posted December 30, 2010 11:02 PM            

I've looked at his chart before, never saw anything that special in it other than the Asc ruler conj NN in Leo in 7th, and Jupiter at the Aries pt in Aqua in the 12th.

His chart has an Eastern influence which means he needs other people to get his aims met, he can't do it alone. He can't shore up support on his own. Asc ruler/nn 7th again points to dependence on these relationships for realization. Also he has the Mc ruler in the 7th, to point more to this, and its pluto so he's intense about getting people to ride along on his parade, very serious about gaining support from wherever he can. This is one of his downfalls because ultimately it makes him look wimpy and indecisive. The people want decisive action. Pluto is squaring the Moon, but I haven't seen any outbursts from him, on the contrary i think he's displayed the airiness more of the aqua asc, gem moon, h7 emphasis. But it's there, tho I wish he would use it more, he definitely needs to, to show that he has some balls, cos the air is not helping him in that respect..I wonder if he's afraid of showing that side of himself for fear of what others would think, losing key support, I bet that's it, but it is there. Then he has a lovely Merc sq Neptune...Sun in the 6th puts him at automatic disadvantage, sq Neptune in the 9th he has higher ideals and is ripe for self-deception, deception of others, and carrying projection.

posted December 30, 2010 11:32 PM            

President Obama is in a "damned if he does, damned if he doesn't" situation just for being who he is.

A president can only do so much with the support of Congress

to some people, he's too dark
to some people, he's too light
to some people, he's too liberal
to some people, he's too conservative

some people believe that he's not even an American citizen and that he was born in Kenya

some people believe that he's not a Christian but a muslim
There is a lot of prejudice against Arabs,Muslims here

some people believe that he's an anti-white racist because of his connections with Jeremiah Wright who is black liberation theologist. Black Liberation Theology was at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a black liberation theologist. He was a minister.

some people believe that he's for the corporations

some people believe that he's a far left Marxist socialist and even communist
This is from his history as a community organizer.

Whatever he does or doesn't do, Barack is going to displease a lot of people

I hope that a Republican gets elected.

I strongly doubt that Sarah Palin will. After that Katie Couric interview, I don't think so.

There was no chance with Sarah Palin being president. She's a very conservative,far right person. It would have turned off many moderates and independents.

I'd rather Barack Obama get a 2nd term. I'd be glad if there was a better Democrat candidate than him though.

I feel that we're much better off with him than we are with the Republicans.

There is also a big racial/ethnic divide in the perceptions of Barack Obama. Most Blacks,African Americans feel that USA is better with Barack Obama in office. I live in a predominantly Black,African American community. A lot of Blacks,African Americans here think highly of Obama.

Maybe it's because after 43 straight European American presidents, there is finally somebody with some apparent Black African ancestry that is president.

Blacks African Americans mainly vote Democratic because The Democratic Party is the more liberal of the two. It was the part of Lyndon B. Johnson that signed the Civil Rights Bill. The Democratic and Republican parties have been realigned since the passing of the Civil Rights Act. It's not the same party that supported slavery and the Klu Klux Klan in the old days.

Of course, a vast majority of Black African Americans are Democrats. This definitely occurred before Barack Obama ran for president.

A lot of people wanted universal health care, but a lot of people were against it.

He's done compromising because political,ideological,racial/ethnic discord has put him against the wall.

If you read comments to anything about him on yahoo boards, you will see what I am talking about.

It fits with USA's almost exact Sun-Eris opposition in Right Ascension, Barack Obama's Sun-Eris bilevel (trine,contraparallel).

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 30, 2010 11:44 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lonake:
I'll say it again, the people want decisive action and they're not getting it.
It is possible to give a lot of people what they want, the key is to frame what you're going to do in a different way depending on your audience. That's what good politicians do. There's a million ways you could frame each platform. It's not lying exactly, it's the way it's emphasized.

I will say the Republicans hated that he even got in there, and they got what they wanted cos now he looks like a fool.

---

I disagree

I believe the problem is the ideological,racial/ethnic,and political discord in this nation.

It's a huge problem, and it is so obvious.

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 30, 2010 11:55 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lonake:
We've gone further in that realm than you think.

The mess we're in has more to do with the way money is run through this country, and the way that one of the biggest businesses is war.

---

I strongly disagree.
A lot of people would disagree,and that includes especially ethnic/racial minorities.

There are still a problems.
A lot of it is just subtle and less overt.

Just because there is no slavery, Jim Crow segregation laws, and interracial relationship bans any more here doesn't mean that ideological,racial/ethnic,political discord is no longer a big problem.

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 12:04 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lonake:
There's always going to be discord on a racial level, you think it's going to go away anytime soon? There are racist people of every color, let's not single out non-blacks here.

---

Look

Don't talk to me like am ignorant and stupid.

As a person who is multiracial/multiethnic and part Black,I have been around racism. I heard it. I have seen it. I read it. I have experienced it.

So don't sit and lecture me about racism.

Yes..I know that there are racists of all color.

You don't have to tell me that.

There is still a lot more racism against blacks than there is against whites.

Whites are the majority ,and blacks are the minority.

If all whites were racist, all blacks would be slaves.
If all blacks were racist, whites still wouldn't be slaves

There are strong disparities between blacks and whites including things like the justice,prison,education,poverty,and other things.

After 43 white male presidents, USA finaly got a president that's not a white male.

