tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83613459359566744392024-03-14T10:32:09.621-04:00Maxx’s Writings and PerspectivesThanks for stopping by. Welcome! I'm Shar''Ron Maxx Mahaffey. Since 2014, this site is where I share my creative writings and thoughts on a varied of topics, and where I offer my perspective on current news stories, politicians, and political events. S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-71846847260221987072022-09-17T08:10:00.002-04:002022-09-17T08:10:15.711-04:00REAL LIFE<p><!--StartFragment-->
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">#REPOST<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>Real life is the
curve of the river<br />
The strength of the ocean<br />
It’s the swaying of trees<br />
It’s pouring rain and bright sunshine<br />
It’s relaxing with a good book<br />
The warmth of a roaring fire<br />
It’s the sweat of textile workers<br />
The smell of apple pie<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>Real life is the laughter of good friends<br />
The giggling of little children<br />
It’s the sky so blue<br />
And even when it’s cloudy too<br />
It’s the moon high-above<br />
It’s falling in love<br />
It’s skipping stones in a country creek<br />
It’s smiling at the people you meet<br />
It’s watching geese flock away<br />
And people playing in the park on a sunny day<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>Real life is praying to an empty sky<br />
It’s a meow of a little kitten<br />
The bark of a dog<br />
The roar of a lion<br />
The moo of a cow<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>Real life is snowflakes<br />
And even an occasional heartache<br />
It’s the gentle touch of a hand<br />
A kiss on the lips<br />
It’s a brisk walk on a fall day<br />
It’s leaves changing colors<br />
And horses feeding on hay<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>Real life is caring and sharing<br />
It’s watching the children play<br />
It’s chaos and glee<br />
It’s a loved one lost to the sea<br />
It’s tragedy<br />
Death and destruction<br />
It’s fatal diseases and people who hurt you<br />
It’s complicated<br />
And sometimes even suffocating<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><br />
Real life is all of these things<br />
And even much more<br />
There’s nothing more mysterious<br />
Or sometimes less forgiving<br />
But it’s in all these things<br />
That makes life worth livin</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>g.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><o:p>© 1996 Shar’Ron Mahaffey</o:p></b></p><p></p>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-2364795943833674372022-09-16T09:47:00.008-04:002022-09-16T12:41:02.976-04:00IT’S NEVER TOO LATE<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>All of the people below were discouraged at times, but they didn’t assign an age limit to their dreams.</i></b></span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Julia Child </b>didn’t learn to cook until she was almost 40 and was 50 when </span><span>she launched her popular TV cooking show.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Harlan Sanders</b>, the Colonel Sanders of KFC, was 66 when he began to </span><span>promote his cooking and create his empire.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Ricardo Montalban</b>, the Mexican actor, had his dream house built at the </span><span>age of 68. That was when he was finally financially able to do so.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Elizabeth Jolley</b> an English-born writer had her first novel published at the </span><span>age of 56. In one year alone she received 39 rejection letters but finally had </span><span>15 novels and four short story collections published to great success. She </span><span>died in 2007 at age 83. She realized her dream beyond her own expectations </span><span>for the last 27 years of her life. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Mary Wesley</b> was 71 when her first novel was published. During her </span><span>career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three </span><span>m</span><span>illion copies of her books, including 10 bestsellers in the last 20 years of </span><span>her life. She was 90 when she died in 2002. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Laura Ingalls Wilder</b>, author of the popular Little House books weren’t </span><span>written when she was a young girl. They were written and published when </span><span>she was in her 60’s.</span></span></p>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-8179948905508308782022-09-16T09:37:00.005-04:002022-09-17T08:12:56.707-04:00REFLECTIONS OF YOU<p><i><span style="font-size: large;">My experiences, someone has lived them</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">My fears, someone has overcome them</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">My hopes, someone has rejoiced in them</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">My ideas, someone has conceived them</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">My thoughts, someone has spoken them</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">My revelations, someone realized them first</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">My tears, someone has cried them</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">My understanding, someone understood it first</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">Therefore, my soul is the reflection of</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">Someone whom I may or may not know.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">It may be a reflection of you . . .</span></i></p><p><b>Copyright © 1996 Shar'Ron Mahaffey</b></p>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-8392669276190625212021-11-08T09:07:00.021-05:002022-09-17T07:47:14.941-04:00THE LIFE IN MY YEARS (CONTINUED)<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: right;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><i>Written and posted on Instagram September 19, 2021 on my 68th birthday, <span style="color: #2b00fe;">added text in blue September 2022.</span></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: right;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XVeP-Og9T2WkuiDTUX90rRZbxi8fdQZ1Fp2pfDG-ri_crQhhKYubdW2hXCWs8LeSh330WMrbq3reHbeZGt01htBisYYZ1Mv3eZVWAcTxUrXw6PxM_e7sunGkIFSaNBIf7VoJrR8hFpwl/s478/Mahaffey_Yearbook_Photo_1971.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="219" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XVeP-Og9T2WkuiDTUX90rRZbxi8fdQZ1Fp2pfDG-ri_crQhhKYubdW2hXCWs8LeSh330WMrbq3reHbeZGt01htBisYYZ1Mv3eZVWAcTxUrXw6PxM_e7sunGkIFSaNBIf7VoJrR8hFpwl/w146-h320/Mahaffey_Yearbook_Photo_1971.jpg" width="146" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Chilton County HS 1971</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span>I've come a long way and outgrown so much</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">, like being too quick to criticize and judge others,
which is a typical Virgo trait. I corrected that in my personality a long time ago. Since then I practice <i>when people show you who they are, believe them</i> and
either I accept them as they are without expecting them to change or I distance
myself from them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There was a time that I overthought things. </span><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">However, I went to God in prayer and asked for His help in healing my mind of it. He enlightened me that overthinking happens when I'm wrestling with the things that I cannot change.
My attitude became cemented in </span><span style="background: white; color: #4d5156; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Qué será, será</span><span style="background: white; color: #4d5156; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">, which means <i><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whatever</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>will be, will be.</i></span></span><span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> I'm still discovering and rediscovering things about
myself, </span></span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">even now at age 68, and I’m <span style="color: #2b00fe;">continually</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"> growing spiritually even</span> </span><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 14pt;">now at age 69</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> and I like that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I've
survived a lot . . . the death of both parents by age 11, years of mental
torture and violent beatings by a stepmother who was filled with anger from her
own childhood trauma and was incapable of loving me as a parent, an emancipated
minor at age 16, divorce, single parenting, and <span style="color: #2b00fe;">sometimes unrelenting</span> financial instability.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">These struggles were challenges to my faith, intended to break my spirit, to cause me to turn away from God. Instead of cursing my struggles, I blessed them. They did not crush me, they made me more determined. They helped me to become a
kinder and more loving, empathetic, compassionate and sympathetic
person. They brought me closer to God where I fell deeply in love with myself by forgiving me for my of transgressions and accepting me as God accepts me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">God
blessed me with a son and two daughters, and my daughters blessed me with seven
grandchildren between them. I lived in Japan for two years with my ex-husband who
was in the U.S. Air Force. I’ve traveled a lot throughout the U.S. and I lived
in California for 26 years, where all three of my children were born, before
relocating to the East coast in 1996.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It
was at age 16 that I discovered that writing was my God-given talent which
comes to me as natural as breathing. Thus far I’ve written well over a quarter million
words: two linear novels, published a book of life-affirming essays, publisher and
editor of a magazine/journal, published a poetry book, published articles, essays,
and poetry, and wrote five songs and recorded a demo of them, and other writings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It
was through writing that I confronted my fears. I’ve written works of fiction
to address things from my past that haunted me by creating characters to
portray my inner turmoil and pain. I've written nonfiction to encourage and
inspire others, and business and technical writings to earn money. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I
graduated from college with a degree in social science and computer technology in 1978.
