Bellicose Bumpkin

Linux Mint 8 on Dell D600

bumpkin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:45:00 +0000

Linux Mint 8 Helena menu and welcome screeen

I’ve been playing around with several Linux distributions on my old Dell D600 laptop. Initially I threw Ubuntu 9.1(Karmic Koala) on it but had problems with the desktop freezing every time I started up an application. I got around that by putting on some alternate desktop environments that I’d been wanting to play around with including XFCE, Fluxbox, and IceWM. Shortly after getting it installed, the disk died so I figured I’d try out some other Ubuntu related distributions. I tried Kubuntu – a KDE based(versus Gnome) based distro. I tried out my old favorite Mepis Linux and last but not least Linux Mint 8 Helena. There are great reviews of Linux Mint out there. This is not one of them. This post is to help others with freezing issues related to Dell D600 laptops and Ubuntu-based distributions.
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Linux Mint is also Ubuntu based but includes proprietary codecs and a highly customized theme that looks very different from Ubuntu. With Linux being an open source operating system, most distrubutions do not include any proprietary software. Most users will expend some effort to get support for playing mp3, windows media files, quicktime, and encrypted dvds. Mint includes all that.
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My install had the same problems as most of the Ubuntu 9.1 based distros I’ve been trying lately – it froze. This freezing issue seems to be related to Compiz and probably the X driver for the laptop’s video card – an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000. Selecting the OEM install got me through the installation problem – but still had the freezing issue when starting all or most applications. That was solved by right clicking on the desktop and setting the desktop effects to “none”. You lose some of the spiffy effects on the desktop but actually get a more responsive desktop. The D600 is getting a little long in the tooth and doesn’t have the horsepower for overly flashy desktop effects.
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Linux Mint has an interesting looking desktop – quite different from the Ubuntu and Redhat based distributions I usually run. My first impression is very positive – it is an attractive environment and feels very responsive. It will be getting a good workout here at home – particularly with the kids. They’ll be using it when the main computer (Windows XP) is occupied. My 8 year old was using it last night to watch a Star Wars/Clone Wars episode he missed and to browse for Star Wars Legos on Amazon. So much for Linux being too difficult to use.

DeLeo, slots, and Middleboro

bumpkin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:04:13 +0000

Look how much fun I'm having! *Hiccup*

Refusing to do an honest cost/benefit analysis of expanded gambling, House Speaker Robert DeLeo has unveiled his plan to file legislation that would bring slots to the racetracks and resort casinos. He also felt compelled to dazzle us with the depth of his character by announcing that “I’ve always been a slots person”. Personally I’ve always been a “let’s see if this makes sense” person. Refusal to do an honest accounting of the costs of expanded gambling – particularly slots – is just plain wrong.
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Clyde Barrows, who annoys me more every day, was quoted in the article – but of course what article on Massachusetts casinos would be complete without Barrows’ inciteful analysis? What cracks me up is that Barrows was the author of a study that called for just three resort casinos as the best way to “maximize the economic impacts of expanded gambling in Massachusetts, while minimizing or mitigating its social impacts”. Now he’s on board with the slots-4-all bill being proposed by SlotMan DeLeo and Not-In-My-Town Therese Murray:

while the state would stand to rake in more money from casino gaming, revenue from slot machines would come in a lot sooner. “They can get licensing revenue almost immediately, and they could even get some slot revenue this fiscal year,” Barrow predicted.

Good ‘ol flip-flop Barrow called the Middleboro casino agreement a “bad deal for Middleboro” in 2007 now softens that analysis by calling it “the most lucrative local host deal ever executed in the United States”. Get off the fence dude and make up your mind.
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As far as how this will affect Middleboro and the area:

After establishing the slot parlors, “they could start rolling out the casino licenses, probably at Suffolk (Downs) first and then Western Mass. If a Southeastern Massachusetts license is last, that will give them some breathing room to see what the Wampanoag are going to do.”

The Mashpee Wampanoag have proposed a $1 billion casino on sovereign land in Middleboro, but the tribe has run into a few roadblocks, not the least of which is a Supreme Court ruling preventing it from taking the land into trust.

