A man in Texas has formed a non-profit to distribute scholarships to white men. While well to do, or “connected” white men get a lot of breaks – poor guys have to pretty much claw and scratch for themselves. So no, in my view it isn’t racism – in that unlike conservatives it isn’t trying to tear anyone else down. Seems like a good idea – poor white guys need a hand up, too. Interesting what the groups definition of “white” is!
A new nonprofit group in Texas is offering college scholarships to a demographic it says has fewer scholarship options than other groups: white men.
The group, called the Former Majority Association for Equality, was started by Colby Bohannon, a student at Texas State University. He’s an Iraq War veteran who decided to return to school and said he had trouble finding college scholarships for which he qualified. He found many programs willing to grant money to female or minority students, but not white males like himself.
So Bohannon and some friends founded the FMAE group, which plans to begin handing out $500 scholarships this summer. Only white men with at least a 3.0 grade point average can qualify.
“We know that we’re going to be receiving some vicious attacks from people claiming that we are racists or promoting some bigotry-filled agenda,” Bohannon also told Reuters. He said he’s just trying to help students who may have been a majority in the past, but are no longer as America’s demographics change.
“If you’re not a male, and if you’re not white, you’re called a minority,” Bohannon said, but “I’m not sure white males are the majority anymore.”
He’s correct about his home state of Texas, at least. Non-Hispanic whites are now a minority there, according to U.S. Census figures released earlier this month that show they make up about 42 percent of the state’s population, down from more than half 10 years ago.
Bohannon has since been forced to qualify his group’s scholarship requirements after receiving requests from some students who are of mixed race or ethnic backgrounds. He now says students are eligible if they’re a quarter non-Hispanic white.
“We’re not looking for blond-haired, blue-eyed, stereotypical white males,” he told Reuters. “My feeling is that if you can say you’re 25 percent Caucasian, you’re Caucasian enough for us.”
The group was formally incorporated in Texas last March, and is currently accepting applications for fall 2011 scholarships. It “has no political aspirations, financial agenda, or radical social philosophies whatsoever,” the group said in a statement on its website.
“I believe in equality for everyone, as well as being a strong believer that everyone should have an opportunity to attend college no matter who they are or where they come from,” Calysta Spence, FMAE’s fundraising coordinator, told The University Star, a student newspaper at Texas State, where Bohannon is a student.
Just so my English frinds don’t think we are all “confused” here in America – here is a pic of the Queen and Muhammar…
Hate to break this on you Muhammar... But the Queen's Dress is much prettier than yours! And her hat is stunning, unlike whatever that is you got wrapped around your head masquerading as one of those Russian hats with the pull down ear flaps...
And another thing… Does the Sammie Davis Estate know you stole his glasses from his 1960’s Vegas “Rat Pack” Collection?
Sammy Davis With "Vegas" Glasses
Now – as to Osama Bin Lauden causing all the recent troubles in Libya… I’m not sure he’s after the whole country…
Bin Lauden's New Bodyguard?
In any event, if you will leave the country in the next 48 Hours I beleive we have set up the perfect place for you to hide ou… errrrrr… seek asylum!
The climate is perfect, and similar to North Africa. And just the friendliest folks you’ve ever met – with a small “immigration problem”!
I know! I know! You’ve never had an immigration problem in the 30 years you’ve ruled Libya. But Arizona is just perfect! We’ve enrolled you in the Tea Party, which has really been searching for an experienced dictator – and you can run for “Senator for Life” next term as the Party’s favorite candidate against John McCain!
And the best part is… Nobody else in the other 49 states cares anymore!
Uhhhh… No… We won’t be able to bring your bodyguard along… Seems they already defected.
But we can set you up to do a TV Special with Sarah!
And yes, this is an attempt at satire. Even I don’t believe Ghadaffi is crazy enough to hang around a bunch of Tea Bagger Republicans!
President Barack Obama is celebrating rhythm and blues with a Motown White House concert Thursday night.
Smokey Robinson is set to headline PBS’ “The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House,” with guests, including singers Sheryl Crow and John Legend, who will perform Motown hits.
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden will also attend the event.