I designed the curriculum and implemented the first vocational computer
programming and word processing course in the State of California in 1981, and
taught the course for high school students and adults in the Los Angeles County school
district for seven years. The curriculum that I created became the foundation
for future computer technology training courses in the state. In addition, as
an educator one of my fondest and rewarding life assignments was teaching a semester of Civics
and Social Studies at the eighth grade level in Fairfax County Virginia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I
know without a hint of doubt that God is real. No one can convince me otherwise. I can feel His love flow
through my veins. I discovered that connection at age 10. </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">He is not a religion. Religion did not create God.</span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I praise Him for
allowing me to lean on Him during times when it’s too hard for me to stand on
my own. He’s the reason that I’ve made it this far. I promised Him in 1978 that
I would not become too attached to people, places, or things that keep me from
fulfilling His purpose for me, that I would be a faithful servant and go
wherever He leads me, and do what He wants me to do. There are times that I don't initially understand His way, why He guided me down a certain path or to a certain place, but I trust Him completely. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I
accept ALL of my past, the good, the bad, the ugly. I have!</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhv3QipJStoD1O3TFSQbLc727AO3hbqWAcsF7uBEFMfoJ2zcIy9UM5NCZcMFTO3084gEMbidEe_o6eGQkstTmcyLPElOpuaFeFTCoLHyiOvCJoR1yd_BlapEal1VDmHmiAEUdN690jg5vzw4XxYb51Lf3-fYEpbm3PFE9-WbVlRLZtUHxQF5gXjwkFA/s1570/Mahaffey_Angela_1985.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1570" data-original-width="940" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhv3QipJStoD1O3TFSQbLc727AO3hbqWAcsF7uBEFMfoJ2zcIy9UM5NCZcMFTO3084gEMbidEe_o6eGQkstTmcyLPElOpuaFeFTCoLHyiOvCJoR1yd_BlapEal1VDmHmiAEUdN690jg5vzw4XxYb51Lf3-fYEpbm3PFE9-WbVlRLZtUHxQF5gXjwkFA/w193-h320/Mahaffey_Angela_1985.jpg" width="193" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Angela (L) Me (R) 1985</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 14pt;">no regrets. I have very fond memories that I
carry in my heart and I've had a LOT of fun and good times. I've met a lot of
good and honest people, and I have people in my life who genuinely love me, and
I love them back like my children, and my youngest sister Angela who is my loyalist and
staunchest supporter. I trust her with my life. I wouldn’t change a thing about my life, not a single thing, because changing just one thing, changes everything.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">My
hope is boundless. It knows no end <span style="color: #2b00fe;">because God is the God of the impossible. He is a waymaker, problem solver, promise keeper, miracle worker. </span>I am stubbornly faithful. I trust Him completely<span style="color: #2b00fe;"> even in the darkest moments. Faith</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"> has taught me that the fulfillment of my hopes and dreams come when I trust God's perfect timing - </span>when I'm patient with Him - <span style="color: #2b00fe;">when I don't lean to my own understanding of how or when or where He should answer my prayer. </span>Patience was something that I had to learn because there was a time in my life that it </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">was sorely lacking. </span><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 14pt;">It’s not what happens to me that propels me forward, it's how I handle it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Over many years, I’ve grown spiritually
to understand the belief in </span><b><i>one love</i></b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">, loving </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>everyone</b></span><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: medium;"> from
the highest version of myself, that’s my spirit-self.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: medium;">I believe in the Indian guru Sadhguru’s
philosophy that if one can become love, instead of just loving somebody from feelings then one will know
the true nature of love. The inherent features of love when seen as characteristics
of it are tolerance, acceptance, consideration and kindness. Love never boasts. It does not mock or ridicule.
It is not envy or jealous. Love does not denigrate or demoralize. Love always lifts
you up, it never puts you down. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: medium;">It's been many years since I made an
intimate commitment to love, but I never fell out of love <i>with love</i>. I never stopped
swaying and rocking to love songs or feeling their intensity or imagining being
swept off my feet. Once I’m settled in my new home, I'm going to stop and listen to my heart and see what it's saying. It’s time to give intimate commitment another chance. I’m ready.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It’s
not the end of the life in my years, but <span style="color: #2b00fe;">a continuation </span>and hopefully many
more years to come. Some of my best days are <span style="color: #2b00fe;">still</span> ahead of me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p>
<!--EndFragment-->
<!--EndFragment-->S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-73323340556268958112021-06-06T10:19:00.001-04:002022-09-15T10:18:33.479-04:00Civics is KNOWLEDGE + ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP = POWER TO CHANGE GOVERNMENT<p><!--StartFragment-->
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span></span></p><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Aq9nhNQgrblRUZqSRrWpWFw21LMbJmqDW5OXlaCBuiLTJYa7yZ9HuvqgFWb5Z2dcbEw7_SszLNFS35hU_4D3kIAUVrtBvlqSdstZ82ymugvoPK5GUX6YcCxrr7RcBOEB39ELaUIPszAM/s971/IMG_20200521_065018_388.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="971" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Aq9nhNQgrblRUZqSRrWpWFw21LMbJmqDW5OXlaCBuiLTJYa7yZ9HuvqgFWb5Z2dcbEw7_SszLNFS35hU_4D3kIAUVrtBvlqSdstZ82ymugvoPK5GUX6YcCxrr7RcBOEB39ELaUIPszAM/w200-h200/IMG_20200521_065018_388.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><!--StartFragment-->
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">I launched <b>Civics Online Resource
Community (CORC)</b> in 2018, a website that “reintroduces visitors to the power of Civics so that
citizens can better understand their rights and duties of citizenship to become
more informed about how government work, more encouraged to get involved in the
community, and vote like their life depends on it. You relearn the tenets of
citizenship, put them into action, and share what you learn with fellow
citizens.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“Civics is a subject understudied in junior
high and high school, which translates into how underappreciated it is in
society today. Understanding Civics is essential to understanding that as
citizens, we have a duty to know what is happening in government and be
vigilant in knowing how governmental agencies and departments are managed,
regardless of the political party in power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The framers’ belief in self-government is
shown in the first three words of the United States Constitution, "We the
people." C.O.R.C. is an online community of civic-minded citizens
committed to understanding how government work and holding government
accountable when it is not working as it should; citizens who vote as an act of
duty; and citizens serving the community.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Contents include subjects regarding:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Branches
of U.S. Government</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Political
Parties</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">How
a Bill Becomes Law</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Filibuster
and Nuclear Option</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Principles
of The Constitution</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
Election Process</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Platforms
and Planks</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">State
Government</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Commonwealth
vs State</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Local
Government</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">United
States Territories</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
Bill of Rights</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Constitutional
Amendments on Voting Rights</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Meaning
of Lady Justice</span></i><br /><ul type="disc">
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">No matter what your political leaning is,
as citizen, you have a duty to know how government work and to hold government
accountable when it is not functioning in ways that best serve, we the
people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“It is my belief that once citizens have a
clear understanding of Civics and how government work, they will know which
party or candidate is or will be instrumental in making sure government work as
citizens expect it to work, and which candidate or party will be dogged in
making sure government work for ALL citizens.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> “Let us not seek the Republican
answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix
blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” John
F. Kennedy, 35th President of The United States <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“I hope to impress upon visitors to this
site that because government is the people, for the people, and by the
people, as citizens we have a duty to make sure our constitutional rights are
not trampled on, not bargained away or redefined under the guise of other
legislation, no matter whether government is local, federal, or state and no
matter which political party is in power. That takes understanding how all of
government work, and once you know, you will be able to spot when governmental
agencies and departments are not working as they should.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; margin: 12pt 0in 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“We
have hundreds of governmental agencies and departments that function to
serve we the people, and Congress is charged with oversight of them.
The Department of Transportation function
is to ensure our roads, bridges, and tunnels are safe to travel on. The Environmental Protection Agency is charged
with making sure our air is safe to breathe and water, clean to drink.
