Another Racist Obama Cartoon!!!

We have to do better as a country in moving past these issues that divide with people losing their homes or loved one in Iraq we dont need this!!!

An email ripe with racist slurs — crudely presented as a mock debate between President Obama and Sen. John McCain — sent by a member of Staten Island’s Community Education Council to dozens of recipients, including other members of the public schools’ parent advisory board, is stirring outrage among African American leaders, who anonymously received a copy of the offensive communiqué and plan to take action.
The mock photo strip, sent Jan. 4 by Salvatore Ballarino, the borough president’s appointee to the volunteer board, features cartoon-like speech balloons drawn out of McCain’s mouth referencing lynching African Americans and equating African American babies with excrement.

The widely forwarded email also questions black fathers’ ability to support their families and states Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles are always smiling, because they did not know they were black. After each “punch line” the cartoon-like strip shows a photo of Obama’s face, positioned in such a way to make him look stunned and dumbstruck.

Dozens of African American parents, school children and educators are expected to attend the meeting of the Community Education Council tonight at Petrides Educational Complex, Sunnyside, to question how somebody charged with representing all Staten Islanders could find the material funny, and then have the bad judgment to forward the email around.

“Jokes are jokes, but this goes beyond what you might regard as a harmless joke. This is very offensive,” said Edward Josey, the president of the Staten Island NAACP, noting the group decided at its meeting last week to make their feelings known publicly. “If he’s telling jokes of this nature, how sincere is he about educating all the children of Staten Island?”

Ballarino does not believe he did anything wrong or inappropriate.

“If they’re upset about something it’s their own inner workings — it’s what they want to make out of it,” said Ballarino, when reached yesterday at home. “It was a political cartoon; that’s how I treated it. What was funny about it was the look on Obama’s face, like he didn’t even know what he was talking about.”

Ballarino served as a member of the now-defunct Community School Board since 1993, and was appointed by Borough President James P. Molinaro, when the CECs replaced the school boards in 2004. During his tenure, he has headed a number of committees, most notably School Construction.

“Did anybody ever accuse of me of doing anything racist before? No,” he said. “I have black people who are my friends; I work with black people; I have black people sit at my dinner table with me.”

Ballarino said he similarly forwards jabs at other communities. “I get jokes and I send them. I get redneck jokes. I get Irish jokes. I get Italian jokes.”

Although he said he did not find the material he had sent particularly offensive, Ballarino did weigh in on the New York Post’s recent publication of a violent cartoon most viewed as mocking Obama, calling it “a little overboard.”

The email has brought to the fore long-held feelings among African Americans and other minority groups that decision-makers in Staten Island’s District 31 are not sufficiently attuned to their communities, he said.

There are currently no African American members of the Community Education Council.

“The voices of minority concerns in public schools are oftentimes overlooked,” wrote Tammy Greer Brown, the chairwoman of the NAACP education committee, in an email organizing tonight’s protest. “This email potentially violates all educational and civil rights laws that are currently in existence.”

The all-volunteer council does not have wide-ranging authority but is meant to act as liaison between parents and the city Department of Education.

Molinaro last night could not be reached for comment.

“If you want to tell jokes among your friends, don’t put it on the airways; you never know where emails will end up,” said Josey, who has known Ballarino for years in education circles. “I would view him differently now than I would at one time. He stepped beyond a line.”

Source: SILIVE.com

Boycott of Ebay!!!

Many people have found a way to increase their income on the popular site but according to Black Christian News a watchdog group is calling for a protest of ebay!!!

Just days after the inauguration of America’s first African American president, Barack Obama, and first Catholic vice-president, Joseph Biden, eBay is hosting items offensive to both groups, and most of the nation.

Items for sale include “coon” songs, a piece of piano music entitled “n—–” blues, anti-Catholic post cards and tracts from the Ku Klux Klan, and even the bones of Catholic saints.

