Testosterone OD alert. - Is there a Defence Attorney in the house!! We have a hypocrite here who clearly cares enough to have to respond. These mups must seriously dedicate and devote time to compile this ish LOL.

I mean you don't even have to read the posts, just put a reply, anything at all and guaranteed you will get some 30 second 12 octave wind of a response.

Gmahogany said.........It's funny to me that many here are trying to play this like I have been on some campaign to convince folks not to vote for Obama, or that I give a flying phuck if they do.


No,not at all and neither am I trying to get folks to vote for Obama,just stating my reasons why i'd like to see him there

The most pertinent thing which I have picked up from your posts and others in this thread is the issue of black voters being disrespected wholesale and the taking for granted of that vote.

So my opening gambit in last reply was facetious,rather than antagonistic.

You're right though,people who can't even vote in this election seem to have the most to say about it,myself included,but I friends in the States who do vote,some rabidly Obama,some anti...all of whom are Black/African.And my debates,arguments,questions etc with them have been made richer,more informed because of this thread.

So it's all good.

Is anyone reading this?

I see after a spliff and three special brews someone has plucked up some courage - Jett Black must be a reference to effect all that drug and alcohol abuse has on those teeth

Ok Village, done now LOL.

That's great, because whenever I meet Brits in the States or in Brazil, my conversation is richer with them because of various viewpoints made here.

I worked with a group in Germany but I know little of the context(s) of the black communities in Great Britain.

Once I mentioned how much I liked your trains from the airport. (on my only visit to London) Someone ripped me up about that statement. I assume you guys don't like your trains.

Problem was, in many American cities, there is NO public transportation from the airport. You have to depend upon 50 to 60 dollar taxis. So, a slow, old nasty train is wonderful, given the options. (New York and Newark implemented a system about years ago)

Not to go off on a tangent. (though I did)

I didn't say anything about Obama, did I?

I'm thinking......

adrianerik - I'm sure Iraqi citizens with no right to vote in America now know more about American elections than many Americans and me as well, and I've got my citizenship Indeed you could argue many Americans should have their right to vote revoked, maybe it should be a right earned by their contribution to society not your age.

Motherphuggers? I don't phugg anybody's mum period

Cameron: absent black fathers must meet responsibilitiesTory leader backs Barack Obama on race and family breakdown
Patrick Wintour, Nicholas Watt and Alexandra Topping
The Guardian, Wednesday July 16, 2008
Article history

The Conservative leader says the discrimination and economic disadvantage experienced by black people must change. Photograph: Martin Argles

David Cameron joins the bitterly contested argument over family breakdown and race today by praising Barack Obama's warning that too many black fathers have abandoned their responsibilities to their children.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian, the Tory leader says that many black church leaders have expressed the same anxiety to him, and that it is time for a "responsibility revolution" to change patterns of behaviour.

Referring to Obama's speech, in which the US Democratic presidential candidate warned that absent black fathers were behaving like teenagers and shirking their responsibilities to their children, Cameron said: "I think he's absolutely right. I mean I think it's a very brave thing to do. And it will have a huge influence that he has said it. I've had a number of meetings with black church leaders who make the same point. They are concerned about family breakdown and social breakdown, and want to see what I call a responsibility revolution take place."

His comments were broadly welcomed last night by leading British African-Caribbean figures, including the educationalist Tony Sewell and the Reverend Nims Obunge, chief executive of the Peace Alliance, one of London's main organisations working against gang crime.

Cameron insists the appalling discrimination and economic disadvantage black people experience have to be recognised and changed, but at "the same time we will never solve the long term problems unless people also take responsibility for their own lives". He was speaking to the Guardian to mark the end of a parliamentary year in which he has established a poll lead of 20 percentage points over Labour.

