Disqus - Latest Comments for no1kstate

Re: How to Apply Textures to Vector Artwork for a Realistic Look

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 11:37:09 -0000

Congratulations Matt!! Hot stuff!

Re: The Art of Character with David Corbett (+ Book Giveaway) [closed] Nghệ thuật của nhân vật với David Corbett (+ Sách Giveaway) [đóng]

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 11:49:28 -0000

Maxine Shaw, Attorney at Law - "Living Single"

Re: FlyerHeroes Faith Bundle Flyer Template Giveaway

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 11:15:10 -0000

Are you kidding me?! I was just at lightstock.com - out of my price range - not 2 minutes ago. Then I get the email, come here, and see there's an opportunity to win flyers I can use for my Bible study? Flyers I can use to help churches in my area advertise various events? WHAT?! Are you kidding me?! Too good to be true!

Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! Yes! I want a bunch of amazing free templates and I didn't wait or anything!

Re: Harvard Prof Seeks Basis for ‘Blackness’ | The Harvard Crimson

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:20:44 -0000

Does anyone know the name of the "young red-shirted man"?

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:35:40 -0000

Nevermind!

Re: The One Graphic That Says It All About Mitt Romney And Barack Obama Is Going Viral

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:21:39 -0000

Okay, I'm all for Obama. I volunteered in 08 and if I can, I'll volunteer again.

But this isn't fair. The smaller space Mitt actually rented wasn't available. He didn't plan to have to fill a stadium.

O12ama!!

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:09:24 -0000

Yeah, I guess. Maybe it's just that I think if we applied that logic widespread, we wouldn't have so much economic inequality. Because shouldn't it be easy to relate the idea that Jobs owed his success to his consumers the same way entertainers owe their success to their fans? And even more so with Jobs and others of his ilk because if it weren't for public education and public roads, etc and so on, they wouldn't be where they are, either. You know?

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:39:42 -0000

I'm not a regular commentor here, but I have swung by in the past. As this is an open thread, I hope it's okay that I ask a question having little to do with politifact or MSNBC.

Last weekend, it was reported that some fans were upset that the Houston family choose to have a private funeral. They argued that the family owed them an open, public funeral because it was they, her fans, who made her.

My troubles with that line of thinking notwithstanding, why don't people apply that same logic to CEOs and other so-called "job creators"? When Steve Jobs died, I don't recall a lot of people saying he owed his success and wealth to Apple consumers. Right? So why don't we apply that same logic to the 1%? Or rather, why do we apply that logic only to entertainers and athletes?

Re: Progressive Rallies Are so Gay!: Today's Good News, Bad News

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 21:19:43 -0000

And we know what happens after 3 strikes!

Thanks for reading my blog!

Re: It's Not the Economy, Stupid! It's the Stupid!

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:33:53 -0000

What?! Yes!

Except that stupidity isn't the new racism. More like new racism has just gotten more stupid!!

Re: Did You Get the Email?

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 18:53:55 -0000

Yeah, when it comes to the fact that some people believed the onion story, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Nevertheless, it's why I've decided not to make up ridiculous nonsense just in case somebody takes me seriously.

Except that one time, but that was before!

LOL!

Have a good one!

Re: That Degree Don't Turn Ya White

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:49:40 -0000

I know! I've just been debating the issue on Tim Wise's Facebook page. Yeah, Heavy A - there're some people who can read this and still argue that classism is worse than racism.

Re: Is This

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:35:57 -0000

Thanks for your thoughts. I absolutely agree. It's crazy that the health of the economy drives immigration, not the other way around. Since the recession, immigration has been steadily decreasing. And of course, they don't have their own undocumented workers deported. No, instead, they keep them here for their own personal economic exploitation.

I feel very sorry for the Latin community. People who're citizens, or who've been here since they were toddlers, are being used as political ammunition. The Republicans really don't care one way or the other about the lives of Latinos. They just wanna win elections.

But this rhetoric - comparing people to rats for whatever reason, it's the type of rhetoric that leads to violence. It's very dangerous and . . . wrong.

Re: Open Question to All Tea Partyists! Please Read and Respond

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:20:45 -0000

If you're honest about your own views on race, you're very rare. That said, let's not overlook everything else I said.

Re: It's Too Late to Plead the Fifth

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 13:13:29 -0000

Yeah, I know. But I got my fingers crossed. If it's broke, at some point, you gotta fix it. And what the Dems are doing now is broken. They're going to let the Repubs go after Obama on imaginery issues and not go after these criminals on serious issues? They're gonna go after Rangal, but not Bush? Seriously? That's bananas!