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 12:13 AM            

Racism IS STILL A BIG ISSUE

"The United States is doing little to comply with an international
agreement to end racial discrimination and has downplayed widespread
racism, charged an American Civil Liberties Union report released
yesterday." http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x773671370

DEKALB, Ill.---- Black students attending Northern Illinois University say they feel unsafe after racial slurs and references to shootings earlier this year at Virginia Tech were found scrawled on a bathroom wall.
The university, which was closed Monday as a security precaution, is scheduled to reopen Tuesday. http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/691002,niu121107.article

Racial microaggressions add up, researchers say http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/820146.html

African-Americans are 10 times more likely than whites to serve prison terms for drug offenses, even though the rate of drug use doesn't differ significantly between the two groups, a new national study says. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07345/840756-85.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml

Overlooking racism may lead to undiagnosed mental health disorders http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/vu-orm091503.php

Being African American increases a mentally ill individual’s chance of being diagnosed with schizophrenia and reduces the likelihood of that person’s receiving an affective disorder diagnosis. While data have pointed to this fact for several years, psychiatrists are beginning to assess the ramifications of this finding for blacks and how it adds a host of complicating factors to their treatment. http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/10/17

CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests the possibility of racial and other disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with schizophrenia and comorbid affective and anxiety disorders. Although various causal explanations are plausible, all point toward the need for enhanced cross-cultural competence at all levels of mental health care, especially in the diagnosis and treatment of comorbid psychiatric illnesses. http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/52/9/1216

Causes, Effects, and Resolutions for Misdiagnosis of African Americans in the Mental Health Sector http://freednerd.wordpress.com/2006/10/

The (Mis)Diagnosis of Mental Disorder in African Americans
Harold W. Neighbors, Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public
Health, The University of Michigan www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu/prba/perspectives/winter1997/hneighbors.pdf

Clinical Depression And African Americans http://www.health.am/ab/more/clinical_depression_and_african_americans/

Dec 1, 1999 | It took only a few weeks on the job for William Lawson to notice that there was something very strange going on. The psychiatrist had just joined the staff of the John L. McClellan Veterans Hospital in North Little Rock, Ark., and already he had seen patient after patient -- dozens of them, as it turned out -- with the same ill-fitting diagnosis. All African-American men, all veterans of combat in the Vietnam War, they suffered from terrifying nightmares, gut-twisting anxiety, flashbacks of fighting -- classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet they'd been assigned a very different condition: schizophrenia. http://dir.salon.com/story/books/it/1999/12/01/schizo?sid=476003

Are schools failing black boys?
Eight percent of the children in America’s public school are black boys, yet their representation in the nation’s special education classes is nearly twice that: 15 percent. African American males are also three times likely as white males to be enrolled in special education programs for "mildly to moderately mentally retarded," according to a 1992 report released by the Office of Civil Rights. http://www.terry.uga.edu/~dawndba/4500FailingBlkBoys.html

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the degree to which Black students are overrepresented and misplaced in special education, as a result of current testing and placement practices, insufficient parental knowledge of special education rights and responsibilities, and the need for more cultural diversity training for teachers. The two subjects interviewed were a special education teacher/chairperson and a principal; both employed in the same school. A class of special education students was unknowingly observed. Interview responses show little satisfaction with the current methods of placing Black children into special education programs. The observations demonstrated that the majority of the children did not need to be placed there. The use of Black psychologists, increased parental support and knowledge, a non-biased test for placement and increased preservice and inservice training was recommended. http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/peterz1.html

Minority parents want prompt diagnosis of child autism
In Hartford, Merva Jackson, executive director of the nonprofit African Caribbean American Parents of Children With Disabilities, said she believes that many black children with autism-spectrum disorders are misdiagnosed as having defiant, oppositional or behavioral problems.
"I think it's just a lack of knowledge" on the part of black families about what autism is, said Jackson, as well as cultural insensitivities or racism on the part of doctors and other professionals who evaluate children. http://www.dailytidings.com/2007/0525/stories/0525_bp_autism.php

According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%. http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm

Job applicants with African-American sounding names are far less likely to get a callback as are similarly qualified "white" candidates, according to researchers at the University of Chicago and MIT, who submitted 5,000 bogus resumes in response to job ads. Half the resumes bore stereotypical African-American names such as Latonya and Tyrone; half sported traditionally Anglo names like Kristin and Brad. http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20030430-000001.html

Can a 'Black' Name Affect Job Prospects?
Can a Black-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?
But capable doesn't always matter. A job recruiter for Fortune 500 companies in northern California revealed an ugly secret."There is rampant racism everywhere. And people who deny that are being naïve," said the recruiter, who spoke on the condition her name would not be used. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=124232&page=3

Thomas is one of eight black women suing the department store for racial discrimination after she allegedly was told that Dillard's beauty salons charge black customers more than whites because of the "kinky" nature of "ethnic" hair. http://www.courttv.com/people/2006/0425/dillardssalon_ctv.html

Black Customers File Discrimination Lawsuit Against Waffle House http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/georgia/news-article.aspx?storyid=31028

(CNN) -- Most Americans, white and black, see racism as a lingering problem in the United States, and many say they know people who are racist, according to a new poll.
But few Americans of either race -- about one out of eight -- consider themselves racist.
And experts say racism has evolved from the days of Jim Crow to the point that people may not even recognize it in themselves. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/12/racism.poll/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush acknowledged persistent racism in America and lamented the Republican Party's bumpy relations with black voters as he addressed the NAACP's annual convention Thursday for the first time in his presidency.
"I understand that racism still lingers in America," Bush told the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It's a lot easier to change a law than to change a human heart. And I understand that many African-Americans distrust my political party." http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8IVQT000&show_article=1

