image from canslerconsulting.com

They put on a big production staring all the famous political actors, and then go on about the business of deciding which non-defense related discretionary spending programs to freeze or cut. Now, mind you, they’re talking about a paltry 10% of total federal spending budget. In retrospect, it’s a tiny the part of the budget but the GOP seems hell bent on revamping it by excluding programs that benefit the poor and working classes and refusing to raise taxes on anyone to protect Americas wealthiest corporations and people.

A whopping 10% of the budget includes services for the poor, senior citizens, women and children yet the unemployed are being considered to go up on the chopping block. How interesting that a little over a year ago both parties sat their happily disgruntled asses on the floor of Congress and agreed to increase the debt by upwards of 337.5 billion dollars in 2011 by allowing tax cuts to go the wealthiest people in our nation. President Eisenhower taxed the richest Americans at 92% during his entire time in office. Were they simply naive then?

Let me follow that up with some proven, researched, facts and figures before I continue. The wealthiest 400 Americans have more riches than half of all American households combined.

Let me repeat that in layman’s terms. According to a very knowledgeable source, “the top 1% of households also known as (the upper class) own 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) have 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people own a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). Payroll taxes, are mostly paid by those with incomes below $100,000 per year.

I would like to add that the majority of income taxes go to the military (or rather the military industrial complex: owned by the wealthy. Since the rich have more to defend, should they not pay more in “defense spending?” Here’s a concept; taxes should be commensurate with wealth. The more you own the higher a percentage you should pay in taxes. And corporate welfare should be completely eliminated, not reformed.

Recently, there has been massive cause for shock and awe with the blatant attack not only on the middle class, but on societies most vulnerable and lowest class; the poor. This collective attack is no longer a stealth, camouflaged effort like with politics of old but one that is indeed weighing heavily on the minds of most Americans today because politicians have yet again made it seem as if caring for those who cannot care for themselves has somehow led us to the place our economy is currently at. The bottom of the barrel. This attack on the poor has trickled on up and is bound to affect the middle class because so many former middle class Americans now find themselves shopping at places like Walmart, Target, and other major discount retailers. They’re patronizing the local Aldi, Dollar Store, and Food Pantry because they’ve found themselves in a situation they’d never thought they’d be. They’re going without.

They are not without education, but they are without jobs or have seen their income severely reduced. They have lost their homes or they are on the brink, and their personal finances and savings are all but gone, reduced to the most common of denominators due to Wall Street executives purposely taking the American economy on a collision course with history. They, who’ve driven their stake into the American dream and were once considered apart of “the haves” cool clique are fast becoming one with the “have-nots”. Even those with jobs rightly feel the effects, having taken a bite out of politics and coming away with a terribly bitter taste in their mouths.

There was once a time when the attack on the poor was masked with political double talk, dodge ball tactics and screwball antics that made Congress resemble that of a largely divided middle school playground at recess. Gutless  attempts at major and minor regulatory changes that often face ridiculously fierce resistance, to debating the importance or lack thereof of things like block grants and welfare reform, as if these terms and programs aren’t solidly in place because they are dire necessities. Specifically, the poor and working poor (working class) have bared the brunt of this nation’s addiction to excess. Wall Street caused a crisis of epic proportions that the middle class is still paying for. Political administrations coupled with careless legislatures and lackluster regulators are at the root of the problem.

When you think of programs like Head Start, Earned Income Credit, school lunch programs, Medicaid, TANF, subsidized housing, WIC, and child care assistance, you don’t think about how pertinent it is for those services to be reduced or terminated because the need has always been great. Even 70% of Tea Party supporters don’t want to see  Medicare cuts. You think about the fact that those services are not often readily available to those falling within a certain need based demographic but they are put in place for the sake of importance and justification. These services are in place because of moral responsibility and duty. A need to prevent or curtail poverty, despair, homelessness, lack of access to health care for routine and emergency care and it’s safe to say that reducing aid to the poorest and most vulnerable in society will result in more people living miserable existences, more families going to bed hungry, and a growing lack of quality education because one is not afforded to them, etc.

Cutting spending to services that help the needy does not stimulate job growth or economic growth nor will it reduce the national debt by a long shot.

Final words:  This budget crises is a moral issue. Our elected leaders and career politicians have been corrupted by money and greed. Politicians are regularly caught up in a system that rewards baseless contempt for the little guy much in the same way that athletes get caught up in steroid abuse. The mindset is if others are doing it, why shouldn’t I.  Our government is riddled with junkies and nothing matters except ensuring a steady supply of the drug, which in this case purely equates to money. People need to understand that the flow of money never stops. One mans gain is another mans loss. When the stock market crashed, people made money and lots of it. When companies fail, if you play your cards right, you could profit hugely on their failure. And corporations are more than happy to be the drug – I mean money dealers. They own and control the cash flow . The only way to free our politicians and ultimately ourselves from the current level of corruption that has plagued every facet of corporate America reaching all the way up to our elected government officials is to take the faceless global players out of the politics game and revert back to governing for the good of the people of the country they purport to serve.

We have become a nation that idolizes wealth and because of that we are losing our connection to community, family and country. If we continue to equate being rich as virtuous and the primary testament to personal success we will continue on a collective decline, with more losers than winners just like the game is currently designed to project.

The super committee was created to reduce the federal deficit to the tune of over 1 trillion dollars but I would not be surprised if it ends up increasing it instead.

To monitor the Super Committee’s progress proceed to their website at http://www.deficitreduction.gov/public/.

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. The Tea Party: A Misguided Movement
2. Tea Party Express Leader Mark Williams Booted For Racist ‘Satire’
3. Pissed Off Republicans And The Audacity Of The Tea Party

When Sarah Palin appeared in Chicago late last year for the ”Oprah Show” it was then that Mark Kirk wrote in an memo that “he is hoping for something “quick and decisive” from Palin about the race, perhaps to the effect of: “Voters in Illinois have a key opportunity to take Barack Obama’s Senate seat. Congressman Kirk is the lead candidate to do that.”

