Where’s the Outrage?

I just was robbed at the gas station. Sixty-three dollars were sucked out of my wallet. This is a crime. This isn’t market forces. It is oil company greed. Where’s the Outrage!!!!

Tags: Big Oil, Economy by ecthompson
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Senator Barack Obama has been slammed for not wearing a lapel pin. The right-wing smear machine has asked why Obama will not salute the flag. Of course, these questions and statements are designed to cast doubt in the minds of those who aren’t sure about a Democrat who is a black man. Today, in West Virginia,  Obama talks about true patriotism: Supporting the troops. This isn’t some bumper sticker. Do you support the troops? If so, then why can’t we pass Jim Webb’s new GI bill? Why hasn’t Senator John McCain signed this bill?

This is a great speech in a VERY conservative state.  I was going to post just a portion of the speech, but it is really good so I’m posting all 21 minutes of it.

There is no reason we shouldn’t pass the 21st Century GI Bill that is being debated in Congress right now. It was introduced by my friend Senator Jim Webb, a Marine who served as Navy Secretary under President Ronald Reagan.. His plan has widespread support from Republicans and Democrats. It would provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not harm retention.

I have great respect for John McCain’s service to this country and I know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. But he is one of the few Senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it’s too generous. I couldn’t disagree more. At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American Dream.

Tags: Election 2008, Military, Music by ecthompson
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Looking at my checkbook, this post could be about me, but it isn’t. It is about a woman who is seeking the highest office in the land but can’t balance her checkbook. How do you rack up $20 million in debt and ask the American people to vote for you as president? Maybe I’m wrong, but wouldn’t the finances of a campaign be more simple to manage than the U.S. budget?

There have been some talk about Senator Hillary Clinton negotiating about getting out of the Democratic race. Part of these talks would include Senator Barack Obama agreeing to assume her debt. Doesn’t that hamstring Obama? I know that he is plush with money, but $20 million is a lot of money. I have no idea if the Obama campaign is seriously considering this proposal or not.

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From Washington Post:

With her campaign falling ever deeper into debt, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent a rainy Mother’s Day seeking votes ahead of Tuesday’s primary here, turning a deaf ear to calls for her to leave a Democratic presidential contest she has little hope of winning.

Clinton aides continued to insist that she will remain in the race even while confirming that she is $20 million in debt. “The voters are going to decide this,” senior adviser Howard Wolfson said on “Fox News Sunday,” acknowledging the $20 million figure. “There is no reason for her not to continue this process.” Wolfson said he has seen “no evidence of her interest” in pursuing the second-place spot on the Democratic ticket, contrary to rumors that she is staying in the race to leverage a bid for the vice presidential nomination. (more…)

Tags: Election 2008 by ecthompson
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I’ve recently read, or am in the process of reading, three books about being black in America around 1900.

A novel I’ve finished is Sport Of The Gods by Paul Laurence Dunbar (Drawing above.) It is the bleak story of a black family in New York City at the beginning of the last century. It is bleak. Published in 1902, the book is short and reads like the history of a time and place. It is worth the reading.

Here is information about Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Here is an excerpt from this profile: “Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet. Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, he was the son of ex-slaves and classmate to Orville Wright of aviation fame. Although he lived to be only 33 years old, Dunbar was prolific, writing short stories, novels, librettos, plays, songs and essays as well as the poetry for which he became well known. He was popular with black and white readers of his day, and his works are celebrated today by scholars and school children alike. His style encompasses two distinct voices — the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn-of-the-century black community in America. He was gifted in poetry — the way that Mark Twain was in prose — in using dialect to convey character. ”

I’ve also been reading 2004 book Unforgivable Blackness by Geoffrey Ward. This story follows the life of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. I’m about a third of the way through this book. I feel it could be shorter because once you get the idea that white champions were reluctant to fight  Johnson, you don’t need to read about every detail of that resistance.Still, the book is holding my interest well enough and I enjoyed learning about Johnson’s youth in Galveston. Everybody should should visit Galveston, Texas.

Here is a review of Unforgivable Blackness

From an ESPN article about Johnson:

“He transformed himself from the docks of Galveston, Texas, to early 20th-century glitterati. He had his own jazz band, owned a Chicago nightclub, acted on stage, drove flashy yellow sports cars, reputedly walked his pet leopard while sipping champagne, flaunted gold teeth that went with his gold-handled walking stick and boasted of his conquests of whites — both in and out of the ring.

Johnson was also a fugitive for seven years, having been accused of violating a white slavery act with a woman who would become his third wife. ”

The last title is the 1903 book The Souls Of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois.

Here is a little bit about Mr. Du Bois:

“William Edward Burghardt DuBois, to his admirers, was by spirited devotion and scholarly dedication, an attacker of injustice and a defender of freedom. A harbinger of Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism, he died in self-imposed exile in his home away from home with his ancestors of a glorious past—Africa.

Labeled as a “radical,” he was ignored by those who hoped that his massive contributions would be buried along side of him. But, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “history cannot ignore W.E.B. DuBois because history has to reflect truth and Dr. DuBois was a tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truths. His singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people. There were very few scholars who concerned themselves with honest study of the black man and he sought to fill this immense void. The degree to which he succeeded disclosed the great dimensions of the man.”

I’ve only reached up to chapter three in Souls. In chapter three, Du Bois is going to discuss Booker T. Washington and others.

The famous line from the book—”The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line”– is the first sentence and the last sentence of chapter two. Du Bois says this ongoing issue is a “phase” of the same issue that was the cause of the Civil War.

Isn’t a bottom line of our 2008 campaign the question of will America elect a black president named Barack Obama?  The “race question” goes on and on, at least so far.

Chapter two is a history of the Civil War years and Reconstruction efforts up until 1872. Du Bois talks about the way the Freedman’s Bureau was doomed to fail from the start in the effort to help Black Americans gain some measure of equality after the Civil War.

I look forward to making it past chapter two and writing more blog posts on this great work of our American history.

Tags: Books by Texas Liberal
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