As a result, Barrow said, “they seem to have eased their position” on pursuing a commercial casino license rather than operating a sovereign casino. “There seems to be a willingness to negotiate some kind of commercial deal if that will get them to market faster.”

Barrow speculated that the Middleboro site would be less attractive to the tribe if slot machines were allowed a stone’s throw away in Raynham. “If they put slots at the tracks, that would siphon off a lot of the convenience gambling that would go to Middleboro.”

Clearly something is afoot. As things stand, the Middleboro casino is not feasible due to the massive infrastructure required in the IGA. The tribe has been nosing around in the Fall River area and the Commission on Indian affairs is talking about taking the Wampsutta Reservation into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag, even though it seems to be Pocasset tribal land. As I’ve said before, it blows my mind that anyone would consider giving the Mashpee Wampanaog a casino at this time given the problems they’ve had managing themselves and their lack of experience in casino management. Meanwhile, the Middleboro BOS remain blissfully unaware of the goings on and the Middleboro Albatross Casino continues to stunt local development by keeping us all in a state of perpetual limbo.

Upcoming Middleboro election

bumpkin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:25:14 +0000

Picture of my dog Slaney - totally unrelated to this story.

In this week’s Middleboro Gazette

A four-way race for two seats on the Board of Selectmen in the April 3 town election became a possibility this week as two potential candidates announced plans to draw nomination papers. Meanwhile, so far there are no candidates for two seats on the Finance Committee and a seat on the Planning Board.

For the two selectman seats the candidates are Allin Frawley, Ted Eayres, Al Rullo, and Steve Spataro.
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If any candidate for any seat wants to write a guest column on nemasket.net, I will publish it. Nothing drives traffic like video or audio – I also offer to do an audio or video podcast with any candidates for any office. If the recording doesn’t go well, the candidate will have the final say on whether or not it gets posted. While I have my own preferences for the selectman seats, I will not try to sabotage anybody.
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It’s a shame there are no candidates for FinCom. This is a great group that holds considerable influence over the town’s purse strings. I have found them to be very approachable and professional. When I first became involved in town politics during Casino Summer ‘07, I went to a number of selectmen meetings – generally horrible experiences where I felt unwelcome and not allowed to speak. Just before the town meeting from hell, I went to a FinCom meeting to make my pitch on why the casino numbers were bad. It took place in the same room as the selectmen’s meetings but the atmosphere was so different it was like being on a different planet. FinCom was respectful and interested in what I had to say. I’ve been impressed with this group ever since. To be fair, the atmosphere in selectman meetings has generally improved.

Trust land in Fall River?

bumpkin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:31:09 +0000

With all the stories of the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag seeking a casino in the Fall River area – this story seems to play into that:

The state’s Commission on Indian affairs has requested that a 100-acre parcel of the Watuppa Reservation be put into trust, part of a plan, the Pocasset Wampanoag Indians say, to build a casino. …. But Pocasset Indian officials said this week that the Mashpee Tribe and their hunt for a casino site is behind the push to put the land in trust.

I had heard that the Mashpee were going to pursue a tribal casino in Fall River but couldn’t understand how that was going to be possible since they had no land or application to put land into trust. If true, this explains it. What is not explained is who in their right mind would give the Mashpee a sovereign casino – or any casino for that matter. For my money they have not demonstrated the ability to run a small tribe let alone a $1B facility. But I digress. The article continues:

“It’s clear of Mashpee’s intentions to get a casino in Fall River. They tried to do the same thing in Middleboro on land they didn’t own. The Mashpees don’t have any ties to this area. This is a tribe that basically never left the Cape,” said Pocasset Tribal Council Vice Chairman Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson.

This echoes many of the comments made in March 2008 at the BIA hearing in Middleboro by casino opponents and members of the Massachusett tribe.

Jamieson said the Pocasset Tribe does have interest in creating economic development opportunities on the site, including wind turbines and other renewable energy. But he said their plan is to not upset the environment.
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“We don’t want to take away from the beauty of this land, but we have always talked about doing something here. It’s always just been a matter of funding,” Jamieson said.

Imagine an indian tribe wanting to do an environmentally responsible project??? I’m sure the Mashpee would call that crazy talk.
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Interesting development.
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It’s worth restating at this point that casino being proposed in Middleboro is not economically feasible. The tribe miscalculated when they agreed to be responsible for $260M in infrastructure – wrongly believing that the state or federal government would pay for that infrastructure. They won’t. The tribe knows it and are looking for an alternative project. It appears that they have found it.

Jack Healey – casino magnet

bumpkin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:43:24 +0000

Jack Healey - photo from Commonweath Magazine

Looks like both the Mashpee and Aquinna Wampanoag are nosing around the Fall River area. It’s interesting that the Freetown interim town manager is none other than Jack Healey – former Middleboro town manager and key player in the Middleboro casino project:

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has contacted Fall River officials, and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head has contacted Freetown selectmen.
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Before Monday’s meeting, Interim Town Administrator John Healey said he believes many communities received a similar letter from the tribe and that there is not yet strong interest among selectmen in the proposal.

Wouldn’t it be funny if Jack was able to negotiate a $20M deal in Freetown?
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On a partially related topic, I realize that the Aquinnah already have a compact with the state that severely limits what they can do for sovereign casinos. That said, they’ve been waiting longer and should get a piece of any tribal casino – presuming of course that the state legalizes casinos and is determined to have one with a “tribal component”.

Scott Brown action figures

bumpkin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:42:41 +0000

Here is the must have gift for the Republican in your life – a Scott Brown action figure.

Fans can get get the “Everyman action figure” in blue jeans, T-shirt and sneakers.

There’s also the 2012 executive figure and then the “Cosmo man” — for adults only of course — complete with tiny fig leaf for modesty.

Sign me up for the Cosmo model.

Scott Brown action figures

Cape Wind, casinos, and religion

bumpkin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:02:52 +0000

I’m a strong support of alternative energy in general and Cape Wind in particular. I was skeptical when the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag partnered with the Cape Wind opposition group Save Our Sound. The objection was that the turbines would disrupt a sacred sun greeting ceremony. I did a podcast with the Communications Director of Cape Wind and started reading up on it. One thing that I’ve never been able to understand is how the sun greeting ceremony fit into the Wampanaog belief system. The Mashpee Wampanoag are Christian and have been for hundreds of years. While following the Middleboro casino issue, I often see tribe members refer to the “Creator” in talking about tribal rituals, pow-wows etc.
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Shortly after the Cape Wind opposition became big news, I spoke to Gil Solomon Sachem of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag. While he supports the Mashpee opposition to Cape Wind, he said it was “inconsistent” for them to support a Middleboro casino and oppose Cape Wind. I also asked him how the sun ceremony fit in with their religion since I thought they were Christian. He basically said “don’t go there”. I’m sure the forcing of Christianity on the Wampanaog is a real sore point, but I think opposition to Cape Wind would seem less incongrous if the tribe’s culture was understood.
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The reason I’m writing this now is because of this blog post in Cape Cod Today that raised some of these issues and floated the idea that Mashpee opposition to Cape Wind could work against their casino ambitions:

Anyone who has lived on this sandspit a few decades knows that our Native American Mashpee Wampanoags are impossible to differentiate from the rest of the Cape’s population.
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They shop at the same stores, drive the same cars and trucks, send their kids to the same schools and… go to the same churches.
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They don’t run down to South Cape Beach to watch the sun come up any more than they still live in wigwams or hunt buffalo.
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The Mashpee Wampanoags are Christians like most of the rest of us. They have been since the mid-1700s when they were converted and given land for the switch in what we call Mashpee today
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If the tribe kills Cape Wind and stops the state from prospering, the state will stop the tribe from propering.
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Hopefully some of my Wampanaog readers can fill in the blanks about how their Indian traditions fit in with their Christian ones.

Is it over now?

bumpkin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:19:06 +0000

The Mashpee Wampanoag have entered into talks to build a casino in Fall River.

Representatives of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe are hedging their bets that this financially strapped city will be a more welcoming home for a future casino, a move that may jilt residents of a town the tribe has promised to pay millions.

Tribal leaders and Fall River officials met recently to talk about the possibility of relocating the tribe’s gambling venture, Mayor William Flanagan said Thursday.

