For-Profit Education?

For-profit education? Talk about unAmerican. And at taxpayer expense? Okay, well, that is American.

Let's also remember what life is like in places where the only education is limited to the private, for-profit sector of the economy. . . . Not pretty, huh?

via Portside:

When For-Profits Target Low-Income Students
Arnold L. Mitchem, 10.26.10, 12:00 PM ET

Some Interesting Findings about the More "Antique" Tea Pots

I haven't forgotten y'all! I've just been thinking. Taking a break from debate and just thinking. I came across the following article and found it quite thought-provoking.

Why Are Elders Stirring the Tea Party Movement?

Robert W. Stock

Contributor

(Oct. 30) -- The tea party skews old.

Media descriptions of the conservative movement's protests are incomplete without references to a Walmart's worth of wheelchairs and walkers amid a sea of gray heads. Surveys of tea party supporters have found that half are over age 55 and something like a third are 65 or older.

Why?

Many experts have suggested that the elders were motivated by fear that the Obama administration will cut their Social Security or Medicare payments. But new research into the roots of elders' political and cultural attitudes suggests there may be other factors at work as well. . . .

Read the rest of the article here.

Love to Say I Told You So

If tea pots and kettles aren't racists, then they're idiots! Even though I think a whole bunch of'em are both.

h/t Tim Wise

By Tuesday morning the heat was becoming too much for Bartholomew to handle. Second District GOP chair Gary Byler told the Virginian-Pilot that Bartholomew "agreed to resign because the e-mail had become a distraction to the Nov. 2 election." He offered this to the paper by way of explanation for the racist email:

The e-mail was dated March 15 and sent from the address that Bartholomew uses as party chairman. Bartholomew forwarded it without reading the contents when "he was first getting familiar with the Internet," Byler said.

Passing on Capitalism

All in all, one might say it wasn't an episode in which capitalism cloaked itself in glory. That is, unless one is Wall Street Journal deputy editorial page director and "Wonder Land" columnist Daniel Henninger. In his October 14 column, "Capitalism Saved the Miners: The Profit = Innovation Dynamic Was Everywhere at the Mine Rescue Site," Henninger argued that the miners owed their rescue to a special drill bit developed by a private U.S. company. That was his entire argument. . . .

It'd be funny if it weren't so sad. One of those "laughing just to keep from crying" situations. Besides, I thought one problem with current liberalism was our deification of "the state." But blind faith in capitalism is . . . good? via Portside:

'Capitalism Saved the Miners'? Only in Wonder Land

You Need to Vote if Only to Protect Your Right to Do So

There's no evidence of voter fraud. Meanwhile, evidence of voter suppression is overwhelming. And all I can think is thank God my life is in His hands are not theirs.


In Hot Political Climate, Election Experts Want 'Voter Fraud' Watchdogs To Be Clear On Rules


Ryan J. Reilly
September 20, 2010, 9:56AM

As Tea Party groups take up the torch of voter fraud ahead of the midterm elections, a new poll shows that campaigns in prior elections to exaggerate the voter fraud issue have had an effect on public opinion. Meanwhile, advocates for low-income and minority voters are voicing concerns that the individuals planning to show up at polling stations to keep an eye out for those they think are illegitimate voters might be unclear on election law.

What Else Does Racism Look Like?

Setting aside the ridiculous belief by some that President Obama has done too much for the black communitiy, the unemployment rate for African American teenagers is 50%. The unemployment rate for black adults is a little more than 16%. Notwithstanding that job opportunities have left many black communities; and, schools in these communities suck; and, white convicts have an equal or better chance of getting a job black men with no criminal record; and, of course, Fox; notwithstanding all that, people will find a reason to blame the black community for all this.

None of that is new, even to wouldn't blame racism for all those disparities. So this is very important: racism is never satisfied.



It's not enough to be a child prodigy and enter college when you're only 16. It's not enough to choose a college based on location, the amount of money offered, or the quality of the major you want to study. Nope. None of that's enough. So long as you choose an HBCU over, say Harvard, people will decide you're awfully dumb to be so smart.

Before I Forget: Frustrations with Conservatives

What I find very frustrating is that they wreck the economy doing one thing, then wanna blast the Democrats for trying something else to fix the economy.

For example, taxes, okay? So, W Bush lowered taxes, especially tax rates for the top brackets and on capital gains. He farther deregulated the financial market. Now the economy isn't up to snuff, and conservatives want to argue that it's the wrong time to raise taxes on anyone or anything. That regulating the market would make the economy worse. I find their logic circular and false. It leaves me confused as to how they can claim to believe the things they say. I find much of their arguments more theory than reality-based. That adds to my confusion as well. I mean, what about the facts?

A great example of what I'm talking about comes from this discussion over P6's. And now that I think about it, conservatives and professed libertarians use the same sort of circular reasoning when it comes to race as demonstrated by a discussion I had last year with a guy named Darin Johnson over at RacismReview.

