Fredericksburg, VA 22405-8730
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Republicans party has become the “Almond Joy Party”. Sometime they
act like a nut and sometime they don’t.
Editorial Comments by Clarence Piner Jr 11.15.2012
State Rep (R) John Hubbard
comments on Slavery a blessing in disguise is this guy for real? Are we sure he
has enough brain power to be in elected office at the state level for a second
time.
THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunday,
October 07, 2012
Arkansas
Republicans tried to distance themselves Saturday from a Republican state
representative’s assertion that slavery was a “blessing in disguise” and a
Republican state House candidate who advocates deporting all Muslims.
The claims were
made in books written, respectively, by Rep. Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro and House
candidate Charlie Fuqua of Batesville. Those books received attention on
Internet news sites Friday.
On Saturday, state
GOP Chairman Doyle Webb called the books “highly offensive.” And U.S. Rep. Rick
Crawford, a Republican who represents northeast Arkansas, called the writings
“divisive and racially inflammatory.”
“Hubbard wrote in
his 2009 self-published book, “Letters To The Editor: Confessions Of A
Frustrated Conservative,” that “the institution of slavery that the black
race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have
been a blessing in disguise.” He also wrote that African-Americans were
better off than they would have been had they not been captured and shipped to
the United States.
Fuqua, who served
in the Arkansas House from 1996 to 1998, wrote there is “no solution to the
Muslim problem short of expelling all followers of the religion from the United
States,” in his 2012 book, titled “God’s Law.” Fuqua said Saturday that he
hadn’t realized he’d become a target within his own party, which he said
surprised him.
“I think my views
are fairly well-accepted by most people,” Fuqua said before hanging up, saying
he was busy knocking on voters’ doors. The attorney is running against
incumbent Democratic Rep. James McLean in House District 63.
Hubbard, a
marketing representative, didn’t return voicemail messages seeking comment
Saturday. He is running against Democrat Harold Copenhaver in House District
58.
The November
elections could be a crucial turning point in Arkansas politics. Democrats hold
narrow majorities in both chambers, but the GOP has been working hard to swing
the Legislature its way for the first time since the end of the Civil War,
buoyed by picking up three congressional seats in 2010. Their efforts have also
been backed by an influx of money from national conservative groups. Rep.
Crawford said Saturday he was “disappointed and disturbed.”
“The statements
that have been reported portray attitudes and beliefs that would return our
state and country to a harmful and regrettable past,” Crawford said.”
In my mind Rep John
Hubbard comments demonstrate the mind set of far too many white males in this
country. My family came here on one of those slave ships and as best as I can
determined they were happy until they were sold into slavery. Picture this if
you will, being lock in chains below deck with little or no food, no bathrooms,
not knowing where you are headed, family being busted up and you given no
choice in any of this. According to Rep Hubbard African American should be
happy about all of this. We should be glad that under the goodness of the “Man”
and our family members having good genes so they could survive all of this. In
my family case I have been told that the “Man” decided as slaves were
disembarked at the port of Charleston, SC he saw my great, great, great, great
grandfather and Grandmother and put them together and that was the beginning of
my family tree in America. I am sure my grandparents in the late 1700’s had no
power or say so in where they were going or what kind of work they were going
to do. Put yourself in this situation, what would you have done? Some worked,
some adjusted and others died because they were not strong enough to recover
from the diseases transferred from the white men.
I am talking about
all of this because not only is it important to me but it should add some
perspective to comments like those of Rep Hubbard. He didn’t say this but I am
sure deep down he would like to see those days returned. The old south isn’t
dead some are still thinking about the return of slavery, working in the cotton
fields slaving all day making “King Cotton” Multi Millionaires for lots of
those farmers.
If someone ever tells
me that I am not American, my question to them will be, when did your family
arrive in America? My family came to America in the 1700’s aboard slave ships.
