DarkStar Spouts Off

Once Again, Baltimore Police Fail

Once again, the Baltimore City Police Department fails to protect
people UNDER POLICE PROTECTION. A mother and her
young child, were murdered while staying at an apartment provided to
them for protection while the police were investigating a murder. The
police department claims the murder can't be related to the
investigation because the case is not slated to begin anytime soon.

WHAT!!!!!!!!!

If that's the case, why put the family in police protection in the
first damn place!?!?!?!

If There Is A Violent Revolution, It's Going To Be Because of TSA

If there is a violent revolution in the United States, I swear it is going to be because of the insanity that happens under the guise of "security" by the TSA.

In the latest controversy surrounding Transportation Security Administration policies over intrusive body pat-downs, the agency sought to defend its actions in the case of a 95-year-old cancer patient who was forced to remove her adult diaper during a search.

Jean Weber of Destin, Fla., said she was escorting her mother, who suffers from leukemia, to Michigan on June 18 to live with family members before moving into an assisted living facility, according to published reports.

 

Weber told CNN that a TSA officer at Northwest Florida Regional Airport near Pensacola, Fla., felt something "suspicious" on her mother's leg during a patdown. Weber said her mother was taken to a private room. The officer then told Weber that her mother's Depend undergarment was wet and was getting in the way of a complete search. The officer asked for it to be removed, which Weber did in a restroom.

 

"It's something I couldn't imagine happening on American soil," Weber told the Panama City News-Herald Friday. "Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this."

I swear these folks, who have questionable IQ, do it for sick kicks. Seriously, are the people hired forced to undergo psychological evaluations? HOw many have control issues or are socio-paths?

Fox News vs. Comedy Central

How can Chis Wallace be serious in comparing Fox News to Comedy Central?

Isn't NEWS different in focus and presentation than COMEDY?

I mean, DAMN! I understand trying to "defend" your employer, but how do you defend your employer by trying to draw an equivalence between the two networks?

Jon Stewart

After seeing the heavily edited Fox News Sunday interview of Jon Stewart, I'm now convinced FNS is afraid his political satire hits too close to home.

[ UPDATE ]

Here's a link to the video.

My Project 21 Experience and a Former Black Republican

Hat tip to Booker Rising for this one:

I was one of those rare species: a black Republican, the guy willing to spit into the wind of conventional thought, who was often showcased on camera at party events to prove inclusiveness.

But as a proud black man, I can no longer be a member of the Republican Party.

...

I have had the pleasure of serving as president of the Sacramento Republican Assembly, a term as a member of the California Republican Party executive committee, and most recently as treasurer of the Sacramento County Republican Party.

Last year alone, I donated more than 400 hours of my time to the Republican Party and made financial contributions to a number of Republican candidates.

As of late, however, when I look at myself in the mirror there is one question which perplexes me: Can I, in good conscience, remain affiliated with an organization whose message purveyors of racism and bigotry find attractive?

Generally speaking, Republicans are decent people, and naturally, many of my closest friends vote Republican. As with any large organization or group, there will always be people at the fringes who hold views that are not representative of the body.

An organization cannot control the behavior of each individual actor, but it can control its response to abhorrent conduct.

The latest incident in a string of tawdry, race-based actions was the promotion of a racist cartoon by elected Orange County Republican Party Central Committee member Marilyn Davenport. The cartoon depicted President Barack Obama and his parents as chimpanzees, while simultaneously implying that the president is not a legitimate American, but rather an African-born interloper.

What does that have to do with my Project 21 experience?

Here is the short version because I'm on a tech blitz to learn something and I'm taking a break.

Some time ago, I started asking questions of the then head of Project 21. After some back and forth, he invited me to be a member of an email list and I accepted. That list had a number of Black Republicans and Black conservatives on it. I lurked for a little be to get an understanding of what was going on before I chimed in. During that time, the FIRST Trent Lott association with the Council of Conservative Citizens came up. The list lit up with people saying they were tired of this kind of crap and the minority outreach group within the Republican party needed to make a public denouncement. Others said nothing needs to be said publicly but something should be done behind the scenes. Others said NOTHING AT ALL should happen and all should move on. That was the position of a person who was chair if the Republican minority outreach "effort" as well as some others.

At that time, I saw accusations of sellout being used and a non-response would be a justification of non-Republican Blacks calling Black Republicans Uncle Tom.  At that time, I was under the idea that all active party Black Republicans were on the same page and considered the charges of Uncle Tom as being unfair. However, some of THEM were calling others names and some of THEM were saying the larger Black community is some what justified in their views of the Republican party.

