Poll Tax Rejected in Florida

A federal judge has said he will permanently remove recently enacted voter registration restrictions in the state of Florida. According to Talking Points Memo, Judge Robert L. Hinkle has declared that he will grant a motion to permanently strike down the new rules once the state of Florida has dropped its case against the federal government in U.S. appeals court.

Voting rights activists have welcomed the decision, which makes permanent an temporary injunction that Hinkle granted in May, in which Hinkle called the restrictions forbidding third party groups from organizing to register voters “harsh and impractical” and said they would impose unnecessary burdens on organizations trying to ensure voter participation.

New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice has issued a press release calling the ruling “a decisive victory for Florida voters.”

“Florida’s anti-voter law created impassable roadblocks for our volunteers, who have been bringing fellow Floridians into our democratic process for over 72 years,” explained Deirdre MacNab, President of the League of Women Voters of Florida, one of the three groups who filed suit against the state in December of 2011. “Thanks to today’s ruling, we can finally put these roadblocks behind us and concentrate on getting Floridians registered to vote. We are grateful the court recognized that the Constitution does not tolerate these types of barriers to civic participation and voter registration.”

The League of Women Voters was joined by Rock the Vote and the Florida Public Interest Research Group Education Fund in the suit, which was filed separately from a Justice Department inquiry into the stringent new regulations, which have been revealed by a former Republican Party member to be an effort to "keep black people from voting" by conservative Republicans.

As reported by Talking Points Memo

You can read Judge Hinkle’s ruling here (.pdf).

Thankfully there is someone who agrees that what the Republicans are trying to do is no more that a "Poll Tax". And that's my Thought Provoking Perspective...

http://johntwills.com

Let Us Never Forget

On this day, August 28, 1955, Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black boy from Chicago supposedly whistled at a white woman in a grocery store. The murder of a 14-year old black boy Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi in August 1955 sparked the Civil Rights movement, but the crime won’t sound clarion calls for a nation to wake up to if not for the above photo. Till’s mutilated corpse circulated around the country mainly because of John Johnson who published the gruesome photographs in Jet magazine, a predominately African American publication. The photo drew intense public reaction.

Till didn't understand or knew that he had broken an unwritten law of the Jim Crow South until three days later, when two white men dragged him from his bed in the dead of night, beat him brutally and then shot him in the head. That night the door to his grandfather’s house was thrown open, and Emmett was taken by the mob of at least six white men, forced into a truck and driven away, never again to be seen alive. Till’s body was found swollen and disfigured in the Tallahatchie river three days after his abduction and only identified by his ring.

Till’s body was sent back to Chicago, where his mother insisted on leaving the casket open for the funeral and on having people take photographs because she wanted people to see how badly Till’s body had been disfigured—she has famously been quoted as saying, “I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby.” Up to 50,000 people viewed the body. On the day he was buried, two men — the husband of the woman who had been whistled at and his half brother — were indicted of his murder, but the all white male jury from Money (some of whom actually participated in Till’s torture and execution) took only an hour to return ‘not guilty’ verdict. The verdict would have been quicker, remarked the grinning foreman, if the jury hadn’t taken a break for a soft drink on the way to the deliberation room.

To add insult to injury, knowing that they would not be retrial, the two accused men sold their stories to LOOK magazine and happily admitted to everything. Elsewhere in Mississippi at the time things weren’t going terribly well for blacks either. Just before Till was murdered, two activists Rev. George Lee and Lamar Smith were shot dead for trying to exercise their rights to vote, and in a shocking testimony to lack of law and order, no one came forward to testify although both murders were committed in broad daylight.

The next year, Clyde Kennard, a former army sergeant, tried to enroll at Mississippi South College in Hatiesburg in 1956. He was sent away, but came back to ask again. For this ‘audacity’, university officials — not students, or mere citizens, but university officials — planted stolen liquor and a bag of stolen chicken feed in his car and had him arrested. Kennard died halfway into his seven year sentence. But times were slowly a-changing: Brown vs. Board of Education was decided in 1954, and three months after the Till murder Rosa Parks would refuse to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Sit-ins and marches would follow, and soon the civil rights movement itself would be in full-swing.

It’s been almost sixty-years since the events of that fateful night and I simply cannot find the words to describe this heinous crime that has yet to receive justice. So I’ll end by sharing these words by Maya Angelou: “history, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective!

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A love Fest In Tampa

The root of American civilization is grounded in citizenship. I guess it would be wise to say that the root word is “civil” and often times, as history shows, this is not always apparent. I say that in terms of the elephant always in the room – race. Yes, I meant to use that expression because there are those who recognize the elephant (GOP) as the icon of their thinking, which in my opinion is rooted in the old ways, meaning that which is rooted in the master-slave ideal of “supremacy”.

We see voter suppression, i.e., “Poll Tax” that has reappeared with a vengeance. There is talk of a Civil War! Then there was the recent Emmitt Till like murder of Trayvon Martin and the most recent incident where the police claim that a black youth shot himself in the head while handcuffed in the backseat of a police car. Not long ago, we witnessed the brutal beating of Rodney King and the police said we did not see what we saw!

I could give plenty example of injustice including the system of unaddressed poverty and the pitiful education system that have created despair in many African American communities. Now, I don’t want to just bring up the least of thee with regard to injustice. Henry Louis Gates the Harvard Professor was arrested trying to enter his own home and the fraud of the Shirley Sherrod character assassination.

This brings me to the Republican “love fest” taking place in Tampa this week. It will have all the hallmarks of an old time revival full of Klan like coded or maybe not so code language and surely reminders of states rights. This event will be scary because it surely will be an assault on minorities, women, and the poor charging that it is the American way. To some degree that is true – remember slavery and Jim Crow.

The irony of is this is very clear as they have repeatedly said, “We want to take back our country”. Racism is not merely a simplistic hatred. It is, more often, broad sympathy toward some and broader skepticism toward others. Black America consistently lives under that skeptical eye. The election of an African American to our highest political office was alleged to demonstrate a triumph of integration and even then, full acceptance is still withheld.