While I am here there
is another subject that should be addressed and that is some have been saying
that African Americans are lazy and have no vision for their future. Nothing
can be further from the truth. First
example I am going to talk about is when slaves were set free from their toils
they were given land by their frees. Most of the slaves were not able to keep
their land. Their land was taken by again “white men” in Tax schemes; these
people had no recourse because everything was control by white men. One good
old boy scratches the backs of others. When they want land they went to their
buddies and over a beer they put in motion how they were going to take the
land. The county tax collector would put a lien on the property, give the slave
owners let’s say six months to pay off this bogus tax lien of course, they
couldn’t pay the liens so they lost their land. All of this happens shortly
after the northern Armies left the south. Their departures pave the way for
slave owners to return to their old ways. I know this to be true because my
family still have the papers where their land was stolen from them by a tax
scam created just to steal land from slave owners. So, please don’t tell me
that we are lazy and don’t want to work; it just not true. I will agree there
are some who are lazy like there are in every racial group but most people in
this group is ready to work. If you don’t believe me just check out any Africa
American neighborhoods in any city around the country. People are up early,
catching commuter buses, commuter trains trying to make their way to work.
Here is another big
lie that Governor Romney and Republicans like to say which is welfare is mostly
the domain of African Americans. How can this be? If this is true, we need to
look at the unemployment numbers and underemployed to really see what is
happing. In some African Americans neighborhoods the unemployed rate is as high
as 25-30% and the underemployed will raise the rate to close to around 40%. To
be the best and richest nation in the world we should be able to do better.
Let’s look at this through another set of lens, when hard time hit people who
got laid off from higher paying jobs pushed people out of less paying jobs by
calling on their friends who are the bosses to hire them. There is a domino
effect and the “last hired is the first fired” and being the wrong color is
even worse. I have been looking at school bus drivers before the 2009
depression most of these driving jobs were held by minorities’ women. Recently,
I have seen more white women driving school buses pushing the other racial
group out. Being a woman in both racial groups they need jobs most have
children without men helping with the children. This is another case for birth
control and guess what Republicans do not want women to have birth control
pills. Again Republicans ideas make no sense. I guess their idea is to outlaw sex
that way; they solve three problems Abortion, birth control and welfare.
Every time African
Americans had started to make real economy strides the white man has come
along killed the people, and destroyed
the progress they have been making. Here
are more examples:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Race_Riot
http://www.thehistorybox.com/ny_city/riots/sectionII/riots_article14a.htm
College Tuition on more Campus
are being Frozen or cutting tuition to be prepared for the backlash. We have a
problem in this area and we must get our heads around the high cost of
education. Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Montana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Maryland and Oklahoma are just a few states who want to get off this
merry-go-round. They are tired of being held hostage by educational
institutions all over the country. Some of these fine Universities have
increase their tuition as much as 60% since 2000. It seems to me that colleges
and Universities administration have gone brain dead. Most of these fine
schools have been reducing their cost by having more and more of their students
telecommuting. Schools like the University of Phoenix have been on the cutting
edge of attracting students from all over the country. Without the cost of
class rooms and equipment associated with having students in classrooms. Some
students need to see others suffering just like them. Keep in mind the schools
we have been talking about are ranked as mid level schools. All of the schools
are very fine institutions I attended universities in this category. What you
put in your education is what you get out of it. You don’t need money but it
helps most of us will never be in the top 2%.
One more point that needs to be
made here and that is funds save on classrooms space is spent on technology
system. There is a very high financial requirement to startup and run online
classrooms; to support the needs of those students who chose telecommuting
using this new technology. Over time, universities should see big saving after
recouping their initial investment. Of course, these schools should be prepared
for obsolescing, their equipments will need to be replace or upgraded at some
point to keep up with all of the changes that’s occurring in this industry. I
would recommend leasing equipments to stay on the cutting edge.
I think I got a very fine
education at the schools I attended without the outrageous cost associated with
the top tier school like Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Stanford, Washington
University (St Louis) just to name a few. These universities have one thing in
common that is the high cost to attend. These schools educate the rich around
the world and there is always a long line to get in. The main reason students
want to attend is connecting not education. I am not saying people who attend
these schools don’t get a good education they do but, the real reason is by
attending these schools is your classmates, they all come from family who are
the “mover and shaker”. People attending these schools are leading nations,
leading major corporations, royal family and government departments. If you are
fortune enough with connection to attend one of the top twenty five
universities of higher learning the people who you may meet are enormous that
why parents want their sons or daughters attending one of these top schools.