Re: Open Question to All Tea Partyists! Please Read and Respond

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:50:14 -0000

There's a comment above because I was having a heard time publishing your comment. I have two comment systems working and I guess somethings things get crossed up.

But anyway, as for racism among tea partyists, I definitely think there is. The images I've seen folks admit as being authentic TP are racist. For example, "taxes=white slavery" rests on the stereotype of blacks as lazy and vengeful. How can taxes=white slavery if people of color are being taxed, too? The presumption in that is that either people of color are too lazy to work and are mooching of whites, or that out of pay back for the past, people of color will be allowed not to pay taxes, thereby for whites to pay for everything.

Here's the thing. I hear people say it's about principle, not race. Right? If race isn't a factor, then make your points without relying on racial and racialized images. Slavery as a reference for metaphor is racialized, so try not to use that image. Also, it doesn't take much to get from a statement that is nonracial on the surface to the racial sentiment underneath. For example, when folks talk about people working hard for what they earn, who is it that they have in mind who isn't working hard? When you mention concern about personal responsibility as an issue, who comes to mind as people who don't want to take responsibility for their lives.

Did you know that the white South was solidly Democratic until the 1968 elections? After LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act and Voters' Rights Act? Then is flipped to being solidly Republican. Reagan used the mythical "welfare queen" driving caddies in Chicago to demonize welfare. Up till then, taxes wasn't used as an issue in politics. When people complain about government spending, what are the programs where they would argue govt is spending too much? Who is the spending on?

There's a wealth of research explaining the racialization of poverty. Republican operatives have admitted that they used race as an issue to win white Southern votes. A lot of conservative rhetoric in the past related directly to race. When it comes to policy positions, much of it is based on racist or racialized presumptions about the racial "other" versus whites.

The fact that there are some black tea partyists doesn't impress me. It's rare than any group has 100% agreement on any issue.

Re: Open Question to All Tea Partyists! Please Read and Respond

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:33:41 -0000

Here's the comment Teila left that I respond to beginning with "@ Teila - I'm not sure why you comment isn't showing up":

I thought I was fairly clear in answering your question, but I'll lay it out, "please explain in as much detail as possible the tangible way in which this Congress and administration has negatively impacted your life" 1. Higher taxes mean less freedom for me to chose in which way I want to spend money that I work hard to earn. This problem started way before the Obama administration, and included republicans too. Under both parties spending has gotten out of control. Americans are finally waking up and seeing where we're headed. The current national debt is $13,773,254,492,126, which means that you and I each owe $44,381, but it's growing by $4.16 billion per day so imagine what we'll owe when the government actually starts taking this problem seriously. 2. Socialized healthcare has been proven in Great Britian to cost more than initially planned, experience shortages of medicine and providers, cause a rationing of care, and strangle invention of new technologies and medicines. This not only will directly effect my life, but yours too. "The British government says that, at any one time, there are about a million people waiting to get into hospitals. According to the Fraser Institute, almost 900,000 Canadian patients are on the waiting list at any point in time. And, according to the New Zealand government, 90,000 people are on the waiting lists... only about 15 percent of the population actually enters a hospital each year. Many of the people waiting are waiting in pain. Many are risking their lives by waiting. And there is no market mechanism in these countries to get care first to people who need it first" -Cato Institute. 3. As a North Dakota resident I am represented by Democrat Congressman Earl Pomeroy, who has lost his concern for the people of North Dakota after being in congress for 18 years. He represented Washington, not what's important in North Dakota. For example, he voted for the healthcare bill despite 70% of ND residents disagreeing with it. A big fear of many Tea Partiers is the lack of representation for the 'working man', which was made clear by the uprising of tea parties in the state and the election of Rick Berg on November 2nd. Here's a video of one of our tea parties, just a big group of citizens concerned for their futures. http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: Look at that Zebra!

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:25:38 -0000

On the other hand, white racism is never satisfied, so there will always be allegations until there is no longer racism.

You're right about white privilege, which reminds me of another point I meant to make but forgot - so I'll just add it to the end. THNX!

By the by, I got another response to my open question for tea partyists. Feel free to check it out and leave your own thoughts.

Re: Open Question to All Tea Partyists! Please Read and Respond

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:32:45 -0000

@ Teila - I'm not sure why your comment isn't showing up, but if it doesn't come up in the next several hours, I'll copy/paste it for you.