He made a series of pledges, but shied away from promising tax cuts. He:

· promises to publish today the detailed expense claims for the first three months of this year of 175 Tory MPs, including the entire frontbench. He will call a Commons debate to challenge the government to follow his lead. He condemns Brown for not voting against the "John Lewis" list;

· warns rightwingers pushing for tax cuts that Britain will face a difficult economic climate by the next election. He appears to be cooling towards early tax cuts, saying: " I don't want to make pledges I cannot keep. If unemployment rises, an incoming Conservative government will face difficult decisions about public spending";

· appeals to the centre and left "to recognise that the modern Conservative party is on the brink of a very big and exciting argument that if you want to pursue progressive goals in Britain, whether it is greening the environment, tackling poverty, unlocking social mobility, there is a really good case to say that you can best achieve those by Conservative means";

· promises to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, as long as one other EU state has still not ratified the treaty;

· vows to reconnect politicians to people by requiring bills to be voted on in the Commons if they gain sufficient outside support in people's petitions.

On a more personal note, Cameron admits his own parenting skills are a work in progress, adding he uses the naughty step to discipline his children.

Responding to Cameron's comments on black fathers, the Rev Obunge said: "If he wants to help resolve some of the very complex problems around this issue, his words will have to be backed up with sensible strategies, which neither the government nor the opposition is currently doing. We need actions."

Tony Sewell, director of Generating Genius, a charity which encourages black youths to study science, said: "This is an issue that needs to be discussed, and Cameron is well placed to discuss it, as it is in keeping with the current Tory agenda around social investment. This used to be very much a Labour agenda, but Labour just isn't really delivering on it."

In his interview, Cameron claims he has taken his party to a second stage in its modernisation, likening the progress to moving beyond level one of Tomb Raider. The first level required him to prove "you are a reasonable, decent, non-discriminating, sensible, practical person who understands the world as it is lived today, who wants to live in a modern world and who accepts what that means".

This "allows the Conservatives to talk about some of the difficult issues about families and responsibilities. You take a risk every time you do it, but I think the alternative of saying nothing is that you leave out a whole important area of reform". He says: "We are not going to solve poverty by just building an even bigger tax credit system. We're going to solve poverty by looking at its causes - the drugs, alcohol, the family breakdown."

Similarly, he argues, social mobility has to be unblocked by a revolution in secondary education where you have got to bust open the monopoly of the state system.

He denies he is giving a false picture of Britain by talking of a broken society, saying: "There is a general incivility that people have to put up with, people shouting at you on the bus or abusing you on the street, or road rage. There is a lot of casual violence; and I think it is important to draw attention to it."

About this articleClose This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday July 16 2008 on p1 of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 09:02 on July 16 2008.

Point blank, we can discuss who we want to win and regardless, BUT Obama looks like the safer candidate to me.

Why?

Let's see for all of the political and justifications talk the only thing that I see is that one man hails from a state that was so racist they did not see the purpose of having MLK as a state holiday. When a state is so racist that it took a little before the turn of the new century before they would NOT TAKE A PAID DAY OFF in honor of a black man, why would I vote for the man they chose to represent them?

Why would I choose to vote for the man that even represents this same group of people that are actively trying to keep illegal immigrants out who are doing A LOT of the manual labor these days that most Americans do not want to do, not because they are illegal, just the fact that they are from Mexico.

Forget all of the plans these guys have, but why would I want a guy in this office that really cannot stand me and is not afraid to let anyone know this?

Obama may not be the best choice, but out of these candidates, FOR ME he is the safe choice......

Bismillaah. Salaam/Peace. Well, I guess I want to be in that number... What number am i anyhow? 1135? Why thats a ten!


Politics - Newser



Wassalaam. OriginalBM

This is historic moment when the British Black community start to pay attention to conservative party views. Things must really bad as traditionally Black Brits have aways voted, for the socialist labour party. I prefer to call this revelation an epipheny, and Ill tell you for why.

For decades, Black Brits have been foreigners in their own country, and for the first time, the conservative party have made vocalisations to the contrary. Traditionally black brits have viewed the conservative party as the 'nasty party' as the party that wants to deport them, and make no mistake there are still members on both sides of the fence that still want to do this. But Cameron has realised that you cant deport black brits anywhere. There are British through and through and differences of skin tone is never going to change that. He also realises that excluding 2.5 million black brits from employment and economic mobility is not in the UK's best interest. It is a drain on national resources, and false economy. So we see Cameron walking the walk and talking the new talk,and the conservative party seem willing to be lead on this matter. But I still feel that he hasn't fully grasped what it means to be black in the UK today.