It’s not the education; it the people who are sitting next to you in the
classrooms. It is my beliefs that these fine schools will never give up this
advantage they clearly understand their edge. Rich folks can pay the high cost
to attend these fine universities unfortunately I cannot, nor will any of my
off springs unless I have some major economy changes in my life.
VP Candidate (R) Paul Ryan has a
record of getting at the head of the earmarks line for federal funds for his
district. I am not blaming the congressman for looking out for his district
what I blame him for is all of this false talk about the people in Washington.
He is always pointing his fingers at others forgetting that four of them are
pointing back at him. He has been in Washington, DC for his entire adult
working life either working for member of congress and the last fifteen years
or so he has representing his district in Wisconsin. He can stop all of this
talk about Washington he is Washington. He is also part of the party that
blocked everything President Obama submitted to congress to help us get out of
the mess Republicans administrations got us into. Rep Paul Ryan has no daylight
between him and right wing buddies. He has helps orchestrate bans on abortion
more times than he care to remember. The thing that gets my goat about this guy
is he is against abortions and against birth control you can’t have it both
ways. Yes, but he really want is a personhood amendments where they ban
everything and have total control over women bodies. One day the daughters of
these guys will be asking their mothers did you speak up when all of this was
going on.
I think most mothers will respond
to their daughters I was duped and believe your father who led the charge or
agreed with banning any sex unless you are a married women married to a
man. Do you remember Sandra Fluke how
she was demonized by the biggest loud mouth in America? Birth control pills are
use for more than controlling pregnancies? Republicans in congress didn’t want
to her what she had to say they were only interested in all of these old mostly
white men who have never been a woman therefore they could never understand how
women feels and their health issues. It’s good I am not a woman I would really
be giving these guys down the river. Ladies if you don’t fight like hell you
are going to slowly lose all of your rights.
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By Michael Cook 10.5.2012
Some of Arkansas’ Republican
legislators are radical extremists whose views are far outside the mainstream
of Arkansas.
I’ve written previously about
State Rep. Loy Mauch’s radical beliefs, now it’s time to examine the extremism
of another Republican state legislator – Jon Hubbard.
Republican State Rep. Jon Hubbard
published a book entitled, “Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated
Conservative,” and using highly sophisticated oppo research skills that
Republicans complain about, I read some of what he wrote. What Jon
Hubbard writes and believes will blow your hair back.
From reading Hubbard’s writings,
it is clear he believes that African-Americans are lazy, ignorant, lack
discipline and that they should be thankful they were once enslaved. My
previous sentence is inflammatory, but that is what Hubbard has basically
written in his book. And by the end of this post you’ll believe I even held
back a little.
Let’s start looking at the
extreme words Hubbard put to paper.
First, Hubbard believes that
slavery was, in the end, a good thing for African-Americans:
“… the institution of slavery that the black race has long
believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing
in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances
would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever
established upon the face of the Earth.” (Pages 183-89)
Here is what Hubbard is really
saying: Hey black folks, yeah, I know, we kept you in chains for hundreds of
years, beat you, raped your women, lynched innocent teenagers, destroyed your
families, but isn’t that really a good thing?
Hubbard believes integrating
schools is harmful to white students because, in his opinion, blacks are lazy,
have no discipline and are causing a decline in education:
“… one of the stated purposes of school integration was
to bring black students up to a level close to that of white students. But, to
the great disappointment of everyone, the results of this theory worked exactly
in reverse of its intended purpose, and instead of black students rising to the
educational levels previously attained by white students, the white students
dropped to the level of black students. To make matters worse the lack of
discipline and ambition of black students soon became shared by their white
classmates, and our educational system has been in a steady decline ever
since.” (Page 27)
Hubbard believes blacks are too
ignorant to know the value of a good education:
“Wouldn’t life for blacks in America today be more
enjoyable and successful if they would only learn to appreciate the value of a
good education?” (Page 184)
Hubbard believes black folks were
lucky they were once enslaved because living in Africa is bad:
African Americans must “understand that even while in the
throes of slavery, their lives as Americans are likely much better than they
ever would have enjoyed living in sub-Saharan Africa.”
