Check The Diagonal

Dude, Black is Black

I heard about this story last Friday.  Torii Hunter, the 11th highest paid MLB baseball player in 2009 provides us yet another example of why athletes should stick to sports and leave the social commentary to others.  Article here 

"As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us," Hunter says. "It's like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It's like, 'Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?'

The consensus seem to be that Hunter will get a pass for this.  Baseball people have come to his defense and many have said his comments were out of context and misinterpreted. The quote above is pretty emphatic and so I’m finding it difficult to find any context where Hunter is worthy his pass.  I found his entire rant racist in a way that feels inspired by jealousy and envy and ignorance.  School Daze was a 1988 flick.

Readers already know my wife and children are Dominican and I’ve spent a lot of time in D.R so I say this from experience. The Dominican Republic is a black country because they have the blood of African slaves running through their veins the same way Torii Hunter does. Dominicans, who are a fiercely proud and patriotic people, consider themselves Dominican first and Latino second but it doesn’t diminish the fact that the slavery history of the country makes it impossible for them to be called black imposters in any context.

Additionally, Hunter should summer league in D.R soon because his baseball knowledge is severely lacking as well.  Baseball is the national sport in the Dominican Republic in a way it will never be on the south side of Chicago or anywhere else in America.  Some Dominicans play a little basketball (my wife’s father was a basketball player) and Dominicans love to watch a good boxing match but aside from that there is nothing else but baseball.  There’s no football, soccer, tennis, lacrosse or track. Kids of all ages play baseball. They start with a stick and few rocks as soon as they can stand on their own two feet and if they’re lucky, they get invited to participate in one of the many baseball schools on the island where they do nothing else their entire childhood but get better at playing baseball. 

As for the dumb ass bag of chips comment, Torii should check that list of MLB salaries, there are multiple Dominicans who make at least what he makes and the top two highest paid in players in 2009, who make double what he does, are both Dominican and represented by Scott Boras.

UPDATE:  Speaking of Dominican Baseball, I caught Sugar again last night.  While I have problems with the movie and its portrayal of Dominican tenacity and temperment there is no question this is a movie about boys who are poor as dirt trying to make something of themselves through baseball.  It is their hoop dreams.  Let me know if you see a white Dominican face in the vid.  Maybe Vlad should rent this for Torii?

Reap what you sow.

Tea-Baggers gone wild. 

Update:  It may have been a prank call.  Funny nonetheless.

I'm feeling all WTF today....

With work and school and life and the holidays I am way too busy to be here right now but I'm just so disgusted with the left's reaction to the Obama speech on Tuesday I had to drop a link and a few quick thoughts. 

Republican wingnuts and tea baggers are absolutely bat shit crazy, this is a fact.  If the past 8 years taught us anything its that Republicans have NO business governing a majority when their ideals and ideas are skewed to satisfy such a ridiculous and insane minority.  The Democrats on the other hand have no business having a majority they don't know what to do with.  They lack the balls and political instinct to move any agenda forward.  On health care, military and foreign policy, spending, taxes, stimulus, you name it, President Obama's worst enemies reside on HIS side of the aisle.  I'm exasperated by the uselessness of the left.  In 3 years Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney are going to be the legitimate Republican Presidential nominees...getting a picture of the alternative yet.

Jamelle Bouie sums it up nicely here:

This isn't a one time thing either; throughout the speech Obama calls for more troops and more resources to be directed towards the war in Afghanistan. The simple fact here is that Obama has done exactly what he said he would, and it's ridiculous for liberals to claim that they've been "betrayed." No, they just haven't been paying attention.

Yes, Barack Obama's decision to double-down in Afghanistan will cost us thousands of American and Afghan lives, but frankly, that pales in comparison to the destruction we know right-wing foreign and domestic policy will cause. In a mere eight years, the right-wing was responsible for two invasions (and hundreds of thousands of lost lives), the destruction of a major American city, torture, illegal spying on American citizens, indefinite detention, and the near-total collapse of the global economy. Don't get me wrong, it's cool to be pissed at Obama -- lord knows I am -- but threatening to inflict that on the the world again is irresponsible verging on criminal.

Michael Steele-Road Kill

Back to my earlier comments...just not thinking things through.