The authenticity of the memo was confirmed by Kirk and the Republican insider he reached out to who has strong ties to Palin. The existence of the memo displays the power of a Sarah Palin endorsement in a campaign race and Kirk, a strong moderate Republican, knew all too well that a backlash against moderate Republicans had begun in the wake of the Tea Party’s rise to fame. What makes Kirk’s request even more absurd is the fact that in a Tribune editorial back in October 2008 Kirk surmised that he didn’t know if she [Sarah Palin] was qualified to be president and that he “would have picked someone different.”

The memo would later reveal that Kirk, North Shore congressman from the 10^th Congressional District, had also canceled a press conference he’d scheduled earlier in the day regarding health care reform. He was concerned about additional backlash that would likely come as a result of the ultra right wing push back against the health care bill and any Republican politicians not coming out against it.

“I canceled the health care press due to the damage to the moderate label,” the e-mail begins.

We can work FAST withJason to communicate with conservative elites that we are the only candidate that can take the president’s Senate seat, leading to a tough go in the next two months but smart conservatives want the humiliation of the White House when and where it counts — November 2010 in Obama’s home state of Illinois,” he continued.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnRtHZtDktw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Although Kirk is a self identified moderate with a flip-flopping voting record to match, he was more concerned about the positive impact Sarah Palin’s endorsement would have meant for his former Republican primary opponent, Andy Martin.

While Kirk did not receive an endorsement from Sarah Palin, who saw right through his facade, he did receive one from her former running mate, Senator John McCain.

Mark Kirks popularity in the 10^th congressional district has a lot to do with his political posturing (He’s a liberal Republican… no wait, he’s a moderate Republican… no… I think he’ll go with the centrist title) in a state best known for being bluer than Lake Michigan i.e., a Democrat stronghold. He’s a big fish in a big pond and his only source of real competition comes from Democrats, not fellow Republicans, who “lovingly” refer to him as a RINO, Republican In Name Only.

The last time Kirk broke with the GOP in the House, he voted for the Clean Energy bill, then turned around and vowed to oppose the same bill in the Senate. Previously, he vowed to vote for the jobs bill which would funnel money to seriously cash strapped states and save thousands of teacher jobs. The very next day, Kirk voted against that same bill he’d promised to vote for just a day before. The reasoning has been debated and agreed that he voted no due to party pressure since the bill would have removed tax breaks for corporations shipping jobs overseas. Something near and dear to conservative Republicans.

As an Illinois resident and a person born and raised in the 10^thCongressional District where most of my family still resides, I admit that I’ll be placing my vote for Alexi Giannoulias on November 2nd. My reasons are simple.

Mark Kirk is neither clear nor concise and despite what he wants to make us believe, he has far less integrity than his opponent, Alexi Giannoulias.  Mark Kirk has been caught in more lies than I can count since  initially announcing his bid to run for US Senate. He  not only embellished his record of service, awards andaccomplishments with the US Military, he also lied about his experience as a middle-school teacher, which turned out to be “a year in London at a private school and part-time in a nursery school as part of a work-study program while he was a student at Cornell University.”

His sexuality has been called into question more than once. First by Republican primary opponent Andy Martin, and then by Mark Rogers, the same guy that outed former Senator Larry Craig and creepy Congressional Representative Mark Foley. His record on gay rights has been surmised as follows:

“Until now, Mark Kirk elected not to play the typical Washington game. Instead of supporting his party’s dismal record on gay rights, Kirk received Human Rights Campaign ratings of 67% in 2002, 88% in 2004, 76% in 2006 and 85% in 2008. That’s more impressive than a lot of Democrats. I even let Kirk slide by when he didn’t co-sponsor earlier legislation relating to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. My thoughts then were that he wasn’t THAT bad on gay stuff and that the bill was going nowhere anyway.” – Andy Martin

I care less about his sexual preference and more about Kirk’s complete and utter disregard for honesty .  There are already far too many liars in the Senate.

In the other corner we have the fresh-faced Democrat Alexi Giannoulias who must not forget that Chicago politics differs from Illinois politics. There exist tiny pockets of liberals, progressives and conservatives nestled all throughout Chicago even though it’s a known Democratic machine, born and bred. However, suburban and collegiate conclaves are notoriously conservative in some parts, especially Kirks neck of the wealthy North shore woods, and particularly downstate Illinois.

In any case, Giannoulias has been accused of approving bank loans to Mobsters while employed at his family’s Broadway Bank, which entered into foreclosure earlier this year. In April, first the Feds and then MB Financial took control of the fledgling financial institution. It is of note that when Giannoulias stopped working for the family business in 2006, it was one of the most profitable banks in Illinois.

According to factcheck.org, “There’s no proof that he “made” the loans to Giorango, the only one of the three men pictured who had been convicted at the time he borrowed money from Broadway. Another of the men didn’t get a loan from Broadway at all. And the third man wasn’t charged with a crime until after Giannoulias had signed off on loans to him. To be accurate, Kirk should have said only that his opponent worked at a family bank that made loans to criminals and their business ventures, and that he had a role in servicing some of the loans.” Giannoulias has also been accused of losing millions of investor dollars through the prior failings of the College BrightStartprogram. Oppenheimer Funds Inc., was the firm discovered to be mismanaging the funds for not only Illinois, but several other states as well and Alexi credits his department for taking action, removing the firm, and recovering some of the lost funds to the tune of $77 million dollars for some 65,000 investors. 

At 33, Alexi Giannouliasis a young prospect with few skeletons milling about his closet at the present time. His family’s wealth, the fact that the family bank made LEGAL loans to known mobster(s) (one, to be exact, who had not yet been convicted), he’s known as a spoiled rich kid in some circles and he’s been falsely accused of losing Illinoisans millions of dollars through the College Bright Start program. Neither candidate has a stellar track record nor have either served their state in a capacity that speaks singularly and idealy to the people of Illinois or in a way that makes either stand out considerably.

Regardless of who wins the Senate race in Illinois, just please make sure your voice heard. Join me in casting your vote on November 2nd.

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Meet Alvin Greene: The Sarah Palin Of The Democratic Party (video)
2. Pissed Off Republicans And The Audacity Of The Tea Party
3. Politics As Warfare

When I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.