The Food and Drug Administration regulate
the following industries: prescription and over the counter drugs, food,
cosmetics, medical devices, animal and veterinary, tobacco products, radiation
emitting products, vaccines, blood, and biologics.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“Government is guided by principles
of the U.S. Constitution and not ran like a corporation. There is a
total of 535
members of the U.S. Congress that make all federal laws and by the
time a bill reaches the President's desk for his or her signature or
veto, at least 51 members of the Senate and 218 members of the House
of Representatives had to agree to it. That is not how a corporation is
managed.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Many citizens are committed to active citizenship
and they vote in every election. They see their right to vote as their duty
as citizen to do so, and see serving the community as a moral duty as
citizen. I hope those who haven’t made a commitment to active citizenship will
be inspired by what they learn from this site and do so.</span></p>
<!--EndFragment--><br /><p></p>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-17611949205881855382014-11-14T14:54:00.002-05:002018-01-19T12:52:54.174-05:00Cue the applause: How the news media helped the GOP cruise to victory<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><b><i>“Journalists are accountable to
their readers, listeners, viewers and each other. Journalists should encourage
the public to voice grievances against the news media; admit mistakes and
correct them promptly, and abide by the same high standards to which they hold
others.” </i></b><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics</span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i> </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">You would
have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to see the coordinated cooperation the
Republican Party received from the news media to bring about their so-called
historic win from a 37% voter turnout, one of the lowest in history. Whoop-Dee-Doo! Don’t be misled that Republicans had some
great ground game and people were falling all over themselves to jump at the
chance to vote for them. No! They’re still more unpopular than President Obama,
but what they did have was an effective media campaign that doomed Democrats’
chances by forcing them to abandon their twice-elected Democratic president.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Republicans
did not win because they had a clear vision for the Country or they had earned
the respect of the American people for helping the Country get back on its
feet after the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression. GOP voters did not care that Republicans in Congress had shut down the government, threatened to default on the full faith and
credit of the United States. It didn’t matter to GOP voters that they had obstructed
every effort to make the Country fairer and more equal. All GOP voters wanted
were candidates that could beat the Democrats and were willing to punish Barack
Obama for being a black man occupying space in the White House other than as
the butler or cook.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Republicans
had great cooperation from conservative bloggers who behaved in their typical
rabid dog fashion and intimidated spineless Democratic candidates in so-called
red states by tying them to Conservatives’ #1 nemesis…Barack Obama. They see
him as their bitter enemy who was unbeatable in two presidential elections. They
still haven’t gotten over it. Even progressive bloggers wrote an onslaught of
highly critical pieces which surely made some Democratic voters think, <i>why the hell am I voting for these people?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">One way the Sunday
news shows helped Republicans’ efforts to suppress Democratic voter turnout was
by simply making voter suppression a non-issue. For some folk, if it’s not in
the news then it must not be true. Another
way was that they relied on journalists like Bob Schieffer, host of CBS <i>Face the Nation,</i> and Chuck Todd, host of
<i>Meet the Press</i> to carry water for
them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Schieffer generally
favor Republican guests and the door to his CBS studio is always opened to critics
and haters of Barack Obama. Schieffer supports the conservative position on
issues and regularly levels abrasive criticism against the President. To have Bob
Schieffer, host of the highest rated Sunday news show, catering to your Party's point-of-view is a win-win for the GOP no matter how you analyze it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Todd gained
more GOP fans when he joined the merry band of conservative and progressive hypocrites
on <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/10/10/chuck_todd_alison_lundergan_grimes_has_disqualified_herself.html"><span style="color: blue;">MSNBC’s
<i>Morning Joe</i> show excoriating Alison
Grimes</span></a> for <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/10/09/alison_lundergan_grimes_refuses_to_answer_whether_she_voted_for_obama.html"><span style="color: blue;">refusing
to answer whether she voted for Barack Obama</span></a>. Todd, a staunch critic of the President and
the Democratic Party in general, declared that Grimes had disqualified herself.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Chuck Todd:<i> “The idea of -- I'm sorry even to say you
regret your vote that would almost seem as disingenuous. But that is -- can Kentuckians
expect her to cast a tough vote on anything? Is she ever going to answer a
tough question on anything? You want to be a U.S. Senator? If you can't say --
if you can't find a way to stand behind your party's president, you can
disagree with him but can't answer that basic question and come across looking
ridiculous. I think she disqualified herself.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Republicans
thanked him publicly for his cooperation by using Todd in an ad against Grimes,
which probably drove a few thousand Republican viewers to his failing show and drove
even more viewers away from the Democratic candidate. Though I was not a fan of
Grimes and definitely did not support her strategy of dividing the party into
Clinton Democrats and Obama Democrats, I joined the chorus of those calling Chuck
Todd unethical for interjecting his personal opinion about a candidate; thereby
giving an advantage to the opposing candidate. He should have remained fair and
objective, especially as a news director for a major news organization. But I
don’t know <b>anyone </b>who thinks Chuck
Todd has an objective bone in his body.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The Democratic
National Committee (DNC) bought into the GOP narrative, peddled by the news
media, as to what Democrats were up against in the midterms, and out of fear, they
sidelined their most valuable player Barack Obama. Their strategy was not to
lose. They never had a strategy to win.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">How the news media
helped Republicans cruise to victory <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Convince</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> white men that the black President’s
approval rating of 42% to 45% is the lowest of any white president before him
and only conservative white men can save the Republic from the black guy.
Repeat it constantly and avoid comparing his approval to previous presidents.
Have a slew of prominent white men, whom all vote Republican, on CNN, Fox News,
and MSNBC attacking every decision the black guy makes. If you listen to cable
news, Barack Obama has the lowest approval rating of <b>any</b> president in history, which is a bald-faced lie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9PFuNdqud_UwdpEief_irl90vzA-DWbkrWPMOGWmV98RbYpS9JtvR8d_g9kyeaqn-P3sGmCTuVFhymbAD46M9IzVZE02Fntw2Xtt6xFAG03AProtCG3OUdFmPXgucQzIxaXYaEAH5s5_P/s1600/Obama_Approval_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9PFuNdqud_UwdpEief_irl90vzA-DWbkrWPMOGWmV98RbYpS9JtvR8d_g9kyeaqn-P3sGmCTuVFhymbAD46M9IzVZE02Fntw2Xtt6xFAG03AProtCG3OUdFmPXgucQzIxaXYaEAH5s5_P/s1600/Obama_Approval_2.jpg" width="245" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Distract</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> from the Democratic Party’s economic
successes and the fact that 10 million Americans now have healthcare because
President Obama and the Democrats in Congress risked their political futures to
pass it. <b><i>How to distract?</i></b> Push media coverage painting the highly
successful Democratic black president as <i>“the
other” </i>and his policies of equal pay, education reform, equality for all is
bad for America, particularly white Americans. Keep comparing him to former
presidents, all of whom are white, to drive home the point to white men and
older white voters that when they look back on the Country’s greatness, white
men were in charge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Of
course that strategy counted on silence by minority reporters from pointing out
that the good, the bad, and the ugly of America happened under the rule of
white men until just six years ago when the first non-white male was elected as
President of The United States. Before then, it had been over 200 years of
total white male domination. A <b>lot</b>
of ugly sh*t happened during that time which created a stain on America’s image
that can never be washed away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Instill fear</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> by making white Americans fearful of
an <b>African</b> disease, an imminent
attack by a crazed <b>Muslim </b>terrorist
group, and an influx of <b>Hispanic</b>
children crossing the border carrying diseases. The news media was culpable in
pushing GOP hysterics that Ebola was spreading rampant on the <b>continent</b> of Africa. It was so effective
that, not surprisingly, gullible Democratic candidates jumped on the bandwagon
of wanting to impose a travel ban on ALL of Africa, not just the infected
areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Force Democrats to adopt GOP’s
preferred strategy</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> by
pushing candidates into a corner to see President Obama’s approval rating
through the lens of the GOP and Republican-leaning independent voters, thereby;
ignoring his 76% approval rating amongst all Democrats and 87% approval amongst
black voters. Republicans got a major lift from the news media for carrying out
this specific strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">5.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Trick Democrats</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> to adopt a <i>win with white only voters’</i> strategy by placating to that strain of
anti-Obama voters in the Democratic Party who have racial animosity toward the
black president and started voting Republican because of it. Republicans and
the media knew this strategy would alienate black voters, and they selectively
put white Democratic candidates on the spot to defend the black guy at the
expense of losing a more likely white racist voter. The Democrats chose the
more likely white racist voter. This strategy infuriated black folk and their
trust level for white politicians took a dramatic nose-dive. Blacks, who didn’t
vote, point to how Democrats treated President Obama as a reason not to trust
white politicians. Quote unquote. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2014/11/democrats-midterm-strategy-fueled-black.html">Check
out “Democrats’ midterm strategy fueled black voters’ distrust of the Party”</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Cable and
news organizations got into the mix with scathing criticism of President Obama
and his Administration and unrelenting negative news coverage designed to scare
white folk and weaken already vulnerable Democratic candidates. After the GOP
won, all of a sudden, presto…Americans don’t have to be afraid anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Fox News role in GOP win</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Everybody knows
that Fox News Channel is the media arm of the Republican Party and a platform
for the conservative movement. They’re unapologetic about it. So, of course,
they were very instrumental in helping Republicans scare white folk and
capitalize on what is historically low voter turnout in midterm elections. They
didn’t have to implement some specific strategy, they simply kept doing what
they do every single day, paint Barack Obama as a Kenyan-born Muslim socialist
who wants to scrap the U.S. Constitution in favor of Sharia Law, and drill down
into the subconscious of white folk that the black guy is coming for their guns
and their Bibles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">CNN role in GOP win<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">CNN, that
bastion of negative news coverage, probably wasn’t asked to cooperate with the
GOP in taking over Congress. They volunteered because wherever the majority of
white folk are on issues, there is CNN promoting that position. So, no way
would they be left out of gaining some of that anti-Obama rating from Fox News.
They just threw a ton of negative sh*t out there about President Obama and the
Democrats and whatever stuck, they ran with it. They didn’t try to be fair,
balanced, or ethical. Of course, they think they’re a pillar of integrity. Barf…barf…barf!
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">MSNBC role in GOP win <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">That bunch of
progressives on MSNBC, the <i>‘liberal my ass’</i> channel, played a role in the GOP
win too, maybe unwittingly but their negative coverage fed into black folk and
many Americans’ distrust of politicians in general. Chris Hayes (<i>All In With Chris Hayes</i>) and Rachel Maddow (<i>The Rachel Maddow Show</i>)<i> </i>are
both equal opportunity offenders, so Democratic candidates should never
consider them a friendly progressive venue. That distinction is reserved for
progressive/libertarian guests like Glenn Greenwald. Hayes and Maddow gave
their viewers a lot of unflattering <b>facts
</b>about Democratic and Republican candidates that would make some first time
voters and young voters say,<i> ‘F**k this,
I don’t trust any of these people in either party.’</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">MSNBC content
writers for Ed Schultz (<i>The Ed Show</i>)
and Al Sharpton (<i>Politics Nation</i>)
shows must be GOP moles because 80% of the content for those shows is about how
disgusting Republicans are. Like people don’t already know that. I would bet
you a dollar to a dime that relentless coverage of GOP antics had a
demoralizing effect on Democratic voters and apathy ensued. Some Americans probably
thought not even voting will stop the GOP.
