Political Punch

Royce - Cant change history, stop reading Moveon and mediamatters and do research, Watch one of the history channel's programs on JFK and Johnson. Research on the Web.

The Dems try to keep people down so they are dependant on them.

Tell me something what have they done for Minorities, truthfully?

Under President Bush - more minorities have purchased homes, went to college, serve in his cabinet and so forth. Name me one beneficial thing under Clinton? Just one ? A Factual one please not one fed to you by the above Liberal sites.

Come on Spock – You can’t make people actually believe that Democrats could ever be racist. ... Not without mentioning George Wallace anyway.

The fact is that the justice system in America, and in our society as a whole, is NOT fair to African-American men. By a very large ratio, these men are targeted by law enforcement when a perpetrator is sought resulting in a higher percentage of these men going to prison (disproportionately innocent), and their sentences are more often than not far more stringent for them than for white men. THAT is the point that John Edwards was making. He is talking about solving the greater challenges these men face in so many segments of our society rather than being treated disproportionately unfairly. Rather than twisting his compassionate, insightful comments, we should be praising him for speaking out on the problem and considering seriously the points he has made. But no, let's go after the white guy from the South who couldn't possibly understand such dynamics in our society. It's easier to criticize him than acknowledging the lack of fairness in our Justice system, and working to change it. It is not a pretty message, so let's kill the messenger. By trying to silence a man who has the courage to address this major problem in our society, we are only perpetuating it. With John Edwards as President, such injustices would be addressed seriously -- bringing greater hope for full equality for African-American men and their families.

Maybe he can appoint Al Sharpton to Attorney General. He would make sure no black criminals go to jail.

The "Bleak Picture" Edwards meant to paint was that of his political future.

Once again, Sen. Edwards clearly and unmistakably demonstrates that he has a firm grasp of what has already been stated and concluded, the same conclusions that the Kerner Commission drew in the late 1960's. I find it more than a little ironic that a former corporate attorney and hedge-fund consultant who gets expensive haircuts is now playing the role of Cassandra to the African-American populace by issuing dire predictions if he isn't elected. Such actions smack of extreme desperation. Whatever happened to "Little Mr. Sunshine" of 2004?

Ok just note those below that are talking about that Black children need the families and good roles are very correct. But Edwards was not talking about that he was trying to push the Victim mentality and that he is the only one that can solve it.

seatech1 - Kennedy was going to do nothing about the civil rights until the broadcasting of that incident where the African-Americans were hosed, that is fact it is in he own bibiliography, Then Johnson had to go to the Republicans in Congress to get the civil rights bill passed.

Also how come private school education out rates and is less expensive then public schools? School vouchers give the poor a chance to get a better education and leads to competition. It costs about half to send someone to private then it costs taxpayers to send someone to public. The Dems are in control by the Unions.

So please Government control of anything does not work better. Because there is no responsibility.

My opinion of Edwards is that he couldn't be the leader of a "pick up the trash crew", much less leader of the free world. I think his own statements verify this.

Brian and Steve W., I totally concur. But what is especially sad is when you see Colin Powell and Dr. Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, Clarence Thomas as a U. S. Supreme Court Justice, and even Michael Steele as Lt. Governor of Maryland and Ken Blackwell as the Secretary of State of Ohio, not being touted as the good roll models they are for African-American youth, but instead the Liberals and many African-American leaders blast them for not being "black enough." For being an "oreo cookie" or an "Uncle Tom." What young African-American man or woman wants to be subjected to that? So instead of the accomplishments of these great individuals being used to encourage African-American youth to aspire to greatness, the youth witness how they are treated and many just give up. Or worse, they turn to drugs and/or gangs.

Francine, this is where I totally agree with you. The African-American youth need constant encouragment and love from their families -- from day one. It certainly helps when they have both parents. But if only more African-American adults would step up to the plate and become Big Brothers and Big Sisters to these young men and women. While that is not a true substitute for a parent, it will certainly go a long way in filling some of the void in their lives.

