ROMNEYSPEAK: Understanding the Language of a 1 Percenter

I listened to GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney's New Hampshire victory speech on Tuesday night, Jan. 10, 2012. He made a lot of outrageous statements and painted a picture of America that only a 1 percenter like him could love. (Romney is part of the 1% richest people in America.) He talks in the code of the 1 percenters -- it's almost like a foreign language.  I call it "Romneyspeak." 


I developed some translations and have included them all in one blog.  Feel free to share with others, but please give attribution to me as the writer.  Hope you enjoy them.

• Romneyspeak:  The last three years have held a lot of change, but haven't offered much hope.  The middle class has been crushed.
  
  Translation:  Poor Obama.  He's been too slow in fixing the market crash that our policies caused.  Those nameless millions that I rarely encounter, unless they're cleaning my house, cooking my food or maintaining one of my many homes, will have to do without a while longer.
  
  
• Romneyspeak:  This country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy.
  
  Translation:  Sure, I was born rich and have a $200-million trust fund, but that's because I deserve it.  The rest of you peons shouldn't hate.  You could be where I am too if you just work a little harder.
  
  
• Romneyspeak:  Pres. Obama wants to turn American into a European-style entitlement society.  We want to ensure that we remain a free and prosperous land of opportunity.
  
  Translation:  Obama is foreign; he's different; he's not like us; he can't be trusted.
  
  
• Romneyspeak:  Obama raised the national debt. I will cut, cap and balance the budget.
  
  Translation: Sure, we Repubs declared two wars and didn't put the expenses on the books, making it appear that we were fiscally responsible. Obama should have been equally devious. My rich friends will keep their tax cuts and the military industrial complex will be fully funded, but those poor saps who depend on Social Security should have put more of their meager earnings aside for retirement.
  
  
  
•  Romneyspeak:  Obama doesn't see the need for overwhelming American military superiority. I will insist on a military so powerful no one would think of challenging it.
  
  Translation: I know that no government in its right mind would consider directly challenging the U.S. militarily. Obama was able to catch Osama bin laden and disable the Taliban and al Qaeda by using a small, highly skilled group of soldiers in a covert operation. But I have to pretend as though we're unsafe, even with a bloated, overpriced armed forces and thousands of nuclear warheads.
  
  
  
• Romneyspeak: Obama passed Obamacare; I'll repeal it.
  
  Translation: When I was governor of Massachusetts it was politically expedient for me to pass health care legislation for the citizens of my great state. But for the remaining 40 to 50 million Americans whose state governments don't cover the uninsured, F-- 'em.
  
  
• Romneyspeak:  Obama enacted job-killing regulations; I'll eliminate them.
  
  Translation: Deregulation and the lack of government oversight were among the direct causes of the 2008 economic collapse. But since Obama and the Congress put restrictions on Wall Street, my friends' bonuses have been cut in half. They used to get $100 million; now, sadly, they only get $50 million. That's just plain unfair -- and unAmerican!
  
  
• Romneyspeak: Obama lost our AAA credit rating; I'll restore it.
  
  Translation: Wall Street's treatment of real estate and pension funds as though they were gambling chips at a Las Vegas casino weakened U.S. govt credit ratings. The refusal of House Republicans to conduct credible negotiations with Prez Obama during the summer debt crisis was the straw that broke the camel's back. Will our party accept any responsibility for this -- absolutely not!
  
  
• Romneyspeak: Obama apologizes for America; I will never apologize for the greatest nation in the history of the Earth.
  
  Translation: America wiped out the American Indian population, took their land and put them on reservations; captured and enslaved millions of African Americans for 250 years, and did nothing about Jim Crow for another hundred years. Most recently, we declared war on Iraq based on lies, killed thousands of Iraqis and have left their country in turmoil. But we don't apologize, we live in a state of perpetual denial.
  
  
• Romneyspeak: In break rooms and living rooms, I've heard stories of families getting by on less, of carefully planned retirements now replaced by jobs at minimum wage.
  
  Translation: This was an anecdote that my campaign staff wanted to add to make me appear to be a "man of the people." Truthfully, I've never lowered myself to enter a company break room, I wiped out hundreds of employee pensions with my slash and burn tactics at Bain Capital, and I don't even believe there should be a minimum wage. The hourly wage should be whatever the market will bear and low-wage workers should be happy to have a job at all. You know, in Mexico and Brazil, we only pay 'em $3 a day.
  
