Retired Justice Stevens Calls Out Supreme Court re Citizens United

Finally somebody said it.  After two years and the emergence of more so-called "super PACs" than anybody can count, a former member of the High Court admitted what many of us have already known to be true: the Supreme Court created a monster on Citizens United.  Not even the most pro-corporation Justice among them could have predicted how much this would have an impact on our Presidential election.  Just when it didn't look like our political environment could possibly get any worse than it already was, along comes the Citizens United majority declaring in all of their infinite Ivy League wisdom that corporations have the same First Amendment freedom of speech rights as people.  You don't have to go to law school to know that sounds pretty dumb.  However, according to retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who was a part of the Court when Citizens United v. FEC was decided, it's time for the current members of the Court to do the right thing and overturn this horrible ruling:

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Is an Honest Conversation About Race Even Possible?

Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer

Greetings readers of The Urban Politico. I'm back from my marriage hiatus and full of stories to tell. Apologies all around to you and my blog partners for my absence, and two middle fingers to Blogger for losing my post before I left. But now that we are firmly up to speed in this interweb life of ours let's get to the goods.

Race.

We here at The Urban Politico get solicited a lot. Most of it's spam. Sometimes it's an opportunity to expand our blogging horizons. Sometimes it's just a good post.  What we are going to discuss today falls of course into the latter category.

Last week we were contacted about a piece written in New York Magazine by Frank Rich. The piece was a review of the play Clybourne Park through the lens of current racial and political events happening in the country. As I flipped through the digital pages on my iPad I wasn't quite sure what the person who contacted us wanted us to discuss. Quite honestly we could have re-posted the entire article and let you all have at it. But alas we're smarter than that. But so, too, was this article. Rich tackled in five digital pages what we cover every day. We were eye to eye and I, The Storyteller, for once was at a loss for words. That is until I came to the last page of the piece.

"By the second act of ­Clybourne Park, everything is on the table, including slavery, the American stain that neither time nor civil-rights advances can ever erase. “We get it, okay?” says the exasperated white homebuyer when that past rears up. “And we apologize. But what good does it do, if we perpetually fall into the same, predictable little euphemistic tap dance around the topic?” To which a black man of the neighborhood association sneers, “You know how to tap dance?” 

And so the tap dancing continues—verbally, that is—as both the white and black characters work hard not just to offend each other but to take offense even when none is intended. Both Norris’s andHansberry’s white men put great store in resolving conflicts by talking things out—to “say what it is we’re really saying …,” as one Clybourne line has it. "

A light bulb went off at this last line. "Say what it is we're really saying...," When have we as Americans ever done that; especially where race is concerned? The answer would be never. So I wonder is that brutally honest, no holds barred conversation on race even possible.

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HBO Game of Thrones Season 2 Finale: Predictions

Season Two Finale: What are your predictions?

Well, to quote the Grateful Dead, what a long strange trip it's been in this season's HBO adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. It ends Sunday night in a special 70 minute finale. If you've watched the series, and if you're reading this then you probably have, you know that the good guys don't always win, the bad guys don't always lose and sometimes you can't even tell who the good or bad guys are anyway. The hero stands up to do the right thing and gets his head chopped off. The fat jolly king was a drunken wife abuser. The beautiful queen is a manipulative (insert bad word here) while the demon monkey dwarf might be a basically nice guy who patronizes prostitutes. The best warrior in the country is boffing his sister and the rightful heir to the throne is such a bore that everyone ignores his claim. Or maybe it's that he has halitosis. Anyway a lot happened this season and there are a few cliffhangers that need to be resolved as well as a lot of challenges for old characters and new. If there's one thing we learned it's to expect the unexpected when you least expect it.
This season's summary:

• Jon Snow could not kill the Wildling woman Ygritte, who led him into a trap. Jon Snow and Qhorin Halfhand are the last members of the ranger party. And the Wilding leader doesn't think he needs two more mouths to feed.
• Thanks to the services of a man with profoundly odd diction, Arya Stark escaped from Harrenhal with her friends Gendry (illegitimate son of the previous King) and Hot Pie. Presumably she's going to find her big brother Robb.
• Sansa Stark declined to leave with The Hound. She's still in King's Landing. 
• Stannis Barratheon is licking his wounds somewhere. Davos and his son might not have made it out of Blackwater.
• Robb Stark and Catelyn Stark had a spat when Catelyn released Jaime Lannister. Westeros' sole female knight, Brienne, is taking Jaime to King's Landing to trade for the Stark girls.
• Robb Stark decided to do the do with the sexy foreign girl Talisa.
• Tywin Lannister and Loras Tyrell have joined forces.
• Littlefinger and Varys are just so smug.
• Tyrion was badly wounded and might be dead after a sneak attack from a Kingsguard.
• Theon Greyjoy holds Winterfell after his treacherous attack. He doesn't know that the younger Stark boys, Bran and Rickon are hiding in the crypts.
• Daenerys is trying to get her dragons back, leave Qarth and ignore the increasingly amorous glances she's getting from Jorah.
• And Joffrey Barratheon Lannister still sits on the Iron Throne.

