Really, the whole story should make any mature adult wonder, “Seriously, are these people in a position of power?”
Apparently, Chip Saltsman, RNC member hoping to gain RNC chairmanship, actually thought, hey, sending out an offensive CD is a good idea! If I recall correctly, this past election, demonstrated clearly, that the Republican Party, in order to thrive, must deviate from old habits and start enticing a more diverse population to join their party. Ahh, hint Chris, THIS, is NOT the way to draw a more diverse membership.
Even the current RNC Chairman, Robert Duncan was “shocked and appalled” that one of his possible successors had sent out a CD this Christmas with the 2007 parody ” Barack the Magic Negro”. It’s one thing when Rush Limbaugh does it, but when such insensitivity is codified by the RNC, not good, not good P.R. at all.
(CNN) — A candidate for the Republican National Committee chairmanship said Friday the CD he sent committee members for Christmas — which included a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” — was clearly intended as a joke.
“I think most people recognize political satire when they see it,” Tennessee Republican Chip Saltsman told CNN. “I think RNC members understand that.”
The song, set to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” was first played on conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh’s radio show in 2007.
Its title was drawn from a Los Angeles Times column that suggested President-elect Barack Obama appealed to those who feel guilty about the nation’s history of mistreatment of African-Americans. Saltsman said the song, penned by his longtime friend Paul Shanklin, should be easily recognized as satire directed at the Times.
The CD sent to RNC members, first reported by The Hill on Friday, is titled “We Hate the USA” and also includes songs referencing former presidential candidate John Edwards and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, among other targets.
According to The Hill, other song titles, some of which were in bold font, were: “John Edwards’ Poverty Tour,” “Wright place, wrong pastor,” “Love Client #9,” “Ivory and Ebony” and “The Star Spanglish Banner.”
Saltsman was national campaign manager for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential bid in 2007 and 2008. Before that, he held a variety of posts, including a number of positions under former Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee.
Re Juturna 10:16. I’d be shocked if Mackie were GL. I find it hard to believe that GL would be able to portray the black point of view so convincingly. I just don’t understand why Mackie upsets everyone here so much.
Moon, I agree with your statement above 23:11 – Obama as bi-racial, just as white as he is black. I think it was after the election, around then, that Doonesbury had a funny, insightful strip. Something like an Iraqi saying to a white soldier that Obama was elected, and “you must be so proud”.
“You must be so proud is hilarious!” I’m surprised anyone got it.
Obama is half white, yes. But he is black enough that he had to overcome politicians like the ones we discussed above, using racism to rally and inspire people to donate or organize or vote against him.
It’s great that he won. I had hoped that would mean Republicans would immediately abandon racism as a rallying cry. Perhaps immediately was too much to hope for.
It’s a habit they need to break, because it can no longer win elections in most parts of the country including (drum roll please) VIRGINIA!!!!!!!
Which brings us back to the subject of the thread. I think Raising Kaine had a lot to do with turning Virginia blue.
I think AntiBVBL has something to do with during PWC Blue. But not without a HUGE assist from Greg Letiecq and Corey Stewart. In fairness, I should probably say that Letiecq and Stewart got an assist from AntiBVBL.
Alanna, I know that reality might be frustrating for you. I am not trying to rub it in.
The success of this blog and the success of Obama in PWC are both part of the same wave. Once you allow free speech and freedom of information, the work of hate-mongers and propagandists can easily be turned around and used against them.
By allowing free speech and freedom of information on this blog, you made the fall of Letiecq and Stewart was inevitable.
And, in many ways, the exposure of Letiecq and Stewart as liars, fear-mongers, and propagandists helped turn the county against, not only them Blunder Twins as politicians, but also the Republican party in general.
NGL,
I have to disagree. The mechanism was not so pure. I think the economy had the most to do with it. People are worried about the economy so they chose someone they thought would help them economically. Unfortunately they refuse to accept that the best thing government can do is to get out of the way and let the free market correct itself. Like ostriches, despite common sense and history, they put their heads in the ground and believe that the predators will not eat them.