  
• Romneyspeak: I want you to remember when you weren't afraid to look at your retirement savings or the price at the pump.
  
  Translation: Oops. I really don't want you to look back that far because the last president who delivered peace and prosperity was a Democratic one -- Bill Clinton.
  
  
• Romneyspeak: This election, let's fight for the America we love. We believe in America.
  
  Translation: Let's fight to make the White House truly white once again, when those brown people -- the Obamas, including the grandma -- didn't occupy the building at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. "Boy the way Glenn Miller played, songs that made the hit parade, guys like us we had it made, those were the days. And you knew who you were then, girls were girls and men were men, mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again. Didn't need no welfare state, everybody pulled his weight, gee our old Lasalle ran great, those were the days!"

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Tyler Perry's Good Deed for Christmas

I'm on Tyler Perry's e-mail list and he sent this e-mail today regarding his gift to some children in an orphanage.  His gift was really special and I admire him for giving back.  For those who may have missed it, here's Tyler message in total.  Merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year to all!

**********

FROM TYLER PERRY:

Hello there,

Merry Christmas to all! Sorry I haven't written in a while, but these holidays are tough for me since my mother died last year. But I'm getting through it. Thank God!

I wanted to write today to ask you a question: If someone said to you, "Go and get anything that you want free of charge!", what would it be?

Well, listen to this: Every year I do a lot of Christmas giving to battered women shelters, feed the hungry organizations, homeless shelters and so on. Well, this year, Cassi Davis, who runs my foundation, found an orphanage. I didn't even know they had orphanages in the US. Anyway, this place is amazing and these kids' stories really show you how strong the human spirit is. They are from the ages of 14 to 18. It is unfortunate, but as kids get between these ages the probability of them being adopted is highly unlikely. Hence this great orphanage that houses them until they're adults. This place has so much history it should be a movie.

Anyway, I took all of these children to a Target. I gave each one a shopping cart and told them to go and fill it with whatever they "WANTED".

Now I thought this would be easy. I had no idea that these kids had a different idea of wants and needs than most kids in this country. I'm thinking they are going to go for the video games, toys, make-up and things that teenagers are into. Well, they didn't!!

I was shocked because most of them went for cases of water and juice. I thought, "Water and juice?" Then they went on to undershirts, underwear, deodorant, soap, etc. You get my point. All the things we take for granted were huge for them. HUGE!

As they shopped, my staff from the studio escorted them through the store.

A lot of us were tearful watching these kids. They were happy, but so confused. They couldn't wrap their brains around being able to have anything they wanted. How sad is that? They didn't know that they could have it all. One child sat in front of two shirts for a long time. One was 10 dollars the other was 30. He was wondering which one to get. It took one of my folks a long time to explain to him that he can have them both.
After a lot of cajoling and pushing, he finally got it and so did the other 23 kids. To see their little minds start to believe was a powerful thing. To go from one level of belief to believing you can have it all in moments was something to see.

They came to the checkout with their red Target baskets looking like overloaded Santa sleighs. Boy that did my heart good! I could see my mother smiling in my mind about this. They were so happy. I wish you could have seen the joy on these kids faces. It was contagious. I caught it, and it helped brighten up these rough days for me. It was just wonderful. I left them on a high BIG TIME! It made me remember to be thankful for the little things. I hope it does the same for you...

Merry Christmas,

Tyler
　
To respond to this message, please go to http://www.tylerperry.com/messageboard

3 Black Book Web Sites Lead the Way w/Group Economics

I know you've heard the old saying that "black folks can't work together."  There is usually some truth to old sayings and I'll admit that I've made this statement myself a time or two.  But, for three years, my husband, Willie, and I, through Cushcity.com, have been part of an effort by the nation's three leading African-American book web sites to provide an opportunity for authors to affordably market their books.  This partnership, among Cushcity.com, AALBC.com and Mosaicbooks.com, has endured for the past three years and has been surprisingly drama-free.

Cushcity.com, AALBC.com and Mosaicbooks.com all went online in the late 1990s and all three sites had the goal of promoting African American books, both old and new.  We all quickly became aware of each other, communicated frequently and viewed each other as friendly competition. 