City leaders are looking at gaming as a way to ease a 16 percent unemployment rate and inject new life into the former textile giant. The tribe, on the other hand, which already has a deal in place with Middleboro, may be looking to back off from its promised $250 million in infrastructure improvements.

It’s time to say IT’S OVER? Why are our “partners” in talks with Fall River and members of Gov. Patrick’s administration. News flash – the tribe are looking after themselves, have been all along, and Middleboro MUST do the same. Why were people told that the Middleboro casino was inevitable when it clearly wasn’t?
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Attention Middleboro Board of Selectmen, Town Manager Charles Cristello, and pro-casino advocates: It is WAY past time to call time of death on this patient, scrap the deal, accept that it’s NOT COMING, and start planning for a future based on fiscal responsibility, budgets that are within our means, and realistic economic planning. The magic unicorn casino that prints money and has no impacts IS DEAD. CasinoFacts.Org was right, the Board of Selectmen were wrong and the whole town was thrown into upheaval and limbo for three WASTED years. Against all odds, the advice and information of pro-casino interests that stood to gain from the casino wasn’t all the great. Imagine that. I’ll repeat the advice I gave in my Gazette column last July: Protect the casino planning monies that are left and start making a plan to get that land back.

Where to begin ……

It went roughly like this:

On advice of town manager Jack Healey, selectmen Steve Spataro, Marsha Brunelle, Pat Rogers, Wayne Perkins, and Adam Bond vote 5-0 to approve the sale of the land that would be purchased by the tribe. This was AFTER meeting with the tribe and discussing this very piece of property.
The BOS allow Jack Healey to negotiate a compact that completely failed to address the likely impacts.
The BOS go into full campaign mode to rush this through – disenfranchising half the population. With no study, no investigation, and no expertise, the BOS singlehandedly decide that pursuing a casino is in the best interests of the town. Along the way the BOS create massive animosity in town by denying the citizens of Middleboro a process to fully analyze and discuss the issue.
At a cost of over $200K, the town hires an “expert” and crafts a deal that is only marginally better than the Healey deal. Department heads provide a list of “impacts” that are little more than a wish list of what was needed today – with essentially no consideration of potential impacts to school, emergency services, infrastructure, and general government.
The BOS spend $100K of tax payers money on a rushed town meeting that didn’t have to take place. On the say-so of pro-casino interests that a casino is inevitable, they rush to sign an agreement before anti-casino opposition can solidify and increase.
After the town meeting from hell, a number of BOS members show staggering unprofessionalism by attending parties with the tribe and receiving gifts. When challenged on it, Steve Spataro says the people in the audience are in the “cheap seats”. It boggles the mind that Mr. Spataro is running again.
The BOS go into full-blown head-in-the-sand mode. Month after month as the situation evolves, the BOS continue to behave like it is July 2007 until even Adam Bond resigns in disgust. Their inability to acquire, process, understand, and take action on the casino issue is amazing. At the last BOS meeting, they were STILL talking about casino money and a town-run ambulance service.

We were told that the casino was inevitable – it wasn’t. We were told that $7M was a good deal – it wasn’t. We were told that running our own ambulance service was a hidden $1M benefit – it’s not. We were told that the tribe are our “partners” – they’re not. We were told that the tribe would do $260M in infrastructure improvements – they won’t. We were told that the tribe was going to build a “five star resort that happens to have a casino” only to have it turn into an outhouse with slots. The BOS were told two years ago that the infrastructure costs were too high for a ROI – they are. The BOS were warned that Glenn Marshall should be vetted – he wasn’t.

For all of you who supported the casino believing it would be be good for the town because town leadership told you so …… you should be upset. We should all be upset at the time, effort, and money Middleboro has spent on this foolish misadventure.