“Knowing what we know today about life on the African
continent, would an existence spent in slavery have been any crueler than a
life spent in sub-Saharan Africa?” (Pages 93 and 189)
Here is where Hubbard basically says
black folks are lazy and don’t do anything worthwhile:
“… will it ever become possible for black people in the
United States of America to firmly establish themselves as inclusive and
contributing members of society within this country?” (Page 187)
It blows my mind that this man is
an elected state representative. Are the above views shared by others in the
Republican legislative caucus? Have any Republican legislators ever
denounced Hubbard from writing straight-out racist statements? Is this
representative of the Republican Party of Arkansas reflective of the party’s
attitude toward African-American Arkansans? Will they condemn this
intolerance and ignorant attitude? Silence will speak volumes.
I doubt folks in Craighead County
had any idea about Hubbard’s core beliefs in 2010 when they first elected him.
Harold Copenhaver is running against this condescending, clueless and yes, I’ll
say it, racist incumbent and hopefully the Democratic challenger is getting the
word out about the extremist Jon Hubbard.
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College Tuition: More Campuses Freeze Or Cut Tuition As Backlash
Continues
This piece comes to us courtesy
of The Hechinger Report's
HechingerEd blog.
As public anger over college
costs continue, and legislators in some states get to work on their budgets,
more colleges and universities are promising to freeze or cut tuition--in many
cases, on the condition that they receive more taxpayer funding.
The latest schools and systems to
dangle promises of lower charges follow a wave of campuses that have
already announced them, including Arizona's public universities.
Concordia University,
a private institution in St. Paul, Minnesota, said it would reduce its
undergraduate tuition by one third beginning next fall, to $19,700, though
financial aid will also be cut and the deal will not be extended to graduate
students.
Texas Governor Rick Perry this
week formally proposed a four-year tuition freeze for public-university
students in that state as a way to increase the proportion of the population
with degrees. The cost of attending public universities in Texas has increased
55 percent in the last 10 years, a Dallas Morning News analysis found.
Other governors and boards of
trustees are also pushing for tuition freezes.
The Iowa Board of Regents has
asked the presidents of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the
University of Northern Iowa to freeze tuition for next year. The universities'
charges have nearly tripled since 2001, to just over $4,000.
In Montana, outgoing Governor
Brian Schweitzer has announced that he will propose a tuition freeze in his
final two-year budget. As in many other states, however, it would be contingent
on the legislature increasing higher-education funding--in Montana's case, by
$34 million, which would come from a $450 million budget surplus.
The University of Minnesota has
also promised to freeze undergraduate tuition if the state increases funding by
$91.6 million over the next two years. And the University System of New
Hampshire Board of Trustees will freeze tuition next year if the legislature in
that state restores $50 million in state aid it has proposed to cut.
These proposals follow earlier
announcements by the University of California system to freeze undergraduate
tuition on the condition that voters approve a tax increase next month to raise
$8.5 billion for public education and other services.
Other institutions that have
promised to keep costs where they are, or lower them, include the University of
Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, and University of Maryland schools
of law; the University of the South and University of Charleston; Temple,
William Peace, Duquesne, Urbana, Franklin Pierce, and Oklahoma City
universities; and Cabrini, Lincoln, Burlington, Ancilla, Tabor, Daytona State,
Mount Holyoke, and Pacific Union colleges.
Chief
financial writer, The Huffington Post
GET UPDATES FROM MARK GONGLOFF
Romney's Dodd-Frank
Comments Shock Bewildered Bankers
Posted: 10/04/2012 11:34 am
Jeez, Wall Street and Dodd-Frank,
get a room already!
It turns out that all of the
Dodd-Frank bashing that Jamie Dimon and the other heads of big New York banks
constantly do is just their version of how married couples might use a little
light S&M to keep things spicy in the bedroom.
But don't worry, Mitt Romney is
on to their perverted games. At last night's debate,
he declared that a key component of the financial-reform law was "the biggest kiss that's been
given to New York
banks I've ever seen."
This came as a shock to Wall
Street, notes Politico's Ben White, who writes that it
"blew up [his] inbox like no other" line of the night. One such email, from a "New York" bank executive, said: "Doubt that most folks on Wall Street would have predicted that Romney would have taken the most direct shots at 'N.Y. banks' at this point. ... If he'd named names, it would have been his top five contributors."
"blew up [his] inbox like no other" line of the night. One such email, from a "New York" bank executive, said: "Doubt that most folks on Wall Street would have predicted that Romney would have taken the most direct shots at 'N.Y. banks' at this point. ... If he'd named names, it would have been his top five contributors."