Let me say again, I do appreciate your taking the time to answer the questions.

As for taxes, if you're a childcare worker, your taxes were cut by this administration and Congress. So in that vein, you're freedom's been increased. The US is 37th in the WHO global rankings of healthcare systems. Britian is 18th. If you're elderly and have a chronic disease, you'll live longer here but you'll have a lower quality of life. Tens of thousands die here in the US due to lack of coverage. A conservative number might be 30, 000, but one study set the number at 45,000 a year.

I'm not sure what tea partyists expected from their representatives. You guys aren't the only ones in the US who vote. The rest of us have to be represented too. I understand how you feel, don't get me wrong. My representative is a conservative and could probably care less what I have to say. So I understand how you feel. But it's not that your voice wasns't heard, it's that you lost the elections. That happens in democracy. In fact, despite all the misinformation, as many people want to keep healthcare reform or expand it as want to repeal it. 47% to 48% respectively. When the new law is explained to them, the majority of Americans favor it. It's not socialized medicine, which is why Obama lost a lot of progressive support. There's not even a public option.

Keynesian economics works. Even conservatives agree that the stimulus did what it was supposed to do. The money wasn't wasted. We should've spent more. If we don't right the ship now, there'll be no taxes to pay later cause there'll be nothing to pay taxes for. Now is not the time to worry about debt and deficits. But, if we're serious about getting the deficit under control, we need to let the tax cuts expire on the top 5%.

Still, most of your complaints have to do with abstractions and suppositions, most of which are ill-founded. What I meant by "tangible" would be something like Obama changing the 40hr work week to a mandatory 80hrs. Or Congress passing a law that said something like women couldn't vote unless their husbands agreed to let them. I don't know. But fact is, the income of everybody goes up under Dem administrations. And for the wealthiest, their income goes up higher than it does under Repubs. For those not the wealthiest, incomes stagnate or go down under Repubs.

The other issues you mentioned in your first comment, I was going to address later. But I can do that now, I guess. At least a little. Welfare doesn't breed dependency. That's a myth. What looks like dependency in many cases is that people on welfare aren't offered the resourses they need to actually get off welfare. We're usually talking about single mothers, so I'll just use that for an example. If you're a single mother, let's say you find a job that pays more than welfare so you get off welfare. But now, you have to pay for transportation to and from your job and childcare while you're away, etc, etc, etc. After all those expenses are added up, it's just smarter to stay on welfare, especially if you can't afford adequate childcare. So, the problem is that we're not doing enough, not that we're doing too much. Waste and fraud in the system as a matter of individuals as opposed to organized crime in is a miniscule fraction of the pie. So the idea that welfare breeds dependency, that people choose welfare over work just cause they're lazy, that people on welfare drive around in Cadillacs - that's all a myth. All a lie.

I don't buy into this idea of rugged individualism. No man is an island unto himself. Plus, it's not as though everyone's starting for the same place. It's not even as though people are treated as individuals rather than members of a group. For some people, a teenage mistake is just that - a teen's bad idea and poor judgement. For others, that same mistake could ruin their lives. If there were more in place where no matter what your parents do, you'll get a very good education and healthcare, you'll be able to go to college, etc, etc, I'd be more in favor of it. But I don't buy into the notion of rugged individualism/personal responsibility, and even if I did, we don't have the structure in place to make that a reality. Nevertheless, only a handful of people would just choose to be on welfare rather than work. Since the 80s, not even working hard guarantees you'll earn enough to live on.

There are exactly $0 federal dollars paying for abortions. No abortion is federally funded except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's health is at risk. I'm pro-choice, so I wouldn't have a problem with federally funded abortions. A very scant few abortions are for sheer convience. Upwards of 70% are due to the inability to afford to raise another child. The majority of women seeking abortions are married. As of now, federal funds are used to pay for abstinence-only sex ed classes that have been shown not to work. We're literally wasting billions. The most effective ways to cut down on the number of abortions are to provide contraception and a stronger social safety net. For example, many European countries have longer mandatory paid maternity and paternity leave. Some as long as a year. As well as having on-site child care services.

I imagine you meant to say healthcare should be between the person and his/her doctor? As it stands, insurance cos have practically been killing people by dropping them from coverage when they need it most. Reform fixed that. Death panels were never in any legislations. No country with 'socialized' medicine has death panels. That was all the machinations of someone's fear and imagination. The point of reform wasn't to put govt between the patient and doctor, but to make sure everybody can get to a doctor.

