Since I’ve been graduating and without a television a LOT of news has happened since mid-April and here goes it with me starting in back chronological order:

1. Georgia’s Attorney General Thurbert Baker blocking the health care law suit

Well, clearly GOP Georgia Gov. Sonny “Partly Cloudy” Perdue found a way to get around it, but Thurbert Baker is of the opinion that to mount a lawsuit against the federal government is a waste of taxpayer dollars on behalf of a state, like most other states, has no money.  But it’s an election year for Perdue and he’s betting that the electorate, as always, will have a short term memory and this will be a positive come late summer and early fall.

I just think Thurbert Baker is trying to atone in the eyes of black populace of this state because of the fallout following the imprisonment of Genarlow Wilson, a high school who was sent to prison on rape charges because he was of age and the young girl was not–even though it was consensual sex.

Does it make a difference she was white?

2.  The Gulf Coast Oil Spill

This is yet more proof that our country’s elected officials have been and always will be concerned about big business.  This is something that goes across party lines.  Seriously, I must ask how do these big execs sleep at night.  What we saw again in congressional hearings was the same when it came to the U.S. auto execs begging for money from the government: more cover-ups and vague answers when it came to jobs and public fallout.  For BP to say that they are going to reimburse fisherman in the Gulf according to need and what not is the biggest ploy out there.

The majority of these fisherman are working-class stiffs and just the exact same people that Sarah Palin was catering to, these are the “real Americans” and the “lunch pail dads” who “mams who shap at Walmart” and they still vote for GOP candidates who are screwing them with no lube–at least the Dems have enough decency to lube up before they stick it to the people.  Not to mention the environmental damage to the Gulf.  I mean honestly, call me a tree hugger if you want, but if anyone thinks that are utter disregard for ecosystems is perpetual, then you’re barking up the wrong tree.

No pun intended.

2. The Nashville Floods and “Obama hates white people”

In yet more news that divides the races, there is some backlash toward the flooding that took place at the beginning of May in middle Tennessee, namely Nashville.  Some in the conservative blogosphere and the like have made the claim that this was Obama’s version of Katrina and that he didn’t pay it it’s proper attention and where was the outcry and that Taylor Swift didn’t pull a Kanye West and say “Obama hates white people.”

Look, I am a Katrina survivor.  And I’ve actually lived in Nashville as a result of Katrina, and I can say that no one should even fix their mouth to compare the two, they’re incomparable for obvious reasons.  So yet again, this is another political football that only gains traction with individuals in middle states such as Kentucky (who clearly just nominated a Tea Party candidate) and Tennessee that were never voting for Obama in the first place.

Oh yeah, real smart move there.

3. The Supreme Court nominee–why isn’t she black?

I’m sure Elena Kagan will do just fine and politically and socially I probably won’t have a problem with her, but damn, Obama, could you have nominated a black woman?  I mean at this point, you could have nominated her just to say you nominated her whether she passed Senate confirmation or not.  And frankly, if one of those old farts dies or retires and he passes up on Leah Ward Sears again, I’m going to have aught with the President.

I’m not taking a modern-civil rights era approach to it that we as blacks are entitled to a black liberal on the court a la someone to replace Thurgood Marshall, but with Sotomayor being nominated and selected, it would do a world of good to at least see Sears nominated by Obama.  And actually I think her weird relationship with Clarence Thomas would be a plus, but who am I, I’m not the president.

4. Illegal Immigration debate in Georgia

While much of the nation is focused on Arizona and the royal SNAFU they’ve found themselves in on how to handle those classified as illegal immigrants and ethnic studies programs, here in Atlanta metro area is a young woman Jessica Colotl who has found herself in the midst of a debate.  Long story short, she’s a student and she’s almost to graduate, but technically she’s not a citizen.  She moved here when she was eleven and has been living here ever since.

The pure humanitarian side of me has the illegal immigration debate locked up succinctly: they’re humans just as the rest of us and they are entitled to the same rights and privileges as the rest of us, no questions asked and case closed.  However, I must say I have a problem with that because from my location, Mexican immigrants and other Central American persons who find their way here still have more rights and privileges than those persons who look a bit more like me.  Honestly, there are programs out there that give money to illegal aliens back in Illinois to fund their education and state funds are still restricted for those students in all black educational districts.  I’m praying for basic academic scholarships or a damn athletic one.

