Category Archives: Social Commentary

Another great comment about the situation in Virginia Governor McDonnell’s proclamation of April as Confederate History Month.  This one is from the African American- mixed race Great, Great, Great, Great,  Niece of Robert E Lee.  That’s another issue that’s not discussed very often in the white South…

As I said, I’ll have my comments in a couple of days when I have more time….

The shame is in the proclamation’s failure to acknowledge the full range of the truth about the Civil War and Virginia’s role in it. What about the sacrifices of whites who were part of the underground railroad and helped slaves escape to the North, or those who did not support the Confederacy, or the African slaves who actually fought on the side of the Confederacy? If we are going to celebrate and honor sacrifice, let us also celebrate the progress we have made since the Civil War, which should be a source of pride for every American, just as we must acknowledge the work that remains to be done.

For me this is very personal. My father, who is African American, is from Virginia. The Finney name comes from the man who once owned my family as slaves. My mother, Mildred Lee, is the great, great, great niece of Robert E. Lee, or “the General,” as he is referred to by my family. I am therefore the great, great, great, great niece of General Lee. That is my American story, a mixed race heritage that I am proud of, just as Virginia, the South and our country has a mixed history.

Link to full article:  Karen Finney: Virginia Shame.

Great column on DailyKos about the Virginia Governor’s decision to declare  April “Confederate History Month”.  My birth State’s new government continues to embarass itself at an alarming rate.  I hear he made an even bigger mess of this today before backtracking and trying to save himself.  Too late!

I’ll have more to say on my thoughts on all this in a couple of days when I have more time….

Here is an excerpt and a link to the full article:

Whereas Bob McDonnell Brings Back The Past

by BarbinMD

Tue Apr 06, 2010 at 02:20:04 PM PDT

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has decided to bring back Confederate History Month:

Here are a few excerpts from the proclamation:

WHEREAS,  April is the month in which the people of Virginia joined the Confederate States of America in a four year war between the states for independence that concluded at Appomattox Courthouse;

Another way to put it could be, “WHEREAS, in a four year war between the states to defend slavery that concluded with that general who will not be named whuppin’ our sorry asses and us being bitter over it for the next hundred-plus years.

WHEREAS,  it is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth’s  shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present;

It seems that the part about trying to understand the sacrifices of centuries of enslaved people on their soil was omitted from the final draft.

WHEREAS, this defining chapter in Virginia’s history should not be forgotten, but instead should be studied, understood and remembered by all Virginians, both in the context of the time in which it took place, but also in the context of the time in which we live …

So, Bob McDonnell thinks that to understand American politics today, we need to understand why Virginia joined the Confederacy? Is this a nod to the “tenther movement”? Because it wouldn’t be the only fringe element that McDonnell decided to pander to with this proclamation:

This year’s proclamation was requested by the Sons of Confederate Veterans … “We’ve known for quite some time we had a good opportunity should he ascend the governorship,” Brandon Dorsey said. “We basically decided to bide our time and wait until we had more favorable politicians in Richmond.”

And who are the Sons of Confederate Veterans? An all-male group that believes:

The citizen-soldiers who fought for the Confederacy personified the best qualities of America. The preservation of liberty and freedom was the motivating factor in the South’s decision to fight the Second American Revolution.

But nothing about slavery. McDonnell, like every protector of southern heritage before him, pretends that it was all about “freedom” and “protecting our way of life” … which makes sense given that the North was demanding everyone in Virginia eat New England clam chowder and see a Broadway show at least twice a year.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4/6/854733/-Whereas-Bob-McDonnell-Brings-Back-The-Past

Daily Kos: State of the Nation.

A great column this morning from Leonard Pitts entitled “An Evil with Many Masters” that compares Christian and Islamic Terrorism.  This is a point I’ve written about before:  That domestic terrorism is every bit as dangerous as Islamic terrorism.  The real threat is fundamentalism of any kind.  Here is an excerpt:

And I suppose the first words should be about those words: “Christian terrorism.” The term will seem jarring to those who’ve grown comfortable regarding terrorism as something exclusive to Islam.

That this is a self-deluding fallacy should have long since been apparent to anyone who’s been paying attention. From Eric Rudolph’s bombing of the Atlanta Olympics, a gay nightclub and two abortion clinics to the so-called Phineas Priests who bombed banks, a newspaper and a Planned Parenthood office in Spokane, from Matt Hale soliciting the murder of a federal judge in Chicago to Scott Roeder’s assassination of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, from brothers Matthew and Tyler Williams murdering a gay couple near Redding, Calif., to Timothy McVeigh destroying a federal building and 168 lives in Oklahoma City, we have seen no shortage of “Christians” who believe Jesus requires — or at least allows — them to commit murder.