Since then my approach to public Black Republicans has changed and now that I am one -- at least for now anyway -- my arguments are more nuanced and come from an inside perspective.

The article the quote comes from is, really, nothing. The IN DEPTH thoughts of Ken Barnes are provided in this radio interview. I'm telling you, this interview is SERIOUS and, as I have maintained, once again PROVES the general idea of the Republican party not being hospitable to Blacks, cannot be dismissed. That's even with Ken Blackwell or Allen West or Herman Cain or the likes, taken into consideration.

Listen to the man talk about WORKING FROM THE INSIDE and his frustrations over what continued to happen.

I Don't Know Why I Keep Watching This

The Washington Post Is Sleazy

The Washington Post is sleazy:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/help-analyze-the-palin-emails/2011/06/08/AGZAaHNH_blog.html

Over 24,000 e-mail messages to and from former Alaska governor Sarah
Palin during her tenure as Alaska's governor will be released Friday.
That's a lot of e-mail for us to review so we're looking for some help
from Fix readers to analyze, contextualize, and research those e-mails
right alongside Post reporters over the days following the release.

We are limiting this to just 100 spots for people who will work
collaboratively in small teams to surface the most important
information from the e-mails. Participants can join from anywhere with
a computer and an Internet connection.


Asking its readers to help them, The Post, go through the Sarah Palin
emails, shows two things:
1. The media cut backs have hurt their investigative abilities.
2. The Post is being "selective" about who it chooses to go after for
in depth investigations.

The latter is pretty bad given The Post's ombudsman has slammed The
Post for not reporting on educational issues that the Post's parent
company has interest and into potential land deals that will benefit
the parent company of The Post.

I saw this yesterday and a power outage prevented me from writing this
up. But looking at the link, now, check this out:


We have had a strong response to our crowdsourcing call-out on the
Palin e-mails. We've reconsidered our approach and now would like to
invite comments and annotations from any interested readers.

Herman Cain: "Blacks Are Too Poor" To Attend TEA Parties

Herman Cain is quoted as saying Blacks are too poor to attend TEA
parties because they are too busy working and not enough Blacks have
jobs that will allow them to take off and that not enough Blacks are
business owners so they can take off. Let me provide my take on what
Cain said.

If Blacks are too busy working an too poor to attend the TEA party
rallies, what is that saying about those who ARE attending? Does it
say they are rich? Does it say they don't work hard? Does it say they
are, by extension, rich business owners?

But isn't the common narrative about TEA party members is that they
are everyday people? And that the business owners who take part are
not "fat cats" but the mom and pop owners who work long hours every
day to maintain and attempt to grow their businesses?

Did Herman Cain, in his attempt to defend the TEA party from racist
charges, just take down the common narrative about the TEA party
people?

NAACP Makes An Interesting Case For Punishing School Children

In an opinion article that appeared in The Washington Post, Ben Jealous makes an interesting defense of the NAACP for suing the NY school system:

There are two issues we are particularly concerned about.

First, the city has located charter schools under the same roofs as traditional public schools in a way that is unfair and unjust.

...

■ Students in the traditional public school must now eat lunch at 10 a.m. so that charter school students can enjoy lunch at noon.

■ The “regular school’s children” had library access for a little over four hours so that the “new charter school’s kids” could have access for almost seven.

■ “Traditional school students” were moved to a basement, where they were next to the boiler room, to make room for their charter school peers, and teachers of the regular students were forced to teach in the halls due to lack of space.

We are asking that the court require the city to follow state law and handle these shared space situations equitably.

Second, inequitable co-locations exacerbate the problem created by the city’s persistent failure to follow the law and engage parents before making major changes. New York state law requires the city to involve parents before announcing its intention to shut down a school or make way for a charter to share a school’s space.

In Maryland, charter schools, WHICH ARE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, are required to find their own spaces. If they use the space of the school, the school system had to have already closed a school at that location. If what Ben Jealous wrote is accurate, then they have a good reason to sue. If what Ben Jealous wrote is accurate, this is a good defense of their case. HOWEVER, if this is the case, why go in with the  teachers union? The NAACP's case stands on its own merit.

Unfortunately, Ben Jealous raises this question but doesn't address it.

 

Mindle$$ Activitie$

OK, these have me ready to spend money on mindless activities that I think I will enjoy.

"X Men", "Green Lantern", "Transformers", "Planet of the Apes",  "Harry Potter" and "Cars 2". The movie companies will be getting bank off of me.