The GOP Heroes

The page is here.  It is as stark a reminder of the craven depravity and racism inherit in the Republican Party establishment as we are going to get.  It started with the election of an unqualified, unprepared Michael Steele as RNC Chair as Black token and culminates in a GOP page for Republican Heroes that is dominated with Black and Latino faces, including Jackie Robinson who was not a Republican. 

It is obvious they are stretching to prove a point.  But, its the wrong one.  It is the same ol"some of my best friends are Black people" point.  It is a racist defense made by a racist entity trying to hide the fact that the majority of their party members think Obama is either the Anti-Christ or born in Kenya in order to pander for minority votes.  What the RNC cannot seem to fathom is that Barack Obama did not win the 2008 Presidential Election BECAUSE he is Black.  He won it DESPITE the fact that he is Black.

George Will's unoriginal meme

Funny, this "Obama is a narcissist" meme started with Marty Peretz over at TNR who prefers to only support a president when they agree with him.

What I suspect is that the president is probably a clinical narcissist. This is not necessarily a bad condition if one maintains for oneself what the psychiatrists call an "optimal margin of illusion," that is, the margin of hope that allows you to work. But what if his narcissism blinds him to the issues and problems in the world and the inveterate foes of the nation that are not susceptible to his charms?

Joe Klein calls it like I see it:

I don't mind when Peretz, or anyone, goes off the liberal reservation--so long as his argument is carefully reasoned. I've been known to be flagrantly "unreliable" myself...and the Left has been known to be disastrously wrong, from time to time. But at a moment when Israel is intransigent on an important element of Middle Eastern peace--freezing the settlements--and Iran is showing some flexibility in the nuclear talks, Peretz's name-calling and long-distance psychiatry seems the behavior of a brat who isn't getting his way. It would be sad if he weren't so vicious.

The Continuing Adventures of George Will the Idiot.

He test floated this moronic and simplistic Right meme on Sunday on This Week.  On par for what passes for journalism at the Post these days.  Not sure why anyone is listening to George Will anymore... 

In the 41 sentences of her remarks, Michelle Obama used some form of the personal pronouns "I" or "me" 44 times. Her husband was, comparatively, a shrinking violet, using those pronouns only 26 times in 48 sentences. Still, 70 times in 89 sentences conveyed the message that somehow their fascinating selves were what made, or should have made, Chicago's case compelling.

Unfortunately for George, he neglected to read the Obama's speeches.  In almost every case, the use of personal pronouns were a segway for each to reflect on their hometown of Chicago, not themselves.

Michelle Obama:  Chicago's vision for the Olympic and Paralympic movement is about so more than what we can offer the Games -- it's about what the Games can offer all of us.  It's about inspiring this generation, and building a lasting legacy for the next.  It's about our responsibility as Americans not just to put on great Games, but to use these Games as a vehicle to bring us together; to usher in a new era of international engagement; and to give us hope; and to change lives all over the world.

President Obama:  You see, growing up, my family moved around a lot.  I was born in Hawaii.  I lived in Indonesia for a time.  I never really had roots in any one place or culture or ethnic group.  And then I came to Chicago.  And on those Chicago streets, I worked alongside men and women who were black and white; Latino and Asian; people of every class and nationality and religion.  I came to discover that Chicago is that most American of American cities, but one where citizens from more than 130 nations inhabit a rich tapestry of distinctive neighborhoods.

Sums it up...

I found this over at Ballon Juice.  They just don't get it do they?

Americans are stupid, cont.

New Majority has a breakdown of the latest poll from Public Policy Poling (PPP) in North Carolina.

7% of those who voted for John McCain do not believe Hawaii to be a part of the United States.

according to thePPP poll, 76%, or just over 900,000 Republicans in the state, don’t think the president of the United States is legitimate, or aren’t sure about the matter, needing more proof than the two birth announcements that were placed in Hawaiian newspapers at the time of his birth.

I told you Bill Maher was right

Investor's Business Daily printed this gem on the latest in death panel nonsence today:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

Hawking is British and has lived in the UK his entire life.

Americans are stoooopid.

Uh-Huh

Care of Andrew's Daily Dish

"[W]e must stick to a discussion of the issues and not get sidetracked by tactics that can be accused of leading to intimidation or harassment. Such tactics diminish our nation’s civil discourse," - Facebooker Sarah Palin, two days after calling Obama's healthcare plan a "downright evil" that will target her Down Syndrome baby with a "death panel."