I'll try to end here. One criticism I have with tea partyists is that there're so many contradictions involved. For most of your concerns, you're far better off under Dems administration and Congress. Other concerns are founded on myths. The average person has no problem working hard to earn a living if they can find a job that will provide a living. The average person, and even most of those above average, won't pay inheritance taxes - the point of which was to prevent the country from becoming an oligarchy or a plutocracy where only the rich have a say in how govt is run.

As for the founding fathers, I don't hold them in as high esteem. Initially, only white men with property had all the rights of being a citizen. It's taken centuries of amendments and movements to get to where we are now. Not saying they didn't do something extraordinary, they did. But they're still just human beings, subject to err just like everybody else. That said, the overriding them is that the people have a say in their government. And to that point, no matter how passionate you are about a particular issue, you don't always get to have your way. Sometimes, you lose elections. That doesn't mean that your concerns aren't being heard. It just means you lost the election. That's how democracy works.

Re: Open Question to All Tea Partyists! Please Read and Respond

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:40:23 -0000

Oh, and just so I'm clear, I really do appreciate your response. You didn't exactly answer my question, but still. You took time to respond, and for that I say think you.

But don't come to my blog and try to debo me.

Re: Open Question to All Tea Partyists! Please Read and Respond

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:30:47 -0000

I don't use that handle anymore

I disagree with all that. I've tried quite hard, in fact, to learn what you're actually about. I'm not sure you know what you're actually about.

So, I'm free to make all the criticisms I want.

Re: Some Interesting Findings about the More "Antique" Tea Pots

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 00:11:09 -0000

Thanks, prof! I really hadn't thought much of it when I wrote. I couldn't think of a better, simpler way to make the point. That prerequisites for our entry into "cultured society" keep going up and have been since the 16th century. When I hear someone say, for example, that the disparity in education is our fault because we don't value education meanwhile we're fighting for affirmative action, more and better financial aid, not to mention continuing to support HBCUs, I just get the creeps. It's disgusting.

Re: The Devil's Greatest Trick

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 10:34:40 -0000

Oo, chil'! It seems like two or three times a week, I'm praying for the strength to love!

I find myself drawing closer and closer to separatism, too. The difference between "ghettos" and chinatowns aren't just the ethnic make up, but also the level of economic activity. What I'd really like to see is more private moneys and investments going into these communities especially from African Americans. Think of what Tulsa, OK and Durham, NC used to be for the black community there prior to white race riots and the building of the interstate. Segregation allowed us to develop our own economies. I'd really like to see that happen again.

I think what's sometimes overlooked is that integration and desegregation wasn't an ends unto itself. The problem with education wasn't that blacks children and white children weren't sitting next to each other. I'm an echo-boomer. I've always gone to integrated schools. And let me tell you, it really ain't what it's cracked up to be. It's not like white skin has any special power to increase the intellectual ability of those in it or near it. No rather, the problem is that black schools received far less, if anything, than white schools.

So I'm not opposed to separatism at all.

As for violence, I'm opposed to it in all forms. That said, I'm not sure I call my particular strategy one of duplicity. But it's like this - I do have a number of white friends. Them I'll warn about not saying or asking stupid stuff about black hair or black history month to the wrong person. You know, those things white folks can say that make you wanna ike-turner them. I'll warn the white folks I have some affinity for. But for the ones who've really crossed me, sometimes, I just let them walk around unwarned, just hoping they'll say the wrong thing to the wrong person and get cold-cocked in the eye.

Whew! (deep breaths, inhale patience, exhale anger, 1, 2, 3 . . .)

Re: Here's What Racism Looks Like: Albom v James

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:27:17 -0000

I'm saying! Serena didn't do anything McEnroe hasn't done in a commercial.

Re: Open Question to All Tea Partyists! Please Read and Respond

Blaque Swan, earlier No1KState — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:52:11 -0000

At some point in the next fews days, I'll go buy Tim's blog and respond. But I get it choose if and when, and I choose not now.

I didn't take others' opinion of the press conference. I read a news article about it. It'd be great if they weren't racist. I just believe they are and I'm doing other things now and haven't had time or interest in going back. I've only gone back if I got an email that someone responded to something I said, otherwise I hadn't planned on going back at all.