The legacy of enslavement has contributed to the black family structure in ways that Cameron has not fully grasped. African men were "put" to African women; they were often not married or committed to each other; and there was always the possibility of being separated on the whim of their enslavers. On liberation, African men often found it difficult to find and keep work that paid a decent salary, and this in itself puts undue strains on the family. I believe many families remain matrifocal today, for this very reason. Even were African men do find work, the possibility of advancement was often denied to them. Miscegenation and skin tone prejudice made it more difficult for those with darker skin tones to find and keep paid work relative to those with lighter skin tone. Now, things have changed and its is easier for people of black African descent to get on in the world. But its is still difficult; especially for those who expect to be excluded.

To many British African and African Caribbean people seem sensitised to the possibility of rejection and sometimes do themselves no favours in situations where rejection is expected. Countermount to this expectation of rejection in the school, the workplace, and the family, is societal discrimination and race-based bullying. The outcome is a self fulling prophecy of rejection, and therefore, both British African and African Caribbean people and British societal institutions need to address this issue. Obama's speech, in which the US Democratic presidential candidate warned that absent black fathers were behaving like teenagers and shirking their responsibilities to their children appears ignorant of the fact that most "baby-fathers" in the UK are teenagers. I'm sure a similar situation prevails in the UK. Obama can not expect teenagers to behave any differently to the way they are. Too many ale teenagers are not content to father all children with one woman, they need to father children with several women; and do not appear at all concerned as how they intend to pay for them. Children are expensive. They require enormous amounts of resources. Teenagers are in no position to provide for the needs of their families. They simply can not earn enough at that age. so why are they doing it?

Some young people say that it gives them a sense of pride or ownership. " baby-mothers seems to suggest that child production is all about having something that is all theirs, and that no one can take away from them. Others male teenagers seem to put great store in being able to father so many children - 'sewing their seed to the four corners of the Earth'. Perhaps, child production is rite of passage, and indicator of the movement from childhood to adulthood. However, all these reasons seem very selfish to me. What about the child? Surely you can provide for one child easier than if you have several? But we shouldn't just criticise teenagers. Adults can behave equally irresponsibility. Perhaps our people are simply copying the behaviour of their parents. Whatever the reason, Obama and Cameron are right to say that we need to start taking responsibility for ourselves, being less dependent on the State, and assume our rightful position within the wider society.

It is no longer reasonable to blame society for all our ills when we are fully complicit in creating our own ills without any help whatsoever from the State. Yes, life is tough when you do not share the same attributes our the dominant social group, but then the struggle should making us stronger. Nelson Mandela and many others have struggled so that we can get on in the world today. We must not fail them. We need to take better control over our lives and stop behaving as if we have no control. We have a new breed of leader up for election over the coming months. Lets embrace their vision for the future not passively but actively engaged in the whole process.

Vern

http://vadm.co.uk/

Obama, the Courts, and Black People: A Tale of Two Decisions
Written by Carl Dix

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

By Carl Dix

A New York judge acquitted the cops who fired 50 shots at Sean Bell, killing him just hours before his scheduled wedding and severely wounding two of his friends. When asked about this verdict, Barack Obama replied: “I said at the time, without benefit of all the facts before me, that it looked like a case of excessive force. The judge has made his ruling, and we are a nation of laws, so we respect the verdict that came down.” Going further he said “resorting to violence to express displeasure over a verdict is something that is completely unacceptable and counterproductive.” That was in April.



On June 25, 2008, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that imposing the death penalty on people convicted of raping children violated the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. On this occasion Obama didn't counsel acceptance or respect for the verdict. Instead he said, “I disagree with the decision. I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for most egregious of crimes. I think that the rape