I do a double take. I have a moment of anxiety of fear given what happened on 9/11. That’s just a reality, he said, noting that when he told his former boss, she suggested that Williams had made a bigoted statement.

It’s not a bigoted statement. In fact, in the course of this conversation with Bill O’Reilly, I said we have an obligation as Americans to be careful to protect the constitutional rights of everyone in our country and to make sure that we don’t have any outbreak of bigotry. but that there’s a reality. You can not ignore what happened on 9/11 and you cannot ignore the connection to Islamic radicalism, and you can’t ignore the fact of what has even recently been said in court with regard to this is the first drop of blood in a Muslim war in America.

According to National Public Radio, Juan Williams was fired for breaking his contract. The statements uttered above culminated in being the straw that broke the camels back so to speak. Williams made the statements while moonlighting as a guest host on the Bill O’Reilly show. Although NPR previously requested that he make light of his employment as a political analyst for NPR while appearing on Fox, the distinction was already firmly in place. NPR said that his remarks “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices.” Williams was paid to report the news in an impartial, unbiased manner, and was expected to do so without compromising NPR’s standards of integrity and ethics in journalism.

Williams appearance and subsequent statements on Fox gave clearance to the support of racial profiling via fear mongering against Muslims, and he opened himself up to personal and professional scrutiny for a shameful display of prejudice whether heartfelt or not.

Before I Proceed, Here Are Some Facts:

1. Juan Williams had a contract with NPR as a political analyst. The terms of his contract included an agreement to refrain from publicly expressing biased opinions. NPR is one of the most consistent news programs in terms of reporting the news in a “fair and balanced” atmosphere.

2. Williams’ freedom of speech is not at issue here. He can express any opinion he wants, as long as he’s not representing a company, entity, or organization that expressly frowns upon doing such a thing.

3. He was already skating on thin ice after a previous warning about his appearances on Fox while also representing and being under contract with NPR.

4. NPR had as much right to terminate his contract as CNN had in terminating Rick Sanchez’s contract due to his insensitive remarks about Jews.

5. While Fox loves controversy and will allow him to get away with saying things like calling Michelle Obama “Stokley Carmichael in a designer dress”, NPR holds itself to a much higher set of standards.

*Stokley Carmichael was a black activist in the 60s whose famous for coining the phrase  “Black Power.”

6. My only disappointment lie in the fact that NPR desperately needs MORE diversity not LESS, however a certain standard of quality is expected and appreciated over simply filling a quota.

7. Terrorists typically do whatever they can to assimilate and draw as little attention to themselves as possible leading up to a terrorist act. The fact remains that the 9/11 terrorists  were not wearing Muslim garb the day they boarded the planes. If anything, the fact that some Muslims, including Black Muslims, choose to dress  in traditional Muslim garb should reassure an intellect like Mr. Williams.

8. A journalists’ duty is to report the news in an unbiased manner. An analysts’ responsibility is to provide a factually unbiased opinion on what’s reported. As it relates to Fox News, expressing ones opinion without regard to the moral or ethical consequence is nothing new or out of the ordinary.

9. Williams’ high profile position at NPR required him to do everything in his professional power to not pontificate his personal opinion in a way that would draw negative attention to not only himself, but also to his network. When he became the news story instead of reporting on the news story, he became a problem for NPR.

10. The First Amendment does not guarantee anyone a job or a media platform in which to exercise their right to free speech, regardless of if their employer is publicly funded or not.

[youtube width="325" height="244"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAfGKVK8PyE&feature=aso[/youtube]

It may not sound THAT bad unless you’re Muslim or Middle-Eastern or someone who is mistaken for either or on a regular basis. Or maybe it just doesn’t ring a bell until you swap the word Muslim for Black.

Riddle me this: How credible can he be in his “neutral analysis” on NPR if he expresses prejudicial opinions based on irrational or rational fears on other networks?

While I agree that single statement may not have been worthy of termination, a culmination of statements made to a similar degree would justify NPR’s decision to finally act in their own best interest. I believe there is much more to the story primarily because the Fox Network was able to put together a multi-million dollar contact for Mr. Williams in a matter of hours.

Final word: A man who gets afraid when he sees a Muslim boarding his plane is no different than a man who gets afraid when he sees a black man walking down the same sidewalk as him at night. There may be cause for concern, but you either push your fears aside and keep them to yourself or you cross over to the other side of the street and keep it moving.

Mr. Williams has no problem prefacing his statements with highlights of his civil-rights book writing campaigns, but he conveniently forgets that for decades blacks in America have protested against this very brand of ignorant, bigoted, and stereotypical thinking, just like the one he declared about Muslims.

Personally, I get a little nervous when I see uninformed Americans entering voting booths, but that’s just me.

I leave you with this:

We only seem to be able to see the bigotry that is aimed at us. Being able to see bigotry that doesn’t actually have anything to do with anyone we know and love, and still be upset about it, is something I wish on every single person. I’m starting to think that the only thing that could bring the human race together is an attack from Mars…those gross, immoral Martians better not even think about messing with us!!!

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Tea Party Express Leader Mark Williams Booted For Racist ‘Satire’
2. Obama Inspires Black Republicans To Seek Office
3. Black Churches Resent Gay Civil Rights Comparisons

The farmer’s wife has since corroborated her statements and confirmed that she did the best she could for the couple, and her best resulted in their farm escaping foreclosure. 

Before I address the meat of the story, a few things first. Can you imagine getting fired from a current job because of something you said 24 years ago while employed by another company? Assuming you said something  halfway inappropriate, could you even fathom the long-term effects?

What the evidence in the video points to is the fact that Andrew Brietbart, the conservative blogger who broke the story, produced a heavily edited version of the video that did not show or tell the full story. Not even a little bit.

The white farmer’s wife, Eloise Spooner, defendsSherrod, saying she helped them save their farm.

Spooner, who considers Sherrod a “friend for life,” said the federal official worked tirelessly to help the Iron City couple hold onto their land as they faced bankruptcy back in 1986.

“Her husband told her, ‘You’re spending more time with the Spooners than you are with me,’ ” Spooner told the AJC. “She took probably two or three trips with us to Albany just to help us out.” 

