Intelligence Always Trumps Ignorance

pic provided by television.gearlive.com

In spite of all the negative press, poll numbers and the constant radio and cable talk show attacks the president continues to offer a strong sense of resilience, and possesses a willingness to express that he still has much work to do in his efforts to get the country back on track.

It is unfortunate that there are still those who continue to lavish in their ignorance of the facts, and still cant get over how Americans could elect a person of color to be president. I am still proud that we have made enough progress in our country up to this point to elect an intellectual man of hope regardless of race.


During President Obama's conversation with the hosts of The View he offered a strong sense of optimism and belief in America's ingenuity and (I have to admit) inspires me and possibly others to make an effort to encourage our political officials and citizenry to do what must be done ,( regardless of race or social status) to work hard to build a positive path to a "More Perfect Union."

K. Gerard Thomas

Truth.. What Truth ?

The Shirley Sherrod smear and forced resignation on July 19 has over taken the media by storm and it shines a light on a national issue that is as old as the United States..Race.

Shirley Sherrod who was the Georgia State Director of Rural Redevelopment for the United States Department of Agriculture was forced to resign from her position by a White House representative from the Department of Agriculture. The resignation resulted from an online posted video excerpt of a speech Sherrod gave to a Georgia chapter of the NAACP in March 2010. Hunting for a smoking gun regarding racism in the NAACP Andrew Breitbart a right wing blogger and regular guest on Fox News posted the edited video excerpts from the March 2010 speech on his conservative web site "Big Government."

The edited speech was cut in such away as to make Sherrod look like she was a racist and a story she told about an incident that took place over twenty years ago was recent and while serving in the Obama administration. When Fox News decided to run with the story they turned it into a " Stop the Presses Event " Fox News interrupted their programing calling the edited video a "Fox News Alert" giving the deception that this was a recent story.

Breitbart allegedly claims to have been given the video by an unknown individual who doctored the tape but being that he is not a journalist the rules of vetting and or checking your sources do not apply.


How did This Happen ?

At a recent NAACP convention it was voted by the members of the convention that they would ask the leaders of the Tea Party Movement to repudiate the racism in their ranks. Fox News and Andrew Beirbret countered by attacking the NAACP as racisit and began searching for dirt on the NAACP and its members.


Beirbret wanted to prove that the NAACP were racist he was more than happy to immediately post the video. It was given first to Fox News who was willing to air the unsubstantiated smear, it is no secret that Fox News is a 24 hour propaganda machine for the GOP, and an ardent critic of democrats, the president and the NAACP. When the White house discovered that Fox News and Glenn Beck were airing the video they panicked.

In an attempt to preempt the controversy and the press coverage, according to Ms Sherrod in a CNN interview, a White House official contacted Ms.Sherrod by Black Berry and insisted that she resign on the spot, with out giving her the benefit of explaining her side of the smear campaign, truth be dammed and journalism integrity was thrown out the window. Beirbert, Fox News, and not one member of the White House staff took the time to check the facts before destroying this woman's life.

The whole story of her speech that was taken out of context and supposed racist statement was really a story of change. How a young black woman in the rural south helped a white farmer save his farm in spite of her struggle with anger against white men because her father was murdered in 1965 Georgia by white farmers when she was a teenager.

Once the press picked up on the video, Ben Jealous the president of the NAACP also suggested she resign.

Race, Breitbart and Fox News

Two media entities MSNBC and Media Matters have joined with a minority of bloggers and editorial writers call out Fox News for their continued fake bias news. Yet ABC, NBC, CBS,CNN and others have run scared of criticizing Fox News the big question is why?


It is no secret that Fox has a carefully thought out strategy of keeping negative press on Obama before their audience 24/7. Even MSNBC who is touted as having a liberal slant takes a break from politics on the weekend, dedicating their weekend programing to crime and prison stories
but Fox News never sleeps and neither does their President Obama attack Squad.

Money Buys Intimidation Power

It is as plain as the nose on ones face the owner of Fox News is one of the wealthiest men in the world and as such he calls big shots. Rupert Murdoch is an Australian born billionaire who is the owner of multiple media entities, such as News Corp,Fox News, Fox Business News and all things Fox. The New York Post News Paper as well as 174 other papers. He owned as many as 35 Television stations that reach about 40 percent of the country including Direct TV. He owns the ultra conservative "Weekly Standard Magazine."

He process so much power and pull, that he can command a private meeting with politicians and world leaders even President Obama. So the bottom Line is Rupert Murdoch is a billionaire ultra conservative who is an apologist for the powerful and wealthy racial majority.


Even though all of our news is controlled by big business corporations such as Disney, General Electric, Viacom, only Fox News has decided that lies sell better then the truth. What if Shirley Sherrods whole 30 plus minute speech had not been taped and her story of learning to help others no matter what race and her ability to over come her own prejudices had not been revealed to the press? What if the white farmer who's farm and land Shirley helped to save had not been reached by CNN and they stated on air she was responsible for helping them.

Blame Obama " Why Won't Obama Tackle the Race Issue"?

It worked Fox News and even Berbreit escapped the real media scrutiny because the press decided to go after the president and not the real source of the smear and where it all started. On Sunday Morning programs spent all the time discussing "the rush to judgment and placed the issue at the presidents door.

