Michelle Fights as Dirty as Bill

What's really hood?



Ouch. That was a LOW blow. I'd rather Michelle take the high road and not deviate into using Clinton and right wing-esque tactics. If you're gonna attack, use the issues as your ammo. I think it's much more tasteful and tactful. Hopefully it's not true that Barack stepped out on Michelle cuz there will be egg on her face.

How in the world did this slip passed the media's radar anyway?

Tavis Says It Would be Inappropriate for Michelle Obama to Attend SOTBU. Ummm... Why Would It?

From The Root:

Who Died and Made Tavis King?
By Melissa Harris-Lacewell

Who put Tavis Smiley in charge?

Over the past two months African Americans have emerged as equal partners in a multi-racial, intergenerational, bipartisan, national coalition led by the most exciting political candidate of the past four decades, who also happens to be the first viable African-American presidential possibility in our history. So why is Tavis Smiley throwing a temper tantrum?

He is mad because Obama has not promised to attend Smiley's "State of the Black Union" next week in New Orleans. At last year's SOTBU Al Sharpton, Cornel West and others joined Tavis is roundly criticizing Obama for not attending. Where was Barack that weekend? Oh yeah, he was announcing his bid for the U.S. presidency. This year, Obama is busy trying to win Texas, which has emerged as the firewall state for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Obama wins Texas; Hillary goes home. But Tavis & Co. think Obama should spend precious hours chatting with them about their agenda?

(Jimi Izrael wondered the same thing about him and the other Popes of Blackness.) Let me be clear: I respect the importance of the SOTBU. Tavis performs an essential public service by creating and reproducing a critical black counter-public through this event. The event is decidedly democratic because it is open to a true variety of black voices. Every year it showcases black intellect, commitment and ideological diversity. All this is great, but it doesn't make Tavis the gatekeeper. It certainly doesn't give him the right to act as King-Maker, or in this case Queen-Maker.

Tavis and his guests have every right to criticize Obama if they have substantive disagreements with his policy, his approach to politics or his viability as a general election candidate. They do not have a right to create a false, racial litmus test. All these black leaders who spent the year telling us that Obama is not old enough, not black enough and not angry enough to earn African American votes must have noticed that Obama can deliver the black vote to himself, by himself, with little help from these self-proclaimed racial power brokers.

I can't quite figure out what motivates Tavis. At least I understand the old guard Civil Rights leaders. They are genuinely unwilling to cede power, believing that they have an authenticity claim based on their proximity to Martin Luther King, Jr. I also understand the frightened Democratic insiders who rely on the remnants of the Clinton machine for their bread and butter. But Tavis is not in either category. He is a part of a new generation of journalists who have carved out their own constituency. I am actually surprised to see Smiley join a pile-on led by his former boss Bob Johnson, who tried to silence him with such an ungracious termination a decade ago.

Source

I would love to hear Tavis address this. Why exactly wouldn't it be "appropriate" for Michelle Obama to attend?

Is There Some Kinda Birth Control Allergy?

About 80% of black babies are born to unwed moms

Report: These children face life with greater disadvantages. By Tim Evans

About eight in 10 black children in Indiana are born to unwed parents -- a start to life that sets them up for problems during adolescence and beyond, according to an Indiana Black Expo report.

Indiana's black youths fare significantly worse than Hoosier youths in general across 18 indicators of well-being, such as graduation rates and poverty levels, and do worse than black youths in the U.S, according to the report being released Friday.

Tanasha Anders, acting president and chief executive of Indiana Black Expo, said the problem comes down to education -- making sure young people finish school and understand the consequences of having a baby.

"Everything else is a domino effect," she said.

The explosion of births to unwed parents is driving many of the state's social problems, such as increases in poverty and child abuse and the growing cost of public aid, said Bill Stanczykiewicz, president and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute. He added that the problem is not exclusive to any one race.

Indiana's out-of-wedlock birthrate is at an all-time high, with unwed mothers accounting for nearly 40 percent of all births, he said. Nationally, about 36 percent of all births are to unwed mothers. (Source)

There has to be something that can explain this out of control out-of-wedlock birth rate in the Black community. I know the article said that this problem in Indiana goes beyond race, but high out-of-wedlock births is a problem in our community. Obviously Black women make conservative choices and keep our unborn children, but why not opt for contraceptives? They're out there and they're for FREE at clinics and hospitals.

It still is a problem with the teenagers but now there's a rising young adult population who are becoming single parents. I've noticed that over the years as well, but what ever happened to wanting to make life easier for yourself? Parenting is hard but it's especially hard when it's one person that has to shoulder the load.

I just want to understand why a lot of women are opting to go it alone with parenting. I've heard it all: "Men ain't shit," "Just cuz you married don't mean he'll stick around," "I don't need no man," "Fathers aren't that important," & the other nonsense. There has to be something more. Is there a void? Is this generational (i. e., "My mother and my grandmother didn't need a man to raise their children?")?

I have a friend that always argues with me over my life decisions with regards to parenting. You see, I'm not ready to have children. I'm not married nor am I ready to be married, therefore, I'm not ready to be a mother. It's like she's dying to be a mother and wants to prove to herself and maybe the world that she can do it all. That's her prerogative but I know that I can use all the help I need. A child is a life-long commitment --- not some project for work with a deadline.

This friend of mine thinks that I'm making a big deal out of parenthood and that I think too much. Mind you, she has no children so only God knows where this wisdom comes from. Every parent I know tells me how difficult it is to raise a child. Especially on your own. They also say that I should live my life now while it's still my own. I'll take their sound advice.

When my time comes to be a mother, I want to be able to provide the best that I can for my child. That would include a two-parent household, a college savings, a good neighborhood for them to be raised in, a good school for them to go to, and everything they need. This is something that a lot of single moms don't consider. For the record, I'm not lumping them all together.

I understand that some relationships don't work. The death of your child's father can definitely play a role. Maybe the contraceptive you used failed. If single parenthood is the circumstance that you're dealt due to something completely out of your control, that's one thing. I just don't understand women who irresponsibly prolong or create generational poverty.

Spontaneity can be wonderful but not with the life of a child.

NOT a Good Look

If only Hillary were there to nudge him:

BILL HAS A 'DREAM'
EX PREZ NODS OFF DURING MLK AWARD PRESENTATION

Post Staff Report

January 21, 2008 -- Bill Clinton showed yesterday why he made it into the book "The Art of Napping."

During an appearance at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, the former president was caught nodding off.

Clinton was there during a service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., while his wife was nearby at Abyssinian Baptist Church, where she was endorsed by its minister, Rev. Calvin Butts.

Clinton has had napping episodes before. Among others, he nodded off at a Mets game and at Ronald Reagan's funeral.

When he was president, he told Dan Rather, "If I can take a nap, even 15 or 20 minutes in the middle of the day, it is really invigorating to me. On the days when I'm a little short of sleep, I try to work it out so that I can sneak off and just lie down for 15 minutes, a half an hour, and it really makes all the difference in the world."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212008/news/regionalnews/bill_has_a_dream_474243.htm