Well said, Brian and Francine. I would add that the drug culture has corrupted many communities--not just the inner city African-American ones. And the acceptance by many--but especially by our youth, of all races--of the worst behavior cues offered by some gangster rap and hip-hop stars is a factor, too. The question to Edwards, though, was political, not rhetorical. His answer, and his campaign's quick spin, I'm afraid, will be a step backward for his aspirations, and for the prospect of real progress on this issue. James Danley is correct that big government programs over the years have been wasteful, and insulting to African-Americans with dreams of greatness. The Winfreys, Powells, and Rices are, sadly, the exception, rather than the rule in our country. I wish Mr. Edwards had had something more positive to suggest as a solution. Making people great is what this country has been about. When we stop thinking that's possible, and don't go about getting it done, we are done.

without doubt the absence of fathers in the home, and the earlier the age this happens, or if they were ever present, the more disturbed the child will usually be. Yes, there are kids who make it though but you will find they had a lot of support of other relatives and a dedicated mother who did both jobs. Fatherless kids grow up angry and lacking the basic early fatherly discipline and teaching of how to deal with the world, they have no imprint towards self responsibility or the self- discipline necessary. Or worse is an abusive father or relative. A good case in point is the totally fatherless experience of one Charles Manson who grew up incredibly angry at society, and the disturbed father-daughter relationships routine in the runnaway girls that joined "the family". You will find this a common theme in gangs of all sorts. So the over 80 percent figures given for fatherless children born out of wedlock in the inner city doesn't even get into those that separate or divorce later on. The lack, or inability, or irresponsibility of men to get involved early in their child's life and assume daily real time responsibilities is a big factor in why so many of these kids end up in prison or worse. As I recall the movie Boys in the Hood centered around fatherless families and idle kids growing up in a like environment. They totally lacked role models and their only encounter with males were with other youth and the police. Not a good recipe for imprinting.

Meanwhile Barack Obama has quietly taken the lead in the latest Iowa polls. This may be the beginning of his move many have been waiting for and expecting.

Francine, I do agree with much of what you wrote. But you may have read a whole lot more into my post then was really there. My point about welfare encouraging African-American girls and women to have children out of wedlock for money, as well as the other comments, were ONLY a response to Eric's remark: "We finally passed civil rights legislation and the Republicans are doing everything they can to destroy that." My whole point was that it is the Democrats and Liberals who keep the African-Americans enslaved for political benefit. The Democrats had control of both houses of Congress for nearly 4 decades and did not solve the African-American issues. Instead they made things worse. The civil rights legislation was destroyed by the Democrats and not by Republicans.

Now if you want to get into the deeper discussion on all of the ills and problems and the root causes of the African-American community that is something else. But please don't take my simple response to a remark as being anything more than that.

Too many of you calloused souls sound like you, too, are part of the problem. This has NOTHING to do with Dems or Liberals or Repubs or any of that. When ANYONE is made to feel as if they don't matter, they are going to seek out a person or place that WILL make them feel as if they matter, be it gangs or abusive people or the like. When I saw "Boyz in the Hood" years ago, I just sat there and cried - cried to think that kids felt as if they didn't matter. It should be the right of EVERY child to feel that they matter to SOMEONE! It's easy for someone else to point fingers, to say welfare encouraged girls/women to have children to get money. There are far too many women of ALL cultures, races, socio-economic backgrounds who have been molested at early ages and had nowhere to turn for help. This is another reason why a good education is so important. And whomever thinks that African Americans' ancestors were totally responsible for selling them out years ago, likewise probably buys into all Americans being pro this Iraq war! There probably always has been and always will be those who'd sell their mother for the almighty dollar. But there are also plenty of us who won't knowingly be a party to such atrocities...EVER!

John "Bilderberg" Edwards is a bleak picture.

Edwards still has not answered the question of what he would do to solve the problem he has outlined. Typical with today's candidates. Maybe he could give everyone $5000 and buy his way to the White House.

Opps! Correction: Make that "write" instead or "right."

Sorry, Eric, but your history is lacking a bit. "We" didn't tear Africans from their homeland. Their own people enslaved them and then sold them to our ancestors. If everyone would subscribe to the attitude of "nobody owes anything to anyone," this country could find itself in a much better situation! Of course that would involve people taking responsibility for themselves!

Seatech1, you actually made Spock's point. The teachers unions, and apparently you as well, believe it is so more important that public schools be improved than students actually learn. We throw billions of dollars every year into "education." But so much of this money is wasted on the bureaucracies of the teachers unions and school boards.

Eric, you wrote: "We finally passed civil rights legislation and the Republicans are doing everything they can to destroy that." Spock is right! You have that backwards.

Who was it that passed the welfare acts that encouraged African-American girls and women to have children..lots of children...out of wedlock? They used to get more free welfare money with every new child. Who was it that encouraged the African-American communities to live in the low income projects that are nothing more than ghettos? Who is it that wants to keep the African-Americans in failing schools? Who is it that, even today, chastises any African-American who has the drive and ambition to break free from the "traditional" ways of the African-American communities? The answers are: Democrats/Liberals, Democrats/Liberals, Democrats/Liberals and Democrats/Liberals.