I lived and witness this country they want to revisit and I will tell you “it was not a nice place”. I wonder will we see a cross burned? And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

_____________________________

The Book Tree Radio Show Returns and I extend a personal invitation to you to call in and let us know what you’re doing, tell us what you’re writing about and where our audience can get your projects. If you are as passionate about literacy as I am; join Silver Rae Fox and John T. Wills for what is going to be an exciting evening on the night that The Book Tree Radio Show returns to the airwaves… Mark your calendar you don’t want to miss it!

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A Long and Mighty Walk

A season is a time characterized by a particular circumstance, suitable to an indefinite period of time associated with a divine phenomenon that some call life. One of the first things I learned in this life was that it is a journey. During this passage through time I have come to realize that there are milestones, mountains, and valleys that everyone will encounter. It saddens me that African American’s have had to endure more than any other culture!

Dr. John Henrik Clarke famously said, “History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is also a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. History tells a people where they have been and what they have been, where they are and what they are. Most important, history tells a people where they still must go, what they still must be. The relationship of history to the people is the same as the relationship of a mother to her child.”

There are many ghosts of the greats who sacrificed so much for us to exist today. We would not have had our history known if it were not for the great historian Carter G. Woodson, we may not have succeeded in the civil rights movement without a strong Rosa Parks to push Dr. Martin Luther King into bring the civil rights movement to the forefront of America’s consciousness. Then came the Black power movement that was so strong and so serious that it gave even more urgency to the White House and American government to change rather than prepare for violence.

Dr. Clarke was the powerful mind that many leaders of the Black power movement would come to for his knowledge. People like Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown and the most notable of the all - Malcolm X. Clarke became Malcolm X's chief consultant and best friend. His work with Malcolm resulted in one of Malcolm's greatest speeches, indeed, one of the greatest 100 speeches made in America, "The ballot or the bullet."

Dr. Clarke never wrote an autobiography but he had a huge impact his teacher and what he left the minds of his people. Clarke was born in Union Springs, Alabama on New Year’s Day, in 1915. His was a family of poor sharecroppers. But they soon moved to Columbus, Georgia when he was about four years old. There, he met a school teacher named Eveline Taylor. Clarke said Ms. Taylor told John that she saw something special in him. She saw a thinker. And she said to him:

"It's no disgrace to be alone. It's no disgrace to be right when everyone else thinks you are wrong. There's nothing wrong with being a thinker. Your playing days are over."

Here's a eulogy of him written by The Los Angeles Times:

John Henrik Clarke: Activist, Professor July 18,198

John Henrik Clarke never got around to writing his life story, which encompassed some of the more turbulent periods in American history.

Dr. Clarke is remembered as someone who put the forgotten history of Africa back into the textbooks, and gave an analysis of history that wasn’t mainstream and for this we honor him so dearly. This man who descended from a family of sharecroppers was born in 1915 in Union Springs, Ga. He left Georgia in 1933 going to Harlem where he became one of the greatest unsung heroes of our time.

His political and community activism began quickly, when Clarke opposed the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s. Later, he became a close friend of black activist Malcolm X. Clarke helped to forge a link between Africans and African Americans.

Clarke studied history and literature from 1948 to 1952 at New York University and later at Columbia University. During his career, Clarke edited or wrote 27 books. His editing work included the classic “American Negro Short Stories” in 1966. I just wanted to remind us of this man who brought into remembrance of our Great, Mighty Walk!

And that is my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

The Book Tree Radio Show Returns!

I am personally inviting you to call in on September 5th and let us know what you’re doing, tell us what you’re writing about and where our audience can get your projects. Mark your calendar and take down this number – (718) 506-1699.

I am personally inviting you to call in on September 5th and let us know what you’re doing, tell us what you’re writing about and where our audience can get your projects. Mark your calendar and take down this number – (718) 506-1699.

Mightmare on MLK

We hear a lot of talk about this street or that street; namely Wall Street and Main Street but who’s talking about MLK Street. You see when they talk about Wall Street they are talking about the 1% or more aptly put the “Robber Barons”. Main Street is supposed to be where the rest of us reside surviving on the crumbs or what little we can scrape to survive. I suppose it is reasonable to place everyone in these two camps but why can’t MLK Street be added to the conversation.

There was a term or distinction devised not too long ago calling the neighborhoods where MLK Streets called the “Ghetto”. As cool and hip as it sounded it was not a positive description of the communities where people of color reside. I should say that distinction has been upgraded to a more modern term that many have embraced – “the Hood”. As it is by design, it carries the usually, although sounding cool, a negative connotation of the black community.

 In this place depicted as crime riddled and drug infested with gangsta’s rests the lives of the disenfranchised and the hopeless. When there are no jobs or in many cases no way to survive – it breads despair. I think we all know that this is cleaver social engineering at work and a misconception by design! Not a single soul living in the “Hood” has the means to bring in the drug or weapons into the community.

Moreover, when the people of these neighborhoods are deprived of educational opportunities as a result of being segregated - hopelessness is the by product. Let me suggest that if you are ever in the Nation’s Capital ride by the Capital Building you will notice that just a few blocks away you will find neighborhoods where just such a place exists – The Hood! Oh, did I say this is supposed to be the richest nation on this little rock called earth!

Dr. Woodson’s challenged his readers in the epic novel "The Mis-Education of the Negro” to become empowered by doing for themselves: regardless of what they were taught: “History shows that it does not matter who is in power... those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.”  
And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

I am personally inviting you to call in on September 5th and let us know what you’re doing, tell us what you’re writing about and where our audience can get your projects. Mark your calendar and take down this number - (718) 506-1699.

Listen to the show!

Strange Fruit

LISTEN TO THE WORDS AND NEVER FORGET THE TERROR!!!

 "Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant South, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh, And the sudden smell of burning flesh! Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot, for a tree to drop, here is a strange and bitter crop."

The video attached to one of my shortest posts is straightforward yet nuanced. The song “Strange Fruit” tells a story that must be told to our youth and we must never forget. Because when you forget history it is destined to repeat itself. We know the importance of Billie Holiday's recording. But this indispensable video vivid imagery the history of the struggle against lynching, something that was very real, and for Black rights with a wealth of common history of African Americans, Jewish Americans, and the American Left. It is part of our history, part of our heritage. Teach your children and learn this chapter in our past.