Over the years, all three sites have evolved.  Cushcity.com expanded its retail operation beyond books and also started offering marketing services.  In addition, our company hosts the annual National Black Book Festival in Houston.  AALBC.com and Mosaicbooks.com kept their focus on books, but expanded their sites to include author web pages, marketing services, contact lists and discussion boards.

About three years ago, we received a call from Troy Johnson of AALBC.com and he proposed the concept of our three sites working together to offer an author promotion program, where a book could be promoted on all three sites simultaneously.  At first, we were skeptical, since we had been burned more than once by people who proposed joint ventures where we ultimately did all the work, acquired all of the clients, but had to share the revenue.  In order for any partnership to be successful it has to be win-win:  All partners have to share the risk and rewards equally.  Troy seemed to understand this so we took the conversations a step further.

After a few more discussions which included Ron Kavanaugh of Mosaicbooks.com, we formed the outlines of our agreement.  We called the new venture the "Power Campaign" and agreed that each site would retain its autonomy while promoting this program.  To date, we have assisted dozens of authors with promoting  their books this way -- achieving simultaneous exposure at an extremely affordable rate.

We've had a few bumps in the road and have revised our agreement when problems arose.  Yet we've never had a disagreement that would cause the relationship to dissolve because each person involved operates with integrity and believes in the win-win principle.

For those who may want to pursue partnerships, here are some tips we've learned from this relationship and other ones we've had:

• The relationship has to be win-win.  If the scales tip too far in any one direction, the other people involved are going to be short-changed and the relationship will eventually be severed.
• The partners all must operate with integrity.  No cutting corners, no shenanigans, no half truths, falsehoods or lies.  Mistakes happen, but each partner has to be upfront and honest.
• Communication is key.  If something is bothering you or one of the partners, get the issue out on the table immediately.  Don't let a disagreement fester and grow like a cancer, thus poisoning the relationship.  Communication keeps drama to a minimum.
• Be flexible.  As the relationship evolves and situations arise, adjustments will need to be made from time to time.  Everyone will not always get exactly what they want but, as long as the relationship remains win-win, the adjustments can be made and the partnership can move forward.

As 2010 comes to a close, Willie and I salute our partners at AALBC.com and Mosaicbooks.com.  We look forward to a continued successful relationship.

Our Nightmare with Comcast Business Services

In August of this year, we made a decision to move our business office to a new location.  This was a cost cutting measure as well as a move to a nicer facility.  At our old location, we had a T1 for Internet access and phone service which was costing us about $500.00 per month.  A Comcast sales person stopped by and introduced Comcast's new Triple Play service for businesses:  Internet access, phone service and cable television for less than $200 per month.  Sounds great, huh?  We signed up, it's now Dec. 2nd, and we still don't have our service complete.

It all started with the salesman, who said that the building we were moving to wasn't wired for Comcast.  But Comcast was interested in adding a new office building to its roster, we'd be the first client in the facility and it would take 45 to 60 days to wire the building.  We signed the paperwork on Aug. 11th and, based on the salesman's assurances, were expecting to have service by early October.  We relocated as of Aug. 31st and our plan was to forward our primary line to our cell phone for one month until the service was put in.  We've been in business for 12 years with the same phone number, as well as a toll-free number, and it was important to us that we retain the same phone numbers.

We checked in with the salesperson periodically, who assured us that everything was on schedule.  When September 30th rolled around and the service had not been installed, we tried contacting the salesperson who was hard to reach at that point.  Meanwhile, Comcast had a computer virus infiltrate their corporate e-mail system (this event actually made national headlines) and, when the salesman finally responded, he said he couldn't get into any of his files and it would be two weeks before he'd have access to everything.  Keep in mind that we are still paying our primary phone service $500.00 a month because the lines are forwarded.

Starting in early October, we called Comcast every other day to see when the service would be installed.  Then we were contacted by our cell phone provider, Verizon, regarding our usage.  We had used 600 minutes over the amount for our plan and we had a big bill that was due.  In other words, at that point we're paying double for phone service.  The first month, our cell phone bill didn't increase at all, but due to the billing cycle, we were impacted on the second month.  Verizon gave us the solution to temporarily increase our plan to include more minutes but, unfortunately, it wasn't retroactive.  This added another $400.00 in phone charges for one month to what we were already paying.  This caught up completely off guard since our cell phone usage is always several hundred minutes below the maximum.

