We interrupt this hiatus to do the bidding of a friend
Posted: April 2, 2008 Filed under: Boondocks, Campaign 2008, Clinton, Emanuel Cleaver, Obama, Uncle Ruckus 1 Comment »Just cause you’ve been down for me since Before I lost my mind, don’t think you gonna just be able to make me do your bidding.
By Request from my favorite Cleveland Browns fan
She asks me to address this particular issue regarding Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed Barack Obama vs. Bill Clinton.
The following was posted in Newsweek
Summary
A misleading e-mail has been making the rounds, alleging that Clinton has fewer legislative accomplishments than Obama, and that they are less substantive. We’ve had questions about it from a number of readers, and blogs have jumped into the fray. So what’s the real story on the Senate careers of the Democratic presidential candidates?
We find that the e-mail is false in almost every particular:
It sets up a face-off between apples and, well, broccoli, comparing only the Clinton-sponsored bills that became law with all bills sponsored or cosponsored by Obama, whether they were signed into law or not.
It includes legislation Obama sponsored in the Illinois state Senate, a very different legislative body.
It tells us that Obama has sponsored more legislation than Clinton, when in fact he has sponsored less.
It implies that Obama has passed more bills into law than Clinton, when the opposite is true.
Contrary to the e-mail’s assertions, Clinton’s and Obama’s contributions are not qualitatively different, and quantitatively, Clinton has the edge.
The email in question???
You judge for yourself!
Quite impressive!! It?s unfortunate that this information is not being communicated effectively.
Let’s take a closer look at who’s really qualified and or who’s really working for the good of all of us in the Senate. Obama or Clinton.
Records of these two candidates should be scrutinized in order to make an informed decision.
Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term – 6yrs. – and another year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law – 20 – twenty pieces of legislation in her first six years.
These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress www.thomas.loc.gov , but to save you trouble, I’ll post them here for you.
1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site.
2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall.
5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson.
6. Name post office after Jonn A. O’Shea.
7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death.
10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men’s Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men’s Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program.
13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.
14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death.
15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty.
Only five of Clinton’s bills are, more substantive.
16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11.
17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11
18. Assist landmine victims in other countries.
19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care.
20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system.
There you have it, the fact’s straight from the Senate Record.
Now, I would post those of Obama’s, but the list is too substantive, so I’ll mainly categorize.
During the first – 8 – eight years of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced
233 regarding healthcare reform,
125 on poverty and public assistance,
112 crime fighting bills,
97 economic bills,
60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills,
21 ethics reform bills,
15 gun control,
6 veterans affairs and many others.
His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored another 427. These inculded **the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 – became law, **The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, – became law, **The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate, **The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, – became law, **The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, In committee, and many more.
In all, since entering the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096.
An impressive record, for someone who supposedly has no record according to some who would prefer that this comparison not be made public.
He’s not just a talker.
He’s a doer.
Pass it on….It’s impressive!
My response: Tsk, Tsk, Tsk…First things first. As a dedicated and insistent supporter and dare I say, FAN of Barack Obama, let me state categorically that anyone with the audacity to send me this wack pile of zeroes and ones would be berated as though they sent me an e-mail suggesting that Bill Gates will send me a bunch of money for sending an email. It is obviously misleading, and frankly, it’s beneath the Obama campaign. It might be beneath the Clinton campaign, as well. Rather than rely on anonymous emails, they choose to trot out party leaders.
Richard Pryor Pastor Manny trotted out this beauty a few days back.
“If I had to make a prediction right now, I’d say Barack Obama is going to be the next president…,” he said. “I will be stunned if he is not the next president of the United States. Now, when he is sworn in, 99.9 percent of Americans won’t know who he is or what he stands for. But it doesn’t matter at this point.”
That’s because, Cleaver says, many white Americans are supporting Obama because “they are looking at Barack Obama and saying this is our chance to demonstrate that we have been able to get this boogeyman called race behind us and so they are going to vote for him.”
He says this is causing many African-Americans to “tremble” because they believe white Americans won’t want to address issue of race then, saying it’s been addressed by Obama’s election.
Still, he’s not behind a Obama candidacy. Cleaver says he has been personal friends with the Clintons for 20 years, he doesn’t know Sen. Barack Obama and he believes Clinton would make the best president.