Evidence of their not being racist isn't a group of black conservatives saying they're not or one group of many issuing one, and seemingly only one, public statement denouncing racism. I'm more interested in hearing of their plans to end the gap in school funding between neighborhoods of color and white neighborhoods. I'm more interested in hearing their plans to repeal the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. I'm more interested in hearing their plans to address racial profiling by police; the disparity in medical treatment; discrimination in hiring, promotion, and pay. That's how you prove you're not racist: fighting to end racism. Not appropriating the Civil Rights Movement for your own ends when actually, you only agree with one line of one speech out of a Movement that stretch through 4 decades. After all, not only did MLK supported affirmative action, he supported reparations as well. It's not that only blacks can "own" MLK; it's that you can't "own" him and at the same time disagree with 75% of what he promoted. Notice, Rand Paul doesn't seem to be in a rush to claim to be the political inheritors of the Movement.

I mean seriously. In 1963, 250k people marched on Washington on a weekday, 190k of whom were black. 47 years later, there's a crowd of 87k on a Saturday, and a generous estimate would be 500 black people there.

Moving on, what are their plans to realistically cut the deficit. Raise income and capital gains taxes on the wealthiest earners? Well, we know how folks feel about that. End social programs like medicare and social security? Not while so many of them wanna keep govt hands out of medicare and have no problem cashing social security checks.

How about cutting defense spending? That one thing on the libertarian agenda that I can get behind. But how do the majority of tea - what is the agenda of the tea activists, anyway? Low taxes and small govt? Anything beyond that? Getting rid of the fed dept of education? That's one of those things that seem neutral on the face of it but is bound to have discriminatory impact and so is therefore racist. In fact, most people serious about the issue agree that ending discrimination and the impact of racism will require monstrous govt intervention.

Did you take issue with my statement that I think they're stupid? Well. Many of'em didn't even know they're taxes had been lowered. Many seem not to know that medicare is, in fact, a govt program. I know the majority of them went to college, but since then, they've apparantly allowed their brains to atrophy. Or maybe, just their hearts. After all, are these the same people opposing the cultural center near ground zero that will contain a muslim prayer room? Does it matter to them that 60 muslims not involved in the attacks died on 9/11? Or that the South tower had a mosque or that muslim used the stairwells in the North tower as makeshift prayer rooms? Does it matter to tea partyists, the majority of whom feel Obama has done more for black people than others, that the unemployment rate for black Americans is twice that as for white Americans? Or, that the charges against Skip Gates were dropped even before Obama said the cops in that case had acted stupidly. Does it matter that no one in the voting precinct lodged a complaint against the NBPP; that the ACORN tapes were doctored and several Acorn workers called the police afterwards; or, that despite several complaints and polling-place anomalies, the Bush administration filed no charges on behalf of people of color; or, that TARP, all of which as been paid back, started under Bush and that it's all been paid back? Does it matter that even after the Bush tax cuts expire, tax rates will still be lower than what they were under Reagan? Or that letting the tax cuts on the top 5% expire will cut the deficit be an estimated 30%? What are their thoughts on the extreme income inequality in America? Or the weakening of labor unions and the fact that the presense of labor unions resulted not only higher pay, but in another beneficial policies in the community where the union is at large? Or that the miners killed in the explosions of recent years weren't unionized? Did they realize that income tax is part of the Constitution, the 16th amendment?

Besides, are you the only one to have responded to my comments? Cause if you'll notice, since I last responded to you, I haven't responded to anyone else. Moreover, I'm not the only one making the points I made, so there should be plenty commenters there for you to engage with. And talk about not wanting to hear evidence, Andy Griffin's poll numbers have gone down in NC apparantly because he suggested that healthcare reform would actually benefit senior citizens. Get used to people not reading evidence you leave. I've had it happen to me. At least I had some idea of what you were refering to - and even then, I only listened to maybe 5 seconds. (Sorry, but watching black people co-sign racism is heartwrenching.) Once, I got into a back and forth with one lady about the black community's regard for education. She didn't even read the article I op-ed I shared that made the point that black men with graduate degrees had an unemployment rate twice as high white men with grad degrees. So, I know that feeling.

Now I repeat. I'm not accusing principled libertarians of stupid. There are several issues of the libertarian agenda with which I agree. But we both know all those tea activist aren't libertarians. And they don't seem to know, or maybe care, that the tea tax actually lowered the cost of tea in the colonies and the original mud-faced tea dumpers were protesting the LACK OF PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION, not taxes as such.

But like I said, I'll get back there at some point. But at my leisure, not anyone else's.