Did We Just Overcome a Little?: Sitcom The Game Returns via BET

I don't think I'll say anything that someone else isn't saying. But I hope that repetition helps drive the point home. The good news is that The Game is come back! January 2011 on BET! Check your local listings. Don't get me wrong. It's not my very, very favorite black sitcom of all time. But it's certainly in the top 5 of recent years, and when it comes out in January, it will immediately be No1 of regular black sitcoms.

Wow!

Sticks and Stones . . . but Words Can Kill

I just think this is very important to remember. Washington Post's Richard Cohen, not that I'm a fan, writes:

The governor of Ohio, James Rhodes, demonized the war protesters. They were "worse than the Brownshirts and the communist element. . . . We will use whatever force necessary to drive them out of Kent."

And subsequently in 1970, four students were killed by the National Guard at Kent State.  Now of course, I wonder if Neil Young wrote a song about the Birmingham bombing and if Cohen nearly cried everytime he read it. That notwithstanding, read entire of op-ed here.

No, I Haven't Finished Reading It Yet, But . . .

I ask you, who do you think are the "lot of people on welfare who don't deserve it" who're making "very much" (emphasis mine)? By Rolling Stone's Matt Taibi:

Me?" he says proudly. "Oh, I'm a property appraiser. Have been my whole life."

I frown. "Are either of you on Medicare?"

The Devil's Greatest Trick

Again we see that racism denies historical and current facts. It, like the devil, denies its own existence. If you were born during Prohibition, I'll give you a pass on calling African-Americans "colored." But, you don't have to lynch a black person to be racist.

90-year-old Woman Asks Why "Colored People" Aren't Grateful

I get their point. It’s just not funny.

via RacismReview:


http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/section/comics#img14



Racism in the Recent Forclosure Crisis? Eh, Duh

While other economic studies have concluded that leveraged refinancing, overbuilding, collapsing home prices and a poorly regulated mortgage market were primarily responsible for the rise in foreclosures, the authors of a new Princeton University study argue that the foreclosure crisis also had racial dimensions.

[. . .]

“While policy makers understand that the housing crisis affected minorities much more than others, they are quick to attribute this outcome to the personal failures of those losing their homes — poor credit and weaker economic position,” noted Douglas Massey, the study's other author and a professor at Woodrow Wilson.

“In fact, something more profound was taking place; institutional racism played a big part in this crisis.”The authors call on the federal government to take stronger steps to rid U.S. real estate and lending markets of discrimination via amendment of the Civil Rights Act with enforcement mechanisms to uncover discrimination and sanction those who discriminate. The pair recommends sending "testers" — black and white purchasers into the marketplace to test whether they are treated differently.

All I Want for November Is to Vote

Voter Suppression 2010 Style Democratic Strategist

Democrats have plenty to worry about over the next five weeks, but it nonetheless behooves Dems to get up to speed on the latest voter suppression scams. In that regard, Demos and Common Cause have partnered to present a must-read report on the topic, "Voting in 2010: Ten Swing States: Problematic election laws and policies in ten swing states could impact enough voters to determine election outcomes."

(PDF Executive Summary here)

Another Example of Race(ism) in Sports Commentating? (Refined)

(Refinement) Today, Oct 15, Ritchie demonstrated what I like about him: truth-telling. The problem with the Dallas Cowboys lies with their head coach, who, if you haven't noticed, is white. But it's not just that he goes after a white coach, cause what he says would be true even if the head coach weren't white.

Like I say below, I normally wouldn't even have written about his commentary on Batch and Kolb had I not been working on a new page already. And yeah, you'd think Batch would be ahead of Kolb, but at the end of the day, they were both rusty. That's what kind of stuck in my craw about Ritchie's commentary. I do wanna be clear that I don't think of Ritchie as a "racist" as defined by the mainstream. Just as a former football player who may not be completely divorced of his white-identity and racial-frame, but is significantly better than the typical white guy.

Here's What Racism Looks Like: Albom v James

Now, I wasn't going to post about Lebron James's Q-scores because it's sooo talked about in so many other places, including here at Racism Review. I didn't think, and still don't think, I had anything particularly unique to add to this discuss aside from co-signing a few others who had written about it. Though, I really love this insight:

A few weeks ago, airport-hopping while on vacation, I saw at least a half dozen Miami Heat, LeBron No. 6 jerseys -- all worn by black men. Given today's anti-LeBron climate, rocking his jersey is a fairly defiant act. It says, "Screw the rest of these folks, LeBron, I'm riding with you, homeboy." It might seem as if LeBron is on an island, right now, but something tells me he knows he's not alone.

Stinking Gringo! (Updated)

update: Here's racismreview discussion, and via racismreview Information on the 1946-1948 United States Public Health Service STD Inoculation Study

Yeah, an academic article is coming out soon by Susan  M Reverby (synopsis in pdf) who found that the US infected Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea during the 1940s. Kinda like the Tuskegee experiment (update: different link via racismreview) for Latin America.

Now, don't get me wrong. This has nothing to do with AIDS in the black community and whether or not the US government invented AIDS. But the conspiracy theory doesn't sound so far fetched now.