Hillary Supporter Pooh-Poohs the Mention of RFK’s Assassination

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE Hillary Supporter Pooh-Poohs the Mention of RFK's Assassination While DNC Continues to Slumber In his Huffington Post article, "Clinton and RFK Deserve Better", my good friend, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Pooh-poohs Hillary Clinton's mention of Robert Kennedy's assassination in the context of this election, and all the while the DNC slumbers. What is he suggesting , that she's sleep deprived again? I think that's getting kinda old, and I also think that it's way past time for the DNC to come out of hibernation. On May 11th while appearing on Meet The Press Hillary's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, made the same kind of statement to Tim Russert. He said that in order for Hillary to win the nomination "something big" would have to happen. Then Russett asked, "An act of God, or something catastrophic?", and he said, "Yes, something big would have to happen–absolutely." Hillary's behavior has betrayed her to be nothing less than America's version of a Third World demagogue–a woman who is so desperate and hungry for power that the thought of seeing it slip through her fingers has caused her to slip into her own private realm of reality. Personally, I'm seriously concerned that she might have left the ranch and gone camping on us. So at this point it behooves us to take her every utterance dead seriously. Yet, nervous over the growing fracture in the Democratic Party, the DNC is vigorously reminding Democratic voters of the importance of backing the Democratic nominee in order to win the November election. The problem with their position, however, is the DNC is placing all of the responsibility for Democratic success on the voters, while skirting its own responsibility to act in an appropriate and decisive manner. They don't seem to recognize that party loyalty goes both ways. In light of what the nation has gone through in the past seven years, political parties can no longer expect the voters to just fall in and march in lockstep to the party line. That's what's gotten us to where we are today–involved in a senseless war, without jobs, losing our homes, and with the very pillars of our society under attack. The Democratic Party is sure to argue that it is for precisely these reasons that we must stick together, however. But that is only true if you're prepared to accept the proposition that everything that's gone wrong in the past seven years is solely the fault of the Republicans, and that is clearly not the case. While it is true that our current condition is primarily due to Republican greed, shortsightedness, an ineptitude, it is also true that we find ourselves in this condition as a result of the total impotence of the Democratic Party. Democratic politicians have been absolutely gutless for the past seven years. Instead of fighting for the soul of this nation and the ideals they profess to believe in, Democrats have been basing their actions on the direction of the wind; and instead of standing up for what was in the best interest of the nation, they were cowering in the basement on Capitol Hill, desperately trying to protect their own political careers. But now that the Republican Party has all but self-destructed, the Democrats have chosen this moment to come strutting out to tell us all they want to do to protect our interest. Where were they before the Republican Party all but dropped dead of gluttony? If the Republican Party is indeed in the throes of death, it's only resulting from Democrats allowing them to gorge themselves to death. And even now, the Democrats don't have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to two egomaniacal Republicrats, as the wreak havoc within the Democrats' own ranks. The DNC should have told Hillary Clinton initially that changing the rules regarding Florida and Michigan in the middle of the game purely for her accommodation was out of the question. They should have been unequivocally emphatic that the decision was made in the beginning of the primaries, and everyone agreed, including Hillary, that the delegates from those states would not be counted due their violation of DNC rules. Case closed. Had the DNC been immediately decisive when the Clintons initially sent up their trial balloon, they would have recognized that they were stepping over the line of fairness. But when the DNC was indecisive, and showed a sign of weakness in carrying out its responsibility, the Clintons smelled blood, and now their trial balloon has become a demand. So catering to the Clintons and dragging its feet in this matter is only going to complicate things further. The Clintons have no intentions of allowing the Democratic Party to remain unified. Before the Clintons decided upon their course of action, they not only took into account the affect it would have on Obama supporters, but also how it would affect all fair minded voters across this land. They then decided upon a gamble. They knew that due to Obama's popularity, Hillary would never become president unless he was brought down. So they decided they were going to do whatever they had to do to tear Sen. Obama down, then even if Hillary didn't get the nomination this year, Obama would still be so damaged that he would lose the election, in which case, she would run in 20012. They've already accepted the fact that their course of action would deeply divide the party, but, ironically, they're depending on Sen. Obama's good character to help rally support for Hillary if, and when, she's allowed to run. They're also gambling that Democrats are so desperate to get the Republicans out of office, that they'd hold their nose and vote for Hillary in spite of her behavior when the time comes. They realized it's a big gamble, but they calculated that a slim chance was better than no chance at all. Of course, there are those who will say that not even the Clintons could be that Machiavellian in their calculations, but look at the facts–this is a woman who agreed not to count the votes of Michigan and Florida, then even while ahead, managed to leave her name on the ballad in Michigan as an insurance policy. And we mustn't forget that one of Hillary's earliest influences was radical organizer Saul Alinsky. In fact, she did her colleges thesis on him–a document that the Clintons have managed to be kept securely under lock and key at Wellesley College. But now, Hillary's current tactics are right out of Alinsky's 1971 book, "Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals." Among Alinsky's rules is to always "personalize " the issue. He taught that "Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have." He also says that "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." That rule comes to mind in Hillary's declaration that "all Obama has is a speech." Another one of Alinsky's rules is, "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Thus, Hillary's threat to divide the party. Alinsky goes on to advise that you "Maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition", and "push a negative hard and deep." And finally he instructs that you "pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it"–thus, Hillary's comment, "Hard working, White voters." Hillary has held to Alinsky so snugly that it's almost as if he's her campaign manager, post mortem. But I think even Alinsky would frown upon this campaign. So the DNC might as well make its stand now–and the earlier the better. Because there is nothing they can do to head off a crisis within the party short of handing the nomination to Hillary. It is part of Hillary's game plan to polarize the party, because she knew from the very beginning that if all else failed, her end game would involve a scorched Earth, and a Hail Mary. Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com Stay on top of what's going on around you. From Hip Hop to world and national news--stay informed about those things that impact both the Black community and the entire world, as interpreted by Dr. Boyce Watkins, and some of the nation's top Black writers. Stay in touch with Your Black World www.yourblackworld.com/. It's our piece of the net.

