Disqus - Latest Comments for eclecticbrotha

Re: CBS: 40,000 Troops to Afghanistan

Val2 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:41:17 -0000

eclecticbrotha - The minute I saw this post on weeseeyou my response was

one sec . . . .

I'm back . . . I had to go get a grain of salt.

I'm just surprised that folks keep falling for this nonsense.

Re: CBS: 40,000 Troops to Afghanistan

eclecticbrotha — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:16:21 -0000

I know cable news has always had a bad habit of jumping the gun based on scant or unreliable sources but the media has completely jumped the shark in the Obama era. Remember Balloon Boy. Or, the way the resurrected the Fort Hood shooter from the dead hours after claiming he was killed. Months of frantic assertions that Obama was against the public option even though every official White House statement was in support of one. Its time we put a 24 hour fact checking window on anything that emanates from TV, radio, print or blogs.

Re: Nidal Malik Hasan: The Madness Time

eclecticbrotha — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:56:18 -0000

Toussaint is on point like a mofo.

Re: Responding To The Progressive Obama Haters Not Quite One Year Out

JeffL — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:59:31 -0000

EB, is this the one you mean?
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/white...

Another Giordano writeup on health care making the point it is not just about laying back and taking verbal shots at the Prez:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3409/...

Re: Responding To The Progressive Obama Haters Not Quite One Year Out

moObama — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:02:24 -0000

Thank you. Can't anybody tell the truth? Deed was a bad candidate. When Obama came to Norfolk people came to see him not Deeds. These politicians are lazy, they think Obama's political machine is going to show up and work to get them elected while they sit on the sidelines. The word is, Deeds didn't want Obama here but needed him.

Re: Responding To The Progressive Obama Haters Not Quite One Year Out

eclecticbrotha — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:17:06 -0000

Great post, Jack.

I need to find Al Giordano's smack down of the liberal elite and post it here.

Re: Responding To The Progressive Obama Haters Not Quite One Year Out

eclecticbrotha — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:12:29 -0000

Its laughable that progressives are being blamed for Deeds failure in VA when it was Deeds who decided to spit in the face of progressives by openly bashing cap and trade, public option health care and so on. McDonnell, on the other hand, was smart enough to distance himself from Sarah Failin by turning down her offers to campaign for him. He took a moderate stance and mopped the floor with Deeds.

Re: Wednesday Open Thread

rikyrah — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:11:59 -0000

I also loved that crowd in front of the White House, singing patriotic songs, and the young man, riding his bike, up and down the street with an American flag tied to his neck, like a cape.

Re: Wednesday Open Thread

rikyrah — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:08:52 -0000

I admit, the young woman on the floor at Spelman that never looked up STILL gets to me.

Re: Wednesday Open Thread

eclecticbrotha — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:03:39 -0000

I was at Grant Park on election night and they were broadcasting live coverage from CNN (ugh!). When I got home later that night the best reaction footage of the night was when David Gregory interrupted the MSNBC panel so Keith Olbermann could announce Obama's victory. I broke down in tears as I watched the students at Spellman totally lose it when they heard the news.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjEQ5V0KQhQ

Re: U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin

Texas_Girl_in_LA — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:00:42 -0000

whoop whoop!

Re: Friday Open Thread

eclecticbrotha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:44:27 -0000

Oh yeah. Same old old same, and just as lame.

Re: U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin

eclecticbrotha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:43:07 -0000

Can I get a whoop whoop?

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

miss_opinion — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:15:58 -0000

Judging from what Tyler Perry has said , he dresses up as woman because he feels you have to bring in the people via low rent humor. He basically is in favor of making an ass of himself so you can get the bigger message which is self improvement and never giving up. I can respect what he is trying to do, I do believe his films are getting better. However, I still can't stomach Medea. It just comes off as well "coonery." Bringing down the people just to get them in the door to give them the bigger message.

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

eclecticbrotha — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:39:00 -0000

Nice rant that I completely disagree with. Apparently you fell asleep during "School Daze" and "Do the Right thing" because you obviously missed the social commentary in each. I also notice your sourced comment ignored "Malcolm X." If you want to defend Tyler Perry then fine, but you're delirious if you think his movies compare to what Spike Lee has in his reportoire. I have enjoyed Perry's movies myself but his TV projects are definitely God Awful coonery.

Re: Is SNL’s Skit “The Rock Obama” Racist?

eclecticbrotha — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:04:14 -0000

The vocal inflections are a takeoff on the way "The Incredible Hulk" used to speak in the old comic books and cartoons. I didn't see that part as racist or promoting any stereotype. The angry black man meme might be at play, though. It seems that the underlying premise with the sketch - and the way the corporate media treats Barack - is that the only black men worthy of respect are those that strike fear into their hearts. Any educated, reserved man of color is a wimp according to that mindset.

Or, maybe me and Jill are just overthinking the whole thing. I still found the skit funny, at least when the Rock showed up.

Re: A worthy rant from BooMan on Obama criticism from the Left blogosphere

Plantsmantx — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:01:14 -0000

No, that's not my definition of it. My definition is someone who reacts rabidly and harshly to anyone who criticizes the President in any way, and who has abandoned long-held political convictions in order to conform to whatever he's doing or not doing at any given time. People don't have to "trash" him to be trashed by the cultists. I haven't trashed him, but my simply offering criticism certainly elicited a hysterical response.

It's interesting that you said "openly and repeatedly trashing the President". That's a bit of a giveaway right there. I mean..."openly"? No shit? Are we living in North Korea, all of a sudden?

Re: A worthy rant from BooMan on Obama criticism from the Left blogosphere

eclecticbrotha — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:42:13 -0000

To the extent you've bitched has been about your favorite strawman - "the cultists" - which, according your constant use of the term, is anyone who doesn't agree with the idea of openly and repeatedly trashing the president because he doesn't follow your view of how he should govern. I'm guessing Booman has officially become a cultist in your view because he dares suggest that your tactics may be counterproductive.

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

GreenLadyHere — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:38:21 -0000

eclecticbrotha: THANK U VERY MUCH 4 respondin' 2 the "MOREHOUSE MATTER." :>)

The original and your response R LOST! IN! SPACE!! SORRY! :>)

I appreciate your input!

Loved the prison yard culture. . :>) Nice imagery!! :>)

AGAIN, THANK U!! :>)

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

Mirandalynn — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:15:05 -0000

That's not even close to the worst of it. Students were wearing heels and tube tops to class. It. Had. To. Stop.

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

eclecticbrotha — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:55:48 -0000

I'm all for it. Our young men need to pull their pants up and stop promoting prison yard culture.

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

eclecticbrotha — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:28:59 -0000

Its typical of the FOX nuts to beg forgiveness of comments Rush Limbaugh made in the past after claiming Obama was unfit to be president due to stuff his pastor said or things Bill Ayers said in an interview.

Re: Chris Rock’s New Movie: Good Hair

eclecticbrotha — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:15:20 -0000

I'll try this again.

Frank Schaeffer: Dear Democrats Who Are Criticizing President Obama

Dear Democrats, progressives and all those who voted for Obama but don't agree with some of his policy decisions and are now publicly criticizing him: No, you're not traitors. Yes, constructive dissent is the lifeblood of democracy. You may even be correct in the details of what you are saying. But this is not the time to criticize President Obama.

President Obama is so calm, reasonable and unflappable that it may not appear so, but our president is in a knife fight. He is fighting for you and me. He needs rock solid friends now as steady in our resolve as he is in his.

In the current economic context lefty critics of Obama are the moral equivalent of people playing with matches in a gasoline soaked room. Too many of them seem to not appreciate the context of their remarks. Maybe that's because they live isolated from people not like them, talk to too many progressives who agree with them. They act as if they have never met a Republican. Well I have! And my in box of hate email keeps me in touch with my former right wing and fundamentalist "colleagues."

I don't have a Nobel prize, but I did live, grow up in and work (frighteningly effectively) in the far right netherworld for years until I quit in the mid-80s. Maybe I know a bit more than some progressive Obama critics know about the alternative we face if Obama fails. I helped create it.

Welcome to the eternally slimy moronic exploitative world of Glenn Beck, Joe the plumber and Rush. If progressives blow our Obama chance Palin, Crist, Hukabee, Bush (Jeb), Romney and company are waiting in the wings and will kill our country -- forever -- if one of them, or Republicans like them who pander to the far right "base" (e.g. anyone who believes Glenn Beck is sane) come to power four years from now. And don't be so stupid as to think that it could not happen. Hate is real and it is powerful.

The biggest issue President Obama faces is not the dire emergency, or should I say dire emergencies, he's inherited from the failed Republicans. President Obama's biggest challenge is that the Republican Party is not a loyal opposition. The GOP has become a rabid money-worshiping insurgency (with racist overtones) of anti-American revolution seeking to undermine every single step our new president takes. They are led by opportunistic -- often stupid -- ideologues who would rather take us all down than admit that their anti the "other" pro-rape-the-earth-greed philosophy has failed.

When I say the GOP is "anti-American" I mean that the Republicans don't love America as she is. They wave the flag for a neverland "America" of white "Christian" conservatives (a token person of color or two) and nutcase war-loving neoconservatives, rich people and their lumpen and paranoid rural dupes. The GOP leadership and base hate the actual America of multicultural diversity, higher education, racial equality, a place where gays can thrive and where science will not be beholden to theological moralists.

That said, I'm writing to those who voted for President Obama, from moderates to members of the far left -- or even to people such as myself; a white, middle-aged, moderate, a lifelong Republican (and former Religious Right leader) who abandoned the forces of hate and worked hard to get Obama elected. (A story I tell in my book Crazy For God.)