The song “Strange Fruit” creates immediate controversy. Call it a grim reminder of an unnecessarily painful and ugly chapter in American history. The song retains its force, because the issues it raises about the legacy of racial terrorism in American society still resonate. The story tells a song that compelled its listeners to confront the past, which was genuinely disturbing then and it is no less disturbing today.

While many people assume Strange Fruit was written by Billie Holiday herself, it actually began as a poem by a Jewish schoolteacher and union activist from the Bronx who later set it to music. Disturbed by a photograph of a lynching, the teacher wrote the stark verse and brooding melody about the horror of lynching under the pseudonym Lewis Allan in 1938. It was first performed at a New York teachers union rally and was brought to the attention of the manager of Cafe Society, a popular Greenwich Village nightclub, who introduced Billy Holiday to the writer.

The version of the song you hear was sung by the great Nina Simone. And that’s my THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVE

http://johntwills.com

His-Story Will Change Facts

If you are not aware, we have entered into five years of untruths, unreal assessments, and in some cases out and outright lies, as 2011 will mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. I am beginning to see the Civil War story revised by those still oppose to the outcome. With that said, I agree with the prolific French writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire who said, “History is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead”. This statement could not be more profound!

I am one who believes that if history that I have witnessed and know to be true has been changed to sanitize it – how can I believe anything history ever told. With respect to the Civil War it was a critical point in time because a divided nation faced a crisis. It started in the early morning hours of April 12, 1861, when Confederate batteries fired upon federal troops occupying Fort Sumter. Union forces surrendered the next day after 34 hours of shelling and the bloodiest war in the nation’s history had begun.

There is no question this major event in the country’s history is significant. However, we should be candid about its causes and not allow the distortions of contemporary politics or long-standing myths to cloud our understanding of why the nation fell apart. There will be a lot of misinformation that will surely come, as both sides of the debate relive this chapter of American history. So be prepared for the revisionists to create many illusions pertaining to the facts as they relate to the realities of Civil War history.

It’s already begun with a surge of activity, especially among conservatives, to adjust the story to reflect contemporary political positions. One recent effort occurred in Texas when the state school board revised social studies standards to increase study of Confederate leaders and reduce emphasis on the Founding Fathers’ commitment to separation of church and state. Some wanted to stop referring to the slave trade and substitute a euphemistic phrase, the "Atlantic triangular trade." Thankfully, after opposition, that idea was dropped.

Another attempt occurred when the Virginia Department of Education conceded its error in allowing a misleading textbook to be used in classrooms. But, they will allow the history book to continue to be used and the offending passage will remain. Even after admitting that the inaccurate passage was "outside of accepted Civil War scholarship." The disputed passage was a gross falsehood that says two battalions of African American soldiers fought for the Confederacy under famed Gen. Stonewall Jackson. The department would go on to say that it anticipates teachers "will have no difficulty working around one objectionable sentence".

Also, not long ago in Virginia the new Governor signed a proclamation honoring the Civil War and made no mention of slavery, which again after considerable controversy he revised the proclamation. Let me add that Richmond, Virginia was the home of the Confederate capital. These are just a few examples. Sure the First Amendment protects the Confederate sympathizers' right to write this nonsense but it is up to us to do our due diligence and understand that although we were never taught the truth – much of it is untrue.

Before I go any further, let’s be clear, the war was NOT fought to free the slaves. That narrative came much later when the north was not winning and needed a reason to allow colored solders to fight. Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe, although not a proponent of slavery, had no desire to end slavery at the onset of the war. He was for the free-labor ideology of equal opportunity and upward mobility. The issue of slavery, as he stated, “was the morality and future of the slaves and of slavery”. He believed if the nation remained divided on the issue of slavery, the nation would not last. If you recall he borrowed a statement made by Jesus to support this position; “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Actually, Honest Abe was considering the option of sending the slaves back to Africa or somewhere outside of America to solve the problem. IN FACT, as an experiment, he sent thousands to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This experiment was not successful because many became ill and died causing him to reevaluate the decision. He also had another plan, which was to acquire land in South America to host this unwanted population to include other locations as well.

On the other side, the south, secessionist, saw it this way. Their leader Confederate President Jefferson Davis, a major slaveholder, justified secession in 1861 as an act of self-defense against the incoming Lincoln administration. Abraham Lincoln's policy of excluding slavery from the territories, Davis said, would make "property in slaves so insecure as to be comparatively worthless . . . thereby annihilating in effect property worth thousands of millions of dollars."

The Confederate vice president, Alexander Stephens said, "Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea… Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth." These guys were very straightforward in their belief that the proper status of the Negro in America’s form of civilization, if free, would be the immediate cause of the rupture.

Views such as this continue today, from various quarters, because there remains enormous denial over the fact that the central cause of the war was our national disagreement about race, slavery, or more specific states' rights. The historian Douglas Egerton says, "The South split the Democratic Party and later the country not in the name of states' rights but because it sought federal government guarantees that slavery would prevail… routinely shifted their ideological ground in the name of protecting unfree labor." I believe it was all about states’ rights similar to today’s conservative perspective.

Let’s understand slavery was about one thing – economics. The institution and the economics derived from it built America and that wealth made America a powerful force in the world as a result. Therefore, those who try to rewrite or obscure the reality of this evil do so wishing the greatest crime ever inflected upon a people never ended or that it would return. I suggest that you listen carefully to those who use the code word “States Rights” and hear what they are not saying.

The Confederacy broken up the United States and launched a war that killed 620,000 Americans in a vain attempt to keep 4 million people in slavery does not confer honor upon their lost cause. It’s been 150 years of folks, like back then and now, trying to change the narrative to justify why the war was fought. Some say slavery. Some say tariffs. Others say the Constitution. I found this quote where one captured Confederate soldier, as he was being marched off to prison, was asked, "Why are you fighting?" He is said to have grunted, "Because you're here."

In these trying times of today and a still divided nation some say if our current president gets reelected there will be more talk of secession by the “right-wing” and dare I say history might repeat itself. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio. Stay tune!!!

Back When We Were Negroes

There was a time until the early 1960s when the terms to describe those of African descent, like me — African-American or Black or Afro-American — were almost unheard of. I remember a distinct conversation with a friend discussing descriptive terms for ourselves in 1963 or ’64. The term “black” was just coming into vogue and he didn’t like it one bit. Call me a Negro,” he said, “but don’t call me black”.