The Challenge of Education in the 21st Century

By Ken Wibecan . The American educational system is falling apart and throwing money at it, as most proposals would have it, is not going to make it better. Simply speaking, it needs to be torn apart and rebuilt to meet modern-day demands. That is not just my opinion; it is the consensus of many influential professionals who have been studying this problem for some time. . The biggest obstacle to progress is that the necessary changes are large and severe, and step on the toes of much of the current educational establishment. Redesigning the system means many jobs will be in jeopardy, most teachers will have to be retrained, and bruised egos will pile up like leaves in autumn. It will be a painful process, sort of like tearing your house down and rebuilding it from the basement up. . A partial list of possible changes includes removing the control of American education from amateurs and empowering school districts to sign contracts with companies and teachers to run the schools, change education funding from a property tax basis to state and federal funding, pay top teachers more money in exchange for reduced pension benefits, retrain or get rid of ineffective teachers, insist that all students learn a second language (which means teachers also), have year-round classes, eliminate tenure and long summer vacations, put less emphasis on testing and memorization and more emphasis on creative and innovative skills, and teach students to work in groups and think across disciplines. . Right now "kids spend much of their day as their great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed. A yawning chasm (with an emphasis on yawning) separates the world inside the schoolhouse from the world outside," says Claudia Wallis and Sonia Steptoe in "How To Bring Our Schools Out Of The 20th Century," Time magazine 12/18/2006 [highly interesting article!] . "In an age of overflowing information and proliferating media, kids need to rapidly process what's coming at them and distinguish between what's reliable and what isn't. 'It's important that students know how to manage it, interpret it, validate it and how to act on it,' says Dell executive Karen Bruett, who serves on the board of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a group of corporate and education leaders focused on upgrading American education." (ibid) . Change is threatening to a large number of people, especially when egos and jobs are involved. But for mostly selfish reasons our educational system has been permitted to fall far behind the times we live in. The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, "a bipartisan panel that included former Cabinet secretaries and governors in addition to federal and state officials and business and civic leaders.....warned that unless improvements are made in the nation's public schools and colleges by 2021, a large number of jobs would be lost to countries including India and China, where workers are better educated," V. Dion Haynes, Washington Post 12/15/06. . A few months ago I saw a television discussion of education around the world. One of the biggest differences between the attitudes of European and American students was that Europeans thought school was fun--and this despite having a more difficult curriculum than Americans. . It won't be easy, and there will be lots of sore toes and former "teachers" looking for different jobs. But there are many excellent educators around, and innovative changes in school curriculums, plus a chance to use their creative muscles will permit them to shine—and earn more money to boot. Schools that fail in their mission—both private and public--will disappear, and the good ones will flourish. There are no viable alternatives. Either we make the necessary changes or we fall behind the rest of the world and complain about why Americans have so much trouble finding good jobs. Stay on top of what's going on around you. From Hip Hop to world and national news--stay informed about those things that impact both the Black community and the entire world, as interpreted by Dr. Boyce Watkins, and some of the nation's top Black writers. Stay in touch with Your Black World www.yourblackworld.com/. It's our piece of the net.