Other performers for the night include Natasha Bedingfield, Jamie Foxx, Gloriana, Nick Jonas, Ledisi, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Seal and Jordin Sparks.
Now unfortunately, other than Smokey Robinson, I’m not sure how many actual Motown Stars are going to be there. But without further ado – He’s BTx3’s Top 30 All Time Motown Song List!
My Girl – Temptations
I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) – Four Tops
Ain’t Too Proud To Beg – Temptations
The Tracks of My Tears – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Where Did Our Love Go? – Supremes
(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave – Martha & The Vandellas
What’s Goin’ On? – Marvin Gaye
Dancing in the Street – Martha & The Vandellas
I Want You Back – Jackson 5
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted? – Jimmy Ruffin
Please Mr. Postman – Marvelettes
My Guy – Mary Wells
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) – Temptations
Shotgun – Jr. Walker & The All Stars
Shop Around – Miracles
War – Edwin Starr
You Keep Me Hangin’ On – Supremes
Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone – Temptations
Super Freak Part I – Rick James
Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler) – Marvin Gaye
Jimmy Mack – Martha & The Vandellas
Don’t Mess With Bill – Marvelettes
Since I Lost My Baby – Temptations
Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston
All Night Long (All Night) – Lionel Richie
Let It Whip – Dazz Band
What Does It Take (To Win Your Love?) – Jr. Walker
Function At The Junction – Shorty Long
Does Your Mama Know About Me? – Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers
Now This is the Lead Vocal Track off of the 4 Tops “Just Ask The Lonely” Song performed by Levi Stubbs. I suspect someone re-created this because the background singers are flat. I would guess when this was originally recorded they still only used 8 tracks, and may not have moved up to 16. In any event it illustrates the shear power and artistry of Levi’s voice, on what I think is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and performed.
Here is the full mix, apparently from an analog source –
Obviously, following the current nomination process of the Republican/Tea Party Maine Governor Paul LePage has thrown his hat in the ring as a Presidential candidate. One needs a certain number of gravitas free, utterly off the wall pronouncements to fire up the base to form an exploratory committe to begin to rake in the bucks from the Koch brothers…
“Gravitas free, and utterly-off-the-wall” once being fine qualifications for a stand up comic – now being the sole qualification in the ReTea Party to be elected to high position.
Governor Lepage’s stunning viewpoint adds yet another layer onto the Republican vision of Right Wing America once defined by the physically attractive if low IQ and disturbingly ditzy – Palin, Bachmann, and Coulter, to add yet another requirement on what it means to be a “real woman” (Mama Moose?) in the new ReTea Party…
The political debate over bisphenol A is heating up in Maine after Gov. Paul LePage’s recent comments questioning whether the controversial chemical is as dangerous as many scientists claim.
And LePage’s unusual quip about some women growing “little beards” from exposure to BPA likely will add another wrinkle to an issue on track to be one of the most contentious of the legislative session.
In his comments last week, LePage said he has yet to see enough science to support a ban on BPA, a common additive to plastics that some research suggests may interfere with hormone levels and could cause long-term problems. LePage said until scientists can prove BPA is harmful, the state should not rush to restrict its use.
“Quite frankly, the science that I’m looking at says there is no [problem],” LePage said. “There hasn’t been any science that identifies that there is a problem.”
LePage then added: “The only thing that I’ve heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. So the worst case is some women may have little beards.”
That last comment prompted a strong reaction from Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, a Maine-based advocacy group.
“It displays shocking ignorance for the science and a callous disregard for children’s health,” Belliveau said.
According to eHarmony Governor... You're compatible!!
Appears to be a rising call that the US step in and do something about the raging Civil War in Libya…
Seems to me to be about the dumbest thing the US could ever do is intervene in any way in another Middle Eastern disaster – virtually guaranteeing another Afghanistan 3-5 way war, with about the only thing the other parties agreeing to…
Is shooting at Americans.
Worse, the Bushit already sold the US Military and economy down the river lying the country into one “misadventure” and failing to close out another.
So I’m sorry Libyan brothers – but the American coin machine is stuck on empty.
So when I see an editorial like this in the Christian Science Monitor – I sincerely hope it’s somebody else doing the “saving” for a change…
The gross atrocities committed by the Qaddafi regime against protesters in Libya are of a kind demanding outside intervention. The Arab revolt for democracy now also needs protection from war crimes.