“I don’t abandon my friends,” Cleaver said. He said if he abandoned Clinton now then he couldn’t look himself in the mirror.
He likens Clinton to the Chiefs and Obama to the Colts, saying he knows the Colts will win but he’s always cheering for his Chiefs.
The far-ranging interview went national this afternoon. (AP and CNN have picked it up among others). That occurred after it caught the attention of the Obama friendly Politico.com because of Cleaver’s prediction that Obama will win the presidency.
But Politico.com didn’t note Cleaver offered two ways that Obama’s candidacy could doom itself.
He said if Obama’s handlers insist he continue to talk about race, then “He has just eliminated any possibility of winning the presidency.” Cleaver said now isn’t the right time to have a true discussion about race in America and during a presidential campaign it would only be a superficial one.
Also, Cleaver said Obama could lose the presidency if the Democratic Party disenfranchises Michigan and Florida voters. He said if those voters lose their voice then “we are going to do what Democrats have done many times and that is deliberately run off the cliff.”
“sang along if you know tha words.”
We now return to the Bidding in progress
If we are going to start talking about Senatorial accomplishments then why don’t we discuss how helpful Senator KerryGlennBradleyGoreStevensonBidenDoleDoddTsongasHartHarkin.. *inhales*
EdwardsLiebermanMcGovernHumphreyBrownbackGravel’s long list of accomplishments in the US Senate was for them. Discussing and comparing legislative acheivements between Clinton and Obama is like having Cleveland Browns fans and Chicago Cubs fans discussing post-season exploits in the modern era.
and NOW…we return to our Hiatus…still in progress.
Am I the only one who hears a dog-whistle @ 3 in the Morning?
Posted: March 1, 2008 Filed under: Boondocks, Campaign 2008, Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Obama Leave a comment »I don’t like the look of this spot at all.
What is it about sleeping babies @ 3AM and a ringing phone in the White House that makes the two at all relevant.
I mean, really now, it was 8:45 am when the first plane hit the towers.
And let us not even discuss what Bill Clinton was doing during a few of HIS White House Phone calls (withdrawn, he said snarkily).
I am missing out on what it is that makes us think that somehow the world is only going to go to hell in the middle of the night.
Which means…There is something else going on.
Allow me to translate, as it revealed itself to me at first blush.
“Do you trust that Black man with the funny name to protect your precious babies at 3AM? Because you know that’s when Black men like to come and rob your house.”
Heck, why stop there, Go ahead and get Uncle Ruckus involved:
Yeah, NSFW (its a BOONDOCKS clip, c’mon now)
UPDATE: Oh….THIS didn’t take Long.
and neither did this:
Ninth Day of Black History Month: The Struggle Continues
Posted: February 10, 2008 Filed under: Black History Month, Boondocks, Candorville, Darrin Bell, Prickly City 2 Comments »We live in a time where one of the front runners for president of the United States is a Black Man (spare me the details, it is what it is).
It is easy for many to act like this is the big moment and that suddenly we don’t have to worry about racial progress. The fact remains is that in even the most mundane issues, (one man’s mundane issue is another man way to feed his family, mind you) There are still mountains to climb.
Tomorrow there will be a protest registered to highlight another obstacle that exists for people of color.
You could call it a sit-in, of sorts. Perhaps a sketch-in would be more appropriate, a comic call to arms, with cartoonists of color protesting for greater presence in newspaper pages. Protesting in the best way they know: drawing about it, en masse, all on the same day.
Because, these artists say, “Candorville” does not equal “Boondocks” or “Curtis” or “Wee Pals” or “Herb and Jamaal.” And “La Cucaracha” does not equal “Baldo” or “Gordo” and especially not “Cafe con Leche.”
But for one day — this Sunday — 11 cartoonists of color will be drawing essentially the same comic strip, using irony to literally illustrate that point. In each strip, the artists will portray a white reader grousing about a minority-drawn strip, complaining that it’s a “Boondocks” rip-off and blaming it on “tokenism.” “It’s the one-minority rule,” says Lalo Alcaraz (“La Cucaracha”). “We’ve got one black guy and we’ve got one Latino. There’s not room for anything else.”
Now I will be honest. I’ve never read the Comics in my local Newspaper (the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, or should I say the Fort Worth edition of the McClatchy Press) because clearly the Editors didn’t want me to.