You would expect two boisterous bleeding heart liberals to focus
primarily on the positives about America, instilling optimism, a platform to
educate viewers about how the political process works, and so on. It’s not like
Schultz and Sharpton are journalists or claim to be unbiased. So having a format
like that would not be out of line because they are billed as opinion shows. The
shows’ content writers limit reporting on the great things that President Obama
and Democrats have achieved in the last six years. They spend way too much time
on how pathetic the GOP is. Like I said,
we already know that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I stopped
watching both shows (, and MSNBC in general,) because I simply grew tired of them
regurgitating GOP hysterics while progressive gains sometimes were tabled for
later on in the show, like the last fifteen minutes, or barely discussed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Even if I
didn’t mention the king of hypocrisy Joe Scarborough’s role in the GOP win, you
would know that Mr. Hypocrite, host of MSNBC's the <i>Morning Joe Show</i>, had a hand in depressing the Democratic vote.
Surely, the guy writes his own content, and it is all about how bad of a
president the black guy is compared to previous white presidents. He had a slew
of left-leaning guests who were big supporters of the Democratic Party before
Barack Obama became the Party’s standard bearer. These <i>‘I don’t like the black guy’</i> Democratic operatives were more than
willing to pour water on the Democrats chances for victory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><a href="http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2010/06/30/4588518-examining-the-character-of-the-news-media"><span style="color: blue;">Check
out “Examining the character of the media”</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Black activists and educators’ role in
GOP win<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">We can’t
leave out cooperation the GOP received from black activists and educators who
have an ongoing beef with President Obama for not showing enough of his
“blackness.” <i>What the hell does that mean
anyway?</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Baptist
minister Michael Eric Dyson and Melissa Harris-Perry, host of MSNBC <i>The Melissa Harris Perry Show,</i> issued a
venomous attack on President Obama regarding what the two perceived as a lack
of <i>their preferred response</i> to the
shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Surely, both being respected
voices in academics, knowingly or unknowingly, convinced some blacks to stay home
because it would not make a difference. Dyson
seemed to want the black president to raise his fist and say, ‘F the police,’ while
Harris-Perry signaled she wanted him to apologize for racism and all other ills
of society. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><a href="http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2014/07/28/25042886-gop-and-press-roles-as-co-conspirators-in-racism-in-politics-and-the-media" target="_blank">GOP as co-conspirators in racism in politics and the media</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Cornel West
and Tavis Smiley, the two poverty pimps, played a major role in riling up poor
black folk to distrust ALL politicians, even the black guy in the White House. They
have hoodwinked them into believing that the answer to <b>all</b> of their money woes rests in the hands of Barack Obama and the reason
they’re still broke or living paycheck-to-paycheck is because the uppity black
president doesn’t care about poor people. Smiley and West probably tell their
anti-Obama supporters to pooh-pooh on JFK’s famous quote: <i>“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your
country.” </i>Poor people should be the first in line at the polls in <b>every</b> election.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">If Democrats
had been fortunate enough to have this degree of media cooperation and outside support
to get out their message, they could have won too. Oh wait…screech…. back up…nothing
was going to save Democrats this election cycle because they let the news media
and Republicans sucker them into believing that President Obama, their most
valuable asset, was a drag on the party.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtsQ3hgQZNoDgJvme-qhbu1o2mgW7tbKAnRoj0zr9v6gmMRC1fC8R16WXP8dviRfHPjp3EtqL02ykDkT0CDLNGDPB9CpyQhDbdAGALWu_c3lSw9eryZ9XNlxNn-ESBQzX3XWjXfJfLRPwb/s1600/Obama_Approval.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtsQ3hgQZNoDgJvme-qhbu1o2mgW7tbKAnRoj0zr9v6gmMRC1fC8R16WXP8dviRfHPjp3EtqL02ykDkT0CDLNGDPB9CpyQhDbdAGALWu_c3lSw9eryZ9XNlxNn-ESBQzX3XWjXfJfLRPwb/s1600/Obama_Approval.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Besides Democratic
voters expect a hell of a lot more from their candidates than GOP voters do and
will not support candidates who are too spineless to stand up for their
convictions. Democrats tried to run away from being Democrats and it backfired
on them. It was a colossal failure of judgment on their part.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Oh well, if
you don’t believe in something, you will fall for anything, and Democrats fell
hard for GOP messaging. Of course, the GOP could not have been victorious without
help from the news media. Cue the applause.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">That's my yada yada and I’m sticking to it!</span></em><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/smaxxmahaffey"><span style="color: #005422;">Follow me on Twitter</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-56910515694773822302014-11-12T12:08:00.001-05:002022-09-15T12:10:13.833-04:00Democrats' midterm strategy fueled black voters' distrust of the Party<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">“Black
folk generally do not trust the police, the media, or politicians.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Every Tom,
Dick, and Harry have an analysis as to why the GOP won the midterm with a 37%
turnout of primarily white men and older white voters, which is the historical
norm for likely voters in a midterm election. Theories range from the GOP’s
ground game, Democratic voter apathy and lazy voters, GOP voter suppression tactics,
historical low voter turnout, and of course, Americans <i>(meaning white folk)</i> rejected the black guy in the White House and his
policies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Gracious and
responsible as always, President Obama shouldered the blame for the losses, and
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chairman of the DNC, was way too happy to let him. The
woman has no shame. She hasn’t even bothered to own up to the role she played
in Democratic losses, like her <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-22/dnc-chairwoman-evades-questions-about-obama" target="_blank">embarrassing performance on MSNBC</a> and what <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/democrats-debbie-wasserman-schultz-111077.html" target="_blank">Politico billed as a behind the scene look at her leadership style.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">President
Obama <b>does not</b> deserve the blame <b>unless</b> <b>he </b>personally devised the ill-fated strategy to downplay his own
successes in the economy, energy, environment, foreign policy, healthcare, and manufacturing;
unless he advised Democrats to avoid him like he was infected with Ebola and
alienate black voters and other staunch supporters in the process; and unless he personally told voters to
listen to the negativity in the media and let cynicism and distrust of politicians
keep them from voting. Only then can he be blamed for the losses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">The Democrats’
defeat can be penned on the individual candidates themselves, chairman of the Democratic
National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Committee Conference
(DCCC), the Democratic Senatorial Committee Conference (DSCC), and the political
strategists they <b>paid</b> to come up
with their <i>brilliant</i> plan. Their
strategy resulted in the demise of the Democratic majority in the Senate, a
larger GOP majority in the House of Representatives; an increase in Republican
governors, a demoralizing defeat for the base, and it brought embarrassment to
our Democratic president. The Republicans’ deep money pockets did not defeat
the Democrats, their own stupidity did, and their strategy fueled black voters’
distrust of the Party.</span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">It is a
distrust that has seethed beneath the surface for a long time, and the Democrats
made a fatal error in judgment when they devised a strategy to distance
themselves from the most highly successful Democratic president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 6.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""> Barack Obama is a biracial black man with
three Muslim names who successfully beat Republicans like a drum in two highly
contested presidential elections. His approval rating is still high amongst
Democrats and he has an impressive and historic list of accomplishments.
However, the DNC’s strategy was to focus on getting votes from the typical
midterm voting block of older white people, which historically do not vote for
Democrats. </span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">For Democrats to win those white voters, that meant they had to betray their own president because older
white people are less accepting of America’s diversity and idea of a fairer and
more equal society. They view President Obama as a thorn in the butt of
progress that Conservatives made in keeping America unequal. Some older
white people can’t even stand to see black folk on television more less a black
man in the White House as President and not as the butler. <i>“I don’t understand why the n**gers have to be on TV?”</i> Those exact words
came from the mouth of one of my girlfriend’s 90-year-old Republican mother-in-law. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Black folk’s
disdain for the Democratic Party is worse than it has ever been. For many
blacks, a strategy to denounce the black president in order to get white votes
that were not going to vote for Democrats anyway was the straw that broke the
camel’s back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Democratic Midterm Candidates:
If you’re white stick around, if you’re black get back.</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Senatorial candidate
Alison Grimes of Kentucky became the face of the Democratic strategy. She was a
delegate for Barack Obama 2008 election but <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/10/09/alison_lundergan_grimes_refuses_to_answer_whether_she_voted_for_obama.html" target="_blank">repeatedly <b>refused</b> to say whether she voted for him</a>. It was an incredible display
of cowardice and disrespect. Before that
fiasco, which many of us believed at the time put a nail in her political coffin;
Grimes stood with Bill Clinton and boldly declared very loudly that she was a
“Clinton Democrat.” She ran ads declaring “I am not Barack Obama.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="Arial, sans-serif">Grimes’
strategy was to throw Barack Obama under a moving freight train carrying toxic
waste as proof to white Kentuckians that she wasn’t down with the black guy.