If federal officials are correct, we now have one more name to add to the dishonor roll. That name would be Hutaree, a self-styled Christian militia in Michigan, nine members of which have been arrested and accused of plotting to kill police officers in hopes of sparking an anti-government uprising.

Many of us would doubtless resist referring to plots like this as Christian terrorism, feeling it unfair to tar the great body of Christendom with the actions of its fringe radicals. And here, we will pause for Muslim readers to loudly clear their throats.

And here is the link to the entire column:
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/07/1566736/an-evil-with-many-masters.html#ixzz0kPhKDTxi

An evil with many masters – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com.

As the tax filing deadline of April 15th approaches, I found these articles very interesting….

ThinkProgress led me to it:

Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.” Big Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last year reported a record $45.2 billion profit, paid the most taxes of any corporation, but none of it went to the IRS:

Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. No wonder that of $15 billion in income taxes last year, Exxon paid none of it to Uncle Sam, and has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas.

Mother Jones’ Adam Weinstein notes that, despite benefiting from corporate welfare in the U.S., Exxon complains about paying high taxes, claiming that it threatens energy innovation research. Pat Garofalo at the Wonk Room notes that big corporations’ tax shelter practices similar to Exxon’s shift a $100 billion annual tax burden onto U.S. taxpayers. In fact, in 2008, the Government Accountability Office found that “two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005.”

UPDATEForbes has updated its article to include a statement from Exxon: “Though Exxon’s financial statement’s don’t show any net income tax liability owed to Uncle Sam, a company spokesman insists that once its final tax bill is figured, Exxon will owe a ‘substantial 2009 tax liability.’ How substantial? ‘That’s not something we’re required to disclose, nor do we.'”

Here is the link to the full story:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/06/exxon-tax/

Here is the link to the original full story at Forbes:

via What The Top U.S. Companies Pay In Taxes – Forbes.com.

This is a very interesting article from Carol Howard Merritt.  I find it rather heartening to see this and hope it’s true!

Here is an excerpt:

There are three major reasons that a younger generation is leaving Evangelicalism: pernicious sexism, religious intolerance, and conservative politics. The term “Evangelical” is a broad brush that colors a large and diverse movement, so these characteristics may not be true of every Evangelical. But as long as those in the movement allow themselves to be represented by Pat Robertson and James Dobson, then these spokesmen will continue to whitewash the entire group’s values.

And another passage I find encouraging:

Finally, the conservative politics drove us away. There were some progressive Evangelicals, yet their voices were sidelined far too often. For the last couple of decades, a majority of the movement began to find great power as the Christian Right. Partnering with the Republican Party, they began to extol an idealized view of the family, rallying against abortion and homosexual rights. Often the fixation on these two issues came at the expense of feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless. Many Christian Right leaders brushed aside caring for the earth and mocked global climate change. Health care became demonized and wars glorified. So many Christian teachings became sacrificed for the Republican agenda that we hardly recognized our faith any longer. And so we left our congregations.

As I said, a very encouraging article.

Here is the link to the entire article:  Carol Howard Merritt: Why Evangelicalism Is Failing A New Generation.

Great Editorial in the New York Times today from Charles Blow.  This supports my theories that the Tea Party movement and Republicans who support it are way out of step with where this country actually is and where it’s heading.

Here is an excerpt from the piece:

“The bullying, threats, and acts of violence following the passage of health care reform have been shocking, but they’re only the most recent manifestations of an increasing sense of desperation.

It’s an extension of a now-familiar theme: some version of “take our country back.” The problem is that the country romanticized by the far right hasn’t existed for some time, and its ability to deny that fact grows more dim every day. President Obama and what he represents has jolted extremists into the present and forced them to confront the future. And it scares them.

Even the optics must be irritating. A woman (Nancy Pelosi) pushed the health care bill through the House. The bill’s most visible and vocal proponents included a gay man (Barney Frank) and a Jew (Anthony Weiner). And the black man in the White House signed the bill into law. It’s enough to make a good old boy go crazy.”

Click the link below to read the full article.

Op-Ed Columnist – Whose Country Is It? – NYTimes.com.

This article is a great follow-up to my blog yesterday.  I’m not the only one disturbed by all this….

Too much tea party racism – Joan Walsh – Salon.com.