HILLARY, WHAT’S THE POINT? Hillary Clinton needs to quit

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE HILLARY, WHAT'S THE POINT? After Tuesday's primary results I had hoped that I had written the name Hillary Clinton for the last time during this election. But in spite of the fact that there is virtually no legitimate path for her to gain the nomination, she simply refuses to see the writing on the wall. Thus, she appealed to the superdelegates on Wednesday for yet more time to defy the will of the electorate. It has been reported that Hillary's campaign is running badly in the red, so she's invested an additional 6 million dollars of her own money into her effort for the nomination, bringing her personal loan to the campaign to 11 million dollars. That has led to speculation that she is trying to hold out to strike a deal with Obama to both get reimbursement for her personal loan to the campaign, and also have Obama pay off her remaining debt in return for leaving the race. There is also speculation that she's trying to position herself for a spot on the Obama ticket as vice president. Many pundits suggest that Obama should accept either, or both deals with Hillary if they are indeed on the table. Their reasoning hinges on what they deem to be two very important considerations. First, having Hillary out of the race will clear the way for Obama to focus on John McCain, who has had a free ride thus far in the campaign. And secondly, pundits point to the result of several recent polls. Exit polls in Indiana indicate that half of Hillary Clinton supporters said they would not vote for Barack Obama if Hillary is forced out of the race. In addition, 70 percent of voters over 65 years of age voted for Hillary Clinton over Obama. It has been suggested, therefore, that an Obama/Clinton ticket in the general election would help Obama shore-up the demographic weaknesses in his campaign. But Obama supporters are not happy with either prospect, and his Black supporters are particularly unhappy with the suggestion of a possible deal. Obama's Black supporters point out that the Clinton campaign has repeatedly played the race card throughout the primaries, so why should their hard-earned political donations to Obama be used towards satisfying the very debt that Hillary incurred through the propagation of racial slander? They're also unhappy over the prospect of having someone on the ticket who is capable of such slander. In addition, many indicate that Hillary's irrational behavior in pursuit of the presidency causes them great concern over Barack Obama being the "one breath" between Hillary and the White House. The divisiveness of Hillary's campaign leaves Obama's White supporters also less than enthusiastic about using their political donations to satisfy her debt. They also point to the political baggage that Hillary would bring to the Democratic ticket. According to many Obama supporters, Hillary has not only forged a reputation for being disingenuous and lacking all credibility, but by recently joining McCain in calling for a "gas tax holiday", she's also defined herself as out of touch, and a pandering elitist. They feel, therefore, that having her on the ticket would undermine Obama's strongest argument against the Republicans–that they are out of touch, and pandering elitists. Then there's the issue of NAFTA and the hemorrhaging of American jobs out of the country. Obama supporters indicate that Republicans can make a strong argument that the current lack of jobs in the country is a direct result of NAFTA, an agreement that Bill Clinton signed into being and Hillary supported. They also point to the fact that even while Hillary was trying to distance herself from NAFTA during the primaries, Mark Penn, her top campaign adviser, was employed as a lobbyist for the Columbian government to create another free trade agreement just like it, or worse, which would take away even more American jobs. Republicans can also point out, as was pointed out in the Huffington Post, that in June 2005, Bill Clinton "was paid $800,000 by the Colombia-based Gold Service International to give four speeches throughout Latin America." The article went on to say that "The group's chief operating officer, Andres Franco, said in an interview that the group supports the congressional ratification of the free trade agreement and that, when Clinton was on his speaking tour, he expressed similar opinions." Republicans can also point to the matter of Hillary being ordered to testify in Los Angeles Superior Court in an FEC fraud case brought by California millionaire, Peter Paul. On April 25th Judge Munoz ruled that Hillary wouldn't have to testify until after the November election, but in making the highly unusual ruling, Judge Munoz remarked to David Kendall, Hillary's defense attorney, "Say hello to my friend, Bill." It doesn't matter whether the Clintons are actually guilty of any wrong doing or not--the circumstances surrounding the case, along with their lack of credibility, and the judges remarks gives the impression of both wrong doing and cronyism, a situation the Republicans will ride for all it's worth. But the bottom line is, most Obama supporters are former supporters of the Clintons, who at this point want nothing to do with either Bill or Hillary. Now that they see the Clinton propensity for lying, manipulation, and deceit to get what they want, these former supporters feel used. Their fondest wish, therefore, is that they could take back the loyalty and support that they vested in the Clintons in the past, but since that's not possible, they'll settle for just not having to feel like fools. But these former Clinton supporters are not just angry and disappointed, their anger is coached in the pain of watching the Clintons' single-minded lust for power cause a once highly respected couple to completely self-destruct. It feels like a personal failure. So even though it is now clear that they were wrong about the Clintons, sometimes it's more comforting to embrace a lie, than to have to face an ugly truth–an ugly truth that has forced them to watch what was thought to be a shining legacy, go down in flames. So at this point, what Obama supporters want more than anything else from the Clintons, is for them to simply, go away. Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com Stay on top of what's going on around you. From Hip Hop to world and national news--stay informed about those things that impact both the Black community and the entire world, as interpreted by Dr. Boyce Watkins, and some of the nation's top Black writers. Stay in touch with Your Black World www.yourblackworld.com/. It's our piece of the net.