Only because of the unfairness of society am I inclined to say simply, go through the proper channels of citizenship and call it a day.  But, we’ll never have an open and honest discussion on how to deal with illegal immigration as long as our agricultural and service industries are dependent upon them–and that affects the bottom line of big corporations.  When agricultural industrial complex in border states and even in Plains states are dependent upon illegal workers, we already know that that’s big business and those person are not going to vote against big business.

Sad state of affairs.

4. The ethnic education laws in Arizona

To suggest that ethnic studies programs are a) designed for one ethnicity is stupid.  Classes at the college level are open enrollment to deny someone to be able to take a class based on ethnicity is illegal and any college or institution would put their accreditation in jeopardy.

To suggest that ethnic studies programs b) promote the overthrow of the government reeks of wanton xenophobia and innate white guilt.  The persons who support this bill are aware that historical knowledge is political knowledge.  If you control the history, then you are doing no more than inculcating your beliefs onto someone else.  For anyone who believes that “history” is apolitical or objective then you’re living under a rock.

To suggest that ethnic studies classes c) promote[s] resentment toward a race or class of people is a manifestation of guilt that is revealing itself as fear: yet again a white American consciousness that is afraid that history told from the perspective of the underclass will result in rioting and looting in the streets and general uprising against the white race.  Somehow, I can’t help but think at times this fear is rational, but why hasn’t the proletariat capitalized on it. [But that’s for another blog].

And finally to suggest that ethnic studies classes d) advocate[s] ethnic solidarity instead of treating pupils as individual is just yet again a failure of educators attempting to educate in cookie cutter molds.  Perhaps this rule would make sense if school populations were equally racially mixed, but we all know that in many school districts certain ethnic populations outweigh others.  Moreover, I’m of the opinion that cultural differences make ethnic groups learn differently.  I’m not making the biological argument with regards to eugenics or that of Herrnstein and Murray’s The Bell Curve, but rather saying that we indeed learn differently.  So, to make the claim in classrooms with over 50% of students of one racial background, probably living in the same general sections of a township or city, need to be taught on the “individual” level and not advocating “ethnic solidarity” is absolutely preposterous.

If we took this sad and deleterious logic on a broad national scale this clearly exes out Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, the Puerto Rican Day parades in Chicago and New York and anywhere else, but does that mean we ought not have a Women’s History Month?

Or my favorite zinger to end this damn debate: I guess these people are against St. Patrick’s Day Parades as well?  I mean, what does it say that our Irish mayor dyes the damn Chicago River green every year for St. Patty’s day?  Isn’t that a bit too ethnic?

5. The Tea Party nominee in Kentucky

And you heard it here first folks: in the 2012 Presidential election the GOP candidate will be a result of the Tea Party Movement and give the Obama campaign hell.  And if that doesn’t happen, somehow, some way a Tea Party candidate will be on the national level even if it’s a repeat of this year with a Sarah Palin-like individual that is birthed out of this same horrid mess of the Tea Partyers.

What’s even scarier is if they actually form their own political party and get a name on a ballot somewhere.  But seeing as how current Massachusetts U.S. Senator Scott Brown (granted his opponent ran a HORRIBLE race), and now Rand Paul from Kentucky as the GOP candidate have now emerged as real faces of the Tea Party movement, I think we need not dismiss them completely.  Of course aside from the atrocious logic with regards to governmental policies surrounding tax, health care reform, the stimulus package, bailouts and just being the general party of “NO,” this is a party that would probably think Strom Thurmond would have been a good candidate for President.  The level of racism that is seen in the signs that are carried by people in these protests is appalling.

By 2012, one of the defining marks of the Obama administration will be how astutely they clap back to the Tea Party movement.  The fall elections will definitely be a precursor.  Seriously, let a governor or two or this Rand Paul guy from Kentucky win a seat as a result of the Tea Party Movement and they’ll be riding the coat tails and have some random fool emerge on the scene who’s going to cut through the B.S. and emerge as the shining opponent to Obama.

Prayerfully, they just won’t have an answer to Obama, a la 2008 campaign.

Watch me.  I’ll take bets on this one.

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL