Ain't I a Woman?

-- Sojourner Truth

Welcome to Sista Scola in what is becoming Woman Weekend at MyDD. I am Woman, hear me blog. Feel the Femininity. Of course, I too am Jerome Armstrong in reality. It's sort of like Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor. I find inspiration for the character of "Jill" in my big butt and bad attitude.

Please Note: This will be my last MyDD post until 2007. In the meantime, I lift a frosty glass of soy egg nog (or as I like to call it -- "snog") to you and wish you the happiest of possible holidays.

Lead Story --

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rounds up Hispanic workers using racial profiling in TX leaving at least 400 child citizens without parents. Just in time for Feliz Navidad. Latina Lista, MigraMatters, Pachacutec @ FireDogLake, and Atrios have the story. I'll let the Unapologetic Mexican guest-blogging at PatriotBoy have the last bitter, satirical word: I Pack the Meat That Todo El Mundo Eats

Congressional Black Caucus Members This Week --

* The Washington Post writes a love letter this week to the most powerful black legislator ever: Prometheus 6 and others comment on Charlie Rangel's (co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus) "awesome" profile.  

* Dollar Bill Jefferson does not re-join Rangel on the Ways and Means committee despite inexplicable appeals from the CBC. (Jack and Jill Politics)

* According to the Washington Times, Nancy Pelosi met with incoming CBC chair Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI) who urged Pelosi to address the astonishing lack of diversity in Hill staffers. Among thousands of staffers, the Times reports that only about 50 minority staffers of any race can be found in Capitol Hill offices.

According to a running joke one House staffer shared with The Times, "the only people who hire blacks and Hispanics around here are blacks, Hispanics and Republicans."

There's more...

Here are some items that caught my eye:

• Jefferson kept off Ways and Means seat. Thank God. This committee will be a focus on investigations in 2007, and the last thing we needed was Jefferson holding a visible place on the committee that was investigating Bush.
  
  
• The new congressional map becomes even bluer. As great as the new map looks, I would be lying if I said I didn't long for at least a dozen more seats. We can't let our hunger dissipate even though we now have a larger majority than Republicans have had in 60 years.
  
  
• Speaking of Bill Clinton's legacy, Americans currently view his presidency quite favorably. Certainly, he blows the Bush away. However, he is not dramatically ahead of either the first Bush, or of Carter. That is demonstrative of a generally ineffective job of building the image of his legacy after the fact. This is a problem we have to solve. The nation really should be viewing Clinton's presidency at least as favorably as Reagan's, given that the two had comparable approval ratings during their time in office (see Reagan's and Clinton's). Hell, Clinton's approval was actually typically higher than Reagan's at equal points in their presidencies. If Clinton is not thought of on at least equal terms now, that shows our weakness in defining the two Presidents after the fact.
  
  
• Adam B tells us who Used It, and who did not. We need to make these lists, and check them twice, in order to find out who was naughty and who was nice.
  
  
• Iraq is so unpopular, even Cheney is distancing himself from bush on the subject.
  
  
• Craveguy has Kucinich's announcement speech. I will be adding him to future Presidential polls.

This is an open thread. Discuss these and other topics.

This week's theme at the messy cross-section of race and politics in America is fear.

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.

-- Eric Hoffer, the Longshoreman Philosopher (1902 - 1983)

Fear of Brown People in General

* Oliver Willis and Atrios rap Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) for calling Miami a "Third World Country". Because of all the brown people. The modern GOP must sincerely want to lose all future elections in coming decades since brown people, as evidenced in the recent elections, like to vote. The Latino vote increased by 37% in the 2006 election over 2002. Read more at BlueLatinos.org.

* Rep. Steve "Not the Rev. Martin Luther" King (R-IA) believes that the nation's homicide rate is mostly driven by the illegal brown invasion from the South to the tune of 12 Americans a day. No actual stats to back that up. It's just a funny feeling he has deep inside. Source: CarpetBagger Report

* "Nowhere in Congress are relations between Republicans and Democrats as publicly nasty as the House Intelligence Committee,"according to CNN. Well, now there's a new sheriff in town: Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), former Border Patrol agent, Vietnam war vet and helicopter gunner. His appointment is called "historic" and "an important step" by a major Hispanic civil rights organization, National Council of La Raza.

Fear of Black People in General

* Police Brutality roils NYC, angers black bloggers -- and sickens African-Americans in general. Terrence Says compares police brutality to terrorism and also offers a good round up of bloggers, all black men, on the NYPD killing of Sean Bell. Just a question: when was the last time we heard about a white person being shot 50 times by police? When is that much force ever justified against an unarmed person? When exactly will the double standard discontinue?

Fear of Certain Specific Black People

* The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Rep. Maxine Waters' PAC donate big dollars to Dollar Bill Jefferson in LA-02. Too bad they are afraid to support a superior candidate -- Karen Carter, who might actually work a little harder for New Orleans' recovery. Skeptical Brotha, Jack and Jill Politics, MyDD and others are among those writing about the story.

* Wingnuts try to turn Obama to Osama by using his middle name "Hussein". Expect to see more of this. Crooks and Liars has the story.

There's more...

Congressional Quarterly just published a summary of the political dynamics surrounding the scandal plaguing Bill Jefferson.  According to the article, two Democrats are poised to file for the race if Jefferson is indicted.  One Republican is already prepared to run, and a few other names have been circulated.

There's more...

The following is a summary of weeks of research on the Orleans Parish races during the past three months.  I wrote it with this audience in mind, as I know many have not paid attention to the political dynamics of these races.

Ray Nagin, who was just reelected to the position of Mayor of New Orleans with 52% of the vote in a very exciting runoff, endorsed Republican Bobby Jindal when he ran for Governor of Louisiana in 2003.  This was a controversial endorsement: not only did Nagin upset Louisiana Democrats by endorsing a conservative Republican; he also alienated what would later become his base after Hurricane Katrina, or the New Orleans African-American community.

There's more...