After about 50 phone calls and several more weeks, Comcast finally put our phone lines in on Friday, Nov. 26th.  However, we still have to wait another two weeks for our original numbers to be ported over (another fact the salesman failed to mention), which means we have to retain our old service and keep paying them for another two weeks until the process is complete.  The cable T.V. is in too, but it's a joke.  We only get local channels, C-Span, Disney and HLN.  If we want the usual channels that are included in basic cable (TBS, TNT, CNN, MSNBC, Lifetime, etc.), we have to pay an additional $30.00 per month.

This was a costly lesson for our company, but we wanted to make others aware.  Lord only knows where we'd be if we hadn't been persistent with our phone calls.  One would think that a company as large as Comcast would have better customer service, but you know what they say when you assume.  If a Comcast salesman offers your business what appears to be a good deal, be skeptical and know that the rosy picture he is painting is likely a mirage.  Let the buyer beware!

Sarah Palin: A Symbol of Political Hypocrisy

Sarah Palin, the darling of the political right, is now being touted as the front-runner for the 2012 Republican nomination.  It is clear that all of the so-called qualifications that used to be necessary for a potential presidential candidate have been thrown out the window.  Her followers are so blinded by their shock and awe of a black man in the White House that they are willing to support someone who, in the past, would not have been given a second thought.

Let's see, President Obama is one of the most highly intelligent people in government, has excelled in every arena he's entered (e.g., educational and political), married well, is a devoted father and family man.  He was handed the worst mess of any U.S. president ever, had to actually start working before he was sworn in because the public had lost complete confidence in the sitting president (Bush), and has dealt head-on with all of the major problems he's faced. 

The economy has survived the worst, corporate profits are at an all-time high, Wall Street is making money, the banking system has stabilized and third-quarter GDP growth was higher than expected.  And, by the way, in the face of nearly universal Republican opposition, Obama's actions saved General Motors and the auto industry, which, two years ago, was left for dead.  GM issued an IPO last week and their stock sold at near record levels, netting $11.7 billion for the U.S. Treasury.  All of these accomplishments are lost on Palin's supporters, who would rather focus on the fantasies of Obama's Muslim, terrorist and socialist connections. 

If Obama had daughters old enough to bear children and one became pregnant when he was running for president, it would have been considered a disqualifying factor.  Yet, the so-called "values voters" completely ignored the fact that Palin's daughter Bristol had a child out of wedlock.  Palin took 6 years to get a 4-year college degree, matriculating at several different schools before finally finishing.  She has no advanced degrees, no areas of expertise, no depth of knowledge about any subject.  She has little, if any, knowledge of the world, believing that Africa is a country and that foreign policy is equivalent to a flyover of her home state, as long as she can visualize Canada and Russia from an aircraft.  She served as mayor of a Alaska town with a population smaller than most four-year universities, and quit after a half term as governor of one of the least populous states in the Union.

Her sole qualifications seem to be that she's attractive, has folksy language, takes cheap shots at her political opponents (especially President Obama and first lady Michelle), hunts, fishes and shoots caribou from helicopters.  But she's white and, as far as Palin's supporters are concerned, it doesn't matter how qualified President Obama is or what he's done while in office.  They would rather elevate someone who would make America a laughing stock around the world than to support the current occupant in the White House -- the man who saved capitalism and, thus, saved them from themselves.

Does Congressional Black Caucus Need New Blood?

Rep. Charles Rangel is pleading for mercy after the House ethics committee earlier this week found him guilty of 11 violations of House rules.  The 80-year-old New Yorker has served in Congress since 1971 and his tenure is similar to that of several other members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).  Does the CBC need new blood?

The Democrats in Congress experienced a drubbing in the Nov. 2nd election, except for Rangel and other Black Democrats in the House.  To a person, every one of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) who ran was re-elected.   Two Black Republicans were also elected in South Carolina and Florida, which adds an interesting dynamic to the mix.

Why were the Black Democrats all returned to Congress?  The reason is that nearly all represent "safe" districts which were carved out for them.  This means the only challenge they ever really experience is during the primary when the voter turnout is extremely low.  In the general election in November, there is either no Republican challenger or there is a sacrificial lamb on the ballot -- someone Republicans know will lose by 40 to 50 percentage points.

The lack of competitive races in the "black" districts also suppresses turnout in midterm elections.  Because these candidates are a shoo-in for the November election, there's not much incentive for Black voters in their districts to go to the polls, as evidenced by the abysmal 10% turnout among Black voters on Nov. 2nd.  There's no president on the ballot and, while there may be some statewide or local races that are interesting, these often do not receive the same level of exposure and emphasis by the media.

