Flo Mingo
Flo Mingo's JournalWelcome back, kids
First day of school in St. Joseph, Mo.
America, I used to know you.
http://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/all-school-placed-on-lockdown/article_154d0ecf-8d0e-5d06-8cba-9bd790af9a71.html|
Really George?
So, right after doing the story about the shooter in Kansas, George Stephanopoulos segues to the GOP debate by saying Republicans came out with guns ablazin.
Whole lot of eviscerating going on...
Is this possibly the most over used verb by DU posters? A search for "eviscerates" on DU reveals 1190 results. "Eviscerated", another 4790 results. These are mostly in the thread title.
I mean, if I see the word eviscerated in the title, I'm expecting to see a Julia Sugarbaker type smack down of someone who desperately needs it. I find that too often, I'm disappointed in the smackitude of the posts that claims some evisceration is going on.
Anyway....I love words. Blessed be and peace to you, Joni Mitchell. You eviscerate other song writers.
That's my two cents.
Stereotypes kill (cross post from GD)
Stereotypes are as much to blame for the deaths of black men as racism. And it bears much of the blame for our inability to discuss openly the reality of racism/stereotypes in America.
As a white person, people feel free saying racist things to me. For example my coworker and her husband are two of the nicest people to know. They are fun and thoughtful and caring and would do (have done) anything for the people in their circle. They built a new home recently and in the process dug out a beautiful pond. When the husband bought a statue of a stereotypical 1950's little black boy fishing he proudly told me he got a n****r for his pond. When I asked him, "Why do you say such racist things?" his predictable response was "I'm not a racist."
People like him don't see themselves as racist. They believe they treat everybody the same and for the most part maybe they do. But the problem for white people is they continue to wall themselves into a blinding white sameness where they feel safe from the stereotypical Differents. They're just fine with the individuals (co-workers mostly) that they know but when they consider whether the unknowns like Trayvon Martin or Kajieme Powell or Michael Brown or John Crawford III or Eric Garner or Jordan Baker or even 12 year old Tamir Rice deserved to die at the hands of police, it's the stereotype that informs their opinions. And of course they don't think those incidents were about racism. They might have done the same thing and they're not racists.
Now, put a man like him in a uniform with a gun into a confrontation with a black man in a hoodie and if he is only informed by negative stereotypes of young black men in hoodies, he is most likely going to react accordingly, even without overt racism in his heart.
I believe we need a new dialogue in America. People will stop listening as soon as you call them a racist. But if we can have a conversation about stereotypes and how, in real life and in life and death terms, they impact the lives of black people maybe we can begin to get the "I'm not a racists" out of the dark and into the light.
And while I'm at it, it hasn't escaped me, the stereotyping of police here on DU. After the horrific barrage of unjustified killings by police it's easy to condemn them all as racists. Just as it is when white people let in only the images that reaffirm their stereotypes about blacks. It is the same principle whether you're in the dark or in the light. If it's all you see or at least all you acknowledge, it leaves no room for those that don't fit your stereotype. It robs good cops of your respect and the dignity they deserve for being good cops.
My advice is, who ever you are, get to know a Different. Whether it's a cop, a Republican, a Muslim, a Jew, a gay, begin a dialogue in hopes of unlearning your stereotypes. Open your heart. Share your personal experiences so maybe you might teach as well. Let's begin to heal.
Peace
Stereotypes kill
Stereotypes are as much to blame for the deaths of black men as racism. And it bears much of the blame for our inability to discuss openly the reality of racism/stereotypes in America.
As a white person, people feel free saying racist things to me. For example my coworker and her husband are two of the nicest people to know. They are fun and thoughtful and caring and would do (have done) anything for the people in their circle. They built a new home recently and in the process dug out a beautiful pond. When the husband bought a statue of a stereotypical 1950's little black boy fishing he proudly told me he got a n****r for his pond. When I asked him, "Why do you say such racist things?" his predictable response was "I'm not a racist."
People like him don't see themselves as racist. They believe they treat everybody the same and for the most part maybe they do. But the problem for white people is they continue to wall themselves into a blinding white sameness where they feel safe from the stereotypical Differents. They're just fine with the individuals (co-workers mostly) that they know but when they consider whether the unknowns like Trayvon Martin or Kajieme Powell or Michael Brown or John Crawford III or Eric Garner or Jordan Baker or even 12 year old Tamir Rice deserved to die at the hands of police, it's the stereotype that informs their opinions. And of course they don't think those incidents were about racism. They might have done the same thing and they're not racists.
Now, put a man like him in a uniform with a gun into a confrontation with a black man in a hoodie and if he is only informed by negative stereotypes of young black men in hoodies, he is most likely going to react accordingly, even without overt racism in his heart.