(Here is the funny part) I love how the Sunday Morning political talk shows want to discuss racism in American with a panel of five white guest and one black guest and they see nothing wrong with that. The president does walk a thin line because if he talks about race he is called a racist, if he does not talk about race he is attacked...a simple case of " Damned if You Do and Damned if You Don't "


Even Fox News got on the band wagon and started blaming the White House for not vetting the information on Ms Sherrod that is like shooting some one and blaming them for getting in the way of the bullet.


Bottom Line

Fox News has been scarring the White public for years and recently they have been using the fact that Barrack Obama and Attorney General Holder are black as an excuse for not going after two or twelve loony members of the so called New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation. Fox News whole agenda is to assure that Republicans take control of the house and possibly the Senate in November at any cost even the truth.


What If the media allowed Fox News and Beirbret racism to continue to control the spin and did nothing..... Oh Yeah They Are


K Gerard Thomas

THE TRUE CLARION CALL: Are Credit Scores Really Good for the Economy

THE TRUE CLARION CALL: Are Credit Scores Really Good for the Economy

Are Credit Scores Really Good for the Economy

The Credit Master

A couple of weeks ago my brother and I were sitting and discussing the state of affairs in our nation, he made an astute comment about setting up a moratorium on credit scores this would be a great incentive to increase more spending and get the economy moving. The question I have often asked is why is it that we are slaves to the almighty credit score. This is one major obstacle that hinders our nation from true economic recovery. Our nations middle class is held hostage by the banking system who continue to keep their pockets full and the rest of America (with exception of the wealthy ) in a constant state of financial purgatory.

" Money is to the Economy as Oil is to the Engine."

The moratorium will begin on a particular date and it will be in affect for two years and as such it will assure that consumers will not be solely judged on their ability to make a purchase based mainly on there credit rating but other factors will be taken into consideration such as employment history , and financial income. Some middle class workers employed for multiple years have been stymied in their ability to make purchases of homes , cars, small business loans, even a toaster all because of the almighty credit score.

A credit score moratorium will encourage consumers to start spending more, possibly leading to increase in GDP sales such as cars,and homes ,even helping previous home owners who after facing or going through a foreclosure are more educated and if given a shorter sentence of negative credit rating would jump back into the market, if financially able. The rules will be stricter but since we immediately bailed out AIG, and other banking institutions when they failed why not the consumer ? who makes it possible for these big banks to continue.

They Changed the Rules

At one time a credit score of 685 or 700 was considered a good score but now it is considered just above fair. The credit score rules our lives even though the market was saturated with foreclosed and financially challenged citizens some how the credit score numbers value increased now.. what was excellent is now good and what was good is now fair and what was fair is now poor.

Free Credit Score Lie

There is no such thing as a legitimate instant free credit report unless one is willing to pay for it up front. Companies who pull your credit will only except the report from their in house agency. Even if you send for a report directly from Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian it would not even be recognize as a legitimate report because it is coming from the consumer and the bottom line is they want to charge you for the report, $25.00 , $30.00 or higher just to pull the report this is a rip off scam.

The Pursuit of Happiness

God help you if you are a minority especially African American and or Latino it appears you will suffer the red zoning curse for being African American. The news reports have informed the public of cases where African American credit scores are always significantly lower then other consumers even if they pay their bills on time, and have no credit issues. Generally speaking if an African American has a 680 plus credit rating it will remain under 700. This has been used by some to offer higher interest rates and sub prime loans to mostly African Americans thus assuring that African Americans remain in a constant state of limited advances financially.

If our country is serious about living out the true creed of the Deceleration of Independence and our Constitution then there should be a system were we do away with the unfair practices of discrimination within the financial sector. The Wealthy do not have to worry about credit scores, case in point particular movie stars and celebrities, politicians and dare I say preachers are given swag items that we ordinary citizens would have to have a credit score of almost 790 or higher to obtain. Paris Hilton does not need free gifts, George Bush, Dick Cheney, or George Clooney all of their credit score can be as low as 550 , but it does not matter because the wealthy are well taken care of.. while the poor and the middle class are judged by a number.

Bottom Line

Finance Metric Online states " We know using more credit might affect our future plans. Yet we keep using it. If you have a bad score, you will find it difficult to get a job, rent an apartment, buy a car, or even a cell phone plan for your iPhone. But to get a good score, as mentioned earlier, you need more credit. Without using credit, you are not even allowed to have basic amenities."

My Father never believed in credit he was born in 1910 his motto was if I cant buy it I don't need it. We are under a new set of rules were even if you pay off your debt it can hurt your credit score. We are living in a Bizarro world were wall street makes the rules for main street.

Of course this is a pipe dream for those of us middle class citizens who don't have the money to lobby particular leaders in congress to back such a revolutionary idea.. could you imagine how the banking industry would squawk at taking away their ace in the hole in assuring that they and the crooked politicians who don't worry about credit scores remain in control of our nations middle class financial setting.



K. Gerard Thomas

http://www.financemetrics.com/how-helpful-is-credit-score-in-our-lives/