“As America moves into a new era of race relations, we find eBay catering to those stuck in the worst part of our country’s past,” said Thomas J. Serafin, president of the International Crusade for Holy Relics (ICHR) and the Apostolate for Holy Relics (AHR). Serafin has been fighting eBay’s offensive sales for nearly a decade. Most recently the AHR sent a representative to address an international meeting of diplomats in Washington, D.C. There, members of the International Catholic Diplomatic Society of St. Gabriel from around the world were briefed on some of the abuses commonly found on eBay.

“African Americans and Catholics now have members in the two highest profile positions in the United States,” said Serafin, “and if eBay won’t respect us, perhaps they will respect us when we take our dollars elsewhere. It is beyond belief to think that a high tech company like this can’t run a software program to police its own site. That couldn’t eat into the profit margin that much, so we are left to wonder if it’s just a matter of a lack of respect.”

Among the most offensive items for sale today are: a KKK statue — with hood and robes; an anti-Catholic postcard published by the Klan; a second anti-Catholic postcard featuring the pope as a pig; a piece of music entitled “Here’s to the Klan, the 100% American Song;” a piece of music entitled “A Little Coon’s Prayer;” a piece of music entitled “Coon Town’s Vacation;” a piano roll entitled “(N-word) Blues;” a piece of the bones of St. John Bosco, a 19th century Italian saint.

Source: CNW,BCNN

Obama to Appoint Young Pastor to Faith Based Office

President Barack Obama will reportedly name a religious outreach director to head the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

According to The New York Times, Obama has tapped Joshua DuBois, 26, the Pentecostal pastor who spearheaded arguably the most aggressive faith outreach for a Democratic presidential campaign in U.S. history when he served as Obama’s religious affairs director.

During the Obama campaign, DuBois helped organize meetings with some of the most prominent Christian leaders in the nation, including those with markedly different views on culture war issues.

Exit polls after the November election showed that Obama had made significant gains among religious voters compared to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry in 2004.

Prior to working for Obama, DuBois had studied political science at Boston University where he graduated cum laude. He then went to Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and National Affairs where he earned a master’s degree in public affairs in 2005.

He was studying law at Georgetown University when he left to work for Obama.

Religious leaders, who have been informed of DuBois’ selection, say that he will not only be directing the office created by former President George W. Bush, but be in charge of expanding it to help groups more effectively address social problems, according to The New York Times.

The religious leaders requested anonymity because the appointment has not yet been formally announced.

Under Obama, the office will be renamed the Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and will continue to facilitate the distribution of grants to religious and community groups.

Among the most pressing issues that await DuBois when he assumes the position is the debate over whether faith-based organizations will be forced to hire people whose faith differs from theirs if they receive government money.

Bush had allowed religious groups that accepted funding to hire employees that share the same religion.

But Obama, during a campaign speech last year, said that if a group receives a federal grant then it “can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them – or against the people you hire – on the basis of their religion.”

It is unclear if Obama still plans to rescind Bush’s memorandum on the issue.

The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) was created in 2001 by executive order to “level [the] playing field” for faith-based organizations seeking federal funding. It was also created to lead a “determined attack” on poverty, disease, and other social problems combining the strengths of the government and faith-based and other community organizations. Bush had called these organizations the “armies of compassion,” praising them for being able to work more effectively with the local communities and those in need than government programs alone.

As of 2008, the concept of FBCI has been replicated by 36 governors (19 Democrats, 17 Republicans). More than 100 mayors have also created an FBCI office or liaison.

Source: Christian Post

Owner’s Apology for “Drunken Negro Cookies” in Honor of Obama

Comments Please on the “Drunk Negro Cookies” in Honor of President Obama Cookies Apology?

After the controversy over the “Drunken Negro Face” cookies he claimed were in honor of President Obama, Lafayette French Pastry proprietor Ted Kefalinos has finally apologized.
He told the Daily News, “I’m sorry that people were offended by the cookie. We were just trying to make a large number of people happy, and instead we made a large number of people confused and angry.”

The cookie crumbled after customers at the Greenwich Village bakery told My Fox NY’s Arnold Diaz about the offensive treats–and how Kefalinos allegedly said, “They’re in honor of our new president. He’s following in the same path of Abraham Lincoln; he will get his.” Kefalinos denied the cookies were racist. When we spoke to him, he explained, “This whole thing was blown out of proportion,” and said of the word “negro,” “It’s a French word. It comes from the French.”