McCain said she was qualified to be President

Sarah Palin, via her facebook account:

As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we're saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course.

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Steve Benen summarizes beautifully.

But in the larger political context, a statement like this positions Palin as something of a disgrace. After insisting that her family be left out of political debate, here's Palin dragging her special-needs infant son into the discussion, in order to spread an obvious lie. What's more, for Palin to write such a statement for public review makes clear that she's either conspicuously unintelligent or she thinks her followers are idiots. Either she believes her own vile nonsense or she assumes her audience is foolish enough to believe patently ridiculous attacks.

Either way, Sarah Palin is a national embarrassment, and she's getting worse.

and this is the woman John McCain nominated to be one step away from becoming President of the United States.

You too can be like Obama

and have a fake Kenyan birth certificate!

Kenyan Birth Certificate Generator

Hat Tip (TPM)

Racism alive and well in America

Media Matters has a great montauge defrocking the birthers for what they really are, stone cold racists.

Also, Steve Benen has the results of a new KOS survey that points out 58% of all Republicans either believe the president is not a US citizen or they are unsure if he is or not.  Based on the chart below it looks like we are clearly talking about old fashioned Southern racism. Is anyone surprised?

Life imitating parody.

Unfortunatly, this isn't a SNL sketch.  Kudos to Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) for being the only one to speak truth to wingnuts.

The Last Word on the Birthers..

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Born Identity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

The intellectual wing of the Republican Party

Birthers, please go to FactCheck.org for a look at an original, raised seal copy of Obama's birth certificate. http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

Coleman handles it well?

Marc Ambinder and his team seem to be angling for a gig over at Politico or FOX these day. This is what passes for crap over at The Atlantic these days:

The fact that he challenged the result for seven months probably won't help his future. During that time, he drew fire from liberals across the country for drawing the battle out in court, calling him a spoiler as they chomped at the bit for Democrats to get their 60th seat, sort of like a kid on Christmas morning, forced to wait for a Nintendo Wii. Americans United for Change actually placed a billboard along I-94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul blasting Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) for not certifying Franken ahead of the court's decision. But today, Coleman didn't look like the sore loser. In terms of demeanor, he handled himself pretty well--

He selfishly and single handedly prevented the good people of the state of Minnesota from their elected representation in the name of Republican obstructionism for 7 months and you guys call that handling it pretty well? I'd love to see what they call fucking shit up for no good reason.

GOP Strategy

Can someone help me understand what it is? In the short span of a couple of weeks GOP mouthpieces and operatives have done, what looks like, everything humanly possible to alienate 1. the largest block of actual voters- women and 2. the single largest growing voting block- Hispanics. If sexism and racism is a core plank of the GOP platform can they ever regain a majority? Is the real issue within the GOP that they can't control Rush-Newt-Steele-Cheney or that they don't want to?

The Spineless Incompetence of Harry Reid

Harry Reid is THE example of what is wrong with Washington. Here he is morphing into a Republican Wingnut because fearmongering leads him to believe public opinion is on his side. You can read the whole sorry scene here. Senate Majority Leader and your very own Spineless Jellyfish Harry Reid:

REID: I’m saying that the United States Senate, Democrats and Republicans, do not want terrorists to be released in the United States. That’s very clear. QUESTION: No one’s talking about releasing them. We’re talking about putting them in prison somewhere in the United States. REID: Can’t put them in prison unless you release them. QUESTION: Sir, are you going to clarify that a little bit? I mean (OFF-MIKE). REID: I can’t -- I can’t -- I can’t make it any more clear than the statement I have given to you. We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States. I think the majority -- I speak for the majority of the Senate.

The fact that we have and have had mass murderers, islamic and domestic terrorists, serial rapists and killers in our prison system and that GITMO represents the absolute very worst of what the Bushies did in America's name mean very little to Harry Reid. The man hasn't taken a stand in his entire sorry career in the Senate.

A small glimmer of hope may be that his home state is starting to see him for what he really is and re-election will be a challenge.

About a third of the state's voters would re-elect Reid if the 2010 election were held today, according to the poll, but 45 percent say they would definitely vote to replace him. Seventeen percent would consider another candidate.

At this point I would prefer to lose the seat to Republicans in order to vacate the wasted space.