The researchers performed fMRIs on 13 white participants. During the scans, participants viewed a series of faces -– some of which could be consciously seen and some of which were presented so quickly that participants did not report seeing them. The researchers found that for the ultra-brief subliminal images, amygdala activity was greater in response to black faces than to white faces, suggesting that at least initially, black faces provoked a stronger emotional reaction than white faces. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/hu-bar120804.php

Stereotypes of black people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_Blacks

Despite the fact that half of all blacks say they have experienced discrimination in the past 30 days, whites persist in believing that we know their realities better than they do, and that black complaints of racism are the rantings of oversensitive racial hypochondriacs. Blacks, we seem to believe, make mountains out of molehills, for Lord knows we would never make a molehill out of a mountain! http://www.guerrillanews.com/threads/13568/why_whites_think_blacks_have_no_problems

Being Black and Beautiful Against Stereotypes http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/entertainment/index/beautiful042507

Affirmative Action: Who Benefits? http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/affirmaction.html

No Surprise - Skin Tone Study Reveals Preference for Light-Skinned Employees http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/skintonestudy925

WASHINGTON (NNPA)- Some thought color discrimination among African Americans had pretty much blown away with the black cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.
But according to sociologists, academics and other measures of the nation's social barometer, the issue is still rooted in day-to-day life. http://www.frostillustrated.com/atf.php?sid=2381

Failed party promotion underscores color divide between US black women
Yasmine Toney describes herself as a "dark-skinned sista." So when she heard about a recent club promotion in Detroit, allowing all-night free admission to black women with fair or light skin, she was incensed.
"It's offensive," Toney said. "It continues a negative stereotype."
"I'm perceived to be aggressive, assertive, attitude-having ... a lot of things, because my complexion is darker," said the 24-year-old receptionist. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/19/america/NA-GEN-US-Skin-Tone.php

Obviously Wright made some true statements. I feel that a lot of people are blind to the reality of what blacks(especially darkskinned blacks) still deal with in regards to racism,discrimination,bigotry,and mistreatment. When a black preacher points it out,they are seen as crazy,racist,and God knows what else. I have a big problem with that. I am very concerned about how people can be so naive and be in denial about racism. We still have a long way to go to achieve Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's dream.

I want to reiterate that all racism,discrimination,bigotry,and mistreatment is wrong......it doesn't matter if you're Black,White,Native American,Asian,Pacific Islander,or whatever a person's background is.

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 12:18 AM            

The United States is doing little to comply with an international agreement to end racial discrimination and has downplayed widespread racism, charged an American Civil Liberties Union report released yesterday.

In 1994, the United States signed a United Nations treaty to end all forms of racial discrimination.

But according to the ACLU, when the United States updated the international community on its progress in April, it "swept under the rug" problems such as racial profiling, the disproportionate incarceration of minorities, and civil rights violations against immigrants.

Vera Dias-Freitas, a Framingham businesswoman who has lived in Massachusetts for 19 years, said that despite being an American citizen she has faced more discrimination and anti-immigrant sentiment in recent years.

"There are kids being beat up in school, storefronts being thrown stones at, things that didn't happen before," she said, attributing the change to increased media and public focus on illegal immigration.

"At a certain point they will have to accept us because they are on the wrong side of the equation ... we are just trying to live our lives."

Local and state governments are not doing enough to eradicate racism where it has been identified, said a panel of ACLU staff members and minority rights advocates at a State House press conference yesterday.

Among the examples of inaction cited by the report was a 2000 Massachusetts law, which found that 249 of 341 local police departments showed racial disparities in traffic stops, but allowed the departments to stop reporting disparities after one year.

"You tend to think you're addressing the issues as necessary, but we can do a better job (enforcing) anti-discrimination laws," said state Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, who serves on a legislative commission to end racial health disparities in Massachusetts.

Koutoujian said the commission has impressed him with the effect of discrimination on health, stress, and every aspect of life.

"Racism is far more than individual racial prejudice - racism is cultural and structural ... institutional discrimination against people of color by people we call white," state Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston, said at the press conference.

Rushing said that Massachusetts is not exempt from the ACLU's criticism, pointing to the lawsuit that a black ACLU employee won last week after being unfairly detained at Logan Airport because of his appearance.

A federal jury ruled that state police had unlawfully stopped King Downing, coordinator of the ACLU campaign against racial profiling, without reasonable suspicion. The jury did not award Downing any damages.

"For many Americans, human rights violations are about what happens over there, in some remote corner of Africa called Darfur, perhaps, or in an Iraq prison cell ... respect for universal human rights begins at home," said Steven Watt, one of the ACLU report's authors at the press conference.

Watt said the information that the U.S. State Department submitted to the United Nations in April was replete with inaccuracies.

Yet the U.S. report discusses many of the same problems identified by the ACLU: bias against people of Arab and South Asian descent, subtle and overt discrimination against minorities, and disparities in education and achievement, among others.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said she had not seen the ACLU report, but that "the Department of State has taken a firm stance on human rights over the years both at home and abroad." http://www.dailynewstribune.com/homepage/x773671370

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 12:19 AM            

(CNN) -- Most Americans, white and black, see racism as a lingering problem in the United States, and many say they know people who are racist, according to a new poll.

But few Americans of either race -- about one out of eight -- consider themselves racist.

And experts say racism has evolved from the days of Jim Crow to the point that people may not even recognize it in themselves. (Watch how many blacks are still afraid to stop in a Texas town Video)

A poll conducted last week by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN indicates that whites and blacks disagree on how serious a problem racial bias is in the United States.