In fact, Let me stop and go peep today’s comics and see what I am missing.
*leaves to retrieve today’s comics out of the recycle can*
Hmm…Let’s see.
Two full Pages…a total of 32 Multi-panel strips and 10 singles. They stash Mallard Fillmore over on the Opinion Page where I do my best to ignore it.
Yup.
That good ole stand by Curtis and Baldo hold it down for the Cartoons of color.
This one was pretty good though
I take my comics seriously. I started out reading the Sunday Comics in the as Pittsburgh Press (RIP) as a child. I always read the comics, even as an adult.
Then Came the Boondocks. I was a Boondocks Stan. I remembered them in the Source (the original Source, not that thing they trot out now) . A good friend of mine knew Aaron Magruder and I even met the cat once. Cool Cat.
I can’t speak for you, but I remember picking up the Washington Post everyday to see what Huey and Riley were up to. To be honest, as amused as I am by the Cartoon Network version there is no comparison to the glory days of the comic strip. Then one day, my divorce-fueled mental breakdown took hold and I stopped following it religiously.
I never really got back to it like I should have. That is my fault.
I moved to Pittsburgh and migrated to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where The Boondocks had migrated to the Opinion section.
Then I moved to Texas and since the Fort Worth Star-Telegram apparently had cancelled the Strip becuase apparently folk caught feelings. (you know how sensitive Republicans can be.)
Then, I just stopped even Looking.
Last night while radio surfing I came across Darrin Bell on the PRI Radio show Fair Game
Darrin Bell is a the creator of the Comic Strip Candorville, which i have NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN MY LIFE.
I was inspired all over again.
We need to Support this brother and his quest to bring More color to the funny pages and not just the color on the pages on Sunday.
I did my part. Look out for The Ink Sponsoring a strip one day soon.
(The Soundtrack to Today’s Post was brought to you by The Neptunes)
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Now playing: Eric Benet – Love Don’t Love Me feat. Pharrell and Clipse
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Now playing: Pras Feat. Kelis & Cipse – Watcha Gonna Do[Neptunes Remix]
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David Shuster, lemme holla @ you for a minute
Posted: February 9, 2008 Filed under: Boondocks, Chelsea Clinton, David Shuster, Lemme Holla 4 Comments »Let us pour a little out for the immediate Career fortunes of David Shuster, shall we?
Be on the Lookout for the new book: How to Slang Your Way Out of a Job by David ShusterFor those of you who AREN’T on the crack of cable news political reporting, please watch the following video.
Now, once upon a time, when you said the word “Pimp” as a verb you were referring specifically to he that employs a woman to, ahem, entertain a man in exchange for money. That money went to the person, presumably a man, who put the woman in “business”.
That literal meaning still holds, but there have arisen more metaphorical definitions. These definitions include one that relates to the act of securing person A to work for person B’s benefit.
Of course, in the omnipresent eyes of the media cycle and under scrutiny that has ratched up several notches by virtue of poor word choice in some cases, nefarious political machinations in others, plain simple lack of common sense in others, and a combination of all those in the rest.
Mr. Shuster seemed clearly to be interested in being cutting edge by taking a risque’ verb and jabbing a heretofore pristine subject.
And let me add, parenthetically, that I understand the underlying issue involved and I have been rather bemused by the fact that Chelsea Clinton has played such a visible role while never taking fire from the media.
All that said, Dude was DEAD ASS WRONG.
So, Mr. Shuster, lemme holla @ you for a minute.
You DO understand that you fucked up NOW, right?
Your emails initially showed me that you didn’t quite understand the fuss.
C’mon dude, SHE WAS THE FIRST KID FOR EIGHT YEARS.
SHE’S WAS THE ONLY PERSON WITH THE LAST NAME CLINTON THAT PEOPLE HAVE NEVER HATED.
WTF WERE YOU THINKING???
Okay, I know you were thinking, but
WHY WEREN’T YOU THINKING ABOUT HOW NASTY IT SOUNDS TO BE TALKING ABOUT A MOTHER PIMPING HER CHILD???????
You know what? I can’t talk to folk who ain’t got good sense.
Since you wanna learn about pimpin, talk to my favorite pimp
Youtube link deleted.
No, wait. I can’t do that. Then I would be as stupid as David Shuster.
Dave, you can find him on Youtube, handle ya business.