She didn’t give a damn if it alienated black voters because political pollsters
and strategists don’t view blacks as likely voters anyway in midterm elections,
so who cares what the Negroes say. Grimes created a firestorm of criticism on
Twitter not only against her but also against the Clintons and the Democratic Party
for going along with it.</span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">How could Democrats
count on her vote for <b>anything</b>
President Obama proposed? She surely would not have allowed her photograph to be taken shaking his
hand or simply standing next to him. Not surprising to many of us that she lost
her election. In fact, Grimes got 584,622 votes and President Obama got 679,370
votes in 2012. She alienated about 95,000 likely voters. I looked up the
definitions of <i>foolish</i> and <i>ill-advised</i> in the dictionary and all I
got was <i>‘See Alison Grimes’</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Grimes seemed
perfectly content employing her strategy of dividing the base, and it was not
lost on black folk that Bill and Hillary Clinton basked in the limelight standing
next to her, waving to an adoring crowd of mostly white people in support of a
Democratic candidate whose campaign strategy was to pretend: <i>‘I don’t know who that black guy is in the
White House or where he came from.’ </i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-arDW1rZFegw/VGOMjHr2jBI/AAAAAAAABEA/vwbMNwxwAQg/s1600/Tweet_Midterm.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-arDW1rZFegw/VGOMjHr2jBI/AAAAAAAABEA/vwbMNwxwAQg/s320/Tweet_Midterm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">It was in
your face and downright nasty the way Grimes expressed her seemingly contempt
for all-things Barack Obama. The woman never had a positive thing to say about
him. But, we have to give credit where credit is due. Grimes followed what many
of us perceived as the DNC’s playbook for all Democratic candidates in so-called
red states. It went something like this: ‘<i>placate
to the anti-Obama white voters in the Party by pissing on the black president in
public so all the white folk can see you do it and they’ll trust you more. Just
pretend that he doesn’t exist. Don’t defend him, just go along with whatever foul
sh*t they say about him.</i>’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">It sounds
cold and harsh indeed, but that’s exactly how it felt to black folk. The
Democrats’ midterm strategy of distancing themselves from President Obama only
served to fuel black voters’ distrust of the Party, and the DNC, DCCC, and DSCC
have a much bigger problem on their hands than turnout.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">To add insult
to injury, as I mentioned earlier, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee went on MSNBC and
had to be goaded into even mentioning our Democratic president’s name. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">She stuck to some lame talking point and</span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> refused</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> to give President Obama any credit for the Country's economic successes by suggesting the Democrats in the Senate did it all by themselves. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Democratic
voters were angry and dismayed that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairman of
the DNC, did not, would not even defend President Obama.</span></div>
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<span face="Arial, sans-serif">Wasserman Schultz's actions and that
of other Democratic candidates were all some black and white voters needed to
justify sitting out the election. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">I could not help but think about the black
man in Atlanta that I encountered in 2010. He probably said, “See…I told you
that you can’t trust these white politicians.” I had one friend to tell me that
he didn’t vote </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(, and he ALWAYS had
before,)</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> because it was no way he would support </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>anyone</i></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> who treated
President Obama like that. Quote unquote. He was unapologetic about it.</span></div>
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<b><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">How can you make sure 10 million Americans have healthcare, some for the </span></i></b><b><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">very first time, and have no national outreach to inspire and encourage them </span></i></b><b><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">to vote in order to save their healthcare coverage and subsidies to pay for it?</span></i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_TKyjCwD94I3e92Z7HCMDl_ilLSAqHfRqdsj5erlV1HkqNYHTOFpLeGfMq4t3S0L0SvMHaN0m5Oqj29DEx2QhcAvC_y7U-z4f3JQweTjGXc0_JwsySuy7IjbwDjRYpqQCXemQPy2NhY5/s1600/Candadian_Tweet.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_TKyjCwD94I3e92Z7HCMDl_ilLSAqHfRqdsj5erlV1HkqNYHTOFpLeGfMq4t3S0L0SvMHaN0m5Oqj29DEx2QhcAvC_y7U-z4f3JQweTjGXc0_JwsySuy7IjbwDjRYpqQCXemQPy2NhY5/s320/Candadian_Tweet.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">After all of the
hard work we did to get those reforms passed then to have Democrats not defend
the progress that we have made in the last six years was highly insulting and offensive. But I, like many
others, voted anyway because we wanted President Obama to get his agenda
through Congress in his last two years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="Arial, sans-serif">Black folk
generally do not trust the police, the media, or politicians. They use their
distrust of these institutions as an excuse (, or for some a reason,) why they
don’t watch the news and why they don’t vote. When talking to people in
Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi after the election about why more black
folk in their states didn’t turn out to vote on Tuesday, I heard repeatedly, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“They don’t trust these damn white
politicians. It’s like pulling teeth trying to get them to vote.” </i></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><i><o:p></o:p></i></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Older black
folk are loyal to the Democratic Party and vote for Democratic candidates even
if they have to hold their noses to do so. However, some black voters feel
perfectly fine sitting out an election because of perceived distrust of the
politicians on the ballot. Most black folk simply will not vote for politicians
they do not trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">I have told
this story <b><i>in part</i></b> before, but the Democratic ill-advised strategy must
have certainly justified this black man’s distrust of white politicians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">In 2010, while
canvassing in the Atlanta area for the midterm election, I came upon a black
man who voted for President Obama and held him in high esteem. However, he was
adamant that he would not vote for a white politician. He declared, very
frankly, “I ain’t voting for no white dude.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">To say that I was
stunned is an understatement. “But President Obama needs your help,” I said,
trying to convince him to change his thinking. “He can’t get his agenda through
if Republicans take over.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">“Oh, I’ll vote for the
brotha, he replied, “but I ain’t voting for no white dude, sistah.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">“But the “<b>brotha</b>” is not on the ballot, the <b>white</b> politicians who will help him <b>are</b> on the ballot.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">“Yeah, I hear you sistah,
but you can’t trust these white politicians especially down here in Georgia.
They say one thing and do another. They don’t care about blacks down here. They
just think all we want is welfare and food stamps. Hell, I work sometimes 50
hours a week. I don’t want nobody to give me nothing. He went on to say, “I got
principles. I can’t be voting for no politicians when I know they’re just lying
right in your face and saying stuff to get in office then once in there, they
don’t do a damn thing.”</span></i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></i></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">We can debate
whether he should have disregarded his “principles” and voted anyway for the
greater good or that I should have argued more vigorously to get him to change
his mind, but I had not engaged a so-called lazy voter. He was very clear about
why he wasn’t going to vote, and unfortunately, his thinking is pervasive
amongst many blacks who are very straightforward in telling you they don’t
trust white politicians. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<b><i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">GOP voters vs.
Democratic voters</span></i></b></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Democrats are
not like Republicans when it comes to voting. GOP voters would vote for the
animated character “Dumbo the Elephant” if they were convinced that he could
win because they want power more than anything else. They don’t care if the
candidate is a bigot, homophobe, misogynist, racist, qualified or unqualified,
dumb or stupid. They have one criterion for their candidates: Can they beat the
Democrats? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Democratic
voters are much more principled when it comes to voting, <i>some might say to a fault</i>, and will support politicians they trust, those that will stand by his or her word. However, they will
not vote just as a show of loyalty to the Party or just to say Democrats beat
Republicans. They see power in being a courageous fighter, honest, and
trustworthy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
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<b><i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">The Obama Winning Strategy<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">President
Obama <b><i>inspired</i></b> voters of all stripes <i>(black folk, young people, first time voters, Asians, Hispanics, single
white women) </i>to see his vision of America as a more
equal society and more tolerant of diversities. He <b><i>encouraged</i></b> Democratic
voters and gave them a reason to vote. He <b><i>motivated</i></b> them to stand and take
matters into their own hands. He <b><i>won their trust</i></b> and they followed
him. He didn’t play <i>‘chicken little the
sky is falling’</i> with them. His message was uplifting, optimistic, and
positive. He told voters repeatedly that it would be hard. He warned them here
would be “setbacks” and “false starts” and asked for their patience. As a
result, he had two successful and historic elections. Unfortunately, the 2014 losing
Democratic candidates did not give Democratic voters enough of a reason to
vote.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">President
Obama changed the game about how to drive the Democratic base to the polls</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Unless leaders of the DNC, DCCC, DSCC and other Democratic organizations and
political strategists adopt </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>The Obama Winning Strategy </i></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif">of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>inspire</i></b><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, <b>encourage</b>,
<b>motivate</b>, and <b>win their trust</b></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">, Democrats will continue to lose elections, which is
something the Country cannot afford because </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ALL</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> Americans regardless of party affiliation, gender, race or
station in life benefit greatly from Democratic policies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">That's my yada yada and I’m sticking
to it!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><a href="http://www.twitter.com/smaxxmahaffey">Follow me on Twitter</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-58565755717415407282014-10-16T14:03:00.002-04:002014-10-16T14:04:26.644-04:00Raising the Minimum Wage<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>DO YOU WANT A MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE?</b> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The current Federal Minimum Wage is <b>$7.25/hour</b>. President Obama and the Democrats want to <b>raise it to $10.10</b>, and progressive activists are pushing to raise it to $15.00/hour. With a Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives AND Senate, $15.00/hour is likely.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">President Obama, using his executive authority, raised the federal minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10/hour but <b>ONLY CONGRESS</b> can raise it for everyone else. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Republicans OPPOSE any increase in the minimum wage while at the same time proposing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans who spend their tax savings on luxury items while people who make minimum wage work 40 hours a week and live in poverty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you want Congress to <b>raise the minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $10.10/hour</b> and eventually $15.00/hour, then </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>VOTE Tuesday, November 4th for Democrats</b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can be mad at politicians, but </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">VOTE</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">POLICIES</b></div>