But this shouldn't be the case.  There needs to be some new blood with some new ideas among the CBC.  The lack of any genuine competition leads to a sense of stagnation as well as a sense of entitlement.  After all, these seats are not thrones where elected officials can just occupy them for decades.  They are offices that represent the people.  Consider these facts:

• The average age of CBC members is 62, close to the age when most people retire.  Twelve of them (25%) are age 70 or older.
• The average years served among CBC members is 13, but nearly 50 percent have served in Congress for more than 15 years.
• Three of the CBC members (Andre Carson, William Lacy Clay Jr., and Kendrick Meek) succeeded family members, making their tenures within their families effectively much longer than their actual years served.

With Congressmembers so entrenched and at ages when it's difficult for them to embrace new ideas, are their constituents being ill served?  It is a good idea to have representation that is so steeped in the past, rather than looking toward the future?

Are Muslims America's New Nig------?

A Gallup poll taken in January of this year showed more than 4 in 10 Americans (43%) admit to feeling at least "a little" prejudice toward Muslims -- more than twice the number who say the same about Christians (18%), Jews (15%) and Buddhists (14%).  And, since the 2008 presidential campaign, President Obama's political enemies have insisted upon insinuating that the President is himself a Muslim.  This myth persists and grows, aided and abetted by elected officials in the Republican Party and right-wing talk show hosts who shamelessly enable some of their cohorts to spread this nonsense.

Indeed, Muslims have become the new nig---- in American politics.  The right wing used to promote propaganda showing a violent black man (i.e., Willie Horton) who was likely to either rape white women or take a white man's job (for example, the Jesse Helms ad where the white man's hands were balling up a job rejection letter he received because a less-qualified black man took the job instead). 

Now, the ads and the whisper campaign are about radical Muslims who, according to right wingers, are devising a terrorist plot around every corner in America.  This campaign is craftily executed with the assistance of Hollywood producers, who promote the concept of the olive-skinned or dark-skinned Muslim terrorist in movies and on television. 

The demonization process began in the late-1970s and continued throughout the 1980s with movies like "Black Sunday" and "The Delta Force" (loosely based on true events).  After 9/11, Hollywood rapidly accelerated the production of movies and televisions shows about Islamic terrorists to the point where, presently, nearly every movie Hollywood produces that includes a real or imagined terrorist plot has a Muslim as the antagonist. 

The word "terrorist" has now become synonymous with a Muslim to the point where on-camera personalities like co-host Brian Kilmeade on FOX News feel comfortable proclaiming: "A terrorist is a Muslim."  And any mass shooting involving a Muslim is automatically considered an act of terrorism.  Yet, a similar shooting -- by an aggrieved Postal worker, for example -- is simply an act carried out by a deranged citizen.

The effort to connect President Obama with Muslims and/or terrorists continues.  At a recent political rally sponsored by Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa, a member of the audience said that he heard that Obama was "sneaking small quantities of Muslims into the country," and asked why can't Congress do something about it.  King's response of, "You might have a point," only added fuel to the fire.

Author Dinesh D'Souza's latest book, "The Roots of Obama's Rage," in which he criticizes Obama for urging religious tolerance regarding the controversy to build a $100 million mosque near Ground Zero in New York, paints the President as a confused individual, haunted by the shortcomings of his Muslim father.

Emotions are running so raw that some xenophobic people see mosques and Muslims where none exist.  Some fanatical citizens in Phoenix, Arizona are up in arms over a domed church that they wrongly believe to be a mosque. The large building, still under construction along a busy interstate, is actually a nondenominational Christian church.  The backlash has been severe enough that the church's leaders have hung a giant banner over the dome: "IF YOU THINK DIFFERENT YOU ARE WRONG -- WE ARE BUILDING A CHRISTIAN HOUSE OF WORSHIP."

The following question arises:  Will non-violent, law-abiding Muslim citizens in America and around the world tire of being stereotyped and begin to adopt the behavior and attitudes of which they are repeatedly accused?

On a more humorous note, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann aired a satirical piece on Nov. 9th about Obama's "secret Muslim faith."  It's hilarious and accurately portrays the outrageousness of it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZl6KOwM5pg