Almost half of black respondents -- 49 percent -- said racism is a "very serious" problem, while 18 percent of whites shared that view. Forty-eight percent of whites and 35 percent of blacks chose the description "somewhat serious." (See the poll results)

Asked if they know someone they consider racist, 43 percent of whites and 48 percent of blacks said yes.

But just 13 percent of whites and 12 percent of blacks consider themselves racially biased.

The poll was based on phone interviews conducted December 5 through Thursday with 1,207 Americans, including 328 blacks and 703 non-Hispanic whites.
Blind to bias?

University of Connecticut professor Jack Dovidio, who has researched racism for more than 30 years, estimates up to 80 percent of white Americans have racist feelings they may not even recognize.

"We've reached a point that racism is like a virus that has mutated into a new form that we don't recognize," Dovidio said.

He added that 21st-century racism is different from that of the past.

"Contemporary racism is not conscious, and it is not accompanied by dislike, so it gets expressed in indirect, subtle ways," he said.

That "stealth" discrimination reveals itself in many different situations.

A three-year undercover investigation by the National Fair Housing Alliance found that real estate agents steered whites away from integrated neighborhoods and steered blacks toward predominantly black neighborhoods.

"Racism here is quite subtle," e-mailed CNN.com reader Blair William, originally from Trinidad, who now lives in Lexington, South Carolina. "I think that the issue is twofold. I believe that white America's perception of blacks is still generally negative based on their limited interaction with blacks, whether this is via the media or in person. ...

"On the other hand, black Americans need to stop devaluing themselves and their people," he added. "Another race can only respect you if you respect yourself and currently, I find that blacks still devalue and disgrace each other and themselves."
Applicants' names may sway employers

Racism also can be a factor in getting a job. (Watch how poll respondents feel about race and the top job in the U.S. Video)

Candidates named Emily O'Brien or Neil McCarthy were much more likely to get calls back from potential employers than applicants named Tamika Williams and Jamal Jackson, even though they had the same credentials, according to a study by the University of Chicago.

Racial bias may even determine whether you can flag a cab.

New York Times writer Calvin Sims recently wrote about his experiences in the city.

"If a cab passes you by, obviously it is frustrating, it's degrading and it's just really confusing, because this is akin to being in the South and being refused service at a lunch counter, which is what happened in the '60s and '70s," he said.
'Differences ... make this world exciting'

The Opinion Research poll shows that blacks and whites disagree on how each race feels about the other.

Asked how many whites dislike blacks, 40 percent of black respondents said "all" or "many." Twenty-six percent of whites chose one of those replies.

On the question of how many blacks dislike whites, 33 percent of blacks said "all" or "many," while 38 percent of whites agreed -- not a significant difference statistically because of the poll's 5 percent margin of error.

About half of black respondents said they had been a victim of discrimination because of their race. A little more than a quarter of whites said they had been victims of racial discrimination.

"I am a firm believer that racism is rampant in the United States," wrote another CNN.com reader, Mark Boyle, of Muncie, Indiana.

"The concept of 'race' is flawed," he added. "Our differences as human beings are what make this world exciting and interesting. If we were all of the same culture, how boring would that be? The world needs to take a page from the atmosphere in Hawaii -- the most racially diverse place in which I have lived." http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/12/racism.poll/index.html

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 12:21 AM            

"I understand that racism still lingers in America," Bush told the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It's a lot easier to change a law than to change a human heart. And I understand that many African-Americans distrust my political party."

That line generated boisterous applause and cheers from the thousands in the audience, which generally gave the president a polite, reserved reception.

"I consider it a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historical ties with the African-American community," Bush said. "For too long, my party wrote off the African-American vote, and many African-Americans wrote off the Republican Party."

Black support for Republicans in elections has hovered around 10 percent for more than a decade. In 2004, Bush drew 11 percent of the black vote against Democrat John Kerry.

Most of the president's remarks were greeted with smatterings of applause, but many in the convention center stood up to clap when he urged the Senate to renew a landmark civil rights law passed in the to stop racist voting practices in the South.

"President Johnson called the right to vote the lifeblood of our democracy. That was true then and it remains true today," Bush said.

Bush, joined by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and chief political adviser Karl Rove, spoke as the Senate debated a bill to approve a 25-year extension of expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The House has passed the bill, and the Senate was expected to pass it quickly, propelled by a Republican push to increase the party's credibility with minorities.

For five years in a row, Bush has declined invitations to address the NAACP convention. This year, he said yes. He was introduced by NAACP head Bruce Gordon.

"Bruce was a polite guy," Bush said. "I thought what he was going to say, `It's about time you showed up.' And I'm glad I did."

He knew it would be a tough audience. According to AP-Ipsos polling conducted in June and July, 86 percent of blacks disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job as president, compared with 56 percent of whites who disapprove.

Bush said he saw his attendance at the convention as a moment of opportunity to celebrate the civil rights movement and the accomplishments of the NAACP.

"I come from a family committed to civil rights," Bush said. "My faith tells me that we are all children of God—equally loved, equally cherished, equally entitled to the rights He grants us all.

"For nearly 200 years, our nation failed the test of extending the blessings of liberty to African-Americans. Slavery was legal for nearly 100 years, and discrimination legal in many places for nearly 100 years more."

The White House denied claims that Bush's appearance was a way of atoning for the government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and some black elected officials alleged that indifference to black suffering and racial injustice was to blame for the sluggish reaction to the disaster.

Bush, noting that he has met several times with Gordon, and that they have discussed Katrina. "We've got a plan and we've got a commitment," Bush said. "It's commitment to the people of the Gulf Coast of the United States to see to it that their lives are brighter and better than before the storm."