Public job day of reckoning?

bumpkin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:40:05 +0000

I got this email today with a link to a real eye-opener opinion piece in the Boston Globe that looks at public jobs, pay, and benefits. The email said:

A Day of Reckoning is coming, and none too soon…..The election of Scott Brown is a wake-up call to all in government from FED to local level.
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Sorry to say, but the party is over for those who take “lifetime everything” from the taxpayers, and don’t care that it hurts the majority…..If this is a side-effect of our record breaking economic down-turn, then it is a welcomed one as this “screw-the-taxpayer-I got-mine” attitude is a cancer on our towns & state.
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To Our public employees – Cash the checks, take the fat pension benefits & know that every dollar you take away in “unused sick day pay” and other over the top perks hurts someone in our towns who needs better services, roads, schools and other vital town services. Money is the goal, right? Who cares if that means someone else has to do without?? YOU got yours, and that’s all that really matters…

The main point of the article is that government employees are riding out the recession in fine style:

All the while, the federal government has been adding jobs at a 10,000-a-month clip. Between December 2007 and June 2009, federal payrolls exploded by nearly 10 percent. “Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time in pay and hiring,’’ USA Today observes, “during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.’’ And to add public-sector insult to private-sector injury, data from the Office of Personnel Management show the average federal salary is now roughly $71,000 – about 76 percent higher than the average private salary.
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“Unlike most private-sector workers, whose retirement is driven by the strength of the stock market and 401(k) plans, government employees’ pensions are guaranteed.’’
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Moreover, government retirees in Ohio enjoy taxpayer-provided health care, and in many cases can retire at 48.

I’ve always felt that pay for government employees is out of control and benefits are way out of line with the private sector. It’s no wonder that towns, states, and the federal government are constantly in budget crisis. Here in Middleboro, we’re supposed to applaud a level-funded budget with “level funded” being defined as more than last year to account for contractual pay increases and increased costs for benefits.
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This is pure crazy and leads to things like the Middleboro casino hail-Mary play to plug a budget that is unsustainable due to unrealistic pay and benefits.
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So is a “day of reckoning” coming? Or just more of the same?

Obama, racism and politics

bumpkin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:16:06 +0000

In another IM chat with my buddy Mike we discuss the role that racism plays in national politics since the election of President Obama.

Mike: Obama getting back on track article
Mark: Hmm,,, I’m not so sure that article is saying very much. Rather vague.
Mike: I suppose… I think the crux of it is that Obama needs to stop playing Mr. Nice Guy (which I totally agree with). His comment about the Reps landing on shore and burning the boats leaving no option but moving forward seems about right. I whole-heartedly want Obama to do that too… I may not like everything he decides to to, but trying to please everyone will never work. I think he should scale back is objectives for health care too… do it in a series of changes that people can stomach one at a time.
Mike: I think it’s a fair question to ask: Why was Bush able to get through so much with only 50 senators, and the Dems are complaining about having only 59 now and treating it like the apocalypse.
Mark: I think the answer is that the Democrats are more willing to play ball with the Republicans than vice-versa. This started in earnest with the Gingrich/Contract with America crowd
Mike: Right. I don’t disagree with that. It might be time for the Dems to stop playing two-hand-touch and start playing full contact NFL style football.
Mark: This says it all and is right on:
http://www.liberalvoices.com/2009/09/rightwing-effort-to-bring-down-obama.html
Mike: I suppose… but consider the source… with a name like "Liberal Voices", of course they’re going to see that. However, the story I sent you a link too is by Roland S. Martin. a liberal, and supporter of Obama’s, acknowledging the deficiencies and pointing the way forward rather than just pointing the finger at the other side. If someone from a conservative site had written what you sent, it’d have more teeth.
Mark: I get these pseudo racist things all the time – they are flying all over the ‘net
Mike: what pseudo racist things?
Mark: Like this