Now instead of simply siding with Arabs or Iranians seeking freedom, the world must also try to deter cornered dictators from committing mass atrocities.
In Libya, Muammar Qaddafi reacted far more harshly than his counterparts in Tunisia and Egypt did to the popular Arab demands for liberty. He unleashed fighter jets and machine guns against his opponents.
It was an excessive use of violence leading to the kind of mass slaughter seen in 1975 Cambodia, 1989 China, 1994 Rwanda, 1995 Bosnia, 1999 Kosovo, and 2003 Darfur.
Several of Mr. Qaddafi’s own ambassadors quit in disgust, warning of genocide and triggering the United Nations Security Council to weigh taking action. And indeed, if the Arab revolt continues in many Middle East countries, the world must be prepared to prevent extreme violence. It should take a decisive stand now in the case of the extreme cruelty committed in Libya.
More than democracy is at stake. The world must also act against crimes against humanity. And words of condemnation are not enough.
In fact, outside military intervention could be necessary, as was the case in Kosovo and Bosnia by NATO forces. In 2005, the UN General Assembly endorsed the idea of an international “responsibility to protect” innocent people from great harm within a sovereign country. That principle was elevated by the UN in large part because of its failure to intervene in the Rwanda genocide.
Failure to protect Libyan protesters, or any peaceful uprising in the Middle East, would only prove that the international community has yet to learn from past mistakes in not upholding international human rights laws, such as the Genocide Convention.
It is a difficult task for the UN or NATO to decide whether to break a state’s sovereignty if massacres are taking place. It’s even more difficult to find countries willing to make the sacrifice to send in their forces.
This regime, in power for more than four decades, has been the most despotic of Arab autocrats, ranking alongside North Korea in its human rights violations. Now it has shown its true colors, and Libyans by the thousands are asking for outside help.
If ever a “responsibility to protect” was made clear, it is now in Libya, where terror has been unleashed on its people.
While the SPLC doesn’t regard the Tea Party Movement as a hate group – I think that is an exercise in semantics. Some pretty fine hair splitting, indeed.
The number of radical right groups in America — including hate groups, “Patriot” groups and nativist groups — increased in 2010 for the second year in a row, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The organization’s quarterly publication, Intelligence Report, said the growth was “driven by resentment over the changing racial demographics of the country, frustration over the government’s handling of the economy, and the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories and other demonizing propaganda aimed at various minorities.”
The SPLC documented 1,002 hate groups operating in the United States in 2010, a 7.5% increase from the year before. It was the first time that more than 1,000 hate groups were recorded since the organization started tracking them in the 1980s.
But the biggest growth was in so-called “Patriot” groups, which the organization described as conspiracy-minded groups that see the federal government as their primary enemy. There were 300 new groups like this, an increase of more than 60% from the year before, the report said. A lot of the growth in the Patriot groups came from an increase in the number of militias recorded.
There was also a smaller increase in the number of anti-immigrant vigilante groups, SPLC reported.
“We were expecting to see the winds out of their sails because of the mainstreaming (of some of the radical right’s ideas), but that hasn’t been the case,” said Mark Potok, director of SPLC’s Intelligence Project.
He cited developments in the past year such as the passing in Arizona of a restrictive immigration law as an example of extremist ideas being folded into the mainstream.
Politicians affiliated with the Tea Party movement have also co-opted some of the extremist groups’ agenda, ranging from attacking birthright citizenship to requiring special permission for federal agents to carry out operations without the local sheriff’s consent.
But, Potok pointed out, there is a difference between the Tea Party movement and the Patriot movement described in the report.
The Tea Party is not considered an extremist or hate group, “but there are some strains of extremism” in it, he said.
We Know What to Do With Labor Unions and Illegals! (some current Arizona Border Vigilantes)
On the organization’s website, there is a new map that includes a list of all the hate groups and extremist organizations operating in each state. The rise of the Patriot groups is especially notable because this is the subset of radical right groups most associated with violence.
“The real large criminal plots have come more from Patriot groups than the hate groups,” Potok said.