Bush also recalled his visit in June to Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn., with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. While in Memphis, the two made an unscheduled stop at the National Civil Rights Museum at The Lorraine Motel, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. Bush and Koizumi emerged from a tour to stand on the spot on the motel balcony where King was slain.

They were joined by former NAACP head Benjamin Hooks.

"It's a powerful reminder of hardships this nation has been through in a struggle for decency," Bush said. "I was honored that Dr. Hooks took time to visit with me. He talked about the hardships of the movement. With the gentle wisdom that comes from experience, he made it clear we must work as one. And that's why I have come today."

Toward the end of his remarks, two protesters interrupted the president, shouting inquiries about Vice President Dick Cheney and the situation in the Middle East. "Don't worry. I'm almost done," Bush whispered to NAACP board chairman Julian Bond, one of the dignitaries with him on the stage.

"I know you can handle it," Bond replied. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8IVQT000&show_article=1

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 12:23 AM            

Glaucus acting as Google here,
you know to save space you could provide links.

posted December 31, 2010 12:25 AM            

By LINN WASHINGTON, Jr.

The same day that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama stood in Philadelphia delivering a stirring speech on racism in America, authorities shut down a section of I-95 in that city to conduct emergency repairs on a crumbling support beam.

In many ways this serious infrastructure damage to the East Coast's main north-south interstate highway--causing that closure--is as symbolic of conditions in America as the race-based 'Rev. Wright' controversy triggering Obama's speech.

America's infrastructure--from bridges to railroads to pipes delivering drinking water--is crumbling because of chronic inattention.

The chronic inability of America to really address racism has corroded its lofty promises since before the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia over 200-years ago. Obama began that speech quoting from the Preamble to the Constitution.

Remarks regarding racism in America by Rev. Jeremiah Wright--the retiring pastor of the Chicago church Obama attends--have become fodder in this year's contentious presidential campaign.

Yet, is Wright wrong about racism--as Obama stated in that speech--or is he right? Are Wright's remarks treasonous as some critics proclaim or do his remarks reveal truths that for many are not self-evident?

Many slam Wright for raising a historically correct albeit uncomfortable fact: the role of racism in America's founding.

The US Constitution that Obama quoted at the outset of his speech enshrined slavery--a point the Senator discussed in the first dozen sentences of that speech.

America's first president, George Washington, kept slaves in the Executive Mansion he occupied in Philadelphia during part of his presidency.

The location of the stable where Washington's slaves lived in Philadelphia is literally at the entrance of the current pavilion housing the iconic Liberty Bell. That stable housing Washington's slaves was steps from Independence Hall, the building where America's Founders approved the Constitution.

Rev. Wright is not the first black to provoke criticism for criticizing constitutional shortcomings.

Legendary US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall sparked a firestorm in 1987 when he criticized imperfections in the Constitution--like slavery and barring women from voting--during a speech in Philadelphia celebrating the bicentennial of that document.

Critics call Rev. Wright un-American for assailing America's skewed priorities like spending for prisons while short-changing public education and job creation.

During the 1990s Pennsylvania authorities built eleven new prisons yet only one new public high school in Philadelphia, Rev. Wright's hometown. According to Pa government statistics, most of the people sent to that state's prisons are unemployed and undereducated.

Two months ago, America celebrated a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights activist who consistently urged America to rise above its racism--a central theme of Obama's recent speech.

Dr. King provoked intense criticism during the last year of his life for assailing America's skewed priorities, particularly funding a foreign war (Vietnam) while failing to fully attack poverty from Harlem to the hollows of Appalachia.

On the day of his death Dr. King was in Memphis, TN fighting against employment discrimination, a recurring problem in America.

The first major race riot in Philadelphia (1834) involved whites rampaging to bar blacks from jobs.

Six years ago, protests against discriminatory exclusion of minority and female construction workers cast a shadow over completion of the Constitution Center--the magnificent multi-media museum where Obama delivered that Philadelphia speech.

Just weeks before Obama's speech, clashes over continuing construction industry racism dominated deliberations about expanding Philadelphia's Convention Center.

Forty years ago--Feb 1968--the Kerner Commission issued recommendations calling for massive action "backed by resources" to address America's infamous legacy of racism--recommendations never fully funded due partly to siphoning resources into the Vietnam War.

Consistent calls over the past decade for addressing America's crumbling infrastructure encounter claims that 'no-cash' is availabledespite the federal government's ability to find over $500-billion for the Iraq War that hit the five-year mark this month.

Rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure provides an excellent vehicle for addressing a concern critical to the nation's viability that also energizes the faltering economy with jobs and business opportunities.

The $6-billion cost Pa's Governor recently said is needed to modernize I-95 through his state alone equals a few months of Iraq War costs.

Pumping cash into needed infrastructure renovations can also address the poverty and prejudice underlying America's perennial 'race' problem.

Federal funding for infrastructure upgrades is not unique.

During an economic downturn in the mid-1970s, for example, the federal government distributed two billion dollars to state and local governments for public works projects to stimulate the national economy.

Interestingly, the exclusion of minority contractors from that stimulus resulted in a minority set-aside that prompted a lawsuit from Philadelphia-area contractors backed by trade unions claiming reverse discrimination despite their receipt of over 99% of the initial allocation and 90% under the set-aside provision.

Recounting America's past and present racism by Rev. Wright or others does not brand all whites racist, assert that racism is a barrier to all blacks or ignore the nuances of inequities confronting too many Americas regardless of color or creed.