 Ms. Sherrod  worked with the man and his wife over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure. She became life-long friends with the farmer and his wife. In an interview with CNN, 82-year-old Eloise Spooner called Sherrod a “friend for life.”

She told CNN that Sherrod “always treated us really good and got us all we could. She’s the one I give credit to with helping us save our farm.”

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Video: The Birth of Zoey
2. Why Juan Williams Was Fired by NPR Then Hired by Fox
3. Meet Alvin Greene: The Sarah Palin Of The Democratic Party (video)

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!

In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the ‘tea party movement’.

The tea party position to “end the bailouts” for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.

And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government.” What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!

The racist tea parties also demand that the government “stop the out of control spending.” Again, they directly target coloreds. That means we Coloreds would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.

Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government “stop raising our taxes.” That is outrageous! How will we coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?

Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.

Sincerely

Precious Ben Jealous, Tom’s Nephew NAACP Head Colored Person

Ben Jealous is the real President of the NAACP.

The Tea Party’s Reaction:

“We, in the last 24 hours, have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote,” Webb said of the blog post by Williams that satirized a fictional letter from what he called “Colored People” to President Abraham Lincoln. ”

Bravo.

Mark Williams reaction went a little something like this. “Uhh. We have no leader and if something goes wrong, it’s because the Democrats are just trying to make us look bad!”

This is what he really said, “I am mocking those people who call themselves “Colored People” and who are now fighting to be kept as government owned pets, whilst hurling charges of racism at those who embrace freedom and civil rights.”

I won’t go as far as applying the racially charged satirical failure of a rant to the whole of the Tea Party. It would be entirely unfair and incorrect to do so. What we have here is an underlying issue of stereotypical race baiting. As such, the message, whatever its intent, is inconsistent, incoherent and completely out of line with reality or social appropriatness. The movement has become a channel for its “leaders”, members, and sympathizers to harbor ill will toward the government without having to project a sensible counter approach on how to fix the ills they’ve taken issue with. It’s more like a mindset; an angry collective and the whirling skirmishes being whipped up are bringing about greater resentment and discontent all around. How long can one remain committed to a cause that is both single and group minded, yet wholly unfocused with no actual direction, no leadership and no idea how politics works in a country they love? All I’m left with is the sentiment that a leader of any group is indicative of the nature and aspirations of that group. Is the Tea Party any different?

We shall see.

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Pissed Off Republicans And The Audacity Of The Tea Party
2. The Tea Party: A Misguided Movement
3. Why Juan Williams Was Fired by NPR Then Hired by Fox

“I think that, uh, you know, that they , you know, they heard of my name when I was campaigning across the state , you know, and uh, by word of mouth, uh, I got the word around…you know, it was not luck, you know….”

Meet Alvin Greene. He just won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in the state of South Carolina while carrying 60% of the vote. 20% of South Carolina’s registered Democrats voted in the primary and most if not all had never heard of Alvin Greene prior to the election.

Greene graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Political Science. He has 13 years of military service under his belt, has worked intelligence in the Air Force and supply in the Army, and was “involuntarily” discharged from both branches of the military.

His platform is jobs, education and justice.

His opponent, Victor Rawl, a respected Democrat, was thought by many to be the one to give Republican Jim DeMint a viable run for his seat. Come November, DeMint will run against Alvin Greene, an unemployed army vet currently living with his father.

Greene is facing a felony obscenity charge resulting in his arrest in November of 2009.

He’s accused of showing Internet porn to a female student in a University of South Carolina computer lab, then propositioning her to take him back to her room. He’s defending himself with the help of a public defender, which is odd considering he was able to come up with the $10,400 filing fee required to run in the primary.

Greene has participated in a myriad of television and phone interviews by local and national media ever since the surprising win. The most notable aspects to the interviews are not about where he stands on the issues, but instead the focus is on the cryptic answers he’s given to the most basic questions asked by reporters.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-_reVDUjqs&feature=related[/youtube]

He has never met any Democratic party leaders, and he tried to pay the campaign filing fee with a personal check instead of using a campaign funded account as election rules dictate. What’s interesting about the $10,400 payment is that in November he told a judge that he was broke which is why his case will be defended by a public defender.

Democratic leaders in South Carolina are shocked as hell, but they only have themselves to blame. Neither candidate was well known, and Greene was known even less than his opponent. He had no website ( he does now: Alvin Greene’s Twitter Page), no staff, held no meetings or campaign rally’s. He said he conducted his campaign the “old-fashioned” way. Some top Democrats in the state have gone as far as to call for an investigation into his campaign run.

Here’s a collage of some of the interviews Greene has given:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zT55Z2eeDY&feature=related[/youtube]

Some soldiers who served with Alvin had this to say about the former soldier:

He was in my unit in the Army. 1st infantry division 1st battalion 5th field artillery Ft. Riley Kansas. i just want to say that he is most definitely unfit to be a senator. He couldn’t show up to work in the right uniform. He was chaptered out of the Army for constantly disrespecting his superiors and failure to be in the right place at the right in the right uniform. Anyone who has ever served in the military knows thats to easy.

Another had this to say:

1 day ago

Everyone!!!! You got it all wrong!!!!! You should really have done a background check or at least asked some of us that have served with this guy… Seriously. He was giving the pink slip cuz he was slightly handicapped. I’M NOT KIDDING!!!!!! He was the guy that had to guard a refrigerator all day because he couldn’t do anything else. He would disappear all day for hours and have no answer where he went. I bet he doesn’t even know what a senator does for a living. You IDIOTS!!!!!