The Urban Politico thought it would be fun to try to figure out how or if some of the story lines are going to be closed out this weekend.* Our unspoiled predictions follow below.

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Is the Military off limit to Criticism?

Over the weekend MSNBC’s Chris Hayes took a lot of heat after questioning the word “hero” when applied to every American soldier killed during combat.

  

Of course since (1) he is on MSNBC, and (2) it deals with the military, the right wing COULDN’T WAIT to criticize: Chris Hayes 'Uncomfortable' Calling Fallen Military 'Heroes' – Marines respond by protecting his right to menstruate, said Ann Coulter in her famously classy style.  

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A Historic Day for the Republican Party

Willard Romney - 1st Mormon to be Nominated for President of the United States


As much as I despise Romney and strongly disagree with his political ideology, I believe that his historic victory should be acknowledged, for it's a testament to all that this nation stands for. In The United States of America, anyone can dream and aspire to hold the highest office in the land, regardless of their religious beliefs.

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Guidance for Women in the Workplace

I saw this article a few weeks ago and have been meaning to share it with you. Let's start with a few quotes, I recently came across that can lead us into a discussion.

"Glass ceilings are going to be broken, not by some announcement that we wish to break glass ceilings, but because their are people who are willing to break them." - Condoleeza Rice, Former United States Secretary of State

"Define yourself, not in terms of the ceiling that you might meet, but in terms of what you want to do, how you are going to get good enough at it to really make a case that you ought to do it, and then go for it." - Condoleeza Rice, Former United States Secretary of State

"If you want a fish, don't get a canary." - Eva Longoria

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HBO Game of Thrones Recap: Blackwater

George R.R. Martin wrote this, Season Two's penultimate episode. It stays tightly focused on King's Landing. Stannis is attacking. Tyrion is defending. Quite simple. This episode shone because it didn't jump around to a number of different story lines. It has a number of internal cuts but that's it. I liked this episode a lot. It definitely made up for last week's somewhat desultory program. If this episode had a theme it might have been that in war you find out who your real friends are. Tyrion, Sansa, The Hound and a few others all discover some things about the people close to them.
Blackwater opens up with Stannis' fleet advancing through the night while some of his troops are seasick beneath deck. Stannis is serene. He's made his move and is ready to fight and die for what he believes is his by right. God help you if you're in his way. Davos speaks to his son about the dangers of war and possible things that could go wrong but his son gently chides him for his lack of faith in R'hllor, the Lord of Light and tells Davos that he has faith in God, his king and his father. Tyrion admits to Shae that he is afraid and wants her to make love to him as if it's their last night on earth. Meanwhile Cersei has Maester Pycelle bring her poison and admonishes him not to ask what she needs it for. 

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Living Check to Check: Enjoy Today or Save for Tomorrow?

You might have heard about this recent Canadian law school/MBA grad last week who paid off his $114,000 student loan bill all at once IN CASH.  How did he do it?  He started a venture capital firm, of course.  But that's not the point here.  The point, rather, is that this guy just graduated with a JD/MBA in 2009 and 3 years later he is completely debt free.  When those of us at The Urban Politico first heard about this it sparked an internal debate that metamorphosed into one salient question:

When you DON'T have unlimited venture capital money like the rest of us mere mortals (in other words, when you're basically living check to check like most Americans), do you (A) save all your money for the future or (B) spend all of your money to enjoy life today while you're still (relatively) young?  We explore this debate after the jump.

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Movie Reviews-Hustle: Season One, The Tortured, Chronicle

Hustle Season One

This is something I had briefly seen a few excerpts from probably on BBC America a long time back. I ordered the DVD but not gotten around to watching it for whatever reason. But I finally sat down and watched it and I'm glad I did. This is an intelligent little comedic drama set in England, mostly London from what I can tell, about a group of con artists, white collar criminals and grifters who despite being almost thoroughly amoral, eschew violence and usually do not practice their trade on everyday people.

Their first rule is "You can't cheat an honest man". This is somewhat less of a moral commandment-though their leader likes to live by it-than it is a description of the con artist's lifestyle. An honest man is not greedy or looking to hurt people. But a dishonest man is and is thus vulnerable to the group's manipulations and diversionary tactics. As the group's sole woman explains to a new member , "We find people who are looking for something for nothing. And we give them nothing for something". So they especially enjoy sticking it to the high and mighty, the greedy, corporations, those who hurt other people, the violent, etc. However in truly desperate times they don't mind occasionally taking advantage of the honest sheep, though a few of them may feel some guilt about it later on. The show's lead writer, Tony Jordan, said that he saw this group as a five member pseudo-family (husband, wife, grandfather, uncle and child) and this is why in the first season he limited any sense of outside connections.