When America's Founding Fathers issued their Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia over two centuries ago, many in England were unaware of the "history of repeated injuries" that document listed against their King.

Forty years ago, the Introduction of the Kerner Commission report noted white Americans "never fully understood what [blacks] can never forget"--the role of white institutions in sustaining America's racially discriminatory society.

It may surprise some, but blacks want to move beyond racism also. Blacks have always wanted to move beyond racism but racism blocks advance.

In January 1800 Congress debated a petition signed by 73 Free Blacks living in Philadelphia asking for the extension of America's 'promises' of freedom and justice to persons of color. That petition was the first from blacks seeking an end to slavery. Additionally, that petition specifically sought congressional protection from the illegal practice of kidnapping Free Blacks into slavery.

Congress rejected that petition.

During debate on that petition at Independence Hall--two blocks from the Constitution Center--one congressman proclaimed "Thank God for slavery." Rev. Wright is pilloried today for asking God to "damn America" for its racism during a church sermon years ago.

In February 2008, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination faulted the US for failing to address racism against its racial minorities--criticism receiving scant news media attention in comparison to the orgy of coverage on comments by Rev. Wright.

Irrespective of Rev. Wright's remarks, it's wrong to put America's long festering race woes solely on the back of Barack.

Instead of Hillary Clinton or John McCain showing self-proclaimed leadership by denouncing the duplicity of using Obama's candidacy as a barometer for racism in America, the pair remained silent, savoring political advantage.

Politics like race is a time tested weapon of mass deception exploited to smoke-screen public attention important issues.

Near the dawn of the 20th-Century, power-brokers and their puppet politicians' foisted Jim Crow segregation to splinter inter-racial populism rising in the South at that time.

The 1896 US Supreme Court decision legalizing segregation resulted from a discrimination lawsuit in New Orleansthe city where the pathetic federal response to flooding a few years ago again exposed many Americans to realities of race/racism.

Forty years ago, the Kerner Commission declared the time was now to make good on the "promises of American democracy to all citizenswhite and black, Spanish-surname, American Indian and every minority group."

The Kerner Commission, like Obama in his speech, spoke about "unfinished business" of this Nation.

The issue today is as it was at the time of the 1968 Kerner Report and that 1800 congressional debate: making the promises of democracy real for all Americans.

We have the way. Do we still lack the collective will?

Linn Washington Jr. is a columnist for The Philadelphia Tribune.
http://www.counterpunch.org/washington03252008.html

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 12:28 AM            

Like I said, it all goes back to money.

When who holds the money changes, then the social views will change as well.
But people here like their comfort zones, I've seen. And those with $$$ have more resources to fight to keep it, than those without who have to fight to get it $$$.

Sad but I don't see it changing to the benefit of the greater good anytime soon.

And yes I've been called cynical.
I see it as realist.

posted December 31, 2010 12:40 AM            

any ways.....here goes...

Some people say that slavery in America ended in 1865 soon after the American Civil War although it had been abolished by various States and Territories as early as 1775. They say that in 1822 Liberia had been established as a safe-haven for freed African slaves in America, and trickle of emigrants gradually populated that that country, while the majority of former slaves stayed in America.
Then they use all that to argue that the former black slaves STAYED in America. They argue that they may have come here in chains, but when the chains were removed they stayed. Then they ask if America is such a terrible place for blacks,why would they they stay here.

Why shouldn't they stay here? It's their country too. They worked their butts off to help whites build this country against their will since 1619. A lot of blacks fought in the Civil War, thanks to Abraham Lincoln making that possible. Why shouldn't they get a piece of the pie? Why shouldn't the Native Americans for that matter? Even after the Civil War ended, the Klu Klux Klan terrorized blacks. They had abolutionist Frederick Douglass speaking out against injustice. Black Codes were passed that denied Blacks their civil rights. Blacks wanted to stay in the country because they felt that USA was a country where everybody is equal. Frederick Douglass stressed that. He was dead set against going to Africa. He was half black from his mother and half white from his father. His 2nd/last wife was White. This was a man who believed in interracial harmony to the utmost even though he was a former slave who knew what it was like to get his back whipped. He wanted to live the American Dream. He and many other blacks felt that they had a chance to make it in USA like the whites. They considered themselves "Americans", but unfortunately they were not treated like Americans.

What about the Native Americans? If they are unhappy here in USA, where should they go?? They were here first. They aren't called Native Americans for nothing. Calling them Indians is geographically incorrect as they are not from India. Christopher Columbus called the people of America, Indios because he thought he was in India after sailing west. He believed the world was round,and that's why he sailed west. Amerigo Vespucci showed that North America,South America was actually different continents and not India. America was named after him.

It is argued that after 143 years after emancipation,blacks grumble about "The Man" keeping them down and whining about how badly they are treated by white institutional racism.

Emancipation didn't end racism,bigotry,mistreatment,discrimination. The Jim Crow laws can tell you that. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had to lead the civil rights movement to inspire a nation and that led to blacks in the South getting Civil Rights with President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights acts. It took a Southern Black Man to lead the Civil Rights movement. It makes sense. After all, he experienced the racism,bigotry,discrimination,mistreatment of being Black in the South. It's often people that have experienced things themselves that make powerful advocates and activists.

