth didn’t start out big like they are today. They started out with a dime store and expanded and expanded and then expanded until today, they’re all over the country and all over the world, and they get to some of everybody’s money.”

He also went on to say: “The [Democratic] Party that you backed controls two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and still they can’t keep their promise to you, ‘cause you’re a chump. Anytime you throw your weight behind the political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that Party can’t keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that Party, you’re not only a chump, but you’re a traitor to your race.”

Black Power recognized that dependence on the welfare system and government was a tenuous position as lifelines could be quickly cut with a change of leadership. Numerous Black Power advocates, particularly in the Black Panther Party, thought black people needed to be involved in the private sector since it funded the government, had unimaginable influence in its productive capacity, and played a major role in shaping the very rule of law that governed black and white Americans alike. The influence that the private sector has on American politics today is a clear manifestation of what the Black Power movement saw decades ago.

Malcolm X rightly criticized the devotion that black people had developed to the Democratic Party. Compare the two parties. Why did former Democratic President John F. Kennedy, who is held up as a civil rights god of some sort, vote against the 1957 Civil Rights Act while he was a Senator? Former Democratic Senator Al Gore, Sr. also did the same, but that should not be held against former Vice President Al Gore, Jr.

A. Phillip Randolph, who arguably was a black Republican, helped Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963; President Kennedy was not a big fan of this march. And can we forget Attorney General Robert Kennedy who, under his brother’s administration no less, had Dr. King, Jr. wiretapped?

Furthermore, Senator Robert Byrd, a Democrat and former member of the Ku Klux Klan, filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Act for approximately 14 hours and 13 minutes before the final vote.

Conversely, former presidential candidate and Republican Richard Nixon lobbied extensively for its passage. (As president, Nixon would lobby for better housing, worker protections by creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and minority recruitment with the Philadelphia Plan among other things.)

The House of Representatives passed the bill by a count of 289 to 124. About 80% of the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted yea compared to about 63% of Democrats. The Senate vote was 73 to 27. Twenty-one Democratic Senators voted nay compared to only six Republicans. Malcolm X, it can be assumed, read the numbers.

Malcolm X believed blacks should rely on their own economic capacity for self-advancement, not on government. This is a central tenet of the Republican Party as well. To both, it was essential to have the freedom to pursue their dreams and talents however they chose. Malcolm X wanted this freedom and believed it was only available through economic independence, not dependence. He might be dismayed to learn that many have not chosen that path.

Email: kld4s@virginia.edu

***************Malcolm X Speech on Democrats******************


The following are excerpts from "The Ballot or the Bullet," a speech Malcolm X gave on April 3, 1964, at the Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. The meeting, sponsored by the Cleveland chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, took the form of a symposium entitled "The Negro Revolt - What Comes Next?"

It was the black man's vote that put the present administration [of Democratic president Lyndon Johnson] in Washington, D.C. Your vote, your dumb vote, your ignorant vote, your wasted vote put in an administration in Washington, D.C., that has seen fit to pass every kind of legislation imaginable, saving you until last, then filibustering on top of that. And your and my leaders have the audacity to run around clapping their hands and talk about how much progress we're making. And what a good president we have.

If he wasn't good in Texas, he sure can't be good in Washington, D.C. Because Texas is a lynch state. It is in the same breath as Mississippi, no different; only they lynch you in Texas with a Texas accent and lynch you in Mississippi with a Mississippi accent. And these Negro leaders have the audacity to go and have some coffee in the White House with a Texan, a Southern cracker - that's all he is - and then come out and tell you and me that he's going to be better for us because, since he's from the South, he knows how to deal with the Southerners.

What kind of logic is that?.... In this present administration they have in the House of Representatives 257 Democrats to only 177 Republicans. They control two-thirds of the House vote. Why can't they pass something that will help you and me?

In the Senate, there are 67 senators who are of the Democratic Party. Only 33 of them are Republicans. Why, the Democrats have got the government sewed up, and you're the one who sewed it up for them. And what have they given you for it? Four years in office, and just now getting around to some civil-rights legislation.

Just now, after everything else is gone, out of the way, they're going to sit down now and play with you all summer long - the same old giant con game that they call filibuster. All those are in cahoots together... They're playing that old con game. One of them makes believe he's for you, and he's got it fixed where the other one is so tight against you, he never has to keep his promise. So it's time in 1964 to wake up.

And when you see them coming up with that kind of conspiracy, let them know your eyes are open. And let them know you got something else that's wide open too. It's got to be the ballot or the bullet. The ballot or the bullet. If you're afraid to use an expression like that, you should get on out of the country, you should get back in the cotton patch, you should get back in the alley. They get all the Negro vote, and after they get it, the Negro gets nothing in return.

All they did when they got to Washington was give a few big Negroes big jobs. Those big Negroes didn't need big jobs, they already had jobs. That's camouflage, that's trickery, that's treachery, window-dressing. I'm not trying to knock out the Democrats for the Republicans, we'll get to them in a minute. But it is true - you put the Democrats first and the Democrats put you last.... They have got a con game going on, a political con game, and you and I are in the middle. It's time for you and me to wake up and start looking at it like it is, and trying to understand it like it is; and then we can deal with it like it is. The Dixiecrats in Washington, D.C., control the key committees that run the government. The only reason the Dixiecrats control these committees is because they have seniority. The only reason they have seniority is because they come from states where Negroes can't vote.

This is not even a government that's based on democracy. It is not a government that is made up of representatives of the people. Half of the people in the South can't even vote.... This is pitiful. But it's not pitiful for us any longer; it's actually pitiful for the white man, because soon now, as the Negro awakens a little more and sees the vise that he's in, sees the bag that he's in, sees the real game that he's in, then the Negro's going to develop a new tactic.... When you keep the Democrats in power you keep the Dixiecrats in power.... The same government that you go abroad to fight for and die for is the government that is in a conspiracy to deprive you of your voting rights, deprive you of your economic opportunities, deprive you of decent housing, deprive you of decent education.

You don't need to go to the employer alone, it is the government itself, the government of America, that is responsible for the oppression and exploitation and degradation of black people in this country. And you should drop it in their lap. This government has failed the Negro. This so-called democracy has failed the Negro. And all these white liberals have definitely failed the Negro.

-Malcolm X

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