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State of the (Job) Union
Whenever President Barack Obama gets into a political bind, he extricates himself with a speech. If that pattern continues, we can expect some amazing oratory in Obama’s first State of the Union address. Never in his meteoric public life has Obama been in such a mess. His signature proposal for health care reform is on…
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Supreme Court Decision Gives Corporations Dangerous Clout
Fasten your seat belt. The Supreme Court’s horrendous decision lifting restrictions on corporate campaign spending sets the stage for an escalation of rough and tumble politics the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 19th century. Whatever chance President Barack Obama had of reining in the influence of lobbyists and influence peddlers has vanished. …
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Obama’s First Year: Good, Not Great
In his first year in office, Barack Obama has been a very good president, both at home and abroad. The trouble is that in these difficult times, America does not need a very good president. It needs a great one. And, judging from his performance during his first year, when his popularity was at its…
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Buckwheat Thinks Michael Steele is Hilarious
I was reading the newspapers and Buckwheat was watching Meet The Press at the Home for Retired Racial Stereotypes yesterday. Suddenly the famous Our Gang star emitted a high-pitched yelp, followed by uncontrollable giggles. “What’s come over you?” I inquired, putting down my newspaper. “Oh my, I think I jus’ heard Michael Steele say Sen.…
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Where's Peter Orszag's Vanity Fair Cover?
I’m waiting to see a picture of Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, shirtless and pumping iron, on the cover of a magazine like Vanity Fair. That , after all, is what happened to Tiger Woods when we learned about his promiscuous sexual activity. Shouldn’t Orszag experience the same fate now that we…
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Friendly Fire?
I keep asking myself what I did to deserve this. Twice in the past few weeks I’ve been the subject of a surprise attack by a well-known black newspaper columnist. Having my name dragged through the mud has been a very enlightening experience. The first to fire was Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald—my former teaching…
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How ‘Precious’ Is Like Palin’s ‘Going Rogue’
It is the focus of a heated media controversy—a wrenching tale of horrific abuse by a father figure, teenage sex and out-of-wedlock birth, the pathological breakdown of social norms in an oft-neglected corner of society. And I’m going to take a pass on this one. Gotcha, didn’t I? You thought I was referring to Precious:…
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The D.C. Sniper Should Die. But Not Like This.
I don’t believe in capital punishment, but I will be glad if John Allen Muhammad is executed tonight. I wish someone had shot him down in the street before he and his witless teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, went on their murderous spree, killing 10, wounding others and terrorizing the entire populations of Washington, D.C.,…
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In American Schools, Racial Learning Gap Persists
This story on education in Wednesday’s New York Times ought to scare the pants off all the nincompoops who believe we’ve arrived in post-racial America: The latest scores were especially disappointing because score gaps between white and minority students did not diminish at all since the last time the math test was administered, in 2007.…
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The US Must Pull Out of Iraq and Afghanistan
Here’s a sentence I thought I would never, ever write: I agree with George Will. In two recent columns, the hard-core right wing analyst has argued that the U.S. should pull out from both Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s right. We never should have invaded Iraq. We went there on a lie and too many brave…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