I believe we need a new dialogue in America. People will stop listening as soon as you call them a racist. But if we can have a conversation about stereotypes and how, in real life and in life and death terms, they impact the lives of black people maybe we can begin to get the "I'm not a racists" out of the dark and into the light.
And while I'm at it, it hasn't escaped me, the stereotyping of police here on DU. After the horrific barrage of unjustified killings by police it's easy to condemn them all as racists. Just as it is when white people let in only the images that reaffirm their stereotypes about blacks. It is the same principle whether you're in the dark or in the light. If it's all you see or at least all you acknowledge, it leaves no room for those that don't fit your stereotype. It robs good cops of your respect and the dignity they deserve for being good cops.
My advice is, who ever you are, get to know a Different. Whether it's a cop, a Republican, a Muslim, a Jew, a gay, begin a dialogue in hopes of unlearning your stereotypes. Open your heart. Share your personal experiences so maybe you might teach as well. Let's begin to heal.
Peace 
In response to Mitch McConnell's last ditch effort to scare voters........
I posted this on my Facebook page today.....
I’m no longer surprised at the lengths Republican politicians have gone to in effort to intimidate or disenfranchise anyone who might vote for Democrats. What continues to surprise me, no, DISGUST me, is the people who continue to vote for politicians that participate in such blatant attempts at voter suppression.
Saying there is no difference in the parties in Washington is a dated and dangerous meme. There is a huge difference. Don’t think so? Show me one Democratically held state that has taken any steps toward disenfranchising Republican voters. Show me any Super Pac backing Democrats that is sending out false, misleading and threatening mailers on behalf of the Democratic party. Just one. Show me any good reason for any laws to be passed anywhere that make it harder to vote. And then ask yourself why would anyone want to make it harder to vote. Google voting laws in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and Texas. All states that have Republican controlled Governorship and legislatures. Look at what those states have done to make it harder to vote. In Texas, you can use a concealed weapons permit as valid ID but not a state college ID. WHY? The answers are there if you care to look. Or you can look away and still believe that Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility, national security and the CONSTITUTION!!
Don’t just look at what has happened to voters in those states, but look at what has happened to the middle class. Stripped schools of funding, stripped workers of the right to organize unions, stripped away a woman’s right to make critical, life altering decisions AND in some cases made it the law for doctors to lie to women who seek advice about abortion. Think it’s hyperbole? It’s not. Look around, the information is out there but you won’t find it if you wait for it to show up on your tv screen.
Keep passing along your memes about gun rights, free speech rights, etc etc. But if you aren’t willing to stand up for the right of people to vote, you are a blistering hypocrite and you should be ashamed of yourself. If you think it’s OK, because it favors your party, or because “those people” just want free stuff from the Government, YOU are the problem. Not the people who want to exercise their CONSTITUTIONAL right to vote against a party that has completely sold out most of America and created an oligarchy where there once was Democracy.
NOW can we talk about Citizens United?
There are now Republicans in the House who openly admit the damage the T-bagger extremists are doing to the party. Those anarchists came to power as a direct result of the Citizen's United decision. And that same big money gravy train promises to primary any R who supported restarting the government and raising the debt ceiling.
Will those Rs who broke ranks to reopen the government dare to work with Democrats to begin dismantling this toxic decision? Perhaps that's a bit too optimistic but until we undo the Corporate Supreme Court's anti-democratic decision, we have no hope of returning sanity to Washington and no hope of a Repubican party that isn't completely submissive to corporate interests.
Facebook facepalm
Here's the latest BS to spew from the mouth of Obama haters.
Found on Facebook this morning.....
Holy crap,, I just saw a news reel of Obama and Biden at a sub shop joking about who is paying for the bill, and I quote you, Obama said,"I'll pay for this, , I'm not on a furlough"! Like it's some kind of a GD joke!! Talk to a guy that's home tonight without a job. Mr . President, you're a f@#$ face.
So, of course, I commented that I had been up for hours looking for that clip but all I could find was......
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/03/rand-paul-mitch-mcconnell-hot-mic_n_4036591.html
NC Legislator caught telling the truth. Immediately reverts to lying his ass off.
ASHEVILLE — State Rep. Tim Moffitt on Wednesday made light of his explanation to a Realtors group on why legislators excluded Asheville from a parks authority that could have helped the city balance its budget.
Moffit told the group Aug. 5 that the move was made in response to the city’s lawsuit to block the loss of its water system, but he said Wednesday that was meant only as a joke.
City Councilman Chris Pelly, who was in the audience for Moffitt’s talk to Realtors, said it did not sound like a joke to him or others listening.
“They say in Washington, D.C., a gaffe is when somebody accidentally tells the truth, and that’s what happened the other day,” Pelly said
More at link
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Member since: Tue Nov 30, 2010, 03:14 PMNumber of posts: 492