ALVIN GREENE WAS MY SOLDIER AT FORT RILEY KS. HE CAME THROUGH THE 1ST BRIGADE DEVILS ACADEMY. AS A WITNESS TO HIS INCREDIBLE POOR PERFORMANCE AS A SOLDIER WHILE SERVING AT FORT RILEY, I AM AMAZED TO HIS INCREDIBLE FEAT AS TO WIN THE SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLIC SENATE RACE. THIS IS A MAN WHO KNEW NO VALUE NOR RESPECT FOR THE UNIFORM HE WORE. THIS LEAVES ME TO COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT EITHER THIS MAN IS A POLITICAL WOLF IN SHEEPS CLOTHING OR THE GREATEST CON ARTIST SOUTH CAROLINA HAS EVER SEEN

A Democratic Representative talking to the media after a private meeting with Mr. Greene about the state of South Carolina and how to move forward.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6kvwAx6qLs[/youtube]

South Carolina’s voters need to understand that Jim DeMint is a GOP powerhouse, a Republican machine that will chew up and spit out the measly 20% of the Democratic votes that elected Greene. He needs far more than that to defeat DeMint. Many people have asked what the voters in South Carolina were thinking when they voted for Alvin Greene. Obviously, they weren’t. Conspiracy theory or not, this is what happens when uninformed voters who do vote, often don’t have a fucking clue.

Now that they have their candidate, what will South Carolina do with him? That’s the real question.

Although Greene comes off as a simpleton, I don’t buy it, or the fact that there’s anything freakishly slow about him. He appears to lack a certain social etiquette, and there’s a measure of mental ineptness as it relates to his ability to respond directly to questions, but he does hold a Poly Sci. degree. Outside of law, it’s the closest you can get to a business degree. And most business majors I know can not communicate what so ever.

Seriously though, there is something about all of this that I can’t quite put my finger on yet. Despite it, I believe him when he says that winning the primary “was not luck, you know.”

If I ever decide to run for office I’m changing my name to Angela Davis and moving to the deep south.

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. DADT’s Third Party Use And Abuse: The Case Of Jene Newsome
2. The Tea Party: A Misguided Movement
3. The Lesser of the Two: Kirk vs Giannoulias

We are on the side of individual freedoms and liberties, and damn it we will reclaim the civil rights moment. We will take that movement because we were the people that did it in the first place…

Glenn Beck is planning a big organized rally on the anniversary of Dr. King’s 1963 March on Washington, and in the same spot where he delivered his world famous “I Have a Dream” speech. It was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the height of the civil rights movement that King spoke. Glenn Beck plans to emulate the late great civil rights leader by fulfilling his very own “dream”.

What’s Really Real Going On?

In Beck’s mind, he is like the white Martin Luther King Jr., liberating repressed and confused conservatives from an oppressive socialist regime that is taking away their civil rights and liberties.

In my mind, he’s nothing more than a class warfare strategist who tries to paint Dr. King as a black Republican instead of the pacifist progressive he was and would damn well be considered today no matter what he was registered as.

The truth is that the original two party system made up of Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. hold very different beliefs and political ideologies than the parties of old. But, if you ask Beck or any one of his followers exactly what rights they feel have been trampled upon, they have no problem making socialism the reason, rhyme, and catalyst while offering absolutely nothing of real substance in the interim. Most hardly know the definition of socialism.

Beck considers himself a world historical figure, but the rest of us see him as a worldly hysterical figure who may potentially give some nut-job just the excuse they need to cause mayhem and destruction and call it “God’s will” being done.

I have to put on a tin foil hat on to understand the man’s message. And while I used to believe that most of what he spouted was tongue-in-cheek, it’s much more serious now.

What’s most disturbing is that now he’s using the issue of civil rights to make a joke out of what he has led his followers to believe is a serious need for a white civil rights movement.

On the April 9th edition of his show, Beck stated that he “wouldn’t be surprised if in our lifetime dogs and fire-hoses are released or opened on us.” Beck added that he “wouldn’t be surprised if a few of us get a billy club to the head,” and then warned that “tough times are coming.”

Comparing himself and any potential resistance he may face leading up to the event to the struggles faced by Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters is incredibly offensive and ignorant. Not only to black Americans, but to all of the brave who faced down police dogs, fire hoses, and violent verbal and physical harassment in actual marches for social and civil justice during the late 50s and 60s.

This clown, Glenn Beck, with his cock-eyed view of the world, doesn’t have a realistic understanding or respect for factual history. Privileged and disenfranchised people fought to expand liberty for everyone in this country, but the GOP Party of today cannot lay any claim to being disenfranchised politically, socially or economically. Tea Party supporters may feel differently, but then again, why the hell weren’t these misguided fools protesting and holding rallies around the country over the last 8 years?

Beck appears to be using the honorable civil rights movement as a way to shamelessly plug his politically-motivated and opportunistic attempt at pseudo activism for the advancement of the Tea Party Movement and its ultra-conservative right wing agenda.

I don’t believe for a second that Dr. King would endorse a man like Beck who professes to have no Black friends. Why? Because he’s afraid of offending them. What manner of civil rights activism would an individual in Beck’s limited social capacity be able to lead when he purposely alienates himself from the very people his “movement” emulates?

The funny thing about it is if Glen Beck really knew history he’d know that the 1963 march on Washington was an integrated event shared with people from all walks of life, all ethnicity’s, standing together to oppose hatred and racial discrimination. It was planned in part by an openly gay man, Bayard Rustin, who was accused of being a Communist for most of his political life. Communism and Socialism go hand in hand to most conservatives and Tea Baggers.

Glenn Beck is a Mormon. The most conservative, anti-gay religion in America. They also donated 77% of the funds used in California to uphold Prop 8, which stripped same-sex couples from marrying.

We’re supposed to believe that he honestly cares about civil rights and social justice when his religion actively rallies to do the exact opposite of what he professes to be a proponent of.

I have a fleeting suspicion that this rally will likely to be a mostly white, Tea Party endorsed, anti-government, anti-gay, one-stop rhetoric shop.

Election time is fast approaching and Republican’s and Tea Baggers want people to think they honestly give a rat’s ass about civil rights. They want people to believe that they played a role the original civil rights movement. They want you to believe that Dr. King was a man they loved and respected. They have no problem using pawns like Michael Steele and Jesse Lee Peterson (black Republicans) to project a false image of “see, now they really do like blacks and minorities” when it couldn’t be any further from the truth.

Beck’s been leading the charge to divide the nation against itself on the basis of race and political ideology for a long time now. It’s still not understood why he’d liken himself to some of America’s greatest politicians and leaders who instigated sweeping changes that greatly impacted all Americans regardless of race, color or creed. Their actions increased the quality of life for minorities in America across the board.