My Fox NY headed to the bakery for a follow-up, where Kefalinos played messages left on his answering machine–some were telling him the cookies were offensive while others were more serious threats (one mentioned burning his store down

Kefalinos told My Fox NY, “Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, it was an innocent design I created. It was nothing more than just a piece of art.” Also, the NYPD is aware of the threats made to Kefalinos, who is now recording all his phone calls.

Source: Gothamist

The Push for Obama to Uphold Traditional Marriage!!!

Thousands of traditional marriage supporters have contacted President Obama to voice opposition to his plan to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

Boondocks Writer Says Obama Aint Black!!!

McGruder asserted that Obama is Not Black…

McGruder asserted that Obama is not black because he is not a descendant of a slave. “The person who is one of us in the White House is Michelle Obama and her momma,” McGruder said.

DMX Speaks About His Life and What’s Next from Behind Bars!!!

In his Own Words!!!
Part 1

Part 2

DMX spent a lot of time in Arizona in 2008, mostly making court dates and appearing before a judge. Now the fallen rap star sits in a Phoenix jail cell as he awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to multiple charges (animal cruelty, drug possession and theft) in December.

But after X serves his time, he says he’s never returning to the state he once called home.

“I’m not looking back,” he explained to Fox 10, a local TV affiliate, in an exclusive interview from jail. “I’m not coming back. I’m not coming back for a show. I’m not coming back for a visit. I’m not even driving through the state. If I’m on a plane and they’re flying through, I’m gonna go around.”

The rapper said he fell in love with Arizona after a late-night studio session a few years ago. He watched the sun rise and said he felt as if he had landed in “God’s country.” He quickly discovered otherwise, though.

“I met the devil in God’s country,” X said. “It’s not so much who [was the devil], it’s what happens and the things that the devil does. It’s not so much a person, even though he acts through people. You can’t call any one person the devil. Because no one person has the power to be the devil.”

DMX denied implying that local sheriff Joe Arpaio was the devil he referred to. In interviews, the hard-nosed law official made no bones about wanting to bring the rapper to justice. Arpaio calls himself “America’s toughest sheriff” and gained notoriety for stripping NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal of his honorary police badge after the basketball player’s explicit freestyle rap about Kobe Bryant.

DMX, for his part, said he’s completed the gospel album he told MTV News about last January. The rapper, who had a penchant for including moving prayers on each of his albums, said he’s spending more time with the Bible as he sits in 23-hour lockdown. His plan after his release is to move forward with his transition to becoming a pastor. X has long talked about becoming a prominent member of a church. The rapper believes he’s been put in his situation to help someone.

“I came here to meet somebody,” he said. “I don’t know who it is, but I came to tell them that Jesus loves them. To tell them about the glory of God.”

In the roughly 10-minute interview, DMX also discussed his fiancée (based in Miami, where the rapper has also had a number of run-ins with the law), his eight children and his plans to star in a reality show called “Pain & Perseverance.”

“I can reach people the average person can’t reach because I’m as grounded as I am,” he said.

DMX is scheduled to be sentenced January 30 in an Arizona superior court.

Source: My Fox Phoenix, MTV

44th President of the U.S.A. Barack Obama!!!

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence— the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive … that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

Source: AP

Bishop TD Jakes to Speak at a Private service for Obama

The Associated Press is reporting that Bishop T.D. Jakes will preach at the private church service that President-elect Barack Obama will attend Tuesday before he is inaugurated.

The “HIStory” of Barack Obama

A graphic Novel by Ephraim “Fetti” Benton on the life of President Barack Obama. This documentary captures an emotional side to Obama that’s rarely seen. Ephraim says “I think the documentary will surprise a lot of people with its creative way of telling a compelling story and showcasing the overall good nature feel of the first African-American president”. “HIStory” is sure to open your mind, hearts and appreciation of things in life that truly matter.

HIStory from Ephraim Fetti Benton on Vimeo.

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