CLINTON CREDIBILITY: A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE CLINTON CREDIBILITY: A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS Why are Democrats tolerating Hillary Clinton's selfish juggernaut to destroy the Democratic Party? They're sitting around allowing their nomination process to be corrupted, then asking, "Why can't Obama close the deal?" Open your eyes, Democrats! The man is fighting Hillary, Bill, the entire Republican Party, plus Rush Limbaugh and the entire FOX news staff. No wonder Democrats can't win an election. The Republicans must be falling down backwards laughing at their stupidity. Isn't there anyone left with enough common sense to see that their acting as accessories to Hillary's collusion with the Republican Party to sabotage the November election? Even the corporate media couldn't avoid reporting the unprecedented numbers of Republicans that crossed over to vote democratic in the Pennsylvania primary. ABC news quoted Bill Meck, a Republican voter for 41 years, as saying, he crossed over to vote Democratic because, "I wanted to be a part of the choice." That's Republican shorthand for I wanted to choose the Democratic nominee. ABC news went on to report that "many new registrants spoke openly about changing their party affiliation to give McCain "a better shot in November." The report indicates that in Pennsylvania's Perry and Northumberland counties –"historically conservative, having voted for Bush in 2004 in wide margins"–officials said that many voters said they were crossing over to help the Republican Party. The report indicated that crossover voting was "proportionally large" this year, and "the pattern echoes the Republican crossovers in the run-up to the Texas and Ohio primaries." Thus, they are effectively invalidating the results of the remaining primaries. The Republicans are openly manipulating the Democratic Party's selection process. And Hillary Clinton not only realizes that, but is just as openly colluding with the Republicans to blackmail the Democratic Party. She's forcing the Democrats to either dance to her music, or face the prospect of a fractured party and a possible defeat in the November. Hillary's using the clout that's being gleefully provided to her by her Republican comrades as leverage in an attempt to completely overrule the Democratic National Committee, and the agreement that all Democratic candidates signed--including herself-- not to count the votes from Florida and Michigan for violating the Democratic Party's rules. But now using those very results, of the Florida and Michigan primaries, to claim that she's ahead in the popular vote–and that's in spite of the fact that Obama wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan. From Hillary's point of view, her collusion with the Republican Party is a win, win situation--it keeps her campaign viable in the primaries, and as she sees it, gives her two shots at becoming president. It gives her the time to damage Obama as much as possible. As a result, she concludes, she will render Obama so damaged that even if she doesn't get the nomination this year, Obama will lose in November, and she'll still be young enough to run again in 20012. The Republicans benefit from this arrangement because they desperately want to run against Hillary. They know that she's severely damaged goods. Sen. Obama is so clean that the Republicans know that the only way they can go after him is by trying to smear anyone that he's ever said good morning to. But they can easily show that Hillary has a propensity for lying, and thus, cannot be trusted. If Hillary became the nominee, the Republicans can show that she flat-out lied about the Bosnian incident, and then once she was caught in the lie, she told another lie about why she lied. In addition, even while she was telling middle-class workers whose jobs had been outsourced that she was against NAFTA, it was revealed that she not only supported NAFTA, but even as she was speaking, both her top campaign advisor, Mark Penn, and her husband, Bill, were being paid by the Colombian government to lobby for yet another such agreement on it's behalf. Then, after claiming to fire Mrk Penn, she simply took his name off the door. An further, they can show that Hillary's unethical conduct goes all the way back to the very beginning of her career. Jerry Zeifman, who employed Hillary while he was chief counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings, indicated that he fired Hillary and refused to give her a letter of recommendation due to unethical behavior when she lied in a legal brief for the committee, and thereafter, attempted to cover it up by removing documents from the public domain. And now we find that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz has required Hillary Clinton to testify in a 1.2 million FEC civil fraud case brought against the Clintons by California Millionaire, Peter Paul. Judge Munoz ruled, however, that Hillary wouldn't have to testify until after the November election. In making the highly unusual ruling, Judge Munoz remarked to David Kendall, Hillary's defense attorney, Say hello to my friend, Bill. Yet, in light of all of this baggage, Hillary has gone before the American people, the Democratic Party, and the superdelegates and said, "I'm most electable." It has become abundantly clear that this lady doesn't even have a passing acquaintance with credibility, and it is past time for the superdelegates to bring this madness to an end. Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com Stay on top of what's going on around you. From Hip Hop to world and national news--stay informed about those things that impact both the Black community and the entire world, as interpreted by Dr. Boyce Watkins, and some of the nation's top Black writers. Stay in touch with Your Black World www.yourblackworld.com/. It's our piece of the net.