A lot of the jobs being lost are jobs that we should be losing. They are jobs that don’t do us any good on the global market. Instead, they drain our resources and manpower to support a fake economy. For example, it looks like retailers are going to be laying off people and closing stores. Why? Because people are finally scared and starting to save their money instead of spending it on things they don’t need. This is something that should have happened long ago. Perhaps it’s too little too late now. When the dollar collapses, all the money these people save will be worthless.
All these people could eventually be put back to work manufacturing goods to sell abroad if we had a system that supported entrepreneurs instead of punishing them. If we had a system that didn’t steal peoples wealth in order to ‘spread the wealth around’ building bridges to nowhere that can’t be sold to anyone for a profit. Except that those bridges to nowhere can be sold to a desperate American working class. Unfortunately the profit is measured in votes instead of currency.
The double feature started during the Great Depression. It took people away from their misery and gave them a bargain to boot. Nothing wrong with a little hope.
How much worse would the great depression have been if FDR hadn’t put in new govt programs? There has been a great deal written academically about leaving free markets alone etc. However, if you ever talked to people from that era most of them have nothing but good things to say about FDR, the individual components of the New Deal and some of the govt programs that provided jobs and moderized much of the country.
So who do you believe? The academnicians or the people who were really there?
M-H, thanks for asking but there are just memories of a different time and place. I prefer to focus on relationships than events at this point in time. They hopefully last longer.
I actually find myself agreeing with a lot of Mackie’s latest comment in this thread. The economy was a very large factor in Obama’s victory and in people turning away from the Republican party – which a lot of people associate (and rightly so) very closely with big business. Big business were the villains in the downfall of the economy due to greed and taking advantage of people (the whole subprime mortgage mess for one thing). People wanted a change and someone that would look out more for them than for their friends in big business.
It is also true as Mackie says that as jobs dwindle in one industry people will have to look for jobs in another industry that has more potential. In that sense things are somewhat self correcting, in the long term those industries will be forced to downsize, and hopefully other industries will grow to pick up the lack – although that may take a long time unfortunately. There are many areas where jobs are growing, unfortunately some require education specifically in those areas and people may have to choose to get trained in those areas, or something may have to be done to get people interested in those areas. Nursing for example is one of them, there’s always a huge shortage in nursing. But that is just one example and there are many others.
I forgot to say – regarding manufacturing goods to sell abroad – unfortunately the US now lags many other countries because they can just make things cheaper than here. It is hard to imagine unfortunately the US returning to being net exporter of goods manufactured here in the US. It is just a fact of life that it is often too expensive to manufacture things here and make any kind of profit. While that is a laudable goal – I don’t see it happening unless there’s some huge shift in economics between the US and foreign countries. With the higher wages here, it is just a lot more expensive to manufacture in the US than abroad.
As a nation we have a sense of entitlement that is polluting our ability to be productive. Unfortunately, it’s a hard knock life. Foreign nations around the world keep our fake economy going by lending us tons of money which impoverishes them. They think they have to do this since they have tons of American dollars sitting in their banks. When the American economy collapses, those dollars will be worthless and those nations will suffer for a while. When the Chinese realize that the pain of supporting our economy has grown greater then the pain of letting their dollar reserves go worthless, they will dump the American dollar. When they dump it, so will everyone else. Game over. How will we rebuild? We manufacture nothing.
GainesvilleResident,
The japanese manufacture cars right here in the US. They do so profitably.
Here’s an article about how China will begin to diversify it’s reserves away from the American dollar.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=74335&sid=21457716&con_type=1
M-H,
I’m scared too about whats coming and the hardships we will be facing. But an economy managed by bureaucrats will not be able to bring us out of depression. It will keep us mired in it. Recessions are always painful but they pass if you let the market correct itself.
I’m scared so I’m saving every dollar I can and either converting it into gold or looking for secure investments abroad.
The Perth Mint in Australia is a good place to buy one’s gold.
https://online.kitco.com/pmcp/
They will store it for free and it’s backed by the Australian government. It’s a good idea to keep one’s gold out of the country because Obama will surely confiscate everyone’s gold just like FDR did. It’s no good to store your gold in a safety deposit box since the govt will just put agents in every bank to arrest anyone who has gold hidden in their box.
Mackie – you are correct about the Japanese and car manufacturing here. That’s because they don’t have unions, and don’t have to carry the ridiculous things such as the “job bank” for car workers who haven’t worked for a year, yet get paid to sit at home. Good luck with most American companies negotiating that with their workers. The American companies could learn a thing or two from the Japanese. Anyway, your point is well taken, but unfortunately until American companies can get away from the union’s stronghold, most manufacturing in the USA will not be as efficient or cost effective as it is overseas. I’m not saying we should go to slave wages, but the unions are a huge part of the problem that has made manufacturing in the USA not cost effective and prohibitively expensive.
And it will be interesting to see if the US car companies and the unions, get together and decide to streamline things, cut out ridiculous benefits, and can be cost competitive with the Japanese, while mantaining high quality. So far they have not. And they have let the Japanese take the lead in fuel efficient cars too, failing or being far too late in recognizing the demand for those cars. Of course, the US oil companies are as much at fault about that too, lobbying Congress to not require higher efficiency standards on US cars. Anyway, will be interesting to see how the US companies go about streamlining, and if they can succeed in staying competitive and recovering from their financial problems. They have a lot of work to do – it is not clear they will succeed. We should ask why the foreign car companies are still profitable, in these bad economic times.
Mackie – I am not convinced that things are that dire that all investments should be made overseas. There are many bargains to be found in the stock market right now for the careful long term investor – who may be rewarded for investing now and holding for 5 or 10 years.
GainesvilleResident,
What bargains do you think can be found in the stock market right now?
I think the safest play is to invest in commodities. Especially in Jim Roger’s RICI index and it’s sub indexes.
China is facing an increasing need for oil. Enough said.
Mackie – commodities are good. I saw Cocoa was doing quite well. In the stock market – I had a lot of success and made a very good short term profit (nearly 50%) recently speculating on the auto industry and got in and out of GM and Lear (an auto supply company) speculating on the bailout. But I wouldn’t recommend them anymore obviously. Right now LINE (Linn Energy) was a good buy while it was a bit lower – but it rose on Monday after a positive review by Barron’s. It does have an excellent yield of almost 20% on the dividend, however. I got in it at $12/share a few weeks ago and it is now up to $15.
Unfortunately, while I’ve had some great gains at the end of the year – they are far overshadowed by my losses this year. Such is life. And of course my 401K has taken quite a hit this year. One can only hope 2009 will be better – if not I may never be able to retire!
Interesting on Jim Roger’s RICI index, I’ll have to take a look at it.
The WaPo had an interesting article on local companies that have done well and withstood the wall street free fall. Oddly enough, as I recall, one was Strayer Education.
I don’t even want to think about the stock market. I have been beaten up and the bones spit out, and I had no reckless or speculative investments. However it will come back. I have faith.
MH – I was beaten up pretty badly in the stock market too. I doubt anyone can claim they did well in the stock market this year. But I also have faith it will come back, and faith in the US economy, and right now as I said there are bargains to be found for long term investment. I have actually made a good amount of money in the last month – which has at least put a dent in my losses for this year. Sadly – my 401K had a return of -38.8% this year! 2009 can only be better – it is a very low hurdle for it to beat that return…. If it doesn’t, I’ll be working the rest of my life! Wishing all of us better luck with our investments for 2009!
My 401k took a big hit like everyone else’s. Fortunately I have a self directed account which allows me to choose which mutual funds to invest in so I can invest abroad. The problem with a lot of 401ks is how they lock you into 15 or so choices. Almost all of them heavily invested in the US. So what happens to your 401k if the US itself is a bad investment? It goes south. In a situation like that it might be a good idea to talk to your boss and see if they will allow you to quit so you can roll your 401k into an IRA and then get rehired.
GainesvilleResident,
Here is the Rogers International Commodity Index (RICI) handbook
http://www.diapasoncm.com/indices/pdf/RICI_Index_Manual.pdf
Mackie – thanks for that link on RICI.
My older 401K’s from other employers I’ve rolled over into an IRA and they are self directed – I can invest in any mutual fund or stock. Although a lot of my money is in my current employer’s 401K, which is where I lost 38.8% this year.
Your idea of quitting and getting rehired and then rolling your 401K into an IRA is interesting. Although for me it won’t work – I’m covered under my employer’s pension plan. For new employees, or employees who left and are rehired, my employer no longer contributes to the pension plan – however those people get a higher 401K match than I do. I’ll take continued contributions to the pension plan, which unlike other companies’ pension plans is actually in very good shape financially. I am fortunate in that I’m covered under a pension plan from this employer as well as a previous employer that I worked at for 12 years. Not many companies offer pension plans anymore, and my previous employer no longer offers it to any of their employees. Of course, my current company may stop contributing to the pension plan at any time, but I’m vested in the amount they’ve already put in for the time I’ve been there so far (6 years).
Wishing everyone better luck with their 401K’s/IRA’s/personal investments for 2009!
Mackie – I found a link to the returns for RICI – http://www.rogersrawmaterials.com/page2.asp – not sure it did any better than the market in general for this year. It is interesting though anyway – the link you sent me earlier is very interesting reading on the mix of commodities and their strategy in picking them. Lots of fancy math in there!
I think the key to any investment strategy is diversifying. Advice I follow for my 401K’s but not always for my personal investments, which probably helped make my losses greater this year than they would have been if I had been better diversified….
Then again, in my 401K, I diversified to 10 different investments (10% each roughly) and managed to duplicate the S&P’s performance: my return for the year was -38.8% whereas the S&P500 fund in my 401K yearly return was -38.42%! I would have been better off investing in that. However, it isn’t a fair comparison – the S&P500 return is based on a fix investment in it as of 1/1 – my return is based on continuing contributions throughout the year. So hard to say if I would have really done better or not. I still believe the key is to diversify. My employer actually has roughly 30 fund to pick from – a bit overwhelming actually and more generous choices than many other 401K’s.
Is GainesvilleResident Leaving Point of Woods?
GainesvilleResident,
I wish my 401k allowed me to invest in individual stocks but unfortunately mutual funds is all that’s allowed.
Yeah, the RJI performance has roughly followed the performance of the market. But I don’t think the American economy will recover any more than the tech stocks recovered from the dot com bust. American stocks are down to stay and probably going much lower. Commodities on the other hand will rise as long as someone out there needs them. Like Jim Roger’s says, it’s a good way to invest in China without exposing yourself to the volatility of the Chinese market.
I’ve got a pension plan as well. I called my benefits center hoping I could get it converted to a foreign currency. Unfortunately, they refuse even though our company is an international company. Luckily, all contributions to the pension plan stop this year. I’ve basically written off all the money in my pension plan as I figure it will be almost worthless when the American dollar tanks.
Mackie – you are right – there will always be a demand for commodities. I do remain hopeful in the American economy and the stock market, however. Although, I think we haven’t yet hit bottom on the stock market – and mid to late January will be rough as earnings come out and disappoint and many stocks go lower. That may be another opportunity to pick up some bargains however. I am hopeful the latter half of this year will start an upturn.
One company I was with – their 401K for awhile actually did let you invest in any stock. But then they changed providers and the new one didn’t. When it was administered by State Street Investments they allowed you to invest in any stock. That was back in 1995 roughly, so I don’t even know if State Street Investments still exists or administers any 401K plans. For some reason, after 6 months or so they switched 401K providers to Fidelity Investments.
Good that you have a pension too. Hopefully it will remain intact by the time you retire. I believe mine will, as both companies’ plans are in good shape financially, as are the companies themselves. Social security on the other hand – I’m definitely not counting on collecting any of that!
I believe that Shakespeare wrote a play about this: “Much Ado About Nothing”