S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-19677720897959592432014-07-30T14:23:00.001-04:002014-07-30T14:23:29.842-04:00Open response to Nia-Malika Henderson's OPINION piece titled: 'What President Obama gets wrong about 'acting white''<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<strong>OPINION “a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.” It’s one’s personal views, attitude, or judgment.</strong></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
I started not to read <a data-mce-href="http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/07/24/what-president-obama-gets-wrong-about-acting-white/" href="http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/07/24/what-president-obama-gets-wrong-about-acting-white/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 84, 34); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #005422; text-decoration: none;">YOUR OPINION</a> piece because in MY OPINION you usually take on a negative tone in your comments about the Obamas, with sometimes, seemingly disdain for who they are.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
As an educated 60-year-young African American female with a ton of life experiences and who has raised three children, which two have earned professional success and one having more than two degrees, I addressed this issue with them when they were younger. I wholeheartedly disagree with YOUR OPINION about what the Obamas mean when they explain the phrase "you're acting white."</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
I know opinion writers use provocative headlines to grab the reader’s attention and it is highly appropriate for you to offer an alternative view of what they said but to emphatically declare that he is “wrong” suggests that the ONLY right answer is <strong>your opinion</strong>, which can be judged as borderline narcissism. <em>You see how that works?</em></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
President Obama offered HIS OPINION based on his and his wife's personal experience. <a data-mce-href="http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/07/24/what-president-obama-gets-wrong-about-acting-white/" href="http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/07/24/what-president-obama-gets-wrong-about-acting-white/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 84, 34); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #005422; text-decoration: none;">YOUR OPINION</a> of HIS OPINION was based on your perception of <strong>research</strong> on the subject by others. In MY OPINION, your column promotes YOUR OPINION as somehow superior to HIS OPINION because of your PERCEPTION of the research you had done.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<strong>PERCEPTION: “to recognize, discern, envision, or understand.”</strong></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Researchers quoted in your piece had empirical data to form their analysis and conclusion, which my response is not intended to address. However, your provocative title boldly declares that the President of The United States has gotten it “wrong” because <strong>your explanation</strong> and <strong>understanding</strong> of that dreaded, loaded phrase <em>“you’re acting white”</em> differs from his explanation. Granted, as an opinion writer, you are not expected to be objective<em>.</em></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Despite my reluctance to give your writing a read, I read your article TWICE to be clear in MY OPINION of it. In response to President Obama’s comment at Walker Jones Education Campus:</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<em>“Sometimes African Americans, in communities where I’ve worked, there’s been the notion of “acting white” — which sometimes is overstated, but there’s an element of truth to it, where, okay, if boys are reading too much, then, well, why are you doing that? Or why are you speaking so properly? And the notion that there’s some authentic way of being black, that if you’re going to be black you have to act a certain way and wear a certain kind of clothes, that has to go. Because there are a whole bunch of different ways for African American men to be authentic.”</em></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
You wrote:<em> "But there is a problem with the Obamas’ focus on "acting white" as an explanation for how black student's perceive academic success and the achievement of their peers?"</em></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
I don’t agree with YOUR OPINION that their explanation is about how black students perceive academic success. They’re simply saying what I and many other black parents say to our children and that is don't listen to the naysayers. Don’t listen to those who would rather tear you down, keep you down rather than lift you up. Listen to the positive voices that encourage, inspire, and motivate you.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
I view it as the Obamas saying to those students not to listen to those negative voices that want to tell you that you're not good enough as you are, voices that are urging you to limit yourself to someone else’s definition of success. It’s about telling them to live up to their full potential no matter what others say.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: right;">
<i><a href="http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2014/07/28/25041564-open-response-to-nia-malika-hendersons-opinion-piece-titled-what-president-obama-gets-wrong-about-acting-white" target="_blank">Click here to continue reading. . . .</a></i></div>
S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-37515755068017244482014-07-30T14:16:00.002-04:002014-07-30T14:19:25.077-04:00GOP and press roles as co-conspirators in racism in politics and the media<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<strong><em>Racist: “A person who believes in the doctrine of Racism, that a certain human race is superior to any or all others.”</em></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Republicans vehemently reject the notion that their objection to President Barack Obama is racially motivated. The reigning king of hypocrites Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC ‘Morning Joe Show’, categorically rejects any notion that GOP opposition to the first black president has <strong>anything</strong> to do with racism.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
In May, <a data-mce-href="http://crooksandliars.com/2014/07/eugene-robinson-corrects-joe-scarborough" href="http://crooksandliars.com/2014/07/eugene-robinson-corrects-joe-scarborough" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 84, 34); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #005422; text-decoration: none;">Scarborough went into one of his infamous rants</a> and attacked West Virginia Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller for his comment that Republicans’ opposition to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is because they hate the black president. Senator Ron Johnson was the only Republican in the room at the time and took great offense to his remark.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<em>“That’s one of the stupidest, most offensive things I’ve heard a sitting senator say. He owes Ron Johnson an apology,”</em> Scarborough fumed. Of course his emotional outburst was exaggerated because he's savvy enough to know that his rants are regurgitated on the Huffington Post. In the past he penned Senator Harry Reid with the title of 'Saying the stupidest and most offensive thing Joe Scarborough has ever heard.' </div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Washington Post opinion writer Eugene Robinson defended Rockefeller by contending that <em>“objectively”</em> <strong>some</strong> of the opposition to President Obama <strong>is</strong> fueled by racism.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<em>“Of course not all opposition to the president is fueled by race, but there is some of that out there,”</em> Robinson claimed.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
MSNBC resident Republican, who is paid over five-million-dollars a year to host a controversial three-hour morning show that relentlessly disparages and attacks the character of the Democratic President of The United States and his party, wasn’t buying that his party was a bunch of racists disguised as politicians in two-piece suits without their white hood. </div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<em>"And unless I'm wrong, this is the first majority-white country that has ever elected a black person,”</em> Scarborough continued with his diatribe. </div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
One would conclude from his assertion that most whites supported Barack Obama for president, which is not true. Whites primarily vote Republican. A GOP candidate for president would garner the vast majority of white votes regardless of the race of the Democratic candidate. Scarborough fails to accept that the demographic of the electorate has changed and Barack Obama won because of historical turnout by African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Asians, single white females, and young people. Scarborough tried to make it seem that he won because whites were gung-ho about having a black man in the White House. His tendency to have selective amnesia allows him the luxury of forgetting the racially motivated assault on candidate Obama by Fox News and the rest of the media when it came to the Reverend Wright saga.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Republicans like Scarborough view attacks on the GOP as liberal bullsh**. They like to point to Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, who signed an <strong>Executive</strong> <strong>Order </strong>(Proclamation) to free slaves who were not fighting on the side of the Union, and use it to attack Democrats for being the racists at that time. Republicans conveniently leave out that Lincoln was a reluctant warrior. He believed in the doctrine of white supremacy and was actually pressured to act because of rising opposition to slavery in congress and the country. He believed slaves had certain unalienable rights but they were not superior to whites. Meaning he was a racist by definition but did the right thing for the country. Republicans point to Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation as definitive proof that Republicans are not a bunch of racists. If you have to go back 151 years to prove that your party is not racist, then, well, you’re in deep denial about your party’s support for the doctrine of white supremacy over the last century.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
We all know that not all Republicans view themselves as being superior to all other races, but we do know that all those who believe in the <em>“doctrine that a certain human race is superior to any or all others” </em>vote Republican.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
These far-right radicals have expressed in words and deed an intense fear and dislike of President Barack Hussein Obama because they perceive him as foreign and inferior to the white man. We see that play out in the press and on cable news and the networks.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: right;">
<i><a href="http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2014/07/28/25042886-gop-and-press-roles-as-co-conspirators-in-racism-in-politics-and-the-media" target="_blank">Click here to continue reading. . . .</a></i></div>
S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-75359615445373036062014-05-30T17:26:00.000-04:002014-10-08T14:23:04.711-04:00Why do the news media immediately label young white killers as mentally ill and young black killers as thugs?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>“No excessive news coverage to uncover missed
signals that could have prevented the deaths of his victims. No Anderson Cooper
or CNN delving deep into his life for clues. He is simply a useless member of
society. Toss his ass in jail and throw away the key. Thug No. 999,999,999 is
how society thinks of him.” </b></span></i><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the United Kingdom’s Mental
Health Act 1959, the legislation says a <i>"Mentally
ill person means a person who owing to mental illness requires care, treatment
or control for his own good or in the public interest, and is for the time
being incapable of managing himself or his affairs . . ." </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the U.S. mental
illness is used loosely to describe just about any act of violence by our
citizens. It has become synonymous with people acting like a natural fool,
lunatic, imbecile, idiot, and incompetent, demented. Our first response to mass
shootings is that he’s a <i>crazy lunatic</i>.