Now, the word “Negro” (publications used a lower case “n”)  has almost become a pejorative, so I was a little surprised when my pastor, the Rev. Willie Reid, used it during Thursday’s revival. “Back when we were Negroes,” he said, and listed several things that were different about black life in America back then.

That got me to thinking. Back when we were Negroes in the 1950s, “only 9 percent of black families with children were headed by a single parent,” according to “The Black Family: 40 Years of Lies” by Kay Hymowitz. “Black children had a 52 percent chance of living with both their biological parents until age 17. In 1959, “only 2 percent of black children were reared in households in which the mother never married.”

But now that we’re African-Americans, according to Hymowitz, those odds of living with both parents had “dwindled to a mere 6 percent” by the mid-1980s. And check this, in Bibb County (GEORGIA), more than 70 percent of the births in the African-American community are to single mothers.

Back when we were Negroes and still fighting in many parts of the country for the right to vote, we couldn’t wait for the polls to open. We knew our friends, family and acquaintances had died getting us the ballot. Dogs and fire hoses were used to keep us away and still we came. But now that we’re African-Americans, in a city of 47,000 registered — predominately black voters — more than 30,000 didn’t show up at the polls July 19.

Back when we were Negroes, we had names like Joshua, Aaron, Paul, Esther, Melba, Cynthia and Ida. Now that we are African Americans, our names are bastardized versions of alcohol from Chivas to Tequila to C(S)hardonney. And chances the names have an unusual spelling.

Back when we were Negroes, according to the Trust For America’s Health’s “F as in Fat,” report, “only four states had diabetes rates above 6 percent. … The hypertension rates in 37 states about 20 years ago were more than 20 percent.” Now that we’re African-Americans, that report shows, “every state has a hypertension rate of more than 20 percent, with nine more than 30 percent. Forty-three states have diabetes rates of more than 7 percent, and 32 have rates above 8 percent. Adult obesity rates for blacks topped 40 percent in 15 states, 35 percent in 35 states and 30 percent in 42 states and Washington, D.C.

Back when we were Negroes, the one-room church was the community center that everyone used. Now that we’re African-Americans, our churches have lavish — compared to back-in-the-day churches — community centers that usually sit empty because the last thing the new church wants to do is invite the community in.

Back when we were Negroes, we didn’t have to be convinced that education was the key that opened the lock of success, but now that we’re African-Americans, more than 50 percent of our children fail to graduate high school. In Bibb County last year, the system had a dropout rate of 53.4 percent.

Back when we were Negroes, the last thing a young woman wanted to look like was a harlot and a young man a thug, but now that we’re African Americans, many of our young girls dress like hootchie manas and our young boys imitate penitentiary custom and wear their pants below the butt line. If I could reverse all of the above by trading the term “African-American” for “Negro,” what do you think I’d do?

Charles E. Richardson - The Telegraph’s editorial page editor.

All I can say to this is Amen thank you Mr. Richardson and that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio!

Just Saying!

Well the stage is set! Mittman and Robber the conservatives dynamic dual, different from Batman and Robin, will destroy America as appose to saving it. We thought the last republican candidates for president was scary – these two appear to be the nightmare on our street. Maybe I’ll put it this way – these two will make the last republican president look like a girl scout. If they win the election in November – we should be very afraid!!!

This pair of impractical ideologues with excessive confidence in their own moral righteousness could do what the George Wallace and Bull Connor types could only imagine. I am not one to get into the business of giving Godly advice but I think it’s time to pray to your higher power. Since the Boy Wonder is now on the scene, let me just touch on this guy who could be a heartbeat from the throne. I have a feeling a lot more material is coming.

First, Ryan is not a “fiscal conservative.” A fiscal conservative pays for the government he wants. Ryan never has. His early “Roadmap for America’s Future” didn’t balance the budget until the 2060s and added $60 trillion to the national debt. Ryan’s revised plan, passed by the House in 2011, wouldn’t reach balance until the 2030s while adding $14 trillion in debt. It adds $6 trillion in debt over the next decade alone — yet Republicans had the chutzpah to say they wouldn’t raise the debt limit! I remain mystified why President Obama never hammered home this reckless contradiction by insisting that the GOP “raise the debt ceiling just by the amount it would take to accommodate the debt in Paul Ryan’s budget.”

Ryan is an extreme “small government conservative.” Ronald Reagan ran government at 22 percent of gross domestic product when our population was much younger. Ryan and Romney want to run government at 20 percent of GDP even as the number of Americans on Social Security and Medicare doubles.Even if we slow these programs’ growth, it’s impossible to shrink the federal role in an aging society this sharply without eliminating vast swaths of what Americans have come to expect from government — not to mention shortchanging already lagging investments in research and development and infrastructure. Over time, Ryan’s “vision” would decimate most federal activities beyond Social Security, Medicare and defense.

As an African American who knows what America was like not too long ago. It was the liberals agenda that created the enduring achievements of civil rights to environmental laws to Medicare out of boldness and compassion. Ask yourself a few questions and carefully consider the consequences.  How can Ryan justify his Medicaid cuts when, as the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found, they would likely leave 14 million to 19 million poor people without health coverage? 

How can he justify tax proposals that, as The New Republic’s Alec MacGillis pointed out, would reduce the rate on Mitt Romney’s rather substantial income to less than 1 percent? How can he claim his budgets are anti-deficit measures when, as The Post’s Matt Miller has noted, his tax cuts would add trillions to the debt and we wouldn’t be in balance until somewhere around 2030?

Finally, the Boy Wonder wants to cut Social Security, yet he was raised on it. Ironic isn’t it that you have paid your money into it and he wants to take it away or hope you die before you can use it. There’s a belief in some quarters that the world will end, as the Mayan’s predict, on December 21, 2012. I predict that if these two win in November – the world might just as well have ended for millions of middle class Americans. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

THE INTERVIEW

http://johntwills.com

We're getting ready!

The Book Tree Radio Show Returns!

We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio!