Republicans want to encourage African-Americans to stay in school. And learn as much as they can so that they can succeed in this world. But why should they remain in these failing schools. At least with vouchers, their parents or should I say their mothers -- since reports show that 70% of today's African-American children are born out of wedlock with the majority raised by single mothers -- can choose a school that will actually teach their children to read, right and...oh yes, here is the real wrench in the whole system...THINK FOR THEMSELVES. The public school systems want to keep African-American children thinking like "African-Americans should." They don't want them "turning white." Do you realize the peer pressure that African-Americans have to endure when they succeed in school?

From 1955 to 1992, the Democrats held the majority in the House of Representatives. And for much of that time with HUGE majorities. And during this same time frame, the Democrats controlled the Senate for ALL but 6 years (1981-1987). If the Democrats were such great role models and really...I mean really...cared about African-American issues, why weren't these issues solved during this period? It's because the Democrats know that the African-American community is beholden to...strike that...enslaven to the Democratic Party. That because it's the Democrats who are willing to give African-Americans a free ride: Free (poor quality) housing, free food, free (poor quality) education. And as long as the African-Americans are willing to vote in a 90% block for Democrats, the Democrats don't see any need to "rock the boat" that keeps them in power.

I'd be willing to bet that if the US government legalized marijuana, regulated it's sales in the same way it does alchohol, it would sell at a cheaper price than on the street - driving street vendors out of business, there would be a decline in us of other drugs and manufacture (such as meth) because the incentive to produce inexpensive highs would be diminished due to sale of good, cheap and easy to purchase marijuana. Personally, I've never seen someone high on pot start a fight or get violent in any way - totally unlike alcohol use.

Interesting that John Edwards, a white man born in South Carolina, seems to be more in touch with the feelings of African Americans than does Barack Obama. Could it be because Barack is not really much of a black American, since his Mom was white, and his Dad was not an American black, but a Kenyan immigrant who abandoned his kid at age two to return to Kenya for work in the corrupt government of that nation.

One simple effective solution to reduce the prison population would be to stop the war on drugs being waged on every American even at the lowest level. About half of the people in our prisons are there for drug related charges. The use of diversion programs for nonviolent offenders is minimal and that could be vastly increased. The zero tolerance mentality uses the pretext of any traffic stop as an interrogation and investigation for drugs even for small/tiny amounts of marijuana, etc. Do you really want to put all these people through our expensive court system, prison, then parole? Do you want to spend all this money for ankle bracelets and real time monitoring of people's movements? I think we need to look at how our criminalizing of all sorts of even slightly unacceptable behavior of a few is costing our society a huge amount of money and lost self esteem and job prospects for those unfortunates caught up in it. Keeping people out of prison should be a priority because it will ruin them for sure. Prison does far more damage than a small quantity of a drug. We need to rethink what we are doing and stop taking direction from "experts" paid by and working for our growing legal system. We just have to stop condemning such a large part of our population.

If you wanted a man that does not take the worker in this country for granted, Edwards would look good on the surface. He is certainly head and shoulders better then poor worthly W. He is strongly on the people's side instead of corporate government pimps as we have now. However, he has a major flaw which he shares with every other Democratic candidate. He will not follow an immigration policy of capture, punish and expel. No one that fails on that issue is acceptable. Period.

Spock

Things have changed since LBJ pushed the civil rights bill. And don't forget that Kennedy (JFK and RFK) both pushed for civil rights.

Democrats want our public schools to be improved. That's why they're against vouchers. They take money away from the public school system. A voucher program will result in the demise of public education, to be replaced by private schools. But the republicans don't want money put into the public schools, because they want business to take over education. That will eventually lead to no free education for anyone, and minorities will suffer, most of all.

So don't go mischaracterizing what the Democrats want. What you said is a lie, and you know it.

Eric - A little history for you - The Dems fought on the side of the south during the civil war, The Republicans (Lincoln was one) fought for the North.
Pre Johnson when he went to pass the civil rights bill he had to go to the Republicans because the Dems refused led by Byrd and Gore SR.

First to solve the issue is education, the dem do not want to do it because they are in with the unions

Vouchers for the poor would allow parents to send their kids to better schools.

But the dems do not want them to learn. They want to keep minorities down. Why was it not solved during Clintons first 8 years??

What do we expect? We tore Africans from their homeland, enslaved them for generations, then "set them free" while segregating them. We finally passed civil rights legislation and the Republicans are doing everything they can to destroy that. Are we surprised that there are people that have come from this background, filled with poverty, distrust and resentment, that aren't doing well?