Beck serves a purpose in the right wing media world known as Fox Entertainment. He easily makes every other commentator on the Fox network and every other right wing media peep look sane by comparison. Unfortunately, he’s bright enough not to go too far in his views that he is shunned by his own party.

I predict that there will be quite a turnout for this event, numbering in the tens of thousands. No matter what the figures end up being, they’ll triple in size for the sake of reporting anyway, so it really doesn’t matter.  He’s had plenty of time to persuade people to donate to his fake fund so he can hold his Carnival.

I also suspect that most people won’t give a rats ass until its too late, the day arrives and instead of honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and the accomplishments of the march and speech, media outlets will be focused on Glenn Beck’s Tea Party rally taking place in that very same spot.

The bottom line is despite the fact that Glenn Beck is a seriously disturbed individual, there is something genuine in his wild assertions that draws people to him en masse. His narcissism manifests through paranoia and greed, and the crazier he becomes the more his coffers are filled up. He dislikes everyone, yet people adore him for what they perceive to be genuine concern for their well being.

Beck has successfully emulated those before him who were able to alienate vast numbers of people through driving fear mixed with patriotism mixed with nationalism mixed with scare tactics to mind control. Now he’s not only taking a page out of Dr. King’s book, he’s going to re-write the story with his own version’s sick twist. In classic Beck style; he always manages to make the best out of failure.

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Gay Rights And Civil Rights
2. Review by Zack Rosen: Stephen King and The Case of the Psychotic Lesbian
3. The Tea Party: A Misguided Movement

Image by David Simpson

In his 2002 inaugural address, Kilpatrick said:

“ I stand before you as a son of the city of Detroit and all that it represents. I was born here in the city of Detroit, I was raised here in the city of Detroit, I went to these Detroit Public Schools. I understand this city. … This position is personal to me. It’s much more than just politics.

He had the world in his hands. He was the youngest mayor in the history of Detroit, but it wouldn’t stop him from falling from grace.

His crimes consist of lying while under oath multiple times and committing illegal acts connected to his term as Mayor. His troubles began in 2002, at a party at his mansion, which was reportedly off the chain, complete with strippers and alcohol. According to reports, the party was unexpectedly interrupted by Kilpatrick’s wife who arrived home early. It is also stated that Kwame’s wife got into a heated altercation with one of the strippers present, physically attacking the woman, whose name was Tamara Greene.

Ms. Greene would later be gunned down in a second successful attempt on her life. Her boyfriend was in the car with her, but the gunman aimed for Tamara and shot multiple times from a .40 caliber hand-gun. It is believed that the gunman worked in law enforcement, and more specifically, was a Detroit Police Officer. 

Following the party, one of the police officers close to Kwame, Harold C. Nelthrope, contacted Internal Affairs and asked that Mayor Kilpatrick’s office be investigated. The head of the Detroit Police Internal Affairs unit, Gary Brown, and Officer Harold C. Nelthrope were fired following the close of the investigation, which was prematurely cut short .

Tamara Green’s family filed suit against the Mayor and other high ranking police officials claiming obstruction, cover ups, and attempts to keep information about the mansion party private by arranging her murder. Her death remains unsolved and the lawsuit is still pending.

Officer Harold C. Nelthrope and Detroit Police Internal Affairs Chief Gary Brown filed suit against the city claiming their firing was retaliation by the Mayor’s office because of the Internal Affairs investigation, which was cut short prior to the firings, and what it would reveal. They allege that the Mayor retaliated against them because he didn’t want his affair with Christine Beatty to be made public. Further proof of this is the settlement agreement, which imposed a punishment by way of monetary fine for anyone found to have revealed information leading to the discovery of the affair and text messages that prove the affairs’ existence.

The city lost the suit and the officers were awarded $8.4 million dollars in damages. During the trial, when allegations of infidelity surfaced, and Kilpatrick was accused of having an affair with his Chief of Staff – Christine Beatty, they both denied the affair. It was later proven to be true, and the Mayor was charged with lying under oath. He lied not only to cover up his sexual indiscretions, but also because the text messages discussed how to fire Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown in 2003. The text message scandal uncovered the exchange of 14,000 texts between the Mayor and Christine Beatty on their city-issued pagers during certain months in 2002 and 2003.

They’d both go on to face criminal charges in March 2008; 12 counts a piece to be exact. In August 2008, Kilpatrick was hit with 2 additional criminal charges stemming from a run in with law enforcement at his sister’s residence in connection with the serving of a subpoena to a family friend and associate who was visiting. He reportedly shoved one of the officers, who were there to serve a subpoena, into the other, and because the male officer was white and the female officer black he then made a racially insensitive remark in an attempt to embarass her.

He was on his way to serve a subpoena to city employee Brenda Braceful when he saw a Ferguson Enterprises truck in the neighborhood and stopped because he had a subpoena for Ferguson.  He checked the address, and the house was Ayanna Kilpatrick’s, the mayor’s sister.

He approached the mayor’s bodyguard standing outside.  “I identified myself immediately as a police officer, I raised my ID and said I needed to speak to Bobby Ferguson.  He made a sweeping motion with his right arm to the house … he accompanied us to the front door.”

After meeting someone who called himself Derrick Ferguson, White heard shouting from inside.

“‘Don’t tell those f******* anything … Get the f*** out of here.’  At that point Kilpatrick comes storming out through the door, grabbed me with both of my hands behind me and throws me into investigator Kinney.”

White testified that Kilpatrick then said: “Get the f*** out of here.  Leave my f****** family alone.  Get off my f****** porch.”

White testified Kilpatrick continued accusing him of harassing his family.

Kinney later testified: “It happened so fast … I was like, I couldn’t believe this was happening.”

Kinney said the Mayor told her: “You, a black woman being with a man with the last name White, you should be ashamed of yourself.  Why are you a part of this?”

The Sheriff’s daughter, who worked for Kilpatrick, resigned shortly after the incident. On September 4, 2008, Kwame Kilpatrick pled guilty to two felony counts. In February 2009 he left jail after serving 99 days and hopped on a private jet to begin a new life in Texas.