Listen to John T. Wills, author of “Just a Season” and newly released “Legacy – A New Season”, interview with Silver Rae Fox. Silver Rae was The Book Tree Radio Show’s original co-host who has a insightful conversation with John T. Wills founder and host of the Book Tree Radio Show.

THE INTERVIEW

http://johntwills.com

We're getting ready!

WNL Virtual Blog Tours

I am proud to invite and share with the great news about WNL Virtual Blog Tours. WNL is a place that loves helping author’s promote their books. Over the years they’ve built great relationships with media, bloggers, and literary people who love books. They will help you connect with your audience through radio interviews, guest blogging, and book reviews.

WNL offers virtual event packages to meet your needs. WNL ONLY coordinate blog tours for authors, both fiction and nonfiction. 

FICTION: Our niche is the Christian or Inspirational Fiction market, but we are open to other genres since we work with a wide range of bloggers. WNL prefers to ONLY promote books that are considered “clean” fiction (PG-13).

NONFICTION: Nonfiction authors must have a solid platform.

Guidelines:

Attn: Because I want this website and its authors to be taken seriously, I must make sure that the novels that come though WNL are edited and they are a novel I would be proud to put my website’s name behind. Therefore, I or one of my reviewers must read your novel before I agree to accept your novel for a blog tour. The ones I most prefer to promote are Christian Romance, YA, Children, Christian Fiction and Non-Fiction.  

WNL is now accepting paperbacks, e-books and PDF for review.

Visit: http://pauletteharper.blogspot.com/ 

We will not accept any book that has profanity, erotic poetry or any book that goes against our morals and values.

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The Book Tree Radio Show Returns September 5th!

Listen to John T. Wills' interview with co-host Silver Rae Fox

http://johntwills.com

Twenty First Century Slavery

I suppose everyone has an opinion on the prison system and incarceration. Some view it as the New Jim Crow and of course there are others who see nothing is wrong with the system at all. My view is that it makes you wonder about the fairness received by some, namely minorities, whether it works for those unable to afford justice and I think everyone will agree that it is a cash cow.

As it is report in news reports daily people are released after spending years incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. Then, there is the sad irony of people being put to death who may fall into this category and more shameful; executions of the mentally disabled and life sentences for minors. In addition, there is the fact that once released the convicts voting rights are taken away forever - in most cases.

There is a long history of lynching’s, chain gangs, and the free labor derived from this system in this country. It was not until recently that the disproportionate sentencing in crimes such as cocaine and crack clearly was unfair! Let me say again that it is not my position that laws and punishment is not necessary. What is disparaging is that it disproportionately affects the minority population of the citizenry.

I read an article recently where a Vermont man is suing the state under the 13^th Amendment for the labor he was forced to perform while awaiting trial. A one-time grad student, Finbar McGarry, was arrested for allegedly firing a gun in his home and threatening to kill his family and an official at the university. In a lawsuit McGrarry alleges that the state violated his rights under the 13th Amendment -- which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude after the Civil War -- when he was forced to work in the laundry for minimal pay as an inmate.

In his $11-million lawsuit pro se, said he was forced to work three days a week for six weeks washing other inmates' laundry. He was paid a wage of 25 cents per hour and developed a bacterial infection on his neck because he was not provided sanitation in the laundry room. He says, prison officials threatened to put him "in the hole," where inmates are shackled and locked up for 23 hours per day in solitary confinement, if he refused to work.

Portions of the following was reported by Alon Harish and Alexis Shaw for ABC.

It is important to note that McGarry was released in June 2009, and all charges against him were dropped. McGarry's anti-slavery case was thrown out in November 2009 by a federal court in Brattleboro, Vt. In his opinion, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Conroy wrote that McGarry's 13th Amendment claim was without merit because his laundry work "was nothing like the slavery that gave rise to the enactment of that amendment."

But on Friday, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overruled the lower court's dismissal of the case, arguing that McGarry did not have to prove that his experience was akin those of African slaves before abolition.

"Contrary to the district court's conclusion, it is well-settled that the term 'involuntary servitude' is not limited to chattel slavery-like conditions," appellate judge Barrington Parker wrote in the court's opinion. "The amendment was intended to prohibit all forms of involuntary labor, not solely to abolish chattel slavery." Supreme Court precedent has established that the constitutional rights of pretrial detainees are distinct from those of convicted inmates, because criminal convictions can justify certain punishments, Parker argued.

The appellate panel remanded McGarry's case to the district court, where he will get a new trial. The state has 90 days to appeal the panel's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. "If you haven't been convicted at all, your pretrial detention is not a form of punishment," said Columbia Law School professor Jamal Greene. "The degree to which his liberty can be restricted is directly tied to the needs that required him to be detained. So if he was detained only to secure himself for trial, he can't be detained for punishment."

McGarry pointed to a 1986 policy under which the department developed employment programs designed to help inmates gain employable skills and reduce the cost of incarceration. The policy did not distinguish between convicts and pretrial detainees.

"At that facility, that's what was happening. It was a 'rehabilitative' labor policy, and all inmates were expected to participate in it," he said. "It was a practice that affected a lot of pretrial detainees."

In a separate lawsuit he filed while he was in jail, McGarry's chief concern was not the Constitution; it was getting injunctive relief to prevent the state from forcing him to do more labor. During his 14-hour shifts, he said, he was unable to contact his public defender, causing him to fear that his case would not be handled properly.

While all inmates may be expected to clean up their cells or wipe down tables in the mess hall, Greene said, the poorly paid, unsafe work McGarry alleged he was forced to do may have crossed a legal boundary.

Did you know the clothing worn by our soldiers are made by the cheap labor of the incarcerated? In closing, let me suggest that you read Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow”. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio!

The Book Tree Radio Show Returns!

We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio! Thousands and thousands of you listened every week as we showcased an illustrious array of authors and their extraordinary and diverse stories, tales, biographies, histories and inspirations.

You’ve made it known how much you’ve missed listening and the great opportunities that were given many of you to shine in our spotlight. I would like to extend a great promotional opportunity on the night of our return for all authors, poets, writers, and friends to call in to the show to welcome us back and to tell our audience what you’re currently doing.

Prior to taking a hiatus to complete several projects my guests on the “Book Tree” have included Iyanla Vansant, Janks Morton, Michelle Alexander, Brenda Lee Eager of Jerry Butler fame (to name a few) to which guests such as these bring a huge audience. However, I want to provide exposure to the new, unknown and aspirating authors to introduce and promote your work.