As an example, he noted a man with a long history of anti-government activities who was arrested in January in a car filled with explosives outisde a mosque in Dearborn, Michigan.
There was also a case of a neo-Nazi who was arrested in January as he headed for the Arizona border with a dozen homemade grenades, and another case where police discovered a plot to bomb a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane, Washington, he said.
Hat Tip to Roderick for being first off the blocks with this one!
What happens when the guy who bought Scott Walker calls? Walker infamously refuses to answer the calls of any of the Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate…
So why exactly is he answering Koch?
Part Deux…
Now it is pretty obvious who Walker reports to, and that the effort to smash unions has been bought and paid for by the Koch brothers.
The person representing himself as David Koch wasn’t in this call as the following explains –
Former SEC General Counsel David M. Becker, Accused of profiting from Madoff Scheme to Look the Other Way
Yet another story of dirty money making it’s way into the hands of the folks who are supposed to protect our system. Not sure how you prosecute these guys when you have bought judges on the Supreme Court who also are taking bribes. Seems to me that level of corruption brings down the whole system.
The family of the top lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission invested with Bernie Madoff and earned more than $1.5 million in ill-gained profits, according to trustee Irving Picard, who has named the lawyer, David M. Becker, as a defendant in a clawback lawsuit, a Daily News investigation has found.
The apparent conflict of interest raises significant questions about the watchdog commission’s failure to stop Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme, despite repeated red flags and investigations into his operations.
Becker, 63, who is leaving his post as general counsel and senior policy director of the SEC in five days to return to the private sector, has never publicly disclosed his family’s ties to Madoff. He and his two brothers, who are also defendants in the suit, were named executors of their mother’s estate, which included a Madoff account, after her death in 2004. They liquidated the account in 2005, withdrawing $2,042,845, and are being sued as co-executors of the estate and individually.
David Becker was the SEC’s general counsel from 2000-2002 and again from 2009 until this month. He joined the agency in 1998 as deputy general counsel.
A spokesman for the SEC, John Nester, confirmed Tuesday that Becker received the complaint several days ago.
“He had no involvement with his parents’ financial affairs, and no recollection of his parents’ account with Madoff prior to his mother’s death and subsequent liquidation of the account,” Nester said on behalf of Becker.
The U.S. military says pirates have shot and killed four Americans aboard a hijacked yacht off the coast of Somalia.
U.S. Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters that U.S. naval forces were trying to negotiate the hostages’ release Tuesday when, without any warning, pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. warship.
Fox said the grenade missed, but sailors then heard gunfire aboard the yacht, the SV Quest.
U.S. Special Forces boarded the hijacked vessel and discovered all four hostages had been shot by the pirates. Despite immediate medical care, the four Americans died of their wounds.
Fox said the boarding party seized control of the yacht, killing two pirates and detaining 15 others. Two other pirates were found dead on board.
Pirates hijacked the yacht on Friday and had been steering it toward the Somali coast, with four U.S. Navy warships trailing and observing the vessel.
This is believed to be the first time U.S. citizens have been killed by the pirate gangs operating off the Somali coast.
Media reports have identified the four Americans killed as yacht owners Scott and Jean Adam of Marina del Rey, California, and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle of Seattle, Washington.
Seats on one side of the Indiana House were nearly empty today as House Democrats departed the the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation.
A source tells the Indianapolis Star that Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.
The House was came into session twice this morning, with only three of the 40 Democrats present. Those were needed to make a motion, and a seconding motion, for any procedural steps Democrats would want to take to ensure Republicans don’t do anything official without quorum.
With only 58 legislators present, there was no quorum present to do business. The House needs 67 of its members to be present.
House Speaker Brian Bosma said he did not know yet whether he would ask the Indiana State Police to compel the lawmakers to attend, if they can be found.
Today’s fight was triggered by Republicans pushing a bill that would bar unions and companies from negotiating a contract that requires non-union members to kick-in fees for representation. It’s become the latest in what is becoming a national fight over Republican attempts to eliminate or limit collective bargaining.
Gov. Mitch Daniels had warned his party late last year against pursuing so-called “right to work” legislation. While he agreed with it philosophically, he said it was a big issue that needed a state-wide debate and noted no Republican had run on this in the November election.
But now that his party is pursuing it, Daniels has not spoken against it. He has so far issued no statement, has held no news conference and has not been interviewed by any Indiana reporters in the Statehouse. Daniels did do a radio interview Monday with National Public Radio in which he discussed the labor fight which has caused a government stalemate in Wisconsin — where Senate Democrats have fled to Illinois to prevent a vote on a bill that limits collective bargaining –a now, apparently, his state.
One of Malcolm X’s daughters is being held in North Carolina on an arrest warrant from Queens, stemming from an accusation that she stole from the widow of one of her father’s bodyguards, the authorities said Monday.
The daughter, Malikah Shabazz, was arrested Friday night in Mars Hill, N.C., and faces an extradition hearing on Tuesday.
Sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina were investigating a call that a child at her home was not attending school, Ms. Shabazz’s lawyer, Sean Devereux, told The Associated Press. Mr. Devereux said that Ms. Shabazz’s daughter was being home-schooled, The A.P. reported. But when deputies discovered Ms. Shabazz’s warrant, which was from 2009, they arrested her.
The warrant included charges of grand larceny and identity theft. A law enforcement official said Ms. Shabazz was accused of stealing the identity of a family friend, the widow of one of Malcolm X’s bodyguards, and taking about $30,000 to pay bills and other personal expenses.
Ms. Shabazz, 45, was born a few months after her father was assassinated in Harlem on Feb. 21, 1965, by other members of the Nation of Islam. She is involved in a dispute with her sisters over the estate left by their mother, Betty Shabazz, who died in 1997 in a fire set by one of her grandsons.
The government of President Hugo Chavez denied on Monday reports Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was traveling to Venezuela following violent protests in the fellow OPEC member nation.
Attracted to Gaddafi’s revolutionary past, the socialist Chavez also casts himself as an anti-U.S. stalwart on the international stage, and the pair enjoy warm ties.
Adding to media rumors, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said earlier on Monday he had seen information to suggest Gaddafi had fled Libya and was on his way to the South American oil-exporting nation.
The Venezuelan government “denies such information,” a senior government source told Reuters.
It has taken a while, but there has been a dramatic change of public opinion about the Tea Party, and it’s sugar daddies – not the least driven by folks experiencing exactly what having these folks in power means.
After successfully buying a movement, and election, and even judges, the Koch brothers juggernaut hit a brick wall. That brick wall is when average Americans actually had to face, and pay for the bigotry and insane policies of the Republican Party.
CPAC...Dancing With Morons and Bigots
The counter-revolution is underway.
Faux News and Tea Bagger favorite pundits are falling in terms of public opinion faster than rocks…
Sarah Palin’s tailspin is also pronounced. It can be seen in polls, certainly: the ABC News-Washington Post survey found that 30 percent of Americans approved of her response to the Tucson massacre and 46 percent did not. (Obama’s numbers in the same poll were 78 percent favorable, 12 percent negative.) But equally telling was the fate of a Palin speech scheduled for May at a so-called Patriots & Warriors Gala in Glendale, Colo.
Tickets to see Palin, announced at $185 on Jan. 16, eight days after Tucson, were slashed to half-price in early February. Then the speech was canceled altogether, with the organizers blaming “safety concerns resulting from an onslaught of negative feedback.” But when The Denver Post sought out the Glendale police chief, he reported there had been no threats or other causes for alarm. The real “negative feedback” may have been anemic ticket sales, particularly if they were to cover Palin’s standard $100,000 fee.
What may at long last be dawning on some Republican grandees is that a provocateur who puts her political adversaries in the cross hairs and then instructs her acolytes to “RELOAD” frightens most voters. Read the rest of this entry »
Texas Group Offers Scholarships to White Men Only
Seems to me to be about the dumbest thing the US could ever do is intervene in any way in another Middle Eastern disaster – virtually guaranteeing another Afghanistan 3-5 way war, with about the only thing the other parties agreeing to…
The number of radical right groups in America — including hate groups, “Patriot” groups and nativist groups — increased in 2010 for the second year in a row, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree… But sometimes the apple rolls off a cliff…
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