The things that I have pasted with urls in RACISM IS ALIVE thread confirm that racism is alive and well today. It's not about being angry about slavery. It's about the racism,discrimination,and bigotry that goes on here in USA right now. Heck..I am not angry about slavery. I know that I wouldn't be here because of slavery. I can't go back to Africa like some racists whites tell people because my roots aren't just from Africa. They are from Portugal,England,France,Italy,Germany,Spain, Israel, as well as right here in America. USA is a meltingpot, multiracial,multiethnic,multifaith country, and I am glad that I am here. However,that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be in discontent with what goes on here in USA. Racism is a big problem. Absence of slavery and no Jim Crow laws doesn't rule out racism,discrimination,and bigotry.

Another thing is that the average Black is not even all Black. They are tryhybrid mixture of Black,White,and Native American. Blacks and Native Americans mixed. Some blacks joined native american tribes. Many whites raped black women,and so they had mixed children,and that's why there are many lightskinned blacks like Reverend Wright. It was very common for whites to rape their black women slaves. Rape is a form of power like everybody says. For a white master to rape his black slave woman was telling her that he had power over her. That's why a lot of blacks don't like it when a white man and black woman are in a relationship. A lot of whites don't like it when a black man and white woman in a relationship because they view it as the black man getting back at the white man by messing with their women. That's how a lot of people think. Many more people thought that a long time ago. Some indentured white servants even mated with blacks,and so there were interracial relationships without rape. Interracial relationships were considered a threat to society. That's why they passed antimiscegenation laws. That's why they passed the one drop rule(if you are part black,you're black). They wanted to keep the white race pure. Many lightskinned mixed people passed for white too. like my stepfather's mother. Many whites have black in them. I read that a quarter of whites in USA have some black ancestry. Heck...James Watson,the Nobel Prize winning DNA scientist that claimed blacks were less intelligent than whites, was shown to have some black ancestry. Of course,yesterday scientists,doctors(including psychiatrists) came up with theories of blacks being genetically inferior.

As you know, I am born from an interracial relationship. I am a representative of the Great American meltingpot. I defy the one drop rule. I don't like society fitting me into a box. I don't like blacks fitting me into the race box,and I don't like whites fitting me into a race box. Many other multiethnics don't like it either. Tiger Woods is a perfect example. He refers to himself as Cablinasian. I consider myself American,but I embrace all my heritage and background. I am not blind and naive when it comes to racism,bigotry,discrimination,and mistreatment in our country. I won't hesitate to speak out against it. I won't hesitate to defend people who are slammed because they speak out against it. Things need to change. Leaving the country isn't going to change things.

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 01:01 AM            

Black men were consitutionally given the vote many
years before women, but schemes throughout the South and intimidation even in
the North kept Blacks from exercising their franchise. When women got the
vote they faced no such obstacles (as long as they were white) for decades
while Blacks who dared to try voting might be lynched.

That's why the 1965 Civil Rights Voting Act was passed

The National Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. § 1973–1973aa-6)[1]
outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for
the widespread disenfranchisement of African-Americans in the United
States. Echoing the language of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United
States Constitution, the Act prohibited states from imposing any
"voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard,
practice, or procedure... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen
of the United States to vote on account of race or color."[2]
Specifically, Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of
requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order
to register to vote, a principal means by which southern states had
prevented African-Americans from exercising the franchise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act

Women as a whole have accomplished much in politics compared to Blacks as whole. Therefore, women haven't always taken a back seat to blacks in regards to political matters even though Obama has won the Democratic presidential nomination over Hillary Clinton.

Since 1868, 121 African Americans have served in the United States
Congress. This figure includes five non-voting members of the House of
Representatives who represented the District of Columbia and the U.S.
Virgin Islands. In addition, in 1868, one candidate was elected to the
House but was not seated due to an election dispute.

There have been 5 African American senators in history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_United_States_Congress

There have been 35 women in the United States Senate since the
establishment of that body in 1789, meaning that out of the 1,897
Americans who have served in the United States Senate since that time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_United_States_Senate

Eighty-nine of the 245 women who have served in Congress are current
Members—74 in the House and 16 in the Senate. In total there have been
210 women Representatives, 28 Senators, and seven women who have
served in both chambers. http://womenincongress.house.gov/

there have been 29 female governors in history.
there have been 4 black governors in history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_state_governors_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:African_American_governors

1965 Voting Rights Act
signed into law on August 6, 1965
using noon time

Eris in 11'29 Aries Retrograde
Lunar Nodes in 12'00 Gemini/Sagittarius Stationary
Sun in 13'57 Leo
(dealing with issues of diversity, advocacy,civil rights)

Venus in 14'32 Virgo
Uranus in 13'15 Virgo
Pluto in 14'57 Virgo
Saturn in 15'59 Pisces
Neptune in 17'14 Scorpio
(reform,transformation at odds with the old ways,status quo that involves idealism)

Mars in 21'16 Libra
Chiron in 21'48 Pisces Retrograde
Jupiter in 23'31 Gemini
(taking expansive action to address pain)

Declinations:
Mercury parallel Uranus - '18 - communicating change
Venus parallel Uranus - '00 - changing values
Venus contraparallel Saturn - '09 - values at odds with status quo
Sun contraparallel Eris - '59 - highlighting diversity matters
Saturn contraparallel Uranus - '10 - status quo and change at odds with each other
Neptune parallel Eris - '21 - dissolving ethnic barriers

interestingly....the Voting Rights Act chart has Sun in Leo,Sun in
Eris,Sun square Neptune like Obama. Obama's birthday(August 4th)is 2
days before the birthday of Civil Rights voting act. So their Suns are
in conjunction within 2 degrees and they parallel with, and so Sun-Sun
occultation.