We have a new waiting list of hundreds who have sent requests for guest interviews as we return to the airwaves in a few weeks! We’re excited, and it’s great to know that you are so excited, too! We’ll be bringing you the best and most interesting features possible, so tell all of your friends to tune in with you!

John T. Wills, author of “Just a Season” and his new release “Legacy – A New Season” is the founder and host of the show. Silver Rae Fox, The Book Tree Radio Show’s original co-host, is joining John for this momentous launch of the Book Tree Radio Show’s return. Again, I am personally inviting you to call in and let us know what you’re doing, tell us what you’re writing about and where our audience can get your projects.

If you are as passionate about literacy as I am; join Silver and I for what is going to be an exciting evening on the night that The Book Tree Radio Show returns to the airwaves… Stay tuned - you don’t want to miss it!

http://johntwills.com

The Right is Wrong

I was an early supporter of Barrack Obama long before anyone would outwardly conceive the notion that he could possibly be president of these United States. I was not behind him because he would be the first Black President rather because I am an American and from the choices available – he was the best and only choice. After living though about a dozen presidents this man was then and is now the only hope to address the issues concerning my life.

I said, on November 4th, when Mr. Obama won the election and again on that amazing day in January when he was inaugurated that “he was going to have a Columbus Experience”. What I meant by that was he was going to discover America. Having a black man as president of America was the most significant event to happen since the resurrection of “Jesus”. No one living or dead ever thought America (with its horrible racial history) would EVER elect a black man President.

Now, for all of you who want or wanted to believe we are now living in a post-racial society and all is right racially with the world, you can now see that as much as things change – they stay the same. I can speak from what I have witnessed in my life. I attended segregated schools and it inspired me to want to be an American, even when I was being degraded and humiliated by America as a “Colored Boy”.

I then did what my hero Muhammad Ali advocated against by joining the military and served in Vietnam. Ali made a famous quote at the time that spoke volumes. He said, “I have no quarrel with the Viet Cong”. Just as African Americans have done during every war I was part of a cause that I really had nothing to do with or anything to gain from it. Because the reality is that war is about money not freedom but I was conditioned like so many before me to be patriotic.

When I think about how America tries to impose their will upon others there are war monger ready to see young people die. I asked myself why these hawks, the Grand Ol Party (GOP), who are fervently Christian and believe in the right to life so strongly support wars. Some talk about secession, calling for a new Civil War, waking a sleeping giant, questioning the president’s birth and citizenship, people bringing guns to his rallies while knowing this countries horrible history of assignations, calling the president a Nazi, a Socialist, and frankly everything but the “N-word”. The answer might be because an elephant has a brain the size of a peanut.

Frankly, it is hard to find fault in what this president has done during his term. He brought the country back from the abyss unless and one could say saved the Republic. Could it be that those who oppose him have a brain the size of a peanut? I don’t speak for the African American community or anyone - but me. I have lived through and witnessed bigotry via segregation and Jim Crow. And what I see today is not too different!

I have witnessed the appalling darker angels of America’s past and when “THEY” speak of the party of ideals and degrade America’s Commander in Chief – there is nothing ideal about it. We have a long history to demonstrate what their ideals are but if we stand strong behind and with our best hope, our President, by lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness – we, he will overcome. I say, reelect him to another term. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

The Book Tree Radio Show is Back!

We heard you, and we’re on our way back to the internet airwaves! On Wednesday, September 5^th at 8:00 PM (EST), The Book Tree Radio Show is pleased to announce its re-launch on BlogTalkRadio!

http://johntwills.com

Willard And The Culture Remark

For those who read and follow my writings, you know that my passion is to bring into remembrance the “Greatest Story Ever Told”, which is that of the African American Diaspora. However, in this extreme, and dare I say bazaar, political season where those on the right are desperately trying to turn back the hands of time in ways such as the 21^st Century Poll Tax and voter disenfranchisement. I find myself expressing the reality that I see. Meaning I've seen this before!

In my lifetime I can recall the Jim Crow America, the Whites Only facilities existed, and the reality of segregation; once people like today’s Republicans were the Dixiecrats and the Tea Party folks where the terrorists who wore hooded robes, and coward under the cover of night. Now they wear suits!

I believe it was Solomon who said, “There is nothing new under the sun”. I will agree and add that it is just repackaged to fit the times, and these are dangerous times. Today, we are in a virtual police state. We have the system practicing “Retro-active Abortion” via the prison system and the Robber Barons of Wall Street are doing to the America people things unmatched by the thugs and drug dealers in the streets. Yet, these and other atrocities go unchecked by the system of justice and in some cases rewarded.

All of this brings me to the man who wants to be king. I believe “Willard” will make George W, the last Republican president, look like a cub scout. The reason I fear this guy is not because he flip-flops and lies as some say. Rather, because of his faith! Let me be clear, one can believe in or chose whatever faith they wish but Willard’s faith has a documented history of being anti-black. It was not until somewhere around 1968 that African American’s were allowed to join his church.

This speaks to the teaching and the mind of a man that might become the leader of the free world and would he bring this to the office. This dawned on me after Mitt’s recent trip abroad where he professed this notion of “culture” which in my opinion spoke volumes. What he said about the Palestinians during that trip could be interrupted in a way that would apply to black and white culture in America.     

In Romney’s world the Darwinian influence of American culture fueled suburban manifest destiny for whites, enabling them safe passage and escape from urban ghettoes. People of color who were able to assimilate to Anglo American values took advantage of equal opportunity and prospered; those that weren’t were simply mired in backward ancestral traditions.

 “White U.S. southerners also insisted, during slavery and Jim Crow, that “their” Negroes were the best off in the world because of their exposure to white folks’ religion and way of life. Left to their own devices, however, Black folks’ innate cultural inferiority – i.e., depravity – would do them in…White liberals also believed in the Culture Demon. In the 1950s and early 60s, it was considered politically correct to describe African Americans as “culturally deprived” – meaning, Blacks are disadvantaged by lack of exposure to white culture. Power has nothing to do with it.” 