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Duh! You Can't Fly Wearing A Shirt That Reads F$%K

I am all for the pushing of the bar and making political statements, but sometimes we have to think before we act. I am a firm believer that we should all pick our battles wisely. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 10 and a half years, you are fully aware that as a traveler, we abide by the rules of our post-9/11 society. Yes, it's annoying as hell and quite frustrating, so why would anyone want to do anything to add to the drama that is "flying?" I am not going to give a yay or nay on this young woman's decision to board her American Airlines flight wearing a tee-shirt that read - "If I wanted the government in my womb, I'd fuck a senator," but I will say, she should have known better.

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Naomi Schaefer Riley: Arrogance and Ignorance

I can outline but do not fully understand such scientific concepts as Schrodinger wave equation, general and special relativity, Olbers' paradox, Planck's law, the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics, study of fluid mechanics, Bernoulli equation, or several other ideas that are basic building blocks of modern physics and engineering. I've got the big picture on some of those ideas but definitely can't go into the nitty gritty details or the mathematical equations. Why? Well I took a few classes some decades ago and enjoy reading about them but I'm not a physicist or an engineer. So I'm not the man to speak with authority about any of those topics in either an applied or theoretical sense.

Imagine if I didn't let that little lack of knowledge or any basic credentials in physics stop me. Suppose I sauntered into a convention of physicists discussing string theory and smugly informed them that not only were their equations and calculations all wrong but also their entire field was balderdash, completely worthless. I declared the only reason they were involved in the field was because of a Eurocentric bias against non-Western modes of understanding the Universe. So to me, they were all, by definition, losers and racists with a special hatred of black people.


Let's say that, once challenged to share my credentials and experience in the field, provide some evidence of my claims, or even simply show that I had even read some of the sources which I was categorically dismissing, I arrogantly responded that I hadn't read any of their simple-minded twaddle and had not the slightest intention of doing so. If I were asked to leave it wouldn't be censorship. It would be an incident of experts involved in grown folks' discussion realizing that I was neither expert nor grown and had nothing of value to add.

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Desmond Hatchett-30 children and counting

You have probably heard about this Knoxville, Tennessee man of profound potency and vast virility, Desmond Hatchett, who at the time of this writing has acknowledged 30 children by 11 different women. This may be a county or even state record. Just three years ago he only had 21 children so obviously Mr. Hatchett is something of a crosscut saw that some women like to have buried in their wood. Unfortunately for Mr. Hatchett, unlike other noted men such as Clint Eastwood (seven children by five different women) or Ted Nugent (eight children by four different women) Mr. Hatchett has apparently no marketable skills other than his good good loving. He makes minimum wage. He's 33 years old and only earning minimum wage which is $7.25/hr.

There's a saying that you can't get blood from a stone, though you can apparently get some other bodily fluids. So Hatchett recently went to court to try to get the state to reduce the child support payments. State law allows the state to take up to 50% of a non-custodial parent's income for child support but since Hatchett doesn't earn much money in the first place his children don't receive very much assistance-one child's mother is paid just $1.49/month.

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Was Justice Served?

30 Days? That's It?

The New York Daily News:


A former Rutgers student convicted of spying on his gay roommate was sentenced to just 30 days in jail — a punishment generally reserved for shoplifting, vandalism or jumping a turnstile.

Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman, who could have sent Dharun Ravi to prison for up to 10 years, chided him for an apparent lack of remorse.


“I haven’t heard you apologize once,” Berman told the defendant during the four-hour hearing.

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How Dare the GOP?

The GOP Stands with Newark Mayor Cory Booker?

Who does the GOP think they are?

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Why Democrats SUCK - Cory Booker's Comments on "Meet the Press"

Warning to All Democrats - Get in Line with President Obama or Shut the "F" Up!

**Disclaimer** I actually like Cory Booker and find him to be a dynamic politician. If you don't believe me, refresh your memory here.

Yes, I am upset again and for a good reason. 

We are 168 days away from the 2012 Presidential Election on November 6th. It's a very simple and clear decision, and there should be no confusion on the views of these two VERY different candidates. I will not sit back and watch Democrats sabotage this election with their unresearched and spineless comments. I will not allow them to pretend they don't understand the depths of our issues and how they intertwine into a bigger picture. So here is my message to Cory Booker and other Deomcrats who think it's ok to step out of line and work against President Obama - GET IN LINE OR SHUT THE "F" UP! It's as simple as that. If you don't want to be a Democrat, leave the party. If you think "Liberal" is a bad word, take your ass to the other side of the aisle! I bet President Romney would do wonderful things for the people of Newark, NJ.  

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