Definitely Blacks are really exercised their voting rights that are
benefiting and vitalizing him.

synastry major aspects within 1 degree:

Civil Rights Act compared to Obama:

Sun oppose Ascendant - '19 - ego/self expression complementing personality
Stationary Lunar Nodes sextile/trine Sun - '32 - karmic path blends with ego/self expression
Stationary Lunar Nodes square Vertex - '44 - karmic path and fate are in strong friction but energizing each other...a strong karmic destiny with each other
Chiron oppose Mars - '45 - healing,wounds at odds with actions but complement
Ceres sextile Moon - '40 - nurturing blends with emotional nature...emotional support
Ceres square Venus - '45 - nurturing at odds with values
Jupiter square Mars - '57 - expansion,optimism in conflict with actions.....can be highly enthusiastic,motivating

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.

posted December 31, 2010 01:08 AM            

Before 1965, King was upbeat and bright, his belief in white America's ability to change by moral suasion resilient and durable. That is the leader we have come to know during annual King commemorations. After 1965, King was darker and angrier; he grew more skeptical about the willingness of America to change without great social coercion.

King's skepticism and anger were often muted when he spoke to white America, but they routinely resonated in black sanctuaries and meeting halls across the land. Nothing highlights that split -- or white America's ignorance of it and the prophetic black church King inspired -- more than recalling King's post-1965 odyssey, as he grappled bravely with poverty, war and entrenched racism. That is the King who emerges as we recall the meaning of his death. After the grand victories of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, King turned his attention to poverty, economic injustice and class inequality. King argued that those "legislative and judicial victories did very little to improve" Northern ghettos or to "penetrate the lower depths of Negro deprivation." In a frank assessment of the civil rights movement, King said the changes that came about from 1955 to 1965 "were at best surface changes" that were "limited mainly to the Negro middle class." In seeking to end black poverty, King told his staff in 1966 that blacks "are now making demands that will cost the nation something. ... You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then."

King's conclusion? "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism." He didn't say this in the mainstream but to his black colleagues.

Similarly, although King spoke famously against the Vietnam War before a largely white audience at Riverside Church in New York in 1967, exactly a year before he died, he reserved some of his strongest antiwar language for his sermons before black congregations. In his own pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, two months before his death, King raged against America's "bitter, colossal contest for supremacy." He argued that God "didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world today," preaching that "we are criminals in that war" and that we "have committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world." King insisted that God "has a way of saying, as the God of the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews, 'Don't play with me, Israel. Don't play with me, Babylon. Be still and know that I'm God. And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power.' "

Perhaps nothing might surprise -- or shock -- white Americans more than to discover that King said in 1967: "I am sorry to have to say that the vast majority of white Americans are racist, either consciously or unconsciously." In a sermon to his congregation in 1968, King openly questioned whether blacks should celebrate the nation's 1976 bicentennial. "You know why?" King asked. "Because it [the Declaration of Independence] has never had any real meaning in terms of implementation in our lives."

In the same year, King bitterly suggested that black folk couldn't trust America, comparing blacks to the Japanese who had been interred in concentration camps during World War II. "And you know what, a nation that put as many Japanese in a concentration camp as they did in the '40s ... will put black people in a concentration camp. And I'm not interested in being in any concentration camp. I been on the reservation too long now." Earlier, King had written that America "was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race."

Such quotes may lead some to wrongly see King as anti-white and anti-American, a minister who allowed politics to trump religion in his pulpit, just as some see Wright now. Or they might say that King 40 years ago had better reason for bitterness than Wright in the enlightened 21st century. But that would put a fine point on arguable gains, and it would reveal a deep unfamiliarity with the history of the black Christian church.

The black prophetic church was born because of the racist politics of the white church. Only when the white church rejected its own theology of love and embraced white supremacy did black folk leave to praise God in their own sanctuaries, on their own terms. Insurgent slave ministers such as Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner hatched revolts against slave masters. Harriet Tubman was inspired by black religious belief to lead hundreds of black souls out of slavery. For many blacks, religion and social rebellion went hand in hand. They still do.

For most of our history, the black pulpit has been the freest place for black people. It is in the black church that blacks gathered to enhance social networks, gain education, wage social struggle -- and express the grief and glory of black existence. The preacher was one of the few black figures not captive to white interests or bound by white money. Because black folk paid his salary, he was free to speak his mind and that of his congregation. The preacher often said things that most black folk believed but were afraid to say. He used his eloquence and erudition to defend the vulnerable and assail the powerful.

King extended that prophetic tradition, which includes vigorous self-criticism as well -- especially sharp words against the otherworldliness that grips some churches. In 1967, King said that too many black churches were "so absorbed in a future good 'over yonder' that they condition their members to adjust to the present evils 'over here.' " Two months before his death, King chided black preachers for standing "in the midst of the poverty of our own members" and mouthing "pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities." King struck fiercely at the ugly, self-serving practices of some black ministers when he claimed that they were "more concerned about the size of the wheelbase on our automobiles, and the amount of money we get in our anniversaries, than ... about the problems of the people who made it possible for us to get these things."

Obama has seized on the early King to remind Americans about what we can achieve when we allow our imaginations to soar high as we dream big. Wright has taken after the later King, who uttered prophetic truths that are easily caricatured when snatched from their religious and racial context. What united King in his early and later periods is the incurable love that fueled his hopefulness and rage. As King's example proves, as we dream, we must remember the poor and vulnerable who live a nightmare. And as we strike out in prophetic anger against injustice, love must cushion even our hardest blows.

Michael Eric Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and the author of 16 books, including the just-published "April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America." http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/suncommentary/la-oe-dyson4apr04,1,1626213.story

------------------
No..I am not a Virgo.