Comparing African American wealth to that of the Palestinians one could argue: “The 20 to 1 disparity between Israeli and Palestinian per capita income matches the wealth gap between American Blacks and whites (app. $5,000 vs. $100,000 for median Black and white households). The fact that such numbers do not provoke general shock and calls for reparations is proof enough that most whites view the disparity as more a natural phenomenon than evidence of cumulative injustice.

After hearing the culture remark I wondered could this be view as Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the liberal Senator from Massachusetts, who  spoke for white folks of the past, present and future when he posited, in 1965, that a Black ‘culture of poverty’ is what keeps Black people poor – not pervasive white racism.” And that is my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

100 Dumbest Right-Wing Quotes of all Time

In no way was I intending to plagiarizer the work of Samuel Warde who compiled this masterpiece on his website Liberal Info. However, this is so funny that I had to share it. The Republican's say the darnedest things!!! Thank you Mr. Warde.

1. “…the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more.” ~ Michele Bachmann, Speaking to Iowans For Tax Relief about the framers of the Constitution. January, 2011

2. “A poet once said, ‘life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line.”’ ~ GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, quoting lyrics from the theme song to ‘Pokemon: The Movie 2000.’ The ”poet” who wrote those lyrics was disco queen Donna Summer.

3. “Add one little bit on the end… Think of ‘potato’, how’s it spelled? You’re right phonetically, but what else…? There ya’ go… all right!” ~ Dan Quayle

4. “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.” ~Jerry Falwell

5. “American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains.” ~ Christine O’Donnell

6. “As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured.” ~ George W. Bush

7. “Because I do not wear high heels. She has questioned my manhood, and I think it’s fair to respond. I have cowboy boots, they have real bullshit on them. And that’s Weld County bullshit, not Washington, D.C., bullshit.” ~ Tea Party candidate Ken Buck, after being asked why people should vote for him for the Colorado GOP Senate nomination. Buck was referring to an ad run by his opponent, which decried third-party spending on behalf of his campaign and urged Buck to ”be man enough” to run the ads himself, July 21, 2010.

8. “Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.” ~ Rep. Michelle Bachmann

9. “Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. Human beings, my friend.” ~ GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney

10. “Do you have blacks, too?” ~ George W. Bush

11. “Do you know, where does this phrase ‘separation of church and state’ come from? It was not in Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists. … The exact phrase ‘separation of Church and State’ came out of Adolph Hitler’s mouth, that’s where it comes from. So the next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State, ask them why they’re Nazis.” ~ Glen Urquhart, the Tea Party-backed Republican nominee for the Delaware House seat held by Rep. Mike Castle, April 2010

12. “Exercise freaks … are the ones putting stress on the health care system.” ~ Rush Limbaugh

13. “Facts are stupid things.” ~ Ronald Reagan

14. “Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.” ~ George W. Bush

15. “Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.” ~ Rush Limbaugh 16. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you.” ~ Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina)

17. “For seven and a half years I’ve worked alongside President Reagan. We’ve had triumphs. Made some mistakes. We’ve had some sex…uh…setbacks.” ~ George H.W. Bush

18. “From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented.” ~ Texas Gov. Rick Perry, on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010

19. “Gay marriage is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I AM NOT UNDERSTATING THAT.” ~ Michelle Bachmann

20. “Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant — they’re quite clear — that we would create law based on the God of the bible and the Ten Commandments.” ~ Sarah Palin

21. “Go f**k yourself.” ~ Vice President Dick Cheney to Sen. Patrick Leahy, during an angry exchange on the Senate floor about profiteering by Halliburton, June 22, 2004

22. “Good Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.” ~ Jerry Falwell

23. “Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.” ~ Sarah Palin

24. “Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.” ~ Jerry Falwell

25. “He has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an ENEMY OF HUMANITY.” ~ Trent Franks on Obama

26. “He is purple – the gay-pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle – the gay pride symbol.” ~ Jerry Falwell’s warning to parents that “Tinky Winky,” a character on Teletubbies, may be gay

27. “I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change. It’s not proven by any stretch of the imagination…It’s far more likely that it’s just sunspot activity or just something in the geologic eons of time. Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ‘gets sucked down by trees and helps the trees grow.”’ ~ Ron Johnson

28. “I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport.” ~ George W. Bush

29. “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.” ~ Ronald Reagan

30. “I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy — but that could change.” Dan Quayle

31. “I couldn’t imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Chanukah.” ~ President George W. Bush

32. “I don’t want to be associated with those people, but I also don’t want to limit their speech in any way in the sense that we tolerate boorish and uncivilized behavior because that’s one of the things freedom requires is that we allow people to be boorish and uncivilized, but that doesn’t mean we approve of it.” ~ Rand Paul, taking issue with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 while arguing that government should not prevent private businesses from discriminating on the basis of race

33. “I even accept for the sake of argument that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged.” ~ Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

34. “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another, then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.” ~ Rep. Michele Bachmann

35. “I get speaker’s fees from time to time, but not very much.” ~ Mitt Romney, who earned $374,000 in speaking fees in one year according to according to his personal financial disclosure (January 2012)

36. “I have been in the situation of counseling young girls… who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made WHAT WAS REALLY A LEMON SITUATION INTO LEMONADE.” ~ Sharron Angle on abortion

37. “I hope that’s not where we’re going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.” ~ Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle, floating the possibility of armed insurrection in a radio interview

38. “I just think my children, and your children, will be much better off, and much more successful getting married and raising a family. And I don’t want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn’t.” ~ Carl Paladino, New York State Tea Party-backed candidate for Governor, Oct. 10, 2010

39. “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.” ~ George W. Bush

40. “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” ~ George W. Bush

41. “I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.” ~ Dan Quayle

42. “I love California; I practically grew up in Phoenix.” ~ Dan Quayle

43. “I love this state. The trees are the right height.” ~ Mitt Romney, campaigning in Michigan (February 2012)

44. “I think I was unprepared for war.” ~ George W. Bush

45. “I think that two wrongs don’t make a right. And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade.” ~ Sharron Angle, explaining why she is against abortion even in cases of rape or incest, July 8, 2010