He was hired by Compuware whose CEO had loaned him large sums of money in 2008. It was later discovered that the CEO of Compuware, along with other prominent businessmen, effectively paid Kwame Kilpatrick to resign as Mayor and plead guilty to his crimes.

Ultimately, the mayor’s lies, lack of ethics, and immoral behavior cost the city millions. He was required to pay back restitution of $1 million dollars, but claimed he couldn’t afford the payments until the judge demanded his financial records. He was ordered to pay even more per month when his income with Compuware was discovered. When he missed a required payment’s deadline, the judge approved an arrest warrant. It was his last straw. He was sentenced to 18-months to 5 years in prison for violating his parole.

While expelling empty rhetoric and lies about helping the citizens of Detroit by building up the economy, schools, infrastructure and more, he used his position to live a lavish lifestyle while making deals that would go on to benefit his family and friends. Most of the citizens of the city wouldn’t have had a problem with the expensive jewelry, suits, shirts, and cars, but there is no dignity in such a facade when you don’t stay true to your word, and you in turn screw the very people that voted you into office by using tax-payer monies, devising schemes to usurp City Council voting on important financial issues affecting the city and for misappropriating funds.

When a Mayor uses his position to engage in questionable and illegal behavior for years while purporting to serve a city he’s spent into the ground, he alone has contributed the most to the moral decay that’s left behind.

I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg of Mr. Kilpatrick’s legal troubles. He still has to appear before a judge regarding the Tamara Greene lawsuit and many others currently making their way through the courts.

It may take years, as history has shown, but this reign of corruption hasn’t been completely exposed. I’m particularly interested in what IRS findings will bring to light regarding Kilpatrick’s erratic spending habits as mayor.

My biggest complaint with him is his tendency to blame most of his problems on “the man,” yet when he found himself in the position of being ”The Man,” he used the benefits of power to serve self, family, and friends to the detriment of the city.  While I won’t deny that Kwame has likely experienced racism more than a little bit in his life, he cannot deny that he himself has instigated racial incitement on more than one occasion when it had absolutely nothing to do with the matter at hand, beginning with the accusations and proof of unethical behavior while mayor, and let’s not forget the fact that race didn’t have a damn thing to do with the infidelity on tax payer time, and the numerous lies exposed while under oath. 

After all is said and done, he had the ability to repay the money he owed to the city, but he choose to spend it on material things instead.

Kilpatrick is en route to the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson.

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. DADT’s Third Party Use And Abuse: The Case Of Jene Newsome
2. Tea Party Express Leader Mark Williams Booted For Racist ‘Satire’
3. Newt Gingrich’s Family Values and the Politics of Infidelity

(CNN) — The anti-gay rights activist who recently toured Europe with a male escort has resigned from a group that promotes counseling for people who “struggle with unwanted homosexuality,” though the man insists that he is not gay.

George Rekers resigned from the board of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, the group’s website said Tuesday.

“I am immediately resigning my membership in NARTH to allow myself the time necessary to fight the false media reports that have been made against me,” Rekers said in a statement posted on the group’s website. “With the assistance of a defamation attorney, I will fight these false reports because I have not engaged in any homosexual behavior whatsoever.

“I am not gay and never have been,” the statement said.

The association accepted the resignation, saying on its website Tuesday that it “would hope that the legal process will sufficiently clarify the questions that have arisen in this unfortunate situation.”

The group has scrubbed Rekers’ writings from its site, with a page that formerly featured his work now bearing the message, “Sorry, you’ve reached a page that doesn’t exist.”

Rekers, a Baptist minister, has been a prominent and effective foe of gay rights legislation across the country. He is a co-founder of the Family Research Council, one of Washington’s most powerful conservative Christian advocacy groups, and has weighed in on anti-gay rights legislation across the country.

Rekers has written that gays are a “deviant segment of society.”

Rekers, a Baptist minister, has been a prominent and effective foe of gay rights legislation across the country. He is a co-founder of the Family Research Council, one of Washington’s most powerful conservative Christian advocacy groups, and has weighed in on anti-gay rights legislation across the country.

“I deliberately spend time with sinners with the loving goal to try to help them.” 

According to Miaminewtimes:

In 1983, he and James Dobson, America’s best-known homophobe, formed the Family Research Council, a D.C.-based, rabidly Christian, and vehemently anti-gay lobbying group that has become a standard-bearer of the nation’s extreme right wing. Its annual Values Summit is considered a litmus test for Republican presidential hopefuls, and Sean Hannity and Ann Coulterhave spoken there. (The Family Research Council would not comment about Rekers’s Euro-trip.)He has also influenced American government, serving in advisory roles with Congress, the White House, and the Department of Health and Human Services and testifying as a state’s witness in favor of Florida’s gay adoption ban. A former research fellow at Harvard Universityand a distinguished professor of neuropsychiatry at the University of South Carolina, Rekers has published papers and books by the hundreds, with titles like Who Am I? Lord and Growing Up Straight: What Families Should Know About Homosexuality.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdQWqVN09yQ&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

My Reaction:

What a hypocrit. 

A family values, anti-gay activist hiring  a gay male escort to “pack his bags” and “carry his luggage” while away on a two week vacation retreat. 

How convenient.

There is nothing in the article that makes mention of him sleeping with the rent-a-boy, but what we do know is that he doesn’t hate the sinner, in fact, he enjoyed sharing a room with him, receiving a one hour massage every day from him, eating at least 2 meals a day with him and sharing a companionship that he apparently couldn’t find in a actual, you know, personal assistant. 

The thing is, most of the straight people I know are completely comfortable with gay people and would not spend their precious time and energy trying to make life miserable for them, which is exactly what the Family Research Council does. The conservative, Christian right group is George Rekers baby, and it’s a massive lobbying power house for conservative legislation on Capitol Hill. The Family Research Council supports the following policies:

• The outlawing of homosexual behavior and an enforcement of “criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior”.

These are the people who come up with policies that are endorsed by Republicans on the conservative right in Washington. The Family Research Council actively legislates against granting gay people any equal protections under the law. They along with a slew of  other interconnected charities and non-profit organizations are the anti-gay force to be reckoned with in America.