In my last Huffington Post blog I equated Krugman with Limbaugh. I was talking about the effect of their words spoken in criticism of the President and also their very apparent ego-driven motives. For the responders who pointed out that surely I must know the difference between a Nobel Prize winner in economics and a radio personality buffoon, let me note that the purpose of my piece was to start a discussion on what the sum total impact of the so-called loyal (progressive) opposition is having on the chances of President Obama succeeding in saving our country.

So what's wrong with the give-and-take of, for instance, the Krugman onslaught in print and on television eviscerating parts of the Obama economic recovery plan and claiming it will fail?

The Deadly Problem With Today's Progressive Dissent

Context is everything. You can win a Nobel Prize and still get it wrong, when it comes to understanding the political, social and spiritual reality into which you publicly launch your ideas. You can be an expert in one area but dead wrong as far as the big picture goes... especially if you live in a privileged bubble, the sort of sheltered bubble wealthy tenured professors and/or top columnists and journalists live in.

Some progressives (such as Krugman) tell us that our economic situation is so dire that they feel compelled to speak out publicly in order to "help" the Obama team come up with better ideas. There's a contradiction here. If our situation is so dire that it requires someone such as Krugman -- whose prestige guarantees him direct private access to the presidential advisers -- to go to the public instead of taking the private advisory road, then our situation is bad enough so that he, and other progressives with powerful voices critical of Obama, wittingly or unwittingly, will make things worse. Back-stabbing our president, while he is trying to protect the rest of us is from the Republican's frontal assault on America is wrongheaded.

You can be right about the details but mistaken about the overall situation. You can win battles and lose wars. Context is everything. Getting lost in the details, say of economic theory, is meaningless -- even if you are correct -- unless it actually helps the big picture.

The Problem of the Context of Today's Progressive's Dissent

1) Except for what Lincoln and Roosevelt faced, the severity of the inherited problems Obama finds himself confronting, in the first few short weeks of his presidency, are unique to American history. Saying things such as "So, we never get to criticize this president?" or "You must think he's Jesus," to people -- like me -- who criticize lefty Obama critics for being critical at this fraught time misses the point. The day after Pearl Harbor was a time to pull together, not to parse the details of Roosevelt's leadership.

2) President Obama confronts not only Rush Limbaugh and his ilk but a host of others -- including elected Republicans in congress -- who make no bones about the fact that they are actively seeking to undermine his presidency. Rush, Fox News, the Republican congressional leadership and their millions of not-too-bright hate and fear-driven followers -- have become an actual fifth column. They have met our contemporary "Pearl Harbor" with the words, "We hope Roosevelt fails! We hope the Japanese win!" They are traitors in a time of war, actually three wars; Iraq, Afghanistan and the economic war we're all fighting in order to survive.

3) Every commentator agrees that at least half (if not more) of our financial crisis is due to a psychological loss of confidence in our economic system. So criticism of the various economic remedies the President is trying to launch have to be examined in two ways. First, on the merits of the economic theory. But, second, from the point of view of the impact the critic's words have in further diminishing confidence in our system and thus destabilizing it. So ironically the greater the critic's intellectual or political standing the less good he or she will do by public -- as opposed to private -- criticism.

So when a Paul Krugman goes on national television again and again and again or appears on a magazine cover pronouncing Obama's "failure" or writes one column after another for the New York Times claiming that President Obama's plans are wrong, it is the ultimate naïveté for the critic to then say (or pretend) that his comments are simply academic (or journalistic) observations. The progressive Obama critic in our present context is morally responsible for how his ideas will play when amplified by the sensationalistic press, and turned into news-cycle sound bites for the short attention span scared public, not to mention used by the Republicans.

Conclusion

I believe that Obama will succeed beyond our fondest hopes. (Read Linsky and Grashow in the Huffington Post for a great explanation of the scope of what President Obama is doing http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-linsky-and-... )

I think President Obama is the finest leader we have had in my lifetime. That firm belief notwithstanding, do I think a time will come when progressives may (and should!) offer public criticism of President Obama when they disagree with him? Yes of course! But now is not that time.

Our new president needs to settle in, to do his job, to work for you and me. Now is the time to close ranks with President Obama and stand with him shoulder-to-shoulder, for the sake of what is right, just and good.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer and the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back. Now in paperback.

Follow Frank Schaeffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/d...

Re: Obama is First President to Observe Diwali Holiday

laRapierwit — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:55:44 -0000

Disqus is protesting,... kidnappingAVATARS, posts...he/she needs HITS...you gotta go there to get it..

Disqus wants some love....lol

Re: Obama is First President to Observe Diwali Holiday

AxelFoley — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:35:36 -0000

LOL, sorry, man. I couldn't resist.

Yeah, folks have been complaining about missing posts since yesterday. I think one of my post on the evening thread yesterday disappeared.