46. “I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.” ~ Dan Quayle

47. “I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.” ~ Donald Rumsfeld

48. “I’m not a witch…I’m you.” ~ Christine O’Donnell

49. “I’m ready for the ‘gotcha’ questions and they’re already starting to come. And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I’m going to say, you know, I don’t know. Do you know?” ~ Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain

50. “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” ~ George W. Bush

51. “If we took away the minimum wage-if conceivably it was gone-we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.” ~ Michele Bachmann

52. “If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president.” ~ Ann Coulter 53. “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.” ~ George W. Bush

54. “Isn’t that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage?” ~ Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), on congressional efforts to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage (July 2004)

55. “It is not enough to be abstinent with other people, YOU ALSO HAVE TO BE ABSTINENT ALONE. The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery, so you can’t masturbate without lust.” ~ Christine O’Donnell

56. “It may be a blessing in disguise. … Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. Haitians were originally under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal. Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other.” ~ Pat Robertson

57. “It’s not unusual in political rallies, it’s not unusual in parades, to see that type of thing.” ~ Joe Miller on guns at his rallies

58. “My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.” ~ South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, arguing against government food assistance for poor residents.

59. “One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared.’” ~ Dan Quayle

60. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” ~ George W. Bush

61. “Our nation was founded on violence. The option is on the table. I don’t think that we should ever remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms.” ~ Tea Party-backed Texas GOP congressional candidate Stephen Broden, suggesting the violent overthrow of the U.S. government if Republicans don’t win at the ballot box, interview with Dallas’s WFAA-TV, Oct. 21, 2010

62. “People ask me, ‘What are you going to do to develop jobs in your state?’ Well, that’s not my job as a U.S. senator.” ~ Sharron Angle

63. “PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air.” ~ Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2007, responding to criticism from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals following revelations that he had once strapped the family dog to the roof of his car during a 12-hour road trip

64. “President Obama wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob … Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image.” ~ Rick Santorum

65. “Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?” ~ George W. Bush

66. “‘Refudiate,’ ‘misunderestimate,’ ‘wee-wee’d up.’ English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!’” ~ Sarah Palin

67. “She wears little eye-patch underwear. So, the other day she came here with her underwear, Thursday. And so, we had made love Wednesday–a lot! And so she’ll, she’s all, ‘I am going up and down the stairs, and you’re dripping out of me!’ So messy!” ~ State Rep. Mike Duvall (R-Calif.) on a live mic referring to an affair with a lobbyist

68. “She’s not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a President. And besides, she has cancer.”’ ~ future House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), reportedly speaking to a friend in 1980 about why he was divorcing his first wife

69. “the ABA is about as far left as the Communist Party, so those who usually get those awards are lawyers committed to socialism, not freedom.” ~ Tea Party Nation Founder Judson Phillips 70. “The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.” ~ Jerry Falwell

71. “The exact phrase ‘separation of Church and State’ came out of Adolph HItler’s mouth, that’s where it comes from. So the next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State, ASK THEM WHY THEY’RE NAZIS.” ~ Glen Urquhart

72. “The Federal Department of Education should be eliminated. The Department of Education is unconstitutional and should not be involved in education, at any level.” ~ Sharron Angle, July 12, 2010

73. “The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” ~ Pat Robertson

74. “The greatest threat to America is not necessarily a recession or even another terrorist attack. The greatest threat to America is a liberal media bias.” ~ Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)

75. “The LensCrafters of big abortion.” ~ Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), describing Planned Parenthood

76. “The only way to reduce the number of nuclear weapons is to use them.” ~ Rush Limbaugh

77. “There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design.” ~ Michele Bachmann

78. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on –shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” ~ George W. Bush

79. “THESE ARE BEAUTIFUL PROPERTIES with basketball courts, bathroom facilities, toilet facilities. Many young people would love to get the hell out of cities” ~ Carl Paladino on housing poor people in prisons

80. “They [Republicans] say, ‘You’re too conservative.’ Was Thomas Jefferson too conservative? I’m tired of some people calling me wacky.” ~ Nevada GOP Senate nominee and Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle, March 21, 2010

81. “This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating.” ~ George W. Bush

82. “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” ~ George W. Bush

83. “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles.” ~ Ronald Reagan

84. “We had the 60s sexual revolution, and now people are dying of AIDS.” ~ Christine O’Donnell, Politically Incorrect. August 1998

85. “We have a lot of work to do. It’s a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.” ~ John McCain (the countries share no common border)

86. “We just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.” ~ Ann Coulter

87. “We need to execute people like (John Walker Lindh) in order to physically intimidate liberals.” ~ Ann Coulter 88. “We need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets.” ~ Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.

89. “We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.” ~ President George W. Bush

90. “We took the Bible and prayer out of public schools. Now we’re having weekly shootings. We had the 60s sexual revolution, and now people are dying of AIDS.” ~ Christine O’Donnell, Politically Incorrect. August 1998

91. “We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn’t that ironic?” ~ Sarah Palin, admitting that her family used to get treatment in Canada’s single-payer health care system, despite having demonized such government-run programs as socialized medicine that will lead to death-panel-like rationing, March 6, 2010

92. “Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.” ~ Dan Quayle 93. “Well, I learned a lot….I went down to (Latin America) to find out from them and (learn) their views. You’d be surprised. They’re all individual countries” ~ Ronald Reagan

94. “What I don’t know is what the unexpected might be.” ~ John McCain

95. “What I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.” ~ GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, getting her John Waynes mixed up during an interview after launching her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, where she grew up. The beloved movie star John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, three hours away. The John Wayne that Waterloo was home to is John Wayne Gacy, a notorious serial killer.

96. “What people recognize is that there’s a fear that the United States is in an unstoppable decline. They see the rise of China, the rise of India, the rise of the Soviet Union and our loss militarily going forward.” ~ GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-MN), apparently unaware that the Soviet Union collapsed more than two decades ago (August 2011)

97. “When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I’m just like, ‘Oh shut up’ I’m so sick of them because they’re always complaining.” ~ Glenn Beck

98. “When the President does it, that means that it’s not illegal.” ~ Richard M. Nixon 99. “You know what, evolution is a myth….Why aren’t monkeys still evolving into humans?” ~ Christine O’Donnell

100. “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” ~ George W. Bush

Dumb and Dumber! And that's my Thought Provoking Perspective...

http://johnwills.com

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