The part of Dodd-Frank Romney was
referring to was the part that designates several banks and other institutions
-- not just New York banks, but also insurance companies and banks based
outside of New York -- as "systemically important financial
institutions." Firms that get the SIFI label have to provide a
"living will" that lays out a plan for their orderly euthanasia in
the event of a financial crisis. As Ben Protess of the New York Times writes, this is "hardly a wet
kiss." The SIFI set has to hold more money
against potential losses and
is subject to tighter regulation.
This canard, that Dodd-Frank
essentially sets "too big to fail" in stone forever, is one of
Republicans' favorite arguments against Dodd-Frank. It sounds good and puts
them on record as being against banks being "too big to fail," along
with pretty much everybody (aside from the Jamie Dimons) in the world.
But it is a misleading argument,
and repealing Dodd-Frank ultimately favors the banks. If they really enjoyed
Dodd-Frank's wet sloppy kisses, why would they be spending so much money to
furiously do away with it? (That approach is working pretty well, by
the way, as demonstrated last week, when Wall Street won another round in court
against Dodd-Frank, when a judge blocked new rules setting
limits on speculation
in commodities.)
As my former colleague David
Weidner at the Wall Street Journal points
out, this is of course Romney's ultimate goal -- to help the banks by doing
away with Dodd-Frank. Sadly, though, President Obama's approach, aside from
causing a few hurt feelings among
hyper-sensitive bankers, has hardly been much more painful for
banks.
Update: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), for
whom the Dodd-Frank act was partly named, told the Huffington Post's
Bonnie Kavoussi last night that
Romney's charge was off-base, among other inaccuracies.
Update 2: Dennis Kelleher, founder of
Better Markets, the non-profit group lobbying for financial reform, just
emailed a statement about Romney's claim, calling it "false and
misleading" and adding: "Romney wants to repeal [Dodd-Frank], which
would be the biggest, sloppiest kiss possible to Wall Street banks and a kick
in the pants to the American taxpayers who are going to get stuck with the bill
-- again -- for their recklessness if financial reform is repealed by Mr.
Romney."
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Posted at 11:11
AM ET, 08/13/2012
On social issues, there's no
daylight between Ryan and the far right
By Jamelle
Bouie
For the right wing, Paul Ryan is
the perfect representation of their budgetary priorities — low spending on
social services, high spending on defense and the slow unraveling of
entitlements for younger Americans. What goes under the radar, however, is his
commitment to right-wing cultural values, which is just as strong as his
disdain for the welfare state.
On abortion, Ryan is in the
far-right of his party. As Michelle Goldberg explains for the
Daily Beast, he doesn’t believe that women have any right to terminate a
pregnancy, even if the circumstances are dire. To wit, he co-sponsored
the Sanctity of Life Act,
which declares that a fertilized egg “shall have all the legal and
constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.” It would criminalize
all abortion, as well as in vitro fertilization and some forms of birth
control. Indeed, it stands as one of the most extreme anti-abortion measures
currently floating in Congress.
On gay
rights, he’s just as reactionary. He supports amending the Constitution to ban
same-sex marriage, and voted for the
Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006. He supports the Defense of
Marriage Act and in 2003, approved of a bill that
would prevent federal courts from considering DOMA and possibly overturning it.
He voted in 1999 to keep same-sex couples from adopting in the District of
Columbia, he opposed last year’s effort to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and
when the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act came up
for a vote in 2009, Ryan placed his name in opposition. At most, he supported the 2007 version of the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would have prohibited discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation.
The Human Rights Campaign, an
LGBT rights organization, gave Ryan a 0 percent rating on its score card in
2006. Likewise, the ACLU gave him a 13 percent rating on civil rights when they
evaluated his record in 2002.
Ryan receives credit, from all
sides, for being a “principled” opponent of government. That’s only partially
true. When we need to deal with market failures and provide security for the
least well-off, Paul Ryan is a dedicated libertarian. But when it comes to
women’s bodily autonomy or the rights of same-sex couples, Ryan is happy to
enforce his views with the power of the state.
Jamelle Bouie is a staff writer
at The American
Prospect. You can find his blog here.