We loosely label a mass killer as mentally ill even though he was not medically
diagnosed that he required protection from himself or the public, and he was capable
of managing his affairs. Yet, he is labeled mentally ill to explain his violent
behavior, which in effect is saying that he was not responsible for his
actions. But there’s a double standard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><a href="http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2014/05/30/24085864-why-do-the-news-media-immediately-label-young-white-killers-as-mentally-ill-and-young-black-killers-as-thugs">Click here to finish reading</a></span></i></span></div>
S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-65270317465385041462014-03-05T16:15:00.001-05:002014-03-05T16:15:22.214-05:00BLOG: If you don’t vote, don’t complain<div style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">You can’t even have a
conversation with me about politics, the government, or much anything else if
you don’t vote.</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><em style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Seriously</span></em><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. I’m very
civic-minded and dogmatic about citizens seeing voting not only as a right that
others died for, but as a duty.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If
you approach me complaining about Republicans or Congress or even President
Obama<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">(Warning: You liable to be cursed out if you think you
can disparage Barack Obama in my presence. For real.)</span></em>, the first
thing that I ask is “Did you vote?” If you say<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">yes</span></em>,
we can talk. If you say<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">no</span></em>, then your complaint is
invalidated and I turn a deaf ear to anything you have to say. If you don’t
vote, then don’t complain because you are a part of the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">While canvassing in 2010, I had a black guy to
tell me that he “don’t vote for no white dude.” I was stunned
speechless. What the hell . . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">{Continued reading at . . . }</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2014/03/05/22972216-blog-if-you-dont-vote-dont-complain" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2014/03/05/22972216-blog-if-you-dont-vote-dont-complain</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-68145694613971389772014-03-05T16:11:00.000-05:002014-03-05T16:11:36.838-05:00Race Relations in 1947 America vs. 21st Century America<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">White Americans, majority
of them on the far-right and aligned with the Tea Party and some southern state
Democrats, reacted to the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the first African
American President, in a much more racially charged and radically insensitive
way than whites did in 1947 when the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson,
which effectively integrated major league baseball. White objection to Robinson
was not muddled in political correctness…he was a black man and simply not good
enough or deserving of the same opportunities afforded a white baseball player.
They spoke it out loud and were unapologetic. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">{Continue reading at....}</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2014/03/05/22972161-race-relations-in-1947-america-vs-21st-century-america" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">http://smaxxmahaffey.newsvine.com/_news/2014/03/05/22972161-race-relations-in-1947-america-vs-21st-century-america</a></div>
S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-85895872988466947702011-07-10T15:59:00.004-04:002011-07-14T09:33:04.019-04:00A Democrat and Obama loyalist takes on Ed Schultz and the so-called “professional left”After an anonymous source leaked to the Washington Post that President Obama had put Social Security on the table in the debt ceiling debate, <b>Adam Green</b>, <b>Brian Sonenstein</b>, and MSNBC <b>Ed Schulz</b> took the unsubstantiated story at face value and sprung into action with threats to withdraw support from the President and Democrats seeking re-election in 2012. Have they lost their collective minds?<br>
<br>
I do not trust one single word that comes from some supposedly anonymous source in a newspaper column. Journalists today will lie, distort, concoct, and hack into people's email and phone to get something on air or in print.<br>
<br>
Green of Bold Progressives and Sonenstein of Firedog Lake emailed their members an urgent petition to sign immediately, and by the way, send us money too. Schultz, in his usual, bombastic style threatened what is tantamount to a voter boycott of the 2012 elections. That’s just did it for me. I had heard enough, and I had had enough. <br>
<br>
It is debatable whether they caught me on my bad day or good day, but below is my response to Ed Schultz, and I sent a variation of the same text directly to Adam Green and Brian Sonenstein.<br>
<a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2011/07/democrat-and-obama-loyalist-takes-on-ed.html#more">Read more »</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-69123039751831940662011-06-16T20:05:00.012-04:002011-06-16T23:09:51.283-04:00Are pictures of his wiener more important than images of children and women forced into prostitution?Two press conferences, interruptions of regular programming, scores of discussions, interviews and punditries, professional journalists behaving like tabloid reporters, unlimited coverage spanning weeks for a scandal involving Twitter pictures of a Congressman’s penis. “<a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/news/yblog_thecutline/ts_yblog_thecutline/storytext/weinergate-comes-to-its-inevitable-climax/41887965/*http:/news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110614/bs_yblog_thecutline/in-news-cycle-weiners-candid-texting-antics-carry-the-day">Coverage of the saga occupied 17 percent of the news hole</a> between June 6 and June 12,” according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. <br>
<br>
Never have we seen the mainstream media spend that much time covering the kidnapping and selling of American children and women as sex slaves. To be blunt, sex trafficking also involves a man’s penis and how much he's willing to pay, and to what extinct he's willing to go in order to satisfy his sexual perversions. Once a little girl is sold into sex slavery, a man uses his penis to force her into submission, to break her little spirit, rob her of her innocence, and crush her dreams and hopes. Scandalous, but since it does not involve a politician's penis,the scandal goes unreported or under-reported. <br>
<br>
The media is selective about penis coverage. A politician sending pictures of his penis to women on Twitter is a more sensational story (, and by their coverage...more important), than an international criminal cartel that supplies children to perverted men in the U.S. and around the world. If the news media spent just a tenth of the time they spend on a politician's sex scandal tracking down men in America who are buying children for sex slaves, it could lead to the capture of some of these girls.<br>
<a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2011/06/are-pictures-of-his-wiener-more.html#more">Read more »</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-74276223058916371952011-06-08T18:21:00.001-04:002011-06-13T14:50:03.135-04:00Press uses the First Amendment for Personal Destruction<div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">The media spectacle we saw transpire this week concerning suggestive pictures that Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) sent to women he follows on Twitter was just as much about how the press uses their First Amendment right to justify the personal destruction of public people as it is about his personal failings as a human being.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br>
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">The sexual transgressions of narcissistic powerful men like former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), former Senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards (D-NC), former Senator John Ensign (R-NV), and Congressman Weiner is typical tabloid news that belongs in the <i>National Enquirer</i>. </span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br>
</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Back in good old days when journalists were more ethical than they are nowadays, you turned to rags like the <i>Enquirer</i> if you wanted to pry into a public figure’s personal life. Instead, this new opinionated news media turns every salacious regional story into a national one and sells it to the public as hard news when it has absolutely nothing to do with the public’s right to know.</span></div></div><a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2011/06/press-uses-first-amendment-for-personal_08.html#more">Read more »</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-16348702387610940272011-06-08T00:26:00.001-04:002011-06-08T00:27:12.745-04:00News media operates like a body of predators that destroy public figures for financial gain<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Nowadays the news media operates more like a body of predators that expose the personal failings of high-profiled celebrities and politicians for financial gain. They would vehemently deny that characterization and would argue that they are doing the public a service to bring the indiscretions of public figures to the light of day. If the public figure is the President or a candidate for president, then yes the public has a right to know. If it is about the sexual improprieties of actor Charlie Sheen or a bombastic congressman from New York City, then no. However, the news media is not as gung-ho to investigate and report endlessly the sex scandal of someone in their own industry. Case in point, Andrea Mackris vs. Fox News broadcaster and media personality Bill O’Reilly.</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br>
</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span">O’Reilly, a blatant hypocrite, faced his own sex scandal in 2004 when allegations of quid pro quo sexual harassment and sexually hostile work environment ended up in a lawsuit filed by his former producer Andrea Mackris. O’Reilly first denied the allegations until Mackris revealed that she had an audio recording of his phone conversations. He eventually settled the suit with her for tens of millions of dollars, and his lawyers demanded the return of his </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.spike.com/video-clips/3omnr0/the-oreilly-tapes">sex tape</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br>
</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The news media reported the story but did not spend near as much time on O’Reilly’s sex scandal as they did on the other poor suckers who cheated and lied then ended up in their crosshair. Bill O’Reilly broke the law and paid to cover it up, and the news media abandoned the story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br>
</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The salacious details in Mackris lawsuit were far more damaging and serious than Congressman Weiner sending suggestive pictures to women on Twitter. O’Reilly violated<a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/html/employment.html">New York City law</a>, which defines harassment as “verbal, physical or pictorial and can include sexual comments, jokes, innuendo, and pressure for dates, sexual touching, sexual gestures, and sexual graffiti.”</span><br>
</div><a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2011/06/news-media-operates-like-body-of.html#more">Read more »</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-69202110272708333172011-06-01T14:19:00.003-04:002011-06-01T22:12:58.035-04:00Here the press goes again…another fake GOP presidential candidate<div class="MsoNormal">For profit and ratings, the news media permit unscrupulous characters like Donald Trump and Sarah Palin to use their news organization to promote something that is blatantly false but personally advantageous for them. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br>
</div><div class="MsoNormal">With sufficient evidence to the contrary that Trump was not launching a presidential campaign, cable to network news to print to online disregarded the evidence and broadcasters, commentators, journalists, and pundits emphatically declared Trump a serious candidate. The most vocal exception to that long list of professionals was Lawrence O’Donnell, host of MSNBC “The Last Word.” He consistently, in a very direct and logical manner, made the case why Trump was not running for president. Now, a month later, here the press goes again covering Sarah Palin, the newest fake 2012 GOP presidential candidate. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2011/06/here-press-goes-againanother-fake-gop.html#more">Read more »</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-59769569799206504662011-05-18T01:35:00.011-04:002014-08-01T21:04:28.501-04:00Which major corporation owns your favorite news channel or network?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<em><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal;">“. . . </span></b></em><b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: Georgia, serif;">for news
organizations to be indebted to the financial success of publicly traded corporations jeopardizes the public's right to know and threatens our democracy.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">[May 17, 2011] Every
single mainstream and cable news organization in the U.S. is traded on the New
York Stock Exchange as part of the business structure of a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main"><span style="color: #0000cc;">U.S. Corporation</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> Your
favorite news channel or network could be owned by your favorite appliance