It’s a scary thought, but it’s time to face reality. A good number of gays “living in the closet” are none other than the bible-thumping drama kings and queens who go to the extreme opposite of the flamboyant queens that rep the other end of the spectrum in the gay community. Both groups draw lots of attention that is at times unwanted and at others, predictable, yet damaging nonetheless.  

Will there ever be an end to the number of outspoken radical homophobes who as it turns out either exhibit gay tendencies or have always been gay to begin with? ‘I certainly hope not. 

The ironic part is that no one would even care what these numbskull’s were doing with their time if they weren’t going around doing everything in their power to deny LGBT Americans their fundamental civil liberties, such as federally recognized marriages.

I can’t stand assholes like this. Even if the article provides no proof of his presumed transgressions, there is no doubt that when he logged onto Rentboy.com he was well aware that it was an adult website, which was obviously homosexual in nature. 

The lady doth protest too much, and she ought to be ashamed of himself.

It’s only a matter of time until he gets on television asking for repentance for his sins.

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Message To Gay Conservatives: Ann Coulter is no Judy Garland
2. Glenn Beck Thinks He’s Martin Luther King, Jr.
3. Tea Party Express Leader Mark Williams Booted For Racist ‘Satire’

The story originated from former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate Staffer Ben Domenech. He’s a conservative blogger on CBS  where the story first broke and was subsequently slammed by the White House in response.  In the article, Domenech indicated that if the nomination went through, Kagan would be the first openly gay Justice.

The response from the White House was swift and decisive.

Anita Dunn, former White House communications director working with the administration on the supreme court vacancy had this to say: ”The fact that they’ve chosen to become enablers of people posting lies on their site tells us where the journalistic standards of CBS are in 2010.”

She criticized CBS for giving a platform to a blogger with a history of plagiarism and accused him of applying the age old “Single, unmarried, childless, career-centered? Must be a gosh darn lesbian” stereotype usually applied to single women with successful careers.

The blogger later updated the post to say: “I have to correct my text here to say that Kagan is apparently still closeted — odd, because her female partner is rather well known in Harvard circles.”

I would speak more on the merits of or lack thereof of the lesbian rumor, but I won’t because I don’t care if she’s a lesbian or not. I find it patently absurd that the White House would find itself in the unusual position of defending someones heterosexuality in such a way as to make it seem as though choosing a lesbian for the court would be disastrous. It makes political sense for them to deny even if it were true, but it also makes the adminstration look weak in some regard.

What I am concerned about is where her political leanings fall and what impact they will have on her ability to exert fairness and sound reasoning while a Justice on the Supreme Court.

People shouldn’t assume that just because someone is a member of a minority group they automatically agree with everything that group stands for. I hope the White House is correct in their assertion that she’s not a lesbian. If the rumors are true someone will have some explaining to do. Besides, she doesn’t have to be gay to defend gay rights.

Here are a couple of things about Elena Kagan I thought I’d share. If we are to follow history, we should expect Kagan to be a strong supporter of civil liberties. She has advocated for equal rights in the past, namely in opposition to the discriminatory policies of the US military in relation to recruiting on Harvard’s campus. She called the military policy “unwise and unjust.”

Her political views are rumored to be progressive, but close friends and associates see her as a right of center – moderate. She’s not known to be outwardly or especially political.

She gets the side eye from me for her support ofexecutive privilege. Her view of executive powers are said to be “broad though not unlimited.” I’m disappointed to say she has almost no track record as it relates to the practical application of cultural diversity, except when she’s benefiting from it by being a woman. (Oops, did I say that?)

There’s little to no paper trail following Ms. Kagan’s political ideologies so it’s tough to know where she stands on some major issues (abortion, same-sex marriage, tort reform). She’s something of a blank slate which is a scary thought to consider for some and a welcome breath of fresh air for others.

Her track record while Dean of Harvard Law is impressive in both her diplomacy, civility and appreciation of the law, yet questionable depending on who you might ask. She considered a “consensus builder” and is credited for bringing academic fairness to Harvard by hiring conservatives onto staff to bridge a hiring gap that became far too liberal.

Kagan’s ideological principles seem to resonate on a plane where bipartisanship and cohesiveness work hand in hand. One on hand, she cleared the way for Harvard to hire conservatives by way of affirmative action. On the other hand, what about minorities and people of color? I won’t contend with the fact that either they didn’t apply or the ones that did weren’t qualified. Perhaps it was business as usual at Harvard Law, but what remains is a woman who is neither afraid to compromise or to powerfully persuade given the circumstances.

There will be those who argue against her lack of  judicial experience. I’d wager that oneof the reasons for this can be blamed on her nomination by Clinton getting blocked by Republicans in 1999. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall who was seen as a radical idealist in his day. The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to be a judge to be a Supreme Court Justice.

Conservatives may balk because she’s labeled progressive, and who knows, she could be a carpet munchin’ lesbo to boot. Progressives could take issue with her support of Bush nominees in the past as well as her stance on executive powers and not being as against the expansion of them as much as progressives would like. If she’s for federal rights over states rights, I’m right there with her.

She is a highly intelligent, articulate, lawyer and a efficient litigator whose liberal roots run deep. She met Obama in the 90s while working at the University of Chicago. She is not a virtual unknown by any stretch.

She’s a better choice than anyone that John McCain would have come up with. Why? Because Joe the Plumber would not have been a very good judge of anything, including his own character.

She graduated with honors from Princeton, Oxford and Harvard Universities. Her ability to critically think would put any bonafide intellect to shame. 

I don’t believe the balance of power in the Supreme Court will shift to any extreme if she wins the nomination. She’s more moderate than progressive so it’s safe to say the balance of power could very stay tilted ever-so-slightly to the right.

What she lacks in ideological muster she more than makes up for in possessing the wherewithal to convince the other side to recognize her interpretation as their own. She possesses the powers of persuasion. It’s one thing to appoint someone in the hopes that they will cast the “right” vote, but it’s another to appoint someone who will not only make a difference, but be the majority decision when it comes time to stand on the correct side of history.

©2012 The Swag Report. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton?
2. Meet Alvin Greene: The Sarah Palin Of The Democratic Party (video)
3. Glenn Beck Thinks He’s Martin Luther King, Jr.