Racist photo of Obama as a witchdoctor

Mike: OK… there’s nothing pseudo about that… it’s downright offensive. Even if I don’t agree with Obamacare, I respect my President, his intelligence, and his motives. That shit just pisses me off.
Mark: This stuff is EVERYWHERE which is why I say that there was a racist component in the Brown victory. Did you see the video of him questioning whether Barack was born out of wedlock? Pure pandering to white fears of the single black mother.
Mike: No, I never saw that, and if had, it’d have bothered me.
Mark: homophobe – check
teaparty donations – check
racist innuendo – check
teabagging homophobe racist – check
Mark: who was that numbnuts that said in some phone meeting with constituents that if the Republican could kill healthcare, Obama would be finished.?
Mark: The Republicans want to BRING HIM DOWN – JUST LIKE CLINTON. That’s why I have NO USE for them.
Mike: I’d have to see the whole video IN CONTEXT before I’d agree. He’s not a homophobe (we’ve had that discussion). He doesn’t believe in gay marriage. Honestly, I don’t believe in marriage at all, as far as civil law is concerned. We need to wipe it completely out of the law books. Give everyone a Civil Union, and leave marriage as a religious ceremony that ends up with a Civil Union, which you can get with a judge also.
Mark: look at the video in comment number 4: http://nemasket.net/coakley-brown-and-fox-fud/
Mike: Interesting that the video cut out right when he was going to clarify his statement. I don’t know what he said after that, but I’d have to take that video with a grain of salt.
Mark: Regardless. Pointing out the Obama’s mother was young(18) and implying that she was unmarried is an INTENTIONAL effort to play in the fears of white people about the black welfare mother., No doubt in my mind.
Mark: And then there’s this numbskull shouting out "shove a curling iron up her butt" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28u3vPExxp4
You see these sorts of antics all over the place being staged by the tea baggers.
Mark: Check out the beginning of this where the young girl apes and calls obama the monkey from tarzan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vagD-4AH4Vc – it’s everywhere
Mike: Right… just to be clear… I have absolutely NO USE for the tea baggers (which, I think is an absolutely hilarious moniker. )
Mark: toward the end of this – calling obama an arab http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6YKOkfFsE
Mike: Well… that’s beyond stupid. It’s like the people that demand to see his birth certificate…. it’s a non-issue… if you do a little research.
Mike: First, he was born in the US to a US mother.
Mark: and the n-word at palin rally http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9T0FI2axbU I could go on and on but you get the idea
Mike: BUT, if you say he was born in Nigeria, it doesn’t matter. His MOTHER is a US Citizen at birth, and therefore, according to law, it doesn’t matter where he was born, since she is, so is he.
Mike: PERIOD.
Mark: Don’t you have to be born on US soil to be president?
Mike: NO.
Mike: That is a complete falacy.
Mike: fallacy
Mike: Read through this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_born_citizen
Mike: Here’s the important piece that everyone points to: No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;
Mike: However, NOWHERE is Natural Born Citizen defined in the constitution. It wasn’t defined until later with some legislation.
Mike: "Congress first recognized the citizenship of children born to U.S. parents overseas on March 26, 1790, stating that "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens"
Mike: So, the whole issue is a red herring. It is COMPLETE IRRELEVANT.
Mark: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States
Mark: Current U.S. statutes define various categories of individuals born overseas as "citizens at birth," including (for example) all persons "born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person[s]."[14]
Mark: So there seems to be a requirement that both parents are US citizens. Agreed?
Mike: According to an April 2000 report by the Congressional Research Service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Research_Service), most constitutional scholars interpret Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution as including citizens born outside the United States to parents who are U.S. citizens under the “natural born” requirement. This same CRS report (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Research_Service_Report) also asserts that citizens born in the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are legally defined as "natural born" citizens and are, therefore, also eligible to be elected President.
Mike: So, I suppose, but it’s never been tested.
Mike: Besides, you can see his birth certificate on his page.
Mike: So again, it just doesn’t matter.
Mike: It’s some of that pseudo racism you’re talking about. And it’s disgusting.
Mark: They’re just being racist assholes trying to make trouble. Right.
Mike: BUT, of course we knew this was going to be the case as soon as he got elected (and even during the campaign). There are definitely racist people in the United States (as there are EVERYWHERE), but that does not make this a racist country, or even make the Republicans a racist party… it just makes the racists… to quote you, complete maroons.
Mark: So – while Olberman was way out there – there is quite a lot of truth there …. and it was funny as hell.
Mark: I don’t think for a minute that everyone who opposes obama or votes republican are racists. But there is a component of racism in SOME of the anti-Obama sentiment
Mike: agreed.
Mark: This is pretty funny – why white people shouldn’t be allowed to vote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIYpBGlv1U
Mark: You just got a "go mike" comment on my blog.
Mike: hehe