manufacturer.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> <i>Hot damn…how terrific is that?</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> <span style="background: white;">Not
terrific at all, because for news organizations to be indebted to the financial
success of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>publicly traded corporations jeopardizes the
public’s right to know and threatens our democracy.<em><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">”</span></b></em></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Comcast owns 51%
and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main"><span style="color: #0000cc;">General
Electric (GE)</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">, 49% of NBC, which includes CNBC and MSNBC. Therefore, the
company that provides us with cable, internet, and telephone services in our
homes and the company that manufactures our appliances and light bulbs also
have control of our news. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The whole idea of
corporations owning news organizations violates the <a href="http://www.spj.org/">Society of Professional Journalists</a> Code of
Ethics that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>“</i></span><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp"><span style="color: #0000cc;">Journalists
should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to
know</span></a></span></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.”</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That means they should act
independently and avoid, at all cost, any conflicts of interest, perceived or
real. That was easier for them to uphold before the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>conflicts of interest</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>started signing the paychecks of news
producers.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main"><span style="color: #0000cc;">Walt
Disney</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">owns ABC News. Now come on…do
you think an ABC News producer would ever approve content that could
potentially damage the reputation of the company that brought us Disneyland and
Disney World and family-friendly programming? For god’s sake, they brought us
Mickey Mouse. No way would ABC harm their bottom-line. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main"><span style="color: #0000cc;">Time Warner</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">owns CNN and AOL, and AOL acquired the Huffington Post. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main"><span style="color: #0000cc;">News Corp</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">owns Fox News, Fox Business, New York Post, and Wall Street
Journal.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main"><span style="color: #0000cc;">CBS</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">owns CBS News.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Before Time Warner
acquired Turner Broadcasting System in 1996, which owned CNN, this media
observer expected journalists to “</span><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp"><span style="color: #0000cc;">remain free of associations and activities that may
compromise integrity or damage credibility</span></a></span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.”</span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">That’s no longer the case. Having a
stake in the financial outcome of a corporation has greatly damaged the
credibility of the news media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">No one believes a news organization
would not compromise their integrity and risk damage
to their credibility to prevent worldwide negative implications of a news story
attributed to their parent company. Besides, the parent company is not
going to sit idly by and let a subsidiary cause their financial ruin. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">What do you think
would happen if a news organization got hold of information that depicts their
parent company in an unfavorable manner…would journalists hired by that organization
act ethically and put the public’s right to know first and foremost and “<a href="http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp">seek truth and report it</a>” or would
they withhold it from the public?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">News that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/general-electric-paid-federal-taxes-2010/story?id=13224558"><span style="color: #0000cc;">GE paid no federal taxes in 2010</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">, which proved unfavorable to
their corporate image, received no coverage on NBC, CNBC, or MSNBC until six
days after the New York Times reported it. It was as if they thought
viewers would not notice that every other network was reporting the story but
them. It was all over the Internet. It was apparent General Electric (GE)
had silenced them. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Fox News producers
and broadcasters vigorously defended News Corp against criticism over its<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/17/AR2010081704338.html"><span style="color: #0000cc;">$1 million donation</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">to the Republican Governors Association in order to influence the
2010 midterm election. Fox News, like MSNBC, violated the public’s right to
know. Unfortunately, Americans have come to expect bias in News Corp because
Rupert Murdoch support of Conservatism is very well known. Fox News was built
on it.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Fox News cast GE
in a negative light for not paying any corporate taxes, and MSNBC broadcasters
cast dispersions on News Corp for donating to only Republicans. It
appears that it is acceptable practice to bring down your competitor’s parent
company, but don’t you dare report anything that could adversely harm your own
parent company. The public’s right to know does not take precedence over
protecting their corporate image.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp">SPJ’s ethical standard</a> of being “</span><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp"><span style="color: #0000cc;">courageous
about holding those with power accountable</span></a></span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">” only applies to celebrities
and politicians. Cable news executives leave any harsh criticism of Wall Street
or corporate CEOs to their opinion shows as long as they’re not criticizing a
CEO of their own parent company.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Would<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>ABC vigorously investigate Walt Disney
if they became ensnarled in a scandal that could damage the company’s
reputation or drive down the price of its stock? Would CNN hold Time Warner accountable for
some corporate misdeed? Is Bill Maher a Christian?<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Hell no!</b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">If a powerful and
sophisticated weapon defense system protects us from foreign threats, what
protects us from U.S. corporations that control what we read, what we see on
television, or what news we hear?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That’s my yada yada and I’m sticking to it.</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Follow
me on Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/smaxxmahaffey">@smaxxmahaffey</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Visit
my website <a href="http://www.smmahaffey.com/">http://www.smmahaffey.com</a> to
read more of my writing</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-13121171916451249702011-05-13T17:00:00.006-04:002011-05-18T17:54:39.881-04:00Meghan McCain and her Selective Outrage<div style="line-height: 12.45pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Glenn Beck mocked Meghan McCain on his radio show Wednesday for appearing partially nude in an ad for skin cancer. Beck made sounds pretending that he was vomiting while looking at the ad. "Put some extra clothes on," he said. "Like, lots of extra clothes...has she thought about a burqa, just to be extra safe?" Meghan was highly offended and took to Twitter to blast Beck for his hurtful comments, and so did her mother, Cindy McCain.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.45pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you think this post is in support of Meghan, then you are wrong. Not even close. <span class="apple-style-span">Glenn Beck is an idiot and his days are numbered. So, enough said about him. However, Meghan McCain is getting EXACTLY what she deserves.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> I have absolutely no empathy for her hurt feelings, and here’s why.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.45pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br>
<span class="apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br>
</div><a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/meghan-mccain-and-her-selective-outrage.html#more">Read more »</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-69530579384520674132011-05-11T13:52:00.009-04:002011-05-18T11:42:56.551-04:00Obama gets the bump. Where’s the news coverage?<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">President Obama approval rating hits 60 percent, a two-year high, in the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110511/ap_on_re_us/us_ap_poll_obama_boost"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">AP-GfK poll</span></a><b style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;">*</span></b><span style="color: white;">. Fifty-two percent (<b>52%</b>) of Americans give him credit dealing with a stubborn<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>economy</b>, and the numbers get better when it comes to national security.</span><br>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><u1:p></u1:p></span> </span><br>
<div style="color: white; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Seventy-three percent (<b>73%</b>) of Americans<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>trust him to handle terrorist threats</b>. Forty-five percent (<b>45%</b>) say the country is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>headed in the right direction</b>. That’s up from thirty-five percent in March. Fifty-three percent (<b>53%</b>) now say he<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>deserves re-election</b>, which is the same percentage that got him elected. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><u1:p></u1:p></span> </span><br>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110511/ap_on_re_us/us_ap_poll_obama_boost"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">AP-GfK poll</span></a><b style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;">*</span></b><span style="color: white;"> finds that 69 percent (<b>63%</b>) say he will<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>keep America safe</b>, 65 percent (<b>65%</b>) say he is a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>strong leader</b>, 63 percent (<b>63%</b>) believes he<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>understands the problems of ordinary people</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and 63 percent (<b>63%</b>) say he<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>cares about people like them</b>, and 63 percent (<b>63%</b>)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>view President Obama favorably</b>. Sixty-one percent (<b>61%</b>) disapprove of his handling of gas prices, even though there is nothing he or any President can do about it.</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><u1:p></u1:p></span> </span><br>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">What is so significant about the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110511/ap_on_re_us/us_ap_poll_obama_boost"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">AP-GfK poll</span></a><b style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;">*</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span><span style="color: white;">is that it included landline and cellphone interviews. Young people ages 18-34 are not always included in national polls because their primary number is a cellphone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span><br>
</div></div><a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/obama-gets-bump-wheres-news-coverage.html#more">Read more »</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361345935956674439.post-55851653457391967672011-05-08T08:46:00.003-04:002011-05-18T18:20:02.922-04:00A Response to Criticism for celebrating death of Osama bin Laden<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">IN AN INTERVIEW WITH CNN'S PIERS MORGAN, Liberal activist Michael Moore sounded more like someone on the far-right when he loudly proclaimed that those who celebrated and cheered when learning of bin Laden's death were un-American. Really? Well Michael, that is<b> </b><b>exactly</b> how Fox News and the far-right attacked Moore and others like me for our anti-war stance during the Bush Administration.</span><br>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When the extremes on the right want to silence Liberals who disagree with the Republican agenda or Conservative principles, they label them unpatriotic or un-American. No one wants that label put on them, but it's a cheap way of beating back their critics. Michael Moore is doing the same thing to supporters of the raid on bin Laden's compound. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He believes bin Laden should have been brought back to the U.S. and tried in a civilian court, which was never going to happen. Therefore, since the Navy Seals shot him instead of trying to transport him, Moore concludes bin Laden was assassinated. He looked into the camera and said, "You're not American."</span><br>
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</div></div></div></div><a href="http://news-analysis-paralysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/criticism-for-celebrating-death-of.html#more">Read more »</a>S. Maxx Mahaffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12373322342961605699noreply@blogger.com